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Steve Geoghegan column: Redd gears up for action in All-American Bowl
Jan. 7, 2010 Updated: June 17, 2016 4:33 p.m.
Norwalk's Silas Redd is getting a good jump on the competition.
The standout football player who capped a stellar career at King & Low Heywood Thomas last fall, will hit the gridiron today as a member of the East squad that will take on the West in the 10th annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The game will be televised at 1 p.m. on NBC.
Redd, the 5-10, 200-pound running back who rushed for 2,017 yards and 25 touchdowns while leading the Vikings to an 8-1 record in 2009, will look to make his mark in a game that features some of the best senior football players in the nation.
And some of the players who have played in this game have gone on to bigger and better things in their college, and even professional, careers. Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, Vernon Davis, Nick Mangold, Mark Sanchez, DeSean Jackson, Ndamukong Suh and Tim Tebow are just a few of the players who have taken part in the All-American Bowl in the past.
That's not saying Redd will follow in the footsteps of those players, he certainly has the talent to excel at the highest levels, but it's a good stepping stone as he embarks on his college career at Penn State. And it helps that he will be playing with a future teammate at Penn State, Stamford High standout Kahairi Fortt, who will look to wreak some havoc from his linebacker position for the East.
Redd and Fortt are the only players from Connecticut who will play in the annual contest.
So this a great opportunity for Redd to display his talents against top-notch competition. He's worked very hard to get to this point and if you know anything about Silas Redd, you know he'll be ready to face this challenge head-on.
Joining Redd and Fortt at the All-American Bowl will be their trainers from BlueStreak Sports Training out of Stamford, Jay Clement and Bill Hayden.
The duo was named as performance training coaches for the East squad with Hayden also assisting with the National Combine, similar to the NFL Combine, which features 500 of the nation's top underclassmen displaying their skills in different disciplines to attract attention of college recruiters.
Trinity Catholic wide receiver Shawn Robinson took part in the combine and also trains with BlueStreak.
Matt Stack, vice president of operations for BlueStreak Sports Training, said Clement and Hayden were honored to be selected as coaches.
"They are humbled by the experience," he said. "And to have two of their athletes playing in the game, it's pretty exciting for them. It's like seeing their masterpiece hanging on the wall."
A masterpiece that will soon be hanging in Happy Valley as well.
"I take personal satisfaction in knowing that two of my athletes, Khairi Fortt and Silas Redd, have been awarded the opportunity to compete with the nation's best," Clement said.
Stack said BlueStreak Sports Training has trained players from the New Canaan, Darien, Westhill, Trinity and Stamford football teams with great success for each player's individual needs.
And having Redd and Fortt participate in the All-American Bowl shows Connecticut can produce talented football players who can play with the best of the best.
"I'm excited to watch these guys in action," Stack said. "They will be able to showcase all the hard work they've put in at a national level."
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The Last Militiamolṑn labé
American Tribes
European Tribes
The Last Militia Member Handbook
The Last Militia was founded in 2009 by Walt Simms and Richard Dame. Tired of seeing the downward spiral of the United States, worried about economic collapse, and man-made or natural disasters, these two men came together to prepare for the worst and to hope for the best. They formed the Last Militia to educate and train, not just themselves, but to reach out to friends, families, and neighbors so that no one will have to be caught unaware and unprepared for any eventuality. They also wanted a place where men are free to be men. In an emasculated America, they wanted a place where men can wear knives and guns. A place where men can speak their mind. A place where men can still be what men were meant to be. They started planning but could not settle on a name that grabbed the attention of the people and showed their connection to the past as well as their desire to be prepared. They began to use the name “The First Battalion” and it looked as if this name was going to be the one they used. Circumstance and chance would change this. On October 1st of 2011, Walt had a “Right of Passage” ceremony for his son Seth’s 12 birthday. It was a man only event and after wood carving, fire starting, bow shooting, and other events the ceremony concluded with a cotton ball being wrapped around an arrow shaft and lit on fire. He (Seth) grabbed the flaming ball of fire as a boy, putting it out as a man. It was after this, as all the men in attendance were eating, that Walt posed the questions: “What if this is as good as it will ever get?” and “What if we are the last men to care about what we are doing?” It was then, after much agreement from the others that Walt turned to Richard and said, “Instead of the First we should be called the Last, The Last Militia.” Richard firmly agreed and confirmed to Walt that The Last Militia was now their name. In the weeks that followed they decided on their logo and motto. The logo for each State would be the outline of that state with a variation of the American flag over it. They changed the colors of the stripes to black and grey to show the morning they felt about how people were turning away from the Constitution. The blue field to represent the hope that they had that they could make a difference. The single white star to represent the dream of a single state making a difference. They chose the motto of “Molon Labe”, meaning “Come and take them,” which is about their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. After much consideration, they chose to make The Last Militia a private men’s only club with an LLC license. The decision was made not to be solely a militant group but they want the organization to be involved in politics and family needs as well. Today, The Last Militia, also known as TLM or The Club is a preparedness organization network that looks to the future of everyone associated with them, from members, to family, to friends, to neighbors.
The following Pledge is required by all members and reflects their commitment to The Last Militia, its members, and their families.
“I, state your name, do solemnly affirm, that I will be a dedicated member of The Last Militia. That I will listen and respect the Leadership and Elders of The Last Militia. That I will train in the areas of defense, preparation, and survival. I will be there for my fellow members of The Last Militia and their families.”
Organization of TLM Members Elders:
These are members that have been with the club for more than 2 years and have shown conduct above and beyond. To become an Elder, you must be nominated by an existing Elder and elected by a 2/3 majority of the Leadership. Each new Tribe will start with 3 Elders which are appointed by the State Elders. There shall be 1 Elder for every 10 members in the Tribe. Only after a Tribe reaches 40 members can they add an additional Elder. The a 5th Elder after they reach 50 members and so on. Leadership: The Leadership is made up of 3 Elders. The Tribal Chief is elected by a majority vote of the Elders and is elected for a life term. Only a majority vote of the Elders can remove him from office. The Tribal chief then selects from among the Elders two men, one to serve as his Tribal Spirit and one to serve as his War Chief. All Leadership appointments must be approved by the State Leadership. Tribal Chief: The Tribal Chief is the Chairman of the Elders and the Executive Officer of the Club. All matter concerning relations between the club and any outside person or organization should be routed to the Tribal Chief for appropriate action. The Tribal Chief or his delegate shall assume the Chair at all chapter meetings. He is responsible for controlling the meeting and keeping order. If necessary, the Chair may utilize the services of the War Chief to aid in keeping order. Tribal Spirit: The Tribal Spirit shall act as an intermediary between the Tribal Chief and the Members and Prospects. All questions and comments concerning any club business not specifically related to the duties of the other officers should be brought directly to his attention. He also keeps all funds for the club chapter as well as enforcement of dues. War Chief: The War Chief is responsible for ensuring that the bylaws and standing rules of the club are not violated. He is responsible to ensure that the orders of the Tribal Chief are carried out in an expeditious manner. He is responsible for policing and keeping order at all club events. He may conscript members to aid in keeping order on their own authority. He is responsible for the safety and security of the club, as well as its protection and defense of its Members and Prospects. Members: All Members must serve at least 12 months as a Prospect. To become a Member, you must be nominated by a current Member and receive a majority vote of the Elders. Members that have shown conduct above and beyond the call of duty may receive the Warrior Patch. Prospects: Pledges for the club, known as Prospect, must serve for at least 12 months and prove their loyalty to the club to become a Member. Braves: These are the sons of club Members and other male children that are affiliated with the club. Much like a youth scouting program, these young men are taught and trained in all areas at their level. They remain Braves until they turn 18 and may be voted in without being a Prospect. If they fail to vote in they must go through the Prospect process. Hang-Arounds: Even though they are not official Members, a Hang-Around may attend club events and official meetings if approved by an Elder.
An Official meeting is to be held once each month. Members are required to attend an official meeting at least every other month and a minimum of 6 meetings a year. During an official meeting all phones, electronic devices, and any communication devices are to be turned off and collected by the War Chief or his conscripts. The War Chief will then instruct the members to be seated. The Tribal Chief will always be seated at the head of the table. The Tribal Spirit will be seated to the right of the Tribal Chief and the War Chief to the left of the Tribal Chief. The War Chief will stand and ask the Tribal Spirit for the Coup stick. The Tribal Spirit will stand and hand the War Chief the Coup Stick. The War Chief will then hand the Coup Stick to the Tribal Chief telling him that the men are assembled and in order. The Tribal Chief will bring the meeting to order by using the handle of the Coup Stick as a gavel. The Meeting agenda shall be at the discretion of the Tribal Chief and he can choose to table certain discussions for later meeting. The Tribal Chief may open the floor up to any business any Member may wish to bring up so long as proper order is kept and maintained. Any Member may nominate someone as a Prospect or as a Member and any Member may second the nomination but only the Elders may vote to accept the nomination. Only the Elders have voting authority. The Tribal Chief has authority to break any deadlocked vote and has full veto power in his Tribe. When the Tribal Chief closes the meeting he then returns the Coup Stick to the War Chief who returns it to the Tribal Spirit. The War Chief will then return all electronic devices to those in attendance.
As a Member of The Last Militia you must be dedicated to the TLM and its beliefs. You must be willing to protect the club, your fellow Members, and their families just as your fellow Members will protect the Club, you, and your family. Members are expected to spend time together to build a certain level of fellowship. Members are also encouraged to bring their families together so that they can get to know one another. This is done, so that in a worst-case scenario, everyone truly knows each other and the bonds of trust are already built and in place. Members are expected to wear their Cut as often as the can and to always promote the club in a positive manner. Members are expected to pay their monthly dues on time and to attend as many club events as possible. Members will be awarded a “Warrior” based on one of two factors. 1) If they have served in the military they will be awarded a white “Warrior” patch. If they were in combat they will be awarded a red “Warrior” patch. If they served as a contract soldier they will be awarded a blue “Warrior” patch. These patches will only be awarded after one year as a member and will be presented to the member by the State War Chief. 2) If a member saves someone’s life they will be awarded a white “Warrior” patch. If a member must use his weapon to protect someone they will be awarded a blue “Warrior” patch. If a member must take a life to save someone they will be awarded a red “warrior” patch. These patches will be presented by the State War Chief. The County War Chiefs will nominate members to the State War Chief for these patches. The “Warrior” patches are only awarded at the State meeting. Members will also be eligible for the “Feather” patch. This patch is for any member that has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Only one “Feather” patch is awarded per year and is only awarded by the National Tribal Chief. Any member can nominate a fellow member for the “Feather” patch through their county Tribal Spirit. There is no guarantee that anyone will receive the “Feather” patch.
The Cut and the Coup Stick
The two most iconic items of The Last Militia are the Cut and the Coup Stick. Let’s look first at the Cut. The Cut is the official uniform of the TLM and is required for all Members to wear at all official club functions, hangouts, and meetings. Members are urged to wear their Cut as often as possible to promote the Club. The Cut is a button up woodland camo BDU top with the sleeves “cut” off. The Cuts are Club property and are to be treated with respect and dignity. The front of the Cut will have your Member patch above the right breast pocket and your County patch above your left breast pocket. If you become an Elder, Your Elder patch will replace your Member patch. You may, if you wish, add other patches to the front of your Cut within reason. Your Elders can ask you to remove any patch that they feel is not becoming of The Last Militia. Prospect Cuts will have a PFC (Prospect For Club) patch instead of a member patch. Prospects are not permitted to put any other patches on their cuts until they are voted in. The back side of the Cut has three patches. The top rocker is the clubs name for the State you live in, “Last Ohio Militia” for example. The bottom rocker is the club’s motto, “Molon Labe”. The middle patch is the club’s logo for the state you live in. No other patch can be added to the back side of the Cut. The other most recognizable image of The Last Militia is the Coup Stick. The Coup Stick is not just a gavel used to maintain order during meetings but represents courage, valor, honor, and commitment. Each Tribe is responsible for designing and making its own Coup Stick. There are no set guidelines for the Coup Stick for now. The Tribal Spirit is responsible for keeping and maintaining the Coup Stick and insuring it is at every meeting.
Tribal Charters
Each county in a state will have its own charter known as a Tribe. To start a tribe three men must petition the State Leadership. These men will attend meeting and hangouts in another county that already has a Tribe. Once they have proven themselves to that Tribal Charter, the State Leadership will vote rather or not to give tribal status to them. Once a new Tribe has been approved for inclusion into The Last Militia they will choose among themselves who will be their Tribal Chief. In keeping with the club rules, the newly elected Tribal Chief will then select which of the other two men will be his Tribal Spirit and his War Chief. Each Tribal Charter is responsible for its self and is an autonomous unit but still reports to and maintains contact with the State Leadership. The Tribal Chief is required to talk with the State Leadership at a minimum of once every 90 days. Each Tribal Charter is responsible for collecting dues and having its own fund raisers. They are also responsible for acquiring new Members and developing close interpersonal relationships within its Tribe. A Tribe is meant to be not just a unit but a family as well.
The State Leadership is made up of the State Tribal Chief, the State War Chief, and the State Tribal Spirit. The State Tribal Spirit is a shared title that consists of all Tribal Chiefs from each of the counties of that State. When a vote is required of the State Leadership the State Tribal Chief has one vote, the State War Chief has one vote, and the State Tribal Spirit has one vote. The State Tribal Spirit vote is determined by the majority vote of all the county Tribal Chiefs. In the event of a tied vote within the National Tribal Spirit, its vote will not be cast. In this case, if the vote is a 1 to 1 vote cast by the State Tribal Chief and the State War Chief, then the State Tribal Chief will decide the issue. If the State War Chief office becomes vacant, the State Tribal Chief will nominate a current Elder from among any of the Tribes of the State to fill the Position. The State Tribal Spirit will then vote to accept the nomination or not. A majority vote from among the county Tribal Chiefs that make up the State Tribal Spirit is required to confirm the nomination. If the State Tribal Chief office becomes vacant then the State War Chief will assume the office and follow the nomination process for choosing a New State War Chief.
The National Leadership is made up of the National Tribal Chief, the National War Chief, and the National Tribal Spirit. The National Tribal Spirit is a shared title that consists of all State Tribal Chiefs from each State. When a vote is required of the National Leadership the National Tribal Chief has one vote, the National War Chief has one vote, and the Tribal Spirit has one vote. The National Tribal Spirit vote is determined by the majority vote of all the State Tribal Chiefs. In the event of a tied vote within the National Tribal Spirit, its vote will not be cast. In this case, if the vote is a 1 to 1 vote cast by the National Tribal Chief and the National War Chief, then the National Tribal Chief will decide the issue. If the National War Chief office becomes vacant, the National Tribal Chief will nominate a current Elder from among any of the Tribes to fill the Position. The National Tribal Spirit will then vote to accept the nomination or not. A majority vote from among the State Tribal Chiefs that make up the National Tribal Spirit is required to confirm the nomination. If the National Tribal Chief office becomes vacant then the National War Chief will assume the office and follow the nomination process for choosing a New National War Chief.
Financial Information/Dues
Each Member is to pay $10 in due each month to its Tribal Charter. During their first year, Prospects are to pay an additional $10 a month as an initiation due. Each Tribal Charter may also have fund raisers to help with their finances. A tribute of 10% of any monies collected, earned, and raised by all County Tribal Charters is to be sent to their State Leadership. A tribute of 10% of any monies collected, earned, and raised by all State Leadership is to be sent to the National Leadership.
Closing Message
Our Founding Fathers of the United States of America put their lives on the line to declare to the world that they were citizens and not subjects. They fought the American Revolution over a simple tax on tea. The Revolution insured our God given rights to the basics of free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to govern ourselves, and so much more. Sadly, many of these rights are being chiseled away by people that want to see us as subjects, not citizens. Taxes are higher than they have ever been, many hidden as charges and fees. Our freedom of speech is being censored. Our right to bear arms targeted. If you are not a member of the Republican or Democratic parties it is virtually impossible to even get your name on the ballot. Why do we no longer hold this truth “That all men are created equal”? We seem to run to the shackles of socialism that will lead us eventually to the dictatorial leaders to those we fought against in World War II. We will lose all that our Founding Fathers fought for and more if we do not cry out now “ENOUGH!” “NO MORE!” Help your family. Help your people. Help us help you. Together, we can restore America to the shining light of Liberty. Together we will remain citizens, not subjects.
emergency family help preparedness training
The Last Militia is a preparedness organization that focuses on the needs of families during times of strife.
Copyright © 2021 by Meta Technology Services. All rights reserved.
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All Saints' Fulmer Picks Vanderbilt
Nov 8, 2011 at 1:54 AM Nov 8, 2011 at 1:57 PM
By BILL KEMP
NYT REGIONAL MEDIA GROUP
WINTER HAVEN | Talk to someone close to Carson Fulmer and they'll say he makes the right choices.
Monday morning the senior right-handed pitcher informed a crowd gathered at All Saints' Academy Gymnasium he would be choosing Vanderbilt University over three Atlantic Coast Conference schools from his list of college baseball destinations.
Fulmer, who will be leaving Wednesday to join Team USA for the 2011 COPABE Pan American Championships in Cartagena, Colombia, is one of the top prep baseball prospects in the country. He unloads a legitimate 95-mph fastball backed with a formidable slider, breaking ball and changeup.
"It (Vanderbilt) was in the SEC, which is the best baseball conference that you can play in. It's just a short plane trip for my family to come up and see me," Fulmer said. "I wanted that baseball and academics balance."
ASA head coach Rick Moser said Fulmer made up his mind after visiting the campus in late October.
"He said, ‘Coach, it reminds me a lot of All Saints.'" Moser said.
Fulmer is expected by many to be selected in the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft, scheduled June 4-6.
"I'll play it by ear. I wanted to get the college thing settled down. It's something me and my family have talked about. When the time comes we'll worry about it then. I just want to keep working hard, and if it does happen that will be great," Fulmer said.
Hard work has become Fulmer's calling card, and the 6-foot-1 pitcher allocates most of his free time to training at the gym.
"Carson's attitude and work habits supersede anything I've seen with any player," Moser said. "In the evenings, if there was something to do like go out to eat or something, he'd say, ‘No, I have to go work out.' His focus is phenomenal."
Moser has worked with Fulmer since he was an eighth-grader, and added they've discussed priorities from the beginning.
"On any given day I would say, ‘Hey Carson, how's your priorities?' And he would rattle them right off, ‘God, family, education, sports.' And he believes it," Moser said.
Fulmer's list of credentials include: 2011 First Team Pre- and Post-Season Collegiate All-American, Perfect Game All-American, Team USA, East Coast Professional Showcase Member, New York Yankee Scout Team Member for High School Potential Draft Picks, First Team All-County and 2010 Max Preps Air Force Player of the Year Class 1A.
The Ledger ~ 300 W. Lime St., Lakeland, FL 33815 ~ Do Not Sell My Personal Information ~ Cookie Policy ~ Do Not Sell My Personal Information ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service ~ Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy
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Evercar Expands To Bay Area With Shared Vehicles
Shatai
SAN FRANCISCO—Evercar is now available in select locations in San Francisco and Oakland. Evercar is a company that is a provider of shared vehicles and support for rideshare and delivery drivers. Drivers are qualified for jobs in the on-demand economy by giving them flexible access to affordable, environmentally-friendly vehicles, with no weekly or long-term commitment required.
Evercar’s training and support helps workers navigate the rapidly changing on-demand space to maximize their earning potential and help ensure their success as on-demand workers.
Drivers in San Francisco and Oakland can use environment friendly shared vehicles instead of their own. There is no long term-commitment, so customers can utilize the service for part-time or full-time work as an on-demand taxi driver, or a delivery driver for those who don’t own a car or don’t want to use their own vehicle.
“The Bay Area presents an interesting dichotomy that Evercar is uniquely poised to address. The proliferation of on-demand companies means flexible job opportunities abound; however, many who would most benefit from these jobs are unable to take advantage of them because they lack financial means to own a vehicle and pay out-of-pocket for expenses, don’t want to deal with the hassle and cost of parking in the city, or simply would prefer not to put miles on their personal vehicle,” said Evercar CEO Michael Brylawski.
“We’re changing the paradigm by combining car sharing with well-maintained electrified vehicles and data. In doing so, we’re able to offer a highly flexible yet affordable solution that puts drivers behind the wheel of safe, environmentally-friendly vehicles, while coaching them to earn as much as possible,” he added.
Evercar’s shared vehicles can be used for Uber, Lyft, Postmates and DoorDash. The vehicles feature safety technology to help drivers. Access to Evercar’s vehicles are available on a hourly basis for the approve on-demand services of their choice. Users must pay $8 an hour and the rate covers fuel, maintenance, and insurance costs for unlimited miles. The company also provides driver training, 24/7 phone support, a SafeDrive program to help ensure safety for drivers, and data-based coaching to help drivers make decisions on when to drive.
Evercar will be offering its shared 2016 Toyota Prius vehicles at the Turk Street Garage in San Francisco and near the 12th Street BART station in Downtown Oakland for a limited time. According to CleanTechnica, the company is planning to add electric vehicles to its fleet supposedly happening later this year. For those you are interested can apply for the service at myevercar.com. Once approved they can use Evercar’s mobile app to reserve vehicles, gain keyless access and, soon, receive coaching tips.
According to the press release by Evercar, the service launched in Los Angeles in 2015. They offer 1,200 members access to over 10 shared vehicles in 13 vehicle hubs around Los Angeles County.
Evercar
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https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Afghan-intel-agency-says-it-killed-council-member-15870930.php
Afghan intel agency says it killed council member in battle
Rahim Faiez, Associated Press
Afghan security officers inspect the site of a bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. A roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan's capital Sunday, killing at least a few people in a vehicle, the latest attack to take place even as government negotiators are in Qatar to resume peace talks with the Taliban. less
Afghan security officers inspect the site of a bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. A roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan's capital Sunday, killing at least a few people in a vehicle, ... more
Photo: Rahmat Gul, AP
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan forces killed a provincial council member suspected of ties with the Taliban during a gunbattle in western Ghor province, the Afghan intelligence service said late Thursday.
The fighting near the provincial capital of Faroz Koh also killed one officer and wounded another, according to a statement by the National Directorate for Security.
It accused the council member, Hazatullah Beg, of masterminding the killing of another council member as well as an Afghan journalist and human rights activist in Ghor.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the gunbattle between Beg and his men on one side and the Afghan agents on the other took place. Beg was asked to surrender during the fighting but refused, the agency said, adding that he had links to the Taliban in the province.
Afghan journalist and activist Bismillah Adil Aimaq was shot and killed on Jan. 1 in Ghor. He was on the road, returning home to Feroz Koh from visiting family in a nearby village when gunmen opened fire at his car. Aimaq was the fifth journalist to be killed in the war-ravaged country in the past two months. The Taliban insisted they were in no way connected with the shooting.
Ghor deputy council chief Abdul Rahman Atshan was killed in mid-December in an attack in the province that also wounded another council member and their driver when a sticky bomb was attached to their vehicle. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
The violence comes as the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators earlier this month resumed peace talks in Qatar. However, the negotiations were off to a slow start as the insurgents continue to keep up their attacks on Afghan government forces while keeping their promise not to attack U.S. and NATO troops.
The stop-and-go talks are aimed at ending decades of relentless conflict. Frustration and fear have grown over the recent spike in violence and both sides blame one another.
There has also been growing doubt lately over a U.S.-Taliban deal brokered by outgoing President Donald Trump’s administration. That accord was signed last February. Under the deal, an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. troops ordered by Trump means that just 2,500 American soldiers will still be in Afghanistan when President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
Denied: County board rejects three nominees
Miriam Carey was shot at 26 times by law enforcement near the Capitol in 2013; her sister contrasts her fate to the treatment of the Jan. 6 rioters
Covid-19 destroyed a young man's lungs. Can his foster mom let him go?
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https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/MLK-celebration-to-promote-peace-12637647.php
MLK celebration to promote peace
Published 12:00 am CST, Monday, January 12, 2015
ALTON — This year’s 35th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Service will recognize the current tone of national demonstrations.
According to Alton NAACP President James Gray, 2014 left in its wake riots, looting and shootings that have no place in modern society.
“What we’re trying to bring to the people is the notion of getting things done in a peaceful manner,” Gray said. “Rioting doesn’t solve any problems. Through negotiating and working together, we will solve the problems.”
Gray feels the spirit of negotiation and peaceful demonstrations better emulates the message of slain civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. It is this assertion that led the Alton NAACP to select the theme “Peace, Be Still” for this year’s MLK celebration.
“Although 46 years have passed since the assassination of Dr. King, we must recognize we are still in the midst of a fight for equality,” Gray said in a release. “Let us use this event as an opportunity to come together and unite as one to again show our solidarity to Dr. King’s dream of unity and peace.”
The commemoration ceremony will take place on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. It will be located at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church located at 2621 Amelia St. in Alton. Gray said that past events have filled the church, and expects this year to be no different.
“We are asking all clergy, organizational leaders and government officials to participate in the procession,” Gray said in a release. “We would like for you to invite your family, friends and neighbors to participate as well.”
Gray told the Telegraph that he is proud to be a part of the Alton community, citing the city’s peaceful approach to demonstrations in the wake of the August shooting of unarmed teen, Michael Brown, by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson.
“We’re fortunate in Alton with all the stuff going on, we’re still a peaceful city,” he said.
The ceremony will feature guest speaker Rev. Gregory Stoner of Danville, Ill. Gray said Stoner will speak about the peaceful demonstrations championed by King during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Rev. Diane D. Williams, the pastor of the Alton Community Church of God will receive the Alton NAACP’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Award at the ceremony as well.
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THE VENTURE MENTORING TEAM
Octopi
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FAU Tech Runway Mentor
Throughout a twenty year career in acquisitions and divestitures, Terence Bentley has managed or closed over 40 transactions, ranging from VC investments to individual transactions up to $3 billion, for Automatic Data Processing, Lucent Technologies, Siemens USA and others. These transactions included applications services, network software, fiber optics, network equipment, LAN switching systems, semiconductors, aerospace components, and manufacturing technology. He has served as VP Marketing for a fiber optic LAN startup, and is currently involved in several emerging technology energy startups. Currently, he serves as a Mentor for StartupQuest, and has led teams to Business Plan wins in these events. He’s considered hundreds of business plans during his career.
Bentley is active in the technology corporate development community, having co-founded the New Jersey chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and served on the Boards of ACG’s New York and New Jersey chapters. He has delivered seminars on Corporate Development to diverse audiences, including the MBA programs at NYU-Stern and Wharton. Terence has served on industry panels and participated in numerous speaking engagements. He has been published in Corporate Dealmaker and M&A magazine, and is a twenty-year member of the IEEE. In 1998, he became a co-founder, investor, and board member of Starlight Resources, a successful energy company sold in 2006 to a private equity investor.
Prior to entering corporate development, he developed a practical understanding of corporate operations as a product manager, delivering more than 30 products to market in local and wide area networks, and cable television network systems. Terence holds a MBA in strategy and finance from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
Jonathan is a SVP for Merrill Lynch’s Global Wealth Management. He successfully runs an international division, successfully integrated the US Trust purchase to Bank of America, is viewed as the “go to” person for tough projects and designed executive performance management processes for increased sales and operational efficiencies leading to significant cost reduction and increased sales. His previous leadership positions include senior manager at Actrade Financial and director of operations for The Township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Jonathan served as an intern in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Arlen Spector and went on to serve in President Clinton’s White House as an intern. Currently, he serves on various non-profit boards.
Areas of Expertise: Executive Management, Strategic and Financial Analysis, Sales and Marketing, Operations and Project Management
Erin A. Martin is a Registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and a licensed attorney with the Florida Bar. Erin is an associate attorney with the Concept Law Group, P.A. and an Executive Board Member of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Florida (I.P.L.A.F). Erin assists clients in the prosecution and litigation of Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks. Erin has prosecuted patent applications in several major areas, including medical devices, safety devices, building construction, alternative-power devices, mechanical devices, computer networking, clothing, and many more.
Areas of Expertise: Intellectual Property, Biomedical Sciences
Jackie is Managing Director of Bell Rock Capital, LLC., leading the firm’s research and portfolio strategy group and is frequently accessed as a resource by the national media, including CNBC, Bloomberg television and radio, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and various other printed media. Our mission is to deliver returns consistent with client goals.
Prior to joining Bell Rock Capital, Ms. Reeves was Managing Director at Ryan Beck & Co., leading the financial institutions research effort. She was responsible for a research team with more than a hundred companies under coverage with market capitalizations ranging from $20 million to $30 billion. Her coverage universe has included regional commercial banks across the entire country, trust companies, and Florida community banks and thrifts. Jackie performs extensive financial modeling and analysis including five to seven year earnings projections, discounted cash flow and valuation analysis.
Areas of Expertise: Financial Modeling and Projections, Research and Analysis, Strategic Planning, Pitch Coaching and Mastery
As Partner for Broad and Cassel, Matthew represents privately and publicly held companies in connection with partnerships, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiation, employment-related matters, executive compensation (including equity incentives), private and public offerings of securities, securities law compliance, corporate governance, business formation and entity selection.
Matthew is well versed in the preparation and negotiation of a wide range of agreements including partnership agreements, shareholder agreements, supply and distribution agreements, employment agreements, registration statements, prospectuses, commercial leases and license agreements. In addition, Matthew works with senior executives, and acts as primary outside counsel, for clients in a broad range of industries.
Areas of Expertise: Business Formation and Ownership Issues, Equity and Debt Financing, Contract Negotiation and Drafting
Currently Vice President, Private Banker at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Monica works with High Net Worth individuals, families, and private foundations, providing creative solutions for optimizing their balance sheet through financial planning, trusts and wealth transfer strategies, private banking and investments.
As a former Investment Analyst for Lydian Wealth Management (Sabadell Bank), Monica generated customized investment mandates while overseeing the implementation of investment strategies in client portfolios and ongoing portfolio re-balancing.
Areas of Expertise: Business Development and Strategic Planning, Risk Assessment, Portfolio Management, Capital Markets
Geno Valdes, President and CEO of Sunburst Farms, has led the company through its growth and development as the largest integrated fresh cut flower grower and importer in the U.S. He helped to develop a valuable and respected brand that demanded a premium in the highly fragmented market, and is responsible for a marketing strategy that helped the company achieve double digit sales growth and its eventual sale to Dole Food company in 1998.
Areas of Expertise: Strategic Planning Development, Business Development, Sales and Marketing, Cost Reduction and Process Mapping
CEO and Co-founder of Forte Interactive. Mr. Williams started Forte Interactive in 1999 as a web-based software development firm. Through his leadership Forte has evolved into a leading provider of robust SaaS solutions for the Nonprofit and Endurance Sports markets.
As the founder of Rocket Scientists, Mr. Williams grew this start up from a part-time business to a successful IT Services company until it was sold in 2000.
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Catechesis Sunday Assembly
Perfect in Christ: Women’s conference draws over 600 to Cedar Rapids
January 31, 2019 January 31, 2019 Dan Russo
By Dan Russo
Witness Editor
CEDAR RAPIDS — At the latest Archdiocesan Women’s Conference, participants took a long hard look in the mirror. By the end of the day organizers hoped to remind everyone how to see that the beauty of Christ emanates from them, no matter what they may look like on the outside or feel like on the inside.
Over 600 women from around the archdiocese gathered at the Double Tree Hilton Conference Center Jan. 26 to hear two nationally known Catholic speakers, celebrate Mass, engage in the sacrament of reconciliation, pray and experience fellowship. The day’s theme was “Perfect isn’t perfect.”
“With all of the internet and everything that portrays that we need to be perfect, we needed to put out the message that you don’t,” said Jennifer Clancy of Epiphany Parish in Mason City. “And that perfect does truly come from God and that to him we are perfect and really that’s all we need.”
Clancy was co-chair of the conference with Ann Kunst of St. Patrick Parish in Clear Lake. In solidarity with the theme, mirrors were placed on the stages where keynote speakers Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, an author and EWTN TV host, and Kate Wicker, a wife, mother and story teller, shared wisdom on overcoming suffering through faith and then using one’s gifts to serve. In one of her two talks, Wicker, 40, revealed her own struggles with an eating disorder as a young person who didn’t conform to society’s standards for body image.
“I realized as I was recovering that you can be cured, but you may not be healed,” she said. “Healed is what the great physician comes to do. Jesus may not cure you if you have a sickness, but he can heal you. He can help you to make peace with it. I was cured from my eating disorder, but I wasn’t healed. I had so much brokenness. The problem was my plans to get better didn’t involve God.”
Wicker eventually did turn to the Lord and shared a different perspective on how to handle the challenges of aging and dealing with family issues. An overriding theme of the day was the power of the individual to work with Christ for good.
Nationally known Catholic speaker Kate Wicker speaks during one of two talks she gave at the conference. (Photo by Dan Russo/The Witness)
“We don’t give ourselves enough credit of the power we have to pass on the faith and be able to be confident in that,” said Clancy.
During his homily at Mass, Archbishop Michael Jackels alluded to the influence of two women in Scripture, Lois and Eunice. He said each one of us is called to be a beacon to others like those women.
“All of us have someone in whom the faith was living and translated the faith to us,” he said.
He then reached out to a person in the crowd named Becky.
“I want someone someday to say to me the faith lives in me because of Becky! That should be a goal for us. This is a duty for all of us. It’s not by a pastor’s concession; it’s by a great commission,” he said.
The event was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Dubuque, the Sisters of the Presentation, Theisen’s and the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. Many participants returned after attending in previous years.
“I came last year, and I was totally inspired,” said Mary Kay Polashek of St. Cecilia Parish, Ames. “It made a difference for my year … we’re all called, and we need to be inspired as women of God who have an important role to play in the church.”
More photos of the conference can be accessed at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/nHeMnM2hrWHh9J446
Cover photo:
Young women hold hands as they pray during Mass at the Archdiocesan Women’s Conference Jan. 26.
(Photo by Dan Russo)
← Summary reflections on the U.S. bishops’ retreat: personal prayer
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Week 6: Vestments
March 29, 2017 Dan Russo
What we have done and what we have failed to do
November 29, 2018 November 29, 2018 Jill Kruse-Domeyer
Sisters, lay people fighting modern day slavery
May 5, 2016 May 5, 2016 Dan Russo
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Denver Execs Share Their Most Pivotal Career Moments
Maritza Dominguez Braswell, Partner at Fox Rothschild, LLP
A pivotal moment in my career came during our representation of the Lehman Brothers Estate in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. A group of plaintiffs claimed Lehman owed them a collective $12 billion related to allegedly toxic mortgages. After we argued successfully that a loan-by-loan review was the only way to accurately value claims across hundreds of residential mortgage-backed securities trusts, I worked with my colleague Michael Rollin, to oversee the creation and operation of a technology-enabled, detailed review of tens of thousands of individual mortgages. It was the first time a law firm had undertaken the type of large-scale loan review ordinarily left to underwriters, making the matter truly groundbreaking. Moreover, to lead a team of dozens of lawyers through the review, and then play a lead role in the next phase of the case—a 9-week trial in the Southern District of New York—was personally gratifying. I was the only lead lawyer of color, and the only lead female at counsel table during trial. We secured a victory for our client, and I achieved a personal victory navigating a male-dominated environment in a multi-billion-dollar Wall Street case.
Gretchen Rosenberg, President and CEO of Kentwood Real Estate
In 1996 I became a single mom to an 18-month-old son. I had been working with my ex-husband’s family in advertising, and obviously needed to move on. I asked myself, “What can I do that combines my business background and my interest in architecture and design, with flexibility, so I can spend time with my son on my terms (like being a parent volunteer) and also have the ability to make a good living?” Real Estate seemed the natural fit. I started in sales and 10 years later became a selling manager of one of our three Kentwood brokerage offices. Then, 11 years after that, I stepped up into the CEO role.
Diane Eichler, President and Founder of Decibel Blue & Decibel Green Creative Marketing & PR
I spent the first half of my career as a senior account executive and director of client services for several branding, marketing, and design agencies. My clients during that time included Toyota Motor Sales, The Black Eyed Peas, Herman Miller and Apple. In 2005, my husband and I started Decibel Blue in Phoenix, and we managed to survive those crazy economic years ahead of us. A turning point for me came in 2013. That’s when we opened our office in Denver and moved here, full-time, shortly after. While reaching into the Denver market was certainly strategic, our real motivation was our desire to spend the next portion of our journey in this amazing city. So often in life you end up living someplace because of a job, family or some obligation out of your control, but we seized the opportunity to live exactly where we wanted. Since then, our agency has grown in both markets, and we couldn’t be happier exploring the mountains and living life to the fullest in beautiful Colorado.”
Julie Winslow, Vice President – Branch Manager for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
In 2009, I made a career change from a sales manager in logistics, talking about moving ocean containers around the world, to a financial consultant. I was looking for a career where I could make a direct and significant impact for my clients. I focused on helping women understand the world of finance and empowering them to make positive changes to improve their lives. At a Metropolitan State University of Denver alumni event in 2010, I was sharing my passion for empowering women and was offered an opportunity to design and teach my own class through the Institute of Women’s Studies and Services. This was one of the best experiences of my life. There is a huge gap in education and partnering with MSU Denver gave me the ability to reach hundreds of women and give them the tools, knowledge and resources to make profound positive changes to assist them on the road to financial freedom. This experience also led to me looking for a company to match my passion, which I found in Charles Schwab. It has been incredible to work for organizations that share my passion for financial education and providing resources for investors of all levels.
Interviewing a Legend: Meeting Billie Jean King
As a young woman I have often imagined sitting next to a living legend, someone whose accomplishments left me in awe, to ask them how they achieved each milestone of their life. I knew it would never come to pass, but it was a way for me to imagine a coach outside myself who could instruct me on how to navigate the complex choices of career and adulthood.
Little did I know in 2018 the opportunity would actually present itself.
I still remember sitting down for the meeting. I’d received a message from the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, an organization I’d been supporting since moving to Denver, to discuss a potential partnership. No information was given, but to me it didn’t matter what the job was, I was ready to serve in whatever capacity the organization needed.
CEO Lauren Casteel sat at the head of the table and asked “Krystal, do you know why you’re here?” I said, “No, but I’m happy to discuss how I can support.”
I was then informed that I had been selected to interview tennis legend and women’s equality icon, Billie Jean King, at their largest luncheon to date, expecting over 3,000 guests. I remember my mind going blank, not realizing this was something I could even be considered for, but knowing I was ready to take the responsibility and have the opportunity to fulfill the dream of my youth.
I happily accepted and got to work spending months in preparation to research and understand as much about Ms. King as humanly possible. Between the research, phone conversations with BJK (our abbreviation for her), and the culminating interview I’ve learned 3 key lessons from the life of this living legend.
You can’t predict what your “moment” might be, but you must be prepared for it.
As a kid I remember being told that successful people have a goal and they strive for it. I always believed that meant knowing you’d be a CEO and going after that, or making it a goal to win a specific championship, but sometimes there are moments in life that we can’t predict will come our way.
Billie Jean King’s first big claim to fame was a 1973 tennis match called the Battle of the Sexes, which was viewed live by about 90 million people worldwide. Her moment came when self-titled Chauvinist Pig Bobby Riggs made the claim that he could beat any woman in a tennis match because men are by nature stronger and more equipped for sports. BJK was his second challenger and she welcomed the chance to stand up for women in a televised game.
In the end, Billie Jean King reigned victorious.
Moments like this cannot be predicted, but when they come, it’s important to seize them and win! King was successful because she made it her life’s mission to be the best tennis player she could be and to be ready for any opponent. She was also prepared to manage pressure, so she could take on challenges without allowing her natural fears and stressors to take over when the big moment came her way.
Similarly, we may not know when unpredictable moments will come along, but if we prepare ourselves, master our craft, and focus on the challenge ahead, we can succeed each and every time.
Know what you stand for and you’ll never look back with regret.
Even before the Battle of the Sexes, Billie Jean King was an advocate -- dare I say warrior -- for women’s equality in sports. Joining together with 8 other women, they created the Women’s Tennis Association to provide a voice to stand up for inequalities in prize money between men’s and women’s tennis. They believed that women were just as entertaining as men and should therefore be compensated equally.
Today, WTA is the principal organizing body for women’s tennis representing over 2,500 players.
When discussing matters of women’s rights in any interview, Billie Jean King has the resolve and composure of a woman who believes in what she’s fighting for. In viewing her clips and interviews over 40 years of career, I’ve watched her carry the exact same passion without ever backtracking on her beliefs.
Watching her resolve over the years reminded me of the importance of knowing what we really stand for. Each and every person has non-negotiables, things we aren’t willing to bend on, but we aren’t always willing to stand up for them. I can think of moments when I didn’t stand strong in stating my beliefs and allowed my principles to be compromised, so I could make others comfortable. Those are moments of regret that will always disappoint me.
When we stand up for what matters to us, and never allow ourselves to negotiate our beliefs to avoid conflict we can reduce those moments of regret and live a life we can always be proud of.
Never stop growing, expanding and making an impact.
If you believed that after that mega-match seen ‘round the world that Billie Jean King was done achieving you’d be very incorrect. During my research, I was astonished to read about all of the things she’s been doing just in the past few years such as becoming an owner of the Dodgers and launching an exhibit with the New York Historical Society.
And when speaking with her, I learned about unpublished achievements that continue to bring awareness to the causes that matter. Being able to refer to her unique life experiences to advocate for these initiatives enriches the conversation and encourages more people to join in.
It’s limiting to believe that once we do something great it’s time to hang up our hats or that age is a factor in when we should sit back and let the “kids” take the front seat. A life well lived is full of personal growth where we take every opportunity possible to make an impact in the world around us.
There’s no time limit on making a difference.
Having the opportunity to sit down with Billie Jean King to ask the burning questions I’d been wanting to discuss was a privilege and a moment I'll always remember, but the biggest lessons came from immersing myself in a review of her life journey.
While my approach of imagining these titans as my personal mentors seemed fantastical, there’s so much we can learn from their lives and often an abundance of resources to help us with the task. If there is a person in the world whose path inspires you and reaching them is not easily achievable I encourage you to make a project of researching them to learn as much as you can. You may find that watching their interviews, hearing their podcasts and reading their articles is an amazing way to capture some of the biggest lessons they have to share.
From Rock Bottom to Eight Figures: The Power of Radical Self Care and Love
Contributed by Bree Weber, a copywriter for thought leaders and personal brands. http://main.breeweber.com/
Broke, divorced, and grieving the loss of her young son who died during childbirth, Danette May had hit rock bottom. She had $47.63 in her bank account and no idea how to move forward.
But to hear her tell it, her pain was her gift.
Looking at her life on paper, you wouldn’t see that she’s known any pain at all. A #1 bestselling author, former celebrity fitness trainer, and world-renowned motivational speaker, Danette runs a $20 million dollar business. She has built a strong personal brand from which she engages with 1.5 million followers. She’s a happily married, loving mother – all in all, her life looks perfect.
But less than 10 years ago, it was unraveling all around her.
And she did something unexpected with all of trauma that life had thrown her way. She accepted it.
Danette talks about her past as a series of choices. She chose not to be a victim. She chose to take 100% responsibility for her life. She chose to practice radical self-care. It’s radical because in this day in age, taking care of ourselves requires us to identify, acknowledge, and address shame.
Brene Brown defines shame as “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging”. Addressing our shame requires us to examine the stories we tell ourselves.
Danette first recognized her own stories after her losing first her son and then her marriage. She had been living on auto-pilot, flying down the path society had paved for her. It wasn’t until it all crumbled that she even realized the dishonesty in her relationships and lifestyle. Through uncovering those lies, she unintentionally discovered shame she had been hiding.
I’m not smart enough. I’m not good enough. I’m not enough.
We feel shame for being too bright, too shiny, and too much. So, we lessen ourselves with subtle stories.
I don’t need this. I don’t want that. This isn’t for me.
But choosing to take 100% responsibility for your life means taking control of how you react to the negative self-talk. It was from this responsibility – doing the hard work, lots of falling down, learning from mistakes and getting back up – that Danette discovered a small way to make big change.
When you’re in the thick of it, entrenched in pain and feeling heartbroken or pessimistic, big changes feel insurmountable, but the little things might just be possible. Danette, found three pillars that changed her life and allowed her to begin healing: healing foods, healing movement, and a healing mindset.
These micro changes turned into daily habits which developed into true healing. Within six months, Danette knew she had something powerful to share with the world. Healing your body and mind inevitably leads to soul work.
Slowly, Danette began rewriting those stories she told herself – and she’s still rewriting her stories. Though now, she’s helping millions of women do the same thing, through her latest book The Rise: An Unforgettable Journey of Self-Love, Forgiveness, and Transformation.
She shares her own painful, yet inspiring story to show readers how they can manifest what is in their heart and lead a life of true abundance. Her mission has shifted since the three pillars, and gone deeper, and is clearly reflected in her book.
The Rise doesn’t require you to start anywhere specific or arrive anywhere (ever). Any woman, anywhere, in any stage of her life can explore what it means to live her fullest expression: to be her brightest, shiny-est self.
And on the way she’s creating a community of women who believe in abundance and are letting go of female competition and the scarcity mentality. It’s far too easy these days to consume only the highly curated images on Instagram and stories on Facebook.
“We’ve become accustomed to comparing ourselves against these collections instead of evaluating our own realities. We’ve all had experiences walking into an environment where we feel judged or disliked simply for being shiny, for being the best versions of ourselves. This is all shame.”
Women only bring other women down when they don’t feel enough. Women mask this pain with alcohol, buying shoes, overworking, and being judgemental to others, among other things, but this is only temporary relief.
But when we connect with each other to share that pain and help each other through it, we can all tap into abundance. We have sisters to fan our dreams and support us along the way, because we all deserve to have our community that have our back in darkness and the light.
Danette talks about abundance as a 360° experience. It’s not just about success in one area, but having a positive mindset about what is possible in every arena of our lives. She spent a long time striving for work-life balance, without ever attaining it. That is, until she realized balance isn’t real. It’s just made up.
“Freedom is not about fitting a specific idea of being an amazing business owner from 9am to 5pm, an amazing mother from 5pm to 9pm, and an amazing lover from 9pm to 11pm.
Now, Danette doesn’t look for equilibrium. Instead, she plans her week around her non-negotiables: her two girls, her husband, eating something green, getting out into nature, and “I AM” statements – in that order.
Because it all comes down to this: what you focus on expands. If you focus on the negative or feel like the world is against you, you’ll get more of that. If you focus on the good that is happening and visualize what you want to happen, that’s what you’ll see more of.
And if you’re in the thick of it, Danette says, it’s hard to do those affirmations or feel positive. So, instead, start by moving your body.
“Turn on the music and have a dance party. Go out to the park and go for a walk. Movement is the sweeping of the cobwebs of the soul.”
You can read more of Danette’s story in her book, The Rise available everywhere books are sold. Be sure join her book club to receive valuable tips and insights as you read the book, and join a growing community of abundant women.
The Many Faces of Mentorship
By Krystal Covington, MBA
I still remember Ms. Green. She was a funny, authentic and an academically-minded woman who taught my science class in 6th grade. Science was one of my favorite courses because it allowed me to explore, ask questions, and see the many gray areas in the world around us. I naturally became drawn to her as a teacher who helped introduce me to new and exciting topics.
After learning about my experience at a summer math and science camp I’d attended at a local college, Ms. Green saw fit to introduce me to the world of science fairs. Together, we created and executed a winning submission earning me 3 awards that included savings bonds that helped me with living expenses when I got to college.
That was my first experience with the concept of non-familial mentorship. After 20 more years of life I’ve now seen it demonstrated in a number of ways and understand there truly are many different types of mentorship that all come together to help the mentee rise to achieve a vision for success.
I was recently reminded of this truth at a panel event that I facilitated featuring 4 women who had been inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. The panel consisted of a diverse group of leaders including Juana Bordas, Gerie Grimes, Ding-Wen Hsu, and Gail Schoettler.
During the event, attended by over 70 women, each panelist described personal stories of giving and receiving mentorship, and each narrative was surprisingly unique.
Some of the key takeaways that caught my attention were:
Our vision of mentorship is often based on a patriarchal standard.
It shouldn’t have been so surprising, but I was genuinely taken aback by a reminder that our vision of what mentorship should be is based on the history of powerful men choosing a successor to whom they impart their knowledge in order to pass on their role as leader in an organization.
I’ve certainly fallen victim to this fallacy during certain points in my life resulting in me stating that “I’d never had a mentor.” I believed this simply because of the same patriarchal paradigm -- believing that to be mentored meant having a high-level corporate leader take me under his or her wing to bring me up to the top. While that can certainly happen, it’s definitely not the only version of true mentorship.
Intercultural mentorship can provide special insights for minorities
While there are general forms of mentorship that are relevant to anyone climbing the ladder of success, there are always nuances to navigating the world around us based on the cultural context we were born to.
Those who are 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation immigrant may find support in connecting with elders who can keep them in tune with their cultural roots while helping them navigate the business world here in the United States. That consistent support can help them to feel rooted in family tradition, connected to their ancestral culture, and accepted for who they are.
As an African American woman I can relate to having mentors in my life who understand the underlying challenges of being a racial minority. It’s not always easy to recognize how to respond to stereotypes, or to handle the discomfort of often being the only woman of color in a room. Mentors provide that support by advocating and showing that they understand.
It takes several kinds of mentors to help us achieve our goals
Many of the leaders on the panel discussed having mentors who approach advice from different angles -- creating a cabinet of sorts with experts who have diverse knowledge and are from specialty areas. As we grow in the different aspects of our lives, we might need to connect with a new type of person to draw from an expertise that is missing in our knowledge-base.
As a mentee, it’s helpful to understand the areas where you need the most support, so you can communicate this to the leaders around you. When you’re clear on what you need the right mentor can raise his or her hand to fill in the blanks of your knowledge base.
The role of mentorship is powerful and nuanced. Conversations such as these remind us of the impact we can make when we support others, and invite us as individuals to actively seek the advice of others who have knowledge to share. With our combined power, we can lift more women up to higher heights to gain greater power, wealth, and confidence in our futures.
I thank Deng-Win Su, Juana Bordas, Gerie Grimes and Gail Schoettler for reinforcing this for our guests that evening.
5 Ways to Boost Your Occupational Wellness
by Susan Golicic, PhD, CPIC, Holistic Life Coach and Stephen Glitzer, CHWC, Holistic Life Coach, Chef www.uninhibitedwellness.com
The Women of Denver is a mix of women in the corporate and the entrepreneurial world. Past issues of this magazine, as well as various networking and training events have highlighted many of the members and how they have gotten to where they are. Some of the most recent stories have described how some have taken perceived weaknesses, challenges faced, and even traumatic experiences and turned those into catalysts for enhancing their jobs and starting new organizations and businesses. Work is a large part of our lives, therefore, feeling good about your work is a big part of your well-being.
Occupational wellness is about finding meaning and purpose in your job — whether in your current position or a new one. A job doesn’t feel like a job if you are passionate about what you do and feel as though you are pursuing your "calling" in life. Improving your occupational wellness can impact those that work for and with you as well — if you love what you do, others will recognize that and it could be contagious! Here are 5 things you can do to further develop your occupational wellness.
Tackle an issue that matters to you. Get on a committee at work, join an initiative team, engage with your current environment, or get others to join you in supporting something. Giving energy to a cause which resonates with you can give you the boost you’ve been needing!
Fully utilize your skill set. Use your skills to not only influence and impact the work you do and the people you work with, but also work to refine and enhance them. What can you do to learn more and continue growing? Finding ways to contribute in areas that are not part of your everyday job can also help hone your skills.
Learn something new. Is there a skill set you don’t have that would be helpful in your job or life? Take a class, watch a webinar, attend a mastermind group, or approach someone that you admire and ask them to mentor you. Explore an area in which you’ve been interested but haven’t yet pursued — you may find a new passion!
Be an agent of change. It’s possible that the company you work for is stuck or stagnant in some areas. Have you done all you can to improve these conditions? If it’s time to move on to something new, what can you glean from your past so as to not relive it in your new endeavor? You can be a catalyst for greatness, whether in your current role or with yourself!
Join business development or networking groups. Getting involved with others that have a similar but different focus can be rewarding. Even if you’re using the group as a social component to your self-care routine, you may find yourself reaping the benefits on the business side as well. Seek insight from others to help broaden your knowledge and your sphere of influence. What all of this essentially gets at is ensuring you have a growth mindset when it comes to work (we recommend reading “Mindset” by Carol Dweck if you’d like to learn more).
The average person spends 90,000 hours at work, so why not make the most of that huge piece of your life? All areas of wellness are intertwined so you owe it to your overall health to improve your occupational wellness. Make the most of your job and career, and you will find yourself feeling not only more successful but also happier!
The true cost of childcare: Exploring the impact on Colorado's working mothers
Photo Credit: Saralyn Ward
by Saralyn Ward
I am a working mother, with two children in full-time, center-based daycare, and I’ll be honest: Every month I wonder if it’s worth it.
When I was first pregnant, I was working full time as a project manager. I liked my job, but I knew it was only a step on my career path. I had many more goals to pursue, and I remember feeling nervous, unsure how having a child would impact my career. I wondered, would I want to keep working? Would I be able to find daycare? Would I suddenly become irrelevant in my industry? How would I balance my aspirations with my new, cherished role as mother?
But something unexpected happened after I gave birth: While my heart expanded exponentially with infinite love for my child, my personal goals and priorities came sharply into focus. Not only did I want to continue my career, but doing so became a matter of self-preservation. With little eyes watching me, I felt a renewed drive to succeed and live a life of purpose. I wanted to work, and I needed to do it efficiently. With dreams to chase and a daughter along for the ride, I was determined to continue my career.
Little did I know the biggest challenge I’d face was be the astronomical cost of daycare.
My husband and I both have good jobs, but still, our daycare costs surpass our mortgage payment. Currently 93 percent of my personal salary goes to paying for childcare. In the 4 ½ years since having my first child, I have tried almost every working situation imaginable. I’ve stayed home. I’ve worked remotely. I’ve freelanced. I’ve started my own business. I’ve worked part-time. And I’ve worked full-time. I even tried network marketing. Every one of my moves was heavily influenced by our childcare options at the time—or perhaps more accurately, lack thereof.
And I’m certainly not alone. Working parents across Colorado are trying to navigate the rocky waters of costly and limited childcare while minimizing the impact on their careers. Single parents and families living below the poverty line are hit the hardest by the lack of quality, licensed childcare in the state, and while there are resources available to help, they are hard to find.
As operational costs continue to rise and with limited federal and state support, childcare centers are forced to raise prices or sacrifice the quality of care. Often, this equates to hiring underqualified employees and paying them less than a living wage. In a September 2017 report written by the University of Denver’s Butler Institute for Families in partnership with Brodsky Research and Consulting, it was noted that “families are unable to pay the full cost of the quality care and education that they want and that society benefits from. However, society is not picking up the marginal costs between what families can afford and what quality services cost. The result is that the early care and education sector is in market failure.”
In the same report, the facts are laid bare:
In Colorado, families with an infant or toddler in center-based care pay 44 percent more for childcare each year than they would pay for a year of college tuition.
Statewide, there is licensed capacity for only 18 percent of the state’s 2 year olds
Colorado is one of the top ten least affordable states for childcare, with center-based infant care costing 40 percent more than the national average.
Public funding to support early care and education in Colorado offsets only 28 percent of the cost of providing care—10 percent less than the national average.
According to the National Women’s Law Center, 7 in 10 mothers today are in the workforce. Yet a 2015 Washington Post survey reported 51 percent of parents stopped working or took a less challenging job for caregiving reasons.
Because women typically make less than men, mothers are often the parent to put their career on hold. Then, when their children enter school, women often struggle to find work because of the “mom gap” on their resume. Lack of affordable child care isn’t just affecting women in the years when they rely on it; their long-term career trajectory and earning potential may be affected for years to come.
The repercussions don’t end there. Companies are faced with the cost of high employee turnover, the economy suffers as disposable income diminishes, and society loses the long-term economic benefits associated with early childhood education. Yet there is hope: These socio-economic consequences are proving to be catalysts for innovative solutions.
For example, WorkLife Partnership is a Denver-based nonprofit partnering with Care.com in a pilot program to invest in family childcare settings. They aim to increase the availability of affordable, licensed care by providing grants to at-home daycare providers. This, in turn, serves the companies with which they partner.
“Our goal is to partner with businesses in Colorado to fill the need of their employees’ childcare. We hope this leads to less turnover,” says Cathy Fabiano, Childcare Business Manager for WorkLife Partnership. “What we’re doing is literally one-on-one [training for childcare providers]. I’m going to their house, looking at their space, helping them realize they could have 5 more children and saying ‘What do we need to do to make this work?’ We have used grant funding to replace fences and windows, given them equipment, bought curriculum. For one of our providers, we will pay for her Director certification. We are building these providers’ self-confidence [as] small business owners to increase their enrollment, which, in the end, helps employers.”
Fabiano sums up the problem we face in Colorado with one simple statement: “Colorado is known as a ‘childcare desert’ because there are more people who need care than the state can hold.” As our state continues to attract more residents and the cost of living increases, I hope this is just the beginning of our collective brainstorming session on ways to make the desert flourish with more opportunities for affordable, quality care. The women of Denver—and the country as a whole—are counting on it.
Saralyn Ward hosts a parenting segment on Colorado’s Everyday Show, and is the founder of The Mama Sagas, a community of women sharing their stories in video and blog form. For more stories of local Colorado women balancing a career and family, visit The Mama Sagas blog every Wednesday.
Heidi, works full time with 2 kids in daycare, $2400-3000 per month in childcare:
“Daycare eats a lot of our disposable income—$30k of it each year. That’s money that can’t be saved for college or put to other uses. But the other day I said to my husband, even if we were eating mac & cheese for dinner every night, I’d still keep my kids in school. When you find somewhere you love with people you trust, you don’t doubt what you’re doing. You just make it work.”
Jacquelyn, left full-time corporate job to move to part-time work, spends $1600 a month in childcare:
“The most challenging aspect to this situation is that as a mother I innately put my children’s needs first. Having to acquiesce to my financial situation is torture. Knowing your family needs you in a very close and personal capacity AND knowing that you have to sacrifice that to provide financially causes an intense emotional strain.”
Meggan, single mother working a demanding job with an airline, $2000 a month in childcare:
“The most challenging part of my move to Denver has been finding reliable childcare. I need child care consistently from 5 AM to 5 PM, but someone who is flexible enough to sometimes come earlier, stay later, and do overnights because my job requires a fair amount of travel. I was not able to be promoted as quickly as I could have been due to the lack of flexibility in my schedule due to unreliable child care. Having to call in on short notice and missing meetings because my child is sick, or I don’t have someone to pick her up from school means I need to take PTO, and impacts my performance at work. The amount of stress and worry is a huge distraction.”
Alima, made a complete career change because she couldn’t find childcare, $120 a month in childcare:
“I was an elementary teacher, but after scrambling for childcare constantly and going through 6 different childcare situations in one school year, I decided to quit my teaching job. It was too stressful! Trying to find a job that would work around my husband's constantly changing schedule was nearly impossible, so I created my own. I decided to take a year to fully pursue my passion in photography and see if I could make a part-time career out of it. It has been so much fun and manageable being a family photographer.”
Camille, works part-time in the fitness industry, juggles childcare between both parents and a kids’ club onsite at work, $150 per month in childcare:
“We began the process of looking for daycare when we found out I was pregnant. We toured many places, but they were ALL waitlisted. Even if they did have room, I wasn't sure we could afford to put him in daycare. We used a nanny two days per week for his first year because there was no room in any daycare facilities we researched. Also, most we found did not offer part time and because of the nature of our jobs, we did not need a full-time daycare.”
Celeste, single parent who works an hourly manufacturing job, pays $400 per month in childcare and drives 40 minutes each way for a friend to watch her child:
“My biggest challenge is not being able to have a stable babysitter. You don’t know if suddenly they’ll say they can’t watch kids anymore for whatever reason. It has happened to me before, to where I have to find someone the next day. It makes it really hard because I have to miss work or have to be late. I always panic. I don’t have the opportunity to do as much as I’d like to, like stay for overtime or go in on weekends if needed. Even if I wanted a second job for the extra income I’d have to find a night babysitter and that’s twice as complicated and I’d have to pay twice as much. I would prefer to work in a different department than where I’m at, where there’s better pay, but it’s a 12-hour shift with a rotating schedule and I can’t do that. I’m very limited in what I can do.”
This article was originally published in Women of Denver magazine.
The POWER of Mentorship
Photo credit: Sweet Green Photography
by Joce Blake
Pop Quiz. Which of the following statements do you agree with?
I want to maximize my life and leave behind a legacy.
My life currently impacts others in a positive way.
My core values are reflected in my daily life.
We would all love to answer ‘yes’ to the questions above, but in many cases we need guidance to do so. Forbes has suggested that having someone help you define goals, solve problems and see situations in new ways is one way to take control of your life and career path. Sounds to us like mentorship is the solution. It is essential for us to have someone in our life that pours into us. Whether it is encouragement, sharing insight or helping to build discipline, mentorship is wildly invaluable.
For example, 12 year old actress, J.Lee has found her passion in life because of the impactful people in her life. J.Lee has done extensive commercial work for clients like Children's Hospital, King Soopers and Furniture Row. Lee said, “My mentors are my mom and dad. They are both actors, so I'm able to learn a lot from their experience.” She went on to say that having her parents, Tammy and Lewis Brown, as mentors has always impacted her passion for acting. She loves watching them on television and they inspire her to pursue her goals. “The most powerful thing my mentor has shared with me is to be authentic. That means always be yourself and don't be afraid to do so. This goes for acting and life. People can always tell when you're faking,” Lee shared with us. This shining star says that she plans to be a mentor in the future. “I know how helpful having mentors is to me, and I want to help someone else be their best too,” Lee exclaimed.
On September 27, 2017, the Women’s Foundation of Colorado hosted its Annual Luncheon and it was full of laughs, tears and “ah-ha” moments. The audience was packed with women of all different ages waiting to receive the award-winning actress, Octavia Spencer, who was the keynote speaker.
As J.Lee sat in the audience listening to the Hidden Figures actress talk about her life growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, her face glowed like no other. In an open and honest conversation with President and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, Lauren Casteel, Spencer shared that she decided to buy out a movie theater for young girls to view Hidden Figures. She got the idea from comedian, Kevin Hart, and was not expecting it to have such a significant effect.
In a heart-wrenching moment, she began to tear up as she recalled her mother working multiple jobs and how she could not afford to take Spencer and her siblings to see movies in theaters. “Hidden Figures had an educational impact and I felt a lot of people should see it. I remember being in class as a child and hearing the kids talk about movies they had seen and I knew what it felt like to not know,” Octavia shared as she choked back her tears. “I just wanted little girls to know that even if their families couldn’t afford to take them to opening weekend that no matter what dreams you have for yourself...these women weren’t maids, they were scientists and they were doing what they loved doing. They had no idea the impact they would have on the world. I felt like every little girl should see that so that they knew in that moment that if that was something they wanted to do, they could do it.” Spencer shared with tears streaming down her face.
Lauren Casteel told us that WFOC chose Spencer because the actress’ personal story of how her mother taught her and her six siblings to believe in themselves is beyond inspirational. Casteel continued, “That inspiration is magnified when the beloved Academy Award-winning actress brings strong women's voices to the screen. Through the characters she portrays, she brings important issues and history to life.”
With Casteel’s 20-year experience in philanthropy, she had so much to share about success through mentorship. “Mentorship can be formal or informal. What's important is that during an exchange, individuals share real stories not only of success, but of missteps and lessons learned. Mentorship requires authenticity and listening,” Casteel said. The CEO even shared a mentorship success story that happened during the summer. She said, “WFOC has been honored to host two to three diverse college interns and fellows. They are invariably passionate, curious and dedicated. I like to think the team contributes to their future success by giving them meaningful work and opportunities to learn and grow. We integrate them into the team and share real-time feedback and support. We have close ongoing connections with these students, who in some instances have gone on to join various WFCO committees. We grow by learning from them as well.”
There is no doubt that Spencer is a formal and informal mentor. Through her filmography over the years, the actress has continued to portray powerful women of color, spreading inspiration to the masses. Her first film debut, A Time to Kill, as Roark’s nurse began her journey of depicting an unrepresented minority: black women.
Spencer’s breakout role as Minny Jackson in the period drama, The Help, has to be one of her most memorable roles. As a colored maid in racially charged Alabama in the 1960s, Minny Jackson was the perfect balance of extreme strength and vulnerability. Spencer told the audience at the WFOC luncheon that her portrayal of Minny Jackson was the closest to home for her because she grew up with five sisters. “I realized after playing Minny, that if, as a woman, you have no agency, you don’t really know if the glass is half empty or full because you don’t own the glass. So I realized that, wow, I am happy that I own the glass and I know Minny in the 1960s couldn’t own the glass and now Octavia does.”
Most recently Spencer portrayed Dorothy Vaughan in the film, Hidden Figures. The critically acclaimed film depicts the true and untold story of several African-American women who provided NASA with essential information needed to launch the program’s successful space missions. Spencer’s amazing performance has earned her multiple nominations including the Screen Actor’s Guild, Golden Globe and NAACP Image Award to date. The Space Race would not have been the same without mathematician and colored computer, Dorothy Vaughan.
When Casteel asked the actress about her experience of conquering the role and the machine, Spencer’s advice was powerful. She advised the audience to allow boys and girls to choose their toys. “Let the little boys play with dolls; if they want to pull the doll’s head off, let them! And if the little girls want to play with trucks and science gadgets, let them. I think we start steering them into gender roles and then when a child shows acumen for a certain field of study like mathematics, science or anything STEM related, we say, ‘Oh that’s for boys’. If they have the academics, then we need to make sure they have programs available for them to express themselves.”
Spencer noted that she became veracious after she found her way around her reading challenges and she is a strong believer that when a child is supported, they have no choice but to flourish. Octavia also left us in awe after the film, Gifted, which is J.Lee’s favorite role to date. Lee shared, “Of Octavia's amazing roles, my favorite character was Roberta in Gifted. I liked that she was like a mother to the little girl, Mary, and a great friend to her and her uncle. She was also willing to fight for her! Her love, playfulness, and strength reminded me of my Nana.” Over a slice of chocolate pie, Octavia ended the luncheon by wishing the women and girls of Colorado dream big and that the men step up to help the women and girls achieve those dreams.
In Spencer’s “spare time”, she mentors formally as an AT&T Hello Lab Mentor. AT&T designed this mentorship program to pair entertainment industry leaders with aspiring filmmakers from diverse backgrounds as they create new short films. The program is focused on supporting each filmmaker by introducing them to studio and production company executives, agents and attorneys. Also, mentors including writer-director Rick Famuyiwa, rapper Common, film director Desiree Akhavan and producer Nina Yang Bongiovi are responsible for counseling filmmakers on pitching their work, managing budgets and directing character-driven narratives. Most importantly, these films will highlight and celebrate untold stories from neglected communities like LGBTQ, women and people of color. This program is proof that mentorship is crucial throughout our entire life span.
We had the amazing opportunity to have a heart to heart with Octavia after the luncheon and she poured out about the importance of mentorship. As she embraced young actress, J.Lee, you could see them connecting and building this beautiful rapport. While this actress did not have a mentor growing up, she remembers learning much from Whoopi Goldberg. Spencer told us, “She shared some solid advice and that was be true to yourself at the end of the day. I know what that means now.”
We asked the Hidden Figures actress what advice she would share with aspiring actresses like J.Lee and she said, “1. Train because it does not come naturally and while some people make it look easy, it’s not. 2. Live your life because life experiences is what an actor brings to a role. If you haven’t lived and gone on those trips and experienced things then you’re not going to be able to bring depth to the role. If you think that you will be an overnight success, then acting isn’t for you. Most people I know became successful in their 40s. I became successful in my 40s. It’s a marathon not a sprint.”
It is also very interesting that Spencer does not want to take on the title of “role model” because she realizes that she will do things that people like and dislike. Above all, she strives to make her mother proud of her by keeping her legacy intact. “I just want to be the best person I can be,” Octavia said. Amazingly enough, J.Lee left the room feeling empowered and inspired. Lee said, “After meeting Octavia Spencer, I had to pinch myself. Days later it still felt like a dream! I really enjoyed hearing her speak, and I'm motivated to work harder at being a great actress like Octavia."
- From WOD Magazine's Winter issue
Three Women in Colorado Politics Working to Change the World
By Karen Einisman, communications contractor and freelance writer.
If hashtags tell us anything about American culture and the current political environment, then the #FutureIsFemale. From #IAmANastyWoman and #ShePersisted to #MeToo and #TimesUp, our nation is reckoning with its history of inequality, misogyny and sexual harassment.
As this new era unfolds, more women are stepping forward, raising their voices and entering the political arena for the first time.
In Colorado, women serving in political positions is nothing new. In 1893, the Centennial State became the first to give women the right to vote through a popular election. The following year, voters elected the first three female legislators in the country to the State House of Representatives.
And, while Colorado comes the closest to gender parity than almost any other state, we have yet to elect a woman to serve as either governor or U.S. Senator.
The question that remains unanswered in 2018 is whether the current movement toward gender parity can shatter the glass ceiling that seems to have kept Colorado women from reaching the state’s highest offices.
What changed following the 2016 election and the subsequent Women’s March is that women are no longer waiting for encouragement from others to run for office. In 2017, organizations that train women to run saw increased interest from potential first-time candidates who want to make change in their communities.
As we commemorate Women’s History Month, Women of Denver is celebrating three remarkable women who have made the leap into politics and who hope to inspire others to do the same.
REP. FAITH WINTER
At 27, state Rep. Faith Winter ran for office because someone she admired asked her to run. While lobbying then-state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, the senator encouraged her to consider a run for office. And so began Winter’s political career, one in which she addresses the issues women care about most, first as a Westminster city council member and then as a state representative. Now, she is parlaying that political work into a run for the state senate.
Winter’s mission is to improve the lives of Coloradans through affordable housing, paid family leave and climate-change legislation. She also believes that Colorado is reaching a boiling point on housing affordability.
“Even in rural places, housing is not affordable,” she said.
She hopes to address the state’s lack of paid family leave as well, working to pass legislation that would provide leave to families by creating a state insurance pool. Currently, only 21 percent of residents have access to this benefit.
“Whether you need to take care of a child, an adult parent or yourself, you would pull from the insurance pool for wage replacement,” she explained, noting the cost per individual is as inexpensive as a cup of coffee per week.
Aside from making news for the issues she supports, Winter recently joined the #MeToo movement by telling her story. She came forward to protect other women, she says, after hearing about continued harassment by fellow legislator, Rep. Steve Lebsock. By speaking up, Winter believes she is helping move our culture toward one of zero tolerance. We need to not only “stop [this] behavior, but also empower women and other survivors to hold sexual harassers accountable,” she said.
Winter is also helping to shift the makeup of our political landscape. For the past 12 years, she has encouraged and trained women to run for office.
“Our democracy is based on a diversity of ideas,” she said. “If all elected officials look the same, we’re not going to come up with the best solutions.”
That’s why she believes our legislatures need more diversity, including more women. She is inspired by working to empower them raise their voices.
“It’s fun work. It’s necessary work. And, I think its work that is going to change the world."
CARY KENNEDY
A sense of obligation to others runs deep in Cary Kennedy’s family. Her mother, a social worker, felt so strongly about this notion that she fostered three children, giving them opportunities to succeed and motivating Kennedy to dedicate her work to helping people who do not have those same opportunities.
Beginning her political career as an intern in Governor Roy Romer’s office, Kennedy has gone on to serve as Denver’s Deputy Mayor and Chief Financial Officer and, most recently, Colorado State Treasurer. In keeping with those values, she helped create the “Building Excellent Schools Today” program, which works to ensure that all students have the same opportunity to attend modern learning facilities.
“Students in poor school districts were in buildings with lead pipes, asbestos, mold and sewage backups,” she said. “[This] program has rebuilt or remodeled over 380 schools across the state.”
Kennedy’s next move? She is running for governor. In addition to education, her top priorities are health care accessibility and affordability, and protecting open spaces, air and water in the face of the state’s continued growth.
As governor, Kennedy would give all Coloradans the option to buy affordable public health insurance, and she would address climate change by ensuring the state meets the Paris Agreement’s emissions-reduction target, “with or without Washington,” she said.
Kennedy is among a long list of Colorado women who have helped shape the state in the past 140 years, but she points to the glass ceiling that needs to be shattered.
“Women in office pass laws that help women and families,” she said. “Improving our public schools, expanding health care, growing Colorado’s economy and working to protect our beautiful state.”
Can you hear that ceiling cracking?
Heidi Ganahl
After entrepreneur Heidi Ganahl sold Camp Bow Wow, her chain of pet care franchises, in 2014, she wanted to give back to her community. Her belief that education is the key to the American Dream led her to run for the Board of Regents at her alma mater, the University of Colorado.
Since winning her at-large seat in 2016, Ganahl has worked on campus issues of affordability, free speech, and safety. She’s made progress in the area of affordability, by instituting a four-year tuition guarantee, eliminating extra fees, and reducing the cost of course materials by piloting a digital library. And in the area of free speech, Ganahl helped CU create a new student debate group to teach students “how to think, not what to think,” she said.
During her term, she has tackled student safety by addressing issues of drugs & alcohol, depression, and sexual assault—a personal topic as the mother of a sexual assault survivor. After watching the justice system fail her daughter following the assault, Ganahl founded the Fight Back Foundation to try and change the harrowing experience. Of the #MeToo movement, she is hopeful that it can bring about real change, but notes that “we have to back up the bravery of those speaking up with a justice system that works.”
Ganahl, who was named one of Fortune Magazine’s 10 Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs, wants to see change in the number of women in Colorado politics as well. She is mentoring potential candidates on both sides of the aisle, encouraging them to run for office.
“Women across the country are recognizing that the decisions made at all levels of our society have a direct impact on them, and their families,” she said. “We have to encourage our current female leaders to step up and aim big because [we] bring a different perspective to the table.”
Ganahl has proven that if anyone can mentor someone to “go big”, it’s her.
The Powerful Lesson I Learned While Overcoming Cancer
Life is a process. Laundry is a process. Dishes are a process. Getting gas is a process. Getting ready for the day is a process. All throughout our life we must endure processes.
Overcoming Cancer was no different.
First you must find the Cancer. Tests, Colonoscopies, Scans. Once you find the Cancer, more process. Get a port in your body for easy chemo access. One round of chemo for me was six months going every other week on Mondays. Go home with Chemo bag. Wednesday go back and get bag removed. Next process. Side effects. Sometimes hair loss. Sometimes nausea or sickness. Lose taste in things because the chemo makes everything taste like metal. Take pills. Go to Yoga. Meditate. Power of Positive thinking. Process.
When a friend of mine mentioned this idea to me when I was struggling through the Cancer journey, it all made sense to me. It was easy for me to understand. It was easy for me to grasp. It was a concept I could adhere to and make sense of.
When I was down I remembered the process.
When I was sick I remembered the process.
When I was scared I remembered the process.
One year later and I am officially in Cancer Remission and I carry this idea with me still. How do we overcome the obstacles in our lives? Process.
Whatever you are fighting, whatever you are struggling through, whatever battles you are facing, whatever anguish, strife, trail or adversity you are enduring right now, I challenge you to think about The Process. What process are you going through to become who you really want to be? What process can you relate to that will get you through this? What lies have you told yourself through the years that you are ready to let go and what process do you need to go through to release them?
Life is a process. Learn it. Love it. Live it.
Contributed by TrishaTrixie
TrishaTrixie is a Portfolio Entrepreneur, Author, Blogger, EmpowerMentor, Designer of Life and Fashion, Passive “Expertise” Expert, Social Media Strategist, Pinup Model and Sprinkler Of Fabulousness.
She is The Founder of Trisha Trixie Designs, TrishaTrixie and Company, The Good of Sisterhood, Ms. Courage, The Pep Club and The Vintage Fashionista. She is the Manifestor of Miracles and The Sprinkler of Fabulousnes
Insights From the Top: Tina V. Murphy, Chief Revenue Officer for Global Healthcare Exchange
Contributed by: Alexandra Correll
As chief revenue officer of Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX), Tina V. Murphy is the driving force behind the company's customer focused culture. GHX specializes as a healthcare business and data automation company that works tirelessly to help healthcare providers bring better patient care and savings to patients and the growing healthcare industry. Since 2000, Tina V. Murphy has worked for GHX through a number of roles, including senior vice president of Global Product and Corporate Development, and as president of GHX Europe's business unit.
These are the secrets to her success:
On Mentality
"I don’t believe that success is about natural ability; rather, it is about outperforming your gaps through hard work," Tina V. Murphy stated when asked about her work philosophy. Her stellar track record and many accomplishments can be credited to her deeply rooted beliefs in the need to work hard, remain tenacious, and building and drawing upon the strengths of her teammates.
"Just as I expect myself to rise to the occasion, I expect that of others as well. Nothing pleases me more than to hear from the team that I created an environment where they felt valued and able to achieve more than they thought they could."
This philosophy is experience based. Tina V. Murphy knows personally how rewarding rising to the occasion can be. "At one of my first jobs, I was asked to do something that I thought was impossible, but being new in my role, missing expectations wasn’t an option. Two months later, I surpassed expectations. The lesson learned was the thrill of having an ambitious goal and then achieving it."
"That feeling has fueled my leadership philosophy - hire smart people and push them until they are uncomfortable, support/mentor them and then celebrate their successes. I continually raise the bar for myself and my team, while providing an empowering culture in which they can thrive."
Business is a bottom-line proposition and we need to understand and articulate the role we play in executing on the company’s strategy.
On Career Building
The experience that Tina V. Murphy has amassed has given her powerful insights into how to achieve success, affluence, and larger monetary gains in the workplace. She advises to remain result driven by focusing on your own personal goals as well as those of the company, and view every setback as a new and valuable tool for growth. True to her personal mantra, Tina V. Murphy says that it is important to constantly try to outperform your own weaknesses.
"Know your strengths and understand your weaknesses. Don’t apologize for who you are. Your unique personality, experience and perspectives are precisely what can make you a powerful, effective and successful leader. Believe in yourself and stand up for what you believe in. When you do, others will as well."
Tina V. Murphy stresses that knowing your strengths and understanding your weaknesses goes far in terms of salary and promotion negotiations. This includes going into the negotiation with determination backed by research, analysis of your own work, and knowledge of the value that you bring to the company.
"Know your worth. Recognize your strengths and the value you bring to the organization. Business is a bottom-line proposition and we need to understand and articulate the role we play in executing on the company’s strategy. Then, when making your case, be concise and to the point. The confidence you bring to the conversation will speak volumes."
