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Induction into AAS early career development initiative
Dr Christina Thobakgale-Tshabalala, who is a Research Associate at CAPRISA, was among the first cohort of 15 young scientists selected by the African Academy of Sciences for a programme to recognise, mentor and help early career professionals develop into world class research leaders. The 15, who are PhD holders and below the age of 40, were selected from the five regions of Africa to be AAS Affiliates for a five-year period running from 2016 to 2020. They were inducted at the AAS 10th General Assembly taking place in Kasane, Botswana.
AAS will work with their institutions to offer them training in areas that include proposal writing and manuscript preparation to help them win more grants and improve their publication records, respectively. Other training will be offered in ethical research conduct and intellectual property to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge need to develop their careers. Berhanu Abegaz, the AAS Executive Director said: “Unless we provide opportunities to attract, train and retain our young scientists, especially those who are showing promise in their different fields, through a rewarding career path we will continue to lose them.” Africa loses 20,000 thousands of professionals every year to developed countries some of whom are scientists who are frustrated by the lack of infrastructure and mentors.
AAS Affiliates will be mentored by experts in their fields from across the globe, some of whom are senior scientists drawn from AAS Fellows. Mentorship is a conduit for young professionals to gain the knowledge they need to be successful in their careers.
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Work-related injuries to Massachusetts teens, 1987-1990.
Brooks-DR; Davis-LK
Am J Ind Med 1996 Feb; 29(2):153-160
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0274(199602)29:2<153::AID-AJIM5>3.0.CO;2-T
Work related injuries among workers 14 to 17 years of age in Massachusetts were characterized. Data on work related injuries to teenage workers between 1987 and 1990 were obtained from workers' compensation records. Ninety percent of the 2,551 work related injuries reported during this time in this age group occurred in those 16 to 17 years of age. The injury rate for males was about twice that for females. The majority of injuries were sprains, strains, and lacerations. Almost half of the sprain/strain injuries were to the back and approximately 80% of all lacerations were associated with the hand and/or finger. The retail trade sector accounted for slightly over half of all injuries followed by services, and manufacturing. Over half of all injuries occurred in grocery stores, restaurants/food service, health services, and department stores. The highest injury rates were seen in the manufacturing and wholesale trades and in the southeast region of the state. The authors conclude that these data support the idea that work related injuries among teenage workers constitute a serious public health problem.
NIOSH-Publication; NIOSH-Cooperative-Agreement; Back-injuries; Hand-injuries; Traumatic-injuries; Age-factors; Sex-factors; Food-services; Grocery-stores; Department-stores; Age-groups; Retail-workers
Daniel R. Brooks, Bureau of Health Statistics, Research and Evaluation, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 150 Tremont Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02111
AJIMD8
Funding Amount
Cooperative Agreement
Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-103010
American Journal of Industrial Medicine
Performing Organization
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
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Chequered Flag Chat
Home/Clients
Clients cfmedia 2019-04-10T15:42:11+00:00
We represent a range of clients in the motorsport and automotive industries, including drivers, teams, categories and other businesses.
S E R I E S
The Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) is managed by the Benalla Auto Club, and visits four states in 2018. It provides a professional national-level platform for an assortment of popular categories.
The new-for-2018 SuperUtes category provides a racing platform for production-based turbo-diesel utes, vehicles in one of the top-selling market segments in the Australian automotive industry.
Now into its 49th season in Australia, Formula Ford is Australia’s second-longest standing national motorsport category. The HFFA organises racing events for pre-1990 Formula Fords.
The Australian Superbike Championship is the premier Australian motorcycling category, attracting the nation’s top riders and the best-resourced teams, including factory outfits.
D R I V E R S
Tony Bates has an enviable record in national-level motorsport spanning more than a decade, his career highlight being the championship victory he achieved in the 2016 TAG Heuer Carrera Challenge.
Cameron Hill is one of Australia’s most talented racing drivers, winning the 2015 Australian Formula Ford Championship and numerous Toyota 86 Series races. He currently competes in Carrera Cup.
Since he began Porsche racing at just 17 years old, Dylan O’Keeffe has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence. He currently races for Garry Rogers Motorsport in the Dunlop Super2 Series.
Emily Duggan is one of the most inspirational figures in Australian motorsport, progressing from state level competition all the way to Super3 Series with her raw hunger for success.
Successful entrepreneur Aaron Zerefos competes in a variety of high-profile racing events including the Bathurst 12 Hour and Porsche Rennsport Festival, as well as drive experiences in the US.
T E A M S
Based in Melbourne, the Ash Seward Motorsport outfit specialises in running high-end race cars in categories such as Carrera Cup, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and Australian GT Championship.
The Sydney-based GWR Australia team is owned by experienced race driver and mechanic Garth Walden. It competes in a variety of state and national categories and endurance races.
Run by experienced competitor Phil Alexander, RaceAway Track Time is a one-stop shop for an introduction to motorsport, with a fleet of race-ready cars and CAMS/AASA OLT accreditation.
The Boss Surveillance Mercedes C63 AMG is one of the most potent vehicles in Australian Production Car racing. Driven by Karl Begg and Justin Anthony, it achieved a class win in the 2018 Bathurst 6 Hour.
CGR Performance runs entries in a number of events and categories including the Bathurst 6 Hour, Wakefield and Winton 300s, Australian Production Car Series and Formula Vee.
B U S I N E S S E S
Supashock is Australia’s premier suspension developer and manufacturer, creating a range of products for applications including motorsport, aftermarket, off-road, mining and defence.
Wakefield Park is the nation’s spectator track, and hosts a variety of club, state and national-level race meetings each year, along with corporate and driver training events during the week.
Chequered Flag Media.
First place in motorsport media, communications and management.
Email: info@cfmedia.com.au
© Chequered Flag Media. All Rights Reserved. Digital Agency Melbourne.
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Tech Companies / Apple, Foxconn and China: The Human Cost of Manufacturing
Apple, Foxconn and China: The Human Cost of Manufacturing
NEWS ANALYSIS: Apple's contract manufacturing at Foxconn is getting all of the attention, but the problem is far wider. If you want to find one source of the problem, look in the mirror.
The recent uproar about the conditions in Chinese factories where Apple's iPhones, iPads and iPods are manufactured is getting a lot of attention, partly because of an article in the New York Times.
A great deal more attention is likely due to the lead story that appeared on CBS Sunday Morning on Jan. 29, in which a network reporter visited Shenzhen, China, site of the Foxconn factory where Apple's products are assembled.
The CBS segment graphically showed the suicide prevention nets at the factory, it showed workers reportedly as young as 12 who worked shifts as long as 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week. It also reported on the death of one worker who died at work after a shift of more than 30 hours. There's no question that these conditions approach the emotional feeling of slavery, if not the legal definition. What's missing from the conversation is that Foxconn builds electronics products for a wide variety of companies, not just Apple.
In fact, there's a good chance that the smartphone in your pocket, the laptop on your desk or the tablet in your briefcase was assembled by Foxconn. If it wasn't, it was probably assembled by another Chinese contract manufacturer that operates in a manner similar to Foxconn. Regardless of what company has its logo on your consumer electronics, it's a virtual certainty that it was manufactured in China in a factory very similar to the one where your iPad was made.
So before we go dumping on Apple for the conditions at Foxconn, maybe it's time for a reality check. As is usually the case, things with Foxconn aren't what they necessarily seem. First of all, while Foxconn does indeed have factories all over China, it also has facilities in a lot of other places, including in the United States and Europe. In addition, Foxconn isn't the only contract electronics manufacturer with tens of thousands of Chinese employees working long hours at low wages. That's pretty much the name of the game in the consumer electronics industry.
Think of your iPhone as you would a hamburger--the meat was once part of a living, breathing animal. Its life was taken so you could have lunch. This is the price for the type of life we lead, whether it's the price that we pay to buy something once living that's now a package of hamburger or the price we pay for a brand-new iPhone.
Your iPhone was once a collection of parts that is often assembled by children who will never have time to play, get a decent education or know much about anything except assembling electronic components until they are too old or worn out to keep working. We bought that iPhone at a great price without a thought of what the social costs are in a country half a world away.
But when we demand lower and lower prices for our toys, that price is paid by someone. If we won't pay it because we can't bring ourselves to spend more than $200 for a shiny new iPhone, then that Chinese child pays it. If we were willing to spend more, then perhaps that job would go to an adult so that the child could live more as child. Or perhaps that work would go to a former textile worker in the U.S. Appalachia region, whose labor might cost a little more.
But the needs of the developed world are such that they must be filled by a massive labor force, and China is one of the few places that has huge numbers people willing to work for low wages with the skills to precisely manufacture electronic devices. Should we pay more for our toys so that these people can live and work in conditions that don't make them wish they could end their own lives? Yes, we should.
But blaming Apple isn't the answer. The problem isn't just Apple or any other U.S. company that has to resort to low-wage manufacturers overseas to squeeze every penny out of the manufacturing cycle so it can make big profits in an industry with cutthroat competition.
The problem is you. The problem is everyone with an iPhone or nearly any other kind of cell phone or tablet computer or laptop or other consumer electronics device. You, by insisting on ever lower prices and ever newer stuff with ever faster delivery times, are responsible for the conditions in that Shenzhen factory.
If it were possible to buy these electronics from companies that provide more humane working conditions, then I'd suggest that you should do that. Sadly, I don't know that it's possible. I will tell you that if I could know for certain that my devices were built in a factory that treated workers with respect and gave them reasonable working conditions, I would, even if it cost more. But the fact of today's globalization is such that you simply can't find out. If you want an iPhone or something like it, then you have no choice but to buy that device the way comes, with all the dirty secrets about low wages, exhausting work shifts and rotten working conditions built in.
In a way, when you buy that hamburger you do have a choice--you can choose meat from an animal that was raised humanely, treated with respect and allowed to live a pleasant life. When I buy meat like that, it costs a lot more, and I pay it. But I can't buy a phone that way. They don't exist. But if they did, I'd pay a lot more to get one.
To read the original eWeek article, click here: Apple, Foxconn and the Human Cost of Electronics Manufacturing in China
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Malaysian leaders urge national unity on Christmas eve
Malaysia's Prime Mininster Mahathir Mohamad. (File photo: AFP/Manan Vatsyayana)
24 Dec 2018 05:07PM (Updated: 24 Dec 2018 06:34PM )
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian leaders have called for national unity and religious tolerance on Christmas eve.
This comes after racial divisions were laid bare following the recent riots at a Hindu temple in Selangor, as well as an anti-International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
MALAYSIA IS A PEACEFUL COUNTRY: PM MAHATHIR MOHAMAD
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday (Dec 24) that "Malaysia is a peaceful country where people from all races and religions come together to celebrate each other’s holiday festivities".
"I hope this mutual regard will continue, and passed on to the younger generation. This is what made Malaysia unique, united and strong," Mahathir said.
READ: Malaysian authorities urge calm after firefighter's death
Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said that Malaysians should continue to cherish the respect, understanding and love among the different groups in society.
“United we stand, divided we fall. Instead of focusing on the negative, let us all look at all the positive that far outweigh the former,” she said.
She noted that in Islam, it is compulsory to be tolerant towards one another.
Verses eight and nine in the Surah al-Mumtahanah (the 60th chapter of the Quran) encourage Muslims to be just and kind to non-Muslims who are not the enemies of Muslims, she added.
“Consider this my personal Christmas card to every single one of you celebrating Christmas this year. May you have a wonderful and joyous celebration. Happy holidays,’ she said.
READ: Race and religion - when 'new Malaysia' faces off against old forces
UNITE AND REJECT EXTREMISM: FINANCE MINISTER LIM GUAN ENG
In the same vein, finance minister Lim Guan Eng said that the country’s economy can only be strong if Malaysians unite and reject extremism.
“The new Pakatan Harapan federal government under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is committed towards representing all Malaysians regardless of demography or geography,” he was quoted as saying by the Malay Mail.
He also accused the opposition of “abandoning the political centre and adopting a racist line or extremist position based on religion”.
“Not only do non-Muslims and non-Malays not be given the right to serve as ministers, but their rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution will be further undermined and diminished to the extent that Christmas celebrations is unacceptable,” the minister claimed.
RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS TENSION
Fears of racial and religious tension have grown after riots at a Hindu temple in Subang Jaya last month.
The temple administration committee and the developer, One City Development, are in dispute over the piece of the land on which the temple stands.
A firefighter suffered serious injuries while he was part of a team responding to a fire in front of the temple. Rioters allegedly pulled him out of his vehicle and attacked him. He died last week.
READ: 'I miss him terribly': Mother of Malaysian firefighter Muhammad Adib
There have been growing calls for Minister of National Unity and Social Well-being Waytha Moorthy to be sacked, as he was among a group of ministers who publicly blamed the police for failing to keep order, just before the attack on the firefighter.
More than 300,000 people have signed an online petition calling for his removal.
Non-governmental organisations, however, submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister's Office on Monday, in support of Mr Moorthy.
On Dec 8, the opposition organised a huge rally in Kuala Lumpur against ICERD, a United Nations Convention that condemns discrimination and calls upon states to pursue a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms.
In September, Mahathir told the United Nations General Assembly that Malaysia would ratify the convention. However, Putrajaya backpedaled on its decision in November, as ratifying ICERD would require a two-thirds majority in parliament to amend the Federal Constitution.
Meanwhile, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia’s (PAS) youth chief was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian daily that Christmas has elements of “syirik” (idolatry).
Therefore, Muslims are forbidden from celebrating it, including extending Christmas greetings on social media, said Mr Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi.
This drew a stern rebuke from Democratic Action Party veteran Lim Kit Siang.
In a statement on Monday, he said this is not the first time PAS has propagated “toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion”.
“Does PAS want to have a world war of religions, or a peaceful, tolerant and harmonious world based on the tolerance and peaceful coexistence of all the great religions of the world?” he was reported as saying by The Malaysian Insight.
Source: CNA/Bernama/aw(aj)
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Concordia's Maurice Simba gets his shot to impress NFL scouts
When Maurice Simba first put on a football helmet and shoulder pads at Collège Montmorency in Laval, Que., saying that he felt a little uncomfortable would have been an understatement.
Before immigrating to Canada in 2012, Simba had never considered playing football
Douglas Gelevan · CBC News · Posted: Jan 18, 2019 5:13 PM ET | Last Updated: January 18
Maurice Simba will have a chance to be scouted by the NFL when he suits up and plays Jan. 19, 2019 at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. (Submitted by Concordia Stingers)
"The first month of learning football was the worst month of my life, honestly," Simba says.
But that was before the six-foot-eight-inch, 320-pound native of Congo realized what opportunities the game held for a man his size.
Today, six years since first putting on his pads, Simba is set to suit up in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Pasadena, California.
"It's awesome and I know without football I wouldn't be the same person I am today," Simba says.
Maurice Simba discovered his love of football at Concordia University's Loyola campus, where he played for the Concordia Stingers. (Submitted by Concordia Stingers)
Hoop dreams denied, football dreams realized
Simba grew up in Kinshasa, Congo, dreaming of becoming a professional basketball player.
But soon after arriving in Canada in 2012 at the age of 18, he realized that his weight — he tipped the scales at 375 pounds at the time — was going to make playing that sport a challenge.
But his uncle knew exactly where he'd fit in and arranged a meeting with a football coach at Collège Montmorency. As soon as he walked into that meeting, Simba says he found his calling.
For two seasons Simba learned the basics of the game at school. Then the Concordia Stingers offered him a chance to play at the university level.
He says it was on the Loyola campus where he discovered a love for the game, working with coach Ted Karabatsos.
"He was working with me one or two hours every day," Simba says. "I felt like there is actually someone who cared about me. I started having fun because he taught me that's the only way you can play this game."
Maurice Simba will have a chance to be scouted by the NFL when he suits up and plays Jan. 19 at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in California. 3:14
His childhood friends back in Congo didn't fully understand the game he was playing. But he says they supported him unconditionally.
"They all keep asking me, like, 'Dude, how do you walk in all those helmets and pads?'" Simba says. "I'm the first person actually playing this sport.… They're all part of me. So I feel like, having all those people trusting me, I don't have a choice to keep grinding and make them proud."
Simba was named a second team All-Canadian after his 2017 season with the Stingers and, following his 2018 season, he became the first player from a Canadian university to be invited to play in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl — a showcase for NFL draft-eligible football prospects.
Coming to Canada
Maurice Simba and his seven siblings were raised in Congo by his grandparents. At the breakfast table, from left, Simba's cousin Hervé, Maurice Simba, his grandmother Antoinette Kuzayila and grandfather Charles Into. (Submitted by Maurice Simba)
Simba wasn't yet three years old when his mother left Congo to set up roots in Canada.
He grew up with his grandparents and his seven other siblings, and for 15 years waited for the day he could be reunited with his mother.
That day came on February 26, 2012, when he landed at Montreal's Trudeau Airport.
"It was a sensational moment that night," Simba recalls.
Maurice Simba's mother is his biggest fan. She left Congo for Canada when Simba was 3. He only saw her again 15 years later, when he came to Canada at age 18 in 2012. (Submitted by Concordia Stingers)
"It was a lot of emotions. We both cried, we both fell down on our knees. I even remember people around us looking at us like, 'What is going on here?' but we needed that moment. For almost five minutes, we didn't say anything to each other — just crying, just hugging each other and it was special."
Adjusting to life in Canada wasn't easy, however. Simba's first impression was shock at how cold Montreal could be in February.
"I couldn't believe it. I literally told my mom, 'This is like a fridge. It's like a national fridge that people live in.'"
Aside from the climate shock, he also remembers the first few months being isolated and lonely as he waited for all his immigration paperwork to be processed to start school.
"It was really tough for me. You know, like I'm in Canada but you just stay home and not do anything," he says.
School and football gave him a direction and a purpose.
"With football you have discipline," he says. "I'm just really happy about it and I don't take anything for granted."
Maurice Simba, far right, calls Montreal home. It's where he lives with his siblings, mother and stepfather. (Submitted by Maurice Simba)
Playing at the next level
With encouragement from his coaches, friends and family, Simba has worked tirelessly to polish his skills on the football field.
At the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, he will have his opportunity to show NFL scouts that he has what it takes to play at the next level.
He will be up against some of the top players American universities have to offer.
"I need to show them that I am violent and I can dominate the game. If you dominate those guys (at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl) they can see, 'He can compete in the NFL,'" Simba says.
Seeing players Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Antony Auclair coming out of Quebec university football and crack an NFL roster also gives Simba some inspiration that he could be next.
Maurice Simba, number 78 for the Concordia Stingers, says he'll show the NFL scouts than he can dominate the field. (Submitted by Concordia Stingers)
Quebec's Duvernay-Tardif adds doctor to his NFL resume
Canadian rookie tight end Auclair makes Buccaneers' 53-man roster
He says their success has opened the eyes of NFL teams to football in Quebec and he would not be getting his opportunity with out them doing it first.
"I look up to them a lot," Simba says.
Whether or not Simba's appearance will lead to him being drafted by an NFL team or invited to a training camp all depends on his performance on the field.
Simba says he owes it to himself and everyone to helped him reach this point to seize the moment.
"I'm going there for business, so that's something I'm proud of. To go there and be dominant, that's the key," Simba says, "And that's what I'm going to do."
Douglas Gelevan
Douglas Gelevan, a national award-winning sports journalist, has been a member of the CBC team since 2010. He is currently the sports journalist for CBC News Montreal.
Follow Doug on Twitter
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A NAFTA deal is still possible this year, says Republican congressman
Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer says he thinks some version of a NAFTA deal is possible during this congressional session.
'There's nothing like a deadline to drive people together'
Elise von Scheel · CBC News · Posted: May 25, 2018 2:02 PM ET | Last Updated: May 25, 2018
Congressman Kevin Cramer says he's optimistic a NAFTA deal could make it through Congress this year. (CBC)
Republican congressman Kevin Cramer says he thinks a new NAFTA deal is still possible before the current session of Congress winds up at the end of the year.
Enough progress has been made during negotiations for the three NAFTA nations to find common ground to build an amended trade agreement, Rep. Cramer said Thursday in an interview with CBC Radio's The House.
"I do like the tone, I do like the optimism and there's nothing like a deadline to drive people together," he said.
Trump-proposed tariffs would cripple Ontario's auto industry, says Cross-Border Institute
Trump threatens tariffs of up to 25% on all cars imported into U.S.
Congress originally gave a deadline of May 17 for a new NAFTA agreement, arguing that if it was given a deal after that date senators and representatives wouldn't have enough time to do a proper analysis during the current sitting.
House Speaker Paul Ryan later walked back that statement, suggesting a more flexible deadline might be possible.
Cramer, who represents North Dakota, called the timeline for a deal "a little bit of a moving target."
North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer says he is optimistic that the NAFTA renegotiation will get passed by this Congress prior to the U.S. midterms. 0:56
He said the United States International Trade Commission, a federal agency that offers trade expertise to Congress, estimated it would need up to 105 days to conduct an economic analysis of a new NAFTA deal, but that's a ballpark number.
"There's a sense that that might be able to shrink a little bit," he said.
The deadline, however loose, should be enough to push negotiations to a conclusion, he argued.
"All of it adds a little pressure to everybody to perform a little bit better and perhaps a little faster than they're comfortable with."
North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer says that a deal may still be possible if there isn't one by the end of this month. 0:31
Trump signals his impatience
But as the window slowly closes, U.S. President Donald Trump has been turning up the heat. This week, he complained about the positions Canada and Mexico have taken in the negotiations, calling Canada "spoiled."
"NAFTA is very difficult. Mexico has been very difficult to deal with. Canada has been very difficult to deal with … but I will tell you that in the end we win," Trump told reporters this week.
Trump is threatening to slap tariffs of up to 25 per cent on all vehicles imported into the United States, throwing a wrench into NAFTA negotiations at a critical stage.
The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday that the administration was considering imposing tariffs on all imported vehicles under the little-used section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
The clause gives the president the power to impose tariffs on just about any foreign product if the White House believes it "threaten(s) to impair the national security."
It's not clear how those tariffs would affect Canada.
In less than a week, Canada and Mexico will lose their exemptions to new U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs — also imposed by Trump under section 232 back in March — unless a new NAFTA deal can be reached by June 1.
The CBC's Catherine Cullen asked the Prime Minister about the President's comments as he arrived for QP 0:25
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in an interview this week with Reuters, said the threatened auto import tariffs are based on flawed logic and are part of Washington's efforts to exert pressure on Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA along the lines laid out by the Trump administration.
Trudeau also predicted the talk of tariffs likely will end if the slow-moving NAFTA negotiations — currently mired on issues related to auto sector trade — are successful.
Tariff talk linked to NAFTA
Cramer said he doesn't have a sense of whether those auto tariffs will apply to Canada, but added it's not unreasonable to see them as connected to NAFTA negotiations — although not legally.
Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, called the tariff threat "simply unacceptable."
Trudeau says threatened U.S. auto tariffs based on flimsy logic
Trump blasts 'spoiled' Canada and Mexico over NAFTA talks
"This is not a way to conduct a relationship with your friends and your neighbours," he told The House.
He said the focus in NAFTA talks needs to be on getting to the right deal. If the three countries don't resolve major issues now, he said, they'll set themselves up for problems down the road.
As for Trump's comments about Canada being "spoiled" and "very difficult," Yussuff said he thinks that shows the Canadian negotiators are doing something right.
"I think it speaks to the fact that we are good negotiators. We're not going to simply concede to their demands because they simply demand something."
With files from Reuters
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Ukrainian protesters topple Lenin statue in Kiev
Updated on: December 8, 2013 / 6:16 PM / AP
KIEV, Ukraine -Anti-government protesters have toppled the statue of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin in central Kiev amid huge protests gripping Ukraine.
A group of protesters dragged down and decapitated the landmark statue Sunday evening after hundreds of thousands of others took to the streets to denounce the government's move away from Europe and toward Moscow.
Ukrainians break a monument of Vladimir Lenin in center Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013. The third week of protests continued Sunday with an estimated 200,000 Ukrainians occupying central Kiev to denounce President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to turn away from Europe and align this ex-Soviet republic with Russia. AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Protesters took turns beating on the torso of the fallen statue, while others chanted "Glory to Ukraine!" Several hundred thousand Ukrainians occupied a central square in the capital earlier Sunday, denouncing President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to turn away from Europe and align this former Soviet republic with Russia.
Matt Rojansky, Director of the Kennan Institute, which specializes in the former Soviet bloc, told CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata: “Ukraine has only been independent for 22 some years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. What this European association agreement offers them is a chance to say, ‘Look we've grown up as a country, our identity is a European country a modern country.’”
But others don't see it that way. A smaller, pro-government rally was held nearby. Many there believe closer ties to Russia are in the Ukraine's best interest, especially given their reliance on cheap Russian gas to heat their homes.
As widespread protests continued for a third week, Yanukovych's meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin raised more fears that Ukraine is on the verge of entering a Russian-led customs union that critics say could end its economic and political sovereignty and place it back under Moscow's rule.
Ukrainian authorities have said that police won't take action against peaceful demonstrators, but concerns persist that some opposition activists may be goaded into violence.
After Sunday's mass protests began, Ukraine's security service said it was investigating several opposition leaders suspected of attempting to seize power amid the massive anti-government protests gripping the country. Sunday' statement by Ukraine's Security Service raised the stakes in the opposition's standoff with President Yanukovych.
The opposition branded Sunday's demonstration in Kiev the "march of a million," but the crowd fell short of that goal as some Ukrainians grew tired of the turmoil and others feared violence after riot police brutally beat demonstrators last weekend.
Pro-EuropeanUnion activists gather during a rally in Independence Square and Kreshchatik,the main street of Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013. AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko
Opposition leaders, meanwhile, addressed the crowd with contradictory messages, underling the lack of a coherent plan forward among organizers.
In a letter read out by her daughter, jailed opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko called for Yanukovych's ouster and rejected holding any negotiations with his government unless they entailed early elections. Tymoshenko is in jail on abuse-of-office charges that Western nations consider politically motivated by Yanukovych's government.
"Yanukovych has lost legitimacy as president ... he is not no longer the president of our state, he is a tyrant," Tymoshenko wrote. "Don't give in, not a step back, don't give up, the future of Ukraine is in your hands."
But her top ally, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said a day earlier that the opposition might sit down with the government for talks if Prime Minister Mykola Azarov's Cabinet is dismissed.
World boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, another top opposition leader, also called for Yanukovych's ouster and early presidential elections, even though there is no legal possibility to impeach him and virtually no chance that he would resign on his own.
"We will fight and we are confident that we will win," Klitschko said.
Yatsenyuk focused more on ousting Azarov, punishing the police who used force against demonstrators and freeing about a dozen opposition activists arrested since last Sunday's rally. He urged demonstrators to blockade the entire government district in Kiev, the capital, which houses the Cabinet, the presidential administration and the parliament.
"We are extending our demonstration, we are going to fight until victory, we will fight for what we believe in," Yatsenyuk told the crowd, dotted by Ukrainian and EU flags.
The protest in sub-zero December temperatures took place on Independence Square, known as the Maidan, which was the site of the country's 2004 pro-democracy Orange Revolution.
"Ukraine is tired of Yanukovych, we need new rules, we need to completely change those in power," said protester Kostyantyn Meselyuk, 42. "Europe can help us."
The demonstrations began last month after Yanukovych shelved the signing of an agreement to deepen ties with the 28-nation European Union in order to focus on Russia, which worked aggressively to derail the EU deal.
During a huge demonstration a week ago, several hundred radical protesters hurled stones and attacked police as they tried to storm the presidential office, prompting a violent breakup by the authorities in which dozens were injured, including peaceful protesters, passers-by and journalists.
First published on December 8, 2013 / 9:36 AM
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Akita dog, owner honored for rescuing elderly woman in Japan
AKITA, Japan - Police honored an Akita dog and its owner Monday for coming to the rescue of an elderly woman in northeastern Japan.
The 12-year-old dog named Mame suddenly alerted its owner Megumi Takeuchi, 57, while they were out walking after discovering the woman slumped on a roadside around 1 a.m. on March 23, according to the police.
The woman in her 90s, wearing pajamas, was unable to give her name or address. She was taken to a hospital after Takeuchi notified staff at a nearby convenience store, the police said.
Takeuchi and Mame "joined forces with their strong bond and contributed to securing safety," said Hiroshi Wakatsuki, head of a police station in Semboku, Akita Prefecture, who gave them a certificate of appreciation for their efforts.
Takeuchi adopted the then stray dog in 2007. "I think Mame returned a courtesy to me. I'm honored," she said as the male dog was eagerly biting into chicken jerky given by the police as a prize.
Mame is around 90 in human years, according to a preservation group for Akita dogs.
Akita dogs are known for their loyalty to owners. The Japanese breed was popularized in the 2009 U.S. film "Hachiko" starring Richard Gere and recently adored by Russian Olympic figure skating champion Alina Zagitova.
The statue of Hachiko, an Akita dog in the 1920s famed for loyally waiting for his deceased master for years near Shibuya Station in Tokyo, is now a popular meeting spot in the district.
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The Catcher in the Rye at a Glance
About The Catcher in the Rye
Historical Setting
Reception and Reputation
Mr. Antolini
J.D. Salinger Biography
Major Themes
Major Symbols
Holden Caulfield, the seventeen-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel, addresses the reader directly from a mental hospital or sanitarium in southern California. He wants to tell us about events that took place over a two-day period the previous December. Typically, he first digresses to mention his older brother, D.B., who was once a "terrific" short-story writer but now has sold out and writes scripts in nearby Hollywood. The body of the novel follows. It is a frame story, or long flashback, constructed through Holden's memory.
Holden begins at Pencey Prep, an exclusive private school in Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditional football game with school rival, Saxon Hall. Holden misses the game. Manager of the fencing team, he managed to lose the team's equipment on the subway that morning, resulting in the cancellation of a match in New York. He is on his way to the home of his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, to say good-bye. Holden has been expelled and is not to return after Christmas break, which begins Wednesday.
Spencer is a well-meaning but long-winded old man, and Holden gladly escapes to the quiet of an almost deserted dorm. Wearing his new red hunting cap, he begins to read. His reverie is temporary. First, a dorm neighbor named Ackley disturbs him. Later, Holden argues with his roommate, Stradlater, who fails to appreciate a theme that Holden has written for him about Holden's deceased brother Allie's baseball glove. A womanizer, Stradlater has just returned from a date with Holden's old friend Jane Gallagher. The two roommates fight, Stradlater winning easily. Holden has had enough of Pencey Prep and catches a train to New York City where he plans to stay in a hotel until Wednesday, when his parents expect him to return home for Christmas vacation.
En route to New York, Holden meets the mother of a Pencey classmate and severely distorts the truth by telling her what a popular boy her "rat" son is. Holden's Manhattan hotel room faces windows of another wing of the hotel, and he observes assorted behavior by "perverts." Holden struggles with his own sexuality. He meets three women in their thirties, tourists from Seattle, in the hotel lounge and enjoys dancing with one but ends up with only the check. Following a disappointing visit to Ernie's Nightclub in Greenwich Village, Holden agrees to have a prostitute, Sunny, visit his room. Holden has second thoughts, makes up an excuse, and pays the girl to leave. To his surprise, Maurice, her pimp, soon returns with her and beats up Holden for more money. He has lost two fights in one night. It is near dawn Sunday morning.
After a short sleep, Holden telephones Sally Hayes, a familiar date, and agrees to meet her that afternoon to go to a play. Meanwhile, Holden leaves the hotel, checks his luggage at Grand Central Station, and has a late breakfast. He meets two nuns, one an English teacher, with whom he discusses Romeo and Juliet. Holden looks for a special record for his 10-year-old sister, Phoebe, called "Little Shirley Beans." He spots a small boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye," which somehow makes Holden feel less depressed.
Sally is snobbish and "phony," but the two watch a play featuring married Broadway stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Sally and Holden skate at Radio City but fight when Holden tries to discuss things that really matter to him and suddenly suggests that they run off together. Holden leaves, sees the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall, endures a movie, and gets very drunk. Throughout the novel, Holden has been worried about the ducks in the lagoon at Central Park. He tries to find them but only manages to break Phoebe's recording in the process. Exhausted physically and mentally, he heads home to see his sister.
Holden and Phoebe are close friends as well as siblings. He tells her that the one thing he'd like to be is "the catcher in the rye." He would stand near the edge of a cliff, by a field of rye, and catch any of the playing children who, in their abandon, come close to falling off. When his parents return from a late night out, Holden, undetected, leaves the apartment and visits the home of Mr. Antolini, a favorite teacher, where he hopes to stay a few days. Startled, Holden awakes in the predawn hours to find Antolini patting Holden's head. He quickly leaves.
Monday morning, Holden arranges to meet Phoebe for lunch. He plans to say good-bye and head west where he hopes to live as a deaf-mute. She insists on leaving with him, and he finally agrees to stay. Holden's story ends with Phoebe riding a carrousel in the rain as Holden watches.
In the final chapter, Holden is at the sanitarium in California. He doesn't want to tell us any more. In fact, the whole story has only made him miss people, even the jerks.
Previous The Catcher in the Rye at a Glance
Next Historical Setting
What animals in Central Park does Holden worry about?
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Millennial Money
The budget breakdown of a 25-year-old who makes $100,000 a year and is excellent with money
Published Fri, Dec 21 2018 12:03 PM EST Updated Fri, Dec 28 2018 10:01 AM EST
Here’s what it’s like to live on $100K a year in Boston
Trevor Klee, he admits, is a "terrible employee." But he's great at working for himself — and at taking tests.
So the 25-year-old entrepreneur started a thriving business of his own. As a test prep instructor in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he brings in $100,000 a year tutoring people for the GMAT, GRE and LSAT. "It's one of those weird skills that turned out to be really monetizable," he tells CNBC Make It.
Klee is the first to acknowledge he's benefited from both luck and privilege: "Growing up in a family that talked a lot about money was a definite advantage," he says. "In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm good with money, but I'm playing life on 'Easy' mode: I'm a single guy with no dependents and I make a pretty solid income."
Here's a look at how Klee earns, saves and spends his money, and how he gives it away.
What he earns
Klee first started tutoring as a student at Princeton University, where he discovered that he could turn his understanding of standardized tests into a way to earn extra cash. "I've always loved teaching people," he says. "I coach jiu jitsu as a hobby, I love teaching friends … Tutoring was a chance to do teaching for serious."
After graduating from college in 2015, Klee moved to Singapore to work for a test-prep company. While the company provided a good starting point, Klee soon realized he didn't like his employer all that much. Still, he wanted to continue tutoring. "I really do love teaching," he says. "I never really loved school, but I love being on the other side of a classroom."
Klee didn't want to seek out a different test-prep company, though. He acknowledges that he's not exactly an ideal staff member.
"I'm actually a really terrible employee," he says. That's because "I always think I know better than other people, and sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I'm just being stubborn."
He decided to work for himself instead.
CNBC Make It
In January of 2016, he moved to Cambridge, where he's close to a number of colleges and universities, including Harvard, MIT, Northeastern and Tufts. "There's a lot of people exiting college [and] going to graduate school, so it was a natural place to start a graduate exam test prep business," he says.
Striking out on his own has paid off for Klee, who earned around $90,000 in 2017 and is on pace to make $100,000 in 2018. But he wasn't immediately successful. During his early days in Cambridge, he crashed on his brother's pull-out couch because he couldn't afford his own place.
"I had no money," he says. "I had savings, but I had no income, so I desperately needed to find people."
Klee started experimenting with various marketing tactics, which included promoting himself on Reddit and tutoring students for free in exchange for their testimonials. He took note of what worked and, as he refined his methods, he began to land more and more clients.
You can get more money a lot of the time if you ask for it. ... I just charged more, and now I make more money.
Trevor Klee
test prep instructor
More than three years later, his monthly income ranges from between $3,000 and $4,000 up to $14,000 during busy periods. He charges $160 per hour for GMAT tutoring and $125 per hour for LSAT or GRE help, and he requires a minimum of 10 hours. He's also started consulting for other tutors on the side, for which he charges a flat fee or a percentage of revenue generated.
He owes much of his success to his own hustle. "You can get more money a lot of the time if you ask for it," he says. "There are other GMAT or GRE tutors who charge probably like a tenth of what I charge, or at the very least, half of what I charge. I just charged more and now I make more money."
Klee tries to keep his business costs low. He typically pays $350 per month for membership at a coworking space, although that can rise to $1,500 per month during busy seasons when he rents out his own office, and puts $100 to $200 toward marketing and online ads. He also pays his quarterly taxes out of his savings.
What he gives
Philanthropy is a key part of Klee's financial picture. Each month, he donates a significant amount, around $615, to a variety of charities, including More Than Words and GiveDirectly. The bulk of his contributions go to One Family, a non-profit located in Waltham, Massachusetts, that works to end homelessness and break the cycle of poverty for local families.
"I spend money that I would otherwise spend on going out, or just putting it in savings," he says.
It's a worthwhile expense for Klee because, while "it's not a significant amount of money for me," it makes a difference for others. "It doesn't affect my quality of life at all, and yet I'm able to actually alleviate a lot of suffering and make a lot of people's lives better," he says.
What he spends
Here's a breakdown of everything Klee spends in a typical month.
Rent: $825
Klee lives in a shared house with four roommates and one dog. Although he says he could technically afford a studio apartment, which go for roughly $1,400-$2,000 a month in Cambridge, he prefers to save and invest the extra cash instead.
"I like my rent to be at a number where it doesn't actually matter to me each month," he says.
Groceries: $400
Klee eats the majority of his meals at home and typically buys his groceries from Trader Joe's, a chain known for its reasonable prices.
Dining out: $250
Klee does splurge on a few meals out each month, mostly with his girlfriend. Depending on where they go, it can cost anywhere from $20 to $80 per meal.
Transportation: $130
Klee pays $81.50 for a monthly CharlieCard, which lets him use subway and bus lines around Boston. "I live pretty close to where I work, so I take the T," he says.
He also spends between $40 to $50 on Lyft rides each month.
Phone: $40
Klee is still on his family's phone plan. His part of the bill comes to $40 per month.
Utilities: $195
Internet: $20
Health insurance: $270
House cleaner: $30 (his share of the total cost)
Klee incurs a few additional regular expenses as well. He's developing a personal finance application for Google Sheets to track and analyze emailed receipts, and he maintains a separate bank account for the Google app so he can easily track how much he's spent on the project. He's also studying for the MCAT, which has attendant costs.
While he splurges on the occasional video game, he mostly chooses to buy things only when he needs them. "My family tends to make fun of me for not spending money on a lot of things," he says. "I very rarely buy new clothes. I won't buy a car, I don't buy a bike."
Klee buys things to last. "The only time I buy new clothes is when my old clothes get holes in them," he says. "My main goal is durability."
I don't really save up for goals. I just save.
What he saves
Between a brokerage account, money market account and Roth IRA, Klee has around $43,000 put away. He estimates that about $20,000 of that is liquid.
"I don't really save up for goals," Klee says. "I just save. My default mode is saving and I only spend money when I think I need to spend money."
The amount he contributes to savings each month varies depending on how much he earns. He says that he likes to keep $4,000 in his checking account to cover expenses, including taxes, and then he saves or invests anything beyond that.
CNBC Make It asked Pamela Capalad, a certified financial planner and founder of Brunch & Budget, to comment on where Klee is doing well and how he could do even better. Overall, Capalad thinks Klee is making smart choices, but there's always room for improvement.
He's smart to keep his rent low
Not everyone wants to live with roommates. But because Klee is young and doesn't mind, Capalad says it's smart for him to save on rent while he prioritizes other things. "He understands what his needs are when it comes to that," she says. "Everyone has their own lifestyle preferences."
How much you choose to spend on rent depends on many factors, and there's not a "right" answer for everyone, financially speaking. What's important, she says, is that "he has a gauge of when he's ready to take that next step, based on what his goals are."
Pamela Capalad
Source: Pamela Capalad
An HSA could help boost his savings
Capalad points out that Klee is already excellent at saving money. But one way he could bolster his savings is by contributing to a health savings account, or HSA, if his insurance plan qualifies for one. That's because an HSA offers a triple tax benefit, Capalad says.
"You get a tax deduction for the money that you put in. All the money that you pay for medical expenses is tax-free. And for certain HSA accounts, you're able to invest the money and all of it grows tax-free," she explains.
Unlike a flexible spending account, or FSA, any money contributed to an HSA can be rolled over year after year. Because Klee is young and healthy, it's likely he won't need to spend much on medical expenses, so anything he puts in an HSA is "all tax-free growth."
It's a great idea to have separate accounts for side projects
Capalad approves of Klee keeping a dedicated bank account for his Google project. "Separating things like that both physically and mentally will help you track a second source of income more easily and you'll know that you'll have the money for taxes," she says.
Additionally, "it will give you a gauge of whether or not it's worth it to keep going."
It might help to create a business account for tutoring
However, Klee doesn't have a standalone account for his test prep business. Although his current expenses are straightforward, it can still be beneficial to keep things separate, Capalad says.
Opening a business account would allow him to "pay" himself a set salary. Plus, it "will even out those lean months and he'll know that he's only spending a certain amount of money every month," Capalad says.
It's harder to tell how much is actually coming in and going out when you're "topping off your checking account three times a month," she adds.
He's responsible with his giving
Capalad explains that generosity can get out hand when you aren't sure how much you're donating, but although Klee gives away a substantial amount, it's not more than his budget can handle.
"If he was living paycheck-to-paycheck and was giving away that much money, it would be a different conversation," she says. "But I think he's thought this through very carefully and is very clear why he's doing it."
He could save even more with a SEP IRA
It's great that Klee is already putting money away for retirement through his Roth IRA, Capalad says, but he could save even more on taxes by contributing to a SEP IRA, or simplified employee pension, as well.
A SEP IRA allows self-employed individuals to make tax-deductible contributions and not have to pay taxes until they retire. They also offer higher contribution limits: As of 2017, you can contribute up to 25 percent of your income after deductions, or as much as $54,000.
For Klee, having two types of accounts would mean twice the perks. "What's great about the Roth is he doesn't get a tax deduction now, but all of the growth is tax-free and what's great about the SEP is he gets a tax deduction now and all of the growth is tax-deferred," Capalad explains. "So he gets to take advantage of the tax savings on both sides."
What's your budget breakdown? Share your story with us at makeitcasting@nbcuni.com for a chance to be featured in a future episode.
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Don't miss: Here's the budget breakdown of a 34-year-old who makes $150,000 and is excellent with money
Here's what it's like to live on $150K a year in NYC
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Home | News | Basic Research | Two important signalling pathways in cancer and ageing are connected for the first time
Nature Communications. Two important signalling pathways in cancer and ageing are connected for the first time
Support Cancer Research
A study shows how the PI3K pathway modulates telomere protection by acting on TRF1
Inhibition of PI3K causes reduction in TRF1 levels and chromosome destabilisation
PI3K and AKT – a component of this pathway – emerge as new targets for attacking telomeres
The structure of proteins that protect telomeres (shelterin proteins, from “protective shield”) are promising targets to combat cancer but to date there has been no drug or effective form for attacking them. In the absence of drugs that destroy telomeres, cancer retains one of its most terrible properties, which is the ability of its cells to perpetually divide. Two years ago, the group led by Maria A. Blasco at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) hit upon several compounds that caused injury to these protective chromosome structures and now, in a study published in Nature Communications, they show that these drugs achieve this effect by acting on PI3K, a key protein in cancer and ageing. This is the first time that a functional link has been described between this pathway and the telomeres.
For years the Telomeres and Telomerase Group has been investigating pathways to attack telomeres as a form of blocking cancer cell division and causing their death. In a study published in 2015, they described a new strategy to achieve this objective, after telomerase inhibitors had failed; telomerase is an enzyme that is necessary for lengthening telomeres but its inhibition does not have immediate effects on the destruction of telomeres.
“The idea was to look for drugs that were able to reduce levels of TRF1, one of the essential shelterin proteins for the integrity of telomeres”, reported Blasco. “We found several that, when administered, caused damage in these structures and this led to the cancer cells not being able to divide, but we did not know what their precise target was”. This is precisely what they have found out now.
REMOVAL OF TELOMERE PROTECTION
In this study, Blasco together with Paula Martínez and Marinela Méndez-Pertuz (first authors in the paper), proposed the hypothesis that the reduction of TRF1 was due to the action of PI3K, since the compounds used – developed at the CNIO – belong to a previously identified series, namely PI3K inhibitors. This molecule forms part of a key pathway in ageing (the first to be identified), described by Cynthia Kenyon thanks to her studies with C. elegans. Likewise, PI3K is one of the most mutated proteins in cancer.
Upon administration of these chemical compounds, the investigators observed that TRF1 levels were reduced and, in addition, the action of PI3K was inhibited but they did not know if there was a connection and what it could be. This is where another component of the PI3K pathway called AKT comes into play. Under normal conditions, one of the functions of PI3K is to modify AKT, activating it by phosphorylation. However, this reaction does not occur in the presence of PI3K inhibitors.
“We then studied whether AKT modified TRF1 in any way and we saw, through different experiments, that this was indeed the case – continued Blasco –; AKT also modified TRF1 by phosphorylation”. By blocking PI3K, these phosphorylation reactions were blocked and TRF1 lost stability, its half-life was shortened and it bound less to the telomere, which was left unprotected.
ALLIES AGAINST CANCER
This finding could have implications in the management of tumours that present PI3K mutations and that are being currently treated with inhibitors of this molecule. Blasco et al. have tested in Avatar or PDX mice – in which they made a patient-derived tumour grow to test the efficacy of different therapies – that the response to treatment with these PI3K inhibitors is related to the reduction in the levels of TRF1.
In light of these results, it seems that the antitumour activity of PI3K inhibitors depends on their action on TRF1. Therefore, there is reason to believe that those patients who develop resistance to these drugs could benefit from treatment with other TRF1 inhibitors. This is the next step.
The research was funded by project SAF2013-45111-R of Societal Changes Program of the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (MINECO) co-financed through the European Fund of Regional Development (FEDER), Fundación Botín, Banco Santander (Santander Universities Global Division) and Worldwide Cancer Research (WCR 16-1177).
Modulation of telomere protection by the PI3K/AKT pathway. Marinela Méndez-Pertuz, Paula Martínez, Carmen Blanco, Elena Gómez-Casero, Ana Belen García, Jorge Martínez-Torrecuadrada, Marta Palafox, Javier Cortés, Violeta Serra, Joaquin Pastor and Maria A. Blasco (Nature Communications 2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01329-2
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Conspiracy Solicitor Blog
The Law of Murder
Murder is usually regarded as the most serious offence in the criminal law.
Murder is committed when a person of “sound mind” unlawfully kills another, with the intention either to kill or, more commonly, to cause grievous bodily harm (which means really serious harm).
Conspiracy Solicitors have conducted a multitude of murder cases over the years, several of which have been high-profile cases attracting extensive media attention. We’ve dealt with everything from street fights which go tragically wrong, to organised criminal conspiracies to execute gangland rivals with firearms, and robbery conspiracies which lead to multiple murders.
A conspiracy to murder will usually involve a group of offenders who have agreed together to carry out a course of action which would result in the unlawful killing of another person. If a group of people agree to hire a hitman to travel to and shoot another individual dead, that would amount to a conspiracy to murder even if the hitman is never contacted, or even if the hitman took the money but decided not to carry out the shooting. Such cases are often highly complex.
Police Station Interviews in Murders
Representing a suspect accused of murder is a specialist skill. In serious investigations such as these the police will be carefully planning everything they do, and will carefully manage the information they provide.
Less than careful handling of the interviews and the response to questioning can lead to difficulties at trial.
It is important to have an experienced representative in murder interviews and we at Conspiracy Solicitor recognise the need for this.
Murder trial solicitors
Murder cases must be tried at the Crown Court before a judge and jury. after one appearance before the local Magistrates’ Court the case will be sent directly to the Crown Court. After that all hearings will be before the Crown Court, with cases managed by specially ticketed Crown Court judges, or even High Court judges (so-called “Red Judges”, because of the colour of their robes).
Murder trials usually raise complex issues of evidence. There will often be extensive evidence from Scenes of Crimes Officers (SOCOs or, these days, Crime Scene Investigators or CSIs) dealing with the forensic findings at the scene of the crime. This may lead to expert evidence from forensic scientists, to deal with DNA deposits, blood spatter pattern distribution, fingerprints and footprints, and other evidence which can assist the Court in deciding who did what in the murder case, and how they did it. Also more and more common in modern cases is telephone and internet evidence. There will often be records of telephone calls and messages, or messages via networks such as Facebook, Twitter or MSN, which can reconstruct how people were feeling at the time, and in the case of phone evidence can also lead to cellsite evidence, which uses transmissions from particular mobile telephone masts to show (roughly) where a particular phone was at a particular time.
We are experienced with all aspects of murder trials, having dealt with many, often successfully. We have access to many experienced leading QCs, as well as suitable expert witnesses who we have used in the past to undermine or contradict aspects of the Prosecution case on murder.
Bail in murder cases
The Magistrates’ Court no longer has the power to grant bail in murder cases, so the first chance for bail to be considered is at the first hearing in the Crown Court. In most cases bail will be refused, and it can sometimes be better to wait a short time for material to be gathered to allow for a better bail application, but we have successfully obtained bail for several clients accused of murder in the past.
If bail is granted to a murder defendant it will usually be on very strict conditions, and past offending often weighs very heavily against bail being granted, but it is not impossible to achieve if a good application is put together.
Sentencing in Murder cases
Murder carries a mandatory life sentence for an adult, and for those convicted under the age of 18 years, they are detained “at Her Majesty’s Pleasure”. Both of these mean that the length of the sentence will vary depending upon individual circumstances, including the way in which the offence was committed and whether or not the defendant has any previous convictions.
A life sentence, or its youth equivalent, has life-long consequences, as the person will be on licence for the remainder of their life after they have been released. However, the minimum term (the tariff, or term of years) is what is of primary interest at the start of the sentence. In any sentencing exercise for murder the Judge will set a term of years which the person must serve in prison before they can be considered for release by the Parole Board, and unlike ordinary sentences of imprisonment that period must be served in full, usually less any time spent on remand, so if the Judge orders a minimum term of 14 years, that is how long it will be before the Parole Board considers release for the first time.
There are complex legal provisions governing what the likely sentence will be in the event of a conviction for murder. Whilst the life sentence aspect is not optional, the number of years the Judge will set as a minimum can vary greatly, and it is essential to have expert advice and representation. The features the Judge will consider are those set out in Schedule 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The options range from a basic starting point in normal cases of 15 years, or 12 for young offenders, up to 25 or 30 years for more aggravated offences and, for the most serious cases, whole life orders.
With the consequences for the defendant being so great, it is important to have experienced representatives. We’ve dealt with many murders and understand what clients accused of such offences need.
There are several different kinds of manslaughter, and it is a relatively unusual charge. In many cases of murder the goal of the defence will be to bring the case down to manslaughter so that the mandatory sentence applicable to murder does not apply, and it is more common for manslaughter to arise in this way rather than as an allegation in its own right. This is called voluntary manslaughter, because death or serious injury was intended, but in circumstances where it can be partially excused because of the circumstances.
A number of the specific defences to murder, for example loss of control (which used to be called provocation) or diminished responsibility, have the effect of reducing murder to voluntary manslaughter in this way.
However, manslaughter can arise in other ways, called involuntary manslaughter. This may exist where death or serious injury were not intended by the defendant, but where death is the result of an unlawful and dangerous act (for example a lesser assault which unfortunately causes death) or a result of gross negligence.
Gross negligence cases can be exceptionally complex evidentially and may involve huge amounts of material and complex expert investigations, whereas unlawful act involuntary manslaughter is usually more straightforward. The common scenario is that a punch is thrown in a fight, without intent to kill or cause serious harm, but the recipient of the punch unfortunately falls and bangs their head on the hard pavement, resulting in fatal bleeding on the brain (the medical term would be an intra-cranial haemorrhage, or subdural-haematoma).
Manslaughter is generally considered to be a less serious offence than murder. With murder, the intention of the attacker has to be either to commit really serious harm or to kill. With manslaughter, although the end result is death (and therefore just as tragic), the attacker must only be intending to do some harm, or being negligent or reckless as to whether some harm would be occasioned. The defendant is therefore significantly less culpable for the result of what has occurred.
A life sentence is not mandatory for manslaughter, and many cases will result in a lesser sentence. There are specific sentencing guidelines for certain types of manslaughter:
Sentencing Guideline for manslaughter by reason of provocation (loss of control)
Sentencing Guideline for Corporate Manslaughter (and health and safety breaches which result in death)
To be found guilty of attempted murder, a person must have the intention to kill another person and have done something “more than merely preparatory” to commit the killing. Physically stabbing at someone with a knife, but not succeeding in killing is more likely to be charged as an attempted murder. In the majority of cases attempted murder usually has to involve an attempt so serious that death could well have followed from the actions of the defendant.
Attempted murder is relatively difficult to prove, so in many cases a different offence would be charged. The most obvious alternative is section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent.
There are specific sentencing guidelines for attempted murder.
Defences To Murder
General defences which also apply to murder include self-defence and defence of another, but certain defences, such as provocation (loss of control) and diminished responsibility (where a defendant was temporarily suffering from an abnormality of mind which impairs his mental responsibility for the killing), only apply to murder. These specific defences are referred to as partial defences, because they have the effect only of reducing murder to manslaughter, and thereby avoiding the mandatory life sentence.
The defences in murder cases can be very complex, and it is important to get advice early to ensure that all defences have been properly considered. To safeguard our clients’ position, for example, we will always obtain a psychiatric report at an early stage to ensure that there is no possibility of a diminished responsibility defence.
Managing A Murder Case
With many years of defending serious cases, including murder, we at Conspiracy Solicitors will be guide you page by page through the prosecution evidence to eliminate any element of chance during trial. In all but a minority of cases, we will instruct a QC (the highest grade of barrister) to lead a second junior barrister (usually very experienced in their own right – all barristers who have not attained the rank of QC (Queen’s Counsel) are referred to as Juniors, even if they’ve been doing the job for 20 years!) With life imprisonment looming following a guilty verdict, a defendant’s liberty will only be trusted with the best services of some of the country’s top barristers.
Murder cases can be very complex and the Prosecution will usually dedicate many resources to the investigation. Issues will be raised which do not generally feature in other cases – in few other cases, for example, do you have to engage the services of expert witnesses from the first day. Defending a murder is different. In murder cases, for example, it is often necessary to liaise with HM Coroner at an early stage to ensure that the body is preserved, and to secure the services of an expert Pathologist to carry out a second post-mortem examination on the body.
We endeavour to match the prosecution resources with our own expertise and access to the right experts and specialists, and use our experience of managing such voluminous significant cases to your advantage. Every murder case brings different challenges, but we can meet them.
Other fatal cases
There are several other species of fatality prosecution, most particularly motor manslaughter cases and those involving causing death by dangerous or careless driving.
We have experience of dealing with the unique features of all of these different specialist prosecutions.
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We represented a defendant who was charged with Conspiracy to supply class A (heroin) drugs. Our client was already serving a 7 year sentence for an earlier conspiracy to supply heroin when we were not instructed. The prosecution case was that our client...
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Conspiracy Solicitor is a trading style of Bird and Co Solicitors LLP. Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (No: 442827). Click here to access the Code of Conduct. We provide criminal law services nationwide but our head office is at 15 Castlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 6SE. Tel: 01476 591711.
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OBIT: Carol (Baer) Kellner
Carol (Baer) Kellner, 90, of Devils Lake, ND, passed away early Thursday morning, June 27, 2019, at Eventide Heartland Care Center with family by her side.
Carol (Baer) Kellner, 90, of Devils Lake, ND, passed away early Thursday morning, June 27, 2019, at Eventide Heartland Care Center with family by her side. A small private family funeral service was held Friday, June 28 at the Heartland Care Chapel with Fr. Chad Wilhelm officiating. Burial was at the Devils Lake cemetery. Carol was born Aug. 19, 1928, in Little Falls, MN, to Nicholas and Marie (Ortman) Fox. As a young girl, her family moved to Richardon, ND, where she continued her education, graduating in 1946 from Richardton High School. She attended Christies Beauty School for Hair Dressing and Cosmetology, receiving her license in Aug. 1947. On July 19, 1948, she married Joseph Baer in Richardton. After moving to several different locations in North Dakota, they eventually moved to Devils Lake where they worked and raised their four children. Every summer the family would spend two weeks at her family's lake cabin in Minnesota, where everyone had a great time. Joseph passed away April 17, 1983. Carol worked at Carlson's Bakery for several years and then as secretary at St. Joseph's Elementary School from 1966 to 1992. On Dec. 26, 1985, she married Ted Kellner in Devils Lake, where they resided until his death on April 27, 2008. Carol was an active member of St. Joseph Catholic Church and Infant of Prague Altar Society. She loved her Lord and was a devout follower. She was an avid bowler and was a member of the same team for over 40 years. She also enjoyed gardening, feeding and watching the hummingbirds, tending to her many flower gardens and spending time with family and friends. Surviving Carol are; her children, Kathy (Gordon) Gulseth, Ottertail, MN, Jeanne Lindberg, Devils Lake, Bob Baer, Lawrence, KS, Jim (Felise) Baer, Fergus Falls, MN; grandchildren, Jennifer, Jessica and Jillian Baer, All of KS; sisters, Geneva (Glen) Huerd, Deborah (Bruce) Kociemba; sisters-in-law, Jan (Jim) Fox, Nancy (John) Fox; and many nieces and nephews. Preceeding her in death are; her two husbands, Joe and Ted; her parents; brothers, Frederick, John and James Fox; sisters, Mary Kay (Leonard) Pankow and Joan (Howard) Kuhn.
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Southlake Carroll School District Real Estate
Everyone's A Dragon
All For One and One For All
At just 21 square miles and educating around 8000 students, the Carroll School District may be small by Metroplex standards. But the district has proven year after year its large stature among schools across Texas and throughout the nation. A big part of that success is the "all for one, one for all" mentality reinforced throughout the district. The Dragon sense of legacy sets the tone for everyone who lives in the district.
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Carroll ISD Homes for Sale
1876 Lakeshore Drive, Westlake
$9,800,000 ↑ $300,000
525 W Highland Street, Southlake
710 S White Chapel Boulevard, Southlake
670 S Peytonville Avenue, Southlake
$4,925,000 ↓ $70,000
1608 Enclave Court, Southlake
1591 S Gravel Circle, Grapevine
2001 N Peytonville Avenue, Southlake
1245 Westwyck Court, Southlake
1032 Hatch Court, Southlake
$3,335,000 ↓ $265,000
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Carroll Schools get High Marks on the National Level
Five Southlake Carroll schools have been named by the U.S. Department of Education as National Blue Ribbon Schools, an honor recognizing high achievement. Johnson, Rockenbaugh and Carroll Elementary Schools, Carroll Middle School and Carroll Senior High have all received the honor.
Each year several Carroll ISD schools are named to the Texas Business Education Coalition's Honor Roll. Eight were included on the prestigous list in 2008. Seven Campuses were named in 2011.
Carroll ISD students consistently score higher than the national average on assessment tests, with over 90 percent of students above the national average of the SAT and ACT.
98 percent of Carroll ISD seniors attend college after graduation, with the class of 2012 amassing over $25 million in scholarships.
Carroll ISD has more than once earned the Division 5A Lone Star Cup, a statewide award for achievement across areas including fine arts, athletic and academic competitions.
Gifted and Talented Plus Academies Offered
The Carroll school district offers Advanced Placement and Honors courses in the upper school levels as well as a Gifted and Talented program at the elementary level. An advanced high school academic tract for kids interested in the medical field is available under the "Carroll Medical Academy" label. Designed for 9th-12th grade, the curriculum offers a math and science intensive course of studies that allows students to maximize the number of AP classes beginning their freshman year. Academy seniors have the opportunity for internships in a variety of medical practices in the local area. About 98% of Carroll Senior High School seniors go on to college or university after graduation.
Beyond its namesake
Southlake Carroll's Boundaries
Carroll ISD covers most all of the city of Southlake and spills into tiny parts of Grapevine and Westlake as well. There is a small portion of Southlake, west of Davis/Randoll Mill Rd. that falls within the Keller ISD. At just 21 square miles, the CISD consists of 11 schools including 1 high school and 1 senior high. The newest school, Walnut Grove Elementary, opened in the Fall of 2011 and covers the areas mostly north of Highway 114.
The original Carroll Hill School, named after the Tarrant County Superintendent of Public Instruction, served as the district's only school until 1961 when the district added a new wing to to the building expanding instruction from only the first 8 grade levels to include high school. The first senior class graduated in 1965.
In the Southlake Carroll school district what is typically called a Jr. High is called High School, and it includes 9th and 10th grade. The Senior High is made up of 11th and 12th grade. Carroll Intermediate schools consist of 5th and 6th grade while Middle school is 7th and 8th.
We seem to be pretty typical Southlake residents because we moved here because of the schools. When we found out we were being transferred I started researching the surrounding areas and Carroll Schools just stood out as far ahead of other districts. The agent we started with just wasn't working out and a co-worker of my husband had used Cindy when he moved, so we gave her a call. It was a great choice. We really feel like we wouldn't have done as well with anyone else.
- Barb Farr -
Stone Lakes Homeowners
Defending a Legacy
The Carroll Dragon, mascot for all schools in the Carroll School District, was designed by a student in the 1980's. The green, white and black Dragon logo superimposed over an outline of the state of Texas varies a bit at each campus level. Elementary campuses, for example, will display a bit less meanacing design. But make no mistake, each member of the Dragon family is aware of the responsiblity and pride associated with the design.
Your Perfect Home in the Carroll ISD
If you've read this far you're probably deep into research on homes for sale in the Carroll school district. Southlake provides a wide range of home styles and amenity levels, and I'm sure there's one that would be just right for you. I hope you'll reach out to me with any questions you may have about a move to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in general and Southlake specifically. I've been in the real estate business in and around Southlake since 1989, and I'm always happy to share what I've learned and to help you make your move to Southlake the best it can be for you and your family. -Cindy
Southlake Realtor®
Have questions about the Homes in the Southlake Carroll School District Boundary?
Even if you aren't planning to buy or sell for years, I hope you'll feel comfortable calling me to talk about your unique real estate situation. I'd love the opportunity to become your Southlake agent long before you actually need one.
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Homes for Sale in
Southlake Carroll ISD by School Name
Carroll Elementary
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Rockenbaugh Elementary
Walnut Grove Elementary
Carroll Middle
Dawson Middle
Carroll Sr. High
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The musical heritage of the Hagee family began with Bythel and Vada Hagee, along with their two oldest sons John and Bill. From the humble beginning of singing and playing instruments on the front porch for an eager audience of neighbors, the group began performing as a traveling group when Bythel was called into evangelism in 1952.
About The Hagees
Years later, John Hagee, became a fifth-generation pastor and founded San Antonio’s Cornerstone Church. His children, Chris, Tish, Christina (Tina), Matthew and Sandy, grew up in a household full of music and sang practically from the time they could talk. Sandy recalls, “We sang just because we did. The same way that you eat and you drink and you sleep and you run outside and play. It was nothing that was forced or required. We just did.”
It wasn’t entirely church music that the children grew up hearing, although John and his wife Diana enjoyed listening to Southern Gospel groups like the Stamps and the Blackwoods, and well-known groups like the Cathedral Quartet appeared as guest performers at Cornerstone. In addition to singing gospel standards and hymns, Tina, Matt and Sandy also remember singing along to a diverse blend of musical influences, including Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt and the Judds.
John recognized the children’s musical ability early on and encouraged them to begin performing in children’s choirs from the age of 3 or 4. Later, he arranged for Tina, Matthew and little 6-year-old Sandy to perform during a Sunday night service at Cornerstone. Two of the children were enthusiastic. “At that point, we were like, ‘point us to the direction of the stage,’” remembers Sandy, speaking of herself and Matthew. For Tina, who was more of an introvert, it was a bit of a different story. “I had stage fright beyond belief,” she says, but she sang through the fear and gradually grew more comfortable with the stage.
John would often perform with the children, and they grew into a strong musical unit with a tight harmonic blend. They enjoyed singing songs from groups like the Martins, whom they greatly admired. According to Sandy, the genesis of the Hagees was such a natural thing that they didn’t even consider performing under a name at first. Speaking of her father, Sandy fondly remembers, “…he would say, ‘And before the morning message, the children and I are gonna sing this,’ like he was back in that one-room church. It was just what we did and what we had always done.”
Then Todd Payne, son of the Cathedral Quartet’s Glen Payne, called the family. He had seen them sing during a televised church service and urged them to make a record, which they did under the tutelage of Southern Gospel great Ben Speer, marking the official beginning of the Hagees as a professional entity. Thereafter, they had the great pleasure of working with Lari Goss and Roger Talley, and have now recorded several successful albums, including Stand, We Believe and Best of the Hagees. Since their humble beginnings God has continued to bless their ministry with the release of their latest album, LOVE in June 2014, debuting at #2 on the Southern Gospel charts and with a Dove Award nomination that same year for “Christmas Album of the year” for the widely popular Christmas album.
Today, each member of the group is employed outside of the music business: Tina is the director of publishing and marketing for John Hagee Ministries; Matthew serves as the executive pastor of Cornerstone Church; and Sandy is an attorney. Despite their outside careers, these three siblings still love performing together as The Hagees. Ministering with their father has allowed the Hagees to take their dynamic sound on the road, throughout the United States, Israel and Canada. The Hagees continue to sing on the stage of Cornerstone Church, where it all started in 1986; but instead of the small Sunday night crowd that watched their debut, Cornerstone’s services are now broadcasted in over 190 nations around the world.
Their faith and desire to inspire others to draw near to God shines through in their joyful, uplifting voices. When asked what she wants people to take away from a Hagee performance, Tina’s response is unwavering: “I want them to get saved. I want them to be ministered to. I want whatever we’re singing to minister to whatever they’re going through, whatever their struggles are. I want them to be uplifted. I want them to walk away lighter than when they came in.”
Even as they have experienced the Lord’s blessings through success in music and ministry, the Hagees maintain their devotion to the original calling and purpose that their father and grandfathers set so many years ago—“to point others to the saving grace of Jesus.”
The Hagees - Christmas
by The Hagees
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Taiwan Cruise Traffic on the Upswing
The Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) said that it expects 900,000 passengers to visit the Port of Keelung in 2017, 34 percent up on 2016.
The TIPC said, in a prepared statement, that the rise was due to more large ships visiting regularly, and offering domestic travelers a wide range of vacation options.
Bruce Krumrine, vice president, shore excursions of Holland America Group, was recently in Taiwan for in-depth talks, according to the TIPC.
“The in-depth discussions during the visit centered on ongoing cruise-related infrastructure improvements at Keelung and Mr. Krumrine’s practical suggestions,” the statement read.
“Mr. Krumrine noted that the Port of Keelung possessed the rare advantage of being able to receive large cruise ships in the heart of the city. He further noted that Taiwan already holds an important place in the Asia cruise travel market. The Port of Keelung, he suggested, while retaining its advantageous inner harbor cruise-ship births, should add new cruise ship wharves along the outer harbor in order to ensure adequate parking for tour buses and space for baggage handling facilities.”
Current plans call for the potential of up to three cruise ship homeport wharves which will add significant capacity to Keelung, which is coming off a record day on June 30 when it hosted the Majestic Princess, SuperStar Virgo and SuperStar Aquarius, as well as two smaller local vessels.
There are improvements underway in Kaohsiung as well, as new boarding bridges were recently introduced to better serve large vessels. The new bridge system was first put to the test with a call from the SuperStar Virgo. The new passenger bridges are 10 meters high and 31 meters long, and can be extended to meet the tip. They weigh 45 tons and span three levels.
In addition, the Port of Kaohsiung has recently opened an air-conditioned, enclosed corridor linking the cruise-ship wharf to the International Travel Center. The corridor, which keeps cruise passengers in comfort and safe from the elements, is lined with photographs of Kaohsiung City sites and photographs of the port.
Port administrators noted that when the new Port of Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Service Center is completed, it will be connected by a pair of suspension bridges that lead directly to the ship.
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Carnival to Name 2019 Newbuild Carnival Panorama
Carnival Panorama has been chosen as the name of Carnival Cruise Line’s new Vista-class 133,500-ton ship scheduled to debut in fall 2019.
Carnival Panorama will join its sister ships – Carnival Vista, which entered service in 2016, and Carnival Horizon, set to debut April 2, 2018, the company said.
“Carnival Panorama is the perfect name to reflect the design inspiration of our Vista-class ships providing more venues and opportunities to connect with the sea,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. “Carnival Panorama will offer a wide variety of fun indoor and outdoor experiences along with exciting one-of-a-kind features that will provide our guests with a lifetime of wonderful vacation memories,” she added.
Currently under construction at the Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Italy, Carnival Panorama is scheduled to enter service in November 2019. Homeport and itinerary, along with other new features of this ship, will be announced at a later date.
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Santander Poised for Strong 2019
Traffic should more than triple for Spain’s Santander in 2019, going from seven calls this year to 23 arrivals next year.
“We are very happy with our 2019 projection, as a matter of fact we are going to reach 23 cruise calls when our maximum number of calls had been 12,” said Jaime González, chairman of the port.
“This is the result of the work we have been doing for years at the port, and we are beginning to see the results of this effort,” he said. “Santander has also been bit more in the news with the inauguration of our Botin Centre of Art last year.”
González called Santander a quiet and secure place to visit, with a number of key shore excursions close to the cruise ship berth.
That berth is mainly used for ferry traffic. If ferries are scheduled, cruise ships dock at a different pier and the port organizes free shuttle service, said González.
Thus, studies are underway to build a new cruise pier, and later this year, the port is planning to modernize its terminal building.
“We do believe the Port of Santander has much to offer and is going to become an important cruise port in a near future,” González continued. “This is the result of our work and commitment, but it is also because our whole region, the West Atlantic is growing.”
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EN IT DE
CULTRARO GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PURCHASE
1.1 The following terms shall have the meanings set out below and ascribed to each of them being understood that, depending on the context, the same may be reported in singular or plural form:
1.1.1. “Amendment Order”: means the written order which modifies a previous Purchase Order issued by Cultraro towards the Supplier and which needs to be accepted by the Supplier by means of an Order Confirmation;
1.1.2. “Company” and/or “Cultraro”: means Cultraro Automazione Engineering S.r.l.;
1.1.3. “Confidential Information”: means any and all information (including, by way of example and not of limitation, industrial property rights, specifications, methodologies, tools, databases, product technical specifications, documents, processes, projections, estimates and data, drawings, models, samples, know-how, software, technologies, trade secrets and inventions, prototypes and instruments of any kind, in addition to any other information, experiences and knowledge developed within the Company’s business, of which it will become aware of during the negotiations, or in occasion of the execution of the Purchase Order or of visits to the Company’s premises, including information regarding the composition of products, the facilities, production methods and other business assets as well as the organization of production and of the business, the services provided by the company, the business initiatives and customers, the management and the performance of the Company, the relations with third parties, and so on) - even if not expressly qualified as "confidential" disclosed by Cultraro to the Supplier for the performance of the Purchase Order, both in oral and written form by directors, employees, consultants and representatives of Cultraro, or that have been acquired or will be acquired by the Supplier in any manner before or during the performance of the Purchase Order, as well as any opinion, report, comment, analysis, study, interference, abstracts and / or deductions or any other document drafted by Cultraro or by its consultants which in any way contain or reflect such Confidential Information or that have been prepared, or drafted on the basis of such Confidential Information;
1.1.4. “Contractual Documentation”: means the entire contractual documentation concerning the Products, including by way of example and not of limitation: (i) the Technical Specifications; (ii) the Specific Terms and Conditions; (iii) the Date of Delivery;
1.1.5. “Date of Delivery”: means the delivery program indicated in the Purchase Order, that the Supplier undertakes to comply with, it being understood that such terms are considered essential;
1.1.6. “Day”: means every business day;
1.1.7. “Employment and Enviromental Laws”: means any provision of law and regulations in force at the time of signature of the Purchase Order, according to the discipline in force from time to time during its execution, and concerning: (i) occupational safety and injuries regulated by the “T.U sicurezza” Legislative Decree no. 81/2008 and subsequent amendments and all provisions foreseen by the judicial system even if referred to the relationship between the Supplier and the personnel employed for the performance of the Purchase Order; (ii) the legislation on environment and on the prevention of pollution caused by industrial activities, as of “T.U. Ambiente” Legislative Decree no. 152/2006;
1.1.8. “General Terms and Conditions”: means the present General Terms and Conditions of Purchase, governing the contractual relationship between Cultraro and the Supplier for the purchase of the Products;
1.1.9. “Law”: means overall, even if not expressly mentioned, all laws and regulations within the legal framework from time to time in force during the period of execution of the Purchase Order, including the Employment and Environmental Laws;
1.1.10. “Open Order”: means the written order issued by Cultraro and accepted by the Supplier by means of an Order Confirmation or anyhow by commencement of the execution of the supplies. The Open Order - indicates: (i) the qualification of Open Order (ii) the validity period (iii) the type of Products and the relevant technical / economic reference conditions applicable, (iv) the reference to the General Terms and Conditions; (v) the Dates of Delivery; with reference to the timing of delivery and to the management of the warehouse stock, the Supplier is required to comply with the logistical details specified in the Order Confirmation. It remains understood that with reference to the Open Order, the quantity and type of Product indicated and / or the maximum amount presumed represents only an estimation, and is not binding on Cultraro;
1.1.11. “Order”: means the written order issued by Cultraro and accepted by the Supplier by means of an Order Confirmation. In particolar, each Order will indicate: (i) the code, the description and the quantity of the Products; (ii) the offer of reference and any other technical and economic conditions applicable to the specific supply; (iii) the Dates of Delivery; (iv) reference to the present General Terms and Conditions;
1.1.12. “Order Confirmation": means the Supplier’s written approval of the Purchase Order issued by Cultraro and the conditions set out therein;
1.1.13. “Party/ies”: means Cultraro and the Supplier collectively or individually depending on the context;
1.1.14. “Products”: means all goods (by way of example and not of limitation: raw materials, standard components, materials inherent to the production, such as tools and oils) that Cultraro orders from the Supplier through specific Purchase Orders and identified therein;
1.1.15. “Purchase Order”: depending on the context, it means the Open Order and/or the Order and/or the Amendment Order, of which these General Terms and Conditions together with the Contractual Documentation form an integral and essential part; in case of a difference between the terms of the General Terms and Conditions and those contained in the Purchase Order, the latter shall prevail;
1.1.16. “Safety Stock”: indicates the quantity of Products in stock that the Supplier must keep available which will be specified in the relevant reference Order in order to cover any critical conditions;
1.1.17. “Specific Terms and Conditions:” means the special regulation establishing the terms and conditions applicable to the specific supply between Cultraro and the Supplier, as described in each Purchase Order;
1.1.18. “Supplier”: means the person or legal entity who signs these General Terms and Conditions for acceptance;
1.1.19. “Technical Specifications”: means all the documents that define the technical, functional, qualitative and reliability carachteristics of a specific Product as well as the procedures and the requirements referred to the verification of the conformity of the Products.
