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COVID LOCAL
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Episode 01 | Using Data Analytics in Outbreaks - Front and Center: The COVID EOC Podcast
Dr. Jason Moats and Dr. Ellie Graeden
Jason sits down with Dr. Ellie Graeden of Talus Analytics to discuss data analytics and how it can be used to guide efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak.
IHME Models
COVID ACT Now Model
Imperial College Models
SEIR Model
COVID-local
Host and Guests:
Dr. Jason Moats
Dr. Ellie Graeden (@EllieGraeden)
Talus Analytics
About COVID-Local
COVID-Local.org is a central resource to aid local leaders in the decisions needed to address the community response to COVID-19. This site focuses on the Frontline Guide for Local Decision-makers, which provides a framework to help local leaders establish effective and immediate strategies to fight the outbreak. Learn more at www.covid-local.org.
Transcript of Episode 1 Follows
INTRODUCTION SPEAKER: Welcome to EOC Community Management (phonetic), the podcast designed to help local leaders understand and implement emergency operation centers as they respond to the spread of COVID-19 in their communities.
This podcast is brought to you through a collaborative effort between the Center for Global Development, The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, The Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, The Nuclear Threat Initiative's Global Biological Policy Program and PDC Global.
And now, here's your host.
MR. MOATS: Good day. This is Jason Moats, Associate Division Director with the Emergency Services Training Institute at TEEX. It is truly my pleasure today to introduce our guest Dr. Ellie Graeden.
Dr. Graeden is the Founder and CEO of Talus Analytics, and an Adjunct and Affiliate at The Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University.
Talus Analytics is a small research and consulting firm that specializes in translating complex, computational and scientific analysis into useful data for decision makers. She earned a doctorate in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she held a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and she earned her Bachelor of Science in microbiology from Oregon State University.
Dr. Graeden was a 2013 Emerging Leader in Biosecurity Initiative Fellow with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Health Security.
Ellie, welcome to the podcast. Glad to see you.
MS. GRAEDEN: Thank you so much for the invitation. It's my pleasure to be here.
MR. MOATS: So, we're writing the midst of this pandemic. It's—there's virtually no place in the country that's been untouched by this. And we're looking at how do we get from where we are now to—trying to regain some semblance of normalcy. I'm guessing that analytics really play a huge role in this. Can you talk to us a little bit about how we can use those and what they might tell us?
MS. GRAEDEN: Yes, absolutely. So, to start, you know, we've done a lot of work helping manage natural disaster response for a wide range of different types of natural disasters over the course of the last 5 or 10 years in the U.S. and we've been involved in some of those internationally as well.
Where, I think this particular pandemic has really taken people a bit by surprise and has been a real challenge for those at the state and local level is that we haven't in this country dealt with, large scale response for an outbreak in the recent history. And certainly in the lifetimes or in the careers of the people who are being asked to manage that response.
We've done a lot of work in the emergency management community to streamline and help make sure that those who are making the decisions for emergency management in the context of these events, understand what hurricane is understand how to take the outputs of a hurricane model and make the sorts of practical decisions based on that information that they're going to need to.
There's been a huge amount of work by the National Hurricane Center to communicate the outputs of their model in a way that's relevant. The Cone of Uncertainty, discussing what uncertainty means and how to make decisions in the face of that uncertainty.
The challenge with outbreaks is that we don't have that training. Those at the state and local level don't know how an epidemiological model works. We don't really understand how the data are collected, and where the uncertainty is going to lie in those data and that's a lot of what we're seeing right now.
I mean, we started getting case reports out of China in January, and into February. We are still trying to make sense of how to understand case reports and the uncertainty around them. The fact that we really only see case reports from those for whom we've had confirmatory testing. Well, that means that we're more limited by who's being tested, then we are maybe by who's sick. It may or may not be a good record for presentation.
Similarly, when we look at even the death tolls, we're seeing some larger—large variation in the numbers that are coming in. We think of those as being absolute numbers, but what we're learning is we don't do postmortem testing. That means that there are probably people dying. COVID-19 and of coronavirus infections that we don't know that they—that they're not getting classified as a case or classified as a COVID fatality. We're also finding that if people die at home as opposed to in a hospital, they aren't being counted in the official tallies.
So there's this basic level of uncertainty even around these numbers, which seem like they should be pretty sure. What we're also then doing is needing to collect those data at a global scale. And, again, that's another thing that we're not really used to thinking about.
A lot of the natural disasters we respond to typically are very localized. This is a global phenomenon. So as we collect those data, we're needing to pull all this in under CMS in context. And then to start do some—doing—start doing predictive modeling to understand what's going to happen next. So that's then the next sort of phase of this.
MR. MOATS: You mentioned predictive modeling, and I have a colleague here at Texas A&M, Dr. Gerry Parker, who likes to say, all models are wrong. And—but they tell us—they all tell us something. And so, I'm curious, if I'm sitting in my local EOC in say, Dubois County, Indiana, how do I know what model to use? Or how do I know how to use that model? What would you tell me sitting in there, looking at all these maps and everything else about how to learn to trust the data?
MS. GRAEDEN: Great question. So Gerry is right, all models are wrong, but they're directionally right, and I think that's the important thing. We can find out if the hurricane is going to hit the Atlantic side of Florida or the Gulf side. And that's the way to think about the epidemiological models too.
We can say, well, we know that this disease spreads really quickly. We know there are certain populations that it affects more than others. We can say with real certainty that we can only really right now change the number of people that we interact with, that's the benefit of social distancing. So we can use that information to model the spread, and get a sense for which levers we have control over and how much difference those levers are going to make in proportion to each other.
So the absolute math numbers, I think, matter less. I think the way to use epidemiological models is to say, "Okay, it looks like we're increasing in the number of cases pretty dramatically, and that's going to continue if we don't change something." If we pull this lever, if we turn on social distancing, then we can reduce that spread by say, 30 percent. What we're seeing in this country is that—in fact, we're getting reductions in mobility of 30 to 50 percent, we have a pretty solid estimate that that's going to correspond to a 30 to 50 percent reduction in contacts, which is then going to have a corollary effect on the rate of spread.
So we know that we can do that. And we know that we can then use that analysis to say, "Okay, well, that means we're going to get a 20 percent reduction in the total number of cases. So whether we were talking about 1,000 cases, or 10,000 cases, we can measure a 20 percent reduction, and we know it's going to be a big deal. We know that it will have impact, and we'll be impacting consistently in the right direction. I think that's the right way to be thinking about these models and the right way to be using them right now.
MR. MOATS: That's awesome. You know, it's always been a challenge for me working in an EOC to you know, not necessarily to use the information, sometimes to digest. But what really becomes a challenge is knowing where to go to get the information. Who do I talk to? I mean, these are really, really specialized bits of information. And so I know that that, for example, Talus deals in this, but are there other places, are there trustworthy sources to get this? And, if so, who are they?
MS. GRAEDEN: Great question. You know, this has typically been done the realm of the federal agencies who are experts in these fields. You know, we know exactly who the right agencies are for other types of hazards. We know to go to the National Hurricane Center, we know to go to the National Earthquake Integration Center, and USGS. We know to go to the U.S. Forest Service for wildfire. CDC and HHS really are the right place to be going from a federal perspective.
The challenge has been that CDC has been slow to put out modeling, and the models that they have been putting out haven't been with the user interface and made public. What we see consistently is that those models that are being used most broadly are those that are being communicated most effectively. And that's really consistent across a lot of different types of data and models, but it's been incredibly apparent in this particular outbreak.
So the two that we've been seeing used most frequently by state and local decision makers have been the model produced by the University of Washington, the IHME model, and the COVID Act Now model, which, in full disclosure, my team helps develop the SEIR model behind it. What we did was we helped make sure that the model they were using was based on the best modeling we were seeing coming out of the academic communities.
So it was building on Alison Hill's model from Harvard. It was incorporating elements and parameters that we were finding in the CHIME model from University of Pennsylvania. And from a lot of the modeling being done at Imperial College London, which has been really top notch. And Imperial College, among others, not to mention, Harvard and Penn have been leaders in epidemiological modeling for decades. They helped develop the fields, they've developed the methods. They are some of the world's best experts. All we did was draw on those methods—on the published methods and help make them a little more easily accessible. COVID Act Now did a nice job of building a user interface on top of it.
The model coming out of University of Washington, the IHME model, is very interestingly not a traditional epidemiological model. Their model is a curve fitting statistical model that worked really nicely early in the event. So some of these basic statistical methods are very effective, particularly when you aren't yet seeing complex dynamics associated with feedback loops.
So their model is based on the death counts that we're seeing in outbreaks as they unfold, and they take the curve—the shape of that curve, and they fit that curve and use that—shape of that curve to predict what the curve is going to be in other locations. So, again, where that worked nicely was early in the event when we had very, very little data and didn't have a good sense for what the spread was going to be.
What we're seeing now is that because that curve fitting exercise was based on data coming in of Wuhan in China, primarily at the beginning. It really overestimated the amount of social distancing we were going to be able to implement in other places and that's very much what we've been seeing. As they've been revising their methods and revising their data, we are seeing their estimates go up and they have across the board been far more optimistic in their estimates and in their predictions than the traditional epidemiological models.
What we're now seeing is that those epidemiological models and those—that traditional modeling—those traditional modeling methods are really where I think we should be focusing our effort now. That's where we're seeing the most consistency in the results. And when we—the best way to think about this is actually very akin to the hurricane analogy here. What we use is what's called an ensemble of models. We use a range of different methods and a range of different models with a range of different assumptions to get a full description of what we think the possible outcomes could be, and then we under—then that helps us understand what the average or the more most likely sort of middle scenarios are going to be. That's what we're doing with the SEIR models now as well.
What I would recommend is, take a look at 2, 3, 4 different models and see where they're all pointing in the same direction. That direction is likely to be right. And again, as I mentioned earlier, it's about directionality and about what you can do about it, more than it is about the exact numbers.
MR. MOATS: That's really helpful. Really helpful. You know, you mentioned this a couple times, and I'd like for you to explain this a little bit more. You talk about the SEIR model. Now, I think I know what that means. But what is that model and can you explain a little bit about how it works?
MS. GRAEDEN: Yes, absolutely. And this is one of these hazards of being a modeler in a field, that isn't familiar to everyone else. So, an SEIR model actually refers to the different compartments that we move through over the course of the disease. So it's—they are literally referred to as a compartmental model.
You start at susceptible, that's your "S". From your susceptible population—and this applies both at the individual level, but also at a population scale. So you put all the people who are susceptible into one big bin, that's our—for coronavirus, and for COVID-19, that's everyone. None of us had seen it before. None of us were immune to it. You can imagine that for a disease like measles where a lot of us have had a vaccine. That proportion of the population is a lot smaller. So you start out as susceptible.
You then get exposed to the virus. That moves you into the "E" compartment. Once you're exposed, only a certain percentage of us actually become infected. So when you move from exposed to infected, you can incorporate that percentage in your calculations. We move from "S" - susceptible to "E" - exposed.
From exposed to infected or "I"—SEI. From your infected population you then can become recovered. Move into the recovered event. That's the sort of simplest form of an SEIR model. The math then incorporates the likelihood that you will become exposed. That's based on primarily on contact rate.
We can then measure and calculate the likelihood that you'll become infected. And once you become infected, we can then run some calculations on what type of infection you'll have. Is that going to be severe? Are you going to be hospitalized? Are you going to become hospitalized and requiring critical care as in an ICU? Are you going to need a ventilator once you're there? So those are all additional elements around that infected compartment that we can add additional specificity.
From there, you then can move into recovery, you can also move into a fatality bin or a deaths bin. So that's then the more complex version of this. But in each one of those steps, that allows us to apply a calculation and a mathematic calculation to the rate that you move from one bin to the next. So how quickly you do that, but also what percentage of the population moves through that—those bins.
What that allows us to do, and one of the real benefits of that particular type of modeling is it allows us to incorporate all of the different data that we have. By incorporating all of those different data, as we were talking about earlier, there's a lot of uncertainty around each one of them. If what You're doing is a statistical model that's solely based on deaths, you are very limited to the types of error that we have around deaths. There's no ability to sort of flesh that out or to create less uncertainty around that one element. You're stuck with what you've got.
When we look at an SEIR model, and you're talking about cases and deaths, and contact rates, and all of these other elements, that uncertainty starts to balance each other out a little bit and we can start to put a little bit more weight where we have more or less certainty, right, so we can wait it a little bit differently based on where we are most certain now. So we end up with a much more nuanced model that allows us to look at a broader range of scenarios, and incorporate a broader understanding for how the whole system works. And that's where it gets really important when we're later in an event and we're looking at a really complex event across a whole population.
MR. MOATS: You know, I like where you talked about—also, you talked about the ensemble of models. Although, in my background, I'm a hazmat responder. So you know, going out to overturn semis and stuff like that. And, and we never really relied on a single source, because everybody has their own perspective, their own agenda and things like that. So we would do trying to get triangulation and that seems like what you're talking about here with the ensemble model.
MS. GRAEDEN: That's exactly right. And any way we use to measure these different values, just like you did in the chemical exposures and radiological exposures, every one of those instruments has a different type of error, but that error can help balance each other out.
MR. MOATS: So one of the things that has been problematic, and you talked about it in terms of uncertainty. But I think that if we can draw this out a little bit and talk a little More about it. Are those populations within society, within a community that we really don't know about? So, for example, we heard a lot in Los Angeles about the homeless community. But we look around the country, we know that we have these homeless communities that are generally unseen by the public. How do these models incorporate the uncertainty created by these kinds of populations?
MS. GRAEDEN: It's a great question. So there are two different answers to that. One is that, categorically speaking right now, they typically don't. And the second part of that question—that answer is that they can. I think there's a third question, which is about whether they should. So in the first case when we're thinking about why they don't already, it's because we needed to get some basic models that got us in the general ballpark, and then help us understand what the big muscle movements needed to be.
The reality is when we, when we implement something like social distancing, and we see a significant change in mobility, we're talking about broad scale changes that have a 30 percent to 50 percent impact. When we start talking about modeling subsections of the population, and this is certainly true for groups like homeless populations or prison populations, where what we're seeing is fundamental differences in how people interact, who they're interacting with, the frequency of those interactions, and interactions with other segments of the population.
The question is whether those differences are going to be large enough or generate a large enough difference to change the message for what we need to do. If it's going to only make a 1 percent to 2 percent difference, that's going to be masked in the rest of the error, we're not actually—it's not going to change the message on whether social distancing, its useful or not at a society level scale. Where it does get really useful is in thinking about how we help protect those vulnerable populations, how we make sure that they are—that those populations are more at risk than others, and how we help manage that that situation so that they get the care they need, and that we're helping protect those vulnerable populations.
The other aspect here is that we can also use that same sort of thinking to look at populations that are particularly at risk for the disease, elderly, those with comorbidities, meaning those who have other illnesses that are going to amplify or increase the likelihood of very severe version of the disease. So we can also be thinking about using that same sort of sub-sectoring of the population in our modeling to help us understand how to protect those who would be more severe or require more care within a hospital condition.
So it's the same sort of methods that would be applied there and we certainly are seeing some of those models being applied to prison populations or being used to really refine within a given hospital system, what their care requirements are going to be and how that's going to be different in, say, rural Louisiana than it is in urban Manhattan.
MR. MOATS: Again, that's really helpful and kind of helps me wrap my mind around, when we talk about in the emergency management community about the social vulnerabilities and those that fall into that, you know, how we account for those in in the models? So, I think it's important to note that today is April the 22nd of 2020, because at some point, we're going to reflect back on this and go oh, "Well, that's where we were and this is what we said about the future."
There's a lot of lessons that we observe. Again, Gerry Parker is famous for saying, that lessons learned is a misnomer quite often because learning indicates some change in behavior. So many times what we call lessons learned are actually lessons observed. And we know that there are going to be a huge number of these now coming out of this COVID-19 pandemic.
My question for you is, as we look to the future, as we look for the preparation for the next great pandemic, what lessons are you pulling out, are you taking in that we should really act on and get ready for that next big one?
MS. GRAEDEN: Yeah, absolutely. So I think there are a couple of big things that we're trying to do to make sure that what we're learning now can be applied for the future, that we're capturing what we're doing now, capturing it as written guidance, so that it can go into next year's pandemic preparedness plans.
So, in that list, one of the big efforts that we've been doing as part of COVIDlocal.org. This is in collaboration with the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Center for Global Development, in addition to the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown, has been to integrate all of the preparedness plans and guidance that was available globally for how you stand up in emergency operations center, how you manage and operate a response in the context of a large scale outbreak and applying that to a U.S. Emergency Management frameworks.
So in that context, we've developed a series of written guidance and questions that help state and locals walk through a process and figure out how they implement it what needs to be implemented? What questions do they need to be asking? What do they need to make sure it's in place? That sort of guidance and the operationalization of that guidance, I think is going to be really important and is a huge new step forward in what we're going to be able to use and apply for future preparedness efforts, and will really put us in much better sense for how we respond to both smaller scale outbreaks in the future, but any additional large scale outbreaks that we see.
The second place that we're putting a lot of effort is in collecting the evidence base. We actually have no data, or very, very little data currently on which of these social distancing measures work where, when, for whom, and so we're collecting those data. And one of the things that we're doing is we're working with the legal team at Georgetown to collect all of the policies that are being implemented at the country, state and local levels.
We then are using a huge number of data analysis methods around public health surveillance data and then predictive modeling, like we've been talking about and we're integrating all of those so that we can align when those policies were implemented, relative to where that location was in their outbreak, and who was affected and to what degrees. And what we then see happen with that outbreak in the next month, 2 months, 3 months?
What that's going to allow us to do is perform longitudinal analysis on which policies were implemented, when and where, and what impact those policies had on the outbreak. Which ones worked, which ones really didn't? How was that different in urban areas than rural areas? Did we see different dynamics for which policies worked? And we're collecting those data in real time and the real power here is that as we do that, one, we're able to incorporate that data into our modeling and it's refining and improving the predictive analysis that we're using now to figure out what we should be deciding and what should we—what we should be recommending for the actions that we take this month and next month.
It's also going to have a huge impact on how we respond to what we anticipate will be a second wave of disease. If we start lifting these social distancing measures now, we are very likely to see a significant uptick in the number of cases. So what we know for sure, so far, is that social distancing has worked. It's worked really well. We've seen a really dramatic decrease in the rate of spread nationally.
And that's due to the national efforts that we've implemented where even in those places where they didn't already have a lot of cases, the fact that they're not moving around, means that they're not getting that disease from those areas where there is significant disease load currently. Once we release those measures that spread is going to pick back up and we're going to start seeing those cases again.
As we see those cases, again, we're now going to be able to reflect on the data we're collecting about the policies and what worked in the first wave and apply that to the second way. And that's going to be really, really powerful and I think that's where I start to think about how we can be using this information and this data, not only in our real time decision making, but again for that future—hat future self so this becomes not just lessons observed, but lessons from which we can learn and be applying at even within this outbreak.
MR. MOATS: That's really important. This is daunting. We've never seen this disease before and, let's say, at the earliest, maybe mid-November, and it has spread in ways. And rightfully so, we nationally in the U.S. have taken these dramatic steps and people are getting little restless, we know and things like that. But having that data where we can go back and reflect and we can show how important this was, I think really bolsters what we do in terms of emergency management and public health.
And, again, epidemiology and public health and emergency management are—they're not individual sports, they're team sports. And it takes us all coming together to work on this. So, Ellie, our time is just about done here. Is there any parting thoughts that you have that you'd like to share?
MS. GRAEDEN: I think maybe just reiterating the importance of the actions we can take. There's a lot of uncertainty right now, but we know what does work. And we know that actually right now we have a very limited number of things that we can do. We can stay home. We can, as cooped up as we are and as much as our children are climbing the walls, it's helping, it's making a huge difference. And the fact that we are seeing a significant reduction of cases and that we're only seeing a few really extreme hotspots where we have challenges around hospital capacity.
What I think we really need to be underscoring is that the social distancing work that we've done so far has dramatically increased our ability to provide care for those who need it. It has worked. It is working. And we need to remember that that's a huge success and building on that success is going to be critical. And as you're describing it, it's a team effort to make sure that we can do that and to find a way that we can do that, while acknowledging that we also need to have an economy that's functioning. So there's a sweet spot in there and the more than we can all do, the more that we're all helping contribute toward a positive outcome.
MR. MOATS: Well, Ellie, thank you for your time and sitting down and talking about this really important issue and providing some help and advice and the wisdom to our EOC folks, our emergency management folks. Really appreciate it, and looking forward to talking to you in the future.
MS. GRAEDEN: Likewise. Yes, thank you so much for the invitation. It was my pleasure.
MR. MOATS: Our guest today is Dr. Ellie Graeden, the founder and CEO of Talus Analytics. Thanks for tuning in and we'll be back soon.
SPEAKER: Thank you for tuning in to our podcast. This podcast series is brought to you through a collaborative effort between the Center for Global Development, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, The Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, The Nuclear Threat Initiative's Global Biological Policy and Program and PDC Global.
Thank you and stay safe.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS:
JASON B. MOATS
Associate Division Director
Emergency Services Training Institute
ELLIE GRAEDEN
Founder CEO
ANALYSIS AND MAPPING OF POLICIES
DocumentationAbout
Visualizing the impact of policies on COVID response
The COVID Analysis and Mapping of Policies (AMP) visualization tool is a comprehensive database of policies and plans to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Decision-makers can use COVID AMP’s user-friendly interface to easily identify effective policies and plans to reduce the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Policy maps
Policy model
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HomeGary Barber: Aurora is the brother-in-law you wish your sister had never married
Gary Barber: Aurora is the brother-in-law you wish your sister had never married
May 29, 2009 May 29, 2009 Coyote Gulch Arkansas Basin, Arkansas Valley Conduit, Arkansas Valley Super Ditch, Aurora, Climate Change, Colorado River Basin, Colorado Water, Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, Infrastructure, South Platte Basin, Transmountain/transbasin diversions
Here’s a recap of this week’s town hall meeting with U.S. Representatives John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter in Rocky Ford, from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
“Listening to everything that’s been said . . . Aurora is the brother-in-law you wish your sister had never married,” said Gary Barber of the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority. “But he does the dishes at Thanksgiving, so you learn to live with him.” Barber was speaking to Reps. John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter, both Colorado Democrats, at a town hall meeting on the possibility of changing federal legislation to allow Aurora to use the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to move water out of the Arkansas Valley…
The meeting brought out arguments on both sides centering on the basic question of whether Aurora is needed in the Arkansas Valley to make big projects like the Arkansas Valley Conduit and Super Ditch work. Some contended that Aurora has been a valuable partner, while others objected to removal of water from a high desert valley…
“I was not part of the negotiations, but we’ve been asked to move legislation,” Salazar said. “It’s no secret; I’ve always been a strong opponent of moving any water out of a basin.”[…]
[Pete Moore, chairman of the Lower Ark board] argued that the only way farmers in the valley will realize the full value of their water rights is to bring in outside money by leasing to Aurora. [Bob Rawlings, publisher of The Pueblo Chieftain], both as a party in the lawsuit and through newspaper editorials, has opposed using the Fry-Ark Project to move water to Aurora. Rawlings also argued with Moore over the nature of so-called leases because they are actually sales of water.
Another Lower Ark board member, Pueblo County Commissioner Anthony Nunez, also supported allowing Aurora into the Super Ditch. “If we do not support the idea of the Super Ditch, the farmers will have no choice but to sell to the highest bidder,” Nunez said…
[Gary Barber of the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority], however, noted El Paso County communities that are in the Arkansas River basin would also like to lease water and signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lower Ark district nearly three years ago agreeing to lease from the Super Ditch. In fact, analysis by the district during formation of the Super Ditch showed El Paso County users were willing to pay a higher price for temporary sales of water, or leases, from the Super Ditch…
Rocky Ford Mayor Matt Holder said his family’s sale of water rights on the Rocky Ford Ditch to Aurora provided the money to save a lumber and supply company that was in danger of closing. Brian Burney said the $1.5 million Aurora paid to help Rocky Ford schools offset ill effects of the sales has been invaluable. High Line Canal Superintendent Dan Henrichs said at least 13 irrigators would have lost their farms were it not for a 2004-05 lease of water from the canal by Colorado Springs and Aurora…
Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer said the agreement would prevent Aurora from acquiring water rights beyond the 37 years left on a previous agreement with other water users. He characterized Aurora’s ability to participate in valley activities like water storage contracts and Super Ditch is a “way forward,” while continued court cases will produce winners and losers. “Let’s go down a different path and see how we can do things together,” Tauer said…
“I do not like to see water separated from the land,” said Betsy Brown, a Beulah rancher. “I would like to see future growth on the Front Range thwarted by not moving water from this basin.”
More coverage from The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
The Arkansas Valley Conduit will be built with or without Aurora, U.S. Rep. John Salazar said Thursday. The Colorado 3rd District Democrat said his position on the House Appropriations Committee puts him in good position to shepherd funding for the conduit through Congress. Along with Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., Salazar is backing a $9 million appropriation for the 2010 fiscal year to advance work on the conduit. “That will begin the work that needs to be done,” Salazar said. “These communities after 40 years will finally get built. It’s my No. 1 priority.”[…]
Bill Long, president of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, said the city of Aurora’s ability to obtain long-term leases for water storage and exchange at Lake Pueblo will help greatly in meeting the local cost of the conduit, which is 35 percent under legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama. That amounts to $105 million under current estimates, or $212 million when interest is applied over 50 years. Aurora’s contracts over that period would contribute $75 million toward that cost and other costs of the Fry-Ark Project…
Without the conduit, communities are facing higher costs to treat salinity, radium and uranium that are commonly found in the valley’s wells. May Valley, for instance, serves 500 people and would have to pay $26 million for upgrades suggested by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in a recent study, Long said. The conduit is the most affordable option for the 42 valley water systems that could benefit, even though its expense is a burden to low-income communities.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here, here, here, here, here and here.
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One thought on “Gary Barber: Aurora is the brother-in-law you wish your sister had never married”
Perlmutter Watch 2009-05-31 « Conservative First says:
[…] Gary Barber: Aurora is the brother-in-law you wish your sister had … By coyotegulch John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter, both Colorado Democrats, at a town hall meeting on the possibility of changing federal legislation to allow Aurora to use the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to move water out of the Arkansas Valley… … Coyote Gulch – http://coyotegulch.wordpress.com/ […]
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« Vision 42 Competition
Midtown Viaducts Public Art + Light Project »
11th Street Bridge Park Design Competition
Sponsor: Building Bridges Across the River at THEARC, Office of Planning
Type: RFQ, three stage, national
Location: Washington, D.C.
Awards: Each design team selected for Stage Three will receive a $25,000 stipend.
Eligiblity: Architects and landscape architects can register as lead designers by submitting a portfolio of their qualifications.
RFQ Submission Deadline: 22 April 2014
Howard Frumkin, dean and professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health;
Toni Griffin, professor of architecture and founding director of the J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York;
Carol Mayer-Reed, partner-in-charge of landscape architecture and urban design at Mayer/Reed;
Michaele Pride, AIA, professor of architecture at the University of New Mexico;
Harry Robinson III, FAIA, professor of urban design and dean emeritus at Howard University’s school of architecture and design
Design Challenge: Qualified firms are challenged to convert an existing freeway bridge spanning the Anacostia River in Southeast D.C. into an elevated park that unites the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and Anacostia. The project aims to re-engage District residents with the riverfront, offer new civic space that fosters play and health, and provide environmental education. The 11th Street Bridge Park is estimated to cost $25 million to complete, with the earliest projected opening date in 2017 or 2018. The park’s backers also anticipate raising a $10 million endowment to support park programming, operations, and maintenance.
Given the unique nature of this project and its location in the nation’s capital, there has been tremendous interest from the country’s most innovative designers. Later this spring, the top four concepts will be shared with community members for feedback. The final design will be selected in fall.
For more information, go to: http://bridgepark.org/competition
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Can’t Tell Them No: An Interview with Summer Cannibal’s Jessica Boudreaux
Posted on October 28, 2019 December 12, 2019
With 2019 winding down, Portland punk-rockers Summer Cannibals celebrate not just the release of Can’t Tell Me No, their first album via Tiny Engines and with their current lineup, but are also on pace to play nearly 130 shows after almost nonstop touring.
Currently on tour with Remo Drive, the Summer Cannibals have already played dates all across the United States after starting the year with dates with the band Cursive.
In an interview via email, the band’s own Jessica Boudreaux talked about the long tours in 2019, the making of the newest album, the obstacles that led to Can’t Tell Me No, and more.
Summer Cannibals are Jessica Boudreaux, Cassi Blum, Devon Shirley, and Ethan Butman.
1. This is your second stop in El Paso this year, your first being a show you did with Cursive; how did that tour go and are you excited for another show in El Paso?
Ah the Cursive tour was incredible. We are huge fans and it was such a treat to get to know them as people AND see them play every night. It was really inspiring and the El Paso show was awesome. I’ve been stoked to get back down.
2. This has been a really busy year for the band, pretty much non stop touring starting with Cursive in January and February, then a variety of shows like some dates at Hop Along then dates with Slothrust until November, recording a session at Audiotree, and releasing an album. Are you tired? How have all of the shows been going?
We’re a little tired 😉 Looking forward to a break this winter but it’s been a really awesome year. The busiest and most productive year this band has had, for sure. We’ll be clocking in around 130 shows this year and we’ve seen growth in ourselves as musicians but also in our fan base across the country. That’s been really cool. We feel really lucky that this band is still moving forward.
3. “Can’t Tell Me No” came out in June. How have the shows specifically since then been? What’s been the reaction?
We’ve had such a positive reaction to the new record which means a lot. I can’t say it’s like…a massive difference in the crowds since the record came out vs. before but it’s awesome to see people responding well to the album, telling us their favorite songs, etc.
4. There were a couple of big changes between the previous album and Can’t Tell Me No; first, since 2015/2016 there has been some more lineup changes. How did this impact the album?
It impacted the album in an entirely positive and exciting way. Devon (drums) has been playing with me in this project since the release of our second album Show Us Your Mind but the lineup other than us two hasn’t been completely stable. A lot of it just has to do with us having a hard time finding folks who were dedicated to touring and really making this grow. When we found Cassi (guitar) and Ethan (bass) it was like a light came on in the band that hadn’t been there maybe ever. They brought their energy and love to the new album and I appreciate that so much. We’re very excited to get to work on the next one so they can have an even bigger impact.
5. This new album also took slightly longer and I saw on Tiny Engines that you scrapped another album entirely to not let someone abusive and manipulative profit from it; can you talk a bit about that yet?
I don’t have any plans to talk about it any more than I already have but the gist is just that we had an album that I didn’t feel comfortable releasing because of who had been involved so we scrapped it and moved onto something new.
6. Was it a difficult decision to throw out an album and what did it feel like to have something the band as a whole worked on and invested in scrapped because of one person?
Cassi Blum playing during the Summer Cannibals’ set in El Paso, TX at the Lowbrow Palace on October 25th. Photo by Antonio Villasenor-Baca.
It honestly just felt like the only decision to be honest. And Cassi and Ethan weren’t a part of that record, it was the previous lineup, so it felt good to be able to have them be a part of something new. Otherwise they’d be touring non stop on an album that they weren’t a part of.
7. With this in mind about the album, I definitely heard this struggle between confronting these themes and feelings but also of wanting to start over and let go and move on. Is this something intentional in the album, if you agree at all that is there?
Yes, it’s totally there. It’s a reflection of me confronting this stuff and then making a decision to move forward and grow from it.
8. The eponymous track seems to have a personal first-person perspective. How did that track come to be and why name the album from it?
I wanted to keep the title something positive lighthearted because the subject matter of the record can be a little heavy. Cassi and I wrote that song together, probably the first song we’ve ever collaborated on.
9. And, where did the album cover concept come from?
Can’t Tell Me No, album cover, from Tiny Engines.
I just thought that photo of me as a kid was hilarious and totally summed up the balance I wanted to strike on the record.
10. Lastly, the band also changed labels, this album being the first out via Tiny Engines. How was that transition and why?
The transition was great. I’m a big fan of Tiny Engines. We were on a search to find a label that had a lot of currently active touring bands. Bands we could connect with and relate to and we totally found that in TE.
11. Any other comments about tour dates, the album, or life in general?
Thanks for talkin! xo
By Antonio Villasenor-Baca
Posted in Interviews, MusicTagged Antonio Villasenor-Baca, Cassi Blum, Con Safos Magazine, Devon Shirley, Ethan Butman, Interview, Jessica Boudreaux, Portland Band, Summer Cannibals, Tiny Engines
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Chernobyl in the media
Russian movie response to Chernobyl will released in the USA
Capelight Pictures has acquired the distribution rights in North American and German-speaking countries (US release in collaboration with MPI Media Group) of Danila Kozlovsky’s new film Chernobyl .
The film has already been sold to South Korea (PoongKyung), Latin America (BF Distribution), Japan (Twin), Israel (Shoval Film), Spain (Mediaset) and the Baltics (Latvian Theatrical Distribution).
The first large-scale Russian feature film about the elimination of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, “Chernobyl” tells the story of three liquidators – a firefighter, an engineer and a naval diver – who were entrusted with the extremely dangerous mission: to drain water located directly under the burning reactor.
Alexander Rodnyansky noted that the deal with Capelight Pictures “testifies to the international resonance of the historical event,” which has grown thanks to the HBO series. “For me this film is especially important, because I was an eyewitness to the liquidation of the consequences of the accident”.
“It is clear that the American public is very well aware of the Chernobyl disaster following the release of the successful HBO series. While Craig Mazin’s series explores how government lies create tragedy, our film tells a very personal story.”
Alexander Rodnyansky
“Chernobyl” by Danila Kozlovsky is a film about human courage and self-sacrifice. We tried to tell about those people who had to shoulder the responsibility for liquidating the disaster”
“Of course, I would like to see as many spectators as possible come to the cinemas. But still, the most important thing is that they should not just come to look at the scale or how we uniquely shot underwater scenes there, but connected to the human story about how the catastrophe burst into the lives of ordinary people, how it changed their fates and involuntarily made them heroes. ” , – said the director Danila Kozlovsky. “As a director and producer, the huge American market is, of course, very important to me. I rejoice in any country where our film will be shown and judging by the growing interest in the film, many countries are still ahead.”
The Russian theatrical release of “Chernobyl” is scheduled for April 15 2021. Watch the trailer below.
Contamination Zone is a group of people who are united by our love for the Chernobyl Zone. Every year, we raise thousands of euros for good causes, such as firefighting equipment, monument restoration, animal welfare and more.
If you are planning or thinking about a trip to the zone, please check out our trips, or our Frequently Asked Questions. If you still have unanswered questions, contact us below!
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Just the Truth: Hatred is Hatred Whether from the Left or Right
08.30.2019 | Commentary | Dr. Don Boys, Ph. D. |
Summary Surge: Hatred is hatred, even when it comes from Leftists or anti-White racists.
The Reverend Not-So-Sharpton stood with his hands extended high and wide saying, “I hate white people this much.” But Sharpton is not considered a hater. He was much sought after by 12 of the Democrat presidential candidates who made the pilgrimage to his humble abode to kiss his ring.
When it was time to renew his television show, his credentials were examined (but the ratings were ignored) and yes, he was qualified because he is still black. That seems to be the reason Al is a television star. Al is paid $500,000 annually by MSNBC for his television work and he pays himself over $200,000 from his civil rights non-profit organization.
You might think that a television star with a net worth of up to $5 million and annual income of over $700,000 could pay his bills but Al still owes $4.5 million in state and federal taxes and he often forgets “to pay travel agencies, hotels, and landlords,” according to the records. In 2015, Al paid almost $2 million on his back taxes.
In 2004, Al bought himself a Rolls Royce Phantom for his 50th birthday. That is the most expensive production car in the world, with a base price of $475,000.
A black killer in Dallas who killed five police officers and injured 14 other innocent people said, “I want to kill white people, especially white cops.” When asked if the shooting should be considered a hate crime, President Obama said, “It’s hard to know what his motives are.” Can’t Obama understand clear English? The killer was a hater and his race or political position did not matter. By being a defender of hate, does that make Obama a hater?
It seems hate is identified depending on the hater and the hatee.
A French rapper named Nick Conrad has a song titled “Hang Whites!” that declares, “I enter day care centers, I kill white babies, Grab them quickly and hang their parents, Take them apart to pass the time.” In one scene, the rapper and an associate drag a white person along a street and kick him in the head. The lyrics include calls to kill white people and their children.
That’s hate by a self-described “black artist, Parisian, proud sophisticated” or more precisely, a French jerk who shot to fame with his hate-filled “song.”
Thaddeus Matthews, Memphis disc jockey, interviewing Charlotte Bergmann, a black, female conservative Republican candidate for Congress a “token negro” and “curly-haired nigga.” He added, “I’m so sick of your sh**, yourself, and I’m about to put you’re a** up outta here,” he said. “You are a token negro that white folk have control over.” As she got up to leave, she tried to shake his hand, and he refused saying, “I don’t need to shake your hand. I’m scared because some of that whiteness might rub off on me.”
Thad, the black hater of Whites, is still a disc jockey in Memphis. Charlotte won her primary but lost in the 2018 general election.
If I say nigger—even in an innocent and nonracist way (as I do here), I’m called a racist but if an actor or rapper does so, he is an artist. I suppose that’s artistic license.
No, it is nonsense. And, for sure, no race or group “owns” some choice words.
The mother of Michael Brown (the teen thug who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson after Brown tried to take the officer’s gun) is running for city council! But momma’s comments will haunt her. She wrote on social media after two police officers were shot, “If my FAM woulda got JUSTICE in August maybe those two comps wouldn’t have got shot LAST NIGHT…” Also, “F*** THEM 2 COPS…DON’T GOT NO SYMPATHY FOR THEM OR THEY FAMILIES…Aint no FUN when the Rabbit got the GUN.”
That too is undisguised, unreasonable, and uncontrolled hate and indicates a problem in public education.
Maggie Gallagher cited a book that expresses extreme hatred toward Conservative Christians in America who “tend to hold relatively high levels of social power.” So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? was authored by George Yancey and David A. Williamson who said asked people about conservative Christians. “‘I want them [conservative Christians] all to die in a fire,’ said one man with a doctorate….‘The only good Christian is a dead Christian,’ said another man with a doctorate. ‘I abhor them and I wish we could do away with them,’ said a woman with a master’s degree. ‘A tortuous death would be too good for them,’ said a college-educated man. ‘They should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse,’ said an elderly woman with a master’s degree.”
Hate is not defined by education, race (and yes, of course Blacks can be racists), religion, national origin, politics, or financial status.
“Look at thus [sic] chorus of entitled white men justifying a serial rapist’s arrogated entitlement. All of them deserve miserable deaths while feminists laugh as they take their last gasps. Bonus: we castrate their corpses and feed them to swine? Yes.” This was so eloquently spoken by white Georgetown University professor Christine Fair. Christy is no longer teaching at Georgetown; she is “on leave.”
No sane person will defend hate but many haters use hate as a weapon and often go into battle with Christian Conservatives. Since the progressive cannot defend his castle in ruins (Liberalism), he fires the only bullet in his possession— “You’re a hater.” That is supposed to settle the argument in favor of progressives!
Pseudo-intellectuals like Georgetown’s Michael Eric Dyson said after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin that it would be a good thing for more white children to be murdered so Americans could better understand racism. Mike is also a Baptist preacher but not a historical or biblical Baptist, for sure.
Sarah Jeong is a member of The New York Times Editorial Board and wrote: “Dumba** f***ing white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on a fire hydrant.” Also, “Are white people predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically only being fit to live underground like groveling goblins.” Finally Sarah’s “White men are bull—”; “#CancelWhitePeople”; “oh man it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men” and “f— white women lol.”
Sarah is still with the Times!
According to a report from Newsweek, Trinity College Professor Johnny Eric Williams is making waves again. Breitbart News reported in June 2017 that Williams had argued that first responders should have let Representative Steve Scalise die after he was shot during a practice for the congressional baseball game. Williams also shared a blog post by an anonymous author that asked black people to withhold life-saving help from white people in need.
In a recent social media post, Williams wrote that “whiteness is terrorism….If you see them [Whites] drowning. If you see them in a burning building. If they are bleeding out in an emergency room. If the ground is crumbling beneath them. If they are in a park and they turn their weapons on each other: do nothing,” the post read.
Of course, hatred is hatred whether from the left or right or in the middle; however all the haters quoted today have been from far out in left field.
(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available here with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D. ; and visit his blog. Send request to [email protected] for a free subscription to his articles, and click here to support his work with a donation.)
Originally posted here.
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge.
Image: Adapted from – https://www.flickr.com/photos/afge/16139891939/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38056281
Dr. Don Boys, Ph. D.
Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 18 books, the most recent Muslim Invasion: The Fuse is Burning! eBook is available with the printed edition (and other titles) at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D.; and visit his blog.
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844-44-DANCIFY
Alina Sachs
Alina Sachs, the founder of Dancify dance studio, started dancing seriously at the age of 6 in Saratov, Russia and competed in both International Latin and Ballroom for 12 consecutive years. From her earliest competitions, she was reaching the finals and often winning her divisions. She has been coached personally by some of the finest coaches in the world. In 2006, Alina was brought from Russia to teach and compete for a large Boston Fred Astaire studio. She immediately distinguished herself, and within a few years was also representing all of New England at National Competitions, both in American and International Styles.
Over the last ten years, Alina has increasingly concentrated on Pro/Am competitions, and has had great success in developing strong competitors and many DanceSport champions.
Alina has also participated in a major community fund-raising event - Dancing with the South Bay Stars - since its launch in 2012. Her training and choreography took her "star" students to first place two years in a row!
Recently, Alina has moved her studio business from an initial location in Torrance to a beautifully remodeled studio space in Redondo Beach. It features a comfortable reception area, a larger dance floor and inviting ambiance, as well as ample parking attached to the studio. Her students have raved about the improved location, enjoying the move from an industrial warehouse district to a pleasant, landscaped section of Redondo Beach surrounded by shops, boutiques, bistros and restaurants.
Alina is excited to share her knowledge and expertise in both teaching students how to dance and training instructors in the art of teaching dance. She has deep experience in teaching competitive and social students of all levels: new-to-dance and accomplished adults, kids, wedding couples, celebrities for different shows and events, including numerous competitors for "So You Think You Can Dance" TV show, some of whom made the top 20.
With 22 years of dance experience, 11 of those as a dance teacher as well as a competitor, Alina believes that learning to dance provides valuable benefits in many areas of life, and that dancing should not be a challenge but a fun activity! But if you want to challenge yourself, she is able to take your dancing to whatever level you want to achieve!
Camille Parillo
Camille Parillo has been dancing since the age 5 in different styles and has been teaching and dancing ballroom professionally for the past 7 years. She has participated in competitions and choreographed/performed in shows throughout the US. She has been trained by some of the top dancers in the world. Having taught in Phoenix Arizona and in Ohio, Camille is now joining Dancify in Redondo Beach and is excited to bring her love of dance to a new community.
Through her extensive involvement as a professional and social dancer, Camille believes that dance is an incredible way to experience joy and have fun through movement and music. She knows that it not only enhances the dancer’s social experience and provides great exercise, but it offers an exciting challenge to enrich one’s life.
© 2018 Dancify
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Day +138
High time I did an update.
My 90-day Chimerism test showed yet another drop, but a small one to 85.3%. This was still a great concern but Dr. Thyagu guessed that it was due to the swollen lymph node which was caused by a virus (Epstein-Barr). A biopsy backed this. So I was put on Rituximab (spelling?). That was an IV every Friday for four weeks. However, test showed it to be gone after two doses…and confirmed gone after three doses. The swollen lymph node in my neck had shrunk. Problem solved.
I do feel better now. Not quite normal, but getting there. I can handle six hours of sleep, but not on consecutive nights. Used to be I could do 5.5 hours for three straight nights before it started to hit me. I’ll get back there! I felt well enough to work on the Midseason Guide for my website, which put those short sleep hours to the test. I succeeded. And now I’m trying to ease myself back into regular work.
My weight overshot where I wanted it. I wanted to limit it to 210 because it will be so hard to get back there. But here I am at 214 (D’oh!). I was lazy with my workouts over the holidays, down to every three days and even then only doing half. And with the Guide I didn’t have time to bring that back up. Now that the Guide is out, I tried today to do a full workout, but had to stop it at 30 minutes. I’ll get there though.
The 120-day Chimerism showed a small rise to 88.9%, which is what we hoping for. We hoped that it had dropped as a result of the EB virus and once that was gone it would go back up. So far so good. Next week I get tested again.
My blood counts are all in the normal range, except one – Lymphocites, which fight viruses. But that’s down due to the Rituximab which apparently took out the Lymphocites for several months. But still – all the other blood counts were normal, which I think is a first for me in the last five years.
I’ll continue to keep you posted, thanks for following.
My Favorite Songs From 1993
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Derek Anderson
dereksmusicblog
the music blog where music matters
WILSON PICKETT SINGS BOBBY WOMACK.
dereksmusicblog ♦ August 19, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment
Label: Kent Soul.
Nowadays, Wilson Pickett and Bobby Womack are remembered as two of the legends of soul music. Both men enjoyed long and illustrious careers, which saw them write their names into musical history. The two men also shared much in common, with Wilson Pickett and Bobby Womack both coming from a gospel background. That was where they learned to express themselves, before crossing over and embarking upon a career as soul singers.
The first to do so, was Wilson Pickett, who was born in 1941 and was three years older than Bobby Womack. Wilson Pickett’s solo career began in 1962 and continued right up until his death in 2006.
Bobby Womack also solo enjoyed a long and successful solo career that spanned six decades. He released his debut single in 1965, and forty-seven years later, Bobby Womack released his twenty-seventh and final studio album The Bravest Man In The Universe in June 2012. Sadly, not long after that, Bobby Womack who had already survived colon cancer, was diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Just two years later soul survivor Bobby Womack passed away on June ’27th’ 2014. That day music lost one of its true legends.
While Wilson Pickett and Bobby Womack share much in common, the two soul men were inextricably linked between 1966 and September 1969. During that period, Wilson Pickett recorded seventeen songs penned by Bobby Womack. These songs feature on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack, which was recently released by Kent Soul, an imprint of Ace Records. As an added bonus, there are also two songs from Bobby Womack on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack between 1967 and 1968. However, Wilson Pickett’s career began twelve years before he recorded a Bobby Womack composition.
In 1955, fourteen years old Wilson Pickett from Prattville, Alabama, started singing gospel with The Violinaires and spent the next four years touring America. By 1959, Wilson Pickett was ready to crossover and joined the vocal group The Falcons.
Their lineup already included Mack Rice and Eddie Floyd, and the addition of Wilson Pickett should’ve made The Falcons a formidable force. However, it was three years before they enjoyed a minor hit with I Found Love. It featured a heart-wrenching lead vocal from Wilson Pickett who was already contemplating a solo career.
By 1962, Wilson Pickett had written It’s Too Late, and with the help of Don Convay, went into the studio to record a demo. This demo he sent to Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, hoping that he would be interested in signing him. This backfired when Jerry Wexler gave the song to one of his artists Solomon Burke. He enjoyed a huge hit with It’s Too Late, which reached number thirty-seven in the US Billboard and two in the US R&B charts. While Wilson Pickett was pleased to have written a successful single for Solomon Burke, Atlantic Records weren’t interested in signing him. This was a huge disappointment for the twenty-two year old singer.
So was the commercial failure of his debut single. Let Me Be Your Boy was released on the Correc-Tone label in April 1962, but never came close to troubling the charts. It was an inauspicious start to Wilson Pickett’s solo career.
Wilson Pickett’s luck changed in early 1963 when he signed to Harold Logan and Lloyd Price’s Double-L Records. This proved to be the perfect label for Wilson Pickett at this stage of his career and Harold Logan and Lloyd Price would help transform his career.
The first single Wilson Pickett released for Double-L Records was If You Need Me in March 1963. It reached sixty-four in the US Billboard 100 and thirty in the US R&B chart. Things were looking up for Wilson Pickett.
Three months later, Wilson Pickett when released It’s Too Late in June 1963, it reached forty-nine in the US Billboard 100 and seven in the US R&B chart. With two consecutive hits to his name, Double-L Records looked like the perfect label for Wilson Pickett.
In October 1963, Wilson Pickett released his third single for Double-L Records, I’m Down to My Last Heartbreak. Although it stalled at ninety-five in the US Billboard 100, reached twenty-seven in the US R&B charts. This gave Wilson Pickett his third top thirty US R&B hits. By then, he had released his debut album It’s Too Late. Wilson Pickett was one of Double-L Records’ most successful signings. However, I’m Down to My Last Heartbreak was the last single Wilson Pickett released on Double-L Records.
Two years after sending his demo of It’s Too Late to Atlantic Records, Wilson Pickett he signed on the dotted line in 1964. By then, Atlantic Records was one of the most successful soul & R&B labels. Wilson Pickett was now rubbing shoulders with the great and good of soul.
The first year that Wilson Pickett spent at Atlantic Records didn’t produce any hits. I’m Gonna Cry reached 124 in the US Billboard 100, while Come Home Baby didn’t even come close to troubling the charts. Compared to 1963, 1964 was a disaster for Wilson Pickett. Things were about to improve though.
In May of 1965, Wilson Pickett travelled to Memphis to record a session at Stax. The first session produced a number of songs including In the Midnight Hour a Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper song, and Don’t Fight It. This was the first of two trips to Stax Studios Wilson Pickett made. He returned in 1965 and joining the band for the sessions was Isaac Hayes. The Stax sessions transformed Wilson Pickett’s career at Atlantic Records.
The first song from the Stax sessions that Wilson Pickett released as a s single was In the Midnight Hour. It was released in June 1965, and reached twenty-one on the US Billboard 100 and number one on the US R&B charts. In the Midnight Hour was the biggest hit of Wilson Pickett’s career and nowadays, is regarded as soul classic.
For the followup to In the Midnight Hour, Wilson Pickett released Don’t Fight It in October 1965 which reached fifty-three in the US Billboard 100 and number four on the US R&B charts. This was the third top ten US R&B single of Wilson Pickett’s career. Both Don’t Fight It and In the Midnight Hour found their way onto Wilson Pickett’s 1965 sophomore album In the Midnight Hour. This rounded off what had been the most successful year of Wilson Pickett’s career.
The success continued when Wilson Pickett released 634-5789 (Soulsville USA) in January 1966. It reached thirteen in the US Billboard 100 and number one on the US R&B charts. This was the second US R&B number one of Wilson Pickett’s career. He was well on his way to becoming one of soul’s biggest stars.
When it came to record his next single, Wilson Pickett headed to Fame Studios, in Muscle Shoals where he worked with producer Rick Hall and his legendary house band. They recorded Land Of A Thousand Dances and Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won’t Do) which soon would be released as singles and featured on his 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Picket.
Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won’t Do) was released in May 1966, but it stalled at fifty-three in the US Billboard 100 and number thirteen on the US R&B charts. This was a disappointing for Wilson Pickett.
When he released Land Of A Thousand Dances in June 1966, it reached number six in the US Billboard 100 and number one on the US R&B charts. This was the third US R&B number one of Wilson Pickett’s career, but his first million selling single. Wilson Pickett’s star was definitely in the ascendancy.
Following Land Of A Thousand Dances, Wilson Pickett released Mustang Sally in November 1966. It which reached twenty-three in the US Billboard 100 and number eight on the US R&B charts. This brought to a close the most successful year of Wilson Pickett’s career. He had enjoyed two US R&B number one hits and released two albums The Exciting Wilson Pickett.
As 1967 dawned, Wilson Pickett returned hoping to pickup where he left off in 1966. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love was released in January 1967 and reached twenty-nine in the US Billboard 100 and number nineteen on the US R&B charts. This was a disappointment, considering the success Wilson Pickett had enjoyed during 1966.
Two months later, and Wilson Pickett returned with a cover of a Bobby Womack and Reggie Young composition, I Found A Love-Part I. This was the first of seventeen Bobby Womack songs Wilson Pickett would release over a two-year period. When I Found A Love-Part I was released in March 1967 it reached thirty-two in the US Billboard 100 and six in the US R&B charts. This was the sixth top ten US R&B hit Wilson Pickett enjoyed in five years.
The next single Wilson Pickett released was Soul Dance Number Three in May 1967. It stalled at fifty-five in the US Billboard 100, but reached ten in the US R&B charts. This was followed up by Funky Broadway in July 1967, which reached number eight in the US Billboard 100, but reached one the US R&B charts. For Wilson Pickett, this was his third number US R&B single.
For the followup to Funky Broadway, Wilson Pickett a beautiful Bobby Womack penned ballad I’m In Love. It was tailor-made for Wilson Pickett and was released in October 1967. The song dealt with the criticism that Bobby Womack had been receiving for marrying Sam Cooke’s widow. As Wilson Pickett sings “I’m In Love” it’s as if he can relate to Bobby Womack’s sentiments. It was no surprise that this powerful and poignant rendition of I’m In Love reached number forty-five in US Billboard and four the US R&B charts. This was the ninth top ten single of Wilson Pickett’s career.
During 1967, Wilson Pickett found time to record two albums, including The Sound Of Wilson Pickett, which featured a trio of Bobby Womack songs. This included the soul-baring ballad I’m Sorry About That and I Found The One which is a beautiful ballad with gospel-tinged harmonies. They were joined by Something Within Me a bluesy, soulful ballad. The addition of these three on The Sound Of Wilson Pickett helped the album to fifty-four on the US R&B charts. This was disappointing given the quality of music on The Sound Of Wilson Pickett.
The other album Wilson Pickett released during 1967 was The Wicked Pickett. Bobby Womack contributed the uptempo Nothing You Can Do to the album The Wicked Pickett. Sadly, the album never charted and 1967 was a year of mixed fortunes for Wilson Pickett. He was hoping that 1968 would be a better year.
By 1968, Bobby Womack and Wilson Pickett were good friends, and this friendship strengthened over the next couple of years. Both men were enjoying successful solo careers. Bobby Womack’s song were also being covered by some of the biggest names in music, including the Rolling Stones and of course Wilson Pickett.
He released two albums during 1968, including I’m In Love, which featured five Bobby Womack compositions, This included I’m In Love and the string-drenched, dramatic ballad Jealous Love. It joins the stomping Let’s Get An Understanding, which features Wilson Pickett in full flight. It’s a similar case on We’ve Got To Have Love where backing vocalists accompany Wilson Pickett. The final song is I’ve Come A Long Way, which is a beautiful ballad. The four Bobby Womack songs helped the album to seventy in the US Billboard 200. Things were looking good for Wilson Pickett.
They were about to get even better when the Bobby Womack composition I’m A Midnight Mover gave Wilson Pickett his biggest hit of 1968. When it was released as a single in June 1968, it reached twenty-four in the US Billboard 100 and six in the US R&B charts. This was the eleventh and final top ten US R&B single of Wilson Pickett’s career. While I’m A Midnight Mover is one of his finest singles, it’s Bobby Womack who recorded the definitive version of the song.
When Wilson Pickett came to record his next album, The Midnight Mover it features four Bobby Womack songs. This included the hit single I’m A Midnight Mover, the tender, heartfelt ballad It’s A Groove and the hopeful ballad Trust Me. The final song was Remember, I Been Good To You a song about love lost, which features an emotive and impassioned vocal from Wilson Pickett. Bobby Womack’s four songs played an important part on The Midnight Mover which reached ninety-one in the US Billboard 200. 1968 had been a good year for Bobby Womack.
After the success of 1968, Wilson Pickett was keen to build on it as 1969 dawned. Ultimately, it proved a frustrating year, with Wilson Pickett choosing to cover songs like Born To Wild, Hey Joe and You Keep Me Hanging On. Needless to say, none of the singles he released proved particularly successful. They certainly never troubled the top ten. However, the two Bobby Womack songs he covered on his album Hey Joe were much more suited to the soul man.
For the Hey Joe album, Wilson Pickett covered the Bobby Womack ballad People Make The World (What It Is) and the uptempo track Sit Down And Talk This Over. It allowed Wilson Pickett to unleash a vocal powerhouse. These two songs were among the highlights of Hey Joe, which was released in 1969 and reached ninety-seven in the US Billboard 200. This brought to an end Wilson Pickett’s Bobby Womack Years.
Adding the finishing touch to Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack is Wilson Pickett’s cover of Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me plus two songs from Bobby Womack. They’re Find Me Someone and How Does It Feel, which are a welcome reminder of true soul legend in his prime. It’s a fitting way to close Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack.
The release of Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack by Kent Soul, an imprint of Ace Records is the first time the seventeen Bobby Womack compositions have ever been released on a compilation. There’s been a previous attempt to release the songs on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack in 1999. Sadly, it never came to fruition and it was another eighteen years before the project came to fruition.
As a result, the Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack compilation is one that many soul fans will have been looking forward to for many a year. It finds one soul great Wilson Pickett, singing the seventeen songs from the pen of the legendary Bobby Womack. These songs which were recorded and released between 1969 and 1969 feature Wilson Pickett in his prime.
By 1969, Wilson Pickett had enjoyed three US R&B number ones and eleven top US R&B top ten hits. As a result Wilson Pickett was one of the biggest names in soul. Partly, this was because of the material he was covering. That was the case from 1966 right up until his Hey Joe album in 1969. While it wasn’t Wilson Pickett’s finest album, two covers of Bobby Womack songs were among the album’s highlights.
Between 1966 and 1969 Wilson Pickett seemed to have an uncanny knack of choosing the right songs to cover. This included the songs written by his friend Bobby Womack. Wilson Pickett breathed life, meaning and emotion into the songs, as he switched between ballads and uptempo tracks. He comes into his own on the ballads on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack. Just like the rest of the songs on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack, these songs seemed to be tailor-made for Wilson Pickett, as he enjoyed the most successful period of his career.
Playing their part in this success is the seventeen songs on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack which are a reminder of Wilson Pickett at peak of his powers, during his five decade career. The ideal companion to Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack would be compilation featuring the late, great Bobby Womack singing the same songs. That would be a fitting tribute to another legendary soul man. Meanwhile, soul fans can enjoy the his old friend and fellow soul man at his soulful best on Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack.
Posted in: Soul ♦ Southern Soul
Tagged: Ace Records, Bobby Womack, I’m In Love, In the Midnight Hour, It's Too Late, Kent Soul, Land Of A Thousand Dances, The Exciting Wilson Picket, The Midnight Mover, The Sound Of Wilson Pickett, The Wicked Pickett, Wilson Pickett, Wilson Pickett Sings Bobby Womack
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Paradise City Arts Festivals
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Twenty-five years ago, two artists had a vision – to create a world-class arts festival at the historic, but admittedly rustic, fairgrounds in Northampton. “When we first walked the Northampton Fairgrounds in 1994, puzzling over the pieces that would come to be known as the Paradise City Arts Festival, we took a giant leap of faith,” say Founding Directors Linda and Geoffrey Post. “We pictured the Arena, a cavernous horse barn, transformed into a venue to showcase museum quality master craft and fine art. We fretted over whether we could draw serious art and craft lovers from across the country to the small New England town of Northampton.”
The Paradise City Arts Festival has a vibrant soul that many similar exhibitions reach for but never attain. At Paradise City, jazz melodies float in the air, while the food soars beyond expectations. Most remarkable are the art pieces themselves… a unique visual arts institution.”
– Boston Magazine
More than twenty years later, Paradise City Northampton fills three newly erected buildings, an outdoor Sculpture Promenade and a 12,000 square-foot Festival Dining Tent. Visitors have traveled from all fifty states and five continents to immerse themselves in an exhilarating environment that features an unparalleled collection of the nation’s finest craft makers and independent artists. In 1998, the Posts took their show on the road. They now hold a Paradise City Arts Festival in Boston’s western suburbs twice a year. Upon awarding their events the #1 spot in 2008 in the annual “Top Ten Art Fairs and Festivals in America”, AmericanStyle Magazine declared Paradise City Arts Festivals “truly innovative… fresh and vibrant, with extraordinary quality.”
Paradise City was founded in 1995 by Geoffrey and Linda Post, both practicing artists who spent twenty years on the show circuit themselves. “Making a living as a practicing artist is no easy thing,” Geoff explains, “being creative in your studio, coming up with a body of work that excites you, hoping that customers will respond, then packing it all up and bringing it to a show. But you’re still not done. You need to put on your marketing hat and connect with your customers and display your work in a way that people will respond to.” Their lives as artists lay the foundation for the guiding principles of Paradise City: respect artists in all ways possible, make shows easy, fun and profitable, and help artists reach an ever growing audience both at shows and beyond.
To this end, Paradise City has cultivated a loyal customer base of nearly a quarter of a million people. The company reaches them across many platforms. It produces a biannual magazine, the Paradise City Guide, with a subscription base of over seventy thousand avid art lovers. It created Art Buzz, an e-newsletter that tells the behind-the-scenes stories of many Paradise City artists, giving fascinating insights into their lives, work habits, creative challenges and accomplishments. The new Paradise City Blog is all about living with fine crafts and art, with a focus on work that fits specific themes. The website, paradisecityarts.com, is a living resource for comprehensive information about the shows and individual artists, and has become the go-to place for tens of thousands of shoppers and collectors looking for great ideas to fill their home or wardrobe.
And, of course, the shows! How could we have guessed twenty-five years ago that a single small idea could take on a life of its own and grow to encompass multiple markets and venues. Paradise City shows are revered for the sheer fun of discovery and have become a true community of artists and patrons, buyers and sellers alike, sharing the joy of creativity.
And it doesn’t end here. “Our passion for art, sculpture and craft collecting has exposed us to a world of interesting ideas, fascinating and talented people and extraordinary experiences,” Geoff and Linda say. “Our travels have taken us to galleries in big cities and out-of-the-way places, art museums, alternative spaces, sculpture parks and artists’ studios. We’re exhilarated by what we see, and inspired to achieve even more. It’s hard for us to imagine a world dominated by mass produced commodities. It’s about living an extraordinary life.” Fortunately, the world of Paradise City grows daily, filled with a community of like minded individuals.
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The Boy Can't Help It
Growing up in Baltimore in the '50s, John Waters delighted in the lurid colors and rock 'n' roll of The Girl Can't Help It. He still does, and explains how he "stole" bits and pieces of it for his own work.
BY MARGY ROCHLIN
TRUE LOVE: John Waters gleefully
admits he got lots of things from the
film, even his trademark pencil mustache.
John Waters can remember the first time he saw Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It, the gloriously crazy sendup of rock 'n' roll, Marilyn Monroe, and the show biz fame-making machine. When Waters entered Baltimore's Towson movie theater in 1956, he was a skinny 10-year-old pop culture nut excited to see performances by idols like Little Richard and Gene Vincent. Ninety minutes or so later, he'd fallen under a cinematic spell. "This wasn't a movie that my boy classmates wanted to see or cared about," recalls Waters, now 63, sitting cross-legged on his bed, the only room in his San Francisco apartment that has a DVD player. "They weren't interested in discussing Jayne Mansfield's complete lack of roots. I really had no one that I could be enthusiastic with about it. So it was a private secret of mine, this movie."
At least until he found a partner in crime in his outsized childhood neighbor, Harris Glen Milstead, who dressed in drag and went by the name of Divine. In Milstead, he also found the star of many of his films, his own Jayne Mansfield. ("Well, Jayne Mansfield mixed with Godzilla," Waters remarks dryly.)
"It wasn't an event, it was a requirement [to see the movie]," says Waters, of why he and his longtime crew all seem so influenced by The Girl Can't Help It. In fact, it's almost as if bits of it are scattered throughout the films of his beguilingly strange oeuvre that began in 1964 when his grandmother presented him with an 8 mm Brownie movie camera and he made his first film, a 17-minute short about interracial romance called Hag in a Black Leather Jacket.
Tom Ewell snaps his fingers and the film suddenly becomes a world of brilliantly hued, fake color.
"I totally stole this!" Waters exclaims only seconds into the opening sequence of the film. In it, a tuxedoed Tom Ewell, filmed in black and white, faces the camera and formally explains that the movie was shot in CinemaScope. Ewell waves his fingers to the left, then the right and the panels of the movie open up and the constricted screen blossoms to CinemaScope width. "In the beginning of Polyester, I say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is Odorama,' but the joke is that screen only gets about 1/50 wider." Before the actual narrative kicks into gear, Ewell adds that the film was shot in "gorgeous, lifelike color by De Luxe," and after a finger snap, the movie suddenly becomes brilliantly hued. "Ooooh," says Waters, marveling over the lush blue, purple and orange jewel tones. "If only my bedroom looked like that. If only the world looked like that! I wanted to live my real life in that kind of over-the-top color. It's so... it's so... it's so... fake!"
But the real narrative of the movie still hasn't even kicked in yet. Ewell now attempts to synopsize the movie's feathery plot—it's the story of a small-time, down on his luck press agent (Ewell) who is hired by a churlish gangster (Edmond O' Brien) to turn his kewpie doll girlfriend (Jayne Mansfield) into a singing sensation. But, midway through, he's drowned out by the sound of Little Richard belting out "The Girl Can't Help It" from a nearby jukebox. "This song always made me insane," says Waters. "I played it the first time you see Divine in Pink Flamingos, going down the steps in Baltimore. Later in life, whenever Divine would come onstage, they'd play this. It became his theme song—in a hippie, lunatic joke way."
The opening credits roll and Ewell is replaced by young couples jitterbugging on a highly polished dance floor. Waters realizes that Lori Eastside, the choreographer of his 1990 star-crossed lovers "musical" Cry-Baby, has lifted some of these dance routines. "Some of these steps are exactly the same! See? Everyone who has ever worked on my movies has been influenced by this movie."
VA VA VOOM: Ewell takes Jayne Mansfield to a nightclub to showcase her talents. Waters
says he always preferred Mansfield to Marilyn Monroe. "I always like whoever was called
second-rate more, because they're more extreme."
We finally get to see Ewell as Tom, the seedy agent boozing it up at a nightclub when he is summoned to the Park Avenue apartment of mobster, Fats Murdock (O'Brien). "Stop talking," Waters barks at the screen during a stretch where Fats and Tom get acquainted. "It's so slow. This is just pages of dialogue. The rule of thumb is a minute a page—this is like 10 minutes a page. At any test screening today they'd say, 'Speed it up here,' and they'd be right." But Waters perks up as soon as Mansfield finally makes her astonishing dame-in-the-doorway entrance. "Look at that waist! Is that a drag queen or what?" Waters says of Mansfield's exaggerated hourglass figure squeezed into a skintight white silk gown. "I always liked her better than Marilyn Monroe. I always like whoever was called second-rate more, because they're more extreme. Mansfield had a bar in her house open at all times to the press. Like, you could just go to her house and she'd come in in a bikini and make you a cocktail. It wasn't like a press agent set it up. She just had a place for spontaneous press conferences for no reason."
Back at Tom's nightclub hangout, an unmoving camera gazes at a nameless combo singing rock 'n' roll. "It's all master shots," says Waters, focusing on the stationary quality of many of the film's musical sequences. "There's no over the shoulder, any of that. When you look at a lot of old movies they don't have coverage—like how I cut Pink Flamingos. But that was because it was single system sound right on the film so you couldn't overlap the sound. I just had to shoot long takes like a play. This movie is almost like a play, too. There's almost no cuts. The only person that I can think who really does that well is Woody Allen. Nobody does a medium long shot like Woody."
SPELLBOUND: The film uses three famous sight gags as
Mansfield walks down the street.
What follows next are three famous sight gags: As Jerri minces up the street to Tom's apartment, the hot lust she inspires melts huge blocks of ice in a worker's hands; milk froths out of a milkman's bottles; and a neighbor's eyeglasses shatter. "Divine and I went crazy over these," says Waters, who paid tribute to one of the bits in Female Trouble by casting a gentleman with a trick glass eye. "His eyeball would pop out when Divine walked by." Next Jerri lets herself into the apartment of a very hungover Tom and Waters' attention is diverted by the fastidiously color-coordinated set. "This hardly looks like a bachelor pad," he says, taking in Tom's tastefully arranged armchairs, throw pillows and creamy-toned wallpaper. "Everything matches! It looks like a teenage girl lives there."
To Waters one of the most thrilling aspects of the movie is the total disinterest in representing life as it really is. "It's the opposite of an independent film. There's almost no locations in this movie—it's all sets and there's no reality. It's certainly not Dogma 95," he waxes while, as if to prove his point, Jerri hovers over a frying pan cooking Tom a restorative breakfast wearing a sexy dress with a plunging neckline. "The bacon grease would splatter on your cleavage. Ow!"
The action shifts to a nightclub later that evening and the camera pans up from a pair of shiny two-toned shoes to reveal Little Richard at the piano, raspily belting out a tune and glaring upwards at something, although it's unclear what. "He looks like he's reading the lyrics off of a teleprompter, doesn't he?" laughs Waters. "He looks possessed." Waters pauses for a walk down memory lane. "This affected me more than anything ever. I still have the mustache today because of this scene," he says of the thin stripe of facial hair on his upper lip that both he and Little Richard sport.
In the next string of scenes, Tom boosts Jerri's public profile by taking her to fancy nightclubs, at each one instructing her to sashay past the owner. Waters' thoughts float back to the early days of his career. "When Divine and I first started," he says, "I'd make him get all dressed up and we'd ride the subway or walk through cheesy restaurants just to get people talking. And it worked!" Because of Mansfield's untimely death at the age of 34, when her star had by then lost most of its luster, history has lent the platinum-haired beauty an air of tragedy. But Waters rejects that notion, particularly as he gazes at her, peeping-voiced and resplendent in a glittering red sequined dress. "Look at her—did she ever look better? When she's onscreen, who looks at anyone else? It's about her being a true star—and it's about her body," Waters says, admiringly. "If you saw that walk into a room somewhere, you'd be shocked because no human being really looks like that unless you're, you know, a stripper. You know, she had fun being like this. She wasn't a victim of anything. She knew exactly what she was doing. She was a great comedienne."
Ewell and Mansfield sit in a car with cheesy rear-screen projection behind them.
While an order-bellowing, cigar-chomping Fats keeps tabs on them via telephone, Tom continues to work on Jerri's singing career. In a scene where the couple drive up the coastline in a shiny red convertible, it becomes clear they're falling in love. Waters, however, only has eyes for the bad rear-screen projection of the highway, ocean and telephone poles. "I love that you can tell they're just sitting in a half-car with a movie playing behind them! I love how that looks! Hitchcock did it really badly and used it a lot. Family Plot has the worst rear-screen projection I've ever seen. I think a car rig is so much easier, but maybe they didn't have that back in the '40s and '50s. Or maybe they didn't think of doing it that way. Maybe movie stars weren't about to go out and drive with real wind in their hair. Maybe they wanted controlled wind."
At this point in the movie, Waters has come up with a theory about the talent who perform throughout the film—an impressive roster of over 14 acts including Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and The Platters—and their peculiarly stiff body language. "My guess is that they probably couldn't hit their marks because they'd never done it before. Under those feet are big X's made with gaffer's tape and they told them, 'Don't leave your mark.' What else could it be? They seem glued to the floor," says Waters, also pointing out that part of the movie's richly glamorous look is that the cinematographer Leon Shamroy gives everyone the full-on star treatment. "This movie is an odd mixture: It's real, raw rock 'n' roll put in the completely alien atmosphere of a Hollywood movie. The other rock 'n' roll movies were black and white, really low budget, just total exploitation movies. But this? They're lit like the hugest musical acts."
STAR POWER: Little Richard performs "Ready Teddy." The film features raw
rock 'n' roll but is shot like a Hollywood movie.
"Look at her," says Waters of Mansfield strutting her stuff, "did she ever look better?
When she's onscreen, who looks at anyone else?"
One of the gentle potshots that Tashlin takes at the music industry is that in accordance with Fats' wishes, Jerri records a song backed by a full orchestra and it's a hit—although her only contribution is a high-pitched elongated squeal because she's supposedly tone deaf. But backstage on the night of her first live rock 'n' roll show, Jerri and Tom kiss for the first time. Then the big reveal: Jerri goes onstage and in a pitch-perfect voice, sings a sad love song to Tom. "I wonder if that's really her," muses Waters. "It doesn't sound like her. You know, on Cry-Baby, we had a lip synch expert. That was his job. Universal wanted me to have him. I thought, 'How long has that job been in existence? Did he go to school to learn how to teach lip-synching?' But it turned out he was good."
Before the movie builds to its climax, the tone turns Keystone Cops as Tom and Fats unite and beat back a gang of rival gangsters. Next, Fats replaces Jerri onstage and begins singing to a swaying, enraptured teenage audience. The camera cuts to the feet of two lovers in a romantic bedroom hideaway and as it pans up, the happy ending: You see that Jerri has left Fats and is with Tom. "It didn't disappoint me one bit," says Waters, as he turns off the DVD player. "Whatever language you're talking in—if it's French, it's homage, if it's English, you just copied—but it just makes me realize how much this movie influenced me." To this day, Waters can't get over how he can watch the film for the trillionth time and still feel such a deep connection. "I don't know if [Tashlin] understood the music. But he worshipped Jayne Mansfield in this movie and always tried to make her look as good as he possibly could," says Waters with real emotion in his voice. "He loved her—and you can feel that, you can feel how he shot her. So what this movie is about is the chemistry between a director and a glamour girl. That was always incredibly important to me. I'm not comparing myself, I'm saying we parodied this and I only parody the things I love."
In this popular feature, a director talks about a film particularly close to their heart, why the creative choices are inspired, how it influenced their own work, and why the movie continues to resonate for them personally.
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Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Managing Inflammation With Nutrition
by Michael Turner, M.S. · Jul 13, 2020
What is Inflammation?
On top of being a crucial component in the body’s response to injury, inflammation is also one of the primary mechanisms through which the body fights off infections.(1) However, while the inflammatory process plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity of the body’s tissues, it can also be detrimental to your health in certain scenarios.
In contrast to acute inflammation, which is vital to repairing damaged tissues, chronic inflammation can actually impinge on the healing process.(2) You can think of the inflammatory system kind of like a nation’s military force, which is made up of several different components — i.e. there’s the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and so on.
If they respond to an event and drop bombs, missiles, napalm, etc., they may eradicate the target, but there is also going to be some damage to the countryside — inflammatory cells can have a similar effect on the body. In the instance of acute inflammation, there may be some damage done to the countryside (i.e. the body’s tissues) but it’s minimal enough where the body is able to recover.
Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, is like the military continuing to bombard certain areas of the countryside even though there is no evidence of a threat. In the context of the body, this continued assault generates hazardous by-products (like cytokines and growth factors) that cause cell death within inflamed tissues, which if gone unchecked, can increase the risk of a number of different inflammatory diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.(3)(4)(5)
How Does Food Tie Into The Inflammatory Process?
While there are ultimately a number of underlying causes behind chronic inflammation, there is a substantial body of evidence that nutrition plays an important role in the inflammatory process. Research shows that some types of foods can actually increase baseline levels of inflammation, which over time, can lead to a number of adverse health outcomes — like those mentioned above.(6)
On the flip side, several different kinds of foods have also been found to lower inflammation with regular consumption. Some studies suggest that certain foods can change your epigenetics — i.e. they can change how certain inflammatory genes behave without actually altering your DNA sequence.
This, in turn, can lead to positive alterations in the underlying mechanisms behind the inflammatory processes, helping to improve the body’s inflammatory response and reverse chronic inflammation.(7)
Foods That Cause Inflammation
Photo by Christopher Williams
To date, researchers have identified a number of different dietary factors that can increase inflammation. On top of highly processed foods (like those with refined carbs), those with high concentrations of trans and saturated fats have also been found to have proinflammatory effects.(8)
Refined carbs are sugars — like high fructose corn syrup — or grains that have been stripped of important nutrients like bran and fiber through the processing that they go through.
They are frequently used in processed foods to enhance flavor and reduce production costs, however, numerous studies have demonstrated their pro-inflammatory effects.
Diets high in things like trans and saturated fats — like those found in red meat and processed foods — have also been shown to raise levels of the C-reactive protein (CRP), a cytokine-derived substance which can impinge on cellular function and ultimately increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.(9)(10)
Additionally, nutrition scientists have also demonstrated that foods with a high glycemic load and glycemic index (particularly foods that have been heat-processed) can also raise levels of inflammation. An overabundance of glucose in the body can ultimately increase the body production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are a group of oxidant compounds that have been shown to increase inflammation and oxidant stress.(11)(12)
List of Pro-Inflammatory Foods
Red meat (beef, bacon, ham, sausage, etc..)
Pizza (tomato sauce, fatty cheese, pizza dough)
Refined pastas
Sweets (pie, cake, pastries, etc…)
Soda/soft drinks
Chips, crackers, and other salty snack foods
Highly-processed ready-made meals and fast food
Anti-Inflammatory Foods
While researchers have indeed demonstrated that some foods can increase the risk of chronic inflammation, they’ve also identified other dietary factors that may actually reduce inflammation when regularly consumed.
Most foods that have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects have tended to contain phytochemicals like carotenoids and polyphenols, which are natural compounds predominantly found in plant-based food sources; however, some animal-derived compounds, like omega-3s, have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects as well.(13)
To date, a number of different phytochemicals have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory qualities, helping to modulate inflammatory function through a variety of different mechanisms.(14)
Photo by Dose Juice
Countless studies have demonstrated that a diet high in fruits and vegetables can have significant effects on inflammation status, helping to mitigate chronic inflammation and lower the risk of several different inflammatory diseases.(15)
For example, one study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which involved almost 500 middle-aged participants, ultimately found that a high dietary intake of fruits and vegetables helped to significantly lower concentrations of the proinflammatory cytokine CRP, which in addition to significantly improving participants’ inflammation statuses, also helped to reduce their risk of metabolic syndrome.(16)
In addition to containing inflammation-modulating phytochemicals, fruits and vegetables are also high in dietary fiber, which research shows may also have anti-inflammatory effects as well, helping to decrease the risk of several inflammatory conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.(17)
List of Anti-Inflammatory Fruits and Vegetables
In addition to fruits and vegetables, tree nuts have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties as well. In addition to containing polyphenols, and fiber, which we’ve already discussed, tree nuts are also high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have been shown to modulate inflammation as well.(18)
For example, one 2012 review investigating the effects of several different anti-inflammatory foods ultimately found a significant relationship between regular tree nut consumption and a reduced risk of heart disease, with the researchers ultimately concluding that tree nuts may play an important role in the activation of anti-inflammatory mechanisms within the body.(19)
Omega 3 Foods
Numerous studies have shown that polyunsaturated fats like omega-3s can have significant anti-inflammatory effects. More specifically, DHA and EPA — two omega 3s which are most popularly found in fish — have been shown to inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators like ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, helping to improve inflammation status and cellular function.(20)
While omega-3s like DHA and EPA may be most abundant in fish, the can also be found in lower concentrations in some plant-based foods as well, including brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.(21)
While it hasn’t been investigated as thoroughly as most of the other foods on this list, some research does suggest that dark chocolate may possess certain anti-inflammatory properties as well.
For example, two more recent clinical trials both ultimately demonstrate significant reductions in serum CRP concentration amongst those who regularly consumed dark chocolate, leading the researchers in both studies to conclude that dark chocolate — particularly its flavonoids — may help to mitigate inflammation and improve cardiovascular health in those who regularly consumed it.(22)(23)
There is also some preliminary evidence that green tea may help to reduce inflammation, however, like with dark chocolate, its effects on inflammation have yet to be thoroughly studied in clinical populations.
While most of the positive findings to date have come from animal studies, a few human-based studies have demonstrated that regularly consuming green tea may indeed help to significantly lower inflammation and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.(24)
For example, a few different studies involving human participants did ultimately find that green tea’s catechin content (catechins are a type of flavonoid) had significant effects on the inflammatory process, helping to inhibit the upregulation of several proinflammatory mediators.(25)(26)
What is the Best Anti-Inflammatory Diet?
When it comes to the best diet for treating low-grade chronic inflammation, researchers have yet to develop any one standardized dietary approach.(27)
However, the general consensus amongst nutritional scientists is that the optimal anti-inflammatory diet should (1) predominantly involve unprocessed plant-derived foods high in polyunsaturated fats and phytochemicals, and (2) reduce foods with a high glycemic index/load.(28)
In accordance with these basic criteria, researchers have identified a few different standardized diets that appear to have significant anti-inflammatory effects.
The Mediterranean diet is centrally oriented around healthy unprocessed foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and fish. Because it includes many proven anti-inflammatory foods, it’s been well-researched in clinical trials involving inflammation, with most research indeed demonstrating significant effects on inflammation status.
For example, one 2010 study published in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, which involved nearly 800 participants at high risk of cardiovascular disease, ultimately found that a short-term Mediterranean diet intervention significantly improved inflammation status, with those on the Medietran diet on average demonstrating significant improvements in several markers of inflammation, including, serum levels of CRP and IL-6.(29)
Because it’s centrally oriented around plant-based foods, which make up the majority of foods with known anti-inflammatory effects, the vegetarian diet has also been extensively researched in clinical trials involving chronic inflammation. To date, there appears to be a substantial body of evidence that regular adherence to a plant-based diet can significantly reduce inflammation.
For example, one 2019 review ultimately found that compared to individuals on a meat-based diet, those following a strict vegetarian dietary protocol ultimately saw significantly greater improvements in several markers of inflammation, including reductions in serum fibrinogen and total leukocyte concentration.(30)
Another 2017 meta-analysis which included 18 different studies investigating the effects of vegetarianism on inflammation demonstrated that following at least 2 years of adherence, those on the vegetarian diet, on average, experienced significantly greeted reductions in the pro-inflammatory mediator CRP in comparison to those on a non-vegetarian diet.(31)
With that being said, research does suggest that long-term adherence to a vegetarian diet may also increase the likelihood of experiencing several micronutrient deficiencies, which in turn, can impinge on the inflammatory process. To make a long story short, in order to maximize the anti-inflammatory effects of the vegetarian diet, supplementing with vitamins and minerals like B12, iron, and zinc may be important.