On Overcoming Adversity in the Workplace
The outlook of constantly working harder, smarter, and tougher has given Tina V. Murphy a enlightened perspective on combating specific problems unique to women in the workplace. "Women do face challenges or obstacles, but I believe focusing solely on those challenges could be a distraction. Life will always present us with them. What we control is how we handle those situations," she answered when asked about how she approaches adversity while working.
"Women should recognize that they naturally bring a combination of knowledge and intuition to help navigate complex situations; they recognize nuances and motivations and can help ensure multiple perspectives are considered to develop the best strategy. Too often, women try to model the behaviors of their male counterparts, while suppressing their natural strengths. Cultivate those qualities that come naturally to you. It is precisely those attributes that make you a powerful, effective and successful leader."
On Rising Above
GHX has recognized that Tina V. Murphy's skill set - as well as outlook - make her exactly the type of strong, effective leader that is needed to push the company to greater heights. Before serving as chief revenue officer and senior vice president of Global Product and Corporate Development, Tina V. Murphy was president of GHX's European business for two years. She headed to the assignment not only as a woman, but as an American woman.
It is this distinction that initially caused some unrest in her team. Using the same skills and philosophy that helped shape her career, she was able to build and nurture a workplace that communicated, contributed, and ultimately delivered and accomplished much more than they did previously.
The experience is one of her best memories. "During my final week in that position, I received an email from one of the team leaders. He wrote, “Before you came, I couldn’t imagine a female president and now I can’t imagine success without a female president.” To this day that is my proudest moment - my presence and my actions opened the organization’s eyes to the power of female leadership," Tina V. Murphy shared.
And Soaring
The power of female leadership, and the lessons and tenacity that it took to earn it are lessons that any inspiring business woman would benefit from. "I am sure there are plenty of other people who have more natural ability than I do, but there are few who rival my drive, passion and desire to keep learning and growing. I focus on what matters – the company, its employees, and our customers – above all else. And I take full accountability for the results of my work, good and bad." Tina V. Murphy's abilities lie far outside raw skill, and have been grown and honed over 25 years, making her the successful individual she is today. The result? A woman with a success story that some only dream of.
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State report card: Sotlar says data will be basis for growth
JANET THIEDE
Canal Winchester schools received one A, three C's, one D and one F on the Ohio Department of Education's report card for the 2016-17 school year.
Like many other central Ohio school district officials, Superintendent Jim Sotlar said, the report card provides valuable information but is only one form of measurement for school districts.
"While we welcome accountability -- and we are not satisfied with the overall results -- the one-time assessment system with many different factors associated with it does not represent a true reflection of our district and it does not define who we are," Sotlar said. "We did see improvements in some areas and we will use this data going forward to have meaningful conversations with our teachers and to develop a plan to ensure even higher academic success for all students."
Chris Woolard, a senior executive director at the Ohio Department of Education, agreed that the report cards should not be the lone piece of evidence residents use to judge a district.
"We know there's a lot more to the story," he said.
Woolard cautioned that the proper context is needed to understand the grades a district receives on the state report card.
"We encourage parents and community members to talk to teachers and talk to principals," he said.
The achievement component of the report card is based on the district's performance index score and its score on indicators met. Canal Winchester received a C in achievement, the same as last year.
The performance index measures test results for every student. There are six levels on the index and districts receive points for each student in each of the levels.
Indicators met "measures the percent of students who have passed state tests" at various grade levels and subject areas, according to the ODE website. It also includes a gifted component.
The state raised the benchmark for indicators met from 75 to 80 percent of students passing for each test.
Canal Winchester schools received a 75.7 percent performance-index score or a C. However, the district met only three of 24 indicators, so it received an F or 12.5 percent.
Gap closing is an area in which the district showed improvement, scoring 70.3 percent for a C. That's up from the F the district posted for gap closing on the last report card.
Gap closing shows how well districts are meeting the educational needs of its most vulnerable students. It compares how well students in several subgroups. including those in poverty, ethnic minorities and students with disabilities, fared compared with other students.
The K-3 literacy component looks at how successful a district is in getting struggling readers on track to meet proficiency in third grade and beyond. Canal Winchester earned a 34.4 percent score for a grade of C -- an improvement over last year's D.
The district received an F for progress, a component that looks at the growth of all students, including gifted students, those in the lowest 20 percent of academic performance and students with disabilities in the course of a year.
Overall, the district earned a value-added grade of F and earned F's for progress made by gifted students, progress by students in the lowest 20 percent of achievement and progress by those with disabilities.
"It is something we are working on; however, we did make improvements in that area -- just not high enough to meet the state standards," Sotlar said.
Canal Winchester schools earned an A for graduation rate, with 96.9 percent of students graduating in four years and 98.1 percent graduating in five years.
"When you really look at it, what's the end result for schools?" Sotlar asked. "Whether they are hitting the mark at the third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, eighth-grade level, it helps in determining where they go. What really matters is what they do in high school.
"We are doing a very good job of preparing our kids. Our elementary and middle schools are building a foundation for our high school kids and when they come to the high school, they are ready to move on," he said.
The district earned a D in prepared for success, which is based on the number of students who earned a remediation-free score on all parts of the SAT or ACT, earned an honors diploma and/or earned an industry-recognized credential.
editorial@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekNews
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Top Most 10
Hot Gossips
Here are the Top 10 Richest Cricketers of Sri Lanka 2018
9. Chaminda Vaas
Chaminda Vaas best popular as one of the fastest bowlers to ever walk into the Sri Lankan cricket team, is best known by his nickname Vasy. He was born on 27th January, 1974 and is currently 42 years old. He is specialises as a left arm fast medium bowler and was usually the opening bowler for the Sri Lankan cricket team. He played his debut match in Test cricket in the year 1994 ended that career in the year 2009 both of which he played against Pakistan.
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Gudauri in Stepantsminda District – Georgia
Gudauri in Stepantsminda is one of the finest ski resorts in Georgia. One of the country’s main tourist destinations, it is at par with those in other countries.
Location and How to Get to This Specific Site
The resort is in the district of Stepantsminda. It can be found in Georgia’s Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. You can get to the place by driving on the Georgian Military Highway. It is close to the Cross Pass. From Tbilisi, the trip will take a couple of hours. It is 75 miles (120 km) north of Georgia’s capital.
What to See There
The resort is right on the mountain’s southern slopes. It rises to a height of 7,200 ft (nearly 2,200 m). The biggest attraction in Gudauri in Stepantsminda is skiing. The slopes are all over the tree line and risk free from avalanches.
Heliskiing services allow skiers to experience awe-inspiring runs. These are done at altitudes ranging from 1,200 to over 4,000 m. The helicopters will drop the skiers off on glaciers, mountain tops and other stunning locations.
The idea for the site emerged during the mid 1980s. Several investors saw its potential to be a tourist spot. Several areas were inspected, but it was Gudauri that was chosen due to its location.
Actual construction began in 1985. Since that time, numerous innovations have taken place. The features and activities in the
premises have also been greatly enhanced.
Cable cars, buses, trolleybuses, taxis, minibuses and the underground system make up the country’s public transport. The bus fares cost at least 10 Tetri. The minibus fare is double that. Taxi fares are negotiable. Private taxis are usually more practical than shared ones.
The resort has numerous lifts and routes. The lower lift is situated 2,000 m over the sea level. The top is set 3,300 m above sea level. The initial lift is 1,000 m long. The second is 2,300 long. The third extends for 1,000 m.
The first lift has three chairs, while the second has four. The third has three chairs. Aside from skiing you can also just relax and enjoy the views of the mountains. Visitors to the site may also visit the Gergeti Trinity Church.
Hiking and trekking may also be arranged when you visit the site.
Gudauri in Stepantsminda also offers guides for its skiing and heliskiing activities. It is also possible to go on excursions to other tourist attractions nearby.
Swiss National Park in Graubünden – Switzerland
Stolac – Bosnia
Great Copper Mountain in Falun – Sweden
Saint Martin’s Concathedral in Bratislava – Slovakia
Free Beaches – Norway
Famagusta – Northern Cyprus
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“Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to His apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate (Bishop,) presbyterate (Priest,) and diaconate (deacon.)” (CCC 1536)
There are two notable ways in which the sacrament of Holy Orders differs from the other sacraments.
1. One is the fact that Holy Orders can be administered only by a bishop. Only a bishop has the power to ordain priests.
2. The second way is that Holy Orders is not received all at once.
The sacrament of Matrimony is the only one of the seven sacred mysteries to be explicitly called such in the New Testament: Holy Matrimony. Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman as spouses in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a glorious vision of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
Click for Wedding Preparation
There are two sacraments at the service of Communion: Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. Both of these sacraments confer a special grace directed not towards the salvation of the one who receives the sacrament, but to the salvation of those who are served by the one ordained or married. In Baptism and Confirmation, we are consecrated or set apart from the world by God and for God; in Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony we receive another consecration. Bishops, priests, and deacons are consecrated to feed the Church by the Word and grace of God, and spouses are consecrated for the duties and dignity of marital love and family life.
Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the messianic mission of Christ continues in His Church until the end of time. The three degrees of this one sacrament (episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate) are a participation in the apostolic offices of teaching, sanctifying, and governing given by the Lord Jesus to the Twelve. In Roman law, the word "order" designated a group or civil body within society, and "ordination" means incorporation into an "order."
Sacred Scripture describes to us the three offices of ministry proper to the New Covenant, and each of these offices constitutes a single such "order" in the Church: the Order of Bishops, the Order of Priests (or Presbyters), and the Order of Deacons. A baptized person is ordained into one of these three Orders by a prayer of consecration and the laying on of hands by a true bishop in apostolic succession, and this liturgical action of Christ and the Church confers on the one ordained the sacred power to preach the Word of God and administer the other sacraments, according to the station of each Order.
Bishops and presbyters share by different degrees in the one ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant; by their consecration, bishops and priests are configured to the Lord Jesus in such a way that they can act in His Person in the sacred liturgy and stand in the Person of Christ, Head and Bridegroom of the Church. The ministerial priesthood has the task of representing Christ the Head of the Church before the whole assembly and also of acting in the name of the whole Church when offering to God the prayer of the Church. Deacons are ordained unto a ministry of service, but not to the priesthood. Deacons assist bishops and priests in the celebration of the sacred mysteries, in works of charity, in blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel, in administering baptism, and in presiding over funerals.
The sacrament of Matrimony is the only one of the seven sacred mysteries to be explicitly called such in the New Testament: Holy Matrimony. Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman as spouses in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a glorious vision of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. In other words, the whole of creation and redemption is a marriage between God and His people, and for this reason St. Paul teaches that the union of husband and wife is an image or icon of the union between Christ and His Church (Eph 5:25-32).
St. John tells us that the first miracle worked by the Lord Jesus was at a wedding feast (John 2:1-11), thus revealing the intimate connection between the messianic mission of Christ and the dignity of marriage, which is the one blessing of God not lost by original sin or washed away in the flood. The bond of husband and wife, however, was disfigured by sin (like everything else in nature), and requires the grace of Christ to be purified, healed, and restored to its original dignity.
Because of the weakness of human nature after sin, Lord Jesus restored the original pattern of spousal love by revealing that the true bond of marriage, once begun by the mutual consent of the spouses, can never be broken in this life.
By restoring the original order of creation, Jesus was not giving us a burden too heavy to carry, because He Himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage as a permanent union by following Him in the Way of the Cross, renouncing oneself, and living for the sake of the other. The grace of sacramental marriage is a fruit of Christ's holy Cross, the source of all Christian life.
Unlike the other six sacraments which are all administered by a bishop, priest, or deacon, the sacrament of matrimony is administered by the husband and wife to each other; the priest or deacon is merely the Church's witness who blesses the union created by the exchange of consent. The marriage bond, created only by those who are truly free by God's law to marry, is an irrevocable covenant which binds the spouses to each other for life, and the sacrament of matrimony conveys the special grace necessary to strengthen them for lifelong fidelity and growth in holiness.
Christ dwells with the spouses and gives them the grace to take up their crosses daily, to rise again after they fall, to forgive one another, to bear each other's burdens, to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ, and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love.
As you consider the possibility of celebrating your marriage at St. Uriel's, there are some parish guidelines which will provide some detail regarding weddings in the Church. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us at
Video: Holy Orders
Title: "The North Sea"
Album: A Celtic Dream
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Video: Matrimony
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Former EPPS Dean Honored by Science Scholars, Alma Mater
By Office of Media Relations •June 11, 2012
Dr. Brian Berry
Dr. Brian Berry, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor and former dean of the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, has received two recent honors – one from an international scholarly society and another from his alma mater, the University of Washington.
Berry was elected a 2012 fellow of the Regional Science Association International, which is a cohort of scholars focused on economics and global processes. Members of the association nominate distinguished scholars for the honor. Berry was one of four elected this year.
“I was one of the earliest members of the original Regional Science Association and have been closely associated with the multidisciplinary field ever since,” Berry said.
In 1966, he was the association’s vice president, and has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Regional Science. In 2007, he received the Walter Isard Award from the association’s North American Council.
Berry also recently received the “Timeless Award” from the University of Washington, where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees.
The award was given as part of the school’s 150th anniversary celebration, which included honoring distinguished alumni and a lecture series featuring prominent scientists, authors and public figures.
“My wife and I traveled to Seattle for the 150th anniversary event when each of UW’s living recipients of their distinguished alumnus award was honored once again,” Berry said. “This was a particularly satisfying visit since it was in my graduate student days in the early 1950s at the UW that we took the first steps to drag an often-protesting field of geography into the world of modern theoretical-quantitative social science.”
Berry has been a member of UT Dallas’ faculty since 1986. In 1975, he was the youngest social scientist ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he was named the Laureat Vautrin Lud – the highest honor given in the field of geography. He was dean of the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences from 2005 to 2010.
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Violence-related injury in emergency departments in Brazil
23 de agosto de 200963min
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública
Rev Panam Salud Publica vol.24 no.6 Washington Dec. 2008 doi: 10.1590/S1020-49892008001200004
INVESTIGACIÓN ORIGINAL ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Lesiones relacionadas con la violencia en los servicios de emergencia de Brasil
Vilma Pinheiro GawryszewskiI, 1; Marta Maria Alves da SilvaII; Deborah Carvalho MaltaII; Scott R. KeglerIII; James A. MercyIII; Márcio Dênis Medeiros MascarenhasII; Otaliba Libânio Morais NetoII
I(At the time of the study) Injury Prevention Coordinator, São Paulo State Health Department, São Paulo-SP, Brazil; present affiliation: Regional Technical Advisor, Sustainable Development and Environmental Health Area, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, United States of America
IIGeneral Coordination of Noncommunicable Diseases and Illnesses, Department for Analysis of Health Conditions, Health Surveillance Secretariat (CGDANT/DASIS/SVS), Ministry of Health, Brasília-DF, Brazil
IIIDivision of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States of America
OBJECTIVE: This article describes the characteristics of violence-related injury (VRI) cases presenting at emergency departments (EDs) in Brazil and compares circumstances for assault-related and self-inflicted cases.
METHODS: The study is cross-sectional. The data describe cases seen in September 2006 in 62 EDs, representing all 26 states and the Federal District. A total of 4 835 case records were analyzed. Basic statistical tabulations were complemented by logistic regression analysis to assess potential associations between type of violence (assault or self-harm) and multiple factors.
RESULTS: Males comprised 72.8% of cases while those aged 20 to 29 comprised 35.4%. Alcohol use was reported or suspected in 42.7% of cases, more commonly among males. Assault victims comprised 91.4% of cases versus self-inflicted injuries, which accounted for 8.6%. Three-fourths of the assault victims were male, while over half of the self-inflicted injury victims were female. The leading mechanism for assaults was physical force/blunt objects (46.2%), whereas poisoning was the predominant mechanism for self-inflicted injuries (71.4%). Younger females were significantly more likely to have been victims of self-inflicted injuries than younger males, while younger males were more likely to have been victims of assault; this finding is more pronounced in cases where alcohol use was reported. Self-inflicted injuries were significantly more likely to occur in residences, while assaults were more likely to occur away from home.
CONCLUSION: These results can improve understanding of the scope and characteristics of VRIs in Brazil (and thus contribute to national injury prevention efforts), and help identify areas for future research.
Key words: Emergency medical services, violence, aggression, suicide, Brazil.
OBJETIVOS: Se describen las características de los casos de lesiones relacionadas con la violencia (LRV) que se presentan en los servicios de emergencia en Brasil y se comparan las circunstancias de los casos relacionados con asaltos y los autoinfligidos.
MÉTODOS: En este estudio de corte transversal se describen los casos atendidos en septiembre de 2006 en 62 servicios de emergencia de 26 estados y el Distrito Federal. Se analizaron 4 835 casos por medio de tabulaciones estadísticas básicas y se evaluó mediante análisis de regresión logística la posible asociación entre los tipos de violencia (asalto o lesión autoinfligida) y diversos factores.
RESULTADOS: De los casos, 72,8% eran hombres y 35,4% tenían entre 20 y 29 años. Se informó o sospechó del consumo de bebidas alcohólicas en 42,7% de ellos, más frecuentemente en hombres. De los casos, 91,4% eran víctimas de asaltos y 8,6% de lesiones autoinfligidas. Tres cuartas partes de las víctimas de asaltos eran hombres y la mitad de las lesiones autoinfligidas fueron en mujeres. El principal mecanismo de asalto fue la fuerza física/objetos romos (46,2%), mientras que el veneno fue el mecanismo predominante en las lesiones autoinfligidas (71,4%). Las mujeres jóvenes presentaron una probabilidad significativamente mayor de haber sufrido lesiones autoinfligidas que los hombres jóvenes, mientras que estos tuvieron una mayor probabilidad de haber sido víctimas de asaltos, especialmente cuando se informó de consumo de alcohol. Las lesiones autoinfligidas tuvieron una probabilidad significativamente mayor de ocurrir en el hogar, mientras que los asaltos fueron más probables fuera de casa.
CONCLUSIONES: Estos resultados pueden ayudar a comprender mejor el alcance y las características de las LRV en Brasil —y así contribuir a los esfuerzos nacionales de prevención de lesiones— y a identificar nuevas áreas de investigación.
Palabras Clave: Servicios médicos de urgencia, emergencias, violencia, agresión, suicidio, Brasil.
Violence has become a major concern for Brazilian society. Over the period from 1980 to 2002, homicide rates more than doubled in Brazil (1). This change affects the quality of life by increasing the feeling of being unsafe, especially among those living in urban areas. Increasing violence also challenges the health sector. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) World report on violence and health (2) indicate Brazil’s homicide rate is one of the highest in the world. As set forth in the report, an important step in the public health approach to violence prevention is gaining ” as much basic knowledge as possible about all the aspects of violence—through systematically collecting data on the magnitude, scope, characteristics and consequences . . .” (2: 4). Collection and analysis of data from health systems is an important component of this process and a valuable tool in informing efforts to address public health and social problems such as violence.
In Brazil, deaths and admissions to public hospitals due to violence-related injuries (VRIs) are monitored using official information systems. The resulting data sets are managed by the Brazilian Ministry of Health and can be easily accessed (3). The data underscore the substantial impact that violence has on the Brazilian population, and establish this issue as both a public health and a social problem that must be remedied. Prior analysis of these data showed that in 2005 there were 56 128 deaths due to VRIs (with a corresponding crude annual mortality rate of 30.4/100 000) and among these deaths homicides were predominant (3). In the same year there were also 57 635 victims of violence admitted to Brazilian public hospitals (with a corresponding crude annual rate of 31.3/100 000) (3).
In 2006, to supplement existing data sources, Brazil’s Ministry of Health led the implementation of a new national surveillance system, the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (Sistema de Vigilância de Violências e Acidentes, VIVA) to collect data on injury-related cases seen in hospital emergency departments (EDs). This article describes the characteristics of VRI cases presenting in selected EDs in Brazil during the month of September 2006 and compares demographic characteristics and circumstances for assault-related cases to those for cases involving self-harm.
Case definitions
The current study adopted the following WHO definition for violence: ” The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in, or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation . . .” (2: 5). Injuries identified as violence-related were divided into two major categories: assaults and self-harm. The definitions used for these two categories were drawn from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (4). The NEISS definition of assault-related injury is as follows: ” Injury from an act of violence where physical force by [more than] 1 person is used with the intent of causing harm, injury, or death to another person; or an intentional poisoning by another person. This category includes perpetrators as well as intended and unintended victims of violent acts (e.g., innocent bystanders) . . . ” (4: 3).
The NEISS definition of a self-inflicted injury (confirmed or suspected) is: ” Injury or poisoning resulting from a deliberate violent act inflicted on oneself with the intent to take one’s own life or with the intent to harm oneself. This category includes suicide, suicide attempt, and other intentional self-harm . . .” (4: 3).
The cross-sectional data used in this study come from the VIVA surveillance system. The criteria for ED participation in the VIVA system included: (1) 24-hour operation; (2) location in a municipality with high injury rates (mortality and morbidity); (3) established status as a facility commonly treating injuries; and (4) participation in a care network or location in a municipality that participates in a care network for treating violence victims. Another criterion was geographic diversity, to ensure a geographically diverse data set. Selected EDs meeting these criteria were invited to participate in the VIVA system; and those accepting received financial support from the Ministry of Health for the costs of the survey, staff training, etc. The resulting surveillance system covered 63 EDs representing 7.4% of all EDs linked to the public health system and 39 municipalities (where nearly 20% of the Brazilian population is concentrated), with at least one ED from each of the 26 states and the Federal District, and each of the capital cities except Porto Alegre, Belém, and São Paulo (which were not represented in the survey due to operational problems). Although the city of São Paulo was not represented, EDs in seven other cities in São Paulo State were included. Despite all of these efforts, the resulting data represent a convenience sample as opposed to a random sample of ED-treated injuries.
Due to the high number of ED visits, data were collected on an alternating schedule (day-shift/night-shift) in each participating ED. All injured patients admitted during a data collection period were interviewed by a trained health professional using a questionnaire. In some instances (such as when a victim was unconscious), a caretaker provided the responses. Variables collected by interview included victim demographics (sex, age, race, and education), type of transport used to go to the hospital, intentionality, type of injury (fall, burn, transport-related, assault, self-harm, or other), place of occurrence (home, street/public place, school, workplace, or other), and time of occurrence. Alcohol use by the victim (recorded as ” yes” or ” no” ) was queried in the interview, when suspected by the interviewers, based on major indicators. For assault-related cases, variables collected also included the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator(s), sex of the perpetrator(s), and number of perpetrators. The variables collected from medical records included main diagnosis, body part injured, and disposition. These variables were selected based on guidelines from WHO (5) and on data collection forms used in ED-based injury surveillance systems in other Latin American countries (allowing for comparisons to be made between the results of this study and those from other countries). Another reason for choosing these specific variables was their association with certain VRI risk factors (such as alcohol use) based on previous scientific literature.
The VIVA system was coordinated and implemented by state and municipal health department professionals who received training on injury surveillance concepts and use of the questionnaire, supplemented by written instructions. The study was reviewed and approved by Brazil’s National Committee of Ethics in Research (CONEP).
Descriptive analysis. The descriptive analysis consisted of a series of two-way (marginal) tabulations. Selected characteristics of VRI cases were cross-tabulated by sex of victim and also by type of violence (assault or self-harm).
Modeling. Logistic regression modeling was used for simultaneous assessment of the potential associations between type of violence (assault or self-harm) and multiple factors. A number of restrictions were imposed on the data used in this phase of the analysis. First, records for individuals less than 10 years old at the time of injury were excluded, as intentional self-harm is rarely observed among young children (and, for very young children, may not even be considered possible). Second, candidate modeling factors were required to have a data-value completeness rate of approximately 90% or higher (i.e., no more than 10% of reported cases with missing data values for each candidate factor). This criterion was established because the statistical modeling software (PROC GLIMMIX, a production version of the SAS GLIMMIX procedure for use with SAS version 9.1.3) (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA) excludes records containing missing data for any analysis factor (6); employing a completeness requirement of 90% minimizes the amount of data lost to the modeling process. The candidate factors meeting this criterion and included in the modeling phase were sex, age in years, alcohol use (” yes” or ” no” ), and place of occurrence (collapsed to ” home” versus ” away” ). Case records with missing data codes for any of these factors were excluded. Lastly, EDs reporting fewer than 20 cases meeting these criteria were excluded from this phase of the analysis. This restriction was applied in order to achieve computational stability during the model estimation process (which included an assessment of potential ” group effects” within individual EDs). After applying these restrictions, a total of n = 3 871 case records representing 43 hospital EDs were available for the modeling phase.
Although education level was a candidate factor for the modeling phase, it was excluded in the analysis because data on education were missing for a substantial fraction of the case records (17.6% for cases 25+ years old). Moreover, the fact that younger cases systematically have lower levels of education would have further complicated the analysis. For these reasons, the education data were used only in the descriptive analysis.
The dichotomous outcome for the logistic regression model was coded as self-harm = 1 and assault = 0. In addition to the candidate factors mentioned above, a random intercept offset for each ED was included in the model to represent (at least in part) any group effect among the cases seen in the same ED (7, 8).
The model-fitting process began with a semi-saturated model incorporating the fixed-effects factors sex, age, alcohol use, and place of occurrence, along with all two-way interactions between these factors, plus the random intercept offsets. A backward stepwise model reduction process was then employed, resulting in a final model incorporating all of these factors plus three interactions: sex by age, sex by alcohol use, and place of occurrence by age.
All factors considered in the modeling process were found to be significantly associated with type of violence, but not via main effects; each factor was involved in at least one significant (two-way) interaction. Consequently, model-estimated odds ratios for any factor are reported for specified levels of other factors.
A total of 47 554 patients with injuries were registered in the VIVA system during the month of September 2006. Under the case definitions established above, 4 835 of the registered injury cases were classified as violence-related and were thus included in the present study. VRI cases were reported by 62 of the 63 participating EDs (one ED did not report any VRI cases). The 4 835 VRI cases included 3 521 male victims (72.8%) and 1 314 female victims (27.2%). Among all registered VRI cases, assaults accounted for 4 417 (91.4%) and self-inflicted injuries accounted for 418 (8.6%). Approximately 86.7% of these injuries occurred in urban areas, whereas just 6.1% occurred in rural areas (with no data for 347 or 7.2% of cases) (data not shown).
Descriptive analysis
Table 1 shows the characteristics of VRI cases by sex of the victim. Victims were predominantly male, as reflected in an overall ratio of male to female cases (M/F ratio) of 2.7. Analysis by age group showed that the highest proportion of victims were 20–29 years old, followed by those 30–39 years old and 10–19 years old, respectively. The highest age-specific M/F ratio was observed among individuals aged 60 years and over (4.9), and the lowest age-specific ratio was observed among children under 10 years of age (1.6).
Alcohol use was reported or suspected for a substantial proportion of victims, primarily males. Overall, violent acts most frequently took place in streets and public places, followed by residences. Schools accounted for a low proportion of cases. The analysis of place of occurrence by sex of the victim revealed that 58.7% of the incidents among females occurred in the home, whereas 50.0% of incidents among males occurred in public places.
For assault-related cases, the most common mechanism of injury was physical force/blunt object (46.2%), followed by sharp objects (27.1%). Fire-arms were used in 14.7% of these cases. More than half of the perpetrators in assault-related cases were known to the victims, with acquaintances accounting for 38.6% of the reported injuries and parents/relatives accounting for another 19.7%. Strangers accounted for the remaining 41.7% of the assault-related injuries. The M/F ratio for victims was highest for cases perpetrated by strangers and lowest for cases perpetrated by parents/relatives. Most perpetrators were male (86.0%), with females reported as perpetrators in just 11.2% of the cases (the remaining 2.8% of cases were attributed to multiple perpetrators of both sexes). The M/F ratio for victims was very different according to the sex of the perpetrator, with female perpetrators assaulting females relatively more often than male perpetrators assaulted females (M/F victim ratios of 1.0 and 3.6, respectively).
Poisoning was the predominant mechanism for self-inflicted injuries, followed by cutting/piercing, suffocation/ hanging/strangulation, and firearms. The analysis of self-inflicted injury mechanism by sex showed marked differences. Poisoning was relatively more common among females (86.6% of self-inflicted cases) than among males (52.0% of self-inflicted cases), whereas cutting/piercing, suffocation/hanging/ strangulation, and fire-arm use were relatively more common among males than females.
Table 2 presents a comparison of the characteristics of assault-related and self-inflicted injuries. There were notable differences in the distribution of cases by sex for the two types of violence. Victims in assault-related cases were predominantly male (75.5%), while just over half (55.3%) of the victims of self-harm were female. Figure 1 shows that for both types of violence (males and females combined) the highest proportion of cases occurred among 20–29 year olds.
For both assault-related and self-inflicted cases, the most frequently reported level of education (for persons 25+ years old) was 5 to 8 years (31.8% and 32.9%, respectively); the proportion of people who declared having studied 12 years or more was slightly lower among victims of assault (4.2%) than among victims of self-harm (6.9%).
Streets and public places were the most frequent place of occurrence for assault-related injuries (46.0%), whereas residences were the most frequent place of occurrence for self-inflicted injuries (84.9%). Alcohol use was more commonly reported for assault victims than for victims of self-harm (44.1% versus 29.1%, respectively).
There were also notable differences in disposition for the two types of VRI cases. Most assault victims (67.0%) were treated and released, whereas nearly half of the self-harm victims were hospitalized (49.7%). The reported case fatality rate among those treated in the ED was slightly lower for assault-related injuries (1.9%) than for self-inflicted injuries (2.3%).
The distribution of the number of assault and self-harm cases by hour of occurrence (data not shown) showed a similar pattern for both types of VRIs. The highest number of cases occurred between 4:00 pm and midnight, decreasing after that. For both assaults and self-harm injuries, the lowest number of occurrences was at 6:00 am.
The fitted logistic regression model permits estimation of odds ratios (ORs) for self-harm versus assault, controlling for and conditioned on other factors. The ORs in Table 3a show how the type of violence varies according to the sex of the victim, simultaneously conditioned on age and alcohol use. Because age was entered into the model as a continuous variable, model-based ORs were estimated for the specific ages of 20, 35, and 50 years old, which were considered representative of a broad subsection of the total range of ages. Among persons 20 years old presenting with VRIs, females were significantly more likely to have been victims of self-harm than males. (Equivalently, 20-year-old males were more likely to have been victims of assault than females.) This finding is consistent irrespective of alcohol use, but it is more prominent among cases where alcohol use was reported (ORs of 3.44 and 1.74, respectively). Among persons 35 years old presenting with VRIs, females were significantly more likely to have been victims of self-harm than males (equivalently, males were more likely to have been victims of assault than females) only when alcohol use was reported. Among persons 50 years old presenting with VRIs, no significant differences in the type of violence were noted between females and males.
The ORs in Table 3b show how the type of violence varies according to place of occurrence, conditioned on the age of the victim. Among persons presenting with VRIs, those injured at home were significantly more likely to have been victims of self-harm (as opposed to assault) than those injured away from home. This finding was consistent across the range of ages considered, but was most prominent for the youngest cases (20 year olds) (OR of 17.72).
Injury surveillance data collected in EDs are an important complement to existing national data sources covering VRIs in Brazil. Previous assessments of the problem of violence have been limited to mortality and hospitalization data. While important, such data do not describe the full extent of VRIs in Brazil or the full burden these injuries impose on the nation’s healthcare system. While less severe than that of mortality or hospitalization, the VRI public health burden is relatively high due to the number of VRIs treated in EDs. VRIs are also risk factors and/or markers for more serious injuries in the future. The additional information provided by ED injury surveillance thus helps strengthen the epidemiological basis for evaluating violence prevention programs and policies (9).
The results of this study substantiate the large impact of VRIs on Brazilian males and young adults; these demographic groups are overrepresented among VRI victims seen in EDs relative to their prevalence in the population. The study data indicate that although males only represent 49.2% of the Brazilian population, they accounted for 72.8% of violent injury ED cases (3). Similarly, 20–29 year olds accounted for 35.4% of violent injury ED cases, while only representing 17.7% of the population (3). Mortality data and hospitalization data from public hospitals in Brazil indicate similarly high proportions (and rates) of VRIs among these groups (10, 11).
VRIs treated in EDs in Brazil are predominantly due to assaults involving adolescent and younger adult male victims, and often occur in streets or other public places. This finding was anticipated, based on previously documented patterns of violence-related mortality and morbidity in Brazil (11), and is consistent with public perceptions of urban violence in the country. Although this study did not allow for examination of the causes of this pattern, research on violence involving young urban males from other parts of the world suggests that a range of factors (12–15) associated with economic inequity play an important role in hindering the healthy social development of innercity children and adolescents, thus contributing to violence. Programs and policies that address these factors and reduce isolation from positive influences and opportunities offer the best hope of curbing the global problem of youth violence.
Physical force or the use of blunt objects, followed by cutting and piercing instruments and firearms, were the three leading mechanisms of VRI treated in EDs (46.2%, 27.1%, and 14.7%, respectively). These findings differ from mortality data in which firearms are the lead cause of homicides in Brazil (11).
After streets and other public places, residences were the most common location for VRIs treated in EDs (31.8%), despite the perception that the home is a safe place. Common forms of violence that often occur in the home are intimate partner violence and child maltreatment. Although VRIs perpetrated by intimate partners could not be explicitly identified, the study results showed that the majority of incidents among females (58.7%) occurred in the home. In addition, women were more likely to suffer an injury at the hands of a parent or relative than from acquaintances or strangers (43.4% versus 35.7% and 21.0%, respectively). WHO estimates indicate the prevalence of lifetime physical and sexual violence by an intimate partner is 27% in rural areas and 34% in urban areas of Brazil (16, 17). Strategies to prevent the perpetration of violence in the family are thus a crucial component of overall violence prevention efforts.
The results from this study showed that ED staff suspected that 42.7% of patients seen for VRIs were under the influence of alcohol. This finding is consistent with numerous studies that have documented an association between alcohol use and many kinds of injury (18, 19). Results from the WHO collaborative study on alcohol and injuries at three EDs in Latin America found that the risk of a VRI increased with drinking, and that 36% of injury patients in Brazil had used alcohol sometime during the six hours prior to the injury (20). In Cali, Colombia, almost half of the VRI victims treated in an ED were suspected or declared to be under the influence of alcohol (21). To address this issue, some areas of Brazil are instituting interventions. For example, a law was implemented in Diadema City (São Paulo State) in 2002 prohibiting bars from selling alcoholic beverages after 11:00 pm, resulting in a significant decrease in murders (22).
In Brazil, due to the high homicide rates and public concerns about violence, suicides have not been a public health priority. Data from Brazil’s Mortality Information System (SIM), however, show that there were 8 550 suicide victims nationally in 2005, and that the highest proportion of cases and greatest risk was among adults 20–29 years old (3). Prior research has demonstrated that suicide attempts and other self-inflicted injuries are a major risk factor for completed suicide (23, 24). Consequently, identifying injuries as self-inflicted and intervening with appropriate medical and psychological treatment is an important strategy for preventing further suicide attempts and completed suicides.
The findings from the logistic regression analysis help to clarify some important differences in the epidemiologic patterns of assault and self-inflicted injury. The results indicate, for example, that women were more likely to be victims of self-inflicted injury than men, and that this tendency was stronger the younger they were and when alcohol was involved. This finding complements research indicating women are more likely to attempt suicide than men (25), suggesting that, at least in Brazil, this tendency is influenced by age and alcohol use. In addition, self-inflicted injuries were more likely to occur at home than were assault-related injuries, which were more likely to happen in streets/public places, and this tendency, while consistent across all ages, was again more pronounced among younger victims.
The patterns of VRI in this study were similar to those reflected in injury statistics for other countries of the region. For example, in this study, most ED visits for VRIs were due to assault (4 417, or 91.4% of all cases), similar to the results of a study carried out in a single hospital in Colombia (21), which found that 95.3% of VRI-related visits to the ED were due to assault. By comparison, nationally representative data for the United States for the year 2004 indicate that 77.5% of non-fatal VRIs treated in EDs were due to assault (24), somewhat lower than the percentage observed in this study. Homicide rates in Brazil and Colombia are also consistently higher than in the United States (4). On the other hand, this study’s finding that physical force or a blunt object was the leading mechanism of assault-related injury is similar to results in the United States (4, 24), Colombia (21), Nicaragua (25), and Canada (26). Also, similar to the results of this study, poisoning has been found to be the leading mechanism for self-inflicted injuries in the United States (4, 24), Colombia (21), and Nicaragua (25). Further studies are needed to better understand the determinants of these similarities and differences.
There are several important limitations to the data collected for this study. First, the completeness and uniformity of reporting has not been evaluated. Several EDs reported very few VRI cases of any type, whereas others reported large numbers of VRI cases but relatively few due to self-harm. About 34.0% (n = 1501) of the assault-related cases were reported by 10 EDs; these same 10 EDs reported 10.0% (n = 42) of the self-inflicted injury cases. Second, it must be recognized that although the EDs participating in the surveillance effort are broadly representative geographically, they nevertheless constitute a convenience sample. For this reason, the data are not appropriate for purposes of estimating national population-based rates, and the study findings must be considered in this context.
The manner in which information on alcohol use was collected (by interview or based on suspected use) is another limitation of the study. Further, the literature suggests that studying the association between alcohol and injury in EDs may be difficult, even when based on blood alcohol concentration (BAC), the most accurate test, because many factors can interfere with the results (27). Among such factors are the severity of the injury (patients that are more severely injured may be more likely to test positive than the less severely injured, because they often arrive at the ED sooner); the type and location of emergency services; the length of time between admission to the ED and the BAC estimate, etc. (27). Despite these limitations, alcohol is a major risk factor for injury, and many studies have shown the importance of evaluating the role of alcohol use in VRIs (28).
Among the study’s strengths was the type and quality of data generated by the VIVA system, which included relatively detailed information on a large number of VRI cases over a short time period, providing key findings on recent patterns of injury in Brazil to help guide prevention efforts at local and country levels. Some of this data, such as information on place of occurrence, alcohol use, and type of perpetrator, has not been readily available previously and may be useful for planning strategies for prevention programs. Another benefit of this study stems from the process of establishing the VIVA system, which helped identify and involve many health professionals across Brazil in injury prevention. Health professionals, particularly those in EDs, are in a unique position to provide support, assistance, and protection, as they frequently are among the first to see and interact with victims of violence.
Future iterations of the VIVA system should consider the possibility of implementing a data collection system based on random sampling of EDs in Brazil rather than on convenience sampling. This would have two critical advantages. First, the data could also be used to generate national estimates. Second, such estimates could be used in conjunction with population data to estimate population-based rates, thereby enabling assessment of the risk of various types of injuries presenting to EDs in subgroups of the Brazilian population. These very important public health indicators (i.e., population-based estimates and measures of risk) cannot be reliably generated using a convenience sample. An essential step to facilitate random sampling would be the establishment of a registry of all EDs in Brazil. A model for this type of ED injury surveillance system is provided by NEISS (4).
Males comprised the majority of VRI cases seen at selected EDs in Brazil. VRIs among male victims were predominantly due to assaults, whereas such injuries among female victims were due to self-harm slightly more frequently than to assaults. Alcohol appears to play a role in VRIs, as a large proportion of cases involved the suspected use of alcohol.
The new VIVA system provided relatively detailed data on a large number of VRI cases. The results will improve understanding of the scope and characteristics of VRIs in Brazil, providing timely information that will contribute to national injury prevention efforts. These data are also very valuable for identifying important areas for future research.
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US). Homicide trends and characteristics—Brazil, 1980–2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004;53(8):169–71. [ Links ]
2. Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002. [ Links ]
3. Ministry of Health (BR), Public Health Service, Department of Informatics [statistics on the Internet]. São Paulo: DATASUS; 2007 [cited 2007 March 13]. Available from: www. datasus.gov.br. [ Links ]
4. Vyrostek SB, Annest JL, Ryan GW. Surveillance for fatal and nonfatal injuries—United States, 2001. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2004; 53(7):1–57. [ Links ]
5. Holder Y, Peden M, Krug E, Lund J, Gururaj G, Kobusingye O, editors. Injury surveillance guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001. [ Links ]
6. SAS Institute Inc. Production GLIMMIX Procedure (PROC GLIMMIX), June 2006 [software package/documentation on the Internet]. Cary (NC): SAS Institute, Inc.; 2006 [downloaded 2007 July 6]. Available from: http://support. sas.com/rnd/app/da/glimmix.html. [ Links ]
7. Agresti A. An introduction to categorical data analysis. 2nd ed. Hoboken (NJ): Wiley; 2007. [ Links ]
8. McCulloch CE, Searle SR. Generalized, linear, and mixed models. New York: Wiley; 2001. [ Links ]
9. Stone DH, Morrison A, Smith GS. Emergency department injury surveillance systems: the best use of limited resources? Inj Prev. 1999; 5(3):166–7. [ Links ]
10. Souza ER, Lima MLC. The panorama of urban violence in Brazil and its capitals. Cienc Saude Coletiva. 2006;11(2):363–73. [ Links ]
11. Gawryszewski VP, Rodrigues EMS. The burden of injury in Brazil, 2003. Sao Paulo Med J. 2006;124(4):208–13. [ Links ]
12. Reiss AJ, Roth JA, editors. Understanding and preventing violence. Washington: National Academy Press; 1993. [ Links ]
13. Sampson RJ, Raudenbush S, Earls F. Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science. 1997;277:918–24. [ Links ]
14. Mercy JA. Assaultive violence and war. In: Levy BS, Sidel VW, editors. Social injustice and public health. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006. p. 294–317. [ Links ]
15. Wilson WJ. The truly disadvantaged: the inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 1987. [ Links ]
16. Schraiber LB, D’Oliveira AFPL, Couto MT. [Violence and health: recent scientific studies]. Rev Saude Publica. 2006;40 Spec no. 7:112–20. [ Links ]
17. García-Moreno C, Jansen HA, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts C. WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women. Summary report of initial results on prevalence, health outcomes and women’s responses. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2005. (WHO/FCH/GWH/03). [ Links ]
18. Maio FR, Cunningham RE. The spectrum of alcohol problems and the scope of emergency medicine practice. In: Hungerford DW, Pollock DA, editors. Alcohol problems among emergency department patients: proceedings of a research conference on identification and intervention. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2002. p. 21–31. [ Links ]
19. Watt K, Purdie DM, Roche AM, McClure R. Injury severity: role of alcohol, substance use and risk-taking. Emerg Med Australas. 2006; 18(2):108–17. [ Links ]
20. Borges G, Orozco R, Cremonte M, Buzi-Figlie N, Cherpitel C, Poznyak V. Alcohol and violence in the emergency department: a regional report from the WHO collaborative study on alcohol and injuries. Salud Publica Mex. 2008; 50 Suppl 1:S6–11. [ Links ]
21. Bejarano M, Rendon LF, Rojas MC, Durán CA, Albornoz M. Intent-associated factors in injuries of external cause. Rev Colomb Cir. 2006;21(4):215–24. [ Links ]
22. Duailibi S, Ponicki W, Grube J, Pinsky I, Laranjeira R, Raw M. The effect of restricting opening hours on alcohol-related violence. Am J Public Health. 2007;97(12):2276–80. [ Links ]
23. De Leo D, Bertolote J, Lester D. Self-directed violence. In: Krug E, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002. p. 185–212. [ Links ]
24. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US). WISQARS(tm) [Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System] [interactive database on the Internet]. Atlanta: CDC; 2007 [cited 2007 May 14]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars. [ Links ]
25. Espitia-Hardeman V, Rocha J, Clavel-Arcas V, Dahlberg L, Mercy JA, Concha-Eastman A. Characteristics of nonfatal injuries in Leon, Nicaragua—2004. Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot. 2007;14(2):69–75. [ Links ]
26. Snider CE, Lee JS. Emergency department dispositions among 4100 youth injured by violence: a population-based study. CJEM. 2007; 9(3):164–9. [ Links ]
27. Casswell S, Humphrey G, Rankine J, Pledger M. WHO collaborative study on alcohol and injuries. Final report. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2007. [ Links ]
28. Kaysen D, Dillworth TM, Simpson T, Waldrop A, Larimer ME, Resick PA. Domestic violence and alcohol use: trauma-related symptoms and motives for drinking. Addict Behav. 2007; 32(6):1272–83. Epub 2006 Nov 13. [ Links ]
Manuscript received on 10 October 2007.
Revised version accepted for publication on 26 June 2008.
1 Send correspondence and reprint requests to: Vilma Pinheiro Gawryszewski, Av. Dr. Arnaldo 351, Sala 609, CEP 01246000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. E-mail: vilmapg@saude.sp.gov.br
anteriorNaltrexone for the Treatment of Amphetamine Dependence: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial
próximoStigmatization of alcohol and other drug users by primary care providers in Southeast Brazil.
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Print page.
It’s impossible to keep a good company down
by Derek Clouthier
NISKU, Alta. — Resiliency. There’s no better way to describe Frank Guy, John Kilmochko, and Rory Hellings of SKS Logistics.
After being laid off in 2007 after their branch was closed during an economic downturn, the ball was in their court, and the choice whether to find another job or start their own trucking company dangled before their very eyes.
And the choice was never more obvious.
“We decided that we need to go out and get a job, or we do what we already know what we’re doing, so we started up on our own,” said Guy, principal owner of SKS Logistics in Nisku, Alta.
Launched in the fall of 2007, just one month after losing their jobs, SKS Logistics had but one truck, and quickly grew to three, despite staring a company during an economic downswing.
“We’ve lived through a couple of recessions,” said Guy. “We started when it was pretty quiet and we’re just coming out of another one now. But somehow we’ve managed to keep it all going. The first few were rough, but this last one we’re just coming out of was as rough if not more.”
And Guy’s not ashamed to admit that at times he and his partners felt a bit discouraged having to face such a tough time when they first entered the trucking sector on their own, as well as the recent economic recession, one of the worst in Alberta history.
But business is looking up, and Guy remains cautiously optimistic about the future.
Having been in trucking since completing high school in the late ’70s, Guy holds years of experience under his belt, including being a driver back when he was in his 20s.
During that time, he has seen plenty of good times, as well as bad times, and that makes Guy yearn for something more stable when it comes to the Alberta economy.
“I’ve seen lots of ups and downs, spikes, and peaks and valleys,” Guy said. “So yes, steady is better and if it can get to that I think everyone is better off.”
SKS specializes in super B flat deck hauling, moving primarily drilling mud, lumber, road matting, and steel around Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the N.W.T.
The company also provides a variety of additional services, such as hot shots, over-dimensional hauling, pilot trucks, winch tractors, and rental trailers.
There is also no business like show business.
During slower times in the oil and gas industry, SKS hauls show supplies, like those used in Cirque de Soleil.
Guy said moving show material is a good gig when other commodities are suffering.
“It’s easy work and it’s good work,” he said. “We have a couple of guys who quite enjoy it.”
After quickly growing to three trucks, SKS currently has a fleet of 10, with additional owner-operators working for the carrier.
During busy times, SKS can have around 20 trucks on the road at any given time, with eight to 15 operating most days.
And Guy is always looking for good owner-operators.
‘We’re always looking for the owner-operator types…the guy who owns one truck and drives it himself and wants to be with a company that works,” he said. “They’re very nice to have around, they’re very independent guys, and generally speaking are experienced.”
When it comes to technology, Guy said they are well aware of the impending ELD mandate in Canada, but are also cautious when it comes to what types of technology should be used by drivers.
“You have a map on your dash and you have things that are maybe taking your eyes off the road a little bit,” said Guy. “Great tools, but not necessarily always the best thing.”
Guy said much of the technologies that are used today comes down to each individual company, and how those choices are used to ensure they are accomplishing what they are intended to.
SKS does not currently use ELDs, though some company drivers are taking it upon themselves to test the waters with various apps on their phones.
Guy said with the type of product SKS typically moves for the oil and gas industry, they can often require drivers to deliver freight late in the evening, so HOS can at times be an issue.
“That’s where we’re going to find our biggest challenge.,” said Guy. “It’s all well and good if a guy can start at 8 a.m., do your day and call it a night. But it doesn’t always work that way.”
One of the keys to success for Guy is for the industry to work together toward a common goal.
“Us as transport guys, we can only do so much,” he said. “People who need our product for drilling, or whatever the case may be, need to work together as well. And you have to get buy-in from your drivers.”
Parking is another concern for Guy.
With ELDs and better enforcement of HOS, drivers need safe rest stops across Canada, Alberta included.
“That’s an infrastructure and government thing,” Guy pointed out. “You can’t have guys just sitting on the side of the road on the shoulder just because they are out of hours. They have to be parked somewhere.”
Then there’s Alberta’s carbon tax, which has not been a simple financial issue to deal with for SKS. Guy said over the past six months, his company has forked over an additional $60,000 in fuel costs – $10,000 each month – because of the carbon tax.
“For the little bit of fuel we burn, our costs are up 4% just on fuel,” said Guy, unable to imagine how much the larger fleets have had to pay because of the tax. “So it’s a huge difference.”
Though SKS did implement a slight rate increase to offset the carbon tax, Guy said he hopes the government is using the extra revenue for the right reasons.
“I don’t know what (the government) is doing with all that money they’re getting,” he said, “but hopefully there doing what they say they’re going to and research to decrease the carbon footprint.”
Though growth may be in SKS’s future, Guy and his partners will not relinquish their commitment to being resilient and maintaining a cautiously optimistic outlook of the future.
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FIDIC Red Book 2017: Top 7 Changes
V&E Construction Disputes Update E-communication
On 5 December 2017, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) published new editions of its suite of contracts, reflecting long-awaited responses to the changing needs of the construction industry. Given its general dominance in the Middle East, the changes to the 1999 FIDIC “Red Book” will be of interest to employers, contractors, and engineers operating in the region. While effectively every clause in the FIDIC Red Book has been amended in the new edition, this briefing focuses on our view of the Top 7 with the greatest impact on employers and contractors alike.
Notices (Cl. 1.3): The 2017 Red Book includes notice requirements in approximately 80 places. The term ‘Notice’ is now defined and distinguished from other forms of communication; whereas the latter must reference the clause under which it is issued, a Notice does not. In addition, all Notices and communications must “not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.”
Profit (Cl. 1.1.20, 13.3 & 15.6): In terms of Cost Plus Profit for relief events, unless stated otherwise, a Contractor will be entitled to a 5% profit (while under the 1999 Red Book, there was no stated figure). The 2017 Red Book also specifically entitles the Contractor to “any loss of profit or other losses and damages suffered” for variations and termination for convenience.
Exceptional Event (Cl. 18): Force majeure is now called “Exceptional Event,” but the risk allocation remains the same.
Advance Warning (Cl. 8.4): For the first time, the 2017 Red Book introduces advance warning provisions, which require each Party to advise the other “in advance of any known or probable future events which may (a) adversely affect the work of the Contractor’s Personnel; (b) adversely affect the performance of the Works when completed; (c) increase the Contract Price; and/or (d) delay the execution of the Works or a Section (if any).” There is no time limit for giving an advance warning, nor is there any explicit sanction for failing to do so.
Extension of Time (Cl. 8.5): At least four important changes have been made to the EOT provision. First, unlike the 1999 Red Book, the Contractor is not required to give a separate notice of a claim for an EOT for a delay caused by a Variation (as this notice has been built into the Variation clause at 13.3). Second, delay for “exceptionally adverse climatic conditions” has been qualified to be “Unforeseeable having regard to climatic data.” Third, the Contractor has an explicit entitlement to an EOT if the delay is caused by an increase of more than 10% of an estimated quantity. Fourth, the clause specifically contemplates the parties adopt provisions in respect of concurrent delay.
Claims (Cl. 20): The provisions relating to Claims and Disputes have been separated and redrafted substantially. Clause 20 (Claims) sets out a procedure for (a) Employer Claims (“additional payment from the Contractor (or reduction in the Contract Price) and/or to an extension of the DNP”); (b) Contractor claims for “additional payment from the Employer and/or to EOT”; and (c) either Party for “another entitlement or relief against the other…of any kind whatsoever…except (a) and (b).” Notably, the existing 28-day time requirement for notifying claims now applies to the Employer as well, and the old 42-day timeframe for the “fully detailed claim” has been increased to 84 Days.
DAAB (Cl. 21): The newly introduced “DAAB,” which stands for “Dispute Avoidance / Adjudication Board” (in contrast to the previous “DAB”), brings with it a number of important procedures. First, unless the Parties agree otherwise, the DAAB members are to be appointed within 28 days after the Contractor receives the Letter of Acceptance; there are also detailed procedures for resignation, termination and new appointments. Second, the DAAB may provide “Informal Assistance” if jointly requested by the Parties, who are not bound to act on the DAAB’s advice. Third, in terms of time-bars (a) the DAAB must give its decision within 84 days after receiving the reference; (b) a Party must refer a Dispute to the DAAB within 42 days after giving or receiving a Notice of Dissatisfaction with the Engineer’s determination; and (c) a Party that is dissatisfied with the DAAB’s decision must give an NOD to the other within 28 days or else the decision becomes final and binding on both Parties. Fourth, arbitral tribunals are empowered to order the enforcement of a DAAB decision, by way of summary or other expedited procedure, whether by an interim or provisional measure or award.
It is clear that the drafters of the new edition have gone to great lengths to address previous criticisms from users, including greater emphasis on dispute avoidance. While the new edition is more rigid and prescriptive than its predecessor (not to mention, nearly double the length), which is likely to put more pressure on employers and contractors to ensure they comply, the overall risk allocation remains generally the same. Given its early days, it remains to be seen whether regional owners and contractors adopt the 2017 Red Book or stick with its 18-year-old predecessor.
Visit our website to learn more about V&E’s Construction & Engineering and International Construction Disputes practices. For more information, please contact Vinson & Elkins lawyers Amir Ghaffari, Nick Henchie, or Joseph Chedrawe.
Amir Ghaffari
+971.4.403.6230
aghaffari@velaw.com
Nick Henchie
nhenchie@velaw.com
Joseph Chedrawe
jchedrawe@velaw.com
International Dispute Resolution & Arbitration
Coronavirus: Preparation & Response
Challenges and Opportunities of Virtual Hearings in International Arbitration
V&E International Dispute Resolution Update
Public Policy Challenge to Arbitral Awards in Russian Courts
Pitfalls in Project Development
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10 International Artists That Ruled 2012
November 30, 2012 - 6:05 pm by Keith Murphy (@murphdogg29)
Music can be a transcendent force. Indeed, it’s no longer about playing to a specific audience, demographic or country. As an artist you have to think globally. With that in mind, VIBE presents these 10 International Music Acts that killed 2012. Where did Rihanna come in?
CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO BEGIN
10. Wonder Girls Reps: Seoul, South Korea While they don’t share the same American chart presence as the other names on this list, Wonder Girls certainly have the buzz and high profile backers. Akon co-signed the bubbly girl clique on their well-received cut “Like Money.” Teen Nick featured the Wonder Girls in their own television movie earlier this year. And gossip maven Perez Hilton has championed the Korean act. Will their American album debut reach the heights of their overseas takeover? Well, having a roster of producers that includes J.R. Rotem, the aforementioned Akon, songwriters Wynter Gordon and Claude Kelly is a nice start.
9. The Weekend Reps: Scarborough, Ontario Canada already boasts an Emo rap superstar in Drake, so why not a mysterious, conceptual R&B artist? Music blogosphere favorite the Weekend first turned heads with the 2011 nine-song release House of Balloons. Since then, the singer-songwriter born Abel Tesfaye, has joined the ranks of Miguel and Frank Ocean as the new guard of rhythm and blues. The Weekend’s current Trilogy project, propelled by the remastered single and video for his seductive track "Wicked Games", displays an artist who is destined for even bigger and better things.
8. Calvin Harris Rep: Dumfries, Scotland The veteran DJ, songwriter, singer and producer had one of his strongest years as an artist and a studio visionary. Calvin Harris’ production of Rihanna (the world-beating, no. 1 track “We Found Love” was the highlight of her Talk That Talk release) expanded his presence even further. And his single, the soulful “Feels So Close" was arguably 2011-12’s most infectious dance anthem.
7. The Wanted Reps: United Kingdom Everyone loves a good boy band battle. In the tradition of New Edition vs. New Kids On The Block, Backstreet Boys vs. N’Sync is the Wanted vs. One Direction. To the Wanted’s credit, they have attempted to present a more worldly, sexy sound than their UK counterparts. You don’t feel that much guilty listening to their three million and counting selling single “Glad You Came”. Even if you are not much for seeing a group of guys engage in synchronized dancing you can appreciate the Wanted’s full blown November Twitter war with One Direction that was ignited after member Zayn Malik called Max George a “geek.” Good times.
6. Gotye Reps: Australia Indie rock act Gotye had long been a buzz-heavy artist in his home down under. But in 2012 his stock rose in America and abroad. A few high profile appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Saturday Night Live exposed Gotye to a wider audience as his single “Easy Way Out" was even performed on the Fox hit Glee. The publicity helped immensely as the atmospheric vocalist enjoyed his first US no. 1 single.
5. One Direction Reps: London, England Pubescent, screaming girls worship at the tear-soaked altar of this new-age British boy band. On the heels of their 2011 triple platinum set Up All Night, this Simon Cowell creation followed up their introduction with their second no. 1 release Take Me Home. Pros: The five-member One Direction have been a global touring juggernaut as their upcoming 2013 trek is already sold-out. Cons: The more popular, cutesy act makes their older rivals sound like the Beatles.
4. David Guetta Reps: France When you are both the most in-demand producer in the electro-pop arena and the most polarizing DJ on the scene, there is no in between. David Guetta’s reach within the current music scene is frightening. Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, will.i.am, Rihanna, Usher, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne are among the French spinner’s collaborators. He has also been named as the main culprit behind R&B artists seemingly selling their souls for Euro-fueled dance club glory. But really, is it Guetta’s fault that most of today’s party people want to dance to his beat?
3. PSY Reps: South Korea The intriguing aspect of PSY’s out-of-nowhere ascendance on the pop culture food chain is that the man himself is in on the joke. Proof? His just-add-water-and-spoof video for his massive anthem “Gangnam Style”. That absurd pony dance. His string of seemingly endless cheeky television appearances (the peak of the madness so far has been PSY’s surprise appearance on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, in which guest host and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane pushes a magic red button and out comes you know who). But if you are going to be the second-coming of the Baha Men you might as well break some serious records (PSY’s “Gangnam Style” has just reached 824 million views, beating out Justin Bieber’s 803 million) and pull off a feel-good moment by bringing out dance-rap icon MC Hammer during his show-stealing performance on the American Music Awards. It’s a 15-minutes-of-fame run that at least makes you crack a smile.
2. Rihanna Reps: Barbados It’s official: Rihanna is the biggest pop star on the planet. She’s cooler than Lady Gaga; trumps Justin Bieber in moving the cultural needle; is more bad ass than Katy Perry; and more relevant than Britney Spears. And like any world-beating pop star worth their jet-setting swag, RiRi has mastered the art of publicity. When she isn’t dominating headlines by trolling her critics (her bold tweet of a shirtless, controversial, on-again, off-again boyfriend Chris Brown laying on the bed has had the Internet going crazy) or seductively wearing nothing more than a jacket on the cover of GQ, the tatted up, tough-talking, drop dead gorgeous performer is releasing some of the best music of her career. It’s easy to forgive Rihanna for refusing to sit down for just a minute—she’s put out nearly an album per-year since her 2005 debut—as long as she keeps dropping transcendent singles like “Diamonds.” Rihanna’s reward? Her first no. 1 debut and the biggest first-week sales of her career.
1. Adele Reps: England, UK As you read this, the powerhouse British vocalist has just sold 10 million albums in the U.S. alone. Okay, okay…yes, Adele’s critically acclaimed, omnipresent, 2011 release 21 is nearly two-years-old. But that hasn’t stopped the recent Album of the Year Grammy darling from having one of the biggest selling works of 2012. Adele’s superb, throwback James Bond single “Skyfall” has ran up two million copies. Her international reach is simply staggering (Adele has gone no. 1 in more than 26 countries). And in October, the lovable, self-effacing, diva-in-the-making gave birth to her first child, a baby boy. Charmed life, huh?
adele,
Calvin Harris,
David Guetta,
One Direction,
PSY,
Rihanna,
Boo Who? 10 Big-Name Rappers Who Have Been Booed During Shows
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Why the 25th Amendment continues to be raised to remove Trump from power
Maureen Groppe
WASHINGTON – In the more than 50 years since the Constitution was amended to create a way to remove a president unable to do his job, the process has never been triggered.
But throughout Donald Trump's presidency, the 25th Amendment has come up again and again as a possible means of removing Trump to put Vice President Mike Pence in charge.
With days left in his tenure, the amendment was mentioned again after Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the results of the presidential election that Joe Biden won.
The head of the National Association of Manufactures said Trump incited the violence in an attempt to retain power and Pence should consider triggering the amendment to preserve democracy.
"This is sedition and should be treated as such," said Jay Timmons, the group's president and CEO.
He was joined by a growing chorus of calls that included the head of the left-leaning advocacy group Public Citizen, the head of the NAACP and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican.
"President Trump should resign or be removed from office by his Cabinet, or by the Congress," Scott said in a series of tweets.
Hundreds of political scientists have signed a letter saying Trump should be immediately removed either through impeachment or the 25th Amendment.
The amendment, ratified in 1967, created a legal mechanism for designating a head of state when the president is disabled or dead. It also formalized the historical practice for the vice president to permanently take over if the president dies or resigns, and gives the president and Congress shared power to replace a vice president.
Why was it written?
John F. Kennedy’s assassination brought renewed interest to presidential succession questions. Lyndon B. Johnson’s ascension to the presidency meant that – for the 16th time – the country had no vice president. And there was no tested way of dealing with a severe presidential illness. Johnson previously had suffered a heart attack and the next two people in line to be president were the 71-year-old speaker of the House and the 86-year-old president pro tempore of the Senate.
Has it been used before?
Gerald Ford followed the first two sections of the amendment when becoming Richard Nixon’s vice president after Spiro Agnew resigned and when he become president after Nixon’s resignation. The amendment’s third section, which allows for a president to temporarily cede power and duties to a vice president, was used once after Ronald Reagan underwent surgery in 1985 and similarly when George W. Bush was under anesthesia in 2002 and 2007. The fourth section, a process for removing a president when others believe he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” has never been used.
When did the author intend the 4th section to be invoked?
Late former Sen. Birch Bayh wrote in his book “One Heartbeat Away: Presidential Disability and Succession” that he knew the most controversial aspect of the amendment he authored would be how to handle the rare instances when a president’s team disputed his ability to serve.
“You know, fellows, we've talked about this problem a hundred times,” Bayh recounted, telling his aides when they were in the final stages of negotiation. “The only time it would present itself – the only time the president would say 'I'm well and able' and the vice president and cabinet would disagree – would be if the president was as nutty as a fruit cake.”
Why the renewed interest?
The amendment got new attention after Trump's inauguration and re-emerged as a top talker after some of Trump's controversial comments and actions, or because of inside reports about the workings of the White House.
In 2017, for example, Trump triggered questions about his stability when he tweeted he has a bigger "nuclear button" than Kim Jong Un of North Korea.
Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” painted a picture of a president not up to the job.
“It's not unreasonable to say this is 25th Amendment kind of stuff,” Wolff said in a 2018 appearance on NBC’s "Meet the Press."
In an opinion piece published anonymously by the New York Times in 2018, a former top aide at the Department of Homeland Security wrote that Cabinet members had "whispered" about invoking the 25th Amendment because of Trump's increasing erratic behavior.
Soon after, the New York Times reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed invoking the 25th Amendment when the White House had been plunged into chaos after the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Rosenstein called the story "inaccurate and factually incorrect."
Andrew McCabe, former acting director of the FBI, said in 2019 that the suggestion came up more than once and was so serious it was discussed with FBI lawyers.
The Justice Department disputed McCabe's characterization of discussions about the 25th Amendment but did not deny that they had taken place.
When Trump contracted COVID-19 last year, the amendment was mentioned as a backup if his condition worsened and the disease affected his thinking.
How could the 25th Amendment be triggered?
The vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could declare the president unable to “discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If the president disputes that determination, two-thirds of both the House and the Senate must vote to put the vice president in charge.
In addition, lawmakers can designate through legislation an alternative group – other than the Cabinet – that the vice president could work with to declare a president unable to serve.
Is the amendment clear on what qualifies as an inability to serve?
No. And Jay Berman, one of the Bayh aides who worked on the amendment, said that was intentional.
“It didn’t settle the issue of what it is,” he said in an interview. “It provided a mechanism for addressing the issue.”
Would a psychiatrist or other doctor need to weigh in?
Bayh assumed the vice president would consult with medical experts, but the drafters never felt comfortable that the decision would be made solely by a group of doctors, according to Berman. Section 4 was not intended to overturn the verdict of the electoral system, or to be a substitute for impeachment, Berman said.
“It was certainly on our mind that the impeachment proceeding was still something that was available in the case of a president that had violated his oath or hadn’t performed his duties,” he said. “That truly should be the first line of defense in any case where there’s an issue about removing the president.”
Is it likely to be used?
Pence has never indicated that he questioned Trump’s ability to be president.
In 2019, Pence called "any suggestion" of triggering the amendment "absurd."
Despite Pence’s unfailing loyalty to Trump, however, the president rebuked him Wednesday after Pence said he would not break the law and use his constitutional position as president of the Senate to try to stop Congress from counting the electoral votes.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted in a post that Twitter removed Wednesday evening.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican, said Wednesday's violence "was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the President’s addiction to constantly stoking division."
"Today, the United States Capitol — the world’s greatest symbol of self-government — was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard — tweeting against his Vice President for fulfilling the duties of his oath to the Constitution," Sasse tweeted.
He didn't suggest Pence should replace Trump for the remainder of his term, but Florida Rep. Charlie Crist did.
“The 25th Amendment allows for the removal of a President,” tweeted Crist, a former GOP governor who became a Democrat in 2012. “It's time to remove the President.”
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Find a train from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA
Distance 2,294.1 mi
Your journey from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA with Virail
Do you know the best way to get from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA? No? Don't worry, Virail knows. Our search tool uses data from thousands of travel providers to show you all the available routes for your chosen travel dates. Whether you want to travel by train, bus, plane, or carpool, we can help. Filter your results to suit your personal needs: decide whether you want a one-way or round trip ticket, look for a direct journey or one with connections, and choose the time of day that you prefer to travel. Take a look at all the information and find the transport option that's right for you. When you've selected your ideal journey, Virail will transfer you to the website of your chosen travel provider, where you can complete your booking. Your adventure is waiting - let Virail help you today.
How much will I pay for train tickets from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA?
On average, a train ticket from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA will cost you $ 239.32. However, there may be cheaper alternatives available. Virail will show you the lowest prices available for your chosen travel dates, which could be as little as $ 196.92. If you are trying to stick to a budget, there are several ways you can seek out lower ticket prices. For example, if your travel dates are flexible, you might find that some days of the week are cheaper than others. Traveling during peak season will usually cost more, so avoid that if you want to save money. Even the time of day can affect the price of tickets sometimes. You can also look for an indirect route, which may be cheaper than a direct connection. Often, the cheapest train tickets can be found by booking well in advance. However, be mindful that many companies do not offer refunds or exchanges on their cheapest tickets.
$ 313 $ 230 $ 197 More $ 197 $ 197 More
$ 254.74 $ 230.55 $ 189.40 More $ 192.41 $ 191.42 More
$ 217.92 $ 176.91 $ 62.32 More $ 74.98 $ 74.98 More
Trains from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA
Amtrak 18:30 – 05:35 Washington, DC – Los Angeles, CA $ 313 86 h 5 min 2 changes
How much time will it take to go from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA by train?
The journey between Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA by train usually takes 69 h 49 min to cover a distance of 2,294.1 mi. The shortest journey from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA will take you 62 h 55 min. Remember, as always, that this time does not include any delays that might occur due to weather conditions, construction, or unexpected diversions and disruptions. If arriving in Los Angeles, CA quickly is a priority for you, look for express or non-stop services. You may also find that a connecting route reaches your destination faster than some direct journeys. Virail will allow you to explore all your options and come to a decision that suits your needs.
When do departures from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA leave?
In general, the first departure of the day will leave Washington, DC at 05:00, and the last departure will leave at 16:05. However, it is important to remember that this is general information, and these journey times are not necessarily available every day. Timetables for each provider on the route from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA can change from day to day or month to month. In particular, many providers offer different schedules on weekdays and weekends. Public holidays, local events, and seasonal timetables can also cause schedules to change.
Which stations are used when traveling from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA?
In Washington, DC, departure stations include Washington, DC. When you arrive in Los Angeles, CA, you may be able to disembark at stations such as Los Angeles, CA. Remember though that the exact stations served on each route can vary. Different providers may depart from and arrive at different stations. Furthermore, if you travel on an express service, the number of stations may be limited, and the exact stations served on a particular route may vary at different times of day or day of the week. Check in advance to ensure that you are departing from and arriving at a station that is convenient for your journey.
How many journeys from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA take place each day?
If you want to get from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA, you can travel with providers such as Amtrak. You will find a maximum number of 3 departures per day. On average, there are 2 departures per day. Book in advance to make sure that your journey will run smoothly and you depart at a time that suits you best. When you travel, you can look for direct journeys or other routes which offer connections and changes. On average, there are direct journeys between Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA. If you don't mind changing along the way, you may find more options available to you. There are usually 2 journeys with at least one change. These numbers may vary depending on the time of year or day of the week. Some travelers prefer direct routes, particularly if they are carrying heavy suitcases or concerned about missing a connection. Others enjoy the flexibility offered by connecting journeys. Whatever you prefer, Virail can help you find the right options to suit you.
Trains Washington, DC - Los Angeles, CA
Trains Los Angeles, CA - Washington, DC
Buses Washington, DC - Los Angeles, CA
Buses Los Angeles, CA - Washington, DC
Flight Washington, DC - Los Angeles, CA
Flight Los Angeles, CA - Washington, DC
Main routes to Los Angeles, CA
Trains Anaheim, CA - Los Angeles, CA
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Trains Riverside, CA - Los Angeles, CA
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Jeff Bryant on the NCLB Hearings: The Democrats Lost Their Voice
Democrats NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Testing
January 22, 2015 December 7, 2020 02
Jeff Bryant watched President Obama’s State of the Union address and the Senate’s NCLB hearings, and he concluded that the Democrats had lost their voice, with one exception: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
He describes the hearings in this post.
Two Néw York City public school teachers spoke eloquently about the deficiencies and flaws of high-stakes testing.
The only Senator who spoke sensibly about the realities of schooling was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
Bryant writes:
“Finally, at the hearing’s very end, Rhode Island’s Senator Whitehouse said something that made educators everywhere smile: (watch here at the 2:24:30 mark).
“My experience in the education world is that there are really two worlds in it. One is the world of contract and consultants and academics and experts and plenty of officials at the federal state and local level. And the other is a world of principals and classroom teachers who are actually providing education to students. What I’m hearing from my principals’ and teachers’ world is that the footprint of that first world has become way too big in their lives to the point where it’s inhibiting their ability to do the jobs they’re entrusted to do.”
“Indeed, the footprint made by education policy leaders in classrooms has left behind a form of mandated testing that is “designed to test the school and not the student,”
Whitehouse stated, and he described a dysfunctional system in which teachers don’t get test results in a timely fashion that makes it possible for them to use the results to change instruction. Instead, educators spend more time preparing for the tests and encouraging students to be motivated to take them, even though the tests have no bearing on the students’ grades, just how the school and the individual teachers themselves are evaluated.
“Whitehouse compared the federal funding that has poured into policies mandating testing, such as Race to the Top, to “rain falling over the desert. The rain comes pouring out of the clouds. But by the time you’re actually at the desert floor, not a raindrop falls. It’s all been absorbed in between. I’ve never had a teacher who said to me, ‘Boy, Race to the Top gave me just what I need in terms of books or a whiteboard, or something I can use to teach the kids.’”
“Whitehouse urged his colleagues to consider more closely the purpose of testing – not just how many tests and how often but how assessments are used. He concluded, “We have to be very careful about distinguishing the importance of the purpose of this oversight and not allow the purpose of the oversight to be conducted in such an inefficient, wasteful, clumsy way that the people who we really trust to know to do this education – the people who are in the classroom – are not looking back at us and saying, ‘Stop. Help. I can’t deal with this. You are inhibiting my ability to teach.’”
Unfortunately other Democratic senators, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Al Frankenstein, support test-based accountability. Apparently no one told them that the original purpose of the historic Elementary and Secondary Education Act if 1965 was resource equity for poor kids, not testing and accountability.
Apparently no one told them that the traditional Democratic education agenda was equity for the neediest, while the traditional GOP agenda was testing, accountability, and choice.
The Democrats have lost not only their voice but their agenda. Even the civil rights groups want to protect testing and accountability, allowing only 1% of students with the most severe disabilities to be exempted and allowing English language learners only one year of exemption. Why this draconian approach to the children they represent?
The GOP has won the ideological debate because Democrats have signed on to GOP ideas. American children and public education will continue to be in deep trouble until at least one of the two parties abandons its reckless devotion to high-stakes testing and privatization.
A Comment on the President’s SOTU
Condi Taking over Jeb’s Foundation
Chicago Teachers Union Negotiates Right to Block Tests That Are Not Mandated by the State
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Peter Dreier Considers 20 Democrats for 2020
Valerie Strauss: “Arne Duncan Never Learns”
John Thompson: A Closer Look at the “Success” in D.C. That Wasn’t
V4tgDpeDBhQGUBa7 December 15, 2015 December 7, 2020
Breaking: Ex-Superintendent of Hillsborough County, Florida, Will Be Named New York State Commissioner
Florida Teacher to Legislature: I Dont Want Bonus for SAT Scores
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A Book You Should Own That Explains Education Today
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Ohio: Superintendent Says “Enough Is Enough”
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Idaho: Hero Superintendents Say No to the Albertson Foundation
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The Sounds and Smells of My Childhood
Growing Up in the Soo’s East End in the 1950s
by Mike McCarthy
This book is a short, lovely memoir of the author’s childhood, based on the song/poem written by David Mallett, “I Knew This Place.” A place that was unique, very historic, and very loving, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was a hustling and bustling community in the 1950s. All predictions were it would become the next Chicago. The Sounds and Smells of My Childhood is a nostalgic journey. It brings the reader back in time to that place of their own youth, of fond memories, of laughter and tears.
Mike McCarthy (R Michael) was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and graduated from Loretto High School and Lake Superior State University. His career started in the Soo in community and economic development in 1970. He was the former president of the Chippewa County EDC in the late ’70s. He is known in the business as a top economic strategist and as a passionate fund-raiser. His fund-raising career got its start in 1988, and he has raised over $375 million conducting a hundred capital campaigns in the United States and Canada. He and his wife, Judy, live in Denver.
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Solutions and Surprises
by Jerry Fritzke
Author Jerry Fritzke flying first class in the cargo-rigged DC-3 into Kikwit, Zaire Africa. This is one of many flights he has taken in several out-of-the way countries around the world, such as Oman, Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka and several times here in Zaire to solve a myriad of problems. Although each problem had a technical slant, the solutions to them were usually made simply by “being there” and working with the people who did this work every day. As a result, there were many side benefits, such as exciting rides over waterfalls and looking into the face of thirty-five foot high “standing waves in the middle of the second largest river in the world. A crash here meant no rescue. Meanwhile, Jerry’s wife Irene had to read headlines in the local newspaper saying “Walnut Creek Man Missing in Africa” one week after Jerry left for Zaire. He’s still around though.
Jerry Fritzke was born in 1930 and raised in Tonawanda New York, a town of 13,000 situated between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Jerry Graduated from Tona-wanda High School in 1948 and then went on to Purdue University where he earned a BS in Metallurgical Engineering in 1954. He married Irene in 1952 and, after graduation, they moved to Cincinnati Ohio, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and then finally to Walnut Creek California in 1959 where they still live. After leaving his job at the Stanford Linear Accelerator in 1973, Jerry has worked for himself as a full-time consulting engineer in Metallurgy and Corrosion since 1973. He taught evening classes in Metallurgy for several years at Laney Junior College in Oakland and was a docent in Natural Sciences at the Oakland Museum for seven years. He often has been called upon to testify on legal cases in deposi-tions and in court. Over the years he has enjoyed presenting talks about his trav-els and adventures he experienced during these travels. For several years, he and Irene have led trips for the Sierra Club and walks in Walnut Creek’s Open Space regions to point out the hundred or so different species of wild flowers blooming there. He is an avid reader with special emphasis on astronomy, biog-raphy, and history. His hobbies include astronomy, classical music, sports, writ-ing, geology, travel, photography, and opera.
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Tonight on YES:Yankees Hot Stove, 7 p.m.
MLS is back: League to resume play at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida on July 8
All 26 clubs to compete in 'MLS is Back' tournament
NYCFC fans will get to watch their club again when MLS resumes in July.|Art or Photo Credit: AP
By New York City FC
NEW YORK & LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA -- Major League Soccer announced Wednesday the league’s plan to restart the 2020 season with all 26 MLS clubs competing in the MLS is Back Tournament at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida beginning July 8. The tournament, which will be played without fans in attendance, provides a compelling way for MLS to resume its 25th season. Group stage matches will count in the MLS regular season standings and the tournament winner will earn a spot in the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League.
“We are pleased to team up with Disney to relaunch the 2020 MLS season and get back to playing soccer,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “The opportunity to have all 26 clubs in a controlled environment enables us to help protect the health of our players, coaches and staff as we return to play. We also recognize that the death of George Floyd and others has focused our country on issues of racial injustice, inequality and violence against black men and women. Together with our owners, players and staff, the league and its clubs are deeply committed to creating meaningful and impactful programs to address these issues that have plagued our society for far too long."
Major League Soccer has a longstanding relationship with ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The league held its 1998 preseason at the complex, and hosted events for the 1998 and 2019 MLS All-Star Games at the facilities.
“Sports have the power to unify and inspire, particularly during challenging times,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. “And we’re looking forward to bringing this exciting sport back to millions of fans, while prioritizing the health and well-being of the players, coaches and support staff as well as our cast members.”
Clubs will begin arriving in Orlando as early as June 24 for preseason training. Clubs that can conduct full team training in their markets pursuant to the league’s medical and testing protocols must arrive no later than seven days before their first match.