The Offer shall not be binding in terms of quantities, price and delivery time. In particular, the prices stated in the Offer:
2.1 These General Terms and Conditions, together with the reference Purchase Order and the Contractual Documentation, establish the terms and conditions governing the supply of the Products by the Supplier in favor of Cultraro.
2.2 The present General Terms and Conditions apply to each contractual relationship between Cultraro and the Supplier, both with respect to Purchase Orders under execution, as well as with respect to Purchase Orders which are subsequent respect to the date of signature of these General Terms and Conditions.
2.3 The present General Terms and Conditions represent the only regulation governing the business relation between Cultraro and the Supplier and supersede and replace any other agreements, understandings and / or conditions previously agreed by the Parties, including any general terms and conditions of the Supplier and any and all other term and condition contained in any document sent by the Supplier which is therefore to be considered as invalid and without effect.
2.4 It remains understood and agreed that, in case of difficulty of interpretation or conflict and / or difference of content between the provisions of the General Terms and Conditions and of the Specific Terms and Conditions set out in the specific Purchase Order, the Specific Terms and Conditions will prevail.
3.1 If any provision of these General Terms and Conditions turns out to be contrary to Law or for any reason results invalid, such provision shall be deemed deleted and the remaining provisions will remain in full force.
3.2 With the signature of the present General Terms and Conditions, Cultraro does not undertake any obligation in relation to the issuance of further Purchase Orders for the supply of Products, it being also understood that any estimates provided by Cultraro shall be considered only indicative and do not represent any obligation upon Cultraro and that the Supplier declares and warrants that it has the necessary production capacity in line with the estimates provided.
4. OBLIGATIONS OF THE SUPPLIER
4.1 With the acceptance of the Purchase Order, the Supplier undertakes to:
4.1.1.Deliver to Cultraro Products which are: (i) compliant with the Law, with the Contractual Documentation, with particular reference to the Technical Specifications and with any other provision contained in the reference Purchase Order (including the provisions referred to the necessary documentation and to the delivery of the Products); (ii) free of defects; and (iii) reliable, safe and suitable for use of the Products and their proper functioning;
4.1.2. Respect the Dates of Delivery and the level of Safety Stock required by Cultraro for each type of Product;
4.1.3.Ensure to have the certifications required by the Law provisions in force and referred to its system of quality, safety and environment and to maintain such certifications for the entire duration of the business relation with Cultraro; as well as to ensure the access and the verification of its facilities and of the processes/methods of production of the Products and/or the system of control and certification of the quality in order to ensure the compliance with the Cultraro standards;
4.1.4.Comply with the Law, including Employment and Enviromental Laws;
4.1.5.Implement all the activities necessary to ensure the quality of Products. In particular, the Supplier undertakes to implement and maintain operating the equipment so as production and control processes in order to continuously ensure the delivery to Cultraro of Compliant Products;
4.1.6.ensure the identification of the Products during the entire productive cycle (in stock at warehouses, manufacturing progress, compliant/ non compliant, finished);
4.1.7.certify and ensure the quality and the reliability of the Products in accordance with the provisions of the Purchase Order and to take care of the testing and verification of the Products as well as to release the necessary documentation for the certification of the Products;
4.1.8.deliver the technical documentation referred to the Products, as by way of example and not of limitation the certificate of conformity of the Products, the assembly, use and maintenance handbook;
4.1.9.pack the Products in an appropriate manner (and in any case according to the specifications agreed between the Parties) in order to avoid any damages to them and, unless otherwise specified in the Purchase Order, pay the packaging costs as well as any charges arising out from imperfect or inadequate packaging;
4.2 The Supplier undertakes to indemnify and hold harmless Cultraro in relation to any negative impact arising out of and/or related to the breach of the obligations set out in this article by the Supplier.
5. CONTROLS ON PRODUCTS
5.1 Cultraro reserves the right, in any moment, to carry out any qualitative and quantitative inspections/verifications of the Products, both upon receipt of the Products and also during the processing phase at the production plants of the Supplier, by means of its own personnel, upon prior notice to the Supplier.
It remains understood that the controls and the verifications of Cultraro, do not give rise to any payment obligation in favor of the Supplier, nor are they to be considered as acceptance of the Products supplied.
5.2 In the case in which Cultraro, as a result of the inspections and of the quality checks referred to in this article, were to discover discrepancies, defects or delays, will have the right to apply the penalties referred to in article 13 below, without prejudice to compensation for any additional damage and to exercise the powers provided by the following articles 7 (Delivery of the Products) and 15 (termination for breach of Supplier).
5.3 In any case, the occurance of any dispute between Cultraro an the Supplier, relating to the Order, will not give rise to the right of the Supplier to suspend the execution of its services and obligations assumed under these General Terms and Conditions and under the specific Purchase Order.
6.1 The Supplier undertakes to execute the transport of the Products in full compliance with the Law, and in particular with the applicable customs legislation, it being understood that the shipping fees and the connected risks are borne by the Supplier until the moment of delivery in the place of destination indicated by Cultraro, unless otherwise specified.
6.2 Any expenses, fees, taxes and rights related to the Purchase Order are borne by the Supplier unless otherwise provided by law or established by the Specific Terms and Conditions.
6.3 The Supplier undertakes to take and to make sure that every necessary precaution is taken in order to keep the Product's characteristics unaltered during transport.
6.4 The Supplier bears the risk for the perishing / damage to the Products, even for reasons not attributable to him and also if otherwise agreed in the Purchase Order until the delivery of the Product in favor of Cultraro, also in the case of partial deliveries and also in case the Product is stored at the Supplier’s premises or at third parties pending delivery;
6.5 The identification label must be made according to the specifics of the logistics department and with the specific bar code of Cultraro.
7. DELIVERY OF THE PRODUCTS
7.1 The Supplier undertakes to deliver the Products in accordance with the Delivery Date stated in each Purchase Order and in accordance with the terms and conditions of delivery therein stated. The delivery shall take place at the destination venue indicated by Cultraro.
7.2 The Delivery Dates indicated in the reference Purchase Order are binding for the Supplier and are to be considered as essential for the correct execution of each Purchase Order.
7.3 Cultraro has the right to reject the Products delivered before the agreed Delivery Dates or to charge the Supplier the costs of storage of the Products and any other expenses related to the early delivery period.
7.4 The Supplier guarantees that the quantity of the Products delivered corresponds to the quantity indicated in the reference Purchase Order and in the documentation of delivery of the Product. Otherwise, Cultraro may, alternatively at its choice:
(i) accept the quantities actually delivered, and decrease or increase proportionally the quantities of the next deliveries;
(ii) request that the Supplier takes care, at its own expense, of the withdrawal of the Products in excess respect to those orderd, charging him the custody and conservation expenses (for the case in which the replacement is not immediate). In any case, Cultraro reservs the right to ship directly the Products back at the expense and at the risk of the Supplier;
(iii) require the Supplier to immediately send the quantities of the Products that turned out to be missing, applying in any case the penalties for delay as well as any charges, expenses and damages resulting from the breach of the Supplier;
(iv) refuse the receipt of the Products and require the Supplier to withdraw the Products at his own expense and risk, without prejudice to any further remedy and compensation;
(v) reduce the price proportionally;
7.5 In case of delay in delivery of the Products, Cultraro will have, at its discretion, the following options:
(i) Set another term within which the Supplier will have to deliver the Products;
(ii) Obtain the supply from other suppliers, at the expense and risk of the Supplier, with the sole burden of communicating it to the Supplier;
(iii) In addition to the above points (i) and (ii), apply to the Supplier the penalties, without prejudice to any further damage suffered by Cultraro as a consequence of such delay.
7.6 It remains however understood that, in addition to the rights set out in this article, Cultraro will have the right to terminate the Purchase Order pursuant to art. 15 ( termination for breach of Supplier).
8. TRANSFER OF PROPERTY
8.1 The property of the Products and the related risks are considered transferred only upon the delivery of the same in accordance with the provisions of the reference Purchase Order.
9. PRICE AND PAYMENTS
9.1 The price of the Products will be indicated in the Purchase Orders. Such prices are to be considered fixed and not subject to revisions or adjustments, unless otherwise agreed in the Purchase Order.
9.2 The payments must be made in accordance with the provisions of each Purchase Order and of the Specific Terms and Conditions.
9.3 It remains also understood that: (i) Cultraro is entitled to set off any amount referred to the consideration with any sum due, for whatever reason, even in terms of compensation of damages, by the Supplier in favor of Cultraro; (ii) in the event of non-fulfillment by the Supplier, also partial, of any of the obligations contained in these General Terms and Conditions.
10.1 The Supplier grants warranty for any discrepancies and defects of any kind, even if latent, so as for the proper, correct and good functioning of the Products supplied for a period of 36 (thirtysix) months from the delivery of the Products to Cultraro, except as otherwise stated in the Specific Terms and Conditions.
10.2 The Supplier warrants that the Products are free from defects or lack of quality resulting whether from a defect in design, material or production.
10.3 In the case in which, during such warranty period, Cultraro were to discover the existence of defects / discrepancies of the Products, it must notify in writing the Supplier within 60 (sixty) days from the discovery and will have the right, at its sole discretion, to request alternatively, without prejudice to the compensation for any further damages:
(i) The elimination of the defects / non-conformities found or the replacement of non-compliant Products or of the entire lot of Products, of which the defective ones are parte of, by and at the Supplier's expenses; in such case the Supplier must take all appropriate actions at its own expenses in order to provide timely repair and/or replacement of the Products that are not properly functioning and/or are affected
(ii) the reduction of the price of the non-compliant Products or of the lot of Products and the compensation with any damages or costs sustained by Cultraro, without prejudice to the Supplier's liability for any further claim for compensation of damages filed by Cultraro;
(iii) The termination for breach, refuse payment for non-compliant Products and ask for the refund of any amounts already paid.
10.4 In any case, Cultraro reserves any further right, including the application of Penalties, as well as compensation for any further damages, and the right not to pay the price of non-compliant Products.
10.5 If the Supplier fails to provide for the elimination of the defects discovered by Cultraro, according to Cultraro’s request, the latter may take care of such activity directly or through third parties, at the expenses of the Supplier, without prejudice to the compensation for any cost and/or for any damage anyhow suffered or bone by Cultraro.
10.6 If deemed necessary, at the sole discretion of Cultraro in relation to the type and nature of the faults, defects and/or malfunctioning affecting one or more Products, the Supplier shall also, upon written request of Cultraro and within the terms set by the latter, provide for the replacement of all the Products at its own care and expenses, under penalty of termination of the Purchase Order.
10.7 Without prejudice to the case of elimination of the defects directly by Cultraro, as foreseen under this article, the Supplier warrants in any case that the repaired and/or replaced Products will be covered by the same warranty for a period of 24 (twenty four) months from the date of replacement or of repair.
11. LIABILITY OF THE SUPPLIER
11.1 The Supplier is exclusively liable for any damage caused to Cultraro and/or to third parties for breach of the Law or for malpractice/negligence and for any damages, costs and/or expenses arising and/or connected to the supply of Products and to alleged defects and / or non-compliance of the same, without prejudice to the right of Cultraro to compensate any amount due.
11.2 The Supplier is also solely liable for any injury or damage caused by its personnel to any employees or property used by Cultraro and to third parties and / or property of third parties in general, this meaning that Cultraro is free and relieved from any responsibility in this regard;
11.3 In any case, the Supplier undertakes to hold harmless and indemnify Cultraro from any and all claims for compensation of any kind, from anyone filed against Cultraro and arising or connected to the Products supplied or anyhow related to the supply relationship.
11.4 The Supplier undertakes in any case to communicate promptly – and in any case not later than 5 (five) Days from the event – any claim of third parties filed against him for whatever reason. In the event that third parties file a judicial action against Cultraro, the Supplier will bear all charges and any resulting cost, including any expenses incurred for the legal defense. In this case, Cultraro will promptly inform in writing the Supplier of such judicial actions.
11.5 The Supplier undertakes to refund Cultraro any charge and expense beard by Cultraro by way of compensation for damage caused to third parties by the Supplier and not paid by the Supplier, authorizing since now Cultraro to withhold from the sums due to the Supplier, the amount of the expenses incurred in.
11.6 It remains however understood that in case of breach of the provisions of this article, Cultraro will be entitled to terminate the Purchase Order pursuant to art. 15 herein below.
12. PRODUCT LIABILITY
12.1 The Supplier undertakes to keep harmless and indemnify Cultraro from any claim of third parties concerning defects of the Products resulting from non -conformity / non-compliance with the provisions of Law referred to the protection of safety, health, environment and/or with regulations on construction and/or certification of Products, without any time limitation and therefore also beyond the expiry of the warranty period.
12.2 Cultraro will inform the Supplier as soon as it becomes aware of the fact that the breach of the Law provisions or the statement of its responsibility is connected.
13. PENALTIES
13.1 Cultraro will have the right to apply to the Supplier the penalties better described in the Specific Terms and Conditions.
13.2 The application of each type of penalty (by way of example and not of limitation, for late delivery, quantitative / qualitative non -compliance) is combinable and does not exclude the right of Cultraro to terminate the Purchase Order.
13.3 In any case, without prejudice to the right of Cultraro to claim compensation of any and all further damages in addition to the above penalties.
14. INSURANCES
14.1 Except as provided in the Specific Terms and Conditions, the Supplier undertakes to enter into and to maintain in force for the duration of the Order an appropriate insurance policy with a leading insurance company, in order to guarantee its production plants against the risks of theft, fire, damage, destruction and the risk of civil liability towards third parties, with a minimum coverage equal to the value of the Order or the Purchase Order in the case of a single supply.
14.2 The Supplier also undertakes to enter into an appropriate insurance policy for civil liability arising from Products, fully coverning any and all damages to third parties or to goods of third parties, arising out of and/or connected to the Products supplied by Supplier.
14.3 The insurance policies entered into by the Supplier shall include the waiver by the insurance company to request compensation against Cultraro.
15. TERMINATION FOR BREACH OF THE SUPPLIER
15.1 Without prejudice to the right for compensation of damages, Cultraro will be entitled to terminate the Purchase Order by means of a simple written notice pursuant to art. 1456 Italian Civil Code, with which Cultraro declares its intention to invoke the termination clause , if the Supplier commits a breach of the provisions of articles 4, 5, Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata., Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata., Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata., Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata., 17, Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata., 20, Errore. L'origine riferimento non è stata trovata., 22, of these General Terms and Conditions and/or for cases expressly foreseen by the Specific Terms and Conditions and /or upon occurance of one of the following circumstances:
(i) breach of the requirements and/or of the minimum technical specifications set by the Law and the Contractual Documentation of the Products;
(ii) delay exceeding 60 (sixty) days in the delivery of the Products, respect to the specific Delivery Dates set out in the Purchase Order, or respect to the different deadline stated in the Purchase Order and in the Specific Terms and Conditions;
(iii) repeated non-compliance of the Products for a number stated in the Specific Terms and Conditions;
(iv) if the Supplier has failed to fulfill one of the obligations set out in the reference Purchase Order and following a written warning by Cultraro fails to remedy the notified infringement within the deadline established by Cultraro.
16. WITHDRAWAL
16.1 Cultraro will be entitled to withdraw from any Order in any moment and for whatever reason by means of a written communication with a prior notice of at least 60 (sixty) Days from the date of receipt of such communication.
16.2 In the event of excercise of the right of withdrawal, Cultraro will be obliged to pay in favor of the Supplier only the expenses incurred in and the works carried out.
16.3 Cultraro will also be entitled to withdraw from the Purchase Order in case of changes in the financial conditions of the Supplier that jeopardizes the performance of the services and / or the execution of the contractual obligations, as well as, for the case in which the Supplier is a legal entity in case of any change of ownership (including by way of example but not of limitation also the cases of sale of the business or of a business unit,) or of the corporate control.
17. LEGISLATIVE DECREE N. 231/2001
17.1 The Supplier declares to be aware of and to comply with the provisions of the Legislative Decree n. 231/2001 concerning the administrative liability of legal entities, and it guarantees that its production process respects human rights, the rights of the child and the woman, so as the provisions on environmental protection standards and the code of conduct set out in Legislative Decree June 8th 2001 n. 231 and it declares that it is not subject to any legal proceedings pursuant to D.L.gs. 231/2001, nor that it has any conviction in such respect.
17.2 The commission of the offenses specified in Legislative Decree 231/2001 by the Supplier will represent a serious breach of the obligations set out in these General Terms and Conditions and will entitle Cultraro to terminate the Order pursuant to art.1456 Italian Civil Code, without prejudice to the right for compensation of any further connected damages.
18. HANDLING OF PERSONAL DATA
18.1 The personal data referred to the Supplier and acquired by Cultraro for the issuance and execution of the Purchase Orders will be processed in accordance with the contractual requirements and with the fulfillment of the legal and contractual obligations as well as to obtain an effective management of business relationships.
18.2 The data will be handled in written form and/or on magnetic, electronic or telematic support.
18.3 The transmission of the data is compulsory to the extent required by legal and contractual obligations and therefore any refusal to disclose such data or the denial to the subsequent treatment may prevent Cultraro from continuing the contractual relationship.
18.4 Instead, the failure to provide any data not connected to legal or contractual obligations will be evaluated from time to time by Cultraro and will determine the resulting decisions related to the importance of such data for the management of the contractual relationship.
18.5 Apart from the communications and disclosures carried out pursuant to legal obligations, the data may be disclosed in Italy and/or abroad to: factoring companies, banks, credit recovery companies, credit insurance companies, commercial information companies, professionals and consultants, for the purpose of credit protection and for the better management of Cultraro’s rights concerning the single commercial.
18.6 The responsible for the processing of personal data is the administrative office of Cultraro.
18.7 The data will be processed for the entire duration of the established contractual relationships and also afterwards for the fulfillment of all the legal obligations and for future commercial purposes.
18.8 The Supplier, with reference to such data, can exercise the rights under Art. 7 of the legislative decree no. 196/2003 within the limits and conditions foreseen by articles 8, 9 and 10 of the same decree.
18.9 The Supplier takes note of what is provided by this article, he declares to have received complete information in accordance with art. 13 legislative decree no. 196/2003, together with a copy of art. 7 of the same decree, and agrees to the use and disclosure of its data, defined as personal by the above mentioned law, within the limits, for the purposes and for the duration specified in therein.
19. TRANSFER OF PROPERTY
19.1 Neither Party shall be liable for the failure to fulfill its obligations arising from the Purchase Order, if it can prove that such failure is due to a force majeure event, meaning for force majeure event, an event (i) that is outside of the control of the Party which undergoes it (ii) that, at the moment of signature of the specific Orders, was not reasonably foreseeable, like its effects, by that Party and, (iii) that was not otherwise avoidable and / or remediable by the Party that suffers it.
19.2 At the occurrence of a force majeure event as defined above, the Party unable to fulfill its obligations will inform the other party, immediately and in writing, by registered letter, of the occurrence of such event, as well as of its effects.
19.3 If the force majeure circumstance is such as to cause a delay in the delivery of Products, inconsistent with the production requirements of Cultraro, the latter will have the right to have the Products supplied by third parties during the period in which the event of force majeure lasts.
19.4 For the case in which the force majeure event persists for a period longer than 30 (thirty) Days from the receipt of the said notice, Cultraro will have the right to terminate the Order in relation to which the force majeur event occured, by giving prior written notice to the Supplier, by registered letter, without any compensation due in favor of the Supplier.
20. INTELLECTUAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
20.1 The Supplier declares and warrants that the Products do not infringe patents, trademarks, models, copyrights and other intellectual and industrial property rights of third parties and that it is entitled to transfer to Cultraro the full right to use, incorporate and market the Products.
20.2 The Supplier acknowledges that all the intellectual and industrial property rights (including by way of example and not of limitation: the specifications, drawings, charts and all other technical specification,) that Cultraro delivers for the supply of Products are and remain the exclusive property of Cultraro and are subject to exclusive intellectual and industrial property of the latter. The Supplier therefore undertakes not to use them in any way except for the execution of the Purchase Order. In particular, and by way of example and not of limitation, the Supplier undertakes:
not to copy them and reproduce them, unless it is necessary for the execution of the Purchase Order;
not to use them for productions unrelated to those specified in the Purchase Order or in favor of third parties;
not to transmit them, disclose them to third parties or allow that third parties acquire knowledge about them, except in the case in which this is necessary for the execution of the Purchase Order. In this case, however, it must be requested prior written permission from Cultraro.
The Supplier undertakes to keep the material mentioned above (as well as the related copies and reproductions of the same eventually made in relation to the Purchase Order) in good condition, bearing all responsibility connected with its custody, even for the case of loss or theft, and to return it to Cultraro in good condition when it finishes to use it.
20.3 The Supplier undertakes to indemnify, hold harmless and compensate Cultraro against any claim, request, damages or expenses arising from third party claims.
20.4 The breach of the obligations of the Supplier set out in this article will entitle Cultraro to terminate all the Orders in place for breach of Supplier, pursuant to art. 1456 Italian civil code, without prejudice to Cultraro’s right to compensation for damages.
21.1 Without prejudice to the foregoing, the Supplier undertakes not to disclose to third parties, without prior written consent of Cultraro, the information provided by the latter for the execution of the Purchase Orders and to use them exclusively for such purposes.
21.2 The Supplier further agrees not to copy and not to allow others to make copies, extracts, notes or processing of any act or document containing the Confidential Information.
21.3 The Supplier declares and expressly guarantees that the Confidential Information will be disclosed only to the personnel who needs the Confidential Information for the execution of the Purchase Orders and expressly guarantees that these employees will adhere and strictly observe the confidentiality obligations set out in this article, remaining responsible for any breach.
21.4 Even after the conclusion of the supply referred to the Purchase Order, the Supplier will not be authorized either explicitly or implicitly to use in any way, the Confidential Information, as well as any product, material and technology implemented during the manufacture of the Products. The Supplier undertakes, upon request of Cultraro, to return all copies and documentation containing the Confidential Information or to destroy the same, giving confirmation of the destruction.
21.5 The confidentiality obligations referred to in this article will remain in force, unless otherwise agreed in writing, for further 5 (five) years following the termination of the Purchase Order.
21.6 The Supplier undertakes to indemnify and hold harmless Cultraro from any breach of the confidentiality obligations set out in this article, by bearing and reimbursing any and all costs or expenses, including legal costs and any further subsequent damage.
21.7 The breach of this article will entitle Cultraro to terminate the Purchase Orders in place for breach of the Supplier pursuant to art. 1456 Italian civil code.
22. PROHIBITION OF ASSIGNMENT OF THE PURCHASE ORDER AND OF THE CREDITS
22.1 The Supplier may not assign and / or entrust to subcontractors, in whole or in part, the Purchase Order, nor any credit or obligation arising out of it.
22.2 The Supplier also undertakes not to sell, transfer or assign to third parties any credit towards Cultraro and based on the payment of the consideration referred to each specific Purchase Order.
22.3 In case of breach by the Supplier of the provisions of this article, Cultraro will be entitled to terminate the Purchase Order, by means of a written communication pursuant to art. 1456 Italian civil code and 15 of the present General Terms and Conditions. In the case in which more Purchase Orders are entered into with the Supplier, Cultraro, without prejudice to the foregoing, has the right to terminate only the Purchase Orders, in relation to which the breach occured.
23.1 Any modification, addition or derogation to the present General Terms and Conditions, to the specific Order and to the Contractual Documentation must result, under penalty of nullity, in a written document accepted by the Parties.
24. APPLICABLE LAW AND EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION
24.1 The present General Terms and Conditions so as each Purchase Order issued by Cultraro are regulated and interpreted according to Italian law.
24.2 Any dispute concerning the interpretation and/or the execution of these General Terms and Conditions and/or each Purchase Order will be devolved to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Turin.
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Melody Cavatina, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s new and exceptionally talented cellist, is scheduled to premiere a finger-cracking solo in Rio in conjunction with the signing of a controversial trade agreement. It’s her first solo, and she’s traumatized, barely able to play normally let alone in front of an assembly of world leaders. As the orchestra heads to the airport, their priceless instruments are hijacked.
Genial police Lieutenant Lowell is called to find the truckload of instruments. Many people suspect a populist group trying to stop the trade agreement, but Lowell assembles a long list of other suspects, which includes Melody.
She must conquer her psychological shock and clear her name. She must get to Rio and dedicate her performance to a person she had wronged. She must use her perfect pitch and meticulous musical sensitivity to find the thieves.
Told with a focus on music, irreverent and witty, The Symphony Heist is a thoroughly satisfying mystery, fun and informative. Lowell is becoming one of the most delightful characters in literature. Anyone who likes to solve a mystery or enjoys music will fall in love with this book.
Listen to the author read the first chapter:
Read the first chapter HERE! | BUY NOW!
In the early morning hours after St. Patrick’s Day, 1990, two men disguised as policemen gain access to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a stately four-story Italian mansion in the Fenway district of Boston. They handcuff the guards, wrap their mouths with duct tape, and proceed to commit the largest robbery in history. The stolen masterpieces, including Vermeer’s The Concert, a Degas, a Manet, and three irreplaceable Rembrandts, are valued at half a billion dollars. Despite a multi-million dollar reward and the combined efforts of the FBI, Scotland Yard, INTERPOL, and the Canadian Mounted Police, the treasured art is never recovered.
Jump forward twenty-five years. Paris, an ex-con classics professor and superbly gifted art forger, is passing the time at a self-storage facility in out-of-the-way New Mexico to earn a living while figuring out what to do next with his life. When a suspicious out-of-towner arrives to check on his belongings, Paris’ curiosity gets the best of him. He breaks into the man’s storage unit only to find the stolen art now missing for a quarter of a century. With a $10 million reward money under his belt, Paris sets off for Boston to fulfill his dream of building a classical museum of his own. In order to help the eccentric Lieutenant Lowell nab the illusive thief, Paris dives back into the world of obsession and deception which may send him back to prison.
The Museum Heist, based on the real-life robbery of the famed Gardner Museum, is a fast-paced, wily whodunit filled with intrigue, romance and stimulating scholarship. Author Kameel Nasr has created a wonderfully satisfying mystery novel for anyone interested in historical fiction. The Museum Heist takes you on a roller-coaster ride of suspense, a meticulous portrait of the underbelly of the art world at its highest echelons.
In 1981, Kameel Nasr hopped on a bicycle from Chicago to San Francisco. He didn’t know what he was doing, but during the next years he rode around the world, bicycling in 70 countries and logging 40,000 miles. The World Up Close recounts fifteen stories that try to illuminate the culture of the places he traveled. He sought to see how people live, usually simple rural people because on a bicycle he ventured into the small back roads and met them.
Having to rely on people for food, water, directions, and accommodations, he got a glimpse into the culture of the different countries he visited. The world was a different place when Nasr took his trips: It was still the era of the Cold War, of war in Central America, of a unified Yugoslavia, of South African apartheid. Through these fifteen stories, Nasr gives a taste, sometimes grim and sometimes funny, of the bicycling experience. He rode in foul weather, on terrible roads, and over some of the world’s tallest passes. What he saw challenged many of his beliefs. This is a story of discovery and self-discovery.
As recommended by the author, Rob Sullivan: Rob Sullivan’s Bookstore of Highly Recommended Books!
Read the first chapter | Buy Now!
Violence in America - 15 Feb , 2018
The Ultra Rich - 25 Nov , 2017
Investing in Stocks - 29 Jul , 2017
FBI Loses Gardner Museum Heist Evidence - 12 Jun , 2017
Syria and Lebanon - 22 Apr , 2017
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California Western News
CWSL Alumna Reveals Her True Calling
Alumni News Faculty News Student News Campus News
Angela Jenkins ’10 is passionate about her profession and the legal field in which she practices.
“I love being a trusts and estates attorney,” says Jenkins. “This area of law is truly special because it affects every single person.”
Jenkins did not start her legal career in trusts and estates but in civil litigation and criminal defense. A life-defining experience would ultimately influence her change of course.
During her first year at California Western, Jenkins’ father was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, which subsequently went into remission. During this challenging time, Jenkins felt the strong sense of community the law school engenders. “I never felt alone,” she recalls. “My professors, the staff, and the Dean were so caring, concerned, and supportive during that time.”
Years later, when she was a practicing attorney, her father’s cancer returned as stage 4. As she spent time with him, she told him that he needed to have his affairs in order and that he should retain an attorney to draft his estate plan.
He followed her advice and was relieved when his plan was complete, allowing him to concentrate on fighting his illness.
“The peace of mind was apparent on his face,” recalls Jenkins. “It was at that moment that I knew I had found my true calling.”
Graduating from San Diego State with a BA in Political Science, Jenkins had applied to 12 law schools around the country—and got accepted into all of them.
With typical attention to detail, she narrowed her list to three, visiting and putting down deposits on each before settling on California Western.
“The best decision I made was choosing to attend Cal Western,” says Jenkins. “I made lifelong friendships, received a stellar education, earned a prestigious degree, learned life lessons, made wonderful connections, and received a thorough preparation for the bar exam.”
Jenkins feels her experience at California Western encouraged her to choose a field of law which was rewarding and enabled her to give back to the community.
“As a practicing trusts and estates attorney, I give free talks to various groups so that people can learn the basics of estate planning and the process of probate and trust administration,” says Jenkins. “I’m able to assist people in planning for their future, which starts now.”
California Western’s faculty have a special place in Jenkins’ heart, and she gives a special shout-out to two in particular—Professor Emerita Ruth Hargrove and Associate Professor Michael Yu.
“Professor Hargrove will always be someone for whom I am eternally grateful,” says Jenkins. “Her passion, intelligence, patience, and teaching skills truly made me a better student, helped me pass the bar and become the attorney I am today.”
Jenkins says Professor Yu’s teachings will stay with her forever, his teaching methods enhanced by his vibrant personality. “I co-chair the Trusts & Estates Section of the North County Bar Association. Last year, I was honored to have him present an MCLE on the new California Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act,” says Jenkins.
Today, Jenkins is an associate attorney practicing with the law firm of Greenman, Lacy, Klein, Hinds, Weiser at their offices in Oceanside, Calif. She cites some stand-out administration cases that make her feel proud of her chosen profession.
“In a recent probate case, my client was tasked with finding the child of a deceased Polish ambassador stationed in Bulgaria during WWII,” says Jenkins. “We got creative, found the Ambassador’s tomb in Poland, and had her Polish cousin put a note on the Ambassador’s tomb. Sure enough, we were contacted by the Ambassador’s daughter!”
Nine years after graduating, Jenkins remains firmly connected to California Western attending alumni events and supporting current CWSL students. “I love sharing my law school experiences with prospective students because choosing a law school is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make.”
Jenkins’ advice to California Western students is that they are on a very special and unique journey and to utilize every single resource the school has to offer.
“The best achievements in life are those that require hard work and dedication,” says Jenkins. “Graduating with a law degree from California Western is a major accomplishment, and you will forever be a part of a very supportive alumni network.”
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Posted on May 9, 2019 by Delaware Gazette
Vest set to retire as Powell police chief
By Dillon Davis - cdavis@aimmediamidwest.com
After a 23-year career as the head of the Powell Police Department, Chief Gary Vest is set to retire from law enforcement Friday.
Vest came to Powell in 1996 after serving for seven years as the chief of the Clayton Police Department in Clayton, Ohio. Prior to his time as chief in Clayton, Vest got his first taste of law enforcement as part of the Security Police in the United States Air Force from 1972-76. After leaving the Air Force, Vest worked with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years and then in the private sectors for a few years before taking the helm in Clayton.
He holds an undergraduate degree in criminal justice and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Dayton, and he is also a graduate of the Police Executive Leadership College Session 18 and the 205th Session of the FBI National Academy.
“I expected to be (in Powell) for about three years, never knowing for sure,” Vest laughed as he talked about taking the job in Powell. “But Powell is such a great community that I just kind of fell in love with it. The county is in a great place. It has good schools, good jobs, and low crime rate. It’s just a good place to be.”
Vest said the “energy around southern Delaware County” played a significant part in him taking the position in Powell. He added the growth Powell has experienced through the years has meant more opportunities to interact with neighbors and community members in public, whether that be at a new restaurant, the grocery store, or even one of Powell’s parks, all of which helps to grow Powell’s “warm community feel.”
Of course, as the area itself has seen significant change during his time as chief, so, too, has the way law enforcement is conducted in Powell. He cited the advancements in science and technology that have transformed law enforcement’s investigative capabilities. Vest also pointed to the solid relationships that have been formed and groomed through the years with other agencies around Delaware County and Franklin County as significant resources as well.
“Those relationships really help out,” Vest said. “It’s really helpful to the community. Whatever we need, it’s available.”
Vest said his views on law enforcement work as a young man growing up in Dayton was that is was a steady paycheck. But as he got into the profession, he said he was very pleased to find that the job was a great opportunity to connect with people — and get paid to do so.
Asked why now is the right time to walk away, Vest said everyone in the department is capable of doing their job well, and he added he was looking forward to his deputy chief, Steve Hrytzik, taking over in the interim with the idea that he will soon accept the permanent position.
Hrytzik will be named as the interim chief on Friday while Powell goes through the official hiring process. He has served in the Powell Police Department for 28 years, beginning as a patrol officer before being named deputy chief in 2008.
“It’s going to be a tough job,” Vest said of Hrytzik taking the reins. “Any time you’re number two (in the chain of command), you can always rely on number one. Regardless of what the problem is, sooner or later it always comes back to the chief. One of the things I would tell him, and this is true everywhere, is that we’re not going to make everyone happy. But we do have an obligation to listen … the best thing a police chief can do is be quick to listen and a little slower to respond, until you have all the information.”
Admittedly, Vest said he was also ready to rid himself of the stress that comes with having employees working every hour of every day, in a line of work where bad days on the job could have devastating consequences.
Of course, he said it’s much easier to walk away knowing how strong the Powell Police Department is and will continue to be.
“The culture that we have at the Powell Police Department, I’m very pleased with,” Vest said. “But I would say it has little to do with me and much to do with the officers on the streets.”
He added the city of Powell should see a lot of continuity despite the change, given that Hrytzik has been operating under the same guidelines for more than two decades.
“When things are going well — our last community survey, we had 95 percent of the people saying we’re doing the job the right way — you have to look at that and ask yourself how you got there … caring about people and their problems is what makes the difference. They’re off on the right foot. Like every new leader, there will be things they may choose to do differently.”
Vest’s final few weeks on the job have included a lot of reflection. Among the things he will miss the most, he pointed to the camaraderie within the police department, not unlike how athletes will often state they miss the locker room and their teammates more than the game itself when their careers are finished.
As for what’s next for him, Vest said he is looking forward to being able to do the things he wants to do, filling his days how he chooses to, without any sort of time crunch.
However, he added he will need to be more intentional with that time as he will no longer have his daily schedules already filled in advance.
During Monday’s meeting, Powell City Council joined in celebrating Vest’s career by issuing a proclamation to declare this Friday “Gary Vest Day” in the city.
“Chief Vest has demonstrated, through his hard work, a commitment of giving back to his community, and the City of Powell thanks him for all he has done,” the proclamation reads, highlighting his work not only in the police department but as the founder of popular events in the community such as the Powell Festival, Community Bonfire and Mystery Night Out.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/05/web1_Vest.jpgVest
By Dillon Davis
cdavis@aimmediamidwest.com
Reach Dillon Davis at 740-413-0904. Follow him on Twitter @ddavis_gazette.
Hi! A visitor to our site felt the following article might be of interest to you: Vest set to retire as Powell police chief. Here is a link to that story: https://www.delgazette.com/news/76239/vest-set-to-retire-as-powell-police-chief
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May 3, 2009 at 12:01 AM May 3, 2009 at 10:23 AM
COLUMBUS 25-year-old arrested in fatal stabbing on East Side
A 35-year-old Columbus man is dead after he was stabbed in a fight on the city's East Side yesterday, police said.
Columbus police were called to an apartment at 1660 Maryland Ave. about 3:30 a.m. on a report of a stabbing. They found a man who had been stabbed several times in the chest.
The victim, whom police have not identified, was taken to Grant Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 4 a.m.
Police arrested Anthony L. Tilley, 25, yesterday and charged him with murder. Police say that Tilley, who lives in an apartment at the same address, stabbed the victim in a fight.
-- Josh Jarman jjarman@dispatch.com
COLUMBUS Man dies after being run over; driver in custody
A West Side man died early yesterday evening after being struck by a car in a driveway of his apartment complex.
The man was trying to keep a friend from driving away, believing that she was not in a condition to drive, said Frank Kelly, 47, who had also tried to prevent the woman from driving. Kelly, the victim and the woman lived near one another in the West Bay Apartments.
The man hung on the hood of the woman's vehicle, Kelly said. When he would not get off, the woman drove on, eventually rolling over him. The incident occurred just before 5 p.m. Columbus police arrived soon afterward and took her into custody.
The man was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital. Columbus police confirmed about 7 p.m. that he had died.
Police did not release the names of the man or the woman last night.
-- Jeb Phillips jeb.phillips@dispatch.com
TWINSBURG, OHIO Town plans how to replace Chrysler jobs it's to lose
Officials in a northeast Ohio town that is home to a large Chrysler factory say they're already looking for ways to attract jobs to the site of the plant.
Chrysler announced Friday that it plans to close its parts-stamping plant in Twinsburg next year. The factory employs about 1,200.
Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop says city officials will contact President Barack Obama's auto task force for assistance in finding a new major employer.
Greater Akron Chamber Vice President Rick Rebadow said there's plenty of time to find new business for the area and look at options for the facility and its employees.
-- Akron Beacon Journal via AP
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One-time King of Calypso and major civil-rights activist whose career took countless twists and turns over seven decades.
On March 1, 1927, was born Harry Belafonte, singer,and civil rights activits who had the 1957 UK No.1 & US No.12 single with ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ and a 1957 UK No.2 & US No.5 with ‘Banana Boat Song’. He also scored over 15 US Top 40 albums, including the 1956 Calypso.
An actor, humanitarian, and the acknowledged "King of Calypso," Harry Belafonte ranked among the most seminal performers of the postwar era. One of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, Belafonte's staggering talent, good looks, and masterful assimilation of folk, jazz, and worldbeat rhythms allowed him to achieve a level of mainstream eminence and crossover popularity virtually unparalleled in the days before the advent of the civil rights movement -- a cultural uprising which he himself helped spearhead.
Harold George Belafonte, Jr., was born March 1, 1927, in Harlem, NY. The son of Caribbean-born immigrants, he returned with his mother to her native Jamaica at the age of eight, remaining there for the next five years. Upon returning to the U.S., Belafonte dropped out of high school to enlist in the U.S. Navy; after his discharge, he resettled in New York City to forge a career as an actor, performing with the American Negro Theatre while studying drama at Erwin Piscator's famed Dramatic Workshop alongside the likes of Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis.
A singing role resulted in a series of cabaret engagements, and eventually Belafonte even opened his own club. Initially, he put his clear, silky voice to work as a straight pop singer, launching his recording career on the Jubilee label in 1949; however, at the dawn of the 1950s he discovered folk music, learning material through the Library of Congress' American folk songs archives while also discovering West Indian music. With guitarist Millard Thomas, Belafonte soon made his debut at the legendary jazz club the Village Vanguard; in 1953, he made his film bow in Bright Road, winning a Tony Award the next year for his work in the Broadway revue John Murray Anderson's Almanac.
With his lead role in Otto Preminger's film adaptation of Oscar Hammerstein's Carmen Jones, Belafonte shot to stardom; after signing to the RCA label, he issued Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites, which reached the number three slot on the Billboard charts in the early weeks of 1956. His next effort, titled simply Belafonte, reached number one, kick-starting a national craze for calypso music; Calypso, also issued in 1956, topped the charts for a staggering 31 weeks on the strength of hits like "Jamaica Farewell" and the immortal "Banana Boat (Day-O)."
Following the success of 1957's An Evening with Belafonte and its hit "Mary's Boy Child," Belafonte returned to film, using his now considerable clout to realize the controversial film Island in the Sun, in which his character contemplates an affair with a white woman portrayed by Joan Fontaine. Similarly, 1959's Odds Against Tomorrow cast him as a bank robber teamed with a racist accomplice. Also in 1959 he released the LP Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, a recording of a sold-out April performance that spent over three years on the charts; Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall followed in 1960 and featured appearances by Odetta, Miriam Makeba, and the Chad Mitchell Trio.
At the turn of the 1960s, Belafonte became television's first black producer; his special Tonight with Harry Belafonte won an Emmy that same year. Although dissatisfied with filmmaking, he continued his prolific album output with 1961's Jump Up Calypso and 1962's The Midnight Special, which featured the first-ever recorded appearance by a young harmonica player named Bob Dylan. As the Beatles and other stars of the British Invasion began to dominate the pop charts, Belafonte's impact as a commercial force diminished; 1964's Belafonte at the Greek Theatre was his last Top 40 effort, and subsequent efforts like 1965's An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba and 1966's In My Quiet Room struggled even to crack the Top 100. 1969's Homeward Bound earned Belafonte his final Billboard chart appearance, although he continued to record. He then made his first film appearance in over a decade in 1970's The Angel Levine and continued to focus on his work as a civil rights activist.
In addition to his continued work in recording (albeit less frequently after leaving RCA in the mid-'70s) and film (1972's Buck and the Preacher and 1974's Uptown Saturday Night), Belafonte spent an increasing amount of the 1970s and 1980s as a tireless humanitarian; most famously, he was a central figure of the USA for Africa effort, singing on the 1985 single "We Are the World." A year later, he replaced Danny Kaye as UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador. After a long absence from the screen, Belafonte resurfaced in the mid-'90s in a number of film roles, most notably in the reverse-racism drama White Man's Burden and Robert Altman's jazz-era period piece Kansas City. Although at this point Belafonte had stopped recording new music, he kept his name in the news by releasing the occasional live album (including 1997's An Evening with Harry Belafonte & Friends) as well as being an outspoken proponent of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and opponent of the Bush government.
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Dad Kicked Off Plane After Allegedly Harassing Ivanka Trump
By Alexandra Svokos
Ivanka Trump was yelled at on a JetBlue flight on Thursday morning.
A man, who had a child in his arms according to TMZ, screamed at her,
Your father is ruining the country.
He went on to say,
Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private.
According to the Daily Mail, before he shouted, his husband, Matt Lasner, tweeted about about their encounter with Ivanka.
Later, in a calmer tone, Lasner tweeted,
Ivanka and Jared on our flight. My husband expressed displeasure in a calm tone, JetBlue staff overheard, and they kicked us off the plane.
He also posted a photo of Ivanka on the flight, saying a flight attendant "overheard my husband expressing displeasure about flying w/ Trumps."
All of these tweets have since been deleted.
Ivanka tried to ignore the man as he expressed his displeasure. She tried to distract her children, who were with her on the flight, with crayons, one passenger told TMZ.
JetBlue confirmed in a statement a flight was delayed after customers had to be removed from a flight.
The JetBlue statement reads,
If the crew determines that a customer is causing conflict on the aircraft, the customer will be asked to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situations runs the risk of escalation during flight.
JetBlue flight 415 was supposed to leave from John F. Kennedy airport in New York to San Francisco. It was delayed by about an hour.
Ivanka and her family, including her cousins, were flying in the coach section on the JetBlue flight.
Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner have been intimately involved in Donald Trump's presidential transition, causing criticism about conflicts of interest.
She will be moving to Washington, D.C. for her father's presidency and is reportedly getting an office in the White House.
Many people have been boycotting her fashion brand and protesting her involvement in her father's upcoming presidency in various ways.
Citations: New York Post, TMZ, Daily Mail
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Consumers Agree: This Is The Least-Liked Store In The US
By Gillian Fuller
American consumers have spoken: The heyday of Abercrombie & Fitch is officially over.
The once-beloved brand ranked worst among its peers in customer satisfaction, according to the latest data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Based on surveys of roughly 70,000 consumers, the ACSI measures customer satisfaction with more than 300 businesses across 43 industries.
As BroBible points out, Abercrombie & Fitch was the least-liked store among the 22 companies included in its "specialty retailer" category. Earning top marks for customer satisfaction were L Brands, which owns Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, and Costco.
In other words: Consumers enjoy shopping at Advance Auto Parts more than they do at A&F. Ouch.
Describing the findings to CNN Money, Forrest Morgeson, ACSI's director of research, said,
Normally, when we see that kind of gap, it's a company so large it has monopoly power, like Walmart of McDonalds. Abercrombie & Fitch is not that, they aren't that large…this can spell serious trouble for the company.
Still, the head honchos at A&F don't seem to be too worried. In a statement, Fran Horowitz, A&F's president and chief merchandising officer, said,
The data we have from our consumers tells us they are positive on our brands, on our new offerings, and on the work we have done to improve the shopping experience. We are confident that we will continue to improve the customer experience over the coming year.
Since it's not entirely clear what consumers dislike about A&F — the prices, the ambience, the merchandise in general — it's safe to say the company has its work cut out for it.
Elite Daily on YouTube
Citations: Abercrombie and Fitch Is The Most Hated Retailer In America (BroBible)
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A walk to explore the less seen side of Santhome on Christmas Eve
Published: Dec 24,201807:54 AM by Arpitha Rao
Madras’ history is so deep that no matter how much digs, the surface barely gets scratched. At a heritage walk set to happen on Christmas Eve, historian Nivedita Louis will explain about a lesser-heard and seen side of the city — Santhome. The aim behind the programme is to help people understand what the festival is all about and how Christians of different denominations celebrate it.
Partnering with Vincent D Souza, the editor of a local newspaper, Nivedita says they chose to concentrate on Santhome because, “It has a high concentration of Christians, is one of the oldest parts of the city and has a lot of connections to the Portuguese. The lives of these people are very interesting,” she begins.
The walk will commence from the museum inside the Santhome Cathedral (assembly point), from where the hosts will go on to explain about the Portuguese residents’ day-to-day living and prayer rituals. “History shows that many of their customs are akin to that of the locals. For example, we can find pillars similar to the Dwajasthambam built in Hindu temples in some of the churches. People also used to take the idol of Virgin Mary out in a procession like they do with Hindu deities,” she explains.
At the crib inside the Santhome Cathedral, Nivedita will speak about how this Nativity scene was started in 1223 by Francis of Assisi. She says, “He is also called patron saint of animals — that’s why we find a lot of animals in the crib such as donkeys, goats and oxen.” The participants will then proceed to St Bede’s School after which, “We’ll go to the Bishop’s House, which was once a bungalow built by De Monte in 1808. In fact, the gate has a creepy story, which I’ll narrate during the walk,” shares the historian.
St. Rita’s Church, CSI St. Thomas English Church, which is 175 years old and CSI St. Thomas Tamil Church will follow. The last stop is Kalpana House, which belonged to a yesteryear actress. The old bungalow currently houses a jewellery store but hidden within its walls is a small shrine built by the actress’ son, containing a 100-year-old statue of Infant Jesus. Another surprise element for the participants will be in store after a visit to this house, which will be revealed during the walk.
To participate in the hour-long Christmas Eve Walk that will start at 7.30 pm, contact 9840170982.
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In evolving world of fashion, salwars are forever
Style guide to recreate boho-chic looks
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Who are your LEAST favorite animated Disney heroines?
[ 325 posts ] Go to page Previous 1 ... 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Next
JeanGreyForever
Post subject: Re: Who are your LEAST favorite animated Disney heroines?
DisneyFan09 wrote:
Well, he was certainly hot as Gaston! He did a fine job, though I agree with those who thinks that Gaston's arc was inconsistent. Gaston has some moments where he comes across as somewhat redeemable, but still becomes villainous at the end. But there has been some theories of making a sequel where he returns.
True, but I don't think Human Again was the worst example of jarring comedy.
Alright, fair enough. Though Disney has still made films with male protagonists during this Revival era. But I wonder if we'll ever see a Disney musical with a male on it, like the Renaissance films.
Fair enough. I didn't mind Tadashi's death, but it still felt a little shoehorned in, due to how death was suddenly seemed as a Disney trope and how that trope was increased in the Renaissance and later on. When in fact death wasn't a big issue in Walt's films, with the exception of Bambi. But because of Bambi, it's been a trope and certainly the loss of a sibling. I can see why people liked Tadashi more, because he was a redeemable older brother and his relationship with Hiro was heartwarming enough.
Were the antiheroes so popular in the nineties?
I know the weakest film of the Renaissance is something of a passionate and subjective debate, due to people considering if Pocahontas, Hunchback or Hercules were the ones who were the weakest of the Renaissance.
To be honest, I'm not crazy about the hand drawn scenes in Mary Poppins Returns. They look awful I hoped that we could see an Enchanted 2, but it's been in delopment hell for years now. But you've probably right. But which franchise do you mean that would see a reboot?
Luke Evans' Gaston actually comes off as not really a bad guy during the first half of the film, which is a huge contrast from the animated Gaston. While he wasn't evil in the beginning of the animated film, he still had some awful traits that basically spelled out to the viewers what he would end up becoming. The live-action version seems actually open to Belle's interest in reading and wants to reach her on her level.
What did you feel was the most egregious examples of jarring comedy in BATB?
With Gigantic cancelled, and films like Frozen 2 and Dragon Empire (not to mention that even WIR2's songs are sung by the female characters), it doesn't look like Disney is interested in a musical with a male lead so far.
Was there really a lot of death in the Renaissance films? Mufasa and Kerchak are the only examples I can think of. And Walt's films nearly had more death since the original plans were to kill off Trusty in Lady and the Tramp and Baloo in The Jungle Book.
Yes, audiences liked their characters to be grittier and darker rather than clean cut heroes like Captain America.
Yeah, Hunchback gets a lot of flack along with Pocahontas and Hercules. They're usually considered the three weakest, especially box office wise although Hercules is really the only one that really didn't do super well. The other two just didn't meet Disney's expectations, regardless of the fact that Pocahontas had the biggest opening ever and Hunchback still did better in foreign countries.
I think Enchanted could potentially get a reboot. Like in a decade or so, they'll realize that it's easier and better to just remake the original film rather than try and make a sequel that follows the development of the original. Not to mention, the actors in Enchanted will have aged but they're supposed to play timeless characters.
DisneyFan09
Well, fate would have it that I would be late once again. Sorry once again, my week has just been crazy.
Luke Evans' Gaston actually comes off as not really a bad guy during the first half of the film, which is a huge contrast from the animated Gaston. While he wasn't evil in the beginning of the animated film, he still had some awful traits that basically spelled out to the viewers what he would end up becoming. The live-action version seems actually open to Belle's interest in reading and wants to
reach her on her level.
Well observed. I guess you could see him as such. It's somewhat a pity that his good traits aren't as developed. Speaking of which, have you heard the theories that he may come back in a sequel?
To be honest, all of the slapstick scenes. Especially the introduction of the Enchanted objects and the climax.
Agreed. But who knows? Perhaps they could be revived again in the future? I remember looking forward to Gigantic and being bummed by it's cancellation.
Was there really a lot of death in the Renaissance films? Mufasa and Kerchak are the only examples I can think of.
Oh yes, there were. Kocoum, Quasimodo's mother, General Li (Shang's father), Tarzan's parents, Kala's child (well, if you count them, I realized that Tarzan had plenty of deaths). I also assumed that Gazeem (the thief in Aladdin who enters The Cave of Wonders) died in the Cave. The death trope was even more prominent in the Dark Age films, in Atlantis, Treasure Planet and Brother Bear.
And Walt's films nearly had more death since the original plans were to kill off Trusty in Lady and the Tramp and Baloo in The Jungle Book.
I know about Trusty's Death, but I didn't know about Baloo. But I don't think Baloo's death would've worked, due to him being a mayor, comedic character.
Yeah, regardless of Pocahontas reputation, at least it had a record opening. It wasn't a flop, though it was seen as a dissapointment due to it grossing less. But regardless of it's fanbase, we could assume that one reason of it's success, was due to it riding on the successes of it's predecessors. I'm not saying that it's the only reason for it's success, but it's a mayor factor.
Could be. But I hope that we'll get hand drawn animation with it. I know there were some animation experts who weren't that keen on the animation in Enchanted, which I disagree. Perhaps some scenes, but the overall animation was good. Though Giselle may be the skinniest Disney Princess ever.
Have you noticed that Giselle is the second in the line of strawberry red Princesses? Despite that I thought that she resembled Ariel a bit. And did you know that Tangled was supposed to be more meta, in the vein of Enchanted? Funny how Tangled and Enchanted shares similar components.
That's perfectly all right! As I said before, there's no need to apologize especially during the holiday/end of term season.
Yeah, I've heard that if there was another BATB movie, Luke Evans could be back. Since I enjoyed his role, I'd be pleased with him. Rather see him than Emma Watson or Ewan McGregor.
I never felt that the introduction of the enchanted objects was really very slapstick but I can see your point. It just doesn't come off as jarring to me.. I agree with the climax scene though although it doesn't really bother me there either.
Lol, I was ecstatic when Gigantic was cancelled because I hated the project from its inception especially after the Lopezes retooled it.
Lol, I forgot about Kocoum. The other characters I didn't think were really major enough but you're right, they do all die and contribute to the death and gloom in these movies. Mulan kills off all those huns in the avalanche as well, not to mention all of the General's troops and that village with the little girl's doll. As for death in the 2000s films, Lilo & Stitch would count too with Lilo's parents. Not to mention, Pudge the fish was originally supposed to die as well.
I'm glad that neither Trusty or Baloo were killed off. I don't think either film really needed that. It would have come across as gratuitous to me, like trying to top the death of Bambi's mother. Thumper, if I'm correct, was meant to die as well in Bambi.
I do agree that Pocahontas did especially as well as it did because it came on the tails of the early Disney Renaissance films.
I actually am not the biggest fan of the animation in Enchanted either. The character's faces were really sharp and angular for my taste, mainly Giselle, Edward, and Narissa. The animation felt somewhat cheap at least for a big-budget Disney film although I liked the backgrounds and the art nouveau style.
Yes, I always felt that Giselle in her wedding dress was meant to hearken back to a similarly red-headed Cinderella in her silver ballgown. The hair color was based off of Cinderella (or Ariel but toned down), the angular features came from Aurora, and the overall look came from Ariel such as the hair style and eyes.
Yeah, I wasn't a fan of the original idea for Tangled (Rapunzel Unbraided). It worked in Enchanted because they used generic fairy tale tropes but I didn't want to see an actual fairy tale, in this case Rapunzel, be used like that. Then again, I might have preferred that over Tangled.
JeanGreyForever wrote:
Sure, but I still could apologize
Wonder if Disney is ever going to pull a sequel off. You didn't like McGregor either?
True, but Hunchback gets most criticized for the slapstick than BATB does, especially in the climax.
True, but I still wouldn't mind if the project was revived again.
I was going to mention Lilo's parents! But I didn't due to obvious reasons! Despite that they're already dead from the get-go, at least Lilo & Stitch deals with death, despite how none of the characters actually dies on screen. But to be honest, I didn't like how the film dealt with it, since it's never elaborated what actually happened to the parents until late in the movie (which was an intentional choice from the directors, according to the Audio Commentary, but still). As for the death-trope, of course we saw other deaths in Disney prior to the Renaissance, but I've noticed that death was something that increased after The Lion King.
I don't think it was never meant to actually top Bambi's mom, but at least include a death scene. However, I'm just pondering . I think I've read somewhere that Thumper was supposed to die. But I think it would've been jarring to have it. You've gotta admit that it was a pretty darn bold move to kill off Ray from The Princess and the Frog, since a sidekick rarely dies in Disney. But at least his death was somewhat justified. It was probably the first major death in a Musker and Clements movie, which they repeated with Moana (but at least both death scenes were kinda uplifting).
But speaking of which, at least Chief's death would've reasonate if they made it, due to it being a plot device.
True, but we could always assume that Pocahontas was a genuine hit due to it's mere quality. Perhaps people liked the movie for what it was. I know that some people blame the unhappy ending for not drawing a bigger crowd, but there are plenty who genuniely loves the ending. Even some people considers it to be superior to Hunchback.
Speaking of which, have you noticed that there's a feud between Pocahontas and Hunchback fans?
To be honest, I thought Giselle and Edward rather had a Warner Bros-esque look to them. Especially Edward. I'm not saying that they didn't look Disney-esque at all, but they did look Warner Bros-esque. At least Narissa looked rather Disney-esque. And frankly, I thought that she had the best design and was animated the best. I agree that some of the animation did felt cheap, but not as cheap as it could've been.
Btw, what made Enchanted even more of a spoof, is how the animals talked and how they commented on Giselle's crush. Yes, there have been couple of movies where the animal sidekicks have actually spoken (Enchanted and Mermaid), but otherwise the fairy tale movies had the animal sidekicks being naturalistic and "mute".
I agree that Giselle resembles Ariel the most, especially in the hairbrush scene (yes, I know it's a shallow comparison, but still). At least Anna doesn't resemble Giselle a bit
True. But remarkably enough, Tangled and Enchanted shares several similar components (a non-specific fairy tale settings in the woods, a fair heroine with similar color schemes, a brunette male, a female villain, a horse). And both features music from Alan Menken, hahaha! I know these comparisons are shallow, but still .
Just wondering, since you tend to like dramas more than comedies, how come that Mermaid is your favorite movie?
True, but I still wouldn't mind if the project (Gigantic) was revived again.
Maybe when they run out of their main classics to remake, Disney might turn to making sequels for them like BATB. I don't like McGregor in general but his Lumiere was really awful. It shocks me that he was married to a French woman and has French speaking kids because his accent was atrocious. He lacks even an iota of the charm that the original Lumiere had.
I wouldn't mind the slapstick in Hunchback so much if the gargoyles weren't so anachronistic. And Hugo is just really gross in general.
I would like the film to be revived if it would become a more traditional take on Jack and the Beanstalk but that's highly unlikely. After the huge write-off Disney took to scrap this film, I doubt they'd bring it back though which is probably for the best.
I never really had an issue with the cause of Lilo's parents' death not being given until the end of the film but maybe that was in part because I always thought Nani was Lilo's mother the first time I watched the film lol. Which is everything the directors didn't want to have happen. I think the reason death increased so much was in part because of the source materials. Tarzan is a jungle film like The Lion King so it makes sense that both films involve death. Mulan is a war movie. The 2000s films were meant to be action-adventure films that were more itty-gritty like Atlantis and Treasure Planet.
Technically Meg dies in Hercules although she comes back. I'd say the first major death in a Musker and Clements film was Mr. Arrow in Treasure Planet, but sadly nobody remembers that movie let alone that character. I feel like the main reason Ray was killed off was because they wanted him to be reunited with Evangeline and they couldn't figure out a way to do that without killing him.
I agree that Chief really needed to die. His survival basically spoils the whole movie.
Actually, I usually hear people prefer Hunchback to Pocahontas. They say that Hunchback took more risks while Pocahontas was more interested in being politically correct. I think the Rotten Tomatoes score for Pocahontas makes it the only Renaissance film to be deemed rotten. I've never felt that there was a feud between Pocahontas and Hunchback fans. Maybe because their fandoms aren't as big as say The Little Mermaid/BATB or Tangled/Frozen's, but while there are some people who prefer one over the other, generally somebody who likes one tends to like the other since both are dramatic and serious musicals.
Narissa was designed by Andreas Deja so it's not a surprise that she was the best animated. I think the issue was that since these animated characters had to resemble their live-action counterparts, they were more caricaturized.
I guess out of the classic fairy tale/princess films, Cinderella was the only one with some talking animals, mainly the mice. Otherwise, the birds, Bruno, Major, Lucifer, etc. couldn't talk. So really only the mice could speak out of all the animals in the film. The Little Mermaid only has the sea creatures (plus Scuttle) being able to talk. Aladdin has Iago who makes sense since he's a parrot and to an extent, Abu. I think the forest animals in Enchanted were more based off of Bambi though hence why they could talk, even though in Bambi, this only occurs because it's a naturalistic setting.
Lol, the only comparison between Giselle and Anna might be a somewhat similar hair color.
A lot of the Enchanted and Tangled comparisons though could include other fairy tale films as well though. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty have non-specific fairy tale settings in the woods (Sleeping Beauty especially mashes up various countries together). All princesses except Jasmine where fair in skin tone, and then only Belle and Snow White were dark haired, otherwise Cinderella, Aurora, and Ariel have red or blonde hair. All the princes in these films are brunette except for Belle's prince (although his fur is brown if that counts). Female villains were part of Walt's classic three plus TLM. Horses feature prominently in Walt's classic three plus BATB. Tangled was based off a Grimm fairy tale so it makes sense that it follows closely with the other "Grimm" fairy tales, namely Walt's classic three. And Enchanted was always meant to be a tribute to those films so that's why Tangled feels similar to Enchanted in some respects, because both are riffing off of the same material.
The Little Mermaid has comedic moments sure, but I'd classify it as a musical drama. While Musker and Clements tend to have more comedy in their films, this isn't really as apparent in their early films like The Great Mouse Detective and The Little Mermaid, probably because of their 80s settings. Aladdin is the most comical of the classic princess/fairy tale films and that's really just in the Genie's scenes (Iago's too to an extent). Actually, the Genie's scenes used to be my least favorite in Aladdin because of that although I can much more appreciate the pop culture references now. And Aladdin at least mixes the comedy well with the drama, unlike Hercules which feels way too bloated with the pop culture references.
OK. I didn't thought he was that bad, but he was mostly in CGI form, anyways I'm neutral when it comes to McGregor, yet he's not as charismatic to make himself distinctive as an actor, nor is his acting that special.
I never really had an issue with the cause of Lilo's parents' death not being given until the end of the film but maybe that was in part because I always thought Nani was Lilo's mother the first time I watched the film lol. Which is everything the directors didn't want to have happen.
I knew about Nani being Lilo's sister, but she could've easily been mistaken for Lilo's mother, since there's such an obvious age difference between them (and yes, the directors talks about this in the Audio Commentary for the film)
I think the reason death increased so much was in part because of the source materials. Tarzan is a jungle film like The Lion King so it makes sense that both films involve death.
Fair enough, but remember that The Jungle Book was a jungle film without any death. Though it was meant to be lighthearted from the get-go. At least Tarzan had several deaths for a Disney movie, despite it being overall quite lighthearted in tone.
So you consider The Lion King to be a jungle movie? Or have we discussed it before?
Mulan is a war movie.
I know there was some slight controversy about the dead army scene, but not so much.
I know that Meg technically dies, but she gets revived again, so I never took it under consideration You're right about Mr. Arrow, I had forgotten about him! I know there were some decisions about not killing Ray, until coming up with the neat solucion they came up with. Btw, I know some people found Ray's death to be contrived.
What's even more remarkable is how Amos Slade treats Chief afterwards. He scolds him and threatens him back to his room and neither him or Copper seems appreciative that he actually is alive.
True, but I've noticed that there's a slight feud between Pocahontas and Hunchback fans, despite that both could've been perceived as similar, due to both being serious in tone and being claimed for tarnish the Renaissance (but of course there's always someones who loves both, as I do). I know that Hunchback has better ratings, but looking closer, Pocahontas has more of a fanbase. Yet though Hunchback is known for taking more risk, let's remember that Pocahontas took it's own risks as well.
One thing really that both have in common, is that both are labeled for being serious. Yet Hunchback is more overtly comedic than Pocahontas, despite it's dark tone. Yet I've noticed for all the flack Pocahontas gets for not having humor, it's few wisecracks never gets as much credit as it should've. It's not that it lacks wisecraks entirely.
Oh, I could definitively sense the Andreas Deja-vibe in Narissa, even before I researched that she animated her. She had a Deja-esque design to her. Speaking of which, did you know that Deja didn't wanted to be just typecasted for animating villains and wanted to animate heroes as well? According to one of the featurettes for 2011's Winnie the Pooh, he wanted to animate Esmeralda, but she was already taken to Tony Fucile.
I guess out of the classic fairy tale/princess films, Cinderella was the only one with some talking animals, mainly the mice. Otherwise, the birds, Bruno, Major, Lucifer, etc. couldn't talk. So really only the mice could speak out of all the animals in the film. The Little Mermaid only has the sea creatures (plus Scuttle) being able to talk.
True, but at least all of Ariel's animal friends in Mermaid talked.
I think the forest animals in Enchanted were more based off of Bambi though hence why they could talk, even though in Bambi, this only occurs because it's a naturalistic setting.
Fair enough, but since Enchanted was a fairy tale movie, I just assumed that it was stereotyping the notion of a Princess having talking animals.
True and they don't look nothing alike, except for their personalities (though Anna is more goofier). However, both their movies has Idina Menzel in one of their roles and the latter gave Idina more of a position in the Disney legacy. I know there were some fans that whined that Nancy never got to sing in Enchanted.
True that all of the fairy tale films shares those similarities, but since Enchanted and Tangled were released so closely, I thought those comparisons were relevant enough. Because their common components are overt and obvious
The Little Mermaid has comedic moments sure, but I'd classify it as a musical drama. While Musker and Clements tend to have more comedy in their films, this isn't really as apparent in their early films like The Great Mouse Detective and The Little Mermaid, probably because of their 80s settings.
That's interesting, because I've never classified Mermaid as a drama, despite that it has elements of it. I thought Mermaid is pretty much non-dramatic and is a lighthearted fairy tale. But each to their own.
Aladdin is the most comical of the classic princess/fairy tale films and that's really just in the Genie's scenes (Iago's too to an extent).
True, but Aladdin is mostly a fairy tale movie without being a "Princess movie". A rarity in the Disney canon, since most of the fairy tale movies have actually been about the Princesses, which makes Aladdin unique. As for the comedy, I think there's enough slapstick in the market place scenes, but most people tend to say that both Genie and Iago are the only comic parts of Aladdin.
And Aladdin at least mixes the comedy well with the drama, unlike Hercules which feels way too bloated with the pop culture references.
To be honest, I've never thought that Hercules did a well job with mixing comedy and drama. None of the tones felt cohesive. Not to mention that Hercules mostly drops the comedy at the end of the film.
So you've seen Ralph Breaks the Internet, huh? I'm surprised that it got so many rave reviews. Btw, I agree that Irene Bedard sounds nothing like Pocahontas in this movie. Her voice is highly altered.
I think Ewan McGregor came off as worse since he was paired with a legend like Ian McKellen. There's simply no comparison between the two.
Yeah, I remember the directors said that they purposefully kept mentioning that Nani and Lilo are sisters in the beginning of the movie because people kept thinking she was Lilo's mother in test screenings. Clearly didn't work for me though lol.
Jungle Book was always more of a musical comedy than it was dark and dramatic since Walt scrapped the more book-accurate script for not being fun enough. Tarzan, like The Lion King, has its fair share of drama and comedy and it's way more heartfelt with Tarzan's emotional journey than The Jungle Book ever was with Mowgli.
For all intents and purposes, The Lion King is a jungle movie even if it isn't set in the jungle. After all, the original title was King of the Jungle.
Interestingly enough, one of the original plans for Mulan II was that Shan Yu's army would come back as ghosts and battle Mulan's ancestors in an epic battle.
Ray's death came as a surprise to me but since I wasn't a fan of him, I really didn't feel anything.
The Fox and the Hound really doesn't work if Chief is kept alive. It's possible the film would be regarded as more of a classic had it not been meddled with.
I guess there is a slight rivalry between the Pocahontas and Hunchback fandoms, even if I haven't myself seen it. I think the Pocahontas humor gets somewhat sidelined because it mostly focuses on Meeko and Percy who are treated as the subplot. Meanwhile, the gargoyles are always with Quasi so they are treated as part of the main plot.
Yeah, I'm definitely curious as to what Andreas Deja's Esmeralda would have been like although I love the final product so I'm not sure I would have wanted Tony Fucile's work scrapped. It would have been nice for Deja to animate the heroine for once, unless you count Lilo even though she's a child. Otherwise, he's done villains, he's done the hero (Hercules), and even supporting sidekicks (Tigger in Winnie the Pooh I think), but never the leading heroine.
Ariel's friends talking makes sense though since they're fish and Ariel is half-fish so it follows that they would be able to communicate. In contrast, Cinderella isn't half-bird which is why the birds can't speak to her.
I didn't even know who Idina was when I first saw Enchanted so it never really bothered me that she wasn't given a role to sing. To be honest, I didn't remember much of the character because later I watched Rent, and I never connected Idina there to Nancy in Enchanted.
Another comparison between Enchanted and Tangled is that both feature Alan Menken's music, although I much prefer his work in Enchanted.
Pinocchio could also count as a fairy tale film that isn't a princess film.
You're right that the ending of Hercules loses a lot of the comedy that defines the rest of the film. Funny how films like BATB and Hunchback featured a lot of comedy in their finales but Hercules doesn't.
Unfortunately, I did watch WIR2. I'm also surprised with how the reviews have been raving about the film, because it's a really weak installment. I'm not sure if Irene Bedard's voice has just aged over the years, like Paige O'Hara's, or if Disney modified her voice. Even the cadence feels off, nothing like the original Pocahontas.
True, but I think that The Jungle Book has it's share of heart and pensive moments. It's remarkable how the movie is labeled for being purely happy-go-lucky (which is fair enough, since it might be the most of happy-go-lucky of Walt's features). But it does have a couple of pensive and serious moments, drama and heart. Though of course I agree that Tarzan is more dramatic and emotional, despite that it's overall light hearted. But at least Tarzan is labeled for it's heart, which really sets it a part.
True. And it does takes place in a jungle, after all and it takes a lot of cues from The Jungle Book, deliberately. Wonder if there's going to be another jungle film from Disney that walks in those shoes.
Really?? That would've at least be more interesting than the lame premise we got.
I wasn't a fan of Ray either, but his death was sad enough. But it's a pity that we didn't got to know his firefly friends more, since they seemed more appealing.
Could've been. I know test audiences pleaded to kill him off.
I've seen some of it, but not much. But you're right. Yet Meeko and Percy's subplot has a purpose, since it's meant to mirror the main conflict.
Yeah, I'm definitely curious as to what Andreas Deja's Esmeralda would have been like although I love the final product so I'm not sure I would have wanted Tony Fucile's work scrapped. It would have been nice for Deja to animate the heroine for once, unless you count Lilo even though she's a child.
It would've definitively been interesting to see him pull off a grown heroine. But yeah, Lilo does count and it shows his versatility. It's a pity that he couldn't do more.
Otherwise, he's done villains, he's done the hero (Hercules), and even supporting sidekicks (Tigger in Winnie the Pooh I think), but never the leading heroine.
He did Mama Odie in TPATF and King Triton. I remember that when I learned that he did three villains in a row (by seing the Making of The Lion King documentary in my childhood), I was curious if he actually had animated Ursula or McLeach as well. But at least it's good for him to step out of his confort zone.
Fair enough, it makes perfect sense. But apparently the humans and the animals can understand each other in this world, since Eric understands when Sebastian whispers Ariel's name. Btw, speaking of Ariel being half fish, do you remember the Metal Fish-episode where she actually confronts Triton about being half-human? I thought it was a suitable comment that was an eye-opener for Triton.
I didn't knew who she was either prior to Enchanted, but she's been prominent ever since. But at least she got to play a role that was more her. Besides, fans were ranting about her deleted song, due to her voice, which she really proved in Frozen.
To be honest, I thought his work in Enchanted was passable, but not outstanding. I liked That's How You Know. However, the score had Menken's signature cues and way of doing it. And I've always thought the melody for So Close seemed derivative and familiar, despite that I have nothing against the song.
True, but I know that some naysayers would say otherwise.
True, but to be fair, it does have some comedy in the fight at Mount Olympus. And some at the very end, despite that the comedy is not as prominent in the last part of the film.
Agreed. Perhaps her voice has aged, but she sounded almost nothing like the original Pocahontas.
Speaking of which, what did you think of A Place Called Slaughter Race-song?
I feel like most of the pathos is glossed over in The Jungle Book though. For example, Mowgli leaves his family of wolves that he was raised by and we barely get a good-bye from him. He's more upset about leaving the jungle than he is from leaving the wolves who I don't think he ever references ever again. The wolves are so minimal in the film that I used to not remember them at all and assumed that Bagheera was the one who raised him. The live-action film definitely fixed this. The only really emotional scenes in the animated version I can think of are when Baloo realizes he has to tell Mowgli to go back to the man village and again when Baloo is believed to be dead.
