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__label__cc	0.529568	0.470432	International Business Programme Organization of the Studies Programme & Admission Entry requirements and Recruitment Subjects & Courses Campuses and travel mercuri1 students took part in the 3rd Prominence Intensive Program From November 16th to November 18th, the mercuri took part in the 3rd Prominence Intensive Program dedicated to "Practising Cultural Intelligence across Cultures". More than forty students from 6 different partner universities from across Europe and overseas have been working successfully in cross-cultural teams on an international marketing project on that week. The University of Savoie Mont-Blanc has been the host of the Intensive Programme as part of a EU project entitled PROMINENCE (PROmoting MINndful ENCounters through intercultural Competence and Experience). See https://www.prominenceproject.eu This project is financially supported within the framework of the EU funding initiative Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships. Over a period of 3 years, university partners from Aschaffenburg (Germany), University of Economics of Bratislava (Slovakia), Debrecen (Hungary), Katowice (Poland), Savoie Mont Blanc (France), Seinäjoki (Finland) and University of Economics of Varna (Bulgaria) have been working together. Those short intensive programmes are aimed at fostering international teamwork and learning about theories and practices of working across cultures. The programmes were delivered in English to a total of 150 students over the last 3 years. In their cross-cultural teams students were assigned to develop a marketing campaign for a focal beer brand on different European markets. Pr Stephane Ganassali who coordinated the third IP with a focus on marketing strategies and practices summarises the ambition of this last IP: “We wanted the students to experience all stages of a product development on the beer market, within an intercultural context. They had to consider cultural differences in two European countries, and define their marketing mix accordingly. Students were assigned to international teams, they had to collaborate via online tools and could enjoy a true immersive cross-cultural situation”. Mercuri Programme Campus life & Contact IB Student Organisation Copyright © 2020 Mercuri. All rights reserved. Realization: CodeinCode Our website creates and uses cookies. For more information about cookies, the scope and purpose of data processing, see the privacy policy Accept	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1066
__label__cc	0.683054	0.316946	Yay Carolyn! Yay GameSpot! May 17, 2011 8:13 AM Subscribe This week, Rockstar Games released L. A. Noire, a video game that's--perhaps not unusual for a Rockstar game--getting stellar reviews. One review, and one reviewer in particular, though stands out. Carolyn Petit, a new member of the staff at GameSpot, made her video game review debut yesterday. Carolyn is transgender. Note: if you're not a GameSpot member, you'll have to do an age check on the video Carolyn's coming out video from 2010. posted by PapaLobo (116 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite Forgot to add, Carolyn's video for It Gets Better. posted by PapaLobo at 8:15 AM on May 17, 2011 Not uncommon in the game industry. Scorpia from CGW fame is Transgender, as was Dan/Dani Bunten. I know of a few current developers too. It doesn't seem to be that rare. I'm not sure if it's a higher percentage in games or that it's just a smaller set of people. posted by Lord_Pall at 8:18 AM on May 17, 2011 Yay for Carolyn! Also, this video game looks amazing. posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:20 AM on May 17, 2011 Caught that yesterday while watching every video review I could find in anticipation of getting the game today. I almost googled Carolyn but got sidetracked watching MK9 videos. Good for Carolyn and Gamespot! A lot the reviews mention the game is "flawed", not gameplay bugs but jarring disconnects between missions, seems like poor performance on one case does not effect subsequent cases. Anyone have the game and can clarify this? posted by Ad hominem at 8:26 AM on May 17, 2011 wow, that game looks really awesome! and that was a really good review too. too bad we don't have an xbox in our household. we're a wii family and maybe one day a PS3 (ps8 or whatever it is when we eventually get one.) posted by sio42 at 8:26 AM on May 17, 2011 So the mediocre, kinda bumbling review (when there are many better reviews of this game available) is worth watching because this person is transgendered? And that makes it special for some reason? posted by mikoroshi at 8:28 AM on May 17, 2011 [14 favorites] It's kind of funny how I glossed this post so differently at first. I kind of skimmed over it: "L.A. Noire... stellar reviews... one review stands out... transgender..." My immediate thought was, "Oh, great, so L.A. Noire has some horrible transphobic crap in it? Dammit, I was looking forward to that game." It didn't even occur to me that the reviewer herself was noteworthy. So good on Carolyn for her willingness to come out, good on GameSpot for not hiding her, and (apparently) good on Rockstar for making another quality game. posted by Faint of Butt at 8:29 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] Transgenderism in this industry doesn't really surprise me that much, on reflection. A lot of the appeal of video games is the element of escapism in it. When you're stuck inside a set of skin you're not comfortable in, I imagine that appeal is much greater. posted by QuarterlyProphet at 8:30 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] No, the face technology is something that's new for this game. It's one of the selling points. posted by demiurge at 8:34 AM on May 17, 2011 This thread might help. posted by josher71 at 8:36 AM on May 17, 2011 [5 favorites] I've never met another girl in person who is a "gamer" like me. I know they're out there, but I haven't met any. It's depressing. Playing the 360 online is an annoying experience because most of the time, as soon as the other (invariably male) players realize that I'm a girl, I end up getting harassed. But on the topic of transgender video gamers ...? Good for Carolyn! I liked her review of the game. It's important for all different kinds of gamers to get opportunities to participate in the community. I think I'll be getting L.A. Noire now. I hope it's as good as Red Dead! posted by hypotheticole at 8:36 AM on May 17, 2011 I have been so looking forward to this game. It's like someone asked themselves what sort of game I wanted to play and then made it. Fedoras: Check. Adventure game investigation aspects: check. Horrible murders exposing the seedy underbelly of city life: Check. Interrogating suspects: Check. Good old fashioned ass kicking: Check. This may mark the first time I pay full price for an XboX game. posted by dortmunder at 8:38 AM on May 17, 2011 Also, quite a few terrible comments to the video. cringe Here's a video about the facial motion-capture technology, if anyone's interested. It's pretty amazing. Also, I really, really want this game, but it's not out yet in the UK and I'm a broke grad student. Anyone want to make a contribution to the Keep Mr. Bad Example Entertained Fund? posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:41 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] I really want this game too, but I do not have XBox. Or anywhere really to play one. And it seems A Bit Much to buy a console and my own personal TV just to play one game. PLZ TO B MAKING FOR PC posted by mippy at 8:47 AM on May 17, 2011 [3 favorites] SO if this is an accurate open world representation of LA post war, then both Phillipes and Langers should exist. The very first thing I'm doing after buying the game is going for virtual pastrami. And then beef dip. So you all can solve all the grizzly murders you like, I'm basically using this as a sandwich eating simulator. posted by Keith Talent at 8:47 AM on May 17, 2011 [17 favorites] I've also heard there are some not-so-great reviews for the game, for some of the reasons given above, but others too. This is a "wait and see" title for me. Too many games to play right now for me personally, I don't need to drop full price on this one. posted by utsutsu at 8:49 AM on May 17, 2011 Excuse me while I am laughing out loud (also known as "lolling") over the fact that her coming-out video features her, a gamer, citing the date by using fast-food advertisements. posted by entropone at 8:50 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] Metafilter: I'm basically using this as a sandwich eating simulator. posted by dragstroke at 8:51 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] mippy: I totally agree, but sounds like you have a pc... you can easily hook up a console to your monitor so you don't need to buy a tv or anything. Though, buying a console for just one game is still kind of silly. Some of the initial reactions on /r/gaming are a little worrying, I have a very low tolerance for frustration. I'm still going to get it today, stupid work making me not play video games. is worth watching because this person is transgendered? And that makes it special for some reason? Transfolks around the world have it terrible. Like, getting murdered, terrible. Gamers are also a pretty hateful backward lot. Gamespot is a mainstream gamer site. Yes, I will be happy when we no longer have to be excited, surprised, or amazed because anyone and everyone can show up in media and not expect hate for their identity (as opposed to say, their personality), but I'm also not going to live under the illusion that we're there yet by any means. Until then, I'm going to celebrate what baby steps the world takes until we're there. posted by yeloson at 8:54 AM on May 17, 2011 [20 favorites] PLZ TO B MAKING FOR PC Hang tight- in a year and a half they'll release a buggy port with fewer features for the same price as the console versions and then blame piracy when it doesn't sell. -grumble grumble- posted by Dr-Baa at 8:58 AM on May 17, 2011 I'm excited for LA Noire. The reviews so far are significantly positive, on track to be one of the top games of the year. hyptotheticole, I hear you on how awful the Xbox 360 community is to women. I simply can't play Xbox Live with voice chat turned on: the community is entirely toxic. If you want a little laugh (or cry), check out Fat, Ugly or Slutty, a collection of the various sexist crap their contributers have captured from online games. Some of the snark is pretty funny. One of the reasons I liked playing World of Warcraft is there were a lot of women playing and in general the boys and men were much more respectful. posted by Nelson at 9:00 AM on May 17, 2011 One of the reasons I liked playing World of Warcraft is there were a lot of women playing and in general the boys and men were much more respectful. WoW has a significant trans player base in my experience and while overall I find the reception by other players to GLBTQ peeps to be cool, there is also some considerable bullying. Back in October of last year, WoW Insider addressed the issue in one of their advice columns. it seems A Bit Much to buy a console and my own personal TV just to play one game You can hook your 360 to a monitor pretty easily. I did it for a couple of years, though I had to make a kludge cable to plug my headphones/speakers into it with off-the-shelf parts from Radio Shack. Of course you still need the 360, but a TV is not necessary! posted by adamdschneider at 9:08 AM on May 17, 2011 yeloson: " Gamers are also a pretty hateful backward lot." I don't even think it's gamers per se, it's just a significant minority of high-school and college-aged people. After a certain age, I think most of them learn that being public about their prejudices will get them in hot water, so they go on to be run-of-the-mill, quietly hateful adults. Going to public university sucked enough having to deal with that sort of people when I wasn't one. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had been like if I had been visibly different. posted by dunkadunc at 9:09 AM on May 17, 2011 Gamers are also a pretty hateful backward lot. For real? My experience in online gaming and gaming conventions (like PAX) are the complete and total opposite. If anything, I find the gaming community is infinity more open to various lifestyles and personalities. I think what you may be seeing is two-fold 1) Gabe's Internet Fuckwad Theory, which applies especially to games since there may be very little continuality between handles and thus people can be dicks and get away with it. But, AH!, the gaming industry far from has a stranglehold on this. Most of the Gaming Dicks you meet are found in random gaming lobbies or Halo matchups. The trick is finding the right guild/clan where people are awesome. And even then, I've played WoW and TF2 for years- games around the social gameplay aspect-, often times randomly with PUGs, and encountered dicks far less than in real life. To be fair, I pretty much only MP on the PC. 2) You may see things like this, which again in my experience, is rather in the minority- much moreso than the general population. But like many things, that one voice can be the loudest while not being representative of the whole community. posted by jmd82 at 9:11 AM on May 17, 2011 [3 favorites] Overgeneralizing to combat overgeneralization doesn't work. I'm a gamer and I take offense to that insult. It's a subset of people in general who are transphobic and hateful toward others. Let's not stereotype others to try to prove some kind of point. posted by cmgonzalez at 9:15 AM on May 17, 2011 This game is not an Xbox exclusive, you can get it for PS3 as well. In fact, it was originally announced as PS3-exclusive. posted by owtytrof at 9:15 AM on May 17, 2011 mippy: I totally agree, but sounds like you have a pc... you can easily hook up a console to your monitor so you don't need to buy a tv or anything. Ah, I have a laptop. Which probably wouldn't run it anyway. There's a TV in the house, but it belongs to the landlord, who lives there too, and would probably not be keen on me pulling XBox all-nighters. Not even for all the wine in Lidl. I find FPS type games very difficult to play (I'm dyspraxic and used to find platform games very hard - there was one time when I tried to play TF2 and lasted three seconds...) but the puzzle element is very appealing. posted by mippy at 9:16 AM on May 17, 2011 Also, regarding the game, this is something that appeals to me in so many ways, but alas, it's not coming out for PC. I'm a console gamer too, but for various reasons I don't have one of the modern consoles right now. I wish Rockstar hadn't forgotten the PC gamers. From the Bioware link: "Its ridiculous that I even have to use a term like Straight Male Gamer, when in the past I would only have to say fans, but it is as if when the designers were deciding on how to use their limited resources, instead of thinking "We have fans who loved Alistair and we have fans who thought Alistair was annoying. We have fans that thought Morrigan was great and we have fans that thought that she was a ****. And we have fans who liked the combat and we have fans who hated the combat but liked the story. How do we make make all these groups happy?" Instead, it is as if they went "We have straight males, straight females, gays and lesbians. How do we make all these groups happy?" There was a whole thread about that a couple months ago. posted by cortex at 9:21 AM on May 17, 2011 So excited for LA Noire, ever since it was announced back in September aught-six. However, I am sure there is going to be a huge backlash once players realize it's not as action oriented as trailers and Rockstar's history would suggest. posted by yellowbinder at 9:25 AM on May 17, 2011 And just one more comment, but good for Carolyn and for Gamespot. Though one quick glance at the comments on the video review show they range from phobic and laughter to sprinklings of support. It's a start though. I'm heartened by the fact that a lot of the reviews I'm reading are using similar terminology to the Redemption reviews when it first came out: "groundbreaking",.. "unbridled genius"... "brilliant"... "engrossing"... These are words I like to see in a game that's (hopefully) going to make me think a lot about the motivations of it's characters rather than how fast I can gun down wave after wave of bads. (not that there is anything wrong with that, just sometimes you want junk-food, and sometimes you want prime steak.) Also: yay for Carolyn! posted by quin at 9:30 AM on May 17, 2011 Ok, there maybe be some good gameplay, ambiance and whatever in LA Noire, but for god's sake, give me a break, the graphic engine looks pityfuly last gen compared to, let's say, Mafia 2, and the facial expression is not up to the level of what you can do in Valve's Source Engine. posted by denpo at 9:32 AM on May 17, 2011 Can you give an example of better facial expression in a Source game? I haven't played one with human characters since Episode 2, so maybe there have been updates to that technology, but from what I remember this game really does look significantly better in that regard. posted by invitapriore at 9:36 AM on May 17, 2011 Playing the 360 online is an annoying experience because most of the time, as soon as the other (invariably male) players realize that I'm a girl, I end up getting harassed. You and me both. Any game with voice will immediately produce one of three results: 1.) "Herp derp, you're a girl, you can't play, sexismsexism" 2.) "Show us your tits." 3.) "Are you a little boy?" It makes public lobby gaming with voice a miserable experience. I don't do it anymore. posted by Malice at 9:39 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] the facial expression is not up to the level of what you can do in Valve's Source Engine You do realize that they did full 3D capture of actors faces for the game, right? If the expressions aren't "expressive" enough for you, it's the actors' fault, not the engine's. posted by dhalgren at 9:41 AM on May 17, 2011 cortex - thanks to that thread I now know there is a 'same sex relationship' option on Kudos 2. Which might make it easier to find out who to give my Medium Romantic Gift to. LM Harnisch who is a perfectionist when it comes to L.A. history, was pretty upset about its inaccuracies. posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:53 AM on May 17, 2011 Sorry, here is the link. posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:54 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] I look forward to playing this after I finish the GTAIV expansions and buy Red Dead Redemption. posted by box at 10:01 AM on May 17, 2011 If this is like Heavy Rain, it should be a lot of fun. posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:12 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] To the women frustrated by all the stupid sexism in online gaming: I'm sorry you've had to deal with that crap. XBox Live is a cesspool, and I don't play anything online there because it seems most of the players are bigots, homophobes, or 12-year-olds out to demonstrate how awesome they are by talking smack to complete strangers. There are bright spots and friendly, respectful people out there. And if you're having trouble finding nice people to play with, you might check out MeFight Club. posted by xedrik at 10:15 AM on May 17, 2011 [5 favorites] Okay, well this is a weird thread so far. I guess I can expect it since it just came out. I have today off, which was a bit of an accident, but it worked out nicely. I've been playing for the last 3 hours, here's some early first impressions: 1. The motion capture is pretty cool. I think at this point they're limited by the current gen hardware, but I didn't notice that the graphics were worse than any other current game. There were moments where the character movements were much more like acting and less liking watching a video game. 2. The investigation is pretty cool, bat at this point seems more of like you're just kind of guessing and forced to investigate every clue. When you interrogate people, based on evidence, you're given the choice between "Truth," "Doubt," and "Lie." I haven't quite figured out how to figure out the correct response. Sometimes after you a question they're over the top shifty, but figuring out the difference between "Doubt" and "Lie" has yet to hit me. I'd appreciate it if anyone has tips. 3. Climbing up stairs and things is very fluid compared to past GTA games. Not nearly as awkward. 4. You can let your partner drive you around, which is pretty awesome. On a whole, again very early impressions, this is much more like a classic adventure game compared to the more silly first person shooter fun of the GTA series, or even Red Dead Redemption. There hasn't been too much free play time, or ability to really influence the world. There are so few adventure games around, if you like the genre pick this up. Haven't quite got that really epic "Ah ..." moment I got in Red Dead Redemption, but still very early on in the game. posted by geoff. at 10:15 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] Let's hope it has some decent female characters, unlike Heavy Rain (which was pretty awesome otherwise). Also unlike pretty much anything I've seen from Rockstar previously. Bleah. posted by asperity at 10:18 AM on May 17, 2011 Good for Carolyn and Gamespot. I hope one day that people being transgendered or coming out of the closet won't be considered shocking news. posted by HostBryan at 10:24 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] I absolutely agree with this sentiment, not least because games that are otherwise good seem to have kept up the Constant Stream of Baddies philosophy of adding challenge to games that comes off as increasingly ludicrous the more realistic the setting gets. However, the preview I saw really emphasized the interrogation puzzles that you apparently solve with what amounts to lie detection via pop psychology/body language reading a la Lie to Mie, which really irritates me. It's like a video game from the 19th century forcing you to solve puzzles based on the bumps on a suspect's head. I am all for puzzles solved in more interesting ways than just shooting all the dudes you see in front of you, but not like this. On preview, geoff. confirms what I was worried about. Oh well, I wasn't going to buy the game for another couple of years barring a massive Steam sale. Also, I'm of course glad to see Carolyn able to review games in an industry that is a disaster on inclusiveness almost across the board. posted by Copronymus at 10:33 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] geoff., I don't have the game, but from reading some reviews, it seems like you might use Doubt when you don't believe the person, and Lie when you have evidence against what they said. I ordered the game, and I'm pretty psyched about a mainstream adventure game. The gameplay videos of the interrogation scenes sold me on it. posted by demiurge at 10:43 AM on May 17, 2011 I'll probably get this at some point, but all the videos I've seen still fall into the uncanny valley for me. Like I noticed immediately that they've pasted the facial animations on top of an separately recorded body animation. Also, it bugs the hell out of me that you never ever see characters touching their faces. Which makes sense, since the capture videos I've seen have the actors strapped in a barber chair with everything masked out except their heads. posted by danny the boy at 10:59 AM on May 17, 2011 [3 favorites] Fuck yea, got the game, eating KFC and drinking Hawaiian Punch. Pretty much livin' the dream. posted by Ad hominem at 11:00 AM on May 17, 2011 [4 favorites] xedrik -- Thanks for the link to MeFightClub. I'm new to MeFi, so I appreciate the heads-up. If I play online, I usually need to use a microphone (especially on the 360, where so many more people have and use mics than the PS3). This means that as soon as I speak, I am first asked for confirmation of my gender ("Are you a chick?"). This is annoying. I understand the question, because I get hopeful every time I hear what I think is a female voice over the mic. But inevitably turns out to be the voice of an 8-year-old boy. Hey, at least I'm polite about it! That's why I don't ask questions. The questions then get progressively more personal. The focus of the conversation then becomes (1) my sexual orientation, and (2) my sex life. The game is more or less forgotten about. The other players jump at the chance to get some firsthand knowledge about hardcore lesbian sex, since porn is where they've learned everything they know about lesbianism (and how to interact with women). They quickly become frustrated when I inform them that I have, actually, no personal experience with hardcore-lesbian-young-blonde-party-chick sex. They then assume that I'm not having sex; that I'm one of those ugly girls who wishes she was having sex, and therefore creates a 360 account in order to talk to guys because I can't be having sex with them. At this point, I feel conflicted: Is it more humane to let them live in their own little fantasy world, or is it more important that I correct their sense of reality? (First of all, I wouldn't be scouring the xBox Live community for potential sex partners. Second of all, I have more sex in a week than most of them have had in their entire lives -- but don't read too much into that statement, because rest assured, guys who talk to girls like this are not getting ANY sex.) (This doesn't happen all the time, but it happens at least one out of every three times -- i.e. enough to make it -- most of the time -- not worth playing online.) posted by hypotheticole at 11:04 AM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] cmgonzalez : "Overgeneralizing to combat overgeneralization doesn't work. I'm a gamer and I take offense to that insult." Oh come on. Have you played online, at all, ever? Most gamers may not be awful people, but the vast majority of your interactions with gamers, will be amazingly awful. You have to actively seek out non terrible players (the "find a good guild" answer), and that's not something most of us have time to do. Seriously. Like 90% of the time I've played online, there was some racist or homophobic or generally offensive behavior. After being really stupid about it for the first two games, Casey Hudson has said there'll finally be same-sex romances in Mass Effect 3. I really really hope they don't screw it up. Along with everything else in the game, of course. posted by kmz at 11:10 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] Also, it bugs the hell out of me that you never ever see characters touching their faces. You might enjoy playing Face Toucher Armeggeddon: Face Touch Harder coming out Fall 2011!! TOUCH THE FACE! posted by tittergrrl at 11:16 AM on May 17, 2011 [11 favorites] But the sample of players you are finding are not representative of the larger gaming community. They are the players who both: - play online - don't have a group of friends / online gaming buddies / guild / clan / steam group to play with and thus are forced to play with randoms. In effect, in a random game of strangers you are most likely to get the sociopathic bigots and idiots simply because they don't have anywhere else to play online. It ends up being a bit of a self fulfilling thing. posted by utsutsu at 11:19 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] The difficulty is that the loud dongs are the ones you hear, and the quiet sensible people are the ones you don't because no one on a pubbie is going to bother engaging with the dongs. Aside even from the self-selection inherent in hanging out on public servers (some people will just elect not to play on a pubbie at all to avoid the background radiation), there's also going to be folks just muting the dongs and getting on with their gameplay-for-gameplay's sake stuff or using private audio solutions for chatting with their friends on the server, etc. So on the one hand, yeah, public server gaming experiences are an easy place to encounter homophobic or racist chatter (and generally obnoxious behavior in general), and it's a pretty pervasive problem. On the other hand, it's really not a "gamers are like this" thing so much as "there are a lot of idiots who happen to play video games". There's lots and lots of non-idiots, kids and adults alike, who game as well. But they don't spend a lot of time shouting stupid shit, because they're not idiots. Hence the complicated politics of an out transwoman doing video reviews for a major gaming media group; it's a divisive move in a sense because on the one hand it's a straightforward and mature (and in a perfect world non-event) move by Gamespot that a lot of gamers will actually gladly hail as progress, but on the other hand it's basically painting a red bullseye target for the loudmouthed idiot types. But making this move is a lot better than refusing to because of those idiots, so: progress. posted by cortex at 11:20 AM on May 17, 2011 [4 favorites] Great review. I'm so pumped about playing this game. Thanks. geoff - I picked up my copy about 2 hours ago (preordered), but promised my son I'd wait til he got home (I'm an idiot what was I thinking!). I have been wondering whether this whole "face technology" and "figuring out whether someone is lying" was going to be gimmicky. That it seems to mainly be about studying facial tics has me a little nervous that it's going to be hokey. But then I read that you have to have evidence to push for "Lying", so maybe it's more complex than that. posted by scunning at 11:28 AM on May 17, 2011 I've been relatively lucky on XBox Live, but I think that's because I almost never use voice-chat or play FPS games online. I think the most online I've done is You Don't Know Jack and Burnout Paradise and both have been relatively alright. A couple of jackasses on Burnout once, but that was it. posted by kmz at 11:28 AM on May 17, 2011 On XBOXLIVE you have to be VERY aggressive with the mute button, because it's so noxious, and your experience sounds like its 100x as bad, hypotheticole. It's really annoying because the vocal aspect makes the possibilities for coordinating strategy so much better in possibility, but never in practice. It seems like MS is being very proactive about douche's with regard to usernames, but less so with real game play. The flagging mechanism is not very good either. I'm gonna check out MeFight Club as well. posted by stratastar at 11:32 AM on May 17, 2011 I've played all of Valve's Source games. I've played Mafia 2. I've played L.A. Noire. I can quite assuredly state it looks as good as Mafia 2 and the facial capture is miles ahead of Source. Alyx Vance never looked this expressive, and I love what Valve was able to convey with her facial expressions. posted by NationalKato at 11:33 AM on May 17, 2011 I think community management is an interesting topic, because I think that's where the really ripe opportunity in gaming is going to be in the future. The experience of multiplayer is so vastly different for reviewers and for people who have an established gaming group, vs the unwashed masses. So far the answer has been, well invest yourself in a quality group of people, and you'll have a lot of fun. And I did this when I was in my early 20s, and it was rewarding. But for the majority of gamers out there this isn't a realistic proposition. Cus I got other shit to do. The realistic answer for me has been, play single player games unless I can rope someone into coming over to finish Portal 2 with me. But I think this is just another dynamic that can be designed to. How to get people to cooperate naturally. How to get people not to act like assholes. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I know it's not going to be in trying to police intent, but to foster a non-shit culture that is a natural side effect of game mechanisms. Like... Metafilter: The Game. Cortex call me posted by danny the boy at 11:49 AM on May 17, 2011 Shill: hey everybody, also come check out gamefilter, it's like metafilter for games. So as not be a total derail, Tom Chick (who is kind of known for being controversial) doesn't like what he's seen of it so far. posted by juv3nal at 11:50 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] I think community management is an interesting topic, because I think that's where the really ripe opportunity in gaming is going to be in the future. Yeah, I just saw a bit from Gabe Newell arguing that multiplayer environments should start differentiating on how whether people are good or bad for the environment, and charge accordingly. Which is an interesting idea, and would be the end of GoonFleet... posted by rodgerd at 12:02 PM on May 17, 2011 She gives a good, thorough review. It can't be easy to get the video samples to sync up with the narrative so seamlessly. If I had time to play anything other than my drug game of choice (as well as work, sleep, MeFi, etc.) L.A. Noire would definitely be on the list. Along with Portal 2, and Red Dead Redemption... posted by Xoebe at 12:15 PM on May 17, 2011 The review is great. Well done. Being genderiffic in any aspect of the games industry has been a challenge for many, including for me. The public part of my transition happened in 2003 - and back then there wasn't YouTube and coming out videos and all of that. There was, however, a 40% month-over-month revenue drop in the game company I was running at the time. It Gets Better - even for the bottom line. Over time, things normalized. I very sincerely hope that Gamespot is not attacked for having a trans person publicly on their staff. posted by andreaazure at 12:25 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] So on the one hand, yeah, public server gaming experiences are an easy place to encounter homophobic or racist chatter (and generally obnoxious behavior in general), and it's a pretty pervasive problem. On the other hand, it's really not a "gamers are like this" thing so much as "there are a lot of idiots who happen to play video games". I can go to a movie theater full of random people without being called a faggot or a nigger most of the time. Not the case for xbox live. There is a real problem in the gaming community, imo, and it needs to be addressed by microsoft, sony and valve, eventually. posted by empath at 12:33 PM on May 17, 2011 [4 favorites] (valve is talking charging jerks more to play, but I don't know how they're going to figure that out) posted by empath at 12:34 PM on May 17, 2011 kmz - "After being really stupid about it for the first two games, Casey Hudson has said there'll finally be same-sex romances in Mass Effect 3." Huh? You know that in the first Mass Effect you could have a relationship with Liara with either a male or a female character? I played ME as a female soldier who had a relationship with Liara (Kaidan was too... whiny. something. ew.), and thought that the whole thing was handled pretty well. posted by Zack_Replica at 12:53 PM on May 17, 2011 I recall hearing about there being some rather strained handwaving, from Bioware, about how no no no it's not a lesbian thing since Liara wasn't really female so much as a superficially gynomorphic but functionally asexual alien hominid. Which as a storytelling choice, sure, play with the idea of sexual identity as a product of superficial features and acculturation and yadda yadda yadda, but as response to questions about the exegetic sexual politics of the game designers comes off as kind of mealymouthed. But someone who actually followed that bit at the time can probably explain it better. posted by cortex at 1:02 PM on May 17, 2011 You know that in the first Mass Effect you could have a relationship with Liara with either a male or a female character? I played ME as a female soldier who had a relationship with Liara That's the whole "I support gay marriage as long as both chicks are hot." thing. posted by empath at 1:09 PM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] However, I am sure there is going to be a huge backlash once players realize it's not as action oriented as trailers and Rockstar's history would suggest. Not to be too tangential, but this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine: the game is being published by Rockstar, not developed by them. The people who made GTA and Red Dead Redemption did not make this game. Team Bondi, who made the very lackluster The Getaway games on the PS2 made this. It may be a perfectly good game on its own merits, but a lot of people are being thrown by its intentionally confusing marketing. For the life of me, I can't figure out how you're posting to Metafilter while somehow managing to have never actually been on the internet. posted by Amanojaku at 1:20 PM on May 17, 2011 Has anybody played it? I watched the first 15 minutes on youtube, and it seemed very adventure-game-y, in the sense of 'collect everything in location, use everything on everything' else sense. It also looks really on rails. posted by empath at 1:22 PM on May 17, 2011 Well, it is Rockstar... posted by Artw at 1:24 PM on May 17, 2011 Where do you hang out on the internet, 4chan? See, I can avoid 4chan and still enjoy the internet. I can't play a random game of Halo without having an extremely high tolerance for douchebaggery, though. posted by empath at 1:25 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] What is? The relationship between a female Shepard and Liara as portrayed in ME, or my comment on it? If it's the latter, you're wrong. If it's the former, well, I'm just glad that they've gotten to the point that a non-judgmental relationship can be portrayed in a game. Should I hate the characters because they may be attractive? I don't, because I have other things to think of, as there are some really pretty women out there who like women, just like the game. posted by Zack_Replica at 1:27 PM on May 17, 2011 This has been years in the making. I worked on a 2006-7 series about the history of games for Discovery and Rockstar was working on it then. I wonder if I have the trailer they sent out back then. posted by Ideefixe at 1:32 PM on May 17, 2011 I've played a few hours, and I'm enjoying it so far. Then again, I've been following it for years, so I know not to expect nonstop action as the marketing implies. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be pissed off, but hopefully enough people "get it" so it doesn't go down in history as a disappointment. I highly recommend trying the black and white graphics option though. The colours are nice, but black and white really amps up the classic noir feel. posted by yellowbinder at 1:36 PM on May 17, 2011 Has anybody played it? Playing it right now (taking a break to read email). I am only a few missions in but so far it is how you described. Scour the alleyway or sidewalk for clues, use the clues to prove the suspect or witness is lying. There have been a couple chases and a shootout so they are mixing it up pretty well. Trying not to run over any pedestrians or crash into anything, and getting stuck in traffic is pretty nerve wracking. And I really miss the route on the mini-map like in GTA4 or Saints Row, I keep trying to take shortcuts and driving on to railroad tracks or culverts and getting stuck in dead ends. I just switched over to black & white to check it out. I really wish there were environment options to make it rain all the time, or even better yet make it night all the time posted by Ad hominem at 1:37 PM on May 17, 2011 What is? The relationship between a female Shepard and Liara as portrayed in ME, or my comment on it? The fact that it didn't guy ranting on the message board about the gay relationship in Dragon Age wasn't bothered by it. Trying not to run over any pedestrians or crash into anything, and getting stuck in traffic is pretty nerve wracking. What happens when you run over pedestrians? From what I understand it negatively affects your case rating. I haven't killed any yet, they do a pretty good job of jumping out of the way, but it is only a matter of time. And I can avoid Halo (or Call of Duty or any other mega-popular FPS where thirteen- to seventeen-year olds tend to congregate) and still enjoy Live/PSN/Steam. I've had plenty of friendly Uno/Tekken 6/Civ etc. games where I wasn't called names. It sucks to play with a mob by assholes, I agree, but that still doesn't make it representative of gamer culture any more than 4chan is a good sampling of what Metafilter is like. La Noire? So it's a French game? posted by Theta States at 2:10 PM on May 17, 2011 You know how I said they were stupid about it for the first two games? Part of that stupidity is Casey Hudson claiming that Liara/Femshep doesn't count as same-sex because Asari aren't really female. posted by kmz at 2:12 PM on May 17, 2011 I think it is important to note that this is hardly Carolyn Petit's first video review, a cursory search on the web shows she has done at least ten before this one, including appearances on other GameSpot shows. I believe she has also been a reviewer for GameSpot since 2008. posted by tittergrrl at 2:18 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] You pretty much have it. For those who don't follow Mass Effect, the asari are a monogender race which reproduces by taking other races as mates and incorporating their genetic makeup into the asari gene pool. All asari children are asari. There's kind of an interesting bit where children asari/asari pairings are seen as second-class citizens, purebloods, because their parents and consequently them have added nothing to the overall makeup. So, ok, asari mate with everyone, they are monogender and bisexual but appear as female to all races, and in fact appear as variations on a race's feminine ideal to each race. So why? Why do they identify as female and use female-gender words to describe themelves? (matron, matriarch, etc)? If they can appear to each race as a physically-ideal version of that race, why can they not appear as male? Why, in other words, are male-attracted individuals excluded from the asari seduction that's necessary for the species to reproduce? Why have the asari evolved to exclude this group, and only this group in the entire universe? There is, sadly, not a great answer here. One is left with the overriding notion that Bioware wanted to include something resembling homosexuality in their romance options but didn't want actual homosexuality, so they settled for a girls-gone-wild variant with not-so-plausible deniability (as kmz says, they're not really male or female, so it's not gay, see?). Hopefully they'll do better in ME3, and in their future games also. posted by Errant at 2:20 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] Her first official review as an employee of GameSpot was in October of 2010, according to the post I linked to in the FPP. I had thought L. A. Noire was her first review where she was on-screen--though she has indeed appeared in various of GameSpot's other media--but I might be wrong. Nevertheless L. A. Noire is quite high-profile, and shows GameSpot's faith in Carolyn Petit as a video game critic and journalist, both on-screen and off. posted by PapaLobo at 3:42 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] Apples and oranges. You don't go to a movie theater to interact with other people. You are a passive observer of the entertainment on screen. You see, when you log onto a multiplayer server on Xbox Live, you're an active participant. There's a large chatroom aspect there that you can't compare to being in a room with people staring at a screen. It's also not comparable to being at a party, for instance, because you're not chatting with everyone simultaneously. People don't converse that way. No, online gaming is its own thing, and while many hang out exclusively with their own friends or guildmates, there are some who lack social awareness and manners and will indeed act like jerks to each other. But as cortex said, you don't always meet the reasonable ones because they've often sectioned themselves off. It's just irresponsible to, to be extremely cliche, throw the baby out with the bathwater. In this case to lump "gamers", especially online gamers into some sort of terrible monolith. posted by cmgonzalez at 4:12 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite] I pre-ordered it, mostly because I was wearing a fedora and had some extra trade in credits. Not sure if I'll enjoy the adventure gaming bits, but I loved Red Dead Redemption. If I don't like it the developers are headquartered about 15 minutes from my house, so I can give them a piece of my mind. Rockstar invited a group of 1947 LA bloggers to play the game and talk about its accuracy. posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:43 PM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] I'm playing it now, and I have some of the same niggling reservations about the game that Carolyn mentions -- it is frustrating to not be able to disable suspects in gunfights, sometimes the street crimes that pop up while you're en route are at the opposite end of the map from your story destination, and flubbing a case only to be praised to high heaven moments later is jarring. But: this game will, I think, change gamers' expectations of what level of nuance and expressiveness is possible in virtual actors. The interrogation system just flat-out WORKS, and it's a marvel to play. Knowing a guy is lying but not being able to back it up with hard evidence is incredibly frustrating, in a good way. Picking over crime scenes for clues, even with the controller rumble hints and musical cues, is satisfying and appropriately ambiguous, especially when you find an unexpected clue that you can trot out later to incriminate a lying suspect. I've yet to play through a case perfectly (meaning finding every clue and correctly branching every interrogation). LA Noire (I wonder about the 'e' -- is it because LA is a Lady? Whatever.) is at heart an updated point-and-click adventure game. That's a good thing. The shooting and car chases have been pushed to the periphery of gameplay, and the heart of the game is the slow, deliberative process of investigating, interrogating, and building a case. That's a pretty bold move. It's not an endless string of cutscenes masquerading as a game, though -- there are regular cutscenes, sure, but none of the put-down-the-controller -and-go-make-a-sandwich 5-minute-long abuse you find in a Metal Gear or Final Fantasy game. LA Noire keep you engaged, keeps you guessing, keeps you thinking. I'm far enough into now that I'm beginning to see plot threads winding together, and decisions from previous cases are starting to haunt me. It's an exhilarating feeling to have about a video game. It's also nice to play a game that treats you as an adult. This game deals with death, and sex, and deceit, and desperation, and it's never played for cheap laughs. Violence is ugly and brutal. Suspects lie to save their skin and they lie for stupid, sad reasons -- just like real people. There are moments of shocking racism and misogyny but that was as much a part of the fabric of late-40s LA as gleaming chrome and felt fedoras. This game will be praised, I suspect, for the tech it uses to leap the Uncanny Valley and present genuinely realistic, readable, facial expressions. And that is really amazing stuff. But that tech is in service of a story. A good story. A story you feel invested in, a story that doesn't assume the worst about the people on the other end of the controller. That, to me is the achievement. posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:44 PM on May 17, 2011 [3 favorites] My logic is that if Rockstar has faith in Team Bondi than I can put aside my prejudice and believe in that faith, if that makes sense. Which it probably doesn't. I did idly wonder if this was a sequel to Discworld Noir. posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:56 PM on May 17, 2011 Agreed, I'm really liking the interrogation system. There are a couple things bothering me though, the street crime missions have been popping up all the damn time. I like the street crime missions, they give me a reason to turn on the siren and drive like a maniac, but the missions themselves are so easy, either chase the guy on foot, or shoot it out. The shootouts are bordering on absurd, wait for the enemy to pop out of cover and blast them, the enemy AI is so brainless there is no sense of danger. Sure gunplay is not the focus of the game, but why half-ass it? I also managed to get my partner stuck and had to quit the game to get him unstuck, that is kind of unsettling in a game with no saves. The dun dun "omg this is some dark shit" music seems stuck on an endless loop as I drive, it is driving me insane. Okay I just finished Disc 1, so I feel as if I can give a better review than a first impressions. As the complexity of the game increases, the interrogation and clue gathering features get a lot more interesting. You might nit pick that at the end, you're just sort of guessing and doing a point-and-click, but that's like saying in a FPS you're just firing and running around randomly. The clues really mean something, and while it isn't Agatha Christie level whodunnit, it is pretty damn cool. It is not so much about who is guilty (though mystery is very much there), it is about gathering evidence and trying to pin it on people. Once I figured this out, the Truth/Doubt/Lie triage became a lot more compelling. As pointed out above, Lie is only when you have evidence, doubt is when they're in a lie but there is no evidence and truth is when they're not telling a lie. If you find the clues and do the right detective work, it usually is pretty obvious. If you're relying solely on whether the character "looks shifty" then you probably missed a clue. Again, I didn't get the grandiose novel impression I got from Red Dead Redemption. This is probably because there's not a real central plot. There is but I'm 1/3rd through the game and it is definitely taking a back seat. In fact, I couldn't even sum up the central plot other than there's a bad guy, probably from the character's past, and he's still doing bad things (also, I'm pretty sure he was one of the leader Vampires from the last season of True Blood, the gay one?). But if I had to sum up the game so far, it is like playing Law & Order with Det. Ken Cosgrove, and playing Law & Order with Det. Ken Cosgrove is fucking fun as shit. Here's the deal, the game is played through a series of episodes. You see a crime take place in a real film noir, everything is obscured fashion. Then you investigate the crime scene, interrogate the witnesses and flesh out who did it. Usually there's a chase or fighting scene, but that's just to break things up. There always seems to be a bit of a twist or at least a back story, much like Law & Order. Each short story seems to be getting more and more complex. At first I could just wing it, but I'm finding myself having to go to my in-game notes to figure out who said what, who has an alibi, who I'm catching in a lie, etc. When you interrogate more and more people, it becomes harder to keep this all together. So if you have your doubts, and you're finding it all much too simplistic, stay until the "hit and run" episode. This is the first one that really struck me. PS, to those who talked about Rockstar not having strong female leads: this isn't any better. It is film noir, and I one of the traits of the genre is a femme fatale who leads men to do bad things. This is a reoccurring theme. There's also jokes about hitting wives, and other Mad Men-esque bits, but Det. Ken Cosgrove always provides the voice of reason. I should mention, as great as Red Dead was, there were times I felt it was a slog. This has a ton of features that keep me from feeling that. As I mentioned before, you can let your partner drive, you don't have to do any sort of grinding, there's no money or other "open world" stuff besides the optional crime-in-progress stuff. I really hope this revives the adventure genre, I still have the last Gabriel Knight game in my drawer. Adventure is very hard to do without going into Sam & Max territory. posted by geoff. at 7:21 PM on May 17, 2011 [4 favorites] I have never bought a game for my PS3 (I used it for media) but I just bought this one in an attempt to unwind from time to time. I'm partially optimistic. I will have to get to know what all the buttons on the controller do though. Instantly recognized Aaron Staton from Mad Men and had no idea he was in the game. posted by juiceCake at 8:14 PM on May 17, 2011 Eh. I think it's irresponsible to act as if this stuff ISN'T a problem. Try reading the comments to the review- already lots of transhate floating around. And it's a bullshit dodge to say that it's just Halo or FPS games- try playing anything online that involves not a closed garden of your chosen friends. Acting as if it isn't a problem doesn't make it go away. But it sure as hell makes things unpleasant for a lot of us (women: 51% of the human population, homosexuals: 10% of the population, add in transfolk, add in people of color, and you get the idea). It'd be easy for me to say it was only a few shitheads if slurs and hate were shouted down or actively patrolled by the general gamer population... but usually the best response is people simply letting it slide. That said, non-action is basically siding with the shitheads, and fostering a hateful environment. It takes one asshole to say something hateful. It takes whole communities to stand by silently to make it a regular feature. posted by yeloson at 11:53 PM on May 17, 2011 [2 favorites] LA Noire (I wonder about the 'e' -- is it because LA is a Lady? Whatever.) It's because of Google searches, I would imagine. LA Noir is hardly free of noise as far as the marketing department is concerned. posted by jaduncan at 5:08 AM on May 18, 2011 My hope (unlikely to be fulfilled) is that at the end of ME3 the Asari are revealed to be using psionic (sorry, "biotic") mind control to hide the fact that they are actually a race of 180cm sky-blue vampire squid. Unless the codex already says this but I haven't read it because the font is too goddamn small. On L.A. Noire, it sounds slightly interesting but as police procedural games go I'll stick with Deadly Premonition. posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:45 AM on May 18, 2011 But it's more complicated than that, because unlike e.g. a conversation in a bar or on the sidewalk where the players all have some fairly direct physical presence in the situation, gaming chatter as it happens in-game (whether audio or text) is a no-consequences broadcast medium. We wouldn't have conversations in bars where everyone in the bar had to be blindfolded and bolted to their chair and everyone had a megaphone, but that's functionally what gaming chatter is. How do you shut someone up in an unconstrained broadcast medium? They don't have to shut up if they don't want to; if they're saying vile shit they're almost certainly not doing so by accident; shouting at them doesn't discourage them, and on the off chance that they are bothered by your shouting they (and anybody else not interested in the exchange) can just mute you as well. There are not any good, ubiquitous tools for short-term, in-game, ground-up social rectification of this shit, is the frustrating thing from a socially conscious gamer's perspective. Mute and avoid are about it. If the architecture of communication and player reputation and sanctioning were different in general, it might be more doable. And some centralized services do this better than others—a WoW server is a harder place to get away with being a slur-hurling dickweed than is a random Counter-Strike server. But at the moment there's still not an overwhelming emphasis in the basic design of these social spaces, and the larger the space and the more automatically a random player gets enrolled in a public game, the harder it's going to be for the folks controlling that space to find a way to overhaul the idea of what behavior is allowable and what is grounds for sanction without significantly disrupting their actual short-term priority, which is butts in seats playing. Which is madding from a player's perspective because where a company might see "losing 10% of player base to new policies" as very bad in the short term, we'd see "getting rid of the 10% of players who ever deign to say stupid horrible racists/mysogynist/homophobic/etc shit" as a fucking wonderland transformation into an adult gaming space. Setting aside entirely the question of how many more adults would be happier to come become regular players if the problem went away, natch. But these are two very different priorities, and the people most directly affected and annoyed by the stupid shit some minority of assholes get up to are not the ones in charge of the millions of dollars involved. There's no effective way, barring a fundamental and widespread spontaneous boycotting of their entire hobby by a truly gigantic mass of gamers, for the community to stop this. But plenty of us have expressed concern about, and done our best to refused to encourage the shitty behavior, and done some degree of talking with our wallets by taking our money to game experiences and social gaming spaces that are doing a better job of discouraging the shit. The folks who actually design and control the open social spaces are the only ones who can actually take direct control of the problem. And I'd love to see it happen, and I'm not totally unhopeful that we'll at least see progress on that as the years go by. But I'm not holding my breath for Sony or Microsoft or whomever to drop an aggressive social manifesto on their player bases; there's way too much money at stake to hope for that kind of reckless, wonderful idealism in action. So in the mean time, players who care will continue to do what they can to have the game experiences they love without the horrible gobshite intrusions they hate: they'll mute and /ignore and where available flag as abusive that behavior on public or semi-public servers that ruins the game for them, and they'll seek out private gaming experiences (whether local/boutique gaming communities like Mefightclub, or invite-only coop/multiplayer experiences with a friends list) so that they can know that their priorities are the priorities of the other participants. No gamer with a lick of social awareness is happy that there are loudmouth assholes ruining game experiences for everyone else. We're not complacent about it because we see it as acceptable; we just have not been given the tools to take a more effective approach to it than curating our own personal experiences to cut out the crap at a local level. The specific places where you see the bulk of the shitty slur-flinging and such are those social gaming spaces that are least capable of being communities. posted by cortex at 7:27 AM on May 18, 2011 [3 favorites] I feel like your comment makes a lot of assumptions. I've never said that this stuff isn't a problem. In fact, I've discussed it a lot. I'm a Hispanic woman who has been a gamer her whole life, and has a lot of online gaming experience. I work in a job that exposes me to a lot of this kind of stuff on a daily basis. I am quite intimately familiar with all of these things, including personal experiences of harassment and discrimination. I was specifically stating that lumping us gamers all together as some kind of terrible monolith is a huge error, and it doesn't help solve the problem at large of some people being intolerant jerks shielded by anonymity. I also commented on the comments on the Gamespot review above. However, cortex has already pretty much summed things up quite eloquently. The problem isn't simple. posted by cmgonzalez at 10:42 AM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite] dances_with_sneetches wrote: "LM Harnisch who is a perfectionist when it comes to L.A. history, was pretty upset about its inaccuracies." Actually, the critical 1947project game preview isn't by Larry Harnisch (who consulted on the game), but by cranky architectural historian Nathan Marsak, my original 1947project collaborator. (Who, by the way, will be talking about L.A. Noire's architectural representation of 1947-era downtown L.A. on May 29 after LAVA's monthly Sunday Salon at Clifton's Cafeteria. It's free!) posted by Scram at 11:25 AM on May 18, 2011 [2 favorites] I think the sequence starting from about 7:20 starts in Langers and then exits to Echo Park, but my history-fu is not good enough. posted by kagredon at 12:12 AM on May 19, 2011 Er, in the Gamespot video, that is. Finished the game. Wish I could talk about it without spoiling it. posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:50 AM on May 19, 2011 Yep, came here to say the same thing, I am about halfway done after another 10 or so hour session, totally blown away so far. posted by Ad hominem at 12:56 AM on May 19, 2011 As someone who can't really justify buying a PS3 right now (certainly not when I own an 8-core behemoth): They had BETTER release a PC version. posted by dunkadunc at 12:17 PM on May 19, 2011 I'll just wait for someone to post a longplay video on youtube... posted by Theta States at 12:32 PM on May 19, 2011 I just got through the first Desk. I'm not doing too well with the interrogation or investigation. Or the driving, come to think of it. But I still couldn't stop playing. Not sure if I'll stick with it, though. I don't have much patience for adventure games. Wish the hero wasn't so straight-laced. Loving it, but awful at the driving. I've given up on driving myself and just make my partner drive everywhere. The one time I've had to chase someone by car, I narrowly missed running over a whole mess of pedestrians and did a ton of property damage to boot. posted by juv3nal at 5:22 PM on May 19, 2011 Same. 10 years on and it still feels like driving in GTA 1 when I was a kid, where the point is that you'll go out of control and cause havoc. Started digging in today, and I find that it's not that I'm actually any worse at the driving than I was in GTA so much as that it actually kind of matters at all in this context. I've managed not to kill anyone but it's hard for me not to rack up some vehicle and property damage in the course of a mission. On the other hand, I'm loving the cars themselves, partly for being less zippy and partly just for the nice exploration of period styling instead of the modern gamut of the GTA games. The hidden vehicles are neat, too; the Scarab van is just a ridiculous and lovely piece of weirdness. I am also not a great interrogator. But I was also pretty terrible at Phoenix Wright, so no big surprise there. here's another long interview in the local press posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:09 PM on May 19, 2011 I pretty much just stick with the cop cars and drive around with the siren on all the time. It makes not hitting people a lot easier, at least until I have to turn. posted by Errant at 10:26 AM on May 20, 2011 « Older 24in60 \| Greetings, True Believers! Newer » "Gotta keep the chickens fed," June 23, 2014 In my experience, everyone lies the first time May 4, 2013 The Advertising Council of Liberty City, Vice City... September 12, 2012 Huzzah! February 13, 2009 Grand Theft Auto IV graphical comparison with real... May 14, 2008 rockstargames lanoire	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1073
__label__wiki	0.894712	0.894712	Protests for Saheed Vassell continue in NYC: “We march. We rally. It doesn’t change anything.” By Chauncey Alcorn Dozens of demonstrators angry about the Wednesday afternoon police shooting death of Saheed Vassell stood nose to nose with a row of New York City police officers at the climax of a tense protest on Thursday night in Brooklyn, New York. Vassell, whose father told the New York Times that his 34-year-old son had bipolar disorder, was shot and killed while allegedly standing in a shooting stance holding what police thought was a handgun. The object was a metal pipe. Vigil in Brooklyn, New York, for Saheed Vassell, who was fatally shot by New York City police on Wednesday night. Chauncey/Mic His death occurred on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, and less than two weeks after the high-profile police shooting death of Stephon Clark in Sacramento, California. Vassell was fatally shot in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. Bianca Cunningham, 33, a union organizer for Communications Workers of America and member of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, has lived in the same building as Vassell’s family for years. She had been at a ceremony to commemorate King’s life when she heard another black man had been shot by police in her neighborhood. “It doesn’t sit well with me that someone who was born in this building, who’s differently-abled, was shot,” Cunningham said while crying over the phone Thursday evening. “Cops always talk about having good relations in the communities. If there was a cop really close with the community, they would have known him. We all knew him. I feel like we failed as a neighborhood.” Cunningham was among the estimated 1,300 people who marched through the streets of Crown Heights to the NYPD’s 71st precinct Thursday night, demanding to know the yet-to-be released names of the officers who shot Vassell. That was hours before an eventual standoff when both police and protesters refused to back down and leave the street corner where Vassell was fatally shot on Wednesday. “Leave, piggies! Leave! Get the fuck out of here!” one demonstrator shouted. The sound of Jamaican dancehall hitmaker Vybz Kartel’s “Watch Over Us,” and NWA’s “Fuck the Police” blared from a car stereo, as the crowd continued to taunt the police officers, momentarily drowning out the chopping blades of the police helicopter hovering over head. “You’re only good at following orders and licking boots!” one man shouted at the officers. “And killing black people!” another responded. “Get the fuck out of here!” the first man continued. The chanting of “FTP! Fuck the police!” and “NYPD! KKK! How many kids did you kill today?!” echoed through the night. A platoon of Strategic Response Group officers stood stoic at the corner of Utica Avenue and Montgomery Street near one of two candlelight vigils for Vassell, who was Jamaican. The glow from the flickering flames illuminated a Jamaican flag and the pictures and posters baring his likeness. No arrests were made as officers seemed content to give the demonstrators space to vent their anger. The officers left the scene around 11:25 p.m. “Come on. Let’s go,” one of them said, before his fellow officers followed in tow. They walked rank and file down Utica before loading into vans and disappearing around the corner. The protesters erupted in cheers. It was the smallest of moral victories in a years-long battle over police reform in the five boroughs. Vassell’s name has joined a long list of other people killed by New York City police officers: Eric Garner, Deborah Danner, Kimani Grey, Akai Gurley and Delrawn Small just to name a few. Small’s brother, Victor Dempsey, marched through the streets on Thursday in support of Vassell and his family. He recognized an uptick in anger and said he feared the tension between police and the public was reaching a boiling point. A protester confronts police on Thursday night near a vigil for Saheed Vassell, who was fatally shot by NYPD officers. Chauncey Alcorn/Mic “Violence is inevitable at this point,” Dempsey said, echoing the frustration of pretty much everyone at the march. “We protest. We march. We rally. We speak. It doesn’t change anything.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1074
__label__wiki	0.925804	0.925804	Remembering the start of the Syrian Revolution Three days into the demonstrations, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad ordered the military to attack the protesters. March 15, 2019 at 9:00 am \| Published in: Middle East, On this day, Opinion, Syria, Videos & Photo Stories Hanaa Hasan In March 2011, as anti-government protests swept the Middle East, Syrians called peacefully for political change after decades of autocratic rule. Initially, the demonstrations in Syria were modest, but after 15 boys were kidnapped and tortured by security forces in Daraa for writing graffiti on some walls, they swelled, spreading to nearly every major city in the country. Three days into the demonstrations, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad ordered the military to attack the protesters, dragging the country into a civil war which has claimed the lives of over 600,000 people, spawned the creation of Daesh, and resulted in international interventions. As the violence begins to wind down, the hopes of Syria's revolutionaries hang in the balance. What: The start of the Syrian Revolution Where: Cities across Syria When: 15 March 2011 Following successful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, by early 2011 protests were gripping most of the Arab world. Inspired by what they saw on television, in Syria's southern province of Daraa, a group of schoolboys wrote pro-revolutionary slogans on a wall: "The people want the fall of the regime". The local secret police arrested 15 boys aged between 10 and 15, detaining them under the control of General Atef Najeeb, a cousin of President Bashar Al-Assad. The boys were beaten, electrocuted, burned and had their fingernails pulled out, prompting major unrest on 15 March. Three days later, security forces opened fire on protesters, killing three and injuring dozens more. The brutal crackdown intensified in the following weeks; on 23 March, Daraa's Al-Omari Mosque, which had been a refuge for the injured, was stormed by Special Forces and five people were killed. Weeks later, in the town of Douma, a funeral was fired upon as mourners gathered to bury protesters killed just days before. READ: The effects of Syria's war on health could last for generations By 25 March, protests had spread nationwide. Security forces were despatched to respond; they not only used water cannons and tear gas, but also beat protesters and fired live ammunition. Thousands were detained and accused of perpetrating violent acts, despite many of the demonstrators carrying flowers to show their peaceful intent. The rallies called for political and economic reform and an end to the country's 50-year state of emergency, as well as the release of political prisoners and the lifting of restrictions that had exiled Syrians belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. As military operations against civilians increased, on 29 July 2011, a group of army officers who had defected from the regime announced the creation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), with the objective of removing President Assad from power. As government forces continued to launch attacks on protesters across the nation, the FSA grew in number, and retaliated by attacking army bases and intelligence headquarters. By July 2012, the International Committee of the Red Cross declared the fighting to have become so widespread that it should be regarded as a civil war. The war escalated significantly in 2012 as a ceasefire agreement mediated by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon collapsed following the massacre of over 100 people in the city of Homs by government forces. FSA fighters launched offensives against government forces and armed Islamist groups rose to the fore. Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) also moved to expel the regime from the oil rich governorate of Hasakah after weeks of fighting. Violence escalated further in 2013, with the year ranking among one of the bloodiest of the conflict; according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 73,000 people were killed. Assad's Rehabilitation – Cartoon [AlArabi21News] In 2014, the Syrian civil war witnessed one of its most defining moments with the announcement of the establishment of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known by its Arabic acronym Daesh. At its peak, the group controlled a third of Iraq and Syria; it attacked the Assad regime as well as revolutionary forces, committed extrajudicial killing and ethnic cleansing, and enslaved religious minorities. The declaration prompted further global involvement in the conflict, with the US leading an international coalition to eradicate Daesh in Syria and Iraq. In 2015, the war took another twist with Assad enlisting the help of Russia to drive back Daesh militants and revolutionary forces. Russian air strikes have been cited as one of the main reasons for the tide to turn in the government's favour. In 2016, Aleppo was recaptured by the regime after years of a crippling siege and months of Russian bombardment. Chemical attacks have also been a hallmark of the Syrian government's operations against civilians. In April 2017 it launched one of its most deadly attacks on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, killing at least 80 people and injuring around 600. The incident prompted air strikes ordered by newly-elected US President Donald Trump against the regime's chemical storage depots; Washington also imposed sanctions on the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre for its role in producing chemical weapons. READ: Is Assad trying to silence Syrian dissidents based overseas? Later that year, Russia, Iran and Turkey started the Astana process with the objective of reducing violence and creating a framework to work towards a political solution. In May 2017, the three countries and representatives of the regime and the opposition agreed to create "de-escalation zones" in four key rebel strongholds in Syria. Whilst the ceasefire held initially, by the end of the year the government had conducted several military campaigns against opposition territories and in 2018 besieged and recaptured Homs, Ghouta and Daraa, leaving Idlib as the last revolutionary bastion. Meanwhile Turkish frustrations over America's backing for Kurdish groups in Syria allied, said Turkey, with proscribed terrorist groups came to a head following a referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan, with Kurdish groups in Syria calling for similar autonomy. In 2018, Ankara undertook a ground offensive against the YPG as part of "Operation Olive Branch", securing Afrin and northern areas west of the River Euphrates. Turkey has expressed a desire to move further west into Manbij, a move that has been rejected by Kurdish groups and their Western backers. In recent months the US has zeroed in on the last Daesh-held territory in the eastern province of Deir Ez-Zor, reducing the group's presence to just one small town of Baghouz. With the operation set to end imminently, the fate of the thousands of fighters and their families has proved increasingly controversial for countries around the world whose nationals went to Syria in support of the extremist group. Wounded children are taken to hospital after the Assad Regime attacked Idlib, Syria on 16 February 2019 [Enes Diyab/Anadolu Agency] With the Syrian government once again in control of some 60 per cent of the country, President Assad moved in September to launch an offensive on the last opposition stronghold of Idlib. His plans were halted, though, after Russia and Turkey moved to sign a demilitarisation agreement in Sochi, with joint patrols on the border. However, air strikes in the Hama countryside and rural Idlib have continued; around 100 people have been killed in bombing campaigns since the deal was signed. Despite this setback, with the violence winding down the Assad regime has been keen to present itself as the victor of the conflict, meeting with regional leaders and expressing the President's keenness for Syria to be readmitted to the Arab League. Assad has also called for refugees to return home, despite the ongoing reports of reprisals against supporters of the revolution, with hundreds facing arbitrary arrests, forced conscription and repossession of their properties. However, Syrians within and beyond their country emphasise that they will not accept an ugly peace, and have called instead for the international community to hold Bashar Al-Assad to account. With some 14,000 Syrians killed in detention, and a further 82,000 "disappeared", as well as six million refugees outside the country, there is a mass of evidence proving that the government in Damascus has committed war crimes with, it seems, impunity. Nevertheless, as people around the world mark the eighth anniversary of the revolution, the dream of justice and freedom lives on. Middle EastOn this dayOpinionSyriaVideos & Photo Stories	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1077
__label__wiki	0.826035	0.826035	A year in review: will 2020 be a game changer in Palestine? December 27, 2019 at 3:52 pm \| Published in: Article, Asia & Americas, BDS, International Organisations, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Palestine, US Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump posters are seen ahead of the General elections in Jerusalem on 16 September 2019 [Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Anadolu Agency] Dr Ramzy Baroud RamzyBaroud This has been a defining year for Palestine and Israel. Despite the usual political stagnation of the Palestinian leadership, two factors contributed to making 2019 particularly eventful and, looking ahead, consequential as well: The unprecedented political power struggle in Israel, and the total US retreat from its own self-proclaimed role as an "honest peace broker". Since his first day in office, US President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to embrace fully the right-wing agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Although the process started earlier, 2019 has witnessed the complete collapse of traditional US foreign policy which was, for nearly three decades, predicated on the principle of a negotiated political solution. This year delivered the final American assault on Palestinian rights. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve 2019, the US officially quit the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), accusing the global institution of "anti-Israeli bias". The US government has contributed over 22 per cent to UNESCO's budget. Among other things, the American action was meant as a warning to the Palestinian leadership and its allies that Washington was ready and willing to use its financial and political muscle to suppress any criticism of Israel. Washington's threats, however, failed to deliver the desired outcomes. On 8 February, Trump's top adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in the Middle East to promote his so-called "deal of the century", a strategy that revolved around the creation of an alternative political paradigm to replace the defunct "peace process". READ: The implementation of the deal of the century continues but must be rejected US punitive measures continued. On 4 March, the US shut down its Consulate in Jerusalem, now that it had a fully operational embassy in the city. The act was intended to downgrade the US mission in Palestine, and thus the diplomatic relationship with the Palestinian Authority. A few days later, on 14 March, the US dropped the term "occupied territories" when referring to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in its annual human rights report. This measure was understood, and rightly so, as a prelude to a future US recognition of Israel's sovereignty over occupied Palestinian land. On 18 November, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, duly declared that illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem are "consistent" with international law. Although Washington seemed determined to send a clear message to both Tel Aviv and Ramallah that past policies have been reversed for good, it was still unable to articulate clearly an alternative political agenda. The once-hyped "deal of the century" discourse slowly faded from the Middle East political scene. Initially, the sidelining of the "deal" took place in anticipation of the outcomes of two general elections in Israel, which were held in April and September. However, over time, it was becoming clearer that Trump's "deal" had no chance of success. One sign of trouble in the US "peace-making" efforts was the resignation of the top US Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt, on 5 September. Greenblatt, who was one of the three main advocates of Washington's new Middle East policy — the others being Kushner and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman — did much damage before his abrupt exit. Shortly before his return to Washington, he declared that illegal Jewish settlements are merely "neighbourhoods and cities" and that "people [should] stop pretending" that they "are the reason for the lack of peace." READ: Israel advances 22,000 housing units in illegal settlements over three years US pressure on Palestinians extended beyond the Occupied Territories, to include a crackdown on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS). On 23 July, the movement was condemned by the House of Representatives, in Resolution 1850, despite some stiff resistance. Israel fears that BDS has tarnished its image internationally, especially as the movement took the struggle of Palestinians to numerous international platforms. Unhindered by even a minimal degree of accountability, the Israeli government has even more of a free rein to expand illegal settlements, especially in the Jerusalem area, and to accelerate land confiscation throughout the West Bank. In January, Israel closed all schools operated by the UN agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in Jerusalem, further undermining any Palestinian claim over their city. A week later, the Israeli army expelled the international observation force from the occupied Palestinian city of Al-Khalil (Hebron). In March, Netanyahu was joined by Pompeo in a provocative visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, conveying another message to Palestinians that, in the words of Trump, "Jerusalem is off the table". This act was repeated on 1 April, when Netanyahu was joined by newly-elected right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The latter pledged to follow the American lead by relocating its embassy to Jerusalem. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on 1 April 2019 [MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images] In the meantime, the scope and frequency of Israeli violence against Palestinians increased dramatically in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip. Israeli army violence in the West Bank was manifested in the raiding of Palestinian villages, the frequent crackdown on protests and the arrest and killing of activists. Concurrently, armed Israeli Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian farmers and students, and raided holy sites. Al-Aqsa Mosque, in particular, was a hotspot of clashes between armed Jewish settlers and the Israeli army on the one hand, and unarmed Palestinian worshippers on the other. The shooting in cold blood at the Qalandiya checkpoint of Nayfeh Kaabneh on 18 September, a murder that was caught on video, symbolised the wanton nature of Israeli brutality. READ: Israel killed Palestinian civilians deliberately, so why is the UNHRC speculating about it? In Gaza, the siege and violence continued. The Great March of Return protests, a collective form of popular resistance, which began on 30 March 2018, carried on unabated. Every Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at the fence separating the besieged Strip from Israel, demanding an end to 13 years of isolation and economic blockade. In 2019, the death toll among protesters crossed the 300 mark. Thousands more have been wounded. The bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military, which took place on many occasions, was often justified by Israel as a "response" to rockets fired by Palestinian militants. The two most notable conflagrations took place on 5 May and 12 November. In the first assault, Israel killed at least 24 Palestinians, while four Israelis were also reportedly killed. The second attack resulted in the killing of 34 Palestinians, including eight from the same Abu Malhous family. No Israelis were killed. There was a clear link between Israeli violence in Gaza and the general elections, where embattled Netanyahu tried to convince his right-wing constituency of his ability to crack down on Palestinians and to protect Israeli towns in the southern part of the country. Netanyahu's often racist rhetoric and violent policies, however, failed to garner him the necessary votes to form a government, neither in April nor in the subsequent vote in September. On both occasions, the Israeli Prime Minister attempted to cobble together a right-wing coalition that would give him a majority in the Knesset (Parliament). His first attempt was crushed by the ultra-nationalist leader and head of Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman. The latter vote weakened Netanyahu's political standing, as his centrist opponent and head of the Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) Party, retired General Benny Gantz, gained the upper hand. An election poster of Benny Gantz is seen ahead of the General elections in Jerusalem on 16 September 2019 [Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Anadolu Agency] While the US and Israel seemed clear about their objectives, the Palestinian leadership sank further in its political stagnation. All talks of unity among Palestinian groups Fatah, Hamas and others faltered, especially as PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, who championed the cause of dialogue, resigned from his position on 29 January. Hamdallah was replaced by Mohammad Shtayyeh, a loyalist of the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. READ: Political implications of continued contacts between Abbas and Meshaal Shtayyeh's appointment, along with several other steps taken by Abbas to consolidate his grip on power, made it clear to the Palestinian people that the issue of unity is no longer a priority for the aging President. On 25 September, Abbas called for elections to be held in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, inviting all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to participate. Hamas agreed swiftly to take part, but not without questioning Abbas' motives. There were occasions, however, when Palestinians, regardless of their ideology or politics, seemed united, especially whenever Israel cracked down on Palestinian prisoners. On 21 January, the Israeli police brutally attacked Palestinian prisoners in the Ofer Prison and elsewhere. Many Palestinians were wounded in the raids. In response, thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza rose up in protest, and in solidarity with the nearly 5,000 prisoners held by Israel. Throughout the year, several Palestinian prisoners died while in detention, mostly due to medical negligence. They included Faris Baroud, who died on 6 February, after spending 27 years in Israeli prisons, and Bassam Al-Sayyeh, who died on 8 September. Elected Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar was released from her administrative detention — imprisonment without trial — on 28 February, only to be re-arrested on 31 October. Another example of unity among Palestinians was the collective outrage felt following the murder of Israa Ghrayeb, a young woman who was allegedly killed by members of her own family. The mass protests forced the PA to amend laws that granted leniency in cases of so-called "honour killing". sraa Ghrayeb: murdered for 'honour' In some ways, 2019 did indeed prove to be a game-changer in Palestine and Israel. It is the year when the Israeli government managed to achieve total and unconditional US support, while the Palestinian leadership was left largely isolated and incapable of formulating an alternative agenda. However, while Israel persists in its prolonged political crisis and as the international community is still unable or, perhaps, unwilling, to play a more fundamental role in ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine, 2020 promises to be equally tumultuous and challenging. A particularly interesting development to watch for in the coming year is that which will follow the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision announced on 20 December to launch "an investigation into the situation in Palestine". Expectedly, the US rejected the ICC decision and the Israeli government threatened that it would bar ICC investigators from entering the country. If the 2019 trends continue, the struggle among Israel's political elites is likely to deepen the country's instability. However, it could also pave the way for the long-marginalised Arab minority within Israel, and their representatives, to play a more substantial role in, at least, shifting the political discourse in the country from one which is racially-centred to a more inclusive and, indeed, more democratic system. While this may appear to be wishful thinking, given the deeply rooted racism in Israel, one can only hope that the destructive nature of its right-wing politics could also bring about the need for a major rethink. Time will tell. ArticleAsia & AmericasBDSInternational OrganisationsIsraelMiddle EastOpinionPalestineUS	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1078
__label__wiki	0.887181	0.887181	Ben Harper Switches to TELEFUNKEN for World Tour By David Goggin communication arcs Recording and touring engineer Danny Bernini has spent the last year traveling the world mixing FOH for Ben Harper, who had previously used the same microphone for many years before trying a TELEFUNKEN M80 dynamic mic. “It’s a whole new ball game for me at FOH,” says Bernini. “Now I have a really easy time getting Ben’s vocal to sit right in the middle of the mix and sound full and clear without having to hardly work at it at all. People continually comment on the quality of the vocal sound.” Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock. He is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and social activism. Harper has released twelve studio albums and is a three-time Grammy Award-winner. “The M80 has a clarity, warmth and richness of tone, while minimizing leakage from other instruments on stage,” says Harper. “The microphone is so good that I retired my in ear monitors and went back to using regular onstage monitors/wedges. The Telefunken M80 is a game changer.” “We used the M80 on his main vocal all through the Europe tour,” Bernini continues, “but when we got to LA, Ben asked if we could make the switch to M80 on the piano vocal as well, so now it’s M80’s all around for vocals. My personal philosophy is that if the singer is connecting with the person furthest back in the room, then we have the chance of capturing the whole audience and that’s when the magic happens. I want every person in the room to feel like the singer is singing to them. The M80 allows me to make that happen without having the vocal sitting way above the mix. I can sit the vocal right in the middle of the stereo field and have it sound big and full and clear without too much effort.” The challenge for a FOH engineer is getting a consistent sound while working in a different acoustic environment at every venue. Bernini explains, “I like the M80 because it has the clarity I need in the top end and it’s also tight in the monitors, so I’m not getting a ton of low-mids back from the wedges on stage when I need to push the vocal and I’m also not getting a ton of cymbals when the singer gets off the mic. I don’t need much compression with the M80’s — I have a gentle multi-band compressor and a little de-esser inserted, but that’s about it. Wherever we tour, it usually takes me about one line to get Ben’s vocal sitting in the right place in the mix. Then it sits like a rock for the rest of the show.” In addition to vocals, Bernini also employs TELEFUNKEN mics for the bass and drums. “I’ve been using the M82 on kick, floor tom and bass cab, M80 on top snare and M81 on bottom snare, which is smooth and flat. And I like a pair of M60 FET condenser mics on hi hats and ride. ” Watch Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite with Conan O’Brien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ZcLD9lpCM As well as touring the world with Ben Harper, Danny Bernini is also the head engineer and producer at SpiritHouse Recording Studios in Northampton, MA, where he’s produced records for artist’s like Martin Sexton, Ryan Montbleau, Chris Collingwood, Stryper and NRBQ, among others. SpiritHouse is a full residential studio focused on capturing records with an old school analog approach. The studio has a number of RCA ribbon and TELEFUNKEN large diaphragm mics, a 1974 MCI console, several multi-track tape machines, with Apogee convertors to capture it all and transfer to ProTools. http://www.spirithousemusic.com/ ABOUT TELEFUNKEN TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik strives for absolute perfection. By offering historic recreations of classic microphones alongside their own proprietary designs based around the distinctive tube mic sound, TELEFUNKEN has established a product line that expertly combines vintage style and sound with the reliability of a modern-day microphone design. TELEFUNKEN’s commitment to both the sonic excellence and quality of all of their products is rivaled only by their dedication to provide the best possible service to their customers. http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com Tour Profile: Ben Harper and Jack Johnson Justin Bieber Takes TELEFUNKEN On “Purpose World Tour” Ben Harper and the Relentless7 Tour Profile Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite Ben and Ellen Harper’s ‘Childhood Home’ Review: Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite Get Up (Stax) Ben Harper and the Relentless7 Tour Gallery	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1079
__label__wiki	0.72495	0.72495	DPA’s Microphones are Flawless during the Shooting of Shameless Company’s d:screet 4071 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones shine on set and on location while shooting fourth season of the Showtime hit BURBANK, CHICAGO, APRIL 24, 2014 – DPA Microphones was ready for its close up during the shooting of Season 4 of Showtime’s hit comedy-drama series, Shameless. Whether the d:screet 4071 Miniature Omnidirectional Microphones were being used on the actors during studio shoots or on location in the windy city, the d:screets remained stars to the sound crew. With the majority of Shameless shot on set at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, when the time came to start shooting Season 4 of the series, Joe Michalski, the production sound mixer for Shameless, and Mike Riner, head of production sound at the studio, felt it was time for an audio change, especially with regards to the microphones. While Warner Bros. Studios provides all the gear necessary for TV production through an in-studio rental department, the duo decided to turn to DPA Microphones, which has a reputation for providing high-quality audio and durable solutions. “We’d always read good things about the reliability of DPA Microphones and, of course, the clarity and the consistency of the sound of the products,” says Michalski. “We did 12 episodes in Season 4, during which we used eight of the d:screet 4071 mics. I never once experienced a problem with them. With our previous microphones, we noticed that over time the sound started to become different from one to the next, so sometimes we had to use the worst ones just to make sure we had a consistent sound. With the d:screets, I could be using 20 different mics and they all sound exactly the same. That is a definite highlight for me.” Despite the frequent use of the d:screets, they continued to shine as an ideal solution by standing up to the heavy wear and tear. Additionally, since Shameless is shot with two handheld cameras at cross angles, there is a large dependence on wide angle shots. Due to the increase in speed at which the camera lenses are moved, the light that is captured during shooting can come from any direction, which would result in shadows being cast by traditional boom microphones. To overcome this obstacle, the production team decided early on to use lavalier mics during filming. With the DPA d:screet, the crew has a very adaptable mic that can be hidden in every scene, while still shooting without challenge of shadows. “It’s hard to hide the boom and boom shadows that appear during shooting,” says Michalski. “That’s why everybody relies on the consistent sound from the d:screet 4071. It has more fidelity and much more of a full sound. I just went into a sound mix session and the post production guys were saying, ‘Wow, this sounds really great, you must have had the boom mic right in there.’ I had to tell them that with the way we shoot Shameless, the boom mics can hardly get close enough to be used. It’s a great thing when you can fool the editing guys.” In order to conceal the microphones, yet still have a similar benefit as using a boom mic, the d:screet 4071’s were usually hidden on a piece of the actors’ clothing. This is possible because of the thin diameter of the mics’ cables. Designed for use as a placement mic, the d:screet 4071 has a low-cut acoustical quality incorporated into the capsule to serve as a built-in pre-amp. It also has a built-in boost to compensate for the loss of vocals when placed at an angle on the actors’ chests. “The first thing that we focus on is making sure the placement is right,” continues Michalski. “I never found any issues with how to place the mics as the d:screet is great at picking up the actors’ voices from wherever we place it. Since the show is based in the Windy City, we have the benefit of being able to hide the mics in ski caps, which allows us to face them straight down above the actors’ faces. Other times, we put them on the chest facing straight up. For instance, we had a winter look this season, so the actors were often wearing jackets. This allowed us to put the mics in the center of the chest at a nearly perfect 90 degrees from the mouth, which gave us a very consistent sound.” In addition to dependable sound from various placements of the microphones in-studio, the d:screet, built with a resistance to moisture and extreme temperature change, performed strongly on location in the cold, windy and loud setting of Chicago. “We shoot about 80 percent of the show in Burbank and then we go to Chicago,” continues Michalski, who used a Sound Devices 788T Recorder with CL-8 Surface mixer while on location. “This year, with the way the winter smacked everyone around, we were sometimes shooting outdoors in -10 degree temps, with the wind chill. But we never had any issues with the mics.” To protect the d:screet from the wind, the sound crew would cover up the mic heads, but the audio performed consistently in the extreme weather conditions. “There were times when my hands and head were freezing, and my headset didn’t work very well,” recalls Michalski. “But, I’d get back to the hotel at the end of the night and play back the audio and I’d realize that the recording still sounded great and was something that the editors could actually use. In past experiences, shooting in Chicago served as a challenge. This was especially true around the L-Train, which also creates a lot of added noise, but I think the d:screet helped cut most of that out.” Moving forward, Michalski says he will continue to be an avid DPA Microphones user. “It was our first experience with DPA this year,” he adds. “I don’t see the possibility of looking anywhere else for another lavalier mic. In fact, after my experiences this season, I plan to switch my personal mic supply over to DPA. I did a shoot recently during which the d:screets weren’t at my disposal. After my ears had heard the DPA Microphone quality for 12 episodes straight on Shameless, it was as if my ears had taken a step down. The microphones I used just lacked the overall fullness of the sound that I’m now used to with the d:screet.” Based on a British comedy by the same title, Shameless focuses on the dysfunctional Gallagher family from Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood whose patriarch, Frank (portrayed by Oscar®-nominated William H. Macy), is a proud single father of six smart, industrious and independent children who might be better off without him. When he’s not at the bar, he’s passed on the floor while his kids learn to grow up in spite of him. Kansas City born, Michalski has worked as a boom operator and sound production mixer on various projects for the more than 20 years. His recent work includes, Jane By Design, Sons of Anarchy, Suburgatory, The Mindy Project, Without a Trace and Grey’s Anatomy. ABOUT DPA: DPA Microphones is the leading Danish Professional Audio manufacturer of high-quality condenser microphone solutions for professional applications. DPA’s ultimate goal is to always provide its customers with the absolute finest possible microphone solutions for all its markets, which include live sound, installation, recording, theatre and broadcast. When it comes to the design process, DPA takes no shortcuts. Nor does the company compromise on its manufacturing process, which is done at the DPA factory in Denmark. As a result, DPA’s products are globally praised for their exceptional clarity and transparency, unparalleled specifications, supreme reliability and, above all, pure, uncolored and undistorted sound. For more information on DPA Microphones, please visit www.dpamicrophones.com. DPA Microphones is In Sync with Natalie Merchant Katie Melua’s Stunning Sound Is Perfectly Captured By DPA Microphones A DPA! A DPA! My Kingdom For A DPA! DPA Microphones Features Its Sought After Broadcast Microphones at NAB 2016 The Neutrality of DPA Microphones Helps Capture Pianist Helena Basilova’s Rich, Velvety Sound DPA Microphones Deliver Freedom of Movement to Raymond Gubbay’s Opera Singers DPA Microphones Keeps Pace with Dancing With the	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1080
__label__wiki	0.591051	0.591051	PROFESSIONAL WIRELESS SYSTEMS OFFERS CHAMPION-CALIBER FREQUENCY COORDINATION FOR 2013 NBA FINALS On-Site Technical Expertise Ensures Solid RF Coverage for 9th Consecutive Championship Series MIAMI, JUNE 21, 2013—When game one of the 2013 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs tipped off at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a Masque Sound Company, and experts in supplying and supporting wireless systems for live and broadcast events, was courtside, coordinating RF for the more than 250 frequencies in use at the championship series. This marks the ninth straight time PWS has managed the frequencies for the Finals. This year, PWS’ team on the ground included Jim Van Winkle John Garrido and Larry Myhre, who worked closely with the team venues—the American Airlines Arena in Miami (Miami Heat) and the AT&T Center in San Antonio (San Antonio Spurs)—to ensure zero frequency interference throughout the course of each game. “Familiarity is a key factor in making frequency coordination work,” says Van Winkle, general manager, PWS. “Since this is the third consecutive year the Miami Heat have made it to the Finals, we had the advantage of already being familiar with their arena. And although it’s been eight years since the Spurs were in the championship, we have been in their building as well, so that also made it easier for us.” For the seven game series, PWS also collaborated with the networks broadcasting the games, along with the local Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) coordinators, to get the local contacts and information they needed at each venue. This way, they could ensure they had all the necessary RF information for Miami and San Antonio. “People working the same event every year begin to recognize faces so they understand that we are there to help protect them from rogue frequencies,” says John Garrido. “Now they come to us if they feel they need a new, cleaner channel. While it doesn’t necessarily take the burden off of anyone, it is nice to be considered a familiar face after working the same event for a while. A lot of them will also come find us when they see someone who is not compliant so we can go find them and issue them frequencies.” One of the biggest challenges the PWS team faces in providing frequency coordination is the sheer volume of ENG crews and news reporters that cover the Finals. “With more than 250 frequencies spread out all over the arena, it is essential that we stay on top of things, and find and correct any issues as quickly as possible,” says Van Winkle. “In the past, you could have a break in between segments. These days, there are a lot of non-stop entertainment performances that are part of the game experience, which makes it more physically demanding. There are more people with wireless mics than ever before and because it is live, so we run around a lot more to resolve any issues.” In order to keep the high volume of RF signal usage in check and to ensure frequencies maintain solid signals, PWS brings along its high-end portable equipment, including its spectrum and portable analyzers. “Having these tools is essential, as their portability allows us to chase down and resolve a problem as quickly as possible,” concludes Van Winkle. For more information about Professional Wireless Systems, visit http://www.professionalwireless.com. Professional Wireless Systems Sets the Stage with Wireless Equipment Package and Frequency Coordination Services for Univision’s Premios Juventud Professional Wireless Systems Frequency Coordination Puts the Full Court Press on Signal Interference at 2014 NBA All-Star Game PROFESSIONAL WIRELESS SYSTEMS’ FREQUENCY COORDINATION SCORES A TOUCHDOWN AT SUPER BOWL XLVI Professional Wireless Systems Provides Frequency Coordination for Super Bowl XLVI Professional Wireless Systems Frequency Coordination Services Kicks into High Gear for 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup Professional Wireless Systems Pumps Up the Party at the 2015 Billboard Latin Music Awards Presented by State Farm® with its First-Rate Frequency Coordination Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) Frequency Coordination Scores Touchdown with Arena Football League Spectators Professional Wireless Systems Returns to NBA Finals for 8th Consecutive Series	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1081
__label__wiki	0.828276	0.828276	THE RECORDING ACADEMYÂ® PRODUCERS & ENGINEERS WINGÂ® PRESENTS GRAMMY SOUNDTABLESÂ®: MWA! â€“ MIXING WITH ATTITUDE -A Panel of Experts Examine and Discuss How to Create Mixes That Stand Out from the Pack- SANTA MONICA, Calif. (September 28, 2009) â€” The Producers & Engineers WingÂ® of The Recording AcademyÂ® will present the 21st Annual GRAMMY SoundTablesÂ® in conjunction with the AES Convention on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, from 2:30 â€“ 4 p.m. This unique event, entitled “MWA! â€“ Mixing With Attitude,” will provide a close-up look at how some of the top producers and engineers create mixes that stand out from the pack with the power and personality to not only please the artist, producer and record label, but have excellent sound quality at home, in the car, on the radio, and on MP3. Translating the excitement from a recording session to its final mix is a high-pressure art form. This GRAMMYÂ®-winning panel work with both attitude and craft to create tracks that rise above the rest. At this special event they will share their tips, tricks, anecdotes, and secrets for success. Event Panelist: Chuck Ainlay â€” With multiple GRAMMY Awards, Chuck Ainlay is one of Nashville’s top recording engineers and a leading pioneer in the world of surround sound. He has worked as a producer or engineer for such diverse talents as George Strait, Taylor Swift, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Mark Knopfler, James Taylor, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow and many more. A partnership with Nashville’s famed Sound Stage Studios has enabled him to build his own studio outfitted with 5.1 mixing, resulting in award-winning projects from Dire Straits and Peter Frampton. Ainlay also recently recorded and mixed George Strait’s latest album, Twang, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200. Serban Ghenea â€” Serban Ghenea is a three-time GRAMMY Award-winning and three-time Latin GRAMMY Award-winning mixer. He has served as mixer for some of the biggest names in music, including Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Clarkson, Flo Rida, the Fray, Jessie James, Jewel, R. Kelly, Leona Lewis, Dave Matthews Band, Pink, Mark Ronson, Jill Scott, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Usher, among many others. Chris Lord-Alge â€” With an engineering/mixing career spanning almost three decades, Lord-Alge has worked alongside such artists as James Brown, Celine Dion, Green Day, Nickelback, U2, Santana, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Steve Winwood and more. Over the course of his career, Chris has mixed approximately 20,000 songs with numerous No.1 albums and singles to his credit. Tony Maserati â€” Maserati has played a pivotal role in defining today’s R&B, hip-hop and pop aesthetic. With more than 250 releases under his belt, he is widely regarded as a primary architect of the sounds associated with New York R&B production since the mid-90s. His resume includes working with Mary J. Blige, BeyoncÃ©, Black Eyed Peas, David Bowie, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and more. Nile Rodgers â€” Rodgers’ signature is on an amazing array of music, as a writer of some of the most influential and popular dance songs with his legendary band Chic, and as a writer/producer of countless hits for a variety of other artists, including David Bowie, for whom he produced the artist’s best-selling record Let’s Dance, and Madonna, for whom he produced Like a Virgin. Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards â€” the preeminent peer-recognized award for musical excellence and the most credible brand in music â€” The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs. The Academy continues to focus on its mission of recognizing musical excellence, advocating for the well-being of music makers and ensuring music remains an indelible part of our culture. For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com. Currently more than 6,000 professionals comprise The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing, which was established for producers, engineers, remixers, manufacturers, technologists, and other related creative and technical professionals in the recording field. This organized voice for the recording community addresses issues that affect the craft of recorded music, including the development and implementation of new technologies, technical guidelines and recommendations, and archiving and preservation initiatives. For more information, please visit www.producersandengineers.com. THE RECORDING ACADEMYÂ® PRODUCERS & ENGINEERS WINGÂ® GRAMMY SOUNDTABLESÂ® EVENT “MWA! â€“ MIXING WITH ATTITUDE” REVEALS MIXING SECRETS OF INDUSTRY GREATS January 13, 2020, Fort Wayne, IN – Sweetwater Studios, the recording studio arm of music retailer Sweetwater Sound, has just released exclusive in-the-studio footage of thrash metal architects, Anthrax. The video – shot by famed British music video director Nigel Dick [Ozzy Osborne, Guns n’ Roses, Band Aid] – finds the band energetically ripping through classics like ‘Madhouse’ in Sweetwater Studios’ Studio A, intercut with interview footage where the members discuss their shared history and working methods writing some of thrash metal’s most iconic riffs. The band partnered Sweetwater Studios and Shure last September to present a Recording Master Class that invited fans and recording enthusiasts into the studio to learn the art of tracking and mixing alongside the metal icons and Producer/Engineer Mark Hornsby. Shure provided all of the microphones used in the sessions, and the band tracked a selection of older and newer material, while sharing their insights and stories with attendees. For more information on Sweetwater Studios, please visit: http://www.sweetwaterstudios.com/ For additional behind-the-scenes videos and exclusive performances from Anthrax, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/SweetwaterSound About Sweetwater Studios Sweetwater Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sweetwater Sound, Inc., the largest online music instrument retailer in the country. With three world-class studios designed by Russ Berger and access to a greater diversity of musical equipment and professional audio gear than any other recording studio in the world, Sweetwater Studios is able to accommodate just about any recording, mixing or mastering project, no matter how simple or complex. With renowned staff producer Mark Hornsby at the helm, who has worked on many Grammy-award winning albums, Sweetwater Studios also has an exceptional staff of producers, engineers, session musicians and studio technicians. THE RECORDING ACADEMYÂ® PRODUCERS & ENGINEERS WINGÂ® PRESENTS GRAMMY SOUNDTABLESÂ® AT THE 131ST AES CONVENTION MusicBox Names Publishing Music Executive Jonathan Firstenberg as Senior Vice President LexiconÂ® Ships PCM92 Stereo Reverb/Effects Processor for Live Sound And the Recording Studio JBL Professional, AKG Acoustics and Lexicon Exhibit Technologies At The Recording AcademyÂ® Producers & Engineers WingÂ® Event, â€œAnatomy Of A Hitâ€?	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1082
__label__wiki	0.904123	0.904123	Stanton strains hamstring in 10th, put on DL Marlins calling on outfielder Ozuna, who will make MLB debut Tuesday By Joe Frisaro MIAMI -- Wins don't come more painful than what the Marlins experienced on Monday night. After rallying past the Mets, 4-3, in 15 innings in a game that lasted five hours and 31 minutes, the Marlins announced Giancarlo Stanton would be heading to the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. Injured while sprinting to first base on a ground ball in the 10th inning, Stanton will have an MRI taken on Tuesday. "We'll find more in depth tomorrow," Stanton said. "But any time you go down, it's not good." The Marlins are placing Stanton and first baseman Joe Mahoney, also with a right hamstring strain, on the disabled list. The team is recalling outfielder Marcell Ozuna from Double-A Jacksonville, and he will be making his MLB debut on Tuesday. The Marlins used seven pitchers on Monday night, so to add depth to the bullpen, left-hander Brad Hand has been recalled from Triple-A New Orleans. One reason Ozuna is getting the nod is because he already is on the 40-man roster. A power-hitting right fielder, Ozuna is batting .333 (14-for-42) with three doubles, a triple and five home runs at Jacksonville. He also has 15 RBIs in 10 games. "He's on the roster," Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. "We just saw him play at Double-A. He's looked good. Defensively, he's very good. We have a choice of outfielders, but right now, Marcell is the guy." Ozuna has power potential, and he is being asked to help fill the void for Miami being without Stanton, who was starting to heat up at the plate. The 23-year-old Marlins slugger pulled up and stumbled after crossing first base on a groundout against the Mets at Marlins Park. Facing Bobby Parnell, Stanton tapped a slow roller in front of the plate. In full sprint, the All-Star was thrown out. As he crossed first base, he reached for his right hamstring while tumbling to the ground. Marlins trainer Sean Cunningham dashed out to check on the slugger, who out of frustration pounded the ground with his fist before walking off the field. Off to a slow start, Stanton belted three homers in two games, including a pair against the Cubs on Sunday. Stanton, 0-for-5 on Monday, is batting .227 with three home runs and nine RBIs. "Obviously, we knew it was an injury that he was going to come back," manager Mike Redmond said. "We're enjoying this win tonight, but at the same time, tomorrow, the reality will set in that Stanton is not in the lineup anymore." Greg Dobbs moved from first base to right field in the 11th inning, and Chris Valaika filled in at first base. Earlier this season, Stanton missed five games with a bruised left shoulder. "We're bringing up a young kid," Redmond said. "We're going to let him go out there and play. Ozuna is an exciting player. Hopefully, he will come up and provide a spark." Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. He writes a blog, called The Fish Pond. Follow him on Twitter @JoeFrisaro. Read More: Miami Marlins, Brad Hand, Giancarlo Stanton, Joe Mahoney, Marcell Ozuna	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1083
__label__cc	0.743202	0.256798	Find Home Kitchen Savings in Local Foreign Food Markets Reader Contribution By Ruth Tandaan Sto Domingo \| 9/3/2019 11:17:00 AM Tags: kitchen skills, traditional skills, saving money, self suffiency, Ruth Tandaan Sto Domingo, Philippines, People who live out in the country, whether they are homesteaders, farmers or preppers, or even people seeking out nothing more than a simpler, more natural lifestyle, tend to be both prudent and keen regarding matters of the home. A part of this is searching for the best deals not only on food, but on condiments, kitchenware and other amenities. While working with one particular client, the author happened to need to make a stop to pick up a few items. What was not expected however, was the reaction of the client and the realization that then occurred. While it may be a foreign concept to many people living off the grid, those little foreign markets can be an excellent place to shop for certain items — even if it may be something of a foreign concept — so to speak. At the time, the shop in question was a small, Asian store where a few select items needed to be picked up in preparation for the arrival of a guest. The client however, was quite intrigued with these purchases and wanted to shop around some and look at some of the many items that he had deemed to be “of interest” and indeed they were, and for a good reason. There are a great many bargains to be had for the prudent shopper, including many items at substantially cheaper prices than can be found in those stores that offer bulk purchases, often without the bulk discount price. Sugar. Among the most pleasant surprises for many homesteaders are very inexpensive options for two of the most important natural preservatives known to humankind. The sugar industries are not generally subsidized overseas, certainly not in the Philippines at least, and brown sugar was available by the kilogram (or two point two pounds) for less than the cost of a single pound of the processed sugar in the regular supermarket. More amazing still was the fact that sea salt was available in kilogram weights for less than the iodized salt in the regular grocery stores. While further negotiations did take place under the circumstances, ultimately a deal was worked out to allow the homesteader in that case to make regular purchases for the creation of his own salt and sugar cures — not minuscule purchases — or savings for that matter. Vinegar is also another preservative that was available at a substantially discounted price, though this is generally sugar cane vinegar which is actually very nice for both pickling and in cole slaw, baked beans and a host of other dishes — including home made barbecue sauce. Some may even prefer the banana ketchup available in the Filipino markets, though this, like many new and interesting products, may have to be experienced before any new favorites will be discovered. The vinegar however, available in one liter bottles, may also come with a one liter bottle of soy sauce. While it may not be obvious at first, there are actually a number of creative ways to use soy sauce without having to make a salty mess out of any rice dishes, thus, these items may be purchased together for even bigger savings. Cookware. Even the women folk around these parts know better than to mess with the cast iron cookware of the house cook, but the Filipino and other Asian cookware can rival that same cast iron in some respects, while at the same time requiring substantially less care and maintenance … and being much more affordable. The two primary cooking pots in the Philippines are the Kawali and the Kaldero. The Kawali is akin to the wok for those who may be familiar with these devices, though with the addition of either one or two handles. The rounded bottom is ideal for a gas-top stove, but may not be so ideally suited for an electric burner without the addition of a base ring. The kaldero is more along of a saucepan, generally used for cooking rice or boiling water, soup or other items. These may be the same or different than the kaserola depending on the store, though locally the kaserola is made from much lighter material, more like a standard aluminum pan. The traditional kaldero and the kawali however, are made from machined aluminum, generally around one eighth of an inch in thickness. The pans are well suited for everything from dry-frying chili peppers and other seeds such as cacao or even coffee beans, or for more standard cooking. They never require curing, can be scrubbed hard with the steel wool if necessary and will generally last for a very long lifetime of service. Dry goods. Twenty-five and 50-kilo bags of rice are readily available for the price of a few pounds of rice in the regular stores. The Thai rice or Butterfly rice is comprised of large, full kernels of rice much the same as can be found in the stores. The Filipino brand rice on the other hand, tends to have smaller kernels, looking almost broken … and while it may not be as appealing to the eye, it does seem to do a better job of sticking to the ribs and not leaving one feeling hungry an hour after eating a full meal. In order to avoid feeling hungry after eating a large portion of rice with the meal, try mixing anywhere from five to fifteen percent of the clean, white corn grits in with the rice. Not only will this help to keep the person eating more full, but it also adds a very subtle but pleasant flavor to the rice. Remember the discussion about having to scrub out the cookware? While it is not often necessary, it can be a chore — especially with regular liquid dish soap. The Filipino dishwashing paste … yes, that is what it is called … is an absolutely amazing soap that will allow for the glasses to be washed even after all of the greasy pans and plates have been cleaned in the same water … and not even leave water spots on the glasses. The dish soap comes in a small tub, very similar to car wax in shape, size and appearance. This product makes an amazing grease-cutter as well, making it ideal for a great many additional uses … including polishing some metals. Unique and less available foods. Some markets also have a selection of fish that will be available for much lower prices than they tend to cost at the regular markets and grocery stores. The same holds true for shrimp and crabs, though user discretion would be beneficial in terms of shellfish when they cannot be guaranteed fresh. It is quite common for these foreign markets to carry not only the local varieties of fish, but many of the more common and popular international varieties as well, including fresh salmon and sometimes tuna. To give the soy sauce a little variety, try adding a touch of citrus to the soy sauce. Key limes are the ubiquitous favorite in the Philippines, but lemons work just as well. Use a small side dish, pour in a small amount of soy sauce and then add lemon juice to taste. For a spicier variation, break apart or finely grind a chili pepper of choice and add this to the mix. Granted, not everyone is going to be comfortable going to these small foreign markets to shop. Smells, sights and other sensory alerts may be triggered by new and unrecognized scents and scenes. However, while it may be both literally and figuratively something of a foreign concept to most homesteaders, those small, foreign markets offer some incredible experiences and even more amazing savings for the prudent shopper. As always, please leave any of your thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions in the comment section below so that they can be addressed individually, and perhaps even used for consideration in future articles. None of this work would be possible without you, the reader, and as such, your thoughts and considerations are the most important aspect of any articles published herein. Ruth Tandaan Sto Domingo has worked with numerous NGOs, governments and Indigenous communities in Guinea, Cameroon, Nigeria, Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia, the Philippines and Vanuatu to implement sustainable solutions. She is the co-author of Whole System Sustainable Development. Ruth enjoys “hyper-realistic” cross stitch and is working with her husband to build a largely off-grid and self-sufficient home where she will raise livestock and garden both flowers and food. Read all of her MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here. All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our Blogging Guidelines, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts. To learn more about the author of this post, click on their byline link at the top of the page. ", contenttype: "Blog", title: "Find Home Kitchen Savings in Local Foreign Food Markets", pagecategory: "Homesteading and Livestock", }, {wcapiVersion: '2.0'}); })();	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1085
__label__wiki	0.918399	0.918399	Mommy, What’s a Pro-Life Democrat? November’s midterm elections may wipe out some of the anti-abortion movement’s key allies. Tim Bower Pro-life Democrats come in two varieties: those who tout anti-abortion views on the stump, but largely end up voting with their pro-choice colleagues, and those—typically hailing from deep-red districts—who almost always vote pro-life. As abortion foes mobilize against “faux” pro-life Dems in November, you might think they were going to focus on the first group. But they’re really gunning for the second, traditionally the movement’s staunchest Democratic allies. We’re talking congressmen with ratings of 80 percent or higher from the National Right to Life Committee. In May, abortion opponents claimed the scalp of the first member of this pro-life cadre—longtime Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.V.). The Susan B. Anthony List (a pro-life political action committee founded to counter the pro-choice powerhouse EMILY’s List) spent $78,000 to help defeat him in the primary, and has pledged to spend a total of $1 million to unseat other alleged traitors to the pro-life cause. With most of those members already in tough races, and other anti-abortion groups embracing similar strategies, at least a half-dozen pro-life Dems could be headed for defeat this fall. The schism between pro-lifers and their Democratic allies goes back to the frantic final days of the health care debate, when Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and a group of other pro-life Dems dropped their opposition to the legislation because President Obama had promised to ensure that no federal money went to abortions. But pro-life lobbying groups—especially the powerful US Conference of Catholic Bishops—didn’t follow suit, as the Stupak bloc maintains they’d been led to believe. Instead, the bishops and other anti-abortion organizations continued to claim (falsely) that the bill would fund abortions. This deprived the pro-life Dems of political cover and, in effect, painted targets on their backs. Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the Catholic social-justice organization Network, says several of Stupak’s colleagues told her they expected that “getting the best deal possible” on the abortion issue would “get the Conference on board.” Instead, she says, the members found themselves “hung out to dry.” Stupak is now convinced that he was duped by the bishops and other pro-life groups that never really intended to back the bill. But that realization came too late for him and his colleagues—and perhaps for the Democratic majority. If all or most of the Stupak bloc members lose in November, it will bring the GOP that much closer to taking back the House. In the end, though, the political calculus of the bishops and other abortion opponents could come back to haunt pro-lifers. Stupak and his crowd have delivered for their political allies, and with them gone, abortion foes would have to rely on Republicans—some of whom are not solid pro-lifers—while facing a Democratic president and a more firmly pro-choice Democratic caucus. Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America, says fellow abortion foes have made a grave mistake. “The pro-life movement is going to lose, and we’re going to be responsible for our own demise.” Update, October 22: Since this article came out, the outlook for pro-life Dems may have gotten worse. And the battle over abortion has affected Rep. Steve Driehaus’ reelection race in a big way. End of the Line for Anti-Abortion Dems? Pro-Life Dem Driehaus’s Worst Enemy: Other Pro-Lifers Maddie Oatman Mollohan: A Danger Sign for Bart Stupak Dems? Suzy Khimm Bart Stupak’s Last Stand	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1086
__label__wiki	0.890131	0.890131	The New Dealers Family, kids, minivan—and drug dealing. How the recession has driven average Americans into the game. Tony D'Souza Photo Illustration: William Duke For some time, I’d been hearing stories from my sources in the interstate marijuana racket about law-abiding “civilians” turning to the game because of the recession, and so, armed with introductions, I hit the road to meet some of these unlikely criminals face to face. That’s how, on a hot evening in June, I found myself in Dan’s Northern California kitchen. Dan isn’t his real name. Nor are any of the names in this story, for obvious reasons. But his situation is a familiar, harsh reality for many Americans, as I learned while doing research for my recent novel on this subject. Dan is in his early 40s, a slim, soft-spoken former short-haul trucker who once owned all the toys: a used Mercedes, snowmobiles, Jet Skis. When they were both employed, he and his wife—a retail manager—easily cleared $100,000 a year. “We ate out breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Dan, now a minimum-wage laborer, tells me with folded arms. “That’s the way life was for 17 years.” Today, Dan’s toys are gone, sold to support an underwater mortgage. His wife, who kept her job, left him three years ago, driving away in the Mercedes. “She didn’t like the fact that I sat at home and she was going to work,” he tells me. “There were no jobs. I filled out a thing for the city, and 400 people were there for one opening—a garbage truck driver.” “There were no jobs. I filled out a thing for the city, and 400 people were there for one opening—a garbage truck driver.” Keeping the house has been Dan’s only real goal since 2008, when he was laid off. It’s a simple three-bedroom, two-bath in a prefab, working-class subdivision off the I-5 corridor. “I wanted my kid to grow up in a safe community,” he explains. “I have always made my house payment, and I’ve always made it on time.” But he fretted over things like gas prices. “My daughter would say, ‘Can I take your truck to the store?’ That’s 1.2 miles, which makes it 2.4 miles round-trip. If she went there once, I would not make it to work the next day. That’s how my money was. I’ve fought for it the past three years working two and three jobs. I’ve even changed my morals.” From his window, I can see the jagged outline of the Klamath range far off to the northwest. Surrounding those mountains is the Emerald Triangle: Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity counties—the heart of large-scale pot cultivation in California. In 2010, state voters rejected a proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Nevertheless, in the 15 years since they passed Proposition 215—the state’s vague and permissive medical-marijuana law—growing the drug has become more socially acceptable, local dispensaries have proliferated, and associated businesses have flourished like pilot fish on a shark. Mom-and-pop shops sell high-tech gardening gear and starter plants called clones. Pot “colleges” like Oakland’s Oaksterdam University offer “quality training for the cannabis industry.” An inexhaustible array of websites tout everything from fertilizer to legal advice and grow-room insurance. Pot prices have plummeted in California, in part because so many of the state’s estimated 1.2 million medical-pot users now grow their own. But with a bargain-basement $1,500 pound of “Cali outdoor” fetching $5,000 or more in Eastern states, there are fortunes to be made in interstate commerce. “Between the recession and the large amount of money you can make, there is just too much money involved not to do it,” Sgt. Barry Powell, head of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Marijuana Eradication Team, tells me. “In Shasta County, medical-marijuana growers have tripled over the last three years. Just off our aerial flights, what we’re seeing in people’s backyards is unreal.” About a year and a half ago at a wedding, an acquaintance approached Dan with a solution to his financial woes. “They wanted to do some indoor stuff, and no one had a place for it to go,” he explains. “I had a place for it to go.” The acquaintance was a veteran grower, part of a loosely knit criminal network supplying major distributors as far away as Indiana. “I’ve never smoked,” Dan swears, raising his right hand. “I don’t even drink. Even now, I will work wherever, whenever. It was a decision I made to try and catch up.” “Do you know how many people try to ‘black mask’ it and get as many buds as they can? It’s a fucking war zone.” He agonized for six months. Within days of his assent, a grow room was under construction in his garage. “The first time I got nervous was when they brought the lumber to my house,” Dan tells me. “They broke out tape measures, started cutting two-by-fours, throwing up drywall, insulation, plastic.” There were 10 lights, two AC units, fans, a carbon dioxide generator, and more than 130 plants. “It was way bigger than I wanted,” he says. “That I felt pressured into a little bit. I felt bullied.” One of the builders, a rural wiseguy I’ll call Rocky, told me it cost $12,000 to outfit Dan’s garage. “Everybody getting ‘scrips thinks you can just plant and you’ll get money,” he says when I visit his surprisingly spare apartment in Redding. “That’s not how it works. There’s feeding schedules. The whole room is wrapped in plastic—you don’t want bugs.” With outdoor grows, Rocky adds, they’re “picking and shoveling May to October. Then you gotta sleep out there with shotguns. Do you know how many people try to ‘black mask’ it and get as many buds as they can? You steal the tops off 10 plants, that’s six, eight pounds, and they didn’t do shit but swing a machete. It’s a fucking war zone.” The growers disabled Dan’s garage door opener and reversed the lock on the garage’s interior door to keep him out. The monthly electric bill, which they covered, shot from $45 to more than $1,000. Dan fretted that this might tip off the cops. The growers insisted that, with all the legal grows, the authorities no longer pay much attention to such things. “The way the prisons are packed, they’re not going to throw someone in for growing halfway-legal weed,” Rocky says. The first harvest arrived about three months later, and Dan was handed $10,000 in cash. “I caught up on all my house stuff, my property taxes,” he says flatly, with no hint of a victory grin. “I paid off a family member who helped with an attorney about the divorce.” The work crew is now preparing for a third planting. Dan is no longer in a money ditch, but the stress of hosting a criminal enterprise is wearing him down. “I’m standing here with a sick stomach,” he says. “It’s nice to be able to give your kids what they want, to be able to spend the time with them that they need, but the partners I have are greedy. They don’t want to work. I don’t not want to work. All of us have agreed not to tell anybody, but I’ve found out that there have been people here trimming, people in and out. I’ve never been in trouble. I hope they’d be lenient, give me probation.” He’s right to be worried. Growing or possessing small amounts of pot has been decriminalized or protected by 25 states and the District of Columbia, but the scale of cultivation in Dan’s garage remains a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison. And while California police agencies have been hammered by budget cuts, generous federal anti-drug grants have helped fill that gap. Last year, Powell’s boss, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, told the Wall Street Journal that marijuana eradication (for which his department received almost $720,000 in federal support this past year) is “where the money is.” Two days after leaving Dan’s place, I’m riding shotgun in a small car bound south for Sacramento, as the Central Valley blurs past outside my window. The commercial rice fields here are so vast they’re fertilized by crop dusters, which buzz alongside the interstate like gigantic, low-flying bees. My driver, Colin, is a well-groomed white guy who lives with his wife and kid near the capital city. He keeps his hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel, stays with the flow of traffic, and glances in the rearview from time to time. I’ve warned him, just in case we get pulled over, not to tell me whether he’s hauling a shipment. In turn, he’s asked me not to publish too many details about him or his car. As we cruise down I-5 doing the speed limit, he fills me in on his livelihood. “One of the hardest things is getting the stuff from point A to point B,” he says. “Everyone has the impression that if you’re doing this, you’re high or have a drug addiction. But if you’re driving a trunk full of somebody’s product, even have your own money in it, why would you want to be high?” “When my wife lost her job, it just felt bleak. I would only have ever done this because of the recession.” Colin’s no slouch. He has a master’s degree and used to teach part-time at local colleges. Two years ago, after his wife was laid off from her job, he was approached by a friend, the husband of one of his former students. “They were always going on trips,” Colin recalls. “I was always like, ‘What do you do for a living?’ He was always vague: ‘Real estate, blah, blah, blah.’ I’m not a dumb guy. He’s like: ‘We’ve known each other a long time. Want to make some money?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, what is it?'” The gig was transporting high-grade weed from California to far-flung Eastern states. Colin has since driven “thousands and thousands of miles,” he says, and gotten to know everyone from big-time dealers who “roll with guns” down to working-class guys with families trying to make ends meet. “Cobbling together a full load between a bunch of different schools, plus teaching summers, I’d pull in about $20,000 a year,” he says in edgy, rapid speech that hints of excessive caffeine, or nerves. “I made double that in a month driving East twice. When my wife lost her job, it just felt bleak. I would only have ever done this because of the recession.” The friend, it turned out, was a major grower and distributor. He taught Colin how to launder his earnings and promised no repercussions if he wanted to quit. “This came my way, and honest to God, at the time it felt like manna from heaven,” Colin says. Now he’s made enough money to have a stake in the product. “I can make $2,000 a pound taking it across the country.” He points to a shuttered auto dealership. “You see that?” he asks. “These are the times we live in. You could say I had a fallback career, but there are so many people with degrees. I’m past 30. If I start another career now, what am I going to start? A couple of years have gone by, and my résumé in my own field is not what it used to be.” Througout our drive, Colin engages in a conflicted self-dialogue. “I’m not a bad person,” he says. “I wouldn’t get into other kinds of crimes. It’s pot. It’s practically legal out here now. This fit my morals: We needed money; I did something. I feel proud of that. I really do.” “There’s a whole lot of people with lives and families depending on what I do.” To avoid arrest, he does his homework, scouring police profiling manuals and keeping current with the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s High Intensity Drug Trafïcking Areas program, which helps local authorities target stretches of highway where they think growers are moving weight. The feds are focused on the Mexican cartels, Colin figures, not people who look like him. If he were arrested, he could face up to 5 years in federal prison—or up to 30 in some states, like Louisiana. So far, though, he’s never been stopped. “You have to figure out how you’re going to do your plates and not stick out,” he says. “I don’t like Texas; Texas always has a ton of cops. I don’t like it, but—all right, here’s the truth: It’s scary. You’ve got to build a pretty good veneer around yourself.” As if to prove it, he won’t specify how much money he’s made (“a lot”) or what he does to his license plates. (“I gotta keep that to me.”) He’s also selective about which jobs he’ll accept. (“Sometimes I get a feeling, ‘I’m not going to do it this time.'”) And yet he finds it hard to say no. “I definitely think about taking time off, but make everybody mad?” he says. “There’s a whole lot of people with lives and families depending on what I do.” Late the following night, my plane touches down in Austin, Texas. The rental-car desks are closed, so I call Charlie. “Not a problem, bro,” he says. “I’m on my way.” Soon, I’m riding with him in a minivan full of car seats and baby toys. Like my other sources, Charlie doesn’t mention the names of funky pot strains, doesn’t romanticize the drug. Unlike them, he’s a bit of a stoner, but he’s in this game solely for the money. A Frisbee-golf fanatic, he’s the friendliest of the traffickers I’ve met so far. He’s married, with two kids, and he repeats like a mantra the notion that everything he does, he does for them. “I felt like I was going to throw up,” he tells me the next morning, as we sit watching Parks and Recreation. He’s talking about his latest layoff, in May, from an IT job. The family’s unremarkable suburban two-bedroom house is packed with stuffed animals and picture books. As we talk, his toddler wrestles on the living-room carpet with the family dog—an Akita. “My wife had just quit her job to focus on going to school.” Charlie’s recession story begins in Louisiana, where he ran a business producing records and promoting bands, taking home $80,000 to $90,000 a year. “When the recession came, people couldn’t afford to pay us,” he says. He lost the business, went into debt, and decided to move. “I thought we could have a good shot here in the music capital of the world, but we just became another small fish in a large pond.” “The first pound took less than five or six hours to sell. After that, it started getting bigger and bigger.” In 2005, he gave up and looked for other work, figuring there would be a market for a guy with two bachelor’s degrees in the sciences. “All I could find were minimum-wage jobs,” Charlie says. He sold retail electronics for almost three years. After the store folded, the family resorted to food stamps on and off. Things changed in early 2009, when a California friend offered to front him a pound of weed. “If other people were presented with the same gift of opportunity, a good percentage would do it,” he tells me later. “We couldn’t turn to our parents or anybody. If that wouldn’t have happened, I think we would be homeless.” A gregarious type, Charlie had a large circle of stoner friends. “My wife and I thought about it for a good month,” he says. “There were heavy cons, but once it got here, it exceeded everyone’s expectations. The first pound took less than five or six hours to sell. After that, it started getting bigger and bigger.” Charlie buys wholesale for about $3,000 a pound. Selling by the quarter-pound, he more than doubles his stake, clearing $8,000 in a good month. “Austin has lots of weed festivals,” he explains. “Then I can’t get it fast enough.” He spends the proceeds on “diapers, clothes, gas, rent, lights, food,” and college fees. He and his wife, Kim, both still owe on student loans—in Kim’s case a $600 monthly payment for a “useless” culinary-arts degree that a promoter convinced her would lead to a high-paying career as a chef. Charlie’s drug dealing freed her up to quit waitressing and pursue a bachelor’s degree online. Plus, she explains, “To give our kids the life I feel they deserve, you have to have money.” Charlie recoils when I ask him about expensive toys. “God, no,” he says. In fact, he hasn’t given up searching for legitimate work, recently “shuffling around spas for $7 an hour.” He worries about the prospect of a two-year Texas felony sentence: “That’s always on my mind. If you don’t watch everything you do, you’re going to go away, lose your kids to Child Protective Services.” But robbery is Charlie’s most immediate concern. After all, he delivers. “I’m having to transport it all the time,” he says. “When people catch on to that, you’re done. That’s what I fear. Luckily, I’ve never had a gun in my face.” “There are lots of people with the same experience competing for the same jobs,” he adds as we say goodbye. “If I could find the way to get out of this, I would. But it’s gotten me by so far, and I’m not going to stop.” Back home in Florida, I drive to a low-income, mixed-race neighborhood near Tampa to meet Tegan, a single mother and part-time restaurant hostess in her mid-20s. Like Charlie, she’s been selling California weed to survive the recession. “I only deal with marijuana,” she says. “I don’t feel like a drug dealer.” Tegan’s side job has allowed her to get off food stamps, spend more time with her daughter, and attend college full time. But recently, she had a major scare. Hard up for a driver, her suppliers said they would FedEx the next shipment. They’d been doing this for months, they reassured her, and the package would bear false names. “So it came to my address,” she recalls, laughing nervously. “And yeah, the cops came.” “The recession came, and I started looking for other options. Everyone’s an amateur in the beginning. And then you’re not an amateur anymore.” She’d taken her daughter to the supermarket that day. When she pulled back into her driveway, an unmarked SUV sped down the street, and two burly undercover agents leaped out. “They were screaming, ‘Do you speak English?'” Tegan says. (She’s white but has a dark complexion.) The men asked if she was expecting a package, and she said no. “I was really surprised by how cool I was, because I was scared shitless,” she recalls. Spotting her toddler in the back seat, the men lightened up and told her they’d detained a Latino man who ran when they approached. “They said he was saying, ‘I just do the lawns!'” Tegan says. “They assumed because he was an immigrant, the package was for him.” She let her suppliers know the delivery was a bust. Between hers and another abandoned shipment, Tegan estimates they lost $35,000 worth of product. “But nobody went to prison.” Later, the agents returned to say they’d released the man for lack of evidence. Criminals regularly send drug shipments to the homes of innocent people, they warned. But courier services flag suspicious packages, and agents stake out the deliveries. “We don’t tolerate the illegal use of our network, and [we] work closely with law enforcement,” explains FedEx spokesman Jim McCluskey. When I ask how the company detects weed in its packages, he snorts incredulously. “We don’t disclose that!” On the way home from Tegan’s, I’m struck by how, despite such a close call, she doesn’t seem at all eager to get out of the business. It reminds me of something Colin told me as we barreled down the interstate in his car. “Maybe I’ll go back to school,” he said when I asked how long he planned on doing this. “I don’t know. These are scary times. The recession came, and I started looking for other options. Everyone’s an amateur in the beginning. And then you’re not an amateur anymore.” Pot Quiz: Can Medical Marijuana Treat Color Blindness, Whiplash, Asthma? Weedmart: Marijuana Superstores. IPOs. Reality TV. A Hail Mary (Jane) for Legalizing Marijuana	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1087
__label__wiki	0.642399	0.642399	https://www.mrt.com/coronavirus/article/Health-department-schedules-all-200-vaccine-doses-15838763.php Health department schedules all 200 vaccine doses in less than 24 hours By Caitlin Randle, MRT.com/Midland Reporter-Telegram Published 1:26 pm CST, Thursday, December 31, 2020 Appointments for all 200 of the COVID-19 vaccine doses the Midland Health Department received were booked on the first day they were available. Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer A post on the city of Midland’s Facebook page updated at 5:23 p.m. Wednesday stated that all slots had been filled. The health department received the vaccine Tuesday night and began scheduling appointments Wednesday morning. Those who’d like to be added to the queue for when the next shipment arrives can fill out a form at midlandtexas.gov/forms.aspx?FID=159. The online form was created after the health department received an influx of calls regarding scheduling appointments for the vaccine. Whitney Craig with the health department said in an interview Wednesday that the phone lines were going “in and out” because of the high call volume. The health department received 200 doses of the Moderna vaccine as part of Phase 1B of the vaccine rollout, which includes individuals 65 and older or those with certain chronic health conditions. Qualifying medical conditions include, but are not limited to, cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease or cardiomyopathies, solid organ transplantation, obesity, sickle cell disease and type 2 diabetes. Pregnant women also are eligible to receive the vaccine during the Phase 1B distribution. The health department is expecting to receive an additional 200 doses but it’s unknown when the next shipment will arrive. Those who were able to book appointments for the first 200 doses will begin receiving the vaccine on Monday.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1088
__label__cc	0.714341	0.285659	Manchester, Vermont: A Pleasant Land Among the Mountains, 1761-1961 (Paperback) By Edwin L. Bigelow, Town of Manchester (Save: $5.00 17%) (New England - Vermont) This comprehensive history of the Town of Manchester, Vermont, was originally published in 1961 as a component of the town's Bicentennial celebration; a paperback reprint edition was published in 1981 and again in 2008 by Northshire Bookstore. A family-owned, independent bookstore in Manchester Ctr., VT, since 1976 and Saratoga Springs, NY since 2013. Northshire is committed to excellence in bookselling. The Northshire Bookstore's mission is to serve as a resource for information, ideas, and entertainment while honoring the needs of customers, staff, and community. United States - State & Local - General	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1097
__label__wiki	0.909109	0.909109	From American Eclipse to Silent Screen: An Early History of New York-breds (Paperback) By Allan Carter (Shire Press) What New York breeder was knighted by Queen Victoria? What father and son, both New York-breds, each won two-thirds of the handicap triple crown? What New York-bred was the first horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap and the Woodward in the same Year? What New York-breds, one a filly, were the first two horses to win the Belmont and Pimlico Futurities? What New York-bred, who was considered the fastest horse of his generation, was the grand-sire of the great Domino? It is hard to overstate what Allan Carter has accomplished in this book. He has thoroughly explored the world of New York State breeding before the advent of the New York State thoroughbred breeding program in 1973. Despite the fact that thoroughbred racing in the United States originated in New York State in the 1660's, scant attention has been paid to the early history of thoroughbred breeding in the State. It is a field that has largely gone unexplored by historians and racing enthusiasts. Allan Carter has changed all this. His research into New York breeding is both exhaustive and groundbreaking. There is a traditional adage in racing that "a good horse can come from anywhere." Allan has demonstrated that a good horse can come from anywhere in New York State. Whether it's from Nassau County, Suffolk County, Staten Island, the Bronx, or Delaware County, Alan has shown where the good New York horses have come from. It's not just the quality of the research that is impressive. Allan has blended the history of New York breeding into the story of the overall fabric of American racing in a most compelling manner. It is not merely a reference or an educational read; it is an intriguing read. Anyone who is familiar with Allan's work should not be surprised. Allan was for decades an outstanding reference librarian at the New York State Library. He is the author of two editions of New York State Constitution: Sources of Legislative Intent, arguably the most authoritative look at the full history of the New York State Constitution. After his retirement from the State, Allan has continued to work as the historian at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In this book, Allan has combined his passion for thoroughbred racing with his traditional meticulous research. The result is required reading for any fan of New York racing and race horses. - Bennett Liebman, Government Lawyer in Residence, Albany Law School	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1098
__label__wiki	0.79875	0.79875	Home » TV » True Crime Murder of Marilyn Reza by her husband, Dr. Robert Reza, featured on Betrayed Mon Apr 29, 2019 at 1:50pm ET By Angelica N. Sumter Marilyn Reza was murdered by her husband, Dr. Robert Reza. Pic credit: Monsters and Critics/Stock The murder of 47-year-old Marilyn Reza, who was killed by her husband, Dr. Robert Reza, is featured on the latest episode of Betrayed on Investigation Discovery. When Marilyn failed to report to her nursing job at her husband’s office on December 12, 1990, police officers conducted a welfare check at her home in Bayport on eastern Long Island, New York, and found Marilyn dead. Marilyn had been shot once in the head with a .22 high-caliber rifle, strangled, and her front door was left open and there was no sign of a struggle. Hours after Marilyn’s body was found, Robert arrived at the scene. He told investigators that he was away at a medical conference in Washington when he got the news about his wife of 22 years. Sign up to our True Crime newsletter! Robert worked as a pulmonary specialist and professor of medicine at the State University at Stony Brook. He and Marilyn had two children together. An investigation revealed that although Robert attended a conference in Washington, he left early and returned to his home. There he shot his wife while she was sleeping and strangled her with a necktie to make sure she was dead. He then flew back to Washington to establish an alibi. Sad cases Frank Spencer murder: Would you marry into a family with mob connections? Cathy Torrez was murdered over a hickey: Should Samuel Lopez have gotten life? Robert confessed to murdering his wife, claiming that he was under a lot of pressure from his success. However, police officials learned that Marilyn and Robert were having marital issues. Kathy Senese, the organist at the Sayville church where Robert and his wife attended, came forward to police about her six-month affair with Robert. She said after Robert told her that he wanted to marry her, she filed for a divorce from her husband. Claudette Ficik murder profiled on Betrayed: Boyfriend Jason Ragland dumped her body in the Oconee River Senese believed that Robert killed his wife because of their affair. Just before Marilyn’s murder, she said he told her that “if anything should happen to Marilyn, don’t feel guilty. I may look distraught, but I won’t be.” Robert was arrested and booked into the Suffolk County jail. He was charged with second-degree murder and held on a $5 million bond. He pleaded temporary insanity due to mental illness, but the jury rejected his defense and found him guilty of murdering his wife. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. In 2012, Robert died of natural causes at the age of 68 while at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in upstate Beacon. Betrayed — Prescription For Murder, airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery. Angelica N. Sumter Angelica N. Sumter is a freelance journalist who has covered true crime for more than 10 years. In addition to Monsters and Critics, her work... read more Latest posts by Angelica N. Sumter (see all) Dennis Rader’s decades-long killing spree highlighted on ID special BTK: Chasing A Serial Killer - 28th August 2020 Murder of Police Sgt. Roger Lamar Motley by Lynda Lyon Block and George Sibley detailed on Shattered - 23rd October 2019 Murder of Danielle Marshall by Joshua Maurice Gibson featured on Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin - 22nd October 2019 Tags Betrayed Murder of Suzy Goulart by Jermaine Holley profiled on Betrayed Russell Todd Jones murdered roommate Dena Raley McCluskey and bragged about easy... Enraged Heath Russell murdered Dorothy ‘Dot’ Finelli when her daughter ended their...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1100
__label__wiki	0.933739	0.933739	Madden NFL 2003 focuses on Sports and American Football gameplay, based on the NFL developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. The game introduces both Single-player and Multiplayer modes and it serves as the 14th title in the series of Madden NHL… read more SimulationSports Platform Links Videos & Screenshots Games Like Madden NFL 2003 for PC 79 41 30 25 3 1 13 16 9 9 14 7 3 4 5 4 2 #1 Football Superstars Football Superstars is a Massively Multiplayer Online, Sports, and Association Football Simulation developed by Monumental Games and published by CyberSports. It serves as the first title which enables the players to team-up with other players from all around the world and plays in a real-time PvP environment. During the match, the player controls one character on the pitch, and other players control everyone around the player except for Goalkeepers, who are controlled by AI (Artificial Intelligence). There are both national and international teams, players and clubs available from which the player needs to establish his team by selecting the player and choose the territory to represent his nation in the stadium. The game introduces two different currencies such as FS Credits and FS Dollars. The game rewards the player with FS Dollars as he progresses in the Competitive games and can purchase FS Credits from the official website. Football Superstars offers prominent features such as MMO, Micro-transaction, Be a Football Superstar, PvP Environment, AI Goalkeepers, and more. #2 FIFA Mobile Football FIFA Mobile Football developed by EA Mobile and published by EA Canada is an Action, Sports, Football, Single and Multiplayer Simulation for multiple platforms. The game introduces a new mode called Attack, in which you mostly play the offensive levels of a match. You also have an ability to defend the counter-strike from the opponent team. There are different mini-games available based on skills such as dribbling, shooting, goalkeeping, and passing. Several international teams available in the game and you can pick up one of them to present your nation while competing against another team in 3D environment. The game takes place in different grounds around the globe and introduces Season mode with multiple teams from over all the globe. In Multiplayer mode, the player can join together to build a team and compete against another league to show off their sports skills. FIFA Mobile Football offers prominent features such as Thirty Leagues, 650 Real Teams, 17,000 Real Players, Manage your Team, Attack to Win, Live Events, and more. Try it out. #3 Striker Soccer London Striker Soccer London is a Sports, Football, Single and Multiplayer Simulation developed and published by U-Play Online for Android, Windows Phone, and iOS. The game features all national teams and lets you select one of them to take part in 2012 Olympic Games. It has two different modes such as London Cup and Friendly Match. Up to sixteen national teams are ready to participate in 2012 Olympic. It takes place in the 3D environment and offers multiple matches. After selecting the team, you have to customize your players and jump into the game against another team. The primary objective is to kick the ball and struggle to score the goal within the time limit. The team with the highest goals will win the match and earn the gold cup at the end of the game. There is a chance for you to show off your sports abilities and impress your fellows. Striker Soccer London offers prominent features such as Two Modes, Three Level Difficulties, Sixteen National Teams, and more. Try it out, and you’ll enjoy it. #4 FootLOL: Epic Fail League FootLOL: Epic Fail League is an Action, Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football Simulation created by Lion’s Shade. The plot takes place on four different planets each offers different types of playing field. There are multiple teams available, and the player can select his favorite one to start the match against AI or other players. Using customization option, the player can change the appearance of his team by choosing the color of uniform, logo, accessories and more. The game contains more than sixty levels, and the player can use mines, aliens, guns, cows, and shields to decimate the competitors and defend his players. The player assumes the role of the manager and has to take his team through training matches, before being moved to a new planet. As the player proceeds, the game unlocks new gadgets, enhance the performance of the characters, and unlock hats and kits. Opponents may use the same tricks you do in the stadium. It has three different modes such as Multiplayer, Tournament, and Training. FootLOL: Epic Fail League includes core features such as Customization, Soccer Chao, Crazy Items and Tools, Four different Planets, and more. With the best mechanics and excellent controls, FootLOL: Epic Fail League is the best game to play. #5 Madden NFL 2004 Madden NFL 2004 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football Simulation developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. The game serves as the fifteenth entry in the series of Madden NFL video game focuses on American Football element. It features new owner mode, enabling g the player control his franchise. The player assumes the role of the club’s head and is responsible for all the things. Before starting the game, the player has to establish a club, create a team by selecting and rejecting players from around the globe, design their uniforms and participate in different tournaments to show off his power. The game features a training camp mode, which appears before the preseason lets the player progress as fast as he can by putting him through mini-camps. Up to forty playable characters available in the player including Nnamdi Asomugha, Troy Polamalu, and LaVar Arrington, etc. Madden NFL 2004 is the best sports game with prominent features to play. #6 FIFA Mobile Soccer FIFA Mobile Soccer is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Association Football Simulation developed by Electronic Arts. The game takes place in the variety of stadiums and introduces more than thirty leagues, 17,000 real-players and 650 real teams from around the globe. At the beginning of the game, the player needs to select his team and choose his stadium where he can compete against another team. The ultimate task of the player is to score the highest points within the time limit. During the gameplay, the player can join the league, compete several teams and conquer the world. It features online leaderboard, and the player has to raise up his rank by dominating several matches. During the gameplay, the player can communicate with other players using chat option. Take part in the league, and join the force with a friend around the globe to conquer the tournament. Unlock additional players, teams, and leagues using the points. With excellent mechanics, addictive gameplay, and wonderful graphics, FIFA Mobile Soccer is the best game to play. #7 FIFA 16 Soccer FIFA 16 Soccer is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football Simulation developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. The game serves as the first title in the series to introduce female players. There are up to seventy eight stadiums, including fifty real-world venues. Training Mode was included to the Career Mode, enabling the player to establish a team of footballers which he can manage without actually playing. It takes place in the stunning environment where the player needs to lead his team and participate in multiple matches to win amazing rewards. To win the match, the player has to as many goals as possible within a time limit and defeat opponent team to advance. It has up to 10,000 players from more than five-hundred licensed teams. In Multiplayer mode, the player can go against other players from superb leagues in arenas from across the globe. FIFA 16 Soccer includes prominent features such as Player Exchange, Real World Football Experience, Challenging Skill Gameplay, Manage a Team, and more. Try it out, and you’ll enjoy it. #8 Rugby League Rugby League is a series of Football, Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer video games developed by Sidhe Interactive and published by Tru Blu Entertainment. Rugby League is the first title in the series, released in 2003. The series introduces various national and international teams, players, and stadiums. In the start of each game, the player needs to select his team, customize the player and jump into the stadium where he must lead his team against opponent and struggle to score the high points to win the match. The player can explore the stadium from a third-person view, and use his kicking abilities to score the points within limited time. The game follows the rules of the football and lets you pits against rivals, snatch football, and take them to the opponent’s goal to score the points. As the player advances through the game, other features, teams, and players will be unlocked to play. Rugby League comprises various titles, including Rugby League, Rugby League 2, Rugby League 2: World Cup Edition, NRL Mascot Mania, Rugby League Challenge, and more. Try it out, and you’ll enjoy it. #9 Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football Simulation created by Pes Productions and published by Konami for multiple platforms. The title serves as the 15th entry in the series of PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) and features Neymar as its cover athlete. There are more than twenty-four stadiums available including Allianz Arena, San Siro, Estadio Mineiro, Arena Corinthians, and more. The game comes with both national and international teams, stadiums, clubs, and players. The player needs to select his favourite team to represent his territory and choose the stadium to compete against the rival team for the championship trophy. Using customization feature, the player can change the appearance of his team by selecting the uniform, accessories, and more. In the game, the player needs to score as many goals as possible against rival team to win the match. The player must effort to take down opponent team within time limit. During the gameplay, the player can control his team, play difficult shots, control the ball and score the goal. Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 offers core features such as Several Detailed Stadiums, 3D Gameplay, Smooth Controls, and more. Try it out, and you’ll like it. #10 Rugby 06 Rugby 06 is a Sports and Single-player Football Simulation developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports for multiple platforms. The game enables the players to as Ruby Nations, both minor and major, including many tournaments like Tri-Nations, Super 14, Rugby World Cup, and more. It introduces playable teams from which the player as to select his favorite one and choose the stadium where the player wants to compete against a rival team. It has various modes such as European Trophy, Ten Nations, Tri-Nations, World Championship, World League, and more. It has up to twenty-five tactical plays available, and the player needs to select wisely and progress through the game to gain experience and defeat the other team. The game is played from an isometric perspective and become tough to play as the player advances or win several matches. The primary task is to score as many as possible within the time limit and defeat the rival team before the time runs out. Rugby 06 includes prominent features such as Leaderboard, Compete against AI teams, brilliant Graphics, Multiple Modes, and more. Check it out, and have fun. #11 Adidas Power Soccer Adidas Power Soccer is an Isometric Perspective, Sports and Single-player Football video game developed and published by Psygnosis Limited. The game takes place in the stunning world and comes with lots of playable teams each with its strength and weakness. In the start of the game, the player has to select his team from available and choose the opponent team to compete in stadium. The ultimate task of the player is to score as many goals as possible against another team within time limit to win the match. As the game advances, further features, teams, players, and clubs will be unlocked to play and enjoy. It has multiple modes such as Arcade, Simulation, and Predator Shot. Each mode has a set of objectives that the player has to accomplish at any cost to proceed in-game. During the gameplay, the player can unlock special moves to perform and force the player to follows the traditional football rules. With superb mechanics, addictive gameplay, and brilliant graphics, Adidas Power Soccer is the best game to play. #12 Rocket League: Supersonic Fury DLC Pack Rocket League: Supersonic Fury DLC Pack is an Expansion Pack for Rocket League, developed and published by Psyonix, Inc. for multiple platforms. The DLC pack comes with 2 New Battle Cars such as Takumi and Dominus and introduces six unique Decals for each battle car. There are five new paint types, and the player can use two new Rocket Boosts in the game using DLC pack. At the start of the game, the player needs to select his vehicle from available, customize it using multiple options, do paint jobs and jump into the competition against real players from around the world. The game supports both Single-player and Multiplayer modes and offers enhanced graphics, improved mechanics, and smooth controls for a better experience. The game is the perfect blend of Sports, Racing, Soccer, and Action. Rocket League: Supersonic Fury DLC Pack includes prominent features such as 2 New Wheel, 2 New Rocket Boosts, 5 New Paints, 2 New Battle-Cars, and more. #13 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (also known as World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2012, abbreviated as PES 2012) is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football Simulation developed and published by Konami. The game offers exciting gameplay, revolving around sports genre and introduces professional teams, clubs, stadiums, and players from across the world. The player has to declare his team, club, and choose the best players to form a soccer team and then participate in multiple matches against other teams in one-on-one matches. The ultimate task of the player is to command his team in the stadium, perform various tricks and struggle to score as many goals as possible against an opponent team within the time limit. Like the previous installment, the game will be exclusively licensed by UEFA and selects Shinji Kagawa as its cover. It introduces the new feature, known as the Teammate Control System, where the player can control either during the play or throw in or at a set piece. Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 3D includes prominent features such as 30 Stadiums (12 Unlicensed and 17 Licensed), Detailed Environment, and more. Try it out, if you love playing soccer games. #14 Pro Evolution Soccer 4 Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (also known as World Soccer: Winning Eleven 8 International) is the 4th title in the series of Pro Evolution Soccer video game, developed and published by Konami. The game supports both Single-player and Multiplayer video game available to play on PlayStation. It features Thierry Henry as its cover and comes with more than seventy-two professional teams. There are lots of two-hundred clubs available and the game lets the player select his favorite one to start his career. It delivers new moves, tricks and depth gameplay. Now, the player can perform new free kick and penalty kick techniques using the smooth controls. At the beginning of the game, the player has to select his team to represent his nation, choose the club and practice in training mode to learn new techniques and moves. The ultimate job of the player is to lead his team in tournament, compete against several teams in various matches and defeat them by scoring the goals. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 includes core features, amazing gameplay, and brilliant graphics. Try it out, and you’ll like it. #15 FIFA 99 FIFA 99 is a Sports, 2D Scrolling, Football, and Single-player video game played from an isometric perspective, developed and published by Electronic Arts. The game is the 3rd installment in the series of FIFA and incorporates up to forty-two sides, as well as 12 different leagues and more than 250 teams to play a complete season. The game starts with the player selecting his club and team from available and jump into the selected stadium to show off his soccer skills to impress the buddies. During the gameplay, the player can set the tactics and formations, and he can be moved between teams anytime. The player will experience or view the gameplay from several angles and the game provides the player with a variety of animation than ever before. Now, the player can perform new moves, including close-control trapping and sliding. The main job of the player’s team to work hard, take the ball, and move toward the goalkeeper to goal. The team will win the match, who score the maximum goals at the end of the game. Try it out, and you’ll like it. #16 Bowl Bound College Football Bowl Bound College Football developed by Grey Dog Software and published by Viva Meda is a Strategy, Sports, and Single-player Football Simulation for Microsoft Windows. The game comes with detailed professional gameplay with the in-depth recruiting process and player development. There are more than 100 college football programs in more than 10 different regional conferences. The player can invite teams and can schedule matches. The game six college offensive and seven college defensive coaching philosophies available each with its unique strength and weakness. There are fifteen different offensive formations and 10 defensive formations available from which the player can select to develop his own. Using the customization feature, the player can change the playbook that can offer more than 350 offensive and defensive plays. It comes with detail information, development and evaluation system for players and the player has the ability to convert his players from one position to another. Bowl Bound College Football includes core features such as In-depth Recruiting Process, Detailed Player Information, Training Program, and more. Try it out, and you’ll like it. FIFA 08 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football video game created by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. The game acts as the marvelous title in the series of FIFA video game and comes with improved game engine, mechanics, and gameplay as well as new content to enjoy. It introduces fewer teams, modes, and stadium for Nintendo DS due to limited storage medium. A new mode is available in this version, B a Pro Mode, where the player can select his character and partake in the game with an option to change the character throughout the entire match. The player needs to choose his player from available and pick up his team to jump into the selected stadium to conquer the opposing team for trophy. In the Manager mode, the game offers few improvements from its previous titles and comes with new features, including the change to schedule training date, and more. More than 621 licensed teams, forty-three national teams and over 150,000 licensed players are available in the game. With immersive gameplay, superb mechanics, and cool visuals, FIFA 08 is the wonderful game to play. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football video game created and published by Konami for Multiple Platforms. The game serves as the part in the series of Pro Evolution Soccer and offers improved gameplay, several modifications, and new content. Unlike the previous titles, the game introduces the Team vision System, Off-ball Fluency, Tactics changing According to Situation, etc. The game comes with licensed teams, clubs, and players as well as stadiums and enables the player to assemble his team by acquiring the players from all over the world. Andres Guardado and Lionel Messi appear as the cover athletes of the game. After selecting the team, player, and stadium, the player is capable of jumping into the game to compete against another team with the similar task to defeat the player. Using the football skills, the player needs to score as many points as possible and struggle to reach the final round where the player will face a powerful team. With addictive gameplay, cool features, and brilliant mechanics, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is the fascinating game to play. #19 FIFA 2011 FIFA 2011 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football video game created by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. The game acts as the 18thmarvelious installment in the series of FIFA video game, and the title comes with new features, including FIFA World, Processing Pass, Creature Centre, Next Gen Gameplay Engine, and more. There are a series of national squads, and the game offers more than twenty-five leagues around twenty-four different nations. The game enables the player to select his team from available and jump into his selected stadium to compete against another team with the similar objectives like the player. During the gameplay, the player needs to command his team throughout the match and struggle to score the points. The team with the highest points will win the match and qualified for the next match with another powerful team. In the Career mode, there is an option for the player to be a manager, forming a team by selecting players, managing finance, and transferring players. FIFA 2011 includes core features such as Several Modes, Improved Graphics, Different Teams to select, and more. FIFA 16 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football video game created by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. The game serves as the first title in the series of FIFA to include female playable characters. It is also the first entry, in which players as the cover athletes were selected by vote, including one of the three women to take place on the cover. There are more than seventy-eight licensed stadiums available, including fifty real-world venues. The game comes with a training mode, in which the player can partake to polish his skills and unleash his hidden abilities to become the best player. At the start of the game, the player must choose his team from available, pick up player, and jump into the chosen stadium to compete against another team to conquer the match. FIFA 16 includes prominent features such as Active Touch System, Dynamic Tactics, 50/50 Battles, Timed Finishing, Championships League, the New Kick Off, and more. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is a Sports, Single-player and Online Multiplayer Football video game developed and published by Konami for Multiple Platforms. The game has both licensed and unlicensed leagues available such as Premier League, La Liga Santander, Ligue 1, and more. It introduces the intelligence system known as Teamvision that adapts and reacts to the player own gameplay style to ensure that AI controlled the opponents are always forcing and challenging the layer to change and thing his style of play. The game starts with the player selecting his team from available and partake in leagues against other teams for the massive prizes. The player needs to lead his team of players throughout the match in the 3D environment with a task to score the points and take down another opposing team to win. During the gameplay, the player will learn counter attacks that target the player’s weakness. The game features next-gen graphics, customization, several leagues, and more. With immersive gameplay, superb graphics, and cool mechanics, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is the fascinating game to play. FIFA 10 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. The game is the 17th marvellous entry in the long-running series of FIFA, and it comes with licensed stadiums, teams, players, and clubs. Manager Mode is featured in the game, which enables the player to become the manager of any club in the FIFA leagues. The gameplay is similar to the previous installment, and the player is capable of selecting his team to represent his nation, assemble a team of players, and participate in different events where the player will face off different rival teams. A new feature is included in the game, in which the football news from all over the world is visible, including the fixtures, player transfers, foreign leagues, and more. As the manager, the player can lead his team in several tournaments, hire and reject the players from the team, and struggle to earn reputation points to raise up the level. FIFA 10 includes core features such as Customization, Several Teams, Stadiums, and Clubs, Smooth Controls, 3D Environment, and more. Try it out, if you want to become a manager or the football player. #23 Madden NFL 19 Madden NFL 19 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer American Football video game developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. The gameplay is based on NFL (National Football league), and it features Antonio Brown on its cover athlete of the game. The title acts as the title in the long-running series of Madden NFL and it comes with several changes, graphics enhancement, new content, and more. There is a Real-player Motions system available, enabling the player to push back the blocks to gain more space while running and making cuts-up field after the catch. It comes with new modes such as Ultimate Team mode, 3-on-3 Online Matchups, Solo Battles, and more. The game starts with players choosing their team from available and jumping into the stadium where they were competing against each other in several matches for the glory, trophy and rewards. Additional content will be unlocked as the player advances through it. With core features, superb mechanics, and detailed graphics, Madden NFL 19 is the best game to play. Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 is a Sports, Single-player and Multiplayer Football video game developed and published by Konami. The game introduces the licensed competitions such as UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Europa League as well as the first playable UEFA Europa League without getting into Master League. The player gets into the game by selecting his team from available and choosing the competition where he want to compete against rival teams. In the game, the player can assemble his team by selecting the players from available and train them to improve their abilities. The game is played from an isometric perspective and the ultimate job of the player to earn as many goals as possible to win the competition. It is set in the 3D environment where the player can move in the ground to complete his objectives. There are different nations and each has its unique skills, characteristics, and abilities. The game with the highest goals will win the match. With an immersive gameplay, superb mechanics, and prominent features, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 is the best game to play. Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 is a Sports, Football, Online, Single-player and Multiplayer Simulation created and published by Konami Digital Entertainment. The game is the 18th exciting title in the series of PES video games and features Barcelona winger Philippe Coutinho on its cover athlete. It increases the number of licenses, which offers more licensed stadiums and leagues as well as the variety of legends to play. The games simulate the football and introduce the International Championship Cup. It comes with several improvements and new content. The game starts with the player selecting his team and club to jump into the game where he will compete against another team controlled by either another player or AI. During the match, the player can control each player and struggle to do as many goals as possible to win the match. Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 includes prominent features such as Authentic Leagues, Magic Moments, New MyClub, ML Real Season, and more. Check it out, and have fun. More About Madden NFL 2003 Madden NFL 2003 focuses on Sports and American Football gameplay, based on the NFL developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. The game introduces both Single-player and Multiplayer modes and it serves as the 14th title in the series of Madden NHL. It comes with new features and introduces the former St. Louis Rams on its cover. There are official teams, players, clubs and stadiums available to offers the realistic American Football experience to the player. At the beginning of the game, the player needs to select his team, learn new moves, and take part in various matches against other teams in head-to-head plays. The ultimate task of the player is to lead his team in the stadium, compete against opposing team, and struggle to score the highest goals than opponents to win the match. The game unlocks further content as the player advances through the game to become the best football player in the world. Madden NFL 2003 includes prominent features such as Create a Playbook, Strategic Gameplay, Player Formations, Offensive and Defensive play, and more. Try it out, and you’ll like it. 3D Multiplayer Single-Player Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne Last Day on Earth Survival Ava’s Manor – A Solitaire Story Hexonia Battle Bouncers – RPG Puzzle Bomber & Crusher The Henry Stickmin Collection Movie Star Planet Miami Nights: Singles in the City Heroes of Might and Magic V Feed and Grow: Fish Virtual Villagers Copyright © 2014-2021 Games Like Please add moregameslike.com to your ad blocking whitelist or disable your adblocking software.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1101
__label__wiki	0.556234	0.556234	Your Navy Operation Forward - Coral Sea, Baltic Sea, Arabian Sea Right now your Navy is 100 percent on watch around the globe helping to preserve the American way of life. Whether it be operating and training off the coast of Spain or forward deployed to the Arabian Gulf, the flexibility and presence provided by our U.S. naval forces provides national leaders with great options for protecting and maintaining our national security and interests around the world. The imagery below highlights the Navy’s ability to provide those options by operating forward. 190620-N-MD802-1135 KIEL, Germany (June 20, 2019) Line handlers secure a mooring line from the Blue Ridge-class amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) to a bollard on the pier of Naval Base Kiel-Tirpitzhafen upon completion of the at-sea phase of exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2019. BALTOPS is the premier annual maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic Region, marking the 47th year of one of the largest exercises in Northern Europe enhancing flexibility and interoperability among allied and partner nations. (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jack D. Aistrup/Released) 190620-N-MD802-1135 Photo By: MC3 Jack Aistrup VIRIN: 190620-N-MD802-1135 190621-N-FK070-1312 ARABIAN SEA (June 21, 2019) An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the Nightdippers of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5 transports cargo from the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3) to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) during a vertical replenishment-at-sea. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON ) 2, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian M. Wilbur/Released) CVN 72 Deployment Photo By: MC1 Brian M. Wilbur VIRIN: 190621-N-FK070-1312 190620-N-CL027-2081 SOUTH CHINA SEA (June 20, 2019) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) 3rd Class Shelbey Hochsmith, from Federalsburg, Maryland, signals all-clear to launch an F/A-18F Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 102 on the flight deck aboard the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during flight operations. Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the collective maritime interests of its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Janweb B. Lagazo/Released) 190620-N-CL027-2081 Photo By: MC2 Janweb B. Lagazo VIRIN: 190620-N-CL027-2081 190623-N-WI365-1005 CORAL SEA (June 23, 2019) A rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) from the amphibious transport dock ship USS Green Bay (LPD 20) transits toward the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) before a visit, board, search and seizure training exercise. Ashland, part of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, with embarked 31st MEU, is operating in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force for any type of contingency. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Markus Castaneda/Released) 190623-N-WI365-1005 Photo By: MC2 Markus Castaneda VIRIN: 190623-N-WI365-1005 190621-N-HD110-0009 INDIAN OCEAN (June 21, 2019) Sailors observe an MV-22B Osprey take off from the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49). Harpers Ferry is part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) team and is deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to support regional stability, reassure partners and allies, and maintain a presence postured to respond to any crisis ranging from humanitarian assistance to contingency operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Danielle A. Baker/Released) 190621-N-HD110-0009 Photo By: MC3 Danielle Baker VIRIN: 190621-N-HD110-0009 190618-N-ME569-2029 ARABIAN SEA (June 18, 2019) An F/A-18E Super Hornet from the "Pukin' Dogs" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 143 launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON ) 2, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dan Snow/Released) 190618-N-ME569-2029 Photo By: MCSN Dan Snow VIRIN: 190618-N-ME568-2029 190618-N-LX838-0079 BALTIC SEA (June 18, 2019) The Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) is underway in the Baltic Sea in support of exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2019. BALTOPS is the premier annual maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic Region, marking the 47th year of one of the largest exercises in Northern Europe enhancing flexibility and interoperability among allied and partner nations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Steven Edgar/Released) 190618-N-LX838-0079 Photo By: MC3 Steven Edgar VIRIN: 190618-N-LX838-0079 190618-N-NB544-1818 INDIAN OCEAN (June 18, 2019) Aviation Support Equipment Technician 1st Class Ma Aung, from Yangon, Myanmar, signals to pilots of an UH-1Y Venom helicopter assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163 (Reinforced) as it takes off from the flight deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26). John P. Murtha is currently on its first deployment and part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) team and is deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operation to support regional stability, reassure partners and allies, and maintain a presence postured to respond to any crisis ranging from humanitarian assistance to contingency operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kyle Carlstrom/Released) 190618-N-NB544-1818 Photo By: MC2 Kyle Carlstrom VIRIN: 190618-N-NB544-1818 190625-N-WI365-1075 CORAL SEA (June 25, 2019) Personnel Specialist Seaman Dedrick Johnson, left, from Vidalia, Georgia, Boatswain’s Mate 1st Class Jacob Meadows, center, from Lake Elsinore, California, and Machinist Mate 3rd Class Tyler Martin, from Perrin, Texas, run past the foul line as a SA-330J Puma picks up pallets from the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) prior to a replenishment-at-sea with the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) and fleet replenishment oiler USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204). Ashland, part of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is operating in the Indo-Pacific region to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force for any type of contingency, while simultaneously providing a flexible and lethal crisis response force ready to perform a wide range of military operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Markus Castaneda/Released) 190531-N-PW030-2051 ARABIAN SEA (June 21, 2019) Capt. Putnam Browne, commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), observes as the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3) sails alongside Abraham Lincoln during a replenishment-at-sea. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON ) 2, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Tristan Kyle Labuguen/Released) Photo By: MCSN Tristan Kyle Labuguen VIRIN: 190621-N-PW030-2051 Tell us which photo best shows YOUR Navy Operating Forward !	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1102
__label__wiki	0.719679	0.719679	SAN JOSE – Sure, many players at this point in the Stanley Cup playoffs are playing through their fair share of bumps and bruises. For the Sharks, those ailments appear to be piling up – and it creates some big questions for San Jose ahead of their next game. The Sharks' bench looked pretty thin midway through the third period of their 5-0 loss to the Blues on Sunday with four injured players – Erik Karlsson, Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski, and Joonas Donskoi – absent from game action. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer didn’t have an immediate update on any of the four after the game, but there’s already concern about San Jose’s health as they are now on the brink of elimination. The Sharks were already short a major weapon at the start of the third period of Game 5 when Karlsson wasn’t on the bench with his teammates, which was concerning since his health was already in question. Then it became apparent center Hertl was missing from the bench as well – a scary sight after he sustained a high hit from Ivan Barbashev halfway through the first frame that went unpenalized. “I saw the Hertl hit, I just watched the replay,” Logan Couture said. “Yeah, that’s a tough one. But they had one earlier in Game 3, I believe on [Justin] Braun, and nothing happened. So they can do it again, right?” DeBoer pointed to the hit on Hertl and the lack of call as a momentum-changer for San Jose, who was trailing 1-0 at that point in the first period, but still very much in the game. “Arguably a five-minute major on Tommy Hertl, if you get that – that’s a momentum-changing play right there,” the coach said. Whether the hit was the reason Hertl was missing from the Sharks’ bench in the third period is still unknown. Nevertheless, San Jose was down two skaters before both Joe Pavelski and Joonas Donskoi left the ice after absorbing big hits from the rival Blues. At that point in the game, the Sharks let their emotions take over and found themselves in a world of penalty trouble. “When Pav got hit high, we lost our composure there in the third period,” DeBoer said. “Not our finest moment, but I understand where that emotion is coming from.” Of course, the penalties made the Sharks’ job even harder. Sharks analyst Jamie Baker pointed out that being on extended penalty kills when the bench is already short is extra demanding on a team that’s chasing the game. “They were short so many players in the third period, that’s taxing the rest of the guys, and then they were taking penalties,” Baker said. “So the fatigue factor almost doubles down.” Donskoi returned to the bench toward the very end of the game, though the Sharks were already down 5-0 at that point with little chance of bouncing back. As the focus shifts from one game to the next, the Sharks now have to face some serious questions when it comes to the health of their lineup. [RELATED: Pavelski, Karlsson leave Game 5 vs. Blues with injuries] “For Game 6, the health of the players who didn’t play in the third period is going to be topic No. 1,” Baker said. “And if they can’t play, who’s going to go in there and how are they going to go in and win in St. Louis?” “We’ve just got to regroup,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to go on and win a game.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1104
__label__wiki	0.634721	0.634721	Richard Tillinghast Eastward Bound, Across a Storied Landscape [view as PDF] Leaving Portland, with its microbreweries, Pacific Rim restaurants, lumberjack chic, and drive-through coffee stations, I drove east along the Columbia River Gorge on the first leg of a four-thousand-mile trip that would take me to northern Michigan and then down to South Carolina and Tennessee. The Gorge’s mist-wreathed granite cliffs, rising above the onrush of the Columbia River, look as though they could have been painted by a Chinese landscape artist from the Tang Dynasty. In late-afternoon light the stone takes on a purple glow. Taoist hermits might be meditating in caves up in those hills. Above White Salmon, Washington, where I spent my first night, pioneer days had not, it seemed, entirely ended. As I drove up precipitous roads that reached up from the Columbia River to my nephew’s house, where I would spend the night, some of the hillsides had that desolate, shredded look that follows clear-cutting. One little house partway up, a shack really, was flanked on one side by a pile of rough-cut logs, each about the length of an American car from the fifties. It looked as though the householder had wrangled them there for sizing into smaller chunks as fuel was needed during the long winter. The month was May, but a cutting wind sliced across the steep hills. My nephew and I took his son, six years old, to his baseball game down in the town of White Salmon. The diamond, with its boys’ and girls’ coach-pitch three-inning game, and the pure Americanness of the scene, were thrown into perspective by the massive, timeless hills, verdant with the spring rains, towering above it. The following morning I woke at five in the rough-hewn guest house my nephew had built behind his vegetable garden. No one in the household was stirring; the rooster crowed as I pulled out. Once I had descended the hill back to White Salmon, with a cup of tea from Starbucks in the cup-holder between the seats of my Honda and morning news from National Public Radio as a soundtrack, I drove along the Columbia River on Interstate 84, then veered south on US-97. The road was free of traffic, except for the occasional truck, and was surrounded by vast acreage, big ranches with sparse cattle grazing the big rounded hills. Somewhere along the way I became aware that the needle on my gas gauge was dropping low. The day was cold, rain whipped across the highway. I turned hopefully into what looked like a kind of filling station beside the road where a yellow school bus was fueling. The bus left just as I pulled in beside a truck with “Explosives. Drilling Equipment” painted on the driver’s door. The driver, a weather-beaten man of about fifty with a broad gray moustache, was talking on his phone. “Naw,” he was saying loudly to the person on the other end of the conversation, “you have to yank out right smart on the throttle as soon as you start her.” As he stepped out of the cab to talk to me, I couldn’t help but notice the large box of Trojans on the seat beside him, and I considered their relevance to the business the truck advertised. This man cheerfully informed me that the gas pumps were accessible only if you had a certain kind of card. How far was the nearest gas station? In Madras, he said, pronouncing the name with flat American vowels, emphasizing the first syllable in a way purely innocent of the city in India. How far is that? I pursued. Forty miles south. Oh hell, I said confidently, I can go forty miles, and got back into my car, leaving him to his explosives and his Trojans. It was not reassuring to see a sign less than a mile farther along that said “Madras, 56 miles.” The needle touched the empty mark. I began to worry, and then for brief periods managed to convince myself of the beauty of living in the moment. And the scenery was gorgeous—vast ranchland with few houses and the occasional stock pen fashioned from fieldstone and rough-cut logs, gates opening onto roads that appeared to lead nowhere except off into the empty hills. A sign announced, “Elk Crossing.” Not a good place to run out of gas. Elk appeared to be the theme, as an Adopt a Highway sign let drivers know that this stretch of road was cared for by the Madras Elks Club. Good to know. My low-fuel gauge lit up just then, and I tried to calculate how much gas I really did have left. After climbing to a considerable altitude, the road began to slope downhill, and I cut my engine, put the Honda into neutral, and coasted for long distances. I have seldom been so glad to see a town as I was to see Madras, which I now delightedly pronounced to myself in the vernacular. There was only a tenth of a gallon left in my tank. Just north of Bend, Oregon, the terrain became high desert—barren fields with wind-stunted cedars, sagebrush, and rocky outcroppings. I turned east through the pleasant, prosperous town of Bend on Highway 20, a two-lane route that bisects the state laterally all the way to the Idaho border. Rain whipped across the road, and then—what were those broad, feathery drops—snowflakes? Yes, snowflakes, and this was the twenty-second of May. Then peppery shots of sleet, or was that hail? Whatever it was, I didn’t like the look of it, even with good tires and a full tank of gas. This is not the sort of place you’d want to have to cope with a blizzard—easily possible, common even, in the high desert. The road climbed to over 4,500 feet. I was glad to reach Burns, the only town of any size along this stretch of Highway 20. This is cattle country, and into the McDonald’s where I was having lunch three ranch hands in cowboy boots asserted themselves, jeans stained with mud, one in a battered cowboy hat, the other two wearing the baseball cap that is the preferred headgear throughout most of America. Their conversation was of the price of livestock. Like many American communities, the town of Burns appears to have been the creation of one man. George McGowan, an early settler and merchant, named the city not after himself, as he might have felt entitled to do, but after Robert Burns, whom McGowan admired as a poet of the common man. Within its first decade Burns had acquired stores, a post office, and a couple of hotels. McGowan himself was the town’s first postmaster.In its early years, mining and lumber brought settlers to this remote part of Oregon. But cattle ranching was introduced to the region as early as the 1860s and flourished after passage of the Desert Land Act of 1877, which made 320-acre plots available to hardy souls who would “reclaim, irrigate, and cultivate” the land.Cattle, hay, and horses remain the main commodities bought and sold in Burns. I stopped for the night at the Silver Spur Motel, mainly by virtue of the name. When I opened the little rear window of my room, I found I was looking into someone’s backyard. An old man who walked with difficulty was splitting kindling on the stump of what must once have been a huge tree right behind his house, a frontier dwelling faced with rough-cut sections of logs chinked inexpertly with cement, the roof shingled with rusty sections of tin overlapping one another. Projecting from the back of the house proper was a shed, fashioned of big blocks of the same stone used in the stock shelters I’d seen along the highway. Most likely the stone shed had been built first, with the log house added later. To satisfy my curiosity, the next morning before leaving Burns I drove around to the little street behind the motel and discovered that the front of the house was a comparatively modern-looking clapboard structure. This single house encompassed all of Burns’s modest architectural history. Bikers like to ride Highway 20, and the Silver Spur is a popular hostelry for them. As I was typing this, several rugged shaved-head men roared up. When they dismounted, I saw that one man was missing a leg. King of the road on his hog, he walked unmounted with an aluminum crutch—no less cocky, though, in his gray goatee and studded leather jacket emblazoned with his club’s standard, a red heart radiating with spokes. Every now and then one stumbles into a really good restaurant along the road. The one where I ate that night was a throwback to the 1950s. First the waitress—an energetic woman in her early thirties—brought out a little shrimp cocktail on a bed of shredded iceberg lettuce. Next came a bowl of peppery chili and an undistinguished salad—forgivable within the context of the cold IPA they had on draft—followed by a 12-ounce top-round steak, seared but genuinely rare, next to a big baked potato topped with sour cream and butter. The best kind of old-fashioned American restaurant meal. After that meal, a baseball game in my motel room would’ve been just the thing, but instead I found a TV show called Unsolved. This episode was all about UFOs. Apparently a Frisbee-shaped aircraft had come down from the sky and landed on a remote blacktop road in New Mexico. A local couple witnessed the landing, which left a circular burned spot on the pavement. When they went there the next day with their camera for a second look, what do you think they found? Well, someone had come along with a truckload of asphalt and repaved the road. There was no sign at all of the landing. My goodness! The West is its own distinct place. As you drive from progressive coastal Oregon and Washington, the political climate shades from blue to red. “Get the US out of the UN,” a billboard demands. Proceeding east on four-lane interstates through Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, one retraces, in the opposite direction, the route that Lewis and Clark took on their expedition, the route that later became the Oregon Trail. The trail was so steep in places that the pioneers lashed ropes to trees so that wagons could be lowered down hills. Stinkingwater Creek and Bitter Creek tell a tale of thirst in an arid land. Place names along the highway indicate that those days of struggle are not so very far behind us. Massacre Rocks near American Falls in Idaho, now a State Park that runs along the south bank of the Snake River, was also known the “Gate of Death” or “Devil’s Gate.” Passage through here was narrow, and as emigrants making their way through on the Oregon Trail feared ambush by Indians. Settlers traveling in a convoy of five covered-wagon trains were attacked by Shoshoni on August 9–10, 1862. Ten emigrants died in the fight. Names like Lodgepole and Medicine Bow are encrypted with the conflicting stories of settlers and Indians. Laramie takes its name from a French trader, Jacques LaRamie, who wandered into these hills in 1810 and was never heard from again. Cheyenne is named after a Native American tribe, but it is a cowboy town. These are mythical names. Even a tourist billboard for Cheyenne acknowledges it. “Live the Legend,” the sign advises. Another billboard announces, “We Buy Antlers. Top Dollar Paid,” and provides a toll-free number. I descended from mountainous Idaho into Wyoming. Where did Wagonhound Road in western Wyoming get its name from? A little research told me that the territory around Wagonhound Road has played a role in western transportation since the earliest days of human activity in the Rocky Mountain west. Teepee rings from ten thousand years ago indicate that people have camped out here for centuries. In the 1850s one Captain Howard Stansbury led an expedition near here to scout out potential routes for the Union Pacific Railroad. In the 1860s a stagecoach route followed the trail from Elk Mountain through Rattlesnake Pass on the mountain’s north flank. But why “Wagonhound”? From the sound of it, the name must’ve been a corruption of some other word, German maybe. Yet I pictured a hungry dog slinking around the wagon trains looking for food. To get a feeling for the history of Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, and even of Nebraska farther to the east, I was traveling in the wrong direction. American history is a westward-moving phenomenon, and the distances are so great that roads become both necessities and icons. It is a horizontal landscape. Freight trains are long and frequent. High desert terrain gives way eastward to high plains, to arable land planted with alfalfa and winter wheat. Tractors plowing for the spring planting kick up clouds of dust. As one enters Wyoming, one becomes more aware of the sky. It stretches vast and broad as the landscape flattens out. In her writing, Annie Proulx has put her stamp on this part of the West, and I thought of her descriptions as I drove east along i-80: The country appeared as empty ground, big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, intricate sky, flocks of small birds like packs of cards thrown up in the air, and a faint track drifting toward the red-walled horizon. Graves were unmarked, fallen house timbers and corrals burned up in old campfires. Nothing much but weather and distance, the distance punctuated once in a while by ranch gates, and to the north the endless murmur and sun-flash of semis rolling along the interstate. Driving these distances as part of that endless murmur and sun-flash, one provides one’s own soundtrack, either from local radio or from the car stereo. Coming down 97 through Oregon I listened to Neil Young. His western intonation and the beautiful naïveté of his high register all fit the countryside I was driving through. At a certain point during any road trip I also need to listen to Willie Nelson—he knows what it is like to be on the road again—and once or twice on these road trips I’ve even managed to synchronize the Band’s singing “Across the Great Divide” with crossing the Continental Divide. Gram Parsons is another musical presence for me whenever I get out on the highway: I headed west to grow up with the country, Crossed those prairies with those waves of grain. And I saw my devil, and I saw my deep blue sea, And I thought about a calico bonnet from Cheyenne to Tennessee. We flew straight across that river bridge Last night half-past two. The switchman waved his lantern goodbye and good day As we went rolling through. Billboards and truck stops passed by the grievous angel, And now I know just what I have to do. But classical music fits this majestic landscape too. There’s nothing like passing eighteen-wheelers at ninety miles per hour while listening to the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth. My early-morning drive east out of Oregon from Burns was accompanied by the Brahms sextet number one in B-flat major, which was first published in 1862. While we were fighting our Civil War, Vienna and Paris were listening to new chamber music by Brahms. I limped into Rawlins, Wyoming, late one afternoon after driving four or five hundred miles—hot, dehydrated, unshaven, and road-weary. Once I found a motel and had a wash, I set out to see what kind of town I had fetched up in. Rawlins, as the story goes, was named for John Aaron Rawlins, a general in the Civil War, who camped here a couple of years after the Union victory, having moved west in search of dryer air on account of his tuberculosis. Rawlins was also a stage for the last act in the life of the notorious George Parrott, “Big Nose George,” who also went by the names of George Manuse and George Warden. It’s a story so truly western and bizarre that no Hollywood scriptwriter sitting by the pool in Beverly Hills could have invented it. Big Nose George was an outlaw and cattle rustler who was hanged in 1881 in Rawlins by a lynch mob, the year of the town’s founding. Perhaps the town’s incorporation and the rough justice administered to the outlaw were signs of Rawlins’s coming of age as a civilized community In 1878, Parrott and his gang had murdered two law enforcement officers—Wyoming deputy sheriff Robert Widdowfield and Tip Vincent, a detective for the Union Pacific Railway—while trying to escape following a train robbery on a remote stretch of track along the Medicine Bow River that had not gone according to plan.On orders to track down Parrott’s gang, Widdowfield and Vincent found the outlaws on a hot August day in 1878 camped at Rattlesnake Canyon, not far from Wagonhound Road near Elk Mountain. One of the gang who had been posted as a lookout saw the lawmen coming and alerted his companions. The robbers stamped out their fire and hid in the brush, guns drawn. When Widdowfield and Vincent arrived at the scene and had a look around, they quickly realized that the ashes of the fire were still hot. Just as they started to look for the outlaws, the gang opened fire and Widdowfield was shot in the face. Vincent tried to escape but was shot before he made it out of the canyon. The gang stole both men’s weapons and horses, then covered up the bodies and fled. The murder of the two lawmen was quickly discovered and a ten-thousand-dollar reward was offered for their capture. In February 1879, Big Nose George and his cohort found themselves in Milestown, Montana. Word had gotten around the saloons, livery stables, and whorehouses of Milestone that a man named Morris Cahn, a local merchant, would be taking money east on a buying trip to replenish his stock of merchandise. Cahn was traveling in a heavily armed convoy with an ambulance and a wagon from Fort Keogh, guarded by fifteen soldiers and two officers who were on their way to collect the army payroll. Having heard the news, Big Nose George, his sidekick Charlie Burris, also known as “Dutch Charlie,” and two other outlaws set out to ambush and overpower this formidable assemblage in a deep ravine now known as Cahn’s Coulee, near a crossing of the Powder River in Montana. It seems that the soldiers, the ambulance, and the wagon got strung out along the trail. The gang, wearing masks, were waiting at a bend in the trail at the bottom of the coulee. They surprised and captured the vanguard of soldiers, and then seized the ambulance with Cahn and the officers. Having accomplished this, they lay in wait for the rest of the soldiers with the wagon. Accounts vary, but it appears that Big Nose George relieved Cahn of somewhere between $3,600 and $14,000—a lot of money back in those days. In 1880, following the robbery, the law caught up with Big Nose George Parrott and Charlie Burris in Miles City, after Big Nose and Dutch Charlie got drunk and boasted of killing the two Wyoming lawmen. Parrott was brought back to face murder charges in Wyoming. A jury sentenced him to hang on April 2, 1881, but, always resourceful, George tried to escape while being held at a jail in Rawlins. He filed the rivets of the heavy shackles on his ankles, using a pocketknife and a piece of sandstone. Having removed his shackles, he hid in the washroom until the jailor, a man named Rankin, came to check on him. Parrott struck the jailor over the head with his shackles, fracturing his skull. Rankin managed to fight back and call to his wife, Rosa, for help. Flourishing a pistol, Rosa persuaded Parrott to return to his cell. Once news of the escape attempt spread through Rawlins, a couple hundred people assembled outside the little jail. While Rankin lay recovering, masked men with pistols burst into the jail. Holding Rankin at gunpoint, they took his keys, then dragged Parrott from his cell and strung him up from a telegraph pole.Charlie Burris met with a similar fate not long after his capture. He was being returned to Rawlins for trial when a group of locals found him hiding in a baggage compartment and hanged him from the crossbeam of a nearby telegraph pole. But the story does not end there. The doctors who took possession of the corpse decided they wanted to study Big Nose’s brain in hopes of gaining insight into the mind of an outlaw. So they sawed off the top of Parrott’s skull, the cap of which they presented to fifteen-year-old Lillian Heath, who was then a medical assistant to one of the doctors in town. Heath went on to become the first female doctor in Wyoming and is said to have used the cap—depending on her mood, I suppose—as an ashtray, a pen holder, and a doorstop.Someone also made a death mask of Parrott, and skin from his thighs and chest was removed. The skin, including, we are told, the dead man’s nipples, was sent to a tannery in Denver, where some leather worker made it into a pair of shoes and a medical bag. These items were kept by one of the doctors, John Eugene Osborne, who wore the shoes to his inaugural ball after being elected as the first Democratic Governor of Colorado. But that still wasn’t the end of Big Nose. Parrott’s dismembered body was stored in a whiskey barrel filled with a salt solution for about a year, while these resourceful medical men continued to run experiments on him, until finally he was buried in the yard behind the doctor’s office. In 1950, while working on the Rawlins National Bank on Cedar Street, construction workers unearthed a whiskey barrel filled with bones. Inside the barrel was a skull with the top sawed off and the shoes said to have been made from skin from Parrott’s thighs.Dr. Lillian Heath, then in her eighties, was contacted and the skull cap from her office was sent to the scene. It was found to fit the skull in the barrel perfectly. DNA testing later confirmed that the remains were indeed those of Big Nose George. Today the shoes fashioned from the skin of Big Nose George are on permanent display at the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, together with the bottom part of the outlaw’s skull and Big Nose George’s earless death mask.The shackles used during the hanging of the outlaw, as well as the skull cap, are on show at the Union Pacific Museum in Omaha. The medicine bag made from his skin has never been found. The mountain peaks are dusted with snow that persists well into May, but the journey east is a descent, and not just topographically. The heroic West of the pioneers on the Oregon Trail, and the outlandish West of outlaws and lawmen, receded as I drove eastward. No more rock formations, no more sand and sagebrush, no more cowboys having lunch at McDonald’s, no more blast and drilling equipment men driving the hills of eastern Oregon with a box of Trojans on the seat beside them. Spring gave way to summer as I drove, and with summer came the heavy Midwestern rains. The pastures glowed emerald green, and in fields that had already been sown, the young plants, too, were green. I felt more relaxed now that I had passed beyond the rocky aridity of the West. This spring greenery refreshes the traveler’s spirit, the highway is easier to drive, as pickup trucks with gun racks and horse trailers give way to cars with “Baby on Board” stickers on their rear windshields. There is still something untamed about Nebraska, at least through the western part of it. Nebraska is, after all, the home state of John Wayne. But about halfway through the state, the West gives way, with great regret it seems to me, to the Midwest. As I traveled east on I-80, I saw that more land was plowed now, and grain elevators rose against the cloudless sky. Then suddenly my nostrils were assaulted by a noxious stench. A few hundred yards farther along, I found the source of it. Penned-up cattle, several acres of them, milled around dispiritedly inside their fences. One of the worst smells in the West: beef for American steakhouses. Passing from Iowa into western Illinois, I crossed the Mississippi River. Cole Porter’s song “Don’t Fence Me In,” which my mother used to play on the piano, includes the lines, “I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences, / Gaze at the moon till I lose my senses.” Run that sentiment backward and you’re on the freeway in Illinois, skirting around the edge of Chicago, heading sensibly east through ever-coagulating traffic.