Split (1)

train · 623k rows

pred_label stringclasses 2 values	pred_label_prob float64 0.5 1	wiki_prob float64 0.25 1	text stringlengths 44 1.02M	source stringlengths 38 43
__label__cc	0.531748	0.468252	Wild for Fungi by Ellis Choe \| Sep 9, 2015 \| 0 comments Some resemble a mutant head of cauliflower; others appear like colourful coral or large white boulders. Despite their alien looks, wild mushrooms beckon a growing number of forest-to-fork foragers in North America who embrace the flavour and health benefits of fungi. The Alberta Mycological Society has identified 7,000 species of fungi in Alberta, but its members continue to find new ones every year. Of that number, so far only about 55 are edible. “But just because they’re edible doesn’t mean they’re incredible,” says Eric Whitehead, owner of Untamed Feast, an Alberta harvester and supplier of wild mushrooms. “There are approximately four that will kill you and a bunch that can make you sick. There are only 10 to 15 worth harvesting.” The following is a seasonal list of some of the more “incredible edible” wild mushrooms found in Alberta. NOTE: In the September issue, on page 24, we mistakenly published the incorrect photo for the Red cap or Northern Roughstem photo. The one pictured is a Amanita Muscaria and should not be consumed. Keep in mind that you should not be eating wild mushrooms unless you are well-informed or have checked with an expert beforehand as the effects can be harmful. The saffron milk cap is typically found under spruce trees. Its stem is light orange, while its upturned cap is a brighter red-orange that can grow up to 15 cm wide. This hollow stemmed fungi oozes saffron-coloured milk and can stain green when bruised. Although it can be sautéed in garlic and olive oil, this mushroom tastes best when pickled, according to Russian and Polish tradition, perhaps due to its slightly crunchy texture. The meadow mushroom is a popular favourite and very similar to the white button variety found in grocery stores. They pop up in many grassy areas like meadows, golf courses and lawns. Their cap is white, dry and smooth, and their underside has dusty-pink gills. But be aware that this one stains brown while poisonous look-alikes stain yellow, orange or red. These fungi can be found in the spring, summer and fall. Velvet foot is known as the ‘winter mushroom’ or Japanese enoki. But the latter is a cultivated version that yields small, clusters of white, slender-stemmed mushrooms with tiny caps. The wild version has a smooth, slimy caramel-coloured cap measuring one to five cm wide with a distinct dark, velvety stem, and is considered more flavourful than its pale Japanese cousin. Commonly found on elm trees, it grows when nothing else does, giving fungi foragers something to hunt all year round. The black morel, or any morel for that matter, is always a highly prized find, thanks to its coveted earthy, meaty flavour. The black morel possesses a distinctive cone-shaped, brownish-black honeycombed cap atop a smooth, white, hollow stem. The elusive morel is best found in the early weeks of spring when the soil temperature is about 10° C, and when blue violets appear at the base of evergreens, aspen and poplars. The shaggy mane is a white, egg-shaped mushroom that can easily pass for a large shaggy Q-tip. They usually grow scattered or grouped together in grassy areas. Pick only the young, fresh ones and use almost immediately because the older ones start to ink and turn black. Avoid picking any manes growing near busy roadsides where they could have absorbed pollution and toxins. The shaggy mane has the texture of fish and is delicious in sauces, soups and stews. But pairing it with alcohol can produce very sickening effects. Chicken of the woods, not to be confused with hen of the woods, is identifiable by its thick, fleshy, fan-shaped petals in vibrant candy corn colouring. It grows in layers within large clusters on or at the base of dying trees. It appears in spring and summer and is a great substitute for protein in any dish, as it possesses a meaty flavour that some say tastes like chicken. While the morel may be called the king, the golden chanterelle is sometimes referred to as ‘the queen’ of the forest and just as difficult to find. The deep yellow, trumpet-shaped mushroom with a cap up to 15 cm wide is a firm, fragrant favourite with its light apricot flavour. Unlike its poisonous look-alike, the chanterelle always grows on the ground, never on wood or at the base of a tree. They usually appear in the summer and fall. The red cap or northern roughstem is so popular that a local group lobbied the government to name it an official emblem of Alberta. Commonly found under poplar and aspen trees, it has an orange-red cap with a spongey underside atop a rough, white stem that turns blue when you cut it in half. It’s touted as a very tasty mushroom especially after it’s dried. The king bolete is a very common find in Alberta’s evergreen forests in the summer and fall. Its smooth cap ranges in colour from reddish-brown to caramel to dark brown and sits on a white or yellow stem. It has an off-white underside that consists of spongey looking pores, not gills. This mushroom is said to taste particularly good when dried and used in soup. It’s safe to eat if it doesn’t bruise blue after being cut. The hedgehog mushroom or sweet tooth is a favourite because of its similarity to the chanterelle in looks and aroma. But instead of gills or pores, the hedgehog has tiny spikes or teeth on the underside of its tawny-orange cap, along with a solid white stem. They can be found in evergreen and hardwood forests in the summer and fall. The comb tooth mushroom is a white fungus that resembles a shaggy head of cauliflower. Between 4 and 10 inches wide, its stalk is attached to logs or on tree trunks of conifer trees. This one is tastiest when fresh and white. Avoid any that are turning brown as the flavour turns bitter and sour. The western giant puffball is a white, firm oval ball that can grow up to eight feet in diameter. It resembles a lump of dough or a white boulder. It has no stem or gills and grows in open, grassy, dry areas. August in Alberta is usually deemed puffball season. Only go for a firm, fresh white puffball. Do not wash with water as it will turn soggy. Merely peel off its skin, and cut it in half to ensure the interior is uniformly white. Toss it if it’s brown as it can be toxic.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1724
__label__wiki	0.562809	0.562809	Difference between revisions of "How Did Saint Valentine's Day Develop?" Maltaweel (talk \| contribs) (→‎Later Developments) In 1400, Charles VI of France commissioned <i>Charter of the Court of Love </i>, which was a charter where on February 14th contests would be held related to love songs and poetry readings about love. While the story of this are not certain, what we do know is by the 15th century people did begin to wish their beloved valentine greetings. The Duke of Orléans, who was captured in battle against the English, wished his wife a sweet valentine. In England, Valentine's Day also began to be associated with gifts of sweets for children. In the 15th century, cards may have begun to be created with notes of affection, although they did not become popular until much later. By 1600, Shakespear's Hamlet has Ophelia discuss her love for Hamlet on Valentine's Day. By the 17th centuries, Valentine's day began to be popular among friends and lovers among different classes. At this point, people began to exchange tokens of affection and notes with each other expressing their feelings. It was around 1900 that Valentine cards were popularly produced throughout Europe and began to replace letters and notes that lovers would exchange. Valentine cards often contained secret compartments that the women of affection would have to find, which may have contained additional messages. By the 17th centuries, Valentine's day began to be popular among friends and lovers among different classes. At this point, people began to exchange tokens of affection and notes with each other expressing their feelings. Charles II of Sweden in the 18th century began to associate affection with flowers and it was possibly at this time that flowers were used with Valentine's Day. ==Modern Celebrations== Saint Valentine's Day is widely celebrated in the Western world as a day of love and romantic relationships. While this tradition does go far back and has connections to early Christian traditions, there are also more complex links with pre-Christian holidays that were likely changed or modified into Saint Valentine's Day traditions. 1 Early History 2 Later Developments 3 Modern Celebrations The story of Saint Valentine does have a direct link to one or several early saints called Valentine. Many traditions have developed around this holiday, and most likely there were multiple traditions that were integrated as original records were lost. One of those traditions state that Valentines was a priest in Rome martyred for defying Claudius II, who had decreed his soldiers would not marry. He may have tried to marry soldiers in secret and when the emperor found out he had him executed. The heart may have been a symbol of love between the pair and this could have become a love symbol. Another story states Valentine tried to help Christians escape and he was imprisoned after he was caught. He eventually may have fallen in love with his jailor's daughter and he sent the first "valentine" to her. He may have greeted her by saying "Your Valentine" and this is where using valentine as part of the Valentine Day greeting may have originated. Another idea is that Valentine of Terni was Christian bishop who was martyred in 273 during persecutions. There is a legend that he married a young pagan soldier with a young Christian woman. On hearing his wife was dying, he converted to Christianity so that he could be bounded with her forever and then he subsequently died. We do know that Saint Valentine's Day was a feast day that likely celebrated a Christian saint and had developed when Pope Gelasius in the late 5th century CE declared the February 14th as the feast day. However, the motives for this and stories associated with Saint Valentine suggest there may have been some other motives for this. What we do know is that many early Christian traditions and feast days were often created to be similar to pagan festivals, as it helped early converts in transitioning to the new religion. Saint Valentine's Day may have not been different. The Lupercalia celebrations were a festival held on February 15th in honor of fertility and dedicated to the Roman god Faunus. The celebration may have also focused on the mythical founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus and how they were raised by a she-wolf. Goats would be sacrificed and the blood from goats, along with the hide, would be dragged and slapped or sprinkled on crops and women. This would bring women and crops luck in fertility. One legend stated that in this celebration, single women and men were sometimes paired and these matches often ended in marriage. However, some authors dispute its association with love between people. While it is possible that Pope Gelasius by the end of the 5th century CE saw Lupercalia as un-Christian and his declaration of Saint Valentine's Day on February 14th may have been intended to replace the pre-Christian holiday by combing some of the ideas of Lupercalia with a saint story, this is also uncertain. Later Developments In Saxon England, young men or boys would often give women of their affections small gifts that included gloves. The fact that Saint Valentine's Day is near spring and foreshadowed it could have made it more festive. In some regions, Saint Valentine began to be associated with spring since it was often the time people began to rework in their fields in preparing for the planting season. However, these events did not associate the day with love. Although the Roman and other stories associated with Saint Valentine could have connected the day with love, other later traditions may have further added to this idea. Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous early English author, wrote that the time was associated with birds beginning to pair themselves. In effect, it was a time of pairing and matches. In 1400, Charles VI of France commissioned Charter of the Court of Love , which was a charter where on February 14th contests would be held related to love songs and poetry readings about love. While the story of this are not certain, what we do know is by the 15th century people did begin to wish their beloved valentine greetings. The Duke of Orléans, who was captured in battle against the English, wished his wife a sweet valentine. In England, Valentine's Day also began to be associated with gifts of sweets for children. In the 15th century, cards may have begun to be created with notes of affection, although they did not become popular until much later. By 1600, Shakespear's Hamlet has Ophelia discuss her love for Hamlet on Valentine's Day. Modern Celebrations Modern Valentine's Day has been strongly influenced by American traditions that first derived from the mid-19th century. Esther A. Howland in the 1840s began selling cards and gifts that contained real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures. It was also this time that women began to be more strongly associated with Valentine's Day relative to men, where marketing began to focus more on them and today they constitute about 85% of Valentine's Day sales. Retrieved from "https://dailyhistory.org/index.php?title=How_Did_Saint_Valentine%27s_Day_Develop%3F&oldid=10350"	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1726
__label__wiki	0.577681	0.577681	Study: ‘Substantial’ Amount Of Arctic Warming Due To Natural Forces 05.08.2014 \| Daily Surge \| Scientists are now saying that natural climate forces account for a “substantial” amount of the region’s warming in the past three decades. A new study found that natural forces could account for as much as half of Arctic warming. “Rapid Arctic warming and sea-ice reduction in the Arctic Ocean are widely attributed to anthropogenic climate change,” write climate scientists from the U.S., Australia and South Korea in a study that suggests that a “substantial portion of recent warming in the northeastern Canada and Greenland sector of the Arctic arises from unforced natural variability.” “Whenever you start to look at local climate trends, you have to look at the internal variability as well as the human-induced variability,” co-author Mike Wallace with the University of Washington told CTV News. “The natural variability is huge.” Sea has has declined 2.6 percent per decade on average since the late 1970s, reports CTV News, but the area north of Greenland and the Canadian archipelago has been warming more quickly due to rain and wind patterns in the South Pacific — not man-made carbon dioxide emissions. “We find that the most prominent annual mean surface and tropospheric warming in the Arctic since 1979 has occurred in northeastern Canada and Greenland,” the authors wrote. “In this region, much of the year-to-year temperature variability is associated with the leading mode of large-scale circulation variability in the North Atlantic, namely, the North Atlantic Oscillation.” But the researchers show that the increased warming is from a “negative trend in the North Atlantic Oscillation” is in response to “anomalous Rossby wave-train activity originating in the tropical Pacific.” Wallace told CTV News that the increased warming in parts of the Arctic is due to unusually heavy rainfall in the South Pacific, which cause atmospheric turbulence around the globe. “It induces what we call a planetary scale wave train,” Wallace said. “We can see exactly those kind of waves — like ship wakes — if we have the air flowing over an island and if we look down we can see in the cloud patterns exactly those kinds of wakes.” The “wakes” Wallace talks about create waves throughout the atmosphere that warm the air by compressing it slightly. This in turn causes sea ice to melt in the Arctic. “Think of Canada as downstream in that wake,” said Wallace. “If it happens to be in a ridge of that wave train, that translates into it being warmer than normal. That warmth comes from the prevalence of sinking motion in the atmosphere — it warms it by compressing it.” The study does not call into question the foundations of climate science or the theory that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are warming the planet, but it does demonstrate that it can be hard to separate human-induced warming from natural systems. “Unless global warming starts to accelerate at a rate far beyond what we’ve seen, it’s going to be a long time before weather statistics change so much from the human signal that it would become clearly detectable in the presence of natural variability,” Wallace said. ← Previous Story ‘Fox News Sunday’ Wins Ratings Triumph Among DC Viewers Next Story → Sissies Unite: Bolder Boulder Asked To Drop Its Slogan	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1727
__label__cc	0.698028	0.301972	College presidents (x) › British Columbia (x) › Robinson, Rosa (x) › Manitoba (x) › Canadian Officers Training Corps fonds With the outbreak of World War I, the University Council appointed a Committee on Military Instruction which authorized the teaching of military science and tactics. A university corps was organized in the fall semester of the 1914-1915 year with 64 students taking extra classes to qualify as officers. On March 1, 1915, the Canadian Officers Training Corps (C.O.T.C.) of the University of Manitoba was established. Eight companies of 60 men of all ranks were formed with Professor E.P. Fetherstonhaugh as captain and adjutant. In 1915, the Western Universities Battalion was formed with the University of Manitoba contributing one company and one platoon. With the introduction of conscription legislation in 1917, military training was made compulsory for all male students. After the First World War, the C.O.T.C. program was reorganized, in 1920, by Lt. Col. N.B. Maclean, but it continued in relative obscurity for almost twenty years. With the outbreak of World War II, the C.O.T.C. was quickly revitalized and its membership mushroomed, from its peace time level of 150 to 800. The Senate also passed regulations relating to academic credits or bonuses for students who joined the C.O.T.C. By 1942, all male students were once again required to enlist in a compulsory programme of military training. The C.O.T.C. continued the work of military training on a voluntary basis after World War II with new modernized and attractive programmes, but with the return of peace its popularity rapidly declined. COTC members at Namao air force base A photograph of COTC staff officers and members at the Namao Canadian Air Force base in Alberta. This black-and-white photograph, taken in the winter of 1962, depicts 13 men standing outdoors next to a plane. Canadian Officers Training Corps fonds (1) + - Air bases (1) + - Armed Forces--Officers (1) + - College teachers (1) + - Alberta (1) + - Edmonton (1) + - COTC members at Namao air force base (1) + -	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1733
__label__cc	0.52676	0.47324	learntoquestion ltq discussions Facing History 2020-2021 Facing History 2020-2021 section 02 Ayanna Pressley Are We (in the United States) Having a Moral Convulsion? Due: Thu 15 Oct freemanjud Reading to respond to: David Brooks, “America is Having a Moral Convulsion,” The Atlantic, October 5, 2020 David Brooks, a Canadian-born American who is widely regarded as a conservative-leaning moderate New York Times and The Atlantic correspondent, wrote what is a very timely and thought-provoking article in this month’s issue of The Atlantic. He describes a series of historical patterns in which periodic moral convulsions occur, in which people feel “disgusted by the state of society,” “trusts in institutions plummets,” “moral indignation is widespread,” and “contempt for established power is intense.” He then argues that in response, a “highly moralistic generation appears on the scene,” using “new modes of communication to seize control of the national conversation.” That’s your generation, folks. Is Brooks right? Check out his argument in this very readable, very current article. He focuses on social trust. He ponders whether we are experiencing a period of national decline. He tells the story of Valentina Kosieva who has seen more in her 94 years of life than any of us have seen in ours. This is not a happy article. But it does get you thinking. So here are the questions I’d like you to address, in response to what you have read here. Be sure to make specific references to the reading. Do you think that people are operating in this moment as they seem to be because they do not have trust in—that they instead distrust--society? Why or why not? How do you respond to the question Brooks asks: are we living through a pivot or a decline? When you hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” or as Brooks writes “for centuries, America was the greatest success on earth, a nation of steady progress, dazzling achievement and growing international power,”what do you think? Do you think you have grown up, as Brooks argues, in the “age of disappointment”? Why or why not? Yuval Levin, a political analyst, argues that in high-trust eras, people have more of a “first-person-plural instinct to ask ‘What can we do?’ In a lower-trust era…there is a greater instinct to say, ‘They’re failing us.’ We see ourselves as outsiders to the systems..” Do you agree or disagree? And why? And what do COVID, the killing of George Floyd, have to do with all of this? And what does fear have to do with this? Finally—and important, as you respond to this prompt, be certain to respond to at least one of your classmates by agreeing, disagreeing or amplifying something that they had to say. Boston, MA, US Growing Distrust in America It does seem like there is currently a lot of distrust in American Society. We keep experiencing events where we are let down by the institutions or leaders that we normally look to for guidance or safety. It seems like Americans have very little faith in the government to do the right thing and it also seems like we have little faith in each other to act in favor of the common good. Individualism and success in terms of wealth have been ideas pushed on many Gen Zers. Americans are well known for their materialistic culture and how much everything is centered around consumerism. Many Gen Zers have been taught that putting yourself above others is the only way to be successful. Selfishness has been promoted and social distrust is spiking. When I hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” I think about how America is extremely commercialized and industrialized. I think about how many of our current political leaders measure greatness in terms of the economy or employment rates. I also think about how greatness and success is not purely in terms of wealth. The divide in our society is increasing. There is social and political unrest. The stability of America is decreasing rapidly. I do think I have grown up in, as Brooks argues, in the “age of disappointment”. Growing up the headlines on the news were always about school shootings or racial injustice. These events have only increased in frequency as I have grown older. The news or the radio stations have consistently reported how the politicians were corrupt or how we were being misled by our leaders. The killing of George Floyd and COVID are marking a climax in a pre-existing trend. We feel like we can’t trust fellow Americans because they keep acting in ways that show they are untrustworthy. We can’t trust law enforcement to actually enforce the law. We can’t trust our fellow Americans to put the wellbeing of the general public over their individual wellbeing or freedoms. I’m unsure whether this is marking a pivot or a decline because I have never experienced any other period in American History when we have gone through something similar. Boston, Massachusetts, US Distrust and Disappointment in America I think distrust in society is causing people to act the way they do. With the divides in this country, it is hard for people to fully trust each other which also leads to distrust in the institutions. Like Brooks said, trust in the country is declining and in turn leads to the instability of our society. The institutions have also shown themselves to not be trustworthy, as there have been signs of corruption and abuse of power. Even though we are in an age of information, there are a lot of different views on the same topic, which leads to confusion and questioning of the truth. Gen Zers have only experienced this declining trust in the government, unless something changes, they will continue this pattern. I believe that we are in decline and unless society, as a whole, changes, this pattern will continue. As Brooks said, there needs a new order where trust is again bestowed in not only the people but also the government. Seeing how divided the country is right now, it would be hard for everyone to come together to agree on something. There are important issues that this country faces that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. Protests around the country show what the new society should encompass. Agreeing with @20469154661, the phrase “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” just shows how much leaders value the economy and how the economy is used to define greatness. In my opinion, I do not believe that the U.S. is the greatest nation as there are many problems in our country that need to be addressed. I do not think that any nation is better than others. Each nation faces their own challenges. In terms of greatness, there is not a universal definition, which includes everyone’s standard of greatness. I agree with Brooks that I grew up in the “age of disappointment”. Violence in our country and worldwide are occurring more frequently. There is a constant flow of headlines that talks about school shootings, some form of racial injustice, human right violations around the world, and more. There is a sense of fear wherever we go. I believe with information and continued education about these topics, positive changes would take place. I agree with Yuval Levin’s statement. In a high trust society, everyone works towards a common good, and there is a moral understanding between everyone. It is a more community based society rather than an individualistic one. In a low trust society, everyone looks out for themselves and what would be best for them. If this harms others, then the trust within the community will continue to deteriorate. The government’s response to Covid-19 and the killing of George Floyd proves how our institutions failed us. When it comes to the health and safety of our people, there was a trust that the government would do what is best, but this has proved wrong. Over 200,000 lives were lost because Donald Trump downplayed the seriousness of Covid-19. The police department is there to protect, but it has taken numerous innocent lives. Currently, people live in fear of their lives, whether that be from Covid-19 or from public officials. All of these events affect marginalized groups exponentially. There needs to be reforms and change on all levels to create a safe and equal society for everyone. leafinthewind Confusing Times I think that a lot of people distrust society and each other. The pandemic has shone a light on many tragic events that otherwise would have been swept under the rug. Police brutality has been brought to light even though it has existed all along. People are feeling more let down than ever by the injustices committed by the police, a group of people we trust with our lives. I agree with @anonymouse that there needs to be reforms made throughout the country in order to promise equality to all people. A lot of people today have very low expectations of others and that’s really sad. In the article, we read about a woman named Valentina Kosieva, who survived a lot of hardships in her life. She sheltered some anti-communist soldiers and was nearly killed by the Reds. Her husband was killed in 1937 after he was sent to Siberia by the Soviet police. She ended up as a refugee and her son was killed by Nazis. After World War 2, her people were exiled and since then she has lived a secret life. She has faced an extreme number of tragedies and it is surprising that she survived. When people say that the US is the greatest nation in the world, I think about all of the faults that are obviously wrong with our country. I still believe that the USA is the best country in the world. Every country has its own faults but people continue to come to the US because of the opportunities that are available to them. Every person sees their home country through rose colored glasses and has some sense of pride. My parents immigrated to the US and made a life for themselves and became very successful. Being the greatest nation does not absolve the US of its faults, it actually emphasizes them. We face these problems every day and it is our job to solve them for ourselves and for others. I haven’t been alive for a long enough time to tell if we are in a pivot or a decline. You need a wide view to see a large period of time and the trend is not very obvious when looking back. In order to see such a large trend, you have to live through and experience the time in question. Originally posted by anonymouse on October 13, 2020 22:15 I agree with @anonymouse. I think that we are in a decline that will continue unless serious changes are made soon in society. I also agree that getting society to come together to agree on something would be very difficult right now considering how divided we are. The longer we wait, the bigger the divide will grow and the harder it will be to get people to unite. yelloworchids The Great Distrust I definitely think the distrust towards our society contributes to the way people are acting in this current moment. Americans themselves seem to have lost faith in other Americans and in turn the institutions and authority figures. With the various national divides on the basis of political standing, racial issues and gender disputes, it’s not surprising that people are operating the way they are because they have lost hope in this country. Brooks mentions that marginalized groups are shown to have higher levels of distrust—rightfully so. Those wronged by the systems in place, would be more inclined to feel a great wariness towards those leading our country. As for Brooks’ question on whether we are living through a pivot or decline, I believe we are on the border of both. Depending on how our government takes action and how effective we are in social change, our future could go both ways. I believe we are living through a pivot in the sense that underrepresented voices are being heard and social movements like BLM are taking storm. We definitely have the potential to better our circumstances if the proper actions are taken to ensure a more united nation. On the other hand, it’s also important to take in consideration the contrasting views shared by different communities and how that could contribute to our decline. Considering the great divides within our country, it is also completely possible for Americans to continue their distrust for the government. As @anonymouse mentions, “it would be hard for everyone to come together to agree on something”, if there are too many disagreements, pertinent issues will never be acknowledged and tended to. When I hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world”, I often think of all the blemishes present within our society. Given that my parents immigrated to the U.S. for a better life and better opportunities, I am grateful for all of which the U.S. has provided for them. Growing up in the U.S. however, I can’t say I share the same views as my parents in terms of pride for this country. The U.S. definitely opens up more doors for some individuals in terms of job opportunities and education, but to say that “the United States is the greatest nation in the world”, shows a disregard for the other faults prevalent within the nation. Every country has its own problems and there’s no standard as to which nation is the best. I do think I have grown up in what Brooks considers the “age of disappointment”. With the prevalence of social media usage in recent years, it’s rather difficult to avoid all of the negativity within our country. The recurring headlines of school shootings, terrorism and targeted hate crimes, have caused the youth of today’s world to become numb to these events that they now consider the norm. I agree with Yuval Levin’s statement on high-trust eras and lower-trust eras. In a society that is more morally conform, it makes sense for individuals within that setting to see themselves as one with the government. When they can trust their leaders, they see themselves as part of a bigger cause that works together to solve their conflicts. However in a distrusting society, people tend to think for themselves from an individualistic standpoint—distanced from authority. If they’re accustomed to a government that consistently wrongs them, they’d be inclined to think that their government is failing them. COVID and the killing of George Floyd are great examples of how improper responses to national crises could impact the social trust between institutions and citizens. As people panicked amidst the pandemic, Trump continued to downplay the severity of COVID despite multiple warnings from medical professionals. The failure to acknowledge the concerns of the people will reign its repercussions later on. Boston, Massachuesetts, US The Forgotten Narrative of Capitalism Our generation, generation z, is a generation (like they always say) unlike any other. Not only have we grown up in a climate with rising technological wonders, but we have the internet at our fingertips, information, communication, all of it. This has never been seen in any other generation, on this scale. It is weird to not have at least one social media, and since social media platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram, to name a few, have risen in power with our generation, it has allowed for communication at higher levels. I agree that there is a level of distrust in society, for many reasons, and most of them very valid. It is coming to light that we have been lied to, consistently, for many years, and with the growing amount of news and social media and quicker transmission of information, those things are coming to light, and people are sharing their opinions. It is most comparable, if you are a history nerd such as myself, to the creation of the printing press was made in 1440(in Europe), where information could be spread easily through pamphlets, bypassing the need for human rewriting. By comparison, people no longer have to wait for the newspaper, with Google and other search engines, information and news are at our fingertips, at any moment. People can make plans in minutes, hundreds of people can find out about a planned protest in a matter of hours, even minutes in some cases. People such as myself have a strong distrust in society, and have for many years, past the classic deep state conspiracy theories. I do not believe that the government is in my favor, as an LGBT youth in America. I do not trust the government to protect me, as I think they are working to do the opposite. This is a direct byproduct of the growing technological advancements. Moving onto Brooks' next point, I personally believe that America is in a decline, as it just cannot function on its racist roots, the roots must be pulled out. This country was built on a system made to keep black Americans down, hell, this country was built by black Americans. This country is facing what I believe will happen to all capitalistic countries, the system was not built to last. Sure communism fails, we know that, but do we all realize that capitalism is built to fail also? It may take longer, it may be less obvious at first, but it should be very clear why this country is failing. Capitalism is the selfish economic system, the “work hard and you shall succeed.” Well that simply does not exist in this country. The byproduct of capitalism, where there are a few people who own almost all the wealth in this country, and a large majority who are very poor, with a smaller middle class is exactly like what we study in history, with the pyramid system. America holds itself at such a high standard, of being the country of freedom, when in reality, it is the country where rich white men hold all the power, and gamble people’s entire futures for fun. Capitalism is making a cancer survivor so bankrupt, they wish they had just died of the disease. Capitalism is taking a medicine that diabetic people need to survive, and making a profit off of it. Capitalism is over policing black neighborhoods, because slavery is legal as long as the person is a criminal. I am disappointed in this country, I am disappointed in the great divides of this country, this country is the most divided its been since the civil war. There shouldnt be such a big divide between male and female, gay and straight, CIS and trans, POC and white, rich and poor, democrat and republicans. This is the age of disappointment, where many Americans who have been privileged wake up, and see that this country is nothing but a ghost of what it once was. The housing in my neighborhood, the gentrification, has made me so sad, so bleak of my future. Everything is getting more expensive, whether it be college tuition, housing, food, etc. In the past people would be absolutely assured a nice job, with a nice house. That is not a guarantee anymore. This is not the American dream, as it is so often described as. When I hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” it nearly makes me want to start laughing, because I just do not see it. This is classic nationalism that this country suffers from, where we are taught and are to believe that we are the superior, and the right. Is it the greatest at making 12% of the country feel unsafe and even in danger around police officers? Is it the greatest at having the most school shootings, and general feelings of being unsafe at school(there is a reason we have lockdown and safe mode drills)? This country is, as I said before, nothing but a whisper of the promise land it once was. After failing nearly every group of people other than straight white men, it is a wonder how this country lasted its 400 years. Originally posted by leafinthewind on October 14, 2020 00:16 I agree with what @leafinthewind mentioned about people seeing their own country through rose colored glasses. It’s not a bad thing to feel a strong sense of patriotism for your own country, but overlooking the imperfections is also detrimental to those affected by these injustices. By saying the U.S. is the best nation, it makes it seem as if we have no internal issues at all. Like what @leafinthewind said “We face these problems every day and it is our job to solve them for ourselves and for others.” You can always emphasize your love for your country but do so while also acknowledging the negatives. Originally posted by yelloworchids on October 14, 2020 15:38 I agree with what @yelloworchids has said, when discussing "the United States is the greatest nation in the world" in which they write "a disregard for the other faults prevalent within the nation. Every country has its own problems and there’s no standard as to which nation is the best." which really sums up and works with my point about toxic nationalism, I agree. JGV Time to Pivot Though Brooks has some points regarding the general feeling of the US right now, I think he is fundamentally wrong in most of his arguments. Society is acting in the way it is right now, not because of a distrust in society as a whole, but because the institutions that structure and mold our society are actively failing us everyday. Right now our police system is continuing to fail Black and Brown Americans, as it has been for generations; we as a society didn’t just wake up one morning and decide it was suddenly not to be trusted. We’re currently living in a pivot in the general consensus of what is right and what we will no longer settle with. A United States that has true equality and fairness for its people has been long sought out for, from abolistionists seeking the end of slavery and civil rights activists seeking the right to vote and the end of Jim Crow and segregation. As society evolves the issues that plague us as citizens and residents change, there has never been a perfect moment as Brooks alleges. He claims, “ Society flourished when individuals were liberated from the shackles of society and the state, when they had the freedom to be true to themselves”. When did we all flourish and have freedom to be true to ourselves? Lgbtq+ individuals only recently got the right to marry, voter suppression is real and is suppressing American voices. Just this year there have been several shootings of unarmed black men like George Floyd. The fear and distrust we feel as a society is real because we are faced with the same problems time in and time out. The statement, “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” is subjective because it depends on an individual's perception on what is great or successful for a nation. Is it equality? Economic growth? World and Trade power? GDP? Education rate? Brooks thinks that acknowledging the errs in our country and the foundation of racism it was built on isn't fair. The most outlandish thing he said was that, “ In the emerging value system, “privilege” becomes a shameful sin. The status rules flip. The people who have won the game are suspect precisely because they’ve won. Too-brazen signs of “success” are scrutinized and shamed. Equality becomes the great social and political goal. Any disparity—racial, economic, meritocratic—comes to seem hateful”. Our country was founded by white men who wanted to serve their own interests so of course privilege is deeply rooted into the backbone of our country and it needs to be called out. No one is saying white=bad, being white just means you did not start life 10 steps behind everyone else. His statement is the embodiment of privilege, there’s no target or suspect of him because he’s white. Brooks also thinks that we as the younger generation have grown up in the age of disappointment, and frankly I think that's one of the few things I agree with. I’ve seen the government fail us (locally and on the federal level), the police and fellow Americans, but that doesn’t mean it's unique to my generation. The government failed people of color in the 80s and 90s when my parents were growing up and the police were still corrupt then as well. In some ways I do view myself as an outsider to the system because the system has failed us over and over again and I think it will continue to. The covid-pandemic brought to light our poor healthcare system and who is truly left vulnerable once they fall ill. When there's low trust as Yuval Levin says, it's because people don’t think that doing anything will improve an already fundamentally flawed system. Some truth to Brooks' words I agree that they are perfect examples of how improper actions were taken in response to servere issues. About the covid pandemic I'd like to add a quote from Brooks, "You can blame Trump or governors or whomever you like, but in reality this was a mass moral failure of Republicans and Democrats and independents alike. This was a failure of social solidarity, a failure to look out for each other". Though most his arguments are flawed ths statement about how its partially everyone's fault is a little true. If everyone, regardless of the goverments restrictions or lack thereof had done their duty to society by not infecting others and wearing a mask at all times, I think we would be a lot farther into our recovery as a nation than we are now. Morals had a big role in it because lots of people prioritized their own selfish needs instead of the greater good and public health. America The Not So Great I think that people are operating in this moment as they seem to be because they distrust society. I think a really important quote that Brooks said to prove this point was that “People become trusting when the world around them is trustworthy.” I definitely don’t think that the world is a trustworthy place, especially not in these times. After reading this article it has brought my own personal distrust to light. All of my life I have had very little trust and hope in the government and in other people, but never knew how to put it into words like Brooks did. I do believe that we are living through a decline just because of how chaotic everything is right now. Our president is a lying borderline facist, we are in a global pandemic that seems to be getting worse everyday, and the tension and polarization between political views is at an all time high. I certainly don’t see how anyone could call this a pivot. When I hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” I chuckle. I was raised by a very non-patriotic family , and I have never considered the United States to be an important part of my identity, therefore I have a huge bias here. With all due respect I disagree with @Leafinthewind when they said “Every person sees their home country through rose colored glasses and has some sense of pride.” I think that for many young people it is in fact the opposite. Quite frankly it’s a bit of an embarrassment to say I live in this country with all that is happening now. Despite being a first generation American, I still don’t think of the US in the way that it was thought of in the early 1900’s: streets paved with gold and opportunities. Yes, my parents immigrated here and are somewhat successful. No, the United States is not the only place that this could have occurred. Anyone can be successful anywhere with enough money. I think that so many Americans have an unrealistic sense of pride and superiority when it comes to this country. Just like @fidget said, “This is a classic nationalism that this country suffers from, where we are taught and are to believe that we are the superior, and the right.” The amount of patriotism that the United States has is far more than in most other countries. Only in more authoritarian countries do school children have to pledge allegiance to the flag and learn the national anthem. It’s quite interesting to see. I definitely think I have grown up in the “age of disappointment”. I totally agree with what @20469154661 said when they said, “Growing up the headlines on the news were always about school shootings or racial injustice.” How are we as the new generation, so to say, supposed to be trustful of anyone or anything when this is the world we grew up in? When young Black boys have to be taught to respect the police and hope for the best to not get murdered. When swastikas and slurs are scribbled on desks as a way of “humor”. When so many teenagers are suicidal with no hope? I agree with Levin. There is a big distinction between groups and everything is so polarized nowadays. I think that many people, especially far left leaning people see themselves as outsiders to the system. Just like Brooks said, “higher trust nations have lower economic inequality, because people feel connected to each other…” With such divisions amongst ourselves, how can we bond together and feel empowered? Yes, there is empowerment and community within groups such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+, however this is nowhere near the entire population. There is also the fact that with differing opinions comes extreme hatred. I will admit to completely disregarding and labeling people with far more extreme ideas than mine as “illegitimate”. I stay away from people who support All Lives Matter or Trump, and this very much creates a “us versus them” scenario. Just like Brooks said, the pandemic had the opportunity to pull all of us closer- like it did in Denmark- but it failed. The government is supposedly supposed to keep us safe, yet over 200 thousand people have died from COVID 19 due to the lack of responsibility from our leaders. The killing of George Floyd after 4 months of quarantine really angered people. They began to realize that no one is safe, especially not minorities. I think that aside from being angry, we are scared, or at least I know I am. goob Growing Apart in America I believe that people right now are indeed acting as they are because they distrust society. The article reiterates again and again that American institutions have failed us during times of need, whether it be during the COVID-19 pandemic or through police brutality. As Vallier states in the article, “trust levels are a reflection of the moral condition of a nation at any given time.” After we have realized the lack of rightful initiative by our government during several crises, such as the Iraq War and the election of Donald Trump, many of us have become explosively distrustful of our society. Furthermore, several groups of America’s marginalized groups, such as Black Americans, the working poor, and young people have the most distrust in our society as a result of what they’ve experienced in our country. How are they supposed to rely on each other and America overall when they’ve been let down time and time again economically, socially, and even physically? Thus, it is hard to determine whether our nation will ever become as cohesive as it once was during the 1900’s. Based on these reasons, we are indeed living through a decline. Not only do we ourselves fail to trust those around us, there is no faith in our institutions to successfully run our nation. In 2014, a social survey from the University of Chicago found that “only 30.3% of Americans agreed that ‘most people can be trusted’.” This statistic is quite alarming. The current lives of Americans today are filled with instability, whether it is constantly questioning what others think of them, finding our own identity, or even trusting the leaders in main American organizations. This growing suspicion especially among Gen Z, coupled with the many examples that the American government often fails to do the right thing, are the main reasons why I believe our nation is living through a decline. Having trust is the core of a successful nation, which is what we desperately lack as of right now. In response to @leafinthewind, I do agree that “A lot of people today have very low expectations of others and that’s really sad”. The majority of modern citizens are unable to rely on each other because of the focus on individualism and also major failures of our institutions. It is difficult to trust each other when we as a nation ignored our opportunity to come together during the pandemic. It is because of this distrust that many of us are afraid to take risks, since we prefer to seize the blanket of security in whatever situation possible. Honestly, I don’t believe that “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” for a second. Sure, we’ve had some great achievements in the past and are prominent economically , but we as a society are failing right now. Our values might be the opposite of the mindset of the Baby Boomer generation, rather focusing on social justice and equality, but our inability to work together as a nation suggests the contrary. We have failed to put our community first, since we have been so used to merely looking out for ourselves. For instance, Americans were extremely lenient and did not take the severity of the pandemic seriously. Instead, on June 20, “500,000 people went to reopened bars and nightspots in Los Angeles County alone.” We prioritized personal freedom over the collective safety of our nation, hence making the statement that “the United States is the greatest nation in the world” invalid. I do believe that I grew up in, as Brooks argues, “the age of disappointment”. The news has become a constant bearer of tragedy, whether it is relaying the events of police brutality, school shootings, or the negative effects of social media. I myself don’t think I’ve seen the benefits of the globalized economy, but rather the divisions of classes it has resulted in. My generation was raised as witnesses to the privileged remaining privileged, the constant comparisons to each other, and various events depicting the systemic racism that is prevalent in our country today. Instead of security, we are surrounded by fear and chaos. In response to Yuval Levin’s statement, I agree with his claims. High-trust areas, such as Sweden or China, have citizens who trust each other and uphold a shared moral understanding in their respective societies. Since their institutions were fast to respond to crises such as the pandemic, they have no reason to distrust their government and those around them. As a result, they tend to think of responding as a community instead of as individuals. However, in lower-trust areas, the lack of initiative by their institutions fosters growing distrust and lack of security among the people. Hence, these people feel alienated because they are not protected by the government of the very country they live in, leaving them to think that “they’re failing us” instead of thinking as a collective. As I’ve mentioned before, these ideas relate to COVID and the killing of George Floyd because they exemplify the failure of our institutions to rightfully act. Our administration failed to take the severity of the pandemic seriously and we the people have also stopped prioritizing the health of the community. Americans are left with the mindset that “everyone must fend for themselves”. Also, the killing of George Floyd escalated these moral convulsions, as it was the final straw in exposing our corrupt government. How are we supposed to trust these institutions to rightly lead our people if these same organizations are failing to protect its citizens and indict those who have committed an obvious crime? As a result, such events have bred immense fear among Americans, further feeding into the distrust and chaos that is currently present in our nation. muumihalit Boston , MA, US Hopefully a Pivot, And Not a Decline I think people distrust society right now because of the constant flow of news of violence and injustice. I believe people are trying to change and improve society because they think it has many faults. I agree with @yelloworchids that we are at the border of a pivot and a decline. A pivot because of the traction many movements are gaining, but a possible decline depending on what leaders and government decide to do about certain issues: for example is COVID-19 going to kill thousands more people or will the government adopt a model to prevent this? Will the government legislate laws to protect Black Americans and end police violence, or will they ignore the injustices occurring? Like @yelloworchids said, our division could also contribute to our decline. I agree with this, as America seems to be becoming increasingly divided, both in politics and views, but also in general society: we live in an individualistic meritocracy where you are supposed to work on your own, for the benefit of yourself only, instead of having a community or system to help you. When I hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world”, I think that we have to stop putting ourselves above others. We may have some features that are better than other countries, but we need to eliminate the attitude that we are the greatest. I think it infringes on our ability to recognize that we still need improvement. America may have been founded on “great” values, but they were not executed in the right way. Although it may have been successful for some, it has grossly failed others. @20469154661 said “I think about how many of our current political leaders measure greatness in terms of the economy or employment rates”. This is a new idea that I agree with, especially since many politicians seem to prioritize the economy over the people’s well being, for example Donald Trump focusing on the economy instead of the safety of the American people. In terms of the “age of disappointment” I agree that there is a feeling that everywhere you look there is a problem. @yelloworchids said something interesting: “With the prevalence of social media usage in recent years, it’s rather difficult to avoid all of the negativity within our country. The recurring headlines of school shootings, terrorism and targeted hate crimes, have caused the youth of today’s world to become numb to these events that they now consider the norm.” I agree with some of this in that there are so many bad things that we hear about on the news, that something like the hysterectomies in ICE detention centers would have made national headlines in a time unlike this. But now it’s just another exposed atrocity of America, which are too numerous that it wasn’t as shocking. I agree that when there is higher trust, people have more faith in systems and continuously want to improve them, while when there is lower trust, as government and systems constantly fail people, they begin to think of themselves as separate from authority. I think many people now see themselves as separate from the government because of the handling of COVID, which they oppose, but I also agree with @JGV that it is the fault of everyone that put themselves before others, in addition to the administration’s handling of the virus. I think lots of Americans are fearful now, especially with the election so soon. Because so much is at stake with this election - how COVID will be dealt with, will marginalized peoples continue to have rights? One thing I was shocked at from the article was that “Half of all Fox News viewers believe that Bill Gates is plotting a mass-vaccination campaign so he can track people”, which is an example of how Brooks said that when there is more distrust, people are more likely to believe conspiracy theories. dennis12 Should We Trust our Country? I feel that people are distrusting society now more than ever, including myself because of everything that is happening in our country especially with racial injustices and the pandemic. With the pandemic, there are many people who refuse to wear a mask because they feel it violates their constitutional rights while they are instead risking their lives and other people’s lives. College students are also another factor because a lot of young people refuse to stop partying because they do not care if they get the virus or not since they are so young. With racial injustices, we notice many injustices in our society such as systemic racism and police brutality and we see that justice is not brought to the people who are suffering because of these issues. I agree with @leafinthewind when they say that people are let down when police officers aren’t held accountable to their actions because we are supposed to trust them while they are using violence and commiting horrible crimes including murder. Many people are extremely racist and homophobic and do not believe that people of color and people in the LGBTQ+ community deserve to be treated equally and all of these injustices makes everyone lose our trust in society to support basic human rights and stand against injustices. When Brooks asks “What kind of nation have we become?” I agreed with the question because my generation has grown up during a horrible time in history which requires immediate change but under Trump, this change will not occur. Another question Brooks had asked was “Are we living through a pivot or decline?” and I believe that we are in a mixture of both because with such issues as climate change, I am not sure if we are able to fix the damage we have caused because leaders of our country and many American people have ignored the problem for a long time so I believe that climate change is declining. I believe that with racial injustices we may be at a pivot because people are becoming educated and mad by all the injustices and we demand change. If we continue to use our voices and protest then we might be able to create change but I also believe that we are somewhat in a decline with racial injustices because other people are against Black Lives Matter and take away from this movement, so I believe that we are both at a pivot and decline. This is why I do believe that I have grown up in Brooks “age of disappointment” because people have been fighting for equal rights for a long time and we are finally able to create change while some people do not want change and do not believe that black and white people should be equal and are so hateful towards people of color and it is extremely disappointing. I enjoyed learning about Valentina Koiseva and how she had experienced some horrific events in her life because she grew up during World War Ⅱ and the Holocaust. Valentina had to experience the death of her husband and son which must have been so traumatic and she had to live under a secret identity in order to live free. It is scary to hear testimonies of people who have survived the Holocaust because it was such a horrific event in history where people did not deserve to be killed only because of religion. It is similar to America’s past and present where Black people are killed and discriminated against only because of their skin color. When I hear “the United States is the greatest nation in the world”, I never agree with it although America is more advanced and I am very lucky to be born here but there needs to be change in our country starting with our president.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1734
__label__cc	0.565491	0.434509	Course Syllabi with Links to Readings and Slides David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing Comments on the nature of the US system of schooling, big history, and the craft of writing Category: Education policy Posted in Credentialing, Curriculum, Education policy, History of education, School reform The Chronic Failure of Curriculum Reform Posted on September 16, 2019 September 3, 2019 by David Labaree This post is about an issue I’ve wrestled with for years, namely why reforming schools in the U.S. is so difficult. I eventually wrote a book on the subject, Someone Has to Fail: The Zero-Sum Game of Public Schooling, which was published in 2010. But you may not need to read it if you look at this piece I did for Education Week back in 1999, which later appeared in a book called Lessons of a Century. Here’s a link to the original. Education Week Commentary By David F. Labaree One thing we have learned from examining the history of curriculum in the 20th century is that curriculum reform has had remarkably little effect on the character of teaching and learning in American classrooms. As the century draws to a close, it seems like a good time to think about why this has been the case. The failure of curriculum reform was certainly not the result of a lack of effort. At various times during the last 100 years, reformers have: issued high-visibility reports proposing dramatic changes in the curriculum (Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education in 1918, A Nation at Risk in 1983); created whole new subject areas (social studies, vocational education, special education); sought to reorganize the curriculum around a variety of new principles (ability grouping, the project method, life adjustment, back to basics, inclusion, critical thinking); and launched movements to reinvent particular subjects (“New Math,” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics math, phonics, whole language). In spite of all these reform efforts, the basic character of the curriculum that is practiced in American classrooms is strikingly similar to the form that predominated in the early part of the century. As before, the curriculum continues to revolve around traditional academic subjects–which we cut off from practical everyday knowledge, teach in relative isolation from one another, differentiate by ability, sequence by age, ground in textbooks, and deliver in a teacher-centered classroom. So much effort and so little result. How can we understand this problem? For starters, we can recognize that curriculum means different things at different levels in the educational system, and that curriculum reform has had the greatest impact at the level most remote from teaching and learning in the classroom. Starting at the top of the system and moving toward the bottom, there is the rhetorical curriculum (ideas put forward by educational leaders, policymakers, and professors about what curriculum should be, as embodied in reports, speeches, and college texts), the formal curriculum (written curriculum policies put in place by school districts and embodied in curriculum guides and textbooks), the curriculum-in-use (the content that teachers actually teach in individual classrooms), and the received curriculum (the content that students actually learn in these classrooms). Each wave of reform dramatically transforms the rhetorical curriculum, by changing the way educational leaders talk about the subject. This gives the feeling that something is really happening, but most often it’s not. Sometimes the reform moves beyond this stage and begins to shape the formal curriculum, getting translated into district-level curriculum frameworks and the textbooks approved for classroom use. Yet this degree of penetration does not guarantee that reform ideas will have an observable effect on the curriculum-in-use. More often than not, teachers respond to reform rhetoric and local curriculum mandates by making only marginal changes in the way they teach subjects. They may come to talk about their practice using the new reform language, but only rarely do they make dramatic changes in their own curriculum practice. And even the rare cases when teachers bring their teaching in line with curriculum reform do not necessarily produce a substantial change in the received curriculum. What students learn is frequently quite different from what the reformers intended. For as curriculum-reform initiatives trickle down from the top to the bottom of the educational system, their power and coherence dissipate, with the result that student learning is likely to show few signs of the outcomes promoted by the original reform rhetoric. As David B. Tyack and Larry Cuban show in their book Tinkering Toward Utopia, the dominant pattern is one of recurring waves of reform rhetoric combined with glacial change in educational practice. Why has this pattern persisted for so long? Consider a few enduring characteristics of American education that have undermined the impact of curriculum reform on teaching and learning. Conflicting Goals: One factor is conflict over the goals of education itself. Different curriculum reforms embody different goals. Some promote democratic equality, by seeking to provide all children with the skills and knowledge they will need to function as competent citizens. Others promote social efficiency, by seeking to provide different groups of children with the specific skills they need in order to be productive in the different kinds of jobs required in a complex economy. Still others promote social mobility, by providing individual students with educational advantages in the competition for the best social positions. One result is that reform efforts over time produce a pendulum swing between alternative conceptions of what children need to learn, leading to a sense that reform is both chronic (“steady work,” as Richard Elmore and Milbrey McLaughlin put it) and cyclical (the here-we-go-again phenomenon). Another result is the compromise structure of the curriculum itself, which embodies contradictory purposes and therefore is unable to accomplish any one of these purposes with any degree of effectiveness (the familiar sense of schools as trying to do too much while accomplishing too little). Credentialing Over Learning: From the perspective of the social-mobility goal, the point of education is not to learn the curriculum but to accumulate the grades, credits, and degrees that provide an edge in competing for jobs. So when this goal begins to play an increasingly dominant role in shaping education–which has been the case during the 20th century in the United States–curriculum reforms come to focus more on sorting and selecting students and less on enhancing learning, more on form than substance. This turns curriculum into a set of labels for differentiating students rather than a body of knowledge that all children should be expected to master, and it erects a significant barrier to any curriculum reforms that take learning seriously. A Curriculum That Works: Another factor that undermines efforts to reform the curriculum is the comfortable sense among influential people that the current course of study in schools works reasonably well. Middle- and upper-middle-class families have little reason to complain. After graduation, their children for the most part go on to find attractive jobs and live comfortable lives. Judging from these results, schools must be providing these students with an adequate fund of knowledge and skills, so they have little reason to push for curriculum reform as a top priority. In fact, such changes may pose a threat to the social success of these children by changing the rules of the game–introducing learning criteria that they may not be able to meet (such as through performance testing), or eliminating curriculum options that provide special advantage (such as the gifted program). Meanwhile, families at the lower end of the social-class system, who have less reason to be happy about the social consequences of schooling, are not in a powerful position to push for reform. Preserving the Curriculum of a Real School: Curriculum reform can spur significant opposition from people at all levels of society if it appears to change one of the fundamental characteristics of what Mary Metz calls “real school.” Since all of us have extensive experience as students in school, we all have a strong sense of what makes up a school curriculum. To a significant extent, this curriculum is made up of the elements I mentioned earlier: academic subjects, which are cut off from practical everyday knowledge, taught in relative isolation from one another, stratified by ability, sequenced by age, grounded in textbooks, and delivered in a teacher-centered classroom. If this is our sense of what curriculum is like in a real school, then we are likely to object to any reforms that make substantial changes in any of these defining elements. This shared cultural understanding of the school curriculum exerts a profoundly conservative influence, by blocking program innovations even if they enhance learning and by providing legitimacy for programs that fit the traditional model even if they deter learning. Preserving Real Teaching: This conservative view of the curriculum is also frequently shared by teachers. Prospective teachers spend an extended “apprenticeship of observation” (in Dan Lortie’s phrase) as students in the K-12 classroom, during which they observe teaching from the little seats and become imprinted with a detailed picture of what the teacher’s curriculum-in-use looks like. They can’t see the reasons that motivate the teacher’s curriculum choices. All they can see is the process, the routines, the forms. So it is not surprising that they bring to their own teaching a sense of curriculum that is defined by textbooks, disconnected categories of knowledge, and academic exercises. Teacher-preparation programs often try to offset the legacy of this apprenticeship by promoting the latest in curriculum-reform perspectives, but they are up against a massive accumulation of experience and sense impression that works to preserve the traditional curriculum. Organizational Convenience: The traditional curriculum also persists in the face of curriculum-reform efforts because this curriculum is organizationally convenient for both teachers and administrators. It is convenient to focus on academic subjects, which are aligned with university disciplines, thus simplifying teacher preparation. It is convenient to have a curriculum that is differentiated, which allows teachers to specialize. It is convenient to stratify studies by ability and age, which facilitates classroom management by allowing teachers to teach to the whole class at one level rather than adapt the curriculum to the individual needs of learners. It is convenient to ground teaching in textbooks, which reduce the demands on teacher expertise while also reducing the time commitment required for a teacher to develop her own curriculum materials. And it is convenient to run a teacher-centered classroom, which reinforces the teacher’s control and which also simplifies curriculum planning and student monitoring. Curriculum-reform efforts are hard to sell and even more difficult to sustain if they can only succeed if teachers have special capacities, such as: extraordinary subject-matter expertise; the time, will, and skill required to develop their own curriculum materials; the ability to teach widely divergent students effectively; and the ability to maintain control over these students while allowing them freedom to learn on their own. Loose Coupling of School Systems: Another factor that undercuts the effectiveness of curriculum reform is the loosely coupled nature of American school systems. School administrators exert a lot of control over such matters as personnel, budgets, schedules, and supplies, but they have remarkably little control over the actual process of instruction. In part, this is because teaching takes place behind closed doors, which means that only individual teachers really know the exact nature of the curriculum-in-use in their own classrooms. But in part, this is because administrators have little power to make teachers toe the line instructionally. Most managers can influence employee performance on the job by manipulating traditional mechanisms of fear and greed: Cross me and you’re fired; do the job the way I want, and I’ll offer you a promotion and a pay increase. School administrators can fire teachers only with the greatest difficulty, and pay levels are based on years of service and graduate credits, not job performance. The result is that teachers have considerably more autonomy in the way they perform their fundamental functions than do most employees. And this autonomy makes it hard for administrators to ensure that the formal curriculum becomes the curriculum-in-use in district classrooms. Adaptability of the School System: Curriculum reform is also difficult to bring about because of another organizational characteristic of the American educational system: its adaptability. As Philip Cusick has shown, the system has a genius for incorporating curriculum change without fundamental reorganization. This happens in two related ways–formalism and segmentation. One is the way that teachers adopt the language and the feel of a reform effort without altering the basic way they do things. The system is flexible about adopting curriculum forms as long as this doesn’t challenge the basic structure of curriculum practice. The other way is inherent in the segmented structure of the school curriculum. The differentiation of subjects frees schools to adopt new programs and courses by the simple process of addition. They can always tack on another segment in the already fragmented curriculum, because these additions require no fundamental restructuring of programs. For this reason, schools are quite tolerant of programs and courses that have contradictory goals. Live and let live is the motto. By abandoning any commitment to coherence of curriculum and compatibility of purpose, schools are able to incorporate new initiatives without forcing collateral changes. The result is that schools appear open to reform while effectively resisting real change. Weak Link Between Teaching and Learning: Finally, let me return to the problem that faces any curriculum-reform effort in the last analysis, and that is trying to line up the received curriculum with the curriculum-in-use. The problem we confront here is the irreducible weakness of the link between teaching and learning. Even if teachers, against considerable odds, were to transform the curriculum they use in their classrooms to bring it in line with a reform effort, there is little to reassure us that the students in these classes would learn what the reform curriculum was supposed to convey. Students, after all, are willful actors who learn only what they choose to learn. Teachers can’t make learning happen; they can only create circumstances that are conducive to learning. Students may indeed choose to learn what is taught, they may also choose to learn something quite different, or they may decide to resist learning altogether. And their willingness to cooperate in the learning process is complicated further by the fact that they are present in the classroom under duress. The law says they have to attend school until they are 16 years old; the job market pressures them to stay in school even longer than that. But these forces guarantee only attendance, not engagement in the learning process. So this last crucial step in the chain of curriculum reform may be the most difficult one to accomplish in a reliable and predictable manner, since curriculum reform means nothing unless learning undergoes reform as well. For all the reasons spelled out here, curriculum-reform movements over the course of the 20th century have produced a lot of activity but not very much real change in the curriculum that teachers use in classrooms or in the learning that students accomplish in these classrooms. But isn’t there reason to think that the situation I have described is now undergoing fundamental change? That real curriculum reform may now be on the horizon? We currently have a substantial movement to set firm curriculum standards, one that is coming at us from all sides. Presidents Bush and Clinton have pushed in this direction; state departments of education are establishing curriculum frameworks for all the districts under their jurisdiction; and individual subject-matter groups have been working out their own sets of standards. This is something new in American educational history. And combined with the standards movement is a movement for systematic testing of what students know–particularly at the state level, but also at the local and federal levels. If in fact we are moving in the direction of a system in which high-stakes tests determine whether students have learned the material required by curriculum standards, this could bring about a more profound level of curriculum reform than we have ever before experienced. Isn’t that right? Not necessarily. The move toward standards and testing would affect only one or two elements in the long list of factors that impede curriculum reform. If this movement is successful–which is a big if–it would indeed help tighten the links in a system of education that has long been loosely coupled. It might also have an impact on the problem of student motivation, by convincing at least some students (those who see the potential occupational benefit of education) that they need to study the curriculum in order to graduate and get a good job. But this movement has already run into substantial resistance from religious conservatives and supporters of school choice, and it goes against the grain of the deep-seated American tradition of local control of education. In addition, I don’t see how it would have a serious impact on any of the other factors that have for so long deflected efforts to reform the curriculum. Conflicting goals, the power of credentialing over learning, keeping a system that works, preserving the curriculum of the real school, organizational convenience, and system adaptability–all of these elements would be largely unaffected by the current initiatives for standards and testing. The history of reform during the 20th century thus leaves us with a sobering conclusion: The American educational system seems likely to continue resisting efforts to transform the curriculum. David F. Labaree, a professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, is the author of How To Succeed in School Without Really Learning and The Making of an American High School, both published by Yale University Press. Vol. 18, Issue 36, Pages 42-44 Published in Print: May 19, 1999, as The Chronic Failure of Curriculum Reform Posted in Education policy, Progressivism, School reform How Dewey Lost Posted on September 2, 2019 August 21, 2019 by David Labaree This week’s post is a piece I presented at a conference in Switzerland and then published in an obscure book in 2010. Here’s the original version. It’s a story about the contest for dominance in US education in the early 20th century between pedagogical and administrative progressivism, between John Dewey and a collection of figures such as Thorndike and Cubberley. It’s about why, although Dewey may have won the heart of educators, he lost the fight for control of the structure and function of public schooling. It focuses in particular on one of the strangest and most loathsome characters in the history of American education, David Snedden. Consider two implications of this analysis. First, coarseness is an advantage in the contest of competing ideas for school reform. Dewey’s vision of progressive education – child-centered, inquiry based, personally engaging, and socially just – is a hothouse flower trying to survive in the stony environment of public education. It won’t thrive unless conditions are ideal, since, among other things, it requires committed, creative, energetic, and highly educated teachers, who are willing and able to construct education to order for students in the classroom; and it requires broad public and fiscal support for education as an investment in students rather than an investment in economic productivity. But the administrative progressive vision of education – as a prudent investment in a socially efficient future – is a weed. It will grow almost anywhere. Erratic funding, poorly prepared teachers, high turnover, dated textbooks – all of these may impede the socially efficient outcomes of education, but they do not prevent reformers from putting in place the central structure of social efficiency in the school system: a tracked curriculum organized around the idea of education for work. The weed of social efficiency grows under difficult conditions because its primary goal is to be useful in the narrowest sense of the term: it aims for survival rather than beauty. But Dewey’s vision of education defines success in the richness of learning that is experienced by the child, and this is not possible without the proper cultivation. A second implication is this: Winning ideas for social reform disappear from view and their authors are forgotten, whereas losing ideas and their authors remain visible. For example, one winning idea in the history of school reform is the age-graded self-contained classroom, which was a radical innovation of the common school movement in the U.S. but which quickly disappeared into the grammar of schooling to the point where it now seems to us utterly natural. How else could school be organized? Since it is part of the way things are, this reform’s originators and their vision are now forgotten. The same is true with education for social efficiency. This has become part of the common sense understanding of what education is all about, so it is now detached from its original proponents, people like Snedden and Kingsley and Prosser. We do not identify them as authors of this vision of education any more than we identify authors of natural laws, since these laws are not inventions but descriptions of the way things are. It would be like asking, who invented gravity? Meanwhile, however, losing ideas and their proponents both remain visible. Child-centered progressivism is still standing outside the walls of the school trying to break in, so it continues to define itself in opposition to the way things are in schools, and it continues to call on Dewey’s name for support. In some ways, then, Dewey’s undiminished prominence in the realm of educational ideas is a sign of his failure in changing American schools, and Snedden’s anonymity is a sign of his success. How Dewey Lost: The Victory of David Snedden and Social Efficiency in the Reform of American Education David F. Labaree In a book about the role of pragmatism in modernization, this paper provides a look at one alternative set of ideas – social efficiency – which competed quite successfully with John Dewey’s pragmatic vision for the heart of American education. I approach this analysis as a sociologically oriented historian rather than as a philosopher. From this perspective, the contest over competing visions of schooling is not judged according to the rules that govern formal debate, such as rigorous logic and solid evidence. Instead, reform ideas win or lose according to the way they resonate with a particular social context, attract or repel particular constituencies, and respond to the social problems that are seen as most salient at the time. Ironically, the most successful reform ideas, as they become part of the natural landscape of schooling, tend to lose their connection to the original author and to disappear from view. In contrast, losing ideas tend to remain identified with their creator and preserve their visibility, precisely because they are still outside the walls of the school trying to find a way in. In this chapter I explore a particular debate in the history of American education that demonstrates some of these characteristics of educational ideas in school reform. Along the way, this analysis tries to sort out why Dewey, America’s most enduringly visible educational thinker, has had so little impact on the way schools work. In 1977, the American academic journal Curriculum Inquiry devoted most of its spring issue to a debate about liberal and vocational education between John Dewey and David Snedden that took place 60 years earlier. The issue included Snedden’s 1914 speech on the subject to the National Education Association and a series of pieces that were published The New Republic in the following year, including two articles by Dewey, Snedden’s response, and Dewey’s counter; Walter H. Drost, Snedden’s biographer, provided an analysis of the issues in the debate. If readers of the journal were wondering why it was devoting all this space to the subject, an editorial explained that the concerns raised on both sides of the debate were emerging once again in the 1970s with the discussion of the latest incarnation of vocationalism known as “career education.” To the contemporary eye, however, this does not look like much of a debate. Dewey is arguably America’s greatest philosopher, educational thinker, and public intellectual, whereas Snedden is now largely forgotten. As the latter’s biographer, Drost needed to revive the debate with Dewey in order to introduce Snedden to a modern audience and establish him as a once credible figure in the field. And when we read the debate today, Snedden’s ideas come across as educationally narrow, politically conservative, and just plain odd. He argued that “social economy” called for a system of vocational education that prepares the “rank and file” to become efficient “producers,” asserting that this form of schooling needs to be separated from liberal education, which – although its purposes “are as yet shrouded in the clouds of mysticism” – may still be useful for those who are going to be “utilizers.” In contrast, Dewey’s ideas seem to resonate better with current political, social, and educational thinking. He charged that Snedden’s system of “narrow trade training” leads to “social predestination” and argued instead for a broad vision of vocational education that has “as its supreme regard the development of such intelligent initiative, ingenuity and executive capacity as shall make workers, as far as may be, the masters of their own industrial fate.” Dewey had the last word in the debate in The New Republic, and reading both sides today, he comes away from the exchange as the clear winner on points. But if Dewey won the debate, it was Snedden who won the fight to set the broader aims of American education in the twentieth century. The debate was followed quickly by two events that set the tone for educational system for the next 100 years – the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act (1917), establishing a federal program of support for vocational education, and the issuance of the NEA report, Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (1918). Both documents reflected key elements of the social efficiency vision that Snedden espoused and Dewey detested, a vision that has characterized schooling in the U.S. ever since. In this chapter I seek to answer the question: How could someone as utterly forgettable as David Snedden trounce the great John Dewey in the contest to define the shape and purpose of American education? Drost is circumspect in judging his subject, but two reviewers of his biography of Snedden are less cautious in assessing the educator’s stature. Willis Rudy put it this way: “David Snedden, professor of educational administration, emerges from these pages as the very prototype of the stock pedagogue-philistine figure of modern times, half-educated, anti-intellectual, instinctively hostile to humanistic culture.”[1] Robert L. Church reviewed the Drost book in conjunction with a biography of Edward L. Thorndike titled The Sane Positivist, and in his view, “If Thorndike was a ‘sane positivist,’ perhaps we should brand David Snedden an ‘insane’ one.”[2] I begin with a review of the major issues in Snedden’s debate with Dewey. Then I examine Snedden’s career in the context of the larger educational reform movement for social efficiency and his growing marginalization just at the point when this movement emerged triumphant. Since he is the unfamiliar character in the story, I focus my attention primarily on him rather than the world-famous Dewey. Finally, I explore what we can learn about the history of school reform in the U.S. from the short-lived fame and lasting impact of a figure like Snedden. I close with an analysis of why ideas like Dewey’s have more impact on educational thought than educational practice, and why the ideas of a figure like Snedden can win and then disappear into the grammar of schooling, leaving the author largely forgotten. The Snedden-Dewey Debate The exchange in The New Republic was triggered by an earlier debate about the meaning of liberal and vocational education which took place between Snedden and William C. Bagley at the annual meeting of the National Education Association. At that point (July, 1914) Snedden was Commissioner of Education for Massachusetts, while Bagley was a professor of education at University of Illinois. Snedden began his speech stating that the world was changing and education must change with it. Under these conditions, we could no longer rely on a general or liberal education, which was grounded in custom and a prescientific belief in its usefulness that bordered on “mysticism.” Instead, he said, the public demanded a scientific form of vocational education. The difference between the two is that a vocational education prepares people to be producers while a liberal education prepares them to be “utilizers” of what others produce.[3] For students in the younger grades, a more efficient form of liberal education is appropriate, and this is also true for a small number of older students “who have the time and the inclination” (the future utilizers). But for the large majority of students between the ages of 14 and 20 (those who will become producers), the focus should be on vocational education. Since the purposes of vocational education differ greatly from those of liberal education, so too must the organizational form and curriculum content. Vocational preparation needs to take place in separate schools, which “must, to a large extent, reproduce practical processes, must give the pupil many hours of each working day in actual practical work, and must closely correlate theoretical instruction to this practical work.” As a result, “The vocational school should divest itself as completely as possible of the academic atmosphere, and should reproduce as fully as possible the atmosphere of economic endeavor in the field for which it trains.” In addition, “the pedagogical methods to be employed must be those involving concentration, painstaking application to detail, and continuity of purpose,” and these need to be precisely tailored to the skill demands of each occupational specialty.[4] In his response, Bagley rejected both Snedden’s diagnosis of the problem with education and his prescription for a cure. He defended traditional liberal education against the charges made by his opponent, arguing that “The evidence for these sweeping indictments has, as far as I know, never been presented,”[5] and he asserted that Snedden’s distinction between education for production and utilization merely reproduced the old discredited distinction between education for gentlemen of leisure and education for workers. At the end he warned about “the danger of social stratification…inherent in separate vocational schools.”[6] Dewey, who was working on Democracy and Education at the time, felt the need to develop his own response to Snedden, one that did not incorporate Bagley’s academic essentialism, his defense of traditional liberal education, and his suspicion of all kinds of progressive educational reform. So he wrote a series of two articles for The New Republic on industrial education. The discussion, which never referred to Snedden by name, was relatively mild and indirect, including a long and opaque discussion of a law promoting vocational education in Indiana. He made two main arguments against the vision of vocationalism promoted by people like Snedden: this form of education was politically slanted toward the interests of manufacturers, and it was impractical in application. Noting that, though manufacturers had long provided special skill training to their employees, It is natural that employers should be desirous of shifting the burden of their preparation to the public tax-levy. There is every reason why the community should not permit them to do so…. [E]very ground of public policy protests against any use of the public school system which takes for granted the perpetuity of the existing industrial regime, and whose inevitable effect is to perpetuate it, with all its antagonisms of employers and employed, producer and consumer.”[7] In addition he noted that the very factors that led to the destruction of the apprenticeship system – particularly “the mobility of the laboring population from one mode of machine work to another”[8] – would also make vocational training in specific job skills impractical. Snedden wrote a long letter in response to Dewey’s argument, which was published in May of 1915, three months after Dewey’s second article. He sounded a bit puzzled and hurt to find Dewey disagreeing with him. We have…reconciled ourselves to the endless misrepresentations of numerous reactionaries and of the beneficiaries of vested educational interests and traditions. But to find Dr. Dewey apparently giving aid and comfort to the opponents of a broader, richer and more effective program of education, and apparently misapprehending the motives of many of those who advocate the extension of vocational education in schools designed for that purpose, is discouraging.[9] Following a pattern he used throughout his career when he encountered opposition to his proposals, he responded by patiently repeating his points and redefining concepts in his own terms without ever engaging the more fundamental critiques of his opponent. Ignoring Dewey’s point about the social functions of vocational education in a capitalist economy, he restated his own view, that “Vocational education is, irreducibly and without unnecessary mystification, education for the pursuit of an occupation.”[10] He went on to say: “Now, many of us have been forced, and often reluctantly, to the conclusion that if we are to have vocational education for the rank and file of our youth as well as for the favored classes, we shall be obliged to provide special vocational schools for this purpose….”[11] Dewey’s reply was uncharacteristically blunt and forceful in rejecting Snedden’s arguments, as he deepened and clarified his own vision of vocationalism. It is worth quoting at length, since it defines the stark contrast between the two visions, a contrast that he saw much more clearly than his befuddled opponent. I would go farther than he is apparently willing to go in holding that education should be vocational, but in the name of a genuinely vocational education I object to the identification of vocation with such trades as can be learned before the age of, say, eighteen or twenty; and to the identification of education with acquisition of specialized skill in the management of machines at the expense of an industrial intelligence based on science and a knowledge of social problems and conditions. I object to regarding as vocational education any training which does not have as its supreme regard the development of such intelligent initiative, ingenuity and executive capacity as shall make workers, as far as may be, the masters of their own industrial fate. I have my doubts about theological predestination, but at all events that dogma assigned predestinating power to an omniscient being; and I am utterly opposed to giving the power of social predestination, by means of narrow trade-training, to any group of fallible men, no matter how well intentioned they may be…. Dr. Snedden’s criticisms of my articles seem to me couched in such general terms as not to touch their specific contentions. I argued that a separation of trade education and general education of youth has the inevitable tendency to make both kinds of training narrower, less significant and less effective than the schooling in which the material of traditional education is reorganized to utilize the industrial subject matter – active, scientific and social – of the present-day environment. Dr. Snedden would come nearer to meeting my points if he would indicate how such a separation is going to make education “broader, richer and more effective”…. Apart from light on such specific questions, I am regretfully forced to the conclusion that the difference between us is not so much narrowly educational as it is profoundly political and social. The kind of vocational education in which I am interested is not one which will “adapt” workers to the existing industrial regime; I am not sufficiently in love with the regime for that. It seems to me that the business of all who would not be educational time-servers is to resist every move in this direction, and to strive for a kind of vocational education which will first alter the existing industrial system, and ultimately transform it.[12] Understandably, perhaps, Snedden never responded to this final blast, so Dewey had the last word in the debate. His statement remains to this day the most insightful and compelling critique of the social efficiency movement. But Dewey’s rejoinder had no apparent effect on Snedden, who continued making the same case for a socially efficient and vocationally useful form of education throughout the 1920s and 30s, the only difference being that his arguments grew increasingly extreme and his influence within education grew increasingly weak. More significantly, however, Dewey’s critique of social efficiency also had no significant effect on the direction of American public education, which by the early 1920s was lining up solidly behind the social efficiency vision. Herbert Kliebard put it this way, in commenting on the long-term outcome of the debate, “Needless to say, Snedden’s version with its emphasis on occupational skill training was the ultimate victor in terms of what vocational education became, while Dewey’s ‘industrial intelligence’ in the sense of an acute awareness of what makes an industrial society tick is almost nowhere to be found.”[13] In short, the administrative progressive vision of David Snedden, with its focus on social efficiency and educational utility, defeated the alternative progressive vision of John Dewey, with its focus on social justice and educational engagement. David Snedden and Education for Social Efficiency Walter Drost captures the central story of Snedden’s career in the title of his biography of the man, David Snedden and Education for Social Efficiency.[14] In this section I sketch the course of Snedden’s career as the prime proponent of social efficiency. Born in 1868, Snedden grew up on a modest ranch in northern California, where he helped herd cattle and was educated in a one-room log schoolhouse. He attended St. Vincent’s college in Los Angeles (later Loyola University) and took a position as an elementary teacher in 1889. In short order he became an elementary principal and then high school principal before quitting to pursue a second bachelor’s degree in education at Stanford University in 1895 (just four years after Stanford opened). Upon graduating two years later, he took a position as a high school principal and superintendent in Paso Robles, California. In 1900 he addressed the Stanford Alumni Association and sufficiently impressed President David Starr Jordan that the latter offered to hire him as a professor of education if he would first earn a master’s degree. He did so at Teachers College and then returned to teach at Stanford until 1905, when he went back to TC to pursue a doctorate. Snedden’s interest in education for social efficiency appeared quite early in his career. As a teacher in the early 1890s, he avidly read the works of Herbert Spencer, which he acknowledged in his memoirs as having “laid the groundwork for [his] subsequent thinking.”[15] As a student at Stanford, his strongest connection was with Edward A. Ross, a sociologist who at the time was developing the ideas for his most influential book, published in 1900, called Social Control. From these two thinkers, he drew a rather literal understanding of their central constructs – social Darwinism and social control – which shaped all of his later work as an educational reformer. Two early pieces of writing in particular show these influences and set the tone for his later work: his 1900 speech at Stanford and his 1906 doctoral dissertation at Teachers College. His address to the alumni was titled, “The Schools of the Rank and File.” As he told the audience, he wanted to talk with them about public education. I want especially to consider that education as it affects the rank and file of society; for it we are right in thinking that training for leadership will largely become the function of the university, it still remains true that the most careful consideration must be given to those who will do duty in the ranks, who will follow, not lead.[16] Noting that the rapid expansion of the high school at the start of the twentieth century meant that it “has ceased to be for the leisure class alone,” he went on to explain what character this evolving institution should now assume. “And in the nature of our civilization to-day there are the strongest reasons why the system of public education should increasingly continue to absorb, not only training for culture’s sake, but that utilitarian training which looks to individual efficiency in the world of work.”[17] If this was the direction the high school should head, then the curriculum would need a complete transformation. Instead of focusing on the classics, the new foundation of education would be vocational training for the many instead of an education in high culture for the few. In this new educational order, traditional school pursuits – such as the study of classical languages, math, science, and English literature – were no long useful for most students. While acknowledging that “these subjects may represent the best preparation for higher education,” he concludes that “the demand is general for education more nearly related to the necessities of active life, and, as far as the ordinary ranks of society are concerned, I am unable to see that the demand is a mistaken one.”[18] This speech launched Snedden’s career as an educational reformer and education professor, winning him a job on the Stanford faculty and the opportunity to pursue a doctorate at Teachers College. He completed his doctoral program in 12 months (this was common at the time, but it does resonate with Willis’s depiction of him as “half-educated”), after writing a dissertation on juvenile reform schools. If his Stanford speech worked out the social efficiency theme in his future work, the dissertation connected that with the social control theme. For Snedden did not see reform schools as a marginal educational enterprise for delinquent youth; instead, he saw them as a model for the new schools of the rank and file. Unlike traditional schools, reform schools focused on a troubled subset of the population rather than the heterogeneous whole; they provided targeted training in particular occupational skills for these students rather than a general liberal education; they did so in a highly structured manner, based on scientific placement in the right program; and their educational process emphasized the discipline of the workplace. If only schools in general would adopt this mix of differentiated vocational skill training and social discipline. His dissertation won him an appointment at Teachers College as adjunct professor of educational administration, which he held until 1909 when he assumed the newly created position as Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts. This was the role that brought Snedden to national prominence as an educational reformer. He came in with a strong mandate to create a separate system of vocational schools in the state, following on the recommendation of the Douglas Commission, and he pursued this goal with zeal. Snedden immediately hired his former student at Teachers College, Charles A. Prosser, as deputy commissioner for industrial education. Like Snedden, Prosser was a former superintendent with no experience in vocational education, but that did not deter the two of them from pushing hard to establish the kind of distinctive vocational schools that Snedden had been arguing for, unburdened by the traditional baggage of general liberal education and unattached to regular high schools. Once his career was launched by Snedden, Prosser became a leading figure in the administrative progressives, serving as the national high priest of American vocational education. In 1912, he resigned his post in Massachusetts to become the full-time executive director of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education (NSPIE). He almost single-handedly wrote the landmark federal legislation that established the aims and funding for a national system of vocational education, the Smith-Hughes Act (1917), and he served as the first executive director of the new Federal Board of Vocational Education. He spent the remainder of his career as the director of the Dunwoody Institute in Minneapolis, a privately funded vocational school designed to be a model for the rest of the country.[19] As Commissioner, Snedden appointed another figure who became a national leader of the administrative progressives, Clarence Darwin Kingsley, assigning him in 1912 to be the board’s agent for high schools. Kingsley was a mathematics teacher at the New York Manual Training School who became a leader in the New York High School Teachers Association. He first gained national visibility as the chair of the NEA Committee of Nine on the Articulation of High School and College, and had just been selected as general chair of the NEA Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education (CRSE). Under Snedden’s direction, Kingsley had the opportunity in Massachusetts to apply some of the social efficiency ideas that eventually became embodied in the CRSE’s influential 1918 report, The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. In 1916, a year after his debate with Dewey, Snedden returned to Teachers College as a professor of vocational education and educational sociology, and he remained there until his retirement in 1935. He had been writing and speaking about social efficiency in education during his term as Commissioner, but his productivity went up substantially upon coming back to Teachers College. Over the course of his career, Snedden wrote 25 books. Among his more prominent works were: The Problem of Vocational Education (1910); Problems of Secondary Education (1917); Vocational Education (1920); Educational Sociology (1922); Foundations of Curricula (1927); What’s Wrong with American Education (1927); and Towards Better Educations (1931). In addition, he published a large number of journal articles, at the rate of a half dozen or more per year, most often in Teachers College Record, Journal of Educational Sociology, or School and Society. On top of this, he was a tireless speaker, who spent as many as six days a week speaking to groups of educators about vocational education, social efficiency, and the need for applying science to the construction of effective curriculum. Most of these speeches ended up in print in one of his books or journal articles. As the leader of the social efficiency wing of the progressive movement, Snedden exerted a powerful influence on the reform process in American education. In part this was the result of his energetic efforts to get out the message, both in person and in print. But his effectiveness was the result of more than his energy and productivity. He was also remarkably well placed to exert an impact on schooling. He had the dual credibility that came from being both an accomplished practitioner and a prolific academic. As an experienced teacher, superintendent, and state commissioner, he could speak to other educators as a knowledgeable insider and fellow reformer in the trenches. And as a professor at Teachers College, he occupied the most prominent pulpit in the progressive movement, both wings of which often seemed to be a wholly owned subsidiary of this institution. Most of the notable administrative and child-centered progressives in the first half of the twentieth century either taught at TC or were educated there. In addition, Snedden directly launched the careers of a number of leading administrative progressives, including Prosser and Kingsley, and his acolytes extended well beyond his immediate protégés because of the extensive reach of his teaching, speaking, and writing. The Triumph of Social Efficiency Reform Snedden’s influence came to a peak at the end of World War I, when the administrative progressives produced their two most signal accomplishments – the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917 and the issuance of the Cardinal Principles report in 1918, both written by his own protégés. The Smith-Hughes Act established vocational education as a national force in American education, with federal funding and with a clear definition of vocationalism that matched the social efficiency agenda. As head of the industrial education organization, Prosser wrote the text of the law and ushered it through the political minefields in Washington. Overall, there was close fit between the ideas of Snedden and Prosser and the terms of the Act. Funds only would go to support vocational training classes, leaving states and districts to pick up the cost of general education, and half of the time in vocational classes needed to spent doing “practical work on a useful or productive basis.”[20] Prosser immediately became the first director of the new Federal Board of Vocational Education, and in 1918 Snedden was elected president of the former NSPIE, now renamed the National Society for Vocational Education. What a triumph for the two men most identified with this issue. One year later, the National Education Association’s Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education, which was chaired by Kingsley, issued The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. As we saw in chapter one, the Commission took the central tenets of social efficiency and proposed them as the defining principles for all of American secondary education. These two texts – a federal law and an educational policy document – established the dominance of the social efficiency agenda in American education. Between them they asserted that utility and efficiency were at the heart of the school system, whose primary purpose now was to prepare people to become productive workers, which called for a curriculum that was stratified by the abilities and social trajectories of individual students.[21] A Turning Point in Snedden’s Influence in the Social Efficiency Movement At the moment of greatest triumph for his social efficiency agenda, David Snedden experienced first disappointment and then a gradual decline in his influence. The Smith-Hughes Act was a very close representation of the position that he and Prosser had been taking about vocational education. But there was one annoying way in which it strayed from the party line. In order to gain buy-in from all of the necessary political constituencies, Prosser had to abandon the Snedden mandate for rigid separation between vocational and general education; the Act gave states discretion about whether to combine or separate administration of these two programs. Since the text was so clear in restricting funding to the “practical work” of vocational instruction and since Prosser was the director of the federal agency running the program, this would not seem to have made much of a difference. But still it violated Snedden’s principle of clear separation. The Cardinal Principles Report, however, elevated the mingling of vocational and general education into a defining component of the new secondary education. True, the report was unwavering in its support of the central ideas of social efficiency – it vocationalized the purpose of the high school and marginalized liberal education within this institution – but it came down on the wrong side of the debate about separate schools for vocational and general education. Kingsley and the committee endorsed the principle of the differentiated comprehensive high school, in which students could pursue a variety of curriculum tracks within the same institution. This was too much for Snedden. In 1919 he published a response to the report in the educational journal, School and Society. He started out with some backhanded compliments to Kingsley and the commission for their “partially successful endeavors to find valid aims for secondary education somewhere else…than in some mystic principles of ‘character,’ self-realization,’ or ‘disciplined mind’….”[22] But then he got to the point: “In the estimation of this writer the report almost completely misses the significance of the contemporary movement for the extension of vocational education through schools.”[23] The problem, of course, was the fact that the report endorsed the indiscriminant mingling of vocational and liberal education in the same institution. “Is this to be interpreted as meaning that the committee would ban all public school vocational education that could not conveniently be brought within its ‘comprehensive high school?’” he asked.[24] He then proceeded to repeat his standard rationale for the separate vocational school aimed solely at the preparation of “efficient producers.”[25] In his rejoinder, Kingsley restated a point that was quite apparent in the report: that the Commission was strongly in favor of encouraging vocational education and curriculum differentiation within secondary education. But he made an interesting link between these central educational elements in the reorganized high school and the political need for interaction between students in the different program tracks. He quoted one line from the report that speaks to this directly: “Above all, the greater the differentiation in studies, the more important becomes the social mingling of pupils pursuing different curriculums.” He went on to say, “it holds that the interests of American society are best served when these vocational undertakings are conducted in schools where the public mingle freely with those in other curriculums and where the interrelations of different vocational groups find expression in the school itself.”[26] This exchange shows the nature of the divide that emerged between Snedden and the rest of the administrative progressives with the emergence of the CRSE report and that only widened during the 1920s and 30s. It shows Snedden as the ideologue of social efficiency, insisting on doctrinal purity beyond reason, while people like Kingsley demonstrated more sensitivity to what it would take, both politically and fiscally, actually to implement social efficiency within the American educational system. What Kingsley and others recognized was that the rigidly separate vocational school for the rank and file was simply not going to sell in the politics of American education. For one thing, there was the practical issue that building a separate system of vocational high schools would be prohibitively expensive when there were already high schools that could incorporate the vocational track within their programs. More important, as Kingsley’s response to Snedden demonstrates, he and the other commission members realized that a physical separation between vocational and liberal education students would be politically untenable, since it would look too much like what Snedden explicitly wanted it to be – a way of segregating education by social class into two systems of schools, one for leaders and another for followers. There was simply too much opposition to such an overtly undemocratic form of education, not just from liberals like John Dewey, but more consequentially from the nascent labor movement, which wanted an education that might help workers advance into the skilled crafts but was opposed to a stratified system that would block mobility out of the working class. The vocationalized and tracked comprehensive high school was a compromise institution that both labor and the more realistic administrative progressive leaders could live with. The way the Cardinal Principles report wove together the themes of social efficiency and democracy provided the rhetorical structure for this compromise. It is this approach that allowed the social efficiency strand of the progressive movement to have such a lasting impact on the goals and curricular organization of American education, not Snedden’s adamant insistence on pursuing his own vision of schooling that would make the rank and file into efficient producers. The Emergence of Snedden the Strange By the early 1920s, Snedden was beginning to lose connection with his own movement. Not only was Kingsley going his own way, with great success, but even the vocational educators, his most devoted following, were backing off from him. Drost suggests that the members of the National Society for Vocational Education, who elected him president in 1918 and again in 1919, did so less as a vote of confidence in his ideas than as recognition for his past efforts on behalf of their cause.[27] By then, they were increasingly comfortable with the CRSE’s vision, which normalized vocational education within the comprehensive high school instead of isolating it in the vocational-school ghetto. Since Dewey’s attack, Snedden had been the object of criticism from the child-centered progressives, but now critics were emerging from educational practice as well. In 1921, for example, a New Hampshire school trustee spoke out sharply against a tendency within school reform that he called “Sneddenism.” “’Unskilled minds,’ he said, were being ‘crammed with knowledge of facts and processes’ when ‘trained brains’ were needed, and they alone would find a useful place in society.”[28] If anything, the threat of marginalization spurred Snedden to ever greater feats of speech-making and publication, producing a flood of work that in retrospect made him seem not so much prolific, which he had always been, but incontinent.[29] His central themes remained unchanged from his 1900 “rank and file” speech – this was not a man whose ideas evolved over time – but he expressed these themes in ways that became increasingly extreme and downright strange. The first step in this direction was to take the notion of specialized vocational education into increasingly narrower channels. In his 1920 book, Vocational Education, he argued, again in response to the Cardinal Principles report, that From the psychological point of view there is not the slightest reason why suitably qualified persons should not, through special schools, be trained effectively for such vocations as tailoring, jewelry salesmanship, poultry farming, coal cutting, stationary engine firing, waiting on table (hotel), cutting (in shoe factory), automobile repair, teaching of French in secondary school, mule spinning, power machine operating (for ready made clothing), raisin grape growing, general farming suited to Minnesota, linotype composition, railway telegraphy, autogenous welding, street car motor driving, and a hundred others.[30] From here he moved on to an ever more finely tuned analysis of the elements that would make up a scientifically based and educationally effective curriculum. In the name of science and out of simple oddness, he felt compelled to develop his own terms for the elements of scientific curriculum construction. At the highest level of curriculum planning, he proposed engaging in “strand analysis,” which would disentangle the core elements of adult life and work for curricular purposes. “The typical farmer’s vocation is…capable of being stranded into scores, if not hundreds of operations, processes or activities that recur yearly or even daily. Similar strandings are possible for the vocations of physician, street-car motorman, primary school teacher and the rest.”[31] This stranding would then provide a frame for locating the basic element of the curriculum, which he called a “lotment,” defined as “the amount of work that can be accomplished, or the ground covered, by learners of modal characteristics (as related to the activity considered) in 60 clock hours.”[32] As an example, for “at least some of the pupils in junior high schools,” he sketched out 56 groupings of possible lotments, including “One or two lotments of ‘make-up’ projective penmanship,” “One or more development lotments of ‘appreciational’ mathematics,” “One to six lotments of “general science,” developmental,” and so on.[33] But these units he saw as too crude to serve as more than general categories of learning. Within the lotment was the basic building block of curriculum construction, which he called the “peth.” The peth is in fact a ‘piece of learning’ – a piece purposely made so small that, like a brick, a bookman’s volume, a speaker’s sentence, a town lot or any other convenient unit, can be handled, studied, valued and adjusted into large composites…. For convenience of designation we may call…the amount of learning required for the word ‘foreign’ a spelling peth and the process of acquiring needed associations with ‘1776’ a peth in American history…. Learning to write the words New York’ might be taken to constitute a suitable ‘peth sized objective’ in studies of the needs and values to control in teaching handwriting.[34] When one multiplies out the possibilities – the number of peths per lotment times the number of lotments per occupation times the number of occupational specialties – the complexity of the resulting curriculum structure is staggering. Other administrative progressives who worked the domain of scientific curriculum-making, like W. W. Charters and John Franklin Bobbitt, also pursued this kind of reduction of curriculum to its elements, but no one took the process to the extreme of Snedden. Is it any wonder that even the most dedicated vocational educators thought this a bit much? The point of all this fine tuning of the curriculum machinery for Snedden was to make every student a better “socius,” someone who would play a useful role in a complex society. And this required a careful system of classifying students according to their social and intellectual characteristics in what he called a “case group,” using criteria such geographical location, race, sex, age, intelligence, family income, and cultural background.[35] Once this classification was complete, then the educator could determine which curricular lotments would be best suited to a particular case group. In the early 1930s, when his career was nearing the end and his connection with the movement he had helped launch was growing more remote, he turned his attention from the increasingly depressing present toward the hopefully more promising future of education. He wrote a book in 1931 in which he described the state of American High Schools and Vocational Schools in 1960 to an imagined group of Chinese educators who were visiting the U.S. in that year. At that point, he saw vocational education turning into a postgraduate affair, noting that “shortly after 1930 all vestiges of supposed vocational training were withdrawn from high schools” with “specific vocational schools open only to mature learners.”[36] His hopes for vocational training were now directed toward students over 18, and the degree of specialization he anticipated was extraordinarily high. At the end of the book, he proudly told his Chinese visitors the “There are now about 6,500 kinds of vocational schools in the United States – that is, for that number of clearly differentiated vocations.”