Another jungle film would have to follow some pretty stiff competition.
I agree about the original plans for Mulan II and the spirit storyline would fit with that recent Mulan book which has her travel to the Underworld.
Ray's family and friends probably seemed more appealing because they barely had any screentime. I'm sure they'd be as bad as him or almost as bad (besides the Evangeline delusions) if we got to see more of them.
I didn't realize that test audiences all were in favor of Chief dying. I also figured the opposite would have occurred, hence Disney's decision. That's a really interesting tidbit of information to hear!
Mama Odie was originally supposed to have a bigger role in TPATF which probably explains why Deja got the character. Otherwise, her role is super limited in the final film which doesn't reflect the major characters he usually works on.
I think Eric's understanding of Sebastian is because he can live on both land and sea. Which is also why Sebastian actually lived in the human world beforehand. I'm curious if Eric could understand Flounder or even Scuttle for that matter. I can't remember if they ever talk to him in TLMII. Scuttle might have, but Flounder's role was pretty limited there. I do remember the episode Metal Fish but I don't remember that line of Ariel's. I'm glad they included that though since it's a very valid point.
I always wished that the deleted song from Enchanted was included on the DVD/Blu-Ray especially since Menken mentioned that it would be. Sadly, it never was. Neither was Queen Narissa's deleted song although the lyrics for that were released online at least which is more than what I can say about Nancy and Edward's song.
Enchanted is Menken's best work imo since the Disney Renaissance. That and his Sindbad song for the Tokyo ride. For me, Tangled was mediocre and to answer your later question about Vanellope's song in WIR2, I really was not a fan. I mentioned my take on it in the actual WIR2 thread, but to reiterate here, I thought the melody was derivative of True Love's Kiss, and the lyrics weren't that great. I blame that more on the fact that he was constrained by the Slaughter Race setting. Also the song just doesn't sound good but that I blame on Sarah Silverman's singing.
That's true, there is some comedy in the climax for Hercules although it's pretty minimal, which is saying something for this movie. And as a result, it doesn't feel that out of place. The ending with Meg's death and Hercules journeying to the Underworld to save her spirit by sacrificing himself in a deal with Hades is one of the highlights of the film, probably because the dramatic aspects of the film are underscored rather than the comedy for once.
Well, I know that you've always said that I shouldn't apologize for my late replies, but I'm a decent goodie-two shoes, so I'll apologize, anyways
Fair enough. I'm not saying that there's plenty of pathos in The Jungle Book, but it does have a couple of pensive and mellow moments. More than it's given credit for, actually. Though it's rightfully labeled for being Walt's most happy-go-lucky film, it's not that it's full of glee all the time.
In my adult years I've pondered about the lack of screentime from the wolves and how Mowgli never brings them up again (though it's mentioned in the Junior Novelization of the film that he missed them). But I blame the bad writing for it.
And you're right about the live action remake fixing this, since Mowgli's was practically facing the issues of being a wolf or a man. Yet for all the lack of pathos of The Jungle Book, at least Baloo and Mowgli's relationship is heartfelt and genuine.
What do you mean by that?
Could be. I just found them to be appealing in their short presentation. Which made me feel for them when Ray's death finally came.
Though her role is limited, it's not as it's as limited as it could've been. I think that her screentime is fair, but to be honest, I never thought that she was that appealing. She certainly fills the archetype of being a grandmotherly figure, though she would've been comparble to The Good Fairy in Cinderella. But I find her to be more comparable to the likes of Grandmother Willow, Grandmother Fa from Mulan, Tanana from Brother Bear. And now recently Gramma Tala from Moana. Though Mama Odie was meant to be a fairy godmother, her characterization is more in tune with the other aforementioned older ladies.
I think Eric's understanding of Sebastian is because he can live on both land and sea. Which is also why Sebastian actually lived in the human world beforehand. I'm curious if Eric could understand Flounder or even Scuttle for that matter.
Of course it's debatable, but remember that Ariel tells Scuttle to shut up when he approaches her in the ship, when she's looking at the humans. This has been debated from fans and even by The Three Commentears.
I can't remember if they ever talk to him in TLMII. Scuttle might have, but Flounder's role was pretty limited there.
What all even more remarkable is how Flounder is essentially grown up in the sequel and even a father, without having a mate
I do remember the episode Metal Fish but I don't remember that line of Ariel's. I'm glad they included that though since it's a very valid point.
True, but frankly that point would've been relevant for the movie. It would've been a epiphany for Triton.
I wished those scenes were included, too. But I didn't know about Narissa's deleted song. But the bonus features of Enchanted were pretty sparse, anyways.
Enchanted is Menken's best work imo since the Disney Renaissance. That and his Sindbad song for the Tokyo ride.
Oh, I never heard that one. I know that Menken made a song for The Snow Queen ride, though, if I'm not mistaking. But I've never heard that one either.
And to answer your later question about Vanellope's song in WIR2, I really was not a fan. I mentioned my take on it in the actual WIR2 thread, but to reiterate here, I thought the melody was derivative of True Love's Kiss, and the lyrics weren't that great. I blame that more on the fact that he was constrained by the Slaughter Race setting. Also the song just doesn't sound good but that I blame on Sarah Silverman's singing.
OK. I wasn't to keen on the song, either. It wasn't bad, it just could've been done better. It had Menken's significant sound, but otherwise it wasn't great.
True. But Hercules has several moments like that, in my opinion.
Lol, that's all right. I know the beginning of winter is always a very busy time of the year for most.
Yeah, you're right, there are several emotional moments in the animated Jungle Book, mainly the moments dealing with Mowgli and Baloo as you said. I haven't read the junior novelization of this film but I'm glad to hear that Mowgli does mention his wolf family there.
When I said that another jungle follow would have to follow some stiff competition, I meant that since The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and Tarzan are so highly regarded, if Disney ever did make a new jungle animated film, it would have a lot to measure up to.
I'm glad somebody liked the fireflies in TPATF because I really didn't like any of them. Maybe if we had seen the ohters with greater screentime I wouldn't have found them to be as insufferable as Ray was.
Good point that Mama Odie was always meant to be like Cinderella's fairy godmother so her role was always somewhat limited. I just didn't care for how the whole plotline of the film is to visit her and then they arrive for like five minutes and are told that they have everything they already need. It felt too Wizard of Oz-like and at least in Oz, they have multiple meetings with the Wizard. He doesn't tell them this truth about themselves until the very end and after they've vanquished the witch. In TPATF, pretty much as soon as they meet Mama Odie they're told that she can't help them and that's the end of her role.
I never thought about the Scuttle scene where Ariel tells him to shut up. However, it's possible that the humans would just have heard him squawking. Even if they couldn't understand him, they'd hear him and thus their attention would be diverted to him and then Ariel by extension.
I'm assuming Flounder did have a wife in TLMII but we just didn't see her. There's enough female versions of him in the books and comics that you could imagine one of them was Flounder's wife.
You're right that they should have mentioned in TLM movie that merpeople are half-human so Triton comes off as especially bigoted.
Yeah I wish Enchanted had more bonus features. At least some sort of art book or making of book.
The Snow Queen song that Menken wrote for the scrapped stage show is Love Can't Be Denied. The Sindbad one is called Compass of Your Heart.
I'm hoping Menken will get some better material in the future to work with than WIR2.
I guess Phil has some emotional moments in Hercules but I was never too fond of him. He seemed like a raunchy little goat man.
I know, right? What's even more remarkable is how the wolves don't appear in the sequel and nor are they mentioned.
True. But I wonder if we'll ever get another jungle film that will follow in those footsteps. In the Audio Commentary for Tarzan this is mentioned, that the creators had to measure up a movie that would be good enough to fill in those footsteps.
Yet for the huge fanbase Tarzan has, it's still been regarded as being underrated compared to The Jungle Book and The Lion King for some reason. I realize that I have a certain soft spot for Walt's The Jungle Book, despite it's faults. It may be nostalgia, but still.
Good point that Mama Odie was always meant to be like Cinderella's fairy godmother so her role was always somewhat limited.
I just didn't care for how the whole plotline of the film is to visit her and then they arrive for like five minutes and are told that they have everyhing they already need. It felt too Wizard of Oz-like and at least in Oz, they have multiple meetings with the Wizard. He doesn't tell them this truth about themselves until the very end and after they've vanquished the witch. In TPATF, pretty much as soon as they meet Mama Odie they're told that she can't help them and that's the end of her role.
Funny how you mentioned that, because I've heard reviews about the structure of TPATF being reminiscent of Wizard of Oz, which I can see.
Perhaps they wanted to precede Finding Nemo by having a fatherly fish figure? Just kidding
Me too. It's truly a pity, since it was the return for hand drawn, after all. But Enchanted had very little merchandise, to be honest. Perhaps the sequel will have an art of-book?
OK. Have you heard the new songs that Menken made for the Tangled show?
Me too. Now that Lasseter is finally gone, perhaps he'll get more work in the future? It makes perfect sense why he was in Enchanted, due to how Lasseter had no autority over the live action department. But remarkably enough, he did have an input on Disney's live action remakes, which was proven in the live action remake of The Jungle Book.
Just wondering, do you like Kingdom Hearts?
I know many people don't like him, but I had nothing against him. He was likable enough for me. Perhaps it was Danny DeVito's work that made him off-putting to some?
Btw, recently I bought the Art of-book for Ralph Breaks the Internet and it was utterly dissapointing. What's even more annoying that the writing is structured like a Facebook-chat. I mean, it's fine to structure it after social medias and Internet, but still. It made me want to groan.
What do you think of the Lizzie McGuire reboot?
The funny thing is that I've seen the Jungle Book sequel so many times but I never even noticed that the wolves are never mentioned. Probably because their role is so minuscule even in the first one.
Yeah, Tarzan seems to be forgotten these days. Even though the film was the biggest hit since BATB and before Tangled. Plus it was the last Disney film to win the Oscar for Best Song until Frozen. The soundtrack was probably the last really popular Disney soundtrack until Frozen (or maybe Tangled or Enchanted). Maybe it's because Tarzan is such an iconic character in general, whether its films, books, comics, etc. that the Disney version just wasn't able to supplant the public consciousness's main version of him. I think the fact that "boy" merchandise didn't sell very well also made Disney less likely to market films like Hercules and Tarzan since they didn't have the benefit of being a Walt-classic, a Disney Princess film, or The Lion King. Finally, Disney losing the rights to Tarzan meant they couldn't even acknowledge the film for the most part anymore.
I've never read anything about comparisons between TPATF and The Wizard of Oz's general structure. The only thing that comes to mind is what I mentioned with Mama Odie telling the characters that they already had what they needed.
Lol, if only makers of The Little Mermaid II were as invested in the quality of the film to be prescient enough to foreshadow Finding Nemo.
Yeah, I remember that Enchanted didn't get very much merchandise either. I'm curious as to why since it was meant to be the first DP film added to the franchise and TPATF (which actually did end up being the first DP film added to the franchise) got tons of merchandise. I remember seeing a lot for TPATF but very little for Tangled. Maybe the Amy Adams likeness stuff made them decide to limit merchandise. It's also possible that since this was the first return to the classic Disney formula, Disney was still wary about how the film would be received so to be cautious, they didn't bother making as much merchandise.
I've heard of the new Menken songs for the Tangled show but I haven't actually bothered to listen to them. I heard the songs were just ok but nothing really great and not memorable. Since I don't like the movie and don't even like the movie's songs, I didn't see the point in listening to them.
Wait, who had input in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book? Are you referring to Menken or Lasseter (I'm assuming Lasseter)? What did he contribute to the film?
I've never played the Kingdom Hearts games but I've seen stuff from the franchise. I love the idea of journeying to the different worlds of the Disney movies and interacting with the story. I might be interested in Kingdom Hearts 3 but most of the films are from the Revival era which I don't care much for. And even the returning classics don't pique my interest much since I'm not that big a Hercules fan.
I don't mind Danny DeVito although he's not my favorite either. I think that's my take on Phil as well. I don't hate him but I can't bring myself to care too much about him either.
I'm sorry to hear that you were disappointed with the WIR2 art book, but I can't say I'm surprised. Lol, the structure of the book sounds awful, being based off of Facebook chats and all. I knew the movie would not age well but it's a new low when even the art book will be outdated in a few years or so.
Lizzie McGuire was never my fav Disney show but I always loved the movie. So I'm excited to hear about the reboot! My first thought was that this means that reboots for Hannah Montana, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Wizards of Waverly Place are imminent too. I wish Phil of the Future and Sonny With a Chance were better remembered but they're not viewed as classics the way the other shows I mentioned are. A pity, since I always loved Aly and AJ and even though Demi's best Disney role was Camp Rock, I loved Sonny With a Chance as well because of her. Especially her chemistry with Sterling Knight who sort of disappeared after that.
Really? Why have you seen that movie so many times?
I don't know if I've said this before, but one of the redeeamble things about the sequel is it's storyline. Unlike the first movie, the story is better crafted and actually gives more weight and depth to Mowgli's dilemma in a reasonant way.
Yeah, Tarzan seems to be forgotten these days. Even though the film was the biggest hit since BATB and before Tangled. Plus it was the last Disney film to win the Oscar for Best Song until Frozen. The soundtrack was probably the last really popular Disney soundtrack until Frozen (or maybe Tangled or Enchanted).
I never felt that Tarzan was as forgotten as some people wants it to be. But as you've said, it's gotten the underrated-staple. But to nitpick a little (sorry for doing so), it was the most successful film since The Lion King (which is a synergy, for all the similarites it has with TLK). And as for the soundtrack comparisons, the general public seems to act like Pocahontas was the last successful Disney movie before Frozen,
Maybe it's because Tarzan is such an iconic character in general, whether its films, books, comics, etc. that the Disney version just wasn't able to supplant the public consciousness's main version of him. I think the fact that "boy" merchandise didn't sell very well also made Disney less likely to market films like Hercules and Tarzan since they didn't have the benefit of being a Walt-classic, a Disney Princess film, or The Lion King. Finally, Disney losing the rights to Tarzan meant they couldn't even acknowledge the film for the most part anymore.
Most likely. But where's your sources for Disney losing the rights to it?
Probably, but also due to that Enchanted was mostly a live action property, anyways. Could be, I dunno. I know about the Amy Adams-likeness, but I still found it odd, because the animated Giselle still looks distinctive enough to actually not be strikingly reminiscent of Amy Adams. But at least there were some dolls released of Giselle (but oddly enough, not of Prince Edward) and they were fine.
Yeah, I think TPATF got more merchandise than Tangled, but frankly it's not as Tangled got very little merchandise, either. Since Rapunzel has been ingrained in the Princess franchise, her movie has gotten more merchandise ever since.
I've heard them and I didn't went gaga for them, either. They were forgettable and generic, though the tavern song, When She Returns, is more listenable and gettable than the rest. At least the first song writtens fits the folk-esque vibe Menken wanted with the soundtrack from the get-go.
As you assumed, it was Lasseter. Or though he's not solely credited, at least Pixar got credit for helping out.
I've never played the Kingdom Hearts games either, but I knew about them and seen clips from them on YouTube. At least it's a neat fanfiction and something that doesn't insult Disney or tarnishes it. Yet, just like you, I'm dissapointed by the Revival era and the Pixar pantheon getting that much exposure, instead of certain movies that were designed to have their entry (*cough, The Jungle Book, cough*). Of course Pixar is a part of Disney's pantheon, but still. It's remarkable that Pocahontas hasn't been included, but perhaps Disney don't consider her movie to have that much of an appeal to the Kingdom Hearts games.
The funny thing is that 1997 was my first real exposure to Danny DeVito. I probably saw him before it, but 1997 was the year that I saw Roald Dahl's Matilda and a friend of mine (at the time) told me that Matilda's dad was playing Phil.
Thanks. The structure makes the book cringe-worthy and frankly less readable. The aging question of this movie has been debated. But despite that Disney had the unwritten norm of being timeless, it's not as Disney has always sticks to that rule, either (*cough, Aladdin, cough*)
Lizzie McGuire was never my fav Disney show but I always loved the movie. So I'm excited to hear about the reboot!
I was a teenager when Lizzie McGuire came out, so I was sort-of in the right age group when the show came out (though the wrong gender ). I was sort of into celebrities, so I have a nostalgic viewpoint on Lizzie McGuire and Hilary Duff (and yes, I thought she was hot). The show was cute enough, despite that it was not as great as I remember it, but it was good and entertaining enough. But there's a certain purism towards the older Disney Channel than compared to what came afterwards, since the Lizzie-era is regarded as being acceptable to like, whereas the following era being perceived as otherwise.
As for the movie, I remember that my mom wanted to see it theatrically before I even saw the series (which is the reason we didn't see it theatrically and she didn't want to see it in other formats, hahaha). When I first rented it, I thought it was generic and forgettable, but later viewings has made me to appreciate the movie even more and not only for nostalgic reasons. It made me realize that it's cute and endearing. And I like the fact that Paolo is not just a goodie-goodie, but actually has a hidden agenda, which makes the movie more realistic than being just a generic, squeaky-clean romance.
My first thought was that this means that reboots for Hannah Montana, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Wizards of Waverly Place are imminent too. I wish Phil of the Future and Sonny With a Chance were better remembered but they're not viewed as classics the way the other shows I mentioned are. A pity, since I always loved Aly and AJ and even though Demi's best Disney role was Camp Rock, I loved Sonny With a Chance as well because of her. Especially her chemistry with Sterling Knight who sort of disappeared after that.
There was actually a time where the Disney Channel shows were a guilty pleasure of mine, regardless of their low quality and how it's been politically correct to loathe them (despite not being in the age group, but let's be real, they were so overexposed that it was hard to miss their hype). And I happened to regularly watch Sonny With a Chance in the midst of the overexposure of the Disney Channel era. As you've said, Demi Lovato's chemistry with Sterling Knight was pretty evident (despite of Demi's lackluster acting), yet the show was entertaining, despite not being oustanding.
I'll admit that Camp Rock was a guilty pleasure of mine and I thought it was better than High School Musical, because of it's music and overall vibe. The sequel was cute enough, but still inferior to it's predecessor (and frankly, with a too politically correct storyline). High School Musical 2 was a cute movie, though and better than it's generic predecessor.
What are your thoughts on Phil of the Future, Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Wizards of Waverly Place then?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:23 pm
I've seen The Jungle Book 2 a lot because it came out when I was quite young and I remember the Disney Channel showed it a lot. I think I may have owned the DVD back then too. I haven't seen it in forever though so I don't really remember what Mowgli's emotional arc was but I do remember that the story seemed like it was more coherently structured than the first.
I've seen that a lot of Disney Merchandise will feature characters up to Pocahontas, but not include characters from films beyond that. So I think your statement that the general public forgets songs after Pocahontas applies true to not just music. Which really does make the films that came later on seem to be even more underrated and forgotten.
I don't have a source for it but I think it's common knowledge in the forums here that the rights for Tarzan reverted to the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate. I'm sure there's a thread here somewhere detailing that.
I don't think Prince Edward got a single doll. Robert got a few but strangely Prince Edward was completely neglected. You'd think they'd seize the opportunity to sell more prince dolls or at least try to hide that Edward won't be her main love interest. I suppose they felt that Patrick Dempsey was too lovable amongst the female audience for them to focus on another male character.
Yeah, Tangled I don't remember a lot of merchandise for upfront but she's become one of the top selling princesses since which more than makes up for that. I read an article once that up till Frozen, all the princess films had a glut of merchandise made for (TPATF, Tangled, and Brave) but soon the public would loose interest and so all this merchandise would just be sitting around with no one buying it. So they had to heavily markdown Tiana, Rapunzel, and Merida products. Rapunzel, at least, seemed to grow out of this later on but I'm not surprised that the other two never became huge sellers. In fact, along with Pocahontas, they're probably the least selling princesses, although Merida still gets a little bit of love.
Perhaps, I'll listen to the first song written for the Tangled musical since you described it as a style that Menken originally wanted to go with.
Oh, I didn't realize that Lasseter helped out on The Jungle Book live-action film and was credited through Pixar as a proxy.
I wish The Jungle Book and Pocahontas would be included as well. Seems odd that when they did Hunchback, they didn't push for Pocahontas. It seems a little late now to include it since they're focusing so much on newer IPs.
Yes, I'm familiar with Danny DeVito through Matilda too so that was a good year for him, at least when it comes to an introduction to the younger generation through kids movies.
Aladdin, minus a couple of jokes, still holds up well imo. I never understood a lot of the Genie's jokes, and I'm sure that today that is especially true, but people still seem to love him regardless.
My issue with Lizzie McGuire is the opposite of yours then since I was too young when it was released. It was only near the end of the show's run when I started getting into the Disney Channel. So this show and Even Stevens sort of missed my radar and although I did see episodes of them both, I never liked them as much as Raven, Zach and Cody, etc. What I liked most about the Lizzie McGuire movie was the Rome setting, Ungermeyer's character, and Hillary Duff playing a double role. Plus, I lived and breathed that song she sings at the end "What Dreams are Made of." It's funny though that you felt it necessary to spoilertag the reveal at the end but applaudable nevertheless. How did you feel about Miranda's exclusion? Since I wasn't a big fan of the show, I was never bothered by her absence and I liked the emphasis on Kate and Ethan, but I'm curious as to what a fan of the show felt about that.
BTW, have you heard of Andi Mack? It's a relatively new Disney Channel show made from the maker of Lizzie McGuire. It's quite good, which I didn't think I would ever say for a Disney Channel show, and surprisingly progressive.
I was a huge fan of High School Musical back in the day along with Camp Rock. I don't think I could decide which I liked more since I loved the music from both franchises. I was never a fan of the Jonas Brothers, but besides Demi, I loved the supporting cast for Camp Rock, namely Alyson Stoner's character, Tess (the mean girl), and the two girls who played Tess' friends but ended up dumping her. Whereas in High School Musical, I think the entire cast had great chemistry although my favorites were Zac Efron (for his looks I'm not ashamed to say) and Ashley Tisdale's Sharpay. Lol, I never cared much for Gabriella and I always wanted Troy and Sharpay to end up together. I remember seeing High School Musical in concert, featuring the entire original cast minus Zac Efron, as well as High School Musical on Ice. What makes you think that Camp Rock 2 had a politically correct storyline?
Phil of the Future is the show I haven't seen in the longest. To be honest, it wasn't that great, but since I loved Aly Michalka, I enjoyed this show. I also loved Pim, the little sister. Ricky Ulman's character was cute although I was too young back then to notice that but I've noticed it now lol. I liked his role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Pixel Perfect as well.
Hannah Montana was my absolutely fav show back then! I had the dolls, DVDs, soundtracks, books, etc. I was obsessed with Miley Cyrus back in the day and went to watch her at the Rodeo. She was opening up for the Cheetah Girls and this was just around the time that the Cheetah Girls' popularity was waning because High School Musical and Hannah Montana had replaced them, so most people bought tickets for their show just to watch Hannah Montana's opening act. When she was done, a lot of people left the show before the Cheetah Girls had even started.
I liked Zack and Cody a lot back then too especially since in later years, it would stand out more as it wasn't as female-oriented so it was a refreshing break. I loved London Tipton though and I had a crush on Cody without even knowing it back then lol. This was another show where the entire cast had great chemistry, especially Moseby's character. I didn't love The Suite Life on Deck as much. Although I was happy Moseby and London were back, I wish they kept Maddie and I hated the other new characters. Debby Ryan has never caught on for me and I'd say much of the general public despite the fact that Disney has given her so many roles. I also hated both of the two fat guys brought onto the show as annoying comic relief since it seemed like most of the jokes were just about their weight. They were not funny and really detracted from the show's quality.
Wizards was my least favorite I guess probably just because towards the middle of the show was the time I was aging out of the Disney Channel days. Selena never really caught my attention the way Miley and Demi did, since I adored both of them (and Ashley Tisdale too).
Finally someone else who sees it! Thank you! It seems like the general public hates The Jungle Book 2 and while I agree that it may not be brilliant, the congruity of the storyline makes up for it.
The Three Commentears mentioned this in their commentary, that Pocahontas the character is more marketed than her movie itself. Perhaps it's not strange, after all.
That may be the reason for why Prince Edward wasn't given a doll. But speaking of Patrick Dempsey, I found him the opposite of lovable in this movie. I usually like him, but I felt that he was just unappealing in every sense here. What's even worse that he and Amy Adams lacked chemistry, but I've ranted about him before.
True, but Merida is a remarkable inclusion, due to her being a Pixar property and a non-singing Princess (since a stock trait with a Disney Princess is her being able to sing, why having Merida in it?). And her movie got a lot of merchandise when it was released. I know about Rapunzel's popularity in the lineup. And do you believe in the theories of the non-Caucasian Princesses getting less recognition than the white ones?
It's a pity that Disney didn't succeed to make Moana it's own brand, just as they did with Frozen. I know Disney were desperately trying to delineate her from the brand, but they didn't succeed.
I wish The Jungle Book and Pocahontas would be included as well (in Kingdom Hearts). Seems odd that when they did Hunchback, they didn't push for Pocahontas. It seems a little late now to include it since they're focusing so much on newer IPs.
Perhaps it due to Pocahontas' appeal. I know there was a set created for The Jungle Book, but it's rumored that it was scrapped due to Tarzan having the same setting.
To be honest, I never understood the Genie jokes as a child. But that's probably due to seeing a non-domestic version, so that's why
My issue with Lizzie McGuire is the opposite of yours then since I was too young when it was released. It was only near the end of the show's run when I started getting into the Disney Channel. So this show and Even Stevens sort of missed my radar and although I did see episodes of them both, I never liked them as much as Raven, Zach and Cody, etc. What I liked most about the Lizzie McGuire movie was the Rome setting, Ungermeyer's character, and Hillary Duff playing a double role. Plus, I lived and breathed that song she sings at the end "What Dreams are Made of."
Yeah, Ungermeyer was a memorable character, though she had her contrived devices. There are some theories about the double parts being a foreshadowing to Hannah Montana's premise, but despite the constant comparisons, both Hannah Montana and Lizzie McGuire are completely different premises, not to mention genres. I find those comparisons of the shows to be shallow, but I guess the comparisons are after all fair, due to Miley Cyrus serving the same mold of Hilary Duff.
It's funny though that you felt it necessary to spoilertag the reveal at the end but applaudable nevertheless.
Why wouldn't I? Regardless of this movie being over fifteen years old, a spoiler is mandatory, nonetheless.
How did you feel about Miranda's exclusion? Since I wasn't a big fan of the show, I was never bothered by her absence and I liked the emphasis on Kate and Ethan, but I'm curious as to what a fan of the show felt about that.
I found her absence to be noteworthy. She was perhaps not my favorite character, but I still liked her nonetheless and she was a part of the show. Yet I disliked her abscence.
No. I have given up Disney Channel. Mainly because I've outgrown these shows . The last Disney Channel show that I truly liked, was Austin & Ally. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but it was a guilty pleasure of mine, because it's strenghts spoke to me; It had catchy songs and I simply adored Dez (despite that he could be annoying at times). It was quite Hannah Montana-esque, with a popstar-premise.
Otherwise, I did somewhat enjoy I Didn't Do It and Lab Rats occassionally.
I was a huge fan of High School Musical back in the day along with Camp Rock. I don't think I could decide which I liked more since I loved the music from both franchises. I was never a fan of the Jonas Brothers, but besides Demi, I loved the supporting cast for Camp Rock, namely Alyson Stoner's character, Tess (the mean girl), and the two girls who played Tess' friends but ended up dumping her. Whereas in High School Musical, I think the entire cast had great chemistry although my favorites were Zac Efron (for his looks I'm not ashamed to say) and Ashley Tisdale's Sharpay. Lol, I never cared much for Gabriella and I always wanted Troy and Sharpay to end up together. I remember seeing High School Musical in concert, featuring the entire original cast minus Zac Efron, as well as High School Musical on Ice.
OK. For some reason Camp Rock spoke to me more than High School Musical, but I did enjoy the songs from High School Musical, nonetheless. I found the first Camp Rock more enjoyable as a whole. Joe Jonas character was quite douchy and unlikable in the first movie, but became more tolerable in the sequel.
I liked Alyson Stoner's character, though her arc was a little muddled in the first movie. Demi was just ok, but nothing outstanding. I do find it admirable that she was stripped down as being regularly and not having a lot of makeup.
What makes you think that Camp Rock 2 had a politically correct storyline?
The whole storyline was essentially about passion vs. talent, compliance vs genuineness and a rivalry about saving a camp. It was just too sanitized that it became too politically correct way. Though to be fair, the ending was still satisfying that Camp Star won, yet Camp Rock got it's revival.
To be honest, Hannah Montana was an absolute guilty pleasure of mine when I started to watch the show at it's peak. It was corny, yet it was utterly enjoyable, nonetheless. I liked the songs and I especially loved Jackson, Oliver and occasionally her father. However, after a while I absolutely dreaded Miley Stewart, because she became a ruthless, selfish brat with essentially the same arc over and over again. I also disliked Rico, but the rest of the show made up for him. I also disliked the third season and the exclusion of Oliver in the fourth season. Yet the final conclusion was not as tidy and smoothly done as it could've been.
What do you think of the movie? I completely despise it with a burning passion. The film tries desperately to be more serious in tone, yet it messes with the questionable devices from the show (that Miley is never recognized at all when she performs Hoedown Throwdown and that her brown hair is actually shown when she takes her wig on in front of Travis. And rant about how you want about those problems being present in the show, but at least those problems are more congruous in the show). All the comedy is mostly reduced to cartoony slapstick and the love interests (for both her and her widow dad) never came to the still airing show.
And let me not start about the ending and final solution, which is downright cluttered, incongruous and hypocritical.
For all the cynical and corporate intents of the Hannah Montana product, the movie is the definite culmination of it, since it's just made for commercial purposes and would've reasonated more if it was meant to be a finale to the show. I know many people prefer the movie to the show due to it's more mature tone, but I utterly hate it due to my aforementioned reasons. At least it shall have praise for being more mature in tone, but it's aforementioned flaws tears it down.
The Suite Life was fun enough and it was enjoyable on it's own merits. I liked London Tipton, due to her hilarious nature (despite that I know that some people hated her due to her dumb nature). I also remembering liking the dad. I didn't hate The Suite Life on Deck, since it had it's perks. I never went gaga for it, but I did enjoy it for what it was. I found the new characters to be passable, though.
Wizards of Waverly Place was my least favorite as well. Ironically, it was the highest rated show and it was more acceptable to like it, yet it never surpassed the other DC shows in quality. But it was watchable, nonetheless. I used to like Justin's goofy innocence at the beginning, but he became a duller character as the show progressed. I used to find Harper highly annoying at first, but she became tolerable afterwards. Jerry was a fine day. Selena Gomez was cute and sassy, though.
But if I'm going to scrutinize the appeal of the three prominent DC stars, I find Demi to be the least marketable, due to her having less charisma or "it"-factor than Selena and even Miley. I just found her more bland.
What are your thought about J.O.N.A.S?
I'm glad to have validated you on The Jungle Book 2 having a more coherent narrative than its predecessor. The first film is really episodic, although that's not too far off from the book.
That's an interesting remark that Pocahontas is more marketed as a character than with her movie. I can definitely see that since I see her represented in group pics a lot on merchandise, even though her film is usually the least represented out of all those shown. I think the character herself is just very iconic so regardless of how the public feels about her, she is recognizable. I read on reddit once from a Disney cast member that when Pocahontas is in the parks, pretty much everybody recognizes her, young and old. However, Mulan gets a lot more confusion in the parks. While children and the young crowd know who she is, a lot of people, especially elderly people, think she's a random geisha or something walking around. So clearly Pocahontas cemented herself in the public consciousness in a way Mulan didn't.
I'm pretty neutral on Robert in Enchanted, partly because I don't have a love of Patrick Dempsey like the rest of the world seems to have.
Yeah, Merida is an interesting case, and even though she is arguably the most polarizing character in the franchise (traditional DP fans won't like her, and people who do like Merida probably aren't into the DP franchise) I still see her on merchandise. Even at the Disney Parks, I saw lots of little girls dressed up as her still.
I think the issue of the non-Caucasian princesses isn't as race-related as it is story related (which happens to be related to their race). Pocahontas and Mulan are not traditional DP films and in fact, lots of people wouldn't even consider them princesses. Pocahontas still fits in because it has a beautiful heroine, an emphasis on music, and an epic love story, but Mulan is first and foremost a war story. The romance seems pushed in, to the point that there isn't even a kiss, and the emotional emphasis is on her relationship with her father. On top of that, she's dressed as a man for most of the movie so she's not very marketable, while Pocahontas has a dress that doesn't lend itself to sparkles and jewels. Most kids who like the DP movies won't be as enchanted with these "war movies" and it doesn't help that neither film really has "magic" the way it is represented in the other DP films.
Tiana is a different issue, because while TPATF is closer to the old DP films compared to Pocahontas and Mulan, it still sticks out because it's set in the present-day. That makes it lack a sort of magical touch, not just from the more modern setting, but also the fact that unlike the other classic DP films, this film isn't set in a magical kingdom, but a real life place that people can go and visit. Her character is the least popular alongside Pocahontas, probably because these two are the most mature and thus feel more like full-fledged adults. It's worse in Tiana's case, because she feels so modern so she doesn't really feel like a classical princess. She's more comparable to a character like Nani, who is struggling to make ends meet. Most kids aren't really interested in watching films on adults with money issues. There's a reason Lilo & Stitch features the titular characters as the main characters with Nani as the supporting character, but TPATF doesn't do that with Tiana. Her being a frog for most of the film probably also lessens her appeal. None of the film's songs are really as iconic as anything from Pocahontas or Mulan and I think it's the least grossing film out of the entire DP franchise.
I think Jasmine is the best outlier of the non-white princesses because her film does fit in with the other classic DP films. It's a fairy tale, with magic, romance, iconic songs, pretty outfits, etc. That's why, Jasmine is still a pretty popular and iconic character, despite being non-white and also a supporting character to boot. I think it's a huge testament to her popularity, that compared to her fellow princesses, who are all lead heroines, she is still so well regarded. The only time there was a dearth of Jasmine merchandise was when Tiana became a DP. Disney seemed to only want to recognize one ethnic DP so Jasmine was phased out for Tiana's sake. However, around the time of the redesigns, that's when I noticed that Jasmine became consistently represented in the merchandise again while Tiana took a backseat. I think Disney realized that Tiana doesn't have as much appeal, meanwhile Aladdin was receiving a resurgence of popularity from the nostalgia of the 90s and Robin Williams' death. It also helps that in Japan, probably the country that loves Disney more than even the U.S. does, Jasmine is one of the seven official Disney Princesses, not Tiana. Interestingly enough, Jasmine counts as Caucasian even though she's not white so I do find it perhaps a bit revealing that all the other "ethnic" princesses who are not Caucasian (Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tiana) are not as popular.
I'm not surprised that Moana failed to become its own brand. The film did well but not on Frozen or Zootopia levels and I remember reading that the merchandise was selling pretty poorly. Frozen was a very special case and it was silly for Disney to assume that any other film that could follow could became a box-office and merchandise juggernaut. Moana is a character who, whether we like it or not, is better remembered through the DP franchise. She's not unpopular, which is why she isn't completely forgotten, but she's not popular enough to sustain her own brand.
I didn't know there was a world created for The Jungle Book in Kingdom Hearts. Since Tarzan can't be used anymore, they ought to go ahead with The Jungle Book imo.
Do the Genie jokes translate over well in your country or are they completely different from the English version?
Maybe the double life as a pop star element in the Lizzie McGuire movie is why I loved Hannah Montana so much. Or probably more likely, maybe my love for Hannah Montana is why I loved the Lizzie McGuire movie so much because Lizzie was essentially living Hannah Montana for a few days. Funny how Lizzie was a blonde normally, while the pop star version of her was brunette, yet Hannah was a brunette who wore a blonde wig.
I feel like most people on these forums would either have seen the ending for The Lizzie McGuire movie or they would not care enough for the film to be bothered being spoiled. I guess it's better to err on the side of caution by using a spoilertag though.
Austin & Ally was the last Disney Channel show I liked as well, before Andi Mack. I never really watched all of it, but it's the only show I could bear watching if it was on. I definitely got Hannah Montana vibes from it, but in general, the main characters were likable and funny and the humor wasn't gross. I've seen a little of I Didn't Do It but I didn't like it very much. It wasn't the worst that the Disney Channel has had to offer, but I didn't find it memorable. I think it got cancelled rather early on. I don't watch Disney XD shows so never seen Lab Rats.
Good points about the themes in Camp Rock 2. I never looked at it that way before. I liked the ending as well since it wasn't unrealistic but still was satisfying to the viewer.
I stopped watching Hannah Montana by the fourth season and even in the third season, I had begun to outgrow Disney. I do remember that I didn't like the treatment of Oliver in later seasons. Early on, he was a very close friend of both Miley and Lily, but I felt by the end, that he was just used as a punching bad and otherwise disregarded by the two. I don't remember finding Miley that likable either.
I actually sorta liked the Hannah Montana movie but I don't think it fits well with the continuity of the show. It feels like a very separate product first of all because of the tone, but in general, there's no way to reconcile it with the show. Are the events of the movie even mentioned in the show? The ending really is completely unrealistic especially since this was edging towards the age of smartphones and social media. I honestly barely remember anything else about the film, including the shoe-horned in love interests, Miley's maternal family, or the comedy.
I never really saw much of J.O.N.A.S. Like I said sometime before, I'm not a fan of the Jonas Brothers so there was no appeal for me to watch. I saw little snippets of the show, but I found them unmemorable and unappealing. No wonder the show had to be so drastically revamped and even then it failed to build a following. I was glad the show was cancelled.
I think the reason behind Pocahontas' recognition is fairly simple, but also due to a shallow reason; She was the first non-Caucasian Disney lead (yes, Jasmine was technically the first, but she was still not the main lead) and her movie was a big hit, regardless of it's reputation. And those are the reasons for why she's recognized.
And I've mentioned this before on this board (but I don't know if we've ever talked about it), but I've noticed that every following non-Caucasian Princess ever since has been superficially compared to Pocahontas, as she set the mold for the Princess (though in this Revival era, Moana is more relevant to be compared, due to her actually being a Chieftess and having a similar mission). But Pocahontas has become so iconic that even she's referred to in non-Disney work.
Well, it's not as he's loved by every single one. I do like him, though, but I guess that his popularity stems from his sex appeal and looks and not by his talent.
True, but I still find Merida to be quite annoying. I could tolerate her at first, but later viewings has made me less patient with herg. But she has her fanbase due to her rebellious nature, which is a reason for even a friend of mine to like her.
Good point. When Mulan was released, I used to superfically compare it to Pocahontas, due to both being about titular, non-Caucasian female leads (and being a three year gap between those movies, it was somewhat a synergy). But regardless of that staple alone, both movies are essentially about war (though of course Pocahontas dilutes the actual fight at the very end) and about two races clashing. I used to point these similarities to several people, but they used to usually dismiss it.
Even a friend of mine who I used to discuss Disney with dismissed my analysis, but technically my theory is true. However, Mulan and Pocahontas are essentially opposites when it comes to depict war, since Pocahontas has the peace and love-policy that Mulan doesn't have (technically, Hunchback also has a similar issue about a conflict between two races, but it's not really the main plot and the invasion of the gypsies is not necessarily an invasion of a war). Both Mulan and Pocahontas has a handsome captain as the love interest and a massive villian who's not regarded as belonging in the most evil pantheon. But both films have their share of magic (remember the Ancestors, Mushu and Grandmother Willow), though it's more subtle than in the other DP films.
I also found it remarkable that Mulan and Shang never even kissed in the first movie, which made them a first. But I've heard theories that it was due to them being Chinese.
True. I remember reading an interview on Disney's D23 Magazine that if there were ever going to be an fairy tale set in the US, it should be New Orleans. But it still was a contrived notion to have an African-American heroine to become a Princess, due to it's realistic impossibility (I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Tiana's royal inclusion felt shoehorned in just to meet the complains of having an African-American Princess). I used to think that Tiana was more popular, since certain articles cited that she sold well.
Interesting comparison to Nani, yet I feel that Tiana (for all her faults) is a more fleshed out character than Nani. Perhaps Tiana's personality may not be unique, but she surely has it more than Nani, who just felt restricted and diluted due to her situation. Even in the series she's a fairly bland character.
True. As you said, despite Jasmine being the lead, it's a testament to popularity in the franchise. But personally think Jasmine is less fleshed out than her predecessors. I think she serves as a weaker character than both Ariel and Belle and therefore having less of a personality (despite that I love her voice). I know that Jasmine was going to be a stronger character, but was reduced due to her overshadowing Aladdin, which is somewhat a pity. But I know that Jasmine is popular, nonetheless. I think she was the number one of one of these lists on this site. Yet regardless of her placement in the DP franchise, she's the most featured of the non-Caucasian Princesses, regardless of the ongoing rants of Disney being racist
Do Japan truly love Disney more than the US?
True. That's why she's most likely to go with the franchise, regardless of the desperate attempts to promote her as an anti-Princess
Somewhat, but not as much as they've could've been.
True. But regardless of the shows, I liked Hilary Duff more than Miley Cyrus, because I found Hilary to be more likable and prettier. Yet Miley certainly has a personality of her own. But speaking of the movies, I did like What Dreams Are Made Of. Hilary Duff had some pretty good songs in her previous decade.
True, but a spoiler is warranted, nonetheless
Austin & Ally was good fun, despite that it suffered from the same problems that most DC sitcoms; Being silly and juvenile. Ross Lynch's acting was pretty bad, though and so was Calum Worthy's at the beginning, but he improved.
Fair enough. Oliver was also a punching bag to Jackson. But Oliver became more unlikable in the third season. He became more full of himself. I know many people either hates or loves Miley Stewart, the character, mainly due to Miley's personality.
Perhaps it's better that you don't remember anything from it Just kidding. I thought you liked the movie more, due to it's more mature tone and how you generally prefer drama's. The events of the movie are mentioned in the show, but barely. Objectively, the movie wasn't bad (despite the dumb slapstick comedy), but it was dramatically uneven and all of it's faults made me hate the movie more, especially due to it being shoehorned in to just cash on the product (which the ending was certainly evident of). And subjectively, I hated most of the songs from that movie, with the exception of Hoedown Throwdown, that was at least fun.
But I'm glad that the Hannah phase has faded, because it's hard to believe that we live in a world where Hannah Montana is history, when it doesn't feel long ago (to me, at least, since I've reached that age where a decade feels like yesterday). But another reason for being happy about it, it was because the Internet was mostly filled with either hostile and prissy Hannah/Miley fans and/or obnoxious and hostile trolls. It was hard and rare to objectively discuss Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus with anyone back then.
To be honest, I liked J.O.N.A.S. and thought it was a breath of fresh air, due to it being a little different from it peers, of not having a laughing track. Yet it was still structured in the same, juvenile way as most DC shows. I understand why people found it bad, but it was as bad as it was good. It was frisky, fun and enjoyable. My only complain was that Macy could be quite grating in the first season. As for J.O.N.A.S. LA, I didn't thought that the revamp was necessary, but frankly made the show just meh and nothing else. But at least Joe was more tolerable in the second season.
I think Pocahontas also is so iconic because she's such an important historical figure. Pretty much every American child grows up knowing about her and she's frankly the most well-known Native American. There's a reason that Trump uses Pocahontas' name whenever he wants to refer to Native Americans, likely because she's the only one he knows of. I'm not sure how well known she is in the rest of the world, but I imagine that she's likely the most well known Native American in English history as well, considering her ties with them. This puts her on a par with iconic fairy tale characters like Cinderella, Snow White, the Beast, Aladdin, etc. Mulan, meanwhile, is a folklore hero that is pretty much universally known in China, but if it hadn't been for the Disney film, pretty much no other country would know her. And unlike Pocahontas, who still has connections to other countries besides America, Mulan is relatively tied to China, so there's no incentive for other countries and cultures to really know her. Perhaps another significant factor is that Japan is such a major Disney consumer and you won't find anything Mulan or otherwise Chinese-related there. Meanwhile Pocahontas has an albeit small following there. Even Hunchback, or at least Esmeralda and Clopin, have enough popularity to warrant inclusions in the Tokyo parks, unlike the rest of the world, including their home country of France.
I haven't seen Brave in a few years now so I wonder whether she would have grown on me, or if I would like her less. I never really hated her, but I was generally underwhelmed by her film so I haven't had many reasons to revisit her story.
I definitely agree with your parallels between Mulan and Pocahontas and I'm surprised that other people haven't been more receptive to that. You make a valid point that they have two very opposite stances on war. I've also definitely seen the Hunchback-Pocahontas parallels. I know we discussed this a while back, but stuff like the Menken-Schwartz soundtrack, the older, hunky, blonde captain paired with an ethnic dark-haired beauty, the xenophobia of the villain which almost incites a race war, the criticized comical sidekicks, and the general more realistic and mature tones of the films and subject matter. Another thing I just now noted is that compared to the rest of the Renaissance films, they are the most rooted in history as well, probably because the filmmakers really waned to make the films seem realistic. Pocahontas is given an exact date of 1607, like the actual historical event, whereas Hunchback is set in 1482, like the novel was. The previous Disney films were set in specific eras, but you could never really narrow them down to a specific year. I think this is even true of the Walt-era films, minus the contemporary films like 101 Dalmatians, The Rescuers, and maybe Dumbo.
I never realized that Mulan and Shang were unable to kiss because of their Chinese culture. Funny, since Chinese audiences criticized the film and character for being too westernized in the first place. Good thing they haven't seen Mulan II. She really plays the role of the prototypical Disney Princess, intent on following her heart and dreams there, unlike in the original film, where she's still set on abiding to tradition and culture.
I know that the New Orleans setting was chosen because Lasseter always wanted to do a film set there. I think it's his favorite city or one of his favorite cities. Basically TPATF was greenlighted because of the setting and because Disney needed a black princess and that could work in this setting, since Lasseter was unsure about an actual African princess like Aida working in animation. I imagine the interview you mentioned about a U.S. fairy tale having to be set in New Orleans probably came from him, so I'd promptly ignore it lol.
Much like you, I'm not a fan of Tiana being a princess. It felt like Disney so desperately wanted to make sure that she would be well received by the public so they had to make her African American rather than African so that actual African American viewers would be able to connect to her. However, that's awfully contrived and I'm just glad that with Sade (or whatever her new name is), we'll be getting a proper African princess.
Tiana is the main character of her film, unlike Nani, so it makes sense that you would consider her more developed and fleshed out. I don't remember Nani having a big role in the TV series as you said either.
When Aladdin came out, Jasmine did get criticism for seeming regressive coming on the heels of Belle. People complained that she felt more like Ariel, which wouldn't have been bad if Belle hadn't come in between the two. A lot of the goodwill that Belle had built up when it came to Disney's portrayal of women felt unearned after Jasmine reverting back to a damsel in distress. I know that originally she was never supposed to cry in the film and she was meant to save herself from the hourglass rather than require Aladdin's help. Personally, I'm happy with what we got, but I can see the live-action film taking cues from these original plans for Jasmine.
Japan is very big on franchises like Disney, Harry Potter, etc. and even though Japan has their own theme parks for these properties, you'll still find that a large percentage of people visiting the American parks (whether Disney or Universal) tend to be Japanese. I read an article once that when Inside Out come out, it was in fashion for Japanese teens to carry plush Bing Bongs around and get him his own seat at restaurants. I also used to play a Disney app game on my phone and there was a leaderboard which showed which countries played the game the most. The U.S. was #2 and although I can't remember for sure, I think Japan was #1. It was either Japan or China and then whichever wasn't #1 was #3. I think England came after as #4 and #5 was either Germany or Brazil.
How do song lyrics translate in your country? Or are they not translated at all since I've heard that some countries keep the songs in English?
I love the song What Dreams Are Made Of. I really hope the Lizzie McGuire revival references the movie as well as the show. I imagine they will since it ended with Lizzie and Gordo together, not to mention the development for Kate and Ethan's characters. Since you're a big Lizzie fan, how did you feel about Miranda not being in the movie?
I actually liked Ross Lynch's character lol. Maybe his acting wasn't the best, but I attributed that to his character more. Also, I think the actor has gotten some pretty high-profile gigs recently so his acting must have improved. Then again, Zendaya has been in huge projects and I know a lot of her haters who question how she's achieved so much with what they consider to be very little talent.
Yeah, I remember now that towards the end of Hannah Montana, they started pairing off Oliver and Jackson more together. I never really liked that since it was obvious that they were only doing so to keep the girls in the main story with the guys getting the subplot of the episode. Nevermind that Oliver was never friends with Jackson. Miley became really insufferable towards the end, which I guess makes sense considering what the real Miley Cyrus was transitioning to.
Yeah, my preference for drama is probably why I don't have any bad feelings towards the Hannah Montana movie. I'm guessing that all the slapstick comedy was reserved for Miley's family, mainly her brother and father, because I don't remember the main central plot featuring Miley and her "boyfriend" having a lot of unnecessary comedy. I don't really remember any of the songs in the film either except Hoedown Throwdown which was a big hit. I remember it used to play in my school dances and was generally popular. I remember Taylor Swift had a song too since this was during the beginning of her career, but I never cared for Taylor back then so her song didn't do anything for me. I think The Climb was the endcredits song or something. If I'm not wrong, I remember that was a hit song back then.
I think I was too young to really ever look for the Hannah Montana fandom online so I guess I was spared from negativity in that respect. Similarly enough, I didn't have to deal with the toxicity of the Harry Potter and Star Wars prequel fandoms back then, although plenty of it still exists nowadays. I'm not sure what the Disney fandom was like a decade ago, but I now that on Tumblr and similar sites, there's plenty of hostility. Especially with the Frozen fandom lol.
Was Macy the blonde girl from J.O.N.A.S.? If so, I only remember her from the Disney Channel Original Movie "Minute Men." I know that fans used to get her confused with the other two Disney blondes at the time: Meaghan Martin from Camp Rock and Tiffany Thornton from Sonny With a Chance. I can see why people would get the three mixed up, but I didn't really think any of them looked alike besides the shade of their hair. I suppose the fact that both Meaghan and Tiffany played antagonistic roles to Demi didn't help the confusion.
I think Pocahontas also is so iconic because she's such an important historical figure. Pretty much every American child grows up knowing about her and she's frankly the most well-known Native American. There's a reason that Trump uses Pocahontas' name whenever he wants to refer to Native Americans, likely because she's the only one he knows of. I'm not sure how well known she is in the rest of the world, but I imagine that she's likely the most well known Native American in English history as well, considering her ties with them. This puts her on a par with iconic fairy tale characters like Cinderella, Snow White, the Beast, Aladdin, etc.
So Trump refers to Native Americans as Pocahontas? I didn't know.
You're right about her position, but The Three Commentears has a different take. In their commentary for the film, they mention that Disney's version was their introduction to Pocahontas (at least for the two of them). Which was actually the case for me, however. I remember seeing a teaser for the movie in January 1995 (on The Aristocats VHS), without knowing anything about her ethnicity. When I learned that she was a Native American, my thought was that she didn't look like the stereotype of one (since Native Americans can look like different ethnicities) and due to the progressions of depicting non-White, exotic regions with Aladdin and The Lion King, Pocahontas felt regressive, since Disney had explored the Native American community before in what has now become a predominant White environment (*cough, Peter Pan, cough*).
But to be fair, Pocahontas is about non-Caucasian people after all, so it passes for it. And please don't hate me for my non-politically correct comment, I'm just summarizing what my thoughts were at a child (because I do feel genuniely sorry for the stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans in Hollywood). I can link you that teaser, if you want to; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO9dPoXYWNc
Mulan, meanwhile, is a folklore hero that is pretty much universally known in China, but if it hadn't been for the Disney film, pretty much no other country would know her. And unlike Pocahontas, who still has connections to other countries besides America, Mulan is relatively tied to China, so there's no incentive for other countries and cultures to really know her. Perhaps another significant factor is that Japan is such a major Disney consumer and you won't find anything Mulan or otherwise Chinese-related there. Meanwhile Pocahontas has an albeit small following there. Even Hunchback, or at least Esmeralda and Clopin, have enough popularity to warrant inclusions in the Tokyo parks, unlike the rest of the world, including their home country of France.
Really? I didn't know about the latter. I guess that (stereotypically) Mulan would have a representation that was suitable (no pun intended), due to being at her own region. But you summarize what has been something that I've analyzed with Mulan lately, that her movie is essentially an adaptation about a story that is not known for a non-Universal audience.
I haven't seen Brave in years either, but regardless of it's problems, I did like it, overall. So I guess it's somewhat of a guilty pleasure
I definitely agree with your parallels between Mulan and Pocahontas and I'm surprised that other people haven't been more receptive to that. You make a valid point that they have two very opposite stances on war.
Thanks . But regardless of my previous rants, people do still compare the characters of Pocahontas and Mulan, mostly stereotypically, due to them being non-Caucasian leads. And that's what several critics have rambled about, too.
I've also definitely seen the Hunchback-Pocahontas parallels. I know we discussed this a while back, but stuff like the Menken-Schwartz soundtrack, the older, hunky, blonde captain paired with an ethnic dark-haired beauty, the xenophobia of the villain which almost incites a race war, the criticized comical sidekicks, and the general more realistic and mature tones of the films and subject matter.
True, but we have discussed that before. Yet Pocahontas got criticized for the racial stereotypes, more than Hunchback. Besides, Pocahontas has a fair amount of even share of characters that are either Natives or English, whereas in Hunchback most of the characters are white Parisians (with the exception of Esmeralda and Clopin, of course). In fact, Hunchback was too politically correct to portray the gypsies as a persecuted people.
Another thing I just now noted is that compared to the rest of the Renaissance films, they are the most rooted in history as well, probably because the filmmakers really waned to make the films seem realistic. Pocahontas is given an exact date of 1607, like the actual historical event, whereas Hunchback is set in 1482, like the novel was. The previous Disney films were set in specific eras, but you could never really narrow them down to a specific year. I think this is even true of the Walt-era films, minus the contemporary films like 101 Dalmatians, The Rescuers, and maybe Dumbo.
Not quite. Both The Aristocats and The Great Mouse Detective were given specific dates of the years their stories takes places on. The funny thing is that both were released on VHS for the first time in Norway in 1995, so Pocahontas being released theatrically that year followed their synergy . Later on Atlantis would duplicate to cite the year it takes place in. Yet Hunchback's year is never confirmed in the movie.
Yeah, I felt Mulan's part in her sequel was prototypical, but still something that suited her, due to her nature was to somewhat defy her traditions and norms in her first movie, no matter how you put it. And yes, I know Chinese audiences criticized the film and character for being too westernized and perhaps she was that to them. But for a non-Asian, I thought there was plenty of Chinese and Asian flavor in the film. Heck, I felt there was more dedication to steep the film in an Asian culture than Disney done for Europeans cultures (though let's not forget that the creators of Moana wanted to steep their film in Polynesian culture, following the mantra of having their culture swallow the American one).
I know that New Orleans was chosen because of Lasseter. And it's a pity that Disney never managed to fulfill to make their own animated version of Aida. Had it been released at the prime of hand drawn animation, it would've been an intriguing project.
True. I don't hate her royal title with a burning passion, I just find it contrived. But I still remember that the complaints about Tiana's progression and royal weren't that huge. At least from IMDb users, since I used to follow IMDb more at the time. Of course I know about the rants about her not being black enough, but the complaints about the controversy that Tiana represents haven't been as huge, in my opinion. Anika Noni Rose has even talked about it in one of the interviews she did on The View; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apBGGp6vIeM. It's a pity that Sade won't be a hand drawn property.
True, but a secondary character can be fleshed out as well.
Perhaps, but they're obligated to do so, considering that we live in a politically correct, Internet-scrutinizing era. And due to all the havoc Aladdin originally got , it will get more
I know about the complaints about Jasmine's regressive nature, but she was still praised for being independent in her own right. But remember that Ariel was praised of her independence, too.
OK, I didn't know.
No, they're translated in Norwegian. In a proper way, though.
Since you're a big Lizzie fan, how did you feel about Miranda not being in the movie?
Big and big. I do have my nostalgic bias for it, though. And no offense, but I've already replied about Miranda's exclusion; It was a pity, though I didn't utterly despise her exclusion either.
I actually liked Ross Lynch's character lol. Maybe his acting wasn't the best, but I attributed that to his character more. Also, I think the actor has gotten some pretty high-profile gigs recently so his acting must have improved.
OK, I haven't noticed his recent roles. I didn't hate Austin the character, I just felt that Ross Lynch's acting was bad at times. Though to be fair, he was a skilled and energetic performer.
Yeah, I remember now that towards the end of Hannah Montana, they started pairing off Oliver and Jackson more together. I never really liked that since it was obvious that they were only doing so to keep the girls in the main story with the guys getting the subplot of the episode. Nevermind that Oliver was never friends with Jackson.
I liked that pairing, due to them being my favorite characters in the show. But I disliked Jackson's overall treatment of Oliver.
Miley became really insufferable towards the end, which I guess makes sense considering what the real Miley Cyrus was transitioning to.
To be fair, Miley Cyrus was never downright spiteful and mean towards the rest of the world as the character of Miley Steward. She did a couple of scandals, but were overall not a particularly hostile person. Though I remember that she used to rant (more than any other Hollywood celebrity that I've seen) about haters more than once in her prime (and don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting haters, I'm just citing this objectively). Apparently in 2013 she changed her attitude completely and said that haters kept her motivated. And yes, 2013 was the year where she truly gave controversy a new and overt vision.
Yeah, my preference for drama is probably why I don't have any bad feelings towards the Hannah Montana movie. I'm guessing that all the slapstick comedy was reserved for Miley's family, mainly her brother and father, because I don't remember the main central plot featuring Miley and her "boyfriend" having a lot of unnecessary comedy.
True, but the comedy in that movie was mostly reduced to slapstick and the wisecraks were mild.
I remember Taylor Swift had a song too since this was during the beginning of her career, but I never cared for Taylor back then so her song didn't do anything for me.
It was around that time where I got acquainted to Taylor Swift. Her song was fine, though and it was back then where her music was mostly country influenced. Back at the time, I used to like Taylor, more than now, though her music is still fine, though.
I think The Climb was the endcredits song or something. If I'm not wrong, I remember that was a hit song back then.
The Climb was not an end credit song, it was a perfomance in the actual movie. But I personally think it should've been an end credit-song, since it didn't fit the movie and just kept slowing it down (in fact, it would've been more reasonant in a more serious and harrowing plot than something as lite as Hannah Montana). It was a hit song back then, but I've always found the melody to be utterly dreadful. Btw, do you like that song?
I'm not sure what the Disney fandom was like a decade ago, but I now that on Tumblr and similar sites, there's plenty of hostility. Especially with the Frozen fandom lol.
True, but the Internet was like that a decade ago. I'm glad that I've outgrown the phase of being completely shocked by users hostility and mob mentality. And frankly, the Hannah trolls were my first real exposure to the hostility of IMDb trolls.
No, Macy was the brunette and was played by Nicole Anderson. The blonde girl was played by Chelsea Staub Kane. She was likable. Lately I saw her in the sitcom Baby Daddy. Tiffany Thorton was a fine actress and managed to play a snooty bitch, regardless of her likable nature. Meaghan Martin was suitable to her role.
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Did you write this note and leave it on a Manningtree beach? It inspired a song
PUBLISHED: 19:34 11 August 2018
Dominic Moffitt
Photo of the note Dan found on the beach.
Manningtree songwriter Daniel Evans, 33, was inspired to write his latest song after he stumbled across something buried in the sand.
Songwriter Dan Evans used the letter found on a beach for his new song Picture: MARK BOSLEY
But then he stumbled across something buried in the sand that gave him a fantastic idea for his latest project.
A handwritten note found in a bottle on the man-made beach on the River Stour gave Dan the creative spark he desperately needed to write his new song titled: To The Sea.
The crumbled letter was found last year by Dan’s son Alex, who was exploring the beach and brought it over to his dad.
Dan said: “The note looked like it was written by someone going through a tough time, and it inspired me to write my next song.”
Dan continues to write songs and hopes To The Sea can be marketed to films Picture: DAN EVANS
The note reads: “To the sea, my life sucks sometimes, so please help me out, I still love him...
“Family and friends are all you need, Thank you.”
Now, a year on, Dan has released the song worldwide and hopes that the track can be marketed to TV shows and even musicals.
Dan said: “I took it to my producer Dan McMahon who agreed I was onto something. We ended up picturing a big-sounding movie song, so it got produced that way.”
Dan continued: “It’s got a big theatrical sound and I can imagine it being used in something like the Greatest Showman.”
Producer Dan McMahon, and his partner Rachel Sellick, performed and recorded the song, using guest musicians to help create the best possible sound for the track.
Whilst the note gave Dan some real inspiration he is keen to reunite the heartfelt words with their author and thank them for what they have done.
“I would love to know who wrote the note and find out what happened next for them,” said Dan.
“It’s strange, I don’t know who they are at all, boy, girl, young, old - but the note gave me almost instant inspiration, I was able to write a song within the hour after reading it, it usually takes weeks or even months to do that.”
To The Sea is available on all major platforms including Itunes and Spotify now and can be streamed for free here on Dan’s Soundcloud.
If you wrote the note found by Dan on the beach then message his Facebook page, he wants to hear from you.
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Through economic highs and lows, some things remain constant. At 1275 Hamilton Road – The place we call East Park – they would say one constant they’ve seen over the past 55 years is that people always make time to “play”.
Whether they are rocketing a little white ball down a fairway or throwing themselves down a waterslide, Londoners have made “playtime” a priority. That is why East Park has become London’s Place to Play!
One has to wonder what it was that brought the 10 prominent London families together in 1963 to found East Park. Was it a sense for business or was it a sense of playfulness? Regardless, it proved successful. With the vision and foresight of Roy James and the other founding partners including his son Roscoe, Mowbray Sifton and James Windsor and the inspiration provided by T.J. Branton, the first owner of the property who had dreams of a Country Club Style resort he called Branton Acres – East Park was launched on its path of ‘fun’ for the first 50 years.
In its early days, East Park was mostly about golf. The new executive 18-hole course undertaken by the new ownership was designed by renowned course architect Clinton “Robbie” Robinson, who has designed over 140 courses in Canada, US and South America. There was also a larger-than-usual mini-golf course called Putt-R-Golf. Over time the original owners started adding new attractions such as batting cages, waterslides and a go-kart track. They also hired now famous golf pro Bob Martin to manage the park. He created innovative programs like his weekly Golf Demonstrations. Bob performed trick shots including his favourite where he shot a ball between the two limbs of a tree and off an obstacle and then landed it back on the range to the cheer of the crowd. Bob also recounts hosting poolside parties in the famous riverside swimming pool followed by a barbeque and dancing on the shuffle board dance floor.
In 1988, Harry Stone and his son Ian, along with Neil Kapp bought the park from its founders and in 2004 Alon Shatil joined the ownership team. The new owners kept the long standing tradition of evolving and changing the park. First, by adding a bridge to the go kart track, then in 1997 a 2nd mini golf course was added. In 2000, the indoor Intencity Fun Centre was added that included rock climbing, bumper cars, a jungle gym play area as well as a video arcade, a concession and bar. In 2004, the Wally World at East Park Waterpark was opened to compliment the existing 2 slide structure along with a splash pad and in 2008, a 2 ½ story water climber with tipping bucket was also added.
Programs were developed over the years including Summer Junior Day Camps, which now range from golf to rock climbing to fun camps with over 700 campers each season. Other innovative programs include the East Park Corporate Challenge, various Team Building Events and now, the very popular East Park Amazing Race. Of course, Golf Tournaments and Corporate & Family Picnics are still a mainstay of the summer happening at the park.
Today, East Park offers an 18 hole golf course, driving range, two mini-golf courses, batting cages, a go-kart track, seven water slides, a splash pad with a waterclimber, a wavepool, a rock climbing wall, bumper cars, jungle gym, a video arcade and two on-site indoor café/bar areas and an outdoor Tiki Bar in the waterpark.
56 years in, it really has become London’s “Place to Play”.
Property that is now East Park is a horse-training farm owned by the Branton family.
Brantons convert their horse barn into a 4-plex apartment and a 6-room motel. A pool, tennis courts and
a small 9-hole golf course with a clubhouse is added as well. Branton Acres Country Club is born. A larger-than-usual miniature golf course (Putt-R-Golf) is also created with hopes it will become the model for a national chain.
East Park flourishes and adjacent property is leased for an expansion that includes batting cages and a train-ride that circles the entire park. A merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel and other small amusement rides are also added.
A go-kart track and a two-slide water slide are added.
A new bridge creates a longer, more sophisticated go-kart track.
A second mini-golf course is created and integrated with the original course. It is re- branded Harry’s Goofy Golf in honour of the late Harry Stone.
Intencity – an indoor entertainment and recreation facility
– opens its doors. Attractions include a 40-foot rock-climbing wall, bumper cars, a 2-story jungle gym, a video arcade, and a concession stand.
East Park purchases waterslides from Wally World at auction.
Wally World at East Park opens. The water park now includes seven slides including the famous Wally World 5-slide tower and a splash pad.
A two-and-a-half story water climber is added to the water park. This enables younger children to work up the courage to ride the larger slides and gives adults a chance to get wet and have fun without having to go down slides.
Just in time for 50th anniversary celebrations, Tee-Rex arrives on the scene and East Park gets a brand makeover.
10 apartments have been removed to make way for something new. Lazy river?
A new waterslide attraction? Stay tuned…
Splash against the waves, float on tubes or catch the rays on deck. East Park introduces a wavepool that incorporates cutting-edge waterpark technology. The shallow beach entrance gives kiddies the opportunity to wade in the water while the big kids take on the waves.
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Girl Power! Danai Gurira Is Your People's Choice Awards Action Movie Star of 2018
by Stephanie Wenger | Sun., Nov. 11, 2018 6:42 PM
We can't get enough of watching Danai Gurira so it comes as no surprise that the 40-year-old performer was named the Action Movie Star of 2018 at the E! People's Choice Awards tonight.
It's clear that audiences loved seeing the New York University graduate transform into Okoye in Black Panther.
After it was announced that Gurira was the Action Movie Star of 2018 for her work in the hit Marvel movie, she took the stage to speak out about being a woman in a female dominated category.
"Thank you for affirming that women and girls when they are given the chance to hang with the boys, can hang with the best of them. Thank you!" the actress shared.
The Marvel star also took time to thank Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther, for believing in her and all women.
People's Choice Awards 2018 Winners: The Complete List
"I have to give love and appreciation to Mr. Ryan Coogler, the storyteller behind this, and for giving me this role and entrusting women to be collaborators, to be front and center and to have space and tell a story with him," she continued. "Thank you very much, Mr. Coogler."
In Black Panther, Gurira takes on the role of Okoye, who is the leader of the Dora Milaje, a militant order which protects the King of Wakanda, and one of T'Challa's (Boseman) closest advisers.
The Walking Dead actress beat out her costar Chadwick Bosemanas well as Chris Hemsworth for Avengers: Infinity War, Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool 2 and Chris Pratt for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom to take home the trophy for the Action Star of 2018 at the PCAs.
Black Panther is also up for Movie of 2018 and Action Movie of 2018 at the People's Choice Awards.
TAGS/ Shows , People's Choice Awards , E! Shows , Top Stories , 2018 People's Choice Awards , Awards , Chris Hemsworth , Ryan Reynolds , Danai Gurira , Chris Pratt , Chadwick Boseman , Movies , Apple News
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December 24, 2016 Entertainment, Others
UAE is a world humanitarian leader, says FNC Speaker
ABU DHABI, The declaration of 2017 as the Year of Giving by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is part of the country's journey of glory and generous giving, and shows that the UAE is a world humanitarian leader, said Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of Federal National Council (FNC) on Saturday.
H.H. Sheikh Khalifa's initiative seeks to promote the culture of giving back to the community and enhance the spirit of volunteering and loyalty to one's country.
This journey is blessed with a true philanthropic and humanitarian umbrella that is one of the fruits of the efforts of the nation's founder, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who established the country on the values of generous giving to all needy people regardless of faith, colour, race or gender, Al Qubaisi said.
"In doing this, he only sought to please God, according to the teachings of Islam which promotes love, tolerance, sympathy with others, as well as the authentic values of our people and society that we are proud of," she added.
The declaration, she stated, is further proof that H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed is a true world leader who supports humanity, promotes hope and welfare through relief and development aid being offered to tens of countries, she said, stressing, "he is a leader of the humanitarian capital of the world who seeks to promote love, peace and co-operation across the world and bolster the UAE's global leadership with unprecedented initiatives targeting human progress everywhere."
"Sheikh Khalifa's declaration is an incentive for all social segments, as well as the private sector which is a key partner in sustainable development," she stated.
Giving back, Al Qubaisi noted, is a deep-rooted human value, so the wise leadership wanted to benefit people around the world.
She cited Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who said today that the UAE is known for its philanthropic activities and helping the less fortunate worldwide, while the people of the UAE follow in the footsteps of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, the world-renowned philanthropist.
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The Black Crowes Re-Release Classic Albums
Albums to be Available on High-Grade 180-Gram Vinyl
Los Angeles, CA – Oct. 15, 2015 – Formed in 1989 in Marietta, GA, by brothers Chris and Rich Robinson while still in high school, and originally named Mr. Crowe’s Garden after a children’s book, The Black Crowes recorded a total of eight studio albums, starting with 1990’s Shake Your Money Maker, which was released by Rick Rubin’s Def American label. That debut, named after a classic Elmore James blues song, peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 5 million copies worldwide (and 3 million in the U.S.), with two singles, “Hard to Handle” and the acoustic ballad “She Talks to Angels,” going Top 30 on the Billboard 100 and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with three more, “Jealous Again,” “Twice as Hard” and “Seeing Things,” also charting. The group went on to sell 30 million albums internationally, being named Best New American Band by Rolling Stone readers in 1990.
Shake Your Money Maker will now be released by American Recordings/Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) December 4 as a one-album set, along with the band’s following three releases as double-LP sets – 1992’s The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, 1994’s Amorica and 1996’s Three Snakes and One Charm – all on high-grade 180-gram vinyl, with lacquers cut directly from the master tapes. The first two originally came out on Def American, the latter two after Rubin changed the name of the label to American Recordings.
Shake Your Money Maker: The band’s debut album featured two Top 30 Billboard singles in their cover of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle” and the acoustic ballad “She Talks to Angels.” Recorded in the summer of 1989 in Atlanta and Los Angeles with producer George Drakoulias, the album featured Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell. Several of the songs, including “Could I’ve Been So Blind” and “She Talks to Angels,” whose riffs were originally penned by Rich Robinson when he was 17, come from the band’s incarnation as Mr. Crowe’s Garden. Critics compared them to the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and the Faces.
The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion: The Black Crowes’ sophomore album, which went to #1 on the Billboard 200 upon its release in May, 1992, eventually going double-platinum, will be released for the first time as a two-disc 180 gram vinyl set. It was previously released as a single LP in 2004 only in certain countries and only appeared in the U.S. in 2009 by way of an inferior quality third-party pressing. Now remastered for vinyl, the album was the first to feature Marc Ford on lead guitar, replacing Jeff Cease. The title comes from the full name of an influential hymnal compiled by William Walker in 1835. The four released singles each topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks charts, including “Remedy,” (11 weeks), “Thorn in My Pride” (four weeks), “Sting Me” (two weeks) and “Hotel Illness” (six weeks), breaking a record previously held by Tom Petty. The disc also includes the band’s cover of Bob Marley’s “Time Will Tell.” Guitar World named it to the magazine’s list of the 100 greatest guitar albums of all time.
Amorica: The first Black Crowes album to come out on Rubin’s newly renamed American Recordings label, the two-disc 180-gram vinyl reissue has been out of print in LP form since its initial 1994 release as a single album. The band, now a six-piece, had previously ditched the unreleased Tall, and its subsequent release caused plenty of controversy in the marketplace, with several retailers refusing to carry the album, whose original cover (later airbrushed) depicted female pubic hair visible under an American flag bikini. The original release eventually earned RIAA-certified gold for selling more than 500,000, peaking at #11 on the Billboard 200, spurred by three more Top 10 Mainstream Rock Tracks in “A Conspiracy” (#5, #23 Modern Rock Tracks ), “High Head Blues” (#8) and “Wiser Time” (#7)
Three Snakes and One Charm: The Black Crowes’ fourth album, also on American Recordings, was previously available on vinyl only as a boxed set of 7” singles, but now comes out for the first time as a two-LP set on 180-gram vinyl since its initial CD release in July, 1996. The original album peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200, with its two singles, “Blackberry” and “Good Friday,” reaching #6 and #3, respectively, on the magazine’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Produced by the band with Jack Joseph Puig – who also manned the boards for Amorica – the album was recorded in a rented home, which helped soothe the frayed relationship between the brothers Robinson, then finished at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. The new production touches included the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on tracks like “(Only Halfway) to Everywhere” and “Let Me Share the Ride.” Two bonus tracks, originally included in the boxed set, “Just Say You’re Sorry” and a cover of Bob Marley’s “Pimper’s Paradise,” are included on the fourth and final side of the double-vinyl set.
The Recording Academy and Republic Records to Release '2016 Grammy Nominees' Album
The Clientele Release Compilation Album
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 'Greatest Hits' Available on Vinyl on July 29
Velvet Underground Release 'Loaded: Re-Loaded' 45th Anniversary Edition
Rob Thomas to Release New Album
WEEZER Announces Self-Titled New Album - 'The White Album'
Mastodon Re-Issues 'Crack the Skye,' June 2
Vanguard Re-Issues Four Classic Albums for Record Store Day
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Matthew Jolly announced as National Clinical Director: maternity review and women’s health for NHS England
NHS England is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Matthew Jolly (MBBS MD MRCOG) as the National Clinical Director for Maternity Review and Women’s Health.