Similar to a FIFA World Cup format, the tournament will feature a continuous schedule of matches nearly every day, with games beginning at 9 a.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET. The vast majority of the matches will be played in the evening. Each team will play three group stage matches, and those results will count in the 2020 MLS regular season standings. After 16 consecutive days of group stage matches, the top two teams from each group along with the four best third-place finishers will move on to the knockout stage. The knockout stage will include a round-of-16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and the championship match will take place on Aug. 11. Matches tied at the end of regulation in the knock-out phase will proceed directly to a penalty kick shootout.
MLS worked with U.S. Soccer, Canada Soccer and Concacaf to institute a one-time change to MLS berths to the annual Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. The MLS is Back Tournament winner will earn a spot in the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, regardless of whether it is a U.S. or Canadian club. The winner would replace the berth previously awarded to the MLS regular season points leader in the conference opposite of the 2020 Supporters’ Shield winner.
In addition to matches that count in the regular season standings and the Champions League berth, players will have the opportunity to earn additional bonuses as part of a $1.1 million prize pool.
The substitution limit for the tournament will follow the new protocol set by the IFAB and allow five substitutions per match. In addition, teams may name up to 23 players on each official match day roster. Also, the Professional Referees Organization (PRO) will have access to video review for all games.
For the MLS is Back Tournament, the 26 MLS teams will be drawn into one of six groups during a live draw that will take place Thursday, June 11 at 3:30 p.m. ET. For the remainder of the 2020 MLS season, Nashville SC will be moved to the Eastern Conference. The Eastern Conference will have three groups, one consisting of six teams and two consisting of four teams each. The Western Conference will have three groups, each consisting of four teams.
As the host club, Orlando City SC will be given the top seed in Group A, which will be the six-team group, and will play in the first match July 8. The five remaining seeds will consist of the four semifinalists from the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs -- Atlanta United, Los Angeles Football Club, Seattle Sounders FC, Toronto FC -- and Real Salt Lake (the team with the next highest points total in the Western Conference from the 2019 season). The seeded teams will be drawn into their respective groups first and then the remaining 20 clubs will be drawn and distributed across the conference-based groups.
In addition, the tournament schedule, national television partner networks and other important details for the MLS is Back Tournament will be provided soon.
Upon completion of the MLS is Back Tournament, MLS plans to continue its regular season with a revised schedule in home markets, followed by the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and the 25th MLS Cup. The schedule will be developed at a later date. The final number of matches and the schedule for the remainder of the 2020 MLS regular season will be announced in the coming weeks.
The MLS medical department and the league’s infectious disease experts have developed a comprehensive COVID-19 testing plan which will be implemented for the entire MLS is Back Tournament. An overview of health, safety and medical protocols can be found HERE. In addition, MLS will make a contribution of serology (antibody) tests to Central Florida residents beginning June 18.
June 24: Teams begin arriving in Florida
July 8: MLS is Back Tournament group stage begins
July 25-28: Round-of-16
July 30- Aug. 1: Quarterfinals
Aug. 5-6: Semifinals
Aug.11: MLS is Back Tournament Final
MLS IS BACK TOURNAMENT -- July 8 - August 11
Number of matches: 54 (39 group; 15 knockout)
Number of matchdays: 26
Format: Group Stage, followed by Round-of-16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship match
Minimum Matches: 3 (per club)
Maximum Matches: 7 (per club)
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Home>York Environmental Sustainability Institute>News >2019>Scientists identify British butterflies most threatened by climate change
Scientists identify British butterflies most threatened by climate change
News | Posted on Thursday 24 October 2019
Scientists working on a YESI Supported Project have discovered why climate change may be contributing to the decline of some British butterflies and moths, such as Silver-studded Blue and High Brown Fritillary butterflies.
The Silver-studded Blue has retreated southwards and decreased in abundance. Credit: Dr Callum Macgregor, University of York
Many British butterflies and moths have been responding to warmer temperatures by emerging earlier in the year and for the first time scientists have identified why this is creating winners and losers among species.
The findings will help conservationists identify butterfly and moth species most at risk from climate change, the researchers say.
Shrink in numbers
The YESI Supported Project, led by the University of York, found that emerging earlier in the year may be benefitting species which have multiple, rapid breeding cycles per year and are flexible about their habitat (such as the Speckled Wood butterfly), by allowing them more time to bulk up in numbers before winter and expand their range towards the north.
In contrast, early emergence may be causing species that are habitat specialists and have only a single life-cycle per year, to shrink in numbers and disappear from northern parts of the country within their historical range.
Single generation species that are habitat specialists (like the rare High Brown Fritillary butterfly) are most vulnerable to climate change because they cannot benefit from extra breeding time and emerging earlier may throw them out of seasonal synchrony with their restricted diet of food resources, the researchers suggest.
Temperature increases
The researchers studied data on butterflies and moths, contributed by citizen scientists to a range of schemes including Butterflies for the New Millennium and the National Moth Recording Scheme (both run by Butterfly Conservation), over a 20 year period (1995-2014) when the average spring temperatures in Britain increased by 0.5 degrees.
Temperature increases are causing butterflies and moths to emerge on average between one and six days earlier per decade over this time period.
Lead author of the study, Dr Callum Macgregor, from the Department of Biology at the University of York, said: “Because butterflies in general are warmth loving, scientists predicted that the range margin of most species would move north as a result of global heating. However this hasn’t happened as widely or as quickly as expected for many species.
“Our study is the first to establish that there is a direct connection between changes in emergence date and impacts on the habitat range of butterflies and moths. This is because emerging earlier has caused some species to decline in abundance, and we know that species tend only to expand their range when they are doing well.”
Professor Jane Hill, from the Department of Biology at the University of York, who leads the NERC Highlight project, said: “Our results indicate that while some more flexible species are able to thrive by emerging earlier in the year, this is not the case for many single generation species that are habitat specialists – these species are vulnerable to climate change.”
Pervasive impacts
Co-author Professor Chris Thomas, from the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity at the University of York, added: "These changes remind us how pervasive the impacts of climate change have already been for the world's biological systems, favouring some species over others. The fingerprint of human-caused climate change is already everywhere we look."
Professor Tom Brereton of Butterfly Conservation said: “The study shows that we urgently need to conduct ecological research on threatened butterflies such as the High Brown Fritillary, to see if we can manage land in a new way that can help them adapt to the current negative effects of climate change.”
Climate-induced phenology shifts linked to range expansions in species with multiple reproductive cycles per year is published in Nature Communications.
This study was carried out in collaboration with researchers at the universities of Bristol, Liverpool, Melbourne (Australia) and Stockholm (Sweden), in addition to researchers at Butterfly Conservation; the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology; Rothamsted Research; and the Natural History Museum. The research was supported by a grant from the Natural Environment Research Council.
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You are hereBlogs / WcP.Watchful.Eye's blog / US military suicides: 2,200 soldiers died within 2yrs of leaving service. 1 veteran dies by suicide per 80 minutes, 18 each day
US military suicides: 2,200 soldiers died within 2yrs of leaving service. 1 veteran dies by suicide per 80 minutes, 18 each day
By WcP.Watchful.Eye - Posted on 30 May 2008
*Update Sep. 11, 2012*
Curbing Suicide Now a National Priority - Hoping to curb the escalating suicide rate in the United States, especially among military personnel and young Americans, health officials are spearheading a program that encompasses Facebook and other private companies.
"America loses approximately 100 Americans every 24 hours from suicide," said Pamela Hyde, administrator of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, at a press conference Monday morning. Among people 18 to 24, suicide is now the third leading cause of death, officials said.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin said, "It's time to turn our attention to prevention." The new strategy brings together government, the private sector, schools and communities to raise suicide awareness, increase prevention efforts and develop new treatments for those at risk, she said, speaking at the news conference.
In 2009, more than 37,000 Americans took their own lives, and "more than 500,000 Americans were depressed enough to have actually tried it," Hyde said. This is as critical a public health issue as good drinking water, safe food and infectious-disease prevention, Hyde said.
The military has been hit particularly hard. "Right now we are losing more of our soldiers to suicide than we are to combat," said Army Secretary John McHugh. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said that in July alone "the Army lost 38 soldiers to suicide - an all-time and month high."
*Update Feb. 25, 2012*
"I felt as alien here as I was in Iraq," the 32-year-old recalls of his return to his native Utah. At home, he says, it was impossible to tell we were a nation at war. He couldn't discuss it with pals "without sounding like a Martian," because they had no idea what the war in Iraq was like. The conversation would bog down, stall and then move on to other topics. "The gap between the military and everybody else is getting worse because people don't know--and don't want to know--what you've been through," he says. "... It's hard not to think of my war as a bizarre camping trip that no one else went on."
As the nation prepares to welcome home some 45,000 troops from Iraq, most Americans have little or nothing in common with their experiences or the lives of the 1.4 million men and women in uniform. The past decade of war by volunteer soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines has acted like a centrifuge, separating the nation's military from its citizens. Most Americans have not served in uniform, no longer have a parent who did and are unlikely to encourage their children to enlist.
Never has the U.S. public been so separate, so removed, so isolated from the people it pays to protect it. The isolation will be plain to see as those U.S. troops in Iraq stream home before the year's end. Most will return not to 50 states but to two: North Carolina, home to the 82nd Airborne Division, and Texas, home to Killeen's Fort Hood and El Paso's Fort Bliss. There, many of them will live "on post," or in military-centric towns, where contact with the rest of us is rare. "As we continue to concentrate ourselves in fewer and fewer bases, as we become more secluded by way of a volunteer service, where fewer and fewer Americans have either served or know someone who's served," says Army Secretary John McHugh, "there is a sense of alienation that I don't think is positive."
Veterans suicide rate - the war at home: the VA estimates that a veteran takes his or her own life every 80 minutes — 6,500 suicides per year. That’s 20 percent of all suicides in the United States.
We know that suicide is a terrible problem in Nevada, with a rate 50 percent higher than the national average. Among military veterans and especially young veterans, however, it’s a crisis, according to new data from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
From 2008 to 2010, the Nevada veteran suicide rate was 2.5 times higher than the rate for all Nevadans and nearly quadruple the national nonveteran suicide rate. In 2010, suicide accounted for more than a quarter of deaths among veterans 24 and younger. All told, of the 1,545 Nevada suicides between 2008-2010, veterans accounted for a stunning 373 of them, or nearly a quarter.
The explanation: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a brutal toll on our young men and women. And they have come home to a bad economy and communities that are often clueless about what veterans have experienced or how to help them. “Those high numbers are reflective of a decade of war and the impact that has on those who have been asked to serve in that war,” said Luana Ritch, a veteran and public health expert who compiled the data for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
There’s no great repository of data that tracks veterans’ health, other than the Department of Veterans Affairs. But many veterans aren’t in the VA system. And veterans’ death certificates sometimes neglect to mention military service.
Given these data collection issues, it’s possible the problem is even worse than the figures show. Also owing to data collection issues, it’s not clear if the veteran suicide problem is better or worse in other states.
What we do know, however, is that nationally the problem is significant.
The VA estimates that a veteran takes his or her own life every 80 minutes — 6,500 suicides per year. That’s 20 percent of all suicides in the United States.
The Center for a New American Security published a report last year, “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide,” highlighting the dire situation. The report notes that during peacetime military service members historically experience lower suicide rates than the overall population.
I called the VA in Southern Nevada and in Washington but never heard back from them. Linda Flatt of the Nevada Office of Suicide Prevention shared some information. Warning signs include: thoughts, fantasies, planning and discussion of ways of hurting or killing oneself; recklessness; rage, guilt, anxiety, depression; withdrawal from family and friends; drug and alcohol abuse; and feelings of hopelessness.
Prescription medication and firearms can be especially dangerous for people at risk of suicide; they should be stored safely.
If you or someone you know may be at risk, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or the Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255 and press1.
US military suicides high even as wars wind down: more than 2,200 soldiers died within two years of leaving the service. During recent years, more American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have died of their own hand than through contact with the enemy. A veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes.
Even as the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the US military remains embroiled in what seems to be a losing battle: the fight against the growing number of suicides by active duty troops, and Iraq or Afghanistan veterans.
Statistics on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, obtained in 2011 through a Freedom of Information Act request by a San Francisco newspaper, found that more than 2,200 soldiers died within two years of leaving the service, and about half had been undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress or other combat-induced mental disorders at the time.
Senior commanders concede that during some recent years, more American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have died of their own hand than through contact with the enemy.
In the wake of previous wars, the stigma attached to suicides led the military to downplay the problem, particularly in the ranks of the US Army and Marine Corps, where grueling ground combat often took the heaviest psychological toll. While the services still struggle to prevent such tragedies, this time, at least, they have taken steps to address the issue. One of the few detailed independent studies of the problem, by the Center for New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, gave the Army credit for designing early warning and intervention programs that may well have prevented an even bigger death toll.
Peter Chiarelli, a four-star general who has seen more than his share of war, ran the Army’s suicide prevention efforts until his retirement last week from the Army’s second-highest post, vice chief of staff. Back in 1972, when Chiarelli was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Army, the service was embarking on the long, difficult process of extricating itself both physically and psychologically from the Vietnam War.
Now, forty years later, the army once again is consumed with winding down complex, frustrating deployments — this time in Iraq, which it left last month, and Afghanistan, where it aims to leave by the end of 2014.
The irony was not lost on Chiarelli, who spent his final two years in the service tending to soldiers psychologically scarred by the multiple deployments and harsh realities of the “wars of 9/11,” overseeing the Army’s Suicide Prevention Program, an initiative to identify at-risk soldiers and raise awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
I met Chiarelli last year at Washington, DC’s official commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The general was on a panel about resilience, the theme of the conference. As much as everyone wanted to focus on the towers and the first responders who perished that day a decade ago, Chiarelli’s focus was pitched forward.
"One of the things that's going to test our mettle is going to be our ability to focus on (injuries) after the wars' end,” he said.
Chiarelli led the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division through two bloody deployments in Iraq — losing some 635 troops along the way. The general then devoted his final two years in uniform to eliminating the lingering stigma of war’s psychological toll — PTSD.
But there’s been no dent made in the near-epidemic suicide rates since the wars after 9/11 began.
Statistics for 2011 released last month indicate that the Army and National Guard and Reserves lost 164 active-duty troops to suicide, compared with 159 in 2010 and 162 in 2009, the figures reported. That doesn’t include Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force active-duty suicides — which are reported differently and not easy to intermingle with the Army’s figures.
Veterans groups say that suicides among those who have left the military add up to 200 extra deaths a year, depending on how such tragedies are classified.
For five years, beginning in 2005, a service member died by suicide every 36 hours, according to the report by the Center for New American Security.
The report found that US Army suicides climbed steadily since 2004, and in the Marine Corps, the rate increased from 2006 to 2009, though it dipped slightly in 2010.
And while it said it was “impossible,” given the lack of data, to accurately determine the number of veterans that have killed themselves, the report said that the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that a veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes.
Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007 at the highest rate on record, and the toll is climbing ever higher this year as long war deployments stretch on. At least 115 soldiers killed themselves last year, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said Thursday. "We see a lot of things that are going on in the war which do contribute — mainly the longtime and multiple deployments away from home, exposure to really terrifying and horrifying things, the easy availability of loaded weapons and a force that's very, very busy right now," said Col. Elspeth Ritchie psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general. Some common factors among those who took their own lives were trouble with relationships, work problems and legal and financial difficulties, officials said.
The 115 confirmed suicides among active-duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops who had been activated amounted to a rate of 18.8 per 100,000 troops — the highest since the Army began keeping records in 1980. Two other deaths are suspected suicides but still under investigation. As of Monday, there had been 38 confirmed suicides in 2008 and 12 more deaths that are suspected suicides but still under investigation.
(unquote)
Original Source: Associated Press
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Submitted by SHIMAA (not verified) on Thu, 2010/05/06 - 8:30am.
Thank you for this good topic, I was really needed it, so thank for you again
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Katie A. Humphries
Katie Humphries is an associate in Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group.
Katie earned her J.D. (summa cum laude) from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where she was the external chair of the Moot Court Board and the Mississippi cases editor for the Mississippi Law Journal. Her comment, Grandfathered In: Grandparent Intervention in Mississippi Adoption Proceedings, was published in Volume 89 of the Mississippi Law Journal. The Mississippi Law Journal recognized Katie as a recipient of the Robert C. Khayat Award for Outstanding Service and Contribution. She also competed in both the National Moot Court Competition and the National Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition.
Katie graduated from Auburn University with a B.A. (summa cum laude) in Public Relations and a minor in Business.
University of Mississippi School of Law, J.D., 2020, summa cum laude; Mississippi Cases Editor and Staff Editor, Mississippi Law Journal; External Chair, Moot Court Board; Outstanding Student Award in Evidence, Civil Procedure II, Legal Writing & Research, and Contracts
Auburn University, B.A., 2017, summa cum laude
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Post War + Contemporary Art 4 June 2009
Alexander Calder 1898–1976
Born in 1898 to Nanette Lederer Calder and Alexander Stirling Calder, a painter and a sculptor respectively, Alexander Calder was encouraged to be creative and make things by hand. As a child he made gifts for his family and jewelry for his sister’s dolls. In 1915, Calder attended Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey graduating in 1919 with a degree in mechanical engineering because his parents didn’t want him to struggle as an artist. After completing school, Calder work a myriad of jobs including draftsman for Edison Company, a staff member at Lumber magazine, coloring maps for a hydraulics engineer and timekeeper for a logging camp.
In the spring of 1922 Calder attended night classes in drawing and the following year he decides to pursue a career as a painter. By 1925 Calder had his first art exhibition and in 1926 he made his first sculptures out of wood and wire. Calder relocated to Paris, socializing with the Parisian avant-garde, and started making mechanical toys and abstract sculptures. His kinetic works, a departure from traditional sculpture, became known as ‘mobiles’, a term coined by Marcel Duchamp.
Calder’s artistic endeavors ranged from mobiles to stabiles (static sculptures) both small and large, to jewelry and paintings. Today his works can be found in numerous museum collections around the world including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Auction Results Alexander Calder
light fixture for Léonie and Geddes Parsons
estimate: $100,000–150,000
result: $233,000
Jeux de l'Oie
Pour Tito
The Snag
The Hand of Fatima
After Alexander Calder
Red and Blue Moon
Alexander Calder 1898-1976
Little Miss Pocket
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EPA to Delay Enforcing Lead-Paint Regulation
By Stephen Power
Updated June 22, 2010 12:01 am ET
WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency has decided to delay enforcing a new lead-paint regulation following pressure from home builders and members of Congress.
The rule would require contractors who work in older homes to become certified by a government-approved trainer and follow a series of safety precautions.
The delay follows an outcry from businesses and trade groups, including the National Association of Home Builders, Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos., as well as lawmakers in both parties. Industry groups charged the regulation would drive up costs and expose contractors to fines and litigation. Some also contended the regulation could derail Washington's efforts to promote energy efficiency because EPA has not approved enough instructors for the required training programs.
The regulation took effect in April and covers tens of millions of homes built decades ago. It aims to reduce the amount of lead dust created during home renovation and repair. Some of the precautions for contractors include covering floors with plastic sheeting and dressing workers in protective clothing. The regulation would also have driven up costs for homeowners, though the amounts have been a point of dispute between the industry and the EPA.
A soft, bluish metallic element, lead was often used as an ingredient by paint manufacturers decades ago. The EPA says lead-based paint was used in more than 38 million homes until the government banned it from housing in 1978.
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When Patients Band Together
Using Social Networks To Spur Research for Rare Diseases; Mayo Clinic Signs On
By Ron Winslow
When Katherine Leon began feeling crushing chest pain six weeks after the birth of her second child, doctors were perplexed about what was causing her symptoms.
Ms. Leon was then 38 years old and healthy, and doctors didn't believe she was having a heart attack. She saw her physician and made two visits to the emergency room. Finally, doctors decided to perform an X-ray angiogram to check for arterial blockages. What they found was so serious, she was whisked to the operating room within 30 minutes for bypass surgery.
The diagnosis: Ms. Leon had spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD, a mysterious condition in which the internal layer of an artery separates from the outer wall, creating a fissure where blood clots can form and potentially block blood flow. SCAD is so rare that little research has been done into what causes it, who is at risk and what treatments are most effective. It mainly affects women and can be fatal.
Ms. Leon, now 46, survived her ordeal, but fears it may occur again, although data don't exist to know whether certain people may be prone to the condition. Like many people with rare diseases, the Alexandria, Va., resident set out to connect via an online network with other SCAD survivors, one as far away as New Zealand. What distinguishes this group of patients, however, is that they succeeded in persuading researchers at a major medical center to launch a research program to learn more about SCAD.
Tuesday, results of a pilot study conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic are being published online by the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The study, which involved 12 SCAD patients from the message board, found that it is feasible to collect data and medical records from patients with different doctors and from far-flung locales. The study is a precursor to a much larger trial the clinic launched two weeks ago involving as many as 400 SCAD patients and an equal number of their close relatives. That research aims to collect not only patients' angiograms and other medical records but also DNA samples to look at the genetics of SCAD and patterns of the disease among study participants that might reveal clues about why it occurs and who is at risk.
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Historian Timothy Snyder falsifies history at German-Ukrainian conference
By Clara Weiss and Wolfgang Weber
A conference called “Revolution and war: Ukraine in the great transformations of modern Europe” took place in Berlin on May 28 and 29. It was the first conference of the German Ukrainian Historical Commission founded in February.
The 170 participants included well-known eastern Europe historians from Ukraine, Germany and the United States, as well as journalists, members of NGOs, the head of the Green Party Heinrich-Böll Institute, the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany and representatives of the German Foreign Office and the American Embassy. Most of the participants already knew one another from their work together in support of the February 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev.
Martin Schulze Wessel, professor of Eastern European history at the Ludwigs-Maximilian University in Munich and president of the new commission, opened the conference with the remark that the commission follows “only a scholarly logic” and will “obviously not” become “an agent of a definite political definition of history.”
In the case of a historical commission, such a declaration ought to be obvious. That Schulze Wessel felt the need to state it explicitly underscores the fact that in this instance it was neither obvious nor true. As the course of the meeting demonstrated, the commission is not only an “agent of a definite political definition of history,” but places history in the service of politics and distorts it in line with the interests of German and American foreign policy.
As though to further underscore the lack of independence of the commission, Schulze Wessel explicitly thanked the German government for its financing. The Imre Kertész College in Jena and the Institute for German Culture and History in Southern Europe at the Ludwigs-Maximilian University in Munich initiated the commission in collaboration with the historical society. They are receiving payment for this work from the German Ministry of Education.
It is significant that Yale historian Timothy Snyder gave the opening talk at the conference. Snyder is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank that is close to the US government. He has been on tour for months as a propagandist for Ukrainian nationalism. The WSWS wrote about him previously: “In the writings of Timothy Snyder we are confronted with an intellectually unhealthy and dangerous tendency: the obliteration of the distinction between the writing of history and the manufacturing of propaganda in the service of the state” (David North, The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century, p. 330).
Snyder’s speech confirmed this evaluation. He does not want to see the work of the commission restricted to researching Ukrainian history and its connection with Germany, he said. Rather, its task was to develop “an understanding of a common European history.” This is “impossible without Ukraine.”
What he has in mind is the rewriting of European history of the twentieth century from the standpoint of Ukrainian nationalism. He proposed this in a way as to leave an unbiased listener speechless. Without presenting any new evidence or arguments, he developed a narrative in which acknowledged historical circumstances were falsified, ignored or presented as their direct opposite.
Snyder referred to World War I—an imperialist war in which the world was reorganised by the great capitalist powers—as the “high point of an era of decolonisation.” With its concept of decolonisation on an international level, Serbia, which he claimed began the war with its struggle for national sovereignty (!), emerged as the victor not only militarily but also intellectually.
The period between the two world wars was, according to Snyder, shaped by the “intellectual victory of decolonisation.” The idea of building a large number of new, small national states was then applied to the rest of Europe. On the other hand, the “two rival imperial powers in Europe, the Soviet Union and Germany,” saw this as an invitation to develop a neo-imperial policy for colonising these countries.
At the beginning phase of the Second World War, from 1938 to 1941, both powers destroyed the European system of national states. Beginning in 1941, there was a “collision” (!) between the two rivals. In this underhanded way, Snyder transformed the German invasion of the Soviet Union into a “struggle over Ukraine,” in which the two powers claimed the most important, central resource area in Europe “for themselves as a colony.”
Snyder simply ignored Hitler’s declared aim of erasing the Soviet Union from the world map, the “Generalplan Ost,” and the “Hunger Plan” of the Nazi leadership—which led to the deaths of 30 million people and was aimed at providing “living space in the east”—as well as many other historical facts. He claimed that some of these facts are “highly exaggerated” or mere “myths.” He made these claims less than 200 metres from the Jewish Museum in Berlin, one of many places that serve as reminders of the grisly crimes committed by the Nazis before they were finally stopped by the Soviet Army.
In the Historikerstriet (historian’s dispute) of 1986, Ernst Nolte downplayed the crimes of the Nazis, which he described as an understandable reaction to the “destructive acts of the Russian revolution.” Snyder goes even further. He erases the German invasion of the Soviet Union from history without further ado and transforms the war into a struggle between two aggressors over Ukraine (which was an integral part of the Soviet Union).
The political motives behind this revision of history are transparent. It serves to justify the regime in Kiev, which has criminalised the display of Soviet symbols, while venerating Nazi collaborators in World War II as freedom fighters. The government, installed by the coup last year, is collaborating closely with Berlin and Washington. It is not by accident that Snyder has assembled his crude conception of Ukrainian history from the propaganda arsenal of the Ukrainian right wing.
Snyder used the rest of his lecture to glorify the European Union (EU). Having presented the First World War as the high point of decolonisation and the Second World War as an attempt of two neo-imperial rivals to recolonise Europe, he now described the EU and its predecessor as the “post-colonial” and “post-imperial projects” of a “civil society” that Russian president Putin seeks to destroy.
According to Snyder, the EU provides the only way of guaranteeing the national sovereignty of small states. In principle, Germany views states such as Luxembourg and the Czech Republic as “partners on the same level,” claimed Snyder. This characterisation is a grotesque distortion of the reality of present day Europe, where Germany claims the right to act as the “leading power” in Europe and impose brutal austerity on weaker countries.
Snyder did not weary of emphasising that the future of the EU and Ukraine are entwined. He claimed there was an existential conflict between the EU and Russia. In the discussion that followed his lecture, he said, “You [Europeans] can give Ukraine to Russia, but this doesn’t mean that you’ll win.” Compromises and concessions would “not hold Putin back from reversing the whole thing. Putin is intent on destroying the EU project.”
Snyder received considerable applause and met with no open disagreement. Vladislav Hrytsak (from the Catholic University in Lemberg), one of the founders of the commission, thanked Snyder for “this brilliant speech.” Schulze Wessel, who is also a member of the Germany Historical Society, praised Snyder’s presentation as a “fresh interpretation of Ukrainian history and Russian-Ukrainian history.”
This adulation prompted Snyder to press even harder for war against Russia in the discussion that followed. Completely distorting reality, he claimed that Ukraine is a low priority of the American elite. The US “did not jump to the aid of Ukraine this time.”
Repeating statements made at a meeting in March of the Green Party-affiliated Heinrich-Böll Institute, Snyder pleaded for a European army. He claimed that even 30,000 men would be enough to keep back the Russian armed forces, in which only a few thousand men were capable of fighting.
However, not all the participants at the meeting were ready to accept everything Snyder said. There was some discussion over how far one could go in whitewashing the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which killed tens of thousands of Poles, Jews and Ukrainians.
Tanja Penter (University of Heidelberg), who is also on the new commission, argued that only a critical reappraisal of the “history of Ukraine as perpetrator” could guarantee long-term political stability and “democracy.”
This was countered by Schulze Wessel on the grounds of political expediency. “Ukraine is in a de facto war,” he said. “A critical reworking can only be expected in post-heroic circumstances. Now we still find ourselves, so to speak, in heroic circumstances.”
Włodzimierz Borodziej (Imre Kertész College in Jena, University of Warsaw) declared bluntly that the “boundless glorification of the UPA” that one encounters in the novels of the Ukrainian author Oksana Sabuschko are the “price” one has to pay for a “master narrative” of Ukrainian history. He added that one runs the risk of “providing even more arguments to Russian propaganda,” if one works through the history of Ukrainian fascism.
Such arguments show the real nature of the Historical Commission: the prostitution of historical scholarship to reactionary political aims. It has been founded within the framework of Germany’s return to an aggressive great power policy, which the German government has systematically propagated since the Munich Security Conference in 2014.
One of the great obstacles to this effort is the fact that the population views Germany’s role in the First and Second World Wars as criminal and catastrophic. It is for this reason that the rewriting of the history of the twentieth century is an important step in laying the ideological groundwork for new wars.
This was the aim of the conference in Berlin, in which not only historians, but also politicians and journalists participated. Their conscious task is to spread a new historical narrative.
Gerd Koenen, who took part in the conference as a representative of the Imre Kertész College in Jena, had written an article in Die Zeit the previous week under the title “What drives Putin,” in which he said, “Despite the broad majority in parliament and the coalition government and the imperturbable way in which majority of journalists carry out their work, it cannot be overlooked that in this question, both political parties and the media confront a serious and to some extent shrill dissonance with a substantial segment of the German public.”
Putin’s propaganda has had an effect, he claimed, because Germany provides “potentially fertile soil” on account of its history. The country is shaped by “fear of war and a shying away from conflict,” the inclination “to shield itself on account of its chauvinistic prosperity and keep its powder dry like the Swiss,” lamented Koenen.
The rest of Koenen’s article provided him with the opportunity to “re-align” the traditional view of history of Germany with Snyder’s concepts and jargon, so that the country could once again demonstrate “steadfastness” in the face of “Putin’s neo-imperial project.”
German federal and state governments reject consistent lockdown measures
Germany’s Christian Democrats choose new leader
Massive rise in unemployment in Germany during the pandemic
After COVID-19 kills tram driver in Berlin, transit workers in Germany demand more security
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Worldview Apologetics
Apologetics.com > Articles > Worldview Apologetics
Review: The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist by Andy Bannister
By Kurt Jaros on August 21, 2015
Andy Bannister’s The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist is a witty and easy-to-read take upon the problems with the new...
Undermining Truth in God’s Name
By Dr. Douglas Groothuis on March 3, 2015
Undermining Christian mission is a constant threat, on the horizon, and already in the midst of churches,...
Review: A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible
By Kurt Jaros on February 19, 2015
John Dickson’s latest book, A Doubter Guide to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015), is a great popular-level handbook-sized piece...
Video: Preventing Religious Extremism
By Apologetics.com on February 18, 2015
In this video, Dr. Richard Park (D.Phil, Oxford University) provides three ideas for preventing religious extremism.
Defending the Faith: Christian Apologetics in a Non-Christian World
By Tracy Bach on July 2, 2008
I feel deeply honored to be asked to speak to this distinguished evangelical colloquy on how the faith once...
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Semi-Sports Development...
Unlike the rest of the Minor range, the design of the 1931 season only, OHV two-seat Semi-Sports model was contracted out to a business noted for its light car body design.
Shortly after the Minor's launch at the October 1928 Olympia Motor Show in London, a rolling chassis version of the car was made available to the numerous specialist car body fabricators (or coachbuilders) who were plying their trade up and down the country. One such specialist was Gordon England Ltd. of Wembley, North West London, a company that had been succesfully building light car bodies for some time. Gordon England, amongst others, noticed that Morris had launched the car without a two seat open model in the range and saw an opportunity to exploit that gap.
A year later, in October 1929, the Gordon England concern launched (to very favourable press reviews) their own fabric bodied, boat tailed and Minor based two seater at a price of £155. Very similar in appearance to the G.E. Stadium Austin, it featured a raked steering column and a one piece, leather covered, pneumatic and fully adjustable seat squab. Other notable fixtures were an electric wiper, a Tecalemit chassis lubrication system and a two-tone paint and fabric body. (See the Light Car Magazine review by clicking on the blue button above)
Morris Motors liked what they saw and invited Gordon England to come up with a design, suitably amended for volume production. This was to fill the same two-seater gap in their Minor range that G.E. had originally spotted and exploited. Their final design looked very similar on first appearance to the the original G.E. car, but appearances can be deceptive. Gone was the adjustable pneumatic seat to be replaced by a much simpler and less expensive metal sprung and Karhide covered fixed type. The steering column remained at the same angle as on the saloon and four seat tourer variants of the car. Gone also was the chassis lubrication system and electric wiper. The doors were larger on the Morris version and the slight 'cut-aways' seen on the G.E. car were dispensed with. The new model was launched in July 1930 and was priced at £135, a full £20 cheaper than the original G.E. car. However, shortly after its launch this price was cut by £10 to just £125 - an economic sign of the times!
As a niche model it was a success, selling 744 units in the only year of its production of which 588 were made during the period July to December 31st 1930, the balance of just 156 leaving Cowley in the months leading up to cessation of production in July 1931. Without doubt sales were 'stolen' from the more expensive (by £60) M.G. M Type Midget. This was not an ideal situation for Morris Motors overall, but the global recession was beginning to bite hard and the Semi-Sports offered a more affordable alternative for prospective M.G. M Type buyers. There was another edge to this sword as Morris Motors launched the £100 Minor S.V. Two-seater on 19th December 1930. The car had a very similar performance to its more expensive brother and although not the soar-away sales success Morris had hoped for, it did effectively kill further sales of the Semi-Sports model, as a glance at the 1931 production figures will testify.
Probably no more than twenty original cars survive today although a number of replica Semi-Sports bodies have been placed upon non original chassis. A mixture of original and replica cars can be seen at VSCC, PWMN & VMR events each year, where their 'pretty' G.E. designed bodies deservedly attract plenty of attention and admiration.
Copyright: Rambler October 2008
G.E. 2-Str Review
R/H image shows the Morris Motors Semi-Sports development car, while L/H shot is of Gordon England Minor Special
...from the same pen...
A/C Semi-sports test
Page last updated 7th August 2014
Survivor Register
L/C Semi-sports test
How the Semi-Sports was advertised...
Some Semi-Sports survivors and replicas...
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Charles Barber production papers
Barber, Charles Andrew
*T-Mss 2012-027
.94 linear feet (2 boxes, 1 oversized folder)
Charles Barber production papers, *T-Mss 2012-027. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Charles Andrew Barber was a theater director and dance critic. The Charles Barber production papers document a production of As You Like It, presented at Washington Square United Methodist Church in 1986 with an all-male cast.
Charles Andrew Barber was a theater director and dance critic. He received his BA in theater from Ohio Wesleyan University, and was associate director to Tony Robertson from 1980 to 1982. In 1986, he directed a production of As You Like It with an all-male cast. Barber died in 1992 in New York City, at the age of 35.
The Charles Barber production papers document a 1986 production of As You Like It at Washington Square United Methodist Church. The collection contains files regarding lighting, costumes, set design, casting, music, the production budget, and publicity. The materials include notes, correspondence, programs, clippings, press releases, photographs, photocopied scores, and an annotated script. A ground plan for the production by designer Donald L. Brooks is present. The collection also contains reference material on producing an Off-Off-Broadway show.
Compiled by Kit Fluker, 2014
The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatre@nypl.org.
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Larry Bird Biography
Born in Indiana, Larry Bird excelled at basketball both in high school and at Indiana State University before becoming a Boston Celtic in 1979. With his excellent shooting, rebounding, and passing skills, Bird helped the Celtics win the National Basketball Association (NBA) championship in 1981, 1984, and 1986. He earned three league most valuable player awards (1984, 1985, 1986), won a gold medal as a member of the 1992 United States Olympic team, and retired in 1992 with a reputation as one of the greatest all-around basketball players in history. Here, Bird (33) shoots over Washington’s Bernard King (30) in 1990.
Larry Bird, born in 1956, American basketball player and coach, one of the greatest all-around performers in the sport’s history. Bird was born in French Lick, Indiana. A star on his high school basketball team, he attended Indiana State University and was named collegiate player of the year in his last season (1979). He then joined the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He led the Celtics to a first-place finish in their division and was named rookie of the year in 1980.
The 6-ft 9-in (2.1-m) Bird, who played as a forward, led the Celtics to NBA championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986. He was a frequent starter in the NBA All-Star Game, and he excelled as a shooter, rebounder, and passer. He was named the NBA’s most valuable player (MVP) in 1984, 1985, and 1986.
Throughout the 1980s Bird shared the spotlight as best player in the NBA with Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers. Both players led their teams to multiple championships, and they are widely recognized as the two dominant players of the decade. With their well-publicized rivalry, Bird and Johnson are credited with helping revitalize interest in the NBA.
From the late 1980s until his retirement in 1992, Bird’s playing time was limited by back injuries and other ailments. In 1992 he won a gold medal as a member of the United States basketball team, known as the Dream Team, at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. After retiring, Bird worked as an executive with the Celtics. He was named head coach of the Indiana Pacers in 1997, and earned coach of the year honors for leading the club to a 58-24 win-loss record during the regular season. In the postseason the Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the Chicago Bulls, 4 games to 3.
In 1998 Bird was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame for his contributions as a player. In the 1999-2000 season he coached the Pacers to their first NBA Finals, where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. After the season, Bird stepped down as coach to pursue other interests.
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Tag Archives: Visual Arts
Young Interactive Entrepreneur from India, shines at BAFTA
Posted in Young Creative Entrepreneur and tagged Angel Gambino, Anup Tapadia, Argentina, BAFTA, Bebo, British Council, British Council India, China, Colombia, Communications, Deborah Dignam, Design, Estonia, Fashion, India, Indonesia, Intel, interactive media, Latvia, Lebanon, London TouchMagix, Mexico, MTV, Music, Nike, Nokia, Paul Croft, Performing Arts, Poland, Publishing, Reebok, Russia, Screen, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Vietnam, Visual Arts, Young Interactive Entrepreneur on October 27, 2010 by British Council India.
The Indian YCE Interactive winner, Anup Tapadia competed against the brightest and best young talents working in the business of interactive media in emerging markets around the world to win British Council’s International Young Interactive Entrepreneur Award.
Chosen from a short-list of 25-35 year-olds from Argentina, China, Colombia, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lebanon, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Vietnam, Anup received his award at a ceremony at BAFTA in London on 20 October.
Anup is the founder of TouchMagix, a next generation digital technology company that engages consumers in interaction with large scale displays. TouchMagix currently exports products to more than 20 countries serving clients such as Nike, Intel, Reebok and Nokia. The company received the ‘Best Upcoming Company in India’ award at the 2009 Proto Conference. For more information on TouchMagix visit www.touchmagix.com
Anup was announced the winner of India YCE Interactive on 1 September at a gala awards ceremony along with winners of six other sectors. He has been in the UK for a programme of meetings in London, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee and Middlesbrough to build the understanding of, and make contacts with the interactive industry. He will receive support from the British Council to develop subsequent projects linking their countries and the UK.
The awards are part of the British Council’s wider Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) programme, which includes awards for entrepreneurs in the fields of publishing, music, performing arts, design, screen, visual arts, interactive media, fashion and communications.
The jury commended Anup for his entrepreneurial spirit, emphasising that “He inspired the entire panel and convinced them that he is a leader of the future”. The Interactive Award was judged by:
Angel Gambino – entrepreneur/investor formally of Bebo and MTV
Paul Croft – founder and Creative Director, Mediatonic and winner of the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur award 2009
Deborah Dignam – Digital Advisor, British Council
Anup Tapadia with Nayla Al Khaja, International Young Screen Entrepreneur winner at the Award Ceremony at BAFTA.
What do Priya Kishore (Bombay Electric), Vijay Nair (Only Much Louder) and Rajat Tuli (Happily Unmarried) have in common?
Posted in Young Creative Entrepreneur and tagged British Council India, Business Ideas, Business Ideas for India, Business Opportunities, Communication, Design, Fashion, Interactive, Music, Performing Arts and Publishing, Screen, Small Business Idea, Small Business Ideas, Small Business Startups, Visual Arts, yce, Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards, Young Entrepreneurs India on June 7, 2010 by British Council India.
These bright and successful entrepreneurs from the different creative sectors are the winners of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) Award and a part of the YCE network. Managed by the British Council, these are the only awards in India that give recognition to creative entrepreneurship across the creative industries including Design, Music, Fashion, Communication, Visual Arts, Screen, Interactive, Performing Arts and Publishing.
“International recognition to independent publishing was important to me and it helped to stand apart in the domestic market too.” defines Nishad Deshmukh, YCE Publishing 2008
The YCE award programme goes beyond simply recognising the achievements of these entrepreneurs. It provides them a platform to begin a dialogue with their UK counterparts. The winners go on a study tour of their respective industry in the UK. It allows them to learn, imbibe and grow through inputs from both their UK and international peers. They also attend relevant trade events that helps widen their perspective.
“The most important part of the program to me was the “Edinburgh Fringe Fest” and the meetings therein which opened up the possibilities of new formats of performing arts and collaborations. Post YCE, at evam, we have created two new properties – one which explores a new format for a play and another which is a platform to create the next generation art-entrepreneurs – YCE has helped us redefine our boundaries!” says Sunil Vishnu of evam Entertainment and YCE Performing Arts 2009.
For Prathibha Sastry, founder of South Movie Scene Magazine, winning YCE Screen Award 2008 opened new doors for her. She has had the opportunity to go to Lithuania and will soon be visiting Poland for a film festival.
The aim of the program is to recognise the impact of entrepreneurship within the creative industries on the wider economy. According to DCMS, creative industries are defined as those having their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property. Globally, creative industries are estimated to account for more than 7 per cent of the world’s gross GDP*. UK has pioneered in recognising their contribution and as a percentage of GDP; it has the largest creative industries sector in the world.** UK creativity is hugely influential across the world, with a reputation for innovation, edgy brilliance and entrepreneurial spirit. In 2008, it comprised an estimated 157,400 businesses and employed just under two million people.#
The Indian economy also has a strong potential for growth by investing in creative enterprises but there is a definite absence of opportunities that provide international exposure and learning for creative entrepreneurs in India.
“The program has given me the ability to imagine myself as a global entrepreneur and Phonethics as an organisation shares the aspirations and challenges faced by similar start-ups around the world“, says Saurabh Gupta, Founder & CEO, Phonethics, winner of the YCE Communications award in 2009. Saurabh went on to attend the C&binet forum on Nurturing Creative Content in the Digital Age. C&binet is a not-for-profit network created by the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) to foster international dialogue about the creative economy focusing on access to finance for creative industries, new business models for online content, developing talent and securing creative rights.
British Council has been developing a powerful professional network between creative entrepreneurs in India and the UK since 2005. Connected with the India YCE awards is the International Young Creative Entrepreneur (IYCE) programme which celebrates the achievements of entrepreneurs at an international level. Through an interconnected network, the awards aim to put the spotlight firmly on creative entrepreneurship.
“The trip was a huge eye opener. Had I approached all the people I met for appointments individually, it would have taken me years to meet them. British Council insured that we met the best of the best.” says Rajat Tuli, YCE Design Award 2009.
Recently British Council supported the participation of fashion entrepreneurs including Savio Jon, Shilpa Chavan, Anuj Sharma and Varun Sardana in a fashion show hosted at the Alchemy Festival in UK. Varun has now signed up with Blow PR, a fashion PR agency based in the UK.
The awards and subsequent cross sector networking opportunities have led to much more than exchange of ideas. Alex Fleetwood, Founder Hide&Seek and winner of the UK YCE Performing Arts award is currently working with Amitesh Grover & theatre artists in the UK and Delhi to curate and produce a dual location Sandpit, an evening of social games and playful experiences.
Debu Bhattacharya, Theme Entertainment / Infinity Films, the YCE Screen 2007, has signed a MoU with Sheffield Doc Fest to provide an international launch pad for Indian documentary projects. It also includes development of a fund to boost production and development of the documentary film industry in India.
Box Item: Entries for the YCE awards in Interactive, Screen, Fashion, Design, Performing Arts, Communications and Publishing sectors are open till 10 July. Winners will be announced at a gala award ceremony in early September. For further details log on to: http://www.britishcouncil.org.in/yce
*. World Bank Urban development needs creativity: How creative industries affect urban areas.
Development Outreach, November 2003.
**. OECD Factbook 2007 – Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics, 2007.
#. Creative Industries Economic Estimates Statistical Bulletin 2010, DCMS.
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You are here: Stockholm Convention > The Convention > POPs Review Committee > Meetings > POPRC.8 > POPRC-8 Report and Decisions
POPRC meetings
POPRC.16
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POPRC.9 Documents
Annex II - Annex V
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UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/16 Report of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee on the work of its eighth meeting
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I. Opening of the meeting
1. The eighth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee was held at the Varembé International Conference Centre from 15 to 19 October 2012. Mr. Reiner Arndt (Germany), Chair of the Committee, declared the meeting open at 10 a.m. on Monday, 15 October 2012.
UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/16/Add.1 Risk profile on chlorinated naphthalenes
At its eighth meeting, by its decision POPRC-8/1, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee adopted a risk profile on chlorinated naphthalenes on the basis of the draft risk profile contained in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/2. The text of the risk profile, as amended, is set out in the annex to the present addendum; it has not been formally edited.
UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/16/Add.2 Risk profile on hexachlorobutadiene
At its eighth meeting, by its decision POPRC-8/2, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee adopted a risk profile on hexachlorobutadiene on the basis of the draft risk profile contained in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/3. The text of the risk profile, as amended, is set out in the annex to the present addendum; it has not been formally edited.
UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/16/Add.3 Addendum to the risk management evaluation on hexabromocyclododecane
At its seventh meeting, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee, by its decision POPRC-7/1, adopted a risk management evaluation on hexabromocyclododecane (see UNEP/POPS/POPRC.7/19/Add.1). At its eighth meeting, by its decision POPRC-8/3, the Committee adopted an addendum to that evaluation (see annex). The text of the addendum has not been formally edited.
POPRC-8/1 Chlorinated naphthalenes
The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee,
[...]Having also completed the risk profile for chlorinated naphthalenes in accordance with paragraph 6 of Article 8 of the Convention,
1. Adopts the risk profile for chlorinated naphthalenes;
POPRC-8/2 Hexachlorobutadiene
[...]Having also completed the risk profile for hexachlorobutadiene in accordance with paragraph 6 of Article 8 of the Convention,
Adopts the risk profile for hexachlorobutadiene;
POPRC-8/3 Hexabromocyclododecane
[...] Noting that some developing countries may need more time than developed countries to phase out any exempted production and use of hexabromocyclododecane,
1. Amends paragraph 2 of decision POPRC-7/1 to read as follows:
“Decides, in accordance with paragraph 9 of Article 8 of the Convention, to recommend to the Conference of the Parties that it consider listing hexabromocyclododecane in Annex A to the Convention with specific exemptions for production and use in expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene in buildings”;
POPRC-8/4 Pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters
Having examined the proposal by the European Union and its member States parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants to list pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters in Annexes A, B and/or C to the Convention and having applied the screening criteria specified in Annex D to the Convention,
1. Decides, in accordance with paragraph 4 (a) of Article 8 of the Convention, that it is satisfied that the screening criteria have been fulfilled for pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters, as set out in the evaluation contained in the annex to the present decision;
POPRC-8/5 Issues and common practices in the application of the Annex E criteria
Having reviewed the discussion paper on issues and common practices in the application of the Annex E criteria,
Noting that additional work is needed to develop further the discussion paper;
Decides to establish an ad hoc working group to revise the discussion paper and to work in accordance with the workplan set out in the annex to the present decision.
POPRC-8/6 Assessment of alternatives to endosulfan
[...] Having reviewed the information provided in the report on the assessment of chemical alternatives to endosulfan, the fact sheets on chemical alternatives to endosulfan, the evaluation of non-chemical alternatives to endosulfan and a summary of information on chemical and non-chemical alternatives to endosulfan submitted by parties and observers,
1. Decides to forward the documents mentioned in the paragraph above to the Conference of the Parties for information;
2. Decides to submit the summary report on the assessment of alternatives to endosulfan set out in the annex to the present decision to the Conference of the Parties for consideration at its sixth meeting.
POPRC-8/7 Assessment of alternatives to DDT
[...] Having reviewed the information provided in the report on the assessment of chemical alternatives to DDT and the fact sheets on chemical alternatives to DDT,
1. Decides to forward the documents mentioned in the paragraph above to the Conference of the Parties for information;
2. Decides to submit the summary report on the assessment of alternatives to DDT set out in the annex to the present decision to the Conference of the Parties for consideration at its sixth meeting.
POPRC-8/8 Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts, perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride and their related chemicals in open applications
[...] Having reviewed the information provided in the technical paper on the identification and assessment of alternatives to the use of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts, perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride and their related chemicals in open applications as set out in document UNEP/POPS/POPRC.8/INF/17/Rev.1,
Adopts the recommendations on alternatives to the use of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts, perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride and their related chemicals in open applications, prepared on the basis of the technical paper and contained in the annex to the present decision, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its sixth meeting.
POPRC-8/9 Guidance on alternatives to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts, perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride and their related chemicals
Having considered the comments on the guidance on alternatives to perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts, perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride and their related chemicals received from parties and observers in accordance with decision POPRC-7/6,
1. Decides to establish an ad hoc working group to revise the guidance on the basis of the comments submitted by parties and observers and any additional information made available to the working group and to work in accordance with the workplan set out in the annex to the present decision;
2. Invites parties and observers in a position to do so to provide financial support for the preparation of a revised version of the guidance.
POPRC-8/10 Climate change and persistent organic pollutants
Having reviewed the draft guidance on how to assess the possible impact of climate change on its work,
Noting that further work is needed to address fully the comments provided by parties and observers,
Decides to establish an ad hoc working group to revise the draft guidance on how to assess the possible impact of climate change on its work and in doing so to work in accordance with the workplan set out in the annex to the present decision.
POPRC-8/11 Work programme on brominated diphenyl ethers and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride, and evaluation of the implementation of the Stockholm Convention for those chemicals
Noting that the evaluation pursuant to paragraphs 5 and 6 of part III of Annex B to the Convention takes place on the basis of reporting under Article 15,
1. Requests the Secretariat to continue to use the questionnaire revised at the seventh meeting of the Committee to collect information from parties to enable the Conference of the Parties to evaluate, at its sixth meeting, brominated diphenyl ethers pursuant to paragraphs 2 of parts IV and V of Annex A to the Convention;
2. Decides to request the Secretariat to further revise the processes, taking into consideration the Committee’s comments and suggestions.
POPRC-8/12 Effective participation of parties in the Committee’s work
[...] Recognizing the difficulties of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in their efforts to actively participate in webinars, in particular in the light of language barriers, a lack of appropriate infrastructure and a lack of a regular energy supply, Observing that motivation is an essential element for effective participation and that further work needs to be undertaken to increase active involvement in the Committee’s work,
1. Invites the Secretariat to continue its activities related to supporting effective participation in the Committee’s work, subject to the availability of resources, including:
Annex II Workplan for the preparation of a draft risk profile and draft risk management evaluations during the period between the eighth and ninth meetings of the Persistent Organic Pollutant Review Committee
Interval between activities (weeks)
Activity (for each chemical under review)
Annex III Composition of intersessional working groups (2012–2013)
Working group on chlorinated naphthalenes
Annex IV Proposal on next steps for short-chained chlorinated paraffins
[...] 2. To facilitate discussion and decision-making on short-chained chlorinated paraffins, the Committee agreed to establish an intersessional working group:
(a) To discuss the application of the criteria specified in Annex E to the Stockholm Convention to short-chained chlorinated paraffins based on the outcomes of the intersessional working group on the application of the Annex E criteria;
Annex V Guidance for drafters of risk profiles on consideration of toxicological interactions when evaluating chemicals proposed for listing - Qualitative literature-based approach to assessing mixture toxicity under Annex E
1. Mixtures in the environment are usually composed of multiple components from a range of sources with different chemical structures and modes of action. However, environmental risks of chemicals are still often assessed substance by substance, neglecting mixture effects, that is, the effects arising from the presence of multiple chemicals in mixtures.
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9th Century Darkroom - 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World
January 21, 2010 to April 25, 2010 – The Science Museum The Science Museum today announced that it will host a new exhibition, 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World, which traces the forgotten story of a thousand years of science from… Organized by Science Museum/Jameel Foundation | Type: exhibition
Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage
February 2, 2010 to May 9, 2010 – The Howard Gilman Gallery, Metropolitan Museum Playing with Pictures is the first exhibition to comprehensively examine the little-known phenomenon that long before the embrace of collage techniques by avant-garde artists of the early 20th centur… Organized by The Art Institute of Chicago & Metropolitan Museum | Type: exhibition
Gerti Deutsch - Between Vienna and London
February 2, 2010 to April 23, 2010 – Austrian Cultural Forum Gerti Deutsch was one of the first female photojournalists of the 1930s and 40s. Leaving Vienna for London in 1938 she freelanced for Picture Post magazine, working alongside fellow émigré Kurt Hutto… Organized by Sarah McDonald | Type: exhibition
China through the lens of John Thomson 1868 - 1872
February 9, 2010 to June 6, 2010 – Merseyside Maritime Museum Merseyside Maritime Museum is the first UK venue to show this extensive exhibition of almost 150 photographs by the legendary Scottish photographer and travel writer John Thomson (1837-1921). The ph… Organized by Wellcome Library/Merseyside Maritime Museum | Type: exhibition
Eloge du négatif. Les débuts de la photographie sur papier en Italie, 1846-1862. 2010 February 18 - May 2
February 18, 2010 at 10am to May 2, 2010 at 6pm – Petit Palais - Paris - France Le Petit Palais, musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris presents An exhibition by l’Atelier de Restauration et de Conservation des Photographies de la Ville de Paris, la Fratelli Alinari, Fondazi… Organized by ARCP (Paris) | Type: exhibition
Relics of old London: Photography and the spirit of the city
February 27, 2010 to June 22, 2010 – Architecture Space, adjacent to the Royal Academy Restaurant, Burlington House Prompted by the imminent demolition of an old London inn near St Paul's, the Society for the Photographing of Relics of Old London set about using photography as a means of documenting buildings that… Organized by The Royal Academy | Type: exhibition
An Edwardian Family Album
February 27, 2010 to May 3, 2010 – Lady Lever Art Gallery This exhibition gives a fascinating glimpse into the life and leisure time of a Wirral family during the Edwardian era. The pictures were taken by Jack Urton, a keen amateur photographer, who lived i… Organized by Lady Lever Art Gallery | Type: exhibition
Lost London 1870-1945
February 27, 2010 to April 5, 2010 – Kenwood House An exhibition of almost 100 images, many never seen before, to accompany the release of a new book from Transatlantic Publishing with English Heritage, “Lost London 1870 – 1945”. This book by Philli… Organized by English Heritage | Type: exhibition
Curious: The Craft of Microscopy
March 3, 2010 to July 3, 2010 – Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons Not quite Victorian photography per se, but might be of interest to the more technically minded BPH-bloggers out there keen on the science of microscopy. As part of the Royal Society's 350th anniver… Organized by Royal College of Surgeons | Type: exhibition
Photography! A Special Collection from the University of Leiden
March 5, 2010 to April 23, 2010 – The Hague Museum of Photography Leiden University’s photography collection represents the history, development and different forms of the medium. It includes examples of virtually all photographic techniques, rare objects and artis… Organized by The Hague Museum of Photography | Type: exhibition
The Moving Image
March 9, 2010 to September 1, 2010 – Hove Museum & Art Gallery See movement and time unfold in a new exhibition at Hove Museum. The Moving Image contrasts how movement is shown in both photography and art. Eadweard Muybridge was a 19th century photographer who… Organized by Hove Museum & Art Gallery | Type: exhibition
Versailles photographed 1850-2010
March 12, 2010 to April 25, 2010 – North Wing [Galerie de pierre haute], Château de Versailles The Château de Versailles is putting on a new “history of photography” exhibition in 150 photos taken of the Chateau and park, ranging from the daguerreotype (1850) to the era of the digital camera (… Organized by Château de Versailles | Type: exhibition
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fort smallwood history
8841 Fort Smallwood Rd was built in 1956 and last sold on August 14, 2020 for $320,000. Purchased in 1928 for use as a Baltimore City Park. Battery Sykes is completely gone replaced by a parking lot. The use of pavilion is by permit only and reservations must be made in advance. Old Fort Smallwood Rd , Pasadena, MD 21122 is currently not for sale. The historic outdoor Cedar Pavilion at Fort Smallwood Park is a perfect place for outdoor functions. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. Some fun history of the park and area in ⦠This park was a mess when we visited it 20 years ago...trash, used hypodermic needles in the sand, etc. Fort Smallwood Park is a county park in northeastern Anne Arundel County near Riviera Beach and Pasadena, Maryland, United States. In 1928, the Post was redesignated Fort Leonard Wood, but Pennsylvania congressmen, angry at removing the name of native son George Meade, held up Army ⦠Originally built as part of the coastal fort system ,This park was purchased by Baltimore city in the late 1920s after it was shuttered as a military fort.Both batteries still remain but are not accessable. No period guns or carriages. Review of Fort Smallwood Park. Battery construction began in 1899 and the first battery was completed in 1900. Marker is in ⦠Established to protect the entrance to Baltimore Harbor. The 380-foot "Bill Burton Fishing Pier" is wonderful for fishermen, birdwatchers, and admirers of local scenery. On April 1, 2006 Fort Smallwood Park became the newest regional park in the Anne Arundel County Park System. From 1896 to 1928, it was an Endicott Period Coastal Fort built during the SpanishâAmerican War era along with other outer harbor defenses at Fort Howard on North Point in southeastern Baltimore County and Fort Armistead at Hawkins Point on the Baltimore City-Anne Arundel County Line of 1919 and was named for Revolutionary War Maj. Gen. William Smallwood⦠Groups are limited to 100 people. This quiet community promotes the safety and well-being of all who enter. Residents of Baltimore City and from rural farms and villages had the means and time to travel by trains, steamships and, in ever-increasing numbers, automobiles, to the sea or mountains in search of rest, relaxation, and ⦠View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. Half a million people call ⦠Fort Smallwood Road (Maryland Route 173) leads from Patapsco Avenue and Pennington Avenue in Brooklyn-Curtis Bay in southern Baltimore City across Curtis Creek, past the U.S. Coast Guard Yard through the Arundel Cove-Hawkins Point area to Riviera Beach and Pasadena coastal communities across Stony Creek to the old fort ⦠The women served as bilingual telephone-switchboard operators in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The location provides an amazing view of the Patapsco River. The historic Cedar Pavilion is available to rent for groups up to 100 people. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. land located at 8876B Fort Smallwood Rd, Pasadena, MD, 21122 on sale for $224900. The fishing pier was dedicated on September 19, 2009, and named for Bill Burton, a long-time Baltimore Sun outdoorsman/reporter and ⦠It was first built ⦠are in some way significant, please indicate: The enlisted quarters was originally built in 1903. Battery Sykes is completely gone replaced by a parking lot. This home was built in and last sold on 12/9/2019 for $700,000. That segment and the remainder of the highway to Fort Smallwood were complete in 1932. Battery Hartshorneis sealed up with the battery building completely exposed with no access to the gun level. http://www.fortwiki.com/index.php?title=Fort_Smallwood&oldid=134525. ft. single-family home is a bed, bath property. Are senior permits available? ft. single-family home is a bed, 1.0 bath property. We know 3 properties and 130 residents on Old Fort Smallwood Rd, Riviera Beach MD 21122. View 3 photos of this 20473 sqft. Fort Smallwood Park is a large public park bordering the south side of Baltimore Harbor. If individual batteries, base-end stations, buildings, etc. At the Patapsco River entrance opposite Fort Howard (1). Although the park is still owned by Baltimore City, Anne Arundel County took over operations of the park in 2006 and swimming is no longer permitted at the park. All groups over 20 people must rent a pavilion when ⦠Georgia. The Fort Smallwood Park office is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Location: Rock Point, Maryland. Fort Smallwood was part of the sea coast defense built in the late 1880's and was in use from 1890 until 1927. This page has been accessed 19,441 times. ft. single-family home is a 4 bed, 3.0 bath property. Wonderful history Originally built as part of the coastal fort system,This park was purchased by Baltimore city in the late 1920s after it was shuttered as a military fort.Both batteries still remain but are not accessable. 1411 Old Fort Smallwood Rd , Annapolis, MD 21401 is currently not for sale. The previous pier was destroyed in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel. This home was built in and last sold on for. On April 1, 2006 Fort Smallwood Park became the newest regional park in the Anne Arundel County Park System. Open Tuesdays 11:00 â 1:00. Usually garrisoned by detachment from Fort Howard (1). Here's your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula, by Isabel Shipley Cunningham. 9500 Fort Smallwood Road Pasadena, MD 21122 (410) 222-0087. Fort Smallwood Elementary is a community school located in Pasadena, Maryland. Fort Smallwood Park's recreational amenities include a 380-foot fishing pier, children's playground, historic gun battery and barracks, walking trails, beaches, pond, and volleyball courts. Fort Smallwood Park Map. Contact (410) 222-0087 About Our County. Nestled between a golf course community and the Bodkin River and home to 465 students, Fort Smallwood is a place where community gathers. Touch for map. [2], It is the location of Battery Hartshorne, named on November 18, 1902 in honor of Captain Benjamin M. Hartshorne, Jr., 7th U. S. Infantry, who was killed on January 2, 1902, in action with insurgents near Lanang, Samar, Philippine Islands during the Philippine–American War. Several period buildings survive but are not open to the pu⦠It was named for Revolutionary War Maj. Gen. William Smallwood(1732â1792), commander of the "Maryland Line" re⦠Explore an array of Fort Smallwood Park, Pasadena vacation rentals, including houses, apartment and condo rentals & more bookable online. Fort Smallwood Park is open from 5:30 a.m. to Dusk. Ft Smallwood Park opened its gates in 1929, offering public beaches and recreation space. The fort was in use from 1890 until 1927. To contact other staff members or lay leaders go to the Staff Page To contact ministry team leaders go to the Ministry Page of interest It provides a view of the Sparrows Point plant of Mittal Steel Company (formerly owned by Bethlehem Steel Corporation), one of the largest steel manufacturing complexes in the world.[1]. Batteries include Battery Hartshorne (1900 - 1927), and Battery Sykes (1905 - 1927), which has ⦠History Edit. The 1,848 sq. Located on a 100 acre tract in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, purchased by the Federal Government in 1896. The park office is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. It is located on Rock Point at the Patapsco River entrance opposite from Fort Howard. Fort Smallwood (1896-1928) - An Endicott Period Coastal Fort named for Revolutionary War Maj. Gen. William Smallwood who later became governor of Maryland. Ben Umberger. 8615 Fort Smallwood Road Pasadena, MD 21122 Phone/Fax: (410) 255-4141. Wonderful history Originally built as part of the coastal fort system,This park was purchased by Baltimore city in the late 1920s after it was shuttered as a military fort.Both batteries still remain but are not accessable. This page was last modified 18:53, 9 February 2020 by. From 1896 to 1928, it was an Endicott Period Coastal Fort built during the SpanishâAmerican War era along with other outer harbor defenses at Fort Howard on North Point in southeastern Baltimore County and Fort Armistead at Hawkins Point on the Baltimore City-Anne Arundel County Line of 1919. 8841 Fort Smallwood Rd is a house in Pasadena, MD 21122. Fort Smallwood Road (Maryland Route 173) leads from Patapsco Avenue and Pennington Avenue in Brooklyn-Curtis Bay in southern Baltimore City across Curtis Creek, past the U.S. Coast Guard Yard through the Arundel Cove-Hawkins Point area to Riviera Beach and Pasadena coastal communities across Stony Creek to the old fort and park. The 2,600 sq. Several period buildings survive but are not open to the public including the barracks building (circa 1901). As the most centrally-located county in Maryland and site of the state capital of Annapolis, Anne Arundel County is in many ways the heart of Maryland. Today, visitors can enjoy the park's recreational amenities that include a 380-foot fishing pier, childrenâs playground, historic gun battery and barracks, walking trails, beaches, pond and volleyball ⦠From 1896 to 1928, it was an Endicott Period Coastal Fort built during the Spanish–American War era along with other outer harbor defenses at Fort Howard on North Point in southeastern Baltimore County and Fort Armistead at Hawkins Point on the Baltimore City-Anne Arundel County Line of 1919. Marker can be reached from Fort Smallwood Road (Maryland Route 174) 0.1 miles from Parkside Drive. Google Map. It was named for Revolutionary War Maj. Gen. William Smallwood (1732–1792), commander of the "Maryland Line" regiment in the Continental Army who later became fourth governor of Maryland (1785–1788). A two battery Endicott Period coastal fort. It is a wooden structure and is probable one of the few surviving wooden buildings in the Baltimore system. This home was built in 1920 and last sold on 1/16/2007 for $2,300,000. Purchase the annual permit at one of the following parks: Downs Park, Fort Smallwood Park, Kinder Farm Park or Quiet Waters Park. An Endicott period fort named in honor of Major General William Smallwood of the Continental Army, and later the governor of Maryland in 1785. Fort Of Smallwood , Pensacola, FL 32526 is currently not for sale. Its location on a north pointing promontory, makes it one of the prime raptor migration bottlenecks in the mid-Atlantic region during the northward ⦠The pavement was extended from Marley Neck Road to the west side of Stony Creek in Orchard Beach in 1928. Choose from more than 500 properties, ideal house rentals for families, groups and couples. From 1928 to 2006, it was a city park of the City of Baltimore and was an extremely popular weekend picnicking, swimming and fishing site for city and county citizens in the 1930s to the 80s, until later eclipsed by other Chesapeake Bay resorts and eventually Ocean City and the Delaware beaches after the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1952. This home was built in and last sold on for. On April 1, 2006 it became a regional park in the Anne Arundel County Park System, after being transferred from the Department of Recreation and Parks of Baltimore City after extensive decades-long negotiations. Fort Smallwood was a sea coast defense built in the late 1880's to the early part of the 1900's. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. This home was built in and last sold on 4/27/2020 for $620,000. 39° 9.742â² N, 76° 29.075â² W. Marker is in Pasadena, Maryland, in Anne Arundel County. Marker is within the park, near the boat ramp, and directly in front of the old concession stand. Fort Smallwood Park is a recreational urban park located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Patapsco River, about 11 miles south of Baltimore. 1402 Old Fort Smallwood Rd , Pasadena, MD 21122-2330 is currently not for sale. This 1,512 square foot house sits on a 0.35 acre lot and features 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It may be one of the few wooden structures in the nation. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. Fort Benning; Fort Gaines; Fort Gordon; Fort Greene, destroyed by hurricane 1804; Fort Frederica; Fort Gillem; Fort Hawkins, partial re-creation sometimes open to the public; Fort James Jackson (aka Old Fort Jackson or Fort Oglethorpe), historic fort open to the public; Fort King George, re-constructed fort, now a state historic park; Fort ⦠Persons age 60 and over may obtain a Lifetime Senior Citizen Permit which is a card that must be shown along with valid ID to gain vehicle entry. ft. single-family home is a bed, bath property. Discover property public reports, residents, sales and rent history, real estate value and risk factors. Office Hours: Tue â Fri 9:00 â 2:00 Pastor â Rev. Reviewed October 29, 2019. Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy from the Chesapeake Bay on September 13â14, 1814. 1422 Old Fort Smallwood Rd , Annapolis, MD 21401 is currently not for sale. It is located on the outer Patapsco River as it meets the Chesapeake Bay. No period guns or carriages. Sold to City of Baltimore in 1928 for use as a city park. The "Hello Girls" were an important part of Fort Meade history. Battery Hartshorne is sealed up with the battery building completely exposed with no access to the gun level. Rent a whole home for your next weekend or holiday. Besides Robert E. Lee Memorial Park surrounding Lake Roland, a former Baltimore City Public Works Department watershed system parcel since 1860, located just across the northern city limits in Baltimore County, Fort Smallwood was the only city park located outside the 1919 city limits. MD 173 was paved from the east side of Stony Creek east and south to the southern end of Riviera Beach starting in 1930. Purchased in 1928 for use as a Baltimore City Park. The sq. ft. single-family home is a bed, bath property. The sq. Battery Hartshorne was armed with two 6" guns on disappearing carriages and Battery Sykes was armed with two 3" pedestal mounted guns. The 7,930 sq. On September 19, 2009 County Executive John R. Leopold officially dedicated the 380-foot (120 m) fishing pier at Fort Smallwood Park "Bill Burton Fishing Pier", named for the long-time Baltimore Sun outdoorsman/reporter and columnist. Fort Smallwood Park in 2008 The older pier was destroyed in 2003 by Hurricane Isabel, and replaced with this smaller one for fishing and crabbing. [3], Cedar Pavilion, Ft. Smallwood Park, December 2009, Battery Hartshorne, Fort Smallwood Park, December 2009, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Thomas A. Dixon Jr. Aircraft Observation Area, Conservation and Environmental Research Areas of UMBC, University of Maryland Arboretum & Botanical Garden, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fort_Smallwood_Park&oldid=944907536, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Horseshoe pits, volleyball courts and other family recreation facilities, Historic gun battery and old barracks (Battery Hartshorne), This page was last edited on 10 March 2020, at 17:11. Two six-inch disappearing carriage guns were mounted here from 1900 to 1927. Bread of Life Food Pantry.
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fort smallwood history 2020
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Who Was George Washington Carver?. Jim Gigliotti, Stephen Marchesi, Nancy Harrison
Who.Was.George.Washington.Carver..pdf
Download Who Was George Washington Carver?
Who Was George Washington Carver? Jim Gigliotti, Stephen Marchesi, Nancy Harrison
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
With imagination and scientific skill, George Washington Carver developed hundreds of unexpected products from everyday plants. Amazon.com: George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Way: Voddie Baucham , John Perry, Peter Burchard, George Grant, Ken Carpenter: Movies & TV. Born: About 1864 (exact date is unknown) Died: January 5, 1943. Learn about George Washington Carver: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more. George Washington Carver was a prominent American scientist and inventor in the early 1900s. This article is about George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center ( Austin, Texas). Find out more about the history of George Washington Carver, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. In commemoration of George Washington Carver's life and work, Congress declared January 5 as George Washington Carver Recognition Day. George Washington Carver was born in 1861 in Diamond Grove, Missouri, USA. It is rare to find a man of the caliber of George Washington Carver. George Washington Carver Academic Elementary School is in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunter's Point neighborhood. George Washington Carver was born a slave in Diamond Grove, Missouri, around 1864. George Washington Carver guarded his image carefully.
Iterative Design of Teaching-Learning Sequences: Introducing the Science of Materials in European Schools pdf free
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Tag Archives: Grand Teton National Park
100 Years of National Parks
The National Park Service turns 100 this month, marking a century since the agency was first created. With 209 cities currently served, SkyWest conveniently connects travelers to National Parks across the U.S. To celebrate 100 years of National Parks, we’ve put together a list of Parks that are only a SkyWest operated flight away! The National Parks Service will offer free entry to each of the National Parks starting August 25 through August 28, so get out, find your Park and start exploring!
Grand Teton National Park is home to over 200 miles of trails and is a popular destination for mountaineering, fishing and back-country hiking. It has been described as tranquil with breathtaking views of a signature group of three mountain peaks that are the Tetons.
To get here:
Fly into Cody, Wyoming from Salt Lake City on Delta or on United from Denver or Chicago and drive two and a half hours to reach the entrance.
Fly into Jackson Hole, Wyoming from Salt Lake City on Delta or from Denver on United. The park’s main gate is only 4 miles away.
This park is in honor of our 26 President, Theodore Roosevelt who originally came to this area in the North Dakota badlands to hunt bison. It was during this trip he fell in love with the rugged lifestyle and “perfect freedom” of the West. This National Park features 100 miles of foot and horse trails, wildlife viewing, back-country hiking and camping. Many also come to view the Northern Lights.
Fly from Denver to Jamestown, North Dakota on United and drive just over three hours to reach Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Fly to Bismarck, North Dakota from Denver on United or from Minneapolis on Delta and drive two hours west.
This National Park marks the longest known cave system in the world – home to more than 390 miles of limestone passageways with vast chambers and complex labyrinths. Visitors are able to follow rangers as they explore a variety caves or enjoy the river nearby.
Fly to Paducah, Kentucky from Chicago on United and drive two and a half hours east to reach Mammoth Cave.
Bryce is known for its crimson-colored, spire-shaped rock formations called hoodoos, intermixed with pine trees and other greenery. Most visitors opt to take a drive through the park which offers 13 scenic viewpoints and a variety of sights. Other activity options include hiking, horseback riding, wildlife viewing and stargazing. For a different view, visitors can explore Bryce during colder months and snowshoe among the snow-draped hoodoos.
Fly to Cedar City, Utah from Salt Lake City on Delta and drive one and a half hours east.
Fly to St. George, Utah from Salt Lake City on Delta or from Denver on United and drive just over two hours to the main gate.
Joshua Tree National Park is characterized by rugged rock formations and stark desert landscapes. Visitors of the Park can explore miles of trails as they take in the views including the “zig-zaggy” branches of the Joshua Tree from which the Park gets its name.
Fly to Ontario, California from San Francisco on United, Salt Lake City on Delta or Portland on Alaska and drive two hours through the desert valley to reach Joshua Tree.
Fly to Palm Springs, California from Los Angeles on United, from Salt Lake City on Delta or Phoenix on American for a short 40 mile drive to the main gate.
This Park remains the largest intact area of old growth bottom-land hardwood forest in the southeastern US. Waters from the Congaree and Watree Rivers sweep through the Park bringing life to the miles of lofty trees. Congaree offers many options from canoeing and fishing to hiking and camping.
Fly to Ashville, North Carolina from Chicago on United and drive two and a half hours southeast to Congaree.
Fly to Greenville, South Carolina from Detroit on Delta for a two hour drive.
airports near national parks, Bryce Canyon, Congaree, Grand Teton National Park, Joshua Tree, Mammoth Cave, national parks, NPS, NSP 100, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Travel SkyWest, Travel SkyWest Country
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Iran won upfront sanctions relief, but with potential snags
April 4th, 2015 | Author: Jan
By Gareth Porter, TFF Associate*
The framework agreement reached on Thursday night clearly gives the P5+1 a combination of constraints on Iran’s nuclear programme that should reassure all but the most bellicose opponents of diplomacy. It also provides the basis for at least a minimum of sanctions relief in the early phase of its implementation that Iran required, but some of the conditions on that relief are likely create new issue between Iran and the Western powers over the process.
The agreement’s dependence on decisions by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the penchant of Israeli intelligence for discovering new evidence of illicit Iranian activities will encourage moves to delay or obstruct relief of sanctions.
US and European officials had been telling reporters that they would phase out their sanctions on oil and banking in return for Iranian actions to modify its programme only gradually over several years, and made it clear that the purpose of this strategy was to maintain “leverage” on Iran.
Iran, however, was demanding that those sanctions be lifted immediately upon delivering on their commitments under agreement. And a source close to Iranian negotiators told Middle East Eye that Iran was confident it could deliver on all of the actions related to its enrichment programme and Arak within a matter of months.
The same diplomatic conflict was being fought over UN Security Council sanctions: Iran wanted them to end as soon as they have fulfilled its commitments; the US and its allies were insisting that those sanctions could only be suspended gradually on a schedule that would extend through most or all of the initial ten-year period.
And the P5+1 was also demanding that, in order to get those sanctions lifted, Iran would have to fully satisfy the IAEA that it had cooperated completely in regard to the “possible military dimensions” (PMD) of its programme, and wait for the IAEA to give Iran a clean bill of health that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.
Figuring out how those pivotal issues were finally resolved requires sifting through evidence that is not entirely clearcut. The two sides apparently agreed that they would not release any official text of the agreement.
The joint statement by EU foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini and Iranian foreign minister Zarif, which is the closest thing to an official statement, was very brief and general and failed to clarify the provisions on sanctions removal. And the only available text of their statement, a transcript of the English language translation of Zarif’s Farsi language version of the statement, which was published in the Washington Post, unfortunately fails to complete the one sentence on how the issue of sanctions removal was removed, because it was partially inaudible.
The fact that no official text was released has meant that press coverage of the content of the agreement has relied primarily on the much more detailed summary of the agreement by the US State Department and on remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry.
The US interpretation of the agreement, however, is ambiguous on some aspects of the sanctions removal issue, raising serious questions about what was precisely agreed on.
On US and European unilateral sanctions on oil and banking, which are of greatest short-term importance to the Iranian economy, the documents says those sanctions “will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps.” That wording appears to suggest that the sanctions would be suspended immediately upon the verification of the last step taken by Iran.
The US text thus seems to indicate that the Iranians won their demand that the Western powers give up their scheme for a “gradual” or “phased” withdrawal of sanctions. But the Iranians had wanted some of the sanctions removed each time they completed the implementation of a commitment, and instead the payoff comes only after the final step taken.
The US document also makes it clear that the “architecture of sanctions” regarding US unilateral sanctions – meaning the legal and bureaucratic systems underlying the sanctions – “will be retained for much of the duration of the deal and allow for snap back of sanctions in the event of significant non-performance.”
The Iranians have complained that suspending sanctions while leaving the threat of future sanctions in place has an intimidating effect on banks and businesses regarding resumption of relations with Iranian entities. But they didn’t have much leverage over that question.
The UN sanctions issue was resolved in a distinctly different way. According to the US text, all the UN Security Council resolutions on Iran, which impose various sanctions on Iran, “will be lifted with the completion by Iran of nuclear-related actions addressing all key issues (enrichment, Fordow, Arak, PMD and transparency).”
The implication of the US summary is that Iran would get some sanctions relief from the UN Security Council each time it has completed the implementation of one of its key “irreversible” commitments, as Iran had been demanding – not only at the end of all of its performance on all of the commitments.
The inclusion of the PMD (“possible military dimensions”) of the Iranian nuclear programme as an issue on which Iran would have to satisfy the IAEA introduces a potential obstacle to early sanctions relief, because IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano has said it could take several years to complete its assessment of the issue. But at least a delay by the IAEA would not prevent Iran from obtaining relief upon completing the other actions it would take.
Further confusing the interpretation of the agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry referred to the United States and its “international partners” providing sanctions relief “in phases” – a statement that appears inconsistent with the State Department text. In a tweet on Thursday, Zarif cited the Iran/P5+1 joint statement as saying the US would “cease all application of ALL nuclear-related secondary economic and financial sanctions”, and asked rhetorically, “Is this gradual?”
Judging from the US interpretative statements, Iran could get the bulk of the sanctions relief in the initial period of implementation – much of it within the first year or so. But that prospect would depend on the good will of the Obama administration and the IAEA. The Obama administration may well be inclined to facilitate the provision of early sanctions relief. But the political dynamics swirling around US and IAEA policies toward Iran suggest that the processes of IAEA assessment and delivery of sanctions may not go as smoothly as Iran would hope.