Research shows that nutrition plays an important role in the inflammatory process, with some foods being shown to reduce chronic inflammation, while others have been found to increase it.
Pro-inflammatory dietary factors include red meats and processed foods that contain things like refined carbs and trans/saturated fats, along with foods that have an overall high glycemic load.
Whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish, on the other hand, have been shown to positively influence the inflammatory process, helping to decrease blood concentrations of several pro-inflammatory mediators with regular consumption.
While there is no one standardized anti-inflammatory diet, both the Meditteranean and vegetarian diets have been shown to reduce low-grade chronic inflammation across numerous clinical trials.
“Inflammatory Cell”Rose, N.R., Neumann, D.A. Autoimmune Disease Models. 1994.
“Mitigation of inflammation with foods”Wu, X., Schauss, A.G. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Jul. 2012.
“Cell Injury, Cellular Responses to Injury, and Cell Death”King, T.C. Elsevier’s Integrated Pathology. 2007.
“What Is the Anti-Inflammatory Diet?”Marcason, W. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Nov. 2010.
“Anti-inflammatory Diets”Sears, B. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Sep. 2015.
“The Effects of Diet on Inflammation: Emphasis on the Metabolic Syndrome”Giugliano, D., Ceriello, A., Esposito, K. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Jul. 2006.
“Functional Foods as Modifiers of Cardiovascular Disease”Johnston, C. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. Mar. 2009.
“Advanced Glycation End Products in Foods and a Practical Guide to Their Reduction in the Diet”Uribarri, J., Woodruff, S., Goodman, S., Cai, W., Chen, X., Pyzik, R., Yong, A., Striker, G.E., Vlassara, H. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Jul. 2013.
“Enhanced cellular oxidant stress by the interaction of advanced glycation end products with their receptors/binding proteins”Yan, S.D., Schmidt, A.M., Anderson, G.M., Shang, J., Brett, J., Zou, Y.S., Pinsky, D., Stern, D. Journal of Biological Chemistry. Apr. 1994.
“Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Atherosclerosis and Coronary Artery Disease: Antioxidant Foods”Saita, E., Kondo, K., Momiyama, Y. Libertas Academica. Dec. 2014.
“Fruit and vegetable intakes, C-reactive protein, and the metabolic syndrome”Esmaillzadeh, A., Kimiagar, M., Mehrabi, Y., Azadbakht, L., Hu, F.B., Willst, W.C. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Dec. 2006.
“Dark chocolate effect on platelet activity, C-reactive protein and lipid profile: a pilot study”Hamed, M.S., Gambert, S., Bliden, K.P., Bailon, O., Singla, A., Antonio, M.J., Hamed, F., Tantry, U.S., Gurbel, P.A. Southern Medical Journal. Dec. 2008.
“Regular Consumption of Dark Chocolate Is Associated with Low Serum Concentrations of C-Reactive Protein in a Healthy Italian Population”di Giuseppe, R., Di Castelnuovo, A., Centritto, F., Zito, F., De Curtis, A., Costanzo, S., Cohnout, B., Sieri, S., Krogh, V., Donati, M.B. The Journal of Nutrition. Oct. 2008.
“Epidemiological evidence for an association between habitual tea consumption and markers of chronic inflammation”De Bacquer, D., Clays, E., Delanghe, J., De Backer, G. Atherosclerosis. Dec. 2006.
“The effects of chronic tea intake on platelet activation and inflammation: a double-blind placebo controlled trial”Steptoe, A., Gibson, E.L., Vuononvirta, R., Hamer, M., Wardle, J., Rycroft, J.A., Martin, J.F., Erusalimsky, J.D. Atherosclerosis. Aug. 2007.
“Anti‐Inflammatory Diet in Clinical Practice: A Review”Ricker, M.A., Haas, W.C. Nutrition in Clinical Practice. Mar. 2017.
“Anti-inflammatory effects of the Mediterranean diet: the experience of the PREDIMED study”Estruch, R. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. Aug. 2010.
“Vegetarian-Based Dietary Patterns and their Relation with Inflammatory and Immune Biomarkers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”Craddock, J.C., Neale, E.P., Peoples, G.E., Probst, Y.C. Advances in Nutrition. May. 2019.
“Association of vegetarian diet with inflammatory biomarkers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies”Haghighatdoost, F., Bellissimo, N., de Zepetnek, J., Rouhani, M.H. Public Health Nutrition. Aug. 2017.
Michael Turner, M.S.
Michael is a former sociological researcher and course instructor at Florida State University, where amongst other things, he worked on research examining sports participation and injury amid youth athletes.
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ed-bagley.com
In an Over-Communicated, Intrusive World, Simple is Better
Financial Thoughts
More Musings by Ed
Yes, Virginia, There
Is a Santa Claus
by Ed Bagley
(Editor’s Note: The following editorial by Francis P. Church was first published in The New York Sun in 1897 in response to an
8-year-old girl’s letter to the editor, and is arguably the most famous editorial ever written in an American newspaper. This incredible piece of writing happened when newspapers were the primary means of communication. In 1897 there was no mass communication by radio, television, computers, cell phones and the associated technical goodies we have today. Readers actually believed and trusted in newspapers. Now we do not believe and trust in newspapers anymore than we do in politicians.)
Here is how Francis P. Church responded to Virginia O’Hanlon’s letter:
“We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (in what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.
All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.
Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal (supernal means “of exceptional quality or extent”) beauty and glory beyond.
Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”
About the Exchange
Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in The New York Sun in 1897, more than a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.
Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O’Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:
“Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus,
I was filled with doubts.
I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.
It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in the The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.
‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,’ I said to father.
He said, ‘Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does’.”
And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents’ favorite newspaper.
Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer.
Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversial subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.
Now, he had in his hands a little girl’s letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.
“Is there a Santa Claus?” the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. And so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply that was to become one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.
Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in 1906, leaving no children.
Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia University, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator.
Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.
Clason’s “The Richest Man in Babylon” Part 2 – The 7 Cures for a Lean Wallet and The 5 Laws of Money
Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley
Part 1 of this 2 Part series ends the synopsis of George Clason’s book “The Richest Man in Babylon,” but Clason raises an important question: Why should
so few men be able to acquire so much gold?
The answer is because they know how.
One may not condemn a man for succeeding because he knows how. Neither may one with justice take away from a man what he has fairly earned, to give to men of less ability.
And so it was that the good king of Babylon sought out the richest man in Babylon to teach to others in his kingdom the secrets of his success.
This is a synopsis of what the richest man taught to the people
of Babylon:
The Seven Cures for a Lean Wallet
1) Start your wallet to fattening. Save one-tenth of all you earn. Remember that a part
of all I earn is mine to keep. Do this faithfully. Do not let the simplicity of this escape you.
When I ceased to pay out more than nine-tenths of my earnings,
I got along just as well.
I was not shorter than before, and, money came to me more easily than before.
2) Control your expenses. How is it that all do not earn the same yet all have lean wallets? Here is the truth: That which each of us calls our “necessary expenses” will always grow to equal our incomes unless we protest to
the contrary.
Confuse not necessary expenses with desires. We all have more desires than our earnings can gratify. Examine which of the accepted expenses of living can be reduced or eliminated. Let your motto be 100% of appreciated value demanded for every dollar spent.
Budget your expenses so that your actual necessities are met without spending more than nine-tenths of your earnings.
3) Make your money multiply. Protect your growing treasure by putting it to labor and increasing. Money in your wallet earns nothing. Money that we earn from our money is but a start; it is the earnings generating earnings that builds fortunes.
When the richest man in Babylon loaned money to the shield maker to buy bronze, he said this: “Each time I loaned money to the shield maker, I loaned back also the rental he had paid me. Therefore not only did my capital increase, but its earnings likewise increased.”
4) Guard your money from loss. Everyone has an idea of how to make quick money; few, however, have the evidence of making money to justify their idea, scheme or offer of quick riches. The first sound principle of investment is security for your principal.
Before you loan your money to any man assure yourself of his ability to repay your loan, and of his reputation to do so. Make no one a present of your hard-earned treasure.
Consult the wisdom of those experienced in handling money for profit. Such advice is often freely given for
the asking, and may possess more value than the amount you
are about to invest.
5) Make your home a profitable investment. When you can set aside only nine-tenths of what you earn to live, and can use a part of that nine-tenths to improve the investment in your housing, do it; owning your own home is also an investment that grows with your wealth.
Your family deserves a home they can enjoy and call their own. It builds a sense of stability and well-being.
6) Ensure a future income. Build income-producing assets that do not require you to work forever. We will all grow old and die.
You should prepare a suitable income for the days to come when you are no longer younger and cannot work as hard, and to make preparations for your family should you no longer be with them to comfort and support them. Provide in advance for the needs of your growing age, and the protection of your family.
7) Increase your
ability to earn.
Desire precedes accomplishment, and the desire must be strong and definite. When you have backed your desire for saving $1,000 with the strength and purpose to secure it, you can then save $2,000.
Desires must be simple and definite. Desires defeat their own purpose when they are too many, too confusing, or too difficult to accomplish. Cultivate your own powers to study and become wiser, more skillful, and more productive.
Here is more sage advice from Clason’s masterpiece on financial matters:
The 5 Laws of Money
If you had to choose, would you choose tons of money or wisdom? Most men would take the money, ignore the wisdom, and waste the money. Here is the wisdom:
1) Money comes gladly and in increasing quantities to any man who will put aside not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and the future of his family.
2) Money labors diligently and contently for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying unto itself in infinity if kept working diligently. Money multiplies itself in surprising fashion.
3) Money clings to
the protection of the cautious owner who invests it with the advice of men wise
in its handling.
4) Money slips away from the man who invests it in businesses or purposes that he is not familiar with, or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep. The inexperienced handler of money who trusts his own judgment, and puts his money in investments which he is not familiar, always pays with his money for his experience.
5) Money flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings, or who follows the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers, or who
trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.
Here is the hard lesson of the 5 Laws of Money: You cannot measure the value of wisdom in bags of money. Without wisdom, those who have it quickly lose money, but with wisdom, money can be secured by those who have it not.
This ends the condensation.
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“Forrest Gump” Teaches Many Lessons, and Tom Hanks Earns Best Actor Oscar
Published April 9, 2012 | By edbagley
Forrest Gump – 4 Stars (Excellent)
“Forrest Gump” begins with a feather being lifted through the air by a breeze that brings it to the feet of Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), who is sitting at a bus stop in Savannah (GA). Gump picks it up and puts it in a “Curious George” children’s book. He then begins to tell the story of his life to the first of several people who are waiting with him for the next bus.
Some of the people are great listeners and others are not, but make no mistake about it, Gump is a master storyteller. He is simple, unpretentious, honest, not bright and full of integrity. For such a humble person, his story is almost unbelievable.
Forrest wears braces on his legs to walk in childhood, eludes the bullies who taunt him, makes friends with Jenny (Robin Wright Penn) who he will pursue his entire life, meets Elvis Presley, meets three Presidents—John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam, where he saves Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise) and loses his friend, Private “Bubba” (Mykelti Williamson).
At an anti-war rally in Washington, DC he briefly reunites with Jenny, whose life is a mess after searching for fame and pursuing a hippie lifestyle. Forrest starts a table tennis craze and becomes a nationally-known ping-pong whiz, using the money he earns to start a very successful shrimp boat business with Lt. Dan, who invests their money in Apple stock and both become wealthy in the process.
He then inspires people to jog, helps an entrepreneur create the smiley face stickers, and faces the loss of his mother (Sally Field), who tells him he must work out his own destiny. Through it all, Jenny and love eludes him. Forrest lived in turbulent times.
If you are dizzy just imagining all of this, so was I. After seeing Forrest Gump the first time I was appreciative of the film’s merit, but overwhelmed by how one person could accomplish so much and be around so many famous people. After watching Forrest Gump 3 more times, I got over it and now only sing its praises.
Eventually Jenny sees Forrest running on television and writes him a letter to come see her. When he does, he discovers that Jenny has a son and is very sick. She asks Forrest to marry her, and soon after he does, she dies. He learns that he is the father of her child, and commits to raising him. When young Forrest gets on the bus for his first day of school, the white feather falls from the Curious George book he is carrying, is caught in the breeze and drifts skyward.
If you are wondering about the feather, it was real, but its performance in the movie was computer-based. The feather is important because it raises the question of whether we are all floating around accidental-like on a breeze, or if we each actually have a destiny. Forrest surmises that perhaps it is both.
Everything that happens to Forrest Gump is worth seeing, and much of what happens teaches us important lessons in life. This is a love story, a story of relationships and the story of one person in a very big world that is sometimes almost impossible to understand. All that is good and much that is bad is covered in the film.
To appreciate where Forrest Gump is coming from, learn from these memorable lines in the film:
1) Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: “Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?” Forrest Gump: “I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir.”
2) Forrrest Gump: (describing Vietnam) “We was always taking long walks, and we was always looking for a guy named Charlie.”
3) Jenny Curran: “Have you ever been with a girl, Forrest?” Forrest Gump: (nervously) “I sit next to them in my Home Economics class . . .”
4) Jenny Curran: “His name’s Forrest.” Forrest Gump: “Like me.” Jenny Curran: “I named him after his daddy.” Forrest Gump: “He got a daddy named Forrest, too?” Jenny Curran: “You’re his daddy, Forrest.”
5) Jenny Curran: “Do you ever dream, Forrest, about who you’re gonna be?” Forrest Gump: “Who I’m gonna be?” Jenny Curran: “Yeah.” Forrest Gump: “Aren’t—aren’t I going to be me?”
6) Forrest Gump: “I’m not a smart man . . . but I know what love is.”
7) Forrest Gump: “Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” This line was voted 40th among the Top 100 Movie Quotes by the American Film Institute. In 2007, The AFI rated Forrest Gump as the 76th Greatest Movie of All Time.
8) Forrest Gump: “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Tom Hanks patterned his accent after young Forrest (Michael Conner Humphreys, who actually talked that way).
Forrest Gump was an immensely successful film, with a production cost of $55 million and a worldwide gross of $677+ million. After its release in 1994, it became the fastest grossing Paramount film to reach the $100 million, $150 million and $200 million marks, and passed $250 million in 66 days.
Even more important, Forrest Gump won 6 Oscars at the Academy Awards—for Best Picture, Tom Hanks for Best Actor, Robert Zemeckis for Best Director, Eric Roth for Best Screenplay based on Winston Groom’s novel, Arthur Schmidt for Best Film Editing, and Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum and Allen Hall for Best Visual Effects.
Forrest Gump also picked up another 7 Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Gary Sinise), Best Original Musical Score (Alan Silvestri), Best Set Decoration, Best Cinematography (Don Burgess), Best Makeup, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects Editing.
Among its other 32 wins and 38 nominations were 7 Golden Globe nominations and wins for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture.
As is true with just about any other award-winning production, many famous professionals passed on the opportunity to be part of the success. Terry Gilliam and Barry Sonnenfeld were offered the chance to direct the film. Bill Murray was considered for the role of Forrest, Chevy Chase turned down the role of Forrest, and three others turned down the role of Bubba—David Alan Grier, Dave Chappelle and Ice Cube.
Tom Hanks said that he would make the film only if all the events that took place were historically accurate. For example, when Gump calls to report the Watergate burglary, the security guard on duty answers the phone by saying, “Security, Frank Willis.” Willis was the actual guard on duty that night who discovered the break-in that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation from the Presidency.
Tom Hanks is one incredible, bankable actor. While Forrest Gump grossed $677 million and is far and away his biggest box office success, he has been involved in 19 other films grossing $100+ million, and he ranks 3rd among all actors appearing in films with $3.3 billion generated.
Forrest Gump was directed by Robert Zemeckis, with the screenplay written by Eric Roth based on Winston Groom’s novel. I really liked Forrest Gump and I think you will too. If you have seen it before, revisit it again and relive the magic moments of hope, courage, patience, love, understanding and compassion—all of which give special meaning to our life.
The First Time I Had Witnessed a Miracle
(Ed’s Note: This article was written in 1976, 44 years ago, on the occasion of my daughter’s birth, and was first published in The Lacey Leader, the newspaper
I owned and operated for
8 years. As a Christian,
I celebrate the Resurrection of Christ rising from the dead this Easter Sunday so that all who believe might have eternal life. It is a joy for me to recount this miracle with you, recognizing that the birth of life is both a miracle and mystery to be cherished among all of our living experiences.)
I have lived on this Earth 31 years, but Saturday night was the first time
I had ever seen a miracle.
It started in the dead of sleep at 5 a.m. For four hours I slept on like a newborn baby. It was nothing unusual for me—
the freight train that cuts Patterson Lake in two could detour through our bedroom, and I would probably not wake up.
Inside Annette—while I cut through zees like rewrite copy—a slow stirring began. Soon it became sharp pains. Finally I woke at 9 a.m. to greet the new day and found out Annette had been up at 5 wondering if her time had come. It had.
We checked into St. Peter Hospital at 11 a.m. and began an even longer wait. Soon it was 1 p.m., then 3 and 5 and 7 and 9 and her labor continued. The baby was not in the right position, and Annette spent a good deal of time figuring out how to push when the contractions came.
It was a struggle we went through together, her frank cries of anguish and my dispassionate encouragement. I could not have become emotionally involved, or it would have been all over for me. I wanted to see everything.
Finally monitors were put on her to play out the frequency of the contractions and the frequency of the baby’s heartbeat. A steady blip, blip, blip played across the face of the machine and, to the right, numbers changed every few seconds, telling the baby’s heartbeat per minute. Eventually medicine was used to help induce the contractions.
After 17½ hours, Annette went to the delivery room and I was right behind her. Inside, as Dr. Krug exhibited a totally calm, professional demeanor, I watched as the baby’s head pushed into the new world.
Dr. Krug noted that the cord had a knot and then, with one final push, Kristin Ann came into the world and nothing could hold back Annette’s elation and tears, and Kristin’s cry for survival.
Kristin was bright and alert to the momentous occasion; she immediately opened her eyes and let us know she was here—it must have been a tremendous struggle for her too.
I sat stunned, not giving in to instant joy. I wanted to note, with the patience and calm of a craftsman, every detail of this glorious moment.
Kristin looked blue and—had it not been for her crying—you might have thought she was not alive. Her eyes, if not her voice, said otherwise. I felt like
I could have reached out and touched the Hand of God.
Later, in the nursery, I was astounded that Kristin looked a healthy pink only minutes after her arrival. Her eyes were still open and her mouth was constantly moving.
When Annette came out of the delivery room and the nurse wheeled her up to the window, I was sure I saw Kristin smile. As if to test this observation against reality, I asked the nurse if she had smiled. I could not believe it.
The nurse replied yes and then, when the nurse, Annette and I once again focused on the wonder before us, Kristin Ann smiled again.
(Ed’s Note: Family is the fundamental core unit of our culture, from the unity of many comes the strength of the family to fulfill its destiny, with each generation experiencing the life cycle, and the joys and challenges of realizing our individual and group potential. The gift of life is only our first gift, it is up to us—as individuals and as a family unit—to love and support each other as we develop our unique gifts as children of God. Regrettably, more than 62 million babies have suffered abortion and been killed in their mother’s womb because of the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court. It obviously never occurred to the majority of the 7 of 9 setting Justices that they would have not been alive on Planet Earth if their mothers had aborted them. And many of us thought that those 7 Supreme Court Justices that ruled in favor of the motion were kind, thoughtful and sensible students of the United States Constitution, a document whose authors never, and I mean never, would have approved the motion. I say this because our great nation ensured us that were endowed by God with the fundamental tenet of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. The majority decision by those
7 misguided Justices have resulted in the killing of 62+ million babies and counting, as more are killed every day in America. It is easy to see why liberal progressives are happy with kicking God out of our schools. These are the same Pro Choice believers who would like to kick God out of our country and kick Christianity out of our nation, then we could become a socialist nation (or Communist or a Dictatorship) without a need for God or religion. Non-believers have some other ideas about this same topic. That’s OK. I believe our universe is big enough to accommodate everyone.)
on Investing
by Warren Buffett
(Ed’s Note: The following condensation is from The Tao of Warren Buffett, written by Mary Buffett and David Clark and available for sale at Amazon and bookstores nationwide. I am always impressed by what Warren Buffett has to say and am doing this condensation to help promote their book.)
On Investing: Never be afraid to ask too much when selling offer too little when buying.
(Ed’s Note: How much you get from a sale or how much you have to pay when making a purchase determines whether you make or lose money and how rich you ultimately become.)
(Ed’s Note: For more of Warren Buffett’s advice go to the menu bar above and click on Financial Thoughts.)
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EECS Major
EECS Bachelor of Science
There are many reasons why the EECS B.S. is ranked among the top three undergraduate computer engineering programs in the world. We offer a dynamic, interdisciplinary, hands-on education; we challenge conventional thinking and value creativity and imagination; and our students and faculty are driven by social commitment to change the world.
Ingenuity, Design, and Real-Life Applications
You are about to enter on one of the greatest adventures of your life: selecting the school where you will pursue your college degree. If you have a record of outstanding academic achievement and you enjoy science, mathematics, problem solving, and design, we hope you will seriously consider applying to the University of California, Berkeley's Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) Department.
Engineering is about the application of technology to solve societal needs. Electrical engineers and computer scientists are the people responsible for designing the systems and components that capture, store, process, interpret, and transmit information or signals. Some of the most significant technological advances of the 20th century were either invented or put into practice by electrical engineers and computer scientists, including electric power systems; global broadcast and personal telecommunication systems; computer systems; computer networks; medical instrumentation, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer-aided tomography (CAT); integrated circuits; lasers; household appliances; and feedback control, such as for autopilots. New technologies developed by electrical engineers and computer scientists are likely to be even more important in the 21st century as a new era of intelligent, information-driven systems is made possible by fundamental advances in faster communication rates, smaller devices, and greater computational capabilities.
More about the EECS major.
Ways to Explore Berkeley EECS
Participate in workshops, presentations, demonstrations, and lab tours at Cal Day, our annual open house held each April.
Schedule an appointment with an EECS Department Adviser.
Register for a department tour, led by members of Eta Kappa Nu, the EECS Honor Society.
Attend programs hosted by Science@Cal, an organization created to connect the community with UC Berkeley scientists and research.
Learn more about Berkeley Engineering on YouTube.
Check out “The Beauty and Joy of Computing,” a free online course taught by UC Berkeley Professor Dan Garcia.
Students interested in EECS should apply directly to the major on the University of California Application for Admission. The holistic review process evaluates the applicant's full spectrum of qualifications viewed in the context of their academic and personal circumstances.
Once enrolled, students may choose to pursue a joint major, double major, simultaneous degree, or minor.
Freshmen are admitted directly into the EECS major and spend all four years in the program. In addition to the UC Admission requirements, engineering applicants are encouraged to take additional courses, particularly in math and science. Doing well in these subjects will prepare new students for the rigors of engineering at the university level.
Freshmen applicants may also consider applying to the College of Engineering as Engineering Undeclared.
Freshmen Admission FAQ
You are a transfer student if you have completed coursework during a regular session at a college or university after high school. Transfer applicants must complete all required preparation courses to be eligible for admission.
Please note that UC Berkeley gives California community college students first priority over other transfer applicants. These students should use assist.org to ensure admission requirements are completed and transferrable.
Transferring from a CA Community College
Transferring from Another Institution
EECS B.S. Degree Requirements
Students are required to complete core technical classes during their first few semesters. They then have the opportunity to explore various topics from computer science theory to networking and physical systems.
View degree requirements
Transferring within Cal? Pursuing a Double Major?
It is rare but possible to transfer into the EECS program from another major on campus or to add EECS as a second major. We also offer an EECS minor, a CS Minor, and an EIS Minor for students pursuing other majors.
More about Double Majors or Change of Major
EECS + Business Simultaneous Degrees
In just four years you can earn two B.S. degrees through the Management, Entrepreneurship, & Technology (M.E.T.) Program in EECS and Business Administration. You’ll be in a small cohort, benefiting from close mentoring, a tight-knit community and opportunities to connect everything you’re learning in one integrated experience.
Look into M.E.T.
A self-initiated research project allows you to graduate with something that represents the distillation of your interests and studies, and possibly, a real contribution to knowledge.
Pursue Your Research Interests
The UC Berkeley EECS program is accredited by ABET through September 2019.
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EU-CIVCAP
Improving EU capabilities for peacebuilding
Consortium Structure
View all lessons
– By region or country
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– By policy phase
– By conflict-cycle stage
– By cross-cutting issue
– By topic
Peacebuilding Fora
Research Meets Policy Seminars
Expert Op Eds
Brexit Articles
Newsletter sign-up (external)
Toby Vogel
EU-CIVCAP Staff
Toby Vogel is a writer on foreign affairs based in Brussels, where he also works as a research communications officer in the foreign policy unit of CEPS. He regularly reviews current affairs titles for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and has written for the Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, and the Times Literary Supplement, among others. In 2007-14, he was a staff writer on political and home affairs with European Voice, a newsweekly. Previously, he was a contributing editor of Transitions Online and a writer on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s daily Newsline, with a focus on the Balkans. He was educated at the University of Zurich (MA, philosophy, 1995), completed his PhD coursework and field exam in politics at the New School for Social Research (MA, 1998), and was a Andrew W. Mellon Foundation research fellow on security and humanitarian action at City University of New York (2003), undertaking research on state failure sponsored by UNDP. Vogel worked in New York for the Open Society Institute and the International Rescue Committee. In 1999-2002, he was head of monitoring and evaluation for the IRC’s $20m refugee return and reintegration program in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and subsequently worked as a consultant on refugee and governance issues with UNDP and other organizations in Bosnia and Kosovo. He is married with two daughters.
DL 1.2
EU-CIVCAP Policy Recommendations: Executive Summary of the Final Report including Guidance for Policymakers
Lead Author: Juncos, A.E.
Lead Institution: University of Bristol
Contributing Authors: G. Algar-Faria, C. Barbieri, T. De Zan, H. Dijkstra, N. Habbida, N. Pirozzi, M.E. Smith, B. Venturi, T. Vogel and P.H. Zartsdahl
[PDF, ~14.1MB; click to access]
WP4: REACT
European and international responses to conflict early response
WP7: LEARN
Lessons identified, lessons learned, and best practices
WP8: SHARE
Institutional Affiliation
Centre for European Policy Studies
CEPS serves as a leading centre for debate on EU affairs, and has strong expertise on EU foreign and security policy. Located in Brussels and with an extensive network of participant institutes throughout the world, CEPS is well placed to lead the dissemination work package (WP8).
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How can the EU better understand and improve civil-military synergies? November 30, 2018
Local ownership in EU local capacity building November 5, 2018
Coordination and coherence in EU local capacity building November 5, 2018
Post-Election Troubles in Bosnia: What Role for the EU? November 1, 2018
Civilian Capabilities for the Civilian Compact October 15, 2018
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© 2018 EU-CIVCAP Project
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no.: 653227. The content reflects only the authors’ views, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in articles on this website are those of the authors of those articles and do not necessarily reflect the position of EU-CIVCAP.
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The Best Way to Prepare for Disaster: Crisis Leadership and Higher Ed
Ralph Gigliotti | Director of the Center for Organizational Leadership, Rutgers University
Understanding the stakeholder’s perception of your institution is critical in when preparing for a crisis. Their values should be your values.
Crises on postsecondary campuses used to be rare. Now, they’re growing so rapidly they need the attention of leaders across all divisions of an institution. Ralph Gigliotti, Director of Leadership Development and Research at Rutgers University, explores this issue in his latest book, Crisis Leadership in Higher Education: Theory and Practice. In this interview, Gigliotti discusses the different types of crises and how people can respond to them, and reflects on how institutional leaders need to shift their mindset in order to be ready to face an unexpected crisis.
The EvoLLLution (Evo): What inspired you to write a book on crisis leadership and higher ed?
Ralph Gigliotti (RG): Though we talk a lot about colleges and universities being value-based organizations, I noticed over the last couple of years that higher education leaders have responded to crises with practices and behaviors that run counter to those stated values. There’s a disconnect there. This led me to really dive deeper into what constitutes crisis in higher education, and how values-based organizations, particularly colleges and universities, can best respond to those events or situations that are perceived to be crises.
Evo: What are some examples of the kinds of crises you’re referring to?
RG: I did a content analysis of a few different news sources and looked at over a thousand different instances of situations that might be characterized as crises. The result was a taxonomy of crisis types that are most germane to colleges and universities. The full taxonomy’s detailed in the book, but there are financial crises, natural disasters, student affairs crises and even athletics and academic crises.
Evo: Why do we talk about crises so much in colleges and universities? Are they happening more often?
RG: There was a time when crises on college and university campuses were relatively rare and episodic. When such incidents occurred, they were typically handled by a small team of individuals within a small number of units at an institution. But we’ve seen a change and it seems to be increasing rapidly.
There’s good research to support the fact that crises are growing in magnitude, frequency and complexity—and we see and feel that in higher education. It’s not easy to pinpoint one reason why, but we could look at the increased pressure on our institutions, and the role of social media in amplifying the level of attention paid to crises.
These factors converge to make the role of modern institutional leaders all the more complex.
Evo: Does the increased attention to crisis in higher education speak to a changing role of colleges and universities within a broader society?
RG: One of the major challenges for postsecondary leaders today is that there are a number of stakeholders—more than many other sectors—all of whom have different and competing perceptions about what higher education’s core purpose is.
Our institutions are embedded in larger ecosystems that are increasingly complex and divisive. All of that complicates how we look at and understand crisis.
We need to learn from how other organizational sectors and types respond to crisis. After all, just because we have so many differences from a for-profit organization doesn’t mean we can’t learn from their crisis-management approaches.
Evo: What are a few key skills that continuing education division leaders need to manage crisis?
RG: The importance of perception cannot be underestimated. One of the central findings from the project was really looking at crisis as a social construction. There are things that happen in the environment that impact our institutions that may be considered crises, particularly a natural disaster that shuts down academic buildings, damages our cyber system, whatever it might be. But there are a whole host of other crises in the environment that are based on how people are looking at and perceiving the situation. If a critical mass of individuals—whether it be students, faculty, staff or external stakeholders—perceive there to be a crisis, it’s a crisis worth attending to from the perspective of leaders.
So, perception matters. That’s the first critical takeaway.
The second one is looking beyond the reputational implications of crisis. We tend to use communication as a way to perhaps spin our way out of crisis when it unfolds. But really tuning in and claiming those values and principles in the mission that we talk so often about—and to use that as a compass and guide for decision making and communication in the aftermath of crisis—is really paramount.
Those two themes, the perception of crisis being critical and looking beyond the reputational implications, are two of the major themes in the book.
Evo: What are the negative ramifications of handling a crisis poorly?
RG: It seems like organizations that are committed to learning would take this seriously, right? There’s a lot to say there. I talk about this counter cultural need for agility in the book. Higher education, by design, is slow-moving and deliberative. That’s really been a key ingredient to our success because we take care in the decision-making process and in engagement, ensuring that we’re being thoughtful and systematic.
Crises by their definition are fast and disruptive. They require a level of agility that our organizational systems don’t necessarily have a lot of experience with. We’re becoming more competent in this area. Colleagues in continuing education most certainly are exploring and engaged in this work themselves to envision what the future of higher education might look like. Being more purposeful and agile in how we’re handling the kinds of cross-cutting factors that might be on the horizon for us—it’s just something that doesn’t come naturally to us.
We talk about the importance of learning and we know there is value in encouraging our students and learners to take learning seriously. But what are the ways in which organizational learning is actually built into the culture and fabric of our institutions?
That’s something that we probably could do a better job with, particularly as it relates to crisis. What might we learn to be more competent, to be more agile, more systematic and value centered in the ways in which we approach crisis?
You can read more on this topic with Giglotti’s latest book
Consolidated Administration: The Key to Delivering a 60-Year Curriculum
Shift the status quo to achieve long-term success and viability for your university.
How institutions respond to crises is often at odds with their values. Instead, those values should guide the decision-making process.
Stakeholders have different perspectives from leaders on what higher ed’s purpose is, creating a complex environment to tackle any crisis.
Higher education, by design, is slow-moving and calculated. But responding well to crisis requires agility and responsiveness.
Supporting Staff and Students in Response to COVID-19
Michael Frasciello | Dean of the University College, Syracuse University
What Strategic Leadership Looks Like in Practice
Alison Witherspoon | Vice President of Continuous Improvement, American College of Education
Transform Your Team: Eight Key Elements to Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Travette Webster | Director of Administrative and Student Support Services, Houston Community College
Delivering A Seamless Digital Experience Beyond the Pandemic
Andrea Keener | Associate Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development, Miami Dade College
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Welcome to Interiors!
Derek J.J. Knight: Art from a Hotel Bedroom
Devon Fornelli: Improv Outside, May 9, 2020
Catherine Parayre: On Yates Street
Donna Szőke: Pandemic Time
Poems from the Interior/Poèmes de l’intérieur
Small Homes Curatorial Essay
Small Homes Bios and Statements
Gallery of Artifacts from Vivid COVID Dreams
Outreach Activity Submissions
Small Homes > Small Homes Curatorial Essay
Maya Meyerman
Indoors. Inside our homes. Inside our minds. Interiors are the parts of the world that are hidden from view. They are our most private spaces and, thus, our most intimate spaces. By allowing others to enter our personal interiors, we give them access to an aspect of who we are. Our inner selves are the unexposed core of our interiors but will inevitably spill out onto our physical selves and our environment. Most likely, a great deal about ourselves can be understood by looking at the places we dwell in, as if these places were sensitive to the ebb and flow of our lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world and has had a severe impact on humanity. We have faced challenges that we had never expected to face and have often had to part from expectations we had set for ourselves. We have been asked to stay in our homes and to distance ourselves from others. In addition to the stress of the uncertainty, our confinement has caused concern over mental health. Though we have always been partial to our homes, we have been forced to face our spaces. The more we dwell in these spaces, the more we influence our environment, leaving us to hold up a mirror to our mental state. Though our concrete spaces may not physically or visually resemble our mental state, they are the result of our actions and mindsets. We must assume that an exchange exists between the outside, our homes and our inner selves.
My COVID-19 experience has impacted my environment as I learn to inhabit a personal space during these strange times. I have returned to my family home and have been separated from my student home. It has been some time since I have lived with family for a long period of time, so I had to alter my environment to suit my current self. In particular, I was forced to negotiate my childhood self, who used to inhabit these spaces, with my current self. Though it required from me to make artificial aesthetic changes, my environment needed to shift towards my inner self so that I could feel supported and comfortable inside the confines of my home while danger and uncertainty persisted outside of it.
Small Homes, a curatorial project executed under the larger Interiors project associated with the Research Centre in Interdisciplinary Arts and Creative Culture, looks at the ways in which interiors relate to collective life and how they are influenced by societal forces. Small Homes is also interested in identifying the (auto)biographical elements from works depicting the artists’ personal interior spaces.
To collect works, we invited students and the public to submit pieces that depicted objects found in their homes. The submission criteria were based on a specific assignment in Shawn Serfas’ painting class in the Department of Visual Arts at Brock University: create small-format paintings of objects found at home. The assignment allows students to enhance their technical skills as well as reflect on their personal surroundings. In Small Homes, the submission criteria have been adjusted to include works in media other than painting.
In addition to providing a short biographical notice, artists were asked to briefly comment on the artwork they had submitted. As curator, one of my tasks has been to use this written corpus to identify the (auto)biographic elements in the artwork. Quite expectably, the connections I make are, to a certain extent, the result of my, not the artists’, environment. This does not mean that my analysis will be false or unreliable. It simply means that I will be informed by things that go beyond the content that has been provided by the artist. In turn, viewers go through their own meaning-making process based on their personal perspectives. As Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul and shows us secrets which are common to all” (50).
Student artists in Niagara often have the opportunity to exhibit their work in the St. Catharines community but, due to the pandemic, their options have been limited. Yet, the arts and self-expression continue to play a vital role for our well-being, both individually and collectively. While providing the opportunity for young artists to exhibit their work, Small Homes reflects on something that the pandemic has made us even more intimate with: our personal interior spaces, these places we do not usually display, and which are now – digitally – open to viewers in their own homes, thus situating the representations of the artists’ spaces both in a public space (online exhibition) and in our own personal environments. This double mediation is possible because the experience of viewing a virtual exhibition is different from a traditional gallery visit, and online access provides an opportunity for multiple perspectives to be included and for a larger story to be conveyed (Edmonds et al. 172).
Object Expressivity
Objects are significant because they are often purposefully placed by their owners for a particular reason. The reasons may range from decoration to the belief that objects have a life of their own as is seen in different literary works or, more recently, in films such as Pixar’s Toy Story, where toys come to life when their child owner is away. Such narratives play with the dynamic of our connection to inanimate objects. The question is asked: “If the living self ‘overflows’ into matter, if furnishings are ‘expressive’, are objects then alive – alive in ways that cannot be rationally articulated?” (Brown 84).
We often value things both because of their economic significance and as a repository of memory. Materiality provides comfort and status. On the other hand, objects have the capacity to hold emotional significance due to their relationship to personal memories. Many of us probably have stuffed animals that we used as kids that are still important to us though, to anyone else, they hold little to no value. In Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, the character, Fanny, struggles with her responsibility towards the expensive objects that were gifted to her – she needs to handle them with care – and the fact that she also uses them in her daily life (Brown 52). This double function of objects (to both represent and be useful tools) makes them even more crucial to her feeling of belonging. It is unlikely that any of the artists in the present exhibition are facing a similar dilemma to Fanny’s, but this example illustrates how objects contribute to feelings about who we are.
There also exists a potential for objects to hold “magical” qualities. While change is inevitable in life, objects may remind us of the past and remain fairly constant. To children, objects have a magical potential (Brown 131). Their imagination drives them to discover their surroundings. By associating this time in their lives with objects, they are setting up feelings of nostalgia that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. The objects that we keep in our spaces are filled with memories that evoke feelings of nostalgia and, with them, a sense of comfort. The value placed on objects makes them a quintessential subject matter for artists who wish to revisit these feelings in their work.
Stephanie Dancer depicts a bowl of oranges. This bowl was placed on the table at her friend’s house in California where she spent part of her quarantine. She recalls happy moments spent with her friend’s eldest child playing games by the bowl of oranges. She also mentions the importance of savouring joy in difficult times. In fact, Dancer’s painting does not depict the bowl of oranges itself, but its reflection as if to portray something that goes beyond its tangible state and that we imagine to be the subjective reality of the artist reminiscing a state of mind.
Despite the call asking for depictions of interior space, Emma Mary Sked places a particular emphasis on individual objects. Her choice to replace the background, or what I assume to be the objects’ surrounding environment, with solid coloured backgrounds allows the objects to stand out, leaving any attempt at meaning-making to lay within the elements of the depicted objects. Sked claims that she is not inclined to place value on inanimate objects though she describes how each item represents something different to her. Each object represents either a passion, a person or a value that is dear to her; she is aware of the limits of her tiny living space, making her careful about what items she brings into it.
Terry Badgley’s artwork pays special attention to plants and goes a step further by personifying them. Badgley’s first piece is titled “Silvia,” the name that was given to the plant depicted in the painting. Badgley refers to the plant as “she” and expresses pride in keeping it alive. While plants are living organisms, the name “Silvia” and the pronoun “she” indicate that Badgley has allotted a deeper significance to the plant. In the second piece, Badgley personifies the object by adding faces to the pots. Attracting the viewers’ attention, such personification allows them to experience a deeper emotional response.
Safe Comfort
For most of us, homes provide safety and comfort amidst the dangers of the outside world – harsh weather, robbery, violence, etc. During the pre-industrialization era, it also represented a safety haven within the changing world. For instance, seventeenth-century Holland and Dutch genre painting portrays how the family and its dynamic are protected within the home (Brown 8). Such traditional and comfortable representation of family life is appealing to the bourgeoisie. As bourgeois homes became relics of a time when their owners maintained power, the style became heavier and more solid to resemble a fortress. At a time when industrialization prompted the rise of the working class, these fortress-like homes were protecting the values that these families upheld in the face of the changing social landscape (39).
The idea of using the home to protect oneself from the outside world continues to be upheld. Individuals can transform their homes into personal sanctuaries where they can be their true selves and distance themselves from social pressures. As pointed out by Walter Benjamin, for the private individual, the interior “represents the universe” (Brown 81), namely his or her most accurate sense of reality. The artists’ representations of their spaces express, at times, their sentiments about their homes. Angelina Turner discusses her home as a place where she does not feel judged and feels safe, and presents her work as making the mundane and safe seem beautiful. Looking at the constants in her life, Shania Thompson describes “her later, increasingly detailed, work [as adopting] a wider perspective,” and suggests that “the places deeply woven into her routine” give her room for exploration.
Their pieces convey the artists’ feelings through pertinent aesthetic choices. Painting allows them to create a softer look because the elements of the piece are slightly blended compared to the sharp distinctions that may exist when using other mediums. Also, the artists tend to use a large variety of colours to make the still life more vibrant, more inviting and lived in. The pieces that include windows show ambiguous landscapes, implying that the artists deem the outside world to be unimportant. In this sense, as long as we remain within the walls of our homes, we have the ability to avoid the difficulties existing beyond that space.
During the pandemic, the notion of home as a safe haven has been at the heart of the dominant narrative being diffused by authorities and newscasters around the world. Even benign activities, such as going to the grocery store or visiting a friend, had suddenly to be adapted or avoided altogether. More than ever we rely on the walls of our homes to protect us from an outside threat, this time a little-known and invisible coronavirus whose progression cannot yet be stopped.
Unhappy Home
At times a safe and happy space, home may also be a contested, even dangerous space. Domestic violence, feelings of loneliness or confinement, and domestic roles, among other things, can transform the home from a sanctuary to a cage. As much as designing the home may reflect one’s tastes, aspects of design may also reinforce the societal norms which infiltrate individual space. Further, home is for some the atrocious, hidden site of physical and emotional violence.
The role of women in the home has been considered for a long time now. The societal perceptions of women have transformed interior spaces into contested space, marked by gender roles. In the 1950s, the rise of interior design became largely associated with women. As men acted as the main breadwinners, women would dominate – or, from a different perspective, be assigned to - the domestic sphere. This often remains true today (Lupkin 85). One way in which gender has impacted interior design is through colour. The use of colour has been judged as a lack of sophistication in the western world when compared to dark or neutral shades being used with a focus on linearity. Colour, on the other hand, is often perceived as superficial: it “erupts in the excessiveness of ‘feminine, primitive, infantile, vulgar, queer or pathological’” (Titmarsh 133). Though it is not necessarily an issue for women to be associated with interior decorating, it is a symbol of their being kept within the domestic sphere. Different interior spaces highlight the presence of masculine occupants. For instance, in the early 1900s, the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) furnished its parlors in a way that reflected its male members and Christian values. The leaders of the association turned against the Victorian and orientalist styles that were influencing interior design at the time and “embraced Craftsman-style furniture for its simple lines and exposed joints, [and placed] it sparingly in their public rooms” (Lupkin 73). Today, the most common colours for consumers and manufacturers are black, white and red (Glasner 291).
Trends in interior design are in themselves acts of mitigation between personal tastes and societal pressures. Since the advent of television, there has been instructional programming aimed at women for how they should decorate their homes. Though they were encouraged to use their creativity, the programs also outlined rules to make the home more attractive (Lupkin 112). This has become common practice as we continue to receive interior decorating advice from television programs, magazines, and department store displays. In this manner, we are still being influenced by design standards based on outdated ideas.
Home is an unhappy place when walls, rather than acting as a barrier to the dangers of the outside world, confine us in solitude and exposes us to detrimental effects on our mental health. If we experience an outpour of dark emotions within a confined space, our feelings may be reflected onto our environment. Kaitlyn Roberts depicts an apartment where her anxiety becomes unbearable. She describes a suffocating space with “demonic walls” and her blinds are drawn to hide her view of the outside world. The entirety of the space is occupied by a heavy couch and a small, boxy coffee table. The artwork is reminiscent of the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In this story, the female protagonist is haunted by a figure that lurks in the wallpaper of the attic. The figure becomes a metaphor for her psychosis, as the short story animates the wallpaper to simulate the character’s demise. In her statement, Roberts’ language echoes the character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” and writes: “the apartment is quiet yet I hear screaming.” No longer a refuge, home is a place of suffering.
Representations of Identity
Interiors have been described as an external dimension of the soul: “the domestic interior […] conveys messages, which is why artists attend to it, and why people like to sit in the room of a beloved person and gaze upon the objects the beloved touched” (Brown 3). Small Homes also engages in reflective self-ideation as the artists are free to aestheticize the subject matter in a way that reflects their perceived image of themselves. Just as in self-portraits, the representation of interior space is an extension of the self.
Identity, however, is more than how we define ourselves; it “is composed not only by acts of self-perception, but also by acts of ‘other-perception’” (R. D. Lang in Saverino et al. 27). In other words, how others perceive us, or at least how we see others see us, makes up the image of who we are. Something similar may occur between ourselves and our environments as well. Auto-spatial exchange is the idea that our environments influence who we are but that our inner selves also influence our environments. Even a quick glimpse at our homes discloses how much they are a result of our most inner selves, not just a decorating project. We do, however, also have the knowledge that our environments influence us and say something about who we are, so we try to strike a balance between our true selves and the people we want to be, making our identity and our environments work hand-in-hand to construct ourselves. In particular, colour is an important consideration in the reflection of our identities onto our environments. More than just adding interest, colour provides its viewers with a sensation (Titmarsh 138).
With Small Homes, artists’ representations of their spaces include personal touches that gives us insight into who they are. For example, Quin McColgan expresses an interest in pets in her biography and includes animals in her paintings. Caroline Sherwood Holroyd has a background in graphic design but appreciates painting for its freedom from the crispness and linearity that she uses in her commercial work. In her paintings, we can see the soft quality of the brushstrokes and the mix of colours that is a sign of her pushing the boundaries of the medium. By comparing the information that the artists provide alongside their work, we can learn to better appreciate and understand the artists and the choices they make while creating their work.
Beyond Identity: Personal Fiction
Though we can discover aspects of the artists’ identities through their artwork, we will no doubt encounter elements of fiction too. It is nice to think of paintings as glimpses of reality, but the nature of artistic representation means that there will be discrepancies based on the artists’ task of providing an element of interest. In order to introduce a narrative or a meaning into the piece, some fictionalization must occur. Even if it is not the artist’s intention to alter the truth, the medium and the distance between ourselves as viewers and the artist make it inevitable for mediation to occur. It is not as though we were being deprived of the truth but we are given the opportunity to understand the subject matter from a different perspective and transform the meaning of the piece to give it a life and significance beyond its actual function.
This conflation between fiction and reality has ambiguous boundaries, but it is better understood when looking at the genre of autofiction. Like autobiography, autofiction tells a story about its author, though, rather than telling true stories, it includes things that never actually happened for the sake of making the narrative more interesting to readers. Thus, the author embraces language as a means of not only conveying meaning but of constituting it and of shaping our perceptions of reality (Worthington 160). When we apply this description to the interpretation of the paintings in Small Homes, we can consider painting to be a visual language that limits our ability to fully grasp reality. Therefore, the artists may use their position to create a similar effect and set up viewers to create their own fictional narratives based on the piece. A visual medium, painting has even more potential for viewers to use their imagination because of its indeterminacy (Jordan and Harris 250).
In autofiction, the idea is to place oneself within the narrative. In Small Homes, however, the artists are absent from the images. The spaces they live in and the objects they show are the clues offered to us as in a mystery game in which participants play detective and put together a narrative. In the absence of human figures, we may also allow personal past emotions to help guide us through the story (Dix 69). As the artists do not include themselves, the paintings are released from the grip of their makers, giving viewers license to create the story that surrounds the subject matter. Even with the help of the materials provided by the artists to better understand the works, viewers are prompted to assume a significant role in the meaning-making process.
As a matter of fact, the still-life genre provides a unique opportunity to fictionalize the lives of the artists because the objects chosen as subject matter prompt viewers to try and pull meaning from their inclusion in the piece. For example, Shania Thompson’s Cupcake, Scissors, Ketchup depicts three items that seemingly have no relation to one another, but the artist’s choice to present them together encourages viewers to try and make sense of the juxtaposition of these three objects within the context. Even though her artist’s statement provides little information that could outline a possible scenario underlying this painting, we will likely remain inclined to try and understand the scenario that led to these three objects coming together through the intention of the artist. In this sense, Thompson embraces the strangeness of this composition and how it puts her painting in a position to be fictionalized.
When trying to discover (auto)biographical elements about the artists through their work, it is important to understand that there are signs of their identities that are included but that they are also aware of the medium they are working in. Also, viewers need to be aware of the limits in our ability to reach any kind of truth. Though we are intrigued by the possibility of discovering one, fiction allows us to move beyond the image in front of us to make further discoveries in our imagination.
Over the course of this essay, I have tried to uncover biographical information about the artists through their representations of their personal interior spaces. By viewing the chosen pieces from multiple different perspectives, I have gained a deeper understanding of the artists and their relationships to their spaces but I also accept the fact that my attempt at narrativizing the works has forced me to incorporate an element of fictionalization (Worthington 7). Therefore, any interpretation I have made about the artworks featured in Small Homes is potentially inaccurate because it results from my personal meaning-making process. This, however, is not a problem because autofiction, which all Small Homes artists have in some way engaged with, is not about literal, but emotional truth (Dix 107).
Brown, Julia Prewitt. The Bourgeois Interior. Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 2008.
Dix, Hywel. Autofiction in English. Cham: Springer International, 2018.
Edmonds, Ernest et al. Museums and Digital Culture: New Perspectives and Research. Cham: Springer International, 2019.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 1892.
Glasner, Barbara and Petra Schmidt. Chroma Design, Architecture & Art in Color. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2010.
Jordan, Shirley and Sue Harris. “Performance in Sophie Calle’s Prenez soin de vous.” French Cultural Studies 24.3 (2013): 249–263.
Lupkin, Paula and Penny Sparke. Shaping the American Interior: Structures, Contexts and Practices. New York: Routledge, 2018.
Saverino, Rosa et al. “Word and Image Relations in the Autobiographical Narratives of Roland Barthes and Sophie Calle.” ProQuest Dissertations, 2015.
Titmarsh, Mark. Expanded Painting: Ontological Aesthetics and the Essence of Colour. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.
Tolstoy, Leo. The Journal of Leo Tolstoy (First Volume, 1895-1899). Project Gutenberg.
Worthington, Marjorie. The Story of “Me”: Contemporary American Autofiction. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2018.
Created with support from the Digital Scholarship Lab - dsl@brocku.ca
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Ontario Announces New Rate for Time-of-Use Customers
ENWIN Utilities Ltd. (ENWIN) is providing an update to its customers in regard to the electricity commodity cost included in their utility rates. The Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines issued a memorandum asking that local utilities like ENWIN inform customers that:
“The Government of Ontario has introduced a COVID-19 Recovery Rate of 12.8¢/kWh for all time-of-use (TOU) electricity customers, to support Ontarians as we restart the economy. Households, farms and small businesses who pay time-of-use electricity rates will be charged this fixed rate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting June 1, 2020.
This rate will be automatically reflected on TOU customers’ electricity bills for all three TOU periods, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is intended to be in place until October 31, 2020.”
As ENWIN adjusts its billing to reflect the new government plan, the utility is reassuring customers its Customer Service department remains on duty during business hours, to answer questions, and assist customers with any payment or other concerns.
“We recognize that many of our customers continue to struggle during this pandemic period,” said Helga Reidel, ENWIN's President and CEO. “Our billing and credit staff have been working very hard to help, and we encourage customers to keep phoning in if they need us. We will continue do our best for them, as the economy recovers.”
ENWIN has helped customers in a variety of ways during the COVID-19 outbreak in Windsor, including its implementation of the Ontario moratorium on disconnection for residential and small business customers. In addition, the Windsor Utilities Commission authorized a similar moratorium for residential water customers, and both the WUC and ENWIN Boards of Directors also approved a hold on interest charges and penalties until June 30. Throughout the pandemic, the local distribution company has, and will, continue to help customers individualize their payments, if needed.
“Our customers are at the center of all we do,” concluded Reidel. “These measures are only some of the ways we have been helping customers during the pandemic. Our crews have also remained on the front line, throughout COVID-19, ensuring both water and electricity services continued without disruption.”
Additional information about the Ontario Energy Board’s new TOU rates can be found here. ENWIN’s Customer Service Representatives are on call 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 519-255-2727.
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Hudson, Massachusetts
Infobox Settlement
official_name = Hudson, Massachusetts
nickname =
motto =
imagesize = 250px
image_caption = Hudson Town Center, with Unitarian Church spire in background
image_
mapsize = 250px
map_caption = Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
mapsize1 =
map_caption1 =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Massachusetts
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Middlesex
established_title = Settled
established_date = 1699
established_title2 = Incorporated
established_date2 = 1866
established_title3 =
established_date3 =
government_type = Open town meeting
leader_title = Executive Assistant
leader_name = Paul Blazar
leader_title1 = Board of Selectmen
leader_name1 = Joseph Durant Carl Leeber Antonio Loura Fred Lucy II Santino Parente
area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 30.7
area_total_sq_mi = 11.8
area_land_km2 = 29.8
area_land_sq_mi = 11.5
area_water_km2 = 0.9
area_water_sq_mi = 0.3
population_as_of = 2007
settlement_type = Town
population_total = 19,580
population_density_km2 = 657.0
population_density_sq_mi = 1,702.6
elevation_m = 80
elevation_ft = 263
timezone = Eastern
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = Eastern
utc_offset_DST = -4
latd = 42 |latm = 23 |lats = 30 |latNS = N
longd = 71 |longm = 34 |longs = 00 |longEW = W
website = http://www.townofhudson.org/Home/
postal_code_type = ZIP code
postal_code = 01749
area_code = 351 / 978
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 25-31540
blank1_name = GNIS feature ID
blank1_info = 0618226
footnotes =
Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,113 at the 2000 census.
For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Hudson, please see the article Hudson (CDP), Massachusetts.
In 1650, the area that would become Hudson was part of the Indian Plantation for the Praying Indians. The Praying Indians were evicted from their plantation during King Philip's War, and most did not return even after the war ended.
The first European settlement of the Hudson area occurred in 1699 when settler John Barnes, who had been granted an acre of the Ockookangansett Indian Plantation the year before, built a gristmill on the Assabet River on land that would one day be part of Hudson. By 1701, Barnes had also built a sawmill on the river and had built a bridge across it. Over the next century, Hudson grew slowly.
Hudson was part of Marlborough, and was known as Feltonville for part of that time, until its incorporation in 1866.
As early as June 1743 Hudson-area residents petitioned to break away from Marlborough and become a separate town, but this petition was denied by the Massachusetts General Court.
Men from the present Hudson area fought with the minutemen on April 19, 1775.
In 1850, Feltonville (as Hudson was then called), received its first railroads. This allowed the development of larger factories, some of the first in the country to use steam power and sewing machines. By 1860, Feltonville had 17 shoe and shoe-related factories, which attracted immigrants from Ireland and French Canada.
Feltonville residents fought during the Civil War for the Union side. Twenty-five men died doing so. Many houses, including the Goodale House on Chestnut Street (Hudson's oldest building, dating from 1702) and the Curley home on Brigham Street (now known as the Rice Farm), were stations on the Underground Railroad.
In 1865, Hudson-area residents again petitioned for Feltonville to become a separate town. This petition was approved by the Massachusetts General Court on March 19, 1866. The new town was named Hudson after childhood resident Charles Hudson, who donated $500 to the new town for it to build a library, on the condition that the newly-incorporated town be named after him.
Over the next twenty years, Hudson grew as many industries settled in town. Two woolen mills, an elastic-webbing plant, a piano case factory, and a factory for waterproofing fabrics by rubber coating were built, as well as banks, five schools, a poor farm, and the town hall that is still in use today. The population hovered around 5,500 residents, most of whom lived in small homes with little backyard garden plots. The town maintained five volunteer fire companies, one of which manned the Eureka Hand Pump, a record-setting pump that could shoot a 1.5-inch stream of water 229 feet.
Then, disaster struck on July 4, 1894, when a fire started by two boys playing with firecrackers burnt down 40 buildings and 5 acres of central Hudson. Nobody was hurt, but the cost of damages done was estimated at $400,000 (1894 dollars). However, the courageous and willing Hudson residents rebuilt the town within a year or so.
By 1900, Hudson's population had reached about 7,500 residents, and the town had built its own power plant, so some homes were wired for electricity. Electric trolley lines were built that connected Hudson with the towns of Leominster, Concord, and Marlborough. The factories in town continued to grow, attracting immigrants from England, Germany, Portugal, Lithuania, Poland, Greece, Albania, and Italy. These immigrants usually lived in boardinghouses near their places of employment. By 1928, 19 languages were spoken by the workers of the Firestone-Apsley Rubber Company. Today, the majority of Hudson residents are either of Irish or Portuguese descent, with smaller populations of those of Italian, French, English, Scottish, and Greek descent. About one-third of Hudson residents are Portuguese or are of Portuguese descent. The Portuguese community in Hudson maintains the Hudson Portuguese Club [http://www.hudsonportugueseclub.org/] , which now has a newly-rebuilt, state-of-the-art clubhouse. The Hudson Portuguese Club was established in the mid-1910s, and has outlived other ethnic clubs, such as the town's long gone Italian Club. Recent immigrants to Hudson arrive mainly from Mexico, Central America, Brazil and the other South American countries, Asia, and Europe.
Hudson's population remained about the same until after World War II, when developers started to buy out some farms that rimmed and still do rim the town. The new houses that were built on this land more than doubled Hudson's population. Recently, high-technology companies have built plants and factories in Hudson, such as Digital Equipment Corporation (now owned by Intel). Although the population of Hudson is now about 20,000, the town still maintains the traditional town meeting form of government.
Former names
Feltonville: "Feltonville" is the former name of what is today the town of Hudson, Massachusetts. Before becoming a separate incorporated town, Hudson was a suburb of Marlborough, Massachusetts; this suburb was known as "Feltonville." The name Feltonville is derived from the name of the Felton store, a store owned by a man by the name of Silas Felton, that was built in the suburb in the early 1800s. The name was used for the suburb from 1828 until the town was incorporated as Hudson in 1866. Today, the name Feltonville is no longer used to refer to the town of Hudson in any way, but there are still two streets in town that reference the name Feltonville: Felton Street and Feltonville Road.
Hudson has also had other, earlier former names:
*From 1656 until 1700, present-day Hudson and the surrounding area was known as the "Indian Plantation" or the "Cow Commons".
*From 1700 to 1800, the settlement was known as "The Mills".
*From 1800 to 1828, the settlement was called "New City".
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.8 square miles (30.7 km²), of which, 11.5 square miles (29.8 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.9 km²) of it (2.87%) is water.
The Assabet River runs through the town. On the border with Stow is Lake Boon, once a popular vacation spot but now a primarily residential neighboorhood. On the border with Marlborough is Fort Meadow Reservoir, which at one time provided drinking water to both Hudson and Marlborough.
Adjacent towns
Hudson is bordered by five other towns:
Bolton and Stow on the north, Marlborough on the south, Sudbury on the east, and Berlin on the west.
As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 18,113 people, 6,990 households, and 4,844 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,574.4 people per square mile (608.1/km²). There were 7,168 housing units at an average density of 623.0/sq mi (240.7/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.12% White, 0.91% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 1.40% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.40% from other races, and 1.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.06% of the population.
There were 6,990 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.7% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the town the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $58,549, and the median income for a family was $70,145. Males had a median income of $45,504 versus $35,207 for females. The per capita income for the town was $26,679. About 2.7% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.
Hudson students have the choice of three school districts they can attend, two public and one private. The two public school districts are Hudson Public Schools [http://www.hudson.k12.ma.us/home.aspx?categoryID=3] , a district open to any Hudson residents, and Assabet Valley Regional Vocational School District, which is open to students from the 11 towns of Marlborough, Hudson, Maynard, Berlin, Boylston, West Boylston, Clinton, Shrewsbury, Westborough, Northborough, and Southborough. The private school district is Saint Michael's Schools, a Catholic district run by Saint Michael's Parish. The superintendent of Hudson Public Schools is Stephen P. Dlott. The superintendent of Assabet Valley Regional Vocational School District is Eugene Carlo. The Saint Michael's Schools district does not have a set superintendent. Instead, Saint Michael's Parish pastor Rev. Ron Calhoun serves as administrator for the two schools under the district.
*John F. Kennedy Middle School, popularly known as JFK, is a public middle (or junior high) school that serves grades 6 through 7. It was built in the early 1960s and was named after then recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy. The principal is Madeline Brick and the vice principal is Matthew Gaffny. [http://ps.hudson.ma.ednets.us/JFK/home.aspx?categoryID=3286]
*Carmela A. Farley Elementary School is a public elementary school that serves grades 1 through 5 (Farley also had a kindergarten class and used to have a preschool class). It was built in the 1950s and was named after long-time Hudson educator Carmela A. Farley. The building has also served as the high school and the middle school. The principal is Sharon MacDonald. [http://ps.hudson.ma.ednets.us/CAFarley/home.aspx?categoryID=2596]
*Joseph L. Mulready Elementary School is a public elementary school that serves grades 1 through 5 (Mulready also has a kindergarten class). It was originally named the Cox Street School after the street it is located on, but was renamed after former Hudson superintendent Joseph L. Mulready. The principal is Charlene Cooke, who is also principal of Hubert Kindergarten. [http://ps.hudson.ma.ednets.us/Mulready/home.aspx?categoryID=4029]
*Forest Avenue Elementary School is a public elementary school that serves grades 1 through 5 (Forest Ave also has a preschool class and a kindergarten class). It was completed in 1975 and is named after Forest Avenue, the street it is located on. The principal is Jodi Fortuna. [http://ps.hudson.ma.ednets.us/Forest/home.aspx?categoryID=1906]
*Hudson High School, or HHS, is a public high school that serves grades 8 through 12 (HHS also has two preschool classes). The new multi-million-dollar building was finished in 2004, the same year the old building, which was built in the early 1970s, was demolished. The principal is John Stapelfeld and the assistant principals are Dan McAnespie and David Champigny. [http://ps.hudson.ma.ednets.us/High/home.aspx?categoryID=371]
*Cora Hubert Kindergarten Center is a public kindergarten center. It occupies the former New Broad Street School building, which was built in 1924 and converted into the kindergarten in 1976, and it is now named after Hudson educator Cora Hubert. The principal is Charlene Cooke, who is also principal of Mulready Elementary. [http://ps.hudson.ma.ednets.us/Hubert/home.aspx?categoryID=4719]
*Note: Some Hudson students attend Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, a public regional vocational high school that serves grades 9 through 12. The school was opened in 1973, and was named after the Assabet Valley that was formed by the Assabet River, as it is where the district's towns are located in. The principal of the school is Mary Jo Nawrocki. [http://www.assabettech.com/]
*Saint Michael's School is a private Catholic primary school that serves grades 1 through 8 as well as kindergarten. It was built in the late 1910s/early 1920s and is administered by Saint Michael's Catholic Parish. The principal is Patricia Delaney. [http://sms.stmikes.org/]
*Hudson Catholic High School, or HCHS, is a private Catholic high school that serves grades 9 through 12. It was completed in 1959 and is administered by Saint Michael's Catholic Parish. The principal is Caroline Flynn and the assistant principal is Mark Wentworth. [http://www.hudsoncatholic.net/]
*Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church [http://www.stmichael-hudson.com/] . St. Michael's Church, also known as St. Mike's, has been in existence since 1869, with the present building having been built in 1889. The current pastor is Rev. Ron Calhoun, and the two parochial vicars are Rev. Joel Grissom and Rev. Steven Poitras.
*Saint Luke's Episcopal Church [http://www.stlukeshudson.org/] . St. Luke's Church was completed in 1913, and the current rector is Rev. T. James Kodera.
*First United Methodist Church of Hudson [http://www.hudsonfumc.com/] . The current Methodist Church in town was completed in 1913 after the first one, which was located across the street from the Unitarian Church, burnt down in 1911. The current pastor is Rev. Doug Robinson-Johnson.
*Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson [http://www.ucmh.org/] . The Unitarian Church is technically older than than the town itself; it was built in the early 1860s. The current minister is Rev. Stephen M. Shick.
*Grace the Baptist Southern Baptist Church [http://www.gracehudson.org/] . The newest church in Hudson, Grace Baptist was built in 1986 and the congregation has grown from an original 25 to a current 1,200 members. The current (senior) pastor is Rev. David Bennett.
*First Federated Church (Baptist/Congregational) [http://www.thefirstfederatedchurch.org/] . The First Federated Church was built in the 1960s. The current pastor of the First Federated Church is Rev. James (Jay) E. Mulligan III.
*Hudson Seventh-day Adventist Church [http://www.hudsonsdachurch.org/] . The Seventh-day Adventist Church was also built in the 1960s.
*Hudson also has a Buddhist meeting group affiliated with the SGI [http://www.sgi-newengland.org/] .
Churches no longer in use
*Christ the King Roman Catholic Church (merged with Saint Michael's Church in 1994 to form one parish) As the parish had been suppressed in 1994 it was determined by the pastor, Fr. Walter A. Carreiro, with the Parish Pastoral Council to suspend the church building's use for worship. At the same time the St. Michael Early Childhood Center, located in a building on the same property, was relocated to Saint Michael School. The church was closed at the same time as other churches in the Boston Archdiocese were being closed to respond to the shortage of vocations and not to help pay the sex abuse lawsuits, as is often misreported. Christ the King was not closed by the Archdiocese and proceeds of its subsequent sale reverted directly to Saint Michael parish. http://www.rcab.org/Parish_Reconfiguration/closures.html/
*Union Church of All Faiths, possibly the smallest church in the US, built by the Rev. Louis W. West A very small fraction of the town's population is Jewish and Orthodox, but there is not yet a synagogue or an Orthodox church in Hudson. However, Hudson has an important role in the formation of the Albanian Orthodox Church due to the 1906 Hudson incident in which an Albanian national was refused burial by a Greek Orthodox priest from Hudson.
The town of Hudson has an open town meeting form of government, like most smaller New England towns. The current executive assistant, who is an appointed official and is responsible for the day-to-day administrative management of the town and who functions as a sort of mayor, is Paul Blazar. The Board of Selectmen is a group of elected officials who are the primary lawmakers in the town government, as well as being the group who appoints the Executive Assistant. The current selectmen are Antonio Loura (Chairman), Joseph Durant (Vice Chairman), Santino Parente (Clerk), Carl Leeber, and Fred Lucy II.
County, state, and federal government
Technically, the county government was abolished in 1997, and former county agencies, institutions, etc., reverted to the control of the state government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. However, certain county government positions, such as District Attorney and Sheriff, do still function, except they are under the state government instead of a county government.
Infobox Mass Town Govt
align = right
wraparound = yes
county = Middlesex
clerk_courts = Michael A. Sullivan
cty_treasurer = Position Eliminated
da = Gerard T. Leone, Jr.
deeds = Richard P. Howe, Jr. (North at Lowell)
Eugene C. Brune (South at Cambridge)
probate = John R. Buonomo
sheriff = James DiPaola
state_rep = Rep. Patricia A. Walrath (D-Hudson, Maynard, Stow, Bolton)
state_sen = Sen. Pamela P. Resor (D-Marlborough, Acton, Ayer, Boxborough, Hudson, Littleton, Maynard, Shirley, Stow, Sudbury, Harvard, Northborough, Southborough, Westborough)
gov_councilors = Marilyn M. Petitto-Devaney (Third District),
fed_rep = Niki Tsongas (D-5th District)
fed_sen = Edward Kennedy (D)
John Kerry (D)
Notable residents
*Lewis Dewart Apsley- Founder of Apsley Rubber Company; U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts from 1893 to 1897
*Nuno Bettencourt- Rock musician; lead guitarist for the band Extreme
*Paul Cellucci- Former Governor of Massachusetts, from 1997 to 2001; and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, from 2001 to 2005
*William D. Coolidge- Physicist who invented an improved X-ray tube, developed the tungsten filament for the incandescent light bulb, was vice-president of General Electric, and was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1975
*Hugo Ferreira- Rock musician; singer-songwriter for the band Tantric
*Tony Frias- Soccer player; has played for the New England Revolution, C.S. Marítimo, and S.C. Lusitânia
*Charles Hudson- A childhood resident, the town of Hudson is named after him, after he offered the town $500 towards the construction of a public library, but only if the town was named after him; U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts from 1841 to 1849; purportedly a good friend of President Abraham Lincoln
*Charles Precourt- Retired U.S. astronaut
*Wilbert Robinson- Born in Bolton but raised in Hudson; was a catcher for various Major League Baseball teams; known best for being manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1914 to 1931; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945
*Thomas P. Salmon-Former Governor of Vermont, from 1973 to 1977; born in Cleveland, Ohio, raised in Stow, attended Hudson High School
*William C. Sullivan- Former head of the FBI intelligence operations
*Burton Kendall Wheeler- Former U.S. Senator from Montana, from 1923 to 1947
ister City
*flagicon|Portugal flagicon|Azores Vila do Porto, Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal
*Halprin, Lewis, and the Hudson Historical Society. (2001). "Images of America: Hudson". Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-0073-9.
*Verdone, William L., and Lewis Halprin. (2005). "Images of America: Hudson's National Guard Militia". Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-4456-6.
*Halprin, Lewis, and Alan Kattelle. (1998). "Images of America: Lake Boon". Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-1292-2.
*The Hudson Historical Society. (1976). "Hudson Bicentennial Scrapbook." Private publication.
* [http://www.salemdeeds.com/atlases_results.asp?ImageType=index&atlastype=MassWorld&atlastown=&atlas=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&atlas_desc=MASSACHUSETTS+1871 "1871 Atlas of Massachusetts".] by Wall & Gray. [http://www.salemdeeds.com/atlases_pages.asp?ImageName=PAGE_0010_0011.jpg&atlastype=MassWorld&atlastown=&atlas=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&atlas_desc=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&pageprefix= Map of Massachusetts.] [http://www.salemdeeds.com/atlases_pages.asp?ImageName=PAGE_0044_0045.jpg&atlastype=MassWorld&atlastown=&atlas=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&atlas_desc=MASSACHUSETTS+1871&pageprefix= Map of Middlesex County.]
* "History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts", [http://books.google.com/books?id=QGolOAyd9RMC&dq=intitle:History+intitle:of+intitle:Middlesex+intitle:County+intitle:Massachusetts&lr=&num=50&as_brr=0&source=gbs_other_versions_sidebar_s&cad=5 Volume 1 (A-H)] , [http://books.google.com/books?id=hNaAnwRMedUC&pg=PA506&dq=intitle:History+intitle:of+intitle:Middlesex+intitle:County+intitle:Massachusetts&lr=&num=50&as_brr=0#PPA3,M1 Volume 2 (L-W)] compiled by Samuel Adams Drake, published 1879-1880. 572 and 505 pages. [http://books.google.com/books?id=QGolOAyd9RMC&printsec=titlepage&dq=intitle:History+intitle:of+intitle:Middlesex+intitle:County+intitle:Massachusetts&lr=&num=50&as_brr=0&source=gbs_summary_r#PPA496,M1 Hudson article] by Charles Hudson in volume 1 pages 496-505.
* [http://www.townofhudson.org/Public_Documents/index Town of Hudson]
* [http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=mg2localgovccpage&L=1&L0=home&L1=Resident&sid=massgov2&selectCity=Hudson Town Profile on Massachusetts State Website]
* [http://menotomymaps.com/map_img.asp?p=map_fdbdown.asp?23&mak=1870s_Hudson_MA 1870s Map of Hudson, 1 of 2]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Hudson,+MA&ie=UTF8&ll=42.388853,-71.522026&spn=0.059336,0.10643&z=13 Hudson, MA at Google Maps]
Hudson (CDP), Massachusetts
Pepperell (CDP), Massachusetts
Hudson (Massachusetts) — Hudson Der Wood Square in Hudson Lage von Hudson in Massachusetts … Deutsch Wikipedia
Hudson (Massachusetts) — Hudson Pueblo de los Estados Unidos Vista de Hudson … Wikipedia Español
Hudson Catholic High School (Hudson, Massachusetts) — Hudson Catholic High School is a coeducational Catholic school in Hudson, Massachusetts, USA. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Its motto is Esse Quam Videri , a Latin phrase which translates as To be rather than to seem … Wikipedia
Charles Hudson (Massachusetts) — For other people of the same name, see Charles Hudson (disambiguation). Charles Hudson Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts s 5th district In office May 3, 1841 – March 3, 1849 Preceded by Levi Lincoln, Jr … Wikipedia
Hudson High School — can refer to: *Hudson High School (Florida) in Hudson, Florida *Hudson High School (Iowa) in Hudson, Iowa *Hudson High School (Massachusetts) in Hudson, Massachusetts *Hudson High School (New York) in Hudson, New York *Hudson High School (Hudson … Wikipedia
Hudson — is a surname of English origin and may refer to:Persons named Hudson*Andrew Hudson, South African test cricketer *Sir Austin Hudson, 1st Baronet (1897–1956), British Conservative politician *Ben Hudson, Australian AFL player *Brett Hudson (b.… … Wikipedia
Hudson — ist der Name folgendere geografischer Objekte: Hudson Bay, ein Gewässer in Nordkanada Hudson River, ein Fluss im Osten der USA Cerro Hudson, Vulkan in Chile Hudson County, Verwaltungseinheit in den USA Hudson Township, diverse Townships in den… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Massachusetts locations by per capita income — Massachusetts is the third richest state in the United States of America, with a per capita income of $25,952 (2000) and a personal per capita income of $39,815 (2003).Massachusetts counties ranked by per capita incomeThere are fourteen counties… … Wikipedia
Hudson Catholic High School — can refer to:*Hudson Catholic High School (Hudson, Massachusetts) *Hudson Catholic Regional High School (Jersey City, New Jersey) … Wikipedia
Hudson High School (Massachusetts) — Infobox School name = Hudson High School native name = latin name = imagesize = caption = location = streetaddress = 69 Brigham Street region = city = Hudson state = Massachusetts province = county = postcode = postalcode = zipcode = 01749… … Wikipedia
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Israel's poverty remains worst in OECD
Amiram Barkat
Poverty has eased among the elderly and Arabs, reports the National Insurance Institute, but more accurate data about Bedouin has raised the number of poor.
A recalculation of poverty among the Bedouin population in Israel increased the number of children classified as poor in Israel by 10.2%, according to figures published today by the National Insurance Institute in its report on poverty. The report shows a concrete improvement in poverty in Israel in most aspects: increases in the minimum wage and child allowances, plus other measures taken by the Minister of Finance and the government. At the same time, the report states that Israel still has the highest rate of poverty in the OECD, and that a family in Israel with three or more children will be below the poverty line if both parents are employed full-time at the minimum wage.
"I am glad about the downtrend in the number of poor people," said Minister of Labor, Welfare, and Social Services Haim Katz, "although we still have 1.8 million people that we have to get out of poverty. The two most prominent trends are a fall in the number of poor people who are senior citizens and in the Arab community." He added, "The ministry will do its best to increase income support allowances by NIS 705 million a year, link income supports to the average wage, and make sure that Israel will have no senior citizens below the poverty line. The state of Israel's allowances has brought it to last place in poverty in the OECD."
According to the report, Israel had 1,809,000 poor people in 463,000 families in 2016, including 842,300 children. The number of poor children grew by almost 80,000, but the National Insurance Institute is attributing this to new figures obtained for the Bedouin population, after the Central Bureau of Statistics succeeded for the first time in five years in sampling the Bedouin population in southern Israel. Excluding the Bedouin population, the number of poor children in Israel rose by only 1% to 773,000. The reports figures ostensibly show that Bedouin children were not counted at all in 2015 among poor children in Israel. According to the figures published today, the number of poor children in Israel in 2015 was 763,000 excluding the Bedouin population and 764,200 including the Bedouin population.
Most poverty parameters showed an improvement in 2016, compared with 2015, following the trend towards narrowing of income differentials in Israeli society in recent years. The National Insurance Institute attributes this to a 3.8% increase in the standard of living in real terms in 2016. Following the increase in the minimum and median wage, the poverty line also rose (it is calculated at 50% of the median wage) to a NIS 3,260 monthly income for an individual, NIS 5,216 for a couple, and NIS 9,779 for a family of five.
The general incidence of poverty in Israeli society fell from 19.1% in 2015 to 18.6% in 2016. Even after the decrease, however, Israel has the highest incidence of poverty in the OECD, ahead of Turkey, the US, and Mexico. The poverty depth index declined 4% in 2016, while the poverty severity index fell 3%. The Gini coefficient of inequality in disposable income and index for inequality in general income were both down 1.3%, The National Insurance Institute notes the Gini coefficient of inequality for gaps in general income has fallen by 10% since 2000.
Israeli families below poverty line up to 19.1%
The National Insurance Institute attributes the improvement in the dimensions of inequality and the incidence of poverty to measures taken by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and the government with the aim of bolstering the disposable income of low-income families: a 6.8% increase in the minimum wage in 2016 and increases in child and senior citizens allowances. Another contribution came from the labor market, where unemployment continued to fall, despite warnings that increasing the minimum wage would increase unemployment, thereby harming poor people.
At the same time, the National Insurance Institute stated, "Despite noticeable improvements in the dimensions of poverty and inequality in 2016, Israel's relative situation by international comparison continues to be the worst in the ranking of OECD countries. Israel still has the highest poverty rate, because its relative placing also depends on developments in other countries. Indeed, the poverty report indicates that the mother of a single-parent family with one child will be in poverty even if she works full-time at the minimum wage and receives allowances from the National Insurance Institute. In addition, a couple with three or more children will not rise above the poverty line even if they both work full-time at the minimum wage."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on December 6, 2017
Globes correspondent
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(-) Job market integration (0)
(-) Bangladesh (0)
HEKS/EPER is making a difference in the «Job market integration» in Bangladesh
Despite economic growth and significant social progress for example in health and education, Bangladesh is still plagued by political instability and corruption. Millions of people live in extreme poverty. The country's geographical location in the world's largest river delta also makes it prone to flooding. It is also regularly affected by tropical cyclones. About a million Rohingya refugees have been living in the country since 2017.
Through its projects in the areas of rural community development and conflict transformation, HEKS/EPER supports social, ethnic and religious minorities who face discrimination. HEKS/EPER helps improve their food security and incomes and supports them in the pursuit of equality and justice. HEKS/EPER also provides emergency and reconstruction assistance after natural disasters, supports refugees as well as the host society, and helps to contain epidemics and mitigate their socio-economic impacts.
HEKS supports 40 dialogue platforms between minorities and authorities. In 2019, some 8000 Dalits and Adivasis obtained access to healthcare, education and social assistance. Some 4000 Dalits and Adivasis increased their cattle and poultry production and hence their income, which in turn meant greater social acceptance. A total of 2000 people secured land rights to some 1000 hectares.
At the refugee camp near to Cox's Bazar, HEKS/EPER provided humanitarian aid for 52’400 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar – twice as many as in 2018. The focus was on providing latrines, drinking water and on the renovation of living quarters; vegetable gardens and orchards were also laid out.
Unemployment can be devastating in our society. Lack of social recognition, social isolation, illness and depression are potential consequences of unemployment. Thus, when the jobless re-enter the world of work, it is not just a matter of securing a livelihood, but also of boosting their overall state of health. There are many reasons for joblessness. There is no reason to abandon the jobless, however. HEKS/EPER supports jobseekers in the regions of Aargau/Solothurn, Basel Stadt/Baselland, Berne, Eastern Switzerland, Western Switzerland and Zurich/Schaffhausen in re-entering the job market.
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Home - Science
Historic Israeli Mission to the Moon Underway Following SpaceX Launch
Israel has taken an important first step to the Moon following the launch of its privately-built Beresheet lunar lander, which entered space late yesterday aboard a SpaceX rocket.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket departed Earth at 8:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 21 from Cape Canaveral Florida, reports SpaceNews. In addition to the Beresheet lunar lander, the rocket successfully delivered the Indonesian Nusantara Satu telecommunications satellite and the S5 experimental smallsat owned by the U.S. Air Force.
The launch of Beresheet, which means “Genesis” or “In the beginning” in Hebrew, represents a significant milestone for both Israel and the private sector. The four-legged lunar lander represents the country’s first attempt to land on the Moon, but it also happens to be the first privately-funded lunar lander. Should the mission be successful, Israel would join an exclusive club of countries to have placed a lander on the Moon, the others being the United States, Russia, and China.
Beresheet was built by the Israeli not-for-profit SpaceIL, which is financed by donations from individual private sponsors. The company’s self-described vision is to “advance the discourse on science and engineering in Israel and to acquaint the young generation with the exciting opportunities in their future, which STEM studies make possible.”
To save on fuel, the spacecraft is taking a more convoluted route to the Moon than usual. As the Associated Press reports, Beresheet’s orbit around Earth will increase in size until the Moon’s gravitational tug is strong enough to capture the craft. An attempted landing at the Sea of Serenity—a large, dark, basaltic plain also known as a lunar mare—is likely to occur on April 11.
During its descent, the spacecraft will measure the Moon’s magnetic field, potentially revealing new details about iron core deep below, reports the New York Times. The landing sequence should take about 15 minutes—a delicate procedure that’ll be monitored by a joint group from the Israel Space Agency, NASA, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, reports the Jerusalem Post.
Once planted on the Moon, Beresheet will transmit photos and videos back to Earth, per SpaceNews. The probe is also equipped with a series of mirrors known as retroreflectors. Lasers from the surface of Earth will shine onto these mirrors and then reflect back to Earth, enabling scientists to measure the distance from Earth to Moon with high accuracy, the NYT reports.