Matthew is an experienced clinician who is committed to providing excellent individual care and to the strategic improvement of maternity services and women’s health.
He qualified at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School and trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in the North West Thames region, including two years researching the role of maternal metabolism in fetal growth at Imperial College School of Medicine. Matthew trained as a sub specialist in maternal and fetal medicine at the Centre for Fetal Care, Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital. Since 2001 he has worked as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. He has also worked as a departmental clinical director and since 2013 as joint clinical director for The Maternity Children and Young People South East Coast Strategic Clinical Network.
Matthew’s Strategic Clinical Network work has led to several national roles including sitting on the Women’s Health Patient Safety Expert Group, working with Specialised Commissioning, supporting the oversight and implementation of the NHSE stillbirth care bundle and working as a stakeholder with NICE.
Matthew is due to join NHS England in the autumn and will be taking over the role of NCD from Dr Catherine Calderwood, who has moved on to be Chief Medical Officer for Scotland.
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General Partner of Summit Midstream Partners, LP Announces Closing of Acquisition of Equity Interests in Ohio Gathering From Blackhawk Midstream
DALLAS, Jan. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Midstream Partners, LLC ("Summit Investments"), the privately held company that owns and controls the general partner of Summit Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE: SMLP), announced today that it has closed the acquisition of equity interests in Ohio Gathering Company, L.L.C. and Ohio Condensate Company, L.L.C. (together, "Ohio Gathering") from Blackhawk Midstream, LLC ("Blackhawk"), a joint venture between Gulfport Energy Corporation ("Gulfport") and Wexford Capital LP.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120927/MM82470LOGO)
The acquired equity interests from Blackhawk include an option to increase Summit Investments' ownership interest in Ohio Gathering up to 40.0% at a price based on the capital invested by the owners at the time the option is exercised. Summit Investments expects to fully exercise this option in the second quarter of 2014. Upon exercise of the option, each of MarkWest Utica EMG, L.L.C. and MarkWest Utica EMG Condensate, L.L.C. will retain its respective 60.0% ownership interest in Ohio Gathering and will continue to operate and develop the gathering infrastructure. Summit Investments intends to offer all or a portion of its interest in Ohio Gathering to Summit Midstream Partners, LP following the exercise of the option and the subsequent development of the assets.
Ohio Gathering owns, operates and is developing significant midstream infrastructure in southeastern Ohio consisting of a liquids-rich natural gas gathering system, a dry natural gas gathering system and a condensate transportation, storage and stabilization facility in the core of the Utica Shale play. Ohio Gathering is supported by fee-based gathering agreements and acreage dedications from producer customers including Gulfport, Rex Energy Corporation and PDC Energy, Inc., which are actively developing Utica Shale positions throughout Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Noble and Monroe counties in Ohio. Ohio Gathering's liquids rich gathering system serves as a critical inlet to MarkWest Utica EMG's Cadiz and Seneca processing complexes, the largest integrated rich-gas processing and fractionation facilities in the Utica Shale.
Steve Newby, President and Chief Executive Officer of Summit Investments commented, "This announcement marks our first step to position Summit with an equity interest in a premier set midstream assets located in the core of the Utica Shale. We intend to fully exercise our option and increase our equity interest in Ohio Gathering and maximize our exposure to this important and fast growing basin. We are excited to begin this joint venture partnership with MarkWest and The Energy & Minerals Group and we look forward to playing a role in expanding the infrastructure required to unlock the production potential of the Utica Shale."
Summit Investments engaged Barclays Capital, Inc. to act as its financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins LLP to act as its legal advisor on the transaction.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal and other securities laws. Words and phrases such as "is anticipated," "is estimated," "is expected," "is planned," "is scheduled," "is targeted," "believes," "intends," "objectives," "projects," "strategies" and similar expressions are used to identify such forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements relating to the proposed acquisition of Ohio Gathering and subsequent option exercise are based on management's expectations, estimates and projections about the natural gas and NGL industries and markets and other factors on the date this news release was prepared. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including, but not limited to, the risks related to prevailing conditions and outlook in the natural gas and NGL industries and markets, acquisition and development risks, hazards and delays relating to the acquisition, development, and expansion of Ohio Gathering and the availability of financing on terms acceptable to Summit Investments related to the acquisition and development and any expansion of Ohio Gathering. In addition, any determination by Summit Investments to offer any interest in Ohio Gathering to Summit Midstream Partners, LP will be made in Summit Investment's sole discretion and will in any event be subject to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the ability to reach agreement on acceptable terms, the approval of a conflicts committee of Summit Midstream Partners, LP (if appropriate), prevailing conditions and outlook in the natural gas and NGL industries and markets, and Summit Midstream Partners, LP's ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms, from the capital markets or other sources. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward-looking statements. Summit Investments has no obligation to offer, and Summit Midstream Partners, LP has no right to acquire, any interest in Ohio Gathering or any other asset of Summit Investments. Summit Investments is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Summit Midstream Partners, LLC
Summit Midstream Partners, LLC ("Summit Investments") owns a 71.6% limited partner interest in SMLP and owns and controls the general partner of SMLP, Summit Midstream GP, LLC, which has sole responsibility for conducting the business and managing the operations of SMLP. Summit Investments owns, operates and is developing various crude oil, natural gas, and water-related midstream energy infrastructure assets in the Bakken Shale Play in North Dakota, the DJ Niobrara Shale Play in Colorado, the Uinta Basin in Utah, and the Piceance Basin in western Colorado. Summit Investments is also developing natural gas gathering and condensate stabilization infrastructure in the Utica Shale in southeastern Ohio under a joint venture agreement with affiliates of MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. and The Energy & Minerals Group. Summit Investments is a privately held company owned by members of management, funds controlled by Energy Capital Partners II, LLC, and GE Energy Financial Services, Inc. and certain of its affiliates.
Summit Investments was formed in 2009 by members of management and funds controlled by Energy Capital Partners II, LLC. Together with its affiliates, Energy Capital Partners is a private equity firm with over $8 billion in capital commitments that is focused on investing in North America's energy infrastructure. In August 2011, Energy Capital Partners sold an interest in Summit Investments to GE Energy Financial Services. GE Energy Financial Services invests globally in essential, long-lived and capital-intensive energy assets
SOURCE Summit Midstream Partners, LL
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Gopher Resource Announces Agreement to be Acquired by Energy Capital Partners
Gopher Resource LLC, of Eagan announced today that it has agreed to be acquired by Energy Capital Partners (ECP), a private equity firm based in New Jersey. The two parties expect to close the transaction on or around March 6, 2018. Gopher Resource would join ECP’s growing portfolio of energy-related companies, including those in power generation, midstream oil and gas, renewable energy, environmental, and related services.
Jeffrey Jacobsen, Gopher Resource chief executive officer, explained that the two like-minded companies have been in talks for some time. He said that his company’s exceptional performance and the battery industry’s growth made Gopher Resource an attractive acquisition prospect. ECP shares and appreciates the Gopher Resource values of honesty, integrity and doing the right thing for all constituents.
“We’re very excited about the synergy of joining Energy Capital Partners. They understand our business and recognize its strong potential for growth. ECP has the ability to take Gopher Resource – the company and its employees – to the next level of success.”
Jacobsen added that he expects no immediate changes in the Gopher Resource leadership team or among employees, daily plant operations, or the company’s long-standing commitments to safety and environmental stewardship.
The two companies will release a joint statement once the acquisition is finalized.
About Gopher Resource
Minnesota-based Gopher Resource is a national environmental solutions provider and a leader in its field. Founded in 1946, the privately held company uses advanced technology to recycle spent automotive, industrial and stationary batteries in a safe and sustainable manner. Gopher Resource employs approximately 600 people at recycling facilities in Eagan, MN and Tampa, FL. It also partners with Dakota County (in MN) to operate The Recycling Zone for county households and businesses. For more information visit gopherresource.com.
About Energy Capital Partners
Energy Capital Partners (ECP) is a private equity firm focused on investing in North America’s energy infrastructure. Since 2005, the firm has raised over $13 billion in commitments, from state pension funds, university endowments, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors. ECP has utilized this capital to work collaboratively with management teams in building and acquiring investment platforms across multiple sub-sectors. With offices in Short Hills, New Jersey; Houston, Texas; and San Diego, California, Energy Capital Partners seeks to leverage its team’s decades of energy experience in investing and managing energy infrastructure assets and businesses to serve its investors and portfolio companies. Learn more about ECP at ecpartners.com.
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Sensory Processing Disorder Research News
by Jennifer Jo Brout-Lynn, Ed.M, Psy.D.
The term Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) has been adopted to describe an umbrella term encompassing problems with sensory modulation, sensory discrimination, and sensory-based movement. (McIntosh, et al., 1999; Miller, et al., 2001; Schaff, et al., 2003; Miller, et al., 2007) Children with SPD have difficulty processing information from the senses (auditory, visual, vestibular, tactile, etc.) in order to formulate adaptive responses. SPD was originally called Sensory Integration Dysfunction, and it was first described in the 1970s by Dr. A. Jean Ayers, an occupational therapist with advanced training in neuroscience.
One subtype of SPD, Sensory OverResponsivity (SOR), has particular relevance to basic and treatment-based research in the mental-health field. Children with SOR react to sensory stimuli that others find neutral or pleasing as though the stimuli are aversive. When the environment is sensory-overloading, these individuals feel bombarded with stimulation. Behavioral manifestations include:
Because responses and consequent behavior depend upon changing sensory environments, these children are unpredictable, difficult to understand, and are frequently misdiagnosed by mental-health practitioners. However, recent research at the SPD Foundation (formerly KID Foundation) has revealed that there are specific nervous-system markers in children with SOR that account for the observed behavior.
Using electro-dermal activity and vagal tone as dependent measures, researchers at the SPD Foundation tested reactivity to various sensory stimuli across groups of children. (Miller, 2001; Schaff, et al, 2003) Children with SOR demonstrated:
Greater sympathetic responses (e.g., fight-or-flight responses) to stimuli
Weaker parasympathetic responses (e.g., the system that regulates us back to calm states, or homeostasis)
In other words, when presented with stimuli that typical children found benign, children with SOR responded more intensely (as though the stimuli were threatening), and they did not calm down as quickly or efficiently as typical peers. Lack of habituation may be critical for explaining the salient aspects of certain disordered psychological and behavioral functioning. All animals, including humans, alert to novel stimuli with physical arousal. Once it has been established that the stimuli are not threatening, the arousal level reduces significantly. For example, if we hear the sound of a lawn mower being powered up, our nervous systems alert to and attend to that sound. We become aroused. Once we determine that the sound is not a threat, the nervous system relegates it to the background and ceases to respond to it as if it were novel. (Schaff, et al., 2003) But SOR children tended to react as if repeated trials of the same sensory stimuli were novel each time, suggesting that they are in over-aroused, hyper-vigilant states throughout the day.
Preliminary studies of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorders suggest different physiologic markers, supporting SPD as a valid syndrome separate from these other conditions that share symptoms. Further research at the SPD Foundation is likely to facilitate differential diagnosis between these developmental disorders and disabilities. Until SPD is included in the DSM and acknowledged universally among healthcare practitioners, many of the one million children estimated to be affected by the disorder will go untreated.
Jennifer Jo Brout-Lynn, Ed.M., Psy.D., is a school/clinical child psychologist focusing on how Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) impact mental health. She earned an Ed.M. from Columbia University and a Psy.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Currently, Dr. Brout is involved with projects at the KID Foundation Research Institute and Duke University and is in association with audiologists and private clinicians throughout the country. In 2006, Dr. Brout launched Positive Solutions of NY, LLC to support research on psychological conditions, developmental disorders, and learning difficulties through various creative and public service projects. Dr. Brout is also the mother of 13-year-old triplets and is on the advisory board of Mothers of Supertwins (M.O.S.T), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and researching multiple-birth children/families. She writes a quarterly column, “Ask the School Psychologist,” for M.O.S.T. which addresses the concerns of parents of school-aged multiple-birth children.
senses anxiety behaviors children
I found a new job! Thanks for your help.
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Home » United Arab Emirates » Healthcare
Healthcare in the United Arab Emirates
The CIA World Factbook reveals that the United Arab Emirates has 1.93 physicians and 1.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people, and the average Emirati citizen has a life expectancy of 76.91 years (74.31 for men & 79.63 for women). Healthcare expenditure in the United Arab Emirates totals 3.3% of the country's GDP.
Sections in HEALTHCARE IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:
» National Health Services for Expats in the United Arab Emirates
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Moving to the United Arab Emirates
If you are considering moving to the United Arab Emirates or are soon to depart, you can find helpful information and advice in the Expat Briefing dedicated the United Arab Emirates section including; details of immigration and visas, Emirati forums, Emirati event listings and service providers in the United Arab Emirates.
Living in the United Arab Emirates
From your safety to shopping, living in the United Arab Emirates can yield great benefits as well as occasional drawbacks. Find your feet and stay abreast of the latest developments affecting expats in the United Arab Emirates with relevant news and up-to-date information.
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Working in the United Arab Emirates can be rewarding as well as stressful, if you don't plan ahead and fulfill any legal requirements. Find out about visas and passports, owning and operating a company in the United Arab Emirates, and general Emirati culture of the labour market.
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Camden State Park View Website
Camden State Park
1897 Camden Park Road
Lynd, MN 56157
Park permits: $35 annual, $26 second vehicle, $12 handicapped, or $7 daily. Camping fees are separate.
Get current rates
The park is a mix of upland prairies, wetlands, and river hardwoods. The scenic Redwood River flows through the length of the park and is stocked yearly with trout. Brawner Lake, located on the south end of the park, is a favorite picnicking, swimming, canoeing and fishing spot. Hiking, horseback, Mt bike trails as well as 2 semi-modern campgrounds, Group Camp, horse camp, swimming beach, and 2 picnic areas with shelters are available.
Located on a Lake or River
Brawner
Canoes or Kayaks Available
Lake/River Access (Boat Ramp)
Cross Country Ski Trail (groomed)
Snowmobile Trail (groomed)
Camden State Park is located 10 miles southwest of Marshall, Minnesota on State Highway 23 in Lyon County. It is ten miles north of U.S. Highway 14.
Phone reservations can be made by calling 866-857-2757 (TTY: 952-936-4008) between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily November through March, and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily April through October.
Desc of Green Practices in Place: The newly remodeled park office was remodeled with "Green" in mind. The office is heated and cooled with geothermal heat pumps, additional insulation, energy efficient lighting and a 10KW wind turbine. Plumbing fixtures are also water-efficient models.
Energy Efficiency/Conservation
Eco-Friendly Landscape/Facility Design
Hookups available in WINTER
TOTAL number of campsites available in winter: 35
Number of sites in horseback camp area: 8
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American History & Presidents
Economics & Political Systems
Faith & Society
Military & Foreign Policy
Student Fellows
American History & Presidents “When They Dropped the Bomb”—Remembering August 1945
“When They Dropped the Bomb”—Remembering August 1945
August 2, 2010 - by Paul G. Kengor
August 2, 2010 Paul G. Kengor
This week marks 65 years since the United States dropped the atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945, President Harry Truman delivered a “rain of ruin” upon Hiroshima, Japan, with Nagasaki hit three days later, killing 100,000 to 200,000.
Truman’s objective was to compel surrender from an intransigent enemy that refused to halt its naked aggression. The barbarous mentality of 1940s Japan was beyond belief. An entire nation lost its mind, consumed by a ferocious militarism and hell-bent on suicide. Facing such fanaticism, Truman felt no alternative but to use the bomb. As George C. Marshall put it, the Allies needed something extraordinary “to shock [the Japanese] into action.” Nothing else was working. Japan was committed to a downward death spiral, with no end in sight.
“We had to end the war,” said a desperate Marshall later. “We had to save American lives.” Evidence shows the bomb achieved precisely that, saving millions of lives, not merely Americans but Japanese. The Japanese themselves acknowledged this, from the likes of Toshikazu Kase to Emperor Hirohito himself. Kase was among the high-level officials representing Japan at its formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri. “The capitulation of Japan,” Kase said definitively, “saved the lives of several million men.”
As we mark the anniversary of this period, we should first and foremost think about those boys—our fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, uncles, brothers, some now in their 80s and 90s—who lived lives of faith and freedom and family because of Truman’s decision. I’ve met many of them. Anytime I find myself in conversation with a World War II vet, I ask where he was when the first bomb hit.
“I’ll tell you where I was!” snapped George Oakes of Churchill, Pennsylvania. “I was a 22-year-old kid on a troop transport preparing to invade the Japanese mainland…. We were sitting there as targets for kamikazes when they dropped the first one. All they told us was that there was a new weapon brought into the war that landed on Japan proper, and everything we were planning was on hold. A couple of days later, they dropped the other one.”
Oakes, who served with the Army combat engineers, didn’t want to die. “I was engaged to an absolutely beautiful girl named Virginia. All I knew was that I wanted to go home.”
George remembered the U.S. military’s frustration in striking Japan mercilessly in conventional bombing raids. In one case, Allied bombs killed 100,000 people in Tokyo in one night. As George Marshall noted, “It had seemingly no effect whatsoever…. [Japanese] morale was affected, so far as we could tell, not at all.”
George Oakes saw that firsthand. “We were bombing the hell out of Japan with B-29s. Every Japanese soldier and person was ready to die for the Emperor. And they weren’t surrendering.”
No, they weren’t. In fact, even after both atomic bombs, the Japanese War Cabinet remained deadlocked on whether to give up. The Emperor broke the stalemate.
“Boy, were we thrilled,” recalled George when they got the news on their boat. They were spared an apocalyptic invasion that would have made Normandy look like a picnic at the beach. When I asked George if he felt gratitude toward President Truman, he responded with some colorful imagery: “Am I thankful? If Harry Truman walked down my street right now, I’d kiss his bare rear-end.” Instead of storming Japan with guns and grenades and flamethrowers, dodging kamikazes, shooting and stabbing and slicing and dicing not only Japanese men but screaming women-and-children-turned-combatants, George went home—to peace. He became a charter member of East Pittsburgh VFW Post 5008, and worked for Westinghouse for 44 years. He served as scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 98 and was a founding member, Eucharistic minister, and greeter at St. John Fisher Church. He was a frequent caller to Pittsburgh radio talk-shows and contributor to “Letters to the Editor” sections, which is where he caught my attention when I tracked him down in August 1995.
Oh—and he married Virginia. George Oakes of Churchill died on Dec. 12, 2001, at age 78, an extra half-century after Harry Truman dropped the bomb, and arguably because Harry Truman dropped the bomb. For George and Virginia, married 55 years, that meant the added gift of life to three sons. He was buried with honors amid loved ones—not ripped to bloody, smoldering chunks of flesh on the death-strewn soil of Imperial Japan. George Oakes was far from alone. There were countless American boys-turned-men, husbands and dads and granddads, in the same boat.
About Paul G. Kengor
Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science and chief academic fellow of the Institute for Faith and Freedom at Grove City College. His latest book (April 2017) is A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century. He is also the author of 11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative. His other books include The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor and Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.
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Hong Kong radical test case in China’s bid to limit speech
Protesters hold placards calling for Hong Kong’s independence during a rally in July 2016. (Bloomberg pic)
HONG KONG: Independence activist Andy Chan was minutes into an open-air debate in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park when an opponent suggested his actions might be as dangerous as terrorism.
“Do you see any guns on me now?” Chan shot back, his arms spread wide. “You can search me.”
The exchange on a sweltering Sunday afternoon, as hundreds of maids picnicked nearby, was just one volley in a debate that has gripped the former British colony for more than three years: How much should Hong Kong tolerate activists like Chan who seek the city’s separation from China?
Earlier this month, Hong Kong’s government threatened to ban Chan’s pro-independence National Party, a move unprecedented since the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. More moderate democracy advocates who disavow Chan’s views fear the action could soften the ground for broader efforts to curb the freedoms that help multinational companies thrive in the global financial hub.
“China and the Hong Kong government are shrinking and shrinking the political space for freedom of expression,” said Chris Ng of the Progressive Lawyers’ Group. Ng said they were building a case to revive a national security law – known as Article 23 – that the government abandoned after half a million protesters flooded the streets in 2003.
While Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has declined to commit to a time frame for advancing the legislation, Chinese authorities have expressed impatience with the inaction.
The proposed ban on the National Party, which could take effect as soon as August 7, is the latest attempt to squelch a small but consequential independence movement that sprung up after mass “Occupy” protests in 2014 failed to win any democratic reforms. In 2016, the Chinese government reinterpreted local law to ban such activists from public office, and local officials earlier this year barred a legislative candidate from running because she supported “self-determination.”
President Xi Jinping warned during a visit to Hong Kong last year that any challenge to China’s rule was “an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible.” Lam struck a similar tone when asked about the ban Wednesday before beginning a four-day trip to Beijing, “Any speech or acts that advocate Hong Kong independence cannot be tolerated and would most certainly face suppression.”
The lanky and soft-spoken Chan, 27, is among a generation of activists who emerged from the 2014 protests favouring a sharper break with China. Standing outside a McDonald’s, Chan brought a megaphone and urged protesters to occupy roads, emulating the sit-ins that closed down three business districts.
“Halfway through Occupy, I realised that when we were asking for democracy from the Hong Kong government, we were actually asking or begging for democracy from the Beijing government,” the business administration and engineering graduate said while sipping Earl Grey tea in an interview July 20. “I thought that if we break away from China, we would have democracy.”
Others had the same idea. A patchwork of “localist” groups emerged across Hong Kong, some favouring a vote on the city’s future, others backing a violent break if necessary. After members of one organisation participated in a February 2016 riot that left scores of police officers injured, authorities vowed to crack down on the “radical separatists.”
The next month, Chan launched a Facebook page with “30 to 50” members to start his Hong Kong National Party, evoking the Nationalist Party deposed by the Communists in the Chinese civil war. He was among the first candidates barred from running in local legislative elections on the grounds that his views violated the city’s Basic Law, a mini-constitution that calls Hong Kong “an inalienable part of” China.
Now, the Hong Kong government is arguing that the National Party’s mere existence “poses a real threat to national security.” On July 17, two police officers presented Chan with a 700-page dossier recommending a ban. It was based on transcripts of his public remarks, photographs of him distributing leaflets and his contacts with Tibetan and Taiwanese activists.
The report accused the party of “school infiltration,” “inciting hatred against mainland people” and being willing to “use any effective measures to achieve their goal, including use of force,” according to a copy Chan posted on Facebook. Security Secretary John Lee gave the party three weeks to respond.
“I did not form an army. I didn’t do any real actions but speeches. So now they consider what I have said on the radio is evidence I damaged national security,” Chan said. Asked whether he ruled out the use of violence, he said people “need to fight back” if China deployed the military against protesters, like it did in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
“I do not advocate violence,” Chan said. “I do not advocate we attack people pro-actively.”
Even Chan admits independence is a long-shot. The UK, which quickly lost Hong Kong to the Japanese during World War II, deemed the colony unsustainable without Chinese support. The city gets most of its food and electricity from the mainland, which also represented about half of its global trade last year.
“Independence is a stupid idea – Hong Kong can’t be a country because we don’t have military strength or even water,” said Gary Mak, 25, a multimedia entrepreneur who attended the park debate Sunday. “The National Party should be banned because it challenges the Basic Law.”
To ban the group, Hong Kong authorities are relying on a colonial-era law originally intended to break up criminal gangs. Democracy advocates are concerned that authorities are singling out the more extreme members of their fractious coalition to break opposition to a potentially more powerful legal weapon – Article 23.
The Basic Law provision requires Hong Kong to “enact laws on its own” to prevent secession, sedition and subversion, as well as restrict the activities of foreign political organisations.
As he prepared his response to the government’s letter, Chan said he suspected that others would be targeted after himself.
“Self-determination and then democracy and then freedom of speech,” he said. “They are just moving the red line and they will deal with one enemy at a time.”
caption: Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Rally As City Marks Anniversary Of Handover To China
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Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program
A Rule by the Rural Utilities Service on 12/05/2013
Rural Utilities Service
This final rule is effective February 3, 2014.
73355-73371 (17 pages)
CFR:
7 CFR 1710
RIN:
0572-AC19
Applicants and Awardees
Review of Reports
Executive Order 12866 and 13563
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
E-Government Act Compliance
National Environmental Policy Act Review
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
Unfunded Mandates
Executive Order 13132, Federalism
Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments
Summary of Major Changes in Response to Comments on the Rule
Summary of Comments
Small Scale Renewable Energy Projects
Soft Costs Associated With a Borrower's Loan
The Rate Borrowers Can Charge to the Ultimate Consumer Above the Treasury Based Interest Rate
Decrease the Complexity of the Loan Program
Define Certified Energy Auditor
Identifying the Appropriate Performance Thresholds
Fuel Switching
The $250 Million Funding Limitation
A Preferred Lender Program
Former RUS Borrowers and Their Eligibility for the Loan Program
The Cost Effective Requirement in Section 1710.405
Financial Institutions and Cooperative Relending
Net Utility Plant
Bulletin and Guidance Documents
Requiring all Electric Borrowers To Participate in This Program
Requiring all Load Forecasting
Loan Advances on a Reimbursement Basis
Making Post-Installment Evaluations Publically Available
Using Qualified Contractors
Program Aggregation
Offer Technical Assistance to Utilities
Encourage Peer-to-Peer Networking Through Webinars
The Definition of Energy Efficiency and Conservation measures
Promote On-Bill Repayment
Additional Language Clarifying That Borrowers Cannot Exclude Renters
Pre-Retrofits Should Be Allowed as Program Costs
Loan Loss Reserves and Credit Enhancements Should Be Allowed as Program Costs
Additional Language Supporting a Diverse Workforce
Consumer Eligibility
Clarifying § 1710.255(b)
Clarifying Demand Side Management
Redefine Energy Efficiency and Conservation Measures
Clarifying § 1710.406(b)(7)
Clarifying § 1710.406(a)(1)
Clarifying § 1710.405(b)(1)(vii)
§ 1721.1(a)
State and Federal Interactions
Loan Directly to Consumers
Natural Gas Expansion and Explicit Support of Water Heaters
Appropriate Performance Thresholds for Water Heaters
Focus on Utility Programs That Support Customer Investments in Energy Efficiency
Leverage Other Federal Programs With the Energy Efficiency Program
Consider Combined Heat and Power Projects as Eligible Measures
Fuel Switching Definition
Loan Monitoring
Existing EE Programs
List of Subjects
7 CFR Part 1710
PART 1710—GENERAL AND PRE-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO ELECTRIC LOANS AND GUARANTEES
Subpart A—General
Subpart C—Loan Purposes and Basic Policies
Subpart D—Basic Requirements for Loan Approval
Subpart E—Load Forecasts
Subpart F—Construction Work Plans and Related Studies
Subpart G—Long Range Financial Forecasts
Subpart I—Application Requirements and Procedures for Loans
Subpart H—Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program
PART 1717—POST-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO INSURED AND GUARANTEED ELECTRIC LOANS
Subpart R—Lien Accommodations and Subordinations for 100 Percent Private Financing
PART 1721—POST-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR INSURED AND GUARANTEED ELECTRIC LOANS
Subpart A—Advance of Funds
PART 1724—ELECTRIC ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES AND DESIGN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Subpart C—Engineering Services
PART 1730—ELECTRIC SYSTEM OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE
Subpart B—Operations and Maintenance Requirements
Appendix A to Subpart B of Part 1730—Review Rating Summary, RUS Form 300
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 73356
Rural Utilities Service, USDA.
Final rule.
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS or Agency) is publishing policies and procedures for loan and guarantee financial assistance in support of energy efficiency programs (EE Programs) sponsored and implemented by electric utilities for the benefit of rural persons in their service territory. This final rule amends RUS regulations on General and Pre-Loan Policies and Procedures Common to Electric Loans and Guarantees, which were codified on December 20, 1993. The final rule also includes conforming amendments to additional RUS regulations. Under Section 2 of the Rural Electrification Act (RE Act), RUS is authorized to assist electric borrowers in implementing Demand side management, energy efficiency and conservation programs, and on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems. The scope of this regulation falls within the authority of the Act.
Gerard Moore, USDA-Rural Utilities Service, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Stop 1569, Washington, DC 20250-1569, telephone (202) 205-9692 or email to gerard.moore@wdc.usda.gov.
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS or Agency) is publishing policies and procedures for loan and guarantee financial assistance in support of energy efficiency programs (EE Programs) sponsored and implemented by electric utilities for the benefit of rural persons in their service territory. This final rule is designed to supplement the policies contained in 7 CFR part 1710, GENERAL AND PRE-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO ELECTRIC LOANS AND GUARANTEES, which were finalized in December 1993. Under Section 2(a) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 902(a)), the Secretary of Agriculture is explicitly “authorized and empowered to make loans in the several States and Territories of the United States . . . for the purpose of assisting electric borrowers to implement Demand side management, energy efficiency and conservation programs, and on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems.” Section 6101 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) inserted the words “and energy efficiency” into this provision. In order to implement this new focus of the program, RUS amends 7 CFR part 1710 by adding a new Subpart H entitled “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program.” (EECLP).
In fiscal year 2014 the Rural Utilities Service will make $250 million available to support energy efficiency as indicated in the President's climate change action plan. In future years, the amount of funding made available will be based on the performance of the program.
The goals of an eligible Energy Efficiency project eligible for funding under this program and Subpart H include: (1) Increasing energy efficiency at the end user level; (2) modifying electric load such that there is a reduction in overall system demand; (3) effecting a more efficient use of existing electric distribution, transmission and generation facilities; (4) attracting new businesses and creating jobs in rural communities by investing in energy efficiency; and (5) encouraging the use of renewable energy fuels for either Demand side management or the reduction of conventional fossil fuel use within the service territory. Although not a goal, RUS recognizes that there will be a reduction of green house gases with energy efficiency improvements.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program may include loans supporting energy efficiency activities undertaken by the utility itself, the finance of energy efficiency projects undertaken by others, and investments made by the utility to accomplish their obligations under utility energy services contracts. It is important to distinguish that there are potentially two different types of loans associated with this regulation. RUS will loan funds to a utility for an energy efficiency program. The utility, in turn, may choose to relend these funds to their consumers (ultimate recipient) for energy efficiency improvements in industrial, commercial, or residential applications. The utility may also use the funds to complete energy efficiency activities on their own property. The anticipated transfers during the first year of the program will be the funding availability of $250 million. RUS expects this to increase over the life of the program.
The new Subpart H for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program can have several economic impacts. The benefits include: (1) The value of purchased energy saved; (2) the value of corresponding avoided generation, transmission and/or distribution; and (3) savings in energy bills.
The final loan program is estimated to have administrative costs to the applicant and federal government, at about $740,000 total for applicants, and about $1.7 million for the Federal government.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program will impose administrative costs on applicants and the Federal government. Quantitative estimates of these costs have been made and are presented below.
Estimates of costs for applicants: the twenty expected applications are broken down into two sections—applications and reporting. Table 2 summarizes the estimated costs.
Table 2—Estimate Burden to Applicants
Existing Electric Program Borrowers $593,356 $148,339 $741,695
All entities seeking financial assistance under this program must submit certain information to the Agency in order to apply for a loan. The total estimated cost for applying is approximately $593,356, calculated by multiplying the number of applicants (20) by the labor hours associated with the additional burden (823.20) by an estimated $45 per hour for labor. See OPM's Web site at http://www.opm.gov/Start Printed Page 73357policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/
All applicants that are awarded funds must submit reports to the Agency to provide information on their performance. The total estimated cost for reporting is approximately $148,338, calculated by the number of applicants (20) by labor cost ($45) by hours per year (164.82).
Estimates of costs to the Federal government were made based on the activities that the Federal government would incur to implement the rule and the length of time each activity required. A cost of $48.35 per hour was used in making these cost estimates.
Table 3—Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program Burden Cost to the Federal Government
Review of loan Application $1,585,880
Yearly review of financial and statistical information 125,710
Additional costs associated with the collection of information 5,000
Total * 1,716,590
* Data created from OPM salary and wage table at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/.
The following paragraphs summarize the activities and costs to be incurred by the Federal government for this program.
RUS is responsible for reviewing and approving applications. As part of this process, RUS will acknowledge receipt of applications and inform the applicants whether their application was selected for funding. The estimated cost for these application activities is approximately $1,585,880.
RUS is responsible for reviewing various reports, including, but not limited to, project management plan, energy efficiency work plan, quality control plan, etc. The estimated cost for reviewing these reports annually is approximately $125,710.
This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order (EO) 12866, “Regulatory Planning and Review,” 58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993), and has been determined to be “economically significant” by the Office of Management and Budget. The EO defines an economically significant regulatory action as one that is likely to result in a rule that may have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely affect, in a material way, the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or communities. As required by OMB circular A-4 the regulatory impact analysis will be published along with this rule on regulations.gov.
The agency has also reviewed this regulation pursuant to EO 13563, issued on January 18, 2011 (76 FR 3281, Jan. 21, 2011). EO 13563 is supplemental to and explicitly reaffirms the principles, structures, and definitions governing regulatory review established in EO 12866. To the extent permitted by law, agencies are required by EO 13563 to: (1) Propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned determination that its benefits justify its costs (recognizing that some benefits and costs are difficult to quantify); (2) tailor regulations to impose the least burden on society, consistent with obtaining regulatory objectives, taking into account, among other things, and to the extent practicable, the costs of cumulative regulations; (3) select, in choosing among alternative regulatory approaches, those approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other advantages; distributive impacts; and equity); (4) to the extent feasible, specify performance objectives, rather than specifying the behavior or manner of compliance that regulated entities must adopt; and (5) identify and assess available alternatives to direct regulation, including providing economic incentives to encourage the desired behavior, such as user fees or marketable permits, or providing information upon which choices can be made by the public.
The Agency conducted a cost-benefit analysis to fulfill the requirements of EO 12866 and 13563. In this analysis, the Agency identifies potential benefits and costs of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program to borrowers, and RUS. The analysis contains quantitative estimates of the burden to the public and the Federal government and qualitative descriptions of the expected economic, environmental, and energy impacts associated with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program. This analysis will be made publicly available in the docket
RUS will only make loans for these purposes to electric utility systems. RUS anticipates that borrowers under this subpart will be generation and transmission (G&T) borrowers or their distribution members or unaffiliated distribution borrowers who are current on their loan payments and in compliance with their loan documents. This program is held to the same high standards and regulatory requirements as the existing RUS electric loan program. RUS also anticipates that the energy efficiency improvements installation work may be contracted by either the utility or the Ultimate Recipient, or performed directly by employees of the borrower, at the discretion of the utility designing the energy efficiency program. In all cases, the eligible borrower is expected to hold title to the receivables funded by the RUS loan.
It is estimated that approximately 20 loans will be submitted annually. Considering applicants are existing RUS borrowers, it is anticipated that all 20 loans would be awarded. The administrative cost to the Applicant and the Federal government to apply, award and maintain these loans is $2.458 million.
The program described by this rule is an eligible purpose/subsidiary program of the Electrification Loans and Loan Guarantee program as listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs under number 10.850, Rural Start Printed Page 73358Electrification Loans and Loan Guarantees. The Catalog is available on the Internet at http://www.cfda.gov.
This final rule is excluded from the scope of Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Consultation, which may require consultation with State and local officials. See the final rule related notice entitled, “Department Programs and Activities Excluded from Executive Order 12372” (50 FR 47034).
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the information collection for this program has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under OMB Control Number 0572-0032.
The Agency is committed to the E-Government Act, which requires Government agencies in general to provide the public the option of submitting information or transacting business electronically to the maximum extent possible.
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Agency has prepared and published a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for this loan program activity as part of this rulemaking process. The PEA was published on February 6, 2013 in the Federal Register at 78 FR 8444, and prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations for implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and RUS' NEPA implementing regulations, Environmental Policies and Procedures (7 CFR part 1794). A Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact was published on Friday August 16, 2013 in the Federal Register at VOL. 78, NO. 159.
It has been determined the Regulatory Flexibility Act is not applicable to this rule since the RUS is not required by 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq. or any other provision of law to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking with respect to the subject matter of this rule.
This rule contains no Federal mandates (under the regulatory provisions of title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995) for state, local, and tribal governments or for the private sector. Therefore, this rule is not subject to the requirements of section 202 and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform. The Agency has determined that this rule meets the applicable standards in Section 3 of the Executive Order. In addition, all state and local laws and regulations that are in conflict with this rule will be preempted, no retroactive effort will be given to this rule, and, in accordance with section 212(e) of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6912(e)), administrative appeals procedures, if any, must be exhausted before any action against the Department or its agencies may be initiated.
The policies contained in this rule do not have any substantial direct effect on state and local governments, on the relationship between the national government and the state and local governments, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government. Nor does this rule impose substantial direct compliance costs on state and local governments. Therefore, consultation with the states is not required.
This Executive Order imposes requirements on the development of regulatory policies that have tribal implications or preempt tribal laws. Between October 2010 and January 2011, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hosted seven regional regulation Tribal consultation sessions to gain input by elected Tribal officials or their designees concerning the impact of this rule (and other 2008 Farm Bill changes) on Tribal governments, communities, and individuals. No comments specific to this rule were received through that process. If a Tribe determines that this rule has implications of which Rural Development is not aware or would like further information regarding the consultation process, please contact Rural Development's Native American Coordinator at (720) 544-2911 or AIAN@wdc.usda.gov.
This rulemaking amends 7 CFR part 1710 by adding a new Subpart H entitled “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program.” Under Section 2(a) of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 902(a)), the Secretary of Agriculture is explicitly “authorized and empowered to make loans in the several States and Territories of the United States . . . for the purpose of assisting electric borrowers to implement Demand side management, energy efficiency and conservation programs, and on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems.” As noted, Section 6101 of the 2008 Farm Bill inserted the words “energy efficiency” into this provision, which was originally added as an amendment to the RE Act by the Rural Electrification Loan Restructuring Act of 1993 (“RELRA”) (Pub. L. 103-129 sec. 2(c)(1)(B)).[1]
RUS has experience with implementing programs that promote energy conservation, and RELRA explicitly recognized that energy conservation is part of the Agency's mission. Starting in 1980, for example, RUS developed an Energy Resources Conservation Program by issuing RUS Bulletin 20-23, Section 12, “Extensions for Energy Resources Conservation Loans”, dated December 8, 1980.[2] This Bulletin interpreted the Administrator of RUS's discretion under the RE Act to extend the time for payments, and this became the foundation for the “ERC Loan Program.” At that time, RUS did not make ERC Loan Program loans directly. It operated the ERC Loan Program by entering into agreements with its borrowers to defer amortization of their loans in order for the borrowers to fund energy conservation improvements. The borrowers, generally electric cooperatives, made loans to their members out of the cash flow resulting from the deferments they received from RUS on their own loans. Even though RUS did not make the ERC loans itself, the Agency provided financial assistance to rural Consumers by using the electric cooperatives as intermediaries.
Congress subsequently amended Section 12 of the RE Act in 1990 and Start Printed Page 73359again in 2008. In 1990, Congress expanded Section 12 to enable deferments such that borrowers could provide financing to local businesses, with the intent of stimulating rural economic development. In 2008, Congress expanded Section 12 of the RE Act to authorize energy efficiency and use audits and to install energy efficiency measures or devices to reduce demand on electric systems.
The recent grant of additional authority in Section 2(a) of the RE Act to make loans and guarantees for energy efficiency, as contrasted with the Section 12 authority to merely defer payments on direct loans, has become increasingly significant as the percentage of the RUS portfolio represented by direct loans continues to amortize. In recent times the Agency delivers nearly all of its electric program assistance in the form of loan guarantees. As a guarantor, RUS does not have the same discretion to defer payments that it does when it is the lender. Consequently, RUS has determined that it is now necessary and appropriate to finalize a loan program for this RE Act purpose.
“The RE Act, 7 U.S.C. 904, commits to the discretion of the Administrator the making of loans for rural electrification. . . .” Alabama Power Co. v. Ala. Elec. Coop., 394 F.2d 672 at 675 (CA 5) cert. denied 393 U.S. 1000 (1968). “REA is the administrative agency charged by Congress with responsibility for facilitating rural electrification. REA was intended by Congress to determine the appropriate course of conduct to accomplish the legislative purpose.” Public Utility District No. 1 of Franklin County v. Big Bend Electric Cooperative, Inc., 618 F.2d 601 at 603 (CA 9 1980). By broadly adding “energy efficiency” in the 2008 Farm Bill as a legislative purpose for the RE Act loans, Congress left it to the Administrator's discretion to fashion the appropriate method to accomplish this purpose. Drawing on more than three decades of experience in using electric cooperatives as local intermediaries to accomplish RE Act objectives at the Consumer level, RUS will deliver this energy efficiency program by drawing upon its favorable past successes and using its electric borrowers as intermediaries.
RUS will only make loans for eligible purposes to electric utility systems . An eligible borrower means a utility system that has direct or indirect responsibility for providing retail electric service to persons in a rural area. This definition includes existing borrowers and utilities who meet current RUS borrower requirements. RUS anticipates that borrowers under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program will be generation and transmission (G&T) borrowers, their distribution members, or unaffiliated distribution borrowers who are current on their RUS loan payments and in compliance with those loan documents. RUS anticipates that the Energy Efficiency (EE) improvements installation work may be contracted by either the utility, the Ultimate Recipient, or performed directly by employees of the borrower. In all cases, the Eligible Borrower will hold title to the receivables funded by the RUS loan.
RUS is authorized by the RE Act to make loans to implement Demand side management (DSM), EE Programs and conservation programs, and on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems. Energy efficiency in this regulation is defined as the degree a system or component performs its designated function with minimum consumption of resources. Renewable energy systems have a specific role in this regulation. Renewable generation can be used as load modifiers, which can increase the efficiency of energy consumption from the utilities perspective and are effective at decreasing energy used by decreasing load. Renewable energy and conservation savings associated with this regulation are from the utilities perspective, though the energy savings could be realized by both the Consumer and utility, depending on the type of project, as the utility is the RUS borrower and is culpable for repayment of the loan. Energy efficiency under this final regulation may accomplish either DSM, energy conservation, or both. The goals of an eligible EE Program under Subpart H may include one or more of the following: (1) Increase energy efficiency at the end user level; (2) modify electric load such that there is a reduction in overall system demand; (3) effect a more efficient use of existing electric distribution, transmission and generation facilities; (4) attract new businesses and create jobs in rural communities; and (5) encourage the use of renewable energy fuels.
There are three primary differences between the existing energy resource conservation program codified in 7 CFR part 1721 subpart B (ERC program) and the EECLP final regulation in 7 CFR part 1710, subpart H. First, the existing ERC program is limited to direct loan principal deferments and is not available for RUS guaranteed loans. Second, the list of eligible loan purposes for this program is more expansive than the ERC program and, where applicable, emphasizes that the assets in question must be characterized as an integral part of the Consumer's real property that would typically transfer with the title under applicable state law. Lastly, the term of financing available under Subpart H is longer than the term allowed for principal deferments under the ERC loan program.
Rural electric cooperatives are proponents of energy efficiency measures. According to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: 73 percent of these co-ops plan on significantly expanding existing efficiency programs in the next two years: 70 percent of co-ops offer financial incentives to promote greater energy efficiency: 96 percent of co-ops have some form of energy efficiency program in place, co-ops are responsible for nearly 25 percent of residential peak load management capacity, and cooperatives have 10 percent of retail electricity sales but are responsible for 20 percent of actual peak demand reduction. Representatives from rural electric cooperatives have commented that access to low interest funds can be the difference between success and failure for an energy efficiency program.
Eligible EE Programs can be comprised of a variety of activities, performed by either the utility or third parties. This final rule sets forth the policies and procedures related to eligible EE Programs where the RUS will finance: (1) Energy efficiency activities undertaken by the utility itself; (2) loans made by the utility to finance energy efficiency projects undertaken by others; and (3) investments made by the utility to accomplish their obligations under utility energy services contracts. The types of activities that are eligible for RUS financing under Subpart H include but are not limited to: (1) Energy audits; (2) community awareness and outreach programs; (3) services, materials and equipment provided by a qualified local contractor to improve energy efficiency at the Consumer level; and (4) energy efficiency loans made by the utility to its customers. RUS is allowing fuel switching as an eligible activity under this regulation. A description of EE Programs that qualify for RUS financing can be found in § 1710.405. Eligible investments are listed in § 1710.406. Finally, eligible borrowers are defined in § 1710.404.
Some programs designed by utilities may have the utility initially owning an asset even though it is located on a Consumer's premise and the asset is later conveyed to the Consumer after it is paid for or a predetermined time period has elapsed. Where this is the case, RUS is proposing that the application include an additional or Start Printed Page 73360revised Schedule C to the RUS mortgage listing these assets as Excepted Property under the RUS mortgage, so as to preclude the assets being captured under the after acquired clause that is standard in the RUS mortgage codified in 7 CFR part 1718. It is the intent of RUS that a release of lien need not be executed by the Agency for the utility to convey to the Consumer clear title to these assets when this Schedule C is recorded.
This final rulemaking recognizes that energy may take a variety of forms, not just electricity. The criteria to be met by eligible programs include energy efficiency as measured by British Thermal Unit (Btu) input relative to Btu output, in order to facilitate the widest and greatest contribution by the rural utility in optimizing the energy consumption profile of its service territory. This rulemaking also provides that an eligible program must demonstrate that the financial strength of the electric utility is not harmed by EE Program activities funded under Subpart H.
An important distinction between eligible energy efficiency assets to be financed under this new Subpart H and other energy efficiency activities is that the assets located at a Consumer's premises, whether or not title is to be held by the utility must, for the most part, be considered an integral part of the real property that would typically transfer with the title under applicable State law in order to be financed pursuant to an eligible program under Subpart H.
Eligible programs shall provide that the utility will recoup all or part of the costs from specific ratepayers on whose behalf an investment has been made. Recoupment may take the form of Consumer loan repayment or a dedicated tariff. An eligible program reviewed under Subpart H must show that the payment terms and loan term offered to the Consumer are generally correlated with the expected life of the applicable assets. An eligible program must also offer an undertaking that funds, collected from ratepayers, in excess of the current amortization requirements for the RUS loan will be redeployed for EE Program purposes or used to prepay the RUS loan. These prepayments are in addition to scheduled principal and interest debt service payments.
Applications for program financings under Subpart H must fully describe a Business Plan that meets the requirements of § 1710.407.
The Agency recognizes that energy efficiency investments that reduce energy consumption at the Consumer premises (for instance those that affect the power factor) may prompt a need for investments at the system level to sustain the reliability and stability of the grid. The business plan called for in Subpart H must identify the related system investment to be identified as part of the EE Program, but these system level investments would be reflected in the utility's construction work plan and financed as part of a traditional loan application.
It is not required that an eligible program fund energy audits performed at Consumer premises. However, if the utility proposes to provide audits; Subpart H requires that the program must also include a provision for assisting Consumers in implementing changes suggested in aggregate to be cost effective by the audit. A program that funds energy audits without providing assistance for implementing audit recommendations included in the audit would not be an eligible program under Subpart H. Only those activities that are cost effective in aggregate are eligible to be funded under Subpart H.
The list of eligible investments and activities that a qualified plan may incorporate is not intended to be exhaustive. The intent is to facilitate flexibility for the utility's EE Program consistent with the resources and Consumer profiles in its service territory.
This lending program is designed for utility-designed and directed EE Programs. As such it anticipates that eligible loan purposes will include program administrative and other soft costs, such as marketing expenses, where not more than five percent of the loan budget may be used for these purposes. A utility's program may include acting as an intermediary lender, where the utility uses RUS financing to make Consumer loans to finance these investments on the Consumers' premises. Where this is the case, Subpart H requires the borrower to have a maximum interest rate to the ultimate consumer at 1.5 percent above the RUS loan cost to the borrower unless an exception is granted by the Administrator. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis to ensure repayment of the government's loan. We will not accept an exception if the loan is feasible at 1.5 percent. This rate must be discussed in the applicant's business plan.
The process for applying for EECLP loans is intended to largely conform to the Agency's existing process for loans relating to other eligible purposes. Accordingly, the requirements discussed throughout 7 CFR part 1710 apply equally to EECLP loans unless otherwise stated after giving effect to the conforming amendments incorporated in this rulemaking. Expenditures by the utility will be reimbursed by the Agency after the fact pursuant to an inventory of work orders system as is typical for our existing loan process. The analytical material needed to support an EECLP loan is different from what is needed to analyze a generation or transmission loan. Accordingly, Subpart H elaborates on what is needed for RUS to approve an EE Program and loans to execute the program. EE Program activity will be captured under a separate energy efficiency work plan. Energy efficiency investments will not be listed on the traditional construction work plan that applies to utility assets financed by RUS.
As with other loans made pursuant to 7 CFR part 1710, a borrower's Environmental Report (ER) is expected to accompany the energy efficiency work plan associated with the loan request. The ER is in accordance with 7 CFR part 1794. Part 1794 contains the policies and procedures of the Rural Utilities Service for implementing the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. In the case of an EECLP loan, this ER will be expected to reference the PEA completed by the Agency for EECLP loans, and identify any investments and their potential environmental impacts proposed in the work plan that were not analyzed in the PEA.
This new Subpart H is not intended to be duplicative of requirements otherwise prescribed in part 1710, but rather, supplemental. It identifies requirements that are unique to loans made under the proposed Subpart H to finance EE Programs. It prescribes requirements for our direct borrowers. Our direct borrowers will then act as intermediary lenders to accomplish the investments outlined in an approved EE program. Where there is an express conflict with requirements elsewhere in part 1710, the provisions of Subpart H would apply, but otherwise Subpart H is not intended to supplant the applicability of the rest of part 1710 or other applicable parts in the Code of Federal Regulations.
In implementing Subpart H, as required for all of part 1710, RUS will work with Department of Energy (DOE), following the requirements set out by the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, Section 16 that states: “the Secretary in making or guaranteeing loans for the construction, operations, or enlargement of generating plants or electric transmission lines or systems shall consider such general criteria consistent with the provisions of this Act as may Start Printed Page 73361be published by the Secretary of Energy.”
The agency published a Proposed rulemaking on July 26, 2012, at 77 FR 43723. RUS received 63 comments on the proposed Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program. The sixty three commenters consisted of industry representatives that included: Electric cooperatives, such as South Carolina Electric and Gas company; nonprofit energy efficiency supporters, such as the E3 coalition and the Sierra Club; and envelope organizations that represent RUS borrowers, such as the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Sixty two of the sixty three letters were extremely supportive of the regulation, and applauded RUS for proposing the program. The opposing letter stated that it was against all Federal programs.
Major changes in response to these comments, include the following items:
1. Removed restrictions on the size of load modifiers.
2. Adjusted soft cost limitations from 4 percent to 5 percent.
3. Limit Consumer interest rate to 1.5 percent above the cost of the loan to the borrower.
4. Decreased the complexity of the loan program by eliminating performance thresholds.
5. Defined certified energy auditor.
6. Added fuel switching as an eligible purpose.
7. Clarified the definition of eligible borrowers to include former and new RUS borrowers that meet RUS standards specified in regulation and statute.
8. Changed the cost effectiveness requirements, extending requirements to 10 years or equipment useful life on an aggregate basis.
9. Removed the Net Utility Plant language.
10. Allowed some pre-retrofitting as an eligible activity.
A summary of the comments and RUS's response are as follows:
Comment: There were 17 comments addressing the small scale renewable energy limitation of “nameplate generation capacity that is less than the 50 percent of the average anticipated electrical load associated with the end user.” Of the 17 comments, only 4 wanted to decrease or eliminate small scale renewables, on the basis that small scale renewables tend to not be cost effective.
Response: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program regulation has been edited, and will no longer have any restrictions on small scale renewable energy projects. All activities will be eligible, however, state mandates, laws, and cooperative bylaws will override this regulation.
Comment: Seven comments requested that RUS not limit the “administrative” costs associated with the loan. The current regulation limits administrative costs to 4 percent.
Response: RUS acknowledges that there is a cost to our borrowers to start-up and maintain an energy efficiency program, and has agreed to increase the “administrative” cost limitation to 5 percent in the final regulation. However, RUS must protect the Electric Program loan portfolio, and increasing the rate any higher may impair the productivity of the program, and subsequently the subsidy rate. Also, cooperatives may have the opportunity to rate-base certain energy efficiency costs.
Comment: RUS requested comments on the appropriate markup borrowers could charge above the Treasury-based interest rate. Twenty-one comments were received. The majority of comments stated that markups must be between 5 and 10 percent, with numerous comments stating that RUS should not specify a cap to make the program economical to the borrower.
Response: Borrowers are limited to interest rates 1.5 percent above the cost of their RUS loan. Exceptions will be given on a case-by-case basis that must be clearly articulated in the business plan such as unavoidable program level costs. We will not accept an exception if the loan is feasible at 1.5 percent.This information, combined with all the other additional information, will allow RUS to determine the feasibility of the loan.
Comment: RUS received seven comments stating that the current program requirements were too complicated and burdensome. Requiring an environmental plan, business plan, quality assurance plan, performance thresholds, return on investment demonstrations, additional supporting documents, and load forecasting before and after improvements was too extensive, and would limit borrower's interest in the program.
Response: RUS has simplified the regulation to decrease the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program's complexity and burden. Performance thresholds have been removed, the cost effectiveness definition has been modified, and procedures edited to keep the program simple and straight forward.
Comment: Six comments were submitted, asking RUS to clarify the definition of certified energy auditor.
Response: RUS has clarified the definition, allowing a borrower to use an auditor certified under state, local, or federal standards.
Comment: Twenty comments were received on what were the appropriate performance thresholds for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program. Seven comments supported the language in the proposed rule, stating “existing energy efficiency standards or criteria such as those from Energy Star, Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), or other voluntary consensus standards,” 2 comments recommended limiting the thresholds to Energy Star or Energy Efficiency Ratio, and the remaining 9 comments recommended that RUS fund all market proven energy products that reduce the Consumer's annual Btu.
Response: RUS clarified that borrowers are encouraged to use existing energy efficiency standards or criteria such as those from ENERGY STAR, FEMP, ANSI, or other voluntary consensus standards rather than performance thresholds to give Borrowers greater latitude.
Comment: Twelve comments strongly supported fuel switching. Fuel switching is essential for some borrowers to handle peak demand.
Response: RUS has modified the regulation to allow fuel switching. Many of the 12 comments in support of fuel switching were associations that represent over 1,000 electric cooperatives and millions of households, including NW Energy Coalition, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Utility Geothermal Working Group, Iowa Environmental Council, The Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.Start Printed Page 73362
Comment: Sixteen comments were received, all in strong support of removing the $250 million limitation.
Response: The $250 million was an estimate of what the Agency believed would be the demand for the program. Public comment indicates more interest in the program than the proposed rule's $250 million per year limitation. In fiscal year 2014, the Rural Utilities Service will make $250 million available to support energy efficiency as indicated in the Presidents climate change action plan. In future years, the amount of funding made available will be based on the performance of the program. Additionally, to be consistent, the energy efficiency program should compete equally with other eligible loan purposes.
Comment: One comment was submitted proposing a preferred lender program that borrowers could qualify for if they had a loan total of less than $2 million. Standards would be set for basic, preapproved weatherization practices and be made available to any eligible borrower. Standard benefit levels would be assigned to those practices and applied when determining benefits. There would not be a requirement for energy audits or post tests. This would cut the cost of program delivery while maintaining well established and known benefits for the members. The cooperatives that wish to participate at a higher loan level would have to comply with the standards established in the proposed regulations.
Response: RUS believes that preferred lending criteria is not needed in the regulation. RUS will use current authorities to streamline the application process.
Comment: Four comments were submitted supporting allowance of former RUS borrowers to return to the program.
Response: The regulation has been modified to clarify that past borrowers are eligible for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program, in accordance with the statute and any other regulation relating to new or returning borrowers.
Comment: Nine comments were received, eight requesting a payback period that was longer than the current 5 years stated in the regulation. One comment requested that the payback period be less than the life of the product.
Response: The regulation has been modified to more precisely define cost effectiveness and increase the payback to 10 years, except in cases where the useful life of the technology on an aggregate basis can be demonstrated to be longer than the 10 year period. RUS will evaluate the useful life assumption on a case-by-case basis.
Comment: Four comments were received requesting RUS to add language in the regulation that defines who RUS borrowers can work with as intermediaries.
Response: RUS will not add any additional language. Business cases will be reviewed to determine the viability of the loan. Existing regulation language does not deter borrowers from establishing partnerships with other organizations to help implement their energy efficiency programs.
Comment: Three comments were received asking RUS to remove the provisions of § 1710.409(d (1)). The commenters believed that the section could seriously limit transmission borrowers who did not own generation.
Response: RUS has removed the section. Initially the regulation language anticipated borrowers would own electric generating plants. Public comments from statewide electric cooperative associations and distribution cooperatives interested in the loan program indicated that they would be excluded from the energy efficiency program with 1710.409(d(1)). These current borrowers are not generation and transmission organizations and therefore do not own electric generation plants. The language has been removed to allow them to participate.
Comment: Four comments asked RUS to remove §§ 1710.406(d), 1017.407(g), and 1710.408(i). Each of those sections state borrowers shall follow a bulletin or other publication to be identified later. They claim that the proposed provision violates the Administrative Procedures Act by purporting to establish as regulatory obligations purely administrative determinations to be made later without notice and comment rulemaking.
Response: The proposed rule required borrowers to follow requirements in yet to be developed bulletins. The final regulation has been changed from “shall” to “are strongly encouraged to.” Please see the following regulatory language “(g) The borrowers are strongly encouraged to follow a bulletin or such other publication as RUS deems appropriate that contains and describes best practices for energy efficiency business plans. RUS will make this bulletin or publication publicly available and revise it from time to time or eliminate it as RUS deems it necessary. “
Comment: Three comments asked if all current borrowers would be required to participate in the Energy Efficiency Loan Program. One of the two comments stated that RUS must require all borrowers to participate in this loan program and have active energy efficiency programs.
Response: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program allows for energy efficiency improvements as an eligible purpose and will be reviewed and approved as other eligible purposes within the statute and the regulation. RUS does not believe it to be appropriate to require Borrowers to participate in this program.
Comment: Two comments questioned the need for load forecasting, one comment stated that their current energy efficiency and conservation loan program is made up of only 30-40 members, not affecting the forecast at all.
Response: Load Forecasting is an important accountability component of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program. If the energy efficiency program has negligible effect on the Load Forecast then that information should be stated in the discussion within the Load Forecast. No changes were made to the regulation.
Comment: One comment stated that there were very few qualified energy managers and professional engineers in rural areas that are available to conduct the requirements of a program evaluation, and questioned who would have to bear the cost of the evaluation.
Response: RUS recognizes that there will be additional expenses associated with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program. The borrowers may pass along those costs to the Ultimate Recipient, but it needs to be explained in the submitted work plan.Start Printed Page 73363
Comment: Two comments questioned how funds would be distributed. They were not supportive of funding projects on a reimbursable basis.
Response: All of RUS's programs are run on a reimbursable basis, though the regulation currently states that startup capital of up to 5 percent may be made available for an energy efficiency plan. No changes will be made to our current funding model.
Comment: Two comments requested that all post-installment evaluation and verification requirements be made available to the public.
Response: RUS acknowledges the importance of transparency, but also must weigh the privacy of our borrowers. We will provide information to the public in conformity with the Freedom of Information Act.
Comment: One comment reiterated the importance of using qualified contractors to install energy efficiency and conservation activities.
Response: RUS is a strong supporter of using qualified contractors and will require borrowers to state the types of contractors that will be used, if any, in a borrower's quality assurance plan.
Comment: One comment stated that borrowers should be able to aggregate their various energy efficiency programs to bring them up to scale, decreasing the total workload.
Response: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program will hold each borrower accountable. Though borrowers can work with each other to decrease costs, each borrower will be individually held responsible for providing the required level of information and oversight.
Comment: One comment stated that the regulation should not specifically call out ground source heat pumps, as the technology is advancing quickly.
Response: Ground source heat pumps are just one eligible activity under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program. Though mentioned in the regulation as an example, we are neither promoting nor discouraging their use.
Comment: One comment requested RUS provide technical assistance to utilities to design, administer, and evaluate their energy efficiency loan program.
Response: RUS will work closely with the borrower, answering any questions they may have on their business plan, quality assurance plan, etc.
Comment: Six comments requested RUS set up regular webinars, phone conferences and an on-line peer-exchange Web site for participating borrowers.
Response: RUS supports the exchange of ideas and will facilitate cross communication when possible, but RUS does not have the resources to commit to this on a large scale. RUS will partner with other federal agencies to support broader peer-to-peer exchange.
Comment: One comment requested that we add the following language to the energy efficiency and conservation measures definition, “which may also include the onsite generation of electricity from waste heat resources. ”
Response: RUS believes the definition is inclusive, and the additional language is unnecessary.
Comment: Eight comments stated that RUS stress the importance of using on-bill repayment as an effective financing method for energy efficiencies.
Response: RUS recognizes that on-bill financing is one way for a borrower to be repaid for their activities, however the borrower will have the ultimate decision on how they will recover their expenses. Their method of choice will be articulated in their business plan.
Comment: Five comments requested that RUS add language to the regulation requiring utilities to identify approaches that would ensure the equitable treatment by all types of consumers, and explicitly include low-income in both single-family and multi-family buildings.
Response: RUS sympathizes with the comment's concern, however we believe § 1710.122 on Equal opportunity and nondiscrimination located in the overarching Electric Program regulation, fulfills the needs specified by the comments.
Comment: Four comments stated that pre-retrofit activities that need to take place to make a house structurally sound before weatherization activities can take place, be an eligible activity under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation loan program
Response: RUS added language to allow limited pre-retrofits as an eligible loan activity. The Department of Energy has established that many opportunities for energy efficiency upgrades exist in low income housing. Often the residential building envelope needs infrastructure improvements to be able to accept energy efficiency upgrades. For example, the floor of a residential building may need structural repairs before efficient insulation can be installed. This would reduce the overall energy requirement for the structure.
Comment: Four comments stated that RUS allow borrowers to create loan loss reserve funds to allow utilities to attract investors and leverage private capital, as an eligible activity under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation loan program
Response: RUS is statutorily required to fund energy efficiency and conservation activities. Additional activities are outside the agency's authority and would require amendments.
Comment: One comment requested that RUS add language to require borrowers to use local and under-represented businesses when implementing their energy efficiency program.
Response: A borrower must prove that their energy efficiency program is cost effective; specifying who a borrower must work with is beyond the scope of Subpart H.
Comment: Seven comments requested that RUS clarify “due diligence” to confirm that ability to repay a loan or participate in a program does not have to include a credit check, but rather rely on utility bill payment history.
Response: The borrower is held accountable for paying off the loan, and needs to determine eligible Consumers. Their method of choice will be articulated in their business plan.
Comment: One comment requested clarification on § 1710.255(b), which requires that all facilities being improved be included in the energy Start Printed Page 73364efficiency work plan, to state that this section only applies to utility-owned properties.
Response: RUS believes the Energy Efficiency Work Plan (EEWP) must also itemize Consumer upgrades in aggregate.
Comment: Three comments requested that RUS specifically state that switches for water heaters and air conditioning units be eligible under Demand side management, or at a minimum clearly state energy efficiency in the definition.
Comment: Two comments requested that RUS change the sentence “ultimate goal is the reduction of utility energy needs” to “ultimate goal is the reduction of all forms of consumer energy needs (based on annual Btu consumption).
Response: RUS believes the current definition fits the ultimate goal, to reduce utility energy needs, Consumer energy needs is too limiting as utilities are also eligible to finance energy efficiency activities in their facilities.
Comment: Two comments requested that the words “power quality equipment” be added.
Comment: Two comments requested that RUS remove fuel cells as an eligible activity and investment.
Response: Fuel cells can be used in energy efficiency and conservation activities and will keep the activity in the regulation. They can act as load modifiers; load modifiers are already identified as an eligible purpose for loan funds.
Comment: Two comments requested that RUS make changes to § 1710.406 (a)(1). The proposed rule states that eligible program activities and investments “shall be designed to improve energy efficiency or MANAGED demand on the customer side of the meter. While demand improvements are a primary goal of the rule, demand improvement can be accomplished through managed or passive improvements on the customer side of the meter. Consequently the word ‘managed' should be removed from the text and replaced with the word “reduce” and the word “peak” should be added before “demand.” The new text should state “shall be designed to improve energy efficiency or reduce peak demand on the customer side of the meter.
Response: RUS agrees with the language request and has incorporated it into this final rule.
Comment: One comment requests additional clarification in the background section on what the rate will be for borrowers.
Response: This section has been revised for other reasons, the issue is moot.
Comment: One comment requests the section be modified to remove insured, and revise the language to be “a) Purpose and amount. With the exception of minor projects, loan funds will be advanced only for projects which are included in a RUS approved borrower's construction work plan (CWP), EE Program work plan (EEWP), or approved amendment, that have also received written Environmental Clearance and/or Approval from RUS prior to the start of construction, and follow RUS' contract and bidding procedures as set forth in 7 CFR part 1726 if applicable. Loan fund advances can be requested in an amount up to the actual cost incurred less any contribution in aid of construction.
Response: RUS accepts the following language change: “a) Purpose and amount. With the exception of minor projects, loan funds will be advanced only for projects which are included in a RUS approved borrower's EE Program work plan (EEWP), or approved amendment, that have also received written Environmental Clearance and/or Approval from RUS prior to the start of construction, and follow RUS' contract and bidding procedures as set forth in 7 CFR part 1726 if applicable. Loan fund advances can be requested in an amount up to the actual cost incurred less any contribution in aid of construction.
Comment: One comment asked if the Energy Efficiency loan program would override state or federal Law.
Response: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program does not override any statutory state or federal laws.
Comment: One comment requested that RUS change the loan program, and loan directly to consumers, bypassing the electric companies.
Response: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan program does not statutorily allow us this discretion.
Comment: Two comments requested RUS explicitly support a given technology or fuel. One comment requested that RUS create a broader regulation that clearly articulates the importance of natural gas. One comment requested that RUS explicitly include installation of solar thermal, gas, and electric-resistance water heaters as an eligible use of program funds.
Response: RUS does not support one technology or fuel source. No changes will be made to the regulation.
Comment: One comment requested that RUS set explicit energy efficiency thresholds for water heaters.
Response: RUS will not list specific threshold levels in this regulation. Rather, we have clarified that borrowers are encouraged to use existing energy efficiency standards or criteria such as those from: Energy Star, FEMP, ANSI, or other voluntary consensus standards.
Comment: One comment asked RUS to establish requirements and guidelines that will ensure program funds are substantially devoted to support utility programs designed to support efficiency investments in customer homes, buildings, and facilities.
Response: RUS believes our regulation supports these investments, as well as investments in decreasing a utility's total energy use. No additional language was added.
Comment: One comment asked RUS to explore leveraging options with USDA's Rural Housing Service, Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Federal Housing Finance Authority.
Response: RUS supports program collaboration, and will continue to work with our Federal partners, but no additional language will be included in the regulation.Start Printed Page 73365
Comment: One comment asked RUS to explicitly state combined heat and power projects are an eligible energy conservation activity under the regulation.
Response: RUS believes our regulation provides enough flexibility to allow these forms of activities, without specifying every eligible activity in the regulation.
Comment: One comment requested RUS change the definition of fuel switching to “the temporary use of non-electric energy sources as a method to limit electric peak loads during limited time periods. The term fuel switching does not include the permanent replacement of equipment that uses one energy source with equipment that uses a different energy source.”
Response: RUS clarified the definition of “fuel switching.'
Comment: One comment asked RUS to adopt data collection procedures to track program financials and measure performance.
Response: RUS has and will continue to collect data on loan activities, monitoring and tracking performance measures. No additional language needs to be added to the regulation.
Comment: One comment requested RUS target supplementing existing and planned energy efficiency programs and budgets, not replacing the programs.
Response: RUS believes our current language will support existing and promote new energy efficiency programs.
Start List of Subjects
Loan programs-energy
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements
Administrative practice and procedure
Electric power rates
End List of Subjects
For reasons set forth in the preamble, the Agency amends 7 CFR chapter XVII as follows:
Start Part
End Part Start Amendment Part
1. The authority citation for part 1710 continues to read as follows:
End Amendment Part Start Authority
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 901 et seq., 1921 et seq., 6941 et seq.
End Authority
Start Amendment Part
2. In § 1710.2(a) revise the definition of “Demand side management” and add a definition of “Eligible Energy Efficiency Programs” in alphabetical order to read as follows:
End Amendment Part
§ 1710.2
Definitions and rules of construction.
(a) * * *
Demand side management (DSM) means the deliberate planning and/or implementation of activities to influence Consumer use of electricity provided by a distribution borrower to produce beneficial modifications to the system load profile. Beneficial modifications to the system load profile ordinarily improve load factor or otherwise help in utilizing electric system resources to best advantage consistent with acceptable standards of service and lowest system cost. Load profile modifications are characterized as peak clipping, valley filling, load shifting, strategic conservation, strategic load growth, and flexible load profile. (See, for example, publications of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), 3412 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304, especially “Demand-Side Management Glossary” EPRI TR-101158, Project 1940-25, Final Report, October 1992.) DSM includes energy conservation programs.
Eligible Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs (Eligible EE Program) means an energy efficiency and conservation program that meets the requirements of Subpart H of this part.
§ 1710.100
[Amended]
3. In § 1710.100, amend the first sentence by adding the words “efficiency and” before “energy conservation”.
4. In § 1710.101, amend the second sentence of paragraph (b) by adding the word “direct” before “loans to individual consumers”.
5. Amend § 1710.102 as follows:
End Amendment Part Start Amendment Part
a. Amend the first sentence of paragraph (a) by adding “energy efficiency and” before “energy conservation”; and
b. Amend the first sentence of paragraph (b) by adding “energy efficiency and” before “energy conservation”.
6. Amend § 1710.106 by adding paragraph (a)(6) and revising paragraphs (c)(1) and (d) to read as follows:
Uses of loan funds.
(6) Eligible Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs pursuant to Subpart H of this part.
(c) * * *
(1) Electric facilities, equipment, appliances, or wiring located inside the premises of the Consumer, except for assets financed pursuant to an Eligible EE Program, and qualifying items included in a loan for Demand side management or energy resource conservation programs, or renewable energy systems.
(d) A distribution borrower may request a loan period of up to 4 years. Except in the case of loans for new generating and associated transmission facilities, a power supply borrower may request a loan period of not more than 4 years for transmission and substation facilities and improvements or replacements of generation facilities. The loan period for new generating facilities and DSM activities will be determined on a case-by-case basis. The Administrator may approve a loan period shorter than the period requested by the borrower, if in the Administrator's sole discretion, a loan made for the longer period would fail to meet RUS requirements for loan feasibility and loan security set forth in §§ 1710.112 and 1710.113, respectively.
Start Printed Page 73366
7. In § 1710.109 amend the first sentence of paragraph (a) by adding the words “energy efficiency and conservation program work plan,” after “construction work plan”.
8. Amend § 1710.115 by adding paragraph (c) to read as follows:
Final maturity.
(c) The term for loans made to finance Eligible EE Programs will be determined in accordance with § 1710.408 of this part.
9. In § 1710.120 add the words “energy efficiency and conservation program work plans,” after “construction work plans,”.
10. Amend § 1710.152 by adding paragraph (e) to read as follows:
Primary support documents.
(e) EE Program work plan (EEWP). In the case of a loan application to finance an Eligible Energy Efficient Program, an EE Program work plan shall be prepared in lieu of a traditional CWP required pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section. The requirements for an EEWP are set forth in § 1710.255 and in subpart H of this part.
11. Amend § 1710.202 by adding paragraph (d) to read as follows:
Requirement to prepare a load forecast—power supply borrowers.
(d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section, a power supply borrower that has an outstanding loan for an Eligible EE Program is required to maintain an approved load forecast and an approved load forecast work plan on an ongoing basis.
12. Amend § 1710.203 by adding paragraph (f) to read as follows:
Requirement to prepare a load forecast—distribution borrowers.
(f) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section, a distribution borrower that has an outstanding loan for an Eligible EE Program is required to maintain an approved load forecast and an approved load forecast work plan on an ongoing basis.
13. In § 1710.205 amend paragraph (b)(5) by adding the words “and energy efficiency and conservation program” after “demand side management”.
14. Add § 1710.255 to subpart F to read as follows:
Energy efficiency work plans—energy efficiency borrowers.
(a) All energy efficiency borrowers must maintain a current EEWP approved by their board of directors covering in aggregate all new construction, improvements, replacements, and retirements of energy efficiency related equipment and activities;
(b) An energy efficiency borrower's EEWP shall cover a period of between 2 and 4 years, and include all facilities to be constructed or improved which are eligible for RUS financing, whether or not RUS financial assistance will be sought or be available for certain facilities. The construction period covered by an EEWP in support of a loan application shall not be shorter than the loan period requested for financing of the facilities;
(c) The borrower's EEWP may only include facilities, equipment and other activities that have been approved by RUS as a part of an Eligible Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program pursuant to subpart H of this part;
(d) The borrower's EEWP must be consistent with the documentation provided as part of the current RUS approved EE Program as outlined in § 1710.410(c); and
(e) The borrower's EEWP must include an estimated schedule for the implementation of included projects.