Looking even further ahead, Iran is certainly concerned about how a future US administration could and would implement the agreement.
Iran was insisting that the UN Security Council resolution repealing previous resolutions with a new one reflecting the comprehensive agreement be passed before the change in administration in Washington in 2017, according to the source in contact with the negotiators. It remains unclear whether the P5+1 agreed to that demand.
One thing the US text makes clear is that the issue of Iranian research and development on advanced centrifuges research & development (R&D) remains unresolved. The US statement says that for the first ten years of the agreement, enrichment R&D will have to be consistent with maintaining breakout timeline of at least one year – obviously based on further understandings that have not been revealed or are yet to be negotiated. And beyond that period, the Iranian R&D plan will be “pursuant to the JCPOA”, meaning the final Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action” is still to be negotiated.
Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He is the author of the newly published Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare.
This article was first published by Middle East Eye.
Posted in Abolition, EU peace, EU security, European Union, Gareth Porter, General issues, Iran, Negotiations, Nuclear Free Zones, Nuclear weapons, Sanctions, Security and defence, US Empire, Violence-prevention
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Blue Ocean Environmental
Promoting responsible progress with solutions that respect the environment
About Frank Allen
Our Bellwether Pledge
Feeding People
Whole Fish, Whole Food
Recycling Ships
Cleaning the Ocean Floor
Preparing for Famine
4-Stage Threat Proclamation
Image Gallery: Ship Breaking
Jobs and Volunteer Opportunities
In addition to its ship recycling program, Blue Ocean Environmental is working on ways to clear debris from the ocean floor.
We’ve allowed our oceans to become disposal sites
Around the world, the ocean has become a default site for waste disposal. According to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization:
“In 2006, every square mile of ocean contained 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. Plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals…Plastic materials and other litter can become concentrated in certain areas called gyres as a result of marine pollution gathered by ocean currents. There are now five gyres in our ocean. The North Pacific Gyre, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, occupies a relatively stationery area that is twice the size of Texas.”
We’re focused on what sinks: there’s more debris on the ocean floor
While we may be more aware of surface debris in the ocean because we can see it, there are many other things below the surface that don’t belong there:
Abandoned cable
Abandoned drilling platforms
Spacecraft debris
Shipwreck debris
Ocean Floor Debris
For almost as long as humans have inhabited the earth, we’ve contaminated a vital resource—our oceans. As a third area of focus, in addition to processing fish heads for human consumption and recycling marine vessels, Blue Ocean Environmental is turning an eye toward cleaning the ocean floor.
Including Falcon 9 rocket debris
http://blueoceanenviro.com/wp-content/uploads/Falcon-9-Crash-landing-CRS-6-HD.mp4
For all the positive strides and potential of the SpaceX program (which we do consider to be a good thing in concept), there’s the problem of rocket debris that ends up on the ocean floor after each mission. So far (early 2016), each offshore landing of a Falcon 9 rocket (targeting a floating barge) has ended in a crash. You can see a rundown of the crashes on Wired. But the debris itself is only part of the problem. This video from a Florida NBC affiliate (June 29, 2015) is headlined, “Don’t touch debris from exploded SpaceX rocket—Debris could be toxic, explosive.” Chemicals present in rocket propellant alone include nitrogen tetroxide, ammonium perchlorate, beryllium, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, and monomethylhydrazine. The only substance more toxic than this debris is radioactive material. This video from Reuters via The New York Times shows a January crash off the coast of California.
Our first effort focused on the ocean floor includes funding a $50,000 survey off the California coast to establish the debris field and sea life kill zone from the Falcon 9 rocket that crashed into the ocean in early 2016. We will work with the Coast Guard, NOAA, Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Fish and Wildlife to gather time-sensitive information as to the location and size of the debris fields to better assist in remedying this environmental disaster and facilitate healing of the ocean. The second phase of the effort (with additional funding) will include removing and recycling the debris in full compliance with environmental quality standards. Cleanup of this chemical spill–where raw, highly active and potent chemicals were introduced to the ecosystem instantly–is of the highest priority.
© 2021 Blue Ocean Environmental · Promoting responsible progress with solutions that respect the environment
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Homepage Corporate Governance Board of Directors
Corporate Governance- Board of Directors
The Board of Directors consists of nine members (one is female), all of whom have a wealth of experience and professional qualifications. Three of the nine directors are independent directors. To strengthen management efficiency and effectiveness, the board established the "Audit Committee" and "Compensation Committee", composed entirely of independent directors. The three independent directors possess professional qualifications in the areas of legal, finance and related operations and the necessary knowledge and skill to perform their duties. Both the Chairman and President have led momo.com across various platforms, including home shopping, E-commerce, and catalog shopping and built the most trustworthy shopping platforms while striving to make decisions in the best interests of the shareholders by following momo’s core values of “providing high-quality products with affordable prices and quality services to customers” and business value of “Integrity, Sincerity, Professionalism, and Innovation”.
CF Lin
(Representative of Wealth Media Technology Co., Ltd.)
Master of Science, Baker University
Chairman,momo.com Inc.
Jeff Ku
EMBA, National Taiwan University
MBA, University of Wollongong
President, momo.com Inc.
Jamie Lin
MBA,NYU Stern School of Business
President, Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd.
Rosie Yu
BS in Business Administration, National Taiwan University
Executive Vice President and CFO / Finance and Administration, Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd.
Chris Tsai
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania BS in Economics
President, Fubon Sports & Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Mao-Hsiung Huang
(Representative of Tong-An Investment Co, Ltd.)
Master of Economics, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Chairman, Century Development Corporation
Hong-So, Chen
Department of Transportation Engineering and Management,National Chiao Tung University
Chairman, OneAD Inc.
Yi-Hong Hsieh
J.S.D., School of Law, Stanford University
Adjunct Professor in College of Management, National Taiwan University
Chieh Wang
Department of Finance and Taxation, National Cheng chi University
Chairman, Conti Invest Co., Ltd.
Diversity of Board Member
Board of Directors attendance
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Brian Owens, Commissioner
Contact: Office of Public Affairs (478) 992-5247
LaGrange Transitional Center to be Named - Charles D. Hudson, Sr. to be honored at Building Dedication Ceremony
Forsyth - The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) will host a building dedication ceremony to recognize the newly named Charles D. Hudson Transitional Center on Thursday, May 1, 2014 from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m. at the LaGrange Transitional Center in LaGrange, GA. GDC Board of Corrections member Duke Blackburn is scheduled to give the keynote address.
"The decision to name one of our Transitional Centers in honor of Mr. Hudson, Sr. was an obvious choice," said Commissioner Brian Owens. "Mr. Hudson's commitment and involvement with the city of LaGrange and Troup County over the past 60 years are tantamount to his passion for the community and the state of Georgia. We are honored to recognize his philanthropic endeavors to the city of LaGrange, Troup County and to the Department in the naming of the Charles D. Hudson Transitional Center."
Charles D. Hudson, Sr. was born in LaGrange, GA in 1927. He attended Georgia Military Academy and Auburn University where he was awarded an honorary doctorate, as well as an honorary doctorate from LaGrange College and Mercer University. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and then returned home to serve his community. Hudson has served in many capacities for the city of LaGrange to include; LaGrange Chamber of Commerce, LaGrange Industries, LaGrange Historic Preservation Commission, Chattahoochee Valley Art Association, LaGrange College, and the LaGrange Board of Education. He has also served in many capacities for the state of Georgia to include; Georgia School Boards Association, Georgia Council of Economic Education, Georgia Department of Corrections, West Georgia Medical Center, Georgia Baptist Hospital, Scottish Rite Children's Hospital, Fuller E. Callaway Education Association, as well as many other organizations and civic clubs.
The Department currently operates 13 transitional centers with 2,688 beds. The centers provide select offenders the opportunity to slowly integrate back into society with a job and skills necessary to cope in everyday life.
The GDC has one of the largest prison systems in the U.S. and is responsible for supervising nearly 55,000 state prisoners and more than 160,000 probationers. It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 12,000 employees.
For more information on the GDC call 478-992-5247 or visit http://www.dcor.state.ga.us.
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GEQO Statutes
Electoral Statutes
Award Statutes
Group listing
PhD Thesis Disertations
GEQO Awards
GEQO Awards 2020
Nobel Awards
Online Courses and Texts
Organic Chemistry Portal: Organic name reactions
Preparation Of Lithium Compounds
High Resolution Logo
Two professor positions at TUM
International Symposium on Homogeneous Catalysis – Lisboa – September, 5-10
Javier A. Cabeza, Juan Cámpora, and Max García-Melchor, GEQO 2020 Awards
Postdoctoral position offered by Dra. Amalia Poblador-Bahamonde – Université de Genève
XXXVIII GEQO Congress Announcement
PhD student position in the group of Prof. B. Martín-Matute at Stockholm University
Postdoctoral position at IIQ-CSIC Sevilla
3rd International Workshop on Chemistry of Group 11 Elements, Caparica, Portugal, January 30-31, 2019
Two PhD Fellowships in Tarragona
Symposium-Tribute to Pablo Espinet, July 18-19, 2019
Ernesto Carmona, European Prize for Organometallic Chemistry 2019
1st Summer School “Catalysis: from understanding to applications” (Albi, France, June 18-21, 2019)
International Symposium on Olefin Metathesis and Related Chemistry (Barcelona, June 30 to July, 2019)
UK-Spain Organometallic Chemistry Symposium, 17-19 September 2019, Alcalá de Henares
Itinerant Seminars – GEQO 2019: Prof. Nilay Hazari
4th EuCheMS Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry (EUGSC4)
STATUTES OF THE SPANISH ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY GROUP (GEQO)
The current Statutes were approved in July 2011, during the XXIX GEQO Meeting (Valencia)
GENERAL DISPOSITIONS
It is the purpose of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group to promote the development of research, teaching, and dissemination of any area of Organometallic Chemistry by all means at its disposal.
As a working group contained within the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ), the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group shall depend on the Governing Board of said Society.
The members of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group shall be individual or corporate, as per the terms established by the Statutes of the RSEQ. Each individual member has the right to vote, can hold management positions, and participate in scientific meetings held under the favourable economic conditions set by the organising committees. To be a member of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group, it is compulsory to belong to one of the membership categories of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry. All members are obliged to pay the fee established for them by the Group's Governing Board. The figure of Honorary Member is contemplated as per the terms in Article 4.
Honorary Members shall be admitted at the request of twenty-five members and with the approval of two-thirds of the Group's Governing Board, for those persons whose contributions to the development of Organometallic Chemistry may be of special significance and relevance. Honorary Members may be exempt from payment of the annual fee and shall have the same rights as the other members.
For the admission of members, it will be necessary to register with the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, indicating their membership interest for the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group in the application form.
A member shall be discharged at his/her own request, by failing to pay the membership fee, or by reasoned decision of the Group's Governing Board.
The President of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group shall annually communicate to the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry the program of activities and the outcome of said actions.
The supreme body of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group is the General Assembly constituted by all the members. A General Assembly shall be celebrated once a year, coinciding with one of its scientific meetings, or at the written request of a minimum of 25 members. At such General Assemblies, the finances will be examined and the election procedures for the renewal of positions will be agreed.
The Governing Board is, by delegation of the General Assembly, the governing body of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group. It shall consist of six members, including the figures of a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, the remaining being members with right to vote.
The Governing Board shall be elected by election among the members. The renewal processes will be regulated by the Electoral Statutes, which will be approved in a General Assembly.
The members of the Governing Board shall serve a four year term as per the annual mandatory meetings. When a position is vacant for any reason, the Governing Board will designate a member to occupy it until it is covered at the first General Assembly held.
Candidatures for the renewal of the Group's Governing Board may be proposed by 10 members. Exceptionally, the renewal of the Governing Board outside the mandatory periods may be requested by 25 members and such renewal will take place at the first General Assembly held.
It is the responsibility of the different members of the Governing Board to exercise the functions within the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group analogous to those designated for the same positions by the Statutes of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry.
The Governing Board will decide the nature, duration, and location of the General Assembly meetings to be held. All individual members will have the right to vote in the General Assemblies. In cases where attendance to the General Assembly is not possible, the vote may be delegated to another member attending the meeting. Each GEQO member may exercise a maximum of one delegated vote.
The economic resources of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group shall be derived from the membership fees and any subsidies and donations obtained from public and private organisations. The Treasurer shall annually submit income and expense statements for approval at the General Assembly and report them to the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry.
The annual membership fees shall be set by the General Assembly at the proposal of the Governing Board. Collection of the annual fees of the Group will be carried out by the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry simultaneously to the collection of its own fees. Overdue payment of the fee may cause the loss of membership if the delay is unjustified as judged by the Governing Board, who will adopt the decision and communicate it to the member.
The Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group has an official logo that must appear as an identifier in the activities organised by the Group.
Any amendment to these Statutes shall be requested by a minimum of 25 members, be notified to all its members, and require its approval at a General Assembly by a minimum of three quarters of the votes.
The Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Group shall be dissolved by agreement of its General Assembly or when the number of members is below that established by the RSEQ (currently 30).
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© 2014-2019 Reservados todos los derechos.
Grupo Especializado de Química Organometálica de la Real Sociedad Española de Química
Diseño: Menta.Me Fresh Agency - Programación SAT V2
GEQO, Grupo Especializado de Química Organometálica
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Credit Images (18)
You are currently displaying Big5
貓頭鷹 (1981)
The Legend of the Owl
Reviewed by: MrBooth
Super-thief The Owl kidnaps the Emperor's 36th wife, and 3 hapless heroes get tasked with ensuring her return.
Legend of the Owl is a very silly film, a spoof of Chor Yuen style wu xia that is often quite hilarious. I never really bought David Chiang as a handsome hero, but as a clown he is compelling. The humour is very reminiscent of Stephen Chiau's later parodies. There's not much action, but what there is is pretty good.
Reviewer Score: 7
Reviewed by: dandan
Summary: rock around the clock...
the owl (?) is a mysterious character, who steals and kidnaps, then holds an annual auction where a select group of people get to bid on his spoils. one year, someone is't too impressed with his offerings and says that he wants the king's 36th concubine to be available at the next auction. never one to turn down a challenge, the owl swiftly obliges and whisks her from the palace. after an lacklustre search, the king turns to one of his most trusted royal guards for help; unfortunately, he's dead, so he sends his son, fan shik ling (david chiang), in his place...
fan then turns to two men his father told him that he could always count on, only to discover that they have retired, but their sons, hsiao li (barry chan) and shark (eric tsang) reluctantly agree to join him. and so their quest begins...
watching this, it seems strange that david chiang, who has starred in many, many films, wasn't more prolific behind the camera. on the evidence of this (and 'double fattiness', which i also remember enjoying) he seems to have quite a good hand, when it comes to directing comedy. for 1981, even if it does steal a couple of jokes directly from 'airplane', it's a pretty slick production; the use of music is handled really well and the mixture of physical, visual and dialogue gags works well. chiang, chan and tsang also have a good onscreen rapport and there's even some decent action as well as the more slapstick fare on offer.
good stuff...
Reviewed by: mpongpun
This is flick is a hidden gem. I'm surprised nobody talks about this flick. This flick is a costume comedy directed by David Chiang. David Chiang doing comedy? Yes! David Chiang put some funny stuff in the movie that would give Wong Jing a run for his money. If you ever watched any gung fu movies, sometimes you'll get to catch a fight with chopsticks or teacups. Nothing is spilled. David Chiang brings his interpretation of this kind of fighting to this movie. Also, it seems that there are a few parodies of some popular serials such as "The Romantic Swordsman Xiao Li Fei Dao" (Romantic Swordsman Little Flying Dagger Li". When the guy who is the Owl appears for the first time, the theme song to the Romantic Swordsman plays. Anyways, lots of good stuff in this movie, so watch it!. What's the plot you say? It's about three opportunists (played by David Chiang, Wei Tze Yung, and Eric Tsang) who are trying to find the Emperor's favorite concubine for a reward. Enjoyable movie-its something you've never seen in your life.
Reviewed by: Bruce
Summary: Kung-Fu Comedy, with not much action and lots of parody.
A masked mastermind named The Owl holds an exclusive auction every year, selling special slaves and rare objects of art. One of the customers requests that he obtain the 36th wife of the emperor, for the next auction. The Owl agrees and arranges for the woman to be kidnapped. The emperor sends a messenge to a trusted royal guard, assigning him the task of rescuing his wife. Unfortunately the guard has died, but his son, David Chiang, takes the assignment. He hunts up two of his father's friends for assistance. They have both retired, but their sons, Barry Chan and Eric Tsang, agree to help out. So David, Barry, and Eric go forward on their quest to rescue the woman and unmask The Owl. That's the basic plot, and it sounds serious, but it isn't.
This is a comedy from start to finish, with parody scenes inspired by many films (including Jaws, Aliens, and Airplane). The Mission Impossible theme is used throughout the film. The film also revels in anachronisms; for example, a restaurant has can-can dancers. When David Chiang is fighting one villain, the background music suddenly becomes Rock Around The Clock, and their fight becomes more of a jitterbug than a fight. Crazy stuff. The DVD really needs a commentary track explaining everything, because an American like myself will probably miss many jokes that are based on material in Chinese culture.
There are nearly a dozen faces in this film which are familiar to kung fu film fans, in particular (aside from the three heroes) Yasuaki Kurata and Chen Sing. But there really isn't a lot of action. The first fight, a restaurant brawl, doesn't take place until halfway through the film. The film's climax, however, does have some good fighting.
I would have preferred a less silly (and more resolute) ending to the film.
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Texas A&M police say freshman wide receiver Thomas Johnson is missing
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M police say freshman wide receiver Thomas Johnson is missing.
The department says that the 18-year-old was last seen leaving his residence in College Station on Monday at 5 p.m. Johnson went to high school in Dallas and police believe he might have traveled to that area.
Lt. Allan Baron says there are no other details available.
Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin released a statement expressing his concern, saying: "Authorities are working closely with his family, friends and law enforcement agencies to help locate him ... We pray for his quick and safe return."
Johnson has appeared in 10 games this season, and has 30 catches for 339 yards and a touchdown.
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NY man guilty in sex case; dog helped girl witness
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – An upstate New York man was convicted Thursday of sexually assaulting a girl for four years starting when she was 10, an ordeal the girl was only able to describe while testifying with a companion dog at her side.
The jury deliberated seven hours before finding Victor Tohom, 36, guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child and child endangerment.
The now 15-year-old victim testified Monday that Tohom repeatedly raped her. While she spoke, she pet 11-year-old golden retriever Rose, who was trained to comfort troubled or distressed children. The judge allowed the dog on the stand, a first in New York, because the girl suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and was unlikely to be able to testify otherwise.
Tohom's lawyer objected to the undue sympathy he said jurors might give the girl. He said he would appeal the conviction. Tohom faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
While the girl testified for more than an hour, Rose could hardly be seen. When the girl was asked to point out Tohom, the dog poked her muzzle up and the girl stroked it. When she was asked to go into graphic detail about the rapes, she looked down and patted the dog.
In considering whether to allow the dog in the courtroom, Dutchess County Judge Stephen Greller rejected the defense argument that Rose's presence might prejudice the jury. Greller said he relied in part on an earlier New York case involving a "comfort item," a teddy bear held by a child witness in an early 1990s sex-crime trial.
While unprecedented in New York, advocates list 18 jurisdictions in Washington, Idaho, California, Texas, Missouri, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and New Mexico with courthouse dog programs.
Rose's regular job is helping provide therapy in schools for troubled children.
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SCS Recruitment Seminar: Dan Ports, "Rethinking Distributed Systems for the Datacenter"
Location: Klaus Advanced Computing Building, Room 1116 West
Kenya Payton
kenya.payton@cc.gatech.edu
Summary Sentence: SCS Recruitment Lecture by Dan Ports, Research Assistant Professor at the University of Washington
Don Ports
Today's most popular applications are deployed as massive scale distributed systems in the datacenter. Keeping data consistent and available despite server failures and concurrent updates is a formidable challenge. Two well-known abstractions, strong consistent replication and serializable transactions, can free developers from these challenges by transparently masking failures and treating complex updates as atomic units. Yet, the conventional wisdom is that these techniques are too expensive to deploy in high-performance systems.
In this talk, I will demonstrate a new approach to designing distributed systems that allow strong consistent distributed systems to be built with little to no performance cost. Taking advantage of the properties and capabilities of the datacenter environment, we can co-design distributed protocols and the network layer. Specifically, I will describe two systems for state machine replication, Speculative Paxos and Network-Ordered Paxos, and one for distributed transaction processing, Eris, built using this approach.
These methods are able to achieve five to 17x performance improvements over conventional designs. Moreover, they achieve performance within two-percent of their weak consistent alternatives, demonstrating that strong consistency and high performance are not incompatible.
Dan Ports is a research assistant professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington (UW), where he leads the distributed systems research group. His group's research focuses on building practical distributed systems with strong theoretical underpinnings.
Prior to joining the faculty at UW in 2015, Dan received the Ph.D. from MIT, where he was advised by Barbara Liskov, and completed a postdoctoral research position with the university. His research earned best paper awards at multiple conferences, including NSDI and OSDI.
Faculty/Staff, Public, Undergraduate students, Graduate students
No categories were selected.
SCS, School of Computer Science, lecture, Don Ports
Created By: Devin Young
Created On: Feb 1, 2017 - 1:55pm
Last Updated: Apr 13, 2017 - 5:13pm
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You are here: Home / We are Gulag Bound / *Resisters' Log* / Weekly Featured (Neo-Marxist) Profile: Brett Bursey, South Carolina
Weekly Featured (Neo-Marxist) Profile: Brett Bursey, South Carolina
August 1, 2015, 4:32 pm by Trevor Loudon Leave a Comment
Brett Bursey
Brett Bursey is Director of the extreme left South Carolina Progressive Network.
Bursey calls himself the oldest living Confederate prisoner of war. He says he is still out on bond after he burned the Confederate flag in February 1969, during a protest at USC Columbia in February 1969.
Bursey, as a 19 year-old USC student also sold Vietcong flags on campus and was jailed for nearly two years after he attacked a local selective service office and poured paint over records. His best friend and fellow vandal turned out to be a government informant.
Bursey began his life-long career as a progressive activist in 1968 as the SC State Traveler for the Communist Party USA infiltrated Southern Student Organizing Committee. He later founded the Grass Roots Organizing Workshop in 1975, which begat the South Carolina Progressive Network in 1995.
Bursey was also very close to Modjeska Simkins, a Palmetto State civil rights icon and life-long Communist Party USA supporter.
During the early 1980s, Bursey was a sponsor of the Communist Workers Party front, the Federation For Progress.
Bursey ran for the South Carolina State House on the Labor Party ticket in 2011.
The state chair of the Labor Party was Bursey’s long time comrade, Donna DeWitt, a leader of Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. DeWitt was also a co-chair of Bursey’s Progressive Network and in recent years the pair have lead the South Carolina affiliate of the socialist/communist-dominated Alliance for Retired Americans.
Filed Under: *Resisters' Log*, Homegrown Enemies of Free America Tagged With: global Marxist-fascist movement, South Carolina
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Tag Archives: Joe Sherry
Pixel Scroll 7/10/19 Our Pixels Manned The Air They Ran The Scrolls And Took Over The Airports
Posted on July 10, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) VINTAGE. New art from Star Trek: Picard. What should we call this episode? “The Grapes of Wrath of Khan”? The big reveal on the story and characters of the new show will be at San Diego Comic-Con next week.
(2) MORE BEST TRANSLATED HUGO FEEDBACK. Taiyo Fujii commented about the proposal on Facebook.
Thanks for M. Barkley and Rachel S. Cordasco for proposing Best Translated Novel for Hugo, but I should say as a Japanese writer, It’s not necessary.
Hugo already honored 3 translated works without translated category, and we saw the translator of that works Ken Liu was celebrated on the presentation stage. This is why I respect Hugo and voters, who don’t cares the work is from overseas or not.
I worry if translated category is held, translated short forms will be ignored by s-s, novelette and novella which are fascinated category for new young non anglophone writers. We are trying to open the door to be just a writer with contributing short forms, and readers already saw our works, and voted for nomination. But if translated category was held, only novels are honored.
In fact, translated fiction category is set on literary award held in non anglophone country, then we Japanese couldn’t give prize for Three Body Problem as the best novel of Seiun Awards even if we hope to honor.
(3) LISTEN AND LEARN. Brenton Dickieson points out “7 New Audiobooks on C.S. Lewis: Michael Ward, James Como, Stephanie Derrick, Patti Callahan, Joe Rigney, Diana Glyer, Gary Selby” at A Pilgrim in Narnia.
Michael Ward, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis (13 hrs)
I have argued that Dr. Michael Ward’s Planet Narnia is the most important resource for reading Narnia that has emerged in the new century. While one might argue with parts of Ward’s thesis–as I have done—Planet Narnia is a great book for providing close readings of Lewis’ greatest works in a literary way that invites us into a deeper understanding of the books behind the Narnian chronicles. I hope the publishers record The Narnia Code, the popular version of the Planet Narnia resource, but I am thrilled that they began with the magnum opus, Planet Narnia. Meanwhile, Audible also has Ward’s “Now You Know” audio course, “Christology, Cosmology, and C.S. Lewis,” a shorter but helpful resource for newcomers to the conversation. The audiobook reader, Nigel Patterson, is professional and even in tone.
(4) INTRODUCING NEWTON EWELL. Yesterday a commenter noticed that artist Newton Ewell was one of the NASFiC/Westercon guests who had no entry in Fancyclopedia 3. Overnight someone (“Confan”) decided rather than complain, they’d write one for him. It’s very good, and apparently there’s a lot to know about – Newton Ewell.
(5) TIL THEY ATE THEM. An unexpected discovery in the Crimea: “Early Europeans Lived Among Giant 300kg Birds”. I suspect this state of affairs lasted until dinnertime. [Via Amazing Stories.]
Early Europeans lived alongside giant 3-meter tall birds new research published on Wednesday explains. The bird species was one of the largest to ever roam the earth weighing in at a staggering 450 kg.
Bones of the massive, probably flightless bird were discovered in a cave in Crimea. “We don’t have enough data yet to say whether it was most closely related to ostriches or to other birds, but we estimate it weighed about 450kg,” says the study’s lead author Dr. Nikita Zelenkov. This formidable weight is nearly double the largest moa, three times the largest living bird, the common ostrich, and nearly as much as an adult polar bear.”
(6) MARTIAN CARAVANSARY. Slate has posted an interview with Robert Zubrin, Founder and president of the Mars Society and author of The Case for Space: “What Will Life On Mars be Like?”
Slate: How do you envision settling Mars will begin, and what will the early settlements look like?
Robert Zubrin: I think it will begin with an exploration, and then the establishment of a permanent Mars base to support exploration. Whoever is sponsoring this base, whether it’s the U.S. government, an international consortium of governments, or private groups, it’s going to be tremendously to their benefit to have people stay extra rotations on Mars because the biggest expense is transporting people back and forth. If it costs $100 million to send someone to Mars and back—and that’s a low estimate—it would be a no-brainer to offer someone $5 million to stay there an extra two years. So, I think you’ll start to see people staying extra rotations on Mars, just like there are some people who spend an extra rotation on trips to Antarctica. And then, relationships will form. And people will have children. And you will see the beginning of an actual settlement, a base.
(7) AUREALIS AWARDS. The 2019 Aurealis Awards are now taking entries:
The Aurealis Awards, Australia’s premier awards for speculative fiction, are for works created by an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and published for the first time between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019.
Full guidelines and FAQ can be found on the Aurealis Awards website:
(8) WESTEROS DISTINGUISHED. Everyone knows the Ninth Circuit marches to the beat of its own drummer – or is that to the pace of its own White Walkers? “Game of Thrones Night King storyline gets torched by federal judge”.
A federal appeals court’s opinion on Lindie Banks v. Northern Trust Corp. is — as one would expect from a case charging breaches of fiduciary duties — full of references to assets, investments and irrevocable trusts. Naturally, the Night King from Game of Thrones also makes a showing.
In the opinion filed July 5, Judge John B. Owens writes that the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit won’t discard a prior legal precedent “the way that Game of Thrones rendered the entire Night King storyline meaningless in its final season.”
Goddammit, now I'm going to have to watch Game of Thrones just to be able to do my research? Thanks for nothing, Ninth Circuit:https://t.co/RdxVZoyVEk pic.twitter.com/7kCO25u9OX
— Ann Lipton (@AnnMLipton) July 6, 2019
(9) TORN OBIT. The actor with the best working name in Hollywood, Rip Torn, died July 9. CNN has the story: “Rip Torn, actor best known for ‘Men in Black’ and ‘The Larry Sanders Show,’ dies at 88”.
Rip Torn, an Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in “Men in Black” and HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” has died, according to his publicist Rick Miramontez. He was 88.
Torn died Tuesday at his home in Lakeville, Connecticut with his family by his side, Miramontez said.
The actor had a seven-decade career in film, television and theater, with nearly 200 credits to his name.
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Born July 10, 1903 — John Wyndham. His best-known works include The Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos, both written in the Fifties. The latter novel was filmed twice as Village of the Damned. Both iBooks and Kindle have an impressive selection of his novels though little of his short fiction is available alas. (Died 1969.)
Born July 10, 1923 — Earl Hamner Jr. Though much better known for writing and producing The Waltons, he wrote eight scripts for the Twilight Zone including “Black Leather Jackets” in which an alien falls in love with a human girl and “The Hunt” where raccoon hunters enter the Twilight Zone. He also wrote the script of the Hanna-Barbera production of Charlotte’s Web. (Died 2016.)
Born July 10, 1929 — George Clayton Johnson. He’s best known for co-writing with William F. Nolan the Logan’s Run novel, the source for the Logan’s Run film. He was also known for his scripts for the Twilight Zone including “A Game of Pool”, “Kick the Can”, “Nothing in the Dark”, and “A Penny for Your Thoughts”, and the first telecast episode of the original Star Trek, “The Man Trap”. (Died 2015.)
Born July 10, 1931 — Julian May. She‘s best known for her Saga of Pliocene Exile (known as the Saga of the Exiles in the UK) and Galactic Milieu series: Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat. She also chaired the 1952 Worldcon in Chicago. (Died 2017.)
Born July 10, 1941 — David Hartwell. Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes him as “perhaps the single most influential book editor of the past forty years in the American science fiction publishing world.” I certainly fondly remember the The Space Opera Renaissance he co-edited with Kathryn Cramer. Not to mention that his Year’s Best Fantasy and Year’s Best SF anthologies are still quite excellent reading. (Died 2016.)
Born July 10, 1945 — Ron Glass. Probably best known genre wise as Shepherd Book in the Firefly series and its sequel Serenity. His first genre role was as Jerry Merris in Deep Space, a SF horror film and he’d later show up voicing Philo D. Grenman in Strange Frame: Love & Sax (“slated as the world’s first animated lesbian-themed sci-fi film”; look it up as it as an impressive voice cast) and he showed up twice as J. Streiten, MD in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Oh and he was on Voyager playing a character named Loken in the “Nightingale” episode. (Died 2016.)
Born July 10, 1970 — John Simm, 49. The second of modern Masters on Doctor Who. He appeared in the final three episodes of series three during the Time of the Tenth Doctor: “Utopia”, “The Sound of Drums”, and “Last of the Time Lords”.
(11) COMICS SECTION.
Wizard of Id comes up with a problem faced by witches in the land of Oz, one that never occurred to me before.
(12) TO AIR IS HUMAN. Galactic Journey’s Natalie Devitt attends a 1964 movie with a pre-Batman Adam West: “[July 10, 1964] Greetings from the Red Planet (The Movie, Robinson Crusoe on Mars)”.
The movie opens up aboard a spaceship carrying Commander Christopher Draper (played by Paul Mantee, appearing in his first film major film role), Colonel Dan McReady (Adam West, an actor commonly found on television westerns) and an adorable monkey named Mona. Things take an unexpected turn when they detect a meteoroid and are “forced out of orbital velocity to avoid collision with planetoid into tighter orbit of Mars.” As the situation worsens, the crew is left with no other option than to immediately attempt to land on the fourth planet. While fleeing the vehicle in their individual escape pods, Draper is separated from McReady and Mona.
Draper adapts to the conditions on the red planet, while searching for McReady and Mona. Even though he is part of the first crew on Mars, Draper learns quickly what it takes to survive. He finds shelter in a cave. For heat, Draper discovers yellow rocks that “burn like coal.” Heating the rocks not only keeps him warm, but also produces oxygen, which he then uses to refill his oxygen tank. Throughout the film, Draper keeps a careful audio record about all that he experiences, which provides a useful narrative device when things happen off-screen.
(13) BESPOKE. Vicky Who Reads mostly likes this one: “Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim: A Lush and Beautiful Fantasy with a Romance I Wasn’t Into”. (A little problem with the age difference between the couple, for one thing.)
I knew this was going to be good, but I definitely did not know just how good it would be.
Elizabeth Lim’s Spin the Dawn was a classic-style story with a lush and beautiful world and gorgeous prose. Featuring the classic “girl dressing as a boy” trope, a Project-Runway-esque competition, and a quest, Spin the Dawn weaves tradition and fantasy into a phenomenal story.
(14) LEND ME YOUR EARS. Joe Sherry is “Listening to the Hugos: Fancast” and opens with thoughts about the category itself.
…Fancast suffers from some of the same issues that many of the down ballot categories do, though perhaps “suffer” is the wrong word. There is a lot of institutional memory built in here for fancasts which are consistent year after year. With a core of listeners who are frequent participants in the Hugo Award process, it is not surprising to see a number of finalists come back year after year. I’ve said this about a number of other categories, but it does make me wonder a little bit about the health of the category, but on the other hand it does also give a snapshot of what the genre and fan conversation and communities may have looked like over a several year period. A positive takeaway, though, is that the only repeat winner was SF Squeecast in the first two years of the category. Both Be the Serpent and Our Opinions Are Correct are new to the ballot and are new to being a podcast.
(15) DEAD CON WALKING. Although Trae Dorn has eased back on his posting frequency, Nerd & Tie still comes through with fannish news scoops: “Better Business Bureau Calls Walker Stalker Events a ‘Scam’”.
Walker Stalkers LLC, which runs conventions under the Walker Stalker Con, Heroes & Villains, and FanFest names, has been having a bit of a rough patch when it comes to finances lately. We reported on this back in April, and while the company has made some effort to refund people for cancelled events and appearances, many might claim that it hasn’t been quite enough. Those issues seem to have come to a head though, as their problems are now becoming known outside of the geek community.
Nashville’s WSMV is reporting that the Better Business Bureau is now openly warning people to avoid Walker Stalkers LLC run events.
(16) IS IT REAL? BBC asked — “Midsommar: What do film critics in Sweden think?” Beware the occasional spoilers.
Swedish film reviewers are giving a cautious welcome to Midsommar, a horror film about a bizarre pagan festival in a remote part of Sweden.
Directed by Hereditary’s Ari Aster, the film stars Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor as an American couple who travel to Harga village in Halsingland to observe the midsummer ritual that takes place there only once every 90 years.
The film – which was actually shot in Hungary – has been getting strong reviews since it opened in the US earlier this month. It currently has an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
One critic, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, tweeted that Midsommar would “do for Swedish pagan rituals what Psycho did for showers”.
The film opened in Sweden on Wednesday and the first reviews have been appearing in the Swedish press. So what do the critics there think?
(17) REALITY CHECK. Be fair – everyone’s seen mermaids and knows, uh, never mind… NPR relates that “Disney Cable Channel Defends Casting Black Actress As New ‘Little Mermaid'”.
When Disney announced that Halle Bailey, a teen actress and one-half of the singing group Chloe x Halle, had landed the role of Ariel in the forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, some people on social media went bonkers.
But not over the fact that it’s 2019 and the Danish fairy tale tells the story of a young female creature who loves singing and wearing a seashell bikini top and eagerly gives up her voice in exchange for a romance with a good-looking guy. Nor are critics outraged by the kind of message that narrative conveys to young children.
Instead, certain circles of the Internet are aghast that the ingenue cast by Disney is black.
The complaints run along the lines of: “The actress should look like the real Little Mermaid!” By which they presumably mean the white-skinned, blue-eyed cartoon character in the 1989 blockbuster film. The hashtag #NotMyAriel quickly began trending on Twitter, and since the announcement last week, scores of fans have pledged to boycott the film.
For days the company remained silent regarding the controversy, but Freeform, a cable network owned by Disney and on which Bailey appears as a cast member on Grown-ish, issued a statement on Instagram clarifying that, “Ariel…is a mermaid.”
(18) SHAKE IT ‘TIL YOU BREAK IT. “Satellite photos show California earthquake leaves scar on the desert” – BBC has lots of photos, satellite and other.
The strongest earthquake to hit California in two decades left a scar across the desert which can be seen from space, new pictures show.
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck on Friday at a depth of just 0.9km (0.6 miles), creating a fissure near its epicentre about 240km north-east of Los Angeles.
It was felt as far away as Phoenix, Arizona – more than 560km south-east.
…The crack in the desert – captured in before and after pictures released by Planet Labs – opened close to the epicentre of the quake near the town of Ridgecrest.
(19) TWO FAMILY TREES. BBC encounters the “Earliest modern human found outside Africa”.
A skull unearthed in Greece has been dated to 210,000 years ago, at a time when Europe was occupied by the Neanderthals.
The sensational discovery adds to evidence of an earlier migration of people from Africa that left no trace in the DNA of people alive today.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
Researchers uncovered two significant fossils in Apidima Cave in Greece in the 1970s.
One was very distorted and the other incomplete, however, and it took computed tomography scanning and uranium-series dating to unravel their secrets.
The more complete skull appears to be a Neanderthal. But the other shows clear characteristics, such as a rounded back to the skull, diagnostic of modern humans.
What’s more, the Neanderthal skull was younger.
(20) SPACE COLLECTIBLES. On July 16-189, Heritage Auctions continues with the third round of Neil Armstrong memorabilia: “The Armstrong Family Collection III Space Exploration Signature Auction”.
To the many numismatists who may be reading this newsletter, here is a unique piece for your consideration: a Gemini 8 Flown United States 1864 Large Motto 2¢ Piece, graded MS 61 BN by NGC and encapsulated by CAG (Collectibles Authentication Guaranty) . This coin was supplied by an Ohio coin dealer to Neil Armstrong who took it with him on the mission, “carried in a specially sewn pocket in my pressure suit.” As you may know, Gemini 8 performed the world’s first orbital docking in space but it nearly ended in disaster when one of the Orbit and Maneuvering System thrusters stuck in the on position causing an uncontrollable tumbling. Armstrong was somehow able to control it and bring the craft in for a successful emergency landing. This coin, for many years on loan from the Armstrong family to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, is extensively provenanced by the dealer and also Neil Armstrong’s father.
Another amazing item is Neil Armstrong’s Personally Owned and Worn Early Apollo-Era Flight Suit by Flite Wear with Type 3 NASA Vector Patch. I can’t imagine a better (or rarer) item for display purposes, a real museum piece. And, to go with it: Neil Armstrong’s Personal NASA Leather Name Tag.
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day ULTRAGOTHA.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Adam West, auction, Aurealis Awards, Brenton Dickieson, C.S. Lewis, Galactic Journey, Heritage Auctions, Joe Sherry, Mars, Men In Black, Michael Ward, Neanderthals, Neil Armstrong, Newton Ewell, Rip Torn, Robert Zubrin, SFF in Translation, Star Trek: Picard, Taiyo Fujii, Vicky Who Reads
Pixel Scroll 7/5/19 We Hold These Pixels To Be Self Scrolling, That All Filers Are Created Equal
Posted on July 5, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) TUNING IN. The Doctor may use her time traveling skills to visit your TV set even sooner than the beginning of Season 12. Radio Times speculates that “Doctor Who could air an extra episode before the new series”.
RadioTimes.com understands that a plan is in the works to air a standalone Doctor Who special some time before series 12 hits screens, possibly in a festive slot like this year’s New Year’s Day Special or the Christmas specials that were released every year prior (from 2005 onwards).
However, it’s also possible that the proposed episode will bypass the festive period altogether, airing in a less competitive slot to give the Tardis team their best reintroduction this winter, and avoiding the usual holiday themes favoured by previous Doctor Who specials.
(2) ORDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE. Just as French fries are merely a delivery vehicle for ketchup, File 770 exists to publicize where Scott Edelman goes to eat lunch. In Episode 99 of Eating the Fantastic, the meal is served at the Sagebrush Cantina in the company of comics legend Gerry Conway.
My first meal of the Nebula Awards weekend was with comics legend Gerry Conway, who I’ve known for at least 48 years, since 1971 — when I was a comics fan of 16, and he was 19, and yet already a comics pro with credits on Phantom Stranger, Ka-Zar, and Daredevil. Our paths back then crossed in the basement of the Times Square branch of Nathan’s (which, alas, no longer exists) where the late Phil Seuling had organized a standalone dealers room without any convention programming dubbed Nathan’s Con, which was a test run for his future Second Sunday mini-cons.
Gerry and I have a lot of history in those 48 years, including his time as Marvel’s editor-in-chief when I worked in the Bullpen — though his tenure was only six weeks long, two of those weeks my honeymoon — a tenure you’ll hear us talk about during the meal which follows. He’s the creator of The Punisher, Power Girl, and Firestorm, and wrote a lengthy and at one point controversial run on Spider-Man. But he’s also worked on such TV series as Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Law & Order, and many others.
At Gerry’s recommendation, our meal took place at the Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, California, where I invite you to take a seat and eavesdrop on our longest conversation in 40 years.
We discussed how the comics business has always been dying and what keeps saving it, why if he were in charge he’d shut down Marvel Comics for six months, what it’s like (and how it’s different) being both the youngest and oldest writer ever to script Spider-Man, the novel mistake he made during his summer at the Clarion Writers Workshop, why he’s lived a life in comics rather than science fiction, what caused Harlan Ellison to write an offensive letter to his mother, the one bad experience he ever had being edited in comics (it had to do with the Justice League), the convoluted way Superman vs. Spider-Man resulted in him writing for TV’s Father Dowling Mysteries, how exasperation caused him to quit his role as Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief (while I was out of the Bullpen on my honeymoon), how he’d have been treated if he’d killed off Gwen Stacy in today’s social media world, and much, much more.
(3) TALKING ABOUT A GAMES HUGO. Camestros Felapton starts a thoughtful discussion of Ira Alexandre’s motion in “Looking at the Hugo Game/Interactive Experience proposal”.
…I think accessibility to the works remains one of the biggest obstacles to this category working effectively, although the proposal makes substantial efforts to address this.
My other concern is the multiple vectors against which we’d need to judge works in this category. The proposal gives numerous examples of other game awards but I’m struck by the many ways game awards split their own categories….
(4) KOTLER’S PICKS. Paul Weimer hosts “6 Books with Steve Kotler” at Nerds of a Feather. I’m in the middle of reading the author’s latest —
6. And speaking of that, what’s your latest book, and why is it awesome?
My latest book is Last Tango in Cyberspace. It’s a novel that follows a protagonist named Lion Zorn. He’s an empathy tracker or em-tracker, a new kind of human with a much deeper ability to feel empathy than most. His talent lets him track cultural trends into the future, a form of empathetic prognostication, and a useful skill to certain kind of company. But when Arctic Pharmaceuticals hires him to em-track rumors of a new and extremely potent psychedelic—with potential medical uses—he ends up enmeshed in a world of startup religions, environmental terrorists and overlapping global conspiracies. It’s a thriller about the ramifications of accelerating technology, the evolution of empathy, and the hidden costs of consciousness-expansion. And it’s awesome because, well, it’s just a ton of mind-blowing fun.
(5) GROKKING JAPAN. In The Paris Review, Andrei Codrescu resurrects “The Many Lives of Lafcadio Hearn”, once among the best-known literary figures of his day.
…History is a fairy tale true to its telling. Lafcadio Hearn’s lives are a fairy tale true in various tellings, primarily his own, then those of his correspondents, and with greater uncertainty, those of his biographers. Hearn changed, as if magically, from one person into another, from a Greek islander into a British student, from a penniless London street ragamuffin into a respected American newspaper writer, from a journalist into a novelist, and, most astonishingly, from a stateless Western man into a loyal Japanese citizen. His sheer number of guises make him a creature of legend. Yet this life, as recorded both by himself and by others, grows more mysterious the more one examines it, for it is like the Japanese story of the Buddhist monk Kwashin Koji, in “Impressions of Japan,” who owned a painting so detailed it flowed with life. A samurai chieftain saw it and wanted to buy it, but the monk wouldn’t sell it, so the chieftain had him followed and murdered. But when the painting was brought to the chieftain and unrolled, there was nothing on it; it was blank. Hearn reported this story told to him by a Japanese monk to illustrate some aspect of the Buddhist doctrine of karma, but he might as well have been speaking about himself as Koji: the more “literary” the renderings of the original story, the less fresh and vivid it becomes, until it might literally disappear, like that legendary painting.
(6) VISIONARY. CNN discovers Simon Stålenhag — “Simon Stålenhag’s hauntingly beautiful retro sci-fi art”.
Simon Stålenhag’s paintings are a strange, irresistible mix of mundane scenes from the Swedish countryside and haunting scenarios involving abandoned robots, mysterious machinery and even dinosaurs.
They are the product of his childhood memories — growing up in suburban Stockholm and painting landscapes and wildlife — and his adulthood appreciation for sci-fi.
“I try to make art for my 12-year-old self,” he said in a phone interview. “I want to make stuff that would make my younger self see it and go, ‘I’m not supposed to look at this because it’s for adults, but I really want to anyway.'”
(7) UNSURPRISINGLY, THE IRS RECOGNIZES SATAN. The Burbank Leader generated some clicks with its overview: “The IRS gave nonprofit status to a satanic church. Will all hell break loose?”.
Earlier this year the Internal Revenue Service officially recognized the Satanic Temple as a church, meaning it has 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.
According to the church’s website, the Satanic Temple’s mission is “to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will.”
Yet perhaps because the group describes itself as a “nontheistic religious organization” and maintains an openness about taking political stances, the IRS decision has brought some controversy.
According to an article on Rewire.News, a pro-life petition online states, “This egregious decision runs counter to everything America stands for,” and a Catholic commentator argued that without God or a literal Satan, there is no “real religion.”
A letter to the editor from a self-identified atheist began:
I’m fine with the ruling, based on the finding that the Temple’s attributes — unique tenets, regular congregations and religious services — meet the IRS guidelines for a tax-exempt religious organization, i.e., a church. Neither God, gods nor Satan are required to be a “real religion” under these guidelines, contrary to the commentator quoted in this month’s question.
(8) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
Born July 5, 1904 — Milburn Stone. Though you no doubt know him as Doc on Gunsmoke, he did have several genre roles including a German Sargent in The Invisible Agent, Captain Vickery in Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, Mr. Moore in The Spider Woman Strikes Back and Capt. Roth in Invaders from Mars. (Died 1980.)
Born July 5, 1929 — Katherine Helmond. Among her roles was Mrs Ogre in Time Bandits and Mrs. Ida Lowry in Brazil. Now I’ll bet you can tell her scene in the latter… (Died 2019.)
Born July 5, 1941 — Garry Kilworth, 78. The Ragthorn, a novella co-authored with Robert Holdstock, won the World Fantasy Award. It’s an excellent read and it makes me wish I’d read other fiction by him. Anyone familiar with his work?
Born July 5, 1948 — Nancy Springer, 71. May I recommend her Tales of Rowan Hood series of which her Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest is a most splendid revisionist telling of that legend? And her Enola Holmes Mysteries are a nice riffing off of the Holmsiean mythos.
Born July 5, 1957 — Jody Lynn Nye, 62. She’s best known for collaborating with Asprin on the MythAdventures series Since his death, she has continued that series and she is now also writing sequels to his Griffen McCandle series as well.
Born July 5, 1963 — Alma Alexander, 56. Author of three SF series including the Changer of Days which is rather good. I’m including her here for her AbductiCon novel which is is set in a Con and involves both what goes on at that Con and the aliens that are involved.
Born July 5, 1964 — Ronald Moore, 55. He‘s best known for his work on various Star Trek series, on the Battlestar Galactica reboot and on the Outlander series.
Born July 5, 1972 — Nia Roberts, 47. She appeared in two two Doctor Who episodes during the time of the Eleventh Doctor, “The Hungry Earth” and “Cold Blood”. But it’s an earlier role that gets her a Birthday citation just because it sounds so damn cool: Rowan Latimer in the “Curse of the Blood of the Lizard of Doom” episode of the Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible whichspoofed shows such as Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.
(9) GET MAD. If you want to see more of Alfred E. Newman’s gap-toothed smile, Doug Gilford’s MAD Cover Site is the place for you.
Look at every regular issue cover from the comic book days of 1952 to the present day! Issue contents included!
(10) COUNTING FANS AT WORLDCONS. The latest round of Hugo statistics led to a discussion on the SMOFs list about other Worldcon stats, where Rene Walling reminded readers about his compilations, published by James Gunn’s Ad Astra earlier in this decade:
“REPORT: Worldcon Membership Demographics, 1939-1960”
Sweeping statements and generalizations are often made about the membership of early World Science Fiction Conventions (WSFC, or Worldcon) such as “only the same people came back every year” or “the attendance was all male.” Yet rarely is more than anecdotal evidence given to support these statements. The goal of this report is to provide some hard data on the membership of early Worldcons so that such statements can be based on more than anecdotal evidence.
…The number of members listed over the entire 1961-1980 time span totals 33,279 for the WSFC sources, which represents 81.66% of the total from the Long List (40,752). The total number of individual members is 17,136.
(11) IS BEST SERIES WORKING? At Nerds of a Feather, Joe Sherry precedes his discussion of the nominees in “Reading the Hugos: Series” with some meta comments about the category.
This is worth mentioning now because 2019 is the third year of the Best Series category and the second appearance of Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series because McGuire has published two additional novels (The Brightest Fell, Night and Silence) as well as some short fiction set in that universe. I wouldn’t be shocked to see McGuire’s InCryptid make a second appearance next year, and I also expect to see The Expanse to have its own second crack at the ballot, though with The Expanse I hope readers wait one more year for the ninth (and final?) volume to be published so that The Expanse can be considered as a completed work.
I’m curious what this says about the long term future and health of the category if we see some of the same series make repeat appearances. Of course, we can (and do) say the same thing about a number of “down the ballot” categories like Fanzine (we do appreciate being on the ballot for the third year in a row!), Semiprozine, and the Editor categories.
(12) IN A BAD PLACE. Steve J. Wright’s review of the finalists has reached “Hugo Category: Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)” – and there’s one he really doesn’t like.
We have two episodes of The Good Place, and I won’t complain about that either, because this is a popular vote and the show clearly has its fans…. I’m still not among them. It seems to me that The Good Place is still trying to be several things at once, and is failing at all of them, and since the things it’s trying to be include “funny” and “though-provoking”, the result isn’t good.
(13) HELICON AWARDS. Richard Paolinelli celebrated the Fourth of July by announcing the ten inaugural winners of the Helicon Awards on his YouTube channel. Sad Puppy Declan Finn won the Best Horror Novel category, which is probably more informative about where these awards are coming from than that Brandon Sanderson and Timothy Zahn also won.
The 2019 Helicon Awards celebrates the best literary works of 2018 in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Military Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Alternate History, Media Tie-In, Horror and Anthology (SF/F/H).
Throughout the presentation Paolinelli keeps using the pronouns “we” and “our” without shedding very much light on who besides himself is behind these awards. The slides for the winners bear the logo of his Science Fiction & Fantasy Creators Guild, opened last year with the ambition of rivalling SFWA. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Creators Guild closed group on Facebook is listed as having 275 members – you can’t see the content without joining, but FB displays a stat that it’s had 6 posts in the last 30 days. The SFFCGuild Twitter account hasn’t been active since February 2018.
Paolinelli’s blog claims sponsorship of the awards, but in the video he says not only won’t winners be receiving a trophy, he hasn’t even designed a certificate for them, though he might do that in a few weeks.
In addition to the 10 Helicon Awards, Paolinelli named “three individual honorees for the Mevil Dewey Innovation Award, Laura Ingalls Wilder Best New Author Award and the Frank Herbert Lifetime Achievement Award.”
So far as the first two awards are concerned, it’s likely that what did most to persuade Paolinelli to give them those names was the decision by two organizations this past year to drop the names from existing awards – in Wilder’s case (see Pixel Scroll 6/25/18 item #5), the US Association for Library Service to Children said it was “over racist views and language,” while the American Library Association dropped Dewey (see Pixel Scroll 6/27/19 Item #13) citing “a history of racism, anti-Semitism, and sexual harassment.”
(14) A FANNISH ANIMAL. “My Wild Time Living in a House Full of Wombats” is an article at The Daily Beast, where else?
What is a full night’s sleep?! I haven’t had one of those in a long time. I run Sleepy Burrow Wombat Sanctuary in Australia, which is the largest wombat sanctuary in the world. I’m up every three hours to do round-the-clock feedings for the baby wombats that have recently come into our care. Their first nights with us are always the most critical time where their survival is the most at risk. If being up all night is what it takes to pull them through, I will do it. Don’t feel too bad for me though. I wouldn’t trade the life I have for anything in the world. I have a wonderful family I built with the most supportive husband, who is my partner both in life and rescue. I’m a mother to two perfect daughters, a dog, and a house full of the cutest wombats you can imagine. As a family unit we have rescued over 1,300 wombats.
(15) NIGERIAN SFF. Adri Joy makes the book sound pretty interesting, though rates it only 6/10: “Microreview [book]: David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa” at Nerds of a Feather.
That main character, it will not surprise you to hear, is David Mogo, Godhunter. David lives in a version of Lagos which has been subjected to the Falling: a war which has caused thousands of Orisha to rain down on the city and take up residence. A half-god himself, David was abandoned by his mother and raised by a foster-father who also happens to be a wizard, wielding magical talents which David’s divinity keeps him from using in the same way. Instead, when we meet David he’s trying to throw himself into a bounty hunting existence with as much amoral abandon as possible, taking on a job from far more shady wizard Ajala for “roof money” while trying to suppress the sense that he should be acting with slightly more principle.
(16) SPONGING OFF FANS. That’s the allegation, anyway: “SpongeBob SquarePants fan claims Nickelodeon copied art”.
A fan has claimed Nickelodeon used his SpongeBob SquarePants artwork without his permission.
Matt Salvador, 17, says the art was featured in an advert for the show which was aired in June.
His artwork, uploaded online in 2016, is drawn in the style of a background used in a typical episode.
Various YouTube channels have uploaded the video, which the fan says shows the same artwork, but with his signature in the bottom-right corner removed.
(17) THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. Unlike Facebook or Google — “Why the BBC does not want to store your data”.
BBC audience members could soon be using all the data from their social media and online accounts to fine tune the content they listen to and view.
The BBC is developing a personal data store that analyses information from multiple sources to filter content.
Early prototypes of the BBC Box draw on profiles people have built up on Spotify, Instagram and the BBC iPlayer.
The BBC will not store data for users. Instead, preferences will be kept in the Box so they can be reused.
The project is seen as “disruptive” because individuals will decide what they use their data for themselves.
The Box is part of a larger European project seeking to give people more control over their data.
(18) STILL NOT READY. Let’s face it: “Biased and wrong? Facial recognition tech in the dock”.
Police and security forces around the world are testing out automated facial recognition systems as a way of identifying criminals and terrorists. But how accurate is the technology and how easily could it and the artificial intelligence (AI) it is powered by – become tools of oppression?
Imagine a suspected terrorist setting off on a suicide mission in a densely populated city centre. If he sets off the bomb, hundreds could die or be critically injured.
CCTV scanning faces in the crowd picks him up and automatically compares his features to photos on a database of known terrorists or “persons of interest” to the security services.
The system raises an alarm and rapid deployment anti-terrorist forces are despatched to the scene where they “neutralise” the suspect before he can trigger the explosives. Hundreds of lives are saved. Technology saves the day.
But what if the facial recognition (FR) tech was wrong? It wasn’t a terrorist, just someone unlucky enough to look similar. An innocent life would have been summarily snuffed out because we put too much faith in a fallible system.
What if that innocent person had been you?
This is just one of the ethical dilemmas posed by FR and the artificial intelligence underpinning it.
Training machines to “see” – to recognise and differentiate between objects and faces – is notoriously difficult. Computer vision, as it is sometimes called – not so long ago was struggling to tell the difference between a muffin and a chihuahua – a litmus test of this technology.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, rcade, Michael Toman, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Paul Weimer.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Adri Joy, Best Series Hugo, Camestros Felapton, David Mogo, Doctor Who, Gerry Conway, Helicon Awards, Hugo Awards, Ira Alexandre, Joe Sherry, Paul Weimer, Rene Walling, Richard Paolinelli, Satanic Temple, Science Fiction & Fantasy Creators Guild, Scott Edelman, Simon Stålenhag, Spongebob Squarepants, Steve J. Wright, Steve Kotler, Worldcon
Pixel Scroll 6/13/19 And What Rough Pixel, Its Hour Come Round At Last, Crowdfunds Towards Dublin, To Be Scrolled?
(1) SKIPPING OVER THE SAND. Judith Tarr tells why she’ll be passing on a Bene Gesserit tv series with an all-male creative team. Thread starts here.
the purposes of the order. The Kwisatz Haderach is not about male supremacy. He's about smashing it to smithereens.
Male writers won't comprehend this. They won't even try. We'll get another maiden-mother-whore fantasy centered around the idea that women are a weak subset of
— Judith Tarr (@dancinghorse) June 11, 2019
(2) KAIJU-CON. On Saturday June 14, the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles is holding a one-day “Kaiju-Con”.
In conjunction with Kaiju vs Heroes, JANM is hosting a day-long Kaiju-Con that will include a vendor hall, workshops, panel discussions, and demonstrations all related to kaiju and Japanese toys. The day will culminate in a special free outdoor screening at 8:30 p.m., on JANM’s plaza of Mothra vs. Godzilla from 1964.
The museum’s exhibit “Kaiju vs Heroes: Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys” continues through July 7.
… After the war, the United States closely monitored the types of industries allowed to revive in Japan. The toy industry was one of the first to be enabled to reinvent itself, and the kaiju films and television shows helped fuel it. Additionally, the toy industry helped stimulate Japan’s economy during the early postwar reconstruction period. These new artistic and economic factors fused with kaiju and hero characters to set the stage for a golden age of Japanese popular culture—one that Nagata first became enamored with as a nine-year-old boy.
Nagata’s pursuit of these Japanese toys took him on an unexpected journey that brought new realizations about his cultural identity as an American of Japanese ancestry….
(3) DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. Gizmodo assures us that “Half the DNA on the NYC Subway Matches No Known Organism”.
The results of a massive new DNA sequencing project on the New York City subway have just been published. And yup, there’s a lot of bacteria on the subway—though we know most of it is harmless. What’s really important, though, is what we don’t know about it.
The PathoMap project, which involved sampling turnstiles, benches, and keypads at 466 stations, found 15,152 life-forms in total, half of which were bacterial. The Wall Street Journal has created a fun, interactive microbial map of the subway out of the data, showing where on the lines the bacteria “associated with” everything from mozzarella cheese to staph infections was found.
(4) GUNN RETROSPECTIVE. Dark Matter Zine is revisiting the work of the late Hugo-winning fanartist Ian Gunn: “Giant man-baby. A silly illo by Ian Gunn”.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be seeing some movie cliches that Ian Gunn drew. Today’s, obviously, is the giant man-baby walking in slow motion. Although the drawing is at least 20 years old but did Gunn foresee the Trump Baby resistance balloons, banners etc? I wonder if the giant Trump Baby acts in slow motion too?
(5) JUST A LITTLE SMACK. John Boston doesn’t pull his punches when he’s slugging the prozines of 1964 for Galactic Journey: “[June 12, 1964] RISING THROUGH THE MURK (the July 1964 Amazing)”.
Can it be . . . drifting up through the murk, like a forgotten suitcase floating up from an old shipwreck . . . a worthwhile issue of Amazing?
You certainly can’t tell by the cover, which is one of the ugliest jobs ever perpetrated by the usually talented Ed Emshwiller—misconceived, crudely executed, and it doesn’t help that the reproduction is just a bit off register.
(6) CLONE ARRANGER. ComicsBeat brings music to fans’ ears — “ORPHAN BLACK returns in new serialized novel and audio adaptation”.
The Clone Club is reconvening. Variety reports that Orphan Black, the hit BBC America sci-fi series that ended in 2017, is set to return as a serialized novel, with accompany audio narration, later this year. The new story is produced by publishing startup Serial Box, and will feature original series star Tatiana Maslany providing the audio narration.
(7) FLIP THE SCRIPT. Eater says the promotion is really quite simple: “Burger King’s New ‘Stranger Things’ Special Is Literally an Upside-Down Whopper”.
With the premiere of Stranger Things Season 3 just a few weeks away, Netflix and Burger King are teaming up for a fast food stunt that seems aimed at the die-hard fans, only: At 11 locations across the country, the chain is adding an “Upside Down Whopper” to the menu, which is literally just a Whopper served upside down. No special Demagorgon sauce, Eggo bun, or Hopper’s bacon crumbles. It’s just an inverted hamburger in Stranger Things-branded packaging.
The YouTube caption assures viewers —
pro tip: you can’t get eaten by something in the upside down if you’ve already eaten the upside down whopper. served upside down at select bk locations on June 21:
(8) MILES OBIT. Actress Sylvia Miles has died at the age of 94 reports the New York Times.
Sylvia Miles, who earned two Academy Award nominations (for “Midnight Cowboy” and “Farewell, My Lovely”) and decades of glowing reviews for her acting, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 94.
Ms. Miles began her career as a stage actress; [she] was a witch in “A Chekhov Sketchbook” (1962). She described her character in the 1977 horror film “The Sentinel” as “a mad dead crazed German zombie lesbian ballet dancer.” Her other film roles included … Meryl Streep’s mother in “She-Devil” (1989).
Her final TV appearance was in 2008, on the series “Life on Mars.” Her last screen appearance was in “Old Monster,” a 2013 short based on the epic “Beowulf.”
Born June 13, 1892 — Basil Rathbone. He’s best remembered for being Sherlock Holmes in fourteen films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series of the same period. For films other than these, I’ll single out The Adventures of Robin Hood (all Robin Hood is fantasy), Son of Frankenstein and Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet. (Died 1967.)
Born June 13, 1893 — Dorothy Sayers. ISFDB often surprises me and having her listed as writing four stories in the genre did it again. All of them were written in the Thirties and here they are: “The Cyprian Cat”, “The Cave of Ali Baba”, “Bitter Almonds” and “The Leopard Lady”. So, who here has read them and can comment on them being genre or not? (Died 1957.)
Born June 13, 1929 — Ralph McQuarrie. Conceptual designer and illustrator. He worked on the original Star Wars trilogy, the first Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars Holiday Special, Cocoon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Nightbreed, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home andE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. (Died 2012.)
Born June 13, 1943 — Malcolm McDowell, 76. My favorite role for him was Mr. Roarke on the rebooted Fantasy Island. Of course, his most infamous role was Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Scary film, that. His characterization of H. G. Wells in Time After Time was I thought rather spot on. And I’d like to single out his voicing Arcady Duvall in the “Showdown” episode of Batman: The Animated Series. Remember the Will Smith starred Wild Wild West film? Here is the same premise with John Hex instead.
Born June 13, 1945 — Whitley Strieber, 74. I’ve decidedly mixed feelings about him. He’s written two rather good horror novels, The Wolfen which made a fantastic horror film and The Hunger. But I’m convinced that his book Communion about his encounter with aliens is an absolute crock.
Born June 13, 1949 — Simon Callow, 70. English actor, musician, writer, and theatre director. So what’s he doing here? Well, he got to be Charles Dickens twice on Doctor Who, the first being in “The Unquiet Dead” during the time of the Ninth Doctor and then later during “The Wedding of River Song”. He’d also appear, though not as Dickens, on The Sarah Jane Adventures as the voice of Tree Blathereen in “The Gift” episode. I’ve not watched the latter. How are they? He was The Duke of Sandringham in the first season of Outlander.
Born June 13, 1953 — Tim Allen, 66. Jason Nesmith in the beloved Galaxy Quest, winning a much deserved Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. (What was running against it that year?) it actually had a big hit several years previously voicing Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story which would be the first in that film franchise.
Born June 13, 1963 — Audrey Niffenegger, 56. Her first novel was The Time Traveler’s Wife. She has stated in interviews that she will not see the film as only the characters in the novels are hers. Good for her. Raven Girl, her third novel about a couple whose child is a raven trapped in a human body, was turned into performed at the Royal Opera House.
Born June 13, 1981 — Chris Evans, 38. Captain America in the Marvel film franchise. He had an earlier role as the Human Torch in the non-MCU Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I think this makes him the only performer to play two major characters in either the DC or Marvel Universes.
(10) ROBOCOMICS. The New York Times looks at a marketing solution: “Like Comic Books? This Platform Picks Titles for You”.
Comic book fans have multiple digital options to choose from these days, with apps for independents, manga and political cartoons as well as libraries from giants like DC and Marvel. But the fractured nature of the business means readers have to visit several platforms to fill their needs.
Enter Graphite, a free digital service from Graphic Comics that begins Tuesday and hopes to put them all under one roof.
The impetus for the company was a simple one, said Michael Eng, Graphite’s chief executive: “There is no solution right now that serves comics in all its forms.”
The goal of the service is to offer digital comics from all formats, including the work of independent creators as well as major publishers, and make it all free. The content will include ads, but an ad-free service is available for a $4.99 monthly fee. Graphite also hopes to expand the audience of comics readers by offering material in 61 languages. But its biggest bet is on artificial intelligence, which will suggest content to readers based on their taste.
(11) HIDDEN NO MORE. BBC: “Hidden Figures: Nasa renames street after black female mathematicians”.
The street outside Nasa’s headquarters has been named “Hidden Figures Way”, in honour of three African-American women whose work helped pave the way for future generations at the space agency.
(12) A LARK IN THE VACUUM. The Atlantic’s Rebecca Boyle has her own estimate of “The True Price of Privatizing Space Travel”.
…NASA’s decision to open up the space station is in some ways a natural next step for space exploration. Earlier, earthbound vessels all experienced a similar transformation. Transoceanic ships, railroads, and airplanes spawned cottage industries to enable their spread and wide adoption, and each eventually reached the masses. And in widening access to space, NASA is actually behind the Russians, whose space agency has transported a few space tourists through a company called Space Adventures.
But space is different. Space, as they say, is hard. To get there, you have to strap yourself to a bomb, and sometimes those bombs malfunction.
Personal space exploration is also hard to justify….
…Handing tourists the keys to the ISS reflects a much broader shift in space exploration, one that prioritizes resource extraction and commercial profit over pure research and collective scientific efforts. It’s a step toward making space more mundane, a travel destination defined by money and vacations, rather than discovery and glory.
(13) ONE OF EVERYTHING. Joe Sherry does a fine job of tackling these finalists in “Reading the Hugos: Related Work” at Nerds of a Feather.
Related Work is a bit of a catch-all category. It’s for work that is primarily non fiction and that is related to science fiction and fantasy, and which is not otherwise eligible elsewhere on the ballot. This is how you can have an encyclopedia compete against a folk album against a podcast against a collection of essays about movies (this was in 2012 when the Fancast category had not yet been created. That particular lineup of finalists can’t happen today. You may also note that albums and songs have been included in Dramatic Presentation – because the two Clipping albums in question are narrative driven whereas Seanan McGuire’s Wicked Girls was not.). There may also be a single blog post competing and winning in the category. Or a series of blog posts focusing on the women of Harry Potter. In the case of this year there is a four way biography, a series of interviews, a three part documentary, a collected essay series about the Hugo Awards, a recognition of the work done by a website, and the experience of bringing together Mexicanx fans and creators to Worldcon. Related Work is an interesting cross section of another side of the genre and another side of fandom.
(14) HUGO NOVELLAS. James Reid continues his “Hugo Awards Extravaganza 2019 – Novella”.
I feel like this category has undergone a bit of a renaissance with digital publishing: when I was growing up, I thought of Novellas as either the anchor of a short story collection, 1 or works that flesh out a larger series.2 Without the pressure of meeting mass market paperback length however, novellas can be sold as free standing works, which then can lead to series of novellas. Fully half the slate fall into this category,3 and not only are they sequels, but they are sequels to previous nominated works.
In all three of these series, I liked the original novella,4 but the two sequels that were in the ballot last year, Binti: Home and Down Among the Sticks and Bones were both marked by precipitous drops in quality. Given this, my big questions going into the ballot this year are can Artificial Condition avoid this sophomore slump, and can either of the threequels pull out of their series nosedives?
(15) CANNED. “Star Wars’ Mark Hamill Reveals He Got Fired From Jack in the Box for Doing a Clown Voice” – Comicbook.com has the story.
Star Wars icon Mark Hamill is still full of stories that will surprise and delight fans – as he recently proved during an appearance on The Late Show with James Corden. Corden and Hamill were talking about the road to fame (and all the detours it an take); when they got to the topic of Hamill having worked as a waiter (like so many struggling actors), we got this great anecdote:
“I tried. I always was trying to find the theatrical aspect of it. You know, I worked right down the street at Jack in the Box. And I was in the back all the time, making shakes and minding the grill, and I always aspired to work the window… The one chance I had at it, it never occurred to me not to be in character as the clown, as the Jack in the Box clown! Who would want to hear [Robot voice] ‘What is your order?’ I wanted to hear [Clown voice] ‘Whats your orderrrrrrrrrr?” My manager didn’t think it was very funny: He told me to go home and never come back. I got fired! Fired for being in character! Why you… [Shakes fist] I’ll show you: One day I will be The Joker and then you’ll be sorry!”
(16) BIG FAMILY IS WATCHING. [Item by Jonathan Cowie.] Nature notes some past fiction has become science fact with the rise of the surveillance state — “Eyed up: the state of surveillance”
In the 1998 Hollywood thriller Enemy of the State, an innocent man (played by Will Smith) is pursued by a rogue spy agency that uses the advanced satellite “Big Daddy” to monitor his every move. The film — released 15 years before Edward Snowden blew the whistle on a global surveillance complex — has achieved a cult following. It was, however, much more than just prescient: it was also an inspiration, even a blueprint, for one of the most powerful surveillance technologies ever created…
This is the basis for the new book Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How It Will Watch Us All by Arthur Holland Michel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019).
(17) A SEMI-MOVING PICTURE. Mike Kennedy sent the link with an observation – “I was not aware we needed this”: “‘Playmobil: The Movie’: Film Review” in The Hollywood Reporter.
Once they’re transformed into animated characters, Charlie soon winds up prisoner in a Gladiator-like kingdom ruled by the evil Emperor Maximums (Adam Lambert), prompting Marla to team up with a hipster food truck driver (Jim Gaffigan, providing vague comic relief) and a ridiculous secret agent (Daniel Radcliffe) to get her bro back. Along the way, she runs into tons of other merchandise, although it’s uncertain at this point whether the figure of Glinara (Maddie Taylor) — basically a female Jabba the Hut decked out in a sleeveless leather dress — was something already made by Playmobil or a creature the filmmakers invented for the hell of it.
Otherwise, everything goes exactly where you expect, from the live-action scenes bookending the cartoon to the nonstop chases and thundering soundtrack to all the attempts at humor that mostly miss their mark. To the director’s credit, the animated sequences are richly rendered, making the most of the rather stiff and plain-looking originals (though, if you want to get nitpicky, an early gag poking fun at the fact that Playmobil legs are unbendable is soon forgotten) and offering up a plethora of settings that help compensate for the lack of good writing.
[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, ULTRAGOTHA, John King Tarpinian, JJ, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Cat Eldridge, Chip Hitchcock, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day, the reference detecting Randall M.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Amazing Stories, drones, Dune, Galactic Journey, Hidden Figures, Ian Gunn, James Reid, Joe Sherry, John Boston, Jonathan Cowie, Judith Tarr, kaiju, Mark Hamill, Orphan Black, Stranger Things
Pixel Scroll 4/29/19 The Task Of Filling Up This Scroll I’d Rather Leave To You
Posted on April 29, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. Ian Sales’ “Top five science fiction films” is a good post made even more interesting by the choice of John Carter (2012) as one of the five – not a movie many viewers would pick.
I saw someone recently tweet for requests for people’s top five science fiction films and I thought, I can do that. Then it occurred to me I’ve watched around 3000 movies in the past few years, and many of them were science fiction. So those films I think of as my favourites… well, surely I’d seen something that might lead to a new top five? Even if nothing sprung immediately to mind… True, I’m not that big a fan of science fiction cinema, and most of my favourite movies are dramas. And most of the sf films I have seen were commercial tentpole US movies, a genre I like even less…
I went back over my records, and pulled together a rough list of about fifteen films – it seems most of the sf films I’ve seen didn’t impress me very much – and then whittled that down to five. And they were pretty much old favourites. Which sort of rendered the whole exercise a bit pointless.
(2) FILER SCORES SCALZI Q&A. While John Scalzi was in Hungary for the Budapest International Book Festival, he gave an interview to blogger Bence Pintér:
I will present an English version for my blog in a few days, but until then there is a short video interview at the end of the article, which is in English: “John Scalzi: A szélsojobbos trollok csak jót tettek a science fictionnel”.
(3) HELP ED NAHA. Lots of fans know Ed Naha as the creator and screenwriter for Honey I Shrunk The Kids, and a writer for Starlog, Fangoria and Heavy Metal. He also wrote scripts for the movies Doll, Trolls, and other horror/sf movies.
Paul Sanchez says, “Ed is facing an upcoming major life-threatening surgery. The great American health care system being what it is, it is not nearly enough (Shocking, right?)” So he’s launches a GoFundMe appeal —“Honey, I Shrunk Naha’s Medical Bills!”
In the first two days people have contributed $1,605 toward its $19,998 goal.
(4) ZHAO RETURNS. The author who pulled her book in response to a Twitter uproar now is ready for it to go to press.
Dear Readers: I’m glad to announce that BLOOD HEIR will publish on November 19, 2019. Thank you for the support.
BLOOD HEIR is now available for preorder: https://t.co/OrlMm4iCxA pic.twitter.com/qodGQlRgq1
— Amélie Wen Zhao (@ameliewenzhao) April 29, 2019
The New York Times elaborates: “She Pulled Her Debut Book When Critics Found It Racist. Now She Plans to Publish.”
(5) WHY WAIT? “‘The Twilight Zone’ Renewed for Season 2 at CBS All Access” says The Hollywood Reporter.
CBS All Access and Jordan Peele will spend some more time in another dimension.
The streamer has renewed Peele and Simon Kinberg’s Twilight Zone revival for a second season. The pickup comes five episodes into the anthology’s run; new installments are released each Thursday.
(6) HORROR AT GETTYSBURG. Dann writes: “Via episode 216 of The Horror Show with Brian Keene, I learned about a new Con.”
The inaugural Creature Feature Weekend is scheduled to take place Labor Day weekend of 2019. (August 30 to September 1) In Gettysburg, PA. The con will feature the usual vendor’s room, autograph opportunities, nightly ghost/film location tours, and host an independent film festival.
Scheduled guests include Corey Feldman, Patty Mullen, Joe Bob Briggs, Geretta Geretta, Jason Brooks, Brandon Novak, Chalet Lizette Branna, Billy Bryan, David Eisenhauer John Russo, Glenn Ennis, and others.
Thought this might be of interest to fans of the horror corner of the genre pool.
(7) ANTHOLOGY ARCHITECTURE. In “Time Capsule: SF – The Year’s Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy (1956)”, Nerds of a Feather contributors Adri Joy, Joe Sherry and Paul Weimer use a single work to focus their discussion of editor Judith Merril.
… Today we’re talking about Judith Merril’s first Year’s Best anthology: SF: The Year’s Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy, originally published in 1956….
Paul: I am reminded that rights make it difficult to get many of these older anthologies except in falling-apart paperbacks. I do think there is something lost when these things fall out of print, because the notes make this more, in my view, than just the sum of the stories. There is value in reading this collection above and beyond the individual stories themselves.
On that note, one thing I did like in this anthology that you don’t get in a lot of modern anthologies is the “Sewing together” that Merrill does in providing explicit direction as to what she was thinking in placement of stories on subject and theme. I don’t think that gets enough play these days, and too often, anthologies seem to have stories in any old order without a sense of how they reflect and refract on each other. Merrill WANTS you to know what she is thinking. It’s a more “present” place for an anthologist than what you get these days.
Born April 29, 1887 — H. Bedford-Jones. Pulp writer of whom only maybe ten percent of his twelve hundred stories could be considered genre but some such as the Jack Solomon novels, say John Solomon, Argonaut and John Solomon’s Biggest Game are definitely genre. Like many of the early pulp writers, he used a number of pen names, to wit Michael Gallister, Allan Hawkwood, Gordon Keyne, H. E. Twinells and L. B. Williams. Wildside Press published in 2006 a collection of his short stories, The House of Skulls and Other Tales from the Pulps. (Died 1949.)
Born April 29, 1908 — Jack Williamson. I’ll frankly admit that he’s one of those authors that I know I’ve read a fair amount by can’t recall any specific titles as I didn’t collect him. A quick research study suggests the Legion of Space series was what I liked best. What did y’all like by him? (Died 2006.)
Born April 29, 1923 — Irvin Kershner. Director and producer of such genre works as the Amazing Stories and seaQuest DSV series, Never Say Never Again, RoboCop 2 and The Empire Strikes Back. By the way, several of the sources I used in compiling this Birthday claimed that was the best Star Wars film. (Died 2010.)
Born April 29, 1946 — Humphrey Carpenter. Biographer whose notable output of biographies includes J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography; also did editing of The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, and is responsible for The Inklings: CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams and their Friends. (Died 2005.)
Born April 29, 1955 — Kate Mulgrew, 64. Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager. Other genre roles include voicing Red Claw on Batman: The Animated Series, Jane Lattimer on Warehouse 13 and Clytemnestra in Iphigenia at the Signature Theatre Company.
Born April 29, 1968 — Michelle Pfeiffer, 61. Selina Kyle aka Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. I saw it once which was quite enough. She was also in the much better The Witches of Eastwick as Sukie Ridgemont and was Brenda Landers in the “Hospital” segment of Amazon Women on the Moon. She played Laura Alden in Wolf, voiced Tsipp?r?h in The Prince of Egypt, was Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, voiced Eris in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, was Lamia in Stardust and is playing The Wasp (Janet van Dyne) in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Born April 29, 1970 — Uma Thurman, 49. Venus / Rose in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Kage’s favorite film), Maid Marian in the Robin Hood starring Patrick Bergin which I highly recommend, Poison Ivy in Batman & Robin (bad, bad film) which she will follow by being Emma Peel in The Avengers, an even worse stinker of a film, and Irene in Gattaca.