Beresheet was originally designed to compete for the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize, which was discontinued on January 23, 2018 because “no team will make a launch attempt to reach the moon by the March 31, 2018, deadline,” in the words of X Prize founder and chairman Peter Diamandis. As a stipulation of the contest, lunar probes were required to move 500 meters (1,640 feet) by whichever means possible. Beresheet was supposed to achieve this by taking off and landing again nearby, but as the NYT pointed out, mission planners are no longer bound by this requirement. A decision to make the lunar hop won’t be made until after the landing in April, but there’s really nothing to gain from such a maneuver—one that could unnecessarily damage the probe.
The Beresheet mission will only last for a few days, as the lunar lander won’t be able to withstand the temperature extremes on the surface. But its legacy will endure in the form of its cargo; the probe contains hundreds of digital files, including the Torah, the Israeli flag, artwork, and an archive containing 30 million pages of information, the NYT reports.
“Congratulations to SpaceIL and the Israel Space Agency,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in an agency press release. “This is a historic step for all nations and commercial space as we look to extend our collaborations beyond low-Earth orbit and on to the Moon.”
As for the SpaceX Falcon 9 that delivered the goods, its first stage booster made its third successful trip into space, and it landed successfully on a drone ship in the Atlantic ocean. In a tweet, however, Musk said the re-entry was not without incident.
Highest reentry heating to date. Burning metal sparks from base heat shield visible in landing video. Fourth relight scheduled for April. https://t.co/uq6TdMhgFN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2019
Despite the challenge, Musk said the first stage rocket will be used for a fourth launch in April.
The identification of a potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant, primarily in the United Kingdom, has scientists and government officials, alike, sounding the alarm.
SpaceX Starship test flight ends in a fiery crash
HBO to Develop Scripted Series About Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Watch NASA astronauts' successful splashdown aboard SpaceX capsule
Starlink: Elon Musk's latest scheme to offer Internet via satellites
Kanye West Trudges On With Presidency Bid, Despite Rumours He'd Already Bowed Out
Pete Davidson
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Home › Family › My Many Grandmothers by Laura Shannon
My Many Grandmothers by Laura Shannon
By Laura Shannon on May 5, 2018 • ( 10 )
Carol P. Christ has described spending meaningful time with her grandmother as a child and the unconditional love she received from her mother and grandmothers: ‘my relationships with my mother and grandmothers were full of love. This makes it easy for me to imagine the loving arms of Goddess embracing the world.’ She talks about this in her new book with Judith Plaskow, Goddess and God in the World: Conversations in Embodied Theology.
I have always loved to hear these kinds of stories from Carol and other friends, since I lost my own grandmothers before I felt I really knew them. My mother’s mother passed away when I was a young child. My father’s mother lived until I was in my twenties, but Alzheimer’s stripped her of her ability to recognise her family many years before her physical death. How I wish I had known them as an adult and had been able to talk to them, even once, woman to woman. And how I wish I had received the advice, support and unconditional love which Carol describes, and which I have seen other grandmothers offer their grandchildren. This absence has left an aching heart, a raw wound, for my entire adult life.
Healing for this wound has come from the many women I have been blessed to know (many from Greece, the Balkans, and Armenia), who are grandmothers within their own families, and also elders within their particular cultural tradition. They are keepers of songs, dances, rituals, textile arts, and healing skills, which have been handed down for many generations. Even if their official education was limited, as was frequently the case, they have extraordinary wisdom and knowledge, which they have generously shared with me. In this post I wish to honour a few of the many grandmothers who have blessed me over the years with their kindness and care.
My Greek godmother, Niki Theoka-Hill
I met Niki nearly 20 years ago in Greece, when she and her seven children were running the Skandia taverna on the island of Kythira, next door to the house of herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levy (another wise woman who inspired me deeply). We felt an instant bond and stayed in touch. Several years after that, when my first marriage came to an end, I decided to move to Greece for a new beginning, in part because Niki was there. She had been lead dancer with the Dora Stratou Dance Theater in Athens for many years, and taught me much about the art of dancing and its place in traditional culture. A deeply wise woman with profound faith and legendary beauty, Niki is infinitely creative, extraordinarily free-thinking, and generous to a fault. It is my great honour that she eventually became my godmother (both noná and koumbára), spiritual bonds which link us more closely than blood.
My mother-in-law, Evanthia (Voula) Kourmadia, with her son, Kostantis
Voula’s parents came from Smyrna to Athens as refugees in 1922. She and her siblings grew up in poverty, starving nearly to death during the Second World War in German-occupied Athens. She knew many hardships in her early years, but she survived and thrived. Her son Kostantis, now my second husband, describes how she was always laughing, always singing, always dancing, in the house which she kept (and still keeps) spotless and filled with delicious cooking and exquisite embroideries. A mathematical genius with a brilliant mind, Voula ‘should have been a scientist making important discoveries’, as her son says, but she had to leave school at age 10 to look after her baby brother so her mother could work. After that Voula worked all her life in the dairy industry, and despite her own lack of formal education, she helped generations of neighbourhood children with their homework. She and her husband Vangelis, in their 80s now, are still fountains of laughter and joy, no matter what troubles are to hand – and Voula is still always ready to dance. Among many other things, she has taught me the importance of giving thanks for what you have, and transforming tragedy through the way you choose to respond.
Neda Bisserova from Pirin, Bulgaria
Neda and her sisters Lyubimka and Mitra grew up in a traditional family, learning hundreds of songs from their aunts and parents. They formed the renowned singing trio the Bisserov Sisters, now the Bisserov Family, with their children and grandchildren. I met the sisters in Bulgaria in 1991 and since then they have helped me bring many groups of students on dance and cultural tours of Bulgaria. One time, as we stood together in front of a fast-flowing mountain spring, Neda told me, ‘This is how I want to be: with a heart clear and pure like water.’
My dearest friend, France Lejeune Milchberg
France was a dancer, a doctor, and a captain in the French army, and with her husband Jorge was among the first to bring Sacred Dance/Danses Sacrées to France from the Findhorn community. We had many adventures together in nearly thirty years of friendship. France passed to the other side last year on her 81st birthday.
I wish to express my deep love and admiration for all of these wise women. It has been one of the greatest pleasures in my life to be ‘adopted’ by them and by others, whose stories I hope to tell another time. My many grandmothers have lovingly welcomed me into their arms, homes and families, and have given me countless gifts in the form of songs and dances, recipes, stories and life advice. My life is much the richer for it. I thank you all.
Laura Shannon has been researching and teaching traditional women’s ritual dances since 1987. She is considered one of the ‘grandmothers’ of the worldwide Sacred / Circle Dance movement and gives workshops regularly in over twenty countries worldwide. Laura holds an honours degree in Intercultural Studies (1986) and a diploma in Dance Movement Therapy (1990). She has also dedicated much time to primary research in Balkan and Greek villages, learning songs, dances, rituals and textile patterns which have been passed down for many generations, and which embody an age-old worldview of sustainability, community, and reverence for the earth. Laura’s essay ‘Women’s Ritual Dances: An Ancient Source of Healing in Our Times’, was published in Dancing on the Earth. Laura lives partly in Greece and partly in the Findhorn ecological community in Scotland.
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Categories: Family, Foremothers, Friendship, General, Women and Community
Tags: grandmothers, Laura Shannon
I am so happy you found loving support from your adopted mothers and grandmothers.
I am too! It has made all the difference to me. It’s as Carolyn Myss says, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood. And now I even think, if I had had my own grandmothers close to me for longer, perhaps I would not have been so motivated to seek out the many other wise women whose presence in my life has blessed me so deeply.
Isn’t it wonderful that you had so many grandmothers to lead you…I had few though I had a beloved grandmother who I lost in my early twenties. It wasn’t until after she died that I understood that I was orphaned though my mother was very much alive. Why? Because my grandmother created a space for me in this world where I was accepted for myself. A great gift, that.
Yes, I can understand that. I don’t know why it is that grandmothers can often give a space of unconditional love and acceptance to their grandchildren which they perhaps could not give to their own children when they were young mothers, and which their children, becoming mothers themselves, are also not always able to give to their own kids. Maybe we have a different perspective on, and capacity for, giving love as we age.
Thanks for writing about these beloved people. To this day, I believe that I reincarnated through Dorothy and Harold Rohne to get back to my maternal grandparents, Cora and George Rathke. I started taking the bus–alone–from Ferguson to St. Louis at age 5 to stay with my grandparents for a few days at a time. After my grandfather died, my grandmother moved into what I kept calling a “singles apartment,” which was part of a senior citizens’ community. When I was in graduate school, she took the bus from St. Louis to Carbondale, Illinois, to stay with me for several days at a time and meet my friends. I think our grandmothers (especially) are blessings in our lives. Thanks again for reminding me.
That sounds wonderful, Barbara, what a special relationship. It reminds me of how Carol describes spending the summer with her grandparents in her post about The Blue Organdy Dress. I also had some summer visits with my paternal grandparents when I was the only grandchild staying, i.e. without my sister and cousins, and will always remember the connections I made with my mother’s father at that time. I wish I had had time and courage to stay in closer touch.
davidscorbett
if we come from adam n eve we are all cousins , if we come from apes we are all cousins , so treat all ok do not leave any in poverty do not let any be greedy = share what is available in the world
Barbara Cooper
I love your photos and stories, Laura. They do indeed look like wise and loving women who have helped form you into the same. My mother’s mother died just before I was born so I never met her, but I hear stories and I have her name. My father’s family is, sadly, largely unknown to me. He died when I was six yrs old and alcoholism created barriers. But other mature and wise women have taken up the slack, as it were! And maybe it’s my turn now, to do for others.
That’s really an inspiring perspective, Barbara, to think that our own experience, first of not being ‘grandmothered’, and then of receiving grandmotherly love and support from other women, might be a kind of training or preparation for us to be able to ‘mother’ and ‘grandmother’ younger women who come to us. In this way I think the love of the Great Mother can get passed down through generations, even among those who are not actually related.
Sarah Hazlett
Yes it is healing to know these grandmothers-as- kindred spirits as we could not, or perhaps cannot, know our own. It fosters a belief in the good, as profound connections unite us in the web. ❤
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The Grave of the Amazons!
January 7, 2020 in Crowns, History, Invaders, Uncategorized | Tags: Amazons, Ancient Greece, archaeology, Black Sea, excavated, Pontic Steppe, Russia, Scythians, tomb, warrior women | by Wayne | Leave a comment
There are 19 ancient burial mounds in the Russian village of Devitsa. Archaeologists opened up one of these 2500 year old tombs and you will never believe what they found inside!
Or, well, uh, actually you will believe the contents if you read the news headlines…or are a fan of ancient Greek history…or just follow Pontic steppe archaeology in general (or even read the title of this article), but that doesn’t make the discovery any less extraordinary. Devitsa lies north of the Black Sea (beyond the borders of present day Ukraine) on the great rolling temperate grassland of Eurasian steppe. Many cultures have passed through the region over the millennia, but the graves date back to the time of the Scythians–nomadic horse-mounted warriors whose fierce culture flourished between the 8th century and the 3rd century BC. The Scythians were not exactly an empire–more a lose confederation of wandering tribes (probably of Iranian heritage), but they controlled a hefty swath of Central Asia from the borders of ancient China all the way to the shores of the Black Sea, where they abutted Greek colonies.
The regimented and hierarchical (and patriarchal!) Greeks were scandalized and fascinated by the savage freedoms of the Scythian way of life. The Greeks looked down on the “barbaric” mounted warriors, yet they also looked up to them. Greek writing exoticized and romanticized the free-riding Scythian lifestyle and Greek thinkers, writers, and artists incorporated elements of Scythian culture into Greek mythology (and into the Greek weltanschauung). One of most widely known of these Greek fixations was with “the Amazons” the women warriors of classical mythology. Amazons were so prevalent in Greek writing and art that the world’s biggest river–in South America!–was later named after the warrior women (and it is rumored other huge modern entities also bear the name). Historians and scholars have long argued about the extent to which these myths were based on real world exemplars–which brings us back to the tomb excavations at Devitsa. The most recently opened tomb contained the mortal remains of four Scythian warrior women of different ages. The graves of a young women (aged 20-25) and of a teenage girl (aged 12 or 13) had been despoiled by robbers, but the graves of two older high-status women (one woman in her early thirties and a woman who died between 40 and 50) were undisturbed.
These latter graves yielded not just iron hooks and weapons but also glass jewelry, a bronze mirror, and a finely wrought gold headdress of gold and iron alloy (pictured above). The Greeks may have made up a lot of things–like the tale of how Scythians descended from the union of the greatest Greek hero and Echidna, an infamous lady monster–but it seems like fierce and headstrong warrior women were a real phenomena which the Greek colonies of Asia Minor dealt with on a regular basis. The coast of the Black Sea is the first known location of viniculture and goldsmithing. The Scyths also seem to have brought cannabis to the classical world via Thrace. Ancient Greece and the Scythians were at least as closely entwined as Herodotus made them out to be. It makes one wonder what innovations really came from whom!
Back to Scythia
April 20, 2012 in Art, Gothic, History, Invaders | Tags: ancient, burial, cannabis, Central Asia, herding, kurgan, mounted, nomads, royal, Scyth, Scythian, Scythians, shamanistic, steppe, steppes, treasure, warrior, warriors | by Wayne | 2 comments
The Scythians, the wild horse-mounted warriors of the Steppes, sometimes ride onto these pages and off again, back into the billowing mists of Central Asian history. Their name straddles myth and reality: the Scyths were there at the fall of the tower of Babel. They were the children of Echidna and Hercules. They lived in a swath of land somewhere from Romania to Korea in a swath of time from 800 BC to 300AD. They were Europeans with pale skin and blue eyes or Asians with dark slanted eyes. They were fighters, shamans, traders, slavers, and peerless artisans. To Greeks they were the opposite of Greeks. To the Chinese they were the opposite of Chinese.
But really who were the Scythians? Well we don’t exactly know. We have some partial answers to some of these questions, but “Scythian” was a word that was used in classical antiquity the same way we use “Gothic” today (indeed–the last Scythians, who played such a role in the histories written by Byzantine historians from the 2nd through the 5th centuries AD were literally Goths). The word denoted an outlander from the steppes—an ideal of living rather than an ethnicity. Upon the Steppes, in the land the Greeks called Scythia, there were indeed pastoral tribes of equestrian herdsmen (who sometimes turned to war and plunder when circumstances were unusually bad or unusually good) but since they did not write it is difficult to untangle their history. This society was made up of confederated tribes–which tended to specialize at different tasks (herdsmen, ploughmen, smiths, etc.). However above the other tribes were the warrior elites, the royal Scyths, who according to Herodotus, regarded the other tribes as little more than slaves. These closely allied elites were formidable warriors. Without stirrup or saddle they rode horses to battle: even while mounted bareback they fought with composite bows laminated together from horn, hood, and sinew.
They don't really look super friendly, but maybe it's just a bad likeness.
The ruling Scythian warriors, or Royal Dahae, were inhumed in spectacular kurgans along with great hordes of treasure. Much of what we know about the Scythians comes from these archaeological finds (and the rest mostly comes from Herodotus who was probably making a lot of it up). A kurgan consisted of a great mound of earth over a central tomb constructed of sacred larchwood. Animal or human sacrifices were draped over the outside of the tomb. Inside the warrior elite lay in state with hordes of treasure. Some of the most spectacular treasures known come from Scythian graves (which definitely deserve their own posting) and consist of golden statues depicting sacred creatures like lions, antlered reindeer, and gryphons. Kurgan tombs of the Scythian warrior elite contained weapons, armour, sumptuous clothing (woven of silk, gold, and hemp) and bowls of coriander seeds and cannabis–which was used in purification rituals and shamanistic rites.
Kurgan tombs from the Altai Mountains which stretch across Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China
Although the Ancient Greeks might have looked down on the Scythians, numerous modern groups have claimed to be their direct descendants. Among the peoples who have claimed or currently claim Scythian blood and heritage are the Ossetians, Pashtuns, Jats, Parthians, Poles, Picts, Gaels, Hungarians, Serbs, Croats, Scots, Slavs, Anglo-Saxons, and sundry Germans. Like all such ancestral claims, many of these are disputed by scholars, nationalists, rivals and so forth (although Slavic people most certainly have Scythian ties). Being American, I am inclined to think that anybody who wants to claim a particular ethnicity or heritage is welcome to do so, but perhaps that is my mixed Scythian blood talking!
Scythian Shield emblem (end of the 7th century B.C. Northern Caucasus from the
Kostromskaia kurgan, Gold)
The Birth of the Scyths
October 28, 2010 in Deities of the Underworld, Gothic, History, Invaders, Serpents, Uncategorized | Tags: Echidna, Father of History, Goths, Hercules, Herodotus, mounted, Orthrus, Pontic-Caspian, Scottish, Scythians, Scyths, Skythes, steppe, warriors | by Wayne | Leave a comment
Thanks MS Paint!
To celebrate the spooky season, we have been recounting the various fates of the brood of monsters descended from Echidna. While doing so, one aspect of the story has become glaringly apparent: more than half of the family of monsters was defeated by Hercules. Cerberus, Ladon, Orthrus, the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, the great Caucasian Eagle…the demigod bested them all as he bludgeoned and ripped his shining path through the world. (I haven’t told the tale of Orthrus, the two headed dog who was best friend to the three-headed monster Geryon: suffice to say, during his tenth labor, Hercules killed the poor pooch.) One would expect a devoted mother to be enraged and thirst for vengeance. However there is a story about Hercules and Echidna meeting, and it seems the mother of monsters desired something very different from revenge. I’ll turn the storytelling over to Herodotus. It is worth remembering that while people call Herodotus “the father of history”, historians call him “the father of lies”. He tells a great many thrilling stories but he probably made them up while he was binge drinking in his library…. Anyway, here is the passage from Book IV of the Histories of Herodotus (translated by George Rawlinson):
Hercules came from thence into the region now called Scythia, and, being overtaken by storm and frost, drew his lion’s skin about him, and fell fast asleep. While he slept, his mares, which he had loosed from his chariot to graze, by some wonderful chance disappeared. On waking, he went in quest of them, and, after wandering over the whole country, came at last to the district called “the Woodland,” where he found in a cave a strange being, between a maiden and a serpent, whose form from the waist upwards was like that of a woman, while all below was like a snake. He looked at her wonderingly; but nevertheless inquired, whether she had chanced to see his strayed mares anywhere. She answered him, “Yes, and they were now in her keeping; but never would she consent to give them back, unless he took her for his mistress.” So Hercules, to get his mares back, agreed; but afterwards she put him off and delayed restoring the mares, since she wished to keep him with her as long as possible. He, on the other hand, was only anxious to secure them and to get away. At last, when she gave them up, she said to him, “When thy mares strayed hither, it was I who saved them for thee: now thou hast paid their salvage; for lo! I bear in my womb three sons of thine. Tell me therefore when thy sons grow up, what must I do with them? Wouldst thou wish that I should settle them here in this land, whereof I am mistress, or shall I send them to thee?” Thus questioned, they say, Hercules answered, “When the lads have grown to manhood, do thus, and assuredly thou wilt not err. Watch them, and when thou seest one of them bend this bow as I now bend it, and gird himself with this girdle thus, choose him to remain in the land. Those who fail in the trial, send away. Thus wilt thou at once please thyself and obey me.”
Two of Echidna’s human children by Hercules proved to be disappointments and were sent away, but Skythes, the youngest son was indeed capable of wielding Hercules’ bow. Skythes stayed in the land, became its king, and fathered the race of the Scythians, a (real) tribe of people whom the ancient Greeks regarded as being descended from union of the the greatest Greek hero and a primordial monster! People who are familiar with the Scythians will be yelling and punching the air right now (because Scythians are just completely awesome), however, to quickly summarize; the fearsome Scythians were nomads of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. They were renowned for their formidable prowess at mounted warfare and for being general badasses. Roman historians described the Goths as Scythians. The Scottish even called themselves Scythians! in the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath, an open letter to the pope, the elite aristocrats of Scotland claim Scythia as their former homeland. It goes without saying they were binge-drinking in a library when they wrote that puppy.
Scythian Warriors on the steppes (Painting by Angus McBride)
Speaking of puppies, tomorrow, we wrap up this series with everyone’s favorite child of Echidna…
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‘Pop Art’ artists featured in new MAC exhibit ‘created their own style’
It’s difficult not to be drawn to the beauty and contrast of Andy Warhol’s “Reigning Queens.” Illustrating the difference between chilly and distant Queen Elizabeth II and sunny and approachable Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, courtesy of screen prints, is inspired, and the concept by the late, legendary artist holds […]
It’s difficult not to be drawn to the beauty and contrast of Andy Warhol’s “Reigning Queens.” Illustrating the difference between chilly and distant Queen Elizabeth II and sunny and approachable Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland, courtesy of screen prints, is inspired, and the concept by the late, legendary artist holds up a generation later.
“What Warhol did, having the royal queen next to an African queen, was brilliant,” art collector Jordan Schnitzer said while calling from his Portland office. “Warhol shook up the world and made people think. He was so far ahead of his time”
A dazzling array of provocative work, featuring the art of Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Damien Hirst, is part of the “Pop Power From Warhol to Koons: Masterworks From the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” exhibit at the MAC, which opened Sunday and continues through Jan. 24.
The production is possible thanks to Schnitzer, who lent a very small percentage of his vast artwork to the MAC. “We are honored that the MAC could participate in the national tour of ‘Pop Power From Warhol to Koons’ thanks to Jordan Schnitzer,” Mac Executive Director Wes Jessup said. “This exhibition tells the story of Pop Art starting from its beginning in the 1960s, when artists went against the grain of their predecessors embracing humor, celebrity and commerce in colorful and dynamic masterpieces.
“Soup cans, advertisements and even graffiti informed the aesthetic of many of the artists in this exhibition. They embraced imagery shunned by the more traditional art world.”
The projects span more than a half century of creativity, which redefined art. Instead of creating paintings of landscapes or baskets of fruit, the Pop artists expressed what was inside as opposed to delivering what they witnessed.
“The artists in the exhibition in Spokane all went to art school, and each did many nudes or mountains,” Schnitzer said. “But they decided to do something different. They each had this burning message to communicate through their art. They opened their soul to create something others could see. They didn’t try to do what Picasso or Van Gogh did since that was already done. They each came into their own and created their own style.”
While admiring the work of quirky artists such as Keith Haring and especially the daring Koons, it’s apparent that the Pop artists didn’t worry about convention as they pleased themselves. It’s difficult to imagine that early Pop artists such as Koons or Warhol could ever imagine that their initial works would strike a chord with the masses and that they would be timeless.
“You bring up a point no one talks about,” Schnitzer said. “These Pop artists had no idea that their art would be embraced like it has. Their art came along at the right time, and it resonated in society. I also know how they worked. They worked every day. Roy Lichtenstein treated art like a full-time job and created every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.”
Schnitzer, 68, who owns more than 19,000 contemporary prints, is a well-informed art collector who is drawn primarily to post-World War II artists, many of which fall under the Pop moniker.
“I’ve collected Pop Art from 1945 up until last week,” Schnitzer said. The benevolent and die-hard Portland Trailblazers fan, who has been purchasing art since he was 14, established a foundation that lends to museums across the country.
It’s the third installation featuring Schnitzer works at the MAC, which earns high marks for its presentation. Schnitzer was taken aback by the arrangement courtesy of Jessup and staff.
“I wish every artist could see the brilliant job by Wes Jessup and his team,” Schnitzer gushed. “They would be so appreciative. Every Spokanite should be proud of the work they did. They should come out and see how everything is hung masterfully. They’ve done a brilliant job.”
Donald Sultan’s striking “Red Lantern Flowers” is arguably the centerpiece of the collection. “That sculpture, the shape, is gorgeous,” Schnitzer said. “It is like it’s holding court. You can’t help but notice it when you come in.”
“Red Lantern Flowers” immediately grabs your attention, but the piece that’s difficult to take your eyes off of and is one of the most fun pieces in the show is Richard Prince’s “Girlfriend.”
The work was inspired by “Seinfeld,” and what’s more pop culture than “Seinfeld”? Prince’s inspiration was the array of Seinfeld’s girlfriends. According to Schnitzer, Prince counted how many gal pals comic Jerry Seinfeld had on his show. Prince combined the faces of the 57 girlfriends for a composite, which is as difficult to pull away from as the portrait of the Seinfeld character Kramer’s painting, which is of course from a classic episode.
“It’s fascinating how he digitized each of the images and merged them all in this composite of all of those women,” Schnitzer said. He created the most magical and mystical image that leaps out at you like it’s in 3D.”
Such a show wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for Schnitzer, who, unlike some art collectors, wants as many people to be inspired and moved by the works he owns. Schnitzer learned much about art from his mother, Arlene Schnitzer, an arts patron, philanthropist and the namesake of Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
“My mother had a contemporary art gallery,” Schnitzer said. “I grew up around it and absorbed so much of it because of her. I was also fortunate to grow up in the time of these great Pop artists. When you look at the work from 1945 on in Pop Art, you realize how creative that period was in America and throughout the world. Some amazing and beautiful work came out of that.”
The proud Northwesterner’s choice as favorite creator is surprising. “For me the greatest artist of all time is without a doubt Mother Nature,” Schnitzer said. “When I fly into Spokane and I see those gorgeous fields of green and those little lakes glimmering in the sunlight, there’s not a prettier sight.”
For those who might not be flying into Spokane International Airport anytime soon and would like to experience art laced with humor, irreverence and beauty, there’s the “Pop Power” show.
LT Hosts Nighttime Art At North Campus
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This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author’s own. LA GRANGE, IL — If you are out and about during evening hours and would like to take in some student artwork, head over to Lyons Township High School’s North Campus Fieldhouse. Every seven […]
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17 sites for Applegreen this year
Applegreen has opened 17 new sites this year, including one in the US, chairman Daniel Kitchen told its AGM on May 20. In the UK it has opened four new petrol filling stations (PFS) and two service areas. This includes its latest motorway service area (MSA) in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, on the M1, seven miles south of Belfast. It added 11 sites in the Republic of Ireland. Kitchen added: "We have also opened a new PFS in the Long Island region in the North East of the USA and have made good progress developing our presence in that region."
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Retail apprenticeship scheme set for summer rollout
By Merril Boulton 2013-06-14T00:00:00+01:00
A new scheme to help retailers and market traders to recruit talented apprentices is set to be launched across the UK this summer.
The Retail Apprenticeship Scheme (RAS) was piloted last year in a select number of cities but will now be rolled out nationwide to retailers of all sizes – from family businesses and market traders to shopping centres and national chain stores.
The scheme, developed by the National Skills Academy for Retail, will be launched to coincide with Independents’ Day on July 4, a national campaign which gives a voice to the UK’s independent retailers by encouraging people to shop locally and celebrate diversity on the high streets.
RAS – which aims to meet the increased demand for a pool of skilled young retail trainees – has been given the backing of a range of trade associations including the British Independent Retailers Association
and the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders.
Jane Rexworthy, Head of the National Skills for Academy for Retail, said the pilot scheme had proved that there was a strong appetite for retail apprenticeships.
“RAS was initially set up to help smaller, independent retailers and market stall holders to take on talented young apprentices, without having to worry about any HR or administration issues. We have already created apprenticeships at retail businesses in cities including Manchester, Lincoln and Sheffield, and felt that the time was now right to roll the programme out nationally.
“We are also opening up RAS to retailers of all sizes, from independents who may wish to take on one apprentice up to chain stores and national groups where there is a desire to create a whole cohort of apprenticeships.
“We have received great support for the scheme from organisations such as the NMTF and BCSC which understand the benefits of taking on a RAS apprentice – the quality of delivery, high levels of support, a boost in productivity and ultimately a reliable and skilled member of staff.”
Jane Rexworthy said that while a large percentage of SME retailers could be interested in taking on an apprentice, many were hesitant due to fears over how long it would take to set up and the additional support a young person would need.
“The aim of the Retail Apprenticeship Scheme is to take away all these fears and remove the barriers for retailers in taking on an apprentice,” she said. “The core benefit of RAS is that the apprentice is employed directly by us – this reduces the risk, cost, time and administration for retailers.
“We also manage the whole recruitment process, preparing the young people for their new roles with training in core retail skills and matching up each business with a suitable apprentice.
“There is even an option for smaller businesses to share an apprentice, further easing the burden of cost and responsibility.”
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By Peter Adrastos Athas Adrastos, Diary, Fog Of History, Political Crack, The Darnold
My Uncle Was A ‘Loser’
All the men in the older generation of my extended Greek family volunteered to serve in World War II. The war left a hole in my family. My father’s younger brother, Captain William Peter Athas, was killed in action in Italy on March 3, 1944. He was 26 years old and scheduled to return home in a matter of days.
My father rarely talked about the war. That was commonplace among veterans of his generation: they did their bit then wanted to go home and see their families. Lou served as a translator in the Pacific Theatre. In its infinite wisdom, the Army taught him Japanese. They decided that someone who was fluent in Greek with its Cyrillic alphabet could handle Japanese. They were right. He turned down a promotion at the end of the war because he would have been stationed in Tokyo. It was time to return home to try and fill the hole in his family.
My father was the classic oldest child of his time and place. He was dutiful and respectful to his parents’ wishes. Bill Athas, by all accounts, was something of a scamp who was legendary for his charm and good looks. At my dad’s funeral, there was much reminiscing about the uncle I never knew. One of the older cousins described him as, “A dreamboat who was my first crush.”
I wish I knew more about Uncle Bill, but the subject was too painful for my father and his sisters to discuss at any length. I already knew that he won the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery in the invasion of Italy. But I learned something new from the archives at Newspapers.com: my grandparents didn’t initially believe that Bill was dead because they’d just received letters from him. I suspect that not was uncommon in those days of slower communication. I can feel their pain 76 years later.
Nobody in my family ever expressed bitterness over my uncle’s death. He did his duty for his country during a just war and made the ultimate sacrifice. Donald Trump would have called him a loser or a sucker since there was nothing in it for Bill except for two medals that my dad kept in a drawer in his dresser. One of the medals was the one that nobody wants to get: the Purple Heart.
Jeffrey Goldbergs’s Atlantic piece, Trump: Americans Who Died In War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ is the most plausible terrible Trump story ever. The man has said similarly horrible things before in public. The meltdown the Kaiser of Chaos is having in the wake of the story confirms that it’s true as does an AP story that supports Goldberg’s reporting. The military has a Commander-in-Chief who values his own hair above their fallen comrades:
When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.
Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Belleau Woods was the battle that turned the tide in the Great War. Their German enemies were so impressed with the Marines’ valor and ferocity that they dubbed them the “Devil Dogs” a nickname that they still wear as a badge of honor. They were heroes, not losers and suckers.
I have a strong feeling of schadenfreude today. During the Bush-Cheney administration, the GOP turned support for our troops into a fetish. The implication was that anyone who opposed the Iraq War was a traitor. What does that make Donald Trump? Just a sucker and a loser or a traitor?
I have never heard anyone say such terrible things about our veterans before; even those who opposed a particular war. It would have never occurred to me or anyone I know to call veterans of the Iraq War losers and suckers. The only one I’ve heard speak in those terms was a fictional character, Sonny Corleone in The Godfather:
In 2020, the only saps are those who insist on believing everything the Gangster-in-Chief says. I no longer care what the shrinking cadre of Trump cultists think. They’re suckers and losers.
Donald Trump is a malignant narcissist who only cares about himself and is incapable of understanding concepts such as “duty, honor, and country.” His motto is a selfish one: “What’s in it for me?” He’s the loser, not the uncle I never knew.
6 thoughts on “My Uncle Was A ‘Loser’”
christflora says:
“One of the medals was the one that nobody wants to get: the Purple Heart.” Not quite, mon ami. https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/politics/donald-trump-purple-heart/index.html
Peter Adrastos Athas says:
Oy just oy.
John Kelly could end this all right now by speaking up publicly. If a president of the United States ever said something like that to me at the gravesite of my son or daughter, I wouldn’t just speak up, I’d throttle the sonofabitch.
Brenda Sumrow says:
Thank you for writing this and sharing your family’s story. I truly try not to hate people, I believe it’s damaging to the person holding that feeling. But I hate Trump beyond measure or description. And that this is what he thinks of our troops, which once included my daughter, who was fortunate to come home safely, just ignites my rage. I cannot and never will understand his adorers.
joel hanes says:
This one’s for Athenae
https://twitter.com/StorySlug/status/1272895755922087938
My son leaves for boot camp within two weeks. I come from a military family; almost all the men in my family, in every generation, have served. I couldn’t stand trump before; I despise him all the more now.
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Marilsa Bayne
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Marilsa Bayne, Owner and Document Services Manager
Marilsa Bayne (Mari) is the owner of the company, the Document Services Manager, and a Florida Notary Public. Mari brings exceptional experience, skills and work ethic to our business.
Mari was introduced to legal work in Connecticut in 1982 and continued working exclusively in this field after her relocation to New York in 1987 and until her move to Florida in 1997. She has devoted the last 30+ years to primarily serving in the legal community.
Mari is bilingual in the Spanish and English languages and previously served the State of Connecticut as a Simultaneous Courtroom Interpreter.
After many years of employment with attorneys, she was hired as a Family Law Paralegal in 1997 for an Orlando, Florida law firm and moved into the Senior Adoption Paralegal position at the firm from 1999 to 2005. In 2006, she accepted the position of Director of Program Development for an Orlando, Florida adoption agency until 2010. During her tenure as the Director of Program Development, Mari was invited by an adjunct professor at Barry School of Law in Orlando, Florida to lecture on Practical Adoption Procedures and Processing to law students enrolled in the adoption law course.
From 2005 until 2010, she served on the Board of Jeremiah’s Child, a foster-care ministry, as its Program Director, and from 2003 to 2009 she served on the Board of Directors of Mary’s Shelter, a maternity home for adoption-minded women out in Altamonte Springs, Florida until its closing in 2009. In 2005, Mari became a member of the Florida Adoption Council (FAC) and served as a Director at Large from 2008-2011. She also chaired the FAC Annual Conference Committee from 2007 through 2011, planning advanced level adoption training for adoption practitioners statewide.
In her free time, Mari enjoys reading and weekend getaways. One of her passions is the prevention of animal cruelty, and she strongly advocates for pet adoptions through rescue organizations or no-kill shelters.
Mari is dedicated to serving the community by offering quality, nonlawyer document preparation and procedural assistance at an affordable price.
John Bayne
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John Bayne, President and Chief Financial Officer
John Bayne is a Florida native born in New Smyrna Beach, and he has lived in Volusia County all of his life. He attended Daytona State College where he studied music and Criminal Justice.
John served as a Radioteletype Communications Specialist in the Florida Army National Guard for six years and was honorably discharged as a non-commissioned officer.
John is a licensed pilot and has served as a Senior Incident Commander for the Florida Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, where he was responsible for supervising search and rescue operations across Florida.
John recently retired as a Police Sergeant from the City of Ormond Beach Police Department after thirty years of faithful service to the community. During this time, he held positions as a Homicide and Persons Crimes Investigator, where he closely worked with FDLE, the State Attorney’s Office, and other law enforcement agencies, 911 Communications Center Supervisor, Accreditation Manager, and Patrol Supervisor. John also spent a year attached to the DEA in Orlando, Florida as a Task Force Agent.
His passion for community service and law enforcement background makes him uniquely qualified to the further the mission of Florida Document Specialists (“FDS”). He is the President and Chief Financial Officer for FDS and works tirelessly to insure that we are always ready and able to help Florida residents with their legal document preparation needs. He meticulously developed and implemented the procedures and standards that make accessibility, service and affordability the backbone of our company. John is also a duly commissioned Florida Notary Public, and is certified by the State of Florida to perform Remote Online Notarization (RON).
During his free time, John enjoys riding his motorcycle, fishing, and running his eBay business. He is also a licensed ham radio operator and participates in international amateur radio competitions. He also volunteers his time as a member of a local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
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Bi-Partisan Legislation Introduced In Congress Seeks End To Litigation Over Forest Road Permits
June 8, 2013 /in news-2013 /by mandr-fw
A large bi-partisan group of U.S. senators and representatives has introduced legislation in both houses of Congress seeking to block further court efforts by environmental groups to get around a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that forest logging roads do not require EPA permits. The roads legislation was included in a new version of the Farm Bill without food stamps that passed the House on July 11th with all Republican votes. The forest roads legislation would write into law rules the Environmental Protection Agency has followed for 37 years that storm water run-off from forest roads is not considered a potential source of stream pollution and thereby does not require permits under the Clean Water Act. That position was essentially upheld by the Supreme Court in a seven-to-one decision in March, but the environmental group that brought the original lawsuit is attempting to get around the high court ruling through further litigation. Sponsors hope to pass the measure on its own merits or as an amendment to other legislation, such as the Farm Bill. However, the Farm Bill as passed by the House has a highly uncertain future. (This article includes developments that occurred after the print edition of the F&W Forestry Report went to press.)
Southern Pine Timber Prices Eased In Second Quarter But Outlook Appears Encouraging... U.S. Paper Industry Hits Mid-Year Stride After Beginning 2013 On Sluggish N...
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Teacher unions get active
townhall.com ^ | 6/23/04 | Linda Chavez
Posted on 06/22/2004 11:13:15 PM PDT by kattracks
School's out, but the nation's teacher unions will be working overtime this summer to help elect John Kerry president. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) will host John Kerry at their convention next month, and the National Education Association (NEA) has launched a new ad campaign in several battleground states to attack President Bush's education record. The ads claim the president's No Child Left Behind Act "forces teachers to drill students for standardized tests," which, it contends, "hurts kids today and limits them in the future."
Teacher union members will be the biggest single contingent of delegates to the Democratic Convention in Boston later in July, just as they were in 2000, when more than 350 NEA members and 152 AFT members were Democratic delegates. In addition, teacher unions will donate millions to elect Democrats at all levels of government. Indeed, the NEA and AFT are two of the top 13 all-time donors to the Democratic Party since 1978, giving nearly $12.4 million to Democrats as of June 2003, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to teacher union political activism. Much of what goes on is hidden from view, even from teacher union members themselves.
Like most unions, the teacher unions not only collect voluntary contributions from their members to donate to political candidates -- some 95 percent of which goes to Democrats -- they also spend huge sums of their members' dues to register voters, run ads, print campaign leaflets, set up phone banks and turn out voters on Election Day. What's more, the NEA employs what Landmark Legal Foundation president Mark Levin calls "the largest army of campaign workers that any organization has" -- the 1,800 NEA UniServ directors who are deployed in every Congressional District in the nation. The NEA, with its state affiliates, spent some $90 million to underwrite its UniServ program in 2003, according to documents Landmark Legal Foundation unearthed in its extensive court filings against the union.
These UniServ directors are responsible for all political activities within their geographic area, including raising funds for the NEA's political action committee (cynically named the Fund for Children and Public Education), managing NEA's delegates to the Democratic convention, giving campaign support for NEA-endorsed candidates and coordinating the union's lobbying efforts. Yet despite the obvious political nature of these union operatives' work and the huge sums of money to support it, the NEA claims it doesn't spend a dime of the dues it collects on politics, or at least that's what it tells the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Both the NEA and the AFT claim they spend zero dollars on politics when they file annual returns with the IRS. Why? Because as tax-exempt organizations, they would owe taxes on that portion of their revenues that they spend on politics. Other non-profit groups report their political and lobbying expenses -- the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, for example, reported almost $20 million in such spending in 1996 -- but not the teacher unions. So, not only are the unions ripping off their own members, they are defrauding the government of millions of dollars in taxes.
What makes this all the more galling is that teacher unions want the rest of us to pay higher taxes. When California experienced a $35-billion budget shortfall in 2002, largely because of out-of-control spending by the Democrat-controlled legislature and then Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, the California Federation of Teachers proposed raising six separate taxes to close the gap and passing legislation that would make it easier to raise taxes in the future. Of course the teacher unions claim these higher taxes would benefit education, though more money has done little to improve education to date.
Funding on education has gone up exponentially in the last several decades -- we're now spending more than three times as much per pupil in constant, inflation-adjusted dollars than we did in 1960 -- but student test scores, as measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress, have shown almost no improvement over that same period.
Teacher unions deserve an "A" for their unswerving devotion to the Democratic Party, but they have failed miserably when it comes to improving education.
Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Townhall.com member organization.
©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Contact Linda Chavez | Read Chavez's biography
TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: education; educrats; nea; schools; teachers; unions
1 posted on 06/22/2004 11:13:15 PM PDT by kattracks
To: kattracks
Public employees: the enemy within.
2 posted on 06/22/2004 11:25:50 PM PDT by Gigantor (Fight the Anti-Atkins Taliban - buy them a bacon cheeseburger today!)
To: Gigantor
Didn't the Secretary of Education called them a terrorist organization or something like that?
3 posted on 06/23/2004 12:34:24 AM PDT by GSlob
Good, let them get very active and cause their own demise and bring forth vouchers for real education instead.
4 posted on 06/23/2004 12:35:47 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
Not all public school teachers are members of these unions. Even some of the ones that are union members are for Bush. There's a lot of problems with public education, but that does not mean there's not a good number of public school teachers who are dedicated and doing their best despite sometimes trying circumstances.
5 posted on 06/23/2004 12:54:37 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
The teachers union is the Florida Democrat party. They went into debt in the last governor's race in a futile attempt to unseat Jeb Bush.
6 posted on 06/23/2004 2:30:18 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
Experts find Federal Funding COVERS Cost of No Child Left Behind (dems are saddened)
New GAO Report Finds That No Child Left Behind Is Not an "Unfunded Mandate"
Teachers' Job Satisfaction Rises to Highest Level in 20 Years (No Child Left Behind Working?)
Washington reaps benefits of No Child Left Behind (COMPLIATION ON NCLB debunking RATS funding scam)
7 posted on 06/23/2004 4:08:15 AM PDT by GailA (hanoi john kerry, I'm for the death penalty, before I impose a moratorium on it.)
These same anti American skunks have been saying the same things each cycle since the rat "Great Depression" started on election night in 1994. They have joined the thug unions and made fools of themselves every time. This will be no different.
The ratmedia will pump out stories from now until November on this subject. The headlines will be the same they use every two years: "Unions vow to spend every cent they have to beat GOP" Unions confident they will get the congress back for Dems" and so on.
8 posted on 06/23/2004 5:41:03 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 ( Kerry's not "one of us": catholicsagainstkerry.com. needs your help.)
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LA Kings: November Hiatus For Hollywood Hockey?
LOS ANGELES — In case you weren’t aware, the 2007-08 National Hockey League season is still going on. But that has been very easy to forget in the Los Angeles area with the Los Angeles Kings sitting on the sidelines all week.
Indeed, the Kings have been reduced to being spectators this week, having been given the week off by the NHL’s scheduling gurus.
“I don’t know why we have six days off,” said Kings goaltender Jason LaBarbera. “It’s a weird blip in the schedule.”
“You usually don’t get a week during the season like this,” said Kings winger Michael Cammalleri. “I don’t know if any of us have experienced this before. I guess the closest thing was during the Olympic break a couple of years ago.”
After winning five out of their last seven games and six out of their last nine, sitting idle for a week is not something the players wanted.
“I know that I don’t like having a week off,” winger Dustin Brown told Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times. “I like playing games. For me, I get into the groove of practice, game, practice, game, and I feel better that way. I’d rather play as many games as possible.”
“I’d rather keep playing,” said LaBarbera. “You know when you get a week off the schedule is going to pick up. Six days off is not ideal, especially when most of your team is healthy. But we’ll take advantage of it while we can. We’ve got to cram as much stuff in as we can in these six days and try to get ready for Saturday.”
After a 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks at Staples Center on Saturday, November 3, the Kings had Sunday off and then had a short practice and a meeting with league personnel on Monday.
On Tuesday, they had another day off, but spent the time in a rather unique team-building exercise patterned after CBS’s “The Amazing Race.”
But after that, it was back to work.
“We’ll practice real hard, keep it really intense in practice,” said Cammalleri. “We’ll work hard, try and work on our bodies, get stronger and better and come in fresh next Saturday.”
Although there is a concern about losing whatever momentum they had after being off for a week, Kings head coach Marc Crawford expects his team to pick up right where they left off.
“I think it’s actually going to be beneficial to our group,” said Crawford. “Some of the older players are going to get a couple of days off. We’re going to do a little team-building for the group and we going to have some great practices later in the week.”
“It’s a divisional month for us,” added Crawford. “For all these games it shouldn’t be any problem for out team to get up for any of these games against our closest rivals.”
Speaking Of Months…
Crawford’s comment about November being a “divisional month” was dead on, as the Kings face Pacific Division rivals in every game this month (eleven games), placing a huge significance on each one.
Clearly, what happens in November will not decide the fate of the 2007-08 Kings. However, a strong performance will provide a big upward push in the playoff standings at the end of the season. Likewise, a poor performance would be a huge drag, pulling them lower and perhaps be the difference between qualifying for the post-season and missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year.
Although no one outside of the Kings believes that they are a contender for the Pacific Division title, until they went on their hiatus, the Kings were bouncing back and forth between first and second place—a rather lofty level for a team that has not been close to that level in recent years.
With the rest of the division in action this week, the Kings have dropped to fourth place as of this writing, but they are just one point out of the division lead, illustrating even more just how important a strong November performance will be. But going into this “divisional month,” the Kings are playing better hockey than they have in recent memory.
“We’re playing a lot better at this time than at this time last year,” Crawford explained. “I think our guys are feeling good about themselves.”
“We recognize that we’ve got to be about improvement,” Crawford elaborated. “Every day we come to the rink, our goal is to make a subtle improvement, whether it’s one percent or five or six percent, every little bit is going to help us. We expect that as we keep going along this season, as it usually happens with a young team, your team does get better and they handle the challenges better.”
Crawford said that his team has definitely improved since the season began.
“When we look at the second game of the season against Anaheim—they played so well in that second game,” Crawford after his team lost to San Jose on November 3. “We didn’t play very well in that second game in London. Tonight, it was the same type of game. We’re playing a back-to-back against San Jose. Although it was subtle improvement, we were better. We were more competitive in this game against a great team. They got real strong performances from their elite players. We know have to strive to be better.”
“We are getting better, even though this was a hard game for our fans to see that. But every time we’ve faced one of these challenges [this season] we’ve improved a little bit. We have to keep striving for improvement.”
First Line Still Learning
For a hockey player, is it possible to be too skilled?
Perhaps that is the question for the Kings’ top line, which features Brown and Cammalleri on the wings, centered by Anze Kopitar.
After starting the season on fire, their production has tailed off a bit, and one could make a case for the Kings’ second line of Alexander Frolov, Ladislav Nagy and Patrick O’Sullivan being more effective in recent games.
The reason: Kopitar’s line appears to be relying too much on their skill, and is not always making the correct decisions in the defensive and neutral zones.
“You’ve got to make sure you take care of your own zone,” said Crawford. “If you do that, you’re going to have the puck in the neutral zone and you’re going to be able to come up together. It’s always better when you attack in numbers.”
“You show your maturity when you recognize that’s the way it’s got to be,” added Crawford. “You’re not going to score on every shift. You have to recognize that on some shifts, you have to play well in your own end. Some shifts you’re going to have to dump it in and on other shifts it’ll open up. We’re still in the facet of our team where our guys are still learning that as they continue to go along.”
One Tough Customer
Left wing Raitis Ivanans, who serves as the Kings’ resident tough guy, showed just how tough he was on November 2, when the Kings won the first game of their home-and-home series with the Sharks.
In the first period, Ivanans was struck in the face by a slap shot off the stick of Kings defenseman Rob Blake.
Reports stated that Ivanans did not go down. Instead, he dropped his gloves and stick and skated to the Kings’ bench.
“He’s obviously a very tough kid to be able to handle that,” said Crawford. “That would’ve knocked out just about anyone.”
Ivanans did not return to the game, suffering a broken cheekbone and a gash under his right eye.
“He’s not going to need surgery but his face and his head are very sore,” Crawford explained. “We will see, as the week goes along—they’re telling us that he may be able to skate this week. That’s obviously great news. We’re not putting him on injured reserve yet. That’s also a sign that we’re hoping he’ll be able to play. He’ll have to wear a mask for sure.”
Ivanans has not skated yet as of this writing, and has suffered from headaches. He is scheduled to skate Friday or Saturday, but if he cannot practice on Friday, he is not expected to play on Saturday when the Kings host the Dallas Stars.
Struggling For Relevance
Going back to the Kings being in the midst of a week-long hiatus, one has to wonder what genius is responsible? After all, the Kings been totally out of just about most people’s minds for almost ten days.
The question is…why? After all, It’s not like anyone figured the Kings would need a vacation during the season.
Noting that Disney Channel star and cash cow Miley Cyrus (better known as Hannah Montana) performed two sold-out concerts at Staples Center this week (the popular music group Maroon 5 also performed in concert at Staples Center on November 8), one has to wonder if the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), who owns the Kings, had anything to do with it.
Looking closer at the situation, once we hit November 10 on the calender, the Kings will have been out of sight and mostly out of mind for not just a week, but for ten long days.
Indeed, the Kings’ last two games were not televised locally, which means that they have not had any television time since Halloween night, when they dropped a 4-1 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Staples Center.
To make matters worse, FSN West dropped the November 2 game at San Jose from their television schedule, replacing it with another game later in the season.
This left most fans in the dark here in Southern California for two big games against the Sharks, a division rival.
As a result, when the Kings were at San Jose on November 2, virtually no one in the Los Angeles area was paying any attention. The same could also be said for the next night. The only difference was that a sell-out crowd of 18,118 fans saw the game at Staples Center.
But no one else did, since that game was not televised anywhere. And even worse, what did FSN West air in place of the game on November 2? Nothing of consequence—no other live action or special program aired on FSN West during that time slot.
Based on that fact, one can only assume that ratings for Kings telecasts on FSN West are so low that they would rather televise virtually anything else.
For a team that is struggling for relevance in the Los Angeles sports market, that cannot be a good thing.
Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Jason LaBarbera, Ladislav Nagy, Marc Crawford, Michael Cammalleri, NHL News, Patrick O'Sullivan, Raitis Ivanans
Los Angeles Kings: Stepping Up
Los Angeles Kings: Do You Believe It?
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Alabama beats Ohio State for college football national title, finishes season undefeated
January 11, 2021 By Ryan Gaydos
Alabama defeated Ohio State, 52-24, for its third national championship in the College Football Playoff era.
In a season significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the Crimson Tide were able to come away with the first championship of 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla and finish their season undefeated.
The victory makes it 14 consecutive wins for Alabama. The Crimson Tide haven’t lost since Nov. 30, 2019.
The first half of the game was all about Crimson Tide wide receiver Devonta Smith.
Smith had 12 catches for 215 yards with three touchdowns. He was making Ohio State defenders miss left and right and was seemingly unstoppable.
Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith celebrates after scoring against Ohio State during the first half of an NCAA College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
His night ended early when he injured is right hand on Alabama’s first drive of the third quarter. He left the game and did not return. He showed back up on the sideline late in the fourth quarter in a sweatsuit and his hand completely bandaged up.
Mac Jones put together a game for the ages as well.
ALABAMA’S DEVONTA SMITH LEAVES NATIONAL TITLE GAME WITH HAND INJURY AFTER INCREDIBLE 1ST HALF
Jones was 36-for-45 with 464 passing yards and five touchdown passes. He surpassed Joe Burrow’s national championship performance from last season. Burrow had 463 passing yards with five touchdown passes.
On the ground, Najee Harris had 79 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. He also had seven catches for 79 yards and a touchdown.
Alabama wide receiver Slade Bolden, right, celebrates after scoring a touchdown with quarterback Mac Jones during the second half of an NCAA College Football Playoff national championship game against Ohio State, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Slade Bolden had a touchdown catch in the second half. It was his first collegiate touchdown catch.
Ohio State fought hard all-season long but just came up short.
Justin Fields was beat up by the Crimson Tide defense all night. He finished 17-for-33 with 194 passing yards and a touchdown. He also led the team in rushing with 67 yards.
NFL STARS ADVISE ALABAMA’S JAYLEN WADDLE TO REMOVE HIMSELF FROM NATIONAL TITLE GAME
Master Teague III rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns. Trey Sermon left early in the game with a labrum injury. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution and did not return.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields passes against Alabama during the second half of an NCAA College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
Buckeyes receiver Garrett Wilson had the lone touchdown catch. He finished with three catches for 50 yards. Chris Olave led Ohio State with eight catches for 69 yards.
The Buckeyes wrapped up their season with a Big Ten Championship and one loss.
Nick Saban’s legendary college football legacy only grows after the win. It’s Saban’s seventh national championship and sixth as Alabama head coach. He won one during the 2003 season with LSU and won his first with Alabama in 2009 after he returned to college football after a stint with the Miami Dolphins.
Alabama won its first national title during the College Football Playoff era during the 2015 season, beating Clemson, 45-40. The team defeated Georgia in the only overtime game in the final, 26-23. It’s their 18th title in school history.
The Crimson Tide are likely to lose a bunch of key players to the professional ranks. They will look to get back into title contention in 2021.
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Latinas Deliver in the 2018 Midterms
Anna SampaioNovember 21, 2018November 21, 2018
Latinas and Latinos figured prominently into the national political narrative going into the 2018 midterms. The election was replete with campaign hyperbole that traded on racialized and gendered stereotypes of Latinas/os to consolidate a nationalist identity and to mobilize white voters. From the administration’s dismissal of Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane’s Maria and Irma, the execution of a “zero tolerance policy” on undocumented families on the U.S -Mexico border, through the incarceration of more than 2400 children, threats to end birthright citizenship, the deployment of 5,200 troops to the border and the infamous and prolonged derision of a caravan of Central American migrants, Trump engaged in a dizzying array of daily attacks on Latinas/os across the country. And while the President committed to an anti-immigrant strategy, the same narrative was replicated in candidates from Arizona to Pennsylvania who were eager to receive his endorsement and support. Commercial advertisements, robocalls, mailers, and campaign rallies regularly featured racialized and gendered narratives centered on a Latina/o threat with concomitant calls to “build a wall,” “end birthright citizenship” and “keep them out.”
However, the 2018 midterm also proved to be a productive election for expanding the field of Latina candidates as well as the Latina/o electorate. It was an election season where record numbers of Latinas became part of the electoral process as advocates, fundraisers, donors, campaign staff, commentators, canvassers, organizers, voters, and most importantly, candidates. It was a midterm in which women of color, and Latinas specifically, broke barriers to political incorporation, won a record number of Congressional seats around the country, and proved significant to the shift in power in the House. It was a midterm where Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico became the first Democratic Latina (and Democratic woman of color) elected governor in the U.S. Finally, it was an election where five new Latinas were elected to Congress: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY CD14), Xochitl Torres Small (NM CD2), and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL CD26), and the first Latina Representatives from Texas Veronica Escobar (CD 16) and Sylvia Garcia (CD 29).
Overall, fifty-two Latinas entered the midterms as Congressional candidates (51 in House races, and 1 U.S. Senate candidate), and 20 survived the primary races to advance to the general election. From that field, 12 Latinas won yielding a 30% increase in the total number of Latinas in the House of Representatives. Among these victories were all seven Latina incumbents running for re-election; Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) – the first Latina elected to Congress, retired and Representative Michele Lujan Grisham (D-NM) ran successfully for governor of New Mexico. Five of the returning Latinas in the next Congress are from California, plus two more in New York (Nydia Velasquez) and Washington (Jaime Herrera Beutler).
Incumbent Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) will be the lone Republican Latina in the 116th Congress. In fact, 80% of Latinas who won primary contests were Democrats, reflecting both the outcome of a $30 million investment made by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in Latina/o outreach and the favorability of a number of key constituents for Democratic candidates. As Melissa Deckman recently noted, these dramatic differences suggest that despite the increased number of women candidates and women elected to national office this year, there was no “wave” for Republican women as the GOP abandoned previous outreach and recruitment efforts aimed at women and racial/ethnic minorities in exchange for a strategic investment in whiteness and masculinity.
Beyond Democratic party affiliation, Latinas who won their races shared a history of prior political experience. Over 60% of those Latinas who won in primary contests had direct political experience as officeholders (either incumbents or state/local level office), while 75% of Latinas who won in the general election had prior experience. Across all congressional races, incumbent Democrats and Democrats with prior political experience won the preponderance of their races. Even candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) who were celebrated as Latina “newcomers” were far from inexperienced at politics. Ocasio-Cortez had already established herself as an effective community organizer with organizing skills that served her well in the campaign and Torres Small had a wealth of political experience as aid to Senator Udall, as a judicial law clerk for a federal judge, and attorney versed in environmental law. Thus, despite media coverage that celebrated Latinas and other women of color as political newcomers, most of the Latinas elected were already practiced in varying fields of politics (both electoral politics and non-electoral politics) and their familiarity with multiple forms of politics proved to be an important factor in their overall midterm success.
Finally, almost all Latinas candidates who won their congressional seats came from districts where Latina/o voters represented a critical mass, or at least a third, of the total electorate. California, long a centerpiece of Latina political power, is home to districts with the largest concentration of Latina/o voters ranging from 56.3% of the electorate in CD 32 represented by Grace Napolitano (D), to 78.7% of the electorate in CD40 represented by Lucille Roybal-Allard (D). Not surprisingly, given the concentration of Democratic party power, Latina/o political history, and Latina/o voters in the state, California is also home to the largest concentration of Latina congresswomen and the largest population of Latina incumbents.
Despite California’s political dominance within Latina politics, all five of the Latinas newly elected to Congress were from districts outside the state: specifically Florida, New Mexico, and Texas. And while Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) delivered one of the most stunning congressional victories for Latinas, defeating long-time Republican incumbent Carlos Cubelo in Florida’s 26th congressional district, she did so in a district that was majority Latina/o. Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler’s Washington district stands out as Latina/o voters constitute only 4.6% of the electorate, meaning Beutler not only managed a successful re-election campaign in a cycle where incumbent Republicans were regularly defeated, but she also did so in a district where Latina/o voters were vastly outnumbered. This underscores what Christina Bejarano has described as the potential advantages that Latinas have as candidates even in Republican and white dominant districts.
This election cycle once again underscored the importance of outreach and mobilization, as well as the power that Latinas hold as candidates and voters. Across the country, Latina/o voter registration and turnout grew, as did the level of support for Democratic candidates. As we have seen with the past elections, Latina voters outnumbered Latinos both in registration and support for Democratic party candidates, reflecting a gender gap in the population. According to the Pew Research Center, 27% of Latina/o voters cast a ballot in a midterm for the first time this election, and in battleground states such as Florida, Latina/o voters grew by 8.4% over 2016. Ultimately, the participation of Latinas as both candidates and voters helped to change the balance of power in the House and challenge an openly racist and misogynistic national narrative on immigration and citizenship.
Looking forward, one of the central questions about this shift in power was recently posed by Ben Lujan, chair of the DCCC. In an interview with the Washington Post he asked:
“Moderate Republicans are voting for our Democratic candidates. As a matter of fact, it’s the only way that many of our candidates are going to win. … But are they aligning with us for one cycle? Has the president pushed them away? … Will they come back while he’s in office? I think those are all important questions that we’ll see election after election. We’ll see now in these midterms. We’ll see again in 2019 with [special elections] and then again in 2020.”
Maintaining and expanding the power that Democrats hold, particularly in the Southwest with seats such as New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district won by Latina Xochitl Torres Small, will depend a great deal on the degree to which the growing Latina/o population who were mobilized in 2018 are successfully incorporated into the party and the larger political processes. This is where the hard work takes place. Democrats not only need to govern on the issues that are important to Latinas/os – and here abating the attacks on immigrants and seeding ground toward immigration reform are front and center, they must also redesign the party to find opportunities for leadership for Latinas/os. This means that they must also shift the party platform and narrative to create a normative description of value for all Latinas/os and not just a chosen few officeholders. This kind of incorporation into the party structure coupled with sustained outreach in places like New Mexico’s CD2, Colorado’s CD 6, or the California central valley can create and sustain the kind of electorate that Democrats need to make sure that gains made in 2018 are not only sustained, but also continue to grow in 2020.
Dr. Anna Sampaio is Director and Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Political Science at Santa Clara University. She is the author of Terrorizing Latina/o Immigrants: Race, Gender, and Immigration Politics in the Age of Security (Temple University Press, 2015).
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GENNADIY V. IVANOV
TRANSITIONS 2019-2020
TIMELESSNESS project 2020
Transitions project exhibition at Rossotrudnichestvo,
37 Kensington High Street, London. Extended till end of December.
Online exhibition catalogue https://issuu.com/nsag/docs/doc15
Norfolk Artist and Scientist Fuse Art and Science over Climate Change.
North Norfolk recently declared a climate emergency; quickly followed closely by the House of Commons. This is hot on the heels of the first phase of an exciting Norfolk project to increase public engagement by fusing art with the science of climate change.
Norfolk artist Gennadiy Ivanov and Trevor Davies, former Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Director of the Climatic Research Unit at UEA, have combined to represent aspects of climate change and its impacts in visual art in order to increase awareness in a wider section of people. They have just returned from Canada, a country which is amongst those most greatly affected by climate change.
Gennadiy Ivanov had already produced paintings related to sea-level rise and coastal erosion in Norfolk when he approached Professor Davies, who says “I was impressed by Gennadiy’s paintings. He interpreted and visualized coastal erosion in a way which I found striking, and I thought that his impressionistic images could have a wider impact”.
From Gennadiy Ivanov’s perspective, he knew that Norwich was a hot-bed of climate research and wanted advice on how best to develop his work in the climate change theme. “Professor Davies explained the principles of climate change and its impacts and convinced me that, together, we could produce a real fusion of science and art in this project. Everyone we spoke to in Norfolk was enthused by the project, including those who had experience of art in education as a means of getting over a story to those who might not otherwise be interested”.
The real breakthrough came when Professor Davies contacted a colleague in Canada, Professor John Pomeroy, who had spent time at UEA in the 1990s, and with whom co-operation had since continued. Professor Davies explained that “John is Director of a very effective and important research project in Canada called Global Water Futures (GWF). It is addressing the major climate change related events which Canada is experiencing: more severe floods, droughts, fires, recession of snow and ice-cover, and perma-frost melting. I felt that witnessing the impacts of these changes in landscapes which were very different to those in Norfolk could give scope Gennadiy to produce even more striking pictures”.
The two have just returned from a research trip in Canada in which Gennadiy Ivanov was able to join in GWF activities at a number of research sites in the Yukon, North West Territories, and the Rockies in Alberta. He says “I am very grateful for GWF support and feel enormously privileged to have witnessed the incredibly hard work put in by the scientists, involving sophisticated instrumentation in remote and difficult terrain. Sometimes the only way in was by helicopter or ski-plane. It made me realise the effort put in by scientists to understand and the effects of climate change and that sometimes it is necessary for them to use modes of transportation which emit global warming gases in order to better prepare us for the future”.
Gennadiy Ivanov was able to produce paintings in the field, of the research activities and landscapes which have been affected by climate change, which he is now using as a basis for his impressionistic images. Professor Trevor Davies said “Everyone who watched Gennadiy produce his paintings in the field was impressed by his speed of work, and by the way he was able to capture the important elements of what he was seeing”.
Amongst the scenes Gennadiy Ivanov witnessed were the outcomes of rapidly retreating glaciers, the effects of quick changes in lake-level, vegetation changes, the results of catastrophic floods, and forest fires. Even whilst the two were there, climate records were being broken in parts of Canada, including record floods in Ottawa and Montreal and record high temperatures in the North West Territories.
Art galleries and museums in Canada have invited exhibitions of the resulting art, combined with climate interpretations, and there is also an invitation to put on an exhibition in London. The pair plan exhibitions in Norfolk, with the hope of developing links with the Canadian galleries.
“I want to do justice, in my own terms, to the incredible landscapes which I saw in Canada, and the way in which they are being deeply affected by man-made global warming. I also want to use this experience to inform my future paintings representing environmental change in Norfolk, and link the changes in the gentler landscapes in our county to those in the more dramatic landscapes of Canada. I also want my art to be a tribute to the dedicated scientists whose work I saw”, said Gennadiy Ivanov.
Professor Davies remarked “I have no doubt that the exhibitions based on Gennadiy’s work will be successful. Many landscapes in Canada have changed dramatically since my first scientific visits there, and Gennadiy is able to represent this in an imaginative way. It was exciting to be part of this project to fuse art and science, and I look forward to adopting this approach to Norfolk. It was sobering to catch a quick snapshot of the nature of changes in large parts of Canada: perhaps the most sobering was to see the very large areas of landscape slumping resulting from the thawing of permafrost. It may have been this which prompted the Chief of the Gwich’in Indigenous Peoples to give his impression of the effect of climate change on his people: “It’s like watching a nuclear explosion in slow motion””.
'I wanted to capture some of the impacts of climate change in a region of Canada which has experienced some of the highest warming rates on the planet – Yukon, Northwest Territories, and the Rockies in Alberta. I was lucky enough to be able to join scientists, as they made routine visits to some of their observation stations and study sites.'
'I also returned to the Peyto Glacier in August – its shrinking form much more evident without snow-cover. GWF scientists use drones to photograph and sense the receding glacier . A brilliant sunny day on the glacier meant that my field paintings were amongst the most colourful I have produced of a glacier. Despite the bright colours, the bare moraines and sediment left by the retreating glacier gave me a sense of destruction, darkness and decay borne in rapid deglaciation due to human-caused climate change. In this painting is an example of the strange formations of cryoconite below the glacier snout, washed off the glacier by meltwater and accumulating in mini-mountain ranges about 2m high. This field painting looking down the valley from the current glacier snout gives an impression of the former scale of the glacier. At the base of the glacier were melt caverns, about 2m high, here captured in a field painting. Here I represent the criss-cross pattern of crevasses and melt channels on the glacier in an impressionistic way. '
Transitions I catalogue online issuu.com/nsag/docs/transitions/a/223078
https://issuu.com/nsag/docs/transitions_2_issuu/s/10478819
https://issuu.com/nsag/docs/transitions/a/212966
September-October Transitions collection of new paintings and drawings
www.bonusprint.co.uk/share-online-photo-book/ce6c553a-1242-4d51-a867-e4557289d394&utm_campaign=crm_sml_eml_t34404&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_source=service-mail&crm_segment=all&utm_content=?id=17860880
Despite the exhortations of climate scientists over decades, action on climate change has been delayed too long. In the words of David Attenborough, “the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of our natural world is on the horizon”. That prospect, scientists say, will be unstoppable if major actions, not before attempted, are not taken over the next few years. Whether they are, or not, will determine to what extent the Earth remains inhabitable. The proposed project aims to represent that challenge, stimulating awareness amongst new audiences, via a range of techniques, styles, performance and media. The artist will have unprecedented access to the work of climate scientists, initially in Canada and the UK, and the project will be shown and performed at a number of venues including in the UK and Canada. The linkages between, and dislocations in, those natural systems and societies most at risk will be articulated and shown to the artist by practicing climate scientists – a fusion of science and art. Because of the unprecedented access to a global network of climate scientists, there is a realizable prospect of the project growing and evolving for exhibitions/performances around the world.
Images by Gennadiy Ivanov / August 2019: Peyto Glacier- GWF and The Canadian Centre for Water Forecasting and Prediction at the University of Saskatchewan.
Proposed artistic activity
Funding is sought for the second phase of this activity. The first phase has been successfully completed. This was making contact with climate scientist Professor Trevor Davies, former Director of the Climatic Research Unit and Co-Founder of the Tyndall Centre for Climate and being tutored by him in the fundamentals of climate change and its impact, including the importance of transition processes (phase changes, etc) in the climate system, and how representations of water (in its various phases) - or the lack of it – can be used as a messenger and impact vector of climate change. Professor Davies has put me in touch with one of his close colleagues, Professor John Pomeroy who is Director of Global Water Futures (the biggest water research programme in the world) headquartered in Saskatoon, Canada. I, therefore, have unprecedented access to the global network of climate scientists. I have been invited by Professors Pomeroy and Davies to join them on fieldwork during the snowmelt season this spring at three experimental locations in Canada in: the boreal forest; the Rocky Mountains; Wolf Creek near Whitehorse, Yukon. All logistical support will be provided and the Global Water Futures programme has awarded a grant of $5,000 Canadian.
Canada is suffering extremes related to climate change - floods, drought, fires – and I will be able to immerse myself in the scientist’s work and how they organise research in extreme environments. My plan is to sketch, photograph, and video, record the parameters and features they are measuring: snow, snowdrift, snowmelt, ice movement and cracking, torrents, clouds, rainfall, wind, sunshine, etc. I want to capture the human dimension of the scientist at work, and also register how local inhabitants are impacted, and how they cope, with climate change.
I believe that I can start an effective dialogue with my new colleagues through an exhibition of paintings I am now producing on an iconic symbol of the Earth System’s vulnerability to climate change; the polar bear. My first paintings have elicited an invitation to exhibit them in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and a provisional invitation to observe this autumn – to help develop my stylization of them – as they await the build-up of the (diminishing) sea ice in Hudson Bay.
The spring trip to Canada will produce the materials (recordings, sketches, videos, paintings) to make installations, films, lectures, which I will use to link with representations of the nature of climate change and its impact on Norfolk – for example, coastal erosion (water as the vector again) with the cooperation of climate scientists in Norwich. The first product of this extensive programme will be an installation and art project in my name in Norfolk and Saskatoon. A second product will be an integrated multi-participant exhibition which will include videos, paintings, multi-material (and some dynamic) sculptures, photographs, sound, light, performance (dance, theatre, music, song, etc) – in an attempt to mirror the inter-connected multi-variable, multi-dimensional nature of climate change, the Earth System and the two-way impact on societies.
Neither Prof Davies nor Prof Pomeroy have been directly involved in art projects before. However, they have both been heavily-involved in public engagement. Prof Davies has been involved in many engagement events during his time as Director of the Climatic Research Unit, Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, Enterprise and Engagement, all at UEA; UK Natural Environment Research Council Member, and Director of the Fudan Tyndall Centre in Shanghai. Similarly, Prof Pomeroy’s roles as Canada Research Chair in Hydrology and Director of the Global Water Futures programme has public engagement at their cores. Both have extensive experience in managing large-scale international research programmes. Taken together with their research expertises in climate, hydrology, snow/ice dynamics and chemistry, and atmospheric processes, they will prove (indeed, already have) effective partners for this project. They are both seasoned expedition leaders.
Transitions: Canada Yukon, Northern territories sketches collection. Winter/Spring.
Pastels drawings.
Canada Transitions art expedition project collection. Pastels, gouache, digital art. Fusion of science and art. Climate change study, the changing environment of Western Canada: Sub-Arctic Mountains- monitoring, understanding and predicting the changing climate, land, vegetation, and water cycle at the Yukon territories and Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Transitions second expedition: Canadian Rockies and Saskatchewan prairies. Summer - Autumn.
Pastels/watercolours
Paintings from my recollection and imagination.
Геннадий Иванов, группа SKYNET, Эдвин Поуп и проблемы Арктики
https://komkur.info/kultura-i-dosug/gennadij-ivanov-gruppa-skynet-edvin-poup-i-problemy-arktiki?fbclid=IwAR1lc_Ig_mh-aSqgZWZd5FTFRpaihqL0Y1wSuvkRFwdVX_w6HD95DTgr350
Why is this activity important for your artistic development?
Just three months ago, the world’s climate scientists issued a stark warning – their starkest of many previous – that there are only 12 years remaining in which the take the necessary action to limit global warming to a level where the most catastrophic consequences can still be avoided. I believe this requires an unprecedented mobilization of all sectors of the community. Artists can play an important role in raising awareness and inspiring action. I would like to devote a significant part of my activity over the next years to this overwhelming threat and challenge to global well-being. I believe I have the appropriate techniques and skills to make a difference, especially when coupled with the expertise, experience and advice of scientists with a powerful background in climate science. It is so apposite that I am based in Norwich which is one of the global power houses in climate research. These connections will give me access to many aspects of climate research around the world. I want to be able to capture and represent subjects which give a strong sensory message about climate change, its threat and coping strategies. For that reason, I will be visiting a country where the impacts of climate change will be amongst the greatest: Canada. I will witness scientists work in forests, in snow- and ice-fields, in torrents, and sites of great drought. I will see, and talk to, communities which have been devastated by the extreme events nested in global warming. On a second trip, I hope to observe that iconic symbol of climate change: the polar bear as it waits (increasingly forlornly) for its millennia-old winter life-support platform of sea-ice to form.
I will learn how to meld such dramatic messages from another place to equally-dramatic, but less visual and consequential, in Norfolk. This will mirror the scientific connection. Prof Trevor Davies, who spent most of his career based at UEA, employed Prof John Pomeroy as a young post-doc. They worked together around the world, but especially in Canada. Prof Pomeroy is now Director of the Global Water Futures programme with 125 partner institutions throughout the world. Both are committed to continued collaboration with me, both for the first phases of this project and as it grows through future transitions – in scope and geographically.
https://www.bonusprint.co.uk/view-online-photo-book/056d850d-67a0-4e08-8d4d-768bf91065b2
Inspired by Melting glaciers. Oil on canvas paintings 100x100 cm
Transitions project art expedition April 2019.
TRANSITIONS CATALOGUE PUBLISHED 19.07.2019
https://www.bonusprint.co.uk/view-online-photo-book/ce6c553a-1242-4d51-a867-e4557289d394&utm_campaign=crm_sml_eml_t34404&utm_medium=e-mail&utm_source=service-mail&crm_segment=all&utm_content=
Exhibition at The Forum in Norwich looks at the impact of climate change
Exhibition at The Forum in Norwich looks at the impact of climate changePUBLISHED: 18:53 25 July 2019 | UPDATED: 08:34 26 July 2019
Professor Pomeroy talk at COP25 in Madrid today. Very pleased and proud, what he shoved my paintings and mentioned my name in an important programme in the end. Great speech! Shocking and impressive!
02.20.2020 Rocky Mountain Outlook, Mountain Guide p.42 https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=625bb411-36f2-4525-9b15-fa8691fe6129&pnum=42
The Summer Glacier, oil on linen, 80x30 cm
The Snowy Mountain, oil on canvas, 76x50 cm
The Mountains paintings collection, 30x30 cm, oil on linen
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The Good Guys Sports Blog
← The Mariners Will Draft Someone Soon
Why Are The Pitchers Always Better – Part 1 (Are we just making this up?) →
by Matthew | June 2, 2014 · 9:06 pm
The Mariners are (Maybe) Not Bad
Riding a surprising three game winning streak, the Mariners are back over .500 at 29-28. It seems like they’ve hovered within a game or two of .500 for most of the season, so it seems pretty fair to consider them an extremely average team right now. Luckily for them, most of the league is in the same boat. Before today’s win, they were only a game and a half out of a wild card. Unfortunately, that only puts them tied for 5th in the wild card standings. Still, the potential for playoff baseball is there should the M’s improve over the summer.
It’s hard to get a handle on this team. The rotation has sustained a ridiculous amount of injuries, but it’s performed surprisingly well, at least outside of the Brandon Maurer/Erasmo Ramirez slot. The bullpen was shaky early before turning into a pretty solid unit. The defense is better than last year, especially in the outfield, although it suffers from lapses occasionally.
As usual, it’s the offense that most often holds the team back. There always seem to be at least three regulars slumping badly, while it’s rare for the team to have more than one guy on a hot streak at a time. The right-handed hitting outfielders have mostly failed miserably. Corey Hart never got going and then got injured. Robinson Cano is on base all the time, but he has yet to bring his usual burst of doubles and homers. In short, the offense is too inconsistent. It will bust out with ten runs, like in New York today, and then struggle to get ten more total in the next two series.
I honestly have no clue how the season will go from here. Typically, it gets easier to hit in Seattle as the weather gets warmer, but who knows. If Taijuan Walker and/or James Paxton can return, it could be a huge boost. But of course, they might also have no real impact this year. This season has a wide range of possible outcomes, and each of them seem as likely as the next. A few more thoughts on the season and what’s to come after the jump.
The offseason’s biggest concern, the outfield, has been surprisingly decent. James Jones has been a revelation, especially after the complete failure of Abraham Almonte. Jones’ hitting has already slowed a lot, and it’s possible he won’t last a second month through the league, but if he can keep getting on base a third of the time and playing a solid center field, he’s a great solution for the time being. Ackley is average or slightly less, which is disappointing but workable. Michael Saunders looks like he could be the one who becomes a minor star. When getting regular playing time, he’s been one of the team’s best bats, a streak that now runs back into the second half of 2013. Mariner fandom tells us it won’t last, but signs are good that this time it might.
The most gaping hole on the roster might be a right-handed bat that can play outfield and some first base. Corey Hart was supposed to be that, and he eventually might be, but it’s going to be a while before he’s back playing, much less back to hitting. Even with Hart, the roster needs someone who can fill the Romero/Gillespie role, but actually hit. That player is not likely in the system, at least for this year. Someone like Jabari Blash could get a shot but likely isn’t ready. There are other possible options in Tacoma, but I’m not excited about any of them. A trade seems the only likely way to fill the spot.
Shortstop has obviously been a complete black hole. Hopes for Brad Miller were probably too high to start the season, but his massive failure is still a surprise. He seems to be progressing lately, reining in his strike zone and delivering a homer against Detroit and a big RBI single today. There’s a long way to go, though, and his defensive lapses aren’t helping things. Nick Franklin has somehow been worse than Miller, and negative whispers about his attitude and approach make me wonder if he can make the needed adjustments anytime soon. If both continue to struggle, don’t be surprised to see Chris Taylor up from Tacoma once he returns from a broken finger. I’m not sure he’s ready, but he can’t be a lot worse than what they’ve had so far and is supposedly steadier with the glove.
The bullpen still makes me worried, but they’ve been awfully good of late. It would be nice to have a couple of big arms percolating in Tacoma for reinforcements in the second half. Unfortunately, injuries and ineffectiveness have slowed Stephen Pryor and Carson Smith, who were next in line. Having someone come out of nowhere, like Farquhar last season, could be a tremendous boost in the second half.
Speaking of the bullpen, Rodney’s entrance music might be my favorite part of this season. I’m not even joking about this. I have no idea how to describe it, so if you haven’t experienced it yet, you should just go to every game until you do. I want him to be our closer forever just because of that goofy song and all the random graphics they use.
The rotation has been good, but it’s on pretty thin ice. The fifth spot has already been extremely shaky, and I wouldn’t be surprised by Young or Elias going through a long stretch of ineffectiveness. Paxton and Walker would both be huge additions, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be back to stay, or at all. There’s not a lot of help on the horizon either. Depending on who comes back when, a trade for a veteran at the deadline might be a good move.
As for actual help on the horizon, I’m not sure there is much at any position. I mentioned Taylor and Blash, each of whom is playing well but could really use a full season in AAA. Logan Morrison will be back shortly, if you want to count him. It’s possible the team could jump someone quickly from AA, but there’s no one there who’s a mega-prospect. The next good group of prospects is mostly in High-A ball this year Maybe the best chance of help comes from a couple of disgraced 1B/DH’s: Jesus Montero and Ji-Man Choi. Choi returns from his steroid suspension soon and was hitting like crazy before that. He hits everywhere, to the point where I feel fairly confident he could at least duplicate Smoak’s production, if not pass it. He’ll need some time to get back into form, though. Montero is the most dismissed player in the organization, but he’s still young, is hitting well and drawing more walks, and most importantly, hits right-handed. I’m hoping to see him sometime this summer, especially if Hart’s return is delayed at all.
One last thing: Mike Zunino is looking like the real deal. Barely a year out of college, he’s delivering good to great defense and hitting for a lot of power. He’s slowly improving his plate discipline, the main strike against him early. Most importantly, he displays a tough-mindedness missing in most of the recent Mariner prospects. He seems unafraid but not cocky, tough but smart. He’s been given as much responsibility as nearly anyone this season, and he’s delivered much more than I expected.
So that’s enough for tonight, if anyone’s still reading! This team oscillates between a lot of fun and incredibly frustrating, and it could swing to either side any time. Still, it’s been a long time since the team even entered the summer in the playoff hunt, so we’ve got that going for us. Believe big!
-Matthew
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Are the Mariners Any Good in the Draft?
Checking On The Mariners
How Do The Mariners Succeed in 2019?
Mariners Moves Recap
2016 Mariners-Crown Em'
Let's Talk Some Mariners
The Good Guys Sports Blog · Seattle Sports
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Arne Fliflet
afliflet@illinois.edu
Ph.D. Physics, University of Virginia, 1975
B.Sc. Physics, Duke University, 1970
Arne W. Fliflet received the B.Sc. degree from Duke University, Durham, NC, in 1970, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Virginia, Charlotte, VA, in 1975, both in physics. His dissertation was on the application of many body perturbation theory to atomic photoionization. As a Research Fellow at Caltech from 1975 to 1979, he developed theoretical approaches to low-energy electron-molecule scattering. In 1979 he joined a small consulting firm, B-K Dynamics, Inc., in Rockville, MD. At B-K Dynamics, he was involved with some of the first gyrotron research conducted in the United States, including the development of theoretical models and computer codes used in gyrotron design. In 1982, he joined the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) as a Research Physicist in the Plasma Physics Division. At NRL he conducted theoretical and experimental research on gyrotrons, related high power coherent millimeter-wave radiation sources, and gyrotron applications. For many years he served as the head of the Particle and Radiation Beam Generation Section. His areas of research included: gyrotrons for tokamak plasma heating, relativistic gyrotrons, cyclotron auto-resonance masers, quasi-optical gyrotrons, magnicons, near-terahertz, higher-harmonic gyrotrons, microwave processing of materials, and millimeter-wave cloud radars. In 2014 he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he serves as a Lecturer. He has authored or coauthored over 100 papers and holds seven patents. Dr. Fliflet is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Senior Member and Life Member of IEEE.
Lecturer, ECE Department UIUC, Electromagnetics, August 16, 2014-present.
Other Professional Employment
Project Scientist, B-K Dynamics, Inc., Rockville, MD, 1979-1982.
Research Physicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC, October 1, 1982-August 15, 2014.
Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology, 1975-1979
Dr. Fliflet has taught mid-level courses in the ECE Department including ECE 210 Analog Signal Processing, ECE 329 Fields and Waves I, ECE 330 Power Circuits and Electromerchanics, and ECE 445 Senior Design Laboratory.