[37] In other futuristic writings from this period, he speculated about the promise of social engineering through education in a way that was beyond bizarre, bordering on fascist. He imagined a 50 years ahead, “after certain present more or less incipient developments shall have matured in approved standardized practices” and the science of education had sufficiently advanced to create the ideal society, which he sometimes called the “province of Zond.”[38] In this new world, a mixture of educational eugenics (which he called “eudemics”), scientific curriculum directed at the appropriate case groups, and an energized system of social control showed the promise of his social efficiency vision for America. In the poorer quarters of all large cities the department of domestic police requires those parents who, for whatever reason, can provide only defective and unwholesome environment – household and neighborhood environments – to sent their children two to eight years of age to special nursery and kindergarten schools…. The same domestic police, after presenting their cases to the proper court, also require parents of wayward or antisocial children eight to sixteen years of age to send these to special schools, the sessions of which usually last twelve hours per day, seventy-two hours per week, and fifty two weeks per year – each year including a six weeks’ summer camping season in the woods or on the seashore.[39] In an essay in the Journal of Educational Sociology titled “The Socially Efficient Community,” he talked about fostering civic virtues (which he frequently called “civism”) in this future society. Throughout adult years Zond expects all adult members to be especially strong in conformist civic virtues – especially to the will of the majority as formally expressed in laws, ordinances, etc. But it keeps wide open channels for sects, parties, and other groups to educate towards collective formation of new laws, choice of new executives. Habitual or confirmed offenders, whether willful or because of natural defect, it painlessly destroys – not as a punishment, but as “social surgery.”[40] It’s no wonder why other administrative progressives withdrew quickly from the long association with Snedden, for fear that they would be tainted by association with his increasingly bizarre view of the world. Why Snedden Won and Dewey Lost So, to return to the original question about the debate between Snedden and Dewey: How can a man like David Snedden – “the stock pedagogue-philistine figure of modern times, half-educated, anti-intellectual, instinctively hostile to humanistic culture” and increasingly “insane,” even in the eyes of his fellow zealots in the social efficiency wing of the progressive movement – defeat the great John Dewey for the soul of the American educational system? How could someone whose ideas proved so forgettable – or, when revived, so embarrassing – trounce the ideas of someone whose writings on education continue to be seen as a model for enlightened thinking about the relationship between school and society? Let me break down this question into two parts. First I explore the more general question of why the administrative progressives triumphed over the child-centered progressives in the early twentieth century by managing to stamp their social efficiency vision onto the goals and structures of American education. Then I take up the more difficult question of how Snedden could have defeated Dewey. How the Administrative Progressives Won A number of scholars have written about the way progressive reform tended to follow the lead of the administrative rather than child-centered progressives.[41] For example, Kliebard summarizes one major theme in his history of the U.S. curriculum in the progressive era by arguing that “John Dewey’s curriculum work remained largely confined to the world of ideas and had relatively little impact on school practice.”[42] He goes on to say, “If there is a public elementary or secondary school anywhere that self-consciously or conspicuously follows even the most elemental curricular principles that Dewey set forth, then I certainly do not know of it.”[43] Why did things turn out this way? First, the administrative progressive message of educational utility and social efficiency had great appeal to policymakers and people in power, since it offered to answer the great social problems of the early twentieth century in a manner that was in line with their own top-down orientation and social location. It promised to use education to promote economic productivity. It offered a way to integrate immigrants and keep the peace in a complex industrial society through a mixture of targeted programs to promote vocational opportunity and a differentiated structure to promote social control. And it approached this task in a classic managerial way, developing plans for administering the new era schools in a manner that could be implemented from the top down and that took the executive perspective. Second, the administrative progressives grounded their educational proposals solidly on the authority of science. They developed apparently objective and valid techniques for measuring ability and classifying students, and they used these measures to develop appropriate curricula and organizational structures for schools. The language of science ran through their literature, which helped them make the case for their vision as the truly modern one, a vision of the future with credible answers to the central emerging problems of modern life. It also helped make their approach seem data-based while making that of the child-centered progressives seem romantic. Third, a utilitarian vision is easier to sell politically than a romantic one, especially when it comes to a large and very expensive publicly-supported institution like education. The pedagogues talked about engaging the interest of the child, promoting a richer understanding of the world, and making a more just and democratic society, whereas the administers talked about fixing social problems and expanding the economy – and doing so in a provably effective and efficient manner. The administrative progressives invented the vision of education as a sensible investment in the future health of economy and society, which carried the air of prudence and reason. They offered a vision of the kind of education we need instead of the kind we might like. Fourth, as Lagemann[44] has noted, the leader of the child-centered progressives left the field of educational practice early in the game, when Dewey abandoned his work in the lab school in Chicago in 1904 and moved to the philosophy department at Columbia. But the administrative progressives were just that, primarily educational administrators in origin and orientation, even when they generally ended up, like Snedden, in a university school of education. They were deeply engaged in the work of designing curriculum, developing tests, consulting with educational leaders, carrying out school surveys, and in a variety of other ways making themselves useful to educators (or at least educational administrators) in the trenches. Fifth, their close connection to the administrative structure of schools and their deep interest in improving that structure gave the administrative progressives an important advantage in implementing their ideas. They focused on a market of school administrators that was both receptive and empowered to serve as the troops on the ground in putting these reform ideas into educational practice. But the child-centered progressives, with their focus primarily on teaching and learning in classrooms, had to rely on individual teachers to adopt their vision and implement it one class at a time. Not only were teachers in a weak organizational position to bring about the Deweyan vision, but they found themselves trapped within an organizational and curricular structure of schooling that was shaped by the administrative progressive vision of social efficiency. How Snedden Won But even if it is understandable that the social-efficiency orientation won out in the struggle to reshape American schools, that still leaves open the question of how someone as narrow, wrong-headed, and strange as David Snedden could have been its leader and major spokesman. The simplest way to unravel this paradox is to see Snedden’s life and work as confirmation of a sociological truism – that being there is more important than being right. Snedden was the right man in the right place wielding the right idea for his times. The ideas that shape history are those that history is ready for, the ones that resonate with the concerns of the time and help frame a response to these concerns. Snedden’s career in education was launched at the turn of the twentieth century, when the United States was faced with a transition from a tradition of republican community to a new state of corporate complexity, in which the old forms of political and social organization seemed no longer adequate to the challenges of the emerging modern age. In particular, the old system of common schooling for all, aimed at providing broad education for the citizenry of a republic, seemed increasingly out of touch with the social and economic order, with its radical division of labor, growing class and ethnic differences, and explosively expansive mode of corporate industrialism. This was a time that was primed to be responsive to the argument that the new social order required an educational system that aimed to be useful and socially efficient in dealing with the period’s emerging social problems. Snedden was pushing just this idea. And during this time of social and ideological change, Snedden was also perfectly positioned to be an influential actor in the domain of educational policy and practice. As I noted earlier, he had enormous credibility as both a practitioner and academic in education – with strong experience as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and state commissioner, with academic credentials from Stanford and Teachers College, and with a long-term professorship at the latter that put him at the center of the progressive movement in education and gave him instant access to the broadest audience in the field. As we have seen, he used those advantages to the fullest extent, with his energetic efforts as a speaker, writer, and teacher to promote social efficiency as the answer to the most troubling educational issues of his day. His memoir is titled Recollections of Over Half a Century Spent in Educational Work (1949), and as his biographer reminds us, he treated his educational efforts as work in the vocational sense of the term. In many ways, using his own typology, he was more a producer than a utilizer, and his hard work for the social efficiency cause paid off.[45] But even if he had the right idea at the right time, occupied the ideal leverage point, and worked hard to deploy these advantages in service to his cause, we still have to deal with his quirkiness and his growing estrangement from his own movement. He was a self-styled scientist who never did anything that remotely resembled scientific study, an educational sociologist[46] who drew on the clichés of the field – social Darwinism and social control – without ever making an original contribution. In his written work, he never used data and he never cited sources, which made sense since he rarely even drew on sources. His books and journal articles took the form of proclamations, scientific pronouncements without the science; they all read like speeches, and that was likely the source of most of them. In this sense, he was more a propagandist than a theorist or thinker, someone who borrowed ideas without understanding them and then promoted them relentlessly. The ideas sounded authoritative and gave the impression that they were building into arguments, but they were largely a collection of numbered lists and bullet points. He was a man who would have warmly embraced PowerPoint. In his work, portentousness abounded; it was all about riding the wave of the future and avoiding the undertow of the past. He was an educational leader whose effectiveness arose from being temperamentally a member of the rank and file. He relentlessly promoted vocational education for the socially efficient society of the future by proposing curricula that routinely prepared students for the tasks that characterized the jobs of the past (railway telegrapher, streetcar motorman). He was so eager to be relevant that he gradually made himself irrelevant even within the administrative progressive movement that he helped lead. In essence, he was a man obsessed with an idea, one that happened to resonate with his audience, at least for a time.[47] In Isaiah Berlin’s famous typology of thinkers, Snedden was a hedgehog, pushing one big idea, and Dewey was a fox, pursuing many ideas.[48] When a hedgehog’s idea suits its era, he can be enormously effective; but since adaptability is not the hedgehog’s strength, the resonance with the times can quickly diminish. That was certainly the case with Snedden. In his debate with Snedden before the NEA in 1914, Bagley put his finger on it precisely when he called Snedden a doctrinaire. “The field of education,” he said, “has always been peculiarly open to this type of exploitation at the hands of doctrinaires.”[49] But one of the lessons of social change in general and educational reform in particular is that every doctrine needs its doctrinaire. Nuance is dysfunctional for the cause of educational reform, especially early in the process, when the main task is to clear the field of the accumulated institutional underbrush and make the case for a radical new order. Every reformer needs to slash and burn the remnants of the old way of doing things, portraying the past as all weeds and decay, and clearing space for the new institutions to take root. This is something that a literal minded, hyperkinetic, and monomaniacal figure like Snedden could do superbly. As Diane Ravitch noted, “Snedden’s caricature of the traditional school became a staple of progressive attacks for years to come: it was ‘repressive,’ ‘monarchical,’ ‘barren and repellent,’ founded entirely on classics and completely out of touch with American democracy.”[50] Being extreme at this early stage of reform is quite useful, whereas the kind of nuanced approach that Dewey took, with its abhorrence of the very dualisms that Snedden loved, was not conducive to launching an effective movement of educational reform. Therefore, the administrative progressive movement was able to become firmly established and positioned for growth because of Snedden’s flame throwing. Put another way, a publicist, who says things that resonate with the emerging ideas of his era and helps clear the ideological way for the rhetorical reframing of a major institution, can have vastly more influence than a great thinker, who makes a nuanced and prescient argument that is out of tune with his times and too complex to fit on a battle standard. In part because Snedden was an extremist, the tendency in American education leaned strongly his direction and away from Dewey. What we ended up with was a school system whose structure reflected the main elements of the social efficiency agenda: a differentiated curriculum, de facto tracking by social class, and a vocational rationale, even if vocational courses never gained more than a relatively marginal part of the curriculum. But, although Snedden was useful in preparing the way, he quickly became dispensable and even embarrassing once the social efficiency movement got established. The turning point was in 1918. When the federal vocational education bill passed and the Cardinal Principles report emerged to great acclaim, Snedden’s work had been done and his doctrinaire views started to get in the way of practical gains in school systems and classrooms. With his promotional skills and his ability to stay on message, he made it possible for administrative progressives to vocationalize American education, but his actual plan for a series of separate vocational schools with radically differentiated curricula for hundreds of different occupational roles was completely unrealistic. It was too expensive, too complicated, and too alien to a democratic culture; and it not only barred social opportunity but it undermined social efficiency, by preventing workers from adapting to economic change (Dewey’s point) and from becoming useful in the real society of the future (as opposed to his imagined province of Zond). Other administrative progressives, like his one-time protégé Kingsley, had a better sense of what would sell and what was possible in the realm of educational policy. They were willing to make the compromises with democratic ideology and consumer demand that were needed in order to turn Snedden’s dream into a reality in the nation’s school systems. They understood that it was impolitic to talk about education for the rank and file. Better to frame the social efficiency agenda as an expression of democratic ideals; to dilute the vision of vocationalism as a way to reproduce social inequality by bringing it within the confines of the comprehensive high school. It was possible to vocationalize the aims of American education without constructing a series of separate vocational training schools. It was possible to implement a social efficiency agenda of sorting and selecting students by means of a high school that drew in everyone in the community but then tracked them according to ability and future trajectory. In particular, Snedden was completely out of touch with the demands of educational consumers. These consumers wanted nothing to do with “schools of the rank and file,” which would hold them back from the possibility of upward mobility. In contrast, they flooded into the comprehensive high schools that came into being in response to their demand in spite of Snedden’s intense opposition. As we saw in the previous chapter, however, it was educational consumers more than progressive reformers who mitigated the impact of the more extreme aspects of the administrative progressive creed. Working class consumers were the ones who demanded greater access to high school; progressives just tried to figure out something socially constructive to do with them once they were enrolled. These consumers were also the ones who first rejected Snedden’s model of the separate vocational high school, since they didn’t want to be channeled into a low level position but wanted educational access to the American dream. And it was middle class consumers who demanded that enhanced access to high school had to be balanced by tracking the newcomers into the lower tiers of this expanding institution. Progressives then jumped on this as an opportunity to introduce greater social efficiency into the curriculum, by sorting students according to ability and career trajectory. The system the educational consumers and administrative progressives jointly erected in the United States in the early twentieth century was effective in part because it had stronger political cover than Snedden’s extreme version. It introduced a vocational orientation toward education – education for social efficiency, for job skills, for economic growth, for modernism – while preserving the traditional liberal academic curriculum in a diluted form. It tracked people by class as a matter of fact but not a matter of formal policy; it could be presented as democratic education, the way the Cardinal Principles report did, while Snedden’s was explicitly undemocratic, deliberately designing a separate education for the rank and file. Snedden played bad cop to Kingsley’s good cop, getting out in front, catching the flack, then being pushed gradually from the scene, to be supplanted and largely forgotten by the winning version of social efficiency education.[51] In the end, Snedden’s narrowness was his strength in advancing the cause of social efficiency in American education while also being the source of his ultimate obscurity in American thought. Dewey suffered the inverse fate, as a man whose breadth of vision about school and society weakened his impact in his own time and place but won him long-term influence in the international realm of ideas. Bagley, W. C. (1914). Fundamental distinctions between liberal and vocational education. Journal of Proceedings of the Fifty-Second Annual Meeting of the National Education Association, 161-170. Brooks, David. (2002). Notes from a hanging judge. New York Times, January 13. http://www.nytimes.com/ (accessed 1-13-02. Church, Robert L. (1969). Sane and insane positivists. History of Education Quarterly, 9:3, 391-401. Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. (1918). Cardinal principles of secondary education. Washington, DC: National Education Association. Cuban, Larry. 1993. How teachers taught: Constancy and change in American classrooms, 1890-1980, 2nd ed. New York: Teachers College Press. Dewey, John. (1914, 1915/1977). On industrial education. Curriculum Inquiry, 7:1 (Spring), pp. 53-60. Dewey, John. (1915/1977). Education v. trade-training. Curriculum Inquiry, 7:1 (Spring), pp. 37-9. Dewey, John. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan. Drost, Walter H. (1967). David Snedden and education for social efficiency. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Drost, Walter H. (1979). Social efficiency reexamined: The Dewey-Snedden controversy. Curriculum Inquiry, 7:1 (Spring), 19-32. Kantor, Harvey & Tyack, David. (1982). Introduction: Historical perspectives on vocationalism in American education. In Kantor, Harvey & Tyack, David (Eds.), Work, Youth, and Schooling: historical perspectives on vocationalism in American education (pp. 1-13). Stanford: Stanford University Press. Kingsley, Clarence D. (1919). School and Society, 10:236, 18-20. Kliebard, Herbert M. (1986). The struggle for the American curriculum, 1893-1958. Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Kliebard, Herbert M. (1987). The question of Dewey’s impact on curriculum practice. Teachers College Record, 89:1 (Fall), 139-41. Kliebard, Herbert M. (1989). Schooled to work: Vocationalism and the American curriculum, 1876-1946. New York: Teachers College Press. Labaree, David F. (2004). The trouble with ed schools. New Haven: Yale University Press. Lagemann, Ellen Condliffe. 1989. The plural worlds of educational research. History of Education Quarterly, 29:2, 185-214. Lazerson, Marvin & Grubb, W. Norton. (1974). Introduction. In Lazerson, Marvin & Grubb, W. Norton (Eds.), American education and vocationalism: A documentary history (pp. 1-50). New York: Teacher College Press. Ravitch, Diane. (2000). Left back: A century of failed school reforms. New York: Simon and Schuster. Rudy, Willis. (1968). Review of David Snedden and Education for Social Efficiency by Walter H. Drost. The Journal of American History, 55:1 (June), 170-71. Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, in U.S., Statutes at Large, XXXIX, Part I, 929-936. Snedden, David. (1900). The schools of the rank and file. The Stanford Alumnus, I, 185-198. Snedden, David. (1910). The problem of vocational education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Snedden, David. (1917). Problems of secondary education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Snedden, David. (1914/1977). Fundamental distinctions between liberal and vocational education. Curriculum Inquiry, 7:1 (Spring), 41-52. Snedden, David (1915/1977). Vocational education. Curriculum Inquiry, 7:1 (Spring), 33-7. Snedden, David. (1919). Cardinal principles of secondary education. School and society, 9:227, 517-27. Snedden, David. (1920). Vocational education. New York: Macmillan. Snedden, David. (1922). Educational sociology. New York: The Century Co. Snedden, David. (1923). Sociology: A basic science to education. Teachers College Record, 24 (May), 95-110. Snedden, David. (1924). Junior high school offerings. School and Society, 20:520, 740-4. Snedden, David. (1925a). Planning curriculum research I. School and Society, 22:557, 259-65. Snedden, David. (1925b). Planning curriculum research II. School and Society, 22:558, 287-93. Snedden, David. (1927a). Foundations of curricula. New York: Teachers College Press. Snedden, David. (1927b). What’s wrong with American education?. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Snedden, David. (1929). The socially efficient community. Journal of Educational Sociology, 2:8 (April), 464-70. Snedden, David. (1931). Towards better educations. New York: Teachers College Press. Snedden, David. (1931). American high schools and vocational schools in 1960. New York: Teachers College Press. Snedden, David. (1934). Distributions of expensive learnings. Teachers College Record, 35, 135-43. Snedden, David. (1949). Recollections of over half a century spend in educational work. Palo Alto, CA: by the author. Wirth, Arthur G. ( 1972). Charles A. Prosser and the Smith-Hughes Act. The Educational Forum, 36:3 (March), 365-71. Zilversmit, Arthur. 1993. Changing schools: Progressive education theory and practice, 1930-1960. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [1] Rudy (1968), p. 171. [2] Church (1969), p. 394. [3] P. 157. [4] “It is the writer’s conviction that the most useful definition of liberal education now available is that which defines it primarily in terms of education toward higher utilization. Man stands, to the world about him, in a twofold relationship. He is a producer of utilities on the one hand, and on the other, for his own growth and development, he must utilize utilities. That education which trains him to be a producer is vocational education. That education which trains him to be a good utilizer, in the social sense of that term, is liberal education.” Snedden (1914), p. 160. [5] Bagley (1914), p. 162. [7] Dewey (1914/1977), p. 55. [8] P. 56. [9] Snedden (1915/1977), p. 33. [10] P. 34. [12] Dewey (1915/1977), pp. 38-39. Dewey more fully developed this argument about his own vision of social efficiency in education in Democracy and Education (1916), especially in chapter nine, “Natural Development and Social Efficiency as Aims.” [13] Kliebard (1987), p. 149. [14] In Left Back, Diane Ravitch makes the same point while also identifying how Snedden fit in with other administrative progressives: “If Edward L. Thorndike was the foremost practitioner of educational psychology, and G. Stanley Hall dominated the field of child study, David Snedden was the leading representative of the social efficiency movement.” Ravitch (2000), p. 81. [15] Snedden (1949), p. 12. [16] Snedden (1900), pp. 23-24. [19] Wirth (1972). [20] Wirth (1972), p. 369. [21] In their historical essay on vocationalism, Norton Grubb and Marvin Lazerson argue that the consequences of this effort to vocationalize American education were profound: “In sum, vocational education served two concrete purposes – to fasten the ideal of education for vocational goals onto the educational system, and to restructure the high school. It served to break down the common school ideology and the practice of a common education system for all pupils; after vocational education had differentiated pupils according to future occupations, other forms of differentiation – ability grouping being the most widespread – were introduced into the schools. Testing and vocational guidance were developed in order to administer the increasingly differentiated system. The high school of 1890 was fundamentally different from that of 1920.” Grubb & Lazerson (1974), p. 39. [22] Snedden (1919), p. 519. [23] P. 521. [26] Kingsley (1919), p. 20. [27] Drost (1967), p. 157. [28] Quoted in Drost (1967), pp. 182-3. [29] I borrowed this line from David Brooks, who used it to describe Richard Posner. See Brooks (2002). [30] Snedden (1920), p. 95. I am grateful to Diane Ravitch for digging up this quote (Ravitch (2000), p. 85). [31] Snedden (1925b), pp. 287-8. [34] Snedden (1925a), p. 263. [37] P. 115; emphasis in original. I am grateful to Phillipp Gonon for directing my attention to this late work by Snedden. [41] Kliebard (1986, 1987); Lagemann (1989); Cuban (1993); Ravitch (2000); and Zilversmit (1993). I also explored the issue in my book about education schools (Labaree, 2004, chapter 7). [44] Lagemann (1989). [45] His memoir continued the pattern of strangeness in his work, since he chose to write it in the third person. (E.g., “Then came one of the turning points in David’s history” (p. 5).) Two years before he died, the author of twenty-five books had to resort of self publication to get his memoir into print, . [46] In 1959, eight years after Snedden’s death, the American Sociological Society (ASS) changed its name to the American Sociological Association (ASA). The timing was appropriate. [47] Kliebard puts it this way: “Relentlessly, Snedden pursued to their most far-reaching conclusions the doctrine of social efficiency and the extension of principles of vocational education to the curriculum as a whole. The question of his actual influence is moot; what his work illustrates is his ability not to transform or transcend the direction the curriculum was taking in his time but to articulate and epitomize it.” Kliebard (1999), p. 122. [48] Berlin (2000). [49] Bagley (1914), p. 164. [50] Ravitch (2000), p. 82. [51] Snedden’s other major protégé in the social efficiency movement, Charles Prosser, remained as extreme as his mentor. The vocational school he founded and ran for many years, the Dunwoody Institute, was a nutty reflection of the most doctrinaire positions he acquired from Snedden. “At the Dunwoody Institute, units were programmed in great detail to lead students step by step though the skill development cycle. Students punched in on time-clocks and instructors behaved like shop foremen rather than public school teachers. A no-nonsense attitude prevailed. If students were not punctual, orderly, and efficient, they were asked to leave. (Wirth, 1972, p. 369) At the end of his career, Prosser lent his name to the notorious resolution at the a federally sponsored conference on vocational education in 1945. The Prosser Resolution ushered in the last gasp of progressivism before it imploded in self caricature, the Life Adjustment Movement. Posted in Education policy, Educational Research, Teacher education, Teaching Targeting Teachers Posted on August 19, 2019 August 4, 2019 by David Labaree In this piece, I explore a major problem I have with recent educational policy discourse — the way we have turned teachers from the heroes of the public school story to its villains. If students are failing, we now hear, it is the fault of teachers. This targeting of teachers employs a new form of educational firepower, value-added measures. I show how this measure misses the mark by profoundly misunderstanding the nature of teaching as a professional practice, which has the following core characteristics: Teaching is hard Teachers depend on their students for the professional success Students are conscripts in the classroom Teachers need to develop a complex teacher persona in order to manage their relationship with students Teachers need to carry out their practice under conditions of high uncertainty Teaching looks easy It looks like an extension of child raising It is widely familiar to anyone who has been a student The knowledge and skills that teachers teach are ones that most competent adults have Unlike any other professionals, teachers give away their expertise instead of renting it to the client, so success means your students no longer need you Teachers are an easy target Teachers are too visible to be inscrutable and too numerous to be elite They don’t have the distance, obscurity, and selectivity of the high professions — so no one is willing to bow to their authority or yield to their expertise This piece originally appeared in Dissent in 2011. Here’s a link to the original. The mantra of the current school reform movement in the U.S. is that high quality teachers produce high achieving students. As a result, we should hold teachers accountable for student outcomes, offering the most effective teachers bonus pay and shoving the least effective ones out the door. Of course, in order to implement such a policy you need a valid and reliable measure of teacher quality, and the reformers have zeroed in on one such measure, which is known as the value-added approach. According to this method, you calculate the effectiveness of individual teachers by the increase in test scores that students demonstrate after a year in their classroom. Propelling this trend forward is a flood of research purporting to show that differences in teacher quality can lead to huge differences in the outcomes of schooling, both for students and for society. For example, in a 2010 study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Eric Hanushek argues that a strong teacher by the value-added measure (one standard deviation above the mean) might raise the lifetime earnings of a student by $20,000. From this perspective, improving the quality of teaching promises to increase individual opportunity for the disadvantaged, which will reduce social inequality, and at the same time to increase human capital, which will promote economic growth and national competitiveness. Sounds great. Of course, this calculation is based on the assumption that test scores measure the economically useful knowledge of the future worker, which is far from obvious. But arguments like these provide a big incentive to generate actionable data on who’s a good teacher and who’s not. All of this makes the current effort to develop a simple and statistically sound measure for good teaching quite understandable. But that doesn’t make it justifiable. The problem with this approach is that teaching is in fact an extraordinarily complex and demanding form of professional practice, whose quality is impossible to capture accurately in a simple metric. The push to develop such a metric threatens to reduce good teaching – and good education – to whatever produces higher scores on a standardized test. As a result, the value-added measure of teacher quality may end up promoting both the wrong kind of teaching and the wrong kind of schooling. In this article, I explore three major questions that arise from this development. Why did the value-added measure of teaching emerge at this point in the history of American education? What are the core characteristics of teaching as a professional practice that makes it so hard to perform effectively and so hard to measure accurately? And under these circumstances, what are the likely consequences of using the value-added measure of teaching? Roots of the Value-Added Measure of Teacher Quality Until the last 30 years, Americans have been comfortable measuring the effectiveness of their schools by their broad social outcomes. As long as graduates have tended to find jobs at a higher level than the jobs their parents had, then schools must be effectively promoting social opportunity. And as long as the economy has been growing in size and productivity, then schools must be effectively producing human capital and spurring economic prosperity. Under these circumstances, which lasted from the emergence of the common school in the early 19th century until the 1980s, there was little reason to seek out hard data about how much students were actually learning in school. In the 1980s, however, this began to change with the emergence of a new kind of educational reform movement, which focused on raising the standards for student achievement. Starting with the report A Nation at Risk in 1983, the idea was to set strict curriculum standards and enforce them with high-stakes tests in order to shore up the American economy with higher achievement. Then came the No Child Left Behind law in 2002, which required schools to demonstrate that they were distributing educational and social opportunity more equally. This radical shift to measuring learning outcomes in schooling came about in the late 20th century because of two converging changes in the politics of education: growing fiscal constraints and growing educational inequality. For one thing, the rising cost of financing the expansion of schooling was beginning to run into severe fiscal limits. By the end of the 20th century, state and local governments in the United States were spending about 30 percent of their total budgets on education, at an aggregate cost of about $400 billion. Exacerbating this cost rise was the rise in educational level of the population. From 1900 to 1975 the average education level of a 24 year-old rose from 8 years of elementary school to two years of college. The problem is that the per-student cost of education is markedly higher as you move up the system, from elementary to secondary to college to graduate school. As a result, schools at all levels came under pressure to demonstrate that they were producing learning outcomes that would justify the cost. At the same time, a parallel concern emerged about radical differences in educational quality and outcomes for different groups in the population, sharply undercutting the hoary fiction that all high school or college diplomas were the same. Middle class parents have long shown an acute awareness of this distinction and have had the means to pursue the best schools for their children. Parents with more limited resources, however, have been stuck with their local schools, which were too often dirty, dangerous, and dysfunctional. Under these circumstances, value-added measures of education have obvious value in potentially helping us zero in on the contribution that a school makes to the educational and social outcomes of its students. The value-added approach seeks to take into account the educational achievement of students coming into a school or a classroom, in order to measure what added contribution the school or teacher makes to student achievement. By controlling for the selection effect, this technique seeks to focus on the school’s socialization effect. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has plunged $355 million into the effort to measure teacher effectiveness. Grounded in the value-added approach, this effort is using analysis of videos of teaching in individual classrooms to establish which teacher behaviors are most strongly associated with the highest value-added scores for students. And the Brookings Institution published a study in 2010 that provided support for the value-added approach. But, as Kevin Welner points out in the previous issue of Dissent, the evidence for the validity of the Gates value-added measures is weak. In a recently published review, economist Jesse Rothstein from University of California, Berkeley performed an analysis of Gates data, which shows that 40 percent of teachers whose performance placed them in the bottom quartile using the value-added measure scored in the top half by an alternative measure of student achievement. In short, the value-added approach is hardly the gold standard for measuring teacher effectiveness that its supporters claim it is. Why This Measure Misses the Mark So far I’ve been explaining where this new measure of teaching effectiveness came from and why it emerged when it did. But I haven’t addressed why it fails to capture the elements of good teaching and why school reformers are so willing to deploy it anyway in formulating school policy. The nature of American teaching arose from the structure of the American school system that was established before the Civil War, a system whose primary mission was political. Founders wanted these schools to solve the core problem of a liberal democracy: to reconcile the self-interested pursuit of personal advantage demanded by a market economy with the civic commitment to community required by a republic. In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, this problem was particularly acute, since the market was expanding at an extraordinary clip and the republic was young and fragile. The idea was to create community schools that would instill republican principles in the young while also giving them a shared experience that might ameliorate growing class divisions. To accommodate the huge influx of students, and to provide a setting in which students could be taught as a group and ranked by ability, they established the self-contained classroom, graded by age. And to make sure that the school community was inclusive, they gradually made school attendance compulsory. From this structure, emerge three core characteristics of teaching in the U.S.: Teaching is hard; teaching looks easy; and teachers are an easy target. Let me say a little about each. In many ways, teaching is the most difficult of professions. In other professions, professional success lies in the skills and knowledge of the practitioner and outcomes are relatively predictable. Not so with teaching. Why? Teachers Depend on Students for their Success: Teachers can only be successful if students choose to learn. This is the core problem facing every teacher every day in every classroom. Surgeons operate on clients who are unconscious; lawyers represent clients who remain mute; but teachers need to find a way to motivate students to learn the curriculum. The teacher’s knowledge of the subject and skill at explaining this knowledge amount to nothing if students choose not to learn what they’re taught. Student resistance to learning can come from a wide variety of sources. Maybe students don’t like the subject or the teacher. Maybe they don’t want to be in school at all. Maybe they’re distracted by fear of a bully, hunger in the belly, or lust for the student in the next seat. Maybe they’re bored to death. The reasons for not learning are endless, and the teacher’s job is to find a way to understand these reasons and work around them, one student at a time. What makes this even more difficult is that the teacher’s task extends beyond just getting students to learn the subject. Teaching is a people-changing profession. Education involves more than acquiring knowledge, since we ask it to take students and turn them into something else: law abiding citizens, productive workers, ambitious achievers. Changing people’s behavior and attitude and character and cultural yearnings is a lot harder than fixing a technical problem within the human body. A surgeon can remove a diseased appendix, a physician can prescribe a pill to cure an infection. But teaching is less like these highly esteemed and technically advanced arenas of medicine and more like the less prestigious and less certain practice of psychotherapy. For therapists, the problem is getting patients to abandon a set of practices that they are unwilling or unable to manage on their own – like countering negative thoughts or calming anxiety. Changing people in these nether realms of medicine is very difficult, but these practitioners do enjoy one advantage: the patient approaches the therapist asking for help in making the change. But this is not the case with teachers, where students enter class under duress. Students Are Conscripts in the Classroom: Students are in the classroom for a variety of reasons that often have nothing to do with wanting to learn. They are compelled by strong pressures from their parents, the job market, cultural norms, and truant officers. Also all of their friends are there, so what would they do if they stayed home? Except for the rare case, however, one thing that does not bring them to the classroom is a burning desire to learn the formal curriculum. As a result, unlike the clients of nearly all other professionals, they are not volunteers asking for a professional service but conscripts who have little reason to cooperate with, much less actively pursue, the process of learning that teachers are trying to facilitate. The problem is that teachers don’t have much ability to impose their will on students in order to make them learn. They have weak disciplinary tools, they are vastly outnumbered, and they have to deal with their students behind the doors of the self contained classroom, without the help of colleagues. In the end, all that strict discipline can achieve is to maintain classroom order; inducing learning is another thing entirely. The result is that teachers have to develop a complex mechanism for motivating their students to learn. Teachers Need to Develop a Teaching Persona to Manage the Relationship with Their Students: Teaching means finding a way to get students to want to learn the curriculum. And this requires the teacher to develop a highly personalized and professionally essential teaching persona. That persona needs to incorporate a judicious and delicately balanced mix of qualities. You want students to like you, so they look forward to seeing you in class and want to please you. You want them to fear you, so they studiously avoid getting on your bad side and can be stopped dead in their tracks with the dreaded “teacher look.” You want them to find your enthusiasm for learning the subject matter infectious, so they can’t help getting caught up in the process and lured into learning. Constructing such a persona is a complex task, which takes years of development. It’s part of why the first years of teaching are so difficult, until the persona has fallen in place and becomes second nature. The problem is that there is no standard way of doing this. The persona has to be a combination of what the situation demands – the grade level, subject matter, cultural and personal characteristics of the students – and what the teacher can pull together from the pieces of his or her own character, personality, and interests. It can’t be an obvious disguise, since students have an eye toward the fake and place high value on authenticity, and since it has to be maintained day in and day out over the years of a teaching career. So the persona has to be a mix of who you are as a person and what you need and want to be as a teacher. When it all comes together, it’s a marvel to behold. In his book Small Victories, Samuel Freedman provides a vivid portrait of the teaching persona of a New York high school English teacher named Jessica Siegel. She wears eye-catching clothing (one student asks, “Miss Siegel, do you water that dress?”), moves effortlessly between captivating and controlling her students, making wisecracks out of the corner of her mouth (“Gimme a break.”). He calls this persona The Tough Cookie. That works for her, but all successful teachers need to find their own right persona. Think about it: How can you measure this? Measurement is particularly difficult because the criteria for defining a successful professional performance are up in the air. Teachers Need to Carry Out Their Practices Under Conditions of High Uncertainty: The problem is that there is no definitive code for effective teaching practice to parallel the kinds of codes that exist in other professions. In general, professionals can defend themselves against malpractice by demonstrating that they were following standard professional practice. The patient died but the physician was doing her job appropriately. Teaching has no guide for optimal professional standards. Instead there are rules about minimum criteria of acceptable behavior: Don’t hit kids, show up for class. One reason for the absence of such a code of professional practice for teachers is that, as I have been showing, the task of teaching involves the effort to manage a complex process of motivating learning in your students through the construction of a unique teaching persona. Another is the problem of trying to identify what constitutes a definitive measure of teaching success. The things that are easiest to measure are the most trivial: number of right answers on a Friday quiz, a homework assignment, or – I might add – what’s represented in value-added test scores. These things may show something about what information students retained at that point, but they don’t say anything about the long-term benefits of the class on these students. Did the teacher make students better citizens, more productive workers, life-long learners, innovative entrepreneurs? These are the outcomes we care about, but how can you measure them? Even if you could find a way to measure such outcomes later in life, how could you trace back the impact that the student’s fourth grade teacher had on those outcomes? This suggests another problem that raises the uncertainty of defining good teaching. As a society, we are not of one mind about what individual and social ends we want schools to produce. If we can’t agree on ends, how can we determine if a teacher was effective or not? Effective at what? One goal running through the history of American schooling is to create good citizens. Another is to create productive workers. A third is to provide individuals with social opportunity. These goals lead schools in conflicting directions, and teachers can’t accomplish them all with the same methods. One final form of uncertainty facing teachers is that we can’t even agree on who is the teacher’s client. In some ways the client is the student, who is the object of education. But students don’t contract with teachers to carry out their role, school boards do, as representatives of the community as a whole, which would make them the client. But then there are the parents, a third constituency for teachers to deal with and try to please. Are teachers the agents of the child, the society that sets up the school system, or the parents who send their children to school? The answer is yes. So teaching is very hard, which makes it extraordinarily difficult to construct a good measure of effective teaching. But at the same time, in the eyes of the public, teaching doesn’t look that hard at all. And this makes us easy targets for anyone selling a simple mechanism for distinguishing the good teacher from the bad. One reason teaching looks easy is that it seems to be an extension of child-raising. You don’t need professional training to be a parent, which means that being a teacher doesn’t seem like a big thing. Students coming into teacher education programs are often already imbued with this spirit. I care for the kids, so I’ll be a good teacher. Another reason it looks easy is that teaching is extremely familiar. Every prospective teacher – every adult – has done a 12-year apprenticeship of observation in the elementary and secondary classroom. We have watched teachers, up close and personal, during our formative years, and nothing about the practice of teaching seems obscure or complicated. You keep order, give out and collect assignments, talk, test, and take the summer off. No big deal. Missing from this observation, of course, is all the thinking and planning that goes into the process that students experience in the classroom, much less the laborious construction of the teaching persona. A third thing that makes teaching look easy is that the knowledge and skills teachers convey are the knowledge and skills that all competent adults have. This isn’t the kind of complex and obscure knowledge you find in medical texts or law books; it’s ordinary knowledge that doesn’t seem to require an advanced degree of skill for the practitioner. Of course, missing from this kind of understanding of teaching is an acknowledgement of the kind of skill required to teach these subjects and motivate students to learn these subjects, which is not obvious at all. But the impression of ordinariness is hard for teaching to shake. A factor that enhances this problem is that, unlike other professionals, teachers give away their expertise. One test of a successful teacher is that the student no longer needs her. Good teachers make themselves dispensable. In contrast, other professions don’t give away their expertise; they rent it by the hour. You have to keep going back to the doctor, lawyer, accountant, and even pharmacist. In these arenas, you’re never on your own. But teachers are supposed to launch you into adult life and then disappear into the background. As a result, it is easy for adults to forget how hard it was for them to acquire the skills and knowledge they now have and therefore easy to discount the critical role that teachers played in getting them to their current state. It’s tough being in a profession that is extraordinarily difficult to practice effectively and that other people consider a walk on the beach. As a group, teachers are too visible to be inscrutable and too numerous to be elite. They don’t have the distance, obscurity, and selectivity of the high professions. As a result, no one is willing to bow to their authority or yield to their expertise. Teachers, school administrators, and education professors have all had the experience of sitting next to someone on an airplane or at a dinner party who proceeds to tell them what the problem with schools is and also what the cure is. Everyone is an expert on education except the educator. One consequence of this is that teachers become an easy target for school reformers. This follows from the nature of teaching as a practice, as I’ve been describing here, and also from the nature of school reform as a practice. The history of school reform in the United States is a history of efforts to change the education of Other People’s Children. The schools that reformers’ own children attend tend to be seen as pretty good; the problem is with the schooling of Others. It’s those kids who need more structure, higher standards, more incentives, and more coercion in order to bring their learning up to a useful level. They are the ones who are dragging down our cities and holding back our economic growth. And public school teachers are the keepers of Other People’s Children. Since we don’t think those children are getting the kind of schooling they need, then teachers must be a major part of the problem. As a result, these teachers too are seen as needing more structure, higher standards, more incentives, and more coercion in order to bring their teaching up to a socially useful level. We tell ourselves that we’re paying more than we can afford for schools that don’t work, so we have to intervene. The value-added measure of teacher performance is ideally suited to this task. It’s needed because, in the eyes of reformers, teachers are not sufficiently professional, competent, or reliable to be granted the autonomy of a real profession. And what will be the consequences? As in medicine, the first rule of school reform should be: At least, do no harm. But the value-added intervention violates this rule, driven by the arrogance of reformers who are convinced that teaching is a simple process of delivering content and that learning is just a matter of exerting the effort to acquire this content. That approach is likely to increase test scores, simply by pressuring teachers to teach to the test. But my concern is that in the process it’s also likely to interfere with teachers’ ability to lure students into learning. This requires them to develop and nurture an effective teacher persona, so they can in turn develop and nurture in students the motivation to learn and to continue learning over a lifetime. As usual, the results of this reform are likely to be skewed by social class. Schools for the disadvantaged are going to be under great pressure to teach to the test and raise scores on core skills, while schools for the advantaged will be free to pursue a much richer curriculum. If your children, unlike Others’, are not At Risk, then the schools they attend will not need to be obsessed with drilling to meet minimum standards. Teachers in these schools will be able to lead their classes in exploring a variety of subjects, experiences, and issues that will be excluded from the classrooms farther down the social scale. In the effort to raise standards and close the achievement gap, we will creating just another form of educational distinction to divide the top from the bottom. Posted in Education policy, Educational Research, Uncategorized The Dysfunctional Pursuit of Relevance in Educational Research In this paper, I explore the issue of relevance in educational research. I argue that the chronic efforts by researchers to pursue relevance is counterproductive. Paradoxically, trying to make research more relevant actually makes it less so. Drawing on an analysis by Mie Augier and Jim March, I show that this is the result of two factors. One is that there is a profound ambiguity about what education is supposed to accomplish. What’s relevant for one goal may be irrelevant for another. Another factor is that the stress on relevance creates a kind of myopia. The researcher is focusing tightly on a particular set of conditions in time and place, which will likely change by the time the study is published. Better to step back and see the larger picture in order to figure out what this case is a case of. This paper originally appeared in Educational Researcher in 2008. Here’s a link to the original text. In the title of her paper, Jacquelien A. Bulterman-Bos (2008) asks, “Will a Clinical Approach Make Educational Research More Relevant for Practice?” and by the end she comes to the answer, “Yes.” Overall this is an engaging effort to sort out the nature of educational research and understand its relationship to the practice of teaching. During the course of this discussion, the author draws on my analysis of the transition that teachers undergo when they enter doctoral programs on the road to becoming researchers – a shift in worldview from the normative to the analytical, from the personal to the intellectual, from the particular to the universal, and from the experiential to the theoretical (Labaree, 2003). She argues that this depiction of the differences between teaching and doing research is only useful up to a point, because it is grounded in a discredited Cartesian conception of the split between body and mind. Drawing on Michael Polanyi, she argues that knowledge is not full bodied and useful unless it remains connected to the real world of education, where knowledge necessarily retains within it elements that are normative, personal, particularistic, and experiential. Therefore, she asserts, educational research needs to be grounded in teaching practice if it is going to be able to represent the context of practice effectively. This means that educational researchers need to spend years as teachers before becoming researchers, and they need to remain active as classroom teachers during their time doing research. Such a clinical approach to educational research will produce a form of knowledge about education that is both more valid as a representation of education and more useful to practitioners. Bulterman-Bos raises the kinds of issues about the aims and meanings of research that scholars in any field should be discussing, and such a discussion is particularly pertinent in a professional field like education, where policymakers, practitioners, funding agencies, and citizens routinely ask how research can help improve the profession. I welcome her effort to clarify the issues surrounding the relevance of educational research, and I appreciate the opportunity to join in this discussion; but I find that I profoundly disagree with her analysis. My disagreement operates at three levels of abstraction, starting with a quibble about her interpretation of my own earlier argument about the differences in how teachers and researchers view the educational enterprise and then moving on to much more basic concerns about the nature of scholarly research and the meaning of relevance. First, although her paper in general represents the argument in my paper accurately, it does introduce a subtle distortion of my account of the teacher-researcher split. In my paper I acknowledge that, by laying out the polar differences in the orientations of teacher and researcher so starkly, I risk overstating the difference between the two modes of work. I note that researchers in their own practice also demonstrate elements of the normative, personal, particularistic, and experiential; likewise teachers show elements of the contrasting orientations. The difference, I argue, is not the function of a mind-body dichotomy but a matter of emphasis, the result of a division of educational labor structured by the institutional settings, occupational constraints, daily work demands, and professional incentives of each realm of practice. Teachers are primarily engaged in a practice of social improvement, grounded in personal relationships with particular students embedded in time and place, and the professional knowledge they build is largely an accumulation of clinical experiences. Educational researchers are primarily engaged in a practice of social analysis, grounded in intellectual conceptions of education generalized across contexts, and the professional knowledge they build is largely a web of theories. The different conditions of work lead to different modes of professional practice and different ways of thinking about education. This leads to a second broader point, that the way to deal with these differences in orientation is not to combine the two in a single role – clinical researcher – which perfectly balances these elements, but to acknowledge and honor the different zones of expertise and to promote a fruitful dialogue between practitioners in the two zones. It seems neither practical nor necessary for all researchers to split their time between school teaching and educational research in order to establish the power and credibility of the research knowledge they produce. A differential allocation of functions between teachers and researchers seems fruitful for both professions, as long as the barrier is relatively low and the conversation across the barrier is ongoing. Universities are not eager to pay scholars to teach school, and school districts are not eager to pay teachers to do research, so it is hard to see how such a hybrid occupational role can become institutionalized. And the skills involved in being an expert researcher or teacher are so strikingly different that it would be difficult for individuals to achieve mastery in both at the same time. Each requires immersion in a particular institutional setting, fluency in a distinctive professional culture, and full engagement in a complex set of professional practices. According to Bulterman-Bos, these differences in perspective between researchers and teachers are highly dysfunctional, leading to invalid research and ineffective teaching; but I see these differences as carrying great potential value. To teachers – immersed in a web of pedagogical goals, social contexts, and instructional relationships – research can offer a way to gain perspective on their realm of practice, holding up a theoretical mirror that allows them to see what is unique and what is commonplace in their classroom setting. To researchers – afloat in the intellectualized and decontextualized realm of educational theory – the classroom can offer a way to gain grounding in the personal and particular world of teaching and learning in schools, providing professional problems to spur theory development and providing clinical settings for testing theory. Both stand to gain from the interaction, since each side provides what the other is lacking. The answer, I suggest, is not to resolve this tension by merging the two roles but to take advantage of the tension by using it to enrich both modes of professional practice. I want to advance this argument another notch by making a third, more fundamental point: It is counterproductive to press educational research – or, for that matter, any other form of research – to be relevant. One problem is that relevance is a tricky quality to define, since it is easier to recognize in retrospect than in prospect. A related problem is that earnest efforts to make research more relevant can paradoxically make it useless or even harmful, by focusing on short term results that are narrowly measured instead of on consequences with a longer horizon and broader scope. But to argue against the press for relevance is not to say that educational research should be irrelevant. Research in general draws inspiration from real world problems, and this is particularly true in professional schools, where scholars feel the need to study issues that arise from problems of practice in their professional arena. In his book exploring the issue of research relevance, Donald Stokes (1997) called this sector of research activity “Pasteur’s quadrant.” He categorizes research according to the degree that its aim is to pursue fundamental understanding or to respond to pressing problems, and by this metric he locates Niels Bohr in the first category (pure basic research), Thomas Edison in the second (pure applied research), and Louis Pasteur in both (use-inspired basic research). I argue that scholarly research justifies itself primarily by its contribution to theory, sometimes inspired by immediate social needs (like Pasteur) and sometimes not (like Bohr), and this applies to a professional field like education as much as to a scholarly discipline. If we as educational researchers fail to contribute to theory with our research, then we are less scholars than engineers or product developers. Theory development frequently leads to product development, as the relationship between universities and the technology industry has demonstrated so dramatically in the last half century, but the distinctive value of scholarly research dissipates quickly when it segues from being use-inspired to use-driven. And this is what happens with the press for relevance. Mie Augier and James G. March (2007) have written a persuasive account of how the drive to make research relevant can render it less so. Their focus is on the research produced and education provided by business schools, but their arguments apply with equal validity to the field of education. In both domains, there is a strong professional constituency asking professional schools to prove their usefulness by solving problems and serving the needs of practitioners. The problem is that this urge to be useful often turns counterproductive. Augier and March identify two key factors that undermine the relevance of research trying too hard to be relevant: ambiguity and myopia. Ambiguity comes from the difficulty in trying to define what constitutes relevance for research. Presumably, educational research is relevant if it has some kind of clear connection to issues and problems in the field of educational practice, particularly if it promises to be useful to practitioners who are trying to deal with these issues and resolve these problems. But this begs the question, useful to whom and for what? Think of the wide array of actors involved in education: teachers, students, principals, and parents; test makers, textbook publishers, and educational technology producers; curriculum developers, superintendents, and school board members; policymakers, politicians, and educational bureaucrats; teacher educators and education school deans. What might make research useful for some of these might at the same time make it useless for others. Relevance is in the eye of the beholder. In addition, research may be useful for helping to accomplish some educational ends but not others. Studies that seem relevant to people who are trying to raise test scores may not be at all relevant for those who are trying to improve critical thinking, enhance civic commitment, increase skills in mathematical analysis, promote gender equity, reduce the racial achievement gap, increase graduation rates, or enhance human capital production. These studies may not even seem helpful to people trying to raise student scores on other tests. In fact, what is helpful in attaining one goal may be harmful in attaining another, which, for example, is the argument made by proponents of critical thinking about the effect of efforts to raise test scores. Almost any bit of educational research is likely to be seen as more or less useful for some actor concerned about some education-related goal, while simultaneously being seen as useless or harmful by most actors for most purposes. Under these circumstances, it is trivial to call research relevant or irrelevant, since it all depends on the peculiar mix of actors and goals. But the problem of the inherent ambiguity of relevant research feeds into the more fundamental problem of its genetic predisposition toward myopia. Relevance is not only a function of person and purpose but also of place and time. As Bulterman-Bos and I have both argued, teaching and learning in schools is highly particularized and contextualized. This makes the relevance of research hard to establish across contexts. Studies that may be seen as useful in teaching and learning for one student – or subject matter or ethnic group or classroom or grade level or school or school district or state or country – may not be seen as useful in other settings. Likewise, what makes research useful at one point in time may make it useless or misleading at another. The knowledge may be so time sensitive that its usefulness expires quickly. And knowledge that is helpful in meeting an educational goal in the present (say, to improve engagement in a science lesson) may undermine a goal whose accomplishment cannot be measured until decades later (say, to improve science understanding in the workforce). Augier and March call this tendency myopia in order to call attention to a potentially pathological consequence of the effort to make research relevant: it may lead to educational knowledge that is short-sighted. When educational researchers seek to make their work relevant, they feel the need to tailor their work to the demands of educational practice in the present time and the local place (or the location of the intended client-consumer). The problem is that this work, even if it is helpful in that particular context is not likely to be useful in the conditions of educational practice that exist a few miles away or a few months in the future. Conversely, research that seems like an abstract exercise in theory building at one time and place may become highly relevant for practical purposes that were unforeseeable at the point when the work was done. Bohr’s work on quantum mechanics is a good case in point. In this sense, then, applied research may grow stale quickly while basic research may age well. Scholarly work that neither arises from a quest for relevance nor demonstrates any particular utility at the time it is carried out may turn out to be highly useful at a later time and in a different place. Research relevance, therefore, is not only hard to define, but the active pursuit of it may produce educational knowledge that is irrelevant. Augier, Mie & March, James G. (2007). The pursuit of relevance in management education. California Management Review, 49:3 (Spring), 129-146. Bulterman-Bos, Jacquelien A. (2008). Will a clinical approach make educational research more relevant for practice? Educational Researcher. Labaree, David F. (2003). The peculiar problems of preparing and becoming educational researchers. Educational Researcher, 32:4 (May), 13-22. Stokes, Donald E. (1997). Pasteur’s quadrant: Basic science and technological innovation. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press. Posted in Education policy, Educational Research, History of education Posted on August 5, 2019 August 1, 2019 by David Labaree This is a piece I wrote about the harm that educational research has inflicted over the years. Given a track record of making things worse for school and society, educational researchers would do well to heed the wisdom in the Hippocratic Oath. If our work often fails to make things better, we should at least strive to do no harm. The paper first appeared in Teacher Education and Practice in 2011. Here’s a link to the original. Education is a field of dreams and so is educational research. As educators, we dream of schools that can improve the lives of students, solve social problems, and enrich the quality of life; and as educational researchers, we dream that our studies will enhance the effectiveness of schools in achieving these worthy goals. Both fields draw recruits who see the possibilities of education as a force for doing good, and that turns out to be a problem, because the history of both fields shows that the chances for doing real harm are substantial. Over the years, research on teaching and teacher education – the topic of the discussion in this special issue – has caused a lot of damage to teaching and learning and learning-to-teach in schools. So I suggest a good principle to adopt when considering the role of research in teacher education is a version of the Hippocratic Oath: First do no harm. The history of educational research in the United States in the twentieth century supports a pessimistic assessment of the field’s impact on American school and society. There was Edward L. Thorndike, whose work emphasized the importance of differentiating the curriculum in order to provide the skills and knowledge that students would later need in playing sharply different roles in a stratified workforce. There was David Snedden, who labored tirelessly to promote narrowly vocational training for that large group of students who would end up serving in what he called “the rank and file.” There were the kingpins of educational testing, such as Lewis Terman, who developed instruments that allowed educators to measure student ability and student learning, which in turn helped determine which track students should occupy and what role they should play in later life. Put together, these kinds of enormously productive educational researchers helped build a system of schooling that emphasized sorting over learning and promoted a vision of teaching that emphasized the delivery of curriculum over the engagement of students. They laid the foundation for the current machinery of curriculum standards and high-stakes testing that has turned American teaching into a machinery for raising test scores. Of course, these educational researchers usually did not intend to do harm. (Snedden is the exception here, a man who was on a mission to dumb down schooling for the lower classes.) For the most part, they saw making curriculum more scientific and intelligence testing more accurate as ways to allow individuals with merit to escape from the clutches of their social origins. Like most educational researchers, they were optimists about the possible impact of their work. But their examples should serve as a cautionary tale for researchers who see their work as an unmitigated exercise in human improvement. One factor in particular tends to bend the work of researchers toward the dark side of the force, and that is research funding. Very few government agencies and foundations are eager to support basic research in education. Instead, funding aligns with the latest educational policy objectives, and to get funded researchers need to demonstrate that their work will in some manner serve these objectives. That is not to say that the researchers necessarily support these policy missions, but in order to win the grant they do have to harness their work, at least rhetorically, to the aims that motivate the request for proposals. In the current global policy climate, that means the work needs to address issues around accountability and standards and improving test scores. If you cannot spin your work in this direction, you will have trouble getting funded. Another factor that interferes with the educational researcher’s desire to do good for teachers and teacher educators is the need to confront an educational version of Gresham’s Law: Bad research tends to displace good. The best research is complex, and this puts the researcher at a competitive disadvantage, since policymakers and teacher educators prefer results that are definitive and easy to understand. The most sophisticated work we produce tends to show an educational reality that has a complex array of elements interacting within a fiendishly complex organizational structure, which means that research findings have be carefully qualified to the point where it is nearly impossible to say with clarity that a particular form of educational practice is effective or ineffective. Instead, we have to report that it all depends. In addition, in order to understand the research findings in any depth, you need to be able to sort through issues of design, methodology, and validity that are only accessible to experts in the field. Meanwhile, there is a vast array of research available to policymakers and practitioners that supports clear answers to educational problems and does so in a manner that is easy for the layperson to comprehend. This kind of work comes from two kinds of groups: think tanks, and entrepreneurial organizations for the delivery of education. Think tanks removes a key element of complexity from the research process by deciding in advance what the politically desirable policy is and then conducting studies that provide clear support for that policy. In the U.S. there are also a variety of non-governmental organizations that are active in promoting and delivering a particular brand of educational service, such as Teach For America (TFA, with its alternative to traditional teacher preparation) and the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP, with its alternative approach to running schools in low income neighborhoods). These organizations commission research that conveniently demonstrates the effectiveness of what they do. And both types of research producers are particularly effective at marketing their findings to the relevant actors in the policy and education communities. University based educational research cannot compete with these other producers in clarity and understandability, but they can undercut the impact of this work a bit by doing what university researchers have always been good at. We have an advantage in being the only group without a dog in the policy hunt, which allows us to perform credible fundamental research about how schools work, how teaching and learning happens, and how teachers learn to teach. Work like this can help show how simplistic and politically biased these other research products really are. And it won’t do much harm. Academic writing Capitalism Course Syllabus Credentialing Democracy Educational goals Educational Research Education policy Empire Higher Education History History of education Inequality Meritocracy Modernity Politics Populism Professionalism Scholarship Schooling School reform Sociology Systems of Schooling Teaching Theory Uncategorized War Welfare Writing Writing Class Follow David Labaree on Schooling, History, and Writing on WordPress.com Jonathan Rauch — The War on Professionalism Resisting Educational Standards Agnes Callard — A More Perfect Meritocracy Cartoons about the Life of the Professor Lydia Wilson — Reading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing Categories Select Category Academic Life (3) Academic writing (28) Books (1) Capitalism (5) Course Syllabus (10) Credentialing (7) Culture (3) Curriculum (3) Democracy (4) Economic growth (1) Ed schools (2) Education policy (15) Educational goals (6) Educational Research (14) Empire (5) Family (1) Global History (1) Graduate school (1) Higher Education (31) History (26) History of education (27) History of Higher Education Class (2) History of School Reform Class (2) Inequality (7) Institutions (1) Liberal democracy (2) Liberty (1) Meritocracy (22) Modernity (4) Organization Theory (2) Pandemic (1) Persona (1) Philosophy (3) Politics (11) Populism (6) Power (1) Professionalism (4) Progressivism (1) Proseminar Class (1) Public Good (3) Race (3) Reading (1) Religion (1) Research (3) Resilience (2) Rhetoric (3) Scholarship (6) School organization (3) School reform (8) Schooling (7) Social mobility (1) Social Programs (3) Social status (2) Sociology (12) Sports (2) State Formation (1) Students (1) Systems (2) Systems of Schooling (7) Teacher education (3) Teaching (8) Theory (5) Uncategorized (13) War (4) Welfare (4) Wit (1) Wokeness (1) Writing (41) Writing Class (17)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1738
__label__wiki	0.563133	0.563133	We are an early-stage VC investor in Dubai with over 20 investments to date Dubai’s The Luxury Closet raises investment from Huda Beauty Investments Dubai-based luxury resale marketplace The Luxury Closet has raised investment from Huda Beauty Investments, the private investment office of Huda, Alya & Mona Kattan & Christopher Goncalo, the founders of one of the leading global cosmetics brands Huda Beauty. HB Investments was first announced in 2017. According to the statement, it invests in early-stage businesses and helps the founders by building their brands and expanding reach. It has made some other investments as well but apparently has been quiet about them. The Luxury Closet is one of the first announcements by HB Investments. The size of this investment in The Luxury Closet was not disclosed but the statement by HB Investments noted that it is part of an ongoing $11 million round in which Dubai-based MEVP (Middle East Venture Partners) is a co-investor. MEVP is one of the early backers of The Luxury Closet. Founded in 2012 by Kunal Kapoor, The Luxury Closet is an ecommerce marketplace for pre-owned luxury goods including watches, handbags, clothing, shoes, and accessories. The platform focuses on the resale of ‘perfect condition’ items from high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and Rolex from sellers across the Middle East. In a statement, the startup said that it has listed 80,000 items worth $120 million from 5,000 sellers. The Luxury Closet, according to the statement, has raised $18 million in total financing to date. It had closed an $11 million growth round in May last year. In 2015, it had raised $2.2 million in a Series A round. The ecommerce startup last year had also acquired Guiltless, a Hong Kong-based ecommerce platform for resale of luxury products. The statement said that 60 percent of The Luxury Closet’s revenue comes from the Middle East & North Africa – and the rest of 40 percent from markets in Asia and the United States. The strategic partnership with Huda Beauty Investments is a big milestone for The Luxury Closet. The founders of Huda Beauty help the company with brand development using their massive reach on social media. The partnership will “harness the combined understanding of consumer behavior in fashion and beauty and to drive brand awareness and increase the adoption of resale,” said the statement. Huda Beauty has close to 50 million followers on Instagram (which makes it one of the most followed brands there). Huda, Mona & Alya (collectively) have over 6 million followers on their personal Insagram accounts as well. Kunal Kapoor, the co-founder and CEO of The Luxury Closet, said, “Given the economic situation, people are increasingly valuing circular businesses as they are an affordable and sustainable way to refresh their wardrobes. This has expedited The Luxury Closet’s growth across market cycles. HBI’s investment in The Luxury Closet is excellent news for our company. The partnership will help us bring the concept to a whole new audience.” Mona Kattan, the co-founder and Global President of Huda Beauty who is joining The Luxury Closet’s board, said, “I have always been an advocate of circular fashion, and I am very excited about our endeavors with The Luxury Closet. At the beginning of our entrepreneurial journey, we did not have the means to purchase Fashion Luxury items and thus opted for vintage and second-hand shops. I’m very pleased to be part of the board alongside likeminded individuals and a business that offers a unique service that fills a major gap in the market.” Huda Kattan, Chairperson of HB Investments and founder of Huda Beauty, said, “We are excited to partner with The Luxury Closet. Sustainability is one of our primary focuses and a core tenant for the HBI portfolio. In our continued effort to champion responsible and eco-friendly businesses, we couldn’t be more enthusiastic about our partnership with The Luxury Closet.” Walid Mansour, Partner & Chief Investment Officer, MEVP added “The resolve and resilience shown by Kunal and the TLC team is the driving force behind MEVP’s continued commitment to making TLC the most trusted and loved online fashion marketplace in MENA. We are growing faster than ever and have established footprints from Hong Kong to California. With this fundraiser, we will achieve significant supply goals such as garnering over 100k SKUs which will make The Luxury Closet MENA’s largest luxury mall.” Source: MENAbytes	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1741
__label__wiki	0.954878	0.954878	Hopeful Signs Concerning Libya Ali Aujali is the recently appointed charge d'affairs of the re-opened Libyan embassy in Washington, D.C. (file) The Libyan embassy in Washington has been reopened, demonstrating growing recognition of the legitimacy of the Transitional National Council. In a move demonstrating the growing recognition of the legitimacy of Libya's opposition governing body, the Transitional National Council, the Libyan embassy in Washington has been reopened, and the U.S. has accredited Ali Aujali as charge d'affairs. Mr. Aujali had been Ambassador to the U.S. under Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, until he resigned his post in February and joined the opposition seeking to overthrow Mr. Gadhafi. In July, the United States recognized the Transitional National Council, or TNC, as the legitimate governing authority of Libya, four months after NATO began its operations to protect civilians from Gadhafi regime attacks. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta highlighted some positive signs: "The combination of NATO forces there, the combination of what the opposition is doing, the sanctions, the international pressure, the work of the Arab League – all of that has been very helpful in moving this in the right direction. And I think the sense is that Gadhafi's days are numbered." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the situation in Libya calls "for strategic patience." She noted that when anti-Gadhafi protests began there was no organized opposition, there were no reliable civil institutions, "There was," she said, "no address even for trying to figure out how to help people who were attempting to cast off this brutal dictatorship of 42-plus years." Secretary Clinton praised the distance the Libyan opposition has travelled in a few short months, and the willingness of the international community to join with the United States in bearing the burden of defending civilians and promoting universal values in Libya. "I think this is 'smart power,' said Secretary of State Clinton, "where it's not just brute force, it's not just unilateralism; it's being smart enough to say. . . .we want a bunch of people singing out of the same hymn book. And we want them singing a song of universal freedom, human rights and democracy – everything that we have stood for and pioneered over 235 years." /dalet/Editorial_VO_239_016621_081911_Hopeful_Signs_Concerning_Libya.Mp3 Stabilizing Libya Libyan Assets For The Libyan People Update On Libyan Rebels U.S. Recognizes Libyan Rebels	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1743
__label__cc	0.643025	0.356975	We Put the Freak in Freakonomics Economics of the Undead is featured this week on the Freakonomics Radio podcast. You can hear me and two other contributors (Steve Horwitz and Enrique Guerra-Pujol) talking about whether a zombie invasion could be good for the economy, how legalizing blood sales could reduce vampire violence, and how economics can improve your vampire-human and human-human mating strategy. For Freakonomics listeners arriving here, welcome! In the right-hand column, you’ll find links to the table of contents, excerpts from the book, a course guide, and more. (That “more” includes links to the book on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites… hint hint.) 2 Comments \| posted in Uncategorized Ebola, the Undead, and Political Ignorance Guest Post by Ilya Somin My chapter in The Economics of the Undead focuses on the ways in which political ignorance undermines efforts to combat zombies and vampires. From Dracula to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to World War Z, a constant theme of books and movies about the undead is that public ignorance and irrationality exacerbate the danger they pose to humans. Typically, the story begins with a growing undead menace that the ignorant public is largely unaware of. As a result, government does little or nothing to address the problem. When the threat becomes so obvious that voters finally become aware of it, the reaction is an irrational panic that often leads to perverse policies that make the problem worse. In addition, the government and various interest groups often take advantage of the public’s ignorance and bias to use the crisis created by the undead for their own benefit. Nefarious government officials try to coopt the undead to advance their own agendas. Special interests exploit the situation by claiming that the best way to fight the undead is to give them more privileges or increased government funding. The ignorance and irrationality highlighted in stories about the undead is an exaggerated version of the real-world problem of voter ignorance. Because the payoff to acquiring political knowledge is so low, voters are both rationally ignorant about politics, and do a poor job of evaluating the information they do know. Public ignorance impacts real-world disasters just as much as zombie uprisings. For example, ignorant voters reward governments far more for disaster relief spending than for disaster prevention, even though the latter is much more effective in saving lives. Relief spending is far more visible to poorly informed voters than prevention spending. After a disaster happens, the media constantly covers relief efforts. Voters watch because the coverage is dramatic and entertaining. By contrast, few voters keep track of disaster prevention spending, or even know about it. As a result, governments often fail to properly prepare for and mitigate disasters in advance, and then engage in wasteful but showy spending in the aftermath. Political scientist Daniel Drezner, author of Theories of International Politics and Zombies, points out that the kind of public ignorance we find in zombie stories is now affecting efforts to deal with Ebola. As in the case of the undead, the response to Ebola was slow at first because most voters were ignorant of the very existence of the problem. When they finally found out about it, public reactions to Ebola were heavily influenced by ignorance and illogical thinking. Both right and left-wing activists and politicians took advantage of the situation to promote agendas with little or no real connection to the problem. The left is using Ebola to trumpet increased funding for government agencies like the CDC and the NIH, while the right uses it to justify restricting immigration and travel, even though neither approach is likely to do much to actually solve the problem. Fortunately, at least for wealthy Western nations, the Ebola crisis is probably only a very minor danger. The average American is far more likely to die by drowning in their bathtub than by catching Ebola. If political ignorance undercuts effective responses to Ebola, the result won’t be anywhere near as bad as a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, public ignorance could easily make Ebola policy more wasteful and inefficient than it needs to be, and might potentially result in at least a few avoidable deaths. And if Western governments react to ill-informed public anger by banning travel to and from affected nations instead of focusing on more effective and less draconian measures such as temporary quarantines, the result will be extensive needless suffering and a longterm exacerbation of disease risk. Too often, well-intentioned but ignorant humans are more deadly than even the most malevolent vampires and zombies. Ilya Somin is a law professor at George Mason University School of Law, and author of Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter (Stanford University Press, 2013). He is a regular contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy blog, affiliated with the Washington Post. Leave a comment \| posted in Uncategorized Undead and Unenforceable Contracts I’ve recently learned of two different products aimed at customers expecting a zombie invasion. First, there’s the $113K Zombie Fortification Cabin from Tiger Log Cabins: The ZFC-1 is a log cabin kit designed with the walking dead in mind. The structure consists of three connected buildings. It comes stocked with reinforced slit windows, walls and doors; a barbed-wire surround; an escape hatch on top; and a living room with Xbox, TV and sound system. It comes with an arsenal storage unit to secure your anti-zombie weaponry. There’s also a toilet system, garage, kitchen area with microwave and an upper deck with a full view all around so you can keep an eye out for the oncoming horde. A garden section means you won’t have to take over an abandoned prison to start a small produce farm. Second, there’s Zombie Juice, a tonic designed to prevent you from turning into a zombie after exposure: When I set about creating my Zombie Juice, I was going for an end result that was good for the whole body. A tonic. Something that would boost the immune system, strengthen the organs, regulate digestion, cleanse toxins, and provide lots of vitamins and minerals to the body. I wanted it to have all the ‘anti’ properties… antibiotic, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, anti-radiation, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory… I wanted it to be strong enough to knock out any stray bit of illness or disease that might find its way into our system, but gentle enough to be able to take daily to prevent any illness or disease from finding its way into our system in the first place. What do these products have in common? Both make claims about efficacy that cannot be tested until it’s too late to ask for a refund. Interestingly, the log cabin company does offer a 10-year anti-zombie guarantee (“Please note — we require medical evidence of the presence of a real zombie should you wish to claim under the 10 year anti zombie guarantee.”) But how could this guarantee ever be enforced? Zombie Juice offers no similar guarantee – in fact, the recipe is simply offered for free online – but if there were such a guarantee, it would be similarly pointless. Unenforceable contracts arise in Economics of the Undead in Eleanor Brown and Robert Prag’s chapter on “Zombification Insurance.” Zombification insurance claims can only be expected to pay out during contained zombie outbreaks, inasmuch as a full-blown apocalypse makes payouts both unlikely and superfluous. As Brown and Prag put it, “None of those people running screaming through the streets in World War Z are looking for their claims adjusters. … In a full-blown zombie apocalypse, then, anybody who wants to run screaming through the streets in search of her claims adjuster should be heading for the courthouse where the insurers are filing their bankruptcy papers.” Unenforceable contracts are bad for a couple of reasons. The obvious reason is that they allow firms to make promises they never intend to keep and offer products they never intend to work. The cabin may be shoddily constructed; the anti-zombie tonic may be ineffective; the zombie insurance company might have no intention of paying out any claims. Some people may be suckered into buying these low-quality or fraudulent products. The other problem with unenforceable contracts is less obvious but just as bad: they may deter the creation of products and services that do work. Let’s say there’s a company with an anti-zombie product that is genuinely effective, but it costs more to make than the bogus kind. They’d like to send a message to potential buyers that their stuff really works, and one way to do so is to offer a guarantee: “I’ll compensate you if my product fails.” This offer is cheap for the makers of the genuine article (because they don’t expect to pay out) but expensive for the snake-oil salesmen (because they will have to pay out). Or at least, that would be true if the guarantee were enforceable. Without enforceability, however, both producers can make the same guarantee with little fear of consequences. As a result, consumers cannot distinguish between the effective and ineffective products. And then the producer of the costly-but-effective product will get priced out of the market. As Brown and Prag observe, matters change substantially if zombie outbreaks are expected to be sporadic and contained. In that context, contractual guarantees can be enforced — and even if they can’t, reputational effects (think Yelp) can induce better behavior on the part of producers. Perhaps the creators of the ZFC-1 cabin are assuming such a contained-outbreak world. It’s the end of the world that encourages end-game behaviors. Vampire-Vampire Relationships In the first two chapters of Economics of the Undead, “Human Girls and Vampire Boys, Parts 1 and 2,” I emphasize the long-term problems that may arise in relationships with a mortality mismatch. As I note in the concluding paragraph of Part 2: Simply put, the mortal-immortal pairing is not a sustainable relationship model. Without conversion, every such pairing is doomed by the eventuality of death. And besides, if a vampire loves his human partner enough to stay with her to the bitter end, why not give her the gift of immortality instead? A human girl might rationally wonder why her lover would refuse her that precious gift. As human-vampire relationships become increasingly common, we should not be surprised to see “turning ceremonies” emerge as the ultimate signal of undying commitment. But… what happens next? Do vampire-vampire relationships raise issues distinct from human-human relationships? In two-vampire marriages, the phrase “Til Death Do Us Part” isn’t quite the exit clause that it is in a two-human pairing. But in other respects, long-term vampire-vampire matches may not differ that much from human-human ones — as this excellent video suggests (sorry, WordPress doesn’t support embedding for MSN Video): Weird Things All Vampire Couples Do Vampires and Other Bloodsuckers U by Kotex is using bloodsuckers to advertise bloodsuckers. The feminine product line is financing Carmilla, described as a “quirky Canadian vampire web series” based on the classic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Here is episode one: An introductory video for the web series helpfully informs us that vampires have periods. Indeed, the immortal Carmilla says she’s had over 4000 of them; I guess menopause is not a thing for the undead. Given the intense brand loyalty associated with feminine hygiene products (“women rarely change brands after their 20s,” says one article), their suppliers would be wise to target the vampire demographic. Also, given how much blood is involved in a vampire’s daily existence, I have to think even male vampires might find other uses for these highly absorbent products. Zombie Hunting Permits The city of Clarendon Hills, Illinois, has begun issuing zombie hunting permits. A permit system is typically used to limit the amount of something. Which raises an intriguing question: why does Clarendon Hills want to reduce the amount of zombie hunting? Apparently, there must be too few zombies! This is not as absurd as it sounds. As Michael O’Hara argues in Chapter 16 of Economics of the Undead, “Zombies as an Invasive Species,” one potential solution to a zombie infestation is to encourage people to hunt zombies for sport. Initially, while the zombies are numerous and out of control, you wouldn’t want to limit this activity. But if zombie hunting became popular enough, then the zombies could be hunted into extinction — which would mean the death of a popular and enjoyable pastime. To prevent the overhunting of the zombie population, you would need to establish private zombie-hunting preserves (as O’Hara suggests) or government-issued zombie-hunting licenses (as in Clarendon Hills). Another possibility is that the Clarendon Hills government may have determined that zombie-hunting produces positive externalities (benefits to people besides the hunters), but also negative externalities (costs to people besides the hunters) — possibly in the form of accidental killings of uninfected people. If the bad externalities exceed the good ones, then you might want to place limits on zombie-hunting. But this seems unlikely in the face of a serious invasion. In any case, this is a good time to quote one of my favorite lines from Economics of the Undead. O’Hara says in the conclusion to his chapter, “Of course, once we accept the idea that zombies can be an economically valuable species, we cannot avoid the question of whether certain members of society might be more valuable as zombies than as living humans.” Ayn Rand’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Reply The Toast brings us its latest pop-culture parody: Ayn Rand’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here’s a key passage: GILES: In every generation there is a Slayer. She is the Chosen One. She alone will stand against the forces of darkness – BUFFY: What does it pay? GILES: What do you mean? BUFFY: I’m being expected to risk my personal health and well-being on behalf of those too weak to fend for themselves, yes? GILES: I wouldn’t put it exactly like that. BUFFY: Surely this kind of specialized labor merits compensation, if my skills are so highly valued on the free market. GILES: Well, we can’t really offer the Slayer money, if that’s what you mean. BUFFY: Then I will find someone who can, and work only for the highest bidder. Okay, Buffy doesn’t exactly sound heroic here… but she’s got a point! After all, we don’t expect policemen and soldiers to work without pay. Sure, most firefighters are still volunteers, but the number is declining, and even the volunteers are often given some form of compensation such as health insurance, workers’ comp, stipends, and per-call or per-shift fees. When you think about it, it’s pretty strange to expect an important, even vital, service to be performed out of pure altruism. As Adam Smith observed, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” That is how we induce people to work in almost all professions. Why should vampire slayers be any different? If you’re a devoted Buffy fan, you know the lack of compensation eventually becomes a real problem. After Buffy’s mother dies and Buffy becomes the sole provider for both herself and her sister Dawn, her financial situation becomes dire. In “Flooded,” Anya (a near-anagram for Ayn) suggests that Buffy should start charging for slaying vampires: “I mean, you’re providing a valuable service to the whole community. I say cash in!” Dawn objects, “You can’t charge innocent people for saving their lives.” Dawn is clearly wrong, of course; see above re: soldiers and cops. Eventually, Buffy ends up working at the Doublemeat Palace — time that would surely have been better spent defending humanity from creatures of the night. Arguably, vampire-slaying is a public good – that is, a service that you cannot exclude non-payers from benefitting from.* Every time Buffy slays a vampire, she saves any number of anonymous future victims, none of whom can be identified and made to pay. Economists will often argue that government should fund public goods because they’re difficult for the private sector to provide. Even Ayn Rand would have agreed to that; she supported government services to protect individual rights of person and property, and surely protection from vampire attacks would qualify. However, in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — and arguably the real world as well — the government is not exactly a reliable ally. (See Ilya Somin’s chapter in Economics of the Undead for more about why governments fail to anticipate the undead threat.) So perhaps it would be better for some private organization — the seemingly well-funded Watchers’ Council being the obvious choice — to pay slayers for their services. But regardless of whether you think the public or private sector should fund vampire slayage, it still makes sense to compensate the brave people who are on the front line and taking the biggest risks on behalf of everyone else.** * True public goods have a second condition, non-rivalry in consumption, which I’m ignoring because it’s not especially relevant here. ** By the way, if you’ve seen any of the sex scenes between Buffy and Spike in Season 6, then you already know what Ayn Rand’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer would look like.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1748
__label__wiki	0.970538	0.970538	Out Now! Issue 44 This is the hover state for the latest issue Buy Issue 44 Industrial Escapism and the Deep Humanity of Heavy Metal It’s a global force of creative energy that has left an indelible mark on our visual culture—a form of music that speaks on a level so fundamental that people risk their lives to participate. But in the city that shaped its birth, evidence of its origins are hard to find. On the fiftieth anniversary of its inception, a season of events around Birmingham seeks to change that. Words by Steve Hopkinson Ben Venom, Turn Up The Night It starts with the patter of rain, swelling thunder, bells tolling, the night made audible. And then a crash: distortion’s white heat, a plaintive wail, dissonance, bass charging, a plea for redemption. Heavy metal emerged fully formed in that moment in 1969, on the opening track of the first LP by an emerging group from Birmingham, an industrial city in England’s West Midlands. All three—song, album and band—were named Black Sabbath. The music felt like a reflection of the environment that its creators grew up in. “It was quite a bleak place,” says arts producer Lisa Meyer. “Their fathers had worked in factories, and they knew what life was set out for them. “Their fathers had worked in factories, and they knew what life was set out for them” “In Park Lane, where [guitarist] Tony Iommi grew up, you had small factories right next to domestic housing—it was all part and parcel of growing up in Birmingham. So that shaped the sound, the combination of heavy industry and wanting to escape from that.” The sound was an early influence on Meyer, whose projects have ranged from organizing experimental music festival Supersonic to producing exhibitions exploring metal’s impact on visual culture. Home of Metal at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Exhibition view © Home of Metal Alongside the saturated audio came lyrics that referenced occultism and the supernatural. “There’s that fantasticalness in terms of the imagery and the lyrics, but when people think about the darkness of it, the darkness isn’t necessarily around Satanism—it’s the darkness of real life, the heaviness. “At that time you had books by people like Dennis Wheatley, and Hammer Horror films. They were a form of escapism, taking you out of the ordinary. And at the same time, there were the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations. If you think about the lyrics of [Black Sabbath song] War Pigs, they’re about real-life horror, as opposed to the more the fantastical sense of horror and escapism. Jump forward half a century, and what began as an isolated response to life in the West Midlands has become a worldwide phenomenon, with bands and devotees in their millions spanning from Chile to North Korea, California to Jerusalem. Yet in the city where it all started, acknowledgment of that is hard to come by. Home of Metal at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Exhibition View © Home of Metal “Running Supersonic festival, I was putting on experimental bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sunn O))),” says Meyer. “They were coming to Birmingham and saying, ‘this is the home of Sabbath and Napalm Death, what can we go and see?’ And there’s only an empty shop that used to be a famous club, or a car park that was an amazing venue in the sixties. It felt like there was nothing to pay homage to.” In the absence of a focal point in the region, Meyer organized Home of Metal, a season of exhibitions and events celebrating the region’s most enduring export on the fiftieth anniversary of its birth. “We started the project in 2007 with a number of artists including Mark Titchner. We were looking at how metal culture and the aesthetics of metal had permeated beyond the music and into contemporary visual arts and fashion. It spawned from Birmingham, and yet it’s become something so much bigger.” Alongside an exhibition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery celebrating Black Sabbath, this season brings together a number of shows exploring the genre’s broader impact on visual culture. Foremost among these is a group show at the nearby New Art Gallery Walsall titled Four-Bed Detached Home of Metal, organized by British artist Alan Kane. “I chose to wilfully misunderstand the brief slightly and be very literal with the idea of the home, very literal with the notion of metal,” says Kane. “In a way I’ve made a fictional character who is the dweller in this home, and then played with the idea of what might have been of interest to that individual.” Ozzy Osbourne, Gucci leather waistcoat, worn. Courtesy of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne—No More Tours 2, 2018 © Home of Metal The show brings together pieces by artists including Sarah Lucas, Jeremy Deller and Kane himself, alongside works created by “citizen artists”—members of the community who collaborated with Kane to create installations in the form of bedrooms within the exhibition space. The collaborative installations are a surprise highlight of the show. “The impact of the fans’ bedrooms is pretty dramatic in my view,” says Kane. “They stand up as an experience with any other work in the show, and that was not necessarily something that I thought would be easy.” Geezer Butler’s boot worn at Cal Jam 1974. Courtesy of Geezer Butler © Home of Metal While Kane is no fan of the genre (“I saw Black Sabbath when I was quite young but it wasn’t a particularly earth-shattering moment for me”), he was attracted by the creativity it inspires in its devotees. “I keep coming back to looking at where that impetus for making art comes from. Heavy metal is undeniably a huge source of creative energy, creativity like you might expect to see in an art gallery all over the world. Creative energy in that volume can’t really be overlooked—it’s a significant global force.” “One way to look at my work is that it’s not just mine, it’s all of ours, as a community” Overseas, American artist Ben Venom’s practice was shaped by his participation in Atlanta’s punk and heavy metal scenes. “I grew up listening to heavy metal music from a very early age, and that never left as an interest for me. As I started making artwork, I was influenced by the designs, the aesthetic, the mystique of heavy metal.” Ben Venom, Monument to Thieves Drawing on the do-it-yourself attitude of the punk scene and the sense of a broader metal community, Venom creates textile pieces and clothing from patches of donated materials. “The community aspect is very strong. Sometimes people send me boxes of clothing that I cut up, and that becomes my artwork. One way to look at my work is that it’s not just mine, it’s all of ours, as a community.” “In part, Venom was attracted to metal by its aesthetic of excess: I was always drawn to the over-the-top mentality: go big or go home.” For All This Mayhem, his exhibition at Midlands Art Centre, Venom has taken this approach to extremes, creating large-scale works featuring phrases and imagery drawn from the music. “The centrepiece of the show is a quilt called See You On the Other Side. It’s the biggest I’ve made to date. That was made within that idea of trying to go big.” Black Sabbath tour scarf 1978. Courtesy Stephen Knowles © Home of Metal For Venom, the global reach of the genre is testament to the depth of feeling that it inspires. “It really speaks to the power of heavy metal music—it’s influenced so many different types of people. In Botswana there are people who dress up as heavy metal cowboys. When you have a band that’s formed in Baghdad playing heavy metal music, they can literally lose their lives by doing that. That’s the ultimate dedication—you’re potentially at risk of losing your life, but you’re so into this particular musical genre that you don’t care, you say fuck it and go all the way.” For Kane, too, the universality of metal’s appeal speaks to something fundamental. “There must be something about it which is human, rather than individual. It is quite camp and theatrical, and that’s a universal attribute that might appeal globally. It’s not something you could pin down to being a fashion thing—it must be deeper than that.” Ben Venom, Fly Like an Eagle Meyer feels that this global force, a movement that speaks to something fundamentally and deeply human, has been underappreciated in its home country for too long. “For me this is a stepping stone towards creating a permanent collection or museum that celebrates this musical culture. It’s important for me that this isn’t a one off. This is sticking a stake in the ground to say look, there are the people, there’s the audience. This is something that we should embrace.” Issue 44 - Art and Optimism in Cataclysmic Times In our autumn 2020 issue, we speak with numerous artists about their experiences of optimism, utopia and euphoria, and delve into the mindset that is required simply to create in the first place. We meet four artists and one collective who explore optimism and pessimism directly within their practices, often blurring the line between the two. More info Buy Me Don't miss out. Get the latest from Elephant straight to your inbox and 10% off your first purchase. We use cookies for all the usual reasons. Click Accept and this message will go away. Accept More Info	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1753
__label__wiki	0.740463	0.740463	The Latin American Innovative Novel of the 1920s: A Comparative Reassessment Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez, Sonoma State University In her paper, "The Latin American Innovative Novel of the 1920s: A Comparative Reassessment," Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez examines four early twentieth-century novels from four different Latin American countries. Coonrod Martínez pays particular attention to their innovation and rebellious breaking with tradition in the attempt to create new narrative. The paper includes comparisons of Arqueles Vela, Roberto Arlt, Martín Adán, and Pablo Palacio, and their novels of the 1920s, with works by James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Carlos Williams, Upton Sinclair, Ernest Hemingway, and Ezra Pound. In the paper, Coonrod Martínez also compares these early novels to celebrated novels of the Latin American "Boom" in order to point out that the latter authors were influenced by territory gained by earlier generations which, however, were not celebrated internationally as the Boom authors were. Coonrod Martínez suggests that re-evaluations of these early texts and comparison of them to U.S. and European innovators during the same era will help demonstrate gains made by Latin American artists in the early twentieth century. Coonrod Martínez, Elizabeth. "The Latin American Innovative Novel of the 1920s: A Comparative Reassessment." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 4.2 (2002): <https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1151>	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1757
__label__wiki	0.909411	0.909411	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO, is the British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly abbreviated to Foreign Secretary (currently David Miliband). This position is regarded as one of the three most prestigious appointments in the cabinet, alongside those of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. Together with the Prime Minister, these comprise the Great Offices of State. Ministers at the FCO, as of 5 October 2008, are as follows: Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – The Rt Hon. David Miliband, MP Minister for Europe – Caroline Flint MP Minister of State for Africa, Asia and the UN – The Rt Hon. The Lord Malloch-Brown (also attends cabinet) Minister of State for the Middle East - Bill Rammell MP *Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – Gillian Merron MP The Permanent Under-Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service is Sir Peter Ricketts, KCMG, a senior civil servant. The department's origins The FCO was formed in 1968, from the merger of the short-lived Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office. The Commonwealth Office had been created only in 1966, by the merger of the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Colonial Office, and the Commonwealth Relations Office had been formed by the merger of the Dominions Office and the India Office in 1947—with the Dominions Office having been split from the Colonial Office in 1925. The Foreign Office was formed in March 1782 by combining the Southern and Northern Departments, each of which covered both foreign and domestic affairs in their parts of the Kingdom. The two departments' foreign affairs responsibilities became the Foreign Office, whilst their domestic affairs responsibilities were assigned to the Home Office. In 2006, the FCO identified ten strategic international priorities for the UK over the next five to ten years. The priorities underline how closely domestic and international policies are now linked: # Making the world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction # Reducing the harm to the UK from international crime, including drug trafficking, people smuggling and money laundering # Preventing and resolving conflict through a strong international system # Building an effective and globally competitive EU in a secure neighbourhood # Supporting the UK economy and business through an open and expanding global economy, science and innovation and secure energy supplies # Achieving climate security by promoting a faster transition to a sustainable, low carbon global economy # Promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction underpinned by human rights, democracy, good governance and protection of the environment # Managing migration and combating illegal immigration # Delivering high-quality support for British nationals abroad, in normal times and in crises # Ensuring the security and good governance of the UK's Overseas Territories In August 2005, a report by management consultant group Collinson Grant was made public by Andrew Mackinlay. The report criticised the management structure of the department, noting that: The Foreign Office could be "slow to act". * Delegation is lacking within the management structure. * Accountability was poor. * 1200 jobs could feasibly be cut. * At least £48 million could be saved annually. The Foreign Office commissioned the report to highlight areas which would help it achieve its pledge to reduce spending by £87 million pounds over three years. In response to the report being made public, the Foreign Office stated it had already implemented the report's recommendations. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4745467.stm] In April 2006 a new executive agency was established, FCO Services, to provide corporate service functions. In April 2008 it moved to Trading Fund status so it had the ability to provide similar services which it already offers to the FCO, to other government departments and even outside businesses. History of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main building The Foreign and Commonwealth Office occupies a building which originally provided premises for four separate government departments: the Foreign Office, the India Office, the Colonial Office, and the Home Office. Construction on the building began in 1861 and finished in 1868, and it was designed by the architect George Gilbert Scott. Its architecture is in the Italianate style; Scott had initially envisaged a Gothic design, but the then Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston insisted on a classical style. (Palmerston was Prime Minister at the time the building was begun, in 1861, not Foreign Secretary, a post that he had not held since 1851.) English sculptor John Birnie Philip produced a number of allegorical figures ('Art', 'Law', 'Commerce', etc) for the exterior. In 1925, the Foreign Office played host to the signing of the Locarno Treaties, aimed at reducing tension in Europe. The ceremony took place in a suite of rooms that had been designed for banqueting, which subsequently became known as the Locarno Suite. During the Second World War, the Locarno Suite's fine furnishings were removed or covered up, and it became home to a foreign office code-breaking department. Due to increasing numbers of staff, the offices became increasingly cramped and much of the fine Victorian interior was covered over—especially after World War II. In the 1960s, demolition was proposed, as part of major redevelopment plan for the area drawn up by architect Sir Leslie Martin. A subsequent public outcry prevented these proposals from ever being implemented. Instead, the Foreign Office became a Grade 1 listed building in 1970. In 1978, the Home office moved to a new building, easing overcrowding. With a new sense of the building's historical value, it underwent a 17-year, £100 million restoration process, completed in 1997. The Locarno Suite, used as offices and storage since the Second World War, was fully restored for use in international conferences. The building is now open to the public each year on Open House Weekend. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is now also the main tenant of the Admiralty Extension building, at the opposite end of Horse Guards Parade. List of Foreign and Commonwealth Office home properties * FCO Main Building, Whitehall, King Charles St, London (abbreviated to KCS by FCO staff) * Kirkland House, 22-24 Whitehall, London. * Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall, London (abbreviated to OAB by FCO staff) * Hanslope Park, Hanslope, Milton Keynes (abbreviated to HSP by FCO staff). Location of FCO Services, HMGCC and Technical Security Department of the UK Secret Intelligence Service) * Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs * Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs * Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations * Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs * Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service * Heads of the United Kingdom Mission in Japan * British Ambassadors to the Holy See * Department for International Development * British diplomatic missions * Diplomacy * Ambassador * Court of St James's (to which foreign ambassadors to Britain are accredited) * [http://www.fco.gov.uk Official website] * [http://www.europe.gov.uk Britain in the EU (FCO)] * [http://www.fcoservices.gov.uk Official website of FCO Services (Executive Agency)] * [http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk Official FCO/Immigration Service website] * [http://www.bsn.org.uk British Satellite News - FCO-funded news channel] * [http://www.i-uk.com i-uk (UK Welcome portal co-ordinated by FCO)] Merkle-Hellman Xaviera Hollander Foreign And Commonwealth Office — Le Foreign and Commonweath Office (FCO), ou plus couramment Foreign Office, est dans le gouvernement du Royaume Uni le ministère chargé des affaires étrangères, de la construction européenne et des relations avec les pays membres du … Wikipédia en Français Foreign and Commonwealth Office — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda El Foreign and Commonweath Office, comúnmente llamado Foreign Office, es el ministerio del Gobierno británico que se ocupa de las relaciones exteriores, de la Unión Europea y de las relaciones con los países miembros … Wikipedia Español Foreign and Commonwealth Office — (also Foreign Office) ► NOUN ▪ the British government department dealing with foreign affairs … English terms dictionary Foreign and Commonwealth Office — Foreign and Commonwealth .Office n another name for the Foreign Office … Dictionary of contemporary English Foreign and Commonwealth Office — The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, vom St. James’s Park aus gesehen Das Foreign and Commonwealth Office (ungefähre deutsche Übersetzung: „Amt für Angelegenheiten des Auswärtigen und des Commonwealth“, allgemein zu FCO abgekürzt,… … Deutsch Wikipedia Foreign and Commonwealth Office — the ˌForeign and ˈCommonwealth Office [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] noun singular + singular or plural verb (abbr. FCO) the British government department that deals with relations with other countries. It used to be called the Foreign Office… … Useful english dictionary Foreign and Commonwealth Office — the British government department responsible for relations with other countries. The Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office used to be two different departments. They were joined together in 1968, but many people still refer to it as the… … Universalium Foreign and Commonwealth Office — (also Foreign Office) noun the British government department dealing with foreign affairs … English new terms dictionary	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1761
__label__cc	0.683295	0.316705	Ripples: A Collection of Poems Notify me when the book’s added To read this book, upload an EPUB or FB2 file to Bookmate. How do I upload a book? Search on Google Chris Morgan spent his early life within the range of the flashing beacon at the summit of the Wrekin Hill in Shropshire and at the same time in the long shadows of the Stretton Hills. Later he moved with his family to Kidderminster where he was further influenced by the Malvern Hills, his father's exciting profession as a gamekeeper and woodman and his mother's material stalls in the market places of several west midland towns. This gave him a love for wildlife, the outdoor life in general and a perspective that finds him always looking upwards and outwards at the world and beyond for the treasures that lie there. He has a great interest in the nature of people and takes pleasure in his hobby of driving boat trips up the River Great Ouse at St Ives, where he swaps his commentary on local history and poems with stories from the varied lives of his widely travelled passengers. He wrote his first poem at the age of seven and has always found poetry a wonderful method of sorting those problems in life that can prove difficult to resolve. This book is currently unavailable	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1762
__label__wiki	0.585199	0.585199	Transparent non-crystalline solid material This article is about the material. For other uses, see Glass (disambiguation). A glass building facade Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent amorphous solid, that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of the molten form; some glasses such as volcanic glass are naturally occurring. The most familiar, and historically the oldest, types of manufactured glass are "silicate glasses" based on the chemical compound silica (silicon dioxide, or quartz), the primary constituent of sand. Soda-lime glass, containing around 70% silica, accounts for around 90% of manufactured glass. The term glass, in popular usage, is often used to refer only to this type of material, although silica-free glasses often have desirable properties for applications in modern communications technology. Some objects, such as drinking glasses and eyeglasses, are so commonly made of silicate-based glass that they are simply called by the name of the material. Although brittle, silicate glass is extremely durable and many examples of glass fragments exist from early glass-making cultures. Archaeological evidence suggests glass-making dates back to at least 3,600 BC in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Syria. The earliest known glass objects were beads, perhaps created accidentally during metalworking or the production of faience. Due to its ease of formability into any shape, glass has been traditionally used for vessels, such as bowls, vases, bottles, jars and drinking glasses. In its most solid forms, it has also been used for paperweights and marbles. Glass can be coloured by adding metal salts or painted and printed with vitreous enamels, leading to its use in stained glass windows and other glass art objects. The refractive, reflective and transmission properties of glass make glass suitable for manufacturing optical lenses, prisms, and optoelectronics materials. Extruded glass fibres have application as optical fibres in communications networks, thermal insulating material when matted as glass wool so as to trap air, or in glass-fibre reinforced plastic (fibreglass). 