(9) GAME OF ROT-13. BEWARE SPOILERS for last night’s Game of Thrones episode.The Mary Sue asks “Ubj va gur Jbeyq Pna Nalbar Fnl Neln Fgnex Vf n Znel Fhr?”.
Gvzr sbe zr gb erne zl htyl urnq va guvf pbairefngvba naq fgneg fpernzvat ng crbcyr, orpnhfr gur tebff pbafrafhf nsgre gur yngrfg rcvfbqr bs UOB’f Tnzr bs Guebarf vf gung Neln Fgnex, n jbzna jub qrqvpngrq ure yvsr gb pbzong genvavat, vf abj n Znel Fhr. Nsgre fur raqrq hc qrsrngvat gur Avtug Xvat ol fgnoovat uvz jvgu qentbatynff, zra ner znq gung n jbzna qvq vg vafgrnq bs gurve cerpvbhf Wba Fabj.
(10) QUICK, WATSON. Paul Weimer reviews a Holmes-inspired novel in “Microreview [book]: The Hound of Justice, by Claire O’Dell” at Nerds of a Feather.
By the end of A Study in Honor, the first in Claire O’Dell’s Janet Watson Chronicles, the writer had established the parameters of her world, introduced our two main characters in full, Dr. Janet Watson and Sara Holmes. These two queer women of color as posited are indeed this world’s versions of the classic detective duo, in a near future 21st century Washington D.C, where America, after the divisiveness of a Trump administration is wracked by something even worse: A new Civil War. The two meet, and a first step toward Watson engaging with the war-torn past that cost her an arm is the central mystery at the heart of that novel.
In The Hound of Justice (yet a second novel title in homage to Doyle)., Dr. Watson’s story continues…
(11) XENON. “Scientists witness the rarest event in the Universe yet seen” — at SYFY Wire, Phil Plait tells what made it possible.
Over a kilometer below the surface of Italy, deep beneath the Gran Sasso mountain, lies a cylindrical tank. It’s roughly a meter high, a bit less than that wide, and it’s filled with an extraordinary substance: three and a half tons of ultra-pure xenon, kept liquid at a temperature of almost a hundred degrees Celsius below zero.
The tank is part of an experiment called XENON1T, and scientist built it in the hopes of detecting an incredibly rare event: an interaction of a dark matter particle with a xenon nucleus, predicted to occur if dark matter is a very specific kind of particle itself. Should they see such an event, it will nail down what dark matter is, and change the course of astronomy.
Unfortunately, they haven’t seen that yet. But instead, what they have seen is something far, far more rare: the decay of xenon-124 into tellurium-124. The conditions need to be so perfect for this to happen inside the nucleus of a xenon-124 atom that the half-life* for this event is staggeringly rare: It’s 1.8 x 1022 years.
(12) SOURCE OF OLD EARWORMS. NPR’s “From Betty Boop To Popeye, Franz Von Suppé Survives In Cartoons” includes the cartoons mentioned in the headline.
On April 18, 2019, Franz von Suppé was born on 200 years ago in what is now Croatia, but he went to Vienna as a young man and built a successful career as a conductor and composer. And while you may never have heard of von Suppé, if you like movies, cartoons, or video games, odds are you’ve heard his music.
(13) BEFORE THE BREAKTHROUGH. BBC delves into “‘The Wandering Earth’ and China’s sci-fi heritage”.
The Wandering Earth has been billed as a breakthrough for Chinese sci-fi.
The film tells the story of our planet, doomed by the expanding Sun, being moved across space to a safer place. The Chinese heroes have to save the mission – and humanity – when Earth gets caught in Jupiter’s gravitational pull.
Based on Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin’s short story of the same name, Wandering Earth has already grossed $600m (£464m) at the Chinese box office and was called China’s “giant leap into science fiction” by the Financial Times. It’s been bought by Netflix and will debut there on 30 April.
But while this may be the first time many in the West have heard of “kehuan” – Chinese science fiction – Chinese cinema has a long sci-fi history, which has given support to scientific endeavour, offered escapism from harsh times and inspired generations of film-goers.
So for Western audiences eager to plot the rise of the Chinese sci-fi movie, here are five films I think are worth renewed attention….
(14) PLEASE TO RETURN TO SENDER. “Norway finds ‘Russian spy whale’ off Arctic coast”: BBC has the story.
A beluga whale found off Norway’s coast wearing a special Russian harness was probably trained by the Russian navy, a Norwegian expert says.
Marine biologist Prof Audun Rikardsen said the harness had a GoPro camera holder and a label sourcing it to St Petersburg. A Norwegian fisherman managed to remove it from the whale.
He said a Russian fellow scientist had told him that it was not the sort of kit that Russian scientists would use.
Russia has a naval base in the region.
The tame beluga repeatedly approached Norwegian boats off Ingoya, an Arctic island about 415km (258 miles) from Murmansk, where Russia’s Northern Fleet is based. Belugas are native to Arctic waters.
…A Russian reserve colonel, who has written previously about the military use of marine mammals, shrugged off Norway’s concern about the beluga. But he did not deny that it could have escaped from the Russian navy.
Interviewed by Russian broadcaster Govorit Moskva, Col Viktor Baranets said “if we were using this animal for spying do you really think we’d attach a mobile phone number with the message ‘please call this number’?”
(15) WHAT TO WANT. I learned something about Murderbot, and something about the reviewer, Andrea, in “Exit Strategy by Martha Wells” at Little Red Reviewer.
…When I first started reading Exit Strategy, I thought the plot was thin and weak. I felt like I wasn’t connecting with this book as much as I had with earlier entries, and that annoyed me. Call it user-error. More on that later, I promise….
(16) WHERE’S OSHA DURING ALL THIS? It’s James Davis Nicoll’s turn to deconstruct a classic: “On Needless Cruelty in SF: Tom Godwin’s ‘The Cold Equations’”.
Science fiction celebrates all manner of things; one of them is what some people might call “making hard decisions” and other people call “needless cruelty driven by contrived and arbitrary worldbuilding chosen to facilitate facile philosophical positions.” Tomato, tomato.
Few works exemplify this as perfectly as Tom Godwin’s classic tale “The Cold Equations.”…
James has a good time, and doubtless some of you will, too. Teenaged me, on the other hand, considers his feelings mocked….
(17) TURNING UP THE LOST VOLUME. “Christopher Columbus’ son’s universal library is newly rediscovered in this lost tome”.
Hernando Colón, the illegitimate son of Italian colonizer Christopher Columbus, had an obsession with books. Colón traveled the world to attempt an ambitious dream: to collect and store all of the world’s books in one library. Summaries of the volumes he gathered were distilled in the “Libro de los Epítomes,” or “The Book of Epitomes” — that repository had been lost to history for centuries.
…This was right at the dawn of the era of print, so the number of books was rising exponentially. He realized that the idea of this library was a wonderful one, but of course, it might become unmanageable if he was just collecting the books and not finding a way to organize and distill them. So he paid an army of readers to read every book in the library and to distill it down to a short summary so that all of this knowledge could be put at the disposal of a single person.
It’s this book, the “Libro de los Epítomes,” that is described by his last librarian in a document at the end of Hernando’s life, but then disappears and isn’t really heard of for basically 500 years because it’s been sitting for at least 350 of those years in Scandinavia, where it was unrecognized….
Somehow this reminds me of Forry Ackerman’s answer to the question of whether he’d read all the books in his collection – “Every last word.” By which he meant he’d looked at the last word on the last page of all of them.
[Thanks to rcade, Rich Lynch,, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Tom Mason, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Carl Slaughter, John King Tarpinian, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Adri Joy, Amélie Wen Zhao, Bence Pinter, Ed Naha, Game of Thrones, Ian Sales, James Davis Nicoll, Joe Sherry, John Scalzi, Jordan Peele, Judith Merril, Little Red Reviewer, Martha Wells, Paul Weimer, The Mary Sue, Twilight Zone
Pixel Scroll 4/9/19 In The Comments The Filers Come And Go Scrolling Pixelangelo
Posted on April 9, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) MISSING SUPERHEROES FORMATION. The Wrap tells how “‘Avengers: Endgame’ Press Conference Leaves Seats Empty for Thanos’ Victims”.
In a cheeky nod to the end of “Infinity War,” Sunday’s press conference for the upcoming “Avengers: Endgame” left several seats empty for the actors who played characters snapped into oblivion by Thanos.
“Post-Snap, there’s a few empty seats, so I’d like to welcome back the people that you see here onstage,” said “Iron Man” director and star Jon Favreau, who hosted the event.
Those who did make it included Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, “Endgame” directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Danai Gurira, Chris Hemsworth, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Jeremy Renner, and “Captain Marvel” newcomer Brie Larson.
#AvengersEndgame Presser Leaves Seats Empty for #Thanos Victims https://t.co/RYys9g4Dfd
— NY J?s???? S????? (@NYJusticeSeeker) April 8, 2019
(2) CAPTAINS UMBRAGEOUS. Yahoo! Lifestyle brings us a sneak peek released yesterday on Good Morning America: “Marvel Released a New Clip from ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and Someone Isn’t Happy About Captain Marvel Joining the Team”.
(3) CELLAR DOOR (NOT INTO SUMMER). Empire posted an exclusive clip from the Tolkien biopic.
Tolkien explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the “fellowship” apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels.
(4) INSPIRING CHART. The Book Smugglers host “Fran Wilde: A Map of Inspirations and Influences for RIVERLAND”. Wilde’s post begins —
The last time I did an inspirations and influences post here, I drew you a literary family tree for Updraft. It got a little out of hand. (Carmina Burana and a taxidermied weasel qualify as out of hand.)
This time, for Riverland, which is my first middle grade novel, I drew you a map. …
There’s no greater magic than the power of sisterhood. Come celebrate @fran_wilde’s new book 7p tonight at @DoylestownBooks, with special guest @cordeliajensen. #RiverlandBook #EveryShinyThing https://t.co/TpciaQYaHf pic.twitter.com/0Y18NCUpBJ
— ABRAMS Kids (@abramskids) April 9, 2019
(5) APOLOGIA FOR AO3. Slate’s Casey Fiesler tries to explain “Why Archive of Our Own’s Surprise Hugo Nomination Is Such a Big Deal”.
…But fan works, and the community that surrounds them, often don’t get the respect they deserve. So AO3’s nomination for the prestigious award—both for the platform itself and for the platform as a proxy for the very concept of fan fiction—is a big deal. Many, both inside and outside the sci-fi and fantasy community, deride fan fiction as mostly clumsy amateur works of sexual fantasy—critiques that, as those who have looked at them closely have pointed out, have a glaringly gendered component. Erotic fan fiction is part of the landscape—and, frankly, can be a wonderful part of it—but it’s about more than that. It’s about spending more time in the worlds you love and exploring characters beyond the page. It’s about speculating over how things could be different, just as good science fiction and fantasy does. And it’s also about critiquing source texts, pushing back against harmful narratives, and adding and correcting certain types of representation (including the ways women and LGBTQ people are portrayed in these genres).
(6) SHOOTING THE MOON. Christian Davenport in the Washington Post questions whether the administration’s goal of landing on the Moon in 2024 can be met, since the plan is based on a lunar orbital station that has not been built, much less contracted. Davenport notes that Vice-President Pence “has dedicated more time to space than any other White House official since the Kennedy administration.” — “Trump’s moonshot: The next giant leap or another empty promise?”.
…NASA officials also face a major test of their agency’s effectiveness: Is this another empty promise by an administration nostalgic for the triumph of Apollo and looking to make a splash while in office, or can NASA somehow pull off what would be an audacious step just in time for the presidential election?
Already, there are signs that the White House’s plan is running into fierce head winds.
At a hearing Tuesday, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), the chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, blasted Pence’s speech for lacking any details of how NASA would achieve what she called a “crash program” or what it would cost.
“We need specifics, not rhetoric,” she said. “Because rhetoric that is not backed up by a concrete plan and believable cost estimates is just hot air. And hot air may be helpful in ballooning, but it won’t get us to the moon or Mars.”
(7) EARLY LESSONS. Tobias Buckell tells about the famed magazine’s significance to him, and empathizes with those affected by its parent company’s recent bankruptcy filing, in “100 Years of Writer’s Digest (#WritersDigest100): Some Thoughts”.
…I did a keynote for Writer Digest conference in Cincinnati not too long ago. I really tried to kick my keynoting abilities up to a new level, and I think I was able to deliver. But while there, I met quite a few staff from Writers Digest. I really hope this ends well for them, as they were all excited about helping writers and celebrating books.
(8) SAY (SWISS) CHEESE! Science says we may know tomorrow: “Here’s what scientists think a black hole looks like” .
More than half a dozen scientific press conferences are set for 10 April, raising hopes that astronomers have for the first time imaged a black hole, objects with gravitational fields so strong that even light cannot escape. Although their existence is now almost universally accepted, mostly from the effect of their gravity on nearby objects, no one has actually seen one.
Black holes themselves are entirely dark and featureless. The giant ones at the centers of galaxies are also surprisingly small, despite containing millions or billions of times the mass of our sun. To make observing them yet more difficult, those giants are shrouded in clouds of dust and gas. But streams of superhot gas swirl around the holes, emanating radio waves about a millimeter in wavelength that can penetrate those clouds.
Two years ago, an international collaboration known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) corralled time on eight different radio telescopes around the world to try to image the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*, and another at the center of nearby galaxy M87. They used a technique known as interferometry to combine the output of the globally scattered instruments to produce images as if from a single dish as wide as Earth. A dish that large is needed to see the details of something that would fit easily within the orbit of Mercury and is 26,000 light-years away.
(9) MORE MCINTYRE MEMORIES. A lovely tribute to Vonda McIntyre by Arwen Curry, director of Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin:
On camera in Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda keenly describes the moment when women began to make a space for themselves in science fiction and fantasy, and the controversy it stirred up. I recorded her during a vacation with Ursula and Charles Le Guin in the southeast Oregon desert on a blistering day — a day so hot that the camera overheated and we had to pause filming and cool off. I still feel a little guilty about the heat of that afternoon, and grateful that she endured it.
(10) TODAY IN HISTORY.
April 9, 1960 – The Mercury Seven astronauts were introduced to the public.
Born April 9, 1911 — George O. Smith. He was an active contributor to Astounding Science Fiction during the Forties. His collaboration with the magazine’s editor, John W. Campbell, Jr. ended when Campbell’s first wife, Doña, left him in 1949 and married Smith. Ouch. He was a prolific writer with eight novels and some seventy short stories to his name. He was a member of the all-male dining and drinking club the Trap Door Spiders, which was the inspiration for Asimov’s the Black Widowers. (Died 1981.)
Born April 9, 1926 — Hugh Hefner. According to SFE, he had been an avid reader of Weird Tales when he was younger. Perhaps as a result, Playboy came to feature stories from the likes of Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Algis Budrys, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, James Blish, Robert A Heinlein, Frederik Pohl and Rod Serling. Arthur C. Clarke’s “A Meeting with Medusa” which would first run here won a Nebula. (Died 2017.)
Born April 9, 1926 — Avery Schreiber. Principal genre claim is being in Galaxina which parodied Trek, Star Wars and Alien. Other genre appearances included being a rider on a coach in Dracula: Dead and Loving It, the Russian Ambassador in More Wild Wild West and the voice ofBeanie the Brain-Dead Bison on the Animaniacs. (Died 2002.)
Born April 9, 1954 — Dennis Quaid, 65. I’m reasonably sure that his first genre role was in Dreamscape as Alex Gardner followed immediately by the superb role of Willis Davidge in Enemy Mine, followed by completing a trifecta with Innerspace and the character of Lt. Tuck Pendleton. And then there’s the sweet film of Dragonheart and him as Bowen. Anyone hear of The Day After Tomorrow in which he was Jack Hall? I hadn’t a clue about it.
Born April 9, 1972 — Neve McIntosh, 47. During time of the Eleventh Doctor, She plays Alaya and Restac, two Silurian reptilian sisters who have been disturbed under the earth, one captured by humans and the other demanding vengeance. Her second appearance on Doctor Who is Madame Vastra, in “A Good Man Goes to War”. Also a Silurian, she’s a Victorian crime fighter. She’s back in the 2012 Christmas special, and in the episodes “The Crimson Horror” and “The Name of the Doctor”. She reprises her role as Madame Vastra, who along with her wife, Jenny Flint, and Strax, a former Sontaran warrior, form an private investigator team.
Born April 9, 1982 — Brandon Stacy, 37. He worked on both of the new Trek films as a stand-in for Quinto with obviously the acting jones as he become involved in two of the Trek video fanfics, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier and Star Trek: Phase II, the latter in which he portrays Spock of course.
Born April 9, 1990 — Kristen Stewart, 29. She first shows up in our area of interest in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas as a Ring Toss Girl (ok, it wasn’t that bad a film). Zathura: A Space Adventure based off the Chris Van Allsburg book has her playing Lisa Budwing. Jumper based off the Stephen Gould novel of the same name had her in a minor role as Sophie. If you’ve not seen it, I recommend Snow White and the Huntsman which has her in the title role of Snow White. It’s a really great popcorn film. Finally she’s got a gig in The Twilight Saga franchise as Bella Cullen.
Born April 9, 1998 — Elle Fanning, 21. Yes, she’s from that acting family. And she’s certainly been busy, with roles in over forty films! Her first genre film is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button followed by Astro Boy, Super 8, Maleficent, The Boxtrolls, The Neon Demon, the upcoming Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and a recurring role on The Lost Room, a Cursed Objects miniseries that aired on Syfy.
Grimmy tries a familiar origin story on for size – and it doesn’t fit!
(13) BIGGEST BANG. The makers of the Top Sci-Fi Weapons infographic say —
Sci-fi movies aren’t complete if they don’t show highly advanced and destructive weapons. From lightsabers to photon torpedoes, they’ve been iconic on their own.
As these weapons caught our interest, we’ve put together the ultimate arsenal of reality-warping weapons in order to compare which is the most powerful sci-fi weapon in the universe.
This is not just random ranking. Would you believe we worked with physicists and engineers on this infographic.
(14) WAKANDA SOUND. Hear “Wakanda Funk Lounge” by SassyBlack at Bandcamp.
“Wakanda Funk Lounge” by SassyBlack, is a svelte slab of hologram funk delivered directly from the Black Panther nation of Wakanda. This four-song EP contains the chart-topping hits from that nation’s funk lounges, and rising star, SassyBlack.
SassyBlack is a queer “blaxploitation, sci-fi warrior queen” and is also a multi-talented, space-aged songwriter, beatmaker, composer and singer. Her music has been described as “electronic psychedelic soul,” with roots in experimental hip-hop, R&B, and jazz. Her voice has been compared to that of Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, and Georgia Anne Muldrow and her beats owe a debt to Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones. Like Queen Latifah, she sings, raps, is an actor (who recently appeared on Broad City) and produces all her own music. Before going solo, she recorded and performed as half of the Afrofuturist hip-hop duo THEESatisfaction. Her music has received attention from Okayplayer, Afropunk, The Fader, Pitchfork, Bitch magazine and more.
Her brand new “Wakanda Funk Lounge” EP has been recently released as a 500-copy special-edition 7” single on Seattle hip-hop record label Crane City Music. The cover was designed by visual artist Wutang McDougal and each copy is pressed on colored vinyl and is individually numbered. The music is also available online on all major streaming services and can be purchased digitally through Bandcamp. It’s funky music that reminds us that Wakanda’s main export is “VIBE-ranium.”
In describing the project, SassyBlack says that “Wakanda Funk Lounge is about black freedom. When I think of “Black Panther,” it is talking about black freedom, so much that we have our own secret space. What would be freer than a Wakanda funk lounge?”
This is not her first sci-fi or superhero-themed project. SassyBlack performed at 2018’s Emerald City Comic Con, and her 2016 full-length album, “No More Weak Dates” contains numerous references to Star Trek. In an interview with Hearst publication Shondaland, she explains her sci-fi fascination: “Star Trek and Star Wars have always had bars and concerts. There’s no culture without music… And so Black Panther’s M’Baku invites me to come and perform in one of Wakanda’s funk lounges. This EP is the music I perform there. And where it gets crazy is that I’m like, ‘Listen, I have to leave Wakanda now because I’m going to go join Starfleet.’ [laughs] It could technically work.”
(15) SEE SPACEX MISSION. NBC News: “SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket set for first commercial launch. Here’s how to watch it live online.”
Thirteen months after its maiden flight, SpaceX’s huge Falcon Heavy rocket is being readied for its first commercial launch on Wednesday.
The 230-foot-tall rocket is scheduled to lift off at 6:35 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This will be only the second flight for the world’s most powerful rocket now in operation.
(16) SPFBO ENTRY. Jessica Juby reviews Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off #4 finalist “Symphony of the Wind by Steven McKinnon” at Fantasy-Faction.
…You’d be wrong if you thought this was going to be a light-hearted jaunt on airships. We’re quickly introduced to our rag-tag crew aboard the Liberty Wind, with plucky protagonist Serena and the chip on her shoulder, discovering their unique personalities. It’s not long into the story before things start going wrong, the pace immediately picks up and gives us a taste of what’s yet to fully unfold.
It’s commendable that the author strikes while the iron is hot and gets down and dirty within the first chapter…
(17) IN MEMORY NOT GREEN. Out of This World SFF Reviews’ Nick T. Borrelli delves into After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward.
AFTER THE GREEN WITHERED is definitely a book with a relevant political and social message. Author Kristin Ward does not pull any punches in this regard and the reader absolutely gets a taste of what the world could possibly be like if we continue down our current path with regard to how we are addressing environmental issues. I’m a fan of dystopian SF like this one, and I thought that by and large the author did a solid job of creating an atmosphere that delved into the hopelessness that living under these conditions would obviously engender.
(18) SERIES REVIVED. Joe Sherry heralds an author’s return to an iconic setting in “Mircoreview [book]: Alliance Rising, by C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher” at Nerds of a Feather.
Alliance Rising marks the return of C.J. Cherryh to her Alliance-Union Universe. It’s been ten years since the publication of Regenesis, and since then she’s published nine more Foreigner novels, but it’s been a long wait for Alliance-Union fans. Alliance Rising is the earliest novel set in the timeline. Set on the cusp of the Company Wars, there are plenty of references for long time Cherryh readers: Pell Station, Cyteen, the azi and the Emorys, the ship Finity’s End and its captain JR Neihart. Put together, the novel is grounded in a particular time and the edges of a setting that many readers are well familiar with even though no prior knowledge is required.
(19) KARMA CHAMELEON. To beat computer hackers, do cybercrime professionals need to change their Patronus? — “Should cyber-security be more chameleon, less rhino?”
Billions are being lost to cyber-crime each year, and the problem seems to be getting worse. So could we ever create unhackable computers beyond the reach of criminals and spies? Israeli researchers are coming up with some interesting solutions.
The key to stopping the hackers, explains Neatsun Ziv, vice president of cyber-security products at Tel Aviv-based Check Point Security Technologies, is to make hacking unprofitable.
“We’re currently tracking 150 hacking groups a week, and they’re making $100,000 a week each,” he tells the BBC.
“If we raise the bar, they lose money. They don’t want to lose money.”
This means making it difficult enough for hackers to break in that they choose easier targets.
And this has been the main principle governing the cyber-security industry ever since it was invented – surrounding businesses with enough armour plating to make it too time-consuming for hackers to drill through. The rhinoceros approach, you might call it.
But some think the industry needs to be less rhinoceros and more chameleon, camouflaging itself against attack.
(20) END OF AN ERA? BBC asks “Is ‘Game of Thrones’ the last great blockbuster TV show?” And I obligingly click…
As the fantasy saga returns for its final series, Chris Mandle asks whether the small screen will ever produce such a worldwide obsession again.
…In the US, season seven had an astonishing average viewership of 32.8 million people per episode – to put that in context, the finale of Mad Men, another critically acclaimed, much talked about prestige drama, pulled in 4.6 million US viewers in 2015 – while in recent years, interest in the show has surged in Asian markets, among others.
But while Thrones changed television, it’s also true that television itself changed during the show’s run. As the wars between the factions of Westeros’s Seven Kingdoms have raged, traditional television has been usurped by streaming services, non-linear viewing and ‘binge’ culture, where consumers, rather than wait patiently for an episode airing each week, are more used to having an entire season dropped in their lap to watch at their leisure.
What seems likely is that Game of Thrones’ swansong might also mark the end of TV’s monoculture era – the age of shows that everyone watches and talks about together. Certainly, nothing else that appears on traditional broadcasters seems primed to roll out on its scale….
(21) UNEXPECTED TRAIT. And he’s not the only one at the studio who has it — “Aphantasia: Ex-Pixar chief Ed Catmull says ‘my mind’s eye is blind'”.
The former president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios says he has a “blind mind’s eye”.
Most people can close their eyes and conjure up images inside their head such as counting sheep or imagining the face of a loved one.
But Ed Catmull, 74, has the condition aphantasia, in which people cannot visualise mental images at all.
And in a surprising survey of his former employees, so do some of the world’s best animators.
Ed revolutionised 3D graphics, and the method he developed for animating curved surfaces became the industry standard.
He first realised his brain was different when trying to perform Tibetan meditation with a colleague.
(22) TIME FOR SILVERBERG. Rob Latham discusses “Temporal Turmoil: The Time Travel Stories of Robert Silverberg” at LA Review of Books.
… But throughout his career, Silverberg returned obsessively to one of the genre’s key motifs — time travel — upon which he spun elaborate and strikingly original variations. During his New Wave heyday, when he was one of the preeminent American SF writers, he produced six novels dealing centrally with themes of temporal transit or displacement — The Time Hoppers (1967), Hawksbill Station (1968), The Masks of Time (1968), Up the Line (1969), Son of Man (1971), and The Stochastic Man (1975) — his treatment of the topic ranging from straightforward adventure stories to heady philosophical disquisitions. The new collection Time and Time Again: Sixteen Trips in Time (Three Rooms Press, 2018), which gathers 16 stories published between 1956 and 2007, provides a robust — and very welcome — conspectus of Silverberg’s short fiction on the subject….
(23) NO SPARKLES. BBC wants to explain “What unicorns mean to Scottish identity”.
From Edinburgh to St Andrews and Glasgow to Dundee, the one-horned mythological horse is real in Scotland.
In a corner of Edinburgh, outside the Palace of Holyroodhouse with its witches’ hat towers and crenellated turrets, 74-year-old tour guide Kenny Hanley can often be found pointing to a little piece of magic atop an ornamental gateway at the residence’s southern approach.
The focus of his attention is an almost-forgotten stone emblem of the city and country in which he lives, and yet few realise it’s one that teems with meaning, telling an almost unbelievable story about Scotland’s national identity.
Take a step back, and the fuller picture emerges. There’s a second cast-stone figure opposite – a rampant lion, crowned, and holding a ceremonial flag as it stands guard. But Hanley’s gaze remains drawn to the slender, mythical creature wrapped in chains to our right.
The stone is just stone and the lion is just a lion, but this horse-like figure – adorned with a singularly fancy horn on its forehead – is extraordinary. It is a unicorn. And, believe the hype or not, it is Scotland’s national animal.
…“It’s long been a symbol of purity and power, but also of virginity and subtlety,” said Hanley, who works as a Blue Badge guide for the Scottish Tourist Guides Association. “And those values still stand up when thinking about Scotland today. These are characteristics embedded in the Scottish psyche.”
…According to the National Museum of Scotland, medieval legend further suggests only a king could hold a unicorn captive because of the supposed danger it posed, something that may have given rise to its widespread adoption. What is known is James II wholeheartedly embraced the legend, and the unicorn became the symbol of purity and power that Scottish kings and nobility identified with in the 15th Century. Over time, this led to the unicorn becoming officially recognised as Scotland’s national animal.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint, who wears his scrolls rolled.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Archive of Our Own, Arwen Curry, Avengers, black holes, Fran Wilde, Game of Thrones, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jessica Juby, Joe Sherry, NASA, Nick T. Borrelli, Pixar, Rob Latham, Robert Silverberg, SassyBlack, SpaceX, Tobias Buckell, unicorn, Vonda McIntyre, Wakanda
Pixel Scroll 2/25/19 The Filer That Shouted Scroll At The Heart Of The Pixel
Posted on February 25, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) CLARKE CENTER. Here are two of the most interesting videos posted by
The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination in the past several months.
Freeman Dyson and Gregory Benford: Forseeing the Next 35 Years—Where Will We Be in 2054?
35 years after George Orwell wrote the prescient novel 1984, Isaac Asimov looked ahead another 35 years to 2019 to predict the future of nuclear war, computerization, and the utilization of space. The Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination and the Division of Physical Sciences at UC San Diego were honored to welcome two living luminaries in the fields of physics and futurism—Freeman Dyson and Gregory Benford (Ph.D. ’67)—to peer ahead another 35 years, to 2054, and share their insights into what may be in store for us.
An Evening with Cixin Liu and John Scalzi at the Clarke Center
Cixin Liu, China’s most beloved science fiction writer—and one of the most important voices of the 21st century—joins celebrated American science fiction writer John Scalzi at the Clarke Center to discuss their work and the power of speculative worldbuilding.
(2) COOKIE MONSTERS? Food & Wine squees “‘Game of Thrones’ Oreos Are Coming…”
If Game of Thrones Oreos are just normal Oreos in a GoT package, hopefully it’s not a sign of things to come. The final season of Game of Thrones is one of the most highly-anticipated seasons of television ever, not just because it’s the final season, but also because it’s slated to reveal details of the sixth book in the series which fans have been waiting for nearly eight years. Expectations are ridiculously high — meaning HBO better deliver something better than the television equivalent of regular Oreos, even if regular Oreos are delicious.
Cookies are coming.
A post shared by OREO (@oreo) on Feb 23, 2019 at 12:43pm PST
(3) REASONS TO ATTEND THE NEBULAS. SFWA gives you ten of them. Thread starts here.
Ten reasons to attend the 2019 Nebula Conference, May 16-19 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles (a thread!)https://t.co/8SFcLZOASz pic.twitter.com/3d9LV98PNm
— Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (@sfwa) February 25, 2019
(4) APOLOGY. FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction’s Executive Editors Troy Wiggins and DaVaun Sanders have issued “An Apology” for publishing two collections of stories from FIYAH without first obtaining the rights to reprint them.
We messed up.
Earlier in the month, we released two collected volumes of fiction and poetry: our FIYAH Year One collection and our FIYAH Year Two collection. We were very excited to get these collected editions out to the public, and in our haste, we did not secure the rights to collect or republish those stories. By doing this, we have disrespected our authors and their work, and not acted in service to our stated mission of empowering Black writers.
We deeply apologize to our contributors and to our readers for this oversight. Unfortunately, several copies of the collected volumes have already been purchased before we were informed about our mistake. We can’t take those purchased issues back, so here’s what we will do instead:
* We have removed the collected issues from Amazon
* We sent an apology to contributors taking full responsibility for our error
* We are splitting the proceeds from the already purchased copies of the collection among all of our Year One and Year Two contributors.
We know that this doesn’t begin to cover the damage we’ve done to authors, but we will continue to improve our accountability measures and internal processes. We are also going to be seeking legal counsel to help us make sure that our contracts are fair to both us and our contributors.
Again, we are so sorry that this happened. We promise to do much better going forth.
(5) WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN. Denmark’s Fantasticon 2019 has adopted Afrofuturism as its theme. They’ve got some great guests. The convention’s publicity poster is shown below:
Born February 25, 1909 — Edgar Pangborn. For the first twenty years of his career, he wrote myriad stories for the pulp magazines, but always under pseudonyms. It wasn’t until the Fifties that he published in his own name in Galaxy Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Ursula Le Guin has credited him with her is was possible to write humanly emotional stories in an SF setting. (Died 1976.)
Born February 25, 1917 — Anthony Burgess. I know I’ve seen and read A Clockwork Orange many, many years ago. I think I even took a University class on it as well. Scary book, weird film. I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the Enderby series having not encountered them before now. Opinions please. (Died 1993.)
Born February 25, 1964 — Lee Evans, 55. He’s in The History of Mr Polly as Alfred Polly which is based on a 1910 comic novel by H. G. Wells. No, not genre, but sort of adjacent genre as some of you are fondly saying.
Born February 25, 1968 — A. M. Dellamonica, 51. A Canadian writer who has published over forty rather brilliant short since the Eighties. Her first novel, Indigo Springs, came out just a decade ago but she now has five novels published with her latest being The Nature of a Pirate. Her story, “Cooking Creole” can be heard here at Podcastle 562. It was in Mojo: Conjure Stories, edited by Nalo Hopkinson.
Born February 25, 1971 — Sean Astin,48. His genre roles include Samwise Gamgee in Rings trilogy (, Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, and Bob Newby in the second season of Stranger Things. He also shows up in Justice League: War and in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis filmsvoicing both aspects of Shazam, a difficult role to pull off. He prises that role on the Justice League Action series.
Born February 25, 1973 — Anson Mount, 46. He was Black Bolt in Marvel’s Inhumans series. He now has a recurring role as Captain Christopher Pike on the current season of Discovery. I see he was in Visions, a horror film, and has had appearances on Lost, Dollhouse and Smallville.
Born February 25, 1994 — Urvashi Rautela, 25. An Indian film actress and model who appears in Bollywood films. She has a Birthday here because she appears in Porobashinee, the first SF film in Bangladesh. Here’s an archived link to the film’s home page.
(7) THE POWER OF COMMUNITY. A sweet story in the Washington Post: “A bookstore owner was in the hospital. So his competitors came and kept his shop open.”
Hearing that your husband needs immediate open-heart surgery is terrifying, especially when he’s been healthy his whole life.
When Jennifer Powell heard the sudden news about her husband, Seth Marko, 43, she spun into action. First, she found care for their 3-year-old daughter, Josephine, so she could be at the hospital for her husband’s 10-hour surgery.
Then Powell’s mind went to their “second kid” — the Book Catapult — the small independent bookstore the couple owns and runs in San Diego. Their only employee had the swine flu and would be out for at least a week.
Powell, 40, closed the store to be with her husband in the hospital. She didn’t know for how long….
(8) BATTING AVERAGE. This bookstore had a little visitor. Thread starts here.
We have a big, boring box with lots of fun, rare historic archives and books in it.
It’s so boring on the outside we don’t have an image on file.
But it is very exciting on the inside.
— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) February 24, 2019
(9) SFF IN TRANSLATION. In the Washington Post, Paul Di Filippo reviews Roberto Bolaño’s The Spirit of Science Fiction, which was translated by Natasha Wimmer: “Roberto Bolaño’s popularity surged after his death. What does a ‘new’ book do for his legacy?”
Alternately confused and clearsighted, utopian and nihilistic, Jan and Remo live the archetypal bohemian life in Mexico City, occupying squalid digs and barely getting by. Jan is 17 and more visionary and less practical than Remo, 21. Jan seldom leaves their apartment, preferring to spend his time writing letters to American science-fiction authors: James Tiptree, Jr., Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Silverberg, Philip Jose Farmer. Remo brings in some paltry cash as a journalist…
…Jan’s passion for pulp is front and center, bringing to mind Kurt Vonnegut’s SF-loving protagonist Eliot Rosewater. Jan’s letters to his sf heroes are basically a plea to be recognized, a demand that this medium–at the time seen, rightly or wrongly, as a quintessentially Anglo domain–open its gates to other cultures, other countries. Jan’s solidarity with his distant American mentors and their visions is al one-way. He adores them, but they do not know he exists, The ache to remedy this unrequited love affair is palpable.
(10) ABOUT THOSE NEBULAS. At Nerds of a Feather “Adri and Joe Talk About Books: 2018 Nebula Award Finalists”, and shed light on the new Best Game Writing category.
[Joe Sherry]: The point of that is that I look at the game writing category and think “I’ve heard of God of War, didn’t realize Bandersnatch was actually a *game* and have no idea what the three Choice of Games finalists are”. It turns out they are fully text based, 150,000+ word interactive adventures that can be played on browser or your phone. I’ll probably pick up one of them and see how I like it (likely the Kate Heartfied, because her Nebula finalist novella Alice Payne Arrives is bloody fantastic.)
I was surprised to see Bandersnatch a finalist for “game writing”, though. I don’t want to get sued, but I’ve thought of it more akin to the Choose Your Own Adventure books many of us grew up on. Despite the branching path narrative, those were books. Not games. Now, part of why I think of Bandersnatch just as a movie is the medium in which it is presented. Streaming on Netflix equals television or movie in my brain. Branching narrative paths doesn’t change that for me. I haven’t watched Bandersnatch, so I’m staying very high level with what I’m willing to read about it, but I know Abigail Nussbaum has compared Bandersnatch more to a game than a movie and obviously she’s not alone in that opinion if it’s up for the Game Writing Nebula. But much like the Choose Your Own Adventure books, you’re watching the movie and then occasionally making choices. You’re not “playing” the game.
(11) SIDEBAR. Jon Del Arroz, in “Despite The Alt-Left Trolling, My Lawsuit Against Worldcon is Going Forward” [Internet Archive link], says this is why Worldcon 76’s Anti-SLAPP motion failed.
The judge threw out their argument, because it was absurd. It also didn’t even address the “racist bully” defamatory claim they made. It’s sad to watch because anything, I’ve been the victim of racism from the extreme left science fiction establishment. It’s my opinion that this predominantly white group targets me in particular because I’m a minority that won’t toe the line. There’s a lot of psychology to this I’ll have to go into at another time, but a lot of the way the left acts treats minorities like we’re inferior (or, racism as it’s commonly referred to) and we can’t make decisions for ourselves. I oppose this and all forms of racism and it’s a large reason as to why I speak out.
Their entire case appears to be that I’m mean online (which doesn’t impact a convention at all), and therefore should be banned, which has nothing to do with their defamatory statement regarding racism. Our response on that front said there were plenty of extreme leftists who are mean online, they were invited, clearly showing the double standard they enacted against me because of right wing politics. When we reach The Unruh Act appeal process, this will be important.
The last line implies he plans to appeal one or more rulings that went against him. We’ll see.
(12) NEBULA NOMINEE REPLIES. 2019 Nebula nominee Amy (A.K.) DuBoff (A Light in the Dark) responded to Camestros Felapton’s post “Just an additional note on the 20booksto50K Nebula not-a-slate” in a comment:
…Jonathan Brazee cleared the posting of the reading list with SFWA beforehand, so there was nothing underhanded at play. It’s a reading list, and members nominated (or didn’t) the works they read and enjoyed.
Indies have been part of SFWA’s membership for several years now, so it’s not surprising that there is now more representation at awards. I’ve interacted with many SFWA members on the forums and at conventions, so I’m not an unknown in writerly circles. Many authors don’t go indie because we couldn’t get a trad deal; we chose to self-publish because of the flexibility and income potential it affords. I am very excited to be an author during this time with so many possibilities.
Thank you for the opportunity to chime in on the discussion! I’m going to go back to writing my next book now :-).
(13) HOW MANY BOOKS A MONTH. Sharon Lee has some interesting comments about the #CopyPasteCris kerfuffle on Facebook. The best ones follow this excerpt.
…Unfortunately, said “writer” was not very generous to her ghosts, and. . .well, with one thing and another, said “writer’s” books, in said “writer’s” own words were found to “have plagiarism.”
(I love, love, love this quote. It’s, like, her books caught the flu or some other disease that was Completely Outside of the said “writer’s” ability to foresee or prevent. Also, she apparently doesn’t even read her “own” books.)
Anyhow, the Internet of Authors and the Subinternet of Romance Authors went mildly nuts, as is right and proper, and since none of said “writer’s” books appear to “have plagiarism” from our/my work, I’ve merely been a viewer from the sidelines…
(14) PIRACY. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Tolbert received some demoralizing news about other shenanigans on Amazon.
I just learned today that one of my stories has been pirated in a terrible antho kindle. If my obscure work is getting stolen, I can’t imagine what it’s like for more prolific and popular authors.
— Jeremiah Tolbert (@jeremiahtolbert) February 25, 2019
They used SFWA on the cover??
— David D. Levine (@daviddlevine) February 25, 2019
(15) BLACK PANTHER HONORED. BBC reports: “Oscars 2019: Black Panther winners make Academy Awards history”.
Two Black Panther crew members made Oscar history by becoming the first black winners in their categories.
Ruth Carter scooped the costume design trophy, and Hannah Beachler shared the production design prize with Jay Hart.
“This has been a long time coming,” Carter said in her speech. “Marvel may have created the first black superhero but through costume design we turned him into an African king.”
Fellow Oscar winner Halle Berry was one of the first to congratulate her.
(16) PWNED. BBC revealed Trevor Noah’s Oscar night joke:
Trevor Noah used Sunday’s Oscars ceremony as a chance to poke fun at people who think Wakanda, the fictional African homeland of Black Panther, is a real place.
While presenting the film’s nomination for Best Picture, the South African comedian said solemnly:
“Growing up as a young boy in Wakanda, I would see T’Challa flying over our village, and he would remind me of a great Xhosa phrase.
“He says: ‘Abelungu abazi ubu ndiyaxoka’, which means: ‘In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart.”
But that’s not what that phrase actually means.
The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani says the true translation into English is: “White people don’t know that I’m lying”. His joke, which was of course lost on the Academy Awards’ audience in Hollywood, tickled Xhosa speakers on social media.
(17) TO BE, OR NOT TO BE… [Item by Mike Kennedy.] …super, that is. In a clip from a new documentary, Stan Lee opines on what it take to be a superhero—but others disagree (SYFY Wire: “Exclusive: Stan Lee on Flash Gordon’s superhero status in Life After Flash documentary”).
The new documentary, Life After Flash, casts a wide net in terms of looking at the classic character of Flash Gordon, the 1980 big screen rendition, the questions about a sequel, and the life of its star, Sam J. Jones.
When creator Alex Raymond first published Flash Gordon in 1937, his square-jawed hero was a star polo player. For the film, he was the quarterback of the New York Jets. But in every iteration of the character, he was just a man… with a man’s courage.
In this new exclusive clip, the late Stan Lee discusses whether or not Flash Gordon counts as a ‘superhero,’ since he has no traditional superpowers.
(18) KNOCK IT OFF! Superheroes gotta stick together (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice notwithstanding). SYFY Wire has the story—”Shazam! star Zachary Levi fires back at internet trolls attacking Captain Marvel.” This is the kind of DC/Marvel crossover we could use more of.
Surprising no one in the history of anything ever, there’s an angry contingent of “fans” upset over a Marvel movie with a woman in the leading role coming out. Or, they’re upset that said star of that movie championed and pushed for more diversity in film journalism.
Whatever the reason, these people are throwing a massive online hissy fit, taking to review aggregating site Rotten Tomatoes to make Captain Marvel’s “want to see” rating the lowest in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
[…] Whatever the cause for the online trolling, one man (a hero, or quite possibly, a reasonable adult) is telling all these upset dudes: Knock it off!
(19) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Kitbull on Youtube is a Pixar film by Rosana Sullivan about the friendship between a feral cat and an abused pit bull.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Nancy Sauer, Gregory Benford, James Davis Nicoll, Martin Morse Wooster, Chip Hitchcock, Daniel Dern, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories, Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kurt Busiek.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged A.K. DuBoff, Adri Joy, Afrofuturism, Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, Black Panther, DeVaun Sanders, Fantasticon, FIYAH, Freeman Dyson, Game of Thrones, Gregory Benford, Jeremiah Tolbert, Joe Sherry, John Scalzi, Jon Del Arroz, Liu Cixin, Nebula Awards, Nebula Conference, Nerds of a Feather, Paul Di Filippo, SFF in Translation, SFWA, Sharon Lee, Stan Lee, Troy Wiggins
Pixel Scroll 2/9/19 Long Thoughtful Commentses Wrapped Up In Sings, These Are A Few Of My Scrolliest Things
Posted on February 9, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) SCIENCE IS A MOVING TARGET. James S.A. Corey thought they had the science right but a NASA spacecraft proved them gloriously wrong. National Geographic got the creators of The Expanse to write Dawn a fan letter — “Dear Dawn: How a NASA robot messed up our science fiction”.
Dear Dawn:
Did we do something to piss you off? Because to tell you the truth, your attacks on our books seemed kind of personal.
In 2011, we came out with a science-fiction novel called Leviathan Wakes that featured a big plotline on the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt. In particular, we imagined a hard, nickel-iron Ceres with a population of millions thirsty for water harvested from the rings of Saturn. We did pretty well with the story; it got a Hugo nomination, and the publisher bought some follow-ups.
Four years later, we were launching a television show based on the book, starring the embattled crew of an ice hauler trying to keep Ceres Station hydrated. That was 2015—the same time you became the first spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet. And as we gathered in the writer’s room and on set, what did you tell us? Ceres has water. Lots of it. Not only that, you found large deposits of sodium carbonate on Ceres’s surface, which doesn’t sound that impressive until you realize it’s evidence of ice volcanoes. Seriously. Ice volcanoes….
(2) WHAT NEEDS TO BE IN THE DEAL. SF author Ramez Naam (Nexus series) is a “futurologist” as well, and he just wrote an excellent extended tweet about the Green New Deal and how it might be better. Thread begins here.
The common wisdom on how climate policies have impact is wrong. Politicians think that a country's climate policy is about reducing that same country's emissions. Nope. The most effective climate policies reduce *global* emissions, or at least provide tools to do so. 3/
— Ramez Naam (@ramez) February 9, 2019
(3) ENTERPRISE. “Jeff Bezos, long known for guarding his privacy, faces his most public and personal crisis” is an article by Craig Timberg, Peter Whoriskey, Christian Davenport, and Elizabeth Dwoskin in the Washington Post about how Jeff Bezos broke his long-standing efforts to remain as private as possible in his battle against the National Enquirer. Not the most titillating part of the story, but there is a sci-fi reference in it —
in the early 2000s, Bezos started quietly acquiring hundreds of thousands of acres in West Texas, where Blue Origin now launches its New Shepard rocket. He purchased the land under corporate entities named for explorers. Thee was Joliet Holdings and Cabot Enterprises, the James Cook and William Clark Limited Partnerships and Coronado Ventures.
All were linked to a firm with a Seattle post office called Zefram LLC, namedafter Zefram Cochrane, a character in the Star Trek franchise.
(4) WISHING HIM A RAPID RECOVERY. Apex Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jason Sizemore wrote about the burdensome and painful health problems he’s been coping with in his February editorial.
…One of the diagnostics for stroke the doctor ran on me at the emergency room was a CT scan. He said, “Good news, I’m confident you are not having a stroke. But … some bad news, your scan shows a sizable lesion on the front of your mandible.“
(5) CROSS-GENRES. Vicki Who Reads picks out eight niche favorites in “Fantasci Book Recs: Books In Between Science Fiction and Fantasy!”
I love fantasy and I love science-fiction (though, sci-fi a little more than fantasy). And I think it’s really interesting when authors sort of combine the two–mixing sci-fi and fantasy (and ends up just being labeled under fantasy, typically).
But this leads to the creation of the fun, intermediate genre (at least, that’s what it is in my mind), fantasci. The intersection of science-fiction and fantasy where it’s not magic, but it’s not science either….
A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna
This book is so darn underappreciated, and it deserves ALL the love! I was sucked into the story and had such a hard time stopping, and then the ending completely wrecked me.
Like . . . is it legal to inflict these types of emotions upon me? Idk, but this book had me CRYING late at night as I read a bout [redacted]. And it’s a sort of space fantasy that’s based on Indian mythology and has me swooning.
Gosh. My heart still hurts and I need the sequel ASAP. If this book isn’t on your TBR, you’re doing something wrong because it is AMAZING and the ending is so horrible (for my heart) but so worth it.
You can read my review here!
(6) ACADEMY FOR WAYWARD WRITERS. Cat Rambo livetweeted highlights from Rachel Swirsky’s “Detail and Image” online writing class today. The thread is here.
Details don't just create a world; they also build character and mood. #detailyourprose pic.twitter.com/BS5PXOUgo2
— Cat Rambo (@Catrambo) February 9, 2019
(7) WORLDCON REUNION. Kees van Toorn, Chairman ConFiction1990, today announced plans for Reunicon 2020:
It all started with a phone call from a fan in New York way back in 1984. Then it took three years of bidding to win the race in Brighton in 1987. Another three long years to make ConFiction1990 a fact in The Hague, the first true World Science Fiction Convention on the continent of Europe. We are still creating a website and social media avenues to preserve the past for the future and… to promote our intended Reunicon 2020 to commemorate 30 years after ConFiction 1990. We look forward hearing from you or seeing you in 2020 in The Hague.
(8) PLEASE BE SEATED. ThinkGeek s offering a Star Trek TOS 1:6 Scale Captain’s Chair FX Replica for $59.99.
THE CENTERPIECE OF EVERY STARSHIP
Is that the ship intercom, or the self-destruct button? You better read up on your engineering schematics before sitting in a captain’s chair, or your tenure will be shorter than Spock’s patience for illogical behavior.
Quantum Mechanix has created an extremely detailed FX replica of the most important part of the original USS Enterprise: the captain’s chair. This 1/6 scale replica doesn’t just look good – it also lights up and makes sounds. Powered by either three AA batteries or a mini-USB plug (not included), this captain’s chair replica has four different light and sound settings including: standard bridge operations, ship-wide announcement, viewscreen scanning, and of course, red alert.
Born February 9, 1863 – Anthony Hope. He is remembered predominantly for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau. Well so says Wiki but I never heard of the latter novel. Any of you heard of It? The Prisoner of Zenda was filmed in 1936 with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in the lead role. (Died 1933.)
Born February 9, 1877 – George Allan England. His short story, “The Thing from—’Outside'”, which had originally appeared in Gernsback’s Science and Invention, was reprinted in the first issue of the first SF magazine, Amazing Stories, in April 1926. Unfortunately, his later Darkness and Dawn trilogy is marked by overt racism as later critics note. (Died 1936.)
Born February 9, 1928 – Frank Frazetta. Artist whose illustrations showed up damn near everywhere from LP covers to book covers and posters. Among the covers he were Tarzan and the Lost Empire, Conan the Adventurer (L. Sprague de Camp stories in that setting) and Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. He did over-muscled barbarians very well! Oh and he also helped Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder on three stories of the bawdy parody strip Little Annie Fanny in Playboy. Just saying. In the early 1980s, Frazetta worked with Bakshi on the feature Fire and Ice. He provided the poster for it as he did for Mad Monster Party and The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck, two other genre films. He was inducted into both Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame. (Died 2010.)
Born February 9, 1953 – Ciaran Hinds, 66. I can’t picture him but he’s listed as being King Lot in Excalibur, that being being his credited his genre role. He next shows up in Mary Reilly, a riff off the Hyde theme, as Sir Danvers Care. I’ve next got him in Jason and the Argonauts as King Aeson followed by being in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life as Jonathan Reiss. (Yes I like those films.) before being replaced in the next film, he played Aberforth Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Two final roles worth noting. he played The Devil in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Steppenwolf In Justice League.
Born February 9, 1956 – Timothy Truman, 63. Writer and artist best known in my opinion for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex with Joe R. Lansdale. His work with Ostrander is simply stellar and is collected in Grimjack Omnibus, Volume 1 and 2. For the Hex work, I’d say Jonah Hex: Shadows West which collects their work together. He did do a lot of other work and I’m sure you’ll point out what I’ve overlooked…
Born February 9, 1981 – Tom Hiddleston, 38. Loki in the Marvel film universe. And a more charming bastard of a god has never been conceptualised by screenwriters. Outside of the MCU, I see he shows up in Kong: Skull Island as Captain James Conrad and The Pirate Fairy as the voice of James Hook as well in a vampire film called Only Lovers Left Alive as Adam.
In the world of Brewster Rockit, some newspaper columns are very easy to write.
(11) IN RE VERSE. A star of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (labeled on Wikipedia as a “actor, singer, dancer, and rapper”) told The Hollywood Reporter he hopes to write a song for the sequel (“‘Spider-Verse’ Star Shameik Moore Hopes to Record a Song for the Movie’s Sequel”). The interview also ranges into Moore’s other genre interests. It turns out he’s a fan of the Harry Potter movies.
The Hollywood Reporter: The Spider-Verse soundtrack had a few hits, including Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower.” Have you pitched yourself to do a track for the Spider-Verse sequel?
Shameik Moore: They were asking me to make a song for Spider-Man before any of the songs on the soundtrack were even being considered. The only reason I am not on the soundtrack is because I couldn’t quite come up with a song myself to write from Miles’ point of view. So next time, hopefully. The music that I’ve been making is for me. It’s not really for Spider-Man. It’s for who I am. My music is a bit edgier.
(12) THE GREAT SKY ROAD. Andrew Porter sent screenshots of some flights of fancy seen on the February 4 episode of Antiques Roadshow.
(13) LOCUS LIST CONSIDERED. Adri Joy and Joe Sherry have actually read a lot of these books so their discussion of what did and did not make the list is quite substantial: “Adri and Joe Talk About Books: Locus Recommended Reading List” at Nerds of a Feather.
…What did you expect, or want, to see here that isn’t?
Joe: The first thing I specifically looked for was Matt Wallace’s final Sin du Jour novella Taste of Wrath. I’m not entirely surprised it didn’t make the list simply because I’m not sure it’s received a fraction of the attention and love that the series deserved. I passionately and sometimes aggressively love those stories and it has been a perpetual disappointment to me that they haven’t been nominated for everything they are eligible for and even for some things they aren’t. I’m holding out for a Best Series Hugo nod, but maybe I shouldn’t hold my breath.
The second thing i looked for, and this was mostly out of curiosity, was whether anything from Serial Box made the cut. Nothing did. Because I’m that sort of wonk, I did a super quick check of previous years and the first season Tremontaine made the list. I’m not surprised by that either, because Tremontaine is an expansion of the Swordspoint world and I would expect to see Locus recognize Ellen Kushner. I do wonder if next year we’ll see recognition for The Vela or Ninth Step Station. Both seem like something that might get some extra attention, eyeballs, and acclaim.
(14) LOOK FOR THE BEAR NECESSITIES. BBC reports “Russia islands emergency over polar bear ‘invasion'”. They must be running out of Coca-Cola.
A remote Russian region has declared a state of emergency over the appearance of dozens of polar bears in its human settlements, local officials say.
Authorities in the Novaya Zemlya islands, home to a few thousand people, said there were cases of bears attacking people and entering residential and public buildings.
Polar bears are affected by climate change and are increasingly forced on to land to look for food.
Russia classes them as endangered.
Hunting the bears is banned, and the federal environment agency has refused to issue licences to shoot them.
(15) SLIP-AH-DEE-DOO-DAH. [Item by Mike Kennedy.] 2017? No way. 2018? Um, negatory. January 2019? Nope. February? Nope, nope, nope. March? Well, maybe. SpaceX has announced another slip (albeit a modest one) in the schedule for the first (un-crewed) launch of the to-be-crewed version of the Dragon capsule (ExtremeTech: “SpaceX Pushes Crewed Dragon Test Back to March 2”). Boeing is aiming for April for Starliner—their competing capsule—to have its first launch.
NASA kicked off the Commercial Crew Development Program in 2010 to support the development of new crewed spacecraft. Here we are, almost a decade into the program and on the verge of a manned launch. It’s taken a long time to get here, and it may be a little longer still. SpaceX has announced yet another delay in its Dragon 2 test flight, which was supposed to take place this month.
The precise date has slipped numerous times, and this is after ample delays in earlier phases of the program. We’re in the home stretch now, so each change in the schedule is that much more frustrating. SpaceX initially wanted to conduct the first test launch of its crewed Dragon capsule in 2017. Then the timeline slipped to 2018, and then it was late 2018. More recently, SpaceX promised a January 2019 launch… and then it decided February was more likely. You can probably blame the government shutdown for that one. Now, we’re looking at March 2, according to SpaceX.
(16) ROLE PLAYING. Last summer Simon Pegg talked about characters he’s played – including one that was a bit autobiographical.
Simon Pegg breaks down his favorite and most iconic characters, including Tim from “Spaced,” Shaun from “Shaun of the Dead,” Nicholas Angel from “Hot Fuzz,” Gary King from “The World’s End,” Scotty in “Star Trek,” Unkar Plutt in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and Benji Dunn in the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
(17) CAN A BOT BE AN INK-STAINED WRETCH? [Item by Mike Kennedy.] This story has a personal edge for me as I encounter robot-written stories quite often when using MaxPreps to catch up on various high school sporting events. (Though, those particular stories are obvoiusly written by an Artificial Stupidity.) Forbes, which has dipped a toe in AI journalism itself, takes a look at the growing phenomenon (“Did A Robot Write This? How AI Is Impacting Journalism”).
How do you know I am really a human writing this article and not a robot? Several major publications are picking up machine learning tools for content. So, what does artificial intelligence mean for the future of journalists?
According to Matt Carlson, author of “The Robotic Reporter”, the algorithm converts data into narrative news text in real-time.
Many of these being financially focused news stories since the data is calculated and released frequently. Which is why should be no surprise that Bloomberg news is one of the first adaptors of this automated content. Their program, Cyborg, churned out thousands of articles last year that took financial reports and turned them into news stories like a business reporter.
Forbes also uses an AI took called Bertie to assist in providing reporters with first drafts and templates for news stories.
(18) UNHEARD OF. Part of the experiment has failed says Gizmodo: “Small Satellites That Accompanied InSight Lander to Mars Go Silent”.
A pair of small satellites that joined the InSight mission on its way to Mars haven’t been heard from in over a month—but the experimental mission is still an important success for NASA.
Mars Cube One, or MarCO, consisted of two 30-pound satellites named WALL-E and EVE. The relatively inexpensive satellites were the first time that CubeSats had entered the space between planets. The mission could foretell a future of spacecraft bringing more CubeSats with them in the future.
[…] NASA lost contact with WALL-E on December 29 and with EVE on January 4. It’s possible that the probes’ antennae aren’t pointed at Earth properly, or that their solar panels aren’t pointed at the Sun and their batteries died, according to the press release.
(19) I CAN HELP. A little bit of sibling rivalry in Washington state:
I got something that can melt all that ice and snow. Let me know if I can help. ?
— Mount Rainier (@MountRainierWA) February 8, 2019
Bitch please https://t.co/P6qTXiavjm
— Mt. St. Helens (@MtStHelensWA) February 8, 2019
[Thanks to JJ, John King Tarpinian, Greg Hullender, Cat Eldridge, Alan Baumler, Chip Hitchcock, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories, Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Ingvar.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Adri Joy, Andrew Porter, Apex Magazine, Arifel, artificial intelligence, Cat Rambo, ConFiction, InSight, James S.A. Corey, Jason Sizemore, Jeff Bezos, Joe Sherry, Kees van Toorn, Locus Recommended Reading List, Rachel Swirsky, Ramez Naam, Simon Pegg, Spider-Man, Star Trek, The Expanse, Vicki Who Reads
Pixel Scroll 1/8/19 Hey, Babe, Take A Scroll On The File Side
Posted on January 8, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) PRINT HUGO NOMINATING BALLOT AVAILABLE. The print version of this year’s Hugo nomination form has been released as part of Dublin 2019 Progress Report 3 [PDF File].
(2) CAPTAIN MARVEL. A “special look” at the forthcoming Captain Marvel movie.
Hope begins with a hero. Check out this special look at Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel! In theaters March 8.
(3) FIYAH RESTARTER. Charles Payseur brings news as well as short fiction reviews in “Quick Sips – Fiyah Literary Magazine #9”.
A new year means a new issue from Fiyah Literary Magazine. Which comes with some news. Namely, that co-executive editor Justina Ireland is stepping down and leaving the publication and DaVaun Sanders is stepping up into that role. The issue also steps back from the tradition of centering around a specific theme, though that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few that sneak in. Namely, a lot of the works look at infection, disease, and affliction. They map the devastation that pandemics create, whether the plagues are medical, magical, or moral. And they find characters who are faced with the sicknesses draining their worlds and have to decide what to do about it. Fight back? Seek a cure? Flee? Or weather the storm as much as possible? It’s an issue full of defiance and strength, though it recognizes that sometimes even that isn’t enough. There’s four short stories, one novelette, and two poems to get to, so let’s dive right into the reviews!
(4) DC IN 2021 WORLDCON BID NEWS. If the (currently unopposed) bid to hold the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC succeeds, here’s who will chair —
The Baltimore-Washington Area Worldcon Association, Inc. (BWAWA) the sponsoring organization of the DC in 2021 Worldcon bid elected Bill Lawhorn and Colette H. Fozard as the co-chairs of the resulting Worldcon should we win site selection. Bill has been very active in local DC fandom for many years, and was recent co-chair of the World Fantasy Convention in 2018 in Baltimore. Colette has been working and running volunteer-run genre conventions for over 20 years, and was most recently one of the Vice Chairs of Worldcon 75 in Helsinki in 2017.
(5) WORLDBUILDING. At Juliette Wade’s Dive Into Worldbuilding, “Alex White and A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy“ takes up author White’s second novel. You can see the video interview, and read a summary at the link.
… Alex really likes to explore the practical aspect of magic. They say, for example, that the arsonist’s mark is not very useful. You might get stuck in the military, but even there, it’s not super-useful to throw fireballs. Magic doesn’t get busted out every ten minutes, either. When you’re young, you want to magic up the place. But Alex compares it to how adults typically don’t climb stairs for no reason.
Some forms of magic are inherently unethical. There’s no good way to torture and kill.
Amplification technology can magnify magic power. Suddenly the fireball you can cast becomes huge. They describe the differences between magical marks as creating a caste system. Some marks are worth lots of money. Datamancy, which allows you to instantly correlate and get answers from any database, can get you rich. Even within the group of people who possess the same mark, there is diversity, as in other social groups. There are lots of common, easily recognizable marks. You only get one type of mark, and having no mark (called Arcana dystotia) is vanishingly rare. People are spiritual about their magic, and afraid of losing it….
(6) GAIMAN. Neil Gaiman will be among those honored with the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award at a ceremony on March 7. Poets & Writers has the story:
The Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award celebrates authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community. The award, which is presented each year at Poets & Writers’ annual dinner, is named for Barnes & Noble in appreciation of its long-standing support.
Recipients of the 2019 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award are Reginald Dwayne Betts (for mentoring individuals involved in the criminal and juvenile justice systems and for his efforts to reform these systems); Neil Gaiman (for advocating for freedom of expression worldwide and inspiring countless writers); and Roxana Robinson (for her long-standing, fierce, and outspoken advocacy on behalf of authors).
[Via Locus Online.]
(7) PRISONER ON RADIO. BBC Radio 4 is dramatizing for radio the iconic 1960s television mystery series The Prisoner as a series of audio plays.
Born January 8, 1908 – William Hartnell. The very first Doctor who first appeared when Doctor Who firstaired on November 23rd, 1963. He would be the Doctor for three years leaving when a new Showrunner came on. He played The Doctor once more during the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors (aired 1972–73) which was the last thing he filmed before his death. I scanned through the usual sources but didn’t find any other genre listing for him. Is that correct? (Died 1975.)
Born January 8, 1925 – Steve Holland. Did you know there was a short lived Flash Gordon series, thirty one episodes in 1954 – 1955 to be precise? I didn’t until I discovered the Birthday for the lead in this show today. Except for four minor roles, this was his entire tv career. Biography in “Flash Gordon: Journey to Greatness” would devote an entire show to him and this series. (Died 1997.)
Born January 8, 1941 — Boris Vallejo, 78. Illustrator whose artwork has appeared on myriad genre publications. Subjects of his paintings were gods, hideous monsters, well-muscled male swordsmen and scantily clad females. Early illustrations of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian and Doc Savage established him as an illustrator.
Born January 8, 1942 – Stephen Hawking. Y’all know who he is, but did you know that Nimoy was responsible for his appearance as a holographic representation of himself in the “Descent” episode? He was also guest starred in Futuruma and had a recurring role on The Big Bang Theory. Just before his death, he was the voice of The Book on the new version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio series. (Died 2018.)
Born January 8, 1947 – David Bowie. First SF role was as Thomas Jerome Newton in The Man Who Fell to Earth. He next shows up in The Hunger, an erotic and kinky film worth seeing. He plays The Shark in Yellowbeard, a film that Monty Python could have produced but didn’t. Next up is the superb Labyrinth where he was Jareth the Goblin King, a role perfect for him. He shows up again in The Hunger later on as The Host. From that role, he went on to being Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ, an amazing role by the way. He was in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me as FBI Agent Phillip Jeffries, a role which was his last role when he appeared later in the Twin Peaks series. He also played Nikola Tesla in The Prestige from Christopher Priest’s novel of the same name. (Died 2016.)
Born January 8, 1977 – Amber Benson, 42. Best known for her role as Tara Maclay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her post-BtVS genre credits are scant with a bit of work on Supernatural, a truly shitty Sci-fi Channel film called Gryphon, a web series called The Morganville Vampires and, I kid you not, a film called One-Eyed Monster which is about an adult film crew encountering monsters. She is by the way a rather good writer. She’s written a number of books, some with Christopher Golden such as the Ghosts of Albion series and The Seven Whistlers novel which I read when Subterranean Press sent it to Green Man for review. Her Calliope Reaper-Jones series is quite excellent too.
Born January 8, 1979 — Sarah Polley, 40. H’h what did I first see her in? Ahhhh she was in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen! Let’s see what else she’s done… She’s been in the animated Babar: The Movie, Existenz, No Such Thing (which is based very loosely on Beowulf), Dawn of the Dead, Beowulf & Grendel (well sort of based on the poem but, errr, artistic license was taken) and Mr. Nobody.
(9) RE-RUN. In case you missed it, the winning entry in the 1984 Bulwer-Lytton contest was –
‘The lovely woman-child Kaa was mercilessly chained to the cruel post of the warrior-chief Beast, with his barbarian tribe now stacking wood at her nubile feet, when the strong clear voice of the poetic and heroic Handsomas roared, ‘Flick your Bic, crisp that chick, and you’ll feel my steel through your last meal.”
(10) TESS DISCOVERY. “NASA spacecraft spots gaseous planet 23 times the size of Earth” — The Guardian has the story.
Three new planets and six supernovae outside our solar system have been observed by Nasa’s planet-hunting Tess mission in its first three months.
Since it started surveying the sky in July, the MIT-led Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite project has identified Pi Mensae b, a “super-Earth” that travels around its star every six days, and LHS 3844b, a rocky world with an orbit of only 11 hours.
The most recent discovery, an exoplanet named HD 21749b, has the longest orbital period at 36 days. It orbits a bright, nearby dwarf star about 53 light years away in the Reticulum constellation, and is thought to have a surface temperature of about 1,650C (3,000F). This is relatively cool considering its proximity to its star.
(11) ICONIC LITTLE LIBRARY. The Bookshelf blog has a photo of a cute-as-the-dickens “Tardis Little Library”. Click to see.
(12) PORTALS. Joe Sherry has some great insights as part of “Microreview [book]: In an Absent Dream, by Seanan McGuire” at Nerds of a Feather.
…The genius of Seanan McGuire is how tightly she is able to wrap barbed spikes around the narrative so that as the reader is pulled in closer and closer that those barbs pierce our hearts and we don’t mind one bit. McGuire so perfectly captures the painful alienation of children….
(13) SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS MOCCA ARTS FESTIVAL. The featured artists for this year’s MoCCA Arts Festival have produced a keynote artwork for the event:
Peter and Maria Hoey are brother and sister artists. Their illustrations appear in newspapers and magazines, commercials, and advertising worldwide. Since 2007 they have independently published their comics under the name COIN-OP. The first hardcover collection of their work: Coin-Op Comics Anthology 1997-2017, published by Top Shelf Productions / IDW Publishing, is out now. Their early comics appeared in many issues of the legendary BLAB! Magazine. They are currently hard at work on their first full length graphic novel. Peter and Maria Hoey are represented by Rapp | Art.
The Hoeys will be attending the Fest as Featured Artists. Further scheduling information about their attendance will be available in future announcements. The MoCCA Arts Festival will take place April 6 – 7th, 2019 from 11AM – 7PM on Saturday and 11AM – 6PM on Sunday. Mere steps from the Hudson River Greenway and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, MoCCA’s host venue, Metropolitan West, will encompass two floors of exhibitor tables, demo lounges, a gallery of original art showcasing the work of special guests, and a café providing beverages, snacks, and entrées. To learn more about this year’s MoCCA Arts Festival click here.
The MoCCA Arts Festival is a 2-day multimedia event, Manhattan’s largest independent comics, cartoon and animation festival, drawing over 7,000 attendees each year. With 400 exhibiting artists displaying their work, award-winning honorees speaking about their careers and artistic processes and other featured artists conducting workshops, lectures and film screenings, our Festival mission accelerates the advancement of the Society’s broader mission to serve as Manhattan’s singular cultural institution promoting all genres of illustration through exhibitions, programs and art education.
The 2019 MoCCA Arts Festival will take place April 6-7th, 2019 at Metropolitan West in New York City with programming mere steps away at Ink48 (653 11th Ave). Applications to exhibit at the Fest will be available during the month of December.
(14) EVOLUTION IN ACTION. NPR invites you to “Meet The Granary Weevil, The Pantry Monster Of Our Own Creation”.
If you store grains in your pantry, you’ve probably had the unfortunate experience of opening a package or jar to find tiny bugs living inside.
You’re not alone — there are more than 200 species of these pesky grain insects ruining dinner plans around the world on a daily basis. It’s no accident that they’ve made a home in your pantry — they’ve evolved along with humans. In a way, they contain a fascinating natural history of our own domestication.
This is particularly true of the granary weevil. A reddish-brown beetle that turns up in oats, rice, corn, dry pasta and more, it’s the only grain insect that has never been found outside of human food-storage situations.
Most grain insects are equal opportunity pests — feasting on animals’ food supplies in addition to our own. But the granary weevil has outplayed the others with a special adaptation that at first appears to be a disadvantage: It can’t fly. Its wings have fused together, encasing it in a solid exoskeleton. (Imagine getting knocked around by grains the size of your own body — you’d definitely want a protective suit like the granary weevils’.) But that also makes it hard to get anywhere outside its pile of grain.
(15) CONVERTIBLE. “Hyundai shows off ‘walking car’ at CES” — includes short puffy video — looks like animation rather than live-action.
Hyundai has shown off a small model of a car it says can activate robotic legs to walk at 3mph (5km/h) over rough terrain.
Also able to climb a 5ft (1.5m) wall and jump a 5ft gap, the Hyundai Elevate could be useful for emergency rescues following natural disasters, it said.
It was part of a project exploring “beyond the range of wheels”, it added.
The concept has been in development for three years and was unveiled at the CES technology fair in Las Vegas.
“When a tsunami or earthquake hits, current rescue vehicles can only deliver first responders to the edge of the debris field. They have to go the rest of the way by foot,” said Hyundai vice-president John Suh.
“Elevate can drive to the scene and climb right over flood debris or crumbled concrete.”
(16) BOHEMIAN ELEMENTARY. Daniel Dern says, “Although I’m still fond of the Suicide Squad trailer and several other renditions…,” he calls attention to John Lewis & Partners + Waitrose & Partners Ad – Bohemian Rhapsody, adding: “Not to mention the best stage-crew recruitment ad (not its purpose) ever…”
[Thanks to Mark Hepworth, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Juliette Wade, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, Michael J. Walsh, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Joe H.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Alex White, Bulwer-Lytton Contest, Captain Marvel, Charles Payseur, Colette H. Fozard, DaVaun Sanders, DC in 2021, Dublin 2019, FIYAH, Joe Sherry, Juliette Wade, Justina Ireland, NASA, Neil Gaiman, Seanan McGuire, The Prisoner, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, William Lawhorn
Pixel Scroll 12/11/18 For The World Is Hollow And I Have Scrolled The Pixel
Posted on December 11, 2018 by Mike Glyer
(1) PICARD. Entertainment Weekly got the word from Alex Kurtzman: “Star Trek producer explains how Picard spin-off will be ‘extremely different'”.
“It’s an extremely different rhythm than Discovery,” [writer-director Alex] Kurtzman told EW exclusively. “Discovery is a bullet. Picard is a very contemplative show. It will find a balance between the speed of Discovery and the nature of what Next Gen was, but I believe it will have its own rhythm.”
Continued Kurtzman: “Without revealing too much about it, people have so many questions about Picard and what happened to him, and the idea we get to take time to answer those questions in the wake of the many, many things he’s had to deal with in Next Gen is really exciting. ‘More grounded’ is not the right way to put it, because season 2 of Discovery is also grounded. It will feel more…real-world? If that’s the right way to put it.”
(2) NO BUCKS, NO BUCK ROGERS. Also,Variety says the Picard series will be made in California to take advantage of state tax benefits: “New‘ Star Trek’ Series to Shoot in California, Selected for Tax Credit”.
CBS’s new “Star Trek” series, with Patrick Stewart reprising the role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, will shoot in California and receive a $15.6 million production tax credit.
The California Film Commission announced Monday that the untitled “Star Trek” series and eight other TV series have been selected for the latest tax credit allocations totaling $90 million under the state’s expanded Film & TV Tax Credit Program 2.0.
Six recurring series already in the tax credit program and picked up for another season of in-state production have also been set for allocations — Fox’s third season of “The Orville” with $15.8 million, CBS’s second season of “Strange Angel” with $10 million, Fox’s ninth season of “American Horror Story” ($8.9 million), and the second seasons of “MayansMC” ($7.6 million), “Good Trouble” ($6.6 million) and “The Rookie” ($4.5million).
(3) LULZINE. John Coxon and España Sheriff have launched a new online fanzine called Lulzine, focused on comedy, and comedy in science fiction and fantasy. Check out Lulzine Issue 1. The editors are still looking for material that suits the first issue’s theme. (Adding stuff makes sense because Lulzine presents as a blog. But don’t tell anyone I said so.)
We’re hoping to add more articles to the first issue before we start the second issue just before Ytterbium (the next Eastercon). The theme of the first issue is comedy in television, so if anyone wants to pitch us articles, they can contact us at editors@lulzine.net.
(4) BREAKFAST WITH EINSTEIN. At Whatever, Chad Orzel explains “The Big Idea” behind his book Breakfast with Einstein: The Exotic Physics of Everyday Objects.
Quantum mechanics is one of the most amazing theories in all of science, full of stuff that captures the imagination: zombie cats, divine dice-rolling, spooky actions over vast distances. Maybe the single most amazing thing about it, though, is that we think it’s weird.
That probably seems a strange thing to say, because quantum physics is so weird, but that’s exactly the point. These are the fundamental principles governing the behavior of everything in the universe, and yet they run completely counter to our intuition about how the world works. If these are the basic rules underlying everything, shouldn’t they make sense? How can the entire universe behave according to strictly quantum laws, and yet we’re not intuitively aware of it?
(5) GLOBAL VIEW. Here’s Mortal Engines’ fascinating “Explore London 360” video –
(6) STUDY IN THIS WORLD’S HOGWARTS. Buzzfeed displays photos of “16 Libraries That Look Like Hogwarts IRL”. One of them is —
2.The University of Washington Library in Seattle, Washington
(7) CREATING AN IMPRESSION. Dave Addey takes up book covers as part of his column’s “Typeset in the Future” sub theme at Tor.com: “Designing the Future: Deconstructing Five Sci-Fi Book Covers”. He doesn’t restrict the conversation to Tor publications, I just thought this one made a good excerpt for the Scroll —
“Loss of Signal” by S. B. Divya (A Tor.com Original,2018)
…The cover’s inverted planetary relationship evokes “Earthrise”, a famous NASA photograph taken onboard Apollo 8 by astronaut Bill Anders….
Like “Earthrise” and Loss of Signal, 2001’s intro shows our home planet far in the distance, small and insignificant when compared to the moon’s barren surface in the foreground. Both images require viewers to consider their place in the universe from an entirely alien vantage point, far from the comforts of home. It’s an entirely appropriate feeling for S. B. Divya’s story of the first human mind to circle the moon without a body in tow.
(8) UNSTINCTION. Shelf Awareness calls attention to Torill Kornfeldt’s “The Re-Origin of Species: A Second Chance for Extinct Animals”.
“There is no way in which a lost species can really be brought back to life,” writes Swedish science journalist Torill Kornfeldt in her fascinating debut, The Re-Origin of Species: A Second Chance for Extinct Animals. “The nearest thing we can manage is a substitute.” But as each chapter reveals, the “substitutes” that many scientists think are possible would be nearly identical to–and just as astonishing as–the originals.
Kornfeldt travels the world to meet scientists who are attempting “de-extinction,” the practice of bringing extinct animals back to life. In Siberia, she meets Sergey Zimov, a Russian scientist attempting to revive mammoths. And in California she speaks with Ben Novak, a young scientist trying to resurrect the passenger pigeon. Other scientists are working on the northern white rhino, a Spanish ibex called a bucardo and, yes, even a dinosaur. There are still advancements to be made in genetic research before any of these experiments could result in actual resurrected animals but, according to the scientists Kornfeldt interviews, breakthroughs are happening at an unprecedented pace. De-extinction is only a few years away from becoming reality.
(9) BUT THEN I TURNED ON THE TV, AND THAT’S ABOUT THE TIME SHE WALKED AWAY FROM ME. [Item by Olav Rokne.] Looks like Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Academy won’t be the only science fiction TV show based on a comic book by a famous Emo band member. Blink 182 guitarist Tom DeLonge’s sci-fi graphic novel Strange Times is being turned into a show for TBS. The show will follow all-American teen Charlie Wilkins who starts investigating when his dad is abducted by aliens. He’s helped by his skateboarding friends and the ghost of a girl. Of the show, DeLonge says: “My love for all things paranormal and skateboarding are sometimes only superseded by my love for offensive humor. This series combines them all into one.” “Blink 182’s Tom DeLonge is making his own sci-fi TV series” – NME has the story:
…The show is in development at US network TBS and will follow “five dirty teenage skateboarders who solve paranormal mysteries while being chased by Deep State government agents.”
(10) WHEN IT ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY HAS TO BE THERE OVERNIGHT. “Mark Hamill reveals script for Star Wars IX will be flown to him and then immediately taken back amid intense plot leak fears” — Daily Mail has the story.
If you can’t trust a Jedi Master, who can you trust? Mark Hamill has revealed the script for Star Wars Episode IX will be flown to him and he must immediately hand it back after reading it.
Security around the finale is so tight that the 67-year-old is no longer allowed to keep a copy. He has yet to shoot his scenes.