Current research area is terahertz gyrotrons. Currently assisting the US Naval Research Laboratory conduct a 550 GHz, 10 kW, second-harmonic gyrotron experiment. Designed a 60 kV, 4A electron gun for this experiment to be fabricated by Communications and Power Industries, Inc.
Radar investigation of clouds
Microwave processing of materials
Terahertz gyrotron oscillators and amplifiers
High power vacuum electronics
Atmospheric and ionospheric measurements
Computational electromagnetics
Lasers and optical physics
Microwave devices and circuits
Modeling and simulation of laser systems
Radar and LIDAR
RF and microwave engineering
A.W. Fliflet, M.E. Read, K.R. Chu, and R. Seeley, “A Self-Consistent Field Theory for Gyrotron Oscillators: Application to a Low Q Gyromonotron,” Int. J. Electronics 53, 505 (1982).
W.M. Manheimer, A.W. Fliflet, K. St. Germain, G.L. Linde, W.J. Cheung, V. Gregors-Hansen, B.G. Danly, and M.T. Ngo, “Initial Cloud Images with the NRL High Power 94 GHz WARLOC Radar,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, 1103-1107 (2003).
A.W. Fliflet and W.M. Manheimer, “Measurement of Correlation Functions and Power Spectra in Clouds Using the NRL WARLOC Radar,” IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing 44, 3247-3261 (2006).
A. W. Fliflet, M. K. Hornstein and S. H. Gold, “Enhanced Stability of Second and Fourth Harmonic Gyrotrons Driven by a Frequency-Doubled Pre-bunched Beam,” IEEE Trans. Plas. Sci. 39, p. 1061 (2011).
A.W. Fliflet, S.L. Miller, and M.A. Imam, "Evaluation of Microwave-Sintered Titanium and Titanium Alloy Powder Compacts," Ceramic Transactions 234, p. 83 (2012).
B.Y. Rock and A.W. Fliflet, “Analysis and Design of a Quasi-Optical Mode Converter for a 1-kW, 550 GHz, TE15,2-Mode Gyrotron,” IEEE Trans.THz Sci. Tech., 3,641-644 (2013).
“Multi-Slot RF-Circuit for Gyroklystron Bunching Cavities,” by S.H. Gold and A.W. Fliflet, U.S. Patent 5,038,077 (Date: Aug. 6, 19991).
“Processing of nanocrystalline metallic powders and coatings using the polyol process,” L.K. Kurihara, R.W. Bruce, A.W. Fliflet, D. Lewis, U.S. Patent 6,746,510 (June 8, 2004).
“Removing radar absorbing coatings,” D. Lewis, III, A.W. Fliflet, and R.W. Bruce, U.S. Patent 6,802,907 (October 12, 2004).
“Microwave assisted continuous synthesis of nanocrystalline powders and coatings using the polyol process,” D. Lewis, III, R.W. Bruce, A.W. Fliflet, S.H. Gold, L.K. Kurihara, U.S. Patent 6,833,019 (December 21, 2004).
“Microwave assisted reactive brazing of ceramic materials,” R.W. Bruce, D. Lewis, III, M. Kahn, A.W. Fliflet, S.H. Gold, U.S. Patent 7,022,198 (April 4, 2006).
“Long Range Active Thermal Imaging System and Method,” R.F. Hubbard, A.W. Fliflet, G.B. Smith, M.K. Hornstein, D. Lewis, III, J.H. Bowles, and D.A. Kidwell, US Patent No. 7,795,583.
“Sintering of metal and alloy powder by microwave/millimeter-wave heating,” M. A. Imam and A. Fliflet, US Patent 8431071B2, Issued April 30, 2013.
Member-at-Large of Executive Committee of the Prairie Section of the American Physical Society (2020-2021)
Service on University Committees
Senator for ECE Department
Senior Member, IEEE (Membership No. 08022709) (2014)
Fellow, American Physical Society (Membership No. FL591461) (1990)
ECE 445 - Senior Design Project Lab
ECE 498 - Microwave Vacuum Power Elec
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From Iceland — Drones Banned At Vatnajökull National Park
Drones Banned At Vatnajökull National Park
Andie Sophia Fontaine
Kevin Baird/Creative Commons
Rangers of the northern section of Vatnajökull National Park have banned the use of drones in the area, except under special circumstances. This is being done primarily to preserve the integrity of wildlife in the area.
Vísir reports that signs in the area, in both Icelandic and English, warn visitors not the employ drones. Guðmundur Ögmundsson, a ranger for the park, told reporters that the ban is in place in part to protect bird life in the area. It has been shown elsewhere in the world that drones can have a negative impact on falcon nesting, for example, and Guðmundur suspects this applies to falcons in Iceland as well.
“Nature is sometimes the subject of debate, and we need to take care of our resources,” he told reporters. “That is exactly what we’re doing with this. [Drone use] is always increasing, and we’re confronting the situation before it becomes a problem.”
The drone ban is not total, however. Drones that are used for research purposes, for example, will be permitted.
As reported, drones in Iceland have been increasingly used in Iceland to take aerial shots of practically everything from protest demonstrations to hay harvests.
As their popularity grows, however, even drone hobbyists have concerns about how and where they are used. Brandur Bjarnason Karlsson, the chairperson of the Icelandic Drone Association (IDA), told reporters that drone use has bordered on irresponsible.
“People [in the the IDA] don’t like seeing drones being flown over so many people,” he said. “There isn’t a lot of experience yet with ensuring the safe use of these devices.”
Currently, there is a draft for regulations on drone use at the Ministry of the Interior. While the draft still has to go through numerous changes before finalisation, Brandur considers it likely that limits set on flying drones over crowds and densely populated areas will stay.
Drones can be easily bought in Iceland, from shops such as the hardware and home appliances store Elko, for anywhere from 5,000 ISK up to 330,000 ISK. Brandur says the purpose of IDA is to increase awareness of drone use safety, precisely because anyone can buy them.
Next: Icelandic Media “Has No Policy Or Purpose”, Says Finance Minister
Previous: Company Hopes To Build Iceland’s First Planetarium
Feasting On Summer At Mat Bar
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Tyler Depreta-Johnson Awarded the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division Gold Glove Award
HBU has had some solid shortstops in its history, but if there had ever been any serious debate about which one was the best defensively, Tyler Depreta-Johnson put that argument to bed when he was awarded the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I Gold Glove Award as the best defensive shortstop in the nation for the 2018 baseball season.
The ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I Gold Glove Awards recognize the best defensive player at each position and are chosen by the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America Committee. The award is the second in HBU history, as first baseman Michael Crabtree earned the honor in the NAIA division in 2007; it is the first in Southland Conference history.
Depreta-Johnson was named the shortstop on the Southland Conference All-Defensive Team for the second-straight year, was a third-team, all-conference selection and a member of the Academic All-Southland Conference Team. The Rancho Santa Margarita, California native committed only one error all season, tied for seventh in the nation with 283 total chances and finished the season without an error in his last 232 chances — a span of 48 games. Depreta-Johnson turned 32 double plays and did not commit an error in conference play in 149 chances.
“Tyler joins good company in Michael Crabtree, as the only two players in HBU history to win the Gold Glove,” HBU Head Coach Jared Moon said. “This is a great honor for Tyler and great for our program. With him getting drafted, this is just icing on the cake and proves his worthiness of being picked.
“When we signed him out of Golden West, the coaches said, ‘Don’t worry about what he does offensively, just put him at shortstop and let him do his thing.’ That’s exactly what we did, and regardless of what he did at the plate, most of his RBIs were in his glove. He saved us so many times from a big inning possibly developing. Then, in the conference tournament, he made so many big plays on such a big stage. I told him at the end of the season that he is by far the best shortstop I have ever seen in my coaching career.”
Offensively, Depreta-Johnson hit .321 with three home runs, seven doubles, 20 RBIs and scored 17 runs in conference play. He hit .253 with five home runs, 12 doubles, 30 RBIs and 33 runs overall. He recorded a seven-game hitting streak from May 1-13 and finished the year with 16 multiple-hit and seven multi-RBI efforts. All three of his three-hit games came in conference play, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs against Nicholls on March 16, 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run against Abilene Christian on April 14, and 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs against Incarnate Word on April 20.
Depreta-Johnson was selected in the 35th round with the 1,049th pick by the Texas Rangers on the final day of the MLB Draft in June and is played out the rest of the season with the Spokane Indians, the Rangers’ short-season A affiliate in the Northwest League.
ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I Gold Glove Team
C Shea Langaliers – Baylor
1B Jake Vieth – Gonzaga
2B Michael Massey – Illinois
3B Brandon Perez – Southern California
SS Tyler Depreta-Johnson - HBU
OF Brandon Lockridge – Troy
OF Jake Magnum – Mississippi State
OF Zach Watson – Louisiana State
P Joe DeMers – Washington
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Can Trump’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ Produce COVID-19 Vaccine By December?
By Emily Bicks
Updated May 15, 2020 at 5:20pm
Getty US President Donald Trump, with Director, National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins.
During the White House press briefing on Friday, President Donald Trump unveiled the new federal plan to produce a coronavirus vaccine entitled, “Operation Warp Speed.” Trump explained the plan’s name “means big and it means fast,” an initiative that would accelerate the development and diagnostics of COVID-19.
Trump announced that Operation Warp Speed would be “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.” The goal of this initiative is to speed up the development of a proven COVID-19 vaccine, then manufacture and distribute it throughout America as quickly as possible.
“We’d love to see if we could do it prior to the end of the year,” Trump said, who has appointed Moncef Slaoui, the former head of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccines division, and Gustave Perna, a four-star Army General, to lead Operation Warp Speed. Trump said that once the vaccine once is created, he would utilize the military to help speed up distribution.
Trump discusses the state of vaccine developmentPresident Trump delivers remarks on vaccine development in the Rose Garden. Subscribe to Fox News! https://bit.ly/2vBUvAS Watch more Fox News Video: http://video.foxnews.com Watch Fox News Channel Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable, FNC…2020-05-15T17:22:23Z
Here’s what you need to know about Operation Warp Speed:
1. Trumps Wants Hundreds of Millions Coronavirus Vaccines Produced By The End of the Year, But Fauci Says January 2021 Is More Realistic
GettyDr. Anthony Fauci stands by as Trump remarks about coronavirus vaccine development in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 15, 2020.
Slaoui said that based on the data pulled from early clinical trials, he felt confident they could deliver “a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020.” However, top health experts, including Dr. Fauci, has repeatedly said that it will take at least a year to produce a vaccine.
Fauci told TODAY on April 30, that the U.S. could have a working vaccine by January. He said, “We want to go quickly, but we want to make sure it’s safe and it’s effective. I think that is doable if things fall in the right place. Remember, go back in time, I was saying in January and February that it would be a year to 18 months (to develop a vaccine), so January is a year, so it isn’t that much from what I had originally said.”
“If so, we’re going to start ramping up production with the companies involved, and you do that at risk,” Fauci said. “In other words, you don’t wait until you get an answer before you start manufacturing. You, at risk, proactively start making it, assuming that it’s gonna work. And if it does, then you can scale up and hopefully, get to that timeline.”
Dr. Rick Bright, the whistleblower who was removed from his position a the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority,testified before Capitol Hill on Thursday that even 18 months may be an unrealistic goal for developing a vaccine.
“There is a lot of optimism,” Bright said. “There is a lot of hope. But that doesn’t make a vaccine. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to make a vaccine.”
2. Defense Secretary Mark Esper Said That the Mission To Find a Coronavirus Vaccine Started In January
GettyUS Defense Secretary Mark Esper, with US President Donald Trump, speaks on vaccine development on May 15, 2020.
U.S. Defense Secretary Marker Esper said, “Winning matters, and we will deliver by the end of this year a vaccine at scale to treat the American people and our partners abroad. You know, the Department of Defense has been in this fight since day one, going back to January,” he said. “We look forward to this next greatest phase of this fight against the coronavirus. We were all in then, we are all in now, and we will be all in in the future. And we will deliver on time. We will deliver, we will win this fight… We will get the job done.”
Trump also spoke about how the mission to develop a vaccine started in January. He said on Friday, “Scientists at the NIH began developing the first vaccine candidate on January 11th — think of that — within hours of the virus’s genetic code being posted online. Most people never even heard what was going on January 11, and we were out there trying to develop a vaccine, not even knowing what we were up against.”
3. The Coronavirus Vaccine May Be Distributed To Hot Zone Areas First
For those concerned about the possibility that the vaccine will be mandatory… pic.twitter.com/mgYBAsmhCC
— M3thods (@M2Madness) May 15, 2020
While Esper said that the Department of Defense would deliver a COVID-19 vaccine “at scale” by the end of the year, Trump said during Friday’s press briefing that providing larger vaccine quantities to areas in higher need of them would “make sense.”
CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins asked Trump if this would be “a fully approved vaccine for the full public or a partially approved vaccine with emergency use?” to which Trump said, “We’re looking for a vaccine for everyone that wants to get it. Not everybody is going to want to get it.
4. Operation Warp Speed Is Testing Out Over 100 Potential Treatments While Working With the FDA, NIH, & HHS
Getty President Donald Trump and U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, commander of U.S. Army Material Command.
Trump announced on Friday, “My administration cut through every piece of red tape to achieve the fastest-ever, by far, launch of a vaccine trial for this new virus, this very vicious virus. And I want to thank all of the doctors and scientists and researchers involved because they’ve never moved like this, or never even close.”
“The [National Institute of Health] and [Department of Health and Human Services] have also been working constantly with private industry to evaluate more than 100 potential treatments. The Food and Drug Administration has swiftly approved more than 130 therapies for active trials, and 450 are in the planning stages.”
5. Trump Said, ‘Vaccine Or No Vaccine, We’re Back’ & That Coronavirus Will ‘At Some Point, Go Away’
“Vaccine or no vaccine, we're back."
pic.twitter.com/r8FdwtFnds
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 15, 2020
While the importance of a working coronavirus vaccine can not be oversold, Trump mentioned that America will not wait before one is approved before opening the country back up. Even though Trump said his administration is providing an estimated $10 billion to support medical research for a vaccine and treatment, Trump said, “I want to make something thing clear. It’s very important. Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back.”
“We think we are going to have a vaccine in the pretty near future, and if we do, we are going to really be a big step ahead,” Trump declared. “And if we don’t, we are going to be like so many other cases where you had a problem come in. It’ll go away at some point, it’ll go away.”
READ NEXT: WATCH: Dr. Fauci Responds to Rand Paul: ‘I Have Never Made Myself Out to Be the End-All’
Coronavirus, White House
Trump unveiled his new plan to produce a coronavirus vaccine on Friday entitled 'Operation Warp Speed.'
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Hillcrest Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
God calls us from various parts of the world to worship in this place, to be a community of faith, and to be a witness for Jesus Christ.
HILLCREST CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST) MISSION STATEMENT
We envision a church:
With a diverse membership
Uniting in worship beyond social barriers
Providing facilities to serve the needs of our congregation
Inviting people from the Wychwood area and outlying communities to share our fellowship
We envision a community of faith:
With genuine closeness among clergy
Committees, elders, and congregation developing through open and constructive communication
With personal and spiritual growth of each member
Encouraged through education, prayer, searching the Scriptures, stewardship, sharing ideas, and the celebration of being a family of God.
Sharing their faith, skills, and compassion with others
We seek:
To provide pastoral and spiritual support
To deepen our understanding of social justice issues
To work against injustices in our local compassion and the world
To fulfill our mission, we commit ourselves to:
The principle of fulfilling teamwork in ministry between clergy and laity
Meaningful cooperation with other churches and community groups in areas relevant to our mission and vision
To active participation in the work of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as a whole
In all our endeavours we will practice good stewardship of human and material resources; maintain attitudes of appreciation towards each other, as well as celebrate our history, the challenges of today, and the promises of tomorrow.
It all started with twelve people and their God-inspired vision to propagate the Word of God in the area surrounding Queen and Bathurst Streets in Toronto. On February 16, 1882 they formally organized themselves as a congregation of the Church of Christ.
In 1887, the young congregation gave birth to an outreach mission on the corner of Vaughn Road and Helena Avenue and called it the Wychwood Church of Christ (Disciples). The mission grew mainly through additions of immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, and England.
By 1891, this small band of disciples had grown to one hundred and sixty. On march 15 of that year, they dedicated a fine church building on Cecil St. in the College-Spadina corridor. This structure, named the Cecil St. Church of Christ, still stands and has been designated an historic landmark by the City of Toronto.
On January 11, 1921, the Cecil St. and Wychwood Churches united to form what we now know as Hillcrest Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The building in which we now worship was dedicated to the glory of God on Sunday, January 21, 1923.
Since those God-inspired moments in her history, Hillcrest has provided ministry to the community that surrounds her, ordained and sent forth ministries across Canada and to the far corners of the earth. Hillcrest’s life continues to be enriched with the addition of members from the Caribbean, the Philippines, and South America, among others. Hillcrest’s name is known and renowned in ecumenical circles. Her leadership in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada and the United States has been recognized and acknowledged from the beginning.
We are very proud of Hillcrest’s achievements in the past and look with confidence to her future as we are blessed with members and adherents – each a true gift of God to one another – who generously share their gifts of faith, hope and love.
THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST
Click here to learn more about the teachings of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Click here to download the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) – Discover the Disciples brochure.
Click here to view a pdf version of the Hillcrest Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) bylaws.
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Bernie Sanders Blasts Ron Johnson’s Hypocrisy for Supporing Tax Cuts for Himself While Opposing COVID-19 Relief
BY Brandon Gage December 20, 2020
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tore into Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson’s opposition to including an additional round of $1,200 direct payments to struggling Americans in the latest coronavirus economic relief package, which lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been negotiating for weeks.
Photo by STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images
“Sen. Ron Johnson objected to my bill to provide $1,200 to working families and $500 for kids because he’s “worried” about the deficit. Funny. He wasn’t so worried about the deficit when he voted to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the 1% and large corporations,” Sanders tweeted on Saturday afternoon. “What hypocrisy!”
Sen. Ron Johnson objected to my bill to provide $1,200 to working families and $500 for kids because he's "worried" about the deficit. Funny. He wasn't so worried about the deficit when he voted to give $1 trillion in tax breaks to the 1% and large corporations. What hypocrisy!
On Friday, Johnson, who voted for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which slashed tax rates for the ultra-rich and added an estimated $1 to $2 trillion to the national debt, twice blocked adding language drafted by Sanders and an unlikely bipartisan ally – Missouri Republican Josh Hawley – that would have authorized the federal government to issue more stimulus checks.
“I completely support some kind of program targeted for small businesses,” said Johnson. “So what I fear we’re going to do with this bipartisan package and what the Senator from Missouri is talking about is the same thing, is a shotgun approach. We will not have learned the lessons from our very hurried, very rushed earlier relief packages.”
Those bills, mind you, prevented the stalled American economy from spiraling into a free fall.
Johnson’s next excuse for propping up corporate entities – which exist only on paper – instead of human beings was that he had major concerns over adding to the ballooning annual budget deficit, which is projected to reach a staggering $3.3 trillion in 2020.
“When I first got here, I ran because we were mortgaging our kids’ future,” Johnson said later in the day, insisting that he is “not heartless. I want to help people. I voted to help people. I voted for the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, but I also am concerned about our children’s future.”
Sanders responded with another takedown.
“We did not take for an answer the Republican bill which did not have a nickel for unemployment benefits. We did not take yes for an answer for a bill that did not have a nickel for direct payments,” said Sanders.
Similarly, Hawley also balked at Johnson for suggesting that the United States is unable to afford to put cash into the pockets of a financially-strained population and an economy teetering on the verge of collapse.
“What we did back in March, that every Senator voted for, $1,200 for every working individual, $2,400 for working couples, 500 bucks for kids and dependents,” Hawley said in a speech on the Senate floor. “It’s the least that we can do. It should be the first thing to do.”
Thirty-one days until the election.
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Front Matter The Coming of the Georges The Rise of Walpole The Rule of Walpole Bonnie Prince Charlie First Struggle Second Struggle England and her Colonies The American Rebellion Pitt in Peace The French Revolution Napoleon The Continental System The Peninsular War Waterloo Waterloo to Sevastopol Recent Times Agricultural Revolution Industrial Revolution King and his Advisors High Court of Parliament Local Government Justice, Defence, Taxation Ireland Our Indian Empire Britains Beyond the Sea Summary of Chief Dates Questions and Exercises
Hanoverians - C. J. B. Gaskoin
The Fight for Empire: The First Struggle
1. Rivals for Empire
Among the youthful enemies of Walpole who styled themselves "Patriots," and whom he scornfully called "The Boys," the most famous was William Pitt the Elder, afterwards Earl of Chatham; and the Age of Chatham followed quickly on the Age of Walpole.
It was a time of war and colonial conquest, as Walpole's had been a time of peace and commercial prosperity. It opened with the War of Jenkins's Ear, which became part of the War of the Austrian Succession, and in which Pitt appeared chiefly as a critic. Its greatest event was the Seven Years' War, in which his genius secured the triumph of his country in India and Canada. It ended with the War of American Independence, which undid half the work that he had done, and brought him, a broken and sorrowful man, to his grave.
All these wars, as far as England was concerned, were largely due to her growing rivalry with France for supremacy in both America and India. There were certainly other causes of quarrel, especially the increasing friendship between France and Spain, whose kings, both belonging to the Bourbon family, made "Family Compacts" which alarmed English statesmen not a little. But throughout the period the main question was always this, Should the leading power in Asia and in America be France or England?
As to this, the first war settled nothing; by the second, the French power in both quarters was practically crushed; in the third, France took her revenge on England by helping the American colonists to gain their independence, but failed to win back for herself what she had lost. Thus the history of these wars is really, from one point of view, the history for nearly half a century of the British Empire.
When George I became king, twelve English colonies fringed the Atlantic coast of what is now the United States. On the east the sea bounded all alike, but on the west there was generally no fixed frontier between the English settlements and the vast stretch of country which was still inhabited only by the Red Indian tribes.
These twelve colonies differed greatly in many ways. Some had been established by adventurers or traders, others by men fleeing from religious persecution or political tyranny at home. Others, like New York, had been conquered from the Dutch. And Georgia, a thirteenth colony, established in 1732, was founded by the kind-hearted General Oglethorpe as a refuge for needy debtors. Maryland was at first a Roman Catholic colony: Pennsylvania was a Quaker settlement. As to population, there were few foreigners of European descent in the north, but many elsewhere; while negroes were comparatively rare in the northern colonies, but actually outnumbered the whites in the far south. Again, in the nature of their commerce, of their social life, even of their Governments, the contrasts between the various colonies were no less striking.
These contrasts made it extremely difficult for the colonies to act together. Yet all had certain common interests. All were threatened occasionally by the savage attacks of the scalp-hunting Red Indians, who once occupied the whole continent, but had been driven back from the east coast by the white man. And all were threatened also by the less horrible but more constant danger of French attacks. For France, too, at this time, had North American colonies, which, indeed, flanked the English colonies on both sides. To the north, beyond the great lakes, and controlling the important St. Lawrence River, was the French province of Canada. To the south, at the mouth of another important river, the Mississippi, was the French province of Louisiana. And the land behind the English settlements and between the two French possessions, a vast area stretching westward through unknown tracts for a thousand miles from the Alleghany Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, was a prize on which English and French alike had set their hearts.
The English, holding the middle coast, claimed a right to push their frontiers westward as far as they felt inclined. The French, holding the mouth of the Mississippi, claimed a right to occupy the land all along its banks and up to the great lakes and the St. Lawrence. But the English had no mind that their thirteen colonies should remain for ever a mere line of coast settlements, surrounded on three sides by French and Spanish territory. And the French were equally unwilling to see Canada limited for ever to the size of the present province of Quebec, and cut off from Louisiana by a solid belt of English territory.
At first sight the English colonists, numbering over a million souls, seemed enormously stronger than the eighty thousand Frenchmen who were all that the two French colonies together could muster. But the French were more friendly with the Indians, more ready to intermarry with them, to learn their languages, to let them keep their ancient customs. And the French home Government had far more power than the Georges and their ministers over the people of the colonies, and therefore could more easily pursue a steady, vigorous policy.
FORT ST. GEORGE, MADRAS, BUILT IN 1750.
In India the English power dated back to the reign of Elizabeth, for the famous East India Company was founded in 1600. It had jealous English rivals at home, and jealous foreign rivals—Dutch and Portuguese—in India. Yet it prospered, and long before 1714 possessed three important settlements. In the north-east there was Calcutta, in the south-east Madras, and on the west coast Bombay, which once belonged to Portugal, but was part of the dowry of Charles II's Portuguese wife. Each settlement had its own Governor and Council, and was independent of the others, but all were subject to the directors of the Company at home. At present the Company still aimed at trading with the natives rather than at governing them. And it was mainly in imitation of French rivals, and to check their triumphs, that it gradually changed its policy.
For a French East India Company was founded by Louis XIV, and it, too, had by this time three important settlements, each in the neighbourhood of one of the chief English posts, the most famous being Pondicherry, not far from Madras. Also it had the two islands of the Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, which were invaluable to the fleets of any European State with possessions in India. And, when the vast Mogul Empire, to which most of India once belonged, broke up early in the eighteenth century, the French saw and seized an opportunity of increasing their power. For, guided especially by the brilliant Dupleix, Governor of Pondicherry, they interfered in disputes between native rulers quarrelling over the fragments of the Empire. And thus they gained for France both profit and power.
Such, then, was the condition of East and West when the Age of Chatham began, and England started on her fight for Empire.
2. A Fruitless Struggle
William Pitt, grandson of a Governor of Madras, was born in 1708. At twenty-three he entered the army, at twenty-seven he entered Parliament, at twenty-eight, for attacking Walpole in Parliament, he was turned out of the army. "We must muzzle this terrible cornet of horse," said the minister. But the "muzzling" was quite a failure. Pitt went on attacking Walpole till he fell, and then he attacked the new ministers. For, though friends and foes of Walpole alike now came into office, Pitt remained shut out, and yet he knew himself to be at least as able as any who were admitted. Also he disapproved at this time of England's taking any active share in European affairs, and especially of her being made to pay for the troops of Hanover, which he scornfully called "a despicable Electorate."
This naturally disgusted a Hanoverian king, and George II detested Pitt, and prevented his becoming Secretary-at-War even when the ministers wished it. Nor was it till the Jacobite dangers enabled them to force their wishes on the king that Pitt got even the lower post of Paymaster-General. But, when once in office, he took more pains to please his Royal master, while he delighted the nation by refusing the profits which other Paymasters had taken in addition to their salaries.
During the war of 1739-48, however, his power was still small, and the war itself did little credit to any one. In America the one great success—the capture of the strong French fortress of Louisburg, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence—was due chiefly to the colonists. In India, Madras was lost, and an attempt to take Pondicherry failed. In Europe, indeed, England and her allies won one glorious victory, and suffered one hardly less glorious defeat. At Dettingen, on the Main in Germany, in 1743, for the last time in history, an English king headed his own troops in battle. The English and Hanoverians, caught in a trap by the French, came out triumphant, owing partly to the mistakes of the enemy, but partly to their own steadiness and the cool courage of the king. Two years later, at Fontenoy, English infantry fought with heroic courage against overwhelming odds, and, though at last forced to retreat, inflicted almost as much loss on their foes as they themselves suffered. But, while nothing was gained by the victory of Dettingen, the defeat of Fontenoy encouraged the Young Pretender in his schemes of invasion.
TWO SHIPS OF ANSON'S FLEET.
Even at sea, for some time, England did nothing noteworthy, except for Anson's famous voyage round the world in 1740-44. And that voyage proved successful only after great loss and suffering. Starting with eight vessels, Anson lost half his fleet and more than half his men within a year, through storm and sickness, and that before even beginning to harass Spanish America. And, though there he did what damage he could to the enemy he found no treasure ships, as Drake had done. So, two years after starting, he crossed the Pacific, to seek plunder in the Spanish Philippine Islands. There he landed in the Ladrones and refreshed his men.
And now an accident threatened to bring the whole expedition to a disastrous end. For one day, when Anson and most of his crew were ashore, his own ship—the Centurion—was carried out to sea by a storm, and with her seemed to go all hope of ever leaving the island. Anson, indeed, was not to be beaten. He hauled up on shore a ship which he had taken from the Spaniards. Finding her too small to hold all his men, he cut her in half and lengthened her. The work was hard. The ship's carpenters with their tools and the ship's smith with his forge were luckily all ashore, but the smith had no bellows to blow his fire. A clumsy bellows was made, however, out of roughly tanned ox-hides and the barrel of a musket, and at last the vessel was ready to sail. And then, lo and behold! the Centurion suddenly reappeared, and all the toil and invention of three anxious weeks turned out to have been wasted.
But eventually, after refitting his ship with extreme difficulty at Canton, in China, Anson reaped the reward of all his labours. For near the Philippines he now met the Spanish galleon which every year carried the treasure of the islands home to Spain. And, though she was far larger, and better armed, and better manned than the Centurion, he took her with the loss of only three men, while nearly seventy of her crew were killed.
ADMIRAL ANSON.
The treasure was worth almost a million and a half dollars, and Anson felt he could now return to England; so, having sold the galleon in China, he started on his long homeward voyage. Just at the end, in the English Channel itself, he narrowly escaped capture by a French fleet. But at last, in June, 1744, he anchored safely at Spithead, and thirty-two wagons carried up his spoils to London.
Yet, marvellous as his adventures were, they hardly influenced the war. And it was not till 1747 that Anson and Hawke, in two great fights, crushed the French navy and made England really once again Mistress of the Seas. Next year the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle stopped the fighting. But, as far as England was concerned, it left things much as they had been before the fighting began. She disgusted the Americans by giving back Louisburg to France. She astonished the Indians, who thought her the defeated power, by recovering Madras. Her quarrel with Spain she left unsettled. And that was all that resulted from nine years of war.
3. War in Disguise
From 1748 to 1756 England and France were in name at peace but in fact constantly at war. The ink on the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was hardly dry when fresh trouble began in America. France strengthened Louisburg: England replied by building the fortress of Halifax in Nova Scotia. The French in Canada stirred up discontent among their fellow-countrymen in Nova Scotia: England thereupon deported eight thousand of the French Nova Scotians, and scattered them among the English colonists to the south. The French Governor of Canada set up marks to show that the Ohio valley belonged to France, and turned out English settlers: the English Governor of Virginia sent George Washington—afterwards so famous as England's enemy—to warn the French that they must go. The Virginians began to build a fort on the Ohio; the French drove them back; Washington defeated the French; the French defeated and captured Washington; and the English fort was replaced by the French Fort Duquesne.
Then the home Governments stepped in, though professing that, as they were each only helping their own colonists, they were not really at war with one another. Early in 1755 England sent General Braddock with two regiments to help in capturing Fort Duquesne, and France sent troops to Canada. Braddock took Washington as his aide-de-camp, but his expedition failed disastrously. The colonists gave little help: the promised Indian forces never appeared. Only with the utmost difficulty did he get wagons for transport, and his army had actually to make the road by which it marched. And, when at last, with fourteen hundred of his best troops, he had nearly reached the fort, his army was surprised and destroyed by a force hardly half as large, and consisting for the greater part of Indians.
Braddock and his English troops were brave enough, but they were helpless. Burdened with the stiff and heavy equipment of the European soldier of that day, they were fighting in a dense American forest, and against an active, light-armed foe well hidden behind trees and shrubs. Yet they fought exactly as they would have done on an open battlefield in Europe, with an enemy equipped like themselves and drawn up full in view. Naturally their well-ordered volleys rang out in vain against foes whom they could not even see. And the enemy, safe under cover, picked them off, one by one, with unerring skill, till two-thirds of the officers and more than half of the men were dead or wounded. Braddock himself fell after four horses had been killed under him; Washington escaped almost by a miracle; and the remnant of the little army broke up and fled.
Meanwhile the peace of 1748 proved nearly as empty a form in India as in America. The only change there, indeed, was that French and English professed to be friendly while fighting on different sides in the native quarrels, and that, for a time, they agreed, if they met in battle, to shoot each other's allies rather than fire directly at one another. The brilliant Dupleix still led the French, but he had now to face a no less brilliant Englishman.
Robert Clive was born at Market Drayton (in Shropshire) in 1725, his father being both a country squire and a lawyer. At six he was already "out of measure addicted to fighting"; as a schoolboy he was a ringleader in every kind of daring mischief; and many a neighbour breathed more freely when in 1743 he went off to India as a "writer," or clerk, in the East India Company. To his adventurous temper, however, office work was an unbearable slavery, and presently in the war with France he found a way of escape from his detested occupation. Captured by the French when they took Madras, he fled, disguised as a native, and played a leading part in the rest of the war.
Soon after the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle a new Nawab, or chief ruler, set himself up in the province of the Carnatic in southern India, by the help of Dupleix. Next year, by the same help, a new Nizam began to rule in the Deccan, north of the Carnatic. And in each case Dupleix secured for France both land and influence. But Clive and his comrade Major Lawrence now showed that Englishmen also could play this game. Like their French rivals, they had few European soldiers; but they too drilled native troops to help them, and in themselves they were more than a match for any general who came against them.
In 1751 the French were besieging the last great stronghold in the Carnatic—Trichinopoly. Suddenly Clive seized the citadel of Arcot, the capital of the province, and so forced part of the French army to abandon the siege and attack him. Then for fifty days, with few Indians and fewer Englishmen, he held the broken-down fort against a host of foes, and when at last they marched away he caught them up and beat them. Next year, though elsewhere in India the French won victories, their army outside Trichinopoly surrendered, and the Nawab they had set up was killed.
Thus Clive had shown the Indians that Frenchmen were not invincible. Moreover, he had won the admiration and the faithful service of his own native troops. The French commanders quarrelled; the French Government called Dupleix home; and the French and English Companies agreed together to fight no more in native disputes.
But meanwhile, though still without declaring war, England and France had really begun to fight at sea. In June, 1755, Admiral Boscawen did what damage a dense fog permitted to a French fleet carrying troops to Canada, and before Christmas at least three hundred French merchant ships lay in English ports as prizes of the English navy.
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Alma Mater Tattoo Project
January 27, 2016 January 27, 2016 Evelyn Linkous 0 Comments
MC senior Brittany Miller displays her new tattoo as part of the Alma Mater Tattoo Project. Photo courtesy of Brittany Miller.
In September 2015, Assistant Director of Residence Life and MC alum Ben Wicker started searching for volunteers to participate in a unique group tattoo project that would involve a total of 39 participants.
The project, entitled “Orange and Garnet, Float Forever – The MC Alma Mater Tattoo Project,” breaks down the lyrics of Maryville College’s Alma Mater into small phrases and distributes the phrases among those interested in participating. Phrases from the chorus like “float forever” and “Hail to Maryville” are assigned to three people for the three times the chorus is sung. Phrases from the verses such as “crowned with cedars,” “smiles and tears” and “proudly stands” are assigned to one person.
By volunteering and accepting their assigned phrase, participants agree to get a legible tattoo of the phrase and to submit a high quality photograph of the tattoo once it is finished.
“I didn’t want to limit people because tattoos are such a personal thing; they’re such a permanent thing,” said Wicker. “I wanted people to be able to be creative with it and to get something that they wanted. I just said it had to be legible and it had to be something people were willing to take a picture of.”
Wicker said that he broke lyrics up so that almost every phrase contains a word that carries some weight or meaning. For many people, the specific phrase they accepted carries a personal significance. Wicker, who has the phrase “Wake the Echoes,” said that he chose the phrase because of the meaning it had for him.
“When I think about ‘wake the echoes,’ I think about the thousands of people who have come before me and the rich history of this place,” he said. “I think of the Anderson Bell ringing on special occasions and the celebration we all have several times each year.”
Wicker first heard of similar tattoo project in 2004 as an RD in South Fla. One of his RA’s participated in a project done by Shelley Jackson called the “Ineradicable Stain: Skin Project.” The project consisted of 2,095 participants who each tattooed a single word of her short story. Jackson’s project stuck with Wicker, and when he began considering a new tattoo, he came up with the idea for “The MC Alma Mater Tattoo Project.”
In the initial stages of the project, Wicker created a Facebook page and a survey to find out how many people would be interested. From there, Wicker did some research to make sure he had a correct copy of the Alma Mater, began breaking the song into sections and then sent out a participant interest form.
Though Wicker is an employee of Maryville College, he said that he is organizing the project as a dedicated alum of the College.
“This is just me trying to find a neat way to bind people together in their appreciation of the college,” said Wicker.
Interest in the project has been high. Since the project’s beginning, around 59 people have expressed their willingness to participate. The people selected to participate represent a diverse population of the Maryville College community. Athletes, alums and former Homecoming Kings and Queens have all participated thus far.
For several, this is their first tattoo. Among these people is senior Brittany Miller, who chose for her first tattoo to be part of the project because of the significance behind it.
“I’ve wanted to get a tattoo for a while, but I wanted something with meaning,” said Miller. “I felt like being a part of this project was something that was meaningful and showcased the experience I’ve had at the College.”
For others, this tattoo is yet another meaningful and artistic addition to their bodies.
“All my tattoos have a story and represent times in my life that have shaped who I am,” said MC junior Alyssa Hughes. “I joined the Alma Mater Project because MC is the place where I have been able to find myself and who I want to be….I love the fact that even though this group is so diverse, we all bleed orange and garnet. This is a project that reminds us that even though we are pretty awesome on our own, we are even greater all together.”
Once the project is complete, Wicker hopes to host a gallery that displays photographs of the tattoos in sequential order. Though the project has taken longer to complete than he originally planned, he hopes for it to be finished sometime in the spring. With little background knowledge in photography, Wicker says that one struggle he will need to overcome is his lack of knowledge on producing high quality photographs and locating the funds with which to do it.
As of now, at least 22 of the 39 participants have gotten their tattoos, and Wicker said that the remaining 17 participants are planning to get their tattoos soon. Anyone interested in following the project’s progress can join the Facebook page “Orange & Garnet, Float Forever – the MC Alma Mater Project.”
Though spaces for this project have been filled, Wicker said he would “fully support” anyone who wanted to do a similar project.
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Award Winning Youth Books: National Book Award
Award Winners (1950- Present)
Listing National Book Award winners related to youth categories, as such some years are skipped when no youth awards were given.
1919 the Year That Changed America by Martin W. Sandler
2019 Winner. 1919 was a world-shaking year. America was recovering from World War I and black soldiers returned to racism so violent that that summer would become known as the Red Summer. The suffrage movement had a long-fought win when women gained the right to vote. Laborers took to the streets to protest working conditions; nationalistic fervor led to a communism scare; and temperance gained such traction that prohibition went into effect. Each of these movements reached a tipping point that year. Now, one hundred years later, these same social issues are more relevant than ever. Sandler traces the momentum and setbacks of these movements through this last century, showing that progress isn’t always a straight line and offering a unique lens through which we can understand history and the change many still seek.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Call Number: YA ACE
2018 Winner. A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
Call Number: YA BEN
2017 Winner. Being the middle child has its ups and downs. But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs. And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.
March Book Three by John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell
Call Number: G 328.7309 LEW V. 3
2016 Winner. Welcome to the stunning conclusion of the award-winning and best-selling MARCH trilogy. Congressman John Lewis, an American icon and one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, joins co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell to bring the lessons of history to vivid life for a new generation, urgently relevant for today's world.
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman; Brendan Shusterman (Illustrator)
Call Number: YA SHU
2015 Winner. Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behaviour. Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence to document the journey with images.
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Call Number: J 811.54 WOO
2014 Winner. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata; Julia Kuo (Illustrator)
Call Number: YA KAD
2013 Winner. Summer knows that kouun means good luck" in Japanese, and this year her family has had none. Just when Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan, right before harvest season leaving Summer and her little brother, Jaz, in the care of their elderly grandparents, Obaachan and Jiichan. Obaachan and Jiichan are old fashioned, very demanding, and easily disappointed. Between helping Obaachan cook for the workers and with all the other chores, and worrying about her little brother, who can't seem to make any friends, Summer has her hands full. But when a welcome distraction turns into a big mess, causing further disappointment, Summer realises she must try and make her own luck as it might be the only way to save her family.
Goblin Secrets by William Alexander
Call Number: J ALE
2012 Winner. In the town of Zombay, there is a witch named Graba who has clockwork chicken legs and moves her house around—much like the fairy tale figure of Baba Yaga. Graba takes in stray children, and Rownie is the youngest boy in her household. Rownie’s only real relative is his older brother Rowan, who is an actor. But acting is outlawed in Zombay, and Rowan has disappeared. Desperate to find him, Rownie joins up with a troupe of goblins who skirt the law to put on plays. But their plays are not only for entertainment, and the masks they use are for more than make-believe. The goblins also want to find Rowan—because Rowan might be the only person who can save the town from being flooded by a mighty river.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhà Lai
Call Number: J LAI
2011 Winner. For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family.
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Call Number: J ERS
2010 Winner. In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.Kathryn Erskine has written a must-read gem, one of the most moving novels of the year.
Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice by Phillip Hoose
Call Number: JB COL HOO
2009 Winner. On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Call Number: YA F BLU
2008 Winner. When Evie's father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe's company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie; Ellen Forney (Illustrator)
Call Number: YA DIGI ALE
2007 Winner. Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.
The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
Call Number: YA AND
2006 Winner. It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother -- a princess in exile from a faraway land -- are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy's regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments -- and his own chilling role in them. Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
Call Number: J BIR
2005 Winner. The Penderwick sisters busily discover the summertime magic of Arundel estate’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. Best of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, the perfect companion for their adventures. Icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is less pleased with the Penderwicks than Jeffrey, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Is that any fun? For sure the summer will be unforgettable.
Godless by Pete Hautman
2004 Winner. Fed up with his parents' boring old religion, agnostic-going-on-atheist Jason Bock invents a new god -- the town's water tower. He recruits an unlikely group of worshippers: his snail-farming best friend, Shin, cute-as-a-button (whatever that means) Magda Price, and the violent and unpredictable Henry Stagg. As their religion grows, it takes on a life of its own. While Jason struggles to keep the faith pure, Shin obsesses over writing their bible, and the explosive Henry schemes to make the new faith even more exciting -- and dangerous. When the Chutengodians hold their first ceremony high atop the dome of the water tower, things quickly go from merely dangerous to terrifying and deadly. Jason soon realizes that inventing a religion is a lot easier than controlling it, but control it he must, before his creation destroys both his friends and himself.
The Canning Season by Polly Horvath
Call Number: YA HOR
2003 Winner. One night out of the blue, Ratchet Clark's ill-natured mother tells her that Ratchet will be leaving their Pensacola apartment momentarily to take the train up north. There she will spend the summer with her aged relatives Penpen and Tilly, inseparable twins who couldn't look more different from each other. Staying at their secluded house, Ratchet is treated to a passel of strange family history and local lore, along with heaps of generosity and care that she has never experienced before. Also, Penpen has recently espoused a new philosophy - whatever shows up on your doorstep you have to let in. Through thick wilderness, down forgotten, bear-ridden roads, come a variety of characters, drawn to Penpen and Tilly's open door. It is with vast reservations that the cautious Tilly allows these unwelcome guests in. But it turns out that unwelcome guests may bring the greatest gifts.
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Call Number: YA FAR
2002 Winner. With undertones of vampires, Frankenstein, dragons' hoards, and killing fields, Matt's story turns out to be an inspiring tale of friendship, survival, hope, and transcendence. A must-read for teenage fantasy fans. At his coming-of-age party, Matteo Alacrán asks El Patrón's bodyguard, "How old am I?...I know I don't have a birthday like humans, but I was born." "You were harvested," Tam Lin reminds him. "You were grown in that poor cow for nine months and then you were cut out of her." To most people around him, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. A room full of chicken litter with roaches for friends and old chicken bones for toys is considered good enough for him. But for El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium—a strip of poppy fields lying between the U.S. and what was once called Mexico—Matt is a guarantee of eternal life. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself for Matt is himself. They share identical DNA.
True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Call Number: YA F WOL
2001 Winner. LaVaughn is fifteen now, and she's still fiercely determined to go to college. But that's the only thing she's sure about. Loyalty to her father bubbles up as her mother grows closer to a new man. The two girls she used to do everything with have chosen a path LaVaughn wants no part of. And then there's Jody. LaVaughn can't believe how gorgeous he is...or how confusing. He acts like he's in love with her, but is he?
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan
Call Number: YA F WHE
2000 Winner. Like many girls her age in the India of her time period, thirteen-year-old-Koly is getting married. Full of hope and courage, she leaves home forever. But Koly's story takes a terrible turn when in the wake of the ceremony, she discovers she's been horribly misled about exactly what she is marrying into. Her future, it would seem, is lost. Yet this rare young woman, bewildered and brave, sets out to forge her own exceptional future.
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
Call Number: YA HOL
1999 Winner. Nothing ever happens in Toby’s small Texas town. Nothing much until this summer that’s full of big changes. It’s tough for Toby when his mother leaves home to be a country singer. Toby takes it hard when his best friend Cal’s older brother goes off to fight in Vietnam. Now their sleepy town is about to get a jolt with the arrival of Zachary Beaver, billed as the fattest boy in the world. Toby is in for a summer unlike any other, a summer sure to change his life.
Holes by Louis Sachar
Call Number: J SAC
1998 Winner. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption. Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten- pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the warden makes the boys "build character" by spending all day, every day, digging holes: five feet wide and five feet deep. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.
Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan
1997 Winner. Miracle McCloy comes from an unusual family: Her father, Dane is a prodigy who published his first book at age thirteen; her grandmother, Gigi, is clairvoyant; and her mother was dead when her "miracle" daughter was pulled from her womb. Having been raised according to a set of mystical rules and beliefs, Miracle is unable to cope in the real world. Lost in a desperate dance among lit candles, she sets herself afire and comes to in a hospital. There, a young psychiatrist helps her navigate her painful struggle to take charge of her life.
Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez; Steve Scott (Illustrator)
1996 Winner. Fourteen-year old Manny Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect. But that's not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can't hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can wash her troubles away. In Manny's neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny's not sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it's his life – and he wants to be the one to decide what happens to it.
A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman; Betty Fraser (Illustrator)
Call Number: E HOB
1983 Paperback Picture Book Winner. In a rollicking rhyme, the author introduces us to all types of homes for both people and animals. The poem engages in flights of fancy - what about a husk being a house for an ear of corn, or a throat being a house for a hum? "And once you get started in thinking this way,/ It seems that whatever you see/ Is either a house or it lives in a house,/ And a house is a house for me!" whimsical drawings color the imaginative text.
Doctor de Soto by William Steig (Illustrator); William Stein
Call Number: E STE
1983 Hardcover Picture Book Winner. "Doctor De Soto, the dentist, did very good work." With the aid of his able assistant, Mrs. De Soto, he copes with the toothaches of animals large and small. His expertise is so great that his fortunate patients never feel any pain. Since he's a mouse, Doctor De Soto refuses to treat "dangerous" animals--that is, animals who have a taste for mice. But one day a fox shows up and begs for relief from the tooth that's killing him. How can the kindhearted De Sotos turn him away? But how can they make sure that the fox doesn't give in to his baser instincts once his tooth is fixed? Those clever De Sotos will find a way.
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
Call Number: E COO
1983 Hardcover Picture Book Winner. Barbara Cooney's story of Alice Rumphius, who longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful, has a timeless quality that resonates with each new generation. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. Miss Rumphius received the American Book Award in the year of publication.
Chimney Sweeps Yesterday & Today by James Cross Giblin; Margot Tomes (Illustrator)
1983 Children's Nonfiction Winner. Traces the history and folklore of the chimney-sweeping profession from the fifteenth century to the present day, emphasizing the plight of the often abused climbing boys of past centuries.
Marked by Fire by Joyce Carol Thomas
1983 Children's Paperback Fiction Winner. Abyssinia Jackson was born in 1951 in an Oklahoma cotton field, next to a bonfire, and is marked by the fire in the form of a birthmark. After a tornado strikes, Abyssinia is assaulted by a neighbor. While the local women do their best to heal her emotional scars, Abyssinia cannot bring herself to use her beautiful singing voice again. Once her family is united, she decides to become a healer. This National Book Award-winning novel of one young woman's experience is an affirming celebration of the human spirit and the power of a community.
A Place Apart by Paula Fox
1983 Children's Paperback Fiction Winner. After her father's death, thirteen-year-old Victoria and her mother struggle to regain a sense of order and security.
Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz; Margot Tomes (Illustrator)
1983 Children's Hardcover Fiction Winner. This fictionalized autobiography tells the heartwarming story of a little girl growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying their childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest. Jean Fritz tells her captivating story of the difficulties of living in a unfamiliar country at such a difficult time.
Noah's Ark by Peter Spier (Illustrator)
Call Number: E SPI
1982 Children's Paperback Picture Book Winner. The bee and the fox, the sheep and the ox--two of each kind trudged aboard Noah's famous vessel. Peter Spier uses his own translation of a seventeenth-century Dutch poem about this most famous menagerie.
Outside over There by Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)
Call Number: E SEN
1982 Children's Hardcover Picture Book Winner. With Papa off to sea and Mama despondent, Ida must go outside over there to rescue her baby sister from goblins who steal her to be a goblin's bride.
A Penguin Year by Susan Bonners (Illustrator)
1982 Children's Nonfiction Winner. An introduction to the physical characteristics, habits, and natural environment of the Adelie penguins of Antarctica.
Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen
Call Number: YA PB SEB
1982 Children's Paperback Fiction Winner. Lena can recite the Scriptures by heart. Hoping to make her adored Papa proud of her and to make her white classmates notice her "Magic Mind," not her black skin, Lena vows to win the Bible-quoting contest. But winning does not bring Lena what she expected. Instead of honor, violence and death erupt and strike the one she loves most dearly. Lena, who has believed in vengeance, must now learn how to forgive.
Westmark by Lloyd Alexander
1982 Children's Hardcover Fiction Winner. When Theo agrees to print a traveling showman's pamphlet, he only thinks of the money it will bring in. Instead, it sets off a chain reaction that results in the smashing of the press and the murder of his master. Caught on the wrong side of the law, Theo must flee the city. Soon, he has teamed up with the traveling showman Count Las Bombas (who is actually a con artist) and his servant. The trio is soon joined by Mickle, a clever, strong-willed girl with a mysterious past. Performing feats that astound and amaze, the motley crew falls into a trap set by Chief Minister Cabbarus, who is determined to wrest power from the grief-stricken king. Now they must not only save themselves-they must save the kingdom...
Oh Boy! Babies! by Alison C. Herzig; Jane L. Mali
1981 Children's Hardcover Nonfiction. A photo essay of a class in infant care given to fifth and sixth grade boys with the help of mothers and real babies.
Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary; Jacqueline Rogers (Illustrator)
Call Number: J CLE
1981 Children's Paperback Fiction Winner. Ramona Quimby is no longer seven, but not quite eight. She's "seven and a half right now," if you ask her! Not allowed to stay home alone, yet old enough to watch pesky Willa Jean, Ramona wonders when her mother will treat her like her older, more mature sister, Beezus. But with her parents' unsettling quarrels and some spelling trouble at school, Ramona wonders if growing up is all it's cracked up to be. No matter what, she'll always be her mother's little girl…right? This warm-hearted story of a mother's love for her spirited young daughter is told beautifully by Newbery Medal winning author Beverly Cleary.
The Night Swimmers by Betsy Byars; Troy Howell (Illustrator)
1981 Children's Hardcover Fiction Winner. Retta, Johnny and Roy are the night swimmers: three children whose father leaves them alone while he performs as a singer."Byars has the uncanny ability to know the secret lives...the outward postures, and the exact words her characters would surely use.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Call Number: J LEN
1980 Children's Paperback Fiction Winner. In this companion volume to A Wrinkle In Time (Newbery Award winner) and A Wind In The Door fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior undertake a perilous journey through time in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo. They are not alone in their quest. Charles Wallace's sister, Meg - grown and expecting her first child, but still able to enter her brother's thoughts and emotions by "kything" - goes with him in spirit.
A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos
Call Number: J BLO
1980 Children's Hardcover Fiction Winner. So begins the journal of a girl coming of age in nineteenth-century New Hampshire. Catherine records both the hardships of pioneer life and its many triumphs. Even as she struggles with her mother’s death and father’s eventual remarriage, Catherine’s indomitable spirit makes this saga an oftentimes uplifting and joyous one.
Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Call Number: J PAT
1979 Children's Literature Winner. Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she's hated them all. She has a reputation for being brash, brilliant, and completely unmanageable, and that's the way she likes it. So when she's sent to live with the Trotters—by far the strangest family yet—she knows it's only a temporary problem. Gilly decides to put her sharp mind to work and get out of there fast. She's determined to no longer be a foster kid. Before long she's devised an elaborate scheme to get her real mother to come rescue her. Unfortunately, the plan doesn't work out quite as she hoped it would...
The View from the Oak by Herbert R. Kohl; Judith Kohl; Roger Bayless (Illustrator)
1978 Children's Literature Winner. Winner of the National Book Award for children’s literature, The View from the Oak is a groundbreaking work of ethology—the study of the way animals perceive the environment—from two of America’s most respected educators. With this new, illustrated edition, The New Press brings back into print this classic exploration of the strange but marvelous ways in which living creatures experience space, sense time, and communicate with each other.
The Master Puppeteer by Katherine Paterson; Haru Wells (Illustrator)
1977 Children's Literature Winner. Who is the man called Sabura, the mysterious bandit who robs the rich and helps the poor? And what is his connection with Yosida, the harsh and ill- tempered master of feudal Japan's most famous puppet theater? Young Jiro, an apprentice to Yosida, is determined to find out, even at risk to his own life. Meamwhile, Jiro devotes himself to learning puppetry. Kinshi, the puppet master's son, tutors him. When his sheltered life at the theater is shattered by mobs of hungry, rioting peasants, Jiro becomes aware of responsibilities greater that his craft. As he schemes to help his friend Kinshi and to find his own parent, Jiro stumbles onto a dangerous and powerful secret....
Bert Breen's Barn by Walter D. Edmonds
1976 Children's Literature Winner. Winner of the 1975 National book Award for children's literature, this coming-of-age tale set in the 19th century tells the story of Tom Dolan, an impoverished North country youth and his fascination with Bert Breen's barn and the fortune he believes to be buried under it.
M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
Call Number: J HAM
1975 Children's Book Winner. As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.
The Court of the Stone Children by Eleanor Cameron
1974 Children's Book Winner. Who is Dominique? When Nina first sees her in the French Museum, she senses that there is something unreal about the strange, beautiful girl. In fact, Domi is from Napoleon's time, and she has come to get Nina's help. For Domi's father was executed as a traitor during the French Revolution, and Domi is convinced that Nina can prove his innocence. But to save Domi's father, Nina will have to solve a mystery that has lasted two centuries. And she will have to travel back through time, back to France and the court of the stone children...
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
Call Number: YA LEG
1973 Children's Book Winner. Book Three of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea CycleDarkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. Despite being wearied with age, Ged Sparrowhawk -- Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord -- embarks on a daring, treacherous journey, accompanied by Enlad's young Prince Arren, to discover the reasons behind this devastating pattern of loss. Together they will sail to the farthest reaches of their world -- even beyond the realm of death -- as they seek to restore magic to a land desperately thirsty for it.With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.
The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine by Donald Barthelme
1972 Children's Book Winner. The National Book Award-winning children's classic relates Matilda's adventures in the Chinese house that grew in her back yard. Renowned author Barthelme presents Mathilda's escapade in a witty and whacky text with collage illustrations made entirely from 19th-century engravings.
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (Illustrator)
Call Number: E LOB READER
1971 Children's Book Winner. One summer day Toad was unhappy. He had lost the white, four-holed, big, round, thick button from his jacket. Who helped him look for it? His best friend, Frog. Another day, Frog was unhappy. He was sick in bed and looking green. Who gave him some tea and told him a story? His best friend, Toad. From the first enchanting story to the last, these five adventures of two best friends are packed with excitement, gaiety, and tender affection. Children will find this book delightful to read and beautiful to look at, either story by story, or from cover to cover.
The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian by Lloyd Alexander
1971 Children's Book Winner. When fourth fiddler Sebastian loses his place in the Baron's orchestra, he has to leave the only home he knows--which turns out to be the least of his troubles. He rescues a stray cat from a group of tormentors, who then smash his precious violin; and the troubled young boy he tries to help turns out to be the Crown Princess, on the run from an arranged marriage. Sebastian, Princess Isabel, and Presto the cat soon find themselves fleeing stuffy officials, hired assassins, furious guardsmen and sentries--and, in their journey, find out what is truly important in life. The action and humor never stop in Lloyd Alexander's classic novel, written on the heels of his famed Prydain Chronicles.
A Day of Pleasure by Roman Vishniac (Photographer); Isaac Bashevis Singer
1970 Children's Book Winner. Singer's memories of his youth in Poland make a powerful, brilliant children's book. The author lays out a panorama of Jewish life in the city-- the rabbis in black velvet and gabardine, the shopkeepers, the street urchins and schoolboys, the poverty, the confusion, the excitement of the prewar time. But even more, the author reveals himself; and the torments and mysteries that plagued him as a child will make his stories fascinating to other children....Reflecting a bygone world, the photographs add a further note of realism and power.
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About Me, Joan Dempsey
I've dreamed about being many things in my life: professional baseball player; graphic designer; psychologist; anti-nuclear activist; poet; advocate for animals; lawyer; university professor; and novelist.
(Can you guess which of these dreams have come true?)*
Today, I'm a novelist and writing teacher.
The great thing about being a novelist is that I get to be whoever I want to be! At the moment, I'm a male firefighter, a wrongfully convicted woman newly released from prison, and an 87-year-old former state attorney general . . . I love writing novels!
The great thing about being a writing teacher is that I get to bear witness to writers like you as you become whoever you want to be, too. I adore working with women like you who write novels.
My debut novel This Is How It Begins, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, the Sarton Women's Book Award, the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award, and won a bronze medal in the Independent Publishers Book Awards. I won the Maureen Egan Writers Exchange Award from Poets and Writers and was thrilled when Poets & Writers Magazine named me one of "5 More Women Writers Over 50 to Watch." Whoa . . . you can make dreams come true!
I hold advanced degrees in fiction writing and creative writing pedagogy (from Antioch University LA), certificates in adult education and facilitation, have provided feedback to more than 300 writers on their manuscripts, and have taught online writing classes to thousands of writers from all over the world.
*And . . . drumroll, please . . . here are the other dreams I've made come true:
Yep, I've been an anti-nuclear activist and advocate for animals. I studied psychology and graphic design, took poetry classes, and drafted new laws while working as a lobbyist for animal welfare issues. If I'd been twenty years younger when I tried out for a short-lived, pro women's baseball team, I could have played second base at Fenway Park. Instead, I got to talk about it on NPR's "Only A Game," my first exposure as a professional writer, which was pretty damned sweet.
Still have questions about me? Learn more here.
Meet Our Special Guest, Monica Wood
"There is no such thing as wasted writing."
Our guest for dinner one evening at this retreat is Monica Wood, novelist, memoirist, and playwright. Her most recent novel, The One-in-a-Million Boy, has been published in 22 languages in 30 countries and won a 2017 Nautilus Award (Gold) and the New England Society Book Award. She is also the author of When We Were the Kennedys, a New England bestseller, Oprah magazine summer-reading pick, and winner of the May Sarton Memoir Award and the 2016 Maine Literary Award. Her novel Any Bitter Thing was an ABA bestseller and Book Sense Top Ten pick. Her other fiction includes Ernie’s Ark, which has been excerpted on NPR's "Selected Shorts" and selected by several towns and cities as their "One Book, One Community" read; My Only Story, a finalist for the Kate Chopin Award; and Secret Language, her first novel. Her widely anthologized short stories have won a Pushcart Prize and been featured on public radio. Her nonfiction has appeared in Oprah, The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Parade, and many other publications. Her first play, Papermaker, debuted at Portland Stage in an extended run, its bestselling play ever. Her second play, The Half-Light, debuted at Portland Stage in 2019. Monica is a lifelong Mainer and lives in Maine with her husband.
Meet Our Special Guest, Robin Talbot
"One of Stonecoast’s fundamental values is to foster culturally diverse writers who have a clear understanding of the role writers play in social activism ... We are very proud of our program ... as one of the nation's top five low-residency programs."
Our guest for dinner on Sunday, June 7, is Robin Talbot. Robin is the associate director of Stonecoast MFA at the University of Southern Maine where she is also the faculty advisory to the Stonecoast Review. Robin has written two scripts for documentary films: A Call to Action: A Community's Dream, which outlines the struggle for civil rights in Maine; and Starting Over: Understanding and Supporting Refugee and Immigrant Experiences. Robin holds an MA in arts administration and is an expert in the area of writing for social justice.
She has served as a board member for Black Education and Cultural History, the NAACP Excellence in Education (Portland Branch), the University of Southern Maine’s Multicultural Curriculum Sub-committee, Women’s Resource Center Advisory Board, Festival of Arts and Scholarship committee, and People of Color, Voices in Unity Conference.
Meet Our Special Guest, Susan Conley
"I realized with certainty, half-way through the book, that I was going to have to write my own darn novel, because the novel that I’d wanted to read—the novel I’d bought and was holding in my hand—was not the novel I hoped it would be."
Our guest for dinner on Thursday, September 3, is Susan Conley. Susan is a Mainer and the author of four books including her new novel Elsey Come Home. Her memoir The Foremost Good Fortune, was the first book she published and it was an Oprah Magazine Top Ten Pick, an Entertainment Weekly Memoir to Read, and the winner of the Maine Literary Award for Memoir. Her novel Paris Was the Place was a People Magazine Top Pick, a Slate Magazine Summer Read, and an Elle Magazine Readers Prize Selection. Her third book was a whole other animal: a photography collaboration called Stop Here This is the Place, which was a Real Simple Magazine Must Read and also won the Maine Literary Award for Publishing Excellence.
Susan's writing has appeared in other places like The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Harvard Review, The North American Review, The New England Review, Ploughshares, and other magazines. She's received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Maine Arts Commission, and the Massachusetts Arts Council. She grew up in Maine and loved living in Vermont, California, Boston and China before she moved back to Portland, Maine, where she lives now.
Susan is on the faculty of the Stonecoast Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine and is the co-founder of the Telling Room, a creative writing lab for kids in Portland.
Meet Our Special Guest, Lily King
"There are very few things I would love to do other than a life of writing."
Our guest for dinner on Tuesday, October 20, is Lily King. Lily grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.A. in English Literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. She has taught English and Creative Writing at several universities and high schools in this country and abroad.
Lily’s first novel, The Pleasing Hour (1999) won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a New York Times Notable Book and an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her second, The English Teacher, was a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and the winner of the Maine Fiction Award. Her third novel, Father of the Rain (2010), was a New York Times Editors Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Novel of the Year and winner of both the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Maine Fiction Award. It was translated into various languages.
Lily's novel, Euphoria, won the Kirkus Award for Fiction 2014, the New England Book Award for Fiction 2014 and was a finalist in the National Book Critics Circle Awards. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014 and the Amazon Best Books of 2014. Reviewed on the cover of The New York Times Book Review, Emily Eakin called Euphoria, “a taut, witty, fiercely intelligent tale of competing egos and desires in a landscape of exotic menace.” The novel is being translated into numerous languages and a feature film is underway.
Her new novel, Writers and Lovers, is forthcoming in March 2020.
Lily is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Whiting Writer's Award. Her short fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in many publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and several anthologies.
Saturday, April 25 – Friday, May 1 with special guest Monica Wood
See the Detailed Schedule
Saturday, June 6 – Friday, June 12 with special guest Robin Talbot
Saturday, August 29 – Friday, Sep 4 with special guest Susan Conley
Saturday, Oct 17 – Friday, Oct 23 with special guest Lily King
These writing retreats are limited to only five gutsy writers.
Will you be selected?
I'd Love to Come – How Do I Apply?
Retreat Canceled
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, all 2020 writing retreats were canceled. We're all terribly disappointed—here's hoping for relief in 2021, when I hope to offer retreats again. Please stay safe and healthy, and keep writing!
If you'd like to work with me privately (and with no risk of exposure), I'd be delighted to read your work-in-progress. Learn more about working together here.
Exclusive Writing Retreat on the Maine Coast
Brought to you by award-winning novelist Joan Dempsey
October 17 – 23, 2020 (canceled due to COVID)
With special guest, Lily King
Give yourself the gift of time to finish your novel.
The gift of uninterrupted time to focus solely on your novel.
Powerful inspiration to jumpstart your confidence and ignite your determination.
Unequivocal support to banish any doubts and fears.
Feedback to get you over the finish line.
Intimate connections with four other writers, all of us determined to finish our novels.
The magical beauty of the Maine coast—those ocean ions will lift your spirits.
Our focus?
Helping you finish your novel!
(Limited to 5 Writers—Only 2 Spots Left)
The Gutsy Great Novelist Writing Retreat – Is It Right for You?
Five Writers Only
You're right for this retreat if you . . .
are actively working on a novel;
want to write the best novel you can possibly write;
are prepared to tackle the tough emotional work that could be necessary to conquer your doubts, fears or resistance;
are willing to hear honest, direct feedback, even if it's not what you were hoping to hear;
are committed to being an engaged group member;
are determined to invest time, financial resources and energy; and
are ready to have the time of your life with a bunch of gutsy, like-minded writers.
Freeport, Maine
When you choose to surround yourself with natural beauty, and get utterly pampered inside a gorgeous modern home, and have only supportive people who are also writers as companions, it’s easier to focus entirely on your writing in all the best ways.
Think about it. You’re so busy taking care of everything else in your life, who has time for much writing?
This retreat gives you the luxury of time to write.
You’ll have all sorts of wonderful spaces for writing—in your own private room, in the garden, on our private beach, out on one of the decks overlooking the ocean, at one of several large tables both inside and outside the house, or in front of the fire on a cozy couch.
Six Nights
We begin with a reception early on Saturday evening.
We'll have all day Sunday through Thursday for your private writing time, private coaching sessions with Joan, group work sessions and readings, craft Q&As and downtime.
All meals are prepared by our personal chef. Breakfast and lunch are available whenever you wish, and we'll have dinner together in the evening, including dinner with our special guest, award-winning novelist, Lily King.
Wednesday is a "free" day with no organized gatherings—head off to the beach, for a hike, or into town (Freeport, Brunswick and Portland are all a short distance away).
Friday morning we'll have a farewell breakfast together, then send you on your way.
What Other Writers Are Saying About the Writing Retreat
"Focus"
I've been stymied in moving forward and now I know I can reach for the end of my novel and put it all together. I know it's better now than it was before the retreat.
Sheryl Fawcett
"Freeing"
I feel much better about my novel, after talking to Joan. You can just be yourself and do what you love to do. It's going to be hard to leave the retreat, to be honest.
Gene Smith
"Safe"
I'm feeling comfortable now in believing that my novel is worthy of being written, and my work is really going to be enhanced by having worked with Joan.
Kista Tucker
"Transformative"
This retreat has been life-transforming. I feel fantastic about my novel now. Do whatever you can to come to the retreat—it will change your writing life.
SK Lamont
Meet Our Special Guest
Her new novel Writers & Lovers is a New York Times Book Club pick of the Month, an Indie Next List March pick, and has starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Bookpage and Library Journal.
Hello! I'm Joan Dempsey.
I am fortunate enough to call the state of Maine "home," and I want to share the magic of this place with other writers who, like me, are writing novels.
I love, love, love working on novels (mine and yours)!
And I adore retreats. Many of my most cherished writing experiences (and—no surprise—best work) happened while away from home.
Plus, I'm an educated and experienced fiction editor and writing coach.
So, I got to thinking . . . why not combine these passions and invite some gutsy writers to join me so we can retreat together?
What kind of fun would that be?!
Want to find out?
If your application is accepted, here's what you can expect at the writing retreat ...
Hours and Hours of Uninterrupted Writing Time
Inside your room at your private writing desk, or with your personal lap desk on the deck, shore, or by the fire, or at one of the many spacious tables inside and outside our retreat house, you'll have ample time to do what you wish. This is your time to apply what you’re learning in the way that works best for you: write, revise, journal, reflect, think, plan, write some more. All of what you do during creative time will inform your Writing Contract, which is the tool you’ll take home to ensure your success.
Dedicated One-on-One Time
with Award-Winning Novelist and Writing Teacher, Joan Dempsey
Three Private Coaching Sessions
Come on up to what's become fondly known as "Joan's Tower" for two private coaching sessions, and enjoy one session post-retreat via Zoom video conferencing or phone. I’m here for you, so we’ll plan our sessions according to what you most need. Got a character who needs further development? We’ll bring her to life. Feeling concerned about whether your writing is really any good? We’ll turn that concern around so fast you’ll forget you ever worried about it. Need to find time in your schedule to focus on your novel? We won’t just find time, we’ll create it! Whatever will help you finish your novel, we’ll tackle it together.
Feedback on Your Novel
I will provide detailed feedback on your full manuscript or whatever you've drafted by the time you attend the retreat. If you send your manuscript a month before the retreat, I'll have feedback ready and waiting for you and we can discuss it in person during our private coaching sessions. If you aren't able to get the manuscript to me a month before the retreat, you can bring it with you and I'll provide feedback within a month after the retreat.
Your Personal Writing Contract
Before you leave, you and I will privately assess all you’ve learned during the retreat, and use it to create a Writing Contract that will set you up for post-retreat success. Capitalize on your momentum from this week and finish your novel.
Several Hours of Group Time
You’ll have an opportunity to sit in the optional Retreat Seat—a safe environment in which you can share your concerns and toss out your ideas, all of which will be heard by me and your generous and wise retreat companions. We’ll put on our best thinking caps and respond with constructive observations, suggestions, questions, celebrations, resources and whatever other ideas we believe will help. We'll also have two optional Gutsy Great Readings—a secure environment in which you can read a brief excerpt from your novel-in-progress and hear readings by your retreat companions. Finally, we'll have two Q & A Sessions in which you can ask me anything about the craft or the business of writing.
Amazing Meals Provided by Our Own Personal Chef
All you have to do is eat when you’re hungry . . . no need to decide what to make for a meal, no cooking, no cleanup. Isn’t it time someone catered to you? Our own Personal Chef, Tara Bombardier, will make us nourishing and scrumptious food that will leave you feeling both energetic and pampered! Fair warning . . . you might not want to go home.
Creativity takes energy, and energy needs to be rejuvenated; this week is all about what you need to be your best creative self. Hike the nearby trails at Wolfe’s Neck State Park, head into Freeport to visit LL Bean and myriad outlet shops, kayak from the front yard in Brickyard Cove, take a nap in your room or in an Adirondack on the deck, read a book from our retreat library (lots of great novels and books on the craft of fiction), play a game of horseshoes . . . whatever works to support you!
A Note About the Price
Here's what you get at the retreat:
Private lodging for a week in our oceanfront retreat home in Maine (a $2,500 value);
The gift of uninterrupted time to focus solely on your novel (priceless);
Driver to transport you to and from the airport, train or bus station (a $300 value);
Scrumptious meals prepared by our personal chef (and no clean up, yay!);
An intimate dinner with one of Maine's literary luminaries;
Three private coaching sessions with me (a $1,000 value);
Feedback from me on your manuscript (a $2,000 value);
Two Q & A sessions about the craft of writing and the writing life;
Two opportunities to read your work aloud;
Support during the Retreat Seat from our group of writers;
A personalized Writing Contract for finishing your novel post-retreat; and
New friendships with other gutsy great novelists.
I deliberately don't advertise the specific cost of the retreat—this is why:
In my experience, I’ve seen writers deny themselves great opportunities based on price alone, before considering all the pros and cons of the opportunity, which I think is a shame.
I’ve worked with writers who truly believed they could not afford to come to the retreat but then got super creative about how to pay once they realized what they'd gain from our time together; those folks are the ones who tend to benefit the most from these retreats because that creativity demonstrates their gutsiness and their commitment to their novels.
Also, when I select writers from the pool of applicants and offer them a space at one of the retreats, I then offer those writers a price based on what we've discussed during the application process. We get creative together about payment options.
So, if you're serious about finishing your novel and want to work with me—you can submit your application and we can weigh out the pros and cons together and determine whether the retreat will meet your needs and whether you're a good fit for the retreat. The retreats are best for writers who are ready to make a leap, take action and work hard to realize the dream of finishing their novel, whatever that takes.
Because I keep the group so small—five writers plus myself—and because this exclusive retreat is expensive to run and takes a lot of my own time and energy, not everyone can afford to spend a week with me. But for those who do, I work extremely hard to make sure the experience is priceless.
My goal is to get you past any obstacles that stand in your way and provide you with the unique support, tools and feedback you need to realize your dream of finishing your novel, all while feeling inspired and confident.
Submit Your Application Today
Have Questions? Read the FAQs.
You can also contact Joan.
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John David Jackson (born November 18, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York), better known by his stage name Fabolous, is a Grammy award nominated American rapper, actor and designer signed to Def Jam Records. He released his debut album, Ghetto Fabolous in 2001 and has since released 2003's Street Dreams, 2004's Real Talk and 2007's From Nothin' To Somethin', all of which have collectively sold over four million copies in the United States. His fourth studio album, Loso's Way, was released in July of 2009 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It takes talent to make the struggle to succeed seem effortless, but that is the gift that separates artists like Brooklyn's John Jackson, aka Fabolous, from the everyday MC. While most rappers spend more and more time convincing the masses of their "hustle," Fabolous lets his work speak for his effort. With two platinum albums (2001's Ghetto Fabolous and 2003's Street Dreams) and one Gold (2004's Real Talk) to his credit, the veteran hitmaker still exudes a rookie-of-the year swagger. After recording for both Elektra and Atlantic Records, Fab is enjoying a home coming with the legendary Def Jam label. His first recorded song was "If They Want It" from DJ Clue's The Professional, which was released by Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam in 1998. "I had people in my corner already over there," Fab says of DJ Clue and A&R Skane, the Desert Storm duo who discovered Fabolous. "So it wasn't like I was coming to a new neighborhood." While he doesn't site any one reason for his move, Fabolous has learned a lot from his time in the industry and is eager to capitalize on his experience. "I haven't peaked yet," he explains. "I was happy with the past records, but I have some adversity to learn off of for the future." It's appropriate that Fabolous is getting a fresh start for his latest release because he wants From Nothin' to Somethin' to be a rebirth for his fans old and new. "Everybody is trying to take what they have and make something more," says Fabolous, explaining the album's title. "It's a new year, everybody's on their hustle, back in the gym and I'm trying to give them some inspiration. This is music to chase your money too, work out--motivation music. The first single "Make Me Better" is produced by Grammy Award winning producer Timbaland and finds Fabolous doing what he does best; blending radio ready sound beds with clever and memorable lyrics. Rapping that he needs "a Corretta Scott to make me King" Fab picks up with his female fans where "Baby" left off. "It's a great feel good record, it's got a lot of style to it," he says. "I wanted a record that could show that I could touch different people with my music." Already recognized for his hit-making ability, Fabolous is eager to show the diversity of his technique while staying true to his blueprint for success. On the cocky "Make Money" he cleverly borrows Notorious B.I.G's trademark chuckle to comment on the laugh-ability of his competition: "these dudes is stand up rappers, hip-hop comedians, I start laughin as soon as I put your CD in." His wit and wordplay is not something he gets enough credit for, but the MC is confident people will come around. "Certain people recognize it," he says, "but its like they'll sing it in the shower, but they won't sing it outside. It's all good though. One of them days you gonna get drunk and start singing that song." Enlisting a whose-who list of guests that includes Akon, Young Jeezy, Ne-Yo and Junior Reed, Fabolous plays to a variety of audiences on this disc, but there is no mistaking that it's his show from beginning to end. The anthemic "Brooklyn" features a yet to be disclosed surprise guest and "Change Up" pairs Fab with singer, producer extraodinaire Akon helping him reflect on his life and career. "Anytime you become a successful person, people may look at you and say you changed," explains Fabolous, who references the October 2006 shooting that took place outside of Justin's restaurant in the lyrics of the song. "That record just talks about people changing as a person for money, how they carry themselves and treat other people. For me, I might have changed where I live or my number, but I haven't changed as a person…I slid a line or two about what happened in October but I'm not coming out with a bullet proof vest or anything." The playful "Foggin Up The Windows," produced by Miami's The Runners, features R. Kelly's chopped and screwed vocals from his hit "Ignition" to prop up Fabolous' ode to parkin' lot pimpin' of the more carnal kind. "I just took it back to trying to get some in the car," he says with a laugh. "Everyone's either done it or tried to get some in the car. It may not have been the place of choice but everybody's had a hotel on wheels." Other rewind worthy tracks like "Real Playa" featuring Lloyd, "Diamonds" featuring Young Jeezy and the Just Blaze produced "Back To School" round out an impressive collection that makes From Nothin' to Somethin' worth the two-year wait. In his absence no artist has come close to matching his boyish charm, wit and unassuming cool both on and off the mic. With a new team and a pop of his collar Fabolous is indeed "fresh to Def." "I'm trying to bring good music back to the game," he says confidently. "And anybody that's bringing good music, the hype is gonna follow them."
Champagne Life (remix) (feat. Fabolous & Rick Ross)
Libra Scale
She Got Her Own (feat. Ne-Yo & Fabolous)
Should Be You (feat. Puff Daddy & Fabolous)
R.E.D.
Uptown Vibes (feat. Fabolous & Anuel AA)
All That (Lady) (feat. Lil Wayne & Big Sean & Fabolous)
Jesus Piece (Deluxe Edition)
Summertime Shootout 3: Coldest Summer Ever
Go Ahead (feat. Fabolous & Rick Ross & Flo Rida)
We Global
Get Right (feat. Fabolous)
Crazy Love (feat. Fabolous)
My Chick Better (feat. Fabolous & Wiz Khalifa)
Don't Ever Play Yourself (feat. Jadakiss & Fabolous & Fat Joe & Busta Rhymes & Kent Jones)
Make Me Better (feat. Ne-Yo)
From Nothin' To Somethin'
Hypnotic (feat. R.kelly & Fabolous)
Chapter 3: The Flesh
First Time (feat. Rihanna)
Into You (feat. Ashanti)
Money (feat. Fabolous)
Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse
Tit 4 Tat (feat. Pharrell)
You Be Killin Em
Bravo Black Hits Vol.24 CD1
Young & Sexy (feat. Pharrell)
My Time (feat. Jeremih)
Loso's Way
I Love It (feat. Fabolous)
Rockabyebaby
Everything, Everyday, Everywhere
Bravo Black Hits Vol.22 (Cd 2)
Baby Don't Go (feat. T-Pain)
Grind & Pray Get Ya Money (feat. Fabolous)
Into You (Remix) (feat. Tamia)
Oj (feat. Fabolous & Jadakiss)
Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition
Broken Hearted Girl (feat. Fabolous)
Keep It Real (feat. Fabolous & Lil Mo)
Dip It Low (feat. Fabolous)
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Promoting Essential Justice and Policing Services for Women and Girls Subjected to Violence
In many parts of the world, violence against women remains a highly prevalent, socially tolerated and largely unpunished crime. The justice sector’s response to cases involving violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman, or that affects women disproportionately, is notably deficient and does not begin to meet what has been described as a problem of pandemic proportions. Due to a variety of factors, including weak criminal laws, poor enforcement of criminal laws, insufficient capacity, discriminatory attitudes among criminal justice actors and a lack of adequate, trained and sustainable dedicated resources, the vast majority of perpetrators face no legal consequences. High levels of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, human trafficking or other forms of violence being experienced by women go unreported. In some parts of the world, as many as 80% of women do not report the incidents, whether out of shame, threat of further violence, fear of being stigmatized by family and community, or mistrust in the justice system. Many women who do report incidents of violence, perceive the justice system response as a second assault, due to indifferent, insensitive or harsh treatment by police, prosecutors and judges, who often minimize, dismiss or blame the violence on the victims.
The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR) has, since its inception, acted as a bridge between the local, national and international criminal justice systems to build capacity to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. One of ICCLR’s longest standing programmes has been on eliminating violence against women. From the experience gained from ICCLR’s VAW programme, in 2014-15, two of ICCLR’s Senior Associates, Eileen Skinnider and Ruth Montgomery had the opportunity to work with the following UN agencies: UN Women, UNFPA, UNODC, WHO and UNDP (which subsequently joined forced to form the UN Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subjected to Violence) to develop Module 3: Justice and Policing of the Essential Services Package: Core Elements and Quality Guidelines for an Effective Response to Violence Against Women.
Authors/editor(s): UN Women, UNFPA, WHO, UNDP and UNODC
The UN Joint Programme. The Joint Programme seeks to bridge the gap between international agreements concerning responses to violence against women and services for survivors, and their implementation at the country level. The Programme aims to provide guidance on how to develop and implement the global norms on multi-sectoral services and responses, with a focus on the health, police, justice and social services, and critically, the coordination of these services. The Justice and Policing module is one of 6 modules which are part of the Essential Services Package aimed at providing all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence with greater access to essential quality and coordinated multi-sectoral services.
The Essential Services Package is currently being implemented in ten (10) pilot countries including: Cambodia, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Tunisia, Mozambique, Egypt, Guatemala and Peru with a view to supporting and advocating for their global rollout. There are also now an additional 46 ‘self-starter’ countries using the Essential Services Package on their own initiative. An initial assessment of the Programme organized by UN Women and UNFPA found that the Essential Services Package has been recognized as a minimum standard for effective response to violence against women globally.
Module 3 has served as a foundation for the development of further global tools by UN agencies to assist justice providers deliver quality essential justice and policing services. They include the forthcoming UN Women-led handbook on gender-responsive policing and the forthcoming UNODC police response training manual developed by the UNODC Mexico office.