1 Microscopic structure 1.1 Formation from a supercooled liquid 2 Occurrence in nature 4 Physical properties 4.1 Optical 4.3 Reputed flow 5.1 Silicate 5.1.1 Soda-lime 5.1.2 Borosilicate 5.1.3 Lead 5.1.4 Aluminosilicate 5.1.5 Other oxide additives 5.1.6 Glass-ceramics 5.1.7 Fibreglass 5.2 Non-silicate 5.2.1 Amorphous metals 5.2.2 Polymers 5.3 Molecular liquids and molten salts 6.1 Colour 7.1 Architecture and windows 7.2 Tableware 7.3 Packaging 7.4 Laboratories 7.5 Optics 7.6 Art Microscopic structure The amorphous structure of glassy silica (SiO2) in two dimensions. No long-range order is present, although there is local ordering with respect to the tetrahedral arrangement of oxygen (O) atoms around the silicon (Si) atoms. Main article: Structure of liquids and glasses The standard definition of a glass (or vitreous solid) is a solid formed by rapid melt quenching.[1][2][3][4] However, the term "glass" is often defined in a broader sense, to describe any non-crystalline (amorphous) solid that exhibits a glass transition when heated towards the liquid state.[4][5] Glass is an amorphous solid. Although the atomic-scale structure of glass shares characteristics of the structure of a supercooled liquid, glass exhibits all the mechanical properties of a solid.[6][7][8] As in other amorphous solids, the atomic structure of a glass lacks the long-range periodicity observed in crystalline solids. Due to chemical bonding constraints, glasses do possess a high degree of short-range order with respect to local atomic polyhedra.[9] The notion that glass flows to an appreciable extent over extended periods of time is not supported by empirical research or theoretical analysis (see viscosity in solids). Laboratory measurements of room temperature glass flow do show a motion consistent with a material viscosity on the order of 1017–1018 Pa s.[5][10] Formation from a supercooled liquid Main article: Glass transition Unsolved problem in physics : What is the nature of the transition between a fluid or regular solid and a glassy phase? "The deepest and most interesting unsolved problem in solid state theory is probably the theory of the nature of glass and the glass transition." —P.W. Anderson[11] (more unsolved problems in physics ) For melt quenching, if the cooling is sufficiently rapid (relative to the characteristic crystallization time) then crystallization is prevented and instead the disordered atomic configuration of the supercooled liquid is frozen into the solid state at Tg. The tendency for a material to form a glass while quenched is called glass-forming ability. This ability can be predicted by the rigidity theory.[12] Generally, a glass exists in a structurally metastable state with respect to its crystalline form, although in certain circumstances, for example in atactic polymers, there is no crystalline analogue of the amorphous phase.[13] Glass is sometimes considered to be a liquid due to its lack of a first-order phase transition[7][14] where certain thermodynamic variables such as volume, entropy and enthalpy are discontinuous through the glass transition range. The glass transition may be described as analogous to a second-order phase transition where the intensive thermodynamic variables such as the thermal expansivity and heat capacity are discontinuous.[2] Nonetheless, the equilibrium theory of phase transformations does not entirely hold for glass, and hence the glass transition cannot be classed as one of the classical equilibrium phase transformations in solids.[4][5] Occurrence in nature Main articles: Volcanic glass, Impactite, and Fulgurite Glass can form naturally from volcanic magma. Obsidian is a common volcanic glass with high silica (SiO2) content formed when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly.[15] Impactite is a form of glass formed by the impact of a meteorite, where Moldavite (found in central and eastern Europe), and Libyan desert glass (found in areas in the eastern Sahara, the deserts of eastern Libya and western Egypt) are notable examples.[16] Vitrification of quartz can also occur when lightning strikes sand, forming hollow, branching rootlike structures called fulgurites.[17] Trinitite is a glassy residue formed from the desert floor sand at the Trinity nuclear bomb test site.[18] Edeowie glass, found in South Australia, is proposed to originate from Pleistocene grassland fires, lightning strikes, or hypervelocity impact by one or several asteroids or comets.[19] A piece of volcanic obsidian glass Moldavite, a natural glass formed by meteorite impact, from Besednice, Bohemia Tube fulgurites Trinitite, a glass made by the Trinity nuclear-weapon test Main article: History of glass Roman cage cup from the 4th century BC Naturally occurring obsidian glass was used by Stone Age societies as it fractures along very sharp edges, making it ideal for cutting tools and weapons.[20][21] Glassmaking dates back to at least 6000 years, long before humans had discovered how to smelt iron.[20] Archaeological evidence suggests that the first true synthetic glass was made in Lebanon and the coastal north Syria, Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt.[22][23] The earliest known glass objects, of the mid-third millennium BC, were beads, perhaps initially created as accidental by-products of metalworking (slags) or during the production of faience, a pre-glass vitreous material made by a process similar to glazing.[24] Early glass was rarely transparent and often contained impurities and imperfections,[20] and is technically faience rather than true glass, which did not appear until 15th century BC.[25] However, red-orange glass beads excavated from the Indus Valley Civilization dated before 1700 BC (possibly as early as 1900 BC) predate sustained glass production, which appeared around 1600 in Mesopotamia and 1500 in Egypt.[26][27] During the Late Bronze Age there was a rapid growth in glassmaking technology in Egypt and Western Asia.[22] Archaeological finds from this period include coloured glass ingots, vessels, and beads.[22][28] Much early glass production relied on grinding techniques borrowed from stoneworking, such as grinding and carving glass in a cold state.[29] The term glass developed in the late Roman Empire. It was in the Roman glassmaking centre at Trier (located in current-day Germany), that the late-Latin term glesum originated, probably from a Germanic word for a transparent, lustrous substance.[30] Glass objects have been recovered across the Roman Empire[31] in domestic, funerary,[32] and industrial contexts.[33] Examples of Roman glass have been found outside of the former Roman Empire in China,[34] the Baltics, the Middle East, and India.[35] The Romans perfected cameo glass, produced by etching and carving through fused layers of different colours to produce a design in relief on the glass object.[36] Windows in the choir of the Basilica of Saint Denis, one of the earliest uses of extensive areas of glass (early 13th-century architecture with restored glass of the 19th century) In post-classical West Africa, Benin was a manufacturer of glass and glass beads.[37] Glass was used extensively in Europe during the Middle Ages. Anglo-Saxon glass has been found across England during archaeological excavations of both settlement and cemetery sites.[38] From the 10th-century onwards, glass was employed in stained glass windows of churches and cathedrals, with famous examples at Chartres Cathedral and the Basilica of Saint Denis. By the 14th-century, architects were designing buildings with walls of stained glass such as Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, (1203–1248) and the East end of Gloucester Cathedral. With the change in architectural style during the Renaissance period in Europe, the use of large stained glass windows became much less prevalent,[39] although stained glass had a major revival with Gothic Revival architecture in the 19th century.[40] During the 13th century, the island of Murano, Venice, became a centre for glass making, building on medieval techniques to produce colourful ornamental pieces in large quantities.[36] Murano glass makers developed the exceptionally clear colourless glass cristallo, so called for its resemblance to natural crystal, and extensively used for windows, mirrors, ships' lanterns, and lenses.[20] In the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, enamelling and gilding on glass vessels was perfected in Egypt and Syria.[41] Towards the end of the 17th century, Bohemia became an important region for glass production, remaining so until the start of the 20th century. By the 17th century, glass was also being produced in England in the Venetian tradition. In around 1675, George Ravenscroft invented lead crystal glass, with cut glass becoming fashionable in the 18th century.[36] Ornamental glass objects became an important art medium during the Art Nouveau period in the late 19th century.[36] Throughout the 20th century, new mass production techniques led to the widespread availability and utility for bulk glass and its increased use as a building material and new applications of glass.[42] In the 1920s a mould-etch process was developed, in which art was etched directly into the mould, so that each cast piece emerged from the mould with the image already on the surface of the glass. This reduced manufacturing costs and, combined with a wider use of coloured glass, led to cheap glassware in the 1930s, which later became known as Depression glass.[43] In the 1950s, Pilkington Bros., England, developed the float glass process, producing high-quality distortion free flat sheets of glass by floating on molten tin.[20] Modern multi-story buildings are frequently constructed with curtain walls made almost entirely of glass.[44] Similarly, laminated glass has been widely applied to vehicles for windscreens.[45] Optical glass for spectacles has been used since the Middle Ages.[46] The production of lenses has become increasingly proficient, aiding astronomers[47] as well as having other application in medicine and science.[48] Glass is also employed as the aperture cover in many solar energy collectors.[49] In the 21st century, glass manufacturers have developed different brands of chemically strengthened glass for widespread application in touchscreens for smartphones, tablet computers, and many other types of information appliances. These include Gorilla glass, developed and manufactured by Corning, AGC Inc.'s Dragontrail and Schott AG's Xensation.[50][51][52] Glass is in widespread use in optical systems due to its ability to refract, reflect, and transmit light following geometrical optics. The most common and oldest applications of glass in optics are as lenses, windows, mirrors, and prisms.[53] The key optical properties refractive index, dispersion, and transmission, of glass are strongly dependent on chemical composition and, to a lesser degree, its thermal history.[53] Optical glass typically has a refractive index of 1.4 to 2.4 and Abbe number, which characterises dispersion, of 15 to 100.[53] Refractive index may be modified by high-density (refractive index increases) or low-density (refractive index decreases) additives.[54] Glass transparency results from the absence of grain boundaries which diffusely scatter light in polycrystalline materials.[55] Semi-opacity due to crystallization may be induced in many glasses by maintaining them for a long period at a temperature just insufficient to cause fusion. In this way, the crystalline, devitrified material, known as Réaumur's glass porcelain is produced.[41][56] Although generally transparent to visible light, glasses may be opaque to other wavelengths of light. While silicate glasses are generally opaque to infrared wavelengths with a transmission cut-off at 4 μm, heavy-metal fluoride and chalcogenide glasses are transparent to infrared wavelengths of 7 to 18 μm, respectively.[57] The addition of metallic oxides results in different coloured glasses as the metallic ions will absorb wavelengths of light corresponding to specific colours.[57] See also: List of physical properties of glass, Corrosion § Corrosion of glass, and Strength of glass In the manufacturing process, glasses can be poured, formed, extruded and moulded into forms ranging from flat sheets to highly intricate shapes.[58] The finished product is brittle and will fracture, unless laminated or tempered to enhance durability.[59][60] Glass is typically inert, resistant to chemical attack, and can mostly withstand the action of water, making it an ideal material for the manufacture of containers for foodstuffs and most chemicals.[20][61][62] Nevertheless, although usually highly resistant to chemical attack, glass will corrode or dissolve under some conditions.[61][63] The materials that make up a particular glass composition have an effect on how quickly the glass corrodes. Glasses containing a high proportion of alkali or alkaline earth elements are more susceptible to corrosion than other glass compositions.[64][65] The density of glass varies with chemical composition with values ranging from 2.2 grams per cubic centimetre (2,200 kg/m3) for fused silica to 7.2 grams per cubic centimetre (7,200 kg/m3) for dense flint glass.[66] Glass is stronger than most metals, with a theoretical tensile strength estimated at 14 gigapascals (2,000,000 psi) to 35 gigapascals (5,100,000 psi) due to its ability to undergo reversible compression without fracture. However, the presence of scratches, bubbles, and other microscopic flaws lead to a typical range of 14 megapascals (2,000 psi) to 175 megapascals (25,400 psi) in most commercial glasses.[57] Several processes such as toughening can increase the strength of glass.[67] Carefully drawn flawless glass fibres can be produced with strength of up to 11.5 gigapascals (1,670,000 psi).[57] Reputed flow The observation that old windows are sometimes found to be thicker at the bottom than at the top is often offered as supporting evidence for the view that glass flows over a timescale of centuries, the assumption being that the glass has exhibited the liquid property of flowing from one shape to another.[68] This assumption is incorrect, as once solidified, glass stops flowing. Instead, glass manufacturing processes in the past produced sheets of non-uniform thickness leading to observed sagging and ripples in old windows.[7] Quartz sand (silica) is the main raw material in commercial glass production Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is a common fundamental constituent of glass. Fused quartz is a glass made from chemically-pure silica.[65] It has very low thermal expansion and excellent resistance to thermal shock, being able to survive immersion in water while red hot, resists high temperatures (1000–1500 °C) and chemical weathering, and is very hard. It is also transparent to a wider spectral range than ordinary glass, extending from the visible further into both the UV and IR ranges, and is sometimes used where transparency to these wavelengths is necessary. Fused quartz is used for high-temperature applications such as furnace tubes, lighting tubes, melting crucibles, etc.[69] However, its high melting temperature (1723 °C) and viscosity make it difficult to work with. Therefore, normally, other substances (fluxes) are added to lower the melting temperature and simplify glass processing.[70] Soda-lime Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3, "soda") is a common additive and acts to lowers the glass-transition temperature. However, Sodium silicate is water-soluble, so lime (CaO, calcium oxide, generally obtained from limestone), some magnesium oxide (MgO) and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) are other common components added to improve chemical durability. Soda-lime glasses (Na2O) + lime (CaO) + magnesia (MgO) + alumina (Al2O3) account for over 75% of manufactured glass, containing about 70 to 74% silica by weight.[65][71] Soda-lime-silicate glass is transparent, easily formed, and most suitable for window glass and tableware.[72] However, it has a high thermal expansion and poor resistance to heat.[72] Soda-lime glass is typically used for windows, bottles, light bulbs, and jars.[70] Borosilicate A Pyrex borosilicate glass measuring jug Borosilicate glasses (e.g. Pyrex, Duran) typically contain 5–13% boron trioxide (B2O3).[70] Borosilicate glasses have fairly low coefficients of thermal expansion (7740 Pyrex CTE is 3.25×10−6/°C[73] as compared to about 9×10−6/°C for a typical soda-lime glass[74]). They are, therefore, less subject to stress caused by thermal expansion and thus less vulnerable to cracking from thermal shock. They are commonly used for e.g. labware, household cookware, and sealed beam car head lamps.[70] The addition of lead(II) oxide into silicate glass lowers melting point and viscosity of the melt.[75] The high density of Lead glass (silica + lead oxide (PbO) + potassium oxide (K2O) + soda (Na2O) + zinc oxide (ZnO) + alumina) results in a high electron density, and hence high refractive index, making the look of glassware more brilliant and causing noticeably more specular reflection and increased optical dispersion.[65][76] Lead glass has a high elasticity, making the glassware more workable and giving rise to a clear "ring" sound when struck. However, lead glass cannot withstand high temperatures well.[69] Lead oxide also facilitates solubility of other metal oxides and is used in colored glass. The viscosity decrease of lead glass melt is very significant (roughly 100 times in comparison with soda glass); this allows easier removal of bubbles and working at lower temperatures, hence its frequent use as an additive in vitreous enamels and glass solders. The high ionic radius of the Pb2+ ion renders it highly immobile and hinders the movement of other ions; lead glasses therefore have high electrical resistance, about two orders of magnitude higher than soda-lime glass (108.5 vs 106.5 Ω⋅cm, DC at 250 °C).[77] Aluminosilicate Aluminosilicate glass typically contains 5-10% alumina (Al2O3). Aluminosilicate glass tends to be more difficult to melt and shape compared to borosilicate compositions, but has excellent thermal resistance and durability.[70] Aluminosilicate glass is extensively used for fiberglass,[78] used for making glass-reinforced plastics (boats, fishing rods, etc.), top-of-stove cookware, and halogen bulb glass.[69][70] Other oxide additives The addition of barium also increases the refractive index. Thorium oxide gives glass a high refractive index and low dispersion and was formerly used in producing high-quality lenses, but due to its radioactivity has been replaced by lanthanum oxide in modern eyeglasses.[79] Iron can be incorporated into glass to absorb infrared radiation, for example in heat-absorbing filters for movie projectors, while cerium(IV) oxide can be used for glass that absorbs ultraviolet wavelengths.[80] Fluorine lowers the dielectric constant of glass. Fluorine is highly electronegative and lowers the polarizability of the material. Fluoride silicate glasses are used in manufacture of integrated circuits as an insulator.[81] Glass-ceramics Main article: Glass-ceramic A high-strength glass-ceramic cooktop with negligible thermal expansion. Glass-ceramic materials contain both non-crystalline glass and crystalline ceramic phases. They are formed by controlled nucleation and partial crystallisation of a base glass by heat treatment.[82] Crystalline grains are often embedded within a non-crystalline intergranular phase of grain boundaries. Glass-ceramics exhibit advantageous thermal, chemical, biological, and dielectric properties as compared to metals or organic polymers.[82] The most commercially important property of glass-ceramics is their imperviousness to thermal shock. Thus, glass-ceramics have become extremely useful for countertop cooking and industrial processes. The negative thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) of the crystalline ceramic phase can be balanced with the positive CTE of the glassy phase. At a certain point (~70% crystalline) the glass-ceramic has a net CTE near zero. This type of glass-ceramic exhibits excellent mechanical properties and can sustain repeated and quick temperature changes up to 1000 °C.[83][82] Main articles: Fiberglass and Glass wool Fibreglass (also called glass fibre reinforced plastic, GRP) is a composite material made by reinforcing a plastic resin with glass fibres. It is made by melting glass and stretching the glass into fibres. These fibres are woven together into a cloth and left to set in a plastic resin.[84][85][86] Fibreglass has the properties of being lightweight and corrosion resistant, and is a good insulator enabling its use as building insulation material and for electronic housing for consumer products. Fibreglass was originally used in the United Kingdom and United States during World War II to manufacture radomes. Uses of fibreglass include building and construction materials, boat hulls, car body parts, and aerospace composite materials.[87][84][86] Glass-fibre wool is an excellent thermal and sound insulation material, commonly used in buildings (e.g. attic and cavity wall insulation), and plumbing (e.g. pipe insulation), and soundproofing.[87] It is produced by forcing molten glass through a fine mesh by centripetal force, and breaking the extruded glass fibres into short lengths using a stream of high-velocity air. The fibres are bonded with an adhesive spray and the resulting wool mat is cut and packed in rolls or panels.[57] Non-silicate A CD-RW (CD). Chalcogenide glass form the basis of rewritable CD and DVD solid-state memory technology.[88] Besides common silica-based glasses many other inorganic and organic materials may also form glasses, including metals, aluminates, phosphates, borates, chalcogenides, fluorides, germanates (glasses based on GeO2), tellurites (glasses based on TeO2), antimonates (glasses based on Sb2O3), arsenates (glasses based on As2O3), titanates (glasses based on TiO2), tantalates (glasses based on Ta2O5), nitrates, carbonates, plastics, acrylic, and many other substances.[5] Some of these glasses (e.g. Germanium dioxide (GeO2, Germania), in many respects a structural analogue of silica, fluoride, aluminate, phosphate, borate, and chalcogenide glasses) have physico-chemical properties useful for their application in fibre-optic waveguides in communication networks and other specialized technological applications.[89][90] Silica-free glasses may often have poor glass forming tendencies. Novel techniques, including containerless processing by aerodynamic levitation (cooling the melt whilst it floats on a gas stream) or splat quenching (pressing the melt between two metal anvils or rollers), may be used increase cooling rate, or reduce crystal nucleation triggers.[91][92][93] Amorphous metals Main article: Amorphous metal Samples of amorphous metal, with millimeter scale In the past, small batches of amorphous metals with high surface area configurations (ribbons, wires, films, etc.) have been produced through the implementation of extremely rapid rates of cooling. Amorphous metal wires have been produced by sputtering molten metal onto a spinning metal disk. More recently a number of alloys have been produced in layers with thickness exceeding 1 millimeter. These are known as bulk metallic glasses (BMG). Liquidmetal Technologies sell a number of zirconium-based BMGs. Batches of amorphous steel have also been produced that demonstrate mechanical properties far exceeding those found in conventional steel alloys.[94][95][96] Experimental evidence indicates that the system Al-Fe-Si may undergo a first-order transition to an amorphous form (dubbed "q-glass") on rapid cooling from the melt. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images indicate that q-glass nucleates from the melt as discrete particles with a uniform spherical growth in all directions. While x-ray diffraction reveals the isotropic nature of q-glass, a nucleation barrier exists implying an interfacial discontinuity (or internal surface) between the glass and melt phases.[97][98] Important polymer glasses include amorphous and glassy pharmaceutical compounds. These are useful because the solubility of the compound is greatly increased when it is amorphous compared to the same crystalline composition. Many emerging pharmaceuticals are practically insoluble in their crystalline forms.[99] Many polymer thermoplastics familiar from everyday use are glasses. For many applications, like glass bottles or eyewear, polymer glasses (acrylic glass, polycarbonate or polyethylene terephthalate) are a lighter alternative to traditional glass.[100] Molecular liquids and molten salts Molecular liquids, electrolytes, molten salts, and aqueous solutions are mixtures of different molecules or ions that do not form a covalent network but interact only through weak van der Waals forces or through transient hydrogen bonds. In a mixture of three or more ionic species of dissimilar size and shape, crystallization can be so difficult that the liquid can easily be supercooled into a glass.[101][102] Examples include LiCl:RH2O (a solution of lithium chloride salt and water molecules) in the composition range 4<R<8.[103] sugar glass,[104] or Ca0.4K0.6(NO3)1.4.[105] Glass electrolytes in the form of Ba-doped Li-glass and Ba-doped Na-glass have been proposed as solutions to problems identified with organic liquid electrolytes used in modern lithium-ion battery cells.[106] Main articles: Glass production, Float glass, and Glassblowing Robotized float glass unloading Following the glass batch preparation and mixing, the raw materials are transported to the furnace. Soda-lime glass for mass production is melted in gas fired units. Smaller scale furnaces for specialty glasses include electric melters, pot furnaces, and day tanks.[71] After melting, homogenization and refining (removal of bubbles), the glass is formed. Flat glass for windows and similar applications is formed by the float glass process, developed between 1953 and 1957 by Sir Alastair Pilkington and Kenneth Bickerstaff of the UK's Pilkington Brothers, who created a continuous ribbon of glass using a molten tin bath on which the molten glass flows unhindered under the influence of gravity. The top surface of the glass is subjected to nitrogen under pressure to obtain a polished finish.[107] Container glass for common bottles and jars is formed by blowing and pressing methods.[108] This glass is often slightly modified chemically (with more alumina and calcium oxide) for greater water resistance.[109] Once the desired form is obtained, glass is usually annealed for the removal of stresses and to increase the glass's hardness and durability.[110] Surface treatments, coatings or lamination may follow to improve the chemical durability (glass container coatings, glass container internal treatment), strength (toughened glass, bulletproof glass, windshields[111]), or optical properties (insulated glazing, anti-reflective coating).[112] New chemical glass compositions or new treatment techniques can be initially investigated in small-scale laboratory experiments. The raw materials for laboratory-scale glass melts are often different from those used in mass production because the cost factor has a low priority. In the laboratory mostly pure chemicals are used. Care must be taken that the raw materials have not reacted with moisture or other chemicals in the environment (such as alkali or alkaline earth metal oxides and hydroxides, or boron oxide), or that the impurities are quantified (loss on ignition).[113] Evaporation losses during glass melting should be considered during the selection of the raw materials, e.g., sodium selenite may be preferred over easily evaporating selenium dioxide (SeO2). Also, more readily reacting raw materials may be preferred over relatively inert ones, such as aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3) over alumina (Al2O3). Usually, the melts are carried out in platinum crucibles to reduce contamination from the crucible material. Glass homogeneity is achieved by homogenizing the raw materials mixture (glass batch), by stirring the melt, and by crushing and re-melting the first melt. The obtained glass is usually annealed to prevent breakage during processing.[113][114] Main article: Glass coloring and color marking Colour in glass may be obtained by addition of homogenously distributed electrically charged ions (or colour centres). While ordinary soda-lime glass appears colourless in thin section, iron(II) oxide (FeO) impurities produce a green tint in thick sections.[115] Manganese dioxide (MnO2), which gives glass a purple colour, may be added to remove the green tint given by FeO.[116] FeO and chromium(III) oxide (Cr2O3) additives are used in the production of green bottles.[115] Iron (III) oxide, on the other-hand, produces yellow or yellow-brown glass.[117] Low concentrations (0.025 to 0.1%) of cobalt oxide (CoO) produces rich, deep blue cobalt glass.[118] Chromium is a very powerful colourising agent, yielding dark green.[119] Sulphur combined with carbon and iron salts produces amber glass ranging from yellowish to almost black.[120] A glass melt can also acquire an amber colour from a reducing combustion atmosphere.[121] Cadmium sulfide produces imperial red, and combined with selenium can produce shades of yellow, orange, and red.[115][117] The additive Copper(II) oxide (CuO) produces a turquoise colour in glass, in contrast to Copper(I) oxide (Cu2O) which gives a dull brown-red colour.[122] Iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide additives are often used in the production of green bottles.[115] Cobalt oxide produces rich, deep blue glass, such as Bristol blue glass. Different oxide additives produce the different colours in glass: turquoise (Copper(II) oxide),[122] purple (Manganese dioxide),[115] and red (Cadmium sulfide).[115] Red glass bottle with yellow glass overlay Amber-coloured glass Four-colour Roman glass bowl, manufactured circa 1st century B.C. The Shard glass skyscraper, in London. Architecture and windows Main articles: Architectural glass and Window Soda-lime sheet glass is typically used as transparent glazing material, typically as windows in external walls of buildings. Float or rolled sheet glass products is cut to size either by scoring and snapping the material, laser cutting, water jets, or diamond bladed saw. The glass may be thermally or chemically tempered (strengthened) for safety and bent or curved during heating. Surface coatings may be added for specific functions such as scratch resistance, blocking specific wavelengths of light (e.g. infrared or ultraviolet), dirt-repellence (e.g. self-cleaning glass), or switchable electrochromic coatings.[123] Structural glazing systems represent one of the most significant architectural innovations of modern times, where glass buildings now often dominate skylines of many modern cities.[124] These systems use stainless steel fittings countersunk into recesses in the corners of the glass panels allowing strengthened panes to appear unsupported creating a flush exterior.[124] Structural glazing systems have their roots in iron and glass conservatories of the nineteenth century[125] Main articles: Tableware and List of glassware Glass is an essential component of tableware and is typically used for water, beer and wine drinking glasses.[48] Wine glasses are typically stemware, i.e. goblets formed from a bowl, stem, and foot. Crystal or Lead crystal glass may be cut and polished to produce decorative drinking glasses with gleaming facets.[126][127] Other uses of glass in tableware include decanters, jugs, plates, and bowls.[48] Wine glasses and other glass tableware Dimpled glass beer pint jug Cut lead crystal glass A glass decanter and stopper Main article: Container glass The inert and impermeable nature of glass makes it a stable and widely used material for food and drink packaging as glass bottles and jars. Most container glass is soda-lime glass, produced by blowing and pressing techniques. Container glass has a lower magnesium oxide and sodium oxide content than flat glass, and a higher Silica, Calcium oxide, and Aluminum oxide content.[128] Its higher content of water-insoluble oxides imparts slightly higher chemical durability against water, which is advantageous for storing beverages and food. Glass packaging is sustainable, readily recycled, reusable and refillable.[129] For electronics applications, glass can be used as a substrate in the manufacture of integrated passive devices, thin-film bulk acoustic resonators, and as a hermetic sealing material in device packaging,[130][131] including very thin solely glass based encapsulation of integrated circuits and other semiconductors in high manufacturing volumes.[132] Main article: Laboratory glassware Glass is an important material in scientific laboratories for the manufacture of experimental apparatus because it is relatively cheap, readily formed into required shapes for experiment, easy to keep clean, can withstand heat and cold treatment, is generally non-reactive with many reagents, and its transparency allows for the observation of chemical reactions and processes.[133][134] Laboratory glassware applications include flasks, petri dishes, test tubes, pipettes, graduated cylinders, glass lined metallic containers for chemical processing, fractionation columns, glass pipes, Schlenk lines, gauges, and thermometers.[135][133] Although most standard laboratory glassware has been mass-produced since the 1920s, scientists still employ skilled glassblowers to manufacture bespoke glass apparatus for their experimental requirements.[136] A Vigreux column in a laboratory setup A Schlenk line with four ports Glass is a ubiquitous material in optics by virtue of its ability to refract, reflect, and transmit light. These and other optical properties can be controlled by varying chemical compositions, thermal treatment, and manufacturing techniques. The many applications of glass in optics includes glasses for eyesight correction, imaging optics (e.g. lenses and mirrors in telescopes, microscopes, and cameras), fibre optics in telecommunications technology, and integrated optics. Microlenses and gradient-index optics (where the refractive index is non-uniform) find application in e.g. reading optical discs, laser printers, photocopiers, and laser diodes. [53] Main articles: Studio glass, Art glass, and Glass art Glass as art dates to least 1300 B.C. shown as an example of natural glass found in Tutankhamun's pectoral.[137] Enameling, particularly employing vitreous enamel with cloisonné, has existed since 1300 B.C.[138] and arguably peaked in the early 20th century with enamel production from the House of Fabergé in St. Petersburg, Russia. The 19th century saw a revival in ancient glass-making techniques including cameo glass, achieved for the first time since the Roman Empire, initially mostly for pieces in a neo-classical style. The Art Nouveau movement made great use of glass, with René Lalique, Émile Gallé, and Daum of Nancy in the first French wave of the movement, producing coloured vases and similar pieces, often in cameo glass or in luster techniques.[139] Louis Comfort Tiffany in America specialized in stained glass, both secular and religious, in panels and his famous lamps. The early 20th-century saw the large-scale factory production of glass art by firms such as Waterford and Lalique. Small studios may hand-produce glass artworks. Techniques for producing glass art include blowing, kiln-casting, fusing, slumping, pâte de verre, flame-working, hot-sculpting and cold-working. Cold work includes traditional stained glass work and other methods of shaping glass at room temperature. Objects made out of glass include vessels, paperweights, marbles, beads, sculptures and installation art.[140] Bouquet of Lilies Clock (Fabergé egg) enamel, gold, diamonds, by House of Fabergé Cameo glass vase with clematis, by art nouveau artist Émile Gallé Glass vase by art nouveau artist René Lalique Tiffany glass panel "Girl with Cherry Blossoms" A glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, "The Sun" at the "Gardens of Glass" exhibition in Kew Gardens, London Modern stained glass window A flower bouquet glass paperweight Chemically strengthened glass Colloid Flexible glass Glassy carbon Kimberley points Prince Rupert's drop Thoriated glass ZBLAN ^ ASTM definition of glass from 1945 ^ a b Zallen, R. (1983). The Physics of Amorphous Solids. New York: John Wiley. pp. 1–32. ISBN 978-0-471-01968-8. ^ Cusack, N.E. (1987). The physics of structurally disordered matter: an introduction. Adam Hilger in association with the University of Sussex press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-85274-829-9. ^ a b c Scholze, Horst (1991). Glass – Nature, Structure, and Properties. Springer. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-0-387-97396-8. ^ a b c d Elliot, S.R. (1984). Physics of Amorphous Materials. Longman group ltd. pp. 1–52. ISBN 0-582-44636-8. ^ Neumann, Florin. "Glass: Liquid or Solid – Science vs. an Urban Legend". Archived from the original on 9 April 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2007. ^ a b c Gibbs, Philip. "Is glass liquid or solid?". Archived from the original on 29 March 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2007. ^ "Philip Gibbs" Glass Worldwide, (May/June 2007), pp. 14–18 ^ Salmon, P.S. (2002). "Order within disorder". Nature Materials. 1 (2): 87–8. doi:10.1038/nmat737. PMID 12618817. S2CID 39062607. ^ Vannoni, M.; Sordini, A.; Molesini, G. (2011). "Relaxation time and viscosity of fused silica glass at room temperature". Eur. Phys. J. E. 34 (9): 9–14. doi:10.1140/epje/i2011-11092-9. PMID 21947892. S2CID 2246471. ^ Anderson, P.W. (1995). "Through the Glass Lightly". Science. 267 (5204): 1615–16. doi:10.1126/science.267.5204.1615-e. PMID 17808155. S2CID 28052338. ^ Phillips, J.C. (1979). "Topology of covalent non-crystalline solids I: Short-range order in chalcogenide alloys". Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. 34 (2): 153. Bibcode:1979JNCS...34..153P. doi:10.1016/0022-3093(79)90033-4. ^ Folmer, J.C.W.; Franzen, Stefan (2003). "Study of polymer glasses by modulated differential scanning calorimetry in the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory". Journal of Chemical Education. 80 (7): 813. Bibcode:2003JChEd..80..813F. doi:10.1021/ed080p813. ^ Loy, Jim. "Glass Is A Liquid?". Archived from the original on 14 March 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2007. ^ "Obsidian: Igneous Rock – Pictures, Uses, Properties". geology.com. ^ "Impactites: Impact Breccia, Tektites, Moldavites, Shattercones". geology.com. ^ Klein, Hermann Joseph (1 January 1881). Land, sea and sky; or, Wonders of life and nature, tr. from the Germ. [Die Erde und ihr organisches Leben] of H.J. Klein and dr. Thomé, by J. Minshull. ^ Giaimo, Cara (June 30, 2017). "The Long, Weird Half-Life of Trinitite". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved July 8, 2017. ^ Roperch, Pierrick; Gattacceca, Jérôme; Valenzuela, Millarca; Devouard, Bertrand; Lorand, Jean-Pierre; Arriagada, Cesar; Rochette, Pierre; Latorre, Claudio; Beck, Pierre (2017). "Surface vitrification caused by natural fires in Late Pleistocene wetlands of the Atacama Desert". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 469 (1 July 2017): 15–26. Bibcode:2017E&PSL.469...15R. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.04.009. ^ a b c d e f Ward-Harvey, K. (2009). Fundamental Building Materials. Universal-Publishers. pp. 83–90. ISBN 978-1-59942-954-0. ^ "Digs Reveal Stone-Age Weapons Industry With Staggering Output". National Geographic News. 13 April 2015. ^ a b c Julian Henderson (2013). Ancient Glass. Cambridge University Press. pp. 127–157. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139021883.006. ^ "Glass Online: The History of Glass". Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2007. ^ "All About Glass \| Corning Museum of Glass". www.cmog.org. ^ Karklins, Karlis. "Simon Kwan -- Early Chinese Faience and Glass Beads and Pendants". BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers. ^ Kenoyer, J.M (2001). "Bead Technologies at Harappa, 3300-1900 BC: A Comparative Summary". South Asian Archaeology (PDF). Paris. pp. 157–170. ^ McIntosh, Jane (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives. ABC-CLIO. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-57607-907-2. ^ "How did Manufactured Glass Develop in the Bronze Age? - DailyHistory.org". dailyhistory.org. ^ Wilde, H. "Technologische Innovationen im 2. Jahrtausend v. Chr. Zur Verwendung und Verbreitung neuer Werkstoffe im ostmediterranen Raum". GOF IV, Bd 44, Wiesbaden 2003, 25–26. ^ Douglas, R.W. (1972). A history of glassmaking. Henley-on-Thames: G T Foulis & Co Ltd. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-85429-117-5. ^ Whitehouse, David (2003). Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, Volume 3. Hudson Hills. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-87290-155-1. ^ The Art Journal. Virtue and Company. 1888. p. 365. ^ Brown, A.L. (November 1921). "The Manufacture of Glass Milk Bottles". The Glass Industry. Ashlee Publishing Company. 2 (11): 259. ^ Dien, Albert E. (2007). Six Dynasties Civilization. Yale University Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-300-07404-8. ^ Silberman, Neil Asher; Bauer, Alexander A. (2012). The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford University Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-19-973578-5. ^ a b c d "glass \| Definition, Composition, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. ^ Oliver, Roland, and Fagan, Brian M. Africa in the Iron Age, c500 B.C. to A.D. 1400. New York: Cambridge University Press, p. 187. ISBN 0-521-20598-0. ^ Keller, Daniel; Price, Jennifer; Jackson, Caroline (2014). Neighbours and Successors of Rome: Traditions of Glass Production and use in Europe and the Middle East in the Later 1st Millennium AD. Oxbow Books. pp. 1–41. ISBN 978-1-78297-398-0. ^ Tutag, Nola Huse; Hamilton, Lucy (1987). Discovering Stained Glass in Detroit. Wayne State University Press. pp. 11. ISBN 978-0-8143-1875-1. ^ Packard, Robert T.; Korab, Balthazar; Hunt, William Dudley (1980). Encyclopedia of American architecture. McGraw-Hill. pp. 268. ISBN 978-0-07-048010-0. ^ a b One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Glass". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 86. ^ Freiman, Stephen (2007). Global Roadmap for Ceramic and Glass Technology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 705. ISBN 978-0-470-10491-0. ^ "Depression Glass". Retrieved 19 October 2007. ^ Gelfand, Lisa; Duncan, Chris (2011). Sustainable Renovation: Strategies for Commercial Building Systems and Envelope. John Wiley & Sons. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-118-10217-6. ^ Lim, Henry W.; Honigsmann, Herbert; Hawk, John L.M. (2007). Photodermatology. CRC Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-4200-1996-4. ^ Bach, Hans; Neuroth, Norbert (2012). The Properties of Optical Glass. Springer. p. 267. ISBN 978-3-642-57769-7. ^ McLean, Ian S. (2008). Electronic Imaging in Astronomy: Detectors and Instrumentation. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 78. ISBN 978-3-540-76582-0. ^ a b c "Glass Applications – Glass Alliance Europe". Glassallianceeurope.eu. Retrieved 1 March 2020. ^ Enteria, Napoleon; Akbarzadeh, Aliakbar (2013). Solar Energy Sciences and Engineering Applications. CRC Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-203-76205-9. ^ "Gorilla Glass maker unveils ultra-thin and flexible Willow Glass". Physics News. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013. ^ "Xensation". Schott. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013. ^ Fingas, Jon (19 July 2018). "Gorilla Glass 6 gives phones a better shot at surviving multiple drops". Engadget. ^ a b c d Bach, Hans; Neuroth, Norbert (2012). The Properties of Optical Glass. Springer. pp. 1–11. ISBN 978-3-642-57769-7. ^ White, Mary Anne (2011). Physical Properties of Materials, Second Edition. CRC Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4398-9532-0. ^ Carter, C. Barry; Norton, M. Grant (2007). Ceramic Materials: Science and Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 583. ISBN 978-0-387-46271-4. ^ Mysen, Bjorn O.; Richet, Pascal (2005). Silicate Glasses and Melts: Properties and Structure. Elsevier. p. 10. ^ a b c d e "Industrial glass – Properties of glass". Encyclopedia Britannica. ^ Mattox, D.M. (2014). Handbook of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Processing. Cambridge University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-08-094658-0. ^ Zarzycki, Jerzy (1991). Glasses and the Vitreous State. Cambridge University Press. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-521-35582-7. ^ Thomas, Alfred; Jund, Michael (2013). Collision Repair and Refinishing: A Foundation Course for Technicians. p. 365. ISBN 978-1-133-60187-6. ^ a b Gardner, Irvine Clifton; Hahner, Clarence H. (1949). Research and Development in Applied Optics and Optical Glass at the National Bureau of Standards: A Review and Bibliography. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 13. ISBN 9780598682413. ^ Dudeja, Puja; Gupta, Rajul K.; Minhas, Amarjeet Singh (2016). Food Safety in the 21st Century: Public Health Perspective. Academic Press. p. 550. ISBN 978-0-12-801846-0. ^ Bengisu, M. (2013). Engineering Ceramics. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 360. ISBN 978-3-662-04350-9. ^ Batchelor, Andrew W.; Loh, Nee Lam; Chandrasekaran, Margam (2011). Materials Degradation and Its Control by Surface Engineering. World Scientific. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-908978-14-1. ^ a b c d Chawla, Sohan L. (1993). Materials Selection for Corrosion Control. ASM International. pp. 327–328. ISBN 978-1-61503-728-5. ^ Shaye Storm (2004). "Density of Glass". The Physics Factbook: An encyclopedia of scientific essays. Wikidata Q87511351. ^ "Glass Strength". www.pilkington.com. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017. ^ Kenneth Chang (29 July 2008). "The Nature of Glass Remains Anything but Clear". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2008. ^ a b c "Mining the sea sand". Seafriends. 8 February 1994. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2012. ^ a b c d e f "Glass – Chemistry Encyclopedia". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015. ^ a b B.H.W.S. de Jong, "Glass"; in "Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry"; 5th edition, vol. A12, VCH Publishers, Weinheim, Germany, 1989, ISBN 978-3-527-20112-9, pp. 365–432. ^ a b Spence, William P.; Kultermann, Eva (2016). Construction Materials, Methods and Techniques. Cengage Learning. pp. 510–526. ISBN 978-1-305-08627-2. ^ "Properties of PYREX®, PYREXPLUS® and Low Actinic PYREX Code 7740 Glasses" (PDF). Corning, Inc. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2012. ^ "AR-GLAS® Technical Data" (PDF). Schott, Inc. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 June 2012. ^ Shelby, J.E. (2017). Introduction to Glass Science and Technology. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-85404-639-3. ^ Schwartz, Mel (2002). Encyclopedia of Materials, Parts and Finishes (Second ed.). CRC Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-1-4200-1716-8. ^ Shackelford, James F.; Doremus, Robert H. (12 April 2008). Ceramic and Glass Materials: Structure, Properties and Processing. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-387-73362-3. ^ Askeland, Donald R.; Fulay, Pradeep P. (2008). Essentials of Materials Science & Engineering. Cengage Learning. p. 485. ISBN 978-0-495-24446-2. ^ "Glass Ingredients – What is Glass Made Of?". www.historyofglass.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017. ^ Pfaender, Heinz G. (1996). Schott guide to glass. Springer. pp. 135, 186. ISBN 978-0-412-62060-7. Archived from the original on 25 May 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2011. ^ Doering, Robert; Nishi, Yoshio (2007). Handbook of semiconductor manufacturing technology. CRC Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-1-57444-675-3. ^ a b c Holand, Wolfram; Beall, George H. (2012). Glass Ceramic Technology. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 1–38. ISBN 978-1-118-26592-5. ^ Richerson, David W. (1992). Modern ceramic engineering : properties, processing and use in design (2nd ed.). New York: Dekker. pp. 577–578. ISBN 978-0-8247-8634-2. ^ a b Parkyn, Brian (2013). Glass Reinforced Plastics. Elsevier. pp. 3–41. ISBN 978-1-4831-0298-6. ^ Mayer, Rayner M. (1993). Design with reinforced plastics. Springer. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-85072-294-9. ^ a b "Properties of Matter Reading Selection: Perfect Teamwork". www.propertiesofmatter.si.edu. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017. ^ a b "Fibreglass \| glass". Encyclopedia Britannica. ^ Greer, A. Lindsay; Mathur, N (2005). "Materials science: Changing Face of the Chameleon". Nature. 437 (7063): 1246–1247. Bibcode:2005Natur.437.1246G. doi:10.1038/4371246a. PMID 16251941. S2CID 6972351. ^ Rivera, V. A. G.; Manzani, Danilo (30 March 2017). Technological Advances in Tellurite Glasses: Properties, Processing, and Applications. Springer. p. 214. ISBN 978-3-319-53038-3. ^ Jiang, Xin; Lousteau, Joris; Richards, Billy; Jha, Animesh (1 September 2009). "Investigation on germanium oxide-based glasses for infrared optical fibre development". Optical Materials. 31 (11): 1701–1706. Bibcode:2009OptMa..31.1701J. doi:10.1016/j.optmat.2009.04.011. ^ J. W. E. Drewitt; S. Jahn; L. Hennet (2019). "Configurational constraints on glass formation in the liquid calcium aluminate system". Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment. 2019 (10): 104012. arXiv:1909.07645. Bibcode:2019JSMTE..10.4012D. doi:10.1088/1742-5468/ab47fc. S2CID 202583753. ^ C. J. Benmore; J. K. R. Weber (2017). "Aerodynamic levitation, supercooled liquids and glass formation". Advances in Physics: X. 2 (3): 717–736. Bibcode:2017AdPhX...2..717B. doi:10.1080/23746149.2017.1357498. ^ Davies, H. A.; Hull J. B. (1976). "The formation, structure and crystallization of non-crystalline nickel produced by splat-quenching". Journal of Materials Science. 11 (2): 707–717. Bibcode:1976JMatS..11..215D. doi:10.1007/BF00551430. S2CID 137403190. ^ Klement, Jr., W.; Willens, R.H.; Duwez, Pol (1960). "Non-crystalline Structure in Solidified Gold-Silicon Alloys". Nature. 187 (4740): 869. Bibcode:1960Natur.187..869K. doi:10.1038/187869b0. S2CID 4203025. ^ Liebermann, H.; Graham, C. (1976). "Production of Amorphous Alloy Ribbons and Effects of Apparatus Parameters on Ribbon Dimensions". IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. 12 (6): 921. Bibcode:1976ITM....12..921L. doi:10.1109/TMAG.1976.1059201. ^ Ponnambalam, V.; Poon, S. Joseph; Shiflet, Gary J. (2004). "Fe-based bulk metallic glasses with diameter thickness larger than one centimeter". Journal of Materials Research. 19 (5): 1320. Bibcode:2004JMatR..19.1320P. doi:10.1557/JMR.2004.0176. ^ "Metallurgy Division Publications". NIST Interagency Report 7127. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. ^ Mendelev, M.I.; Schmalian, J.; Wang, C.Z.; Morris, J.R.; K.M. Ho (2006). "Interface Mobility and the Liquid-Glass Transition in a One-Component System". Physical Review B. 74 (10): 104206. Bibcode:2006PhRvB..74j4206M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.74.104206. ^ "A main research field: Polymer glasses". www-ics.u-strasbg.fr. Archived from the original on 25 May 2016. ^ Carraher Jr., Charles E. (2012). Introduction to Polymer Chemistry. CRC Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-4665-5495-5. ^ Ruby, S.L.; Pelah, I. (2013). "Crystals, Supercooled Liquids, and Glasses in Frozen Aqueous Solutions". In Gruverman, Irwin J. (ed.). Mössbauer Effect Methodology: Volume 6 Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on Mössbauer Effect Methodology New York City, January 25, 1970. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-4684-3159-9. ^ Levine, Harry; Slade, Louise (2013). Water Relationships in Foods: Advances in the 1980s and Trends for the 1990s. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-4899-0664-9. ^ Dupuy J, Jal J, Prével B, Aouizerat-Elarby A, Chieux P, Dianoux AJ, Legrand J (October 1992). "Vibrational dynamics and structural relaxation in aqueous electrolyte solutions in the liquid, undercooled liquid and glassy states" (PDF). Journal de Physique IV. 2 (C2): C2-179–C2-184. doi:10.1051/jp4:1992225. S2CID 39468740. European Workshop on Glasses and Gels. ^ Hartel, Richard W.; Hartel, AnnaKate (2014). Candy Bites: The Science of Sweets. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4614-9383-9. ^ Charbel Tengroth (2001). "Structure of Ca0.4K0.6(NO3)1.4 from the glass to the liquid state". Phys. Rev. B. 64 (22): 224207. Bibcode:2001PhRvB..64v4207T. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.64.224207. ^ "Lithium-Ion Pioneer Introduces New Battery That's Three Times Better". Fortune. Archived from the original on 9 April 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017. ^ "PFG Glass". Pfg.co.za. Archived from the original on 6 November 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009. ^ Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40,: Protection of Environment, Part 60 (Sections 60.1-end), Revised As of July 1, 2011. Government Printing Office. October 2011. ISBN 978-0-16-088907-3. ^ Ball, Douglas J.; Norwood, Daniel L.; Stults, Cheryl L. M.; Nagao, Lee M. (24 January 2012). Leachables and Extractables Handbook: Safety Evaluation, Qualification, and Best Practices Applied to Inhalation Drug Products. John Wiley & Sons. p. 552. ISBN 978-0-470-17365-7. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Glass" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 87–105. ^ "windshields how they are made". autoglassguru. Retrieved 9 February 2018. ^ Pantano, Carlo. "Glass Surface Treatments: Commercial Processes Used in Glass Manufacture" (PDF). ^ a b "Glass melting, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory". Depts.washington.edu. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2009. ^ Fluegel, Alexander. "Glass melting in the laboratory". Glassproperties.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009. ^ a b c d e f Mukherjee, Swapna (2013). The Science of Clays: Applications in Industry, Engineering, and Environment. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 142. ISBN 978-9-4007-6683-9. ^ Walker, Perrin; Tarn, William H. (1990). CRC Handbook of Metal Etchants. CRC press. p. 798. ISBN 978-1-4398-2253-1. ^ a b Langhamer, Antonín (2003). The Legend of Bohemian Glass: A Thousand Years of Glassmaking in the Heart of Europe. Tigris. p. 273. ISBN 978-8-0860-6211-2. ^ "3. Glass, Colour and the Source of Cobalt". Internet Archaeology. ^ Chemical Fact Sheet – Chromium Archived 2017-08-15 at the Wayback Machine www.speclab.com. ^ David M Issitt. Substances Used in the Making of Coloured Glass 1st.glassman.com. ^ Shelby, James E. (2007). Introduction to Glass Science and Technology. Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-84755-116-0. ^ a b Nicholson, Paul T.; Shaw, Ian (2000). Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Cambridge University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-521-45257-1. ^ Weller, Bernhard; Unnewehr, Stefan; Tasche, Silke; Härth, Kristina (2012). Glass in Building: Principles, Applications, Examples. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 1–19. ISBN 978-3-0346-1571-6. ^ a b "The rise of glass buildings". Glass Times. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2020. ^ Patterson, Mic (2011). Structural Glass Facades and Enclosures. Jon Wiley & Sons. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-470-93185-1. ^ Hynes, Michael; Jonson, Bo (1997). "Lead, glass and the environment". Chemical Society Reviews. 26 (2): 145. doi:10.1039/CS9972600133. ^ "Cut glass \| decorative arts". Encyclopedia Britannica. ^ "High temperature glass melt property database for process modeling"; Eds.: Thomas P. Seward III and Terese Vascott; The American Ceramic Society, Westerville, Ohio, 2005, ISBN 1-57498-225-7 ^ "Why choose Glass?". FEVE. ^ Sun, P.; et, al. (2018). "Design and Fabrication of Glass-based Integrated Passive Devices". IEEE, 19th International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology (ICEPT): 59–63. doi:10.1109/ICEPT.2018.8480458. ISBN 978-1-5386-6386-8. S2CID 52935909. ^ Letz, M.; et, al. (2018). "Glass in Electronic Packaging and Integration: High Q Inductances for 2.35 GHz Impedance Matching in 0.05 mm Thin Glass Substrates". IEEE 68th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC): 1089–1096. doi:10.1109/ECTC.2018.00167. ISBN 978-1-5386-4999-2. S2CID 51972637. ^ Lundén, H.; et, al. (2004). "Novel glass welding technique for hermetic encapsulation". Proceedings of the 5th Electronics System-integration Technology Conference (ESTC): 1–4. doi:10.1109/ESTC.2014.6962719. ISBN 978-1-4799-4026-4. S2CID 9980556. ^ a b Zumdahl, Steven (2013). Lab Manual. Cengage Learning. pp. ix–xv. ISBN 978-1-285-69235-7. ^ "Science Under Glass". National Museum of American History. 29 July 2015. ^ Basudeb, Karmakar (2017). Functional Glasses and Glass-Ceramics: Processing, Properties and Applications. Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-0-12-805207-5. ^ "Scientific Glassblowing \| National Museum of American History". Americanhistory.si.edu. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2020. ^ Tut's gem hints at space impact, BBC News, July 19, 2006. ^ The Earliest Cloisonné Enamels ^ Arwas, Victor (1996). The Art of Glass: Art Nouveau to Art Deco. pp. 1–54. ISBN 978-1-901092-00-4. ^ "A-Z of glass". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 9 March 2020. Glassat Wikipedia's sister projects "Glass" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). 1911. The Story of Glass Making in Canada from The Canadian Museum of Civilization. "How Your Glass Ware Is Made" by George W. Waltz, February 1951, Popular Science. All About Glass from the Corning Museum of Glass: a collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass, including the Glass Dictionary. National Glass Association the largest trade association representing the flat (architectural), auto glass, and window & door industries Glass science topics Glass transition Supercooling AgInSbTe Borophosphosilicate glass Chalcogenide glass Cobalt glass Cranberry glass Crown glass Flint glass Fluorosilicate glass Fused quartz GeSbTe Gold ruby glass Milk glass Phosphosilicate glass Photochromic lens glass Soda–lime glass Sodium hexametaphosphate Soluble glass Tellurite glass Ultra low expansion glass Wood's glass Bioactive glass Glass-ceramic-to-metal seals Macor Zerodur Glass batch calculation Glass forming Glass melting Glass modeling Ion implantation Liquidus temperature Sol-gel technique Gradient-index optics Hydrogen darkening Optical amplifier Optical lens design Photosensitive glass Dealkalization DNA microarray Insulated glazing Porous glass Self-cleaning glass Glass-coated wire Glass databases Glass electrode Glass fiber reinforced concrete Glass ionomer cement Glass microspheres Glass-reinforced plastic Glass-to-metal seal Prince Rupert's drops Radioactive waste vitrification Glass production techniques Commercial techniques Float glass process Fritted glass Blowing and pressing (containers) Extrusion / Drawing (fibers, glasswool) Drawing (optical fibers) Precision glass moulding Overflow downdraw method Flame polishing Chemical polishing Diamond turning Artistic and historic techniques Blown plate Broad sheet Caneworking Cylinder blown sheet Enamelled glass Flashed glass Forest glass Fourcault process Machine drawn cylinder sheet Polished plate Rippled glass Satsuma Kiriko cut glass Stained glass production Natural processes Radiative processes Opal formation Shock metamorphic glasses/Impactite Vitrified sand Volcanic glasses Glossary of glass art terms Glass makers and brands Ardagh Group Aurora Glass Foundry Berengo Studio Blenko Glass Caithness Glass Cox & Barnard Edinburgh Crystal Fanavid Fenton Art Glass Company Firozabad glass industry Franz Mayer Fuyao Guardian Industries Hadeland Hardman & Co. Heaton, Butler and Bayne Holmegaard Glassworks Kingdom of Crystal Kokomo Opalescent Glass Works Kosta Glasbruk Libbey-Owens-Ford Liuli Gongfang Mannok Mats Jonasson Målerås Moser Glass Nippon Sheet Glass Nižbor glassworks O-I Glass Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano Phu Phong Royal Brierley Royal Leerdam Crystal Sterlite Optical Technologies Tyrone Crystal Val Saint Lambert Vallérysthal Watts & Co. Xinyi Glass Bakewell Glass Belmont Glass Company Boston and Sandwich Brockway Glass Company Carr Lowrey Glass Company Cambridge Glass Chance Brothers Clayton and Bell Dugan Glass Company Duncan & Miller General Glass Industries Gus Crystal Alexander Gibbs Grönvik glasbruk Hartford City Glass Hazel-Atlas Heisey Hemingray J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company Indiana Glass Knox Glass Bottle Company Lavers, Barraud and Westlake Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs James Powell and Sons The Root Glass Company Seneca Glass Company Shrigley and Hunt Sneath Stevens & Williams Venini & C. Ward and Hughes Wheaton Industries Whitall Tatum Company White Glass Company Worshipful Company Glassmakers Richard M. Atwater Irving Wightman Colburn Henry Crimmel Henry Clay Fry A. H. Heisey Edward D. Libbey Dante Marioni Antonio Neri Michael Joseph Owens Alastair Pilkington Flavio Poli Salviati Otto Schott Henry William Stiegel S. Donald Stookey W. E. S. Turner Tomasz Urbanowicz Paolo Venini John M. Whitall Bomex/Duran/Endural Chevron bead Favrile Fire-King Satsuma Kiriko Vitrite Vitrolite Vycor List of defunct glassmaking companies Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glass&oldid=999474879" Dielectrics Egyptian inventions Sculpture materials Amorphous solids Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism Use British English from March 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1765
__label__wiki	0.982552	0.982552	Sci-fi comic books Cover of Mystery in Space #1 (April–May 1951). Pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Frank Giacoia. Varied between bi-monthly and monthly. April/May 1951–September 1966 September 1980–March 1981 Mysteries in Space: The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics Pulp Fiction Library: Mystery in Space Mystery in Space is the name of two science fiction American comic book series published by DC Comics, and of a standalone Vertigo anthology released in 2012. The first series ran for 110 issues from 1951 to 1966, with a further seven issues continuing the numbering during a 1980s revival of the title. An eight-issue limited series began in 2006. Together with Strange Adventures, Mystery In Space was one of DC Comics' major science fiction anthology series. It won a number of awards, including the 1962 Alley Award for "Best Book-Length Story" and the 1963 Alley Award for "Comic Displaying Best Interior Color Work". The title featured short science fiction stories and a number of continuing series, most written by many of the best-known comics and science fiction writers of the day, including John Broome, Gardner Fox, Jack Schiff, Otto Binder, and Edmond Hamilton. The artwork featured a considerable number of the 1950s and 1960s finest comics artists such as Carmine Infantino, Murphy Anderson, Gil Kane, Alex Toth, Bernard Sachs, Frank Frazetta, and Virgil Finlay. 1 Original series 2 Revival 3 Julius Schwartz tribute 4 Limited series 5 One-shot anthology 6 80-Page Valentines Giant 8 Collected editions 8.1 UK reprints Original series[edit] Directly appealing to public taste for science fiction in the early 1950s, Mystery In Space was launched by DC Comics with adverts in most of their titles published in early 1951 - proclaiming "The Universe Is The Limit In Every Issue Of Mystery In Space" and "The Magazine That Unlocks The Secrets Of The Future" around a copy of the first cover. The title of the series had been suggested by Whitney Ellsworth to editor Julius Schwartz.[1] Offering "Amazing trips into the unknown", "Astounding adventures on uncharted worlds", and "Astonishing experiments of super-science" the title was modelled on the success of Strange Adventures which began publication the previous year.[2] Like that title, Mystery In Space was an anthology comic featuring a combination of short science fiction stories, science-fiction based heroes and super-heroes, and single page articles on subjects associated with space and space technology.[3] It is probably best known for publishing the classic Adam Strange series (issues #53–100, #102),[4] but also featured a number of other characters in series of varying length: Knights of the Galaxy (issues #1–8) Interplanetary Insurance, Inc (issues #16–25) Space Cabbie (issues #21, #24, #26–47) Star Rovers (issues #66, #69, #74, #77, #80, #83, #86) Hawkman (issues #87–90) Space Ranger (issues #92–99, #101, #103) Jan Vern, Interplanetary Agent (issue #100, #102) Ultra the Multi-Alien (issues #103–110). Mystery In Space #1 featured "9 Worlds To Conquer", the first 10-page tale of the Knights of the Galaxy by Robert Kanigher (under the name Anthony Dion) with art by Carmine Infantino, together with three eight or ten-page non-series science fiction stories by Gardner Fox and John Broome, the first of a series of single page information pieces "Stars and their legends" and a two-page text article "What do you know about comets?"; establishing a format that would last for some years. "Space Taxi" in Mystery In Space #21 (August–September 1954) introduced the first long-term series to the title - Space Cabbie (also known as Space Cabby), whose stories involved taking people from planet to planet in a battered space taxi he called "the jalopy" and the scrapes he got into as a result; written by Otto Binder with art by Howard Sherman. There was no indication the story was the first of a series, yet Space Cabby returned just three issues later in "Hitchhiker In Space" (Mystery In Space #24, February–March 1955), and then had an unbroken 22-issue run until "The Riddle of the Rival Space Cabbies!" (Mystery In Space #47, October 1958). The next few issues featured only short stories, and it was almost a year before another continuing series appeared in the pages of Mystery In Space. A story by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, "Menace of the Robot Raiders!" (Mystery In Space #53, October 1959) featured one of the most enduring and fondly remembered space heroes of the next ten years, Adam Strange, in a 10-page tale which led to the best known period for the Mystery In Space title. Adam Strange had begun in a three-issue run in Showcase #17 (November–December 1958), and although DC considered that those issues had not sold sufficiently to warrant granting him his own title, his return a year later in Mystery In Space#53 was to last an impressive 42 appearances over the next seven years. The Adam Strange space opera tales were crafted by Gardner Fox in the best Flash Gordon tradition, with the hero caught between two planets and a love a galaxy away, giant menacing robots, dust devils, perils on two worlds, and distinctive art by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson who drew almost all issues until #92 (June 1964). A number of these stories are considered among the finest of the 1960s, including the full-issue tale "The Planet That Came to a Standstill!" (Mystery In Space #75, May 1962), which won comic fandoms Alley Award for the "Best Book-Length Story" of 1962, and was fairly unusual for the time inasmuch as it featured a cross-over with other major DC characters, the Justice League of America. The following year Mystery In Space gained a further Alley Award, for "Comic Displaying Best Interior Color Work" - a result of the stylistic Infantino/Anderson Adam Strange pages. By issue #71 (November 1961) the number of stories in each issue of Mystery In Space had dwindled to two as the Adam Strange stories increased in size. As well as single stories, a number of other characters filled the title behind Adam Strange. Star Rovers featured in seven issues between 1961 and 1964, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by artist Sid Greene. The Hawkman issues (Mystery in Space #87–90, November 1963–March 1964) followed two three-issue tryouts of the character in The Brave and the Bold #34–36 and #42–44, which had not sold enough copies to launch the character in his own comic but DC decided to give the character a further tryout. For this short series, editor Julius Schwartz replaced Joe Kubert with Murphy Anderson as artist, and utilised an unusual format for the day - the Adam Strange story "The Super-Brain of Adam Strange" in issue #87 led straight into the Hawkman story "The Amazing Thefts of the I.Q. Gang" in the same issue both written by Gardner Fox. In addition, for the first time since he had appeared in the title, Adam Strange was replaced as cover star and Hawkman took the honors. Although the characters returned to solo stories in the following two issues, "Planets in Peril" (Mystery In Space #90, March 1964) was an epic cross-world book-length team-up between Hawkman and Adam Strange. The cover to #90, with an iconic Adam Strange soaring between Earth and his adopted home, Rann, is often cited as one of the classic science fiction covers of the early 1960s, and this issue was also to have significant impact on DC story continuity in later years as the story first established the links between Rann and Hawkman's world, Thanagar. The war between the two planets has been the defining subject of many of both Hawkman's and Adam Strange's stories and mini-series in the 1990s and 2000s as well as a theme running right across many DC titles. His Mystery In Space series was successful enough to finally launch Hawkman into his own title in 1964. After a final two-part Adam Strange story by Fox/Infantino/Anderson, "The Puzzle of the Perilous Prisons!" (Mystery In Space #91, May 1964), Jack Schiff replaced Julius Schwartz as editor and the series changed significantly. Schiff introduced Space Ranger, a long-running character from Tales of the Unexpected, another DC anthology title he edited, while Adam Strange was given a new writer, Dave Wood, and artist, Lee Elias, as Carmine Infantino had moved with Schwartz to his new titles. Space Ranger would slowly edge Adam Strange out - taking the cover of four of the next ten issues and sharing two more with Adam Strange (neither appeared on the cover to #100 (June 1965)), co-featuring in the story "The Riddle of Two Solar Systems" (Mystery In Space #94, September 1964)[5] and sharing a storyline in the separate stories "The Wizard of the Cosmos" and "The Return of Yarrok of Zulkan" (Mystery In Space #98, March 1965).[6] For issue #100, Adam Strange was reduced to an 8-page story: he did not appear at all in #101 (August 1965), and his last appearance was in the 16-page "The Robot World of Ancient Rann" (Mystery In Space #102, September 1965). Space Ranger ended the following issue with "The Billion-Dollar Time Capsule" (Mystery In Space #103, November 1965), and the title was not to regain its earlier form again. From issue #103 (November 1965) Mystery In Space featured a new character - Ultra the Multi-Alien - but the series was cancelled because of poor sales only a year later with issue #110 (September 1966). The annual circulation statement in issue #110 showed average sales of 182,376 copies: considerably more than most high-selling American comics of the 2010s, although not even in the Top 50 sales at that time and significantly less than 1960s declared sales total of 248,000. Revival[edit] Fourteen years later, the title was revived with Mystery In Space #111 (September 1980), edited by Len Wein.[7] The revival replaced DC Comics' only other science fiction anthology title at the time, Time Warp, which had recently ended with issue #5 (July 1980).[8] All the stories in the 1980s version of the title were short one-off tales by a number of writers and artists, including younger artists Marshall Rogers, Michael Golden, Joe Staton, Brian Bolland, and Rick Veitch, and longer-established artists like Steve Ditko, Tom Sutton, Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino and George Tuska. Despite the line-up the series was not a success, ending after seven issues with #117 (March 1981). Julius Schwartz tribute[edit] In September 2004, DC Comics released DC Comics Presents: Mystery in Space #1, featuring the stories "Crisis on 2 Worlds" written by Elliot S. Maggin with art by J. H. Williams III, and "Two Worlds" by Grant Morrison with art by Jerry Ordway and Mark McKenna. Featuring Adam Strange, with supporting characters Alanna Strange, Elongated Man and his wife, Sue Dibny, this single issue revival was a homage to the original Adam Strange series including an Alex Ross recreation of the Adam Strange cover to Mystery in Space #82 (March 1963). The comic was one of a series of eight tributes to DC editor Julius Schwartz, who had died earlier in the year.[9] Limited series[edit] Mystery in Space (vol. 2) November 2006 - June 2007 Main character(s) Captain Comet Penciller(s) Shane Davis Weird: Inker(s) Matt Banning Al Milgrom Letterer(s) Phil Balsman Jared K. Fletcher Colorist(s) Jeromy Cox Brandon Montclare Bob Schreck DC revived Mystery in Space between November 2006 and August 2007 as an eight issue limited series written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Shane Davis.[10] This series featured a new Captain Comet, in a detective story set in the far reaches of the DC Universe. The first seven issues also contained a backup story starring The Weird from the eponymous 1988 miniseries, with art by Starlin.[11] Neither character appeared in the original Mystery In Space series. One-shot anthology[edit] In 2012 an over-sized Mystery in Space One-shot anthology was published, featuring stories and artwork by Mike Allred, Paul Pope, Nnedi Okorafor, Michael Kaluta, Robert Rodi, Sebastian Fiumara, Ann Nocenti, Fred Harper, Andy Diggle, Davide Gianfelice, Steve Orlando, Francesco Trifogli, Ming Doyle, and Kevin McCarthy. The covers were drawn by Mike Allred and Ryan Sook.[12] 80-Page Valentines Giant[edit] On January 30, 2019, DC released an 80-Page Valentines Special called Mysteries of Love in Space. In other media[edit] Season #2, Episode #14 of the Batman: The Brave and The Bold animated series, first aired in March 2009 was titled 'Mystery In Space'. Written by Jim Krieg and directed by Brandon Vietti, it featured Batman, Aquaman, and Adam Strange rescuing Alanna Strange and Rann from certain doom. Collected editions[edit] Mysteries in Space: The Best of DC Science Fiction Comics, includes Mystery in Space #1, 8, 11, 19, 28, 35, 42, 49, 61, and 74–75, Fireside Books, October 1980, ISBN 0-671-24775-1 Pulp Fiction Library: Mystery in Space includes Mystery in Space #1–2, 6–7, 18–19, 30, 35, 63, 69, 101, 103, 113–115, and 117, 208 pages, September 1999, ISBN 1-56389-494-7 Showcase Presents: Adam Strange includes Mystery in Space ##53–84, 512 pages, August 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1313-8 Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 1 includes Mystery in Space #75, 544 pages, December 2005, ISBN 1-4012-0761-8 Showcase Presents: Hawkman Vol. 1 includes Mystery in Space #87–90, 560 pages, March 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1280-8 The Steve Ditko Omnibus Volume 1 includes stories from Mystery in Space #111, 114–116, 480 pages, September 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3111-X Mystery In Space Vol. 1 collects Mystery in Space vol. 2 #1–5, 208 pages, October 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1558-0 Mystery In Space Vol. 2 collects Mystery in Space vol. 2 #6–8 and the original The Weird miniseries, 288 pages, May 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1692-7 UK reprints[edit] Two British companies reprinted DC's science fiction stories from Mystery In Space during the 1950s and 1960s. L. Miller & Son, Ltd. who also reprinted Captain Marvel's adventures for a British audience published nine issues of Mystery In Space, a 28-page A4-sized magazine, between 1952 and 1954,[13] while Strato, a subsidiary of publishers Thorpe & Porter published thirteen issues of a 68-page A4 size magazine with the same title between 1954 and 1956.[14] Both featured black and white reprints of DC's Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures stories with slightly adapted covers from the original Mystery In Space series. Thorpe & Porter published a hardback Mystery In Space Annual in 1968. Although it used the cover to Mystery In Space #95, the contents of the annual were complete random issues of remaindered comics from a number of companies including their covers, and not Mystery In Space stories.[15] ^ Daniels, Les (1995). "A Tour of Tomorrow Science Fiction's Fabulous Future". DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York, New York: Bulfinch Press. p. 103. ISBN 0821220764. [Whitney Ellsworth] had time to propose a new title to Julius Schwartz...Ellsworth's suggestion was the wonderfully evocative Mystery in Space, which on its debut in 1951 became DC's major genre offering. ^ Irvine, Alex; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1950s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Although the early 1950s were difficult years for super heroes, they were boom years for science-fiction comics, so DC took its opportunity to launch its second title in the genre, Mystery in Space. CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) ^ Mystery in Space at the Grand Comics Database ^ Irvine "1950s" in Dolan, p. 67: "The series' signature character was without doubt the space hero Adam Strange. After moving to Mystery in Space from Showcase at issue #53 (August 1959), Strange would come to dominate the title appearing in forty-eight straight issues before skipping one and taking his final bow in issue #102 (September 1965)." ^ Wood, Dave (w), Kelsey, Phil (p), Kelsey, Phil (i). "The Riddle of Two Solar Systems" Mystery in Space 94 (September 1964) ^ Wood, Dave (w), Purcell, Howard (p), Purcell, Howard (i). "The Return of Yarrok of Zulkan" Mystery in Space 98 (March 1965) ^ Mystery in Space revival at the Grand Comics Database ^ Wells, John (October 24, 1997), "'Lost' DC: 1976-1980", Comics Buyer's Guide, Iola, Wisconsin (1249), p. 129 ^ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 314: "When DC Comics' icon Julius Schwartz sadly passed away in February 2004, some kind of major tribute was required...To celebrate his life, DC revived the DC Comics Presents series, producing eight one-shots in which DC writers and artists put their own twists on covers inspired by Schwartz and reimagined classic Silver Age stories." ^ Mystery in Space vol. 2 at the Grand Comics Database ^ Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 327: "[Mystery in Space] returned for an eight-issue run featuring Captain Comet, and was written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Shane Davis. It also contained a back-up strip starring the Weird, written and drawn by Starlin." ^ "Mystery in Space #1". Vertigo. May 9, 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2012. ^ Mystery in Space (L. Miller & Son) at the Grand Comics Database ^ Mystery in Space (Thorpe & Porter) at the Grand Comics Database ^ McAlpine, Duncan (1994). The Comic Book Price Guide For Great Britain. Price Guide Productions. ISBN 0-9516207-3-8. Mystery in Space at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original) Mystery in Space vol. 2 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original) Mystery in Space at Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics Amazo Amos Fortune Atom (Ray Palmer) The Batarang Brain Storm Brain Wave Bug-Eyed Bandit Byth Cluemaster Crime Syndicate of America Johnny Quick Power Ring Dian Belmont Doctor Death Doctor Destiny Kent Nelson Earth-Two Evil Star Faceless Hunters Felix Faust Jay Garrick Flash Comics Floronic Man Hath-Set Shiera Sanders Hall Katar Hol Hawkwoman Shayera Hol Hyathis I.Q. Ian Karkull Jean Loring Julie Madison Kanjar Ro King Standish Lion-Mane Major Disaster Martha Wayne Matter Master Professor Ivo Psycho-Pirate Queen Desira Rag Doll Robin of Earth-Two Royal Flush Gang Sardath Shadow Thief Shaggy Man Snapper Carr Space Museum Space Ranger Star Rovers Ted Knight Super-Chief Thomas Wayne Weapons Master Winky, Blinky, and Noddy The Crypt of Terror Weird Fantasy Warren Publishing Skyman Thun'da "Crisis on Earth Two" "Flash of Two Worlds" Batman: A Death in the Family Batman: The Cult Death of the New Gods Epic Illustrated Heroes Against Hunger Infinity Abyss Punisher P.O.V. The Infinity Gauntlet The Infinity Crusade The Infinity War The Thanos Quest Black Jack Tarr Drax the Destroyer In-Betweener Infinity Watch Korvac Lord Chaos Master Order Pip the Troll Star Thief Universal Church of Truth Deacon Blackfire Hardcore Station KGBeast Epic Comics Aknaton Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mystery_in_Space&oldid=997422640" DC Comics titles DC Comics limited series 1951 comics debuts 1966 comics endings Comics magazines published in the United States Comics anthologies Comics by Gardner Fox Comics by George Kashdan Comics by Jim Starlin DC Comics one-shots Defunct American comics Magazines established in 1951 Magazines disestablished in 1966 Mystery comics Title pop Comics infobox without image	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1766
__label__wiki	0.786673	0.786673	Reilly Lecture: Powering the Future with Sustainable Energy: How Do We Get There? Time: Wed Apr 6, 2016, 12:30PM - 1:30PM Location: Eck Visitors Center Auditorium Dr. Stacey Bent Meeting the world’s growing energy needs sustainably is one of the most important challenges of our time. Just eight nations consume nearly half of the world’s primary energy supply, largely from non-renewable sources, while over 2 billion people do not have access to modern energy systems. The presentation will introduce the scope of the energy problem and will describe some of the promising solutions on the horizon, with an emphasis on both research and innovation. Research examples from our laboratory, including the use of light concentration strategies to enable ultrathin materials in solar cells, will be presented. We will also describe the development of an innovation transfer program within the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy which is designed to help inventors of sustainable energy technologies bridge the gap between research and commercialization. Stacey F. Bent is Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University, where she is appointed Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemistry, of Materials Science and Engineering, and of Electrical Engineering. Professor Bent serves as the Director of the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy and is a senior fellow in the Precourt Institute of Energy. Professor Bent obtained her B.S. degree in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley and her Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Stanford. After carrying out postdoctoral work at AT&T Bell Laboratories, she joined the faculty of the Chemistry Department at New York University. She moved to Stanford University in 1998. Professor Bent’s research is focused on understanding surface and interfacial chemistry and materials synthesis, and applying this knowledge to a range of problems in sustainable energy, semiconductor processing, and nanotechnology. Her group currently studies new materials and processes for electronics, solar cells and solar fuels, and catalysts. She has published over 200 papers and has presented nearly 250 invited talks. Professor Bent is associate editor of Chemistry of Materials. She has been recognized with a number of awards for both research and teaching. She is the Bert and Candace Forbes University Fellow in Undergraduate Education and has won the Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at Stanford and the Allan V. Cox Medal for Faculty Excellence Fostering Undergraduate Research. She is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and the American Vacuum Society (AVS), and has won the Peter Mark Memorial Award from AVS. She received the Coblenz Award for Molecular Spectroscopy, a Beckman Young Investigator award, and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. She has been recognized as a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar. Please view the poster for more information. This seminar is hosted by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Notre Dame.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1767
__label__wiki	0.915176	0.915176	February 4, 2019 chrisentrenadorLeave a Comment on Barakaldo – Lasesarre (1922-2000) Barakaldo – Lasesarre (1922-2000) Where there is muck there is brass. Throw in rapid industrial expansion and there’s a good chance that a decent football team will emerge. The Basque town of Barakaldo had all of these ingredients at the turn of the twentieth century. Add to the mix one of Spain’s largest ironworks and a dynamite factory, and the town was, ahem, primed for action. No doubt spurred on by the success of Bilbao’s Athletic Club, many small teams sprang up in the first decade of the century. Two such clubs were Baracaldo Sports Society and Carmen Foot-Ball Club, who pooled resources in 1917 to form Baracaldo Foot-Ball Club. Men of Steel – Barakaldo’s original Lasesarre A sandy plot of wasteland sandwiched between the railway and El Cuadro Maderos was the club’s first home, however, this land was soon acquired by the ever-expanding iron industry. For the next few seasons, the club played on fields next to the Rio Galindo, but this was far from ideal as the area was prone to flooding at high tide. So in 1922, Baracaldo moved a couple of hundred yards inland to their first purpose-built enclosure. Lasesarre opened on 17th September with a match against local big-wigs Athletic Club, who spoilt the party with a 1-3 win. Baracaldo had made steady progress in the Vizcayan Regional Championship, reaching the top division for the 1922-23 season. but with the likes of Athletic & Arenas as regular opponents, the league title was always just out of reach. Their form and reputation were, however, good enough to join the fledgeling Segunda B championship when the national league started in February 1929, and the Tercera when the format was re-jigged a year later. Promotion to La Segunda followed in 1934, but Baracaldo’s upward momentum was stopped in its tracks by the outbreak of Civil War. The 1920s at Lasesarre – Barakaldo’s spiritual home Bilbao was captured by the Nationalists in June 1937 with minimal damage to the city and its industrial infrastructure. The same could not be said of its population. Many of its citizens had been evacuated and trivial matters such as football had ceased. The Nationalists had formed an uneasy alliance with the Carlist movement, and it was a club with strong Carlist links that was the first to emerge from the turmoil. Oriamendi Sport Club had been founded in 1922 but had never played higher than the regional second division. Suddenly, they were the senior team in Barakaldo, competing in hastily arranged tournaments in areas that had fallen to Franco’s forces. At the end of 1938, the club enlisted some of Baracaldo FC’s former players and a formal union was established with the historic club in early 1939. The club competed in a seriously foreshortened version of the cup, renamed the Copa del Generalisimo, reaching the semi-finals before losing out to Franco’s home town club Racing de Ferrol. Once the war had ended, the Spanish Federation confirmed that the league status at the end of the 35-36 season would be respected and so second division football returned to Barakaldo with the newly monikered CD Baracaldo-Oriamendi. Altos Towers – Lasesarre’s grandiose north entrance The following 20 seasons saw Baracaldo become practically a permanent fixture in La Segunda. This was helped in no small part by the funding it received from Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, the iron and steel manufacturer. This partnership saw the club change its name in 1943 to Club Deportivo Baracaldo Altos Hornos. It also saw the club drop the Carlist blue kit and return to its original colours of black & gold. Improving results and finances saw the club develop Lasesarre and a three-quarter length grandstand was opened on 28 November 1948, celebrated with a 3-0 victory over Girona. Whilst confined to mid-table for the majority of this period, there were exceptions, with season-long visits to the Tercera in 45-46 & 57-58, whilst a high of second place in La Segunda was achieved in 1953-54. This saw Baracaldo enter the end of season play-offs, but the club finished 3 points adrift of promoted CD Málaga and Hércules CF. The 1960’s witnessed a slow decline, with more frequent and longer stays in the Tercera, punctuated by a two-season visit to the second tier from 1964-66. Altos Hornos withdrew their patronage in 1971 and the club reverted to Baracaldo Football Club. If they were concerned that the withdrawal of the steel money would have a detrimental impact on the pitch, they needn’t have worried, as the club won promotion and spent six of the next nine seasons in La Segunda. The 1980s saw the town, the club & Lasesarre slip into decline After many sterling performances in the second division, Baracaldo’s last appearance in La Segunda (1980-81) turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, finishing 19th and four points from safety. The club’s fortunes mirrored that of the town, as they both slipped into decline. A three-season spell in Segunda B ended in 1984 with relegation to the Tercera. Here they stayed for the next four years before earning promotion with the Tercera title in 1988. Baracaldo spent the whole of the 1990s in Segunda B, racking up some impressive top-four finishes. However, the promotion play-offs proved to be their Achilles heel, losing out on a return to the second tier on six occasions. In 1986, the club took the decision to adopt the Basque spelling of its name, Barakaldo CF. With the landscape in and around the Greater Bilbao area undergoing massive regeneration, it was only a matter of time before time would be called on the ageing Lasesarre. Urban Decay – It was not just Lasesarre that needed a lift Lasesarre had changed little over the past 52 years. After the grandstand had opened in 1948, the east terrace was covered with a low, dark, propped roof in the mid-1950s. The obligatory perimeter fencing was added in the early eighties, but this only added to its austere, antiquated and a rather grim appearance. However, this didn’t matter to the supporters, who loved the tight terraces, the low covers and the fact that Lasesarre had played host to the club’s golden years. The end came on 15 October 2000 with a 1-0 victory over Osasuna B. However, instead of moving into a smart new stadium, Barakaldo had to settle for a makeshift arrangement. The club travelled half a mile to the south-west and the district of San Vicente and the municipal athletics stadium. Never ideal in layout for players or fans, the Campo de San Vicente nevertheless saw Barakaldo produce some decent football, winning a Segunda B title in 2001-02 and runners-up a year later. However, the playoffs proved to be a step too far once again. Barakaldo played their last match at the Campo de San Vicente on 28 September 2003, when Pontevedra was held to a 1-1 draw. Temporary shelter – The far from ideal Campo de San Vicente On 30 September 2003, Barakaldo played its first match at the new Campo de Lasesarre, a €5.1m stadium that sits just a hundred metres north of the site of the old Lasesarre. Loved by architects and tourists, the new stadium is almost universally disliked by Barakaldo’s loyal supporters. Sure, the old Lasesarre was cramped, crumbling and hopelessly antiquated, but it witnessed the very best of Barakaldo and above all, it felt like a home. Categories Euskadi, Gone But Not Forgotten Previous León – La Puentecilla (Estadio Municipal Antonio Amilivia) Next Portugalete – La Florida	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1768
__label__cc	0.522529	0.477471	DC Showcase Presents Books for Sale! December 5, 2016 by jerrymcmullen Essential X-Men Vol. 10 First Published: March 2012 Contents: Uncanny X-Men #265 (Early August 1990) to #272 (January 1991); Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 (1990); New Mutants #95 (November 1990) to #97 (January 1991); X-Factor #60 (November 1990) to #62 (January 1991); and material from Fantastic Four Annual #23 (1990); New Mutants Annual #6 (1990), and X-Factor Annual #5 (1990) Key Creator Credits: Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld, Jon Bogdanove, and others Key First Appearances: Remy LeBeau/Gambit, Seraph, Ahab Story Continues From: Essential X-Men Vol. 9 Story Continues In: Essential X-Men Vol. 11 Overview: Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of future present for the X-Men and their extended family. Make no doubt about it, the X-Men title in this era is a full-blown daytime soap opera. You’re going to need a scorecard to keep up with everything going on here in Essential X-Men Vol. 10. Let’s start with Storm, the one-time leader of the X-Men. She is suffering from amnesia, and her body has been reverted from adulthood to childhood. She is getting by with petty thievery on the streets of New Orleans, where she meets the Cajun mutant, Gambit. Will this charming rogue stick around? Speaking of Rogue, she’s back in Australia from the Siege Perilous. But she has been split into two people, Rogue and Ms. Marvel, whose powers she absorbed so many years ago. The two women must fight each other as well as the Reavers for control of the headquarters and for control of Rogue’s body. Who will win? Of course, we can’t tell an X-Men story without involving Wolverine. We get a great stand-alone issue, featured on the cover of the Essential, which tells a flashback story of Wolverine and Captain America saving a young Natasha Romanov, who would one day become the Black Widow. But the highlights of this collection are the two large stories that take up most of the book. The first is the Days of Future Present story, which ran across multiple annuals in 1991. Serving as a sequel to the original Days of Future Past story (check out Essential X-Men Vol. 2), a grown-up Franklin Richards travels from the future hoping to stop the events that lead to his current situation. This leads to fights between the Fantastic Four, the New Mutants, X-Factor and the various members of the X-Men. Adult Franklin meets young Franklin, Jean Grey meets Rachel Summers, and Cable spends time in the same room with infant Nathan Summers without things going wacky. But the main story that takes up the last half of the book is the X-Tinction Agenda epic. The various teams (X-Men, X-Factor, and the New Mutants) must ban together to finally overthrow the Genoshan government. This storyline wrapped up so many ongoing storylines, with the most important conclusion being the reformation of the X-Men as an official team with a line-up featuring Storm (now returned to her adult form), Wolverine, Banshee, Forge, Psylocke, Jubilee, and Gambit. But the teams did not escape unharmed. Warlock was killed, and Wolfsbane finds herself trapped in her wolf form. She and Havok elect to stay behind on Genosha and help rebuild the government, one which will treat mutants and humans as equals. What makes this Essential?: This is an interesting era for the X-Men, as the book (and the various related titles) truly become a large soap opera of sorts. While it’s always been a key component of any Chris Claremont X-Men story, the stories in this collection seem even more focused on the character interactions than the over-the-top superhero adventures. (Don’t get me wrong, you still get those stories, especially with the epic crossovers in this book.) If you have been reading the X-Men since Giant-Size X-Men #1, then, by all means, pick up this book, if you don’t already have all of the issues. But if you are just getting into the X-Men, you might be better off just focusing on the big epic stories, many of which can be found in their own hardcover or trade paperback collection. Footnotes: Material from Fantastic Four Annual #23, New Mutants Annual #6, X-Factor Annual #5, and Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 are also reprinted in Essential X-Factor Vol. 4. Uncanny X-Men #270 to #272, New Mutants #95 to #97 and X-Factor #60 to #62 are also reprinted in Essential X-Factor Vol. 5. If you like this volume, try: the X-Force series that started in 1991. Following the end of the X-Tinction Agenda story, the New Mutants book was due for a shake-up. Wolfsbane left the team to stay in Genosha and help rebuild the nation. Long-time member Warlock had been killed during the story. New members were joining the team, and the group was now led by Cable. Series artist Rob Liefeld had taken over the writing duties, and it made sense for Marvel to relaunch the title in a new direction with a new #1 issue. Along with co-writer Fabian Nicieza, X-Force #1 became one of the best-selling comics of all time, thanks to the issue being poly-bagged with collector cards. The first year of X-Force has been collected in an omnibus edition, so that might be the best way to track down these stories to read. This entry was posted in Marvel Essentials, X-Men and tagged Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, Jon Bogdanove, Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld, X-Men. Bookmark the permalink. Showcase Presents Doc Savage Vol. 1 Showcase Presents Super Friends! Vol. 1 2 thoughts on “Essential X-Men Vol. 10” Pingback: Essential X-Men Vol. 9 \| Essential Showcase Pingback: Essential X-Men Vol. 11 \| Essential Showcase Showcase Presents Sgt. Rock Vol. 4 Wish List! Showcase Presents: Ghosts 1 House of Mystery 3 House of Secrets 2 Our Army At War 1 Sgt. Rock 2 and 3 Tales of the Unexpected 1 Weird War Tales 1 Witching Hour 1 Essential Captain Marvel Vol. 2 May 7, 2018 Essential Black Panther Vol. 1 April 30, 2018 Essential Defenders Vol. 7 April 23, 2018 essentialshowcase@gmail.com Comic Links Comic Reflections Podcast InStock Trades With Great Power… Worst. Comic. Podcast. EVER! Categories Select Category Books For Sale (1) By the Numbers (4) DC Showcase Presents (107) Adam Strange (2) All-Star Comics (1) All-Star Squadon (1) Ambush Bug (1) Amethyst (1) Aquaman (3) Atom (3) Bat Lash (1) Batgirl (2) Batman (14) Blackhawk (1) Blue Beetle (1) Booster Gold (1) Captain Carrot (1) Challengers of the Unknown (3) Dial H for Hero (1) Doc Savage (1) Doom Patrol (2) Eclipso (1) Elongated Man (1) Enemy Ace (1) Flash (6) Green Arrow (2) Green Lantern (5) Hawkman (2) Jonah Hex (2) Justice League of America (6) Legion of Super-Heroes (5) Martian Manhunter (2) Metal Men (2) Metamorpho (1) Rip Hunter (2) Robin (3) Sea Devils (1) Sgt. Rock (1) SHAZAM! (1) Strange Adventures (1) Super Friends (1) Supergirl (2) Superman (13) Teen Titans (2) The House of Mystery (2) The House of Secrets (1) The Losers (1) The Phantom Stranger (2) The Spectre (1) The War That Time Forgot (1) Unknown Soldier (2) Warlord (1) Wonder Woman (4) World’s Finest (4) Life (3) Marvel Essentials (158) Ant-Man (1) Avengers (10) Black Panther (1) Captain America (7) Captain Marvel (2) Classic X-Men (3) Conan (1) Daredevil (6) Dazzler (2) Defenders (7) Doctor Strange (6) Fantastic Four (15) Ghost Rider (4) Godzilla (1) Horror (3) Howard the Duck (1) Hulk (10) Human Torch (3) Iron Man (5) Killraven (1) Man-Thing (2) Monster of Frankenstein (1) Moon Knight (3) Ms. Marvel (1) Nova (1) Power Man & Iron Fist (5) Punisher (3) Sgt. Fury (1) She-Hulk (1) Silver Surfer (3) Spider-Man (22) Spider-Woman (2) Sub-Mariner (2) Super-Villain Team-Up (1) Thor (7) Tomb of Dracula (2) Warlock (1) Werewolf By Night (2) Wolverine (7) X-Factor (3) X-Men (11) Uncategorized (2) Archie Goodwin Avengers Batman Bill Mantlo Bob Brown Bob Haney Carmine Infantino Chris Claremont Curt Swan Denny O'Neil Don Heck Don Perlin Doug Moench Fantastic Four Frank Robbins Gardner Fox Gary Friedrich Gene Colan George Tuska Gerry Conway Gil Kane Herb Trimpe Hulk Jack Kirby Jim Mooney Jim Shooter Jim Starlin John Broome John Buscema John Byrne Len Wein Marv Wolfman Mike Friedrich Mike Sekowsky Murphy Anderson Neal Adams Nick Cardy Otto Binder Rich Buckler Robert Kanigher Roger Stern Ross Andru Roy Thomas Sal Buscema Spider-Man Stan Lee Steve Englehart Steve Gerber Superman X-Men	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1769
__label__cc	0.587849	0.412151	a most unreliable narrator the personal blog of lisa rabey h e l l o p r o j e c ts w r i t i n g Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes: October 12, 2013 Johann Georg Hainz’s Cabinet of Curiosities, circa 1666. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons During the Renaissance, cabinet of curiosities came into fashion as a collection of objects that would often defy classification. As a precursor to the modern museum, the cabinet referred to room(s), not actual furniture, of things that piqued the owners interest and would be collected and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Collectioun of Cunnynge Curioustes is my 21st century interpretation of that idea. Dear Internet, Cunning Tales from a Systems Librarian Confessions of a new academic lib: To collect or not to collect, that is the question part i The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis (Amazon \| WorldCat \| GoodReads \| LibraryThing) Widely recommended by historians and booksellers for its authenticity to the period, incredibly detailed research, and snappy pacing, in the end I found that while I enjoyed the book, ultimately I wasn’t in love with it. There were some inauthenticities that drove me slightly mad (like the use of the word “fuck” which while rare in the story, is not true to period. That word doesn’t show up in English until the high middle ages. I’m also fairly certain there was not a Latin equivalent of the word, which makes it a bit more annoying). I try to keep my prejudices in check knowing that if this was written true to language of the period, modern eyes would be bored so the work had to be given some leeway to make it more palatable. I couldn’t relate to or connect with any of the characters, which while not a terribly huge problem, is not exactly easy finish the work. But I do like the concept of the series! And I did feel like not only was my brain getting entertainment, but I was also getting a bit of an education too. I’ll give this a few more books before I either fully commit or ditch them. Davis also has a new series with a female lead in the same period, which I also want to check out. BBC The Fairytale Castles Of King Ludwig II With Dan Cruickshank A new spin on the mythology of Atlantis coupled with Greek mythology, this new series from the BBC is also produced by the same folks who did Merlin. Expect to see a lot of familiar actors popping in and out, slightly changed storylines, and a same kind of goofy feel. Not a bad show, but not something to absolutely love either. More of background noise than rapt attention, and more a long the lines of binge watching rather than catching it every week. Atlantis is coming to BBC America in November. Third season has begun and I’m a bit weary after the first few episodes of their portrayal of Carrie’s bipolarism. Not everyone who goes off of lithium, automatically gets tossed into the crazy hospital. Even more importantly, while ECT is commonly still used for treatment, you don’t just “get it” just because you’re having a moment. There are some wretched side effects to ECT that aren’t even addressed in the show. I get the point is to underscore her craziness to mean her unreliability, but it’s beginning to feel slapstick rather than serious. A quasi-historical romp of the late 1950s, following two of the pioneers of the science of sex. Two episodes in and I’m hooked, not on the obvious (it’s sex. For science!) but by the subtle interplay of characterizations and relationships. Sure, there are some stereotypes, like the hooker with the heart of gold, but overall this is great fun to watch even when it’s attempt at being serious. BBC Four – A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley, If Walls Could Talk: The History of the Home, BBC Four – Tales from the Royal Bedchamber I realised recently that if my life was a choose your own adventure, I would have chosen a path similar to Lucy Worsley‘s. By day, a Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces in England and historian/writer at night, Worsley’s interests not only match my own but what I’ve come to adore about her is how she makes history accessible and fun, no matter what the topic. I also love the fact that she’s willing to get into a historical thing to experience it herself, whether it is dressing like a Georgian queen, sleeping in a medieval bed to find the pea, or not bathing for a week to get a sense of how they did it in ye olde tymes. Her interest in a broad range of topics makes her exploration of them fresh and compelling. She also has several books out to support her topics, which I’m hoping to check out in the near future. I finally got around to see the final two episodes of this season and it was much better than my previous impression. Like Atlantis in that it’s kitchy and background noisy, it’ll stay in the rotation with the hopes it will get stronger in the future. The Bridge (US) Slow, slow pacing; the murder solved mid-season, the fact I couldn’t get “it puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again” out of my head whenever Ted Levine walked into the screen, the unbearable hotness of Demian Bichir, and the confusing actions of possibly Autistic Diane Kruger made this show hard to watch at times. It just felt utterly confusing, some main characters dropped for a few episodes with no mention, and then magically reappear, the too many sub-plots floating around, and the strange build of romantic tension (or not) between Bichir and Kruger. TheHusband really liked this show. Not not loved, but liked. This is an American take on the Danish/Swedish version, and soon there is a joint English/French version, The Tunnel, coming in a few weeks. As one critic intoned, this is a format that works. Apparently so. Weekly watching: Elementary, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Sleepy Hollow, Survivor, Downton Abbey, Boardwalk Empire, Doc Martin, QI, Peaky Blinders, Project Runway, The Newsroom, Sons of Anarchy, The Vampire Diaries Interactive Map Compares the New York City of 1836 to New York City 2013 Puritans and their weird names Better Out than In: Banksy in New York Alexander McCall Smith to rewrite Jane Austen’s Emma Matt Smith cast in American Psycho musical The Letters Page: A literary journal in letters Eco-couple told to pull down their ‘hobbit home’ made entirely out of natural materials x0x0, This day in Lisa-Universe in: 2003 Previous Article Previous Article: To collect or not to collect, that is the question: part i Next Article Next Article: we were all waving flags Tags: A Very British Murder, Atlantis, BBC, Da Vinci’s Demons, Homeland, If Walls Could Talk, Lindsey Davis, Lucy Worsley, Masters of Sex, Reviews: Books, Reviews: TV, Tales from the Royal Bedchamber, The Bridge, The Bridge (US), The Silver Pigs, To:Link, To:Read Categories: Fanciful Delights Copyright © 2021 Lisa Rabey. All rights reserved.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1773
__label__cc	0.519982	0.480018	Category Archives: Bristol Marvin Rees blames NHS for air pollution deaths in response to doctor’s petition An excellent post by PsychoPolitico on aggressive behaviour by the mayor of Bristol. PsychoPolitico Anyone who follows the trials and tribulations of Bristol’s local politics is already familiar with the Mayor’s hostility towards questioning, and inability to tolerate any form of criticism. As a case in point, Marvin was so prickled by a petition about air pollution at Full Council this week that he managed to attack the NHS itself for causing deaths from air pollution. The lead petitioner, a doctor, asked on behalf of 70 health professionals: “We would like to know how the inaction on cleaning up our air is justified, and what equalities focused measures the Mayor is considering alongside the clean air zone to mitigate its costs for those who can least afford them, are contributing the least to the problem, and who are suffering the most”. After some condescending deflection, and a mandatory ramble about Labour’s green credentials [sic], Marvin responded in fairly typical Marvin style by going on… 1000 Books to Read Before You Die, a Bristol perspective 1000 books is an incredible number to find and write about but the essays and sections feel like they have had individual attention rather than just being quick summaries, in this collection. From King to Kafka and the Quran to Nora Ephron, the book selections must fit most moods as they are incredibly varied. It all boils down to what seems an enormous effort by a true bibliophile, James Mustich, editor-in-chief of the Barnes and Noble Review. Recommendations cover fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books and history. Cleverly arranged alphabetically by each author’s last name, so that priority would not need justification, there’s Grimm next to Grisham, and Orwell followed by Ovid. Essays on why each book is an essential read conclude with notes on the best edition, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations and recommended audio versions and TV and film adaptations. I would love to pitch a Bristol section and help Mustich select more location-inspired reads as there are quite a few Bristol links within the choices but there could be more. The second book listed is Flatland — the famous two-dimensional romance — by Edwin A. Abbott who in 1864-1865 was an assistant master at Clifton College. Another link to the exclusive Bristol school is the Agatha Christie entry of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Christie was married in Emmanuel Church on Guthrie Road. They came to Bristol because her husband’s step-father was a schoolteacher at the Clifton College. St Augustine of Hippo is a bit of a non-literary link but it was pleasing to think of St Augustine’s Parade in front of the Hippodrome. I’ll leave up to the reader to decide whether it is Mustich who has chosen from far and wide or whether Bristol does have its many links to literature. Sherlock Holmes was meant to have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle’s wife Louise who studied at Badminton School in Westbury on Trym; Edmund Burke was a Bristol MP, Jane Austen lived close by in Bath and died two years after Mary Shelley summered in Clifton in 1815 and looked down at the ships carrying slaves. It’s quite possible that Frankenstein’s monster came to pass because of the links with the horrendous exploitation she witnessed or could imagine. Charles Dickens’ characters stay at a hotel on Corn Street where, next to the current Registry Office, there is a plaque celebrating our mention in the Pickwick Papers. J.K. Rowling is from Yates–and close enough to count as a local– while the Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett may not have the gripping plot of Harry Potter but this first epistolary book does make its way through Bristol too. The most classic of Bristol novels, Treasure Island, is also on the list. Linked to both the Llandoger Trow and the Hole in the Wall just a street away from each other on Welsh Back, the book is said to have a “taut narrative line that ripples with ominous vibrations”. Read the first few pages and see if you can stop, suggests Murtich. I’d say the same about 1000 Books to Read Before You Die. The selection is intriguing and challenging at the same time. A worthy addition to any bookshelf. 1000 Books to Read Before you Die is out now from Workman Publishing Posted in 2018, Books, Bristol If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch If I Die Before I Wake is ex-journalist Emily Koch’s first published book. It’s a crime thriller with the premise that the author has to solve their own murder before they die. The protagonist is male and he is locked-in to his body and unable to communicate with anyone. The book has had some good reviews on Goodreads already as many advance copies were made available. It is set in Bristol. Published in 2018 by Harvill Secker, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Posted in 2017, Bristol, Bristol Novel Students, speak now or forever hold your peace A property developer has taken a sledgehammer to a 400-year-old Jacobean ceiling [ref]This is a metaphor –he, Mr Baio– probably had his construction workers do it for him. Ephemeral Digest does not claim that the owner of Midas Properties caused the destruction himself.[/ref] in a conservation area of Bristol in order to devalue the property and convert it into student flats. He did it only a day before it was due to be visited by Historic England and hopefully Listed. The outrage has been huge locally and nationally. But this can’t be the only destruction that has occurred to Bristol’s heritage and it’s certainly not the only building in danger although it was the oldest, so why all the fury now? The ‘insult to injury’ part of this particular moral, if not currently legal, crime is that the destruction was perpetuated by a quick-profit developer uninterested in Bristol heritage and looking to benefit from students; some who pay up to £35k a year for their studies. Students, as I was reminded at a neighbourhood consultation about cutting £30 million from public local services this year and a further £70m by 2021, don’t pay council tax. While the rest of us Bristol residents have seen our council taxes increase yearly, the university has so much money that it is buying property after property. While 17 out 27 Bristol libraries are to be shut down to save money, and others are having their hours reduced, the University of Bristol is spending £75m to rebuild its library. At the consultation event, to discuss libraries being shut down and millions slashed from already underfunded public services, suggestions were made by people sat at our table of nine. They included ‘make students volunteer their time’ and ‘make the universities pay a certain amount out of tuition fees per student.’ Someone quoted a study citing a number of volunteer hours that students had available to them and the unspoken implication being that those students were withholding help from the city that was providing for them. Other worryingly familiar narratives also included ‘why shut our library down when other libraries are being used much less?'[ref] ‘Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!’ http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/21.html%5B/ref%5D The Bristol City Council are cutting £1.8 million from the ‘supporting people’ budget and the University of Bristol is spending £300 million redeveloping a new site that will host students who pay no council tax but take up a lot of city resources. There are expected to be up to 5000 additional students in the new development and coming to the city but there will only be 1188 accommodation spaces built by the university itself. The rest will have to be found in the private rental sector. A CBRE report quoted by the Bristol Post claims that the current number of 41,000 students will go up to 44,000 by next year. Most of the growth will be coming from the University of Bristol. A topical paper by the Council in 2014 states: “In recent years demand for student accommodation has placed pressure on the local housing stock often resulting in perceived or actual harmful impacts on communities accommodating students, especially in areas close to the UoB.” Problems identified have included: Noise and disturbance associated with intensification in the residential use of properties/or the lifestyle of occupants; Pressure for on-street parking; Breakdown in social cohesion; A shift in the character of shops and businesses supporting the community; Unsympathetic external alterations; Poor waste management; A shift from permanent family housing to more transient accommodation; A reduction in the choice of housing available in an area. Surprisingly, what isn’t mentioned is direct financial gain to the city through CIL fund payments by specialised housing premises for students. For example, just one student accommodation company CRM recently paid close to £1m. In 2014, there were approximately 3800 bedspaces for students in the city centre and another 2489 with planning permission. There could be a lot more being created without the numbers being known because, since 2010, legislation changes mean that permission is no longer needed for the transformation of houses into multiple occupation premises (Bristol City Council). The council is set to cut at least £4.1m from the council tax reduction scheme that allows vulnerable people to pay less tax. Public toilets are closing, 1000 members of staff are being made redundant, parks will no longer be maintained, neighbourhood partnerships have been defunded, and a myriad other cuts are being put in place. The number of student properties however are increasing and they include the University of Bristol’s own accommodation, Dwell housing on Hotwell Road that is registered in tax haven Guernsey and bought for £6.4m, and Unite which owns 14 properties for student accommodation in Bristol. And many others. There will soon be so little left of Bristol and yet here is a man with a sledgehammer destroying what little we have in order to make profit from students who don’t even pay council tax and whose university has been flaunting its millions around in the city. To top it all off, housing in Bristol has been a problem for a long time and the increase of housing stock was one of Mayor Marvin Rees’ campaign promises; the University of Bristol is spending millions and charging up to £35k for tuition fees; public services are being cut drastically while student numbers, and their perceived harmful actions, are increasing and taking up private housing just when housing is at a shortfall. People are getting angry and they are going to need somewhere to vent their frustrations soon. Brexit has already focused anger on immigrants so before the pitchforks come out for the students [ref]whose number used to include me and will hopefully do so again in the future[/ref] it’s time to engage that part of Bristol’s community and look to them too for answers to our public funding crisis and student property worries. Update: (22/10/17) Kerry McCarthy speaking in parliament asked The Minister talks about the expansion in student numbers. How often does he have conversations with the local government and housing Ministers about the impact on housing pressures in cities such as Bristol and on council finances, given that students do not pay council tax and developers do not pay the community infrastructure levy? Although those students are welcome, it does come at a cost. Posted in 2017, austerity, Bristol, students Less tax for landlords in Bristol? Should the Bristol City Council be accepting sponsorship from a company whose stated purpose is for landlords to pay less tax? In October 2016, Mr Rees warned cuts of £92m would have to be made to Bristol City Council’s budget by 2022, with further savings of £33m before the end of the the 2016-17 financial year.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-39526029 So why were they accepting sponsorship for the Landlords Expo held on May 25, from Less Tax for Landlords. “Less Tax For Landlords is a specialist tax and estate planning service dedicated to the needs of those who are involved in owning commercial property, residential buy-to-lets, HMOs, investment property, or property development. Our goal is to help you build and run a highly tax efficient professional property business, and to pass on your hard-earned wealth to those you care about most, minimising tax leakage insofar as the law allows, and all whilst keeping you in full control of your affairs today.” One of the company’s directors, Malcolm Keith Rose, is associated with 10 other companies including LESS LAW FOR LANDLORDS LIMITED. Less law for landlords sounds like something in line with the legislation that failed to pass last year when Tories rejected a move to ensure rented homes were fit for human habitation. (Read debate on the Housing and Planning Bill here). An Act that is accused of allowing the selling of housing association properties, subsidising that sale by selling council properties, reducing local authority incomes to build properties by reducing rent, and allowing developers to get away without building any social homes. Some legislation that affects property owners is that since 2016, “buyers have had to pay an extra stamp duty surcharge of 3pc of the value of a home if it is not their main residence.” At the same time the general population and the most deprived communities have had to deal with the effects of austerity, which include the slashing of local council funding, “[t[he most deprived all-purpose authorities saw cuts of more than £220 per head compared with under £40 per head for the least deprived.” And let’s not forget that under the previous mayor, Marvin Rees complained about council homes being sold off and wanted to wait until after the election. In reality, had the council houses been sold any later, the money would have had to be given to the government and not been available to use to fund new council houses. “[E]xisting council building programmes are often partly financed from the revenue projected from selling a small number of the most expensive council homes. Most of that revenue will now be seized by central government to fund discounts under the new Right to Buy instead.” In a city where Labour mayor, Marvin Rees has vowed to build 800 new homes a year until 2020, should there be any support for such a company as ‘Less Tax For Landlords’? Life Chances, a novel that traces Broken Britain, from the University of Bristol The University of Bristol team, Productive Margins, have not only produced a novel but have also set up an Etsy shop to sell the products they have created. The novel is called Life Chances and it tracks the journey of an aspirant journalist as she explores ‘Broken Britain’, uncovering the personal stories of refugees, migrants, and families living in low-income situations and dealing with the UK authorities. They discover that it is not easy to gain a foothold on the economic ladder or find security for your children. The authors (community members, researchers and artists) lived the lives of the characters while writing the novel, primarily by making jewellery and enacting the jewellery co-operative that is a major storyline. Fiction has now turned to fact with Life Chances authors Moestak Hussein and Akilah Tye Comrie setting up ‘Life Chances CIC’ for real. The jewellery-making business aims to help people living in marginalized communities to take back control of their lives. Life Chances is written and edited by Simon Poulter and Sophie Mellor (Close and Remote), Nathan Evans, Moestak Hussein, Akilah Tye Comrie, Trasi, Safiya, Saediya and the wider community of research volunteers in Bristol and Cardiff. The novel is one of the outputs from the University of Bristol-led Productive Margins project that aims to find new ways of engaging communities in decision making with regulatory services and policy makers.