The actor, who plays Luke Skywalker in the sci-fi saga, is currently in Prague where he is shooting the History Channel’s Knightfall.
(11) LIGHTSABER AUCTION CANCELLED. Profiles in History responded to the controversy reported in an earlier Scroll by withdrawing the item: “Star Wars lightsaber auction pulled over origin dispute”.
…However, the Original Prop Blog posted a series of videos raising doubts about the weapon, including alleged discrepancies between the lightsaber shown in that letter and the lightsaber in the auction catalogue.
There were also claims this might be a replica or prototype prop.
But Mr Roger Christian told the BBC it was one of five original lightsabers made for the film, saying: “It is real – I’ve got the Oscar to prove it.”
(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Born December 11, 1957 – William Joyce, 61. Author of the YA series Guardians of Childhood which is currently at twelve books and growing. Now I’ve no interest in reading them but Joyce and Guillermo del Toro turned them into in a rather splendid Rise of the Guardians film which I enjoyed quite a bit. The antagonist in it reminds me somewhat of a villain later on In Willingham’s Fables series called Mr. Dark.
Born December 11, 1959 — M. Rickert, 59. Usually I don’t cotton with listing Awards but she’s rather unusual in she’s has won or been nominated for several major awards despite working largely in short fiction with I believe The Memory Garden being her only novel. “Journey into the Kingdom” was nominated for the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and an International Horror Guild Award, and won the 2007 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction Her Map of Dreams won a World Fantasy Award for Best Collection and a Crawford Award, and the collection’s title story was nominated for the 2007 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella.
Born December 11, 1962 — Ben Browder, 56. Actor of course best known for his roles as John Crichton in Farscape and Cameron Mitchell in Stargate SG-1. One of my favorite roles by him was his voicing of Bartholomew Aloysius “Bat” Lash in Justice League Unlimited “The Once and Future Thing, Part 1” episode. He’d have an appearance in Doctor Who in “A Town Called Mercy”, a Weird Western of sorts. His most recent genre appearance was as a character named Ted Gaynor on Arrow.
Born December 11, 1965 – Sherrilyn Kenyon, 53. Best for her Dark Hunter series which runs to around thirty volumes now. I confess I’ve not read any, so I’m curious as to how they are. Opinions? (Of course you do. Silly me.) She’s got The League series as well which appears to be paranormal romance, and a Lords of Avalon series too under the pen name of Kinley MacGregor.
This is no job for the sommelier: Bizarro
Frosty the UFOman at Bizarro.
Why can’t Santa guest on Star Trek? Meme will explain.
(14) TONIGHT’S JEOPARDY! Andrew Porter has his eye on the tube. Tonight’s Jeopardy!, in the category “Posthumous Books,” gave the answer as: “After death, this horror author still talked about the Necronomicon in his novel, ‘The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.'”
Wrong question: “Who is Asimov?”
(15) SKY’S THE LIMIT. In his latest Nerds of a Feather contribution,“Microreview [Book]: The Fated Sky, by Mary Robinette Kowal”, Joe Sherry declares —
The Fated Sky stands well on its own but, when coupled with The Calculating Stars, is a masterpiece.
After reading The Calculating Stars (my review) earlier this year, I wrote about how Mary Robinette Kowal did more than achieve a sense of wonder, she brought the dream of spaceflight beyond the page and directly into readers hearts. The Calculating Stars was a masterful novel that will surely find a place on many Year’s Best lists and a number of awards ballots. It’s a lot to live up to, but the near perfection of The Calculating Stars only serves to whet the appetite for The Fated Sky.
The Fated Sky picks up a few years after the end of The Calculating Stars. There is a fledgling base and colony on the moon, regular round trip missions from the earth to the moon, and the IAC (International Aerospace Coalition) is planning for its first Mars mission. Each of the two books are tagged as “Lady Astronaut” novels and Mary Robinette Kowal won a Hugo Award for her story “The Lady Astronaut of Mars“. We know how the progression of Elma’s story, where she ends up. It isn’t about spoiling the ending, the beauty of The Fated Sky is in the journey. In this case, a journey to Mars.
(16) BATWOMAN IN CW CROSSOVER. The Hollywood Reporter tells“How Batwoman Fit Into The CW’s DC Comics World in ‘Elseworlds'”.
Batwoman has finally arrived on The CW. Ruby Rose’s iconic lesbian superhero officially made her debut during Monday’s Arrow, part two of The CW’s three-part superhero crossover “Elseworlds.”
With Earth-1 impacted by a magical book that altered reality, Monday’s Arrow installment of The CW’s big “Elseworlds” superhero crossover found The Flash’s Barry (Grant Gustin), Arrow’s Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Supergirl’s Kara (Melissa Benoist) in Gotham to try and get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately for the heroes, a mugging (and their inability to stand down) landed the trio in jail, where they were bailed out by a mysterious figure — Kate Kane (Orange Is the New Blackgrad Rose), aka Batwoman.
(17) JUST DO IT. Mars Society president Robert Zubrin argues in the Washington Post that “We have the technology to build a colony on the moon. Let’s do it.” The author of The Case For Mars takes aim at current NASA plans to build a mini-space station that would orbit the moon, and instead suggests that the time has come to set up a permanent habitable structure on the lunar surface.
…As for landing people on the moon, NASA is vague about that, too. Apparently, if we wanted to build a lander sometime in the future, it would rendezvous with the Gateway for some reason and then attempt a landing.
This is all just plain weird. It’s like building a big, expensive aircraft carrier, positioning it off the European coast and requiring passengers going from New York to Paris to land there first and do something (although what isn’t known) until another airplane is built to pick them up to carry them to their destination. This, we suspect, is not the best way to get to France.
Rather than build this murky Gateway, which we frankly doubt the American people will understand or support, we believe the best expenditure of time and money is to simply make it a national goal to build a base on the lunar surface. Such a base would be similar to the U.S. South Pole Station and constructed for the same reasons: science, exploration, knowledge, national prestige, and economic and technological development for the benefit of the U.S. taxpayer.
…If we’re serious about going to the moon, let’s just go there. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, reminding us of the sort of things we as a nation once accomplished. We should resolve now to do no less.
(18) STOP AND GO. First story isn’t good news: Himalayan glaciers are slowing because they’ve thinned enough that there’s less mass to move them downhill, and their outflows provide inland water. Second story also isn’t good news: Satellite images show Antarctic glaciers getting more lubrication on their way to the ocean, where they’ll melt and raise ocean levels.
“Himalayan and other Asian glaciers put the brakeson”
The glaciers that flank the Himalayas and other high mountains in Asia are moving slower over time.
Scientists have analysed nearly 20 years of satellite images to come to this conclusion.
They show that the ice streams which have decelerated the mostare the ones that have also thinned the most.
“East Antarctica’s glaciers are stirring”
The region has long been considered stable and unaffected by some of the more dramatic changes occurring elsewhere on the continent.
But satellites have now shown that ice streams running into the ocean along one-eighth of the eastern coastline have thinned and sped up.
If this trend continues, it has consequences for future sea levels.
There is enough ice in the drainage basins in this sector of Antarctica to raise the height of the global oceans by 28m – if it were all to melt out.
(19) GAME CENSORS. From BBC we learn that “China’s new games censors take tough stance”.
A panel of censors set up to vet mobile video games in China has signalled it will be hard to please.
State media reports that of the first 20 titles it assessed, nine were refused permission to go on sale.
The Xinhua news agency added that developers of the other 11 had been told they had to make adjustments to remove “controversial content”.
There has been a clampdown on new video game releases in the country since March.
The authorities have voiced concerns about the violent nature of some titles as well as worries about the activity being addictive.
President Xi Jinping has also called for more to be done to tackle a rise in near-sightedness among the young – something that the country’s ministry of education has linked to children playing video games at the cost of spending time on outdoor pastimes.
(20) FILMING IN NEW ZEALAND. The Hollywood Reporter shows how Peter Jackson’s pioneer efforts have paid off for New Zealand: “‘Avatar’ to ‘Mulan’: Hollywood Movies Are Keeping New Zealand Busier Than Ever”.
…In addition to recently hosting summer blockbusters like Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible — Fallout and the giant shark thriller The Meg, the New Zealand production uptick is indeed evidenced by the volume of high-profile projects that are in varying stages of production right now.
James Cameron is gearing up for the monumental task of shooting all three of the Avatar sequels there simultaneously early in 2019. The films were brought to New Zealand via a government deal that requires 20thCentury Fox to spend no less than NZ $500 million (about $345 million)in-country and to hold at least one of the world premieres there.
Meanwhile, Disney is just wrapping production on its live-action adaptation of Mulan, with a budget north of $100 million and Kiwi director Niki Caro at the helm. The project shot on the new stages at Kumeu Film Studios in West Auckland as well as on locations across the country. Netflix, of course, also is active in New Zealand, having recently begun filming the family fantasy series The Letter for the King in Auckland; Amazon Studios, meanwhile, is shooting the YA series The Wilds in Auckland nearby. Also courtesy of Amazon, the franchise that made New Zealand synonymous with Middle Earth is tipped to be coming back to the island nation — for many in the local industry, it’s simply unthinkable that the streamer’s Lord of the Rings TV series, with a rumored budget of $500 million, won’t shoot there.
(21) BEST RESOURCE. Congratulations to Mark Kelly who has added contents of 15 best-of-year anthology series to his Science Fiction Awards Database site, with single-page composite tables of contents for each series, and all stories included on their authors’ individual pages. (He still has more such series yet to do, for example, the Datlow/Windling series.) See “Anthologies & Collections Directory”. The first 15 “bests” include–
1939 – 1963 • Asimov/Greenberg • The Great SF Stories (DAW, 1979 – 1992)
1948 – 1957 • Bleiler/Dikty • The Best Science-Fiction Stories and Novels (1949 – 1958)
1955 – 1967 • Judith Merril • Year’s Best S-F (1956 – 1967)
1964 – 1970 • Wollheim/Carr • World’s Best Science Fiction (Ace, 1965 – 1971)
1967 – 1975 • Harrison/Aldiss • Best SF (1968 – 1976)
1974 – 1975 • Lester del Rey • Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (Dutton, 1972 – 1976)
1971 – 1989 • Donald A. Wollheim • Annual World’s Best SF (DAW, 1972 – 1990)
1971 – 1986 • Terry Carr • Best Science Fiction of the Year + Fantasy (1972 – 1987)
1976 – 1980 • Gardner Dozois • Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (Dutton, 1977 – 1981)
1983 – 2017 • Gardner Dozois • Year’s Best Science Fiction (St. Martin’s, 1984 – 2018)
1995 – 2012 • Hartwell/Cramer • Year’s Best SF, Year’s Best Fantasy (1996 – 2013)
2001 – 2004 • Silverberg/Haber/Strahan • Science Fiction Best of, Fantasy Best of (ibooks: 2002 – 2005)
2003 – 2017 • Jonathan Strahan • The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year (2004 – 2018)
2005 – 2017 • Rich Horton • The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy (Prime, 2006 – 2018)
2015 – 2017 • Neil Clarke • The Best Science Fiction of the Year (Night Shade, 2016 – 2018)
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Olav Rokne, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, Carl Slaughter, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Olav Rokne.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Alex Kurtzman, Andrew Porter, auction, Batwoman, Chad Orzel, Dave Addey, Espana Sherriff, Hogwarts, Jean-Luc Picard, Jeopardy!, Joe Sherry, John Coxon, Mark Hamill, Mark R. Kelly, Mars, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mortal Engines, NASA, Patrick Stewart, Robert Zubrin, Star Trek, Star Wars, video games
Pixel Scroll 11/11/18 I’m Scrolling On The Bad Side And I Got My Pixels To The Wall
Posted on November 11, 2018 by Mike Glyer
(1) YA FOR YA. Vicky Who Reads has a lot of interesting observations about “The Many Ways YA Books & The Community Isolates Teens”. Following up her first point, that teens lack money and often do their reading in ways that don’t register with the market (e.g., borrowing books), she says that leads to —
Character Problems
Adults’ money speaks, and adults oftentimes support YA novels with older characters.
Actually–scratch that. Characters who are in their teen years, but basically act like adults.
I find this is both because adult publishing doesn’t want YA-style stories–character relationships and lots of entertainment value. But adults do want to read these types of books, and they show it by influencing the YA category.
So, we end up with lots of upper YA books featuring young adult characters that are acting older and older, but they’re still the same age.
And this doesn’t mean YA readers can’t enjoy adult characters or adult novels or novels with characters that act like adults. But it does mean that these books are taking up the space of books that should be representing teens and the teenage experiences–not a YA style story representing an adult experience.
(2) BREAKING THROUGH. From Odyssey Workshop: “Interview: Guest Lecturer Fran Wilde”.
Why do you think your work began to sell?
That’s a tough question because predicting what works for markets, when markets are always changing, is like trying to read tea leaves when you don’t know how. But early in my writing career, I read slush at a magazine, and that gave me some clues.
For me, tightening everything and making every image and scene as vivid as possible was part of it. And making sure first scenes are crystal clear in intent, voice, setting, and theme—essentially answering the question of why the reader should give this story their time—was part of what helped the work find its audience.
(3) SETTING BOUNDARIES. Con or Bust, which helps people of color/non-white people attend SFF conventions, has adopted a minimal set of anti-harassment policies for cons that wish to donate memberships, “because when Con or Bust accepts donated memberships, it necessarily promotes the conventions in question…” The guideline has been announced now, and will take effect in a year — “Con or Bust will require anti-harassment policies before accepting donated con memberships”.
Here are our requirements for a meaningful anti-harassment policy.
The policy’s definition of harassment must:
o include offensive verbal statements, physical contact, and actions other than physical contact (e.g., stalking, non-consensual photography or recording); and
o state that the convention prohibits harassment in relation to—at minimum—race, gender, sexuality, impairment, physical appearance, and religion.
The policy must state where and when it applies. (Does it extend to off-site events associated with the con, or to con-related online spaces? Does it apply before the con, or after?)
The policy must state what happens if someone violates it, including:
o Who can report the harassment;
o How to report the harassment. This must include a method of reporting that is not in-person and must include a method of reporting after the convention; and
o The potential consequences for both the violator and the reporter, including what privacy the reporter will be provided and to what extent the con will take the reporter’s wishes into account when determining what action to take.
(4) NO KSM AWARD. The 20Booksto50K Vegas conference came and went without a word about the “Keystroke Medium Reader’s Choice Awards” expected to debut there following last February’s announcement. I sent a query and KSM’s Josh Hayes answered:
The KSM Awards project was put on hold indefinitely. We didn’t get enough responses to produce a fair and accurate accounting of winners. It’s something we’re looking into for the future!
(5) SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. The Book Smugglers have announced retrenchment plans:
We have some important news to share with regards to Book Smugglers Publishing. As of December 31st 2018, we will be shifting our business away from for sale short stories, novellas, and novels….
After much thought, discussion, and agonizing–we came to the only decision that we felt was fair for our readers and our creators: to focus on our key Book Smuggler strengths as a website, and as a publisher of short fiction. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on The Book Smugglers as a website with our regular coverage of books–just as we’ve always done since the beginning. We would like to still acquire short stories in the future, but they will only be available for free on our website and without the for sale distribution into e-retail markets.
(6) RAPPING FOR SCIENCE. Rivkah Brown, in “When Rap Gets Physical” in the Financial Times, discusses rapper Consensus, who works with CERN to produce rap videos that explain particle physics. (I could access the article from Bing, but the URL copied here ends up at a paywall. So no link.) His latest video can be found is you look for “Consensus Dark Matter” on YouTube,’
Realising how rapidly CERN’s research moved, Consensus decided to avoid the theoretical and stick to facts. “I didn’t want to write a song, only for the science to change.”
The result of his research was ConCERNed. Released last year, the album condenses an astronomical amount of physics into nine tracks. The most densely packed is, unsurprisingly, “Higgs”. The other eight tracks, Consensus tells me, respect the fact that “there’s only so much people can absorb in four minutes”. But to do justice to the Higgs boson, a particle to which many devote their entire careers, he would have to surpass that saturation point.
Indeed, the lyrics to “Higgs” are pretty cryptic to those who don’t have a deep understanding of the science (“I’m looking to vacuum whatever you’ve got / And the value of what I’m expecting is not / To be zero”). They are, however, menacing. Borrowing from battle rap, Consensus delivers a guttural rhyme that moves between boasts (“People call me Higgs ’cos I’m massive”), insults (“You’re weak, and your life isn’t long”) and threats (“Treat ’em like the LHC / Smash ’em up collide”) to personify a particle that — given that it is known as the “God” particle — probably should intimidate. As he says on the track, “I’m practically the reason you exist.”
(7) DORRIS OBIT. Marcia Illingworth writes, “It pains me to have to tell you that Maurine [Dorris] passed away last night [November 11], shortly after 01:00 AM. She passed peacefully with her son Jimmy and friend JoAnn Parsons by her side.”
Maurine is old time SF Fandom. She and Joann Parsons started World Horror Convention. She was active in WorldCon Fandom and World Fantasy. She in known for running ASFA Suites and SWFA Suites at quite a few Worldcons.
(8) RAIN OBIT. Canadian actor Douglas Rain, who was the voice of HAL 9000 in 2001 and 2010, died November 11. (He also voiced Bio Central Computer 2100, Series G, the computer aiding in Our Leader’s cloning in Woody Allen’s comedy Sleeper.)
(9) TRIVIAL TRIVIA.
The SAL9000 was voiced by Candice Bergen.
(10) TODAY IN HISTORY
November 11, 1951 — Flight to Mars premiered in theatres.
November 11, 1994 – Interview with the Vampire was released.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge and JJ.]
Born November 11, 1916 – Donald Franson. Author of A Key to the Terminology of Science-Fiction Fandom. Also wrote A History of the Hugo, Nebula, and International Fantasy Awards, Listing Nominees & Winners, 1951-1970 and An Author Index to Astounding/Analog: Part II—Vol. 36, #1, September, 1945 to Vol. 73 #3, May, 1964, the first with Howard DeVore. When I first stumble across an author and their works I’m reminded how deep the genre is. (Died 2002.)
Born November 11, 1917 – Mack Reynolds. Author of a couple hundred published short stories and several novels, he sold more work to John W. Campbell Jr.’s Analog than just about anyone — but not the oft-anthologized “Compound Interest” which appeared in F&SF. His 1962 story “Status Quo” was a Hugo nominee, and he had two stories up for the Nebula in 1966, the clever Sherlock Holmes pastiche, “Adventure of the Extraterrestrial,” and “A Leader for Yesteryear.” OGH met him at the 1972 Worldcon. (Died 1983.)
Born November 11, 1922 – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The Sirens of Titan was his first SF novel followed by Cat’s Cradle which after turning down his original thesis in 1947, the University of Chicago awarded him his master’s degree in anthropology in 1971 for this novel. Next was Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death which is one weird book and an even stranger film. It was nominated for best novel Nebula and Hugo Awards but lost both to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. I’m fairly sure Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday is his last genre novel there’s a lot of short fiction where something of a genre nature might have occurred. (Died 2007.)
Born November 11, 1925 – Jonathan Winters. Yes he did do quite a few genre performances including an early one as James Howard “Fats” Brown in “A Game of Pool”, a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone. He next shows up as Albert Paradine II in the TV movie More Wild, Wild West. He had a recurring role in Mork & Mindy as a character named Mearth. You’ll find him in The Shadow, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Flintstones, both of The Smurfs films and quite a bit more. He even of course was a guest on The Muppets Show. (Died 2013.)
Born November 11, 1945 – Delphyne Joan Hanke-Woods. Artist and Illustrator whose grandfather taught her to read using science fiction pulp magazines. After discovering genre fandom at Windycon in 1978, she became one of the leading fan artists in fanzines of the time, including providing numerous covers for File 770. In addition to convention art shows, her art also appeared professionally, illustrating books by R.A. Lafferty, Joan D. Vinge, and Theodore Sturgeon, and in magazines including Galaxy, Fantastic Films, and The Comics Journal. She won two FAAn Awards for Best Serious Artist and was nominated six times for the Best Fan Artist Hugo, winning in 1986. She was Fan Guest of Honor at several conventions, including back at a Windycon, where her fandom started. (Died 2013.)
November 11, 1948 – Kathy Sanders, 70, Costumer and Fan from the Los Angeles area who has chaired/co-chaired Costume-Cons, and has worked on or organized masquerades at a number of Westercons, Loscons, and a Worldcon. She received Costume-Con’s Life Achievement Award in 2015. She is a member of LASFS and of SCIFI, and ran for DUFF in 1987. Her essay “A Masquerade by Any Other Name” appeared in the L.A.con III Worldcon Program Book.
Born November 11, 1960 – Stanley Tucci, 58. Actor, Director, and Producer with a lengthy resume of character roles in genre films including The Core (Yay! The Core!), Prelude to a Kiss, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Muppets Most Wanted, Beauty and the Beast, The Lovely Bones, Captain America: The First Avenger, Jack the Giant Slayer, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and The Hunger Games films, as well as numerous voice roles including Leonardo da Vinci in Mr. Peabody & Sherman.
(12) WHAT A PICTURE IS WORTH. Jeanette Ng visits The Fantasy Inn to tell about “5 Things That Medieval Bestiary Writers Almost Got Right”. Here’s one of them —
The Gold-Digging Ants
The story of the giant gold-digging ants date back to Herodotus, the father of lies and history. The story goes that these giant dog-sized, furry ants dig grains of gold from the ground. They guard this gold with military precision and diligent action.
It’s a ridiculous tall tale story, but where did it come from?
And is an ant really an ant when it is quite that big and furry?
Herodotus was also very keen on there being winged serpents in Egypt. I’ve long thought of him as travel writer keen to tell you all the stories random people tell him at the pub.
And with the ants, it is possible that it’s just a misunderstanding born out of a translation error. The Persian word for marmot and mountain ant are similar, and there is indeed a species of fox-sized marmot who regularly uncover gold dust in a province of Pakistan due to how rich that ground is in gold.
(13) DOCTOR WHO DOSSIER. Find out what police officer Yasmin Khan has on file about the Pting.
(14) ANIMATION CONFLAGRATION. The Washington Post’s Steven Zeitchik has an overview of the animation industry, “In epic rumpus, Hollywood’s animation sector looks to sort its royalty from its minions”, including whether Disney-Pixar will be in trouble after longtime CEO John Lasseter ended his employment because of sexual harassment allegations and whether Illumination will use its success in the Minions franchise to move into the top tier.
The sector known as one of the film world’s most stable — “Incredibles 2” and “Hotel Transylvania 3” were both hugely lucrative this past summer — is slowly playing out its own mythic dramas, if with less-catchy music.
Companies are beset by mergers, or #MeToo scandals. Studios are wedded to big ambitions, or shackled to past successes.
And internal questions are only the start. Leaders such as Disney and Pixar are trying to maintain dominance over the field, while close competitors like Illumination are closing in. Once-great studios such as DreamWorks are struggling to find their way back. And well-funded upstarts from Sony to Netflix are seeking to knock them all off.
…In interviews with The Washington Post, 16 animation executives and experts, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the highly competitive nature of the field, described a world of intense battles, complex strategies and, maybe most telling, modern motivations. In an era in which entertainment has become fragmented and niche, with kids and parents rarely agreeing on what to watch, animation’s reliable power to attract whole families is the reason studios can’t let it go.
At stake is not just which Hollywood conglomerate will reap financial bounties — major franchises like Toy Story can take in $2 billion or more globally — but which will define the tone and style of animation moviegoers see for years to come. Will the category continued to be dominated by the computer-generated soulfulness of Disney and Pixar? Or will the off-kilter, European flavor of Illumination and its lovably goofy “Minions” make more inroads?
(15) FEMINIST FUTURES. Joe Sherry adds a file on Sheri S. Tepper’s book to Nerds of a Feather’s series: “Feminist Futures: The Gate to Women’s Country”.
The Gate to Women’s Country has a reputation for being among the great works of feminist science fiction, and it may have been at the time, but now thirty years after it was first published, The Gate to Women’s Country does not quite hold up to that legacy. Its importance to the canon of science fiction is not in question. The Gate to Women’s Country has earned that importance. Its reputation as a novel that remains great today is, however, very much in question.
(16) WHERE TO FIND REVIEWS. This week’s collected links to book reviews at Pattinase: “Friday’s Forgotten Books, November 9, 2018”.
Mark Baker, DEATH ON THE NILE, Agatha Christie
Les Blatt, THE CONQUEROR, E.R. Punshon
Elgin Bleecker, GUNS OF BRIXTON, Paul D Brazill
Brian Busby: “Grant Allen”
Kate Jackson/CrossExaminingCrime, ROCKET TO THE MORGUE, Anthony Boucher
Curtis Evans, THE ELECTION BOOTH MURDER, Milton M. Propper
Elisabeth Grace Foley, REST AND BE THANKFUL, Helen MacInnes
Rich Horton, SKIN HUNGER and SACRED SCARS, Kathleen Duey
Jerry House, STAR OVER BETHLEHEM AND OTHER STORIES, Agatha Christie Mallowan
George Kelley, END OF THE LINE, Burt and Dolores Hitchens
Margot Kinberg, DESERT HEAT, J.A. Jance
Rob Kitchin, SIRENS, Joseph Knox
B.V. Lawson, VOICE OUT OF DARKNESS, Ursula Curtiss
Evan Lewis, THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION, Nicholas Meyer
Steve Lewis, SHADY LADY, Cleve Adams
Todd Mason, THE AMERICAN FOLK SCENE ed. David DeTurk & A. Poulin, Jr.; BOB
DYLAN: DON’T LOOK BACK transcribed & edited by DJ Pennebaker et al.;
DANGEROUSLY FUNNY by David Bianculli
Kent Morgan, IN A TRUE LIGHT, John Harvey
J. F. Norris, MAYNARDS’S HOUSE, Herman Raucher
James Reasoner, THE COMPLETE MIKE SHAYNE, PRIVATE EYE, Ken Fitch and Ed Ashe (1960s comics adaptation)
Richard Robinson, THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS, Frederik Pohl
Mike Sind/Only Detect, DARKNESS TAKE MY HAND, Dennis Lehane
Kevin Tipple, CORKSCREW, Ted Wood
TomCat, THE HOUSE OF STRANGE GUESTS, Nicholas Brady
TracyK, THE BIRTHDAY MURDER, Lange Lewis
(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In “Why Does The Grim Reaper Exist?” on YouTube, The New Yorker looks at the 132 Grim Reaper cartoons published in their magazine (including ones by Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson) to see why the Grim Reaper exists and why we think he can be mocked.
[Thanks to JJ, Marcia Illingworth, Karl-Johan Norén, Cat Eldridge, John King Tarpinian, Carl Slaughter, Martin Morse Wooster, Andrew Porter, and Mike Kennedy for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day cmm.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Book Smugglers, code of conduct, Con or Bust, Doctor Who, Fran Wilde, Jeanette Ng, Joe Sherry, Keystroke Medium Reader's Choice Awards, Marcia Kelly Illingworth, Maurine Dorris, Odyssey Writing Workshops, Sheri S. Tepper, YA
File 770, Mike Glyer’s fanzine about the news of sf fandom.
"...the 770 blog, that wretched hive of scum and villainy..."
-- John C. Wright
"A fanzine about cats and the books their owners read" -- Camestros Felapton
2018 Hugo Award Winner!
Electronic editions of the fanzine, posted at eFanzines.com:
File 770 #166, July 2016
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File 770 #152, March 2008
Cats Sleep on SFF: Starling 13
Loki Sends Jane Foster on an Epic Quest in The Mighty Valkyries
Pixel Scroll 1/20/21 Along The Alpha Ralpha Boulevard Where You Live
The Rathbones Folio Prize 2021 Longlist
Lis Carey on Cats Sleep on SFF: Starling 13
Meredith on SFF Creators Sign Letter Opposing Book Deals for Trump
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John A Arkansawyer on SFF Creators Sign Letter Opposing Book Deals for Trump
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Governor Walz announces next steps on COVID-19 to prioritize getting kids back in school, protect hospital capacity
December 16, 2020 by Fillmore County Journal Leave a Comment
Governor also signs into law $216 million in direct support
for small businesses and 13-week extension of unemployment benefits
[ST. PAUL, MN] – As hospitals remain concerned about capacity, Governor Tim Walz today announced a plan to continue combatting community spread of COVID-19 while getting students back in the classroom and supporting Minnesotans’ quality of life. Following the announcement, the Governor signed into law a $216 million economic relief package to support small businesses and workers impacted by the pandemic.
“The sun is rising across Minnesota. Vaccines have arrived and the light at the end of the tunnel is much brighter today than it was at the beginning of this four-week dial back,” Governor Walz said. “There is strong evidence we are starting to turn a corner thanks to the hard work of Minnesotans over the last few weeks to keep each other safe. But we aren’t out of the woods yet. This way forward will help bridge the gap to vaccination by continuing to protect hospital capacity while prioritizing getting our kids back in the classroom and supporting Minnesotans’ quality of life.”
Kids being in school is an important public health priority. Schools play a critical role in the health, well-being, and education of Minnesota’s children. Based on Minnesota’s evolving understanding of the virus, young kids are believed to be less susceptible to serious complications from COVID-19. The state has also learned more about how to reduce the potential for spread in schools from success in other settings. Today the Governor updated the Safe Learning Plan so that starting on January 18, 2021, every elementary school across the state may choose to operate in an in-person learning model as long as they are able to implement additional mitigation strategies, which include providing and requiring staff to wear a face shield and mask and offering regular testing.
“This plan prioritizes the health, well-being, and education of our students, while taking precautions to protect the teachers and staff who care for them, so we can begin to help them make up for lost time,” said Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. “The best place for our students to learn is in the classroom. For our youngest learners, in-person learning is critical for their health and development in both the short and long term.”
Quality time with loved ones and regular exercise are critical to the mental and emotional well-being of families across the state. Several modifications to existing restrictions will allow Minnesotans to tend to their quality of life:
Social Gatherings: Indoor gatherings are not recommended, but Minnesotans may gather inside with one other household up to 10 people. If outside, social gatherings may include up to two additional households (three total) with a maximum of 15 people, starting December 19. Masking and social distancing is strongly encouraged.
Gyms and fitness studios: May open for individual exercise at 25 percent capacity, or 100 people maximum, with masks and 12 feet of physical distancing between individuals. Additional guidance about group classes, which can begin January 4, will be forthcoming.
Youth and adult sports: Practices can resume January 4. Additional guidance regarding the resumption of practices will be forthcoming. Additionally, organized sports activity is no longer directly tied to county case data or school learning model.
Outdoor entertainment venues: Open at 25 percent capacity, up to 100 people at a time. If food and drink are served, all must be seated.
As Minnesota approaches 4,500 deaths, our hospitalization rates and community spread put Minnesota well above the high-risk threshold and are still significantly higher than this summer and fall. Hospitals remain concerned about capacity as COVID-19 continues to spread in our communities across Minnesota. Governor Walz is continuing efforts to stem community spread of COVID-19 and support our frontline heroes. Inside entertainment venues, event spaces, and similar establishments remain closed until January 11.
Bars, restaurants, and breweries also remain closed for indoor dining, but they may open for outdoor service at 50 percent capacity or up to 100 people. Each table is limited to four people, and tables must be at least six feet apart. In his announcement, the Governor acknowledged this action is by no means a solution for the industry as a whole. Rather, it is a recognition that some establishments – particularly breweries – have put significant work into making outdoor service possible and this may prove helpful to some.
“I’m very hopeful and thankful today,” said Ken Holmen, MD, President and CEO of CentraCare. “I appreciate the leadership of the Governor and his staff during this challenging time and the collaboration among health care organizations as our amazing frontline workers provide 24/7 care under the most difficult of circumstances. I’m also thankful to our communities who are making sacrifices to protect the health and safety of our families, friends and neighbors.”
“We are making progress, but we can’t let up,” Dr. Holmen continued. “Hospitalizations from COVID-19 are starting to decrease. Vaccines are now here, but their impact will take several months. So we’re counting on every Minnesotan to keep doing your part – wear a mask, keep your distance and wash your hands. If we all do this over the next few weeks, it will save lives and be the best measure of our holiday spirit.”
“We are thankful that so many Minnesotans have taken the right steps to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in their communities,” Minnesota Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm said. “We have safe and effective vaccines starting to come into the state, but it will be many months before everyone has a chance to get vaccinated. In the meantime, we need to keep things moving in the right direction by doing those things we know help reduce COVID-19 transmission. That means masking up, keeping socially distant, washing your hands, staying home when sick and getting tested when appropriate.”
Also today, Governor Walz signed into law $216 million in direct support for small businesses and workers affected by the pandemic. The bipartisan bill will provide direct, targeted aid to keep our small businesses afloat, extend unemployment benefits for workers struggling to get by, and help families put food on the table. The Governor said is an important step in the right direction as the state continues to push for federal relief.
“Today, because of the commitment of Minnesotans and our businesses to keep our families and our neighbors safe, we can carefully begin to turn a corner,” said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. “As the Governor signed the business relief package into law today, it will get much-needed to funding to businesses and additional Unemployment Insurance benefits to workers affected by this pandemic.”
Executive Order 20-103 will have the full force and effect of law upon the approval of the Executive Council, which is made up of Governor Walz, Lt. Governor Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Secretary of State Steve Simon, and State Auditor Julie Blaha.
More information on these restrictions and the state response is available at staysafe.mn.gov.
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Tax department wants all hands on deck to probe irregular deposits
Mumbai, Dec. 9 -- As the government steps up its probe into irregular deposits in the wake of demonetization, the income tax department has been hit by a staff crunch. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra has written to income tax commissioners to depute inspectors and assessment officers-these officers are otherwise not authorized to handle tax evasion cases-to look into irregularities that have cropped up after the cash withdrawal. Mint has seen a copy of the letter. "Investigation directorates have intensified enforcement actions in detecting serious irregularities, they are however, severely handicapped because of non-availability of manpower," wrote Chandra, in a letter addressed to principal chief commissioners. About Rs11.55 trillion of the estimated Rs16 trillion worth of invalidated notes have been deposited in banks. In many instances, tax evaders have used ingenious methods ranging from colluding with jewellers for buying gold jewellery with back-dated bills to incentivizing the poor to deposit the money into their Jan Dhan bank accounts for a small commission, prompting increased scrutiny. A CBDT spokesperson declined to comment. Since the note ban on 8 November, the tax department has probed more than 400 cases of which it has referred 30 cases to the enforcement directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation because they involve serious irregularities. Mint reported on 7 December that in these investigations, the tax department has seized more than Rs130 crore in cash and jewellery while taxpayers have admitted to Rs2,000 crore of undisclosed income. But tax officials say these are small victories and that they are impeded by lack of manpower. A 2015 report by industry lobby, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that the total number of officers needed in CBDT was 57,793. However, there is a shortfall of 15,002 officers. "The number of officials has by and large remained the same," said an income tax official, on condition of anonymity as he isn't authorized to speak to the media. Now, these officials will also have to scrutinize the thousands of transactions where amounts in excess of Rs2.5 lakh (in cash) have been deposited in accounts after demonetization. The finance minister, in a press conference on Thursday said that simply depositing black money in the bank will not make it white. That also presents a fresh problem for the taxman-examining cases where no returns have been filed. "We are examining how cases of individuals who haven't filed returns will be picked up for scrutiny," said a second income tax official. "Many in India are TDS (tax deducted at source) payers and do not feel the need to file returns," he added. Mint reported on 8 December that although the tax department is constrained by the lack of personnel, it is aggressively using technology to keep track of suspicious transactions. Published by HT Syndication with permission from MINT.
Next Article Which countries have benefited the most from globalization?Monday, February 20, 2017
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Teachers Union Uses Quarterly Journal to Advance Leftist Dogma
By Raven Clabough
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second largest teachers’ union, makes no effort to disguise its anti-Trump agenda in the fall issue of its quarterly journal, American Educator. The issue asks instructors to be mindful of both implicit and explicit bias under the Trump administration and to combat said bias with safe spaces and identity politics. In fact, the entire issue reads like a campaign to perpetuate leftist dogma in schools, as if it’s not already the predominant ideology in the public school system.
AFT President Randi Weingarten sets the stage for these themes in the issue’s opening essay, “A Defining Moment for Democracy.” There, she claims President Trump has “trampled rights enshrined in the Constitution,” “waged a war on truth,” and “fanned biases that aim to dehumanize ‘the other’ and that erode our democracy.”
“We can’t ignore Trump’s bigotry and cruelty, or the fact that his erratic behavior is intended to create chaos and confusion,” she opines.
According to Weingarten, President Trump has “stok[ed] America’s divisions in order to exploit them.”
So how should teachers combat these issues? Quite ironically, another article in the same issue of this journal suggests further dividing students based on their ethnic and racial backgrounds.
In “The Identity Project Intervention,” Deborah Rivas-Drake and Adriana J. Umaña-Taylorone suggest educators foster ethnic and racial identity development with the implementation of an Identity Project intervention program to “provide adolescents with tools and strategies that would help them learn more about their ethnic-racial background.” The entire eight-week program focuses on student ethnicity and race and the discrimination and stereotypes surrounding those identities.
In keeping with the premise that Trump’s presidency has created an unfriendly environment for non-white students, an article by Maureen Costello of the anti-Trump, anti-Christian, and anti-white Southern Poverty Law Center perpetuated the SPLC’s unfounded claims of a “surge of incidents involving racial slurs and symbols, bigotry, and the harassment of minority children in the nation’s schools.” In fact, not only were most of the incidents unproven, many were actually proven false.
The Daily Wire observes that the SPLC is not exactly a reliable resource on disseminating information pertaining to allegations of bias, given that it is currently undergoing an internal investigation following claims by both former and current employees that the organization is a “hotbed of racism and sexism.”
The issue also includes a Q&A with a Muslim teacher named Debbie Almontaser, author of Leading While Muslim: The Experiences of American Muslim Principals after 9/11. During the question/answer session, Almontaser cites several examples of her own experiences with Islamophobia, and suggests that school district policies “incorporate curricula and teaching about Islam.” She also recommends school districts connect with nonprofit organizations to provide cultural diversity training.
In “Demystifying the ‘Safe Space,’” Matthew Kay claims there is no objective “more holy” among progressive educators than creating a “safe space” in which students can be comfortable engaging in conversations about race in the classroom. In the article, Kay recalls one conversation in which students debated whether a white person had any place to speak on the Michael Brown incident and fallout in Ferguson. Kay ultimately seems to conclude that white teachers have to be especially careful venturing into conversations with non-white students about race.
Adam Sanchez encourages educators to teach a revisionist (anti-American) history of the United States in accordance with the teachings of radical Marxist historian Howard Zinn.
“We need a curriculum that surfaces the moments of solidarity, resistance, and courage that made this a more just, more inclusive society. Students often feel alienated from history and politics because they are told that great (usually white) men make history,” Sanchez writes.
The Union Highlights section takes an opportunity to use the recent mass shootings in El Paso,Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, to showcase the union’s anti-Second Amendment stance and to advance the claim that the country has become increasingly anti-minority and violent under President Trump.
Overall, the fall issue is packed with leftist dogma and pervasive, though false, claims that the United States is a democracy (not true — it is a constitutional republic) under threat by the Trump administration. And as such, according to Weingarten, teachers have a “responsibility for the next generation” to make students feel safe and cultivate a society of “engaged citizens.”
“Our public schools play a vital role in creating a more perfect union because, at its best, public education provides a ladder of opportunity, a path out of poverty, and a place where America’s great pluralism is celebrated,” she writes.
“Democracy in education has always been the foundation for providing education for democracy.”
Given the long list of leftist agenda items, when will public school teachers actually have time to do any real teaching?
Image: screenshot from AFT website
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Photos spark media ethics debate
[Follow Ups] [Post Followup] [Our Discussion Forum]
Posted by Tony from 69-pool1.ras11.calan-e.alerondial.net (206.149.36.69) on Thursday, March 27, 2003 at 1:06AM :
Photos spark media ethics debateTim Lockette
SUN STAFF WRITER
lockettet@gvillesun.com
Should the news media show images of POWs or dead Americans?
When a hostile country parades American prisoners or even dead bodies before the cameras, does the American news media have the responsibility to show those pictures to the public - in the cause of depicting war, warts and all?
Or would showing those images only play into the hands of the enemy's propaganda machine - possibly even making reporters accomplices to a war crime?
As pictures of five soldiers taken prisoner in the war against Iraq slowly make their way onto the airwaves and into print in the United States, many Americans are asking themselves that question. But some Florida experts in media ethics say there's no simple answer to the question of how to handle pictures of Americans in defeat.
"It's a tough call," said Kim Walsh-Childers, who teaches a graduate-level class in media ethics at the University of Florida. "For me, the primary issue is always human decency, but you have to balance that with the redeeming social value these pictures might have."
News editors and producers around the country did have a tough call to make Sunday, when Iraqi television and the Al-Jazeera news network began broadcasting interviews with American soldiers captured in a battle near the Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah - and images of the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed in the same battle.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took to the airwaves soon after the pictures first appeared, saying that the Iraqi broadcast violated the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war - which forbids countries from subjecting POWs to "humiliating and degrading treatment" and requires them to protect POWS from "public curiosity."
But some media ethics experts say that American news media can display POWs - or even pictures of dead soldiers - in a way that informs the public.
"We do a disservice to the public if we sanitize the war," said Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute, a St. Petersburg-based school for journalists. "The public needs to understand both the heroism and the horror of war."
Steele said that even offensive images of war - like the videotape of American soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 - can help the public understand the consequences of military action.
"We have to remember that millions of Americans oppose this war," he said. "They would argue that if we withhold these pictures, we're acting as PR people for the Pentagon."
But Walsh-Childers says even the possible social value of such pictures might be outweighed by a soldier's right to privacy and dignity.
"I would have a tough time making a decision on this one," she said. "Showing these images could make it much harder on family members of the soldiers, but the redeeming social value is pretty compelling."
UF professor Jon Roosenraad, who teaches an undergraduate media ethics class, says he probably wouldn't broadcast pictures of dead U.S. troops - but he said the decision is more a matter of taste than a matter of ethics.
"It's not an easy decision," he said. "But we have to think about whether this is necessary, and whether it's an appropriate thing to put into everyone's living room."
Journalists often talk of the "Wheaties test" - a rule of thumb that says a picture shouldn't be printed in a newspaper if it makes a reader feel sick at the breakfast table.
But Walsh-Childers says the Wheaties test often isn't applied consistently when news outlets are covering international conflict. Americans have a stronger stomach when it comes to pictures of foreigners who have been killed or tortured, she said.
"Consistency is an important part of any ethical system," she said. "And it's hard to find much consistency in the way most newspapers handle this issue."
-- Tony
-- signature .
Re: Photos spark media ethics debate - bjbolz 1:06PM 06/05/2003 () (0)
( default )
: Photos spark media ethics debateTim Lockette : SUN STAFF WRITER : lockettet@gvillesun.com : Should the news media show images of POWs or dead Americans? : : When a hostile country parades American prisoners or even dead bodies before the cameras, does the American news media have the responsibility to show those pictures to the public - in the cause of depicting war, warts and all? : Or would showing those images only play into the hands of the enemy's propaganda machine - possibly even making reporters accomplices to a war crime? : As pictures of five soldiers taken prisoner in the war against Iraq slowly make their way onto the airwaves and into print in the United States, many Americans are asking themselves that question. But some Florida experts in media ethics say there's no simple answer to the question of how to handle pictures of Americans in defeat. : "It's a tough call," said Kim Walsh-Childers, who teaches a graduate-level class in media ethics at the University of Florida. "For me, the primary issue is always human decency, but you have to balance that with the redeeming social value these pictures might have." : News editors and producers around the country did have a tough call to make Sunday, when Iraqi television and the Al-Jazeera news network began broadcasting interviews with American soldiers captured in a battle near the Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah - and images of the bodies of U.S. soldiers killed in the same battle. : Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took to the airwaves soon after the pictures first appeared, saying that the Iraqi broadcast violated the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war - which forbids countries from subjecting POWs to "humiliating and degrading treatment" and requires them to protect POWS from "public curiosity." : But some media ethics experts say that American news media can display POWs - or even pictures of dead soldiers - in a way that informs the public. : "We do a disservice to the public if we sanitize the war," said Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute, a St. Petersburg-based school for journalists. "The public needs to understand both the heroism and the horror of war." : Steele said that even offensive images of war - like the videotape of American soldiers dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 - can help the public understand the consequences of military action. : "We have to remember that millions of Americans oppose this war," he said. "They would argue that if we withhold these pictures, we're acting as PR people for the Pentagon." : But Walsh-Childers says even the possible social value of such pictures might be outweighed by a soldier's right to privacy and dignity. : "I would have a tough time making a decision on this one," she said. "Showing these images could make it much harder on family members of the soldiers, but the redeeming social value is pretty compelling." : UF professor Jon Roosenraad, who teaches an undergraduate media ethics class, says he probably wouldn't broadcast pictures of dead U.S. troops - but he said the decision is more a matter of taste than a matter of ethics. : "It's not an easy decision," he said. "But we have to think about whether this is necessary, and whether it's an appropriate thing to put into everyone's living room." : Journalists often talk of the "Wheaties test" - a rule of thumb that says a picture shouldn't be printed in a newspaper if it makes a reader feel sick at the breakfast table. : But Walsh-Childers says the Wheaties test often isn't applied consistently when news outlets are covering international conflict. Americans have a stronger stomach when it comes to pictures of foreigners who have been killed or tortured, she said. : "Consistency is an important part of any ethical system," she said. "And it's hard to find much consistency in the way most newspapers handle this issue."
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Football: PSG look to go one better in Champions League but doubts remain
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain came so close to winning the prize they crave more than anything in last ..
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain came so close to winning the prize they crave more than anything in last season's Champions League and are hoping to go one better this time, but there are concerns that the Qatar-owned club might actually have gone backwards in recent months.
Bayern Munich's greater experience told in Lisbon in August, and there were tears at the end for Neymar as the French champions agonisingly lost 1-0 in their first ever Champions League final.
Two months on, Thomas Tuchel's side begin their latest bid for European success at home to Manchester United on Tuesday (Oct 20), in a rematch of the last-16 tie in 2019 which PSG lost to a controversial late penalty.
It therefore brings back memories of just one of several painful defeats in the Champions League in recent years, but the reality is that Paris should be considered favourites against the Old Trafford side and to win a group also containing RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir.
Yet whether this will be the season that they do go all the way remains to be seen.
Tuchel has been the first to complain that his squad is weaker than it was last season as PSG – having already seen several key players depart over the summer – have started the new campaign hamstrung by injuries, suspensions and coronavirus cases.
PSG coach Thomas Tuchel and sporting director Leonardo have not seen eye to eye in recent weeks. (AFP/FRANCK FIFE)
"CLUMSY AND RUSHED"
Right-back Thomas Meunier and all-time record goal-scorer Edinson Cavani left when their contracts ended, not even sticking around for the latter stages of the Champions League in August – Cavani is now at United and so could come back to haunt his old side this week.
Skipper Thiago Silva did stay for the 'Final Eight' in Lisbon but has since joined Chelsea and complained that sporting director Leonardo had been "clumsy and rushed" in refusing to offer him a deal to stay.
"Not only with me," the Brazilian told France Football. "Cavani is the top scorer in PSG's history. I am saying this so that the club progresses and doesn't make the same mistakes in future."
Tuchel would appear to agree with that view, with his apparently difficult relationship with the man who makes the signings producing regular headlines in France.
"We will do everything we possibly can and we will never accept excuses but we have to face up to the reality and that is that we have lost players," the German, who is in the final year of his contract, said earlier this month as he indicated PSG could not win the Champions League without major strengthening.
"We didn't like what he said. The club didn't like it and I didn't like it either," said Leonardo.
"If you decide to stay, you have to respect the club's sporting policy, the internal rules and the situation at the club."
Rafinha in action against Read More – Source
channel news asia
Rooney awaiting COVID-19 test result after friend’s visit
Thrill is back for Amir
In fitting fashion, an NFC East elimination game concluded with a running back sitting on his fumbled ball. Yes, sitting.
New York Giants running back Wayne Gallman coughed up the ball with 58 seconds to play, but officials ruled he secured it just enough to maintain possession after he literally sat on it. The Giants held on for the final minute of the game, winning 23-19 Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The Dallas Cowboys have been eliminated from playoff contention.
The NFC East title will be decided by a “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles. Washington is in if it ties or wins. The Giants (6-10) will advance if Washington loses.
Neither the Giants nor the Cowboys played a clean game. Dallas’ offense stalle
The Giants, despite an interception and two fumbles (one lost), terrorized the Cowboys offensive line and sacked Dalton six times — hitting him a total of nine times. Dalton’s pressure prohibited the Cowboys from jelling in the passing game as they had a week earlier in their 37-17 win over the Eagles.
The Giants snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory. The Cowboys, finishing their season at 6-10, snapped a three-game winning streak.
d repeatedly, and its defense let up two early touchdowns.
But head coach Mike McCarthy will shoulder the blame for two questionable decisions.
On third-and-16, with 7:02 to play and the Giants up by 1, Giants receiver Dante Pettis did not appear to secure the catch on a 10-yard pass from quarterback Daniel Jones. Dallas chose not to challenge the play that immediately preceded the Giants’ 50-yard field goal. That, and the decision not to go for 2 after running back Ezekiel Elliott’s third-quarter touchdown, doomed the Cowboys.
Neither team converted a third down for the first 24 minutes of the game, and ball security made a difference. The Cowboys’ final drive ended on quarterback Andy Dalton’s interception in the end zone.
NFC East eyes will turn to the Sunday night game to determine whether a six- or seven-win team advances to the playoffs.
McCarthy’s eyes will turn to his second season in Dallas after an underwhelming first.
Read from source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2021/01/03/new-york-giants-nfc-east-dallas-cowboys-out/4116818001/
The Wisconsin Badgers captured the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and the trophy that came along with it.
And then they broke it.
While dancing around to celebrate his team’s 42-28 victory over Wake Forest on Wednesday, quarterback Graham Mertz dropped the football-shaped piece of Lenox crystal, leaving it shattered on the floor of the locker room after it fell off its base.
“We just wanted everybody to have a piece of that trophy,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst joked.
That would seem appropriate.
Mertz accounted for three touchdowns and Wisconsin turned four second-half interceptions, all by different players, into 21 points to turn a close game into a near-rout of the Demon Deacons. Five players scored touchdowns for the Badgers.
Mertz, a redshirt freshman, threw for 130 yards and ran for two short TDs as Wisconsin (4-3) finished a rocky 2020 season on a high note.
“Yeah, I dropped it,” Mertz said sheepishly. “That’s on me. It happened.”
The Badgers might be willing to forgive him.
With the game tied at 21 late in the third quarter, Noah Burks intercepted Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman on a pass in the flat when the intended receiver failed to turn his head around. Burks returned the ball 41 yards to set up a 14-yard scoring strike from Mertz to Mason Stokke on a wheel route, giving the Badgers their first lead.
Hartman, who had thrown only one interception all season, was picked off on the next three possessions as well.
Scott Nelson had a 60-yard interception return and Collin Wilder returned a pick 72 yards to set up short TD runs that gave the Badgers a 42-21 lead, resulting in Hartman getting benched. Jack Sanborn had 11 tackles and an interception and was named MVP of the game.
“It felt like one led to the other,” Sanborn said. “After three picks, we said, ‘Collin you have to get one’ – and then Collin went and got one.”
Sanborn said the Badgers picked up on some of Hartman’s tendencies.
“Throughout the game, similar concepts coming up,” Sanborn said. “We kind of knew where he wanted to throw the ball. He was making throws early in the game. But we got a tell on where he wanted to go with the ball.”
Hartman finished 20 of 37 passing for 318 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions.
“All of a sudden the dam opened the floodgates and wow, I never thought we would lose a game like that,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said.
Clawson said he felt Hartman was telegraphing his passes.
“I think he held on to targets too long and Wisconsin broke on his eyes and his arm actions,” Clawson said.
Wake Forest (4-5) outgained Wisconsin 518-266 on offense, but the Badgers had 176 return yards off interceptions.
Hartman threw three touchdown passes to Jacquarii Roberson to give the Demon Deacons a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter against the nation’s No. 1-ranked defense.
The game was played in front of no fans other than family and friends due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read from source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2020/12/30/pick-4-ints-send-wisconsin-past-wake-in-dukes-mayo-bowl/43304713/
An uptick in positive Covid-19 cases at Manchester City has forced the postponement of the club’s English Premier League game at Everton on Monday.
“After the latest round of Covid-19 testing, the club returned a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day,” said City in a statement on their website.
“With the security of the bubble compromised, there posed a risk that the virus could spread further amongst the squad, the staff and potentially beyond.
“Based on strong medical advice the Premier League, in consultation with both clubs, have decided to postpone the fixture.”
On Christmas Day, City confirmed that forward Gabriel Jesus and defender Kyle Walker, as well as two members of staff had tested positive for Covid-19.
Monday’s game had been slated to kickoff at 8 p.m. local time at Goodison Park in Liverpool.
An alternative date and kickoff time has yet to be decided, according to Everton.
The Premier League says further testing will be conducted on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Crystal Palace and Leicester City shared a 1-1 draw on Monday as the Premier League’s intense festive schedule of matches continued.
Kelechi Iheanacho missed a first-half penalty for the visitors as second place Leicester, who had drawn 2-2 with Manchester United on Saturday, looked to close the gap on Premier League leader Liverpool.
Wilfried Zaha’s superb finish then gave Palace the lead, before Harvey Barnes’ low shot late on secured Leicester a point, moving Brendan Rodgers’ side on to 29 points, three behind the Premier League defending champion.
Read from source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/28/football/manchester-city-everton-english-premier-league-spt-intl/index.html
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Spanish Congress approves new budget, ending years of gridlock
Spain’s minority government has secured congressional support for its 2021 spending plan, ending years of budget gridlock and improving its own political prospects inside a fractured parliament.
On Thursday the lower house of parliament approved the spending blueprint with 188 votes in favor and 154 against. The bill will now go to the Senate, where any amendments will be voted on by Congress in late December.
The governing coalition headed by the Socialist Party (PSOE) with junior partner Unidas Podemos has underscored that the new budget includes much greater social spending to address the coronavirus fallout. It will also channel millions of euros in funds from the European Union to help with the recovery in one of the world’s hardest-hit economies. The new spending plan also allocates more funds to education and to caregiving for dependent people.
Spain had been rolling over the 2018 budget, which was drafted by the previous administration of Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party (PP) and did not make provisions for dealing with unexpected events such as this year’s coronavirus pandemic.
The government’s blueprint was backed by several regional parties, including the separatist groups Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and the Democratic Party of Catalonia (PdeCAT), as well as EH-Bildu, a radical Basque party that has courted controversy in the past for failing to condemn the violent campaign waged by the now-defunct terrorist group ETA.
This fact has drawn significant criticism in recent weeks from the political right and from the liberal Ciudadanos (Citizens), which voted against the budget on Thursday after initially attempting to reach a separate deal with the government. “The PSOE has lost its soul,” said Edmundo Bal, the deputy spokesperson for the party, ahead of the vote.
Detractors of the bill, which also include the main opposition PP and the far-right Vox – the third-largest force in Congress – said they additionally oppose its tax hikes and higher deficit provisions. But supporters hailed it as “the end of neoliberal austerity.”
“This budget inaugurates a new political period in Spain and a new parliamentary majority, one of dialogue, one that looks to the future, with 11 different parties representing more than 12 million Spaniards, one that leaves the fuming trio of the Colón photograph on the sidelines,” said Unidas Podemos spokesperson Pablo Echenique, alluding to to a picture of an anti-government march showing representatives of Ciudadanos, Vox and the PP standing together in February 2019. Echenique also warned detractors that the budget is just “a taste” of the laws that will be passed from now on.
Spain held a snap election in April of last year after a fractured parliament voted down an earlier draft of the budget, and this was followed by another general election in November, which also failed to deliver a clear winner. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of the PSOE now heads a minority government that is forced to reach case-by-case deals in order to get legislation passed. Sánchez, who managed to iron out earlier friction with his own Podemos partners over the terms of the budget, is hoping that this victory will see him through the remainder of the political term.
Read from source: https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-12-03/spanish-congress-approves-new-budget-ending-years-of-gridlock.html
Franco’s summer palace is handed to Spanish state amid legal battle
Spaniards look for more meaningful gifts this Christmas as restrictions on gatherings set in
Storm Filomena has blanketed parts of Spain in heavy snow, with half of the country on red alert for more on Saturday.
Road, rail and air travel has been disrupted and interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the country was facing “the most intense storm in the last 50 years”.
Madrid, one of the worst affected areas, is set to see up to 20cm (eight inches) of snow in the next 24 hours.
Further south the storm caused rivers to burst their banks.
Four deaths have been reported so far as a result of Filomena. Officials said two people had been found frozen to death – one in the town of Zarzalejo, north-west of Madrid, and the other in the eastern city of Calatayud. Two people travelling in a car were swept away by floods near the southern city of Malaga.
As snow fell on Madrid on Friday evening, a number of vehicles became stranded on a motorway near the capital.
The city’s Barajas airport has closed, along with a number of roads, and all trains to and from Madrid have been cancelled.
Firefighters were called in to assist drivers who had become stuck. In some areas the military were called in to help clear roads.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged people to stay at home and to follow the instructions of emergency services. King Felipe and Queen Letizia took to Twitter to urge “extreme caution against the risks of accumulation of ice and snow”.
The country’s AEMET weather agency said the snowfall was “exceptional and most likely historic”.
A number of people were seen making the most of the snowy scenery, walking through Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square.
Large parks in Madrid have since been closed as a precaution, AFP news agency reports.
One man was pictured skiing along the Gran Via, the capital’s famous shopping street.
In Cañada Real, the largest shanty town in western Europe, residents were seen creating a bonfire to keep warm.
The cold weather is set to continue beyond the weekend with temperatures in Madrid predicted to hit -12C on Thursday.
Read from source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55586751
The border that separates Gibraltar from La Línea de la Concepción, which is known in Spanish as La Verja and was closed for 13 years (1969 to 1982), will cease to exist in six months’ time. Spain and the United Kingdom have reached a “preliminary agreement” to avoid the British Overseas Territory from becoming a hard border of the European Union. The two delegations, headed by the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya and her British counterpart Dominic Raab, were negotiating the deal late into Wednesday night, with just hours to go before Brexit becomes a reality, and the United Kingdom definitively leaves the European Union at midnight tonight.
According to the Spanish minister, who gave a press conference today from La Moncloa, the prime ministerial palace, Gibraltar will be joining the Schengen area, a European free-travel zone that is made up of 26 countries (22 from the EU, plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein), meaning that the border to enter the British Overseas Territory will no longer be at La Verja, but rather at Gibraltar’s port and airport.
During the so-called “implementation period,” which will last for four years, these border controls will be headed up by the European border agency Frontex, but Spain will be responsible for the Schengen rules being observed in Gibraltar. That means that the European agents will have to render account to the Spanish authorities regarding who is permitted to enter the area and the policy of conceding visas. Anyone traveling to Gibraltar from Spanish territory will not require a passport, but British arrivals will, given that the United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen area.
The deal, which sources from La Moncloa described as “historic,” has been subject to negotiations between Spanish and British delegations since June, with Gibraltarian representatives forming part of the latter. But a final sprint was needed to get it across the line ahead of the Brexit deadline. The text has already been sent to Brussels and must now be enshrined in a treaty between the UK and the EU, given that the European Commission is the competent authority on the issue. The deal would not have been possible had Spain not managed to secure a veto over the future relationship with Gibraltar during the Brexit negotiations.
The Spanish foreign minister highlighted the fact that the measures agreed with the United Kingdom will be adopted “without prejudice to the inalienable claims of both sides in terms of the sovereignty [of Gibraltar], which have been safeguarded.”
While the necessary steps are taken to finalize the treaty, something that is forecast to take six months, “arrangements that are allowed by Schengen to ease the controls at La Verja” will be applied, in order to ensure that mobility (which is already greatly limited due to the pandemic) be “as fluid as possible,” in the words of the minister.
González Laya did not offer details about how Spain would exercise its responsibility over the Gibraltar border, nor whether, after four years, Spanish police would be stationed in the port and the airport of The Rock, as the territory is commonly known. She only went so far as to say that at the end of this period, a round of consultation is planned, and that the role of Frontex is to “assist the Spanish authorities” and to serve as a “confidence builder” – that’s to say, dispel any misgivings on the part of the Gibraltarians.
As well as forming part of Schengen, Gibraltar will be able to benefit from other EU policies, such as a customs regime for the trade of goods, always with the intermediation and support of Spain, and guaranteeing loyal competition in terms of taxation, environmental issues and work relations. This will create a paradox whereby Gibraltar – 96% of whose inhabitants voted against Brexit in the 2016 referendum – could be more integrated in the EU now that it is out of it than when the UK was part of the bloc, given that it was not part of Schengen, nor the customs union or common market.
In theory, the nearly 10,000 Spaniards who work in Gibraltar (two-thirds of the 15,000 cross-border workers, had their access via La Verja guaranteed, even if there had been no deal, provided they figured on a registry that would have let them come and go just by showing an ID card such as the Spanish DNI.
The problem is that a hard border would have seen the end of many of these jobs in Gibraltar, as well as depriving the nearby Spanish population of customers with high spending power. As such, on Monday, the mayors of eight Spanish municipalities in the neighboring area called on the governments in Madrid and London to reach an “urgent and positive” deal that would put the “interests of the citizens above any other aspect.”
For her part, González Laya said on Monday that Spain was willing to “raise La Verja” to facilitate the free circulation of people with Gibraltar, but warned that if there was no deal, it would be “the only place where there was a hard Brexit.”
The Rock was expressly excluded from the Brexit deal reached between the UK and the EU on December 24, meaning that its future was entirely dependent on the results of the negotiations between Madrid and London.
Via a statement, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab celebrated the deal, saying that “working side by side with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, and following intensive discussions with the Spanish government, we reached agreement on a political framework to form the basis of a separate treaty between the UK and the EU regarding Gibraltar.” In the meantime, he continued, “all sides are committed to mitigating the effects of the end of the Transition Period on Gibraltar, and in particular ensure border fluidity, which is clearly in the best interests of the people living on both sides.” Raab reiterated his government’s firm commitment to “Gibraltar and its sovereignty,” and thanked his Spanish counterpart for her “positive and constructive approach.” He concluded saying: “We have a warm and strong relationship with Spain, and we look forward to building on it in 2021.”
Writing via Twitter, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that the deal was the start of “a new era,” saying that the preliminary agreement will “allow for barriers to be eliminated and to move toward an area of shared prosperity.” He also thanked the negotiators from the Foreign Ministry.
British Prime Minister Borish Johnson also published a tweet on Thursday afternoon, welcoming the deal.
Read from source: https://english.elpais.com/brexit/2020-12-31/spain-uk-reach-draft-agreement-that-will-see-an-end-to-the-border-with-gibraltar.html
Separating the destinies of Abdoul, a 16-year-old from Sierra Leone, and Moroccan Yassin Esadik, 23, is an abyss of two-and-a-half years. The former disembarked from the Aquarius rescue ship in Valencia in June, 2018. The red-carpet treatment rolled out in the port meant there were 600 journalists on site, humanitarian aid and a coordinated administration focused on accelerating the procedures to process the migrants’ arrival.
Two-and-a-half years later, at the end of October, Esadik arrived in the overcrowded Arguineguín dock in Gran Canaria, where migrant arrivals had been accumulating for 20 days. Sandwiches were handed out for breakfast, lunch and dinner, there was a lack of water and hygiene, journalists were kept behind a barrier and an overwhelmed system meant that he was unlikely to be able to leave the island until he was deported. It’s not just time that separates the fate of these two young men; nor is it exactly an ideological shift. It is realpolitik.
In the case of Abdoul, a then-unknown humanitarian rescue ship gave Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez the opportunity to declare his intentions to the European Union as soon as he took power in June 2018. The Aquarius was the first ship to become embroiled in a humanitarian crisis due to the closed port strategy of the Italian interior minister at the time, Matteo Salvini. While Europe looked the other way, the vessel was left in limbo for eight days. Implicit in Sánchez’s gesture was the message that Spain could lead the approach of Europe’s southern states to migration, could manage the flows and control borders while respecting human rights. But reality soon chewed up that message and spat it out.
Another incident involving a ship that has long been forgotten showed how quickly Spain ditched this role. In late November 2018, the Alicante fishing boat Nuestra Madre Loreto was left in limbo for 10 days after rescuing 12 migrants off the coast of Libya. Once again, neither Italy nor Malta allowed it to dock, and Sanchez’s government, in contrast with its previous message, tried to resolve the crisis by forcing the ship to leave the migrants in what it considered the closest and safest port – Libya, a chaotic country, according to migration experts, where migrants are extorted and abused. The captain of Nuestra Madre Loreto, Pascual Durá, refused and set sail for the Spanish coast. The crisis was only resolved at the last minute when Malta allowed the boat to dock on the condition that the migrants were subsequently taken to Spain.
Since that incident, there has been a U-turn in Spain’s migration politics. The vast majority of the Aquarius migrants plus those rescued by the Catalan NGO ship Proactiva Open Arms arriving in Spain in 2018 have had their request for legal residency rejected; Spanish rescue boats have been forbidden to trawl the central Mediterranean and the Maritime Rescue service has also had its hands tied. For the time being, the coalition government has agreed not to stop immediate deportation, and the enclosure in Ceuta and Melilla is being maintained and is now being tried in the Canary Islands.
“Spanish migration strategy is more stable than it seems,” says Gemma Pinyol, director of the Instrategies think tank. “There are some changes in the narrative depending on who is in power, but the border control policies, which are the ones that continue to be imposed, haven’t changed that much. We need to take a good look and promote serious debate on migration. We can discuss which model is better or worse, but we must seek a comprehensive mobility policy.”
While Spain has been spared Europe’s migratory crises until recently, over the past two and a half years it has been left to face unprecedented situations practically alone. In 2018, irregular entries rocketed by more than 64,000 and, a year later, the number of asylum applications rose to 118,000, collapsing an already precarious system. Now, in the midst of the pandemic, the Canary Islands is bearing the brunt of the situation, leading to migrant macro-camps such as were set up in the Greek islands.
Thanks to the European Union and its interior ministers, the chance of Spain leading a migration approach of its own has dwindled. “From the Pyrenees down, Europe only cares about two words: secondary migrations,” says a member of the current administration, referring to the obsession with stopping the transit of migrants to the rest of Europe through Mediterranean countries.
In fact it is the demands of European countries to the north and east of the continent that have done much to curb Spain’s early initiative. “There has been a total rejection of what was originally proposed and a lack of leadership,” says a spokesman involved in national immigration policy. “There was a positive, serious, orderly approach; obviously not perfect, but, on paper at least, the line on immigration policy was clear. In practice, it turns out to be something else; you do what [Spain’s interior minister] Fernando Grande-Marlaska says.”
The new migration agreement currently being negotiated in Brussels rules out a solidarity-based distribution of immigrants and instead focuses on border controls, putting aside the debate on legal migration models and an adequate response to the demographic needs of an aging continent. “In Europe, the view of immigration is strictly about limiting and repressing it,” says political scientist Sami Naïr. “There is no prospective concept of what could be a great Mediterranean policy between the two shores, nor a true policy of cooperation. I have been advocating for years that limitation is necessary, but it has to run alongside proposals that offer stability to the populations of the countries of origin.”
Meanwhile, Spain still harbors a certain transformative impulse inspired by Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration José Luis Escrivá, who advocates attracting foreigners to the labor market legally as a way to save the welfare state and mitigate Spain’s the demographic decline. Escrivá is committed to making procedures more flexible, attracting talent and facilitating the inclusion of foreign minors. But the minister is more or less on his own and the impact of these initiatives is slight within the context of the great immigration conundrum. Now, the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has triggered unemployment, complicates policy further. Once again, it is realpolitik.
Read from source: https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-12-30/the-spanish-prime-ministers-migration-journey.html
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Commission proposes to combine and reinforce existing school milk and school fruit schemes
The European Commission today published a proposal bringing together two currently separate school schemes, the School Fruit Scheme and the School Milk Scheme, under a joint framework. In a context of declining consumption among children for these products, the aim is to address poor nutrition more effectively, to reinforce the educational elements of the programmes and to contribute to fight against obesity. With the slogan "Eat well - feel good", this enhanced scheme from farm to school will put greater focus on educational measures to improve children's awareness of healthy eating habits, the range of farm produce available, as well as sustainability, environmental and food waste issues.
Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Cioloş, said today: "With the changes proposed today, we want to build on the existing schemes, to reverse the downward trend in consumption and raise awareness among children of the potential benefits of these products. This is an important measure for bringing about sustained changes in children's eating habits and improving awareness of important challenges that society faces. I also hope that is will be a great opportunity to strengthen links between the farming community and children, their parents and teachers, especially in urban areas".
The new scheme will operate under a joint legal and financial framework, improving and streamlining the administrative requirements under the two existing schemes. Having this single framework will reduce the management and organisational burden for national authorities, schools and suppliers and make the scheme more efficient. Participation in the scheme will be voluntary for Member States, which will also have flexibility to choose the products they wish to distribute.
As already programmed in last year's deal on future EU spending, the new scheme, once agreed, will have a budget of € 230 million per school year (€150 million for fruit and vegetables and € 80 million for milk). This compares with a budget of €197m (€122m and €75m respectively) in the 2014 budget. The proposal, which will now be submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council, builds on the findings of evaluation reports and the public consultation that was carried out in 2013 in the context of the Impact Assessment process.
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Russian Energy Policy
Today Russia is a leader and one of the key-countries on the world energy market. In this situation the USA and Europe can't "stay calm", for sure.
Russian Federation has the largest reserves of shale oil, which are about 75 billion barrels (the whole world has 335). The United States have the second place with 60 billion barrels. China is the third having 32 billion.
Russia provides 12 percent of world oil trade. More than 4/5 of its volumes are transported to Europe, where Russia has 30 percent of business.
The natural gas sector is also dominated by Moscow. 23 percent of world gas resources belong to Russia. And again, about 80 percent of Russian natural gas is bought by Europe.
Today Russia has a unique multibranch gas-transport system and implements a number of projects for supplying world market with natural gas.
There aren't many who enjoy it, especially the USA, who tries to prevent Russia from transporting its energy resources to European countries. That's why the issue of "South Stream" project building is very urgent. The pipeline was meant to be constructed through the Black Sea to the countries of Southern and Central Europe - Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. The end point of this line was planned to be Tarvisio in Italy. Additional branch lines were planned to be constructed to Croatia and Serbia. First gas supplies to these countries were scheduled on late 2015.
But because of a hollow pretext of abnormality of the so-called "third energy pact", approved by the EU in 2009, construction of the "South Stream" met some difficulties. Bulgaria, under the EU pressure, announced that its quitting the project.
It should be mentioned, that EU discrimination along with anti-Russian sanctions introduced "because of" the Ukrainian crisis deprived "Gazprom" of using half of its powers. Because of it the current unprofitability of main Russian energy projects the Russian economy is being undermined.
Another pipeline - "North Stream" - one of key routes of Russian natural gas transportation to Germany, UK, Netherlands and Denmark - is currently in similar situation.
Today "North Stream", which is 1224 km long, is the longest underwater gas line in the world. The gas tunnel lies on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, interconnecting Russia and Germany.
First supplies to the European market were sent in 2011, when the work of the first gas pipe line was launched. The second one was launched in a year's time. Now its efficiency is about 55 billion cubic meters a year. In addition, the projects of the third and fourth gas pipe lines exist, one of them was oriented for UK though today it seems impossible because of US and EU economic sanctions.
Moreover, one of the most important issues of Russian-Ukrainian relations is payment for natural gas. Today the debt of "Ukrainian Naftogaz" is more than 4 billion US dollars. That's why "Gazprom" changed its policy to prepayment in July and also prosecuted Ukraine in Stockholm international arbitrage. "Russia - Ukraine - EU" gas talks were being held since early May, but the sides of conflict still can't find a solution that will satisfy them all.
Therefore Russia has to look for more reliable energy industry partners in the East. This is, first and foremost, China. A 30-year gas supply agreement was signed during Vladimir Putin's official visit to Chinese People's Republic in May 2014. Thus China will receive 38 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
Especially for this issue "Gazprom" started building a gas pipe called "Power of Siberia" which will be more than 4 000 km long. Chayadinskoye and Kovyktinskoye gas fields will be the sources for this new gas line. First delivery is planned for 2018. Russia and China will each invest 70 billion dollars in the project. This project will allow Moscow to reallocate resources, and also it will allow Beijing to lower the energy deficit. At the same time new gas lines from Russia to China are planned to be built through the Republic Altai and Mongolia.
Russia is a leader of constructing power generating units abroad - in India, Bulgaria, China, Turkey etc. thus strengthening its positions in the world nuclear energy too. Furthermore International Atomic Energy Agency experts acknowledged Russian nuclear power plants' power blocks the safest in world. In addition, Russian experts have a huge experience of constructing nuclear power plants in hot climate countries with high seismic activity. Russian stations are able to withstand 9-ball earthquakes. A living evidence is the "Busher" nuclear power plant in Iran, which was built by "Rosatom" specialists.
A no less important aspect of the Russian energetic policy is its participation in six-party talks (Russia, USA, China, France, UK and Germany) and IAEA about Iran's "atom for peace", which are being held since 2003.
Thus Russia's strong energetic potential makes it a serious player on the world energy market. The country is the leader on hydrocarbons market, meanwhile it enlarges influence in nuclear sphere. Russia still has undiscovered reserves of shale gas and oil, which are placed in Russian Arctic shelf which is planned to be opened in the near future. Moscow, relying on cold minded planning, counts on the wisdom and further cooperation of its partners, including EU.
Tags: Baltic Sea Bulgaria China energy EU gas Gazprom Germany Hungary Naftogaz Netherlands and Denmark North Stream oil Power of Siberia Rosatom Russia Serbia shale oil Slovenia and Austria UK Ukraine US
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CAP Link
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La Soufriere Bulletin #2, December 31, 2020 10.00 AM
There has been no explosive eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano overnight. La Soufriere continues to have effusive eruptions and magma continues to reach the surface at high temperatures. When the magma interacts with the surface temperature, especially at mornings when the air is cool, it appears as steam which can then be seen above the crater. Similar activities may continue for weeks or months.
The group of Scientists from the Seismic Research Centre, University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus led by Vincentian Professor Richard Robertson has departed Port of Spain for St Vincent on board the Regional Security System (RSS) Aircraft. The Scientists will do a fly over of the La Soufriere Volcano for a first- hand view of activities there, before landing at the AIA.
Alert level remains at Orange. Persons living in areas close to the volcano which include communities from Fancy to Georgetown and Belle Isle to Richmond are asked to remain alert and listen to all advisories from the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO).
The National Emergency Management Organisation is reminding the public that no evacuation order or notice has been issued.
NEMO is also appealing to the public to desist from visiting the La Soufriere Volcano until the scientists advise that it is safe to do so.
NEMO will continue to provide regular updates on all activities taking place at La Soufriere.
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On heroes and political correctness: Nobody's perfect!
Lately there has been a lot of discussion about removing the names of political figures from various monuments, schools, and buildings, because the people so honored are not politically correct by 21st century standards. For example, there was the recent demand by some students at Princeton University to rename the Woodrow Wilson public policy school because of Wilson's "racist" attitudes. Students claimed that the very presence of Wilson's name was offensive and made them feel "unsafe." In the end, the board of regents at Princeton decided to keep the name but also do more education and discussion about Wilson's mixed legacy.
In my opinion, this was the right choice. Wilson, like everyone else on earth, was not perfect. He is best known as the 38th U.S. President, who helped found the League of Nations, and also received a Nobel Prize. But it is also true that he supported and encouraged segregation. However, nobody would argue that Wilson is being honored at Princeton for his racism. That was a flaw in his personality that we can justly criticize. But to allow this flaw to overwrite and erase all the good he did is, in my opinion, taking things too far. If we start doing that, where will it end?
Charles Lindbergh & his plane, 1927
In Minnesota, where I live, Charles Lindbergh's name probably crops up as often as Wilson's at Princeton. He is fondly remembered as the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in his little single-engine plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. In 1957, a film by that name was released, with James Stuart playing the role of Lindbergh. There's a Charles A. Lindbergh State Park and a Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site, both in Little Falls, MN, where he spent his childhood. Then there's the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, where a terminal is named after him, and a reproduction of his plane (one used in the film) is on display. The original plane is at the Smithsonian's Aeronautics and Space Museum. Clearly, this daring flight is why we remember and honor Lindbergh.
But there is a dark side to this story. Lindbergh was also a Nazi sympathizer and an antisemite -- a fact that was recently well-documented in the PBS American Experience segment, Fallen Hero: Charles Lindbergh in the 1940s. In 1936, Lindbergh visited Nazi Germany and was so impressed with the country's industry and revitalized economy that by 1938 he and his family were making plans to move to Berlin. Also in 1938, Lindbergh was awarded the Service Cross of the German Eagle for his contributions to aviation -- presented by Hermann Goering on behalf of the Fuehrer. Lindbergh became so convinced that Hitler would inevitably win the war, he advocated for America to follow an isolationist policy and stay out of it. And he blamed the Jews for getting us into it.
As a Jew myself, I most certainly do find this side of Lindbergh offensive. But I do not feel "unsafe" in the Lindbergh Terminal because of it. Nor do I advocate erasing his name from our history or renaming the terminal.* As with Wilson, Lindbergh is not being honored for his racism. I see him as a genius in one area, and a flawed human being in other areas.
Insisting that historical figures of the past must stand up to the scrutiny of 21st-century values is a very slippery slope. For that matter, a lot of modern heroes don't measure up in every way, either. If we insist that all of our heroes be absolutely perfect, then we shall soon have no role models at all. Sometimes it is necessary, as Rabbi Meir in the Talmud once said, to keep the kernel and throw away the chaff.
*Although in a way it was renamed, as Terminal 1, because apparently out-of-state people could not distinguish between the Lindbergh Terminal and the Humphrey Terminal and got lost. But apparently they can tell the difference between 1 and 2. As of this writing, there is currently a movement to rename Lindbergh Terminal-1 after Prince: see http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2016/04/22/msp-terminal-prince-petition/
See also my Nov 20, 2017 article, Franken's Apology: A Jewish Perspective, which explores the question of repentance and forgiveness for flawed leaders (and the rest of us, too.).
Labels: Charles Lindbergh, Minnesota, politics, racism, Woodrow Wilson
On heroes and political correctness: Nobody's perf...