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1105
__label__wiki	0.909407	0.909407	Relatives of massacred Americans say Mexico needs help by: MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Julian LeBaron speaks during a protest against the first year in office of Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in Mexico City, Monday, Dec. 1, 2019. LeBaron joined a protest on Reforma avenue to expressed anger and frustration over increasingly appalling incidents of violence, a stagnant economy and deepening political divisions in the country. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) MEXICO CITY (AP) — Relatives of nine U.S. dual citizens slaughtered in northern Mexico last month said Tuesday that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador prayed with them for the safety of the country and pledged to visit the region. Julian LeBaron said that during the family’s Monday meeting with López Obrador and his Cabinet at Mexico City’s National Palace, officials assured them that “at least four” suspects have been detained in the Nov. 4 killings. Mexican politicians traditionally avoid open displays of faith, and López Obrador has been unusual in recent comments referring to himself as a “follower of Jesus Christ.” “We just bowed our heads” and “prayed for the president and the country, for peace and good will, and to protect our loved ones, and protect our country,” LeBaron said. The extended LeBaron family has lived in northern Mexico for decades and identify as part of the Mormon tradition though they are not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. Dual nations, they were hotly criticized by some for asking U.S. President Donald Trump to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, something Trump said he would do. “We think we should all be humble enough, and that’s something we discussed with the president, to recognize that we have an immense problem on our hands and we need help,” LeBaron said. “Of course, we wouldn’t like to see a military invasion.” Three young mothers and six children were killed in the attack near the border of the northern states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Officials have said a drug cartel is suspected in the attack, but they initially suggested that one of the mothers’ vehicles was set afire unintentionally, when a bullet hit the gas tank. LeBaron said officials have confirmed to them that the killers filmed the attack themselves and set fire to the SUV in which one mother — LeBaron’s cousin — and her four children died. He said family members have seen the video. LeBaron is now trying to press for the kind of local anti-crime organizing that his community in Chihuahua state put together in 2009 after a previous attack by drug cartel gunmen. He envisions communities allowed to form a posse, deputize citizens and bear arms to fight cartel incursions. “We’ve been invaded by criminal terrorist organizations within our own country, within our own communities, and our government has absolutely failed to stop the thugs,” said LeBaron. “At some point we have to assume responsibility as citizens to put a stop to it.” “The whole western United States was basically built on a structure that worked for communities, what we call the wild west was never the wild west,” he said. “Within the community they basically had all the powers to hold people accountable. The whole town could be deputized to bring criminals before justice.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1106
__label__cc	0.63833	0.36167	Stolen car, handgun recovered after high speed police chase through Janesville, Beloit Posted: Jun 19, 2019 / 04:32 PM CDT / Updated: Jun 19, 2019 / 04:32 PM CDT BELOIT, Wis. (WTVO) — A stolen 2017 Dodge Challenger and a handgun were recovered after police arrested a 17-year-old suspect who led them on a high speed chase from Janesville to Beloit on Tuesday evening. Police say the vehicle and the handgun were stolen during a home burglary in the 2000 block of Cobblestone Court. At around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a Rock County Sheriff’s Officer spotted the vehicle in Janesville, driven by 17-year-old Christian Kayser, and attempted to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled. At 6 p.m., deputies spotted the vehicle again, this time on Highway 51 headed towards Beloit. Police from Beloit and the Town of Beloit joined the chase, which was halted at points for safety concerns. Police say as Kayser drove through the City of Beloit, he struck the squad car of a Rock County Sheriff’s Deputy, who was not injured. Eventually, Kayser was taken into custody at the intersection of Colley and Milwaukee, and a handgun was recovered from the vehicle. Kayser was charged with Burglary, Fleeing, and a variety of other charges, according to the Beloit Police Department.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1107
__label__cc	0.55514	0.44486	Civic Amenity Sites are open but some restrictions may apply during this time. Please check with your Local Authority for the most up to date information what to do with my recycling? what to do with – A to Z? what to do with my large items? what to do about hazardous materials and your greener living guides what to do with my food waste? what to do with my waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)? what to do with my textiles? my impact what can i do to be more sustainable? where can you dispose of your waste? waste service locator waste management providers your sustainable development goals Upcycle challenge reuse month the waste less list coronavirus and your waste household waste bye laws about mywaste news, press & special events national waste collection permit office compliance scheme anti dumping communications hub ">login \| en en home news Why we need bees Why we need bees Bees are nature’s tiny workers. These talks examine why they’re crucial to the earth and worth saving. We've heard that bees are disappearing. But what is making bee colonies so vulnerable? Photographer Anand Varma raised bees in his backyard — in front of a camera — to get an up close view. This project, for National Geographic, gives a lyrical glimpse into a beehive, and reveals one of the biggest threats to its health, a mite that preys on baby bees in their first 21 days of life. With footage set to music from Rob Moose and the Magik*Magik Orchestra, Varma shows the problem ... and what's being done to solve it. (This talk was part of a session at TED2015 guest-curated by Pop-Up Magazine: popupmagazine.com or @popupmag on Twitter.) Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with tragic consequences. This is not simply a problem because bees pollinate a third of the world's crops. Could this incredible species be holding up a mirror for us? Bees are dying off in record numbers, but ecologist Noah Wilson-Rich is interested in something else: Where are bees healthy and thriving? To find out, he recruited citizen scientists across the US to set up beehives in their backyards, gardens and rooftops. Learn how these little data factories are changing what we know about the habitats bees need to thrive -- and keep our future food systems stable What is it about bees? Three experts on why they’re fascinating, why they’re dying, what can save them In 1945, there were 4.5 million hives of bees in the United States. Today, there are just about 2 million. It’s been a subtle decline over time, but one that has dramatically accelerated over the past seven years. And this should be extremely alarming, given that bees pollinate one-third of the world’s crops. In today’s talk, given at TEDGlobal 2013, Marla Spivak looks at why bees are disappearing. She highlights four reasons — many related to changes in farming practices — and how they interact to tragic end. But beyond that, Spivak wonders: what do these deaths mean for us given that bees, a species our lives are deeply intertwined with, have thrived for over 50 million years? “This small bee is holding up a large mirror,” says Spivak. “How much is it going to take to contaminate humans?” Spivak is not the only TED speaker to express deep concern over the declining bee population. In 2008, the second year in row during which a third of bee colonies were found mysteriously dead, Dennis vanEngelsdorp made “a plea for bees.” It’s a very funny talk that looks into the serious problem of why bee colonies are susceptible to disease. Several years later, at TEDxBoston in 2012, Noah Wilson-Rich looked at the potential of urban beekeeping, providing fascinating evidence that bees appear to thrive in urban areas. (Watch all TED Talks about bees.) The TED Blog got these three speakers on the phone for a group conversation about the state of bees. We’re excited to get the three of you together. To start off, I’d love to hear from each of you: what is it that first sparked your interest in bees? Noah Wilson-Rich: For me, it happened in school. I was pre-med in college, as an undergrad, I think mostly because I really didn’t know all the career options that were out there beyond teacher, doctor, lawyer, fireman and astronaut. So, I was pre-med, and I took this amazing class called “Sociobiology” that was taught by Rebecca Rosengaus, and it just changed my whole trajectory. It opened up this world of social animals and social insects, and then I ended up applying to a PhD program with Philip T.B. Starks at Tufts. That’s where I started working with honeybees. It was the beginning of a great career. Dennis vanEngelsdorp: For me, it was also as an undergraduate. I was in a horticulture and international agriculture program — I had my own gardening company and I was sure that I was going to run my own gardening company for the rest of my life. I took a beekeeping class, and I remember just being fascinated. We went out and opened the beehives, and I got stung. And there’s a saying in the bee community: You get stung, and it’s in your blood. You know you’re a beekeeper. If I was mechanical at all — if I could use a bandsaw without fear of losing my fingers — I’d be a beekeeper. But I’m better with numbers, so I went the science route. Bees are a passion. I mean you know right away when you open a hive whether this is what you need to be doing. Marla Spivak: I was also kind of bored and directionless as an undergrad. I picked up a book at the library on bees — and that was it. I stayed up all night reading the book, and by morning I had a career. NWR: Which book was this? MS: It’s called Bee’s Ways. It was written by a naturalist, I think in the 1940s. There’s just something in the book that grabbed me, and so I convinced my advisor that I needed to work for a commercial beekeeper. They sent me to New Mexico and I worked for a beekeeper for a semester. It’s so interesting that all of these moments happened in college. NWR: It’s time of exploration, I suppose? DV: Yeah, a conversion moment. Marla, in your talk, you suggest that the fascination with honeybees is because, not only are their lives intertwined with ours, but in a lot of ways, they’re like us. Could you speak to the ways that bees are like humans? MS: I actually think it’s that humans aspire to be like bees. I mean, we live in societies, but their society is a lot more coherent. We look up to honeybees as being very efficient and well-organized, and maybe we think our own society should be more like that. I’ll let the other guys speak to that. DV: I think it resonates with something very deep in our culture, and even goes back to our ancestors. Here’s this creature, and it sort of demands respect because there’s this aura of danger. And yet, there’s this glorious return. I always imagine that if you’ve never tasted anything sweet, tasting honey for the first time is just sort of nectar from the gods. We’ve evolved with bees, and bees have evolved with us at some level. And they’ve always inspired us. I also think it’s connected with our youth — you know, running barefoot through a meadow and getting stung in the toe. It is a rite of passage. And I think we all understand at some level that if that can’t happen anymore, that we’re diminished. NWR: I’ve been doing some reading back on the history of humans and bees, especially with honeybees, and it’s interesting to learn about how far back our relationship with them goes. We’ve found the first cave drawings dated back to 13,000 years ago. It’s remarkable — I mean, that is many generations. We’re quite intertwined with them. I mean, we first started domesticating bees in Egypt, in boats and barges on the River Nile for agricultural pollination. Thousands of years ago, I think that was around 2400 B.C. DV: It is really cool. There’s even a honeyguide bird in Africa. You can walk through the savannahs of Africa and this bird will land in front of you, and lead you to a beehive to collect some of the honey, and leave some of the honey for it. It does this for honey badgers too, and it does it for people. That association is long enough that the bird has evolved a behavior to help communicate where hives are. What does each of you wish the average person understood about bees? DV: Everyone owes it to themselves to open a colony of bees once. I think some people will realize they are not beekeepers, but I think that they’ll overcome a lot of fear and they’ll be awed. Other people will fall in love. I don’t know anyone who has opened a colony of bees on a sunny beautiful day, and seen all those worker bees toiling together in harmony, and not been awed. It’s awe-inspiring. The more you do that, the more you’re connected — not only with the bees, but with the environment around you. I wish everyone that experience. NWR: I also think this connection is something worth exploring for every human. We’ve talked a little about the past with bees, but in terms of the future: anybody who likes food likes bees. It’s important that, if you think about urban planning, you think about how to feed all of the people, and how to make the best use of space. With that comes the need for pollinators. It’s the little connections. I like apples and almonds. You’ve got bees to thank for that. MS: I would also say — we had a big, pesticide bee-kill incident here in Minneapolis yesterday. Two of three bee colonies within a mile of each other — they’re backyard colonies in an upscale neighborhood — thousands of bees twitching dead in front of the colonies. It’s just heartbreaking. I want people to understand that we share this world with many other creatures. Bees are one of them. I would like everybody to know what they need to eat, and how far and wide honeybees will travel to find flowers as food. It’s not acceptable to contaminate their food source. And it’s not acceptable to contaminate our own food source, though bees are the ones showing it right now. NWR: I want to add the term ‘bioindicator’ to this conversation. Die-off events that happen, they’re a message that something is off in the natural environment that we need to listen to. DV: It’s a really good point, and I wonder whether what we need to do is have a cultural revolution. We need to change the way people think. We need to start looking at our environment really differently. The rose with the perfect leaves: that’s beautiful, but in a way that’s also disgusting, because maintaining those ornamental bushes that are perfectly shaped is hugely costly to the environment. We need to start looking at perfectly-mowed green lawns as archaic signs of a past colonial age. What we need is to have a huge bunch of variety there — we need to have native trees that support native caterpillars that support native pollinators and native birds. I think it really requires us to start looking around and becoming disgusted when we see these symbols that are supposed to signal opulence. They’re not, they’re just symbols of death. MS: It’s really true. We overuse pesticides. We overuse antibiotics. We’re trying to get rid of all the little pesty things that bother us, but in the process we’re killing off all kinds of beneficial insects and all kinds of beneficial microbes. We’re past the tipping point on these things, and the bees are the ones that are telling us that we’ve gone too far. DV: Everyone can do a little bit and the additive effect would be amazing. If everyone were to transform 10% of their backyard into native habitat, that would have a huge, significant impact. NWR: Many people come to me and say, “I wish I could do something, but I can’t have bees in my apartment.” I say, “There are many things you can do without actually having to have bees on your property. Creating habitat is a huge benefit. Just planting things on your property helps.” Anybody can do that. How do you make sure that you’re planting flowers that would be good for bees? Are there good resources for figuring out what would be good in your area? MS: There are becoming good resources, but it’s even easier than that. Take a walk around and look at the flowers. If you see bees on them, plant those. There are a lot of native plant lists, and then there are a lot of other flowers that bees really, really like. If you stand in front of a bunch of flowers for 30 seconds, and all of a sudden bees start appearing, that’s a good flower. DV: I do that too, Marla. When I go to the garden center in the spring, I’ll just knock the flowers and see if even those tiny little stingless bees fly out. You’re not just looking at honeybees, but you’re looking at any insects flying off the bloom because there’s a good chance that those are pollinating insects. It’s can be just this beautiful cloud. Some of these bees are so beautiful — I mean, some are like these emerald green jewels. They’re nearly as beautiful as the flowers themselves. NWR: There’s also a very simple and fun science experiment that anybody can do at home, and based off of this website called the Great Sunflower Project. Justsit by a flower — any flower — for 10 minutes or so. Bring a pen and notepad, and write down how many bumblebees come, how many honeybees. If you don’t know what the insects are, draw them. What other things can the average person do that would be good for bees? NWR: You can also hang pieces of bamboo — create hollow crevices that can become an area for native bee species, or solitary bee species, to nest in. MS: There are so many wild bees out there — I just wish people paid more attention to them. In the world, there are about 20,000 species of wild bees. In the United States, about 4,000 species. And so, like today, when there was this pesticide kill and we saw three honeybee colonies with thousands of dead, it makes me wonder: how many other bumblebees and digger bees and those beautiful emerald sweat bees that Dennis was talking about are probably dead in a field somewhere? So planting flowers is first. But second is paying very careful attention to pesticide use, and asking question before you grab the bottle. “Do I really need this? What’s in this stuff? Does this kill bees?” NWR: At least here in Massachusetts, we’ve been having some protests about spraying pesticides out in the greater environment. Entire towns are sprayed. It’s a bit reminiscent of the DDT sprayings decades ago — it’s still happening, they’ve just changed up the chemical. That’s something that people should be aware of and perhaps question. DV: Furthering that thought, let’s make meadows and not lawns. Buying local honey is also a really great way of supporting your local beekeepers. It’s also the most ethical sweetener, because it takes the least amount of carbon to get to your table. Becoming a beekeeper or supporting local beekeepers is something you can do as well. NWR: There’s also a non-profit that I helped start called ClassroomHives.org that provides information for how to get observation hives inside classroom. We’ve been pretty successful in Boston, but I think if you start educating students when they’re very young — it helps. We hear a lot about colony collapse disorder in the news. Has there been any progress in understanding what’s happening? DV: When we first saw colony collapse disorder, we defined it with a very specific set of symptoms. I think that the term has been used more broadly to mean any colony deaths, which was never our intent. So, have we seen high levels of losses since CCD first appeared? Yes. Clearly just as high or higher. We didn’t find colony collapse disorder last winter per se, by our definition. But I think the conversation really is about: why are bees dying? I think what we all hoped, naively at the beginning, that we would find one culprit. It’s pretty clear that that’s not the case — there are lots of different culprits that interact. It’s a complicated problem. I think it’s fair to say that we’re making incremental steps in understanding that bees are being challenged by a whole bunch of things. We’ve mentioned insecticides. There’s a lot of evidence now that suggests fungicides, too, may be playing a role. The habitat loss. So we’re seeing that it’s a complex network of problems, which means the solution is also going to be complex. We are making incremental improvements in our understanding, but it’s going to be a long-term undertaking. It’s not one day we’re going to wake up and go, “Aha, we’ve solved the problem.” What questions do you guys have for each other? MS: Dennis, how are you going to stop ethanol subsidies? The Farm Bill now has ethanol subsidies, but it doesn’t help conserve land anymore. Corn growers are able to grow corn on marginal land, and they have subsidies and crop insurance where, even if there’s no yield on that land, they’ll get money. So they’re plowing up land that really shouldn’t be cultivated — usually land that has a lot of weeds or flowers on it that bees are using. Bees get deprived of food. It’s the same with large-scale food crops. And not just almonds, which I gave as an example in my talk — but blueberries, cranberries, any crops grown in large monocultures. They’re using herbicide to get rid of the weeds around them. Any time you use an herbicide, you’re killing off flowering plants that bees are using. DV: It’s tricky, because these things make a lot of money, so meadows are getting plowed into habitat that’s not good for bees. People don’t get paid for coming to your lawn and sowing flowering plants. They get paid for coming in and spraying herbicides and killing plants. We’re in a capitalistic society, so how do we make it to the economic advantage to make sure that we’re leaving room for pollinators? Because clearly, the long-term benefit is there. MS: You have to have incentives — instead of the incentive for planting corn on marginal land, make an incentive for planting prairie flowers and grasses so that you prevent soil erosion and provide habitat for pollinators. It’s got to be through incentives but, boy, I think we’re many years away from that. DV: You can get a ticket for not mowing your lawn, but maybe we need to have incentives for people not to mow their lawn. MS: That’d be great. I just burned off my lawn last year, and planted this prairie of flowers. I got a citation from the city of St. Paul. So I weed-whacked it down to nine inches, and I put up a big sign that says ‘Pollinator Habitat.’ I think the sign helped. This summer, a lot of the flowers came up, so it actually looks intentional. The TED office is in New York City, where it’s become cool to keep bees. Noah, since you deal with urban beekeeping: are you invigorated by that? Is this part of the cultural change we’re looking for when it comes to bees? NWR: Absolutely. I was just in New York City at the Intercontinental Times Square Hotel, where we went to the rooftop and got a tour of their beehive. The Times Square honey was delicious. It’s interesting — people do urban beekeeping for many different reasons, from the marketing benefit for larger companies, to just having something to look after and get a sense of agriculture in a place that’s otherwise stressful. It has definitely been a trend. Beekeeping has become so popular in New York, that there’s even talk about now putting a moratorium on new beehives. But this is actually much more than a trend. If we listen to the bees and how they’re doing, they actually prefer cities. In urban areas, they tend to make more honey. In at least the city of Boston, they also survive the winter better. So I think that even though it seems very trendy right now, it will be much more long-lasting. MS: There’s success, but there’s high risk too. The use of pesticides in cities is not as tightly regulated as it is in agricultural landscapes. And so homeowners, park keepers, anybody in the city can use much higher concentrations of pesticides and insecticides much more frequently than they are, really, allowed by label in agricultural settings. So we really need to be really careful putting bees in cities. NWR: One of the benefits of being a little independent bee lab is that we can fund our own research. We’re actually participating in a study, with the Harvard School of Public Health, where we’re sampling pollen from beehives all throughout Massachusetts. What my lab is doing is the greater Boston area. We don’t have the data in yet, but it’s an ongoing study to see what the pesticide levels are here compared to more rural, agricultural areas and the suburbs. Surely, it’s going to vary geographically with the pests that are trying to be controlled. It’s really a cost-benefit analysis. To wrap things up, would each of you share a fact about bees that still boggles your mind? NWR: Do you know how many eyes bees have? They have five eyes — two compound eyes, and then three ‘ocelli,’ or simple eyes. The compound eyes have many different components that give them some color information, and then the ocelli give a kind of light or dark contrast. I think that’s so cool. DV: I could talk for days about the anatomy of a bee. I think that one of the things that strikes me about bees is that you often think about evolution as being this competitive thing. But bees are a testimony that sometimes evolution occurs as a dance. We have flowering plants because we have bees, and we have bees because we have flowering plants. This evolutionary dance has created beautiful blooms. I mean, these were the first advertisements — the ultraviolet markings said to bees, ‘Come here and visit me.’ The flowers produce all this pollen and nectar for the bees to bring back. Meanwhile, the bees live in these social constructs that have evolved ways of existing so that they can find the flowers efficiently. The dance that’s occurred between flowers and bees — I find it awe-inspiring. MS: I don’t know if I can choose one! I think maybe bees’ healthcare system. They bring substances, like resins for example, into the nest that help the overall colony health. They actually go shopping for medicines with antimicrobial properties. And one other really hopeful thing I’ll end with: there’s still so much we can learn about bees. 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__label__cc	0.674053	0.325947	The Natomas Buzz Natomas News & Information Cops Log You are here: Home / crime / Arrest Made in Deadly Shooting at Arden Fair Mall Arrest Made in Deadly Shooting at Arden Fair Mall December 1, 2020 by bboyd Leave a Comment BY THE NATOMAS BUZZ STAFF THE NATOMAS BUZZ \| @natomasbuzz Photo Courtesy 911 Action Photography A suspect in a deadly shooting on Black Friday at Arden Fair Mall has been arrested. According to the Sacramento Police Dept. Damario Beck, 18, has been identified as the shooter. Beck was arrested Monday afternoon and booked into the Sacramento County Jail. Beck has been charged with two counts of felony murder and is not eligible for bail. He’s scheduled to appear in court tomorrow, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. “Based on the preliminary investigation, the shooting resulted from a verbal altercation between two groups of people that were known to each other from prior interactions,” police Capt. Steve Oliveira wrote in an e-mail. Oliveira added that police detectives are still investigating the incident and believe there are additional witnesses and involved parties. “Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact the Sacramento Police Department,” Oliveira wrote. Sacramento Police Dept. patrol officers responded to a call of shots fired at Arden Fair Mall at about 6:11 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 27. Upon their arrival, police officers found two victims who had been shot. Both died from the injuries sustained during the shooting, police said. “The department is grateful for the assistance of Arden Fair Mall and the hard work of our detectives; because of their cooperation, we were able to make an arrest in this incident within 72 hours,” Oliveira said. “More details will be released as the investigation allows.” The Sacramento Police Dept. asks that any witnesses with information regarding this incident contact the dispatch center at (916) 808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at (916) 443-HELP (4357). Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000. Anonymous tips can also be submitted using the free “P3 Tips” smartphone app. Filed Under: crime Tagged With: crime ← Previous Post COVID-19 Cases in Natomas Continue to Surge Next Post → Where are the Best Holiday Lights in Natomas? 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__label__wiki	0.615545	0.615545	Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park Texas Resaca de la Palma Battlefield Close quarters fighting produced heavy casualties in the U.S. and Mexican ranks. Library of Congress (no known restrictions) The Clash Continues Resaca de la Palma, also known as Resaca de Guerrero, is an old, dry river channel of the Rio Grande. It is one of many long, water-filled ravines left behind by the shifting course of the winding river. The old pathway was lined with dense brush and its bed was dotted with pools of water. The Mexican Army hoped these natural features would limit any attack against troops positioned there. Following his retreat from Palo Alto on May 9th, General Mariano Arista occupied this site in force. He blocked the Point Isabel-Matamoros road crossing with artillery and placed infantry troops along banks of the resaca. The heavy brush offered his troops abundant protective cover. Cavalry troops were kept in the rear as a reserve force. Mexican troops hoped to force an infantry battle in the dense chaparral instead of the open-field artillery duel that had devastated them at Palo Alto. General Zachary Taylor followed Arista's force from Palo Alto to the old resaca. Taylor left his wagon train safely entrenched at Palo Alto so he could focus all of his attention on Arista's force. Taylor and his troops arrived at Resaca de la Palma around 3 p.m. and the general immediately ordered a charge on the Mexican positions. As U.S. artillery fired on Mexican batteries guarding the resaca crossing, U.S. infantrymen rushed into the brush on both sides of the road. They engaged Mexican soldiers in furious hand-to-hand combat. Many of Taylor's soldiers had experience fighting in similar conditions and were well prepared for this fight. U.S. soldiers also had the good fortune to find a path that led them over the waterway and around the most heavily fortified areas. Once across the resaca, they encountered more Mexican soldiers. These soldiers had little training in close-quarter fighting, had not eaten in twenty-four hours, and were demoralized by the carnage at Palo Alto. Mexican forces put up a gritty fight but in less than an hour U.S. forces spilled from the brush into the clearing that housed General Arista's field headquarters. Captain May's capture of General de la Vega Captain May's Charge General Taylor was unaware of the success of his troops in the chaparral. He ordered Captain Charles May and his dragoons to seize the Mexican artillery blocking the resaca crossing. Captain Randolph Ridgely's artillery drew fire to expose the Mexican positions and the U.S. horsemen spurred their mounts down the roadway. An initial charge drove many of the Mexican artillerymen from their guns but May's men rode past their target. They regrouped and retraced their path through a gauntlet of musket fire. Captain May and his men were able to capture the Mexican Artillery commander, General Rómulo Díaz de la Vega, and several of his men. Even with the capture of the Mexican general, fierce fire from Mexican troops forced the 5th and 8th U.S. infantry regiments to enter the fight for the Mexican cannons. The spirited fight for control of the roadway effectively ended Mexican resistance. Guns Fall Silent With their cannon silenced and U.S. soldiers swarming their camp, disoriented Mexican troops fled for the safety of the Rio Grande. General Arista led a cavalry charge up the roadway but U.S. troops advanced in such great numbers he was forced to join the retreat. When it was all over, U.S. troops counted 45 dead and 97 wounded. Mexican forces suffered a reported 158 killed and 228 wounded, including the complete destruction of the Tampico Battalion—whose members faced some of the heaviest fire. Arista's army also counted 168 soldiers missing in action. Many of these men perished in the treacherous currents of the Rio Grande as they attempted to swim across. Setting the Tone The U.S. victory at Resaca de la Palma ended the six day siege of Fort Texas and left the north bank of the lower Rio Grande firmly in U.S. hands. The battle also had an enormous effect on the morale of the two armies. Considered the first U.S. victory of the war, the battle at Resaca de la Palma spurred the confidence of American soldiers. With the official declaration of war still days away, U.S. troops felt sure they could defeat their foe at any place and in any numbers. Mexican troops were thrown off-balance by consecutive defeats and would never fully recover. A wooden deck overlooks the resaca. During the battle of Resaca de la Palma, the old riverbed was not full of water. It only held a few pools of water from a previous rainfall. Resacas flowing with water are a more recent development. Resaca de la Palma Today An isolated, natural area at the time of the battle, Resaca de la Palma now lies within Brownsville's city limits. The site has been overtaken by growth in this rapidly-growing border community. The old roadway that once crossed the resaca has been replaced by a major road and dense chaparral has given way to residential and commercial development. Nevertheless, large portions of the site have escaped development and retain a trace of the thorny brush encountered by soldiers. In the sections that escaped development, the gulf breeze pushes away the sound of the city and allows observers to sense the environment faced by combatants on the day of battle. Recently, the National Park Service acquired the remaining portions of the Resaca de la Palma site and made it part of the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park unit. At this time, due to a lack of facilities onsite, programs and events are offered on a limited basis. The site does feature restroom facilities, a walking trail, interpretive waysides, and a picnic area. Gates are open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For the most up to date information about this site, call us at (956) 541-2785 x333. 600 E. Harrison Street	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1115
__label__cc	0.725098	0.274902	Deputy Sheriff Jared Michael Allison End of Watch Tuesday, December 1, 2020 Jared Michael Allison Deputy Sheriff Jared Allison succumbed to injuries sustained on Thanksgiving Day while attempting to stop a motorcycle on U.S. 301 Bypass in Rocky Mount. He had just completed a traffic stop and was attempting to catch a motorcycle when another car attempted a left turn in front of him at the intersection with May Drive. Deputy Allison's patrol SUV struck the vehicle and overturned. He was ejected from the vehicle and sustained critical injuries. He was transported to Vidant Medical Center where he remained until succumbing to his injuries on December 1st, 2020. Deputy Allison was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Nash County Sheriff's Office for 2-1/2 years. He is survived by his wife, son, and parents. Badge I-104 Incident Date Friday, November 27, 2020 traffic stop Rest In Peace Officer Allison. You are a true American hero and the world was blessed to have had you. AIMEE DOUGLAS	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1121
__label__cc	0.716293	0.283707	Principles of Transformation policy briefing Loaded: Wed, 02/04/2014 - 12:21 One East Midlands has published a policy briefing on the principles of transformation in the health and social care sector, summarising the reforms taking place and how the VCS might respond to them. The combination of a growing and ageing population in the UK, with associated growth in long term health conditions and continued poor lifestyle choices is resulting in the NHS facing greater demand and financial pressures than ever before. Traditionally the NHS has placed a heavy emphasis on the development of responsive services such as A&E and target acute services. By comparison the development of prevention and early intervention services has arguably remained relatively under developed. The current financial pressures within the health care system highlight the escalating costs of acute service provision and illustrate the need to innovate new services that help people stay independent and healthier for longer. This innovation is needed to avoid expensive hospital admissions, which currently drive significant costs through the health care system. Wider concerns also exist around the long term problem of integration between health and social care. In recognition of these issues the government has pooled £3.8 billion to transform health and social care so that it is delivered in a more integrated way. This investment will be known as the Better Care Fund. The fund is expected to break down the barriers between health and social care, deliver better person centred services for individuals and lead to better wellbeing outcomes. To download the full briefing click here. In connection to the briefing One East Midlands in partnership with Public Health England are also running two events on understanding open health data and intelligence to make the business case for the work of small to medium sized VCS organisations. For further information and to book onto these free events, which are taking place on Thursday 1 May in Market Harborough and Friday 9 May in Derby City click here. One East Midlands Policy Briefing - Principles of transformation (March 2014) About One EM Arts, Culture, Heritage & Sport Children, Young People & Families Crime & Community Safety Funding & Income Learning, Skills & Employability Local Authority Relationships One EM Publications Regional Economic & Spatial Development Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund VCS Development One East Midlands, 7 Mansfield Road, Nottingham, NG1 3FB \| Registered Charity Number 1094733 \| Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered in England and Wales, Number 4342574	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1129
__label__cc	0.586647	0.413353	Overlapping surgeries are generally safe Author: Ingrid Torjesen A surgeon sometimes moves from one surgical procedure on a patient to begin surgery on another, leaving less experienced surgeons to finish some parts of the procedure and close up, and research* published in JAMA has concluded that this practice does not greatly increase risk for patients except for cardiac surgery and other high-risk patients. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University analysed outcomes among 66,430 patients, ages 18 to 90, undergoing eight common procedures at eight medical centres across the United States between 2010 and 2018. The procedures included knee and hip repairs, spinal surgeries, brain surgeries and coronary artery bypass grafting, a type of cardiac surgery to restore blood flow to the heart. While they found that overall overlapping surgeries do not increase the risk for post-surgical complications and patient death in the immediate aftermath of the procedure, there were two important exceptions: patients deemed high risk (relatively high predicted probability of complications from surgery, due to age and pre-existing medical condition) and patients undergoing coronary artery bypass. Overlapping procedures ran about a half hour longer on average than non-overlapping procedures, the study found. "For most surgeries, and most patients, our findings should be reassuring," said Anupam Jena, the Ruth L. Newhouse associate professor of health care policy in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and an internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. "But for certain types of procedures and certain patients, the evidence suggests that we need to be thoughtful about whether a particular individual is a good candidate for overlapping surgery." The mortality rate was 1.6% for patients undergoing non-overlapping surgeries, compared with 1.9% among patients undergoing overlapping procedures. Postoperative complications occurred in 11.8% of patients undergoing non-overlapping procedures, compared with 12.8% among those undergoing overlapping surgeries. Overlapping surgeries ran for 204 minutes, which was longer than the 173 minutes for non-overlapping procedures. For high-risk patients, the mortality rate was 5.8% for patients undergoing overlapping surgeries, compared with 4.7% among patients undergoing non-overlapping procedures. The complication rate was 29.2% for patients undergoing overlapping surgeries, compared with 27% among patients undergoing non-overlapping procedures. For patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, the mortality rate was 4% in surgeries with overlap versus 2.2% in surgeries without overlap. Complication rates were also higher in coronary artery bypass graft surgeries that involved overlap. It is important to remember that overlapping surgeries have clear advantages, the researchers said, including maximizing the use of top surgeons and busy operating rooms, increasing patient access to necessary care and providing crucial training experience for junior surgeons. However, the researchers cautioned that these benefits must be weighed carefully against any potential risk to patients. *Sun E, Mello MM, Rishel CA, et al. Association of Overlapping Surgery With Perioperative Outcomes. JAMA. 2019;321(8):762–772. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.0711 OnMedica is an independent, easy to access on-the-go website for doctors. It provides GPs and specialists with easy to digest and up-to-date, relevant educational content whilst enabling the freedom to share and collaborate in a safe-space to further personal development.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1130
__label__wiki	0.673853	0.673853	Home / Culture / Louise Glück wins the Nobel Prize for Literature Louise Glück wins the Nobel Prize for Literature Nikolai Duffy \| October 10, 2020 Louise Glück is the first poet to win the Nobel Prize in Literature since Tomas Tranströmer in 2011 and the first American to win since Toni Morrison in 1993. In their preference for the muddiness of everyday life over explicit engagement with their political and social issues, you can see a broad link between Glück and Tranströmer. On the surface, though, Morrison and Glück couldn’t appear to be more different. Morrison’s work lays bare both the lasting scars and the perennial nature of American trauma, whereas Glück’s work is altogether quieter, more local and apparently lacking that broad, socially and politically engaged canvas. But look past the surface and there are affinities between the two writers. Since her early poems, Glück has been concerned with charting what it means to live as an individual in America. It is a nuanced, controlled form of lyric poetry that is as interested in what it has not been possible to say as what has been said – and the ways the latter haunts and shapes the former. “I dislike being herded into certainty”, Glück has written. We live in an age in which certainty is valued above almost anything else. We appear to want, for instance, the certainty of a vaccine against COVID-19, the certainty that the pandemic will be brought to heel, and the certainty that we will not die, at least not yet and not like this. But there is something greatly important in remembering that life, in all its forms – social, political, personal – remains incomplete, uncertain, and endlessly revised. In Parable of the Swans from the 1996 collection, Meadowlands, two swans live: “On a small lake off / the map of the world”. The two swans spend much of their time studying themselves, some of their time studying each other. Ten years later “they hit / slimy water”. She continues: Sooner or later in a long life together, every couple encounters some emergency like this, some drama which results in harm. It is a parable of domestic life, devastating in its directness, even more so in the way such dramas are repeated interminably behind closed doors only to be shoved aside when the door opens, replaced by a public face that projects only possession and assurance. Individual becomes universal The Nobel committee has heralded Glück “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”. It is a blanket phrase that might be applied to much lyric poetry. But what has made Glück’s concern with individual experience resonate over the years is its quiet insistence that that even in the private sphere, everything is touched – and shaped – by the public sphere. No matter what we each might claim to the contrary, we are all the products of the world around us. And it’s upon these affects and consequences that Glück shines such a clarifying light. It has done so, not by telling us this, but by showing us the ways it can be done. It is a humble corrective to the discourses of power and authority – so often male – that colour and corrupt great swaths of what we are encouraged to view as important. We are each answerable to how we choose to live, or as the poet puts it in Parable of the Swans: “love was what one did.” Sidestepping controversy There is an argument that, after two years of self-inflicted controversies and incomprehensible decisions, the Nobel committee has elected to play it safe this year. Glück is not a polarising poet. In any case, there was an expectation that the prize would be awarded to a non-European female writer. The announcement of the 2020 Prize for Literature. There is also an argument that in awarding the prize to a white American writer whose work is often characterised by critics as not having an explicit political dimension, the committee has deliberately chosen to sidestep what could have been an important and timely intervention into the necessary debates about diversity and inclusivity – debates which run the risk of being rendered invisible by politicians’ more explicit desire to be seen to be waging war against the pandemic. No doubt there is something to these arguments. But to criticise the award on both of these fronts is also to neglect the very particular qualities and resonances of Glück’s work. Her preference for the discretion of lyric poetry has something very specific to say about the lives we choose to lead. As the poet writes in the final lines of the 2008 poem Dawn: You get home, that’s when you notice the mold. Too late, in other words. As though the sun blinded you for a moment. By drawing back a veil, Glück lets us see what is often overlooked, and the consequences that arise from the recklessness of not paying attention to ourselves and the way we live in the world. Nikolai Duffy Nikolai Duffy is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English of Manchester Metropolitan University in the USA. His main areas of research and teaching are American literature, poetry, and creative writing. “No jab, no pay” delivers results Taking a break from the booze Support grieving mums too this Mother’s Day Understanding our cravings for alcohol and fast food Australia’s flesh eating bug requires urgent research What we need to know about online genetic testing Does early stress increase the likelihood of chronic pain? The importance of self care	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1132
__label__wiki	0.932479	0.932479	> Home > Encyclopera > Arnold Schönberg Information Biography and Works Birthdate :13/09/1874 Deathdate :13/07/1951 Nationality :Austria Arnold Schönberg, Inventor of Dodecaphonism A founder and instructor of the “Vienna School”, Arnold Schönberg was responsible for a profound change in 20th century music history.He shattered conceptions of classical music by developing “dodecaphonism” and “serialism”, i.e., use of the technique of “composing with only twelve sounds connected to one another”. Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945) were his best-known pupils. The decline of romantic music led to the principles of writing being called into question, and to some major changes being made in them at the dawn of the 20th century.The burning question among composers of the time was how they could explore new directions, beyond the limitations of tonal music based on a series of eight related notes, the scale. Tonal music could be briefly defined as the music from Johann Sebastian Bach to Maurice Ravel.Richard Wagner played a decisive role in the breakdown of this tonal system, as did Richard Strauss, with works like Elektra (1901) and Salomé (1905).Many musicians approached “atonality” empirically, but it was Arnold Schönberg who theorised the principles of a new language, one quite disturbing to audiences accustomed to rhythmic and melodic continuity. Schönberg was self-taught, and nothing predisposed him to play such a decisive role in the evolution of music.Born on 13 September 1974 in Vienna, he belonged to a middle-class Jewish family, with a very devout mother and a freethinking father.Schönberg began by studying the violin and violoncello, but his father’s death when he was just 16 years old pushed him to take a bank job in order to earn a living.To improve his end-of-the-month financial situation, he composed Viennese operettas and waltzes; these manuscripts became very valuable after his death.Under the influence of his teacher, Alexandre Zemlinsky (1871-1942), Schönberg took up composing.The two men met in 1897.In 1921 Schönberg married the sister of Zemlinsky, who had immediately recognised in him the remarkable possibilities of a pupil to whom he offered nothing but a few lessons in counterpoint and composition.Schönberg’s early works initially followed in Brahms’s footsteps, as evidenced by his String Quartet in D Major (1897) which he wrote according to Zemlinsky’s recommendations. It was his string quartet, Night Transfigured (1899), that really marked the start of Schönberg’s extraordinary career.Imbued with Romantic poetry and still under Wagner’s influence, this piece is today the most commonly played of Schönberg’s works.In 1901 the composer write a huge dramatic oratorio, Gurre-Lieder, which was not produced until 1913.This exceptional scale of the vocal and instrumental resources was to be encountered again in Moses und Aron.The year 1901 was also the year Schönberg settled in Berlin, where he participated in the launch of a cabaret called “Überbrettl”, for which he composed regularly.The young musician grew close to Richard Strauss, and later with Gustav Mahler when he returned to Vienna in 1903.Mahler remained one of his loyal defenders.The following year Schönberg met Anton Webern and Alban Berg, who became his students.In 1906, hisChamber Symphony opus 9 departed sharply from Romantic orchestral writing, causing a scandal that made him the spokesman for Viennese progressives.The musician was also interested in painting, which was to become his hobby; he painted several self-portraits.Some years later Schönberg organised an exhibition of his own paintings, which revealed the influence of Expressionism, as does his music.Schönberg had also become friends with Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). The break with the tonal system came in 1908, a key date marked by the Second Quartet.A completely new era began in 1909 with the Three Pieces for Piano opus 11 and the monodrama Erwartung, in which the writing is freed from any thematic and tonal foundation. Each work thus incarnates a stage in the composition revolution undertaken by the trailblazing musician.Schönberg’s theoretical and pedagogical influence continued to grow, and his revolutionary creations definitively established him as the leader in atonal music.His theorising resulted in the 1911 publication of a Treatise on Harmony dedicated to the memory of Gustav Mahler.Another distinctly innovative work came in 1912: Pierrot Lunaire, a cycle of 21 melodramas for spoken voice and five instruments. In it, Schönberg makes systematic use of “sprechgesang”, a type of rhythmic declamation that might be called “spoken song”.This innovation aroused violent reactions among audiences, and critics attacked the musician vehemently.The year 1912 also marked the emergence of what was called “the Second Vienna School” as opposed to the first formed by the three Viennese composers Mozart, Hayden and Beethoven, unlike the school that grew up around Schönberg, which provided a very stringent education.The musician’s main students, like Berg and Webern but also younger, lesser-known composers lined up under the banner of Schönberg, who did however leave them free to grow and develop. In 1918, Schönberg founded the “Society for Private Musical Performances” from which critics were excluded, as was any criticism, with value judgments being prohibited entirely!It should be noted that, by and large, critics could not find sufficiently harsh words to denounce and belittle a form of music that seemed to them just barely listenable. Schönberg’s creative evolution was far from being understood by his contemporaries, and the composer was often discouraged by the problems he encountered in getting his music performed. The first of his works based entirely on the new musical language Schönberg developed was the Suite for piano op. 25 (1923).In 1923 the composer was appointed professor at the Prussian Arts Academy in Berlin, where he remained until 1933, when he was dismissed by the Nazi regime because of his Jewish origins.It was there that he began the long and difficult process of composing Moses und Aron, a work that cost him so much effort and caused him such torment that it was never finished.The first sketches of the work date from 1930.The first two acts were completed in early 1932.The libretto for the third act was not completed until 1935 in the United States, where Schönberg exiled himself in October 1933, fleeing the rise of Nazism and antisemitism.Before he left, he had abandoned Protestantism, which he converted to in 1898 in a desire to assimilate.To affirm his solidarity with his people, Schönberg preferred to return to Judaism on 24 July 1933 in Paris at the synagogue on rue Copernic. Aware of the difficulties of performing his opera, the musician feared it would never be staged.The work was initially created in a concert version in 1954, in Hamburg.The first performance did not come until 1957 at the Munich Stadttheater.Moses und Aronis a testamentary work in which we can perceive all of the artist’s theoretical questioning and his personal religious journey. Schönberg taught in the United States until 1944 when he reached the mandatory retirement age.Serious financial difficulties marked the final years of one of the most important musical personalities of his era. The composer was barely able to maintain his family.After the death of Mathilda, his first wife, in 1924 with whom he had two children, Arnold Schönberg married Gertrud Kolisch, who gave him three children, including a daughter, Muria, who married composer Luigi Nono.Schönberg tried to obtain a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation, like any of his students.Here again, he ran into an age limit!In the wake of his rejection and of the stir it had caused in the musical world that the famous foundation changed that section of its by-laws. In 1941 the musician became an American citizen, changing the spelling of his name from Schönberg to Schoenberg.He died on 13 July 1951 in Los Angeles.Ironically, Schönberg was very superstitious and had always been afraid of the number 13. He felt it was a sort of curse that he had been born on 13 September and, when he realised that the title of his opera Moses und Aron had 13 letters, he did not hesitate to delete the second “a” in Aaron to get to 12! Catherine Duault Moses und Aron share share follow Opéra National de Paris - Bastille Opéra National de Bordeaux Teatro alla Scala a Milano See all productions Moses and Aaron: an unfinished opera Next saturday, Moses and Aaron is played at the Opéra de Paris, in a new production signed by Romeo Castellucci (which will be broadcasted online next week). A choice taken by Stéphane Lissner for his first s… Published on the 14 of October, 2015	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1133
__label__cc	0.58895	0.41105	Sodium in Effervescent Solutions May Be Associated With Increased Cardiovascular Risk Payal Kohli, MD Warning: The maximum daily dose of a single dispersible medication may itself contain more sodium than is recommended from all sources in a day. Recent campaigns to increase consumer awareness of the dangers of excessive sodium intake and efforts to reduce the salt content of thousands of processed foods may not have had a significant impact on the burden of diseases that are directly linked to sodium consumption, and hypertension in particular. By one estimate, reducing sodium intake in the United States to 2.3 g/d (1 teaspoonful) could prevent 11 million cases of incident hypertension.1 The National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) was established several years ago with a goal to reduce American’s dietary sodium intake by 20% over 5 years. As part of this initiative, food manufacturers have been mandated to disclose sodium content on food labels to increase consumer awareness of sources of dietary sodium. Physicians and patients alike, however, remain largely uninformed about pharmaceutical sources of sodium that could significantly contribute to cardiovascular risk. There is no mandate that directs manufacturers of drugs to report sodium content in their labeling. As a result, the maximum daily dose of a single medication may itself contain more sodium than is recommended from all sources in a day. A recent nested case-control study published in the British Medical Journal was designed to determine whether patients taking sodium-containing formulations of effervescent, dispersible, and soluble drugs have a higher incidence of cardiovascular events than patients taking non-sodium formulations of the same drugs. Examples of sodium-containing medications included soluble acetaminophen, effervescent aspirin, soluble ibuprofen, calcium carbonate (Alka-Seltzer), and effervescent metoclopramide/aspirin, many of which are available over the counter. Using the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink cohort, almost 1.3 million patients were followed for a mean of 7.2 years to determine the incidence of the primary composite outcome of non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, or vascular death. After matching controls and cases 1:1, there was an adjusted OR of 1.16 (95% CI, 1.12-1.21) for the primary endpoint for individuals who consumed these sodium-containing solutions. There was also a significant increase in the adjusted ORs for non-fatal stroke (adj. OR = 1.22), all-cause mortality (adj. OR = 1.28), and hypertension (adj. OR = 7.18). The authors note that the increased risk of stroke was most likely due to the associated increased risk of hypertension. This large observational study suggests that hidden sources of sodium, such as pharmaceuticals of the type evaluated here, may contribute to worse cardiovascular outcomes and to a large increase in the odds for incident hypertension. The message in these results is 3-fold: (1) Physicians must be aware of the sodium content of these and similar solutions; (2) patients should also be made aware of both prescription and over-the-counter formulations with high sodium content; and (3) physicians and patients together should weigh the risk to benefit ratio of such medications before using or prescribing them. George J, Majeed W, Mackenzie IS, MacDonald TM, Wei L. Association between cardiovascular events and sodium-containing effervescent, dispersible, and soluble drugs: nested case-control study. BMJ 2013; 347 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f6954 . Cardiovascular Disease \| Hypertension	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1134
__label__wiki	0.940885	0.940885	A Queens of England Novel Series Sign me up to get more news about Historical Fiction books By clicking submit, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. A Queens of England Novel Series : Titles in Order Sort by: Latest to First First to Latest The Rose Without a Thorn From the pen of legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy comes an unforgettable true story of royalty, passion, and innocence lost. Born into an impoverished branch of the noble Howard family, young Katherine is plucked from her home to live with her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk. The innocent girl quickly learns that her grandmother’s puritanism is not shared by Katherine’s free-spirited cousins, with whom she lives. Beautiful and impressionable, Katherine becomes involved in two ill-fated love affairs before her sixteenth birthday. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, she leaves her grandmother’s home to become a lady-in-waiting at the court of Henry VIII. The royal palaces are exciting to a young girl from the country, and Katherine finds that her duties there allow her to be near her handsome cousin, Thomas Culpepper, whom she has loved since childhood. But when Katherine catches the eye of the aging and unhappily married king, she is forced to abandon her plans for a life with Thomas and marry King Henry. Overwhelmed by the change in her fortunes, bewildered and flattered by the adoration of her husband, Katherine is dazzled by the royal life. But her bliss is short-lived as rumors of her wayward past come back to haunt her, and Katherine’s destiny takes another, deadly, turn. The Queen’s Devotion A daughter’s love. A monarch’s duty. On the road to greatness, one young woman must make an unthinkable choice. For Princess Mary, life has never been simple, but through it all the love of her father, the Duke of York, has been a constant and reliable comfort. Despite his own loyalty to the Catholic Church, the Duke and his brother, King Charles II, raised Mary as a Protestant to protect her in a time of religious and political upheaval. In order to cement this safety and to ensure the stability of the family line, at age fifteen, Mary is married to her Protestant first cousin William, Prince of Orange. However, in post-Restoration England, matters are rarely so simply settled. When Mary’s uncle, King Charles II, dies suddenly and without an heir, her beloved father is crowned James II. But a Catholic king is not the will of the people, and even Mary’s own husband is crying out for change. Can Mary take part in actions that will ultimately remove her own father from the throne and endanger his life? With family loyalty and the will of a nation at odds, what choice can a young princess make? With emotional clarity and vivid historical detail, beloved author Jean Plaidy brings us into the court and behind the scenes as history unfolds—and the young princess and her groom become William and Mary—the legendary monarchs, and the only co-regents in the history of a nation. The Merry Monarch’s Wife Charles II is restored to the English throne, and his court is lively and even scandalous. The country is eager for succession to be clear and certain: The next king will be the son of Charles II and his queen, Catherine of Braganza. Yet Catherine, daughter of the king of Portugal and a Catholic, has never been popular with the English people. She is also having great difficulty conceiving an heir, even as many of Charles’s well-known mistresses are bearing his children with ease. Catherine is aware that courtiers close to Charles are asking him to divorce her and take another wife—yet she is determined to hold her title in the face of all odds. The ninth novel in the beloved Queens of England series, The Merry Monarch’s Wife brings Catherine of Braganza to life and plunges readers into the tumultuous world of Restoration England. The Reluctant Queen In 1470, a reluctant Lady Anne Neville is betrothed by her father, the politically ambitious Earl of Warwick, to Edward, Prince of Wales. A gentle yet fiercely intelligent woman, Anne has already given her heart to the prince’s younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Unable to oppose her father’s will, she finds herself in line for the throne of England—an obligation that she does not want. Yet fate intervenes when Edward is killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Anne suddenly finds herself free to marry the man she loves—and who loves her in return. The ceremony is held at Westminster Abbey, and the duke and duchess make a happy home at Middleham Castle, where both spent much of their childhood. Their life is idyllic, until the reigning king dies and a whirlwind of dynastic maneuvering leads to his children being declared illegitimate. Richard inherits the throne as King Richard III, and Anne is crowned queen consort, a destiny she thought she had successfully avoided. Her husband’s reign lasts two years, two months, and two days—and in that short time Anne witnesses the true toll that wearing the crown takes on Richard, the last king from the House of York. The Queen’s Secret Katherine of Valois was born a princess, the daughter of King Charles VI of France. But by the time Katherine was old enough to know him, her father had come to be called “Charles the Mad,” given to unpredictable fits of insanity. The young princess lived a secluded life, awaiting her father’s sane moments and suffering through the mad ones, as her mother took up with her uncle and their futures became more and more uncertain. Katherine’s fortunes appeared to be changing when, at nineteen, she was married to King Henry V of England. Within two years, she gave birth to an heir—but her happiness was fleeting. Soon after the birth of her son, she lost her husband to an illness. With Joan of Arc inciting the French to overthrow English rule, Katherine’s loyalty to her adopted homeland of England became a matter of intense suspicion. Katherine had brought her dowry and borne her heir; what use was she to England? It was decreed that she would live out her remaining years alone, far from the seat of power. But no one, not even Katherine herself, could have anticipated that she would fall in love with and secretly marry one of her guardians, Owen Tudor—or that a generation later, their grandson would become the first king of the great Tudor dynasty. In the Shadow of the Crown As Henry VIII’s only child, the future seemed golden for Princess Mary. She was the daughter of Henry’s first queen, Katharine of Aragon, and was heir presumptive to the throne of England. Red-haired like her father, she was also intelligent and deeply religious like her staunchly Catholic mother. But her father’s ill-fated love for Anne Boleyn would shatter Mary’s life forever. The father who had once adored her was now intent on having a male heir at all costs. He divorced her mother and, at the age of twelve, Mary was banished from her father’s presence, stripped of her royal title, and replaced by his other children–first Elizabeth, then Edward. Worst of all, she never saw her beloved mother again; Katharine was exiled too, and died soon after. Lonely and miserable, Mary turned for comfort to the religion that had sustained her mother. In a stroke of fate, however, Henry’s much-longed-for son died in his teens, leaving Mary the legitimate heir to the throne. It was, she felt, a sign from God–proof that England should return to the Catholic Church. Swayed by fanatical advisors and her own religious fervor, Mary made horrific examples of those who failed to embrace the Church, earning her the immortal nickname "Bloody Mary." She was married only once, to her Spanish cousin Philip II–a loveless and childless marriage that brought her to the edge of madness. With In the Shadow of the Crown, Jean Plaidy brings to life the dark story of a queen whose road to the throne was paved with sorrow. The Courts of Love When I look back over my long and tempestuous life, I can see that much of what happened to me—my triumphs and most of my misfortunes—was due to my passionate relationships with men. I was a woman who considered herself their equal—and in many ways their superior—but it seemed that I depended on them, while seeking to be the dominant partner—an attitude which could hardly be expected to bring about a harmonious existence. Eleanor of Aquitaine was revered for her superior intellect, extraordinary courage, and fierce loyalty. She was equally famous for her turbulent relationships, which included marriages to the kings of both France and England. As a child, Eleanor reveled in her beloved grandfather’s Courts of Love, where troubadours sang of romantic devotion and passion filled the air. In 1137, at the age of fifteen, Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine, the richest province in Europe. A union with Louis VII allowed her to ascend the French throne, yet he was a tepid and possessive man and no match for a young woman raised in the Courts of Love. When Eleanor met the magnetic Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, their stormy pairing set great change in motion—and produced many sons and daughters, two of whom would one day reign in their own right. In this majestic and sweeping story, set against a backdrop of medieval politics, intrigue, and strife, Jean Plaidy weaves a tapestry of love, passion, betrayal, and heartbreak—and reveals the life of a most remarkable woman whose iron will and political savvy enabled her to hold her own against the most powerful men of her time. The Lady in the Tower One of history’s most complex and alluring women comes to life in this classic novel by the legendary Jean Plaidy. Young Anne Boleyn was not beautiful but she was irresistible, capturing the hearts of kings and commoners alike. Daughter of an ambitious country lord, Anne was sent to France to learn sophistication, and then to court to marry well and raise the family’s fortunes. She soon surpassed even their greatest expectations. Although his queen was loving and loyal, King Henry VIII swore he would put her aside and make Anne his wife. And so he did, though the divorce would tear apart the English church and inflict religious turmoil and bloodshed on his people for generations to come. Loathed by the English people, who called her “the King’s Great Whore,” Anne Boleyn was soon caught in the trap of her own ambition. Political rivals surrounded her at court and, when she failed to produce a much-desired male heir, they closed in, preying on the king’s well-known insecurity and volatile temper. Wrongfully accused of adultery and incest, Anne found herself imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she was at the mercy of her husband and of her enemies. Victoria Victorious In this unforgettable novel of Queen Victoria, Jean Plaidy re-creates a remarkable life filled with romance, triumph, and tragedy. At birth, Princess Victoria was fourth in line for the throne of England, the often-overlooked daughter of a prince who died shortly after her birth. She and her mother lived in genteel poverty for most of her childhood, exiled from court because of her mother’s dislike of her uncles, George IV and William IV. A strong, willful child, Victoria was determined not to be stifled by her powerful uncles or her unpopular, controlling mother. Then one morning, at the age of eighteen, Princess Victoria awoke to the news of her uncle William’s death. The almost-forgotten princess was now Queen of England. Even better, she was finally free of her mother’s iron hand and her uncles’ manipulations. Her first act as queen was to demand that she be given a room—and a bed—of her own. Victoria’s marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert, was a blissfully happy one that produced nine children. Albert was her constant companion and one of her most trusted advisors. Victoria’s grief after Prince Albert’s untimely death was so shattering that for the rest of her life—nearly forty years—she dressed only in black. She survived several assassination attempts, and during her reign England’s empire expanded around the globe until it touched every continent in the world. Derided as a mere “girl queen” at her coronation, by the end of her sixty-four-year reign, Victoria embodied the glory of the British Empire. In this novel, written as a “memoir” by Victoria herself, she emerges as truthful, sentimental, and essentially human—both a lovable woman and a great queen. Queen of This Realm In this "memoir" by Elizabeth I, legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy reveals the Virgin Queen as she truly was: the bewildered, motherless child of an all-powerful father; a captive in the Tower of London; a shrewd politician; a lover of the arts; and eventually, an icon of an era. It is the story of her improbable rise to power and the great triumphs of her reign–the end of religious bloodshed, the settling of the New World, the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Brilliantly clever, a scholar with a ready wit, she was also vain, bold, and unpredictable, a queen who commanded–and won–absolute loyalty from those around her. But in these pages, in her own voice, Elizabeth also recounts the emotional turmoil of her life: the loneliness of power; the heartbreak of her lifelong love affair with Robert Dudley, whom she could never marry; and the terrible guilt of ordering the execution of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. In this unforgettable novel, Elizabeth emerges as one of the most fascinating and controversial women in history, and as England’s greatest monarch. Loyal in Love The daughter of Henry IV of France, Princess Henrietta Maria, becomes a pawn in a political strategy to stabilize relations between two countries when her father marries her to Charles I of England. Sent abroad, she finds herself living in a Protestant country that views her own faith—Catholicism—with deep suspicion. Yet her new husband is a man of principle and integrity, and Henrietta and Charles fall deeply in love. Henrietta is passionate about her faith, however, and soon politically powerful people, namely Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans, turn her loyalty to her religion into a focal point for civil war. As the royal couple watch the fall of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford, the rise of Puritanism, and Englishmen fight Englishmen, they are undeterred in their dedication to each other and in their belief in the divine rights of king and queen—even as spies lurk in their very own household. Loyal in Love offers an inside look at an unforgettable time in England’s history and at the life of a queen whose story of devotion and bravery has gone untold for too long. A Queens of England Novel Series: Bundles & Boxed Sets A Queens of England Novel Series: Related Titles Other Series By Jean Plaidy About Jean Plaidy J P More about Jean Plaidy Other Series You Might Like Find other titles in Historical Fiction Literary Fiction	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1139
__label__wiki	0.945105	0.945105	Home News ‘Reserve role no guarantee Vandoorne would race’ ‘Reserve role no guarantee Vandoorne would race’ Date published: December 5 2020 Passed over in favour of George Russell for the Sakhir GP, Toto Wolff says Stoffel Vandoorne knew his reserve role wasn’t a “guarantee” he’d be the team’s substitute. Mercedes were left looking for a replacement driver for this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19. Immediately attention turned to Vandoorne, the team’s official reserve driver. Heading to Bahrain after completing a Formula E test on Tuesday, he was amongst the favourites to fill in for Hamilton. Mercedes, though, decided to go with “race-ready” Russell, Williams agreeing to release the Mercedes junior. Vandoorne took to social media to express his disappointment. “Obviously, I’m disappointed not to get the chance to drive for Mercedes this weekend,” he wrote. “After having spent the year travelling to all F1 races and dedicating so much time, physical training, commitment to this programme…it hurts!” Wolff, though, says the Belgian racer always knew that even his role as the team’s official reserve driver was not a “guarantee” that he would be the one called up if needed. The Austrian told RaceFans.net: “Stoffel is doing great in Formula E and has done a perfect job this year as our reserve driver. “He’s naturally disappointed not to be in the car this weekend and we understand and respect that. He’s a racer and we don’t expect him to be jumping for joy. “But he’s also pragmatic and understands the reasons for our decision. “As reserve driver, you go into the season knowing that you could be called on to race, but that it’s not a guarantee and also that you have a role to play away from the track in the simulator and doing development work. “Stoffel has done a great job with that, as well as his main role in Formula E, where they have just completed pre-season testing. He’s an important part of the motorsport family at Mercedes and a top team player.” Vandoorne spent two years racing in Formula 1, on the grid with McLaren in 2017 and 2018 before he was dropped by the team in favour of an all new line up in Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. He moved over to Formula E, racing for HWA Racelab in his first season and the official Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team in his second season where he won the Berlin ePrix and finished second in the Drivers’ standings. Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page. Mercedes Stoffel Vandoorne Jenson Button exclusive: On Hamilton and car v driver	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1144
__label__wiki	0.916515	0.916515	Parker Space Probe: The Engineering Required to "Touch the Sun" Flying closer to the sun than ever before requires some of the most advanced manufacturing that humanity has ever achieved. By Jay Bennett Flying a spacecraft to the sun has been an objective of NASA since the very beginning. In October 1958, just months after NASA was founded, a committee headed by physicists John Simpson and James Van Allen (for whom the radiation belts around the Earth are named) outlined some long-term goals for the new civil space agency. One of the principle missions identified by the committee was "a solar probe to pass inside the orbit of Mercury to study the particles and fields in the vicinity of the Sun." Additional missions were identified as well, such as a lunar spacecraft and probes to explore the outer planets. While most of these missions were accomplished within a few short decades, the solar spacecraft required a level of technological expertise that humanity just hadn't achieved—until now. "Solar Probe is the only one of those missions not to have launched,” says Andrew Driesman of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Driesman serves as the Project Manager of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, a mission 60 years in the making, destined to fly faster and closer to the sun than anything ever conceived. Fly Me to the Sun At 3:48 a.m. EDT on Saturday, August 11, the Parker Solar Probe will begin its journey to the sun atop the second most powerful rocket in operation: the Delta IV Heavy. It may seem strange, but launching to the sun is as challenging, if not more, than launching to Pluto or beyond. Despite being relatively light as far as spacecraft go, only about 700 kg including fuel, Parker Solar Probe will need to launch at an incredibly high velocity to make its rendezvous with the sun. The Earth itself is flying around the sun at immense speeds, so to avoid simply orbiting the sun at the same distance as the Earth, the rocket must launch against the velocity of the planet. The first stage boosters of the Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch the Parker Solar Probe, Cape Canaveral, April 17, 2018. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman "Unlike going to the outer solar system, where you have to speed the spacecraft up, going into the inner solar system you have to slow it down—but from the perspective of the spacecraft it’s all changes in velocity," Driesman says. "The Earth travels through the solar system at about 30 km/s... so we have to shed the Earth’s velocity in order to get close to the sun." Even the mighty Delta IV Heavy isn't quite enough to get Parker on its way, so NASA has provided a third "kick stage" for the launch that will ignite its rocket engine in space after the primary three-core booster and second stage have burned through all their fuel. The spacecraft will then fly by Venus for a gravity assist, which will decelerate the probe further so it can fall in toward the sun. Over the course of 24 orbits, the craft will swing by Venus a total of 7 times to continue shedding velocity and falling closer and closer to the sun, ultimately descending to within 4 million miles of the solar surface—about 7 times closer than a spacecraft has ever ventured before. Orbital trajectory of the Parker Solar Probe. JHUAPL And yet, for all this slowing down, the Parker Solar Probe will "be the fastest human-made object in existence," says Driesman. When Parker slings around the sun at closest approach, it will hit a blistering speed of 430,000 mph relative to the sun. A Shield to Take on Helios The Parker Solar Probe's journey takes it into the sun's corona, a bubble of superheated plasma stretching millions of miles from the solar surface. To survive in such a hellish environment, the spacecraft will carry a composite heat shield that would not have been possible to build even 10 years ago—light enough to launch, strong enough to withstand the launch, and with enough heat resistance to guard the spacecraft from the face of the sun. On Sept. 21, 2017, engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, lowered the thermal protection system—the heat shield—onto the spacecraft for a test of alignment as part of integration and testing. NASA/JHUAPL "If you were a satellite in Earth orbit... and your face were a meter by a meter, it’s about 1,350 watts," Driesman says. "Where we’re going, it’s about 500 times that. So it’s roughly 3 million watts of energy on the heat shield at closest approach." The spacecraft's heat shield, known as the thermal protection system (TPS), is a sandwich of carbon-reinforced-carbon sheets with about 4.5 inches of carbon foam in between—a structure that will heat to about 2,500 degrees F. "If you had tried to do this mission in the 60s or the 70s, I would even say the 80s, you’d be talking about flying high temperature metals," Driesman says. "You’d be building heat shields out of some metals that have very high melting points, and you would never get it off the ground because it would be so heavy." Unlike most commercial carbon fiber, carbon-carbon structures are not held together by hardened resin—which would evaporate in the vicinity of the sun like gasoline on hot pavement. To build the heat shield, NASA manufactured sheets of carbon fiber and impregnative the substance with resin filled with "chopped up carbon fibers," Driesman says, letting the resin harden before burning it off in a 3,000-degree oven and repeating the process four or five times. "You’re left with these carbon fibers that are intertwined. ... So when we talk about a carbon-carbon structure, it is pure carbon. There is no resin, there ain’t nothing else." Solar Panels—Up Close and Personal The spacecraft will be powered by solar panels—there will certainly be plenty of solar energy where it's going—but a robust cooling system is required to keep the panels from shattering in the heat. "For every watt of electrical energy we generate, we have to deal with about 13 watts of heat," Driesman says. "So the cooling system on the spacecraft has got about 6,000 watts of cooling capacity, which is enough to cool a living room in the average house." Some clever engineering was required to construct what is perhaps to most efficient liquid cooling system ever devised. The solar array cooling system for the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft—one element of which is the large, square black radiator visible at center, one of two that will be installed—is shown undergoing thermal testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland in late February. "Most solar panels are laid up on an aluminum or carbon or a honeycomb composite, and that’s what provides the structure for the glass cells," Driesman says. "In this case, they’re laid up on a titanium platen, and the titanium platen has these very thin tubes built into them... where the water circulates... back through a manifold and then through a pump and up into radiators that pick up the heat from the solar panel and radiate that heat to deep space." Interestingly, the cooling system will use water, deionized to prevent corrosion and pressurized to raise the boiling point to about 150 degrees Celsius. The water, about a gallon of it, will be contained in something that looks like a "a very small scuba tank," where the team has taken care to prevent it from boiling off near the sun or freezing in the frigid conditions immediately following launch. "There were something like 50 coolants looked at, and water turned out to be the best," Driesman says. "It has a great heat capacity [and] it’s not toxic." Even with such a robust cooling system, the solar panels will need to hide from the direct fury of the sun as the spacecraft loops in for its 24 close passes. Mounted on actuators, the solar panels will fold behind the heat shield on closest approach, exposing only a small portion of the cells to the sun at a sharp angle—and that will be plenty of power to run the critical science and navigation equipment. Kevlar Armor Against Micrometeorites and Orbital Debris For all the hazards of flying in the vicinity of the sun, perhaps the least discussed is a barrage of tiny rocks waiting to shred any vulnerable object that ventures too close. So-called "sungrazing comets" are often broken to bits when they fly near the sun, ripped apart the by the immense gravity to leave behind a field of micrometeorites and orbital debris (MMOD). Parker Solar Probe being integrated into the payload fairing of the Delta IV Heavy rocket in preparation for launch. "So in close to the sun, there’s hypothesized a hypervelocity dust environment where you’ve got these very small grains of dust moving at very high speeds, 200 or 300 km/s," Driesman says. "It’s not uncommon for a spacecraft to have what they call micrometeorite protection, but in the outer solar system the velocities of the particles are much more tame... so [the spacecraft] has got this overwrap of Kevlar and blanket material that protects the cooling lines from punctures." As if the heat and the extreme velocities weren't enough, NASA's newest spacecraft will have to shield itself from impacts with rocky debris that is smaller, but "much more extreme" than debris in the outer solar system. Add up all the advanced defense mechanisms required, and it's no surprise that it took NASA six decades after proposing a solar probe to finally "touch the sun." "There are still areas of the heliosphere that are unexplored," Driesman says, referring to the entire solar system where solar wind holds influence. "And this is in many ways the last of them." More From Solar System How to Build a Badass Orrery Three Asteroids to Fly Past Earth on Christmas Day How to See the Rare Double Planet Before Christmas Watch Japan Return an Asteroid Sample to Earth A 'God of Chaos' Asteroid Could Hit Earth in 2068 Watch a Spacecraft Punch an Asteroid Tonight The Truth About That Election Day Asteroid BepiColombo Just Snapped Awesome Photos of Venus Venus Is a Russian Planet ... Says Russia Possible Signs of Life Found in Venus Atmosphere Science of Parker Solar Probe Should Be Astounding The Parker Space Probe Won't Melt in The Sun Upcoming Sun Probe Gets Heat Shield Installed ULA's Fight for the Rocket Business This Is the Golden Age of Space Exploration Parker Solar Probe's First Observations	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1146
__label__wiki	0.665582	0.665582	Iza Calzado on blissful living: "Because I'm at peace." by Jocelyn Valle Iza Calzado graces the cover of YES! magazine's May 2017 issue. This May, Iza Calzado welcomes YES! inside her modern eclectic condo in Makati City, where the beautiful movie and TV star tells us why she’s at her happiest yet. “I’m blissful now because I’m at peace,” says the star of the upcoming movie, Bliss. “It’s not that I don’t have problems, but I’m siguro more sure of myself... “Also, blissful because everything’s kind of balanced at the moment—work, life...I mean, personal and public life. I have a very blissful relationship. "Wow! It’s not perfect but it’s...I guess it’s well balanced.” Iza also mentions winning her first international award, the Yukushi Pearl Award that she received last March at the Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF) in the city of Osaka, Japan, in which Bliss was screened at the main competition. According to the OAFF website, the Yukushi Pearl Award was given to “the most brilliant performer among all participating films’ cast members.” The award-winning actress is likewise thankful for being part of the hit primetime drama series, A Love to Last, starring Bea Alonzo and Ian Veneracion. Ditto for her older brother Dash becoming a father to a baby girl, a fact that somehow eases the sorrow of being complete orphans. Their mother Mary Ann Ussher died in 2001 and their father Lito Calzado, in 2011. “Yes, my parents are not here, but, you know, it’s a happy life, and I cannot complain,” she beams. “The only thing that I can complain about is I’m having a harder time losing weight,” she adds, shaking her head. “That’s not blissful. Ayun lang. But other than that, I’m happy—very happy.” Read about the long road that Iza has taken to happiness and how she coped with the loss of her parents; found true and lasting love in tech entrepreneur Ben Wintle, switched channels, from GMA-7 to ABS-CBN, bagged the role of a lifetime in Bliss, and ended up selling her old house in Quezon City to acquire her new digs in Makati. The YES! May 2017 issue also features today’s trending TV stars: Barbie Forteza, Ken Chan, Jak Roberto, Ivan Dorschner of the primetime rom-com series, Meant To Be; Maymay Entrata and Edward Barber of PBB Lucky Season 7; Xymon “Onyok” Pineda of FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, and Baeby Baste of Eat Bulaga! Additionally, there are the newest faces of Encantadia, such as Mikee Quintos, Kate Valdez, Inah de Belen, Arra San Agustin, Klea Pineda, and Phytos Ramirez. We also put the spotlight on Frankie Pangilinan, the smart and talented daughter of Megastar Sharon Cuneta and Senator Kiko Pangilinan for the YES! Celebrity Kid Series. iza calzado home	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1150
__label__cc	0.556792	0.443208	Enquiry information A MEDIEVAL OAK HIGH-VAULT BOSS WITH FIGURATIVE CARVING. ENGLISH. CIRCA 1400. Probably made for a church or even a cathedral. This boss stands apart from the majority of medieval wooden ceiling bosses because it was designed as a load-bearing member, rather than just a decorative cap. Its form is that of a stone boss. In its original location (the centre of a vaulted ceiling above chapel within a major church), it functioned as a “keystone” by locking together the intersecting ribs of a vault. The base of the boss is composed of coarse-grained oak that, although difficult to carve, is exceedingly strong. Four large mortises cut in moulded sockets around base once house the tenons at the end of the vault ribs. Pined onto the base is a decorative cap composed of fine-grained oak and carved with an Old Testament prophet holding a scroll. Bosses of this type, whether in stone or wood, were used primarily for major churches during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Wooden bosses of larger size but of the same form from the now dismantled extension to the Exeter Bishop’s Palace built by Bishop Grandisson between 1335 and 1340 are now in the collection of the V&A (Charles Tracy, English Medieval Furniture and Woodwork, cat. 5). By 1400 masonry and carpentry technology had moved on with the introduction of the “fan-vault” roof. 7" DIAMETER AT BASE. STOCK NO.1084.