Module 3 has also been used as a foundational piece in the work of ICCLR’s two Senior Associates, Ruth Montgomery and Eileen Skinnider. For example, the Essential Services Package served as guidance for an assessment undertaken in Namibia for UNODC to support the government of Namibia’s efforts towards enhancing a coordinated multi-disciplinary cross-agency approach in responding to gender-based violence. It has also informed the Viet Nam National Guidelines for the Provision of the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code Towards Improved Access to Justice for Women Subjected to Violence that was supported by the UN Women Viet Nam Office. Its principles have been used as a guideline for the development of victim support services by the recently established Victim Support Asia network, to identify access to justice issues for women in rural and remote areas of the province of British Columbia, Canada and by a Canadian national working group to develop multi-disciplinary training to address the needs of victims of terrorism and mass violence events.
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Statement by non-governmental organisations on the 14 and 16 June events
Posted on 18/06/2019 18/06/2019 by IDSD
We, the undersigned organisations, would like to express our solidarity with the organisers of Tbilisi Pride and LGBT+ activists whose freedom of expression was crudely restricted by violent groups outside the Chancellery of the Government on 14 June. We call on the law enforcement bodies to carry out all the necessary measures to, on the one hand, hold the perpetrators of the violence responsible before the law and, on the other, to ensure that the Tbilisi Pride Week is held in a peaceful environment.
We would like to underscore that the Constitution of Georgia guarantees freedom of expression for every person, including freedom of assembly, regardless of sexual orientation, gender or other identity. All groups of the society are fully entitled to have their own opinion and to express it freely – verbally, in writing or in other form. At the same time, it is a positive obligation of the state to carry out corresponding measures against the persons who prevent others from exercising this right. It is precisely due to the failure to fulfil such obligations that the European Court of Human Rights ruled with regard to the 17 May 2012 incident that Georgia had violated the Convention.
The public saw clearly that the LGBT+ activists were prevented from exercising their right outside the Chancellery on 14 June. They, as well as other peaceful citizens, journalists and representatives of the Public Defender, became a target of threats and violence on the part of the groups whose leaders have links to the Russian Federation. Especially worrisome are the statements made by the representatives of the violent groups in Vera Park on 16 June, which contained open threats and calls to violence against LGBT+ activists, police officers, human rights activists and international partners. Businessman Levan Vasadze familiarised those gathered in Vera Park with a plan to thwart Tbilisi Pride and called on them to join a violent group.
On 14 June, during the rally outside the Government Chancellery, the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained on administrative charges 28 persons who were trying to break through the police cordon and expressed in various ways their aggression towards the participants of the peaceful rally, their supporters as well as journalists. In addition, the ministry has already launched the investigation into the formation and leadership of illegal militia groups and their membership in accordance with Part 1 of Article 223 of the Criminal Code. The response by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the violent actions and calls of extremist groups is welcome, but it should be noted that the strengthening of such groups over the years is the result of the government’s inappropriate policies, inaction and often tolerant attitudes. It is especially alarming that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is suggesting that that the Tbilisi Pride organisers refrain from holding the pride and is unable to guarantee its safety.
Considering all the above, we believe that, in the situation that has taken shape, the following is necessary:
The law enforcement bodies must investigate in a timely and efficient manner the violent actions committed and calls made at the rallies on 14 and 16 June; in this respect, the law enforcement bodies must pay special attention to the plans voiced by Levan Vasadze at the 16 June rally which point to a crime under Article 223 of the Criminal Code (formation, leadership of illegal militia groups, membership of and participation in such groups and/or carrying out other activities benefiting such illegal groups);
All necessary preventive measures must be carried out in order to ensure the safety of LGBT+ activists during the Tbilisi Pride Week so that they are able to freely exercise their right to public assembly and expression;
The government must be particularly careful and pay special attention to the extremist forces stepping up their activities in the country, study their possible links to the Russian special services and efficiently respond to the threats and challenges that exist in this respect.
Georgian Democracy Initiative
Transparency International Georgia
International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy
Society and Banks
Media Development Foundation
Partnership for Human Rights
Sapari
Institute for Development of Freedom of Information
Tolerance and Diversity Institute
Georgia’s Reforms Associates
Center for Research Journalism and Economic Analysis
Economic Policy Research Center
Institute for Democracy and Safe Development
Previous Postარასამთავრობო ორგანიზაციების განცხადება 14 და 16 ივნისს მომხდარ მოვლენებთან დაკავშირებითNext Postიუსტიციის საბჭო უზენაესი სასამართლოს მოსამართლეების კანდიდატებთან დაკავშირებულ საჯარო ინფორმაციას არ გასცემს
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Home Politics Foreign Policy US Seeking to Sow Discord between Iran, Europe: Official
US Seeking to Sow Discord between Iran, Europe: Official
A senior Iranian official has called on the European countries not to fall for Washington’s scheme to create divisions between Tehran and Europe.
“The United States’ effort to drive a wedge between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the European countries has always been part of the White House’s covert and overt policies,” said Mahmoud Vaezi, the chief of staff of the President’s Office, in a Thursday article.
“America’s recent move to embolden and encourage the three European countries to take the initiative to propose a resolution to the IAEA’s Board of Governors is an example of such White House policies in order to divide Iran and the European countries,” he said.
Vaezi noted such attempts are made at a time when no country has been subject to IAEA’s inspections as much as Iran has.
“Without any hyperbole, no country has been cooperating with the IAEA within legal and internationally recognized frameworks as much as Iran has,” he added.
“Members of the Board of Governors know well that at the moment, Iran is voluntarily implementing the Additional Protocol as a goodwill gesture while being sure that its nuclear activities are peaceful,” he said.
“At the same time, Iran has shown that it will not give in to excessive demands by any country or organization,” said Vaezi.
Accordingly, he said, Iran rejects all the recent accusations levelled against it as they were based on baseless allegations coming from untrue spy data and Israeli pressure.
He said the acceptance of this resolution would mean authorizing spy activities and approving of inappropriate interference which runs counter to internationally recognized norms.
However, he noted, Iran will continue to welcome the agency’s legal inspections like in the past, but will not bow to bullying.
He dismissed as “unacceptable, questionable and illogical” the European countries’ double-standard approach towards Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities and those of countries which refuse to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and are engaged in non-peaceful atomic work.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
IRGC Releases Footage of 2020 Missile Attacks against US Base in Iraq
Iran Stayed in JCPOA to Have US Sanctions Lifted: Official
What Matters Is Lifting of Sanctions, Not US Rejoining Nuclear Deal: Iran
US Trying to Force Yemen Peace Talks into Deadlock by Blacklisting Ansarullah: Iran
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Wild Africa • 2001 • 6 episodes • 4h:53m
Revealing each of Africa's stunning natural realms in turn, revealing little-known facts and showing how humans and creatures co-exist within this vast area.
This episode looks at Africa's mountain ranges. From the giant mole rats of the Ethiopian Highlands to the Barbary Macaque monkeys of the Atlas Mountains, this episode gives a fascinating look at the mountains of Africa and the animals that inhabit them.
1/6 • 2001 • Nature
The savannah is home to some of the greatest herds on Earth, and in this episode, Wild Africa brings you close encounters with these animals. The savannah is Africa's youngest landscape, shaped by the weather and the animals themselves as the continent dried. It is now home to baboons, wildebeest, lions, cheetah, and aardvarks who must struggle through the eight-month dry season to survive.
As a whole, Africa is a dry continent with deserts dominating the landscape. Wild Africa explores how these deserts were created, and the amazing ways in which animals and plants have evolved to cope with the meagre and unpredictable rainfall, intense solar radiation, shortages of food and lack of shelter. By traveling through the African deserts, Wild Africa reveals that given enough time, a diverse variety of animals and plants can make a living in even the harshest conditions.
Africa's coasts were formed by the break-up of Gondwanaland 100 million years ago. They define the familiar shape of this special continent, and touch on a variety of environments including deserts, mountains, forests, wetlands and savannahs. Wild Africa takes us back in time to witness the birth of Africa and also carries us on a spectacular journey around the edge of the continent.
Plants amazingly dominate this green world by employing poisons, recruiting defensive armies, feeding off the dead and using animals for pollination and seed dispersal. For predators this world presents exceptional challenges, not only in finding prey in such a tangled place, but in how to deal with the toxins that so many animals and plants are laced with.
Just as Africa constantly throws-up mountains which intercept moisture-laden clouds from the oceans, so the changing landscape also creates grooves and basins which channel and gather the precious moisture that falls on the high ground.
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Kaylee Cuoco is experiencing “intestinal pain” after the death of the dog Norman
The AOC says it disagrees with Biden’s “optimistic” view of the GOP
The problem with DHEC reports affecting COVID-19 has been fixed; issues new data
Telegram is not end-to-end encrypted by default
Home https://server7.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/smyrwpoii/p2/ Science https://server7.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/smyrwpoii/p2/ “Christmas star” to illuminate the December sky for the first time in 800 years
“Christmas star” to illuminate the December sky for the first time in 800 years
(WJW) – On December 21, people can witness something that has not been seen for nearly 800 years.
NASA finds water on the solar surface of the moon
That’s right, during the upcoming winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn line up to create an incredibly bright miracle star or what is known as the “Christmas Star” or the “Star of Bethlehem.”
These two planets did not appear so (relatively) close to each other from the point of view of the Earth from the Middle Ages.
“Alignments between these two planets are quite rare, happening once every 20 years, but this combination is extremely rare because of how close the planets will look to each other,”
; Patrick Hartigan, an astronomer at Rice University, told Forbes. “You will have to go back until dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer arrangement between these objects visible in the night sky.”
The stellar stars in the northern hemisphere must turn their heads and telescopes toward the southwestern sky about 45 minutes after sunset to see the planets line up on December 21st.
According to Forbes, visual observation of this magnitude will not reappear until 2080.
Get the latest FOX8.com titles below:
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Taylor Winfield Adds Managing Director
October 25, 2010 – Executive search firm Taylor Winfield has named Melinda Sumurdy as managing director, specializing in retail, consumer products, oil & gas, and industrial searches. Ms. Sumurdy has over 20 years executive search experience ranging from new, venture-funded start-ups to large multi-national companies. She joins Taylor Winfield from Waveland Executive Search’s Dallas office where she was a partner focusing on retail and industrial clients. Prior to joining Waveland, Ms. Sumurdy served as managing partner/senior vice president at Hylê Human Capital Partners and subsequently executive vice president at DHR International following their acquisition of Hylê Human Capital. Established in 1987, Taylor Winfield focuses on providing executive search services for the internet & media, clean tech, software communications & hardware, professional & IT services, retail & consumer, education and non-profit sectors.
Bond International Software Acquires VCG
Egon Zehnder Names Head of New England Asset Management Practice
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Smart Plus
Fission of the Human Mind
An atom consists of three basic particles, namely, protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons and neutrons are located in the nucleus and the electrons revolve around the nucleus in different orbits. A large amount of energy is released when the nucleus of a heavy atom is broken into two or more smaller nuclei. Similarly,
when the nuclei of two or more lighter atoms are made to merge into each other, resulting in a heavier nucleus, then also a large amount of energy is released. The former is known as Nuclear Fission and the latter is known as Nuclear Fusion. The energy, thus released, is known as atomic energy. If controlled,
this energy can be used for running a power plant and if not, the same energy can turn into an atom bomb.
So far, the control of the reaction has been possible in fission and not in fusion. When the nucleus of uranium is bombarded by a neutron, it breaks into two smaller nuclei and simultaneously, three neutrons accompanied with a large amount of energy are produced. These three neutrons again bombard three other nuclei of uranium and the process is repeated again and again. If the number of neutrons bombarding the uranium nuclei is controlled, we get energy at a constant rate which can be used for good purposes. The control of the reaction is done by controlling the speed and the number of neutrons. When the reaction is in total control, the energy is released at a constant rate and can be used for power generation.
The human mind also behaves like a radioactive substance which keeps on emitting various thoughts, belonging to two categories – active and passive. Active thoughts make the mind act and in the process, the power of the mind is made use of. Such thoughts may be called desires. Passive thoughts, on the other hand, do not make the mind act, but are simply observed by the mind. Active thoughts or desires can be compared with moving particles like neutrons, protons, etc., and the mind with a heavy radioactive nucleus, like uranium.
When active thoughts strike it, tremendous energy is emitted by the mind like that in Nuclear Fission. However, to make good use of this power, certain conditions similar to those in a nuclear reactor should exist.
First of all, we should have a neutral attitude towards desires like the neutrality of a neutron. It means that an attitude of detachment should be developed towards our desires. It does not mean that desires should be absent but that they should be controlled. Secondly, the speed of a neutron has to be at its optimum level; either too much or too little will lead to no action. In the same way, active thoughts should neither be very fast nor very slow. That is to say, that moderation is required in our thinking so that our thoughts are able to tap the maximum energy of the mind which exists in abundance. This condition suggests that our
lifestyle should be moderate in order to make the maximum use of our power. In a nuclear reactor, each neutron gives rise to three neutrons which have to be controlled after a point. The human mind also generates more and more desires which then strike the mind harder and make it release more power. Up to an extent, this increase is healthy because the mind’s potential is used in a positive manner. However, beyond a point, the generation of more desires becomes destructive. The third condition is that it is necessary to absorb or
control these additional desires to make the best use of the mind.
Thus, detachment, moderation and regulation are three essential conditions for making the best use of our mind power. If any one of these is missing, the mind’s power will either remain unused or will become
destructive. It is up to us to use the mind either as a ‘Power Plant’ or as an ‘Atom Bomb’.
In Search of Joy
Over the past few years, television has made tremendous progress in our country. There is such a bewildering variety and number of programmes that it is difficult to decide what to see. Two serials from which I drew important messages are Nukkad and Junoon. The serial Nukkad was on the life in a street corner of a small town. All the characters of the serial were persons who could barely make their living. Some were not even employed and depended on the help of their colleagues. Some had developed the habit of drinking due to frustration. They were, at times, also exploited by vested interests. On the other hand, Junoon was the story of very rich people who had accumulated lakhs of rupees by dubious means. Many of them were engaged in underworld activities and had intense rivalries with each other. Outwardly they displayed affluence and moved around in the upper class of society. But inwardly, they too were frustrated, and often resorted to drinking as a result thereof.
However, in Nukkad the group as a whole appears quite cheerful and contented. They enjoy every moment of life despite all the problems they face. They happily accept the shortcomings of others and try to help each other beyond their means. There is no tension visible on their faces. The opposite is the case in the serial Junoon. In this group, the characters are so busy amassing wealth that they have no time to enjoy life. The unfair, illegal means of making a fortune further adds to their worries. Not only this, they are always fearful of the police or of a rival or of their own men. This makes their lives very tense, rendering it totally joyless. This made me think about the very definition of richness or poverty. I feel these are however not at all absolute terms but simply the states of mind. If one is richer outwardly, it is very poor inwardly and vice versa. The first group, despite being poor, is happy, while the second group is miserable despite all the riches. And if we go by the ultimate aim of living, which is happiness, it is the first group which achieves the objective and not the latter.
I do not intend to arrive at any absolute conclusion. The reality is somewhere in between. I am just raising a question for those who feel that happiness lies only in having more and more riches, irrespective of the means of acquiring them. For true happiness there has to be a balance between the outer and the inner growth. In the examples cited, the happiness of the first group as well as the misery of the second group are the
results of their ignorance. I feel that bliss is better than misery of any kind. From this point of view, the state of poverty has more richness in it.
Being Like the Sea
Once I stayed in Madras for about a week with my family. We stayed in a guest house located on a beach near the sea, which added to the charm and pleasure of staying there. We had very pleasant morning walks along the mighty, surging sea, and its vastness touched our hearts. During our stay, I contemplated deeply on the nature of the sea and how it helps us to develop our own personality.
The first great quality of the sea is its vastness. It is so vast that the other shore of the sea is never seen by an ordinary person. We require magnitude in our personality too. Our vision should enlarge with our physical growth so that our personality becomes pleasant. An ordinary person may not think beyond himself, his family or a close social circle. Such vision needs further expansion and one should ultimately think of the whole creation. With such a vast vision, we start loving the whole creation of God and there is no room for lower tendencies like hatred, anger and jealousy.
The second quality of the sea is its depth. The vastness of the sea would be meaningless without its depth for this quality enables the sea to gain stability. Similarly, for the true development of our personality vast mundane knowledge is not sufficient as it may not give depth to our personality. This depth is acquired by developing wisdom which gives stability to our personality. The third quality to be learnt from the sea is ‘absorption’. It absorbs whatever is merged into it. All mighty
rivers ultimately merge into the sea and it accepts all of them. Not only this, these rivers carry away with them all the
filth created by human beings. The sea accepts that too. In turn it returns pure rainwater, retaining all the dirty water received by it. The sea water itself remains saltish though it is the ultimate source of all sweet water. This amounts to returning goodness in exchange for evil, a quality which should be part of the personality also, giving us mercy, kindness and compassion.
The last quality is ‘stability’ which can also be learnt from the sea. The sea level remains stable though universal forces cause some ups and downs in it periodically. That is why the Mean Sea Level is a standard benchmark and does not change with time. Similarly, our mental variations as a result of interaction with the world should also be to the minimum and the effort should be to maintain it at the same level. This little variation of sea level only indicates that as long we live in the world, absolute calmness may not be possible. That state can be achieved only when we firmly control our reactions and responses, both mentally and physically. However, while living in the world, stability can be maintained and the variation can be reduced to the minimum. This is the quality which brings serenity to our personality.
Thus four qualities of the sea, namely, vastness, depth, absorption and stability are to be adopted in our personality. If we can do so, we may be as useful for the society as the sea is to the entire creation on the earth.
Role of the Wicked
Sri Ramakrishna lived at a time when theatres were very popular in Bengal. Sometimes, Sri Ramakrishna himself used to visit them at the request of his devotees. Many of his devotees were connected with theatres as owners, actors or participants in allied activities. At Dakshineswar, in the company of devotees, the master often talked about theatres and drew many deep spiritual lessons from them. One such lesson was about the “Role of the Wicked”.
Many visitors to Dakshineswar used to ask Sri Ramakrishna about the evils prevailing in the society and the purpose served by them. Some of the devotees were themselves not very pious persons and indulged in all sorts of worldly activities. However, those who continued to live in the company of the Master grew fast and triumphed over their weaknesses. Those who did not, left his company and returned to their old ways. Swamiji was never upset at such happenings and gave full freedom to his devotees to choose their path. He confined himself only to revealing truth. Fortunate ones grasped it while others only laughed. He accepted both the responses with equanimity.
Whenever asked about the role of evil or the wicked, Sri Ramakrishna gave the example of a play on the stage of the theatre. According to him we all are actors on this worldly stage. Like a stage drama, we all play different roles on earth and once the drama is over, we return to our permanent abode. In a drama there are all types of roles. Someone plays the role of a hero and the other plays the role of villain. Both roles are equally important and the success of the drama depends upon both. The drama will lose all its charm if any one of them is absent.
The same is the case with the worldly drama also. Here, all kinds of people are required to make it dynamic and interesting. If we look at evil and wickedness from this viewpoint, all our fear, hatred or complaints against them will disappear. Instead, we shall have harmony with them also. Not only this, when seen this way, we shall find their roles as important as those of good persons.
This is how Sri Ramakrishna explained the ‘Role of the Wicked”.
Who Needs God?
I am closing this book with this lesson. Many years ago, I read a book titled Who Needs God? written by Harold Kushner, the author of a famous book called When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Since then I have been contemplating over the subject deeply, but frankly speaking, the true concept of God is still not clear to me. I think that it is a mystery for most. Everyone has his own perception of God and proceeds from there. Perhaps, God is not comprehensible for mortals like us. All my contemplation has led me to believe that there is a higher being like God whom we need sometime or the other. Even those who deny the existence of God think of Him, though in a different form.
I shall try to give an answer to the question ‘Who Needs God?’ and for this I quote a portion of the introduction from the book which goes like this: “I deal with bright, successful people, people I genuinely like and admire, and I sense that something is missing in their lives. There is a lack of rootedness, a sense of having to figure things out by themselves because the past cannot be trusted as their guide. Their celebrations, from their children’s birthday parties to a daughter’s wedding to a business milestone, can be lots of fun but rarely soar to the level of joy. And as they grow older, I suspect they either confront or actively hide from confronting the thought that ‘there must be more to life than this. “There is a spiritual vacuum at the centre of their lives, and their lives betray this lack of an organising vision, a sense of “this is who I am and what my life is fundamentally about.” Some look for that centre in their work, and are disappointed when corporations choose not to repay the loyalty they demanded or when retirement leaves them, feeling useless. Some try to it in their families, and don’t understand why they are so hurt when adolescent children insist, ‘Let me lead my own life!’ and adult children move to another state and call every other Sunday. And for some reason, it never occurs to them to ask, ‘How did previous generations find meaning in their lives?
‘For almost thirty years, I have tried to show my congregants how much more fulfilled they would be if they made room for their religious tradition in their lives. I have urged them to do it, not to make God happy but to make themselves happy. I have told them the Hassidic story of the man who got a telegram telling him that a relative had died and left him some valuable property. He was to contact the rabbi for details. Excited, he went to the rabbi, only to be told that the relative was Moses and the valuable property was the Jewish religious tradition. And much of the time, they reacted as I suspect the man in the story did, disappointed that their legacy was religious wisdom and not downtown real estate. “This book is the product of those years of thinking and teaching on the issue of what we lose when we become too intellectual or too modern to make room for religion in our lives. It is about what has happened to the souls of modern men and women under the impact of modern life, what we have lost in the process of gaining personal freedom and material comfort. But more than that, it is the summary of what my own life has been about, what has gotten me through bad times and taught me how to celebrate the good times, how I have learned to recognise the extraordinary things that even the most ordinary lives contain. “The thesis of this book is that there is a kind of nourishment our souls crave, even as our bodies need the right foods, sunshine, and exercise. Without that spiritual nourishment, our souls remain stunted and undeveloped. In the physical realm, we understand that our ancestors’ hard physical work built muscles and burned off calories, but today we are the victims of a modern lifestyle, so we need to diet, to jog, to work out at the gym. So, too, the kind of spiritual communion our forebears knew is less accessible to us because the world is so noisy and full of distractions, because we are so dazzled by our power and success, because religion in the late twentieth century is often badly packaged or presented by people we cannot trust or admire.” I feel that this extract is enough to convey my message. We all have some vacuum in our lives, howsoever fulfilled we may feel. It is only God who can fill this vacuum and make our lives meaningful. It is a different matter that some of us may fail to see or pretend not to see the vacuum, but all of us do need God.
Most Worthy Son
I came in contact with my spiritual master in the year 1991 in Delhi. With him were two young disciples who were married to each other. Both of them were highly qualified and were in the process of taking full sanyasa. The husband was an Assistant Professor at IIT Kharagpur while the lady used to teach at the Kolkata University. In fact, their association with Swamiji was a great assurance for me which reinforced my faith in him. In due course, both of them took full sanyasa and devoted themselves to spiritual service of the society. The younger Swami was named Swami Nirvisheshananda, nicknamed as Naya Swamiji. His parents lived in the steel town of Jamshedpur where his father was an engineer. After retirement he had settled down there only. A few years later, I got posted at Kolkata as Development Commissioner, and in that capacity, I visited Jamshedpur a few times.
On one of these visits, I was keen to meet Swamiji. My curiosity was to know the impact of Naya Swamiji’s sanyasa on his father. Normally it is believed or assumed that if a young son turns to sanyasa and that too after marriage, it must be a kind of shock for the parents. With this background, I visited Naya Swamiji’s home at Jamshedpur. His father had a very pleasing personality and received me very affectionately. Naya Swamiji’s mother was also there. After initial pleasantries and some professional discussions, I came to the question I had in mind. When I asked as to how he responded to the sanyasa of one of his sons, who had settled so well in life, he had no hesitation in saying that he was proud of him. He also added that he considered him to be the most worthy son. While his other sons had brought only money and fame to him, this son of his brought him true glory and salvation. I was highly influenced by his feelings and realised the true impact of spiritual life.
India is a country which has countless spiritual seekers. In them lies the true greatness and glory of this country. Science has to rediscover this dimension of human personality if its gains are to be deployed for human welfare in the true sense. The ultimate goal of human life, which is peace and happiness, is possible only when science and spirituality play a complementary role in our life.
Diving in the World Ocean
On April 1995, I had a
chance to visit the Mumbai High oil drilling site, about 200 km away from the seashore. It takes almost an hour to reach there by a helicopter. From the engineering point of view, the whole operation is amazing. The fixation of the drilling rigs and platforms is an engineering feat. The foundations of these structures are very deep in order to keep them stable. I met some engineers who had worked there in the initial days of construction and they narrated their experiences with great pride, expressing the thrill of achievement. They also told me that the foundation construction of these structures was the most difficult stage and to carry out this task, expert divers were called from other countries.
I was told that deep-sea diving is a difficult job and a good amount of training was required for it. As the pressure of water increases proportionately to the depths of the sea, a diver has to take precautionary measures to withstand the stress. I was told that in earlier days, the training process took a long time as the divers were subjected to gradually increasing pressure before they could venture deep into the sea. Now, there are special equipments which create sea conditions
artificially and the process of training is expedited. However, the principle of training remains the same, which is to create enough internal resistance or pressure to withstand the external pressure. If the diver does not do this, his
body could collapse. I have drawn some very interesting inferences from this fact.
The world we live in is also like a sea. The deeper we go into it the greater are the disturbing forces we have to face. If we are not trained or used to bear these pressures, we collapse and fail to achieve the goal of our existence. We forget the nature of the world and the fact that there is no use blaming external circumstances. We should, on the other hand, train ourselves to withstand the pressures of the world. For this, we have to develop enough internal strength so that the two neutralize each other and we are able to dive into this worldly sea like professional divers.
In real life it means that one’s development should be appropriately integrated. The bigger is the external growth the
greater is the need for internal growth too. That is why people with high positions, greater riches, greater fame, or power should be much more balanced than ordinary persons. If they are not so, the outer trappings may become the cause
of their disaster. A balanced growth of personality makes us good divers, plunging confidently into this worldly sea.
The world will then cease to be a source of danger or trouble for us and we can enjoy living in it, as well as performing our duties well.
The Mathematics of Life
I remember an incident in early 1979 when I was posted as Additional District Magistrate at Meerut. Once the Commissioner of
the Division visited the district and I accompanied him on his tour. The visit went off very well and he was quite happy with the work done. In the evening, we were returning in the same car on our way to Meerut. The Commissioner was a very good man and the success of the tour gave me some courage to speak frankly during the journey. At that time I was a young officer with only three years of service and was unaware of many realities of public administration. However, I was aware of the interference of vested interests in administration, as a result of which most officers were not able to work fearlessly. So I asked him certain questions about this aspect, curious to know whether it was possible for an honest and sincere civil servant to work fearlessly despite outside pressure. The answer was, naturally, not that simple but he said that though it was definitely possible to work fearlessly it required a lot of wisdom and other virtues like ability and perceptiveness, for an honest and sincere civil servant to reach that stage. The matter ended there but the question occupied my mind for a long time.
As far as I can introspect, I have always tried to work sincerely and honestly. I was not troubled by people who had vested
interests, as most of the time I could get my way through them. Having completed over thirty five years of service and reaching the age when one should acquire enough wisdom to look at life in its true perspective, I feel that life is like mathematics and the problems of life are similar to the problems of mathematics. If the fundamentals of life are understood, then life’s problems can also be faced easily. In that case, life becomes a pleasure and its difficult problems only add to the pleasure of living. In brief, I would say that life is a wonderful opportunity for elevation and it should not be wasted on mundane affairs only, just as the purpose of mathematics is not merely to pass the examination but to understand and apply its principles in life.
The purpose of life should be understood in its true sense and it should be taken as an opportunity for achieving its goal.
With that clarity in the mind, the difficulties attached to life become very small and add to the pleasure of living. Such people score high in the mathematics of life without much difficulty. In worldly terms, there may be more prosperous persons around them but when it comes to the examination of life, it is they who secure the highest marks. And all this happens effortlessly. Let us first accept the simile of life with mathematics and feel the urge to understand its fundamentals. Once we have the urge, we will find the way and help will come from unexpected sources. No doubt, a sustained effort is required on our part, but once the process of understanding is over, life becomes scoring as well as enjoyable, like the subject of mathematics. We can then easily aim to score cent per cent marks, no matter how difficult the paper is.
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Hundreds Rally in Support of Accused WikiLeaks Source
Charles Davis Dec 18, 2011
Hundreds of people gathered today outside a U.S. military base where evidence against Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking classified information to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, is being presented before a military judge for the first time since Manning's arrest.
An U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Manning was arrested in May 2010 by U.S. military police in Iraq when a government informant reported him to law enforcement after he allegedly confessed to leaking to the public scores of classified information containing evidence of corruption and war crimes.
He has been charged with aiding "the enemy" through the disclosures, a charge that carries the possibility of death, though prosecutors says they are seeking a life sentence.
"Bradley shouldn't be doing time for the Pentagon's war crimes," chanted approximately 300 supporters outside the gates of Maryland's Fort Meade, home of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), as dozens of police and a helicopter circling above looked on.
The rally, one of 50 taking place across the world, coincided with Manning's 24th birthday and the second day of court hearings aimed at determining whether evidence against him is sufficient to proceed to trial. According to Manning's counsel, David E. Coombs, the hearings are expected to conclude before Christmas.
Manning is accused of leaking video evidence of a 2007 massacre outside Baghdad in which at least 18 people, including two Reuters journalists, were killed by U.S. troops in what many consider a war crime.
He also reportedly leaked hundreds of thousands of State Department cables exposing U.S. support for dictatorial regimes, the Obama administration's responsibility for a missile strike in Yemen that killed dozens of women and children and the cover-up of child rape by private U.S. military contractors in Afghanistan.
Exposing America's "Dark Underbelly"
"He did the right thing," said Michael Patterson, a 21-year-old Alaska native and veteran of the Iraq war. A former U.S. Army interrogator, Patterson credits Manning – and the "Collateral Murder" video of the 2007 massacre in Baghdad in particular – with finally turning him against a war he once supported.
Rather than making him a traitor, he said, Manning's actions demonstrated his commitment to upholding a "soldier's honour".
Manning knew his commanders would be unwilling to act on the evidence of war crimes he witnessed, said Patterson. "So he went outside the influence of the government and gave it to an entity that was for the public good. And now you have a revolution in the Arab world and you have a revolution in the United States."
Despite White House claims that the disclosures threatened U.S. national security and the lives of U.S. informants named in diplomatic cables, a State Department review conducted earlier this year concluded that they had caused no serious damage.
At the rally, protesters from around the country – including more than 40 from the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York – waved signs and chanted slogans proclaiming Manning a hero who was being prosecuted not for endangering America, but for exposing the dark underbelly of the American empire.
"When truth and justice are in jeopardy, it is the job of the solider to stand up and fight for a peace that transcends," said Lieutenant Dan Choi, a prominent activist who was discharged from the military for being openly gay. "Bradley Manning did that and he should be free."
"He is not the one on trial," Choi added. "The United States of America is on trial."
Though charged with aiding the enemy, Manning – based on online conversations he reportedly had with the informant who turned him in – explained that he was motivated by a desire to inform the American people about what was being carried out in their name.
"If you had free reign over classified networks… and you saw incredible things, awful things… what would you do?" Manning reportedly asked.
"I want people to see the truth, because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public," he wrote.
Manning's Imprisonment
Manning's case has become an international cause célèbre not just because of what he allegedly disclosed, but also because of the way he has been treated in captivity.
For the first 10 months of his imprisonment, Manning was denied almost all contact with the outside world and held in solitary confinement 23-hours-a-day, contrary to the recommendations of mental health professionals and despite the fact he had not yet been to trial, much less convicted of a crime.
In March, the chief spokesman for the U.S. State Department, PJ Crowley, resigned after publicly remarking, "What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."
Human rights group Amnesty International also denounced Manning's pre-trial detention conditions as "inhumane", criticism that ultimately led him to be transferred from Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia to Kansas's Fort Leavenworth, where supporters say his treatment has improved.
But the Obama administration continues to steadfastly refuse requests by the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture to meet with Manning as part of an investigation into his treatment at Quantico.
That fact led more than 50 members of the European Parliament to send a letter to President Obama and other top U.S. officials late last month demanding that U.N. access to Manning be allowed in light of reports that he "has been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and other abusive treatment tantamount to torture".
The Centre for Constitutional Rights, meanwhile, filed a petition on Dec. 16 with the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals demanding that lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be allowed full access to the proceedings against Manning.
Many observers speculate that Manning's harsh and unusual treatment is both an attempt to intimidate other would-be whistle-blowers as well as an effort to intimidate Manning into testifying against Assange, who is currently the subject of a U.S. grand jury investigation.
This article was originally published by IPS News.
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WSJ: Internet Freedom’s Expiration Date
May 13, 2014 by Infinite
– Internet Freedom’s Expiration Date (Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2014):
Sales taxers are holding hostage the renewal of a rare bipartisan success.
The idea of taxing email is no more popular today than when President Bill Clinton signed the Internet Tax Freedom Act into law. But a dedicated congressional minority now wants to allow states and localities to tax email—unless these governments are given new powers to collect sales taxes on e-commerce.
On Nov. 1—three days before Election Day—the Internet Tax Freedom Act is due to expire. In place since 1998 and renewed three times, it wisely prohibits taxes that discriminate against the Internet. State and local governments can’t impose burdens online that don’t exist offline. And multiple jurisdictions can’t tax the same online transaction—a critical consumer protection in a country with more than 9,600 taxing authorities. The law also bans email taxes and new taxes on Internet access services.
Originally authored by former GOP Rep. Chris Cox and Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), the law has attracted large bipartisan majorities every time it’s been up for a vote in either house. That’s because the law has allowed the Internet to grow into an engine of interstate and international commerce.But in a few months customers may begin receiving notices from their Internet providers that new taxes are on the way. Even though nearly everyone in Congress opposes slapping all of America’s heavy traditional telephone taxes on Internet access, a renewal of this successful policy is being held hostage by lobbyists for giant retailers.
They’ve persuaded Democrats like Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) and even self-styled limited-government advocate Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) that an extension of the Internet Tax Freedom Act should be paired with more authority for those 9,600 governments over e-commerce. Unless states and localities are granted new powers to reach outside their borders to force collection of sales taxes on goods purchased online, the plan is to punish all American consumers with new taxes on communication.
Mr. Chaffetz is candid in suggesting the larger moratorium extension won’t pass without a new online sales tax. Mr. Durbin’s office denies he’s among the hostage takers, saying that while he has considered the Internet Tax Freedom Act as a vehicle to increase sales tax collections, “Senator Durbin has not said or implied that he would hold up any piece of legislation” in order to achieve his goal. If that’s true, he should support an immediate vote on extending the ban on email taxes.
Since the biggest retailers already collect sales taxes on purchases both online and off, they want to impose a greater tax burden on their smaller competitors. The 1992 Supreme Court decision Quill v. North Dakota found that it would be too great a burden to force a merchant to collect taxes in jurisdictions where it has no physical presence. But the retailers and their allies in state government have pushed hard to run around Quill by rewriting the rules of interstate commerce.
Senators voted last year for such a rewrite when they approved the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would force Web merchants to collect for all of America’s taxing authorities. But some Senators have had second thoughts. After lawmakers approved the plan, the bill’s author, Sen. Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.), couldn’t say exactly how many governments would gain new authority to audit online merchants. A last-minute change in the bill, courtesy of Majority Leader Harry Reid, exposed Web retailers to harassment not just from state and local governments but “any tribal organization” as well. That could mean close to 600 additional governments.
Even if one favors additional tax collections on e-commerce—which most Americans do not—why should this controversial idea be used to destroy a successful policy on which most Americans agree?
Congress should make the Internet Tax Freedom Act permanent. And then during the August congressional recess, lawmakers can go back to pondering how to rewrite sales tax laws without crushing small merchants and consumers.
Categories Global News, Politics, Society Tags Global News, Government, Internet, Law, Politics, Taxes, Taxpayers, U.S. Post navigation
Glenn Greenwald On The 2016 Elections – ‘They’ll Probably Have A Gay Person After Hillary’
How Japan Became Irrelevant, And How China Took Its Place, In One Chart
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Labour MP Gerald Kaufman accuses Government of being swayed by ‘Jewish money’
October 30, 2015 October 30, 2015 by Infinite
– Labour MP Gerald Kaufman accuses Government of being swayed by ‘Jewish money’:
He also said ‘more than half’ of the recent stabbing attacks against Jews in Israel had been fabricated
Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman has allegedly accused Israel of fabricating some recent stories about knife attacks against Jews in Israel, and claimed the Conservative party is influenced by “Jewish money,” in a speech at a pro-Palestine event at Parliament.
As reported by The Jewish Chronicle, Kaufman, MP for Manchester Gorton and Father of the House, told the audience at a Palestine Return Centre event that the Government has become more pro-Israel in recent years due to donations from Jewish groups.
“It’s Jewish money, Jewish donations to the Conservative Party – as in the general election in May – support from The Jewish Chronicle, all of those things, bias the Conservatives,” he said.
“There is now a big group of Conservative members of Parliament who are pro-Israel whatever government does and they are not interested in what Israel, in what the Israeli government does.”
He added: “They’re not interested in the fact that Palestianians are living a repressed life, and are liable to be shot at any time. In the last few days alone the Israelis have murdered 52 Palestianians and nobody pays attention and this government doesn’t care.”
Kaufman then went on to claim “more than half” of the stabbings that have recently happened in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the rest of Israel were fabricated, in comments that were recorded by blogger David Collier.
Reading from an email from a friend who lives in East Jerusalem, Kaufman said: “More than half of the stabbing claims were definitely fabricated. The other half, some were true, the others there was no way to tell since they executed Palestianians and no one asked questions.”
“Not only that, they got to the point of executing Arab-looking people and in the past few days they killed two Jewish Israelis and an Eritrean just because they looked Arab.
“They fabricated a stabbing story to justify the killings before they found out they were not Palestinians.”
Kaufman was referring to an incident which took place earlier this month, in which an Eritrean man was killed by an angry crowd who incorrectly believed he was the accomplice of an Arab attacker.
The Palestine Return Centre, who organised the roundtable event where Kaufman made the comments, is a consultancy which focuses on issues relating to dispersed Palestians and their return to Israel.
Kaufman has been an MP since June 1970, making him the longest-serving MP currently in the House of Commons. He is Jewish, and has long been an outspoken critic of Israel and the Israeli government.
Categories Global News, Politics, Society Tags Gerald Kaufman, Global News, Government, Israel, Politics, Society, U.K. Post navigation
Britain: Young people suffering their ‘worst economic prospects for several generations’
Shaker Aamer released: After 13 years in Guantanamo, final British detainee lands at Biggin Hill
1 thought on “Labour MP Gerald Kaufman accuses Government of being swayed by ‘Jewish money’”
Len Kurtz
Hitler would have invited him to dinner.
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Japan Awards Contracts for QZSS Space, Ground Segments
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and NEC Corporation have received contracts to build the spacecraft and ground control system, respectively, for Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).
The Japanese Cabinet Office announced the contract awards last Friday (March 29, 2013).
Mitsubishi will receive ¥50 billion (US$540 million) for building one geostationary satellite and two additional quasi-zenith satellites (QZSs) to join “Michibiki,” the first QZS launched on September 11, 2010.
The special purpose company— led by NEC and supported by Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation — established to build out the ground control segment under a private finance initiative will receive about ¥117 billion (US$1.3 billion). This will fund design and construction of the ground system and operation of the system for 15 years.
Each satellite will transmit the following signals: L1 C/A, L1C, L2C, L5, L1S (formerly called L1-SAIF for L1-Submeter-class Augmentation with Integrity Function) as well as L6a (a public regulated service), L5S (an augmentation signal on the GPS L5 frequency), and L6b (formerly called LEX, L-band Experimental, a high-accuracy augmentation signal centered at 1278.75MHz, the same as Galileo E6). Plans call for the system to finish its in-orbit test by March 2018.
The official announcement can be found on the Cabinet Office website (Japanese language only).
EC Awards Major Galileo Contracts: GNSS Satellites,…
The Emerging Legal Debate Around Japan’s QZSS
NOAA, Japan Establish QZSS Ground Station in Guam
Japan Aims at 4-Satellite QZSS by Decade’s End
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Essays & Reportage
The story of Elizabeth Macarthur, a driving force in early New South Wales, highlights gaps in the story of colonial Australia
No paragon: Elizabeth Macarthur as depicted by an unknown artist. State Library of New South Wales
Nations are built with pens and brushes not just hammers and nails. They exhibit their character in what they say about themselves as much as what is said about them.
— Bruce Pascoe, Convincing Ground
In 1788 a young gentlewoman raised in an English vicarage married a handsome, haughty and penniless army officer. In any Jane Austen novel, that would be the end of the story, but for the woman who would play an integral part in establishing Australia’s wool industry, it was just the beginning.
Elizabeth Macarthur landed at Sydney Cove in 1790 with her husband, John, and a sickly infant. She would never return to England. Instead, she and her husband painstakingly carved out a vast agricultural empire. John was eventually credited with founding the Australian wool industry, although it was the practical Elizabeth who ably managed their holdings for more than a dozen years while her volatile husband was overseas, in exile and disgrace. She was an Elizabeth Bennet who married a Wickham instead of a Darcy, and it was only thanks to her that John Macarthur would ever grace the face of Australia’s two-dollar note.
Elizabeth was an engaged participant in many of the important commercial and political events of her era, while also being the mother of nine children. She took immediate and practical action to ameliorate some of her husband’s wilder political gaffes — John was court-martialled for duelling with his superior officer and was instrumental in the Rum Rebellion overthrow of Governor Bligh. She was a friend to Matthew Flinders, and her family entertained a young Charles Darwin. Irish political prisoners plotted to burn down her house.
Elizabeth rode out alone to oversee her properties and dined in state with a succession of colonial governors, from Commodore Arthur Phillip in 1790 to Sir Charles FitzRoy in the 1840s. And she established the first merino stud book in Australia, paving the way for an industry that became crucial to an entire nation. She oversaw it all with humour, resignation and a sharp eye for her family’s financial future. The Devonshire farmer’s daughter, herself a canny farmer and astute business manager, was never simply a farmer’s wife.
I was drawn to Elizabeth’s Macarthur’s story largely because I was surprised to discover that although women were essential to many early Australian farming enterprises, they seem to have been neatly excised from the national consciousness. It was not only the women who were rendered invisible, of course. The growth of nationalism in the late nineteenth century encouraged writers like Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson to create a glorious, nostalgic pioneer past that never really existed yet, as historian John Hirst noted, exerted a significant influence on the writing of formal history. Their pen portraits, and the histories that followed, eschewed the embarrassment of the nation’s convict origins (often skipping from First Fleet to the gold rush within the space of a few paragraphs) and completely overlooked the horrors inflicted on Aboriginal people.
John and Elizabeth believed the land was there for the taking. They had no sense of their own ignorance of Aboriginal law, land management and custom. Indeed, Elizabeth’s attitude towards Aboriginal people seemed to harden over time. Like many others in the colony, she moved away from a conciliatory view, which in the earliest days had seen her dining with Aboriginal friends and welcoming their visits. Once there were substantial sums of money to be gained or lost, once white people known to her personally had been killed, Elizabeth could only see the original inhabitants as a threat.
She also shared the colonists’ general lack of insight about Aboriginal culture, affording it no credence or legitimacy. “Attempts have been made to civilise the natives of this country,” she wrote from Parramatta to her goddaughter, “but they are complete savages, and are as lawless and troublesome as when the Colony was first established. Our settlements are constantly subjected to their depredations.” That the same could equally be said by Aboriginal people about the colonists completely escaped her.
Time and again, whether the stories concern this frontier conflict, exploration or the spread of agriculture, it is men we hear about, read about, or see in depictions of rural life. Women were not entirely excluded, but even famously powerful stories like Lawson’s “The Drover’s Wife” carry the explicit message that pioneer women were sacrificial heroines because they did not belong — that the bush was no place for a (white) woman. There was little room in the sacred rural myth for women who thrived in their life beyond the townships and who were successful in their agricultural enterprises. In the United States, the early settlers are depicted as families — men, women and children travelling west in covered wagons. In Australia, the lone male battler captured centre stage.
In the history of Australian farming, though, women very much were the real story. Elizabeth Macarthur is only one of many women who were crucial to the family farming enterprise. The endless work of the farm was, and is, often divided along gendered lines but the work of a farm woman is every bit as important to the economic viability of the family business as the work of the farming man. The eggs and dairy products she could sell locally, and the poultry, vegetables and fruit she nurtured, kept many families fed and financially afloat until the cheque from the harvest arrived. And when all those men in the history books were off soldiering, or mining or exploring, who do you think was managing the farm?
Elizabeth Macarthur certainly wasn’t the only woman to successfully run the family farm in her husband’s absence — or, indeed, without a husband at all. Esther Abrahams managed the family property at Annandale while her de facto husband George Johnston was in England being tried for the overthrow of Bligh. Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited several lone women farmers during his tours of the NSW colony and seemed to find their presence unremarkable. Harriet King, the wife of naval officer Phillip Parker King, gave birth to son number seven at a Macarthur property in 1827, but within a month had moved (with four of her boys and the baby) out to a 1200-hectare farm about thirty kilometres west of Parramatta. There, while her husband was at sea, she successfully managed the family estate for five years.
Tasmanian convict woman Maria Lord maintained both a retail empire and a farming enterprise. During her husband’s lengthy overseas absence, she ran and improved his shops, various well-stocked properties and two hotels. By 1820, according to her entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, she controlled more than a third of Tasmanian colonial resources, holding monopolies for the supply of wheat and meat and a portion of the profitable rum trade.
Another Tasmanian, Eliza Forlonge, walked hundreds of miles alone through the sheep-farming areas of European Saxony, meeting with stud masters to amass a prime flock. In 1831, with her husband and sons, she sailed with the flock around the world and landed them at Launceston. Her family went on to establish the wool industry in Tasmania while their widowed aunt, Janet Templeton, arrived with a similar flock and soon based herself near Goulburn, in New South Wales.
In 1839 Anne Drysdale, aged forty-seven, emigrated from Scotland to the Port Phillip colony (now Victoria) and with her close friend Caroline Newcomb took up land near Geelong. Together the two women created a successful pastoral business. Countless other women, historically discounted as mere wives, worked alongside their husbands to cement their family’s future. Countless women also did so on their own, as single women or widows. These women weren’t exceptions. Nor were they necessarily exceptional. Like the men they worked alongside, they were simply trying to make a go of things, for themselves and for their families.
In her ambition, her fortitude and her love for her family, Elizabeth Macarthur was just like these other strong, intelligent and successful women. She is interesting not because she was some sort of paragon but because she was, in fact, so very typical. Yet I have discovered that although Elizabeth is one of the few women who are regularly mentioned in the history books, she has routinely been portrayed in a way that belies her energy, humour and practical actions. “Little can I tell you how much I have missed the dear old lady,” her daughter-in-law Emily wrote to an aunt in England, months after Elizabeth died at the age of eighty-three. And that image of Elizabeth Macarthur, as genteel lady, as muse to John Macarthur’s genius or, erroneously, as some sort of social-climbing society matron has somehow been the picture that has endured in the Australian historical imagination.
Our understanding of Elizabeth Macarthur is shaped by the wealth of material made available to us by her descendants. The Macarthur Papers, housed in Sydney’s Mitchell Library, amount to some 450 volumes, along with boxes, maps and plans. As a result of digitisation, some are now accessible online. In basic terms, we simply know more about Elizabeth and her family than we do about her female farming peers. But Elizabeth’s descendants also (and not entirely without self-interest) set about publicly memorialising John Macarthur in a way that firmly established him as the father of the Australian wool industry.
It is crucial to understand that — apart from Elizabeth’s journal recording her 1790 voyage to New South Wales — the letters available to us are excerpts and transcriptions, painstakingly copied out by Elizabeth’s son Edward and her daughter Emmeline. We cannot know the extent to which they edited their mother’s words, or censored them. A selection of John and Elizabeth’s letters was published as early as 1914 in a collection edited by Elizabeth’s great-granddaughter Sibella, but a comparison of the letters in the book with even a few of the “originals” reveals changes in word order and missing sentences. And is it significant that, with a single benign exception, none of Elizabeth’s letters to her husband survived? Did John read and immediately destroy them? Or was it their children who did that, all too keen to remove any evidence that their mother might not have been entirely satisfied with her lot.
The fact that Elizabeth’s existing letters are, with few exceptions, uniformly positive and cheery may reflect family censorship but may equally have been a result of self-censorship and a reflection of the circumscribed nature of women’s letters. Elizabeth expected her correspondence to be widely read, at least within the family, and so did not necessarily consider her letters private documents. We can only be grateful, however, that such a trove exists. In her constant letter-writing, Elizabeth has left us quite a legacy, but it is not, of course, her only one.
There was nothing inevitable about the Macarthurs’ success. Plenty of others with similar ambitions failed to do so well. The secret to their achievements was a combination of skill, good timing and — mainly — the combined efforts of the family. John Macarthur could not have secured the family fortune without Elizabeth. And Elizabeth’s key talent was in ensuring all the family members worked single-mindedly for the family’s benefit. John, and later her grown-up sons, acted as agents and catalysts in England, which boosted the Macarthurs’ ability to sell wool, lobby for regulatory change and receive additional land grants. Then the family’s wealth was cemented by the efforts of the second and third generations (in particular, as it happens, by Elizabeth Macarthur’s granddaughter, another outstanding female farmer). The real story actually makes a nonsense of the celebration of John Macarthur as the sole father of the Australian wool industry. But perhaps, in 1966, that was too difficult to portray on the side of a freshly minted $2 note.
Despite our predilection for stories of the lone battler, most Australian stories are, like that of the Macarthurs, very much team efforts. Captain James Cook could sail nowhere without his crew; explorers Burke and Wills may have survived if they had not separated from their fellow travellers (and if they had engaged with the local Aboriginal people); the supporters and rebels of the Eureka Stockade included many women who acted as far more than simple helpmeets to the mining men.
Thanks to Elizabeth’s determination to see the family through the difficult times of John’s absences, her children inherited a prosperous family enterprise. The success of that enterprise inspired many others to try their own luck in New South Wales, and through example and direct assistance the Macarthurs encouraged much early European migration to the colony. While their sheep-breeding activities did not, in the end, lead directly to the development of the modern Australian merino, the efforts of the Macarthurs certainly provided a firm foundation for the lucrative industry upon which Australia rode for more than a century.
Elizabeth Macarthur was an interesting, intelligent, successful woman who played a crucial role in Australia’s colonial history. Hers is not a household name — but it ought to be. ●
Michelle Scott Tucker owns and operates a management consulting company, and lives on a small farm in regional Victoria with her husband and children. Her book Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World, has just been published by Text.
Topics: biography | history | women
Books & Arts Clipping his own ticket Michael Gill 8 December 2020 Books | How Lionel Barber rescued one of the world’s great newspapers Essays & Reportage Poet, writer, daughter Cathy Perkins 7 December 2020 A daughter puts her mother’s reputation in the hands of her biographer Books & Arts True stories from the manosphere Zora Simic 25 November 2020 Books | How extreme misogyny affects us all Books & Arts Reinventing China Kerry Brown 20 November 2020 Books | In the desire to change China do we risk rewriting its history?
Hell or high waters
Glenn Nicholls
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Traveller by necessity: Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz in the early 1930s. Courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
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Albert Manzone
Chief Executive Officer, Director
Albert Manzone serves as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Whole Earth Brands since June 2020, Director of Whole Earth Brands Board since September 2020, and as Chief Executive Officer of Flavors Holdings Inc. since February 2016. Mr. Manzone brings to Whole Earth Brands a high level of strategic acuity, operational know-how, and a global mindset with over 30 years of accomplishments in the consumer products industry and at McKinsey & Co. Prior to joining Flavors Holdings Inc., Mr. Manzone served as President, Europe at Oettinger Davidoff AG.; President of Consumer Health, South East Europe, at Novartis; President, Europe at W.M. Wrigley Jr. Company; and over a decade in global executive leadership roles at PepsiCo in North America and International, including as President, PepsiCo Shelf Stable Juices North America. Mr. Manzone holds a graduate degree in International Business from the Sorbonne University in Paris and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Manzone serves as Trustee of the Northwestern University Board and President-Elect of the Northwestern Alumni Association. He is Director of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for the Environment, and Director of Monaco Digital in Monaco on behalf of the Principality of Monaco.
Andy Rusie
Andy Rusie has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Whole Earth Brands since June 2020 and was Chief Financial Officer of Flavors Holdings Inc. since December 2019. Prior to joining Flavors Holdings Inc. and Merisant US, Inc. as Chief Financial Officer in December 2019, Mr. Rusie served as VP Corporate Finance & Strategy at Mauser Packaging Solutions, a $4 billion global packaging company. Prior to Mauser, Andy spent most of his career at Mead Johnson Nutrition, a $4 billion global leader in infant nutrition. He held multiple global leadership roles at Mead Johnson Nutrition between 2003 to 2017 serving in a number of finance leadership roles across various Corporate Functions and had global expat leadership roles in China, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe during his tenure. In 2017, Andy led the global, cross-functional integration associated with Reckitt Benckiser’s $17 billion acquisition of Mead Johnson Nutrition and was named the global Chief Financial Officer of the Mead Johnson business unit after the integration. Mr. Rusie started his career at Ernst & Young and is a CPA. Mr. Rusie has served as a Board Member to the American Chamber of Commerce South China since 2013. He holds an M.B.A. from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Miami University (OH).
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Greatest Doctor Who cliffhangers of all time!
Steven Moffat has promised the first half of Doctor Who season six will end on a cliffhanger that will keep you on the edge of your seat all summer. But how will it stack up to these other spine-tingling cliffhangers?
Cliffhangers are part of the life-blood of Doctor Who. In the early days of the show, every episode ends on some kind of cliffhanger, including the final episode of each individual story. As Moffat has pointed out, the best cliffhangers are game-changers in some way, which reveal something terrible and startling — so that even if our heroes survive the immediate peril, you are left wondering how this new status quo will play out. Weak cliffhangers are often a symptom of weak storytelling, and the greatest cliffhangers provide a structural backbone for a terrific, twisty story.
Interestingly, Moffat's mid-season cliffhanger will be one of the few big season-ending cliffhangers in the show's history — the "Trial of a Time Lord" season-long storyline was supposed to end on a cliffhanger, but the producer vetoed the idea. And an early version of "Journey's End" would have ended with Cybermen breaking into the TARDIS, leading into "The Next Doctor," but Benjamin Cook convinced Russell T. Davies it was too much after the string of sad scenes involving Donna's mind-wiping.
So here are the most thrilling cliffhangers in the show's history:
1) "An Unearthly Child." (1963) The show's very first episode ends with a doozy, as the TARDIS is uprooted from 20th Century Earth and lands in a rocky barren landscape. And then a weird, misshapen shadow slinks towards the ship, menacingly...
How is it resolved? The shadow turns out to be a caveman, and it just looked misshapen due to the light.
2) "The Dead Planet" (1963) Another cliffhanger where something we never get a good look at advances in a menacing fashion — this time around, it's a single sink-plunger arm, belonging to a Dalek, and we don't get to see the Daleks in full until the following episode. (Famously, the show hadn't actually built the Daleks yet when they filmed this episode, so literally all they had to show was the Dalek's arm.) How is it resolved? The Daleks... unveiled!
3) "The World's End" (1964) The Doctor and his crew arrive in a post-apocalyptic London, where they're terrorized by cyborg enforcers... and then a Dalek comes climbing up out of the river, revealing that the true force behind the successful invasion of Earth is the Doctor's deadliest enemies... the Daleks! The original game-changing cliffhanger. How is it resolved? "The Daleks are the masters of Earth!"
4) "The Space Museum" (1965) One of my personal favorites — the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki jump their time track and visit their own future — and at the end of the first episode, they discover their future selves, immobilized and held as exhibits in an alien museum for all eternity. How is it resolved? They vow to change their own futures... before it's too late!
5) "The Plague" (1966) Another clever use of time travel. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo visit the survivors of the human race, who are traveling to a new homeworld after the destruction of the Earth. The humans are working on a giant statue of a man, which will be completed when they reach the new planet, and they're accompanied by a race of servants, the Monoids. But when the Doctor and his friends leave in the TARDIS, they jump forward seven hundred years, visiting the same Ark in the future — and the giant statue now has the head of a Monoid, because the Monoids have enslaved humanity. It's a really neat visual trick that tells you everything you need to know. How is it resolved? The Doctor and his friends team up with some invisible aliens (budgets being what they are) to help humanity.
6) "Power Of The Daleks" episode 4 (1966) The Daleks are hoodwinking a group of gullible Earth colonists into thinking they're docile servants. Good thing there are only a handful of Daleks around, then... right? Oh wait. Here's a huge giant Dalek production line cranking them out by the tons. Zut alors! How is it resolved? "DALEKS CONQUER AND DESTROY."
7) "The Moonbase" episode 3 (1967) The Doctor has outwitted the Cybermen and driven them out of the Moonbase, closing off their secret entrance... except now the whole Cyber-fleet has landed and a huge army of Cybermen is marching across the Moon's surface, with a huge cannon aimed at the base. How is it resolved? The Doctor figures out how to use the Moonbase's Graviton against them.
8) "Tomb Of The Cybermen" episode 2 (1967) A whole army of Cybermen is in cold storage underneath their tomb on the planet Telos, and as the Doctor watches in horror, they thaw out. The Cyber-Controller approaches and announces that the humans belong to the Cybermen, and "you will be like us." How is it resolved? The Doctor barely gets out of that frozen reliquary in one piece.
9) "The Mind Robber" episode 1 (1968) The TARDIS explodes! You don't get much more cliffhanger-y than that. (In fact, you could do just a list of cliffhangers where the TARDIS explodes, but I believe this was the first one.) The Doctor and his companions are left floating in an eerie void with the shattered pieces of the Doctor's time machine. How is it resolved? They drift into a land of make-believe... and the story goes downhill from there.
10) "The War Games" episode 9 (1969) The Doctor has no choice but to contact his own people, the Time Lords, for help... but can he escape before they arrive? Apparently not, since everything starts to turn into a slow motion nightmare, and the Doctor passes out while trying to get his key into the TARDIS door. How is it resolved? The Doctor finds a last burst of strength and gets the TARDIS open, pulling Jamie and Zoe inside.
11) "Doctor Who And The Silurians" episode 6 (1970) The Doctor and the Brigadier are crouched over a dead body — the first of millions who will die from the Silurians' plague. How is it resolved? A whole lot of people drop dead in the street, in one of the show's more graphic scenes of death and disaster.
12) "Inferno" episode 6 (1970) The world is destroyed. What more could you ask for? Oh, sure, it's an alternate Earth. But the Doctor is trapped there, watching helplessly as the world ends in flames — and "our" Earth is next. How is it resolved? The Doctor manages to get the TARDIS working at the last moment, returning to "our" world.
13) "Colony In Space" episode 4 (1971) Almost every cliffhanger in 1971 involves the evil Time Lord, the Master, trying to kill the Doctor in some playful fashion. I particularly like the one in "Terror Of The Autons" where the Master has the Doctor strangled by a living telephone cord. But the one that always sticks in my mind is the one in "Colony In Space," where the Master decides that he's done with the fun and games, and he's just going to shoot the Doctor in the hearts. He pulls out a gun and appears perfectly happy to pull the trigger and then pretend the Doctor died in the crossfire. How is it resolved? Someone interrupts the Master before he can pull the trigger, and he has to maintain his cover identity as an Adjudicator.
14) "Genesis Of The Daleks" episode 4 (1975) Yep, there's a big gap here — but I honestly can't think of any outstanding cliffhangers from Pertwee's final three seasons. The Dalek origin story is a different matter, offering a few great cliffhangers to choose from. The best one involves the mad scientist Davros torturing the Doctor's friends to compel the Doctor to divulge the secrets of how the Daleks are defeated in the future. If the Doctor breaks, it'll make the Daleks invincible forever. How is it resolved? The Doctor breaks.
15) "Pyramids Of Mars" episode 3 (1975) The Doctor manages to destroy Sutekh's rocket, finally putting an end to the mad god's scheme to destroy the force field generator on Mars that keeps him a prisoner. But to do this, the Doctor must venture into Sutekh's pyramid in person — and he's helpless before the unspeakable power of the Osirian. How is it resolved? The Doctor becomes Sutekh's puppet.
16) "The Deadly Assassin" episode 1 (1976) The Doctor rushes to prevent the assassination of the Time Lord president — but he fails, and to the viewers, it looks like the Doctor himself is the assassin. How is it resolved? The Doctor is accused of assassinating the President and must prove his innocence.
17) "The Face Of Evil" episode 1 (1977) The Doctor is confronted with the huge carving of the face of the Evil One, the mythical boogeyman that terrorizes Leela's tribe — and it's his face. How is it resolved? The Doctor vows to find out why his face is the image of ultimate evil, when he doesn't even remember visiting there before.
18) "The Invasion Of Time" episode 2 (1978) The Doctor's become president of Gallifrey, his home planet. But no sooner does he finish swearing his oath to protect the people of Gallifrey then he destroys the planet's defenses and invites in a race of cruel invaders — the Vardans. He tells the Time Lords to bow before their new masters. How is it resolved? The Doctor is up to something.
19) "The Pirate Planet" episode 3 (1978) This one freaked my shit when I was a kid. The Doctor goes back to confront the Captain and his mysteriously bossy nurse — and they make him walk the plank, driving him off the edge, where he falls to his apparent death. How is it resolved? It's not really the Doctor, but a projection he's created, using Queen Xanxia's secret.
20) "The Leisure Hive" episode 2 (1980) The Doctor is put into the tachyon generator as a kind of trial by ordeal, plus a test of Hardin's time-manipulation theories. Romana is fairly confident the Doctor will emerge from the generator just a few years younger — but when she returns to Hardin's lab to gather something, she sees that an hourglass that was reversed in time has exploded, with the fragments suspended in a horrible force bubble. This means all of their calculations are wrong, and the Doctor is trapped in the generator as it ages him hundreds of years. How is it resolved? The Doctor is left an old man whom nobody will listen to.
21) "The Keeper Of Traken" episode 4 (1980) I'd also mention episode 3, where the evil Melkur tricks everybody and becomes the Keeper, sitting on the throne that allows him to wield ultimate power, as one of the all-time great cliffhangers. But it's dwarfed by the horrifying end of episode 4, where the Melkur (revealed to be the Master in disguise) traps Nyssa's father, Tremas, and takes over his body. How is it resolved? The Master has a new body... at last.
22) "Earthshock" episode 1 (1981) Killer robots terrorize the Doctor and his friends in a cave — but their secret masters are revealed to be the Cybermen, watching on a monitor. How is it resolved? The Doctor eventually confronts the Cybermen.
23) "The Caves Of Androzani" episode 3 (1984) The greatest Doctor Who cliffhanger of them all, I'd argue. The Doctor is dying of Spectrox toxaemia, so weak he can barely walk, and he's been taken prisoner by vicious gun-runners. He manages to get into the control room of their spaceship and steers it back to Androzani Minor, where his also sick companion (and the cure for their disease) are. The gun runners are about to shoot him in the head, but he's dying anyway, and he's NOT GOING TO LET THEM STOP HIM NOW. He sends their spaceship on a collision course with the planet. How is it resolved? The ship crashes.
24) "Remembrance Of The Daleks" episode 1 (1988) I'm including this one against my better judgment, because I know it's regarded as one of the great cliffhangers by many fans, but the actual execution is pants, with Sylvester McCoy pulling some dreadful faces. Basically the Doctor gets trapped in a basement with a Dalek, so he climbs the stairs to escape — but the Dalek starts levitating up the staircase. How is it resolved? Ace lets the Doctor out of the basement.
25) "Curse Of Fenric" episode 3 (1989) The Ultima cipher machine springs to life, unlocking the secrets of the Viking runes, as Millington intones that the chains of Fenric are shattering. But the new host body of Fenric isn't Millington, it's Dr. Judson, who rises to his feet with an evil smile and tells the Doctor the game is beginning again. How is it resolved? The Doctor is forced to play the "game of traps" against Fenric.
26) "Bad Wolf" (2005) The mysterious force behind the evil game show satellite turns out to be the Daleks — and they've captured Rose. And they have a huge fleet of ships all heading for Earth. They try to hold Rose hostage, but the Doctor gives another one of his great speeches in which he says he'll save Rose and thwart the Daleks. How is it resolved? The Doctor saves Rose. Thwarting the Daleks, though... slightly more complicated.
27) "Army Of Ghosts" (2006) Not only have the Cybermen basically conquered Earth already, but the mysterious extra-dimensional sphere is opening. What could be worse than an unstoppable Cyber-army all over the world? How about a handful of Daleks who survived the Time War! How is it resolved? The Cybermen and Daleks throw down.
28) "Utopia" (2007) The Doctor realizes too late that the professor is actually the Master. Who steals the TARDIS, stranding the Doctor in the distant future, about to be killed by a ton of Mad Max rejects. The following cliffhanger, in which the Master ages the Doctor hundreds of years and decimates the human population, is also pretty amazing. How is it resolved? The Doctor uses Captain Jack's vortex manipulator.
29) "The Stolen Earth" (2008) The Doctor is exterminated! And the same appears about to happen to Sarah Jane Smith and the Torchwood crew. And the Doctor starts to regenerate. A whole nation gasps, wondering if we're really going to see a new Doctor next week. How is it resolved? Bit of a cop-out, really. The Doctor doesn't regenerate after all.
30) "The End Of Time" part 1 (2009) Every single person in the world — except Donna and her grandfather — turns into the Master. While the secret narrator of the episode turns out to be the President of the Time Lords, who's planning something nebulous but apparently nefarious involving "the end of time." Booyah! How is it resolved? Actually, everyone on Earth stays the Master for quite a while, surprisingly enough.
31) "The Pandorica Opens" (2010) The entire universe ends, while the Doctor is trapped inside an inescapable prison. And meanwhile, Rory turns out to be an Auton duplicate, who shoots his fiancee Amy dead. How is it resolved? Timey wimey. Also, wibbledy wobbledy.
Want a second opinion? Den Of Geek has this great list, but it seems to be somewhat hampered by the decision to choose one cliffhanger per Doctor — which means having to dig up a Colin Baker cliffhanger from someplace. (For me, the scariest Colin Baker cliffhanger is the end of "The Twin Dilemma," when we're faced with the horrible threat that this guy is the Doctor, whether we like it or not. I actually think Baker is a fine actor, as he proved in some of the Big Finish audios, but his televised performance was not optimal.) There's also a partial list of cliffhangers here. And Topless Robot just posted a great list of the worst Doctor Who cliffhangers, although they're missing several bad ones, including some Pertwee stories where the episode just... stops.
You're forgetting the best cliffhanger of series five, at least in the UK...
The Doctor, Amy and River Song are trapped. A terrible mistake has lead to them being surrounded by an army of Weeping Angels, steadily advancing. The Doctor, desperately searching for an answer, grabs a gun from Father Octavian, this powerful, powerful image, and enters into an epic speech about how he shouldn't ever be put in a trap...
AND THEN AN ANIMATED CARTOON GRAHAM NORTON RUNS ACROSS HIS FACE, ADVERTISING OVER THE RAINBOW!!
How is it Resolved? The BBC is forced to apologise twice, profusely, as thousands of Doctor Who fans descend on Points of View in a stunning display of nerdrage.
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IrisCovetBook
A diverse glimpse into the worlds and personalities of fashion, beauty, culture, philanthropy, and art.
Tag: met gala
FASHION’S BIGGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR: THE 2018 MET GALA
By: Sarah Conboy
From Left to Right: Bella Hadid, Kim Kardashian, and Kendall Jenner
On Monday, May 7th, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City hosted its annual gala in conjunction with the Anna Wintour Costume Center. Sponsored by Versace, Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman, and Condé Nast, the exhibition’s theme is “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” The show traces fashion’s connection to Catholicism, including pieces from designers such as Azzedine Alaïa, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian LaCroix, and more. As a special addition, the show presents a number of garments and accessories loaned from the Vatican’s collection at the Sistine Chapel sacristy.
Spanning not only the Costume Center, but the Byzantine and medieval galleries at The Met 5th Avenue and The Met Cloisters uptown, “Heavenly Bodies” was organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. This year’s co-chairs included Rihanna (who dressed for the Gala in a papal-inspired look by Maison Margiela), Amal Clooney (dressed in a Richard Quinn, recent recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design), Donatella Versace (dressed in a beaded Atelier Versace number), and of course, Anna Wintour (dressed in a glittering Chanel Haute Couture gown).
Rihanna in custom Maison Martin Margiela
Frances McDormand in Valentino Haute Couture
Guests included a number of A-List celebrities and public figures. Kate Moss attended for the first time since 2009, showcasing her supermodel figure in a short, black Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello dress. Other models making a cameo at the Gala were the likes of Kendall Jenner, the Hadid sisters, Ashley Graham, and Joan Smalls. Virgins to The Met Gala—pun intended—included debuts from Cardi B (guest of Moschino’s Jeremy Scott), and SZA. Other musicians at the Gala were man-of-the-moment Donald Glover, Solange Knowles, Nicki Minaj, and Katy Perry. A number of award-winning actors came, from George Clooney (supporting wife and co-chair Amal) to Blake Lively, Frances McDormand, and Chadwick Boseman amongst many more. On the designer front, the Olsen twins, of The Row, attended, as well as Off-White’s Virgil Abloh, and Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, accompanied by muses Jared Leto and Lana Del Rey. Couples Hailey Baldwin and Shawn Mendes, and Elon Musk and Grimes, made their first public appearances at the event.
Once inside, guests were treated to a seated dinner, and a preview of the exhibition before it officially opens to the public. As we imagined, the night closed with an on-theme performance by Madonna, who aptly sang “Like a Prayer” and “Hallelujah.” A number of after-parties were thrown to continue the festivities, most notably a post-Gala party hosted by Donatella Versace at the Mark Hotel.
“Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” officially opens at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 10th, and will run through October 8th.
Madonna in custom Jean Paul Gaultier
Lana Del Rey in custom Gucci
Jennifer Lopez in custom Balmain accompanied by Alex Rodriguez
Posted in Culture, Events, TrendingTagged balmain, bella hadid, benefit, celebrity, couture, fashion, gareth pugh, gucci, haute couture, jennifer lopez, Kate Moss, kendall jenner, kim kardashian, madonna, met gala, metropolitan museum of art, rihanna, saint laurent, valentinoLeave a Comment on FASHION’S BIGGEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR: THE 2018 MET GALA
HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION AND THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION
Costume Institute Benefit on May 7 with Co-Chairs Amal Clooney, Rihanna, Donatella Versace, and Anna Wintour, and Honorary Chairs Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman
(New York, November 8, 2017)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that The Costume Institute’s spring 2018 exhibition will be Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, on view from May 10 through October 8, 2018 (preceded on May 7 by The Costume Institute Benefit). Presented at The Met Fifth Avenue in both the medieval galleries and the Anna Wintour Costume Center, the show will also occupy The Met Cloisters, creating a trio of distinct gallery locations. The thematic exhibition will feature a dialogue between fashion and masterworks of religious art in The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism. A group of papal robes and accessories from the Vatican will travel to the United States to serve as the cornerstone of the exhibition, highlighting the enduring influence of liturgical vestments on designers.
“The Catholic imagination is rooted in and sustained by artistic practice, and fashion’s embrace of sacred images, objects, and customs continues the ever-evolving relationship between art and religion,” said Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of The Met. “The Museum’s collection of religious art, in combination with the architecture of the medieval galleries and The Cloisters, provides the perfect context for these remarkable fashions.”
In celebration of the opening, the Museum’s Costume Institute Benefit, also known as The Met Gala, will take place on Monday, May 7, 2018. The evening’s co-chairs will be Amal Clooney, Rihanna, Donatella Versace, and Anna Wintour. Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman will serve as Honorary Chairs. The event is The Costume Institute’s main source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and capital improvements.
“Fashion and religion have long been intertwined, mutually inspiring and informing one another,” said Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. “Although this relationship has been complex and sometimes contested, it has produced some of the most inventive and innovative creations in the history of fashion.”
The exhibition will feature approximately 50 ecclesiastical masterworks from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside the Vatican. These will be on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center galleries and will include papal vestments and accessories, such as rings and tiaras, from the 18th to the early 21st century, encompassing more than 15 papacies. The last time the Vatican sent a loan of this magnitude to The Met was in 1983, for The Vatican Collections exhibition, which is the Museum’s third most-visited show.
In addition, approximately 150 ensembles, primarily womenswear, from the early 20th century to the present will be shown in the medieval galleries and The Met Cloisters alongside religious art from The Met collection, providing an interpretative context for fashion’s engagement with Catholicism. The presentation situates these designs within the broader context of religious artistic production to analyze their connection to the historiography of material Christianity and their contribution to the perceptual construction of the Catholic imagination.
Designers in the exhibition will include Azzedine Alaïa, Cristobal Balenciaga, Geoffrey Beene, Marc Bohan (for House of Dior), Thom Browne, Roberto Capucci, Callot Soeurs, Jean Charles de Castelbajac, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Maria Grazia Chiuri (for House of Dior), Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana (for Dolce & Gabbana), John Galliano (for House of Dior), Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Craig Green, Madame Grès (Alix Barton), Rei Kawakubo (for Comme des Garçons), Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld (for House of Chanel), Jeanne Lanvin, Shaun Leane, Claire McCardell, Laura and Kate Mulleavy (for Rodarte), Thierry Mugler, Norman Norell, Guo Pei, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli (for Valentino), Pierpaolo Piccioli (for Valentino), Elsa Schiaparelli, Raf Simons (for his own label and House of Dior), Riccardo Tisci (for Givenchy), Jun Takahashi (for Undercover), Isabel Toledo, Philip Treacy, Donatella Versace (for Versace), Gianni Versace, Valentina, A.F. Vandevorst, Madeleine Vionnet, and Vivienne Westwood.
Exhibition Credits
The exhibition—a collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters—is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, working together with colleagues in The Met’s Medieval department: C. Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge of the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters; Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator for The Met Cloisters; Helen C. Evans, Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art; and Melanie Holcomb, Curator.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), the interdisciplinary architecture and design firm, will create the exhibition design with The Met’s Design Department. Raul Avila will produce the gala décor, which he has done since 2007.
A publication by Andrew Bolton will accompany the exhibition and will include texts by authors David Morgan and David Tracy in addition to new photography by Katerina Jebb. It will be published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press.
A special feature on the Museum’s website, www.metmuseum.org/HeavenlyBodies, provides further information about the exhibition.
The exhibition is made possible by Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman, and Versace. Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.
Posted in Art, Culture, Fashion, TrendingTagged art, azzedine alaia, balenciaga, catholicism, chanel, comme des garcons, dior, fashion, geoffrey beene, givenchy, jean paul gaultier, met, met gala, MET Museum, metropolitan museum of art, new york, raf simons, religion, rodarte, thom browne, upcoming, valentino, versace, vivienne westwoodLeave a Comment on HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION AND THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION
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Posted on May 30, 2020 May 31, 2020 by Jason Gaston
“Collaboration” becomes an amusing power play on ‘What We Do In the Shadows’
When he meets his master’s old familiar who was abandoned and never turned into a vampire, Guillermo decides to jump ship and become a familiar to a brand new vampire master, making Nandor realize how much he actually values his former human servant. Meanwhile, after learning that one of their original songs was stolen and adapted into “Come on Eileen,” Nadja and Lazlo collaborate to come up with new music and Colin Robinson books them at an open mic night.
I never quite know where this show is going with Guillermo’s story and that is what makes it so much fun. The guy could become a vampire, he could stay a flunkie, or he could become a vampire killer and, during all of this, he walks a razor’s edge where he could get killed in any number of ways by any number of people, including Nandor himself who is already suspicious of him and his vampire killingness in the first place.
Take “Collaboration,” for example. In a way, this story is all about one person holding power over another. Nandor is undoubtedly more powerful than Guillermo and could kill him with a well-timed flick of his wrist. We as an audience, however, know that Guillermo has got vampire killer skills and has that power over Nandor. Basically, the two are already in a power play and only one of them know it.
With this episode, the power dynamic between the two becomes common knowledge, but not in the way I was thinking it would. I’ve been thinking that Guillermo would probably get found out and have to turn against his masters to survive or, perhaps even, Nandor would learn of Guillermo’s skill and use him as an assassin since vampire assassins seem to be a common problem in the house. But no… no, this series did a completely different and, if you ask me, true to character direction. Guillermo, from the very beginning, has wanted to be a vampire. It’s his dream and motivation and he’s never deviated from that dream. True to form, he doesn’t deviate from that dream now even with the discovery of his talents. Being a vampire is still something he wants and it didn’t go away simply because he knows how to hold a stake.
Even without resorting to violence, Guillermo asserted his dominance and walked away, revealing how helpless and inept Nandor is without him. Again, this is so true to character that I can’t believe I didn’t see this scenario over the possibilities I dreamed up.
The entire plot of this episode is both characters gaining and simultaneously being stripped of their power and highlighting what a precarious situation that both of them are constantly in… either one of them could destroy the other through action or inaction and both of them know it. It’s like a cold war between the two of them and, yet… strangely enough, you get the idea that both of them leave the episode with a shallow, newfound appreciation of each other.
Usually, the vampires on this show are shallow, stagnant characters who never learn and don’t grow, but you really get a sense that Nandor does… even in a superficial way. It’s actually rather heartwarming in the minimal sense.
The Nadja and Lazo story was there just for the laughs and the laughs were plentiful so I am happy.
My goodness, this show is just so consistently good.
Bat!
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Statistics about judicial appointments
Data Protection, Freedom of Information and making requests for your data
Applications made before January 2020
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Judging Your Future
Guidance on the application process
Becoming a judge
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Non-legal tribunal member roles
Tan Ikram, District Judge (Magistrates’ Court)
Tan Ikram became a Deputy District Judge in 2003 and a District Judge (magistrates’ court) on the South Eastern Circuit in 2009. In 2017 he was appointed Deputy Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate). He was called to the Bar in 1990 and later practised as a solicitor specialising in fraud, serious and complex crime. He was a Legal Assessor to the Nursing and Midwifery Council Professional Conduct Committee and served as the President of the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association in 2007–08.
Judicial appointment. What happened next?
Tan Ikram gives us an update on his career since his appointment as a District Judge in 2009.
“I was appointed as a deputy district judge (magistrates’ courts) in 2003 and to the full time position in 2009. I was selected to sit in crime but have since moved on and sat as a judge in the family court and as specialist judge in extradition, having no experience in either area.
“I have just been appointed as a judge on the British Sovereign Bases on Cyprus, again with no knowledge of that jurisdiction but comfortable in applying my judicial skills to a new environment.
“I have been asked to act as referee and, done properly, it is an arduous task, as it has to be detailed and evidence-based in the same way as an application.
“Competition to judicial office is intense and candidates must be very well prepared. There is just no substitute for the time and care necessary to draft evidence-based examples and practise interview questions. I have recently mentored a crown prosecutor who was successful and I know how many hours she put in. It built her confidence and allowed her to demonstrate the required qualities.
“The JAC has made real progress since it was established. I fully support the JAC’s transparent and objective process for appointment. There are many challenges ahead, but many aren’t within the JAC’s power or remit to change. However, the new system is a vast improvement on what went before.”
Tan Ikram case study. He told us what he enjoys about the role and gave good advice on selecting referees.
“In 2003 when I started sitting part time [as a Deputy District Judge] I was head of department of a medium sized law firm. I spent much of my time managing, reviewing utilisation rates, time recording, dealing with monthly targets and aged debt, you know, the sort of things that partners worry about. But every now and again, I’d take time out and do my other job as a judge. I quickly realised that this was what I wanted to do full time. It tested a different part of my brain but it also assisted the practice by bringing in new skills. When you start making the decisions, it does focus your mind on the things that matter in a courtroom and you learn by seeing cases through the eyes of the judge. I think I became a better advocate and brought back much to the firm.
“There are many positives to sitting on the bench – interesting cases and arguments (some of which I admit to borrowing) – but it also brings its challenges. Balancing priorities was difficult and keeping partners happy was sometimes tricky.
“I was sworn in at the RCJ as a full-time judge in May 2009 and it is the best job I’ve ever done; in the trenches, very much on the front line.
“It brings with it a lot of responsibility and life has changed. I don’t worry about billing targets, see clients seven days a week or roll into a police station at 3am. The work can be demanding – district judges in the Magistrates’ Court deal with the longer and more complex cases. Recently, I travelled down from London to Redhill to deal with a long case in the Youth Court. Some of us also deal with family cases and I sit in the Family Court where I handle the usual diet of care proceedings and applications for contact and residence orders.
“The work is varied and it comes with its own pressures as well – a Court One list at Camberwell on a Monday morning can have 60 cases. That’s a lot to get through in one day. Many of the defendants will be unrepresented, most of the lawyers will be extremely helpful but some lawyers will arrive without having read their papers. On occasion, I may be the only lawyer in the courtroom as the prosecutor need not be legally qualified. So you’ve got to know your law and, as importantly, be good at handling people and juggling the volume of work, never forgetting that fairness and justice always comes first.
“Today, the judiciary is appointed on merit alone and competition is fierce. You have to be well prepared. When I applied to the JAC for my full time role there were around 400 of us applying for just 20 or so positions. Shortlisting was by way of a written qualifying test. I knew we were likely to be asked questions about magisterial law and practice – rules of evidence, hearsay, endorsements, all those technical points that you need. So as far as I was concerned the best way to prepare was to get the books out.
“I thought very carefully about my references too. I didn’t know any QCs particularly well and I didn’t know any judges either. I’ll be honest, I come from Slough and I wasn’t sure people like me became judges. In the end, I chose a head teacher at the school where I was a school governor, a Crown Prosecutor who I used to regularly spar against and a partner at another firm in town who knew my work well.