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Teach Climate Change
What Are The Benefits Of Solar Energy?
August 23, 2017 by Glen Fields
A lot of people still haven’t jumped on the renewable energy bandwagon, and that might be okay. Although the technology is definitely coming around, it still has a long way to go–even if it represents a shocking rate of growth and provides a superior number of jobs than coal or oil do. Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that within just eleven years, the world will have enough renewable energy to fulfill its needs. Yes, that means even poorer countries will have all the energy they could ever need.
It probably seems like we’re really far away from that reality, but because the advancement of solar energy doubles along with a very set timeframe and shows exponential growth, we’re a lot closer than you think. The real question is whether or not that trend of exponential growth will continue into the near-future. A lot of people think the technology just isn’t there, but Kurzweil thinks these kinds of mathematical solutions to predicting the future tell you what technology will be there–not what technology already is.
It doesn’t take a brainiac to figure out why this is such a big deal.
Imagine the world in which all the energy we’ll ever need is taken in by sunlight during the day. Imagine that untold excess energies are stored in advanced batteries and that we no longer have to rely on coal, oil or natural gas to power and heat our homes or run our automobiles. Not only will the air get a lot cleaner, but our energy bill could arguably become a thing of the past.
One of the catalysts to many wars that are fought are natural resources. All countries need to have them available, and when they aren’t around conflicts break out very quickly. Imagine the world in which these conflicts need never start–a world in which every country can provide its citizens with bountiful energy for a fraction of the cost.
This type of cheap energy is also a boon for other technologies that are costly because of how much energy they suck up. 3D printing is one such technology that is notorious for using up too much power to truly be useful to the average consumer, and it probably won’t seriously break into the mainstream until energy becomes both abundant and cheap. When it does, expect a wave of changes in the way we manufacture and distribute goods all around the world.
These are just a few of the benefits to solar energy, but the list goes on and on.
If that weren’t great enough, solar panels are getting a lot more advanced as well. The Elon Musk-led Solar City recently unveiled solar panels that look just like average roofing tiles. The difference isn’t so easy to see until you learn what they can do–not only do they last a lot longer, but they power your home and help steer you away from the grid. Not too shabby.
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Alternate Energy
Copyright © 2021 Teach Climate Change.
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SSI Newsletters: 1993 July August
[[librarian note: This address is here, as it was in the original printed newsletter, for historical reasons. It is no longer the physical address of SSI. For contributions, please see this page]]
SSI UPDATE
THE HIGH FRONTIER® NEWSLETTER
VOLUME XIX ISSUE 4 JULY/AUGUST 1993
CHAIRMAN’S COLUMN
As all of you are well aware, last year SSI lost its founder and president, Gerard O’Neill, when he passed on after his long and hard fought battle with leukemia. Since his passing, all of us have thought a lot about Gerry and his many contributions to the world and to humanity. We all shared his vision and belief that through the “grass roots” efforts of SSI, a better world, larger than the wondrous but limited confines of the Earth, could be created.
It is difficult for all of us, not the least for myself, his son, to pick up where Gerry left off. He was indeed a hard act to follow. I believe that all of us share in the knowledge that it was Gerry’s hope and expectation that we would, after his passing, work together to carry on the work that was started with the founding of SSI.
For my own part, I decided to carry on by getting more involved in SSI, having been a member like yourself for years. I began by attending and participating in work related to the last two SSI Board meetings. In connection with those activities I was asked to first become a member of the SSI Board of Directors, and later to chair that group. This letter is to introduce myself to you, and let you know that I am very pleased to be able to serve SSI through my activities as its Chairman.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the support you’ve given the Institute, and especially at this time for the support you’ve continued to provide in the time since Gerry’s passing. In order to carry on the vision, and make it into reality, SSI will need our continuing support as much as it ever did in the past. It is my hope that we can continue to work together long into the future to further the development of the High Frontier!
Roger A. O’Neill, Ph.D.
ELECTROLYTIC PROCESSING OF LUNAR RESOURCES
Rudolf Keller
EMEC Consultants
This article presents a review of work on electrolytic processing of lunar soil done at a variety of laboratories, including EMEC Consultants. Three areas ofwork are summarized: the production of oxygen, the production of aluminum and/or calcium, and the separation of iron oxides. Oxygen is easily produced from molten silicates, but metals are more difficult to produce in pureform because of dispersion and/or reactions in the melt, and co-deposition. The pre-separation ofaluminum/calcium oxides from lunar highland material using selective vaporization is discussed, and the magnetic separation of iron-rich materials is briefly treated.
Extended missions into space, space settlements and the installation of solar power satellites could benefit greatly from the utilization of lunar or other nonterrestrial resources. Cost considerations may even reveal a dependence on it. To produce useful products from such resources, new processes need to be developed. Existing terrestrial processes are not applicable; at best, elements of such technology can be adapted. This has been recognized early on by the Space Studies Institute which initiated pioneering research efforts in extraterrestrial processing.
After the early conceptual work, activities to develop processes to produce oxygen and other products intensified. An early experimental effort was conducted at Rockwell with support by SSI. Since then, a broad variety of possibilities received attention, many of which include a major electrochemical step. As the availability of chemical reactants is rather limited on the lunar surface, electrochemistry offers a convenient approach, provided electrical energy is made available. In an electrochemical process, electrons are used at the cathode to reduce reactants, while oxidation occurs at the anode. Metals are obtained at the cathode; oxygen evolved anodically. For some of the metals, such as aluminum, electrochemical processing seems to offer the only practical alternative.
EMEC Consultants, with electrochemical processing being our specialty, has studied electrolyzing lunar resources for eight years, considering both the production of oxygen and of metals.
Aluminum is a valuable multi-purpose engineering material. It can serve as a structural material and as a conductor in solar power satellites. For conductor purposes, it is the only feasible material that can be extracted on the Moon, except perhaps for calcium. Aluminum can be shaped easily by casting, rolling, drawing, and welding. It can be sprayed, vapordeposited and atomized, and its low melting point of 660°C provides advantages over the use of iron or steel. The surface of aluminum may be employed to reflect solar radiation, either to collect solar energy or to shield areas from excessive heating. Aluminum production on the lunar surface may be critical to the viability of Solar Power Satellites.
Lunar Resources
For the processing of materials, the lunar surface offers rocks and sand, vacuum and sunshine. Unfortunately, long dark periods interrupt the harvesting of solar power. This makes extensive energy storage capabilities necessary, or it cuts the utility of processing equipment relying on solar power in half. One actually may be better off with a process that runs continuously, using nuclear power. Solar power satellites will offer an alternative continuous energy source in the future. In the meantime, one may consider moving the processing plant off the lunar surface to use solar power continuously.
On the Moon, solid oxides (predominately silicates) are plentiful and can be used to produce various valuable materials, such as oxygen, metals, glasses and ceramics, in unlimited qualtities. As an example, anorthite, CaAl2Si208, can be readily obtained from Highland soil by magnetic separation, as demonstrated by ExporTech, and may yield silicon, aluminum and calcium as metallic products, and almost half of its weight as breathable or propellant grade oxygen. With the support of NASA, EMEC Consultants developed a concept to process anorthite which involves electrolysis as a process step and investigated elements of the envisioned process in the laboratory. Other processes make use of iron oxide present in lunar ores, since iron oxide is, considering thermodynamics, reduced more readily than silicate or aluminum oxide.
What Product Do We Want?
Over the years, we found that details of electrolytic processing can be adapted to yield specific products of interest most economically. If oxygen is the only product of relevance, lunar soil may be dissolved in a molten fluoride electrolyte and electrolyzed, using suitable oxygen-evolving metal, ceramic or cermet anodes. Such electrodes are being developed as substitutes for carbon anodes for the aluminum industry where constraints regarding material cost, metal contamination, and durability are considerably more severe. Electrodes for lunar electrolysis are being tested at EMEC Consultants; Figure 1 shows Dan Hydock ready to test a tin oxide electrode (the dark ceramic piece at the end of a long alumina tube). A major advantage of this approach consists in the usefulness of practically any raw material without benefication. A metallic by-product is obtained whose composition depends on the feed material used. Metals are recovered as part of the molten salt approach.
Another potentially simple process to produce oxygen is the so-called magma electrolysis in which oxides are melted and the resulting melt electrolyzed. Work on the fundamentals of this process was conducted for many years at Washington University in St. Louis, and a cell is being designed at Carbotek. With support by SSI and the University of Arizona SERC, EMEC Consultants conducted electrolysis experiments on a laboratory scale. In the apparatus shown schematically in Figure 2, oxygen was produced electrochemically from molten silicates simulating lunar ores. The electrolysis was conducted at approximately 1430°C, which would increase the problem associated with the material’s stability.
The production of metals may be the key interest. In this case, the efficiency of the cathodic production of a particular metal can be enhanced by appropriate beneficiation of the ore. The separation of anorthite from Highland soil has been mentioned. Recently, we initiated a study of the separation of iron oxide from the other lunar oxides by selective vaporization. Figure 3 shows David Stofesky engaged in a high-vacuum experiment at EMEC Consultants. Synthethetic oxide mixtures representing Apollo 11 soil are melted under a vacuum of about 10° Torr at temperatures of 1200-1500°C (as the picture show up to 1501°C). If we succeed in separating iron oxide, this oxide then could be electrolyzed in an almost conventional system into oxygen and electrolytic iron.
Production of Aluminum
It is unlikely that aluminum could be prepared efficiently in any other way than by electrochemical synthesis. Terrestrial aluminum electrolysis has survived all attempts to replace it with a direct reduction process for over a century.
To reduce the amounts of co-deposition of other metals in lunar aluminum electrolysis, we propose to preprocess the feed material. Based on vapor pressure data and preliminary experimental results, it should be possible to accumulate aluminum oxide by evaporating off the other oxides. The vacuum evaporation could conceivably be simple: using the vacuum of the Moon, soil could be heated by solar heat to evaporate the undesirable components. Aluminum oxide would remain solid, but unfortunately, calcium oxide would remain with the aluminum oxide, probably as calcium aluminate, as its vapor pressure is also very low. The electrolysis then can be designed to accommodate a feed of CaO and Al2O3, reducing both oxides to calcium and aluminum metal, respectively. This could be accomplished sequentially or aluminum and calcium could be separated in a treatment of the cathode metal.
SSI is supporting the vacuum separation work to prepare an aluminum oxide feed as part of its long-term plan to develop and characterize economic processes to produce engineering materials from non-terrestrial raw materials. In addition to providing raw material for aluminum production, vacuum distillation of oxides could also lead to feedstocks for the production of glasses and ceramics.
State of Development of Lunar Processing
NASA has been supporting the development of several alternatives to lunar processes, essentially through the Small Business Innovation (SBIR) program and by funding the Space Engineering Research Center for the Utilization of Local Planetary Resources at the University of Arizona. Both conceptual as well as experimental work has been accomplished. The Space Studies Institute supported such efforts throughout its existence. At present, we are “enjoying” the luxury of having ample time to systematically assemble information on a variety of possibilities, to assess their merits and capabilities, to identify pitfalls through experimental research, and to recommend further process development. Sufficient time to study many options at early low-cost R&D stages can eliminate the danger of freezing out meritorious possibilities and prematurely committing to one option that in reality is suboptimal.
If the history of terrestrial process development is a valid guide, a lot of additional time and effort will be required to develop an operational process for lunar chemical processing of materials. To develop an electrochemical alternative to the HallHeroult process up to full-scale demonstration it took Alcoa 15 years and considerably more than 100 million dollars. Both the time scale and cost are typical for the development of new processes to commercial viability. An effort in this order of magnitude appears very large, but it actually would be commensurate with the potential rewards of lunar processing.
We believe that continuing work on lunar processing with relatively small efforts will bring us substantial gains in the future and will, overall, reduce necessary expenditures. We should not sit idly by, but rather take advantage of the extension of the time table for future space exploration and pursue a continuous, steady effort to find the best ways to use the resources that the Moon offers.
PBS SPECIAL FEATURING O’NEILL TO AIR SEPTEMBER 5
A PBS special, Living and Working in Space, featuring the last interview conducted with Gerard O’Neill will air again on Sunday, September 5 (please check local listings for time).
The special is a program that was produced along with a classroom series on space and the future. Dr. O’Neill is featured in many of the segments, including those on space, transportation and energy.
The special is hosted by Jaime Escalante, the celebrated math teacher of the film, Stand and Deliver. The special opens the door to the abundance of opportunities for today’s youth to live and work in space. It also encourages students to study more in the math and science fields in order to cope in a technology-based society.
Complimentary teacher and viewer guides for the program are available from the learning services director at local PBS stations, Learning Link, NASA Teacher Resource Centers, or by calling FASE Productions at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
The program is for all ages; we encourage you to view it with your family.
SENIOR ADVISOR’S COLUMN
1993 High Frontier Conference by Alex Gimarc
Greetings to all current and past SSI members. A conference was held in Princeton last May, the results of which may herald the opening of the door to permanent manned settlements in space.
This was the first conference held without our friend, Gerard O’Neill. His absence was felt deeply. He would, I believe, have been excited by the advancements announced during the conference which open new paths toward achieving the goal described in The High Frontier. These new paths are unexpected, achievable and enabling. They offer the opportunity to redefine how permanent settlements in space might happen.
Here are a few highlights, and a few words as to why they are highlights:
– A large percentage of Near Earth Asteroids are extinct comets, composed of water ice and volatiles. In terms of velocity, a number are closer than the Moon. The significance of this discovery is that usable propellants are within reach; that we may not need to go to the Moon to build colonies or power satellites; and that we may not need to jump through any technological hoops to get there.
– Light Gas Guns offer a way to launch bulk materials on a regular basis from the surface of the Earth. Given a ten metric ton round, half of it can be inserted into low Earth orbit at a projected cost under $90 per pound. These guns are relatively simple, cheap to operate and reliable. Delivery of large quantities of bulk materials from the surface of the Earth to orbit is within the reach of a corporate budget.
– Legal and policy constraints for the use of extraterrestrial materials are being recognized and addressed. All three legal papers addressed some aspect of normalizing ownership of extraterrestrial bodies, liability control and application of standard mining laws to operations in space. This work, if successful, will ease the legal barriers to private and corporate activities in space.
These advances change the scenario described in The High Frontier. The lunar mass driver may not be required if we can launch bulk materials from the surface of the Earth or recover them from near-Earth asteroids. The search for water ice near the lunar poles may be a moot point if water ice can be launched from the surface of the Earth or recovered in large quantities from nearEarth asteroids. We may not need to go to the Moon at all in order to exploit the available natural resources of space for the construction of Solar Power Satellites and permanent settlements in space.
Ladies and gentlemen, the rules have just changed. We stand on the threshold of realizing our dreams for bootstrapping to permanent settlements in space. The policy and legal difficulties that have been standing in the way of ownership and liability control for activities in space are being recognized, identified and starting to be solved. We may get into space, not in quite the way we expected when we all read The High Frontier, but we will get there just the same.
There was a roundtable discussion on new definitions for the Critical Path held on the first two nights of the conference. The discussion ranged far and wide. It also touched on the future of SSI. New directions proposed include a continuing of the work of high-risk, high-return research into the exploitation of space; the need for education of high school and college students on the possibilities of space exploration; and the support and enabling of an array of private and/or corporate businesses that will move into space. No decisions were made except to continue the discussions.
The time for research into ways to open space to permanent settlements may be coming to an end as you read this. We may be moving into a more exciting phase, that of creating businesses that will require increasing numbers of people permanently living in space. The Russians are gaining an ever increasing experience base living and working in space. The DC-X Single Stage to Orbit vehicle is currently being tested at White Sands. The government will not be the only owner-operators of this spacecraft. It is affordable by a wide range of companies. An external tank based space station proposal from JSC in Houston was the only proposal for a revised space station that met the stated cost constraints. Medical teleoperations coupled with virtual reality are being developed for military doctors; this technology may be easily adapted to operations in space, thus addressing the potential difficulties of medical care in space. Microwave power beaming experiments are being flown in space by the Japanese, and more are planned.
In short, the technology is within reach. SSI has been successful.
Extraterrestrial materials, external tanks, permanent habitations, microwave beaming are all mainstream subjects. Our next job as SSI members is to press on, to pursue the ideas and approaches that will power the expansion of humanity into space. We need the help and participation of the current, past and new members. Come on in, the water is fine.
THE GERARD K. O’NEILL MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Current and Intended Collection Guidelines
The Space Studies Institute has established the Gerard K. O’Neill Memorial Library as a research facility focused on the recognition of space as the high frontier, of space colonies, and of a hopeful near future in space that benefits all humanity – the ideas of SSI’s founder and first president. Therefore, the library will contain four categories of materials, which may overlap, and may appear in multiple media:
1) Works by Gerard K. O’Neill, whether written, transcribed from presentations, audio or video taped, or filmed; to indicate
popularity or longevity, multiple editions will be represented.
2) Works referring to Gerard K. O’Neill, namely those citing his space concepts (but also those that are of biographical interest).
3) Works that clearly make use of the high frontier concepts of Gerard K. O’Neill, but fail to credit him by name.
4) Precursor works to those by Gerard K. O’Neill, of two types:
a) Those that display the concensus on space before O’Neill;
b) Those that indicate earlier concepts of the High Frontier. Some of the items will be fiction, some will be graphic art, many will be technical, while the great majority will be popular non-fiction all of these should be collected to survey the impact of O’Neill’s ideas.
The Library already contains some two dozen precursor books (included for particular relevance), and roughly forty colony novels. Additionally, it contains about two hundred non-fiction works, not including either the dozen editions of works by O’Neill, or the few non-space-related books that refer to him (for particle physics or high-tech invention).
This is a good beginning, but now your help is needed. If you are aware of works which meet any of the criteria, please write to us with bibliographical data and state why the item should be in the Gerard K. O’Neill Memorial Library. If you wish to donate an item to the Library, make that clear, but please do not send any item until we have requested it. If you are interested, we can provide a “wish list” of items we are seeking, such as specific periodicals or videotapes.
BEQUESTS AND DONATIONS
SSI has been very fortunate to be the recipient of two large donations this year. The first was the donation of the home of the late Eric and Maria Muhlmann in Hawaii. The Muhlmanns were long-time friends of the O’Neill family and supporters of SSI. SSI was the major beneficiary of the Muhlmann estate for which we are very grateful.
The second donation came from Senior Aswciate, Jose Torre-Bueno. Mr. Torre-Bueno has also been a long-time member and Senior Associate of SSI. Like most of our Senior Associates he read The High Frontier and became involved with SSI. He recently told us that he felt the scenario presented in the book seemed like the most logical approach from an environment perspective to insure a future for this planet. Further, he felt that SSI had the best grip on the problems and had a clear plan of action.
Mr. Torre-Bueno founded a company which he later sold in a merger with a larger company. In this transaction he received a block of stock of which he donated 4,000 shares to SSI.
During SSI’s history we have been fortunate to receive several sizable donations. Many of the donors have wished to remain anonymous, which we have always honored. These two donors requested that we make their gifts public in the hope that others may follow their example. Each donor supported the Institute at a modest level for several years, and could not have made such a significant donation under normal circumstances. But when given the opportunity, each chose to remember SSI in a special way.
Many vehicles exist to plan for such a donation. The simplest is one which Dr. O’Neill used was purchasing a life insurance policy naming SSI as the beneficiary. The next simplest is making a bequest in one’s will and the most comlicated is creating a remainder trust. This type of trust gives the donor access to the assets during his lifetime and turns the asset over to SSI at the time of death, keeping the asset out of the estate and exempt from estate taxes. If you would like to discuss any of these options, please feel free to call our office at anytime; we can put you in touch with our accountants for more details.
We are grateful for both of these donations. They can not in themselves fund our programs, but they are serving as a valuable endowment to insure SSI’s continuance.
MAKE YOUR OWN MASS-DRIVER
Create your own mass-driver using simple copper wire and flashlight batteries!
SSI is offering easy-to-follow instructions prepared by former SSI Executive Vice President, Dr. Richard G. Woodbridge, III.
This is an excellent addition to lesson plans on electromagnetic force or an introduction to lunar bases. To order, please send $2.50 to SSI, P.O. Box 82, Princeton, NJ 08542. •
The High Frontier: Accession,
Development and Utilization
The complete proceedings of the May, 1993 High Frontier Conference: Bringing the Vision of Space into Reality is available at a special pre-publication price of $35.00 to SSI or AIAA members.
The proceedings will be mailed in early Fall, via book rate, directly from the publisher, AIAA. Conference participants will receive a copy free of charge as part of their registration fee.
Those wishing to place an order may do so by sending a check, money order, VISA or MasterCard number and expiration date to: SSI, P.O. Box 82, Princeton, NJ 08542, or, for credit card orders, by calling xxx-xxx-xxxx or by FAX xxx-xxx-xxxx. All orders will be acknowledged by postcard prior to shipping.
Last date to order at the pre-publication price is September 15, 1993.
Some errors were made in the last issue of SSI Update. We regret the errors and apologize to all those affected.
E-mail: SSI discussion group internet address is xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx and place the following in the first line of the body of the letter: subscribe ssi_mail First Name Last Name.
Poster Session: The poster presented by Harvey E. McDaniel, Jr. was entitled “Space Debris Collection System.”
Page 6: Picture one is James Burke, Scott Summerill and Alex Gimarc.
©space studies institute
NEXT: 1993 Sept-Oct (Lunar glass joining, Lightcraft update)
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korn adidas tracksuit
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US Supreme Court Center > Volume 488 > PENSON V. OHIO, 488 U. S. 75 (1988) > Full Text
PENSON V. OHIO, 488 U. S. 75 (1988)
Penson v. Ohio, 488 U.S. 75 (1988)
Penson v. Ohio
CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO,
After the indigent petitioner and two codefendants were found guilty of several serious crimes in an Ohio state court, the new counsel appointed to represent petitioner on appeal filed with the Ohio Court of Appeals a document captioned "Certification of Meritless Appeal and Motion," which recited that the attorney had carefully reviewed the record, that he had found no errors requiring reversal, and that he would not file a meritless appeal, and which requested leave to withdraw. The court entered an order that granted the latter motion and that specified that the court would thereafter independently review the record thoroughly to determine whether any reversible error existed. The court later denied petitioner's request for the appointment of a new attorney. Subsequently, upon making its own examination of the record without the assistance of counsel for petitioner, the court noted that counsel's certification of meritlessness was "highly questionable," since petitioner had "several arguable claims," and, in fact, reversed one of petitioner's convictions for plain error, but concluded that petitioner "suffered no prejudice" as a result of "counsel's failure to give a more conscientious examination of the record" because the court had thoroughly examined the record and received the benefit of arguments advanced by the codefendants' counsel. The court therefore affirmed petitioner's convictions on the remaining counts, and the State Supreme Court dismissed his appeal.
1. Petitioner was deprived of constitutionally adequate representation on appeal by the Ohio Court of Appeals' failure to follow the procedures set forth in Anders v. California, 386 U. S. 738, for allowing appointed counsel for an indigent criminal defendant to withdraw from a first appeal as of right on the basis that the appeal is frivolous. Under those procedures, counsel must first conduct a "conscientious examination" of the case and support a request to withdraw with a brief referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal, and the court must then conduct a full examination of all the proceedings and permit withdrawal if its separate inquiry reveals no nonfrivolous issue, but must appoint new counsel to argue the appeal if such an issue exists. The state court erred in two respects in not denying counsel's motion to withdraw. First, the motion was not supported with an "Anders brief," so
that the court was left without an adequate basis for determining that counsel had performed his duty of carefully searching the record for arguable error, and was deprived of assistance in the court's own review of the record. Second, the court should not have acted on the motion before it made its own examination of the record to determine whether counsel's evaluation of the case was sound. Most significantly, the court erred by failing to appoint new counsel to represent petitioner after determining that the record supported "several arguable claims." Such a determination creates a constitutional imperative that counsel be appointed, since the need for forceful and vigorous advocacy to ensure that rights are not forgone and that substantial legal and factual arguments are not passed over is of paramount importance in our adversary system of justice, whether at the trial or the appellate stage. Pp. 488 U. S. 79-85.
2. In cases such as this, it is inappropriate to apply either the lack of prejudice standard of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, or the harmless error analysis of Chapman v. California, 386 U. S. 18. Such application would render the protections afforded by Anders meaningless, since the appellant would suffer no prejudice or harm from the denial of counsel, and would thus have no basis for complaint, whether the court, on reviewing the bare appellate record, concluded either that the conviction should not be reversed or that there was a basis for reversal. The Court of Appeals' consideration of the appellate briefs filed on behalf of petitioner's codefendants does not alter this conclusion, since a criminal appellant is entitled to a single-minded advocacy for which the mere possibility of a coincidence of interest with a represented codefendant is an inadequate proxy. More significantly, the question whether the briefs filed by the codefendants, along with the court's own review of the record, adequately focused the court's attention on petitioner's arguable claims is itself an issue that should have been resolved in an adversary proceeding. Furthermore, it is important that the denial of counsel in this case left petitioner completely without representation during the appellate court's actual decisional process, since such a total denial is legally presumed to result in prejudice, and can never be considered harmless error, whether at the trial or the appellate stage. Pp. 488 U. S. 85-89.
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, O'CONNOR, SCALIA, and KENNEDY, JJ., joined. O'CONNOR, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 488 U. S. 89. REHNQUIST, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 488 U. S. 89.
JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.
In Anders v. California, 386 U. S. 738 (1967), we gave a negative answer to this question:
"May a State appellate court refuse to provide counsel to brief and argue an indigent criminal defendant's first appeal as of right on the basis of a conclusory statement by the appointed attorney on appeal that the case has no merit, and that he will file no brief?"
Brief for Petitioner in Anders v. California, O.T. 1966, No. 98, p. 2. The question presented by this case is remarkably similar, and therefore requires a similar answer.
Petitioner is indigent. After a trial in the Montgomery County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, he and two codefendants were found guilty of several serious crimes. Petitioner was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 to 28 years. On January 8, 1985, new counsel was appointed to represent him on appeal. Counsel filed a timely notice of appeal.
On June 2, 1986, petitioner's appellate counsel filed with the Montgomery County, Ohio, Court of Appeals a document captioned "Certification of Meritless Appeal and Motion." Excluding this caption and the certificate evidencing its service
on the prosecutor's office and petitioner, the document in its entirety read as follows:
"Appellant's attorney respectfully certifies to the Court that he has carefully reviewed the within record on appeal, that he has found no errors requiring reversal, modification and/or vacation of appellant's jury trial convictions and/or the trial court's sentence in Case No. 84CR-1056, that he has found no errors requiring reversal, modification and/or vacation of appellant's jury trial convictions and/or the trial court's sentence in Case No. 84CR-1401, and that he will not file a meritless appeal in this matter."
"MOTION"
"Appellant's attorney respectfully requests a Journal Entry permitting him to withdraw as appellant's appellate attorney of record in this appeal, thereby relieving appellant's attorney of any further responsibility to prosecute this appeal with the attorney/client relationship terminated effective on the date file-stamped on this Motion."
App. 35-36.
A week later, the Court of Appeals entered an order allowing appellate counsel to withdraw and granting petitioner 30 days in which to file an appellate brief pro se. Id. at 37. The order further specified that the court would thereafter "independently review the record thoroughly to determine whether any error exists requiring reversal or modification of the sentence. . . ." Ibid. Thus, counsel was permitted to withdraw before the court reviewed the record on nothing more than "a conclusory statement by the appointed attorney on appeal that the case has no merit and that he will file no brief." Moreover, although granting petitioner several extensions of time to file a brief, the court denied petitioner's request for the appointment of a new attorney. No merits brief was filed on petitioner's behalf.
In due course, and without the assistance of any advocacy for petitioner, the Court of Appeals made its own examination of the record to determine whether petitioner received "a fair trial and whether any grave or prejudicial errors occurred therein." Id. at 40. As an initial matter, the court noted that counsel's certification that the appeal was meritless was "highly questionable." Ibid. In reviewing the record and the briefs filed by counsel on behalf of petitioner's codefendants, the court found "several arguable claims." Id. at 41. Indeed, the court concluded that plain error had been committed in the jury instructions concerning one count. [Footnote 1] The court therefore reversed petitioner's conviction and sentence on that count, but affirmed the convictions and sentences on the remaining counts. It concluded that petitioner "suffered no prejudice" as a result of "counsel's failure to give a more conscientious examination of the record" because the court had thoroughly examined the record and had received the benefit of arguments advanced by counsel for petitioner's two codefendants. Ibid. Petitioner appealed the judgment of the Court of Appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal. Id. at 45. We granted certiorari, 484 U.S. 1059 (1988), and now reverse.
Approximately a quarter of a century ago, in Douglas v. California, 372 U. S. 353 (1963), this Court recognized that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees a criminal appellant the right to counsel on a first appeal as of right. We held
that a procedure in which appellate courts review the record and "appoint counsel if in their opinion" the assistance of counsel "would be helpful to the defendant or the court," id. at 372 U. S. 355, is an inadequate substitute for guaranteed representation. [Footnote 2] Four years later, in Anders v. California, 386 U. S. 738 (1967), we held that a criminal appellant may not be denied representation on appeal based on appointed counsel's bare assertion that he or she is of the opinion that there is no merit to the appeal.
The Anders opinion did, however, recognize that, in some circumstances, counsel may withdraw without denying the indigent appellant fair representation, provided that certain safeguards are observed: appointed counsel is first required to conduct "a conscientious examination" of the case. Id. at 386 U. S. 744. If he or she is then of the opinion that the case is wholly frivolous, counsel may request leave to withdraw. The request "must, however, be accompanied by a brief referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal." Ibid. Once the appellate court receives this brief, it must then itself conduct "a full examination of all the proceeding[s] to decide whether the case is wholly frivolous." Ibid. Only after this separate inquiry, and only after the appellate court finds no nonfrivolous issue for appeal, may the court proceed to consider the appeal on the merits without the assistance of counsel. On the other hand, if the court disagrees with counsel -- as the Ohio Court of Appeals did in this case -- and concludes that there are nonfrivolous issues for appeal, "it must, prior to decision, afford the indigent the assistance of counsel to argue the appeal." Ibid.
It is apparent that the Ohio Court of Appeals did not follow the Anders procedures when it granted appellate counsel's motion to withdraw, and that it committed an even more serious error when it failed to appoint new counsel after finding that the record supported several arguably meritorious grounds for reversal of petitioner's conviction and modification of his sentence. As a result, petitioner was left without constitutionally adequate representation on appeal.
The Ohio Court of Appeals erred in two respects in granting counsel's motion for leave to withdraw. First, the motion should have been denied because counsel's "Certification of Meritless Appeal" failed to draw attention to "anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal." [Footnote 3] Ibid. The so-called "Anders brief" serves the valuable purpose of assisting the court in determining both that counsel in fact conducted the required detailed review of the case, [Footnote 4] and that
the appeal is indeed so frivolous that it may be decided without an adversary presentation. The importance of this twin function of the Anders brief was noted in Anders itself, 386 U.S. at 386 U. S. 745, and was again emphasized last Term. In our decision in McCoy v. Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 486 U. S. 429 (1988), we clearly stated that the Anders brief is designed both
"to provide the appellate courts with a basis for determining whether appointed counsel have fully performed their duty to support their clients' appeal to the best of their ability,"
and also to help the court make "the critical determination whether the appeal is indeed so frivolous that counsel should be permitted to withdraw." Id. at 486 U. S. 439. Counsel's failure to file such a brief left the Ohio court without an adequate basis for determining that he had performed his duty carefully to search the case for arguable error, and also deprived the court of the assistance of an advocate in its own review of the cold record on appeal. [Footnote 5]
Moreover, the Court of Appeals should not have acted on the motion to withdraw before it made its own examination of the record to determine whether counsel's evaluation of the
case was sound. [Footnote 6] This requirement was plainly stated in Ellis v. United States, 356 U. S. 674, 356 U. S. 675 (1958), it was repeated in Anders, 386 U.S. at 386 U. S. 744, and it was reiterated last Term in McCoy, 486 U.S. at 486 U. S. 442. As we explained in McCoy:
"To satisfy federal constitutional concerns, an appellate court faces two interrelated tasks as it rules on counsel's motion to withdraw. First, it must satisfy itself that the attorney has provided the client with a diligent and thorough search of the record for any arguable claim that might support the client's appeal. Second, it must determine whether counsel has correctly concluded that the appeal is frivolous."
Most significantly, the Ohio court erred by failing to appoint new counsel to represent petitioner after it had determined that the record supported "several arguable claims." App. 41. As Anders unambiguously provides,
"if [the appellate court] finds any of the legal points arguable on their merits (and therefore not frivolous), it must, prior to decision, afford the indigent the assistance of counsel to argue the appeal."
386 U.S. at 386 U. S. 744; see also McCoy, 486 U.S. at 486 U. S. 444 ("Of course, if the court concludes that there are nonfrivolous issues to be raised, it must appoint counsel to pursue the appeal and direct that counsel to prepare an advocate's brief before deciding the merits"). This requirement necessarily follows from an understanding of the interplay between Douglas and Anders. Anders, in essence, recognizes a limited exception to the requirement articulated in Douglas that indigent defendants receive representation on their first appeal as of right. The exception is predicated on the fact that the Fourteenth Amendment -- although demanding
active and vigorous appellate representation of indigent criminal defendants -- does not demand that States require appointed counsel to press upon their appellate courts wholly frivolous arguments. However, once a court determines that the trial record supports arguable claims, there is no basis for the exception and, as provided in Douglas, the criminal appellant is entitled to representation. The Court of Appeals' determination that arguable issues were presented by the record, therefore, created a constitutional imperative that counsel be appointed.
It bears emphasis that the right to be represented by counsel is among the most fundamental of rights. We have long recognized that "lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries." Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335, 372 U. S. 344 (1963). As a general matter, it is through counsel that all other rights of the accused are protected:
"Of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive, for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have."
Schaefer, Federalism and State Criminal Procedure, 70 Harv.L.Rev. 1, 8 (1956); see also Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U. S. 365, 477 U. S. 377 (1986); United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648, 466 U. S. 654 (1984). The paramount importance of vigorous representation follows from the nature of our adversarial system of justice. This system is premised on the well-tested principle that truth -- as well as fairness -- is "best discovered by powerful statements on both sides of the question.'" Kaufman, Does the Judge Have a Right to Qualified Counsel?, 61 A.B.A.J. 569, 569 (1975) (quoting Lord Eldon); see also Cronic, 466 U.S. at 466 U. S. 655; Polk County v. Dodson, 454 U. S. 312, 454 U. S. 318-319 (1981). Absent representation, however, it is unlikely that a criminal defendant will be able adequately to test the government's case, for, as Justice Sutherland wrote in Powell v. Alabama, 287 U. S. 45 (1932), "[e]ven the intelligent and educated layman has small and sometimes no skill in the science of law." Id. at 287 U. S. 69.
The need for forceful advocacy does not come to an abrupt halt as the legal proceeding moves from the trial to appellate stage. Both stages of the prosecution, although perhaps involving unique legal skills, require careful advocacy to ensure that rights are not forgone and that substantial legal and factual arguments are not inadvertently passed over. As we stated in Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U. S. 387 (1985):
"In bringing an appeal as of right from his conviction, a criminal defendant is attempting to demonstrate that the conviction, with its consequent drastic loss of liberty, is unlawful. To prosecute the appeal, a criminal appellant must face an adversary proceeding that -- like a trial -- is governed by intricate rules that, to a layperson, would be hopelessly forbidding. An unrepresented appellant -- like an unrepresented defendant at trial -- is unable to protect the vital interests at stake."
Id. at 469 U. S. 396. By proceeding to decide the merits of petitioner's appeal without appointing new counsel to represent him, the Ohio Court of Appeals deprived both petitioner and itself of the benefit of an adversary examination and presentation of the issues.
The State nonetheless maintains that, even if the Court of Appeals erred in granting the motion to withdraw and in failing to appoint new counsel, the court's conclusion that petitioner suffered "no prejudice" indicates both that petitioner has failed to show prejudice under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984), and also that any error was harmless under Chapman v. California, 386 U. S. 18 (1967). In either event, in the State's view, the Court of Appeals' affirmance of petitioner's conviction should stand. [Footnote 7] We disagree.
The primary difficulty with the State's argument is that it proves too much. No one disputes that the Ohio Court of Appeals concluded that the record below supported a number of arguable claims. Thus, in finding that petitioner suffered no prejudice, the court was simply asserting that, based on its review of the case, it was ultimately unconvinced that petitioner's conviction -- with the exception of one count -- should be reversed. Finding harmless error or a lack of Strickland prejudice in cases such as this, however, would leave indigent criminal appellants without any of the protections afforded by Anders. Under the State's theory, if, on reviewing the bare appellate record, a court would ultimately conclude that the conviction should not be reversed, then the indigent criminal appellant suffers no prejudice by being denied his right to counsel. Similarly, however, if, on reviewing the record, the court would find a basis for reversal, then the criminal defendant also suffers no prejudice. In either event, the criminal appellant is not harmed, and thus has no basis for complaint. Thus, adopting the State's view would render meaningless the protections afforded by Douglas and Anders.
Nor are we persuaded that the Court of Appeals' consideration of the appellate briefs filed on behalf of petitioner's codefendants alters this conclusion. One party's right to representation on appeal is not satisfied by simply relying on representation provided to another party. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 28-29. To the contrary,
"[t]he right to counsel guaranteed by the Constitution contemplates the services of an attorney
devoted solely to the interests of his client. Glasser v. United States, 315 U. S. 60, 315 U. S. 70 [(1942)]."
Von Moltke v. Gillies, 332 U. S. 708, 332 U. S. 725 (1948) (plurality opinion). A criminal appellant is entitled to a single-minded advocacy for which the mere possibility of a coincidence of interest with a represented codefendant is an inadequate proxy. [Footnote 8] The State's argument appears to suggest, however, that there would rarely, if ever, be a remedy for an indigent criminal appellant who only receives representation to the extent a codefendant's counsel happens to raise relevant arguments in which they share a common interest. Again, the State's argument proves too much.
More significantly, the question whether the briefs filed by petitioner's codefendants, along with the court's own review of the record, adequately focused the court's attention on the arguable claims presented in petitioner's case is itself an issue that should not have been resolved without the benefit of an adversary presentation. An attorney acting on petitioner's behalf might well have convinced the court that petitioner's interests were at odds with his codefendants', or that petitioner's case involved significant issues not at stake in his codefendants' cases. Mere speculation that counsel would not have made a difference is no substitute for actual appellate advocacy, particularly when the court's speculation is itself unguided by the adversary process. [Footnote 9]
Finally, it is important to emphasize that the denial of counsel in this case left petitioner completely without representation during the appellate court's actual decisional process. This is quite different from a case in which it is claimed that counsel's performance was ineffective. As we stated in Strickland, the "[a]ctual or constructive denial of the assistance of counsel altogether is legally presumed to result in prejudice." 466 U.S. at 466 U. S. 692. Our decision in United States v. Cronic, likewise, makes clear that
"[t]he presumption that counsel's assistance is essential requires us to conclude that a trial is unfair if the accused is denied counsel at a critical stage of his trial."
466 U.S. at 466 U. S. 659 (footnote omitted). Similarly, Chapman recognizes that the right to counsel is "so basic to a fair trial that [its] infraction can never be treated as harmless error." 386 U.S. at 386 U. S. 23, and n. 8. And more recently, in Satterwhite v. Texas, 486 U. S. 249, 486 U. S. 256 (1988), we stated that a pervasive denial of counsel casts such doubt on the fairness of the trial process that it can never be considered harmless error. Because the fundamental importance of the assistance of counsel does not cease as the prosecutorial process moves from the trial to the appellate stage, see supra at 488 U. S. 85, the presumption of prejudice must extend as well to the denial of counsel on appeal.
The present case is unlike a case in which counsel fails to press a particular argument on appeal, cf. Jones v. Barnes, 463 U. S. 745 (1983), or fails to argue an issue as effectively as he or she might. Rather, at the time the Court of Appeals first considered the merits of petitioner's appeal, appellate counsel had already been granted leave to withdraw; petitioner was thus entirely without the assistance of counsel on appeal. In fact, the only relief that counsel sought before the Court of Appeals was leave to withdraw, an action that can hardly be deemed advocacy on petitioner's behalf. Cf. McCoy, 486 U.S. at 486 U. S. 439-440, n. 13. It is therefore inappropriate
to apply either the prejudice requirement of Strickland or the harmless error analysis of Chapman. [Footnote 10]
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is accordingly reversed, and the case is remanded to that court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
Petitioner was charged in counts 5 and 6 of the indictment with felonious assault. App. 6-7; see Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2903.11(A)(2) (Page 1987). In examining the record, the Court of Appeals discovered that the trial court neglected to instruct the jury concerning an element of this crime. Applying the State's plain error doctrine, which requires a showing of substantial prejudice, the Court of Appeals reversed petitioner's conviction under count 6 of the indictment, but let stand his conviction under count 5. App. 41-43.
In reaching this conclusion, the Court noted:
"At this stage in the proceedings, only the barren record speaks for the indigent, and, unless the printed pages show that an injustice has been committed, he is forced to go without a champion on appeal. Any real chance he may have had of showing that his appeal has hidden merit is deprived him when the court decides, on an ex parte examination of the record, that the assistance of counsel is not required."
372 U.S. at 372 U. S. 356.
Counsel's "Certification of Meritless Appeal," which simply noted that counsel, after carefully reviewing the record, "found no errors requiring reversal, modification and/or vacation of appellant's" conviction or sentence, App. 35, bears a marked resemblance to the no-merit letter we held inadequate in Anders. The no-merit letter at issue in Anders read as follows:
"Dear Judge Van Dyke:"
"This is to advise you that I have received and examined the trial transcript of CHARLIE ANDERS as it relates to his conviction of the crime of possession of narcotics."
"I will not file a brief on appeal, as I am of the opinion that there is no merit to the appeal. I have visited and communicated with Mr. Anders, and have explained my views and opinions to him as they relate to his appeal."
"Mr. Anders has advised me that he wishes to file a brief in this matter on his own behalf. . . ."
Tr. of Record in Anders v. California, O.T. 1966, No. 98, p. 6.
Not only does the Anders brief assist the court in determining that counsel has carefully reviewed the record for arguable claims, but, in marginal cases, it also provides an independent inducement to counsel to perform a diligent review:
"The danger that a busy or inexperienced lawyer might opt in favor of a one-sentence letter instead of an effective brief in an individual marginal case is real, notwithstanding the dedication that typifies the profession. If, however, counsel's ultimate evaluation of the case must be supported by a written opinion 'referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal,' [Anders,] 386 U.S. at 386 U. S. 744 . . . the temptation to discharge an obligation in summary fashion is avoided, and the reviewing court is provided with meaningful assistance."
Nichols v. Gagnon, 454 F.2d 467, 470 (CA7 1971), cert. denied, 408 U.S. 925 (1972) (footnotes omitted). In addition, simply putting pen to paper can often shed new light on what may at first appear to be an open-and-closed issue.
One hurdle faced by an appellate court in reviewing a record on appeal without the assistance of counsel is that the record may not accurately and unambiguously reflect all that occurred at the trial. Presumably, appellate counsel may contact the trial attorney to discuss the case, and may thus, in arguing the appeal, shed additional light on the proceedings below. The court, of course, is not in the position to conduct such ex parte communications.
Obviously, a court cannot determine whether counsel is in fact correct in concluding that an appeal is frivolous without itself examining the record for arguable appellate issues. In granting counsel's motion to withdraw, however, the Ohio Court of Appeals noted that it was deferring its independent review of the record for a later date. See App. 37.
The Court of Appeals' finding of "no prejudice" is not free from ambiguity. The court wrote:
"Because we have thoroughly examined the record and already considered the assignments of error raised in the other defendants' appeals, we find appellant has suffered no prejudice in his counsel's failure to give a more conscientious examination of the record."
App. 40-41. Not only does this language leave unclear whether the court relied on Strickland, Chapman, or both cases in concluding that petitioner was not entitled to relief, but it also appears to limit the finding of no prejudice to "counsel's failure to give a more conscientious examination of the record." The court did not recognize that petitioner's rights were also violated by its own omission in failing to appoint new counsel, and thus did not consider whether this separate violation was prejudicial.
There is, of course, a significant distinction between joint representation on appeal, which is often appropriate, and the mere possibility of a coincidence of interest between represented and unrepresented criminal appellants.
Although petitioner has been represented by counsel in this Court, we decline to sit in place of the Ohio Court of Appeals in the first instance to determine whether petitioner was prejudiced as to any appellate issue by reason of either counsel's failure to file an Anders brief or the court's failure to appoint new counsel. Cf. Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U. S. 365, 477 U. S. 390 (1986). It would be particularly inappropriate for us to do so in a case raising both factual issues and questions of Ohio law.
A number of the Courts of Appeals have reached a like conclusion when faced with similar denials of appellate counsel. See United States ex rel. Thomas v. O'Leary, 856 F.2d 1011 (CA7 1988); Freels v. Hills, 843 F.2d 958 (CA6 1988); Jenkins v. Coombe, 821 F.2d 158 (CA2 1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1008 (1988); Cannon v. Berry, 727 F.2d 1020 (CA11 1984); but cf. Sanders v. Clarke, 856 F.2d 1134 (CA8 1988); Lockhart v. McCotter, 782 F.2d 1275 (CA5 1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1030 (1987); Griffin v. West, 791 F.2d 1578 (CA10 1986).
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring.
I join the Court's opinion. I write separately to emphasize that nothing in the Court's opinion forecloses the possibility that a mere technical violation of Anders v. California, 386 U. S. 738 (1967), might be excusable. The violation in this case was not a mere technical violation, however, and, on that understanding, I concur.
CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST, dissenting.
The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution provides that, "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense." The Court has construed this language to include not only the right to assistance of counsel at trial, Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335 (1963), but also to the assistance of counsel on appeal. Douglas v. California, 372 U. S. 353 (1963). We have also held that the right conferred is not simply to the assistance of counsel, but also to the effective assistance of counsel, both at trial, see United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648 (1984); Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984), and on appeal, see Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U. S. 387 (1985).
There is undoubtedly an equal protection component in the decisions extending the Sixth Amendment right to counsel on appeal; Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U. S. 12 (1956); Douglas v. California, supra. But we have also recognized that
"[t]he duty of the State under our cases is not to duplicate the legal arsenal that may be privately retained by a criminal defendant in a continuing effort to reverse his conviction, but only to assure the indigent defendant an adequate opportunity to present his claims fairly in the context of the State's appellate process."
Ross v. Moffitt, 417 U. S. 600, 417 U. S. 616 (1974).
The Court today loses sight of this, and instead seeks to engraft onto our decision in Anders v. California, 386 U. S. 738 (1967), a presumption of prejudice when the appellate attorney for an indigent does not exactly follow the procedure laid down in that case. Thus today's decision is added to the decision in Anders itself as a futile monument to the Court's effort to guarantee to the indigent appellant what no court can guarantee him: exactly the same sort of legal services that would be provided by suitably retained private counsel.
There are doubtless lawyers admitted to practice in the State of Ohio who, for a substantial retainer, would have filed a brief on behalf of petitioner in the Ohio Court of Appeals urging, with a straight face, all of the claims which petitioner's appointed attorney decided were frivolous. But nothing in the Constitution or in any rational concept of public policy should lead us to require public financing for that sort of an effort. The Court's opinion today justifies the Anders brief because it
"serves the valuable purpose of assisting the court in determining both that counsel in fact conducted the required detailed review of the case and that the appeal is indeed so frivolous that it may be decided without an adversary presentation."
Ante at 488 U. S. 81-82 (footnote omitted). These may be desirable purposes, but it seems to me that it stretches the Sixth Amendment a good deal to say that it requires these interests to be pursued in this manner. The
Sixth Amendment does not confer a right to have the court supervise counsel's assistance as it is rendered, but rather a right to have counsel appointed for the purpose of pursuing the appeal.
Here, counsel rendered "assistance," and his performance must be reviewed for ineffectiveness and prejudice before any constitutionally mandated relief is in order. Strickland, supra, at 466 U. S. 687-696. Counsel states -- and we have no reason to disbelieve him -- that he conscientiously reviewed the record and
"found no errors requiring reversal, modification and/or vacation of appellant's jury trial convictions and/or the trial court's sentence in [his case]."
App. 35. As it turned out, that determination was incorrect, but this fact does not mean that counsel did not employ his legal talents in the service of his client. Whether or not this evaluative process constituted "assistance" cannot be affected by its conclusion.
"[T]he canons of professional ethics impose limits on permissible advocacy. It is the obligation of any lawyer -- whether privately retained or publicly appointed -- not to clog the courts with frivolous motions or appeals."
See Polk County v. Dodson, 454 U. S. 312, 454 U. S. 323 (1981).
This is not to say that an attorney's erroneous decision to withdraw is necessarily adequate assistance of counsel. That is to be judged under Strickland. Of course, counsel may protect himself from collateral review of the effectiveness of his performance by following the safe-harbor procedures outlined in Anders. As described by the Court today, the filing of an Anders brief creates a strong presumption that counsel has diligently worked on the case and that the court was correct in assessing the frivolousness of the appeal when it allowed withdrawal. Anders may well outline a prudent course to follow for the appointed attorney who wishes to withdraw from a frivolous case. But if counsel declines to follow it, the basic constitutional guarantee of effective assistance remains the underlying standard by which his conduct should be judged.
In this case, petitioner was one of a group of three men who broke into a dwelling and robbed, raped, and otherwise sexually assaulted the adult inhabitants. It cannot be questioned that petitioner and his codefendants stood in substantially the same position in defending against the charges. * The appellate court considered the briefs of petitioner's codefendants and conducted its own review of the record. It ultimately reversed one of petitioner's convictions as a result. It also considered, but decided against, reversing another. Although the "coincidence of interest with a represented codefendant," ante at 488 U. S. 87, is not a substitute for the assistance of counsel, it certainly may eliminate the prejudice of poor representation if it brings to the court's attention the meritorious arguments that appointed counsel failed to make. In this case, the merits briefs filed on behalf of his codefendants were substantially more beneficial to petitioner than an Anders brief from his own attorney. The appellate court performed its duty in utilizing the available advocate's papers on petitioner's behalf and in exercising its independent judgment of the record. After doing so, it concluded that petitioner had not suffered prejudice from his counsel's withdrawal without filing an Anders brief. On these facts, I think that conclusion plainly correct.
* The Court asserts that
"[a]n attorney acting on petitioner's behalf might well have convinced the court that petitioner's interests were at odds with his codefendants'. . . ."
Ante at 488 U. S. 87. This appears to be pure speculation. Nothing in the papers filed in this Court, nor in the majority opinion, suggests any theory of how this might be done or why, if such a conflict existed, the court could not discern it from its own review of the record.
Powered by Justia US Supreme Court Center: PENSON V. OHIO, 488 U. S. 75 (1988)
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Term we use
abuse: to insult, hurt, injure, rape and/or molest another person. Such behaviors may include, but are not limited to: physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, spiritual abuse and/or verbal abuse.
abuser/abusive partner/batterer: a person who engages in a pattern of coercive, exploitative and violent tactics against an intimate partner, in order to establish and maintain power, control and dominance over the partner.
advocacy: support that domestic violence programs offer to individual survivors. The support can include: 24-hour crisis hotline; crisis intervention; shelter; food; clothing; transportation; legal and medical assistance; accompaniment to court and other services; information and referrals; assistance with rent and utilities; support groups; therapy groups for abusers; and childcare and other children’s programming.
anger management class: an older term used to refer to what are now called Batterer’s Intervention programs. The name has been changed to reflect current understanding that abuse is not only about anger but about control issues with many different causes.
attorney: a person legally appointed or hired by a respondent or petitioner to represent her/him in legal matters.
battering: all behaviors that harm, gain or maintain power and control over another person. These behaviors include physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse, as well as sexual exploitation and threats, or any other act that curtails an individual’s personal power and/or creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
case management: the coordination of services on behalf of an individual by an advocate.
child abuse: Maltreatment or neglect of a child, including non-accidental physical injuries, sexual abuse/exploitation, severe or general neglect, unjustifiable mental suffering/emotional abuse, and willful cruelty or unjustifiable punishment of a child.
child support: Financial support paid by a parent to help support their child or children who do not live with them.
Child Support Enforcement Agency: an agency authorized to locate non-custodial parents, establish paternity and establish and enforce child support orders. It was established by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act and exists in 50 states and four territories, as well as several Native American tribes.
civil standby: When a law enforcement agency comes to a location (normally the home shared by the protected person and restrained person) to keep the peace while one party obtains property from the other.
coercion: when one person forces or attempts to force another to think or act in a different way. Examples include, but are not limited to: threatening to report the victim to Child and Family Services or police, forcing a victim to drop charges against the batterer and/or forcing a victim to participate in or commit illegal activities.
common law marriage/partner: a prior intimate/dating partner of your current intimate/dating partner, or current intimate/dating partner of your former intimate/dating partner (for example: the old boyfriend or girlfriend of your current boyfriend or girlfriend).
confidentiality: Advocates from domestic abuse programs are bound by state and federal guidelines regarding the release of information. Advocates will not acknowledge anyone’s presence or participation in a local domestic abuse program or shelter without written permission from the domestic abuse survivor to release information. State laws give staff at domestic abuse programs legal protection from being forced to testify about anyone seeking services without a confidentiality waiver from the domestic abuse survivor.
continuance: a judge can reschedule the case to a later hearing date; if there is a temporary protection order (TPO) it can usually be extended until that date. Even if a case is continued, the petitioner must appear at every court date so that the case is not dismissed.
court specialist: family court clerks that look over requests for temporary or emergency orders (called ex parte orders) before the judge sees them. They also process fee waivers.
Crime Victims Compensation Program (CVC): a fund established to assist qualifying victims of violent crime and their families with crime-related expenses, including, but not limited to: costs related to counseling, funeral and burial, medical and mental health, emergency/temporary shelter and other costs as permitted by statute.
Crisis Center Inclusiveness statement: the Crisis Center values the individual diversity of all employees, volunteers, clients, and supporters of our violence prevention programs. Differences and distinguishing factors provide experiences, viewpoints, and ideas that can strengthen and enrich our work. Our goal is to create an evolving environment that is inclusive, respectful, and equitable, and to welcome and be accessible to all populations of clients in order to accomplish the mission of the Crisis Center.
dating violence: intimate partner violence (IPV) between people who are dating. The abusive behaviors between dating partners include verbal, physical, emotional, sexual, financial and/or electronic harassment. The genders or sexual orientation of the parties doesn’t matter.
defendant: The person accused of a crime in a criminal case.
Dependency and Neglect: a legal process specific allegations child abuse.
District Attorney: An attorney who works for the people of the State of Colorado. They bring criminal charges against people who violate the law and then prosecute the resulting case in court.
domestic violence or domestic abuse: a pattern of coercive behaviors, used by a batterer to gain or maintain power and control over another person with whom the batterer is in an intimate, dating or family relationship. These behaviors may include, but are not limited to: physical and sexual abuse, direct or implied threats, emotional and psychological abuse, intimidation, verbal abuse, isolation, stalking, financial control, spiritual abuse, threatened or actual use of weapons, destruction of property and/or harm to the victim’s family, pets or others.
Domestic Violence Coalition: a statewide nonprofit organization committed to ending domestic abuse by promoting social change through public policy advocacy. The coalition provides domestic abuse shelters with training and technical assistance that coordinates community responses to domestic violence and systems-based advocacy within the legal, healthcare, homeless and social services communities. It also provides information and referral services to survivors.
domestic violence program: a community-based nonprofit organization committed to providing free and confidential services to domestic abuse victims and their children by providing crisis support, safe shelter, counseling, legal advocacy and information and referral services.
domestic violence services: describes the range of support domestic violence survivors receive from domestic violence programs. The support can include: 24-hour crisis hotline; crisis intervention; shelter; food; clothing; transportation; legal and medical assistance; accompaniment to court and other services; information and referrals; assistance with rent and utilities; support groups; therapy groups for abusers; and childcare and other children’s programming.
domestic violence shelter: a safe facility that provides safety and protection from abuse, advocacy services, and resources to create a non-violent life.
domestic violence victim and/or domestic abuse survivor: someone who has experienced verbal, emotional, financial, physical or sexual abuse.
dual arrest: when a police officer arrests both parties in a domestic violence situation because the officer is unable to determine the predominant aggressor or believes both parties have committed a crime.
economic/financial abuse: when a batterer uses finances to establish and maintain power and control over a victim. Examples include, but are not limited to: controlling a partner’s finances, taking the victim’s money without permission, giving the victim an allowance, prohibiting/limiting a victim’s access to bank accounts or credit card, denying the victim the right to work and/or sabotaging a victim’s credit.
elder abuse: physical abuse (including sexual), financial abuse, neglect, abandonment, isolation, abduction, treatment that causes physical harm or pain or mental suffering, and withholding of things or services by a care custodian of an elderly person. (adapted from the Elder Abuse Task Force)
emotional/psychological abuse: when a batterer uses emotions, self esteem and/or a person’s mental state to establish and maintain power and control over a victim. Examples include, but are not limited to: putting the victim down or making the victim feel bad about her/himself, calling the victim names, playing mind games, making the victim think s/he is crazy, making the victim feel guilty and/or humiliating the victim.
Equine Assisted Therapy (EAP): a form of therapy where horses are used to assist the individual in learning about themselves in order to gain emotional health
ex parte order: an order that the judge makes after meeting with, or reading legal forms submitted by, only one party in a case (an ex parte request).
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR): an innovative clinical treatment that has helped over a million trauma survivors. By activating past information processing system of the brain, people can achieve their therapeutic goals at a rapid rate, with recognizable changes that don’t weaken or disappear over time.
family violence: a general term which includes the categories of child abuse, elder abuse, dependent adult abuse, domestic violence and animal cruelty.
Filial Therapy: the relationships between a parent and child can be damaged for a variety of reasons when domestic violence occurs. Filial Therapy can initiate the process of repairing the relationship between the child and parent.
Guardian Ad Litem (GAL): a person appointed by the Court in a case to represent the best interests of a child in legal proceedings.
intimate partner: current or former spouses (husband/wife/domestic partner), boyfriends, and girlfriends of any sexual orientation.
intimidation: when one person uses threats to cause another person fear and/or coerce her/him into doing something. Examples include, but are not limited to: making someone afraid by using looks, actions, gestures and/or a loud voice, destroying property, abusing pets and/or displaying weapons.
isolation: when one person uses friends, family and social networks to establish and maintain power and control over a victim. Examples include, but are not limited to: controlling where a victim goes, who s/he talks to, what s/he wears, and/or who s/he sees.
lethality assessment: an analysis done by an advocate, law enforcement officer, probation officer or counselor to determine the level of risk of homicide for a victim of domestic violence based on recent and changing behaviors of the batterer.
non-consensual sexual behavior: unwanted sexual (verbal and physical) behavior that includes but is not limited to: sexual penetration – oral, anal, vaginal, breasts, or any other part, stroking, licking, kissing, sucking, using objects or body parts forcing to view sexual activities or materials, prostitution, participating in the making of pornographic materials.
partner: individuals may refer to their partner as their girlfriend/boyfriend, lover, roommate, life partner, wife/husband, spouse or significant other.
perpetrator/abuser/batterer: a person carrying out domestic violence behaviors
Petitioner: a person who presents a petition to the court; person who files legal forms to start a court case.
physical abuse: when an abuser uses her/his body or other objects to cause harm or injury to establish and maintain power and control over a victim. Examples include, but are not limited to: hitting, kicking, biting, pushing, scratching, slapping, strangling, beating, using a weapon against another person, punching, throwing, burning, poisoning, stabbing and shooting.
plaintiff: the person or company that files civil action against another.
police department: a law enforcement agency.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): a psychological disorder that can occur in an individual after s/he has suffered one or many traumatic events (such as domestic violence) and is characterized by flashbacks, avoidance of things that may trigger a memory of the traumatic event and a significantly heightened state of alert.
power and control: the overarching goal an abuser seeks within intimate partner abuse.
Power and Control Wheel: a tool many advocates use to illustrate abusive tactics and behaviors used by batterers against victims
predominant aggressor: the person who poses the most serious ongoing threat in a domestic violence situation.
probation: when a defendant who has been found guilty of a crime is released into the community and must follow certain conditions, such as jail time, paying a fine, doing community service or attending a drug treatment program. Violation of the conditions can result in incarceration.
pro se: an individual representing him or herself in a legal matter.
Protection Order: Common term used to refer to the existence of an Emergency, Criminal Protective Order and/or Civil/Family law Restraining Order. Depending upon the legal process, these orders can be temporary or permanent. This order can mandate the abuser to not contact, harass or come within a certain distance of the petitioner and/or other persons named in the order.
public assistance: money granted from the state or federal government to a person or family for living expenses. Eligibility is based on need.
public defender: a lawyer who works for a state or local agency representing clients accused of a crime who cannot afford to pay
Respondent: if you are the person that answers the original Petition, you are the Respondent. Even if you later file an action of your own in that case, you are still the Respondent for as long as the case is open.
restitution: when a defendant/abuser/restrained person is ordered by the court to repay financial loss a victim suffered as a result of something the Defendant/Respondent did.
Restrained Party/Person: in a protection order, the person who ordered to not have contact or harass the protected party.
safe housing: emergency, transitional or permanent shelter/housing that is confidentially located.
safety plan: a set of responses and strategies that individuals may use to maintain physical and emotional safety in a variety of situations, including living with an abusive partner, escaping abuse at work, attending school and attending court. The plans are specifically personalized to fit the needs of women experiencing abuse and are used to assess safety and legality risks and evaluate options.
secondary trauma/vicarious trauma: a negative impact on individuals who provide crisis and/or on-going support to victims of trauma and or stark misfortune.
self sufficiency: the state of not requiring any aid, support, or interaction from public entities for survival.
Service of process: delivery of legal papers to a respondent notifying the respondent of legal action taken against her/him. Any person over age 18 can serve the documents as long as s/he is not a party to the case.
sexual assault: any unwanted sexual contact or activity forced on one person by another.
sexual abuse: any non-consenting or sexually exploitative behaviors, (verbal or physical). Any single sexual act performed without consent may constitute sexual abuse. Previous consent does not imply current consent.
sexual exploitation: a sexual act, interaction or relationship occurring when one individual is in the care or under the authority of another. Sexual exploitation involves the abuse of trust and/or power in a relationship in order to engage in a sexual interaction or relationship. Positions of authority, care or guardianship include but are not limited to: parents, teachers, therapists, attorneys, mentors, counselors, advocates
spiritual/religious abuse: when a batterer uses spirituality or religion to establish and maintain power and control over a victim. Examples include, but are not limited to: controlling the partner’s ability to practice her/his own religion, forcing the partner to convert or practice another religion against her/his will and/or using the spiritual or religious environment, leader and/or congregation to influence a victim’s behavior.
spousal abuse: a narrow term describing abuse between husbands and wives. Currently it is more often called domestic violence or intimate partner violence to include other types of intimate relationships.
stalking: when one person pursues, follows or harasses another person against her/his wishes. Examples include, but are not limited to: repeated, unwanted phone calls, following a victim, sending unwanted gifts, destroying or vandalizing a victim’s property, repeated threats and/or tracking a victim’s online activity. This can include cyber stalking (via computers and GPS).
Status Hearing: in divorce or legal separation cases, both parties appear before a judge, who sets a timeline for how the case will proceed.
teen dating violence: the use of power, control and abuse between teens who are dating.
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF): Assistance payments made on behalf of children who do not have the financial support of one of their parents by reason of death, disability or continued absence from the home. The program provides parents with job preparation, work and support services to help them become self-sufficient.
Temporary Protection Order (TPO): a temporary court order that usually requires a respondent (offender) to stay away from and have no contact with the petitioner (victim) and directs the respondent not to commit any criminal offenses against the petitioner; the order can also specify custody and/or visitation with children, require the respondent to vacate the household; and/or relinquish firearms or other property.
therapist, professional counselor or social worker: a distinct group of professions with national standards for education, training and clinical practice. Clinical mental health counselors are highly-skilled professionals who provide flexible, consumer-oriented therapy. They combine traditional psychotherapy with a practical, problem-solving approach that creates a dynamic and efficient path for change and problem resolution.
threats: an expression that demonstrates the intention of one person to inflict pain or injury on another person. Examples include, but are not limited to: verbal threats such as threats to leave, harm, commit suicide or physical threats, such as a raised hand, fist or gesture.
transitional housing: shelter and/or housing for victims of domestic violence and their children that may last up to two years.
trauma: experiencing an event that causes injury or stress to a person’s physical or psychological well-being.
Trauma-Informed Systems of Care: are those in which all components of a given service system have been reconsidered and evaluated in the light of a basic understanding of the role that violence plays in the lives of people seeking mental health and addictions services.
verbal abuse: when a batterer uses words to establish and maintain power and control over a victim. Examples include, but are not limited to: the use of language to manipulate, control, ridicule, insult, humiliate, belittle, vilify and/or show disrespect and disdain to another.
victim: a person who is harmed, physically, emotionally or financially, or killed by another; a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action; the person against whom a crime has been committed.
Workplace Violence Restraining Order: a restraining order a business applies for if it needs protection for its worker(s).
The Crisis Center exists to end domestic violence through advocacy, education, and prevention; while helping communities live free of violence.
303-688-1094 (Administration)
303-660-8889 (Administration Fax)
24-Hour Crisis Line
info@thecrisiscenter.org
Stay Connected – Like! Follow! Share!
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Logged In Area Links
© 2016 Crisis Center. All Rights Reserved. Powered By Hope and Hard Work.
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Ethics in the Public Sector
Mello DM, Phago KG, Makamu NI, Dorasamy N, Holtzhausen N, Mothusi B, Mpabanga D, Tonchi VL
From ancient times, the conduct of human beings, and what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, has been an intriguing and much-debated topic for people from all walks of life. This is even more so for public officials, both appointed and elected, who by nature of the public duty they fulfil, are held to a higher moral standard by the broader society. Unethical conduct not only impacts negatively on the social contract that government has with the public but also affects the rights of citizens, who are taxpayers. Ethics in the public sector is being published at a time when the South African public sector is grappling with serious issues relating to ethics, with startling revelations of conduct by government officials that directly contradicts the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which prescribe high standards of ethical behaviour.
Ethics in the public sector is arranged in such a way as to provide a unique understanding of public sector ethics. It includes discussions of two other African countries, Botswana and Namibia, to provide perspective. Main themes include the theory and philosophical foundation of public sector ethics, the African context of ethics, the policy framework for ethics, role players in ethics, causes of unethical behaviour and remedies for unethical behaviour. It also comes at a time when most universities across South Africa are reconsidering curricula for alignment and relevance to the challenges that public officials and politicians deal with daily. Ethics is an area that has thus far received insufficient attention both at universities and in practice.
Ethics in the public sector is aimed at students, officials and politicians.
LSM Resources
Chapter 1: Introduction and context
Chapter 2: Philosophical and theoretical foundations of ethics
Chapter 3: Botho/Ubuntu ethics in the public sector
Chapter 4: Legislative framework for managing ethics in the public sector
Chapter 5: Role players in managing ethics
Chapter 6: Causes of unethical behaviour
Chapter 7: Manifestations of unethical behaviour
Chapter 8: Remedies for unethical behaviour
Chapter 9: Botswana’s perspective on managing public sector ethics
Chapter 10: Exploring ethics in the public sector: a reference to Namibia
Supplementary material available for this title includes:
• PowerPoint Templates for all chapters (these templates are outlines to assist you with your lectures)
• Jpegs of all figures and tables
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Foreign investment of 608 million in 10 months
FOREIGN INVESTORS INVEST USD 608 MILLION IN TEN MONTHS
Ha Noi, Nov. 11 (VNA) -- Investment licenses were granted to 245 more foreign-invested projects capitalized at USD 608 million in the first ten months of this year, says the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).
Southern provinces and cities still top the list of foreign investment attraction with Binh Duong province having additional 64 projects worth more than USD 187.6 million, Ho Chi Minh City, 84 projects worth USD 167.3 million, and Dong Nai province, 22 projects worth more than USD 91 million.
The newly-licensed projects are owned by investors in 28 countries and territories. Taiwan has 91 projects capitalized at more than USD 176.2 million and British Virgin Islands has 12 projects worth USD 90.69 million. They are followed by Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, France and the US.
Of the licensed projects, the industrial sector accounts for 188 projects capitalized at nearly USD 429.9 million; the oil and gas sector, three projects valued at USD 40.2 million; and the agro-forestry sector, 13 projects capitalized at nearly USD 23.1 million. The culture, health and education sectors have six projects totalling more than USD 65.5 million; the fisheries sector, three projects capitalized at USD 3.15 million, the construction sector, five projects capitalized at USD 7.5 million; and the hotel business and tourism sector, post and financial banking sectors, each with one project.
According to MPI Minister Tran Xuan Gia, foreign investment in Viet Nam has increased in 2000 after two years of reduction. He noted that with a number of major projects being considered for the granting of licenses, Viet Nam is likely to attract more than USD 2 billion in foreign investment in 2000.
The projects waiting for licenses include a USD 500-million project to explore and exploit the Lan Tay-Lan Do gas field, a USD 500-million cooperation contract to build gas pipelines from oil fields to Ba Ria-Vung Tau southern province, a USD 38-million on oil and gas production- sharing contract with the Russian partner at Lot.112, and a wholly foreign-invested project to build a high-grade resort in the central coastal city of Nha Trang with an investment capital of USD 15 million.
Foreign-invested enterprises exported a quantity of goods worth USD 3.25 billion in the past ten months, accounting for nearly 28 percent of the country's export turnover.--
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Vietnam-EU to increase garment export quota
Oct. 13 (VNA) -- Viet Nam and the European Union (EU) signed an agreement on Oct. 10 at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, allowing an average increase of 26 percent on Viet Nam's garment exports quota to EU markets.
Signatories were Vietnamese Trade Minister Vu Khoan and EU Commissioner in charge of trade Pascal Lamy, who also signed a memorandum of understanding on fraud prevention in the footwear industry.
ASEAN-China working group on code of conduct meets in Hanoi
Ha Noi, Oct. 12 (VNA) -- The third meeting of the ASEAN-China Working Group on a Code of Conduct for the East Sea was held in Ha Noi on Oct. 11 under the co-chairmanship of Viet Nam and China.
Participants in the meeting continued exchanging views on a number of issues relating to the draft Code of Conduct (COC) and obtained some initial results. They agreed to make further efforts to perfect the COC for early approval.
UN assesses flood situation in Mekong Delta area
A United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC) team held a press conference in Hanoi on October 10 to announce briefly the team's assessment on the flood situation in the Mekong delta.
Increase of Textile an Garment exports - Open office in New York
Ha Noi, Oct.11 (VNA) -- Viet Nam's textile and garment exports in the first nine months of this year rose 4.97 percent year-on-year to USD 1,372 million.
The national Viet Nam Textile and Garment Corporation contributed USD 365 million, 17.3 percent more than the previous corresponding period.
Construction of Vietnam's biggest sofware center is underway
Construction Quang Trung Software Park, the biggest centre for software production and services in southern Vietnam, started on October 5 in Ho Chi Minh City.
For the first phase of the project, to finish by the end of 2001, Ho Chi Minh City has invested VND 190 billion (US $13.6 million) in upgrading seven buildings in the former Quang Trung Fair and Exhibition Centre and the transport system around and in the park and in building electricity, drainage and waste treatment systems.
Economic growth rates of 6.7% in the second quarter.
Government members gathered in Hanoi on October 2 and 3 at a regular meeting to discuss socio-economic development plans for 2001, the State budget for 2000, the State budget balance for 1999, issues relating to the universalisation of education at junior secondary school level, a draft ordinance on plant protection and quarantine, and a draft ordinance on advertising.
They also heard reports on floods in Mekong delta provinces and discussed ways to remedy or mitigate the effects of the floods.
A new oild field discovered off-shore southeast Viet Nam
Ha Noi, Oct. 8 (VNA) -- A new oild field was discovered on Oct.6 at lot 15.1, off-shore southeast Viet Nam, 144 km east from Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
The exploration contract has been conducted by PETROVIETNAM Supervision Company (PVSC) for Product Sharing Contracts (holding 50 percent of the contract), the United State's CONOCO Limited (23.25 percent), the Republic of Korea's KNDC (14.25 percent), and SK (9 percent) and France's GEOPETROL (3,5 percent).
Child malnutrition reduced significantly
Ha Noi, October 6, (VNA) -- The Ministry of Public Health has announced a week entitled "For the Children's Futures: Rapid Reduction of the Child Malnutrition Rate" from Oct. 16 to 23, aimed at bringing the malnutrition rate among kids under five years old down from 36.7 percent last year to less than 34 percent by the end of this year.
190 new FDI projects licensed in last 9 months
ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY FDI PROJECTS LICENSED IN LAST NINE MONTHS
Ha Noi, Oct. 6 (VNA) -- In the first nine months of this year, 190 foreign invested projects capitalized at more than USD 512 million were licensed for operation across the country.
With an additional investment of USD 210 million registered by on-going projects involving foreign direct investment (FDI), the total FDI flowing into the country in the first nine months reached more than USD 722 million.
Cultural activities for the 990th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi
Cultural activities for Thang Long - Hanoi
Dragon and fireworks performances at West Lake.
http://www.nhandan.org.vn/english/today/rong2.jpg
Folk culture festival at Hoan Kiem lake.
http://www.nhandan.org.vn/english/today/hkh1.jpg
Many cultural activities have taken place nationwide to celebrate the 990th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi.
A seminar on Thang Long - Hanoi
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Browse > Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Philosophy of Management
Representations and Representing
13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1. Philosophy of Management: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Paul Griseri Editorial
David Ardagh Presuppositions of Collective Moral Agency: Analogy, Architectonics, Justice, and Casuistry
This is the second of three papers with the overall title: “A Quasi-Personal Alternative to Some Anglo-American Pluralist Models of Organisations: Towards an Analysis of Corporate Self-Governance for Virtuous Organisations”.1 In the first paper, entitled: “Organisations as quasi-personal entities: from ‘governing’ of the self to organisational ‘self ’-governance: a Neo-Aristotelian quasi-personal model of organisations”, the artificial corporate analogue of a natural person sketched there, was said to have quasi-directive, quasi-operational and quasi-enabling/resource-provision capacities. Its use of these capacities following joint deliberation in ethically permissible and just joint acts, their effect on end-users and other parties, and conformity with or challenge to State law, arguably settles its moral status as an ethical or unethical organisational agent. This paper identifies and defends the presuppositions of this conception, and applies the results to business.
Hugh Bowden The Ethics of Management: a Stoic Perspective
The purpose of this article is to explore the notion that certain aspects of Stoic thinking can give useful insights into some salient issues in current management theories. The Stoics, as represented in this paper chiefly by Epictetus, concerned themselves with: management of self, management processes and information. The main focus is on ethics – how the individual and the organisation ought to behave. Pierre Hadot, in ‘Philosophy as a Way of Life’ notes ‘a degree of resonance between Stoic prescriptions and recent theories of leadership and governance’. This article attempts to explain the resonance by identifying a convergence between some management theories and certain aspects of Stoic thought. Certain key terms of Stoicism can find direct correlates in modern managerial terminology. It is suggested that the convergence can occur in terms of the topic – the reference point or issue, the reference group of thinkers concerned with the issues and the cultural and social context.
Regina Queiroz The Importance of Phronesis as Communal Business Ethics Reasoning Principle
In this article I maintain the importance of the Aristotelian concept of prudence or phronesis applied to business ethics, distinguishing its meaning from Solomon and Hartman’s approaches to Aristotelian business ethics. Whereas Solomon stresses the value of perception of particulars and Hartman criticizes the incapacity of Aristotelian phronesis to dwell with the interests of others, I advocate that Aristotelian virtue ethics is important because the concept of phronesisdoes three things: (a) stresses the rational calculation and general principles or rules in virtue ethics, in general, and business ethics, in particular; (b) provides a communal-based ethics principle; and c) offers us a clear comprehension about what calculation or reasoning is in ethics.
Christine Noel-Lemaitre, Séverine Le Loarne-Lemaire Human Resource Management and Distress at Work: What Managers Could Learn from the Spirituality of Work in Simone Weil’s Philosophy
Workplace spirituality deals with paradoxes. This concept has been taken on board since the late 1980s, but very few human resource managers have realised that workplace spirituality could make an essential contribution to a better understanding of workplace and corporate reality. Increasing numbers of academic papers are being published on this subject but mere remain many grey areas for researchers. The aim of this paper is to use Simone Weil’s philosophy as a reading grid to get an insight into workplace spirituality as a new paradigm of management. Initial studies attempting to apply Weil’s philosophy to management highlight the necessity for all the actors within the organisation to define their job tasks and contents according to their own way of thinking. Our interpretation of Weil’s philosophy also sheds light on the impossibility of dissociating thinking and acting and reminds us that work is done to nourish both the body and the soul. By concentrating on the spirituality of work, we can establish new links between ethics and human resource management.
Miriam Green Can Deconstructing Paradigms Be Used as a Method For Deconstructing Texts?
Problems surrounding representations of texts have previously been raised and discussed, as has the difficulty, in the light of hermeneutic, critical and post-structuralist writers, of arriving at definitive meanings of texts. This paper is part of ongoing research into the problem of evaluating the representation of original texts in the organisation/management area. The texts in question are Burns and Stalker’s The Management of Innovation 1961, 1966, and to alesser degree Lawrence and Lorsch’s Organization and Environment 1967. The representations are those in three widely used textbooks typical of many, and applications in management accounting research. A way round this apparent impasse may be to see whether there are any ‘objective’ or commonly accepted standards and criteria within a particular system of thought, assuming that the texts in question are all located within the same system. These texts will beexplored in terms of the paradigmatic boundaries they encompass to see whether the same kinds of problems and solutions are presented, and whether they ultimately lie within the same boundaries. Finally, having argued that they are largely located in different paradigms, the underlying question is raised as to whether one paradigm can be an adequate vehicle for the transmission of a text substantially in another.
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H1N1 Wreaks Havoc in Ukraine
January 14, 2016 By Angelina Stapp
50 people have died in Ukraine after being infected with the H1N1 swine influenza.
BEACON TRANSCRIPT- Health reports coming in from the continent suggest that H1N1 wreaks havoc in Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, approximately 50 people have died during this winter, after becoming infected with the notorious swine flu.
As winter draws to an end, Ukraine begins to count its dead. According to a report, during this winter 50 people have died in several regions of the country after they have become infected with the swine flu.
According to a report issued by Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, it would seem that the death toll due to swine flu has increased by 10 percent since 2014.