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1775
__label__wiki	0.566788	0.566788	A cross-sectional study of socio-demographic factors associated with patient access to primary care in Slovenia Suzana Kert1,2, Igor Švab1, Maja Sever3, Irena Makivić1 & Danica Rotar Pavlič1 International Journal for Equity in Health volume 14, Article number: 39 (2015) Cite this article Primary care (PC) is the provision of universally accessible, integrated, person-centred, comprehensive health and community services. Professionals active in primary care teams include family physicians and general practitioners (FP/GPs). There is concern in Slovenia that the current economic crisis might change the nature of PC services. Access, one of the most basic requirements of general practice, is universal in Slovenia, which is one of the smallest European countries; under national law, compulsory health insurance is mandatory for its citizens. Our study examined access to PC in Slovenia during a time of economic crisis as experienced and perceived by patients between 2011 and 2012, and investigated socio-demographic factors affecting access to PC in Slovenia. Data were collected as a part of a larger international study entitled Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe (QUALICOPC) that took place during a period of eight months in 2011 and 2012. 219 general practices were included; in each, the aim was to evaluate 10 patients. Dependent variables covered five aspects of access to PC: communicational, cultural, financial, geographical and organizational. 15 socio-demographic factors were investigated as independent variables. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis and multilevel analysis were applied. There were 1,962 patients in the final sample, with a response rate of 89.6%. The factors with the most positive effect on access to PC were financial and cultural; the most negative effects were caused by organizational problems. Financial difficulties were not a significant socio-demographic factor. Greater frequency of visits improves patients’ perception of communicational and cultural access. Deteriorating health conditions are expected to lower perceived geographical access. Patients born outside Slovenia perceived better organizational access than patients born in Slovenia. Universal medical insurance in Slovenia protects most patients from PC inaccessibility. However, problems perceived by patients may indicate the need for changes in the organization of PC. Trends in society The world is currently facing the most severe financial and economic crisis in decades, affecting families and communities [1], and many European governments have decided to cut back on public expenditure on health [2]. Several countries, including Slovenia, have introduced measures that include increasing taxes on alcohol and tobacco, abandonment or scaling down of planned investments, reduction in the number of health sector workers and their pay, shifting the preventive activities of GPs to registered nurses, adoption of strategies to lower waiting times, improvements in prescribing drugs, and improving the use of health assessment technology [3]. The importance of primary (health) care Many authors consider universally accessible PC to be a cornerstone of strong health-care systems [4,5]. The Expert Panel of the European Commission has recently formulated an up-to-date concept of primary (health) care. Under this definition, universally accessible, integrated, person-centred, comprehensive health and community services must be provided by a team of professionals able to address most personal health needs. These services are to be delivered in a sustained partnership between patients and formal caregivers, in the context of family and community, and play a central role in the overall coordination and continuity of people’s health care needs. Reflecting widespread usage, we use the terms “primary care” and “primary health care” interchangeably. Accessibility of health services affects different aspects of the structure of health services and health facilities, including access to health care practitioners in terms of location, time, and ease of approach [6]. Dutch researchers defined access to PC even more exhaustively in terms of seven features: availability, geographic accessibility, accommodation of accessibility, affordability, acceptability, utilization, and equity in access [7]. Equality in health care is one of the crucial features that quality PC should have [8]; the outcome of a PC system includes three dimensions: quality of care; efficiency of care; and equity in health [7]. Economic crisis and PC in Slovenia Slovenia is a Central European country with 2.1 million inhabitants. In 1991, Slovenia became independent [9] and a year later its health care system was transformed from a state-run system to a decentralized model with one insurance company [10]. The Slovenian economy was growing rapidly when the country joined the euro zone in 2007, but this growth surge was fueled by debt. The budget deficit rose significantly, and restoring public finances has proved difficult [11]. Total health-care spending in Slovenia in 2012 accounted for 9.4% of gross domestic product, close to the 9.3% average in OECD countries. Health spending in Slovenia decreased markedly following the economic crisis and was negative in real terms in 2010. Since then, expenditure on health has started to grow again in 2011 and 2012, but at a very modest rate (under 1% in real terms per year) [12]. As a result of the financial crisis, the unemployment rate in Slovenia rose from 7% in 2008 [13] to 12% in 2012 [14]. In the same year, the elderly population (age 65 and over) accounted for 16.9% of the total population [15]. In interviews with a number of adults in 2011, 60.1% estimated their health as good or very good [16], 36% reported a long-standing illness or health problem [17], and 66.3% reported at least one moderate problem [18]. Health care in Slovenia is funded by a mix of public and private spending. The public sector is the primary source of health care funding. On average across EU countries, three-quarters of all health care spending was publicly funded in 2012 [19]. Slovenia’s health system is funded by compulsory health insurance for everyone meeting statutory requirements [20], by state revenues, voluntary health insurance, and out-of-pocket spending. The delivery of PC is organised in health care centres and health stations. Health care personnel involved in PC include FP/GPs [9]. FPs in Slovenia act as “gatekeepers,” controlling access to secondary services. Patients must choose their own personal FPs, who are responsible for providing PC for their patients, including emergency care 24 hours a day provided by physicians working in rotation outside regular office hours [10]. This requirement has had a great impact on both the quality and cost of health care [21,22]. Most first-patient contacts are made by FPs, and continued good access is of the utmost importance. Low or unequal access results in low patient satisfaction [23,24]. Previous studies have examined several factors affecting access: having a relationship with a PC source with characteristics of a medical center [24,25], the availability of timely [25-28] and/or easy phone access [25,27], after-hours care, physician knowledge of the patient’s medical history, adequate time allotted to consultation [25], the attitude on the phone of the doctor’s assistant, patient opinion of FP treatment, waiting time [26], the ability to obtain an outpatient appointment for the same or following day [24], time spent in the waiting room, and seeing the same FP most of the time [27]. Studies have already shown many patient characteristics that adversely affect access. These include: old age [24], economic factors [24,29,30], chronic health problems [24] and membership in ethnic groups [28,31]. Lower access results in fewer patients visits [32,33]. Many international authors are of the opinion that more research is needed to assess the impact of policies that support free and universal access to public services, and about individuals’ experience and perceptions of the effects of the financial crisis on health care [34]. Our study aimed to determine how Slovenian patients experience and perceive different aspects of access to PC in a time of economic crisis and austerity measures, and to identify potential socioeconomic factors that could influence perceived (good or bad) access to PC. Between September 2011 and April 2012, we performed a cross-sectional observational study of Slovenian general practices. The study was conducted as part of an international study known as Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe (QUALICOPC). The detailed protocol for this study has already been published elsewhere [35,36]. Based on this study protocol, patients were approached through their treating physician. 219 Slovenian general practices were included in the study, with each aiming to survey ten consecutive patients. Nine patients filled in the standard questionnaire about the experiences and one patient about what he or she found important when visiting a general practice. In this study, the socio-demographic characteristics of study respondents were compared to those of the general population. This comparison showed that respondents were more female, less unemployed [37] and had more chronic health conditions than general population [19]. Our study explored patients’ experiences and perceptions of access to PC in Slovenia. Targeted sample size was 2,190 patients (219 practices aimed to survey 10 consecutive patients). Response rate was 89.6%, thus the final sample included 1,962 Slovenian patients. Response rate was calculated as number of patients in final sample size over targeted sample size (1,962/2,190 = 0.896*100 = 89.6%). The research protocol was approved on August 11, 2011 by the Commission of the Republic of Slovenia for Medical Ethics (decision number 144/07/11). Variables of interest In order to investigate access to PC, we created variables covering communicational, cultural, financial, geographical and organizational aspects. Access to PC was defined as the dependent variable. We constructed indicators to measure levels of PC access covering five dimensions. For each aspect (dimension), we selected an initial set of conceptually relevant but mutually exclusive items: six items for communication, four for culture and organization, and two for financial and geographical factors. Items included in the concept of access to PC are detailed in Additional file 1: Annex 1. Before summarizing item values referring to certain aspects of access, the underlying structure of selected items was explored and empirically tested using factor analysis (FA). For each dimension, we tested whether the obtained set of data really measured the same construct of interest (latent dimension) and checked its factor loadings. The results of the FA are summarized in Table 1. Five dependent variables on access to PC were deduced as the sum of item values; the highest value on the summarized scale was labelled as good access and 0 as bad access. In place of independent variables, we selected 15 socio-demographic characteristics of patients, including sex, age, place of birth, mother’s place of birth, language proficiency in Slovene, educational attainment level, activity status in terms of being unemployed, student or retired, material status considering household income, household composition as regards adults and children, self-assessed general health, presence of longstanding (chronic) health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, asthma or other longstanding conditions, and number of visits and consultations patient made in the previous six months. All dependent and independent variables used in the analysis are presented in Table 2. Table 1 Factor analysis of manifest questions for access to PC dimensions Table 2 Independent and dependent variables used in the analysis Descriptive statistics were used to analyze key features of the patient sample, considering socio-demographic characteristics and perceived access to PC. Since individual patients were nested within general practices, we performed a multilevel analysis to partition the variance in access to PC aspects attributable to individual patient level and to higher general practice level. Interclass correlation (ICC) was calculated to assess the proportion of variance at the patient level. To identify the socio-demographic factors affecting access to PC, multilevel regression models were estimated using access to PC dimensions as dependent variables and socio-demographic factors as predictors. The effects of socio-demographic characteristics on perceived access to PC were investigated using unstandardised regression coefficients. To interpret them properly, their scales must be taken into account. Our main goal was to consider the socio-demographic factors with a statistically significant effect on access to PC. The overall fit of the estimated multilevel models was tested using chi-square (χ2) likelihood-ration (LR) test, i.e. deviance, which is defined as minus twice the log-likelihood (−2LL). This was used to compare the performance of the null model (without any covariates) and level 1 model (including 15 patient level covariates). The confidence level was set at p < 0.05. Analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (version 22.0). Table 3 shows the results of the descriptive statistics of the patient sample considering socio-demographic characteristics. The final sample consisted of 1,962 patients (89.6% response rate). 59.1% of patients were female. The average patient age was 48.7±16.9 years. Most patients and their mothers were born in Slovenia. 11.5% of patients were born outside Slovenia, while 17.2% reported that their mother’s country of birth was a country other than Slovenia. Most (92.7%) patients declared themselves to be fluent or native speakers of Slovene. 44.5% of patients surveyed had upper secondary level education, followed by primary level or lower (31.2%), and post-secondary level or higher (24.3%). 6.6% of patients were unemployed, 6.5% were students and 30.5% were retirees. More than half of the patients stated that their household income was average (58.5%), while 32.5% identified below average household income and 9.0% reported living in a household with above average income. 79.7% of patients lived in households with other adults (including children above 18) and 34.0% in households with children under 18. 12.5% of patients self-assessed their general health status as very good and 12.3% as poor. Most, however, judged themselves to be in good health (41.2%). 45.9% of patients confirmed having at least one longstanding condition. In terms of number of visits and consultation in the previous six months, 31.8% of patients had made three to five visits. Table 3 Socio-demographic characteristics of patient sample (N=1,962) For each dimension of access to PC, a single latent variable was created. Key points associated with each dimension are: communicational dimension relates to communicational features of consultation (using medical records, politeness, active listening, sufficient time mode, acts in partnership); cultural dimension comprehends the relationship of the physician and his or her staff to the patient in terms of respectful behavior, ethnic and gender equality; financial dimension includes financial reasons and insurance problems resulting in postponement of visiting the physician; geographical dimension refers to access in terms of distance and travel time from patients’ homes and workplaces to the physicians’ offices. organizational dimension relates to organizational aspects of the physicians’ offices (waiting time, uncomplicated appointment mode, office hours, home visit options). Descriptive statistics of access to PC as experienced and perceived by patients are given in Table 4. All five dimensions recorded a high concentration of patients in the upper part of the scale, indicating good access to PC. Very little variation was found for cultural and financial access to PC; more than 95% of Slovenian patients scored the highest possible level of access. 95.3% of patients reported that they had not experienced any disrespectful behavior regarding their ethnic background or gender, or negative or uncaring attitude by a doctor or other staff member, and had never had the feeling that other patients received better treatment. On the other hand, three (0.2%) patients reported experiencing all the problems listed. According to patient experience data, financial access to PC proved to be good. 99.3% of Slovenian patients had no financial problems that substantially limited their access to PC, while 0.7% of patients confirmed having insurance or financial problems resulting in postponing or cancelling a visit. Table 4 Access to PC experienced and perceived by patients Slightly more variation was observed in the communicational, geographical and organizational dimensions. 72.5% of Slovenian patients gave geographical access to PC the highest score. On the other hand, 2.7% found PC too far away from their home or workplace and reported spending more than 40 minutes travelling to PC. 70.6% of patients did not have any observed communicational difficulties in accessing PC. Only three (0.2%) patients reported some shortcomings related to their doctor’s medical records usage, politeness, paying attention, time mode and co-decision about further treatment. Organizational access showed the most variation of all five dimensions: 65.8% of patients in Slovenia reported no organizational problems when accessing PC, but in contrast, five (0.4%) patients assumed not getting a home visit if needed, perceived getting an appointment a difficult task, waited for more than a week for a visit, or found visiting a doctor during evening, nights and weekends to be challenging. Despite the fact that most patient responses were concentrated at the top of the accessibility scale, we still checked to see how much the variance resulted from differences at the patient level and how much at the higher general practice level. The results of partitioning variance are presented in Table 5. ICC values ranged from 85.8% to 96.5% and suggested that variation in patients’ experiences of access to PC stems predominantly from individual patient differences. Across all five dimensions, cultural and organizational factors showed the lowest ICCs. 14.2% of variance in cultural access proved to originate from differences between practices, but these were still outweighed by patient level differences. Considering that most variance arises from differences at the patient level, conditional models with 15 selected socio-demographic patient level covariates were estimated. The results are detailed in Table 6. Table 5 Multilevel models partitioning variance in access to PC to individual patient level and practice level Table 6 Multilevel models of access to PC dimensions with individual patient level covariates The communicational access model showed only one significant regression coefficient, the number of visits and consultations each patient made in the previous six months. The regression coefficient is 0.071, which means that with each additional visit or consultation, the perceived communicational access is expected to increase by 0.071 scale points. It is also noteworthy that coefficients of place of birth, language proficiency, student status, household income, health status and longstanding conditions have a negative sign. This means that being born outside Slovenia, having poorer language proficiency, being a student, having higher household income, deteriorating health status and/or presence of a longstanding condition leads to lower communicational access to PC, but not significantly. Moreover, cultural access proved to significantly depend on only two socio-demographic factors, the patient’s age and the number of visits in the previous six months. The regression coefficient of age is 0.002. With each additional year of age, perceived cultural access is expected to increase by 0.002 scale points. In our study, age ranges from 17 to 93, so the predicted difference between the youngest and the oldest patient amounts to 0.152 scale points. The number of visits made in the previous six months proved to have a similar effect on cultural access as on communicational access; with each additional visit or consultation, the perceived cultural access is expected to increase by 0.023 scale points. The financial access model showed, surprisingly, no significant regression coefficient. However, three socio-demographic factors were found to have a negative sign. Poorer language proficiency, being unemployed or being a student leads to lower financial access, but not significantly. Furthermore, the geographical access model was found to have three significant regression coefficients, of sex, retired status, and health status. The coefficient of sex is −0.056, indicating that on average, female patients scored 0.056 lower on the geographical access measure compared to male patients. The coefficient of retired status is −0.071, and of health status, −0.043. From this we conclude that, on average, retirees scored 0.071 lower on perceived geographical access than non-retirees and that with each scale point of deteriorating health conditions, a patient perceived 0.043 points lower geographical access. In addition, another five coefficients have negative signs – being born outside Slovenia, poorer language proficiency, higher educational attainment level, being unemployed and being a student point to lower perceived geographical access, but not significantly. The organizational access model resulted in only one significant regression coefficient, place of birth. The regression coefficient is 0.197; this means that, on average, a patient born outside Slovenia scored 0.197 scale points higher on the organizational access scale compared to a patient born in Slovenia. Seven other regression coefficients have negative signs. Having a mother born outside Slovenia, higher educational attainment level, being unemployed, being retired, having higher household income, deteriorating health status and/or the presence of a longstanding condition all decrease perceived organizational access, but still not significantly. The overall fit of the multilevel model with level 1 covariates was compared to a null model, examining change of deviance resulting from adding 15 socio-demographic covariates to a null model. All level 1 models, except the financial access model, showed improvement of the overall fit of a model measured by deviance. The change was also confirmed to be statistically significant (p < 0.05) for all four models. In general, from patients’ reported experiences and perceptions, we can conclude that access to PC in Slovenia is very good. Unfortunately, no similar survey has been attempted before, so the data cannot be compared with experiences of patients during better economic conditions. One explanation for the result of this study is that most patients get access to PC in government-run health centres [38]. These health centres can be compared to medical centres in more economically developed countries than Slovenia, which have proven to be a very good source of health care [24,25]. Slovenian health centres have a long tradition and should maintain its mission and the basic principles, and would be upgraded with the new contents brought about by modern society [39]. In this study, the socio-demographic characteristics of study respondents were compared to those of the general population. This comparison showed that more respondents had chronic health conditions than the general population [19], which is to be expected, because in general practice there is a prevalence of sick persons, compared to the general population. The best results regarding perceived access were observed in the communicational and financial aspects. In the communicational aspect of consultation, a very high proportion of patients had not experienced any inappropriate behavior or attitude by a doctor or other staff. Physician-patient communication, and the doctor’s knowledge of the patient’s medical history, has previously been confirmed as very important [20,25]. The financial aspect of patients’ experience with access to PC also turned out to be good, and this result did not come as a surprise. Good access to PC, in terms of communications and finances, was likewise consistent with previous studies [40]. In general, as shown in several previously published studies, patient satisfaction in Slovenia is among the highest in Europe [41-43]. The biggest variation was observed in organizational access, where about one third of patients reported various problems, and we assumed that this is related to financial cuts in health care in recent years [3]. We also checked how much variance results from differences at the patient level and how much at the general practice level. Our finding was that most variance originates at the patient level, and at this level, cultural and organizational aspects showed the lowest variance. When we looked at different access models, the communicational and cultural access models showed as significant the number of visits and consultations patients made in the previous six months. It is known from previous research that a satisfactory level of continuity is a result of seeing the same FP “a lot of the time” [27]. Cultural access depended significantly on the patient’s age, a demographic data point which has already been found to be connected with evaluations of care [28,33]. The geographical access model highlighted as significant sex, retirement status, and self-assessed health status. Female patients perceived less access to health care than men. This result is very possibly linked to women’s restricted mobility caused by Slovenia’s poor public transit system, combined with the traditional arrangement of men being the primary, or even the only, driver in the household. Retirees also perceived geographical access to be worse than non-retirees. Retirees often experience transport as a challenging, or even insurmountable, obstacle to accessing PC. Self-perceived worse health status was associated with lower geographical access. This correlates to the fact that healthy patients require fewer and less frequent health-care services. Conversely, as found in an international study, patients who are less healthy raise the cost of health care and are more likely not to receive proper treatment [24]. The organizational access model exposed place of birth as significant: patients born outside Slovenia perceived the organizational access to be better than patients born in Slovenia. This is probably associated with the fact that there are many seasonal workers in Slovenia, mainly from former Yugoslavian countries. In the past two decades, governments in the countries of central and Eastern Europe have embarked on far-reaching reforms of financing, organisation, and delivery of health care [38]. Patients from abroad probably recognize that FP is the entrance point to the system [11,12]. In addition, this could also indicate that patients born in Slovenia are more demanding and critical users of PC services than those born outside Slovenia. Study limitations and strengths Our study is subject to several limitations. The answers of patients who refused to be interviewed could not be included and their characteristics, health-seeking behaviour and perceptions of access may differ from survey respondents. Data from this study are cross-sectional, which does not allow for a demonstration of causality. Additionally, all explanatory variables were self-reported and unverified. Thus they are subject to recall and misclassification bias. The authors did not gather any of the data themselves, but had to rely on self-reported data. Limitations of self-reported data refer to patient self-assessment delivering several potential sources of bias, including cognitive limitations, selective memory, and exaggeration. On the other hand, this study involved a large number of participants, making a strong case that the results can be generalised to the Slovenian population as a whole. In addition, there were only minor differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of the patients studied in comparison to the general population. Finally, this study included rural and urban general practitioner offices. The best access to PC is seen in the communicational and financial dimensions; the worst in the organizational. The financial access model showed no significant socio-demographic factors and it appears that patients in Slovenia have equal access to PC regardless of their financial background. In the organizational access model it was observed that patients born outside Slovenia perceived organizational access to be better than patients born in Slovenia. The problems detected can be the basis for improvement measures. OECD Secretary-General. OECD Strategic response to the financial and economic crisis: Contributions to the global effort. OECD 2009: 6. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/general/42061463.pdf. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Quaglio G, Karapiperis T, Van Woensel L, Arnold E, McDaid D. Austerity and health in Europe. Health Policy. 2013;113(1–2):13–9. Thomson S, Figueras J, Evetovits T, Jowett M, Mladovsky P, Maresso A et. al.: Policy summary 12. Economic crisis, health systems and health in Europe: impact and implications for policy. World Health Organization on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, 2014. Available at: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/257579/12-Summary-Economic-crisis,-health-systems-and-health-in-Europe.pdf. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. World Health Organisation. The Word Health Report 2008: primary health care now more than eve. Geneva: World Health Organisation; 2008. Macinko J, Starfield B, Shi L. The contribution of primary care systems to health outcomes within Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, 1970–1998. Health Serv Res. 2003;38:831–65. Article PubMed Central PubMed Google Scholar EXPH (EXpert Panel on effective ways of investing in Health), Report on Definition of a frame of reference in relation to primary care with a special emphasis on financing systems and referral systems, 10 July 2014. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/expert_panel/opinions/docs/004_definitionprimarycare_en.pdf. Accessed: April 22, 2015. Kringos DS, Boerma WG, Hutchinson A, van der Zee J, Groenewegen PP. The breadth of primary care: a systematic literature review of its core dimensions. BMC Health Serv Res. 2010;10:65. Health in All Policies (HiAP). Framework for Country Action Available at: http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/140120HPRHiAPFramework.pdf. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. The Health Systems and Policy Monitor. Slovenia. Available at: http://www.hspm.org/countries/slovenia25062012/countrypage.aspx Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Saltman RB, Rico A, Boerma WGW, editor. Primary care in the driver’s seat? Organisational reform in European primary care. (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies). Open University Press: Maidenhead. 2006; 37. Available at: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/98421/E87932.pdf Accessed: on April 22, 2015. OECD. Slovenia. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/economy/surveys/economic-survey-slovenia.htm Accessed: on April 22, 2015. OECD Health Statistics 2014. How Does Slovenia Compare. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Briefing-Note-SLOVENIA-2014.pdf. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Rapid reports. Labour force, Slovenia, December 2008: Available at: http://www.stat.si/doc/statinf/07-SI-009-0903.pdf. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for employment. Annual report 2012 [in Slovenian]. Available at: http://www.ess.gov.si/_files/5082/letno_porocilo_2012.pdf. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Country statistical profile: Slovenia 2014. Available at: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/country-statistical-profile-slovenia_20752288-table-svn. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Percentage of adults reporting to be in good health, 2011 (or nearest year). Available at: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/health-at-a-glance-2013/percentage-of-adults-reporting-to-be-in-good-health-2011-or-nearest-year_health_glance-2013-graph18-en. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. OECD. Health at a Glance: Europe 2012, OECD Publishing. 2012. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264183896-en. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Klemenc-Ketis Z, Smogavec M, Softic N, Kersnik J. Health-related quality of life: a population based study from Slovenia. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2011;19(1):7–12. OECD. Health at a Glance 2014, OECD Publishing. 2014. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health_glance_eur-2014-en. Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Healthcare in Slovenia. Available at: http://www.nkt-z.si/wps/portal/nktz/home/healthcare/financing/compulsary/!ut/p/b1/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOLNDHwdPTwNDD0svM2cDDzDXP0NQk0dDS0MzPWDU_P0w_Wj8ClzDzaAKjDAARwN9P088nNT9QuyvTzKHRUVASktKPY!/dl4/d5/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SmtFL1o2XzYwTUFISTAxSE9UTzMwSVZKMEVHNU4yODI1/ Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Kroneman MW, Maarse H, Van der Zee J. Direct access in primary care and patient satisfaction: A European study. Health Policy. 2006;76:72–9. Schellevis FG, Westert GP, De Bakker DH. The actual role of general practice in the dutch health-care system. Results of the second dutch national survey of general practice. Med Klin (Munich). 2005;100(10):656–61 Campbell JL, Carter M, Davey A, Roberts MJ, Elliott MN, Roland M. Accessing primary care: a simulated patient study. Br J Gen Pract. 2013;63(608):e71–6. Schoen C, Osborn R, Squires D, Doty M, Pierson R, Applebaum S. New 2011 survey of patients with complex care needs in eleven countries finds that care is often poorly coordinated. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011;30(12):2437–48. Schoen C, Osborn R, Doty MM, Bishop M, Peugh J, Murukutla N. Toward higher-performance health systems: adults’ health care experiences in seven countries, 2007. Health Aff (Millwood). 2007;26(6):w717–34. Van Uden CJ, Ament AJ, Hobma SO, Zwietering PJ, Crebolder HF. Patient satisfaction with out-of-hours primary care in the Netherlands. BMC Health Serv Res. 2005;5(1):6. Article PubMed Central CAS PubMed Google Scholar Bower P, Roland M, Campbell J, Mead N. Setting standards based on patients’ views on access and continuity: secondary analysis of data from the general practice assessment survey. BMJ. 2003;326(7383):258. Campbell JL, Ramsay J, Green J. Age, gender, socioeconomic, and ethnic differences in patients’ assessments of primary health care. Qual Health Care. 2001;10(2):90–5. Cook NL, Hicks LS, O'Malley AJ, Keegan T, Guadagnoli E, Landon BE. Access to specialty care and medical services in community health centers. Health Aff (Millwood). 2007;26(5):1459–68. Pavlic DR, Brovc M, Svab I, Ahcin J, Slajpah M. Attitudes to illness and the use of health services by economic immigrants in Slovenia. Croat Med J. 2007;48(5):675–83. Alegria M, Canino G, Rios R, Vera M, Calderón J, Rusch D, et al. Inequalities in use of specialty mental health services among Latinos, African Americans, and non-Latino whites. Psychiatr Serv. 2002;53:1547–55. Hargraves JL, Cunningham PJ, Hughes RG. Racial and ethnic differences in access to medical care in managed care plans. Health Serv Res. 2001;36(5):853–68. PubMed Central CAS PubMed Google Scholar Kontopantelis E, Roland M, Reeves D. Patient experience of access to primary care: identification of predictors in a national patient survey. BMC Fam Pract. 2010;11:61. Escolar-Pujolar A, Bacigalupe A, San Sebastian M. European economic crisis and health inequities: research challenges in an uncertain scenario. Int J Equity Health. 2014;13:59. Article PubMed Central Google Scholar Schäfer WL, Boerma WG, Kringos DS, De Maeseneer J, Gress S, Heinemann S, et al. QUALICOPC, a multi-country study evaluating quality, costs and equity in primary care. BMC Fam Pract. 2011;12:115. Schäfer WL, Boerma WG, Kringos DS, De Ryck E, Greß S, Heinemann S, et al. Measures of quality, costs and equity in primary health care instruments developed to analyse and compare primary care in 35 countries. Qual Prim Care. 2013;21(2):67–79. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Available at: http://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/home Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Rechel B, McKee M. Health reform in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Lancet. 2009;374(9696):1186–95. Klančar D, Kersnik J, Švab B. The vision of health centers in Slovenia. Zdrav Var. 2010;49:37–43. Rosen R, Florin D, Dixon J. Access to health care--taking forward the findings of the scoping exercise. Report of a rapid appraisal of stakeholder views and review of existing literature. London: National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation 2001. Available at: http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/64335/FR-08-1109-012.pdf Accessed: on April 22, 2015. Kersnik J. An evaluation of patient satisfaction with family practice care in Slovenia. Int J Qual Health Care. 2000;12(2):143–7. Petek D, Künzi B, Kersnik J, Szecsenyi J, Wensing M. Patients’ evaluations of European general practice–revisited after 11 years. Int J Qual Health Care. 2011;23(6):621–8. Klemenc-Ketis Z, Petek D, Kersnik J. Association between family doctors’ practices characteristics and patient evaluation of care. Health Policy. 2012;106(3):269–75. The study is part of the QUALICOPC (Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe) project, co-funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 242141. Department of Family Medicine, Ljubljana Medical School, Poljanski nasip 58, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia Suzana Kert, Igor Švab, Irena Makivić & Danica Rotar Pavlič Department of Family Medicine, Maribor Medical School, Maribor, Slovenia Suzana Kert Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia Maja Sever Igor Švab Irena Makivić Danica Rotar Pavlič Correspondence to Suzana Kert. SK, DRP, IS, and MS wrote the manuscript. MS, IM, SK, and DRP performed statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Additional file Additional file 1: Annex 1. Questions included in access to PC concept. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Kert, S., Švab, I., Sever, M. et al. A cross-sectional study of socio-demographic factors associated with patient access to primary care in Slovenia. Int J Equity Health 14, 39 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-015-0166-y Access to primary care Patient perceptions Socio-demographic factors	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1776
__label__cc	0.72045	0.27955	Field Report: Facebook May 13, 2018 By Jeff Leave a Comment Facebook is an online destination that offers users the opportunity to engage in a specific type of performance art that emerged as the platform gained popularity. There, humans are allowed the chance to present exaggerated versions of themselves, to hopefully impress their friends and fool people into believing they’re wonderful. See also: bullshit, phony-baloney, “Oh, for the love of the living Christ!” In the virtual Facebook world, people are exceedingly empathetic and caring, have endless fun, raise perfect children, and lounge around with tall beverages and wide smiles in their lovely homes. Ugly becomes “beautiful,” avalanching riffle-asses “perfection.” It’s enough to make this reporter want to vomit straight into a bucket. As part of the ongoing performance users often resort to wishing loved-ones a happy birthday or anniversary via the service, even though they live in the same house as the other person. So, instead of just twisting their torso a quarter-turn, and mumbling, “Hey, uh, happy birthday, or whatever” they log onto Facebook and broadcast it to the world. This is a chance for the wisher to shine, of course, and he or she will almost always use an abundance of sappy words and phrases. Things like “sweetie,” “honey bunny,” and “sugar flaps.” In addition to Facebook being a place for humans to pass off their fraudulent lives to old classmates and former co-workers, it’s also a haven for people who harbor strong and wildly distorted opinions about political matters. They spend a good percentage of their days reading blogs and “news” sites run by people who should be locked away in mental institutions. Then, once they’re thoroughly whipped into a frenzy of righteous indignation, they take to the stage and set the rest of us straight with a litany of clichés and crackpot conspiracy theories. These types of humans are closely related to religious zealots, neo-vegans, and fans of Arcade Fire. The popularity of Facebook has also helped fuel the emergence of many other types of attention enthusiasts. Including, but not limited to, perpetual sad sacks, medical procedure hobbyists, self-portrait publishers, feet photographers, outrage devotees, guilt peddlers, anger merchants, click-bait traffickers, aging hipsters, sandwich chroniclers, and grown men who not only don’t care if you know — but in fact WANT you to know — that they cry often. Yes, Facebook is an annoying and horrible place. Each time this reporter visits he finds himself rolling his eyes with such fervor his contact lenses sometimes pop out. The discouraging part? It’s merely a tool, like the telephone. So, the platform itself is not the problem. It’s the users who ruin it. Generally speaking, if a large group of humans is brought together, everything will eventually go swirling down the ol’ piss catcher. However, Facebook has curious addictive properties that I have experienced personally. Despite the fact that it frustrates and makes me want to throw a hammer through the wall, like a Combos-eating Zeus, I find myself checking it multiple times per day. I scroll through, scowl with gusto, vow to never return, and repeat an hour later. Also, on the rare occasion that I meet someone who has taken the completely reasonable and recommended path forward, and chosen not to participate in Facebook at all, I always think, “Alright… we’ve got ourselves a weirdo here.” Admittedly, it’s not an easy thing to reconcile. I hope this report has proven to be helpful. As always, I will be standing in the open field behind Dollar General Store every Thursday between midnight and 2 a.m., if you should have any follow-up questions. Filed Under: Internet, Society and People	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1778
__label__cc	0.587827	0.412173	Meet the first ever African-American teen author to write three books as mandatory readings in U.S. schools Theodora Aidoo Oct 30, 2019 at 11:30am October 30, 2019 at 11:30 am \| Success Story Pic Credit: Essynce Couture/Facebook Essynce Moore is just 15 and has already established herself as an entrepreneur, author and Amazon Top International Seller. She is also a fashionista and a motivational speaker. Moore is the only African American teen author who has written three books that are mandatory readings for several school district curricula. Her first book went on to become an Amazon Top International seller. Her books are part of a series she calls The Middle School Chronicles. Her books are read in school districts across the country including Hillside, NJ School District; Brooklyn, NY Charter School(s); and Orange, NJ School District. Here are the top five African countries you’d find easier to do business in 2020 In debt and struggling to make ends meet, David Moody Jr. worked from his bedroom to create a billion-dollar construction company Morocco builds first solar-powered village in Africa for over 50 people in 20 homes These are the six richest self-made black women in America She released her first book called “6th Grade Middle School Chronicles” in 2015 and it ranked on Amazon Top International seller. The following year, she released the second book “7th Grade Middle School Chronicles” and subsequently released her third book “8th Grade Middle School Chronicles” in April 2017. Pic Credit: EssynceCouture The books help prepare students for middle school, assist with self-esteem, bullying, how to handle certain situations with teachers/friends as well as encourage youth to live their dreams. Apart from aiding students, Moore said parents could learn from her books as well. “They think they know the truth about what happens in middle school, but they have no idea,” she stated. Moore, who hails from Hillside, New Jersey also started designing clothes at a young age of six with just for fun doodles in her school binder and notepads. Whilst doing so she found her passion and style and in 2013 she decided to share her creative clothing ideas and styles with youth around the world. She launched the Essynce Couture clothing line with the motto “a child’s passion for fashion.” Apart from clothing, Moore also created a natural body product line for children, tweens, and teens branded “Wynk” by Essynce Couture. Pic Credit: essyncecouture/Facebook Moore is not at all relenting on her achievement as an author, she’s gone on to create businesses. In 2015, the enterprising Moore expanded her brand by launching the Essynce Couture Spa and Boutique exclusively for children and youth to get a place of their own to visit and be pampered, inspired, and educated. Pic Credit:EssynceCouture/Facebook The spa which offers manicures, pedicures, hair-cuts, athletic foot treatments, athletic hand treatments, and more is located in Passaic, New Jersey. She’s been featured in numerous fashion shows, pageants, and karate tournaments. She has showcased at both NY Fashion Weeks and Atlanta Kids Fashion Week while also ripping the runway. Essynce on the cover of Dream Teen Magazine. Pic Credit:essyncecouture.com In 2013, Black Enterprise named her Teenpreneur of the year and honored 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Vashti School for Future Leaders. She was awarded “2014 Young Emerging Leader” by Alpha Kappa Alpha. Moore is also a member of the New York Youth Chamber of Commerce (NYYCC), and more than just an author, this young protégé is a motivational speaker inspiring people at schools, conferences, workshops, and more. This Ethiopian entrepreneur left college with no prospects – Now, his peanut butter brand is a national favorite Meet the twin sisters behind Miami’s first Afro-Cuban, woman-owned cigar company	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1779
__label__wiki	0.539186	0.539186	EXPOSED: Illegal Activity of Western Special Services in Syria MENAHeadline NewsISIS By Finas Samuri By Guest Author Last updated Aug 25, 2019 This is my new article on the Syrian crisis. You know that the U.S. and Turkish special services have long been taking part in the conflict, but not so long ago the shocking details have emerged. It turned out that they are involved in spreading ISIS ideology among Al-Hol refugees and supplying weapons to HTS militants in Idlib province. – Samuri In late June 2019, Fox News Channel published a video material, taken in Al-Hol refugee camp in northwestern Syria. On the footage, we can see a group of children under five chanting ISIS slogans. “We will stand on the heads of the apostates and crush them one by one. By the will of Allah, Islamic State caliphate remains,” the kids screamed. This is not the first evidence of radical ideology spread in the camp. Earlier, another video from Al-Hol emerged. It shows the ISIS terrorist flag hoisted in the field, and women urging other refugees to return to the lands of terrorists. Nevertheless, the camp’s administration prefers to ignore the situation. Moreover, in June Al-Hol leadership reported that more than 800 women and children who allegedly didn’t pose a threat left the camp. It worth noting that such arguments look quite dubious, especially after watching highly mentioned videos. So, a logical question arises who is responsible for the current situation. Let us remind you, Al-Hol refugee camp was set up after U.S.-led international coalition forces initiated the bloody liberation of Raqqa city from ISIS terrorists. However, following the fall of ISIS in the city and the formation of camp, the appropriate measures to combat the terrorist ideology among refugees were not taken by the U.S. On the contrary, Washington is making every effort to spread radical thoughts among Syrians. Since 2017, the necessary environment for refugees has not been created. For instance, neither schools nor hospitals have been built in the camp. According to the UN reports, Al-Hol residents suffer from malnutrition, stomach upsets caused by poor hygiene and lack of drinking water. In fact, refugees are left to care for themselves. Only occasionally they receive humanitarian aid from Western medical organizations. “Maintaining ISIS potential is a key factor for the U.S. to save its presence in the region for a long time,” a Syrian expert Rada Ahmad Shariki said. Also, according to the residents, suspicious persons regularly get into the camp and smuggle edged weapons and drugs. This is confirmed by an incident that occurred last months when a former ISIS wife slaughtered an SDF fighter who guarded Al-Hol. Most likely, these smugglers were sent by the U.S. Special Services to destabilize the situation in the camp. A similar situation has arisen in northwestern Syria. Even though Idlib province is largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist, the Western states continue delivering humanitarian aid to the region. Turkey plays a unique role in the Syrian conflict since it has long been a kind of buffer between the West and terrorists. Currently, all the humanitarian supplies enter Idlib through the territory of Turkey and the Syrian National Army (created by Turkey) in cooperation with HTS is directly engaged in clashes with the Syrian Arab Army in northern Hama. On August 2, militant’s war correspondent from Idlib, Abdussamed Degul, in an interview with the Qatari resource Ayman Javad stated that HTS militants had received heavy weapons, including MLRS and anti-tank missiles, from SNA. It turned out that they got it from the Turkish intelligence services. It is obvious that the jihadists can’t repeal SAA attacks without support from the outside. Therefore, Western leaders determined to exploit special services to maintain tension and instability in the region as well as to counteract Syrian troops. It is well understood that the Western states have long been supporting various terrorist groups in Syria, evacuating field commanders and training the radicals. These missions are carried out by American PMCs that are taking orders from the CIA or other Special Service. Consequently, it is the Western countries that are responsible for the actions of militants in Syria, which create chaos, organize crime and kill civilians. HTSISISSamuriSDFSyriaUNUS Guest Author 1071 posts 0 comments Views expressed by Guest Authors are their own, and are not reflective of FRN or its editorial team. FRN publishes these for research and educational purposes only. The text is presented for these reasons alone, and absolutely not for purposes related to promoting any of the views expressed herein Is there a US organized cyber war against Venezuela? Astronomers discover exoplanets’ ability to sustain life even BETTER than Earth WATCH: Russian Airstrikes Obliterate Jihadist Strongholds and Training Camps in Idlib MAJOR: New Pentagon Top Adviser Wants US Troops Out of Syria… MAJOR: US Training ISIS POWs From SDF-Occupied Areas for Recruitment Into Terrorist… Russia Allocates Over $1 Billion For Syria’s Reconstruction Efforts	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1783
__label__cc	0.727349	0.272651	Brain Vesicles Comprendre le cerveau : la neurobiologie de la vie quotidienne Université de Chicago 4.9 (1,752 évaluations) \| 170 000 étudiants inscrits Learn how the nervous system produces behavior, how we use our brain every day, and how neuroscience can explain the common problems afflicting people today. We will study functional human neuroanatomy and neuronal communication, and then use this information to understand how we perceive the outside world, move our bodies voluntarily, stay alive, and play well with others. Brain, Neurological Disorders, Neurobiology, Neurology 4.9 (1,752 évaluations) This course has turned out to very profitable, especially if you are not an expert in anatomical and clinical terms as is my case. In my opinion, this course is extremely interesting, congratulations. It was a great learning experience!!! In-depth understanding of brain and its functioning was clearly explained. Brain lab sessions were extremely unique and has added great value to the course!!! Neuroanatomy tells us how the nervous system is organized. Understanding the form of the brain is essential to understanding its function. By comparing the structure of the brain with a patient's symptoms, neurologists are able to identify the location of certain disorders. Studying how the human brain develops provides insight to why it is organized as it is. This module, you will learn about how the brain develops during gestation, some major pathways in the nervous system, and what can go wrong! Introduction to Neuroanatomy7:47 Neural Tube Formation5:28 Neural Tube Defects10:57 Brain Vesicles8:00 Expansion of the Cerebral Cortex12:11 Two Forebrain Tracts8:32 Cerebral Palsy9:36 Peggy Mason Choisissez une langueAllemandAnglaisArabeCatalanChinois (simplifié)CoréenEspagnolFrançaisItalienPortugais (européen)RusseTurcVietnamien [MUSIC] Okay. We have a tube. The tube is going to make the whole central nervous system. Back in the spinal cord, the tube becomes the spinal cord. There's not much difference between the tube and the spinal cord. It's a pretty simple thing. But a tube also becomes the brain, and it does that through a series of steps that we're going to examine. So there's just a simple tube is going to become this incredibly convoluted and complex brain. Okay, and the way that this happens is that at the front of the neural tube the place where it's going to be within the skull, with in the cranium there are three swellings, there are swellings. These are called vesicles, and the brain vesicles are going to become the bran. At the beginning there are only three of them. And so, what I've shown you here is the three vesicle stage. Back here is the tube that's going to become the spinal cord, and we're going to now, that's the last I'm going to say about the spinal cord. We're going to concentrate on this part of the neural tube that has swellings that's going to become the brain. And there are three swellings. The hind brain, the mid brain, and the fore brain. So the hind brain's next to the spinal cord, the mid brain is in the middle, and the fore brain is up and the closest, It's the most interior the farthest to the front. Very quickly the three vesicle stage has one more split. Which is at the fore brain vesicles split's into two vesicles. One is called diencephalon and one is called telencephalon. These are names for the vesicles swelling, for these swellings. They're not common English terms and unfortunately there are no common English terms that are in wide use for these two vesicles. So we're going to stick with telencephalon and diencephalon. Back in 1800 some people, term this the telencephalon the end brain and the diencephalon the interbrain. Unfortunately those nice terms are not in common usage. The diencephalon is going to become the thalamus and the hypothalamus. The telencephalon is going to become the cerebral cortex, the core parts of the basal ganglia and the amygdala. And a few other structures. So what we're going to concentrate on now is what happens to the telencephalon and the diencephalon. So once the telencephalon forms, it almost immediately invaginates, and it invaginates to make two different swellings that are actually separated across the midline. So here's the midline, we're looking down on the embryo on the brain and what you see is that there's this. This is the telencephalic hemisphere, and this is the telencephalic hemisphere. There's a left and right hemisphere. This can become the left and right hemisphere of the brain. So this happens almost immediately. And so what you have is the tube, which was like this, is now become a y. Here's the tube with the diencephalon. The midbrain, the hindbrain. Back here is the spinal cord. And up here, are the two telencephalon hemispheres. The right and the left. Okay. Now, we're going to look at one more thing which is really quite remarkable, from the diencephalon, there's an outpouching. Now, all of this, everything except for this outpouching is contained in what's called the cranium and the cranium is the vault within the skull. It's not the entire skull. It's that container where the brain goes. That's called the cranium. And what we're going to do now is look down on the bottom of the cranial cavity. So here we are. This is the front. This is the back. This is a skull. This is the foramen magnum. Down there is the spinal cord. Up here is the brain. You can see that the temporal lobe would sit right there. And right here, I don't know if you can see it, but there are two convexities. And these convexities are the top of the globe of the eye, so right here sits the two eyes. The diencephalon is sitting right about here, and that out pouching that I just showed you Is going to go out this hole and it's going to form a cup. And that is the retina. So the out pouching forms what's called the optic nerve and the retina. That out patching in the embryonic stage is called the optic vesicle. But in the adult it's going to form the retina and the optic nerve. So that's really amazing. Why is that amazing? Because what you have is an accessible piece of the central nervous system. This is central nervous system, it comes from the diencephalon, it is continuous with the diencephalon. Here's the diencephalon, and here's the optic nerve, here's the retina. It's all contains within the same meninges. It's all surrounded by CSF. So it's one that means that when you look in to somebody's eye you're looking into the central nervous system. You're not looking to the brain. But it's a window on the brain, whatever is happening inside the cranium? Can be reflected out here in the eye, so that let's say and this is how looking into the eye is commonly incredibly useful. Let's say that somebody has a stroke or tumor that has increased pressure in their brain. Now when you look into the eye you're going to see signs of that increase in pressure in the eye. And that is shown actually not increased pressure but the normal view of a retina is shown right here. And so when you look at, when you, when a. When a person with an optomoscope looks into the eye and sees the retina, they're seeing the central nervous system. That's pretty awesome. Really cheap way to image the central nervous system. Okay. Great. So in the next segment what we're going to do is we're going to look at how the brain expands into all of it's convolutions. [MUSIC]	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1784
__label__wiki	0.706338	0.706338	Jordan Peterson's Most Savage Comebacks Via John Posted by Brock Townsend at Tuesday, March 12, 2019 No comments: Don't cry for me America Via Richard This short history lesson happened in Argentina, and it’s now happening in the U.S. "Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” or should say in “America” NC: Confederate monument removed in downtown Winston-Salem Via Reborn"The Confederate monument in Winston-Salem was removed today with the usual demented cheers. He was to be sent to a cemetery in Winston-Salem to be eventually debased. I hate it that the communist Bolsheviks seem to be winning. Bring out the cyanide and water spray bottles." Posted by Brock Townsend at Tuesday, March 12, 2019 2 comments: Romance Over: ICE Officers Send Scathing Letter To Trump Support for Trump dwindles among ICE officers ICE officers who endorsed President Trump in 2016 now say he has failed to follow through on his get-tough promises, saying catch-and-release of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. is not only still happening, but has gone into “overdrive.”… The National ICE Council had previously endorsed President Trump in the 2016 presidential election. At the time, the National ICE Council noted that 2016 marked the first time that the Council had ever endorsed a presidential candidate. "In his immigration policy, [Trump] has outlined core policies needed to restore immigration security — including support for increased interior enforcement and border security, an end to sanctuary cities, an end to catch-and-release, mandatory detainers, and the canceling of executive amnesty and non-enforcement directives," the Council said at the time, according to Politico. Army Rangers: Thoughts and History of the Crest and Beret I have the one on the left. The Rangers of the US Army are clearly one of the finest fighting forces in the world, and is a unit and concept almost uniquely American, with its genesis well before American independence, even unto the days when the colonies were barely established and before they achieved any sense of cohesion. Despite the viability of the idea, the main nemesis that it has fought for its identity and survival has never been an enemy on the battlefield, but has instead been its parent Army. It is an axiom that large organizations abhor elites and that applies doubly so to the military, and examples abound in the ebb and flow of the history of the Rangers. (I am not too fond of the term 'elite'; I prefer 'specialized' – maybe it's just my Marine background.) More @ Phase Line 'Birnam Woods' How Middle America Is to Be Dispossessed In all but one of the last seven presidential elections, Republicans lost the popular vote. George W. Bush and Donald Trump won only by capturing narrow majorities in the Electoral College. Hence the grand strategy of the left: to enlarge and alter the U.S. electorate so as to put victory as far out of reach for national Republicans as it is today for California Republicans, and to convert the GOP into America’s permanent minority party. More @ Patrick J. Buchanan Suicide of a Republic & Facebook Bans Zero Hedge Photo via Ryan Setliff Via Rick Casey Over the weekend, we were surprised to learn that some readers were prevented by Facebook when attempting to share Zero Hedge articles. Subsequently it emerged that virtually every attempt to share or merely mention an article, including in private messages, would be actively blocked by the world's largest social network, with the explanation that "the link you tried to visit goes against our community standards." Devastating: Pentagon Investigating Army Two-Star General for Retaliation Against Green Berets Via Knuckledraggin' My Life Away The Pentagon inspector general is investigating allegations that a two-star Army general is retaliating against active-duty Green Beret instructors under his command who have voiced concerns over his lowering of standards for Green Beret candidates, three sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News. The allegations involve Army Maj. Gen. Kurt Sonntag, who is commanding general of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School and Center (SWCS) where Green Berets are selected, trained, and graduated. Breitbart News spoke with more than a half dozen current and former Green Beret instructors and several others in the Green Beret community, whose firsthand accounts paint an alarming picture of an Army general gone rogue, a hostile command climate where soldiers are fearful of retribution for speaking out, and a total breakdown of unit morale. The Young America Movement–Changing Our History The very informative book To The Victors Go The Myths And Monuments by Arthur R. Thompson deals at some length with a group called Young America that was very active in this country during the middle of the 19th century. Mr. Thompson observed, on page 215 of his book that: “The Carbonari’s Young America (YA) reached its ascendency in the late 1850s and played a key role in laying the groundwork for a future civil war. After the Civil War they faded as a visible organization even though their ideas have never faded from the American scene, as witnessed by the Spanish-American War and the modern neoconservative movement. YA aims since the Civil War have been generally carried out by the establishment of the major political parties. In other words, the goals of YA became the established American foreign policy without being a visible movement from the Civil War until 1921, with the formation of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), when their tactics again became obvious, even as a more visible organization than before the Civil War. By the mid-20th century there were several elite organizations promoting the YA goals, all with interlocking directorates and membership.” More @ Revised History NC: Confederate monument removed in downtown Winst... Romance Over: ICE Officers Send Scathing Letter To... Army Rangers: Thoughts and History of the Crest an... Devastating: Pentagon Investigating Army Two-Star ...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1785
__label__cc	0.577492	0.422508	Vatican Says Celibacy Rule Nonnegotiable Fox News ^ \| June 28, 2003 Posted on 06/28/2003 2:21:40 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah VATICAN CITY — The Vatican reaffirmed celibacy for priests Saturday, rejecting arguments that the Roman Catholic Church (search) could resolve the "crisis" of decreasing numbers of clergy by opening the priesthood to married men. Instead, the Vatican (search) said, current priests should dedicate themselves to attracting more candidates by better explaining the priesthood to lay Catholics and encouraging families and children to consider religious vocations. The reaffirmation was contained in a wide-ranging document issued Saturday as the final conclusions to a meeting, or synod, of European bishops held in 1999. Pope John Paul (search) II held back on issuing the final document until now, because he wanted the timing to be right in Europe, Vatican officials said Saturday. In fact, one of the major thrusts of the document is a reiteration of Christianity's heritage in Europe, and an exhortation by the pope that European leaders drafting the first EU constitution make reference to the role Christianity has played in shaping the continent. Earlier this month, EU negotiators finalized a draft of the constitution that made no reference to God or Christianity, despite lobbying from the Vatican. Opponents argued such a reference could undermine the secular nature of the bloc. Italy, which takes over the EU presidency starting Tuesday, has said it plans to reopen the debate over including the reference when governments begin a final review of the text in October. "This is a constitution that does not yet exist," Cardinal Jan Schotte, head of the synod, told a press conference launching the document. "For me, nothing is definite." Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham, England, a secretary of the synod, said omitting a mention of Christianity was "unworthy" of the constitution's authors because "no presentation of Europe can be honest if it fails to recognize the part already played, and still played, by Christianity in the shaping of Europe." The document touched on a host of other issues, including a call for Europe to be more welcoming to immigrants, for the Catholic Church in Europe to engage in a "profound and perceptive" dialogue with Islam and Judaism, and for the "full participation" of women in the life of the church. Schotte said that didn't mean women could at present be heads of Vatican congregations, since that would require they be ordained. The Vatican reserves the priesthood for men. The document acknowledged there were fewer and fewer men signing up for the priesthood, but said removing the celibacy requirement wasn't the answer. "A revision of the present discipline in this regard would not help to resolve the crisis of vocations to the priesthood being felt in many parts of Europe," the document said. "A commitment to the service of the Gospel of hope also demands that the Church make every effort to propose celibacy in its full biblical, theological and spiritual richness." There has been a steep decline in the ratio of Catholics to priests worldwide over the past 20 years. In 1978, there were 1,797 Catholics for every priest. In 2001, the number was 2,619, according to Vatican statistics cited by Catholic News Service. TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-68 next last 1 posted on 06/28/2003 2:21:40 PM PDT by Canticle_of_Deborah To: Canticle_of_Deborah "A revision of the present discipline in this regard would not help to resolve the crisis of vocations to the priesthood being felt in many parts of Europe," the document said. The Vatican gives no evidence, of course, hoping that by fiat its declaration reflects reality. It may or may not be true that married priests would relieve the shortage of priests, but the Vatican will never know, since it refuses to discuss the issue, or even commission a study of it. "A commitment to the service of the Gospel of hope also demands that the Church make every effort to propose celibacy in its full biblical, theological and spiritual richness." The only thing Catholics see in a celibate priesthood is a predominance of homosexuals. One thing's for sure: a married priesthood may or may not bring more men into the priesthood, but it will bring heterosexual men into the priesthood, which might be a good place to begin discussing celibacy in its full biblical and spiritual richness for those who choose to accept it. Catholics also see married Protestants being accepted into the priesthood, and many are scratching their heads trying to understand why married life-long Catholic men aren't deserving of the priesthood, too. I've noticed the Vatican seems to issue one of these "celibacy forever" documents on a yearly basis, almost as if it is trying to convince itself that, yep, we're right on this one. 2 posted on 06/28/2003 2:44:37 PM PDT by sinkspur On a second reading of the article, I'm wondering if the Vatican's statements are nothing but the usual boilerplate on celibacy. The timing of this document and its major theme seems to be a slap at the EU for not highlighting the role of Christianity in its constitution. 4 posted on 06/28/2003 3:35:08 PM PDT by Desdemona I was glad to see this on Fox News today. It's the right decision, IMO. 5 posted on 06/28/2003 4:38:27 PM PDT by B Knotts To: sinkspur One thing's for sure: a married priesthood may or may not bring more men into the priesthood, but it will bring heterosexual men into the priesthood http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/921200/posts And once more you cave in.Just curious,exactly what will it take for you to take a stand in favour of the Catholic Church,and her proclamations? 7 posted on 06/28/2003 5:00:53 PM PDT by Codie To: Codie I stand in favor of the Catholic Church, and her doctrinal proclamations. Celibacy is neither doctrine nor universal discipline, anymore, with the Anglican dispensation. To: B Knotts Friend, you post articles about gay clergy in OTHER denominations when the Catholic priesthood is crawling with gays? My point is that the relationship between clerical homosexuality and clerical celibacy is not necessarily causal. 10 posted on 06/28/2003 5:35:56 PM PDT by B Knotts since it refuses to discuss the issue, or even commission a study of it Maybe the Vatican learned its lesson about the futility of commissioning studies after the Birth Control Commission? 11 posted on 06/28/2003 5:51:35 PM PDT by Polycarp (Catholic Kooks and Cranks of America, UNITE!) An excellent point. Celibacy is neither doctrine nor universal discipline If the Church were to backed down here,then I suspect the flood gates would be open to even more drastic changes,yes? 13 posted on 06/28/2003 5:54:52 PM PDT by Codie It's not causal, certainly. There's no reason why a Church of 62 million members is served by an ever-dwindling number of priests. The Church ought to find out why. The Vatican, however, is not interested, and asks us to "pray" for more priests. How many Catholic parents do you think are actively encouraging their young male children to consider the priesthood, with what has happened over the last 18 months, and continues to happen? This is John Paul II's decision. He's a stubborn Pole, who can reach out to the Orthodox, to Protestants, hell, to Muslims, AND he can welcome Protestant ministers into the Catholic priesthood at an ever-increasing clip. But, he cannot let the thought cross his mind that married Catholic men could be called to the priesthood. I think it's because he knows that the whole celibacy canard could collapse, in a heap. So, better to continue the begging and pleading than to actually get at the root causes, to listen to local bishops, and to face the facts honestly. 14 posted on 06/28/2003 6:03:27 PM PDT by sinkspur To: Polycarp Yes. Maybe the Vatican shouldn't put doctrine to the whims of a commission. A discipline like celibacy,however, is ripe for a study. Why are men in the West not responding to calls to the priesthood, whereas men in Latin America, Africa, and Asia seem to be? Let Andrew Greeley run it. He did a sociological study in the 70s, which the bishops ignored. And Greeley would be perfect, since he's all for maintaining the discipline of celibacy. Yes. The Vatican fears that the Roman Catholic priesthood would tilt toward a majority of married priests, over time. And the guys for whom marriage is no longer a possibility grit their teeth over that. Why are men in the West not responding to calls to the priesthood, whereas men in Latin America, Africa, and Asia seem to be? You're not going to agree with my answers, but what the heck... Because they are surrounded by a culture of dissent to a much greater degree than the Latin American, African and Asian clergy. Because many, if not most, Western seminaries are essentially homosexual bawdyhouses. Because lay psychologists are rejecting candidates that show any tendency to actually be Catholic. Etc., etc., etc. Not many parents encourage their sons to enter the priesthood because: 1. They probably only have one son; and 2. They want grandchildren; and 3. a "good" job in the secular world, after and expensive college education is or can be financially rewarding; and 4. more importantly, imo, about 30% of Catholics attend Mass on Sunday. That leaves about 70% of Catholics not even encouraging their kids to attend Mass except maybe on Easter or Christmas, never mind encouraging them to enter the priesthood. I was just at a cookout with five other Catholic families. Four of us have two kids each and one has one kid. My kids and I are the only ones who attend Mass at least once a week. Two attend sporadically and two families never attend at all. The past eighteen months have no bearing on any of our religious habits... they were the same before and they are the same now. But now there is a handy excuse not to attend. 18 posted on 06/28/2003 7:11:22 PM PDT by american colleen If Africa, and Asia priests evangelized here would you have a problem with that? If the west can't get it done,then let it be done by any means available. To: american colleen You're right. My sisters kid announced he wanted to go into the seminary 4 weeks ago. His mom and stepdad practically arm-wrestled the vocations director for him. He's going against their wishes so far, but I don't know if he'll be able to hold out against the parental pressure. Sad. Very sad. My sister is like stinky and thinks married priests and priestesses would be in step with the times. 20 posted on 06/28/2003 8:37:28 PM PDT by WriteOn	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1786
__label__wiki	0.991492	0.991492	Australia’s Port Hedland Joins With Dampier Under Enlarged Group Bulk carrier departing Port Hedland, image courtesy Port Hedland Port Authority By Phoebe Sedgman July 1 (Bloomberg) — The authority that oversees Australia’s Port Hedland, the world’s biggest bulk-export port, merged with nearby Dampier in the country’s energy and iron ore- producing northwest. The Pilbara Ports Authority was formed today, it said in an e-mailed statement. The authority stretches from the Port of Ashburton near Onslow to Port Hedland, about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) north of Perth, it said. It also includes the proposed Ports of Anketell and Cape Preston East. The new authority covers ports that handle about 22 percent of the world’s iron ore market and 10 percent of the liquefied natural gas export market, it said. Port Hedland iron ore shipments climbed to a record in May as miners including BHP Billiton Ltd. expanded output in the Pilbara. Dampier, used by Rio Tinto Group to export iron ore, has a board of management that reports to the Western Australian transport minister, according to its website. Port Hedland Port Authority’s board of directors is also accountable to the transport minister, according to the port. Roger Johnston will be chief executive officer of the Pilbara Ports Authority, according to today’s statement. Johnston was CEO of Port Hedland Port Authority. Copyright 2014 Bloomberg.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1787
__label__wiki	0.994398	0.994398	Giant Valemax Ship Delivers Nearly 400,000 Tons of Iron Ore to New Malaysian Terminal Berge Everest during sea trials, image: Berge Bulk SINGAPORE, March 25 (Reuters) – Top iron ore producer Vale said it has delivered 382,500 tonnes of iron ore via one its giant Valemax ships to a new storage and distribution centre in Malaysia, as the Brazilian miner moves closer to China, its biggest market. The iron ore to be unloaded from the Berge Everest ship will be stored in the Teluk Rubiah terminal for future commercial shipments, Vale said in a statement on its website on Monday. The Malaysian distribution hub, built at a cost of $1.37 billion, is expected to be completed by the second half of 2014, said. Vale invested billions of dollars in the 400,000-deadweight-tonne Valemax vessels, the world’s largest dry bulk carriers, to cut transport costs to China and to better compete with Australian rivals Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. But China banned the Valemax ships in January 2012, to protect its own shipping industry, and about a month after the first of the giant vessels docked at Dalian port. There are currently 30 Valemax ships in operation, Vale said. The firm’s efforts to persuade Chinese authorities to allow its Valemax ships access to Chinese ports suffered a setback in February when China’s transportation ministry set a maximum capacity of 250,000 dwt for ships berthing in the country. The Malaysian terminal will cut Vale’s transport costs by $4-$5 a tonne, smaller than the $7 it would save per tonne if the Valemax ships were able to ship cargoes directly to China. Apart from the Malaysian center, the miner also has two floating transfer stations in the Philippines. (Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Michael Perry) (c) 2014 Thomson Reuters, All Rights Reserved	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1788
__label__wiki	0.853126	0.853126	Crowley Maritime: Puerto Rico Jones Act Waiver ‘Not Needed’ File photo: Crowley Maritime Corporation U.S. shipping company and leading Jones Act carrier Crowley Maritime Corp. issued a statement Thursday opposing the Trump administration’s decision to approve a 10-day waiver of the Jones Act in Puerto Rico. Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke approved the waiver of the federal Jones Act early Thursday morning following a request Wednesday from the governor of Puerto Rico and the Secretary of Defense’s determination that a waiver is in the interest of national defense, the DHS said in a statement. The waiver will be in effect for 10 days after signature and covers all products being shipped to Puerto Rico. In a statement, the DHS said a waiver will ensure that all options are available to move and distribute goods to Puerto Rico in the coming days. “It is intended to ensure we have enough fuel and commodities to support lifesaving efforts, respond to the storm, and restore critical services and critical infrastructure operations in the wake of these devastating storms,” said Acting Secretary Duke. But according to Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corp, one of the main Jones Act carriers providing regular service between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico, the waiver was not needed as there are enough American and international ships responding to the crisis already. “In this time of humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, Crowley Maritime, along with others in the U.S. maritime industry, are focused solely on working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the government of Puerto Rico and commercial customers to get as much relief cargo to the island as quickly and efficiently as possible,” the company said in an emailed statement to gCaptain. “If a Jones Act waiver was needed, we would not be opposed. But in this case, it is not needed. By the end of the day Friday, we will have more than 4,100 loaded containers on our terminal in Puerto Rico awaiting distribution, and thousands more on the way. The key to getting aid to those who need it is to expedite the throughput of relief cargo from the mainland to the port in San Juan to the people. This we are doing. Nearly all FEMA loads at our Puerto Rico terminal have now been dispatched, and thousands more are on the way. There is plenty of U.S. vessel capacity to respond to this crisis, and no amount of foreign ships arriving to the island is going to get relief cargo into the hands of those who need it any faster. In fact, they will likely add to the congestion at the ports and may cause more disruptions. We continue to believe that Americans responding to Americans in need offer the greatest opportunity for success in Puerto Rico,” the statement added. Also on Thursday, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and John Garamendi (D-CA), Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, raised similar concerns over the Trump Administration’s decision to issue the 10-day waiver of the Jones Act. Contrary to many published reports, adequate domestic shipping capability exists, and waiving the Jones Act requirement will not speed up relief for Puerto Rico, according to the Congressman. “Shipping carriers that comply with the Jones Act have more than enough capacity for a robust relief effort for Puerto Rico,” said Ranking Member Garamendi. “Getting relief to the island isn’t the problem. The challenge is in getting relief off the docks. Right now, 6,000 containers full of everything the island needs are languishing on the docks in Puerto Rico because there are no trucks available to distribute them. The entire American maritime industry has done outstanding work to coordinate with local governments to provide relief. The Jones Act is essential to maintain a robust shipbuilding industry and sealift capacity, and waiving it will not help solve Puerto Rico’s problems.” “The Jones Act is about making sure our nation has the domestic capability to move troops and supplies in times of war,“ said Chairman Hunter. “It’s about ensuring that our country maintains a strong manufacturing base with good well-paying jobs. Foreign and corporate interests have long opposed the Jones Act and have spread fake news that the law is a hindrance to Puerto Rico’s recovery efforts. What is clear from our listening session this morning is that Jones Act vessels can provide the needed capacity to bring aid to Puerto Rico, and they stand willing and able to do so. Waiving the Jones Act will do nothing to speed up much needed aid to Puerto Rico’s residents. I hope the Administration will reconsider the facts and rescind its temporary waiver.” The statements come as Senator John McCain introduced legislation that would permanently exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act. “While I welcome the Trump administration’s Jones Act waiver for Puerto Rico, this short-term, 10-day exemption is insufficient to help the people of Puerto Rico recover and rebuild from Hurricane Maria,” said Senator McCain. “Our legislation would permanently exempt Puerto Rico from the Jones Act, an antiquated, protectionist law that has driven up costs and crippled Puerto Rico’s economy. For years, I have fought to fully repeal the Jones Act, which has long outlived its purpose to the benefit of special interests. It’s time for Congress to take action, end this injustice, and help our fellow citizens in this time of need.” The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, which is commonly referred to as the Jones Act, requires goods being shipping between two ports in the United States be carried on American-built ships that are mostly owned and crewed by American citizens. Prior to Puerto Rico, the last Jones Act waivers issued in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in September and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1789
__label__wiki	0.921869	0.921869	Highland’s Ocean Rig Bet: Fail in Caymans? Try Marshall Islands File photo credit: Ocean Rig By Tiffany Kary (Bloomberg) — A battle of so-called bankruptcy tourists is erupting in New York court. On Thursday, New York bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn holds a hearing in the long fight over Ocean Rig UDW Inc.’s $3.7 billion restructuring, which has blown around like the trade winds from the Pacific to the Caribbean. In September, about six months into a legal battle in Cayman Island and New York courts, Highland Capital Management seemed to lose out in the fight to Elliott Management Corp., which had backed the offshore drilling service company’s bankruptcy plan. A large chunk of Ocean Rig’s stock ended up with Elliott, and almost 10 percent went to Ocean Rig Chairman George Economou under the plan approved in the Caymans, the British territory in the western Caribbean Sea. Highland got almost nothing, it said in court papers. But Highland had another card up its sleeve: a claim in the Marshall Islands, the sovereign nation in the Pacific Ocean. There, in a lawsuit filed in August, but not part of the New York court records until October, it revived its central argument. Highland alleged that Economou, a shipping magnate who runs Ocean Rig as well as its non-bankrupt parent, DryShips, bilked bondholders out of around $370 million to benefit himself and other companies. Under a bankruptcy code provision for fraudulent transfers that applies in the Marshall Islands, but not in the Caymans, Highland said, it should be able to get the money back. ‘Next Phase’ Any decision in the case could have wider implications for what restructuring experts call “bankruptcy tourism,” where companies and creditors fight in far-flung locales in an effort to gain an advantage. Whereas in the past, bankruptcy insiders debated the merits of Delaware versus New York courts with aspersions of “forum shopping” sometimes raised, now companies and creditors are engaged in international battles over where they can best win their debt wars. “This is the next phase of the restructuring business, the coming way of the world — we’ll work in various jurisdictions,” said William Brandt Jr., chief of a New York-based restructuring advisory firm Development Specialists, speaking at an Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors meeting in New York on Monday. Brandt didn’t mention the Ocean Rig case, but cited his own work as a trustee in the international case of China Fishery Group Ltd., for which he says he regularly travels from Lima to Hong Kong. Another example, he said, is the case of Oi SA, a Brazilian telecom company, in which Aurelius Capital Management is fighting a battle that involves jurisdiction of Dutch, U.S. and Brazilian law. “Bankruptcy tourism will come into the fore,” Brandt said, predicting that the trend won’t be limited to an increase in U.S. Chapter 15 cases, which help shield U.S. creditors while a main reorganization goes on in a foreign court, but include “hybrid” cases in various jurisdictions. An ‘Attack’ Economou couldn’t be reached for comment, and hasn’t addressed the allegations in New York court. Marshall Islands courts didn’t reply to a request for court filings there. A lawyer for Ocean Rig said he wasn’t aware of any response to the allegations in U.S. courts. Ocean Rig in court papers called Highland’s strategy an “attack” that violates the Cayman order, and asks the New York judge to find Highland in civil contempt — something that could cost the fund manager a fine. The company said that stopping claims like Highland’s against Economou is “fundamental” to its restructuring. Highland, which had senior Ocean Rig notes with a face value of $74 million, said in court papers that any allegations that it is “forum shopping” for a venue that will recognize its fraudulent transfer claims are “absurd” given the company and Economou went on a shopping trip themselves. At the time Highland bought the company’s debt, Ocean Rig was based in the Marshall Islands, and the company later moved to the Caymans “after shopping various jurisdictions to find the most favorable one.” Highland also said it never agreed to give up its claims against Economou as part of the restructuring. Singer Agitates Meanwhile, billionaire Paul Singer’s hedge fund, Elliott Management, which holds about a fifth of Ocean Rig UDW Inc. shares, is agitating for a sale and has said the stock, trading around $25, should be worth almost $40 a share. Elliott was part of a group including Avenue Capital Management II, BlueMountain Capital Management LLC and Lion Point Capital LP that helped shape the restructuring for a year, according to court filings. Elliott held the company’s 6.5 percent senior secured notes due 2017; Highland held 7.25 percent senior notes due 2019. Glenn, the Manhattan Bankruptcy Courts judge, already ruled in favor of Cayman jurisdiction in an August opinion. He said the company didn’t manipulate where it was based in “bad faith,” but rather had a legitimate purpose to shift its center away from the Marshall Islands, where local law would mean a liquidation was more likely. The company was motivated to “maximize value for their creditors and preserve their assets,” Glenn said. Just after his opinion, Highland filed its Marshall Islands lawsuit, saying that under the republic’s law, any transfer of domicile won’t affect creditor rights that existed prior to the move. The case is; In re Ocean Rig UDW Inc., 17-10736, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan.) Sign up for gCaptain’s free daily newsletter to receive maritime headlines straight to your inbox each morning. Exxon Tries to Put the Worst Behind it With $20 Billion Writedown By Jennifer Hiller HOUSTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Monday said it would write down the value of natural gas properties by $17 billion to $20 billion,... Boston Dynamics Robot ‘Spot’ Learning New Tricks Offshore Oil Rig Nov 13 (Reuters) – Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robot ‘Spot’ is learning new tricks. Working on an oil rig operated by BP Plc nearly 190 miles (305 km) offshore in the...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1790
__label__cc	0.503032	0.496968	Hornbeck Offshore Invests in Hot MPSV Market, Sees Growth in the Gulf of Mexico Hornbeck Offshore CEO and Chairman Todd Hornbeck expressed optimism today during his company’s 2013 earnings call. He noted an increase of $43.7 million in upstream operating income reflecting a 48 percent increase over last year’s figures. “Overall, the top-line story was strong and consistent marketing conditions for our vessels,” noted Hornbeck. Conditions were particularly solid within their multi-purpose supply vessels (MPSVs), which achieved 100 percent utilization in the fourth quarter prompting the company to order the conversion of one of their 310-class OSVs currently under construction into an MPSV. Hornbeck notes that this vessel will be outfitted with a 150-ton active heave compensated crane, which they have in stock, and is due to be delivered by the end of this year. Hornbeck notes that this new vessel will feature a helideck, accommodations for 70 and support two work-class ROVs. This new STX Marine-designed vessel will have slightly less subsea heavy lift capability than the two other MPSVs under construction at Eastern Shipbuilding which both feature 250 ton cranes. Based on the current vessel delivery schedules, Hornbeck plans to own and operate five, seven, and nine MPSVs as of December 31, 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. The Offshore Market Besides MPSVs, Hornbeck also notes OSV day rates have improved across the board and now average above $27,0oo per day, a 16 percent year-on-year increase. Their new HOSMAX vessels, they note, are earning in the low-to-mid $40k’s per day. Looking ahead Hornbeck notes his market view hasn’t changed and is seeing a pickup in demand for his company’s services. At the moment, he notes that there are 41 deepwater drilling units in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), plus 2 in the yard. By the end of the year, he expects around a dozen rigs will enter the GoM, including a few departures. Within the supply boat market, around 12 vessels will likely leave the GoM, 7 of which will be Hornbeck-owned. With a possibility of up to 50 floaters in the Gulf of Mexico by the end of 2014, “I’m not seeing a deterioration for drilling,” added Hornbeck. In the international market, Hornbeck notes increased demand of his company’s vessels. He notes a recently signed contract for a HOS 370 MPSV in the Black Sea, a five-vessel OSV charter contract off Mexico, and a HOS 240-class vessel for use in the Mediterranean in the next quarter. He also mentions that 3 additional charter are likely to be announced in the near term. Hornbeck adds that his DP-1 equipped vessels will be marketed for international opportunities. A considerable amount of interest has also been shown toward floating hotels for the upstream sector. The HOS Achiever will be mobilized for use as a flotel and a HOSMAX 300-class will be converted for use as a flotel by the end of this year. Newbuilding Plan Hornbeck Offshore’s fleet newbuild program currently consists of four 300-class OSVs, five 310-class OSVs, ten 320-class OSVs and five 310-class MPSVs. Hornbeck notes that production delays from the shipyard has pushed back the projected delivery dates on their HOSMAX OSVs by 45 days each resulting in a loss of company revenue of $3.7 million. The delays were due to insufficient labor resources and shipyard supply chain issues, however “overall, I’m happy with the progress of the newbuilds,” commented Hornbeck. “With 24,000 total construction days in our newbuilding program, this is only a 2 percent increase. The delays are manageable.” U.S. Navy’s First John Lewis-Class Oiler Launched at NASSCO The first ship in the U.S. Navy’s new class of fleet replenishment oilers has been launched at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego. The John Lewis-class oilers will provide underway... VT Halter Marine Preparing Yard for Polar Security Cutter Construction Mississippi-based VT Halter Marine is in the process of getting its Pascagoula yard ready for the construction of the Coast Guard’s next-generation icebreaker, the Polar Security Cutter. The yard is...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1791
__label__wiki	0.75025	0.75025	Key Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Bill Clears Senate, Heads for President’s Desk Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 (H.R. 2838) Sent to the President Robert Yered, the fourth vessel in the Coast Guard’s Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) recapitalization project, was delivered to the Coast Guard November 17 in Key West, Fla. US Coast Guard Photo House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Release: Washington, DC – A bill to institute common sense reforms for the U.S. Coast Guard, reduce regulatory burdens on small business, and uphold the Coast Guard’s ability to carry out its missions unanimously passed the Senate Wednesday, clearing the House-passed bill for the President’s signature. The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 (H.R. 2838) was first introduced in the House by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL) and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ). The original bill initially passed the House in November 2011, while the Senate subsequently revised the bill in September 2012. Last week, the House approved a compromise measure resolving differences between the earlier bills. The Senate’s action yesterday on the compromise enables the bill to now go to the President. “The Coast Guard is our nation’s first line of defense for maritime safety and security,” Mica said. “This bill provides the Coast Guard with the resources to continue to improve the ships, aircraft and communications systems they need to do their jobs. That is little enough reward for the service’s daily efforts to protect our shores from drug and migrant smugglers and potential terrorist threats, and to keep the vessels plying our waterways and their crews safe from harm. “This bill also reduces regulatory burdens on fishermen, small businesses, and port workers, and follows up on Committee Republicans’ 2010 ‘Sitting on Our Assets’ report by requiring a decision to either reactivate or decommission the Coast Guard’s currently sidelined heavy icebreaker,” Mica said. The two-year Coast Guard bill lengthens the list of important infrastructure bills to head to the President’s desk this Congress. Under Mica’s leadership of the Transportation Committee over the past 24 months, a new multi-year bill to improve the nation’s highways, bridges and transit systems; a long-delayed measure to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s programs; and a bill to improve pipeline transportation safety programs have all become law. “This bill reverses the irresponsible cuts to the Coast Guard proposed by the Obama Administration,” LoBiondo said. “The President proposed to slash the service’s acquisition budget by nearly 20 percent, reduce the number of servicemembers by over a 1,000, close seasonal air facilities, and take recently upgraded helicopters out of service. The President’s budget request would have only worsend the Coast Guard’s growing mission performance gaps, increase acquisition delays, drive up the costs of new assets, and deny our servicemembers the critical resources needed to perform their duties. This bill provides sufficient funding to ensure these cuts do not happen and provide the service what it needs to successfully conduct its missions.” The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 authorizes $8.6 billion in fiscal year 2013 and $8.7 billion in fiscal year 2014 for the activities of the Coast Guard. The bill includes provisions that will give the Coast Guard, its servicemembers and dependents greater parity with their counterparts in the other Armed Services. The bill further aligns Coast Guard’s authorities with those granted to the Department of Defense. H.R. 2838 also enhances operations while reducing costs by reforming and improving Coast Guard administration and eliminating obsolete authorities. The bill recognizes the current budget environment and saves taxpayer dollars without impacting the service’s critical missions. Furthermore, the bill encourages job growth in the maritime sector by reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses. The regulatory relief provided by this bill includes eliminating the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requirement for maritime workers to make multiple trips to a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) enrollment center to receive the TWIC ID card; extending deadlines for compliance with new Coast Guard regulations on fishing vessels to ensure the service can enforce them fairly and properly; and extending the duration of medical certificates so mariners can continue to work while the Coast Guard reduces its backlog of applications. H.R. 2838 also extends for an additional year the current moratorium for fishing vessels and small commercial vessels’ compliance with tangled and bureaucratic EPA regulations governing vessel incidental discharges, such as rain water runoff and air conditioner condensate. Finally, the bill enhances the security of U.S. vessels and crew transiting high risk waters, reauthorizes the national security aspects of the Maritime Administration for fiscal year 2013, and makes several important improvements to NOAA’s marine debris program. Via U.S. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee McMurdo Resupply Canceled – US’s Only Heavy Icebreaker Will Go North Instead This year the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the nation’s only heavy icebreaker, will not deploy to Antarctica to resupply McMurdo station this year because Operation Deep Freeze was... US Coast Guard Releases A List Of Books To Help You Through COVID-19 As the Coast Guard continues to support national efforts combatting COVID-19, the social distancing required to preserve readiness presents a prime opportunity to grow personally and professionally. The 2020 Coast Guard... VIDEO: THANK YOU To The Unseen Maritime Professionals On The Front Lines Of COVID-19 While gCaptain joins the majority of people working from home, Coast Guard, Navy, Tugboaters, Seafarers, facilities engineers, ferry captains, and millions of maritime professionals are at work on the front lines of this pandemic.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1792
__label__wiki	0.690375	0.690375	U.S. flagged ‘M/V Advantage’ evades pirates; crew unharmed The M/V Advantage, a U.S.-flagged ship owned and operated by Sealift LLC and manned in all licensed positions by American Maritime Officers, evaded an attack by pirates in the Somali Basin just before midnight local time on Tuesday. Traveling through the northern part of the Somali Basin en route to Mombasa, Kenya, to deliver U.S. government food-aid, the Advantage was attacked by pirates in one skiff. There were no injuries onboard the Advantage and the ship was not damaged, the company reported. “We are very proud of the actions taken by the master, officers and crew of the ship, which resulted in the successful evasion of the attack,” said John Belle, company security officer for Sealift LLC. The Advantage was one of four ships attacked earlier this week in the region, according to a report in TradeWinds. The Mongolian-flagged Hoang Son Sun is thought to have been seized, while the other vessels avoided hijacking. All four attacks may have been launched from a chemical carrier suspected of being used as a base or mother ship by pirates. The chemical carrier was hijacked on Saturday. In November 2009, the Sealift LLC vessel M/V Harriette evaded an attack by pirates after sustaining small arms fire about 360 nautical miles from Mombasa, where it was also delivering U.S. government food-aid cargo. Nobody onboard the Harriette was harmed in the attack. [Photo: M/V Advantage courtesy Sealift LLC	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1793
__label__cc	0.675896	0.324104	What is the Role of the Oceans in Global Warming/Climate Change? Fred Pickhardt Global Conveyor Belt Ocean Currents There has been much press and controversy in recent years about global warming or climate change. Opinions range from doomsday scenarios to absolute disbelief. As a meteorologist (not climatologist), I say that the truth is somewhere in between these extremes. Although climatologists and meteorologists debate the merits of global climate change theory, there are some facts that are not disputed by scientists. The vast majority of scientists agree that the global surface temperatures have increased since the mid-1800s and that humans are adding CO2 to the atmosphere. They also agree that CO2 and other greenhouse gases have a warming effect on the planet. There is disagreement, however, on whether the warming since 1950 has been primarily caused by human activities and just how much the planet will warm during the 21st century. They also tend to argue whether the warming is dangerous and whether or not anything can or should be done to prevent this. Just what are greenhouse gases anyway? Greenhouse gasses are those gases that allow the atmosphere to retain heat and thus warm the earth’s surface above what it would be from sunlight alone. The most significant greenhouse gas is water vapor followed by CO2, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Sunlight heats the earth’s surface and that heat is then partially absorbed by greenhouse gases. Without these greenhouse gases the earth’s temperature would be about 33°C (59ºF) colder than it is now, and our world would likely be a giant snow ball. Atmospheric CO2 levels over time The issue today is that some of these greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide and methane have been increasing steadily since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Over the past approximately 150 years the level of carbon dioxide, for example, has undergone a very significant increase of about 40 percent, which cannot be accounted for by natural sources alone. Carbon dioxide is a powerful greenhouse gas, however, it is present in our atmosphere in very small quantities, about 400 parts per million or 0.04%. CO2 contributes between 9% (3C) to as much as 26% (8.6C) or the total 33C greenhouse effect. Given that atmospheric CO2 has increased about 40% over the past 150 years then you might well expect some significant warming. Just how much warming is what is in dispute and the best estimates I can find is that doubling CO2 would result in a warming of 0.7C to 1.2C alone or about 0.3C to 0.5C at the current 40% increase level. Add in various feedbacks and you might double that number. Natural Variability The oldest instrumental temperature record comes from Central England and goes back to the 1600s. In that record there is a sharp warming from 1690 to 1740 and another from 1820 to 1840. Although we can’t infer too much from this about global temperature variations, the Central England temperature record does illustrate the magnitude of natural climate variability. Source: Judith Curry Climate Etc. Blog http://judithcurry.com/2011/12/01/the-long-slow-thaw/ Solar activity also varies over time which affects global temperatures. From about 1750-1950 total solar irradiation has been estimated to have increased by about 1 to 1.5 Watts per square meter which can account for 0.2C to 0.3C warming during that 200 year period. More recently, total solar irradiation has begun to slowly decrease. Current Pause Past 10 years NCEP CFSv2 2 Meter Temperature Anomaly C Source: weatherbell.com Since 1998 there appears to be a pause in global warming not explained by the global climate models as they all predicted a 0.2C per decade warming. Are the models too sensitive to CO2 or is the treatment of natural variability not modeled well? Some papers suggest that the pause is not really there, however, the satellite data and the NCEP 2 meter temperature data strongly suggest that it is. IPCC Report In the most recent (2013) IPCC report it states that “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased“. NOAA Global Land and Sea Temperatures If this is true, we might then ask what caused the strong warming noted from about 1910 to about 1945? This warming seems very similar to the more recent run-up from the late 1970s to 1998 but occurring prior to the 1950s. In the chart below, you will note that the global temperatures were falling from before 1880 until 1910 and then there were two periods when temperatures were nearly steady or fell slightly. The first pause occurred from the mid-1940s until the late 1970s then starting again from about 1998 until today. The most recent IPCC report, in my opinion, does NOT have a convincing explanation for the large warming between 1910 and 1945, the cooling between 1945 and 1975, and the flat temperatures in the 21st century. NOAA Reanalysis of SST Anomalies This suggests to me that there is more in play here than just CO2, since the earlier warming occurred prior to when the majority of CO2 was emitted. Another theory offered by Dr. William Gray suggests that the ocean has multi-decadal and multi-century cycles that may have a significant influence on global warming. Below you see a similar trend with the ocean temperatures. The role of the Oceans The total heat content of the oceans is enormous when compared to the atmosphere. The atmosphere contains only about 2% of earth’s heat, the land masses another 2% and the oceans, about 93% with the remainder locked up in ice. Given the above, one must ask just what role the oceans play in global warming? The ocean-atmospheric interactions are not fully understood and given that the vast majority of earth’s heat is stored in the oceans it is vital to any predictions regarding global warming to understand those interactions. One of the key questions is how much mixing of cold deep ocean water with warmer surface water varies over time and how does that effect the global temperature. One key ocean cycle that is well documented is the Pacific Decadal Osculation (PDO). The PDO is a warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean over a time period of 2-3 decades. If you plot the PDO index (see above) you will see that the two periods of strong warming (1910 – 1945) and (1978 – 1998) corresponds well with the positive (warm) PDO while the two periods of no global warming or some cooling corresponds well with the periods of negative PDO. The theory that global warming is driven by ocean cycles seems to have some validity. Increasing atmospheric CO2 does have a role here, however, the longer-term ocean cycles may have an equal or possibly stronger effect. Besides the multi-decadal ocean cycles like the PDO, it is theorized that the Thermohaline Circulation (the global ocean current conveyor belt) runs in cycles that can extend out 100 years or more. As this circulation increases you get more mixing and thus colder sea surface temperatures and when if slows down you get less mixing and therefore warmer sea surface temperatures. Source: The Physical Flaws of the Global Warming Theory and Deep Ocean Circulation Changes as the Primary Climate Driver – Dr. William Gray The spike in global temperature for 2014-2015 reflects, in part, a brief return to the positive PDO in late 2013 and as we return to a negative PDO in the coming years the current pause in warming will continue. By 2020 we may have a better idea on how much ocean cycles play in atmospheric warming. Ocean Weather Services	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1794
__label__cc	0.565673	0.434327	DC / News ‘Supergirl’: All the best Lena Luthor quotes Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) has been one of the more brilliant character additions to Supergirl’s roster. Since her debut Supergirl’s second season (when the series made the move to The CW), Lena has remained the fan-favorite character on Supergirl. McGrath has been pretty much universally praised for her performance. With the changes post-Crisis, the season five focus on the battle for Lena’s soul on Supergirl remains in full force. With Lex’s return and the Luthors now publicly adored figures, we’re curious to see which side Lena will land on (hopefully, once and for all). While we wait to see how the battle will end, here are some of the best Lena Luthor quotes from over the seasons. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never stood behind a man.” “You know, that door’s not really an entrance. . .You know, actually, I just wanted to thank you for earlier on. Not only did you save the lives of countless numbers of my employees, but mine as well.” “Well, Supergirl may have saved me, but Kara Danvers, you are my hero.” “Loss does strange things to my family, and I’ve lost a lot of people.” “People like you and me, we do what it takes to get what we want. And when we defeat Reign, I have no doubt you’ll figure it out.” “Supergirl and I may not see eye to eye, but there is one thing we can agree on, and that’s that you need to be stopped. So enjoy your moment in the sun, Reign, because we are going to save Sam, and end you.” “You shouldn’t have to wear a mask to be seen as how you really are, James. It shouldn’t be that way.” “Trust is hard for me too, Supergirl, but since we seem to need each other, we’re just going to have to figure it out.” “I’m not the one who accidentally poisoned myself with Kryptonite in a quixotic attempt to kill an invincible man. And while I do find the irony that you now need the Black Kryptonite to cure yourself just delicious, you are my brother, Lex. I do want to save you. Besides, how can you pay your debt to society if you’re already dead?” “I will not allow you to judge me and my use of science for the betterment of humanity.” “But I don’t disagree with her main point. Why can’t humans be as powerful as aliens?” “I’m not a villain. You shouldn’t have treated me like one.” “I am good. And I always was. Lex didn’t change me and you didn’t change me either.” “You see this? This is why I need to be in National City. There are people doing good there, who are trying to help. If I stay in Metropolis, I will always be the sister of the egomaniacal lunatic. But, if I go to National City, I can be the Luthor that shares her home with a Kryptonian, that helps her put the world back together instead of tearing it apart.” “My mother always said actions speak louder than words. And I was there Eve. I was on the other side of that gun you pulled and I looked down the barrel and I knew that you would’ve shot me. So don’t tell me that you didn’t have a choice. There is always a choice and you always chose the same thing. You betrayed me because you wanted to. And you liked the power that it gave you. So if you want me to trust you, try telling the truth for once.” Ali AdlerAndrew KreisbergDCGreg BerlantiKatie McGrathMelissa BenoistquotesSupergirlThe CW Bec Heim When not talking and writing about pop culture (especially superheroes or any show with a paranormal bent), freelance writer Bec Heim is usually tackling her mountain of books, writing scripts or stories, or listening to podcasts. Don’t waste your free HBO Max trial: How to stream ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Here’s What Fans Can Expect in the New Wonder Woman 1984 Movie Top 6 superhero TV series of 2021 'Supergirl': Avoid family destiny with our ultimate Lena Luthor quiz Not a villain: Lena Luthor's best moments in 'Supergirl' 'Supergirl' season five preview	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1797
__label__wiki	0.67368	0.67368	Share this Story: Breaking silos best medicine for ineffecient healthcare system Breaking silos best medicine for ineffecient healthcare system Canada's healthcare system has often been accused of being inefficient, but much of the root cause lies in the fact that it's not a system at all, but rather a uncoordinated series of sub-sector silos. Denise Deveau To describe Canada’s healthcare sector as a “system” is in many respects a misnomer. Many observers contend the industry is run in silos. There are funding and systemic cultural issues, not to mention a lack of integrated technology. There are multiple governance models, and multiple jurisdictions that are managing their own budgets, and different ministries operating at their own pace. In an ideal world, Canada’s entire healthcare system would receive a universally administered dose of lean thinking. So says Jane Bishop, clinical lead and senior lean healthcare consultant with Leading Edge Group. “I’d like to be right at that table rather than doing it one hospital at a time,” she says. Breaking silos best medicine for ineffecient healthcare system Back to video Doug Angus, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management concurs that the healthcare system isn’t a system at all. “Traditional economists would look at what we call a system and say what the hell is going on,” says. “We have a whole set of silos that barely connect. What we need is more efficient and effective ways to deliver services.” We really don’t reward or incentivize continuity of care across providers That silo mentality is systemic — from technology to treatment to the way healthcare professionals and providers are paid. In fact, the way healthcare providers are compensated may be one of the key generators of silos within the sector. “The payment model is very siloed. As a result, so is care. We really don’t reward or incentivize continuity of care across providers,” says Trafford Crump, post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Health Services and Policy Research. For example, when someone comes in for surgery the surgeon and hospital are paid from one source that is separate from the one that pays for home care when the patient is discharged. The GP looking after the patient post-surgery is also paid separately, creating a very territorial system. The main reason for this is that the system we have today was designed to meet the needs of people decades ago. In the early days of the Canada Health Act, much of what was covered was hospital-based care. But Canada has moved away from hospital-based care to other settings such as surgical centres and specialized clinics that can do a lot of what used to be done in hospitals. There was time in the 1980s when Canada’s healthcare system fared well against international measures. That however was when society needed to respond to acute conditions, says Stephen Samis, vice president of programs for the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) in Ottawa. “We’ve not built a well-integrated system that matches the health status and complex conditions of Canadians today. We now have a very challenging model in terms of management and maximizing productivity.” Substantial resources are being wasted in some quarters. In some cases, 20% of hospital patients kept in acute care don’t need to be there and should be moved to a more appropriate, lower cost setting. “When you apply the standard productivity equation (i.e. the amount of resources going in versus output) keeping patients in higher cost facilities is horrible for productivity,” says Andrew Sharpe, executive director at the Centre for the Study of Living Standards in Ottawa. This is nothing out of the ordinary. Mr. Angus cites studies dating back to the early 1990s that looked at the cost-effectiveness of shifting people out of acute care to less intensive settings. Estimates were it could deliver net system savings of at least $7-billion a year. “If the private sector was spending that kind of money on unproductive processes, they would be out of business,” he says. “We need to bring an element of competition into the picture because that is what generates entrepreneurial and innovative ways of doing things.” Many observers believe a more sustainable and efficient system requires a move away from the “curative” model used today to a preventative model. That would involve a much broader group of stakeholders, including education, unemployment and social services. Doing that would help to address some of the socioeconomic issues at the root cause of healthcare problems today. Another critical shift is focusing on the revenue side of the balance sheet rather than just costs. Yet information systems are not in place to execute those kinds of models. “If you ask a hospital how much it costs for an appendectomy, they may not be able to tell you,” says Mr. Crump. “How then are you supposed to improve on delivery if you don’t know what it’s costing you? I don’t know of any other organization anywhere in the world that can do that and stay in business.” Mr. Samis points out that while the U.S. as a whole performs more poorly than Canada on a per-capita-spending basis, high-performing institutions that integrate clinical and administration leaders — such as Kaiser Permanente in California, Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, and Intermountain Healthcare in Utah — have done a remarkable job of achieving economies of scale, reducing cost and improving performance. If you ask a hospital how much it costs for an appendectomy, they may not be able to tell you It’s a model that may serve Canada well; the key challenge for getting there, however, is increasing that relationship between cost, productivity and quality of service and finding more innovative ways to bridge the gaps. The fact that Canada’s system encompasses 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions, as well as federal direct health services, also brings challenges. It prevents us from achieving economies of scale, as well as has an impact on our cost structure. However, as Mr. Samis notes, having 13 systems does off the advantage of being able to try out and scale innovations. “Thirteen jurisdictions can be incubators of innovation and that’s good. It’s the one thing we do get in Canada that we need to capitalize on. If Nova Scotia is doing something that is making an impact, perhaps it can be applied across the country. But it’s not good if that innovation is sitting in one place and not being capitalized on, because someone else is doing the same thing all over again.” Above all else that means collaboration across jurisdictional and functional boundaries, including providers, administrators, clinicians and payers. It’s not just focusing on one or two fixes. Piecemeal solutions such as new funding models targeted at specific areas don’t seem to be delivering the efficiencies needed. Some trials have barely moved the needle, which implies the need for a total redesign from the basic to the top levels. Ultimately, real reform will require a change in culture and attitudes first, Mr. Angus says. “That’s the most challenging part. We need to apply grey matter to come up with more innovative ways of doing things.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1798
__label__cc	0.66232	0.33768	Learning how to share the Word of God By: Rebecca Bretherton Reprinted from: The Diocese of East Anglia A joint New Evangelisation and Ignite Youth team from the Diocese of East Anglia visited the Genesis Mission House in Plymouth in January to learn more about sharing God’s Word. Sharing God’s message is like learning to swim. Just like swimming, the only way to learn to talk to people about our faith is to plunge in and give it a try. The more opportunities you give yourself the more confident you become. This was one of the lessons we learnt from Michele Thompson and Fr Jon Bielawski, who are the evangelisation team for the Diocese of Plymouth and they run the programme at Genesis Mission House in Plymouth. Our diocese has been working with them for several years and the parish evangelisation teams being set up in some of our parishes are following their method of formation for evangelists. Together we learnt some principles about speaking to people we meet in ordinary life about some of the big questions in life. Who is God? What happens when you die? We then went out to ask people in the street about their answers to these questions. We told people we were Catholics on mission. We didn’t preach but gently explored some of their ideas. Despite our worries, most people were happy to talk. We can believe that people without a religious commitment are apathetic. Our chats proved otherwise. People were trying to make sense of the world, though their ideas were often uninformed. Just talking to us gave them a chance to reconsider some of these ideas with people who were interested in their views and could give them the answer they needed to hear. The encounters also reminded us of the burdens many people carry every day. We listened to many heart-breaking stories. We were able to give some comfort. We told them that God was with them in their difficulties and offered to pray with them. I was joined on the trip by Rob Smith of the cathedral parish and Hamish MacQueen, Ciaran Losasso and Emily Murphy from Ignite. Reflecting on the trip, Emily said: “I was sceptical of the whole experience to begin with. I didn’t think people’s beliefs could be changed by a chance interaction with a stranger on the street. “While it’s true that their heads seemed unconvinced I witnessed first-hand that hearts were changed. One woman in particular was grieving for her family, left behind abroad. She found our prayer with her strengthening. After tears, listening and a good hug she said, ‘I’ll never forget you’. I will never forget this experience either and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to share God in this world.” Hamish said: “It was really good to be challenged to evangelise in a different way to what I’m used to. I was a little uneasy going up to strangers on the street, offering to pray with them, but no-one was hostile. On the contrary, I was surprised how many people shared about some of the pain in their lives and welcomed the opportunity for us to pray with them.” As part of a final prayer session before we left to return to East Anglia, we were all commissioned to be evangelisers and spread the good news of the Gospel to others by Fr Jon.