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1152
__label__wiki	0.836545	0.836545	Analysis Projects Cytiva’s New Manufacturing Facility, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, USA Lonza’s Bioconjugation Facility Expansion, Visp Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Plasmid DNA Manufacturing Facility, Carlsbad, California Pfizer European R&D Headquarters, Sandwich, Kent Pfizer's Sandwich site is the company's European R&D headquarters and global manufacturing hub. Located in south-east Ke South-east Kent, UK Drugs for pain, allergy and respiratory, antivirals for infectious diseases, genitourinary and hepatology Planned closure Pfizer's Sandwich site is the centre of its European research and development operations. The laboratory at Sandwich employs 2,700 scientists and develops medication for pain, allergies and infectious diseases. Pfizer's Kent site also develops Celsentri, the first oral class drug to treat HIV. Pfizer’s Sandwich site is the company’s European R&D headquarters and global manufacturing hub. Located in south-east Kent, UK, the site began research activities in 1957 with a small team of six scientists. Over the years it has expanded to an employee base of more than 3,500. The site carries out some of Pfizer’s most important functions including drug metabolism, pharmaceutical sciences, animal health and evaluation of drug safety. Development of many of Pfizer’s important drugs has taken place at the site. The Sandwich site has been ranked ‘excellent’ under the Building Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method (BREEAM) scheme, which reviews the environmental performance of buildings. The surrounding area of the Sandwich site has also been awarded for its superior landscape design. In February 2011, Pfizer announced its decision to exit from the Sandwich research site. The site will be closed within the next two years, resulting in 2,400 job losses. The announcement was made as part of a global R&D restructuring programme, which aims to generate savings of up to $1.5bn by the end of 2012. Pfizer Sandwich facility capabilities The facility sits over a 390-acre site. About 2.2 million ft² of space is devoted to the R&D laboratory, which employs more than 2,700 scientists. Nearly 900 members of staff were accommodated in the manufacturing area when it was operational. The site is equipped with a new building and environment management system (BEMS). It is controlled by fibre optic technology, which resists power failure, interference of electromagnets and lighting flows. “The site carries out some of Pfizer’s most important functions including drug metabolism, pharmaceutical sciences, animal health and evaluation of drug safety.” The BEMS controls environmental factors that impact the production of drugs, including laboratory temperature, air pressure and humidity. It operates on a 2,500m fibre optic backbone that uses 43 Raytheon-made control-by-light routers. The backbone also controls automated functions including security and access control with LonWorks. The solvent handling facility at the site is equipped with a Delta V automation system. The system provides accurate data in real time in conjunction with intelligent field devices and digital communication. The site’s research and development laboratory is installed with a sample information management system. During the process of development, the system enables tracking, scheduling and reporting of the information generated. Research centre and pharmaceutical output The Sandwich site is the research centre for four main therapeutic areas. These includes pain, allergy and respiratory, antivirals for infectious diseases, genitourinary and hepatology. Drugs for gastrointestinal and liver fibrosis are also produced at Sandwich. The site is also the hub for Pfizer’s global vaccine network. The site develops several of Pfizer’s flagship drugs. The first oral class drug for the treatment of HIV, Celsentri (maraviroc) was developed at Sandwich. Other drugs manufactured include Revatio (sildenafil) for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension; Diflucan and Vfend (voriconazole), two antifungal, life-saving drugs; Istin and Cardura, for cardiovascular disease treatment; and Viagra, which treats erectile dysfunction. The site is equipped with advanced technologies including discovery high-throughput screening (HTS), inhalation, device development, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADME) screening, and safety pharmacology. The discovery HTS enables research scientists to obtain a number of key insights and target compounds to work on for the development of new drugs. In combination with HTS ADME screening, the technology allows Sandwich technicians to run screens and upload key data on the global database that can be accessed by all research teams equally. “The manufacturing arm of the Sandwich site was closed in September 2007.” Sandwich site closures and expansion The manufacturing arm of the Sandwich site was closed in September 2007. The largest division of Pfizer, the facility developed active pharmaceutical ingredients for animal and human drugs. Its closure resulted in the loss of more than 400 jobs. The site has undergone several expansions amounting to over ₤1bn. In 2001, approximately ₤361m was invested to construct new buildings including new laboratories. An additional ₤550m (almost ₤10m per week) was spent in 2006 to carry out further restructuring at the site. Companies Involved Endress + Hauser provides process automation solutions for pharmaceutical companies,... Analysis 8 hours Enter Amazon Pharmacy: the beginning of a great online pharmacy fight? Sponsored 6 days A standard approach to drug development for accessing the globe Genomics and Covid-19: UK’s real-time surveillance system to track viral mutations Disease-cancelling drugs: Immuneering raises $62m in Series B round Cytiva opened a new facility for manufacturing Xcellerex XDR bioreactors in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, US, in December 2020. The new manufacturing… Lonza announced the expansion of its bioconjugation facility at its Visp site in Switzerland in December 2020. The expansion will… Thermo Fisher Scientific is developing a new current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) facility in Carlsbad, California to expand its clinical… KBI Biopharma’s New Biologics Manufacturing Facility, North Carolina KBI Biopharma is building a new commercial biologics manufacturing facility in the Research Triangle Park (RTP), Durham, in North Carolina,… Get important industry news and analysis sent to your inbox – sign up to our e-Newsletter here	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1156
__label__wiki	0.579049	0.579049	Stamp Issuers: Alwar Posted on 2016-04-01 by Mark Jochim Princely State of Alwar (1877-1902) LOCATION: A Feudatory State of India, lying southwest of Delhi in the Jaipur Residency AREA: 3,300 sq. mi. (8,547 sq. km) POPULATION: 682,900 (est. 1895) GOVERNMENT: Princely State of India CAPITAL: Alwar FIRST STAMPS ISSUED: February 1877 LAST STAMPS ISSUED: 1901 12 Pies = 1 Anna; 16 Annas = 1 Rupee Alwar (अलवर) was a princely state in northern India. It was named after a Khazada ruler, Ulawar Khan, who established his kingdom in the region in 1412. Formerly spelt as “Ulwar” in British India which placed it in last position in alphabetically ordered lists, a ruler changed the spelling to “Alwar” to bring it to the top. It became a recognized Rajput kingdom in 1771 when Pratap Singh conquered the city of Alwar and broke from under the rule of the Maratha Empire. It was ruled by the Rajput dynasty during the period of the British Raj in India. Alwar became the first Indian State to sign an alliance with the British East India Company following the Battle of Laswari in 1803. It was named after a Khazada ruler, Ulawar Khan, who established his kingdom in the region in 1412. Formerly spelt as “Ulwar” in British India which placed it in last position in alphabetically ordered lists, a ruler changed the spelling to “Alwar” to bring it to the top. It became a recognized Rajput kingdom in 1771 when Pratap Singh conquered the city of Alwar and broke from under the rule of the Maratha Empire. It was ruled by the Rajput dynasty during the period of the British Raj in India. Alwar became the first Indian State to sign an alliance with the British East India Company following the Battle of Laswari in 1803. British colonial authorities ruled India with two administrative systems. About 60 percent of the Indian sub-continent were provinces and territories directly under British colonial administration – known as Convention States – while the remaining 40 percent were native Indian – Princely, or Feudatory – States under direct treaty relations with British India. Feudatory States, such as Alwar, ran their own postal systems and issued stamps which were valid only in that particular state. Convention States had an agreement with the British India postal system to handle internal postage. Following the independence of India in 1947, Alwar acceded unto the dominion of India. On 18 March 1948, the state merged with three neighboring princely states (Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karauli) to form the Matsya Union. This union in turn merged into the Union of India. On 15 May 1949, it was united with certain other princely states and the territory of Ajmer to form the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. The first stamps of Alwar State appeared in February 1877 but may have been issued as early as September 1876. They were valid until 1 July 1902 when the postal service was taken over by the British Imperial Post. The design remained virtually unchanged during this 25-year period and features a native dagger known as a Kandjar pointing to the right. This is a fiendish weapon that, when squeezed by the user, the blades open like scissors inside the victim. The state name, Raj Alwar, is written above the dagger and below it the denomination, both in Devanagari script. Alwar’s stamps were printed in two denominations, ¼ anna and 1 anna, printed by lithography. Those of the first issue were produced from a single master die for the ¼a value. Six transfers were taken from this to produce an intermediate matrix stone and that was transferred numerous times onto the actual printing stone. Perhaps twenty-five transfers were made from the matrix stone to the printing stone for the ¼a value, resulting in a sheet of 150 stamps each inscribed in Hindi “pav anna” (quarter anna). There were two separate printings. The 1 anna stamps were produced by adapting matrix stones prepared from the ¼a die to the new value by erasing the word “pav” and inserting a tiny plug bearing the word “ek” (one). Sheets of 70 and of 150 stamps seem to have been produced in separate printings. The first issue of 1877 was rouletted, but this was not always perfect and pairs are known of both denominations which are imperforate between stamps, either horizontally or vertically. The frame lines at the left and bottom of the stamps are thick. The ¼a was issued in various shades of blue and the 1a in several shades of brown. Scott lists two varieties for the ¼a (Scott #1 in ultramarine and #1a in blue) and three for the 1a (Scott #2 in brown, #2a is yellow brown, and #2b in red brown). In 1899 the design of the ¼ anna stamp was redrawn and a new master die was produced from which transfers were made to the printing stone without any intermediate matrix in ten horizontal rows of six. In these issues, only the bottom frame line is thick and the stamps were pin-perforated 12. In the first printing of the redrawn issues, the stamps were set further apart in the sheet. The wider margins, averaging about 3mm, are obvious. The color of this issue is a deep slate-blue, distinct from the paler shades of the first issue, and is listed in the Scott Catalogue as #3. Towards the end of 1899, a printing of the ¼a was made from a new stone in an emerald green color. These also have wide margins but the size of the sheet and their arrangement is unknown. They are the scarcest of all the Alwar stamps. Although this issue was not reported until 1904, it was probably the earliest printing of the value in green, because of its similarity in spacing to that of 1899. The only known used copy is dated 7 August 1901. It is given the minor listing of #4b in Scott. Between 1899 and 1901 another printing of the ¼a in emerald green was made, from another new stone, in which the stamps were set close together, with narrow margins, in eleven rows of seven stamps. The earliest recorded postmark for this issue (Scott #4c) is 3 January 1901. Finally, a printing of the ¼a with narrow margins was made, again from a new stone and again set close together, arranged in five rows of seven. In this issue the stamps were printed in a pale yellowish green and are listed as Scott #4. Scott #1-4 occasionally show portions of the papermaker’s watermark, W. T. & Co. The Scott catalogue assigns four major numbers and five minor numbers for shades, plus three additional minor numbers for imperforarate pairs. I have a total of seven Alwar stamps, some of which may be duplicates. I’m not certain if my copies of the ¼a from 1877 are Scott #1 (ultramarine) or Scott #1a (blue or steel blue as described by the Stanley Gibbons catalog), nor am I sure about the shades of the 1 anna (#2 brown, #2a yellow brown, #2b red brown – which may be the same that Gibbons calls “chocolate”). I AM sure that none of those ¼a’s are Scott #3 as they all feature a thick left border, nor do I have the emerald wide margins stamp of 1899 (Scott #4b) which is worth US $600 in my 2009 edition of the catalogue. Posted in Collecting Worldwide, Stamp IssuersTagged Alwar, Convention States (India), Feudatory States (India), India, Katar dagger, Princely State of India ← Back To Stamps…. A Birthday Cover → 3 thoughts on “Stamp Issuers: Alwar” rANG bIRANGE says: Pingback: The Princely State of Alwar (1803 – 1948) » Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes Pingback: Alwar, Princely State of India (1803 - 1948)Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1157
__label__cc	0.702484	0.297516	Phil Lifshin, Managing Broker Real Estate in Northwest, North Shore and Northern Suburbs Homes As Unique As You! Community Information For Real Estate Buyers and Sellers Northwest Suburbs Chicago’s Northern Suburbs The North Shore Suburbs The Northside of Chicago Home Buyer Resources and Information Relocating To and From Chicago and the Suburbs Home Seller Resources and Information Home and Real Estate Service Providers Homes For Sale in Chicago's Northwest Suburbs See properties for sale in Chicago’s Northwest Suburbs immediately with no registration required. Listings are updated every day so check back often. Arlington Heights Homes For Sale Hawthorn Woods Homes For Sale Lake Zurich Homes For Sale Palatine Homes For Sale Wheeling Homes For Sale Barrington Homes For Sale Elk Grove Village Homes For Sale Inverness Homes For Sale Long Grove Homes For Sale Mundelein Homes For Sale Rolling Meadows Homes For Sale Buffalo Grove Homes For Sale Hoffman Estates Homes For Sale Kildeer Homes For Sale Mount Prospect Homes For Sale Schaumburg Homes For Sale Vernon Hills Homes For Sale The Northwest Suburbs are the cities and villages along the "Golden Corridors" radiating north and west from O´Hare International Airport. These communities are clustered around the Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90) and The Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294). This area was coined as the Golden Corridor for the "gold mine" of economic activity and bustling industrial parks and business centers. The area is home to a proliferation of Fortune 500 companies, corporate and regional headquarters, major corporations, towering office buildings, exhibition and entertainment centers, hotels, shopping centers, and fine restaurants. The cities and villages of the Northwest Suburbs include: Arlington Heights, Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Cary, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Hawthorn Woods, Inverness, Kildeer, Lake Zurich, Long Grove, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, Wheeling and the surrounding areas. In addition to the emphasis on industry and business, the Northwest Suburbs also draws newcomers to a kaleidoscope of residential options that have enough diversity to support every imaginable lifestyle. Rolling countryside estates, wooded seclusion, sparkling lakes, planned developments, and vintage rural towns are some of the differing style of housing available in this vast region. While many of the Northwest Suburbs offer more affordable housing in long-established neighborhoods, this area also features exceptionally beautiful home sites and luxury or executive properties. Throughout the Northwest Suburbs, excellent transportation is available via numerous Metra commuter rail lines or easy access to the national and metropolitan highway systems. Outstanding healthcare resources begin on the local level with skilled professionals in every specialty, emergency clinics, medical centers, and state-of-the-art hospitals. Leading healthcare systems anchor a comprehensive network of services and facilities that include rehabilitation, long-term care, skilled nursing, home health, hospice, community outreach, health screenings, and health and wellness programs. Some of the major hospitals serving the Northwest Suburbs include Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Sherman Hospital and Provena St. Joseph's Hospital in Elgin, St. Alexis Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. The quality of education is of utmost importance to the residents of these communities, and the programs offered and the national standings of the school district reflect the concern and involvement of the local families. Many of the school districts in the Northwest Suburbs have won national awards for excellence in education and offer hands-on training using computers, creative-problem solving, and enrichment programs. A number of institutions of higher education are available close to home in this area that range from branch locations to community colleges and highly respected four-year universities. Northern Illinois University maintains a campus in Hoffman Heights, while Palatine is home to Harper College-a large two-year institution with more than 100 degree and certificate programs in leading fields. Schaumburg offers Roosevelt University and a branch of DePaul University is located in Rolling Meadows, which is also home to Olivet Nazarene University. Elgin is home to National Louis University. Many other impressive colleges, universities, and institutes are scattered throughout Chicagoland within a reasonable commuting distance from home. Quality of life plays a major role in attracting newcomers to the vibrant Northwest Suburbs, where more than business is booming. First-rate recreation facilities and entertainment centers in this corner of Chicagoland include some of the finest and most popular in the entire metro region. Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, one of the top ten malls in North America, is the crown jewel of an array of fine retail centers, malls, and districts. The Prime Outlets at Huntley is another hot spot for deep discounts on name-brand merchandise. Expansive arenas like the Sears Centre and Allstate Arena draw visitors from across Chicagoland, hosting competitive spectator sports thrills as well as major shows and events that showcase the nation's top stars. Alexian Field in Schaumburg is home to minor baseball league action. The Rosemont Theatre is another regional treasure, offering 4,400 seats for Broadway shows, full-scale productions, and world-class entertainers. Arlington Park is a major horse-racing venue, while the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin offers year-round gaming and entertainment attractions close to home in the Northwest Suburbs. Forest preserves and wooded country areas offer horseback riding, hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing or ice skating in season. The Fox River, the Lake Zurich area, and the Chain O´Lakes recreation area attract water-sport enthusiasts to outstanding boating, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming or beachfront relaxation. Many of the cities and village nestled in the Northwest Suburbs harmonize old-world charm and contemporary amenities for a comfortable, family-friendly environment. The housing selection and available home settings are as diverse the communities themselves. Choices include exclusive residential enclaves, lavish estate, and country manors as well as tidy subdivisions, golf-course communities, historic districts, and tree-lined neighborhoods dotted with green space. Those who are looking for the ideal home in Chicagoland may very well find their heart's treasure in one of the Golden Corridor communities. Phil Lifshin, Managing Broker, Realtor® \| 847-217-9712 \| phil.lifshin@cbexchange.com Coldwell Banker Realty \| 102 E Wing St, Arlington Heights, IL 60004 © 2020 Real Estate in Northwest, North Shore and Northern Suburbs. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy Website designed and maintained by Next Level Solutions For Real Estate	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1158
__label__wiki	0.744237	0.744237	Chief Michael C. Miller Michael C. Miller has over 27 years of law enforcement experience where he has worked at the city, county, tribal, and federal levels. He was sworn in as the Chief of Police in Colleyville, Texas on May 23, 2018. Prior to joining the Colleyville Police Department, he served for over 5 years as the Assistant Chief of Police of the Coral Gables Police Department in South Florida. Chief Miller also served in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for 6 years as the Special Assistant to the Executive Assistant Director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch and as the Special Advisor to the Assistant Director of the Directorate of Intelligence. He also served for 2 years as an FBI detailee to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs as the Deputy Associate Director of Law Enforcement Operations and as a Senior Advisor to the Director. Prior to joining the FBI, Chief Miller spent 13 years as a management consulting executive, most notably as the Global Program Executive for Accenture’s (previously Andersen Consulting) Immigration, Justice & Public Safety practice. Chief Miller began his career as a Deputy Sheriff with the Wise County Sheriff’s Department and also spent 5 years as a reserve police officer in Addison, Texas. He holds current police certifications in both Texas and Florida. Chief Miller received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and has completed the executive program in Navigating Strategic Change at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He also served for 3 years on the National Academy of Science’s panel on Modernizing the Nation’s Crime Statistics which resulted in the publication of 2 substantive reports on the subject.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1160
__label__wiki	0.645018	0.645018	PROTECT THE EARTH Publications/Publicaciones PRESIDENT: Chaim Yosef Mariategui-Levi, PhD. Chemist, Env. Scientist BS1980, MS 1983,and Licenciatura 1982 in Chemistry , Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, MS physical chemistry, University of New Mexico1985;, PhD, in Chemistry U of Kentucky 1988, Post Doctoral fellow at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and at Queens College, MA in math Education CCNY,1997. At least 30 hours of continuous education. Since 1989 worked as environmental consultant and contractor in recycling and in remediation of contaminated sites with heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, polynuclear aromatics and PCBs. Licensed as expert in subsurface investigation and Testing and Closure of underground storage tanks. Conducts a chemical synthesis and formulation business. Presently he has a radio program Protejamos la Tierra en Radio Maria. Peru . Dr Mariategui developed new and cost-efficient techniques to treat Hexavalent Chromium, Arsenic, Lead, Mercury and other metals in soils and groundwater. Other techniques developed are: Treatment of soils and groundwater contaminated with halogenated hydrocarbons including PCBs as well for the treatment of Aromatics and polynuclear aromatics in soils and groundwater. Dr. Mariategui taught as an adjunct faculty in several colleges in NY and NJ. He is also interested in environmental ethics and a theology of the Environment. VICE PRESIDENT: Alfredo Menocal, MS Geologist Took 80 credits of Biology Universidad Ricardo Palma, BSc(1984) and Licensure in Geology at the UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL MAYOR DE SAN MARCOS(Defended his thesis in 1992) MSc in Geological Engineering( Univ of Huancavelica a Post Graduate fellowship at the Mining Society of South Africa and with the Chamber of Mines of Peru 2016.) Mr. Menocal worked at the center for Studies on Disaster Prevention (PREDES) from 1984 to 1987. He worked in the geodynamic study of the Rimac Basin and its Environmental impact. From 1987 and 1992 he did mining exploration in Ancash, Amazonas and Puno (Peru) Since 1993 Mr. Menocal worked in prospecting mines and in computer simulations and programming in mining engineering and geology. SECRETARY: Meir Cynamon, MSChE, EIT BA in Chemistry Brooklyn College 2007, BSChE 2011, MSChE, 2013; NYU, Tandon School of Engineering, Took EIT exams in 2013. Master's thesis on Control of Mercury Vapors, He worked with Dr. Mariategui-Levi in the development of metal treatment methods in soils and groundwater as well as in reactor design projects, Presently he works in the chemistry of precious metals (Gold, Silver, platinum, palladium and Rhodium) as well as in the formulation of diverse electroplating solutions. Mr. Cynamon has excellent computer, drawing and communication skills. He is also trained in OSHA REGULATIONS for Safety and for Confined Space work. He has supervisory skills and training. TREASURER: Susan L. Schylander, MS, Science Educator BA in Education,1972 MS Education Long Island University 1976 plus 40 plus college credits taught Biology, Earth Sciences, Marine Sciences, Environmental Sciences and related courses. Her teaching style is with hands-on experience and She traveled extensively to explore the different environments, Conifer forests, Rain forests , Sea and shore environments in several countries. She has good writing skills plus she have experience in raising exotic pets in terraria mimicking their original habitat. Recently she visited California and Nevada's forests and observed the wildfires. She taught for 30 years at the high school level. She read extensively about environmental problems in NYC and the world. VOTING MEMBERS USA: C. Gunnar Wahlstrom, MSChE, PE, MBA BSChE/MSChE, Abo University, Finland, Professional Engineer in NY and NJ, MBA, Rutgers University. Project manager in design of cracking towers for refineries (LUMMUS Engineering), Design of cogeneration systems. Certified in subsurface investigation, tank testing, tank closure and tank installation as well as cathodic protection. Mr. Wahlstrom did several environmental jobs in large open areas to remediate low level pollutants in groundwater using bacteria. Mr Wahlstrom worked as a consultant for Japanese chemical companies. Donald M. Bello, MS, PG, LSRP DONALD BELLO, MS, CPG, LSRP M.S. in Geology, Rutgers University, 1982 B.S. in Geology, Rutgers University, 1979 NJDEP - Licensed Site Remediation Professional (#574870) NJDEP - Subsurface Evaluation and Closure Certification (#0009643) PA – Professional Geologist (#PG000023G) Mr. Bello has managed and conducted numerous hydrogeologic, environmental, and geophysical investigations at industrial facilities, landfills and uncontrolled hazardous waste disposal sites encompassing design, implementation, and interpretative phases. Representative project elements have included the design of ground water contamination delineation programs, aquifer testing and evaluation, ranking of remedial alternatives, and the design and construction of selected alternatives. Mr. Bello has designed and managed site assessments and remedial investigations in accordance with federal and state requirements including RCRA, CERCLA, and NEPA. Mr. Bello has extensive experience providing litigation support on contamination cases. Prof. Joseph W. Bozzelli PhD. A distinguished Professor of the Chemistry and Environmental Science and the Chemical Engineering departments at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Princeton University in 1973. He is a recognized author in development of gas and liquid phase thermochemical properties and using ab initio and density functional quantum chemistry calculations to develop detailed chemical kinetics. He has served on the Editorial Board of the International Journal Chemical Kinetics and Combustion Science and Technology. He is the author of the internationally used THERM (Thermochemical Estimation of Radicals and Molecules) code and developer of the bond increment method for thermochemistry of radicals by group additivity. His research interests include: elementary kinetics and reaction pathways, mechanisms, and reactions of hydrocarbons, nitrogen and sulfur species, mercury compounds and chloro-fluoro-carbons. He is also active in developing new chemical laboratory experiments for undergraduate and graduate laboratory courses. Research involves use of computational chemistry to develop thermochemical and kinetic properties – enthalpy and entropy - of species important to atmospheric or thermal reaction systems. We develop reaction paths and kinetic parameters as a function of both temperature and pressure for complex reaction systems at a detailed level and apply the reactions in models to understand and optimize a reaction process. Recent studies and publications in the group involve studies of hydrocarbon oxidation in the atmosphere in engines, combustion and power generation systems and initiation reactions in soot formation. Lucila Goicochea, MA, MPH, Sociologist, Public Health Augusto Lopez Rodriguez, MD, Physician, Epidemiologist Monsignor Juvenaly Repass, BS, MDiv. Biologist and Theologian Archimandrite Juvenal (legal name: John Repass), is a native of Connecticut. Raised as an Episcopalian, he was introduced to Orthodox Christianity at age 11 by his Russian Orthodox piano teacher. Early on, he considered a career as a concert pianist. In 1975 he graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. In 1977, working as a medical technologist in Chicago, he became an Orthodox Christian, and began studies at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary the following year. Entering monastic life in 1982. he was professed as a monk in 1988 at St Tikhon's Monastery, receiving the name Juvenal. The same year, he received his M.Div. from St Vladimir's. In 1991 he was made a deacon and in 1992, a priest. Elevated to the rank of Archimandrite in 2007, he began teaching at St Herman's Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska in 2008, where he also traveled to minister to parishes in remote Alaskan villages. In 2014 he left Alaska to investigate working in foreign missions, and has been a missionary in Guatemala since 2917. Father Juvenal taught Greek for 20 years at St Tikhon's and St Herman's Seminaries and is a translator of liturgical texts from Greek and from Church Slavic. VOTING MEMBERS PERU: Executive Vice Pres: Leandro M. Mariategui, BS, PE, MSc, MBA, Industrial Engineer Secretary: Nilza Borda Luna, MBA, PhD Arts/Design: Ana Maria Vargas Roca, BA, Human Resources ©2018 by Protect The Earth Inc.. Proudly created with Wix.com	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1164
__label__wiki	0.550755	0.550755	Justin J. Lehmiller Ph.D. The Myths of Sex What Our Sexual Fantasies Reveal About Us New research finds that aspects of fantasies reflect psychological traits. The Fundamentals of Sex Find a sex therapist near me Source: Ukolova Alina/Shutterstock Two people can have sex fantasies about the same activity, but the way that activity plays out won't necessarily be the same. For instance, imagine that two individuals who are turned on by the idea of a threesome described their fantasy to you in detail. It’s quite possible that these fantasies would bear little resemblance to one another beyond the number of participants involved. One individual, for example, might describe wanting to be the center of attention and talk about having sex with two people they know extremely well; by contrast, the other individual might desire a threesome with two strangers in which everyone participates equally. What accounts for this great variability in content? It reflects a tendency to construct sexual fantasies in a way that meets our unique psychological needs. A recent study I published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior (co-authored by Dr. David Ley and sex advice columnist Dan Savage) supports this idea. The focus of our paper was specifically on cuckolding fantasies, or fantasies in which one derives arousal from the thought of their partner having sex with someone else. I have a lot I could say about cuckolding fantasies, but for now, I want to focus on what this study of cuckolding suggests about the way we construct our fantasies more broadly. This study looked primarily at gay-identified men who reported having had cuckolding fantasies before. We asked participants to describe their typical cuckolding fantasy in narrative form and found substantial variability in the way these scenarios were described. For example, most participants talked about wanting to watch their partner having sex; however, others preferred to listen as it happened or to hear about it after it took place. In addition, some — but not all — scenarios included BDSM elements, some emphasized condomless sex, some focused on who their partner was having sex with and/or his penis size, some focused on a very specific sexual position or activity, and some focused on how much pleasure their partner was receiving. We predicted that the specific elements of cuckolding fantasies that participants emphasized in their descriptions and found most appealing would be linked to their personality traits — and that’s exactly what we found. Here's an overview of the key findings: 1. Participants who were high in the Big Five personality trait of agreeableness (which involves showing great care and concern for others) emphasized the importance of seeing their partner receive sexual pleasure. 2. Participants who were high in the trait of sexual sensation-seeking (which involves having a preference for thrilling and risky sexual activities) tended to emphasize the importance of condomless (also known as bareback) anal sex. They also tended to fantasize about their partner having sex with someone who had a very large penis. 3. Participants who had an unrestricted sociosexual orientation (or those who reported an easier time separating sex from emotion) didn’t care as much about who their partner was having sex with in these scenarios. By contrast, those with a restricted orientation (that is, those who see sex and emotion as going together) wanted to know who their partner was going to be with. I suspect this may be because restricted men don't want to introduce a potential element of threat into the relationship. This pattern of associations between personality traits and preferred fantasy content suggests that what turns us on about our fantasies is a unique function of our psychological needs. This means that two fantasies about the same subject — like cuckolding — are not necessarily interchangeable across persons. This is consistent with what I found in a much larger study of sex fantasies I conducted, which formed the basis for my latest book, Tell Me What You Want. I surveyed more than 4,000 Americans of all genders and sexualities and found that there's a general tendency for people to contextualize their sex fantasies in light of their personalities. In Tell Me What You Want, I discuss a number of other traits and characteristics that are linked to the content of our fantasies, including extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and attachment anxiety. What all of this means is that if we want to understand the origins of a given fantasy, we’re missing a major part of the story if we focus on broad factors (like evolutionary and cultural forces) to the exclusion of individual differences. In short, our sex fantasies, it seems, tell us something important about who we are. Lehmiller, J. J., Ley, D., & Savage, D. (2018). The Psychology of Gay Men’s Cuckolding Fantasies. Archives of sexual behavior, 47(4), 999-1013. Lehmiller, J. J. (2018). Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help You Improve Your Sex Life. Da Capo Lifelong Books. Justin J. Lehmiller, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. Sex and Psychology, Twitter, Facebook The 3 Main Reasons People Have Sex With an Ex The Appeal, for Some, of Cuckolding 4 Uncommon Sexual Fantasies and What They Mean What Men and Women Really Think About Threesomes 10 Things to Understand Before You Have a Threesome How Many People Have Ever Had a Threesome? Our 7 Most Common Sexual Fantasies Sex Essential Reads How Often Should We Have Sex? How Pornography Use Affects Couples Sexual Health 6 Months for Couples to Cure Premature Ejaculation Together “I Don’t Allow Men I Sleep with to Kiss Me"	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1167
__label__cc	0.554553	0.445447	Prospect of property tax elimination is not what it seems Vicky Taylor Rick Lee FRANKLIN COUNTY - If you are a taxpayer looking forward to property-tax elimination becoming reality, curb your enthusiasm. Even if a planned voter referendum passes this fall and the Pennsylvania Legislature does away with school taxes, it doesn't mean property owners will stop paying all school taxes immediately. Taxpayers in all but one of Franklin County's six school districts would still have to pay property taxes to finance their district's long-term debt, even if that tax would be at a much lower rate than today's school tax. And a pending Pennsylvania Senate bill -- The Property Tax Independence Act -- calls for increasing personal income and sales taxes as replacement revenue for school districts. READ:Dana Baker stepping down as CASD board president It would also allow the districts to continue to levy property taxes for a time -- years in most cases -- to pay off outstanding debt. In Franklin County, where school board directors object to the bill on the premise that it would take school funding out of the hands of local school boards and put it in the hands of state bureaucrats, it would mean taxpayers in all but tiny Fannett-Metal School District would still pay some real estate taxes for at least the next two decades. Fannett-Metal is carrying no outstanding long-term debt. In the other five districts, taxpayers would see their property tax bills drop to between 13 and 21 percent of what they paid this year, but not entirely go away. Examples of districts' debt and when it is expected to be paid off are: Chambersburg Area School District, $147 million, paid off in 2037 Waynesboro Area School District, $64.5 million, paid off in 2039 Greencastle-Antrim School District, $29.5 million, paid off in 2034 Tuscarora School District, $32 million, paid off dates not provided by district. Shippensburg Area School District, $29.5 million, paid off 2029 School taxes have been the bane of property owners for decades. It was 20 years ago when a constitutional amendment limited school property taxes to 50 percent of the median value of homes in the district. In the years since, there have been arguments, debates and unsuccessful legislative attempts to further limit or eliminate school property taxes. The referendum question is the result of proposed constitutional amendments in the General Assembly in 2016 and 2017. READ:Special education director replacing Dusman as CASHS interim principal The November general election referendum will ask voters if the Pennsylvania General Assembly should be given the authority to amend the state Constitution to entirely exclude the taxation of residential properties. Should the tax independence act become law, districts would still be allowed to collect lesser percentages of property taxes to put toward the pre-existing debt payments. Those percentages vary widely, according to the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. In Franklin County, those percentages would run from zero percent to up to 21 percent. Current millage rates run from 80.35 mills in Fannett-Metal School District to a high of 119.1478 mills in Tuscarora School District. Even if school taxes are eliminated, they would have to be replaced with some other type of tax, something proponents say would spread the tax burden more evenly. Proposals for financing schools, should the property tax be eliminated, include a higher sales tax and increasing the state income tax. The higher sales tax also would be imposed on a number of goods and services that currently are untaxed, including: food; clothing and shoes over $50; non-prescription medications; funeral expenses; diapers; child care services; trash collection; public transportation; newspapers and magazines; flags; horses; textbooks; candy; gum; and telecommunications (cellphone plans). Money collected from those increased tax rates would not go directly to the school district. Instead, it would be collected by the state, which then would distribute it to the districts through the Education Stabilization Fund. And that is what most school boards object to, claiming it would tie their hands and put the fate of local schools directly in the hands of state bureaucrats. The elimination of property taxes does not include or change property taxes levied by municipalities or the county. (Story continues below video) Related video: Education advocate speaks on school funding Reasons it will work From a variety of sources, including the Pennsylvania General Assembly and grassroots taxpayers groups, here are five reasons why supporters of property tax elimination say it will work: Funds distributed by the commonwealth would be at a one-for-one rate for each district, meaning no district will see a reduction in funding. Taxpayers who see a reduction in property taxes would see increases in their disposable income. The reduction offsets the higher sales tax. Inability to pay school property taxes will not result in home foreclosures. The state will assume responsibility for school funding regardless of district taxpayers' ability to pay. Proponents say that will bring financial equity to school districts. Elimination of the property tax removes financial pressure on seniors and retirees living on fixed incomes. Reasons it won't work Opponents of the switch from property tax to personal income and sales taxes for school funding -- largely people and groups with ties to education -- predict a myriad of problems just as dire as ever-increasing property taxes. With the state collecting and distributing funding, there will be disparity in the distribution. School districts in Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties have the highest property taxes, and in the one-to-one replacement funding promise, these districts will receive the lion's share of the funding. Local tax dollars from increased income and sales taxes will not go to local school districts. Taxpayers in districts with high debt will see the money they pay for taxes rise as they continue to pay a percentage of property tax to pay off school debt and also pay the increased personal income and sales taxes. School districts that need to expand or encounter unexpected expenses will have no ability to generate revenue through property taxes. Personal income and purchases of taxable items rely on the health of the economy. An economic downturn or depression could significantly affect the amount of money available for distribution to schools. The personal income tax rate is increased from 3.07 percent to 4.34 percent and the sales tax is increased to 7 percent, creating a financial hardship on the middle class. The public notice issued recently by the Secretary of the Commonwealth announcing the proposed constitutional amendment on property taxes does not address the increase in sales and personal income taxes. The half-page notice, in fact, makes no mention of what would replace property taxes as the primary source of school funding. It does, however, include the referendum question as it will appear on the November ballot throughout the Commonwealth. The question reads: "Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to permit the General Assembly to enact legislation authorizing local taxing authorities to exclude from taxation up to 100 percent of the assessed value of each homestead property within a local taxing jurisdiction, rather than limit the exclusion to one-half of the median assessed value of all homestead property, which is the existing law?" If a majority of voters can negotiate their way through the question and approve it, the constitution will be amended to prohibit school property taxes. Related video: Residents could see property tax reform	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1169
__label__wiki	0.63548	0.63548	Bull Season 5 Episode 5 Director: Paul Attanasio, Phil McGraw Guest Star: Annabelle Attanasio, Chris Jackson, Freddy Rodríguez, Geneva Carr, Inna Muratova, Jaime Lee Kirchner, Michael Weatherly Keywords:Bull Season 5 Bull Season 5 Episode 5 A bold, provocative upstairs/downstairs drama set at the last family-owned hotel in multicultural Miami Beach. Wealthy and beautiful guests bask in luxury, but scandals, escalating debt and explosive secrets hide… The story of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital. Bay Kennish grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a… Genre: Drama, Family, Romance A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss. Go deep into the clandestine world of the legendary brotherhood of warrior monks known as The Knights Templar. Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Adventure, Drama Life is hard on the Flemings’ ranch in the Alberta foothills where abused or neglected horses find refuge with a kind, hard-working family. Debts abound and the bank is about… Genre: Drama, Family It’s the late 1960s, homosexuality has only just been legalised and Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal party, has a secret he’s desperate to hide. The iron-fisted Akhandanand Tripathi is a millionaire carpet exporter and the mafia don of Mirzapur. His son, Munna, is an unworthy, power-hungry heir who will stop at nothing to inherit… Genre: Action & Adventure, Crime Sydney Bristow, an agent who has been tricked to believe she is working for the U.S. government, is actually working for a criminal organization named the Alliance of Twelve. Upon… Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller A vast international plot explodes when a beautiful Jane Doe is discovered naked in Times Square, completely covered in mysterious, intricate tattoos with no memory of who she is or… David Attenborough presents a documentary series exploring how animals meet the challenges of surviving in the most iconic habitats on earth. Genre: Documentary, Family They’re ordinary husband and wife realtors until she undergoes a dramatic change that sends them down a road of death and destruction. In a good way. Jump into the daily routines of a diverse group of New Yorkers and how they light things up. “The Guy” is a nameless pot deliveryman whose client base includes an… In this gritty and sometimes bloody tale, sixteen year-old Wayne sets out on a dirt bike with his new crush Del to take back the 1978 Pontiac Trans Am that… A dramatization of the true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A tale of the brave men and women who… Set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses, the series is the story of the women caught up in the protracted conflict for the throne of England. Genre: Drama, History, Romance, War Set twenty years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, we follow the now-retired Admiral Picard into the next chapter of his life. Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Anthology series of famous feuds with the first season based on the legendary rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford which began early on their careers, climaxed on the set… Mary, Queen of Scots, faces political and sexual intrigue in the treacherous world of the French court. Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1172
__label__wiki	0.56743	0.56743	Vol 55 Privacy Policy \| Editorial Policy \| Profit Policy \| Join the Association \| List of Members \| Contact us \| Index \| Links Merchandise \| Print this page Back Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Back to Start News and Reunions! Concessions. This may be of interest to anyone in NSW who: Is a NSW resident Holds one of the following valid concession cards: * Pensioner Concession Card * Health Care Card or Low Income Health Care Card from * Veterans' Affairs Gold Card Owns a fridge six years old, or older, and wants to replace it (Approximately 40% discount) OR Owns a plasma or cathode ray tube (CRT) television and wants to replace it (Approximately 50% discount). The deal is in conjunction with the Good Guys and they have a range of Hisense and Samsung fridges of most sizes which they will sell to you at the above discounts; however, the TV range is limited. One of the conditions is that they remove your old fridge and TV. You have to register and get approval from Environment NSW before contacting the Good Guys head office (this phone number is provided when NSW Environment approve your application along with an approval code). Click HERE for further details. Amberley. "Two ladies, Laraine Nelson and Joanne McAuley (contact details below) are Cultural Heritage Consultant of RPS Australia Asia Pacific. They have been project tasked by the Aust. Defence Force to write a book to record the history of RAAF Base Amberley. It is hoped that Members of the Radschool Association can give these ladies assistance in compiling the book. There must be a horde of memories and knowledge and photos of RAAF Amberley over the years. What I would like to ask is if you could assist these ladies though the Radschool network with any history snippets which would benefit their project, in particular need is personal knowledge and photos including those of the base buildings and structures over the passing years, 1940 to 2016. In general, any assistance that anyone can provide these ladies on RAAF Base Amberley history would be much appreciated." Laraine Nelson Laraine.Nelson@rpsgroup.com.au Joanne McAuley joanne.mcauley@rpsgroup.com.au George Hatchman (RAAF WOFF Ret’d) 23 SQN Association Mobile. 0408 643 463. I hate sex in the movies. Tried it once. The seat folded up, the drink spilled and that ice, well, it really chilled the mood. The Untold Stories of the RAAF's Caribou. We have a few professionally made copies of the DVD "The Untold Stories of the RAAF's Caribou" which you can buy for $20 delivered to your letter box. For 45 years the Caribou was the workhorse of the RAAF. Starting its service in Vietnam, this small fleet of just 29 aircraft punched well above their weight, both at home and abroad. Be it the dangers of war, floods and/or fire, or the difficulty of search and rescue, the Caribou and their crews played a vital role in Australia's history. This headline making aircraft has earned its place in history as the only Australian military aircraft to ever be high-jacked. Affectionately known as Wallaby Airlines, the Bou and/or the Green Gravel Truck, the Caribou has been a quiet achiever, until now. At last this amazing story, spanning 5 decades, is told by those who witnessed history. In this documentary, those who knew her well tell their personal and remarkable stories about their time with one of the RAAF's most beloved aircraft. If you would like a copy of this DVD, please fill in the form below, deposit $20 into the account below and we'll send you one. Only 3 left. First name: Surname: State: Select one Qld NSW ACT Vic Tas S.A. N.T W.A. Postcode: In order to cut down on Spam, type the sum of 10 plus 5 in this box: Please transfer your $20 to: BSB: 124-021 Account number: 1048 7401 Title: RAAF Radschool Association. Bank: Bank of Queensland. and include your name in the "Remarks" window on the deposit. Click HERE to see a sneak peek of the DVD Religion in the ADF Ernie Gimm says: “Some of you old and not so old may be interested in this, thank God, I am no longer in the Service. There has been a lot of stick poked by many at various actions by the ADF in relation to allowing certain freedoms of various outward signs and actions of religions and beliefs within the ADF. The attachment may help settle some of the uneasiness felt by some former members of the ADF in relation to current religious practices and beliefs allowed within today’s ADF. I commend the attachment to your perusal. I am sure that it will provide some background as to the legislative requirements that the ADF is bound to follow and to the seemingly unusual (at least to former members) practices now seen in the ADF”. It used to be only death and taxes. Now, of course, there's shipping and handling, too. Switchie reunion. The Switchies (TPhoneops) intend to hold a reunion in Brisbane on the 24th September at the Kedron-Wavell Services Club located in Chermside. The event will be a luncheon with the option to continue into the evening at the Gallipoli Bar located within the Club. East Sale Reunion 2016. "Hope everyone has been coping with the weather we have been going through. Neil and I have been in contact and with his concurrence I am sending out a gentle reminder, that we are on the countdown for coming together in November. Attached is the flyer and list of attractions websites that may be of interest for you. Tentative times have been listed on the flyer to give you an idea of when we are hoping to start on the Friday and Saturday evenings. Through Neil and Kev whose help is appreciated, they will give you another update when we get closer to the date. Hopefully you are aware of the accommodation venues in the area as well. Also, if you have not let Neil know that you are attending, could you let him know so, that we aware of the numbers attending. If there is any further information that you may require, if you could contact Neil or Kev whose contact details are on the attached flyer. If there is anyone that you think we have omitted from the list also, please let us know as well." See HERE. Harry Allie The RAAF have advised that once you register, you will receive an email advising parking arrangements and also program information. A Base Access pass will also be posted to you. If you would like to go, click HERE and register, it looks to be a great day. Definition of a teenager? God's punishment...for enjoying sex. Freedom of Entry to the City of Adelaide This year is the 75th Anniversary of the wartime Air Training Corps (ATC), its successor the AirTC, and the modern Australian Air Force Cadets (1941-2016). As part of the commemorations, on Saturday 11 June 2016, 6 Wing exercised its Freedom of Entry to the City of Adelaide, “with swords drawn, drums beating, band playing and banners flying” – a privilege which had been granted to 6 Wing on 12 July 2003. It was a unique opportunity to stop Adelaide traffic and march on King William Street. You can watch a video clip of the march HERE Continuously variable transmission. A continuously variable transmission (CVT) (also known as a single-speed transmission, stepless transmission, pulley transmission, or, in case of motorcycles, a twist-and-go) is an automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of effective gear ratios. This contrasts with other mechanical transmissions that offer a fixed number of gear ratios. The flexibility of a CVT allows the input shaft to maintain a constant angular velocity. A belt-driven design offers approximately 88% efficiency, which, while lower than that of a manual transmission, can be offset by lower production cost and by enabling the engine to run at its most efficient speed for a range of output speeds. When power is more important than economy, the ratio of the CVT can be changed to allow the engine to turn at the RPM at which it produces greatest power. This is typically higher than the RPM that achieves peak efficiency. In low-mass low-torque applications a belt driven CVT also offers ease of use and mechanical simplicity. A CVT does not strictly require the presence of a clutch. Nevertheless, in some vehicles (e.g. motorcycles), a centrifugal clutch is added to facilitate a "neutral" stance, which is useful when idling or manually reversing into a parking space. If you’re interested, you can see why HERE Larry Pickering. Dave Gaffee sent us THIS Tadpoles. 11 Wagga Appy (Tadpoles) are proposing a reunion at the Opal Cove Resort in Coffs Harbour over the weekend of 17-19 Mar 2017. Anyone wishing to attend or requiring further information can contact Doug Waters via email: doug.waters@esc.net.au, ph 08 8256 1709 or mob 0412 421 345. Tour of France. Phil Brookes writes, he says: "could you insert our flyer for our 2018 Anzac tour in your newsletter, I’ve also attached an article on our 2015 France trip. By the way, I’m still enjoying reading your newsletters and as an old Bones Day participant, it’s always good to catch up on what our RAAF cousins have been up to. Our group tours comprise mostly Vietnam veterans and I’ve been organising and leading quality tours since 2009 to Vietnam, China, Cambodia and France. For the 2018 France tour, our agent has donated international airfares for two year 12 students from the Murray Bridge High School (South Australia) as part of an Anzac Scholarship program and the Murray Bridge RSL is donating $2,000 toward the trip together with corporate sponsorship. It will be an exciting tour for the students". You can see the flyer HERE and the story on the 2015 France trip HERE. Women Veterans Network Australia. (WVNA) WVNA is a network helping women veterans connect with each other to share information and access services. WVNA aims to provide a cohesive and engaging environment for Australian women veterans to network effectively on social media and in local groups. WVN groups are inclusive of all ranks who are currently serving or have served in the Navy, Army or Air Force, either in a full time or Reserve capacity, regardless of whether they have been deployed or not. WVNA supports all organisations who help veterans and intend to work together to establish peer support networks focused on the specific health and wellbeing needs of women veterans to ease transition, isolation and assist with readjustment problems. You can see further information HERE There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime. Remembrance. All Ex and Serving RAAF Members are invited to participate in a Remembrance and Wreath laying ceremony being held at the Queensland Air Museum at Caloundra Airport on Thursday the 3rd November 2016, at the Caribou A4-173 ex RTFV/35Sqn (Wallaby Airlines) Vung Tau. The service will start at 1030 hrs. The Remembrance service will be to mark the remembrance of all RAAF personnel who served in units and Squadrons involved in the Vietnam War and other theatres of war as well as Peacekeeping and Peacemaking and all home based Service. Padre Arthur Fry will lead the service in prayer and following the Ceremony there will be a morning tea provided. It is hoped you are able to participate and if so, could you please RSVP to this email address vvaas@bigpond.net.au (Attention Mal Sayers, Secretary) by the 25th October 2015. Ivar Giaever on Global Warming. Ivar Giaever, born April 5, 1929, is a Norwegian-American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 with Leo Esaki and Brian Josephson "for their discoveries regarding tunnelling phenomena in solids". Giaever's share of the prize was specifically for his "experimental discoveries regarding tunnelling phenomena in superconductors". Giaever is an institute professor emeritus at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a professor-at-large at the University of Oslo, and the president of Applied Biophysics. Giaever has said man-made global warming is a "new religion." In the minority repor t released by the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in March 2009, Giaever said, "I am a skeptic…Global warming has become a new religion." In a featured story in Norway's largest newspaper, Aftenposten, 26 June 2011, Giaever stated, "It is amazing how stable temperature has been over the last 150 years." On 13 September 2011, Giaever resigned from the American Physical Society over its official position. The APS Fellow noted: "In the APS it is ok to discuss whether the mass of the proton changes over time and how a multi-universe behaves, but the evidence of global warming is incontrovertible?" As part of the 62nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Giaever referred to agreement with the evidence of climate change as a "religion" and commented on the significance of the apparent rise in temperature when he stated, "What does it mean that the temperature has gone up 0.8 degrees Kelvin, Probably nothing." Referring to the selection of evidence in his presentation, Giaever stated "I pick and choose when I give this talk just the way the previous speaker (Mario Molina) picked and chose when he gave his talk." Giaever concluded his presentation with a pronouncement: "Is climate change pseudoscience? If I’m going to answer the question, the answer is: absolutely." Giaever repeated his claims in a speech at the same place in 2015, referring to data on global average temperature published amongst others by NASA that show global average surface temperature has risen less than 1K in 140 years, and not risen at all for the years from 2000 - 2014. A main point of his speech was discussing reliability of the statistical calculation of this temperature with respect to the quite inhomogeneous spatial distribution of measurement locations over the globe, especially the poor coverage in the southern hemisphere. He highlighted the fact evident from the dataset used by NASA for the calculations that there have been only 8 measurement locations on the entire Antarctic continent, which holds the greatest and currently further increasing mass of ice found on earth. He claimed that these facts erode the credibility of accuracy usually attached to these data, not-withstanding that established statistical procedures have been used to cope with that lack of data statistical independence and hence data quality. Another main point was that observed significant change in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in a magnitude of 40% during the last 250 years of the industrial age does in no way correlate with the observed temperature change in that time, thus experimentally rendering invalid the claim that rising concentrations of CO2 are the cause of global warming, as stated by the UN led Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and leading climatologists from different countries in a vast amount of publications, and widely believed as a fact in scientific as well as political discussions worldwide. Giaever, on the base of the facts presented, urged the scientific community to rethink and to reject these claims as baseless or at least not properly founded, and to redirect the immense funds invested in technologies aiming to reduce CO2 emissions to the real problems of humanity. You can see a video of his speech below.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1176
__label__wiki	0.681952	0.681952	Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good. The gratitude of the nation to the Sovereign Arbiter of All Human Events should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy. Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world. The troubled and unsettled condition of some of the principal European powers has had a necessary tendency to check and embarrass trade and to depress prices throughout all commercial nations, but notwithstanding these causes, the United States, with their abundant products, have felt their effects less severely than any other country, and all our great interests are still prosperous and successful. In reviewing the great events of the past year and contrasting the agitated and disturbed state of other countries with our own tranquil and happy condition, we may congratulate ourselves that we are the most favored people on the face of the earth. While the people of other countries are struggling to establish free institutions, under which man may govern himself, we are in the actual enjoyment of them--a rich inheritance from our fathers. While enlightened nations of Europe are convulsed and distracted by civil war or intestine strife, we settle all our political controversies by the peaceful exercise of the rights of freemen at the ballot box. The great republican maxim, so deeply engraven on the hearts of our people, that the will of the majority, constitutionally expressed, shall prevail, is our sure safeguard against force and violence. It is a subject of just pride that our fame and character as a nation continue rapidly to advance in the estimation of the civilized world. To our wise and free institutions it is to be attributed that while other nations have achieved glory at the price of the suffering, distress, and impoverishment of their people, we have won our honorable position in the midst of an uninterrupted prosperity and of an increasing individual comfort and happiness. I am happy to inform you that our relations with all nations are friendly and pacific. Advantageous treaties of commerce have been concluded within the last four years with New Granada, Peru, the Two Sicilies, Belgium, Hanover, Oldenburg, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Pursuing our example, the restrictive system of Great Britain, our principal foreign customer, has been relaxed, a more liberal commercial policy has been adopted by other enlightened nations, and our trade has been greatly enlarged and extended. Our country stands higher in the respect of the world than at any former period. To continue to occupy this proud position, it is only necessary to preserve peace and faithfully adhere to the great and fundamental principle of our foreign policy of noninterference in the domestic concerns of other nations. We recognize in all nations the right which we enjoy ourselves, to change and reform their political institutions according to their own will and pleasure. Hence we do not look behind existing governments capable of maintaining their own authority. We recognize all such actual governments, not only from the dictates of true policy, but from a sacred regard for the independence of nations. While this is our settled policy, it does not follow that we can ever be indifferent spectators of the progress of liberal principles. The Government and people of the United States hailed with enthusiasm and delight the establishment of the French Republic, as we now hail the efforts in progress to unite the States of Germany in a confederation similar in many respects to our own Federal Union. If the great and enlightened German States, occupying, as they do, a central and commanding position in Europe, shall succeed in establishing such a confederated government, securing at the same time to the citizens of each State local governments adapted to the peculiar condition of each, with unrestricted trade and intercourse with each other, it will be an important era in the history of human events. Whilst it will consolidate and strengthen the power of Germany, it must essentially promote the cause of peace, commerce, civilization, and constitutional liberty throughout the world. With all the Governments on this continent our relations, it is believed, are now on a more friendly and satisfactory footing than they have ever been at any former period. Since the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Mexico our intercourse with the Government of that Republic has been of the most friendly character. The envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico has been received and accredited, and a diplomatic representative from Mexico of similar rank has been received and accredited by this Government. The amicable relations between the two countries, which had been suspended, have been happily restored, and are destined, I trust, to be long preserved. The two Republics, both situated on this continent, and with coterminous territories, have every motive of sympathy and of interest to bind them together in perpetual amity. This gratifying condition of our foreign relations renders it unnecessary for me to call your attention more specifically to them. It has been my constant aim and desire to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations. Tranquility at home and peaceful relations abroad constitute the true permanent policy of our country. War, the scourge of nations, sometimes becomes inevitable, but is always to be avoided when it can be done consistently with the rights and honor of a nation. One of the most important results of the war into which we were recently forced with a neighboring nation is the demonstration it has afforded of the military strength of our country. Before the late war with Mexico European and other foreign powers entertained imperfect and erroneous views of our physical strength as a nation and of our ability to prosecute war, and especially a war waged out of our own country. They saw that our standing Army on the peace establishment did not exceed 10,000 men. Accustomed themselves to maintain in peace large standing armies for the protection of thrones against their own subjects, as well as against foreign enemies, they had not conceived that it was possible for a nation without such an army, well disciplined and of long service, to wage war successfully. They held in low repute our militia, and were far from regarding them as an effective force, unless it might be for temporary defensive operations when invaded on our own soil. The events of the late war with Mexico have not only undeceived them, but have removed erroneous impressions which prevailed to some extent even among a portion of our own countrymen. That war has demonstrated that upon the breaking out of hostilities not anticipated, and for which no previous preparation had been made, a volunteer army of citizen soldiers equal to veteran troops, and in numbers equal to any emergency, can in a short period be brought into the field. Unlike what would have occurred in any other country, we were under no necessity of resorting to drafts or conscriptions. On the contrary, such was the number of volunteers who patriotically tendered their services that the chief difficulty was in making selections and determining who should be disappointed and compelled to remain at home. Our citizen soldiers are unlike those drawn from the population of any other country. They are composed indiscriminately of all professions and pursuits--of farmers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers--and this not only among the officers, but the private soldiers in the ranks. Our citizen soldiers are unlike those of any other country in other respects. They are armed, and have been accustomed from their youth up to handle and use firearms, and a large proportion of them, especially in the Western and more newly settled States, are expert marksmen. They are men who have a reputation to maintain at home by their good conduct in the field. They are intelligent, and there is an individuality of character which is found in the ranks of no other army. In battle each private man, as well as every officer, fights [see APP Note] not only for his country, but for glory and distinction among his fellow-citizens when he shall return to civil life. The war with Mexico has demonstrated not only the ability of the Government to organize a numerous army upon a sudden call, but also to provide it with all the munitions and necessary supplies with dispatch, convenience, and ease, and to direct its operations with efficiency. The strength of our institutions has not only been displayed in the valor and skill of our troops engaged in active service in the field, but in the organization of those executive branches which were charged with the general direction and conduct of the war. While too great praise can not be bestowed upon the officers and men who fought our battles, it would be unjust to withhold from those officers necessarily stationed at home, who were charged with the duty of furnishing the Army in proper time and at proper places with all the munitions of war and other supplies so necessary to make it efficient, the commendation to which they are entitled. The credit due to this class of our officers is the greater when it is considered that no army in ancient or modern times was even better appointed or provided than our Army in Mexico. Operating in an enemy's country, removed 2,000 miles from the seat of the Federal Government, its different corps spread over a vast extent of territory, hundreds and even thousands of miles apart from each other, nothing short of the untiring vigilance and extraordinary energy of these officers could have enabled them to provide the Army at all points and in proper season with all that was required for the most efficient service. It is but an act of justice to declare that the officers in charge of the several executive bureaus, all under the immediate eye and supervision of the Secretary of War, performed their respective duties with ability, energy, and efficiency. They have reaped less of the glory of the war, not having been personally exposed to its perils in battle, than their companions in arms; but without their forecast, efficient aid, and cooperation those in the field would not have been provided with the ample means they possessed of achieving for themselves and their country the unfading honors which they have won for both. When all these facts are considered, it may cease to be a matter of so much amazement abroad how it happened that our noble Army in Mexico, regulars and volunteers, were victorious upon every battlefield, however fearful the odds against them. The war with Mexico has thus fully developed the capacity of republican governments to prosecute successfully a just and necessary foreign war with all the vigor usually attributed to more arbitrary forms of government. It has been usual for writers on public law to impute to republics a want of that unity, concentration of purpose, and vigor of execution which are generally admitted to belong to the monarchical and aristocratic forms; and this feature of popular government has been supposed to display itself more particularly in the conduct of a war carried on in an enemy's territory. The war with Great Britain in 1812 was to a great extent confined within our own limits, and shed but little light on this subject; but the war which we have just closed by an honorable peace evinces beyond all doubt that a popular representative government is equal to any emergency which is likely to arise in the affairs of a nation. The war with Mexico has developed most strikingly and conspicuously another feature in our institutions. It is that without cost to the Government or danger to our liberties we have in the bosom of our society of freemen, available in a just and necessary war, virtually a standing army of 2,000,000 armed citizen soldiers, such as fought the battles of Mexico. But our military strength does not consist alone in our capacity for extended and successful operations on land. The Navy is an important arm of the national defense. If the services of the Navy were not so brilliant as those of the Army in the late war with Mexico, it was because they had no enemy to meet on their own element. While the Army had opportunity of performing more conspicuous service, the Navy largely participated in the conduct of the war. Both branches of the service performed their whole duty to the country. For the able and gallant services of the officers and men of the Navy, acting independently as well as in cooperation with our troops, in the conquest of the Californias, the capture of Vera Cruz, and the seizure and occupation of other important positions on the Gulf and Pacific coasts, the highest praise is due. Their vigilance, energy, and skill rendered the most effective service in excluding munitions of war and other supplies from the enemy, while they secured a safe entrance for abundant supplies for our own Army. Our extended commerce was nowhere interrupted, and for this immunity from the evils of war the country is indebted to the Navy. High praise is due to the officers of the several executive bureaus, navy-yards, and stations connected with the service, all under the immediate direction of the Secretary of the Navy, for the industry, foresight, and energy with which everything was directed and furnished to give efficiency to that branch of the service. The same vigilance existed in directing the operations of the Navy as of the Army. There was concert of action and of purpose between the heads of the two arms of the service. By the orders which were from time to time issued, our vessels of war on the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico were stationed in proper time and in proper positions to cooperate efficiently with the Army. By this means their combined power was brought to bear successfully on the enemy. The great results which have been developed and brought to light by this war will be of immeasurable importance in the future progress of our country. They will tend powerfully to preserve us from foreign collisions, and to enable us to pursue uninterruptedly our cherished policy of "peace with all nations, entangling alliances with none." Occupying, as we do, a more commanding position among nations than at any former period, our duties and our responsibilities to ourselves and to posterity are correspondingly increased. This will be the more obvious when we consider the vast additions which have been recently made to our territorial possessions and their great importance and value. Within less than four years the annexation of Texas to the Union has been consummated; all conflicting title to the Oregon Territory south of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, being all that was insisted on by any of my predecessors, has been adjusted, and New Mexico and Upper California have been acquired by treaty. The area of these several Territories, according to a report carefully prepared by the Commissioner of the General Land Office from the most authentic information in his possession, and which is herewith transmitted, contains 1,193,061 square miles, or 763,559,040 acres; while the area of the remaining twenty-nine States and the territory not yet organized into States east of the Rocky Mountains contains 2,059,513 square miles, or 1,318,126,058 acres. These estimates show that the territories recently acquired, and over which our exclusive jurisdiction and dominion have been extended, constitute a country more than half as large as all that which was held by the United States before their acquisition. If Oregon be excluded from the estimate, there will still remain within the limits of Texas, New Mexico, and California 851,598 square miles, or 545,012,720 acres, being an addition equal to more than one-third of all the territory owned by the United States before their acquisition, and, including Oregon, nearly as great an extent of territory as the whole of Europe, Russia only excepted. The Mississippi, so lately the frontier of our country, is now only its center. With the addition of the late acquisitions, the United States are now estimated to be nearly as large as the whole of Europe. It is estimated by the Superintendent of the Coast Survey in the accompanying report that the extent of the seacoast of Texas on the Gulf of Mexico is upward of 400 miles; of the coast of Upper California on the Pacific, of 970 miles, and of Oregon, including the Straits of Fuca, of 650 miles, making the whole extent of seacoast on the Pacific 1,620 miles and the whole extent on both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico 2,020 miles. The length of the coast on the Atlantic from the northern limits of the United States around the capes of Florida to the Sabine, on the eastern boundary of Texas, is estimated to be 3,100 miles; so that the addition of seacoast, including Oregon, is very nearly two-thirds as great as all we possessed before, and, excluding Oregon, is an addition of 1,370 miles, being nearly equal to one-half of the extent of coast which we possessed before these acquisitions. We have now three great maritime fronts--on the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific--making in the whole an extent of seacoast exceeding 5,000 miles. This is the extent of the seacoast of the United States, not including bays, sounds, and small irregularities of the main shore and of the sea islands. If these be included, the length of the shore line of coast, as estimated by the Superintendent of the Coast Survey in his report, would be 33,063 miles. It would be difficult to calculate the value of these immense additions to our territorial possessions. Texas, lying contiguous to the western boundary of Louisiana, embracing within its limits a part of the navigable tributary waters of the Mississippi and an extensive seacoast, could not long have remained in the hands of a foreign power without endangering the peace of our southwestern frontier. Her products in the vicinity of the tributaries of the Mississippi must have sought a market through these streams, running into and through our territory, and the danger of irritation and collision of interests between Texas as a foreign state and ourselves would have been imminent, while the embarrassments in the commercial intercourse between them must have been constant and unavoidable. Had Texas fallen into the hands or under the influence and control of a strong maritime or military foreign power, as she might have done, these dangers would have been still greater. They have been avoided by her voluntary and peaceful annexation to the United States. Texas, from her position, was a natural and almost indispensable part of our territories. Fortunately, she has been restored to our country, and now constitutes one of the States of our Confederacy, "upon an equal footing with the original States." The salubrity of climate, the fertility of soil, peculiarly adapted to the production of some of our most valuable staple commodities, and her commercial advantages must soon make her one of our most populous States. New Mexico, though situated in the interior and without a seacoast, is known to contain much fertile land, to abound in rich mines of the precious metals, and to be capable of sustaining a large population. From its position it is the intermediate and connecting territory between our settlements and our possessions in Texas and those on the Pacific Coast. Upper California, irrespective of the vast mineral wealth recently developed there, holds at this day, in point of value and importance, to the rest of the Union the same relation that Louisiana did when that fine territory was acquired from France forty-five years ago. Extending nearly ten degrees of latitude along the Pacific, and embracing the only safe and commodious harbors on that coast for many hundred miles, with a temperate climate and an extensive interior of fertile lands, it is scarcely possible to estimate its wealth until it shall be brought under the government of our laws and its resources fully developed. From its position it must command the rich commerce of China, of Asia, of the islands of the Pacific, of western Mexico, of Central America, the South American States, and of the Russian possessions bordering on that ocean. A great emporium will doubtless speedily arise on the Californian coast which may be destined to rival in importance New Orleans itself. The depot of the vast commerce which must exist on the Pacific will probably be at some point on the Bay of San Francisco, and will occupy the same relation to the whole western coast of that ocean as New Orleans does to the valley of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. To this depot our numerous whale ships will resort with their cargoes to trade, refit, and obtain supplies. This of itself will largely contribute to build up a city, which would soon become the center of a great and rapidly increasing commerce. Situated on a safe harbor, sufficiently capacious for all the navies as well as the marine of the world, and convenient to excellent timber for shipbuilding, owned by the United States, it must become our great Western naval depot. It was known that mines of the precious metals existed to a considerable extent in California at the time of its acquisition. Recent discoveries render it probable that these mines are more extensive and valuable than was anticipated. The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service who have visited the mineral district and derived the facts which they detail from personal observation. Reluctant to credit the reports in general circulation as to the quantity of gold, the officer commanding our forces in California visited the mineral district in July last for the purpose of obtaining accurate information on the subject. His report to the War Department of the result of his examination and the facts obtained on the spot is herewith laid before Congress. When he visited the country there were about 4,000 persons engaged in collecting gold. There is every reason to believe that the number of persons so employed has since been augmented. The explorations already made warrant the belief that the supply is very large and that gold is found at various places in an extensive district of country. Information received from officers of the Navy and other sources, though not so full and minute, confirms the accounts of the commander of our military force in California. It appears also from these reports that mines of quicksilver are found in the vicinity of the gold region. One of them is now being worked, and is believed to be among the most productive in the world. The effects produced by the discovery of these rich mineral deposits and the success which has attended the labors of those who have resorted to them have produced a surprising change in the state of affairs in California. Labor commands a most exorbitant price, and all other pursuits but that of searching for the precious metals are abandoned. Nearly the whole of the male population of the country have gone to the gold districts. Ships arriving on the coast are deserted by their crews and their voyages suspended for want of sailors. Our commanding officer there entertains apprehensions that soldiers can not be kept in the public service without a large increase of pay. Desertions in his command have become frequent, and he recommends that those who shall withstand the strong temptation and remain faithful should be rewarded. This abundance of gold and the all-engrossing pursuit of it have already caused in California an unprecedented rise in the price of all the necessaries of life. That we may the more speedily and fully avail ourselves of the undeveloped wealth of these mines, it is deemed of vast importance that a branch of the Mint of the United States be authorized to be established at your present session in California. Among other signal advantages which would result from such an establishment would be that of raising the gold to its par value in that territory. A branch mint of the United States at the great commercial depot on the west coast would convert into our own coin not only the gold derived from our own rich mines, but also the bullion and specie which our commerce may bring from the whole west coast of Central and South America. The west coast of America and the adjacent interior embrace the richest and best mines of Mexico, New Granada, Central America, Chili, and Peru. The bullion and specie drawn from these countries, and especially from those of western Mexico and Peru, to an amount in value of many millions of dollars, are now annually diverted and carried by the ships of Great Britain to her own ports, to be recoined or used to sustain her national bank, and thus contribute to increase her ability to command so much of the commerce of the world. If a branch mint be established at the great commercial point upon that coast, a vast amount of bullion and specie would flow thither to be recoined, and pass thence to New Orleans, New York, and other Atlantic cities. The amount of our constitutional currency at home would be greatly increased, while its circulation abroad would be promoted. It is well known to our merchants trading to China and the west coast of America that great inconvenience and loss are experienced from the fact that our coins are not current at their par value in those countries. The powers of Europe, far removed from the west coast of America by the Atlantic Ocean, which intervenes, and by a tedious and dangerous navigation around the southern cape of the continent of America, can never successfully compete with the United States in the rich and extensive commerce which is opened to us at so much less cost by the acquisition of California. The vast importance and commercial advantages of California have heretofore remained undeveloped by the Government of the country of which it constituted a part. Now that this fine province is a part of our country, all the States of the Union, some more immediately and directly than others, are deeply interested in the speedy development of its wealth and resources. No section of our country is more interested or will be more benefited than the commercial, navigating, and manufacturing interests of the Eastern States. Our planting and farming interests in every part of the Union will Be greatly benefited by it. As our commerce and navigation are enlarged and extended, our exports of agricultural products and of manufactures will be increased, and in the new markets thus opened they can not fail to command remunerating and profitable prices. The acquisition of California and New Mexico, the settlement of the Oregon boundary, and the annexation of Texas, extending to the Rio Grande, are results which, combined, are of greater consequence and will add more to the strength and wealth of the nation than any which have preceded them since the adoption of the Constitution. But to effect these great results not only California, but New Mexico, must be brought under the control of regularly organized governments. The existing condition of California and of that part of New Mexico lying west of the Rio Grande and without the limits of Texas imperiously demands that Congress should at its present session organize Territorial governments over them. Upon the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Mexico, on the 30th of May last, the temporary governments which had been established over New Mexico and California by our military and naval commanders by virtue of the rights of war ceased to derive any obligatory force from that source of authority, and having been ceded to the United States, all government and control over them under the authority of Mexico had ceased to exist. Impressed with the necessity of establishing Territorial governments over them, I recommended the subject to the favorable consideration of Congress in my message communicating the ratified treaty of peace, on the 6th of July last, and invoked their action at that session. Congress adjourned without making any provision for their government. The inhabitants by the transfer of their country had become entitled to the benefit of our laws and Constitution, and yet were left without any regularly organized government. Since that time the very limited power possessed by the Executive has been exercised to preserve and protect them from the inevitable consequences of a state of anarchy. The only government which remained was that established by the military authority during the war. Regarding this to be a de facto government, and that by the presumed consent of the inhabitants it might be continued temporarily, they were advised to conform and submit to it for the short intervening period before Congress would again assemble and could legislate on the subject. The views entertained by the Executive on this point are contained in a communication of the Secretary of State dated the 7th of October last, which was forwarded for publication to California and New Mexico, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. The small military force of the Regular Army which was serving within the limits of the acquired territories at the close of the war was retained in them, and additional forces have been ordered there for the protection of the inhabitants and to preserve and secure the rights and interests of the United States. No revenue has been or could be collected at the ports in California, because Congress failed to authorize the establishment of custom-houses or the appointment of officers for that purpose. The Secretary of the Treasury, by a circular letter addressed to collectors of the customs on the 7th day of October last, a copy of which is herewith transmitted, exercised all the power with which he was invested by law. In pursuance of the act of the 14th of August last, extending the benefit of our post-office laws to the people of California, the Postmaster-General has appointed two agents, who have proceeded, the one to California and the other to Oregon, with authority to make the necessary arrangements for carrying its provisions into effect. The monthly line of mail steamers from Panama to Astoria has been required to "stop and deliver and take mails at San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco." These mail steamers, connected by the Isthmus of Panama with the line of mail steamers on the Atlantic between New York and Chagres, will establish a regular mail communication with California. It is our solemn duty to provide with the least practicable delay for New Mexico and California regularly organized Territorial governments. The causes of the failure to do this at the last session of Congress are well known and deeply to be regretted. With the opening prospects of increased prosperity and national greatness which the acquisition of these rich and extensive territorial possessions affords, how irrational it would be to forego or to reject these advantages by the agitation of a domestic question which is coeval with the existence of our Government itself, and to endanger by internal strifes, geographical divisions, and heated contests for political power, or for any other cause, the harmony of the glorious Union of our confederated States--that Union which binds us together as one people, and which for sixty years has been our shield and protection against every danger. In the eyes of the world and of posterity how trivial and insignificant will be all our internal divisions and struggles compared with the preservation of this Union of the States in all its vigor and with all its countless blessings! No patriot would foment and excite geographical and sectional divisions. No lover of his country would deliberately calculate the value of the Union. Future generations would look in amazement upon the folly of such a course. Other nations at the present day would look upon it with astonishment, and such of them as desire to maintain and perpetuate thrones and monarchical or aristocratical principles will view it with exultation and delight, because in it they will see the elements of faction, which they hope must ultimately overturn our system. Ours is the great example of a prosperous and free self-governed republic, commanding the admiration and the imitation of all the lovers of freedom throughout the world. How solemn, therefore, is the duty, how impressive the call upon us and upon all parts of our country, to cultivate a patriotic spirit of harmony, of good-fellowship, of compromise and mutual concession, in the administration of the incomparable system of government formed by our fathers in the midst of almost insuperable difficulties, and transmitted to us with the injunction that we should enjoy its blessings and hand it down unimpaired to those who may come after us. In view of the high and responsible duties which we owe to ourselves and to mankind, I trust you may be able at your present session to approach the adjustment of the only domestic question which seriously threatens, or probably ever can threaten, to disturb the harmony and successful operations of our system. The immensely valuable possessions of New Mexico and California are already inhabited by a considerable population. Attracted by their great fertility, their mineral wealth, their commercial advantages, and the salubrity of the climate, emigrants from the older States in great numbers are already preparing to seek new homes in these inviting regions. Shall the dissimilarity of the domestic institutions in the different States prevent us from providing for them suitable governments? These institutions existed at the adoption of the Constitution, but the obstacles which they interposed were overcome by that spirit of compromise which is now invoked. In a conflict of opinions or of interests, real or imaginary, between different sections of our country, neither can justly demand all which it might desire to obtain. Each, in the true spirit of our institutions, should concede something to the other. Our gallant forces in the Mexican war, by whose patriotism and unparalleled deeds of arms we obtained these possessions as an indemnity for our just demands against Mexico, were composed of citizens who belonged to no one State or section of our Union. They were men from slaveholding and nonslaveholding States, from the North and the South, from the East and the West. They were all companions in arms and fellow-citizens of the same common country, engaged in the same common cause. When prosecuting that war they were brethren and friends, and shared alike with each other common toils, dangers, and sufferings. Now, when their work is ended, when peace is restored, and they return again to their homes, put off the habiliments of war, take their places in society, and resume their pursuits in civil life, surely a spirit of harmony and concession and of equal regard for the rights of all and of all sections of the Union ought to prevail in providing governments for the acquired territories--the fruits of their common service. The whole people of the United States, and of every State, contributed to defray the expenses of that war, and it would not be just for any one section to exclude another from all participation in the acquired territory. This would not be in consonance with the just system of government which the framers of the Constitution adopted. The question is believed to be rather abstract than practical whether slavery ever can or would exist in any portion of the acquired territory even if it were left to the option of the slaveholding States themselves. From the nature of the climate and productions in much the larger portion of it it is certain it could never exist, and in the remainder the probabilities are it would not. But however this may be, the question, involving, as it does, a principle of equality of rights of the separate and several States as equal copartners in the Confederacy, should not be disregarded. In organizing governments over these territories no duty imposed on Congress by the Constitution requires that they should legislate on the subject of slavery, while their power to do so is not only seriously questioned, but denied by many of the soundest expounders of that instrument. Whether Congress shall legislate or not, the people of the acquired territories, when assembled in convention to form State constitutions, will possess the sole and exclusive power to determine for themselves whether slavery shall or shall not exist within their limits. If Congress shall abstain from interfering with the question, the people of these territories will be left free to adjust it as they may think proper when they apply for admission as States into the Union. No enactment of Congress could restrain the people of any of the sovereign States of the Union, old or new, North or South, slaveholding or nonslaveholding, from determining the character of their own domestic institutions as they may deem wise and proper. Any and all the States possess this right, and Congress can not deprive them of it. The people of Georgia might if they chose so alter their constitution as to abolish slavery within its limits, and the people of Vermont might so alter their constitution as to admit slavery within its limits. Both States would possess the right, though, as all know, it is not probable that either would exert it. It is fortunate for the peace and harmony of the Union that this question is in its nature temporary and can only continue for the brief period which will intervene before California and New Mexico may be admitted as States into the Union. From the tide of population now flowing into them it is highly probable that this will soon occur. Considering the several States and the citizens of the several States as equals and entitled to equal rights under the Constitution, if this were an original question it might well be insisted on that the principle of noninterference is the true doctrine and that Congress could not, in the absence of any express grant of power, interfere with their relative rights. Upon a great emergency, however, and under menacing dangers to the Union, the Missouri compromise line in respect to slavery was adopted. The same line was extended farther west in the acquisition of Texas. After an acquiescence of nearly thirty years in the principle of compromise recognized and established by these acts, and to avoid the danger to the Union which might follow if it were now disregarded, I have heretofore expressed the opinion that that line of compromise should be extended on the parallel of 36° 30' from the western boundary of Texas, where it now terminates, to the Pacific Ocean. This is the middle ground of compromise, upon which the different sections of the Union may meet, as they have heretofore met. If this be done, it is confidently believed a large majority of the people of every section of the country, however widely their abstract opinions on the subject of slavery may differ, would cheerfully and patriotically acquiesce in it, and peace and harmony would again fill our borders. The restriction north of the line was only yielded to in the case of Missouri and Texas upon a principle of compromise, made necessary for the sake of preserving the harmony and possibly the existence of the Union. It was upon these considerations that at the close of your last session I gave my sanction to the principle of the Missouri compromise line by approving and signing the bill to establish "the Territorial government of Oregon." From a sincere desire to preserve the harmony of the Union, and in deference for the acts of my predecessors, I felt constrained to yield my acquiescence to the extent to which they had gone in compromising this delicate and dangerous question. But if Congress shall now reverse the decision by which the Missouri compromise was effected, and shall propose to extend the restriction over the whole territory, south as well as north of the parallel of 36° 30', it will cease to be a compromise, and must be regarded as an original question. If Congress, instead of observing the course of noninterference, leaving the adoption of their own domestic institutions to the people who may inhabit these territories, or if, instead of extending the Missouri compromise line to the Pacific, shall prefer to submit the legal and constitutional questions which may arise to the decision of the judicial tribunals, as was proposed in a bill which passed the Senate at your last session, an adjustment may be effected in this mode. If the whole subject be referred to the judiciary, all parts of the Union should cheerfully acquiesce in the final decision of the tribunal created by the Constitution for the settlement of all questions which may arise under the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United States. Congress is earnestly invoked, for the sake of the Union, its harmony, and our continued prosperity as a nation, to adjust at its present session this, the only dangerous question which lies in our path, if not in some one of the modes suggested, in some other which may be satisfactory. In anticipation of the establishment of regular governments over the acquired territories, a joint commission of officers of the Army and Navy has been ordered to proceed to the coast of California and Oregon for the purpose of making reconnoissances and a report as to the proper sites for the erection of fortifications or other defensive works on land and of suitable situations for naval stations. The information which may be expected from a scientific and skillful examination of the whole face of the coast will be eminently useful to Congress when they come to consider the propriety of making appropriations for these great national objects. Proper defenses on land will be necessary for the security and protection of our possessions, and the establishment of navy-yards and a dock for the repair and construction of vessels will be important alike to our Navy and commercial marine. Without such establishments every vessel, whether of the Navy or of the merchant service, requiring repair must at great expense come round Cape Horn to one of our Atlantic yards for that purpose. With such establishments vessels, it is believed may be built or repaired as cheaply in California as upon the Atlantic coast. They would give employment to many of our enterprising shipbuilders and mechanics and greatly facilitate and enlarge our commerce in the Pacific. As it is ascertained that mines of gold, silver, copper, and quicksilver exist in New Mexico and California, and that nearly all the lands where they are found belong to the United States, it is deemed important to the public interest that provision be made for a geological and mineralogical examination of these regions. Measures should be adopted to preserve the mineral lands, especially such as contain the precious metals, for the use of the United States, or, if brought into market, to separate them from the farming lands and dispose of them in such manner as to secure a large return of money to the Treasury and at the same time to lead to the development of their wealth by individual proprietors and purchasers. To do this it will be necessary to provide for an immediate survey and location of the lots. If Congress should deem it proper to dispose of the mineral lands, they should be sold in small quantities and at a fixed minimum price. I recommend that surveyors-general's offices be authorized to be established in New Mexico and California and provision made for surveying and bringing the public lands into market at the earliest practicable period. In disposing of these lands, I recommend that the right of preemption be secured and liberal grants made to the early emigrants who have settled or may settle upon them. It will be important to extend our revenue laws over these territories, and especially over California, at an early period. There is already a considerable commerce with California, and until ports of entry shall be established and collectors appointed no revenue can be received. If these and other necessary and proper measures be adopted for the development of the wealth and resources of New Mexico and California and regular Territorial governments be established over them, such will probably be the rapid enlargement of our commerce and navigation and such the addition to the national wealth that the present generation may live to witness the controlling commercial and monetary power of the world transferred from London and other European emporiums to the city of New York. The apprehensions which were entertained by some of our statesmen in the earlier periods of the Government that our system was incapable of operating with sufficient energy and success over largely extended territorial limits, and that if this were attempted it would fall to pieces by its own weakness, have been dissipated by our experience. By the division of power between the States and Federal Government the latter is found to operate with as much energy in the extremes as in the center. It is as efficient in the remotest of the thirty States which now compose the Union as it was in the thirteen States which formed our Constitution. Indeed, it may well be doubted whether if our present population had been confined within the limits of the original thirteen States the tendencies to centralization and consolidation would not have been such as to have encroached upon the essential reserved rights of the States, and thus to have made the Federal Government a widely different one, practically, from what it is in theory and was intended to be by its framers. So far from entertaining apprehensions of the safety of our system by the extension of our territory, the belief is confidently entertained that each new State gives strength and an additional guaranty for the preservation of the Union itself. In pursuance of the provisions of the thirteenth article of the treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and settlement with the Republic of Mexico, and of the act of July 29, 1848, claims of our citizens, which had been "already liquidated and decided, against the Mexican Republic" amounting, with the interest thereon, to $2,023,832.51 have been liquidated and paid. There remain to be paid of these claims $74,192.26. Congress at its last session having made no provision for executing the fifteenth article of the treaty, by which the United States assume to make satisfaction for the "unliquidated claims" of our citizens against Mexico to "an amount not exceeding three and a quarter millions of dollars," the subject is again recommended to your favorable consideration. The exchange of ratifications of the treaty with Mexico took place on the 30th of May, 1848. Within one year after that time the commissioner and surveyor which each Government stipulates to appoint are required to meet "at the port of San Diego and proceed to run and mark the said boundary in its whole course to the mouth of the Rio Bravo del Norte." It will be seen from this provision that the period within which a commissioner and surveyor of the respective Governments are to meet at San Diego will expire on the 30th of May, 1849. Congress at the close of its last session made an appropriation for "the expenses of running and marking the boundary line" between the two countries, but did not fix the amount of salary which should be paid to the commissioner and surveyor to be appointed on the part of the United States. It is desirable that the amount of compensation which they shall receive should be prescribed by law, and not left, as at present, to Executive discretion. Measures were adopted at the earliest practicable period to organize the "Territorial government of Oregon," as authorized by the act of the 14th of August last. The governor and marshal of the Territory, accompanied by a small military escort, left the frontier of Missouri in September last, and took the southern route, by the way of Santa Fe and the river Gila, to California, with the intention of proceeding thence in one of our vessels of war to their destination. The governor was fully advised of the great importance of his early arrival in the country, and it is confidently believed he may reach Oregon in the latter part of the present month or early in the next. The other officers for the Territory have proceeded by sea. In the month of May last I communicated information to Congress that an Indian war had broken out in Oregon, and recommended that authority be given to raise an adequate number of volunteers to proceed without delay to the assistance of our fellow-citizens in that Territory. The authority to raise such a force not having been granted by Congress, as soon as their services could be dispensed with in Mexico orders were issued to the regiment of mounted riflemen to proceed to Jefferson Barracks, in Missouri, and to prepare to march to Oregon as soon as the necessary provision could be made. Shortly before it was ready to march it was arrested by the provision of the act passed by Congress on the last day of the last session, which directed that all the noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates of that regiment who had been in service in Mexico should, upon their application, be entitled to be discharged. The effect of this provision was to disband the rank and file of the regiment, and before their places could be filled by recruits the season had so far advanced that it was impracticable for it to proceed until the opening of the next spring. In the month of October last the accompanying communication was received from the governor of the temporary government of Oregon, giving information of the continuance of the Indian disturbances and of the destitution and defenseless condition of the inhabitants. Orders were immediately transmitted to the commander of our squadron in the Pacific to dispatch to their assistance a part of the naval forces on that station, to furnish them with arms and ammunition, and to continue to give them such aid and protection as the Navy could afford until the Army could reach the country. It is the policy of humanity, and one which has always