15. Amend § 1710.300 by redesignating paragraphs (d)(3) through (5) as paragraphs (d)(4) through (6) respectively; and adding a new paragraph (d)(3) to read as follows:
(d) * * *
(3) RUS-approved EE Program work plan;
16. In § 1710.302 amend paragraph (d)(5) by removing the reference “§ 1710.300(d)(5)” and adding in its place “§ 1710.300(d)(6)”.
§§ 1710.400 through 1710.407
[Redesignated as §§ 1710.500 through 1710.507]
17a. In subpart I, redesignate §§ 1710.400 through 1710.407 as §§ 1710.500 through 1710.507, respectively.
17b. Add Subpart H consisting of §§ 1710.400 through 1710.499, to read as follows:
RUS policy.
Scope.
Eligible energy efficiency and conservation programs.
Eligible activities and investments.
Business plan.
Quality assurance plan.
Loan provisions.
Application documents.
Analytical support documentation.
Borrower accounting methods, management reporting, and audits.
Compliance with other laws and regulations.
1710.414-1710.499
[Reserved]
(a) This subpart establishes policies and requirements that apply to loans and loan guarantees to finance Energy Efficiency and Conservation programs (EE Programs) undertaken by an eligible utility system to finance Demand side management, energy efficiency and conservation, or on-grid and off-grid renewable energy system programs that will result in the better management of their system load growth, a more beneficial load profile, or greater optimization of the use of alternative energy resources in their service territory. These programs may be considered an essential utility service.
(b)(1) The goals of an eligible Energy Efficiency project eligible for funding under this program and Subpart H include:
(i) Increasing energy efficiency at the end user level;
(ii) Modifying electric load such that there is a reduction in overall system demand;
(iii) Effecting a more efficient use of existing electric distribution, transmission and generation facilities;Start Printed Page 73367
(iv) Attracting new businesses and creating jobs in rural communities by investing in energy efficiency; and
(v) Encouraging the use of renewable energy fuels for either Demand side management or the reduction of conventional fossil fuel use within the service territory.
(2) Although not a goal, RUS recognizes that there will be a reduction of green house gases with energy efficiency improvements.
EE Programs under this subpart may be financed at the distribution level or by an electric generation and transmission provider. RUS encourages borrowers to coordinate with the relevant member systems regarding their intention to implement a program financed under this subpart. RUS also encourages borrowers to leverage funds available under this subpart with State, local, or other funding sources that may be available to implement such programs.
This subpart adapts and modifies, but does not supplant, the requirements for all borrowers set forth elsewhere where the purpose of the loan is to finance an approved EE program. In the event there is overlap or conflict between this subpart and the provisions of this part 1710 or other parts of the Code of Federal Regulations, the provisions of this subpart will apply for loans made or guaranteed pursuant to this subpart.
EE Programs financed under this subpart may be directed at all forms of energy consumed within a utility's service territory, not just electricity, where the electric utility is in a position to facilitate the optimization of the energy consumption profile within its service territory and do so in a way that enhances the financial or physical performance of the rural electric system and enables the repayment of the energy efficiency loan.
For the purpose of this subpart, the following terms shall have the following meanings. In the event there is overlap or conflict between the definitions contained in § 1710.2, the definitions set forth below will apply for loans made or guaranteed pursuant to this subpart.
British thermal unit (Btu) means the quantity of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.
Certified energy auditor for commercial and industrial energy efficiency improvements. (1) An energy auditor shall meet one of the following criteria:
(i) An individual possessing a current commercial or industrial energy auditor certification from a national, industry-recognized organization;
(ii) A Licensed Professional Engineer in the State in which the audit is conducted with at least 1 year experience and who has completed at least two similar type Energy Audits;
(iii) An individual with a four-year engineering or architectural degree with at least 3 years experience and who has completed at least five similar type Energy Audits; or
(iv) Beginning in calendar year 2015, an energy auditor certification recognized by the Department of Energy through its Better Buildings Workforce Guidelines project.
(2) For residential energy efficiency improvements, an energy auditor shall meet one of the following criteria: The workforce qualification requirements of the Home Performance with Energy Star Program, as outlined in Section 3 of the Home Performance with Energy Star Sponsor Guide; or an individual possessing a current residential energy auditor or building analyst certification from a national, industry-recognized organization.
Cost effective means the aggregate cost of an EE Program is less than the financial benefit of the program over time. The cost of a program for this purpose shall include the costs of incentives, measurement and verification activity and administrative costs, and the benefits shall include, without limitation, the value of energy saved, the value of corresponding avoided generation, transmission or distribution and reserve investments as may be displaced or deferred by program activities, and the value of corresponding avoided greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.
Demand means the electrical load averaged over a specified interval of time. Demand is expressed in kilowatts, kilovolt amperes, kilovars, amperes, or other suitable units. The interval of time is generally 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 60 minutes.
Demand savings means the quantifiable reduction in the load requirement for electric power, usually expressed in kilowatts (kW) or megawatts (MW) such that it reduces the cost to serve the load.
Eligible borrower means a utility system that has direct or indirect responsibility for providing retail electric service to persons in a rural area. This definition includes existing borrowers and utilities who meet current RUS borrower requirements.
Energy audit means an inspection and analysis of energy flows in a building, process, or system with the goal of identifying opportunities to enhance energy efficiency. The activity should result in an objective standard-based technical report containing recommendations for improving the energy efficiency. The report should also include an analysis of the estimated benefits and costs of pursuing each recommendation and the simple payback period.
Energy efficiency and conservation measures means equipment, materials and practices that when installed and used at a Consumer's premises result in a verifiable reduction in energy consumption, measured in Btus, or demand as measured in Btu-hours, or both, at the point of purchase relative to a base level of output. The ultimate goal is the reduction of utility or consumer energy needs.
Energy efficiency and conservation program (EE Program) means a program of activities undertaken or financed by a utility within its service territory to reduce the amount or rate of energy used by Consumers relative to a base level of output.
HVAC means heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
Load means the Power delivered to power utilization equipment performing its normal function.
Load factor means the ratio of the average load over a designated period of time to the peak load occurring in the same period.
Peak demand (or maximum demand) means the highest demand measured over a selected period of time, e.g., one month.
Peak demand reduction means a decrease in electrical demand on an electric utility system during the system's peak period, calculated as the reduction in maximum average demand achieved over a specified interval of time.
Power means the rate of generating, transferring, or using energy. The basic unit is the watt, where one Watt is approximately 3.41213 Btu/hr.
Re-lamping means the initial conversion of bulbs or light fixtures to more efficient lighting technology but not the replacement of like kind bulbs or fixtures after the initial conversion.
SI means the International System of Units: the modern metric system.
Smart Grid Investments means capital expenditures for devices or systems that are capable of providing real time, two way (utility and Consumer) information and control protocols for individual Consumer owned or operated appliances and equipment, usually Start Printed Page 73368through a Consumer interface or smart meter.
Ultimate recipient means a Consumer that receives a loan from a borrower under this subpart.
Utility Energy Services Contract (UESC) means a contract whereby a utility provides a Consumer with comprehensive energy efficiency improvement services or demand reduction services.
Utility system means an entity in the business of providing retail electric service to Consumers (distribution entity) or an entity in the business of providing wholesale electric supply to distribution entities (generation entity) or an entity in the business of providing transmission service to distribution or generation entities (transmission entity), where, in each case, the entities provide the applicable service using self-owned or controlled assets under a published tariff that the entity and any associated regulatory agency may adjust.
Watt means the SI unit of power equal to a rate of energy transfer (or the rate at which work is done), of one joule per second.
(a) General. Eligible EE Programs shall:
(1) Be developed and implemented by an Eligible borrower and applied within its service territory;
(2) Consist of eligible activities and investments as provided in § 1710.406
(3) Provide for the use of State and local funds where available to supplement RUS loan funds;
(4) Incorporate the applicant's policy applicable to the interconnection of distributed resources;
(5) Incorporate a business plan that meets the requirements of § 1710.407;
(6) Incorporate a quality assurance plan that meets the requirements of § 1710.408;
(7) Demonstrate that the program can be expected to be Cost effective;
(8) Demonstrate that the program will have a net positive or neutral cumulative impact on the borrower's financial condition over the time period contemplated in the analytical support documents demonstrating that the net present value of program costs incurred by the borrower are positive, pursuant to § 1710.411;
(9) Demonstrate energy savings or peak demand reduction for the service territory overall; and
(10) Be approved in writing by RUS prior to the investment of funds for which reimbursement will be requested.
(b) Financial Structures. Eligible EE Programs may provide for direct recoupment of expenditures for eligible activities and investment from Ultimate Recipients as follows:
(1) Loans made to Ultimate Recipients located in a rural area where —
(i) The Ultimate Recipients may be wholesale or retail;
(ii) The loans may be secured or unsecured;
(iii) The loan receivables are owned by the Eligible Borrower;
(iv) The loans are made or serviced directly by the Eligible Borrower or by a financial institution pursuant to a contractual relationship between the Eligible Borrower and the financial institution;
(v) Due diligence is performed to confirm the repayment ability of the Ultimate Recipient;
(vi) Loans are funded only upon completion of the project financed or to reimburse startup costs that have been incurred;
(vii) The rate charged the Ultimate Recipient is less than or equal to the direct Treasury rate established daily by the United States Treasury pursuant to § 1710.51(a)(1) or § 1710.52, as applicable, plus the borrower's interest rate from RUS and 1.5 percent . Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis to ensure repayment of the government's loan and must be clearly articulated in the business plan RUS will not accept an exception request if the loan is feasible at 1.5 percent; and
(viii) Loans are not used to refinance a preexisting loan.
(2) A tariff that is specific to an identified rural Consumer, premise or class of ratepayer; or
(3) On bill repayment and other financial recoupment mechanisms as may be approved by RUS.
(c) Period of performance—(1) Performance standards. (i) Eligible EE Programs activities that are listed under § 1710.406(b) should be designed to achieve the applicable operating performance standards within one year of the date of installation of the facilities.
(ii) All activities other than those included in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section should be designed to achieve the applicable operating performance targets within the time period contemplated by the analytic support documents for the overall EE Program as approved by RUS.
(2) Cost effectiveness. Eligible EE Programs must demonstrate that Cost effectiveness as measured for the program overall will be achieved within ten years of initial funding, except in cases where the useful life of the technology on an aggregate basis can be demonstrated to be longer than the ten year period. RUS will evaluate the useful life assumption on a case-by-case basis.
(a) General. Eligible program activities and investments:
(1) Shall be designed to improve energy efficiency and/or reduce peak demand on the customer side of the meter;
(2) Shall be Cost effective in the aggregate after giving effect to all activities and investments contemplated in the approved EE Program; and
(3) May apply to all Consumer classes.
(b) Eligible activities and investments. Eligible program activities and investments may include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Energy efficiency and conservation measures where assets financed at an Ultimate Recipient premises can be characterized as an integral part of the real property that would typically transfer with the title under applicable state law. Where applicable, it is anticipated that the loan obligation would also be expected to transfer with ownership of the metered account serving that property.
(2) Renewable Energy Systems, including —
(i) On or Off Grid Renewable energy systems;
(ii) Fuel cells;
(3) Demand side management (DSM) investments including Smart Grid Investments;
(4) Energy audits;
(5) Utility Energy Services Contracts;
(6) Consumer education and outreach programs;
(7) Power factor correction equipment on the Ultimate Recipient side of the meter;
(8) Re-lamping to more energy efficient lighting; and
(9) Fuel Switching as in:
(i) The replacement of existing fuel consuming equipment using a particular fuel with more efficient fuel consuming equipment that uses another fuel but which does not increase direct greenhouse gas emissions; or
(ii) The installation of non-electric fuel consuming equipment to facilitate management of electric system peak loads. Fuel switching to fossil or biomass fueled electric generating equipment is expressly excluded.
(10) Other activities and investments as approved by RUS as part of the EE Program such as, but not limited to, pre-retrofit improvements.
(c) Intermediary lending. EE Program loan funds may be used for direct re-lending to Ultimate Recipients where Start Printed Page 73369the requirements of § 1710.405(b) are met.
(d) Performance standards. Borrowers are required to use Energy Star qualified equipment where applicable or meet or exceed efficiency requirements designated by the Federal Energy Management Program.
An Eligible EE Program must have a business plan for implementing the program. The business plan is expected to have a global perspective on the borrower's energy efficiency plan. Therefore, energy efficiency upgrades should be identified in aggregate. The business plan must have the following elements:
(a) Executive summary. The executive summary shall capture the overall objectives to be met by the Eligible EE Program and the timeframe in which they are expected to be achieved.
(b) Organizational background. The background section shall include descriptions of the management team responsible for implementing the Eligible EE Program.
(c) Marketing plan. The marketing section should identify the target Consumers, promotional activities to be pursued and target penetration rates by Consumer category and investment activity.
(d) Operations plan. The operations plan shall include but is not limited to:
(1) A list of the activities and investments to be implemented under the EE Program and the Btu savings goal targeted for each category;
(2) An estimate of the dollar amount of investment by the utility for each category of activities and investments listed under paragraph (d)(1) of this section;
(3) A staffing plan that identifies whether and how outsourced contractors or subcontractors will be used to deliver the program;
(4) A description of the process for documenting and perfecting collateral arrangements for Ultimate Recipient loans, if applicable; and
(5) The overall Btu savings to be accomplished over the life of the EE Program.
(e) Financial plan. The financial plan shall include but is not limited to:
(1) A schedule showing sources and uses of funds for the program;
(2) An itemized budget for each activity and investment category listed in the operations plan;
(3) An aggregate Cost effectiveness forecast;
(4) Where applicable, provision for Ultimate Recipient loan loss reserves. These loan loss reserves will not be funded by RUS. Loan loss reserves are not required when a utility will not be relending RUS funds.
(5) Identify expected Ultimate Recipient loan delinquency and default rates and report annually on deviations from the expected rates.
(f) Risk analysis. The business plan shall include an evaluation of the financial and operational risk associated with the program, including an estimate of prospective Consumer loan losses consistent with the loan loss reserve to be established pursuant to paragraph (e)(4) of this section.
(g) The borrowers are strongly encouraged to follow a bulletin or such other publication as RUS deems appropriate that contains and describes best practices for energy efficiency business plans. RUS will make this bulletin or publication publicly available and revise it from time-to-time as RUS deems it necessary.
An eligible EE program must have a quality assurance plan as part of the program. The quality assurance plan is expected to have a global perspective on the borrower's energy efficiency plan. Therefore, energy efficiency upgrades should be identified in aggregate. Every effort is made to fund only EE programs that are administered in accordance with quality assurance plans meeting standards designed to achieve the purposes of this subpart. However, RUS and its employees assume no legal liability for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, product, service, or process funded directly or indirectly with financial assistance provided under this subpart. Nothing in the loan documents between RUS and the energy efficiency borrower shall confer upon any other person any right, benefit or remedy of any nature whatsoever. Neither RUS nor its employees makes any warranty, express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to any information, product, service, or process available from an energy efficiency borrower. The approval by RUS and its employees of an energy efficiency borrower's quality assurance plan is solely for the benefit of RUS. Approval of the quality assurance plan does not constitute an RUS endorsement. The quality assurance plan must have the following elements:
(a) Quality assurance assessments shall include the use of qualified energy managers or professional engineers to evaluate program activities and investments;
(b) Where applicable, program evaluation activities should use the protocols for determining energy savings as developed by the U.S. Department of Energy in the Uniform Methods Project.
(c) Energy audits shall be performed for energy efficiency investments involving the building envelope at an Ultimate Recipient premises;
(d) Energy audits must be performed by certified energy auditors; and
(e) Follow up audits shall be performed within one year after installation on a sample of investments made to confirm whether efficiency improvement expectations are being met.
(f) In cases involving energy efficiency upgrades to a single system (such as a ground source heat pump) the new system must be designed and installed by certified and insured professionals acceptable to the utility.
(g) Industry or manufacturer standard performance tests, as applicable, shall be required on any system upgraded as a result of an EE Program. This testing shall indicate the installed system is meeting its designed performance parameters.
(h) In some programs the utility may elect to recommend independent contractors who can perform energy efficiency related work for their customers. In these cases utilities shall monitor the work done by the contractors and confirm that the contractors are performing quality work. Utilities should remove substandard contractors from their recommended lists if the subcontractors fail to perform at a satisfactory level. RUS does not endorse or recommend any particular independent contractors.
(i) Contractors not hired by the utility may not act as agents of the utility in performing work financed under this subpart.
(j) The borrowers are strongly encouraged to follow a bulletin or other publication that RUS deems appropriate and contains and describes best practices for energy efficiency quality assurance plans. RUS will make this bulletin or publication publicly available and revise it from time-to-time as RUS deems it necessary.
(a) Loan term. The maximum term for loans under this subpart shall be 15 years unless the loans relate to ground source loop investments or technology on an aggregate basis that has a useful life greater than 15 years. Ground source loop investments as the term is used in this paragraph do not include ancillary Start Printed Page 73370equipment related to ground source heat pump systems.
(b) Loan feasibility. Loan feasibility must be demonstrated for all loans made under this subpart. Loans made under this subpart shall be secured.
(c) Reimbursement for completed projects. (1) A borrower may request an initial advance not to exceed five percent of the total loan amount for working capital purposes to implement an eligible EE Program;
(2) Except for the initial advance provided for in paragraph (c)(1) of this section, all advances under this subpart shall be used for reimbursement of expenditures relating to a completed activity or investment; and
(3) Advances shall be in accordance with RUS procedures.
(d) Loan amounts. (1) Cumulative loan amounts outstanding under this subpart will be determined by the Assistant Administrator of the Electric Program and based an applicant's business plan; and
(2) Financing for administrative costs may not exceed 5 percent of the total loan amount.
(3) The Rural Utilities Service reserves the right to place a cap on both the total amount of funds an eligible entity can apply for, as well as a cap on the total amount of funds the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program can utilize in the appropriations.
The required application documentation listed in this section is not all inclusive but is specific to Eligible borrowers requesting a loan under this subpart and in most cases is supplemental to the general requirements for loan applications provided for in this part 1710:
(a) A letter from the Borrower's General Manager requesting a loan under this subpart.
(b) A copy of the board resolution establishing the EE Program that reflects an undertaking that funds collected in excess of then current amortization requirements for the related RUS loan will be redeployed for EE Program purposes or used to prepay the RUS loan.
(c) Current RUS-approved EE Program documentation that includes:
(1) A Business Plan that meets the requirements of § 1710.407;
(2) A Quality Assurance Plan that meets the requirements of § 1710.408;
(3) Analytical support documentation that meets the requirements of § 1710.411;
(4) A copy of RUS' written approval of the EE Program.
(d) An EE program work plan that meets the requirements of § 1710.255;
(e) A statement of whether an initial working capital advance pursuant to § 1710.409(c)(1) is included in the loan budget together with a schedule of how these funds will be used.
(f) A proposed draft Schedule C pursuant to 7 CFR part 1718 that lists assets to be financed under this subpart as excepted property under the RUS mortgage, as applicable.
Applications for loans under this subpart may only be made for eligible activities and investments included in an RUS-approved EE Program. In addition to a business plan and operations plan, a request for EE program approval must include analytical support documentation that demonstrates the program meets the requirements of § 1710.303 and assures RUS of the operational and financial integrity of the EE Program. This documentation must include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:
(a) A comparison of the utility's projected annual growth in demand after incorporating the EE Program together with an updated baseline forecast on file with RUS, where each includes an estimate of energy consuming devices used by customers in the service territory and a specific time horizon as determined by the utility for meeting the performance objectives established by them for the EE Program;
(b) Demonstration that the required periods of performance under § 1710.405(c) can reasonably be expected to be met;
(c) A report of discussions and coordination conducted with the power supplier, where applicable, issues identified as a result, and the outcome of this effort.
(d) An estimate of the amount of direct investment in utility-owned generation that will be deferred as a result of the EE Program;
(e) A description of efforts to identify state and local sources of funding and, if available, how they are to be integrated in the financing of the EE Program; and
(f) Copies of sample documentation used by the utility in administering its EE Program.
(g) Such other documents and reports as the Administrator may require.
Nothing in this subpart changes a Borrower's obligation to comply with RUS's accounting, monitoring and reporting requirements. In addition thereto, the Administrator may also require additional management reports that provide the agency with a means of evaluating the extent to which the goals and objectives identified in the EE Plan are being accomplished.
Nothing in this subpart changes a Borrower's obligation to comply with all laws and regulations to which it is subject.
§§ 1710.414-1710.499
18. The authority citation for part 1717 continues to read as follows:
19. Amend § 1717.852 by revising paragraph (b)(2)(ii) to read as follows:
Financing purposes.
(b) * * *
(2) * * *
(ii) Renewable energy systems and RUS-approved programs of Demand side management, energy efficiency and energy conservation; and
21. Amend § 1721.1 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:
Advances.
(a) Purpose and amount. With the exception of minor projects, loan funds will be advanced only for projects which are included in an RUS approved construction work plan (CWP), EE Program work plan (EEWP), or approved amendment, and in an approved loan as amended. Loan fund advances can be requested in an amount representing actual costs incurred.
Start Part Start Printed Page 73371
23. Amend § 1724.30 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:
§ 1724.30
Borrowers' requirements—engineering services.
(a) Each borrower shall select one or more qualified persons to perform the engineering services involved in the planning (including the development of an EE Program eligible for financing pursuant to subpart H of part 1710 of this chapter, design, and construction management of the system.
25. Amend Appendix A to subpart B of Part 1730 by adding paragraph 13.f. to read as follows:
End Amendment Part Start Appendix
13. * * *
f. Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program quality assurance compliance—
Rating:___
End Appendix Start Signature
John Charles Padalino,
Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.
1. Senator Patrick Leahy as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry explained this provision in a letter dated June 18, 1993 to Senator Jim Sasser the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget as follows: “These amendments also permit REA [now RUS] to make loans for demand side management and energy conservation program[s] which are required by some state agencies. They are also often the most cost effective methods of meeting the energy needs of rural areas.”
2. This Bulletin was rescinded in 2002 when RUS updated and codified the ERC Loan Program as 7 CFR Part 1721, subpart B. (See 67 FR 484, January 4, 2002).
[FR Doc. 2013-29158 Filed 12-4-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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Fidia Copyright
Copyright and Trademark Notices
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Currency notes in circulation rise 22% in May over pre-demonetisation levels; what Nirmala Sitharaman says
Published: June 25, 2019 7:33:47 PM
Currency notes in circulation stood at Rs 21.71 lakh crore at May-end 2019, showing an increase of more than 22 per cent over the pre-demonetisation level.
In a shock decision, the government had decided to demonetised old Rs 500/1,000 notes on November 8, 2016.
Currency notes in circulation stood at Rs 21.71 lakh crore at May-end 2019, showing an increase of more than 22 per cent over the pre-demonetisation level. As per a written reply given by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, the notes in circulation as on November 4, 2016 were Rs 17,74,187 crore, which have now increased to Rs 21,71,385 crore as on May 31, 2019.
In a shock decision, the government had decided to demonetised old Rs 500/1,000 notes on November 8, 2016. Sitharaman said the notes in circulation had grown at an average growth rate of 14.51 per cent year on year wise since October 2014. “As actual notes in circulation on May 31, 2019 are only 21,713.85 billion, the demonetisation, followed by digitalisation and reduction of cash use in informal economy has succeeded in reducing the notes in circulation by as much as 3,408.68 billion rupees,” she said.
The demonetisation, the minister said, was done with a view to eliminate black money, curb fake currency and thereby to create deterrence to funding of terror and left-wing extremism, facilitate transition of India’s non-formal economy into the formal economy and to give a boost to digitalisation, among other objectives. Sitharaman further said that as reported by the RBI, 7,62,072 pieces of counterfeit bank notes were detected in the banking system during 2016-17, 5,22,783 pieces in 2017-18 and 3,17,389 in 2018-19.
Hence, demonetisation resulted in curbing of the counterfeit currency, she added. The minister further said a significant growth has been observed in digital transactions in the country post demonetisation. Growth of digital transactions in terms of value has increased to 188.07 lakh crore in September 2018 from 112.27 lakh crore in November 2016.
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Media centre / Rabih Hage at The Chilterns
Galliard Homes Limited
Rabih Hage is a London-based designer and curator whose designs strike a refined balance between the artistic and the functional.
His work is “a mix of beautiful interiors and visionary architecture with a cutting-edge and ever-evolving creative approach,” that has been recognised with numerous design awards, such as the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year Award 2011, Homes & Gardens Award for Interior Design 2012 and consistent nomination by House and Garden and Architectural Digest (France) as one of the Top 100 leading designers since 2002.
Between 1989 and 1991, Hage worked on commercial projects including the landmark works of the TGV Train stations of Paris Montparnasse and Nantes, graduating from the École des Beaux Arts (Paris La-Seine) in 1991.
In 1992, Hage established an architectural studio, working in partnership with colleagues to add a variety of business and creative skills and dealing with projects from concept to execution. Hage collaborated on urban planning projects in Portugal, as well as historical buildings and chateaux in France. Focusing on heritage buildings in this period, he enjoyed, “turning a ruin into something interesting.”
With a shift in focus to interiors, renovation and new-build architectural projects, Hage went on to found his London studio in 2001. Pioneering furniture as art, he incorporated works by young and established artists and designers, melding function with aesthetics.
In September 2008, Hage opened his Rough Luxe Hotel in London’s Kings Cross. Originally a Georgian terraced house, the hotel has nine rooms and incorporates partially sanded walls, chipped paint and bare floorboards alongside opulent furnishings chosen by Hage.
"The rough texture of the walls now celebrates the papering, painting, priming and patching over the years," says Hage. “At Rough Luxe you must set aside all thoughts of hotels with conventional air-conditioned constancy, marbled flooring, polished finishes and bland colours. Rough Luxe is the complete antithesis to all of that.”
“Beauty is subjective,” Hage explains, who created the Rough Luxe name, concept and interior design; “Perfection doesn’t mean beauty. It’s not important. What makes a place great to stay is the location, the welcome you get and how well you are looked after. The material side is irrelevant.”
The concept triggered a worldwide movement in design, and since that time, Hage has established himself as a reference in new hotel concepts and developments, working with international hoteliers and developers, to complete projects such as the restaurants, bars and front of house of the Radisson Edwardian Guildford Hotel in 2012.
Carlow House
Set in a former Edwardian warehouse, Carlow House is a selection of 85 apartments arranged around a magnificent four-storey atrium. Each residence will be finished to the highest specifications, with features inspired by award-winning international designer practice Rabih Hage.
Created by Hage, the grand centerpiece of this building will be a vast, communal courtyard and glass atrium, bursting with a wonderful variety of charming plants, trees and walkways, and is set to become London’s largest winter garden.
Looking for a luxury apartment near Regent's Park? For further information about the availability at Carlow House, please click here to have a look at the property on the dedicated microsite.
The Chilterns
The Chilterns is a collection 44 exquisite apartments in the heart of London’s prestigious Marylebone. All properties will be expertly designed to combine the highest technical specifications with the finest interiors from world-renowned designer Rabih Hage.
The variety in the daily life of all Londoners is at the core of Rabih Hage's inspiration for the interior designs of The Chilterns. The neighbourhood of Marylebone itself is also an inspiration; it is lively, central, accessible and easy to live in.
As well as London's residents, the countless visitors coming to London every day are able to participate in this vibrant, diverse atmosphere. Whether it will be a primary home, or pied-à-terre, the interiors of each apartment reflect this unique environment and diversity of one of the world's greatest cities.
For full availability at The Chilterns in Marylebone search here or call our on-site office on 020 8418 1070.
David Bailey and The Chilterns
Interiors Showcasing the Art of Urban Living
Hotel-Style Developments Rule London
The Rise of Boutique Developments in London
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Video: US Navy’s Newest Amphibious Assault Ship. Dead End or Breakthrough?
By South Front
Global Research, April 03, 2017
South Front 1 April 2017
The USS America LHA-6 successfully completed combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT) on February 3rd, in preparation for its first overseas deployment at the head of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit/Amphibious Ready Group (MEU/ARG). The vessel went to sea several times in January to conduct training exercises in the run-up to its future deployment, testing different mixes of aviation assets to be fielded on the new class of ship. The USS America is classified as a Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA), and lacks a well deck to launch and recover LCACs or AAVs. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps have to determine exactly how to best utilize the new vessel as an integrated component of an MEU/ARG.
There was no small amount of controversy over the new vessel when it was first proposed. Many senior officers in the USMC argued that an amphibious assault ship meant to head an MEU/ARG must have amphibious assault capability. Without a well deck, the new LHA cannot launch and recover marines via LCAC hovercraft, LCU landing craft or AAVs, and thus it possesses no inherent amphibious capability. This renders the vessel less flexible than a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) of comparable size, such as the USS Wasp Class. This new class of LHA will use the added space traditionally taken up by a well deck and heavy vehicle stowage for increased aircraft hangar space, and storage for aviation maintenance and fuel. The America will allow for the accommodation of an Air Combat Element (ACE) that is larger in number and of a different mixture of aircraft than a traditional MEU/ARG.
In apparent recognition of the need to remedy the lack of flexibility inherent in the current design, and to bring the America class back in line with the traditional USMC mission, only the USS America LHA-6 and the USS Tripoli LHA-7, which is currently under construction, will be built absent a well deck. Although larger in dimensions and displacement, the remaining six vessels planned will be brought more in line with the USS Makin Island LHD-8 from which it was originally based; however, their well deck will be smaller in size. In order to make up for the lack of amphibious capability of the USS America, the smaller amphibious vessels comprising the MEU/ARG will have to bear the responsibility of transporting the heavy equipment that marines may need to bring to any potential fight. Although equipped with some internal cargo and vehicle stowage space, the America can only discharge vehicles and stores while docked at a prepared shore facility.
Lessons learned from the first overseas deployment of the vessel later this year, may result in the decision to add one additional LPD to any MEU/ARG fielding an LHA to bring amphibious strength up to an acceptable standard, or mandating that the LHAs must only be added to a traditional MEU/ARG if the mission calls for supplemental aviation capability.
The controversy surrounding the USS America LHA-6 and USS Tripoli LHA-7 is only exacerbated when considering the aviation elements that the vessel was designed to employ. The flight deck, internal hangars and elevators were designed to accommodate the V-22 Osprey and the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Both aircraft have been the source of controversy for a multitude of reasons. Both aircraft programs have incurred massive cost overruns, have failed to perform as promised, and in the case of the Osprey, have achieved an infamous safety record. A total of 36 fatalities are associated with the aircraft, although 30 of these occurred in incidents and crashes prior to the aircraft becoming operational in 2007. After almost two decades of development, which incurred a cost overrun of 40% more than originally budgeted, the V-22 Osprey costs approximately $100 million USD per aircraft. By contrast, an MH-60S Seahawk or CH-53 Sea Stallion each costs roughly $28 million USD per unit; however, the V-22 achieves three to four times the range of either traditional rotary wing aircraft and can carry a far larger payload than the MH-60S.
The controversy surrounding the F-35 JSF is well known. The cost overruns, faulty systems, and poor performance of this $1.3 trillion USD and climbing aircraft program are embarrassing enough; however, flight testing of both the V-22 and the F-35 on the flight deck of the USS America have revealed that the deck may not be strong enough to withstand the high heat unleashed by their engines during continuous flight operations. This shortcoming will have to be remedied by strengthening the America’s flight deck and reengineering the flight decks of all following vessels in class, adding significant cost. The AV-8B Harrier, used by the USMC for over 30 years, has one Rolls Royce F-402-RR-408 vectored thrust turbofan that produces 23,500 lbf. of thrust. The F-35B Lightning II uses the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, which can produce a maximum of 50,000 lbf. of thrust. The aircraft uses approximately 40,000 lbf. of thrust when taking off vertically.
The USS America will have to prove that it is not a dead-end in naval design. As the premier fighting force of the U.S. military services, and true to the unofficial motto, “Improve, Adapt and Overcome”, the USMC will work with any assets at their disposal. They will most likely excel, but until the vessel is proven in an actual military or humanitarian operation, the efficacy of such a design will be hard to determine. A return to a more balanced and flexible LHA design with the completion of USS Bougainville LHA-8, will eventually give the U.S. Navy and USMC a chance to compare the two vessels, put them both through their paces, and decide if the USS America was worth her $3.4 billion USD price tag.
The wisdom of providing a very specialized platform to carry U.S. Marines, who train to excel at all forms of warfare, whether by land, sea, or air, is questionable. The USMC has proven the most resistant of all U.S. military branches to misguided Department of Defense mandated changes in recent decades, and will undoubtedly continue to resist changes that they deem counterproductive to the Corps and their mission. In the meantime, they will do the best job they can with the tools they have been given.
If you’re able, and if you like our content and approach, please support the project. Our work wouldn’t be possible without your help: PayPal: [email protected] or via: http://southfront.org/donate/ or via: https://www.patreon.com/southfront
The original source of this article is South Front
Copyright © South Front, South Front, 2017
Articles by: South Front
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Montgomery Building's new panels will have original feel
Alyssa Mulliger Staff Writer @AMulligerSHJ
Dec 1, 2017 at 2:00 AM Dec 1, 2017 at 9:12 AM
The iconic Montgomery Building in downtown Spartanburg is getting its new skin.
The first replicated pre-cast concrete exterior panels are being put in place by Pride Masonry of Gaffney Inc. as redevelopment work continues on the 93-year-old building.
“To set each one of those panels, pick them up and get them into place is a pretty big undertaking and it has to be precise,” said Nick Lister, the project’s on-site assistant superintendent with Harper Corporation, which is serving as general contractor.
Greenville-based BF Spartanburg LLC, which closed on the Montgomery Building on North Church Street in February, is in the midst of an estimated $29 million-plus historic renovation project that will create a mixed-use complex with 72 upscale apartments and a variety of restaurant, retail and office space.
The renovation project is slated to be finished in October 2018.
Thousands of flat and decorative panels covering the building’s façade were removed in the spring by Georgia-based Ikon Demolition.
The decorative panels were laser scanned before being removed to create a digital file in case any of the stones crumbled during removal. Very little damage occurred to the decorate panels during the removal and transport process, according to Harper Corporation.
All of the building’s flat and decorative panels are being replaced with replications made of modern materials and fit to historic standards by manufacturer Cast Stone Systems Inc. out of Warrenton, North Carolina.
Kipp Cox, the on-site project manager with Harper Corporation, said the flat panels were made to the exact size and dimensions of those originally installed on the Montgomery Building.
Each flat panel is four feet wide, four feet long and weighs 1,500 pounds.
The panels will be installed in two phases, starting with the flat replicas on floors five through nine, Lister said.
Pride Masonry began on the north front corner of the building and is working down the west wall to the first bay window. Once the fifth through ninth floor flat panels are finished, installation will continue across the building to the south end, Lister said.
The decorative panels, which are now in production by Cast Stone Systems, will be included in the second phase of installation.
“The decorative panels will be from the ground to the bottom of the fifth floor, and then the ninth and 10th floors — that’s where the bulk of all the decorative stuff is,” Lister said.
Every new panel should be in place on the building next spring, he said.
Panels won’t be going on the building’s façade facing the St. John Street parking garage. The brickwork there will be fixed and painted and every window will be replaced.
Inside the building, construction crews with Harper Construction have drilled through floors to create a new interior stairwell; prepped the building for plumbing and electricity; framed the studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units on the third through 10th floors; and started outfitting the retail and office spaces, which are now leasing.
“Everything’s moving very smoothly and Harper (Corporation) is doing an excellent job,” said James Bakker, lead developer with BF Spartanburg. “It’s exciting to see the day to day progress on the building.”
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Featured Young Adult and Chapter Book Authors
Click here for the full line-up
Bill Konigsberg has published five books: Out of the Pocket, his 2008 debut, won the Lambda Literary Award. Openly Straight won the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor. The Porcupine of Truth won the PEN Center USA Literary Award and the Stonewall Book Award. Honestly Ben, the sequel to Openly Straight, was released in 2017 and received three starred reviews. The Music of What Happens was released in January 2019.
Lamar Giles is a well published author and a founding member of We Need Diverse Books. He has two novels forthcoming in 2019: his debut middle grade fantasy The Last Last-Day-of-Summer and his fourth YA thriller Spin. He is a two-time Edgar Award finalist in the YA category for his debut YA thriller Fake ID, and his second YA thriller, Endangered. His third YA thriller, Overturned was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2017.
Constance Lombardo is an author and illustrator based in Asheville, North Carolina.
She holds a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University and has studied at the Art Students League of New York.
She is the author of the Mr. Puffball series.
Jeremy Whitley is a writer and winner of three Glyph Awards for representation in comics.
He has written for IDW Publishing, and co-created original series such as “Princeless,” “The Order of Dagonet,” and “Illegal.”
Leslie Youngblood is the author of the middle grade novel Love Like the Sky.
She earned her MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has won the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Prize,
the A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Orlando Short Story Prize, and the Go On Girl! Book Club Aspiring Writer Award.
Gillian McDunn is the author of the middle grade novel Caterpillar Summer.
In the past she has lived in California and Missouri and currently lives near Raleigh, North Carolina.
Kelly Starling Lyons is the author of several books for young readers.
Her recent works include the picture book Going Down Home with Daddy and the chapter book Sleepover Scientist,
which is the most recent book in her Jada Jones series
Rebecca Petruck is the author of Boy Bites Bug and Steering Toward Normal.
She earned her MFA in Fiction from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
and has been a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. She currently lives in North Carolina.
Amy Reed is the author of several young adult novels, including The Boy and Girl Who Broke the World,
Beautiful, and The Nowhere Girls. She is also the editor of the young adult anthology Our Stories, Our Voices.
She currently lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Alicia Williams is an author with a background in oral storytelling in the African-American tradition.
She earned her MFA from Hamline University, and teaches kindergarten in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Genesis Begins Again is her debut novel.
Brenda Rufener is a novelist and former technical writer.
She is the author of the young adult novels Since We Last Spoke and Where I Live.
She is also an advocate for homeless youth and enjoys hiking in the North Carolina woods.
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Haugenbok.no› Engelsk› Engelsk - romaner og fortellinger› The tattooist of Auschwitz
Heather Morris Forfatter Zaffre
Heftet 99,-
The tattooist of Auschwitz The tattooist of Auschwitz
For readers of Schindler's List, The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas comes a heart-breaking story of the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances. I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in … LES MER Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale - a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer - it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too. So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz. LES MINDRE Forlagets omtale Forlagets For readers of Schindler's List, The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas comes a heart-breaking story of the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances. I tattooed a number on her arm. She tattooed her name on my heart. In 1942, Lale Sokolov arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was given the job of tattooing the prisoners marked for survival - scratching numbers into his fellow victims' arms in indelible ink to create what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust. Waiting in line to be tattooed, terrified and shaking, was a young girl. For Lale - a dandy, a jack-the-lad, a bit of a chancer - it was love at first sight. And he was determined not only to survive himself, but to ensure this woman, Gita, did, too. So begins one of the most life-affirming, courageous, unforgettable and human stories of the Holocaust: the love story of the tattooist of Auschwitz.
Emner: Holocaust Andre verdenskrig Konsentrasjonsleirer Jøder
The tattooist of Auschwitz Heather Morris
Heftet, Engelsk
Tatovøren i Auschwitz Heather Morris
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https://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/
Medical Device Security: The FDA's View
Mischel Kwon
MKA Cyber
Richard Bortnick
Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry, LLP
Markus Jakobsson
Agari
Jim Harvey
Top 10 Influencers in Health InfoSec
Risk and Resilience: Finding the Right Balance
Fraudulent SWIFT Transfers: Congress Queries New York Fed
Security Defenses Probed After Massive Bangladesh Bank Heist Mathew J. Schwartz (euroinfosec) • June 2, 2016
A House committee is seeking answers from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York about the recent $81 million SWIFT-related theft from the central bank of Bangladesh and its implications for U.S. financial services firms.
See Also: Live Webinar | Embracing Digital Risk Protection: Take Your Threat Intelligence to the Next Level
The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology launched its probe after warnings from SWIFT that the heist from Bangladesh Bank's New York Fed account and related malware attacks were "part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks," which may have targeted a dozen or more institutions (see 5 SWIFT Cyber Heist Investigations).
"This is deeply troubling and it is Congress' responsibility to ensure, through its oversight, that the NY Fed is taking all precautions to protect American finances and aggressively execute its own role as overseer of SWIFT," reads a May 31 letter to William C. Dudley, president of the New York Fed Reserve, signed by Lamar Smith, R-Texas, committee chairman, as well as committee member Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga.
SWIFT, formally known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a cooperative owned by 3,000 banks that bills itself as "the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services." It's now used by 11,000 banks globally to daily process 25 million communications that collectively account for billions of dollars' worth of transfers.
But the security of that messaging system has been called into question following a series of reports that malware-using attackers have been injecting fraudulent messages into the SWIFT network as part of a campaign that may stretch back to at least 2013.
"We are writing to request a briefing and information related to the February incident as well as information related to the NY Fed's role in overseeing ... SWIFT," the House committee's letter reads. The deadline for the Fed to respond and brief the committee is June 14.
As the letter suggests, the central banks of the 11 countries that comprise the G10 - Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States - together oversee SWIFT, with the National Bank of Belgium taking the lead role.
Probing SWIFT-Related Weaknesses
Other legislators and regulators also have been asking SWIFT-related questions.
On March 22, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., wrote to the New York Fed seeking further details on the Bangladesh Bank heist, to which the Fed responded on April 14.
Also in April, Britain's central bank, the Bank of England, wrote to all U.K. banks seeking details of how they were responding to risks related to the SWIFT network.
On May 19, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also wrote to Dudley at the New York Fed, asking how the Fed was responding to the bank heists.
On May 23, meanwhile, Maloney wrote to Fed Chair Janet Yellen, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg, asking if they planned to follow the Bank of England's lead and order all U.S. banks to conduct a full cybersecurity review.
The Bangladesh Bank heist, which came to light in March, initially triggered a war of words, with Bangladeshi officials accusing SWIFT and the New York Fed of sharing in the blame for the heist by failing to spot and stop the fraudulent transfers. But the New York Fed fired back, saying that the transfer requests had been valid, and so they had been honored, per existing agreements. SWIFT, meanwhile, accused Bangladesh Bank of having substandard security practices, including weak passwords and nonexistent firewalls on systems that it used to interface with the SWIFT network (see SWIFT to Banks: Get Your Security Act Together).
On May 10, officials from Bangladesh Bank, SWIFT and the New York Fed met and then released a joint statement pledging to work more closely together. "The parties also agreed to pursue jointly certain common goals: to recover the entire proceeds of the fraud and bring the perpetrators to justice, and protect the global financial system from these types of attacks," they said.
The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has also requested an update on the status of those initiatives as well as details of "any remedial steps" that the Fed has taken to address vulnerabilities related to using the SWIFT network.
Meanwhile, after initially blaming the breaches on banks, SWIFT has changed its tune and released a five-point security improvement plan, which includes better support for banks' information sharing and fraud-detection efforts. But no aspect of that plan, or related information sharing, will be mandatory.
SWIFT has also promised to issue more detailed security guidance to users.
Should SWIFT Cover Losses?
Some security experts, however, say SWIFT must do more, such as requiring banks to comply with new industry security regulations and external audits (see Blocking Hack Attacks: SWIFT Must Do More).
In a May 24 speech in Brussels, Gottfried Leibbrandt, SWIFT's CEO, dismissed such proposals: "SWIFT is not all-powerful, we are not a regulator, and we are not a policeman; success here depends on all the stakeholders in and around the industry."
If investigators uncover more hack attacks and fraudulent SWIFT money-moving messages, however, or such attacks worsen, SWIFT may be forced to take stronger steps or risk further damage to its reputation.
Ricardo Villadiego, CEO of anti-fraud firm Easy Solutions, says it's useful to contrast SWIFT's response to hacked customers, versus how banks respond to their hacked customers. "From the SWIFT CEO's point of view, he is accurate when he is saying the SWIFT network wasn't compromised," Villadiego says. "That is true. But now what is also true is that if you compare this with traditional phishing attacks, the banks' systems weren't compromised, but the money was stolen from users."
In such cases, most banks promise to cover customers' losses. For example, Lloyds Bank, a British retail and commercial bank, offers the following online and mobile banking guarantee: "We guarantee to refund your money in the unlikely event you experience fraud with our Internet Banking service - as long as you've been careful, for example, by taking reasonable steps to keep your security information safe."
"It would be nice to see the same reaction from SWIFT here," Villadiego says.
Russian Police Bust Alleged Bank Malware Gang
NFL Players' Medical Information Stolen
Mathew J. Schwartz
Executive Editor, DataBreachToday & Europe
Schwartz is an award-winning journalist with two decades of experience in magazines, newspapers and electronic media. He has covered the information security and privacy sector throughout his career. Before joining Information Security Media Group in 2014, where he now serves as the executive editor, DataBreachToday and for European news coverage, Schwartz was the information security beat reporter for InformationWeek and a frequent contributor to DarkReading, among other publications. He lives in Scotland.
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Making an Impression: interview with Conor O’Leary of Gleneagles Hotel
3rd of July, 2019 | Posted in Hotel News, Interviews, People, Perthshire Email Article | Print Article
The Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland’s flagship 5-star property, has been transformed since it was bought by Ennismore in 2015. It’s not just the hotel that has changed but the management has evolved too. SUSAN YOUNG caught up with Joint MD Conor O’Leary to find out more.
When I sat down with hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray last month he regaled me with stories of his family holidays at Gleneagles where his father would golf, his mother would enjoy afternoon tea and the children would play. Roll on 60 years and it seems that Gleneagles is going back to its roots.
When the hotel opened in 1924 it was described as the 8th wonder of the world, and management had a key focus – ‘to create happiness’. It seems that today’s management team have the same ethos.
Conor O’Leary, the hotel’s Joint Managing Director, has been instrumental in steering the hotel, which sits on an 850-acre estate and boasts 232 bedrooms, through the biggest period of change and investment in its almost 100-year history. Since he joined nearly three years ago as Manager of the hotel, the grand lady of hospitality has had a well-earned facelift, which has given the hotel a new lease of life. She doesn’t just look
ab fab but the energy in the hotel is somewhat changed too. Conor, too, is less formally attired than managers of pre-Ennismore days. In a smart stylish plaid jacket, an open-necked shirt, and with the ubiquitous mobile phone, he is the very epitome of a modern-day hotel General Manager, which is the role he assumed in 2017. In April 2019 he was promoted again to Joint Managing Director with direct responsibility for operations, people and culture and commercial functions while David Kemp has responsibility for all the projects and financial aspects of the business.
Says Conor,“I think that Gleneagles has now recaptured the excitement and glamour that first put it on the map in the 1920s.This has not just been about the décor, we have looked at everything that we do – every touch point a customer has – with the aim of improving the overall guest journey. The Gleneagles experience should now be one of seamless luxury – whether you are dining, shooting, golfing, using the spa or cycling, everything has been improved.
“By the end of this year, we will have renovated more than 200 bedrooms, launched three new bars, three restaurants, a private events
wing, a café and we have also taken back a meeting room to its original purpose as a tea lounge.”
He continues,“I’ve worked in lots of lovely hotels. Some are just bedrooms, with a nice bar or restaurant, but here we have horses, golf courses, fishing, lakes, off-road cars, and much more, as well as world-class professionals on
our team.The business is very diverse and it’s challenging. But challenging things are exciting. One minute I can be having a conversation about room rates and profit and the next the Solheim Cup which takes place here in September.”
Today Conor has a team of approximately 1,000. He says, “During the transition (from Diageo ownership to Ennismore) we retained a lot of the original team – generations of families work here. We have also strengthened the team.” He has also helped change the culture at Gleneagles.
He suggests, “We, like a lot of businesses, may have been too hierarchical and a little bit too formally structured.This can inhibit creativity and personality so we have tried to shift that a bit and encourage people to be themselves. We embrace the fact that people here should have personality, character and warmth – these are all Scottish traits and they are Gleneagles traits.”
“I do try and encourage people to have fun. That may sound glib, but if we all take things too seriously that reflects on the customer experience. I am absolutely certain of that. If our team smiles warmly our customer feels it.”
Conor continues,“We don’t have a hard and fast rule when it comes to recruiting. After all, with so many jobs, there are roles which will suit just about anyone who wants to work here. We have a real mix – we have brought people from other international hotels and some from coffee shops down the road. The majority of our staff are Scottish but it is not a pre-requisite, and although in technical roles you would need experience, in most other roles we can train you. What matters is character and personality. Gleneagles has always had a diverse group of people working at the hotel and a diverse group of guests.”
However, he admits that hospitality is not right for everyone.“I certainly don’t believe in forcing people into roles. Sometimes it is about finding the right role for the right personality. For example, I get more compliments about a member of the team that we moved from fine dining to our craft gin bar at the golf club than just anyone else.”
Despite the number in the Gleneagles team, Conor does his best to get out and about and get to know them. “I do my best”, he says.
In fact, he finds it frustrating the amount of management time spent in meetings in offices in the industry.
He tells me,“Not one of us joined hospitality to sit in an office – so how we have all got to a point where we spend so much time there is beyond me. We have shifted that habit here. As a result, I spend a huge amount of time with the team in the operation and meeting customers. When I meet customers I find out what we are doing well and what we can do better, after all that’s how I get paid.We constantly need to find out what customers are asking for, and we need to know how we can make people happier so they come back more.
The best idea doesn’t have to come from high up but it is up to the leadership team to implement them.”
A recent idea was a garden party on the lawn. Says Conor, “We did vintage china, chairs, pretty meadow flowers, there was a jazz quartet, blankets and rugs on the lawns, croquet and a tennis match. It was beautifully decadent.A guest said to me,“Can I say the most impressive thing about today was seeing the Gleneagles transformation – a few years ago there were signs saying ‘keep off the grass!’”
Gleneagles was built for people to come and play and relax – it was a playground.Why were we stopping it? The more we can allow people to relax and enjoy themselves on both sides – our team and our customers – the more revenue we will generate.”
t’s very refreshing talking to Conor – his management ethos is a breath of fresh air. He tells me,“The people that we hire in leadership roles must have the mindset to focus on our people first. Every single thing that we do now should be people-focused. Not commercially focused or product focused – these two for me would be secondary to finding the right people because you can’t do the other two without the right people.”
He says,“This is normal in other industries so perhaps we are playing catch up. In the past, we set ourselves commercial targets but we had no people strategy in place to get there. We also talk about recruitment instead of retention. How easy is it to keep people? We have to work on that first.Yes, I might be being idealistic, but if we can reduce staff turnover by 10/15% that would be a huge saving financially to our business, and our customers would see an increase in quality of service. It’s all about changing our mindset.
He gives another example of changing mindsets.“The number of times over the years that restaurant managers have said to me,‘What are marketing doing to get me more customers?’ My response is, “How many customers did you have last night? Why don’t you focus on getting them back in rather than focusing on marketing finding you 50 more? Again it is that shift of being thankful for what you have got and building meaningful relationships with the current team and customers – I think if we spend more time focusing on that and less time on recruitment we would be far more successful.”
As for admin – he has taken this away from operational staff.“A good example is the bar – the people there need to be running the bar for the customer.Their job is not to be caught up with admin.”
Although he himself doesn’t switch off, he does not expect his colleagues to do the same. Saying,“I think it is very important to have a work-life balance.We may be a 7-day a week business and our guests come for a variety of reasons, but we have to be realistic when it comes to the team. I don’t expect them to have to pick up messages on their days off.
We do have an internal platform – Workplace by Facebook – and sometimes I don’t know when people are working or not, so I might send them a message, but I don’t expect them to answer if they are off. If you can’t organise a business so that people don’t have to work overtime you are not doing something right.”
He is certainly doing something right and obviously has a passion for what he does. He also made the right decision when he dropped out of University and got a job with The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. A few years later he joined the Hyatt Group where he met his wife. He remained with them for nine years moving up through the ranks and prior to joining Gleneagles had spent three years at
the Grand Hyatt Dubai – the group’s flagship property. He became Food and Beverage (F&B) Director of the hotel – which was the largest F&B operation in the group’s worldwide portfolio.
Then he was lured back from Dubai to Perthshire. He said,“I was really impressed with Ennismore’s plans for the property, for example the very fact that they had brought in designer David Collins to enhance the property. I realised how invested the owner was in the significance of the histor y of the proper ty and we had quite a few conversations before I moved back.”
However, it was quite an adjustment – not least the weather. Dubai had been very hot and we moved here in time for winter – rain, hail and snow and so a new wardrobe was required! In Dubai, the roads are huge, multi- lane, but here we had to get used to country roads.
It seems that the adjustments all round have been positive.The hotel reported record revenues and profits in 2018 and Conor
tells me that the first half of 2019 is looking better than 2018, but that they are having to work harder to get business in. Leisure guests are booking much nearer the time – while corporate guest business (35% of Gleneagles business) is “slower, paused perhaps.”
But he is just working smarter. Says Conor, “We are trying to be a bit more creative and agile than before – and a bit more agile than our competitors.We are trading well, maybe just not as buoyantly as we were 12 months ago.We need people coming through the door. Other properties with less of a leisure offering can dial down.We can’t as easily.”
But he is bullish,“We are really lucky because less than 5% of our business comes through Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). We are heavily weighted through direct business to the hotel – people call.The cost of acquisition
is not necessarily cheaper – but with us, it is better because our guests need information. They don’t just book a room.They want to book dinner, they want to know how long the shooting takes, what else can they do? We
are also continually investing in our website and social media. For instance, our Instagram
is more about painting an impression of Gleneagles – what it feels like, rather than what it costs.We are trying to create an emotional connection and tell people about the wonderful experience they can have here.”
He has also noticed that more and more people are choosing to spend their money in Scotland rather than going overseas, for example Dubai or the South of France. “There’s certainly been a shift in the perception of the local market and there has also been a shift in guests’ behaviour. Conor has noticed that families are doing more activities together. He says,“In the old days parents would dump kids in the play area and go to the bar. Now they are going on guided walks with the family up to the glen with our hotel dog Henr y. They are also more interested in country field sports – salmon, fishing and such like.”
“Five years ago if you had come to Gleneagles you would have come to an International Resort, but today we have positioned ourselves as an internationally renowned Scottish country estate.You are likely to be picked up in a land rover, we have swapped our pansies for wildflowers, and relaxed our uniforms.
I’m not criticising the way things used to be done, it was a successful strategy at the time. But now we have created a different environment and experience to meet the demands of today’s consumer and make Gleneagles relevant to a new generation of guests.”
He does, however, wish that more people were aware of what Scotland has to offer. He thinks we should be marketing more effectively and confidently.“In America, everywhere you go people are aware of what Ireland has to offer. Perhaps Ireland overstates what they have but we understate it.”
What is not an understatement is the passion that Conor demonstrates for his adopted country and for Scotland’s most iconic hotel. The next experience for Conor is fatherhood – his first child is on the way. Says he,“Perthshire is a great place to bring kids up.” It is indeed!.
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Benardrick McKinney develops into a top linebacker for Texans
Sports // Texans
Linebacker Benardrick McKinney's vocal leadership, talent have teammates, coaches aware of special presence
Aaron Wilson , Houston Chronicle July 1, 2017 Updated: July 1, 2017 6:25 p.m.
Benardrick McKinney develops into a top linebacker for...
1of5Houston Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel, left, works with inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney (55) during OTAs at The Methodist Training Center on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff
2of5Houston Texans linebacker Benardrick McKinney (55) stretches during OTAs at The Methodist Training Center on Tuesday, June 6, 2017, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff
3of5Houston Texans inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney (55) reacts after sacking Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) during the second half of an NFL game at NRG Stadium Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 in Houston. ( Michael Ciaglo / Houston Chronicle )Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Staff
4of5Houston Texans inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney (55) and outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus (59) work to tackle Cincinnati Bengals tight end Ryan Hewitt (89) during the first quarter of an NFL football game at NRG Stadium, Saturday,Dec. 24, 2016 in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle )Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer
5of5Texans inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney earned the distinction of being the only NFL player to finish with at least 100 tackles (129) and five sacks last season.Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photographer
Benardrick McKinney paced before his first NFL game, his feet in constant motion as a raw, talented rookie linebacker.
McKinney was determined to make an impact while dealing with nerves that were transforming routine sequences into big moments. His coaches were worried he was going to run out of gas if he didn't calm down and harness his emotions.
"I remember his first game - he'll probably tell you this, too - he was hyperventilating on his first drive," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "I think he's come a long way since then."
Three years later, McKinney, 24, has emerged as a force in the middle of the NFL's top-ranked defense.
A hard-hitting anchor of an inside linebacker, McKinney has rare speed and size and a nasty disposition on the field that contrasts with his laid-back personality away from football.
Fast enough to catch running backs in the open field, McKinney doubles as a blitzing presence capable of shifting to outside linebacker as a pass rusher.
Few linebackers in the NFL are built like McKinney, or as athletic. At 6-4, 260 pounds, McKinney has run the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds and registered a 401/2-inch vertical leap.
Breakthrough season
He seems to get quicker and more adept at his responsibilities each season since the Texans drafted him in the second round out of Mississippi State. His increased comfort level was obvious last season.
"I had a lot of fun last season," McKinney said. "I wasn't as uptight as my rookie season."
On a defense headlined by Pro Bowl defensive ends J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney, McKinney tends to fly under the radar as far as accolades. That hasn't diminished his respect in NFL circles where McKinney is hailed as one of the top young defensive players in the game.
"I'd be very comfortable starting my defense with McKinney as my first pick," an AFC college scouting director said. "He's an absolute stud. He's so big and strong, but, at the same time, he runs so well. If you could redo the draft, he'd be a first-rounder, easily.
"The Texans really hit on this guy. He's special."
McKinney became the Texans' leading tackler last season, recording a career-high 129 tackles. He earned the distinction of being the only NFL player to finish with at least 100 tackles and five sacks last season.
McKinney led the Texans with a career-high 129 tackles. He was the only NFL player to record at least 100 tackles and five sacks.
Although he was named second-team All-Pro, Pro Bowl recognition eluded McKinney during his second NFL season.
"I think he's a great player," Watt said. "I think he's very underrated. I think B-Mac, he's a guy who in our locker room we fully understand and appreciate everything that he does for our team, and I think that you're only going to see him continue to get better.
"He's a very smart player, but he's also extremely physical."
A triple threat on field
What separates McKinney from the pack of gifted NFL linebackers? Versatility, productivity and durability.
"I think he can do so many different things," Watt said. "He can come downhill and really hit you in the mouth, but he also is very cerebral and he can play the game with his mind. He can also go out and cover guys so he does so many different things, but he does them all well and I think he's obviously been very, very good for us."
A native of Tunica, Miss., McKinney has maintained a low-key approach to football. He doesn't make proclamations, or set lofty public goals. There's no trash-talking from McKinney.
Taking his cue from defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel, his position coach for his first two NFL seasons before he was promoted this year, McKinney is intent on self-improvement.
"This year, I just want to focus on being a better leader, being more vocal," McKinney said. "Coach Vrabel and all the coaches put the players in the right position to make plays. All I had to do was make tackles when they put me in a spot to make a play.
"I've been doing a leadership role since I was a young. My dad always enforced that on me to be a leader. I just want to be a vocal leader on the defense."
McKinney has matured to the point where even accomplished veteran players like Watt confer with him about what's the next strategic move on defense.
"He's very important," Watt said. "You need to have a couple of guys in the middle there, obviously, that know what they're doing. Linebacker is one of the toughest jobs on the defense because they have to get us up front all coordinated. They got to get the guys behind them coordinated.
"Just out at practice you talk to Benardrick, and I couldn't do his job because I'm so damn tired in between plays. I can't talk and tell everybody else what to do so I say thank you for telling us what to do, man.
"He's got a much harder job than me so I appreciate Benardrick taking that lead."
Franchise milestone
McKinney became just the second Texans player in franchise history last season to have 100 tackles and five sacks in a single season, joining former linebacker Jamie Sharper.
He had a career-high 16 tackles during a 27-0 loss to the New England Patriots. He finished with the eighth-most tackles in franchise history last season.
"Bernardrick's getting better and better every year," O'Brien said. "He's a guy who I have a lot of respect for. He came in here and learned the game pretty quickly. I thought he had a Pro Bowl-type of year last year.
"Last year's over, but I think the guy is poised to have a really good career here. A lot of it is going to have to do with health, but I think as long as he stays healthy he's a hell of a football player."
A former consensus All-American in college, McKinney was overlooked by most college recruiters despite playing quarterback, linebacker and punter at Rosa Fort High School. He had 2,036 all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior. He was the center on the basketball team.
Mississippi State was the only Division I program to offer McKinney a scholarship. The other offers were from junior colleges.
"That was a long time ago, but I never forget anything," McKinney said. "Stuff like that always motivates you and makes you keep working hard."
McKinney became the program's first All-America linebacker since 1999. He finished his career with 244 tackles, including 19½ for losses, with 7½ sacks and six fumble recoveries.
Team makes its (draft) move
The Texans were enamored enough of McKinney's potential that they traded up to the Cleveland Browns' spot at No. 43 to acquire him, exchanging second-round picks and also sending fourth-round and sixth-round picks to Cleveland and netting a seventh-rounder.
They utilize him in several ways to make it difficult for blockers to get a bead on him.
"It was kind of fun," McKinney said. "It was kind of different keeping the offense on their toes, moving everybody around so they didn't know where we were coming from. We did a lot of disguise and the coaches put me in different spots just to try to mix it up.
Signed to a four-year, $5.345 million contract that includes $3.26 million guaranteed and a $2.147 million signing bonus, McKinney is working hard at honing his techniques in pass coverage.
As a bigger linebacker, it's difficult for him to shadow smaller, quicker running backs. He holds his own, though. The roughest game he had in coverage last season was during a loss to the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City as their backs were productive swinging out of the backfield.
"It's kind of tough checking small backs," McKinney said. "I'm just continuing to gain confidence and get better with the defense and used to the game. I try to work on my craft every day in coverage and blitzing and playing football."
Follow Aaron on:
aaronwilson_nfl
Aaron Wilson is a Texans beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, joining the paper in August 2015. He was a Baltimore Ravens beat writer from 2001 to 2015, working for The Baltimore Sun, including coverage of Super Bowl XLVII, the Ray Rice domestic violence case and the careers of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Jonathan Ogden, and previously covered the team for the Carroll County Times and the Annapolis Capital.
This marks the second time the Washington, D.C. native has covered the AFC South, previously covering the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Past Articles from this Author:
Texans' Deshaun Watson, QB coach Carl Smith eager to collaborate
NFL deadline passes without new deal for Texans' Jadeveon Clowney
Texans, Jadeveon Clowney prepared to wait it out
Ogg dismisses poker room cases, citing conflict with consultant and fundraiser
Comparing 'Madden NFL 20' ratings for Texans, Cowboys players
ESPN hires disgraced QB Ryan Leaf as college football analyst
Texans' DeAndre Hopkins joins Madden NFL 99 rating club
Texans' J.J. Watt unveils his latest Reebok training shoe
No change, no deal in offing for Texans franchise player Jadeveon Clowney
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07/02/2015 01:00 pm ET Updated Jul 02, 2015
Bernie Sanders Raises $15 Million In Just 2 Months
By Sam Stein
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), whose bid for the Democratic nomination for president has drawn the largest crowds on the campaign trail, is raking in major money as well.
His campaign reported on Thursday that it had raised $15 million over the last two months.
It is an impressive haul for a candidate few thought would be more than a socialist-minded megaphone. But Sanders has taken off, becoming the closest thing to a challenger to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the primaries.
Clinton continues to be a juggernaut, reportedly raising $45 million in the last three months and enjoying wide leads in public opinion polls.
But Sanders likely has a larger base of donors. His campaign reported receiving 400,000 contributions during the past two months from 250,000 total contributors. Nearly 87 percent of the total amount raised during the quarter came from the donors who contributed $250 or less.
According to the Clinton campaign, 91 percent of its donations were $100 or less in value. But they declined to say how many individual people contributed to Clinton's campaign.
Declared 2016 Presidential Candidates
Sam Stein
Senior Politics Editor, HuffPost
Elections 2016 Campaign Finance Bernie Sanders Politics News
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) -- Announced March 23, 2015
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), his wife Heidi and their two daughters wave on stage after he announced his campaign for president, Monday, March 23, 2015 at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va. Cruz, who announced his candidacy on Twitter in the early morning hours, was the first major candidate to officially enter 2016 race for president.
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2016 Budget Increases Funding for HIPAA Audit Program
Home » HIPAA Compliance News » 2016 Budget Increases Funding for HIPAA Audit Program
Posted By HIPAA Journal on Feb 4, 2015
The 2016 budget set by President Obama’s administration on Monday this week proposes a 4.8% increase in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, while its Office for Civil Rights is to see a budget increase of 10% from the 2015 fiscal year; if congress approves the appropriation bills to provide the funding.
The OCR had a proposed budget increase for the 2015 fiscal year, although it did not receive that additional funding; instead it received a flat budget following the signing of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 on December 16th, 2014.
The proposed 2016 budget raises funding for the Office for Civil Rights to $42.7 million – an increase of $3.9 million – which is intended to help it set up a permanent HIPAA audit program, and will allow the OCR to employ a further four permanent members of staff.
The HIPAA Compliance Audit program commenced in 2011 with a series of pilot audits which highlighted numerous failures by the healthcare industry to bring policies and procedures up to date with the HIPAA Omnibus Rule of 2013, but also revealed that 80% of audited healthcare providers had failed to conduct a full and thorough risk analysis, as demanded by the HIPAA Security Final Rule of 2003.
Leon Rodriguez, the former OCR Director, was keen to implement a permanent audit program to ensure continued compliance with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules, yet the OCR’s audit program has stalled with it yet to complete its second round of compliance audits. The second round was originally scheduled to take place by the fall of 2014, with healthcare providers, clearing houses and health planned scheduled to be audited first, followed by Business Associates, which are now covered by HIPAA following the introduction of the Omnibus Rule.
However, those audits were delayed last year in order to allow the OCR to implement a new web portal to facilitate the collection of audit documents. The automation of data collection is a necessity due to the huge administrative burden it places on the OCR. The system is now being tested, although the OCR has yet to finalize its second round audits. Last month Samuels said that they would begin expeditiously, although the timeline for the audits was not announced.
In a letter accompanying the proposed HHS budget changes, Samuels said “The two primary objectives of this program are to further promote voluntary compliance and to utilize audit data to better target our existing technical assistance efforts.” She went on to say that “The audit program will add tremendous value to OCR’s compliance and enforcement mission by enabling OCR to proactively and systematically measure industry compliance with HIPAA.”
If the new budget is approved it will give the OCR much needed funding to start its permanent audit program, although in the meantime the OCR’s budget is tight. In the words of Samuels, “In the current constrained fiscal [2015] environment, OCR continues to examine ways we can do more with our resources.”
The budget sees significant increases in spending to improve cybersecurity and will help Obama’s Administration develop a nationwide secure health data exchange as well as implement a number of security measures intended to reduce the risk of identity theft and medical fraud.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which is tasked with developing the national exchange of health information, has been given a budget increase of 52% from last year. This increases its funding by an additional $30 million to $91.8 million and will allow the department to employ a further 15 members of full time staff. According to Karen DeSalvo, M.D., leader of the ONC, “The FY 2016 budget request reflects ONC’s commitment to developing a nationwide, interoperable learning health system that assures that data can be securely collected, used and shared by the right people at the right time to achieve better care and better health at a lower cost.”
The ONC has recently produced a 10-year plan for improving privacy and security, which includes $9.1 million for IT policy and governance and $4.8 million for new privacy and security safeguards. These include the development of methods of identity management, providing patients with additional controls over the disclosure of their Protected Health Information, issuing guidance to both consumers and stakeholders on HIT and setting adoption strategies for the nationwide health information exchange.
A further $50 million is being earmarked for new measures to protect senior citizens from identity theft, including the removal of social security numbers from Medicare cards, which was originally tabled in 2002 by both the HHS Office of the Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office. The HHS has also requested a further $73 million to manage its cybersecurity program; an increase of $28 million from last year.
Obama announced in his State of the Nation speech last month that he intends to increase funding for “treatments, diagnostics and prevention strategies tailored to the individual genetic characteristics of each patient, also known as precision medicine.” $215 million in additional funding has been proposed for this purpose.
The 2016 budget also calls for an additional $1 trillion in new tax measures and a 4.5% increase in military spending. The total budget of $3.99 trillion for the fiscal year commencing Oct. 1 sees an overall increase of 6.4% from the previous year, and is expected to reduce the budget deficit to $474 billion for the year, with revenue increased to $3.53 trillion. This would reduce the deficit to a level not seen since 2008.
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Sport League of Ireland
'The thoughts of them carrying me in a coffin would kill me! They'd probably drop me. They did alright with their da though'
The first family of Irish goalkeeping reflect on a lifetime of looking after number ones
Angela Henderson with her sons Dave and Stephen at the family home in Dublin. Photo: Mark Condren
David Kelly Twitter Email
July 7 2019 6:30 PM
The Hendersons are one of Irish football's most famous families and they can trace their pedigree back for a century and more. Paddy, who passed away in 2017, played in goal for Shamrock Rovers in the 1960s, sons David (59) and Stephen (53) had extensive careers in the League of Ireland while Wayne won six caps for Ireland.
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/the-thoughts-of-them-carrying-me-in-a-coffin-would-kill-me-theyd-probably-drop-me-they-did-alright-with-their-da-though-38289030.html
https://www.independent.ie/incoming/article38287977.ece/21e01/AUTOCROP/h342/sn%20henderson%20family.jpg
On Thursday, Paddy's grandson Stephen Jnr (31), was in England with Wayne (35), who is now an agent, hoping to find a new club. Back in Dublin, was Stephen, as Head of Youth Development, and David, Head of Recruitment, after their first day working side by side, at Shelbourne FC.
We sat down to discuss nature and nurture, family, life and death - and a bit of football. Joining us was Angela (81); the mother of all goalkeepers.
David Kelly: Angela, how did you meet Paddy?
Angela Henderson: It was an end-of-year awards do in 1955. My father ran the St Bernard's team and someone said that Paddy liked me. It wasn't love at first sight. The second time it was. We got married in 1959 when we were both 21. We lived in a room in Dorset St and the butcher across the road was a mad Rovers man. If Paddy made a mistake on the Sunday I couldn't go across the road on a Monday. We'd nearly starve for the week!
Dave Henderson: Paddy's uncle, "Rosie" Henderson was a League of Ireland star, a striking 6'2" fella. Played for Ireland too. All their family were originally from Irishtown. They go right back to the early 1900s.
AH: I wouldn't have gone to many games, never did. I'd stay at home with the rosary beads. I'd be fierce nervous. Even when Wayne played big matches on Sky Sports, I'd be watching through the glass door, half afraid. Even when he won, I'd be afraid to watch them on video afterwards in case he might make a mistake. You're worried about what happens afterwards. Paddy would love it when Wayne rang to say he'd done well. We could have our fry then!
DH: Dad had a perfect temperament for a goalkeeper.
AH: You'd never know if he'd lost, he'd never mope around.
DK: Was the temperament passed down? You two guys have a reputation!
Stephen Henderson: I worked with him for 18 years so I would have watched closely how he interacted with people. He was incredibly empathetic. He took half the kids in Cabra off the streets and gave them a job. He'd only lose his temper when arrogant bosses made stupid demands. He hated people who were aloof. And I think we got those traits from him.
DH: His twin rules were "Don't tell lies" and "Always try to do the right thing."
Stephen, Dave, Wayne and their father Paddy Henderson pictured in 1998
SH: She won't like me telling this story but Mam fell in Spain when she was pregnant with Wayne, she was 45 at the time. He took a few days extra to look after her but when he returned they sacked him. That broke his heart. It was testament to the man that every one of those workers went on strike. He'd never missed a day. They had to bring him back. But they took his car off him and gave him an old dirty van that barely worked. The only reason he went back and suffered humiliation was for the workers. I always admired him but never more than during that time.
AH: I remember a woman coming up to me a year before he died. "It's thanks to Paddy that my son was saved because he gave him a job." He finished early because he had a bad back. In those days they'd cut you open like a curtain. These two have bad backs, Wayne had to retire early because of it. And we're hoping Stephen Jnr gets on okay with his medical. All goalkeepers get it. I suppose it's all the bending down.
DK: Did you expect to have a family of footballers, never mind a family of goalkeepers?
AH: No, well you don't think. You get married and have your first baby, and you don't think about football. But since they could walk, Paddy'd have them at the gates, keeping goal.
DH: I played up front at Stella Maris. When I was 11, our goalie was having a nightmare so they stuck me in. I never left. That's why I always played like the modern goalies, I always had the ball at my feet but I was deemed a lunatic. When they changed the back-pass rule in 1990, it benefited me. I could read the game and affect it. Making a save is the easiest thing for a goalkeeper. Niall Quinn can do it. Brian Kerr used to encourage me, it made the game quicker.
DK: You were with Dublin Fire Brigade?
DH: They told me I had to give up football and I said I would because I wanted to get in so badly. But I ended up playing 15 years. I had a few bad scrapes in the 30 years. In the last year, I had a breakdown when a junkie spat in my eyes. Really bad. I keeled over in the hospital, floods of tears. I was out for a few months, went through counselling. It still affects me. You can get a bad run. So many dead bodies . . .
DK: So many? Can you remember how many dead people you've seen? I mean soldiers in a war can remember how many dead people they've seen.