“Recently, the JAC sent a form to me, seeking a reference for someone. Would you believe, I didn’t even know the applicant? So, do approach your referee first, and tell them you’re applying. If it’s a member of the judiciary, do remind them of all those difficult points you raised in front of them and how eloquently and politely you disagreed with them on the day. There is nothing wrong in jogging memories as the reference will only be worthwhile if it is backed up by examples.
“And look at the online application form now, don’t wait for a competition. Start thinking about the examples you can give to show you meet the necessary qualities and abilities. Ideally, you should have been thinking about this long before the day the JAC announces the competition is open for application. You should have already taken the time to have visited the court or tribunal where you want to apply – or undertaken some relevant judicial shadowing to see how it works.
“My final piece of advice would be to apply for something you have a real passion for and are going to enjoy doing.”
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AGENTS & OFFICES(current)
Breitlander Team
View Episodes
Areas Serviced : Tamarindo | Flamingo | Reserva Conchal | Potrero
Email Peter Email Sarah
Office Phone : 011 (506) 4000-0816
US Toll Free : 1-866-994-9163
Sarah Cell Phone: CR 6086-8319 US: 773-895-7475
Peter Cell Phone : CR: 8413-7165 US: 312-804-3901
Recognize Sarah? Sarah has been features on 8 episodes of House Hunters International. She has also been on the show Jungle Life.
Sarah Breitlander | Owner | Broker | Attorney
Sarah Breitlander is the Co-Owner of KRAIN Luxury Real Estate. She has been featured on the popular television show House Hunter’s International on eight separate occasions, among the most of any international realtor. She has also been featured on the HGTV’s Jungle Life series.
Before moving to Costa Rica, Sarah spent a decade as a successful commercial litigation attorney at one of the top law firms in Chicago, Illinois. Among her achievements was being named one of Chicago’s top “40 Under 40” attorneys to watch in 2012; working for both a Federal District Judge and an Illinois Supreme Court Justice; and being named, for five consecutive years, an Illinois “Rising Star” in Super Lawyers Magazine, a distinction reserved for the top 2.5% of Illinois lawyers who are under 40.
Despite all of her professional success in Chicago, Sarah felt that something was missing. The workload, long hours, and stress of her career had negatively affected her quality of life. In 2013, her husband, Peter, convinced her that she should take the chance—just one chance—to move out of her comfort zone and see if she could find success in having a business of her own along the beautiful shores of Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica, Sarah found the perfect place to take back her life, raise a family, and appreciate every day. Her career as an owner/broker of KRAIN gives her extreme satisfaction. As stated by Sarah, “I have the privilege—and it is a privilege—of helping others find their place in paradise. My new job allows me to help others enhance their quality of life and spend more time with their loved ones. What can be better than that?”
Shortly after founding KRAIN Luxury Real Estate in 2013, Sarah and Peter founded KRAIN Property Management and Vacation Rentals, which has quickly become one of the premier property management and vacation rental companies in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica.
Sarah and her team not only assist clients purchase homes in Costa Rica, but they also help with anything her clients need in order to ensure a peaceful transition into Costa Rica life. Sarah and her team watch over the client’s investment; counsel on any new laws that affect clients; introduce clients to all of the appropriate legal, accounting, and tax professionals; assist with the opening of Costa Rican bank accounts; and offer full management and accounting services.
Sarah and Peter live on Potrero Beach with their two young daughters. As Sarah states, “We are truly blessed to raise a family here in paradise.” They are passionate about their community and give back through the Kaiser Breitlander Memorial Fund, which sponsors local, underprivileged children, providing them with a quality, bilingual education at the La Paz Community School. Click here to help support their cause: https://lapazschool.org/guardians-of-la-paz/programs/kaiser-breitlander-memorial-fund/
Peter Breitlander | Owner | Managing Broker
Peter Breitlander is a U.S. accredited real estate broker and co-founder of the highly successful brokerage KRAIN Chicago. In 2002, Peter began his career working for an internationally-recognized real estate brokerage. It wasn’t long before he rose to become one of the brokerage’s top-producing agents. Fast-forward to 2005, when Peter became a co-founder of KRAIN Corporation (a/k/a KRAIN Chicago), a highly successful boutique real estate brokerage specializing in luxury homes and commercial investments. He and a team of over 40 agents handled thousands of successful transactions, some of which were very high-profile. Always one with a finger on the pulse of the global market, Peter began to sense that the Costa Rica real estate market was heating up. Recognizing a need for professional services to accommodate this growth, he expanded his company’s reach to include KRAIN Costa Rica in 2013. Peter and Sarah Breitlander co-founded KRAIN Costa Rica. KRAIN Chicago has since merged with Compass back in 2018.
When it comes to real estate buying and selling, you could say that Peter is a one-stop shop. With over 19 years in the market, Peter offers solid expertise in “all things real estate,” including buying and selling residential properties, property development, construction, commercial real estate and real-estate investment.
Peter is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Costa Rica Global Association of Realtor (CRGAR) and La Cámara de Corredores de Bienes Raíces (CCCBR). Pete has his GRI Certification from the Graduate of Real Estate Institute and has his Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation.
Pura Vida Can Be Yours
If you’re looking to work with a team with passion, excitement and a commitment to excellence, you’ll definitely want to get in touch with Sarah and Peter. Sarah and Peter work together as the BREITLANDER TEAM.
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The world's premier site for Kettlebells, Strength, Conditioning, Flexibility, and Advanced Fitness Resources.
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Dragon Door Interviews Master RKC Thomas Phillips
Interview by Adrienne Harvey, RKC II, CK-FMS, Primal Move Nat'l Instructor
Dragon Door: When did you first become interested in fitness?
Thomas Phillips: I've been an athlete since I was eight years old. So fitness and competition have always been a huge part of my life. I still compete in natural bodybuilding, power lifting, and jujitsu.
Dragon Door: How did you decide to take the Body for Life challenge?
Thomas Phillips: I did the very first Body for Life challenge back in 1997, when Bill Phillips gave away a Lamborghini. I was only about 20 years old at the time and already in shape, but I made some specific goals and did well.
I had a son at a young age; he was born when I was 21. So I had to finish school quickly while working at a full-time job. I had to put my fitness life aside in order to work enough to make ends meet. I literally couldn’t even afford a gym membership. Soon, I began to gain weight at an average of 1.5 to 2lbs a month. Before, I'd always weighed about 165-170lbs, but a year and a half later, I weighed 200 pounds and felt every single pound of it—I was very unhappy with myself.
When I saw what happened to my body, I decided to do whatever it took to not look or feel this way anymore. My wife and I budgeted some money for a gym membership and I started waking up at 4:45 AM for my workouts—I made it happen. I ended up winning the Body For Life competition and used the prize money to open my gym, Fit for Life PTS, and never looked back. We've now been open for 10 years and are in our third location.
Dragon Door: How did you originally get involved with kettlebells and the RKC?
Thomas Phillips: I took my first RKC workshop in 2004, but I’d been in the kettlebell community for at least eight or nine years. I make it my business to know what’s going on with everything in the fitness industry and am always willing to learn something new. At my first RKC workshop I was blown away by the system and absolutely hooked. Since then, I have either taken or assisted at an RKC-related event at least 15 times. I love it. It’s a great community and I feel privileged to be a part of it.
Dragon Door: And you're are also a Beast Tamer, when did that happen, and how did you train for the challenge?
Thomas Phillips: The summer of 2005, and I didn't alter my training other than adding a few things. During the last four weeks or six weeks leading into the challenge, I followed a very specific template. I wrote an article about it: "So You Wanna Press the Beast?" Most of the template was for my own specific needs. But the article has some very important general tips that can help anyone.
Dragon Door: Can you tell me about the transformation program you've created?
Thomas Phillips: The Ultimate Transformation Challenge is the culmination of knowledge and experience from my entire fitness life. The success stories from this challenge rival anything out there—and we did it right here in Marlboro, New Jersey. The before and after photos and stories are absolutely staggering.
There’s a lot of philosophy in the program because most of what I do in my teaching career involves dealing with behaviors. I have a Masters in education, and teach special needs and behaviorally challenged students. I began teaching in 1999, about four or five years prior to opening the gym. So I know that anybody can tell a client what to eat, but what’s the problem? They don’t do it. Over the course of five 90 minute seminars and five manuals, I methodically teach people how and why to change their lifestyles, plus what's at stake. We also have newsletters, a blogging system, audio cds, exercise seminars, and participants can contact me directly with questions. The UTC is my heart and soul, people say it’s Thomas Phillips in a box. It’s everything I’ve learned for success in physique and strength development, and also health and wellness.
Dragon Door: The idea of behavioral change makes a lot of sense.
Thomas Phillips: The entire UTC is a strategy based system for behavior, eating, and lifting. We cover over 80 different strategies, and people figure out really what works best for them. The behavioral component is absolutely critical to success. Often, the concepts I share are very outside-the-box. The biggest part of being successful is learning to think differently than other people. If you want to be like other people, you’ll be in debt, fat, and miserable—because that’s the average person right now. I tell it like it is, and have the information to back it up. I think people appreciate my straightforward approach.
Dragon Door: What's your advice for someone considering your program?
Thomas Phillips: Be ready to change. The program is demanding, and isn’t for everybody. The standards are high, and I actually try to talk people out of doing it! When they call me, I list the things that they'll be asked to do for eight weeks. They might not be ready to step up to the challenge or to change their behavior. Most people immediately want to tell me what they can’t do. They'll say, "I’m thinking about signing up for this program but I just need you to know..." I just stop them right there and tell them, "I have two kids. I work 80 hours a week. I've owned my own business for the past 10 years. I still teach school, and compete in three different sports. If you want to give me excuses about why you can’t do what I have done in my life for the past decade, that’s up to you but go ahead and speak." They get quiet because they realize I actually walk my talk. People want to know what I’m doing because its worked for me and for others. They soon realize it’s simply a matter of prioritizing their lives differently, thinking a little bit differently, and that their success is completely and totally in their hands.
The ideas we teach are easy, sometimes it's just a switch from X to Y. Little things over the course of a lifetime can add years onto our lives. Certain habits can severely effect our energy levels and health in general. As soon as they make a couple easy switches, they say, "Wow, I never thought I would feel this great." Soon they start to lose the weight, but more importantly they feel better.
Dragon Door: What's one of your favorite competitions, and have you used RKC style kettlebell training to prepare?
Thomas Phillips: My favorite is the Tactical Strength Challenge. It has three different events: three attempts at a max deadlift, maximum reps of strict tactical pull ups, and as many kettlebell snatches with a 24kg kettlebell as possible in five minutes.
I was one of just five people who did the very first Tactical Strength Challenge, now the program has grown to hundreds of participants. I've been less involved in the last couple years because I’ve had so many other projects. But from 2005 to 2009, I came in first place seven times, and in second place once. I've competed in the elite division at least twice; both times finishing or tying for first. In the open division, I've finished first at least four or five times.
The competition is very interesting because it measures three different types of strength: one rep max strength (deadlift), relative strength (pull ups), and core strength (kettlebell snatches). I think it’s outstanding, and I want to bring it to the RKC community.
The RKC is one of the best systems out there and there’s always something to learn. Many people who've stayed in the community are people that I definitely know that I can learn from, guys like Max Shank for example. These are people that I am looking forward to presenting and working with.
Dragon Door: You also have a lot of experience with bodyweight training, what's your favorite bodyweight or calisthenics exercise?
Thomas Phillips: I do a lot of pull-ups, push-up variations, and handstand push-ups. It’s hard to say because I do so much even though I'm competing in jujitsu now, and there’s a lot we do off the ground that’s a little more integrated. Overall, pull-ups and their variations are huge in my training.
Dragon Door: How do you program your training to support all your different areas of interest and competition?
Thomas Phillips: The only reason I can succeed in so many different areas is by making sure my eating, recovery, and sleep are optimal. Over time, I found a way that works specifically for me. I’ve always been a "jack of all trades, master of none", but happen to do well in competition.
Dragon Door: You have an impressive list of activities on top of teaching school and running a gym. In your own case as well as the UTC, are theory and strategy more important than a specific template?
Thomas Phillips: That’s right, but it's been a function of trial and error. I can admit when I’ve made mistakes, or when something hasn't worked. Often, I have to step back and adjust my strategy—and I do the same thing with the UTC. Each time I do the UTC, I change the manual because I've learned something new. We print new manuals every single time, because if I’m not evolving, somebody else is.
Dragon Door: What's one crucial change you'd recommend to someone beginning a transformation challenge?
Thomas Phillips: Attitude, and how they're thinking. Most people see themselves as a victim, and no matter what they do, they think they it won't work. I feel like I can influence these people the most. But, they must be ready and want to be influenced so they'll listen to what I’m saying. The people who connect realize that what I’m saying is absolutely true.
Dragon Door: How many times have you run the program, and what specific results have you seen?
Thomas Phillips: We're running the program for the 13th time on June 20th. In all seriousness, there’s six or seven transformations that we’ve had that would blow mine away in the Body For Life Contest that I won. Some people have participated in more than one UTC too. One guy lost over 100 pounds, going from 275 to a shredded and lean 174 pounds. Another went from 260 into the mid-170s then competed and placed in a bodybuilding competition at 50 years old. Some of the transformations are absolutely insane, and we've featured them in the UTC manual for inspiration.
Most of the big successes are the moms and dads in their 40s and 50s—usually the same people who complain the most about not being able to change!
Dragon Door: What's next for you and the UTC?
Thomas Phillips: We just presented a new kids program to the parents at my gym, and they are extremely excited. I've been working hard on it for the past 18 months and finally have the manual and everything done. We're going to roll out the program for kids age 12-18 at the end of February. It's for middle school and high school age students, who I'm used to dealing with at the school where I teach. The parents are very excited because it’s designed to teach kids to think outside-the-box and to empower them in a different way.
I like to build things, make things, and help people feel inspired. That's what I'm all about.
Master RKC Thomas Phillips
fitforlifemarlboro@yahoo.com
www.fitforlifemarlboro.com
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Bruce, Reyes homer as deGrom, Mets beat Cardinals 6-5
Getty Images, Dilip Vishwanat
Jose Reyes and Jay Bruce hit solo home runs to help Jacob deGrom win his fifth straight decision, and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 on Friday night.
Bruce's homer in the fifth gave broke a 4-all tie. It was his 11th home run in 61 career games at Busch Stadium.
deGrom (9-3) gave up four runs, all on solo homers, in seven innings. It was the first time in his career that deGrom gave up four home runs in a game, but it was good enough to tie his career-best winning streak set in 2014.
Addison Reed earned his 15th save in 17 chances.
Reyes and Bruce each reached base three times and Reyes scored twice. T.J. Rivera also reached three times, extending his hitting streak to seven games, and drove in two runs.
Filed Under: jay bruce, new york mets, st louis cardinals
Categories: Articles, Sports
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Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Those Who Long Ago Abandoned Their Conscience Will Answer Before The Law
Mikhail Khodorkovsky comments on the Kremlin’s latest sweeping attack on the Russian opposition. On October 5 investigators raided the personal property of a number of key Open Russia members and is exhibiting severe pressure on opposition groups in the run up to the 2018 presidential elections.
This week across the whole of Russia the Kremlin is carrying out a campaign of severe intimidation against the opposition. Is this a preparation for the 2018 presidential elections? Yes it is, in a number of ways.
Putin and his allies have no doubts about the result of the elections. In fact, you can hardly even call them elections; they are merely a facade. But the elites need this facade.
The international community has thrown the Kremlin out of the “club”. Hopes of “their man in the White House” have turned out to be empty. For all his quirks, Trump will reflect the position of the American people.
“Turning to the East” brought nothing but an additional flow of money into the pockets of Rosneft head Igor Sechin and gave China half the year’s oil extraction of the whole country! With a discount, of course. China does not need a “friend in the Kremlin”, a servant will do.
What’s left is either formal communication or marginalised and corrupt ex-politicians. This does not work at all; without informal communication personal problems in Putin’s entourage began to arise and it is now impossible to solve anything promptly. It’s not even possible for them to feel a part of the global elite.
This is precisely the reason why legitimisation through elections is vital. for them. They are trying to keep their opponents’ mouths shut. They have to shut them up before the “election campaign”, not during it. They need to shut them up while the world is distracted by the events in Catalonia and Las Vegas.
And meanwhile, they are quietly trying to shut down the internet and archives using the “law of oblivion”. Just in case. But this will not work! We will support the mass protests called for by Alexey Navalny on Saturday October 7 and we will be there to protect the participants.
We will continue to expose those who behind the country’s back are manipulating legal authority, and are using the mental and informational centre of power – the figure of the president himself.
We will continue to collect and prepare materials for the prosecution of human rights abusers and in the coming days we will give Russian society the opportunity to participate in this work.
We will certainly take part in the pseudo-elections in such a way that no reasonable person will have any doubt that this government is illegitimate and that it is conscious of its own illegitimacy.
We will tell all their potential “partners”, voters and the shareholders of “partners” so that they can make an informed choice and make it known.
Russia and the Russian state is not going anywhere. It has existed for centuries, it still exists and will continue to exist. But now it has been captured and manipulated by a narrow group of criminals who have settled in and around the Kremlin. We all know the big names of this clan: Chaika, Bastyrkin, Victor Ivanov, Sechin, Igorov, Kadyrov and many others.
These are the real criminals. They have a criminal biography, criminal experience and they utilise criminal methods. They know how to buy and suppress people, and they are prepared to destroy Russia and what lies beyond its borders.
Fighting these people requires courage, but they all have to answer for what they have done. Some will answer before their own conscience, and for those who long ago abandoned it; before the law.
Khodorkovsky
Interviews January 14, 2021
MBK for Echo: “In 2021 you either vote for Putin or against him”
MBK: Putin is just a bandit who has ended up in a position of power
Interviews October 22, 2020
MBK: “Putin acts like a gangster at the world stage”
Open Russia
Open RussiaJune 17, 2019
Russian Authorities Yet Again Extend Anastasia Shevchenko’s Detention
Kremlin Repression Continues as Fourth Open Russia Activist Faces Prison
Winners of the Journalism as a Profession Award for 2020 announced
NewsOctober 26, 2020
Shortlist for the Journalism as a Profession Award for 2020 announced
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"The Division of the World" -
Tableaux on the Legal Synopses of the Berlin Africa Conference
April 2006 until the end of 2008
In cooperation with Dierk Schmidt, Berlin
Part 1 Conférence de Berlin
23 Nov. 2007 – 24 Jan. 08
Opening 23 Nov. 07 7 pm, Halle 25 (university campus)
Intermezzo – Conceptual Considerations on Images
25 Jan. 08 – 31 Jan. 08
Part 2 – Revocation
1 Feb. 08 – 8 Feb. 08
Closing 8 Feb. 08 7 pm, Halle 25 (university campus)
Return of the Colonial Ghosts in Congo-Brussels
a filmic commentary by "Remember Resistance"
(Jochen Becker, Julien Enoka-Ayemba, Sonja Hohenbild, Brigitta Kuster)
"Die Abstraktionen des Internationalen Rechts und abstrakte Bildsprachen in der Kunst"
9 Feb 2008, Part I 10am-1 pm, Part 2 2pm-5pm
After years of experimenting with today’s possibilities of the strongly tainted artistic genre of historical painting and the traditions of modern painting, Dierk Schmidt has most recently been dealing with the role which the German Reich played in the history of colonialism. German involvement in colonialism and the mass murders of the population in then South–West Africa have often disappeared behind the incomparable crimes later committed through the German politics of extermination. This issue is now highly topical, for many ethnological and historical museums are currently reformatting their sections dedicated to colonialism. In addition, many camps in the political humanities are, often publicly, leading a debate on the way colonial history is to be treated. This debate is situated between the danger of voluntarily or involuntarily relativizing the Holocaust on the one side, as has already been the case in the context of the notorious "Historians’ Dispute" in the 1980s, and the rejection to acknowledge colonial crimes as genocide on the other.
Dierk Schmidt is interested in creating the pictorial and discursive possibilities of a meta–language going beyond dull representationalism and symbolism. However, this should not be perceived as a specific method, but as a constantly expanding set of instruments critical of images and language that deal with a certain theme, while also thematizing itself as a method to be problematized. In the process, the dialectical imponderables that have arisen during the course of European and non-European modernity come to full fruition in aesthetic terms, as well, as an examination of modernist abstraction. What becomes tangible in this way is perhaps a specific modernist entanglement of an aesthetics aimed at enlightening, which both abstraction and historical painting claimed to be, in a logic of image–political force.
Closely linked to a seminar that Schmidt has been holding with students in the Kunstraum of the Leuphana University of Lüneburg since 2006, the new exhibition presents the current state of the ongoing research work. His point of departure is the Africa Conference held in Berlin in 1884/85, where the fourteen participating states agreed upon the so-called "Acte Général", the paragraphs of which stipulated the neutral status of the Congo Basin and guaranteed freedom of trade and navigation on the Congo River and its branches. Even though continental slave trade was banned on this occasion, a battle for political and economic spheres of influence ensued, in which Bismarck succeeded in securing the German Reich an equal role among the colonial states at the time. The conference gave decisive impulses for a wave of colonization that by 1902 covered 90% of the African continent.
Although the press did publish illustrations of these events, it is until today all but impossible to adequately picture the details of this historical process of colonization. This is where Dierk Schmidt’s critical concept of historical painting begins. His aim is to assess and convey politico–historical potentials and present–day implications pertaining to international law. In the series "Die Teilung der Erde (The Division of the World)", which after an initial phase in the Salzburger Kunstverein in 2005 was on view at this year’s documenta, Schmidt approaches the historical complex by developing different pictorial semiotics that have their source in the traditions of diagrammatic–statistical and cartographic representation, on the one hand, and modernist (abstract) painting, on the other.
In this manner – alongside the conflictual encounter of artistic and legal forms of language – he also articulates a basic irreconcilability. For his approach is not about resolving but above all about representing an historical problem of non–representability. Only in this respect can the at first "mere" aesthetical approach also prove to be a bridge to the present-day, post-colonial debates on compensation payments. Hence, not only abstraction in painting and the abstractions of international law confront each other; at the same time, the unavoidable question is raised as to which – at least – symbolical forms of a "reversal" of the social and economic effects of colonial times, which must be viewed in an international context, are at all possible.
(Clemens Kruemmel)
pictures (300 dpi)
"Berliner Afrika-Konferenz", "Legende No. 1", "Legende No. 2"
"Article 34, 35", "Article 1, 10, 13"
"Die Klage der HPRC"
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Last edited by Dourg
2 edition of Obscenity and the Law. found in the catalog.
Obscenity and the Law.
Norman St John-Stevas
Published by Secker and Warburg in London .
Pagination 290p. ;
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Obscenity and the Law. by Norman St John-Stevas Download PDF EPUB FB2
(For more information, see Citizen's Guide to Federal Law on Obscenity). Obscenity Law and Minors Federal law strictly prohibits the distribution of obscene matter to minors.
Any transfer or attempt to transfer such material to a minor under the age of 16, including over the Internet, is punishable under federal law. Federal law prohibits the possession with intent to sell or distribute obscenity, to send, ship, or receive obscenity, to import obscenity, and to transport obscenity across state boarders for purposes of distribution.
Although the law does not criminalize the private possession of obscene matter, the act of receiving such matter could violate. In an extensive discussion of the nature of obscenity, the district court found that Bennet could be punished under the Act because a “book is said to be obscene which is offensive to decency or Author: Jesse Merriam.
OBSCENITY, crim. law. Such indecency as is calculated to promote the violation of the law, and the general corruption of morals. The exhibition of an obscene picture is an indictable offence at common law, although not charged to have been exhibited in public, if it be averred that the picture, was exhibited to sundry persons for money.
English Roots of American Obscenity Law The regulation of obscenity in America is rooted in the censorship that prevailed during the reign of Henry VIII in sixteenth-century England. The notorious Court of the Star Chamber used licensing and other methods to censor books and theater productions.
Obscenity is a confounding area of First Amendment law. Obscenity remains one of the most controversial and confounding areas of First Amendment law, and Supreme Court justices have struggled mightily through the years to define it.
Justice Potter Stewart could provide no. Dive deep into Books and Obscenity Law with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion Laws intended to censor obscene books. The application of obscenity law to books has often resulted in the. If a state obscenity law is thus limited, First Amendment values are adequately protected by ultimate independent appellate review of constitutional claims when necessary.
The test of "utterly without redeeming social value" articulated in Memoirs, supra, is rejected as a constitutional standard. Social change did not simply overwhelm obscenity law; it was mediated Obscenity and the Law. book the particularity of legislative reform.
C ivil libertarians, authors, and publishers had many complaints about English obscenity law, but its uneven application was not usually one of them. The chief criticisms were the way literature was lumped together with pornography Cited by: 2. Obscenity laws in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Modern obscenity law emerged as a direct response to social and technological changes—particularly the development of the printing press in the 15th century—that permitted the wide and easy distribution of what was then considered sexually explicit material. By the 17th century such books and.
Full Description:" Obscenity law Free entertainment for readers in need of it. For low-cost entertainment, you can visit our online library and enjoy the countless collection of fame available for free. Our online libraries have books about every imaginable subject, and since they play stocks and constantly receive new books, you will never delete any reading material.
THE LAW OF OBSCENITY IN VIRGINIA The law of obscenity has been one of the most volatile branches of criminal law in the last few years.
Various standards for judgment convicted of obscene libel for the publication of the book Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. However, very few common law cases are to be found, and since the latter part of the.
In the course of one recent obscenity trial, a lawyer had argued: "A book to be obscene, need not be obscene throughout the whole of its contents; but if the book is obscene in part, it is an Author: Ryder Kessler.
Obscenity Law In IndiaOne of the most controversial issue is balancing the need to protect society against the potential harm that may flow from obscene material, and the need to ensure respect for freedom of expression and to preserve a free flow of information and idea.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of expression but in Article. Genre/Form: Book: Additional Physical Format: Online version: St. John-Stevas, Norman. Obscenity and the law.
London: Secker & Warburg, (OCoLC) Obscenity and the Law of Reflection. Paris: The Confession Press, n.d. Pp 8vo, white printed card covers.
Edition Limited to copies. Light browning to spine, else vg. Seller Inventory # More information about this seller | Contact this seller In the United States of America, issues of obscenity raise issues of limitations on the freedom of speech and of the press, which are otherwise protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Federal obscenity law in the U.S. is unusual in that there is no uniform national standard. Former Justice Potter Stewart of the Supreme Court of the United States, in.
WILLIAM AND MARY BILL OF RIGHTS JOURNAL I. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR There is substantial, but not overwhelming, evidence that exposure to obscenity causes antisocial or criminal behavior.3 If obscenity is not speech, there is no question that this evidence warrants its suppression.4 That indeed is the current law of the land.5 If, however, obscenity is speech, the law seems quite clear that proof.
For example: A book, magazine, or movie that contains so much sexual content that it appeals to the average person’s “prurient interests” (element 1) and depicts or describes the sexual content in a way that has been outlawed in a state obscenity statute (element 2) is still not obscene or illegal unless a jury decides that the whole.
Obscenity; s.and of the Crim. Code: Election / Plea; Crown Election: Question of law and question of fact (4) For the purposes of this section, it is a question of law whether an act served the public good and whether there is evidence that the act alleged went beyond what served the public good, but it is a question of.
California, involving, of course, a state obscenity law. The Court’s first opinion in the obscenity field was Butler v. Michigan, U.S. (), considered infra. Earlier the Court had divided four-to-four and thus affirmed a state court judgment that Edmund Wilson’s Memoirs of Hecate County was obscene.
Doubleday & Co. Obscenity: its early history --The eighteenth century --The Victorian conscience --The law intervenes --The twentieth century --Problems of the English law --The United States experience --The Irish censorship: an experiment --Obscenity, law and society. Series Title: Civil liberties in American history.
Responsibility: by Norman St. John-Stevas. Obscenity (Law) works Search for books with subject Obscenity (Law).
Search. Read. Borrow. Borrow. Borrow. Borrow. Cable-Porn and Dial-a-Porn Control Act United States. Congress. Accessible book, Protected DAISY, Freedom of speech, History, Social aspects, Social.
found in early Ohio obscenity law. United States v. Bebout,5 decided in was one of the first published Ohio decisions which formulated a test to determine the obscenity of a publication. In Bebout, defendants were indicted under the then existing federal obscenity statute' for File Size: 1MB.
Filed under: Obscenity (Law) Obscenity and the Limits of Liberalism (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, c), ed. by Loren Glass and Charles Francis Williams, contrib.
by Michael Taussig, Nadine Strossen, Brett Gary, Tim Miller, Jyoti Puri, Laura Kipnis, Mikita Brottman, David Sterritt, and John Durham Peters (PDF at Ohio State). For that reason, this area of the law is known as “variable obscenity.” As with adult obscenity, the work must be evaluated as a whole.
A book should not be considered “harmful to minors” if a few passages or a few images are considered to be too mature for children. Arguments: The prosecution contended that the law regarding obscenity in India had its underpinnings in the Hicklin test (which laid emphasis on the potential of the impugned object to deprave and corrupt by immoral influences) and that the book failed the Size: 87KB.
‘Undoubtedly, English law was imprecise on the matter of obscenity, and the jurist might well have found this irritating.’ ‘‘Shanghai Baby’ was not the only book banned for obscenity in China.’ ‘I've looked at the extradition treaty and there's no extradition for obscenity.’.
Free Online Library: Obscenity, morality, and the First Amendment: the first LGBT rights cases before the Supreme Court.(Introduction through II.
The First Two Times That Sexual Orientation Issues Came Before the Supreme Court A. One, Inc. Olesen, p. ) by "Columbia Journal of Gender and Law"; Women's issues/gender studies Freedom of speech Laws, regulations and rules.
Florida’s obscenity laws are codified in Chapter of the Florida statutes. Obscenity laws cover offenses that relate to porn or improper relations with minors that do not involve touching. The most recognizable obscenity law is Chapter which covers computer pornography and traveling.
Promoting sale of obscenity. (1) A person is guilty of promoting sale of obscenity when he knowingly, as a condition to a sale, allocation, consignment, or delivery for resale of any paper, magazine, book, periodical, publication or other merchandise, requires that theFile Size: KB.
The Supreme Court Defines Obscenity. Warren Burger. In the case of Roth States, the Supreme Court affirmed the view that obscenity lacks First Amendment protection. The Court defined obscene speech as being "utterly without redeeming social importance" in which "to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole.
For more information on Obscenity laws, visit (2) a book, magazine, paperback, pamphlet, or other written or printed matter however reproduced, that contains: (i) any matter enumerated in item (1) of this section; (ii) obscene material; or. The Supreme Courts 6–3 decision in Roth for the first time tried to definitively rule on the issue of obscenity in American life and law—and failed.
In this first book-length examination of the case, Whitney Strub lays out the history of obscenitys meaning as a legal concept, highlights the influence of antivice crusaders like Anthony.
It is nearly years since bookseller Edmund Curll was convicted in on a charge of obscenity in an English court for his publication of the mildly pornographic Venus in the Cloister or The Nun in Her Smock. Obscenity was thereafter recognised as a crime under common law.
Since then, the definition of obscenity has narrowed from the broad concept under common law of engendering.
gloryland-church.com - Obscenity and the Law. book © 2020
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John Carey John Carey John Carey
Award-winning writer and editor in the Washington, DC area
Award-winning writer and editor in the Washington, DC areaAward-winning writer and editor in the Washington, DC area
Former senior correspondent for BusinessWeek, covering science, technology, medicine, health and the environment.
Copyright © 2018 John Carey - All Rights Reserved.
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Top 10 Awesome Ancient Cults
Crime | September 10, 2011
Top 10 Infamous Cat Burglars
Josh Fox
Professional burglary is a crime that is often dramatized in movies. The Hollywood master thief would drive expensive cars and live a rich lifestyle, only to commit daring and creative heists by night. Movie burglars can routinely dance between laser beams, or abseil down buildings, to accomplish a clean getaway. This may seem like a meaningless fantasy to some, but throughout history there are examples of amazing individuals who made it big in the art of theft. Bearing in mind that almost 90% of burglaries go unsolved (in the USA that is, though statistics around the world are similar), there are almost certainly many expert thieves out there who have lived a criminal life and never seen the inside of a prison cell. For obvious reasons I can’t include them in my list. The entries provided are listed in order of notoriety and success.
Colton Harris-Moore
Colton Harris-Moore is a well-known burglar of recent times who earned the nickname: “Barefoot Bandit”, after committing various burglaries without shoes on. He isn’t what most would call a “professional” burglar, though I included him, due to his infamous reputation. Moore ran away from home at the age of 7 and began living in the wild. To survive he would break into holiday homes and steal food and water. He eventually received a 3-year sentence at the age of 13, though he soon ran away. As a fugitive he went on to commit over 100 burglaries in Washington, Idaho and Canada. Initially, he would steal only what he needed to survive, though he soon began to loot more expensive items from houses, such as laptop computers.
He even started to steal vehicles in order to travel. He would typically break into houses at night and steal car keys before driving them as far away as possible and abandoning them. He even stole several single-engine airplanes, after reading books and watching instructional DVDs on how to fly. He attempted several times to land a plane in the Bahamas, and he eventually crashed and destroyed it. Harris-Moore was captured in July 2010, when officers surrounded him while he was attempting to steal a speed-boat. He put a gun to his head and threatened suicide, though officers talked him out of it. He currently faces burglary charges and a 6 year sentence is expected. The picture above was taken by Harris-Moore of himself with a stolen camera.
Anthony Spilotro
Spilotro was a clever and cunning gangster who operated in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 80s. He was originally ordered to oversee “The Skim” by the Chicago Outfit. “The Skim” was a scam used by many Mafia crime families to steal money from Casino counting rooms that they owned, in order to avoid taxes. However, Spilotro became impatient and wanted to make some extra money. He started a burglary gang with his brother and eight other mafia associates. The gang successfully carried out some high-profile heists, and made Spilotro very wealthy.
In a typical burglary the gang would find a hidden location to drill through the outer wall of a business to gain access. They would then locate the safe and crack it using expert safe-cracking techniques. They also stole other valuable items and fenced them for extra cash. The money made from the proceeds of the burglary would be laundered (made to appear legitimate) through Spilotro’s business; a hardware store named “The Gold Rush”. Eventually Spilotro had to end his burglary spree after a botched burglary resulted in many of his gang receiving long jail terms. Spilotro had planned a burglary at “Bertha’s Gift & Home Furnishings”, with the expected takings to be over $1million in cash and jewelry. However, shortly after the gang started drilling, the police surrounded them from all angles – an anonymous tip off had been received weeks earlier. Spilotro somehow managed to avoid a conviction, despite members of his gang informing on him. Eventually, he was brutally murdered by Mafia associates who were angered at his roguish and arrogant personality.
Madhukar Mohandas Prabhakar
Madhukar Prabhakar is a wealthy and successful thief living in Pune, India. He has stolen vast amounts of money over four decades and is now a millionaire. He owns four plush Bungalows and runs his own Hotel business with the help of his son. Despite being arrested multiple times, the police have failed to put a stop to his criminal career, and haven’t managed to put him behind bars due to lack of evidence. He seems to steal in order to offer financial help to the poor and needy in his local area; he even financed the construction of a Ganesh Temple in Pune.
To commit his crimes he takes a flight to Mumbai, landing during the evening. He finds a wealthy area of expensive houses and notes at least five as potential targets. Later he returns and breaks into the houses stealing objects made of gold or silver, which he proceeds to melt down at an unknown location. The money he makes from selling the metals is carefully laundered through his hotel business, which makes it almost impossible for the police to confiscate. His most recent arrest was in May 2011, after being caught red-handed at the scene of the crime. He hasn’t been forthcoming with a confession.
The Hillside Gang
The Hillside Burglary Gang is the name given by police to a group of master thieves who targeted celebrity mansions in the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles, during the last few years. Victims include movie directors, musicians, actors and sports stars. They are thought to consist of at least four gang members, who are said to be experienced ex-convicts with prior criminal records. Police have attributed over 150 burglaries to the gang in a period of 3 years. The gang garnered such infamy that a special task force was assembled to take them down, financed by the immensely rich victims.
The gang established a modus operandi that police have used to link their crimes together. It is believed that one gang member typically scales a target’s balcony to reach the second floor, and then proceeds to disable the building’s alarm systems. When the coast is clear he signals his accomplices that it is safe to enter. The gang proceed to raid the house of all valuables, usually tearing the place apart in an effort to locate a safe. When the safe has been found, they steal it and load it into a vehicle to crack later with the help of power tools.
In 2010, the police got a break in the case after finding some discarded safes containing DNA evidence. They identified a suspect and tailed him over a period of several months in an attempt to get further proof of his misdeeds. Eventually they arrested and charged a man named Troy Thomas (pictured above), whom they found to be living in a multi-million dollar mansion. Thomas received 17 years imprisonment and the burglaries have since stopped.
Charles Peace
Charles Peace is commonly cited as one of the most prolific cat-burglars in history. He broke into thousands of houses during his lifetime, and maintained his criminal activity throughout his natural life. He was born in Sheffield, England, in 1832, though he earned his infamous reputation for burglaries committed while living in London. Peace was also a violent individual and he committed various murders during his lifetime, and often attempted to kill police officers who took him into custody.
Peace started off his life of crime in Sheffield, where he was convicted of stealing a gold watch from an elderly man’s home. Over the following two decades he was constantly in and out of jail for sophisticated burglaries in Manchester, Kingston upon Hull and Doncaster. He became a wanted fugitive after shooting a man in Sheffield following an argument. Eventually his travels brought him to London, where he committed his most skilled heists over the course of 2 years. During the day he was a well-dressed and respected violinist who performed at local concerts. By night he would burgle fancy houses while the owners were asleep. On one notable occasion, the owners woke up during a burglary and set their Bulldog on Peace, who responded by punching it in the face, killing the poor animal, before escaping. He bought multiple houses with his burglary proceeds and decorated them with expensive furniture.
Eventually Peace was captured during a mansion burglary. Police officers noticed Peace climbing through a window and ordered him to halt. Instead he opened fire on the officers, hitting one in the right arm with a bullet. However, he was wrestled to the ground and charged with burglary and attempted murder under the alias John Ward. His girlfriend then betrayed his identity to the police in order to collect a £100 reward on his head. Peace was executed in Armley Prison, in Leeds, at the age of 47.
Blane David Nordahl
Blane David Nordahl , known as “The Silver Thief”, made his living pilfering expensive silver items, from fancy homes across the East Coast of America. He is believed to have netted $3million in around 150 burglaries throughout his criminal career. Despite his professional approach to burglary, he has been caught numerous times and is currently serving an 8-year sentence after being convicted of stealing $50,000 worth of silver cutlery from the home of Ivana Trump. He is a very clever individual, and has stated in interviews that his motive for a life of crime was to escape the boredom of a working life.
In a burglary typical of his modus operandi, he would approach a target house at night while the owners were asleep and carefully remove panes of glass from a French door, thus avoiding any alarms that may be triggered by picking the lock. This is potentially time-consuming work and sometimes could take hours to achieve silently. Once inside, Nordahl would utilize his vast knowledge of alarm systems that he researched at a local library. He would stealthily avoid motion sensors, before creeping up and deactivating them. He would even sometimes sneak past sleeping dogs. When all alarms were disabled, he would remove entire drawers full of silver items and take them outside to test them with his own silver test kit; plate silver would be thrown away at the scene and he would leave with only the finest and most expensive items. Nordahl would steal an average of around $20,000 worth of silver in a single burglary.
Ignacio Del Rio
Ignacio del Rio originally moved to the USA from Barcelona, with a dream of becoming a famous martial arts champion. When this didn’t work out, he fell in with a gang of thieves who taught him the art of distraction burglary. Del Rio wasn’t happy with the idea of preying on working-class elderly citizens, so he split from the gang and began to hone his own methods of burglary, aiming to target mansions and fancy houses. He also began to practice climbing techniques and taught himself how to pick locks and crack safes efficiently.
His modus operandi involves prior research of a particular house. He would learn about each and every resident of the target house and find times when they weren’t likely to be home. When a time for the burglary came, he would scale a second floor balcony, sometimes with the assistance of a home-made grappling hook. He would then proceed to pick the lock of the balcony door and carefully disable any alarm systems. Del Rio stole anything of value he could find including jewelry, watches, ornaments and paintings. After stealing what he wanted he would cover his tracks and clean up after himself, so the residents of the house took a long time to realize they had been robbed.
He was eventually arrested after a man stumbled upon his stash of stolen goods at a Public Storage facility, in 2005. Inside was over $16million worth of items, including 74 Rolex watches, 546 necklaces and $250,000 in cash. Del Rio had barely spent any of the cash he made from his robbery spree and soon began to cooperate with police; drawing maps to places where he had buried his loot. He is currently serving a reduced 7 year sentence.
Bill Mason
Bill Mason is an infamous Jewel Thief, notably the author of “Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief”, a book in which he describes his most memorable heists. He targeted celebrity apartments in Florida during the 1970s and 80s. Victims included Johnny Weissmuller, Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller. Eventually Mason collected a haul of jewelry worth $35,000,000. The bulk of his criminal riches were confiscated after his numerous short jail sentences, though he is suspected to have still earned a significant amount of money in unsolved burglaries attributed to him.
Mason’s heists were often extremely dangerous, as he reached high-rise apartments utilizing his climbing talent. During the night-time burglary at the apartment of Armand Hammer, he scaled a 15-story building during a storm. He would plan a burglary extremely carefully, researching any possible security system that could possibly thwart him, before finding ways to overcome them. In his book he attributes his success to the errors of his victims, such as accidentally leaving a safe unlocked (as was the case with Bob Hope). He also tricked realtors into telling him everything about the security measures of his targets, by posing as a potential buyer for a nearby apartment. Mason once stole an Olympic Gold Medal belonging to Johnny Weissmuller, though he mailed it back to Weissmuller months after the theft, because of the guilt of stealing something with such sentimental value.
Leonardo Notarbartolo
Leonardo Notarbartolo is a high-ranking member of a notorious Italian burglary ring known as the School of Turin. The School is widely known for conducting some of the most successful jewelry heists in history; most notably the vault burglary at the Antwerp Diamond Centre in 2003. As a teenager Notarbartolo had many brushes with the law, and ultimately resigned himself to a life a crime. He and his childhood friends graduated from petty criminals into skilled jewel thieves as they aged, and soon gained respect from Mafia crime families, who often fenced their burglary takings.
Notarbartolo would typically case jewellery stores under the cover of a shopping expedition. To appear inconspicuous he would always bring a woman along with him to browse the jewelry, while he took high-definition photos of the store interior with a camera disguised as a ball-point pen. After this, he would carefully plan a possible break-in with fellow gang members. If they deemed the target too difficult to attempt a burglary, they would simply move on to a different store. Once their plan was perfected, they would organize potential fences before the robbery in order to sell off the goods as quickly as possible, thus eliminating evidence.
In 2003, Notarbartolo led a gang of four individuals from the School, to burglarize the vault of the Antwerp Diamond Centre, stealing approximately $100million. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after police found a half-eaten sandwich near the crime scene that had traces of his DNA. The other gang members were not caught and remain unknown. After he was paroled in 2009, Notarbartolo was arrested again after police found a significant amount of uncut jewels stashed in his BMW. However, police failed to prove that these jewels were from the Antwerp Diamond heist, and were forced to return them to Notarbartolo. As of 2011, Notarbartolo is a free man still living in Italy.
Jack “Superthief” MacLean
Jack MacLean had never called himself “Superthief”; that was an appellation cops and robbers had used to define this legend they knew so little about. Before his eventual arrest and incarceration, MacLean stole over $133million worth of jewels in thousands of burglaries in Florida during the 1970s and 80s. His life of crime made him so wealthy that when police caught up with him he owned a multi-million dollar mansion, a Hughes 300C Helicopter and a $40,000 speed-boat.
MacLean is widely accepted as one of the most intelligent burglars ever to be arrested, with genius level IQ and an extremely vast knowledge of alarm systems and electronics in general. MacLean would always carry a police scanner with him on heists, in order to stay aware of 911 calls and keep track of any nearby police cruisers. His trademark would be to never inflict damage on a property that he burglarized; instead he would resort to non-violent methods of gaining entry, such as lock-picking. As a result, high-value items seemed to simply vanish from people’s homes, resulting in many of the victims suspecting family members for the theft, or just assuming they’d misplaced their items. He would always carry a change of clothes with him in order to appear inconspicuous if seen near the scene of the crime. MacLean usually disabled alarm systems and then reset them before he exited, though if the alarm was new to him he would carefully cut it from the wall to study later. He would often leave sarcastic notes at the crime scene. For example, he once robbed a mansion adjacent to a police chief’s house and left a note on the officer’s car that read: “Glad to see you’re doing your job”.
MacLean’s downfall came when he broke one of his own rules and recruited an accomplice to help him on a particularly profitable burglary. The accomplice was arrested after he tried selling off the burglary takings on the open market, thus attracting unwanted attention. He then informed on MacLean, who was arrested and sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment for multiple counts of burglary. While in prison he wrote books advising homeowners on how to protect themselves from a skilled thief, one of which (“Secrets of a Superthief”) is shown in the picture.
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Tommy's drive-thru in Long Beach off of Anaheim Street.
Feb 27 2019 4:00 pm
Mayor agrees city should ‘time out’ on new drive-thrus until study is complete
Brian Addison
A coalition of local advocacy groups sent Mayor Robert Garcia and the entire City Council a letter today urging the city to set a moratorium on drive-thrus until its study on existing drive-thrus is completed—and Garcia gave his thumbs up.
A moratorium would not affect drive-throughs already approved or in the approval pipeline.
A “time out” until the city study is completed is smart policy and aligns with a progressive approach to building a healthy city. I support this approach and their advocacy on this issue.
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarciaLB) February 27, 2019
Though Garcia has no power to introduce items or vote for them, his call-to-action could influence the Council.
“Drive-throughs represent the worst kind of new development: auto-oriented, low-density, unhealthy, and generic—exactly the kind of development we should be avoiding,” the letter read. “This is especially troubling in underserved communities that already struggle with an over-abundance of unhealthy, usually fast food, options (food swamps) and/or a dearth of healthy food choices (food deserts).”
The group included Walk Long Beach, United Cambodian Community, City Fabrick, Long Beach Forward, Coalition for a Healthy North Long Beach, Long Beach Alliance of Food and Fitness, Long Beach Time Exchange, and Long Beach Fresh.
The proclamation by advocates comes after the city planning department announced last month that it is trying to change the process in order to better regulate where drive-thrus are placed, how they look and how they’ll interact with the surrounding environment.
That move was prompted by members of the Planning Commission who said they were being cornered into approving these drive-thrus: Since there is no way to argue against them given the lack of standards, the Planning Commission has approved 21 drive-thrus in the last five years alone, creating a grand total of 116 drive-thrus throughout the city, a trend that is “ultimately in the wrong direction,” as Christopher Koontz, planning bureau manager, told the Post last month.
Staff presented their proposal, an eight-month study examining the standards they hope to propose, at this month’s Planning Commission meeting. There was no discussion of implementing a ban or a moratorium; that is not in the purview of the commission. But the advocacy groups knew one entity that could: the City Council.
“I got the letter today and immediately felt that it was a smart move,” Garcia said. “If it comes as an item on the menu, it will have my full support.”
Brian Addison is a columnist and editor for the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Brian Addison has been a writer, editor, and photographer for more than a decade, covering everything from food and culture to transportation and housing. In 2015, he was named Journalist of the Year by the Los Angeles Press Club and has since garnered 19 nominations and two additional wins for Best Political Commentary for his work at KCET and Best Blog for Longbeachize, a section of the Long Beach Post. In 2019, he was awarded the Food/Culture Critic of the Year across any platform at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. Brian currently serves as a columnist and editor for the Long Beach Post.
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Remembering Rock and Roll Legend Lou Reed
Lou Reed performing at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.
Welcome to American Mosaic from VOA Learning English.
I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.
On the show today, we play some music by Lou Reed, who died earlier this week.
But first, we tell you about a new stage production of a classic play.
‘The Glass Menagerie’ Revisited
The Tennessee Williams play “The Glass Menagerie” was first performed in 1944. The next year its New York production on Broadway won the Drama Critics Circle Award.
The story of heartbreak and lost dreams has held true for theater goers in the many years since. “The Glass Menagerie” was also adapted for film, television and radio.
Now, the show is back on Broadway. Christopher Cruise tells about it.
Tennessee Williams’ "The Glass Menagerie" is back on Broadway. (Photo by Michael J. Lutch)
When people enter New York’s Booth Theater, they see a simple but striking stage. It looks like a small apartment, with a sofa, a dining room table and a few other pieces of furniture. There is also a long fire escape reaching upward, but no walls. Everything else, all around, is black. The set appears to be floating in an empty space.
“I want people who hate the theater to see it.”
That is Cherry Jones. She plays Amanda Wingfield, the strong-willed mother in the play.
“Because I really do think it’s one of those productions that could change people’s minds about the theater. This production takes people places they have never been before.”
The first Broadway production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on A Hot Tin Roof.” But “The Glass Menagerie” was the most autobiographical of all his plays. It was also the least naturalistic. It calls for music and magic.
Director John Tiffany says Williams’ made very clear in his stage directions that “The Glass Menagerie” is impressionistic.
“He begs us, as theater makers, not to go down the path of naturalism, not to have a real Frigidaire (refrigerator), he says, and real ice cubes tinkling in a glass. For Tennessee, that wasn’t where theater was at its best. He said it’s a place of the imagination, where poetry, not just poetry of words, but poetry of gesture, poetry of design, poetry of lighting, poetry of acting, all comes together and meets in the space above and between the audience and actors.”
Tony Award winner Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto star in "The Glass Menagerie." (Photo by Michael J. Lutch)
Film and television actor Zachary Quinto is appearing his first Broadway show in this remake of “The Glass Menagerie.” He plays Tom, the character Tennessee Williams based on himself. Williams’ real name was Tom.
Zachary Quinto says he read a lot about Williams to prepare for the play. He says he learned about the playwright’s complex relationships with his mother and sister.
“Learning that dynamic and understanding that Tennessee spent his entire life both trying to capture something in his writing, but also trying to escape something in his writing, was something that informed me a great deal.”
In the play, the father no longer lives with his family. Tom, the young writer, works in a shoe factory and has little hope of getting a good-paying job. He helps support his mother, Amanda, and sister, Laura, who is physically disabled and emotionally disabled.
In real life, Tennessee Williams’ sister was identified as a schizophrenic. She was sent to a mental hospital. In an effort to help Laura, doctors performed an operation on her brain called a lobotomy.
“How tragically her life unfolded, is something Tennessee never fully reconciled within himself or probably even forgave himself for, on some level.”
Cherry Jones says all the characters in “The Glass Menagerie” are desperate, especially Amanda.
“Her son is about to fly away, never to be seen or heard from again. And she knows it. And her daughter is mentally completely stifled. She cannot move. And so it’s like a parent with a severely challenged child, physically or mentally: ‘what in the world is going to happen to that child when I’m gone.’”
So Amanda urges to Tom to invite a “gentleman caller” to date his sister. But in this play, as so often in life, things do not always work as planned.
Remembering Rock and Roller Lou Reed
It was a sad week for rock and roll fans. Singer, songwriter, guitarist and band leader Lou Reed died Sunday at the age of 71. Reed was a music legend. As leader of the 1960s and 70s band The Velvet Underground and as a solo artist Reed was hugely influential.
Our producer Caty Weaver has been a fan of the artist for more years than she will say. She was lucky enough to meet him. Caty joins me now to talk about Lou Reed and play some of his music. Hi Caty.
Lou Reed performing at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2007.
So, that song “Walk on the Wild Side” was Lou Reed’s biggest hit. He released it in 1973, a year after he left the Velvet Underground.
Did he walk on the wild side? What is this song about?
He did walk on the wild side. But the song was really about people that he hung around with a lot. Andy Warhol, the artist, was a big fan of the Velvets and provided them with a performing space. He really helped them gain a following. “Walk on the Wild Side” was about some of the people who hung out at Warhol’s studio, The Factory.
It is a song about drugs, sex, transgenders and prostitution. It has an infectious beat but there is a lot of pain in the lyrics.
And, Reed himself was a drug abuser, right?
He was. He was a heroin user for years. He stopped in the 80s but didn’t quit drinking alcohol. His liver was damaged by many years of drugs and alcohol. And, he had a liver transplant earlier this year. The Velvets’ song “Heroin” is probably the most truthful, sad and yet appealing song about that drug and its hold on people.
Now, Caty, you met Lou Reed, right? You met him in the 80s?
I did. I met him in 1986. He played here in D.C. and my best friend and I went to the concert. We waited outside the stage door for him to come out and, hopefully, give autographs. And I started talking with his tour manager while we were waiting. He offered tickets to the next two shows and backstage passes.
So, a few months later we went to see Reed play at Radio City Music Hall in New York…which was his town. He was a life-long New Yorker. The concert was amazing. It was just like Reed’s song, “Perfect Day.”
So, we got to go to the after-party at Radio City Music Hall and talk with Lou Reed.
What was he like?
You know, he was just a nice guy. He had a reputation for being very private, very guarded. He certainly was not an easy interview for reporters. But to me, I was just a 20 year-old fan, and he was great.
Why do you think Lou Reed was such a groundbreaker?
He influenced so many people in music. David Bowie, Pattie Smith, the Talking Heads, and so many punk bands. I think it was his songwriting that set him apart. The songs seemed so honest and his lyrics so simple, but the subjects were often shocking.
And his lyrics were deceptively simple because each line could have many meanings. He also kept his distance as a vocalist. He sang in a dispassionate way, an unemotional way. So it added to the mystery of the message.
You could never be sure if Reed was expressing pathos or parody.
Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson in 2010.
Lou Reed died on October 27th in New York, on Long Island. His is survived by his wife, musician Laurie Anderson.
I’m Kelly Jean Kelly. Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. Join us again next week for music and more on American Mosaic from VOA Learning English.
Download PDF: Remembering Rock and Roll Legend Lou Reed
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Leftist Critic
“A calamitous defeat”: The Western imperialists and “Kurdistan”
Published on March 16, 2018 February 25, 2019 by leftistcritic
A map of “Kurdistan” from a pro-Kurdish website, showing how its creation would assist Western imperialism due to its tentacles reaching into Syria, Iraq, and Iran, along with Turkey of course.
This post was analyzed for mistakes and other content in February 2019, as part of an effort to engage in self-criticism. Some changes have been made.
Note: This article was written in late October, so it is a bit dated. This article is the third of a four-part series, which never got published on Dissident Voice. Some words were changed.
Continuing from the last article, this article focuses on the support Western imperialists have granted “Kurdistan” over the years.
The Turkish government, predictably anti-Kurdish, is opposed to an independent Kurdistan, along with the U$ officially (under Obama and now under the orange menace), the Iraqi, Iranian, and Syrian governments, all feeling it will threaten regional stability at a time that the Syrian war seems to be coming to a close. [1] The only government that seems to fully support independence is the Zionist state (and reportedly the Saudis), seeming to hint that Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, may be onto something when he recently said that “Barzani is a middleman for Zionists [whose goal is] to disintegrate Islamic countries” and called Kurdistan a “second Israel.” Of course, Russophobic imperialist Chuck Schumer supports an independent Kurdistan, as does a political party in the Western puppet state of Kosovo, the chieftain of the Arab al-Jobouri grouping in Kirkuk, the pseudo “nationalistic” PKK, the Syriac Assyrian Popular Council, and Assyrian Party. Additionally, the traitorous Greek government, which surrendered before the altar of the European Troika, Catalonia, and the Swedish government, which serves the Western imperialists with glee, also voiced their support.
Radicals seem to be divided on the question of an “independent Kurdistan.” Perhaps this is because the Iraqi Communist Party endorsed the referendum, saying that they “recognize the right of self-determination for all peoples, small and large, and their right to express their free will, including the formation of a national state” but that the “restructuring of the federal state…cannot be decided unilaterally by a particular party” and hoping that “hostility between the Arab and Kurdish peoples” is not increased, instead pushing for the unity of the country with no alternative to dialogue.” This measured response, as you could call it, does not necessarily take into account all of the factors at play here, as will be discussed in this article. There has been the use of force by the Iraqi government to maintain control of the “Kurdistan” region. [2] As Andre Vletchek, who is revisionist but often well-spoken, said recently,
…the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq…is clearly a ‘client’ state of the West, of Turkey and to some extent, Israel. It is shamelessly capitalist, taking land from its own people, cheating them, just in order to pump and refine huge quantities of oil. It treats Syrian refugees like animals, forcing them to make anti-Assad statements. It is turning ancient Erbil into some bizarre shopping mall with nothing public in sight. Its military top brass is mainly US/UK-trained and indoctrinated. And it provokes Baghdad, day and night…If Iraqi Kurds were allowed to have their ‘independence’, the impact on the region would be huge and certainly negative. Baghdad should not allow it, even at the cost of an armed confrontation.
Adding to this, Kirkuk was transformed from “a majority Turkmen community to a Kurdish one starting in 1991” with the marginalization of the Turkmen winning “little sympathy outside” as their “identity and ethnic rights are completely overshadowed by Kurdish separatists and their foreign partners and lackeys.” Furthermore, it is worth noting that “Kirkuk is no more a part of Kurdish Iraq than nearby Mosul is, and Kurdish rights to Kirkuk has never been part of the semi-autonomous understanding between Iraqi Kurds and Baghdad.” Let us also take into account what James Petras said about the Kurds in the 1990s and more recently:
In the case of Iraq in the 1990’s, Kurds were sponsored, armed, funded and defended by the US and Israel in order to weaken and divide the secular-nationalist Iraqi republic. Kurds, again with US support, have organized regional conflicts in Turkey and more recently in Syria, in order to defeat the independent government of Bashar Assad. Leftist Kurds cynically describe their imperial allies, including the Israelis, as ‘progressive colonialists’. In brief, the Kurds act as surrogates for the US and Israel: They provide mercenaries, access to military bases, listening and spy posts and resources in their newly ‘liberated (and ethnically cleansed) country’, to bolster US imperialism, which ‘their warlord leaders’ have chosen as the dominant ‘partner’. Is their struggle one of national liberation or mercenary puppetry in the service of empire against sovereign nations resisting imperial and Zionist control?…The Kurdish ‘freedom fighters’, followed ethnic warlords who were funded by the US and Israel, and took over town, cities, oil resources and territory to serve as imperial military bases against the sovereign governments of Iraq, Iran and Syria. In this context, the Kurdish warlords and oligarchs are loyal vassals and an integral component of the long-standing US-Israeli policy aimed at dividing and weakening independent allies of Palestine, Yemen and genuine liberation movements…Kurds, Tibetans, fascist Ukrainian nationalists, Uighurs and other so-called freedom fighters turn out to be military Sepoys for aggressive US incursion against independent China, Iran and Russia. Leftist backers of these dubious ‘liberation movements’ tag along behind the empire.
There is more beyond what he is saying. The general narrative within the bourgeois media is that the West is annoyed by the “Kurdistan” referendum and that Israel (and the Saudis as is talked about very little) is the only ally an “independent” state in that region has. The reality as noted in part 1 and part 2 of this series, and alluded above, is different. For one, these Kurds aim to exploit ethnic strains and reinforce the “legitimacy of the Kurdish leadership before a drive for outright independence and any negotiations that might involve.” This is despite the fact that the Turkish government seems ready to “impose further sanctions on northern Iraq over the referendum,” the Iraqi government has put in place an “international flights ban on Kurdish airports” and stopped all “foreign currency transfers to the region” while Barzani hangs onto power beyond his second term which ended in 2013. As their push for independence seems aimed to “capitalize on their contribution to the war on Islamic State,” Western imperialists are smiling in glee. [3]
An “independent” state in “Kurdistan” would open the door to directly attacking Iran. Considering that Iran is mutually obligated to defend Syria, supports forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, is militarily supported by revisionist China and Russia, while it is a “crucial link in the North South Transportation Corridor (NTSC)” and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), this could destabilize the region to say the least. Even if a “direct American attack on Iran is even more unthinkable than in the past,” covert action is not “unthinkable.” Recently Mike Pompeo, the newly crowned CIA director, declared that the CIA will need to “become a much more vicious agency” in fighting enemies, which will inevitably mean, from his own career, supporting Saudi expansionism, undermining Russia, Syria, the DPRK, and Iran covertly, along with any other entity (or person) that threatens the murderous empire. This is the face of U$ imperialism, manifested by the arrogance of orange menace himself (who some falsely claimed would be “non-interventionist” based on misreading his campaign rhetoric), which seems even more blatant than Obama. The murderous Zionist state is undoubtedly pleased by the number of Zionists currently in the U$ Administration.
It goes beyond Iran. While former oil man, and U$ Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson declares that “the vote and the results lack legitimacy and we continue to support a united, federal, democratic and prosperous Iraq…We urge calm and an end to vocal recrimination and threats of reciprocal actions,” the underlying reality is different. Western imperialism would benefit from “further instability in the entire Middle East,” as more ethnic tensions between “Arabs, Kurds or Iranians,” caused by this “divisive scheme,” as Hezbollah’s Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called it, will favor “Israel and the US, helping their weapons-manufacturing factories make a fortune.” Even more so, a new state in “Kurdistan” would hurt Syria, which has seemingly been victorious in the war against Western (and Gulf-backed) terrorist forces, a time when the county begins to rebuild, increase production, research, and investment across the economy, as SANA recently described. The West wants the division of “Iraq into Kurdish and Arab regions, launching a first stage in the process of partition and disintegration,” as the Kurds can easily be used, especially by the US, “against regimes it does not like.” Even more so, considering the seemingly “soft” approach of the Russians to the Kurds as has been evidenced in recent years (which is a bit complicated), an independent state in the “Kurdistan” region could create a wedge between Iran, Syria, and Russia at a time that the latter two countries are working to boost “bilateral relations between the two countries in the field of investment,” including having investment “partnerships with the Russian side in the field of exploring oil and gas.” The latter action benefits the Russian bourgeoisie even as it moves Syria even further out of the Western capitalist orbit.
The “powder keg” of an “independent” state in “Kurdistan,” is relished by Western imperialists who see it as a “romance of a free Kurdistan,” which is opposed strongly by Turkmen and Arab groups. Biden even declared, two years ago that dividing Iraq into three “semi-autonomous regions” (Sunni, Shia, and Kurd) “would have worked” if has been done back in 2006, and idea supported by elements within the US intelligence establishment. This declaration was based in an op-ed in the NY Times he had written in 2006 with Leslie H. Gelb, President Emeritus of the elitist Council on Foreign Relations, declaring that this was a good idea:
…The idea, as in Bosnia, is to maintain a united Iraq by decentralizing it, giving each ethno-religious group — Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab — room to run its own affairs, while leaving the central government in charge of common interests. We could drive this in place with irresistible sweeteners for the Sunnis to join in…As long as American troops are in Iraq in significant numbers, the insurgents can’t win and we can’t lose…The alternative path out of this terrible trap has five elements. The first is to establish three largely autonomous regions with a viable central government in Baghdad. The Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite regions would each be responsible for their own domestic laws, administration and internal security. The central government would control border defense, foreign affairs and oil revenues. Baghdad would become a federal zone, while densely populated areas of mixed populations would receive both multisectarian and international police protection…things are already heading toward partition…a breakup is already under way [4]
This op-ed had four other elements but are not of importance here except that are part of an imperialistic, genocidal plan that would have caused chaos in the Middle East some still think is a good idea! Its mind-boggling.
A new state in “Kurdistan” would create “important political and economic problems for the neighboring nations of Turkey and Iran, as well as for the Iraqi central government” as Rand Corp declared some time ago. As some declare that the Kurds “deserve to be allowed to try” to create an “independent” state, which be a client of the imperialist powers, U$ representatives came together in a bipartisan effort to support it, saying that it could serve as a beacon to further U$ interests in the Middle East, while the U$ likely still has the five military bases in the region that it set up in July of last year. These imperialists don’t seem to worry that “a free Kurdish state…will cause dissolution of a free Iraq” with that millions of people voting in the referendum that lived in disputed areas, throwing into question if the referendum is legal at all or even valid in the slightest. [5] Lest us forget, as the CIA even admits, there were U$ special forces and CIA peoples in “Iraqi Kurdistan in advance of the opening of the Iraq War in 2003,” with a CIA-trained “Kurdish sabotage team [which] infiltrated regime territory to destroy a railway and 90-car train that supplied the Iraqi V Corps,” and that in 1991, the U$ and its allies imposed “a no-fly zone in the north that allowed Kurds to enjoy self-rule” while the two Kurdish political parties (KDP and PUK) “co-operated with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.” [6] This makes no surprise that in recent days these Kurds have met with the Brits, the US envoy, the Germans, the Italians, and the Dutch. Michael Springmann, a former US diplomat, is undoubtedly right that the U$ specifically “encourages the Kurds to rebel against the government of Iraq,” with the US and the murderous Zionist state “doing their best for quite some time now to divide Iraq.” Add to this that Netanyahu has been trying to convince the Western imperialists to openly support the Kurds against the Iraqi army, specifically “lobbying” the Germans, the Russians, the French, and the U$, seeing them as “a deeply pro-Western people who deserve support.” [7] But of course this news obscures that the US and UK support an “independent Kurdistan” with a clause “in the US-framed Iraqi constitution granting Kurds a degree of autonomy” while ethnic cleansing of Turkmen people is undoubtedly occurring.
The bourgeois media and their lackeys seem to peddle the idea that “Kurdistan” as it currently exists is a paragon of “good governance” and an “island of relative peace in a war-torn country since the US-led invasion in 2003” or even openly saying that having the region be independent would be “a significant check on both Iranian and Turkish power.” [8] The reality, especially of the former claim, is different. The NY Times admitted this much in their front-page article on “Kurdistan” on October 1:
With its troubled economy and dearth of democratic institutions…Kurds…may have set back their national aspirations…[the KRG] lacks…rule of law, free and fair elections, civil society and a legislature with real power to challenge a dynastic executive leadership…Barzani…remains in power two years after his term has expired…the government is a Barzani family enterprise…the Kurdish economy is in dire straits [with low oil prices]…for the Kurdish leadership there is no going back [9]
Add to this the view of a former Saudi official, Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud who argued that “the constitution that they put in place after the American invasion allows for communities in Iraq to call for referenda on whether they are Iraqi or not.” Even Vijay Pershad, who admits he is “a little sympathetic to the fact that the Kurds of this region have a very longstanding claim to some kind of national home,” says that there has been “some [vote] rigging, of course,” and that “Mr. Barzani, in a way to consolidate his own personal power has really put the Kurdish question on the wrong plate.” Another supporter of Kurdish “independence,” a Zionist writing in Haaretz, admitted himself that the idea that “Kurdistan” is a “progressive, democratic and prosperous country” is fundamentally an “illusion” since the region is a mess:
Masoud Barzani’s term as the elected president ended in 2013, his parliament-appointed term expired in 2015, and two years later he is still in power and shows no signs of quitting. Even if he does eventually step down, the Barzani family controls key institutions and jobs in and out of government…Iraqi Kurdistan’s Parliament was suspended two years ago and since then has met only once – this month, to approve the referendum that was held on Monday…the Kurdish economy…depends on oil…Seventy percent of the Kurdish workforce is employed by the state…in 2014, the economy tanked. Unemployment is probably in the double digits, construction has ground to a halt, and the government has run up debts…Kurdistan has…none of the tools an ordinary government has at its disposal, such as a currency it can devalue or access to international funding…Kurdistan is, in fact, looking more like many of the other “stans”…repressive, corrupt regimes presiding over economies based on oil, gas and crony capitalism [10]
While the idea of “crony capitalism” is one that is false in that it doesn’t recognize the reality of capitalism (just like the idea of “regulated capitalism” solving the dictatorship of the capitalist class), his observations are valid ones. The Western conception that “Kurdistan” is basically “an island of peace and stability surrounded by sectarian strife and civil wars” is an utter myth with the “Good” Kurds (by Western standards) abandoning “their dream of independence in lieu of establishing Iraq as a federal, democratic republic” in 2005, recognizing that “the United States has no friends in Iraq or Syria except the Kurds,” as one put it. The additional idea as declared by the milquetoast (and bourgeois) “peace” organization, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in 2014, that “the map of the Middle East is on the verge of changing much to the benefit of the Kurds” is more laughable now than ever. Even if Turkey’s ruling party was “ready to accept an independent Kurdish state in what is currently northern Iraq” the same year, doesn’t mean that they will now.
There is one aspect that many are not admitting: the interconnection of the Kurds in Syria and Iraq. In 2013, as chaos spread across Syria thanks to Western and Gulf-backed terrorists, 20,000 Kurds from Syria streamed into “the Kurdish north of Iraq” with Barzani even saying he would “intervene to protect Syrian Kurds in their fight against jihadists.” [11] As a result, it could be said that support for Kurdish “independence” in the Mideast is meant to fracture the region. Already, as noted in my article on the illegal entity of Rojava, Iranians and Syrians opposed this, but also that Kurds in northern Iraq benefit from black gold undoubtedly:
…ExxonMobil, along with Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA, and BP, showed interest in Iraqi Kurdistan, with a registered branch office in the region, and signed, in 2011, six production sharing contracts “covering more than 848,000 acres” in the region, with Rex Tillerson, the current US Secretary of State, having a role in, as one article put it, “placing the company’s financial interests above the American goal of creating a stable, cohesive Iraq”…The agreements that ExxonMobil made were strongly opposed by the Iraqi government. Even though ExxonMobil pulled out of half its holdings in 2016, like other companies had years before…it would be no surprise that they want to exploit the oil in Syria
The Kurds realize this and curry favor with Western capitalists. In 2012 alone they had already engaged 49 illegal foreign oil contracts (Production Sharing Agreements) especially in the Zagros Fold Belt region which is rich in black gold, which forced “Baghdad’s hand in finalising the oil law that has been pending for years” reportedly. Add to this that the Turks have many business ties in the region, with “about 1,300 Turkish companies having business ties with the autonomous region” as do the Russians, with the KRG signing a “20-year-long deal with Russia’s Rosneft to cooperate on the exploration and production of hydrocarbons” with the Russian company Gazprom Neft also “currently engaged in three oil projects in the region.”
With all these business ties and instability, there is one question worth asking and ending with, considering something that most will not even consider, as argued in the last article in this series: are the Kurds a nation, envisioned in “Kurdistan,” at all?
[1] BBC News, “Iraq Kurdistan independence referendum planned,” Jul 1, 2014; Roy Gutman, “Kurds agree to postpone independence referendum,” The Star, Sept. 5, 2014; RFE/RL, “Iraqi Kurdish Leader Calls For Nonbinding Vote On Independence,” Feb. 3, 2016; Mewan Dolarmi, “PM Barzani: Mosul could be liberated within three months,” Kurdistan24, Oct. 31, 2016; The Iran Project, “Iraqi Kurdistan’s ‘Unilateral’ referendum plan only to cause new problems: Iran,” Jun 10, 2017; Rudaw, “Iraqi delegation under Allawi to visit Erbil about Kurdish referendum plan,” Jun 11, 2017. Khamenei said that “Iran opposes holding talks of a referendum to partition #Iraq and considers those who fuel the idea as opponents of Iraq’s independence.” Even the governments of Australia, Germany, Spain, and the UK are wary of an independent Kurdistan. Also Iraq’s Christians are wary of this move for independence, as is the PLO, the Iraqi Turkmen Front. The referendum was temporarily delayed because the Kurds were willing to work with the Iraqi forces to fight Daesh.
[2] David Zucchino and Margaret Coker, “Iraq Escalates Dispute With Kurds, Threatening Military Action,” New York Times, Sept. 27, 2017; David Zucchino, “Iraq Orders Kurdistan to Surrender Its Airports,” New York Times, Sept. 26, 2017.
[3] Maher Chmaytelli, “Iraqi Kurds face more sanctions after calling elections,” Reuters, Oct 3, 2017.
[4] Joe Biden and Leslie H. Gelb, “Unity Through Autonomy in Iraq,” New York Times, op-ed, May 1, 2006.
[5] Nabih Bulos and Tracy Wilkinson, “Iraqi Kurds vote on creating an independent Kurdistan — but big obstacles stand in the way,” LA Times, Sept 25, 2017; Eli Lake, “The Kurdish People Lost a Revolutionary and a Statesman,” Bloomberg View, Oct. 3, 2017.
[6] BBC, “Who are the Kurds?,” BBC News, Mar 14, 2016.
[7] Dan Williams, “Netanyahu lobbies world powers to stem Iraqi Kurd setbacks,” Reuters, Oct. 20, 2017.
[8] Caroline B. Glick, “The strategic case for Kurdistan,” Jerusalem Post, Aug. 31, 2017.
[9] David Zucchino, “Kurds Vote for Independence Only Adds to Their Obstacles,” NY Times, Oct 1, 2017.
[10] David Rosenberg, “Independent Kurdistan Looks Like a Zimbabwe in the Making,” Haaretz opinion, Sept. 28, 2017.
[11] Martin Chulov, “Syrian Kurds continue to flee to Iraq in their thousands,” The Guardian, Aug. 18, 2013.
Categories China, fascism, Imperialism, U$ politics•Tags Imperialism, kurds, nationalism, the orange menace
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noshirhansotia5118 says:
The Kurds are an ancient people & of Zoroastrian descent. Fiercely independent, Monotheistic, respectful of women & great warriors. The Kurds & Israelis share common Western values. All people of conscience & chivalry cheer the minority Kurds as they fight the Muslim hordes.
leftistcritic says:
That’s great. My criticism of current Kurdish nationalism still stands. I also will not put up will Islamophobia on my website, and am only publishing this comment in the interest of fairness, as no further comments by you will be published.
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September cross-border freight closer to pre-pandemic levels
Tyson Fisher
Month-to-month increases in September’s cross-border freight continued a streak that began in August, with the yearly decrease being the smallest since the pandemic put North American freight to a grinding halt.
Compared to September 2019, cross-border freight was down 5% after an 11% decrease in both August and July, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That marks the lowest year-to-year decrease since North American freight began to drastically decrease in March, bringing numbers closer back to pre-pandemic levels.
The value of freight hauled across national borders increased by more than 3% compared with August, when cross-border freight went up by nearly 3% compared with the previous month. April’s monthly drop of 41% is the largest on record. However, June’s 46% increase is among the highest on record.
Valued at more than $96 billion, the last time September North American freight was valued lower was as recently as 2017 when it was valued at $94 billion. In May, the value was about $56 billion, the lowest since the 2009 recession.
September cross-border freight marks the fourth consecutive monthly increase.
In 2019, cross-border freight decreased by 0.8% compared to the previous year, with 63% of that freight carried by trucks. This year’s historic decrease in April and May sets 2020 cross-border freight behind compared to this time last year.
Truck cross-border freight value by state compared to August. Blue states denote an increase, while orange states denote a decrease. (Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics)
Trucks carried more than $63 billion of the more than $96 billion of cross-border imports and exports in September, a 4% increase from August, but a decrease of less than 1% compared with September 2019.
Month-to-month, Canada truck freight increased by 2%, whereas Mexico truck freight went up by 6%. Top truck commodities were computers and parts, motor vehicles and parts, electrical machinery, plastics, and measuring/testing instruments.
September cross-border freight totaled more than $96 billion, up nearly $3 billion from the previous month but a decrease of $5 billion from September 2019.
Despite the overall monthly increase, only two of five modes experienced an increase, with trucks leading the way. Vessel freight was the only other mode to have an increase in cross-border freight at 2.7%. All other modes experienced a decrease of less than 1%, letting truck and vessel freight move the average into the black.
More than 59% of U.S.-Canada August cross-border freight was moved by trucks, followed by rail at nearly 16%. Of the nearly $49 billion of freight moving in and out of Mexico, trucks carried 72% of the loads. LL
Tyson Fisher joined Land Line Magazine in March 2014. An award-winning journalist and tireless researcher, his news reports, features and blogs bring depth to our editorial content, backed with solid detail. Tyson is a lifelong Kansas Citian.
OIG releases audit of National Registry for medical examiners
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has named the 25 people who will serve on a commercial motor vehicle driver panel.
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April 20, 2013 January 29, 2018 Jed Ryan
THE 27TH ANNUAL NIGHT OF A THOUSAND GOWNS: LEGENDS OF NEW YORK CITY!
THE 27TH ANNUAL NIGHT OF A THOUSAND GOWNS:
LEGENDS OF NEW YORK CITY!
One of my favorite quotes from The 27th Annual Night of A Thousand Gowns on Saturday, April 6, 2013 came from one of the event’s Special Guests Tony Sheldon, star of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical”: “For us, every night was a night of a thousand gowns– with all the costume changes!”
Founded in San Francisco in 1965, The International Imperial Court System (IICS) is one of the oldest and largest gay organizations in the world. Today, there are 70 Court chapters in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Imperial Court of New York (ICNY) is one of the largest and most active. It’s a testament to the strength of ICNY that this volunteer-run organization continues to prosper, thrive, and influence GLBT culture through the decades, enjoying wide-reaching respect and recognition… with no signs of slowing down. A lot of the success of ICNY has its ability to adapt through the years to the needs and desires of the GLBT community which it serves, yet still maintaining its high standards of tradition, ritual, and… well, sheer class! And, their success is also largely thanks to the talent and enthusiasm of every year’s incoming Emperor and Empress, each with their own unique style and sense of community spirit. The Imperial Court of New York has fundraising and celebratory events going on all year long, but the highly anticipated annual Night of A Thousand Gowns– now in its 27th Year– always receives international attention. This year, this night of 1,000 gowns and infinite memories was held at New York City’s Hilton. From the minute the door of the Mercury Ballroom was opened (and even before) all this writer could think about was the emblematic runway which led the way to the ballroom’s huge stage– and all the legendary personalities (and fabulous shoes!) who would walk that envied path. All I could think of was, “If that runway could talk!”
The Night of A Thousand Gowns attracts members of The Imperial Court system from all over the United States, as well as Canada. It’s an over-the-top, sensory-overloading synergy of entertainment, fashion, and most of all, self-expression and creativity. At the heart of the event, however, is philanthropy. To date, ICNY has raised millions of dollars for charity. This year, the beneficiaries were GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis) and GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). The Night has been famous for its envied A-list entertainment each year… but this is also a soiree when the real stars include all the attendees alongside the many celebrity guests– a night when an iconic star of stage and screen vies for eye-popping attention next to the members of The Court themselves, with all those amazing gowns, suits, and jewelery. At one point int he night, one of the lovely “Real Housewives of New York” declared, “You get some GREAT fashion advice from The Imperial Court!” It’s a night which brings together movers and shakers from the worlds of theater, music, TV, and cinema alongside supportive politicians and GLBT activists.. and how fabulousness is the common thread uniting them all.
The event kicked off with the Red Carpet walk of Special Guests. It was then time for the festivities. To say that the Hilton that night was a feast for the eyes is an understatement, especially for photographers. You could point a camera ANYWHERE and get an amazing image.
Broadway star Karen Mason launched Act I. Mason’s experiences on Broadway have included roles in “Sunset Boulevard”, “Mamma Mia”, and “Hairspray” … and her fabulous costume and song “Off With Their Heads” as The Queen of Hearts was the most memorable thing about “Wonderland”, a 2011 reinterpretation of the Alice in Wonderland story. We were lucky to hear Karen perform that song, as well as two classic showtunes: “Get Happy” and “All That Jazz”. I asked Mason where her affinity for the LGBT community comes from. She told me, “I think that all of the most beautiful moments in my life have been somehow involved with the LGBT community, starting with a gentlemen I worked with. Before that, I was living out in the suburbs and have to admit, I was pretty ignorant and naive! Then I met Brian Lasser in Chicago. Brain was gay. We worked together for 16 years. I owe him my life. He was a music director and a songwriter, and we were soulmates on some level, as corny as that sounds! We were lucky to find each other! I became his muse, and I became my mentor, and it just just opened up my eyes to the great world of music and performing. I’ve been very lucky. All my good friends are gay. So, I am very happy and honored to be here!” Act II featured the vocal talents of Marty Thomas and Diva: the quartet of Mr. Thomas and three lovely ladies. Bringing the crowd a medley that started out with “When Love Takes Over” and continuing with an extended mashup of some of the greatest pop hits through the decades, from Elton John to Mariah to Gaga, it was a real crowd-pleaser. No matter how often you heard these tunes, you never heard them like THIS before. But hands down, the highlight of the event– and this was an event with one highlight after another– was Taylor Dayne.
Dayne ruled the music charts in the ’80’s and early ’90’s and has cemented her status as a true pop culture icon. Turning out a mini-concert of her greatest hits (“Tell It to My Heart, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love”, “Prove Your Love”, “Love Will Lead You Back”, and more) while strutting down the runway, the crowd went nuts. Later on, attendees got the chance for a photo op with Ms. Dayne on stage in exchange for a charitable donation, and the diva had MANY takers! Later, I asked the lovely singer about her relationship with the GLBT community. Her answer was short, sweet, and to the point: “It started with ‘Tell It to My Heart’… and it’s just been a beautiful love story that continues to this day!” Fans of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” also got a real treat with a performance by Chad Michaels (Winner of the show’s “All Stars” Season), who channeled one of our most enduring gay icons: Cher. In one of Cher fans’ most favorite “looks”– the big black hair and fishnet body stocking– Michaels performed “Strong Enough” and “If I Could Turn Back Time”.
The Court also went to great lengths to honor the achievements and talents of their own members. Empress XIV Victoria Weston sang live and silenced the audience with her truly amazing voice.
Also on the itinerary was the Final Walk and Farewell Performances of Reigning Emperor XXI Ritz Kraka and Empress XXVI Witti Repartee. Ms. Repartee’s showstopper of an act had her in a red sequined minidress with four shirtless hunks, dancing to “The Story of Lucy and Jesse”, a lost musical gem from “Follies” (“This is my belief, in brief: Lucy is juicy, but terribly drab; Jessie is dressy, but cold as a slab. Lucy wants to be dressy, Jessie wants to be juicy; Lucy wants to be Jessie, and Jessie Lucy!”) It was sexy, sassy, and fun. Later on in the night, I asked Witti the first thing she planned to do after the “passing of the torch”. She answered, in her trademark quick (ahem…) wit, “Take these shoes off!”