been pursued by the United States, to cultivate the good will of the aboriginal tribes of this continent and to restrain them from making war and indulging in excesses by mild means rather than by force. That this could have been done with the tribes in Oregon had that Territory been brought under the government of our laws at an earlier period, and had other suitable measures been adopted by Congress, such as now exist in our intercourse with the other Indian tribes within our limits, can not be doubted. Indeed, the immediate and only cause of the existing hostility of the Indians of Oregon is represented to have been the long delay of the United States in making to them some trifling compensation, in such articles as they wanted, for the country now occupied by our emigrants, which the Indians claimed and over which they formerly roamed. This compensation had been promised to them by the temporary government established in Oregon, but its fulfillment had been postponed from time to time for nearly two years, whilst those who made it had been anxiously waiting for Congress to establish a Territorial government over the country. The Indians became at length distrustful of their good faith and sought redress by plunder and massacre, which finally led to the present difficulties. A few thousand dollars in suitable presents, as a compensation for the country which had been taken possession of by our citizens, would have satisfied the Indians and have prevented the war. A small amount properly distributed, it is confidently believed, would soon restore quiet. In this Indian war our fellow-citizens of Oregon have been compelled to take the field in their own defense, have performed valuable military services, and been subjected to expenses which have fallen heavily upon them. Justice demands that provision should be made by Congress to compensate them for their services and to refund to them the necessary expenses which they have incurred. I repeat the recommendation heretofore made to Congress, that provision be made for the appointment of a suitable number of Indian agents to reside among the tribes of Oregon, and that a small sum be appropriated to enable these agents to cultivate friendly relations with them. If this be done, the presence of a small military force will be all that is necessary to keep them in check and preserve peace. I recommend that similar provisions be made as regards the tribes inhabiting northern Texas, New Mexico, California, and the extensive region lying between our settlements in Missouri and these possessions, as the most effective means of preserving peace upon our borders and within the recently acquired territories. The Secretary of the Treasury will present in his annual report a highly satisfactory statement of the condition of the finances. The imports for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June last were of the value of $154,977,876, of which the amount exported was $21,128,010, leaving $133,849,866 in the country for domestic use. The value of the exports for the same period was $154,032,131, consisting of domestic productions amounting to $132,904,121 and $21,128,010 of foreign articles. The receipts into the Treasury for the same period, exclusive of loans, amounted to $35,436,750.59, of which there was derived from customs $31,757,070.96, from sales of public lands $3,328,642.56, and from miscellaneous and incidental sources $351,037.07. It will be perceived that the revenue from customs for the last fiscal year exceeded by $757,070.96 the estimate of the Secretary of the Treasury in his last annual report, and that the aggregate receipts during the same period from customs, lands, and miscellaneous sources also exceeded the estimate by the sum of $536,750.59, indicating, however, a very near approach in the estimate to the actual result. The expenditures during the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June last, including those for the war and exclusive of payments of principal and interest for the public debt, were $42,811,970.03. It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June, 1849, including the balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last, will amount to the sum of $57,048,969.90, of which $32,000,000, it is estimated, will be derived from customs, $3,000,000 from the sales of the public lands, and $1,200,000 from miscellaneous and incidental sources, including the premium upon the loan, and the amount paid and to be paid into the Treasury on account of military contributions in Mexico, and the sales of arms and vessels and other public property rendered unnecessary for the use of the Government by the termination of the war, and $20,695,435.30 from loans already negotiated, including Treasury notes funded, which, together with the balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last, make the sum estimated. The expenditures for the same period, including the necessary payment on account of the principal and interest of the public debt, and the principal and interest of the first installment due to Mexico on the 30th of May next, and other expenditures growing out of the war to be paid during the present year, will amount, including the reimbursement of Treasury notes, to the sum of $54,195,275.06, leaving an estimated balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July, 1849, of $2,853,694.84. The Secretary of the Treasury will present, as required by law, the estimate of the receipts and expenditures for the next fiscal year. The expenditures as estimated for that year are $33,213,152.73, including $3,799,102.18 for the interest on the public debt and $3,540,000 for the principal and interest due to Mexico on the 30th of May, 1850, leaving the sum of $25,874,050.35, which, it is believed, will be ample for the ordinary peace expenditures. The operations of the tariff act of 1846 have been such during the past year as fully to meet the public expectation and to confirm the opinion heretofore expressed of the wisdom of the change in our revenue system which was effected by it. The receipts under it into the Treasury for the first fiscal year after its enactment exceeded by the sum of $5,044,403.09 the amount collected during the last fiscal year under the tariff act of 1842, ending the 30th of June, 1846. The total revenue realized from the commencement of its operation, on the 1st of December, 1846, until the close of the last quarter, on the 30th of September last, being twenty-two months, was $56,654,563.79, being a much larger sum than was ever before received from duties during any equal period under the tariff acts of 1824, 1828, 1832, and 1842. Whilst by the repeal of highly protective and prohibitory duties the revenue has been increased, the taxes on the people have been diminished. They have been relieved from the heavy amounts with which they were burthened under former laws in the form of increased prices or bounties paid to favored classes and pursuits. The predictions which were made that the tariff act of 1846 would reduce the amount of revenue below that collected under the act of 1842, and would prostrate the business and destroy the prosperity of the country, have not been verified. With an increased and increasing revenue, the finances are in a highly flourishing condition. Agriculture, commerce, and navigation are prosperous; the prices of manufactured fabrics and of other products are much less injuriously affected than was to have been anticipated from the unprecedented revulsions which during the last and the present year have overwhelmed the industry and paralyzed the credit and commerce of so many great and enlightened nations of Europe. Severe commercial revulsions abroad have always heretofore operated to depress and often to affect disastrously almost every branch of American industry. The temporary depression of a portion of our manufacturing interests is the effect of foreign causes, and is far less severe than has prevailed on all former similar occasions. It is believed that, looking to the great aggregate of all our interests, the whole country was never more prosperous than at the present period, and never more rapidly advancing in wealth and population. Neither the foreign war in which we have been involved, nor the loans which have absorbed so large a portion of our capital, nor the commercial revulsion in Great Britain in 1847, nor the paralysis of credit and commerce throughout Europe in 1848, have affected injuriously to any considerable extent any of the great interests of the country or arrested our onward march to greatness, wealth, and power. Had the disturbances in Europe not occurred, our commerce would undoubtedly have been still more extended, and would have added still more to the national wealth and public prosperity. But notwithstanding these disturbances, the operations of the revenue system established by the tariff act of 1846 have been so generally beneficial to the Government and the business of the country that no change in its provisions is demanded by a wise public policy, and none is recommended. The operations of the constitutional treasury established by the act of the 6th of August, 1846, in the receipt, custody, and disbursement of the public money have continued to be successful. Under this system the public finances have been carried through a foreign war, involving the necessity of loans and extraordinary expenditures and requiring distant transfers and disbursements, without embarrassment, and no loss has occurred of any of the public money deposited under its provisions. Whilst it has proved to be safe and useful to the Government, its effects have been most beneficial upon the business of the country. It has tended powerfully to secure an exemption from that inflation and fluctuation of the paper currency so injurious to domestic industry and rendering so uncertain the rewards of labor, and, it is believed, has largely contributed to preserve the whole country from a serious commercial revulsion, such as often occurred under the bank deposit system. In the year 1847 there was a revulsion in the business of Great Britain of great extent and intensity, which was followed by failures in that Kingdom unprecedented in number and amount of losses. This is believed to be the first instance when such disastrous bankruptcies, occurring in a country with which we have such extensive commerce, produced little or no injurious effect upon our trade or currency. We remained but little affected in our money market, and our business and industry were still prosperous and progressive. During the present year nearly the whole continent of Europe has been convulsed by civil war and revolutions, attended by numerous bankruptcies, by an unprecedented fall in their public securities, and an almost universal paralysis of commerce and industry; and yet, although our trade and the prices of our products must have been somewhat unfavorably affected by these causes, we have escaped a revulsion, our money market is comparatively easy, and public and private credit have advanced and improved. It is confidently believed that we have been saved from their effect by the salutary operation of the constitutional treasury. It is certain that if the twenty-four millions of specie imported into the country during the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June, 1847, had gone into the banks, as to a great extent it must have done, it would in the absence of this system have been made the basis of augmented bank paper issues, probably to an amount not less than $60,000,000 or $70,000,000, producing, as an inevitable consequence of an inflated currency, extravagant prices for a time and wild speculation, which must have been followed, on the reflux to Europe the succeeding year of so much of that specie, by the prostration of the business of the country, the suspension of the banks, and most extensive bankruptcies. Occurring, as this would have done, at a period when the country was engaged in a foreign war, when considerable loans of specie were required for distant disbursements, and when the banks, the fiscal agents of the Government and the depositories of its money, were suspended, the public credit must have sunk, and many millions of dollars, as was the case during the War of 1812, must have been sacrificed in discounts upon loans and upon the depreciated paper currency which the Government would have been compelled to use. Under the operations of the constitutional treasury not a dollar has been lost by the depreciation of the currency. The loans required to prosecute the war with Mexico were negotiated by the Secretary of the Treasury above par, realizing a large premium to the Government. The restraining effect of the system upon the tendencies to excessive paper issues by banks has saved the Government from heavy losses and thousands of our business men from bankruptcy and ruin. The wisdom of the system has been tested by the experience of the last two years, and it is the dictate of sound policy that it should remain undisturbed. The modifications in some of the details of this measure, involving none of its essential principles, heretofore recommended, are again presented for your favorable consideration. In my message of the 6th of July last, transmitting to Congress the ratified treaty of peace with Mexico, I recommended the adoption of measures for the speedy payment of the public debt. In reiterating that recommendation I refer you to the considerations presented in that message in its support. The public debt, including that authorized to be negotiated in pursuance of existing laws, and including Treasury notes, amounted at that time to $65,778,450.41. Funded stock of the United States amounting to about half a million of dollars has been purchased, as authorized by law, since that period, and the public debt has thus been reduced, the details of which will be presented in the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury. The estimates of expenditures for the next fiscal year, submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury, it is believed will be ample for all necessary purposes. If the appropriations made by Congress shall not exceed the amount estimated, the means in the Treasury will be sufficient to defray all the expenses of the Government, to pay off the next installment of $3,000,000 to Mexico, which will fall due on the 30th of May next, and still a considerable surplus will remain, which should be applied to the further purchase of the public stock and reduction of the debt. Should enlarged appropriations be made, the necessary consequence will be to postpone the payment of the debt. Though our debt, as compared with that of most other nations, is small, it is our true policy, and in harmony with the genius of our institutions, that we should present to the world the rare spectacle of a great Republic, possessing vast resources and wealth, wholly exempt from public indebtedness. This would add still more to our strength, and give to us a still more commanding position among the nations of the earth. The public expenditures should be economical, and be confined to such necessary objects as are clearly within the powers of Congress. All such as are not absolutely demanded should be postponed, and the payment of the public debt at the earliest practicable period should be a cardinal principle of our public policy. For the reason assigned in my last annual message, I repeat the recommendation that a branch of the Mint of the United States be established at the city of New York. The importance of this measure is greatly increased by the acquisition of the rich mines of the precious metals in New Mexico and California, and especially in the latter. I repeat the recommendation heretofore made in favor of the graduation and reduction of the price of such of the public lands as have been long offered in the market and have remained unsold, and in favor of extending the rights of preemption to actual settlers on the unsurveyed as well as the surveyed lands. The condition and operations of the Army and the state of other branches of the public service under the supervision of the War Department are satisfactorily presented in the accompanying report of the Secretary of War. On the return of peace our forces were withdrawn from Mexico, and the volunteers and that portion of the Regular Army engaged for the war were disbanded. Orders have been issued for stationing the forces of our permanent establishment at various positions in our extended country where troops may be required. Owing to the remoteness of some of these positions, the detachments have not yet reached their destination. Notwithstanding the extension of the limits of our country and the forces required in the new territories, it is confidently believed that our present military establishment is sufficient for all exigencies so long as our peaceful relations remain undisturbed. Of the amount of military contributions collected in Mexico, the sum of $769,650 was applied toward the payment of the first installment due under the treaty with Mexico. The further sum of $346,369.30 has been paid into the Treasury, and unexpended balances still remain in the hands of disbursing officers and those who were engaged in the collection of these moneys. After the proclamation of peace no further disbursements were made of any unexpended moneys arising from this source. The balances on hand were directed to be paid into the Treasury, and individual claims on the fund will remain unadjusted until Congress shall authorize their settlement and payment. These claims are not considerable in number or amount. I recommend to your favorable consideration the suggestions of the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy in regard to legislation on this subject. Our Indian relations are presented in a most favorable view in the report from the War Department. The wisdom of our policy in regard to the tribes within our limits is clearly manifested by their improved and rapidly improving condition. A most important treaty with the Menomonies has been recently negotiated by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in person, by which all their land in the State of Wisconsin--being about 4,000,000 acres--has been ceded to the United States. This treaty will be submitted to the Senate for ratification at an early period of your present session. Within the last four years eight important treaties have been negotiated with different Indian tribes, and at a cost of $1,842,000; Indian lands to the amount of more than 18,500,000 acres have been ceded to the United States, and provision has been made for settling in the country west of the Mississippi the tribes which occupied this large extent of the public domain. The title to all the Indian lands within the several States of our Union, with the exception of a few small reservations, is now extinguished, and a vast region opened for settlement and cultivation. The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy gives a satisfactory exhibit of the operations and condition of that branch of the public service. A number of small vessels, suitable for entering the mouths of rivers, were judiciously purchased during the war, and gave great efficiency to the squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. On the return of peace, when no longer valuable for naval purposes, and liable to constant deterioration, they were sold and the money placed in the Treasury. The number of men in the naval service authorized by law during the war has been reduced by discharges below the maximum fixed for the peace establishment. Adequate squadrons are maintained in the several quarters of the globe where experience has shown their services may be most usefully employed, and the naval service was never in a condition of higher discipline or greater efficiency. I invite attention to the recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy on the subject of the Marine Corps. The reduction of the Corps at the end of the war required that four officers of each of the three lower grades should be dropped from the rolls. A board of officers made the selection, and those designated were necessarily dismissed, but without any alleged fault. I concur in opinion with the Secretary that the service would be improved by reducing the number of landsmen and increasing the marines. Such a measure would justify an increase of the number of officers to the extent of the reduction by dismissal, and still the Corps would have fewer officers than a corresponding number of men in the Army. The contracts for the transportation of the mail in steamships, convertible into war steamers, promise to realize all the benefits to our commerce and to the Navy which were anticipated. The first steamer thus secured to the Government was launched in January, 1847. There are now seven, and in another year there will probably be not less than seventeen afloat. While this great national advantage is secured, our social and commercial intercourse is increased and promoted with Germany, Great Britain, and other parts of Europe, with all the countries on the west coast of our continent, especially with Oregon and California, and between the northern and southern sections of the United States. Considerable revenue may be expected from postages, but the connected line from New York to Chagres, and thence across the Isthmus to Oregon, can not fail to exert a beneficial influence, not now to be estimated, on the interests of the manufactures, commerce, navigation, and currency of the United States. As an important part of the system, I recommend to your favorable consideration the establishment of the proposed line of steamers between New Orleans and Vera Cruz. It promises the most happy results in cementing friendship between the two Republics and extending reciprocal benefits to the trade and manufactures of both. The report of the Postmaster-General will make known to you the operations of that Department for the past year. It is gratifying to find the revenues of the Department, under the rates of postage now established by law, so rapidly increasing. The gross amount of postages during the last fiscal year amounted to $4,371,077, exceeding the annual average received for the nine years immediately preceding the passage of the act of the 3d of March, 1845, by the sum of $6,453, and exceeding the amount received for the year ending the 30th of June, 1847, by the sum of $425,184. The expenditures for the year, excluding the sum of $94,672, allowed by Congress at its last session to individual claimants, and including the sum of $100,500, paid for the services of the line of steamers between Bremen and New York, amounted to $4,198,845, which is less than the annual average for the nine years previous to the act of 1845 by $300,748. The mail routes on the 30th day of June last were 163,208 miles in extent, being an increase during the last year of 9,390 miles. The mails were transported over them during the same time 41,012,579 miles, making an increase of transportation for the year of 2,124,680 miles, whilst the expense was less than that of the previous year by $4,235. The increase in the mail transportation within the last three years has been 5,378,310 miles, whilst the expenses were reduced $456,738, making an increase of service at the rate of 15 per cent and a reduction in the expenses of more than 15 per cent. During the past year there have been employed, under contracts with the Post-Office Department, two ocean steamers in conveying the mails monthly between New York and Bremen, and one, since October last, performing semimonthly service between Charleston and Havana; and a contract has been made for the transportation of the Pacific mails across the Isthmus from Chagres to Panama. Under the authority given to the Secretary of the Navy, three ocean steamers have been constructed and sent to the Pacific, and are expected to enter upon the mail service between Panama and Oregon and the intermediate ports on the 1st of January next; and a fourth has been engaged by him for the service between Havana and Chagres, so that a regular monthly mail line will be kept up after that time between the United States and our territories on the Pacific. Notwithstanding this great increase in the mail service, should the revenue continue to increase the present year as it did in the last, there will be received near $450,000 more than the expenditures. These considerations have satisfied the Postmaster-General that, with certain modifications of the act of 1845, the revenue may be still further increased and a reduction of postages made to a uniform rate of 5 cents, without an interference with the principle, which has been constantly and properly enforced, of making that Department sustain itself. A well-digested cheap-postage system is the best means of diffusing intelligence among the people, and is of so much importance in a country so extensive as that of the United States that I recommend to your favorable consideration the suggestions of the Postmaster-General for its improvement. Nothing can retard the onward progress of our country and prevent us from assuming and maintaining the first rank among nations but a disregard of the experience of the past and a recurrence to an unwise public policy. We have just closed a foreign war by an honorable peace--a war rendered necessary and unavoidable in vindication of the national rights and honor. The present condition of the country is similar in some respects to that which existed immediately after the close of the war with Great Britain in 1815, and the occasion is deemed to be a proper one to take a retrospect of the measures of public policy which followed that war. There was at that period of our history a departure from our earlier policy. The enlargement of the powers of the Federal Government by construction, which obtained, was not warranted by any just interpretation of the Constitution. A few years after the close of that war a series of measures was adopted which, united and combined, constituted what was termed by their authors and advocates the "American system." The introduction of the new policy was for a time favored by the condition of the country, by the heavy debt which had been contracted during the war, by the depression of the public credit, by the deranged state of the finances and the currency, and by the commercial and pecuniary embarrassment which extensively prevailed. These were not the only causes which led to its establishment. The events of the war with Great Britain and the embarrassments which had attended its prosecution had left on the minds of many of our statesmen the impression that our Government was not strong enough, and that to wield its resources successfully in great emergencies, and especially in war, more power should be concentrated in its hands. This increased power they did not seek to obtain by the legitimate and prescribed mode--an amendment of the Constitution--but by construction. They saw Governments in the Old World based upon different orders of society, and so constituted as to throw the whole power of nations into the hands of a few, who taxed and controlled the many without responsibility or restraint. In that arrangement they conceived the strength of nations in war consisted. There was also something fascinating in the ease, luxury, and display of the higher orders, who drew their wealth from the toil of the laboring millions. The authors of the system drew their ideas of political economy from what they had witnessed in Europe, and particularly in Great Britain. They had viewed the enormous wealth concentrated in few hands and had seen the splendor of the overgrown establishments of an aristocracy which was upheld by the restrictive policy. They forgot to look down upon the poorer classes of the English population, upon whose daily and yearly labor the great establishments they so much admired were sustained and supported. They failed to perceive that the scantily fed and half-clad operatives were not only in abject poverty, but were bound in chains of oppressive servitude for the benefit of favored classes, who were the exclusive objects of the care of the Government. It was not possible to reconstruct society in the United States upon the European plan. Here there was a written Constitution, by which orders and titles were not recognized or tolerated. A system of measures was therefore devised, calculated, if not intended, to withdraw power gradually and silently from the States and the mass of the people, and by construction to approximate our Government to the European models, substituting an aristocracy of wealth for that of orders and titles. Without reflecting upon the dissimilarity of our institutions and of the condition of our people and those of Europe, they conceived the vain idea of building up in the United States a system similar to that which they admired abroad. Great Britain had a national bank of large capital, in whose hands was concentrated the controlling monetary and financial power of the nation--an institution wielding almost kingly power, and exerting vast influence upon all the operations of trade and upon the policy of the Government itself. Great Britain had an enormous public debt, and it had become a part of her public policy to regard this as a "public blessing." Great Britain had also a restrictive policy, which placed fetters and burdens on trade and trammeled the productive industry of the mass of the nation. By her combined system of policy the landlords and other property holders were protected and enriched by the enormous taxes which were levied upon the labor of the country for their advantage. Imitating this foreign policy, the first step in establishing the new system in the United States was the creation of a national bank. Not foreseeing the dangerous power and countless evils which such an institution might entail on the country, nor perceiving the connection which it was designed to form between the bank and the other branches of the miscalled "American system," but feeling the embarrassments of the Treasury and of the business of the country consequent upon the war, some of our statesmen who had held different and sounder views were induced to yield their scruples and, indeed, settled convictions of its unconstitutionality, and to give it their sanction as an expedient which they vainly hoped might produce relief. It was a most unfortunate error, as the subsequent history and final catastrophe of that dangerous and corrupt institution have abundantly proved. The bank, with its numerous branches ramified into the States, soon brought many of the active political and commercial men in different sections of the country into the relation of debtors to it and dependents upon it for pecuniary favors, thus diffusing throughout the mass of society a great number of individuals of power and influence to give tone to public opinion and to act in concert in cases of emergency. The corrupt power of such a political engine is no longer a matter of speculation, having been displayed in numerous instances, but most signally in the political struggles of 1832, 1833, and 1834 in opposition to the public will represented by a fearless and patriotic President. But the bank was but one branch of the new system. A public debt of more than $120,000,000 existed, and it is not to be disguised that many of the authors of the new system did not regard its speedy payment as essential to the public prosperity, but looked upon its continuance as no national evil. Whilst the debt existed it furnished aliment to the national bank and rendered increased taxation necessary to the amount of the interest, exceeding $7,000,000 annually. This operated in harmony with the next branch of the new system, which was a high protective tariff. This was to afford bounties to favored classes and particular pursuits at the expense of all others. A proposition to tax the whole people for the purpose of enriching a few was too monstrous to be openly made. The scheme was therefore veiled under the plausible but delusive pretext of a measure to protect "home industry," and many of our people were for a time led to believe that a tax which in the main fell upon labor was for the benefit of the laborer who paid it. This branch of the system involved a partnership between the Government and the favored classes, the former receiving the proceeds of the tax imposed on articles imported and the latter the increased price of similar articles produced at home, caused by such tax. It is obvious that the portion to be received by the favored classes would, as a general rule, be increased in proportion to the increase of the rates of tax imposed and diminished as those rates were reduced to the revenue standard required by the wants of the Government. The rates required to produce a sufficient revenue for the ordinary expenditures of Government for necessary purposes were not likely to give to the private partners in this scheme profits sufficient to satisfy their cupidity, and hence a variety of expedients and pretexts were resorted to for the purpose of enlarging the expenditures and thereby creating a necessity for keeping up a high protective tariff. The effect of this policy was to interpose artificial restrictions upon the natural course of the business and trade of the country, and to advance the interests of large capitalists and monopolists at the expense of the great mass of the people, who were taxed to increase their wealth. Another branch of this system was a comprehensive scheme of internal improvements, capable of indefinite enlargement and sufficient to swallow up as many millions annually as could be exacted from the foreign commerce of the country. This was a convenient and necessary adjunct of the protective tariff. It was to be the great absorbent of any surplus which might at any time accumulate in the Treasury and of the taxes levied on the people, not for necessary revenue purposes, but for the avowed object of affording protection to the favored classes. Auxiliary to the same end, if it was not an essential part of the system itself, was the scheme, which at a later period obtained, for distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the States. Other expedients were devised to take money out of the Treasury and prevent its coming in from any other source than the protective tariff. The authors and supporters of the system were the advocates of the largest expenditures, whether for necessary or useful purposes or not, because the larger the expenditures the greater was the pretext for high taxes in the form of protective duties. These several measures were sustained by popular names and plausible arguments, by which thousands were deluded. The bank was represented to be an indispensable fiscal agent for the Government; was to equalize exchanges and to regulate and furnish a sound currency, always and everywhere of uniform value. The protective tariff was to give employment to "American labor" at advanced prices; was to protect "home industry" and furnish a steady market for the farmer. Internal improvements were to bring trade into every neighborhood and enhance the value of every man's property. The distribution of the land money was to enrich the States, finish their public works, plant schools throughout their borders, and relieve them from taxation. But the fact that for every dollar taken out of the Treasury for these objects a much larger sum was transferred from the pockets of the people to the favored classes was carefully concealed, as was also the tendency, if not the ultimate design, of the system to build up an aristocracy of wealth, to control the masses of society, and monopolize the political power of the country. The several branches of this system were so intimately blended together that in their operation each sustained and strengthened the others. Their joint operation was to add new burthens of taxation and to encourage a largely increased and wasteful expenditure of public money. It was the interest of the bank that the revenue collected and the disbursements made by the Government should be large, because, being the depository of the public money, the larger the amount the greater would be the bank profits by its use. It was the interest of the favored classes, who were enriched by the protective tariff, to have the rates of that protection as high as possible, for the higher those rates the greater would be their advantage. It was the interest of the people of all those sections and localities who expected to be benefited by expenditures for internal improvements that the amount collected should be as large as possible, to the end that the sum disbursed might also be the larger. The States, being the beneficiaries in the distribution of the land money, had an interest in having the rates of tax imposed by the protective tariff large enough to yield a sufficient revenue from that source to meet the wants of the Government without disturbing or taking from them the land fund; so that each of the branches constituting the system had a common interest in swelling the public expenditures. They had a direct interest in maintaining the public debt unpaid and increasing its amount, because this would produce an annual increased drain upon the Treasury to the amount of the interest and render augmented taxes necessary. The operation and necessary effect of the whole system were to encourage large and extravagant expenditures, and thereby to increase the public patronage, and maintain a rich and splendid government at the expense of a taxed and impoverished people. It is manifest that this scheme of enlarged taxation and expenditures, had it continued to prevail, must soon have converted the Government of the Union, intended by its framers to be a plain, cheap, and simple confederation of States, united together for common protection and charged with a few specific duties, relating chiefly to our foreign affairs, into a consolidated empire, depriving the States of their reserved rights and the people of their just power and control in the administration of their Government. In this manner the whole form and character of the Government would be changed, not by an amendment of the Constitution, but by resorting to an unwarrantable and unauthorized construction of that instrument. The indirect mode of levying the taxes by a duty on imports prevents the mass of the people from readily perceiving the amount they pay, and has enabled the few who are thus enriched, and who seek to wield the political power of the country, to deceive and delude them. Were the taxes collected by a direct levy upon the people, as is the case [see APP Note] in the States, this could not occur. The whole system was resisted from its inception by many of our ablest statesmen, some of whom doubted its constitutionality and its expediency, while others believed it was in all its branches a flagrant and dangerous infraction of the Constitution. That a national bank, a protective tariff--levied not to raise the revenue needed, but for protection merely--internal improvements, and the distribution of the proceeds of the sale of the public lands are measures without the warrant of the Constitution would, upon the maturest consideration, seem to be clear. It is remarkable that no one of these measures, involving such momentous consequences, is authorized by any express grant of power in the Constitution. No one of them is "incident to, as being necessary and proper for the execution of, the specific powers" granted by the Constitution. The authority under which it has been attempted to justify each of them is derived from inferences and constructions of the Constitution which its letter and its whole object and design do not warrant. Is it to be conceived that such immense powers would have been left by the framers of the Constitution to mere inferences and doubtful constructions? Had it been intended to confer them on the Federal Government, it is but reasonable to conclude that it would have been done by plain and unequivocal grants. This was not done; but the whole structure of which the "American system" consisted was reared on no other or better foundation than forced implications and inferences of power, which its authors assumed might be deduced by construction from the Constitution. But it has been urged that the national bank, which constituted so essential a branch of this combined system of measures, was not a new measure, and that its constitutionality had been previously sanctioned, because a bank had been chartered in 1791 and had received the official signature of President Washington. A few facts will show the just weight to which this precedent should be entitled as bearing upon the question of constitutionality. Great division of opinion upon the subject existed in Congress. It is well known that President Washington entertained serious doubts both as to the constitutionality and expediency of the measure, and while the bill was before him for his official approval or disapproval so great were these doubts that he required "the opinion in writing" of the members of his Cabinet to aid him in arriving at a decision. His Cabinet gave their opinions and were divided upon the subject, General Hamilton being in favor of and Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Randolph being opposed to the constitutionality and expediency of the bank. It is well known also that President Washington retained the bill from Monday, the 14th, when it was presented to him, until Friday, the 25th of February, being the last moment permitted him by the Constitution to deliberate, when he finally yielded to it his reluctant assent and gave it his signature. It is certain that as late as the 23d of February, being the ninth day after the bill was presented to him, he had arrived at no satisfactory conclusion, for on that day he addressed a note to General Hamilton in which he informs him that "this bill was presented to me by the joint committee of Congress at 12 o'clock on Monday, the 14th instant," and he requested his opinion "to what precise period, by legal interpretation of the Constitution, can the President retain it in his possession before it becomes a law by the lapse of ten days." If the proper construction was that the day on which the bill was presented to the President and the day on which his action was had upon it were both to be counted inclusive, then the time allowed him within which it would be competent for him to return it to the House in which it originated with his objections would expire on Thursday, the 24th of February. General Hamilton on the same day returned an answer, in which he states: I give it as my opinion that you have ten days exclusive of that on which the bill was delivered to you and Sundays; hence, in the present case if it is returned on Friday it will be in time. By this construction, which the President adopted, he gained another day for deliberation, and it was not until the 25th of February that he signed the bill, thus affording conclusive proof that he had at last obtained his own consent to sign it not without great and almost insuperable difficulty. Additional light has been recently shed upon the serious doubts which he had on the subject, amounting at one time to a conviction that it was his duty to withhold his approval from the bill. This is found among the manuscript papers of Mr. Madison, authorized to be purchased for the use of the Government by an act of the last session of Congress, and now for the first time accessible to the public. From these papers it appears that President Washington, while he yet held the bank bill in his hands, actually requested Mr. Madison, at that time a member of the House of Representatives, to prepare the draft of a veto message for him. Mr. Madison, at his request, did prepare the draft of such a message, and sent it to him on the 21st of February, 1791. A copy of this original draft, in Mr. Madison's own handwriting, was carefully preserved by him, and is among the papers lately purchased by Congress. It is preceded by a note, written on the same sheet, which is also in Mr. Madison's handwriting, and is as follows: February 21, 1791.--Copy of a paper made out and sent to the President, at his request, to be ready in case his judgment should finally decide against the bill for incorporating a national bank, the bill being then before him. Among the objections assigned in this paper to the bill, and which were submitted for the consideration of the President, are the following: I object to the bill, because it is an essential principle of the Government that powers not delegated by the Constitution can not be rightfully exercised; because the power proposed by the bill to be exercised is not expressly delegated, and because I can not satisfy myself that it results from any express power by fair and safe rules of interpretation. The weight of the precedent of the bank of 1791 and the sanction of the great name of Washington, which has been so often invoked in its support, are greatly weakened by the development of these facts. The experiment of that bank satisfied the country that it ought not to be continued, and at the end of twenty years Congress refused to recharter it. It would have been fortunate for the country, and saved thousands from bankruptcy and ruin, had our public men of 1816 resisted the temporary pressure of the times upon our financial and pecuniary interests and refused to charter the second bank. Of this the country became abundantly satisfied, and at the close of its twenty years' duration, as in the case of the first bank, it also ceased to exist. Under the repeated blows of President Jackson it reeled and fell, and a subsequent attempt to charter a similar institution was arrested by the veto of President Tyler. Mr. Madison, in yielding his signature to the charter of 1816, did so upon the ground of the respect due to precedents; and, as he subsequently declared-- The Bank of the United States, though on the original question held to be unconstitutional, received the Executive signature. It is probable that neither the bank of 1791 nor that of 1816 would have been chartered but for the embarrassments of the Government in its finances, the derangement of the currency, and the pecuniary pressure which existed, the first the consequence of the War of the Revolution and the second the consequence of the War of 1812. Both were resorted to in the delusive hope that they would restore public credit and afford relief to the Government and to the business of the country. Those of our public men who opposed the whole "American system" at its commencement and throughout its progress foresaw and predicted that it was fraught with incalculable mischiefs and must result in serious injury to the best interests of the country. For a series of years their wise counsels were unheeded, and the system was established. It was soon apparent that its practical operation was unequal and unjust upon different portions of the country and upon the people engaged in different pursuits. All were equally entitled to the favor and protection of the Government. It fostered and elevated the money power and enriched the favored few by taxing labor, and at the expense of the many. Its effect was to "make the rich richer and the poor poorer." Its tendency was to create distinctions in society based on wealth and to give to the favored classes undue control and sway in our Government. It was an organized money power, which resisted the popular will and sought to shape and control the public policy. Under the pernicious workings of this combined system of measures the country witnessed alternate seasons of temporary apparent prosperity, of sudden and disastrous commercial revulsions, of unprecedented fluctuation of prices and depression of the great interests of agriculture, navigation, and commerce, of general pecuniary suffering, and of final bankruptcy of thousands. After a severe struggle of more than a quarter of a century, the system was overthrown. The bank has been succeeded by a practical system of finance, conducted and controlled solely by the Government. The constitutional currency has been restored, the public credit maintained unimpaired even in a period of a foreign war, and the whole country has become satisfied that banks, national or State, are not necessary as fiscal agents of the Government. Revenue duties have taken the place of the protective tariff. The distribution of the money derived from the sale of the public lands has been abandoned and the corrupting system of internal improvements, it is hoped, has been effectually checked. It is not doubted that if this whole train of measures, designed to take wealth from the many and bestow it upon the few, were to prevail the effect would be to change the entire character of the Government. One only danger remains. It is the seductions of that branch of the system which consists in internal improvements, holding out, as it does, inducements to the people of particular sections and localities to embark the Government in them without stopping to calculate the inevitable consequences. This branch of the system is so intimately combined and linked with the others that as surely as an effect is produced by an adequate cause, if it be resuscitated and revived and firmly established it requires no sagacity to foresee that it will necessarily and speedily draw after it the reestablishment of a national bank, the revival of a protective tariff, the distribution of the land money, and not only the postponement to the distant future of the payment of the present national debt, but its annual increase. I entertain the solemn conviction that if the internal-improvement branch of the "American system" be not firmly resisted at this time the whole series of measures composing it will be speedily reestablished and the country be thrown back from its present high state of prosperity, which the existing policy has produced, and be destined again to witness all the evils, commercial revulsions, depression of prices, and pecuniary embarrassments through which we have passed during the last twenty-five years. To guard against consequences so ruinous is an object of high national importance, involving, in my judgment, the continued prosperity of the country. I have felt it to be an imperative obligation to withhold my constitutional sanction from two bills which had passed the two Houses of Congress, involving the principle of the internal improvement branch of the "American system" and conflicting in their provisions with the views here expressed. This power, conferred upon the President by the Constitution, I have on three occasions during my administration of the executive department of the Government deemed it my duty to exercise, and on this last occasion of making to Congress an annual communication "of the state of the Union" it is not deemed inappropriate to review the principles and considerations which have governed my action. I deem this the more necessary because, after the lapse of nearly sixty years since the adoption of the Constitution, the propriety of the exercise of this undoubted constitutional power by the President has for the first time been drawn seriously in question by a portion of my fellow-citizens. The Constitution provides that-- Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States. If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their Journal and proceed to reconsider it. The preservation of the Constitution from infraction is the President's highest duty. He is bound to discharge that duty at whatever hazard of incurring the displeasure of those who may differ with him in opinion. He is bound to discharge it as well by his obligations to the people who have clothed him with his exalted trust as by his oath of office, which he may not disregard. Nor are the obligations of the President in any degree lessened by the prevalence of views different from his own in one or both Houses of Congress. It is not alone hasty and inconsiderate legislation that he is required to check; but if at any time Congress shall, after apparently full deliberation, resolve on measures which he deems subversive of the Constitution or of the vital interests of the country, it is his solemn duty to stand in the breach and resist them. The President is bound to approve or disapprove every bill which passes Congress and is presented to him for his signature. The Constitution makes this his duty, and he can not escape it if he would. He has no election. In deciding upon any bill presented to him he must exercise his own best judgment. If he can not approve, the Constitution commands him to return the bill to the House in which it originated with his objections, and if he fail to do this within ten days (Sundays excepted) it shall become a law without his signature. Right or wrong, he may be overruled by a vote of two-thirds of each House, and in that event the bill becomes a law without his sanction. If his objections be not thus overruled, the subject is only postponed, and is referred to the States and the people for their consideration and decision. The President's power is negative merely, and not affirmative. He can enact no law. The only effect, therefore, of his withholding his approval of a bill passed by Congress is to suffer the existing laws to remain unchanged, and the delay occasioned is only that required to enable the States and the people to consider and act upon the subject in the election of public agents who will carry out their wishes and instructions. Any attempt to coerce the President to yield his sanction to measures which he can not approve would be a violation of the spirit of the Constitution, palpable and flagrant, and if successful would break down the independence of the executive department and make the President, elected by the people and clothed by the Constitution with power to defend their rights, the mere instrument of a majority of Congress. A surrender on his part of the powers with which the Constitution has invested his office would effect a practical alteration of that instrument without resorting to the prescribed process of amendment. With the motives or considerations which may induce Congress to pass any bill the President can have nothing to do. He must presume them to be as pure as his own, and look only to the practical effect of their measures when compared with the Constitution or the public good. But it has been urged by those who object to the exercise of this undoubted constitutional power that it assails the representative principle and the capacity of the people to govern themselves; that there is greater safety in a numerous representative body than in the single Executive created by the Constitution, and that the Executive veto is a "one-man power," despotic in its character. To expose the fallacy of this objection it is only necessary to consider the frame and true character of our system. Ours is not a consolidated empire, but a confederated union. The States before the adoption of the Constitution were coordinate, co-equal, and separate independent sovereignties, and by its adoption they did not lose that character. They clothed the Federal Government with certain powers and reserved all others, including their own sovereignty, to themselves. They guarded their own rights as States and the rights of the people by the very limitations which they incorporated into the Federal Constitution, whereby the different departments of the General Government were checks upon each other. That the majority should govern is a general principle controverted by none, but they must govern according to the Constitution, and not according to an undefined and unrestrained discretion, whereby they may oppress the minority. The people of the United States are not blind to the fact that they may be temporarily misled, and that their representatives, legislative and executive, may be mistaken or influenced in their action by improper motives. They have therefore interposed between themselves and the laws which may be passed by their public agents various representations, such as assemblies, senates, and governors in their several States, a House of Representatives, a Senate, and a President of the United States. The people can by their own direct agency make no law, nor can the House of Representatives, immediately elected by them, nor can the Senate, nor can both together without the concurrence of the President or a vote of two-thirds of both Houses. Happily for themselves, the people in framing our admirable system of government were conscious of the infirmities of their representatives, and in delegating to them the power of legislation they have fenced them around with checks to guard against the effects of hasty action, of error, of combination, and of possible corruption. Error, selfishness, and faction have often sought to rend asunder this web of checks and subject the Government to the control of fanatic and sinister influences, but these efforts have only satisfied the people of the wisdom of the checks which they have imposed and of the necessity of preserving them unimpaired. The true theory of our system is not to govern by the acts or decrees of any one set of representatives. The Constitution interposes checks upon all branches of the Government, in order to give time for error to be corrected and delusion to pass away; but if the people settle down into a firm conviction different from that of their representatives they give effect to their opinions by changing their public servants. The checks which the people imposed on their public servants in the adoption of the Constitution are the best evidence of their capacity for self-government. They know that the men whom they elect to public stations are of like infirmities and passions with themselves, and not to be trusted without being restricted by coordinate authorities and constitutional limitations. Who that has witnessed the legislation of Congress for the last thirty years will say that he knows of no instance in which measures not demanded by the public good have been carried ? Who will deny that in the State governments, by combinations of individuals and sections, in derogation of the general interest, banks have been chartered, systems of internal improvements adopted, and debts entailed upon the people repressing their growth and impairing their energies for years to come? After so much experience it can not be said that absolute unchecked power is safe in the hands of any one set of representatives, or that the capacity of the people for self-government, which is admitted in its broadest extent, is a conclusive argument to prove the prudence, wisdom, and integrity of their representatives. The people, by the Constitution, have commanded the President, as much as they have commanded the legislative branch of the Government, to execute their will. They have said to him in the Constitution, which they require he shall take a solemn oath to support, that if Congress pass any bill which he can not approve "he shall return it to the House in which it originated with his objections." In withholding from it his approval and signature he is executing the will of the people, constitutionally expressed, as much as the Congress that passed it. No bill is presumed to be in accordance with the popular will until it shall have passed through all the branches of the Government required by the Constitution to make it a law. A bill which passes the House of Representatives may be rejected by the Senate, and so a bill passed by the Senate may be rejected by the House. In each case the respective Houses exercise the veto power on the other. Congress, and each House of Congress, hold under the Constitution a check upon the President, and he, by the power of the qualified veto, a check upon Congress. When the President recommends measures to Congress, he avows in the most solemn form his opinions, gives his voice in their favor, and pledges himself in advance to approve them if passed by Congress. If he acts without due consideration, or has been influenced by improper or corrupt motives, or if from any other cause Congress, or either House of Congress, shall differ with him in opinion, they exercise their veto upon his recommendations and reject them; and there is no appeal from their decision but to the people at the ballot box. These are proper checks upon the Executive, wisely interposed by the Constitution. None will be found to object to them or to wish them removed. It is equally important that the constitutional checks of the Executive upon the legislative branch should be preserved. If it be said that the Representatives in the popular branch of Congress are chosen directly by the people, it is answered, the people elect the President. If both Houses represent the States and the people, so does the President. The President represents in the executive department the whole people of the United States, as each member of the legislative department represents portions of them. The doctrine of restriction upon legislative and executive power, while a well-settled public opinion is enabled within a reasonable time to accomplish its ends, has made our country what it is, and has opened to us a career of glory and happiness to which all other nations have been strangers. In the exercise of the power of the veto the President is responsible not only to an enlightened public opinion, but to the people of the whole Union, who elected him, as the representatives in the legislative branches who differ with him in opinion are responsible to the people of particular States or districts, who compose their respective constituencies. To deny to the President the exercise of this power would be to repeal that provision of the Constitution which confers it upon him. To charge that its exercise unduly controls the legislative will is to complain of the Constitution itself. If the Presidential veto be objected to upon the ground that it checks and thwarts the popular will, upon the same principle the equality of representation of the States in the Senate should be stricken out of the Constitution. The vote of a Senator from Delaware has equal weight in deciding upon the most important measures with the vote of a Senator from New York, and yet the one represents a State containing, according to the existing apportionment of Representatives in the House of Representatives, but one thirty-fourth part of the population of the other. By the constitutional composition of the Senate a majority of that body from the smaller States represent less than one-fourth of the people of the Union. There are thirty States, and under the existing apportionment of Representatives there are 230 Members in the House of Representatives. Sixteen of the smaller States are represented in that House by but 50 Members, and yet the Senators from these States constitute a majority of the Senate. So that the President may recommend a measure to Congress, and it may receive the sanction and approval of more than three-fourths of the House of Representatives and of all the Senators from the large States, containing more than three-fourths of the whole population of the United States, and yet the measure may be defeated by the votes of the Senators from the smaller States. None, it is presumed, can be found ready to change the organization of the Senate on this account, or to strike that body practically out of existence by requiring that its action shall be conformed to the will of the more numerous branch. Upon the same principle that the veto of the President should be practically abolished the power of the Vice-President to give the casting vote upon an equal division of the Senate should be abolished also. The Vice-President exercises the veto power as effectually by rejecting a bill by his casting vote as the President does by refusing to approve and sign it. This power has been exercised by the Vice-President in a few instances, the most important of which was the rejection of the bill to recharter the Bank of the United States in 1811. It may happen that a bill may be passed by a large majority of the House of Representatives, and may be supported by the Senators from the larger States, and the Vice-President may reject it by giving his vote with the Senators from the smaller States; and yet none, it is presumed, are prepared to deny to him the exercise of this power under the Constitution. But it is, in point of fact, untrue that an act passed by Congress is conclusive evidence that it is an emanation of the popular will. A majority of the whole number elected to each House of Congress constitutes a quorum, and a majority of that quorum is competent to pass laws. It might happen that a quorum of the House of Representatives, consisting of a single member more than half of the whole number elected to that House, might pass a bill by a majority of a single vote, and in that case a fraction more than one-fourth of the people of the United States would be represented by those who voted for it. It might happen that the same bill might be passed by a majority of one of a quorum of the Senate, composed of Senators from the fifteen smaller States and a single Senator from a sixteenth State; and if the Senators voting for it happened to be from the eight of the smallest of these States, it would be passed by the votes of Senators from States having but fourteen Representatives in the House of Representatives, and containing less than one-sixteenth of the whole population of the United States. This extreme case is stated to illustrate the fact that the mere passage of a bill by Congress is no conclusive evidence that those who passed it represent the majority of the people of the United States or truly reflect their will. If such an extreme case is not likely to happen, cases that approximate it are of constant occurrence. It is believed that not a single law has been passed since the adoption of the Constitution upon which all the members elected to both Houses have been present and voted. Many of the most important acts which have passed Congress have been carried by a close vote in thin Houses. Many instances of this might be given. Indeed, our experience proves that many of the most important acts of Congress are postponed to the last days, and often the last hours, of a session, when they are disposed of in haste, and by Houses but little exceeding the number necessary to form a quorum. Besides, in most of the States the members of the House of Representatives are chosen by pluralities, and not by majorities of all the voters in their respective districts, and it may happen that a majority of that House may be returned by a less aggregate vote of the people than that received by the minority. If the principle insisted on be sound, then the Constitution should be so changed that no bill shall become a law unless it is voted for by members representing in each House a majority of the whole people of the United States. We must remodel our whole system, strike down and abolish not only the salutary checks lodged in the executive branch, but must strike out and abolish those lodged in the Senate also, and thus practically invest the whole power of the Government in a majority of a single assembly--a majority uncontrolled and absolute, and which may become despotic. To conform to this doctrine of the right of majorities to rule, independent of the checks and limitations of the Constitution, we must revolutionize our whole system; we must destroy the constitutional compact by which the several States agreed to form a Federal Union and rush into consolidation, which must end in monarchy or despotism. No one advocates such a proposition, and yet the doctrine maintained, if carried out, must lead to this result. One great object of the Constitution in conferring upon the President a qualified negative upon the legislation of Congress was to protect minorities from injustice and oppression by majorities. The equality of their representation in the Senate and the veto power of the President are the constitutional guaranties which the smaller States have that their rights will be respected. Without these guaranties all their interests would be at the mercy of majorities in Congress representing the larger States. To the smaller and weaker States, therefore, the preservation of this power and its exercise upon proper occasions demanding it is of vital importance. They ratified the Constitution and entered into the Union, securing to themselves an equal representation with the larger States in the Senate; and they agreed to be bound by all laws passed by Congress upon the express condition, and none other, that they should be approved by the President or passed, his objections to the contrary notwithstanding, by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses. Upon this condition they have a right to insist as a part of the compact to which they gave their assent. A bill might be passed by Congress against the will of the whole people of a particular State and against the votes of its Senators and all its Representatives. However prejudicial it might be to the interests of such State, it would be bound by it if the President shall approve it or it shall be passed by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses; but it has a right to demand that the President shall exercise his constitutional power and arrest it if his judgment is against it. If he surrender this power, or fail to exercise it in a case where he can not approve, it would make his formal approval a mere mockery, and would be itself a violation of the Constitution, and the dissenting State would become bound by a law which had not been passed according to the sanctions of the Constitution. The objection to the exercise of the veto power is founded upon an idea respecting the popular will, which, if carried out, would annihilate State sovereignty and substitute for the present Federal Government a consolidation directed by a supposed numerical majority. A revolution of the Government would be silently effected and the States would be subjected to laws to which they had never given their constitutional consent. The Supreme Court of the United States is invested with the power to declare, and has declared, acts of Congress passed with the concurrence of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the approval of the President to be unconstitutional and void, and yet none, it is presumed, can be found who will be disposed to strip this highest judicial tribunal under the Constitution of this acknowledged power--a power necessary alike to its independence and the rights of individuals. For the same reason that the Executive veto should, according to the doctrine maintained, be rendered nugatory, and be practically expunged from the Constitution, this power of the court should also be rendered nugatory and be expunged, because it restrains the legislative and Executive will, and because the exercise of such a power by the court may be regarded as being in conflict with the capacity of the people to govern themselves. Indeed, there is more reason for striking this power of the court from the Constitution than there is that of the qualified veto of the president, because the decision of the court is final, and can never be reversed even though both Houses of Congress and the President should be unanimous in opposition to it, whereas the veto of the President may be overruled by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress or by the people at the polls. It is obvious that to preserve the system established by the Constitution each of the coordinate branches of the Government--the executive, legislative, and judicial--must be left in the exercise of its appropriate powers. If the executive or the judicial branch be deprived of powers conferred upon either as checks on the legislative, the preponderance of the latter will become disproportionate and absorbing and the others impotent for the accomplishment of the great objects for which they were established. Organized, as they are, by the Constitution, they work together harmoniously for the public good. If the Executive and the judiciary shall be deprived of the constitutional powers invested in them, and of their due proportions, the equilibrium of the system must be destroyed, and consolidation, with the most pernicious results, must ensue--a consolidation of unchecked, despotic power, exercised by majorities of the legislative branch. The executive, legislative, and judicial each constitutes a separate coordinate department of the Government, and each is independent of the others. In the performance of their respective duties under the Constitution neither can in its legitimate action control the others. They each act upon their several responsibilities in their respective spheres. But if the doctrines now maintained be correct, the executive must become practically subordinate to the legislative, and the judiciary must become subordinate to both the legislative and the executive; and thus the whole power of the Government would be merged in a single department. Whenever, if ever, this shall occur, our glorious system of well-regulated self-government will crumble into ruins, to be succeeded, first by anarchy, and finally by monarchy or despotism. I am far from believing that this doctrine is the sentiment of the American people; and during the short period which remains in which it will be my duty to administer the executive department it will be my aim to maintain its independence and discharge its duties without infringing upon the powers or duties of either of the other departments of the Government. The power of the Executive veto was exercised by the first and most illustrious of my predecessors and by four of his successors who preceded me in the administration of the Government, and it is believed in no instance prejudicially to the public interests. It has never been and there is but little danger that it ever can be abused. No President will ever desire unnecessarily to place his opinion in opposition to that of Congress. He must always exercise the power reluctantly, and only in cases where his convictions make it a matter of stern duty, which he can not escape. Indeed, there is more danger that the President, from the repugnance he must always feel to come in collision with Congress, may fail to exercise it in cases where the preservation of the Constitution from infraction, or the public good, may demand it than that he will ever exercise it unnecessarily or wantonly. During the period I have administered the executive department of the Government great and important questions of public policy, foreign and domestic, have arisen, upon which it was my duty to act. It may, indeed, be truly said that my Administration has fallen upon eventful times. I have felt most sensibly the weight of the high responsibilities devolved upon me. With no other object than the public good, the enduring fame, and permanent prosperity of my country, I have pursued the convictions of my own best judgment. The impartial arbitrament of enlightened public opinion, present and future, will determine how far the public policy I have maintained and the measures I have from time to time recommended may have tended to advance or retard the public prosperity at home and to elevate or depress the estimate of our national character abroad. Invoking the blessings of the Almighty upon your deliberations at your present important session, my ardent hope is that in a spirit of harmony and concord you may be guided to wise results, and such as may redound to the happiness, the honor, and the glory of our beloved country. APP Notes: There are two small errors in the original document where words have been misspelled. We thank Dr. Daniel W. Stowell, Independent Researcher, for his assistance identifying these errors. James K. Polk, Fourth Annual Message Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/200618	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1181
__label__cc	0.745516	0.254484	Explore oceanfront communities with beachfront homes and condos Oceanfront Communities The ocean breeze, beautiful sunrise and sunset views, and laidback lifestyle are what make oceanfront living so desirable. Oceanfront communities capture the beach lifestyle and pair it with resort-style amenities and beachfront homes and condominiums. With thousands of miles of coastline, the East Coast of the United States offers a wide selection of coastal real estate and some of the best oceanfront retirement communities. Active adults looking to retire in an international location often choose Caribbean retirement communities in places such as Mexico and Costa Rica. Explore these oceanfront communities to discover the best beach communities to retire in and luxury beachfront homes for sale. Explore Oceanfront Communities by State California Bay Area (1) Bethel Island (1) California Central Coast (1) Carpinteria (1) Southern Delaware (2) Central Florida (2) Ormond by the Sea (1) Northeast Florida (1) Southeast Florida (6) Stuart (1) Vero Beach (4) Southwest Florida (2) Georgia Coast (3) St. Marys (1) Coastal North Carolina (8) Caswell Beach (1) Leland (2) Ocean Isle Beach (1) Southport (1) Sunset Beach (1) Coastal South Carolina (12) Callawassie Island (1) Daufuskie Island (1) Fripp Island (1) Hilton Head Island (3) Seabrook Island (1) Virginia's Coastal Plain (Tidewater) (1) Cape Charles (1) Port Ludlow (1) 1 2 \| View All Delta Coves Bethel Island, California This new home community in the California Delta embraces a waterfront lifestyle, with access to 1,000+ miles of California waterways, a private club and marina, and homes with private docks. 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Built with respect to natural surroundings and area wildlife habitats, the community features resort-style amenities including two championship golf courses, a 126-deep-slip marina, tennis & swim center and more. Mediterranean-style condominiums, townhomes, villas and single-family homes are priced from the $200,000s to $3 million. Read More... John's Island Surrounded by miles of Intracoastal Waterway and pristine beaches is this private and luxurious 1,650-acre community. World-class amenities include three championship golf courses (Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio), oceanfront Beach Club, newly renovated Clubhouses, 17 Har-tru tennis courts, squash, pickleball, croquet, fitness center and outstanding social and recreational activities. Lots from $1 million to $6 million; Condominiums, Townhomes & Golf Cottages from $700,000 to $3.5 million; Homes from $1.4 million to $16 million. Read More... 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Exclusive club amenities include a wellness spa & salon, fitness center, indoor and outdoor dining with visiting chefs, bistro for breakfast & lunch, a movie theater, piano bar, golf simulator, an outdoor swimming pool, and more. Condominiums priced from $1.5 million. Read More... Sailfish Point Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal, this private sea island community offers five miles of shoreline, an oceanfront Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, a full-service marina with direct ocean access, and a beachfront country club. Nearly every home is waterfront or overlooks the golf course. Golf Villas, Patio Homes, Condos, and Estate homes from $649,000 to $8.25 million. Read More... This master-planned Treasure Coast community features an expansive private ocean beach, a Pete Dye golf course, a full-service marina and a clubhouse harboring a full complement of recreational amenities. Condos are priced from $235,000 to $1.2 million and single-family homes from $935,000 to over $9.9 million. Read More... Verona Oceanside Ormond by the Sea, Florida This beachside new home community in Ormond by the Sea, Florida offers front porch living with a selection of single-family homes and townhomes, resort-style swimming pool, and direct beach access. Daytona Beach is just 20 minutes away. Homes priced from $502,990 to $641,990. Read More... Cumberland Harbour St. Marys, Georgia The site of an HGTV Dream Home, this St. Marys, Georgia gated community is set on a 1,100-acre maritime peninsula surrounded by the St. Marys River, The North River, and the Intracoastal Waterway. Along with opportunities for boating, fishing, kayaking & canoeing, residents have access to a central clubhouse, fitness center, aquatics center with three swimming pools, tennis courts, and walking & biking trails. Lots priced from $30,000 to $300,000; Homes from $325,000 to $1 million. Read More... Savannah Quarters® This charming master-planned community is located minutes from historic downtown Savannah and The Club at Savannah Quarters® features an 18-hole Greg Norman Signature golf course, swim and fitness center, tennis courts and playgrounds; with over one-third of the community dedicated to lakes, lagoons, nature preserves and parks. Lots priced from the $100,000s; Maintenance-Free Townhomes from the $300,000s; and Single-Family Homes from the $300,000s to over $1 million. Read More... This vibrant community on Skidaway Island, less than 10 miles south of historic Savannah, Georgia, has long been run by its debt-free homeowners association. The community has two deepwater marinas, 30 miles of walking and biking trails, playgrounds, a dog park, village shopping center, and Skidaway Farms. Other amenities include six championship golf courses, 31 tennis courts, pickleball, pools, clubhouses, and a fitness and wellness center. Lots priced from $100,000 to $2 million; Single-Family Homes from $250,000 to $2 million+. Read More... Leland, North Carolina Located on North Carolina's Cape Fear coast, just minutes from historic Wilmington, Brunswick Forest offers a wide array of neighborhoods and lifestyles. Amenities include 18 holes of championship golf at Cape Fear National®, a Clubhouse, Town Creek River Launch , Fitness & Wellness Center, parks, natural areas and more than 100 miles of pathways linking residences and amenities. Lots priced from the $80,000s to $250,000; Townhomes, Cottages, Villas and Single-Family Homes priced from the $300,000s to the $800,000s. Read More... Compass Pointe Awarded the 2016 Bliss Award for “Best North Carolina Community of the Year,” Compass Pointe offers new homes, townhomes and lots for sale in a gated resort and retirement community near North Carolina's Cape Fear coast, with golf, tennis and other club amenities under development. Lots from $85,000 to $200,000; Homes, Townhomes and Condos priced from $315,000 to $1 million. Read More... Oak Island Estates Caswell Beach, North Carolina This coastal North Carolina golf community offers a new clubhouse and 18-hole golf course, along with quick access to Caswell Beach, the Intracoastal Waterway, and charming downtown Southport. The clubhouse offers a restaurant & bar, pro shop, outdoor fire pit, and year-round events. Homes priced from $200,000 to $2 million; Lots from $50,000 to $500,000; Condos from $150,000 to $600,000. Read More... Ocean Ridge Plantation Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina 90 holes of championship golf, coastal living, and protected woodlands are defining features of this community located between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC. Amenities include three clubhouses, a private beach club, tennis, racquetball, swimming, fitness, a nature park, and a community garden. Lots from the $14,000 to $250,000; Homes from $325,000 to over $800,000. Read More... Porters Neck Plantation Located 4 miles from the scenic port city of Wilmington, North Carolina, Porters Neck Plantation encompasses 675 acres of coastland adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway. With a Tom Fazio 18-hole championship course, ranked “Number #1 on the North Carolina Coast” by Golf Digest, the community also offers tennis, swimming pools, a sports center, dining and social activities in a family-oriented atmosphere. Lots are priced from $120,000 to $315,000; Patio Homes, Custom and Resale Homes from the $275,000 to $849,000. Read More... Sea Trail Plantation Sunset Beach, North Carolina This gated golf and resort community offers the best in coastal living, along with championship golf courses, resort-style amenities, and a wide variety of homes. Recreational offerings include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a fitness center, walking & biking trails, tennis & pickleball courts, fishing ponds, and weekly activities for all interests. Myrtle Beach's Grand Strand is just 30 minutes away. Lots priced from $30,000 to $150,000; condos from $99,000 to $249,000; townhomes from $129,000 to $299,000; homes from $209,000 to $649,000. Read More... St. James Plantation Southport, North Carolina Located on the Intracoastal Waterway, along the North Carolina coast near Wilmington and Southport, St. James Plantation offers numerous amenities: four championship Audubon-Certified golf courses, private beach club, full-service marina village, tennis courts, swimming pools, fitness centers, waterfront park, over 15 miles of walking and biking trails and 500 acres of nature preserves. Lots priced from $55,000 to $500,000; Condos and Townhomes from the high $100,000s to over $300,000; Custom Homes from $270,000 to over $1.5 million. Read More... Winding River Plantation Bolivia, North Carolina This award winning master-planned community offers a waterfront club lifestyle with a 27-hole Fred Couples Signature Golf Course, tennis, swimming, deep water marina for boating and fishing, and more. The community is just 30 minutes from Wilmington, NC and one hour from Myrtle Beach, SC. Lots priced from $12,000 to $300,000; Homes, Townhomes, Villas & Condos priced from $100,000 to $1 million. Read More... Brays Island Plantation Sheldon, South Carolina A private residential sporting community located between Charleston and Savannah, combining world-class hunting and shooting facilities and over 60 miles of equestrian trails with traditional resort-style amenities including championship golf, tennis, swimming, fitness, dining and concierge services. Lots from $170,000 to $825,000; Homes from $895,000 to $3.7 million. Read More... 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Located within 15 miles of Charleston's historic district, Daniel Island is a 4,000-acre award-winning island town featuring traditional neighborhoods, a downtown, parks, marsh-lined rivers and creeks, and a private country club with golf courses by Tom Fazio and Rees Jones. A coastal setting and the Charleston harbor provides the island with a wide array of water sports and recreation. Homes priced from the $500,000s to over $5 million. Condominiums and townhomes price from the $200,000s to over $1 million. Homesites from the $300,000s to over $1 million. Read More... Fripp Island, South Carolina Beautiful Atlantic beaches, two championship golf courses and a barrier island location near Beaufort and Hilton Head make this South Carolina family resort an alluring destination for waterfront vacation rentals, retirement or beach home ownership. Lots priced from $74,000 to $1.25 million; resale Condos and Single-Family Homes from $119,000 to $2.1 million. Read More... Nestled along Myrtle Beach's celebrated Grand Strand, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal waterway, Grande Dunes offers a par-71 golf course, an award-winning tennis and fitness center, and a 126-slip marina. Homesites priced from the $100,000s to the mid $500,000s; Condos priced from the $300,000s to over $1 million; Homes priced from the $400,000s to over $1 million. Read More... Haig Point Daufuskie Island, South Carolina Haig Point is an intimate, sea island golf community located on the northern tip of Daufuskie Island, SC, between Hilton Head Island and Savannah. Accessible only by private ferry, Haig Point’s amenities blend into the island’s natural beauty, including the 20-hole Rees Jones Signature Golf Course, an equestrian center, a fitness center and the Calibogue Club with views of the Calibogue Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Homesites priced from $65,000 to over $1 million; Homes from $325,000 to $3.5 million. Read More... Hilton Head Plantation, a 4,000-acre master-planned community located on the northern tip of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, offers a diverse selection of homes for sale with numerous resort-style amenities. Here, residents have access to four golf courses, more than two miles of beaches, an on-site marina, multiple clubhouses, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, fitness and tennis centers, an extensive trail system and numerous recreation areas. Lots from $125,000 to $1.549 million; Homes priced from $360,000 to $3.45 million; Condos from $339,000 to $1.25 million; Townhomes & Villas from $225,000 to $659,000. Read More... Islands of Beaufort Choose from a selection of traditional Lowcountry homes and residential lots for sale at this park-like waterfront community set within the Beaufort city limits, 30 minutes from the beach and less than an hour from Hilton Head and Savannah. Lots are priced from $25,000 to $550,000; Homes from $400,000 to $1.4 million. Read More... This private oceanfront community on Hilton Head Island boasts award-winning golf courses, a private beach club, tennis & pickleball courts, and multiple amenities to enjoy Lowcountry nature and wildlife. Hilton Head's popular attractions are just minutes from the community gates. Real estate options range from undeveloped homesites to bungalows to oceanfront estates. Homes priced from $450,000 to $5 million+; Lots from $125,000 to $2 million+. Read More... Homeowners at this 5,000-acre oceanfront enclave on South Carolina's Hilton Head Island have access to four championship golf courses and five miles of pristine Atlantic beaches, along with a full-service marina, tennis and equestrian facilities, resort dining and a 603-acre Lowcountry nature preserve. Lots priced from $119,000 to $5 million, with condos, townhomes, villas and single-family homes priced from $170,000 to $8.7 million. Read More... Seabrook Island, South Carolina This island resort community located 30 minutes from Charleston offers a South Carolina Lowcountry lifestyle, encompassing a wide range of housing options, Atlantic beaches and golf, tennis, equestrian and marina facilities. Lots priced from $50,000 to $1.3 million; new and resale homes, villas and townhomes priced from $100,000 to $7 million. Read More... Cape Charles, Virginia Bay Creek with a picturesque location that combines laid-back coastal living and beach-time adventures, it’s the ideal setting for families, golfers, nature lovers, and those looking to escape the busy city for a relaxed beach community. This unique master-planned community offers a variety of housing options. Homesites priced from the $70,000s to $500,000; Homes from the $400,000s to $2 million. Read More... Port Ludlow, Washington This waterfront resort and golf community on the Puget Sound offers a mountainside retreat while also allowing easy access to city life of Seattle, WA. The myriad of amenities include an 18-hole golf course, a marina with watercraft rentals, two clubhouses, walking and biking trails, and tennis and pickleball courts. Homes priced from $439,900 to $750,000. Read More...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1184
__label__cc	0.745589	0.254411	REWRITING THE RULES Meg-John Barker Future books Resources & zines Consent guidelines Activist/Academic Space Guidelines Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Diversity – Mental Health Resources Gender Continuum Non-binary gender factsheet Non-Binary Gender: Higher Education Staff/Student Guidance Love & commitment Conflict & break-up Gender, Sexual & Relationship Diversity - Mental Health Resources Christmas presence: Being pres.. Mental Health – Beyond the 1 in 4 Mindfulness: A strategy for so.. by Meg-John Barker This long read covers what we know about mental health, and why I think that distinguishing between those who are, and are not, mentally ill, is unhelpful. Biopsychosocial Perspectives I recently heard Saroj Datta give an update on the latest evidence regarding the interactions between genes and the environment in relation to mental health. Saroj was involved in the OU science course on mental health which takes a ‘biopsychosocial’ approach to the issue, and her talk demonstrated just how impossible it is to tease apart those elements: bio, psycho, and social (which is why they are combined into one word). I already knew about ‘neuroplasticity‘: the fact that the way our brains connect up changes over the course of our lives depending on the experiences we have (this is the way that we learn, of course, but we often forget this and regard brains as static and unchanging). Saroj presented evidence that there is also flexibility on a genetic level. Whilst the set of genes in every cell in our body remains fixed, whether they are ‘switched on’ or ‘express themselves’ is not. Animal studies have shown, for example, that a glucocorticoid receptor gene tends to remain switched off, leading the animal to be fearful and anxious, unless the mother displays nurturing behaviours (due to not being anxious herself) in which case it is switched on, leading to pups who are calmer and less stressed. This research is in its early stages, and needs to be treated with caution when applied to humans of course. Human research supports the genetic-envionmental interaction, finding that, for example, rates of depression are high when a particular allele of a gene is present and someone has experienced three or more stressful life events, but lower if just that allele, or just the life events, are present. It is the interaction between genes and environment that is vital. There have been similar findings in relation to childhood maltreatment. However, it is important to remember that some people were still depressed without those particular elements in the place (either that gene allele, those life events, or the two together): so this is not the whole picture. Also there is unlikely to be any one single gene involved in any element of human behaviour, but rather many. Saroj suggested that such ‘epigenetic’ changes are potentially reversible and it has been suggested that this, and neuroplasticity, may explain why there are multiple different routes to repair and recovery. My own interest has been mainly about the social end of the biopsychosocial composite, but it is vital to remember that this is as impossible to tease apart from the rest of it as the bio end is. The ways in which the society in which we live understands, and treats, people, is vital to the way in which we understand and treat ourselves. And one of the main things our society currently does is to split apart the biopsychosocial in a deeply problematic way when understanding issues of distress or ‘mental health’. Why I don’t like the 1 in 4 statistic It is important to say, before I start, that here I am absolutely not doubting the existence of severe distress, or the toll that it can take on people who are struggling and those around them. Rather I am questioning the way that we currently categorise and work with such experiences, and the role of wider culture in them (which so often gets missed). What sparked this line of thinking, for me, was a series of adverts a few years back under the Time to Change campaign about mental health, which was put together by the Institute of Psychiatry, Mind, and several other mental health organisations, with the aim of ending mental health discrimination. The adverts featured celebrities such as Stephen Fry and Ruby Wax speaking openly about their own experiences of distress, and many quoted the ’1 in 4′ statistic. For example, the poster with Stephen Fry on it said: ’1 in 4 people, like me, have a mental health problem. Many more people have a problem with that.’ Ruby Wax’s said ’1 in 5 people have dandruff. 1 in 4 people have a mental health problem. I’ve had both.’ Clearly the statistic was intended to raise awareness of the commonality of mental health problems and to decrease the stigma of those experiencing them. However, I feared that it was in danger of doing quite the opposite. The 1 in 4 figure is problematic anyway as it is not clear where the figure actually comes from. Of the few studies which have found something like this figure, some have been measuring families rather than individuals, mental health has been measured in various different ways, and it is unclear whether we are talking about, for example, 1 in 4 people at some point during their life, or 1 in 4 people in the last year, or 1 in 4 people at any given point in time. However, for me, the bigger problem is the potential impact of the figure. 1 in 4 suggests that 75% of the population do not experience mental health problems. That is a substantial majority. The danger is that this situates people with mental health problems as ‘them’ (compared to ‘us’ who don’t have any such problems). As we know very well in psychology, the creation of any kind of ‘us and them‘ situation increases, rather than decreases, likelihood of discrimination. Most of us will experience some form of abuse in childhood (if we include ‘bullying‘ by peers, which I think we definitely should); all of us will experience life events such as bereavement of a loved one in adulthood which tend to result in a period of high distress; not to mention the existential givens of life which we all struggle with. Given this, is ‘ill or well’ a useful model at all? The common dichotomous understanding which I see amongst counselling clients, friends, and students alike when they are talking about their own – and other’s – experiences of distress and suffering is as follows: I’m ill – I need help – it’s not my fault I’m not ill – I don’t get help – it is my fault People commonly feel, deeply and certainly, that these are the only two possible places to be: ill or not ill, and that the other aspects presented here follow from that. Not only is this a splitting up of the unsplittable biopsychosocial which I mentioned in the previous post. It also suggests that there are only two options: biology or choice (social doesn’t even come into it). Mental health problems are seen as an individual – frequently physiological – problem which requires treatment (commonly drugs, sometimes also therapy) to fix. However, if there is no evidence of such an individual problem (if no diagnostic label fits, for example, or if there is suspicion that they are not suffering enough) then the person cannot be ill and therefore any struggles must be their own fault. This way of understandings things is problematic on all levels. It prevents many people with distress from admitting it because, if they do admit it, they will have to give up control, take on a victim/ill identity, and open themselves up to stigma and discrimination. Those who embrace diagnosis may be disempowered (due to the sense that they can’t help themselves and must require expert help). They may feel that they have to take certain treatments (often drugs) because of the common idea that mental health problems are biologically caused and must be biologically treated, despite the question marks which still exist over whether, and how, such drugs work and whether they are the most appropriate way of addressing such issues in all cases (not to mention the vested interest of ‘big pharma‘ in perpetuating this particular understanding). There is no room here for sociocultural explanations or for more complex involvement of personal agency. Also, many people oscillate between the two positions as neither side really captures the complexities of human distress. This means that those who don’t identify as having a mental health problem are haunted by the fear that perhaps there is something terribly wrong with them which needs fixing (and hiding this fear, and any signs that they might be struggling, puts them under immense pressure). Those who do embrace a label such as ‘depression’ are often haunted by a huge sense of guilt that maybe they are not really ill and maybe this is all their fault and they are totally to blame (which massively exacerbates any suffering they were already experiencing). This puts people in a horrendous double-bind when it comes to speaking about their own, inevitable, distress and struggles in life. If we openly disclose as ‘depressed’, for example, (as many people did on the recent ‘world mental health day‘) we run the risk of reinforcing this ill/well split such that those who do not embrace such an identity feel their struggles going unacknowledged and the pain of that invisibility. If we keep quiet about our distress, or resist such labels, then we can equally reinforce the ill/well split as we are read as ‘well’ by those around us. We need to move to more biopsychosocial model of distress. We need to recognise that distress – in its various forms – happens for complex multiplicity of reasons, and that we can have a personal role in exacerbating and ameliorating it, but that acknowledging such a role does not mean that we are totally ‘to blame’ or ‘at fault’. We need to understand that we can all access support rather than it being something only for a certain few, and that different things work for different people at different times. We need to challenge either/or illness/wellness dichotomies and to consider other possible models and metaphors for distress. The common practice within the current mental health system when people are distressed is to diagnose them (to find the category in the DSM or ICD which best fits them) and to treat them accordingly. Previously I said a lot about why people who are suffering might want to embrace a diagnosis of a mental health problem. After this, I will say more about why practitioners may be wedded to this way of working with distress. Here I will outline some problems with diagnosis in general. As I mentioned, for people who are struggling, diagnosis is often seen as the only option other than seeing themselves as totally ‘to blame’ for their own distress. Also, it may be the only way to access support and community, and to be taken seriously by employers and others whose understanding they may need as they are struggling. Given that this is the world we currently live in, it is important for those who are critical of diagnosis not to impose that on others. Rather we might explore, with them, the potential losses and gains of taking on a diagnostic label (something explored in the Open University counselling module). Common losses which people express are that no label fits them perfectly, that – if they do embrace a label – they feel trapped by it (that this is all that they are are all that they’ll ever be), and that they are treated differently by other people. Irving Yalom points out this problem with diagnosis, that it easily fixes people (the way that a kiln fixes a pot) and can prevent us from treating people as whole, complex human beings. Rather, it is easy for professionals to see people as a ‘bipolar’ for example, or as a ‘borderline personality disorder’ (assuming that that category is all that they are, and that this person will be the same as other people in that category). Actually there can be multiple diverse meanings for people who fall into the same category which it is vital to explore. Take agoraphobia, for example, which involves fear of being outside the home. This could be about a fear of social contact, a sense of shame about oneself, an oversensitivity to noise, a genuine concern around violent attack (racist or homophobic, for example), an inflated concern over the risk of crime, superstitious fear of an accident happening, worry over one’s own capacity for anger and violence with others, or many other things (and combinations of things). The point about fixing people is supported by the famous Rosenhan study ‘on being sane in insane places‘ which was conducted in the 1970s. He got a group of people to present to psychiatrists. They didn’t wash for three days and said that they heard the word ‘thud’. All were admitted to hospital and all were diagnosed with schizophrenia (except one who presented to a private clinic who was diagnosed as manic depressive, which is telling about class and diagnosis). Once admitted, the people said that they were fine and didn’t report any further symptoms. Nonetheless they were kept in for weeks at least and their behaviours were still read as ill or disordered. For example, queuing up for lunch early because they were bored was labelled ‘oral acquisitive syndrome’ and making notes was labelled ‘compulsive writing behaviour’. Science writer, Lauren Slater, repeated the study in the early 2000s herself. She didn’t get admitted, but was diagnosed and medicated by everyone she presented to, reflecting shifts in understanding and treating mental health problems. Clinical psychologist, Richard Bentall, has pointed out the incoherence of many diagnostic categories: It is possible for two people, categorised in the same way, to have completely different clusters of symptoms. Some symptoms which are generally seen as signs of mental illness, such as hearing voices, are experienced by many people and are not always viewed as problematic. Also, there are issues with the cultural and historical specificity of diagnosis. The classic example of this is the fact that homosexuality was included as a disorder in the DSM until 1973 and in the ICD until 1992. Other consensual sexual behaviours which are considered ‘outside the norm’ (such as fetishes, sadomasochism and transvestism) are still listed despite lack of evidence linking them to distress and calls for them to be removed. This raises the question of to what extent diagnosis of disorder represents individuals being in conflict with the norms of society rather than a genuine pathology. There are many other examples of this. For example, the ‘sexual dysfunctions‘ are categories for people who don’t have the amount, or type, of sex that they are expected to have by wider society. Categories of ‘premature ejaculation’ and ‘vaginismus’ suggest that ‘proper sex’ involves penile-vaginal penetration. We might also think about what things are classified as addictions and what are not (in relation to what is socially acceptable), or what forms of self-harming are pathologised (cutting and burning oneself, but generally not smoking, drinking to excess, risky sports or driving, or cosmetic surgery). Many have argued that the high levels of diagnosis of depression in women (and the greater likelihood that distressed men will be criminalised as ‘bad’ whilst women will be pathologised as ‘mad’) are related to cultural expectations around femininity and masculinity. Also, black and minority ethnic people are more likely than white people to be diagnosed with ‘severe’ mental health problems and to be hospitalised and treated with drugs, arguably due to the western norms inherent in the diagnostic categories, as well as experiences of racism and social injustice. Going back to Rosenhan’s study we may regard the world that we currently live in as rather an ‘insane place’ (particularly given the current economic and ecological situation) and question what it means to respond ‘sanely’ to this.Winnicott famously said, of depression: ‘The capacity to become depressed, to have reactive depression, to mourn loss, is something that is not inborn nor is it an illness; it comes as an achievement of healthy emotional growth…the fact is that life itself is difficult…probably the greatest suffering in the human world is the suffering of normal or health or mature persons…this is not generally recognised.’ In recent goals for everybody to be ‘happy‘ there is a danger that we pathologise, even more, quite reasonable forms of distress. Us and Them in Mental Health Given the problems with diagnosis covered above, we might ask why practitioners continue to employ these, often without critical consideration, and to maintain a split between the ill and the well. In her book, Users and Abusers of Psychiatry, Lucy Johnstone suggests that it is very tempting for mental health practitioners to treat clients or patients in an ‘us and them’ way because of how invested they are in the current system. There is the danger that, without such clear splits, their job security would be in danger. Also they would lose the sense of expertise and professional power that they have if, for example, there was a de-medicalising of distress or a de-professionalisation of support for people who were struggling. There is a danger, more widely, that those who have an investment in being seen as sane, in control, and professional require a comparison group of those who aren’t (and this may play out in mental health systems, in families and other groups, and in society at large). Christina Richards presents a further reason why it may be difficult for practitioners to shift away from an ‘us and them’ approach to distress. She argues that underlying a resistance to change might be a sense of: ‘“I have been doing things this way for years and will continue to do so as this way must be right (because if I have been doing it wrong for all these years look at all the pain I’ve caused/ time I’ve wasted/ good I could have done)”. It boils down to: “I can’t act in the future, because that proves I could have done so in the past”.’ This way of thinking can keep people very stuck on both sides of the ‘us and them’. For practitioners it prevents critical exploration of their current ways of understanding and practising, and substantial revision of diagnostic manuals, etc. which have been used for so long. For clients or patients it makes it difficult to change in ways that might alleviate suffering because changing is seen as acknowledging that one could have changed previously (this is especially difficult because taking personal agency is seen as putting a person on the ‘not ill’ and ‘all my fault’ side of the dichotomy explored in my second post). The more time passes, the harder it can be to step away from the way you have been doing and seeing things. There is a kind of tyranny of consistency which would be helpfully addressed by a model which embraced the fact that people change over time and that it is okay to revise and adapt the way we used to see things or admit that we were wrong in the past. Richards quotes the great sage, Esme Weatherwax, who said that ‘Sin … is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.’ Whilst, of course, we require some kind of language to describe, and make sense of, our experiences of distress, we need to be cautious of ways of understanding that function to trap people and to concretise things rather than enabling them to move. We also need to be alert to understandings which assume that the biopsycho can be disconnected from the social such that it is only the individual who is seen as disordered or malfunctioning, rather than wider systems, and only target treatment at the individual (rather than the family, the school, the organisation, the media, or wider culture, for example). The social aspect is something that I will explore further now. Self-monitoring Culture and Distress A friend of mine recently posted a cartoon on Facebook which had Sigmund Freud saying ‘before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, surrounded by assholes’. I responded that I thought this said something rather profound about mental health at the moment. Could it in fact be said that a key aspect of many experiences of suffering is the problem of being ‘surrounded by assholes’ or – to be more generous – being surrounded by damaging cultural messages perpetuated by those around us? When I first started counselling I became very aware that virtually everybody I saw was convinced that there was something wrong with them that needed fixing, mostly based on the fact that – when they looked around themselves – nobody else seemed to be struggling the way they were. Conversations with close friends, and self-reflection, suggest that this is an extremely common feeling: that everybody else is managing fine so there must be something wrong with me. Of course, when I asked clients how they thought they appeared to other people they recognised that they generally put on a ‘happy, managing everything fine mask’ which probably gave off the impression that they weren’t struggling either. It strikes me that many experiences of depression, anxiety and other common mental health problems have a strong element of self-scrutiny and comparison to others in them (whilst, of course, I am wary of proposing any universal explanation because these experiences mean many different things to different people and at different times). Michel Foucault used Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon to explain how people self-police in contemporary society. In the Panopticon prison there is a tower in the middle and cells all around an outer circle, such that a guard in the centre could – at any time – be looking into your cell. Because of this, prisoners begin to monitor their own behaviour rather than having to have huge numbers of guards. This idea has been linked to the high degree of surveillance that we now have, meaning that we could – most of the time – be being watched or recorded. Foucault suggested that contemporary culture worked in this way more broadly. People are encouraged to scrutinise and judge themselves at all times, with advocations to self-improve, to work on themselves, and to present a positive and successful self to the world. This is linked to consumerism which is all about seeing ourselves as lacking and needing something to fill that lack. Advertising, and many other forms of media, create fears (e.g. we might look bad, be out of date, or be a failure) and then offer products to allay those fears (e.g. beauty products, the latest fashion, recipes for success in various arenas). Within such a culture it is no wonder that people would be particularly driven to constant self-scrutiny, comparison to others, and presentation of themselves as happy, satisfied and successful (even when they may not be any of these things). This shores up the ‘us and them’ that I wrote about in my second post. Rather than distress and suffering being an inevitable part of everyday life, it is seen as a problematic lack which must be addressed, and is probably outside of the power of the person who is suffering to address. Perhaps the major challenge for mental health practitioners, counsellors and psychotherapists is the danger that our work can perpetuate this perception: creating new diagnoses and categories and offering an ever-increasing menu of products to fix these (at a price). Even the one-to-one therapy situation is at risk of exacerbating this sense that people are wrong and need fixing, given that one person (the client) is encouraged to express their distress to another person (the therapist) who is generally fairly quiet and certainly not expressing any of their own problems. This is not to say that therapists and counsellors should be inappropriately burdening clients with all their difficulties. But we need to find ways to challenge the idea that the client’s struggles mean that there is something wrong with them, and the perception (which most clients have, even when they are therapists themselves) that the therapist has no struggles, or deals with them all perfectly. Existential therapy includes the idea, not only that all people will inevitably suffer, but also that all responses to this suffering are sensible so long as we properly understand the person who is responding in this way. This, to me, is a very useful counter to the common assumption of something being ‘wrong’ and the person being flawed and lacking in some way if they do not respond in ways that are deemed culturally acceptable. Alternatives: Care and compassion for all Above I have argued for a complex understanding of suffering and distress which is very cautious of applying diagnostic criteria and of dividing people into ‘ill and well’ ‘us and them’ boxes. Perhaps a better model of distress is of a continuum which we all go up and down during our lives, and where we are not fixed at any given point. I’ve also emphasised the importance of not splitting up the bio, psycho, and social in our understandings of distress, and suggested that we must not neglect the social aspect of the biopsychosocial because societal ways of understanding people (which we internalise and which, no doubt, are represented on a neurological level) are involved in our difficulties. This is particularly the case in the way in which we are encouraged into self-monitoring, and in the way in which individuals who are in conflict with societal norms tend to be pathologised as disordered individuals. If we resist the temptation to ‘us and them’ thinking then perhaps we can make more of a connection with people when they are distressed (rather than attempting to distance ourselves from them in ways that maintain them as ‘them’ and protect us from any sense that we might experience similar things ourselves). Then we might be able to ask questions such as ‘what works for me when I am distressed?’ which may lead to more helpful responses when others are struggling (although, of course, we must be cautious of assuming that everybody works in the same way that we do – perhaps the question is more like ‘given everything that I know about this person, what might they be needing right now?’) We might reflect, for example, on times when we’ve been under chronic stress or when a crisis has occurred in our lives. Broadly speaking, when we reflect on what is unhelpful when we are distressed we might come up with things like: taking away the aspects which makes the person what they are (things that they regard as central to their identity such as work or relationships), removing people’s sense of personal freedom and choice, and regarding them as inexplicable or baffling, for example questioning why they can’t just stop feeling, or responding, in the way that they are doing. On the other side, we might find that what helps when we’re distressed is not being overloaded with anything else, being treated kindly and patiently and being around those we feel safest with, being reassured that we are still free (but perhaps we don’t have to make lots of decisions right now), and feeling that we are understood and that our response is a perfectly explicable way of responding to this situation (which involves somebody taking the time to understand what it means to us). The vital role of compassion (from others and towards oneself) has been emphasised by many recently, and is part of the reason, perhaps, why various forms of mindfulness-based therapies are suddenly so popular (as they often encourage practices of self-care and compassion). Compassionate treatment of self and others is, perhaps, an opposite to the judging-comparing-monitoring mode which is so culturally encouraged at present. Rather than fearing that we are lacking, pretending that we aren’t, and trying to prove that we are better than others, we accept that everyone is imperfect, are open about our struggles, and move away from a competitive way of relating with others. Vitally, an alternative compassionate, or self-caring, form of working with distress does not present this as something that is necessary just for people who are struggling (reinforcing that ‘us and them’). Rather it is seen as something everybody needs to engage in to counter those omnipresent self-monitoring messages (which affect us all) and to address the struggles and distress which we all experience. Many of the ideas in these posts are explored, in more detail, in Understanding Counselling and Psychotherapy. A very accessible book that covers may of these areas is Richard Bentall’s Doctoring the Mind. anxiety, compassion, dealing with depression, dealing with mental health problems in a relationship, depression, how do I stop feeling depressed, how to get over mental health problems, how to stop being depressed, how to stop feeling depressed, Meg John Barker, Meg John Barker blog, mental health, relationship blog, Rewriting the Rules, self-care, self-monitoring, sex blog Meg-John Barker is the author of a number of popular books on sex, gender, and relationships, including Queer: A Graphic History, How To Understand Your Gender, Enjoy Sex (How, When, and IF You Want To), Rewriting the Rules, The Psychology of Sex, and The Secrets of Enduring Love. They have also written a number of books for scholars and counsellors on these topics, drawing on their own research and therapeutic practice. Queer Activism and Mental Health Activism: The Need For Dialogue Self-Care update Plural mindfulness / mindful plurality Should I Go To Therapy? our podcast and blog guide […] Here’s a blog post from MJ about the different kinds of therapy, and one about mental health […] Talks & Training Download Free Zines © Meg-John Barker 2016	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1192
__label__wiki	0.722038	0.722038	Media Violence: Hazardous to Our Health by William F. Fore William F. Fore received a B.D. from Yale Divinity School and Ph.D. from Columbia University. A minister in the United Methodist Church , he was Director of Visual Education for the United Methodist Board of Missions, then Executive Director of the Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches in New York City. From 1989 to 1995 he was Visiting Lecturer in Communication and Cultural Studies at Yale Divinity School.. His publications include Image and Impact (Friendship Press 1970), Television and Religion: the Shaping of Faith, Values and Culture (Augsburg 1987, currently reprinted by SBS Press, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511), and Mythmakers: Gospel Culture and the Media (Friendship Press 1990). This article appeared in The Christian Century, September 25, 1985, pp. 834-836. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock. Now the verdict is as clear as the evidence that links smoking to cancer: violence in media is causing violence in the society. Of all the people in industrialized nations, Americans are the most prone to violence. Between 1963 and 1973, when the war in Vietnam took 46,212 lives, firearms in America killed 4,644 civilians. In the past 50 years the per capita rape rate in the United States has increased by 700 per cent. During the past 30 years our per capita homicide rate has almost doubled. In 1980 there were eight reported handgun murders in England and 10,012 in the United States (Jervis Anderson, "An Extraordinary People," New Yorker, November 12, 1984], p. 128). And the U.S. Bureau of the Census reported that between 1974 and 1983, the number of aggravated assaults has increased by 6 per cent, forcible rape by 26 per cent, robbery by 2 per cent and child abuse by 48 per cent (Statistical Abstract of the United States 1985, pp. 166, 172, 183). For years people have wondered whether the amount of violence portrayed on American movie and TV screens has any correlation with the growing violence in our streets and homes. For 20 years, the evidence has been slowly accumulating. Now the verdict is as clear as the evidence that links smoking to cancer: Violence in media is causing violence in the society. As early as the 1950s Congress held hearings on the effects of television. When senators expressed concern over television’s role in increasing juvenile delinquency and crime, industry representatives immediately promised to reduce violence (while denying any evidence of harmful effects). Yet during that same period -- in the mid-50s to mid-60s -- television programming shifted noticeably toward action-adventure formats, and TV violence increased markedly. As programming became more violent, research became more decisive. The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, headed by Milton S. Eisenhower, focused on the relationship between violence and television in 1969 and concluded that "violence on television encourages violent forms of behavior and fosters moral and social values about violence in daily life which are unacceptable in a civilized society." Noting that advertisers were spending $2 billion each year in the belief that television does influence human behavior, the commission declared, "Television entertainment based on violence may be effective merchandising, but it is an appalling way to serve the ‘public interest, convenience and necessity." Three years later, U.S. Surgeon General Jesse Steinfeld testified at a Senate hearing that a study, ordered by Congress, had unearthed "sufficient data" to establish a causal relationship between watching television violence and aggressive behavior. ‘‘Broadcasters should be put on notice," he said. "that television violence, indeed, does have an adverse effect on certain members of our society" (Broadcasting, March 27, 1972, p. 25). The broadcasting industry, however, resisted the conclusions of both studies, and research by George Gerbner, dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication, shows that the level of violence on television during the ‘70s did not change significantly. The broadcasting industry challenged Gerbner’s violence profile. Writing in the Journal of Broadcasting, David M. Blank contended that Gerbner’s study defined violence too broadly by including cartoons and slapstick violence and that it counted some single acts of violence as multiple (Summer 1977, pp. 273-79). The Annenberg School countered in the same issue of the journal that comic content (such as cartoons) is a highly effective form of conveying serious lessons, and that when a new person or agent enters a scene, a "single" violent episode becomes "multiple" (pp. 280-86). Broadcasters continued to insist in the face of such evidence that the research was still inconclusive. Gene Mater, a CBS spokesperson, told a congressional hearing that "our figures, our studies, and lots of other studies [show] that there is no unanimity." Mr. Mater cautioned against making television a scapegoat when seeking solutions to the problem of violence. He argued that "with this single focus we ignore many of the root causes of societal ills," thus neglecting elements other than media that influence our lives: the home, school, church and peer groups. In a memorandum, Research on Television Violence: The Fact of Dissent," prepared for the hearings, CBS quoted Eli Rubenstein, who had been vice-chairman of the original surgeon general’s report, as saying that "opinions are more sharply divided than they were [in 1969]. Paradoxically, the hundreds of studies done in the past decade have apparently served to support diametrically opposing conclusions" (p. 50). But research continued, and in May 1982 the National Institute for Mental Health released the findings of a ten-year follow-up on the surgeon general’s study, "Television and Behavior," conducted by David Pearl. "After ten more years of research," the report said, "the consensus among most of the research community is that violence on television does lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the programs." The report noted that "not all children become aggressive, of course," but that "the correlations between violence and aggression are positive," indeed as strong as "any other variable behavior that has been measured." Conversely, the study found that "children can learn to be altruistic, friendly and self-controlled by looking at television programs depicting such behavior patterns." Earlier this year Pearl released another report in which he maintained that the NIMH report demonstrated that television has four effects on violent behavior: direct imitation of observed violence "triggering" of violence that otherwise might be inhibited; desensitization to the occurrence of violence; and viewer fearfulness. "Consider the situation if even only one out of a thousand children or youth were effected (there may well be a higher rate)," Dr Pearl wrote. "Consider also the cumulative effects for viewers who watch such programs throughout the year. Even if only a small number of antisocial incidents were precipitated in any community, these often may be sufficient to be disruptive and to impair the quality of life for citizens of that community" (p. 6). After completing the most thorough and most conclusive overview of research on television violence to date, George Comstock -- who, only four years earlier, was quoted by the broadcasting industry as saying that the evidence was not yet conclusive -- declared that "a very large majority of studies report a positive association between exposure to media violence and aggressiveness" ("Media Influences on Aggression," in A. Goldstein (editor), Prevention and Control of Aggression [Pergamon, 1983]). Despite these decisive conclusions, the level of violence does not appear to be diminishing. Dean Gerbner’s Violence Profile, which has traced television’s performance annually since 1966, indicated that in the 1982-83 season, violence on television had not diminished but was approximately at its 17-year average. However, violence in children’s weekend programs reached a record high, with a rate of 30.3 violent incidents per hour against a 17-year average of 20. In a paper prepared for the National Council of Churches of Christ, Gerbner said: For thc past 17 years. at least, our children grew up and we all lived with a steady diet of about 16 entertaining acts of violence (2 of them lethal) in prime time alone every night, and probably dozens if not hundreds more for our children every weekend. We have been immersed in a tide of violent representations that is historically unprecedented and shows no real sign of receding ["Gratuitous Violence and Exploitative Sex: What Are the Lessons?," pp. 2~3]. Dr. Gerbner went on to explain television’s role in creating a "mean and violent world" in the minds of many viewers, particularly heavy viewers: Symbolic violence . . . is a show of force and demonstration of power. It is the quickest and most dramatic demonstration of who can get away with what against whom. . . Violence as a scenario of social relation-ships reflects the structure of power in society and tends to cultivate acceptance of that structure. . . , It is clear that women, young and old people, and some minorities rank as the most vulnerable to victimization on television. . . . Most heavy viewers in every education, age, income, sex, newspaper reading and neighborhood category express a greater sense of insecurity and apprehension than do light viewers. . . . Fearful people are most dependent, more easily manipulated and controlled. . . . They may accept and even welcome repression if it promises to relieve their insecurities. That is the deeper problem of violence-laden television [pp. 5-6]. Violence on television -- as well as on cable, in movies and on videocassettes -- is lowering our quality of life. Whether or not we personally watch the excessive amounts of TV violence, enough people do see the violence, which, in the end, causes more crime, more abuse, more injuries and more deaths in our society. Of course, television can -- and never should -- be "sanitized" to the point that it contains no violence at all. Such a depiction of life would be dishonest in a different way. The problem is gratuitous and excessive violence -- an identifiable phenomenon that we created and that, if we wish, we can correct. Some observers have said that we are faced with pollution of our mental environment that is just as dangerous as pollution of our physical environment. But how does a free society combat mental pollution? The First Amendment guarantees each of us the freedom to speak whatever we wish, since one person’s truth is another person’s heresy. The media industries hide behind this freedom, to the injury of us all. On the other end of the spectrum lurk those True Believers who, knowing the truth, are anxious to impose it on us by censoring all other perspectives. Somewhere between these two poles there must be a middle way which enables society to curb harmful violence without curbing freedom of speech. Before we can do anything to confront the problem of violence in the media. I suspect that we must first decide what kind of society we really want. At that point the solution will become more apparent. In the meantime, at least we now know the facts about the effects of violence in the media, and our ignorance can no longer be blissful -- or even a valid excuse for inaction. Previous PostPrevious The Way We Work, the Way We Live Next PostNext Global Communication for Justice, a National Council of Churches Policy Statement	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1194
__label__wiki	0.652292	0.652292	Brand and Reputation Are Not the Same Reputation Risk Corporate Responsibility/ESG Higher Purpose 16 Aug 2019Corporate Reputation In a recent interview with the American Marketing Association, our CEO Kylie Wright-Ford said it most eloquently: “Brand is the promise you make; your reputation depends on whether or not you keep that promise." The MIT Sloan Management Review explains that many executives talk about corporate reputation and brand as if they are one in the same, concluding that “they are not, and confusing the two can lead to costly mistakes.” Regardless of how brand or reputation are defined, doing the right thing will help all businesses flourish. With this in mind, let’s explore the differentiators, nuances, and how brand and reputation complement one another. CMOs say they’re not reputation ready In a climate where a disgruntled customer can live-tweet their disappointment to the world, it’s more crucial than ever for companies to be proactive, not reactive, to threats to their reputation. For those threats can do real damage to a company's bottom line. Our data shows that the most reputable businesses outperform the financial markets. In fact, a one-point increase in reputation score yields a 2.1% increase in market cap (about 882 million). For a typical company, that translates into $1 billion per reputation point. Reputation management is also about identifying opportunities for growth. A good reputation, for instance, makes it easier to compete in a crowded marketplace. “If your reputation is good, you will capture more share of wallet and share of market; if not, then the reverse is true,” says Philip Wang, Senior Vice President for Integrated Brand Marketing at Wells Fargo. In a survey of Chief Marketing Officers conducted in partnership with The CMO Club, we discovered that nearly 60% of CMOs said reputation was an opportunity for competitive differentiation. Many, however, said they didn’t feel ready to manage their company’s reputation yet. That makes sense, as marketing typically manages a company’s brand, not their reputation. Our stance on the matter, in case you haven’t guessed, is that brand and reputation are not the same, and conflating the two carries real risks for the long-term health of your business. Rather than being the same thing, brand and reputation are inextricably linked. Your brand can help enhance your reputation; a poor reputation, however, can ruin a brand a company spent decades—even centuries—building. Brand is developed from the inside out; reputation from the outside in In the simplest terms, brand is how a company presents itself to its customers, employees, and the public. A well-cultivated brand is a public representation of a company’s core values. Members of senior leadership have more control over brand; it comes out of the products a company sells, the stores they sell them in, and the well-executed commercials, social media posts, and print ads they use to raise awareness of what their company is and what it represents. Reputation, on the other hand, is often built far away from the boardroom: It’s cultivated through news reports, word of mouth, and online chatter. It’s about how the public perceives your company, and whether—and to what extent—the public feels you’ve lived up to the promise of your brand. A company can influence its reputation; it cannot create (or re-create it) like it can its brand. “Your brand is the name you have on the front of the shop. Your reputation is what everyone thinks of it,” says Muriel Lotto, the Global Head of Brand and Marketing at Western Union. “The goal is to bring both together so that when we talk about reputation, brand is a very strong part of it.” To be clear, branding should play a role in shaping reputation, at least at the beginning. An advertisement—whether in a magazine, on TV, or on Facebook—is usually the first time a potential customer will encounter a given company out in the world. But consumers don’t live in a bubble and eventually other perspectives—from their neighbors, the media, or even a direct competitor—will permeate. That’s where reputation management comes in—it helps executives identify and mitigate reputational risk as well as seek out possible opportunities. You can’t really know what you have—and what you need to look out for—until you’ve measured it. Branding is the theory, reputation is the practice. Brand is the promise, reputation is the follow-through on keeping that promise. “Reputation is truly based on a company’s ability to deliver on its brand promise and purpose,” says Tanika Vital-Pringle, Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Rebirth. “In turn, fulfilling that purpose drives trust, loyalty, and sales.” Another distinction is who owns reputation; unlike branding, it’s not solely the domain of marketing. Rather, almost everyone across the c-suite has a role to play in managing and cultivating a company’s reputation. “It’s a shared responsibility that includes all of our senior leaders and not just the ‘keeper’ of our brand,” says Philip Wang of Wells Fargo. At Western Union, the ultimate responsibility is with the CEO. At other companies, the Chief Communications Officer is the “keeper” of reputation. There are many companies that deem reputation a regularly reported on key performance indicator. Employees enterprise-wide at telecom giant Telefonica, for example, are encouraged to achieve non-financial KPIs that include energy efficiency, diversity, and reputation. Brand is the icing, reputation is the cake. Here's an example that demonstrates the difference between brand and reputation: Ten years ago, Domino’s Pizza was in a less than stellar reputation situation. Known for poor quality and even worse service, it had limited growth and a stock price stuck below $10. Its brand, like its product was cheap; its reputation was abysmal. The company’s main sell was that it was exceptionally inexpensive and readily available. New CEO Patrick Doyle didn’t try to paper over these problems with slick advertising or a new marketing campaign; instead, he first set out working on solutions. As outlined in this Harvard Business Review Case Study, he invested seriously in technology, making it easier for customers to order via an app or even by text. He also re-thought the product itself; focus groups and social media postings complained about the quality of Domino’s crust and the freshness of its ingredients. So Doyle threw out the old recipes and started again. As a show of commitment to making authentic pizza, he even opened a Domino’s location in Italy. Only after he had done all this work behind the scenes, with serious investments in the products and the stores, did he turn to the marketing department. (After all, the marketing department doesn’t write the recipes or source the ingredients.) The result was a now-famous ad where Doyle and other Domino’s employees apologized for the quality of the pizza and promised to be better. It was a risk, but a risk that paid off for Domino’s. It’s now the largest pizza chain in the world, with a stock price of more than $280 a share. With its sleek, modern stores and expanding menu, Domino’s has reinvented its signature product and revitalized its ailing brand. It did so by taking a cold, hard look at its reputation and by re-thinking processes throughout the company. Talk the talk only once you've walked the walk The Domino’s Pizza ad was the culmination of years of work to improve the company. Other attempts to rehabilitate a company’s reputation through an “apology” ad have been less successful. “A company can lose its reputation very quickly, but can only gain it back slowly in drips,” says Wells Fargo’s Philip Wang. Wells Fargo knows this better than anyone: It attempted a mea culpa advertisement in 2018, with mixed results. So have Facebook, Uber, and, most recently, Volkswagen. Part of the problem with many of these ads is that they seem like attempts to airbrush away these companies’ mistakes, rather than genuinely make amends for the wrongs they committed. Volkswagen’s ad, with its dark colors and sad Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack, seems to present the emissions scandals as something that happened to the company, rather than a crisis entirely of its own making. However, the company is making a strong attempt at transparency. It’s focusing on innovation while attempting to re-establish an emotional connection with the general public — all positive things. Time will tell if the ad (and the campaign) results in a reputational uptick for Volkswagon. Domino’s success shows us that it is accountability along with concrete steps to improve and prevent future issues that appeals to customers. It’s about doing the hard work of improving your reputation, rather than paying mere lip service to change and reform. It's easy to make a promise; it's much harder to keep it That, in the end, is the real difference between brand and reputation. One is what you want to be, what you aspire to be. The other is a reflection of who you are, and how others perceive you. In an ideal world, brand and reputation would be perfectly in sync; companies would always deliver on their promises and customers would feel satisfied and valued. In reality, many of the best companies in the world still come up a little short. But reputation management can help bridge the gap between what you’re promising and what you’re delivering. Here's how marketers can define, own, and measure reputation in order to build their brand. Melanie LoBue Senior Director of Global Marketing The RepTrak Company mlobue@reptrak.com @melanielobue Related <b>{category}</b> stories The Data Behind Improving Your Reputation With Customers Brands reputations’ depend on consumer perception (i.e., what the public thinks about what companies do and say), and that can have a big impact on a company’s bottom line. Communication Best Practices to Resonate With a Global Audience in 2021 During the pandemic in 2020, consumers cared more about what companies said regarding important issues than what they sold — no one needed more special offers or publicity stunts. Are Your ESG Initiatives Improving Your Public Perception? It’s no surprise that environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria are more important than ever in the business world. Show all stories about Blog Post →	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1195
__label__wiki	0.923511	0.923511	Cyclical Consumer Goods FEATURE - Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh warned to be wary with human trafficking rising By Naimul Karim, Thomson Reuters Foundation KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh, Aug 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - W hen Nazmin Nahar, a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh, was offered a job in a garment factory by a distant cousin, she thought she had found a way to support her ageing parents. But her relative sold her as a maid in Chittagong, 160 km (100 miles) away from her family in the world’s largest refugee settlement in southeast Bangladesh, where she was tortured and forced to work without pay. Nahar, 23, is one of a rising number of Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar in a massive exodus two years ago to escape a military crackdown, to have been duped by human traffickers into slavery or fleeced with promises to reunite them with family. “I used to work all day. I never got proper sleep,” a tearful Nahar, 23, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at her home in Kutupalong, the largest camp in the settlement that is home to more than 900,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees. “They didn’t even give me fresh food and I was always locked inside,” she said, adding that she escaped by stealing the house key when her owners were asleep one afternoon. As more reports emerge of human traffickers preying on Rohingya refugees, authorities and aid groups have ramped up activities in the camps ranging from comic books and street plays to more police patrols to warn people of the risks. NUMBERS RISING The United Nation’s migration agency, International Organization for Migration (IOM), said these activities had helped encourage victims of trafficking to come forward and 420 cases were identified between December and June which was a fourfold jump on the previous 14 months. Most of these people were trafficked to Chittagong or the nearby beach town of Cox’s Bazar where men were made to work in factories, construction sites and the fishing industry while women were forced into domestic servitude. “Many of them were physically tortured and abused psychologically ... they were paid little money or no money at all,” IOM’s counter-trafficking officer Emmy Nurmila Sjarijono told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “For the Rohingya it’s difficult because leaving the camp itself is a crime so when they want to go back, their employers threaten them by saying if you leave we will call the police.” Rohingya people cannot leave the camps without permission and are not allowed to work. Bangladesh’s law enforcers rescued at least 250 Rohingya from traffickers between January and June this year, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which did not publish data for the same period a year ago. Operations included rescuing about 56 Rohingya in late May from a Malaysia-bound trawler in the Bay of Bengal and killing three people suspected of trafficking Rohingya refugees near Kutupalong camp in a clash with the police in June. “The Rohingya who tried to go abroad initially were cheated and suffered a lot,” said Major Mehedi Hasan from the country’s elite police force, Rapid Action Batallion (RAB), adding that their return could be a deterrent to others seeking to leave. “We increased our surveillance and other aspects once we saw that the trafficking situation was getting worse.” Anti-trafficking campaigners, however, fear the ramped-up efforts are not enough because a lack of security at the crowded camps, an uncertain future and flooding were worsening the situation, prompting more people to seek new lives elsewhere. Parvin Akter, 23, escaped to Bangladesh from Myanmar two years ago and went to Chittagong earlier this year with a broker who promised to send her to Malaysia where her husband has been working for the past six years. “Why would you want to stay here when your husband is far away? (My husband) gave me the contact of a broker,” Akter said. Once in Chittagong, however, the broker was arrested and Akter was sent back to the camps near Cox’s Bazar in May. Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, additional superintendent of Cox’s Bazar Police, said most of the brokers did not actually have the ability to transport people from Bangladesh to Malaysia. “It’s a hoax most of the times,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone. The U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report in June found Bangladesh had not investigated dozens of potential crimes of forced labour and sex trafficking against the Rohingya living in refugee camps in the country. HUGE TASK A spokesman from Bangladesh’s Ministry of Home Affairs said they were working hard to tackle the issue but it was a huge task with nearly one million people now in the refugee camps and no sign of them leaving. This included about 730,000 Rohingya who fled Buddhist-dominated Myanmar two years ago to join others in neighbouring Bangladesh and escape a military offensive the United Nations called “ethnic cleansing” of one of the most oppressed people. “Some are told that they will be given jobs in garment factories or other places and then trafficked. Sexual abuse also takes place,” said Abu Bakar Siddique, who leads the ministry’s anti-trafficking work. “We have the data. It’s not like we aren’t arresting any of them. We are working hard to resolve this.” Authorities hope that using a variety of activities in the camps will help spread word about the risks of trafficking. In one play a trafficker, wearing a striped shirt, tried to entice a Rohingya refugee to go with him with the play ending with a song warning about the dangers of human trafficking. “The place where men are trafficked, is the place where their bodies rot. They (traffickers) are never at peace, until their pockets are hot,” sang the actors, accompanied by a dhol, or barrel drum, in front of a crowd of Rohingya children. A comic published in May by the IOM, titled “The Brave Stories”, described the lives of a young woman who was forced into prostitution and a 22-year-old man who was made to work long hours in a field without any pay. Ali Kabir, a local anti-trafficking researcher affiliated to the World Commission of Human Rights who focuses on brokers peddling the “Malaysian dream”, said the hardships of camp life made it hard to stop people hoping promised jobs might be real. "As long as livelihoods in the camps don't improve, they will always say yes to going outside," said Kabir. (Reporting by Naimul Karim @Naimonthefield; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1197
__label__wiki	0.709338	0.709338	UK Legacy Business Transfer Key Dates UK Legacy Business Transfer Key Documents UK Legacy Business Transfer FAQs UK Legacy Business Transfer Contact Details This website provides information about the proposed transfer of insurance business from Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc (RSAI) and The Marine Insurance Company Limited (MIC) to Mercantile Indemnity Company Limited (Mercantile) under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the Transfer). The Transfer was sanctioned at the High Court of Justice of England and Wales (High Court) in London on 13 June 2019, with an Effective Date of 1 July 2019. The Sanction Order can be found here. Business to be transferred The Transfer relates to commercial general insurance policies. These policies may cover liability claims for all types of industrial disease, including (but not limited to) asbestos-related disease, noise induced hearing loss and abuse. Generally, claims emanate in relation to known sets of policies and Policyholders. Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc With the exception of certain excluded policies described below, the Scheme will transfer from RSAI to Mercantile all of RSAI’s commercial general insurance policies that include liability cover and that were either: (i) written by or on behalf of RSAI prior to 2006, or (ii) written by or on behalf of another insurer prior to 2006 and transferred to RSAI prior to 7 February 2017. The excluded policies referred to above that will not transfer under the Scheme comprise: (A) policies that relate solely to marine or motor liabilities; (B) policies underwritten by a branch or agency incorporated or domiciled outside the UK; (C) any policy that was transferred to RSAI from Harworth Insurance Company Limited pursuant to a transfer agreement dated 20 December 2013; (D) any policy underwritten by or on behalf of RSAI through the insurance pool managed by International Oil Insurers; (E) any policy underwritten by or on behalf of RSAI through the insurance pool managed by the British Insurance (Atomic Energy) Committee for American Risks; (F) any policy underwritten by or on behalf of RSAI or Royal & Sun Alliance Reinsurance Limited (as reinsurer) to Arrowood Indemnity Co or any company controlled by Arrowpoint Capital (as cedant); (G) any domestic mortgage indemnity policy; (H) any policy underwritten by RSAI in respect of business written by any strategic network partner in its home territory pursuant to a Producing Office Agreement with RSAI; and (I) a small number of specific policies which are identified by policy number in the formal documentation for the Scheme. The Scheme will also transfer various business contracts from RSAI to Mercantile, including all or part of certain outwards reinsurance contracts, as explained further in section 5.2 below. The RSAI business, comprising policies and business contracts and associated assets and liabilities, that is to be transferred to Mercantile by the Scheme is referred to as the “RSAI Transferred Business”. The Marine Insurance Company Limited The Scheme will transfer from MIC to Mercantile the following categories of commercial general insurance policies that were either (i) written by or on behalf of MIC, or (ii) written by or on behalf of another insurer and transferred to MIC prior to 7 February 2017: (A) all marine energy policies written prior to 2004; (B) all other marine policies written prior to 1997; and (C) all aviation policies written prior to 2009. The Scheme will also transfer various business contracts from MIC to Mercantile, including all or part of certain outwards reinsurance contracts, as explained further in section 5.2 below. The MIC business, comprising policies and business contracts and associated assets and liabilities, that is to be transferred to Mercantile by the Scheme is referred to as the “MIC Transferred Business”. The RSAI Transferred Business and the MIC Transferred Business are referred to as the “Transferred Business” under the Scheme. The Part VII Transfer Process Before the Transfer can proceed under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), it will require the approval (known as “sanction”) of the High Court of England and Wales (the UK Court). If the UK Court sanctions the Transfer, those insurance policies, business contracts and associated assets and liabilities affected by the Transfer will automatically transfer to and become the responsibility of Mercantile from the date on which the Transfer takes legal effect. Under Part VII of FSMA, an Independent Expert must report on the effects of the Transfer on the policyholders and other interested parties. Derek Newton, a fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, of Milliman LLP, has been appointed to provide this report for the Transfer (the Report) as an Independent Expert and his appointment has been approved by the Prudential Regulation Authority, following consultation with the Financial Conduct Authority. Derek Newton has prepared the Report and he has found that policyholders and other interested parties will not be materially adversely affected by the Transfer. You will find the following information within the relevant sections of this website, to assist you with understand what the Transfer means for you: Key Dates: The date on which the Sanction Hearing at the UK Court are expected to take place and the date on which the Transfer is intended to take legal effect. Documents: Copies of various documents relating to the Transfer, including the Notice setting out details of the court hearings, the Scheme Document which sets out the terms of the Transfer, the Report of the Independent Expert and the information sent to interested parties with details of the Transfer. FAQs: Answers to questions you may have about the Transfer, including further details of the insurance business included under it, how the Transfer will take place, the effects of the Transfer (including the continuing administration of policies) and the role of the Independent Expert. Importantly, it also sets out your rights if you think you may be adversely affected by the Transfer or you object to the Transfer. If you have no concerns about the Transfer then you do not need to do anything. Email address: RSATransfers@gcc.rsagroup.com	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1200
__label__wiki	0.721623	0.721623	O'DONNELL IN FINE FORM Andrew Poole Good night's work for popular 'keeper... GOALKEEPER, Richard O’Donnell, saved a penalty and kept a clean sheet in what was an impressive second half display by the popular custodian. “The lads were brilliant in the first half,” he said. “We moved the ball quickly and should have been more than one goal up at half-time. “We knew that they would come at us more in the second half and there was a lot more for me to do. “I was happy with some of the saves; that’s what I am there for, but it was good to keep a clean sheet and get the three points, which was the main thing. “It’s always nice to save a penalty and we’d studied their spot-kicks before the game, so the preparation paid off. “This League is so tight and a run of results can put you right back in there. We’ve as good a chance as anyone to make the play-offs, so hopefully we can build on this now and get into a run. “We’re looking at the next game now and getting as many points on the board and see where it takes us.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1201
__label__wiki	0.684209	0.684209	SALAR Media Group \| Number Crunchers: Data Analytics Companies Cropping Up in Cannabis Industry Number Crunchers: Data Analytics Companies Cropping Up in Cannabis Industry SALAR Media Group / Investment / Number Crunchers: Data Analytics Companies Cropping Up in Cannabis Industry By John Schroyer – MJ Biz Daily Knowledge is power…and can lead to big profits. That’s why businesses in mainstream industries utilize data to analyze their performance, markets and competitors. Now, a handful of firms are providing cannabis companies with in-depth data that hasn’t been available in the past given the industry’s youth. Think wholesale pricing figures, investment stats, point-of-sale data and benchmark information. “The data side is going to look more like it looks in other industries. We’re just playing catch-up right now,” said Roy Bingham, CEO of BDS Analytics, an information-centric company that helps marijuana dispensaries and recreational shops in Colorado and Washington State cater to their customers. Some companies such as BDS are selling data as their main product, while others are providing figures, statistics and information to generate interest in their own businesses or as a side offering. New Leaf Data Services has gained traction through its Cannabis Benchmarks division, which provides regular reports on wholesale cannabis prices in 12 different markets. It also offers financial and operational benchmark data for cultivation businesses. The company has three different levels of data services: a free weekly report, a premium report that goes for a $75 monthly subscription, and a high-end data package that costs $200 a month. “We have growers, we have processors, we have dispensaries, we have law firms, we have accounting firms, we have academia, we have hedge funds and private equity and venture capital,” New Leaf CEO Jonathan Rubin said when asked about the makeup of his client base. “The industry is continuing to grow rapidly and become more credible, and as it becomes more credible, it’s drawing the interest of more professionals.” And those professionals want professional numbers to examine, including everything from pricing trends to THC potency levels to sales figures of different products and cannabis strains. “This is the type of data that the financial markets are looking for,” said Robert Ruiz, chief marketing officer for Amercanex, an online marketplace for buyers, sellers and investors. “In Wall Street, data is a very important tool. Companies purchase data from you left and right… So data is going to become a tremendous revenue stream for us in the future.” Amercanex, like several other online cannabis marketplaces, differs from BDS and New Leaf Data Services in that it’s not focused primarily on providing intel for its customers. Rather, clients can purchase seats on the exchange, which now go for $10,000 for a lifetime membership (up from $2,500 when the exchange launched in July 2014). Along with that membership comes all types of data, as long as a seatholder is a licensed company in Colorado. That’s the one catch right now with the exchange: It’s limited to a single state. But that’s going to change, Ruiz said, indicating that Amercanex is looking to expand not just throughout the United States but internationally as well. Other online trading platforms are also increasingly making more data available for customers, though many are so far only in one or two states (mostly Colorado). Some, such as Cannabase and Tradiv, are looking quite actively to set up wholesale platforms – and provide the pricing data that comes with them – along the West Coast. “We take our data incredibly seriously,” said Jennifer Beck, the CEO of Cannabase, an online wholesale marketplace that also has a social media platform. One of the company’s extras is what it calls “cannalytics,” a breakdown of charts and graphs that looks at pricing trends and sales numbers, and goes for $20 a month. It includes Colorado pricing data that goes back six months, Beck said. “The more mature businesses who are using the data available are going to continue to rise in a healthier and more streamlined way than businesses who operate in a vacuum,” Beck said. That’s the same attitude that BDS and New Leaf have when it comes to how cannabis companies in general can use serious data to improve their business models, whether that’s for retailers trying to decide which strains to carry or for cultivators trying to decide which strains to grow. BDS Analytics, for example, has 20 million transactions involving 20,000 products already in its database since its founding roughly a year ago. Bingham said that information can be used by retailers to figure out which edibles are most popular with customers, or by manufacturers to decide if they need to change their marketing scheme or packaging to increase sales. And, Bingham said, vendors are getting on board with it. “The adoption by dispensaries has been faster than we experienced in any other industry,” Bingham said. “We worked with Whole Foods in the health food market, and we were able to add a store a week. Here, we’re adding multiple stores a week, because they realize the value of this data.” New Leaf Data’s Rubin added that the numbers his company provides can be used as a starting point for wholesale negotiations, which can vary depending on if the cannabis was grown indoors or outdoors, if it’s a particular strain or potency, or any number of other factors. “We have hundreds and hundreds of transactions, and thousands and thousands of pounds that go into our weekly national benchmark,” Rubin said. “We are the common reference point, to provide a baseline. And then the seller can say, ‘Here’s why I think my cannabis should be priced higher.’ Or the buyer can say, ‘Here’s why I think your cannabis should be priced lower.’” Because cannabis is moving at an ever-quickening pace into the mainstream, data analytics is poised to become a part of everyday life for successful companies – especially those that want to grow into national or international brands. “It’s inevitable that we’re going to see data play as important a role as it does in other industries,” Beck said. Correction: The original version of this story stated that New Leaf Data Services offers a premium report for a $75 annual subscription. That was incorrect; the fee for the premium report is $75 a month. John Schroyer can be reached at johns@mjbizdaily.com AmercanexBDSBig DataCannabaseCannabis BenchmarksJonathan Rubin	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1204
__label__wiki	0.873427	0.873427	The climate crisis must reunite America — and yes, that could happen American history should teach us to be optimistic even in dark times. In my 90 years, I've seen it happen myself By Peter Dale Scott February 17, 2020 11:00AM (UTC) Climate change and environmental disasters (Getty Images/Roy Scott) The poet Friedrich Hölderlin once wrote, "Wo aber Gefahr ist, wächst / Das Rettende auch" — "Where danger is, grows also what will save us." I take these words as a key to escaping the toxic divisiveness that presently darkens our politics. Jared Diamond, in his new book "Upheaval," writes that the greatest and "most ominous of the fundamental problems now threatening American democracy [is] our accelerating deterioration of political compromise." But there is a still greater danger, about which Washington is mostly silent, and that is the "state of planetary emergency" of which climate scientists are warning us. That threat is so grave that, when this country is forced to recognize it, it may also, as in the past, unite behind a solution. I am probably thought of as a political critic of America, not as a cultural defender of it. But I have always been a defender of American culture. It is precisely because there is so much to cherish in this country that attention to its defects is possible, normal and important. This was and remains America's greatest strength. A big reason the Communist governments of Eastern Europe failed was their inability to foster and respond to movements for constructive change. That is still China's great problem today. At the base of today's hatred is political fear, and the first step towards reducing this political fear is to recognize America's exceptional social and moral strength, including its proven strength in responding to its admittedly great problems. But most current opinion-shapers, including those on TV I most listen to myself, are not calming those fears; they are intensifying them. Here is a not atypical headline last month on a political website, speaking of Sen. Mitch McConnell's announced intention to coordinate his tactics on impeachment with the White House: "We're witnessing the death of the democratic process right before our eyes." But some of us remember the McCarthy era in the 1950s, and how America shivered in what Justice William O. Douglas then called a "Black Silence of Fear." Similar fears were voiced at the time of Watergate in the 1970s. So let's for a moment match this dangerous pessimism with a minute or two of undiluted optimism. The American Revolution's legacy: The rule of law, and a dream Many Americans are reluctant to speak of American exceptionalism; but it is easy for me, because I am a Canadian. And as I wrote in "The American Deep State," "I believe in American exceptionalism, and that at one time America was truly exceptional in its unprecedented replacement of authoritarian with limited constitutional government." I see the American Revolution as a pivotal moment, not just in American history, but in the history of Europe and ultimately the world. It was a milestone in the consolidation of the principle, now widely accepted, that we should be ruled by laws, not by men. The founding fathers were mindful of this principle when, after serious debate, they added an impeachment clause to the Constitution. The language they used was taken from English law, but with a major difference. Judges in England could be impeached, but not the king. For the English sovereign was regarded as source and not subject of the law, following the Roman rule established by Ulpian in the third century CE: quod principi placuit legis habet vicem ("Whatever pleases the ruler has the force of law"). The U.S. Constitution was the world's "first complete written national constitution," Today, since World War II, "almost all democratic governments now have written constitutions." For whatever it's worth, even undemocratic nations, like Russia, China and North Korea, also have written constitutions. But the American Revolution also strengthened more than the rule of law. Unlike Chinese and Judaic law, American legal theory distinguishes between law and morality. But as Raymond Wacks writes: The legal positivist's quest for a value-free account of law is countered by the naturalist's more plausible claim that this account neglects the very essence of law – its morality – that "the act of positing law … can and should be guided by 'moral' principles." Thus law in America has not been static, but over the years has struggled towards narrowing the gap between what law is, and what it should be. For the American Revolution also helped consolidate an age-old dream of liberation. Rousseau's "Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains" was answered by the opening of the Declaration of Independence: "All men are endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This noble ideal was echoed in the French Declaration of Human Rights of 1789, drafted in consultation with Jefferson. It was also echoed in the poetry of Friedrich Schiller, almost literally in his drama of liberation "Wilhelm Tell" (1804), and also in his "Ode to Joy" that Beethoven set to music in his Ninth Symphony: Joy! A spark of fire from heaven, Daughter from Elysium ... All men will emerge as brothers, Where you rest your gentle wings The "spark of fire" taken from the American Revolution and Schiller ignited the movement of Young Europe, with its visions of democratic unity, That movement was defeated in the People's Spring of 1848, but led after the First World War to the end of Europe's four great continental empires: Germany, Austria, Russia and Turkey. Why is this relevant to our crisis? Because if we take this long view of history, I believe we can see that history at a deep level has slowly been evolving towards a more open and just society, just as most of us naturally evolve from squalling infants to become more reasonable adults. Consider that after World War II the democratic kingdoms of Europe – Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands — were spared, but the undemocratic kingdoms — Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy — were all gone. All these changes were not coincidental, but responsive, I believe, to some deep strain in history itself. As a poet, I would like to venture that history ultimately gets written the same way that deep poetry gets written: that is — as Dante said of the poets of the sweet new style — "according to what the heart dictates." Revolution as a product of social persuasion, not violence These two elements of the American Revolution, the sovereignty of law and the dream of liberty, vitalize each other. Where an equilibrium between them is not established, as in the French and Soviet revolutions, the results can be both disastrous and ephemeral. What stabilizes these two elements in America is a third element, just as important for today but far less recognized. I am referring to the collective social process which produced the revolution and was strengthened by it. Many historians, and more ominously many militia movements, regard the revolution as the successful war against England. But this focus on violence, rather than ideas and persuasion, was energetically rejected by John Adams, in a letter he wrote in 1815 to Thomas Jefferson: What do We mean by the Revolution? The War? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an Effect and Consequence of it. The Revolution was in the Minds of the People, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington. Adams then explained that he was referring to "the Steps by which the public opinion was enlightened and informed concerning the Authority of Parliament over the Colonies." In my book "The Road to 9/11," following Jonathan Schell's masterful work "The Unconquerable World," I paired this quote with a long one from Adam Michnik, who was a leader of the Solidarity movement which successfully and nonviolently expelled the world's largest army from Poland less than 40 years ago. Asking how "Poland's peaceful transformation" from the Soviet Union was possible, Michnik explained, "It was preceded by an almost two-decade effort to build institutions of civil society." (Zbigniew Bujak, another Solidarity leader, once said publicly: "The American ideals of human rights are exactly the same as those of Solidarity.") Scholarly histories, working with the hard evidence of documents, once tended to focus more about problems of leadership from the top down than about responses in civil society from the bottom up. In college I was required to read "The Anatomy of Revolution" by Harvard professor Crane Brinton, a book that is still taught. In what was very much a top-down perspective, Brinton looked at the similarities between four revolutions: the English of the 1640s, the American, the French and the Russian. And in all four, Brinton summarized the revolutionary process as moving from: financial breakdown, [to] organization of the discontented to remedy this breakdown ... revolutionary demands on the part of these organized discontented, demands which if granted would mean the virtual abdication of those governing, attempted use of force by the government, its failure, and the attainment of power by the revolutionists. But the spirit of the American Revolution, as John Adams observed, emerged before the financial crisis that produced the Stamp Act of 1765. Even the development he wrote of, of an improbable political consensus between Puritans and slave-owners, was not the first step. That consensus has since been attributed by historians to an earlier and even more universal social development, the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s. Along with anti-authoritarian principles, the First Great Awakening fostered strong millennial hopes across the entirety of the colonies. Seeing themselves as actors on the stage of salvation history, revivalists understood themselves to be playing a pivotal role in bringing about the Second Coming of Christ. … Jonathan Edwards was optimistic that the revivals were the dawning of God's final plans for the earth, a defining moment for America within salvation history…. Likewise, Rev. Josiah Smith boasted in a sermon in 1740 from Charleston, South Carolina, "Behold! … Some great things seem to be upon the anvil, some big prophecy at the birth; God give it strength to bring forth! This tide of millennial excitement was of course not an American innovation; on the contrary, similar outbursts had periodically energized European history for two thousand years. But it importantly created among Americans a widespread expectation for, and acceptance of, necessary change. As I wrote in "The Road to 9/11": In the background of both revolutions [the American and the Polish] lies the emergence of Western civilization from one of the most successful of all alternative civil societies: the early Christian church. These two revolutions were moments in the fundamental process of civilization itself, as envisioned by Hannah Arendt and Jonathan Schell: a process of moving from mere force of violence towards institutionalized powers of persuasion. What was new in the American and Polish Revolutions — and is still inspiring —was the conversion of social dreams into movements that could defeat the armies of the king in 1783, and the Soviet Union in 1989. And this truth of the American Revolution was also true of the abolition of slavery. The abolitionist movement was abetted in large part by the widespread moral fervor of the Second Great Awakening (circa 1790-1840s). This social movement set in motion the dynamics of a political response: first the new Republican Party, then the Civil War and finally Emancipation. The strength of American social momentum today Great Awakenings by that name are no longer fashionable. But the great social momentum of the Revolution and abolitionism has survived, and is still with us. It spilled over into later related movements: such as for women's suffrage (successful in 1918-19), and Prohibition (enacted into law from 1920 to 1933). As Prof. Barry Hankins has observed, "Typically, from the Second Great Awakening to the present, when Americans see a social problem, their impulse is to band together in a voluntary society and fix it." This impulse is found increasingly around the world, but its strength in America derives from its successful track record. America's dynamic momentum, an invaluable social asset, is still very much with us. The civil rights movement was initially a product of the black churches that grew out of the Second Great Awakening. And from that movement soon emerged what became the nationwide anti-Vietnam War movement, with churches, both black and white, playing a significant role in both. The importance of these movements' inherited values (shared in America by both theists and atheists) can be seen by the contrast in 1968 between the radical protest movements in America and the failed Paris uprising in France. The civil rights and anti-war movement were largely in support of traditional values, while the ideology of the Paris uprising was essentially nihilist – as expressed by its slogan, "Il est interdit d'interdire" ("It is forbidden to forbid"). The historic role of fear in American politics So far I have focused uniquely on the achievements, in the messy context of politics, of what might be called faith, hope and an altruistic love of humanity. But of course, this cursory account of U.S. history is very one-sided. History may ultimately follow "what the heart dictates," but what the heart dictates is not always good. We are all very aware that American politics are energized by fear and hatred, as well as by hope and love. Indeed, if we turn our eyes to the current political brawl in Congress and the media, it might seem that in recent years fear and hate have become the predominating forces. Democrats argue, with conviction, that they had no choice but to impeach the president, because failure to do so might deal a fatal blow to America's system of constitutional checks and balances. Republicans, on the other hand, say that conviction of this president would have set a precedent that effectively converted America from a presidential to a parliamentary system of government. If we look only at the political factors in this decision, both of these antithetical arguments, paradoxically, have merit. But to see this leads directly to the main point I want to make. As a first step to healing this country, we must stop focusing too narrowly on day-to-day political issues, and think instead of larger ones. The founding fathers wanted limited government; they got it, and along with limited government they got limited politics. But the great strength of America is its social culture, of which its political culture is only a little part, a constitutionally limited part. So let me paraphrase Franklin D. Roosevelt and say, "As a first step, stop being so fearful. The first thing we have to fear is political fear itself." The American political scene today, which has been called everything from a madhouse to a cesspool, is indeed increasingly dominated by fear and hatred. Unfortunately, this is true not just of those in Congress, but also of those in the media, especially with the rise of cable TV channels with their separate siloed audiences in their separate siloed realities. But fear and hatred have repeatedly dominated American politics, going back to at least the presidency of John Adams. This was a period of suspicion that the French were meddling in U.S. domestic politics (including a rumor, quite possibly true, that a Frenchman had helped foment the Virginia slave revolt of 1800). Finally John Adams, sick and tired of being accused of treason by Jeffersonians, persuaded the Federalist Congress to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. The Alien Friends Act temporarily allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who were deemed dangerous. The Sedition Act criminalized making false statements that were critical of the federal government. The Jeffersonian journalist James Callender, after calling Adams a "repulsive pedant, a gross hypocrite and an unprincipled oppressor," was fined and sentenced to nine months in jail. After such rhetoric and retaliation, one might have thought that comity and consensus might never be recovered in American politics. But the two acts in question expired after Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party were swept into power in 1800. The American political process staggered on, even after the killing of Hamilton in 1804. And as we saw, Adams and Jefferson, when both were retired, and with adequate distance between them, engaged for two more decades in the most elegant epistolary friendship in American history. The debates in Congress leading up to the Civil War were no less vitriolic. One abolitionist, George Thompson, cancelled his attendance at a meeting in puritanical Boston, after he was warned that there were plans for him to be tarred and feathered. His replacement, William Lloyd Garrison, was then dragged him through the streets by a rope, amid a crowd that threatened to kill him." Sen. Charles Sumner, an abolitionist from Massachusetts, was beaten almost to death on the Senate floor by a pro-slavery congressman from South Carolina. The hostilities of the ensuing Civil War, with more than 600,000 deaths, took over a decade to abate. But in 1876 an impasse in the Electoral College led to a dubious quid pro quo. Southern Democrats agreed to the election of a Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, as president. The Republicans in exchange agreed to withdraw federal troops from the south. This ended Reconstruction and condemned blacks to another century of oppression under Jim Crow laws. The deal was very ugly, but it did achieve a consensus. In other words, our present crisis of disunity is not at all unprecedented. On the contrary, it is just one more eruption from a deep magma of divisions that have always been in this country, and have always resulted in ugly compromises. America's recent history of surviving disunity Think of the last great division in this country, in the 1960s and 1970s. I don't want to sound complacent for a moment about the recent rise in mass shootings. But think back to 1968, when the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. led to major rioting and arson in 110 cities, and the biggest domestic deployment of the U.S. Army since the Civil War. A year before that, in 1967, there were uprisings and riots in more than 150 cities, with at least 83 people dead, and the National Guard deployed in at least 12 states. Yet by the 1980s America was relatively calm. How did this happen? Jared Diamond points to the political relationship between Republican President Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill: Both men were skilled politicians, strong personalities, and opposite to each other in their political philosophies and in many or most questions of policy…. Nevertheless they treated each other with respect, acknowledged each other's constitutional authority, and played by the rules. What Diamond points to is both true and important. Yet Reagan's political change from his earlier firebrand rhetoric, when running for the governorship of California in the 1960s, exemplifies for me a still greater social truth. Both Reagan and O'Neill were indeed skilled politicians, and from this skill both knew that the mood of the nation had changed. By the 1980s most people (like myself) now wanted reconciliation, not yet another decade of conflict. The dialectics of that change of mood are instructive. During Reagan's 1966 campaign to become governor of California, many like myself on the left thought of him as many think today of Trump, as a vulgar TV personality, exploiting fear and prejudice to defeat the forces of sanity. And early in his campaign, he did say, "If you ask me, the activities of those Vietnam Day teach-in people can be summed up in three words: Sex, Drugs and Treason." But I failed then to see how the anti-war movement, with its slogan of "Never trust anyone over 30," was already not as sane as I still wanted to think. And by the end of his campaign Reagan had edged away from fully endorsing the slogan "Sex, drugs and treason." His speeches now reflected the growing mood for calm in the country, with statements like "morality is the main issue of the campaign." In other words, the initial morality of the anti-war movement, soon increasingly veering into violence, was now being opposed by a rising counter-morality. (Our situation today, with the evangelical churches now divided over Trump, is not dissimilar.) (I still resent Reagan's tax cuts, which helped launch America towards increasing disparity of wealth and income. But I have to acknowledge that Reagan's surprise agreement to freeze emission levels of nitrogen oxide was crucial in resolving what then looked like an urgent but hopeless environmental crisis: the problem of acid rain.) America's democratic strength is social as well as political These anecdotal glimpses of U.S. history support my belief that for democracy to work, the actions of government are less important than inspiration and guidance from below. Democracy is interactional. Leaders give direction to the system from above when complex solutions are called for. But on big simple issues leadership usually begins from below — never from the entire people (Rousseau's dangerous myth of the "general will") — but from those committed people in society, always a minority, who from their convictions are energetically united in a strong moral cause. These people of dedication are at first usually opposed both by those in authority and by the people at large. In 1970, for example, when four students were shot and killed by the National Guard at Kent State University, protests immediately erupted at 850 campuses across the entire nation. Yet in a Gallup poll taken shortly afterward, 58% of respondents approved of the shootings. But today those in law enforcement are trained not to repeat the guardsmen's act. Taking a lead from what Adams wrote to Jefferson, we can say that the greatness of America has always come chiefly from below, and a solution to our present crisis will most likely come yet again from below. Our most urgent concern today: Not impeachment, but climate change Movements from below are not always right, for intensity of belief does not bestow infallibility. Especially in America, there have been any number of divisive issues, such as the abortion issue, with decent people of good faith on both sides. Another such issue was Prohibition, and Prohibition's failure to produce consensus soon led to its repeal. But today nearly all dedicated people are already united behind one cause: for measures to deal with climate change. The science underlying the climate issue is no longer seriously debatable. The European Union's climate monitor has just pronounced the last five years to have been the hottest on record, just like the last decade. Last November more than 11,000 scientists from around the world declared "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency." They called for an "immense increase of scale in endeavors … to avoid untold suffering." Especially worrisome are potential irreversible climate tipping points and nature's reinforcing feedbacks . . . that could lead to a catastrophic 'hothouse Earth,' well beyond the control of humans. If America truly were a functioning democracy, those endeavors would now be being implemented. According to the New York Times, "Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is happening, and that carbon emissions should be scaled back." About 75 percent of Americans support regulating CO2, while "In every congressional district, a majority of adults supports limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants." This is an encouraging change from just seven years earlier, when Americans felt that climate change ranked dead last out of 21 issues as a domestic governmental priority. The climate movement has done a good job of persuading the people, but unprecedented amounts of cash have been raised to combat it politically. This has come from the coalition Ted Roszak warned us of a decade ago: the corporate elite, the (well-funded) neoconservative intelligentsia, and the fundamentalist churches. This is the same coalition that helped elect Trump in 2016. But there are signs that, among the churches at least, their opposition to climate measures may be diminishing. At present, the political system is still in the clutches of the well-funded climate change counter-movement, funded chiefly by greedy fossil fuel interests like the Koch brothers and Exxon Mobil. According to Scientific American, the counter-movement's foundations "funneled $558 million to almost 100 climate denial organizations from 2003 to 2010." And Trump's electoral campaign was chiefly funded by climate-change deniers Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, who "spent more than $16 million to support his candidacy and his inauguration." America's real domestic threat: The war on science The most serious war being fought today in American politics is not the fighting between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. It is the War on Science that has been waged for decades between searchers for truth on the one hand and American superwealth, both personal and corporate, on the other. Here, the issue, as in the Scopes evolution trial of 1925, is not whether science will win, but when. The social momentum that won against DDT and the tobacco industry will eventually force an energy revolution as well. It is much less clear whether these changes will occur in time to preserve anything like the climate we are accustomed to. Many who abstractly endorse the need for climate measures, especially politicians, will recoil when it comes to seriously raising the price of gas. But the dedicated social momentum for change is still with us. Let us hope that the need to deal with our climate will in time produce a consensus through compromise, one that will diminish and replace the dissensus and political jousting that have led to Trump and his policies. Let us hope also that this trend will be reinforced, as Ted Roszak predicted, by the growth of this consensus in the world as a whole. I expect the energy for that reorientation to come primarily from younger people. But perhaps they will be joined by those of us who can remember the great satisfaction that can come from participating in what Gandhi, and later Martin Luther King Jr., called satyagraha or "truth-force" — the energy, and excitement, of working in solidarity for a more decent world. America of course has many grave problems, and there is no panacea for any of them. But the issue of climate is so grave that its solution must deal with other grave problems as well. One is the absurd vulnerability of our political processes to the influence of unprincipled money, a scandal which favors the election of unprincipled cynics to a Congress that has become what the late political scientist Chalmers Johnson called "a forum for special interests." And this unprincipled money comes in large part from the disparity of wealth in this country. We are in a new Gilded Age, as much a threat to democracy today as the first Gilded Age was in the late 1800s, until it was partially addressed by the income tax and other progressive reforms under both Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt. Another major related problem is that of America's bloated defense budget. This is now an international as well as a domestic threat to stability, as resources needed to promote a healthier world order and domestic tranquility are instead diverted into ill-considered and counterproductive interventions. But dealing with climate, to be successful, will necessitate a friendlier American approach to the rest of the world. Let me return to where I began. I believe that the hatred so widespread in contemporary America arises from fears for this country that are wildly exaggerated. I myself detest and fear the militaristic policies of this country, but not the country itself. In short, let us, in the spirit of Hannah Arendt and Jonathan Schell, focus less on the divisive issues that Congress is handling, and more on the potentially unifying issues that Congress should be handling. I am 90 years old. My politics were shaped in the '60s. And Deep in my heart, I [still] believe We shall overcome some day. Peter Dale Scott Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, is a poet, writer and researcher. His recent political books include "Deep Politics and the Death of JFK" (1993), "The Road to 9/11" (2007), "The War Conspiracy" (2008), "American War Machine" (2010) and "The American Deep State" (2017). MORE FROM Peter Dale Scott American History American Revolution Civil Rights Movement Civil War Climate Climate Action Climate Activism Climate Change Climate Crisis Democrats Donald Trump Environmental Movement Environmentalism Jr. Martin Luther King Republicans U.s. History	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1205
__label__cc	0.695396	0.304604	Campaign in a Box Music, Art, Fashion HIV is not AIDS How HIV Is Passed On Preventing HIV Saving Lives is a national charity with a simple aim: to reduce the stigma that still surrounds testing for the blood-borne viruses [BBVs] known as HIV andHepatitis. We also focus on other Sexually Transmitted Infections [STIs]. We want to make testing for these conditions as straightforward and uncomplicated as any other clinical test. Today’s medicines mean that all of these conditions, though some are lifelong, can be treated. For example, people living with HIV who are on treatment are non-infectious, can work full-time, have sex and raise children, and live as long as someone who does not have HIV. But one in five of those living with HIV in the UK do not even know they are infected. One million people die each year across the world because of liver failure or liver cancer caused by Hepatitis B or C – even though they are entirely treatable. The main reasons people do not take the test are stigma and ignorance. People don’t want to be seen to take the test – and they often don’t think BBVs or STIs concern “people like them”. Anyone who has unprotected sex can become infected with HIV. One in twelve people worldwide have Hepatitis B or C. These are issues for us all to consider.The stigma that causes late diagnosis is a killer – and that’s why getting tested is such a no-brainer. Through mass-media campaigns, celebrity endorsements and with the help of people living with these viruses, we communicate positive messages about testing in the tabloid press, on TV, at the football stadium and in clubs and venues nationwide. We will keep working until testing is routine – and anyone who needs treatment for their BBV or STI is getting it. We want to hear from you, so please do get in touch by going to our contact page. © 2019 Saving Lives Registered with the Charity Commission as number 1144855. © 2021 Saving Lives.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1207
__label__cc	0.54143	0.45857	you are here: science media centre > roundups for journalists > expert reaction to study looking at flavonols and Alzheimer’s disease expert reaction to study looking at flavonols and Alzheimer’s disease Research, published in the journal Neurology, reports that the antioxidant flavonol may be linked to lower risk of Alzheimer’s. Dr Ada Garcia, Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition, University of Glasgow, said: “This study shows that when elderly people, in particular females, self-reported to eat foods that contained about 15mg of favonols in their diet (for comparison a cup of black tea will provide that amount) then their risk for developing Alzheimer’s over a period of 6 years was reduced by about 44 percent. However, when the authors considered the effect of consuming other nutrients such as omega-3, vitamin E, folate and lutein, which have similar actions to flavonols, then the protective effect of flavonoids was no longer present. These types of studies are informative but need to be consider carefully before making public health recommendations. They rely on participants memory to report what foods were consumed over a period of time, this is in particular difficult in elderly participants because reduction in cognitive function is a normal process of ageing. “Following a ‘healthful diet pattern’ which includes a variety of foods such fruits, vegetables, oily fish, seeds, nuts, legumes is known to be a good approach to chronic disease prevention rather than focusing on particular nutrients. This is important because the general public might interpret this study wrongly and think about the term “antioxidant” as a magic pill that will prevent the onset of dementia. It is important to remember that consuming isolated flavonols or extracts of flavonol rich foods, for example tea extracts, will not work on isolation to reduce risk of disease but high doses can also have negative effects on health.” Prof Bart De Strooper, Director, UK Dementia Research Institute, said: “The relationship between food and health always draws a lot of attention from the public. This new study suggests that specific components in fruit, vegetables and tea are protective against Alzheimer’s Dementia. For studies of this sort we must however not forget that it only describes an association which was observed in a small group of individuals. Association does not demonstrate that there is a real biological or causal link. To give confidence in this observation it must first be repeated in other groups. Many studies in the past have shown however that such observations do not replicate well. So, in general one should be careful not to overstate the importance of such findings.” Dr Adrian Ivinson, Director, UK Dementia Research Institute, said: “We’ve long known that there are links between what we eat and our health. This new study suggests tea could be added the equation and shows that the general health benefits may extend to brain health. However, it only describes an association, so further work is needed to see if there are true biological links. But Alzheimer’s disease is exceptionally complex. Whilst diet may help stack the odds in our favour, we need to do discovery research to understand the disease and from there develop ways of preventing or slowing it.” Dr James Pickett, Head of Research, Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Early-stage research in mice does show flavonols might reduce the build-up of toxic proteins in the brain we know are involved in Alzheimer’s. This new study in people isn’t definitive about whether flavonols can lower dementia risk, and it definitely doesn’t provide enough evidence to say that drinking tea, and eating food rich in flavonols, will ward off dementia. But the study results do suggest we should keep investigating the potential of flavonols. “Our researchers are currently looking at a specific flavonol called Epicatchin to understand exactly which components are responsible for slowing the build-up of toxic proteins. This will help fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle as to whether flavonols have any protective effects against Alzheimer’s. “In the meantime, we can say for sure that eating a balanced diet, with lots of fruit and vegetables, and getting enough exercise is a proven way to reduce your risk of dementia.” Dr Ana Rodriguez-Mateos, Lecturer in Nutritional Sciences, Kings College London, said: “This research reports an association between flavonols and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. To estimate flavonol intake in this population, researchers used a type of food questionnaire which is not the best tool to measure food intake, as it relies on what people remembered they ate over a year. “The intake of flavonols in this study is very low, between 5 and 15 mg/day. A big limitation of this study is that they did not report associations with other flavonoids and phytochemicals present in the same foods as flavonols. This is particularly important because flavonols tend to be present in foods in much lower amounts than other phytochemicals. For example, tea is very abundant in other flavonoids and phytochemicals, such as thearubigins, theaflavins and flavanols, while red wine is very rich in other flavonoids such as anthocyanins and flavanols. Olive oil is very rich in phenolic compounds such as tyrosols. In comparison, the amount of flavonols in such foods are tiny. “The estimated flavonoid intake in the UK for example is typically between 500-1000 mg of flavonoids/day, and existing meta-analysis of clinical studies investigating the efficacy of flavonols have used typically amounts of flavonols between 100 to 700 mg/day. It looks more feasible that the effects observed here are related to the consumption of foods containing flavonols and to other phytochemicals and bioactives present in such foods than to the flavonols themselves.” Prof Tara Spires-Jones, UK Dementia Research Institute Programme Lead and Deputy Director, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, said: “This paper by Dr Holland and colleagues provides more evidence that a healthy diet rich in vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists followed over 900 people for up to 12 years and found that people who reported they ate a diet rich in flavonols (found in vegetables including onions, kale, broccoli, and spinach) were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than people who ate lower levels of these compounds. This study was well conducted and looked at a large number of people. As the authors point out, one limitation is this study relied on people reporting their food intake and there could be errors in their recall. Another limitation to keep in mind is that although it was carefully controlled, this type of observational study cannot prove that the higher intake of flavonols caused the reduced risk of dementia. There could be an unrelated factor that was related to diet that the scientists did not know about that could have influenced disease risk.” Prof Gunter Kuhnle, Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Reading, said: “There are a lot of misunderstandings regarding flavonols and flavonoids. First of all, they do not act as antioxidants in the human body. This was believed decades ago due to their chemical structure, but a better understanding of their metabolism has shown that once they are taken up by the body, they can no longer act as antioxidant. Secondly, they are a huge class of compounds and all of them are likely to act different – but because they are found in many fruits and vegetables, their intake is often just a marker for a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. “Flavonols are a subgroup of flavonoids that are found in many fruits and vegetables. They are found for example in onions (125 mg/100 g – about 250 mg in an onion) or berries (42 mg/100 g in elderberry). They’re also found in tea – a cup of tea contains about 20 mg– although depending on how it is made, it can be anywhere between 2 and 40. In the UK, people consume about 30 mg per day – which is higher than the average intake of about 20 mg per day in Europe. “This is an observational study where flavonol intake was estimated based on the diet reported by participants. Especially for compounds such as flavanols, where food content is very variable and depends on preparation and processing, it is virtually impossible to estimate intake accurately and reliably. The study found a rather modest beneficial effect for total flavonols and most individual compounds – and only a substantial reduction in risk for a one group of flavonols – Kaempferol. These compounds are found in particular in herbs and spices and some cabbages – but variability in food content in these foods is huge and it is therefore difficult to derive any recommendation from this. They’re also found to a small extent in tea. Interestingly, the mean kaemperfol intake in the UK is about 8 mg per day – higher than the highest intake in the study. “The mode of action of flavonols is not known, and it is likely that the observed associations are simply due to a dietary pattern rich in specific foods and vegetables. A risk reduction of almost 50% iS of course impressive, but there are currently no data that suggest that flavonols as a compound could have such an effect. It is important to keep in mind that the study participants did not consume flavonols, but foods that contained flavonols – and many other compounds as well and it might be that these compounds are much more relevant. For example: tea contains kaempferol – the one compound that has been shown to be associated with a reduced risk. However, tea also contains flavan-3-ols – compounds for which there considerably more and better data to suggest a beneficial effect on cognitive function. “In summary, this is an interesting study as it confirms the potentially beneficial effects of fruits and vegetables, but it is not suitable to change dietary recommendations.” Ms Catherine Collins, NHS Dietitian, said: “Flavonols are part of the flavonoid group of phytochemicals – naturally occuring plant substances that unlike vitamins and minerals aren’t essential for life but help support health. Phytochemicals contribute flavour and colour, with most being present in varying levels across a wide range of fruits and vegetables. “This study predicted dietary intake of four phytochemicals derived from dietary questionnaire, and associated an increased intake of these four with a lower Alzheimer’s risk in a high risk group of people (ie those over 80 years old) – even when adjusted for medical conditions that would increase risk at this age. “However, no matter how good the assessment of fruit and vegetables intake, absolute dietary intakes of phytochemicals can’t be evaluated in absolute terms. Plant based foods are subject to natural variations depending on location of growth and variety of fruit or vegetable grown, time of harvesting and duration of storage. Current phytochemical analysis – which does not include every plant-based food we eat – can only define an average value in a particular food at the time of food analysis. They also don’t compensate for any changes associated with cooking method or the effect within the meal matrix on the bio-availability of that phytochemical. This natural variation is well recognised in the literature1. “The predicted presence of a flavonoid in a food does not automatically mean we will derive benefit from its presence – even if it has an antioxidant potential in laboratory testing. For this reason, the USDA ceased publication of its database on the anti-oxidant properties of food (ORAC potential) so that misinterpreting the data or extrapolating results to human health benefits could not be made2. “The authors state that tea was a significant source of dietary quercetin intake. Quercetin in tea is highly variable depending on the type of tea consumed and the brewing method used. Injecting quercetin into mice bred to be at higher risk of Alzheimer’s seems to protect the mouse brain against the disease. The flavonoid quercetin ameliorates Alzheimer’s disease pathology and protects cognitive and emotional function in aged triple transgenic Alzheimer’s disease model mice, but current knowledge means we can’t say the public can ‘drink tea, prevent Alzheimer’s disease’ – even though we know that tea provides many healthful flavonoids3. “In summary, this study appears to show that higher intakes of fruit and vegetables may confer some degree of prevention against Alzheimer’s disease in a higher risk, elderly population. The study didn’t address whether fruit and vegetable intake conferred direct benefit or represented changes in diet and lifestyle as the individual adjusted to their progressive Alzheimer’s disease (reverse causality) “Finally, it isn’t helpful to infer that specific flavonols found naturally in fruits and vegetables conferred benefit, given the wide natural variation in these foodstuffs and differences in their digestion, absorption and metabolism between individuals. However, it does add to the wide body of research that confirms longstanding health benefits of just eating more fruits and vegetables.” 1. http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=http://www.academia.edu/download/46163065/Databases_on_Food_Phytochemicals_and_The20160602-11683-mbn5n6.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm3G0XYf_6z45TqPg6qe1L_-nCOOxQ&nossl=1&oi=scholarr 2. https://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(13)00242-6/fulltext 3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5986534/ Dr Duane Mellor, Registered Dietitian and Senior Teaching Fellow, Aston Medical School, Aston University, said: “This is an interesting study looking at an older population of adults to see if there is a link between dietary intake of flavonols and Alzheimer’s disease. The authors took an estimate of what people remembered that they ate over the last year and estimated how that might link to their intake of flavanols. This approach has a lot of assumptions, as people forget what they ate and they report eating foods, drinks or ingredients such as tea, olive oils, apples or broccoli and not kaemperfol or quercetin. “Direct effect of flavonols has been questioned by other research which has shown that these compounds are very poorly absorbed, so although the authors describe these compounds as bioactives (something which has a biological effect on human bodies), it may not be that simple. “What this study really seems to show, despite using statistics carefully, is that there is an association between a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, tea, beans, lentils and olive oil and a reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, rather than showing that this reduction in risk is associated with flavonols alone. So, perhaps this study adds to the evidence suggesting that a Mediterranean type diet may be the best diet to increase your chances of having a healthy and long life. It is best to focus on eating a variety of foods, rather than thinking about whether our diets contain enough kaemperfol or quercetin.” Prof David Curtis, Honorary Professor, UCL Genetics Institute, said: “The authors are right to be appropriately cautious about the findings of the study. It does seem that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is lower in those who in general have a healthier lifestyle. However, it is extremely difficult to narrow down this effect to specific elements of the diet. They have had to apply complex statistical techniques to what is in fact a relatively small sample and the conclusions are critically dependant on whether these methods are valid. It would be premature to claim that specific dietary components can helpfully reduce Alzheimer’s risk. “The advice remains that exercise and a healthy diet, rich in vegetables, probably reduces risk of Alzheimer’s disease along with other health problems. But on the basis of this study I would not be urging people to drink more tea or eat more kale. Dementia represents a huge public health problem and it is essential that adequate resources are directed towards following up promising findings such as this one.” Dr James Connell, Research Manager at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Understanding how our behaviours affect our brain health is important, as there may be lifestyle factors we can change to help support healthy ageing. “While this research highlights a possible link between flavonols, often found in tea and certain fruits and vegetables, and a lower dementia risk, it doesn’t tell us about cause and effect. This study relied on people self-reporting their eating habits, and this can lead to mistakes in reporting and a tendency to underestimate unhealthy behaviours. “While we don’t know whether flavonols could have any particular effect on dementia risk, a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables can help to support a healthy brain. As well as a balanced diet, the best evidence suggests that controlling blood pressure and cholesterol, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, drinking within the recommended limits, and staying mentally and physically active can all help us to maintain a healthy brain as we age.” ‘Dietary flavonols and risk of Alzheimer dementia’ by Holland et al. was published in Neurology at 21:00 UK time on Wednesday 29 January. Dr Ada Garcia: “No conflict of interest” Dr Ana Rodriguez-Mateos: “No conflict of interest.” Prof Tara Spires-Jones: “I have no conflicts with this study.” Prof Gunter Kuhnle: “I conduct research into the associations between flavan-3-ols and health, which is funded by Mars.” Ms Catherine Collins: “no conflict of interest declared” Dr Daune Mellor: “No declarations of conflicts of interest.” Prof David Curtis: “I have no conflict of interest.” None others received.