DH: Absolutely, I know. It's generally the ambulance cases [when] you see them. Christmas morning, a dead baby in a fire. Then you're finished at 10 and going home to open your kids' presents from Santa. I'd have a reputation for being a bit mad, but I'd be a sensitive soul. It comes from my parents but experience gives you perspective. Two of my best friends my age in the fire brigade died in the last week. In my role now, recruitment, I can see kids who are damaged. I can relate to them. Kids now have it very difficult, you have to be on the same wavelength as them. You need to be watching Love Island. Frank Lampard only got the Chelsea gig to be friends with the players.
SH: Dave always had a great sense of humour but you had to understand it. He'd joke about death but it was a defence mechanism. If you got down, you were done.
DH: I saw a mate today who was also in the service and he had all the cycling gear and I shouted over at him. 'How'd you recognise me?' You're still breathing, I says. But there's life too. I delivered my only baby on the morning of a match in Kilkenny, Dad drove me down. All through the match I never saw a ball, only a baby's head. 'Eight centimetres, keep pushing.' It was an amazing thing. And I didn't drop it!
AH: The thoughts of them carrying me in a coffin would kill me! They'd probably drop me. They did alright with their da though.
DK: You've all had different careers, Wayne capped for Ireland, Dave a League of Ireland stalwart. Stephen, you were more noted in management.
SH: I got on the coaching ladder when it wasn't a big thing. I did the FAS course with Billy Young and you saw how you were as a player. And then you learn from managers. When I went into management, I took treating people the same way they treat you a bit too literally. If they treated me like a p****, I'd respond in the same way. But my Dad's standards and ethics flowed through it all. Treating people with respect.
DK: Were you a good manager?
SH: I think so. I've never really had funds but we always punched above our weight, whether it was the two spells at Cobh or Waterford. Cobh have only won two trophies and I was there for both and their first Cup final. It's tough at times. I had a player texting me on a Tuesday saying he wouldn't train because his ankle is gone. Then I see a picture on social media on a Thursday with his mate on his shoulders, drinking at a music festival. I don't blame him, he's thinking it's not worth it which is sad. My wife Leslie was the treasurer and we did what we could. The last thing that happened was that we finished with dirty jerseys being handed to us before a match.
DK: Both of you have been in a game, an industry, that has existed despite, rather than because of, help from those in charge?
DH: League of Ireland has thrived because of people like us and so many others. We're in it now at Shelbourne to give kids the opportunity to play and there's loads of it. Others are in the game for self-promotion. There are great people in the FAI but they have been let down.
SH: There is no football industry here. Why have about 10 teams gone out of existence, and so many others flirted with it, since the FAI took over the League? I get so annoyed with it. At Cobh, we trained on cow fields. How can you tell a kid that is part of a pyramid? Back to what my dad said, you can't tell people lies. Others might. We've lost 15 or 20 years. The underage leagues were just a box-ticking exercise, the clubs are struggling as it is and the FAI needed them to justify the large salaries being paid to certain people or to get funding from UEFA. There was no thought process. On a side note, I've gone to Noel Mooney in the FAI with a Managers' Association I'm trying to set up. I met 16 managers last weekend and we've started the ball rolling. We've no representation which is crazy. The new FAI is supposed to be open so I'll keep at it.
DH: The All-Ireland League will work. Parochialism works. That's why the GAA is strong. The football might be poor but people want to see their team win. And there are very few grounds here where you can have a family experience. It's more like a horror movie.
DK: And now you started work this week for Shelbourne?
DH: We have different opinions but we have a good consensus of what we want to do. We want to progress things carefully, developing our underage teams, possibly getting promotion. But it has to be sustainable. Our job is to try to produce around half the first-team squad which we can supplement with outsiders. That's the goal.
AH: Your dad would be proud. You're still alive after the first week.
DK: Angela, you have a daughter but there is another boy, Robert.
AH: I think Robert was the only one Paddy lost the rag with! He had the makings of a great footballer. He's a gentle soul. But when he went on the pitch he always got sent off! He never gave the impression he was worried about it. He's happy with his life.
DH: He wouldn't play in goal. If there were no referees, he would have played for Barcelona! Coming from a football family brings pressure. I used to think being good enough is good enough. People expect because of the name. My son Sam played, I never pushed him. He was doing well but he just stopped. I asked him afterwards. He said Wayne had played for Ireland, Stephen Junior was doing well. He told me a few years later that he had to fulfil that expectation. I never knew he felt that.
SH: I've two boys who play, Colin and Aaron. But you'd be worried about the comments they might get.
DH: I remember going to Hibs to work with Pat Fenlon. I was 52, had left the fire brigade. And suddenly I was scared. And I'd sent so many for trials who must have felt the same.
AH: Wayne went at 13. Stephen went at 12 to Arsenal. He was gone one minute and came back! It can be tough. But I'm proud of them all.
DH: I remember when Wayne made his debut. The next day Eamonn Darcy rang to say how well he'd done. Paddy wouldn't have been an emotional man. But he cried that day.
AH: Ah, I'm very proud of them all. They didn't turn out that badly in the end!
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'Mayawati, Modi, Advani more lethal than Bush'
The Samajwadi Party will contest the forthcoming elections under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, says general secretary Amar Singh.
.Prabhu Chawla
ISSUE DATE: July 28, 2008
UPDATED: July 19, 2008 12:18 IST
INTERVIEW WITH AMAR SINGH
The Samajwadi Party (SP) will contest the forthcoming elections under the leadership of Manmohan Singh, says general secretary Amar Singh.
Q. Why this change of heart—from angry Amar Singh to sweet Amar Singh?
A. There is no political change of heart. We have been constantly wedded to secularism and are firm about our political stance. We wanted to withdraw support but didn’t because we want to keep communalism at bay.
Q. You realised this only recently.
A. In spite of our differences with the Congress, we never withdrew support. I have never abused or attacked anyone, be it political or personal. We have mutually understood that attacking each other without any rhyme or reason will not benefit either of us. There is a convergence of political interest. So we have come together.
Q. In the last UNPA meeting, we saw a united face of the alliance in the morning, but by evening, things had changed.
A. In the meeting, I had endorsed the views expressed by Om Prakash Chautala and said that if need arises, we will meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I also said that Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the right person to make a statement on the nuclear deal issue.
Q. It seems that you are using Dr Kalam’s name for your own convenience. You spoke against the deal on the floor of the House even after Dr Kalam had endorsed the deal in national interest. Isn’t that a volte face?
A. The UPA regime never consulted us, formally or informally. But after M.K. Narayanan approached us, we decided to consult a defence expert. And undoubtedly, Dr Kalam is far more knowledgeable than all of us on this issue.
Amar Singh
Q. Earlier, you were misled by Prakash Karat on this issue.
A. I respect him. Their point of view on the Indo-US nuclear deal may be right from their own perspective and ideology. I did support them, but when I met Narayanan, and later our missile man and former president Kalam, we were forced to change our stance.
Q. You were not on talking terms with the Government. Suddenly they get in touch with you and seek support for the deal and you give it. Is this a permanent arrangement?
A. As far as the SP is concerned, we will not do anything to thwart our relations with the Congress leadership, be it at the national level or state level. Whether we will be able to forge an alliance with Congress, we are not too sure. If it happens it is fine, if it doesn’t, still in Rae Bareli and Amethi, we will give unconditional support to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Q. But critics say both of you are afraid of Mayawati.
A. Many people are saying that BJP is petrified of Manmohan Singh. Jaswant Singh approached UNPA leaders and asked them to support the BJP to oust the Congress-led Government. Isn’t this what we should call opportunism? If they do, it is politics. If I do it, I am called opportunistic.
Q. Is it an alliance for Uttar Pradesh to fight Mayawati?
A. It is an alliance to fight communal forces. Mayawati along with Narendra Modi and Advaniji are far more lethal than George Bush.
Q. Will Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi campaign with you and Mulayam Singh in Uttar Pradesh?
A. If it happens in future, why not?
Q. Will this new alliance with Congress succeed in Uttar Pradesh?
A. It all depends on how the Congress party behaves in future with its allies and us. Congress has to be more accommodative and adjusting rather than imposing itself on others.
Q. What is the change you found in the Congress and Sonia Gandhi that you have become their ardent supporter?
A. We find her more reasonable and open to the viewpoints of others. Also we have to deal with a common enemy—Mayawati.
Q. How can you forget attacks on your friends—Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachahan, Anil Ambani and Subroto Roy?
A. I have forgotten a lot and moved on and they have also. As for Bachchans, they are my family and will be. Also, I am no longer professionally associated with the Sahara Parivar.
Q. Under whose leadership will you contest the forthcoming elections?
A. Under Manmohan Singh. He is the prime ministerial candidate.
Q. I am told you are trying to bring “the brothers” together.
A. The brothers account for 5 per cent of the country’s GDP. Their bickering will harm the country. Peace must prevail.
Q. How will you make sure the Government has the numbers?
A. It is an old organisation. They have got many managers and they are managing the affairs. They are leading it. And I am just assisting them.
Q. How many parties will you break to garner support?
A. I don’t break parties. They will start melting when I am around. I will gather them and put them in a pot. I will not disclose the exact number but we have enough to win the vote. I will get MPs, more than I have claimed.
Q. After the Government wins confidence vote, what will be your first demand?
A. To check price rise and inflation.
Q. Will you join the Government?
A. No member of the Samajwadi Party will join the current Government under this prime minister.
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The Animal's Companion (Hardcover)
People & Their Pets, a 26,000-Year Love Story
By Jacky Colliss Harvey
Black Dog & Leventhal, 9780316466219, 304pp.
A unique and compelling exploration of why humans need animal companions -- from dogs and cats to horses, birds, and reptiles -- through the eyes of a New York Times bestselling historical detective author.
In The Animal's Companion, the acclaimed social anthropologist and author of Red: A History of the Redhead turns her keen eye for cultural investigation toward uncovering why humans have such a strong desire to share everyday life with pets. It's a history that can be traced back to a cave in France where anthropologists discovered evidence of a boy and his dog taking a walk together -- 26,000 years ago.
From those preserved foot and paw prints, Jacky Colliss Harvey draws on literary, artistic, and archaeological evidence to sweep readers through centuries and across continents to examine how our relationships with our pets have developed, but also stayed very much the same. Through delightful stories of the most famous, endearing, and sometimes eccentric pet owners throughout history, Colliss Harvey examines the when, the how, and the why of our connection to the animals we take into our lives, and suggests fascinating new insights into one of the most long-standing of all human love affairs.
Jacky Colliss Harvey is a writer and editor, and the author of Red: A History of the Redhead and My Life As A Redhead: A Journal. She studied English at Cambridge University and art history at the Courtauld Institute. She has worked in museum publishing and is a commentator and reviewer who speaks on the arts and their relation to popular culture. She divides her time between London and New York.
Praise For The Animal's Companion: People & Their Pets, a 26,000-Year Love Story…
"When you read a book by Jacky Colliss Harvey, you learn a lot. And with the way she writes, deeply researched and with wit and erudition, you also have fun as you learn.—Veteranscribe's
"[Jacky Colliss Harvey] writes, with affection and wit, of man and beast's enduring relationship, focusing on all aspects of our bond - from choosing to losing - and has great stories about notable people and their animal companions."—Toronto Star
[A]...lively exploration of people and their pets... Numerous colourful animal tales enliven Colliss Harvey's latest book, but her real subject is their human companions, whom she considers through a lens of history, literature and art, as well as smatterings of science and psychology, all interwoven with diverting personal reminiscences... Colliss Harvey has an eye for surprising details and a lovely way with a description."—The Sunday Times
"[Jacky Colliss Harvey]'s beautifully illustrated book is organized thematically and is perhaps best thought of as a series of essays on the various themes that the relationship between kept animals and humans throw up, such as choosing, naming, communication, and losing. However, for all its research into deeper matters, the real pleasure of The Animal's Companion lies in its stories. And they come thick and fast."—The Spectator
"A well-researched, deeply crafted, wry and witty compendium on the importance of pets in our lives.... Our species' fondness for pets seems to be the one clear distinction we can claim as our own -- indeed, a case can be made for pets making us human. We urge you to read (or listen to) The Animal's Companion. You will come away as enthralled and entertained as we were."—Bark.com
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Entry Level Associates
Lateral Associates
Post-Quantum Cryptography as an Emerging Legal Standard for Protecting Highly Sensitive Data
by: Aaron W. Brooks
This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold its First Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Conference. The core purpose of the Conference will be to analyze the results of last fall’s Round 1 Submissions process, in which candidates submitted proposals to standardize one or more quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms. This is significant, and requires the attention of any legal professional who is engaged in documenting compliance procedures associated with highly sensitive data, as well as those who draft and negotiate transactions involving cryptographic functions.
Technology Standards as Performance Standards
When drafting compliance and transaction documents relating to technology, one must reference specific standards of performance. Relating specifically to cryptographic functions, one should not simply require that data be “encrypted,” because that term is not precise. For example, applying file-level encryption to a document using only a four character passcode and no brute force attack protection mechanism might technically qualify as use of encryption; however, the underlying data will remain readily accessible and insecure. By contrast, requiring data to be encrypted in accordance with a specific technical standard cuts through the nuanced variations among encryption mechanisms, and creates a well-defined and measurable compliance and contract performance standard.
Consider the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule as an example. It requires that patients be notified in the event of an unauthorized acquisition, access, use or disclosure of their protected health information. However, the notification obligation applies only to “unsecured” protected health information. The term “unsecured” is defined in a document that was first issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in April, 2009, entitled “Guidance to Render Unsecured Protected Health Information Unusable, Unreadable, or Indecipherable to Unauthorized Individuals” (the “HIPAA Encryption Guidance”). The HIPAA Encryption Guidance addresses two basic encryption scenarios (data-at-rest and data-in-motion), and then links to applicable NIST Special Publications which provide the specific encryption performance standard for each scenario. Accordingly, when drafting compliance and transaction documents which require “encryption” for protected health information, one should consider mandating compliance with the HIPAA Encryption Guidance (or the NIST Special Publications referenced therein) to create a defined and measurable performance standard.
But what happens when a contractual encryption standard becomes inadequate or obsolete while the contract is still in effect? For example, the HIPAA Encryption Guidance references NIST Special Publication 800-52 as a valid encryption process for data in motion. However, in March of 2013, NIST withdrew that standard because it did not adequately address known TLS vulnerabilities. NIST reissued the standard the following year. But, for a period of time, the HIPAA Encryption Guidance referenced a withdrawn encryption standard, and should now be understood to reference the most current version of that standard as it may be amended or superseded from time to time.
This example illustrates how information security standards are always a moving target. The standards must constantly evolve to adequately address the underlying and ever-changing threats to data security. So too, our compliance and transaction documents must contemplate changes to information security standards and widely-recognized best practices.
The Quantum Standard
This is why studying post-quantum cryptography standards is important for legal professionals who practice in this area. As stated by NIST in its Post-Quantum Cryptography Project Overview:
In recent years, there has been a substantial amount of research on quantum computers – machines that exploit quantum mechanical phenomena to solve mathematical problems that are difficult or intractable for conventional computers. If large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere. The goal of post-quantum cryptography (also called quantum-resistant cryptography) is to develop cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers, and can interoperate with existing communications protocols and networks.
In other words, one might view the emerging post-quantum cryptography standards as those which are least likely to be rendered obsolete or inadequate over time. Accordingly, and with respect to long-term data storage systems and transmission mechanisms involving highly sensitive data, they might be viewed as an emerging contract performance and compliance standard that sufficiently addresses all known and reasonably anticipated threats to the data. To illustrate this, consider a transaction involving a cloud-based system used to store administrative credentials for highly sensitive data. In the course of that transaction, we should specify how those credentials will be stored and transmitted, and we should do so with reference to a specific and measurable performance standard. We might, for example, require that the credentials be encrypted using a salted password hash mechanism that is not only compliant with an appropriate current cryptography standard, but that will also remain complaint with quantum resistant cryptography standards which may be issued by NIST and other standards-setting organizations from time to time. Should the emerging standard not be met at some point in the course of contract performance, a remedy or termination right would arise – thus allowing the client to migrate to a system that meets its current compliance needs which were unknown when the contract was executed.
Perhaps it is premature to begin using these principles in our current compliance and contract drafting work. But, it’s not too soon to participate in the process of defining these emerging cryptography standards, and it is certainly time to carefully consider how this process will affect our future compliance and transaction planning efforts. For more information about this issue and the post-quantum cryptography conferences being held this week, please see the following resources:
NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Project
NIST First PQC Standardization Conference
PQCrypto 2018
Aaron Brooks is a partner with HolmstromKennedyPC in Rockford, where he serves as the firm’s Chief Information Officer and Intellectual Property practice group leader. His practice focuses on technology-based transactions, privacy law and information security.
Employers Beware: New Expense Reimbursement Requirements
Contracting for Reliable Digital File Storage
Supreme Court Authorizes Class Action Waivers
Rights and Responsibilities under the Condominium Property Act of Illinois
Tax-Exempts Subject to Tax on Excess Compensation
Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights
Discrimination/Retaliation
Leave Laws
Policies & Agreements
Privacy, Security & Information Technology
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Hormel Foods Honored with Employer of the Year Award
Our Food Journey
Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) was recently recognized with a silver Stevie Award in the Employer of the Year – Food and Beverage category.
Stevie Awards recognize the world’s best employers and the human resources professionals, team achievements and HR-related products and suppliers who help create and drive best places to work.
Janet Hogan, senior vice president of human resources, accepted the award on behalf of the company.
“It is a great honor to be recognized with a Stevie Award as an Employer of the Year in the food and beverage industry,” Hogan said. “It is a true testament to our culture that inspires people to support each other in a way that is irreplaceable, which makes Hormel Foods a great place to work.”
Hormel Foods was selected for:
Being an innovative, promote-from-within company that genuinely cares about its people and consumers;
Having a collaborative culture with nine employee resource groups; and
Having robust training programs.
More than 500 nominations from organizations around the world were evaluated in this year’s competition. A complete list of gold, silver and bronze Stevie Award winners is available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/HR.
Awards & Recognition 10.3.2017
Kind, Hormel Foods Named Employers of the Year Hormel Foods was selected for being an innovative company that promotes from within and genuinely cares about its people and consumers
Awards & Recognition 9.9.2017
GMA Honors Hormel Foods and Nando’s PERi-PERi with 2017 Innovation Awards Hormel Foods was recognized for SKIPPY® P.B. Bites, which were created to meet a challenge by company leadership to take peanut butter out…
About Hormel Foods
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Introduction to Persian Revised 4th Edition
By: Thackston, Wheeler M.
Language: English and Persian
An Introduction to Persian is intended to serve as an introduction on the elementary level to the modern Persian language. Each lesson is provided with specific exercises and drills for the major grammatical and syntactical points introduced therein. Vocabulary are included at the end of each lesson are intended for active acquisition.
Specialized supplementary vocabulary lists are also scattered throughout the book. In part two of the grammar, the outstanding differences between modern and classical usage are given. In part three the distinguishing features of ordinary colloquial Persian are given.
Wheeler M. Thackston is Professor of Persian and other Near East Languages at Harvard University. He is also the author of numerous books including An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic, A Millennium of Classical Persian Poetry, An Introduction to Syriac and a translation of the Gulistan of Sa'di.
KEY TO EXERCISES
A Key to Exercises is available for this book.
“… students, frustrated by not being taught formal structures, long for a grammar book that brings together in one place paradigms and rules for how the language works instead of being faced with endless patterns for oral drill. This is why W.M. Thackston’s An Introduction to Persian should be welcomed by students and teachers alike, since it amply fulfills this need.
… Language teaching is a slave to fashion, a fact often obscured by the theoretical and methodological passions of professional language teachers. When compared with Lambton’s Persian Grammar, the only other important teaching grammar in print, Thackston’s book meets current needs more adequately.”
— William L. Hanaway, University of Pennsylvania.
British Journal of Middle East Studies
“This long awaited text once more demonstrates Professor Thackston’s mastery over the Persian language and its intricacies, both in its modern and classical form. Thackston makes Persian grammar clear and understandable. His emphasis is on the spoken and written language in today's Iran, on the Persian which is taught in schools and spoken and understood by all the different ethnic groups in Iran….
This new edition is a major contribution for those involved in teaching the Persian language. It also makes the learning of Persian more accessible and enjoyable.”
— Haleh Esfandiari, Princeton University.
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
“…Thackston’s new edition which it must be said is difficult to fault. It is both meticulous and systematic, without being idiosyncratic. …a number of points that are a common source of error are well treated (such as relative clauses, the subjunctive, ra). …In particular, the relationship between modern colloquial speech, educated usage, and the classical language is treated in some detail, with more success than in any previous manual. So long as there exists no introduction to Persian as an international language, treating its various forms on a relatively equal basis, this feature of Thackston's work makes it the most useful for serious students of Persian as it is used outside of Iran.”
— Brian Spooner, University of Pennsylvania.
AACAR Bulletin
Title: Introduction to Persian Revised 4th Edition
Author: Thackston, Wheeler M.
Categories: Learning Persian,
Note: درآمدی ب
Trim: 6 x 9 inches
Keywords: Farsi
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Taxi Passenger Injured In Collision Urges Motorists To Drive Carefully
Expert Lawyers Secure Justice For Man Forced To Take Time Off Work To Recover
By Helen MacGregor
A man who suffered serious injuries when the black cab he was a passenger in was struck by another car has spoken of his ordeal in the hope of raising awareness about road safety.
Trevor Vaughan, from Sutton Coldfield, was travelling home after seeing friends in December 2011 when another car collided with a stationary vehicle, which led to it hitting the taxi causing him to be thrown forwards into the Perspex glass.
The 47-year-old suffered a fractured wrist, broken big toe, minor head injury and cuts to his lower back and right shoulder which left him needing treatment in hospital, rehabilitation and over a month off work.
Trevor, an accounts manager, instructed personal injury experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell and has now received a five-figure settlement from the motorist’s insurance company for his pain, suffering and to cover his physiotherapy.
Sophie Davies, a specialist lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing him, said: “Trevor suffered nasty injuries as a result of the driver of another vehicle not paying attention and crashing into a stationary car, which led to the cab he was travelling in being hit.
“He needed hospital treatment for the injuries he suffered and was forced to take a significant amount of time off work because of the pain he was in and the injuries meant his movements were limited.
“We hope the settlement provides Trevor with closure following his ordeal so he can begin to move forward with his life without the legal battle hanging over him.”
Trevor was rushed to hospital by ambulance following the incident and was admitted for 24 hours so he could be monitored and have his injuries strapped up.
Trevor said: “The injuries I suffered had a significant impact on my life and left me in a lot of pain meaning I had to take over a month off work which was very frustrating.
“If the driver had been paying attention to the road and his surroundings the incident would have been prevented and I would not have suffered like I have.
“I hope that my story acts as a warning to all motorists about the importance of careful driving to prevent anyone else from going through a similar ordeal.”
Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise relating to road traffic collisions.
Personal Injury Road Traffic Accidents Sheffield Sophie Davies
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TAPA Announces Gender-Neutral Performance Awards for Dora Mavor Moore Awards
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 (0 Comments)
The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced a major change to performance categories for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards that will be implemented for next year's 40th Anniversary Dora Mavor Moore Awards in June 2019.
All performance categories for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards beginning with the 2018-19 season will be gender neutral with all binary male and female designations eliminated and replaced with gender-inclusive "Outstanding Performance" categories as applicable.
TAPA strives to be responsive to the changing cultural environment of our times and to the evolving needs of the TAPA membership. Most of the current performance award categories recognize 'Outstanding Performance of a Male / Outstanding Performance of a Female.' During the consultation process by the Dora Review Working Group, this gender-based binary was revealed as an area of great concern as it prevents access to recognition for performers identifying as non-binary or gender non-conforming individuals. Today, we are proud to announce a new gender-neutral policy for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards," said TAPA Board President Régine Cadet at a press conference held on April 25, 2018 making the announcement.
TAPA is a leading arts service organization that represents and advocates for 188 professional theatre, dance and opera companies in Toronto. It produces the annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards which celebrate and honour excellence on stage. The Doras are the oldest and largest theatre, dance and opera awards in Canada.
Watched a the video recording of the press announcement, which was Livestreamed via Facebook.
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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Ivo Karlovic, Vienna Erste Bank Open 2016 semi-final: Where to watch live, betting odds and live streaming information
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces Ivo Karlovic in the Vienna Open semi-final clash on Saturday.
By Naveen Ullal
October 29, 2016 05:41 BST
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won the Vienna Open in 2011 Getty
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will take on Ivo Karlovic in the Men's singles semi-final clash of the Vienna Erste Bank Open 2016 on 29 October, Saturday.
Where to Watch Live
The match starts at 1pm BST. Live coverage is on Sky Sports 4 and Sky Sports 4 HD. Click here for live streaming link. Live scores and regular updates will be available on ATP's official website.
Tsonga has won the tournament once in 2011 after defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final. He will be looking to make it to the final of the Vienna Erste Bank Open final once again.
The Frenchman can achieve this feat if he manages to beat Karlovic in the first semi-final clash. He does not hold a good record against his opponent on Saturday as the latter has won twice in the three matches they have played so far.
However, the 31-year-old will be hoping he can level the score when he takes on Karlovic this weekend. A victory will see him progress further in the tournament and keep his hope of lifting the title alive.
In the quarter-final clash, Tsonga defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6. He has never dropped a set so far and will be looking to keep the second intact in the semi-final clash.
Karlovic defeated Karen Khachanov in the other quarter-final clash. It was not an easy tie for the Croatian as the outcome of the first two sets were decided on a tie breaker, with both winning on each occasion. It was Karlovic who was successful in winning the third set and also winning the match to progress to the semi-final.
Betting Odds (betfair)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win: 5/12
Ivo Karlovic to win: 19/10
Tsonga and Karlovic have faced each other on three occasions, with the latter winning on two occasions.
Vienna Open history
Tsonga and Karlovic will face each other for the first time in the Vienna Erste Bank Open on Saturday.
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Understanding Europe
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Ceuta & Melilla
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A hand paints the Sudanese flag on a wall | Photo: InfoMigrants
Refugees in Europe
Sara’s story: 'Tomorrow will be a better day'
Latest update : 2019/06/26
By Emma Wallis Latest update : 2019/06/26
Sara Sharfaldeen was a journalist in Sudan. She lived in a luxury apartment block, had a driver and a live-in housekeeper and was the political editor of a newspaper. Her work placed her under scrutiny from the government and she felt forced to flee in 2015 arriving in the UK by plane.
“Things are much better than the first year,” says Sara, not sounding completely convinced. After arriving in the UK, she has had a mix of positive and negative experiences. Some people shouted at her at the airport, others were very kind. She spent the first few months in a hostel for asylum seekers in Wakefield in the north of England before moving to Halifax, also in the north, for a couple more. Then she came to Bristol, where there is a small Sudanese community, and she has begun to make a home for herself.
“Now I’m studying, I’m doing voluntary work, I’m working. I have a few friends from different nationalities. However, as a refugee, you never feel completely settled. Things can happen and it feels like you have to constantly start over again,” she explains quietly.
Coming to the UK was a shock for Sara. She never wanted to leave her country. She lived for a few years in Saudi Arabia as a child, her parents were teachers she says, and “that wasn’t a very positive experience,” because she didn’t like feeling like a foreigner in someone else’s country.
Later in Sudan, her job made her a target for the government. “We don’t really have a free press in Sudan,” Sara says. She was forced to flee.
“When I arrived in the UK I had no idea about what would happen.” After four years in the UK, Sara says that she still feels “foreign.” “We grew up with a very different culture,” she states. “But on the other hand I am very grateful to all the people who have helped me, given me contacts and provided me the opportunity to start again.” Sara tries hard to see the positive in situations, rather than the negative.
Nevertheless, starting over has been hard. “No one believes that I was a famous journalist, I had work, a flat and my dignity,” she says. The reactions from some people in the UK have been hurtful she says, people who have preconceived conceptions of what refugees from Africa must be fleeing and why they are in the UK.
“They think we are all fleeing for economic reasons. They think we don’t have streets, or buildings or electric,” she states flatly. “They don’t believe me when I tell them that I flew here with my laptop and my iphone and I didn’t need to buy anything here!” She laughs ironically. “I find this a little bit challenging,” she concludes. Some people have told her how “lucky” refugees are to be in the UK. Sara says she finds this “a little bit rude.”
Sara went from being driven around the best addresses in Khartoum to traveling to work by bus in Bristol. She was working as an editor and author, today she is a customer service representative in retail, “because I didn’t want to be dependent on job-seekers allowance and benefits.”
In Khartoum she lived in a luxury apartment, in the UK she had to share a room with a stranger in a hostel, she now rents a room from a lady in Bristol. “There is no more money for the luxury things in life,” she says matter-of-factly.
Before, Sara would get massages in salons, go to the gym, shopping, watch TV and spend hours reading books. Now she has to work for 6-8 hours in order to be able to even afford a massage or eat in a restaurant. There is barely any time for just reading in her new life.
'You are on your own'
In Sudan, her friends were fellow journalists, authors, actresses, singers, people who had been to university. “I have a degree in English and media in Sudan. I started my Masters in English in Sudan, but I couldn’t finish the rest because I had to move.” In the UK she says it has been hard to find the kinds of friends she had at home. Most other female refugees are busy with their children, they don’t always have jobs, she thinks. Sara arrived in the UK alone.
Sara is the author of two books as well as being a journalist. She is working on her third book about her experiences in the UK. “It will be called ‘Candle Under a Dark Sun’,” she explains: The candle represents those who helped me and shone a light, the dark sun is the sun that the regime in Sudan has placed across the land. The sun was black when she arrived in the UK too, struggling to integrate, she says, adding that it is important to focus on the candle and the light.
Sara was born in 1982 and was editing the politics and society section of a newspaper. “Now the world can see why journalists are struggling in Sudan,” she says, referring to the revolution. “We don’t have any freedom to write our opinion, even on social media, Facebook or Twitter, without being under arrest, or missing, or losing your job. Journalists in Sudan are facing all these challenges.”
Sara herself, in fact, lost her job. It happened after she had gone to Egypt with her father who was ill with cancer. When she returned, she was removed from her position. “My last novel is a ‘Scandal of Silence’ and I wrote about mental health and youth and how the government treated us. We are unemployed and there are different types of pressure. It is impossible to write that kind of thing in Sudan.”
Losing her job
The biggest fear of the government was that the people would rise up, says Sara and now they really have. “I am so glad,” she says, observing the events from abroad. “This revolution is not going to end before we get a civil government,” she predicts. But the situation has become so bad that she can’t go back to her own country and she’s even scared to go to neighboring Egypt.
“They are writing really bad things about me now,” she says. “Any journalist can be a target. They ended my contract for no reason, just because I am the head journalist for the social and political section in a newspaper and we used to reflect the poverty and negative stories in the community. The government didn’t like that.”
After having her contract terminated, Sara found it impossible to get another newspaper to employ her. She says her books were removed from the bookshops too and she can’t sell any copies.
Looking for opportunities
“I am trying [to work in a newspaper again]. I am an educated person. It is so frustrating. I have all this experience in my country and I can’t find any opportunity in this country. Even voluntary work is difficult. I apply but often I get no response." Sometimes she works as a freelance Arabic interpreter but that is not her real career. “I feel like a person inside a bottle, I can see the world but I can’t speak or listen,” she says poetically.
“I’m still trying to find opportunities,” Sara says optimistically. “At some point, you find yourself working alone, writing alone and you have to carry on, on your journey alone, then you discover that you are the only one who can help yourself.”
Finding the positives
Last week, Sara was talking about inclusion at the Bristol refugee festival in conjunction with the IOM. She thinks it is important to highlight the positives as it is so easy for refugees to become depressed and suffer from mental health problems. Sara avoids those pitfalls through her volunteering. “It is up to you to take the positive things out of life,” she says.
Sara is now a "Brownie leader" (a guide for 7-10-year-old girls) with the Girl Guides scouts organization, which she enjoys very much. She volunteered in other places too, but since she started working in retail, she has had to stop volunteering quite as much. Her retail work has put her "inside the community. I meet a lot of different customers; I have good colleagues and a good contact with the manager. Sometimes I run the shop floor and play a supervisory role.”
Many of the people she has met have helped her along the way. Her main focus is making sure that she holds on to those positive experiences and never gives up. “All my life, I had a good life and at the beginning [in the UK] I struggled badly.”
Helping fellow asylum seekers and putting her English skills to good use helped Sara feel integrated. Even in the hostel, she set herself to work cleaning and tidying the kitchen and that kept her spirits up. She couldn’t bear to not do anything there. Most of the other Sudanese people in the hostels didn’t speak any English so she worked as an interpreter with the lawyers and medical staff. That helped her stop feeling frustrated.
Learning to drive has been a “good adventure” for Sara, despite the fact that she misses sitting in the back and letting her mind wander. “Now I have to concentrate and keep checking where I am going,” she laughs but nevertheless she will call driving a positive experience, perhaps because she learned something new.
She can’t say if she will stay in the UK or not. The next step will be to get permanent leave to remain and then apply for citizenship. How things will go in Sudan is hard to tell, she thinks. “Perhaps we will know more next year,” she says cautiously. “Things are getting worse in Sudan. I write a lot and I share videos and I am so angry about what has happened,” says Sara.
“I miss my family and my whole life." Sara hasn't seen her brothers and sisters since 2015.
“If someone told me my story about someone else I would feel so sorry for them,” laughs Sara bitterly, “but I find myself in the middle of this and I have to accept it.” In fact, Sara seems to be doing more than that. She thinks that despite the hard times, the experience has made her stronger.
“I can say I am a very different person nowadays. Lots of horrible things have happened and I am here alone. But I am stronger now and I know more about life. I said to my Mum one day: 'before I just lived through the characters [in my books] but I didn’t really know what real life was. Now I can understand that life can go upside down, you can find yourself in a horrible situation, and you have to be strong. You have to be a fighter to survive.'”
Sometimes Sara surprises herself and wonders where she gets her energy from. Then she looks around the community and sees so many people unable to get up when they have been kicked and she doesn’t want to end up like them.
“If I have a bad day, I will start looking for new opportunities. I try and see the positive before I fall in a dark hollow. That doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes spend the night crying, that has happened a lot, but I am always trying to find a solution and thinking that tomorrow will be a better day.”
Learning lessons in integration
Could an algorithm improve refugees' chances to integrate?
German local authorities need help getting jobs for refugees
NGOs call on French authorities not to evict approved refugees from shelters
Top stories / Features
Connect with InfoMigrants on
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216 Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches Shops Suffer Data Breach
Somewhat Freaky Fast Notification.
Champaign Illinois based Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches Shops have announced on Wednesday they were the latest business to suffer a credit card breach. Joining the ranks of Target, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, and Home Depot.
Here’s the company statement:
On July 30, 2014, Jimmy John’s learned of a possible security incident involving credit and debit card data at some of Jimmy John’s stores and franchised locations. Jimmy John’s immediately hired third-party forensic experts to assist with its investigation. While the investigation is ongoing, it appears that customers’ credit and debit card data was compromised after an intruder stole log-in credentials from Jimmy John’s point-of-sale vendor and used these stolen credentials to remotely access the point-of-sale systems at some corporate and franchised locations between June 16, 2014, and September 5, 2014. The security compromise has been contained, and customers can use their credit and debit cards securely at Jimmy John’s stores.
Approximately 216 stores appear to have been affected by this event. Cards impacted by this event appear to be those swiped at the stores and did not include those cards entered manually or online. The credit and debit card information at issue may include the card number and in some cases the cardholder’s name, verification code, and/or the card’s expiration date. Information entered online, such as customer address, e-mail, and password remains secure. The locations and dates of exposure for each affected Jimmy John’s location are listed on AFFECTED STORES & DATES.
Jimmy John’s has taken steps to prevent this type of event from occurring in the future, including installing encrypted swipe machines, implementing system enhancements, and reviewing its policies and procedures for its third-party vendors.
We apologize for any inconvenience this incident may have on our customers. Jimmy John’s values the privacy and security of its customers’ information, and is offering identity protection services to impacted customers, although Jimmy John’s does not collect its customers’ Social Security numbers. To take advantage of these services, please visit CONTACTS & INFORMATION. For more information, call (855) 398-6442. In addition, customers are encouraged to monitor their credit and debit card accounts and notify their bank if they notice any suspicious activity. Additional recommendations for protecting your information can be found at RECOMMENDATIONS.
Jimmy John’s will post information related to its ongoing investigation on the Company’s website, www.jimmyjohns.com
Matthew C. Wright via Compfight
Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cybercrime, Data Breach, Encryption, FBI, Hacker, Hackers, Hacking, InfoSec, PCI, PII, point-of-sale, Security
San Diego Hotel Group Suffers Payment Card Breach
San Diego based Bartell Hotels has released a statement detailing a data security incident which occurred between February 16, 2014, and May 13, 2014, that may involve certain credit card data, including credit card numbers, and other personally identifiable information.
The payment card systems at the following five locations were compromised by a third party attacker.
Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel & Marina
Humphreys Half Moon Inn & Suites
The Dana on Mission Bay
Days Hotel–Hotel Circle
Pacific Terrace Hotel
Law enforcement and the credit card brands have been notified of this incident.
Bartell Hotels encourages its guests to remain vigilant by reviewing their account statements and monitoring their credit reports for suspicious activity. Bartell Hotels also encourages its guests to notify their banks that issued their card(s) of any suspicious activity and to monitor their credit reports.
Bartell Hotels intends to provide affected individuals with credit monitoring and identity protection services through AllClear ID.
Affected consumers of the breach who have any questions, should call their privacy counsel, Kathryn Mellinger, Esquire at 215-977-4070.
Photo by Justin Brown via Compfight
Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cybercrime, Data Breach, FBI, Hacker, Hacking, InfoSec, PCI, PII, Security
HealthCare.gov Server Compromised by Hackers
Unknown hackers breached a test server with malware on a Health and Human Services (HHS) site that supports the Obamacare insurance website HealthCare.gov
The commonplace malware was designed to launch “denial of service” attacks against other websites, HHS said, and there is no evidence any consumers’ personal information was sent to an external IP address. The attack did not appear to directly target HealthCare.gov, and the server that was targeted did not contain any consumers’ personal information.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the server was connected to more sensitive parts of the website that had better security protections, the officials said. That means it would have been possible, if difficult, for the intruder to move through the network and try to view more protected information, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services said. There is no indication that happened, and investigators suspect the hacker didn’t intend to target a HealthCare.gov server.
Washington officials said they are concerned an intruder gained access to the HealthCare.gov network through a basic security flaw. The server had low-security settings because it was never meant to be connected to the Internet, the HHS official said. When the hacker broke in, it was only guarded by a default password, which often is easy to crack.
It should be noted that the Department of Health and Human Services in the 2014 Annual Report to Congress on the Federal Information Security Management Act [PDF] scored only 43% in 2014 down from 50% in 2013.
Filed Under: News Tagged With: ACA, Cyber Crime, DDoS, FISMA, Hacker, Hacking, HHS, HIPAA, HITECH, InfoSec, Malware, Obamacare, Passwords, PII, Security
Sekurity is hard – technicaleducation.cisco.com vulnerable to XSS
On 21 of August 2014 the security researcher E1337 reported to XSSposed (XSS exposed) that technicaleducation.cisco.com has an XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) vulnerability which currently has 2 vulnerabilities in total reported by security researchers).
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) inserts specially crafted data into existing applications through Web sites. XSS attacks occur when an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, generally in the form of a modification to a browser script, to a different end user. XSS attacks often lead to bypass of access controls, unauthorized access, and disclosure of privileged or confidential information. Cross-site scripting attacks are listed as the number three vulnerability on the OWASP Top 10 list for 2013. XSS attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated these days and are being used in pair with spear phishing, social engineering and drive-by attacks.
The vulnerability is still unpatched putting technicaleducation.cisco.com users, visitors and administrators at risk of being compromised by malicious hackers. Theft of cookies, personal data, authentication credentials and browser history are probably the less dangerous consequences of XSS attacks.
You can request to check if the vulnerability was patched or not by clicking here.
Photo by Disney.com
Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cisco, cybersecurity, Hacking, InfoSec, Security, XSS
Chinese Collegiate Hacking Team Hacks The Tesla Model S, Well Sort Of…
A team of Chinese collegiate hackers attending the Symposium on Security for Asia Network conference in Beijing has been succeeded in breaking into the software used in electric cars made by Elon Musk‘s Palo Alto California-based Tesla Motors.
The South China Morning Post is reporting that a team from Zhejiang University was awarded 10,600 yuan [Approximately $1707.34 USD] by the SyScan 360 Conference, being held July 16th and 17th 2014 at the Beijing Marriott Hotel Northeast in Beijing China Where attendees have been invited to hack into a Tesla Model S.
SyScan 360 organizers said on Friday: “Tesla Software Hack Challenge ended with team “yo”, from ZheJiang University, coming in first overall and winning 10,600 Yuan in prize money. No team succeeded in the mission of hacking Tesla’s door and engine within the timeframe of the challenge. Therefore, no one received the grand prize of $10,000 USD.”
Tesla had said it welcomed news of any vulnerabilities discovered as a result of the hacking competition. “We support the idea of providing an environment in which responsible security researchers can help identify potential vulnerabilities,” the company said on Wednesday.
“We hope that the security researchers will act responsibly and in good faith.”
The “yo” team hackers exploited a “flow design flaw” to gain access to the Tesla car’s system, SyScan360 announced on Weibo. The loophole enabled attackers to remotely unlock the vehicle, sound the horn and flash the lights, and open the sunroof while the car was in motion.
SyScan 360 organizers say they have reported the vulnerability to Tesla. Telsa shares TSLA closed at $215.40 a share, down .81% from Thursday’s close.
Steve Jurvetson via Compfight
Filed Under: News Tagged With: 3G, China, Connected Cars, cybersecurity, Encryption, Google, Google Glass, Hacker, Hackers, Hacking, InfoSec, Security, SyScan360, Tesla, TSLA
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Listening for the cosmic symphony
New SU supercomputer will help scientists listen for black holes
Scientists hope that a new supercomputer being built by Syracuse University's Department of Physics may help them identify the sound of a celestial black hole.
The supercomputer, dubbed SUGAR (SU Gravitational and Relativity Cluster), will soon receive massive amounts of data from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that was collected over a two-year period at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). LIGO is funded by the National Science Foundation and operated by Caltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Duncan Brown, assistant professor of physics and member of SU's Gravitational Wave Group, is assembling SUGAR. The department's Gravitational Wave Group is also part of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC), a worldwide initiative to detect gravitational waves. Brown worked on the LIGO project at Caltech before coming to SU last August.
Gravitational waves are produced by violent events in the distant universe, such as the collision of black holes or explosions of supernovas. The waves radiate across the universe at the speed of light. While Albert Einstein predicted the existence of these waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity, it has taken decades to develop the technology to detect them. Construction of the LIGO detectors in Hanford, Wash., and Livingston, La., was completed in 2005. Scientists recently concluded a two-year "science run" of the detectors and are now searching the data for these waves. LSC scientists will be analyzing this data while the sensitivity of the detectors is being improved. Detectors have also been built in France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Before they can isolate the sound of a black hole from the LIGO data, the scientists must figure out what a black hole sounds like. That's where Einstein's theories come in. Working with colleagues from the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project, Brown will use SUGAR and Einstein's equations to create models of gravitational wave patterns from the collision of two black holes. SXS is a collaborative project with Caltech and Cornell University.
Black holes are massive gravitational fields in the universe that result from the collapse of giant stars. Because black holes absorb light, they cannot be studied using telescopes or other instruments that rely on light waves. However, scientists believe they can learn more about black holes by listening for their gravitational waves.
"Looking for gravitational waves is like listening to the universe," Brown says. "Different kinds of events produce different wave patterns. We want to try to extract a wave pattern -- a special sound -- that matches our model from all of the noise in the LIGO data."
It takes massive amounts of computer power and data storage capacity to analyze the data against the gravitational wave models Duncan and his colleagues built. SUGAR is a collection of 80 computers, packing 320 CPUs of power and 640 Gigabytes of random access memory. SUGAR also has 96 terabytes of disk space on which to store the LIGO data.
It also takes a dedicated, high-speed fiber-optic network to transfer the data between Caltech and SU. To accomplish that, SU's Information Technology and Services (ITS) collaborated with NYSERNet to build a special pathway for the LIGO data on the high-speed fiber optic network that crisscrosses the United States. The one-gigabit pathway begins in the Physics Building and traverses SU's fiber-optic network to Machinery Hall and then to a network facility in downtown Syracuse, which the University shares with NYSERNet. From there, the pathway connects to NYSERNet's fiber-optic network and goes to New York City. In New York City, the pathway switches to the Internet2 high-speed network and traverses the country, ending in a computer room in Caltech.
Both the supercomputer and the high-speed network are expected to be up and running by the end of February. Once the data is transferred to SU from Caltech, Brown and his LSC colleagues will begin to listen to the "cosmic symphony." "Gravitational waves can teach us much about what is out there in the universe," Brown says. "We've never looked at Einstein's theory in this way."
Judy Holmes | EurekAlert!
http://www.syr.edu
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Oakland Considers 'Opportunity Ticket' to Funnel More Minority Students Into Top Schools
Julia McEvoy
Parent Angela Badami-Knight and her preschooler, Rocco, support the "opportunity ticket" proposal. (Julia McEvoy/KQED)
A new proposal that would give more black and Latino students in Oakland access to the city's top public schools is getting support from the district's head of enrollment.
The "opportunity ticket" proposal, raised at Wednesday's school board meeting, would amend enrollment policy to prioritize students currently attending schools that the district plans to close or consolidate, as part of its upcoming cost-saving consolidation plan.
At the meeting, 150 black and Latino parents packed into the room holding giant yellow tickets emblazoned with the word "opportunity."
"These schools have been failing black and brown families for at least 50 years," Lakisha Young, a parent who organized the group, told the board. "So you need to figure it out for real! OK?"
That ticket would allow kids in schools slated for closure to get into any school they want districtwide. And late in the meeting Wednesday, the board decided to officially consider the idea next month.
"The opportunity ticket is about finally saying ... that families who are going to be most negatively impacted and who are most often left behind, that those families actually have an opportunity and a pathway to a higher, better-quality option," said Young, who heads Oakland Reach, the group that introduced the proposal.
It's a move that Charles Wilson, the OUSD's head of enrollment, sees as a way to create more equity in a district whose top schools still have a largely white student body.
"Residential socioeconomic segregation is a problem all over this country," said Wilson, who attended the meeting. "This is just the beginning of a series of changes that need to be taken."
Currently, priority for admission to OUSD schools goes first to siblings of current students, and then to applicants living in the neighborhood, with any remaining spots given to students from outside the area. But in the district's handful of coveted top-performing schools, there are rarely remaining spots.
Supporters of the "opportunity ticket" proposal say it could potentially help desegregate some of the district’s most elite public schools, located largely in wealthier, majority-white neighborhoods.
"One percent of black kids in Oakland attend a school that's above the state average and making progress," Dirk Tillotson, with the State of Black Education Oakland, an advocacy group, told the school board. "Two-thirds attend a school that is below the state average and going backwards. We do not have access to quality schools."
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Information Economics and Policy
Information Economics and Policy - Editorial Board
Co Editors-in-Chief
Marc Bourreau
Telecom ParisTech, Paris, France
Christiaan Hogendorn
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA
Ulrich Kaiser
Universität Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Kenneth Wilbur
University of California at San Diego (UCSD), San Diego, California, USA
Matthew J. Baker
Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, NY, USA
Irene Bertschek
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim, Germany
Jörg Claussen
Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Frederiksberg, Denmark
Pinar Dogan
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Lapo Filistrucchi
Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
Philippe Gagnepain
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Getafe (Madrid), Spain
Michal Grajek
European School of Management and Technology (ESMT), Berlin, Germany
Lukasz Grzybowski
Steffen Hoernig
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Mingyu (Max) Joo
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Byung-Cheol Kim
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Qihong Liu
University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA
Hiroshi Ohashi
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Martin Peitz
Universität Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
Autoridade da Concorrência, Lisboa, Portugal
Christian Peukert
Wilfried Sand-Zantman
Université de Toulouse I Capitole, Toulouse, France
Scott Savage
University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Joel Stiebale
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Monic Sun
Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Marshall Van Alstyne
Ingo Vogelsang
Joel Waldfogel
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Pai-Ling Yin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Simon P. Anderson
Virginia Commonwealth University, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Christiano Antonelli
Università di Torino, Torino, Italy
Ashish Arora
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Timothy J. Brennan
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Jay Pil Choi
Gregory Crawford
Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Paul David
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Nicholas Economides
New York University, New York, New York, USA
Hans-Jürgen Engelbrecht
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Gerald R. Faulhaber
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Dominique Foray
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
Lisa M. George
Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, New York, USA
European Investment Bank, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Michael Katz
University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
Jeffrey Mackie-Mason
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Robin Mansell
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Houghton, London, UK
David Mowery
John Panzar
University of Auckland, New Zealand and Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Jeffrey Prince
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
Pierre Regibeau
University of Essex, Colchester, UK
David Sappington
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Dennis L. Weisman
Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA
Steven Wildman
Bradley Wimmer
University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
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Hulu to drop the price of its basic plan
(CNN) -- Hulu has dropped the price of its cheapest package by $2 — just a week after competitor Netflix raised prices for its services.
Hulu's basic plan, which includes ads, will cost $6 per month starting February 26, the company announced Wednesday.
The streamer also said that it will raise the price of its Live TV plan to $45 per month, a $5 increase. The price of its on-demand plan without ads will remain the same at $12.
Wednesday's news comes in the wake of Netflix's decision to raise prices in the United States. All three of that company's plans will increase in price by $1-$2, which means the most basic version of Netflix will cost $9. Unlike Hulu, Netflix does not have ads on any of its plans, nor does it offer a service with live TV.
Hulu has spent the last year focusing on domestic subscription growth. The company announced earlier this year that it added eight million new subscribers in 2018, bringing its total to 25 million. It also grew advertising revenue to nearly $1.5 billion last year, the most in the service's history.
The company's gains in the United States last year were actually larger than Netflix's — the latter streamer added about 5.7 million paid domestic subscribers, according to it most recent earnings report .
Still, Hulu is nowhere close to passing Netflix, which says it has roughly 58 million paid subscribers stateside. Unlike Hulu, Netflix has global reach — and with that, about 139 million paid subscribers overall .
Netflix stock, though, has struggled since the company last reported quarterly results. Shares were down another 1% mid-Wednesday.
Hulu is owned in part by Disney, which will increase its stake to 60% after its deal for most of 21st Century Fox closes. Comcast owns 30%, and AT&T's WarnerMedia owns the remaining 10%. WarnerMedia is also the parent company of CNN.
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Peru v
Select country and language. Currently selected country: Peru, Currently selected language: English.
The mystery of La Sagrada Família
If anyone has left his mark on Barcelona it was architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). His absolute masterpiece is of course the world-famous Basílica de la Sagrada Família. Even though construction began in 1882, the basilica remains uncompleted to this very day. In fact, it will take approximately 30 years from now for the building to be completely finished.
The original plans for the basilica were not made by Gaudí, but by architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. He designed a neo-Gothic church and began construction in 1882. However, after just 1 year, Gaudí took over. He dedicated almost his entire life to building his Sagrada Família – with the emphasis on 'his', because Gaudí drastically changed the original design. The neo-Gothic style was discarded and replaced by the architect’s distinctive modernist style. Unfortunately, when Gaudí died (in 1926), only 1 façade, 1 tower, the semi-circular niche and the crypt had been completed.
La Sagrada Família
The impressive interior
New church towers under construction
Continuous improvisation
Because Gaudí was continuously improvising during the construction, there are few blue prints and scale models of the basilica. Despite this, current architects have a good idea of Gaudí’s intentions. When completed, La Sagrada Família will boast 18 towers in total. Reaching a height of 90 to 120 metres, the 4 towers along each of the 3 façades represent the 12 apostles. Another 4 towers represent the 4 evangelists; these towers will surround the largest tower, 170 metres high, dedicated to Jesus Christ. The last tower, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, will be built over the semi-circular niche.
Gaudí’s crypt
After Gaudí’s death, construction was seriously delayed due to a lack of money and the Spanish Civil War. It wasn’t until the mid-1950s that the pace picked up again. In 2000, the roof was finally placed on the central nave. Currently, builders are mainly working on the nave and the main façade. Even though La Sagrada Família is far from finished yet, the basilica, the crypt and the museum are open to the public. Those who do not suffer from fear of heights or claustrophobia can also visit the towers. Take a lift – or a long walk – to the top to enjoy a fantastic view over Barcelona. At night, La Sagrada Família is beautifully illuminated which makes its angular construction materials stand out even more, illustrating why it is said that the church is built from bones.
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Opinion | Early Knoxville newspapers included 'debauched' editors' spats
Tennessee's first newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette, was published by George Roulstone in 1791 in Rogersville before he moved it to Knoxville.
Opinion | Early Knoxville newspapers included 'debauched' editors' spats Tennessee's first newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette, was published by George Roulstone in 1791 in Rogersville before he moved it to Knoxville. Check out this story on knoxnews.com: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/robert-booker/2018/12/31/early-knoxville-newspapers-included-editors-spats-robert-j-booker/2425176002/
Robert J. Booker, Columnist Published 6:00 a.m. ET Dec. 31, 2018
Robert J. Booker on March 1, 2010(Photo: Saul Young/News Sentinel)Buy Photo
I decided to look back at the history of some of our old newspapers, which are the lifeblood of most of my columns. While I usually quote from them to share important information in our history, I also find the history of these publications fascinating. Dating back to 1791, most of them can be found in the McClung Collection, which is a part of the Knox County Public Library system, at the East Tennessee History Center at the corner of Gay and Clinch.
An article in the Journal and Tribune of May 28, 1922, highlights the beginning of our local papers and starts with the Knoxville Gazette, which was published by George Roulstone in 1791 in Rogersville before he moved it to Knoxville. It was Tennessee's first newspaper. It was followed by the Knoxville Register, published by F. S. Heiskell and Hugh Brown in August 1816. It supported the presidential campaigns of John Quincy Adams in 1824 and Andrew Jackson in 1828.
Copper printing plates like this one were used in newspapers and other types of printing enterprises. (Photo: Submitted)
Other early Knoxville papers were The Enquirer (1823), The Republican (1831), Uncle Sam (1834), The Argus (1838) and the Post (1841), which was renamed the Standard in 1844. The Plebian began publishing as a weekly in 1850 but became the city's first daily paper a year later. One of the more prolific, controversial and influential papers was William G. "Parson" Browniow's Tennessee Whig, which was first published in Elizabethton in 1839, then moved to Jonesboro before coming to Knoxville in 1849.
Those papers came and went under various circumstances. At least one, the Register, was sold in 1855 to satisfy debts but reorganized under new ownership. In an Oct. 10, 1861, Whig editorial editor Brownlow let the Register editor have it with both barrels: "l have on more occasions than one stated to the public that the man in whose name this universally acknowledged lying and disreputable sheet is edited, J.A. Sperry, is a low-down, ill-bred, lying, debauched, drunken scoundrel, alone worthy of the company of the villains and cowards who write the dirty, slanderous editorials for his paper . . . I want him to keep his loathsome person off my premises."
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was editor of the Knoxville Whig and a prominent Unionist in the Civil War. He later served as Tennessee governor and U.S. senator. He is buried in Old Gray Cemetery. (Photo: Library of Congress)
In the 1930s we read that same kind of sniping among editors of the local black papers as well. Webster L. Porter, who began publishing his East Tennessee News in 1908, often clashed with B. Branner Smith, editor of the Flashlight Herald. They both took potshots at other black leaders with whom they disagreed. The black community has had a weekly paper since William Yardley published the first one, the Knoxville Examiner in 1878.
Charlie Daniel cartoons - December 2018
Charlie Daniel cartoon for Dec. 31, 2018 Charlie Daniel
Charlie Daniel editorial cartoon for Dec. 30, 2018. Charlie Daniel / News Sentinel
Charlie Daniel editorial cartoon for Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018. Charlie Daniel / News Sentinel
Charlie Daniel editorial cartoon for Christmas Day 2018. Charlie Daniel / News Sentinel
The cartoonist's homepage, knoxnews.com/opinion/charlie-daniel Charlie Daniel, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
Charlie Daniel cartoon for Dec. 9, 2018 Charlie Daniel
Charlie Daniel cartoon for Dec. 5, 2018 Charlie Daniel / News Sentinel
Generally the spatting among our papers was minimal since they preferred to report, not make, the news. The Daily Press and Herald of Jan. 10, 1875, welcomed new subscribers for just "$8 per annum - one of the best and cheapest news, literary, political, and miscellaneous journals in the south - a paper for the times."
The Knoxville Weekly Journal for 1892 advertised that it "costs only one dollar a year and it's worth five times that amount to every one of its patrons - a year which promises one of the most exciting political campaigns ever known in this country."
Robert J. Booker is a freelance writer and former executive director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. He may be reached at 546-1576.
Read or Share this story: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/robert-booker/2018/12/31/early-knoxville-newspapers-included-editors-spats-robert-j-booker/2425176002/
Korda: Tennessee hands free law: Can speeders support it?
Kincannon lacks money but is strong bet to make mayoral runoff
I am honored to carry on UTK's proud tradition
Tennessee’s Walking Horse 'tradition' should get back on track
Commonsense legislation supports use of electric vehicles
Suburban life is the perfect midpoint between the country and the city
July 5, 2019, noon
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Hell N Back: Back in Brampton
February marks the band's one year anniversary and they returned to Spot1 (Feb. 20, 2016) with an arsenal of new songs, band t-shirts for sale and the energy to deliver three sets of amazing AC/DC music, including performing the entire 'Back in Black' album during the second set.
Throughout 2015, Hell N Back were relentless when it came to honing their craft. They added new songs to their repertoire, hit the stage whenever they could, and as a result of the hard work, their shows became a high energy rock and roll party. As a young band, naturally they would have a couple kinks that may need to be ironed out, but that will come with time and experience. At Saturday's show, despite some technical difficulties, they continued to deliver a great show to their audiences. True professionalism.
Indisputably, they are a talented group of individuals who clearly enjoy what they are doing and the electricity that they exude is felt by all in attendance.
If they're having a good time, the crowd is having a good time. The excitement is contagious.
The band, James (vocals), Kyle (lead guitar), Jeff (rhythm guitar/backing vocals), Marty (bass/backing vocals) and Garry (drums) excel with their instruments and when they all come together on stage, it's quite electrifying.
As a vocalist, James has continued to honour both the Bon and Brian eras, with what seems like with ease. A gifted performer, you can often find him down on the dance floor mingling with the crowd having a great time.
Hell N Back have one of the greatest rhythm sections out there. They are gifted with incredible drums, bass and rhythm guitar that shine during performances.
Jeff, Marty and Garry have that certain chemistry that when they're all on their game, they are a force to be reckoned with.
Strolling up to the microphone to lend backing vocals, it's clear that these two men have a great time on stage. It's always entertaining to watch them.
Garry effortlessly drives the band. He brings the volume and intensity to the band. He is definitely one of the best in his field.
When it comes to the role of Angus, Hell N Back has one of the greatest up and coming guitarists to assume that role.
Once Kyle puts on that school boy outfit, he is transformed into the floor spinning, duck walking, stripping Angus Young character, all with impressive guitar playing while strolling throughout the bar and dance floor.
Each of these men have extraordinary individual talents but when they step on stage, they collectively become one of the best tribute acts currently playing around Ontario.
Saturday night was no exception. They returned to Brampton and kicked off the first set with 'Livewire'. They continued with the hits and after a short break, returned to tackle the entire 'Back in Black' album, which they had done at previous shows this year.
A third set kept the night going, people dancing and enjoying themselves. They did a few requests and eventually ended the third set with 'For Those About To Rock'.
It's always a great time at a Hell N Back show. They continue to work on new material and look for them playing more shows in the upcoming months.
Be sure to follow Hell N Back on Facebook for upcoming shows.
Official Hell N Back Website
Also on LedZepUFP Blogspot
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Home / Child and Adolescent Studies
Normality and Pathology in Childhood: Assessments of Development
Author(s) : Anna Freud
Publisher : Karnac Books
Catalogue No : 28
Also by Anna Freud
The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence
The Course of Life: A 1979 Lecture by Anna Freud (DVD)
The Harvard Lectures
In stock, despatched within 24 hours
Anna Freud's book deals with a most neglected aspect of psychoanalysis - normality. Its chief concern is with the ordinary problems of upbringing which face all parents and the usual phenomena encountered by every clinician. Yet, though primarily practical and clinical in its approach, it also makes a major theoretical contribution to psychology.
The author begins with an account of the development of analytic child psychology, its techniques and its sources in child and adult analysis and direct observation of the child. She then describes the course of normal development, how it can be hindered or eased, what are the unavoidable stresses and strains and how variations of normality occur. She outlines a scheme for assessing normality and for gauging and classifying pathological phenomena in terms of the obstruction of normal progress rather than the severity of symptoms. Stress is laid on the problem of predicting the outcome of infantile factors for adult pathology in the face of the child's continual development. Finally, child analysis is considered both as a therapeutic method and as a means for the advance of knowledge.
Anna Freud was outstanding for the close and systematic organization of her material and for the readability, clarity and economy of her writing. As might be expected from one of the most eminent psychoanalysts of her day, her book is a work of major importance.
Reviews and Endorsements
'The most lucid and penetrating presentation so far of what psychoanalysis has taught us on the psychology of the human child.'
- International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
Anna Freud, the youngest of Sigmund Freud's six children, and the only one to make her career in psychoanalysis, was born in Vienna on 3 December 1895. Starting her professional life as a schoolteacher, she became a member of the Vienna Psycho-Analytical Society in 1922. She maintained a lifelong interest in education, and her extensive contributions in this field were matched by those in all aspects of family law, pediatrics, as well as psychoanalytic psychology, normal and abnormal. Her work in Vienna was brought to an end by the Nazi occupation and she found sanctuary in London with her parents in 1938. Her father died in the following year, but Anna Freud maintained the tradition he began in her work as a member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society and as the founder of the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic - now the Anna Freud Centre. Her services to psychoanalysis were recognized by the award of the CBE in 1967 and by a large number of honorary doctorates on both sides of the Atlantic, including as a gesture of reparation, an honorary MD from the University of Vienna. She died on 9 October 1982.
More titles by Anna Freud
Anna Freud
New Discoveries in Child Psychotherapy: Findings from Qualitative Research
Margaret Rustin
Transforming Child Mental Health
Elizabeth Allison
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Explore our research centres in the King's Department of History
Modern British History
King’s History Department is a major centre for the study of modern British history, with eleven staff researching and teaching in this area. The Department was ranked 5th of all UK History departments in the 2015 REF, with 86% of our research activity assessed as ‘world leading or internationally excellent’.
Among recent books on 20th-century British history are David Edgerton, Britain’s War Machine (Allen Lane 2011), Alana Harris, Faith in the Family: A Lived Religious History of English Catholicism, 1945-82 (Manchester: MUP, 2013) Richard Vinen’s Thatcher’s Britain (Simon and Schuster, 2009) and his Wolfson and Templer prize-winning National Service (Allen Lane 2014).
The Department works closely with History & Policy, presenting work to policymakers, and runs a ‘historian in residence’ scheme for PhD students. Our students have recently had internships in the WHO Geneva, and the Houses of Parliament, alongside in-progress research with Think Tanks and third sector organisations like the National Trust.
We are part of the London Arts and Humanities Partnership for doctoral studies and work very closely with historians at UCL in providing a rich suite of training for students. We offer seminars on generic skills, and a specialist Modern British Reading Group, working closely with historians of twentieth-century Britain elsewhere in London, to put on the fortnightly seminar in Modern British History at the Institute for Historical Research. Our PhD students have the opportunity to work as Graduate Teaching Assistants, an invaluable experience for any aspiring academic. We have a strong relationship with many external bodies, including the University of North Carolina History Department – our graduate students organise joint annual workshops.
Our students have been very successful in winning scholarships and essay prizes. Recent prizes won by our students working on twentieth-century Britain alone include the Royal Historical Society Centenary Fellowship (2014), the Duncan Tanner Essay Prize of the journal Twentieth Century British History (2014), the British Commission for Maritime History Prize (2015), and George L Mosse Prize of the Journal of Contemporary History (2013).
Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine (CHoSTM)
The Centre is one of the most vibrant groups of historians devoted to the study of science, technology and medicine in the world, covering a long chronological range, and concerned with global as well as national histories. It is notable for being fully integrated into a history department both organisationally and intellectually. Our aim is to research and teach the histories of science, technology and medicine in ways that change understandings of their history, of history in general, and of the world in which we live today . Our work has engaged directly with policy-makers and politicians, and just as importantly has affected national and international conversations about science, technology and medicine.
The core of the new Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine moved to the History Department of King’s College London from Imperial College London in August 2013. The Centre was founded in Imperial College London 1993 and drew on a tradition of teaching and research in the subject at the College dating to 1963. The Centre emerged as the top ranking history department in the United Kingdom in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. It has since grown with new appointments and the incorporation of colleagues already in King’s, to become one of the largest such groups anywhere.
Since 2000 the Centre work, particularly in postgraduate research has been supported by a very generous endowment from the Arcadia Trust, which allows us to fully fund a number of outstanding graduate students from anywhere in the world.
Explore the Centre for the History of Science, Technology & Medicine (CHoSTM)
Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies (CLAMS)
The Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies was founded in 1988. It is unique in Britain in its range of subjects and chronological span. The Centre includes experts in a rich array of fields: late antique and Byzantine studies, all the major medieval languages and literatures, visual culture, palaeography and manuscript studies, history, music, philosophy, and theology.
The diverse expertise of our members, and our collaborations with the Centre for Hellenic Studies and the Centre for Early Modern Studies means that we are uniquely positioned to provide a space and catalyst for the critical exchange of ideas across disciplines. To be kept informed about forthcoming events from the Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies, please sign up to the Centre's mailing list.
Explore the Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies (CLAMS)
Explore research in the Department of History
Learn more about the impact of the Department of History's recent historical research
A selection of recently published books and edited volumes by academics and staff in the King's…
Key research centres connected to the King's Department of History
Connect with the Department of History
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Italy, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Photo Travelogue, Photography, Pisa, Schengen Countries, Tourist Attraction
Leaning Tower of Pisa - is still leaning
Our next day destination was Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. Just like the Eiffel Tower, I have heard of this historic monument since my childhood. In fact when I heard of it being leaning, I wondered whether it would be there when I grow up as then there were predictions of its falling down one day. But thankfully, it is still leaning and has no signs of falling and I finally had a chance to see it in all its grandeur and might.
My wife and son standing outside our Motel before leaving for Pisa
The early morning deserted roads of Milan
We left Milan by road and headed towards Pisa - distance of some 285 kilometers and took us three and half hours to reach the town of Pisa. As I mentioned in my previous post, the roads in Italy are not of very quality. But road leading to Pisa was very pathetic - specially the last 20-30 kilometers and the speed limit was 30 KMPH due to its patchy and bumpy road. I wondered why the Italians could not have it repaired as Pisa is one of the famous tourist attractions of Italy.
The Pisa Tower (Torre di Pisa) or the Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre pendente di Pisa) is a campanile, or freestanding bell tower which is part of the city's cathedral surrounded by high rising walls. The tower rising to a height of some 55.86 metres developed a fault while it was still being built but for unknown reasons it continued to be built the same and was leaning right from the outset. Thus on the lower side, it stands 55.85 metres (the leaning side) and 55.67 metres on the higher side. Many efforts have been made, specially between 1990-2001 by putting counter weights to stabilize its unintended tilt. As of now the tower is horizontally displace 3.9 metres from its center.
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De Beers may enter U.S. diamond market
July 14, 2004 by JCK Magazine
The resolution of a 10-year-old price-fixing case clears the way for diamond giant De Beers to directly enter the lucrative U.S. market, The Associated Press reports.
De Beers has had to operate through intermediaries since shortly after World War II, when it was first charged with price fixing.
The company pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Columbus, Ohio, courtroom to conspiring to fix prices in the $500 million industrial diamond market in 1991 and 1992 and agreed to pay the maximum $10 million fine. Industrial diamonds are used to make cutting and polishing tools for a variety of manufacturing and construction equipment.
“That’s a pretty big market to give up and not be actively involved in,” antitrust lawyer John Majoras, a partner with the law firm Jones Day in Washington, reportedly said of the U.S. diamond business.
The company was charged along with General Electric Co. in 1994. U.S. District Judge George Smith dismissed the charges against GE, saying the government had failed to prove its case.
The case was filed in Columbus because GE’s variety of manufacturing and construction applications industrial diamond business was headquartered in suburban Worthington, Ohio.
Smith did not order any restitution, saying a separate settlement of a civil case totaling $26 million resolved that issue, the AP reports. He also did not put the company on probation.
“The court, however, is not inclined to take upon itself the mantle of becoming a regulatory agency overseeing the worldwide distribution of diamonds,” he reportedly said.
Smith reportedly said the company must operate under the regulations of the European Union and will be subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts if it decides to do business directly in the United States.
De Beers general counsel Glenn Turner entered the plea on behalf of the company, the AP reports. He declined to make a statement in court but said afterward that De Beers was happy to have the case resolved.
Turner reportedly said, however, that the company has no plans to directly enter the U.S. retail market. Instead, the decision to enter the plea makes the company legally compliant in all parts of the world where it operates.
De Beers has stores in Tokyo and London.
“The decision to resolve this matter is consistent with our continuing commitment to creating a new, modern De Beers that is fully prepared to assume its role as a responsible corporate global citizen and to provide leadership at a critical time for the diamond industry,” the company said in a statement after the hearing.
De Beers had sales of $5.5 billion and earnings of $676 million in 2003. The company spends $180 million on advertising.
The United States represents about half of the worldwide diamond market. Experts value the U.S. market at $30 billion to $35 billion.
“The guilty plea reflects the department’s persistence in the fight against illegal price fixing,” R. Hewitt Pate, assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice in Washington, said in a statement.
“It’s good resolution in that De Beers paid damages to victims, pleaded guilty and paid the maximum fine,” Jared Stamell, the attorney who handled the civil case against De Beers, reportedly said. He has a separate class action lawsuit pending in New Jersey against the company by buyers of rough diamonds. The lawsuit claims De Beers is controlling that market.
Prosecution of De Beers has been difficult because U.S. officials have no jurisdiction over the company, which is based in South Africa.
But the case also has hindered De Beers from doing business in the United States, Majoras reportedly said.
Corporate officials trying to enter the United States run the risk of being stopped by authorities, he reportedly said.
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Tag: Passover
Crews from the office of the Rabbi of the Western Wall remove tens of thousands of written prayers from the Western Wall. (photo by Gil Zohar)
On April 10, equipped with long sticks, crews from the office of the Rabbi of the Western Wall removed tens of thousands of written prayers, which worshippers had wedged into crevices at the holy site over the previous half year. The painstaking work is done twice annually, in advance of Passover in April and Rosh Hashanah in September, to ensure space for new prayers. The notes that are removed are buried in Mount of Olives Cemetery.
The origin of the practice of placing small folded sheets of paper between the cracks of the 2,000-year-old ashlars is unclear. According to tradition, God’s female presence (Shechinah), has never left the holy site.
A retaining wall of the Temple Mount, built by King Solomon circa 960 BCE and destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, the Kotel Maaravi (Western Wall) stands today beneath a religious plaza known in Arabic to Muslims as al-Haram ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary). Jews believe the holy hill marks the navel of the world from where God began his creation 5779 years ago; the site also marks where Abraham brought his son Isaac to offer him up as a sacrifice. Muslims consider the Western Wall to be where Muhammad tethered his winged steed al-Burak when he ascended to the Seventh Heaven. And Christians believe Jesus was one of the millions of Jewish pilgrims in antiquity who came here during the festivals of Passover, Tabernacles and Pentecost.
From 1948 until 1967, when East Jerusalem was under the control of Jordan, Israelis were prohibited from visiting the site.
Gil Zohar is a journalist based in Jerusalem.
Format ImagePosted on April 19, 2019 April 17, 2019 Author Gil ZoharCategories Celebrating the Holidays, IsraelTags Christianity, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, Kotel, Passover, Western Wall
Together on path to freedom
Passover is coming! As we prepare, we think of what it means to be enslaved and to be free. Some seders focus on human rights. Others read and discuss Jewish texts about how to understand the holiday. Every year, we re-examine not only how good the foods are, but the ideas around slavery and redemption.
At one of my first Jewish events in Winnipeg, 10 years ago, I heard racist comments about indigenous Canadians. I was really upset by the incident. I was so uncomfortable that I still remember the experience in detail, even though I’ve forgotten a lot of other things over time.
I recently attended some of the lectures in an extremely worthwhile series put on by Westworth United Church called Interfaith Dialogue on Truth and Reconciliation. Each year, in the springtime during Lent, this church offers some of the best adult education programming I’ve ever attended and they welcome the entire community. The topics are thoughtful but, even more important, participants come ready to wrestle with hard intellectual and emotional ideas. I was introduced to it because Dr. Ruth Ashrafi has been a speaker as part of this programming more than once, and I’m hooked.
This year, the series was held in four different locations throughout the community, including Congregation Etz Chayim, Westworth United Church, as well as at one of the mosques and at a Buddhist Temple. It was so well attended that it filled the pews – wherever it was held.
Each session, a religious leader spoke, but he or she spoke at the lectern of a different congregation. Dr. Shahina Siddiqui spoke at Etz Chayim. Ashrafi spoke at Westworth United. It was powerful to see people of different faiths take to different pulpits. These leaders spoke, in the context of their religious traditions, on their status as Canadians or newcomers to a place with a heavy past of racism toward and discrimination and neglect of its indigenous people.