The Night of Thousand Gowns was also a night to honor many outstanding individuals who support the GLBT community– both our fellow GLBT’s and our dedicated straight allies. DJ Elvis Duran (award-winning host of the nationally syndicated “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show”) received the Imperial Diamond Award, and Community Hero Awards were given to Jacob Randolph (a young man from Parsipanny, NJ who came out to his entire school; another New Jerseyite, Barbra Casbar Siperstein– the first transgendered woman to become elected to the Democratic National Committee; and yet another Garden State hero, The Honorable Senator Barbara Buono of New Jersey– who gave an inspiring, passionate speech about GLBT equality and looked stunning while doing it (prompting Emperor X Gabriel Della Notte to declare, “I dare Governor Christie to get into that dress!”).
Knighthoods were awarded to actor Wilson Cruz, activist/promoter Will Clark, Dr. Marjorie Hill of GMHC, and activist Gilbert Baker, who designed the universally recognized rainbow gay pride flag. Cathy Marino Thomas received the The President’s Award. The 2013 Spirit Award was also given to John and Michael Balucco, the first couple in New jersey to adopt a child. They have been together 31 years!
Emperor X Gabriel Della Notte has been President of ICNY for seven years and now boasts the new Title of “Gabriel the Grand”.
He told me: “It’s gonna be a lot of fun fundraising this year. We have two great new monarchs coming in. We’re really excited about our first lesbian Emperor since… 1994 or something like that. That was way back when. I wasn’t even born yet! (Laughs) It’ s gonna be a fabulous year.” I mentioned the fact that a lot of people from New Jersey were honored this year as well. He responds, “Well, half our membership is from New Jersey, and I myself am from New Jersey. So, it’s nice to honor the Jersey people once in a while. We’re not all just that gaseous state or Exit 13, Elizabeth… and we’re not all just MALLS either!” I point out that Jersey City is widely becoming called “the sixth borough” now anyway….
The last musical act before the coronation was Daniel Patrick Ellis, and then it was time for The Big Moment, which traditionally takes place at midnight. For her Coronation, incoming Emperor XXII Wen-D Bouvier Pinkhouse, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Emperor of Peace, Love, Unity and Respect, assembled a menagerie of her friends featured as hilariously over-the-top icons of music throughout the decades (Janis, Dolly, Tina, Stevie Wonder, and MANY more), with herself decked out as a fuscia-haired, sequined Elvis. The act concluded with Alicia Keys blaring, “This girl is on fire!” How appropriate! The new Empress XXVII Gracie Steeles, The Stiletto Heeled Jersey Girl Empress, had a more traditional but no less moving wedding-style procession, with her friends preceding her down the aisle, some dressed in matching bridesmaid-style gowns. Her walk concluded with the enduring fairy tale lyric, “When you wish upon a star…”. Again, it was highly appropriate. Later, I asked the new Emperor what her plans were for the year, starting with Sunday morning. She answered, “Tomorrow, we have a brunch at Lips, where I give out awards to some people, and we celebrate the beginning of our reign… and also the outgoing Monarchs also give out some awards to people too. We’re gonna have a good time. We’re rolling! We have a lot of events to do all year long, and we have a lot of things planned. I’m very excited We’re reaching out to LGBTQ youth, as well as the aged. We’re gonna be very hands-on this year, getting out in the streets and working with kids and stuff. We are very devoted!”
During one of the “dancing breaks”, when DJ Johnny Dynell started spinning and attendees hit that famous runway to shake things up, I got the chance to chat with Dynell’s friend Chi Chi Valenti, a true icon of New York City nightlife for decades. We first met in the mid ’90’s, when the spirit of rule-breaking, DIY fabulousness reigned supreme in downtown Manhattan. We spoke about how so many of the youngsters today have traded the irreplaceable experience of going out and partying for cheap digital thrills. Looking from the balcony into the crowd, we both agreed that there’s just no way you can truly appreciate NYC culture unless you just dived right into it, hair first. We also agreed that The Night of A Thousand Gowns, with all its glamour, grandeur, and sheer gaiety (in both senses of the word!) was both honoring the past while keeping its eyes on the future. So, my closing line, without sounding cliched, is “You gotta be there!” (Put another way: Start planning your outfit for The Night of A Thousand Gowns 2014!)
Visit Imperial Court of New York’s website at http://www.ICNY.com.
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Next The 27th Annual Night of A Thousand Gowns on Saturday, New York City April 6, 2013
“I’LL ALWAYS LOVE MY MAMA”: An Interview With Sandy "Mama" Reinhardt
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Justia › US Law › Case Law › Georgia Case Law › Supreme Court of Georgia Decisions › 2017 › White v. Georgia
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White v. Georgia
Annotate this Case
Justia Opinion Summary
Appellant Wardell White entered guilty pleas to felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting deaths of Victor Martinez and Mauricio Maldonado, and the trial court entered judgments of conviction and sentence on the guilty pleas that did not merge. During the same term of court, Appellant filed two pro se motions to withdraw guilty pleas. The State moved to dismiss the pro se motions on the ground that Appellant was represented by counsel when he filed them, and the trial court granted the State’s motion. Appellant, assisted by counsel, filed a timely notice of appeal. However, finding no reversible error, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.
In the Supreme Court of Georgia Decided: October 16, 2017 S17A1083. WHITE v. THE STATE. NAHMIAS, Justice. Appellant Wardell Deloun White entered guilty pleas to felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting deaths of Victor Martinez and Mauricio Maldonado, and the trial court entered judgments of conviction and sentence on the guilty pleas that did not merge. During the same term of court, Appellant filed two pro se motions to withdraw guilty pleas. The State moved to dismiss the pro se motions on the ground that Appellant was represented by counsel when he filed them, and the trial court granted the State’s motion. Appellant, assisted by counsel, filed a timely notice of appeal. We affirm. 1. On the night of April 28-29, 2012, Appellant participated in a home invasion in Eastanollee, Georgia, that resulted in the deaths of Martinez and Maldonado. On April 30, Appellant was arrested, and on May 3, attorney Drew W. Powell of the Mountain Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office filed an entry of appearance in the trial court on Appellant’s behalf. On July 17, a Stephens County grand jury indicted Appellant, along with two other defendants, on two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, burglary, attempted armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, violation of the street gang act, and three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Appellant was also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, two related counts of felony murder, and making a false statement during an official investigation. On October 16, the State filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Appellant. On January 16, 2013, attorney Jerilyn Bell of the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender filed an entry of appearance on Appellant’s behalf, and on February 15, Emily Gilbert of the same office filed an entry of appearance. On October 15, 2014, Joseph W. Vigneri, another attorney with the Capital Defender’s office, filed a notice of substitution for Bell as lead counsel. On September 18, 2015, during the July 2015 term of the Stephens County Superior Court,1 Appellant entered negotiated guilty pleas to one count of felony 1 The terms for the Stephens County Superior Court begin each year on January 1 and July 1. See OCGA § 15-6-3 (25) (C). 2 murder against Martinez, burglary, attempted armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, violation of the street gang act, one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and making a false statement; the other charges were nolle prossed. On the same day, the trial court entered a final judgment noting the charges that were nolle prossed, merging Appellant’s guilty plea to burglary into his guilty plea to felony murder predicated on burglary, and sentencing Appellant to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole plus a total of 15 consecutive years. The following month, on October 15, 2015, the trial court received a handwritten letter from Appellant in which he requested to withdraw his guilty pleas.2 The court treated the letter as a pro se motion to withdraw guilty pleas. 2 Appellant’s letter said: Honorable Caudell, 10-11-2015 My name is Wardell Deloun White. My case and Indictment No. is 2012-SUCR-110CC. The purpose of this is to inform you that i would like to withdraw my plea for the following reasons: 1) I’m not guilty. 2) Before and during the signing of my plea agreement, i was prescribe anti-psychotic mental health medicine, Zyprexa. Which causes confusion, distraughtness as well as irrational thinking. I was pressured to believe that if i didn’t take the plea agreement that i was going to receive the “Death Penalty”. I have also written the DA and Clerk of Court. Sincerely, /s/ 3 On October 21, the court served the letter on the District Attorney and defense counsel and issued a rule nisi, copied to the “Georgia Public Defender Standards Council,” setting a hearing on December 1 to consider whether conflict counsel should be appointed for Appellant in light of the allegations in his handwritten letter against his present counsel. On November 5, Appellant, acting pro se, filed a motion to withdraw guilty pleas, claiming that the indictment was void, his pleas were invalid, the trial court erred in accepting the guilty pleas, and he received ineffective assistance of counsel. On November 12, Vigneri and Gilbert filed a motion to withdraw as counsel for Appellant. On December 1, 2015, the case appeared on the trial court’s 1:30 p.m. hearing calendar, but Appellant was unavailable, so the hearing was continued. At 1:45 p.m., the chief legal officer for the Georgia Public Defender Council (“GPDC”) filed an Objection to Jurisdiction and Statement of Interest that objected to the trial court’s effort to control who represented Appellant and reported that the [GPDC] director has appointed Defendant White’s case to P.S. I was pressured by my defense team to take the plea while on mental health medicine. The medicine clouded my judgment and lead me to believe that i was guilty. Which I’m not. 4 William A. (Bill) Morrison. The Council has contracted with Mr. Morrison before on capital matters, and Mr. Morrison has had the necessary training to advise Defendant White on his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. On December 11, the trial court granted Vigneri and Gilbert’s motion to withdraw as counsel for Appellant and entered a separate order rescheduling the December 1 hearing to February 9, 2016, “for the purpose of hearing the merits of [Appellant’s] Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea.” The hearing was later continued to February 12, 2016. At the outset of the February 12 hearing, the State orally moved to dismiss Appellant’s pro se motions to withdraw guilty pleas on the ground that he was represented by counsel when he filed them. Morrison, who appeared as counsel for Appellant at the hearing, complained of the lack of notice that the State was going to move to dismiss. The court gave Morrison 10 days to respond to the State’s motion and suspended the hearing for 60 days to allow Morrison time to investigate the medications that Appellant was on and his state of mind when he entered his guilty pleas. On February 23, Morrison filed an amended motion to withdraw guilty pleas, asking that Appellant’s letter to the court and pro se motion to withdraw guilty pleas be amended by adding Morrison as Appellant’s 5 attorney of record and that the amendments “relate back” to the time of the original filings. On March 7, 2016, the trial court entered an order dismissing Appellant’s pro se motions. Morrison filed a timely notice of appeal on Appellant’s behalf. After the trial court transmitted the record to this Court, the appeal was docketed to the April 2017 term and submitted for decision on the briefs. 2. Appellant contends that a defendant in a capital case should be “deemed unrepresented” after the entry of sentence. Appellant cites no authority, however, for the novel proposition that a lawyer’s representation of a criminal defendant, whether facing the death penalty or otherwise, terminates the moment that a judgment of conviction and sentence is entered. Instead, he plucks a phrase from the last sentence of a Uniform Superior Court Rule on arraignment and argues that it means that a criminal defendant’s attorney at arraignment represents the defendant from that point “throughout the trial,” but if the defendant chooses after the trial to file a pro se motion, the defendant is no longer represented by counsel.3 This far-fetched argument, even if correct, 3 USCR 30.2, which is entitled “Call for Arraignment,” says in its entirety: Before arraignment the court shall inquire whether the accused is represented by 6 would not apply to Appellant, because here there was no trial; Appellant entered guilty pleas before his trial ever started. Moreover, OCGA § 17-12-12 (d) says: “The Georgia capital defender division or appointed counsel’s defense of a defendant in a case in which the death penalty is sought shall include all proceedings in the trial court and any appeals to the Supreme Court of Georgia. . . .” We need not decide how this statute applies to a case like Appellant’s in which the death penalty was sought but ultimately not pursued due to guilty pleas, but that statute certainly at least offsets Appellant’s rulebased argument. More fundamentally, and contrary to Appellant’s assertion, a holding that criminal defendants’ representation by counsel terminates automatically on the entry of a judgment and sentence – whether following the return of a jury counsel and, if not, inquire into the defendant’s desires and financial circumstances. If the defendant desires an attorney and is indigent, the court shall authorize the immediate appointment of counsel. Upon the call of a case for arraignment, unless continued for good cause, the accused, or the attorney for the accused, shall answer whether the accused pleads “guilty,” “not guilty” or desires to enter a plea of nolo contendere to the offense or offenses charged; a plea of not guilty shall constitute the joining of the issue. Upon arraignment, the attorney, if any, who announces for or on behalf of an accused, or who is entered as counsel of record, shall represent the accused in that case throughout the trial, unless other counsel and the defendant notify the judge prior to trial that such other counsel represents the accused and is ready to proceed, or counsel is otherwise relieved by the judge. 7 verdict or the entry of a guilty plea – would make little sense. It would deprive defendants of the “guiding hand of counsel,” Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 69 (53 SCt 55, 77 LE 158) (1932), at a point in the proceeding when important decisions need to be made and actions potentially taken, often with short deadlines, regarding the filing of a post-trial motion (e.g., a motion for new trial), a post-plea motion (e.g., a motion to withdraw a guilty plea), or a notice of appeal. Such a holding also would contradict this Court’s precedents on outof-time appeals, which recognize that defense counsel’s duties towards their clients extend for at least the 30 days after the entry of judgment when a notice of appeal may be filed. See, e.g., Grace v. State, 295 Ga. 657, 658 (763 SE2d 461) (2014); Stephens v. State, 291 Ga. 837, 837-838 (733 SE2d 266) (2012). A trial court in a criminal case has “plenary power over its orders and judgments during the term at which they are entered and may amend, correct, or revoke them, for the purpose of promoting justice,” as long as no notice of appeal has been filed. Hipp v. State, 293 Ga. 415, 416 (746 SE2d 95) (2013) (citations and quotation marks omitted). This authority “‘extends to all orders and judgments save those which are founded upon verdicts.’” Id. (citation omitted). Thus, we conclude that, at a minimum, legal representation continues 8 – unless interrupted by entry of an order allowing counsel to withdraw or compliance with the requirements for substitution of counsel, see USCR 4.3 (1)(3) – through the end of the term at which a trial court enters a judgment of conviction and sentence on a guilty plea, during which time the court retains authority to change its prior orders and judgments on motion or sua sponte for the purpose of promoting justice. See Tolbert v. Toole, 296 Ga. 357, 362 (767 SE2d 24) (2014) (“A formal withdrawal of counsel cannot be accomplished until after the trial court issues an order permitting the withdrawal. Until such an order properly is made and entered, no formal withdrawal can occur and counsel remains counsel of record.” (citation and quotation marks omitted)). There may be some period of time after which it no longer would be reasonable to treat a convicted defendant who has not filed a timely appeal or motion extending the time to appeal, or a timely motion to withdraw his guilty plea, as still represented by his trial or plea counsel. See, e.g., OCGA § 5-6-38 (a) (listing three post-judgment motions that reset the time for appeal). See also Christopher J. McFadden et al., Georgia Appellate Practice § 11:1 (Nov. 2016 update) (discussing resetting and non-resetting post-judgment motions). However, we need not decide today exactly what that period is, because 9 Appellant filed his pro se motions seeking to withdraw his guilty pleas well before the end of the term in which the judgments of conviction and sentence on his guilty pleas were entered. The trial court therefore correctly treated his October 15 and November 5, 2015 pro se filings as legal nullities, because he was represented by counsel when he made them. See Tolbert, 296 Ga. at 363 (“A criminal defendant in Georgia does not have the right to represent himself and also be represented by an attorney, and pro se filings by represented parties are therefore ‘unauthorized and without effect.’” (quoting Cotton v. State, 279 Ga. 358, 361 (613 SE2d 628) (2005))); Williams v. Moody, 287 Ga. 665, 669 (697 SE2d 199) (2010) (“A pro se motion filed by a convicted defendant while represented by counsel is ‘unauthorized and without effect.’” (quoting Cotton)). Appellant attempts to distinguish Tolbert, Williams, and Cotton on their facts, asserting that in those cases, the pro se filings treated as nullities were filed during the course of litigation, and the criminal defendants were represented by counsel both before and after the pro se filings. But Appellant also was represented by counsel both before and after his pro se filings, and like his motions, the pro se filings treated as nullities in Cotton and Williams were made after the entry of judgments of conviction and sentence in those cases. 10 Thus, the factual distinctions Appellant attempts to draw are illusory. The only filing that could be treated as a valid motion to withdraw Appellant’s guilty pleas was the amended motion that his new counsel, Morrison, filed on February 23, 2016. By that time, however, the term of court during which Appellant entered his guilty pleas had ended, so the trial court no longer had jurisdiction to grant a motion to withdraw guilty pleas. See Rubiani v. State, 279 Ga. 299, 299 (612 SE2d 798) (2005) (“‘It is well settled that when the term of court has expired in which a defendant was sentenced pursuant to a guilty plea, the trial court lacks jurisdiction to allow the withdrawal of the plea.’” (footnote omitted)). Accordingly, the trial court properly granted the State’s motion to dismiss. 3. Appellant contends next that the February 23 amended motion to withdraw guilty pleas transformed his previous October 15 and November 5 pro se filings into filings made by his later-appointed counsel. But an amended motion is not a time machine that allows a litigant to change past events. Appellant invokes the “relation back” doctrine for amendments of pleadings in civil actions, see OCGA § 9-11-15 (c), but he cites no authority for applying that doctrine in this criminal context. Moreover, even in the civil context, a pleading 11 purporting to amend a prior filing that was a nullity – as Appellant’s pro se motions to withdraw guilty pleas were – does not relate back in time to the date of the non-filing, as the trial court here recognized. See GC Quality Lubricants, Inc. v. Doherty, Duggan & Rouse Insurors, 304 Ga. App. 767, 770-771 (697 SE2d 871) (2010). 4. Finally, Appellant contends that Vigneri and Gilbert provided ineffective assistance by filing their motion to withdraw as his counsel without first filing a motion to withdraw guilty pleas or a motion to stay the proceedings until substitute counsel was appointed. The Sixth Amendment guarantees a criminal defendant the effective assistance of counsel in connection with his entry of a guilty plea. See Lee v. United States, 582 U.S. ___, ___ (137 SCt 1958, 1964, 198 LE2d 476) (2017). To demonstrate that Vigneri and Gilbert were constitutionally ineffective, Appellant was required to show that their “representation ‘fell below an objective standard of reasonableness’ and that he was prejudiced as a result.” Id. (quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 688, 692 (104 SCt 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984)). Whatever the merits of this ineffective assistance of counsel claim, Appellant did not raise it in the trial court and the trial court did not rule on it, and we therefore will not consider it 12 for the first time on appeal. See Herbert v. State, 288 Ga. 843, 849 (708 SE2d 260) (2011). Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur. 13
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Another eight municipalities put under quarantine
Given the deteriorating epidemiological situation in the country, local quarantine coming into effect on 28 October 2020, 00:00, and lasting until 11 November 2020, 24:00, has been introduced in eight more municipalities: the city municipalities of Kaunas, Klaipėda and Vilnius and the district municipalities of Šilalė, Širvintos, Telšiai, Trakai and Vilnius. Additional restrictions will apply to the above municipalities taking effect as of 28 October.
Currently, quarantine has been introduced in the district municipalities of Elektrėnai, Joniškis, Jurbarkas, the city municipality of Kaunas, the district municipality of Kelmė, the city municipality of Klaipėda, the district municipality of Klaipėda, the district municipality of Kretinga, Marijampolė, Pasvalys, Plungė, Skuodas, Šiauliai, Šilalė, Širvintos, Švenčionys, Telšiai, Trakai and Vilnius and the city municipality of Vilnius.
In these municipalities, the population above six years of age will have to wear protective equipment covering nose and mouth (face masks, respirators or other equipment) in public places (both indoors and outdoors). This requirements will not be applicable in the case of persons doing sports; professionals of high-performance sports and physical activity participating in high-performance sports training and competitions, high-performance sports and physical activity instructors and referees, catering facilities when sitting at the table or bar, also during the provision of a service where a service cannot be provided in a mask, performers during events, persons with disability who cannot wear a mask due to their health condition or where it can adversely affect their health condition. A face mask is recommended in the following cases: when outside populated areas (cities, towns, villages, single-homestead settlements and dacha (garden) settlements) and when there are no other people within the radius of 20 metres, except for family members (spouses or persons, with whom a registered partnership agreement has been concluded, children (adopted children), including minor children, of persons, of their spouses or of persons, with whom a registered partnership agreement has been concluded, parents (adoptive parents) and guardians).
Restrictions on visits to cultural, leisure, entertainment, sports establishments
The flow of service users and other visitors in cultural, leisure, entertainment and sports establishments will be restricted by ensuring at least 10 sq. m. of retail space per service user or other visitor and at least 2 m distance between the personnel, service users and other visitors. This requirement will not be applicable in the case of high-performance sports training.
Please note that the territories under local quarantine will also be subject to the restrictions that apply throughout Lithuania (see the table).
Local quarantine was introduced last week, on 26 October 2020, 00:00, to last until 9 November 2020, 24:00, in the district municipalities of Elektrėnai, Joniškis, Jurbarkas, Kelmė, Klaipėda, Kretinga, Marijampolė, Pasvalys, Plungė, Skuodas, Šiauliai and Švenčionys.
In the entire territory of Lithuania
Additional restrictions in cities and towns under quarantine
No restrictions on the number of participants.
Mandatory registration of all participants or electronic distribution of tickets.
Mandatory protective face masks and a 1 m distance outdoors.
Mandatory protective face masks and a 2 m distance (or every second chair) indoors.
Catering establishments
Opening hours: 7.00–24.00 (with exceptions).
Mandatory registration of visitors.
2 m distance.
Movement and protective face masks
Protective face masks:
in public transport;
at points of sale or service.
Protective face masks mandatory in all public places (with exceptions).
In public transport: 1 m distance, seated travelling only.
In public places, groups of no more than 5 people (with 2 m distance between the groups). In Raseiniai district - groups of no more than 2 people (with 2 m distance between the groups).
Public and private sector
Remote work recommended.
Mixed or remote work mandatory in the public sector. In Raseiniai district municipality - remote working, except when the relevant functions must be performed at the workplace,
This requirement is recommended for the private sector too.
At least 10 sq. m. of space per person and 2 m distance in cultural, leisure, entertainment and sports establishments.
5– 12 grade pupils learn remotely (until 8 November).
Pre-school, pre-primary and primary education continue the usual way.
Non-formal education for children and adults is carried out remotely or discontinued (until 8 November).
Higher education and continuing vocational training is recommended to be provided remotely (until 8 November).
Public establishments follow orders of the Minister for Health.
No visiting of patients, except those in terminal condition, also children under 14 years of age and women after birth in hospitals.
In residential social care establishments:
one resident can be visited in his room by one person at a time;
the visitor is recommended to wear protective equipment covering the nose and mouth throughout the visit;
the duration of the visit may not exceed 15 minutes.
No visits to residential social care establishments, foster families, group and community homes, and in Raseiniai district it is prohibited to visit all such establishments.
Activities in day care centres are prohibited in Raseiniai district municipality, and restrictions are recommended in other municipalities.
protective face masks;
at least 1 m distance.
Religious communities in municipal territories are recommended to organise religious observations and ceremonies in such a way as to avoid gatherings, or refrain from religious observations and ceremonies.
For key information on the quarantine, please visit: www.koronastop.lt.
The Government approves restrictions on movement between municipalities until 31 January Suspension of passenger flights from the United Kingdom Government approves tighter lockdown rules Lockdown to continue until 17 December with restrictions eased on visits to museums It has been specified, which leisure services cannot be provided during quarantine
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← Aussie Macallister Makes History in Iceland
Macalisters in the First US Federal Census →
William Alexander and the Union of Crowns
Posted on Wednesday, 25 July 2012 by Lynn McAlister, MA, FSA Scot
On this day in 1603, King James VI of Scotland was crowned James I of England. He succeeded Elizabeth I, his second cousin, who had died without heirs. Among the many Scots who followed James to London was William Alexander, head of the Menstrie family, whose claim to be a branch of the Clan Alister is generally accepted (most importantly, by the clan itself) despite patchy documentation.
William Alexander had been introduced to the Scottish court by the Earl of Argyll, to whom he was once tutor. When the court moved south Alexander went along as tutor to Crown Prince Henry, and on Henry’s death in 1612 he became tutor to Henry’s younger brother, the future Charles I. Alexander remained in service to Charles for the rest of his life. His association with the royal family led to a knighthood (1609), a viscountcy (1630), and ultimately an earldom (1633). He also held important positions under the crown, including Scottish Privy Councillor and Secretary for Scotland. (Before these, he was appointed Master of Requests for Scotland, “whose chief duty was to ward off needy Scots from the English court”![1])
In 1621, William was granted a considerable extent of land in what is now Canada and set about establishing a Scottish colony in North America. The colony he founded there eventually became Nova Scotia. To help finance his plans, he suggested a money-making scheme whereby interested parties could be named Baronets of Nova Scotia — if they were willing to pay for the honour. (This was not Alexander’s idea, originally. King James had done exactly the same thing in Ulster a decade earlier.) Still, the settlement of Nova Scotia entailed repeated set-backs and required considerable investment from Alexander himself. When the lands granted to him in 1621 were returned to France by treaty nine years later, Alexander’s colonial enterprise was simply shut down, leaving him deeply in debt.
William Alexander’s association with James VI took him to London and brought him national prominence. His elder sons, two of whom predeceased him, also held prominent positions under the crown (see Anthony Alexander, Master of Works), but an Episcopalian family known for its service to the Stuart kings was unlikely to prosper in Scotland after the mid-40s. Alexander’s home at Menstrie was mortgaged to a relative, who foreclosed after his death in 1640[2], and by the time Charles I was executed in 1649, “the family’s estates had been lost and the country was in the hands of its political enemies”.[3] The third Earl of Stirling, William’s oldest surviving son Henry, died in obscurity, probably in England; his mother and most of his siblings settled in Ulster.
Copyright (c) Lynn McAlister, 2012
[1] ‘William Alexander, Earl of Stirling’ in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
[2] Robert Menzies Ferguson, Logie: A Parish History (Paisley: 1905), p. 171
[3] Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, p. 72
Posted in 17th century, Alexanders of Menstrie, Nova Scotia | Tagged Charles I, James VI
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Alternative compensation plans for improving retention of Air Force pilots.
Alternative compensation plans for improving retention of Air Force pilots. by Marvin M. Smith
Published 1989 by Congress of the U.S., Congressional Budget Office in Washington, D.C .
United States. -- Air Force -- Personnel management.,
Air pilots, Military -- Salaries, etc. -- United States.,
Air pilots, Military -- United States -- Supply and demand.
Series A special study, Special study (United States. Congressional Budget Office)
Contributions United States. Congressional Budget Office.
Pagination vii, 38 p. ;
Download Alternative compensation plans for improving retention of Air Force pilots.
Get this from a library! Alternative compensation plans for improving retention of Air Force pilots.. [Marvin M Smith; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services. Military Personnel and Compensation Subcommittee.; United States. Congressional Budget Office.] -- The shortage of U.S. Air Force pilots expected by has received Congressional attention for the past 2 years. A special study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Alternative Compensation Plans for Improving Retention of Air Force Pilots, examines five pay and/or bonus plans that are representative of. Enter your keywords. Sort by. Relevancy. Alternative compensation plans for improving retention of Air Force pilots. By Marvin M. Smith and United States. Congressional Budget Office. Air Force, Air pilots, Military, Air pilots, Military. Publisher: Washington, D.C.
Alternative Compensation Plans for Improving Retention of Air Force Pilots: A Special Study. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Three Models of Retirement: Computational Complexity versus. Retaining experience, enhancing readiness The Air Force was 1, pilots short at the end of fiscal , which includes 1, total force fighter pilots–with the deficit expected to grow. To address this, the first initiative is directed at all aviators and provides higher amounts of incentive pay, or flight pay. In June, the Air Force for the first time began offering retention bonuses of up to $, to fighter pilots who agree to extend their service 13 more years, at $35, per year. The Air Force Retention Problem and Its Causes But the quality of the Air Force, whether in or , is not measured in terms of new fighters, bombers, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles or the weapons they carry. It’s in the people who together have built the greatest air and space power team in the world. People are the strengthCited by: 1.
The Air Force historically strives to retain 65 percent of its pilots at the end of their flight training service commitment of 10 years. As recently as two years ago, the primary means of. Compensation and Benefits Handbook .This chapter includes the new pilot program, currently running in the review the soldier’s case. The Air Force evaluates a member for retention and if. But it's not a stop-loss order: “Air Force Reserve pilots, maintainers, space operators and cyber specialists who want to quit the service will have to stay in uniform for at least six months under a plan to address critical skills shortages. The involuntary service commitment is to ensure that the Air Force Reserve meets recruiting and end-strength goals, according to a memo on the policy. Air Force pilot retention has plummeted to 35 percent — 1, pilots have left in the past 24 months. A news headline reads: “Military hopes to curb exodus of discontent pilots.” The Senate is resistant to raising the pilot bonus.
No Balloons Today (See-Mores Workshop Series)
The 2000 Import and Export Market for Radio-Broadcast Receivers in Poland
Lucy Crown.
Syllabus of physical training for schools
A . . . is for Addiction
San Francisco Main Library
talent for technology
More Scripture Memory Songs - Learning Gods Word Through Music
Backpacking one step at a time.
Look! We have come through!
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Home Obituaries MCDEVITT
MCDEVITT, BRIDGET FRANCES
age 36. Beloved wife to Ted Tywang; devoted mother to Frances (4) and Ramona (2); cherished daughter of Mary McDevitt and Michael Robins, and adored daughter-in-law of Alice Newgarden and Rene Tywang (Roni); best friend, confidant and inspiration to many. Bridget passed peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family on October 9, 2020 after a difficult battle with neuroendocrine cancer that she faced with grace and her characteristic humor. Born on January 13, 1984 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bridget attended Breck School where she was a theater standout, and then Boston College where she sang a capella and graduated with Honors in Political Science in 2006. After living in Melbourne, Australia post-graduation, Bridget earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2012, where she met her husband and served as the Editor in Chief of A Jailhouse Lawyers’ Manual. A passionate advocate for social justice, Bridget practiced as a public defender in the Bronx with the Legal Aid Society before leaving the legal world to complete an urban farming apprenticeship in Brooklyn. Bridget and Ted moved to Cleveland in 2016, where their girls were born and Bridget cared for them as a wonderful (if somewhat unlikely) stay at home mom. A fiercely strong and independent woman, Bridget will be remembered for her loyalty, openness, empathy, generosity, wit, style and righteous indignation to injustices of all kinds. She was an adventurous traveler, legendary dancer, karaoke star and irreplaceable friend. To honor her unwavering commitment to social justice, in lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate contributions in her memory to National Bailout, Black Lives Matter, Edwins Restaurant or Towards Employment. A celebration of Bridget’s life will be held rain or shine on Friday, October 23rd at 3pm at Upper Edgewater Park in Cleveland.
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: I hope this ends here
by letusgotothemovies 8th Jul 2019 8th Jul 2019
I don’t know what it is with Ant-Man movies. They are simply not great.
This movie is less dumb than its prequel, and has some genuinely enjoyable sequences. But ultimately, the movie is just lukewarm. I don’t think it’s because Ant-Man isn’t a serious superhero. I mean, the Guardians of the Galaxy films are light and fun, but never venture into the territory of silliness. The movies are pretty intense, all things considered, and the stakes are sky-high (literally :P). The problem with Ant-Man, in my opinion, is that in trying to make the films light and cool, they fail to make them memorable. I think that is because of two reasons. First, in order for a film to be memorable, it should succeed in engaging the audience. This will happen only if the viewer is as concerned about the stakes in the story as the characters. Second, since this is a superhero movie, the tech/powers that are integral to the movie need to be understandable and believable for the audience. Ant-Man fails on both these counts.
Let us first look at the stakes in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Hank Pym, the physicist who invented the Ant-Man suit wants to go into the quantum realm to find his wife who got lost there many years ago. Keep in mind, this is the twentieth film in the MCU. By now I am used to the fate of the universe being at stake. This film turns that trope around by making the stakes the lives of two women – Pym’s wife in the quantum realm and Ava Starr/Ghost, the daughter of a former associate of Pym’s whose body is disintegrating due to quantum phasing (there is a lot of ‘quantum’ in this film that I will discuss in the next part of the review). So far so good. Not every superhero film needs to be about saving the galaxy from supervillains. But they do need situations and characters the audience can care about. Good movies in the MCU have done that by having the antagonists pose moral quandaries in addition to physical challenges for the protagonists.
In this case, the two antagonists – Sonny, a black-market tech-dealer, and Ghost didn’t do anything of the sort. Instead, the challenge they presented was entirely in the form of chase and action sequences. Ghost had started to make herself credible by stating that her condition was as a result of her father being discredited by Pym, but rather than explore that threat, the film quickly resolved it by establishing her father as a liar and a thief. Even the one person who was helping her, another pissed-off former associate of Pym’s (the guy managed to piss off every single person he interacted with), abruptly changed his tune and began supporting Pym’s mission to find his wife instead of his own goal of harnessing Van Dyne’s energy from the quantum realm to cure Ghost of her affliction. Even Ghost’s affliction loses its seriousness towards the end of the film, when a newly returned Van Dyne can cure her simply by touching her and passing on the quantum energy she supposedly absorbed over the years.
This brings me to my second point. This film explores the quantum realm, an area where physics changes character completely. The problem is that the film overuses the concept and spews out ideas that must impress the audience simply because they have the word ‘quantum’ before them. The film acknowledges this by having Ant-Man say, “Do you guys just put the word ‘quantum’ in front of everything?” Far-fetched quantum mechanics is supposed to explain everything – how Van Dyne managed to survive for years in the quantum realm, how she managed to make an antenna, meet with and plug it on to Ant-Man when he entered the quantum realm, understand that there is healing energy in the quantum realm, harness that energy in her own body… All of this is simply too far-fetched, even for a universe that tells us stories about adventures in outer space.
So, if you’re still wondering why Ant-Man wasn’t called to be a part of the Avengers in Infinity War, you know that the silliness of the series probably had more than a small part to play in it.
Superheroesaction antman avenger avengers characters comedy drama evangeline lilly film films funny hank pym luis movie movies paul rudd physics pym quantum review suit superhero Superheroes tech villain wasp writing
Ant-Man: Dumb and Dumber
by letusgotothemovies 23rd May 2019
In 2016, when Captain America: Civil War had hit the theatres I had gone to see it with a friend of mine. At the time, I wasn’t a fan of superhero movies. I remember finding the movie outlandish and silly (NOT my sentiments today, I can assure you). The only parts of the film I had enjoyed were the action sequences featuring Ant-Man. He was funny and didn’t take himself too seriously (unlike the rest of the cast). I remember telling my friend that I wanted to watch the Ant-Man film, because that was probably the only superhero movie I would enjoy. You can imagine my excitement, then, when it was my turn to watch Ant-Man in the MCU movie list. After a relatively heavy film like Avengers: Age of Ultron, I thought this movie would provide the perfect respite. Oh, how wrong I was!
Ant-Man starts with great promise. Unlike other superhero movies, where the principal character is either a genius and/or the toughest fighter and/or a billionaire, the protagonist here is a thief. He is broke and can’t even hold a job at Baskin Robbins. He becomes a superhero only because a scientist needs an expendable foot soldier. Beyond this, however, the movie is just dumb. There is no compelling reason for any of the characters’ actions. For instance, why does Lang think that a suit that powerful can be stolen from a house safe? Why does Hank Pym say that Scott Lang is his only hope? Lang may be a good thief, but how difficult would it be for Pym to find another thief? Why does Darren Cross/Yellowjacket have to steal Pym’s suit if he has a functional suit of his own? One could argue that he thought it was not fully developed, but the fear of his experiments failing didn’t stop Cross from experimenting indiscriminately on animals. When the fate of the world was at stake why did Pym, Hope and Ant-Man decide to break into a lab with a bunch of silly, small-time crooks? Why was a world-class science facility so easy to break into in the first place? Hope hung out with her dad for most of the movie. How did she believe that Cross wouldn’t find that out? Why did Cross play along with Hope even though he knew? Had these questions been thought through, we would have probably gotten a smarter movie. Instead, we get a parody-esque portrayal of this great character. It is meant to be funny, but the movie didn’t so much as make me smile. I was just appalled at the stupidity of everything to find the gags funny.
In addition to a scattered plot, the movie also suffers from the lack of a formidable villain. I have written about this before, but a superhero movie needs a good villain. Every hero needs a challenge to prove himself/herself, and the greater the challenge, the more impressive the hero. In much of this movie, Ant-Man is unchallenged, at least when it comes to his powers. He gets a moment to shine when he defeats the Avengers’ Falcon. But I wish the movie had set up the antagonist so that we knew the challenge Ant-Man was dealing with. Furthermore, the viewer has no understanding of the antagonist’s motivations or powers. This reduces the action to mindless fighting. The film never poses a larger right versus wrong question, much less try to answer that question through action. And finally, if I may add, I just couldn’t get on board with trained ants as Ant-Man’s minions. It was more disgusting than anything else, unfortunately.
The trope of saving the world from advanced weaponry falling into the wrong hands has been done countless times in the past. Even though Ant-Man fails, we know Marvel can do it again, much better. You know how I know that? Its basically Marvel’s MO.
Superheroesaction antman drama evangeline lilly hank pym marvel marvel movie paul rudd superhero
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Dalla Costa: Partners pitch hope
Morris Dalla Costa
The new soccer buzzword is pathway.
It is the word governing bodies use in terms of providing a route to the development of the player.
But it’s also come to mean more than just development. It’s also become a pathway of hope — hope for players to move on to bigger and better things in the soccer world.
The local soccer picture has gotten a little bit clearer in terms of that pathway with the recent agreement between local League1 Ontario side FC London and MLS professional side Toronto FC to partner in player development.
Toronto general manager Tim Bezbatchenko, Toronto FC academy director Laurent Guyot and Corey Wray, director of team operations for the academy, came to London Wednesday to further discuss the arrangement.
In terms of player opportunity, it’s always good news to see some of the heavy hitters in Canadian professional soccer come into your community. It’s an obvious attempt to make sure everyone understands what they want to do and their willingness to work with community partners to do it.
“This is the third year of our strategic plan and we feel we’ve sorted our things out internally and that we have one of the best academies in MLS in terms of producing professionals,” Bezbatchenko said. “We need to provide an outlet for players who want to be professional beyond the GTA. We would be silly not to reach out to the hotbeds in Ontario. London is sort of the capital of this region.
“We’re not going to be doing this in every market. I’d say three-to-five strategic markets . . . I think that are enough.”
The League1 Ontario team and Toronto FC will work closely to scout, develop and advance players they hope will eventually land at a Toronto FC Academy and their professional team.
The organizations have formed the London TFC Regional Development and Identification Centre. Toronto FC will provide professional technical player and coaching development help. FC London will retain its name. Toronto FC also has a development centre in Windsor.
There is no direct financial contribution to FC London but any players or coaching clinics will be shared with other members within the FC London family.
Toronto FC will make scouting trips to London, of course, but FC London will provide the parent organization with quarterly updates on the development of players of interest.
The goal is to move players into the TFC Academy and eventually on to the professional club.
Toronto FC Academy has players from U10 to League1 level. The process is simple. Each regional development centre identifies players at various ages and those players attend training sessions and depending on development and age continue along the path to the Toronto FC Academy or the professional club.
“They’ll come into training at the KIA training ground and at an appropriate age through a residency program put them up,” Bezbatchenko said. “That’s the successful model.”
One of the biggest complaints heard in this area, especially in boys’ and men’s soccer, is how hard it was to get noticed.
Bezbatchenko doesn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. Toronto FC scouts aren’t going to be down in London on a regular basis but they will come down as needed and will get regular reports on players at various stages in the development who show potential to go on.
“I don’t want anyone to think we’re just doing this just for Toronto FC,” he said. “I do believe it’s part of our mission and vision, that we should grow the game of soccer and giving back. By giving back I mean, one: providing a player pathway; and two: providing coaching education.
“We want players to know there is a path to becoming a professional player and that it’s within an hour or two drive in southern Ontario.”
Guyot was adamant in discussing the development of players. He believes it often hurts a player to be placed in a residential academy setting when that player is too young. He believes though that by the time an elite player turns 15, he should be in residence and playing with other elite players.
Guyot and Bezbatchenko are also realists.
“You don’t expect 10 players a year,” Guyot said. “But if you get five, six players in two years, that is good.”
Bezbatchenko said FC London was the right fit for Toronto FC.
“There are clubs that do this and are looking for fees, registration fees, branding opportunities. We aren’t asking for a penny,” he said. “Our partnership with FC London and their model, all their money is retained in this area. There is no financial incentive for us to do this other than 10 years down the line when that player is playing for the first team and helps us win a championship.”
That championship would be at the end of the pathway of hope.
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ABOUT DR. MANIA
Dr. Mania El Baba is the Chairman of the Spec Brite Group LLC, a chain of trading companies which imports and exports cutting-edge well being, aesthetic, fitness, nutrition and medical equipment and products across the GCC, Middle East, Europe and Asia.
With strong 28 years of experience in both Medical and Trading field, she continues to expand and take the company and its stakeholders to greater heights. She has been successful since she started to develop and establish Specialized Beauty EST in 2000 and continue to be the leader in the industry.
Born in Lebanon, Mania El Baba attended primary and secondary school in Beirut then left to the USA at the age of 16.
In 1991, Mania started her first business in St. John Antigua, opening a department store (Stop and Shop). Meanwhile, having a clear view of achieving her great ambition she made a parallel move to Florida in 1994 and worked closely with Wilma Schumann, a well-known Cosmetologist in Miami.
In 1997, she decided to start up her own clinic and trading company in Lebanon that led to her establishment in the United Arab Emirates in 1999, which today is known as Spec Brite Group LLC, a chain of Trading Companies.
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Archives For Titanic
Teaching Kids to Write
November 20, 2018 — 13 Comments
My grandkids have stunned me with their enthusiasm for writing. And all it took to inspire them was a very simple activity.
I invited our ten youngest grandchildren (aged 4 to 12) to write their own family newspaper. Although I devised our family publication myself, I’ve since learned that there are abundant resources—albeit of vastly different qualities—available online. You’ll find some links below.
The first challenge was to explain to them what a newspaper is. The irony is not lost on me that none of our four families currently subscribe to daily papers. It was more difficult than I anticipated to explain to all of the novice journalists precisely what newspapers are. I use the present tense, because the medium is not quite obsolete, despite the downward trajectory of most local papers. As an editorial in the Washington Post said this year, “newspapers have been dying in slow motion for two decades now.” And it seems to many the process is accelerating.
Nevertheless, as the proud veteran of high school and college newspaper staffs, and a former contributor to my hometown weekly, I believe such publications are ideal for developing writing skills. The passion overflowing from my writing bullpen has vastly exceeded my expectations, confirming my impression.
While it took a while to gather enough submissions for the first issue, they rushed to fill the second. When each was “published,” all of the kids immediately sat down and read their personal issues from proverbial cover to cover.
My endorsement of family newspapers does not carry over to the commercial press. Sadly, too much of what is presented as “objective reporting,” is patently subjective. I debated my journalism profs about that matter forty years ago, and the evidence has only grown more visible. I also agree with C.S. Lewis’ opinion that the majority of what passes for “news,” is superfluous or sensationalistic.
Even in peacetime I think those are very wrong who say that schoolboys should be encouraged to read the newspapers. Nearly all that a boy reads there in his teens will be seen before he is twenty to have been false in emphasis and interpretation, if not in fact as well, and most of it will have lost all importance.
Most of what he remembers he will therefore have to unlearn; and he will probably have acquired an incurable taste for vulgarity and sensationalism and the fatal habit of fluttering from paragraph to paragraph to learn how an actress has been divorced in California, a train derailed in France, and quadruplets born in New Zealand. (Surprised by Joy)
Perhaps ironically, Lewis did not hesitate to publish his own writings in worthy newspapers. Most notably, The Guardian (an Anglican newspaper printed between 1846 and 1951) published several of his essays. In addition, they presented to the world (in serial form) both The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce.
For an interesting discussion about C.S. Lewis’ opinion that newspapers are inadequate tools for assessing truth, check out this article. The author draws a valid distinction between Lewis’ example and the current state of affairs where “we judge too quickly and offer grace much too slowly.”
Elements of Our Family’s Publishing Experiment
After describing to the kids what newspapers are, I provided them with a list of potential subject matter. In addition to “standard” sorts of news and reviews, I added things like “sermon notes,” fiction, and comics.
I encourage them to illustrate their own articles, and the first two issues have been graced with images of dogs, horses, King Tut, and a Turtle Bear (who served as a weather forecaster). Each child contributes at their own level, and the cousins commend each other on their efforts.
We’re early in the stages of teaching the kids about rewriting and self-editing. Depending on the situation, either their parents or the editorial staff (grandma and grandpa) assist them with learning to revise their own work.
I must confess that one of the most fun aspects of Curious Cousins Courier is my ability, as the editor, to creatively engage in a bit of editorial privilege. The primary example comes in a “Family Heritage” feature that I write for each issue.
In the first, we considered the life of the cousins’ great-great-grandfather who immigrated from Norway in 1912. Julius Olaissen Næsbø unsuccessfully attempted to travel on the RMS Titanic, but the steerage class was full, and he had to settle for a departure several weeks later. The fringe benefit of reading about “Grandpa Nesby” came in learning that other languages include letters in their alphabet that are foreign to us in the States.
In the second issue, I pointed the children to one of their ancestors who helped establish our country itself, during the Revolutionary War. Joseph Johnston was born in Ireland, and was a sergeant in the Fifth Virginia Regiment.
The importance of cementing family bonds—and instilling a healthy awareness of our family’s legacy—is extremely important to me. I suppose that is due in large part to spending the first third of my life as a nomadic military kid. Yet that sense of disconnectedness from my extended family did not prevent me from inflicting the same itinerant military lifestyle on my own children. But that’s a story for another day.
If you help to establish a newspaper or journal for members of your own family, I trust you will find it as rewarding as I do.
A Few Online Resources
“Get the Scoop: Create a Family Newspaper,” from Education.com
“How to Make a Family Newspaper,” from wikiHow.
The 5 Ws are noted on ImaginationSoup. (In case you’ve forgotten, they’re who, what, where, when and why.)
More developed thoughts, with an eye toward the classroom, are available at The CurriculumCorner.
In C.S. Lewis, Family, Grandparenting, My Writing Projects, Writing Alphabets, American Revolution, C.S. Lewis, Continental Army, Editing, Education, Fake News, Family, Grandchildren, Heritage, Legacy, Literature, Newspapers, Norway, Roots, Sensationalism, Teaching, Titanic, Trustworthiness, Writing
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Tag: libertarian
Computing Forever takes on the EU(starting with Richard Dawkins)2/2
25/07/2016 25/07/2016 Posted in rants, storiesTagged brexit, computing forever, crackpot, dawkins, democracy, eu, libertarian, referendum, theresa may2 Comments
2:50 “It is not difficult to do some basic research[]”(Computing Forever)
Sometimes it works to look at the sources someone uses for his arguments.
https://youtu.be/omlGfwLC2Lw
These are Computing Forever’s named sources.
1 The sun.
2 An article by a pro-Brexit writer, written for a news website called Heat Street, a libertarian source. The article is otherwise unsupported.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_Street
look up : Lukas Mikelionis to get to know the writer.
3 Above article(point 2) is in itself is based on a article by a former UKIP politician writing for the daily mail who cites no sources and is otherwise unsupported.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janice_Atkinson
4 Infowars, a website run Alex Jones, a man who is a libertarian and a conspiracy theorist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jones_(radio_host)
None of his named sources are supported by credible sources like:
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/12/17/the-best-english-newspapers/
I don’t mean that they do not support him. I mean even if they support his claims he doesn’t mention them.
Above link is just an example. Go look for yourself.Check this man’s sources and claims.
Note that Computing Forever hardly uses any credible source even if these supports his claims.
He uses the Guardian once, only to cite a biased interview of a former Greek finance minister who can hardly be viewed as being objective.
Here is a detailed breakdown:
CF opens with an article on Theresa May and Scotland that comes from the sun.
The sun is a tabloid paper with a pro-Brexit stance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_(United_Kingdom)
It is also not considered a reliable source.
http://www.djsresearch.co.uk/MediaAdvertisingAndPRMarketResearchInsightsAndFindings/article/The-Sun-Crowned-Most-Read-and-Least-Trusted-Newspaper-by-UK-Poll-00886
No other sources support this article.
“She wants to slowly forget about it.”
An unsubstantiated statement by CF.
The Eu “[] is an anti-democratic superstate.“
Anti-democratic:Unsupported claim.
Superstate: Unsupported claim.
It is not a state:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union.
“So many scientists seem to be against leaving out of self-interest.“
Unsupported claim.
Note:there are however sources that support this claim, but CF does not use them. He simply fails to back up his claims even if he can.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/07/brexit-is-also-a-vote-against-the-elitism-in-science
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-the-science-community-says-no-to-brexit/
http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.35380!/file/Brexit%20survey_full%20results.pdf
“Now I am not saying that is the reason Dawkins is against Brexit, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was.”
It can be easily found that he is. Did Computing Forever even look?
The #Brexit vote makes me seriously doubt the existence of any sort of human evolution
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-dawkins-eu-referendum-brexit-david-cameron-a7059201.html
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/richard-dawkins-brexit-catastrophe
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/29/eu-referendum-parliament-leaders-david-cameron-david-mitchell
https://richarddawkins.net/?s=brexit
“Basic research how the EU operates“
a) First mentioned article: 6 Time EU bosses who sneered at the electorate.
This is written by Heat Street, a libertarian news agency by a pro-Brexit writer. He ends the article with: “Vote Leave to wipe the smirk off their faces”
Point by point:
1) Euro parliament president: Referendums for “mentally weak”, “like Nazis”
The underlying source is an article by Janet Atkinson in the daily mail. She mentions no sources and no other sources support what she says. She was a UKIP politician and therefore can be assumed to be a Brexit supporter. More about her here:
As it comes to nazis it was Schulz who was being accused of being one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Schulz
See the incident with Godfrey Bloom.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tory-mep-provokes-uproar-with-attack-on-nazi-eu-776748.html
2)“Decisions taken by the most democratic institutions in the world are very often wrong.”
Jose Manuel Barroso 2010
This is an often quoted statement and seems valid enough. Context hard to establish.
3) Rompuy: “But we do it anyway.”
http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140429_01087318
Not accessible, so hard to establish context or validity. I am Dutch so I can read the Standard. Can’t access the page without becomming a member.
4) “Britain belongs to us.”
http://www.itv.com/news/2015-06-17/martin-schultz-britain-belongs-to-the-eu/
Quoted out of context if you look at it as Schulz says the UK belongs to the EU(not us) as it is part of it.
But the writer conveniently overlooks Schulz saying that Britain is free to suggest changes as any other member state can at 1:10 into the interview.
5)Juncker: “PM’s listen to voters too much.”
“Elected leaders are making life “difficult” because they spend too much time thinking about what they can get out of EU and kowtowing to public opinion, rather than working on “historic” projects such as the Euro, he said.
6)Trade Commissioner: “I don’t take my mandate from the European People.”
This is quoted by John Hillary in his article. He is an opponent of TTIP for which the Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is responsible. She has denied saying this. See controversy:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/i-didn-t-think-ttip-could-get-any-scarier-but-then-i-spoke-to-the-eu-official-in-charge-of-it-a6690591.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Malmstr%C3%B6m
b)”Greece Is A Scapegoat For The Disintegration Of The EU”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/apr/29/the-austerity-delusion
Based on an interview with the Former Greek minister of Finance.
c)Hate speech code.
Unsourced, so here are the sources Computing Forever fails to mention. Read for yourself.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/31/facebook-youtube-twitter-microsoft-eu-hate-speech-code
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1937_en.htm
d)ELITE WILL USE MIGRANTS TO DESTROY EUROPEAN LABOR
http://www.infowars.com/elite-will-use-migrants-to-destroy-european-labor/
This is an article in infowars.
It is run by Alex Jones.
He is a conspiracy theorist.
I can confidently say he is a crackpot. The aritcle is written by Kurt Nimmo, but based on what Alex Jones thinks(see associated movie on website).
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Alex_Jones
“(sarcastic) We should just listen to our politicians? They can never be corrupted, biased or plain wrong on any issue?“
What he seems to claim is that he doesn’t trust in the democratic process with which the country is organized.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom
“I can’t believe that I bought two of his books.”(about Dawkins)
Apparently, books get only credible when the writer agrees with you in everything even if the books discuss unrelated subjects.
5:25: “Where have I heard this before?“(on a second referendum)
From Nigel Farage.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nigel-farage-wants-second-referendum-7985017
6:15 : False dichotomy: it is referenda or dictatorship and nothing in between.
Yet, he refuses to vote a second time in the Irish 2009 one. https://youtu.be/pZ9fxpmM1lA?t=66
6:20 “you are anti-democratic to the core.”(to Dawkins)
Dawkins is undemocratic because he says that the decision should have been left to an elected parliament and he proposes a second referendum.
Computing Forever doesn’t like this.
6:25 “Ireland and France were asked again for the Nice and Lisbon treaties because the EU doesn’t care for[].”
Referenda are not enforced from the EU. In fact the democratic elected parliaments and governments have to initiate and approve them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amendments_to_the_Constitution_of_Ireland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendums_in_France
“I will always respect you.”(about Dawkins)
Look back at 4:44 where CF wonders why he bought two books from Dawkins.
And that is the end.
What it all boils down to is that you are watching a video that uses as sources articles from the sun, heat street and infowars, twitter and the like. And biased interviews. The only credible source he mentions is the guardian. Otherwise his statements go unsourced or unexplained.
Computing Forever takes on the world 1/2(starting with Thunderf00t)
25/07/2016 26/07/2016 Posted in rants, storiesTagged brexit, computing forever, eu, invalid reasoning, libertarian, rants, thunderf00t, undoomedLeave a comment
Computing Forever takes on people like Richard Dawkins and Thunderf00t on his YouTube channel.https://youtu.be/pZ9fxpmM1lA
Oh… Who are these guys you might ask?
This is Richard Dawkins:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkin
This is Thunderf00t:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Mason
I ran into Computing Forever when he called out Thunderf00t in his video.
What struck me was that he says this about Thunderf00t:
“These arguments he makes in the video come from a place[]of speculation, hearsay, emotion,[] none of the rational empiricism[]. It is just a series of cognitive biases throughout.”
So.. well. Maybe he is right. I thought.
And what do I discover?
That you can say about Computing Forever:
You do not believe me?
On the 15th of June Computing Forever publicized on the Undoomed channel his criticism of Thunderfoot’s stance and arguing against a Brexit.
The video started out with Computing Forever stating at 00:45 about Thunderf00t that
Next Computing Forever goes into criticism on the arguing of Thunderf00t. And to a point his arguing can be taken as valid, even when you don’t agree.
But the Computing Forever uses this video to launch his own arguments for a Brexit and one would expect that after launching that hefty dose of criticism he would be sure to not make the same mistakes.
And does he not make the same mistake?
Let’s see him argue for the Brexit(which is more: why I am against the EU).
Starting 10:15.
The UK will lose its own sovereignty.
Computing Forever does not elaborate how that would come about. He just makes it a matter of fact statement without backing it up with any source, link or proof. You either believe him or not.
So I did the work he forgot to do, and if you read the Wikipedia on sovereignty you will see that it can not be lost. It is either given away or taken by force:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_sovereignty
If Computing Forever wanted to argue the UK would be suckered into losing its sovereignty, then he is free to do so. But he doesn’t. He just states it as a fact.But it isn’t a fact. It is speculation on his part.
10:17: The EU wants to have its own police force.
Another claim by Computing Forever that goes unsourced.
So again I looked it up.
There is no proof to be found on the internet. So if he has any proof it would be nice to be supplied with that proof, otherwise: it is hearsay.
There is Europol:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europol
“The agency has no executive powers, and its officials are not entitled to conduct investigations in the member states or to arrest suspects. “
There is a European gendarmerie which is an intervention force operated by five nations and has nothing to do with the EU.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Gendarmerie_Force
What sources I can find are like these:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1360785/What-the-EU-really-wants-now-is-its-own-police-force.html
10:18: Its own rule of law.
Computing Forever accuses the EU of trying to get its own rule of law.
Whatever does he mean?
Rule of law: “the restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power by subordinating it to well-defined and established laws.”
The EU already has a rule of law. Or does he mean he rather has no rule of law?
He might mean something but he does not tell.
An own constitution.
It is true they tried to have a constitution and I think that someone argued that the legal arrangements already in place are a de facto constitution. However when it was attempted to have a constitution this was blocked by the French and Dutch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_establishing_a_Constitution_for_Europe
We will see further into the movie how emotional he reacts when it comes to the Irish referendum.
Become the United States of Europe.
No sources that such is occurring or planned.
So here are some sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Europe
So according to the polls held there are more people for than against it. If he wanted to support his case,he could have pointed to this poll. But he didn’t.
The EU is profoundly undemocratic.
It would be very nice if he somehow can explain why it is undemocratic. But he doesn’t.
What sources keep track of democracy are focused on countries.
Here are some sources that he might have given.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_deficit_in_the_European_Union
http://internationaldemocracywatch.org/index.php/european-union
We can continue on to the slightly skewed representation of the Irish referendum where Computing Forever becomes pretty emotional.
To wit: he is exactly like he accuses Thunderf00t to be.
It doesn’t make him wrong, it is just that:
00:45 “These arguments he makes in the video come from a place[]of speculation, hearsay, emotion,[] none of the rational empiricism[]. It is just a series of cognitive biases throughout.”
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Tanya Gold, I think we all know why it wasn’t a good interview #richardarmitage
Tanya Gold resurfaces to slam Richard Armitage for being reticent. Ms Gold, we all remember that bash job of an interview. We knew what you wanted and you didn’t get. You spent as much time slamming Armitage’s fans as you did digging for your big scoop. If you don’t like doing these interviews, just don’t. Stop whining. I for one won’t miss you.
In this Thursday, June 26, 2013 photo, British actor Richard Armitage poses for the photographer at the Old Vic theatre in London. The British actor, who played dwarf warrior Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy, stars at London’s Old Vic Theatre as John Proctor, the decent man in a world gone mad at the center of “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s modern classic about the Salem witch trials. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
~ by Servetus on October 7, 2016.
Tags: Richard Armitage, Tanya Gold, The Crucible
43 Responses to “Tanya Gold, I think we all know why it wasn’t a good interview #richardarmitage”
Wow, she does sound bitter.
A deeper level of self reflection may help her figure it out, or she’s may simply not be the right person for the job. The way that piece is written, I’d probably be reticent and humming away too instead of answering her questions
Vanguard said this on October 7, 2016 at 4:39 pm | Reply
I used to really like her writing, but she really doesn’t get fandom and she seems to spend a lot of time hating herself and women, which comes across in her writing. Honestly, most people who are interested in celebrities are not self-loathers. It’s a really complex thing that most people don’t “get” until they are involved. She doesn’t need to love fans to do this work but she should try to get an idea of where they are coming from. In that original interview, she spent a lot of time slamming fans (maybe because Armitage wasn’t responding to her baiting around the question of whom he prefers to sleep with). What a shame for her, that he wanted to talk about the play. He doesn’t seem to have a problem talking extensively with friendly reviewers, as has been proven again and again. And although she interviewed him for The Crucible, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award, she describes him as the hot dwarf actor. I imagine that Armitage could tell even then that she had little respect for him or interest in his actual project, and probably responded appropriately.
I think she’s right that celebrity interviews are not hard-hitting journalism. But it’s a bit weird for her to have chosen to be an editorialist as opposed to an investigative reporter if she has problems with this. My impression is that she doesn’t want to do the hard work of an investigative journalist, which is fine, of course. She just wants to have an opinion.
Servetus said this on October 7, 2016 at 4:45 pm | Reply
That explains why the name is familiar to me, didn’t remember. Don’t know if she slams him but if the tone she approached him in was the tone in the old article no surprise. I had a laugh about Rylance hmming 🙂 If you tend to have this effect on people maybe you are approaching it the wrong way.
I don’t want to give this more importance than it has, an article about an interview that you’ve had nothing to do with is not really relevant.
The whole thing in my opinion misses the point. That is not an interview, it is a conversation between people who know and trust each other.
Interviews rarely start on that basis and interviews don’t have to be celebrity profiles. It’s absolutely not the same thing.
That’s why i vastly prefer longer conversations and more limited topics, predetermined but more in depth which make for more interesting reads and certainly more willing and open participants. Like theatre talks, the Times talks, the SAGA and similar. Where the topic is central and the insights and not selling papers/the profile of the interviewer/extracting hidden information etc.
On the same topic i saw a.. almost said interview, but it wasn’t, it was another conversation with Kirsty Young from Desert Island discs http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
That’s where i had hoped to hear Richard one day by the way, format would suit him like a glove and we’d finally get to hear some of his music choices.
But that kind of talent to talk to people and listen is rare these days.
Hariclea said this on October 7, 2016 at 4:58 pm | Reply
just to clarify i meant this as in ‘writing an article about an interview you, the writer, have had nothing to do with’.. to avoid any misunderstandings.
One of the thing that’s frustrating about her take on that conversation, frankly, is she seems not to get that the fact that these people work in the same profession means that they are things they don’t have to say to each other because they know how things go. It’s also fascinating to me that she spends so much time on Hiddleswift if it’s true, as she claims, that she’s not interested. These are basic points of rhetorical analysis and I think she’s an Oxbridge product — she should know these things. I stopped reading her after 2014 but one thing that definitely projects from this article is her own self-loathing.
I don’t know how intelligent Mark Rylance is but he was amazing in Wolf Hall and he exudes the vibe of being smart and balanced. I also don’t know if he’s given great interviews to anyone — but it sounds like Armitage and Rylance were on the same page about her.
I also think there is some great writing about and with celebrities out there — Vanity Fair, for instance, houses a lot of it. It’s possible to do good work in this genre, but not, of course, if you go into it resenting that you are doing it.
This makes me think of a quote I posted in my ‘world smile day’ post just an hour or so ago:
“If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole.”
Feels applicable here. 😉
Esther said this on October 7, 2016 at 5:15 pm | Reply
‘ggg’ 🤓
It’s true and I think truly reflective people know this — I know when I am having a bad day and should try to shield other people from myself (whether I am always successful at that is another matter, but I do try).
You’ve just described my last two weeks.
heatherparish said this on October 7, 2016 at 7:33 pm | Reply
I saw your post and then read Gold’s piece and thought of that Raylan quote immediately. She’s the common denominator in most of these interactions.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Also, one wonders why her job is to interview celebrities since she doesn’t seem to enjoy it.
csprof said this on October 8, 2016 at 3:04 am | Reply
Joanna said this on October 8, 2016 at 9:04 am | Reply
I don’t think she resents it the way she says. That’s what she would like to believe, that she feels dissatisfied with it because it is somehow ‘morally wrong’ or inappropriate. No, it isn’t unless you the interviewer make it so. What she is, just from the examples she cited, is not good at it. She knows she has not been successful at it, i suspect more times than she discloses and instead of moving on, learning from it or choosing something else she tries to produce pity in the reader for how hard it is these days in this profession and how wrong. I think she shouldn’t feel guilty about it, it is a very difficult thing to do and a very rare talent to know how to talk to people and above all how to make people talk. It’s not her talent and instead of admitting it and moving on she names and shames but pretends mea culpa and asks for pity from the reader implicitly. And she fails at the most basic hurdle and what she says is her profession. A sense of decency and tact. To the normal reader it is obvious why a certain subject would not come up in the conversation she mentions but she does ponder on it. And then she wonders why people clam up. That’s why, because she herself is more celebrity and gossip hungry than actually interested in the people rather than the celebrities she talks to.
I found it irritating and meaningless to read an article about what to me was a very interesting and relaxing conversation. I really didn’t need her meaningless side notes to it. It spoke for itself, thanks very much.
Rylance is very polite but discrete, very happy to talk about his work though. I’ve seen numerous interviews recently about WH, Bridge of Spies, Shakespeare, the BFG, etc.
End of. Honestly, parts of the conversations she mentions are so much more interesting 🙂
I just now searched out the conversation (which I was unaware of as, unlike Tanya Gold, I’m not interested in either Cumberbatch or Hiddleston all that much) and yeah, although it was kind of pompously written (does Cumberbatch speak that way on a daily basis?) no one would mistake that for a profile or journalism written by a reporter. It was strictly insider baseball. Nothing wrong with it. But Cumberbatch also clearly wasn’t trying to put reporters out of business by doing it, either.
Servetus said this on October 7, 2016 at 11:03 pm | Reply
Re – Mark Rylance I really like him – He is not only a consummate actor and former Artisitc Director of Shakespeare’s Globe but also a very articulate person. I saw him a couple of times off stage last year. On one occasion at the Royal Academy of Arts to discuss the importance of costume design and the detail that goes into it. They used his Olivia costume from12th Night to illustrate their point. Very informative and entertaining. IMO is has this very British understated subtle charm about him.
He gives the impression of having his feet on the ground.
She sounds downright mean – she sounds like someone with strong preconceived ideas, judgmental and harsh with no empathy. To me it sounds like when people don’t conform to her ideas or they don’t give her what she wants, she is disappointed and goes off on a rant. Like a little petulant kid, really. I always think journalists should be genuinely open and curious, not clouded by pre-judgment. That part about Stanley Tucci struck me harder than the Armitage part! She is surprised that someone doesn’t want to tell a stranger AND a journalist about how he feels about the death of his first wife? Sure, you can poke, journalists poke, but with a little empathy you should also be able to understand when a person does not want to share certain stuff! Deal with that professionally, not by slamming the person you interview. Nope, I do not like the sound of her!
A kind of fundamental thing for talking to anyone, IMO, is that you have to understand why they are speaking to you in the first place. You may not value that or respect it in the same way that they do, but if people are involved and you want them to tell you things, you have to at least know where they are coming from. If you project that you do not respect their purpose, of course they will clam up, and that may become general, i.e., if you don’t respect that they don’t want to talk to you about their private lives, they may also become terse about the things they actually want to speak about. I also don’t respond to people who don’t appear to be listening to me in an average conversational situation.
As far as being annoyed that Tucci didn’t want to talk about his grief — I’m amazed that that would have surprised anyone. I don’t talk about my grief with that many people and I don’t expect my remarks to make the gossip headlines within hours. How much more careful a celeb must need to be. Tucci had three children with her — I’m sure he’s not going to say anything that might impact them, either. Sheez.
Yes, exactly, on the respect!!!
subject matter aside, a good journalist should be a good storyteller. this article was so hard to follow, I still don’t know what it was supposed to be about. it would have made more sense if it was constructed in bullet point format b/c that’s how it read to me: pot shots coming at me left and right like sniper fire. in the end, I’m not left wondering why Ms. Gold would write a piece like this (I think that was the only clear thing about this article: her low self esteem), but rather why would anyone go forward with it in the first place? shoddy work all around.
KellyDS said this on October 7, 2016 at 6:18 pm | Reply
It seems like the same version of bait and switch we’re often getting from the media — buy this thing, but we’ll make fun of you for being happy you bought it. Here it’s “loathe this thing, but we’ll make fun of you for loathing it.”
What a nasty person.
alyssabethancourt said this on October 7, 2016 at 7:21 pm | Reply
Unfortunately, I can’t disagree with you this time around.
She’s an idiot and it’s just as well if she gives up celebrity interviews. She needs to learn it’s not all about her…
Helen said this on October 7, 2016 at 8:36 pm | Reply
There are some celebrity interviewers whose interviews one looks forward to reading — the WSJ entertainment reporter who’s interviewed Armitage a few times comes to mind — but mostly because they have an informed, friendly POV.
I think if she doesn’t like actors/entertainers (and won’t even try?? “Entertainers are, by profession, an abyss, because they are storytellers” – what the???) – then she should obviously quit trying to interview them.
I suspect she’s in some respect figuring that out (or worst case, been TOLD that by someone she HAS to listen to), and doing a weak “mea culpa” while attempting to haul a few people down the Abaddon hole with her as she falls….Interesting she felt this need to call names.
And making it painfully clear that some of the best actors in the business (including Richard) couldn’t have a good interview with you would seem to say more about her than them. She’s got a backstory that she can’t get past, obviously. Keep it moving, Ms. Gold…..
SHeRA said this on October 7, 2016 at 9:56 pm | Reply
I think she wants to be the storyteller and has found she can’t get control in this setting.
Servetus said this on October 8, 2016 at 3:42 am | Reply
A storyteller with a definite mean streak…. she “falls in love briefly” with the interviewee yet sees what she does as sadistic. Poking into people’s grief from a twisted sense of obligation rather than genuine interest, and she wonders why it doesn’t play well. She needs to become a financial writer or something.
SHeRA said this on October 8, 2016 at 11:34 pm | Reply
LOL. Well, that would certainly support her sense of self-righteousness. I don’t get from her the ambition to understand things that are not already inside her ken, though.
In an article such as this, why mention a failed interview of a lesser known actor ( compared to Cumberbatch and Rylance?) I think this is another example of Tanya Gold trying to use the Richard Armitage fandom and capitalize on his name. I’m sure her article hits increased because his name was in the article.
Perry said this on October 7, 2016 at 10:46 pm | Reply
I’m sure that’s true, too — and he fits in a similar demographic with Hiddleston and Cumberbatch.
[…] a failed interview for Tanya Gold. The discussion, with links to the old and the new, are here, on Me and Richard. Come on […]
Celebrity Interviewer Tanya Gold Remembers #RichardArmitage | Armitage Agonistes said this on October 7, 2016 at 10:52 pm | Reply
I don’t like her writing, I find it choppy and confusing. The whole time I read this new ‘article’? confession? bitch-fest? Jealousy of Benedict Cumberbatch?? all that kept repeating in my mind was ‘poison pen’ and self loathing – which made it hard to concentrate on her drabble. She doesn’t seem to like anyone else because to me it seems she sure doesn’t like herself. But that’s ok, I don’t like her either.
sparkhouse1 said this on October 8, 2016 at 12:10 am | Reply
it’s true, enjoyment of anything starts with the self.
I enjoyed firs half of the article, you know that part aboutC. and H ;)..but then she wrote about interview with Stanley Tucci …what a stiupid ,cruel cow!
yeah, that was mean.
Just wondering if you ever got a response from Ms. Gold after your 2014 letter, Serv.
SueBC said this on October 8, 2016 at 8:31 pm | Reply
I did not, although I did get one after the earlier email I wrote her. AND, amusingly, I got a phishing link from her email. At some point she must have clicked on a link to some malware that triggered all of her contacts.
Somehow I’m not surprised that she didn’t respond, but it would have been interesting if she had.
SueBC said this on October 9, 2016 at 7:45 am | Reply
I don’t know which I think is more odd, that an entertainment writer feels the need to write an article about disliking actors, where she tries to make them look foolish (regardless of whether or not they are), or that a publication thinks that it’s what it’s readers are interested in reading.
Jane Steinmiller said this on October 9, 2016 at 3:02 am | Reply
To be fair, I don’t think of her and I suspect she doesn’t think of herself as an entertainment writer specifically. She’s more of a cultural commentator or editorialist and entertainment is one of the things she writes about it among many things.
NUTS! I click on the interview and immediately this request for a contribution comes up. I’d really like to read what the nutcase said.
snowyjo said this on October 13, 2016 at 12:57 am | Reply
I’m going to modify this post to add screencaps to the original post, so look above in a bit.
Servetus said this on October 14, 2016 at 11:22 pm | Reply
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Uptick in vector-borne illnesses in US and what it means to you
by From Mayo Clinic News Network, Mayo Clinic News Network
Illnesses caused by disease-infected ticks, mosquitoes and fleas have tripled in the U.S. in recent years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease is the most common illness attributed to ticks.
"It's the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere and in North America, in the U.S. specifically," says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a parasitic diseases expert at Mayo Clinic. "By vector-borne, we mean something that can transmit an infectious organism, be it a bacterium, a virus or a parasite, to a human. Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. It's also caused by Borrelia mayonii which we helped to identify here at Mayo Clinic. It is one of our big concerns, but it's not the only concern."
"There are other tick-borne diseases like anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Powassan virus, Borrelia miyamotoi infection, and those are just diseases transmitted by the blacklegged tick, formerly known as the deer tick," says Pritt. "We have other ticks that will transmit the disease-causing agents of ehrlichiosis. Now, there are new viruses such as Bourbon virus and Heartland virus. And there is also Rocky Mountain spotted fever."
Mosquitoes led to Zika and chikungunya outbreaks in the U.S. for the first time. Mosquitoes are also responsible for transmitting a host of other viruses including Jamestown Canyon virus, Saint Louis encephalitis, dengue fever, and West Nile virus. Pritt says West Nile virus "swept through the U. S. back in the '90s, and now is found throughout the U.S., transmitted by a number of different types of mosquitoes but specifically by one called Culex mosquitoes. In many people, it can be completely asymptomatic or maybe cause just a mild illness, but in some patients, it can cause a swelling of the brain and spinal cord. And it can be very serious, if not fatal."
Cases of bubonic plague are less common in the U.S.; however, the CDC says human plague infections continue to occur in western parts of the U.S. Plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which often is found in rodents and their fleas.
REASONS FOR THE INCREASE
"There are a number of reasons for the increase in more of these diseases transmitted by ticks, mosquitoes and fleas," says Pritt. "Some of it has to do with weather; it also might be habitat."
"For example, we have a lot of deer, and the deer right now love our habitat that we have provided for them—our second-growth forests," says Pritt says. "Instead of clearing fields for agriculture, for example, we have small groups of trees, little areas of second-growth forest in-between houses. That's a great environment for deer and for rodents, and those happen to be hosts for ticks. So, it has to do with the hosts in nature, and by that, I mean the animals that the ticks feed on. It has to do with the weather, their survival."
"It also has to do with human behavior," says Pritt. "If we go out into the woods and go hiking, we're putting ourselves at potential risk, and that's something that we all like to do is go out and enjoy nature, which we should, and we should continue to do so. We just need to do it in a safe way."
DON'T PANIC: BE SAFE
"I would tell parents not to panic, to take things into perspective. The diseases and the risks are out there, they are real, but there are things that are easily done to prevent tick bites and mosquito bites and thereby preventing disease. By all means, sign your kid up for that little league game, but make sure that if your children are outdoors and might get bitten by mosquitoes, for example, while on the ballfield, then they should have an insect or a tick repellent on them. If they're going to be hiking through the woods, again, maybe have them tuck their pants into their socks. Do a tick check when they come in from the great outdoors. Make sure they don't have any ticks attached to them," says Pritt.
Pritt suggests parents educate themselves about what diseases are common to their area and to learn the signs and symptoms of vector-borne illnesses. "If their child comes down with a fever in the summertime, for example, that's a sign of a possible tick-borne disease or a mosquito-borne disease, and then they can bring their child to the doctor."
TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TICKS AND MOSQUITOES
Protect yourself from ticks and mosquitoes by following these tips:
- Avoid areas where ticks and mosquitoes live.
- Use repellent with 30 percent or more of DEET.
- Wear clothing to cover arms and legs.
- Tuck pants into socks while hiking.
Diseases from ticks, fleas, mosquitoes soar in US
©2018 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Citation: Uptick in vector-borne illnesses in US and what it means to you (2018, May 7) retrieved 16 January 2021 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-05-uptick-vector-borne-illnesses.html
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Potential COVID-19 drug is successful in lab study
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Home / Doctors / Dr. Kosygan K P
Dr. Kosygan K P
Consultant Trauma & Orthopedic Surgeon, Apollo
Dr. Kosygan K P has more than 25 years of experience in the field of Orthopedics. He is proficient in a wide range of orthopedic procedures. He completed his MBBS, MSc in Orthopedics, and MCh in Orthopedics from Madras Medical College, Chennai, and achieved university rank in Orthopedic Surgery. He has acquired FRCS in Trauma and Orthopedics from Glasgow, UK. He has done training and consultancy in orthopedic surgery from the UK. He is a member of the British Orthopedic Association, British Association of Computer and Surgery, American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons, and Tamil Nadu Medical Council. He has published more than 11 papers in various medical journals.
Consultant Orthopedic Surgeon at South West London Orthopedic Centre, Epsom, London, UK (1998 - 2010)
Consultant at Apollo Spectra, Alwarpet, Chennai
Consultant at Synapse Pain and Spine Clinic, Besant Nagar, Chennai
MBBS from Madras Medical College, Chennai (1992)
MSc (Orthopedics) from Madras Medical College, Chennai (1995)
MCh (Orthopedics) from Madras Medical College, Chennai (1998)
FRCS (Trauma & Orthopedics) from Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow (2005)
Senior clinical fellow at South west London Elective Orthopedic Centre, Epsom, UK
Research fellow at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland
University Topper in Orthopedic Surgery
Primary total knee replacements
Primary total hip replacements
Revision total hip replacements
Infected total hip and knee replacements
Revision total knee replacements
Developmental dysplasia of the hip
Complex tumor reconstruction of the hip and knee
Unicompartmental (partial) knee replacements
Direct anterior approach to total hip replacements
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Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients
G. Orsitto, L. Cascavilla, M. Franceschi, R. M. Aloia, A. Greco, F. Paris, D. Seripa, A. Pilotto
IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza
Background. The effects of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on the prevalence of disability in elderly patients who are hospitalized in acute wards are not well defined. Objectives. To evaluate the role of comorbidity and cognitive impairment on the prevalence of disability in a cohort of hospitalized older patients. Patients and Methods. This study included 179 patients aged 65 years and over admitted to the Geriatric Unit of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, in Italy. Cognitive status was evaluated by means of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR); the functional status was evaluated according to the Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) indices. Comorbidity was identified using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS index). Results. Of the 179 patients enrolled 73 patients were diagnosed with dementia [Alzheimers' Disease (AD)= 49 patients, Vascular Dementia (VD)= 24 patients], 35 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and 71 patients had no cognitive impairment. The severity of disability was significantly higher in patients with dementia (ADL=3.1±2.1, IADL=1.5±2.0) than patients with MCI (ADL=5.1±1.4, IADL=S.2±2.2) (p
Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging
Comorbidity
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Orsitto, G., Cascavilla, L., Franceschi, M., Aloia, R. M., Greco, A., Paris, F., Seripa, D., & Pilotto, A. (2005). Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients. Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, 9(3), 194-198.
Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients. / Orsitto, G.; Cascavilla, L.; Franceschi, M.; Aloia, R. M.; Greco, A.; Paris, F.; Seripa, D.; Pilotto, A.
In: Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2005, p. 194-198.
Orsitto, G, Cascavilla, L, Franceschi, M, Aloia, RM, Greco, A, Paris, F, Seripa, D & Pilotto, A 2005, 'Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients', Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 194-198.
Orsitto G, Cascavilla L, Franceschi M, Aloia RM, Greco A, Paris F et al. Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients. Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging. 2005;9(3):194-198.
Orsitto, G. ; Cascavilla, L. ; Franceschi, M. ; Aloia, R. M. ; Greco, A. ; Paris, F. ; Seripa, D. ; Pilotto, A. / Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients. In: Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging. 2005 ; Vol. 9, No. 3. pp. 194-198.
@article{3ab5362737d7493c98bd3dba159e00d8,
title = "Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients",
abstract = "Background. The effects of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on the prevalence of disability in elderly patients who are hospitalized in acute wards are not well defined. Objectives. To evaluate the role of comorbidity and cognitive impairment on the prevalence of disability in a cohort of hospitalized older patients. Patients and Methods. This study included 179 patients aged 65 years and over admitted to the Geriatric Unit of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, in Italy. Cognitive status was evaluated by means of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR); the functional status was evaluated according to the Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) indices. Comorbidity was identified using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS index). Results. Of the 179 patients enrolled 73 patients were diagnosed with dementia [Alzheimers' Disease (AD)= 49 patients, Vascular Dementia (VD)= 24 patients], 35 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and 71 patients had no cognitive impairment. The severity of disability was significantly higher in patients with dementia (ADL=3.1±2.1, IADL=1.5±2.0) than patients with MCI (ADL=5.1±1.4, IADL=S.2±2.2) (p",
keywords = "Cognitive impairment, Comorbidity, Dementia, Disability, Elderly",
author = "G. Orsitto and L. Cascavilla and M. Franceschi and Aloia, {R. M.} and A. Greco and F. Paris and D. Seripa and A. Pilotto",
journal = "Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging",
publisher = "Springer Paris",
T1 - Influence of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on disability in hospitalized elderly patients
AU - Orsitto, G.
AU - Cascavilla, L.
AU - Franceschi, M.
AU - Aloia, R. M.
AU - Greco, A.
AU - Paris, F.
AU - Seripa, D.
AU - Pilotto, A.