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1210
__label__wiki	0.717407	0.717407	SCOVERNLAW Superb Listening \| Serious Lawyering Talc Cancer Center Talcum/Cancer Link Talc Lawsuits Medical FAQs Legal FAQs 4th Talc Powder Cancer Lawsuit Heads To Trial In Missouri Posted on January 26, 2017 February 1, 2017 Scovern LawPosted in Talcum Powder Cancer Link Posted by David Siegel on Jan 18, 2017 11:32:40 PM St. Louis — The fourth lawsuit out of thousands filed against Johnson & Johnson over the alleged cancer risks from prolonged use of popular personal hygiene products containing talc powder goes to trial later this month in Missouri state court, and the full trial will be webcast live gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network. Three similar trials in 2016 resulted in combined damages of over $190 million, and J&J is eager to break the plaintiffs’ winning streak in St. Louis, where the majority of pending talc cases are filed. The drug company, along with talc supplier Imerys, is accused by thousands of women of knowingly concealing the danger of ovarian cancer associated with the use of well-known household products like Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower. Plaintiffs allege J&J for years ignored compelling scientific evidence that talc powder applied to the genitals could travel to the ovaries and cause cancer, and that the company wanted to protect the profits generated by brands consumers had purchased for decades even as safer cornstarch-based body powders became available. Nora Daniels, 56, filed the pending case after using J&J’s talcum powder for 36 years. However J&J and Imerys maintain her ovarian cancer wasn’t caused by talc. They cite that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration held hearings in the 1990’s on the risks of talc and concluded it was safe, and that there is no conclusive evidence of a link between talc-powder-based hygiene products and ovarian cancer. Jury selection before Judge Rex Burlison, the same judge who presided over the previous three trials, is scheduled to begin on January 30 with opening statements scheduled for February 6. Given the widespread use of talc powder, this litigation has the potential to become one of the largest mass torts to sweep the country in decades. Daniels’ attorney Ted Meadows of the firm Beasley Allen, which handled the previous three trials in St. Louis, told Courtroom View Network that his firm alone has received over 32,000 talc-related inquiries with nearly 1,000 cases already filed. “Tragically, these cases are not going away,” Meadows said. “The science linking talc to ovarian cancer is too strong. When jurors are presented with the scientific evidence and evidence that J&J knew and understood the threat to its customers, and did nothing, they vote to compensate the victim.” Meadows said that aside from a few witnesses, the core of the case would be the same as the previous three trials, two of which were also webcast and recorded by CVN. He noted that the pending case is a defense pick, meaning that a fourth plaintiff verdict in a case J&J deemed more favorable to them would cement cancer victims’ already strong advantage heading into any potential large scale settlement. The trial will also be a test to see if plaintiffs can again succeed in assigning liability to both J&J and Imerys. A jury in October for the first time found Imerys partially responsible for a woman’s cancer after clearing the company in the two previous state court trials. J&J spokesperson Carol Goodrich told CVN that the company is appealing those verdicts. “We are defending the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder because science, research, clinical evidence and decades of studies by medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” Goodrich said. She added that last year a New Jersey state court judge threw out two talc cases on the grounds that key expert testimony for the plaintiffs wasn’t backed up by adequate scientific evidence. The witnesses were permitted to testify in Missouri. The New Jersey judge’s decision, also on appeal, makes St. Louis ground zero for the nearly 2500 pending talc cases in the country, with cases also pending federal multidistrict litigation consolidated in New Jersey and a growing batch of state court cases in California. A federal trial in South Dakota in 2013 resulted in J&J being found liable, but the jury awarded no damages. Meadows said that a company the size of J&J could afford to write off the massive legal fees associated with these trials as “the cost of doing business” but also noted that as the number of cases continues to explode, a consensus is building that “something must be done.” “If the company won’t do it, the courts and juries will,” he said. For access to gavel-to-gavel video of the full trial, along with previous talc cases and hundreds of other real-world, high-stakes civil trials in courts throughout the United States, become a subscriber to CVN’s one-of-a-kind online video archive for as low as $99/month. The pending case is captioned Valerie Swann, et al. v. Johnson & Johnson, et al. case number 1422-CC09326-01 in Missouri’s 22nd Judicial Circuit Court. Talcum Powder-Ovarian Cancer Lawsuits Centralized in New Jersey US FDA to Research Ovarian Cancer, Talc Link Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline Disclose DOJ Investigation Into Zantac After Recalls FDA Uloric Warning Renews Concerns over Older Gout Drug Allopurinol Johnson & Johnson’s $100 Million Baby Powder Lawsuit Settlement Is Overdue For Black & Hispanic Women J&J to pay more than US$100M to end over 1,000 talc suits Gout Flare Common Following Allopurinol Discontinuation 201 Spear Street, Suite 1105 San Francisco, CA 94105 1455 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 815 Washington, DC 20004 info@scovernlaw.com Our law firm handles cases throughout the entire United States including: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Our law firm also focuses on handling lawsuits in the following cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose City, Detroit, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, Baltimore, Charlotte, Boston, Seattle, Washington, Milwaukee, Denver, Louisville, Las Vegas, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Portland, Tucson, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Long Beach, Fresno, Sacramento, Mesa, Kansas City, Cleveland, Virginia Beach, Omaha, Miami, Oakland, Tulsa, Honolulu, Minneapolis, Colorado Springs, Arlington and Wichita.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1211
__label__wiki	0.639483	0.639483	20 August 2014\|In Europe, Culture, Travel and Sport, World News, Headlines, Media\|7 Minutes One day in information war By Hanna Kuchar In November 2013, the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych suddenly changed his mind towards signing an association agreement with the EU. Later this incident was considered to be a turning point in a history of the modern Maidan Nezalezhnosti – a central square of Kiev, which from the first days of the crisis has become a battlefield, home, and a mouthpiece for all disagreeing with the former President’s policy decisions, and for ordinary civilians, who became fed up with dozens of corruption scandals with participation of the president himself and his governmental officials. In February 2014, the riot escalated into a civil war, which still extends in some parts of the Ukraine, and continues to be shocking by the growing number of fatalities and refugees. Further inauguration of Mr Poroshenko was viewed as a positive phenomenon for some participants of the Maidan revolution, inasmuch as the expected agreement with Europe was finally launched. Nevertheless, being the second largest country in Europe, Ukraine is very diverse in terms of culture, language, representation of nationality, and, therefore, political insights about the future of the state. Accordingly, existence of antagonistic thinking is both understandable and just, whereas the present presidential administration, that pretends to behave in the tradition of a liberal state while the majority of their newest European trade partners prefer to stifle the voices of resisting minorities through bombings and arms races, as it is happening now in Luhansk and Donetsk. Meanwhile, besides economic and human losses, one of the major threats in this war comes from the mass media propaganda and biases that has never been so obvious since Iraq, 2003. Probably the largest information war of our century is happening right before our eyes. Here are a few examples. On the 7th of June, 2014, BBC stated: ‘Ukraine is to blockade two major cities still in rebel hands as it continues its operation against pro-Russian separatists’ [1]. The quote itself is quite controversial though: ‘separatists’, as they called the rioters, are anything but pro-Russian. In reality they want federalization within Ukraine, not to be a part of Russia. In another BBC article, written on the same day, journalist quotes Mykhaylo Koval – senior Ukrainian security official- who calls the antagonistic army “bandits”, and continues: ‘violence erupted in eastern Ukraine in April, when pro-Russian separatists declared independence in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of fomenting unrest, a claim strongly denied by the Kremlin’ [2]. Reuters article for the same day duplicates the story while adding: ‘There could have been hostages among the fighters whom they’d taken in Slaviansk as a human shield’ [3]. ‘Could have been’ does not sound confident enough, therefore, neither journalists, nor Ukrainian governmental officials have any competent evidence for such accusations, therefore objectivity of the mentioned media outlet must be questioned. However, it could have been the case, if Reuters was the only news channel practicing propaganda and unethical rhetoric, but the other side does the same. Consequently, it seems like biased coverage of events has become the rule of the game in modern political journalism. Russia Today, in its turn, calls Kiev’s ‘anti-terroristic compulsory measure’ in the East none other than a human rights violation of civilians. Reporters of this international (BUT with a main office in Russia) television network argue that ordinary population in the Ukraine is being punished for having a different stance on the current presidency and altogether on the state of affairs. They convince the public of the need for a substantive peacekeeping operation and promote Vladimir Putin to be a leading figure in the mission (totally different agenda though from the two media outlets mentioned above, which have a tendency to call the Russian president – an aggressor). Additionally, on this side of the fence, Americans don’t want any peace – all they care for is an asset grab. To summarize the RT position, Washington-led policies of Petro Poroshenko divide the country more and more, so that people in eastern regions believe that they are actually occupied by Kiev [4]. Meanwhile, a Cold War is taking place not only in the news, but also between international bodies that are meant to be guardians of peace and democracy around the world. In this way, RT blames the Security Council for not responding to the attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev and for a ‘tradition’ to misrepresent Russian foreign policy decisions regarding the Ukrainian crisis [5]. The purpose of the article was not to persuade you that one side is better than the other, but rather to explain that the truth is beyond our screens, and what we receive from the news splits us into two hostile camps. We need to be careful and think wisely: why do the media want us to believe in X or Z? And why are there usually only two options-just X and Z? [1], [2] BBC News 7th July 2014. [3] Reuters News 7th July 2014. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/07/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSKBN0FC11520140707 [4] RT News 7th July 2014. http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/170300-poroshenko-ukraine-war-ceasefire/ http://rt.com/op-edge/170892-russia-ukraine-un-support/ Hanna Kuchar Can Boris Johnson PLEASE put a shovel in all this talk of ‘levelling up’? by Noon Abbas First ever APPG on Political Literacy launches, as almost three quarters of young people call for Government and Politics GCSE	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1212
__label__cc	0.582992	0.417008	Aging Nation Persistent Pain Valve Disease Vision Loss Every day, 10,000 Americans celebrate their 65th birthday. While the U.S. is experiencing a longevity revolution, at the same time our aging nation is triggering a Silver Tsunami of chronic age-related disease that bring with it increased national health care spending, high rates of morbidity and mortality, and declines in quality of life. In 2015, more than 1.6 million new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed and close to 600,000 people will die from the disease. Thankfully, major breakthroughs are changing how we prevent, treat, and cure cancer. Treatments are becoming increasingly personalized and advances in immuno-oncology, a field that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer, are causing a paradigm shift in cancer treatment. Use the navigation below and the search feature to view the data and to narrow down your search. Approximately 85.6 million Americans suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and close to 1 in 3 deaths result from CVD. These are not only deadly but costly diseases with CVD and stroke costing around $320 billion each year. Every year around 75,000 Americans learn that they have atrial fibrillation (AFib)—the most common type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm. Having AFib puts people at an increased risk for stroke, which can be both deadly and costly. Medicare alone is estimated to pay .7 billion per year to treat newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation patients. Stroke is the 5th leading cause of death in the U.S. and kills more than 129,000 people each year. Someone in the U.S. has a stroke about once every 40 seconds. People do survive stroke--around 795,000 strokes occur each year and there are an estimated 7 million stroke survivors in the U.S.--but they are often left with significant disabilities. Each year around 75,000 Americans are diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AFib), 900,000 experience a venous thromboembolism event (VTE), and 800,000 have a stroke. The burden for those who survive is enormous and the cost of care a major expense for individuals and the nation. Fortunately research advances are offering significant hope. A number of investigative anticoagulants have the potential to reduce strokes in AFib patients while also reducing the risk of bleeds; clot-dissolving agents are proving to lessen the effects of strokes; and the same drugs in the pipeline for AFib could prevent VTE after major orthopedic surgery. As many as 11.6 million Americans in the U.S. have heart valve disease (HVD), and more than 1 in 10 adults ages 75 and older have HVD. Thankfully, the HVD field has experienced tremendous advances in improving survival, recovery, and quality of life for patients. Aortic stenosis is one of the most common and serious types of heart valve disease. Aortic stenosis can be debilitating, costly, and deadly. Survival rates without treatment for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis are low at 50% at 2 years after symptom onset, and 20% at 5 years. Fortunately, innovative treatments are saving lives and aortic stenosis can be successfully treated with valve replacement in patients of all ages. While medical innovations and public health gains in the past century have been measurable in leaps and bounds, significant progress against acute disease has revealed an equally enormous challenge—chronic disease on an unprecedented scale. Close to half of Americans have chronic conditions and 1 in 4 have more than one. They cause 7 out of every 10 deaths and cost our country 75 cents of every health care dollar. With chronic disease prevalence growing at a faster rate than the population as a whole, the forecast is daunting. Despite recent advances, diabetes continues to be a major health threat for at least 29 million Americans who have it and the 86 million Americans with prediabetes. The biggest concerns for individuals with the disease are its many complications and co-morbidities; which can cause vision loss, heart disease, stroke, and other debilitating medical conditions. With the aging of the population and the rise in risk factors like obesity, these problems are going to skyrocket, making medical innovation more critical than ever. Every year, between 50,000 and 90,000 adults in the U.S. die from vaccine-preventable infectious diseases or their complications. Many serious infectious diseases are acquired in the healthcare setting and those healthcare-associated infections cost U.S. hospitals between $28.4 and $45 billion each year. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are acquired while receiving medical or surgical care for other conditions in hospitals, physician offices, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare settings. They are largely preventable, yet often costly and deadly, and rapidly becoming a national crisis as they increasingly develop resistance to drugs. Vaccine preventable illnesses and diseases continue to cause significant sickness, hospitalization, pain, disability, and death in the United States. Pneumonia causes somewhere between 300,000 and 600,000 hospitalizations in older adults each year, and more than 50% of flu-related hospitalizations are in people age 65 and older. Around 50% of the more than 1 million cases of shingles each year are in people age 60 and older. Between 5 and 10 million Americans acquire pneumonia, 35 to 50 million are afflicted with influenza, and 1 million get herpes zoster (shingles)--each year. Older Americans are much more likely to get these infections and to suffer from complications and death. In fact, the death rate from pneumonia and influenza combined is close to 130 times higher in people age 85 and older, compared to people ages 45 to 54. Thankfully, vaccinations are available for many of the most common and deadly infectious disease in older Americans, and can save countless lives and healthcare dollars. The prevalence of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are skyrocketing as our population ages and they threaten to bankrupt our economy if better treatments and cures aren't found. 5.4 million Americans are currently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This number will triple to 16 million by the year 2050. Parkinson’s disease affects 1 million Americans, with at least 60,000 new cases occurring each year. As many as 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease--the sixth-leading cause of death. This disease threatens to bankrupt our economy as our nation ages. In 2012, the cost of providing care for Alzheimer's disease patients was 0 billion. If current trends continue, this cost is projected to grow to .1 trillion per year by 2050, resulting in an overwhelming economic burden. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that impacts close to one million Americans. It leads to debilitating symptoms, comorbidities, expensive medical care, and caregiving needs. Existing therapies help manage symptoms and exciting research advances hold promise for even better management and potential cures. With educational support from Lundbeck, Roivant Sciences, and Sunovion. More than 54 million Americans face the threat of osteoporosis; which causes more than 2 million fractures each year. These fractures can have a profound impact on quality of life—often leading to pain, disability, loss of independence, and even death—and cost the U.S. an estimated billion each year. Fortunately, scientists are continuing to make exciting breakthroughs that are helping to keep bones healthy and prevent debilitating fractures. The Alliance for Aging Research partnered with the National Osteoporosis Foundation to produce this volume. Around 100 million Americans live with persistent pain--more Americans than are affected by diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined. Persistent pain is a significant public health problem, costing the American economy around $560 to $635 billion annually. This amount is equal to a cost of $2,000 for every US citizen due to cost of health care and lost productivity. More than 38 million Americans age 40 and older are blind, visually impaired, or have an age-related eye disease, and adult vision loss costs our economy more than billion a year. With major advances in vision research bringing new prevention and treatments, it is critical that support for research and incentives for innovation remain a priority. The Alliance for Aging Research has teamed up with the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR) during their Decade of Vision, to release Volume II of The Silver Book®:Vision Loss. Volume II brings updated data on vision loss in older Americans, as well as the exciting changes and discoveries in vision research and treatment. Diabetes is becoming increasingly common in industrialized and even developing countries. A serious and irreversible complication of diabetes--diabetic retinopathy (DR)--could impact as many as 191 million people around the globe by 2030. Despite the fact that DR is a leading cause of vision loss around the world, as many as 50% of people with diabetes are not getting regular eye exams, or are diagnosed too late for treatment to be effective. The diabetic retinopathy fact sheet was released on May 19th during a webcast. Click here to read the transcript, see the slides, and listen to the webcast audio. The Silver Book® is an almanac of thousands of facts, statistics, graphs, and data from hundreds of agencies, organizations, and experts. It is a searchable database, produced and updated by the Alliance for Aging Research, that provides free and easy access to the latest information on the burden of chronic diseases that disproportionately impact older Americans, and the value of investing in medical research. Silver BookReferencesVision Impairment and Eye Disease is a Major Public Health Problem Silver Book reference Vision Impairment and Eye Disease is a Major Public Health Problem National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research Read Full Resource 1 Matching Fact Search matching Facts: No results to display Every year, 200,000 Americans develop advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). [ Get More Details ] 1700 K Street, NW, Suite 740 Washington, D.C. 20006	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1213
__label__wiki	0.838338	0.838338	Generations - SOLANGE & ANDRE GABANY Generations: Solange and Andre Gabany Courageous women have been honored throughout Jewish history, from biblical times to the present day. Andre Gabany will proudly tell you he’s had two such women in his life — his mother and his wife. Andre Gabany was born in 1930 in Debrecn, Hungary. His mother, Margaret Racz, was independent and outspoken, and even owned her own car. She divorced her husband shortly after Andre’s birth, and soon moved to Budapest to start her own successful business. But by 1939, Hitler’s anti-Jewish laws made life increasingly difficult so Andre and his mother moved to Sopron near the German border to stay with two uncles. Soon they were moved into a one-room ghetto apartment along with Andre’s new stepfather. Always perceptive, Margaret volunteered to work in the fields so they could go in and out of the ghetto. One day, they simply walked out and, as Andre says, “Between my mother and the God of Israel, we were saved!” During the remainder of the war, Andre and his mother met with one terrifying crisis after another. But her courage never waned. At one point, armed with false papers, a “righteous Christian” neighbor took them in as his wife and son. Another time, Margaret went to the labor camp where her husband and his brothers were held and demanded that they be released. Later, they were arrested by the Gestapo and spent time in multiple jails. And as the war was coming to an end and they were back in Sopron, 14- year-old Andre was refused admission by a school principal since he was Jewish. His mother promptly responded, “You just wait a minute, I’ll go get this Russian officer and have you shot!” The principal quickly changed his mind. In 1948, Andre made his way to Vienna and then New York. He remembers watching movies there all day so that he could learn English. Ultimately he landed in San Francisco, attended UC Berkeley and then graduate school in engineering at Stanford. He worked on the first satellites and went on to help design, build, and run operations for BART. By 1964 when he was in his thirties, Andre was ready to share his life. He knew that the Emanuel Residence Club in San Francisco hosted lectures and programs. There he spotted Solange Cohen who was hosting a lecture on Ethiopian Jews. He thought that perhaps she might be “the right Jewish girl.” Solange had her own story of courage. Born in Casablanca in 1938, Solange lived in a close Jewish community in a country where Jews had lived since biblical times. She attended a Jewish school and was also trained at an ORT school, learning to be a seamstress and pattern maker. Her family spoke multiple languages, and as she says, “We asked our parents questions in French and they answered us in Arabic!” At just 18, she met an American G.I. who quickly convinced her to marry him. She knew this would be her ticket out of Morocco and so she agreed to marry and follow him to Spokane, Washington. It was not long before she had to divorce him and she recalls how the Jewish community there helped her through that very difficult time. Solange’s family had by then moved to Israel so she decided to make her own way to San Francisco, taking a Greyhound bus there where she knew no one. She ultimately landed at the Emanuel Residence Club along with many young Holocaust survivors. She continued working in her profession for both Joseph Magnin and Saks Fifth Avenue, until she met Andre. Solange and Andre were married in 1965 by Rabbi Morton Hoffman who, two years later, would become rabbi at Rodef Sholom. They moved to Marin and joined the synagogue where their son and daughter attended religious school. Today they count themselves very lucky to have their children and four grandchildren all living in the Bay Area. When asked what lessons Andre recalls the most, he says, “Even at the end of the war, we still did not believe that the Nazis had killed so many. It’s an important lesson to remember.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1214
__label__wiki	0.585218	0.585218	The Duke of Sussex, Patron of Sentebale, attended the 2018 International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam. The theme of AIDS 2018 is “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges”, drawing attention to the need of rights-based approaches to more effectively reach key populations. The International AIDS Conference (AIDS2018) is the largest conference on any global health issue in the world. First convened during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, it continues to provide a unique forum for the intersection of science, advocacy, and human rights. At the conference The Duke of Sussex joined Sentebale's 'Let Youth Lead' advocates to discuss the challenges of young people living with HIV and those affected by the epidemic in southern Africa. The Let Youth Lead advocacy programme aims to engage policymakers to drive positive change in HIV interventions that better support the younger generation. His Royal Highness attended a meeting with influential leaders from organisations working in HIV response. On the second day of his visit, The Duke joined a plenary session with Sir Elton John and Ndaba Mandela to launch a new coalition of global AIDS funders – the MenStar Coalition. This initiative is focused on the tough but essential work of truly changing mind-sets. Inspired by the growing alarm at the rate of new HIV infections among young women, this campaign is bravely tackling the root cause of this problem -- the lack of awareness of HIV prevention amongst hard-to-reach young men. And it will be guided by listening to and respecting the voices of the young men the coalition is trying to reach. - The Duke of Sussex Read The Duke's full speech. Find out more about the 2018 AIDS Conference on their website here. Prince Harry gives a speech on Mental Health at the Leeds Community Foundation It is estimated that 60 million people still live in fear from the threat of landmines. In 2015, global deaths and injuries from landmines reached a ten-year high; but perhaps more shocking is the fact that almost 80% of them were civilians. A speech by Prince Harry at a Landmine Free 2025 reception held at Kensington Palace The role of the Royal Family Members of the Royal Family work together to support The Queen in her official duties … I am delighted to join you on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen, to bring to a close our year of joint celebrations, marking 200 years of friendship and cooperation between Nepal and the United Kingdom. A speech delivered by Prince Harry at the Nepal Bicentennial Reception, London The Charities Forum The Charities Forum is collection of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry’s… The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to host 'Party At The Palace' The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry Commission a Statue of Diana, Princess of Wales I would like to thank the team for working so hard to bring the Endeavour Fund to where it is today A speech by The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry at the 2016 Endeavour Fund Award Ceremony You are a remarkable nation and I have no doubt that you have a remarkable future ahead A speech by Prince Harry, before a concert celebrating 50 years of Independence in Barbados I feel so lucky to be visiting St Kitts and Nevis on behalf of The Queen A speech by Prince Harry at Youth Rally and Queen's Commonwealth Canopy dedication, St Kitts and Nevis Prince Harry to visit the Caribbean A Statement by the Communications Secretary to Prince Harry Prince Harry to visit Nottingham To everyone associated with Team GB – well done! A message from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry to Team GB Prince Harry to work on conservation projects in southern Africa Let's all get our heads together and let's change the conversation, from one of silence and shame to one of optimism and support A speech by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry at the launch of Heads Together I can’t wait to see how Canada embraces the games and rises to the challenge of telling Chapter 3 of the Invictus story Prince Harry speaks in Toronto ahead of the 2017 Invictus Games Prince Harry to visit Toronto and Florida Prince Harry's visit to the Caribbean But the biggest reason for our optimism is the inspiring girls and boys in this room who care so much about changing attitudes towards young women in this country. A speech by Prince Harry at the Girl Summit, Kathmandu Prince Harry and Team Rubicon Details announced of Prince Harry's Tour of Nepal I am sure Madiba would be pleased to see such great work being carried in his name, giving inspiration to so many. A speech by Prince Harry at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory In my view: rangers are heroes. A speech by Prince Harry at the South African Wildlife College, Kruger National Park, South Africa Prince Harry releases a selection of personal photographs from Africa What we invented, Brazil perfected. A speech by Prince Harry at The Queen's Birthday Party in Sao Paulo Prince Harry, on behalf of The Queen, has presented the Insignia of an Honorary member of The Order of the Companions of Honour on Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu. Trust them, trust yourselves – for you had the same training. A speech by Prince Harry at an Endeavour Fund reception From that moment, I knew I had a responsibility to help all veterans, who had made huge personal sacrifices for their countries, to lead healthy and dignified lives after service. A speech by Prince Harry at Fort Belvoir Invictus 2016 is going to be a huge success – let’s get out there and let’s make this happen. A speech by Prince Harry on the Invictus Games at the Ambassador's Residence, Washington DC The Queen will open the Commonwealth Games It has been one of the most competitive and entertaining world cups ever. A speech by Prince Harry at the Rugby World Cup reception at Buckingham Palace I know you will all be fearsomely proud of being a part of this team. A speech by The Duke of Cambridge at the Welsh Rugby Union #RWC2015 Cap presentation It's up to every one of us, to raise the roof on each match in this unforgettable journey. A speech by Prince Harry at the 2015 Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony Over the next six weeks, this competition will reach people from all corners of the globe. A speech by HRH Prince Harry at the 2015 Rugby World Cup Welcome Reception The Rugby World Cup 2015	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1215
__label__cc	0.627926	0.372074	SOCIAL WATCH E-NEWSLETTER - Issue 3 - March, 2009 Published on Tue, 2009-10-13 09:12 PDF version: click here SOCIAL WATCH E-NEWSLETTER SOCIAL WATCH IS AN INTERNATIONAL NGO WATCHDOG NETWORK MONITORING POVERTY ERADICATION AND GENDER EQUALITY Social Watch >> Coordinator: Jana Silverman Editor: Amir Hamed Translation: Soledad Bervejillo Comments regarding this newsletter: jsilverman@item.org.uy To stop recieving this newsletter send a message with the subject "unsubscribe" to: sw-news-request@listas.item.org.uy This e-bulletin has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Social Watch and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. SW EVENTS CALENDAR 16-22 March: 5th World Water Forum, Istanbul, Turkey 25-27 March: Peoples Assembly for Development Alternatives (Counter-summit to the IADB Assembly of Governors), Medellin, Colombia 28 March: Worldwide Day of Action ahead of the G-20 Summit, London and around the world. << more LETTER FROM THE SECRETARIAT Save the billionaires first! Dear friends of Social Watch, A South American radio personality was commenting on the impact of the crisis on the world´s billionaires. The number of individuals with personal wealth of over one billion dollars has dropped to 793 from 1,125 a year earlier. Mr. Bill Gates lost 18 billion dollars, but still tops the Forbes list because Mr. Warren Buffet and Mr. Carlos Slim lost 25 billion each. A listener calls the radio and with a mix of Schadenfreude and sarcasm comments how happy he is that, not having money in the bank nor properties, he has not lost anything. He was wrong. According to the Basel-based Bank of International Settlements, an institution known as “the central bank of central bankers”, “although emerging markets generally had little direct exposure to the distressed asset problem plaguing major industrial economies and managed to weather the most acute phase of the financial crisis in late 2008 relatively well, they were much less immune to the deepening recession in the advanced industrial world. Plunging exports and GDP growth bore clear evidence of the severity and synchronicity of the global economic downturn, which was reflected in declining asset prices, particularly in emerging Europe”. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund adds an even gloomier view: “After hitting first the industrial countries and then emerging markets, a third wave of the global financial crisis is now hitting the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries, and hitting them hard.” SPOTLIGHT ON….. SW National Coalition GLOBAL AND REGIONAL SOCIAL WATCH NEWS EYE ON NEW RESOURCES Spotlight On…. National Social Watch Coalition of India Next month in India, the “world´s largest democracy” will begin a process of national Parliamentary elections for the first time since 2004, in a critical moment in which issues related to security and to the economy are weighing heavily on voters´ minds. Taking this context into account, this month´s “Spotlight On…” column will focus on the Social Watch India coalition, whose work to promote transparency and accountability in politics will be crucial during this election period. <<more The Inter-American Development Bank: 50 Years of Financing Inequality and Unsustainability Civil society organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean are planning a counter-Assembly to visualize the human and environmental costs of the policies of the Inter-American Development Bank that have led to the extraction of non-renewable natural resources, the privatization of public services, and the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects. New European Commission Project Promises to Strengthen the Global Social Watch Network In crucial times, “Making anti-poverty and gender policies accountable to citizens”, the new project involving the European Commission (EC), Oxfam Novib and Social Watch, aims at further invigorating the reach of the network. Coalition-building to Promote Social Development in Italy, Czech Republic and Poland The first year of the European Commission funded project “Promoting Social Development: Building Capacities of Social Watch Coalitions” came to a close in February, with positive results for the Czech, Italian, and Polish Social Watch coalitions that are participating in this three-year initiative. In additon, the project contemplates several regional-level activities, the most important being the production of the first European Social Watch Report. IPS Gender Wire brings a women’s perspective to the news To commemorate International Women’s Day, the Inter-Press Service (IPS) recently launched the Gender Wire Newsletter, a unique source of global news focused on how women are being affected by political changes, economic crisis, climate change, armed conflicts and other frontline issues. This newsletter aims to address the global gender reporting imbalance, reflected in the fact that only 22% of the voices that you read and hear in the media today are that of women. To subscribe to the newsletter. London G-20 meeting mobilizes civil society in the streets and on-line On April 2, leaders of twenty of the world´s most politically and economically influential nations, plus other invitees, will meet in London to plan joint actions to overcome the current global financial crisis. Organizers of the G-20 summit state that this meeting will be used not just to discuss measures to stimulate economic recovery but also to coordinate efforts to ensure that the brunt of the crisis is not taken by the worlds´ poor or the environment. Official website. To pressure the G-20 summit-goers to comply with this promise, British civil society is planning a massive mobilization on March 28 in London. As this date has also been adopted as a “day of action” by the World Social Forum, decentralized protest actions are expected to take place around the world. For more information, check out. G20 Voice, an initiative of Oxfam UK, aims to influence the governments, private sector representatives, and international institutions that will be present at the London summit via the blogosphere, by inviting 50 influential and knowledgeable bloggers to report first-hand on the meeting and its outcomes. To find out more, go to. New Rights and Democracy report documents the social impacts of foreign investments In February 2009, the Montreal-based NGO Rights and Democracy released the report Human Rights and Bilateral Investment Treaties: Mapping the Role of Human Rights Law within Investor-State Arbitration, which details how secretive decisions taken by dispute resolution tribunals linked to investment protection treaties are negatively affecting human rights in the developing world. This report is the third in a series of studies focused on foreign direct investment and human rights produced by the Canadian organization. For the complete text of the report, click here. anakin.paullier.net newsletter	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1218
__label__cc	0.521767	0.478233	Aerotek, Inc. v. Porter Scott, P.C. (2020) A dispute between a client and an attorney over which owned the attorney fees awarded to the "prevailing party" in the underlying litigation was in the nature of a claim for specific performance of the fee agreement or for determination of ownership of property not in the plaintiff's possession, both of which were equitable claims. So there was no right… Read More Following Flannery v. Prentice (2001) 26 Cal.4th 572, this decision holds that absent a clear provision to the contrary in the client's fee agreement with its lawyer, the attorney fees awarded to a prevailing party under Civil Code, § 3426.4 (part of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act) belong to the attorney, not the client to the extent they exceed fees… Read More Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Cathy’s Creations, Inc. (2020) Government Code section 12974 provides for one-way attorney fee awards in favor of the DFEH, if successful in discrimination suits it brings. That statute conflicts with CCP 1021.5 to the extent that 1021.5 would permit a successful defendant to obtain a fee award against the DFEH in a discrimination suit. Since section 12974 is the more specific statute, it prevails… Read More Vosburg v. County of Fresno (2020) An unincorporated association can sue and be sued, and so can be a "party" entitled to a private attorney general fee award if successful. When an unincorporated association represents its members in an election contest, it must show that its members live in the area affected by the outcome of the election, its members would suffer injury from an adverse… Read More In re Sisk (9th Cir. 2020) The Equal Access to Justice Act (28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)) does not authorize a fee award against the bankruptcy court that, sua sponte, refused to confirm movan't Chapter 13 plan because it did not state a definite end date for performance of the plan. The EAJA does not treat courts as part of the "United States" for purposes of a… Read More Greene v. Harley-Davidson, Inc. (9th Cir. 2020) The amount in controversy under CAFA is the defendant's possible liability, not likely or probable liability. When the complaint prays for an unspecified amount of punitive damages, a removing defendant can meet its burden of showing its possible liability for an amount of punitive damages by presenting evidence of the compensatory to punitive damage ratio(s) awarded in other cases alleging… Read More Coley v. Eskaton (2020) 2020 The trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding $654,000 in attorney fees despite the fact that the plaintiff individually recovered only $2,300. Plaintiff's success benefitted 130 other owners in a homeowners association. In any event, attorney fee awards need not be proportional to the damage award. Though fee awards may be reduced for partial success, a high fee-to-damage… Read More Doe v. Regents of University of California (2020) A student prevailed in litigation against UCSB over its failure to follow its own policies requiring prompt investigation of sexual harassment or violence charges against a student particlarly when the university imposed an interim suspension on the student. The student was reinstated and secured an injunction barring similarly delayed proceedings against other students. This decision holds that the student is… Read More MSY Trading Inc. v. Saleen Automotive, Inc. (2020) Plaintiff secured a judgment against X based in part on a contract containing an attorney fee clause. Thereafter, plaintiff sued Saleen seeking to enforce the judgment against him as X's alter ego. Saleen won and moved for an attorney fee award. Held, Saleen is entitled to a fee award. Even though the suit on the judgment is technically not a… Read More Universal Home Improvement, Inc. v. Robertson (2020) Substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that defendant's payment to an insider creditor who had not sought to enforce his debt for longer than the applicable statute of limitations was nevertheless not a fraudulent transfer made with actual intent to defraud plaintiff, a judgment creditor, but was only a preference--paying one creditor rather than another. On appeal, the appellate… Read More	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1219
__label__cc	0.673493	0.326507	Home » Attractions » Sembawang Hot Spring By Aldwin Teo - Self-made, Link The Sembawang Hot Spring is a unique attraction located in Singapore and a must-visit for nature enthusiasts touring the country. The hot spring was first discovered in 1909 by a merchant of Chinese origin by the name Seah Eng Keong. Sembawang Hot Spring Water, Car Parking & Address, Singapore Following this discovery, a well was constructed around the spring. The well’s waters were revered for their healing powers, and many villagers took time to visit it. Its popularity led to the change of the village’s name in which the spring is located to Kampong Ayer Panas which translates to the ‘Hot Water Village’. Over the years, the land on which the spring is located has been saved from destruction following plans by the Ministry of Defence to expand the airbase. Today, the spring attracts as many as 300 people daily, providing a perfect destination for those keen to explore and discover one of Singapore’s best-kept secrets. The hot spring’s waters are rich in mineral salts and this is believed to give it its curative powers. As such, the spring continues to attract both locals and foreigners looking to immerse themselves in its healing waters. It is important, however, to mention that visitors who suffer from conditions affecting the nervous system are required to take extra caution to prevent accidents and injuries. In addition to the spring, there is also an abandoned brick house that is thought to be part and parcel of a bottled drinking factory that was once built on location. Sembawang Hot Spring is located close to the junction of Gambas Avenue and Sembawang Road. Take Jalan Ulu Sembawang to get to the spring and enjoy a day out of the city. Sembawang Hot Spring is currently managed by Sembawang Air Base grounds, but is open to the general public. Visit the spring anytime between 7am and 7pm. Note that even though this is referred to a spring, visitors only get to access the concrete base with standpipes that jut from the structure and channel the hot water to visitors. It is not unusual to see visitors carry their own buckets for this purpose. Sembawang Hot Spring Information & Details Gambas Avenue Mandai, Singapore  Ticket Prices / Admission Sembawang Hot Spring Area, Street & Hotel Map, Singapore Frequently Asked Questions About Sembawang Hot Spring What is the Sembawang Hot Spring address? Gambas Avenue, Mandai, Singapore Please visit our website for more information on the Sembawang Hot Spring. What are the Sembawang Hot Spring opening hours? What are the Sembawang Hot Spring entry prices?	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1222
__label__wiki	0.95604	0.95604	Home Asghar Stanikzai Asghar Stanikzai Mohammad Asghar (Stanikzai) Afghan http://www.facebook.com/pg/asgharstanikzai44 twitter.com/masgharafghan http://www.instagram.com/asgharstanikzai Content/News Reel Link http://www.sportscrunch.in/tag/asghar-stanikzai Profile Image Credit https://www.facebook.com/asgharstanikzai44/ Sport Profile Men's Cricket Active/Retired Right-handed Middle Order Batsman National, International Lance Klusener Afghanistan, Amo Region, Kabul Eagles, Afghanistan Under-17 Asghar Afghan is an Afghan-international cricketer, who plays for the national cricket team of Afghanistan since 2010. Asghar appears in all formats of the game in international cricket and represents Amo Region team in first-class cricket. Apart from international matches, he also plays List-A cricket, Twenty20 league, and APL franchise. Afghar is a middle-order batsman of the team and occasionally bowls in right-arm medium-fast style. He began his professional cricketer career with the Under-17 Afghan team in 2004 with the ACC Trophy. His undeniable contribution in the ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2009 gave him a permanent place in the team. Asghar made his international debut that year through a T20I match against Scotland and became a dependable member of the Afghan team since then. However, he took a long span of time complete his debut game in all formats of cricket due to his several health injuries. He guided his team for a couple of years as a perfect leader but had to leave his position due to his poor performance issue. His appendix operation kept him away from the crease for several matches but fortunately made a comeback in late 2018. Currently, he is playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 as a regular middle order batsman. (as Compiled by Madhushree Das Ghosh) (Profile Image from Facebook) Debut Test Match: at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium vs India on 14th of June in 2018 Debut ODI Match: at Willowmoore Park Stadium vs Scotland on 19th of March in 2009 Debut T20I Match: at P Sara Oval Stadium vs Ireland on 1st of February in 2010 Batting Career: He has scored 249 runs in 4 matches in 2 year of Test career at an average of 35.57 and strike rate of 53.77 including 3 fifty with 92 as his best He has scored 2356 runs in 111 matches in 11 years of ODI career at an average of 24.54 and strike rate of 66.72 including 1 hundred and 12 fifties with 101 as his best. He has scored 1248 runs in 69 matches in 10 years of T20I career at an average of 21.15 and strike rate of 107.58 including 3 fifties with 62 as his best. Achievements/Records Associated With Fifth highest partnership record for the sixth wicket in history of ODIs with 164 runs Second cricketer from Afghanistan to play 100 ODI matches Leading run scorer in APL 2018 with a total of 264 Third highest ODI partnership for ODIs with Samiullah Shenwari Popular Sports News Know the Top 5 Run-getters in Asia Cup... Know the Top 5 Wicket-takers in Asia Cup...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1228
__label__wiki	0.969359	0.969359	by The Skyliners Album: Since I Don't Have You (1959) Charted: 12 Songwriter Joe Rock, who composed this song along with Jimmy Beaumont, wrote most of the lyrics while sitting in his car between stoplights. He was upset about a girl who had just left him. This was used in the movies American Graffiti, The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai, Lethal Weapon 2 and Mischief. Guns N' Roses recorded this for their 1994 album The Spaghetti Incident and hit #10 in the UK with their cover. Art Garfunkel hit #38 UK with his 1979 cover, and Don McLean's 1981 version went to #23 in the US. Other artists to record the song include Chuck Jackson, The Vogues, Lenny Welch, Ronnie Milsap, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra. >> Edna - Madrid, Spain, for all above The Guns N' Roses version of this song has a very bizarre video where Gary Oldman does horrible things to Axl Rose. More songs from The Skyliners More songs that were hits for more than one artist More songs about heartache More songs used in movies Lyrics to Since I Don't Have You Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: http://www.oldiesmusic.com/news.htm {10-09-2017} Jimmy Beaumont, lead singer of the Skyliners, died Saturday (October 7th, 2017), a couple of weeks shy of his 77th birthday... Jimmy originally started singing while at Knoxville Junior High School in Pittsburgh in a group called the Montereys (later the Crescents) that came to the attention of local manager Joe Rock. He got them a contract with Calico Records with a song he wrote (literally on the way to the recording studio) called "Since I Don't Have You". Released under the name "the Skyliners", it got to #12 in 1959 and was followed by (among others) "This I Swear" (#26 in 1959) and "Pennies From Heaven" (#24 in 1960)... As a solo artist, Jimmy bubbled-under the national chart with "Ev'rybody's Cryin'" (#100 in 1961) and " I Feel Like I'm Falling In Love" (#123 in 1965). The Skyliners, however, called it quits by 1964. Jimmy took on a variety of non-musical jobs, including driving a cab, before re-forming the Skyliners to play the oldies circuit starting in the '70s and he continued to front the group until his passing. The Skyliners were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002... May he R.I.P. Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 28, 1969, the Spiral Starecase performed their covered version of "Since I Don't Have You" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV network Saturday-afternoon program 'American Bandstand'... The song was track five of side two on the quintet's debut album, 'More Today Than Yesterday', the album reached #56 on Billboard's Top LP Albums chart... Two tracks from the album made Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; "More Today Than Yesterday"* {#12 for 1 week} and "No One for Me to Turn To" {#52 for 2 weeks}... They had one other Top 100 record,"She's Ready", it peaked at #72 in 1970... * On the same 'Bandstand' show they also performed "More Today Than Yesterday" Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn May 30, 1981, Don McLean performed his covered version of "Since I Don't Have You" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV network Saturday-afternoon program 'American Bandstand'... At the time the song was in it's first of two weeks at #23 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart, and that would also be it's peak position on the chart, it spent 14 weeks on the Top 100... It reached #6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart... Between 1971 and 1981 he had nine records on the Hot Top 100 chart; two made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "American Pie" for 4 weeks on January 9th, 1972... His other Top 10 record was a covered version of Roy Orbison's "Crying", it peaked at #5 {for 3 weeks} on March 15th, 1981... Donald McLean III will celebrate his 72nd birthday this coming October 2nd {2017}. Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: http://www.oldiesmusic.com/news.htm Wally Lester, original tenor singer with the Skyliners, died Monday (April 20th, 2015) of pancreatic cancer in Southport, North Carolina. He was 73. Wally joined with fellow high school students Jimmy Beaumont, Janet Vogel, Joe VerScharen and Jackie Taylor in forming the doo wop group in Pittsburgh in 1958. They travelled to New York to audition for and were signed by Calico Records, where "Since I Don't Have You" topped out at #12 on the Pop charts-- #3 R&B-- the following year. Other hits included "Pennies From Heaven" (#24-1960), "This I Swear" (#26-1959) and "It Happened Today" (#59-1959). The group disbanded in 1963 and Wally became a sales manager and later vice-president with Clairol, though he did re-unite with surviving members from 1970 to 1975 and for anniversary concerts. The Skyliners were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002... Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 22nd 1960, the Skyliners appeared at the Spatz Show Lounge in Hamilton, Ohio... Seventeen days later on May 9th, 1960 their covered version of "Pennies From Heaven" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #100; ten weeks later on July 18th, 1960 it would peak at #24 {for 1 week} and spent 13 weeks on the Top 100... Exactly one year earlier on April 22nd, 1959 their biggest hit, "Since I Don't Have You", was at #15 on the Top 100, the week before it was at #12 and that was its peak position on the chart... Between 1959 and 1965 the Pittsburgh quintet had five Top 100 records; their three other charted records were, "This I Swear" {#26 in 1959}, "It Happened Today" {#59 in 1959}, and "The Loser" {#72 in 1965}. Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 13th 1959, the Skyliners performed "Since I Don't Have You" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'... Three days earlier on February 10th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #12 and spent 19 weeks on the Top 100... Four covered versions have charted; Chuck Jackson (#47 in 1964), Art Garfunkel (#53 in 1979), Don McLean (#23 in 1981), and Guns 'N Roses (#10 in 1994 in the U.K.)... And it was the B-side of Eddie Holman's 1970 hit "Don't Stop Now", it reached #48... Ronnie Milsap covered it in 1991; his version peaked at #6 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart... R.I.P. group member Janet Vogel (1942 - 1980). James from Diamond Bar, CaDarn- one of the greatest records ever made- the greatest intro I ever heard- one of the greatest records I've ever heard- My favorite love ballad of the Fifties- Just beautiful - Robert from Hagerstown, MdAnother Icon song of the Rock and Roll years. The best times of our lives. Rock and Roll Forever. Sandy from Enterprise, FlGod rest Janet Vogel, the Skyliners' female singer who committed suicide. I used to live in Pittsburgh, home of the fabulous Skyliners. Barry from Sauquoit, NyLead singer Jimmy Beaumont had two solo records that made Billboard's Top 100; in 1961 with "Everybody's Crying" and in 1975 with "Where Have They Gone". Both records peaked at No. 100 and were on the chart for one week... Roland from Stockton, CaWhen I first heard "Since I Don't Have You" by The Skyliners, I was completely knocked out by the emotion & the over-all "feel" of the song. Jimmy Beaumont's great lead vocals, Janet Vogel's high "you" at the very end, the lyrics, the slow tempo,the complete orchestra & "BOOM" ~ the stuff that dreams are made of!! "This I Swear" was equally as perfect. Pure & solid GOLD!! Steve Dotstar from Los Angeles, Caa fine arrangement by Lennie Martin..one of the first doo wop songs to use violins and clarinets in the backround... In The Air TonightPhil Collins "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins was revived when it was used in the first episode of Miami Vice, three years after it was released. I Ran (So Far Away)A Flock of Seagulls "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock Of Seagulls ends with an alien abduction. Carrie AnneThe Hollies The Hollies' 1967 hit "Carrie Anne" featured the first use of a steel drum in a commercial pop record. Hungry HeartBruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen originally wrote "Hungry Heart" for The Ramones, but decided to keep it for himself on the advice of his producer and manager, Jon Landau. DilemmaNelly Kelly Rowland was the first Destiny's Child member to have a hit away from the group: her Nelly duet "Dilemma." We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums. Dean Friedman - "Ariel"They're Playing My Song Dean's saga began with "Ariel," a song about falling in love with a Jewish girl from New Jersey. Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it. Movie Stars In Music VideosSong Writing Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis and John Malkovich are just a few of the film stars who have moonlighted in music videos. 16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally. Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1231
__label__wiki	0.515867	0.515867	When it comes to manifesting your creative vision it's important to have someone you trust who shares in that vision supporting and directing your project. Please help us understand your goals by completing the form on the contact page and we'll contact you for an exploratory consultation. Pricing is dependent upon the scope, breadth and length of the project. RECORD HERE IN HOUSE PRODUCER Producer/Engineer Charlie Wilson grew up in Seattle as a jazz musician and sound engineer with a love for all forms of music. As an undergrad at UC Berkeley, Charlie was handed the keys to a room full of unused recording gear, and accepted the role of Head Sound Engineer at UC Jazz. Through many rewarding self-taught learning experiences and persistent experimentation, this path has brought him an exciting and highly diverse palette of artists to work with. Under the umbrella of Sonic Zen, Charlie has worked on over 200 recording projects as a producer, engineer, composer and/or performer. A selection of these credits can be found on our Music page, and a few hundred of these songs can be heard in the music player above. Sonic Zen Recording Studios \| Mixing \| Mastering 2888 Chapman Street, Oakland, CA 94601 ©2020 by Sonic Zen Inc.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1233
__label__cc	0.663235	0.336765	State Bar Defense Moral Character/Admissions Court and Trial Consultations & Advice Non-Attorneys Flat Fee phone calls with Anthony California Rules of Professional Conduct Mandatory Reporting Requirements California State Bar Process California Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1-100 Rule 1-100 Rules of Professional Conduct, in General (A) Purpose and Function. The following rules are intended to regulate professional conduct of members of the State Bar through discipline. They have been adopted by the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California and approved by the Supreme Court of California pursuant to Business and professions Code sections 6076 and 6077 to protect the public and to promote respect and confidence in the legal profession. These rules together with any standards adopted by the Board of Governors pursuant to these rules shall be binding upon all members of the State Bar. For a willful breach of any of these rules, the Board of Governors has the power to discipline members as provided by law. The prohibition of certain conduct in these rules is not exclusive. Members are also bound by applicable law including the State Bar Act (Bus. & prof. Code, §6000 et seq.) and opinions of California courts. Although not binding, opinions of ethics committees in California should be consulted by members for guidance on proper professional conduct. Ethics opinions and rules and standards promulgated by other jurisdictions and bar associations may also be considered. These rules are not intended to create new civil causes of action. Nothing in these rules shall be deemed to create, augment, diminish, or eliminate any substantive legal duty of lawyers or the non-disciplinary consequences of violating such a duty. (B) Definitions. (1) "Law Firm" means: (a) two or more lawyers whose activities constitute the practice of law, and who share its profits,expenses, and liabilities; or (b) a law corporation which employs more than one lawyer; or (c) a division, department, office, or group within a business entity, which includes more than one lawyer who performs legal services for the business entity; or (d) a publicly funded entity which employs more than one lawyer to perform legal services. (2) " Member" means a member of the State Bar of California. (3) "Lawyer" means a member of the State Bar of California or a person who is admitted in good standing of and eligible to practice before the bar of any United States court or the highest court of the District of Columbia or any state, territory, or insular possession of the United States, or is licensed to practice law in, or is admitted in good standing and eligible to practice before the bar of the highest court of, a foreign country or any political subdivision thereof. (4) "Associate" means an employee or fellow employee who is employed as a lawyer. (5) "Shareholder" means a shareholder in a professional corporation pursuant to Business and professions Code section 6160 et seq. (C) Purpose of Discussions. Because it is a practical impossibility to convey in black letter form all of the nuances of these disciplinary rules, the comments contained in the Discussions of the rules, while they do not add independent basis for imposing discipline, are intended to provide guidance for interpreting the rules and practicing in compliance with them. (D) Geographic Scope of Rules. (1) As to members: These rules shall govern the activities of members in and outside this state, except as members lawfully practicing outside this state may be specifically required by a jurisdiction in which they are practicing to follow Rules of Professional Conduct different from these rules. (2) As to lawyers from other jurisdictions who are not members: These rules shall also govern the activities of lawyers while engaged in the performance of lawyer functions in this state; but nothing contained in these rules shall be deemed to authorize the performance of such functions by such persons in this state except as otherwise permitted by law. (E) These rules may be cited and referred to as "Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California." The Rules of Professional Conduct are intended to establish the standards for members for purposes of discipline. (See Ames v. State Bar (1973) 8 Cal.3d 910 [106 Cal.Rptr. 489].) The fact that a member has engaged in conduct that may be contrary to these rules does not automatically give rise to a civil cause of action. (See Noble v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. (1973) 33 Cal.App.3d 654 [109 Cal.Rptr. 269]; Wilhelm v. pray, price, Williams & Russell (1986) 186 Cal.App.3d 1324 [231 Cal.Rptr. 355].) These rules are not intended to supercede existing law relating to members in non-disciplinary contexts. (See, e.g., Klemm v. Superior Court (1977) 75 Cal.App.3d 893 [142 Cal.Rptr. 509] (motion for disqualification of counsel due to a conflict of interest); Academy of California Optometrists, Inc. v. Superior Court (1975) 51 Cal.App.3d 999 [124 Cal.Rptr. 668] (duty to return client files); Chronometrics, Inc. v. Sysgen, Inc. (1980) 110 Cal.App.3d 597 [168 Cal.Rptr. 196] (disqualification of member appropriate remedy for improper communication with adverse party).) Law firm, as defined by subparagraph (B)(1), is not intended to include an association of lawyers who do not share profits, expenses, and liabilities. The subparagraph is not intended to imply that a law firm may include a person who is not a member in violation of the law governing the unauthorized practice of law. (Amended by order of the Supreme Court, operative September 14, 1992.) Anthony Patrick RadognaClients’ ChoiceAward 2018 Representing clients throughout all of California (San Diego County, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County) Don't let the State Bar pressure you into accepting discipline without talking to me first. I have handled hundreds of investigations, don't make the mistake of representing yourself. (California State Bar Investigations, State Bar Defense Attorney) 1 Park Plaza Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 08:00am - 08:00pm Nothing on this website creates an attorney-client relationship. Submitting a contact form, or emailing does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please remember, and you should assume, that nothing sent from this contact page is secure or confidential. Please only send general contact information and only a general description of your unique problem, until the attorney and you can speak regarding your matter. Any information on the Blog/Web Site, it is made for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice. By using the blog site/web site you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the Blog/Web Site publisher. The Blog/Web Site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state. Copyright © 2021 Law Offices of Anthony Radogna	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1239
__label__wiki	0.821226	0.821226	Austin biotech companies get emergency approval for coronavirus antibody tests Kara Carlson Two Austin-based biotechnology companies are shifting gears to speed up development of testing technology in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to expand testing and fuel research related to COVID-19. Babson Diagnostics and Luminex Corporation have developed and received approval for blood-based serology tests, which can determine the presence of antibodies to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, even after a person has recovered. The companies join fewer than 30 others that have been approved for the development of serology tests through emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — an expedited process for clearing products for public use. The testing could help researchers, leaders and the general public gain a better understanding of the spread of the new virus, and their own risks. New testing technology typically takes years to develop, evaluate and gain approval. But the FDA has loosened rules amid the pandemic, under a policy allowing emergency use of unauthorized medical solutions under certain guidelines during a major health threat. The agency is considering the authorization for all proposals involving diagnostic devices for the coronavirus. The serology test approvals for Babson and Luminex come as biotech companies across the country shift focus to testing development, research and other technology innovations to help combat and understand the spread of COVID-19. “We looked at the best way we can contribute and the best way we could work using our development capabilities,” said Eric Olson, CEO and founder of Babson Diagnostics. His company, which started in 2017, works to develop retail diagnostic blood testing technology. Its main focus is working to create routine blood tests that can be taken in pharmacies. In March, the company began evaluating how to best aid the fight against the new virus. Olson said the existing skills of Babson employees and the equipment the company already had led them to start developing the serology test in March, before submitting it for approval in just a few weeks. The company received FDA approval in June. “I’ve been in the diagnostics industry for 20 years and this is the fastest one I’ve ever been involved with,” Olson said. “The urgency on this was so high we were able to do this a lot quicker, and we were able to get a lot of support from our partners and the FDA.” Luminex’s serology test approval came this month, after similarly fast innovation. The company develops testing technology for researchers and clinical diagnostic labs around the globe. Since the start of the pandemic, the company has also quadrupled its capacity to produce equipment. The serology test marks the third coronavirus-related FDA emergency approval for the company. The first was a high volume diagnostic test which gives results in a few hours. The company also developed a rapid test which is run on a molecular diagnostic platform. “For us this is one more way to help out as we try to deal with the pandemic,” said Eric Shapiro, Luminex’s senior vice president for global marketing. Current COVID-19 testing generally falls into two categories — diagnostic testing, which tests for active infections, and serology testing, which detects antibodies. Unlike diagnostic testing which generally uses nasal, throat or saliva swabs, antibody testing generally relies on a blood test, and could be key to understanding how widespread the virus is in populations, as well as to determining how long potential immunity may last in people who previously had the virus. Both companies' serology tests rely on blood collection which is then analyzed to detect the presence of antibodies. Babson’s test looks for SARS-COVID-2 igG antibodies, or the type of antibodies that stay around for a long time and may be able to provide immunity. It’s one of just a handful of tests that the FDA has approved as having 100% specificity, or the ability to correctly identify a truly positive test, and 100% sensitivity, the ability of the test to correctly identify a negative test result. The company has a team of scientists and laboratory specialists that focus on assays for clinical diagnostics, or tests used to determine the presence of a particular component such as an antibody. The test they developed looks for substances consistent with COVID-19 antibodies. Babson is currently offering the tests in the Austin area, working with a few pharmacies, individuals through a concierge, and businesses to collect blood on site at home or office. The laboratory has capacity to run about 100,000 serology tests a week. Many of its tests also go towards coronavirus research. Luminex received approval for its multi-antigen serology test this month, and it also uses assay testing. It identifies three separate targets within the human serum and plasma to determine the presence of antibodies and can run on any of the company’s multiplex platforms. If any of the three targets are present, the person tests positive for antibodies. “Serology is really important going forward to better understand how this virus is spreading through the population. It’s one of the key benefits,” said Joern Mosner, Luminex’s vice president of array research and development. “It’s important to know how this virus is spreading over time.” Mosner said antibody testing plays a key role as other companies and research focus on developing vaccines. Knowing whether it’s the vaccine or antibodies providing immunity benefit is crucial, as well as studying how the immune response behaves over time. Shapiro added that testing also plays a key role in tracking spread in a given population, which could be helpful as communities look to make important health decisions that depend on how widespread COVID-19 is, such as reopening schools. Researchers are still trying to understand just how long antibodies may last or if any immunity is provided against COVID-19, but Olson said there are promising results that show at least some immunity level remains for a period of time. The majority of Babson testing is currently going towards research on COVID-19 antibodies and immune response. The company also is working with Dell Medical School at the University of Texas to study immune response to COVID-19. “This is the first major pandemic for all of us, so we’re all finding our own way,” said Olson, Babson Diagnostics’ CEO. He said understanding immunity levels and best practices also will be crucial to vaccine development and better insight into the virus. “Science develops all the time,” Olson said. “Our approach to this is, we do know very little. Technology we have a year from now is going to be much better than the technology that we have today. We're going to keep learning and keep iterating and understanding.”	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1241
__label__wiki	0.92921	0.92921	Fact-check: Are there as many hurricanes today compared to 100 years ago? Amy Sherman PolitiFact.com Mike Pence: “With regard to hurricanes, the National Oceanic (and Atmospheric) Administration tells us that actually, as difficult as they are, there are no more hurricanes today than there were 100 years ago.” PolitiFact’s ruling: Half True Here’s why: As Hurricane Delta headed for the Gulf Coast, Vice President Mike Pence downplayed a connection between climate change and natural disasters striking the country, from wildfires to hurricanes. Susan Page, who moderated the Oct. 7 vice presidential debate, asked Pence if he believed, "as the scientific community has concluded, that man-made climate change has made wildfires bigger, hotter, and more deadly and have made hurricanes wetter, slower and more damaging?" Pence started his response by saying, somewhat inaccurately, what the Democratic presidential ticket would mean for fracking and the Green New Deal. "With regard to hurricanes, the National Oceanic Administration tells us that actually, as difficult as they are, there are no more hurricanes today than there were 100 years ago," he said. That comment might sound surprising given the busy 2020 hurricane season. Hurricane Delta was Louisiana’s fourth hurricane or tropical storm of the year. And for only the second time in history, forecasters in 2020 used up all 21 of the year’s Atlantic storm names and had to resort to Greek letters. On the numerical comparison, Pence has a point. Hurricanes that reach U.S. land are happening about as often as they did 100 years ago. But that isn’t all the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other scientists have to say about hurricanes and climate change. Focusing only on the number of storms obscures warnings from NOAA and other scientists about the effect of climate change on future storms. "If we are thinking about what to expect in the coming century, it’s not just a matter of extrapolating what we saw in the past century," said Gabriel Vecchi, a former NOAA scientist who is now a Princeton University professor. Scientists are more concerned about the intensity of future storms. Phil Klotzbach, a scientist at Colorado State University, said scientists are continuing to disentangle questions about climate change and hurricanes. But it’s clear that skyrocketing population growth along the coast means storms today are more costly and destructive than 100 years ago, and sea level rise means more dangerous flooding from storm surge. What to know about hurricane numbers Pence didn’t specify whether he was referring to hurricanes that made landfall around the world, or just in the U.S. (The Trump campaign did not respond to our request for clarification.) The most reliable data is for U.S. landfalling hurricanes, so we’ll start there. Jeff Masters, meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said it is true that the number of U.S. mainland landfalling Atlantic hurricanes has not changed appreciably in the past 100 years. There was one year about a century ago, in 1916, when nine tropical storms or hurricanes hit the mainland U.S. With Hurricane Delta, 10 have hit the U.S. this year. "We are cruising through names at a record pace, but largely thanks to a lot of weak and/or short-lived ones," said Brian McNoldy, a University of Miami hurricane researcher. "This is in stark contrast to the 2005 season, which also went into the Greek alphabet for the first time but produced many long-lived and very intense hurricanes." This year’s busy season doesn’t necessarily mean we should expect more storms. "Computer modeling results of Atlantic hurricanes are inconclusive on whether or not climate change will cause an increase or decrease in the number of Atlantic hurricanes in a future warmer climate, with some models showing a decrease, and some showing an increase," Masters said. "But what theory and modeling do agree upon is that we will see the strongest hurricanes get stronger. Observations suggest that we are already seeing that occur." Masters pointed to a June 2020 research article by scientists at NOAA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison that looked at global storms from 1979 to 2017. The number of major hurricanes — Category 3 or stronger — increased globally by 15% in the later half of that period. Major hurricanes are significantly more damaging than a Category 1 or 2 storm. A September NOAA research analysis concluded that future hurricanes will be more intense with higher rainfall rates as a result of global warming. NOAA has said that rising sea levels, another effect of climate change, will increase the threat of storm-surge flooding during hurricanes. Pence said that NOAA said "there are no more hurricanes today than there were 100 years ago." The data from NOAA show there’s no major difference between the number of storms today and a century ago. But his statistic doesn’t mean a lot on its own. What matters more is the intensity of hurricanes, and how climate change and sea level rise will affect future intensity. We rate this claim Half True. PolitiFact Texasis a partnership of the Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News to help you find the truth in Texas politics. Factba.se, Vice president debate transcript, Oct. 7, 2020 NOAA, Global Warming and Hurricanes: An Overview of Current Research Results, Sept. 23, 2020 NOAA, Could climate change make Atlantic hurricanes worse? May 29, 2019 NOAA, Historical Changes in Atlantic Hurricane and Tropical Storms, 2016 NOAA, State of the Science FACT SHEET, May 27, 2020 American Meteorological Association, Continental U.S. Hurricane Landfall Frequency and Associated Damage: Observations and Future Risks, July 23, 2018 CNN, Interview with Gabriel Vecchi, Sept. 4, 2019Climate scientist: Climate crisis contributes Nature, Aerosol alteration of Atlantic storms, June 23, 2013 Factcheck.org, FactChecking the Vice Presidential Debate, Oct. 8, 2020 FORBES, This Era Of Deadly Hurricanes Was Supposed To Be Temporary. Now It’s Getting Worse, Oct. 7, 2020 Miami Herald, Miami-Dade is one storm away from a housing catastrophe. Nearly 1M people are at risk, Oct. 9, 2020PolitiFact, 7 questions about the Green New Deal, Feb. 12, 2019 PolitiFact, Trump misses the mark with claim that Green New Deal proposal wants to ban cows, Sept. 28, 2020 PolitiFact, How much do we know about climate change and hurricanes? Sept. 12, 2017 Telephone interview, Gabriel Vecchi, professor of geosciences at Princeton Environmental Institute, Oct. 8, 2020 Email interview, Brain McNoldy, senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Oct. 8, 2020 Email interview, Tom Knutson, research meteorologist at NOAA, Oct. 8, 2020 Email interview, Harold R. Wanless, Professor,Department of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Miami, Oct. 8, 2020 Email interview, Suzana Camargo, Columbia University research professor, Oct. 8, 2020 Email interview, Kevin E. Trenberth, distinguished scholar National Center for for Atmospheric Research, Oct. 8, 2020 Email interview, Phil Klotzbach, Research Scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, Oct.. 9, 2020 Email interview, Jeff Masters, Meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, Oct. 9, 2020	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1242
__label__wiki	0.500613	0.500613	Studio Staff What people are saying about Stephen... Marty Dolciamore Stephen has the ears of a vampire and the soul of a saint. Singer/Songwriter, Multi-instrumentalist, Teacher Bryan Dyer I've had the pleasure of working with Stephen on some of his original compositions. He has a keen ear for tone, pitch and blend. He also works quickly which is great! We managed to double-track 4 part harmonies on several songs in just a few hours. Very easy going and knows how to get the best performance out of any musician. I hope to work with him again in the future! Recording Artist, Songwriter, and previous production client Allegra Wakest When I found Stephen L. Bigger of Rock Arbor Music, all I brought with me were files containing a guitar track & some pretty rough vocals, but Stephen somehow saw/heard my vision. He "got it" right away. We made a full album of original songs, and he is a master when it comes to mixing! Did I mention how patient and attentive he is? This cannot be underestimated. Many people will phone it in. They will smile and push the fader up and down, but they will not be fully engaged. I don't think Stephen is capable of this. He really cared about the project. He also has a complex grasp of the voice, what it's capable of, what the vocalist needs to work on to "get it there"... He helped me with stuff I had been doing for years, bad habits I wasn't even aware of. Having a "built-in" vocal coach is a plus! In addition, he was so present in every moment, wanting to "make it right" and he delivered in every way. He lined up spectacular studio musicians as well, who really fit perfectly with my sound. I really can't say enough about Stephen's input and dedication to my album, Born of Ashes. He went way above and beyond what I expected. He is top notch, a true pro and a gentleman with a great sense of humor. If it were up to me, I'd give him an award. Thank you so much!!! Singer, Songwriter, Performer Cissy Crutcher Stephen is an incredible songwriter, producer, and musician. I've worked with him as a vocalist both live and in the studio. The outcome is always awesome. For studio performance, Stephen has an exceptional ear for vocals and the expertise to bring out the best sound from any singer. Session Musician, Woodwinds, Teacher Terrel Eaton Having worked with Stephen Bigger on numerous concert and recording projects in a wide variety of musical styles, I know him to be a profoundly knowledgable and inspired/inspiring musician/teacher. His command of music and recording technology is second to none. Stephen is very perceptive and empathetic, and able to direct and coach musicians of every age and level to maximize their performance. He creates a safe, confident atmosphere, bringing out the best in each musician. Composer, Musician, Performer, Music Artist Kurt Ribak I've worked with Stephen in live performances and studio settings over ten years and have watched him get fine performances out of a wide range of singers and instrumentalists. He's very good at creating an environment that brings out the best in singers and coaching them in their technique and performance. Would I hire him? Yes! Singer, Dancer, Composer, Music Artist Heather Christie Though I have been singing since age 9 in lessons and onstage, working with Stephen in the past year has really launched me to the next level, and helped immensely in the pursuit of my music career. His lessons, fine ear, and extensive experience help me to see beyond my limits as a singer. He is accessible and enthusiastic as a teacher, and encourages the same qualities and focus in his students. I have become more technically apt, confident, and excited about my music career thanks to Stephen Bigger. Vanessa Yearsley As a music student working towards my degree in voice, I can confidently say that Stephen is the most enthusiastic and visionary teacher I have worked with. He has an intensive musical background and is very knowledgeable in the study of the voice. From human anatomy to microphone technique he can create a studio experience for you that's nothing like anything you can get from anyone else. Music Director, Singer Dan Wilkins Stephen invited me and my son Jack to record some vocals for one of his compositions. Stephen knows what he wants, and he knew how to describe it to us, and he didn't move on until we had given our best performance. If that sounds a little demanding, well it was, but in the best possible way. Strong musicians have a good ear, right? But unless you have spent years in a studio, you probably don't have a "studio" ear. What impressed me about Stephen was how he could hear every nuance in the moment. Not a lot of time wasted on playbacks and debate. I think we achieved a higher quality over a shorter period of time because Stephen knew what he wanted and he was able to hear what was happening and describe back to us how to improve it. He was very positive and encouraging throughout the process. He has great studio tools and he managed all the technology effortlessly. Another thing I liked was how he kept us focused on what we were attempting to communicate. It was a demanding session, but I left feeling like it was work that I will always be proud of. James Jurado Two years ago I decided to professionally record 6 of my songs. I got a recommendation from a friend of mine named Dave Burns about a producer he had recently worked with to record an album by the name of Stephen Bigger He is the owner of a studio called RockArbor Music. I have never worked with a professional producer before, so this was a huge learning curve for me, and I have learned a lot. He helped me format my tunes, and assisted me in hiring a couple of studio musicians to lay down the tracks. I hired Zack Kirk Olsen on drums and Dan Robbins on bass- both amazing players and worth every penny. We did all six tunes in a day, with me playing a guide track along with them. I would later re-record my rhythm tracks, do vocals (as did Angela and Larry Albright from our former band), and then do lead guitar work, Stephen is very talented musician and in addition to being a great producer, and played keys on several tunes. I averaged completing one song every four months. It's the best I could do with the rest of my commitments, and working with other people's schedules. As previously mentioned, I learned a lot. Here are some of my takeaways: It's worth it working with a professional. Stephen has a great ears and could hear things I couldn't and offered great, informed feedback on arrangements, instrumentation, singing tips and preparedness for the studio. He also had a vested interest in making my songs sound good as they represented his work. Studio work is difficult, but do-able. Rehearsing parts and thinking through sounds helps with making the most of recording time. Practice makes progress. Working with people who are very skilled at what they do creates a great opportunity to grow, in contrast to the DIY approach. For some, doing it yourself works. I have found the mentorship to be very valuable. I have a new appreciation for people who record music for a living. There is a lot of detailed work that goes into it. Recording Artist, Composer, and previous production client Greg MacDonald It was great working with Stephen. His studio is impressive, and set in a relaxed atmosphere. He is a good listener, and easy to work with. He is a musician, so he has a good ear for music. This helps when listening back on your recording. He had some great advice. My project was mainly piano, with some very fast string parts. He edited each and every note to make sure they matched up in perfect timing. I thanked him, and said it looked like a lot of work. He commented that he actually enjoys it! He seems genuinely interested on getting your project right, just they way you want it. That's enough about me, now tell me what you think about me... Testimonial Category Select Category Production Live Performance Choir Arranging Client Name* None 1 2 3 4 5 Testimonial* What is nine minus 6? Big Life $ 0.99 – $ 21.95 Rejoice $ 0.99 – $ 39.95 YaLaLey $ 0.99 – $ 29.95 Follow Stephen © 1991-2021 RockArbor Music ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. Web Design by Sound Shape Media Services.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1243
__label__wiki	0.831344	0.831344	We have an ambitious house building programme, designed to deliver much needed homes to Stevenage residents. Burwell Court The development at Burwell Court completed in February 2020, and comprises of 15 one and two bedroom apartments for social rent. This is a welcome addition to our new build portfolio. Constructed over a two year period, this attractive, three storey scheme in the Bandley Hill ward is on the site of the former 'March Hare' pub. The pub had sat empty and was a source of anti-social behaviour issues in the local area when we took possession and developed plans for the site. Blackwell Close Blackwell Close completed in November 2019 where 15 new homes for Stevenage residents. The homes, a mixture of flats and houses, offer spacious living areas with large gardens and Chells Park on the doorstep. The homes have been well received by the new residents and a welcome event was held for them once they had moved in. Ditchmore Lane Ditchmore Lane is a scheme which includes two Victorian and one Georgian building in the Old Town. The properties were dilapidated and in a state of disrepair until a scheme was designed sympathetically restore and renovate the properties. They have been converted into 10 apartments for private sale, the proceeds of which will be used to build additional affordable housing in the town. Throughout the renovation, the council were sensitive to the historic nature of the buildings and restored and refurbished the historic elements where possible. These included rebuilding the front perimeter wall with reclaimed bricks, reinstated the timber sash windows to the front of the properties and relayed the roof with the correct materials. Twin Foxes The Twin Foxes was the first pub in Stevenage New Town and was named after identical twin poachers, the Fox brothers, who lived in the area from the 19th century. The rundown pub in Rockingham Way closed in 2012 and become a hot-spot for a lot of anti-social behaviour. The site was seen as an opportunity to build new homes and improve the area and sense of community. Local school children at St Nicholas School took part in an art and poetry competition, capturing the local community, the pub’s history and aspects of building and construction. The winning entries were displayed on the site’s hoardings during the development. The pub was demolished in 2017 to make way for 14 new one and two bedroom flats for social rent. The scheme, costing £1.2 million, was completed in October 2018 and an official opening was organised for the new residents of Twin Foxes House. Shephall Way - on site This was originally home to a doctor’s surgery until the building was purchased under auction. The council took this opportunity to design a scheme to build 9 apartments for social rent. Construction is underway and should be complete in early 2021. The completed building will be named after Christopher Addison who started the first programme of publicly funded local authority housing schemes. In 2019, we celebrated 100 years of social housing and the centenary of the Addison Act 1919. To celebrate the occasion, we have planted a time capsule on site with relevant items within. Pupils from Peartree Spring Primary School and Featherstone Wood Primary School took part in an art competition to draw what they thought housing would look like in 100 years’ time. The Winning entries were included in the time capsule. Symonds Green – on site We are currently developing a three story building that will provide 29 units of social rented accommodation. The site is the former location of Symonds Green Community Centre annexe on Scarborough Avenue. The development will deliver units of one, two and three bed accommodation over a semi-basement car park. The local community and elected members have been continuously involved in the design process and the scheme has been subject to several design changes to ensure that it provides quality for residents and the surrounding area. The development will provide funding to positively impact primary and secondary education, sustainable transport improvement, improvement of children’s play space and affordable housing through the section 106 agreement. North Road – on site The site was originally home to a residential home, with accommodation over two-and-a-half storeys. The vacant building was given approval for demolition in August 2018 and planning permission for the main build was granted fully in January 2020. The scheme will consist of 21 one and two bedroom apartments, all for private sale. The largest apartments, on the fourth floor of the building, benefit from the penthouse style window with a generous private balcony area. A show home for prospective buyers will be available in summer 2021 and completion of the whole project is due towards the end of 2021. Kenilworth Close Demolition complete and due to begin construction works The Kenilworth scheme will deliver 236 new homes; 50% of which will be affordable and social rented homes. The scheme will also comprise of new community shops and an independent living scheme. An improved parking layout will be provided and more valuable structured open green spaces. The development will include a mix of properties for sale, affordable rent and also for social rent to meet the needs of a diverse local community. The scheme will include a roof terrace garden and retail and leisure facilities. There will be a new state of the art independent living scheme consisting of one and two bedroom apartments. The need for independent living properties for the elderly in Stevenage is increasing, with an anticipated 64% rise in the number of over 65s in the town between 2011 and 2031.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1245
__label__cc	0.550602	0.449398	How Does Solar Power Lighting Work? Posted by Stephen Shickadance in The Basics. So perhaps you're in the market for solar power lighting, and you're curious about how it works. You're in luck! Greenshine New Energy has a collection of over 30 years in solar lighting experience, and we're here to give you the details on how this technology has surpassed regular lighting methods. This 5-minute read will give you a brief overview of solar energy, how it works, and how it can solve problems of expensive lighting. How Solar Powered Lighting Works The Tech Without the Jargon We'll skip out on the super techy stuff. Solar power is generated directly from the sun's rays striking a thin wafer that's (usually) made from silicon. The silicon is prepared in a vat either by heating it directly (poly-crystalline) or by drawing out a purer silicon ingot (mono-crystalline) through a process called the Czochralski process. Either of these kinds of solar cells (commonly referred to as photovoltaics) is great for use, but mono-crystalline panels are more efficient for solar power lighting. Sunlight strikes the panel and excites electrons in the silicon, thus generating power. The power is stored inside of a lead acid deep-cycle gel battery. When it comes to the actual light connected to the solar panel, sensors in the light fixture determine when the sun goes down. The light fixture blips on. From a functional standpoint, it's pretty simple. When coupled with an LED fixture that uses minimal energy, there's a win-win since the light fixture draws minimal power and the solar panel power exceeds the drain from the light. It's one of the cleanest, most reliable forms of renewable energy available. Solar power lighting is turning into a standard across the US. That's just the basics of how solar lighting works. There are a lot of newer technologies available right now that are exciting to the world of solar, but they're not really ready for full commercialization yet. For instance, some solar cells are made from perovskite and have higher efficiencies than silicon, but unfortunately, perovskite cells use gold in their construction--we're sure the price point on those cells are pretty high. A lot of similar technologies use a substance called Cadmium which is actually highly toxic and difficult to dispose of. We tend to prefer saving the environment when it comes to using solar technology, so that's why Greenshine adheres to using silicon-based cells. They're the most efficient on the market per dollar since the technology has been well-researched and prepared for mass marketing. Plus, it's a lot more environmentally sound than other lighting and solar technologies. Several lamps carry mercury or similar chemicals that require specific handling for disposal. More Cluck for the Buck Our number-one question on phone calls is: How much does solar power lighting cost? We won't hide the truth--on a per-light basis, solar lights are definitely more expensive. You can expect to pay about 50% more on a solar light as opposed to a sodium-based light. So out-of-pocket, one sodium light will cost about 3 thousand dollars, whereas a solar light will cost 4.5 thousand dollars. However, you'll save long-term, and here's why: Zero Energy Bills Since solar power lighting doesn't pull power from a local power grid, you'll save long-term since you don't receive monthly power bills. But how much? Good question. Here's a breakdown of specific light costs: A High-Pressure Sodium Light running about 4 thousand hours a year will cost you a little more than 400 dollars to operate. Mercury Vapor will cost about the same. A Compact Fluorescent (CFL) light will cost about 6o dollars a year, while a Metal Halide will cost 80 dollars a year, all using the national average of 10.05 cents per kwH. A solar power light will cost you zero annually. It's nice not receiving an energy bill! It's akin to driving a car and not having to pay for gas. Zero Trenching Bills With traditional lighting, every light needs to be connected to an underground energy grid. To connect each light, you'll need to hire a company to trench. With a standard ten-light system, trenching can add on 30 thousand dollars, easily taking a modest price tag into expensive territory. Trenching for solar power lighting costs zero. We're sure plenty of others prefer paying zero as well. Does Solar Power Lighting Work Anywhere? Remember, solar lights work by pulling light from the sun. Even if the panels are obscured by overcast skies, they'll still develop some power. There are solar panel arrays in Antarctica that are attached to a research facility. These arrays are capable of producing 10% of the facility's power in the middle of the darkest environments on Earth. If that isn't a testament to the power of solar, we aren't sure what is. Greenshine has several thousand installations across the US, some even in rainy and typically overcast areas. It works as long as the lights are positioned to get some sun. You'll never need to worry about power outages since each light operates on its own power and isn't dependent on a central source. If for some reason, the light pole needs to be removed, it's a lot less hassle to lift the light via a crane than trench again for the light and disconnect it from power. Some models of solar power lighting are even movable by forklift or just two people, so if your project requires lights in different spots, rest assured that you can relocate specific models of these lights whenever you need. Plus, sometimes cities and businesses get media attention from going solar. It's not only great for the environment, but it's also a big hit with certain generations. We're happy you could stick around to learn about how solar power lighting works. As the nation's leader in solar lighting, we're prepared to have our engineers huddle together and develop the most cost-effective lighting system for whatever your needs are. Can't afford to trench? Solar is your answer. Need lights that can move at the drop of a hat? We're your go-to. Need some lights to keep your grounds secure? You've got nothing to lose. Contact us to learn more, or check out more technologies of solar panels. The future is shiny, and we've got our sunglasses on. Solar Light Installation Guide: Parts, Assembly, and Maintenance Believe it or not, it’s a lot easier to install a solar ligh... Who Benefits from Solar Lighting? The best thing about solar energy is that it can help everyo... We often hear or use the term LED. But do we really know wha...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1249
__label__cc	0.677356	0.322644	#Honeywell supply chain#Honeywell China#Honeywell acquisition#Supply Chain#Asia#Warehousing Honeywell invests in Chinese supply chain software provider and forms new JV Honeywell has signed an agreement to acquire a 25% ownership interest in FLUX Information Technology, a leading provider of warehouse management and rel... James Henderson \|Dec 8\| 6 min read Honeywell has signed an agreement to acquire a 25% ownership interest in FLUX Information Technology, a leading provider of warehouse management and related supply chain software in China. Honeywell will also form a new joint venture company with FLUX's founder to serve customers outside China. Under the terms of the deal, Honeywell will hold a 75% stake in the new joint venture, which will initially focus on opportunities in the Asia Pacific region. The investment in FLUX is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter pending Chinese regulatory approvals. FLUX develops and implements warehouse management systems and other software for customers in multiple industries, and is a leading player in China's booming e-commerce, apparel, pharmaceutical, retail, third-party logistics, cold chain and manufacturing sectors. Its supply chain execution solutions include its Warehouse Management System, Transportation Management System, Order Management System and Data Exchange Platform. Honeywell said FLUX's offerings complement its own, which include hardware and software that improve productivity, enhance worker safety, and increase accuracy and throughput of supply chains. Honeywell reportedly in talks to acquire JDA Software Nestle opens new global procurement hub in Malaysia Tiger Rail launches rail freight service linking destinations across the 'new Silk Road' Read the December issue of Supply Chain Digital here “We are pleased to be partnering with a dynamic, emerging leader with a proven track record in a fast-growing market,” said John Waldron, president and CEO, Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions. “FLUX's strong software capabilities fit well into Honeywell's Connected Supply Chain strategy, complementing the warehouse expertise of our Honeywell Intelligrated business. “FLUX's warehouse, transportation management and order management offerings complement Honeywell's data capture technology, worker productivity and warehouse automation solutions, and enable us to maximize customer satisfaction in the digital age." Over the past decade, FLUX's business has grown significantly. Its software now manages more than 12 million square meters of warehouse space in China alone.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1250
__label__cc	0.608219	0.391781	Whitfield Diffie Winner, 2015 A.M. Turing Award (equivalent to Nobel Prize in Computer Science) Bailey Whitfield ‘Whit’ Diffie (born June 5, 1944) is an American cryptographer and one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography. On March 25, 2016 Whit Diffie received 2015 A.M. Turing Award (the equivalent of Nobel Price in Computer Science). The ability for two parties to communicate privately over a secure channel is fundamental for billions of people around the world. On a daily basis, individuals establish secure online connections with banks, e-commerce sites, email servers and the cloud. Diffie and Hellman’s groundbreaking 1976 paper, “New Directions in Cryptography,” introduced the ideas of public-key cryptography and digital signatures, which are the foundation for most regularly-used security protocols on the Internet today. The Diffie-Hellman Protocol protects daily Internet communications and trillions of dollars in financial transactions. For more detail, please see: http://amturing.acm.org/. Whit currently serves as an Advisor at Almaz Capital, a venture capital fund that invests in early stage companies from emerging tech regions. After a long career at Sun Microsystems as Chief Security Officer and then a Sun Fellow, Diffie served for two and a half years as Vice President for Information Security and Cryptography at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (2010–2012), a visiting scholar (2009–2010) and an affiliate (2010–2012) at the Freeman Spogli Institute’s Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. I love coming to the Silicon Valley Open Doors! I discover entrepreneurs here every single year, and I think I’ve been to all of them. Carol Sands Founder, The Angels’ Forum This conference is clearly a labor of love for a group of dedicated professionals who care deeply about the European entrepreneurs. From the value-packed educational panels, to the star-studded keynote speakers’ line up, to an amazing quantity of venture capitalists – this is a not to be missed event for any high tech entrepreneur. Richard Guha President of the Marketing Executives Network and Managing Partner at MaxBrandEquity	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1252
__label__wiki	0.758168	0.758168	Philip Evans Scholars Philip Evans Scholars Department Pages Scholar Experiences Evans Alumni Stephanie Holznagel: sholzna1@swarthmore.edu Angela Meng '12 Hometown: Danville, CA High School: San Ramon Valley High School Major: Honors economics, course major/honors minor in sociology and anthropology Possible Career: Lawyer Angela has been active in the Swarthmore Asian Organization (SAO), Student Council, and the Daily Gazette. She has also done research in the Economics Department and graded for the Mathematics/Statistics Department. Currently, she is a Senior Admissions Fellow and a director for the Social Affairs Committee. She has used her Evans Scholarship support her travel to Ghana the summer after her freshman year, where she spent two months as an intern at the Projects Abroad Human Rights Centre in Accra. The organization's objective is to work for the practical realization of human rights in fields such as constitutionalism, women's rights, and access to justice. Her main duties were conducting independent research, writing articles for newspapers, and awareness-raising. The following summer, Angela interned at the Amnesty International USA office in San Francisco where she provided logistical support and grassroots outreach for members and activists. This past summer, Angela interned at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Philadelphia. She worked with SEC attorneys on conducting securities fraud investigations and helped design a new program to better detect insider trading at larger institutional firms. Describe yourself in five words or less. "I'm a passionate, energetic Swattie!" What has been the most valuable Evans Scholars program experience for you? "When I went abroad to Ghana for a human rights internship, I really loved how the experience pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to explore so many different aspects of the world. I never imagined myself in West Africa riding in crammed vans on bumpy roads for hours, eating fried plantains and fufu everyday, taking cold bucket showers, playing football with school kids, and so many more small, but meaningful parts of my life there. It was so incredible living there and it was a lot different from just touring any place for just a week or so. I actually adapted to the Ghanaian lifestyle and by the end of the trip, I knew Accra better than any city in the United States." What was the most transformative class you have taken? "I took a class in the Economics Department called Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Economics; it delved into aspects of discrimination in the labor market. We took traditional economic models and transformed them into ones that incorporate aspects of gender, race, and ethnicity. I am a double major in sociology and anthropology and economics so this class combined my passion for social justice with practical perspective and solutions for these issues. While I still have much more to learn in these respective departments, this class gave me an insight on how these topics could work very much in synchrony together." What subject do you want to explore deeply? "I want to explore the role of economic development in developing countries around the world. Economic development can be easy to quantify in terms of numbers such as GDP per capita, infant mortality rate, etc., but I want to delve deeper into the nuances of economic development, such as do traditional economic models work for these countries' unique economies, does economic development create more class inequalities, etc." What impact do you want to have on the world? "I want to help mitigate and ultimately, eradicate poverty and its sources in the world, but focusing on the United States. Poverty serves as a barrier to so many different aspects of our society, such as job markets, education, social networks, and so many other opportunities important in succeeding in one's life." Name a person you most admire. "I admire Michelle Obama for her strength, elegance, individuality, and her strong mind. In the political world, it is difficult to survive in the scrutiny of the media, balance personal and work life, and still be strong and as independently-minded as she is. I love her for her ability to stand her own and still be her own person, even in the shadow of her husband's presidency." What are you proudest of in your life so far? Why? "Going back to my experience in Ghana, I am really proud of the fact that I was able to live in Ghana for more than two months and adapt to the lifestyle there. At first, it was difficult to be away from the luxuries and comfort of home in the U.S., but once I fully embraced living in Ghana, it was such an amazing experience and I loved every moment of it."	