The most shattering part of the series was to hear from indigenous elders. I only attended two of the events, and heard Theodore Fontaine and Chickadee Richard speak. I cried while I listened to them. Their powerful personal, political and religious stories shook me.
These were bright, strong leaders with absolutely valid points about how they and their communities have been affected and mistreated by Canadian law and society. Their beliefs and prayers – about caring for Mother Earth, about protecting water and guarding the lives of those they love – are no different than those of other religious traditions in Canada. Yet, there are still indigenous communities who are forced to live in terrible conditions, without access to clean water and without adequate education or health care. How can people of faith accept this dichotomy? How is it that the first people in Canada don’t have access to the basic human rights that most of the rest of us enjoy?
After each set of lectures, we were sorted into random discussion groups. In the first event, we were asked to imagine what it might have been like to experience residential school and how we felt we would have reacted. What would that have been like?
All around me, I heard older Canadians mention how they didn’t know, and that their history classes didn’t teach them what had happened. They struggled with this part of Canadian history. It’s a denial that seemed familiar from German accounts of the Second World War, when people said “they didn’t know” what was happening to the Jewish people in their communities.
I could see many parallels between the stories Theodore Fontaine told, of “going to the moon” and escaping the abuse by disassociating and going somewhere else in his mind, and the novel The Painted Bird, by Jerzy Kosinski, which describes the horrors experienced by a Jewish child during the Holocaust. Trauma causes us (humans) to do many of the same things, even if our religious and ethnic identities differ.
Many of us know that the trauma of the Holocaust doesn’t go away in one or two generations. Those indigenous Canadians who were sent away from their families to residential schools, where they were abused, fed poorly and otherwise mistreated – their trauma has affected their families for generations. Jerzy Kosinski dealt with his childhood Holocaust trauma through substance abuse and, eventually, suicide. It’s no wonder that many indigenous survivors do the same.
Passover is a time of year, like the High Holidays, where we throw off wrongs and bitterness in the hope of embracing new growth and change. We can throw off the bondage of old biases or ideas that have enslaved us. Prejudice against indigenous people, their traditions and the burden of past abuses needs to be addressed – by all of us.
At the end of the lecture series, the facilitators asked variants of this question: “What will you do in the next year to address reconciliation, promote diversity and inclusion, and to make change?” My commitment was to be brave in speaking out about these issues.
Now, I’m turning over the question to you. What will you do, as a person of faith, to make change? Start by reading the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action. Write to your politicians to protect the water, the earth and the peoples who came to Canada first. Go to a powwow or a reconciliation discussion. Look others, no matter who they are, in the eye and greet them with loving kindness. In short – do more. It’s the Jewish thing to do.
Remember – we were slaves in the land of Egypt and now we’re free. Free to step up, speak up and help others along the path to equal rights, respect and freedom.
Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. See more about her at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.
Posted on April 12, 2019 April 10, 2019 Author Joanne SeiffCategories Op-EdTags First Nations, Passover, racism, reconciliation, tikkun olam
Balabusta preps for Pesach
Harvey’s charoset pyramid. (photo by Shelley Civkin)
As the Torah commands us, we tell the story of Passover and the Israelites’ exodus from slavery in Egypt to our children and ourselves every year, by reading from the Haggadah. Coming from a secular home, I don’t recall our family owning a single Haggadah. Instead, my father had a little black notebook in which he wrote down the story of Passover and the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. It took about five minutes for Dad to read it, and then we had our seder. It wasn’t particularly traditional, but it was meaningful nonetheless.
On the all-encompassing journey called Yiddishkeit, preparing for Passover scores about an 18/10 on the commitment scale. Between the feathers and flashlights, flourless sponge cakes and briskets, a balabusta has her work cut out for her. And then some.
As an accidental balabusta and relative neophyte to traditional Passover preparations, I want to get with the program as much as possible. I scared myself the other day though, by reading articles about what goes into getting ready for this significant holiday. One such article – called “Cook your Pesach while you sleep” – was particularly troubling. It seems to me that a Pesadik balabusta requires at least 36 hours in every day to prepare her food for the seder, a month ahead of time. She might also require a housekeeper to do all the laundry and clean the house while she’s tethered to the kitchen, cutting, peeling, blanching, baking and roasting the eight-course meals she’ll serve to her 42 guests over the two nights of Passover. Oh, and did I mention the other two minor meals she needs to organize daily for her family during the eight days of the holiday? Holy flourless kugel, Batman!
And then there’s the issue of finding and removing all the chametz from your home. Let me confess something right from the get-go: I am not an observant Jew in the strict sense of the word. I do observe certain things, like going to synagogue every Shabbat, lighting Shabbat candles, doing the odd mitzvah, and studying a little Torah. That’s about the extent of it. I refrain from eating chametz during Pesach, but I have never actually removed all the chametz from my home before the holiday. And I don’t keep kosher. However, I do eat matzah religiously during Pesach. And I kind of have a crush on shmurah matzah.
As for that age-old shmurah versus Manischewitz matzah debate … I wholeheartedly throw my vote behind shmurah. Yes, it’s expensive, but it’s so worth it. Having visited Kfar Chabad on our trip to Israel last year, we went to their shmurah matzah factory and witnessed how the matzah is made by hand. Seeing the meticulous precision with which everything is measured, timed and baked, it was a fascinating and educational experience. And did I mention its unique flavour and round shape? Sure, parts of it can be burnt, but that just enhances the taste. Once you go shmurah, you’ll never go back.
I’m the kind of accidental balabusta that, instead of making matzah ball soup, brisket, tzimmes and macaroons for Pesach, I’m inclined to make hotel reservations in Whistler and call it a day. There’s no need for me to be Jewish Wonder Woman. Gal Godot has that covered. I know, not every woman who prepares for Pesach considers herself Wonder Woman. But, given the magnitude of preparation that must get done in advance – and done to rigorous standards – I’m pretty sure that devotedly observant women qualify for that title. As for me, I’ll do the best I can to honour the traditions, prepare a welcoming and tasty seder for my family, then enjoy a plotzfest.
Preparing for Pesach can be dangerous though. A couple of years ago, I decided to forgo the store-bought chrain (horseradish) and make my own. I found a recipe, then went out and bought the fresh horseradish root. It looked innocent enough. From a distance. Nobody told me that taking a close-up whiff of newly pulverized horseradish root is akin to inhaling mustard gas. I thought I’d burned my lungs. Sure, it produced that unrivaled heat I always admire in a memorable horseradish. However, it almost knocked me out. This Pesach, I plan to simplify the process by buying horseradish. And saving my lungs for more important things … like breathing.
On the topic of food … my husband Harvey makes the ultimate Passover crowd-pleaser: a visually stunning, delicious pyramid-shaped charoset. He got the recipe decades ago from the L.A. Times. It never fails to impress guests. Here’s the recipe.
HARVEY’S CHAROSET PYRAMID
1 unpeeled pear, cored and chopped roughly
1 unpeeled apple, cored and chopped roughly
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup chopped pistachios
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup chopped raisins
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
sweet wine, preferably Manischewitz (about 1/4 cup)
extra dates to decorate the plate
Put all the nuts in food processor and chop, but not too finely. Place in a bowl.
Put dates and raisins in food processor and chop, but not too finely. Place in separate bowl.
Core and roughly chop apple and pear by hand, then put in the food processor, along with the nuts, and the raisin and date mixture. Add cinnamon, ginger, apple cider vinegar and wine. Chop till it’s all mixed together. Be careful not to overdo it – you don’t want it mushy.
Remove it all from the food processor and shape it into a pyramid with a spatula. Then use a small, sharp knife to lightly make “brick” shapes in the pyramid. Refrigerate. Put whole dates around the outside before serving.
For another Passover culinary experience, check out Jamie Geller’s recipe for potato kugel cups at joyofkosher.com/recipes/potato-kugel-cups. You can YouTube it, too. If you’re not afraid of hot oil in a 425°F oven, this recipe will knock your Pesach socks off. Personally, scorching hot oil makes me a bit skittish. But the result is potato heaven.
As Pesach approaches, it’s a time to clean house, both literally and spiritually. It’s a time to remember how blessed we are in our freedom as Jews today. And it’s a time to hold close our traditions, pass along the story of our exodus from Egypt to the younger generation, and be thankful for where we are now.
So, eat the matzah and bitter herbs and drink those four cups of wine. Then go out and buy lots of Metamucil. Because you’re going to need it after eight days of matzah. But check with your rabbi first to make sure Metamucil is kosher for Pesach.
Wishing you all a meaningful and freilach Pesach.
Shelley Civkin, aka the Accidental Balabusta, is a happily retired librarian and communications officer. For 17 years, she wrote a weekly book review column for the Richmond Review, and currently writes a bi-weekly column about retirement for the Richmond News.
Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2019 June 12, 2019 Author Shelley CivkinCategories Celebrating the Holidays, Op-EdTags cooking, Judaism, lifestyle, Passover
About the cover art – Passover 2019
Moses and Aaron lead the Israelites to the Red Sea in this still from Nina Paley’s feature-length animated film Seder-Masochism, which screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year and is available to view for free online at archive.org/details/sedermasochism. Being in the public domain means that all of Paley’s animation and images are free for anyone to use. Nonetheless, the Jewish Independent requested and received her blessing to run the images from the film that grace the cover of this issue and its Passover section.
According to sedermasochism.com, the film “loosely follows the Passover seder story, with events from the Book of Exodus retold by Moses, Aharon, the Angel of Death, Jesus and the director’s father. The film puts a twist on the traditional biblical story by including a female deity perspective – the Goddess – in a tragic struggle against the forces of patriarchy.”
The feature was “in the works since 2012, when Paley first animated a scene called This Land Is Mine, a parody about never-ending conflict in the Levant, which has been viewed over 10 million times on various online channels.” Paley has written and designed a companion book, The Seder-Masochism: A Haggadah and Anti-Haggadah, which can be purchased through Amazon.
Paley is also the creator of the animated musical feature film Sita Sings the Blues, which, her bio at palegraylabs.com notes, “has screened in over 150 film festivals and won over 35 international awards.” It continues: “Her adventures in our broken copyright system led her to join questioncopyright.org as artist-in-residence in 2008. Prior to becoming an animator, Nina was a syndicated cartoonist. A 2006 Guggenheim Fellow, she also produced a series of animated shorts about intellectual freedom called Minute Memes. Nina began quilting in 2011 as a way to do something real with her hands after years of pushing pixels.”
Readers can find out more about Paley at blog.ninapaley.com.
Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2019 April 12, 2019 Author The Editorial BoardCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags art, film, Nina Paley, Passover, Seder-Masochism
Enjoy these Pesach desserts
In Jerusalem, as soon as Purim is over, everyone begins to get ready for Pesach. Two-and-a-half weeks ahead, macaroons are already in the stores, as well as various other products for the holiday. Here are a few desserts you can make at home, from traditional to unusual.
CLASSIC ALMOND MACAROONS
Makes 20 macaroons. This recipe is adapted from an American food magazine (not sure which).
1 1/2 cups blanched almonds
4 tsp confectioners sugar
Place almonds in a pan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil 10 seconds. Remove one almond and see if it slips out of its skin. If not, boil a few seconds more. Spread on paper towels and pat dry once ready.
Preheat oven to 325 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
Grind almonds with 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Add egg whites and extract and blend 20 seconds. Add the 3/4 cup sugar in two batches, blending 10 seconds after each addition.
Roll one tablespoon of mixture between moistened palms into ball. Repeat until all mixture is used, spacing cookies one inch apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Flatten each to half-an-inch high. Brush each with water. Sift confectioners sugar over each. Bake for 25 minutes.
Lift one end of parchment paper and pour two tablespoons water onto cookie sheet. Lift other end and pour two tablespoons water under. Tilt to spread water. When water stops boiling, remove macaroons.
CHOCOLATE BISCOTTI
3/4 cup margarine or butter
2 tbsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups matzah flour
1 1/4 cups potato flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tbsp Passover baking powder
5/8 cup ground almonds
2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a cookie sheet.
In a bowl, cream margarine or butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.
In another bowl, combine matzah flour, potato flour, cocoa and baking powder. Gradually add to batter.
Add nuts and chocolate chips and combine.
Form into two logs and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool.
Slice. Return slices to cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.
TOFFEE MATZAH
This is my favourite sweet for Pesach but this version is an Andrew Zimmern contribution from Food & Wine magazine with a few of my changes.
1 cup salted butter or margarine
5 pieces of matzah
1 cup mixed chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with vegetable spray. Line with parchment paper and spray again.
Arrange a layer of matzah on the sheet.
Melt butter or margarine with brown sugar in a saucepan. Cook five minutes. Pour over matzah. Bake five to eight minutes, until bubbling.
Remove from oven and spread chocolate chips on top, letting them melt for five minutes. Sprinkle nuts on top. Let cool or refrigerate to cool. Break into pieces.
MARILYN’S CHOCOLATE BRANDIED CANDY
Marilyn is a longtime friend of mine who came from the Boston area and has lived in Israel since 1949.
3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (a candy bar works fine)
1 cup raisins, soaked in cherry brandy
1 cup matzah pieces
Melt chocolate in a saucepan. Add raisins, walnuts and matzah and mix well.
Drop by tablespoon into small cupcake papers. Refrigerate.
Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, lecturer, book reviewer and food writer in Jerusalem. She created and leads the weekly English-language Shuk Walks in Machane Yehuda, she has compiled and edited nine kosher cookbooks, and is the author of Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Journalist in Israel.
Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2019 April 10, 2019 Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags baking, biscotti, macaroons, matzah, Passover, recipes
The great matzah ball debate
What food eaten during Pesach causes the most debates? If you guessed matzah balls, you’re right. Should they be hard or light? Big or small? What secret ingredient should be added to them?
From where did matzah balls, or kneidlach, originate? German Jews had a dumpling that they put into their soup called knodel. From this came the Yiddish term kneydl, singular, or kneydlach, in the plural. In Czech, it is known as knedliky. Dumplings have been in Central European cookery since the Middle Ages and then they came to Germany and Eastern Europe later.
So, just how many ways are there to make matzah balls?
Joan Nathan, a friend of mine, who has written a number of cookbooks and is considered a maven of American Jewish cooking, proposes adding chicken fat or vegetable oil plus seltzer, club soda or chicken broth, to make them light and airy. In Jewish Cooking in America, she also relates that some matzah balls, originating in Lithuania, use chicken fat or vegetable shortening and contain a filling made of onion, oil or chicken fat, matzah meal, egg yolk, salt, pepper and cinnamon. The filling is then placed in the middle of the matzah ball before they are cooked in salt water. After cooking in salt water, they are baked 30 minutes then placed in the soup for serving. Joan also has a recipe for matzah balls made in the southern United States, using pecans. In my research, I discovered that some Louisiana Jews add green onions and cayenne pepper.
In her cookbook Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France, Joan explains that, in France, matzah balls are called boulettes de paque, krepfle or kneipflich. They are the size of walnuts and not fluffy. They are made from stale bread or matzah soaked in water and dried, and they contain rendered goose fat, vegetable oil or beef marrow, eggs, water or chicken broth, matzah meal, salt, pepper, ginger and nutmeg.
In The New York Times Passover Cookbook, edited by Linda Amster, among the recipes for matzah balls is one by Mimi Sheraton, Times food critic at the time, who used chicken fat and cold water. Another is from Joan’s cookbook Jewish Holiday Kitchen, and she uses ginger and nutmeg. The winning recipe for the first Matzah Bowl contest in New York at the time the Times cookbook was published used vodka and club soda. A low-fat, low-salt version is made with egg whites and vegetable oil. Another style, which is airy, is made with beef marrow, instead of chicken fat, plus nutmeg.
Refrigeration and the temperature of the liquid seem to be key common denominators in many recipes.
Nina Rousso, an Israeli, in her book The Passover Gourmet, uses beaten egg yolks, lukewarm water, melted margarine, salt, parsley, matzah meal and stiffly beaten egg whites folded in. The mixture is refrigerated two hours before making.
In Passover Lite, Gail Ashkenazi-Hankin, an American, combines egg yolks, onion powder, salt, pepper, matzah meal, water and beaten egg whites and chills the mixture 30 minutes.
Zell Schulman, the American author of Let My People Eat, says the key to making light, melt-in-your-mouth, floating matzah balls is to beat egg whites until stiff then fold into the yolks with salt, pepper, cinnamon, matzah meal and optional parsley and refrigerate 15 minutes. A second version combines matzah meal with only the beaten egg whites until they hold peaks, plus parsley, cinnamon, grated carrot and oil, but no egg yolks.
Susan Friedland, the American author of The Passover Table, combines whole eggs with seltzer, salt, pepper, matzah meal and schmaltz, which she refrigerates for one hour. The schmaltz adds the flavour.
Marlene Sorosky, American author of Fast and Festive Meals for the Jewish Holidays, provides a recipe using ground almonds, ginger and chopped parsley. She chills the matzah balls for one hour.
Edda Servi Machlin, whose family has 2,000-year-old roots in Italy, says her family serves a mix between Italian Passover soup and Ashkenazi chicken soup. Her matzah balls are made of chopped chicken, egg, broth, olive oil, salt, pepper, nutmeg and matzah meal. The batter is refrigerated one hour before making.
Other Italian Jews, who call the matzah balls gnocchi di azzaima, add onions or mashed potatoes to the dough or grated lemon rind.
An aside: In 2001, Ariel Toaff, a professor at Bar-Ilan University, who is the son of Rome’s chief rabbi, came out with a book called Mangiare alla Giudia (Eating the Jewish Way). He devotes a chapter to Passover traditions, and writes that matzah was so popular that the Catholic authorities banned Jews from selling matzah to non-Jews and banned Christians from eating it.
Italian bakers also baked different kinds of matzah: plain for intermediate days, shmurah matzah for the sederim, and matzah made with white wine, eggs, sugar, anise and goose fat for those with more rich tastes.
Jews of Italy even developed sfoglietti or foglietti, a kosher-for-Passover pasta made with flour and eggs, which was then quickly dried and baked in a hot oven and served in soup or with a sauce.
Joyce Goldstein, an American fascinated by Italian Jewish cuisine, describes, in Cucina Ebraica, a combination of ground chicken, egg, matzah meal, salt, pepper and cinnamon, which she refrigerates before cooking in soup, but she does not say for how long.
Sonia Levy, a native of Zimbabwe, wrote a cookbook of her community, called Traditions. She describes luft kneidlach, light matzah balls, made with matzah meal, water, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon or ginger, eggs and oil. These must be refrigerated at least half a day. She adds that you can also make a pit with a finger and insert chopped meat that has been mixed with fried onions and spices. Another Zimbabwe version uses egg, cold water, chicken fat, salt, pepper, ginger and matzah meal.
Ruth Sirkis, an Israeli, in A Taste of Tradition, says “air” matzah balls have eggs, matzah meal, salt, chicken soup and chicken fat and are refrigerated two hours.
Another version, by Anya von Bemzen and John Welchman in Please to the Table: A Russian Cookbook, has walnut balls for soup, which are made by the Georgian Jews using ground walnuts, onion, egg, matzah meal, oregano, salt, pepper and a froth egg white.
A couple of last pieces of matzah ball trivia. In 2008, a New York kosher delicatessen held its annual matzah ball-eating competition to raise money for a shelter for the homeless. The winner ate 78 matzah balls in eight minutes. Although not in the Guinness Book of World Records, a few years ago, the largest matzah ball was measured at 17.75 inches across and weighed more than 33 pounds.
And, lastly, among some ultra-Orthodox Jews, matzah balls are not eaten because they expand when they cook, and they consider this reaction a form of leavening.
Regardless of the style of matzah balls you prefer, just make plenty for your guests!
Posted on April 12, 2019 April 10, 2019 Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags books, cooking, culture, history, matzah, Passover
Pesach: story of a people’s birth
God Almighty Herself induces Egypt to give birth. We simply need to listen for the birth mother’s screams in the delivery room. We hear the screams throughout the plagues, as they become increasingly intensive, starting with the first plague, blood. (illustration by Nina Paley)
The idea of the Exodus as a birth story begins as Shemot (Exodus) begins. The first chapter brings us into the atmosphere of a giant delivery room. Things have gotten out of control: “And the Israelites were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and grew exceedingly strong and the land was filled with them.” (Shemot 1:7)
The Israelites are having children all the time. There’s this anonymous, collective mass of people that are steadily spreading out. The only two figures mentioned by name are the midwives, Shifra and Pua, and there’s a reason for that. The book is telling us: “Pay attention, readers. We are entering a delivery room, and so the most important figures are the midwives. You will feel this sense of birth.”
If one didn’t get this sense from Chapter 1, take a look at Chapter 2. It begins with the personal birth story of Moses, the story of a natural, biological birth, in which a woman becomes pregnant and has a son. A few verses later, the mother places the baby in an ark, or basket, and, when Pharaoh’s daughter comes by, she takes him in and becomes his adoptive mother. She, too, has a birth story. There’s a womb – the ark. There’s water – the Nile. She sees the womb, the ark. She opens it and she sees the baby. She, too, is portrayed as having given birth. If we saw a portrait of the natural, biological birth by the Hebrew mother, we also have a portrait of the Egyptian adoptive mother who takes the child.
This “birth” mindset will intensify and be actualized through this grand metaphoric story we call the story of the Exodus from Egypt. There was a famine in Canaan, so the Israelites went to Egypt to buy grain and find seed. They stayed. Scripture tells us how they “were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, and the land was filled with them.”
This little nucleus, the embryo that first descended, is developing within this large Egyptian womb, Israel’s “surrogate mother,” which nourishes this fetus. The time comes for the birth. As in any case of surrogate motherhood, there is difficulty. On one hand, it’s not my baby. I want it out. On the other hand, there’s emotional difficulty. I nourished that child. He’s part of my body.
From the perspective of the child, there will be problems, or challenges, of attraction and repulsion toward the surrogate mother in whom he developed. The Children of Israel grew and developed in that womb, and it must be taken out. But the Egyptian mother refuses to begin the birthing process.
Enter the most powerful midwife imaginable – God Almighty Herself. She induces Egypt to give birth. The entire story is described in this manner. We simply need to listen for the birth mother’s screams in the delivery room. We hear the screams throughout the plagues, as they become increasingly intensive. Blood. Frogs. Lice. Beasts. Pestilence. Boils.
We’re standing next to the birth mother, saying, “Push! Push! Scream! Scream! Let this baby out!” Just before the birth, a moment before the Children of Israel emerge, they are commanded to paint the doorposts with blood. Soon after, this people will pass through this doorway.
They will reach the waters. And the waters will descend, as well. Then the sea will split in two, and the Children of Israel will pass through the waters on dry land, through the birth canal that has opened for them. At the end of the birth canal, who will be waiting for them? The midwife, ready to grasp them and teach them to walk.
This story, this birth story, is the powerful story of the birth of a people. But, beyond the importance of hearing this story, it can also explain what happens later, during their travels in the desert.
Like any newborn baby, the people will cry and scream for their most immediate needs – water, food. Moses and God will provide for them because that’s how you take care of an infant. You give water and food. You can’t expect anything else. Slowly but surely, he will be taught to walk. Slowly, he will learn rules. He will be given laws to follow.
When we meet this child in Bamidbar (Numbers), once he has grown, he will make the same requests that he made in Shemot as an infant: water and food. But God’s response will be different, because we don’t have the same expectations of a little baby that we have from a growing child. We expect something different.
How do we connect this to the seder night? The Exodus, first, is a story. There is a strong emphasis on telling the story. It has all the detail it needs, and all the drama we want. These are what make this story a foundational story, one that can be transmitted generation after generation.
We sit around and tell our birth as a people. We try to impart it to the next generation. When we tell the story with all its detail, it excites us once more. But why is this done over matzah?
God planned the Exodus from the time of Abraham: “Know that your seed will be a sojourned in a land not theirs; they will serve them and be tormented by them for 400 years. But then they will go out with great wealth.”
It’s all planned, down to the moment. God tells them to have their loins girded, their bags packed and their food prepared and, when I say so, leave. Everything had been planned. So what happened? Why couldn’t the dough rise? Why couldn’t they have fresh rolls?
This is a precise dramatization of a birth story. If you want it to be credible, it has to be exact. As in the story of any birth, everything is planned. There’s a due date. There’s a packed suitcase, a list of phone numbers to call. If it’s not the first birth, there are arrangements for the older kids.
Yet labour will always be unexpected. It’s always sudden. The water breaks suddenly. Contractions come suddenly. Suddenly, it’s time to go. That’s birth. Everything is planned, but the moment arrives suddenly. This is the meaning of eating matzah. It’s as if we are saying, everything was there, everything was planned. This birth was a major event and, like every other birth, it was unexpected. Despite all the preparations, we had to run, we had to leave. The dough did not have a chance to rise. All that could be made from it was matzah.
Ilana Pardes’s book The Biography of Ancient Israel describes this as the story of a collective persona, the people of Israel: “The Israelites are delivered collectively out of the womb of Egypt. National birth, much like individual births (and all the more so in ancient times), takes place on a delicate border between life and death. It involves the transformation of blood from a signifier of death to a signifier of life. It also involves the successful opening of the womb, the prevention of the womb’s turning into a tomb…. God performs a variety of wonders in Egypt (the 10 plagues in fact are perceived as such), but the parting of the Red Sea seems to surpass them all. It marks the nation’s first breath – out in the open air – and serves as a distinct reminder of the miraculous character of the birth. Where there was nothing, a living creature emerges all of a sudden….”
As we sit around the seder table, around the matzah, telling the story of our birth each year, you may want to read from the poem, “Miracles,” by Yehuda Amichai: “From a distance everything looks like a miracle / But up close even a miracle doesn’t appear so. / Even someone who crossed the Red Sea when it split only saw the sweaty back of the one in front of him.”
Ask every participant at the seder to think of something that happened to them during the year, something that, because the individual was part of it, they “only saw the sweaty back of the one in front of him.” If we were to take a step back and look at things from a distance, we could have said to ourselves: “I’m living through a miracle. I’m passing through the sea, on dry land. I’m undergoing the process of birth, right now.”
It is worthwhile, and it even brings joy, to mention this miracle and think about it at this event celebrating the great miracle of the nation’s birth.
Dr. Orit Avnery is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She received her PhD in Bible studies at Bar-Ilan University. Her dissertation is entitled The Threefold Cord: Interrelations between the Books of Samuel, Ruth and Esther. This article is based on a talk she gave in Hebrew. Articles by Avnery and other institute scholars can be found at shalomhartman.org.
Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2019 April 10, 2019 Author Dr. Orit Avnery SHICategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags childbirth, history, Judaism, Passover, Shalom Hartman Institute, women
On the value of stubbornness
“Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh,” from Gustave Doré’s English Bible, 1866. (image from Wikimedia Commons)
Stubbornness is a complex and harsh characteristic. It is no surprise, then, that Pharaoh, who is considered to be one of the most wicked characters in the Torah, is shown as being very stubborn. We see Pharaoh repeatedly refusing to engage with the reality that he is faced with and, stubbornly, over and over, refusing to send the Israelites out of Egypt.
Pharaoh is the paradigmatic stubborn person in the Exodus story, yet parashat Vayeira also points to other characters in the story who are not considered wicked in any way but who are nevertheless portrayed with this characteristic of stubbornness. This implies that perhaps stubbornness is not all bad. What can we learn about this character trait from our parashah and when it might make sense to employ it?
We’ll start with Pharaoh, the paradigm of stubbornness. Repeatedly, we see him refusing to yield, to listen to Moses and Aaron’s pleading, as the text says: “Pharaoh’s heart stiffened and he did not heed them.” (Exodus/Shemot 7:13) He appears equally stubborn in the conversations between God and Moses: “And God said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go,’” (7:14) and in his response to the first plague: “Pharaoh turned and went into his palace, paying no regard even to this.” (7:23) Again and again, Pharaoh’s stubbornness – at least at a particular stage – is portrayed as having been almost thrust or forced upon him. God says as much to Moses: “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart … and he will not heed you….” (7:3-4)
Indeed, as events are taking place and described, it appears that God is actively strengthening or hardening Pharaoh’s heart: “God stiffened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not heed them, just as God had told Moses.” (9:12) This strengthens our resolve to discover what this stubbornness is really about, why it is so critical and what role it plays in the story.
Samson Raphael Hirsch suggests that this stubbornness or “hardening” that Pharaoh experiences can be divided into three types, based on the language that the Torah uses to describe it: “I will harden,” “I will make heavy” and “I will strengthen.”
1) Hard: being rigid, without registering any influences, without being influenced by anything that passes us.
2) Heavy: being a person of weight, able to be influenced, but with a significant gap between the actual impression and the willingness to act based on it. Sluggish.
3) Strong: steadfast, fully opposing to submit despite a full recognition, totally obliterating the influence.
Hirsch describes the three different, but similar, forms of this attribute and how it manifests itself in Pharaoh.
The first is characterized by rigidity, that is characterized itself by an ignoring of the environment, a rigidity that blocks any outside influences. This kind of behaviour can be seen when Pharaoh is completely unimpressed and unmoved by Moses’s pleading, the suffering of Israel, or even the plagues that affected him and his people directly.
The second is characterized by heaviness. This heaviness is not about ignoring – someone whose heart is heavy can absorb information from his surroundings, but this is insufficient to influence him, to get him to act upon those potential influences. They don’t propel him to act in the direction where the information points. This phenomenon is evident in the way that Pharaoh reacts to the second plague of frogs. This plague is described in all of its gross and gory details:
“If you refuse to let them go, then I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs, and they shall come up and enter your palace, your bedchamber and your bed, the houses of your courtiers and your people, and your ovens and your kneading bowls.… The frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards and the fields. And they piled them up in heaps, until the land stank.” (7:27-8:10)
Despite this horrifying scene, Pharaoh is unfazed: “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he became stubborn….” (8:11) He is not moved to eject the Israelites from Egypt. Instead, he is weighed down (perhaps wilfully) and unmoved.
Lastly, Pharaoh exhibits strength. According to Hirsch, behaviour that is defined by strength is self-aware and defiant. The lack of change in it is not defined by being weighed down or passive inertia, but rather an active refusal to be moved. He is aware that he doesn’t want to move or change because these actions are perceived by him as giving in. For example, during the third plague of lice (kinim):
“Then God said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, hold out your rod and strike the dust of the earth, and it shall turn to lice throughout the land of Egypt.’… The magicians did the like with their spells to produce lice, but they could not … and the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God!’ But Pharaoh’s heart stiffened and he would not heed them.…” (8:12-15)
Even when Pharaoh’s people tell him explicitly that they are all witnessing the finger of a mighty god, and all that Pharaoh needs to do to resolve the situation is let the people go, Pharaoh digs in his heels and will not give up and will not give in.
Pharaoh is not alone in his stubbornness, in his unwillingness to accept that the slavery is ending and the exodus is immanent. Even without a divine hardening of their hearts, the Israelites also show a stubbornness. It says about Pharaoh, “he didn’t heed” (e.g. 7:10-13) and it also says about the Israelites, “and they did not heed.” (6:9)
Even though it seems that Pharaoh and the Israelites are exhibiting the same behaviour – they both are stubborn in refusing to accept the reality that God is going to redeem the Israelites through Moses’s leadership – the contexts for their behaviour are quite different, almost opposite. Pharaoh is holding onto the Israelites and enslaving them. He is insisting on a continuation of the suffering and backbreaking labour, which he initiated. The Israelites, on the other hand, are described as refusing to listen because they themselves are suffering, “their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.” (6:9)
Pharaoh is mired in a lack of morality; Israel is mired in a lack of faith. What they have in common is that they refuse to accept what seem like the futile fantasies of Moses about the Israelites leaving Egypt with him, and moving from bondage to freedom.
Israel needs to be convinced that this idea of the exodus, of actually leaving Egypt, is real, implementable and viable. They need to believe in it. While deep in the heart of slavery, it’s hard for the Israelites to imagine a different reality. Their insistence on relying on the here and now as opposed to a promise for the future stems from despair. How much hope are they supposed to keep?
Pharaoh also refuses to accept the future as described by Moses and, in this way, his stubbornness, in all its strength, weight and difficulty, is close to the Israelites’ despair. Pharaoh refuses to see what the Israelites cannot.
In contrast to both of these images of stubbornness, Pharaoh’s refusal and the Israelites’ despair, there is a third image. This third character needs to be even more stubborn, strong and resolute – this character is God. God’s stubbornness is characterized by steadfastness, insistence and resoluteness in the face of those who don’t believe in his presence and his promise. God needs to stand against those who refuse him, who repeatedly reject the vision of the future that He presents.
At the very beginning of the story, God makes a promise: “God spoke to Moses.… ‘I appeared to Avraham … and I have remembered My covenant. Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am God. I will free you … and deliver you … I will redeem you … and I will take you … and I will bring you into the land….’” (6:2-8)
A few verses later, God speaks to Moshe again: “Go and tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the Israelites depart from his land.” (11)
God is always responded to with negativity and refusal. “The Israelites would not listen to me, how then should Pharaoh heed me?” (12) God continues with his own steady perseverance: “So God spoke to both Moses and Aaron in regard to the Israelites and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, instructing them to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt.” (13)
God’s stubbornness is instructive and holds a lesson for all of us who dream of a world that looks different than the one we now inhabit. Maybe anyone who dreams about a different reality, anyone who believes that it is truly possible that our existence can be transformed, needs a form of stubbornness. They need to be unrelenting and steadfast in holding onto their dreams, rejecting the people who resist change, on the one hand, and who are too beaten down to have faith, on the other.
God’s character in the story emerges for the benefit of dreamers, to call us to be constant and steadfast in our faith that, indeed, tomorrow can be different. And, if we are not dreamers but rather are those who listen, God’s voice is charging us to bear the difficulty, the heaviness, the strength of those who are dreamers. Because it is in the merit of those divine representatives, such as Moses and Aaron, that we became able, we became brazen enough, to imagine what a life beyond slavery would look like, to see it and even live it.
Rabbi Avital Hochstein is president of Hadar Israel and a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. She received rabbinic ordination from the institute in 2016. Articles by Hochstein and other institute scholars can be found at shalomhartman.org.
Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2019 April 10, 2019 Author Rabbi Avital Hochstein SHICategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags Haggadah, Judaism, Passover
Holiday of freedom
As Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman writes (in this week’s issue), the Exodus story is not one in which humankind is the protagonist. It is the hand of God that creates the circumstances that permit the Hebrew people to escape bondage and, after a time, find freedom.
Still, this did not abrogate the need for human action. The people needed to recognize the successive messages being sent to them and, then, take the opportunity to escape – take that first step into the roiling Red Sea, for example, even before God parted it. A jailer may leave the key within reach of the unjustly imprisoned, but the inmate still needs to reach out and unlock the cell door.
Central to Judaism is the concept that God left the world unfinished and imperfect. It is the work of humankind to complete the work. Bringing about that ideal is the purpose of our existence.
Often, lately, it seems that the global trajectory is moving in the wrong direction. The reelection of Vladimir Putin – by an entirely anticipated landslide, assisted by his control of media and the murder of his opponents – moves Russia further away from the nascent democracy that emerged in the late 20th century. Across the former Eastern Bloc, tyrants and hyper-nationalists are rising. Even in Slovakia, one of the finest examples of democracy emerging from the communist past, people are rising up – this is an encouraging reality – as their government appears to be moving away from its promise.
The fate of the Rohingya people (addressed by Independent writer Matthew Gindin in this issue) is a flashpoint of inhumanity and yet we continue to argue over nomenclature. Is it genocide? Words matter. But, for heaven’s sake, let us take action.
Sadly, almost anywhere one looks in the world, including, of course, in Canada and in Israel, there are injustices, inhumanities and tragedies. The uncertainty facing African refugees in Israel, and still-unaddressed issues of the most basic human rights for First Nations communities – like the right to clean water, education and opportunity – remain scars on Canada’s conscience. To our south, angry rhetoric and divisive leadership sow discontent, distrust and falsehoods in pursuit of political and social advantage. There are literal or figurative slaves needing redemption on every continent.
Jewish tradition emphatically calls us to pursue justice, but perhaps never so ardently as at Pesach. Through our enjoyment of the holiday and the reminders of our bitter history and the components of the seder, the order of our remembrance, may our resolve be strengthened to pursue justice in this year and in the decades to come.
May we strive to not be disheartened by the magnitude and breadth of the work to be done, but inspired by the inestimable number of examples we have before us, locally and elsewhere.
So many in our own community are pursuing justice in their unique ways, from the day school kids who assembled and delivered hundreds of mishloach manot recently to those in need, or Rose’s Angels, who made Valentine’s Day special for hundreds more, or for the hundreds of individuals in our community whose every day is devoted to making the world better for seniors, students, people with special needs or those who just need a comforting companion.
We can be overwhelmed by the ferocity with which news comes at us, and it can seem that whatever we do could provide only a tiny drop in the required ocean of goodness to make this world a better place. But what is an ocean but billions and billions of tiny drops?
This is our mission. We do not repair the world by despairing. We redeem it by our actions. It is, perhaps, up to Canadians who are, by any measure, among the most fortunate people in the world, to rededicate ourselves during this season of remembering and reliving our time in bondage, release and redemption, to finding ways to play our small but irreplaceable part in the enormous work to be done.
Chag Pesach sameach!
Posted on March 23, 2018 March 23, 2018 Author The Editorial BoardCategories From the JITags genocide, human rights, Passover, Putin, Rohingya, tikkun olam
About the Passover cover art
Fae at Passover (photo from Ramsay family)
While based on the above photo of my niece Fae at a seder several years ago, the cover art is inspired by all my nieces and nephews: Hannah, 24, Zac, almost 22, Caleb, 17, Fae, 6, and Charlotte, 4. I may not get to as many family seders as I would like, with all of my immediate family living in Ontario, but this photo is just one of many that has adorned my fridge over the years I’ve lived “out here,” and there have been many visits, as well as Skype and phone calls, so I’ve been able to get to know the wonderful people they are, despite the physical distance, and am so proud to be one of their aunts. I am confident that they will contribute, each in their own way, to helping make this a world in which, eventually, everyone has the love and opportunities our family has had.
To create the cover illustration, I scanned a pencil sketch I made from looking at the photo. I emailed the scan to myself so that I could use the app Paper 53 on my iPad to do most of the “painting,” including nine of the 10 plagues. Jewish Independent production manager Josie Tonio McCarthy helped me symbolize the death of the firstborn sons in QuarkXPress – trust me, no letter d’s were harmed in the making of this cover! Josie also refreshed my memory of how to use some aspects of Photoshop, which is where I brought everything together, with the odd embellishment or two, or three.
With wishes from all of us here at the JI for a Pesach sameach.
Format ImagePosted on March 23, 2018 March 22, 2018 Author Cynthia RamsayCategories From the JITags art, family, Passover, plague
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Brake & Clutch Technology
>Clutches
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>A day with Kendrion
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Joep van Beurden - Chief Executive Officer
Joep van Beurden (1960) was appointed as Kendrion's CEO and member of the Executive Board as of 1 December 2015, for a period of four years. The General Meeting of Shareholders held on 8 April 2019 reappointed him for a four-year term ending on 1 December 2023. Joep van Beurden has served as CEO of CSR Plc. headquartered in Cambridge, the UK, from November 2007 until August 2015. He began his career at Royal Dutch Shell in 1988. Joep van Beurden then worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. for five years. He subsequently held various international management positions at Philips and Canesta Inc. He was CEO of NexWave Inc. from 2004 to 2007. Joep van Beurden holds a Master's degree in Applied Physics from Twente University of Technology. Additional positions: Non-Executive Director Antenna Company, member of the Supervisory Board of Adyen and member of the Supervisory Board of the Twente University. Joep van Beurden is a Dutch national.
Please click here for the main terms and conditions of engagement CEO.
Jeroen Hemmen - Chief Financial Officer
Jeroen Hemmen (1973) was appointed as Kendrion’s CFO and member of the Executive Board during the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held on 7 June 2019. The appointment is for a four-year term commencing on 1 July 2019 and ending 1 July 2023. In 2005, Jeroen Hemmen joined Kendrion as Group Treasurer, and in 2010 he was appointed as Group Controller. He subsequently took on several (financial) leadership roles, including Finance Director Industrial Division, Director Strategic Initiatives and Finance Director Automotive. Prior to joining Kendrion, Jeroen Hemmen held financial planning and treasury roles at Rabobank and AVEBE. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics from the University of Groningen and is a Certified Financial Analyst, accredited by the European Federation of Financial Analyst Societies (EFFAS). Jeroen Hemmen is a Dutch national.
Please click here for the main terms and conditions of engagement CFO.
> Executive Board
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Luka Dončić Unanimously Selected To The 2018-19 NBA All-Rookie First Team
by LandonBuford May 21, 2019, 2:14 pm 51 Views 0 Votes
Courtesy of CBS
DALLAS – The NBA announced today that Mavericks guard/forward Luka Dončić was unanimously selected to the 2018-19 NBA All-Rookie First Team after receiving first-place votes on all 100 ballots from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. He becomes the sixth player in franchise history to earn All-Rookie First Team honors and the first since Jason Kidd in 1994-95.
Dončić (6-7, 218) averaged a team-high 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, a team-best 6.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 32.2 minutes per game in 72 games (all starts) for Dallas this past season. He joined Oscar Robertson as the only rookies in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game.
Among all rookies in 2018-19, Dončić ranked first in scoring (21.2 ppg), second in rebounding (7.8 rpg), second in assists (6.0 apg), fifth in steals (1.1 spg) and first in minutes (32.2 mpg).
The former EuroLeague MVP knocked down 168 3-pointers in 2018-19, marking the third-most triples by a rookie in league history. Donovan Mitchell (187 in 2017-18) and Damian Lillard (185 in 2012-13) are the only players to hit more treys in their first NBA season. Dončić also set Dallas rookie records for free throws made (346) and attempted (485).
The 6-7 guard/forward finished the season with eight triple-doubles, marking the third-most by a rookie in NBA history. Robertson (26 in 1960-61) and Ben Simmons (12 in 2017-18) are the only rookies to produce more. Dončić also broke Magic Johnson’s record (7) for the most triple-doubles by a player before his 21st birthday (Dončić doesn’t turn 21 until Feb. 28, 2020).
Dončić swept the Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month Award, winning it all five times it was given out (for October/November, December, January, February and March/April). He became the only Maverick to win the Rookie of the Month Award four-plus times in a season and the first player from either conference to sweep the award since Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns in 2015-16.
The 20-year-old Slovenian finished as one of only four NBA players (and the only rookie) to average at least 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game in 2018-19. All-Stars LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Nikola Jokić were the others.
Dončić joins Jay Vincent (1981-82), Sam Perkins (1984-85), Roy Tarpley (1986-87), Jamal Mashburn (1993-94) and Kidd (1994-95) as the only players in Mavericks history to garner NBA All-Rookie First Team honors.
Overall, it marks the 10th time in team history that a Dallas player has been named to an All-Rookie Team, including the third year in a row (Yogi Ferrell and Dennis Smith Jr. earned All-Rookie Second Team honors in 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively, while Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels were both named to the All-Rookie Second Team in 2003-04).
Joining Dončić on this year’s NBA All-Rookie First Team are Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (another unanimous selection), Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (195 points; 95 First Team votes), Memphis Grizzlies forward-center Jaren Jackson Jr. (159 points; 60 First Team votes) and Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III (156 points; 56 First Team votes).
This marks the first time since the 1984-85 season that the top five picks in the previous NBA Draft have all been selected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team (there was no All-Rookie Second Team that season). Thirty-four years ago, the NBA All-Rookie Team honorees were Hakeem Olajuwon (No. 1 pick in 1984), Sam Bowie (No. 2), Michael Jordan (No. 3), Sam Perkins (No. 4) and Charles Barkley (No. 5).
The 2018-19 NBA All-Rookie Second Team consists of L.A. Clippers guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (138 points), Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton (132), Clippers guard Landry Shamet (85), New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (77) and Hawks guard Kevin Huerter (45).
The voting panel selected five players for the First Team and five players for the Second Team at any position. Players received two points for a First Team vote and one point for a Second Team vote.
Dončić was originally selected by Atlanta with the third overall pick in 2018 NBA Draft, before having his draft rights traded to Dallas in exchange for the draft rights to Young, the fifth overall selection, and a protected 2019 first-round pick.
Dončić, Young and Ayton are the three finalists for the 2018-19 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year award. The winner will be revealed at the 2019 NBA Awards presented by Kia on Monday, June 24 at 8 p.m. CT on TNT. The third annual NBA Awards will take place at Barker Hangar in Los Angeles.
MAVERICKS NAMED TO ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Luka Dončić – 2018-19 (First Team)
Dennis Smith Jr. – 2017-18 (Second Team)
Yogi Ferrell – 2016-17 (Second Team)
Marquis Daniels – 2003-04 (Second Team)
Josh Howard – 2003-04 (Second Team)
Jason Kidd – 1994-95 (First Team)
Jamal Mashburn – 1993-94 (First Team)
Roy Tarpley – 1986-87 (First Team)
Sam Perkins – 1984-85 (First Team)
Jay Vincent – 1981-82 (First Team)
Michael Jordan Was Given More Leeway From Officials Because He Knew The Rules, Says Former NBA Ref
Sue Bird Is Seattle Basketball And A Pioneer In Women’s Basketball, Says Nate Robinson
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Yahoo! Inc. v. Yahoo-Israel
By Adv. Haim Ravia
Senior Partner, Chair of the Internet, Cyber & Copyright Group at Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz
This article is edited and published by the Internet, Cyber & Copyright Group at Pearl Cohen led by Haim Ravia
On 1st July 1998 the District Court of Tel Aviv awarded the force of a judgment to an understanding reached in the first Israeli dispute relating to domain names (CF 615/98, MA 6529/96). In the understanding, Yahoo Israel undertook to stop using the name "Yahoo" within 24 hours and to transfer to Yahoo! Inc. all the rights in the domain name and in the trademark registration applications filed by it, and also to pay it costs of US$ 5,000. Until payment has been made, Yahoo Israel's director is barred from leaving the country. This is therefore a far reaching settlement which was upheld by Judge Ephraim Shalev even before any formal trial had begun. Several well phrased statements and questions by the Court left no room to doubt what the Court's view was with regard to the proper decision and made Yahoo Israel's director reconsider the likely outcome of his battle.
Yahoo! Inc., a company registered in California, USA, operates the well known Internet search engine (http://www.yahoo.com), which receives millions of hits a day. It purchased the yahoo.com domain name in February 1995. On the other hand, the yahoo.co.il domain name was purchased by or for the defendants in December 1995. Yahoo Israel pleaded that for about two and a half years it had been operating a web site at that address, through which it was marketing its services as a web site builder. In 1997 it even made an application to the Registrar of Trademarks for the registration in its name of the trademark "Yahoo-Israel". In September last year Yahoo! Inc. discovered the Israeli company and contacted it, requiring it to stop using the domain name. When this did not help, it applied to the District Court of Tel Aviv, through its attorney, Adv. Eitan Shaulaski, for an injunction against the Israeli company, its shareholders and director. Yahoo Israel's reply was filed through its attorneys, Advs. Jonathan Agmon and Eran Sorroker. The parties' arguments were briefly as follows -
Yahoo! Inc. claimed damage to the domain name; Yahoo Israel answered that no such tort is recognised.
Yahoo! Inc. claimed international goodwill: it has been using the name since June 1994, registered appropriate trademarks around the world and also registered the same domain name. Yahoo Israel replied that not only did the American company not carry on business in Israel, but at the time the yahoo.co.il domain name was registered, the Yahoo search engine was not yet known in Israel and it therefore did not enjoy the goodwill which it now has. Moreover, the Israeli company had found dozens of sites using the name "Yahoo", quite independently of the famous search engine. It therefore sought to infer that Yahoo! Inc. had no exclusive rights in the name.
Yahoo! claimed trademark infringement; Yahoo Israel answered that it had no trademarks registered in Israel but merely applications for the registration of such marks.
Yahoo! Inc. asserted that web surfers might mistakenly think that yahoo.co.il was connected with its famous search engine and that this was exactly the reason why the Israeli company had chosen the domain name it had. Yahoo Israel answered that there could be no mistake between the two, since the graphic design was completely different and Yahoo! Inc. does not build web sites (although during the hearing it did transpire that in opposition to Yahoo! Inc.'s Israeli trademark registration applications, the Israeli company had argued the complete opposite, i.e. that a mistake might be made between the two...). Yahoo Israel pleaded delay: for two and a half years it had been operating the web site at yahoo.co.il before Yahoo! Inc. bothered to apply for an injunction. It added that it had chosen the name in good faith and that "yahoo" is a word that appears in the dictionary - it is the name of a race of brutish creatures resembling men in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels...
Although the settlement of the case obviated a trial, it did leave some fascinating questions, which could have gone to trial, unanswered:
International goodwill in the Internet era is something so self-evident that we tend to forget that until quite recently the Israeli Courts had not recognised such goodwill in similar contexts (e.g. in the tort of passing-off). Does a company which does not have commercial activity in Israel, like Yahoo! Inc., enjoy goodwill here merely because its web site can be accessed from computers in Israel? (Presumably it does, but where should the Court draw the line? Should it, for example, waive the need to obtain leave for service outside the jurisdiction in respect of a claim against a foreign company, merely because its web site is accessible from Israel?).
How should international goodwill on the Internet be proven? Presumably, the number of hits received by the site should be the basic measure of such goodwill.
What in fact is a company's cause of action in similar circumstances? It would appear that the only cause which is really appropriate in the particular circumstances is the "catch-all" one of unjust enrichment. If the one claiming the rights in the domain name has not registered an identical trademark, it cannot rely on the Trademarks Ordinance for protection.
What should the treatment be in respect of competition between a generic top level domain name, like yahoo.com and domain names which incorporate a suffix indicating the country of registration (like co.il)? Does one have priority over the other?
Does the requirement of good faith have a place in competition between domain names?
All these and many other questions have yet to be answered. Nevertheless, to the extent that one informal hearing can indicate the inclination of the Israeli Courts, companies which have goodwill on the Internet, even if they do not directly carry on business in Israel, will gain protection against third parties who adopt misleading domain names.
Translated by Word Power
This article is edited and published by the Internet, Cyber & Copyright Group at Pearl Cohen led by Haim Ravia. The group deals with issues that arise when using computer systems and the Internet and are at the forefront of legal knowledge: Internet Law, computing laws and contracts, electronic signature, communications, information security and privacy, copyright and intellectual property - alongside complementary fields such as civil law and commercial representation and litigation.
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The “Majors” of Ultrarunning
HOKA ONE ONE Ultramarathon Exploration
April 25, 2019 to May 31, 2019
by LetsRun.com (Sponsored by HOKA ONE ONE)
HOKA ONE ONE sponsored LetsRun.com’s exploration of the ultramarathon over the month of May (and a little bit before and after), trying to determine the answer to the question: “What are the best ultramarathons in the world?” You can see the debate here. While this is sponsored content, HOKA had no say in what was written.
Earlier this week as we wind down our HOKA ONE ONE sponsored exploration of the greatest ultra marathons in the world, we unveiled our “Triple Crown” of ultras: Comrades, Western States, and UTMB.
Considering there are there are six Abbott World Marathon Majors each year — Tokyo, Boston, London, Chicago, Berlin, and New York — that we pay big-time attention to, plus Worlds/Olympics and Dubai, it might be a bit unfair to give special status to just three ultramarathons. There are A LOT of other amazing races in the ultramarathon world besides Western States, UTMB, and Comrades.
Which ones should we focus on? As we got deeper and deeper into our exploration of the best ultramarathons out there, the more we came to realize that a good way for us to think of it is, “What ultras do we at LetsRun.com want to really pay attention to/cover each year?”
Here are the other ultras we think we’ll put the most emphasis on. Three of them are official world championships. It doesn’t mean we won’t look at other races, as just in traditional marathoning, what makes a race most interesting is which stars are running it.
Lake Saroma 100k
Distance: 100k
Terrain: Road
Location: Hokkaido, Japan
If you asked ultramarathoners what is the one Asian ultramarathon they’d most like to win, most would quickly say Lake Saroma, and for good reason. If you asked Japanese runners what their number one ultra is, Lake Saroma would top the list.
But while the Lake Saroma 100k is the ultramarathon in Asia that is the most prestigious, we decided to go with a “triple crown of ultras” rather than a “grand slam.” The Lake Saroma 100k isn’t necessarily even the most prestigious 100k in the world — the IAU holds a World 100k champs — and Lake Saroma doesn’t normally attract an international field. The winner is almost always Japanese. (Western States used to almost always have an American winner, but three of the last five Western States champs have been from overseas on the men’s side).
While not in our triple crown, Lake Saroma definitely should be considered a major. The current men’s and women’s 100k world records (6:09:14 by Nao Kazami in 2018, 6:33:11 by Tomoe Abe in 2011) both were set at Lake Saroma, but not without a little controversy as the Lake Saroma course has a huge start-finish separation of 47% (30% separation used to be the max allowable for world records).
Andy Milroy, one of the founders of the International Association of Ultrarunners and author of North American Ultraunning: A History who has been following the sport for 40+ years, explains the controversy.
“When American Ken Young was developing the basis for United States Road Records in the 1970s, he deliberately limited the parameters to ensure comparability between road records. Ken was an atmosphere physicist and modelled different parameters carefully. He arrived at two simple rules a drop of no more than one metre per kilometre and a separation between start and finish of no more than 30%. This was agreed internationally when calibrated bike measured was popularised across the world.
“Unfortunately when the IAAF moved to setting up their own world road records [in 2003], they changed the separation limits to 50%. This was done to ensure that one course was suitable for world road records – Lake Saroma in Japan.
“A 50% separation rule means that performances can be subjected to prolonged wind aid. This invalidates the carefully established balance of factors that made road records credible.”
Regardless, Lake Saroma provides us perhaps a glimpse of where the sport of ultramarathoning goes in the future. We’ve long wondered, “What happens if you put an elite marathoner in an ultra?” And for road ultras of the 100k distance, it seems pretty clear that many would do very well.
1996 Olympic marathon bronze medallist and 2000 Olympic marathon silver medallist Erick Wainaina won Lake Saroma in 2009 and Tomoe Abe, the 1993 world championship bronze medallist in the marathon, set the women’s world record at Lake Saroma in 2000.
IAU 100k World Championships
Established: 1987 (now held biannually)
Location: Various
The beauty of the World 100k Champs, which is now sponsored by the IAAF, is you get many of the world’s best runners from all over the world competing. Many Japanese runners don’t run Comrades as they’d rather do Lake Saroma, but at the World 100k, you often get the top 100k runners from all over the globe squaring off every other year. For example, triple Comrades champ Bongmusa Mthembu has earned two World 100k medals during his career.
Plus the course is normally flat and fast, so no previous knowledge of it is required to do well.
IAU Trail World Championships
Distance: Varies
Terrain: Trail
The recent rise in importance of the IAU Trail World Championships shows you how trail running has been on the rise in the ultramarathon world. This event started as a biannual affair in 2007 but has been held annually since 2015. It’s a huge deal for many Europeans (every winner, save for Japan’s Norimi Sakurai in the first edition of the race in 2007, has been a European).
The fact that this race’s date changes (it’s been held May, June, July, October, and December) means it conflicts with different races depending on when it’s being held.
IAU 24-Hour World Championship
Established: 2001 (biannual)
Terrain: Flat loop course
How far can you run in a day? That has a simplistic, universal appeal and is one reason why we selected Yiannis Kouros’ 24-hour world record as the greatest world record in the sport of ultrarunning.
The 24-Hour World Champs is definitely an event worth paying attention to. That being said, the event doesn’t always attract the top talent on a consistent basis. Records often are set at other 24-hour runs and deserve attention.
Last year American Camille Herron set a world record at the Desert Solstice 24-hour run in Arizona — an event which has produced 13 world records.
Random Record Attempts
Apart from traditional races, there are going to be many individual record attempts that captivate people’s attention.
Part of the beauty of ultramarathoning is it is a test of what the human body and mind can do and there are hundreds of “courses” that make sense in keeping track of who has the FKT (fastest known time), whether it’s Rim-to-Rim at the Grand Canyon or a run across America, Australia, or the United Kingdom. We’ll definitely be paying close attention to record attempts at events like that, plus record attempts at the classic distances of 48 hours and six days. The six-day race dates all the way back to the 1800s. If someone wants to take a crack at Yiannis Kouros’s legendary Spartathlon record of 20:25:00 that has stood since 1984 on the 246 km (153 mi) course that we know Pheidippides actually ran, then that will get major coverage as well.
Part of the appeal of ultrarunning is there are many other races that capture the public’s attention. Marathon des Sables gets tons of profiles. The Barkley Marathons is very popular with the public these days, and there are great races like the North Face 50, Leadville 100 and more.
Are you a big ultra fan who is unhappy with the races we selected? Well, that’s ok and actually one of the best most appealing aspects of the ultra world.
“It’s impossible to say who’s the best ultra trail guy, what’s the best course record and [what’s the best race]. That’s one of the best parts about the sport is you get to have your opinion and I get to have mine,” said Jim Walmsley.
We have one final article on some of our favorites that didn’t make the cut. The founders of LetsRun.com, Rojo and Wejo, share their personal thoughts on their favorite ultras here.
LRC The Greatest Ultramarathons In The World: The “Triple Crown Of Ultras”: Comrades, Western States, UTMB There are a ton of great ultras in the world, but after a month plus of debate we’ve come up with a big 3.
LRC The G.O.A.T. Of The Ultramarathon Is … We can’t give it away as we want you to read the article. On the women’s side, our winner is an American.
Related LRC Event Coverage
2019 Tokyo Marathon
2019 Boston Marathon
2019 Virgin Money London Marathon
LRCHOKA ONE ONE Ultramarathon Exploration
Related event: HOKA ONE ONE Ultramarathon Exploration
Posted in: Professional
Tags: Hoka One One, What are the best ultras?, sponsored, Yiannis Kouros
Rojo and Wejo’s Favorite Ultra Marathons
The Greatest Ultramarathoner of All Time (G.O.A.T.) Is…
A Former Crew Member of Ultramarathon Legend Yiannis Kouros Shares Some Stories
GOAT: Yiannis Kouros’ 24-Hour Record of 303.306 KM (188.68 Miles) From 1997 Is The Greatest Ultramarathon World Record
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Laments That Roe Abortion Case Activated a Pro-Life Movement
Dave Andrusko Sep 11, 2014 | 2:56PM Washington, DC
It seems as if every few months pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gives a speech and/or interview in which she talks about how if only the Supreme Court had reached the same decision it did in Roe but over time, step by step, “the public would have reacted in a more positive way than it did,” as she told Jill Filipovic of Cosmopolitan this week.
This is what I have previously described as the “tempo” argument. Justice Ginsburg has not a single pro-life metacarpal in her body, but she often argues that it would have placed the “right” to abortion on surer footing if instead of getting everything in one fell swoop (in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton), abortion litigants had won more gradually.
Did Ginsburg add anything new Tuesday night following the anniversary dinner for the International Women’s Health Coalition? Let’s see.
She recycled her argument that Roe/Doe crystallized the Pro-Life Movement by establishing a “target.” Ginsburg told Filipovic
“Roe v. Wade, that case name is probably the best-known case of the second half of the 20th century. And a movement focused on ending access to abortion for women grew up, flourished, around that one target. Nine unelected judges decided that one issue for the nation.”
Last year, in a speech, Ginsburg remarked, “And that’s not the way the Court ordinarily operates.”
Likewise her concurrence, expressed many times before, that the Texas law at issue in Roe should have been overturned. It’s not a “what” for her but a “how.” And Ginsburg reiterated that she had problems with the “how.” Filipovic writes
“the court’s decision to issue a sweeping judgment establishing the right to abortion in all 50 states was a strategically poor one and led to modern-day political battles over reproductive rights.
“’There might have been a backlash in any case,’ Ginsburg said. ‘But I think [because of Roe] it took on steam.’”
To be sure it’s Filipovic paraphrasing Justice Ginsburg, but shouldn’t it be unsettling that a Supreme Court decision would be judged on whether it was a ‘strategically’ smart one or not?
We all understand that Justice Blackmun’s turgid opinion was steeped in politics. So, too, with the lawyers that brought the case to the Supreme Court. As we posted the other day, the central claims in a law review article written by Cyril Means that Blackmun relied on so heavily were not true, as David Tundermann, a Yale law student and part of the team challenging the Texas law, warned in 1971.
We quoted scholar Justin Dyer who wrote that Tundermann concluded
”Where the important thing to do is to win the case no matter how, however, I suppose I agree with Means’s technique: begin with a scholarly attempt at historical research; if it doesn’t work out, fudge it as necessary; write a piece so long that others will read only your introduction and conclusion; then keep citing it until the courts begin picking it up. This preserves the guise of impartial scholarship while advancing the proper ideological goals.”
So it is only appropriate to talk about politics and how Roe was a “strategically poor decision.”
In response to a question, Ginsburg reaffirmed what she had said at her 1993 confirmation hearing. “A woman’s control of her own body, her choice whether and when to reproduce, it’s essential to women and it’s most basic for women’s health.” The “health” of the unborn child is not even worth mentioning, even if only to deny its significance.
And like many older pro-abortion feminists, “Ginsburg worries that young women are complacent about their rights.” No, they are abortion “survivors” who have grown up in an era when the visibility of their unborn sisters and brothers is more evident each and every day.
Click here to sign up for daily pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
As a final touch Ginsburg caricatures the “Hobby Lobby” decision to the point of absurdity. As NRLC pointed out last July, the ruling provided a modest victory for religious conscience rights but did nothing to truly correct any of the major abortion-expanding problems created by Obamacare.
But in Ginsburg’s hands, the decision could portend the day that companies can claim “they wouldn’t hire a woman without the permission of her husband or father, if that’s what their religion dictates.”
Does anyone believe that, even Ginsburg? Of course not, although this kind of reductio ad absurdum argument was essential to the dissent of four justices.
A much more realistic future scenario would start with the fact that what was at issue in Hobby Lobby was the attempt by Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services to force family-owned for-profit corporations to directly purchase health insurance covering certain drugs and devices that violate the employer’s religious and moral beliefs.
What would prevent HHS from issuing a further expansion of its “preventive services” mandate to require that most employers also provide coverage for surgical abortions, or for doctor-prescribed suicide, that would be just as expansive as the contraceptive mandate?
Ginsburg’s final observation is extremely telling. Filipovic writes
“Roe, she said, could serve as a lesson in how the judiciary is vulnerable to accusations that they lack accountability, and how perhaps more can be accomplished — and accomplished more calmly — incrementally, even in the social justice realm.
“’You give it to them softly,’ Ginsburg said. ‘And you build them up to what you want.’”
So….”accountability” for the ‘nine unelected justices” is when you snooker the public by obtaining the verdict you wanted all along, but doing so “softly.”
Now that, even by pro-abortion standards, is cynical.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared at National Right to Life News Today.
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Groovy Baby Music
Cambridge, MA, 02139
Lori Goldston & Chris Brokaw Duo
$10 Cover @ the Door / Start 7pm / Doors 6:30pm
Debut East Coast performance by the duo of Seattle cellist Lori Goldston (Nirvana/Earth/Mt Eerie/etc) and Boston guitarist Chris Brokow. Expect improvs, original songs, and an interesting section of covers heavy on the chanteuse. Formed in 2016 in the Pacific Northwest.
Classically trained and rigorously de-trained, possessor of a restless, semi-feral spirit, Lori Goldston is a cellist, composer, improvisor, producer, writer and teacher from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist, amplified or acoustic, is full, textured, committed and original. A relentless inquirer, she wanders recklessly across borders that separate genre, discipline, time and geography, performing in clubs, cafes, galleries, arenas, concert halls, sheds, ceremonies, barbecues, and stadiums.
Current and former collaborators and/or bosses include Earth, Nirvana, Mirah, Jessika Kenney, Ilan Volkov, Eyvind Kang, Stuart Dempster, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Jherek Bischoff, Malcom Goldstein, Matana Roberts, Dana Reason, Lonnie Holley, Cat Power, Ellen Fullman, Mike Gamble, Mik Quantius, Embryo, Secret Chiefs 3, Marisa Anderson, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto, Ô Paon, Tara Jane O’Neil, Natacha Atlas, Broken Water, Ed Pias, Byron Au Young, Christian Rizzo, Threnody Ensemble, Cynthia Hopkins, 33 Fainting Spells, Vanessa Renwick, Mark Mitchell and Lynn Shelton.
lorigoldston.com
facebook.com/lorigoldstonmusic
Chris Brokaw
Chris Brokaw was born in New York City and raised in the outlying suburbs. He attended Oberlin College, where he took exactly two music-related classes: Multi-track Recording and Steel Drumming. He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Chris is perhaps best known for his work as the drummer in CODEINE and the guitarist in COME, who made several albums in the 1990's for the labels Sub Pop and Matador that are considered landmarks in American independent rock music.
Since 2001, Chris has focused primarily on his work as a solo artist, making numerous albums of vocal and instrumental music. This has ranged from full on rock ("Red Cities", "Incredible Love", "Gambler's Ecstasy") to explorations of the 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitars ("Canaris", "VDSQ Solo Acoustic Volume 3") to the experimental and abstract ("Tundra", "Gracias, Ghost of the Future","The Periscope Twins"). Throughout, Chris has maintained an active solo touring schedule in the US, UK, Europe, Canada, Australia and Russia.
chrisbrokaw.com
facebook.com/chris.brokaw
Facebook Event Page
Posted in Rock
The David Haas Group
Jerry Bergonzi Quartet
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Milford City
Milford Shipyard Area Historic District
Victorian South Milford Historic District
Milford City Hall is located at 201 South Walnut Street, Milford, DE 19963; phone: 302-424-3712.
Photo: Grier House, ca. 1890, 301 Lakeview Avenue, Milford, DE. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Photographed by User:Smallbones (own work), 2012, [cc-by-1.0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons, accessed October, 2014.
Beginnings [†]
Milford, straddling the Mispillion River, lies partially in Kent County and partially in Sussex County. From its founding in 1787 to the present, the town served as a regional center for the surrounding agricultural countryside. The region's growth and prosperity can be traced in the architectural and geographic development of Milford. The early history of Milford reflects the attempt by a small number of entrepreneurs and landholders to establish a center for commerce and industry. Milford is halfway between the state capital of Dover and the seaport town of Lewes. Both of these towns are considerably older and Dover is much larger. In addition, its location, at the head of navigation on the Mispillion River, placed it in an excellent position to develop as the main center for the area between Dover and Lewes. Other towns had been laid out and settled during the last thirty years of the eighteenth-century but none achieved the size and importance of Milford. Only Seaford, on the Nanticoke River, in the southwest corner of the state approaches the size of Milford. That town, like Dover and Lewes, is just over twenty miles from Milford.
Milford started as a small riverside community organized by Reverend Sydenham Thorne and Joseph Oliver. In 1787, Thorne and Oliver agreed to develop their holdings and attract others to the area. Oliver sub-divided his farm into town lots and Thorne erected a mill and wharves. The town grew rapidly on the north bank of the Mispillion and soon spread north and east away from the mill. The mill was located at the foot of Mill Street at the river. The mill was followed by a number of the mills in the same area. These mills have been replaced by modern structures. By the mid-nineteenth century, north Milford was mostly developed and the town began to occupy the farmland on the south side of the Mispillion River. The shipyards had already been located on that side. Some workers' housing was also located there. South Milford did not extensively develop until after 1870. The historic maps that accompany the National Register nomination dated 1859. 1868, and 1885, illustrate how the town grew and changed greatly in the 26 years spanned by the maps.
According to local histories, the first settlers to see the Milford area were a boatload of Swedes, Finns, and Livonians (a small country under the control of Sweden, now part of the U.S.S.R.), who landed a short distance north of the Mispillion River in 1630. They did not stay long but continued north to the New Castle area. Individual settlers followed. They stayed and established family plantations. Outside land development companies and speculators also helped develop the region by purchasing large tracts of land for eventual resale. The Barbadoes Company, organized by men from Barbadoes, and the Pennsylvania Land Company from Philadelphia, were the most active.
The particular tract that Milford is located on was taken up in 1680 by Henry Bowman, with the condition that he build a sawmill on his land. The early name for the area, Saw Mill Range, derives from the presence of the sawmill. Bowman's land holdings, which totaled 2,000 acres, were slowly broken up over the next one hundred years as a result of debt and inheritance. Within the town's boundaries, three separate properties emerged by the third quarter of the eighteenth century. John Cullen had the farm at the northwest end, which includes the Parson Thorne Mansion. Levin Crapper had the farm that included South Milford and built the original block of Causey Mansion. In 1771, Joseph Oliver bought the major portion of the land on which North Milford sits. It is east of Cullen's Farm. Oliver was a merchant/farmer and was involved in shipping local farm products to market from wharves along the river. He also operated a small store.
In the early 1770's, an Anglican clergyman named Sydenham Thorne arrived in town. He is described in local histories as a wealthy and educated man who married a local widow, became rector of Christ Church (K-1694.89), and took over the Cullen Farm in payment of a debt owed to him. Thorne is the one who can actually be credited with the idea for a town along the Mispillion River.
In 1787, he proposed to Joseph Oliver that the Oliver Farm be divided into lots and that he, Reverend Thorne, build a mill dam across the river at the site of the town. Oliver agreed and had the land divided into lots. Thorne built the dam and at the same time built a sawmill and a gristmill along the riverbank. The town was laid out in a rectangular grid pattern on the north side of the river, and east of the Thorne mill site. It filled in quickly. According to a 1790 newspaper account, there were eighty buildings in the town.
Until about 1820, the development of the town was almost wholly confined to the north side of the river. The numerous survivals in this area from the early settlement indicate that it was a prosperous community with substantial homes. As the town prospered it expanded east past North Walnut Street and north past N. W. Third Street. The development was mostly restricted to residential, commercial, and ecclesiastical structures, except for the mill complex near the west end of town on the Mispillion River and, later, phosphate manufacturing plants on the east side.
Starting around 1820, the town expanded south across the Mispillion River along the south bank. Growth was occurring as a result of a burgeoning shipbuilding industry caused by increased agricultural activity and the production of surplus crops that could be sent to market. The surplus was moved on ships down the Mispillion River to the Delaware Bay and then to market. The local shipyards were engaged in building boats to carry the surplus to market. The town generated so much cargo, in fact, that an additional wharf was needed and sometime before 1859, H. B. Fiddeman and Daniel Currey built a canal at the east end of Front Street which gave the town the needed dock space. Building construction was almost wholly limited to shipbuilding-related activities with farms in close proximity to the new development. As prosperity continued in Milford, the original town spread over across the river and absorbed the farmland for house lots.
Records do not indicate when the first shipbuilding took place in Milford, but some of the early builders were John C. Truitt, J. H. Deputy, Abbotts, Black and Company, Simpler and William F. Reville, Reville and Carlisle, and William G. Abbott. Their busiest period was from 1820 to about 1875. The yards produced many types of vessels useful to the local water trades and shipping industry. They ranged in size from 600 to 1,000 tons. As many as forty-five vessels would lay up in Milford during the winter months and almost this many could at other times be loading at the various wharves in town. Common cargoes included iron ore, black oak bark, quercitron, wheat, corn, rye, wood spokes, staves and cross ties.
In 1840, twenty merchants did business in the town. Eight years later the town's first newspaper, the "Milford Beacon," was established by John Emerson. Emerson, though, soon moved to Wilmington and took his paper with him, but he was replaced by others. At one point, in 1875, four separate newspapers competed for readers in Milford.
In 1856, a local newspaper, "The Gleamer," described the town, noting that the population was 2,000 people and that they, as well as the surrounding region, supported twenty-five stores, two hotels, and had twelve vessels regularly going between Milford and Philadelphia. The export trade from Milford totaled $351,000, while its imports totaled $235,000.
The year 1859 was a watershed year for the town. In that year, the railroad was introduced to Milford. The Delaware Railroad line was completed through the state by 1859, with Harrington as its closest stop to Milford. In order to connect Milford to the main line, a local company was organized and named the "Junction and Breakwater." It reached Milford in 1859, and was extended to Lewes in 1868. The line was sponsored by the town merchants and a number of them were on the first board of directors. They included Governor Peter F. Causey, Truston P. McColley and his son Hiram, Henry B. Fiddeman, Daniel Curry and Curtis S. Watson.
With the railroad, Milford was able to more vigorously compete in the markets as transportation was no longer wholly at the mercy of bad roads and unreliable weather conditions. The developing industries of the town could ship by rail and the population was more easily connected with the rest of the state. The industries on the eve of the Civil War were diverse and representative of the needs and the products of the Milford area. They included a husk factory, a woolen mill, a quercitron processing plant, foundries and machine shops, a pottery, fruit drying plants and canneries, and a phosphate factory. An atlas, published in 1859 of the town of Milford, shows the layout of the town. North Milford was heavily developed along N. W. Front Street and the blocks to N. W. Fourth Street to East Street are filled in. South Milford was less heavily developed, but the streets were laid out in their present location. A business directory on the map lists a number of political and religious figures, a newspaper editor, two attorneys, a druggist, a dentist, four doctors, eight merchants, a hotel, numerous mill complexes and specialized craftsmen, such as a jeweler, carriage builder, marble worker, two clothing stores, three shipbuilders, and an architect and a cabinetmaker.
With the end of the Civil War in 1865, the town suffered an economic slump and many farmers left the area. However, by the mid-1870's, the town had recovered and new businesses were being started. The business section of S. Walnut Street was improved and the Windsor Hotel was built then.