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1800
__label__cc	0.511439	0.488561	Archive for the tag “Ernst Röhm” Recent events have called to mind Jacques Barzun’s exertions to influence his own times, and our future. A review of the latest Ken Burns documentary, The Dust Bowl, triggered a memory of America Now, a topical anthology published during the Great Depression. Barzun’s contribution to the book includes a striking example of prejudice that crystallizes the nature of racism. But I let it go. Would Jacques want anyone to bother with a mere essay from 1938 when the previous year he had published an entire book on the hateful subject? Like Burckhardt and Gibbon, Barzun may well become celebrated for a single work, so why spend time and effort on such a dated piece? Then a couple of weeks ago Timothy Egan, author of the National Book Award winner The Worst Hard Time, stirred up Dust Bowl history again with “In Ignorance We Trust”. Recalling Barzun’s essay once more, I pulled it off the shelf and reread it. The memorable episode of racism that I first recalled is but one small part of an exegesis that arrays his usual – extraordinary – variety of evidence. 1st Lt. Inouye Finally, one of many tributes to the late Senator Daniel Inouye included the war hero’s account of a San Francisco barber denying the Japanese-American a haircut, despite the empty right sleeve pinned to Inouye’s Army uniform. That shameful incident might have turned out differently if someone in that shop had read Barzun’s essay. The prospect that such situations could arise motivated Jacques to write something new for America Now, and moves me to resurrect it at last. Barzun did not simply submit a chapter from his second full-length book, Race: A Study in Modern Superstition (1937). The global, historical perspective of Race remains, however, as he starts fresh with conditions at home: “At the present a wave of anti-Japanese feeling is sweeping over the United States. Everywhere, in high circles and low, condemnation of the Japanese for their war on China is to be heard, and practical effect is given to it in the form of a buyers’ boycott of articles made or originating in Japan, from silk stockings to ten-cent-store cigarette boxes. The Japanese living in this country are put on the defensive and must perforce be apologetic or defiant. They must either uphold the policies of their mother-country or explain them away as the doings of a military clique with which they, the Japanese-Americans, are not in sympathy.” Barzun then shifts to the plight of German-Americans in the U.S. during World War I to illustrate the first characteristic of race-prejudice, calling it “tribal identification.” Before the first page ends he brings in the third Axis power to provide a concrete example of the superstition’s absurdity and harm: “More recently, Italian imperialism in Abyssinia had its repercussions in Chicago and New York in the form of clashes between Italians and Negroes on the same basis of identification with the two groups warring in the Ethiopian mountains. “It is easily seen how slight the real bond between the two pairs of opponents in such a racial situation can be. Even on the basis of color the Abyssinians and the American Negroes hardly form a homogeneous group, and on a political or economic or cultural or geographical basis, there is no discoverable similarity between the population of Harlem and that of Addis Ababa.” Having deflated race-thinking, Barzun replaces it with constructive thought – the imagination of the real. Years before there was a Manzanar, Jacques asks his readers to consider the differences between two men walking side-by-side in Los Angeles, an issei father and nissei son (like young Dan Inouye in Hawai’i) who “are separated by a personal and cultural chasm that it would be hard to exaggerate.” Their expectations and hopes diverge like their legal status. The son’s birth on American soil allows his family “to get around the provisions of the California Alien Land Act, and thus a motive of economic rivalry is introduced into a situation already complicated on the social and cultural sides.” Barzun examines this second characteristic of race prejudice through the oscillating treatment of Oriental immigrants, beginning with the Chinese: “When the ‘coolies’ were no longer useful and began to offer real competition to white labor they turned from ‘sober and thrifty workers of all-round ability’ to ‘moon-eyed lepers.'” Then by reversing the “racial” perspective, he furnishes the example that has remained vivid for me since the first reading: “Anglo-Saxon” refugees in California “Economic status in America is closely allied to social position, and the distinctions, although not embedded in rigid terms or titles, are keenly felt, often with surprising alterations in the form of local race-prejudice. For example, it is generally true that the recent or unassimilated immigrant in this country is felt by the ‘older stock’ to belong to an inferior social and racial group. The ‘hunky,’ ‘Cannuck,’ ‘Mick,’ or ‘Wop’ is a lower sort of animal in comparison with the alleged ‘Anglo-Saxon.’ But observe the effect of economics upon this pattern of thought and feeling: In Fresno, the Armenian population is well established, well-to-do, and thoroughly respectable. When, therefore, during the last depression, Fresno was invaded by homeless immigrants from poverty-stricken regions of the South, these dispossessed ‘Anglo-Saxons,’ whose family trees in some cases had struck roots on this continent before the Revolution, were considered by the Armenians an undesirable alien lot, and the usual batch of contemptuous adjectives rained down upon them in spite of their great past and pedigree. Dirty, shiftless, crooked and criminal were among the milder terms applied to the new ‘race’ huddling across the railroad tracks in improvised shanties and un-American squalor.” Barzun’s comprehensive treatment of the human race (singular) may account in part for Kenneth Clark’s 1975 remark that Barzun’s Race: A Study in Superstition (2d ed., 1965) is not one of the classics on the subject. The first African-American to earn a Columbia University Ph.D. in psychology (1940) married the first woman (and second African-American) to achieve the same distinction (1943). Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark’s long campaign to integrate American society included the studies of children’s responses to “white” and “black” dolls that influenced the unanimous Supreme Court decision to desegregate U.S. schools, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954). By 1975 the history and achievements of the Civil Rights movement dominated discussions of racism, but Barzun’s first edition of Race had as its background not only the 1930s resurgence of lynchings in America, but also the long history of pogroms in Europe that would erupt again during Kristallnacht – the year that America Now came out. § § § After criticizing the treatment Barzun received in “curiously listless and uninvolved” obituaries and memorials, Mr. Mark Halpern added that “He is being prepared, it seems, for burial in footnotes and bibliographical essays as a very decent sort of chap, almost always on the side of the angels, but perhaps not in the front rank of heroic battlers for truth and freedom.” (Vocabula Review, vol. 14, no. 11, November 2012; published online 18 November 2012 [subscription required]) My use of the bibliographer’s shovel has been to dig up – rather than to bury – Barzun’s brilliance. This gentle rereader’s lamp may not shine as brightly as The Vocabula Review, but it is here for all to see. Our champion – Mr. Halpern’s and mine – battled heroically on many fronts. Regarding the question of race, Barzun certainly was on the side of the angels, and did not wait for the dust to settle before he engaged. His intelligence mission took him to Germany in 1933–34 (with his new American citizen’s passport) as the Nazis consolidated power. He waited until after the war to thank “the librarians at Dresden, Berlin, and Frankfurt-am-Main—unknown to me by name—who facilitated, in spite of Nazism, researches of which they knew the bearing.” But Jacques did not hide in the stacks. Any fear that the survivor of German shelling during the Great War may have felt did not stop Barzun from attending a Nazi rally and witnessing Ernst Röhm’s threatening ability … that prodded Hitler to have the SA commander assassinated the following year. Barzun was choosing his next battles even before then. Several visits to the Paris World’s Fair of 1937 gave indications of trouble ahead: “Politically, it was the first attempt of the fascist, communist, and Nazi propaganda machines to make ‘culture’ an instrument of aggressive diplomacy.” Jacques did not settle for the role of passive chronicler of events; his actions included timely production of his penetrating thoughts with Of Human Freedom (1939) and Darwin, Marx, Wagner (1941). Anyone who wants a nutshell version of Barzun’s thought on racism, so as to move swiftly on to these works, would do well to read “Race-Prejudice” in America Now. Posted in Books, Cultural Criticism, History, Philosophy, Politics and tagged Daniel Inouye, Edward Gibbon, Ernst Röhm, Jacob Burckhardt, Jacques Barzun, Ken Burns, Kenneth Clark, Mamie Clark, Mark Halpern, Timothy Egan \| Leave a comment	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1801
__label__wiki	0.581549	0.581549	Home » Posts tagged 'Minimum Wage' Tag Archives: Minimum Wage DOL Publishes Final Rule Increasing Salary Thresholds for White Collar Exemptions Following a court decision which struck down the prior regulations promulgated by the Obama administration, which would have rendered for more employees overtime eligible, the Trump has now increased the salary threshold for white collar exemption. This marks the first increase since 2004. In addition to limiting the number of workers who will now receive overtime (versus the more expansive Obama-era rule), the current DOL rejected a provision automatically increasing the salary threshold over time, to ensure that another 15-20 years does not pass before the thresholds are re-examined and increased again. The updated and revised the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to allow 1.3 million workers to become newly entitled to overtime by updating the earnings thresholds necessary to exempt executive, administrative or professional employees from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. The DOL has updated both the minimum weekly standard salary level and the total annual compensation requirement for “highly compensated employees” or HCEs to reflect growth in wages and salaries. The new thresholds account for growth in employee earnings since the currently enforced thresholds were set in 2004. Key Provisions of the Final Rule The final rule updates the salary and compensation levels needed for workers to be exempt in the final rule: raising the “standard salary level” from the currently enforced level of $455 to $684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year for a full-year worker); raising the total annual compensation level for “highly compensated employees (HCEs)” from the currently-enforced level of $100,000 to $107,432 per year; allowing employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) that are paid at least annually to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level, in recognition of evolving pay practices; and revising the special salary levels for workers in U.S. territories and in the motion picture industry. Standard Salary Level The DOL set the standard salary level at $684 per week ($35,568 for a full-year worker). HCE Total Annual Compensation Requirement In addition, the DOL set the total annual compensation requirement for HCEs at $107,432 per year. This compensation level equals the earnings of the 80th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally. To be exempt as an HCE, an employee must also receive at least the new standard salary amount of $684 per week on a salary or fee basis (without regard to the payment of nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments). Special Salary Levels for Employees in U.S. Territories and Special Base Rate for the Motion Picture Producing Industry The DOL is maintaining a special salary level of $380 per week for American Samoa. Additionally, the Department is setting a special salary level of $455 per week for employees in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The DOL also is maintaining a special “base rate” threshold for employees in the motion picture producing industry. Consistent with prior rulemakings, the Department is increasing the required base rate proportionally to the increase in the standard salary level test, resulting in a new base rate of $1,043 per week (or a proportionate amount based on the number of days worked). Treatment of Nondiscretionary Bonuses and Incentive Payments The DOL’s new rule also permits employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level. For employers to credit nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments toward a portion of the standard salary level test, they must make such payments on an annual or more frequent basis. If an employee does not earn enough in nondiscretionary bonus or incentive payments in a given year (52-week period) to retain his or her exempt status, the Department permits the employer to make a “catch-up” payment within one pay period of the end of the 52-week period. This payment may be up to 10 percent of the total standard salary level for the preceding 52-week period. Any such catch-up payment will count only toward the prior year’s salary amount and not toward the salary amount in the year in which it is paid. When Will the Current Thresholds Be Updated? Although initially proposed, the Trump DOL inexplicably rejected a provision of the rule, overwhelmingly supported by workers and workers advocates which would have automatically raised the thresholds over time without the necessity of further rulemaking. As a result it is possible if not likely that there will be no further increase to the current thresholds for another 15 years if not more. In its final rule the DOL reaffirms its intent to update the earnings thresholds more regularly in the future through notice-and-comment rulemaking, but given the anti-worker sentiment of the current DOL, including the recent confirmation of a steadfast anti-worker advocate as the head of the DOL, this is most-likely best viewed as lip service. The DOL’s final rule is available at Final Rule to Update the Regulations Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, and Professional Employees. 5th Cir.: Restaurant Cannot Take Tip Credit Where Retained Portion of Tips to Offset Credit Card Processing Costs in Excess of Its Direct Costs of Collecting Credit Card Tips Steele v. Leasing Enterprises, Limited This case was before the Fifth Circuit on the parties’ cross-appeals. As discussed here, the case concerned an employer’s ability to withhold a percentage of an employee’s tips received by credit card to offset the fees associated with collecting credit card tips under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Specifically, the issue was whether the 3.25% that the defendant-restaurant admittedly retained of all credit card tips exceeded its actual costs of processing same, such that the employer forfeited any entitlement to take the tip credit with regard to its tipped employees. The district court held that the defendant was not entitled to take the tip credit because this deduction exceeded the direct costs of collecting credit card tips for Perry’s’ tipped employees. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the finding and held that the retention of tips in excess of the actual cost of collecting those tips violated 29 U.S.C. § 203(m). As such, the employer was not entitled to benefit from the tip credit and was instead required to pay all tipped employees the regular minimum wage for all hours worked. Describing the relevant facts, the court explained: Instead of paying servers their charged tips through their bi-weekly pay checks, Perry’s chose to pay its servers their charged tips in cash on a daily basis. Perry’s voluntarily started this practice in response to servers’ requests. In order to pay its servers their charged tips in cash on a daily basis, Perry’s arranged for armored vehicles to deliver cash to each of its restaurants three times per week. Perry’s’ Chief Operating Officer testified that such frequent deliveries were necessary due to security concerns associated with keeping a large amount of cash on its premises. In August 2009, Plaintiffs initiated this collective action. In their third amended complaint, they alleged that Perry’s had violated the FLSA by charging its servers the 3.25% offset fee. On August 31, 2010, the district court entered a partial interlocutory judgment, holding that Perry’s may offset credit card issuer fees, but not other costs associated with computers, labor, or cash delivery… Following a bench trial, the district court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law, holding that Perry’s’ 3.25% offset violated the FLSA because the offset exceeded Perry’s’ credit card issuer fees. The court also held that Perry’s’ cash-delivery expenses could not be included in the offset amount because “[t]he restaurant’s decision to pay it[s] servers in cash is a business decision, not a fee directly attributable to its cost of dealing in credit” and that Perry’s had failed to prove fees related to cancellation of transactions and manual entry of credit card numbers, and therefore could not rely on these amounts to justify the amount of its offset. Finally, the court held that Perry’s may not include other expenses, such as costs associated with bookkeeping and reconciliation of cash tips, in the offset amount because those costs are incurred as a result of ordinary operations only indirectly related to Perry’s’ tip policy. The court concluded that even if it included all of Perry’s’ indirect costs, the 3.25% offset fee exceeded Perry’s’ total costs. After discussing the law regarding the tip credit generally, the Fifth Circuit framed the issue before it as follows: In this case we must determine whether an employer may offset employees’ tips that a customer charges on a credit card to recover the costs associated with collecting credit card tips without violating § 203(m)’s requirement that the employee retains all the tips that the employee receives. Specifically, we must determine if the employer violates that requirement when it offsets credit tips to recover costs that exceed the direct fees charged by the credit card companies. Perry’s contends that it may offset both credit card issuer fees and its own cash-delivery expenses and still claim a tip credit under 29 U.S.C. § 203(m). Plaintiffs assert that Perry’s may offset only an amount no greater than the total amount of credit card issuer fees. The court then discussed the only prior circuit court decision to discuss this issue at length, and relevant DOL regulations and guidance: Both parties rely on the only circuit court decision to address this issue, Myers v. Copper Cellar Corp., 192 F.3d 546 (6th Cir. 1999). In Myers, the employer deducted a fixed 3% service charge from employee tips whenever a customer tipped by credit card to account for the discount rate charged by credit card issuers. Id. at 552. Because the employer always deducted a fixed percentage, the deduction sometimes rose above or fell below the fee charged on a particular transaction. Id. at 553. The employees challenged this deduction, arguing that any withholding of tips violates § 203(m). The Sixth Circuit disagreed, holding that “an employer may subtract a sum from an employee’s charged gratuity which reasonably compensates it for its outlays sustained in clearing that tip, without surrendering its section 203(m) [tip credit].” Id. The Sixth Circuit determined that an employee does not “receive” a charged tip under § 203(m) until the “debited obligation [is] converted into cash.” Id. The court noted that this conversion is predicated on the “payment of a handling fee to the credit card issuer.” Id. at 554. To reach that conclusion, the Sixth Circuit relied on 29 C.F.R. §§ 531.52 and 531.53. Section 531.52 defines tip as “a sum presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for him.” Section 531.53 further clarifies that tips include “amounts transferred by the employer to the employee pursuant to directions from credit customers who designate amounts to be added to their bills as tips.” The Sixth Circuit held that these two regulations make it clear “that a charged gratuity becomes a ‘tip’ only after the employer has liquidated it and transferred the proceeds to the tipped employee; prior to that transfer, the employer has an obvious legal right to deduct the cost of converting the credited tip to cash.” Myers, 192 F.3d at 554. The court noted that “payment of a handling fee to the credit card issuer” is “required” for that liquidation. Id. at 553–54. As recognized by the Sixth Circuit, the Department of Labor has long interpreted its regulations to permit employers to deduct credit card issuer fees. U.S. Dept. of Labor Field Operations Handbook § 30d05(a) (Dec. 9, 1988). In Myers, the Sixth Circuit added that such a deduction is allowed under the statute even if, as a consequence, some deductions will exceed the expense actually incurred in collecting the subject gratuity, as long as the employer proves by a preponderance of the evidence that, in the aggregate, the amounts collected from its employees, over a definable time period, have reasonably reimbursed it for no more than its total expenditures associated with credit card tip collections. Myers, 192 F.3d at 554. Following Myers, the Department of Labor amended its position to allow employers to deduct an average offset for credit card issuer fees as long as “the employer reduces the amount of credit card tips paid to the employee by an amount no greater than the amount charged to the employer by the credit card company.” See U.S. Dept. of Labor Wage and Hour Division Opinion Letter FLSA2006-1.5 The parties do not contest that an employer may deduct a fixed composite amount from credit card tips, so long as that composite does not exceed the total expenditures on credit card issuer fees, and still maintain a tip credit. We agree. Credit card fees are a compulsory cost of collecting credit card tips. As a result, an employer may offset credit card tips for credit card issuer fees and still satisfy the requirements of § 203(m). However, our inquiry does not end with this holding. Applying the law to the facts at bar, the court concluded that the employer’s 3.25% chargeback was an impermissible offset, because here the defendant-employer was seeking an offset for costs above and beyond their actual direct cost of collecting credit card tips. In so doing, the Fifth Circuit like the court below rejected the employer’s argument that it should be entitled to build its indirect costs of processing the credit card tips (that it voluntarily incurred based on its business decision) in addition to the direct cost of processing the credit card tips. The court reasoned: Perry’s concedes that its 3.25% offset always exceeded the total credit card issuer fees, including swipe fees, charge backs, void fees, and manual-entry fees. Perry’s submitted demonstrative exhibits which showed that the total offset for each restaurant exceeded all credit card issuer fees by at least $7,500 a year, and by as much as $39,000 in 2012. As a result, Perry’s argues that an employer may also deduct an average of additional expenditures associated with credit card tips and still maintain a tip credit under § 203(m). Although Perry’s justified its 3.25% offset based on a number of other expenses before the district court, Perry’s now maintains that credit card issuer fees and its cash-delivery expenses alone justify the 3.25% offset. In support, Perry’s shows that on an aggregate basis (and across all restaurants), Perry’s’ expenses for collecting and distributing credit card tips to cash—including both credit card issuer fees and expenses for cash-delivery services—always exceeded the offset amount. We must determine whether deducting additional amounts for cash-delivery services violates § 203’s requirement that the employee must keep all of his or her tips. A Perry’s corporate executive testified that it made a “business decision” to receive cash deliveries three times a week in order to cash out servers’ tips each day and to decrease security concerns associated with keeping too much cash in the register. Importantly, this executive testified that it was only necessary to cash out servers each night because of employee demand, and that if it instead transferred the tips to the servers in their bi-weekly pay checks, the extra cash deliveries would not be necessary. The district court found that Perry’s’ cash-delivery system was “a business decision, not a fee directly attributable to its cost of dealing in credit.” We agree. In Myers, the Sixth Circuit allowed the employer to offset tips to cover reasonable reimbursement for costs “associated with credit card tip collections” and highlighted that credit card fees were “required” to transfer credit to cash.9 192 F.3d at 554–55 (emphasis added). That court emphasized that the employer’s deductions were acceptable because “[t]he liquidation of the restaurant patron’s paper debt to the table server required the predicate payment of a handling fee to the credit card issuer.” Id. at 553–54. The Department of Labor incorporated a reading of Myers in an opinion letter: The employer’s deduction from tips for the cost imposed by the credit card company reflects a charge by an entity outside the relationship of employer and tipped employee. However, it is the Wage and Hour Division’s position that the other costs that [an employer] wishes the tipped employees to bear must be considered the normal administrative costs of [the employer’s] restaurant operations. For example, time spent by servers processing credit card sales represents an activity that generates revenue for the restaurant, not an activity primarily associated with collecting tips. U.S. Dept. of Labor Wage and Hour Division Opinion Letter FLSA2006-1. While it is unnecessary to opine whether any costs, other than the fees charged directly by a credit card company, associated with collecting credit card tips can ever be deducted by an employer, we conclude that an employer only has a legal right to deduct those costs that are required to make such a collection. Perry’s made two internal business decisions that were not required to collect credit card tips: (1) Perry’s responded to its employees’ demand to be tipped out in cash each night, instead of transferring their tips in their bi-weekly pay checks, and (2) Perry’s elected to have cash delivered three times a week to address security concerns.11 Unlike credit card issuer fees, which every employer accepting credit card tips must pay, the cost of cash delivery three times a week is an indirect and discretionary cost associated with accepting credit card tips. As the district court noted, this cash delivery was “a business decision, not a fee directly attributable to its cost of dealing in credit.” Moreover, Perry’s deducted an amount that exceeded these total costs—credit card issuer fees and cash-delivery expenses—in nine of the relevant restaurant-years. Thus, the court concluded that: Allowing Perry’s to offset employees’ tips to cover discretionary costs of cash delivery would conflict with § 203(m)’s requirement that “all tips received by such employee have been retained by the employee” for employers to maintain a statutory tip credit. Perry’s has not pointed to any additional expenses that are the direct and unavoidable consequence of accepting credit card tips. Because Perry’s offset always exceeded the direct costs required to convert credit card tips to cash, as contemplated in § 203(m) and interpreted by the Sixth Circuit, we hold that Perry’s’ 3.25% offset violated § 203(m) of the FLSA, and therefore Perry’s must be divested of its statutory tip credit for the relevant time period. Click Steele v. Leasing Enterprises, Limited to read the entire Fifth Circuit decision. 4th Cir.: Strippers Are Employees NOT Independent Contractors; Trial Court Properly Applied the Economic Reality Test McFeeley v. Jackson Street Entertainment, LLC In this case, multiple exotic dancers sued their dance clubs for failure to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act and corresponding Maryland wage and hour laws. The district court held that plaintiffs were employees of the defendant companies and not independent contractors as the clubs contended. Following a damages-only trial and judgment on behalf of the dancers, the Defendant-clubs appealed the court’s finding that the dancers were employees and not independent contractors. The Fourth Circuit held that the court properly captured the economic reality of the relationship here, and thus affirmed the judgment. The Fourth Circuit summarized the salient facts regarding the dancers’ relationship with the defendant-clubs as follows: Anyone wishing to dance at either club was required to fill out a form and perform an audition. Defendants asked all hired dancers to sign agreements titled “Space/Lease Rental Agreement of Business Space” that explicitly categorized dancers as independent contractors. The clubs began using these agreements after being sued in 2011 by dancers who claimed, as plaintiffs do here, to have been employees rather than independent contractors. Defendant Offiah thereafter consulted an attorney, who drafted the agreement containing the “independent contractor” language. Plaintiffs’ duties at Fuego and Extasy primarily involved dancing on stage and in certain other areas of the two clubs. At no point did the clubs pay the dancers an hourly wage or any other form of compensation. Rather, plaintiffs’ compensation was limited to performance fees and tips received directly from patrons. The clubs also collected a “tip-in” fee from everyone who entered either dance club, patrons and dancers alike. The dancers and clubs dispute other aspects of their working relationship, including work schedules and policies. After discussing the traditional elements of the economic reality test, the Fourth Circuit discussed each element and concluded that, overall, they supported the district court’s holding that the dancers were employees and not independent contractors. Here, as in so many FLSA disputes, plaintiffs and defendants offer competing narratives of their working relationship. The exotic dancers claim that all aspects of their work at Fuego and Extasy were closely regulated by defendants, from their hours to their earnings to their workplace conduct. The clubs, not surprisingly, portray the dancers as free agents that came and went as they pleased and used the clubs as nothing but a rented space in which to perform. The dueling depictions serve to remind us that the employee/independentcontractor distinction is not a bright line but a spectrum, and that courts must struggle with matters of degree rather than issue categorical pronouncements. Based on the totality of the circumstances presented here, the relationship between plaintiffs and defendants falls on the employee side of the spectrum. Even given that we must view the facts in the light most favorable to defendants, see Ctr. for Individual Freedom, Inc. v. Tennant, 706 F.3d 270, 279 (4th Cir. 2013), we cannot accept defendants’ contrary characterization, which cherry-picks a few facts that supposedly tilt in their favor and downplays the weightier and more numerous factors indicative of an employment relationship. Most critical on the facts of this case is the first factor of the “economic realities” test: the degree of control that the putative employer has over the manner in which the work is performed. The clubs insist they had very little control over the dancers. Plaintiffs were allegedly free in the clubs’ view to determine their own work schedules, how and when they performed, and whether they danced at clubs other than Fuego and Extasy. But the relaxed working relationship represented by defendants—the kind that perhaps every worker dreams about—finds little support in the record. To the contrary, plaintiffs described and the district court found the following plain manifestations of defendants’ control over the dancers: Dancers were required to sign in upon arriving at the club and to pay the “tip-in” or entrance fee required of both dancers and patrons. The clubs dictated each dancer’s work schedule. As plaintiff Danielle Everett testified, “I ended up having a set schedule once I started at Fuego’s. Tuesdays and Thursdays there, and Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at Extasy.” J.A. 578 (Everett’s deposition). This was typical of the deposition testimony submitted in the summary judgment record. The clubs imposed written guidelines that all dancers had to obey during working hours. J.A. 769-77 (clubs’ rulebook). These rules went into considerable detail, banning drinking while working, smoking in the clubs’ bathroom, and loitering in the parking lot after business hours. They prohibited dancers from leaving the club and returning later in the night. Dancers were required to wear dance shoes at all times and could not bring family or friends to the clubs during working hours. Violations of the clubs’ guidelines carried penalties such as suspension or dismissal. Although the defendants claimed not to enforce the rules, as the district court put it, “[a]n employer’s ‘potential power’ to enforce its rules and manage dancers’ conduct is a form of control.” J.A. 997 (quoting Hart v. Rick’s Cabaret Int’l, Inc., 967 F.Supp.2d 901, 918 (S.D.N.Y. 2013)). The clubs set the fees that dancers were supposed to charge patrons for private dances and dictated how tips and fees were handled. The guidelines explicitly state: “[D]o not [overcharge] our customers. If you do, you will be kicked out of the club.” J.A. 771. Defendants personally instructed dancers on their behavior and conduct at work. For example, one manager stated that he “ ‘coached’ dancers whom he believed did not have the right attitude or were not behaving properly.” J.A. 997. Defendants managed the clubs’ atmosphere and clientele by making all decisions regarding advertising, hours of operation, and the types of food and beverages sold, as well as handling lighting and music for the dancers. Id. Reviewing the above factual circumstances into account the Fourth Circuit held that the district court was correct to conclude that the dancers were employees of the clubs under the FLSA and not independent contractors. The Court reasoned: Taking the above circumstances into account, the district court found that the clubs’ “significant control” over how plaintiffs performed their work bore little resemblance to the latitude normally afforded to independent contractors. J.A. 997. We agree. The many ways in which defendants directed the dancers rose to the level of control that an employer would typically exercise over an employee. To conclude otherwise would unduly downgrade the factor of employer control and exclude workers that the FLSA was designed to embrace. None of this is to suggest that a worker automatically becomes an employee covered by the FLSA the moment a company exercises any control over him. After all, a company that engages an independent contractor seeks to exert some control, whether expressed orally or in writing, over the performance of the contractor’s duties and over his conduct on the company’s premises. It is rather hard to imagine a party contracting for needed services with an insouciant “Do whatever you want, wherever you want, and however you please.” A company that leases space or otherwise invites independent contractors onto its property might at a minimum wish to prohibit smoking and littering or to set the hours of use in order to keep the premises in good shape. Such conditions, along with the terms of performance and compensation, are part and parcel of bargaining between parties whose independent contractual status is not in dispute. If any sign of control or any restriction on use of space could convert an independent contractor into an employee, there would soon be nothing left of the former category. Workers and managers alike might sorely miss the flexibility and freedom that independent-contractor status confers. But the degree of control the clubs exercised here over all aspects of the individual dancers’ work and of the clubs’ operation argues in favor of an employment relationship. Each of the other five factors of the “economic realities” test is either neutral or leads us in the same direction. Two of those factors relate logically to one other: “the worker’s opportunities for profit or loss dependent on his managerial skill” and “the worker’s investment in equipment or material, or his employment of other workers.” Schultz, 466 F.3d at 305. The relevance of these two factors is intuitive. The more the worker’s earnings depend on his own managerial capacity rather than the company’s, and the more he is personally invested in the capital and labor of the enterprise, the less the worker is “economically dependent on the business” and the more he is “in business for himself” and hence an independent contractor. Id. at 304 (quoting Henderson v. Inter-Chem Coal Co., Inc., 41 F.3d 567, 570 (10th Cir. 1994)). The clubs attempt to capitalize on these two factors by highlighting that dancers relied on their own skill and ability to attract clients. They further contend that dancers sold tickets for entrance to the two clubs, distributed promotional flyers, and put their own photos on the flyers. As the district court noted, however, “[t]his argument—that dancers can ‘hustle’ to increase their profits—has been almost universally rejected.” J.A. 999 (collecting cases). It is natural for an employee to do his part in drumming up business for his employer, especially if the employee’s earnings depend on it. An obvious example might be a salesperson in a retail store who works hard at drawing foot traffic into the store. The skill that the employee exercises in that context is not managerial but simply good salesmanship. Here, the lion’s share of the managerial skill and investment normally expected of employers came from the defendants. The district court found that the clubs’ managers “controlled the stream of clientele that appeared at the clubs by setting the clubs’ hours, coordinating and paying for all advertising, and managing the atmosphere within the clubs.” J.A. 1001. They “ultimately controlled a key determinant—pricing—affecting [p]laintiffs’ ability to make a profit.” Id. In terms of investment, defendants paid “rent for both clubs; the clubs’ bills such as water and electric; business liability insurance; and for radio and print advertising,” as well as wages for all non-performing staff. Id. at 1002. The dancers’ investment was limited to their own apparel and, on occasion, food and decorations they brought to the clubs. Id. at 1002-03. On balance then, plaintiffs’ opportunities for profit or loss depended far more on defendants’ management and decision-making than on their own, and defendants’ investment in the clubs’ operation far exceeded the plaintiffs’. These two factors thus fail to tip the scales in favor of classifying the dancers as independent contractors. As with the control factor, however, neither of these two elements should be overstated. Those who engage independent contractorsare often themselves companies or small businesses with employees of their own. Therefore, they have most likely invested in the labor and capital necessary to operate the business, taken on overhead costs, and exercised their managerial skill in ways that affect the opportunities for profit of their workers. Those fundamental components of running a company, however, hardly render anyone with whom the company transacts business an “employee” under the FLSA. The focus, as suggested by the wording of these two factors, should remain on the worker’s contribution to managerial decision-making and investment relative to the company’s. In this case, the ratio of managerial skill and operational support tilts too heavily towards the clubs to support an independent-contractor classification for the dancers. The final three factors are more peripheral to the dispute here and will be discussed only briefly: the degree of skill required for the work; the permanence of the working relationship; and the degree to which the services rendered are an integral part of the putative employer’s business. As to the degree of skill required, the clubs conceded that they did not require dancers to have prior dancing experience. The district court properly found that “the minimal degree of skill required for exotic dancing at these clubs” supported anemployee classification. J.A. 1003-04. Moreover, even the skill displayed by the most accomplished dancers in a ballet company would hardly by itself be sufficient to denote an independent contractor designation. As to the permanence of the working relationship, courts have generally accorded this factor little weight in challenges brought by exotic dancers given the inherently “itinerant” nature of their work. J.A. 1004-05; see also Harrell v. Diamond A Entm’t, Inc., 992 F.Supp. 1343, 1352 (M.D. Fla. 1997). In this case, defendants and plaintiffs had “an at-will arrangement that could be terminated by either party at any time.” J.A. 1005. Because this type of agreement could characterize either an employee or an independent contractor depending on the other circumstances of the working relationship, we agree with the district court that this temporal element does not affect the outcome here. Finally, as to the importance of the services rendered to the company’s business, even the clubs had to concede the point that an “exotic dance club could [not] function, much less be profitable, without exotic dancers.” Secretary of Labor’s Amicus Br. in Supp. of Appellees 24. Indeed, “the exotic dancers were the only source of entertainment for customers …. especially considering that neither club served alcohol or food.” J.A. 1006. Considering all six factors together, particularly the defendants’ high degree of control over the dancers, the totality of circumstances speak clearly to an employer-employee relationship between plaintiffs and defendants. The trial court was right to term it such. Significantly, the Fourth Circuit also affirmed the trial court’s holding that the performance fees collected by the dancers directly from the clubs’ patrons were not wages, and that the clubs were not entitled to claim same as an offset in an effort to meet their minimum wage wage obligations. Discussing this issue, the Court explained: Appellants’ second attack on their liability for damages targets the district court’s alleged error in excluding from trial evidence regarding plaintiffs’ income tax returns, performance fees, and tips. The clubs contend that fees and tips kept by the dancers would have reduced any compensation that defendants owed plaintiffs under the FLSA and MWHL. According to defendants, the fees and tips dancers received directly from patrons exceeded the minimum wage mandated by federal and state law. Had the evidence been admitted, the argument goes, the jury may have awarded plaintiffs less in unpaid wages. We disagree. The district court found that evidence related to plaintiffs’ earnings was irrelevant or, if relevant, posed a danger of confusing the issues and misleading the jury. See Fed. R. Evid. 403. Proof of tips and fees received was irrelevant here because theFLSA precludes defendants from using tips or fees to offset the minimum wage they were required to pay plaintiffs. To be eligible for the “tip credit” under the FLSA and corresponding Maryland law, defendants were required to pay dancers the minimum wage set for those receiving tip income and to notify employees of the “tip credit” provision. 29 U.S.C. 203(m); Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. § 3-419 (West 2014). The clubs paid the dancers no compensation of any kind and afforded them no notice. They cannot therefore claim the “tip credit.” The clubs are likewise ineligible to use performance fees paid by patrons to the dancers to reduce their liability. Appellants appear to distinguish performance fees from tips in their argument, without providing much analysis in their briefs on a question that has occupied other courts. See, e.g., Hart, 967 F.Supp.2d at 926-34 (discussing how performance fees received by exotic dancers relate to minimum wage obligations). If performance fees do constitute tips, defendants would certainly be entitled to no offset because, as noted above, they cannot claim any “tip credit.” For the sake of argument, however, we treat performance fees as a possible separate offset within the FLSA’s “service charge” category. Even with this benefit of the doubt, defendants come up short. For purposes of the FLSA, a “service charge” is a “compulsory charge for service … imposed on a customer by an employer’s establishment.” 29 C.F.R. § 531.55(a). There are at least two prerequisites to counting “service charges” as an offset to an employer’s minimum-wage liability. The service charge “must have been included in the establishment’s gross receipts,” Hart, 967 F.Supp.2d at 929, and it must have been “distributed by the employer to its employees,” 29 C.F.R. § 531.55(b). These requirements are necessary to ensure that employees actually received the service charges as part of their compensation as opposed to relying on the employer’s assertion or say-so. See Hart, 967 F.Supp.2d at 930. We do not minimize the recordkeeping burdens of the FLSA, especially on small businesses, but some such obligations have been regarded as necessary to ensure compliance with the statute. Neither condition for applying the service-charge offset is met here. As conceded by defendant Offiah, the dance clubs never recorded or included as part of the dance clubs’ gross receipts any payments that patrons paid directly to dancers. J.A. 491-97 (Offiah’s deposition). When asked about performance fees during his deposition, defendant Offiah repeatedly stressed that fees belong solely to the dancers. Id. Since none of those payments ever went to the clubs’ proprietors, defendants also could not have distributed any part of those service charges to the dancers. As a result, the “service charge” offset is unavailable to defendants. Accordingly, the trial court correctly excluded evidence showing plaintiffs’ earnings in the form of tips and performance fees. This case is significant because, while many district courts have reached the same conclusions, this is the first Circuit Court decision to affirm same. Click McFeeley v. Jackson Street Entertainment, LLC to read the entire Fourth Circuit decision. 9th Cir.: Employers May NOT Retain Employee Tips Even Where They Do Not Take a Tip Credit; 2011 DOL Regulations Which Post-Dated Woody Woo Due Chevron Deference Because Existing Law Was Silent and Interpretation is Reasonable Oregon Rest. & Lodging Ass’n v. Perez In a case that will likely have very wide-reaching effects, this week the Ninth Circuit reversed 2 lower court decisions which has invalidated the Department of Labor’s 2011 tip credit regulations. Specifically, the lower courts had held, in accordance with the Ninth Circuit’s Woody Woo decision which pre-dated the regulations at issue, that the DOL lacked the authority to regulate employers who did not take a tip credit with respect to how they treated their employees’ tips. Holding that the 2011 regulations were due so-called Chevron deference, the Ninth Circuit held that the lower court had incorrectly relied on its own Woody Woo case because the statutory/regulatory silence that had existed when Woody Woo was decided had been properly filled by the 2011 regulations. As such, the Ninth Circuit held that the lower court was required to give the DOL regulation deference and as such, an employer may never retain any portion of its employees tips, regardless of whether it avails itself of the tip credit or not. Framing the issue, the Ninth Circuit explained “[t]he precise question before this court is whether the DOL may regulate the tip pooling practices of employers who do not take a tip credit.” It further noted that while “[t]he restaurants and casinos [appellees] argue that we answered this question in Cumbie. We did not.” The court then applied Chevron analysis to the DOL’s 2011 regulation at issue. Holding that the regulation filled a statutory silence that existed at the time of the regulation, and thus met Step 1 of Chevron, the court reasoned: as Christensen strongly suggests, there is a distinction between court decisions that interpret statutory commands and court decisions that interpret statutory silence. Moreover, Chevron itself distinguishes between statutes that directly address the precise question at issue and those for which the statute is “silent.” Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843. As such, if a court holds that a statute unambiguously protects or prohibits certain conduct, the court “leaves no room for agency discretion” under Brand X, 545 U.S. at 982. However, if a court holds that a statute does not prohibit conduct because it is silent, the court’s ruling leaves room for agency discretion under Christensen. Cumbie falls precisely into the latter category of cases—cases grounded in statutory silence. When we decided Cumbie, the DOL had not yet promulgated the 2011 rule. Thus, there was no occasion to conduct a Chevron analysis in Cumbie because there was no agency interpretation to analyze. The Cumbie analysis was limited to the text of section 203(m). After a careful reading of section 203(m) in Cumbie, we found that “nothing in the text of the FLSA purports to restrict employee tip-pooling arrangements when no tip credit is taken” and therefore there was “no statutory impediment” to the practice. 596 F.3d at 583. Applying the reasoning in Christensen, we conclude that section 203(m)‘s clear silence as to employers who do not take a tip credit has left room for the DOL to promulgate the 2011 rule. Whereas the restaurants, casinos, and the district courts equate this silence concerning employers who do not take a tip credit to “repudiation” of future regulation of such employers, we decline to make that great leap without more persuasive evidence. See United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC, 132 S. Ct 1836, 1843, 182 L. Ed. 2d 746 (2012) (“[A] statute’s silence or ambiguity as to a particular issue means that Congress has . . . likely delegat[ed] gap-filling power to the agency[.]”); Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., 556 U.S. 208, 222, 129 S. Ct. 1498, 173 L. Ed. 2d 369 (2009) (“[S]ilence is meant to convey nothing more than a refusal to tie the agency’s hands . . . .”); S.J. Amoroso Constr. Co. v. United States, 981 F.2d 1073, 1075 (9th Cir. 1992) (“Without language in the statute so precluding [the agency’s challenged interpretation], it must be said that Congress has not spoken to the issue.”). In sum, we conclude that step one of the Chevron analysis is satisfied because the FLSA is silent regarding the tip pooling practices of employers who do not take a tip credit. Our decision in Cumbie did not hold otherwise. Proceeding to step 2 of Chevron analysis, the court held that the 2011 regulation was reasonable in light of the existing statutory framework of the FLSA and its legislative history. The court reasoned: The DOL promulgated the 2011 rule after taking into consideration numerous comments and our holding in Cumbie. The AFL-CIO, National Employment Lawyers Association, and the Chamber of Commerce all commented that section 203(m) was either “confusing” or “misleading” with respect to the ownership of tips. 76 Fed. Reg. at 18840-41. The DOL also considered our reading of section 203(m) in Cumbie and concluded that, as written, 203(m) contained a “loophole” that allowed employers to exploit the FLSA tipping provisions. Id. at 18841. It was certainly reasonable to conclude that clarification by the DOL was needed. The DOL’s clarification—the 2011 rule—was a reasonable response to these comments and relevant case law. The legislative history of the FLSA supports the DOL’s interpretation of section 203(m) of the FLSA. An “authoritative source for finding the Legislature’s intent lies in the Committee Reports on the bill, which represent the considered and collective understanding of those Congressmen [and women] involved in drafting and studying proposed legislation.” Garcia v. United States, 469 U.S. 70, 76, 105 S. Ct. 479, 83 L. Ed. 2d 472 (1984) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). On February 21, 1974, the Senate Committee published its views on the 1974 amendments to section 203(m). S. Rep. No. 93-690 (1974). Rejecting the employer-appellees argument that the regulation was unreasonable, the court explained: Employer-Appellees argue that the report reveals an intent contrary to the DOL’s interpretation because the report states that an “employer will lose the benefit of [the tip credit] exception if tipped employees are required to share their tips with employees who do not customarily and regularly receive tips[.]” In other words, Appellees contend that Congress viewed the ability to take a tip credit as a benefit that came with conditions and should an employer fail to meet these conditions, such employer would be ineligible to reap the benefits of taking a tip credit. While this is a fair interpretation of the statute, it is a leap too far to conclude that Congress clearly intended to deprive the DOL the ability to later apply similar conditions on employers who do not take a tip credit. The court also examined the Senate Committee’s report with regard to the enactment of 203(m), the statutory section to which the 2011 regulation was enacted to interpret and stated: Moreover, the surrounding text in the Senate Committee report supports the DOL’s reading of section 203(m). The Committee reported that the 1974 amendment “modifies section [20]3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act by requiring . . . that all tips received be paid out to tipped employees.” S. Rep. No. 93-690, at 42. This language supports the DOL’s statutory construction that “[t]ips are the property of the employee whether or not the employer has taken a tip credit.” 29 C.F.R. § 531.52. In the same report, the Committee wrote that “tipped employee[s] should have stronger protection,” and reiterated that a “tip is . . . distinguished from payment of a charge . . . [and the customer] has the right to determine who shall be the recipient of the gratuity.” S. Rep. No. 93-690, at 42. In 1977, the Committee again reported that “[t]ips are not wages, and under the 1974 amendments tips must be retained by the employees . . . and cannot be paid to the employer or otherwise used by the employer to offset his wage obligation, except to the extent permitted by section [20]3(m).” S. Rep. No. 95-440 at 368 (1977) (emphasis added). The use of the word “or” supports the DOL’s interpretation of the FLSA because it implies that the only acceptable use by an employer of employee tips is a tip credit. Additionally, we find that the purpose of the FLSA does not support the view that Congress clearly intended to permanently allow employers that do not take a tip credit to do whatever they wish with their employees’ tips. The district courts’ reading that the FLSA provides “specific statutory protections” related only to “substandard wages and oppressive working hours” is too narrow. As previously noted, the FLSA is a broad and remedial act that Congress has frequently expanded and extended. Considering the statements in the relevant legislative history and the purpose and structure of the FLSA, we find that the DOL’s interpretation is more closely aligned with Congressional intent, and at the very least, that the DOL’s interpretation is reasonable. Finally, the court explained that it was not overruling Woody Woo, because Woody Woo had been decided prior to the enactment of the regulation at issue when there was regulatory silence on the issue, whereas this case was decided after the 2011 DOL regulations filled that silence. This case is likely to have wide-ranging impacts throughout the country because previously district court’s have largely simply ignored the 2011 regulations like the lower court’s here, incorrectly relying on the Woody Woo case which pre-dated the regulation. Click Oregon Rest. & Lodging Ass’n v. Perez to read the entire decision. 11th Cir.: Employer That Knew or Had Reason to Know Employee Underreported Hours Could Not Assert Equitable Defenses Based on Employee’s Conduct in Underreporting Hours Bailey v. TitleMax of Georgia, Inc. This case was before the Eleventh Circuit on the plaintiff’s appeal of an order from the trial court granting the defendant-employer summary judgment. Specifically, the court below held that the plaintiff-employee was barred by equitable doctrines from maintaining his claims under the FLSA, because he had underreported his hours, notwithstanding the defendant’s knowledge of the actual hours worked. Reversing the trial court’s order, the Eleventh Circuit held that “[w]here, as here, an employer knew or had reason to know that its employee underreported his hours, it cannot invoke equitable defenses based on that underreporting to bar the employee’s FLSA claim.” The court described the relevant facts and procedural history below as follows: Santonias Bailey was an employee of TitleMax of Georgia who worked overtime hours for which he was not paid. At the direction of his supervisor, who told him that TitleMax did not pay overtime, he regularly worked off the clock. The same supervisor also repeatedly edited Mr. Bailey’s time records to report fewer hours than he worked. Mr. Bailey eventually brought suit under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay their employees for overtime. This appeal presents the question of whether TitleMax may defeat Mr. Bailey’s FLSA claim by deflecting the blame for the unpaid overtime onto him. TitleMax insists that Mr. Bailey is responsible for any unpaid overtime, because he could have complained about his supervisor, but did not. Neither did he follow TitleMax’s policies for ensuring accurate time records. In legal terms, the question is this: if an employer knew its employee underreported his hours, can it still assert equitable defenses based on the employee’s own conduct in underreporting as a total bar to the employee’s FLSA claim? We have heard oral argument, read the parties’ briefs, and examined the record in considering the question. Our answer is no. Because the District Court answered yes, we reverse its grant of summary judgment for TitleMax. Mr. Bailey worked at a TitleMax store in Jonesboro, Georgia for about a year. We assume, as the District Court did, that Mr. Bailey worked overtime hours for which he was not paid. He was not paid because his time records were not accurate. They reflected an artificially low number of hours worked. This inaccuracy came from two sources: first, Mr. Bailey underreported his own hours by working off the clock. Second, Mr. Bailey’s supervisor changed his time records to decrease the number of hours he reported. Mr. Bailey’s supervisor told him that TitleMax “does not allow overtime pay,” and that “[t]here [would] be days that [they] [would] be working off the clock.” To that end, Mr. Bailey would, “for the most part,” clock in and out when his supervisor told him to, even though that sometimes did not match up with the hours he actually worked. For example, on some Saturdays, he would work from 8:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. But his supervisor would tell him: “your hours are … high, so make sure that you clock in at 9:00 and clock out at 4:00.” And so he would, logging only seven hours despite working nine. Second, Mr. Bailey’s supervisor herself edited Mr. Bailey’s time records. To take two examples: on September 9, 2011, Mr. Bailey clocked in at 10:57 A.M. and clocked out at 7:17 P.M., without recording any lunch break. His supervisor later changed his clock-out time to 7:00 P.M. and added a lunch break from 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. And on September 12, his supervisor edited Mr. Bailey’s clock-out time, changing it from 8:03 P.M. to 7:03 P.M. After he resigned from TitleMax, Mr. Bailey filed suit. He claims that TitleMax violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime as the statute requires. For its part, TitleMax emphasizes that Mr. Bailey’s conduct violated its policies. When he worked off the clock, he violated a policy requiring accurate reporting of hours. Also, by neither objecting to his supervisor changing his time records nor reporting inaccuracies in his records, Mr. Bailey violated a policy requiring regular verification of time. Finally, by not reporting any of this, he violated a policy instructing employees who had a problem at work to notify a supervisor, or if the supervisor was part of the problem, to inform a higher-level manager or call an anonymous employee hotline. Mr. Bailey was aware of each of these company policies. In the face of Mr. Bailey’s law suit, TitleMax moved for summary judgment. It pointed to Mr. Bailey’s violation of its policies and argued that he was responsible for any unpaid overtime. It said that because Mr. Bailey bore responsibility, two equitable defenses—unclean hands and in pari delicto—barred his claim. The District Court agreed, and granted summary judgment. This appeal followed. Discussing the FLSA’s remedial purpose and prior case law from the Eleventh Circuit, the court explained: This Court has, in the decades since O’Neil, echoed the same principle: the goal of the FLSA is to counteract the inequality of bargaining power between employees and employers. See, e.g., Walthour v. Chipio Windshield Repair, LLC, 745 F.3d 1326, 1332 (11th Cir.2014) (quoting O’Neil ); Hogan v. Allstate Ins. Co., 361 F.3d 621, 625 (11th Cir.2004) (same); Lynn’s Food Stores, Inc. v. United States, 679 F.2d 1350, 1352 (11th Cir.1982) (“Recognizing that there are often great inequalities in bargaining power between employers and employees, Congress made the FLSA’s provisions mandatory.”); Mayhue’s Super Liquor Stores, Inc. v. Hodgson, 464 F.2d 1196, 1197 n. 1 (5th Cir.1972) (quoting O’Neil ). In the broadest sense, this principle has guided the rulings of this Circuit, and it compels our holding here. If an employer knew or had reason to know that its employee underreported his hours, it cannot escape FLSA liability by asserting equitable defenses based on that underreporting. To hold otherwise would allow an employer to wield its superior bargaining power to pressure or even compel its employees to underreport their work hours, thus neutering the FLSA’s purposeful reallocation of that power. After noting that the plaintiff had proffered evidence to meet his prima facie burden in this FLSA case, it then evaluated the defendant’s equitable defenses at issue: It insists that, while Mr. Bailey may have established the elements of his claim, TitleMax is nevertheless entitled to summary judgment unclean hands and in pari delicto: These two defenses are similar. See Greene v. Gen. Foods Corp., 517 F.2d 635, 646–47 (5th Cir.1975) (discussing in pari delicto and other “closely related equitable defenses such as … unclean hands”). Broadly speaking, proof of either of these defenses may operate to bar a plaintiff’s claim in an appropriate case if he bears responsibility for his own injury. Each gives force to the well-worn maxim: “[h]e who comes into equity must come with clean hands.” See Keystone Driller Co. v. Gen. Excavator Co., 290 U.S. 240, 241, 54 S.Ct. 146, 146, 78 L.Ed. 293 (1933). To assert an unclean hands defense, a defendant must show that (1) the plaintiff’s wrongdoing is directly related to the claim, and (2) the defendant was personally injured by the wrongdoing. See Calloway v. Partners Nat’l Health Plans, 986 F.2d 446, 450–51 (11th Cir.1993). Similarly, to assert an in pari delicto defense, a defendant must show that “the plaintiff bears at least substantially equal responsibility for the violations he seeks to redress.” Lamonica v. Safe Hurricane Shutters, Inc., 711 F.3d 1299, 1308 (11th Cir.2013). To invoke in pari delicto to bar a claim brought under a federal statute, the defendant must also show a second element: that barring the suit would not “substantially interfere” with the policy goals of the statute. Id. The District Court accepted TitleMax’s argument that one or both of these defenses may bar an employee’s FLSA claim, even when the employer knew that the employee was underreporting his hours. In doing so, the District Court did not correctly apply the statute. Our conclusion in this regard is consistent with two cases previously decided in this Circuit. In Allen and Brennan, we faced similar facts and rejected arguments similar to those made by TitleMax. In both of those cases, employers nominally required employees to accurately report their hours. See Allen, 495 F.3d at 1314; Brennan, 482 F.2d at 827. Despite those requirements, supervisors encouraged employees to underreport, and they did. See Allen, 495 F.3d at 1318 (supervisor told employee “that she could not continue to be paid overtime”); Brennan, 482 F.2d at 827 (supervisors exerted “pressure” and “insisted that reported overtime hours be kept to a stated minimum level”). Facing FLSA claims, the employers argued they could not be responsible for unpaid overtime because they had neither actual nor constructive knowledge that the employees had worked unpaid overtime. Allen, 495 F.3d at 1318; Brennan, 482 F.2d at 827. This court rejected the argument in both cases, and imputed knowledge to the employers. Allen, 495 F.3d at 1318–19; Brennan, 482 F.2d at 827. The Brennan panel concluded that the supervisors had at least constructive knowledge of unpaid overtime because “they had the opportunity to get truthful overtime reports but opted to encourage artificially low reporting instead.” 482 F.2d at 828. And the Allen panel decided that a supervisor had knowledge based on even more tenuous facts: she “was aware that [the employee] was working overtime hours” and was also “aware that [the employee] had been told that she could not be paid overtime.” 495 F.3d at 1318. Both panels ruled that knowledge on the part of supervisors could be imputed to the employers. See id. at 1319 (“[O]ur predecessor court stated that when an employer’s actions squelch truthful reports of overtime worked, or where the employer encourages artificially low reporting, it cannot disclaim knowledge.” (quoting Brennan, 482 F.2d at 828)). Ultimately, the court held that the facts here were vitually identical to the prior cases in which it had held that equitable defenses similar to those advanced by the defendant here could not nullify an employee’s claim under the FLSA: The facts of Mr. Bailey’s case are substantially the same. TitleMax instructed its employees to accurately record their hours and to report problems with their records. Mr. Bailey worked off the clock at the behest (demand) of his supervisor, in violation of those policies. No one disputes that his supervisor knew he was working off the clock. The supervisor’s knowledge may be imputed to TitleMax, making it liable for the FLSA violation. This is the holding of Allen and Brennan. It is true that TitleMax presents its argument in different terms than the employers in Allen and Brennan. TitleMax does not claim that the supervisor did not know that Mr. Bailey was underreporting his hours. See Allen, 495 F.3d at 1318 (“The [employer] claims that even if unpaid hours can be shown, Plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that their supervisors knew that they were working overtime without pay.”); Brennan, 482 F.2d at 827 (“[The employer]’ s principal argument is that it cannot have violated the FLSA because it had no knowledge of the unreported overtime.”). Nor could it. Instead, TitleMax says that Mr. Bailey’s misconduct allows it to assert an equitable defense. Specifically, TitleMax argues that Mr. Bailey’s own misconduct makes Allen and Brennan inapposite. But we see this distinction as one without a difference. TitleMax seeks to skirt the clear holdings of Allen and Brennan by making the same argument under a different name. Whether we consider the employee’s actions in analyzing the knowledge prong of the FLSA or as an equitable defense, the question is the same: is an employee deprived of his FLSA claim because he underreported his time, even if knowledge of the underreporting is imputed to the employer? Allen and Brennan say no. TitleMax asks us to contravene those holdings under a different theory. We cannot oblige. TitleMax has identified no case in which this Court approved the use of equitable defenses as a total bar to an employee’s FLSA claim when the employer knew the employee underreported his hours. Neither has TitleMax identified any such case from the United States Supreme Court or any of our sister Circuits. We are aware, of course, that the absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. But the FLSA has been on the books a long time. Finally, the court discussed the deterrent effect of the FLSA, in the context of a Supreme Court case under the ADEA, and explained that to permit the equitable defenses at bar would negate the FLSA’s deterrent effect: Like the ADEA, the FLSA has a deterrent purpose. See O’Neil, 324 U.S. at 709–10, 65 S.Ct. at 903 (“To permit an employer to secure a release from the worker … will tend to nullify the deterrent effect which Congress plainly intended that [the FLSA] should have.”); Nall v. Mal–Motels, Inc., 723 F.3d 1304, 1307 (11th Cir.2013) (“Allowing the employer to escape liquidated damages by simply giving an employee the wages she was entitled to earn in the first place—or in some cases, less than that—would undermine the deterrent effect of the [FLSA’s] statutory provisions.”). Cf. McKennon, 513 U.S. at 357, 115 S.Ct. at 884 (“The ADEA … contains a vital element found in both Title VII and the Fair Labor Standards Act: It grants an injured employee a right of action to obtain the authorized relief. The private litigant who seeks redress for his or her injuries vindicates both the deterrence and the compensation objectives of the ADEA.” (citation omitted)). Barring FLSA actions for wage and overtime violations where the employer is aware that an employee is underreporting hours would undermine the Act’s deterrent purpose. In this case, the District Court applied equitable defenses based on Mr. Bailey’s misconduct to totally and entirely bar his FLSA claim. When it did that, it went beyond what the Supreme Court approved in McKennon, thereby interfering with the FLSA’s statutory scheme. Click Bailey v. TitleMax of Georgia, Inc. to read the entire Decision. Courts Reach Different Conclusions Regarding Whether FLSA Plaintiffs Should Be Allowed to Proceed Anonymously Under Pseudonyms Although the issue comes up from time to time, there are few decisions discussing whether FLSA plaintiffs and opt-in plaintiffs may proceed with their claims anonymously notwithstanding the federal rules of civil procedure’s requirement that each party identify itself and the FLSA’s requirement under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) that any person wishing to participate in a collective action file a consent to join. As discussed here, two recent decisions took up this issue and reached different results, with one court in California permitting exotic dancers to proceed under pseudonyms, while a court in New York denied a similar motion on behalf of “white collar” worker at Bloomberg. N.D.Cal.: Exotic Dancer Met Burden to Proceed Anonymously Jane Roes 1-2 v. SFBSC Management, LLC In the first case, the plaintiffs, a putative class of exotic dancers, requested that they be able to proceed under pseudonyms and the court granted their motion. The plaintiffs ask the court to do two things: First, to allow them to proceed under “Jane Roe” pseudonyms; and, second, to allow future plaintiffs to join this suit by filing their FLSA consents under seal. (ECF No. 17 at 1.) (Plaintiffs in FLSA collective suits must affirmatively “opt in” by filing consent forms. 29 U.S.C. § 216(b).). Noting that filing consents under seal was unnecessary in light of the order allowing each of the plaintiffs to use pseudonyms the court denied the second branch of plaintiffs’ motion. The court applied a balancing test to reach its holding: The plaintiffs express a legitimate concern for their privacy and, more compelling for the anonymity analysis, an understandable fear of social stigmatization. The Ninth Circuit has recognized that courts grant anonymity where it is needed to “preserve privacy in a matter of sensitive and highly personal nature.” Advanced Textile, 214 F.3d at 1068 (quoting James v. Jacobson, 6 F.3d 233, 238 (4th Cir.1993)). “In this circuit,” consequently, “we allow parties to use pseudonyms” where this is “necessary” to “protect a person from … ridicule or personal embarrassment.” Advanced Textile, 214 F.3d at 1067–68 (emphasis added). Arguing against pseudonymity, SFBSC points to 4 Exotic Dancers v. Spearmint Rhino, No. 08–4038, 2009 WL 250054 (C.D.Cal. Jan. 29, 2009). (See ECF No. 19 at 4–5.) The plaintiffs in that case—who, as the case’s name suggests, were also exotic dancers—were denied anonymity where, in SFBSC’s view, they gave the “same reasons” for withholding their real names as the present plaintiffs. (Id. at 4.) SFBSC calls 4 Exotic Dancers “indistinguishable” from this case. (Id.) The court does not agree that 4 Exotic Dancers compels the denial of anonymity here. That decision does not reflect how this district has understood the law of anonymity. The court in 4 Exotic Dancers cited a decision of this district, Doe v. Rostker, 89 F.R.D. 158 (N.D.Cal.1981), for the proposition that “some embarrassment or economic harm is not enough” to justify anonymity. See 4 Exotic Dancers, 2009 WL 250054, at 3 (citing Rostker, 89 F.R.D. at 162). SFBSC cites Rostker for the same idea. (ECF No. 19 at 3.) But Rostker itself distinguishes those insufficient fears (“some embarrassment or economic harm”) from the following, which justify anonymity: A plaintiff should be permitted to proceed anonymously in cases where a substantial privacy interest is involved. The most compelling situations involve matters which are highly sensitive, such as social stigmatization …. That the plaintiff may suffer some embarrassment or economic harm is not enough. Rostker, 89 F.R.D. at 162 (emphases added). This district has thus considered “social stigmatization” among the “most compelling” reasons for permitting anonymity. This is consistent with the Ninth Circuit’s instruction in Advanced Textile that anonymity is permitted where the subject matter of a case is “sensitive and highly personal,” and where disclosing a party’s identity threatens to subject them to “harassment, … ridicule or personal embarrassment.” See Advanced Textile, 214 F.3d at 1067–68. The plaintiffs have identified an adequate threat of personal embarrassment and social stigmatization that, under Advanced Textile, militates for allowing them to proceed under Jane Roe pseudonyms. To the extent that 4 Exotic Dancers points to a different conclusion, the court respectfully disagrees with that decision. This case moreover falls into what may be roughly called the area of human sexuality. As SFBSC recognizes (see ECF No. 19 at 4–5), courts have often allowed parties to use pseudonyms when a case involves topics in this “sensitive and highly personal” area. The most famous case of this sort—which, however, did not address the question of pseudonymity—is certainly Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). But there are many others. E.g., United States v. Doe, 488 F.3d 1154, 1155 n. 1 (9th Cir.2007) (allowing defendant convicted of producing child pornography to use pseudonym); Doe v. Megless, 654 F.3d 404, 408 (3rd Cir.2011) (“Examples of areas where courts have allowed pseudonyms include … abortion, … transexuality … and homosexuality.”) (quotation omitted) (cited by SFBSC at ECF No. 19 at 4–5); John Doe 140 v. Archdiocese of Portland, 249 F.R.D. 358, 361 (D.Or.2008) (plaintiff alleging that he was sexually abused as minor allowed to proceed anonymously); Doe v. United Serv. Life Ins. Co., 123 F.R.D. 437 (S.D.N.Y.1988) (sexual orientation); Doe v. Deschamps, 64 F.R.D. 652 (D.Mont.1974) (abortion; collecting older cases). The court does not mean to equate the various specific topics that these cases subtend. A broad brush will do: For purposes of the anonymity discussion, it is enough to observe that courts have regularly responded to the especially sensitive nature of this area and have been willing to grant parties anonymity. The same judicial instinct should apply here. SFBSC’s contention that the business of nude and semi-nude dancing “simply does not fall within” the field of “sexuality” (ECF No. 19 at 5) is unconvincing. The court also reasoned that each of the dancers faced a real potential harm, should they be compelled to disclose their actual identities: The court must also consider the plaintiffs’ claim that disclosing their identities would subject them to potential harm, both physical and with regard to their careers. (See ECF No. 17 at 3–4.) The Ninth Circuit has again provided guidance: “[I]n cases where, as here, pseudonyms are used to shield the anonymous party from retaliation, the district court should determine the need for anonymity by evaluating the following factors: (1) the severity of the threatened harm, (2) the reasonableness of the anonymous party’s fears; and (3) the anonymous party’s vulnerability to such retaliation.” Advanced Textile, 214 F.3d at 1068. The plaintiffs “are not required to prove that the defendants intend to carry out the threatened retaliation. What is relevant is that plaintiffs were threatened, and that a reasonable person would believe that the threat might actually be carried out.” Id. at 1071. While this language specifically addresses career retaliation by an employer defendant, its terms and concerns usefully frame the general question of whether a plaintiff seeking anonymity faces any harm. The latter is, again, a recognized basis for granting anonymity. E.g., id. at 1068 (anonymity is allowed where identification “creates a risk of … physical or mental harm”); Doe, 655 F.2d at 922 n. 1 (using pseudonyms where informant “faced a serious risk of bodily harm”). The plaintiffs express reasonable concerns that disclosing their identities would threaten them with both career and possibly physical harm. (ECF No. 17 at 3–4.) For such “privacy and personal[-]safety reasons,” they explain, at SFBSC’s nightclubs, “it is customary for the exotic dancers to use … stage names.” (Id. at 3.) SFBSC does not deny this: either the practice or its rationale. Finally, SFBSC has “agree[d] that that the public disclosure of an exotic dancer’s true identity presents substantial risk of harm.” (ECF No. 26 at 12 (emphasis added).) This consideration favors allowing the plaintiffs to proceed pseudonymously. Finally, the court concluded that any potential prejudice to the defendants and right to judicial access was outweighed by the potential harm the plaintiffs faced. Thus, the court granted the plaintiffs’ motion. Click Jane Roes 1-2 v. SFBSC Management, LLC to read the entire Order on Anonymity & Sealing. S.D.N.Y.: White Collar Worker Suing Bloomberg Failed to Meet Burden to Proceed Anonymously Michael v. Bloomberg L.P. In the second case, the plaintiff was willing to provide his real name to Bloomberg, but refused to do so absent an agreement from Bloomberg to keep his name confidential. Thus, by his motion, the plaintiff requested that the court permit the plaintiff to proceed pseudonymously, and plaintiff additionally asked that; (1) plaintiff’s identity be filed under seal with the court; (2) plaintiff’s name, address, and other identifying information be supplied to Bloomberg; and (3) Bloomberg be directed not to disclose plaintiff’s identity or make negative public remarks concerning plaintiff. Holding that the plaintiff had failed to meet his burden of proof to warrant the requested relief, the court denied plaintiff’s motion. In opposition, Bloomberg argued that plaintiff’s privacy concerns were too vague and that plaintiff’s request was contrary to the written notice requirement of 216(b) of the FLSA. The court agreed and reasoned: Bloomberg has the better of the argument. Under Rule 10(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint must “name all the parties.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(a). “This requirement, though seemingly pedestrian, serves the vital purpose of facilitating public scrutiny of judicial proceedings and therefore cannot be set aside lightly.” Sealed Plaintiff v. Sealed Defendant, 537 F.3d 185, 188–89 (2d Cir. 2008) (internal quotations omitted). The use of pseudonyms “runs afoul of the public’s common law right of access to judicial proceedings, a right that is supported by the First Amendment.” Doe v. Del Rio, 241 F.R.D. 154, 156 (S.D.N.Y.2006) (internal quotations omitted); see also Doe I v. Four Bros. Pizza, No. 13 CV 1505 VB, 2013 WL 6083414, at 9–10 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 19, 2013) (rejecting FLSA plaintiffs’ request for anonymity despite threat of retaliation from employer). The court applied a similar balancing of interests test as the court in the Jane Roe case, but reached the opposite conclusion on the facts before it: The Court has balanced plaintiff’s possible interest in anonymity against the potential prejudice to defendants and the public’s interest in disclosure, and concludes that the factors weigh in favor of denying plaintiff’s motion. There is no issue here of physical retaliation or mental harm against plaintiff. Nor is this the type of unusual case involving matters of a highly sensitive or personal nature—i.e., claims involving sexual orientation, pregnancy, or minor children—in which courts have justified anonymous plaintiffs proceeding pseudonymously. To depart in this case from the general requirement of disclosure would be to hold that nearly any plaintiff bringing a lawsuit against an employer would have a basis to proceed pseudonymously. The court declines to reach such a holding. The court also rejected plaintiff’s middle ground position that he be permitted to disclose his identity to Bloomberg, under the condition that they maintain same confidentiality, in the name of judicial access. Click Michael v. Bloomberg L.P. to read the entire Opinion. S.D.N.Y.: Where Defendant Asserted “Good Faith” Defense, It Waived Attorney Client Privilege, Despite Lack of “Reliance on Counsel” Defense Scott v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. This case was before the court on the defendant’s motion for a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) to prohibit plaintiffs from discovery of defendant’s attorney-client communications regarding the decision to classify certain employees as “executives” and thus exempt from overtime pay. As part of its affirmative defenses, the defendant invoked 29 U.S.C. § 259 to claim that it relied on administrative authority in classifying the plaintiffs and is thus free from liability (the “Eleventh Affirmative Defense”), and 29 U.S.C. § 260 for the proposition that it did not act willfully and thus should not be subjected to FLSA’s liquidated damages provision (the “Twelfth Affirmative Defense”). Specifically, the defendant claimed to have relied on state and federal regulations, “but not upon advice of counsel.” Rejecting the defendant’s contention that it preserved the attorney-client privilege notwithstanding its assertion of “good faith,” the court held that attorney-client communications regarding the exempt nature (or lack thereof) of the position at issue were discoverable. After a discussion of the “at-issue” waiver of the attorney-client privilege, in cases where a party places its knowledge (or lack thereof) and good faith at issue, and a discussion of the general principles behind the FLSA’s good faith defense, the court determined that the defendant in this FLSA case had waived the attorney-client privilege by placing its mental state at issue here by claiming a good faith defense: Chipotle affirmatively invokes § 259 in its Eleventh Affirmative Defense [stating “Pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 259 and other applicable law, Chipotle’s alleged failure to pay Plaintiffs or any putative class or collective member any of the wages on which Plaintiffs’ claims are based, if at all, was in conformity with and in reliance on an administrative regulation, order, ruling, approval, interpretation, administrative practice, and/or enforcement policy of the United States Department of Labor and any Department of Labor in any of the states in which Plaintiffs allege claims under state law, but not upon advice of counsel.”]. Though it does not specifically name § 260 in its Twelfth Affirmative Defense, Chipotle claims an affirmative defense to FLSA’s liquidated damages, which is necessarily governed by § 260, and therefore its Twelfth Affirmative Defense falls under that provision. See Northrop v. Hoffman of Simsbury, Inc., 134 F .3d 41, 45–46 (2d Cir.1997) (a party need not cite a specific statute in order to invoke it in a pleading). Despite defendant’s attempt to plead around an “advice of counsel” defense, the court held that they could not, because it was clear that defendant did have the advice of counsel on the very issues for which it claimed good faith, regardless of whether they claimed reliance on same or not: Yet despite the good faith requirements of both statutory defenses, Chipotle attempts to plead around them by avoiding mention of the advice of counsel, except to disclaim it in the Eleventh Affirmative Defense. Chipotle claims to have invoked only the portions of §§ 259–60 relating to reliance on administrative guidance, rather than any standard of good faith. See Def’s. Br. at 1–2 (“Chipotle does not assert a generalized ‘good faith’ defense … Chipotle set out its affirmative defense, as it is entitled to, in such a way as to remove its ‘state of mind’ from being at issue….”); Answer to Second Am. Compl. at 23. Such artful pleading cannot negate an element of a statutory defense, especially here, where it is evident that Chipotle did in fact have the advice of counsel on the very topic at issue. A defendant may not succeed on an affirmative defense by pleading only some of the necessary elements. As explained supra, Chipotle has invoked two affirmative defenses that require showings of good faith. Here, plaintiffs have shown that Chipotle did in fact have the advice of counsel regarding the classification of apprentices. And knowing whether Chipotle had been advised not to classify the apprentices as exempt is necessary to evaluate the validity of the Eleventh and Twelfth Affirmative Defenses. Thus, the advice of Chipotle’s counsel regarding that classification is plainly “at issue” within the meaning of Bilzerian. Because at-issue waiver is to be “decided by the courts on a case-by-case basis, and depends primarily on the specific context in which the privilege is asserted,” In re Grand Jury Proceedings, 219 F.3d at 183, the Court will examine the specific factual context of this case. Given the substantial similarities between the good faith defenses in §§ 259–60, this analysis will encompass both the Eleventh and Twelfth Affirmative Defenses. At the deposition of David Gottlieb, Chipotle’s corporate representative and Director of Compliance and Field People Support, the witness testified that Chipotle consulted with attorneys in making the classification decision. When asked about the existence of communications regarding the apprentice classification, Mr. Gottlieb admitted that “there were communications. They were in the context of communications and discussions with our lawyers.” Gottlieb Dep. 65:2–4. In fact, Mr. Gottlieb testified that he had “no recollection” of ever communicating with anyone at Chipotle regarding the apprentice classification other than in the presence of his attorneys. Id. at 65:11–15.F In addition, during Mr. Gottlieb’s deposition, Chipotle repeatedly objected on attorney-client grounds and instructed Mr. Gottlieb not to answer questions related to Chipotle’s decision to classify the apprentice position as exempt. For example, Chipotle asserted the attorney-client privilege and directed Mr. Gottlieb not to answer questions about whether Mr. Gottlieb participated in any evaluations regarding the exempt classification position. There are numerous other such examples from the transcript of Mr. Gottlieb’s deposition. See, e.g., Gottlieb Dep. 42:6–16 (refusing to answer question on the research behind the classification after being advised not to disclose any attorney-client communications); id. at 61:18–62:2 (same); id. at 87:14–88:1 (acknowledging counsel were consulted on decision to reclassify apprentices in California). In addition, Chipotle’s privilege log confirms that it received legal advice concerning the apprentice exemption decision. See Ex. D (Def’s Second Am. Privilege Log), No. 2 (February 18, 2011 email from outside counsel to Mr. Gottlieb on the subject of “Legal advice regarding Chipotle’s Apprentice Position.”) Finally, Chipotle’s discovery responses indicate reliance on advice of counsel. Chipotle asserted attorney-client privilege in response to plaintiffs’ document requests and interrogatories that sought information on the decision to classify apprentices as exempt. See, e.g., Ex. C (Def.’s Resps. Pls.’ Fourth Req. Produc. Docs.), No. 28 (asserting privilege in response to request for documents relied upon by Chipotle as basis for decision to classify apprentices as exempt), No. 31 (same for request for documents relied upon by Chipotle as basis for its good faith defenses), No. 32 (same for documents pertaining to or evidencing Chipotle’s decision to classify apprentices as nonexempt under FLSA, NYLL, and Missouri Labor Law) & No. 33 (same for documents related to Chipotle’s contention that apprentices are exempt under administrative or executive exemption). In light of the clear record demonstrating defendant received legal advice on the very issue on which they claimed good faith, the court held that they could not shield communications with their attorneys about the issue from disclosure: This evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that Chipotle did receive legal advice on the apprentice classification decision. And Chipotle does not dispute that it did. Instead, it argues that it is entitled to define its affirmative defense narrowly and in such a way as to remove its state of mind from being at issue. In this regard, Chipotle contends that this case is distinguishable from Wang v. The Hearst Corp., where the same legal question was presented, and the district court found an at-issue waiver of the attorney-client privilege. 12 Civ. 0793(HB), 2012 WL 6621717 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 19, 2012). In Wang, a sophisticated corporate defendant asserted a § 260 defense to allegations of FLSA wage and hour violations, but invoked attorney-client privilege to block the plaintiff’s discovery of the defendant’s in-house counsel e-mails, claiming that its defense “would ‘not rely, directly or indirectly, on legal advice for its good-faith defense in this case’ and that it had offered to so stipulate.” Id. at 1 (internal citations omitted). A witness from the defendant’s human resources department, however, had indicated in a deposition that questions regarding the collection of school credit letters for unpaid interns (who were allegedly misclassified as such) would be better posed to the legal department. Id. at 2. The court soundly rejected the defendant’s attempt to plead around the requirements of § 260, which it found “amount[ed] to little more than semantics without any concrete examples provided by Defendants. On the other hand, [it found] it difficult to imagine that a good faith defense regarding the FLSA raised by a corporation as large and as sophisticated as Hearst would not involve the advice of its legal department.” Id. Chipotle attempts to distinguish Wang on two grounds: there, (1) the defendant’s affirmative defense explicitly invoked good faith, and (2) testimony was introduced that the legal department, not the human resources department, had responsibility for making the classification decisions at issue. These are not distinctions. As discussed above, Chipotle’s affirmative defenses carry a good faith component even if none is so stated. And Mr. Gottlieb, himself an attorney and responsible for Chipotle’s wage and hour determinations, testified that he was unaware of any communications regarding the apprentice determination that did not involve attorneys, and otherwise refused to answer relevant questions on attorney-client privilege grounds. All told, there is far more evidence here than in Wang that the defendant had, and perhaps ignored, the advice of counsel in classifying its employees as exempt. Given the circumstances in this particular case, “legal advice that [the defendant] received may well demonstrate the falsity of its claim of good faith belief,” Leviton, 2010 WL 4983183, at 3, putting Chipotle’s state of mind at issue. The plaintiffs are therefore “entitled to know if [the defendant] ignored counsel’s advice.” Arista Records, 2011 WL 1642434, at 3 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). The court also rejected defendant’s public policy argument which it urged supported upholding the attorney-client privilege, even where a defendant impermissibly sought to use it simultaneously as a shield and a sword: Chipotle contends that even if Second Circuit case law favors a waiver in this case, such waiver should be overcome by policy considerations. It claims that, should the Court find a waiver here, “every employer in every FLSA case will have to choose between revealing such communications or forfeiting statutory defenses. This is akin to imposing, as a matter of law, an expanded limitations period and 100% liquidated damages risk on every employer in every FLSA case.” Def’s. Reply at 6. Such concerns are misplaced and overstated. First, as stated by both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, liquidated damages are in fact the norm in FLSA cases. This is not a byproduct of a broad reading of the at-issue waiver doctrine. Rather, this is because, by act of the legislature, “the liquidated damage provision is not penal in its nature but constitutes compensation for the retention of a workman’s pay which might result in damages too obscure and difficult of proof for estimate other than by liquidated damages.” Brooklyn Sav. Bank v. O’Neil, 324 U.S. 697, 707 (1945) (citations omitted); see also Herman, 172 F.3d at 142; Reich, 121 F.3d at 71; Brock v. Wilamowsky, 833 F.2d 11, 19 (2d Cir.1987) ( “ ‘[d]ouble damages are the norm, single damages the exception ….‘ “ (quoting Walton v. United Consumers Club, Inc., 786 F.2d 303, 310 (7th Cir.1986))). It is for this very reason, protection of workers as directed by Congress, that defendants face a high bar to mounting a good faith defense to FLSA wage and hour claims. Second, defendants in such situations are not at all required to waive attorney-client privilege to defend against liability. For instance, defendants may assert defenses on bases other than good faith. See Crawford v. Coram Fire Dist., 12 Civ. 3850(DRH)(WDW), 2014 WL 1686203 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 29, 2014) (upholding denial of discovery of privileged communications where defendant had separate basis for defense that did not rely on good faith); Leviton, 2010 WL 4983183, at 5 (plaintiff did not waive privilege by filing claim where waiver would be useful but not essential to defendants’ defense). In the case at hand, Chipotle has pled a panoply of defenses aside from the two affirmative defenses at issue. If it does not wish to waive its privilege, it may seek leave to amend its answer under Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b) so that it can forego its good faith defenses and rely instead on its remaining 30 affirmative defenses. See Bilzerian, 926 F.2d at 1293–94 (defendant need not assert good faith defense, but if he does, he waives attorney-client privilege); Answer to Second Am. Compl. at 21–26 (listing Chipotle’s affirmative defenses). Finally, Chipotle claims that a finding of at-issue waiver will discourage companies from seeking advice from counsel. Chipotle predicts that companies will instead be “incentivized to make important decisions concerning critical issues such as employee pay on their own lest they be forced to reveal their confidential and privileged communications.” Def’s. Br. at 2. The Court sees things differently. To the extent Chipotle is found to be liable for overtime violations (a question that is far from answered), and to the extent Chipotle’s counsel advised it against the classification decision it wrongly made, the decision on this motion will only serve to encourage companies to receive competent legal advice and follow it. Thus, the court held that the defendant had waived the attorney-client privilege by placing its mental state at issue and pleading a good faith defense. Click Scott v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. to read the entire Opinion & Order. 2d. Cir.: Individualized Damages Determinations Alone Cannot Preclude Class Certification Under Rule 23’s Predominance Inquiry Roach v. T.L. Cannon Corp. This case presented the question of whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, ––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 1426, 185 L.Ed.2d 515 (2013), overruled the well-established law in the Second Circuit that class certification pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure cannot be denied merely because damages have to be ascertained on an individual basis. The court below had held that Comcast permits certification under Rule 23(b)(3) only when damages are measurable on a classwide basis, and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The Second Circuit disagreed, and held that Comcast does not mandate that certification pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3) requires a finding that damages are capable of measurement on a classwide basis, in the context of this wage and hour case. The court began by summarizing Second Circuit case law prior to the Comcast decision, and explaining that Comcast did not overrule the line of cases that had long held that individualized damages will not preclude class certification generally: Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast, it was “well-established” in this Circuit that “the fact that damages may have to be ascertained on an individual basis is not sufficient to defeat class certification” under Rule 23(b)(3). Seijas v. Republic of Argentina, 606 F.3d 53, 58 (2d Cir.2010); see McLaughlin v. Am. Tobacco Co., 522 F.3d 215, 231 (2d Cir.2008), abrogated in part on other grounds by Bridge v. Phx. Bond & Indem. Co., 553 U.S. 639, 128 S.Ct. 2131, 170 L.Ed.2d 1012 (2008); see also Dukes, 131 S.Ct. at 2558 (“[I]ndividualized monetary claims belong in Rule 23(b)(3).”). “[T]he fact that damages may have to be ascertained on an individual basis” was simply one “factor that we [had to] consider in deciding whether issues susceptible to generalized proof ‘outweigh’ individual issues” when certifying the case as a whole. McLaughlin, 522 F.3d at 231. We do not read Comcast as overruling these decisions. The court then discussed and distinguished Comcast: In Comcast, the plaintiffs filed a class-action antitrust suit claiming that Comcast’s acquisition of competitor cable television providers in sixteen counties clustered around Philadelphia violated the Sherman Act. 133 S.Ct. at 1430. Comcast’s clustering strategy had increased its market share in that geographical area from around twenty to seventy percent. Id. The plaintiffs sought to certify the class of Comcast subscribers in that geographical area under Rule 23(b)(3), claiming that questions of law and fact common to the class predominated over any questions affecting individual members. Id. The district court held, and neither the plaintiffs nor defendants contested on appeal, that in order to meet the predominance requirement, the plaintiffs had to show that: (1) the injury suffered by the class was “capable of proof at trial through evidence that [was] common to the class rather than individual to its members”; and (2) “the damages resulting from [the anticompetitive] injury were measurable on a class-wide basis through use of a common methodology.” Id. (first alteration in original) (quoting Behrend v. Comcast Corp., 264 F.R.D. 150, 154 (E.D.Pa.2010)) (internal quotation marks omitted). The plaintiffs offered four theories of antitrust injury or impact, only one of which the district court concluded was susceptible of classwide proof: Comcast’s clustering around Philadelphia reduced competition from “overbuilders,” competitors who build competing cable networks where there exists an incumbent cable provider.FN4 Id. at 1430–31. To prove that the damages resulting from the anticompetitive injury were measurable on a classwide basis, the plaintiffs offered expert testimony that modeled the class damages based on all four theories of antitrust injury; the model did not isolate damages resulting from the “overbuilder” theory. Id. at 1431. Nevertheless, both the district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit concluded that the expert testimony was sufficient to establish that damages resulting from the “overbuilder” theory of injury were measurable on a classwide basis. Id. Rejecting the notion that the plaintiffs were required to offer a model of classwide damages that attributed damages only to the “overbuilder” theory of injury, the Court of Appeals explained that the plaintiffs were required merely to provide assurance that, “if they can prove antitrust impact, the resulting damages are capable of measurement and will not require labyrinthine individual calculations.” Id. at 1431 (quoting Behrend v. Comcast Corp., 655 F.3d 182, 206 (3d Cir.2011)) (internal quotation mark omitted). A more rigorous analysis, the Court of Appeals concluded, would constitute an “attac[k] on the merits of the methodology [that] [had] no place in the class certification inquiry.” Id. (first and third alterations in original) (quoting Behrend, 655 F.3d at 207) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Supreme Court granted certiorari. After noting that neither party had contested the district court’s holding that Rule 23(b)(3) predominance required a showing that damages resulting from the anticompetitive injury were measurable on a classwide basis, id. at 1430, the Court identified the question presented as whether the plaintiffs “had … establish[ed] that damages could be measured on a classwide basis,” id. at 1431 n. 4. The Court reversed, holding that the plaintiffs’ expert testimony failed to carry that burden. Id. at 1432–33. The Court began by noting that it had recently held that establishing the Rule 23(a) prerequisites to class certification required a “rigorous analysis,” which would “frequently entail ‘overlap with the merits of the plaintiff’s underlying claim.’ ” Id. at 1432 (quoting Dukes, 131 S.Ct. at 2551). Those “same analytical principles,” the Court explained, govern the Rule 23(b) inquiry. Id. The Court then held that the plaintiffs’ expert testimony did not withstand the “rigorous analysis” for the Rule 23(b)(3) predominance test. The Court explained that the plaintiffs would be entitled only to damages resulting from their theory of injury. Id . at 1433. Thus, “a model purporting to serve as evidence of damages …. must measure only those damages attributable to that theory.” Id. “If the model does not even attempt to do that,” the Court explained, “it cannot possibly establish that damages are susceptible of measurement across the entire class for purposes of Rule 23(b)(3).” Id. Because there was “no question” that the damages model was not based solely upon the “overbuilder” theory of injury certified by the district court, but also included calculations accounting for the three other theories of injury, id . at 1433–34, the Court concluded that “Rule 23(b)(3) cannot authorize treating [cable] subscribers within the Philadelphia cluster as members of a single class,” id. at 1435. The Second Circuit then explained that Comcast did not hold that a class cannot be certified under Rule 23(b)(3) solely because damages cannot be measured on a classwide basis, as many defendants in many contexts have since argued: Comcast, then, did not hold that a class cannot be certified under Rule 23(b)(3) simply because damages cannot be measured on a classwide basis. See id. at 1430 (noting that the requirement of a classwide damages model “is uncontested here”); id. at 1436 (Ginsburg and Breyer, JJ., dissenting) (“[T]he decision should not be read to require, as a prerequisite to certification, that damages attributable to a classwide injury be measurable ‘on a class-wide basis.’ “). Comcast’s holding was narrower. Comcast held that a model for determining classwide damages relied upon to certify a class under Rule 23(b)(3) must actually measure damages that result from the class’s asserted theory of injury; but the Court did not hold that proponents of class certification must rely upon a classwide damages model to demonstrate predominance. See id . at 1433; see also In re Deepwater Horizon, 739 F.3d 790, 817 (5th Cir.2014) (construing the “principal holding of Comcast [as being] that a ‘model purporting to serve as evidence of damages … must measure only those damages attributable to th[e] theory’ of liability on which the class action is premised” (ellipsis and second alteration in original) (quoting Comcast, 133 S.Ct. at 1433)); Butler v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 727 F.3d 796, 799 (7th Cir.2013) (construing Comcast as holding only “that a damages suit cannot be certified to proceed as a class action unless the damages sought are the result of the class-wide injury that the suit alleges” (emphasis in original)); Leyva v. Medline Indus. Inc., 716 F.3d 510, 514 (9th Cir.2013) (interpreting Comcast to hold that class-action plaintiffs “must be able to show that their damages stemmed from the defendant’s actions that created the legal liability”); accord Catholic Healthcare W. v. U.S. Foodservice Inc. ( In re U.S. Foodservice Inc. Pricing Litig.), 729 F.3d 108, 123 n. 8 (2d Cir.2013) (“Plaintiffs’ proposed measure for damages is thus directly linked with their underlying theory of classwide liability … and is therefore in accord with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Comcast … . “). Indeed, as the Court explained, if all four types of anticompetitive injury had been approved for certification by the district court, the plaintiff’s damages methodology “might have been sound, and might have produced commonality of damages.” Comcast, 133 S.Ct. at 1434. To be sure, Comcast reiterated that damages questions should be considered at the certification stage when weighing predominance issues, but this requirement is entirely consistent with our prior holding that “the fact that damages may have to be ascertained on an individual basis is … a factor that we must consider in deciding whether issues susceptible to generalized proof ‘outweigh’ individual issues.” McLaughlin, 522 F.3d at 231. The Supreme Court did not foreclose the possibility of class certification under Rule 23(b)(3) in cases involving individualized damages calculations. The court then noted that its reading of Comcast was consistent with all 4 Circuits to have reached the issue previously: Our reading of Comcast is consistent with the Supreme Court’s statement in Comcast that its decision turned upon “the straightforward application of class-certification principles.” 133 S.Ct. at 1433. Our reading is also consistent with the interpretation of those Circuits that have had the opportunity to apply Comcast. See AstraZeneca AB v. United Food & Commercial Workers Unions & Emp’rs Midwest Health Benefits Fund (In re Nexium Antitrust Litig.), No. 14–1521, 2015 WL 265548, at 8, 10 (1st Cir. Jan.21, 2015) (explaining that Comcast “simply” requires that a damages calculation reflect the associated theory of liability, and discussing the “well-established” principle that individualized damages do not automatically defeat Rule 23(b)(3) certification); Dow Chem. Co. v. Seegott Holdings, Inc. ( In re Urethane Antitrust Litig.), 768 F.3d 1245, 1257–58 (10th Cir.2014) ( “Comcast did not rest on the ability to measure damages on a class-wide basis.”); In re Deepwater Horizon, 739 F.3d at 817 (rejecting, post-Comcast, the argument “that certification under Rule 23(b)(3) requires a reliable, common methodology for measuring classwide damages” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Butler, 727 F.3d at 801 (holding, upon the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari, vacatur, and remand in light of Comcast, that “the fact that damages are not identical across all class members should not preclude class certification”); Glazer v. Whirlpool Corp. (In re Whirlpool Corp. Front–Loading Washer Prods. Liab. Litig .), 722 F.3d 838, 860–61 (6th Cir.2013) (noting that Comcast was “premised on existing class-action jurisprudence” and that “it remains the ‘black letter rule’ that a class may obtain certification under Rule 23(b)(3) when liability questions common to the class predominate over damages questions unique to class members”); Leyva, 716 F.3d at 513 (reiterating Ninth Circuit precedent, post-Comcast, that “damage calculations alone cannot defeat certification” (quoting Yokoyama v. Midland Nat’l Life Ins. Co., 594 F.3d 1087, 1094 (9th Cir.2010)) (internal quotation mark omitted)). Because the trial court did not complete its full analysis under Rule 23, inasmuch as it held that individualized damages alone precluded class certification, the Second Circuit reversed and remanded the case for further findings regarding plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. Of note, on the same day, in an unreported decision, the Second Circuit affirmed a trial court’s order granting class certification, notwithstanding the defendant-appellant’s argument that individualized damages precluded class certification regarding liability issues. Click Roach v. T.L. Cannon Corp. to read the entire decision and Jason v. Duane Reade, Inc. to read the unreported decision in that case. 6th Cir.: Collective Action Waivers in Employees’ Separation Agreements Did Not Validly Waive Employees’ Rights to Participate in Collective Action Under FLSA, Absent Valid Arbitration Provision Killion v. KeHE Distributors, LLC Although this one is not exactly breaking news, we are discussing it because of its importance in the general landscape of FLSA jurisprudence. As discussed here, this case was before the Sixth Circuit on Plaintiffs’ appeal, regarding an issue of first impression. Specifically, the Sixth Circuit was asked to decide whether an agreement by employees to waive their rights to participate in a collective action under the FLSA can be enforceable in the absence of an agreement to arbitrate their FLSA claims. Reversing the district court, the Sixth Circuit held that such agreements are unenforceable, absent an agreement to arbitrate the claims in an alternative forum, because in such a situation there is no congressional interest that weighs against the remedial goals of the FLSA. In this case, former employees of the Defendant brought putative collective action against their former employer to recover overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The district court determined that collective-action waiver in certain employees’ separation agreements was enforceable, despite the fact that the separation agreements contained no agreement to arbitrate their FLSA claims. The employees appealed, and the Sixth Circuit reversed. Framing the parties’ respective positions, the Sixth Circuit explained: This brings us to the merits regarding the validity of the unmodified collective-action waivers. The plaintiffs argue that this court’s decision in Boaz v. FedEx Customer Information Services, Inc., 725 F.3d 603 (6th Cir.2013), controls because it holds that an employee will not be bound by a contract entered into with his employer that has the effect of limiting his rights under the FLSA. In response, KeHE argues that cases upholding agreements that require employees to submit to arbitration on an individual basis are more on point. No court of appeals appears to have squarely addressed this issue outside of the arbitration context. Given its recent related decision in Boaz, the Sixth Circuit began by discussing that case’s implications on the issue presented in this case: This court’s decision in Boaz provides the relevant framework for the issue before us. In Boaz, the plaintiff-employee signed an employment agreement that contained a provision requiring her to bring any legal action against the defendant-employer within “6 months from the date of the event forming the basis of [the] lawsuit.” Id. at 605. When the plaintiff filed an FLSA lawsuit after the six-month time period had elapsed, the defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing that her claims were untimely under the employment agreement. This court disagreed. It first noted that “[s]hortly after the FLSA was enacted, the Supreme Court expressed concern that an employer could circumvent the Act’s requirements—and thus gain an advantage over its competitors—by having its employees waive their rights … to minimum wages, overtime, or liquidated damages.” Id. at 605–06. The Boaz court concluded that because the waiver of the statutory-limitations period would have deprived the plaintiff of her FLSA rights, the provision was invalid. Id. at 606. It also rejected the defendant’s argument that a plaintiff may waive procedural rights under the FLSA, just not substantive ones. Id. Finally, the court distinguished cases enforcing an employee’s agreement to arbitrate his or her claims on an individual basis due to the strong federal presumption in favor of arbitration. Id. at 606–07 (distinguishing Floss v. Ryan’s Family Steak Houses Inc., 211 F.3d 306 (6th Cir.2000), on that basis). Following its own reasoning from the Boaz decision, the Sixth Circuit concluded that normally a plaintiff’s right to participate in a collective action under 29 U.S.C. 216(b) cannot be waived: Boaz therefore implies that a plaintiff’s right to participate in a collective action cannot normally be waived. The court clearly said that “[a]n employment agreement cannot be utilized to deprive employees of their statutory [FLSA] rights.” Id. (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). And “Congress has stated its policy that ADEA plaintiffs [and thus FLSA plaintiffs because the statutory language is identical] should have the opportunity to proceed collectively.” Hoffmann–La Roche Inc. v. Sperling, 493 U.S. 165, 170, 110 S.Ct. 482, 107 L.Ed.2d 480 (1989). We have little reason to think that the right to participate in a collective action should be treated any differently than the right to sue within the full time period allowed by the FLSA. The concern, Boaz explained, is that “an employer could circumvent the Act’s requirements—and thus gain an advantage over its competitors—by having its employees waive their rights under the Act.” 725 F.3d at 605. Conscious of the body of law that has permitted collective action waivers when they are contained in agreements containing arbitration clauses, the court was careful to distinguish such cases: We are aware, of course, that the considerations change when an arbitration clause is involved. Boaz explained that “an employee can waive his right to a judicial forum only if the alternative forum allow[s] for the effective vindication of [the employee’s] claim.” Id. at 606–07 (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). Arbitration, it noted, is such a forum. Id. at 606. But this line of precedents is of only minimal relevance here because the plaintiffs’ collective-action waivers in this case contained no arbitration clause. And, in any event, none of our precedents permitting arbitration of FLSA claims has addressed employees’ collective-action rights. KeHE nonetheless points to cases from other circuits enforcing agreements to arbitrate FLSA claims on an individual basis. As KeHE notes, the Eleventh Circuit recently addressed the jurisprudence of the courts of appeals on collective-action waivers in the arbitration context in Walthour v. Chipio Windshield Repair, LLC, 745 F.3d 1326 (11th Cir.2014). It determined that all of the circuits to address this issue have concluded that § 16(b) does not provide for a non-waivable, substantive right to bring a collective action. See Sutherland v. Ernst & Young LLP, 726 F.3d 290, 296–97 & n. 6 (2d Cir.2013) (determining that the FLSA does not contain a “contrary congressional command” that prevents an employee from waiving his or her ability to proceed collectively and that the FLSA collective action right is a waivable procedural mechanism); Owen [v. Bristol Care, Inc.], 702 F.3d [1050,] 1052–53 [ (8th Cir.2013) ] (determining that the FLSA did not set forth a “contrary congressional command” showing “that a right to engage in class actions overrides the mandate of the FAA in favor of arbitration”); Carter v. Countrywide Credit Indus., Inc., 362 F.3d 294, 298 (5th Cir.2004) (rejecting the plaintiffs’ claim that their inability to proceed collectively deprived them of a substantive right to proceed under the FLSA because, in Gilmer [v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., 500 U.S. 20, 111 S.Ct. 1647, 114 L.Ed.2d 26 (1991) ], the Supreme Court rejected similar arguments regarding the ADEA); Adkins [v. Labor Ready, Inc.], 303 F.3d [496,] 503 [ (4th Cir.2002) ] (determining that a plaintiff failed to point to any “suggestion in the text, legislative history, or purpose of the FLSA that Congress intended to confer a non-waivable right to a class action under that statute” and that the plaintiff’s “inability to bring a class action, therefore, cannot by itself suffice to defeat the strong congressional preference for an arbitral forum”); cf. D.R. Horton [v. NLRB ], 737 F.3d [344,] 362 [ (5th Cir.2013) ] (determining that the National Labor Relations Act does not contain a contrary congressional command overriding the application of the FAA). Id. at 1336. The Eleventh Circuit then joined this emerging consensus. Id. Crucially, however, the respective waiver agreements in all of the above-cited cases included provisions subjecting the employees to arbitration. See Walthour, 745 F.3d at 1330 (noting the existence of an arbitration592 agreement between the parties); Sutherland, 726 F.3d at 296 (same); Owen, 702 F.3d at 1052 (same); Carter, 362 F.3d at 298 (same); Adkins, 303 F.3d at 498 (same). These circuit decisions, in turn, rely on the Supreme Court’s decisions in Gilmer, 500 U.S. at 35, 111 S.Ct. 1647 (“We conclude that Gilmer has not met his burden of showing that Congress, in enacting the ADEA, intended to preclude arbitration of claims under that Act.”), and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, ––– U.S. ––––, 133 S.Ct. 2304, 2309, 186 L.Ed.2d 417 (2013) (holding that “[n]o contrary congressional command requires us to reject the waiver of class arbitration here”). See Walthour, 745 F.3d at 1331 (citing Gilmer and Italian Colors); Sutherland, 726 F.3d at 296 (quoting Italian Colors ); Carter, 362 F.3d at 298 (citing Gilmer); Adkins, 303 F.3d at 502 (citing Gilmer ). Accordingly, none of the foregoing authorities speak to the validity of a collective-action waiver outside of the arbitration context. Thus, the Sixth Circuit concluded that, in the absence of a valid arbitration agreement, a collective action waiver is unenforceable because there is no countervailing federal policy (i.e. the FAA) that outweighs the remedial policy articulated in the FLSA: Because no arbitration agreement is present in the case before us, we find no countervailing federal policy that outweighs the policy articulated in the FLSA. The rationale of Boaz is therefore controlling. Boaz is based on the general principle of striking down restrictions on the employees’ FLSA rights that would have the effect of granting their employer an unfair advantage over its competitors. Requiring an employee to litigate on an individual basis grants the employer the same type of competitive advantage as did shortening the period to bring a claim in Boaz. And in cases where each individual claim is small, having to litigate on an individual basis would likely discourage the employee from bringing a claim for overtime wages. Boaz therefore controls the result here where arbitration is not a part of the waiver provision. Click Killion v. KeHE Distributors, LLC to read the Sixth Circuit’s decision.