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1253
__label__wiki	0.868617	0.868617	Cuvier’s beaked whale breaks record with 3 hour 42 minute dive By rokur on October 3, 2020 Nature The blue whale might be one of the most enigmatic creatures on the planet, but the true megastars of the diving world are Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). They are capable of reaching depths of almost 3000 m, and calculations suggest that these relatively diminutive whales should only remain submerged for about 33 minutes before their oxygen is depleted and they resort to anaerobic respiration. Yet experience told Nicola Quick and colleagues from Duke University that the shy mammals were capable of diving for far longer. Wondering how often the animals embark on these epic dives and how long it takes them to recover after returning to the surface, William Cioffi, Jeanne Shearer, Andrew Read, Daniel Webster (from the Cascadia Research Collective) and Quick went in search of the elusive animals in the abundant waters off Cape Hatteras, U.S. “Because the animals spend so little time at the surface, we needed calm seas and experienced observers to look for them,” says Quick. “The average period they spend at the surface is about two minutes, so getting a tag on takes a dedicated crew and a maneuverable vessel.” The brief surfacing periods also limited the amount of time available to transfer the precious information to a satellite each time the animals returned from a dive. Deploying 23 tags over a five-year period, the team recorded more than 3600 foraging dives, ranging from 33 minutes to two hours 13 min, all of which were well in excess of the point when diving Cuvier’s beaked whales were thought to run out of oxygen. Knowing that approximately 95% of the dives performed by other mammals are complete before their oxygen supplies dwindle, the team rechecked their plot and realized that if the same proportion of Cuvier’s beaked whale dives are completed before their oxygen stores expire, then they could remain submerged for an incredible 77.7 minutes before resorting to anaerobic respiration. “It really did surprise us that these animals are able to go so far beyond what predictions suggest their diving limits should be,” says Quick. In addition, the team picked up two extraordinary dives in 2017, which exceeded even their wildest dreams. One was almost three hours long, while the other lasted three hours 42 minutes. “We didn’t believe it at first; these are mammals after all, and any mammal spending that long under water just seemed incredible,” says Quick, publishing the discovery in Journal of Experimental Biology. Read Phys.org Pingback: Cuvier’s beaked whale breaks record with 3 hour 42 minute dive – SportUpdates	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1254
__label__cc	0.54701	0.45299	Click here for all the latest updates Community & Connection A Teacher's Story Pod Stories Stronger Together ATX Teacher Perspective - David's Story David's Story One Teacher’s Pod Journey In the early days of July 2020, I had before me what seemed to be a dilemma between a safe choice and a dangerous choice. In any other year of the thirty I’ve had, the line between safety and danger in my career would have been clear: a stable job is safe, and depending on your own ventures for an income is dangerous. Partially, that is still true. It is common knowledge that starting your own business is risky, and quitting a stable job offer to start your own business, more so. Doing so during a pandemic would be downright crazy, for some. But, as with many areas of life, human reactions to the Pandemic of 2020 have recast some formerly safe professions into terrifying ones. Public education has never been a completely safe career. Being around large numbers of people on a daily basis, in a somewhat closed and insular environment certainly has its risks, and at times, its tragedies, brought on where excesses of control and a dearth of empathy have met. However, seldom before have professional educators been asked, pressured, cajoled, and threatened to return to work in an environment so outright likely to result in the spread of a pathogen for which little viable treatment exists, and for which permanent organ damage is a known risk of infection, even though the overwhelming majority of people who contract Covid-19 survive. The Texas Government, Texas Education Agency, and the executive branch of what passes for this country’s leadership have stood together to create a potentially unsafe work environment in public schools. The existence of the coronavirus is not their fault, but their lack of consideration of the multitude of ways in which public schools provide for our economy – skills training, childcare, mental health assistance, nutrition, community – have resulted in their insistence that these institutions reopen, even where experts are warning that doing so is all but guaranteed to accelerate the spread of the pathogen. So much has been said about how public schools are a place that spread is likely, impossible to prevent, and inordinately difficult even to slow down, that I need not add my voice to this opinion further. The TEA does not allow teachers to strike, and threatens them with sanctions up to and including job loss and revocation of certification, should they dare to. This creates a divide-and-conquer mentality, where individuals in the teaching workforce do not have the necessary tools to protest injustice. It also creates a culture where school administrations may set regulations that are unpopular, considered dangerous, and possibly even unfair for teachers, who can do little but complain and hope their voices will be heard. Even complaining opens them up to risk, because it may identify them as potential troublemakers to colleagues and employers. All of this was on my mind as I contemplated the safety procedures laid out for staff in an online town-hall meeting hosted on June 28th for the charter school system I had recently accepted an offer for. The town hall meeting organizers were using Zoom Webinars to conduct the event. There was a Q&A section and I could read other teachers’ questions. There were concerns raised about the safety of reopening schools, but it was clear that the administration had every intention of going ahead no matter what anyone said. The reopening plan authors had claimed to consult with over 50 stakeholders including parents and teachers. However, many of you reading this know that to be consulted can just as often mean to be told something, asked if you agree, and if you say no, ignored thereafter. It is an easy PR exercise to create the illusion of public participation and of group agreement and consent. The principles of group-think are simple. If you want to create a situation where it looks like people agree with you and follow you, just communicate with them subtly that agitation will not be looked kindly upon, praise those who agree, give dissenters little opportunity to speak out, and ‘stack the room’ by making sure that all those who speak first give the impression of agreeing with each other by pre-selecting those whose views and opinions are already known and favorable to yours. In writing all of this, I recognize that school administrators in general have an impossible task laid out in front of them this fall. They know very well that no matter what they decide, people are going to be upset and angry, some will get sick, some will lose their jobs or be fired, some will walk away from their jobs rather than take the risk, and politicians will put pressure on them. It’s a regrettable situation to be in, and I understand that their options are extremely limited. With these statements, I don’t doubt that the majority of school administrators are well-intentioned people who want to help to keep a very necessary social safety net well-funded and staffed with reliable professionals. I don’t believe my statements above represent a majority of administrators, but more likely a significant minority. I gave this some two weeks of thought, and realized that my job offer portended significant risk to myself and my family. I tried to tell myself that I was overthinking it; that I should just get on with my job and not worry, but deep down it didn’t feel right. So, on the first day of my virtual training (an option that was only offered on the Saturday night prior to training on the Monday), I completed my first day of assignments, and gave my notice of resignation. While all this contemplation had been going on, I was also doing research into a newly-emerging model of education based on a much older system: homeschooling pods. Early in July, the TEA released its first major communication about school re-opening plans, and a Facebook group called South Austin Quaranteam exploded in membership. Suddenly, everyone was talking about pods, or small groups of families, some of whom wanted to hire a teacher, others who wanted to share childcare duties between families. It was a creative solution to an urgent dilemma, and in this, I saw a way that I could practice education with less risk to myself and my family. I would be highly unlikely to earn as much money as a charter school salary would pay, but I could also be of service in a way more in accordance with my own goals. I can provide a more holistic, empathic, individualized service to a smaller group of families than I can to a large cohort of public school students. The road to pod formation has been bumpy, but I’m still on it and am in the stage of closing on a current pod and beginning work with them soon. The process has taken about a month to get started, get in contact with people, and find who I wanted to work with. The organization of pods is in a large way do-it-yourself, because there are so many options, and many will not work with a given situation and its constraints. A significant number of the challenges and roadblocks to pod formation are the legal uncertainties – is a pod a childcare business? Is it a micro-school? Is the location certified by the HHS? Do you hire a household employee or an independent contractor? Does household insurance allow so many children in a location? Will the local HOA have a problem hosting school-groups in private residences? What about liability? What about local restrictions on the size of private gatherings? What about all the questions I haven’t written here and the ones I don’t even know to ask? It’s a lot! While home-schooling is neither new nor unprecedented, I believe that what is different is just how many families are now considering alternative options to public and private schools all at once. I think that in this time of uncertainty and rapid change, a movement is forming around a solution. Pods are not without their critics and challenges, and it is true that large numbers of people who can’t afford them are going to be left behind. While I think it is incumbent on all of us to render support to the community at large irrespective of their financial status, I believe that this movement needs to grow and gain public support for it to become revolutionary and to have the ability to change the way public education functions for the better. For this to happen, I think that the movement’s current rate of growth, and the important questions being asked about who is included and who is excluded and why, and the conversations around equity in education, must continue and evolve. Collectively, we are not rendering enough support to vulnerable communities at the moment, but I do think we are making progress and must continue to do so. I am proud to be a part of this movement, and glad I chose the profession of teaching to contribute to positive change in society. Austin, Texas USA strongertogetheratx@gmail.com Sign Up for Community News © (hindsight is) 2020 by Stronger Together ATX. 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__label__cc	0.617305	0.382695	Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarships for Developing Countries (Study in Canada) Posted on Saturday, September 02, 2017 Doctoral Scholarships Course(s) Offered: Humanities, Social sciences Course Level: Graduate research (doctoral, postdoc) Provider: Trudeau Foundation Country to Study in: Canada Scholarship Description The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarships are offered annually to the most talented doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences to encourage emerging talents in Canada and Developing Countries. The Trudeau Scholarship is the most prestigious of its type in Canada. A number of Trudeau Scholarships are awarded each year to support doctoral candidates pursuing research of compelling present-day concern, touching upon one or more of the four themes of the Foundation. Since the beginning of the program in 2003, the Foundation has awarded 202 Trudeau Doctoral Scholarships. Trudeau scholars are outstanding students who are interested in growing in a multidisciplinary learning environment and in addressing important questions for Canada and the world. Foreign students who have been accepted or will be accepted into a doctoral program at a Canadian university are eligible. The Foundation favours applications from students of developing countries. The selection criteria are the same as for any other student, i.e., complete applications must be submitted by a university. To be eligible, the following must apply: Be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant applying to a doctoral program in the social sciences and humanities or registered full-time in the first or second year of such a program at a Canadian university OR; Be a Canadian citizen applying to a doctoral program in the social sciences and humanities or registered full-time in the first or second year of such a program at a foreign university OR; Be a foreign national [with a preference for candidates from the developing world] applying to a doctoral program in the social sciences and humanities or registered full-time in the first or second year of such a program at a Canadian university Present a research project linked to one of the four themes of the Foundation Be nominated by a university Trudeau Scholars are selected through a rigorous process comprised of the following stages: Evaluation of all application files by an internal committee and an external File Review Committee Approval of the finalists by the Application and Nomination Review Committee Final approval by the Foundation’s Board of Directors Have a track record of academic achievements on par with the highest standards of the world’s most prestigious doctoral scholarship programs Possess exceptional skills that will enable the Scholar to engage in lively exchange with other researchers Intend to work in an area related to one or more of the Foundation’s four themes and have an expressed desire to contribute to public dialogue Eligible groups Citizens of Canada or other countries (ESPECIALLY Developing Countries) Accredited foreign or Canadian universities Doctoral level programs in the humanities and social sciences, and specifically one or more of the following theme areas: Human Rights and Dignity Responsible Citizenship Canada in the World People and their Natural Environment The Foundation does not offer funding for undergraduate and master’s programs. To date, scholarships have been offered in the fields of anthropology, communications, criminology, law, economy, history, literature, philosophy, religion, environmental sciences, political sciences, social sciences, sociology, and the arts. Up to 15 new Scholars are announced each year Sponsorship duration Tenable for a maximum of three years. During their third year, Trudeau Scholars may apply for a thesis writing scholarship or a postdoctoral scholarship, for a fourth year of financing Scholarship benefits Its annual value is up to $60,000 per Scholar. In addition to generous financial support, it also includes a separate annual travel allowance to support research-related travel and cover other networking, professional development and dissemination expenses. It also offers the opportunity to benefit from a special relationship with an experienced Trudeau Mentor, the development of leadership potential. Finally, it welcomes the Scholars into the Trudeau Community, which is comprised of talented people in every sector of the humanities and social sciences who share the same diligence, audacity, and intellectual ambition, and the will to apply and share their knowledge for the benefit of all. To apply, students must be recommended by a Canadian or foreign university. They should consult their university for more information on the university's internal selection process and deadlines, which vary from one institution to another. The Foundation accepts applications from any university. It is up to the student to decide which institution will submit the best file on his or her behalf. Universities may nominate a student of their own who is pursuing a doctorate at another institution. Candidates CANNOT send their own application directly to the Foundation. Files sent directly by a student will be automatically declined by the Foundation. Only complete files received from a university within the deadline will be considered. It is important to read the FAQs, and also visit the official website (link to it is below) for complete information on how to apply to this scholarship award The 2018 doctoral scholarship competition opens on 1 September 2017. The deadline for the 2018 Trudeau Doctoral Scholarship Competition is December 8, 2017. Each university will have its own deadlines with Fall period 2017 to select the students whose files will be forwarded to the Foundation before the final deadline. The prestige of the Trudeau Scholarship comes first and foremost from the name it bears. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada, was a respected, engaged and passionate man. Several years after the initial launch of the Foundation’s first programs, the name is now also associated with all the exceptional people who have joined the ranks of the Trudeau Community. Application Deadline: 8 December 2017 Open to International students: Yes More Scholarship Information and Application Related: Top Scholarships in Canada for International Students Filed Under: arts/humanities, canada, december, doctoral, international, law, north america, postdoctoral, research, social sciences Mhrtey Adisalem August 09, 2016 9:06 AM any one who can help how to apply?	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1258
__label__wiki	0.834799	0.834799	Vauxhall Bridge maintenance closure will allow some access to taxis, buses, bikes and pedestrians Vauxhall Bridge will be closed to general traffic until November, with access maintained over the bridge at all times for people walking and cycling, as well as southbound buses, coaches and taxis. Transport for London (TfL) is encouraging road users to check before they travel ahead of the critical maintenance to Vauxhall Bridge. The bridge will be closed to general traffic in both directions from 8pm Sunday 9 August until late November to allow for vital maintenance of the Edwardian structure. The work includes bridge deck waterproofing, resurfacing the footway and carriageway, drainage improvements, kerb works and replacing the bridge's expansion joints. Completing these works will address the corrosion and deterioration of the structural metalwork and bearings, allowing further repairs to take place on the underside of the bridge at a later date. TfL will continue to monitor the bridge to determine the timing of future repairs to the underside, which are not currently expected to disrupt traffic. Vauxhall Bridge will be closed to general traffic in both directions and vehicles will be placed on diversion to allow for the work to take place safely. Alternative diversion routes will be clearly signed. At the start of works, southbound licensed taxis will be able to drive across the bridge. Other vehicles will be on diversion. This access may change later say TfL. If private hire vehicles follow the signed diversion route they will not need to pay the Congestion Charge or Ultra Low Emission Zone charges. Travellers are being advised that that the quietest times are between 10am and 3pm or after 7pm, while public transport users will find it's better to travel between 8.15am - 4pm and after 5.30pm on weekdays and before midday and after 6pm on weekends. Nick Fairholme, Director of Project and Programme Delivery at TfL, said: “The work to upgrade Vauxhall Bridge is critical to keep London moving. Vauxhall Bridge is a vital part of London's road network and by doing this work now, we're protecting it for decades to come. “We'd advise anyone who usually travels through the area to travel outside of the rush hour where possible, and would like to thank everyone in advance for their patience while this essential maintenance is ongoing.” Motorist	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1260
__label__wiki	0.630573	0.630573	Richmond County, NY Kings County, NY Marlboro, NJ Team Pagano is New York & New Jersey's most innovative real estate team. Team Pagano \| Keller Williams Realty 50 RT 9 South 1919 Hylan Blvd. © 2021 Brooklyn New York Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All Rights Reserved. IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS or Team Pagano \| Keller Williams Realty. Data last updated: 2021-01-21T17:00:22.547. © 2021 Monmouth-Ocean MLS. IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS or Team Pagano \| Keller Williams Realty. Data last updated 2021-01-21T17:19:37.44. © 2021 Staten Island Multiple Listing Service, Inc. All rights reserved. IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS or Team Pagano \| Keller Williams Realty. Data last updated: 2021-01-21T17:35:18.183.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1264
__label__wiki	0.783651	0.783651	Now Reading: Jesse Jones and the Making of Houston Jesse Jones and the Making of Houston Cecily Sailer Dec 30, 2011, 7:17 pm CST Economist John Kenneth Galbraith said of Houston entrepreneur Jesse H. Jones, “If he hadn’t existed he would have had to be invented, and that would have been some job.” Steven Fenberg’s recent book, Unprecented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism, and the Common Good, reads something like a grand invention: a boy with an eighth- grade education becomes the most powerful man in the nation (next to President Franklin D. Roosevelt), and helps the federal government, using social programs, rescue millions of people and generate revenue. Jones’s socially minded business practices in Houston caught the eye of Presidents Wilson, Hoover and, later, Roosevelt, who appointed Jones chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). In short time, the agency became a cornerstone of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs, lending billions of dollars to revitalize the nation’s economy and militarize industry 18 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jones’s imprint on Houston is almost equally grand; it’s difficult to name a landmark in the city that was not touched by Jones. He arrived in Houston in 1898 and, in his lifetime, sculpted the city’s industry and skyline and enlivened its arts institutions, universities and health care centers. Fenberg discusses Jones’s impact on the city he loved best. Observer: Jesse Jones saw a deep connection between the health of Houston and his own success. As a result, he developed his businesses while cultivating the city’s resources. The Houston Ship Channel—one of the first instances in which federal and local government partnered on a public project—is a great example of this. Jones raised Houston’s share of the funds to complete the project, and the ship channel became a lucrative addition to Houston, both for Jones and the larger economy. Fenberg: Jones was instrumental in financing the Houston Ship Channel, and he was responsible for building the wharves and piers that welcomed ships from around the world. The ship channel elevated Houston’s stature and economy and filled up Jones’s buildings, including the headquarters for Texaco and Gulf Oil and the Rice Hotel. Jones was an avowed capitalist—that’s what he listed as his occupation on his poll tax receipts—and he knew he would not prosper if people were not educated, gainfully employed and able to participate in the local economy. Observer: Part of the RFC’s work to expand the industrial landscape prior to World War II included the development of synthetic rubber to ensure the U.S. would no longer have to rely on natural rubber produced in the Pacific. This proved to be a big moment for Houston. Fenberg: The RFC under Jesse Jones orchestrated the development of synthetic rubber from the lab to mass production in less than two years—a great model today as we cultivate alternative energy to reduce reliance on other nations for oil. The rubber factories were primarily located along the Texas coast for security—so they wouldn’t be on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts—and for their proximity to oil. The rubber factories, enormous steel factories, and the only tin smelter in North America were all built along the Texas Gulf Coast during the war. From 1940 to 1950, because of the industrial buildup and the huge demand for these products, industrial payrolls in Houston went from around $200,000 to $60 million, and the population soared from 410,000 to 726,000. Observer: The 1928 Democratic National Convention was yet another example of Jones bringing good fortune to the city. Houston was selected to host the convention when Jones, who was finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, offered $200,000 of his own money ($2.5 million today); he beat out Detroit and San Francisco for the bid. The result was a huge boon for Houston and the South. Fenberg: The convention put Houston on the map because it was one of the first to be widely heard over radio, and it was featured in newspapers around the world. The convention brought 25,000 people to town just when Jones was building his tallest building—the 35-floor Gulf Oil building, Houston’s tallest building from 1929 to 1963. It opened just months before the onset of the Great Depression. Observer: Jones had his hand in so many elements of Houston—banking, building, ownership of the Houston Chronicle, and the city’s largest radio stations. At first glance, it looks as though Jones was something of a tycoon, but really he was viewed more like a grandfather to the city. Fenberg: In their book But Also Good Business, historians Walter L. Buenger and Joe Pratt said Jones knew how all the pieces fit together into one effective whole— his bank, insurance company, the newspaper and the office buildings. He knew how they worked well together. Observer: After Jones left the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1945, he devoted much of his time and energy to philanthropy. Today, Houston Endowment, the philanthropic foundation he and his wife established more than 70 years ago, continues to support the city in countless ways. Fenberg: Houston Endowment is another example of how Jones used capitalism to improve the common good. He transferred basically all of his wealth—the Houston Chronicle, the Rice Hotel, the famous Mayfair House in New York City, the National Bank of Commerce—he gave almost everything to Houston Endowment. Today, the foundation has assets of more than $1.5 billion. In 2011, it will donate more than $75 million to help improve life for the people of greater Houston. Freelance writer Cecily Sailer lives in Austin. ‘Chicano Squad’ Provides New Perspectives on Police Brutality and Unsolved Murders Two native Texans teamed up to produce a just-released podcast that tells the story of an innovative group of Houston homicide detectives. by Lise Olsen A Weird End for a Weird Year: Our Eight Favorite Strange Texas Stories of 2020 A wild horse chase, an alligator with a big appetite, and a cloned cat made this year a little stranger—in a good way. by Rose Cahalan and Christopher Collins Loon Star: The Year in Cartoons A diary of this hell year via the inimitable Ben Sargent. by Ben Sargent	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1266
__label__wiki	0.870721	0.870721	Minimum wage set to rise in 20 states, 32 localities as growing number adopt $15 an hour Paul Davidson With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, layoffs mounting and $2,000 stimulus checks for U.S. households looking highly uncertain, there couldn’t be a better time to bump up the minimum wage for millions of low-paid Americans, worker advocacy groups say. Employers argue there couldn’t be a worse time, with small businesses struggling to survive amid plunging revenue and a new round of state shutdowns aimed at curtailing the latest coronavirus spike. So far, workers appear to have won the fight and will reap the benefits starting Friday. Twenty states and 32 cities and counties – including many in California – are set to raise their minimum wages on or about New Year’s Day, according to a report provided exclusively to USA TODAY by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a worker advocacy group. About half of those localities will reach the $15 threshold championed by striking fast-food workers and deemed a pipe dream just a few years ago. Since some will act later in the year, a total 24 states and 50 cities and counties – a record 74 jurisdictions – will boost their pay floors sometime in 2021, NELP figures show. “The fact that we’re still seeing a record number” of states and localities lift their base pay despite vehement opposition from business groups during the health crisis “is a big deal,” says Yannet Lathrop, a researcher and policy analyst at NELP. Business groups in Maryland and New York, in particular, sought to delay the hikes, but state officials pressed forward. Meanwhile, the turnabout in views about a $15 wage base has been head-spinning. Even states with relatively low minimums, like Florida and Virginia, are poised for significant increases in 2021 and headed toward $15, or at least the strong possibility of it, by 2026. 'They're not earning enough' By then, 42% of the U.S. workforce will be covered by $15 minimum wage laws, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute “All workers should be able to make ends meet,” Lathrop says. “They’re not earning enough, especially when they’re exposing themselves to a deadly virus,” as restaurant, grocery store, health care and other front-line workers are doing. Rocio Espinoza, 44, earns $13.50 an hour as a food preparer and crew trainer at a McDonald’s in Madera, California. After working at the restaurant for 2 ½ years and in the fast-food industry since 2012, “I don’t feel it’s enough,” she said through a translator. During the pandemic, she says, her schedule has been cut from about 35 hours on average to about 20 hours, putting even more pressure on her finances, even with her husband’s income from his chauffeur job. “I don’t even feel I have enough for food and gas,” she says. After California's minimum wage increases to $14 on Friday, “It will help to have enough gas to get around,” buy more food and allow her to be out sick without worrying about the hit to her monthly budget. It also may help whittle down the $2,000 to $3,000 she owes for medical bills. Yet employer groups say the impact of a $15 wage will be dire for small businesses battered by the pandemic. Seventeen percent of restaurants, or more than 100,000, have closed permanently or for the long term amid the health outbreak, the National Restaurant Association said early this month. Even before the crisis, restaurants in cities with aggressive minimum wage increases, like Seattle and San Francisco, were cutting workers or hiring fewer, says Michael Saltsman, managing director of the Employment Policies Institute, which is backed by the restaurant industry. “If you list the top 100 things you’d do (to help small businesses weather the pandemic), dramatically increasing labor costs is nowhere on that list,” Saltsman says. Lathrop disputes that higher minimum wages hurt employment. The way to address the financial hardships of small businesses during the crisis "is assistance from the federal government," she says. "It’s not to keep wages low.” The $900 billion relief package signed by President Trump this week does include more forgivable small business loans. Saltsman says that’s “just a lifeline to temporarily stop the bleeding” and won’t be enough for many restaurants. Business loans:What's in the stimulus package for small businesses, PPP loans and cultural grants A Congressional Budget Office study last year found a $15 federal minimum wage would increase pay for 17 million workers who earn less than that and possibly another 10 million who earn slightly more. It would cause 1.3 million other workers to lose their jobs, according to the study's median estimate. Federal minimum still $7.25 an hour The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, with Senate Republicans repeatedly blocking efforts to increase it. Still, 30 states, with more than 60% of the US workforce, now have pay floors above the federal government’s, according to NELP. Low-income workers are on the verge of benefiting from bigger paychecks. On Friday, about half the 20 states and 32 localities boosting their minimum wages will enact large increases as part of significant hikes being phased in over several years following legislation or ballot initiatives. The hourly pay floor will rise nearly $2 in Denver to $14.77; $2 in Flagstaff, Arizona, to $15; $1.50 in New Mexico to $10.50; $1 in New Jersey to $12; $1 in California to $14 (for large employers) or $13 (for small employers); and $1 in Illinois to $11. That’s not chump change. A $2-per-hour increase adds up to about $4,000 a year for a full-time employee. There will also be small, annual cost-of-living increases in about 10 states and a couple dozen localities. For example, base hourly pay will edge up from $12 to $12.32 in Colorado, and from $13.50 to $13.69 in Washington State. Later in 2020, another five states and 18 localities will push up their pay floors. In May, the threshold will jump from $7.25 (the federal minimum) to $9.50 in Virginia. And in September, it will climb from $8.56 to $10 in Florida. About 15 cities and counties will reach $15 an hour sometime in 2021 – including Flagstaff and Chicago (for large employers), joining the 25 or so already at that benchmark. And while no state is currently at that standard, nine are headed there over the next few years – California, New York, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Virginia. In Virginia and upstate New York, state officials eventually must make final decisions about whether, or how quickly, to move to $15. Lathrop traces the $15 juggernaut to the awareness generated by Fight for $15, an alliance of fast-food and other low-paid workers that has staged walkouts across the country since 2012 and is backed by the Service Employees International Union. “The movement for a higher wage continues to gather strength,” she says. Reality check:Homeowners aren't fleeing cities in droves despite COVID-19 The outlook for malls:Shopping malls were struggling before COVID-19 and now have more empty stores. What's next after the pandemic?	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1267
__label__wiki	0.665554	0.665554	Round Pegs in NoLA's Square Hole: Entrepreneurs Defy Recession New Orleans has always been a most unconventional of American cities. As national prosperity continues to decline under the weight of a constricting economy, the city nearly destroyed by forces of nature nearly four years ago is perpetuating an inverse trend. Even beyond the employment opportunities created by ongoing reconstruction projects, an explosion of entrepreneurialism fostered by big thinkers like Sean Cummings is incubating a re-birth of this historic city. Sitting in the offices of The Receivables Exchange, the successful start-up I profiled last week, Cummings recounts how President Nicolas Perkin called two years ago to discuss the prospect of basing his new company in New Orleans, he joked in response: "The day you arrive, you will double the number of entrepreneurs" in the city. With New Orleans still reeling to recover from the devastation wrought by Katrina, Cummings--a successful real estate developer--recognized an opportunity to do something more than simply help re-build his native city. Partnering with Perkin and two other business leaders, Cummings launched Start Up New Orleans, a web-based information service designed to connect entrepreneurs with the resources they need to set-up a new business in the Crescent City. In March 2008, Cummings established the aptly-named "Entrepreneur's Row" in a property he owns at 220 Camp Street. By November, Entrepreneur's Row housed the offices of nine companies, including The Receivables Exchange. More than simply a landlord to start-ups, Cummings has personally invested in six of those companies. Cummings's efforts represent just one spoke in a larger wheel of growth that is turning around the post-Katrina New Orleans economy. The Times-Picayune cites his offices on Camp Street as the first of five significant "entrepreneurial hubs" recently established in the city--the leading edge of a trend to cluster innovators close together so they can network and collaborate with each other. The Idea Village, a non-profit established in 2002 to help draw new investment to the city, is focusing efforts to tie the development of entrepreneurial hubs to neighborhoods in greatest need of economic revitalization. In Fall 2006, Idea Village broke ground in the upper 9th Ward to build the Entergy Innovation Center, partially financed with a $200,000 contribution from the Entergy Corporation. Its state-of-the-art community technology center, conference space, and offices for entrepreneurs and nonprofits are scheduled to open this week. The Idea Village is currently assessing other locations in need of economic development--Gentilly and New Orleans East--while considering where to base their next major entrepreneurial hub. Thousands of businesses relocated or simply closed after Katrina, skewing the yardstick for any attempt to measure the rate of new growth in New Orleans. I could tell you that the 6% unemployment in the metropolitan area is more than 30% lower than the national rate, and that the US Census Bureau recently identified New Orleans as the fastest growing city in the country, but what does that even mean in an area that lost half of its population and about a third of its industry after the 2005 storm? A few weeks ago, the Brookings Institution sparked a disgruntled debate by ranking New Orleans as one of the poorest performers of 100 metropolitan areas assessed for how they are weathering the recession. The Brookings analysis inexplicably ignored the game changing destruction of Katrina, comparing the current local economy to a high point from 2004. Business Week, however, recently named New Orleans as one of the best places to ride out the recession. Cumnings concedes, "There is a national recession going on and New Orleans is not completely immune to that. Perhaps post-Katrina financing is propping things up here more than elsewhere." But beyond the conventional re-building process, he says, "What you are seeing with New Orleans represents a profound shift." The city hasn't enjoyed any real growth of prosperity in over a century, he explains. New Orleans had its heyday as a bustling port city in the 19th century, when its position near the mouth of the Mississippi made it the gateway for goods flowing to and from middle America. With diminishing maritime transport throughout the 20th century, the city stagnated as it shifted to a tourism and resource-based economy. "Now, there's a real in-migration of artists and entrepreneurs," he says. Citing the work of Richard Florida, Cummings describes the city's current era as a "creative class-led transformation of New Orleans." Since the Internet has reduced the importance of geographic positioning, new companies can open offices virtually anywhere. Cummings says, "The perception of New Orleans is of a party town, but it's also great place for business." The costs of rent, overhead, and taxes can be less than in most major American cities, and residents can enjoy the Cajun food, vibrant art scene, and live music that gives the city its distinct cultural identity. "Folks on a start-up wage can live a good life in New Orleans--not just a hand-to-mouth existence." "Each of the companies at Entrepreneur's Row is not only playing to a competitive advantage by being based in New Orleans," he says. The start-ups are flourishing because "they've identified macrotrends." Free Flow Power "plays into the need for clean renewable energy" and The Receivables Exchange "plays into the need for commercial credit and liquidity." The growing trend of entrepreneurial innovation in New Orleans has its strongest push in digital media sectors, environmental sustainability, and urban planning and design. While the recession has shuttered businesses across the country, "these companies defy the national trend because of the types of things they do." To describe the human engine driving the transformation of New Orleans, Cummings cites a quote from his role model, Steve Jobs, whose face overlooks our conversation from a blown-up picture propped up on the windowsill. "Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do." Cummings uses the quote to refer to those starting up new businesses in New Orleans, but I can see the description applies to him as much as anyone else. A cursory review of some of the local media coverage of Cummmings shows he has been both glorified and vilified in New Orleans, with some not trusting the intentions of an ambitious real estate developer, particularly with regard to his position as appointed director of the New Orleans Building Corporation, a public benefit entity created by the city council in 2000. In addition to his role in drawing new entrepreneurs to New Orleans, Cummings is playing a major part in the ongoing transformation of the city by spearheading a $250 million riverfront development project, "Re-Inventing the Crescent," scheduled to break ground in December. Planned for completion in time for the city's 300th birthday in 2018, the dilapidated docks, warehouses, and empty parking lots now lining the north bank of the Mississippi River will be transformed into 100 acres of green space, with parks, playgrounds, bike paths, a sculpture garden, an outdoor movie screen--funded with public money, and designed for public enjoyment. Cummings describes it as "the most important addition to the city since the French Quarter." With a roster of world-class artists, architects, and urban planners commissioned to contribute work to the project, he says the completed riverfront "will become an architectural icon of the 21st century." Even more than just a pretty place for a picnic, the riverfront development is also expected to create 24,000 new permanent jobs in the hospitality sector, academia, and the creative professions. Some long-time residents are wary of any planned transformation of their beloved city--particularly one being led by a wealthy real estate developer appointed to his quasi-public position by a city government with a long tradition of corruption. Despite an ethics review determination that his current real estate holdings do not put him in a position to directly profit from the riverfront development, some people in New Orleans still have their doubts about Sean Cummings. After spending time talking with him, I must say that any doubts sparked by reading public criticism about him fell away as I absorbed the earnestness of his passion for the city. I consider myself a fairly good judge of character, and Sean strikes me as a highly intelligent and creative thinker--a man of admirable integrity driven by an honorable mission to help rejuvenate New Orleans. "If you want to reduce it to its essence, I enjoy improving the quality of life for people," he tells me. "That's why I do what I do." He may not surrender all his wealth and possessions to charity and devote himself to working for the poor, but in his own capacity, making full use of his particular talents, knowledge, and experience, Cummings is poised to have a meaningful impact on raising the standard of living across New Orleans. Cummings speaks with the greatest intensity when discussing how he wants to "harness the power of beautiful design to uplift the human spirit" and believes New Orleans will again make an "important contribution to the global conversation about art, design, and entrepreneurialism." "You are witnessing a city being reminded of its greatness," he tells me. Eventually, those New Orleans natives suspicious of Sean Cummings's motivations will become grateful for the reminder.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1268
__label__wiki	0.831478	0.831478	4 Self-Made Indians Make It to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People List! Such is their popularity and visibility across the world that no formal introduction is required for these eminent personalities. Post author:Lekshmi Priya S Post category:Famous Personalities / India TIME magazine is out with its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and the 2018 list is quite path-breaking as for the first time in history, a record number of 45 women and 45 people under the age of 40 have made it to the much-renowned list. “The TIME 100, always a reflection of its moment, looks quite different than in the past. The list is not a measure of power or a collection of milestones but is instead, a designation of individuals whose time, in our estimation, is now,” said Edward Felsenthal, the Editor-in-Chief of TIME in a letter. Making their way to TIME 100 are four Indians, who we would all have to admit are in the best phase of their careers right now, and it is just matter of time before they reach even greater heights. The people in question are Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola co-founder), Deepika Padukone (actor), Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft) and last but not the least, Virat Kohli, the captain of Indian cricket team. Such is their popularity and visibility across the world that we don’t need to formally introduce these eminent personalities, who have each made a niche for themselves in their chosen professional sphere. In fact, the Microsoft head is among the six personalities selected to be featured on covers of the magazine’s special issues. TIME follows a tradition where every chosen individual’s description is penned by someone who has known them or worked with them closely. So here are a few snippets from those testimonies from the friends and acquaintances of the four influential Indians who have clinched a place in TIME 100: 1. Bhavish Aggarwal Source: Facebook. “For those who meet Bhavish Aggarwal for the first time, his polite, soft-spoken demeanor is impossible to forget. Get to know him a little more and you will soon notice his vision, passion and determination to stand against all odds. After all, he co-founded Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-sharing companies, scaled it to more than 100 Indian cities, empowered millions of driver-partners and commuters, and is a flag bearer for India’s consumer-tech ecosystem—all by the age of 32. From bootstrapping Ola when Indian consumer tech was still taking baby steps to braving regulatory hurdles and fighting off foreign competitors, Bhavish has driven around the block a few times. By taking Ola Down Under to Australia this year, he has made it one of the first homegrown tech companies to meaningfully expand outside India,” said Sachin Bansal, the executive chairman of Indian e-commerce company Flipkart. 2. Deepika Padukone “For xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Deepika took committed to a whole other level. That’s who she is as a performer. She wants the whole movie to shine, which is a rare thing. Anyone could talk about how beautiful she is, and anyone could tell you about her unmatched comedic timing. But she isn’t just a star. She’s an actor’s actor, dedicated to the craft. So often in the entertainment industry, we deal in stereotypes, and people get stuck in certain markets. Deepika is the best Earth has to offer. She’s not just here to represent India; she’s here to represent the world,” wrote Hollywood actor, Vin Diesel. 3. Satya Nadella Source: Flickr. “Growing up in India, Satya Nadella fell in love with cricket, a sport whose grace comes from melding stars into a cohesive and harmonic team. ‘One brilliant character who does not put the team first can destroy the entire team,’ he wrote in his recent book, Hit Refresh. Since becoming CEO of Microsoft in 2014, Nadella has used those principles to restore the company’s spirit of innovation. Consider its new product strategy, which emphasises cloud computing and allowing people to collaborate across platforms. Nadella also preaches the importance of empathy and making products that work reliably, traits that deepened in him when his first child was born with brain damage and his son’s life depended on linked machines running Microsoft systems. The result is that in the four years since he inherited a sticky wicket, Microsoft’s market value has increased 130 percent,” said Walter Isaacson, who is a professor of history at Tulane University and a former managing editor of TIME. “The U-19 World Cup in 2008 was very important for India, as it would define the next bunch of youngsters who would go on to represent the nation. That was the first time I watched this young, passionate player lead India. Today Virat Kohli is a household name and a champion in cricket. Even back then, his hunger for runs and consistency was remarkable, something that has become the hallmark of his game. Every sportsman knows what it’s like to have good spells and bad ones too. Virat took the criticism he faced during a disappointing West Indies series and returned home with a goal: to improve not only his technique but also his fitness level. He’s never looked back,” wrote Sachin Tendulkar, the former captain of India’s cricket team. (Edited by Gayatri Mishra) Previous PostHow a Mangaluru Cop’s Selfless & Timely Action Saved a Pregnant Woman’s Life Next PostSeen the Viral ‘Upside down’ Photographer? Here’s This Kerala Man’s Story!	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1269
__label__cc	0.72907	0.27093	5 Interesting Facts about Sarfaraz Khan Who Just Broke a World Record in U-19 Cricket Post author:Meryl Garcia Sarfaraz Khan has been known for his aggressive batting style from his younger days. This 18-year-old is now in the news for creating a world record by hitting his fifth half-century in the ICC U-19 World Cup. Here are 5 interesting things you should know about this promising cricketer. 1. He is the youngest IPL player Photo source: oneindia.com In 2015, Sarfaraz was chosen by the Indian Premier League and became the youngest player to feature in the event. He was signed up for Rs. 50 lakh and played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. 2. He is not new to controversy Photo source: Facebook He has been suspended by the Mumbai Cricket Association for allegedly fudging his age. A bone test was conducted on him and the results – which showed his age as 15-years-and-8-months – did not match the age registered with the Association (which was 13 at the time). He underwent three tests to prove his age and finally the authorities accepted it and revoked his suspension. This was a trying time for him. 3. He played for the Hull Cricket Club Sarfaraz, along with three other cricketers from the city, was selected for a month-long stint with Hull Cricket Club, a premier club in the United Kingdom, for the Yorkshire League in 2012. In the same year, he was also featured in the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. 4. He is coached by his father Sarfaraz’s father Naushad Khan, who was a well-known cricketer, has been his coach. He is a hard taskmaster. Sarfaraz had to quit school in order to focus on cricket. During this time, his father employed private maths and English tutors to teach Sarfaraz and his brother Musheer – who is also a cricketer. 5. He has been lauded by prominent cricketers Photo source: Youtube Sarfaraz has been the favourite of many prominent cricketers. He has earned praise from Rahul Dravid – who is convinced of his abilities. Virat Kohli too has appreciated him for his game. After Sarfaraz wowed everyone with his batting skills during a match against Rajasthan Royals, Virat even bowed down before him. Previous PostA Hero on & off the Field – Pujara Starts Cricket Academy for Underprivileged Kids in Rajkot Next PostStudy Reveals Tea Without Sugar Could Save More Water Than IPL Ban in Drought Hit Maharashtra	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1270
__label__cc	0.737864	0.262136	Bengaluru to Host First-Of-Its-Kind Performing Arts Festival for the Transgender Community Post author:Aishwarya Bhatkal A performing arts festival for transgender people will be organised at the National Gallery for Modern Arts, Bengaluru from July 29 to 31. The International Transgender Arts Festival (TITAF) aims to feature the work of people from the transgender community across the country and to showcase their talent in the fields of music, classical dance, spoken word poetry, film, theatre, etc. The fest has been conceptualised by Srivatsa Shandilya, founder of the International Arts and Cultural Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to help in promoting traditional arts and culture. The festival will reach out to a large chunk of the community, giving them a platform that might have once been denied to them. It will not just be a platform for them to perform, but also to promote the welfare of transgender people. Picture for representation only. Source: ibtimes “Through the festival, I am trying to prove that art has no gender. The endeavour is to offer equal opportunities to everyone from all walks of life, and in turn help preserve local Indian performing arts,” he told Bangalore Mirror. The festival is being referred to as “India’s first ever international performing arts festival by artistes from the transgender community”. Naanu Avanalla…Avalu (I am not ‘he’, I am ), a National Award winning movie directed by B. S. Lingadevaru will be screened at the festival. Some of the performers include a Mohiniattam dancer from Singapore named Maalika Ganesh Panicker, Varsha Antony who is a Bharatanatyam dancer from Malaysia, and Manjamma from a transgender- devdasi community in Karnataka. “The aharya (costume and make-up), the theatricality of these arts, and the suspension of belief they demand have made it a comfortable space for transgenders to inhabit. If you notice even on the streets, the hijra community is performative,” dancer Anita Ratnam told The Times of India. “The world is neatly structured for men and women. Where do I fit in?” added a Bharatanatyam dancer who is also one of the participants. Previous PostMY STORY: I Am a ‘Hijra’ Who Could Not Father a Child. Today, I’m the Proud Parent of an MBA Grad. Next PostKerala Couple Boldly Challenges Taboos by Having a Transgender Person as Witness on Their Wedding	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1271
__label__wiki	0.984809	0.984809	8 Un-Bollywood Hindi Films in 2017 That Will Make You Appreciate Cinema Again! Post author:Aditi Patwardhan Post category:Cinema / Films / Lists Here are eight un-Bollywood Hindi films you should watch out for this year. It’s a new year, and undoubtedly, our beloved Bollywood is all set to churn out several new films. The 2017 lineup of big releases is already creating a buzz. But while there have been endless discussions about the biggest upcoming blockbusters that tend to grab all eyeballs, we decided to take a look at some non-mainstream films that are worth waiting for. Th Indian film industry is certainly as widespread and extensive as the subcontinent itself, with a plethora of regional films being made every year. Even within popular Hindi cinema, many independent filmmakers are trying to explore with different genres and put forward new ideas and concepts in their creations. Here are eight offbeat movies for your viewing pleasure: 1. Trapped by Vikramaditya Motwane Trapped is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, whose previous releases include Udaan and Lootera. Need we say more? Starring Rajkummar Rao, the film had its world premiere at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. The 105-minute-long film is a survival drama thriller that narrates the story of a man who finds himself trapped in his own apartment in a high-rise building, left with no way to escape. The film was shot in 22 days at real locations around Mumbai. Rajkummar Rao went on a ‘coffee and carrots only’ diet to prepare for his role. “I was surviving on very little food. Probably just coffee and carrots,” he said in an interview.“But it was a great experience as an actor. This was something I always wanted to do. I am a big fan of survival dramas like ‘Cast Away’, ‘Buried’ or ‘127 Hours’,” the actor said in an interview. Release date: To be announced 2. Haramkhor by Shlok Sharma [embedvideo id=”JYIebvX1IJ8″ website=”youtube”] Written and directed by Shlok Sharma, Haramkhoris yet another interesting film in this year’s lineup. Set in a small village, the film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shweta Tripathi (who dazzled us all in Masaan). The film created quite a buzz in the 2015 festival circuit. Nawazuddin bagged the Best Actor award for his performance in Haramkhor at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF). Although the film landed in controversy in the process of securing its certification, it has finally secured a UA certificate. Produced by the makers of Gangs of Wasseypur and The Lunchbox, the film portrays a twisted love triangle between a married school teacher, his student and her classmate. Quite intriguing indeed! Also read: 7 Thought-provoking Short Films You Can Watch Online For Free 3. A Death in the Gunj by Konkona Sen Sharma [embedvideo id=”XliKkuxa_nA” website=”youtube”] Talented actor and daughter of celebrated filmmaker Aparna Sen, Konkona Sen Sharma has turned into a director with A Death in the Gunj as her debut. The film was the opening title at the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival, which screened releases at the restored Opera House in Mumbai. The film is set in 1969 and revolves around a family vacation gone horribly wrong. “A Death in the Gunj resembles a story your grandmom tells you on a lazy Sunday afternoon just before you nap. It doesn’t have a moral purpose or deep philosophical themes. It’s just a story of a family reunion over seven days, and their inter-personal dynamics,” says the film’s Firstpost review. 4. Loev by Sudhanshu Saria [embedvideo id=”pDndThLxxvk” website=”youtube”] The directorial debut of Sudhanshu Saria is a relationship drama about three Indian men grappling with the boundary between friendship and love. The film has done its rounds within the festival circuit across the world and has won accolades as well as awards. A review in Los Angeles Times describes it as “a love story that could change Bollywood”. Despite having homosexual characters as its protagonists, Loev doesn’t place their sexuality at the centre of the film; instead it portrays characters that are comfortable with themselves and explore their identities through an emotional journey. Lauded for brilliant performances by Dhruv Ganesh, Shiv Pandit and Siddharth Menon, and its restrained storytelling, Loev is bound to be an intriguing watch. 5. Lipstick Under my Burkha by Alankrita Shrivastava [embedvideo id=”EpHqeHF8NM0″ website=”youtube”] Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava and produced by Prakash Jha, the film has won accolades in the film festival circuit. The feminist dramedy (a mixture of drama and comedy), has won Tokyo’s Spirit of Asia award. The film is a bold and feisty narrative starring four women between the ages of 18 and 55 from old Bhopal. The protagonists rebel in small ways against the conventional identities the society has allotted them to chase their dreams. Juxtaposing the colourful double lives these women live, the film explores the many shades of female desire. The burkha in the title is a metaphor for all the restrictions placed upon these women by their domineering husbands, possessive boyfriends and a very judgemental society. Also read: MY VIEW: 10 Important Lessons I Learnt from Bollywood in 2016 6. Secret Superstar by Advait Chandan [embedvideo id=”P6jaRsnchro” website=”youtube”] The film’s recently-released teaser starring Aamir Khan created a buzz for all the right reasons. Though it’s a film produced under Aamir Khan’s banner, Secret Superstar falls far from the typicality of Bollywood. The musical drama written and directed by Advait Chandan narrates the story of a teenage girl who dreams of becoming a superstar singer, but is banned from doing anything about it by her strict father. She realises her dream by wearing a hijab and taking to YouTube to upload her songs. The film is said to trace her journey towards fulfilling her dream. The film stars Zaira Wasim, Meher Vij as well as Aamir Khan, whose role is said to be an extended cameo. Release Date: August 4 7. Maroon by Pulkit [embedvideo id=”n2MLZJ77RNc” website=”youtube”] Maroon is debut director Pulkit’s psychological thriller shot in a single location. The film captures the protagonist’s descent into a disturbing world of disillusionment after his cheating wife goes missing. The main character of a creative writer has been played by Manav Kaul. The film’s review by Hollywood Reporter lauds the low-budget indie film for its haunting soundtrack and evocative sound-design. The review further goes on to say, “A creative writing teacher’s unfaithful wife is missing and he’s acting mighty strange in Indian writer-director Pulkit’s psycho drama Maroon, which tips its hat at Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe. Claustrophobically set within the confines of a middle-class home, the story’s not really about who-dun-it or why, but how the protag falls apart as police investigate his wife’s murder. Despite its low-budget indie look, this first feature is intriguing and offers deeper psychology than most of its ilk, making it worth a look for festivals.” 8. Pinky Beauty Parlour by Akshay Singh [embedvideo id=”9KTFUg3YwBs” website=”youtube”] Akshay Singh has made his debut into direction as well as production with Pinky Beauty Parlour.The film captures the repercussions of the infamous Indian obsession with fair skin. The film portrays the lives of two sisters, Pinky and Bulbul, who run a beauty parlour in one of the small gullies of Banaras. It captures small town life in a rustic and realistic way. Singh, who would often visit his maternal family as a child, in a small town of Uttar Pradesh, witnessed the colour bias from a close distance. After spending a decade in the industry working as an actor, he decided to make his directorial debut and address the deep-rooted issue of discrimination based on colour through his film. A nationwide release is always a difficult feat to achieve for a small-budget film. The film’s producer is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Wishberry to make it possible for his film to reach the whole country. Previous PostThis Viral Romantic Saga of Two Childhood Sweethearts Will Strengthen Your Belief in True Love Next Post17 Kite Flying Enthusiasts from around the World Share What They Love about India & Uttarayan	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1272
__label__cc	0.590019	0.409981	Breaking News: Five Men Found Guilty in Ft. Dix Terrorism Case In a long drawn out court battle, the government emerged victorious. The question is: How big of a victory is it in the war on terrorism? By Troy Graham CAMDEN, N.J. — A federal jury today found the five foreign-born Muslim men guilty of conspiring to kill military personnel, but not guilty of attempted murder. The verdict ends one of the country’s most sensational cases of domestic terrorism, a case that garnered international headlines on May 7, 2007, when the defendants were arrested in coordinated raids. The jury returned at 1:20 p.m. and was finished reading their verdict on the multiple charges at 1:35 p.m. The judge read a statement from the jury, that said in part: “The American justice system is a precious and fragile thing…This has been one of the most difficult things we have ever had to do…We have not reached our conclusion lightly…We are confident we have reached it fairly and impartially. We ask that our privacy be respected.” The eight woman four men have remained anonymous. For Full Story Read Verdict Obama to Release Report Tuesday on His Team’s Contact With Gov. Blagojevich (AP) Secret Tapes Helped Build Case Against Blagojevich (Washington Post) Posted: 12/22/08 at 3:29 PM under News Story. You need to login to post comments!	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1273
__label__wiki	0.884769	0.884769	Home / Business / Chinese Firm,Trina Solar to Set Up Rs. 2,800 Crore Solar Plant in Andhra Pradesh Chinese Firm,Trina Solar to Set Up Rs. 2,800 Crore Solar Plant in Andhra Pradesh Trina Solar, a Chinese solar power equipment manufacturer, on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a plant with an investment of Rs. 2,800 crore. The plant will come up at Atchutapuram in Visakhapatnam district. SS Rawat, Andhra Pradesh’s secretary for industries, and Chen Shou Chung, vice president of Trina Solar, signed the MoU in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada. The chief minister said this will give a huge fillip to the energy-efficient practices promoted by the state government and create employment opportunities for 3,500 people. Trina Solar is one the world’s leading companies that specialises in the manufacture of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and system integration. It also develops and produces ingots, wafers, solar cells and solar modules. Chinese Firm Solar Plant in Andhra Pradesh	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1274
__label__cc	0.62128	0.37872	Maryland Voters Approve Sports Betting maryland sports betting Voters in the state of Maryland approved a ballot measure on Nov. 3, officially legalizing sports betting, it passed by a margin of close to 70-30. We think this is a great opportunity for Maryland to bring revenue home from other nearby states that have authorized sports wagering.” — FanDuel BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES, November 26, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — Voters in the state of Maryland approved a ballot measure on Nov. 3, officially legalizing the state's sports betting industry. Ballot question 2 was the measure that was in front of voters, and it passed by a margin of close to 70-30. Commercial gambling is already legal in Maryland, but passing ballot question 2 added sports and event wagering to the mix. Most experts predicted that this would be a close vote, but the final results did not reflect that. Lawmakers in the state of Maryland were looking to pass a bill to allow for legal betting on sports in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic made that a challenging task. The two political parties were unable to come to an official agreement but wanted to leave the decision up to voters. This has been a process taken up by several states, and Maryland was not the only state to legalize sports betting on Election Day. Now the question is, when will Maryland sports betting be available, and what will the industry look like? The Mid-Atlantic portion of the United States has seen tremendous growth in the industry since 2018, and Maryland was the last state in this region without a legalized sportsbook. Even though ballot question 2 was passed, Maryland will head into 2021 without sports betting, but that could soon change. Operators Help the Campaign Lawmakers in Maryland were hopeful that voters would help amend the Maryland sports betting laws, but they also got some support from two of the industry's biggest names. DraftKings and FanDuel are both set to benefit from sports betting coming to Maryland, and these operators spent a ton of money trying to persuade voters. These two competitors joined together to form a campaign called "Vote Yes on Question 2." DraftKings and FanDuel allocated $2.75 million to help fund this campaign. However, just over $2 million of that budget was spent. This aggressive marketing campaign focused on television, radio, and direct mail campaigns to convince voters to "vote yes." It's unclear just how much impact this campaign had, but the operators were able to get the result that they wanted. “We think this is a great opportunity for Maryland to bring revenue home from other nearby states that have authorized sports wagering,” FanDuel said in a statement to the Baltimore Sun. “We’re hopeful we can bring FanDuel Sportsbook to Maryland in 2021.” When the Maryland sports betting industry officially opens for business, both DraftKings and FanDuel will likely be two of the Maryland sportsbooks that offer betting. Other competitors will look to join the market as well, but these two operators have already made a big splash with sports bettors in the state. Hurdles Still Remain Now that voters in the state have approved ballot question 2, it is up to lawmakers to create rules and regulations to guide the industry. This was tried in 2020, but there was not enough time to get things approved. One of the biggest questions has already been answered, it seems, and Maryland will look to offer online betting. States that provide online betting have been much more successful than those that have launched without this offering. The Maryland sports betting laws will need to outline how many sports betting licenses are available and what companies can apply for these licenses. It is safe to assume that all six commercial casinos will be granted a license, but professional sports stadiums could be given that chance as well. This process will likely take several months before a final bill is passed through the legislature, but Maryland sports betting is expected to be live at some point in 2021. Expect the betting industry to launch before the start of the 2021 college football season, as football is the most popular betting option throughout the US. Joseph Falchetti SafestBettingSites.com Previous Previous post: Motor World Nominated in Two Categories for Lynchburg Business Magazine Best of Business Awards Next Next post: Activated Carbon Market: Emerging Economies Present Significant Growth Opportunities	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1275
__label__wiki	0.953747	0.953747	Devon Pendleton and Jack Pitcher \| Bloomberg News August 26, 2020 6:15 PM, EDT Elon Musk’s Wealth Now Exceeds $100 Billion Elon Musk has seen his fortune grow by $73.6 billion this year. (Saul Martinez/Getty Images via Bloomberg News) [Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.] Three of the world’s richest people have achieved staggering new levels of personal wealth, including Tesla’s Elon Musk. The net worth of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos eclipsed $200 billion on Aug. 26 as shares of the e-commerce giant climbed to a record. The move simultaneously pushed his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, 50, to the brink of becoming the world’s richest woman, just behind L’Oreal SA heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. Musk, meanwhile, extended an extraordinary stretch of wealth gains to become a centibillionaire. Tesla Inc. shares rallied Aug. 26, pushing his net worth to $101 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a listing of the world’s 500 richest people. Tech companies boosted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to new highs for a fourth straight day, buoyed by news that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep short-term interest rates near zero for at least five years. The gains by Bezos, 56, and Musk represent just the latest high-water mark for wealth accumulation in a topsy-turvy year defined by both surging markets and catastrophic human and economic loss. The world’s 500 richest people have gained $809 billion so far this year, a 14% increase since January, even as a global pandemic caused a record drop in GDP and millions of lost jobs. The rising income inequality has provoked sharp responses from many progressive politicians and critics on the left. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said earlier this month he plans to introduce legislation to tax wealth gains during the coronavirus crisis. “We cannot continue to allow billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to become obscenely rich while millions of Americans face eviction, hunger and economic desperation,” Sanders said Aug. 26 in a statement. “It’s time to fundamentally change our national priorities.” Others view their massive wealth as justified, saying they’ve earned it through the creation of singular businesses. “When you look at Musk and Bezos, it’s understated to say that in their own ways, they’ve changed the world,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital. The surge in wealth is especially concentrated in the upper ranks of the billionaires index and has been fueled largely by tech stocks, which have been on a tear as the pandemic drives more people online. That also includes a rise in the number of retail investors buying stocks. Musk, 49, now one of four centibillionaires in the world, has seen his fortune grow by $73.6 billion this year, a jump still smaller than Bezos’, who is up by $87.1 billion. The net worth of Facebook Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg topped $100 billion earlier this month. On Aug. 26 alone it rose by $8.5 billion. U.S. tech tycoons haven’t been the only beneficiaries. India’s Mukesh Ambani became the first Asian to rank among the world’s five richest last month. He’s gained $22.5 billion this year on the back of a boost in shares of his conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd., whose tech division has attracted recent investments from the likes of Facebook and Silver Lake. Elon Musk, Amazon Tesla’s Elon Musk Now World’s Richest Person Elon Musk Says Time to Break Up Amazon, Fueling Jeff Bezos Feud Elon Musk Cruises to $11.8 Billion Haul, Is Now World’s Fourth-Richest Person	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1277
__label__wiki	0.991974	0.991974	Bio & Images Channel 4 Sport ITV Sport <!- Nav close --> Fifth Harmony to perform ‘America the Beautiful’ at WrestleMania 32 WWE has announced that pop sensation Fifth Harmony will perform “America the Beautiful,” kicking off WrestleMania on Sunday 3rd April 3 at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Fifth Harmony will join the likes of renowned artists Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and John Legend who have opened WWE’s annual pop culture extravaganza. “We are so excited to be a part of this year’s WrestleMania!” the group said. “It’s such an honor to be chosen to perform at one of WWE’s biggest events. We can’t wait to see everyone in Arlington!” The award-winning girl group was formed in 2012 on the second season of “The X Factor USA” and will release their highly-anticipated sophomore album “7/27” in May. The first single from “7/27,” “Work from Home,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, marks the group’s highest debut on the Billboard 200 charts, and currently has nearly 50 million views on YouTube. 2016 has already been a big year for Fifth Harmony as they recently received the award for “Favorite Group” at the People’s Choice Awards and “Favorite Music Group” at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards. “WWE has a long tradition of attracting the world’s most popular artists to perform at our biggest event of the year,” said Neil Lawi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, WWE Music Group. “Fifth Harmony will continue this great tradition as we look forward to their much-anticipated performance at this year’s WrestleMania.” Updated on Tuesday 22 March 2016 by TV Newsroom in WWE WWE Thunderdome moves to Tropicana Field in Florida Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford dropped from This Morning? Zelina Vega released from WWE WWE SmackDown moves to FS1 for one week only BBC announces celebrity panel for I Can See Your Voice The Latest Five WWE: Road Warrior Animal dies at 60 years old WWE announces new podcast for Alexa Bliss Mauro Ranallo leaves WWE I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here 2020 will take place at Gwrych Castle in north Wales Sky Two to be renamed to Sky Replay Big Brother 2012 – Day 55 – Housemates confess their sins in BB’s Confession booth Celebrity Big Brother 2013 housemate: Charlotte Crosby TV Newsroom 2003-2020 - Disclaimer • Privacy Policy • Contacts - All Images and Videos are the property of their respective owners.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1279
__label__wiki	0.767665	0.767665	The Cipher Daily Brief Get a daily rundown of the top security stories delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday with exclusive briefs and columns on what matters most to you and your organization. SIGN UP FOR The Free Newsletter Instability in Iraq During Leadership Transition Get exclusive analysis delivered to your inbox daily. Bottom Line up Front Iraq’s new government will struggle to extricate the country from its role as an arena for conflict between Iran and the United States, or necessarily set Iraq on a course for long-term stability. The new Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, faces an immediate economic crisis brought about by the collapse of oil prices driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Iranian influence in Iraq remains strong because Kadhimi’s government was approved largely on the strength of votes by Iran-backed factions. The domestic protest movement, quiescent in recent months due to the pandemic, remains unsatisfied and suspicious of Kadhimi’s former role as chief of Iraqi intelligence. On May 7, 2020, Iraq’s Council of Representatives (CoR) approved a new government headed by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who has been serving as the head of Iraq’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). Of his 22 cabinet nominees, 15 were approved, enabling him to assume office, although some key ministries, including foreign affairs, were not immediately filled and are subject to further negotiations. An acting oil minister, Ali al-Allawi, was named on May 10. Kadhimi achieved approval largely on the strength of CoR votes from pro-Iranian and other Shia factions. This clearly indicates that Iran had acquiesced to his appointment as prime minister, despite Tehran’s lingering concerns that Kahdimi seeks to limit Iran’s influence in Iraq. Kadhimi is the first post-Saddam Hussein prime minister who is not a member of an avowedly pro-Iranian Shia Islamist party such as the Da’wa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). He was, however, an anti-Saddam activist in London working with other Iraqi Shias to expose the human rights abuses of Saddam’s regime. Because he requires continued backing from Iran and Iran-backed groups, Kadhimi is unlikely to succeed in reining in the Iran-backed Shia militias that continue to attack U.S. troops in Iraq. Some of these groups, although without presenting any specific evidence, blame Kadhimi for cooperating with the U.S. strike that killed IRGC-Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Iran-backed militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in January. Kadhimi is close to the strongly pro-American Iraqi President Barham Salih, who designated him for his new post, and will not bend to the insistence of Iran’s Iraqi allies to expel U.S. forces from the country. The Trump administration has withdrawn some U.S. troops from Iraq since early 2020, but it continues to want to deploy forces to Iraq to fight remnants of the so-called Islamic State and to deny Iran greater influence in Iraq. A U.S.-Iraq ‘strategic dialogue’ planned for June 2020 will provide indications about the degree and scope of ongoing bilateral security cooperation. As long as U.S. troops remain in Iraq, U.S.-Iran competition for influence in Iraq is inevitable, and renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities in Iraq are likely. Kadhimi takes office in an Iraq that is not only the fulcrum of U.S.-Iran competition, but which also faces several crises that are indirectly related to the regional strategic environment. Of most immediate concern is the economic crisis that has been aggravated, but not necessarily caused by, the COVID-19 pandemic. Foremost among the difficulties is Iraq’s continued dependence on oil revenues – which still account for nearly 90% of government revenue – at a time when the global oil market has virtually collapsed. Iraq’s budget, which consists in large part of government salaries, can balance at a global oil price of about $56 per barrel, but current prices are less than half that amount. Iraq is cutting government expenditures and desperately trying to tap outside sources of funds, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in order to avoid drawing down its $60 billion in reserve funds. Iraq’s efforts to cope with the financial crisis will likely worsen unemployment even further, almost certainly causing another flare up of the domestic unrest that has been muted in recent months due to the pandemic. In late 2019, widespread protests in Iraq against government corruption as well as rampant underemployment – including demonstrations by Shias that have generally supported Iraq’s governments since 2003 – caused Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to resign. These grievances are certain to re-emerge when the country’s COVID-19 lockdown measures ease further. Kadhimi generates particular suspicions among protesters because of his most recent role as chief of intelligence, a position that carries the legacy of repression practiced by Saddam Hussein’s regime. None of the difficulties facing the new Prime Minister can be easily addressed, indicating that Iraq may still not be on the road to full sovereignty or stability 17 years after the U.S. invasion that ended Saddam Hussein’s regime. IntelBrief Iran Iraq Prime Minister US The Author is Intel Brief Learn more about The Cipher Brief's Network here. CLICK TO ADD YOUR POINT OF VIEW Share your point of view Cancel reply Your comment will be posted pending moderator approval. No ad hominem attacks will be posted. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Is the Maximum Pressure Campaign Working with Iran? Norman T. Roule Is Iran Defiantly Looking Toward a Deal? Steven Ward What's Driving the War of Words Between the U.S. and Iran? Recent Briefs The Coming Chinese Storm - Part Two Mark Kelton The Coming Chinese Storm False Flags in Cyberspace: Targeting Public Opinion and Political Will The Cipher Brief Kremlin Subs Set Sights on Internet's Undersea Backbone Terrorists Stalk Dark Web for Deadlier Weaponry Network Spotlight Leslie Ireland Leslie Ireland is the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Intelligence and Analysis. She joined Treasury in 2010 after 25 years at CIA where she specialized in Iran, the Middle East and WMD. Ms. Ireland retired in November 2016 after more than 31 years in the Intelligence Community. Prior to joining the Treasury Department, from 2008-2010 Ms. Ireland served ...	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1280
__label__wiki	0.988514	0.988514	Canadian philanthropist Peter Dalglish loses appeal of sexual assault conviction in Nepal Arun Budhathoki This article was published more than 6 months ago. Some information in it may no longer be current. The Patan High Court upheld Peter Dalglish's conviction Thursday, but reduced his sentence from nine years to eight because of changes in Nepalese law. NORDIC NETWORK OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS/Handout Canadian philanthropist Peter Dalglish lost his appeal in Nepal of his conviction on charges of sexually assaulting two children. The Patan High Court upheld the conviction Thursday, but reduced Mr. Dalglish’s sentence from nine years to eight because of changes in Nepalese law. Mr. Dalglish’s lawyer, Dennis Edney, told The Globe and Mail after the verdict was rendered that it was “a miscarriage of justice," accusing Nepalese police – members of the Central Bureau of Investigation – of committing an illegal raid on Mr. Dalglish’s home and of building their case on fabricated evidence and coerced witnesses. “We showed the judges that no evidence (medical or visual) existed and yet the judges have announced the verdict in the favour of the two boys who were basically set up by the CIB. This is injustice,” Mr. Edney said. Mr. Dalglish, who was awarded the Order of Canada in 2016 for his work helping children escape poverty through various charitable funds and foundations, was arrested on April 8, 2018, at his home in a village east of Kathmandu, accused of sexually assaulting two boys age 11 and 14. The government’s lawyer on Thursday argued that the CIB investigations were legal and accused Mr. Dalglish of trying, through intermediaries, to get the boys to recant their stories. At the appeal, the mother of one of the boys presented testimony to the judges behind closed doors. Mr. Dalglish’s lawyers have contended that the boys provided varying accounts and have since recanted their accusations. After the verdict, Mr. Dalglish told The Globe he doesn’t understand how this could happen. “I love this country despite what has happened today. I would like to thank my family, friends and lawyers for supporting me throughout the hearing. I have no animosity against the Nepali people or the country despite the verdict. I am disappointed that the verdict happened even when there’s no evidence against me,” he said. His legal team is considering an appeal to Nepal’s supreme court. Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today. Canadian aid worker Peter Dalglish jailed nine years in Nepal for sexual assault of boys Follow us on Twitter @globeandmail Opens in a new window	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1282
__label__wiki	0.69517	0.69517	Make it work for us, Ms Tullo Easing crown copyright would allow the public to use government data freely, but some officials want the information traded Wed 7 Jun 2006 19.13 EDT First published on Wed 7 Jun 2006 19.13 EDT It may be a modern version of squaring the circle. According to the director of the Office of Public Sector Information (Opsi), Carol Tullo, it is feasible to open up the government's stores of data, uphold copyright and charge the public for official information. Speaking recently at a conference of freedom of information officers from government, she said: "Why should we be gatekeepers? We have enough to do in our day jobs than to worry about what the local economy may find interesting." The default position of government should be to trade in information, Tullo said, adding that transparency and openness benefits government in many ways. She cited the non-political website TheyWorkForYou.com - which repurposes data from Hansard online to let users find out about MPs' voting records, attendance and even register of interests - as an example of how making government information available can benefit society. "The people at TheyWorkForYou.com have said to me, 'we shouldn't be providing this [site]. This is something government should have been providing.' Actually, no. This is a perfect example of entrepreneurial private-sector activity," Tullo said. So does the example of that site mean the Free Our Data campaign - which aims to get government to make available at no cost the non-personal data it collects, such as mapping and environmental information - is misguided? Is the problem simply with the private sector? Unsurprisingly, no. The creators of TheyWorkForYou risked prosecution to build the site, because parliament (and through it, Opsi, which regulates crown copyright) initially refused to grant permission for them to re-use the Hansard data that was freely available online. It's just another indication of how the system of assigning "copyright" and "value" to government data stifles wider innovation. The site's creators find Tullo's claims surprising. "We had to take the risk of publishing without a licence because we believe everyone has a right to reproduce what their MP has been saying in parliament," says developer Francis Irving. "Parliament ... did eventually give us a licence, but one shouldn't have to rely on their kindness. It should be every citizen's right to reproduce that information without having to ask permission." Julian Todd, an IT developer and co-creator of the site, adds: "As far as I know, we have had zero cooperation from the Opsi. It's also bonkers ... to call us 'private sector'. We're activists, without a business plan, and without respect for things like 'parliamentary copyright' if it can be perceived as an obstruction to democracy." So will the government abolish these types of copyright, which are seen by entrepreneurs and activists as restrictive? "Why should government abolish and not respect copyright?" Tullo responded. "We're very keen to see any form of copyright acknowledgement giving clarity to the user." Yet crown copyright remains the method used by the government to maintain its control of official information. The view of the Free Our Data campaign, that official information belongs to the public and should therefore be freely available, is a "philosophical point of view", Tullo said - one she does not seem to share. Ministers might reconsider whether to charge if they could be persuaded of the wider economic benefits, she said, "but so far, there has not been a single study clearly showing how providing this information freely would benefit the information economy". (The Guardian will send her links to the paper by Peter Weiss at http://tinyurl.com/cby55 which does precisely that, and to the recent OECD meeting on the effects of open data.) As noted here on May 4 ("Should government charge ... and how much?"), in 2000 the Treasury said this would be a worthwhile topic for research - yet has done nothing. Tullo's office is awaiting the results of a study by the Office of Fair Trading into crown copyright that would analyse whether a non-restrictive copyright system, such as that found in the US, would be more economically beneficial, she said. But Todd points out that Tullo misinterpreted the point about the need for the site: "The ... project breaks down into two parts," he explains. "There is the parser, which converts all their online Hansard into properly structured data suitable for a database. And then there's the front end, which uses this database to generate webpages, email alerts, voting stats, and so on. "We should not need to write the parser; the data should be supplied in structured format by the government in the first place, which is what they use internally. ... Then anyone else could put together whatever front ends they liked to provide different services relatively easily ... It's the same if they were to supply geodata ... We need the original mapping database ... to process it into whatever form we like." The team recently did precisely that in a project for the Department for Transport looking at travel times across the UK between different destinations. The results (see www.mysociety.org/2006/travel-time-maps/) end with the note: "This work was funded by the Department for Transport, who also made it possible for us to use Ordnance Survey maps and data through their licence; without this assistance we would have had to pay expensive fees to use the underlying mapping data or to produce maps with no landmarks, which would be almost incomprehensible ... "Although the journey planning services and software we used were publicly accessible, almost none of the other data is available unless you pay for it ... very little of this work could be cheaply reproduced or extended without assistance from a government department." Perhaps Tullo will begin to take note of that. · See the campaign blog at www.freeourdata.org.uk · If you'd like to comment on any aspect of Technology Guardian, send your emails to tech@theguardian.com Free our data	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1283
__label__wiki	0.949787	0.949787	Invasive cockroach found in NYC can take the cold NEW YORK (AP) -- The High Line, a park that turned a dilapidated stretch of elevated railway on Manhattan's West Side into one of New York's newest tourist attractions, may have brought a different kind of visitor: a cockroach that can withstand harsh winter cold and never seen before in the U.S. Rutgers University insect biologists Jessica Ware and Dominic Evangelista said the species Periplaneta japonica is well documented in Asia but was never confirmed in the United States until now. The scientists, whose findings were published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, say it is too soon to predict the impact but that there is probably little cause for concern. "Because this species is very similar to cockroach species that already exist in the urban environment," Evangelista said, "they likely will compete with each other for space and for food." That competition, Ware said, will likely keep the population low, "because more time and energy spent competing means less time and energy to devote to reproduction." Michael Scharf, a professor of urban entomology at Purdue University, said the discovery is something to monitor. "To be truly invasive, a species has to move in and take over and out-compete a native species," he said. "There's no evidence of that, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be concerned about it." The newcomer was first spotted in New York in 2012, by an exterminator working on the High Line. The scientists suspect the little critter was likely a stowaway in the soil of ornamental plants used to adorn the park. "Many nurseries in the United States have some native plants and some imported plants," Ware said. "It's not a far stretch to picture that that is the source." Periplaneta japonica has special powers not seen in the local roach population: It can survive outdoors in the freezing cold. "There has been some confirmation that it does very well in cold climates, so it is very conceivable that it could live outdoors during winter in New York," Ware said. "I could imagine japonica being outside and walking around, though I don't know how well it would do in dirty New York snow." The likelihood that the new species will mate with the locals to create a hybrid super-roach is slim. "The male and female genitalia fit together like a lock and key, and that differs by species," Evangelista says. "So we assume that one won't fit the other."	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1284
__label__wiki	0.99456	0.99456	Joan Sutherland, 'voice of the century,' dies Oct. 10, 2010 Updated: June 17, 2016 5:49 p.m. By COLLEEN BARRY and GEORGE JAHN Joan Sutherland's radiant soprano stretched effortlessly over more than three octaves, with a purity of tone that made her one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time. Acclaimed "La Stupenda," -- "the Stupendous One" -- during a career spanning more than four decades, Sutherland was known in the opera world as an "anti-diva" diva whose warm vibrant sound and subtle coloring helped revitalize the school of early 19th-century Italian opera known as bel canto. She died Sunday at her home near Geneva, after what her family described as a long illness. She was 83. Superlatives were attached to Sutherland's name from the moment she made her Italian debut in the title role of Handel's "Alcina" in Venice in 1960. Luciano Pavarotti proclaimed hers "the voice of the century," while to English-speaking opera goers she was "The Incomparable" for her mastery of coloratura -- the ability to effortlessly sing difficult trills and rapid passages in high registers. The late tenor Pavarotti, who joined with mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne in Sutherland's farewell gala recital at London's Covent Garden on Dec. 31, 1990, called her "the greatest coloratura soprano of all time." "Her voice came straight into my ear; it was as if she was singing in my ear," Horne told The Associated Press on Monday. As her good friend Sutherland lay dying in Switzerland, Horne said she "couldn't sleep all night. It was almost as if I was keeping vigil." She said she waited until 4 a.m., when it was "a decent hour" in Europe, and called Sutherland's husband, conductor Richard Bonynge. "Ricky told me, 'She's gone,'" said Horne, adding that Sutherland had suffered from a heart ailment for several years. With a resplendent soprano capable of effortless flights from low G to high C and beyond, the Australian-born Sutherland could have evolved in many operatic directions. While under contract at Covent Garden, she sang Mozart, Poulenc, Verdi -- even Wagner. However, her 1954 marriage to Bonynge, a fellow Australian who became Sutherland's coach, set her on her future path, taking on the major roles of early 19th-century Italian bel canto opera. The bel canto repertory -- literally "beautiful song" in Italian -- had languished for decades outside Italy, until the legendary Maria Callas took on the roles in the early 1950s, demonstrating that operas like Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Bellini's "Norma" were not just showcases for coloratura agility but gripping dramatic works. The two powerhouse sopranos were frequently compared to one another, sparking rumors of a rivalry. Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who directed Sutherland in the 1959 Covent Garden performance of "Lucia di Lammermoor" that launched her international career, said he knew Sutherland's voice rivaled that of Callas from the moment he heard it. Italian conductor Tullio Serafin, who discovered Sutherland, urged Zeffirelli to hear the young singer. "I went to the hotel, and he said, 'I want you to meet someone. Don't worry about her looks,"' Zeffirelli said in an interview. "We went to the theater and I saw her, as big as a sergeant in the army with a terrible Australian accent." Then "she started to sing, and she conquered me. I said, my God, it is going to be big trouble for Callas." Still, the two sopranos were never artistic rivals, he said. "They were two enormous artists. ... They respected one another. When you reach that level you are beyond how normal people react. They were absolutely above these petty jealousies," Zeffirelli said. Sutherland soon was seen as the pre-eminent singer of Italian bel canto opera. If she couldn't project the raw passion of Callas on stage, Sutherland's voice was far steadier and she could maintain a perfect vocal line in some of opera's most difficult roles, such as "Norma." "She had more vocal flexibility than Callas," said Lotfi Mansouri, former general director of the San Francisco Opera, who directed Sutherland in more operas than any other director. "She had a very extreme vocal range. Most of the time coloraturas are smaller, lighter voices. Joan had a lush middle register." Noting Sutherland's contributions to the bel canto repertoire, soprano Renee Fleming called the singer "an inspiration ... not only for her glorious instrument, but also as a courageous artist who explored unknown bel canto works, now thankfully part of the standard repertoire today." "No soprano in recorded history has sung with the same virtuosic perfection," Fleming said. Soprano Deborah Voigt agreed. "She really bought bel canto alive to latter 20th century audiences. I can't imagine her achievements being duplicated." Known in the opera world as unpretentious, Sutherland was valued for her hard work and astonishing technique. Mansouri said the only time she argued with him was when she thought he was overestimating her ability. "I asked her in the second act of 'Die Fledermaus' to dance part of the czardas. She said, 'Are you crazy? Dancing it and singing it at the same time? You must be joking.' Then she'd go ahead and do it. She was very game." Mansouri recalled how Sutherland protested when, at the end of her career, he directed her in "Hamlet." "She said, 'I'm a grandmother. You don't want me to do Ophelia.' Finally I convinced her. She was absolutely wonderful. Her mad scene was something I'll never forget. It was the last new role she ever learned." Sutherland herself noted that among her favorite roles was Violetta in "La Traviata" because "she was for me all woman, whereas many of the characters I interpreted were somewhat artificial." Horne, who frequently appeared with Sutherland, said, "There aren't a lot of singers who do something original, something that really contributes to the history of the world of music, and Joan is one of those people." Sutherland discovered her voice as a young child, crouching under the piano and copying her mother, Muriel Alston Sutherland. "I was able from the age of 3 to imitate her scales and exercises," she wrote in her autobiography. "As she was a mezzo-soprano, I worked very much in the middle area of my voice, learning the scales and arpeggios and even the dreaded trill without thinking about it. The birds could trill, so why not I?" "I even picked up her songs and arias and sang them by ear, later singing duets with her -- Manrico to her Azucena. I always had a voice." Sutherland's early life was marked by tragedy. Her father died of a heart attack on her 6th birthday, leaving the family with financial problems in the depths of the Depression. Sutherland left school at 16 to become a secretary but continued her vocal studies with her mother, finally winning a vocal scholarship. When she began performing in Australia, Sutherland thought she was a mezzo like her mother, until she was persuaded to develop her higher range. At 20, she made her concert debut as Dido in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas." She moved to London in 1951 and was contracted by Covent Garden, where she made her debut role as the First Lady in "The Magic Flute." There, she was being trained as a dramatic Wagnerian soprano. However, with Bonynge's encouragement, she began to strengthen her higher range. In 1959, she starred in title role of "Lucia di Lammermoor" in a Covent Garden revival. Her much-awaited U.S. debut came in Verdi's "Attilla" on Nov. 16, 1960, in Dallas. Four days later, she performed Donna Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Her New York debut followed, with the American Opera Society in a February 1961 Town Hall concert of Bellini's "Beatrice di Tenda." On the morning of the concert she learned that her mother had died. "There seemed no way I could just walk out on the concert," she said. "Mother would have wanted me to stay and fulfill my obligation." The reviewers loved her, as they did after her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, in "Lucia," the following November. And the audience cheered wildly. "I had experienced a few good audience reactions, but this one beat them all," she said. "It was like the fans of a favored team at a football match and somewhat frightening. It was also quite something to live up to." Queen Elizabeth made Sutherland a dame of the British Empire in 1978. When she was among the six recipients of the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., baritone Sherrill Milnes called her "an avalanche of sound. She's become the standard by which all others are measured." Sutherland is survived by Bonynge, their son, Adam, daughter-in-law Helen, and two grandchildren. Sutherland requested a very small and private funeral, a family statement said. Jahn contributed from Vienna. Associated Press Writers Bradley S. Klapper and Frank Jordans in Geneva and Verena Dobnik in New York contributed to this report.	cc/2021-04/en_head_0072.json.gz/line1285

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