† Stephen G. Del Sordo, Historian, Delaware Bureau of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Milford Multiple Resource Area, Kent and Sussex Counties, Delaware, nomination document, 1980/1982, National Park Service, National Register of Historic places, Washington, D.C.
**Information is curated from a variety of sources and, while deemed reliable, is not guaranteed.
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Entertainment, Music & Sports
Corporate & Finance
Investigations & Compliance
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Arista Records LLC, et al. v. Lime Group LLC, et al.
IP/Entertainment Case Law Updates May 11, 2010
In copyright infringement action against distributors of peer-to-peer file sharing program, court grants plaintiff record companies’ motion for summary judgment on their claims of inducement to infringe, common law copyright infringement, and unfair competition.
In August 2000, defendants released LimeWire, a file-sharing program that utilizes peer-to-peer technology. Plaintiff record companies sell and distribute the vast majority of all recorded music in the United States. Plaintiffs allege that they own the copyrights or exclusive rights to more than 3000 sound recordings and that LimeWire users shared and downloaded unauthorized digital copies of the recordings via LimeWire. Plaintiffs raised various federal and state law claims of secondary copyright infringement against Lime Wire LLC and personally against LimeWire’s founder Mark Gorton, including inducement to infringe, contributory copyright infringement, and vicarious copyright infringement. The parties cross-moved for summary judgment. Defendants also submitted a number of motions to exclude evidence submitted by plaintiffs in support of their motion for summary judgment.
The court first considered defendants’ motions challenging the admissibility of evidence submitted by plaintiffs. Except with respect to certain limited issues, the court found that defendants’ evidentiary objections were without merit. In rejecting defendants’ motion to exclude the reports and testimony of two expert witnesses retained by plaintiffs, the court found that Dr. Richard P. Waterman’s study of LimeWire’s unauthorized digital file was not flawed because of his collaboration with plaintiffs. The court also held that Dr. Waterman’s study analyzed appropriate categories of downloaded files and was reliable. Similarly, the court found that Dr. Ellis Horowitz, an expert who provided testimony on how LimeWire functions, did not opine on the parties’ state of mind, but rather provided information on the design and functionality of the LimeWire program. The court further concluded that Dr. Horowitz’s expert opinions were reliable to the extent that they were based upon his observation and collection of relevant information about existing infringement-reducing technologies. The court further declined to strike the declaration of Greg Bildson on the grounds that it (1) arose from improper ex parte communications and (2) contained information subject to the attorney-client privilege. Upon determining that the Bildson declaration did not arise out of improper ex parte communication between Bildson and plaintiffs’ counsel, the court, consistent with the Second Circuit mandate that the attorney-client privilege be applied narrowly, refused to issue a protective order prohibiting plaintiffs from speaking with Bildson.
Regarding plaintiffs’ summary judgment motions for secondary copyright infringement, the court explained that plaintiffs were required to, and did, establish that LimeWire users directly infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights. The evidence in the record, stated the court, clearly established that LimeWire users infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights by sharing unauthorized digital copies of the recordings through LimeWire. In reaching this conclusion, the court emphasized that (1) plaintiffs had proven that they own copyrights in the recordings and (2) both the direct and circumstantial evidence demonstrated that LimeWire users employed LimeWire to share and download the recordings without authorization.
Having found that LimeWire users directly infringed plaintiffs’ copyrights, the court then concluded that defendants, by distributing and maintaining LimeWire, intentionally induced direct infringement by LimeWire users. In concluding that defendants were liable for inducement to infringe, the court determined that defendants engaged in purposeful conduct that fostered infringement and intended to encourage infringement by distributing LimeWire. Taken together, stated the court, (1) defendants’ awareness of substantial infringement by users, (2) efforts to attract infringing users, (3) efforts to enable and assist users to commit infringement, (4) dependence on infringing use for the success of their business, and (5) failure to mitigate infringing activities all establish that defendants intended to encourage infringement.
The court denied the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment on plaintiffs’ claim for contributory infringement based on the Sony-Betamax rule. In Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417 (1984), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a defendant who distributes a product that materially contributes to copyright infringement will not be liable for contributory infringement if the product also is “widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes” or is “merely . . . capable of substantial infringing use.” The court emphasized that it could not determine, based on the record, whether LimeWire is capable of substantial non-infringing uses. The court, however, held that the Sony-Betamax rule did not apply in the context of a vicarious infringement claim.
The court also held the individual founder and CEO of the corporate defendant personally liable for inducement to infringe based on evidence that he directed and benefited from many of the activities that gave rise to LimeWire LLC’s liability, and he directed and approved many aspects of LimeWire’s design and development.
The court found that plaintiffs were entitled to summary judgment on both their common law copyright infringement (with respect to pre-1972 sound recordings which are protected by New York state law and are not protected by the U.S. Copyright Act) and unfair competition claims. In doing so, the court rejected defendants’ contention that New York common law prohibits only direct infringement.
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CommunityBabies, Weddings & Obituaries
community, babies-weddings-obituaries,
Former breakfast radio host David Collins has lost his battle with cancer. KOFM released the sad news on Monday morning saying “he died peacefully last night, with his long-time friend Tanya Wilks by his side.” The much-loved Hunter radio host was 60 years old when he died, after being diagnosed with cancer. Tanya has since released this small statement on social media: “I promised two things ... one that I would be there to the very end and two that I would make you into a meme. “Finally I get the last say ...miss you already you gorgeous bugger.” The David and Tanya show was Australia's longest-running radio breakfast team. Here is an interview from 2013, before the pair left the air: WAVE GOODBYE: David and Tanya sign off COLLINS and Wilks started together on air as an untried double act at 2HD in May 1991. English-born Collins had been recruited from Sydney that year to replace the legendary Pat Barton in breakfast. Wilks was already working at 2HD then, having joined the station straight out of high school in the mid-1980s. At first Collins flew solo in the wake-up shift. Conscious that he wasn’t a local, he soon roped in the Raymond Terrace-born-and-raised Wilks. They made No. 1 in breakfast in their first ratings survey together. “We’ve been blessed from the very beginning with chemistry,” Collins reflected this week. “Not many people are afforded that luxury especially when you’re working. But we got lucky. We understood each other pretty quickly even though we were very different people. But being different made it an interesting combination on air.” Adds Wilks: “The differences actually drove us crazy in the early stages. We didn’t immediately fall in love with each other, if you know what I mean.” Collins: “But we knew which buttons to push with each other.” The suggestion there may have been a romantic attraction in those formative days at 2HD brings howls of protest and a burst of the sort of verbal sparring that has long been their trademark. Wilks: “Come on, David, you know you desired me in the early days.” Collins: “As you did with me.” Wilks: “Oh, please. James, do not quote him saying that! I can safely say I did not.” Collins: “Of course, if I was going to make a move it would have to be between marriages. Like an athlete, you have to time your run!” To survive as an on-air team for 22 years is a remarkable achievement in the ego-crushing blood sport that is commercial radio, let alone atop the ratings in the medium’s most fiercely contested timeslot. Read the full story here.
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/7daP3m9vD5jxj8khH4ayZs/24590d91-c15f-4ef3-a681-0991709ff624.jpg/r2_0_1197_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
Former breakfast radio host David Collins loses battle with cancer
David and Tanya.
Former breakfast radio host David Collins has lost his battle with cancer.
KOFM released the sad news on Monday morning saying “he died peacefully last night, with his long-time friend Tanya Wilks by his side.”
The much-loved Hunter radio host was 60 years old when he died, after being diagnosed with cancer.
Tanya has since released this small statement on social media:
“I promised two things ... one that I would be there to the very end and two that I would make you into a meme.
“Finally I get the last say ...miss you already you gorgeous bugger.”
The David and Tanya show was Australia's longest-running radio breakfast team.
Here is an interview from 2013, before the pair left the air:
WAVE GOODBYE: David and Tanya sign off
COLLINS and Wilks started together on air as an untried double act at 2HD in May 1991.
English-born Collins had been recruited from Sydney that year to replace the legendary Pat Barton in breakfast. Wilks was already working at 2HD then, having joined the station straight out of high school in the mid-1980s.
At first Collins flew solo in the wake-up shift. Conscious that he wasn’t a local, he soon roped in the Raymond Terrace-born-and-raised Wilks.
They made No. 1 in breakfast in their first ratings survey together.
“We’ve been blessed from the very beginning with chemistry,” Collins reflected this week. “Not many people are afforded that luxury especially when you’re working. But we got lucky. We understood each other pretty quickly even though we were very different people. But being different made it an interesting combination on air.”
Adds Wilks: “The differences actually drove us crazy in the early stages. We didn’t immediately fall in love with each other, if you know what I mean.”
Collins: “But we knew which buttons to push with each other.”
The suggestion there may have been a romantic attraction in those formative days at 2HD brings howls of protest and a burst of the sort of verbal sparring that has long been their trademark.
Wilks: “Come on, David, you know you desired me in the early days.”
Collins: “As you did with me.”
Wilks: “Oh, please. James, do not quote him saying that! I can safely say I did not.”
Collins: “Of course, if I was going to make a move it would have to be between marriages. Like an athlete, you have to time your run!”
To survive as an on-air team for 22 years is a remarkable achievement in the ego-crushing blood sport that is commercial radio, let alone atop the ratings in the medium’s most fiercely contested timeslot.
This story Former breakfast radio host David Collins loses battle with cancer first appeared on Newcastle Herald.
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Lowis & Gellen
Mark A. Baginskis
Associate | 312-628-7191 | mbaginskis@lowis-gellen.com
Mark A. Baginskis concentrates his work on defending healthcare providers in medical malpractice litigation.
Prior to joining Lowis & Gellen in 2004, Mr. Baginskis worked on general insurance defense matters. Before working in a law firm setting, he was the Coordinating Editor for CCH Incorporated’s Healthcare Compliance Portfolio, where he analyzed and reported on regulatory developments that affected healthcare providers.
Mr. Baginskis graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he was an editor for the Consumer Law Review and was awarded two CALI academic achievement awards. His undergraduate work includes a B.S. in Physical Therapy from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Philosophy from Loyola University. His work as a physical therapist familiarized him with various healthcare settings, including large and small hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, and a nursing home. Mr. Baginskis is admitted to practice in Illinois.
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Will Miami be the first to elect an out gay African-American lawmaker in Florida?
“He was like, ‘Man, please.’ So I leaned on him a little more,” Jones remembered, tearing up a little at the memory of his older brother, who died in September. “And that was my last moment with him. He never judged me.”
Jones, a private man living a very public life, has never quite told the world about his sexuality. He was still married to a woman when he was first sworn into office in 2013. But his brother’s death left him shaken and introspective.
He wondered if it was time to live his life more openly, to become more of a public figure in the LGBTQ community.
“My brother died at the age of 34. I was like, that could have been me. I could drop dead living behind the scenes of something that could have helped someone else,” he told the Miami Herald. “I started living my truth just a little bit more.”
After winning three previous elections to the Florida House — each a waltz into office without opposition — Jones is ready to come out publicly as a gay man. He chose a subtle method: allowing Equality Florida’s political director to include him in its list of endorsements of openly gay candidates.
“I said I don’t know if that’s the way I want to have a coming-out party,” Jones said, laughing, when remembering the call he got from former state Rep. Joe Saunders about three weeks ago. “Then I was like, ‘You know what, go ahead. It’s fine.’”
Jones’ decision to go public with his sexual orientation comes as openly LGBTQ candidates continue to break through into Florida’s conservative state Legislature. David Richardson and Saunders were the first to be sworn in after the 2012 elections, followed by Carlos Guillermo-Smith in 2016. Cedric McMinn and Paulette Armstead could be the first openly gay black candidates elected to the state House this year.
Jones took a different track, quietly confiding in colleagues in the Legislature that he was gay as he went through his divorce. Since then, friends and colleagues have gotten to know his partner, with whom he lives in Hollywood.
“It’s really powerful and important that Shevrin has decided to step into the sun in the way that he has this year,” said Saunders. “It’s been a mission of Equality Florida since its founding to increase LGBTQ representation in every level of government. To know that Rep. Shevrin Jones will be in Tallahassee as an out and proud gay man standing next to his LGBTQ colleagues is an exciting thing and it’s going to make the state a better place.”
While it would be incorrect to say that Jones hid his sexuality during his time in the Legislature, he certainly struggled with it into adulthood. Growing up in a conservative black community, he kept it to himself. People at his father’s church assumed, but never asked. He worried about being a distraction to his father — a pastor of a 10,000-person congregation — and was confused by a traumatic event from his childhood.
“I was a married man. My parents were conservative. My parents raised my brothers and me to be truthful and be honest. I knew I was gay back in kindergarten. I knew it,” Jones said. “I got married and my ex-wife — I love her. She’s amazing. She even lives in my district — she and I were friends for 10 years at school. When I married her I loved her then. But I loved her too much to continue to lie to her and lie to my family. I have to be honest.”
Jones and his wife separated in 2012 and finalized their divorced in 2015. Around the same time, Jones also told his parents a secret: A family friend had molested him when he was in middle school. It had traumatized and confused him.
Jones told his parents about what happened. They cried. He sought counseling. And he decided to live his life more openly.
Jared Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat who sits next to “Shev” Jones in the House chambers and became a close friend, said Jones confided in him as he went through his divorce.
“This is a struggle for him. This has been part of his process. And I’ve seen it and it’s weighed on him,” Moskowitz said. “Nothing is more important to him than his family and God. But this is who Shev is. And as far as I’m concerned, as his friend, if Shevrin Jones is happy I’m happy. And that’s all that matters for me.”
Jones, 34, has lived something of a charmed political life. In June, for the fourth consecutive election, he won a seat in the state House without opposition. But he’s planning to run for Sen. Oscar Braynon’s state Senate seat when Braynon leaves office due to term limits.
Jones has also been floated as a possible lieutenant governor pick if Gwen Graham wins the Democratic nomination for governor next week.
He’s not sure how voters will embrace an openly gay candidate. But, he says, win or lose, he’s at peace.
“Mark my words: Now that I’m living my truth, if I am never elected again, I’m OK with that. Because there are so many people right now who are in office, in places of high stature, who are not living truthful lives and they sleep with that lie on a daily basis,” he said. “If me living my truth is a reason to vote against me or vote me out, then I’m OK with that.”
Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, discusses his body-camera bill in the Florida House. Video by Kristen M. Clark / Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Key West will take part in NYC WorldPride
Why was ‘Juicy’ murdered? Family of transgender woman asks for help
LGBTQ South Florida
Some LGBTQ youth don’t go to high school proms, so this nonprofit throws one for them
By Amanda Rosa
Pridelines, a Miami LGBTQ youth nonprofit, hosted its 24th annual youth prom Saturday night in Miami Beach. The free prom was open to youth ages 13 to 20.
MORE LGBTQ SOUTH FLORIDA
DeSantis’ office had two Pulse drafts. He signed the one that omitted LGBTQ, Hispanic.
Pride celebrations in Europe mark 50 years since Stonewall
SAVE fires executive who defended men accused of hate crime in gay-bashing incident
SAVE suspends administrator who praised hate crime suspects during gay Pride gala
A strange sighting at gay pride gala: four men accused of hate crime in Miami Beach
Key West is bringing its spirit and a part of a giant flag to NYC gay pride event
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A flight attendant finds her footing with melanoma treatment
BY Ryan Stephens
“We can treat you here,” Lori Leach’s physician told her. “But MD Anderson is right down the street.”
A few weeks earlier, Lori had noticed a small lump in her armpit. She didn’t wait long before she showed the lump to her doctor, who recommended keeping an eye on it.
The lump kept getting bigger. Lori decided to go to her local hospital in Austin for an ultrasound. It showed that the lump was 4 cm.
A biopsy revealed that Lori had metastatic melanoma. “I was in shock, and I was very scared,” says Lori, who had cared for her own mother while she underwent breast cancer treatment years earlier. “The unknown is terrifying – especially when you have four kids and a grandbaby that need you.”
Choosing MD Anderson
With her physician’s recommendation in mind, Lori asked her sister and brother-in-law – both doctors -- where she should seek treatment. They, too, recommended MD Anderson.
But it was another group that truly convinced the Southwest Airlines flight attendant: the MD Anderson patients she met on her planes.
“When I ask them how they can be so upbeat despite what they’re going through, they say it’s because of the comfort and confidence they get from their treatment at MD Anderson,” Lori says. “I never thought I would be in their shoes, but reflecting on the respect my passengers had for MD Anderson, I knew it was the place for me.”
Lori’s melanoma treatment
In November 2014, Lori came to MD Anderson and met with Jeffrey Gershenwald, M.D.
“He told me, if you were my daughter, this is what I would tell her to do,” Lori recalls. “Right then, I knew he cared about me.”
After Dr. Gershenwald performed a lymph node dissection and removed 23 lymph nodes from under her arm in November, Lori recovered from the surgery and spent the holidays with her family. She returned in early 2015 for radiation. Afterward, she started chemotherapy under the care of Isabella Glitza, M.D., Ph.D., to reduce the chances of her melanoma coming back. She was treated with a mix of three chemotherapy drugs as well as interleukin-2 and interferon. The therapy, called biochemotherapy, required her to be hospitalized for a full week during each treatment cycle.
During treatment, Lori’s vision got worse, and she struggled with short-term memory loss. She had trouble remembering people’s names and still has no recollection of some of her hospital stays. The entire process was exhausting for her.
“The only thing getting me through each day was the knowledge that my children needed me,” she says.
A difficult year
Lori’s family really did need her. Around the same time that she was undergoing melanoma treatment, her father had a stroke, her husband had a kidney fail and her home flooded. The circumstances, including her treatment, required the family to push back her daughter’s May wedding.
“It was a crazy year, but I’m blessed beyond measure,” Lori says, adding that it took a village for her to make it through 2015.
Her employer, Southwest Airlines, helped by flying family members to stay with her mom after her dad’s stroke and to keep Lori company when her parents could not.
And her MD Anderson care team became her second family. “My doctors and nurses actually sat next to me on my bed and held my hand and asked how I was doing,” Lori says. “Dr. Glitza called to check on my father and my husband.”
Finding the strength to keep fighting
Two of the people most instrumental in helping Lori get through treatment were her sister and her best friend, Kristin.
“You are going to do this,” Kristen told her. “You don’t have a choice. And you don’t have to do it alone because we’re going to do it together.”
Kristin’s words gave Lori the strength to keep fighting.
“If I didn’t have that voice in my head and their strength, I don’t think I could’ve done it,” says Lori, who has since learned the importance of not overdoing it and taking care of herself first.
She’s also learned that it’s OK to let others take the reins. “You have to let the people that care about you help you. You can’t do it alone. You have to be able to lean on other people and ask for help,” Lori says. “I’ve learned that life is short and you can’t just go, go, go, all the time. I’ve learned that everything should be a balance: work, family, exercise, the things you eat.”
The face of a fundraising campaign
Lori is the latest cancer survivor featured in Jason's Deli's Strike Through Cancer campaign, which raises money to support cancer research at MD Anderson. A photo of Lori with her family appeared on specially marked water bottles from January through March 2016.
“I wanted to participate in this campaign to help raise cancer awareness,” Lori says. “I think it’s important for cancer patients to know that they are not alone. Family, friends and even your colleagues at work can be a shoulder to lean on.”
Learn more about the Jason’s Deli Strike Through Cancer campaign.
Research Moon Shots Program Radiation Therapy Treatment Melanoma Skin Cancer Chemotherapy
Read More by Ryan Stephens
Lori Leach
You have to let the people that care about you help you. You can’t do it alone.
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"Media Matters," week ending December 17; by Jamison Foser
Research ››› December 17, 2004 5:44 PM EST ››› JAMISON FOSER
Quote of the week: "You don't see prominent conservatives cursing out Democratic members of Congress, for example." -- Bill O'Reilly on the December 16 O'Reilly Factor, apparently forgetting this.
Week ending December 17, 2004
www.mediamatters.org
action@mediamatters.org
"You don't see prominent conservatives cursing out Democratic members of Congress, for example."
-- Bill O'Reilly on the December 16 O'Reilly Factor, apparently forgetting this.
This week:
"Coward" Bill O'Reilly continues to smear Media Matters while ducking David Brock
Media Matters launches effort to bring balance to Sinclair broadcasts
Bush Social Security privatization scheme gets assist from inaccurate media reports
Bush administration failed to vet Kerik -- but so did the media
Does Lou Dobbs think Christmas is not a holiday?
Bill O'Reilly -- apparently stung by criticism that he recently "play[ed] into one of the oldest anti-Semitic canards about Jews" with his "deeply insensitive" suggestion that a Jewish caller "go to Israel" -- has repeatedly lashed out at Media Matters for America for publicizing his comments.
This week, Media Matters for America President and CEO David Brock had enough, and wrote to O'Reilly:
As you can see, Mr. O'Reilly, you have repeatedly and personally attacked me, Media Matters for America, and my fine staff, calling us "vile," "despicable," and "weasels," and comparing us to the Ku Klux Klan, Castro, Mao, and the Nazis. And you have refused my repeated requests to appear on your broadcast.
You once offered your viewers your definition of the word "coward." On the January 5, 2004, O'Reilly Factor, you declared: "If you attack someone publicly, as these men did to me, you have an obligation to face the person you are smearing. If you don't, you are a coward."
Well, Mr. O'Reilly, you have attacked me publicly on numerous occasions, and you refuse to face me. You, sir, are a coward -- by your own definition of the term. You are "hiding under your desk" (to paraphrase your August 26, 2003, claim about a "coward" who declined to appear on your show) rather than allowing me on your program to discuss your insults. You are "gutless," to borrow the phrase you used on January 10, 2003, and February 8, 2001, to describe people who would not appear on your program. I attach additional examples of your pejorative descriptions of those who decline invitations to appear on your broadcast.
Your frequent complaint that your words are taken out of context appears to have spurred your recent assault on my organization. While reasonable people can disagree about conclusions we, or you, have drawn about your comments, you are simply wrong to say that we took you out of context. I remain willing and eager to appear on either your television or radio program to discuss your contention that my organization has taken your comments out of context.
Should you continue to refuse this offer, it is only reasonable that the American people will conclude that you are not only -- as you would put it -- a "coward," but a hypocrite as well.
As of this writing, Media Matters for America has not received a response from O'Reilly.
This week, Media Matters for America launched a campaign to bring balance to Sinclair Broadcast Group's news programming, with the support of MoveOn.org, mediachannel.org, Free Press, Working Assets, Campaign for America's Future, and AlterNet:
The campaign aims to spur action against Sinclair Broadcast Group's use of the company's 62 owned and operated television stations to systematically promote partisan political interests. Of particular concern is a nightly "news" commentary titled "The Point" in which Sinclair Vice President, Mark Hyman, consistently espouses one-sided, conservative rhetoric without any counterpoint.
The vehicle for the initiative is a new website www.SinclairAction.com where you will be able to view video clips of "The Point"; discuss this topic with others; and register your concerns directly with corporations that advertise on Sinclair's stations.
We believe the fairest way to remedy this situation is for Sinclair to provide a meaningful opportunity for those with an opposing point of view to respond to editions of the "The Point." With your help, we can hold Sinclair accountable for their slanted news programming and demand it become a responsible steward of the airwaves, access to which it has been granted on behalf of the American people.
In response, Hyman declared: "As soon as MoveOn.org allows me to use their email lists and post to their Web site, maybe then we will have a conversation." Hyman's comment suggests that he does not understand the difference between a media outlet (Sinclair) and an advocacy organization (MoveOn.org). The fact that Sinclair's vice president apparently considers his media company an advocacy organization pretty neatly sums up the problem with the company; we thank Hyman for making our point for us.
MoveOn.org, meanwhile, accepted Hyman's challenge, with the group's executive director, Eli Pariser, promising: "If Sinclair will agree on a way to share its license to broadcast into millions of homes, we'll gladly send our members an email with a Sinclair message."
To date, Sinclair hasn't responded.
President Bush's plans to privatize Social Security have gotten a helping hand from a series of misleading media reports this week.
Media outlets and personalities, like NBC's Tim Russert, have generally repeated the Bush administration line that Social Security "faces a crisis." In fact, Social Security assets are not projected to be exhausted until 2042, at the earliest -- hardly the dire emergency the administration and the media portray. And even if no changes are made, tax income at that point would still cover 73 percent of costs, and the system could still pay out 68 percent by 2078.
Another pro-privatization talking point that frequently gets repeated by the media is that the declining number of taxpayers per retiree means the Social Security system is doomed. CBS's John Roberts, for example, reported on December 15:
Franklin Roosevelt's Social Security safety net is quickly developing huge financial holes. In 1935, the system was flush: 16 workers paid in for every one that drew retirement benefits. That ratio is now just a little more than three to one. By the time all the baby boomers have retired, [that ratio will be] just two to one.
Roberts wasn't the first to make this point; Russert made a similar statement as far back as 2000, when he mentioned it during a Republican presidential primary debate, as Bob Somerby reminds us:
RUSSERT (1/6/00): Let me turn to an issue -- before we allow the candidates to question one another -- Social Security and Medicare. And Senator [John] McCain [R-AZ], let me start with you.
When Social Security was created there were ... 42 workers for every retiree. There are now going to be, soon, two workers per retiree.
But does the declining ratio of workers to retirees really mean anything? Neither Russert not Roberts explained why it does. Somerby, however, took the trouble to look for the answer, and noted that economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot, in their book Social Security: The Phony Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 1999), dismiss the talking point:
BAKER/WEISBROT (continuing directly): But the decline in this ratio has actually been considerably steeper in the past. In 1955 there were 8.6 workers per retiree, and the decline from 8.6 to 3.3 did not precipitate any economic disaster.
These figures also neglect to take into account the reduced costs faced by the working population from having a smaller proportion of children to support. A more accurate measure of the actual burden faced by the employed labor force would be the total dependency ratio, which includes both retirees and children relative to the number of workers. This ratio is projected to increase from 0.708 today to 0.796 in 2035. This is not a large increase, and the latter figure is considerably below the ratio for the year 1965, which was 0.947.
Other media reports have been even less accurate; as Media Matters noted this week:
[O]n CNN's December 9 edition of Live From..., anchor Kyra Phillips teased a segment on Social Security by stating falsely that "[i]t's trillions of dollars in the red," asking: "What else can be done to save Social Security? President Bush talks about it."
Social Security is not "in the red," and won't be anytime soon.
Proponents of Social Security privatization are doing their best to create the false impression that the retirement system needs drastic, immediate changes. Unfortunately, many in the media play into their hands by getting the facts wrong.
Though The New York Times has been quick to accept the White House's contention that it thoroughly vetted Bernard Kerik's failed nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security, it seems clear that was not the case, as Kerik was nominated despite a host of troubling facts about his background.
As the Bush White House failed to sufficiently look into the background of the man it chose to lead America's homeland security efforts, the media likewise failed to give Kerik the scrutiny he deserved.
Kerik was a prominent surrogate for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, frequently attacking John Kerry. But while the media dutifully reported his attacks, they didn't look into his credibility, as Media Matters for America noted this week:
Much about Kerik has been uncovered by the media since his nomination for Department of Homeland Security secretary, and even more since that nomination was withdrawn, including allegations of corruption and abuse of authority during his tenure as police commissioner, questions surrounding his business associations and transactions, and questions about his abrupt departure from Iraq. But even before his nomination, there was plenty of available information -- including the very stridency of his attacks on Kerry -- that should have raised serious questions about his credibility. But the media, which so willingly gave him a forum to tout the president's war on terrorism (and rail against the purported threat Kerry posed to the country's security), never pursued those questions.
Between January 1 and November 2, 2004, Kerik made 15 guest appearances on CNN, 12 appearances on FOX News Channel, and six on MSNBC (CNN aired previously recorded Kerik quotes an additional 14 times, FOX and MSNBC aired clips of Kerik one time each), according to a search of transcripts available on Nexis. Kerik made one appearance on NBC News (on the March 13 edition of the Today show, where he was asked to comment in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings); CBS News aired one clip of Kerik, and Kerik did not appear on ABC News.
While most of the allegations did not emerge until after his nomination to the Cabinet, there were some reports about the multitude of personal and ethical problems surrounding Kerik before and during the 2004 presidential campaign.
Concerning his activities as New York City correction commissioner and police commissioner, a May 19, 2003, New York Daily News article reported that Kerik "once ordered a coverup of accusations that his top aide had beaten up a girlfriend and threatened her at gunpoint." A March 11, 2002, New York Times article discussed other alleged instances of Kerik's abusing his power as police commissioner. The article mentioned the dispatch in November 2001 of "at least five of the city's leading homicide investigators" to investigate reports of a missing cell phone and necklace belonging to former FOX News host Judith Regan, with whom Kerik was linked romantically and who was the publisher of Kerik's autobiography, The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice (HarperCollins, 2001). The article also noted: "Last month, the Conflicts of Interest Board fined Mr. Kerik $2,500 for using a police sergeant and two detectives to do some of the research for his book." None of these reports were mentioned by any of the networks or cable news channels.
But the media's failings to look closely at Kerik didn't stop when he was nominated to head DHS -- or even after his nomination was withdrawn, as Media Matters for America explained this week:
The media have largely accepted without challenge former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's claim that he had a "nanny problem" that he had previously failed to disclose to the White House. In not unearthing the details of that claim, the media have allowed Kerik, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and the Bush administration to escape scrutiny over why the purported problem was not discovered earlier, and over the possibility that the nanny issue was a pretext to avoid a full investigation into far more explosive and embarrassing allegations (Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk outlined the allegations here), which the administration either knew about and dismissed, or failed to uncover in its purportedly thorough vetting process.
CNN host Lou Dobbs bizarrely claimed that the phrase "Happy Holidays" "exclude[s] everyone who celebrates Christmas," adding that people who think "Happy Holidays" covers Christmas are "wrong." Presumably, Dobbs must not think Christmas qualifies -- or should qualify -- as a holiday.
Dobbs is just the latest in a line of pundits advancing an increasingly weird "Christmas under siege" storyline. Most recently, FOX News guest Mathew Staver, of the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel, claimed that a former Florida mayor was hostile to Christianity because he was "apparently Jewish."
New York Times columnist Frank Rich takes off on the right wing's "ever-growing drumbeat that Christianity is under siege in America," intoning (need we say, sarcastically?) "among those courageously leading the fight to save the holiday from its enemies is Bill O'Reilly," who, Rich notes, has taken to smearing the Anti-Defamation League over the organization's umbrage at O'Reilly's suggestion to the Jewish caller that perhaps he would be more comfortable among his people in Israel. Rich also noted (as did Media Matters for America here and here) that, in Rich's words, Reverend Jerry Falwell and O'Reilly "have gone so far as to name [New York City Mayor] Michael Bloomberg an anti-Christmas conspirator because the mayor referred to the Christmas tree as a 'holiday tree' in the lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center." Rich blames "the power of this minority" within the Christian majority on "its exaggerated claims on the Bush election victory," but also lays some of the blame on the press for (as Media Matters for America has documented) "invit[ing] religious leaders to discuss 'values' in the aftermath of the election and limit that discussion to all-male panels composed exclusively of either evangelical ministers or politicians with pseudo-spiritual credentials."
Jamison Foser is Executive Vice President at Media Matters for America.
Diversity & Discrimination, Religion, Economy, Social Security
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By Nina Spezzaferro June 27, 2008 18 To 24 Insight Archives
A four and a half minute clip of a man dancing (badly) all over the world has garnered over 2.5 million views on YouTube in less than a week. According to its description, the clip documents Matt Harding dancing in 42 countries over the course of 14 months. The journey was made possible by Stride, a new gum by Cadbury Schweppes. But in order to figure that out, you have to dig around a bit.
My first question about Harding’s video project was, of course, “How and why would he do this?” Matt Harding’s website, Where The Hell Is Matt? describes how he was able to dance (badly) in 42 countries.
In 2003, while traveling in Asia after he quit his job, Harding’s travel buddy filmed him doing his signature dance. The original clip gained so much attention that he was approached by Stride, who offered to fund his next trip… and the next one. The result is the video seen below, which is surprisingly devoid of any explicit advertising. On Matt’s YouTube page, he posts Stride’s website in the video’s extended description (it is only seen if you click “more info” next to the clip’s upload date) and that’s as far as it goes for advertising.
In the FAQ section of Harding’s website, his response to a question about whether or not he was forced to chew gum on his trip is simply, “They didn't make me do much of anything. They are very good people.”
Nina Spezzaferro
Nina Spezzaferro is Associate Editor for JackMyers.com. She writes 18 to 24 insights, a commentary on the TV, online and media interests of the 18 to 24 demographic, the most influential audience for content creators, marketers, and media distributo…
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July 1: Our Lady Will Appear Tonight at 6:40
Caritas July 1, 2013 A.D.
July 1, 2013 A.D.
Today begins the Five Days of Prayer with Our Lady, praying for the reconciling of ourselves, our families and our nation back to God, July 1-5. Pilgrims began arriving Friday, June 28, some to volunteer to help the Caritas Community in the final preparations, and others wanting to begin days earlier to begin preparing their hearts through prayer and sacrifice for the days coming with Our Lady. Medjugorje visionary Marija, her husband Paolo and their four children arrived at Caritas on Friday, accompanied by A Friend of Medjugorje, his wife, daughter and several community members who were in Medjugorje for the 32nd Anniversary of the apparitions. On Thursday, June 27, Marija asked Our Lady, on behalf of A Friend of Medjugorje, if She would delay the next day’s apparition so that the community could be present and Our Lady graciously agreed. The group from Medjugorje arrived at around 9:00 p.m. at our founder’s home and after everyone had the opportunity to greet Marija and her family, they entered the Bedroom of Apparitions around 9:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary in anticipation of Our Lady’s apparition. Our Lady came after the Rosary was completed. She stayed for several minutes, prayed over everyone and blessed everyone. She then said that the apparition the next day, Saturday, June 29, would be in the same place, the Bedroom of Apparitions, but the time would be 6:40 p.m.
As pilgrims continued to arrive on Saturday, they were invited to go to the Field of Apparitions at 6:00 p.m. to pray in union with the community in preparation for Our Lady’s apparition. When Our Lady came at 6:40 p.m., She blessed everyone present, as well as everyone in the Field, and said that the next day’s apparition would be at the same time, but in a different location other than the Bedroom or the Field, a location that greatly surprised and moved the whole community. What happened in this apparition will be revealed in the next day or two. It is always a joy to see Our Lady changing the times and locations of the apparitions according to Her desires as She has always been given the reigns to do so when at Caritas through our founder’s direction.
We are living in critical times in our nation’s history. These days are serious days of prayer. We are greatly privileged to be able to present our prayers and sacrifices directly to Our Lady during these days on behalf of our broken nation. If you were unable to come to Caritas for these apparitions, we invite you to join us in prayer and spirit, uniting your hearts to ours as we pray to be reconciled back to God and that Our Lady will make the way for this to happen. We have pilgrims arriving from other nations to experience this event, praying also for conversion of their own home countries. We continue to invite those who could travel to Caritas for the apparitions to make the decision to do so and place yourselves in Our Lady’s presence for Her blessing. There is a special event that is taking place at Caritas unlike any other visit of Our Lady that will be revealed to all those attending—and that will be shared with everyone soon on Medjugorje.com. It has moved the hearts of everyone who has joined us over the past few days. We will be putting regular updates about these events on Medjugorje.com throughout this week. Again, we encourage you to offer your daily Masses, Rosaries, fasting, prayers and sacrifices for Our Lady’s intentions of these five days for the return of the United States of America back to God.
Tonight's apparition of July 1, 2013 will take place in the Bedroom of Apparitions, at 6:40 PM Caritas time. Spread this to all your family and friends to be united in prayer.
Be United in Prayer for Our Nation 6:40 p.m. Caritas time.
Your Time Zone Apparition Time
Eastern Time 7:40 PM
Central Time 6:40 PM
Mountain Time Alternate 4:40 PM (Standard Time)
5:40 PM (Daylight Time)
Pacific Time 4:40 PM
Alaska Time 3:40 PM
Hawaii Time 2:40 AM
Brazil Time 8:40 PM
Sydney, Australia 10:40 AM - (July 2)
Seoul 7:40 AM - (July 2)
Beijing, Singapore 6:40 AM - (July 2)
Calcutta 6:10 AM - (July 2)
Baghdad, Moscow 2:40 PM - (July 2)
Jerusalem, Athens, Cairo 2:40 AM (July 2)
Warsaw, Paris, Prague, Rome, Berlin, Medjugorje 1:40 AM (July 2)
Nigeria 12:40 AM (July 2)
South Africa 1:40 AM (July 2)
Kenya 2:40 AM (July 2)
London, Dublin 12:40 AM (July 2)
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Massengill Advisory LLC
DEBUNKING THE MYTHS OF THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
DAVID BARNO AND NORA BENSAHEL
All militaries craft narratives to help them understand and explain their wars. At their best, these stories can help divine important lessons learned, capturing hard-won battlefield wisdom. But at their worst, they can evolve into myths that distort reality and dodge accountability. In failing or inconclusive wars, such myths can also help a military avoid culpability and protect its deep-seated belief in its ultimate competence, honor, and professionalism. Now that the war in Afghanistan seems headed toward a negotiated settlement and the potential withdrawal of most if not all U.S. troops, the myth-making for America’s longest war is about to begin in earnest. But we are already hearing several myths start to emerge in the U.S. military about the war, which need to be debunked before they become part of the accepted narrative about this largely failed conflict.
“We did our job, but the civilians didn’t do theirs.”
This myth has long been a U.S. military trope in not just Afghanistan, but in Iraq as well. Successful counterinsurgency operations are said to require a whole of government approach, and few would argue that U.S. interagency efforts were anywhere close to sufficient. But this myth contends that the U.S. military did most things right in its part of the war, and that failure only resulted from the fecklessness of other U.S. government agencies. This myth neatly absolves the military of any need to assess its own performance. Wars, after all, are the primary realm of military expertise — and after more than 17 years of effort, the U.S. military has failed to defeat the Taliban in this war. There are many reasons for this failure, but the military bears significant responsibility for a substantial number of them: constantly shifting main efforts, confusing and inconsistent strategies, an unconscionable number of revolving-door commanders (13, including one of this column’s authors), and ever-changing but mostly incoherent command structures throughout the war. In nearly all of these cases, senior U.S. military leaders recommended courses of action that civilian policymakers approved, not the other way around. None of the multiple military shortfalls stemmed from civilians not doing their jobs, and no additional influx of civilian talent into Afghanistan would have changed any of these crucial decisions or the principal ways in which the war was fought.
“We were micromanaged, and fought with one hand tied behind our backs.”
This myth harkens back to the years after the Vietnam War, when many in the U.S. military made the same bitter argument. If only civilian policymakers had let military leaders run the war as they saw fit, the claim goes, the U.S. military would have defeated the enemy long ago. This exculpatory myth was effectively discredited after Vietnam (most brilliantly by Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army lieutenant colonel), and it needs to be refuted once again for Afghanistan. This myth contends that winning in Afghanistan required looser rules of engagement, unrestricted use of U.S. firepower, and unlimited troops for as long as was necessary to secure a decisive victory. Civilian meddling ostensibly forced military commanders to give up all their advantages with top-notch troops and modern weaponry to fight lightly armed guerillas at their own level. But the U.S. military failure to crush the insurgency with firepower in Vietnam should have decisively ended that argument — and the disastrous results of the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent nine-year occupation should have been the final nails in that argument’s coffin. Despite the Soviets’ totally unrestricted use of massive firepower and the resultant deaths of untold numbers of Afghan civilians, the final outcome was a humiliating defeat for Moscow. There is no reason to expect that the United States would have achieved a better outcome by waging a similarly unconstrained war. There’s also a deeper reason to reject this myth. In the United States, elected officials have the right to determine how the nation’s wars are fought, even if those in the military disagree with their approach, since they alone are accountable to the American people. This myth risks eroding these bedrock principles of U.S. democracy and civil-military relations.
“We should have ‘gone big’ early.”
This myth suggests that the United States did not win the war because it had too few troops in Afghanistan during the early years, and thus missed its chance to dominate the country before the Taliban could regroup. Yet deploying a massive number of troops into Afghanistan at the beginning of the war would have caused far more problems than it might have solved. The initial light-footprint presence kept U.S. troops from being seen by the Afghans as an occupation force, a reminder of the then-all-too-recent Soviet occupation. In those early days, the Taliban posed a minimal security threat, the Afghan people were actively engaged in their nascent democracy, and a lasting political settlement seemed possible. For reasons that had nothing to do with American troop levels (such as the untimely rotations of key U.S. military and diplomatic personnel), these promising opportunities were squandered. A larger U.S. force wouldn’t have done much good, and could have made things far worse by increasing popular support for the Taliban and thereby accelerating its resurgence.
“We should have kept the surge going in Afghanistan until we won.”
This myth suggests that the United States pursued the right strategy in 2009 and 2010, when it almost tripled the number of U.S. troops fighting in the Hindu Kush — but that President Barack Obama doomed the strategy from the outset by announcing that the surge would end in 18 months. While this was certainly a strategic misstep that enabled the Taliban to wait out the surge, an open-ended U.S. troop commitment would not have ultimately fared any better. As long as the Taliban could seek sanctuary in the Pakistani tribal areas, they could simply withdraw to safety whenever U.S. military pressure increased and return to the offensive in Afghanistan whenever conditions were more favorable. An indefinite surge with large numbers of U.S. troops would have been militarily irrelevant as long as this enduring external sanctuary provided an easy escape valve. Moreover, an open-ended commitment of such a large number of troops would have in all likelihood been politically unsustainable in the United States (as well as in Afghanistan).
“We should have invaded Pakistan and cleaned out the Taliban sanctuaries.”
While this myth may be appealing to tactical commanders responsible for winning immediate battles, its effects would have been fleeting. U.S. forces could not have occupied the Pakistani tribal territories indefinitely, and tribal dynamics meant that these areas would likely have reemerged as safe havens for the Taliban after U.S. forces departed. Moreover, the operational and strategic consequences of invading Pakistan would have been completely and utterly disastrous. Any form of U.S. invasion would have pushed Islamabad squarely onto the side of the insurgents, and could have quickly swung several of its regional allies such as Saudi Arabia or China against the United States. The Pakistani government would have immediately cut off U.S. access to all supply routes and airspace through its territory, the principal lifelines that supplied virtually all U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Islamabad would also have felt immense domestic pressure to send its military forces to confront U.S. forces on its territory, which could have rapidly escalated into an all-out regional war. An enraged Pakistan might have also retaliated by covertly providing nuclear weapons technology to U.S. adversaries and nonstate actors around the world. Any possible tactical benefits of disrupting Taliban sanctuaries would have been short-lived at best, and immediately eclipsed by the massive and long-lasting strategic repercussions that would have undercut all manner of U.S. regional and global interests, especially if it escalated into a far deadlier war.
“We would have won in Afghanistan if we hadn’t invaded Iraq.”
There is no question that the war in Iraq placed an immense drain on Washington’s time, energy, and resources for almost a decade. The war in Afghanistan was a secondary priority and an economy of force mission at least until the troop surge of 2009 and 2010. But there is absolutely no guarantee that the United States would have achieved its objectives in Afghanistan even if it had been the only war fought during that time. More resources and attention from Washington might have had some positive effects during the austere early years in Afghanistan, like more rapidly developing new Afghan security forces (though the U.S. military generally has a terrible track record doing so at scale) and enabling a greater emphasis on rebuilding the nation. But absent the war in Iraq, the U.S. military might have gone in too big too early, or concentrated too heavily on killing or capturing the enemy at the expense of protecting the population (as it did in Iraq). More U.S. attention and resources might have also created perverse effects, especially given the long-standing U.S. tendency to impose American solutions on every problem rather than helping Afghans develop their own solutions. Counterfactuals are always tricky, of course, since it is impossible to know how different scenarios would have played out. The U.S. military might have been able to defeat the Taliban and support a stronger Afghan government if it hadn’t been distracted by the ever-worsening war in Iraq. But given the acute Afghan sensitivities to foreign occupation, the existence of sanctuary areas in Pakistan, and the broad political objectives in the 2001 Bonn agreement, it also quite possible that the United States would have failed to meet its objectives even absent the decision to invade Iraq.
The war in Afghanistan is not over yet, but as the outlines of a potential U.S. withdrawal take shape, U.S. military leaders will soon be left to think long and hard about what went wrong. They will need to be ruthlessly and relentlessly objective in assessing their own performance, in order to ensure that they learn the right lessons. Spinning myths that absolve the military from all blame would be both dishonest and fundamentally corrosive to the military profession. After Vietnam, the U.S. military failed to dispassionately analyze the lessons of its failure in that long and bloody war. Instead, it buried the past and allowed myths to be promoted that obscured the real causes of the military defeat. Today’s generation of military leaders and their troops paid the price of those myths, as they were thrust into two irregular wars for which they were almost wholly unprepared. As they confront the looming end of the Afghanistan war, today’s leaders must not repeat the same failure. They need to confront these emerging myths through a dispassionate accounting of what went right and what went wrong, before their distortions take hold and are passed down to the next generation of warriors.
Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, U.S. Army (Ret.) and Dr. Nora Bensahel are Visiting Professors of Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Senior Fellows at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies. They are also Contributing Editors at War on the Rocks, where their column appears monthly. Sign up for Barno and Bensahel’s Strategic Outpost newsletter to track their articles as well as their public events.
Image: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Evelyn Chavez
Kevin Massengill is an entrepreneur, investor, and award winning Fortune 500 senior executive with a track record of massive business growth.
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3 legislation changes affecting the UK engineering industry
Posted in: News & insights, Engineering news
Next week some major legislation changes come into play in the UK, here is a reminder of three key changes and how they could affect engineering professionals and businesses from 6 April 2017.
The reform to IR35 Intermediaries Legislation impacts public sector bodies and contractors.
In a bid to make up for shortfalls in taxes paid by public sector workers, the Government is changing the tax rules which apply to contractors working in the sector. Under the reform, the responsibility for determining a contractor’s employment status will move from the individual to the public sector body which employs them.
As before, any contractor who is deemed to be ‘inside’ the IR35 rules will have income tax and national insurance contributions deducted from their gross earnings.
Impact on engineering contractors
Up to 90% of public sector contractors could be ruled as being inside IR35, according to industry estimates and due to the public sector nature of the highways and rail sectors, contractors working in these sectors are likely to be affected by the change in regulation.
Impact on public sector bodies
Of course the regulation changes mean more responsibility for employers in the public sector as they will be tasked with determining how limited company contractors should be taxed, depending on the assignment they are taking on.
Impact on the industry
With overall take home pay naturally reducing as a result of paying more tax, many public sector contractors are already seeking work in the private sector, where the legislation changes do not currently apply. As a result, public sector bodies will find it harder to recruit and retain talented contractors, especially those with skills which they can apply in the private sector like highways engineers and rail engineers. In the already skills-short engineering industry, this legislation change has the potential to further widen the gap within the public sector.
Some contractors may also consider taking up permanent assignments instead, in order to reap the benefits and security that this way of working offers.
Ultimately with the amount of movement anticipated within the public sector workforce, organisations within the sector could find their project timescales considerably impacted.
What our experts think…
Graham Day, Department Manager – Rail says:
“The impending IR35 changes have generated an understandable amount of confusion and concern from contractors within the public sector. Whilst many contractors will seek work in the private sector, there is still plenty of exciting work that remains on Government-sponsored projects that will generate contractor opportunities for years to come such as Crossrail, High Speed 2 and the Heathrow airport expansion.
“From our recent Voice of the Workforce research, we know that having interesting and meaningful work is a really important factor when engineering professionals are making important career decisions so we hope that contractors will still see the benefits of working in the public sector following the changes to the IR35 legislation.”
You can find further information about the IR35 legislation changes here.
Coming into effect from 6 April 2017 for any apprenticeships starting after 1 May 2017, the apprenticeship levy is a new funding system designed to support an increasing number of apprenticeships in the UK, including a number of engineering skills-focused training schemes.
The legislation
As part of the Government’s plans to ensure the UK has the skills it needs for the future, an apprenticeship levy is being introduced to fund three million apprenticeships by 2020.
A wide range of apprenticeships have been approved, with more to be announced, including engineering-focused courses such as:
Highway Electrician Water Process Technician
Rail Engineering Technician
Impact on tech firms
The levy applies to any UK businesses with a payroll of £3 million or above and the government anticipates it will apply to less than 2% of businesses. Such companies will be liable to a 0.5% payroll levy and will receive an annual allowance of £15,000 to offset the levy. All other employers will be able to access funding for apprenticeships.
It is well-documented that the engineering industry in the UK is suffering from a huge skills shortage and this was confirmed in our recent Voice of the Workforce research, in which 69% of the 2,522 engineering professionals we surveyed said they believe there is a skills shortage in the sector they work in.
One major strand of the strategy to plug this skills gap is to ensure there is a steady flow of people entering a career in engineering and that’s where the apprenticeship levy comes into play. However, to ensure the UK’s more urgent and specialist skills requirements are being met in the meantime, the skills of the current workforce cannot be neglected. Perhaps with this in mind, the Government recently announced investment of up to £40 million on retraining and upskilling the current workforce.
Joe Wilson, Department Manager – Highways, Traffic & Planning says:
“The introduction of the apprenticeship levy is a significant step towards addressing the skills gap across the UK engineering industry. Matchtech’s recent Voice of the Workforce survey found that 25% of engineers believe apprenticeships are the most important factor in addressing the skills shortage. With government investing heavily in infrastructure projects, it is great to see design engineers and draughtsman on the list of approved courses and skills, along with a range of other engineering skill sets.”
For more information on the Apprenticeship Levy, click here.
To highlight differences in the average wages of men and women within a single organisation, the gender pay gap reporting legislation will put equal opportunities at the top of the agenda for many UK businesses.
From the start of the new tax year, employers with 250 or more employees will have to publish annual figures showing how big the pay gap is between their male and female employees, including bonus payments.
The legislation stipulates a number of calculations which must be undertaken, the results of which should then be made public on the company’s website and a Government website within the 12 months following 5 April 2017 and every year thereafter.
The new reporting requirements are likely to highlight more than just pay issues within the engineering sector. The Engineer 2016 Salary Survey found that the average salary for women in engineering is £10,000 less than their male counterparts and indicated that this could correlate with the lack of women in more senior positions. 24.4% of women described themselves as ‘junior engineers’ compared to just 13.3% of men.
Not only does the engineering industry lack gender diversity – in fact, the whole STEM workforce in the UK is only made up of 14.4% females – but there also seems to be a lack of women progressing into more senior positions.
Grahame Carter, Managing Director says:
“The gender pay gap reporting legislation is another positive step for enhancing equality and gender diversity within engineering. In our recent Voice of the Workforce report 52% of engineers said they feel the industry is becoming more gender diverse, but the research also showed that female engineers are more likely to believe it is staying the same. With a large proportion of the workforce believing gender diversity is staying the same and male and female engineers having different perceptions, it seems that more needs to be done to attract and retain women into the industry. Any initiative which supports equal opportunities can only stand to benefit the engineering industry.”
For more information about Gender Pay Gap Reporting, click here.
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A New Road for Fiat Chrysler
Focus: INDUSTRIALS
Paul Dykewicz
Editor, Eagle Finanical Publication
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCAU) is facing a huge challenge to sustain the remarkable resurgence it achieved under the leadership of its visionary former CEO Sergio Marchionne, 66, who died unexpectedly on July 25 after complications from shoulder surgery related to a serious illness, notes Paul Dykewicz, editor of StockInvestor.com.
Automobile industry analysts currently have ratings ranging from buy to sell on Fiat Chrysler’s shares, but its near-term outlook seems stable due to the existence of a 2019-22 strategic plan put in place prior to Marchionne’s health crisis.
In addition, Fiat Chrysler had been planning on a leadership transition to coincide with Marchione’s planned retirement in April 2019 that would have elevated current key executives who now will be taking on increased responsibilities sooner than expected.
Another factor that enhances Fiat Chrysler’s financial future is its decision under Marchionne’s guidance to preserve precious capital by partnering with other companies on electric and self-driving vehicles.
The latter strategy positions Fiat Chrysler as a potential merger candidate with another automobile manufacturer that may want to acquire brands that include Jeep, Ram trucks and Maserati sports cars that gained increased popularity under Marchionne’s tenure.
Mike Manley, who led the company’s profitable Jeep and Ram brands, was named CEO on Saturday, July 21, one day after company officials were told that Marchionne’s condition had deteriorated and that he would not be able to return to work. After the announcement of Manley’s ascension to the top post, Alfredo Altavilla, Fiat Chrysler’s chief operating offer, stepped down.
Marchionne had planned to continue as chairman and chief executive officer of the parent company’s Ferrari S.p.A. business unit until 2021, even after his scheduled retirement as CEO of Fiat Chrysler next April.
Instead, seasoned executive Louis Camilleri became new CEO at Ferrari (RACE) on July 21 to replace Marchionne in that role. Camilleri, who had served as a Ferrari board member, also is the non-executive chairman of the Philip Morris International (PM) board of directors.
Marchionne began as the chief executive officer of Fiat in 2004, turned around the business financially and orchestrated the $4.35 billion acquisition of Chrysler to form Fiat Chrysler in January 2014.
Manley, who has headed the Jeep brand since June 2009 and the Ram brand since October 2016, also has experience in leading sales and product planning, as well as prior executive roles with regions around the world where Chrysler Fiat operates. Now, Manley needs to take the company’s most visible role and show that he can execute an ambitious business plan that he helped Marchionne to develop.
Despite the challenges, Fiat Chrysler reported a 15 percent jump in second-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The company also achieved a record second-quarter profit margin of 6.7 percent, as well as an adjusted net profit that jumped 52 percent to 1.1 billion euros ($1.29 billion).
The company’s stock has fallen in recent weeks, but the retreat may offer a buying opportunity to investors who still believe in the value of brands such as Jeep, Ram and Maserati, as well as the five-year strategic plan forged by Marchionne and Manley. Its 12-month stock chart shows the stock is trading well off its 2018 highs.
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Richemont enters a new era
Recent appointment suggests it is taking digital seriously.
Sasha Planting / 30 October 2017 00:01 No comments so far
Picture: Supplied
At Richemont’s annual results presentation in May, chairman Johann Rupert said that if the company did not recognise the pace of change in the retail market and position itself to be ‘ahead of the curve’, the firm risked going the same way as US department stores like Sears, Kmart and Dillard’s.
Repositioning is easier said than done. Richemont’s brands are not Campbells soup. Some of its brands are 200 years old or more. Its watches and bespoke jewellery items can cost the equivalent of a middle class home, and tradition and luxury waft out of every velvet-carpeted store.
Until recently Rupert’s instinct has been to protect and preserve the Richemont heritage for fear that change and innovation would dilute the brand. Protecting the status quo included retaining a board whose age was starting to rival those of the brands they served and whose titles stem from battles fought centuries ago.
The turning point followed 2015 and 2016 – when years of good growth stalled in the luxury and high-end fashion market. In 2016 the market for personal luxury goods was essentially flat at €249 billion, according to the Bain Luxury Study, which analyses the global luxury goods industry. The market was valued at €251 billion in 2015 (at constant exchange rates).
“In 2015 the high-end fashion industry saw huge levels of executive turnover,” says Jason Forssman, a portfolio manager with Ashburton Investments. “The industry was changing and those brands that were out of touch with what their clients wanted – often because of an ego-driven top-down approach to design – faced bankruptcy or acquisition.”
Rupert understood that unless the high-end luxury market adapted, its customers would be similarly unforgiving. This wasn’t just another cycle in the industry. In an environment of lower growth what made luxury brands great in the past wasn’t necessarily going to make them great in the future.
Millennials and e-commerce can no longer be ignored
In a report called the Millennial state of mind, Bain and luxury goods website Farfetch estimated that millennials will represent 40% of the global personal luxury goods market by 2025.
What is significant about the millennial influence is that they are more inclined to shop online. Already e-commerce has emerged as the fastest growing distribution channel globally for luxury goods. In a December 2016 report, Euromonitor estimated that global brick-and-mortar luxury sales will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 2% between 2016 and 2021, compared to 8% for digital. Just like digital sales overall, digital luxury has more room to grow.
Of course the online market is still a small fraction of the global luxury market, with online sales of luxury goods accounting for about 8% of total luxury sales. However, Bain expects the online share to reach 25% of sales by 2025.
Richemont is exposed to the online market through its investment in luxury e-commerce website Yoox Net-a-Porter (which has a market cap of around $4.5 billion). It posted record revenues of $1.19 billion in the first half of 2017, up more than 15% year on year. Website users rose by 15% to 394 million and orders rose by more than 15% to 4.5 million in the first half.
Competitors are entering the market too. LVMH, which has 70 brands of its own, offers other luxury brands on its 24sevres.com site. French fashion and accessory house Hermes has plans. And in China, one of the worlds biggest markets for luxury goods, e-commerce site Secoo has just listed on Nasdaq.
Exactly how Richemont will tackle the online market remains to be seen. While its brands do have an online presence, it has until now been a half-hearted affair.
“There is a difference between the luxury that is attainable to people in the middle and upper classes and the type of luxury offered by the Richemont brands, where a Cartier necklace could cost upwards of $50 000,” says Forssman. “These products do not easily lend themselves to online sales. People are more likely to browse online and shop in-store.”
However, Rupert is keenly aware of the need to act. “Richemont faced a crisis in 2016 – not of the type faced by Lonmin and Anglo – its balance sheet is too strong for that, but a crisis nonetheless. Rupert used the terrible results of 2017 [it reported a 33.6% decline in diluted headline earnings per share (Heps) in the year to March] as a reason to act,” says Forssman.
With the convenient exit of CEO Richard Lepeu who retired in March, Rupert restructured the executive team, removing the CEO layer entirely, so that the company can react quickly to the challenges facing businesses in general and the luxury industry in particular.
He also changed the composition of the board, commenting at the time: “The changes we have proposed today will strengthen the group’s ability to respond to the dynamic markets in which we operate, especially in the developing field of digital marketing and e-commerce.”
In September, Rupert went a step further, creating the position of chief technology officer and appointed digital whiz-master JJ van Oosten to the position.
Currently the chief digital officer at the Rewe Group, and former CIO at Tesco, Van Oosten has been described by former colleagues as “brilliant”; a man who “sees things differently” and who is “relentless in pursuit of the objective”.
Van Oosten describes himself as “uncompromising”. “Never ever compromise. I do not compromise at all. When we do something we do it completely and we bring it to life,” he told an audience at the JavaLand 2017.
What becomes apparent is that he doesn’t do things in half measures. Richemont, it seems, may well be entering a new era.
Van Oosten joins the board of Richemont in January. Meanwhile the company has room to breathe. Sales for the first five months of the financial year increased by 12% at constant exchange rates.
Shareholders certainly have great expectations. In August last year Richemont shares were trading at around the R80 mark, putting them well into the value range. Today they are trading at about R123.57, which in a low-growth world and on a forward PE of 24x, puts the share back into pricey territory.
Sasha Planting
Sasha Planting is Moneyweb’s Deputy Editor and writes on investment and companies. While the output of labour and capital - wealth creation - is important, she is more interested in the people that enable wealth creation.
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New housing sought
By Barry Holtzclaw -
Homeless advocates are calling on Gilroy to declare a public emergency in hopes of making state aid available for year-round shelters for people without homes.
Jan Bernstein-Chargin, chair of the board of the Gilroy-based Compassion Center, said the emergency declaration could be an immediate step the city could take to ease situations for Gilroy’s growing homeless population.
The Compassion Center, St. Joseph’s Family Services, Destination Home and the South County Homeless Task Force joined forces this month to conduct a workshop in Gilroy aimed at local officials, to dispel a number of myths about homeless people and to focus on creating permanent year-round housing as the key step to easing living conditions for a growing homeless population.
City council members and staff joined citizens from Gilroy and Morgan Hill at the May 7 session.
In an interview after the workshop, Bernstein-Chargin praised Morgan Hill for taking two specific steps to ease the homeless crisis, which Gilroy has not taken: designating a safe and legal place for families living in RVs or other vehicles, and adopting “inclusionary zoning” policies that ensure that low-income affordable housing be included in all housing development plans.
She also said city and county officials and Valley Water should designate small sections of public parks and other publicly owned land as sites with sanitary facilities for year-round campgrounds for people without permanent shelter.
“Winter is over; close the Armory,”
When winter ends and the armory closes, she said, it “pushes everyone out to Uvas Creek,but they’re not allowed to stay there. At this point, there is now no legal place. Tonight, everybody is homeless, and everyone is a criminal, because everybody is sleeping in some place they are not allowed to be. Your first day homeless? You’re a criminal by morning.
“These are our children, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters who need help, and we’re not providing it for them.
“It seems that every couple of years we wind up having the same conversation,” Bernstein-Chargin added. “We have to do something differently, because what we have been doing has not been breaking through this lack of understanding. We have to think differently, we have to think about the system.”
She said public services, especially for health and mental health needs, are lacking in South County. “We have no way to get help for many people. We have no emergency psychiatric care in the South County.”
“We need to bring more services to South County,” she said. “If we have somebody in need who walks into the Compassion Center, we can’t do direct referral to local mental health. We need a team that is located in South County.”
“Some people say the problem isn’t homelessness; it’s mental health, or it’s drugs,”said Bernstein-Chargin. “The problem is homelessness, because in order to address your mental health, you have to have a place to live, a place to sleep. In order to address a substance abuse problem, you have to have a place to be, a safe place. While you are in a state of crisis, you are not going to be able to solve any long-term problem.”
She said Gilroy’s hard-line approach to homeless encampments or families in RVs or vehicles “accomplishes nothing.”
Morgan Hill and Gilroy “are taking very different approaches,” she said. “Morgan Hill has had a very progressive housing policy.
“This hard-line approach that Gilroy is taking hasn’t reduced homelessness at all,” she said. “People in Gilroy stay homeless longer. And one of the reasons is that we don’t have year-round shelter here.”
People stop by the Compassion Center and ask where are they allowed to sleep in Gilroy, she said, “and the ugly answer is no place—you are not allowed to sleep.
“Just telling people you are not allowed to exist, it just doesn’t work.”
Bernstein-Chargin said there will be more workshops and public information sessions this summer.
“We need to build a housing-ready community and housing for people with low incomes,” she said.
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Stop Support Payments
Alimony Reduction is more commonly referred to as Spousal Support in Virginia Courts.
Morse Investigation Services can assist you in your efforts to modify an existing support order by providing real proof that matters to the court system.
Some of the reasons the Courts may Reduce Alimony or Spousal Support:
Relationship Analogous to Marriage
Lottery Winnings or other Large payouts
Significant Changes in Income
Willfully Under Employed
What does Virginia Law say?
Virginia Code Section 20-109 is very clear on this subject. Contact Us for more information on how we can help you with your case.
§ 20-109. Changing maintenance and support for a spouse; effect of stipulations as to maintenance and support for a spouse; cessation upon cohabitation, remarriage or death.
A. Upon petition of either party the court may increase, decrease, or terminate the amount or duration of any spousal support and maintenance that may thereafter accrue, whether previously or hereafter awarded, as the circumstances may make proper. Upon order of the court based upon clear and convincing evidence that the spouse receiving support has been habitually cohabiting with another person in a relationship analogous to a marriage for one year or more commencing on or after July 1, 1997, the court shall terminate spousal support and maintenance unless (i) otherwise provided by stipulation or contract or (ii) the spouse receiving support proves by a preponderance of the evidence that termination of such support would be unconscionable. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to all orders and decrees for spousal support, regardless of the date of the suit for initial setting of support, the date of entry of any such order or decree, or the date of any petition for modification of support.
B. The court may consider a modification of an award of spousal support for a defined duration upon petition of either party filed within the time covered by the duration of the award. Upon consideration of the factors set forth in subsection E of § 20-107.1, the court may increase, decrease or terminate the amount or duration of the award upon finding that (i) there has been a material change in the circumstances of the parties, not reasonably in the contemplation of the parties when the award was made or (ii) an event which the court anticipated would occur during the duration of the award and which was significant in the making of the award, does not in fact occur through no fault of the party seeking the modification. The provisions of this subsection shall apply only to suits for initial spousal support orders filed on or after July 1, 1998, and suits for modification of spousal support orders arising from suits for initial support orders filed on or after July 1, 1998.
C. In suits for divorce, annulment and separate maintenance, and in proceedings arising under subdivision A 3 or subsection L of § 16.1-241, if a stipulation or contract signed by the party to whom such relief might otherwise be awarded is filed before entry of a final decree, no decree or order directing the payment of support and maintenance for the spouse, suit money, or counsel fee or establishing or imposing any other condition or consideration, monetary or nonmonetary, shall be entered except in accordance with that stipulation or contract. If such a stipulation or contract is filed after entry of a final decree and if any party so moves, the court shall modify its decree to conform to such stipulation or contract.
D. Unless otherwise provided by stipulation or contract, spousal support and maintenance shall terminate upon the death of either party or remarriage of the spouse receiving support. The spouse entitled to support shall have an affirmative duty to notify the payor spouse immediately of remarriage at the last known address of the payor spouse.
What Is Alimony?
Alimony, now often referred to as spousal support or maintenance and support, consists of periodic payments awarded to a financially dependent spouse when the couple ends their marriage.
Historically, alimony was seen as a continuation of a husband’s obligation to support his wife but the law now states that alimony may be awarded to either husband or wife, depending on each one’s ability to provide for his or her own needs and the ability of the other spouse to provide for them. In reality, it is rare that husbands receive alimony awards from their wives. Deciding the amount of alimony to be awarded a spouse can be frustrating and complex since the legal rules are general standards that must be applied to the facts of each specific case.
Money often becomes one of the major weapons between spouses who are divorcing. Determining whether alimony will be awarded, how much, and for how long and then securing an agreement with your spouse can be one of the most problematic and uncertain areas in divorce.
Alimony (spousal support) in Virginia is on an indefinite basis. Indefinite alimony can be raised or lowered over time if there is a change of circumstances. Effective July 1, 1997, cohabitation with a member of the opposite sex is now a factor, which may justify termination of spousal support. You must get alimony at the time of divorce, or you are barred from ever getting alimony in the future. Unlike some other jurisdictions, such as Maryland where alimony is “rehabilitative” alimony only awards in Virginia are not limited to a temporary period while the spouse gets back on his or her feet. Under Virginia law, married people are financially responsible for each other–the husband has a duty to support his wife, and the wife has a duty to support her husband. Additionally they are both responsible for one another’s debts. This duty lasts until the final Decree in Divorce is granted. It doesn’t stop because the couple separates.
Just as with property division, you are free to make your own decisions and agreements on support or alimony as along as the decisions are the result of free and open negotiation and are fair to both parties.
If both parties have jobs and earn similar salaries, the couple may decide against any spousal support or alimony payments. When the parties agreement to amount of spousal support in an agreement and that agreement is filed with the court without objection prior to the entry of the final divorce decree, the court will not enter any decree or order which is at variance with the amount stipulated in the contract. In some cases, circumstances may be more complicated if one spouse is in a disadvantaged position regarding the ability to be self-supporting.
Has one spouse been raising children and keeping house while the other has been building a business or career?
Did one partner put the other through school?
Are there very young children?
Does one spouse need time to learn a skill in order to be self-supporting?
If a couple filing for divorce cannot agree on whether alimony is needed, they may ask the court to make the decision. The court will then determine whether alimony is necessary, the amount, the duration, and the manner of payment.
Alimony And Property Settlement
Under the law, the judge must consider evidence of the amount of income to be generated by any monetary award prior to awarding alimony. The criteria to be applied by the judge in alimony cases is set forth in the Virginia code. They include the following:
Length of the marriage.
Age and health.
Respective financial positions.
Need for support.
Ability to pay.
Contributions to the family during marriage.
Prospects of the parties.
Division of marital property.
Standard of living during the marriage.
Factors in Determining Alimony
1. The financial needs and resources of both parties, including:
all income and assets, including non-income producing property,
any marital property award;
the nature and amount of the financial obligations of each party;
the respective rights of the parties to receive retirement benefits; and
the comparative earning power and abilities of each party.
Do you own your own house or any other property?
What do you owe money on?
Has one of you stayed home with children while the other earned the salary?
Is only one of you working at a job where there are retirement benefits?
The court will divide up a pension plan and other benefit packages in order to protect a dependent spouse.
Before you got married, did you have property or did you have bank accounts, a trust funds, stocks, etc. that you still have?
These count as non-marital property although the court in any settlement will not divide them, they may be factored into your need for spousal maintenance.
Will your capacity to work outside of the home, your earning power, and your expenses be affected by the fact that you are the primary custodian of a minor child or a disabled child?
2. The ability of the party seeking alimony to be wholly or partially self-supporting.
Have you ever worked outside of the home?
What was your salary?
Could you support yourself (and partially support your children) on this income?
Is it more financially realistic for a spouse who is not able to earn a significant income to remain at home to care for several young children than to pay for day care for each child?
3. The time necessary for the party seeking alimony to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse to find suitable employment.
4. The standard of living established during the marriage.
What would be a realistic change in your life-style in order to permit the establishment of two separate households?
5. The duration of the marriage.
The court will make the following interpretation:
The longer the marriage, the greater the interdependence of the spouses and the more firmly their life-style is established. Alimony will more likely awarded in longer-standing marriages.
6. The contributions, monetary and non-monetary, of each party to the well being of the family.
Did you put your spouse through school and enable that spouse to achieve the level of professional or technical training that has supported the family?
Did you run the family and raise the children to the exclusion of establishing an out-of-the -home skill or career?
Did your home-making enable your spouse to concentrate on building a career that leads to economic security?
7. The facts and circumstances that led to the estrangement of the parties and the ending of the marriage.
The ground for divorce is important. In Virginia a finding of adultery specifically bars “permanent alimony,” except in cases where the evidence indicates that the denial of support would constitute a “manifest injustice.” A decision regarding manifest injustice would have to take into account the respective degrees of fault during the marriage and the “relative economic circumstances of the parties.”
8. The age and the physical and mental condition of each party.
An older or disabled party is more likely to be awarded support than a younger, able-bodied one.
Are there young children to be cared for?
Is there a reason not to consider working out of the home?
The court will not award support to a person who is capable of working regardless of their personal desire not to seek employment out of the home.
9. Any agreement between the parties.
Did you and your spouse agree on property division or support issues? Is there a separation agreement?
Even though the property settlement between parties is not the same issue as the granting of alimony, they are very interrelated. The court will consider all the resources the dependent party has, including non-marital money and property settlement when making a decision about alimony.
10. The ability of the party from whom alimony is sought to meet his or her own needs while meeting those of the party seeking support.
What are the real financial assets that you had as a couple?
What can be turned into cash?
What is the real income of the partner who is being asked to pay alimony?
What does the financial future of this person look like?
Will the income increase over the years or is it likely to decrease?
Do you have non-marital resources?
Do you expect to inherit money?
11. Any other factors that the court considers appropriate to arrive at a fair decision. The courts on a case-by-case basis, however, interpret the Virginia Code, and much of the current law of alimony is contained in the case law. Thus a full understanding of your alimony rights may require consultation with an attorney.
Seeking Legal Advice
It is essential that you consult with an attorney regarding spousal support if you fall into any of the following categories:
1. If you have considerable personal property.
2. If you are a woman and have not been employed outside of the home.
3. If you are not capable of supporting yourself at the present time.
Types Of Alimony In Virginia
Temporary alimony falls into two distinct categories: Alimony during litigation and permanent alimony and rehabilitative alimony.
Alimony during litigation (pendente lite) is granted by the court before the case is even heard to cover the living expenses of the dependent spouse. This amount may be awarded for a short period or until the divorce becomes final. An award temporary alimony does not mean that the party will be awarded permanent alimony.
Permanent alimony refers to support for an indefinite period of time, terminating with the death of either party or the remarriage of the dependant spouse.
Additionally there are the categories of payments that refer to whether or not following the court decree; it is possible to alter the amounts of alimony.
Technical alimony means that the amount of payments can be modified after the divorce if the agreement states that the payments are dependent upon certain conditions and the conditions warrant it. Either spouse can petition the court for an increase or decrease in payments.
The court regardless of a change in circumstances cannot modify fixed Alimony. It must be stated in the agreement between the divorcing spouses that the alimony is to be fixed or the court will understand it to be modifiable at a later date.
Alimony And The Separation Agreement
Many divorcing couples work out the thorny details of alimony and other property divisions as well as other issues such as child custody in a contract known as a separation agreement.
This agreement may be drawn before or after the parties file for divorce and even if they are still living together; it is simply spells out legal rights and obligations without taking any formal action in a court of law. Once agreed to, however, this document, however, is enforceable as a contract should its terms be breached by either party. A separation agreement may also be incorporated into a final divorce decree and then is enforceable as a court order. It is advisable to work with an attorney in crafting a separation agreement that does not waive any rights or the possibility of modification of terms.
If alimony is agreed to in the property settlement agreement and the agreement is incorporated into the final decree, then the court doesn’t have the power to change it. But if the court sets the amount of alimony, it may maintain complete control as to whether it can be raised, lowered, or halted.
Regarding taxes, the party that pays alimony may deduct the payments from income taxes and the party that receives it, as income must pay taxes on it. Child support is not deductible but the party that pays it may take the child as a dependant on income taxes.
Enforcement Of Alimony Decree By The Court
Once the court orders that alimony is to be paid, failure to pay is disobeying a court order, otherwise known as “contempt of court.” Remedies available to the person seeking alimony include: wage liens, levies upon real and personal property, garnishment of property, and garnishment of wages.
Source: VA Bar Association
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