N2 - Background. The effects of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on the prevalence of disability in elderly patients who are hospitalized in acute wards are not well defined. Objectives. To evaluate the role of comorbidity and cognitive impairment on the prevalence of disability in a cohort of hospitalized older patients. Patients and Methods. This study included 179 patients aged 65 years and over admitted to the Geriatric Unit of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, in Italy. Cognitive status was evaluated by means of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR); the functional status was evaluated according to the Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) indices. Comorbidity was identified using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS index). Results. Of the 179 patients enrolled 73 patients were diagnosed with dementia [Alzheimers' Disease (AD)= 49 patients, Vascular Dementia (VD)= 24 patients], 35 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and 71 patients had no cognitive impairment. The severity of disability was significantly higher in patients with dementia (ADL=3.1±2.1, IADL=1.5±2.0) than patients with MCI (ADL=5.1±1.4, IADL=S.2±2.2) (p
AB - Background. The effects of cognitive impairment and comorbidity on the prevalence of disability in elderly patients who are hospitalized in acute wards are not well defined. Objectives. To evaluate the role of comorbidity and cognitive impairment on the prevalence of disability in a cohort of hospitalized older patients. Patients and Methods. This study included 179 patients aged 65 years and over admitted to the Geriatric Unit of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, in Italy. Cognitive status was evaluated by means of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR); the functional status was evaluated according to the Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) indices. Comorbidity was identified using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS index). Results. Of the 179 patients enrolled 73 patients were diagnosed with dementia [Alzheimers' Disease (AD)= 49 patients, Vascular Dementia (VD)= 24 patients], 35 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and 71 patients had no cognitive impairment. The severity of disability was significantly higher in patients with dementia (ADL=3.1±2.1, IADL=1.5±2.0) than patients with MCI (ADL=5.1±1.4, IADL=S.2±2.2) (p
KW - Cognitive impairment
KW - Comorbidity
KW - Dementia
KW - Disability
KW - Elderly
JO - Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging
JF - Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging
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Data Mgmt
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ServiceWare Appoints New Chief
by eCRMGuide.com Staff
Web-based support solution provider ServiceWare Technologies, Inc. named Kent Heyman as CEO and president, replacing Mark Tapling, who resigned from the company to pursue other interests.
Web-based support solution provider ServiceWare Technologies, Inc. named Kent Heyman as CEO and president, replacing Mark Tapling, who resigned from the company to pursue other interests. Tom Unterberg, chairman of ServiceWare's board of directors and co-founder and chairman of C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, said of the board's decision to appoint Heyman, "Kent is extremely results-focused, and will enable ServiceWare to weather today's difficult economic climate and emerge a strong market contender."
Heyman comes to ServiceWare after a five-year stint at Mpower Communications, where he was one of three founding employees and a senior vice president. He maintained responsibility for the company's strategic direction and helped take it from a start-up to a national integrated communications company with more than 2,000 employees, in addition to raising more than $1 billion in the capital markets. Unterberg recognized Heyman's preceding achievements: "In his former position at Mpower Communications, Kent helped lead the company's aggressive growth and ability to penetrate new markets against large, established competitors. His experience and leadership will enable ServiceWare to continue to deliver innovative products to the market."
Prior to Mpower, Heyman served as litigation department chairman and lead trial counsel for Dowling, Magarian, Aaron and Heyman. After receiving a bachelor's degree from California State University, Fresno, Heyman went on to earn a doctor of law (J.D.) degree from University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.
Said, Heyman of his appointment, "I am pleased to lead the ServiceWare team because I recognize the leadership of the company's products, the caliber of its customer base, and the enormous opportunities for growth. I look forward to working with the company's experienced and dedicated team to continue to set the industry standard for knowledge- based customer service and support."
The 10-year-old, Oakmont, Pa.-based company specializes in solutions that enable organizations to easily provide customers with fast, accurate answers to inquiries across all touch points — Web, e-mail, phone or in-person. Products include eService SuiteTM, eService Site, eService Professional and eService Architect.
This article was originally published on Thursday Sep 6th 2001
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72. Matt Morton – Apollo Moog Mission
Matt Morton - Apollo Moog Mission
by Music Tech Fest | MTF Podcast
https://musictechfest.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/podcast/072-matt-morton.mp3
Matt Morton is a film score composer and something of a historian of electronic music. His soundtrack to the recent Apollo 11 documentary feature exclusively used the Moog synthesiser that was available at the time of the first moon landing.
This episode is a real deep dive into the fascinating world of vintage, analog electronic music technology with an award-winning composer, musician and collector.
Music: Pensive Synthesizer by Kyle Preston, used under licence from Artlist.io / reCreation by airtone (c) copyright 2019
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
Photo: Henry Leiter
AI Transcription
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
sound, music, composer, instruments, people, notes, apollo, hear, called, tape, meaning, film, modular, score, apollo mission, play, orchestra, 60s, analogue, oscillator
Matt Morton, Andrew Dubber
Andrew Dubber
Hi, I’m Andrew Dubber, on the director of Music Tech Fest and this is the MTF podcast. Now this month is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. That’s the one where well known Coronavirus survivor actor Tom Hanks played well known spaceship mechanical failure survivor, astronaut Jim Lovell. And I can thoroughly recommend you spending some time on previous MTF podcast guests been Feist’s Apollo in real time.org. To follow along in that mission, that’s not only fascinating, it’s both incredibly educational, and potentially time consuming. If for instance, you have children at home with you right now. And if you did hear that episode with band that came out a month or so back, you’ll remember that a lot of the archival material that been discovered and restored was used in a fantastic Documentary Feature Film that came out last year called Apollo 11. Now, there were many brilliant things about that film 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and a five star Guardian review. But particularly if you’re interested in music tech, one of those things, is the synthesiser soundtrack. To create that music composer Matt Morton used only synthesisers that were available at the time of the first moon landing, which, if you’ll recall, was 1969, which means that his home studio contains floor to ceiling modular mode racks. It’s an impressive thing to behold. And you can marvel at it on his website, Matt Martin music.com. And well, as you might expect, Matt is someone who can talk enthusiastically about vintage music gear, which sort of makes them an ideal guest for this podcast. So I was delighted to indulge the enthusiasms of composer and gearhead, Matt Morton. If you share those enthusiasms in any way, as I do, you’re going to love this conversation. Here’s Matt Morton, enjoy. Matt Martin, thanks so much for joining us for The MTF podcast today.
Thanks for inviting me.
You’re very welcome. Now, obviously, I have to start with the Apollo 11 soundtrack, which is just an astonishing piece of work. But the thing that’s most astonishing about it, I guess, is you know what it looks like, behind the scenes with you making it because that’s some pretty impressive kit.
Yeah, I went a little as some would say overboard. I would say, you know, I could have bought a few more things. But uh, yeah, you know, all of that kind of flew naturally out of the project itself, though, it wasn’t just me, trying to come up with excuses to buy rare gear, and rationalise it to my wife or anything.
But just just explain, explain what it is you bought and used on the soundtrack? For people who haven’t heard it? Or maybe haven’t seen?
Sure? Sure? Well, it might help us to go backwards, just a hair to kind of understand how we got to Apollo 11 as a filmmaking team, and in that will kind of inform why I kind of made the decisions I did gear wise,
because this was not your first space movie.
No, no. So we did a short film, called the last steps about Apollo 17, which was the final Apollo mission, or in other words, the last time that we ever stepped foot on the moon, back in December of 1972. That was done as a short film, we did a 30 minute version for film festivals and a 20 minute version for online, you can still see that I believe they might have renamed it. Something like NASA’s last trip to the moon or something like that. But it was called the last steps. And that was done in conjunction with CNN films and their, their documentary website called great big story. And so that just like Apollo 11 was an all archival film, meaning that all that you see in here as far as film, all the visuals, and all of the voices and everything was actually from the time of the mission. So there were no talking head interviews with 90 year old astronauts recall trying to recall the events of 50 years ago there, there was nothing new films for it. So for that score, I kind of let myself use any instrument that I wanted to. I didn’t limit my palette, I just kind of went for it. Any kind of anything in the studio that I wanted to use was fair game. And so a lot of the sounds that made its way onto that score. We’re fairly modern sounding. And there’s kind of a cool juxtaposition between the modern approach Have the score and the sound of the score because of the instruments and effects that I used and the completely period. visuals that you see. And there’s a cool side to that. But there was also this nagging question in my mind as I was kind of watching it on the big screen at a film festival. I was like, you know, it would be really cool if maybe I could, I might have, you know, done an approach where any of the sounds that you’re hearing from the score, could, you know, only could have been made what, you know, what if I would have only made it using instruments and effects of the time so that literally it was, you could nothing would potentially knock you out of that sense of being there and feeling like you’re seeing and hearing the past. So the viewership on the last steps was really good. I think, you know, the online version was 20 minutes, and our average viewership was like 19 and a half minutes, which means that almost everybody watched the entire thing if they clicked on it, which is pretty amazing in this day and age have short attention spans. So absolutely. So we got the nod, then from CNN, to to do the, the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 was coming up, and they wanted to do something similar. So essentially, they were like, Hey, you guys have already kind of proved this concept with your 30 minute version, just triple the length and switch from Apollo 17, to Apollo 11. And, you know, let’s see what we can do. So that’s what we did. And so I did get my chance to try and do a score using only period instruments. So there’s the answer to your question is that I only I kept myself to a limited palette. I only used instruments that could have been used by a composer in 1969. Now granted, he would have had to have a pretty big budget in order to have the stuff that I used, but primarily, I focused, you know, I used the orchestra because of course, the orchestra has been around for hundreds of years. But I also used him in Oregon. I used a Mellotron, which is an early form of sampler
Tape loops, right?
Yeah, it’s a keyboard instrument with like, I think 36 keys or, or around there. And each key on the piano would trigger an eight second tape loop, so is literally, you know, magnetic tape that was read by you know, that there were that many tape players in the thing. And it would be a recording of whatever instrument that was. So if it was flute, so they literally recorded a flute player, playing every single note on the keyboard for eight seconds, and then at the end of the eight seconds, then it was at the end of the loop, and it would rewind. So if you were still holding that key down, it would just go dead. So you know, the Beatles use that famously, they used the flutes at the intro of survey fields. Yep. Stairway to Heaven has the flutes on it as well. The strings and cellos and vocals are all over 6070s you know, the the the choir that kind of like eerie choir has been used by Radiohead and etc. So I used one of those I used a Hammond organ and Leslie speaker, I used old valve, guitar amplifiers and basses and guitars and stuff, but primarily, I focused in on I was like, what’s the main voice of this score gonna be? And I had, I had already dabbled with these a little bit on the previous score. But I was trying to think like, you know, the Apollo mission was the cutting edge of science and technology in the late 1960s. And a lot of people who study these things have kind of acknowledged it as, as having fast forwarded the normal pace of technological advancement by you know, 10 to 20 years. Some, you know, you pour that much money, so it was like 3% of our GDP or something like that. Now, it’s like, you know, point 3% is NASA’s budget. So you pour a tonne of money into it in you get 400,000 people working on it, and you know, it, lo and behold, we came up with a bunch of really cool stuff, especially computers, you know, that that technology and all sorts of things. We don’t have time to talk about. But anyway I was trying to look is Was there an equivalent thing in the music technology world. So, you know, throughout history, innovations in instrument building or the creation of new instruments, or just refinements of old instruments have led to, you know, new music being created, because composers and songwriters and stuff, they’re like, Ooh, look at this new gadget Oh, it’s, you know, we don’t just have to, like, you look at the, like, the horn, or the French horn, originally, that didn’t have any valves on it. So you had to, you had to write music, using the overtone series, meaning that you couldn’t just pick any key. And you, if you did pick, you know, a certain key, you had to stick to certain notes that were that would occur naturally with the instrument, but then same thing with, you know, the trumpet and whatnot. So once they added valves to those instruments, then they could play chromatically meaning that all 12 notes of the of music could be used, not just the ones that were in that particular key. And so then composers could write you know, a little bit outside the lines and you know, get a little bit more sophisticated with their writing. Same thing with the piano. The you know, the full name of the piano is the piano forte, meaning that it can play soft and loud, not just one volume, like the harpsichord or other keyboard, either the Oregon Well, the Oregon I guess, you could you could vary a little bit, but, you know, typically, you know, the main keyboard instrument used with orchestras was the harpsichord, and it could only play that just plot. Yeah, right. So you know, you had no dynamic control over your performance. So once the piano came out, now, keyboard players can put a lot more nuance and emotion into their performance Anyway, I’m not trying to teach a seminar on this or anything, but
no, but it’s good informational background. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. So you know, in, in, in, you know, the, the advances kept going. So like Beethoven, in the 1800s, kept pressuring piano makers to you know, he knew he wanted louder, more powerful, you know, lowered lower notes and, you know, more volumes, so that the keyboard could become more and more dominant for So, I was looking for something like that, what was going on in the 60s, what music technology was happening then, that I could harness and kind of use as an analogue to the technological advances going on, on screen through the Space Programme. And there was a lot of things that I could have chosen from, I mean, I could have could have gotten the electric guitar route because you know, there was tonnes of innovations and amplifiers and effects and you know, the wah wah pedal on the univibe and
also purchase to playing Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. You’ve got people like Hendrix taking, you know, some of the you know, Chicago blues and in Robert Johnson and older styles of blues and just like, you know, basically adding acid and then making it into a technicolour like explosion. But what I wanted to focus on and what kind of there are a few reasons for this aesthetic and, you know, academic, but I focused on synthesisers. For one, the modular synthesiser started to be developed in 6364, independently on both coasts of America, by Bob Moog in New York, and Don Bukola, over in, in San Francisco. And both of them were, you know, right around the same time, they, they each kind of had certain strengths. No one disputes the fact that both of them were very innovative, and both
entirely independently. Yeah,
yep. Wow. Yep. So Bob had a, you know, even from the 50s he had a mail order theramin company. So if you opened up like, I forget what magazines he advertised in maybe Popular Mechanics, or you know, something like that. You would see if you went to the back of the magazine, you’d see a little mail away. thing, you know, send $20 to this post office box, to our a mug ink, you know, and herb Deutsch, who was a music teacher on Long Island, sent away for one of these Theremin kits and built it and was messing with it and loved it and was teaching his kids about electronic music and the Two of them ended up at, I believe it was the New York State Music Educators conference or something like that, where, you know, there was a room, a gymnasium full of people who were selling different types of orchestral instruments or band instruments. And you know, here’s Bob mug with his theramin kits in herb Deutsches is a music educator in that state and comes into this room and literally no one’s in the room, except for Bob mug and herb Deutsch. And he goes over and sees what’s on the table. He’s like, I bought one of those from you. And so they start talking, they and you know, herb, also, and he’s still alive, Bob has passed, but her was really into electronic music, and he was kind of hip to some of the avant garde music that was happening in New York, New York City. And he was like, you know, there’s a lot of exciting stuff going on. Like, could you build me a module that does this? Or does that you know, up to up until that point, electronic music was pretty much all music concrete, which was all done with tape recorders, kind of like the BBC. Radiophonic workshop. Yeah, like Delia Derbyshire, and, and all those guys, that doctor who, you know, theme ins in 1963. And so, you know, in order to get electronic tones, they either had to, you know, record like the sound of a lampshade or something, and then speed up or slow down the tape player to get different pitches, or they would use a laboratory oscillator, which at that time was, you know, those were, they were crazy expensive, and they weren’t voltage controlled, meaning that you, you had to turn a dial to get different sounds. So if they knew that they needed, you know, they almost had to write the piece in their head, or on paper before they set out to do this, because they would need to know what notes they needed for their composition, and then do the math to figure out what frequencies to set the oscillator at, then they would record those notes onto tape. And then in order to get a sequence of notes, you’d have to literally get a razor blade out and cut the tape. And you you know, after you pick the tempo, you would know, okay, based on my tape recorder being, you know, seven and a half inches per second. A quarter note equals exactly, you know, at this tempo, it equals you know, 3.7 seconds or something, which equates to how many inches of tape. So, like, if I want a quarter note of, you know, middle See, then I know I have to cut this tape, you know, to two and a half 2.47 inches or something. It’s like,
yeah, I can’t sort of spoiled with digital multitrack Yeah,
yeah, I mean, I know, I’m going down the rabbit hole. But like, basically, it was very meticulous work to do something like the doctor who theme song. I believe that, you know, Delia did not write that. But she, her job was to realise that using electronic, you know, music and music on credit. So that took her weeks, and
yeah, really puts in perspective, the sort of the scale of what was required in order to put something like that together.
Exactly. So it was exactly this tediousness that was motivating. Bob and Don, to speed the process up, you know, for people who don’t didn’t want to make music, live using a, you know, a rock band or an orchestra or whatever the people that were really pushing the boundaries of electronic music were were hoping to find ways to speed up the music on credit, or, you know, just the avant garde music production process. So that’s where like, the voltage control idea came about where you could use voltage being sent from either a keyboard or a, you know, anything an oscillator or a sequencer anything to control the oscillator to to change its pitch quickly. So you didn’t have to cut up a bunch of tape. You could kind of do these compositions in real time. So anyway, yeah. So I live in play live. Yeah. So herb and, and Bob and also like, actually a bunch of other musicians, you know, Wendy Carlos, Vladimir, who’s chesky. You know, various people had different ideas for like an envelope generator, which would control the contour of, you know, the attack, the decay, the sustain and the release of a note, you know, when you hit a key, how quickly does the note come on? And then how quickly does it fade away and Stuff like that. Other people had ideas for like the low pass filter, the very famous like war, how kind of kind of sound where you would be filtering away certain frequencies after you make them. And anyway, Bob, Bob’s approach was very, he was in touch with a lot of musicians, a lot of successful composers, commercial composers in the ad world in New York City. And so his designs tended to be a little bit more musical, traditionally wise, meaning it adhered kind of to the traditional Western 12 note scale, it was easier to kind of incorporate along with traditional instruments, you could you could make it Play Stick to normal scales, whereas Don Buccola was like he was out there, you know, making this thing and he was like, why are we making new instruments to make old music? So like, you know, when switched on, Bach came out which used a mogh synthesiser to to play old Bach music. That was in October of 1968. That was Wendy Carlos it was that it was a gigantic sensation at one chip. Yeah. Huge. blew up the synthesiser into into the mainstream awareness. And a lot of me’s it really divided all of the the synth lovers because there were a bunch of people like Morton subbotnik and Don Buccola. And, you know, Susie and Johnny and you know, all of the the folks who were trying to make a new music with the the new instruments and weren’t using 12 tone, the 12 tone, Western scale or, you know, traditional music scales or anything. And for them, it was like, Oh, my gosh, you know, now everyone’s going to use this synthesiser to just play the same old music that we’ve been playing for 100 years. So but you know, it’s got a sound squelch here. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, it’s, I like both worlds. I really do. There are things that that Bob’s machines do really well. And there are things that Dawn’s machines do really well. Because I was going to, basically, So, to answer the original question, I found the synthesiser to be sort of that analogue of the advances that were going on in NASA and you know, just like NASA’s advances in technology, that kind of what they came up with ended up having far reaching applications that they could have never dreamed of, it was almost like, you know, they came up with some of these ideas that were, you know, the, the effect on the future was like a cone shaped dispersion pattern, just reaching out, you know, left and right, hugely. Same thing happened with the synthesiser because, you know, you got the bleepy blew up West Coast synthesis stuff that kind of forged ahead and made sounds that no one had ever heard or dreamed of. And then you had the synthesiser, you know, the the more traditional applications of it. Going through Wendy Carlos and, and Keith Emerson with Emerson, Lake and Palmer and, you know, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. And in all of the guys, that tended to use it a little bit more within the framework of traditional music a little bit more but, and then you’ve got all of the sound effects being used on commercials and movies and whatnot. So it really blew up. Plus, you know, the synthesiser also enables, you know, things like dance music to happen. me think of like Giorgio Moroder you know, some of the disco era sounds that, that that repetitive you know, cycling of the sequencer, you know, the same eight notes over and over and over again, it’s propulsive and it, it sort of gave birth to new genres of music, you know, it’s it was still creating stuff in the late 80s, early 90s. With, with with acid house and stuff like that, and all the dance music that’s still going on. I mean, it’s pervasive in all of music now. But back then it wasn’t and so it was kind of the synthesiser was having its big bang, in the late 60s, just like all of the technological advances were at NASA so well,
that’s a good cosmological way of explaining it the Big Bang of synthesisers and parallels, really nicely this idea of sort of mapping it onto a period space film Tell me about the three C’s specific Because that’s that I mean, that wasn’t an original that you got your hands on, was it
right right? Yeah. So there you know, in the 60s A Moke synthesiser to get one like I have which, like you said it’s the Moog synthesiser, three see it’s it’s a modular synthesiser. But it was a pre configured set of modules. So in the early days, you could order as many or as few of any of the kinds of modules that you wanted. So, for people who aren’t familiar with what a modular synthesiser is, if you could picture like a 1920s or 30s telephone operator, with their little headset on and someone calls them and says, Please connect me with klondyke 57329 or something. And so they’re like, okay, hold please. And they get out a patch cord and they literally patch the call that they’re on into another part of their little electronic circuit board. And that literally in an analogue sense connects that call with this, the the network that they need to get to, to call the person that they want to a modular synthesiser is just like that you’ve got different modules that are mounted into this enclosure. So you’ve got basically wooden boxes with a bunch of electronics on the front. It’s, it’s, it’s very inspired. The design inspiration actually came from a lot of like World War Two type stuff with, you know,
transmitters and that sort of thing.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, if you picture like a battleship with, you know, the radar going and like little dials and switches and stuff that it basically looks like that. But each module has a different job. And if you don’t connect them together, it makes no sound at all, you need to connect to the oscillator, which is the sound source. And any synthesiser has a bunch of oscillators, you patch those all into a mixer, which gives you the ability to kind of balance the different ingredients sound ingredients, then you patch all of that up into the filter, which can take away frequencies that you don’t need, which is it’s called subtractive synthesis, you start with a very rich sound, and then you take away what you don’t need. And that leaves you the sound that you then hear. Then from the filter to a VCA, which is basically like it, it only it’s kind of like an organ, it only lets notes through the gate, when you press the key on the keyboard. And then you’ve got the envelope generator that that gives shape to the notes and then you’ve got a mixer, then that runs into your, your recorder and whatnot. So the three see, you know, in the early days, you could you could configure your system any way you want it to but they started to see that everyone tended to like certain combinations of modules. So the there in us, I believe was 67. They started selling prefabricated, modular synthesisers, the one, the two and the three and the three was the biggest one. The C stands for wooden cabinet. So mine, mine was meant to kind of stay put in this in a studio. They later made the three p which is p for portable. And that came in like you know, black tolex cases that you could then put a you know, you could case it up and you could take it with you to a gig or
right what you’ve got is kind of wall sized furniture, essentially a bookshelf system with knobs or knobs and cables all over the place.
Yes, if you’ve ever seen a picture of Keith Emerson, playing the mogh modular synthesiser with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, where it’s just this huge wall of electronics with all these patch cords looking like you know, psychedelic like spaghetti. That’s what my basement looks like.
So yeah, how much of the the sound generation and sound design and musicianship To be frank is about stumbling across sounds by playing with the knobs and how much of it is like you know, you know, we’re in the same way as like for instance, I guess a cellist as you also are understand knows where to put your fingers because that’s where you put your fingers before when it made the sounds that you like last time. How much of it sort of by accident how much by design when you’re creating sounds on the on the modular synth.
I would say that it would vary from Q to Q or just you know, from musician to musician. I definitely wrote some music It totally sprang up from experimentation, you know, so there’s something really scary but fun about taking, just wiping out a patch. So if you stumble upon us a sound, it’s awesome. But like, you know, if you use a software instrument, you can, you can save that preset and come back to it anytime you want within, you know, a split second. It’s, it’s just like calling up, you know, if you’ve got Microsoft Word how you can open up a document, work on it, save the changes, close it open up a completely different document. And it’s always, it always brings you right back to the state of the document, when you left it last time, well, yeah, it old analogue gear doesn’t work that way. And actually,
he taking photographs of, you know, how the setting was, when you liked it,
I actually found that, it would be a little quicker for me to actually just use paper and pencil, I mean, totally old school way and just, if, when I would stumble upon a sound, I would, it was typically for a certain scene or for a certain piece of music, and I would, before I would wipe out the patch, I would just meticulously documented and sometimes it would take two or three pages, because you not only have to document you know, how the signal is routed, and how all the modulating the voltage modulation sources are routed, but you also then all the modules have, you know, switches and knobs and dials and stuff that are at certain, you know, spot, so every knob and switch and patch all has to be documented. So yeah, it would take quite some time, but I would kind of knowing that it was, it would take you 20 minutes to wipe out a patch and you know, a half hour to 40 minutes to build a patch up, even if I, you know, documented it perfectly, I would try to record, if I was doing a particular scene, or a queue, I would try to do it in various different ways, almost like you tried to get an actor to do it, like, all right, do it with more energy this time. All right, this time be a little sadder, you know, I would try to get takes of the queue down with some variety so that if I needed something different from it, you know, if the cut of the film changed, or I decided that this this sound was too bright, and I wanted a darker one, I would have it without having to, you know, do all the work of reconstructing the patch and re recording it and all that kind of stuff. So how
are you thinking this two pictures?
Um, well, so I recorded everything through the computer. Unfortunately, I you know, I would have loved to carry this idea of only using 1969 technology all the way to the bleeding edge, but the way that that modern movie making works, you need to be able to be fluid and make changes to the you know, the picture was changing up until like two days before the Sundance deadline. So I needed I needed to be able to make very small timing changes and all kinds of changes that just would not have been possible if I had to, you know, get a razor blade out and you know, do us a reel to reel tape recorder like they would have used back then. So I was using a computer back in the day and in the 60s, if you wanted to synchronise your synthesiser to a tempo, you would lay down a metronome click onto the tape. So say you had a you know, an eight or a 16 track recorder. Maybe you’d pick you know, track 16 or track eight to be kind of your tempo source. And so, you could then route that those steady clicks, you could route those into the synthesiser into a module called a envelope follower. So what that does is that you feed the the sound source into there and every time this it hears a sound that goes above a certain threshold of loudness. It not only generates a voltage route relative to that volume. So it you know, if you if, say your threshold was at negative 30 Db if a sound source came in at negative Have 28 db, it would trigger the key the the envelope follower, but it would, it would only put out a little voltage. Whereas if it came in at negative 10 db, which is much louder, it would, it would generate a voltage much louder but at the same time, it would also generate what’s called a trigger or a or a gate signal. And that gate signal could then be used to advance a sequencer by one step. So what a sequencer is it? It’s the thing that makes repeatable patterns in a synthesiser work. It basically spits out the notes over and over again, it’ll have an internal oscillator that’ll allow it to run at its own speed based on however you set the knob on the actual unit or it can be controlled by external gate signals or trigger sync signals. So essentially, I was sending trigger signals to the synthesiser it was hearing those trigger signals and it was advancing the sequencer by one note every time it heard the click coming off on a computer,
so I’m not you’re not using MIDI in any way.
No, I didn’t use MIDI for any pitches or anything like like say there was a melody and you know, I, I messed up and I hit a C sharp instead of a C. If you’re recording in MIDI, you could go back and you could you could just literally drag that note in the computer and just drag it down and then rerecord it to audio and you’d be good. All of the keyboard work all of the you know filter sweeps or changes in the synthesiser, those were all done in real time with my hands. I didn’t use MIDI for anything. But I what I did do I did use MIDI to control the sequencer on the synth. So instead of recording a metronome down to tape and sending it through the key, the envelope follower, like I explained, you know that someone in 1969 would do. Yeah, I could skip that step. And just send, you know, generic notes at a certain frequency I sent those to a MIDI to control voltage interface. And so I cut out the envelope follower and send trigger signals directly to the sequencer I held myself to the rule of Could it have been done and yes, it could have been done. But in certain, you know, situations where if it was just six in one hand and half dozen in the other, I opted for the easier route. So I did use MIDI but not in the way that you traditionally think of MIDI as being able to control every aspect of a synthesiser.
So what apart from the the mode, three see sense. And the strings, obviously you’ve got from the orchestra. What other kit Have you got kicking around in there?
So one of the main things that I used in the score was a, a, what’s called a binson echorec to it was, you know, back in the day, the only ways to get Echo, which is like you know, you make a note and then it goes you know, it’s like Echo, Echo, Echo Echo, something like that was either using a tape echo, which is you would use a tape recorder. And you would put it into record mode and but instead of monitoring the sound off of the record head, you would monitor it off of the playhead which would be you know, an inch or inch and a half or whatever, further down the tape path. So there would be a sound delay there. You could hear it in like kind of the early days of Sun Records. Elvis Presley, and in that, you know, john lennon used it a lot in his voice to where you get that slap back delay. So that would use magnetic tape. But in the 60s, there was an Italian company called Vinson, and they came up with a method of using a rotating drum with instead of tape they would put a magnetic strip around this rotating drum and then use tape heads around it and generate echo that way. And I was made aware of these through Pink Floyd, David Gilmore, and Syd Barrett and, and Roger Waters and those guys, those they use these back in the 60s and 70s for a bunch of kind of, you know, trippy, you know, sound design II type stuff and there’s a company in darbyshire specifically gritch up in the north of England, called sound gas limited, and I came upon them on Instagram. And they, they restore and modify all sorts of old vintage instruments and effects. And so because the Benson was developed in the 60s and, and whatnot that, you know, it was kind of fair game and I just saw these videos that they would make of just, you know, running old drum machines into them and u dub and stuff out and getting, you know, make coming up with all these trippy sounds. And I was like, that would be amazing to use on the soundtrack. So I bought a 60s era all valve binson echorec to which was not cheap, but very worth it. So a lot of the sounds of the synthesiser in Apollo 11, I would actually, I would direct all of the direct sound of the synth to one of the stereo sides, so maybe the right side or the left side of you know, just that one speaker, and then I would feed that into the Benson. And then sound guests actually did this modification, I was the first person to ever ask for it. But they gave me a wet only output of the binson echorec, too. So normally you would the output of the unit would give you the original sound plus the echoes added on to it right. But you could only turn up the echoes so loud. So you could never like have it be louder than the original source, for example. And I was like, you know, I’ll have more control with it in the mix, if I could just get the echo on its own. So they did that for me. And I ended up like really having a lot of fun during the experimentation process of using that wet only output and panning it opposite of the original dry signal. So if you would hear a note, you’d hear it on the right side, and then it would ping pong over to the left side, right as the new sound was appearing on the right. So you’d get these harmonies going. Instead of just hearing eight notes in a row, you’d hear the you know, note one on its own, then you’d hear the echo of note one and and the new note two on opposite sides, then you’d hear two and three, then you’d hear three and four, etc, etc. So I was able to use that throughout the whole score. But and
I guess you’re adjusting the speed of the rotation of the cylinder in order to get them to match up.
Yeah, the other thing that they did, which was not available on the original binson echorec units was they did a very speed modification. Meaning that on the Vinson, you have you know, an erase head and a record head and then you’ve got four to six different you know, playback heads and those playback heads, the positioning of them, and the distance from the record head gives you the delay time, right. So that delay time would kind of lock you into certain tempos that would work in musical ways. Say you wanted like an eighth note delay, or quarter note delay or something, you could only pick tempos that were mathematically you know, related to that, that speed or whatever. So what they are doing and still do is they will take out the old motor that only worked at one speed and they’ll put in a variable speed motor and add a knob on the side. And what that allows you to do is to match the the delay speed of the Benson to any tempo. So So yeah, I use that a tonne. And it’s a huge part of the score.
And it’s not like they couldn’t have done that in the 60s. It’s just that they didn’t.
Right, exactly right. Gotcha. I have to say when I watched the film, and I seen this as the same incident, I didn’t get to see it in cinemas, but I did get to see it on a big system on a big screen. And it’s an incredibly impressive sounding piece of music as well. I mean, the, the presence of at the base of it the sort of the fullness and richness, the layers of sound, all that sort of thing. Is that something that is maybe a little bit more 21st century in terms of the production qualities that were going on?
Yeah, probably, I mean, I probably had more tracks at my disposal than, you know, most people would have. I didn’t, I didn’t go overboard in in most situations. And, you know, if you look at the fact that, you know albums like Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 67, when that came out, it blew everyone’s minds because at that point, all there was technology wise, were four tracks. I think in America, we were We’re a little more advanced than EMI was, you know, in London at Abbey Road in the Beatles were constantly on their case about like, come on, you know, like Motown has got an eight track or you know, yeah. goldstar has a 16 track or wherever. So what they would do is they would record four tracks, and then they’d live mix those four tracks down to one track on another four track. So they they would do what are called reduction mixes. So they turn four tracks into one track, and then they’d erase those original or start with fresh tape on the original four track. And then, you know, and then that’s a little Yeah, yeah, so it was possible to have endless tracks back in the day. But you had to make mix decisions much earlier than I needed to. And, you know, obviously, I tried to use period style mic preamps, you know, tube style preamps, and early solid state technology, as much as I could, but still, you know, the computer is always going to sound more clear than tape. And, you know, the other thing that you battle with reduction mixes and endless bouncing is that in the analogue world, you just end up getting more and more hiss and background noise. And the more times you rewind, and record and rewind, and play and rewind, you know, you’re wearing the tape down to the, the oxide is actually stripping off of the magnetic tape. So the audio quality probably was much higher with my production than it would have been at the time. But you know,
well, I mean, I guess that sort of fits really nicely onto the, onto the archival footage that’s been restored and sort of maybe digitally enhanced and cleaned up clarified. And I guess there’s that sort of punch to it as well.
There you go. It Yeah. And really, you know, there’s a difference between being just completely anal and and sticking to a rule that you set for yourself. And I don’t think that’s necessary. You know, I wasn’t trying to sound like Bernard Herman got a Moog synthesiser and did a score back then. And, you know, make it sound like someone who only heard music up until 1969 tried to make in 1969 sounding right score raises a
really interesting question, because one of the things that had me wondering is to what extent is this Matt Moulton doing 1969 music? And to what extent is this? This is what Matt mountain music sounds like,
right? Well, my main thing was, use an A period palette, but let myself be me. You know, let myself write music the way that I want to hear it, but because I’m using these old tools, it will have a certain sound that will hopefully kind of bridge the gap between then and now. I think if I would have written it, like a composer, you know, if you even just go back to scores recorded in the 90s, they sound kind of foreign to a modern ear. I would argue that a lot of you know, scoring, style changes. It changes more slowly than pop music, but it definitely you know, if you if you go back and listen to old comedy routines in the 70s some of them just, the jokes don’t land.
Yeah, for sure.
If you go back and you listen to old scores, they, a lot of times they sound kind of cheesy or a little bit just too on the nose.
Although Having said that, like 1968 I think it was Planet of the Apes was a sort of legendarily avant garde soundtrack. Yeah. And people were really pushing the boat out on what music should sound like for films. Yeah, at the exact time you were sort of aiming for how much of that sort of factored into what you’re doing? Well, I, you
know, I certainly listened to, you know, my approach to scoring is very much like a method actor. I mean, I watched every NASA documentary, I could multiple times, every, you know, narrative recounting of the Apollo mission, I read as many books as I could not, not just on the Apollo programme, but also about music at the time, I watched other period films, etc. And I built up playlists in iTunes and Spotify of music of the time that you know, different palette ideas that I could maybe be inspired by and that kind of stuff. And if we wanted it to sound exactly like 1969, then maybe we should have just licenced tracks from back then because it’s impossible to remove. The last 50 years of music history from my brain. Yeah, like I was born in 77. So what do I know about like what it felt like to be in 69? Right. But at the same time, you’ve got an audience in the theatre, who also were not around at the time of the Apollo mission, either,
or at least not functionally,
right. But they and they want to experience this, but in order to communicate with them and tell the story in a way that they can feel it as a modern person. I felt like I needed to score it in a modern way.
What What is the sound of Matt Morton’s music, what, what sort of sounds authentically, you
know, I don’t know. I mean, it’s different every day. And that’s kind of why I’m a composer, I mean, I have been in bands where you have to kind of shoehorn any idea that you come up with into the genre that your audience expects to hear or wants to hear, you know, being in a rock band, if you come up with an idea for like, you know, an electronic music track or a string quartet or something like that. You either file it away for another day, or you figure out a way to kind of transpose that into the genre that your band is coming out with. I mean, there are a few artists like David Bowie or back or Madonna, or, you know, people like that, who are chameleons. But they’re, you know, most bands, or artists tend to have to stick in their wheelhouse a little bit. You know, if, if Jay Z came out with an opera next week, I don’t know that his fan base would, you know, go along with him. But when you’re a composer, you get hired one day to do, you know, a hospital commercial using piano and strings, the next day, you have to score a rocket launch and make it sound, you know, super mean, or big or gigantic, you know, then the next day, you’re, you know, you’re doing a bluegrass tune or something like that. And I love that like, right, because I listen, I listen to and love all those types of music, I don’t do all of them equally well, but I really enjoy the variety. And so because I, I love all kinds of music and love all kinds of instruments. And you know, if you saw my, my studio, it’s just full of everything. It’s like, you know, sometimes you see the the box of Crayola crayons, and it’s like eight colours or 16. And like, I’ve got the pack of like 5000. And so when I’m working on any certain project, I’ve learned that you can’t just like let yourself use anything, I find that I could get more creative, come up with better ideas and work faster. If I limit my palette, limit the time that I spend on it. And, you know, kind of Ironically, the, the smaller the corner that you paint yourself into, the more free you are to kind of be creative and come up with innovative solutions that you wouldn’t normally if you could just use kind of anything under the sun. So, you know, I’d say that my music started when I was nine as a guitar player and bass player. And I definitely come from like a rock pop area, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, you know, all the music of the 60s 70s 80s all of those tones, just kind of in my head in a blender. And, you know, like the Beatles, their use of the orchestra definitely opened my eyes to the fact of like, you don’t just have to be a rock musician. You could take a song that you wrote on guitar and turn it into a double string quartet, like Eleanor Rigby. I take stuff I write on the ukulele and turn it into orchestra or mode or whatever. You know, in a band, you have to filter all this stuff through your bandmates in in filmmaking, you have to filter it all through the story you’re trying to tell and the collective vision of all of the filmmakers that you’re working with. And I dig that too, because you know, the the ideas that other people have and the length of the scene and the overall visual approach and artistic approach of the film also paints me into a smaller and smaller corner. And so it’s like, I like those creative restrictions and kind of, it’s, it’s like when you’re in school, and you you want to write an essay, like you have to you have to write a 10 page paper or something. Well, you can’t make a 10 page paper, about wine. It’s too vast of a subject. It is It’ll give you paralysis and you won’t know where to start. But the more and more you drill down to a specific thing, then then it opens the floodgates. And you can just gush out the information that you have. So you could write a 10 page paper on organic winemaking in the Sonoma Valley, you know, after 2010. And after, you know, the effects of you know, this or that amendment to the National Organic standards or something like that, you know,
if the more you narrow down and focus, the more you can say things that I guess universal,
yeah, and it just, it takes out that like paralysis by analysis thing, where it’s like, Okay, if I’ve only got these eight colours, then you’re a lot quicker to flow through your ideas. So much music gets the life edited out of it. I try very hard, I’m very detail oriented. And so I have to be very careful to try to not let myself you know, quantize everything or, you know, meaning line it all up on on the grid exactly mathematically where the notes should lie. If you listen to real musicians, they don’t, when a track is really groove, and you listen to a really good funk band. They are not quantized they are not on the grid, they are dragging that beat at various different levels. In fact, like after years and being in bands, I was at this party and it was right when Guitar Hero was coming out the video game where you kind of like match the notes on the little five button guitar controller. Yeah.
And accuracy is everything right?
Yeah, yeah, accuracy is everything. And it wants you to be like robotically on the beat. And so I was, I was put, you know, I knew that how to play the songs on a real guitar. Because I’ve been teaching guitar for almost 20 years and playing since 1986.
Right. But you swing. So you did so I
was swinging and I was behind the V. And I was like, Oh, he’s getting destroyed by non musicians who just knew how to manipulate the controller, and you know, what the game wanted for from you, you know, timing wise. So.
So what’s next for you? You’ve I mean, obviously, Apollo 11 was was massively successful. And and, you know, hugely acclaimed, where do you go next from there?
Well, I did a short film for ESPN in top rank boxing with Peter Berg. Last fall, it was called heavy, which was fury versus shorts. So fury, the the heavyweight champion boxer had a match. And basically peterburg saw Apollo 11. And he was thinking, I think one of the things I tried to do with the score was try to underline the danger that the astronauts were under, and basically just how difficult the task was. Because nowadays, it’s like, people don’t understand how if it wasn’t a sure thing that they were even gonna survive. I mean, now we we grew up our whole lives, knowing that we walked on the moon and Apollo 11 was successful, and who cares, Yon move on to the next thing, but back in the day, I mean, they had a one in four chance of dying like that. If you hand me four, face down playing cards and tell me that one out of the four is means that you’re going to put a gun to my head and kill me. I don’t like that game very much. But those guys knowingly did that. Well. So I tried to make put that in the music. He saw that and he actually, so he’s a he’s a director of famous for lone survivor. Friday Night Lights, all of Mark Wahlberg’s last five or six films, he but he also owns a boxing gym. He loves it, he it’s kind of his life. So he saw that in he was seeing in the in the headlines that tonnes of boxers were dying from swelling in their brains, you know, a couple of days after a match that, you know, they walked out of the ring and then died in a hospital bed a couple days later. So he was like, you know, that music and that vibe of Apollo 11 kind of works. It would be cool to do a verity boxing, short film, and have it give it the date the sense of danger and the
heavy peril. Yeah,
yeah. Yeah. So we did that last fall. And, and I actually just this week, got the Greenlight. We closed a deal on an upcoming thing for broadcast but I’m not allowed to talk about it, yet. But something very exciting is coming up. So
More spaceships?
No, not spaceships. But But definitely people living on the edge and trying things that have never been done. And, and it’s also back 4050 years ago era,
so human conquest and exploration.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I’m really excited about that. I wish I could share more. But that’s one of the bummers about being a composer is, you know, if you’re in a band, you know, right away while you’re playing the song, if the song is being, you know, received well by the audience, if you play a great show, you end your set, you put your guitar down, and you go, you know, go to the bar to get a drink, and, and somebody comes up, and it’s like, oh, my God, amazing. And it’s like, you get instant feedback and gratification. So if you’re a composer, you might have the day, you’re the composing day of your whole career, and just nail it and just, you know, do the best cue ever, and no one will know for six to 12 months, and even then, like, they might see it in the theatre and be like, wow, that music’s awesome. But never, you know, that compliment never makes its way back to you. So
Well, the good news is you can still go to the bar. Yeah, that part of it still works.
That’s right. That’s right. There’s always the bar.
That seems like a good place to leave it. But thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.
Oh, man, thanks for having me. It was it’s really fun on I could talk about this stuff for hours. So
that’s film score composer Matt Morton, and that’s the MTF podcast. You can find Matt and a lot more about his music and his vintage synthesiser gear at Matt Morton music.com. I’m Andrew Dubber. If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can find me at Dubber and mtfs at Music Tech Fest all one word dmtf podcasts out every Friday. So if you haven’t already, you can subscribe on Apple podcasts, overcast Spotify or whatever your favourite podcast app might be. And if you do like what you hear, you can share rate and review us. It really helps other people who might be into this sort of thing to find us. Go wash your hands, be safe, be healthy. Have a great week and we’ll talk soon. Cheers.
Music Tech Fest (MTF) is a growing global community of over 7000 brilliant innovators. These innovators come from a wide range of backgrounds, disciplines and skillsets.
Many are academics – doctoral, postdoctoral and professorial; others are industry experts, scientists, professional artists, producers, curators, business executives, media professionals and more.
The core purpose of MTF is to seed and support new ideas, new collaborations and new projects that go on to have a life beyond MTF – as research projects, products, businesses, artistic performances and inventions that would not otherwise have been created.
MTF democratises innovation by placing creativity at the centre. It brings together arts and science, academia and industry in a space of common understanding – to use music as a social glue and a springboard to address grand challenges through curiosity, ingenuity and collaborative making.
Read more about #MTF.
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10 Twangers who might just be worth your time
Anyone could pick Taylor Swift or Toby Keith out of a crowd, but who are some lesser-known country singers who are just as deserving of recognition? Here are 10 twangers worth your time.
1: Dustin Lynch
With everything from "Single of the Year" to "Breakthrough Video of the Year" under his belt, newcomer Dustin Lynch is a force to be reckoned with, especially now that he's begun touring with country legend Keith Urban. This 28-year-old Tennessee native is definitely a star to watch.
2: Natalie Stovall and the Drive
Natalie and her band have been around for years, never quite breaking into the mainstream but amassing a hugely loyal following all the same. If you're looking for great songs with experienced talent behind them, here are your new favorite artists.
3: Chase Rice
Mixing country, hip hop and rock-n-roll, Chase Rice is unlike anything else on the charts, making him an obscure yet exciting talent. Don't let the experimental style fool you, however: Chase is a diehard country fan who's been strumming a guitar longer than he could walk.
4: Hunter Hayes
You probably haven't heard of Hunter Hayes, but that's about to change. The 21-year-old heartthrob has all the makings of a great country star, including good looks, a strong voice and a growing fanbase equally mesmerized by his music and his hair.
5: Heather Linkenheimer
Folksy and unpretentious, Heather debuted on iTunes with a great toe-tapper called "A Whole Lot of Bud Never Made Me Wiser." The world is still waiting on her follow-up album, but talent like this does take time, so keep her on your radar and wait for the fireworks.
6: Lindsay Ell
Lindsay Ell has been called the next Sheryl Crow, though the Canadian singer humbly insists that isn't true. She's worth your attention, however, whether you believe the comparison or not, because her career is taking off like a rocket. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing.
7: Kip Moore
With songs like "Beer Money" and "Somethin' 'Bout a Truck," you may be tempted to write off Kip Moore as a country cliche. Do so at your own risk, however, because this soulful singer actually has quite a lot to say when you dive beyond his commercial success and really listen to his 2012 album. Appearances can be deceiving.
8: Striking Matches
A boy-girl duo out of Nashville, Striking Matches has enjoyed modest success due to their songs being used on television, but most people still wouldn't recognize them on the street. This means a greater chance for you to snag an autograph the next time you're strolling through Tennessee's capital!
9: Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves is one 24-year-old who isn't afraid of making waves. Just look at her album "Same Trailer Different Park" and the number of hard-hitting issues she covers in her work, including drugs, pregnancy and social justice. If you're looking for substance in your country music, Kacey is the girl to provide it.
10: Dallas Smith
You might recognize Dallas Smith from his stint as the frontrunner of the alt-rock band Default, but the singer has traded his electric guitar for an acoustic one, remaking himself as a country star. What do you think of his efforts?
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MY ROCK MIXTAPES
Welcome to a journey with my favorite rockstars!
80s Rock Albums
Search Through My Blog
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’80s Hard Rock Recommendation
Stepping Outside of My Music Comfort Zone + PLAYLIST
TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2018 [by Velina of @MyRockMixtapes]
[Album Recommendation] Age of Reflection – In The Heat Of The Night (AOR)
[Album Review] CREYE – “Creye” (2018)
Concert Experience: HARDLINE’s First Concert in Bulgaria (13/10/2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G4sPzSKEQg
The Story of Guns N' Roses' "November Rain"
The Story of BLIND FAITH's "Can't Find My Way Home" (1969)
The Story of Queensrÿche's Silent Lucidity
The Story of Scorpions' Beautiful Ballad "SEND ME AN ANGEL"
The Story of Toto's "Hold the Line"
10 Classic Rock Songs about Missing Someone
10 Famous Rock Band Logos and The Meaning Behind Them?
[Playlist] 5 PINK FLOYD Instrumentals That Will Blow You Away
The Songs That Made Kenny Loggins The "King Of Movie Soundtracks"
The Story of JOURNEY's "Open Arms"
60s 70s 80s 80s Rock Albums 90s 90s Albums Album Review aor Artist / Band Profile def leppard Eric Clapton Event / Concert foreigner Greatest Albums of the 80s Guns N' Roses ledzeppelin Lists live Mixtapes Music Album Music Video News Personal Playlist Rock History Rock Music Song Song Focus Song Lyrics Song Of The Day
Category: FM
(by Velina of “My Rock Mixtapes”)
Cheers to another year full of great music! Where do I even begin? I knew this was going to be a monstrous rock&roll year and I was damn right! What a time to be alive! What an enormous stamp the year 2018 left on the music history books! I seriously don’t know where to start when it comes to describing or listing all the glorious releases we had the chance to experience this year. From long-awaited comebacks, to brand new rock temptations, we sure as hell had it all. I went through the same album short-listing process last year but it somehow seemed easier to gather up my favorite releases and finalize the list. This year, however, it was way more difficult for me to make up my mind, draw lines and place numbers. That’s why as you can see I expanded to a TOP20 list, instead of a TOP10 list, like I used to do before.
Let’s get down to business and have a quick overview of the following list. As you will see, the majority of bands and albums I included come from the AOR / Melodic Rock / Hard Rock scene but no surprises there. I have been involved with this scene for a long time and this has always been my preferred style of music. I am immensely proud of the way the melodic rock scene has been developing in the past year and how many new bands are proving everyone that AOR is not something that belongs to the ’80s! All of the praises go to the hard-working team of Frontiers Records visionaries that keep the spirit alive and bring more and more to the table with each passing month. As you can see the majority of my favorite 2018 albums come from the mighty Italian label but if you know me, you won’t be surprised. Then again, why would you be? If you are a fan of AOR you would know that these days the genre is almost synonymous with that label.
In addition, on my list you can find the presence of progressive metal bands and classic American alternative bands, which spiced things up a little bit for me.
To sum it up – 2018 was my year – the year of getting my desired comebacks; the year of meeting new awesome bands; the year of discovering new sounds that challenge me; the year of further expanding my musical horizons and collection with beautiful rock music!
I really hope my readers will have an enjoyable time while going throw my list of favorite 2018 albums. Keep an open mind and in case you didn’t come across some of the releases on your 2018 musical adventure, you can always go back and check them out (better late than never, right)…
I would also love to hear your favorite albums of 2018 and whether some of mine made your list as well. Spread and share the love – we are all here to celebrate good rock music and let’s hope 2019 brings even more to the pages of the music history book!
[1] Creye – Creye
The moment I heard “Christina” from Creye‘s debut album, I knew this was going to top my list. I was waiting for that perfect melodic rock sound and when it arrived I didn’t need any more persuasion. It’s an album that makes us stop living in the past and finally let go of the old-school melodic rock playlist we’ve been listening to for so many years. With a sound that can be described as polished melodic rock, with a touch of the ’80s classic AOR soul, “Creye” sure made quite the statement on the scene. Go ahead and check out songs like “Christina” or “Different State of Mind” and you would understand what I’m saying. There’s not a single song on the album that did not aligned with my expectations and tastes when it comes to the genre. The glory days of rock music are back and Creye, along with their fans are going to become the main players, trust me! The connection was instant and I just let myself drown in it.
[2] Breaking Benjamin – Ember
Second place goes to my high-school favorites, Breaking Benjamin and their comeback album “Ember”. I keep these guys very close to my heart and for as long as I can remember their music has always been there for me. I was pretty excited for their new release and was waiting patiently till it finally arrived. All my expectations were met and my little nostalgic heart was once again filled with that Breaking Benjamin healing potion I’ve been adoring since 2006. The songs are perfect. The haunting ballad, “The Dark of You” even turned out to be my most played song for 2018, according to Spotify. So there’s that…
[3] FM – Atomic Generation
Steve Overland! Do I have to say more? FM has to be one of my all-time favorite bands with albums like “Tough it Out” topping my AOR lists for a long long time now. Imagine how thrilled I was when I heard that FM will be releasing a new album this year…you probably can’t! 11 stunning melodic rock pieces are shaping the eleventh studio album of FM. Don’t know if they did that on purpose but it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Two things easily come to mind when you listen to this album for the very first time – firstly, once you hear Steve Overland sing, literally nothing else in life matters at that particular moment; the guy has a voice made of gold and he deserves all the praises for being in such great vocal shape; secondly, there’s an obvious, highly pleasant consistency trapped inside “Atomic Generation” that clearly shows why FM are one of the most cherished British melodic rock acts ever since the late ‘80s.
[4] W.E.T. – Earthrage
Erik Mårtensson & Jeff Scott Soto made my dreams come true with “Earthrage”. You would probably hear me say this a few more times in this publication but this has got to be one of the classiest melodic rock statements released this year! There’s just so much maturity and strength in those songs that you can’t but ask yourself, why the hell are we not hearing them more often on the radio?
I have been a fan of Soto and following one of his main bands, W.E.T. for a long time now but I gotta say – among the 3 studio and 1 live album, their 2018 release has to be my favorite and the one I connected to the most. “Watch the Fire”, especially is in my top5 songs of 2018, for sure! The sophisticated release was certainly one of the highlights of Spring 2018.
[5] Judas Priest – Firepower
But of course “Firepower” will be in my top5 2018 albums! I can’t have it any other way. Not just that but in 2018 I had the chance to see them live for the very first time and listen to some of the albums on “Firepower” performed by the greatest of them all – Rob Halford, so yes – this album is indeed one of my greatest memories and experiences of 2018 and I don’t plan on excluding it from my daily playlists anytime soon.
“Children of the Sun”, “Firepower”, “Necromancer”… the entire album was one heavy metal thunder after another. Rob Halford proved to everyone that age is just a number and that there’s truly a reason why is he still one of the mighty Gods of heavy music.
[6] Primal Fear – Apocalypse
Primal Fear has been one of the most respected German bands for a long time and they have 11 brilliant albums behind their back to justify their status as metal icons. The 12th release, titled “Apocalypse” is now finally a fact and with it the band only further convinced every fan and critic out there of their unquestionable influence on the worldwide heavy metal scene. To me, “Apocalypse” defined the summer of 2018 like no other album and raised all kinds of bars in my book of metal. Not to mention that thanks to band like Primal Fear the future of the genre is more than secured and taken good care of.
The release is thrilling, powerful, exciting and your number one go-to source for the much-needed summer boost. “Apocalypse” is heavy on energy, rhythm, melody, lyrics and most importantly – intriguing themes. “King of Madness” quickly turned into one of my favorite heavy metal songs of 2018! I can’t wait to see them live in Bulgaria in 2019.
[7] Daughtry – Cage to Rattle
Daughtry have been in my life since their first album and to me, personally, they are one of the most-talented and hard-working modern American rock bands. Since they’ve been an inseparable part of my music library for a long long time, I can’t really describe to you what it feels like each time they are back with a new album. My heart is shooting fireworks and my brain is seeing sounds, basically.
“Cage to Rattle” brought all the familiar, cozy and warm Daughtry feelings back into my life and once again showed me why I haven’t given up on them yet! “Deep End” is a song that immediately connected with my soul and just made a solid presence there. I can’t believe they are back and am so thankful for this masterpiece.
[8] Groundbreaker – Groundbreaker
Woah – Steve Overland is making another appearance on my top10 list and you shouldn’t be surprised! Groundbreaker carries the well-known FM values and adds a little bit more flavor, turning this whole project into one of the most memorable melodic rock guilty pleasures. I am not sure I can name a more innocent, loving and soul-warming song than “Will It Make You Love Me” and yes – it is in my list of top favorite songs from 2018. Robert Sall (Work of Art, W.E.T) is also here to bring that special something! I was so excited when I found out that those two will be teaming up for a melodic rock frenzy and oh yes how well they did with this one…
Hope there will be a second one in 2019!
[9] Lords of Black – Icons of the New Days
Lords of Black released their debut self-titled album back in 2014 and was quickly praised by critics and fan. In 2018, with much improved song-crafting and more modern approach in terms of production, Lords of Black came back with “Icons of the New Days” – an album showcasing what a quality modern-day rock album should sound like when done by immensely talented stars.
I’m immensely pleased that Ronnie Romero has been keeping himself so busy those past few years and I hope to keep hearing his name and listening to his powerful vocals on many upcoming releases in the future. “Icons of the New Days” has all the right ingredients and was made for all the right reasons, making it a worthy pretender of “the best metal album of 2018” title.
[10] TesseracT – Sonder
In 2018, I had the chance to get introduced to TesseracT and was fortunate enough to experience their new release just right in the middle of my first steps in their brilliant progressive metal world. When “King” was out, I knew this album was going to be among my favorite ones, despite being so different from what I am used to listen to on a daily basis. I love discovering new bands and challenging myself and in 2018 TesseracT were my go-to band when I want to hear something different and put myself in another state of mind. “Sonder” is a stunning album and a perfect example of progressive metal evolution. I am so happy they now exist in my life.
[11] TREAT – Tunguska
TREAT being one of my favorite hard rock band from the late ’80s did not disappoint with their 2018 comeback, “Tunguska”. Witnessing such positive, energetic, full of love and warmth releases like this one is all I live for, honestly. The album is full of spirit and high-class melodies and not to mention the outstanding production qualities. “Build The Love” has to be one of the best songs of 2018.
[12] The Dead Daisies – Burn it Down
The Dead Dasies‘ “Burn it Down” is surely one of the most electrifying and energizing albums on this list. It might as well be my favorite album of theirs. I spent days just listening to nothing but this release when it came out. The songs are immensely captivating and you just crave for more and more of it.
[13] Perfect Plan – All Rise
Perfect Plan‘s “All Rise” quickly turned into a fan-favorite and based on my observations, it really shook the melodic rock community. I was too positively surprised when I played the album for the very first time and honestly wasn’t ready to love it that much. Perfect Plan are one of the newcomers that we should all watch out for. What really made it so memorable for me was the fact that the album keeps you engaged till the very last song and it’s not just the singles that are worthy of admiration.
[14] Monuments – Phronesis
Another album that shook my grounds and left me questioning myself and my musical comfort zones. Monuments, just like TesseracT, came into my life this year and thankfully, with them a new album to get things started. Not just that but I had the chance to attend their concert in Bulgaria this year and listen to most of the songs from “Phronesis” live (what a great experience it was!). It’s another album that took me away from my comfort zone and brought different shades to my music playlists.
]15] Steve Perry – Traces
In 2018, everyone’s dreams came true when the beloved Steve Perry finally delivered what he promised to everyone a long time ago – a new album. Witnessing this was a truly life-changing event for me because the album brought back many nostalgic feelings and made the last months of 2018 truly emotional. Steve is a vocalist with a category of his own and what he brought to us this year proves it. Words are meaningless.
[16] Sevendust – All I See Is War
Sevendust remain a blast from my past and I have to admit, it’s been years since I last played something from them. This year, however, I couldn’t miss and was truly intrigued by “All I See is War”. “Dirty” and “Medicated” were love at first listen and this album quickly reminded me why I used to be a big fan and why I need to rediscover them!
[17] Gioeli – Castronovo – Set the world on Fire
Johnny Gioeli was one of the most hard-working rockstars of 2018 and you can’t convince me otherwise. I even manged to see him 2 times performing live this year, which was truly a dream coming true. One of the many projects he participated in this year was a collaboration project with the great Deen Castronovo. These two amazing artists complemented each other in a perfect way and released an unquestionably brilliant melodic rock beauty!
[18] Michael Schenker Fest – Resurrection
Of course, we can’t have this list without Michael Schenker Fest‘s Resurrection. There are so many excellent moments on this album that it’s almost impossible for me to point out what I loved the most about it. But yes, I would probably say the fact that there are multiple vocalists all bringing their A game. It’s a classy record, made for the fans, I would say. It’s always so exciting to see a bunch of great musicians keeping their egos aside and coming up with something so valuable, each shining in their own light.
[19] Dynazty – Firesign
I’m a big fan of Dynazty and their unique approach when it comes to crafting the perfect record that mixes together the ’80s spirit and the modern, personalized touch of the band. “Firesign” showcased a mature sound and excellent melodies, proving that those guys are definitely something to watch out for in the future.
[20] Tremonti – A Dying Machine
It was an absolute delight for me to see Tremonti this year live in Bulgaria and finally witness the magic of the musical genius, Mark Tremonti. “A Dying Machine” is a concept record and based on what I read, many fans agree that this is by far his greatest work. I don’t think I can point it out as his best effort because I also love “Dust” a lot but the new album has plenty of reasons to be admired. The song structure, the lyrics, the themes – it’s all one great memorable adventure.
I would like to also draw your attention to my list of honorable mentions, featuring some more outstanding 2018 releases that deserve appreciation as well. I included some of the big names, including Stryper, Saxon and Nazareth and their triumphant 2018 comebacks. I was immensely proud to see Nazareth back in the studio with their new vocalist, Carl Sentance. Vega and Ammunition are the two new bands I added to my lists of projects to watch out for. Vega’s “Only Human” absolutely blew me away and I can’t wait to see what happens next to the band. Shinedown surprised me pretty well with their “Attention Attention” album and brought me back to my high school years when I used to be a fan of them. Nordic Union did not disappoint with their sophomore release as well but what else can you expect from Ronnie Atkins of Pretty Maids (Denmark) and Erik Martensson of Eclipse (Sweden). Seventh Wonder and Sunstorm are two more Frontiers Records releases that really impressed me with their melodic rock statements. Devil’s Hand with singer Andrew Freeman of Last In Line and producer/guitarist/songwriter Mike Slamer is one of the December releases that proved that we can wrap up the year in style.
Ultimately, the list can go on and on and on…but I had to draw the line somewhere. As obvious, even my honorable mentions list is being dominated by the melodic rock genre since of course this is what’s close to my heart.
Vega – Only Human
Ammunition – Ammunition
Stryper – God Damn Evil
Nazareth – Tattooed On My Brain
Saxon – Thunderbolt
Nordic Union – Second Coming
Seventh Wonder – Tiara
Dream Child – Until Death Do We Meet Again
Shinedown – Attention Attention
Sunstorm – The Road to Hell
Devil’s Hand (Ft. Slamer – Freeman) – Devil’s Hand
Uriah Heep – Living the Dream
Don’t forget to let me know YOUR favorite albums of 2018! Comment below and share your favorites!
The publication expresses my personal opinion on what some of the best rock releases of 2018 are, according to personal preferences and ideas. I am in noway is trying to make a generalized statement. Please be kind and considerate when you read and/or comment. Rock On!
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Posted on December 31, 2018 December 31, 2018 Categories Album Review, CDs, FM, Frontiers Records, Lists, Music Album, Music Video, Personal, Playlist, Rock Music, SongTags 2018, 2018albums, bestof2018, frontiersrecords, lists, mylist, newalbum, newalbumreview, News, recommendations, verybestofLeave a comment on TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2018 [by Velina of @MyRockMixtapes]
Album Review: FM – ATOMIC GENERATION (2018)
I’m immensely excited and so eager to talk about FM’s highly anticipated new album – “Atomic Generation”. What a time to be alive and to be a rock music fan! One of the most brilliant, most talented (though underrated in my opinion) bands is BACK and that’s not even the best thing. FM are back with what might be one of the most sophisticated and valuable releases of 2018. I knew they would bring their A game but what they brought turned out to be way more than that – “Atomic Generation” is a superb manifestation of talent, thought and thrill!
FM are widely known by their late ‘80s/early ‘90s albums, such as “Tough it Out” and “Takin It’ to The Street”. However, the past 10 years the guys have spawned some equally deserving masterpieces, including “Heroes and Villains” (2015) and “INDISCREET 30” – a new recording of their classic 1986 album. Now, it’s 2018 and it was time to dive into a new adventure – an eleventh one to be precise. “Atomic Generation” further solidifies their position as one of the undefeated champions of melodic rock and is another proof that the AOR era is everything but gone.
Let’s talk music! (I love this phrase so much)
11 stunning melodic rock pieces are shaping the eleventh studio album of FM. Don’t know if they did that on purpose but it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? Two things easily come to mind when you listen to this album for the very first time – firstly, once you hear Steve Overland sing, literally nothing else in life matters at that particular moment; the guy has a voice made of gold and he deserves all the praises for being in such great vocal shape; secondly, there’s an obvious, highly pleasant consistency trapped inside “Atomic Generation” that clearly shows why FM are one of the most cherished British melodic rock acts ever since the late ‘80s.
The opening track, “Black Magic”, is like a fresh breeze, gently playing with your senses. The intro is one of its strongest points, along with those “whoa-oh” sing-along moments. Love how FM put so many different unique touches on it – grooves, hooks, nostalgic melodic rock vibes, modern-day funky sounds and so much more. It never gets boring and I must have played it over a hundred times already. “Too Much of a Good Thing” is what I expect to hear on the radio during a sunny spring ride around town. The song has so much soul and color and you gotta be made of ice if it doesn’t touch your heart even a little bit. The Santana-reminiscent “Playing Tricks on Me” is an absolute winner and one of the greatest moments on the record. The second it starts playing, don’t hesitate – grab the person next to you and dance your night away! After that passionate fiesta is over, we are moving ahead with more traditional FM sound in the face of “Make the Best of What You Got”. “Stronger” is my favorite song from the album and it was love at first listen for me. The keyboard intro knocked me down and the progression of the song finished me. I am completely inlove with the lyrics and the powerful, encouraging, mood-lifting personality of the song – it was the thing I needed but didn’t know I do. The album wraps things up with “Love is the Law” – a soft, acoustic country ballad that cools off the spirits, with the help of Steve’s magical voice.
“Atomic Generation” can easily compete with all the FM’s classic albums in terms of influence and musicianship. I am praising them for all the effort they put in presenting such musical variety and still remain as classy as ever. It’s one of the albums of the year, you can trust me on that.
“Playing Tricks on Me”
1. Black Magic
2. Too Much Of A Good Thing
3. Killed By Love
4. In It For The Money
5. Golden Days
6. Playing Tricks On Me
7. Make The Best Of What You Got
9. Do You Love Me Enough
10. Stronger
11. Love Is The Law
http://www.fmofficial.com/fmofficial/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/FMofficial
https://twitter.com/FMofficial
https://www.youtube.com/user/FMofficialTV
P.S. I don’t own any audio or visual material used in this publication. All the rights and credits go to the owners and/publishers.
The publication expresses my personal opinion and in no way is trying to make a generalized statement. Please be kind and considerate when you read and/or comment.
Cheers~
Posted on April 11, 2018 April 11, 2018 Categories Album Review, aor, FM, Music Album, Music Video, NewsTags 2018, albumfocus, albumreview, aor, FM, frontiersrecords, melodicrock, musicvideo, newalbum, newalbumreview, newmusic, News4 Comments on Album Review: FM – ATOMIC GENERATION (2018)
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New course provokes students
Bright Hockey Center plays host to Lobster season
'Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature' offers many questions, few answers
By William J. Cromie Harvard News Office
Michael Sandel (left) and Douglas Melton describe dilemmas on the slippery border between biology and ethics. In this session the class discusses the question of using sperm and eggs from highly intelligent and attractive people to conceive ‘custom-made’ babies. (Staff photo Justin Ide/Harvard News Office)
Professor Douglas Melton asked his Harvard class this question: Should drugs and other treatments used for curing disease also be used to extend our physical capabilities, to, say, enhance athletic performance?
By a show of hands, about 85 percent of the students voted “no.”
Then Melton’s teaching partner and provocateur, Professor Michael Sandel, asked, “Why not?” Hands flew up and opinions flew around for two hours. Agreement and disagreement continued throughout the week in discussion sections, where the 240 students enrolled in the course, “Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature,” are broken up into smaller groups of 15. It also continued on the “bioethics blog,” a course Web site where students who didn’t raise their hands or didn’t get to say enough in class express their views.
Read more about ethics and research:
special Humanities section
The course probes the intellectual minefields between science and ethics, and it teaches by provoking. “Doug usually begins with a short lecture on biology, then I pose questions about the ethic involved, explains Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government. “We provoke students to think and to argue, not only with us and each other, but with themselves.”
The students like it. “The course challenges many of the ideas and beliefs that so many of us hold with little investigation into a proper defense for these thoughts,” says senior Michael Gaffney. “Though the process can sometimes be frustrating, I’d rather have a process that makes me reconsider my thoughts about important issues than to progress through life having never considered the ramifications of my positions.”
“The lectures are wonderful,” agrees senior Carl Shulman. “Sandel has a style that is half Socratic and half game-show host. Melton makes a great complement as a ‘straight man’ and scientific powerhouse.”
The class on “better bodies” (using science to boost physical ability) had it all. There were protests from athletes in the class, Melton’s heartwarming wish for equality in bicep mass for all, Sandel’s question whether trampoline basketball is a sport or a spectacle, and the suggestion that we have a “mutant Olympics” along with the traditional one.
The give-and-take provides a unique opportunity for students to think and learn about the latest advances in biotechnology – from sex selection to cloning – and at the same time to debate the humanistic questions posed by such technology. Polls taken on the course Web site reveal that students who come to class with one opinion can change their minds after reflecting on their positions and hearing what others have to say. On the question of whether it is ever OK to use safe, performance-enhancing drugs, “yeses” more than doubled, from 16 to 34 percent.
Dilemma, disagreement, and discussion
Another class situation covered a successful attempt by two profoundly deaf people who did everything they possibly could to have a deaf child. At first, most of the students agreed that deliberately conceiving a deaf child was morally OK. But after discussion and reflection, the split widened to 50-50.
Other questions include “Is there anything wrong with using a Nobel Prize sperm donor in hopes of conceiving a brilliant baby? If you could clone yourself or your children as safely as giving natural birth, would there be any reason to ban it? Stem cell research on excess embryos from fertility clinics is legal with permission of the “parents,” but is it wrong to create embryos solely for the sake of doing experiments on them? If it becomes possible to select the sex and other characteristics of children, would it be morally objectionable to do so? What, if anything, is wrong with the creation of human-animal hybrids?
Sandel had been teaching a seminar touching on such questions, and he asked Melton, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences and an expert on stem cell research, to join him. “It proved so exciting for the students and so much fun for us, we decided to experiment with teaching a lecture course together for undergraduates,” Sandel recalls.
On the first day, the classroom was crowded beyond “standing room only.” Some 380 students applied for the 240 slots available. The seats had to be filled by a lottery.
The present class is about evenly split between science concentrators and non-science concentrators, so it’s not just about teaching ethics to biologists. “Michael and I see the course as borne out of a conviction that science concentrators and non-science concentrators should be brought together at the border of biology and ethics, in a way that both groups benefit,” Melton points out.
“Doug and I have disagreements and we play them out in the classroom,” Sandel explains. “The students hear us develop our views, then argue with us and each other. It’s working extremely well.”
When Melton and Sandel agree too closely, they may bring someone into the classroom who opposes their view. They both think, for example, that creating embryonic stem cells in the laboratory, which Melton does, and using them to find cures for diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s, is morally justified. To be sure that their students were exposed to the opposing opinion, they recruited Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
An impressive speaker, Doerflinger presented a series of arguments against using embryos, which he insisted are living human beings, in laboratory research. He argued for alternative solutions such as the use of adult stem cells, as well as those taken from umbilical cords. Melton convincingly rebutted Doerflinger’s technical and scientific arguments, and both more or less agreed that the controversy comes down to a question of when life begins and, thus, when is a life destroyed.
Melton asked Doerflinger if a day-old embryo and a 6-year-old boy are moral equivalents. Doerflinger said that they were. Then why, Melton asked, does society tolerate filling up freezers with embryos but not 6-year-olds?
The question brought applause from the students and discomfort for Doerflinger. In the poll, a large majority of students agreed with Melton, although a few spoke up in class and afterwards in defense of Doerflinger’s position.
How will such debates help college students in the “real world”?
“One of the purposes of a good education is to prepare students to engage in rational discourse and debate with people who don’t agree with them,” Melton answers. “At this time in history, science is presenting citizens with a rapidly growing number of major choices about the future of their and human nature. Citizens should be equipped with knowledge and rational opinions that will enable them to discuss the impact of issues such as global warming and advances in biotechnology.”
“We live in a time when science matters more than ever before,” Sandel adds. “It will be especially important in the years ahead for all citizens to have a basic familiarity with biology, even if their careers are unrelated to science. Many of the choices we will be making in the future will arise from the current revolution in biotechnology. We will be responsible for the impact of these choices whether we are scientists or not.”
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Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms Receives First Production Delivery Order for AN/VIC-5 Enhanced Vehicular Communication System
BALTIMORE â Oct. 22, 2013 â Northrop Grumman Cobham Intercoms LLC (NGCI), a joint venture between Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) and Cobham plc (LSE:COB), has been awarded the first production delivery order of the AN/VIC-5 enhanced vehicular communication system.
The announcement was made during a ceremony at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Aberdeen, Md., on Sept. 27. The U.S. Army PEO Enterprise Information Systems hosted the event to celebrate the decision for material release of the AN/VIC-5. This first production delivery order marks the official beginning of the program's production and deployment phase.
"AN/VIC-5 is the most advanced vehicular intercommunications system available to meet the demanding environment encountered by our soldiers," said Kay Burch, co-chair of the NGCI board of directors and vice president of Northrop Grumman's communications, intelligence and networking solutions business unit. "We look forward to working with the Army to begin fielding this solution that defines a new standard for vehicular intercom systems."
AN/VIC-5 is an integrated intercom system that supports internet protocol communications to soldiers on the battlefield. It is the successor to AN/VIC-3, which has been proven in Iraq and Afghanistan on more than 100,000 U.S. ground vehicles. NGCI holds a $2.4 billion indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with the Army, awarded in 2009, for delivery of the system, which completed rigorous validation and verification testing earlier this year.
"We're excited to provide this enhanced capability to the warfighter and look forward to working with the Army to continue to evolve this product as future needs arise," said Daniel Gelston, co-chair of the NGCI board of directors and vice president of Cobham's Tactical Communications and Surveillance business unit.
AN/VIC-5 comprises a range of control consoles, operator stations, cables and headsets. The system's customizable, mix-and match, modular architecture scales to accommodate a number of platform requirements. This intuitive, flexible approach allows users to combine system components to provide clear, noise-free communications between crew members inside and outside the combat vehicle to dismounted users and combat net radios. Selecting from a variety of standard modules enables system scalability to support vehicle command post operations and tactical operations centers with up to 58 users and 16 combat net radios.
Cobham protects lives and livelihoods with its differentiated technology and know-how, operating with a deep insight to customer needs, and agility. The Group offers an innovative range of technologies and services to solve challenging problems across commercial, defence and security markets, from deep space to the depths of the ocean. It has market leading positions in air-to-air refuelling; aviation services; audio, video and data communications, including satellite communications; defence electronics; life support and mission equipment. The most important thing Cobham builds is trust. Please visit www.cobham.com for more information.
CONTACT: Ellen Hamilton
Greg Caires
Greg.Caires@cobham.com
AN/VIC-5
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By Joshua Feldman July 31, 2020
Hurricane Isaias is pounding the Bahamas today with torrential rain and powerful winds as it passes through the Caribbean toward Florida’s East Coast. Isaias is expected to impact the Floridian coastline this weekend with a near-miss or landfall before making a possible second landfall in North Carolina on Monday.
Isaias is the ninth named storm of the 2020 hurricane season – the earliest “I” storm on record – but the first to pose a significant threat to large portions of the East Coast. As of 5pm Friday Isaias is a low-end Category 1 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph located over the southeastern Bahamas. The hurricane is drenching the Bahamas with torrential rainfall capable of producing dangerous flash-floods as it begins aiming for Florida on Saturday and Sunday. Leading outer bands could work there way into southeast Florida as soon as late Friday night.
The track of Isaias is uncertain but it will be steered by two primary mechanisms: an upper-level trough crossing into the Northeast Sunday and the Bermuda High over the Southwest Atlantic. Isaias will follow a weakness in the ridge produced by the incoming trough and squeeze between the two features, turning clockwise to the north upon nearing Florida then to the northeast towards North Carolina parallel to the Southeast Coast. With this general track in mind, there is wiggle room for Isaias to follow two more specific tracks each with their own sets of risks.
Scenario One: Florida Landfall
In the first track, Isaias would make landfall on Florida’s East Coast late Saturday or early Sunday. This would bring modest impacts to Florida but would prevent more substantial impacts elsewhere. Under this scenario, Tropical Storm and brief hurricane conditions would berate Florida for a time Saturday and Sunday, dumping 4-8″ of rain with local amounts to 12″ over Florida’s East Coast. The storm would then likely reemerge over the Atlantic where it would briefly re-intensify before making a second landfall between South Carolina and southern North Carolina as a tropical storm or borderline Category 1 Hurricane.
This first scenario would bring life-threatening flooding and storm surge to Florida’s I-95 corridor but would quell wind, rain, and storm surge to the Carolinas and pacify impacts in the Northeast. All impacts would not be avoided, however. A roughly 8-12 hour period of heavy rain should still be expected east of the Appalachians in the Northeast between Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Scenario Two: Florida Near-Miss, North Carolina Landfall
The second track would be a miss for Florida, instead resulting in a landfall over eastern North Carolina that would produce much more dangerous conditions there and in the Northeast compared to the first track. By avoiding landfall over Florida, Hurricane Isaias would gradually intensify off the Southeast Coast, swiping only coastal Florida this weekend with strong winds and heavy rain of 2-5″ before striking coastal North Carolina as a strong Category 1 or possibly weak Category 2 Hurricane.
Under the stronger second scenario, powerful storm surge, wind gusts as high as 90 mph, and heavy rains of 4-8″ could ravage the North Carolina coast. Isaias would then continue on as a Tropical Storm or borderline Category 1 Hurricane along the coast towards Long Island or Cape Cod before moving rapidly through the Northeast, still capable of producing life-threatening storm surge, wind gusts up to 70 mph, and 3-6″ of rain in a time span of just 6-10 hours. The bulk of the rain would fall near the coast but some heavier rain could also develop over eastern New York and northern New England, especially if Isaias phases with the aforementioned trough and undergoes “extra tropical transition,” by which it will gain features of both a tropical cyclone and a Nor’Easter.
Factors Determining Track
The factors controlling which track to take are fairly unpredictable. Isaias is currently combating a region of wind shear – change in wind speed and direction with height – as of Friday afternoon. Wind shear disrupts the circulation of tropical cyclones and there is already evidence of that occurring. If Isaias is weaker when approaching Florida, it will be slower to curve to the northwest and then to the northeast, favoring track 1. If Isaias is stronger, it will make a faster turn, favoring track 2.
Despite the wind shear, Isaias is standing strong, as intense deep convection builds symmetrically about its center as demonstrated on visible and infrared satellite.
5-hour blended infrared and visibile satellite imagery loop focused on Tropical Storm Isaias over the Bahamas between 13:50 UTC (9:50am EDT) and 19:00 UTC (3:00pm EDT) on July 31, 2020. Note the expanding region of deepening red about the storm’s center, indicative of intensification. Imagery courtesy of NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service.
Further supporting Isaias’s strength are measurements of central pressure taken by reconnaissance aircraft that show a decrease in minimum of central pressure of 991 mb at 2pm ET compared to 992 mb at 11am ET. So despite the wind shear and lack of organized eye-wall, Isaias is holding up strong. This gives more credence to storm track 2.
Ultimately, the differences in factors that lead to Isaias making its first landfall over Florida versus North Carolina are subtle. The most optimal forecast track is a blend of the two, featuring a “near miss” of Florida’s East Coast such that Isaias makes landfall over North Carolina southwest of the Outer Banks, allowing for some weakening over eastern North Carolina before approaching the Northeast as a tropical storm. However, a more direct landfall into Florida’s east coast; which would spare the Carolinas and Northeast; or a land-fall over the Outer Banks; which would lead to significant impacts in North Carolina and the Northeast; are both possible.
Author Joshua Feldman
As Head Meteorologist, Josh bridges together weather forecasting with product quality and innovation. He vigilantly monitors weather threats across the country and directly engages with clients to outline hazards posed by expected inclement weather. He also offers insights into meteorology and numerical weather prediction to aid the development team in improving and expanding the diverse set of products. Feldman graduated from Stony Brook University in 2018 with Bachelor of Science degrees in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Physics.
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Domtar Corporation & Nonprofit Partner, First Book, Give Grant to Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School for New Books
Download PDF of this Press Release
Grant provides funds to local Jesup, GA school to purchase new books for children from low-income families
JESUP, Ga.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar. 2, 2017– Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today announced that employee volunteers from the company’s personal care manufacturing and research facility in Jesup, GA will visit Martha Rawls Smith Elementary School from 1:00-2:00 P.M. to donate and read new books to the school’s children as part of its partnership with First Book. A Fortune 500 company, Domtar makes a wide variety of everyday products from sustainable wood fiber, such as copy paper and diapers. Domtar’s personal care facility in Jesup employs nearly 100 people in the local community.
As part of its Powerful Pages campaign, Domtar has partnered with First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides books to children in need, since 2012 to provide more than half a million dollars in grants to schools and programs in towns that are home to Domtar facilities. Domtar’s grants provide funding to educators to purchase books through the First Book Marketplace, a website available exclusively to First Book programs, and then the school’s children are able to bring home the new books.
“We’re proud to have provided hundreds of thousands of brand-new books to children from low-income families across North America, in partnership with First Book,” said Domtar Corporate Responsibility Manager, Heather Alverson Stowe. “Domtar is committed to promoting literacy by putting books in the hands of children in need in the communities in which we operate—it’s a cause that is close to our hearts and core to our business.”
“Access to books is transformational in the lives of our children and the educators who serve them,” said Kyle Zimmer, First Book president and CEO. “Domtar’s work with First Book has opened up a world of opportunities to children who might not otherwise have books at home.”
First Book is a nonprofit social enterprise that has distributed more than 100 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the United States and Canada. By making new, high-quality books available on an ongoing basis, First Book is transforming the lives of children in need and elevating the quality of education. For more information, please visit us online or follow our latest news on Facebook and Twitter
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170302005243/en/
Domtar Corporation
Heather Alverson Stowe, 514-848-5555 x 85979
Corporate Responsibility Manager
Kathy Wholley, 803-984-2729
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
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Cueto Tosses Gem as Royals Beat Astros 7-2 in ALDS Clincher
KANSAS CITY, MO - OCTOBER 14: Kendrys Morales #25 of the Kansas City Royals hits a three-run home run in the eighth inning against the Houston Astros during game five of the American League Divison Series at Kauffman Stadium on October 14, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Johnny Cueto delivered a masterpiece on his biggest stage yet, pitching eight dominant innings Wednesday night and leading the never-say-die Kansas City Royals to a 7-2 victory over the Houston Astros and back to the American League Championship Series.
Cueto (1-0) allowed two hits, a single by Evan Gattis followed by Luis Valbuena's second-inning homer, before retiring the final 19 batters he faced. He struck out eight without a walk in the kind of clutch performance the Royals expected when they traded for him.
When Wade Davis breezed through the ninth, the Royals poured onto the field to celebrate.
The defending AL champs will host the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 on Friday night. The teams have met once before in the ALCS with the Royals winning in seven games in 1985 — they would go on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals for their only World Series triumph.
Filed Under: American League Championship, Baseball, houston astros, kansas city royals
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