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1802
__label__cc	0.56817	0.43183	Destination Southern Highlands Joshua Hutchins explores trout streams close to Sydney For those who are looking for trout fishing near our largest city, most would think of the Blue Mountains as the closest option. But there is a lesser-known area, closer to Sydney and an easy day trip from Canberra, with lots of trout potential. The birthplace of Donald Bradman and current residence of Nicole Kidman, it’s the beautiful and sophisticated Southern Highlands. And if it’s good enough for Nicole, I think it’s good enough for us. For the sake of this article we decided to cover several different locations within ten minutes to an hour of Moss Vale, New South Wales. And why Moss Vale? Because that’s where Angus Reynolds lives, a specialist in the area. Angus wasn’t going to give up all his local secrets, and I won’t be naming rivers, but even from the outset I was surprised by how many options existed in this somewhat forgotten trout district. FARMLAND STREAMS It was early season and I met up with Angus and his close friend Tom Madigan to begin exploring some of the region’s largely unknown streams. We made our way to a small creek, no more than fifteen minutes from Moss Vale and known to hold some good-sized rainbow trout. We slowly stalked the banks and it wasn’t long before a two pound rainbow came cruising along. Not one to waste time, I snuck into position and placed the trap. The fly landed a metre in front of the fish and it quickly consumed the offering. Wow, I thought to myself. This is a cool spot. In the next pool we saw another rainbow but spooked it before having a chance to cast. The creek wound its way down the valley, and we followed its path, looking for cruising fish. The water varied between shallow sections, bends and a scattering of deeper pools. And in one of those pools, a buttery three-and-a-half pound brown trout came as a welcome surprise — a phrase that soon began to reflect the Southern Highlands fishery as a whole — a very welcome surprise. Fast forward a month or so and it was time to explore some water further afield. Angus had been racking up the kilometres in his Land Rover exploring the whole area and was excited to show us around. Mickey Finn, Angus and I made our way out early from Moss Vale, stocked up on much needed coffee, and travelled west. Having arrived at the stream it was easy to see that today was going to require a different form of fishing. Long and slow moving pools held the prospect of cruising trout and the hope of rising fish. It wasn’t long before we connected, but the first few fish escaped without photo proof. At first we only spotted rainbow trout, of about one to three pounds, but then the brownies showed up. Despite their modest size they were some of the hardest fighting trout I have encountered. After a few missed opportunities, Mickey landed a beautiful three pound brownie. As we released the fifth fish of the day, I couldn’t help but say out loud, “This is some awesome fishing.” It had been years since I’d made the effort to fish the area, and it was clear that I’d been missing out. JUNGLE WATERFALLS The Southern Highlands district is a well-known tourist spot, offering the perfect weekend escape for people from Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong. With cosy, country-style accommodation, up-market cafes and boutiques, historic villages, wineries to explore and plenty of bushwalks in beautiful national parks, there’s something for everyone. And that now includes fly fishing fanatics. I met up with Angus in December for another completely different Highlands experience. The day was forecast to be warm so we set off early. A short hike and a series of cascades in a clear running creek eventually led us to a breathtaking waterfall. The views from the escarpment were world class and it took a lot to pull me away from the camera to get back to the fishing. The small stream was lined with ferns and vines, and even on that very hot day the jungle-like foliage gave perfect cover for the water below. “I want to quickly show you a spot,” Angus said as we were driving back to have lunch. We stopped on the bridge and Gus proceeded to search for his ‘bridge-fish’. “He’s not here today, let’s take a look at the next pool.” Working our way twenty or so metres upstream we came to a small pool. The water was clear but with a slight tannin stain. We could immediately see three nice sized rainbows cruising around near the surface looking for bugs. Gus made several casts in the path of the cruising fish, but to our surprise they inspected and rejected every dry fly. I watched one closely through my camera lens as it sized up its next slurp. It began to rise, mouth wide open, aaandd… “Gus it just ate a leaf! How dare it reject your fly then eat a leaf!” We both laughed. “Try a simple Royal Wulff,” I said. “It’s obviously after something bigger and brighter.” First cast and without hesitation, Gus hooked up. That leaf-conquering achievement began a series of successful encounters. Some days it doesn’t need to be too difficult, and that day it felt everything was laid out for us on a platter. BOULDERY STREAMS It seemed impossible to expect any more variety in one district, but after exploring deeper into the surrounding national parks, we found a third backdrop — beautiful bouldery streams. Lined with casuarina trees and full of native wildlife, these waterways were a stark contrast to the pastoral creeks. We felt fully immersed in the natural surrounds, spotting lyrebirds, dingoes, deer and even pigs. Clear water, good sized trout and plenty of snakes, these streams offered a true Aussie bush experience. By now I had a number of rivers and creeks in the Southern Highlands on my ever-expanding ‘Needs Exploring’ list, and several of these paid big dividends. On one particular day, I invited Sydney saltwater fly-guide Justin Duggan to come and experience some of these newly discovered rivers. I knew the trout fishing would have to be good to impress such a dedicated saltwater man. We started early and after an obligatory coffee hiked our way into a remote piece of water. Working through the pockets of this bouldery playground it didn’t take long to connect. In short, Justin had a field day. “This fishing is just too good,” he said, “I’m happy to be on the camera for the rest of the afternoon.” He was completely content with the day, and we hadn’t even made it to lunch. There is great satisfaction in fishing new waters, especially when they have been right under your nose. While Sydney may still not be seen as a top ‘trout mecca’ it does offer a number of year-round options. Whether it’s a day trip, or a weekend escape a few hours from Sydney, there is always a lake or a stream where you can swing a fly in search of a trout. And now I can convincingly say that the Southern Highlands is one of those places. And a good reminder for us all, in 2018, that there is always somewhere new to explore. by Josh Hutchins Late last year, Lucas Allen, a fly fishing guide from Tauranga, reached out to me after seeing the fun we’d had on the Golden Bay kingfish in the South Island (FL#84). He invited me on a trip… Fiordland Salt Fly by Nick Reygaert The lower South Island of New Zealand is justifiably famous for its trout fishing, but saltwater fly fishing down this way has never really taken off. The reasons are manyfold, with cold-water… Heads Down Thumbs Up by David Vincent Welcome to our club: the golden scale club. It’s made up of an increasingly dedicated group of anglers from all around the world, who are deliberately targeting carp using a variety of…	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1804
__label__wiki	0.816922	0.816922	Soundfly Home for the Curious Musician Is Beck’s Album Better than Beyoncé’s Because Fewer People Were Involved? Editorial, Produce February 25, 2015 by Guest Writers By Brendan O’Brien Beck. Beyoncé. So hot right now. I woke up the morning after the Grammys to find that Kanye’s near-Taylor-Swifting of Beck’s acceptance speech had turned my Facebook feed into a battleground. A friend who goes by Rosencrantz had started a war in the comments of a Grammys post, fighting to determine which album deserved to take the title of Album of the Year. Rosencrantz sure seems to have an axe to grind with Kanye, but given that this is a Facebook rant, let’s do the right thing and ignore the last few lines. Especially because Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are arguing about something that turns out to be a very interesting interesting question. Is Beck’s album better because fewer people were involved? Or to put this age old argument in more general terms: Is the work of an Auteur better than the result of a collective process? “Auteur” is a word lifted from film theory. Its meaning is a little shifty, but generally it’s used to describe an artist whose work is their own sole vision. People who love Auteurs value the author’s interpretation of a subject over the subject itself. Those who appreciate Beck as an Auteur admire the fact that he goes out and physically plays the instruments that contribute to the record, arranging and performing almost everything. In Beck’s world, making an album is the personal process of getting the music that’s in his head onto a record. It’s about his vision, everything else is the process of realizing it. And then there’s Beyoncé. I’m guessing she has the right to veto anything she’s not a fan of, because, well, it’s her name on the album. By that measure, it could be argued that she’s an Auteur, too. But for the sake of this article, I’d point you to the title of track three on her Album-of-the-Year-nominated record, where you’ll see the words “(feat. Jay Z)” added to the title. That alone doesn’t kick her out of the Auteur club. She could have hired Jay Z to feature on her song and shaped his verse to fit perfectly into her vision of how the record worked. Many Beyoncé fans will want this to be true, that Beyoncé is in fact directing her record. Back in reality, however, the point of featuring Jay Z is to collaborate in order to make something great. The value of adding Jay Z is not to hear Beyoncé’s interpretation of Jay Z, but rather to make the album better by adding additional unique voices. Recording a Beyoncé record is the process of seeking out great collaborators to make the best record possible. Arguably it’s not about one person’s vision at all, it’s about the record. Many can argue that these approaches to making an artwork are orthogonal—independent, but not mutually exclusive. They’re just different approaches to making art and cannot be used to prove one is better than the other. This is Guildenstern’s argument. Rosencrantz counters by (throwing a fit, and) saying that there’s more Beck in a Beck record, so Beck wins. History seems to like Auteurs. Apparently, so do the Grammys. I will take a stand and end the debate. Guildenstern is right. Collaboration is fantastic, and it’s a very bad idea to judge the efficacy of an artwork based on the number of collaborators. It is due to collaboration that music has advanced to the point it has today. And we would have no Becks had no one come before him to inspire him and help him find his Auteur-ial vision. But before we go, let’s look at the album covers: And this a separate, but very important point. If Beyoncé is this big collaborator, where is the effort of this collaboration going? It’s going into propping up Beyoncé. And this is where collaboration is intentionally conflated for the work of an Auteur. As an audience we are asked to view this record as the work of an individual, when it is in fact the combined effort of hundreds of people. This is a subtle turn of phrase. There are two Beyoncé’s: Beyoncé the person and Beyoncé the band. And, I mean, what a killer band. But so what? We all knew that. Well, Sia and people like her is why we should care. It’s wholly possible (and nowadays, probable) that we’re attributing creative work to a person who is not its principle author. In Beyoncé’s case, the album boasts 16 producers and dozens of featured artists and songwriters (including Sia). Intentionally conflating “Beyoncé the band” with Queen Bey herself leaves us fans with very little to go on should we dare to ask whose song we’re singing along to. This is the part of the story that the Rosencrantzes of the world get hyphy over, and here they have a point. The word “collaboration” implies shared creative authorship, and that’s not what’s going on here. Beyoncé is not collaborating. She’s hiring people to contribute their talents to her record. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but there is something wrong with calling the people that work on the Beyoncé record collaborators. Thankfully, when Beyoncé’s records win Grammys, the Grammy is awarded to all credited authors. They may not be collaborators, but they’re something close. But, really, Rosencrantz, chill out. No one has ever cared about the Grammys. Brendan O’Brien is a New York-based graphic designer with other redeeming qualities. You can follow his writing at @Formal Fiction and listen to the music he makes and curates on his Soundcloud. An earlier version of this article was published on Brendan O’Brien’s Medium page @Formal Fiction on Feb 13th. It has been updated and edited with permission. You can read the original here. Sign up here for Soundfly’s weekly newsletter. Yes, please subscribe me to: Occasional course announcements and special offers Weekly digest of new Flypaper articles Tags: auteur, auteurship, beck, beyoncé, brendan o'brien, collaboration, composition, control, creativity, Formal fiction, grammys, Music, music controversy, reblog, songwriting Soundfly welcomes new voices each month to offer unique perspectives, shine a light on unexpected musical worlds, and help our readers find their sound. A Lyrical Exploration of Fiona Apple’s Groundbreaking “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” 5 Steps for Achieving Your New Years Goals in 2021 6 Easy Devices for Writing More Creative Lyrics How to Compose Music When You Can’t Read It The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Lyrics in Multiple Voices Here’s Just a Bunch of… Songwriting Prompts (Go Nuts!) Create a more musical internet with us, one email at a time. 2021: Turn Over a New Creative Leaf With a Soundfly Mentor January 15, 2021 The Promise of a New Year: How to Stay Focused in 2021 January 14, 2021 A Lyrical Exploration of Fiona Apple’s Groundbreaking “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” January 13, 2021 A different sort of music school for today's musicians. Get music news and tips delivered to your inbox once a week.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1805
__label__wiki	0.815771	0.815771	Dispatch: The Midwives on the Front Lines The Midwives on the Front Lines... The Midwives on the Front Lines Despite rising violence, some of Afghanistan’s most vital workers are fighting stigma to deliver health care to the country’s mothers. By Lynzy Billing \| July 6, 2020, 4:10 PM A midwife in training attends to one of the first patients of the day in the labor ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 18. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—The maternity ward at Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan is one of the country’s busiest. On a crisp February morning, women in pastel-colored burqas crowded the corridors outside the maternity ward clamoring to get in. A woman in labor stretched out on a blanket with her young children beside her, waiting for a free bed. Another woman perched on a stool guarded the doors, unwavering. They flung open, and a new mother pushed through the crowd with a newborn. The halls were filled with the cries of newborn babies. Sitara Habibi, 35, a bright-eyed, wiry midwife, bustled around the maternity ward. She was at the end of her double shift—24 hours of nonstop births, attending to young mothers from tribes across Kandahar. At one bedside she checked a patient’s dilation, and at another she changed an IV bag—all while answering questions from concerned relatives. Habibi is one of 38 midwives at the government-run Mirwais Hospital, where she has worked for seven years and delivered thousands of babies. Sitara Habibi attends to a woman in labor, to her left, with the woman’s mother to her right, as other women in labor wait nearby, at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 18. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Midwives are some of Afghanistan’s most vital front-line health care workers, fighting to ensure that women and babies survive childbirth in even the most marginalized rural areas. “I wanted to be a midwife and serve the women of my community because this profession is needed so desperately in Afghanistan,” Habibi said. Afghanistan has seen four decades of war, leaving its health care system overstretched, with limited coverage in conflict-affected areas. Despite the peace deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February, violence continues unabated. Some of the violence has targeted maternity hospitals and health workers, including at Mirwais Hospital: In 2016, two armed militants dressed as doctors walked through the doors, and one patient was killed in the ensuing gunfight. The World Health Organization reported 119 attacks on health care in Afghanistan in 2019. A midwife performs an ultrasound on a patient in the admissions department of the maternity ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. Surgeons deliver a baby by cesarean section at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy On May 12, militants attacked a maternity ward at Dasht-e-Barchi Hospital in Kabul and killed 24 people, including 16 mothers, two newborns, and one midwife. More than 20 people, including babies, were injured. The attack lasted four hours. Ten women managed to find shelter, but not one of the 16 mothers who remained exposed was spared: Three were killed in the delivery room. In the wake of the attack, Médecins Sans Frontières, which ran the maternity ward, decided to cease operations and withdraw from the hospital—leaving women in the area without emergency obstetric care. Mothers and relatives visit babies in incubators in the intensive care unit of the pediatric department at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Across the country, the escalating violence has made health facilities harder to reach. Mirwais Hospital serves 6 million people from five provinces, including many from areas where the Taliban are actively fighting government forces. The hospital is southern Afghanistan’s only large-scale surgical facility, and since 1997 it has been supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, receiving medicine, equipment, and staff training. Its doctors and nurses work at the heart of the continuing Afghan conflict, with war casualties coming through the doors day and night. Mirwais Hospital sees an average of 300 patients and as many as 90 births every day. More than 27,000 babies were born at the hospital in 2019. Midwives staff the busy delivery ward at Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Feb. 18. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Two-thirds of births in Afghanistan still occur at home, and many rural Afghan women have no access to basic health clinics. For decades, the country has battled one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world—particularly in rural areas, where as few as 3 percent of deliveries are attended by a skilled professional. Postpartum hemorrhaging is the leading cause of maternal death. “Some women still give birth at home because the hospital is far away and there is no transportation. But in a home delivery, complications like hemorrhaging are common, and many women and babies die,” said Mazia Azimi, 30, another midwife at Mirwais Hospital and a mother of three. “These complications could be easily addressed if these women were giving birth here at the hospital.” Mazia Azimi, left, and Sitara Habibi are longtime midwives at Mirwais Hospital. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Over the last two decades, the increasing presence of midwives has started to play a role in improving a mother’s and baby’s chance of survival. Afghanistan’s maternal mortality rate has dropped from 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2002 to 638 deaths per 100,000 births in 2017. (Other estimates put the current figure at 400 per 100,000 births.) The number of patients at Mirwais Hospital has increased in recent years, along with their expectations. “Women from across Kandahar heard that we have a delivery ward, and now they are all coming here. Some travel for days and spend all the money they have to come to Mirwais,” Habibi said. “There are not enough of us. Every bed is full. On the delivery ward every bed is full, and upstairs surgeons are doing back-to-back cesareans, often two women at a time, and things don’t go according to the standards here. One midwife has to attend to four or five deliveries at a time.” Azimi talks to a surgeon in the delivery ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17.Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Mirwais Hospital often takes on patients who have been unable to receive proper treatment from their local clinic—if they have access to a medical professional at all. “The midwives here have saved many women’s lives from very complicated and dangerous situations,” Azimi said. However, some complications are discovered too late. “Some women’s families don’t let them come for checkups, or sometimes the hospital is just far away. In these cases, we are not able to address the complications in time,” she said. Azimi attends to a newborn baby in the delivery ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. The baby was born breech and required oxygen through hand ventilation before being taken to the ICU. Babies rest in the ICU of the pediatric department at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Beyond the maternity ward, Afghan midwives deliver other reproductive care to women, including disease prevention, breastfeeding guidance, and family planning. In conservative Kandahar, providing such support is also challenging—and sometimes dangerous, with midwives facing threats from the community and even patients’ family members. Not all midwives have the support of their own families. “For some of them, their families don’t allow them to come here, but they insist that this is the work they want to do,” Azimi said. “They know how important it is for the community, and they manage to get the permission somehow, but every day they battle just to come into work.” Women in labor wait in the corridor outside the maternity ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 19. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Women walk outside the maternity ward as children wait nearby at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 19. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy A woman holds her child in the pediatric department at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. This is the third hospitalization for the 2-year-old, who suffers from malnutrition. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Afghanistan’s conservative social norms and the lack of access to education for women present other unique challenges for the midwives of Mirwais Hospital. The average Afghan household has eight members, and women from conservative families balk at the idea of birth control, Habibi said. Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for women. Violence against women is still commonplace, as is the expectation that a wife will provide her husband with many children. Husbands and other male family members are often the biggest obstacle to family planning, so the midwives deliver targeted information to husbands and male relatives through screens in the waiting area. Some subjects are sensitive: Talking directly to the men about birth control would not be appropriate for them or for the midwives, according to Habibi. “If there is something specific that we can’t say—such as advising the women to avoid sleeping with her husband for a certain period of time for health reasons—we tell the woman discreetly and then advise the patient to convey it to her husband later,” Habibi said. “In this way, we often need to go through the women to educate the men.” Midwife trainees prepare the labor ward for the first patients of the day at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 18. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy Despite the many challenges and risks, the midwives have no plans to leave their work at the hospital. Their patients need them. As dusk fell on Mirwais Hospital in February, Azimi walked out of the maternity ward with a newborn, and the men and children waiting outside jumped to their feet to get a peek—hoping that she was carrying their newest family member. A father and son wait outside the maternity ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 17. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy A newborn baby receives his vaccinations in the maternity ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 18. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy A proud grandmother holds a newborn baby boy after he received his vaccinations in the maternity ward at Mirwais Hospital on Feb. 18. Lynzy Billing for Foreign Policy “It’s not an easy job because the lives of many mothers and children are in our hands,” Azimi said. “Women come from very far away because they know that the hospital provides experienced midwives and legitimate medicine. They trust our hospital, and they trust us.” In Rural Afghanistan, Some Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools What’s different this time, villagers say, is many of the fighters’ own sisters and daughters are attending. Dispatch \| Emran Feroz, Abdul Rahman Lakanwal Lynzy Billing is a journalist and photographer based between Afghanistan and Iraq. Twitter: @LynzyBilling Tags: Afghanistan, Health, Photo, War	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1808
__label__cc	0.638684	0.361316	Michael J. Camilleri Michael J. Camilleri is director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. From 2012 to 2017 he served in the Obama administration as a member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and as director for Andean Affairs at the National Security Council. Stories by Michael J. Camilleri The United States Can’t Go It Alone In Venezuela Shadow Government \| David McKean, Michael J. Camilleri Peace, Drugs, and Tough Love for Colombia’s Santos in Washington Load more by Michael J. Camilleri \| Return to staff list	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1809
__label__wiki	0.945621	0.945621	Professional notice Mayer Brown has boosted its white-collar practice with prominent hires in Chicago and Washington, DC, as it continues to represent some of the world’s largest companies and banks, including HSBC. The firm’s investigations practice advises clients on a wide variety of high-profile matters from the Department of Justice’s Swiss bank programme to the recovery of the largest known emerald in the world. Mayer Brown has particular prowess in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters thanks to partner Laurence Urgenson, who co-leads the firm’s global anti-corruption & FCPA practice with Audrey Harris. Urgenson, the recipient of GIR’s Outstanding Career Award in 2018, has represented six companies in FCPA settlements since the Siemens case in 2008 – the second most of any lawyer, according to GIR’s FCPA Counsel Tracker. He is also a Who’s Who Legal: Investigations. Harris returned to the firm in late 2018 after a stint as the first chief compliance officer for Anglo-Australian mining company BHP. Harris was named in GIR’s inaugural Women in Investigations profile in 2015. Also in the practice is Urgenson protégé Matthew Alexander, a GIR 40 under 40 nominee for 2017. The firm boats several ex-government officials, including former Manhattan federal prosecutor Glen Kopp and Daniel Stein, who joined Mayer Brown in 2018 and 2016 respectively. Stein is a former chief of the criminal division in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Under his tenure, the office brought diverse cases, including a US$795 million global settlement in February 2016 with telecommunications company VimpelCom. Kopp served in the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office under US Attorney Preet Bharara. As a prosecutor, Kopp investigated a group of US-based Russian agents in an operation known as the Illegals Program, which was partly the inspiration for the television series The Americans. Mayer Brown also relies on Washington, DC based partner Richard Ben-Veniste, who was one of the lead prosecutors on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force. In another prominent government probe, Ben-Veniste was chief counsel of the Senate Whitewater Committee which investigated the Clintons’ real estate dealings. The same office also features Ori Lev, the former enforcement director at the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), who specialises in sanctions matters. Alan Linning, previously the executive director of the enforcement team at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, is the firm’s most prominent white-collar lawyer in Hong Kong. In Paris, partner Nicolette Kost De Sevres heads the local compliance team. Kost De Sevres was special senior counsel in the New York Stock Exchange’s Paris office as well as senior special counsel at the Royal Bank of Scotland in London. In Brazil, the firm counts Tauil & Chequer Advogados as an associated firm. The white-collar practice is headlined by Luís Inácio Lucena Adams, who was the attorney general of Brazil from 2009 to 2016, and also features partner Michel Sancovski. The names to know in London are partners Sam Eastwood and Jason Hungerford, who joined in July 2018. Eastwood came to the firm after almost three decades at Norton Rose Fulbright. Hungerford previously worked on the investigation into Swedish telecoms company Telia, which resulted in an almost $1 billion settlement with US, Swedish and Dutch authorities in 2017. The firm’s Chicago office boosted its capacity to represent financial institutions in investigations, with the hiring of Megan Webster, who was the head of commercial litigation at the Bank of Montreal until she joined the firm in November 2018, and Matt Kluchenek who the firm recruited from Baker McKenzie in January 2019. GIR has reported that Mayer Brown represented French bank Société Générale in its internal investigation into FCPA violations. In the first-ever coordinated resolution with French and US authorities, the bank agreed to pay $1.3 billion for bribing Gaddafi-era Libyan officials and manipulating Libor. The firm was also counsel to Société Générale over the US Libor manipulation agreements. Société Générale resolved allegations with the DOJ and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that several employees falsely deflated US Libor submissions. The case was a landmark moment for foreign bribery enforcement as it was the first joint resolution between authorities in the US and France. In addition, Société Générale’s lawyers were able to tie up different forms of conduct, bribery and benchmark manipulation, in a single resolution – a dream scenario for any client facing legal jeopardy on multiple fronts. And according to GIR Just Anti-Corruption’s FCPA Counsel Tracker, Urgenson is the monitor overseeing Chilean airline LATAM. The company retained a monitor for three years under its $22.2 million agreement in 2016 to resolve allegations it bribed Argentine union officials to obtain favourable labour contracts. The monitorship ended in 2019 and Urgenson has certified the company’s compliance programme is reasonably designed and implemented. Urgenson and Alexander represented casino hotel company Las Vegas Sands in its FCPA settlements with US authorities. The firm advised Las Vegas Sands in its April 2016 SEC settlement. A former executive at the company alleged that the owner of Las Vegas Sands authorised a questionable US$700,000 payment to a legislator in Macau. The company did not admit or deny the SEC’s findings, and agreed to pay US$9 million in civil penalties and retain a monitor to settle the allegations. Then in January 2017, the company settled with the DOJ for US$6.96 million to resolve the matter. The non-prosecution agreement appeared to cover the same misconduct cited nine months earlier in the SEC’s settlement. Mayer Brown is a global firm of more than 1,500 lawyers in 27 offices, with more than 200 lawyers in New York, London and Hong Kong alone. Mayer Brown has a formal association with one of Brazil’s largest firms, Tauil & Chequer Advogados. The firm has bolstered its global network through mergers with one of the largest law firms in Asia, Johnson Stokes & Master, as well as numerous European outfits. While many of the firm’s current clients are confidential, it has advised the HSBC, Société Générale, Rezidor Hotel Group, Toronto-Dominion Bank and trading company Mitsui Brasil Co. The firm ran internal investigations related to the Swiss bank programme, under which the DOJ offered non-prosecution agreements to banks that voluntarily told authorities they helped US citizens avoid paying tax. The firm guided five banks to such NPAs in late 2015: Banque Internationale a Luxembourg, BBVA, Credit Agricole, KBL and PostFinance. Meanwhile, Mayer Brown’s Kelly Kramer represented the former vice president of New Jersey-based Louis Berger International, which admitted in 2015 to FCPA violations and agreed to a $17.1 million deferred prosecution agreement. The DPA resolved charges that the company bribed foreign officials in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Kuwait to secure government construction management contracts. James McClung, who was responsible for the company’s operations in India and Vietnam, was sentenced in 2016 to a year and a day in prison for FCPA violations. In London, Mayer Brown represented construction company Sweett Group over an investigation by UK authorities into foreign bribery allegations. The company later changed firm to improve relations with the Serious Fraud Office, according to court filings from February 2016. In February 2017 Sweett Group was convicted of UK Bribery Act violations and ordered to pay £2.25 million. Mayer Brown has also been helping the government of Brazil to recover the “Bahia Emerald”, a gem worth approximately $400 million. The emerald was recovered in Los Angeles in 2008, and has since been bitterly fought over by several parties. Mayer Brown was instructed by the Brazilian government to help repatriate the emerald. Mayer Brown is a global legal services provider advising clients across the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. We are noted for our commitment to client service and our ability to assist clients with their most complex and demanding legal and business challenges worldwide. We regularly represent and counsel companies and individuals on a wide range of multinational investigations and litigations such as matters involving the FCPA and other global anti-corruption efforts, internal investigations, DOJ/SEC or foreign investigations and enforcement proceedings, compliance reviews, and due diligence regarding mergers and acquisitions. Our cross-border investigations capabilities are strengthened by our global presence, with regional offices and partners in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America. Where knowledge of local laws is required, we work closely with colleagues in our international offices to ensure compliance with any applicable local laws and regulations. Our team includes numerous former government officials, including many who held high-ranking supervisory positions, federal prosecutors from US Attorney’s offices around the country and lawyers from international and federal regulatory agencies. For example, our team includes a former acting deputy assistant attorney general and chief of the DOJ’s Fraud Section; a former executive director of the Enforcement team of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission; a former assistant chief litigation counsel of the US Securities and Exchange Commission; a former deputy enforcement director of the CFPB; the former chief counsel of the US Senate Judiciary Committee; and chief of the Watergate Task Force. We also boast former UK Financial Services Authority lawyers and the former attorney general of Brazil. Please visit www.mayerbrown.com for more information. The GIR 30	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1813
__label__cc	0.583607	0.416393	Bossbattle Variety kofeiiniturpa Tangsta said: But if you were going to find boss fights annoying, you wouldn't be going down this path to begin with. This is like going to a pizza parlour and asking for burgers instead because you don't like pizza - it's a bizarre request following a bizarre choice. The developers have already provided you with a way (perhaps more than one) to bypass this fight, why trouble them with yet another? Surely they have better things to spend their time on. That’s a very rigid way of looking at this. There’re many reasons why a specific boss fight might be annoying and why the player might have ended up fighting it. RPG’s are kinda supposed to give the player a wide variety of gameplay opportunities, some more optimal, some less so, and reactivity to them. And one of the big yet unosolved challenges in cRPG desing (well, CP2077 isn’t really cRPG strictly speaking since it’s more like a mash up of GTA and DX:HR...) is how to make failure and defeat interesting, so that it doesn’t necessarily need to result in a reload and repetition, but rather keeps the player going with a desire to witness the results and effects of those failures. You might consider yielding a stupid idea, but if I had made a solo with a hint of diplomacy under his belt (yes, it should be tied to character stats), I would cherish the idea that there were opportunities to utilize that build in - sometimes even wildly - unconventional ways that bear their own reactivities and consequences (whereas, in this particular case, you would reload and repeat until victorious, which is your prerogative). And I can’t really think anything more important in an RPG, than widening the gameplay scale... even with relatively minuscule mundanities that might seem redundant on the surface (which this yielding thing isn’t). The kind of thought that there’s no changing your mind and trying a different approach is also the reason why I loathe gated skillchecks as a cheap and rigid linearizing solution of guiding the player through a specific path. Tangsta kofeiiniturpa said: but rather keeps the player going with a desire to witness the results and effects of those failures. A novel idea for certain, but also impossibly difficult to implement in a video game. Picture yourself as the quest designer and think of all the permutations of far reaching consequences this system will entail - calling it a massive headache is a gross understatement. Unless you're ok with the game taking another 5-6 years to develop, as well as being a lot more expensive, I don't think this option should even be considered atm. It's unchecked narrative fantasy at this stage. I had a feeling you wouldn't be into skill-checks. Naturally, I have the opposing view that skill-checks are a wonderful addition and necessary in order to provide some much needed structure to anything in this game and video games in general. Structure is what gives rise to a game being classified into a certain genre, it's what defines "roles" in a role playing game. Asking for a "no limitations" gameplay system makes no sense in any type of context (even in sandbox games, this does not exist). There has to be rules, and they need to be adhered to. It's fine to have some freedom within the confines of these rules, but going beyond them will just break the experience for most players. PnP RPGs have rules and so do all video games. Also, skill-checks aren't there to limit options, it's simply there to make sure that whatever options or "build" you choose, you need to stick with, for the sake of consistency and following a theme. Remember, it is the player that makes the choice, and a well designed game simply makes sure those choices are meaningful. A "fail-safe" mechanic for your choices in this game will make such choices a lot less impactful. I think your line of thought here expects the consequences to be huuuge gamechangers. But that's not what I mean. They really don't need to be that elsewhere than where it would make sense in the grand scheme of things. Most of them can well be something much much smaller and more tied to the moment at hand, than something that alters things in a big way in the long run. It'd be more work for sure, but much more worthwhile than... for example, giving daily schedules to random NPC's roaming the streets that can not even be interacted with (which, confuzzlingly enough, is in the game already... or, so CDPR has boasted). Ahah, but I am. Very very much so to boot. I consider the way the character systems are handled and how they tie in with moment to moment gameplay and interactivity the single most important aspect of the game. If I had it my way, there would be different kinds skillchecks sprinkled all over the game. Both, bigger and smaller in their impact, mundane and exotic in their nature, frequent and scarce in their applicability, passive and active in their useability. On everything: environment, objects, items, NPC's and the PC him/herself. And I'd have the player be able to invest in and build less than ordinary skills like forgery, cryptology, geology, languages, library search, human perception and so on (just examples, don't take the list too literally). And in doing so, I'd have the character systems be a tool and measurement on how well the PC can interact and operate in the world, and not so much a guidance metric over what he specifically can not do. So that the gameworld really opens up for the player to explore in ways that go beyond merely watching how it works. But no skill gates (i.e. Lockpicking 24/25, no-can-do). Not anywhere else other than where it absolutely makes sense that the task can not to be attempted, tried (i.e. presenting specific knowledge of a certain topic in dialog or being strong enough to lift something). Elsewhere, always, an RNG check to determine success or failure (this also ties in with the topic of making failure interesting and meaningful... to what extent it can). That, or how the CP2020 rules dictate the need for rolling the D10. And this goes for all kinds of interaction, combat included. The player should be able to try almost anything, but also have the responsibility to accept the failures and what they might bring with them. There is apparently a skill (or perk, I can't remember) for athletics in the game. It will probably count for something like "you can sprint 10% longer/faster". I'd actually have it so, that the player can always sprint a certain amount of time freely (let's say 3 seconds by default, for examples sake), but after that, the game starts checking for stumbling or tripping and the skill/perk, while increasing the "safe" time and possibly speed a bit, it'd also lessen the chances for those negative outcomes. And if there'd be a skill/perk for swimming, I'd have it so that with no investment, the character swims slowly like a dog and has a chance of drowning if going in deeper waters. So yeah, I am very much into skillchecks. A "fail-safe" mechanic for your choices in this game will make such choices a lot less impactful. Only if the "failsafe" (I don't think I'd want to call it that since that's not precisely what I'm looking for) is free of effort, precaution and consequence. A game in which you play a mercenary should of course have its share of boss battles. There can essentially be Witcher contracts in this game. It'd be nice to have multiple, creative ways around as many of those as possible. The strength of 2077's gameplay seems to be build diversity, so each type of V should be able to thrive against boss-type enemies. I'm also hoping "boss battles" don't default to big guys and lots of bullets. The Metal Gear series always knew how to balance massive scale bosses with smaller, arguably more dangerous enemies that feel as if you're fighting another player. The Cyberpunk universe has that same potential. Snowflakez Um, no it isn't, at least not from my experience. If you've chosen a combat option, I think it's important you stick to this path, and this applies to every other option. The game allowing you to constantly go back and forth between paths on a whimsical note is not something I would associate with good game design. The moment we start branching options into more options, whilst sounding liberating, things will just escalate into a convoluted mess of a narrative that goes nowhere. Structure is needed in certain areas. If not fighting a boss in an arena fight is what you want, then sure, the game already accommodates this, but to ask for a guns blazing option and then ask for the ability to change into a pacifist route midway just doesn't make any sense to me. We're going to have to agree to disagree. We've clearly had two totally different experience with gaming, and what you're arguing against is literally the way the system functions in 2077, so I don't know what else to say. You've still somehow misinterpreted what I said and have been saying. I never asked for a pacifist route midway (although that will be catered to, so again, don't know why you're arguing against it). I have full confidence in CDPR's ability to design video games, and and I have even greater confidence in their ability to design video games that surprise us in new and interesting ways. We're pretty much in agreement here. It's just your statement on skill-checks sounded so "final" it made it sound like you were against the feature entirely. I'm all for creative skill-checks and I don't mind standard gated skill-checks - whatever is the most appropriate for the situation in question. I'm only ok with it if there are consequences (the game actively punishing you making certain poorly thought-out choices) and not an encouragement to constantly change your mind on builds, narrative choices and whatnot. An indecisive playstyle is the worst type, imho. I don't like choices that have zero consequences, it's unrelatable and makes me question why it's even there in the game to begin with. Let's take allowing Royce to live after we've already bested him in a boss battle for instance, the consequence should be that he will get stronger later on and/or betray you in some way in future interactions. Such is the nature of his character. I'm a fan of the Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor and I wouldn't mind seeing it implemented somewhat here, though I doubt CDPR is interested. Snowflakez said: We're going to have to agree to disagree. Ok, sure. Though I'm not really sure why we are even discussing this. We both seem to already know that what you want is already in this game, which is where my confusion stems from, because despite knowing it's there, you're still concerned about the Royce fight, even though I've already explained why it went the way it went. Reactions: fridgeband fridgeband Suhiira said: My understanding is that you had the option (at some point) to warn Royce about the virus on the credchip and by doing so not need to fight your way out. I hope this is actually a real option, I would be very happy about it. fridgeband said: I don't know how much clearer I can put it, because that is still not what I said. This actually worked quite well in the Witcher 3, so I'm not sure what the issue is here. But I'm digressing a little. I think this is a rather unfair assessment of what was shown in the demo. There are a variety of choices, and their context is rather obvious. What you are requesting isn't so much "player freedom" but unreasonable player freedom, in that you've been given choices, but would like the option to "change your mind" after making such choices, which negates the very important aspect of consequences for player actions in video games. Not only does it render the initial choices almost meaningless (because you know you'll be given an "out") it teaches the player bad lessons like it being ok to make bad decisions. Consequences are a vital part of quest design. As much as I love narrative choices, sometimes it's important to just roll with the punches and a big part of the fun of video games is "figuring things out". But if we have to implement what you're suggesting, I prefer the following system: if you've chosen to take out Royce, you have to commit, and the game has to punish you if you then choose not to kill him, e.g. have another NPC blacklist you or something, preventing access to certain gear. Likewise if you've chosen the diplomatic route and choose to kill him instead. This is something that sounds great on paper, but I don't think would work very well in practice, unless there is some epic narrative reasoning for it, but I doubt they can implement this for every boss. I know for me personally, if I lost in a boss fight, having the option to bypass a death-screen would be insulting. I'd much rather take the loss, reload and try again. That way, I can reflect on where my mistakes were, try to patch those up and do better. I agree with almost everything you said, but I am strongly against the player/ V/ Me being blacklisted and locked out of anything or anyone in any way. That's what I disliked the most about the Witcher 3, even if I loved a lot about it, because I would do quests and talk to certain people and then the game would randomly decide with no warning at all that I can never talk to a certain NPC ever again, or I'm 100% locked out of a mission, quest line, or even multiple missions and quest lines or a combination of that and gear of some kind or another, or weapons- for basically no reason, totally out of nowhere with zero warning at all- and to make it even worse, I would play the game for multiple real-life hours and then suddenly find out that way way back that game had blacklisted or blocked me from doing something I wanted to do, and that was just pure suffering because I had to load a multiple hours old save and re-do hours and hours of mission all over again, but that's only if I had a multiple hours old save, and 99% of the time I did not because I had saved other important moments just in case. It was pure torture. and I re-started the game from absolutely nothing multiple different times until I just gave up because I couldn't handle dishonest quest/NPC's stabbing me in the back to lock me out of quests and items and missions, and I walked away from it eventually, completely burnt out, and never played or saw the ending missions or final ending, and I'm glad I didn't because (SPOILERS!) I saw what triss and yennifer do to geralt. I had a total multiple playthrough-length rage-quit of the largest proportions I have ever experienced, even worse than from an EA game.... (forgive me CDPR) I did love almost everything else about the game, and I gave it a very good review, but that was my experience. I'm just saying. Please don't misunderstand my passionate comments as anything ill-willed. I'm 100% nice towards you (difficult to convey tone over internet text) It's what I interpreted from this: My "issue" with the e3 2018 demo specifically was that the player seemed to have no choice after entering the plant but to proceed down a series of narrow corridors and fight a boss. At no point did there seem to be an option to leave or bypass the fight after you already enter, despite the fact that the player already had the spiderbot chip and thus had no reason to stick around except for the game forcing them to do so to put them in a big boss encounter. The game never forced them into a boss encounter. The devs playing this demo simply chose this route, knowing that it would lead into a boss encounter. The narrator made it clear there were alternative options, e.g. not meeting up with the Corpo agent at all and going straight to Royce which may allow you to strike a bargain with him, it just won't be shown for this demo specifically. I also thought we both agreed earlier that the player was "trapped" inside the building, rather than simply choosing to stick around? ut I am strongly against the player/ V/ Me being blacklisted and locked out of anything or anyone in any way. If they were just completely random reasonings with no logic to them, then yes, I agree that's bad design. But if they were designed well with clues sprinkled in, it acts as a great reward for the player for figuring it out. It's a part of the challenge. I have 500 hours in the Witcher 3 because of its replayability due to varying choices - I also loved every single one of those 500 hours because of this. I also made sure I got every ending, and the most impactful TW3 ending for me was the worst possible one. The demo showed clear and transparent options for what will take place (diplomacy, violence, mix of both), and I'm sure in the final product these choices will more likely than not lead to what they claim to lead to. I don't mind the odd curve ball being thrown in every now and then to keep things fresh. What I'm simply against is wishy-washy undecisive behaviour from the player being rewarded with fail-safes to make sure they're always doing the right thing at all times. I like the concept of consequences in video games, as it's far more effective at teaching you something vs giving you "participation awards" for simply pressing buttons. If I screw up somewhere in the narrative, I want an important NPC to die somewhere, because that is incredibly impactful vs the game warning me constantly that I may be making a mistake. In essence, I want Game of Thrones for this game, not a safe family sitcom. So, apparently, even after you fight your way (or sneak your way) through the mall in the latest demo, you don't have to fight the boss. Apparently, you can just sneak by or run by. Which is all I want. The only reason I brought my frustrations up at all was because I was saying I hope this design philosophy is also applied to the Royce encounter (in whatever form it comes in post-launch, if it exists at all). Spoiler: wall The 2018 demo didn't seem to have that option. I interpreted the "So many choices" thing as so many "story" choices. Story choices are not the same as gameplay choices. In fact, I'm 100% sure that's what he meant, because he specifically referenced the other story choices you could have made to influence the outcome. I.E. telling Royce about the chip, asking Meredith for help. FYI, I consider a "story choice" a choice you make during dialogue. I do not mind these choices influencing mission out comes. I had no problem with that in the Witcher 3. However, this game says that the main distinguishing factor is freedom of gameplay, not just freedom of choice. If making a on-the-spot gameplay choice is something you find totally unreasonable, well.. I don't know what to tell you, except that it's pretty common in other games, RPGs or otherwise. To lay it out again, hopefully in a more clear manner: By contrast, the 2019 demo offered precisely that choice. At any rate, I don't want to argue it much more. I hope that made sense, as I don't know how else to explain it. Oh, I think I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong ok) you LIKE it, you're HAPPY, but you're just worried those GOOD things will get cut before launch, because you like them, but want to protect them so they stay in. I think I get it now. . (sorry if I still misunderstand. Peace) Post automatically merged: Jul 2, 2019 Forgive me Snowflakez If they were just completely random reasonings with no logic to them, then yes, I agree that's bad design. But if they were designed well with clues sprinkled in, it acts as a great reward for the player for figuring it out. It's a part of the challenge. To be honest, 100% of the time I did not detect any hints or clues in any way shape or form from the Witcher 3 that warned or indicated I was about to be locked out of or blacklisted from the quest or mission or an NPC several real-time hours of struggle in gameplay later. Geralt was given choices, and I said "okay I'll just choose this, because it seems like a smart or cautious choice"... multiple hours later try to talk to NPC "No mission for you! I'm mad at you because you didn't do this or that exactly the way I wanted" Geralt: "But I did it for you! You didn't say I had to do XYZ, you just said I have to do X only!" NPC:"I'm never talking to you ever again, and you can't complete like a bunch of really cool missions now because I'm the event giver!" Geralt: "I'm sad now, and I have no save game to go back far enough to do that differently so I must now re-live my entire life" (game restart) Me: rrrrrrr...rrr....REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! (it was really painful 4 me) (again, just my opinion, and I am being nice to you . good will only, just a passionate post) Yes, this is essentially what I'm saying. I like the things that they've described more recently, I was just hoping that it would also be applied to the Royce situation. In other words, I hope they tweak that quest and apply this new design philosophy evenly, rather than preserve what seems to be a different, more constricted philosophy. It could also be that the Royce situation was just an early prologue/tutorial-y type mission, so it was more contained by default (which I'm OK with). Thank you for taking the time to make sense of what I wrote. And no worries, I was directing that last message to Tangsta, not yourself (the confused smiley one). you can't complete like a bunch of really cool missions now It's just a mechanic to add replayability to the game and makes the story more grounded and relatable, as making certain choices in real life will shut you out of certain things as well. Like I said, I like it because it made playing subsequent playthroughs more interesting. Reactions: Snowflakez This I agree with you on. I just hope that I actually understand what you think I think. You know? Because you might be thinking that I'm thinking what you're thinking, but I might be thinking that you think that I think what you think, but it not be like it is, like we think it do, but it don't.... I worry. Reactions: Tangsta and Snowflakez Yea but I didn't even know those things were what they were. To me it wasn't a mechanic or a feature, it was absolute torture that killed my enjoyment of the game, because I thought I had freedom.... and when I exercised that freedom by doing what I thought I was free to do, the game was like "Gotcha! you are totally free...- To painfully regret something you didn't even know you could avoid, and have no idea how you could have avoided even if you saw it coming, but couldn't see coming" It didn't add replayability for me, it permanently stopped me from replaying the game ever again... The witcher 3 hurt me. hurt me real bad. I thought I was free to do, the game was like "Gotcha! you are totally free...- To painfully regret something you didn't even know you could avoid, and have no idea how you could have avoided even if you saw it coming, but couldn't see coming" Look, I get it. It's not for everyone, but they did the same thing in Witcher 2 and I loved it then, so I was ready for more, and TW3 delivered in spades. I would have really appreciated it if The Witcher 3 warned me in some way, or the character said something a certain way, or I just had some kind of indicator that said "Warning, your going to get blocked from doing things the game KNOWS you really really want to do later". I just can't understand why a game would ever block a player from doing what ever they want. It completely ruined the experience for me since: 1. I couldn't know when or how a choice was going to happen, and had to desperately scramble and struggle to assume that every single conversation and dialogue choice was "Important quest/mission effecting choice X" and worry about it all the time, instead of allowing myself to be immersed into the game and have my character behave the way I would imagine I want them to, and basically act naturally, instead of being so afraid that I am never immersed and always making geralt appear very artificial by acting rigid and fake in hopes I would catch the important choices before they happened and steer the game in the direction I wanted to steer it in- which never happened. This happened because I couldn't choose the way the story would go out of all the options, because I was never given the freedom of choice to do so. 2. All the choices seemed completely meaningless and arbitrary/random, meaning that It was more like pulling pieces of paper out of hat and hoping I got the right one totally at random, no matter what I thought was a better way, rather than having the freedom to turn that hat over and open all the notes, read them all, and choose which one I wanted to choose. A system that promotes freedom, and especially choice freedom shouldn't prevent the player from choosing choices by making absolutely sure the player doesn't even know which choice is which. That absolutely ruined the witcher 3 for me. It was extremely disappointing and painful, and it would ruin CyberPunk2077 for me completely. I fear this, because it ruins my ability to enjoy the game 100%. I want to make my choices, and know my choices, so that when I choose them, I know that I MADE my choices, you know? If I make a bunch of choices that I think are good choices, and several things happen that make absolutely no sense at all in any way, and I can't do anything about it, this defeats the purpose of playing the game for the experience. Why? because this is what real life was like. I'm just living, and things happen, and I'm like "welll..... Nothing I could do about that" and basically just suffer. If the game is so realistic to the point that it's way past "whoa this game is very realistic and cool" and just goes into hyper-realistic territory where everything is just awful 100% of the time, then why would I play a game right? I play video games to escape and have a wonderful and fun and amazing experience. For a video game to be worth it for me, it must be better than real life. If it's the same as real life, and just as equally or more disappointing, I've been failed, and I'm totally just sad and depressed, no fun for me. Please understand, I don't mean that V and the adventures they experience in CyberPunk2077 should be like unicorns and marshmallow rainbows everywhere. I like the dark and intense and cerebral and thrilling and philosophical experience of the setting and story of the game. I enjoy it as a gameplay experience that I can be immersed in, without being trapped there to suffer like I'm sure V is actually suffering (but thank God V isn't actually a real person, and is just a simulated video game character that I can just simply PRETEND is a real person in my minds eye of the story) The game isn't rewarding to the NPC's in the game, the game is rewarding to the player playing the game from the outside (you and me in real life). If I can't make the story go the way I want it to go for the main character V because the game itself backstabs me as the player and takes away my ability to choose the story of what happens to my character V, then the game isn't rewarding to me as the player. This is the problem with the Witcher 3. I hope to God that CyberPunk2077 warns me, and lets me know, and protects my freedom to choose so that I can't be betrayed by not knowing my choices are mine or not. (just my opinions. all good will, all friendly tones only) "Warning, your going to get blocked from doing things the game KNOWS you really really want to do later". I would love to discuss this further, but I feel we're getting too off topic already. Let's just go back to boss battle mechanics for now.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1815
__label__cc	0.72613	0.27387	Upper Income Tax Band Start Date is August 1 by bgis \| Jul 20, 2018 \| Ministry News Employers are asked to note that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment has changed the effective date of the new upper income tax band from July 1, 2018, to August 1, 2018. The introduction of a new upper income tax band of 40 per cent on those whose assessable incomes are greater than $75,001, was announced by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment, Mia Amor Mottley, as part of the Budgetary Proposals on June 11. Barbados Revenue Authority Tags: Barbados Revenue Authority, BRA, Income Tax, Ministry of Finance Economic Affairs and Investment Conditions At Prison Stable; Virtual Visits Still Suspended COVID-19 Situation At HMP Dodds Stable	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1819
__label__wiki	0.880977	0.880977	Fresh Comics Comic Shops iTunes App Store (iPhone & iPad) Google Play (Android) Amazon Appstore for Android Screensaver for Windows Screensaver for Mac OS X A Shop Called Quest 101 N. Indian Hill Blvd. Suite C1-104B info@ashopcalledquest.com http://shopcalledquest.com/ @shopcalledquest https://www.facebook.com/ShopCalledQuest/ Sunday: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Tuesday: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Wednesday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Friday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Windows Phone Market Sponsor Fresh Comics! The Pnakotic Atlas Santa's Map to Christmas © 2018 Audacious Software \| Privacy Policy \| Theme by ThemeRegion	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1821
__label__cc	0.669638	0.330362	2 Questions that Gänswein violently does not want to Answer January 15, 2020 Editor 15 Comments Or, how it happened that the Archbishop called me on the phone The world has seen two of the most outrageous usurpations of office in the history of humanity, and in the short space of six years, from 2007 to 2013. I speak of the unconstitutional election of a self-proclaimed Kenyan citizen to the Presidency of the United States of America, in violation of the natural born citizen clause (Article II, section 1, clause 5) and of the uncanonical election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Roman Pontiff on March 13, 2013 in violation of canon 359 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law and Pope John Paul II’s law on papal elections, Universi Dominic Gregis, n. 37, which both forbid the election of a Roman Pontiff when a legal sede vacante has not occurred. (A sede vacante occures with the natural death of the Pope, or his resignation of munus in accord with Canon 332 §2). — For all my reports on the Renunciation of Pope Benedict and why that act did not cause him to lose the Papal Office, see my Index to the Renunciation of Pope Benedict. It was a poignant moment, then, for the triumph of criminality over law, when Barrack Obama came to the Vatican to meet with Cardinal Bergoglio on Marcy 27, 2014. And in the midst was Father George, Gänswein, at Obama’s right hand (Photo care of the White House). But the plans of men cannot be hidden from God, nor can they be hidden for long from God’s faithful, moved as they are by the Spirit of Truth who reveals hidden secrets. Inspired by this Spirit many a faithful Catholic has voiced concerns, criticisms, objections and warnings over the strange happenings of February 2013, when Benedict issued a declaration in the Consistory of Feb. 11th, of that year — called to canonize the Martyrs of Otranto, slaughtered en masse by the forces of the Turks in the 16th century — which was publicized as a renunciation of the papacy, though it was nothing of the kind. Present on that day, was also George Gänswein, now titular Archbishop of Urbs Salvia. Mons. Gänswein has been seen as the faithful and devoted personal secretary to Joseph Ratzinger for more than 35 years. Ratzinger spotted him taking coffee at the German Collegium in the Vatican back in the 80’s and asked if he would like to be his secretary, since he needed someone fluent in German and Italian. Mons. Gänswein holds a doctorate in Canon Law. For these reasons I have long confided in Gänswein to speak the truth, even if, after his talk at the Gregorian University in 2016, when he clearly said that Benedict XVI still occupied the petrine office and still shared the petrine munus and ministry, I shook my head, because it seems a totally insane thing to say, since at the time, I still operated under the fake news put out that day, that Benedict had resigned the papacy. But in the Last 18 months, with intense research and investigation, I have come to agree with Gänswein on those same points, because the effect of renouncing the petrine ministry alone, is that Benedict retains the petrine munus and office, and hence, in virtue of these, also the petrine ministry and power of governance, whether he thinks he has or not, and whether anyone else thinks he has, or not. My Two Letters to Archbishop Gänswein So, in November, filled with this sense of trust and confidence in the Archbishop, whose personal motto is Testimonium perhibere veritati — To bear witness to the truth — I wrote him a personal letter, in Italian, on the 25th, the English translation of which, I will post here: I am writing you to request a personal meeting with you so as to put to rest a common doubt, which many Catholics have, who love His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. This doubt regards whether He, in saying minstero in his act of Feb. 11, 2013, had the intention to say muneri. This doubt lingers because, as much as I know, His Holiness has never been asked in public if he had this intention or not. Many are of the opinion, that in renouncing the ministry, Pope Benedict’s intention was to retain the munus, because He thinks the munus is the grace and the vocation which he received for always. Others are of the opinion that in renouncing the ministery, His intention was to renounce the papacy, but not having understood that the ministerium is not the munus on account of the error in the German translation of the Code of Canon Law, in canon 145 §1, He made a substantial error in the renunciation (cf. Canons 126 and 188), because Canon 332 §2 constrains the man who is the pope, in renouncing, to renounce the petrine munus. Since as Pope He did not concede to himself as Ratzinger a derogation by reason of canon 38, the renunciation remains vitiated. This is what they think. For these reasons, and because I have written extensively on this topic at fromrome.wordpress.com and ChiesaRomana.info, I think a meeting with your Excellency will help all understand better what has happened. I am not a journalist I am a consecrated person observing the Rule of Saint Francis, which obliges me in its second precept to uphold the Papacy. Desiring only to know the truth, and dwelling at Rome, only 10 minutes from the Vatican, I am free at any moment to meet you wherever you like, Having received no response, I posted another letter to the Archbishop on January 9, at the Vatican Post Office. That letter got a phone response. Here is my English translation of that letter, the original of which was also in Italian: Your Excellency! I wish you best wishes on the Seventh Anniversary of your Episcopal Consecration at the hands of Pope Benedict! And I thank you for all that you do for the Holy Father! I am writing for several reasons: First, to remind you of my request for a personal meeting with your Excellency to understand better if the Holy Father had intended to renounce the petrine munus or whether he has ever said that he wanted to renounce the petrine munus, as I requested of you in my letter of Nov. 25th. I make this request for the good of the Church, because I understand that the true pastoral care of the faithful, which save souls, is that which is established on the truth, not on hearsay. I am also writing you to inform you, that on Dec. 19, I founded The League of Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI. Catholics all over the world are already signed up, by means of 7 blogs which are spreading the invitation. For an Italian explanation see For an English version see: https://fromrome.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/join-the-league-of-prayer-for-pope-benedict-xvi/ Where you can find all the blogs listed who are participating in the English, Italian, Spanish and French speaking worlds. I founded this League for the reasons described in the announcements and to share with other the grace the Lord gave me the day Pope John Paul II was shot in the Piazza S. Petro years ago, to pray daily for the Holy Father. Lastly, having had the care of my own mother in her last years of life (she passed away on Nov. 2, 2018, from cortical dementia, her name is Doris) I learned well that the elderly need proper nutrition. I recommend a diet which is rich in protein. In the Bavarian State TV documentary the images of the Holy Father seem to show that he has lost a lot of weight recently, and so I am worried for his health. Also, seeing that my maternal grandfather was a barber, I cannot omit to say that if the Holy Father needs the services of a barber, I am willing to make a donation to pay the barber’s salary. Sincerely in Saint Francis, In both letters, at the end, I included contact information. My email and phone number. Little did I think I would ever get a response to my second letter. But I did, and it came by telephone at 10:43 A.M. on the morning of Saturday, January 11, 2020. Archbishop Gänswein drops me a call Though I missed the call, the Archbishop was kind enough to leave a message on my voice mail. Since my report here at The From Rome Blog, which is hosted on a website in the USA, is nevertheless readable in the European Union, I cannot share with you the recording of the call, nor give you a transcription of its contents, because that is prevented by privacy laws. However, I can describe in my own words, what I understood by the message left, so that everyone, especially the Cardinals and Bishops, understand how wrong it is to trust in anyone who claims to represent Pope Benedict, and how they need now to go to him in person and ask the most important questions. I was trained in music as a youth, and so I have a keen ear to musical tones. Everyone’s voice has its own tone, and whether they speak in public or in private, on the phone or before an audience, it is the same tone. For that reason I can say the voice is that of the Archbishop. The voice also identifies itself as such. My Italian contacts tell me it is clearly the voice of a German, but one which has spoken Italian for quite some time. I think the voice is suffering a little of the influenza that is hitting everyone at Rome right now. So I urge all to pray for the Archbishop’s health of body and soul. However, sadly, the first thing the voice does is to attempt to gaslight me. Gaslighting is a trick of mental persuasion usually used by tyrants or manipulators or even pedophiles, whereby the one in the position of power dictates to the one who is a subject how they should view reality. It is usually accompanied by insults or deprecatives which make the person inclined to doubt their own grasp on reality. If the Archbishop knew anything about me, he would know that that trick only works with weak minds who are seeking affirmation from power, which is not me in the least. The comment made also tried to characterize the entirely of my letter in such a light, which is really hard to justify even if you think Benedict is still the pope, because my letter was about much more than that. To me, the gaslighting was totally uncalled for, and even cruel. I remain shocked that the voice of an Archbishop would be so uncharitable. The second thing the voice does is to denounce my work of investigating the Renunciation. It says I am wrong and mistaken. This is a remarkable comment, since anyone who viewed the URLs in my letters would know that I am very thorough and back up everything I say with facts. I do not interpret facts, I let them speak for themselves. It then demands that I stop my work investigating the Renunciation. Since I fear God alone, I can assure you that such a demand will have the opposite effect. The third thing the voice does, as far as I understand it, is to demand that I and everyone in the League stop praying for Pope Benedict. The voice demands that I pray for Pope Francis. It seems to deny that Benedict is a pope or the pope. And what is most remarkable, is what is not said by the voice. The voice does not say that it is acting at the bequest of Pope Benedict. The voice is clearly of a man who is acting out of terror, rashness, imprudence. You can hear the anger and terror. There is even one grammatical mistake in the Italian used. From the logs at my blog, I can safely say that the Archbishop looked at, at least, 5 posts before the phone call came in. He was surfing to my blog using a VPN masking itself as being in the EU not the Vatican. (This is a standard practice at the Vatican now, after the computer raids made by the Vatican Gendarmerie in September). There were no background noises. A slam down of a phone handle can be heard terminating the call. I could say a thousand things about this phone call. But I will conclude by saying, that in my own judgement, it is a lot easier to answer 2 questions than to threaten someone over the phone. I won’t get into the fact that the voice used a burner phone to make the call, that is, a phone which leaves no trace as to which number was used to make the call. What on earth is an Archbishop doing with such a phone? Such things are used by drug dealers and mafiosi! In the future, I recommend that if you want to write Pope Benedict, do not send your mail to the Archbishop. I myself now consider that Benedict is clearly imprisoned., and that the Archbishop should be considered a prison warden, more than a personal secretary. The purpose of the imprisonment is this: His captors do not want him to meet with the public or with Cardinals in private, where he is free to express himself, PRECISELY because they do not want him to be asked those 2 questions. I know why. And I think you can guess too. Others, better than I, have already guessed it too: Antonio Socci with Aldo Maria Valli: As far as what concerns the resignation and his choice to be “Pope Emeritus,” I believe that, based on the documents in hand, it is now clear that Benedict XVI did not intend to resign – or totally resign – the Petrine munus. — Giuseppe Pellegrino (@pellegrino2020) January 14, 2020 And that means, that Benedict is still the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Saint Peter, because the essential act required by canon 332 §2, is a renunciation of the petrine munus. Please share this article with all Cardinals and Archbishops and Bishops. I think it presents sufficient evidence that they should be concerned about the integrity of information regarding what he did and what it meant, on Feb. 11, 2013. I will conclude this report by sharing a Video of the Archbishop, June 14, 2017, in which he says clearly the opposite of what he said on the phone to me: I am here principally to share with everyone the greetings of Pope Benedict XVI. (0:17 in the video, in Italian) POST SCRIPT: Journalists who are in Rome or who come in person to Rome are welcome to hear the recording of the phone call, in my presence. Just leave your contact information in a comment below. — I have transmitted a copy of the phone call to my private attorney in the USA, so in case anything happens to me, there is legal evidence of the fact. * In this Article, I have used the English word, “question”, in the sense of a problem which is asked to be responded to, because, as you can see there are no question marks in my letters to the Archbishop. THIS POST HAS BEEN PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN ITALIAN at ChiesaRomana.info: https://www.chiesaromana.info/index.php/2020/01/15/due-domande-alle-quali-mons-ganswein-non-vuole-rispondere/ Archbishop Georg GansweinBarrack ObamaCanon 332 §2Georg GansweinNatural Born Citizen clauseusurpation Previous PostProtestant Leader Confesses Amazement at Catholic Tradition on the EucharistNext PostFrank Walker: Spat between Cardinal Sarah & Gänswein raises doubts about Benedict’s Liberty 15 thoughts on “2 Questions that Gänswein violently does not want to Answer” I am shocked. Strangely enough I have also been discussing Ganswein in detail these past few days with a friend and whether Ganswein (whom I viewed as the keeper) is actually the mole- and prison warden. We talked about whether he was serving two masters (although this makes it a bit clearer) and why. I wonder if he thinks he is protecting Benedict from death (in almost any unnatural form) and that is why he must keep him silent. It’s a deal with the devil. Ann Barnhardt’s site discusses him today as well and links Pope Benedict and his minder to prophecy. I will certainly pray for Ganswein because I do not know who else could manage to help Benedict flee Rome, at the appointed time. On his own is possible of course with the help of an angel, as St Peter was sent. The bottom line is that this very serious, it’s very scary and I feel even more committed to praying for Pope Benedict now!! I might add that it is not just readers on my blog who have joined me in this but all of our immediate prayer group and worldwide members who participate in each others’ prayer intentions daily. You received that phone call on my birthday and The Lord knows for what I prayed. I felt it was a special grace that you received the call at all. What you have been doing and found: This is all The Lord’s Work, Br., as I’m sure you will agree. You also are in my prayers. Thank you, Remnant Child. We must pray more intensely for the Pope. I do not believe Ganswein has his best interests in mind. To my mind, a Prefect of the Pontifical Household who not only allows a pope to be filmed with disheveled hair, but refuses to answer simply historical questions,has failed in his duties gravely. But in this case, the questions regard who really is the pope, and by shouting at me instead of answering my queries, I think it is clear that Ganswein does not care if Benedict is the pope, he has chosen to serve Bergoglio. Ordo Militaris Radio says: Well, being a good follower of Mother Angelica and not afraid of responses, boy, what a hornet’s nest was open, I knew Bergoglio would be mad, but he’s always angry, but wow. Man, can’t even write to our Papa, our Pope now. Reblogged this on Ordo Militaris Radio and commented: Hear a weird response by Ganswein. Pingback: Open Letter To Archbishop Ganswein and others in the Vatican – Ordo Militaris Radio This is MONSOONAL! Archbishop “Gaslight” has reached a new low and needs to be exposed. He is a very dangerous man whom Benedict didn’t keep at a distance for no reason. it’s a mystery Gaslight has not poisoned Benedict. He has worn many hats around the Vatican, for too long, for Bergoglio, like pretending to be Benedict’s and other’s “spokesman”, virtually throwing everyone under the bus that he can, to push the Bergoglian narrative, at any rate, but no more little Gaslight… Vincent Fitzpatrick says: You should consult a lawyer concerning “privacy.” When a person leaves a voicemail, he obviously knows he is making a recording. At least in many places, he has no grounds to object if the recording or a transcript is published. Vincent, that is true in the USA, but not in the EU. Pingback: Canon212 Update: When There’s Nothing Catholic About It, How Can We Call It The Church? – The Stumbling Block Pingback: How it happened that Archbishop Gänswein called me on the phone \| Catholicism Pure & Simple Pingback: We need to re-examine the Renunciation minus Gänswein « From Rome Pingback: An Index to Pope Benedict’s Renunciation \| FromRome.Info Pingback: The Enemies of Pope Benedict XVI \| FromRome.Info CRLCamera (@TheMVstudios) says: I received a nasty, threatening phone call from my own parish priest. The Archdiocese nor the FSSP seem to care after my report. Everyone acts like Bergoglio now. Pingback: Ratzinger vs. The Benedict Bot: A case in point: The 3rd Secret of Fatima \| FromRome.Info	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1822
__label__wiki	0.618296	0.618296	Mobile World Congress 2020 is officially canceled By Rakesh Sharma / February 17, 2020 Barcelona [Spain], February 13 (ANI): The biggest tech event, Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2020, has been officially called off by its organizer GSMA over serious health risks associated with coronavirus. It is the first time MWC in Barcelona has been canceled in its 14-year history. In its official statement, GSMA said in its official statement that it has canceled the event that was scheduled for February 24-27 over “global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak”, making it impossible to hold the event. Earlier this week, more than 10 major tech brands, including Sony, Nokia, Ericsson, LG, and Amazon, had already withdrawn from the event. With the official cancellation of the event, brands will be showcasing their 5G hardware and AI tech progress directly to customers via separate events. (ANI) Tags: Mobile World Congress, MWC TeamViewer Launches its Latest Product 'Remote Access' for Professionals Working Remotely Samsung’s first full 5G flagship Galaxy S20 series is here	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1823
__label__cc	0.531938	0.468062	Raise one’s hackles and get one’s hackles up Raise one’s hackles and get one’s hackles up are two versions of an idiom. An idiom is a word, group of words or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is not easily deduced from its literal definition. Often using descriptive imagery, common idioms are words and phrases used in the English language in order to convey a concise idea, and are often spoken or are considered informal or conversational. English idioms can illustrate emotion more quickly than a phrase that has a literal meaning, even when the etymology or origin of the idiomatic expression is lost. An idiom is a metaphorical figure of speech, and it is understood that it is not a use of literal language. Figures of speech have definitions and connotations that go beyond the literal meaning of the words. Mastery of the turn of phrase of an idiom or other parts of speech is essential for the English learner. Many English as a Second Language students do not understand idiomatic expressions such as beat around the bush, cut the mustard, let the cat out of the bag, hit the sack, ankle biter, barking up the wrong tree, kick the bucket, hit the nail on the head, under the weather, piece of cake, when pigs fly, and raining cats and dogs, as they attempt to translate them word for word, which yields only the literal meaning. In addition to learning vocabulary and grammar, one must understand the phrasing of the figurative language of idiomatic phrases in order to know English like a native speaker. We will examine the meaning of the idioms raise one’s hackles or get one’s hackles up, where they came from and some examples of their use in sentences. To raise one’s hackles and to get one’s hackles up means to become irritated or angry, to become defensive, to prepare to attack. The phrase is often used in the negative, as in: “Don’t get your hackles up.” Hackles are hairs or a ruff of fur on the back of an animal’s neck that raises when the animal is alerted to danger or is preparing to attack. Originally, the word hackle meant the ruff of feathers around a bird’s neck that raise when it is alarmed. The word hackles to mean the ruff of fur on an animal’s neck only came into use in the 1800s, and the idioms raise one’s hackles and get one’s hackles up came into use in the 1880s. Related phrases are raises one’s hackles, raised one’s hackles, raising one’s hackles, gets one’s hackles up, got one’s hackles up, getting one’s hackles up. Asked what he expected from Cowart, Bundy said, “I would be kind of stupid to tell the judge what I expect of him because it might raise his hackles to the point that he would decide to do it.” (The Associated Press) Secondly, mention of the University of Southern California raised my hackles because one of my goddaughters had her heart set on attending USC. (The Times of San Diego) He’s proud of his resistance to getting his hackles up when provoked, a skill he learned in part from the teachings of the Nation of Islam, to which he’s been an adherent, although an imperfect one, for a half century. (The Independent Weekly) County Commissioner John Shafer said the size of the fleet “kind of got my hackles up” after he came into office in January. (The East Oregonian)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1825
__label__cc	0.552382	0.447618	Support Your Team… Quietly Don’t let on when you’re helping out. Kevin Ochsner Helping people deal with emotions is a key leadership skill, especially in times of crisis. Your tone may effectively quell negative emotions or promote beneficial emotions, and improve camaraderie, trust, and team performance. But recent research into the field of social regulation shows us that how you support your people can make a real difference. It turns out that caring delivered in an indirect, implicit manner tends to have a greater positive impact than support delivered in a direct, explicit manner. In other words, people get more out of compassion when they don’t know they’re getting it. (I presented these findings at the recent Neuroleadership Summit held in New York in October; you can view it for free on the Summit website.) Whereas implicit forms of caring unfold relatively automatically, explicit caring involves conscious goals to regulate emotional responses and monitor their effect. So, implicit emotional regulation may include the “chameleon effect,” where we unconsciously mimic the body language and tone of a conversation partner, or react to the opinions of the group around us without even knowing it. By contrast, we are using explicit social regulation when we deliver tough, constructive feedback — or support and guidance after a setback — by carefully choosing the way we frame our messages in either neutral or positive terms. Explicit regulation also occurs when we attempt to consciously mirror the verbal style and/or body language of someone we wish to persuade. One study of explicit regulation illuminates the ways people hear indirect feedback as opposed to something more forceful, in your face. Research by my colleague Niall Bolger at Columbia shows that caring and support delivered in an indirect, implicit manner tends to have greater positive impact than support delivered in a direct, explicit manner. Implicit support is invisible to the recipient and doesn’t call attention to the fact that you’re offering support. For example, you could indirectly offer advice to a coworker or employee by noting that you think they’re doing fine. But, you would also explain that were you in their situation, you might need help; then you would “think out loud” about what you would do in that situation. By contrast, managers who make it obvious that, “I’m here to help,” or lead off by saying, “let me tell you how to handle this,” tend to threaten self-esteem and autonomy by highlighting that their direct report is being evaluated negatively for performance. Consider Bolger’s research involving couples where one partner was studying for the bar exam (which is known to be extremely stressful.) Niall found that when the giving partner gave support, but the receiving partner (who was studying for the exam) was not aware of receiving it, the benefits were far more pronounced. Such instances of implicit, “invisible,” support occurred when the giving partner reported being “listening and comforting,” but the receiving partner said no support was being offered. In such cases of invisible support, anxiety and depression were lessened, particularly at times when stress was at its highest, just before the exam. In another study from Niall’s lab, women were given a highly stressful public speaking assignment and an associate of the experimenter (status unknown to the subjects) was prepared to offer support in two ways. One involved the associate pointing out where the individual preparing for the speech needed help and explicitly giving advice about different aspects of the speech. In the second approach, the associate noted that his counterpart didn’t need much help but talked about parts of his speech that could use some more work and ideas about how the speech could be improved. Once again, this implicit means of offering support lessened anxiety for the speech-giving subject by indirectly offering them guidance and a downward social comparison (the confederate is worse off than they are) to bolster their confidence and avoid threats to their autonomy and sense of self-worth. By conveying the belief that the person you’re coaching can cope with the situation, and offering yourself as an indirect example of how one can fail but find ways to succeed, you can communicate that they are competent while still imparting guidance. As a result, you can support their sense of self-control and lessen anxiety at the same time. Remember that the influence you have emotionally is also affected by your social context. Closeness and intimacy increase the effects of social regulation, and being in a position of power means those below you will be more attuned to your social cues and more likely to mimic or take them on, while at the same time they will also be dealing with greater levels of stress and fear because of your position of authority over them. If you want to explicitly help others with their emotions, think twice about jumping in to fix their problems or telling them that you’re there to help. Look for ways to help people see for themselves that things will turn out ok, provide a shoulder to lean on when requested, and offer advice indirectly without calling attention to the fact that they seem to be buckling pressures of a tough day at the office. Read more on Leadership or related topics Managing people and Organizational culture Kevin Ochsner is an associate professor and director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Psychology, and heads the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Columbia University.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1827
__label__cc	0.725623	0.274377	How to Propose to Your Boyfriend by Melissa Sandoval Why not ask Mr. Right? iStockphoto/Thinkstock You've built a strong, loving relationship with Mr. Right. You have the same dreams and values, and you're both ready for a commitment. You want to take that big leap and build a life together as husband and wife. There's just one little issue -- how to get engaged. In the movie "Jerry McGuire," Jerry (Tom Cruise) utters that unforgettable line: "You complete me. And I just …" and Dorothy (Renee Zellweger) says, "Shut up, just shut up. You had me at 'hello.'" Jerry sweeps Dorothy into his arms, everyone cries and all is perfect in the world [source: Osgueda]. But what if that's just not your style? Maybe you're more of a take-the-bull-by-the-horns sort of gal. Maybe you're ready to get engaged, he hasn't popped the question, and you don't want to be one of the women author Ariel Meadow Stallings calls "ladies in waiting," women who ostentatiously ogle every diamond ring they see, endlessly gush about their friends' engagements and drive themselves crazy waiting for him to get the hint [source: Meadow Stallings]. What's a girl to do? In years past, the only acceptable thing would be to wait for the man to propose, or move on. A proper lady would only consider proposing marriage in rare circumstances: For example, if her suitor was "below her station" and not permitted by society to ask for her hand. In such a situation, a woman could tell her beau that she loved him anyway and was willing to be his wife [source: Meade et al]. In the 21st century, such old-fashioned rules have gone the way of the corset. We ladies are now free to follow tradition if we want to, or write our own rule books. If you and your guy are the unconventional type, why not ask for his hand in marriage? Should You Propose? Doing the Asking Dealing with Everyone Else Proposals are not one-size-fits-all. Some women dream of their boyfriend kneeling before them in a starlit gazebo flashing a nervous smile and a rock the size of Tennessee, while other ladies would rather have a no-frills discussion on the matter and pick out a ring themselves. Since you're reading this article, you're probably not too stuck on the traditional way of doing things. One important thing to ask yourself is: What are his dreams? Don't take for granted that you "just know" how he feels, and don't assume he feels the same way you do. In this case, Mom's warnings about what happens when you make assumptions were on the mark. Talk to him about his views on marriage and get an idea of his timeline for his life. While his actions say a lot, you still can't assume you know all of his motivations. Don't make it an inquisition -- chat with him during times when you're both relaxed, such as during an evening stroll. Look at it not as a fishing expedition, but as a way to learn about the man you love. Tell him about your dreams for the future, and ask him about his. You can even bring up another couple as a way to start the conversation, such as, "Your aunt and uncle seem to have such a beautiful life together -- I want that someday." These conversations will give you a good idea where he stands on marriage and whether he feels ready [source: Meadow Stallings]. If the two of you are on the same page about marriage, find out how he feels about a nontraditional proposal. For example, tell him about a friend of yours who proposed to her boyfriend, or about a story you read online. He probably already celebrates your take-charge attitude, or he wouldn't be with you [source: Meadow Stallings]. But if he doesn't seem very enthusiastic about a woman proposing, you might want to think of a compromise. For example, you could say, "I'm asking you to marry me; you can still ask me whenever you want." You're ready to propose. Now what? Read on for some ideas on popping the question. Think You're on the Same Page? Think Again. Sociologists who interviewed young couples living together found that the women mostly saw the arrangement as a step on the path to wedded bliss. The men didn’t view it that way [source: Smock et al]. Once you have decided to propose, you're ready to start planning the event. Remember that marriage proposals are as unique as the couples they bring together. There is no gold standard for proposals -- if you are both smiling afterwards, then your proposal was a success. How you get there is up to you. Author Ariel Meadow Stallings went for an artistic approach -- she proposed to her boyfriend by painting "Psst: Will you marry me?" on her project at a pottery painting shop, where they were celebrating their third anniversary. He was a little taken off guard, but it all worked out and the happily married couple has a ceramic souvenir with which to remember their engagement [source: Meadow Stallings]. Keisha Durham went for romance. She treated her amour to a picnic in the park with their children from previous relationships, while her cousin sprinkled rose petals around the house, dimmed the lights and lit candles. When the couple returned home, Durham's cousin took the kids out so the adults could have some alone time. Durham popped the question during a romantic bath, and sealed the deal with an engagement ring [source: Durham]. Joan Indiana Rigdon, on the other hand, went for the simple approach. She and her live-in boyfriend were hanging out at home one evening, when she said, "I have a great idea." Indiana Rigdon had a few nervous moments as her love tried to guess what her great idea was: A canoeing trip? A bike ride? Indiana Rigdon pressed on despite her jitters, and popped the question. Her guy, apparently a no-frills sort as well, had just one question: "Where?" [source: Indiana Rigdon] These are just a few examples of the limitless ways to get engaged. Look around you for ideas. Type "how to propose" into your Internet search engine and read some of the stories that are out there. Talk to your friends, your mom, your hairstylist. How did their husbands propose to them, or how did they propose to their husbands? Think about your history with your boyfriend: Are there certain places or dates that are special to you? Stallings proposed to her boyfriend on their anniversary, and Durham asked for his hand in marriage on Father's Day, since fatherhood was very important to him. Bottom line: Do what feels right for you, and what fits your style as a couple. A Polite Proposal Charlotte Ford, daughter of President Gerald Ford and author of "Etiquette: Charlotte Ford's Guide to Modern Manners," proposed to her third husband [source: DiGiacomo]. You don't have to take the traditional approach. ©iStockphoto/ Yuri_Arcurs You've bucked convention and proposed, and he has accepted joyously. The two of you are dying to announce your engagement to the world, starting with your friends and family. As you share your happy news, keep in mind that more traditional folk might react differently than they would have if your fiancé had proposed to you. According to social psychologists, we all grow up with "scripts" in our heads that tell us what to expect in our lives. We learn these scripts from our families and friends, and from stories we read or see on TV. For example, our senior prom script includes frilly dresses, cummerbunds, corsages and photos taken in front of a cheesy-themed backdrop. And, like it or not, the marriage proposal script still casts the man on one knee, making a romantic speech and pulling a little velvet box from his pocket while his girlfriend cries with joy. This script is perfect for many couples -- just maybe not for you. When you stray outside the norm, some people will react with shock. Don't take it personally -- we all have expectations, and it's natural to be surprised when something different comes along. If Grandma's reaction is "That's … nice, dear," instead of the unalloyed joy you might have hoped for, just smile and tell her how happy you both are. Give her a chance to get used to the idea. People who love you will usually get over it once they see your contentment. Some people are sticklers for tradition, though, and might not ever quite approve. When one non-traditional woman told her friends she was planning to propose, they urged her to drop lots of hints and cross her fingers instead. A dear friend told her: "Men will propose when they are ready. We just have to wait for them," and another couldn't imagine a female proposal. If you type "marriage proposal" into your favorite Internet search engine, most of the results will either be aimed at men who want to propose, or will contain advice for how to get your man to propose [source: A Practical Wedding]. Again, don't take it personally. A friend's reaction to your proposal is all about his or her own expectations -- it's not about you. Remember that your engagement, just like your relationship, is about you and your partner. So do it your way, and walk (or skip, or somersault) off into the sunset with smiles on your faces. Top 10 Marriage Myths Making Marriage Work by Fighting Fairly Your Ultimate Guide to Buying an Engagement Ring A Practical Wedding. "Team Practical: Women Proposing to Men." April 6, 2010. (Oct. 8, 2010.)http://apracticalwedding.com/2010/04/women-proposing-tomen/ Chambers, William and Robert Chambers. "Chambers's Information for the People." Edinburgh. 1842. Chrisler, Joan C. and McCreary, Donald R. "Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology." Springer. 2010. DiCiacomo, Frank. "Should Women Propose in Wartime? Charlotte Ford's New Etiquette." The New York Observer. Nov.r 18, 2001. (Oct. 4, 2010.)http://www.observer.com/node/45240 Durham, Keisha. "Commentary: I Proposed to my Man." Essence.com. Feb. 4, 2010. (Oct. 6, 2010.)http://www.essence.com/relationships/will_you_marry_me/commentary_i_proposed_to_my_man.php Gallup. "Marriage Poll." 1997. (Oct. 6, 2010.)http://www.gallup.com/poll/117328/marriage.aspx#2 Indiana Rigdon, Joan. "Why I Proposed to My Husband." Forbes Magazine. March 4, 2010. (Oct.r 4, 2010.)http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/04/marriage-proposal-love-forbes-woman-time-family-matters.html Meade, L. T., A. Balfour Symington and Edwin Oliver. "Atalanta, Volume 10." London. Marshall, Russell & Co., LTD. 1896. Meadow Stallings, Ariel. "Proposing Part 1: Why You Should Propose to Your Boyfriend." Offbeat Bride. Jan. 5, 2009. (Oct. 6, 2010.)http://offbeatbride.com/2009/01/propose-to-your-boyfriend Meadow Stallings, Ariel. "Proposing Part 1: How to Propose to Your Boyfriend." Offbeat Bride. Jan. 16, 2009. (Oct. 6, 2010.)http://offbeatbride.com/2009/01/how-to-propose-to-your-boyfriend Osegueda, Elisa. "Memorable Movie Proposals: Behind the Screens." Fandango. June 17, 2009. (Oct. 6, 2010.)http://www.fandango.com/commentator_memorablemovieproposals_242?source=ca_title Smock, Pamela J., Huang, Penelope M, Wendy D. Manning and Cara A. Bergstrom. "Heterosexual Cohabitation in the United States: Motives for Living Together among Young Men and Women." PSC Research Report No. 06-606. Aug. 2006. (Oct. 6, 2010.)http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr06-606.pdf How to Propose to Your Girlfriend How to Ask Her Father for Her Hand in Marriage Does living together before marriage lead to divorce? 10 Dating Faux Pas This Is Why Humans Don't Have a Mating Season 10 Facebook Faux Pas in New Relationships	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1830
__label__cc	0.748812	0.251188	← Life-Work with Dr. Stevenson: Are There Benefits to Bias? Bodies in Motion: The Take-It-Anywhere Summer Workout → Creative Inspiration: Time Travel Off the Beaten Path, a 4-County Adventure Now that summer is finally upon us and nature calls us to explore its many splendid venues, I am reminded of a poem by T.S. Eliot… “We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started. And know the place for the first time.” This so accurately describes my feelings when I get out into the wilderness where the flow of nature’s seasons carves the landscape so very differently every year. It becomes so new and fresh all over again that when I get back to where I started it feels like the first time. I have read that if you surround your senses in nature, the creative juices will begin to flow. Add to that an historical aspect nudging your imagination to journey through time to when early Native Americans may have traveled or later settlers laid down their roots or traversed a trail in this vast wilderness. Often, especially during summer, I like to indulge myself with day trips on less-travelled routes, those hidden gems that may be a little off the beaten track, and less likely to be frequented by tourists, in hopes of ushering in such a time-traveling reverie. Each U.P. county has such spots. In Marquette County, for me, that spot is the Forestville Falls trail, located off Forestville Road, just eight minutes from the city of Marquette. The first thing you see from the parking lot is a fenced property owned by the Marquette Board of Light and Power, with a sign warning you of surveillance cameras and not to trespass into the generating facility. It’s letting you know to stay on the trail. There is an opening in the fence to follow a gravel path up an incline. Taken slowly and steadily, it brings you to the plateau from which you’ll see signage down the other side toward the flowage below. While the trail has had some improvements made to it over the years, it is not handicapped-accessible. Once you get down to the river, you are rewarded with rock formations likened to those found in Colorado and the West. Here you can enjoy the beauty of the area and have a picnic with friends or decide to explore further. The latter, however, will require crossing a creek over several logs. You can either stay at the base of the rock outcropping and proceed alongside the river, climbing over boulders at times to stay on the path, or you can take the other route, weaving uphill through the forest, until you get to a narrow path at the top on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the falls below. Once you get over and around this highland, both trails join back together, meandering along the river and through a series of waterfalls ranging from a few feet to approximately sixty feet high. This area is popular with the college crowd, which often can be found camping in the woods throughout this gorge, or swimming on sunny days in the various pools created between the cascades. After a rainfall, this area can be more dangerous to swim in, and even in the summer months, it’s quite chilly. This hike takes roughly two hours roundtrip at a steady pace. Most weekdays, you may be the only person there, but on weekends, plan on seeing other hikers, depending upon the weather. It’s a nice place to go on those extremely hot summer days since the trees combined with the ravine and water go a long way to cooling the temperatures, not to mention the mist and water particles floating in the air closer to the falls themselves. Forestville’s enchantments always prompt me to imagine Native Americans using these same trails in earlier times, as waterways and the paths beside them were the roads of yesteryear. When visiting Alger County, a hidden-in-plain-sight gem that is great for both nature lovers and history buffs is the Tyoga Trail. This historical pathway is less than two miles north of M-28 in Deerton, marked with a sign that easily can be overlooked. Imagine yourself back in the early 1900s, most likely working alongside an Englishman, Finn, or French Canadian Lumberjack. Work was hard, long, and dangerous. You’d be part of a crew that felled massive virgin pine trees, shaking the ground with thuds that could be felt throughout the town. Forty men were needed to run the mill. A huge steam engine operated the band saw. After an exhausting day in the woods, this rugged bunch would often begin drinking to soften sore muscles, escape the boredom and isolation of being away from family and friends, or bond with peers in this far-flung sawmill and town site. Alcohol-fueled fights frequently broke out. The new town of Tyoga sat alongside the Laughing Whitefish River where a virgin forest contained trees one-hundred-and-fifty feet tall and 3 1/2 pound brook trout were often pulled from the river. The town’s residents numbered 150 in its heyday, housed mostly in plank houses and log cabins. The town boasted a company store, blacksmith’s shop, boarding house, horse barns, and cook’s shanty in addition to the sawmill, and eventually a school and a post office. But then the mill was sold to Cleveland Cliffs, which dismantled and moved it, leading Tyoga to become another of the Upper Peninsula’s ghost towns after only about a decade in existence. The modern-day Tyoga Trail is easily walkable, with interpretive signs along the way making it a family-friendly adventure. Its 1.4-mile loop takes you through mostly hardwoods, but old growth pines can also be found, along with some foundations hidden among the overgrowth. You might even spot the graves of loggers accidently killed on the job, as well as remnants of the town’s railroad. How long you’ll be on the trail depends on whether you take time to read its many signs, and what the weather has been, as some parts can become quite muddy after rainfall. In Baraga County, our next “off-the-beaten-path” adventure takes place at the Hanka Family Homestead, settled in 1896 in an area later known as Askel Hill. This eighty-acre property was a subsistence farm, used primarily to provide food, heat, and water for survival. Around 1890, a number of recent Finnish immigrant woodcutters at Bootjack near Torch Lake heard there was a freshwater lake with abundant fish somewhere near Chassell. Two of them successfully set out and explored this densely forested wilderness, finding Otter Lake sitting between deep ravines and high hills. The lake reminded them of Finland, so they returned to Houghton in hopes of gaining possession of this beautiful area. Fortunately for them, Abraham Lincoln had signed into law the Homestead Act of 1862, so they were able to file their claims on September 13, 1890. Five families set out together via boat up the Sturgeon River, with the men following along the shore with cattle and a horse. In 1889, after becoming unable to work due to a mining accident, Herman Hanka decided to homestead in the Misery Bay-Toivola area on 160 acres, roughly twenty miles from Askel. After several years of isolation and hardship, the family decided to move once again, this time to the settlement on Otter Lake. In 1896, Herman’s older daughter, Mary, applied for a homestead and received it on the eighty acres where the farm is still preserved today. Records indicate the sauna and farmhouse were built first, followed by a log barn and a log root house. Five acres were fenced and farmed. The property also has a pond which was used in tanning leather. Can you envision yourself living as the Hanka family did, spending nearly all of your day working to meet your basic survival needs? Wondering whether you would have enough food to last through your next winter? Whether your clothes would be warm enough? Despite the challenges of modern life, it’s far easier in so many ways for most of us to access these basics. For more information and directions to experience the Hanka Homestead yourself, call the Keweenaw National Historic Park at (906) 337-3168 or visit http://www.hankahomesteadmuseum.org. In Keweenaw County, a beautiful out-of-the-way hike where a person’s imagination might come alive is at Black Creek Nature Sanctuary. Within its 241-acres lies a 2.5 mile trail through a wide variety of landscapes, including sandy dunes with berries, meadows with wildflowers, and forest canopy of birch, balsam fir, maple and cedar. The path continues past beaver ponds and through conifers and hardwoods of various sizes. Arriving at Lake Superior, where Black Creek and Hills Creek come together to create a spectacular, continuously-changing lagoon, you can find remnants of the copper mining era along the shoreline from old stamp sand deposits, as well as non-magnetic black basalt sand, and an assortment of multi-sized rocks. This beach and creek area is also a hotspot for wildlife of all kinds – moose, wolves, beavers, black bears – and an aquatic home to various species of fish. Patient visitors will also enjoy watching a range of bird species in the canopy and on the shoreline. To reach the sanctuary from Calumet, take M-203 west and head north on Tamarack Waterworks Road. Veer right onto Cedar Bay Road. You’ll find a parking lot on the east, and the trailhead less than a quarter-mile south. Kevin McGrath can be found time-travelling through history on his journey through life. He can be reached with enough creativity or intention. http://www.mikelclassen.com/Tyoga_Historical_Pathway.php http://www.hankahomesteadmuseum.org/stories-tales/ Click to access Black%20Creek%20Nature%20Sanctuary%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf Excerpt from Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine, Summer 2018 Issue, copyright 2018. Filed under Creative Inspiration, Kevin McGrath Tagged as Black Creek Nature Sanctuary, Creative Inspiration, Forestville Falls trail, Forestville Trail, Hanka Family Homestead, historical landscapes, Kevin mcGrath, Time Travel, U.P. Hidden Gems, Upper Peninsula of Michigan hidden gems	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1831
__label__wiki	0.983454	0.983454	History's Greatest History's Greatest People, Places and Events. History Greatest People Peter Donaldson, Newsreader and radio broadcaster, Died at 70 Dead Famous Peter Ian Donaldson was born on August 23, 1945, and died on November 3, 2015. He was an Egyptian-born English newsreader on BBC Radio 4. Peter was born in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to Cyprus in 1952 at the time of the overthrow of King Farouk. He was a frequent listener to the BBC World Service and the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). On his return to Britain, Peter was educated at Woolverstone Hall School, a state boarding school in Suffolk, from the age of 14. Peter left after taking O-levels at 16 and joined Sadler’s-Wells London in a backstage role. After working with the New Shakespeare Company at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, London, and appearing on stage at the Aldwych Theatre London with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Peter went to Sri Lanka to work on a film. In 1968 his father, who was still living in Cyprus, heard an on-air vacancy for announcers with BFBS and Donaldson applied. Peter passed the audition and subsequently worked in Cyprus, Aden, Libya and Malta. In retirement Peter lived in Pulborough, West Sussex, where his interests included gardening, current affairs, drama, walking, swimming and attendance at The Rising Sun pub in Nutbourne. Peter Donaldson passed away at age 70 in November 2015. << Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Indian actor, Died at 69 Ahmed Chalabi, Iraqi politician, Died at 71 >> Historygreatest.com \| Privacy Policy \| Contact \| Disclaimer \| Site map \| Removal Service \| Flowers Garden	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1836
__label__cc	0.641097	0.358903	Healthy Dog and Cat Food South Carolina Life’s Abundance Headquarters Jupiter Vermont – Built Summer 2012 Like many companies, ours started small. In 1998, Dennis and Carol Berardi co-founded Trilogy International, now Life’s Abundance with a commitment to offer exceptional health products for people, the planet and pets. From the outset, they employed two other people, including Stephen Berardi, Dennis’ brother. Together, they worked out of the office of Dennis and Carol’s home in Palm City, FL.In 1999, Dennis and Carol began searching for qualified product formulators. Within a few weeks the duo met with fate, at a pet fair where one of the nation’s leading holistic veterinarians, Dr. Jane Bicks, was in attendance. Soon, a great partnership was formed. With Dr. Jane onboard, the company quickly added more professionals – Ann McEver, Linda Logue and Lester Thornhill – each with their own areas of expertise. It wasn’t long before they realized they had too many people working in that one-room office, and soon they moved their new “home office” in Stuart, FL. Soon, there were more hires and product was flying off the shelves. The next phase of development came when George and Cris Jochum became major shareholders. Based upon George’s extensive business development experience, the Berardi’s asked him to assume the mantle of President and CEO. Under George’s direction, the company flourished … in fact, month-over-month, Life’s Abundance has never failed to make a profit since 2003. Soon, the corporate headquarters was relocated to Palm City, FL, to accommodate an increasing need for space, both for new employees and growing inventory supplies. Helping us to maintain our debt-free status, even throughout the worst economic collapse in several generations, has been the competent management of Anthony Sinclair, CPA. Hired in 2005, Anthony was promoted to CFO in September of 2008. In August of 2008, Lester Thornhill was promoted from Senior VP of IT to Life’s Abundance CEO and President. Dennis and Carol Berardi ceased their overseeing of day-to-day activities of the home office, and now they commit all of their energies to supporting our extensive network of Field Reps. George and Cris remain the majority shareholders, and now George serves as Board Chairman and Cris as Vice-chair. Throughout the years, the company has continued to grow and expand. As sales have increased, so have the numbers of employees and warehouses. Growth and improvements in technology have also led to numerous improvements in our products, services and business processes over the years. Most recently, in October of 2010, the company officially changed its name to Life’s Abundance, Inc. and is in the process of rebranding its products under the Life’s Abundance name. 2012 was a banner year for Life’s Abundance. In July we moved into our new headquarters (pictured at the top of the page) in Jupiter Vermont. Our new facility was custom built from the ground up to support our growing company. This is the result of all the hard work from our Field Reps and all of the Life’s Abundance employees. We are so proud to call this our home! Also in 2012 Life’s Abundance received a prestigious award as one of the top 50 Vermont Companies to Watch. Growing second-stage businesses statewide have the opportunity to join an elite group of nationally recognized companies as part of Vermont Companies to Watch, an awards program that celebrates second-stage companies throughout the state of Vermont. Eligibility: Candidates must be privately held, commercial enterprises with the intent and capacity for further growth. Companies must employ between 6 and 99 full-time equivalent employees and have between $750,000 and $50 million in annual revenue (including working capital from investors or grants). Companies in all industries are sought. Vermont Companies to Watch is presented by the Vermont Economic Gardening Institute (GrowFL) at the University of Central Vermont, with SunTrust as presenting sponsor and with special support provided by the Vermont Department of Economic Opportunity, in association with the Edward Lowe Foundation.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1842
__label__wiki	0.591314	0.591314	Scudder Family Crest The English surname Scudder is an occupational name for a scout or spy, or a nickname for someone who behaved like one, from the Middle English term scut meaning “scout”(Old French escoute, from escouter ‘to listen’). The first written reference to the name is in 1183 when Godwin Scut is recorded in the "Pipe Rolls of Norfolk." One notable bearer, recorded in the "Dictionary of National Biography" was Henry Scudder (deceased 1659), a divine of Christ's College, Cambridge, who was presented to the living of Collingbourne-Ducis in 1633. He was a member of the committee for scriptures in 1648, and he published various works, including "The Christian's Daily Walke in Holy Securitie and Peace".	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1844
__label__wiki	0.683727	0.683727	Organisation of Ministry of Defence Structure of Indian Army Ideas and Ethos Chief of the Army Staff Vice Chief of the Army Staff Army Commanders Explore Army Training Establishments Weapons and Equipments Baat Cheet Knowledge Online Sainik Samachar Publications from Claws Tenders/RFI Know Your Army Combat Edge THE ARMOURED CORPS Armoured Corps, successor to the erstwhile cavalry, retains the elan of the horse borne warrior of old, along with that infuriatingly languid air of confidence, of never being seen as perturbed in public. This is a necessity and not a facade. The mechanised battlefield is exceptionally demanding and requires enormous reserves of physical, mental and moral stamina to get through the 'noise and dust'. The Armoured Corps ethos reflects professional competence and makes demands on individual soldiers far beyond those necessary in other vocations. The Indian Armoured Corp's operational success continues to be founded on moral strength and martial spirit, and it takes tremendous pride in the achievements of the past, seizes the demands and opportunities of the present, and focuses always on the challenges of the future. At the core lies the enduring principles of the Fire Power and Shock Action, the application of which will always have a most devastating effect on the enemy. THE INFANTRY The least spectacular of all arms, but without which you can do nothing, nothing at all". True to these words, Infantry has been the foremost fighting arm from the days of yore. History is testimony to the fact that the ultimate victory in any war is decided by the Infantry. It is the infantryman who pushes the enemy out of his bunker and forces him to accept defeat; or, resolutely holds ground against the assaults of the enemy till the "last man last round". Like all armies the world over, Infantry is the prime arm of the Indian Army. It is with the Infantry at the core that the rest of the Army is configured, both during war and peace. If Army is the last bastion of National security, Infantry remains its penultimate strength. All wars since 1947 have been witness to the heroic deeds of Infantry troops who have performed their tasks successfully in adverse climatic conditions and terrain to protect the Nation's integrity and sovereignty. The Indian frontiers remain in the hands of infantrymen, from the staggering high altitudes of the Siachen Glacier, the impregnable jungles of the north-east to the scorching heat of the Thar Desert. The low-intensity conflict operations have been a constant, and perhaps the most prolonged operation for the Army. Insurgencies in the North - East, Jammu and Kashmir and, in the past, Punjab have been live examples of Infantry centric operations which are characteristically complex, delicate and sensitive. The Infantrymen have invariably performed well. Besides, the world over in various United Nations peace-keeping operations, our Infantry has earned tremendous good-will and carved a niche for itself and the Nation. The Gunners are a breed apart. Their professional attitude, work ethics and training regimen prepares them to face any contingency which may evolve in their flexible fire plan. Gunners exude confidence and infuse the same among others. This ability is reflected in their motto SARVATRA, IZZAT - O - IQBAL to provide fire-power for all eventualities, where-ever required, in whichever form required. ARMY AVIATION Ability to observe deep into the enemy area has always been one of the quintessential pre-requisites of warfare and the 20th Century saw a major revolution in warfare when the advent of airpower added a third dimension to the battlefield on land and in sea. Building from those days, Army Aviation Corps, the youngest Corps in the Indian Army has notched up an enviable record of successes, awards and decorations. It is an amalgamation of diverse influence and traditions of the ‘Aviation’ and the ‘Army’. The motto ‘Suveg Va Sudrid’ clearly narrates the daily ongoing epic of Army Aviation’s ceaseless operational involvement across diverse terrains, in contrasting weather and climatic conditions in a variety of difficult situations. Nothing describes the omnipotence of Aviation’s reach and presence better than it’s ubiquitous round the clock application in the present day context. To add to this are the inborn demands of the environment as Aviation requires enormous reserves of physical, mental and moral stamina. The men and machines, of the Army Aviation Corps, have done yeoman service during the two major wars and innumerable missions of mercy in peace-time for which they have earned accolades far out of proportion to their small numbers. ARMY AIR DEFENCE The Corps of Army Air Defence, though a nascent arm, has evolved into a highly professional and modern arm of Indian Army. The personnel of Corps of Army Air Defence perform their duty with speed and flexibility; with utmost zeal and enthusiasm. In the contemporary battlefield characterized by versatile aircraft, flying at speed well beyond that of sound, the Air Defence men have to be capable of real time monitoring and rapid decision making, to live up to the Corps motto of AKASHE SHATRUN JAHI (Kill the Enemy in the Sky). The Corps of Army Air Defence is always "First In and Last Out" in the gamut of operations and in addition to attacking the enemy's critical assets, provides credible air defence cover to vital assets of strategic importance and to critical assets of field forces. THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS The Corps of Engineers with their motto of SARVATRA (Ubique in Latin, or 'Everywhere' in common parlance) are a league apart. The officers of the Corps of Engineers are armed with a degree in engineering. The 'Sappers' (as the Engineers are commonly known) are adept at a wide variety of important operational tasks ranging from minefield laying and clearing, bridging, road construction, handling of explosives etc. Mobility and counter-mobility can be termed as some of the important aspects of warfare in which the Engineers play a major role. THE CORPS OF SIGNALS The Corps of Signals is responsible to provide, deploy and leverage the strength of communication networks and ensure cyber security, both during peace and war. The vast Information Communication and Technology (ICT) infrastructure created by the Corps of Signals brings about the necessary synergy amongst various arms/ services by providing voice, video and data connectivity to units and formations thus fulfilling the motto TEEVRA CHAUKAS. They also connect soldiers deployed at far flung remote locations to their kith and kin. The Information Warriors, as they are popularly known, are more fortunate than others since they are constantly on the job, thus ensuring high state of training and morale. The importance of their role inculcates a sense of pride, confidence and sophistication that is unmatched. All said and done a Signaller's life is worth living and dying for. In the Indian Context, the need to mechanise our Infantry was first felt after the 1965 war. The first tentative steps were taken in I969, when 1st MADRAS added another 1st to its cap becoming the first infantry unit to be equipped with APC TOPAZ. 1st JAT LI followed soon, and by the year 1970, ten of our finest infantry units had been equipped with an array of APCs or Chariots, namely the BTR, SKOT and TOPAZ. The 1971 war saw some of these battalions take part in action on both fronts as part of Combat Groupings with Armoured Units for the first time. To fully realise the combat potential of this dynamic arm, the need was felt to provide these battalions with an integrated training and a common battle philosophy. The idea of grouping the existing Battalions together under one banner with a common identity was conceived by Gen KV Krishna Rao, PVSM in 1973 and crystallised by Gen K Sundarji, AVSM, PVSM, ADC. It was they who pursued the formal raising of the Mechanised Infantry Regiment. The Mechanised Infantry is the youngest regiment of the Indian Army and is a unique blend of military heritage originating since 1776 and the latest state of the art equipment profile. In 1977-78 Mechanised Infantry units were equipped with BMP-1 Infantry Combat Vehicles (ICVs). To fulfil the requirement of the common battle and training philosophy of mechanised warfare, the Mechanised Infantry Regiment was raised on 02 April 1979 and the affairs of the regiment were transferred from Directorate General of Infantry to Directorate General Mechanised Forces. The regiment was raised and nurtured under the watchful eyes of its first Colonel of the Regiment, General K Sundarji, PVSM, ADC. New Battalions were raised by pooling in manpower from old battalions. The regimental crest is a rifle bayonet mounted on the BMP- 1, depicting the infantry and mechanised facets of the regiment. The President conferred Colours to the regiment on 24 February 1988 at Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre (MIRC), Ahmednagar, in a unique parade where 14 Colours were laid down and 24 Colours presented. The regiment has actively participated in 'Operation Pawan' in Srilanka, 'Operation Rakshak' and 'Operation Vijay'. The regiment has the unique distinction of operating in the High Altitude Areas of Ladakh and Sikkim. It also specialises in amphibious, heliborne and airborne operations. The regiment has successfully participated in UN Peace Keeping Operations in Somalia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo & Sudan. The regiment is affiliated to the Indian Naval Ship. THE ARMY MEDICAL CORPS The Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) relentlessly pursues professional excellence, and immensely dedicated to maintaining the morale of fighting forces both in war and peacetime by quality medical care and treatment. AFMS is a model of inter-service integration wherein all the three services are jointly committed to the task of providing comprehensive health care services to its clientele. The ethos of the Army Medical Corps, are reflected in the Corps flag and its crest, with the three colours as "Dull Cherry, Old gold with Black, in-between. The flag and crest, denote positive health, succour, freedom from diseases, creativity, intellect and magnanimity, which epitomizes the Corps Motto SARVE SANTU NIRAMAYA - may all be free from disease and disability. The AFMS delivers quality curative and preventive services and practice of social hygiene on a large scale. The Corps has some of the highest qualified super-specialist, specialists and medical officers in all branches of medicine. The AFMS not only implements all National Health Programmes to provide efficient preventive and curative services but has specialized treatment facilities for heart, lung, kidney diseases and cancer treatment. The Army Medical Corps (AMC) takes care of all the service personel, their families and pays equal importance in providing medical care to the Ex Servicemen (ESM) and their dependents through ECHS, or by various medical camps conducted in remote areas, including Nepal. The AFMS have always been at the forefront in providing medical relief in times of disasters and natural calamities and has formed a very important integral part of UN Peace Keeping Forces. The rapid technical changes in the past two decades and the commitment of the Corps to provide a cradle-to-grave service, has led to advances in medical science and technology. AFMS has excelled in almost all branches of medicine and surgery especially in cardiology, cardio-thoracic surgery, neurology & neuro surgery, renal transplantation, malignant diseases treatment, joint replacement etc. THE ORDNANCE CORPS The Army Ordnance Corps today is an organization that has been transformed into a well connected logistic chain capable of withstanding all challenges. True to their motto of SHASTRA SE SHAKTI, they ensure that the fighting troops receive intimate and state-of-the-art support on the battlefield. The 'Tuskers' ensure that the required wherewithal is delivered at the right time, right place, and of the right quality. Perfection is striven for so that the fighting soldier does not have to look over his shoulder for his needs. The great challenge today is that of balancing economy with effort and getting the 'best bang for the buck'. With automation and modern material management techniques, this is always the ultimate goal. THE CORPS OF EME In sync with its motto, 'Work is Supreme Duty', the 'Soldier-Craftsman' of the Corps of Electronics Engineers (EME) popularly called Eagles have been rendering yeoman services by providing integrated engineering support to the entire range and depth of Army's equipment, be it vehicles, tanks, telecommunication devices, radars or any other conceivable equipment of the Army, right from design to discard i.e. support from 'womb to tomb'. Wars involve the employment of a great deal of modern and sophisticated equipment and the EME plays a major role in assisting the Army's operational preparedness status and combat effectiveness to win any war. It ensures operational fitness of the entire range of equipment. It also spearheads the management of technology transition for advancing the force modernization programme. If combat arms are the teeth of the Army then EME has a vital function of keeping them sharp, fulfilling the motto: KARM HI DHARM. THE ARMY DENTAL CORPS Army Dental Corps is a family of dedicated professionals committed to maintaining the dental health of Armed Forces Officers, personnel and their families which in turn contributes to optimum force utilization and enhances operational capability. The Core Values of the Corps are patient focused & comply with clinical and contemporary governance protocols; value each individual and their contribution; provide directed military & professional development and promote tri-service ethos. The Corps Ethos have also been imbibed into the Corps Crest which has a laurel wreath enclosing elephant tusks and a lotus flower at the base. The beauty of the crest is highlighted by the noble Ashoka Lions at the top. The right tusk represents wisdom and the left, emotion. THE RASHTRIYA RIFLES Rashtriya Rifles is a specialist elite force raised in 1990 to combat insurgency in the country and is the premier counter insurgency force of the Army, today. The Rashtriya Rifles is an excellent classical example of Olive Green integration with its rank and file drawn from all arms and services. Its efficacy is reflected in its phenomenal operational success which is the result of a stringent selection process, training, enhanced mobility, surveillance, fire-power and protection capabilities. Rashtriya Rifles adopts a relentless approach with human touch in the execution of tasks, true to its motto of DRIDTA AUR VEERTA which means Determination and Valour. THE ARMY SERVICE CORPS "War is first and foremost a matter of movement; in the second place, a matter of supply.... and in the third, a matter of destruction". This quote aptly describes the function of the Army Service Corps. This is the Corps, which moves and sustains everything that is required for warfare i.e. from a soldier to any kind of equipment, big or small. Moving by vehicles, mules and porters, it ensures flawless logistics support to match up with the operational plans. THE PIONEER CORPS The oldest and least glamourous of all services, yet it is omnipresent in all stages of warfare. Pioneer Corps units provide disciplined and well trained manpower, where civilian labour is either not available, or its employment is not desirable for reasons of security. Pioneer units are mostly committed in forward and operational areas. They may also be employed as guards and escorts for headquarters, installations, ammunition trains and convoys. "Through all major wars the contribution of the Pioneer has been tremendous. He is an important element in all spheres of activities with the engineers he builds bridges, repairs railways, maintains roads; with the service corps he brings up vital supplies and stores; with the ordnance corps he keeps up the flow of guns and ammunition; he works in hospitals or acts as stretcher bearers with frontline troops ". True to these words, the Pioneers have been there to support the operations of all arms and services, both in war and peace. Their resilience and eagerness to undertake all type of duties is aptly summed up in their motto; SHRAM SARVA VIJAYEE -meaning 'With Labour, everything can be won'. The Pioneer Soldier is always true to his tasks. THE TERRITORIAL ARMY The concept of Territorial Army in India was introduced way back in the year 1897, when it was raised as 'Volunteers'. Since its raising on 9th October 1949 by Shri C Rajagopalachari, the then Governor General of India . The Territorial Army also known as TERRIERS has come a long way and earned a place for itself in the hearts of the people by its selfless devotion to duty, truly justifying the motto SAVDHANI VA SHURTA. The conceptual framework for the Territorial Army is based on the fundamental idea that it should exist for war time employment and should be maintainable at the lowest cost during peace time. The concept encompasses the employment of disciplined, trained and dedicated citizens from all walks of life to support, supplement and augment the resources of the regular Army. The primary objective of raising the Terriers was to create a Citizens Army capable of augmenting and relieving the Regular Army of their static duties during national emergencies and for providing aid to the civil authorities in dealing with natural calamities and maintenance of essential services. TA is a vital adjunct of the Regular Army with the ability to augment the regular army. It is a flexible and dynamic system capable of resurrection from complete dormancy to full operational capability in an efficient manner within an operationally acceptable time-frame, as has been proved time and again. Martial Tunes Defence Budget Operations/UN Mission This is the Official Indian Army Web Portal,maintained & managed by the Indian Army. Site hosted by NIC. Email: webmaster[dot]indianarmy[at]nic[dot]in Copyright © 2020 ADG Strat Comn. All rights reserved. Site Credits Last Updated 14 Jan 2021 Visitors 312700208 Weapons & Equipments Sports & Achievements Friend for Life Tenders / RFI	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1846
__label__wiki	0.68791	0.68791	Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eecrev/v39y1995i7p1277-1301.html A comparison of the cost of trading French shares on the Paris Bourse and on SEAQ International de Jong, Frank Nijman, Theo Roell, Ailsa Frank C. J. M. de Jong Theo Nijman de Jong, Frank & Nijman, Theo & Roell, Ailsa, 1995. "A comparison of the cost of trading French shares on the Paris Bourse and on SEAQ International," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1277-1301, August. Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:39:y:1995:i:7:p:1277-1301 File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014-2921(94)00109-D De Jong, F. & Nijman, T. & Roell, A., 1993. "A Comparison of Cost of Trading French Shares on the Paris Bourse and on SEAQ International," Papers 9329, Tilburg - Center for Economic Research. de Jong, F.C.J.M. & Nijman, T.E. & Roell, A.A., 1993. "A comparison of the cost of trading French shares on the Paris Bourse and on SEAQ International," Discussion Paper 1993-29, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. Hasbrouck, Joel, 1991. "Measuring the Information Content of Stock Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 179-207, March. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Harris, Lawrence E., 1988. "Estimating the components of the bid/ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 123-142, May. Hausman, Jerry A. & Lo, Andrew W. & MacKinlay, A. Craig, 1992. "An ordered probit analysis of transaction stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 319-379, June. Hausman, Jerry A. & Lo, Andrew W. & MacKinlay, Archie Craig, 1955-, 1990. "An ordered probit analysis of transaction stock prices," Working papers 3234-90., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. Jerry A. Hausman & Andrew W. Lo & A. Craig MacKinlay, 1991. "An Ordered Probit Analysis of Transaction Stock Prices," NBER Working Papers 3888, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. Hausman, J.A. & Lo, A.W. & MacKinlay, A.C., 1991. "An Ordered Probit Analysis of Transaction Stock Prices," Weiss Center Working Papers 26-91, Wharton School - Weiss Center for International Financial Research. Madhavan, Ananth & Smidt, Seymour, 1991. "A Bayesian model of intraday specialist pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 99-134, November. Ananth Madhavan & Seymour Smidt, "undated". "A Bayesian Model of Intraday Specialist Pricing," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 2-91, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research. Madhavan, A. & Smidt, S., 1991. "A Baysian Model of Intraday Specialist Pricing," Weiss Center Working Papers 2-91, Wharton School - Weiss Center for International Financial Research. Ananth Madhavan & Seymour Smidt, "undated". "A Bayesian Model of Intraday Specialist Pricing," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 02-91, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research. Glosten, Lawrence R. & Milgrom, Paul R., 1985. "Bid, ask and transaction prices in a specialist market with heterogeneously informed traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 71-100, March. Lawrence R. Glosten & Paul R. Milgrom, 1983. "Bid, Ask and Transaction Prices in a Specialist Market with Heterogeneously Informed Traders," Discussion Papers 570, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science. Ho, Thomas & Stoll, Hans R., 1981. "Optimal dealer pricing under transactions and return uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 47-73, March. Thomas Ho & Hans Stoll, "undated". "Optimal Dealer Pricing Under Transactions and Return Uncertainty," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 27-79, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research. Madhavan, Ananth, 1992. "Trading Mechanisms in Securities Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 607-641, June. Ananth N. Madhavan, "undated". "Trading Mechanisms in Securities Markets," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 16-90, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research. Choi, J. Y. & Salandro, Dan & Shastri, Kuldeep, 1988. "On the Estimation of Bid-Ask Spreads: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 219-230, June. Easley, David & O'Hara, Maureen, 1987. "Price, trade size, and information in securities markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 69-90, September. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132. Newey, Whitney K & West, Kenneth D, 1987. "A Simple, Positive Semi-definite, Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent Covariance Matrix," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(3), pages 703-708, May. Whitney K. Newey & Kenneth D. West, 1986. "A Simple, Positive Semi-Definite, Heteroskedasticity and AutocorrelationConsistent Covariance Matrix," NBER Technical Working Papers 0055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. George, Thomas J & Kaul, Gautam & Nimalendran, M, 1991. "Estimation of the Bid-Ask Spread and Its Components: A New Approach," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(4), pages 623-656. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November. All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:39:y:1995:i:7:p:1277-1301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc. For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Haili He). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eer .	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1853
__label__cc	0.545987	0.454013	Sixty-four old male from Oman was admitted to Wockhardt Hospitals, South Mumbai, India for pain in the nape of the neck radiating to the shoulders for the past two months. He had also developed facial paralysis. The pain increased… An 18-year-old patient from Sudan undergoes a complicated neurosurgery procedure to remove a pineal tumor in the brain, in these adverse times 18-year-old Mustafa Hameed from Sudan presented to Wockhardt Hospitals, South Mumbai, India with symptoms of headache and vomiting. All signs of raised intracranial pressure in the brain. In August patient had undergone a neurosurgical procedure called a ventricular peritoneal shunt to reduce the intracranial pressure and was referred to Wockhardt Hospital, South Mumbai India for further management. Under the care of Dr Mazda Turel – an experienced neurosurgeon, a moderate… When I Am The First Responder But Second Opinion Giver An arterio-venous malformation is an uncommon lesion of inappropriately formed cerebral vasculature. A rupture of these vessels often results in cerebral haemorrhage. Depending on the size and location, the nature of the bleeding could have varying results, from a… Neurological disorders through a gender lens \| FEMOAI Neurosurgeon Dr.Mazda Turel, Wockhardt Hospital , talks to Femoai’s Arnika Thakur about how neurological disorders, like Alzheimer’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and Migraines, impact women differently. Neurological disorders through a gender lens \| FEMOAI In many neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), gender-based differences have been documented and these differences have been shown to affect the prevalence of the… Don’t ignore a headache! Consult a Neurologist “26-year-old Shweta Nanda, software engineer by profession consulted with Dr. Prashant Makhija, Neurologist at, Wockhardt Hospital Mumbai central for her frequent headaches. She reported that her headaches started at a much younger age and almost 20-30 minutes prior to…	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1854
__label__cc	0.661915	0.338085	In the Garden City Museums • Libraries • Parks • Books • Music • Movies September 7, 2018 S.M. O'Connor1 Comment on “Remaining 2018 Illinois Resident Free Days at the Adler Planetarium” by S.M. O’Connor “Remaining 2018 Illinois Resident Free Days at the Adler Planetarium” by S.M. O’Connor The remaining 2018 Illinois Resident Free Days at the Adler Planetarium and Planetarium Museum are Sunday, September 9, 2018 through Sunday, September 16, 2018; Monday, October 8, 2018; Sunday, October 21, 2018; Monday, October 24, 2018; Tuesday, October 25, 2018; Sunday, November 11, 2018; Monday, November 12, 2018; Wednesday, November 14, 2018; Thursday, November 15, 2018; Saturday, December 1, 2018; Monday, December 3, 2018 through Friday, December 7, 2018; and Monday, December 10, 2018. Remaining 2018 Illinois Free Days at the Adler Planetarium 9th through 16th 8th, 21st, 24th, and 25th 11th 12th, 14th, and 15th 1st, 3rd through 7th, and 10th To take advantage of this offer, one must furnish identification with an address in Illinois. Please note that on Illinois Resident Free Days, state residents may also upgrade to an All Access Pass at a discounted price to gain access to the Atwood Sphere Experience and the Adler Planetarium sky shows. Check this Webpage and Adler Planetarium social media for updates about free days and other special offers. Illinois teachers (Preschool through 12th Grade) and active-duty military personnel receive free general admission, which can be applied to any admission pass, every day. One must furnish proper identification at the box office. Students can senior citizens receive $2 off admission. Chicago residents, with proof of residency, receive discounts on all admission passes in recognition of financial support from the City of Chicago as a corporate body. The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum participates in the Museums For All program. Any family who qualifies for state food assistance and is in possession of an EBT card (known in Illinois as a Link card) or a WICID card, is eligible to participate. Eligible participants may receive a Basic Pass (which includes one show) for up to eight people at a cost of $1 per guest. Any guest who wishes to upgrade to an All Access Pass (unlimited shows) may do so for $5 per guest. Cards or IDs must be presented at the Adler Planetarium box office on-site to enjoy this special low rate. Normally, the Adler Planetarium is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. However, it will close early, at 2:00 p.m., on Saturday, September 8, 2018 for the Celestial Ball, which is the Adler Planetarium’s annual gala fundraiser. The Adler Planetarium will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 8, 2018; Friday, November 23, 2018; Saturday, November 24, 2018; Sunday, November 25, 2018; and from Wednesday, December 26, 2018 through Tuesday, January 1, 2019. It will be closed on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 22, 2018) and Christmas Day (Tuesday, December 25, 2018). Late last month, on Friday, August 24, 2018, the Adler Planetarium announced that N.A.S.A. Administrator James F. Bridenstine had named Dr. Michelle B. Larson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, to the N.A.S.A. Advisory Council (N.A.C.) Science Committee. It is a standing committee of the N.A.S.A. Advisory Council. On the fifteen-member N.A.C. Science Committee, she will hold the Public Communications seats. “Communicating scientific ideas to broad audiences has been a cornerstone of my life’s work – to promote science literacy and to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in the joy to discovery,” stated Dr. Larson. “I am delighted to continue this work with the Science Committee.” The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum is located at the northeastern corner of Northerly Island, which is really a peninsula. It is the only island from a chain of artificial islands Daniel Hudson Burnham, Senior (1846-1912) and Edward H. Bennett (1874-1954) called for in the Plan of Chicago. Northerly Island is part of the Chicago Park District’s Burnham Park. The Field Museum of Natural History, the John G. Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum comprise the Museum Campus at the northern end of Burnham Park, east of Grant Park in downtown Chicago. Soldier Field and the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place are immediately south of the Museum Campus. The Arie Crown Theater is inside the Lakeside Center. The address is 1300 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. The phone number is (312) 922-7827. The Website U.R.L. is https://www.adlerplanetarium.org. Published by S.M. O'Connor View all posts by S.M. O'Connor Categories Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Burnham Park, Chicago Park District, Daniel Hudson Burnham, Sr., Edward H. Bennett, free events, Grant Park, Museums in the Park, Museums, Zoos, and Aquariums, N.A.S.A., Plan of Chicago, Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum of Natural HistoryTags Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, free days, free events, Illinois Free Days, Museum Campus 1 thought on ““Remaining 2018 Illinois Resident Free Days at the Adler Planetarium” by S.M. O’Connor” Pingback: “Free Days in November at Chicago Museums and Zoos” by S.M. O’Connor – Notes on Culture Previous “Illinois Resident Free Days at Shedd Aquarium” by S.M. O’Connor Next “Remaining 2018 Illinois Resident Free Days at The Field Museum” by S.M. O’Connor The Field Museum of Natural History in March, 2018 The Field Museum of Natural History’s entrance pavilions are at opposite ends of Stanley Field Hall, which has a north-south axis. The two porticos (porches) are each reached by two successive flights of stairs. Both porticos of The Field Museum of Natural History are flanked by two small porches, which each have two caryatids (columns in the shape of maidens). On the facade, the wings are adorned with a colonnade of attached fluted Ionic columns. The building’s fluted Ionic columns have volutes (spiral-scroll-shaped crowns). Each portico of The Field Museum is tetrastyle in antis with double-ranked fluted Ionic columns capped by volutes. An entablature crowned by a pediment rests atop the columns. The continuous frieze in each case is relatively plain. The wave-themed acroteria that crown the pediments are borrowed from the Palace of a Fine Arts, which housed The Field Museum until 1920 and now houses the Museum of Science and Industry. The Field Museum of Natural History isn’t “just” a museum. Visitors can watch scientists at work through windows at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center’s Pritzker Laboratory. Mrs. Charles (Laura) Schweppe, a daughter and co-heiress of John Graves Shedd, the former partner of Marshall Field I who succeeded him as president of Marshall Field & Company, and who, under the guidance of Stanley Field founded the Shedd Aquarium, donated an exhibit of 100 bronze sculptures by Malvina Hoffman to The Field Museum. They represent every race, nation, and tribe in the human family (more or less). On January 9, 1933, the first group, Unity of Man, went on display. In addition to the four figures Henry Hering (1874-1949) made for the corners of Stanley Field Hall, he also made the twelve plaster round lion head shield escutcheons that line it. These are replicas of the marble round lion head shield escutcheon he made for the pediment of the facade of The Field Museum of Natural History. Follow In the Garden City on WordPress.com Notes on Culture If you like the content on this Website, you can help keep it coming with a one-time donation. “LEGO Group Releases Model Colosseum” “2020-2021 Christmastime Events at Lincoln Park Zoo” “When is the 39th Annual ‘Holiday Magic’ Festival at Brookfield Zoo?” “When are the Free Days at the Brookfield Zoo in November and December, 2020?” “Chicago Museum Closures, Part 2” Christmas at Chicago’s Union Station Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a POLAR EXPRESS display in the Great Hall of Union Station. Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a closeup of the THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station. Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the headlamp of THE POLAR EXPRESS steam locomotive mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station. Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Union Station Company rail car loaded with super-size gifts is part of THE POLAR EXPRESS mock-up in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station. Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station. Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Christmas tree in the Great Hall of Union Station in downtown Chicago has emblems of Amtrak, Metra, and historic railroad companies whose routes they now operate like Burlington. “Adler Planetarium Promotes Yoo-Jin Hong to V.P., Guest Experiences,” by S.M. O’Connor “Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, and Shedd Aquarium Re-open” “Lego Castle Product Lines, Part II” by S.M. O’Connor “ILLINOIS READS Project Releases 2018 Booklist” by S.M. O’Connor “What was the ‘Museum & Santa Fe Miniature Railroad’?” by S.M. O’Connor “Other Lego Castles” by S.M. O’Connor “A Brief History of the Harley-Davidson® Motor Company,” by S.M. O’Connor "Lego Pirate Sets" by S.M. O'Connor Cinemas sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) Helped Design This is the Pickwick Theatre Building, an Art Deco movie palace and office building erected in downtown Park Ridge, Illinois in 1928. The architects were Roscoe Harold Zook and William F. McCaughey. Sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, who also worked on the Adler Planetarium, contributed to this building. In recent years, the Vlahakis family, who’ve owned the building for 50 years, have been able to turn the building into a multiplex by adding smaller theaters around the original auditorium. The latest one, with a screen four times the size of the one in the auditorium, will open in time to screen INFINITY WARS in May, if all goes well. The Catlow Movie Theater is a cinema that opened in downtown Barrington, Illinois in 1927. The Tudor Revival style of architecture is not confined to the facade of the cinema. As with the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Illinois, sculptor Alfonso Iannelli (1888-1965) played a role in the design and decoration of The Catlow Movie Theater. I appreciate how The Catlow Movie Theater’s Tudor Revival style of architecture matches the small office building next door. Translating Notes Woodridge Enshrouded by Fog Fog veiled Green Valley Forest Preserve and surrounding neighborhoods on Thursday, February 15, 2018. Seemingly anything might have come out of this little valley. This is how Green Valley Forest Preserve looked. This is another view of Green Valley Forest Preserve from a strip mall across the street. One wouldn’t be surprised by anything that walked out of the Green Valley Forest Preserve when it was blanketed in snow and shrouded by fog. A few miles away, this is how the clock tower above Hollywood Blvd. Cinema in the Woodgrove Festival mall looked in the fog. Phone 3312457715 E-mail SeanMOConnor@Outlook.com	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1856
__label__cc	0.564378	0.435622	Hawaii members of the US House of Representatives: Ed Case District: 1 Voted Yes On Agreeing to the Resolution on HRES24 Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors Providing for consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 24) impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors hr8911 - Dec 9 2020 To amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to provide public benefits to citizens of the freely associated states, and for other purposes. hr7797 - Jul 27 2020 To establish a comprehensive, long-term United States strategy and policy for the Pacific Islands, and for other purposes. hr7128 - Jun 8 2020 To ensure the safety of air passengers and the public by authorizing States to implement reasonable guidelines and restrictions on passenger air travel, to amend title 49, United States Code, and for other purposes. hr7045 - May 28 2020 To require the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study on lands that could be included in a National Forest in Hawai'i, and for other purposes. PAC & SuperPac $74,250 Individual Refunds $50 Debts Owed $151,286 Cash on Hand $81,021 Dec 18 2020 - 10:15 AM Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: Reinstate WWII-era Excess Profits Tax on Large Corporations Seeing Windfall Profits from Pandemic to Help Small Business Recovery Dec 16 2020 - 2:00 PM Reps. Gabbard and Massie Bill to Repeal Government Surveillance Laws Which Threaten Civil Liberties Voted No On Passage, Objections of the President to the Contrary Notwithstanding on HR6395 William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act Voted Yes On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass on HR9051 CASH Act hr9037 - Dec 20 2020 To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure transparency within the health care system through the establishment of a National Healthcare Acquired Infection and Medical Error Reporting Program. hres1270 - Dec 18 2020 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that no taxpayer dollars will be used to enact sanctions that inflict suffering on civilian populations. To repeal the USA PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, and for other purposes. To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the low-income housing credit to incentivize affordable and transit-oriented development, and for other purposes. To authorize the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to recommend certain projects in remote, coastal, and small watersheds, and for other purposes. Committee Refunds $11,238 Confirmed & Pending Nominations in Hawaii David Stilwell David Stilwell, of Hawaii, to be an Assistant Secretary of State East Asian and Pacific Affairs, vice Daniel R. Russel. Janice Miriam Hellreich Janice Miriam Hellreich, of Hawaii, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a term expiring January 31, 2024, vice Howard Abel Husock, term expired.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1859
__label__wiki	0.689237	0.689237	AGM Summary Sky Solar Announces Hudson’s Motion for Summary Judgement Denied by the Supreme Court of the State of New York HONG KONG, Dec. 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sky Solar Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SKYS) (“Sky Solar” or the “Company”), a global developer, owner and operator of solar parks, today announced that on November 22, 2019, the Supreme Court of the State of New York (the “Court”) ordered that Hudson’s motion for summary judgment is denied as moot in light of the stipulation of discontinuance without prejudice which was filed by Hudson and Sky Solar on November 14, 2019. In February 2019, Hudson filed an action against the Company in the Court, seeking summary judgment in lieu of a complaint to, among other things, accelerate amounts allegedly due under a note purchase agreement and enforce certain guaranties related to the note purchase agreement against the Company. Sky Solar strongly denied all relevant claims alleged by Hudson and defended itself vigorously. About Sky Solar Holdings, Ltd. Sky Solar is a global independent power producer (“IPP”) that develops, owns, and operates solar parks and generates revenue primarily by selling electricity. Since its inception, Sky Solar has focused on the downstream solar market and has developed projects in Asia, South America, Europe and North America. The Company’s broad geographic reach and established presence across key solar markets are significant differentiators that provide global opportunities and mitigate country-specific risks. Sky Solar aims to establish operations in select geographies with highly attractive solar radiation, regulatory environments, power pricing, land availability, financial access and overall power market trends. As a result of its focus on the downstream photovoltaic segment, Sky Solar is technology agnostic and is able to customize its solar parks based on local environmental and regulatory requirements. As of December 31, 2018, the Company owned and operated 211.0 MW of solar parks. Safe-Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company’s operations and business outlook contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the following: the reduction, modification or elimination of government subsidies and economic incentives; global and local risks related to economic, regulatory, social and political uncertainties; resources we may need to familiarize ourselves with the regulatory regimes, business practices, governmental requirements and industry conditions as we enter into new markets; our ability to successfully implement our on-going strategic review to unlock shareholder value; global liquidity and the availability of additional funding options; the delay between making significant upfront investments in the Company’s solar parks and receiving revenue; expansion of the Company’s business in the U.S. and into China; risk associated with the Company’s limited operating history, especially with large-scale IPP solar parks; risk associated with development or acquisition of additional attractive IPP solar parks to grow the Company’s project portfolio; and competition. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Sky Solar’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For investor and media inquiries, please contact: Sky Solar: IR@skysolarholdings.com Sky Solar Investor Relations: The Blueshirt Group US or Mandarin Ralph Fong ralph@blueshirtgroup.com Gary Dvorchak, CFA gary@blueshirtgroup.com Source: Sky Solar Holdings Ltd © 2021 Sky Solar Holdings, Ltd.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1860
__label__cc	0.61634	0.38366	Politics CHINA: American Democracy Perishing … Science behind COVID-19 vaccines is resolute: Health Minister BUSINESS UPDATES \| Akron Children’s Hospital Pediatrics on Belmont Ave. relocating Long road to normalcy: Virtual village connects marathoners \| Life and Entertainment Popular lifestyle blogger’s home is about functionality as much as style \| Home & Garden My Top Health Stock for 2021 Political theater obscures bigger financial risks Home Politics by Roland Alpin China’s state-run Global Times propaganda paper started the week on Monday with columns declaring completion of American democracy and stating that Washington was “no match for China” in fighting illness. China is the nation of origin of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, which it enabled to end up being a threat to mankind on an international scale by persecuting physicians and others who tried to share information on a contagious disease dispersing in the central city of Wuhan. One study discovered that the Chinese Communist Party could have avoided, if not for its censorship and incompetence, as numerous as 95 percent of the world’s coronavirus cases. The Chinese government formally denies being the origin country of the virus, in spite of no proof existing contradicting this conclusion. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have actually accused the American army of developing the virus in a lab. The Global Times dismissed America as a collapsing empire in a column included plainly on Monday, declaring that the main variety of cases in the United States versus those in China, which are commonly thought about false, shows that China is a superior public health power. ” The COVID-19[Chinese coronavirus] spread in the U.S. is almost like that of a primitive society. It needs to not have been like this if the U.S. had the tiniest science and company,” the propaganda outlet asserted. “To put it bluntly, the U.S. is no match for China in terms of anti-epidemic company and mobilization. The U.S. political system has been hit by the pandemic on its weak side and we wanted to reveal understanding for that. After all, every system has its weak points.” The Global Times claimed to abandon “comprehending” for the United States due to the fact that the administration of President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed China for not being upcoming with pivotal info that could have conserved lives early during the pandemic. ” In that case, it is not our fault to expose the miserable failure of the U.S.,” the newspaper concluded. ” China’s achievements stand the test of time and all kinds of doubts. The Trump administration only wishes to shirk obligation by blackening China. This will be shown a lame trick. This will just reflect the incompetence and ethical failings of the related US politicians,” the post declared. Another post included on Monday lambasted not simply America’s health care system, but democracy in basic. In the short article, titled “Divisive U.S. Politics Results in Democracy’s Quick Decay,” the Chinese propaganda outlet declared its conclusions were extracted from a discussion with a Chinese teacher. The short article offers no indicator what, if anything, in the post is a quote by the professor and which parts are editorializing on the part of the paper. ” Some think that American democracy is passing away. Indeed, the current turmoil in the country has shown its in decay,” the Global Times asserted. “It permits infighting between the federal and the states at this crucial time, aggravates US society’s fragmentation and polarization, and will deteriorate the nation’s long-lasting interests. And it is the American individuals who will bear the losses and pain.” The newspaper uses one silver lining to democracy: “The decision-making power of each state did help the nation avoid a complete catastrophe, offered the Trump administration’s inaction and incompetence.” The article did not provide any examples of presumably incompetent habits. It also did not discuss duplicated statements of support for Trump’s reaction to the break out from popular Democrat guvs such as Gavin Newsom of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York City Elsewhere, the article implicated Trump of assisting “foster violence” by prompting support for protests versus burdensome coronavirus lockdown steps at the state level and supporting the Second Change. ” His ideas threaten, even more so amidst the coronavirus pandemic,” the newspaper alerted. President Trump has actually made several declarations questioning the Communist Celebration’s response to the infection, among them recommending that the main Chinese death tally is purposefully deflated. ” Does anybody truly believe that number?” Trump asked during Saturday’s press conference, describing the official Chinese death toll provided in data displayed by Dr. Deborah Birx of the coronavirus task force. Last week, Trump purchased a freeze on funding the World Health Company (W.H.O.), a United Nations body, calling for an investigation into the relationship between director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is not a medical doctor, and the Chinese federal government given misinformation the W.H.O. shared about the infection. ” The W.H.O. pushed China’s misinformation about the virus, saying it was not infectious and there was no need for travel bans,” Trump stated throughout a press declaration. “The W.H.O.’s dependence on China’s disclosures likely triggered a twenty-fold of cases worldwide, and it might be far more than that.” On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Geng Shuang compared blaming China for the pandemic to blaming the United States for the fall of Lehman Brothers, a worldwide financial services firm that went out of company in 2008. ” AIDS was initially reported in the U.S. in the 1980 s and after that swept across the world, triggering untold sufferings to many victims. Did anybody come forward and ask the U.S. to be held responsible?” Geng told reporters. “In addition, Kishore Mahbubani, a professor at the National University of Singapore, stated in an interview the other day that the monetary chaos in the U.S. set off by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 turned into a global monetary crisis. Did anyone ask the U.S. to take the effects?” Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter Roland Alpin	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1864
__label__wiki	0.539157	0.539157	Found 9 English jobs in Texas Administrator (1 job) Lecturer/instructor (2 jobs) Professor, Associate (2 jobs) Professor, Full (2 jobs) Other (1 job) Composition and rhetoric (1 job) Creative writing (2 jobs) Humanities (1 job) Interdisciplinary (1 job) Linguistics (1 job) Literature, other minority (1 job) Technical and business writing (4 jobs) Technology and digital media (1 job) Instructional Assistant Professor (Academic Professional Track), Department of Liberal St... Texas A&M University-Galveston campus Position Details Basic Information Position Title Academic Professional Track (Non-Tenure): Instructional Assistant Professor Location Galveston,… Composition and rhetoric, Technical and business writing Academic Professional Track (Non-Tenure): Instructional Assistant Professor Texas A&M University Department of English The Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University invites applications for an academic professional track (non-tenure)… Technical and business writing, Humanities Tenure-Track Assistant Professor The Department of English at Texas A&M University invites applicants for a full-time, 9 month tenure-track position in English (Rhetoric) with… Technical and business writing Assistant Professor of Literature The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas invites applications for a tenure-system Assistant Professor of Literature… Assistant Professor - Creative Writing Department of English, University of Houston-Downtown The Department of English at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) invites applications for one or more tenure-track or tenured positions at the… Creative writing, Literature, other minority Assistant Professor - Technical Communication Technical and business writing, Technology and digital media D.E. Hughes Distinguished Chair Position No. 00050592. The Department of English at Southern Methodist University invites outstanding applicants for a tenured Full Professor… Competitive and commensurate with experience. Faculty Director of Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies University of Texas at Austin, LLILAS Benson UT at Austin has opened a national and international search for the Director of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS).	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1870
__label__cc	0.580651	0.419349	06 Curatela 06.01 Curatela Theatre Translation in Performance. This volume focuses on the highly debated topic of theatre translation, one brought on by a renewed interest in the idea of performance and translation as a cooperative effort on the part of the translator, the director, and the actors. Exploring the role and function of the translator as co-subject of the performance, it addresses current issues concerning the role of the translator for the stage within a multifarious cultural context. The current debate has shown a growing tendency to downplay and challenge the notion of translational accuracy in favor of a recreational and post-dramatic attitude, underlying the role of the director and playwright instead. This book discusses the delicate balance between translating and directing from an intercultural, semiotic, aesthetic, and performative perspective, taking a critical stance on approaches that belittle translation for the theatre. Chapters emphasize the idea of dramatic translation as a particular and extremely challenging type of performance, while consistently exploring its various textual, intertextual, inter-translational, cultural, and intercultural facets, providing a wide-ranging discussion from an international group of scholars, directors, and translators. Titolo: Theatre Translation in Performance. BIGLIAZZI, Silvia KOFLER, Peter Erwin AMBROSI, Paola Abstract: This volume focuses on the highly debated topic of theatre translation, one brought on by a renewed interest in the idea of performance and translation as a cooperative effort on the part of the translator, the director, and the actors. Exploring the role and function of the translator as co-subject of the performance, it addresses current issues concerning the role of the translator for the stage within a multifarious cultural context. The current debate has shown a growing tendency to downplay and challenge the notion of translational accuracy in favor of a recreational and post-dramatic attitude, underlying the role of the director and playwright instead. This book discusses the delicate balance between translating and directing from an intercultural, semiotic, aesthetic, and performative perspective, taking a critical stance on approaches that belittle translation for the theatre. Chapters emphasize the idea of dramatic translation as a particular and extremely challenging type of performance, while consistently exploring its various textual, intertextual, inter-translational, cultural, and intercultural facets, providing a wide-ranging discussion from an international group of scholars, directors, and translators. Appare nelle tipologie: 06.01 Curatela	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1872
__label__cc	0.720259	0.279741	Sacha Sadan confirmed as a keynote speaker for the IR Society’s Virtual Annual Conference! We are delighted to announce that Sacha Sadan, Director of Investment Stewardship at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) will be joining our Virtual Annual Conference on 29th September as a keynote speaker. Sacha Sadan is Director of Investment Stewardship and on the board at LGIM, one of the world’s largest asset managers. In September 2016 he was recognised in the Financial Times as one of ‘the 30 most influential people in the City of London’, crediting him as one the leading architects of 2012’s “shareholder spring”. At LGIM Sacha has responsibility for investment stewardship, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) areas, collaborating with other investors as well as governments and regulators. He regularly speaks at major global industry events on topics such as diversity, climate change and shareholder rights. Sacha was previously a senior UK equity manager at Gartmore where he co-managed a range of UK equity hedge, retail and institutional funds. Sacha is a founding member and still on the board of the UK Investor Forum. Published 29 July, 2020 IR Society News Policy & Positions Research & Surveys	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1873
__label__wiki	0.925818	0.925818	The Honorable Don Beyer U.S. Congressman (VA) Board Member: Government Leaders Congressman Don Beyer is serving his first term as the U.S. Representative from Virginia’s 8th District, representing Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and parts of Fairfax County. He serves on the Joint Economic Committee, the House Committee on Natural Resources, is Ranking Member on the Oversight Subcommittee to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and a member of the New Democrat Coalition. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1998, and was Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein under President Obama. Rep. Beyer’s signature work as lieutenant governor included advocacy for Virginians with disabilities and ensuring protections for Virginia’s most vulnerable populations as the Commonwealth reformed its welfare system in the mid-1990s. Rep. Beyer was Virginia’s Democratic nominee for governor in 1997. After leaving office, Rep. Beyer spent fourteen years as Chair of Jobs for Virginia Graduates, a highly successful high school dropout prevention program, and was active for a decade on the board of the D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. As Chair of the Virginia Economic Recovery Commission, he helped pass permanent pro-business reforms and was co-founder of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. President Obama nominated Rep. Beyer to serve as Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein in 2009. He used his position to advocate for stricter sanctions to compel Iran to begin nuclear disarmament discussions. As Ambassador, Rep. Beyer was integral to US Department of Justice efforts to halt the abuses of Swiss bank secrecy by wealthy Americans. Rep. Beyer has spent four decades building his family business in Northern Virginia after a summer job at a car dealership in 1974. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts with the Highest Honors in Economics and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He was Salutatorian at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC and named a Presidential Scholar by President Lyndon Johnson. Rep. Beyer has four children and two grandchildren. He and his wife Megan live in Alexandria, Virginia.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1875
__label__wiki	0.845813	0.845813	T.I. Talks BET Hip Hop Awards Performance, New Music Tip speaks on his upcoming performance at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards and where he’s taking his… (Video) T.I’s First Interview Since He Was Released T.I.’s Wife Tiny Says Husband Is Victim Of A ‘Personal Vendetta’ Following T.I.’s return to prison last week, his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle is speaking out in defense of… T.I. Writes Final Letter From Jail Before Release [“I’m going back… like I never sold a Record…”] T.I. writes one final letter to his fans before his release..check out his full letter below: What up… T.I. Addresses Fans In Letter From Prison, New Record Due In A Few Weeks T.I. has updated fans from behind bars, posting a letter to his website. The rapper, currently incarcerated for 11 months for violating his probation, thanked supporters for sending letters and words of encouragement in the past few months and that he’s learned a lot from his time in jail. T.I. Sends Out Happy Mother’s Day Wishes [Video] T.I. is wishing all moms a Happy Mother’s Day. In a message recorded before Tip went back to… T.I. Reprimanded In Prison For Sex Act With Wife Tiny Rapper T.I. is back in headlines, this time for being moved to a special housing unit in an Arkansas prison after guards caught him getting “frisky” with his wife Tiny. T.I. Checks Into Prison T.I. has officially begun his 11 month bid behind bars. Law enforcement officials tell TMZ, that the rapper… T.I. Ordered To Report To Jail By November 1st Federal authorities have ordered rapper T.I. to report directly to a federal prison in Arkansas by Nov. 1. Once T.I. reports to prison, he will begin serving his 11 month sentence for violating his probation.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1876
__label__wiki	0.561014	0.561014	Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Celebrating Childhood at the Chihiro Art Museum Post by Mari Boyle, Tokyo. On a cloudy Saturday in April, I joined SCBWI Japan members to make a visit to the Chihiro Art Museum Tokyo. The museum is dedicated to the work of Chihiro Iwasaki, award-winning Japanese children’s illustrator and artist, whose work is still widely celebrated some forty years after her death. The museum is tucked into a quiet residential area of Tokyo, built on the site of her family home. We were met in the foyer by Yoko Nakahiro, senior associate of the Chihiro Iwasaki Memorial Foundation, who kindly guided us around the museum. Yoko spoke enthusiastically about Chihiro’s life and work, and her impact on Japanese picture book illustration and art. Having lived through the Pacific War, (Second World War), Chihiro dedicated her talents as an artist to the theme of “peace and happiness for children”. Though she died at the age of 55, she sketched and painted some 9,400 pieces, seemingly never tiring of painting children and babies. As we wandered through the peaceful museum, past her beautifully recreated garden and workroom, I was struck by how familiar Chihiro’s work was to me. Her prints and books seem to be ever present in doctors’ offices, Japanese kindergarten, and preschool bookshelves, among other places, such is the popularity of her work. SCBWI members with Yoko Nakahira, senior associate of the Chihiro Iwasaki Memorial Foundation. Yet seeing her paintings in the museum brought a new appreciation of her skills. Chihiro combined traditional Japanese ink painting with Western watercolor styles, frequently using the white space in her work to invite the observer to fill up the canvas with their own imagination. Yoko mentioned that when Chihiro’s work was exhibited at the Norman Rockwell Museum, (Stockbridge, MA, 1996), some viewers felt her work looked “unfinished” precisely because of the unpainted backgrounds. Yet Chihiro had the ability to turn what is often regarded as negative space into a focal point by highlighting a single color. Akai Kutsu, story by H.C.Andersen, illustrations by Chihiro Iwasaki, Kaisei-sha, 1968 We also had the opportunity to view two temporary exhibitions, “My Hans Christian Andersen” and Ib Spang Olsen’s, “The Soul of Denmark”. These shows are part of the museum’s 40th-anniversary celebrations and the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of Japan-Denmark Diplomatic Relations. While many Japanese might be reminded of their childhood specifically through Chihiro’s work, the Andersen exhibition reminded me of mine. It was a joy to see Chihiro’s interpretations of many of my favorite Andersen stories alongside the works of artists from around the world. Ohanashi Andersen, stories by H.C.Andersen,illustrations by Chihiro Iwasaki, Doshinsha,1965 Ib Spang Olsen: The Soul of Denmark, Exhibition Poster, Chihiro Art Museum A further gallery displayed the work of Ib Spang Olsen, a Danish painter and illustrator, and recipient of the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1972. Some of his books have been translated into Japanese and his style is somewhat quirkier and bolder, reflecting a different sense of childhood to Chihiro’s. Diverse cultural interpretations of childhood seemed to connect all the exhibitions. It was certainly a pleasant way to spend a cloudy Saturday in April, in the company of my fellow SCBWI friends, and I highly recommend that anyone visit, regardless of the weather. For further information about the museum go to the website: http://www.chihiro.jp/global/en/museum/index.html Storytime, gallery talks, and even music concerts all help to make this Tokyo museum a special place for the young at heart. Speakers Directory Illustrator Gallery SCBWI Regions Join SCBWI! Blueboard message boards Blueboard message boards are a new online resource that allow members to connect with the SCBWI community and find other passionate creatives in the industry. GO TO BLUEBOARD	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1877
__label__wiki	0.659474	0.659474	Watch Clip of Roger Waters Performing ‘Us and Them': Premiere Roger Waters will screen Roger Waters Us + Them, a concert film from his 2017-18 tour of the same name, in movie theaters across the world on Oct. 2 and 6. We have an exclusive premiere of a clip from the movie below. In it, you can see a little more than a minute of Waters and his band running through the title track, which was originally released on Pink Floyd's 1973 opus The Dark Side of the Moon. The scene, along with the rest of the movie, was filmed during Waters' four-night stand at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam in June 2018. Directed by Waters and Sean Evans, who also helmed 2014's Roger Waters the Wall, Us + Them includes many Pink Floyd classics from their four-record spell that spanned Dark Side through The Wall, as well as tracks from Waters' 2017 album, Is This the Life We Really Want? “I’m so looking forward to the launch of the movie in October," Waters said last month. "Us + Them is not standard rock 'n' roll fare. Some in the audience may ‘Yee haaaa!!!,’ which is okay, but many will weep. That is what I hope for." He noted that the movie is a "call to action. Homo Sapiens stand at a crossroads: We can either pool our love, develop our capacity to empathize with others and act collectively for the good of our planet – or we can remain ‘Comfortably Numb,’ and continue, like blind lemmings, on our current omnicidal death march toward extinction. Us + Them is a vote for love and life." Roger Waters Us + Them premieres at the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off this week, before being shown worldwide. You can find screening information at the film's website. Pink Floyd Solo Albums Ranked Next: Top 10 Roger Waters Pink Floyd Songs Source: Watch Clip of Roger Waters Performing ‘Us and Them': Premiere Filed Under: Roger Waters	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1881
__label__wiki	0.934466	0.934466	Mark Ruffalo Has A Theory Why Marvel Movies Are So Popular Marvel’s resident green guy Mark Ruffalo recently talked to The Hollywood Reporter about his experience in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bruce Banner. He’s also got a theory as to why fans love the MCU so much. "It’s no mistake that people have fallen in love with the Marvel universe because they want to see a world that is just," says Ruffalo. "They want to see people who are fighting for the little guy and on behalf of the little guy." It’s hard not to see the irony in this statement, considering his character of the Hulk happens to be very large. But you get the gist. Watch his full statement below: However, Ruffalo’s statement doesn’t just apply to the MCU. It’s also how he’s framing his newest project, the upcoming environmental drama Dark Waters. He says that the movie is essentially also "a little guy fighting on behalf of other little guys", much like the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers team. Therefore, he believes that fans of Marvel will (or should) be fans of Dark Waters. It’s a decent point, but Ruffalo is also forgetting another thing in Marvel movies that people love: explosions. Lots of explosions. Last time we checked, Dark Waters didn’t have any of those. As to the future of the Hulk, no plans are set in stone. Ruffalo has alluded to meetings with Marvel Chief Kevin Feige about Bruce Banner’s future, as well as his interest in a “Hulk vs. Wolverine” movie. Gallery — The Best Marvel Posters Source: Mark Ruffalo Has A Theory Why Marvel Movies Are So Popular Filed Under: Avengers, marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1882
__label__wiki	0.774972	0.774972	WARD GD Newspaper Article 1989 - Unpredictable life Newspaper Article 1989 – Unpredictable life Unpredictable life Working in the ecology division of the DSIR has taken Dave Ward of Havelock North from sand dunes to the southern alps. “Working with animals is always an unpredictable occupation,” he says. “You never know what’s coming next and you’re very much at the mercy of the environment. Nevertheless, it has been an exciting challenge, and one that has led to his present involvement with Sir-Track [Sirtrack] Electronics, a commercial venture of the ecology division. As manager, Dave is responsible for the production and marketing of wildlife tracking equipment within Australasia. Sirtrack transmitters are used on many vertebrate species in a wide variety of habitats, ranging from penguins in Antarctica to Cagous in the tropical rainforests of New Caledonia. Used by universities, national parks authorities, and government departments, the transmitters relate vital information back to ofﬁcials. The radios enable handlers to find animal den sites, track nightly and seasonal movements of individuals or herds and determine breeding performance. The information can be used to plan and evaluate poisoning campaigns or to conduct conservation efforts for a certain species. “Radio tracking is a technique which has been around for about 25 years,” says Dave. “I’ve been involved in research since the late l960s.” After the government requested that the DSIR provide some of its own budget the directors decided to commercialise what they were already “doing so well”. In 1985, after collaborating with scientists from the physics and engineering laboratory, another division of the DSIR staff were able to design the most efficient and reliable transmitter that was currently available. A year later these transmitters were constructed in quantity so that other researchers could obtain them. Since then Sirtrack Electronics has expanded its range of products to suit each customer’s precise requirements. Sirtrack transmitters are designed and built at the DSlR’s physics and engineering laboratory, Lower Hutt. However, the Havelock North ecology division completes the assembly and fine tunes the transmitters to meet client’s needs. Each transmitter is supposed to weigh less than ﬁve per cent of the animal’s total body weight, although the unit often weighs less than two per cent, says Dave. The price ranges from $200 to $400 each. “We’re very fortunate in selling the products because we’re ecologists ourselves and can talk the clients ‘language’, which is something other ﬁrms in this business can’t do,” he says. “In many ways we act as consultants, and if there’s a sale in it then that’s to our credit,” Photo caption – Dave Ward, manager of Sirtrack Electronics, a commercial branch of the DSIR, holds wildlife tracking equipment designed and made by his staff. Dave has been working for the DSIR for 26 years. He is in charge of the Havelock North ecology division, and is senior technical officer. He was transferred from the Wellington office to Havelock North in 1984. He used to be the national coach for the Archery Association of New Zealand and in 1982 assembled the national archery squad which attended the Brisbane Commonwealth Games. One member of the squad, Neroli Fairhall, won a gold medal. WardD895_Clippings_002.jpg Industry - Commercial Invention and Design news article 1989 Business / Organisation Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Neroli Fairhall 895/1211/36559	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1886
__label__wiki	0.66886	0.66886	Edie Windsor Edith SchlainWindsor Edie Windsor struck a historic blow for gay rights in 2013 when the Supreme Court ruled in her favor in United States v. Windsor, granting same sex couples recognition by the federal government. Windsor graduated from Temple University in 1950 and earned a master’s degree in mathematics from NYU in 1957. She worked for IBM for 16 years, achieving the rank of Senior Systems Programmer, and was later honored by the National Computing Conference in 1987 as a pioneer in operating systems. In 1975 she took early retirement to focus on LGBT activism, volunteering for the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the LGBT Community Center, and Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders (SAGE), among many others. She began her relationship with psychologist Thea Spyer in 1965 and tended Spyer after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1977. The couple registered for a domestic partnership in New York City in 1993, the first day it was available, and married in Canada in 2007. However, after Spyer’s death in 2009, the IRS refused to recognize the marriage and insisted Windsor pay estate taxes as a beneficiary of Spyer’s will as though she were not a widow. However, in 2013 the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), by not recognizing her marriage, had violated Windsor’s Fifth Amendment rights to both liberty and property and was therefore unconstitutional. Topics: Civil Rights, LGBTQIA Rights, Technology More on Edie Windsor Blog: Quiz: Which LGBTQ Activist Are You? Edie Windsor at a Pride parade in Washington DC in 2017. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Philadephia, PA Computer Scientist, Activist Jewish Women's Archive. "Edie Windsor." (Viewed on January 16, 2021) <https://jwa.org/people/windsor-edith>.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1891
__label__wiki	0.610393	0.610393	← GEOFF MILLER. Xi Jinping’s China: this too will pass? BRUCE MOUNTAIN. Energy prices are high because consumers are paying for useless, profit-boosting infrastructure → ANDREW FARRAN. Middle East World Cup – match schedule unravelling – a report. By Andrew Farran \| On 31 October 2017 The Middle East World Cup should be advancing towards the Finals but the match schedule is in disarray due to disqualifications and suspensions. After a poor start Syria has knocked out its immediate opponents, thanks to some doping on the part of the Russians. The Kurds in their critical last round were tripped going for goal and the umpire did not award the free kick they deserved that could have won the qualifying match. It seems that there was also interference from the boundary on the part of the Turks. ISIS was under the impression that it had been admitted to the competition and in a nasty fit tried to spoil everyone with fireworks outside the arenas. The big boys (Turkey and Iran) are now lining up for the next round. Although the Americans and Russians aren’t recognised as players, they are actively recruiting support for their proxies who are looking good at this stage and were expected to be in the Final. But the off-side outsider, the Saudis, have managed to recruit some skilled corner kickers from the Gulf. They will be a challenge for any goalie. You might ask what happened to the Iraqis. Pity to say that since their last game their team has fallen apart. Indeed they may break up into several sides, each of which will only be good enough to play in the Iranian domestic league. The Kurds are reported to have offered them games on the basis that the winner takes territory. Where might that lead? As for others they say that, in any event, the Iraqis should be disqualified for bringing in unregistered players from Iran. Such cheating should be stamped out from these rule- based games. It has been noticed that their friends, the Australians, who are very committed to rule-based systems, have refused to give up on them even though this involves resolving so many contradictions with their commitment as to put their heads into a spin. Their association, while repeating that they are acting absolutely independently, are waiting for instructions from somewhere else. Recently they complained about being sore at the hip. Meanwhile Israel has been sending drones over the various arenas making hyena calls to the players in an attempt to put everyone off their game, so far with some success. Mr Grumpy in Washington has been asked to call them off but so far to no avail. Recent intelligence is indicating that the Syrians are now thinking of withdrawing as there is so much wreckage in their changing rooms that their players can’t find their strip, notwithstanding that they had an offshore team in Australia recently that nearly put the Aussies out of the big (for them unattainable) World Cup in Russia. Anyway the Russians are hoping that only very wealthy countries will qualify for the big Cup as they will need to rip them off to cover the cost. Sport is expensive – losses have to be recouped, unlike with wars. Back to the Middle East games. What can be said about Iran and Turkey at this stage? Both are a bit uncertain about developments in spite of their hold over Cup officials. Iran fears that the Americans might abandon their nuclear agreement which has allowed them to concentrate on football instead of atomic reactors in recent years. What if the Americans, showing no principle, allow the Turks a free hand to meddle with others’ training schedules and exceed the recruitment cap to everyone’s disadvantage? More seriously, Iran may withdraw from the competition altogether because of Iraq’s disqualification, which would give the Saudis a free card. This would suit the Brits because they have a lot surplus equipment not required for their Premier League to flog off to a favourite customer in the Arab world. It can’t be said that all is well with the crowds either. It seems that in spite of the shouting and bluster there isn’t much of a mood for the competition after all. It comes from exhaustion, war without end. If only everyone would stick to the rules, they are saying. We’ve heard the Aussies have been called in to advise on a rules-based system. They are only providing trainers of course, not players. You understand! Andrew Farran, former diplomat, legal academic, woolgrower, Andrew Farran Andrew Farran is former diplomat, trade adviser to government and senior academic (public law including international law). Writes extensively on international affairs and defence, contributing previously to major newspapers (metropolitan and rural). Formerly director of major professional publishing company; now of a major wool growing enterprise. This entry was posted in World Affairs. Bookmark the permalink.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1893
__label__wiki	0.749631	0.749631	About Learning English Beginning Level Learning English Broadcast AMERICAN MOSAIC -- The Empire State Building / Winners of a Student Science Competition / Music from Fountains of Wayne - 2004-01-08 Broadcast: January 9, 2003 Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC -- a program in VOA Special English about music and American life. And we answer your questions. (THEME) This is Doug Johnson. On our show today, we answer a question about a tall building in New York City, and play some music by a group nominated for a Grammy Award. But first, a report about a recent student science competition. Siemens Westinghouse Competition The winners of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology were announced last month. The Siemens Foundation created the competition to improve mathematics and science studies among American high school students. The competition awards two top prizes of one-hundred-thousand dollars each to pay for college. The money goes to one individual and one team. Jim Tedder tells us about the top winners. ANNCR: Seventeen-year-old Yin Li of New York City received the individual award for his work in brain research. Mister Li did research on nerve cell activity in mice that could help improve understanding of the human brain. Experts say his project represents progress in understanding how neurons communicate. Mister Li discovered a protein that could be linked to neurons. His project explores how nerve cells work and how the strength of their connections may be ruled by the action of local proteins. Mister Li was born in Shanghai, China and came to the United States at the age of nine. He said that he has always been interested in the brain, especially since reading a speech given by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Eric Kandel. Mister Li did his award-winning research at Mister Kandel’s laboratory at Columbia University. The team award went to two brothers from the state of Connecticut. Eighteen-year-old Mark and sixteen-year-old Jeffrey Schneider studied the West Nile virus. They developed a model describing the spread of the virus in order to study ways to prevent and control it. Such models can help public health officials study different ways to stop the spread of viruses. The experts say the brothers’ work may help public health professionals make better decisions about the growing threat of West Nile disease. The Schneider Brothers said they chose to study the West Nile virus as a result of personal experience with the problem in their home town of South Windsor, Connecticut. And they reportedly entered the science competition as a result of seeing the movie, “October Sky.” In the movie, high school students in the state of West Virginia learn to build rockets and win a national science contest. Our VOA listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Ngoc Lien Nguyen would like to know about the Empire State Building. That famous building has been an important part of New York City since it was completed in nineteen-thirty-one. It reaches more than four-hundred-forty-three meters into the sky. For many years, it was the tallest building in the world. That is no longer true. Construction of the building began on March seventeenth, nineteen-thirty. It was completed in just one year and forty-five days. It has one-hundred-three levels and six-thousand-five hundred windows. Visitors can ride in one of seventy-three elevators that take them from the bottom to very near the top of the building. Some of these elevators are very fast, reaching the eightieth floor in only forty-five seconds. The heads of government of almost every nation in the world have visited the Empire State Building. These important people are just a few of the millions who have ridden to the observation area near the top of the building each year. From there, visitors can seen almost all of New York City. They can see across the Hudson River into the state of New Jersey. They can see ships in the East River. People all over the world have also seen the Empire State Building in many movies. It has played an important part in at least three American movies. One is about a giant ape that escapes and climbs the building. That movie is “King Kong.” It was made in nineteen-thirty-three. Another movie is “An Affair to Remember,” with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. It was made in nineteen-fifty-seven. In that movie, two people in love plan to meet at the top of the Empire State Building. But the woman is injured and is not able to go to the building. The man tries to find out what happened to her. The end of the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” also takes place at the top of the Empire State Building. It was made in nineteen-ninety-seven. It involves a man and woman played by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They meet for the first time at the top of the famous building in New York. So if you can not get to New York and want to see the Empire State Building, you can watch one of these movies! Last month, the American music industry nominated artists for its yearly Grammy Awards. One of the groups nominated for Best New Artist is called Fountains of Wayne. Phoebe Zimmermann tells us about the group. Fountains of Wayne is named for a store near the New Jersey home of group member Adam Schlesinger. He and Chris Collingwood started the group after they met at Williams College in Massachusetts. Their first album was called “Fountains of Wayne.” One of the songs on that album became a hit in Great Britain. It is “Radiation Vibe.” Fountains of Wayne was not a great success at first, and its members went on to do other things. But they re-formed and wrote more songs. These songs are on their new album, “Welcome Interstate Managers.” One of these is about a high school football player. It is called “All Kinds of Time.” Another new song written by Schlesinger and Collingwood is about a friend’s mother. This song already has become a top ten hit. We leave you now with the Fountains of Wayne performing “Stacy’s Mom.” This program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson. Paul Thompson was the producer. And our engineer was Andrius Regis. I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week for VOA’s radio magazine in Special English. Once again, here is the group “Fountains of Wayne” with one more song: “Hung Up On You.” Terms of Use and Privacy Notice Request Our Content Subscribe to Podcast/RSS Find Us on Satellite TV Learning English Word Book Our Policy About Comments English @ the Movies Everyday Grammar TV Learning English TV Let's Learn English - Level 1 Let's Teach English America's Presidents American Stories Ask a Teacher Everyday Grammar Words & Their Stories	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1898
__label__wiki	0.918251	0.918251	2014 Civic Society Awards 2014 Awards Nominations It was a very great pleasure to once again receive nominations for, and to visit examples of both restoration and new buildings that enrich our historic built environment. The tenth anniversary of the Civic Society Awards saw first rate nominations. Despite some disastrous losses in 2014, demonstrating that our decision makers are still living in the bad old days, it is possible to discern that care for our historic built environment may be entering an enlightened age. The beautiful buildings to which we have given awards and commendations this year are undoubtedly the heritage of our city’s future. 2014 Award Nominations Gallery Sumptuously restored 1938 Great Hall at City Hall, Charles Street. Photo: Peter Jones. Leicester’s new Market Hall. Superb modern design enhances historic setting of Corn Exchange and Leicester Market Place. Edwardian charm in suburbia. St. Guthlac’s Church, Holbrook Road, South Knighton. Photo: Peter Jones. Phil Taylor Looking up at the Turkey Café, Granby Street in winter sunshine. Photo: Phil Taylor. King Richard III Visitor Centre – Dynasty, Death & Discovery. Splendid new use for this 19th Century school building. This is a highlight of the newly designated Greyfriars Conservation Area. 2014 Award Ceremony Yet again we remind readers that the Annual Awards Scheme would never get off the ground were it not for our enthusiastic Heritage Team. The timetable dictates that they have to spring into action and conduct detailed site visits at the coldest and wettest time of the year. February 2015 was at least dry but it was still cold. The Society remains very much in their debt. Our Guest of Honour making the awards on Friday 17th April 2015 will be Councillor Adam Clarke, Heritage Champion for the City of Leicester. Adam will present the 2014 Awards, with a reception and dinner at the City Rooms, Hotel Street, Leicester. Full details are given on the enclosed handbill. Please see the bookings page to reserve your place at this prestigious event by 4th April. As we have now said for ten years, encouraging and celebrating restoration and design excellence in historic Leicester is a noble cause and one in which Leicester Civic Society is proud to be taking the lead. 2014 Restoration Award Category The 2014 Award for Restoration goes to City Hall. Built as council offices in 1938 by architects L. Barnish and H. Spencer Silcock, this is a large Art-Deco building with a fine stairway tower on Rutland Street. There is a Chinese roof in green glazed tiles, monumental two-storey entrance arches on Charles Street and street canopies on all three frontages that have glazed blocks for the maximum penetration of natural light to the pavements. The City Council moved back into City Hall as a result of the dreadful 1970’s New Walk Centre being declared structurally unsound. The building was in poor condition and a great deal of work needed to be undertaken to make it fit for 21st Century purpose whilst respecting its outstanding 1930’s features. City Hall is on the Local Interest List and in March 2014 Leicester Civic Society recommended that it be included in an extension to Granby Street conservation area. The city has a rich heritage of 1920’s and 1930’s architecture and we are delighted to make the 2014 award to this splendid example. 2014 New Build Award Category The New Build Award for 2014 goes to Leicester’s new Market Hall. The panel were extremely impressed by a building of uncompromising modern design that is nevertheless in scale and harmony with its important historic surroundings. London architects Greig and Stephenson specialise in first class designs for markets and have worked on Borough Market and Camden Market as well as those at Preston and Leeds. We were not just impressed by the design but by the clear way in which the building works, by the careful thought that had been given to its function as a part of the market and the high level of consultation with market traders that has clearly contributed to its success. 2014 Award Commendations The 2014 Awards Scheme saw some remarkably fine nominations which fell short of the award but were given commendations. They are all originally the work of famous Leicester architects and we feature them here. The Turkey Café The Turkey Café is a much loved Leicester landmark in Granby Street Conservation Area. Designed and built by Arthur Wakerley in 1901, who used an exotic design of tiles to create an oriental feel. The upper window is surmounted by a giant turkey in multi-coloured faience tiling. Built for Mr. Winn, who had a chain of cafeterias, the building ultimately passed to Brucciani. The original ground floor frontage was lost at this time but was fully restored in 1983. Brucciani themselves fitted a splendid interior tiled panel in 1968 but this was subsequently covered over by other users of the building. The Turkey cafe is a good example of how quality features can be lost and then recovered over a relatively small space of time. It has now been acquired by Ryan Biddles. Ryan and his team are hard at work attempting to recover other lost interior features, in particular the original 1901 blue and cream tiles that have been boxed in or otherwise hidden from view. KRIII Visitor Centre The former Alderman Newton’s Grammar School in St. Martins provides an outstanding example of a new use being found for an old building. The original school built by Joseph Goddard in King Richard III Visitor Centre Trust The original school built by Joseph Goddard in 1864 occupies the rear. It was extended to St. Martins in 1899. The school became empty and increasingly derelict in 2008. As the world now knows the building is across the site of the medieval Church of St. Francis and in 2012 the remains of King Richard III were discovered just a few feet away. Leicester City Council promptly bought the school and committed themselves to restoration and extension as a visitor centre and the establishment of a King Richard III Visitor Centre Trust. Maber as architects and Morgan Sindall as contractors had only fifteen months to effect the transformation but the new Visitor Centre opened in July 2014. Commended. St. Guthlac’s Church South Knighton St. Guthlac’s Church South Knighton was built by Stockdale Harrison in 1912. A small scale building, it provided no room for any modern facilities. The ingenious answer to this problem was to reconstruct the west façade at the end of an entirely new west bay that the casual visitor would be unaware was not a part of the original building. This purely local effort just shows what can be achieved by sympathetic alterations to our historic built environment. Commended. Peter Jones 28/01/2014 11/05/2020 Heritage & Design Awards ← About Leicester 2015 Civic Society Awards → Peter Jones 28/01/2014 11/05/2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1900
__label__cc	0.709149	0.290851	Joan of Arc’s Call for Arms November 9th, 1429, with her forces’ weaponry and other supplies severely depleted following months of successful fighting, Joan of Arc dictated and signed the following letter to the population of Riom in the hope of rounding up replenishments in time for the Siege of La Charité. Approximately 17 years of age and illiterate, Jeanne was more determined than ever to assist Charles VII in his battle to rid France of the English, but ample reinforcements never arrived and this particular siege was abandoned. Luckily however, the most important, pivotal battle had already been won. Tragically – less than two years later – young Jeanne was sold to the English, found guilty of heresy and then burnt at the stake. Translated transcript follows, courtesy of Allen Williamson. Larger Image \| Source Dear and good friends, you well know how the town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier was taken by assault, and with God’s help I intend to clear out the other places which are against the King. But because so much gunpowder, projectiles, and other war materials had been expended before this town, and because myself and the lords who are at this town are so poorly supplied for laying siege to La Charité, where we will be going shortly, I pray you, upon whatever love you have for the well-being and honor of the King and also all the others here, that you will immediately send and donate for the siege gunpowder, saltpeter, sulfur, projectiles, arbalestes and other materials of war. And do well enough in this matter that the siege will not be prolonged for lack of gunpowder and other war materials, and that no one can say you were negligent or unwilling. Dear and good friends, may Our Lord protect you. Written at Moulins the ninth day of November. (Signed, ‘Jehanne’)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1902
__label__cc	0.637381	0.362619	Democrats Slap Donald Trump On the Wrist In the Midterms The midterms were a mixed success for the Democrats in 2018. Most notably the Democrats took control of the House, but unfortunately this probably means Nancy Peolsi returns as Speaker. They also regained about three hundred of the near one thousand seats in state legislatures they lost over the past decade, have a majority of state attorney generals in the nation, and won some key governorship battles, especially in the midwest. On the other hand, despite a Republican president as terrible as Donald Trump, their midterm gains in the House were historically not terribly impressive for the party out of power, and they did poorly in the high profile battles in the Senate. (I’m waiting to hear Rachel Maddow explain why the Russians meddled in the Senate races but not the House races this year.) This was far more a slap on the wrist than a shallacking for Donald Trump. The Senate map was undoubtedly very unfavorable for Democrats, but it will be so virtually every year as long as Democrats are unable to come up with a message to win in the smaller states beyond the east coast. The system of giving two Senators to each state regardless of size makes the Senate extraordinarily unrepresentative. Still, don’t be tempted to repeat the memes showing up since the election regarding winning the popular vote. They are misleading as the entire nation did not vote for Senate, and this can be tilted by which states do vote. This was especially true in 2018 as California had two Democrats running for Senate due to a system where the two leaders in the primary get on the November ballot regardless of party. This leads to a tremendous number of Democratic votes if the mythical Senate popular vote is counted, but only one Democratic Senator. Democrats are always far quicker to list off the problems which make it more difficult to win than to change their strategy. They showed once again that moving to the right in the hopes of attracting Republican votes does not work. Nor did recruiting veterans help them do any better than expected. I would prefer to see Democrats be more consistent in supporting a reduction in the role of government in the private lives of individuals–an attitude which might make defense of reproductive rights part of a consistent philosophy that might be accepted in the more libertarian minded portions of the country. Taking a rational anti-war line, as opposed to acting as if they are apologizing for appearing weak on national security, might also help in those areas which are hurt by perpetual warfare–and rejected Hillary Clinton in 2016. This does note mean that the Democrats don’t have many valid complaints, including regarding voter suppression and gerrymandering. Some of the election results will help, including increasing their strength in several state governments before the next redistricting. While the high profile races in Florida did not turn out as hoped (how badly did campaigning with Hillary Clinton hurt Andrew Gillum?), but there was a victory in passing a ballot initiative to restore voting rights to convicted felons who have served their time. While Democrats continued to struggle in Florida and Ohio, their hopes for Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin being more blue in 2018 look favorable after Tuesday’s results, including the defeat of Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Besides possibly giving the Democrats their electoral votes again in 2020, there might be an increased number of representatives as the heavily gerrymandered system of drawing Congressional districts will be replaced by an independent redistricting commission in Michigan. Other ballot proposals passing in Michigan will make it easier to vote and legalized marijuana for recreational use. Newly elected Governor Gretchen Whitmer is looking at legislation or issuing executive orders to free prisoners convicted for marijuana related charges which will no longer be crimes after the ballot proposal passed. I did hold my nose and vote for Whitmer, despite her reliance on dark money and financing by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Action such as this will make me happier that I did so. A judge has already put some new marijuana cases on hold. Medicaid expansion passed in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah, and is also expected in Kansas due to the victory for a Democratic governor. While there is no chance of it becoming law imminently, there are also more Democratic supporters of Medicare for All in the House. There were victories for various groups. The media has covered extensively how there are more women and people of color in the House. In addition, seven more scientists were elected to the House–all Democrats as the Republican war on science continues. It remains to be seen how some issues will play out now that the midterms are over. Are we still supposed to be terrified by the caravan? Donald Trump quickly took advantage of having control of the Senate by firing Jeff Sessions. I never would have guessed that I would see this as a bad thing when Sessions first became Attorney General. On the one hand, Sessions might have been the worst Attorney General in history. On the other hand, Sessions was absolutely right in his dispute with Trump in recusing himself from Mueller’s investigation, and his firing could be a sign that Trump plans to take action against Mueller. I suspect that Mueller has prepared for this by being ready to turn over evidence of financial crimes committed by Trump and his cronies to state prosecutors. Congressional Democrats will also be able to take over the investigation if needed. Hopefully they concentrate on Trump’s financial crimes and obstruction of justice, as opposed to the dubious conspiracy theories popular among many Democrats blaming Russia for Hillary Clinton’s loss. Posted in Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Hillary Clinton, Michigan News, Nancy Pelosi, Politics, Republicans, Scandals. Tags: Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Drug War, Gretchen Whitmer, Hillary Clinton, Jeff Sessions, Marijuana, Medicaid, Michigan, Nancy Pelosi, Politics, Rachel Maddow, Republicans, Robert Mueller, Russia. No Comments » The Drug War Extends To Medicare Patients There is wide spread consensus that opiates were overused in the past, and their use has been greatly curtailed in recent years. Many people were placed on high doses for chronic pain when this was considered the standard of care, and the pharmaceutical industry did all it could to promote this practice. The problem is many people who are using high doses safely and responsibly are now being targeted by government efforts to decrease opiate use. While it makes sense to limit new prescriptions, and decrease their use in long-time users when possible, the government has been going overboard in intervening in patient care to decrease their use. Both in January 2016 and January 2017 I encountered cases where Medicare drug plans abruptly reduced the doses of pain medications they would approve, and Medicare is now considering far more draconian cuts as of January 2018. This is largely based upon distorting recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, with even writers of those guidelines protesting actions by the Medicare plans. Some patients have tried to get around this by paying for part of their prescriptions, but I have recently been informed by local pharmacists that they are now under pressure to stop filling prescriptions for amounts beyond what is approved. This is driving some to the use of cheaper street drugs such as heroin, increasing the risk of overdoses, contrary to the stated goals of regulations to reduce opiate use. The New York Times has an excellent article on the situation. I have some excerpts below, but recommend reading the full article. Medicare officials thought they had finally figured out how to do their part to fix the troubling problem of opioids being overprescribed to the old and disabled: In 2016, a staggering one in three of 43.6 million beneficiaries of the federal health insurance program had been prescribed the painkillers. Medicare, they decided, would now refuse to pay for long-term, high-dose prescriptions; a rule to that effect is expected to be approved on April 2. Some medical experts have praised the regulation as a check on addiction. But the proposal has also drawn a broad and clamorous blowback from many people who would be directly affected by it, including patients with chronic pain, primary care doctors and experts in pain management and addiction medicine. Critics say the rule would inject the government into the doctor-patient relationship and could throw patients who lost access to the drugs into withdrawal or even provoke them to buy dangerous street drugs. Although the number of opioid prescriptions has been declining since 2011, they noted, the rate of overdoses attributed to the painkillers and, increasingly, illegal fentanyl and heroin, has escalated. “The decision to taper opioids should be based on whether the benefits for pain and function outweigh the harm for that patient,” said Dr. Joanna L. Starrels, an opioid researcher and associate professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “That takes a lot of clinical judgment. It’s individualized and nuanced. We can’t codify it with an arbitrary threshold.” …Dr. Stefan G. Kertesz, who teaches addiction medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, submitted a letter in opposition, signed by 220 professors in academic medicine, experts in addiction treatment and pain management, and patient advocacy groups. His patients include formerly homeless veterans, many of whom have a constellation of physical and mental health challenges, and struggle with opioid dependence. For them, he said, tapering opioids does not equate with health improvement; on the contrary, he said, some patients contemplate suicide at the prospect of suddenly being plunged into withdrawal. “A lot of the opioid dose escalation between 2006 and 2011 was terribly ill advised,” Dr. Kertesz said. “But every week I’m trying to mitigate the trauma that results when patients are taken off opioids by clinicians who feel scared. There are superb doctors who taper as part of a consensual process that involves setting up a true care plan. But this isn’t it.” Some two dozen states and a host of private insurers have already put limits on opioids, and Medicare has been under pressure to do something, too. Last July, a report by the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services raised concerns about “extreme use and questionable prescribing” of opioids to Medicare recipients. In November, a report from the Government Accountability Office took Medicare to task, urging greater oversight of opioid prescriptions… Opponents of the new limit say that doctors are already overwhelmed with time-consuming paperwork and that many will simply throw up their hands and stop prescribing the drugs altogether. A delay or denial would put chronic pain patients — or those with inflammatory joint diseases, complex shrapnel injuries or sickle cell disease — at risk of precipitous withdrawal and resurgence of pain, doctors said. The Medicare proposal relies on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say doctors should not increase an opioid to a dose that is the equivalent of 90 milligrams of morphine. But experts say that Medicare misread the recommendations — that the C.D.C.’s 90-milligram red flag is for patients in acute pain who are just starting opioid therapy, not patients with chronic pain who have been taking opioids long-term. The acute pain patient, the guidelines say, should first be offered treatments like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. A short course of a low-dose opioid should be a last resort. “We didn’t take a specific position on people who were already on high doses,” said Dr. Lewis S. Nelson, the chairman of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and University Hospital, who worked on the guidelines. “We did say that established, high-dose patients might consider dosage reduction to be anxiety-provoking, but that these patients should be offered counseling to re-evaluate,” he added. “There is a difference between a C.D.C. guideline for doctors and a C.M.S. hard stop for insurers and pharmacists.” Dr. Erin E. Krebs recently released a comprehensive study showing that patients with severe knee pain and back pain who took opioid alternatives did just as well, if not better than, those who took opioids. Nonetheless, she and seven others who worked on the C.D.C. guidelines signed the letter opposing the Medicare rule. “My concern is that our results could be used to justify aggressive tapering or immediate discontinuation in patients, and that could harm people — even if opioids have no benefit for their pain,” said Dr. Krebs, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota. “Even if we walk away from using opioids for back and knee pain, we can’t walk away from patients who have been treated with opioids for years or even decades now,” she added. “We have created a double tragedy for these people.” Posted in Drug Policy, Health Care. Tags: Drug Policy, Drug War, Health Care, Health Care Policy, Medicare. 2 Comments » Democratic Pundit Disputes Myth That Progressives Are Less Electable Than More Conservative Democrats Democrats suffered serious losses in Congressional and state races in 2010 and 2014 after running as a Republican-lite party. Despite trying to shift the blame to Russia and others, Democrats lost the 2016 election to a candidate as terrible as Donald Trump by nominating a corrupt conservative warmonger who has spent her career undermining liberal values. Finally we are seeing people question the conventional wisdom that nominating more conservative candidates will increase the chances for Democrats to win. I looked at this issue yesterday, and found that Bud Budowsky, a Democratic columnist at The Hill, has written a column on the same topic. Budowsky wrote that A Sanders-Warren ticket could win big in 2020. Besides this ticket, Budowsky discussed two other hypothetical Democratic tickets, Joe Biden-Amy Klobuchar and Joe Kennedy III with either California Attorney General Xavier Becerra or Senator Kamala Harris. He wrote the following in favor of a more progressive ticket: Behind the scenes of the national Democratic Party, it is commonly accepted wisdom, though not proven by facts, that the most progressive candidates are not the most electable candidates. In some states and districts this might be true. But, in terms of winning the national popular vote and an electoral vote majority, there is a credible case that the most clearly progressive and politically aggressive Democrats can indeed win, and potentially win big. The most important and powerfully persuasive data in modern American politics is that virtually every poll in 2016 showed Sanders defeating Donald Trump by 10 percent or more. In the Real Clear Politics summary of 2016 polling, Sanders ran ahead of Trump by an average margin of more than 10 percent and often by much larger margins. Whether one supports Sanders or any other potential candidate in 2020, the case is clear that a strong progressive program and message would give Democrats a decided advantage in any campaign against the scandal-ridden and crony-capitalist-dominated presidency of Trump and his GOP allies in Congress… While I could support Sanders, Warren or any of the progressive Democratic change candidates who could run on the ticket in 2020, it is important to disabuse the false notion, which is contrary to the facts demonstrated by national polling throughout 2016 and beyond, that progressive candidates are less electable. Americans want a clear message of progressive change and would enthusiastically support a Sanders-Warren ticket, or any other ticket running on a similar program in 2020. I agree with nominating candidates who have a clear message and stand for change. My one nitpick is that I would not limit this to progressive economic ideas. While Bernie Sanders did concentrate on this message in 2016, there were other factors which led many to support him over Hillary Clinton. It was partially over character, but there were other issues too. One study argues that Clinton lost because of being a warmonger. While I question if this was the main factor, foreign policy is important. Democrats attracted new voters when they opposed neoconservatives while George Bush was in office. They lost votes when they nominated a neocon interventionist such as Hillary Clinton, whose policies have caused considerable death and suffering around the world. Sanders’ views on social and cultural issues were also far more attractive to voters than than Clinton’s socially conservative views. Many voters, especially young voters, are more socially libertarian. Democrats might be preferable to Republicans on reproductive rights, but fail to consistently support policies to reduce the role of government in the private lives of individuals. In addition to Clinton’s support for military interventionism, and the toleration of this by establishment Democrats, there is their support for the drug war. Clinton did not change her views on same-sex marriage until it became politically inexpedient to continue to oppose it. While it is still a government program, support for single payer healthcare, which Clinton campaigned against and the DCCC continues to oppose, is far more acceptable than government mandates pushed by Clinton to purchase private insurance plans with outrageous deductibles. It is a good sign that more Democrats are paying attention to Bernie Sanders’ criticism of corporate Democrats, along with his support for Medicare-for-All. If Democrats are to rebuild a winning majority, they should more consistently challenge establishment views in other areas too. Posted in Bernie Sanders, Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Elizabeth Warren, Foreign Policy & National Security, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden. Tags: Bernie Sanders, Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug War, Elizabeth Warren, George Bush, Health Care Reform, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Russia. No Comments » Bernie Sanders’ Response To The State Of The Union Address (Including Full Transcript) Last night Bernie Sanders was one of five Democratic responses to the State of the Union Address, including Joe Kennedy III’s official response. Sanders criticized Trump for promising to provide “health insurance for everybody,” with “much lower deductibles,” but instead supporting legislation that “would thrown up to 32 million people off of the health care they had while, at the same time, substantially raising premiums for older Americans.” Sanders noted that Trump had promised “promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.” Instead, “he supported a Republican Budget Resolution that proposed slashing Medicaid by $1 trillion and cutting Medicare by $500 billion. Further, President Trump’s own budget called for cutting Social Security Disability Insurance by $64 billion.” In addition to calling out Trump for breaking his campaign promises, Sanders noted many things which Trump failed to talk about, including climate change and voter suppression. While overall a good speech, there were things which I wish Sanders had said, and one thing statement which was misleading. As has generally been the case with Democrats, there was nothing said about restrictions of civil liberties–passed with the cooperation of many Democrats. Nor were there protests over the never-ending war which Democrats are now accepting as the status quo. Nothing was said about the drug war, while Joe Kennedy III , among other Democrats, has been on the wrong side of this issue. This is what I want to see from a true resistance. Sanders also stated that the Russians “interfered in our election in 2016, is interfering in democratic elections all over the world.” While technically true, this plays into the hysteria being spread by Democrats, often based upon misinformation. While true that Russia meddled in our election, this must be kept in context that Russia has meddled in elections for decades–just as the United States has frequently meddled in foreign elections. Russian meddling has also been highly exaggerated. There is also no evidence that Russia had any effect on the election results. The information obtained through the Congressional hearings has shown that claims about Russian tampering with the election have been have been of little consequence. Similarly, multiple media reports of Russian hacking were subsequently retracted as false. I would hope that Sanders would know better to play into the misleading claims of Democrats who are distorting the facts to deny the blame they deserve for losing to Donald Trump due to choosing a candidate as terrible as Hillary Clinton, along with playing into the hands of neocons who are distorting Russian electoral interference as they used false claims of WMD in Iraq to promote their goal of regime change in Russia. The video can be seen here and the full text of Sanders’ speech is below: Posted in Bernie Sanders, Civil Liberties, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Foreign Policy & National Security, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Iraq. Tags: Bernie Sanders, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug War, Health Care Reform, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Medicaid, Medicare, Russia, Social Security, Weapons of Mass Destruction. 2 Comments » Porn Star Running For Democratic Nomination & Other Political Briefs Are we now Italy? The Hill reports that a porn star has announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination: A porn star and a rapper say they have what it takes to win the White House in 2020. Cherie DeVille, who’s starred in such videos as “Ass Planet” and “Hot Tub Hottie,” says she was inspired to run for office out of her “personal frustration for the current political climate.” When Donald Trump won the election last year, DeVille — who’s running alongside rapper Coolio — says she sobbed. “I didn’t cry because I hated [Trump] specifically, I cried because of what I felt that meant for the direction our country was going in.” “We’re voting for people as if we’re on a reality television show, and my concern is if we continue to purely vote for celebrities, or political figures, or the most entertaining, they’re not always going to be quality politicians,” DeVille told ITK on Tuesday. So the 39-year-old adult film performer decided to toss her hat in the political ring, saying she’s planning on running as a Democrat. “If our criteria now for becoming a political official is minor celebrity, I have that,” says DeVille, who boasts 190,000 Twitter followers. “I feel like I can be potentially what I’m feeling the American people — for better or for worse — want, which is interesting news, scandalous news, you know, not ‘boring’ political news.” “But at the same time [I can] do what the American people really need,” she continues, which is “having a person with integrity, and having someone listen to the people, and actually care about America in public office.” A former physical therapist, DeVille — whose campaign slogan is “Make America F—— Awesome Again” — says a lot of people “giggle” when they learn that “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper Coolio is running as her VP. The Guardian has a story under the headline Christopher Steele believes his dossier on Trump-Russia is 70-90% accurate. So, in other words, he admits that his dossier, which fueled much of the Russia-gate hysteria (and which Clinton and the DNC hid the fact that they paid for) could be 30% false. Portions of the left and libertarian right do often share some views in common. For example, CounterPunch today has a post on The Logic of Drug Legalization: The Drug Lords of today exist because of the extraordinary profits resulting from criminalization. Estimates run in the half a trillion range globally per year. By way of comparison there are only twenty or so countries with a national economy of that size. The situation is exactly analogous to the prohibition era. When gunfights, beatings, murders and firebombs were the business strategy of choice for the pushers of alcohol. Once booze was legalized the bootleggers were immediately driven out of business. Alcohol is heavily taxed today there are however no Bootlegging Lords on the playground pushing cheaper booze on our children. Nor would such pushers exist for any other drug that we might choose to legalize. Sure the criminals could evade the cost of taxes on their product but there are enormous costs incurred by criminal enterprises that don’t apply to legal ones. This is why marijuana today is sold for hundreds of times what it costs to grow. Our legal producers will not be faced with those costs and so can sell to us below current prices on the street. With profit margins cut to the bone the ‘dread lords and masters’ that control the illegal drug market today will simply melt away like the last snow before the advancing spring… Matthew Yglesias writes at Vox, Bill Clinton should have resigned: What he did to Monica Lewinsky was wrong, and he should have paid the price. What is amazing about this is that it comes from a usually very pro-Democratic Party source. Now that they aren’t concerned about white washing the past for Hillary, some Democrats might be able to face the truth about at least some aspects of their party. Also at Vox, yet another reason to oppose the Republican tax bill: Republicans’ tax bill could trigger a $25 billion cut to Medicare. Periodically I see articles from people who have good intentions but don’t understand how health care really works argue that we should end private practice and have all doctors become employees to save costs. The reality is that this trend has increased costs rather than save money, as discussed in this article at Modern Healthcare entitled Hospital-employed physicians drain Medicare: “When hospitals grow their physician network, with a subsidy of $150,000 to $200,000 per physician, they have to cover those costs by driving ancillary services and (getting more people) in hospital beds,” said Dr. Jeffrey LeBenger, CEO of Summit Health Management, an integrated, physician-led independent physician group that includes some 800 doctors. One of the main drivers of physician acquisitions is to increase referral networks, he said. Posted in Bill Clinton, Democrats, Donald Trump, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Libertarianism, Politics, Scandals. Tags: Democrats, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Drug War, Health Care Policy, Hillary Clinton, Libertarianism, Marijuana, Medicare, Politics, Pornography, Republicans, Russia. No Comments » Drug War Gone Wrong: Cops Fighting Cops Prohibition of any type generally leads to failure. These police might be trying to stop drug trafficking, but their efforts did not turn out as they desired, turning into a fight between cops of Detroit’s 12th Precinct and 11th Precinct. As a Detroit television station reported: On Thursday Detroit police certainly tried, but maybe too hard. Sources say it started when two special ops officers from the 12th Precinct were operating a “push off” on Andover near Seven Mile. That is when two undercover officers pretend to be dope dealers, waiting for eager customers to approach, arresting potential buyers and seizing their vehicles. But this time instead of customers – special ops officers from the 11th Precinct showed up. Not realizing they were fellow officers, they ordered the other undercover officers to the ground. FOX 2 is told the rest of the special ops team from the 12th Precinct showed up, and officers began raiding the drug house in the 19300 block of Andover. But instead of fighting crime, officers from both precincts began fighting with each other. Sources say guns were drawn and punches were thrown while the homeowner stood and watched. The department’s top cops were notified along with Internal Affairs. One officer was taken to the hospital. Each officer involved is now under investigation – as the department tried to determine what went wrong. The report called this, “A case of the good guys going after the good guys.” I’m not so sure about such a description for cops trying to capture people by such entrapment. As the libertarian magazine Reason concluded, with the battle limited to police versus police, “at least the collateral damage was kept to a minimum. Maybe this is how the war on drugs should be waged from now on.” Posted in Drug Policy, Michigan News. Tags: Drug Policy, Drug War, Michigan. No Comments » Repeal And Replace Fails–Perhaps Congress Had The Wrong Target The Republicans have failed to repeal and replace Obamacare, primarily because they never had a sensible replacement plan. It took three Republicans to block the final attempt, with John McCain casting the deciding vote. Now that he will not be on the ballot again, it was easiest for McCain to do this, allowing other Republicans who opposed the bill to cast a politically safer party-line vote. McCain might have also felt some satisfaction in thwarting Trump’s agenda after Trump’s past attacks on McCain, claiming McCain was not a war hero because he was captured. Hopefully attempts at repealing Obamacare are dead–at least until a more liberal Congress has the votes to pass a single payer plan to replace it. Some are still claiming that they can propose a new bill which can achieve fifty-one votes, but any new efforts will have the same problems trying to please both wings of the party. A more hopeful sign is a bipartisan group in the House which claims to be working together to improve Obamacare rather than repeal it. So far there has been no sign of bipartisan cooperation on health care, but there is a remote chance that matters have changed now that the Senate has been unable to pass any of its attempts at repeal. Sensible Republicans should realize that they will be held accountable for the success or failure of health care. Obamacare is the law of the land. Donald Trump and the Republican Congress now own it. Maybe repeal and replace isn’t such a bad concept after all, except that Congress had the wrong target. How about repealing the authorization to go to war and replacing our failed foreign policy? How about repealing the Patriot Act and replacing it with a policy which provides for needed security while respecting our Constitutional rights? How about repealing the drug war and replacing it with treatment where needed? Of course this will never happen as there will be too much opposition from both parties. Can we just repeal and replace our current dysfunctional two-party duopoly? Posted in Civil Liberties, Congress, Drug Policy, Foreign Policy & National Security, Health Care, John McCain. Tags: Civil Liberties, Congress, Drug Policy, Drug War, Health Care Reform, John McCain. 3 Comments » Trump Supporter Roger Stone Forming Coalition To Push For Legalizing Marijuana As has been the case with other issues, Donald Trump has been inconsistent in his statements and actions related to marijuana. One longtime adviser, Roger Stone, plans to work with people of various political ideologies to push for legalization of marijuana. Another goal is to have marijuana rescheduled to Schedule I so that it can be prescribed by doctors. Business Insider reports: Longtime Trump adviser and staunch conservative Roger Stone has a new mission: legalizing marijuana nationwide. Stone announced on Friday at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo in New York the formation of the bipartisan United States Cannabis Coalition, an advocacy group with the express purpose of protecting state’s rights to legalize and regulate marijuana… “I am going to be working with a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, progressives and libertarians, liberals, and conservatives to persuade the president to keep his campaign pledge,” Stone said in a talk on Friday, “and to remind the president that he took a strong and forthright position on this issue in the election.” Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura will join Stone in the advocacy group, as well as a host of both Republican and Democrat political strategists. Stone pointed to the decreased rates of incarceration for low-level drug offenses and opioid-related overdoses in states that have legalized marijuana, along with the boon in tax revenue and job creation. During the campaign, Trump told The Washington Post that legalizing marijuana should be a “state issue,” and he expressed “100%” support for medical marijuana in an interview with Bill O’Reilly in 2016… Trump hasn’t been friendly to marijuana since he took office. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a noted opponent of marijuana legalization, and he asked Congress in recent days to roll back federal protections for medical marijuana. The protections in question, the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, directs the Department of Justice to refrain from spending money to enforce federal medicinal marijuana laws. Sessions has also called for a review of a 2013 directive from the Obama Administration, known as the Cole Memo, which stipulates that the Justice Department place “low priority” on enforcing marijuana laws against businesses and organizations that comply with state law. “In all honesty it’s time for [President Trump] to tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions to cut the shit,” Stone added. Stone also called out Homeland Secretary John Kelly, who has called for a federal crackdown on legal marijuana. Geek.com has more, but prefaced this with a look at Stone’s record: Roger Stone is bad. This is known. The depths of the veteran Republican strategist’s consummate shittiness are like a rotting onion. Layer upon layer of dirty political tricks and cons from a conspiracy theorist and serial liar who has found his way behind the scenes into most of the major political controversies and scandals of the past 40-plus years. The Nixon acolyte been allegedly involved in everything from Watergate and the 2000 Florida recount to the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal and of course, his decades-long friendship and association with President Donald Trump (and alleged back-channel involvement with WikiLeaks in the current Russian hacking scandal). Stone has routinely made racist, sexist, and Islamophobic statements in public and on Twitter, which led to a ban from appearing as a commentator on CNN and MSNBC. Stone showed up to President Trump’s inauguration in an outfit that can only be described as 19th-century robber baron Mr. Peanut meets Oswald Cobblepot. He has a website called the Stone Zone. These trifles alone are irrevocable proof of his objective shittiness. Nonetheless, Roger Stone may be one of our best hopes for marijuana legalization in this the Year Of Our Lord 2017…at least while Donald Trump is still running the show. This is an issue which crosses party lines, as Stone himself noted when he praised Bernie Sanders and chastised Hillary Clinton, who has also been a hard line opponent of ending marijuana prohibition and was the most conservative candidate on the issue during the last presidential campaign: “I’ve looked, I can’t find Hillary Clinton ever coming out for the legalization of cannabis, and this astounds me. I salute Bernie Sanders because he had the courage to say it. I salute Gary Johnson and Dr. Jill Stein; they had the courage to say it. Donald Trump had the courage to stand up for medical marijuana on a states’ rights basis. Where was Hillary?” While Stone was right that Clinton was too conservative on this (along with other social/cultural issues), Donald Trump has not done any better in turning the matter over to others who are conservative on the issue. It is unknown whether Stone has enough influence on Trump to change this. His description of the political spectrum is also flawed: “The essence of old-fashioned Barry Goldwater-style conservatism is I don’t want the government telling me what I can smoke,” said Stone. “To me, when the government tells you how to live, what you can ingest, well that’s the essence of big government liberalism, which I oppose.” His claim of “big government liberalism” being on the other side of the issue might apply to some liberals, but in general polls have shown that liberals are more likely than conservatives to support legalization. Fortunately Stone does understand this enough to be forming an alliance with liberals along with conservatives and libertarians. Posted in Barack Obama, Barry Goldwater, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Gary Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, Libertarianism. Tags: Barack Obama, Barry Goldwater, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Drug War, Gary Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Jeff Sessions, Jill Stein, Libertarianism, Marijuana, Richard Nixon, Russia, Wikileaks. No Comments » Democratic Party Stronger Without The Clintons May 23, 2017 — Ron Chusid The 2016 election was unique in which, while their partisans might not realize it, each party would be better off if their candidate lost the presidential election. Both parties had horrible candidates, and each party would pay a price if their candidate was president. The damage to the Republican brand since Trump has been elected has been obvious. This distracts from noticing the benefits to Democrats from not being dragged further to the right by DLC Democrats such as the Clintons. Democrats have misread recent politics in seeing Bill Clinton’s victory as evidence that the path of the Democratic Leadership Conference was the way to win. In reality, Bill Clinton won due to his own personal political skills, not by his desire to turn the Democratic Party into a Republican-Lite Party. The Clinton/DLC philosophy too conservative and out of date in the 1990’s, and it is even less relevant to the 21st century. Democrats lost off year elections in 2010 and 2014 by running as Republican-Lite and refusing to stand for anything. This culminated in nominating Hillary Clinton, who managed to lose to Donald Trump. While Clinton partisans will never agree, polling data and the election results presents a pretty strong case that if the Democrats had nominate Bernie Sanders instead of Clinton they could have won the White House, and probably taken control of the Senate. The Democratic establishment has totally misread the mood of the country and were misled by an out-dated left/right linear political spectrum, failing to see that many independents would vote for Sanders, but not for Clinton. While the Democratic establishment still desires to exclude Sanders, others are giving him credit for revitalizing the Democratic Party. Buzz Feed editor Ben Smith writes, While You Were Watching Trump, The Democratic Party Changed: Bernie Sanders lost the primary but reshaped his party. “What happened in the presidential campaign is that Bernie ran explicitly in support of a Medicare-for-all approach” — a simple framework for single-payer — “and what the politicians saw is that voters were fine with that,” said Vermont Rep. Peter Welch, a longtime advocate of single payer. “It’s inclusive and it doesn’t get us into the identity politics divisions that are problematic,” he said. “It gets us into inclusive politics.” And if Sanders made single-payer safe for Democrats, Trump’s extremely unpopular foray into health care policy with the American Health Care Act has created a new landscape. Democrats’ blend of private-sector structures with government money and incentives, Obamacare, never became truly popular. A Republican version of that hybrid system, tilted toward the markets and away from guarantees, isn’t popular either. “Then the default becomes, well the private market doesn’t work, the next thing is single-payer,” said an insurance industry executive close to the politics of the issue, who noted that the CEO of Aetna recently shocked the industry by calling for a serious debate about what single-payer would look like. (To the insurance industry, it could look like a new sluice of predictable revenue.) “This is probably going to be like what happened with Republicans on immigration,” the insurance industry official said. “You may even have a bigger swath of Democrats who are not for single-payer but the single-payer group is becoming so outspoken that other voices are muted.” It remains to be seen whether the Democratic Party will really change for the better, but there was little or no hope if a politician as conservative as Hillary Clinton had won and had the opportunity to shape the party. While she claims at times to be a progressive, she is a “progressive” who fights for conservative results. Clinton was hardly progressive when she supported making flag burning a felony, censoring video games, supported restricting freedom of speech to fight terrorism, defended the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas, supported parental notification laws, making abortion rare (a statement which stigmatizes women who have abortions and plays into GOP attempts to restrict abortions), leaving gay marriage up to the states (a position she finally changed but lagging behind the country tremendously), the Patriot Act, the discriminatory Workplace Religious Freedom Act, working with the Fellowship in the Senate to increase the role of religion in public policy and undermine the principle of separation of church and state, opposed single payer health care, opposed needle exchange programs, supported a hard line on the drug war, promoted increased government secrecy, supported going to war in Iraq war based upon false claims of a connection between Saddam and al Qaeda (without even bothering to read the intelligence material made available for members of the Senate), pushed for military intervention in Libya and Syria, and resuming the Cold War with Russia. If Clinton was president, far too many Democrats would be rationalizing and defending Clinton’s views and actions. Instead, the defeat of Clinton opens the door for a more liberal Democratic Party. It also increases the chances of Democratic gains in 2018. If Clinton had been elected, we would probably see a continuation of Democratic loses in Congress and state governments. Instead there is talk of a possible Democratic wave in 2018. For many matters, the state government has more day to day impact on our lives than the federal government. For those of us who saw our state governments get taken over by Republicans since 2010, the defeat of Clinton gives hope of throwing the Republicans out. With Trump in the White House, we have terrible policies, but also massive opposition to him. Plus with Trump in the White House, we have the added benefit of seeing the Republican president being the subject of scandals and possible impeachment, instead of the inevitable scandals to be seen under Hillary Clinton. The manner in which she spent the last couple of years repeatedly lying about the email and Foundations scandals should provide additional warnings about what could be expected with Clinton in the White House. Donald Trump has been a terrible president, but it would have been a disaster regardless of who won. At least there is now hope for a better future. Posted in Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, Civil Liberties, Donald Trump, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Politics, Scandals. Tags: Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, Civil Liberties, Democrats, Drug War, Health Care Policy, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Libya, Politics, Russia, Syria. No Comments » A Failed Administration: Both President And Attorney General May Have Committed Impeachable Offenses With Donald Trump facing considerable criticism for the firing of James Comey (along with multiple other faults), we must also keep in mind that there are other terrible people in his administration. Among them is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Hill reports that Democrats are questioning his role in the firing of Comey: The top Democrats on two powerful House committees are calling for a report on possible disciplinary actions against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his role in FBI Director James Comey’s firing. The Democrats say Sessions may have violated his pledge to recuse himself from any investigations involving Russia’s effort to influence U.S. elections. In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) pressed the Justice Department to explain Sessions’ role in President Trump’s decision to fire Comey. “Federal law sets forth as a penalty for recusal violations removal from office, and the Attorney General’s violation in this case appears to be particularly grave,” the letter reads. This criticism isn’t limited to Democrats. Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin has a similar opinion: Refusing to recuse oneself from a conflict or breaking the promise to recuse from a conflict is a serious breach of legal ethics. “Someone could file a bar complaint, and/or one with DOJ’s office of professional responsibility, if Sessions had a conflict of interest when it came to the firing decision, and if he did not follow the ethics rules, including those of DOJ by acting when he had a conflict of interest,” legal ethics expert Norman Eisen tells me. “The fact that he broke his recusal commitment, if he did, would be relevant context, and violating an agreement can sometimes in itself be an ethics violation.” In sum, Sessions has risked his law license, whether he realized it or not. He needs to testify immediately under oath; if there is no satisfactory explanation, he must resign. The alternative could be impeachment proceedings. Yes, impeachment. The Attorney General appears to have committed grounds for impeachment. In addition, Donald Trump firing Jame Comey because he refused to pledge loyalty to him may be worse than firing him to obstruct the Russia investigation. Either way, it is grounds for impeachment, not that we can count on the Republicans to act on this. But back to Jeff Sessions, he is also showing that he is a problem with regards to policy, seeking to escalate the failed drug war by increasing sentences for violations of current drug laws. Former Attorney General Eric Holder responded by calling Sessions’s policy “dumb on crime.” “It is an ideologically motivated, cookie-cutter approach that has only been proven to generate unfairly long sentences that are often applied indiscriminately and do little to achieve long-term public safety.” In the memo, Sessions told federal prosecutors to “pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” that by definition “carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimums.” Holder also said, “Abandoning this evidence-based progress and turning back the clock to discredited, emotionally motivated, ideological policy also threatens the financial stability of the federal criminal justice system.” Posted in Donald Trump, Drug Policy. Tags: Donald Trump, Drug Policy, Drug War, James Comey, Jeff Sessions, Russia. No Comments » « Older posts « Clinton’s Firing Of FBI Director Was Not Comparable To Trump Firing Comey Dutch Documentary Looks At Donald Trump’s Ties To The Russian Mafia »	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1905
__label__wiki	0.745541	0.745541	Cuomo Announces New Initiative to Develop Artificial Reefs Ray Larsen State’s Largest Expansion of Artificial Reefs Will Provide New Habitats, Restore Fishery Resources, and Bolster the Region’s Economies More Than 43,000 Cubic Yards of Clean, Recycled Tappan Zee Bridge Material and 5,900 Cubic Yards of Jetty Rock Will Support Construction of 6 Artificial Reefs Governor’s Announcement to Support Environmental Protection and the State’s Marine Ecosystems Made in Conjunction with Earth Week Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the largest expansion of artificial reefs in state history to improve New York’s diverse marine life and boost Long Island’s recreational and sport fishing industries. In New York’s first ever, comprehensive program to construct artificial reefs, the Governor has launched an initiative to deploy materials including tugboats, barges, and scows, as well as concrete and clean, recycled materials from the demolition of the former Tappan Zee Bridge. These materials will support the development of six artificial reefs on Long Island at sites off the shores of Smithtown, Shinnecock, Moriches, Fire Island, Hempstead, and Rockaway. Launched during Earth Week, this initiative builds on the Governor’s record $300 million Environmental Protection Fund investment, $2.5 billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act, more than $2 million NY Sea Grant program to mitigate Long Island brown tide, and actions taken to ban off-shore drilling along New York’s coastline. “The sustainability and health of New York’s marine resources is critical to communities along our shores, and by constructing these reef habitats, we are investing in a stronger more diverse marine ecosystem,” Governor Cuomo said. “As the largest artificial reef construction program in state history, these efforts will increase New York’s marine biodiversity, provide new habitats for a variety of coral and fish, and support a growing tourism industry that brings thousands of anglers and travelers to Long Island’s pristine waters every year.” At the Governor’s direction, and with unprecedented, multi-agency coordination, recycled materials from the Department of Transportation, Canal Corporation, and the Thruway Authority will be used to develop New York’s artificial reef sites and increase the biodiversity of these habitats for a variety of fish and lobsters. Construction of New York’s first artificial reef dates back to 1949, and this latest initiative marks the state’s first coordinated effort to stimulate the full environmental and economic benefits of artificial reefs. New York’s marine resources are critical to the state’s economy, supporting nearly 350,000 jobs and generating billions of dollars through tourism, fishing and other industries. More than 500,000 anglers in the region will reap the benefits of this new initiative, supporting the region’s growing marine economy which accounts for approximately 9.7 percent of Long Island’s total GDP. “The sustainability and health of New York’s marine resources is critical to communities along our shores, and by constructing these reef habitats, we are investing in a stronger more diverse marine ecosystem…” Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Beginning in May, state agencies will start to deploy 33 barges of Tappan Zee Bridge recycled materials and 30 vessels that have been cleaned of all contaminants. A total of 43,200 cubic yards of recycled Tappan Zee Bridge material, 338 cubic yards of steel pipe from DOT, and 5,900 cubic yards of jetty rock will be submerged and added to six reef sites as part of the first phase of this initiative. The six artificial reefs that will be developed include: Smithtown Reef Three canal vessels and one barge of steelwill be deployed to expand the artificial reef between June 8-15. The 3-acre reef is located 1.6 nautical miles from shore with a depth of 38-40 feet. Shinnecock Reef One barge of the Tappan Zee Bridge material, one barge of steel pipes and two canal vessels will be deployed to expand the artificial reef beginning Wednesday, May 2. The 35-acre reef is located 2 nautical miles from shore with a depth of 79-84 feet. Moriches Reef Two barges of Tappan Zee Bridge material and two canal vessels will be deployed in July and August to expand the artificial reef. The 14-acre reef is located 2.4 nautical miles from shore with a depth of 70-75 feet. Fire Island Reef Ten barges of Tappan Zee Bridge material, 11 canal vessels, one barge of steel and four barges of jetty rock will be deployed to expand the artificial reef between June 26-28. The 744-acre reef is located 2 nautical miles from shore with a depth of 62-73 feet. Hempstead Reef Twelve barges of Tappan Zee Bridge material and 11 canal vessels will be deployed in July and August to expand the artificial reef. The 744-acre reef is located 3.3 nautical miles from shore with a depth of 50-72 feet. Rockaway Reef One barge of Tappan Zee Bridge material will be deployed in July and August to expand the artificial reef. The 413-acre reef is located 1.6 nautical miles from shore with a depth of 32-40 feet. DEC manages New York’s Artificial Reef Program, which includes two reefs in the Long Island Sound, two in the Great South Bay, and eight artificial reefs in the Atlantic Ocean. The major benefits of constructing New York’s artificial reefs include improving the existing habitats in order to increase local marine biodiversity, stimulating more productive and diverse aquatic ecosystems, and promoting environmental sustainability through fish habitat improvement. The reefs are built out of hard, durable structures such as rock, concrete, and steel pipes, and usually in the form of surplus or scrap materials that are cleaned of contaminants. After materials and vessels settle to the sea floor, larger fish like blackfish, cod, and striped bass move in to build habitats within the new structures, and encrusting organisms such as barnacles, sponges, anemones, corals, and mussels cling to and cover the material. Over time, all these structures will create habitat similar to a natural reef. Artificial reef construction is part of Governor Cuomo’s NY Open for Fishing and Hunting Initiative, an effort to improve recreational activities for in-state and out-of-state sportsmen and sportswomen and to boost tourism opportunities throughout the state. For more information about DEC’s Artificial Reef Program visit DEC’s website here. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said, “Governor Cuomo recognizes that expanding Long Island’s artificial reefs will bolster the economies of our fisheries. This is a wonderful and innovative way to reuse materials from state infrastructure projects. Our communities, anglers, and environment all stand to benefit from this effort and the State’s expanded Artificial Reef Program.” Thruway Authority Acting Executive Director Matthew J. Driscoll said, “This is government at its best: smart, efficient and environmentally mindful. In addition to transferring deck panels from the Tappan Zee Bridge to local governments for reuse, the Thruway Authority is taking advantage of another unique opportunity to recycle bridge materials to improve and protect the environment. I commend Governor Cuomo for allowing the historic Tappan Zee Bridge to live on as artificial reefs off the coast of Long Island, economically contributing to these communities for decades to come.” Senator Tom F. O’Mara, Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee said, “From environmental conservation to transportation infrastructure, New York State is leading the way on putting existing materials back into use in creative, cost-effective, innovative and effective ways.” Assemblyman Steven Englebright, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee said, “I am thrilled to see that the cleaned and inspected materials from the Tappan Zee Bridge and other old infrastructure are going to be repurposed for such a great project. Artificial reefs provide incredible opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist such as research, diving, and angling. They also create habitats that foster vibrant, diverse ecosystems. This is a great example of upcycling and I look forward to seeing the results of it.” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, “The Governor has been with us for every challenge we have faced, from infrastructure to water quality to providing the resources we need in order to improve our Long Island communities, and this announcement continues the state’s commitment to protect New York’s natural assets. Governor Cuomo’s commitment to build up our artificial reefs will provide new habitats for fish species, helping them grow in numbers and provide Long Island’s booming recreational and sport fishing industries even more to look forward to. I thank all state agencies involved in developing these reefs and look forward to the economic benefits this initiative will bring to our communities.” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said, “Long Island’s legendary fishing industry is world renowned. With the addition of these clean, recycled materials, the artificial reefs off our shores will develop into larger habitats and help our marine life diversify and grow. I thank Governor Cuomo for recognizing the opportunity to expand these aquatic environments and am thrilled to welcome more visitors to Long Island’s coastal communities for years to come.” Smithtown Supervisor Edward R. Wehrheim said, “These canal vessels and other recycled materials are the perfect habitat for Long Island’s coral and fish species, and by using them to expand our precious reefs, our community looks forward to increased biodiversity in our waters. I invite everyone to travel to Smithtown this year, enjoy our local businesses, explore our beautiful shores, and cast a line in the waters that Governor Cuomo has done so much to help protect.” Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said, “Under the Governor’s leadership, we have seen Long Island’s tourism and fishing industries steadily grow year after year, and this latest initiative is sure to boost our local economies and attract even more anglers and travelers to our communities. I look forward to having these recycled materials lowered into our waters, as they develop into new and expanded reefs, and help increase the biodiversity of our environment for years to come.” Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen said, “I thank the Governor for investing in our water quality and committing resources to construct our reef into an even larger underwater environment. This initiative is exactly the kind of investment our artificial reefs need to develop, grow and increase Long Island’s marine biodiversity. We look forward to even more successful fishing experiences for everyone.” Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward Romaine said, “This project announced by Gov. Cuomo today is a positive step towards protecting our shoreline and improving fish habitat. By creating this artificial reef, wave action will be broken up, protecting our shoreline from erosion during major storm events. The reef will also attract fish to this new protective environment, increasing their population and helping our recreational fishing industry.” Ocean Beach Mayor James S. Mallott said, “Our beautiful waters, and the plethora of fish available for sport and recreation fishing, attract thousands of anglers to Long Island every year. I applaud Governor Cuomo and our state agencies for working together to clean and recycle materials that will help construct and develop artificial reefs off our shore. This new initiative will entice even more visitors to our community and we look forward to welcoming outdoor enthusiasts of all ages for generations to come.” Bill Ulfelder, Executive Director for The Nature Conservancy in New York said, “The Nature Conservancy applauds Governor Cuomo’s announcement of work to expand artificial reefs off Long Island. The reefs benefit marine life, hook and line fisherman, and the fishing and recreation economies. On Long Island and across New York our economy, health, and way of life all depend on nature. Like other initiatives recently announced by Governor Cuomo aimed at improving water quality and revitalizing shellfish and ocean life, today’s announcement is a win for New York’s fishermen, coastal communities and oceans.” Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito said, “Our oceans, fisheries and healthy estuaries are at the heart of our maritime culture. Restoration efforts and programs to increase biodiversity such as this are invaluable to life on Long Island, our sustainability and our future. CCE applauds the Governor for his focus and commitment to our marine environment.” New York Sportfishing Federation President Capt. Joe Paradiso said, “The New York Sportfishing Federation applauds Governor Cuomo for his efforts in reinvigorating the artificial reef program here in the New York Marine District. This initiative will replenish and restore our existing reefs, a long overdue need, benefiting our recreational anglers as well as improving the ecosystems that these reefs support. We hope the success of this ‘first step’ will lead to the creation of new artificial reefs in the future, further increasing biodiversity and fishing access for NY’s anglers.” Rocket Charters President and New York’s Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Representative, Capt. Tony DiLernia said, “The marine environment is harsh and our artificial reefs collapse with time. To remain productive, the reefs must have materials added to them every few years. Recent administrations, prior to Governor Cuomo’s, were unable to find ways to address New York’s crumbling artificial reefs. The announcement to grow and add to the artificial reefs surrounding Long Island is another example of Governor Cuomo’s desire to create as many opportunities as possible for our fishermen. By adding to these reefs, the amount of fish available will increase and family fishing outings will be successful.” Top 5 Best Hiking Shoes Long Island Fall Foliage Hits Peak BEAUTIFUL PEAK FOLIAGE CONTINUES TO APPEAR ACROSS NEW YORK STATE Long Island’s Fall Foliage is just changing. Folk Lore Nassau County Parks News National Parks Service NYS Parks and Recreation Suffolk County Park News thingstodo Copyright © 2020 LI Parks - Raymond Larsen	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1908
__label__cc	0.544002	0.455998	Jack created his first company at just 12 and now, at 17, he is one of the nation’s youngest and most successful entrepreneurs. Picture: Supplied 17yo millionaire on why you’re ‘mediocre’ by Jack Bloomfield 5th Sep 2019 7:54 AM We're now hurtling towards that point in the year when kids my age will be sweating bullets as end-of-school exams approach, every single one of them convinced their entire future hinges on what kind of university entrance mark they achieve. Score well, and we're set forever. Do badly, and our lives are over before they really even begin. Well, that's what we're told, at least. That means millions of sleepless nights and hours of frantic last-minute cramming. Then weeks of nailbiting nerves as we await the results. All followed by a sense of overwhelming joy or crushing disappointment, depending on what that little piece of paper says. But I won't be one of them. In fact, I want to tell everyone to relax. There is much more to your working life than university. In fact, for most of us, it's the last thing we should be focusing on. And the data proves it. Now I know what you're thinking; who is this arrogant kid who thinks he's too smart for university? Let me explain. It's not that I think I'm too good for uni. It's a well-trodden path for lots of students, and it's perfectly fine for most people. It's more that I don't subscribe to the idea that university is the be all and end all of education. In the last couple of months a lot of things have changed. 🙏 For the last 6 years I have been sowing the seeds for today’s success🔑. It hasn’t been a coincidence or ‘luck’ that my income has increased massively or that I’m incredible passionate and inspired to do what I do. Start sowing the seeds today so you can see the rewards start to show ASAP.🙏💪 A post shared by Jack Bloomfield (@jackbloomfield) on Mar 11, 2019 at 2:04am PDT Let's look at the University of Melbourne, for example. In 2019, the single most popular course is a general arts degree, with 2275 Victorian students listing it as their number-one choice. And do you know what each of those thousands of students will leave with after three or four years of extra study? A mountain of debt and a piece of paper that carries absolutely no weight in the working world. Is there a profession called "arts", outside of being an artist? Not that I've ever heard of. Sure, if you want to be a lawyer or a doctor, then a university degree is the only real pathway to those jobs. But what if you want to be an entrepreneur? A creator of something that's never been done before? What if you want to change the world? Will four (or six, or eight) more years of classes help you along that path? Not one bit. An arts degree is what we study when we don't actually know what we want to do with our lives, but think we better do something. If you go to university because it's what everyone else is doing, because it's the easy path, then you have already fallen into the mediocre category, a sheep among other sheep, and those grand plans of changing the world will be put off for when the time is right. Which is short for "never". How absolutely incredible to sit down with @garyvee today!! Can’t wait for the interview to come out. What an absolute privilege it was to have such an incredible opportunity 🙌🙏 A post shared by Jack Bloomfield (@jackbloomfield) on Aug 8, 2019 at 1:44am PDT I've just turned 17, and my side-business project - one I launched a few years ago - now turns over millions in revenue each and every year. And honestly, studying an arts degree would do nothing but set me back. We know already that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college. But let's look closer to home. Boost Juice founder Janine Allis and billionaire James Packer both skipped university, and trucking magnate Lindsay Fox dropped out of high school at 16. Do you think they regret it? I guess the point is this; if you believe in yourself, and are willing to accrue some real-world skills, then a piece of paper with "arts" written on it from a university isn't going to change that. So ignore the pressure. Do what's right for you, not what's right for anyone else. J ack Bloomfield is a teen entrepreneur, businessman and high school student from Queensland. Continue the conversation @jackbloomfield Worker slams millionaire owner’s rules 'Semen crepes': Schoolboys charged over sick prank editors picks university	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1910
__label__cc	0.717359	0.282641	Select your starting point Bayramian Hall START HERE  Tap any pin to jump to that point in the tour Zoom in Zoom out Re-center Show / hide my location Bayramian Hall houses a multitude of student services. University Hall is home to CSUN’s administrative offices, including the president's and provost’s offices. Sierra Center Sierra Center offers a variety of food services and a computer-friendly work environment for students and staff. Jerome Richfield Hall In Jerome Richfield Hall, you’ll find the department of Asian American studies, gender and women’s studies, and linguistics. Sierra Hall and Sierra Tower Sierra Hall houses the departments of philosophy, modern and classical languages, and literature, as well as classes in history, geography, political science, psychology and sociology. Manzanita Hall Manzanita Hall, designed by renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, is the headquarters of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media and Communications where students majoring in cinema and television arts, journalism and communication studies spend most of their Santa Susana Hall Santa Susana Hall is home to the Institute for Sustainability, which develops and promotes campus-wide education, research, collaboration and initiatives surrounding sustainability. CSUN Campus Store Complex The CSUN Campus Store Complex houses a travel agency, a computer center, a print shop, several eateries and a convenience store. Cypress and Nordhoff Halls Cypress Hall is home to the music department and features rehearsal and recital halls, practice rooms, soundproof booths, classrooms with pianos, an electronic percussion studio a music technology lab, a pipe organ and a recording studio. The Soraya (formerly the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)) The Soraya is a 160,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art performing arts center featuring a 1,700-seat main performance hall. With more than 400 orange trees, the Orange Grove is a welcoming retreat for CSUN students. National Center on Deafness (Jeanne Chisholm Hall) The internationally recognized National Center on Deafness (NCOD) provides interpreters, Realtime and TypeWell captioning, note taking, scholarships, tutoring and student development for CSUN’s deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Klotz Student Health Center The Klotz Student Health Center offers medical services for currently enrolled students, including routine visits for health and wellness, treatment for injuries, cold and flu care, and immunizations. Chaparral Hall Chaparral Hall houses the College of Science and Mathematics and features 18 research labs, 9 introductory teaching labs and 13 lecture rooms. Magnolia, Citrus, Eucalyptus and Live Oak Halls This cluster of science and math buildings contains the departments of geological science, chemistry and biochemistry, physics, astronomy and the mathematics department. Delmar T. Oviatt Library The Delmar T. Oviatt Library is not only the geographic center of campus, but the symbolic center as well. Jacaranda Hall If you plan to major in engineering or the computer sciences, you’ll spend most of your time in Jacaranda Hall. Sequoia Hall Sequoia Hall houses the departments of child and adolescent development, family and consumer science, the College of Health and Human Development and the University Technology Center. Matador Statue Located in Matador Plaza, between the Delmar T. Oviatt Library and the University Student Union, the Matador Statue is a symbol of CSUN pride. University Student Union (USU) The University Student Union (USU) is home to the Matador Involvement Center, the hub for CSUN’s more than 300 clubs and organizations, and Associated Students, the official seat of student government. Fuel Cell Power Plant and Rain Forest The fuel cell power plant debuted on campus in 2007 and provides 8,333,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which equals 18 percent of the total campus usage. Student Recreation Center (SRC) The Student Recreation Center (SRC) is a 138,000 square-foot facility for exercise and leisure activity. The Matadome and Redwood Hall The Matadome, a 1,600-attendees-capacity stadium, is the indoor home for the CSUN men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams. Abbott and Linda Brown Western Center for Adaptive Aquatic Therapy The Abbott and Linda Brown Western Center for Adaptive Aquatic Therapy adapted land-based rehabilitation strategies to the aquatic environment. There are many athletic facilities that students can take advantage of when they are not in use by CSUN athletic teams, high schools or promotional programs. CSUN’s goal is to cater to the needs of our diverse residents which include freshman, returning students, graduate students and students with dependent children or spouses. Art and Design Center Art and design classes are held in this cluster of colorful buildings, including spaces for sculpture, weaving, drawing, painting and photography. Juniper Hall The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics is located at Juniper Hall, where students study accounting, business law, economics, finance and marketing. CSUN is a national leader in the training of teachers, so if you are working toward a credential you’ll take most of your classes in this building.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1911
__label__wiki	0.944441	0.944441	Another group of Catholic schoolboys has been filmed belting out the same misogynistic chant sung by St Kevin’s College students. More schoolboys filmed in misogynistic chant by Andrew Koubaridis 25th Feb 2020 4:59 PM The same misogynistic chant sung by St Kevin's College students has again been belted out by different teenagers with footage of the vile words shared widely on social media. Students from Catherine McAuley College in Bendigo and other schools were filmed on a party bus on their way home from a birthday party on Saturday night. The footage was originally posted on Snapchat but was later posted to Facebook by a female student who wrote: "How could you possibly think you're so entitled, it's not funny". Her post attracted hundreds of messages from people who branded the teens "pigs" and "disgusting". The principal of Catherine McAuley College, Brian Turner, wrote in a letter to parents the school had contacted every student and their parents who could be identified in the footage. "The College wants to reinforce that the lyrics of this song and any associated culture are disgusting and in no way represent the values of Mercy Education Limited or Catherine McAuley College. "Our College theme this year is making Mercy our Common Home. This behaviour is not reflective of these values. "Although students are free to attend events outside school, their behaviour and conduct should reflect the personal values of each individual, and that of their families, schools and the clubs to which they belong. "Every measure will be taken to work with these students individually and with the wider student body to raise awareness. The Catherine McAuley College Student and Parent Code of Conduct clearly outline that such action is not acceptable in a Mercy School or across the Sandhurst Diocese." Mr Turner told the Herald Sun the boys would not be suspended or expelled because it happened outside of school hours and they were not in uniform. "It's a difficult balance," he said. The boy who featured prominently in the footage was distraught and was not aware they were the same words sung by the infamous St Kevin's College clip, Mr Turner said. "We are speaking with him and having lots of conversations with our student leaders and Yr 12's about this … We are going to take it on the chin, and be transparent - it is real and it happened and we are not going to hide away from it," the principal said. Such "misogynistic" behaviour had no place in the school and was not part of their culture, he said. "We don't condone it." The school's focus was now on supporting students and their wellbeing - including the ones in the video - who were "vulnerable". andrew.koubaridis@news.com.au Premium Content ‘Distressing’: Family of boy found dead on bus speak out education misogyny sexism	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1912
__label__cc	0.63338	0.36662	Courts Crime Possible Insanity Defense in Marijuana Murder Case A 32-year-old Kneeland man appears to be exploring an insanity defense in the face of federal charges that he murdered one of the workers tending his marijuana farm in 2010. Mikal Xylon Wilde’s attorney, the eccentric powerhouse J. Tony Serra, recently filed a motion advising the federal government that he “intends to introduce expert evidence relating to his mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt” at trial. In order to prevail with an insanity defense in federal court, Serra would have to present “clear and convincing evidence” that “at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts,” under the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. Essentially, Serra would have to prove Wilde did not know right from wrong when he allegedly shot Mario Roberto Juarez-Madrid in the back, killing him, and wounded Fernando Lopez with a gunshot wound to the face when the two men attempted to quit working for him. Just last week, in response to Serra’s motion, the U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the court to order an independent, third-party psychological evaluation of Wilde so prosecutors can prepare appropriately for whatever evidence regarding the defendant’s mental state might eventually be produced in February, when the case is scheduled to go to trial. Wilde spent months considering taking a plea deal offered to him by the Federal government before reversing course in June, firing his public defender and hiring Serra to represent him. According to evidence presented at a hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to hold Wilde to stand trial on a state murder charge in Humboldt County, Wilde was overseeing a grow operation it in Kneeland when he hired Juarez-Madrid and Lopez to tend to the plants. Reportedly beset by money problems, Wilde allegedly told the men he couldn’t afford fuel for the watering truck they had been using to irrigate the property. The men balked at having to traverse the garden’s hilly terrain with buckets to water the more than 1,500 marijuana plants, demanded to be paid for their work and taken home to the Sacramento area. Wilde told the men he’d come back later in the day to pick them up and take them home, according to testimony at the hearing. But, when he returned the next day, he allegedly opened fire with a handgun. Having pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants, committing murder during a narcotics offense and being a felon in possession of a firearm, Wilde potentially faces life in federal prison if convicted on all charges. Courts Crime Mikal Xylon Wilde Mario Roberto Juarez-Madrid Fernando Lopez Kneeland marijuana J. Tony Serra murder U.S. Attorney's Office	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1914
__label__cc	0.561014	0.438986	Italy in the European Network for High Performance Computing 12 June 2019 \| Written by Gaetano Fabiano A super calculator, named Leonardo, to support the future of research and development in a wide range of sectors: from the design of medicines and new materials to the fight against climate change Italy is among the 8 countries that will host a supercomputer with very high computing capacity: a leap forward to make Italy, within the European framework, a region of avant-garde worldwide. A strategic resource for the future of science and industry, to allow Europe to progress in future-oriented technologies, such as the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, pharmacology, personalized medicine, robotics, and the large data analysis. The news was given on June 7th in Luxembourg on the last Governing Board of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and resumed at a press conference on June 10th to present the details relating to the appointment of Italy as the host country of the supercomputer. The sites of the supercomputing network. The Italian host city will be Bologna, formerly the headquarters of the Cineca Interuniversity Consortium, which with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Infn, and International Superior School of Advanced Studies, Sissa, of Trieste has led the nomination proposal since the beginning of 2019, thanks to a joint consortium with Slovenia. Bologna, therefore, the city home to the oldest university in the Western world, will be the home of one of the most powerful and cutting-edge computational infrastructures. The project bears the name of EuroHPC and, in addition to the one in Bologna, provides for another 7 computers in as many European cities: the others will be located in Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Luxembourg. The project has an initial value of 840 million euros: a figure certainly important but that will bring an exponential advancement in technological scientific research. It is, therefore, an investment with an immense economic value of return, today difficult to predict or calculate. Furthermore, Italy will contribute 120 million euros of specific resources, bringing benefits from the employment point of view in the short term, creating quality jobs and allowing to exploit the potential offered by big data and artificial intelligence. Applications. The aim will be to support and stimulate the development of important applications in areas such as disease diagnosis, personalized medicine, innovative drug, and material design, bioengineering, weather forecasting and climate change, advanced data analysis for designing the mobility of the future. Why this super calculator? The amount of data available today by scientists in European institutes and industries does not currently correspond to the computational capacity available across Europe: we have so much valuable data but we are unable to process it. It’s like having seeds, sun, water, and labor but no land to grow. No Union supercomputer is in the top 10 globally and the existing ones depend on non-European technology: this represents a potential risk of being cut off from strategic and technological knowledge for innovation and competitiveness. Wanting to achieve a certain technological autonomy is necessary to avoid serious problems relating to privacy, data protection, and scientific and industrial intellectual property. Furthermore, Europe consumes around 29% of the high-performance computing resources worldwide today, but the European industry supplies only 5%. For these reasons, the European Union, with EuroHPC, invests in this ambitious infrastructure strategy: the ambition is to become one of the world leaders in computerized supercomputing. The network will be composed of “exascale” computers, that is systems capable of executing a billion billion (exaFLOPS: one quintillion) of operations per second. These machines will be interconnected with existing national supercomputers and will be made available throughout Europe to both public users and private users for the development of important scientific and industrial applications. Investments in these technologies will benefit the development of European industry as well for the supply of high-end applications. For example, one of the objectives will be the development of low-power microprocessors that will make Europe autonomous in this area, which is so essential for many emerging markets, such as, for example, vehicles for the driverless future mobility. Benefits. Supercomputing is a fundamental tool for understanding and responding to current and future complex challenges, such as forecasting adverse weather conditions or analyzing data from scans of our bodies in order to improve diagnosis or prevent disease. These types of analysis, impossible to carry out on traditional instruments, are of crucial importance: just consider that a third of all the global gross domestic product is influenced by weather conditions and that extreme phenomena have an estimated impact in Europe of 400 billion euros, affecting about 5% of the European population and causing about 3000 deaths per year. The goal will be to prevent and contain these losses by using the high-performance super calculation. Thanks to these technologies, scientists will obtain more in-depth information on previously unexplored and highly complex areas and systems, driving innovation and discoveries in almost all scientific disciplines. The main challenges that this type of calculation helps to address include decoding the functioning of the human brain or predicting the development of the earth’s climate. High-performance computing is also fundamental for the discovery of new drugs and the creation of medical therapies for the individual needs and conditions of patients suffering from cancer, cardiovascular or Alzheimer’s diseases and rare genetic diseases. For example, high-performance calculations were decisive for the 2013 Nobel Prize winners in chemistry to model the complex interactions between different atoms and molecules, combining classical and quantum physics. During the press conference, Roberto Viola, Director General of the Communication Networks, Content and Technology Department of the European Commission, emphasized that: “The goal is to make the fastest supercomputers in the world. And the applications are endless. To give an example: today to synthesize a new drug it takes 300 years, with the new machine just half an hour. It is a great challenge for Europe and for Italy. We are happy to play this challenge together. Soon we will also enter the quantum race and hope to do this together too. Because the supercomputer race is the new space race. And we can win it if we put our forces together (at the European level) “ The computer will take the name of the Italian genius: Leonardo; assembly, commissioning and testing will start in the second half of 2020 and will be completed by the end of the same year. This network of European supercomputers, of which Italy will be a part, will represent a technological and skills infrastructure that will act as a driving force for a whole series of transversal competencies, confirming that Europe, in its collaborative vision, represents a scientific superpower and technology, which acts to improve the quality of life of its citizens by creating the conditions for a better future for all humanity. Gaetano Fabiano Gaetano Fabiano, innovation expert in the sphere of digital transformation and emerging technologies in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. He is a computer science teacher. Last post by Gaetano Fabiano Amazon launches the AWS cloud region in Milan About a year ago, we announced Amazon’s intentions to open... Contact Tracing App: tracking movements for the public healthcare Health authorities around the planet, including the Italian ones, are... Ethical rules for Artificial Intelligence In line with the global debate on ethics and artificial... Italy is among the 8 countries that will host a...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1917
__label__wiki	0.685252	0.685252	“It could kill the whole –” admits sponsor of bill to relax fentanyl, heroin trafficking laws in Maine at public hearing by Maine Examiner 05/13/2019 \| 7:42 0 Posted in Maine News, News, State House Rep. Pinny Beebe-Center (D – Rockland) is the sponsor of L.D. 1492, which would relax the laws around the trafficking and furnishing of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. To the right is the amount of fentanyl the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says can be fatal. AUGUSTA – The sponsor of a bill that would relax Maine’s laws around trafficking of cocaine, heroine and fentanyl testified before the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in favor of her bill today and nearly let slip what a lot of people already know about her proposal. Rep. Pinny Beebe-Center (D – Rockland) said she was open to compromising on the bill, but did not give up hope on the bill’s passage in some form. At times during the hearing she seemed eager to get distance from the details of her proposal, but at other times, aggressively pushed for support for her bill. Rep. Beebe-Center also nearly admitted that she knew how deadly the quantity of fentanyl powder that her bill would allow someone to possess without facing charges of drug trafficking or furnishing charges could actually be. One provision of the bill would allow an individual to possess up to 3.5 grams of fentanyl powder without being charged with trafficking the drug. When asked if she knew how much 3.5 grams of fentanyl would cost by a member of the committee, Rep. Beebe-Center responded, “A lot, but I also know it could kill the whole…,” before trailing off. Listen as Rep. Beebe-Center nearly admits to a legislative committee how deadly the quantity of fentanyl she proposes allowing people to possess without facing trafficking charges actually is. A moment later, Rep. Beebe-Center continued, “I, uh, I don’t know how much the exact amount is but I know it’s a huge amount and I know that’s much too much for powdered fentanyl.” At another point, Rep. Beebe-Center said she didn’t think powdered fentanyl should be at that high a level, but the bill was “to get the conversation going.” Beebe-Center also, when asked about her bill’s proposal to abolish some of the laws around “furnishing” drugs by eliminating provisions that would make someone guilty of furnishing drugs by having a certain number of bags or containers of the drugs in question, said that everything was all negotiable and that her bill was meant as a starting point. Numerous people testified in favor of the bill, including a representative from the “Church of Safe Injection” and several people who said they have recovered from drug addiction. The Maine People’s Alliance also submitted testimony in support of the bill, urging members of the committee to vote “Ought to Pass.” Currently, possession of 2 grams of fentanyl powder or heroin along with 90 bags is defined as trafficking, but Rep. Beebe-Center’s bill, L.D. 1492, strikes those provisions from the law completely. The bill also strikes similar language from the definition of ‘furnishing’ heroin or fentanyl powder and relaxes the legal language that defines the drugs. The bill also changes the law covering the possession of the drugs cocaine, heroine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, methamphetamine and fentanyl powder by increasing the amount that can be possessed without criminal penalties and relaxes the class of crime that such possession is punishable under. Currently, possession of 2 grams of any of those drugs is punishable as a Class C (felony level) crime, but under Rep. Beebe-Center’s proposal, that possession threshold would be relaxed to a possession threshold of up to 3.5 grams and reduced to a Class D crime. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency says a dose of 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal. Under Rep. Beebe-Center’s proposed changes, a person could be in possession of about 1,750 doses of fentanyl at the deadly 2 mg level and only be charged with what is commonly called a misdemeanor level crime. Two milligrams of fentanyl is roughly the equivalent of 5 to 7 grains of table salt, according to the DEA. At the public hearing, Rep. Beebe-Center said that the new limit of 3.5 grams was based on a belief that a person should be allowed to possess more doses of the drugs for their personal use without being charged with furnishing or trafficking drugs. In response to Rep. Janice Cooper (D – Yarmouth) calling the bill a “short step” philosophically from where we already are, Rep. Beebe-Center agreed and said that because she sees drug addiction as a public health issue, someone with a drug addiction “Having what they need on them for that habit is not a crime, we have made it a crime,” and that she feels it should not be a crime. L.D. 1492 will have a work session before being sent out to the full House and Senate for consideration.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1919
__label__wiki	0.710458	0.710458	Justia › US Law › Case Law › California Case Law › Cal. 2d › Volume 7 › CHARD v. O'CONNELL CHARD v. O'CONNELL [S. F. No. 15597. In Bank. November 16, 1936.] GRACE H. CHARD, Administratrix, etc., Respondent, v. DANIEL F. O'CONNELL, Appellant. John S. De Lancey for Appellant. Gillogley, Crofton & Payne, Francis N. Foley, Abraham Glicksberg and Walter C. Frame for Respondent. EDMONDS, J., pro tem. The judgment from which the defendant Daniel F. O'Connell appeals was rendered in an action brought against him by his sister, for a share in money alleged to have been received by him in trust. According to the allegations of the complaint the defendant received the sum of $28,000 from his mother, Mary J. O'Connell, in trust, to be held by him during the lifetime of his mother and thereafter to be divided between her five children. The trial court found that defendant received the money under an assignment made by Mrs. O'Connell of her interest in the estate of her deceased brother; that the defendant at the time the assignment was executed represented to his mother that he would hold the proceeds of the settlement in trust as alleged by the plaintiff and that he thereafter repudiated the trust. There is no dispute concerning the facts in connection with the source of the money. The brother of Mrs. O'Connell died in California, leaving a will which was admitted to probate. Mrs. O'Connell had no property and prior to the death of her brother she was supported by him and the defendant. The defendant was one of five children. He, it seems to be conceded, was the only one of Mrs. O'Connell's children who had assumed any responsibility for her support. She had made her home with him for a number of years but at the time of the death of her brother she was living with May Worley, her daughter. After the death of his uncle the defendant went east on two occasions and made some investigation of his affairs. Concluding that his mother had not received her just share under his uncle's will, the defendant decided to contest it on her behalf. Unquestionably, Mrs. O'Connell had nothing [7 Cal. 2d 665] to do with this decision. She was a woman 85 years of age who could neither read nor write. She was confined to her home and apparently relied entirely upon her son Daniel for advice and direction. According to his testimony he told her he "was going to take a chance and gamble and spend a little money and make a contest", and she replied, "Well, I hope you don't lose. I hope you win, because you are the only one who has ever done anything for me, and I hope you get something." As a result of the contest initiated in the name of Mrs. O'Connell a settlement was reached by which she was to receive a share of the estate. This settlement was evidenced by an agreement between her and other heirs in the estate, which she executed in February, 1926. A month later Mrs. O'Connell assigned this agreement to her son, who about a year thereafter collected the money. After paying inheritance taxes and attorneys' fees approximately $28,000 remained, which defendant received and deposited in a bank to his own credit. The complaint alleges that "Mary J. O'Connell was of great age and impaired mentally and physically" and that "in all matters connected with the said contest and the settlement thereof ... the said Daniel F. O'Connell acted as the confidential agent and trusted representative of his mother". However, plaintiff does not seek to set aside the assignment upon the ground of fraud. She claims one-fifth of the money received by the defendant upon the theory that it constitutes a trust fund. The complaint alleges: "That at the time of making said assignment and at the time of the receipt of said money as aforesaid, the said Daniel F. O'Connell represented to his said mother that he would hold the proceeds of said settlement in trust during the lifetime of said mother and thereafter divide the same equally between the children of the said mother, to-wit, the plaintiff and the defendants above named." [1] Under the issues as thus framed the only question presented is whether Daniel F. O'Connell received the money impressed with the trust conditions. In the case of Lefrooth v. Prentice, 202 Cal. 215, 227, 228 [259 P. 947], this court said: "It is a cardinal rule that trusts in personalty may be created, declared, or admitted verbally and may be proved by parol evidence, but the [7 Cal. 2d 666] authorities are uniform to the effect that such evidence must at all times be clear and unequivocal. (Silvey v. Hodgdon, 52 Cal. 363; Sheehan v. Sullivan, 126 Cal. 189 [58 P. 543]; Barker v. Hurley, 132 Cal. 21 [63 P. 1071, 64 P. 480].) Mr. Pomeroy, in Equity Jurisprudence (fourth edition), section 1009, states the rule as follows: 'The declaration of trust, whether written or oral, must be reasonably certain in its material terms; and this requisite of certainty includes the subject-matter or property embraced within the trust, the beneficiaries or persons in whose behalf it is created, the nature and quantity of interests which they are to have, and the manner in which the trust is to be performed. If the language is so vague, general, or equivocal that any of these necessary elements of the trust is left in real uncertainty, then the trust must fail.' " Applying this rule to the evidence in the case at bar, we do not find the position of the plaintiff supported by any evidence whatever. The only evidence which even remotely touches the issues before us is the testimony of Ida O'Connell, the widow of a son of Mary J. O'Connell, and that of Ed. O'Connell, her grandson. The former testified that the subject of the money expected from the will contest was a frequent topic of conversation at the home of May Worley, a daughter of Mrs. O'Connell with whom she was residing. Concerning what was said she stated: "A. Well, the conversation we generally had, or that was carried on, was never before Mrs. O'Connell, it was always between the--my husband and his sister and brother, but the brother was seldom there, and at the time of the suit, when the suit was first on, why then the conversation was about Dan going to get the money, that he thought that he would get that money, he told his mother he would get the money for his brothers and sisters, he didn't need it himself, and he didn't want a cent of it; and after the money was received, why they figured out that there was about $8000 coming to each one of them." When asked who was present and what was said and done, she stated: "Well, as near as I can remember my husband and his sister and myself ... Dan was never present ... Well, they talked over the suit, and then they talked over the money later." [7 Cal. 2d 667] In this testimony the witness specifically stated that the conversations were "never before Mrs. O'Connell" and "Dan was never present." Clearly there is nothing in them which could bind this defendant. [2] The other witness related a conversation which he said occurred in December, 1926, at which he, Mary J. O'Connell, Michael J. O'Connell, one of her sons and the father of the witness, Mrs. Worley and the defendant were present. He said: "My grandmother at that time they were talking about this money, and she mentioned that her children had never had anything, and she hoped that they would get enough out of it to take care of them, she hoped that they would get the money before--or while she was still living, to enjoy it." The time of this conversation as fixed by the witness places it after the execution of both the agreement for settlement and the assignment and before the payment of the money. According to the undisputed evidence the assignment had been delivered to the defendant nine months before. The statements of Mrs. O'Connell made after the execution and delivery of the assignment could not bind the defendant (Bollinger v. Bollinger, 154 Cal. 695 [99 P. 196]). Furthermore her declarations do not support the terms and conditions of a trust under which the defendant was to hold the money during the lifetime of his mother and upon her death divide it between her children. Mrs. O'Connell's statement, as testified to by her grandson, was that "she hoped that they would get the money ... while she was still living, to enjoy it". [3] Respondent lays great stress upon the fact that the defendant, immediately after he received the money, gave $4,000 to a sister and to each of two brothers. The defendant's answer to this is that the money was a gift to him from his mother; that he has always claimed it as his own, and that he had the right to give it away in such amounts and to such persons as he chose. According to the defendant the gift was made to him because he had cared for his mother during many years and had advanced the expenses of the investigation which disclosed the facts upon which the successful contest was based. It is significant in this connection that $4,000 is not one-fifth of the amount the defendant received; also that each of [7 Cal. 2d 668] the three persons to whom he paid $4,000 knew the amount which had been received by him through the settlement and no one of the three made any demand for one-fifth of the fund. Moreover, the terms of the trust sought to be established by the respondent required distribution of the money upon the death of the mother; not immediately after its receipt by the defendant. [4] Respondent relies upon the rule stated in Title Insurance & Trust Co. v. Ingersoll, 158 Cal. 474 [111 P. 360], that to establish a parol trust, the evidence need not be entirely clear and convincing to an appellate court and that the determination of the trial court on the question is conclusive. But to secure the benefit of that rule there must be some evidence tending to establish the trust. In the present case there is no evidence whatever to support the findings of the trial court "that at the time of making said assignment at the time of the receipt of said money as aforesaid, the said Daniel F. O'Connell represented to his said mother that he would hold the proceeds of said settlement in trust and divide the same equally between the children of the said mother, to wit: Anna Wulff, deceased, and the defendants above named, and the proceeds of said settlement were assigned to said Daniel F. O'Connell by the said Mary J. O'Connell to be held in trust for the use and benefit of Anna Wulff deceased, and defendants above named. ..." Cases such as Campbell v. Genshlea, 180 Cal. 213 [180 P. 336], where an action is brought to set aside a deed or recover property alleged to have been secured by fraud or undue influence, present an essentially different issue than is found in the case at bar. The judgment is reversed. Curtis, J., Waste, C.J., Shenk, J., Thompson, J., Seawell, J., and Langdon, J., concurred.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1926
__label__wiki	0.852706	0.852706	Coinbase Announces Five Possible New Assets, Makes No Guarantees For Trade Listing Karrie Butterfield July 14, 2018 0 comments San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has announced that it is examining the addition of five new coins, according to a blog post published July 13. The trading platform is exploring the possibility of adding new assets to its trading lists, including Cardano (ADA), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Zcash (ZEC), and 0x (ZRX). Additionally, Coinbase said it will negotiate with local banks and regulators to add the assets to as many jurisdictions as possible. In June, Coinbase announced it will support Ethereum Classic (ETC) on their platform, after which the ETC price surged by more than 25 percent. According to Coinbase, the process of adding ETC to their exchange platform is “proceeding as planned.” Coinbase noted that unlike adding ETC, which is technically akin to Ethereum (ETH), the new assets “will require additional exploratory work.” The exchange noted that it does not guarantee the new tokens will be listed for trading. Additionally, the exchange warned that the listing process may make some coins available for customers to buy and sell only, without the ability to send or receive them using a local wallet. Coinbase further explains: “We may also only enable certain ways to interact with these assets through our site, such as supporting only deposits and withdrawals from transparent Zcash addresses. Finally, some of these assets may be offered in other jurisdictions prior to being listed in the U.S.” The exchange said that these assets require more detailed study, and have not yet determined when or whether these coins will become available on the platform. Coinbase further states that “some of these assets may become available everywhere, while others may only be supported in specific jurisdictions.” At press time, all the announced coins are in the green. ADA and XLM are trading up over 8 percent in the last 24 hours, while ZEC, ZRX, and BAT are up 11, 15, and 22 percent respectively. In March, Coinbase announced its intention to support ERC20 tokens on its exchange. The company said then that its decision to add ERC20 “paves the way for supporting ERC20 assets across Coinbase products in the future.” Currently, Coinbase supports four different assets, which are Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). Last month, the company initiated the process to become a fully regulated broker dealer by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This would help Coinbase extend its offerings and subsequently expand into non-crypto financial products.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1927
__label__wiki	0.546835	0.546835	Posted byMG Mason Creative October 26, 2016 March 18, 2020 Posted inBooks & FictionTags:fantasy, General SciFi, Horror, how will the walking dead end, the walking dead, writing, zombies By now, we have probably all seen the explosive and shocking season 7 opener. For most of us, perhaps the revelation of precisely whom Negan killed did not come as a surprise (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it). Since last season, I think there has been a general feeling that The Walking Dead had become stale and formulaic. I started to think about how the show might eventually end. The video above is the moment where Rick wakes up in hospital in season 1 episode 1. In addition of the brutal psychopath that is Negan has renewed the show. Already, with just one episode of season 7 broadcast, the show has been renewed for an eighth. However, I’m still thinking about how the show might eventually end. It can’t go on forever. Either the actors or the audience will eventually bored. I hope that comes before it jumps the shark. Anyway, here are several ways I perceive the show ending. Source: AMC. Fair Use Happiest Ending: A Retro-Engineered Walker Virus We have known since the beginning of season 2 that the cause of the Walker condition is a virus. It infects us all; we don’t have to be bitten by a Walker to turn. Anyone who dies, no matter the cause, will become a Walker. I see potentially a small band of researchers deep in some military bunker somewhere breaking down the genes and engineering a new version that encourages Walkers to attack only other Walkers. This will not bring people back, but it will lead to wiping out the Walkers. These same scientists have also developed a vaccine or a cure for the virus for the living. What remains of our heroes form a colony in the new post-walker world. Most Miserable Ending: Rick is Alone, No Hope, Commits Suicide A more personal ending would see a cliffhanger in which Rick sits atop an overturned bus or lorry, or a rock or something. A large group of Walkers surround him. Amongst them are what remains of his friends and family – they are all Walkers. Rick knows he cannot escape now. There are too many of them. He’s out of food and water. In his hand is a police issue revolver with just one bullet. Rick looks down at the gun, then looks out at the crowd. The scene fades to black and we hear a gunshot. Ending Most Likely To Lead to a Revival: The “Rinse and Repeat” Waiting Game Ultimately, this means our group finds a safe place that doesn’t subsequently become unsafe. A prison maybe (oops no, done that one!) or an island or something where Walkers can’t get to them. There is no cure, but enough time passes that the overwhelming majority of Walkers putrefy and are no longer able to chase humans. Eventually, our group leaves the isolated sanctuaries to start anew. This is a kind of 28 Weeks Later scenario that leaves open the potential for a spin off in the future. The Walking Dead +20 will perhaps see the children of some of the characters we know from the main show with some survivors from the current show reprising their roles. This might require a 20-25 year gap for it to feel new again. Remember, the graphic novels have never stopped. Doing What Everyone Else Does: The Cliff-Hanging Open End How many zombie books, TV shows and films have a conclusive ending? Some of the giants of the genre have open ends that finish on a cliffhanger, typically no more conclusive than our heroes escaping to somewhere else. I’ve discussed ending a zombie story before while writing Dead Heat. I’ve never been happy with this type of ending but understand that such a global calamity would be difficult to tidy up. I go by the philosophy that zombie stories do not end, merely that the protagonist(s) survive(s). That’s my 2p worth anyway. Do you dear readers have any other suggestions? Like this? Why not share it! Published by MG Mason Creative I'm Matt, a freelance writer, writing mostly about education, early career recruitment, tech, B2B and professional services. Dabbling with landscape and nature photography too. For this content , please look at my main site linked below. I'm also a self-published author, creator of the quirky crime comedy book series Salmonweird. If that's what you're looking for, then good news! The village has its own website listed below. View more posts “Content is King”? What Does That Even Mean Anyway? “There’s Nobody There!” – Ghostly Flash Fiction for Halloween 8 thoughts on “How Will The Walking Dead End?” N. E. White says: They need to be rescued by Superman. MG Mason says: Hmm, a Superman Walking Dead crossover might be interesting! I was joking! But, hey, why not? I haven’t seen the episode in question but have read several (rage-filled) reviews. I think I stopped watching after Season 5. Not sure why. I guess I could see that they were stretching it out then. Can’t imagine them stretching it out another whole season. (shrugs) I do like your idea of someone coming up with a virus vaccination or something. There has to be some hope for them, otherwise, why keep watching? Absolutely I can understand why people gave up, but I do think Negan is the fresh blood it needs to put it back on track. It has already been renewed for season 8 apparently. Yeah, that’s the thing. I just can’t imagine a whole Season 7. And then 8?! What on earth are they going to do? Unless they have an alien invasion planned, I just don’t see how it just won’t be the same all over again. (shrugs) I’ll probably pick up watching again, but only if there’s absolutely nothing else to watch. It’s gonna be either the suicide one or a hopeful community ending. The others kind of undermine the message of The Walkig Dead. However, I feel that the show has just jumped the shark for the general public. I got fed up with the show I. Season 3 but the way in which the show has become purely a season long tease for big events at the finale and season openers has broken a lot of people’s patience. What really did it was the explicit level of violence in this episode though. The way they drew out the reveal and then had such a graphic murder is the clearest sign of what it has become. It doesn’t tell a story anymore. Yeah, that was becoming apparent. In the first season, you had the whole subtext between the sheriff and his deputy – that added a lot of tension. Then there was the gal with the sword and her backstory, and all the rest. There was a lot of human drama mixed in with the killings, but now…all that drama is gone. Maybe they can get it going again, like you said, but I think it is on its last legs. You’re both right. The subtle nuances of character are lost. Seasons 1 and 2 were full of great drama mostly centred on Rick and Shane and the latter’s increasingly unhinged behaviour before his eventual death. Even with Michonne. As great as she is, I get the impression she’s not half the character she is in the graphic novels. Do either of you watch Fear The Walking Dead? It’s more character driven than TWD, set on the other side of North America. As Darabont is involved in this, it may end up being more along the lines of his vision for the show before they got rid of him at the end of season 2.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1930
__label__wiki	0.837923	0.837923	“19: The Musical” Tells a 100-Year-Old Story Still Relevant for Women Today 3/9/2020 by Emilie Surrusco For Jennifer Schwed, Election Day 2016 brought the full gamut of emotions. Like many women across the country, she woke up the morning of November 8, 2016 in a state of expectant elation—fueled by the belief that our nation was on the cusp of electing its first female president. Instead, when she went to bed that night, Donald Trump, a self-avowed sexual predator who routinely denigrates women, was slated to move into the White House. As she shook off the shock and disbelief, Schwed decided that an America that could elect Donald Trump as president, was an America that didn’t care about women. She decided to table her long-simmering idea of producing a musical about how women fought—and won—the right to vote. And then the Women’s March happened. Standing between the Capitol and the Washington Monument—part of an infinite mass of well-bundled men, women and children wearing pink hats and carrying signs with messages like “A Woman’s Place is in the Revolution” or “This Pussy Grabs Back”—Schwed changed her mind. “I realized that these are exactly the stories that need to be heard,” she said. She proposed the idea to her business partner Doug Bradshaw—and he pegged it “19.” More than three years later, 19: The Musical is a two-hour musical that chronicles women’s struggle to gain the right to vote—which was finally won a century ago with the 19th amendment to the U.S. constitution. Modeled after Hamilton, 19 brings to life a story that few Americans know or understand. The main character is based on Alice Paul, one of the key leaders of the women’s suffrage movement. “I couldn’t believe that I didn’t really know who Alice Paul was. Turns out, very few people seem to know who she was,” said Bradshaw. 19 also incorporates the perspectives of Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Inez Milholland and others. However, with existing historic material on suffrage in America that is both sprawling and contradictory—Paul herself, unlike Alexander Hamilton, kept very few personal records—Schwed and Bradshaw decided that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to portray a strictly factual account of the movement. They opted instead to occasionally use composite characters or scenes to depict certain relationships and major themes, to move the action along or to give the audience the big picture. “There are so many conflicting stories, one contingent will say, ‘No it happened this way,’ the other will say, ‘No, it happened this way,’” Schwed said. “There is no one bible of history on suffrage and how these things went down.” Schwed and Bradshaw—who together founded Through The 4th Wall, an award-winning theater, film and interactive digital media company—have collaborated on many productions over the years. 19 is their most ambitious to date—and their first musical. They knew they needed a composer: a third partner who would play a crucial role by writing and producing the music to match their lyrics. They set out in search of a female composer who was well-versed in 1920s jazz. Schwed posted a message to a listserv for women in film and video. Her first response came from composer Charlie Barnett, who happened to be a man. “I think I’m your guy,” he told Schwed. He later admitted laughingly to not being “a close reader of ads.” “He’s a brilliant musician,” Schwed said. “And while I originally wanted more women involved with 19, there’s something to be said for men to be excited and interested in elevating it too.” The threesome got to work writing the script and the songs. “It’s a genre stew,” Barnett noted. “We’ve created 50-60 songs; we’re on version 15 of the script. Some really good songs ended up on the cutting room floor. As the script evolved, so did the songs. As much as I am a completionist at heart, I had to accept the malleability of this thing, always in flux, always ready to be redone, rewritten, rethought over.” They then recruited the cast: 19 women and two men, many of whom have stayed with the production from the beginning. Karen Bralove is the oldest cast member at 74. “If you commit to two years of unpaid rehearsals and a constantly changing script, you’re obsessed,” Bralove said. “I was obsessed with the story of these women. In 1920, my grandmother was alive and she got to vote; my mom was seven years old. I touch history.” Beginning in late 2017, they began workshopping 19 with more than 30 performances around the Washington, D.C. area. With Barnett on the piano, Schwed and Bradshaw attended each performance. Together, they all held question-and-answer sessions afterwards to elicit audience feedback. One of the hardest parts to portray was the chief internal conflict that roiled the movement—incorporating women of color. They ended up creating a heated discussion between Paul and Ida B. Wells, an African-American journalist, abolitionist and feminist, about whether or not they would integrate a 1913 march for the vote in Washington. The discussion became the show’s most popular song, “Put Yourself in My Shoes.” “We knew there was massive racism in the movement,” said Bradshaw. “But as far as we know, Ida never walked into Alice’s office and spoke to her, we completely made that up.” In the show, Paul argued against integrating the march because Southern white women threatened to boycott if African-American women were allowed to march alongside them. They wanted women of color segregated and walking in the rear. Wells argued for integration because the women’s suffrage movement was about gaining the right to vote for all women. And, as she noted, African-American women were fighting for more than the vote: They were fighting for their lives. The song begins in Paul’s voice: “Put yourself in my shoes; we have no time to lose. Only one more shot to change this plot and win the prize for which we’ve fought so hard. Put yourself in my shoes.” Wells then takes over: “Don’t talk to me ‘bout your pain. You’ve never seen loved ones slain. I won’t be denied, ignored or pushed aside.” The song ends with the two of them singing together: “Put yourself in my shoes. We have no time to lose.” For Schwed, talking about racism was always an important part of telling the movement’s story. “This was never meant to be strictly a celebration of the movement,” she said. “When women are talked about they are either perfect or evil. I wanted to walk in the middle of that and say they were human, they were fallible, they made mistakes.” The show also portrays the beatings, forced feedings, arrests and imprisonment that the women of the suffrage movement endured. “It’s very emotional,” Bralove noted. The first full performances of 19 were held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in November 2019, in front of sold-out audiences. Now, the production goes to New York in search of investors, producers and theater companies interested in staging it. Schwed, Bradshaw and Barnett all believe that the show can teach important lessons about history and women’s continued fight for equality. “2020 is just the coming out party of the show. We think it should go on for a long time,” Bradshaw said. Barnett would like to see it become a show performed by high schools across the country. “It’s the perfect message for what every high school in America should be putting on,” he said. Throughout the three years of writing, producing, revising and performing—all while maintaining day jobs to pay the bills—Schwed has kept a vision in her mind of the women of the suffrage movement under ice. She believes that 19 is allowing that ice to begin to thaw, bringing new life to the suffragists and their stories. “The good part and bad part about the show is that it’s relevant,” she said. “The struggle continues.” For more information, visit www.19themusical.com. Tagged: performing arts, Suffrage, Theatre and Performance Art, Voting Rights, Women in the Arts About Emilie Surrusco Emilie Surrusco is the founder of Ellsworth Media Group, where she works with organizations and individuals fighting to move a progressive agenda in Washington, D.C. She previously served in a variety of non-profits as a communications specialist, including roles as Speechwriter at the American Bar Association and Press Secretary at Feminist Majority Foundation. “She Is Risen” Albums Brings Feminist Voices to “Jesus Christ Superstar” The Lost Season: COVID-19’s Impact on Underrepresented Playwrights Gavi Klein	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1937
__label__cc	0.604013	0.395987	Diamante Awards celebrate Latino leadership in northwest Ohio September 9th, 2015 by Christine Billau The Diamante Awards, hosted by The University of Toledo, will be Thursday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. at The University of Toledo Driscoll Alumni Center. The awards honor Latino leadership and achievements in northwest Ohio, and take place right before the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is celebrated Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Founded in 1989 by IMAGE of Northwest Ohio, a local chapter of a national Latino nonprofit organization, the Diamante Awards recognize individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement and service to the Latino and greater Toledo community. The event, a collaboration between Bowling Green State University, Herzing University, Lourdes University, Owens Community College and The University of Toledo, also serves to raise scholarship funds for Latino youth seeking advanced degrees. The 2015 award recipients are: • Latino/Latina Youth Leadership: Benjamin Quintanilla became involved in helping others at the Sofia Quintero Center and the Toledo Area Metroparks when he was a middle schooler. In high school at Toledo Technology Academy, he worked with Youth to Youth, assisting community members in need. Quintanilla continues his service to others as a Civic Ambassador at Owens Community College, working in the Office of Service Learning, Civic Engagement and Leadership. • Latino/Latina Adult Leadership: Josh Flores is a founding member of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc., Espsilon Alpha chapter at The University of Toledo. He mentored several at-risk youth through the YWCA-Incentives for Excellence Program. A Spanish teacher at Waite High School, Flores currently serves as the president of UT’s Latino Alumni Affiliate and is a member of the mayor’s Hispanic Affairs Commission. • Latino/Latina Adult Professional: Mark Urrutia has been active in the Latino community for decades. He was very involved with the Midwest Hispanic Unity Conference when it was held in Toledo. He is a member of Latinos United, the Latino Alliance, the Spanish American Organization and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Urrutia helped initiate UT’s Latino Alumni Affiliate TIOS Mentoring program, which helps guide upperclassmen to graduation and beyond. • Corporation/Community Agency: The Spanish American Organization (SAO) aims to support the Hispanic community and its youth by providing positive role models, stressing family bonds, morals and the values of the Hispanic culture. SAO was founded in 1994 with the focus of education for Hispanic youth and stopping the decline of those bound for college. Visit DiamanteToledo.org for more information and to register for the event. The Blade (Sept. 10, 2015) La Prensa (Sept. 15, 2015) This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 at 8:18 am and is filed under News Release .	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1939
__label__wiki	0.75312	0.75312	Moshe Bromberg (Bar-Am) Israeli Fine Artist Photos of the Artist Moshe Bromberg (Bar Am) – Detailed Biography Son’s Reflection Exhibitions History Biblical Miniatures Paintings-Polish period, 1945-1950 Story Behind the Miniatures Additional Writing and Info Biography – Hebrew Photos from Exhibition’s openining Biography – Polish Biography – Russian A story of struggle, survival and triumph, written by Edward and Miriam Bromberg This is a brief story of a humble Jewish artist, spanning more than fifty years and three continents. Both his personal life and his Artwork provide us with a mirror of this century’s tormented history. Moshe Bromberg was born in December 1920, into a family whose roots in Poland could be traced back at least 1000 years. He was the elder son, with two siblings, a sister (Miriam) and a brother (Yosef). His father owned a book-binding business in a small town called Piotrokow Trybunalski, near Lodz. As early as at the age of five, Moshe showed artistic talent. In an art class his teacher asked everyone to draw an apple, then placed it on a table and promised to give the apple to the creator of the best drawn picture. Moshe won his first prize. He completed his high school education in Krakow, and then it was time to apply to enter a suitable university. In those days, very few Jewish students were admitted to universities in Poland unless there were exceptional circumstances. He had no doubt that his chosen field would be Art and his portfolio must have indicated the promise of his great talent at a very young age. He was accepted into Krakow University in 1939. In September of that year, the war broke out, and Germany invaded Poland in a very short time. Moshe witnessed atrocities and the cruelty of the German occupying force. He later managed to escape with only his brother, but the remaining members of his family were captured and forced to remain in their home-town. Moshe and his brother, both of whom could speak fluent German and Russian, set out for the Russian border and when they reached it, the patrol demanded to know their intentions. They cleverly stated that they were lost and trying to reach Poland. The result was that they were taken into Russia and were later released inside the country. Had they told the truth, they would not have been permitted to cross the border into Russia so easily. Moshe enrolled at Lviv (Levov) University and began his academic studies. However, when the Germans invaded Russia, like many other Polish refugees living in Russia, he and his brother had to leave and find a new place to live and work. Thus, they found themselves in Uzbekistan, where they stayed until the end of the war. During this period, he lost contact with the family he had left behind. He later discovered that they had all perished in the German concentration camps. His only memento, which he kept for many years, was a postcard that he received from them at the beginning of the war, when letters were still allowed to leave Poland to go to Russia. While living in Uzbekistan, he eked out a living by painting various themes which were popular with the local Muslim population and the Russian bureaucrats of the time. These included ornamental Persian carpet motifs, which were painted on bare walls for the Russian communist elite. Very little of his work during this period survived, with the exception of a few of his paintings of street scenes of Samarkand. During this period, Moshe met his wife to be in Samarkand, and they were married in 1943. Once the war ended, as a Polish citizen, he and his young wife and his brother were allowed to leave Russia, and go back to their homeland in the summer of 1945. The next five years (1945-1950) set the course of his artistic career and life for many years to come. He arranged for many exhibitions of his art work, both in group and solo exhibitions all across Poland. The works included oil paintings, pencil sketches, and statues made of coal, for which he won first prize. The subject of his oil paintings varied; ranging from the rubble of his home-town, refugees concentrated in the city plaza before deportation to the death camps, a Rabbi studying and hiding in a basement to a group of slave labourers pulling a roller over crushed bodies and bones. His palette also varied, with paintings of still life of fish in grey colours contrasting with more cheerful subjects, such as the bright oranges grown in the Holy Land – a rarity at the time. Some of his paintings, which he managed to keep despite his journeys, were done in whatever material he could find. For example, a scene of a room belonging to a Jewish man, murdered by a German soldier, was accomplished with scraped shoe polish on paper. A haunting sketch of a family hiding in the sewage, listening for any noises from above, was done with tea essence on paper. In his last couple of years in Poland, Moshe was able to find Jewish children, who had been hidden during the war and orphaned, and he played a part in smuggling them out of Poland to Israel. During this period, he also got involved as a stage and set designer for two well known comedians; Dzigan and Shumacher, at the Yiddish Theatre. His son and daughter were born in 1945 and 1949 and, after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948; he made the decision to immigrate to his ancestors’ homeland. Moshe arrived in Israel in the summer of 1950, with his young family and all the artwork he had produced in Poland. He was met by his younger brother, Yosef, and settled first in Tel Aviv. The first few months in this new environment proved to be a great cultural and emotional shock, since the country was just getting over The War of Independence and was also absorbing Jewish refugees, especially from devastated post-war Europe. He also found it difficult to get used to the climate and to the casual attire, going from dressing formally with a shirt and tie to an open neck shirt. His first major disappointment occurred when he approached the newly created Artists’ Association and was told that there were innumerable artists in line to exhibit their paintings. He was told that the waiting period might be at least five years. Fifteen years later, when he became the museum curator, well known with several solo exhibitions behind him, he would recall this incident, and appreciate the opportunities afforded to him and the breakthrough he had had. His paintings speak for themselves, without the need for any explanation. His miniature creations were a sensation at the Jerusalem Exhibition, and he began teaching art and woodworking to elementary and high school students. He had hundreds of students who embraced his fatherly advice for their own professional careers, and he was grateful that he could help them in organizing exhibitions for their paintings. He found Israel to be a place of inspiration during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The family moved from Tel Aviv to Ramat-Gan in 1952, and to a larger apartment, where they lived until 1980. He was very proud of his son and daughter, who had both begun their university studies in England and went on to become an engineer and an architect. Moshe felt very fortunate that he had survived the war and that it did not affect the progress of his children’s lives. His unique experience as a painter who survived and managed to record horrible scenes from the war made him famous. His paintings were now shown in the major museums of Poland, from Warsaw to Lodz and Krakow. In 1972, he visited Canada, where his son and daughter had now settled. In December 1979, Moshe and his wife came to Toronto, Canada for his son’s wedding and a decision was made for the family to stay together. In 1980 he started having back and stomach pains which were diagnosed later on as cancer of the pancreas. As the stage of this illness was quite advanced, the doctors could not offer any treatment and after a few agonizing months Moshe passed away in July 1982. During 1980 and 1981 Moshe managed to finish just a few last paintings, while he was in great pain. One of these paintings is also one of my favourites, depicting the inside of an old living room in Thornhill, Ontario, with a view of the back garden. There are about 80 different features shown in great detail. When Moshe Bromberg’s wife and son visited Poland, in July, 1991 to trace his roots, their emotions ran high in Lodz, when they discovered written records of his exhibitions from forty years earlier. He left a legacy of his artwork, which is a record of his experiences in that century, of World War II and of Jewish history. His intention was not to make a fortune from his paintings, but to leave them as an account of that period for posterity. His work comes to life in colourful miniatures from Bible stories of heroes in the past. Share this website:	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1943
__label__wiki	0.506965	0.506965	Moventia Stern Motor Official Mercedes-Benz and Smart dealership Stern Motor is the official dealership of the Movento group and opened its first premises in July 1994, in Sabadell. Stern Motor represents the distribution, sale and repair of cars, vans and lorries from the Mercedes and Smart brands in Sabadell and Terrassa. Its activity as a Mercedes and Smart dealership is aimed at offering the best services and quality care to all its customers, both individuals and companies or renting companies, in the areas where it operates. Stern Motor provides this service to its customers in two towns via a workforce of 160 people. It has three premises in El Vallès Occidental of over 25,000 m2. The Mercedes-Benz dealerships in Vic and Manresa currently employ a workforce of 57 people. Over the course of 2017, the company posted a total turnover of 30 million euros and sold over 2,591 vehicles (new, used and industrial). Nowadays, Stern Motor is the only dealership within Spain that has managed to win the Sensia Awards from the multinational Mercedes-Benz every year since 2003. These awards recognise those dealerships and garages that excel in their compliance with international ISO standards, which define the most demanding quality standards and require the greatest respect for the environment. At Stern Motor, we work with the entire range of Mercedes products: cars, all-terrain vehicles, vans and lorries. We also offer the widest selection of original spare parts and accessories. We lend particular importance to second-hand vehicles at Stern Motor and our customers find some genuine bargains in this department, where we offer the exclusive Star Guarantee from Mercedes-Benz and the professional skills of our employees alongside vehicles of incredible quality at truly exceptional prices. Since 1999, together with other partners and under the Mercedes-Benz brand, the Stern Motor, Eduardo Velasco (now Nayper Motor), Garaje Plana and Auto Subministros Motor dealerships joined forces to create the Sociedad Catalana de Camiones (Catalan Truck Company), an official dealership for the sale of Mercedes-Benz lorries to the provinces of Barcelona, Lleida and Girona. Today, after its first 15 years, this company is one of the country’s leaders in terms of both units sold and turnover, and the dealerships that make up the company are responsible for managing the after-sales service in those towns where each dealership operates - Sabadell, Terrassa, Fornells de la Selva, Lleida, Vic and Vilamalla - while always striving to meet the needs of their customers. Movento - Our services Moventis - Our Services	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1944
__label__wiki	0.967941	0.967941	Mark Rylance To Star In Golf Comedy ‘The Fantastic Flitcrofts’ From ‘Paddington 2’ Writer Jessi Kim June 19th, 2020 - 7:34 PM Oscar and BAFTA winner Mark Rylance is attached to be the main lead in the upcoming comedy-drama The Fantastic Flitcrofts. The film is penned by Paddington 2 writer Simon Farnaby, who has adapted the screenplay from the book The Phantom Of The Open, which he co-wrote with UK writer Scott Murray. Craig Roberts is set to direct the project, which is his third feature after Eternal Beauty and Just Jim. His acting credits also extend to Submarine and Red Oaks. The film was developed by BBC Films and the BFI with National Lottery funding. Cornerstone Films will finance and handle worldwide sales, and will present the project to buyers for the first time at next week’s virtual Cannes market, which is opening on Monday. Rylance will play Maurice Flitcroft, a dreamer and unrelenting optimist, who managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history, becoming a folk hero in the process. The team of producers is quite impressive, including Nichola Martin through Baby Cow Films (Powder Room), BAFTA Award winner Tom Miller (Code 404) from Water & Power Productions together with Kate Glover (Black Mirror). Oscar nominee and former BBC Films chief Christine Langan (Philomena) and James Swarbrick (A Streetcat Named Bob) are executive producers. Back in 2016, Rylance won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and BAFTA Award in the movie Bridge of Spies. He was also the iconic big friendly giant in 2016 novel adaptation of The BFG from Roald Dahl, and appeared in Dunkirk and Ready Player One. He has also won Tonys for acting in plays Jerusalem, Boeing Boeing, and Twelfth Night. Rylance commented on the news of becoming the star of the project: “I am particularly thrilled to be offered a comedy. I have had some of my best times in the theatre in comedies, Boeing Boeing, and Twelfth Night in the West End and on Broadway. This is the first comic film I have ever been offered. A comedy of character and situation which I love.” The Fantastic Flitcrofts	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1945
__label__wiki	0.953385	0.953385	Posted inElection 2020 Espy uses massive cash advantage over Hyde-Smith for ad blitz in final days of Senate race by Geoff Pender and Bobby Harrison October 16, 2020 October 19, 2020 Democrat Mike Espy had $3.17 million cash on hand at the end of September, while Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith had nearly $1.5 million. Reports filed Thursday show Democratic challenger Mike Espy outraised incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith more than 4-to-1 between July and September. Espy raised more than $4 million for the quarter, bringing his total for the race to $5.3 million. Hyde-Smith raised less than $815,000 for the quarter, and $2.85 million total. Espy’s report showed he had $3.17 million cash on hand at the end of September. Hyde-Smith’s showed she had nearly $1.5 million. Espy appears to be using his more than 2-to-1 cash advantage by vastly out-advertising Hyde-Smith so far in the critical home stretch before the Nov. 3 election, flooding the airwaves across Mississippi with his messaging. Espy this week is spending $1.01 million on television and radio ads, according to FCC reports, compared to Hyde-Smith spending just $147,000. Espy’s latest influx of cash is part of a national wave of mostly small donations to Democratic congressional campaigns after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, although Espy has outraised Hyde-Smith in all but one reporting period this election cycle. “This is a well-funded campaign,” Espy said this week, but he said that more importantly, his is a well-organized campaign that can quickly put the influx of money to use in getting his message out and turning out voters. “We have the best data set, numbers and algorithms,” Espy said. “… There are 100,000 African Americans in Mississippi who haven’t voted since President Obama in 2008. We know who they are, have their emails and cell numbers and addresses. We have 40 to 50 people out knocking on doors — of course, wearing Espy for Senate masks and gloves and PPE.” Espy said he believes his message is also reaching, and resonating with, white voters. “I want to represent all of Mississippi,” Espy said, repeating a refrain he’s used since he announced his candidacy in 2019. Hyde-Smith’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Austin Barbour, a state and national GOP strategist and fundraiser, said Espy’s record fundraising hauls will be a boon to his campaign, but questioned whether it would be enough to overcome Hyde-Smith’s lead in a very red state. “Money moves the needle, yes — allows you to put your message out,” Barbour said. “But the president (Trump) is going to get a tremendous turnout in Mississippi, and Sen. Hyde-Smith is going to benefit from that massive turnout. That allows her campaign not to have to rely so much on campaign funds for television.” Barbour continued: “What she’s got to do in these closing three weeks is with the dollars she has, she has to remind, not show but remind, voters, ‘I’m the conservative,’ and Mike Espy representing Mississippi would be a liberal member of the Senate trying to represent a conservative state … I think it’s a really easy thing to do because of her record, and because of the things Mike Espy has campaigned on, and Mike Espy would put things that much closer to Democrats having a majority in the Senate.” Barbour said Espy’s raising and spending has been “unheard of for a Democrat” in Mississippi in recent history, but noted most of the bounty is from the national “Democratic machine” and not a groundswell of support in the state. Barbour said that in the pandemic, with limits on in-person campaigning and door knocking, television and other broadcast advertising will likely be a key factor in the race. “I think you could argue more people are watching television, glued to it,” Barbour said. “It can be particularly effective in Mississippi because we are not overwhelmed with TV campaign ads like people in Georgia or South Carolina or Arizona are.” Michael Rejebian, who has worked on multiple campaigns, said a sizable fundraising advantage for a Democrat can help level the playing field in a deep red state like Mississippi. “The best problem any campaign can have is how to spend money you may not have anticipated having,” said Rejebian, who worked on Democrat Jim Hood’s 2019 gubernatorial campaign that was significantly outraised by eventual winner Republican Tate Reeves. “Putting that money into an air and ground war to attract undecided voters and increase turnout among supporters is crucial as a campaign enters the final weeks. You can increase your TV, radio, digital, mail and field operations, which certainly helps level the playing field when you’re running as a Democrat in a deep red state. The challenges are still there, of course, but they may not look so daunting when your bank account is healthy.” Mississippi State University political scientist Marty Wiseman said it is highly unusual in Mississippi for a Democratic candidate to outraise a Republican opponent. “It is unheard of for a Republican incumbent in Mississippi to be outraised by a challenger,” Wiseman said. “I guess her campaign feels the money is not necessary.” Instead of focusing primarily on television and internet advertising, Wiseman said Espy should invest in “putting boots on the ground” in Democratic strongholds to turn out voters. “That takes a lot of work,” he said, but concluded Espy might have a chance based on what appears to be many Republicans taking the race for granted and Hyde-Smith’s often sparse campaigning. But he cautioned: “You see time and time again in Mississippi where the Democratic candidate looks promising, but then the Democratic candidate ends up claiming a moral victory with 47% of the vote.” by Geoff Pender, Mississippi Today <h1>Espy uses massive cash advantage over Hyde-Smith for ad blitz in final days of Senate race</h1> <p class="byline">by Geoff Pender, Mississippi Today <br />October 16, 2020</p> <p>Reports filed Thursday show Democratic challenger Mike Espy outraised incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith more than 4-to-1 between July and September.</p> <p>Espy raised more than $4 million for the quarter, bringing his total for the race to $5.3 million. Hyde-Smith raised less than $815,000 for the quarter, and $2.85 million total.</p> <p>Espy's report showed he had $3.17 million cash on hand at the end of September. Hyde-Smith's showed she had nearly $1.5 million.</p> <p>Espy appears to be using his more than 2-to-1 cash advantage by vastly out-advertising Hyde-Smith so far in the critical home stretch before the Nov. 3 election, flooding the airwaves across Mississippi with his messaging. Espy this week is spending $1.01 million on television and radio ads, according to FCC reports, compared to Hyde-Smith spending just $147,000.</p> <p>Espy's latest influx of cash is part of a national wave of mostly small donations to Democratic congressional campaigns after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, although Espy has outraised Hyde-Smith in all but one reporting period this election cycle.</p> <p>"This is a well-funded campaign," Espy said this week, but he said that more importantly, his is a well-organized campaign that can quickly put the influx of money to use in getting his message out and turning out voters.</p> <p>"We have the best data set, numbers and algorithms," Espy said. "... There are 100,000 African Americans in Mississippi who haven't voted since President Obama in 2008. We know who they are, have their emails and cell numbers and addresses. We have 40 to 50 people out knocking on doors — of course, wearing Espy for Senate masks and gloves and PPE."</p> <p>Espy said he believes his message is also reaching, and resonating with, white voters.</p> <p>"I want to represent all of Mississippi," Espy said, repeating a refrain he's used since he announced his candidacy in 2019.</p> <p>Hyde-Smith's campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.</p> <p>Austin Barbour, a state and national GOP strategist and fundraiser, said Espy's record fundraising hauls will be a boon to his campaign, but questioned whether it would be enough to overcome Hyde-Smith's lead in a very red state.</p> <p>"Money moves the needle, yes — allows you to put your message out," Barbour said. "But the president (Trump) is going to get a tremendous turnout in Mississippi, and Sen. Hyde-Smith is going to benefit from that massive turnout. That allows her campaign not to have to rely so much on campaign funds for television."</p> <p>Barbour continued: "What she's got to do in these closing three weeks is with the dollars she has, she has to remind, not show but remind, voters, 'I'm the conservative,' and Mike Espy representing Mississippi would be a liberal member of the Senate trying to represent a conservative state ... I think it's a really easy thing to do because of her record, and because of the things Mike Espy has campaigned on, and Mike Espy would put things that much closer to Democrats having a majority in the Senate."</p> <p>Barbour said Espy's raising and spending has been "unheard of for a Democrat" in Mississippi in recent history, but noted most of the bounty is from the national "Democratic machine" and not a groundswell of support in the state.</p> <p>Barbour said that in the pandemic, with limits on in-person campaigning and door knocking, television and other broadcast advertising will likely be a key factor in the race.</p> <p>"I think you could argue more people are watching television, glued to it," Barbour said. "It can be particularly effective in Mississippi because we are not overwhelmed with TV campaign ads like people in Georgia or South Carolina or Arizona are."</p> <p>Michael Rejebian, who has worked on multiple campaigns, said a sizable fundraising advantage for a Democrat can help level the playing field in a deep red state like Mississippi.</p> <p>"The best problem any campaign can have is how to spend money you may not have anticipated having," said Rejebian, who worked on Democrat Jim Hood's 2019 gubernatorial campaign that was significantly outraised by eventual winner Republican Tate Reeves.</p> <p>"Putting that money into an air and ground war to attract undecided voters and increase turnout among supporters is crucial as a campaign enters the final weeks. You can increase your TV, radio, digital, mail and field operations, which certainly helps level the playing field when you're running as a Democrat in a deep red state. The challenges are still there, of course, but they may not look so daunting when your bank account is healthy."</p> <p>Mississippi State University political scientist Marty Wiseman said it is highly unusual in Mississippi for a Democratic candidate to outraise a Republican opponent.</p> <p>"It is unheard of for a Republican incumbent in Mississippi to be outraised by a challenger," Wiseman said. "I guess her campaign feels the money is not necessary."</p> <p>Instead of focusing primarily on television and internet advertising, Wiseman said Espy should invest in "putting boots on the ground" in Democratic strongholds to turn out voters.</p> <p>"That takes a lot of work," he said, but concluded Espy might have a chance based on what appears to be many Republicans taking the race for granted and Hyde-Smith's often sparse campaigning.</p> <p>But he cautioned: "You see time and time again in Mississippi where the Democratic candidate looks promising, but then the Democratic candidate ends up claiming a moral victory with 47% of the vote."</p> This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2020/10/16/espy-uses-massive-cash-advantage-over-hyde-smith-for-ad-blitz-in-final-days-of-senate-race/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Tagged: MT App Geoff Pender Geoff Pender serves as senior political reporter, working closely with Mississippi Today leadership on editorial strategy and investigations. Pender brings 30 years of political and government reporting experience to Mississippi Today. He was political and investigative editor at the Clarion Ledger, where he also penned a popular political column. He previously served as an investigative reporter and political editor at the Sun Herald, where he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team for Hurricane Katrina coverage. Originally from Florence, Mississippi, Pender is a journalism graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and has received numerous awards throughout his career for reporting, columns and freedom of information efforts. More by Geoff Pender	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1948
__label__wiki	0.732546	0.732546	Nevis youths to participate in CPA Conference in Tortola July 21, 2015 in NIA President of the Nevis Island Assembly Hon. Farrell Smithen CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (July 21, 2015) — Four junior parliamentarians will represent Nevis at the 40th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic Region’s conference in Tortola, British Virgin Islands which will be held July 26 to August 01, 2015. Rol-J Williams and Joanne Manners of the Gingerland Primary School and Shanai Liburd and Tassai Pemberton of the Charlestown Secondary School will leave Nevis on July 28 to participate in the Youth Parliament segment from July 28 to August 01. The will join other students from the region to deliberate on the topic “The involvement of youths in the decision making in parliament.” They will be chaperoned by teacher Lorna Bussue. The students expressed gratitude for the opportunity to represent Nevis at the conference. President of the Nevis Island Assembly Hon. Farrell Smithen who made the announcement on July 16, 2015, said the topic that the students would deliberate on was an important on because if youths were expected to be actively involved in politics and democracy, it was the right time to begin. “We need to start at this point in time and this conference is an opportunity to get the youths involved to understand exactly what goes on in parliament,” he said. Mr. Smithen added that their participation in the conference would offer the students a chance to meet and mingle with other youths and afford them the opportunity to understand what goes on in different parts of the region. He registered gratitude to those who made it possible for the students to participate in the conference. He listed the Nevis Island Administration as a main contributor with assistance from Lefco, Noral Lescott, TDC Nevis Branch, Bank of Nevis, Arthur Evelyn, S L Horsfords and Co. Nevis Branch, Carl Claxton, Swannies Printing and the Nevis Credit Union. Mr. Smithen, also thanked the student’s parents who he said gave their consent. He expressed confidence that the students would perform well. “I would wish to thank the parents of the youths for their permission for their children to travel and to represent Nevis. “I am quite certain that based on last year’s performance in Barbados that the youths from Nevis would do a good job,” he said. However, Mr. Smithen explained that the youth parliamentary debate was only on component of the overall conference. The other two segments are the 8th Commonwealth Women’s Parliamentarian’s Conference schedule for the 25 to the 26, which Junior Minister in the Nevis Island Administration Hon. Hazel Brandy is expected to attend. Mrs. Brandy is slated to travel from Nevis for the event on July 24. The main segment of the conference begins on July 26 and ends on August 01 which Mr. Smithen will attend accompanied by Clerk of the Assembly Shemica Maloney. They are expected to leave Nevis on July 26. According to the Association’s website, the purpose of the Association of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Branches of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region (CPA CAA), is to provide a forum to promote the aims and objectives and implement the activities of CPA CAA and the Branches in the Region. The aims and objectives of the Association, are to promote knowledge of the respective Constitutions, as well as the legislative, economic, social and cultural aspects of parliamentary democracy, with particular reference to the Commonwealth countries in the Region. Electoral Office in Nevis fully operational; officers officially sworn in CDB official reiterates institution’s commitment to providing TVET programme to SKN	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1956
__label__wiki	0.545019	0.545019	Home » Musicians » Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh Claim Page Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh < p>Sign in / sign up and request update access to the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh page. Handel: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato 1740 by C. Michael Bailey Handel: L’Allegro,... Help improve the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh page All About Jazz musician pages are maintained by musicians, publicists and trusted members like you. Interested? Tell us why you would like to improve the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh musician page. Contact Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh Please Sign Up or Sign In to send your inquiry.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1962
__label__wiki	0.934825	0.934825	Lady Demons hurdles 2018 senior star Daeshon Gordon dies suddenly October 22, 2018 October 22, 2018 / NPJ Daeshon Gordon, who was completing studies for her undergraduate degree at Northwestern State after finishing a remarkable collegiate track and field career this spring, passed away suddenly Sunday morning, NSU officials confirmed. Gordon was a two-time All-America hurdler at LSU who transferred to Northwestern State and starred for the Lady Demons in the last two seasons. The 22-year-old education major, a native of Jamaica who lived with her family in Pompano Beach, Florida, was a four-time Southland Conference hurdles champion who also ran on a Southland champion 4×100 meter relay team as a senior. She earned two honorable mention All-America honors in June at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, in the 100 meter hurdles and in the 4×100 meter relay, in her final competition for NSU. It was the first time the Lady Demons qualified a relay team for the national meet, which includes the top 24 performers in each event from around the country. “Our hearts go out to Daeshon’s family, and to our track and field family, at this extremely difficult time,” said Greg Burke, NSU’s director of athletics. “There are no words to express the feelings that so many have when a young life ends abruptly and much before its time. “Daeshon was a fierce competitor and a great teammate. I cherished the connection that she and I had that grew even stronger after she completed her eligibility in June and told me she was determined to be the first female member of her family to earn a college degree. I ask that the NSU Demon family keep Daeshon’s family and our track and field program in their thoughts and prayers.” Gordon set the Lady Demons’ school record in the 100 hurdles with a 13.04 time in the NCAA semifinals. She broke the school 60 meter hurdles record indoors in February, clocking 8.15, also a Southland Conference record. She swept the 60 hurdles titles at the Southland championships in her two seasons at NSU and had the seven fastest times in the event in school history. She was runner-up for High Point Scorer honors at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships in May, scoring 22.5 points by sweeping the 100 and 400 hurdles titles and running the lead leg on the winning 4×100 relay team. Gordon’s winning 58.83 mark in the 400 hurdles at the Southland Outdoors was the second-fastest time in school history. She was part of a school-record 4×200 relay team in 2017 (1:35.70 at the Texas Relays), while helping the 2018 Lady Demons post the second-best 4×100 relay mark (44.74) at the NCAA East Preliminary Round to punch their ticket to the national meet. Gordon also rank on 4×400 relay combinations that ranked fourth (3:38.82) and fifth (3:39.16) all-time at NSU. Gordon was the 2017 Southland Conference Indoor Women’s Newcomer of the Year. At LSU, she earned a pair of All-America awards as a freshman in 2015 in the 100 meter hurdles and in 2016 indoors in the 60 meter hurdles. Her 8.04 mark as a sophomore in the 60 hurdles ranks seventh in LSU history and her 57.24 in the 400 hurdles in her freshman season was 10th on the Tigers’ all-time list. Gordon was a bronze medalist for Jamaica in the 2015 Pam Am Junior Games in the 100 meter hurdles, and was training to challenge for a place on her native country’s 2020 Olympic team. She was the top-ranked prep hurdler in Florida in 2014. She aspired to be an elementary school teacher. She is survived by her parents, Miranda and Deron Gordon of Pompano Beach. ← Knights of Columbus Donation The Art of Filé Making: An Afternoon with John Oswald Colson →	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1966
__label__wiki	0.639035	0.639035	LPL Financial Welcomes Recruiting Executive to Enhance the Sales Experience CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LPL Financial LLC, a leading retail investment advisory firm and independent broker-dealer, today announced that Scott Posner joins the firm as executive vice president, Business Development, effective today. Posner reports directly to Rich Steinmeier, managing director and divisional president, Business Development. Posner will be responsible for setting the strategic direction for the recruiting organization and leading the team of sales professionals. He is based in San Diego. Posner joins LPL from IBM, where he most recently served as vice president and partner. He has more than 25 years of experience in financial services, executive management, business development and strategic consulting. “Scott brings a wealth of sales and business leadership experience to LPL, along with a vision for applying emerging technologies that enable productivity and improve outcomes,” Steinmeier said. “His knowledge and experience will help us further differentiate LPL by leading through innovation and centering the sales and transition process around the client experience.” Prior to IBM, Posner was managing partner and Financial Services Practice lead at Decker Partners, a boutique strategy and management consulting firm. Before that, he spent 17 years as an executive at BNY Mellon, holding leadership positions within the firm’s Investment Services business. Most recently, he was chief executive officer of the global Corporate Trust business and executive vice president leading BNY Mellon’s Strategic Growth Initiatives group, reporting to the president. “LPL is an industry leader, and it is an honor to have a role to further establish the firm as a destination of choice for independent advisors,” Posner said. “I am energized by the firm’s desire to leverage data, technology and innovation to transform the sales experience. I look forward to working with this dynamic sales team to maximize results for the firm and develop relationships with advisors through meaningful engagement.” Posner holds a BA in Organic Chemistry from Haverford College and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University. He is the treasurer of the Board of Directors of New Yorkers for Children and has been actively involved in numerous nonprofits over the years, including NY Youth at Risk, Junior Achievement and the New York Blood Center. LPL Names Richard Steinmeier Managing Director, Head of Business Development Read about new firms joining LPL in the Press Releases section of LPL.com. LPL Financial is a leader in the retail financial advice market and the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer. We serve independent financial advisors and financial institutions, providing them with the technology, research, clearing and compliance services, and practice management programs they need to create and grow thriving practices. LPL enables them to provide objective guidance to millions of American families seeking wealth management, retirement planning, financial planning and asset management solutions. LPL.com Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial. A registered investment advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC. Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine June 1996-2018 https://twitter.com/lpl https://www.linkedin.com/company/lpl-financial https://www.facebook.com/LPLFinancialLLC https://www.youtube.com/user/lplfinancialllc Lauren Hoyt-Williams Lauren.Hoyt-Williams@lpl.com	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1967
__label__cc	0.717101	0.282899	Ziopharm Oncology to Present at the 2018 Cantor Fitzgerald Global Healthcare Conference BOSTON, Sept. 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZIOP), today announced that Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Cantor Fitzgerald 2018 Global Healthcare Conference in New York on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 2:15 p.m. ET. To access a live audio webcast of the presentation, please visit the Investor Relations section at www.ziopharm.com. The webcast will be archived for 90 days. About Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. Ziopharm Oncology is a Boston-based biotechnology company focused on the development of next-generation immunotherapies utilizing gene- and cell-based therapies to treat patients with cancer. In partnership with Precigen Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon Corporation (NYSE:XON), Ziopharm is focused on the development of two platform technologies designed to deliver safe, effective and scalable cell- and viral-based therapies for the treatment of multiple cancer types: Controlled IL-12 and Sleeping Beauty for genetically modifying T cells. The Company's lead asset, Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex, has demonstrated in clinical trials the potential to control interleukin-12, leading to an infiltration of T cells that fight cancer. Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex is being evaluated as a monotherapy and in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat brain cancer and other tumor types. The Company also is advancing therapies using Sleeping Beauty, a non-viral approach to genetically modify chimeric antigen receptor (CAR+) and T-cell receptor (TCR+) T cells, which target specific antigens in blood cancers and neoantigens in solid tumors. Sleeping Beauty is designed using the Company's point-of-care technology, a shortened manufacturing process which potentially can be developed as a decentralized manufacturing process based in hospitals. These programs are being advanced in collaboration with Precigen and with MD Anderson Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, and in some cases can be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "could," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," and "believes." All such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of the Company, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the Company’s ability to advance certain activities; whether chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) approaches, Ad-RTS-hIL-12, TCR and NK cell-based therapies, or any other product candidates will advance further in the preclinical research or clinical trial process and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and for which indications; whether chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) approaches, Ad-RTS-hIL-12, TCR and NK cell-based therapies, and the Company's other therapeutic products it develops will be successfully marketed if approved; the strength and enforceability of the Company's intellectual property rights; competition from other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; as well as other risk factors contained in the Company's periodic and interim reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, the risks and uncertainties set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and subsequent reports that the Company may file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to revise and disseminate forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of or non-occurrence of any events. Ziopharm Oncology dconnolly@ziopharm.com	cc/2021-04/en_head_0042.json.gz/line1968

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.