However, if the numbers come to suggest that Ukraine is on the verge of having to deal with a flu epidemic, Aleksandr Kvitashvili, Ukraine’s appointed Minister of Health, has decided to come forth in order to calm down the population.
The health official declared that although the number of swine flu-related deaths has increased since 2014, there is no reason why Ukraine should instate quarantine procedures. He also added that the number of flu cases has not exceeded the epidemic threshold.
However, it would seem that the Health Minister is only partially correct. The situation is stabilized for now, but it could very well turn into a full-blown epidemic if the general population is not educated on the dangers of harboring such a disease.
H1N1 wreaks havoc in Ukraine, as more infected people are reluctant from seeking professional medical attention. According to a cabinet briefing, it would seem that many of the individuals that have died did not seek treatment in time.
Much more dramatic is the fact that most individuals coming down with swine flu attempt to self-medicate at home, rather than seeking help from the local hospital. The medical specialists cautioned, that some of the applied treatments will work after 48 hours.
Other sources from Ukraine emerge in order to sum up the situation. According to these sources, the most affected area of Ukraine is Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia.
A lawmaker from Ukraine said that during this winter 28 patients infected with the flu died in Odesa while another 25 died in Vinnytsia. Moreover, 5.7 of Ukraine’s population has flu-related symptoms, and only 0.3 percent of them were inoculated against the virus.
50 people have died because of H1N1 swine flu;
Most people try to self-medicate, rather than consulting a doctor;
Out of the 50 casualties, 28 of them died in Odesa and 25 more succumbed in Vinnytsya;
7 of Ukraine’s population is infected with the flu;
Only 0.3 percent of the population is inoculated;
70 percent of infected patients are pregnant women and children.
Filed Under: Health Tagged With: H1N1, influenza, outbreak of swine flu, swine flu, Ukraine
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What a disappointment! Catherine Breillat's new movie was meant to be a profound psychological exploration of the nature of complicity in exploitation. It was meant to be a painfully close to reality examination of her own devastating stroke and ensuing experience of being fleeced of a million euros by a conman. We were meant to debate and be provoked by whether she was really a victim of abuse, or whether in knowingly inviting a convicted criminal into her life, she was somehow buying attention and excitement every time she wrote him a cheque.
Instead, we get a movie that is slow paced and opaque. A movie that seemingly wastes two strong central performances from Isabelle Huppert as the Breillat-like stroke victim director and Kool Shen as the remarkably un-charming conman. After a stunning opening segment that depicts the stroke and rehab, we switch into a very long drawn out con. In fact, it's not really a con. He asks for money. She gives him a cheque. She even sees that he's spending the money lavishing handbags on his wife and drinking good one. But when he asks for more, throwing a tantrum if he doesn't get it, she almost automatically, without emotion hands it over.
What I found most frustrating about the film is that there was no rail conflict there. She wasn't charmed or manipulated. She needed someone, he was there. But any hint at complicity, at the masochism the director relates in the scenario of her forthcoming movie, is entirely absent from the script or performances. The result is then a rather banal procedural that ends in an untimely unsatisfying and uninvolving confession.
ABUSE OF WEAKNESS aka ABUS DE FAIBLESSE has a running time of 105 minutes.
ABUSE OF WEAKNESS played Toronto and London 2013. It will be released in France in February 2014.
Labels: catherine breillat, isabelle huppert, kool shen, laurence ursino, rolan
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How to Adopt My Stepchild in California
International Readoptions
Fost-Adopt
Adult Adoption
Adoption Without Parental Consent
Is it possible to complete an adoption without parental consent? The answer depends upon what type of adoption we’re talking about and of course the unique circumstances of each case. In a CA stepparent adoption, the custodial parent whose spouse is trying to adopt generally must prove that the other parent “has left the child in the care and custody of the other parent for a period of one year without any provision for the child’s support, or without communication from the parent, with the intent on the part of the parent to abandon the child.” (Ca Family Code §7822). This is often referred to as “abandonment.” A parent doesn’t need to have declared their intent to abandon the child and may not even have subjectively wanted to, as case law indicates that the court will look both at their subjective intent and their objective intent, as demonstrated by their actions. The court may also choose to ignore “token” communication and support.
In a relative or other type of independent adoption, abandonment may also be used to terminate one or both parents’ parental rights. However, the party seeking to adoption must have a right to file for adoption (“standing”). Persons who may file to adopt include: someone who has been named in an Adoption Placement Agreement by at least one parent, a child’s relative, including step-relatives, someone designated in a parent’s will to adopt, or the child’s legal guardian. In non-relative situations, it may be necessary for prospective adoptive parents to first obtain guardianship of the child before pursuing adoption. Waiting periods for filing for adoption after being appointed guardian vary based on the circumstances of the case (Ca Family Code §8802). Once prospective adoptive parents have been guardians for two years, a presumption arises that adoption is in the child’s best interests, so an abandonment action may not be necessary to terminate a parent’s rights. ALG attorneys offer a free twenty-minute consultation to speak with you about your unique situation and evaluate whether adoption without parental consent is a viable option in your case.
PASS THE ADOPTEE CITIZENSHIP ACT OF 2019
How Much is a Stepparent Adoption?
Getting Guardianship of a Child
Adopting During Covid-19
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Bank Indonesia Launch Zakat Core Principles
Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia, Hendar, representing the Republic of Indonesia launched the Zakat Core Principles document on World Humanitarian Summit of the United Nations in Istanbul, Turkey on May 23, 2016 last. "Zakat Core Principles is Indonesia's contribution to the social development of Islamic finance and regulatory standards zakat better in the world. The document contains 18 principles that govern the management of six major aspects of zakat, namely institutional legal, oversight, governance, risk management, intermediation and shariah governance ", as described Hendar before the leaders and delegates from various countries and international agencies. "The preparation of these documents is initiated by Bank Indonesia in cooperation with the National Zakat (Baznas), Islamic Research and Training Institute-Islamic Development Bank (IRTI-IDB) and the eight other countries that are members of the international working group (IWG)", he added.
The main principles of zakat management aims to improve the quality of the management of zakat management to be more effective in mobilizing public social funds for improving the welfare of people in various parts of the world. To support its application in various countries, the main principles of zakat management prepared by taking into account the specific conditions in each country, encourage better governance governance, accommodating and in line with the regulatory framework associated with the sub-sectors of other Islamic financial, and supports connectivity with the real sector and the development of human capital.
On the occasion, President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Ahmad Ali Al-Madani, Secretary General of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Madani, and the Sultan of Perak Malaysia Sultan Nazrin Shah as co-chair of the United Nations High-Level Panel for Humanitarian Financing receive directly document Zakat Core Principles of Deputy Governor Hendar. Leaders and delegates of various countries and international agencies in attendance welcomed the presence of these standards and believes social Islamic finance through the charity could provide support for poverty alleviation programs and the completion of a humanitarian crisis. In the future, Indonesia is fully committed to becoming a center for the establishment of international institutions in charge of the development and implementation of zakat management standards, as well as preparing the efforts to formulate the main principles of better regulation endowments through the Waqf Core Principles.
source : www.bi.go.id
Waqf and Its Uses in South Africa
Another Shariah-compliant airline rises, offers ch...
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ASAN: Stop the Torture! Pass Amendment 548!
Over the last few months, our fight against the Judge Rotenberg Center has heated up. The JRC, the only facility in the country to use contingent electric shock as a means of “treatment” of disabled children and adults, has been increasingly spotlighted in the news both locally and nationally. Public attention has grown due to Cheryl McCollins’s lawsuit on behalf of her son Andre, who in 2002 received over 31 shocks while restrained facedown for refusing to remove his jacket.
Yet for over twenty years, the Massachusetts legislature has failed to enact laws that would ban the use of electric shock as a “treatment” for developmental disabilities and behavioral challenges. The closest Massachusetts has come to restricting the use of electric shock was through Department of Developmental Services regulations implemented last year that prohibit shocks for any new students, but codify their use for students already receiving the shocks. It’s a step in the right direction, but we know it doesn’t go far enough.
This year, the Massachusetts legislature now has another opportunity to close the JRC for good. Senator Brian Joyce, whose district includes the JRC, has attached an amendment to the Massachusetts Senate budget that, if passed, would codify a complete ban on aversives – torture in the name of treatment. The State Senate passed Amendment #548, which bans all use of contingent electric shock and other aversives, but the Senate version of the budget has been passed to a Conference Committee that must reconcile differences between the Senate’s and House’s versions of a final budget.
A protest of the JRC last week in Massachusetts drew nearly one hundred supporters in the pouring rain, followed shortly thereafter by an ASAN joint letter to the Conference Committee carried thirty signatories from local and national disability, human rights, and youth empowerment organizations. It is critical to urge the Conference Committee members to pass Amendment #548. The JRC has already been lobbying throughout the Massachusetts Legislature in another attempt to stop any measure that would end their practice of abuse and torture, and it is imperative that the voices of those who support a future for people with disabilities free of these barbaric practices be heard.
Sign our petition to the members of the Conference Committee urging them to pass Amendment #548. Massachusetts has an opportunity to remove the shadow of the JRC from its reputation and to take an important step forward in supporting equal rights for all people, but your voices must be heard!
Stop the torture of Disabled People!
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Russian Gas in the Southern Gas Corridor Could Undermine the EU’s Diversification Plans
By Ilgar Gurbanov
March 27, 2017, the CACI Analyst
Gazprom has officially declared its willingness to use the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as a route to deliver gas to Europe. TAP is an integral part of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU to ensure the continent’s security of supply from a non-Russian source. Although technical and legal possibilities exist for Gazprom’s use of TAP’s expanded capacity, the long-term contracts securing the pipeline’s initial capacity for Azerbaijani gas together with EU legislation makes this option less likely. Nevertheless, the possibility of a Russian bid for TAP could hamper the EU’s diversification plans and block future gas supplies from other non-Shah-Deniz sources.
BACKGROUND: On January 24, during the European Gas Conference in Vienna, the Deputy CEO of Russia’s Gazprom Alexander Medvedev said the company plans to use the capacity of TAP in order to deliver more than 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) of extra gas annually to Europe. The reason is, according to Medvedev, that the planned capacity of Turkish Stream will not be sufficient to carry all this gas.
Turkish Stream is planned to terminate near the Greek border in the Ipsala district of Turkey, the same planned endpoint as the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and the access point for TAP. TAP initially envisaged the transportation of 10 bcm/y of Azerbaijani gas from the Shah-Deniz field’s stage-II (SD-II) by hooking up with TANAP at the Turkish-Greek border, and then into Southern Europe across Greece, Albania and via the Adriatic Sea to Italy’s south. Gazprom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Italian Edison and Greece’s DEPA in 2016 on natural gas deliveries across the Black Sea from Russia to Greece and from Greece to Italy via the Interconnector-Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI)/Poseidon pipeline as an extension of Turkish Stream. The Poseidon is an undersea extension of ITGI across the Ionian Sea to Italy, and is almost a mirror image of TAP. Since ITGI/Poseidon is still under question, for technical, financial, feasibility and cost efficiency reasons, Russia decided to benefit from TAP in order to overcome these challenges.
Commenting on Medvedev’s statement, the TAP consortium’s Head of Communications Lisa Givert said that TAP’s commitment to transporting 10 bcm/y of SD-II gas was underpinned by a 25-year agreement. The pipeline has been designed with an option to expand up to 20 bcm/y when extra gas volumes come on stream with the construction of additional compressor stations along the route, TAP confirmed. Ulrike Andres, commercial and external affairs director of TAP, said Azerbaijan is the most likely gas source for TAP’s phase-II, however, “there is a minor capacity available on the secondary market for short-term transportation [...] should there be demand from shippers.” The TAP Consortium can offer its expanded capacity, in line with EU legislation, to any shipper through open seasons auctions as long as they comply with the participation requirements, Andres noted. According to Spain’s Enagas (a TAP shareholder), TAP can provide capacity to any third gas-shipper requesting transportation capacity in the pipeline on the secondary market during open season in compliance with the regulatory framework. Italy’s Snam (also a TAP shareholder) said that “Gazprom’s joining TAP will double its capacity. TAP’s capacity can be increased up to 20 bcm with a small investment, which will be cheaper than Poseidon’s expansion.”
IMPLICATIONS: Theoretically, Russia can export gas via pipeline from the endpoint of Turkish Stream to Europe, without breaching the EU's Third Energy Package (TEP) rules and without Gazprom's presence in the TAP Consortium. The European Commission's regulation have left 50 percent of TAP's final/expansion capacity open to third party access (TPA). When TAP's capacity is expanded from the initial 10 bcm/y up to 20 bcm/y, Russia can in accordance with this regulation request the Consortium to construct additional entry/exit points for compressors in Greece and can reserve space in the pipeline by requesting TPA to transport its gas at the second stage of gas delivery. Moreover, BP in 2016 signed a MoU with Rosneft to purchase 7-20 bcm/y of Russian gas. The volume is largely equal to potential Azerbaijani gas supplies (10-20 bcm/y) to Europe in 2020, from the Shah-Deniz project in which BP is development operator. Therefore, if Russia does not own the infrastructure but simply sells its gas from the Turkey-Greece border, its actions will not contravene TEP rules. Russia's Gazprom, with its current gas potential, will be in a position to supply additional gas for TAP's enlarged capacity, earlier than any other potential gas supplier given regional instability in the Middle East and a blurred perspective of Mediterranean, Turkmen and Iranian gas for Europe.
However, the Shah-Deniz Consortium has already secured 100 percent of TAP's initial capacity of 10 bcm/y for Azerbaijani gas with a 25-year-contract and with the assurance of the EU's TPA exemption for the first stage of gas delivery. Thus, Russian gas cannot be transported via TAP for at least the next 25 years due to long-term contracts together with relevant EU legislation, unless significant market or geopolitical changes take place during this period or extra gas demand and shortage emerge in the market to motivate TAP's expansion. Moreover, TAP's expansion would enable Gazprom to deliver a maximum of 10 bcm/y, whereas Turkish Stream's second string was supposed to pump 15.75 bcm/y. Therefore, TAP's potential expanded capacity would not be sufficient to deliver Gazprom's planned volume of gas to Europe. Although SOCAR did not consider Gazprom a rival in the TAP project, the injection of Russian gas into TAP could nevertheless create a rivalry between Russian and Azerbaijani gas in terms of volume and market share. Russian gas could block the prospects for additional volumes of Azerbaijani gas expected to come from new gas fields in TAP's stage II.
Furthermore, Russia's participation will be a strong blow to the political investments of the EU and U.S. throughout the implementation process of the project, envisaging to reduce Europe's gas dependence on Gazprom. According to Amos Hochstein, the U.S. special envoy for energy affairs, the SGC is important for Europe when the continent's economic and political security is threatened by energy monopolies. In support of the SCG, the new U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, stressed the necessity of protecting those "projects against other proposed schemes which threaten the future of Europe's energy security" and "would exacerbate European dependency on Russian gas".
TEP rules have previously prevented Gazprom's energy expansion and monopoly on gas transportation in Europe. They also foiled the construction of South Stream under anti-trust rules banning suppliers from owning pipelines without offering other third suppliers access. Yet, after Russia mended its ties with Turkey for the implementation of Turkish Stream, Russia now seeks to use TEP rules in its favour to pre-empt TAP's future deliveries beyond 10 bcm. Therefore, the EU's energy legislation, which once played against Gazprom, now might leave the union with no option to prevent the company's access the TAP's future capacity. This indeed threatens to derail Brussels' plans to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas. However, there is currently little the EU can do to block Gazprom's potential bid for using TAP's expanded capacity, as this might violate the EU's position on open market rules.
CONCLUSIONS: Given the uncertainty of Turkish Stream's second string, as well as the ITGI/Poseidon pipeline, Gazprom also plans to use the additional capacity of TAP, since the planned capacity of Turkish Stream will not be sufficient to bring extra amounts of Russian gas to Europe. However, the injection of Russian gas into TAP could fuel rivalry between Russian and Azerbaijani gas in terms of future market shares. Russian gas could block additional volumes from new gas fields in Azerbaijan (as well as alternative sources from Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Mediterranean). This can downgrade the importance of the SGC in the context of the EU's diversification plans, undermine the security pillar of European energy policy and enlarge Gazprom's existing market share. However, the contractual commitments to SGC, the EU's legislative instruments and technical ambiguities make Gazprom's access to TAP less likely for near future. The EU can at most, along with the endeavours of the energy companies involved in TAP, extend the initial exemption from TPA for the consortium in order to keep Gazprom out.
AUTHOR’S BIO: Ilgar Gurbanov is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Strategic Studies (Azerbaijan).
Image source: wikimedia.org, accessed on March 27, 2017
Read 15862 times Last modified on Thursday, 23 March 2017
Southern Gas Corridor SGC
EU energy security
EU energy diversification
TANAP
Azerbaijan energy infrastructure
Shah Deniz II gas field
Turkish Stream
First Azerbaijani Gas Reaches Albania Amid COVID-19
Russia Moves to Strengthen its Profile in Central Asian Gas Politics, Threatens Trans-Caspian
Bolton's Caucasian Tour and Russia's Reaction
Thinking Big About Caspian Energy
Attacks in Chechnya Suggest Opposition to Kadyrov is Far from Eradicated
More in this category: « Central Asia: An Opportunity for the Trump Administration Central Asian Militants’ Shifting Loyalties in Syria: The Case of The Turkistan Islamic Party »
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Starke's Louisiana Brigade at the "Deep Cut"
On the second day of the 2nd Battle of Manassas (August 29-30, 1862), the Brigadier General William Starke's Louisiana Brigade made history. Starke's Brigade, under the command of Colonel Leroy Stafford of the 9th Louisiana, consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 9th, 10th, and 15th Louisiana Infantry Regiments. On the morning of August 30th, the brigade was posted along the unfinished railroad bed that spanned the length of the Confederate front. In the afternoon of August 30th, Stafford's front was hit by Hatch's division.
Map of Starke's Brigade on August 30, 1862
Battle of 2nd Manassas
(Battles and Leaders, Vol. 2, 509)
Report of Colonel Leroy Stafford, 9th Louisiana, Commanding Starke's Brigade on August 30th:
"On the morning of the 30th Brig. Gen. W. E. Starke ordered me to send half of one of my regiments forward and occupy the railroad cut as a point of observation, to be held at all hazards. About 8 o'clock in the morning the enemy commenced throwing forward large bodies of skirmishers in the woods on our left, who quickly formed themselves into regiments and moved forward by brigades to the attack, massing a large body of troops at this point with the evident design of forcing us from our position. They made repeated charges upon us while in this position, but were compelled to retire in confusion, sustaining heavy loss and gaining nothing. It was at this point that the ammunition of the brigade gave out. The men procured some from the dead bodies of their comrades, but the supply was not sufficient, and in the absence of ammunition the men fought with rocks and held their position. The enemy retreated. We pressed forward to the turnpike road, there halted, and encamped for the night."
As Stafford's Louisianians faced intense pressure, Brigadier General Charles Field's Brigade, under the command of Colonel John M. Brockenbrough, of A.P. Hill's Division was sent to support Stafford. Brockenbrough's command consisted of the 40th, 47th, 55th Virginia Regiments and the 22nd Virginia Battalion. Below is the accout of Colonel Robert M. Mayo of the 47th Virginia and his account of Stafford's Louisianians.
Southern Historical Society papers, Vol. 7, p. 124
The Second Battle of Manassas.
By Colonel ROBERT M. MAYO.
The facts of the case are about as follows:
The lines of Jackson and Longstreet formed a considerably reentrant angle, and the artillery was placed on a hill just between the two corps. The Federals, in advancing to attack Jackson, were exposed for more than half mile to the fire of this artillery. Jackson's troops were in two lines - the front occupying the line of the uncompleted railroad, and the second being in a wood about a quarter of a mile or less in rear of the first. My regiment [47th Virginia] belonged to Field's brigade (of A. P. Hill's division), which was just in rear of the Louisiana brigade and the Stonewall brigade. The former was stationed at a very deep cut of the railroad, and the latter just where the cut ran out, and where there was but little protection. The cut was too deep to fight from, and the Louisiana brigade took position beyond it, behind the dirt which had been thrown out and which formed an excellent breastwork.
Reno's men, advancing under the fire of our artillery, fought the Louisianians until the ammunition of the latter was exhausted, and then drove them back into the deep cut, where they were fighting with stones, when relieved by our brigade. The Stonewall brigade, not having the same protection at the Louisiana brigade, was broken and scattered through the woods. It was then that the second line was ordered forward the
retake the position. I do not know how much more of our first line was broken, and I am confining myself to what I know of my own personal knowledge and what I saw with my own eyes. The charge of the Federals on this occasion was not surpassed in gallantry by any that was made during the war - not even by Pickett at Gettysburg. To have passed through such a fire of artillery, which almost enfiladed their line, and to have broken the Stonewall brigade, composed of troops equal to Napoleon's Old Guard, was an act of gallantry not to be surpassed by any troops of any army.
As my brigade advanced through the woods to retake the position, the minnie balls were rattling like hail against the trees, and as we debouched into the field through which the railroad cut ran, nothing could be been between us and the smoke and fire of the enemy's rifles except the tattered battle-flag of the Louisiana brigade; the staff of this was stuck in the ground at the edge of the cut, and the bridge was at the bottom of it throwing stones. About midway between the woods and the cut I received a wound in the hand; but before we reached the cut, the enemy, who had been terribly punished, commenced to retreat, or, I may say, to fly in great disorder. We were ordered to halt at the cut; but some of the command, among whom was Major Poinsett Tayloe, of my regiment with a considerable number of the men, did not hear the order, and continued the pursuit for some distance beyond. As soon as the battle was over I went to the rear to have my wound dressed, and having found the "field hospital," I slept that night with one of the surgeons under a wagon.
The following piece is from Clement Evens' Confederate Military History Volume 10, 232-234:
On the morning of the 30th Stafford's brigade was ordered up to this dangerous line, to be held at all hazards. At an early hour the enemy's activity began. Massed heavily, the Federals formed six lines of battle. Starke, to meet the expected attack, placed the brigade in the deep cut. Our artillery quickly opened fire on the enemy. Ominously silent remained the brigade. The Federals came at double-quick toward the embankment, heedless of what might be behind it. Then the rifles of the brigade awoke. Our bullets came swiftly, and from close quarters made havoc in the advancing column. Charge after charge was each time repulsed with appalling loss. While this slaughter was going on, the Louisianians began to run short of ammunition. Already some of the men were relieving the dead bodies of their comrades of cartridges. Another Federal advance, in force, came up closer than before to our position at the railroad. Company E, Montgomery Guards, First Louisiana, earliest out, first called for cartridges. Starke had already been notified by Nolan, commanding the regiment, that ammunition was running out. Directly in the rear of the Montgomery Guards was their leader, Capt. Thos. Rice. The eyes of Captain Rice, from his station on a slight elevation of the slope, moved, here, there, everywhere. Nothing but a great quantity of rock was lying around, broken in fragments of moderate size, as they had been blasted when the railroad was building. Captain Rice drew upon his experience in the Crimea. He recalled that battle with stones, fought in a rock quarry at Inkerman, close to the redan— one of the bulwarks of Sebastopol—which had now come to him like a flash, born of the need. Quick as the thought, Rice picked up a piece of rock and calling out loudly, "Boys, do as we did at Sebastopol!" hurled the first stone. Ambulance men, being idle just then, gathered stones at the word. The company, the regiment —even other commands of the brigade—followed with more stone, pelting the enemy savagely in their faces, with good aim. Excellent work was done with these rocks—a work certified to by both pelters and pelted. Some of the enemy crawled up the bank and voluntarily surrendered themselves to escape the deadly stoning.
By this time the men had warmed to the work. A fresh assault of the Federals, in formidable array, came up to the railroad. Major Barney, commanding the Twentyfourth New York, rode gallantly up to the very bank, on a fine bay horse. As he came close to it, and the horse had planted his four hoofs squarely on the embankment, the major was shot through the heart. Stone pelting had swiftly turned tragical. At his fall, his command became demoralized and fled in confusion. The bay, half dazed by the clamor, was finally captured. He was ridden by Lieutenant-Colonel Nolan, and remained with that brave soldier until his death on Culp's hill. He became next the property of Father Hubert, soldier-priest known and dear to every man in the army of Northern Virginia. Martial tradition has it that under Father Hubert the warrior bay learned to care no more for '' the battle afar off," nor recked he of "the thunder of the captains and the shouting."
While this battle of the rocks was still going on, Jackson, in response to Starke's report of the failure of ammunition, had sent word that "men who could hold their line and drive back the enemy by throwing stone could defend themselves a little longer, until reinforcements or ammunition could reach them." Jackson smiled rarely. He may have smiled, for aught we know, at this. At 3 p. m., a Virginia brigade reinforced the First Louisiana. The result was a prompt distribution to each man of twenty rounds of cartridges. Thus was fought the picturesque " Battle of the Rocks," and fought to victory.
The loss of Starke's brigade during August was reported at 65 killed and 288 wounded. Among the killed was Lieut. -Col. R. A. Wilkinson, of the Fifteenth.
Labels: 10th Louisiana, 15th Louisiana, 1st Louisiana, 2nd Louisiana, 9th Louisiana, ANV Louisiana Brigades, Battle of 2nd Manassas, Leroy Stafford
4th Wisconsin's Service in Louisiana
30th Massachusetts' Tour in Louisiana, Part VI
7th Louisiana at Camp Moore, 1861
Louisiana Rum
30th Massachusetts' Tour in Louisiana, Part V
Fenner's Louisiana Battery
30th Massachusetts' Tour in Louisiana, Part IV
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Louisiana Commission at Gettysburg, 1894
This below article was graciously contributed by Dr. Terry Jones.
On November 20, 1894, the newspaper Gettysburg Compiler reported that a delegation of Louisiana Confederate veterans had arrived in town to help the Gettysburg National Park Commission locate the positions the Louisiana troops occupied during the battle. The Louisiana veterans were the first state delegation to begin work with the commission. The veterans included Pvt. Eugene H. Levy of the Donaldsonville Artillery; Capt. Andrew J. Hero of the Washington Artillery; Lt. Col. David Zable of the 14th Louisiana; Sgt. Hugh H. Ward of the 7th Louisiana; Corpl. Albert M. Levy of the Louisiana Guard Battery; and Sgt. Maj. C. L. C. Dupuy of the Washington Artillery. The Louisianians worked with John B. Bachelder, who devoted his life to studying and preserving the battlefield, and park commissioner Major William Robbins of the 4th Alabama and commission chairman Brevet Lt. Col. John P. Nicholson of the 28th Pennsylvania.
“CONFEDERATES MARKING
Louisianaa the first to Send a Commission
As reported in our last, the Louisiana Commission, to locate positions of their troops on this battlefield, arrived on Wednesday, the party being composed of Eugene Levy, And. Hero, David Zable, H. H. Ward, A. M. Levy and C. L. C. Dupuy, and quartering at the Eagle. Col. Bachelder and Major Robbins, of the Government Commission, the same afternoon with the visitors, started on a tour of the Field, covering not only the positions of the commands they represented
but the general movements of both armies. Col. Nicholson of the Commission was also with them during part of their visit.
Louisiana had in this engagement 10 regiments, 5 each in Hays' and Nichols’ brigades, besides 7 batteries. In locating their positions the party drove out the Harrisburg road and a veteran of Green's battery, Louisiana Guard artillery, quickly recognized their position on the edge of a strip of woods on the southeast side of the road, beyond the Bender farm. This elevated site enabled the party to recognize the ground occupied by the troops of Hays' brigade of infantry and Jones' battalion of artillery. Two of the rifled cannon of Green's battery were added to Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry and participated in the battle near Hunterstown and also in the cavalry fight on the Rummel farm. The infantry brigade of Hays supported and followed Gen. Gordon's
brigade and formed on East Middle street, connecting with Hoke's brigade, which extended to the Culp buildings. On the night of the 2d Hays' brigade moved out of town and attacked the remnant of Barlow's division on East Cemetery Hill.
The party drove out Baltimore street, and along the Winebrenner lane, where a representative of Hays' brigade recognized the point where the 7th Louisiana infantry crossed the lane, south of where the 75th Ohio infantry monument now stands. One of the party reached the Ricketts guns and engaged in the hand-to-hand contest over these guns.
In order to locate the Nichols brigade regiments the party drove out the Bonneauville road to the old Daniel Lady farm, where Gen. Lee spent the night of July 1st, 1863. Col. Zable, who commanded the 14th infantry, represented the brigade, and showed how they passed over the Christian Benner farm, crossed Rock creek and took position on the slope of Culp's Hill, about 150 feet below where the 29th [?] Ohio monument stands, recognizing the position by the rocks.
They were in the engagements of the night of the 2d and morning of the 3d. The above tours occupying Wednesday and Thursday.
On Friday the party visited the first day's operations, where Col. Levy described the movements of Maurin's battery of the Donaldson artillery. They drove out the Chambersburg pike and placed the stake 300 yards south of Herr's tavern, on the crest of the ridge, where they relieved one of the batteries of Pegram's battalion. They then drove to the lane back of the Theo. Seminary and turned to the right, passing the old Shultz property, and marked positions of 2d and 3d days in the open field in front of and a little to the north of Miss Maria Shultz's cottage.
The positions of Miller's battery, of Eshleman's New Orleans battalion, Washington artillery, were next visited. This battery moved along the Ridge and bivouacked in the field in rear of Henry Spangler's woods. During the night they moved to the Emmitsburg road with the other three batteries of the battalion. They went into position in Sherly's orchard, east of the barn, 100 yards from the Emmitsburg road, the line of batteries extending across the Emmitsburg road at the Smith place, and continuing to and beyond the Rogers house. This is the line of artillery which carried on the Confederate part of that terrific cannonading which preluded the Pickett charge, the two guns which opened it being under command of Lieut. And. Hero, and located in the Sherly orchard.
During their visit, which lasted until Saturday evening, the visitors were shown the new avenue being built along the Confederate line and expressed their admiration of the work.
Col. Bachelder has for years been advocating the marking of both lines of battle and through his efforts this first move in that direction has been made. It is the confident expectation that others of the Confederate states will follow and thus complete the marking of this the most important battle of the late war.
Labels: ANV Louisiana Brigades
5th Louisiana on the Peninsula
Louisiana C.S. Representative: Duncan F. Kenner
Ordinance for the Policing of Slaves in St. Landry...
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Providence College is located in Providence, Rhode Island and is a private college. Providence College is a four year college and offers Associate's Degrees, Bachelor's Degrees, Master's Degrees, and a number of different programs and courses.
Providence College is in a relatively urban area (in or near a city), which may be something you prefer if you like a city lifestyle as a student.
Providence College does not have a rolling admission policy, and you will want to make sure that you get your application in before January 15.
Providence College is relatively smaller in size with an enrollment of only 5,507 students.
Providence College accepts about 54% of its applicants on average, and 60% of the students receive some sort of financial aid for college at Providence College.
If you are looking for more information on financial aid at Providence College, you can may want to contact Sandra Oliveria, who is the Executive Director of Financial Aid at Providence College. You may also qualify for scholarships for college in Rhode Island to attend Providence College or grants for college in Rhode Island to attend Providence College.
You may also need to take one or more of the following tests to qualify for admission at Providence College:
If you are interested in joining the Army ROTC, Providence College does have an ROTC Army program that is available for attending students.
Providence College offers the following extracurricular activities to its students:
On a 4.0 scale, the average high school gpa for students that are entering Providence College is 3.44.
You may want to brush up on your ACT preparation as well, because the average ACT score for students that are entering Providence College is 26.
Don't forget to study for the SAT, because the average SAT score for students that are entering Providence College is 1206.
Do a lot of students come from out of state to attend Providence College? Well, about 88% of the student body at Providence College comes from outside the state of Rhode Island.
Do a lot of the students at Providence College live on campus? Well, about 97% live on campus, while 3% live off campus and commute to school every day.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT PROVIDENCE COLLEGE
Providence College Address:
River Avenue and Eaton Street
Providence, Rhode Island 02918-0001
Web Site: http://www.providence.edu
Providence College admission closing date:
Does Providence College offer Associate's degrees?
Does Providence College offer Bachelor's degrees?
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Home » Film
The South African Government recognises the significant role played by the film sector in nation building, promoting social cohesion, reconciliation and supporting economic growth and job creation.
Government offers a package of incentives to promote its film production industry. The Foreign Film and Television Production incentive aims to attract foreign based film productions to shoot on location in South Africa, and the South African Film and Television Production and Co-production incentive aims to assist local film producers in producing local content.
The South African Emerging Black Filmmakers incentive, a sub-programme of the South African Film and Television Production and Co-production Incentive, which aims to assist local emerging black filmmakers to nurture and grow them to take up big productions and thus contribute towards employment creation.
The three largest film distributors in South Africa are Ster-Kinekor, United International Pictures and Nu-Metro.
Ster-Kinekor has a specialised art circuit, called Cinema Nouveau, with theatres in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria.
Film festivals include the Durban International Film Festival; the North West Film Festival; the Apollo Film Festival in Victoria West; the Three Continents Film Festival (specialising in African, South American and Asian films, the Soweto Film Festival; and the Encounters Documentary Festival, which alternates between Cape Town and Johannesburg.
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Difference between Lokpal and Lokayukta
Key Difference: The Lokpal is the central governing body that has jurisdiction over all Members of Parliament and central government employees in cases of corruption. The Lokayuktas are similar to the Lokpal, but function on a state level.
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The term Lokpal was first coined by late Mr. L.M. Singhvi, a member of parliament, in 1963 during a debate. Today, the term has come to mean, the "caretaker of the people." The term was the basis for the Lokpal Bill, which was first drafted and introduced in 1968 by Adv. Shanti Bhushan. It was an anti-corruption bill that aimed to address the rampant corruption in India.
In 2011, India ranked 95th in the Corruption Perceptions Index of Transparency International. A recent survey estimated that corruption in India had cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth. According to a report by Washington-based Global Financial Integrity, India lost $462 billion post-Independence in illicit financial flows due to tax evasion, crime and corruption.
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In 1969, the Lokpal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, but was tabled in the Rajya Sabha. Various versions of the bill kept getting submitted and eventually tabled. This happened again and again in the following years: 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008.
However, people were tired of waiting, so activists formed a campaign called "India Against Corruption" (IAC), which was led by Anna Hazare. They supported a new version of the Lokpal Bill, titled Jan Lokpal Bill, i.e. ‘caretaker of ALL people.’ This bill was submitted in 2011, and after much debate and even hunger strikes by Anna Hazare, the bill was eventually passed in 2013, as The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, commonly known as The Lokpal Act.
Under the Act, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas were formed. The Lokpal is the central governing body that has jurisdiction over all Members of Parliament and central government employees in cases of corruption. The Lokayuktas are similar to the Lokpal, but function on a state level. As per the Act, Lokayuktas should be set up in each state.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas would be the authorities to deal with corruption cases. They must conduct inquiries and investigations, and conduct trials for the cases depending on its findings. The Lokpal must fight corruption in public offices and ensure accountability on the part of public officials, including the Prime Minister, but with some safeguards. The Lokayuktas must do the same on the state level.
Each state dictates how its Lokayukta is set up and it is a set of powers. This has led to various different Lokayuktas being set up, some with more power than the others. Hence, there is a proposal to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian states. Under the proposal, the Lokayukta will be a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice and comprising the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members.
On the other hand, under the act, Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of which 50% will be judicial members 50% members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.
Comparison between Lokpal and Lokayukta:
Lokayukta
A central governing body that has jurisdiction over all Members of Parliament and central government employees in cases of corruption.
State level governing bodies that has jurisdiction over state government employees in cases of corruption.
To address complaints of corruption, to make inquiries, investigations, and to conduct trials for the cases.
On a national government level basis
On a state level basis
Corruption in the central government
Corruption in the state government
a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of which 50% will be judicial members 50% members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women
Proposal: three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice and comprising the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members
Tie knots
Erthrocytes
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Op-Ed: Mike DelGuidice is Long Island's 'Man of the Year' for 2017
By Markos Papadatos Dec 28, 2017 in Music
For the second consecutive year, Mike DelGuidice, the front-man of the Billy Joel tribute band Big Shot, is Long Island's "Man of the Year" in music.
DelGuidice's vocal tone is unmatched. He can tackle any iconic artist (Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, James Taylor, Paul McCartney Elton John, Billy Joel, Tom Petty and John Mayer) and make their songs sounds identical. Aside from his musical endeavors with the tribute group Big Shot, DelGuidice is a member of Billy Joel's live band, and a solo artist.
Mike DelGuidice of Big Shot
Gary Hahn Photography
Speaking of his solo work, his original songs are equally noteworthy and they deserve to be classics in their own right someday. Two songs of his that stand out in particular include "Romantic," which deals with regret and reflection, and his piano-driven ballad, the stunning "Mona Lisa."
On December 24, DelGuidice performed the national anthem at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at the New York Jets vs. Los Angeles Chargers game.
Most people on Long Island and New York City pay big money to see their favorite artists perform mediocre shows in such venues as Nassau Coliseum, the Jones Beach Theater and Madison Square Garden for 75 to 90 minutes tops, but DelGuidice can give any of those major "stars" a run for their money. Each of DelGuidice's live concerts is over two hours in duration, he sings a wide variety of songs, and the tickets are very reasonably priced.
Overall, Mike DelGuidice is as good as it gets in the contemporary New York music scene. His vocal range spans three octaves, and he can play a wide variety of musical instruments, including piano, acoustic and electric guitar and drums, among many others. All of his band-mates that perform with him in Big Shot (namely Tommy Byrnes, Nick Dimichino, John Scarpulla, Carmine Giglio, Mike Sorrentino, Chuck Burgi, Andy Snitzer and Ken Cino) are gifted musicians as well. He is the pride of Miller Place, and we are lucky enough to have him entertaining us on Long Island monthly (or bi-monthly) in such venues as Mulcahy's Pub and Concert Hall and at Madison Square Garden, as part of Billy Joel's monthly residency in the "World's Most Famous Arena."
Mike DelGuidice playing with Big Shot
For more information on Mike DelGuidice and the Billy Joel tribute band, Big Shot, check out their official homepage.
More about Mike DelGuidice, Big Shot, Billy joel, Elton john, Long island
Mike DelGuidice Big Shot Billy joel Elton john Long island
For Swiss preschoolers, democracy is child's play
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Home > Sony PlayStation 5 > The catch-up coffee: Thursday, June 11, 2020
The catch-up coffee: Thursday, June 11, 2020
News by Lindsay M., News Editor
More Miku? Yes, please!
Sega has announced that it will hold a special live stream event for all things Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Mega Mix. The game is currently available for Nintendo Switch worldwide, and you can read our raving review here.
The stream is scheduled to begin on June 17 at 20:00 JST, which means it will air at 21:00 AEST or 7:00 (yawn!) EDT.
It will feature new game-related information, but that's pretty vague right now. We do, however, know the guests that will make an appearance: Hatsune Miku character voice Saki Fujita, Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku character voice actor Yuki Nakashima (Shiho Hinomori ), Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix producer and director Keiichi Matsunami, and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix Neilo director Hiroaki Shima.
Spike Chunsoft will be releasing the latest Re:ZERO in the West
Developed by Chime Corporation, Spike Chunsoft will release . Set for release in Japan this winter, the newest tactical adventure title in this series will be brought to North America and Europe around the same time. It will be available digitally and physically for PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
Subaru has started a new life in another world, when he receives notice that the royal selection is postponed for unknown reasons. Subaru and his friends jump into action, returning to the capital city. The royal selection has five candidates, as prophesized by the Dragon Stone, but a sixth has appeared. That means one must be an imposter... but who? The game features brand new characters as well as returning favourites.
And what's a physical release without special editions? Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World: The Prophecy of the Throne will have two available, the Day One Edition and the Collector's Edition. The Day One Edition ($59.99 USD) includes four limited run pins featuring four characters, packaged in a display box; these pins are exclusive to this edition of the game and will not be reprinted. The Collector's Edition ($89.99 USD) includes the same pins, an art book, a SteelBook collector's display case, the original soundtrack, and the Collector's Edition outer box.
Re:Turn – One Way Trip announced, set to launch for PC & consoles
2D horror adventure game Re:Turn – One Way Trip is set to launch on PC and consoles, developer Red Ego Games and publisher Green Man Gaming has announced. It will be available for PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One on September 29. A demo will be available via Steam for a limited time, from June 16-22. Here's the latest trailer:
The game follows Saki as she awakens in the middle of the night on a post-graduation vacation, only to learn her four friends have disappeared. She is lured onto an abandoned train, which seems to have been silently waiting for its final passenger.
There are two playable characters, with completely different perspectives. The past and the present begin to dissolve together as you learn more about the complex mystery of your missing friends, as well as about the train's secrets. There are puzzles to solve, but also otherworldly horrors to escape.
The next PS5 event is tomorrow!
Following the events of the Black Lives Matter movement from late May, PlayStation decided to postpone last week's scheduled digital event because it '[did] not feel that right now is a time for celebration and for now, we want to stand back and allow more important voices to be heard."
See you Thursday, June 11 at 1:00pm Pacific time (9:00pm BST) for a look at the future of gaming on #PS5: https://t.co/9XJkXYProo pic.twitter.com/8EoN34UPdd
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 8, 2020
The fact that the event was rescheduled so quickly makes me slightly concerned that PlayStation delayed it to be nice, without actually caring about the cause. Did someone alter the original presentation to at least refer to the current socio-political climate? Or will it be an hour of white dudes doing white dude things, like shooting people of different races because they're the "bad guys" in a war? I'd say PlayStation needs to tread lightly, but quite frankly I don't think anyone over there realizes the damage some of game can cause (or they just plain don't care).
The presentation, titled "Future of Gaming," will be unveiled on June 11 at 4:00 p.m. EDT (or June 12 at 6:00 AEST). It will run for just over an hour, and be available via YouTube and Twitch.
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Diplomatic PRESS
Sri Lankan HC to UK presents her credentials to Queen Elizabeth II
Home /Diplomatic/Sri Lankan HC to UK presents her credentials to Queen Elizabeth II
Lahiru Nanayakkara
Diplomatic |
Amari Mandika Wijewardene, new High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom and North Ireland, handed her letter of credentials to Queen Elizabeth II on November 15, 2016 at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace.
The High Commissioner Wijewardene, who was escorted to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by four other Sri Lankan diplomats, by traditional horse carriages of the Royal Mews, had a cordial discussion with her Majesty the Queen. The High Commissioner Wijewardene extended the warmest compliments of the President Maithripala Sirisena to Queen Elizabeth II. They discussed the deep-rooted bilateral relations and the importance of strengthening the friendship between the two countries.
Following the presentation of credentials, a vin d’honneur was held at the High Commission of Sri Lanka for parliamentarians of the House of Lords, House of Commons, representatives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ambassadors and High Commissioners based in London.
The High Commissioner Amari Wijewardene has 36 years of experience in management and administrative expreience in the industry, manufacturing, marketing and exports in her career as a main business personality in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Festival 2016 attracted unprecedented crowds in Canberra.
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Indian PM to visit Sri Lanka along with Maldives
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The Selling Season, Redux
by John Klymshyn
$6.95 Understanding Referral
Powerful Prospecting
Sales Tips, Sales Advice,…
How to Stop Blaming Voice…
So, as I look down the barrel of the 2008 calendar, I really only have two choices. No, not the political choices-the attitude and activity choices.
I recently made a presentation on Sales Management techniques for a gathering of people in an industry that has taken a significant beating lately. Their opportunities are shrinking, their margins are under attack, and their people are feeling defeated. Unfortunately, I could not wave a magic wand and fix their problems. I could not suddenly hand them a list of people that were hot to buy.
I could, however, offer them practical ideas and reliable techniques. This is my mission.
If you plan on continuing to make a living selling, or leading people who sell, then the time is now for you to stick a flag in the ground, and claim some emotional territory.
I encourage you to examine that phrase: Claim some mental territory; claim some space in the mind and heart of the people around you.
Enthusiasm is in short supply lately, and you would be amazed at how quickly people respond to a smile, a positive word, or --- perish the thought! -a positive outcome. Studies show that the power of positivism, enthusiasm, smiling and making someone laugh are immeasurable. When you begin your business day, are you dreading the long drudgery ahead, or are you anxious and excited about the opportunity to impact someone's day, business, and life? I can't get out of bed every day in a good mood, and I am sure you have that as an issue sometimes too. But we CAN take stock, take a breath, and look for the options, opportunities, and think about what it would be like to be on the receiving end of the phone call we are about to make, the meeting we are about to lead, or the sales call we are about to walk into.
Phil Beakes is a good friend of mine (and one of my personal heroes.) He told me recently about a great motivational exercise that he implemented when he was in charge of a group of people. He used to hold "Furniture Meetings" when things got slow, when departments had trouble communicating, or if he just felt a lack of energy in the room. He would ask his receptionist to alert everyone about a "Furniture Meeting" to occur in 15 minutes. It was understood within the company that when Phil (who was CEO at the time) called a Furniture Meeting, everyone needed to drop what they were doing, grab a piece of paper and pen, and gather in the center of the sales floor. Phil would then remove his shoes, climb up on a desk, and tell people what he felt was happening.
"It doesn't feel like we are having any fun today, so let's hear a joke."
"It feels like we are having problems getting paid from a small group of companies- who feels like making a few collection calls?"
"I want everyone here to recognize that they are just as important a part of this team as everyone else. With that in mind, it seems to me that accounting is having trouble getting reliable data from sales. Hey- Sales- any problem clearing that up in there next 10 minutes? No? GREAT!"
His people would not know the purpose or the tenor of the meeting, because he called them on am impromptu, irregular basis. He also would not tell anyone what the topic would be. He also did not let rumors fester or fly unchecked. "The energy at the end of these meetings was always better at the end than before I called it." Phil tells me. "It didn't solve every problem, but it sure got rid of ones that could have become great distractions, and for no good reason." Sounds like pretty good advice! Phil has sold internationally, and he has sold locally. He has followers and friends from the companies that he has run, because the guy is as positive, and forward-thinking as anyone I have ever met.
When I say in my book: "The Ultimate Sales Managers' Guide" that "Vision Precedes Everything", I was writing about Phil, and I didn't even know it. What kind of "Furniture Meeting" should you have immediately after reading this? If you are not in charge of people, but need their help to get things done, how can you shake up the stale mode of communication, and get people to release rumors, and embrace action? Things are tough. I know. Things are challenging. AMEN.
But things change, and in a few months, someone is going to be grabbing revenue that should have had your name on it, because you and your cohorts spent more time talking about current conditions than planning, visioning, and creating a powerful, magnetic future. Get to work! Get to the FUN! Get ready for the future as we end this selling year (but not the Selling Season!) with two choices: positive, or negative!
leading sales teams
About John Klymshyn
John Klymshyn has been labeled: “The Business Generator” by Sales and Marketing professionals across the US and Canada. His expertise in training and coaching Top Performing Professionals in Sales and Sales Management earns him invitations to speak at over 45 events annually. He has been hailed… more
The 6 Keys To Being Awesome At Everything
11 Simple Concepts To Become A Better Leader
The Selling Season
Sales Calls: What’s The Agenda?
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Is there any image that illustrates the comforts of babyhood better than a sleepy infant sucking his or her thumb? Ultrasound pictures have shown, to the joy of many prospective parents, that this behavior can even occur in the womb. The thumb- or finger-sucking habit seems to relax and comfort toddlers too, and it's perfectly natural. But as a child grows, there comes a point where this habit isn't just socially awkward — it may also be harmful to his or her oral health.
In most children, thumb sucking stops on its own between the ages of two and four years. But if the practice persists after the primary (baby) teeth have erupted, it can drastically change the growth patterns of the jaw, and cause significant misalignment of the teeth. It may be hard to believe that such a benign habit can actually move teeth and bone — but there are a number of reasons why this occurs.
Children's jaws, rich in blood supply and growing rapidly, are relatively soft and flexible — especially in kids under the age of 8. So it really isn't hard for the constant pressure of a thumb or finger to deform the soft bone around the upper and lower front teeth. Children who are particularly vigorous thumb suckers are even more likely to change the growth patterns of the teeth and jaws.
If the thumb sucking habit persists, it can result in the upper front teeth flaring out and the lower ones moving back and inward. It can also hold back the growth of the lower jaw, while causing the upper jaw to be thrust forward. This can result in misalignment of the teeth, an anterior open bite (where the front teeth fail to close together), collapse of the upper jaw causing crossbite, or other problems. That's why it is important to stop the behavior at an appropriate time, before damage occurs.
Controlling Thumb or Finger Sucking
Like many potentially harmful behavior patterns, thumb sucking can be a difficult habit to break. Through the years, parents have tried a variety of home remedies, such as having the child wear gloves, coating the digits with a bitter-tasting substance — and even reasoning with their toddlers. Sometimes it works — but in other cases, the allure of thumb sucking proves very difficult to control.
If your child has a thumb or finger sucking habit that has persisted past the age of 3, and you've been unable to tame it, then it may be time for you to visit the dental office for a consultation. A “habit appliance” such as a fixed palatal crib or a removable device may be recommended for your child. This crib isn't for sleeping — it's a small metal appliance worn inside the mouth, attached to the upper teeth.
How does it work? The semicircular wires of a palatal crib keep the thumb or finger from touching the gums behind the front teeth. Simply preventing this contact seems to take all the enjoyment away from the thumb sucking habit — and without that pleasurable feedback, a child has no reason to continue the behavior. In fact, the device is often successful the first day it's worn.
Getting and Using a Habit Appliance
If your child could benefit from a habit appliance, the first step is to get a thorough examination, which may include taking x-rays, photographs and dental impressions. If it's recommended, a crib will then be custom-fabricated to fit your child's mouth, and placed at a subsequent appointment. Afterwards, your child will be periodically monitored until the appliance is removed — typically, a period of months.
Although wearing the crib isn't painful, your child may experience some soreness in the upper back teeth for a few hours after it's first installed. He or she may also have a little trouble falling asleep for a day or two afterward. Plenty of extra attention and TLC are usually all that's needed to make everything all right. While the appliance is being worn, it's best to avoid chewing gum and eating hard, sticky food that might cause it to come loose.
A Word About Tongue Thrusting
Like thumb sucking, tongue thrusting is a normal behavioral pattern in young children. It's actually part of the natural infantile swallowing pattern, which will normally change on its own — by the age of six, in most children. If the pattern doesn't change, however, it can lead to problems similar to those caused by thumb sucking: namely, problems with tooth alignment and skeletal development. Fortunately, this problem can be successfully treated with a habit appliance that's very similar to a fixed palatal crib.
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Just space: the 60th anniversary of Omega Speedmaster watches
Speedmaster - an example of beauty and functionality with a history: the world's first watch that traveled to the moon with the expedition of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
For the first time the collection was released in 1957, but gained worldwide fame after 12 years. When NASA announced a competition for the testing watches for a flight into space, Omega was one of four companies that applied to participate. Watches have had to endure ten tests in completely different circumstances, and only with the successful completion of all the tests could become astronauts for hours.
"Even I was surprised that the watches passed tests designed for on-board equipment. This is the most extreme conditions, which you can think of for the devices. Mechanical watches in the rocket needed for the safety net: if you suddenly lost communication with Earth, digital chronometers will be destroyed, and the astronauts will lose earthly time ", - says Jim Reagan, a former NASA employee, who, after ten successful tests in 1965 found Chronograph Omega Speedmaster« suitable for all manned space missions. " In the same year, the first time watches were in the open space - from a naut spacecraft "Gemini-4" by Edward White. July 21, 1969 Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first in the history of the people who set foot on the lunar surface, and Omega Speedmaster were with them there.
The presence of female models, even in the space Speedmaster collection speaks volumes about the Omega manufacture. Since 1894 it one of the first in Switzerland has become massively produce women's watches. Watchmakers company "hid" in miniature dials jewelry bracelets, because in a society woman was indecent to show boredom and keep an eye on the clock.
Gender equality is maintained in each Omega collection to this day. Speedmaster have a strong male character and a great story, and watchmakers managed to embody all of these qualities in a restrained and elegant feminine design. The new models Speedmaster 38mm steel bracelet combined with sky-blue dial, diamond line adjacent to the tachymeter scale for measuring speed, and yellow gold - aluminum khaki. A new model of Omega designers named Cappuccino: steel and gold color of milk chocolate with oval chronograph counters and a leather strap to match. Most tender turned white version with a mother of pearl dial, powdery pink arrows and lines on the strap. You can wear such a watch with a white shirt, even with the dress, the main thing - with pride and understanding of their historical importance.
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Five Years of Encouragement!
In the year 2020, most people know what it means to “give a shout-out” to someone. But, and at the risk of stating the obvious, let’s consider some of the meanings that a simple Google search will turn up:
Oxford Dictionary: “a message of congratulation, support, or appreciation.”
Merriam-Webster: “a public expression of greeting, praise, or acknowledgment directed toward a person or group often as part of a performance, recording, or broadcast.”
urbandictionary.com: “a public expression of thanks or gratitude.”
So with these meanings in mind, let’s define “giving a shout-out” as “publicly expressing appreciation for someone because of some good they have done.”
In 2015 the president of HealthKeeperz, Tim Brooks, made a visit to each Healthkeeperz office to introduce a new organizational culture initiative that he called “The Barnabas Culture.” The Barnabas Culture was the name given to what was described as a culture of encouragement that Tim desired to see fostered within HealthKeeperz. At that time, The Barnabas Culture goal was articulated as HealthKeeperz wanting “to be an organization filled with people who are caring, selfless, humble and encouraging.”
Those four characteristics were taken from what we know about a man named Joseph, whose nickname was Barnabas, in the New Testament book of Acts. Luke, the writer of Acts also known for his Gospel, refers to Joseph by his given name only once at his introduction. After that, he refers to him by his nickname, Barnabas, each time he appears in the narrative. And that was 23 times after his introduction!
This significance here lies in the meaning of the name, Barnabas. Luke records the following in Acts 4:46:
“Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement)…”
You see, Joseph was so well-known for his character, as opposed to his given name, that his character became his identity! From other scriptures, it appears that Joseph’s conversion and faith in Jesus had a profound effect on his life, such that who he once was became overshadowed by who he became through his faith in Christ. Thus, it constituted a complete name change—not just any name, but one that is fitting of the characteristic, which is now the impulse of every action and sweetness of every word. What a great name to behold, and become through Christ a son of encouragement.
If I am recalling correctly, it was the desire of HealthKeeperz’s leadership that the company would no longer be as it had been. Something of eternal value and importance had gripped their hearts, and they believed that it changed everything. Indeed, God was orchestrating a culture shift, where the primary goal would be to have a workplace culture of encouragement that cares for all people for the glory of God.
Now, what does a history of the Barnabas Culture at HealthKeeperz and the concept of “shout-outs” have to do with each other?
For five years, starting back in February of 2015, each quarter, all HealthKeeperz employees have been encouraged to nominate a coworker for the quarterly Barnabas Award. The nominations are based on our company’s core values, which are:
Be Compassionate
Purse Excellence
Take Ownership
Put Family First
The idea is that when you see a coworker living out our core values, we should nominate them for being a Barnabas. In the spring of each year, HealthKeeperz hosts the Barnabas Award Banquet. At the banquet, we celebrate our culture of encouragement through being together and sharing in a meal, to see one of the four quarterly award-winners chosen as what we endearingly call the “Super Barnabas.” This event has been our way of giving a shout-out to our coworkers for a job well done and a life example worth following.
So to my coworkers at HealthKeeperz, here’s a shout-out to all of you. With God’s help, may we continue to make HealthKeeperz a place of encouragement for those who work here and a source of compassionate care for the many lives touched by us all!
Happy fifth anniversary to the Barnabas Culture!
JULIA LOCKLEAR
Thank U Chaplin Chavis yes I think we have some good employees and I tried to live up to the cultural of healthkeeperz
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Khalsa College Charitable Society claims pre-eminence not only for its glorious past, but also because of its visionary outlook towards the future. It finds inspiration in the lofty ideals of the Great Gurus who have always advocated a progressive attitude of mind, giving up all that is dogmatic, according due value to intelligence and logic. The college was visualized as a place of learning that would strive towards ever higher degrees of excellence in development of the mind and spirit. Khalsa College Charitable Society prides itself on associating with and nurturing highly intelligent, inspired and hardworking personalities. Progress is our watchword and academic achievement our measure of success. The eminence of its teaching faculty and fascination of its well-stocked library, high tech laboratories, extensive playing-fields and recently renovated hostels are its main attractions. A sense of grandeur and beauty pervades the campus. Right from the very beginning, highly intelligent, inspired and hard-working personalities have remained associated with it. The eminence of its teaching faculty and fascination of its well-stocked library, well-equipped laboratories, well maintained play grounds and hostels have been its main attractions. A sense of greatness and beauty pervades the corridors of its campus. The aim of growing up into a University continues to inspire us.
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Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology > News > Freight and Logistics Industry to Realign with Best Trade Practices
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Freight and Logistics Industry to Realign with Best Trade Practices
Posted on September 14, 2018 by Corporate Communications Office
Chief guest Mr. Mathenge (4th from left) is joined by other guests to cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the summit.
The freight and logistics industry in Kenya is at a critical point as it bids to realign itself to the realities of the 21st Century trade habits and best practices in a globally competitive business environment. Further, continual improvement on the country’s infrastructure in transport, ports of entry and telecommunications, as well as new frameworks in terms of government policy and regulation has direct impact on how the logistics sector is shaping.
This new dawn requires all players to adjust accordingly if they are to remain relevant and competitive, as the government focuses on the delivery and implementation of the Big 4 Agenda.
This observation was made by stakeholders attending a two-day Freight Forwarding and Logistics Business Summit (FFLBS) organized by the Kenya International Freight and Ware-house Association (KIFWA) at a Nairobi Hotel, Thursday, September 13, 2018.
The Executive Director of Federation of East Africa Freight Forwarders Association (FEAFFA), Mr. John Mathenge, who presided over the official opening of the summit, underscored the importance of the logistics sector to the country’s economy, noting that the success of the country is a factor of convergent efforts from all stakeholders.
“Trade,” Mr. Mathenge observed, “is globalizing and in order to survive, we have to delve in the various emerging issues in the sector.”
Guests visit one of the exhibition stands
Regarding change management, he urged stakeholders “to embrace change and work around it to ensure a positive impact on Kenya’s economic development.”
The FFLBS 2018 is the first of its kind in the region bringing together government, international and domestic participants from logistics, warehousing, transport and fleet management and insurance companies to build networks, exploit opportunities and strengthen their market position.
In her remarks, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Victoria Wambui Ngumi, who was represented by the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Administration, Prof. Bernard Ikua, said, JKUAT’s mandate is to train competent human resource for the industry as well as conducting research to address various challenges.
“JKUAT cannot make progress without working closely with the industry players. JKUAT is a member of Linking Industry with Academia (LIWA) partnership where the institution is focused on developing innovative systems approach to address efficiencies in all sectors including logistics,” said the Vice Chancellor.
Prof. Ikua makes his remarks
Prof. Ikua, who was accompanied by Dr. Karanja Kabare and Dr. Alice Simiyu, both from the College of Human Resource Development, emphasized the place of partnerships and singled out the existing MoU with KIFWA signed in 2018, where JKUAT is mandated to conduct research to address the some of the challenges facing the logistics sector.
He informed the summit that JKUAT recognized the need for training in logistics over 10 years ago, when it established the School of Entrepreneurship and Procurement that currently has students who include industry practitioners undertaking courses in areas such as procurement, shipping and freight forwarding, transport and logistics. “The partnership with KIFWA is very important as we engage in activities and initiatives aimed at supporting the implementation of all the pillars of the Big 4 Agenda, Prof. Ikua concluded.
KIFWA National Chairman Mr. William Ojonyo said KIFWA had organized the forum in order for the stakeholders to engage and propose sustainable solutions aimed at achieving efficiency in the industry and driving the country’s economic progress. He isolated various challenges clearing and forwarding agents and importers are facing in cargo clearance at the port and the Internal Container Depot Nairobi (ICDN).
The participants contended that while the SGR infrastructure is revolutionary in terms of ease of transporting cargo and from Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond, there have been serious challenges to the uptake of the infrastructure due to a number of challenges, key among them; the disconnect between stakeholders in decision making and implementation of policy decisions.
Mr. Ojonyo (right) introduces the invited guests
Mr. Ojonjo gave an example of one such decision taken by government whereby cargo is put on SGR from Mombasa port to ICDN for clearance, whose effect has been largely negative to the trade with “KIFWA stating that road transport players have lost at least 60% of the cargo that was moved through the 500 kilometre-distance.”
Mr. Robert Ileve of Kenya Revenue Authority (Customs) revealed the “strategy turnaround in KRA’s approach from enforcement-based to compliance-based” in their operations, noting KRA was keen on managing compliance as a model for doing business as a way of embracing the changing realities and dynamics.
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) representative Ms. Triza Baraza observed that “Cargo traffic handled at the port of Mombasa has increased from about 22 million tons in 2013 to an estimated 30 million in 2017 and may reach over 50 million by the year 2030. She said, these development calls for increased efficiency in cargo handling, clearing and forwarding in order for us as a country to keep up with the rising demand and also improve the turn-around time at the Port.”
During panel discussion, Apostle John M. Waweru, Managing Director, Global Business Commanders called for the need for “all government agencies to develop a working protocol that is in agreement with international trade standards and each of them need to take one duty which should not be duplicated by the other agencies, a fact that has previously made clearance of goods costly and time consuming.
The summit was convened against a backdrop of campaigns to have importers freely choose rail transport which has been met with its share of logistics challenges, which the players claim, has pushed up the cost of importation and clearance.
The summit will come up with a stakeholders’ strategy position document including recommendations that will be shared with Government to inform policy interventions aimed at addressing and streamlining the freight and logistics industry challenges.
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Mari Mäntylä
Decacorde
Concerts and performances
Duo Dryades
Dominus Krabbe
Photo: Heikki Tuuli
Ranked among the vanguard of the Finnish contemporary guitarists, Mari Mäntylä specialises in a rare type of classical guitar, namely the 10-string guitar or decacorde. She performs regularly both as a soloist and a chamber musician in different places in the world and she is engaged in collaboration with a number of composers from both Finland and abroad. Composers, among others, Jukka Tiensuu, Pekka Jalkanen, Juha T Koskinen, Olli Virtaperko, Heikki Valpola, Harri Wessman, Juan Antonio Muro, Eero Hämeenniemi, Sid Hille, Nikita Koshkin, Anastasia Salo, Graham Lynch, Vincent Bouchot and Tõnu Kõrvits. Mäntylä has given several premiere performances of new music composed for the decacorde and thus she has significantly contributed in making this instrument better known to the public.
Her basic repertoire is drawn from different periods of classical art music, but she is a diverse musician, adapting easily to different music styles. Her work with Finnish folk musicians and her role as the guitarist in a band, specialized in Portuguese fado music are examples of this versatility.
Mäntylä plays chamber music in a range of groups. Duo Dryades, a bandoneón-decacorde duo, formed together with the bandoneonist Kristina Kuusisto in 2002, performs actively at concerts in Finland and abroad. The duo has released three albums. All albums have received enthusiastic reviews in the press. Speira CD was selected a classical music Emma Award nominee (a prize issued by the Finnish recording industry for the most distinguished artists and productions of the year). Duo Dryades has also performed with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra in the concert where Pekka Jalkanen’s double concerto Aeterna, dedicated for this duo, was given its world premiere.
One of Mäntylä’s music productions is monologue opera Dominus Krabbe, composed by Pekka Jalkanen, performed together with countertenor Teppo Lampela. The premiere of the Opera was given in the Helsinki Festival 2012 and after that it has been performed several times in different places in Finland.
The first solo album of Mari Mäntylä, Decacorde (2008 Alba) received an excellent response in the music press both in Finland and abroad.
She is an excellent technician—but more than that, she is an excellent musician. Fanfare Magazine
— it is the Bach suite where Mäntylä really shines. The presentation on this disc is an authoritative and highly musical one. She splendidly captures the characteristics of each movement well and easily meets the technical demands of this challenging music. This is a performance which ranks alongside the best of them. Recording quality and overall production is excellent and I can thoroughly recommend this disc to add to anyone’s CD library. Classical Guitar Magazine
The elaborate playing of Mari Mäntylä is sensitive and temperamental. Suomen Kuvalehti Magazine
With her ultimate pianissimos, Mäntylä provides a breathtaking profundity to the melancholy spirit of John Dowland, as well as to the Allemande and Sarabande movements of Bach’s suite for the lute; in their subtlety, Mäntylä hides almost frightening strength. Rondo Classic Magazine
She has appeared in several recordings and performed on the radio and television in Finland, Russia, France And Lithuania. Mari Mäntylä is the guitar and chamber music teacher of the Kuhmo Music School. She was also the artistic director of the Tirando Guitar Festival, organised in 2002 and 2003.
Mäntylä studied the guitar at Tampere Conservatory with Jorma Salmela, in the department of solo studies at the Sibelius Academy with Jukka Savijoki, in Oscar Ghiglia’s concert class at the Basel Music Academy in Switzerland and at Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where she was granted a Diploma di Merito (an honorary diploma), in 1991. She took her soloist diploma at the Sibelius Academy in 1995 and Konzertreife diploma at the Basel Music Academy in 1997. She gained her Master of Music degree in 1998.
Mari Mäntylä’s decacorde is built by Kauko Liikanen (Liikanen Guitars)
Copyright © 2021 Mari Mäntylä.
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IMG_4740 R-L Neil O’Brien, chairman of Amber Green Energy with his wife Elaine with Dwyer O’Neill, CeO and his wife Judith from Co Armagh
MGMPR Ltd was appointed to do the PR for the Tour of Ulster 2015 cycling race which took place over the May Bank Holiday Weekend.
The event attracted almost 150 elite cyclists from across the globe. In spite of the heavy rain and strong winds calling off the race on the second day – the event was a huge success and gained fantastic coverage in advance of the race, during the event and after the event.
Due to the adverse weather conditions, our team were totally on top of the story all weekend for our colleagues in the media so journalists could report the most up-to-date and relevant information. As soon as anything happened – journalists knew about it!
Denise Watson, a sports journalist for UTV, U105 and the News Letter, very kindly shared these kind words with us.
“My first contact with Eleanor McGillie was for the Tour of Ulster cycle race in 2015. She took over the PR of the event this year and it was very useful as a Sports Journalist to have someone to call and email regarding times and stage results.
“In the past, for TV and radio bulletins, I was scrambling around websites and social media hoping that the information was correct as it’s vital that my scripts are accurate. From the start of this year’s event, I had Eleanor and her team to call upon when I had a question.
“She was courteous and nothing was too much trouble. But the most impressive element for me was how she understood my job as a journalist. I have encountered PR companies who are driven by their agenda. Eleanor patiently asked me what my needs were and understood how vital it was for me to get up to date and accurate information.
“I believe it’s because she is a trained and experienced journalist herself. I look forward to working with her on future events.” Denise Watson, UTV /U105/News Letter Sports Journalist.
If you would like to discuss PR opportunities with MGMPR Ltd call our offices in Caledon, Co Tyrone on 028 3756 9569. We would be delighted to hear from you.
MGMPR Ltd praised by Sports Journalist for Tour of Ulster 2015 PR coverage
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Esperanza Hope To Cope: Michelle Williams: Changing Her Destiny
by Stephanie Stephens
Former Destiny’s Child star Michelle Williams decided to choose happiness after her depression diagnosis, resolving old hurts and learning new skills in therapy.
If she ever felt like destiny’s darling, Michelle Williams doesn’t sound so sure in her heartfelt song “Need Your Help.”
“Standing in the middle and I don’t know which way to go/ I’m looking at my life seeing that I’m at a crossroad,” she sings on the soul-baring track from her 2014 gospel album Journey to Freedom.
Williams, who came to fame as part of the hugely popular R&B trio Destiny’s Child, has seen solo success on the gospel, dance club and R&B charts—and as an actress in splashy Broadway musicals. Journey to Freedom, her fourth album, is a personal favorite: “I think it has said everything I wanted to say through my music,” Williams reflects.
The highly personal lyrics reveal that Williams has sometimes felt lost, unsure of which direction to take. She’s just as open talking about the depression she’s experienced since her teens.
An in-demand inspirational speaker, Williams was a headliner at Mental Health America’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. in June. Her experiences with undiagnosed depression and her more recent treatment and recovery fostered a desire to motivate others facing similar challenges.
“I want to encourage those who are probably wondering if something is wrong,” she told esperanza, adding that her talk was also an opportunity of “giving love to all the mental health professionals who deal with us on a daily basis.”
But I’m tired of having those dark moments, so … I try not to let anything zap my peace and joy.”
Williams, 37, remembers depressive symptoms like sadness and alienation as early as 7th or 8th grade. She was only diagnosed in 2013, after an especially difficult bout the previous year. Although some days are easier than others, she’s made a commitment to conquer negativity and choose happiness.
“Sometimes it’s still a hard decision to make,” she says. “But I’m tired of having those dark moments, so literally I have to make a conscious choice. I have to have boundaries for myself and as far as it’s in my control, I try not to let anything zap my peace and joy.”
Beyoncé & beyond
When Williams joined up with Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé Knowles in 2000, she became part of “the best-selling female group of all time.” She remained in Destiny’s Child until the group disbanded in 2006, after releasing their album Destiny Fulfilled and completing a final world tour.
The three women still grace each other’s recordings and sometimes perform together—including at Beyoncé’s half-time show for Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
Williams patiently answers the inevitable question about whether Destiny’s Child will reunite: No, there’s no such news on the horizon. And please quash any rumors that they didn’t get along or don’t get along now, she adds. That’s just not true.
“We never had an argument,” she says. “We had respect for one another. I believe that’s why, to this day, we can still go out and have fun and be together at certain events or just go to dinner.”
Well, maybe they did argue now and then, she concedes, the way anyone would when they spend a lot of time together. That’s where respecting boundaries comes in.
“For example, I learned that if you know I’m not a morning person, don’t mess with me in the morning,” she notes. “Little things like that matter.”
Williams’ career certainly hasn’t languished post-Destiny’s Child. Even before the trio went separate ways, Williams had released her first solo album (Heart to Yours went on to top Billboard’s gospel chart) and starred in the Elton John-Tim Rice musical Aida on Broadway.
More recently, Williams played slinky felon Roxie Hart in productions of Chicago on Broadway and London’s West End. She’s also been on the U.S. tours of Chicago, The Color Purple (as Shug Avery) and Fela!
On television, she’s been a music reality show judge, cut a rug in a British dance contest, mentored up-and-coming choirs, and been a guest co-host on both The View and The Real. In April 2015, she performed for Michelle and Barak Obama in a gospel concert at the White House.
“Maybe next year, I would love to do more theater on or off-Broadway,” she says. “I love musical theater because I can sing and dance, but my other desire is to do a play without music, and to originate a role.”
Opening up to therapy
Williams is rooted in gospel music not only as a genre, but as an expression of her deep Christian faith. After revealing her inner confusion in “Need Your Help,” she continues: “Calm my mind and ease my heart/ Lord, it’s only your word that keeps me going.”
That’s partly what she relies on when depression tries to get the better of her. She trusts in the power of prayer—“I do believe in miracles,” she says—but also acknowledges that sometimes the secular world needs to step up, too.
“I know that when someone has an [emotional] issue, another person might say, ‘Oh, just pray about it.’ Or somebody might say, ‘If you weren’t in that relationship, you wouldn’t be sad.’ But if you feel that what you’re doing—to the best of your ability—is not working, you should seek help, especially if your sadness lasts longer than a week or two.”
She’s careful to differentiate between being sad because of a painful life event, such as losing your job or the death of a family member, and clinical depression. She’s also well aware of the way that daily frustrations can balloon for those with a depressive mindset, something she has to watch for in herself.
“Things are going to happen, I’ll have disappointments—maybe somebody did something behind my back—but how I choose to respond is my issue. I don’t want to let it get me down for two weeks.”
That’s when she turns to skills she learned in therapy. Prayer helps, supportive friends help, but “therapists can help you try to change any behavior that is going to prolong or make your depression worse,” she says.
In a 2012 interview with the Christian Post, Williams referred to emotional wounds from girlhood that “I carried … into my adulthood.” It wasn’t until she dealt with long-buried issues in therapy that she was able to start healing from those invisible injuries.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, African-Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. Only a quarter seek mental health care, however, compared to 40 percent of Americans of European descent.
Williams hopes that one day the black community will view mental health problems on par with conditions like diabetes. At the same time, she remembers her initial aversion to the idea of psychotherapy: “I used to think it was for really crazy people,” she admits.
Then she went for her first appointment and saw a man in a suit walking out of his session.
“I thought, ‘He could be a powerful executive somewhere.’ There were people who looked like me [in that office],” she says.
Healthy influences
Williams was raised in a family rich in doctors and nurses, but she doesn’t remember mental health ever being a topic of discussion. As a teenager, she interpreted the way she felt and behaved as nothing more than “growing pains.”
“I’d come home from school, do as much homework as I could and go to bed—and if I didn’t have to be at church, I’d literally stay in my room,” she recalls.
Old habits die hard, but nowadays she retreats for rejuvenation rather than isolation.
“I just love chillin’ out in my room,” says Williams, who lives in the Chicago area.
Her upbringing around medical professionals did instill an awareness of how to take care of her whole self, however, especially after her father suffered a stroke in his 40s.
“If you feel that what you’re doing—to the best of your ability—is not working, you should seek help.”
“We saw a lot of things change for the better with what we ate,” she explains.
She says she’s trying to be more “organic” in her self-management, which includes working out three days a week. Her fitness has always been a stable anchor for her moods. She enlisted an accountability partner to help her stay on target.
“If I don’t work out, I pay my best friend $25 every time I don’t when I’m supposed to,” she says.
She also has a life coach, and sees her therapist once a month for “maintenance.”
When she has “me time” to do what she wants, with no pressure, she loves to garden and do landscaping around her house.
‘I believe in me’
Faith in herself is also important to Williams. She named her bedding and home décor collection Believe at Home. When the line launched, she told Essence magazine: “I want people to affirm themselves before they go to bed. ‘What did I believe today, am I one step closer to the things that I said that I wanted to do?’ ”
The name of the collection is a reference to her ballad “Believe in Me,” another very personal song off Journey to Freedom. The song’s lyrics touch on the disconnect between her celebrity and her self-image—“They see beauty/ I see everything wrong”—and how she can lose her way in other people’s expectations.
But she ends with uplifting determination: “Get back to the place that I left long ago/ Where no one could tell me what’s impossible/ ‘Cause I believe in me again.”
It’s a message to cultivate that inner self-embrace that’s so critical to staying the course with depression, whether you’re famous or not.
“I believe I’ve got it going on,” says Williams. “I think I’m doing pretty well with my career. But that has nothing to do with my heart, head, mind and soul. If that isn’t together, it doesn’t matter if you see somebody on TV or on Forbes’ list of billionaires.
“I may be in the public eye, but I’m the same as you. I will hold your hand, because we are all on the same journey. Don’t compare yourself to others. Everybody is fighting something.”
Michelle Williams on:
STIGMA & SEEKING HELP: “Nothing is wrong if you go get help. You’re not less of a man or you’re still a good mother or a good human. If you think you can’t afford it, do your research if you have health insurance, and don’t forget community health centers.”
PREVENTIVE ACTION: “I believe it’s OK to have a time to be sad and mourn a loss, like with a relationship or whatever, but don’t let it get so you can’t function and you have no productivity.”
FINDING WHAT WORKS: “I am all for whatever your therapeutic choice is, if it’s [medication or] meditation or yoga or otherwise. For me right now, I’m really paying attention to my surroundings and not trying to be Superwoman.”
RECRUITING ALLIES: “If you’re going through depression, get an accountability partner who will say to you, ‘If I haven’t heard from you in more than two days, I’m going to be in touch.’ ” (That might be someone who joins you in a specific activity, like walking every day, or more free-form emotional support. Williams has a long-distance confederate who tells her, “I’ll fly to Chicago if I have to.”)
Printed as “Michelle Williams: Changing Her Destiny”, Summer 2017
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What a Game! — Henry Killough
Games have been an important part of human history. From ancient times to our times, games have evolved to reflect the values, culture and lives of the people who created and played games. For me, games have been a way to learn, explore and create things in a way I was not able to with other forms of media. Because of this, I decided to ask other students about the games that have been impactful on their lives as a way of encouraging others to engage with this media.
Senior Henry Killough.
Photo by Anton Zemba.
Walking into the Gaming House basement, you are greeted by computers, consoles and tables spread out across the room. If you come on a Friday at 7 p.m., you can see tables with people sitting on their laptops, communicating across the room while intently playing a game called “League of Legends.” This is also where you will likely find senior Henry Killough, working on improving their skills in the game with others who are as driven as they are.
Killough is a computer science major. “I am not attached to my major,” they said. “I am here to try a lot of different things so I do not feel as though that defines me very well.” They also are the president of Lawrence University Gaming Club and are a bass singer and board member for the Appletones a capella group.
Even though Killough plays “League of Legends” now, it has not always been to the same capacity as they do now. There was a game that helped frame their mind when it came to understanding how to play multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBAs) called “Atlas Reactor.” It was a free-to-play turn-based strategy game released in 2016 by game developer Trion Worlds. “It’s a four versus four game where everyone has 30 seconds to plan their turn and then they all happen simultaneously,” Killough said. “Even though the game is turn-based, the game feels hectic and fast paced.”
One of the key things Killough took from this game was its cooperative nature. You have to keep multiple things in mind when playing this game. “Everyone’s turn happens at once but movement happens first,” they said. “You have to keep in mind how long it will be before you and others can move again and keep track of what different players are focusing or not focusing on.”
Another thing that “Atlas Reactor” helped Killough with was character selections. “When playing ‘Atlas Reactor,’ it is a lot more distilled information compared to a game like ‘League of Legends,’” they said. “You were better able to select a character and play style than in ‘League of Legends’ because there was less to choose from, which helped me figure out the style and kind of gameplay I enjoy the most.” They continued, “Because of ‘Atlas Reactor,’ I feel like I have been able to make better choices regarding who I want to practice and be good at based on what I know of game design elements.” This process is very important in many games, although they said that not everyone goes through it, they have found it really helped them in the experience of gaming.
Killough reminisced on “Atlas Reactor.” “I was one of the best players in the game,” they remarked. “For many other games, it can be daunting to even get close to those sorts of rankings. I would cue up against the team that would consistently win the major tournaments for this game and I would beat them.” This was not to gloat but to say this game gave them huge motivation to perform better in other games. They said, “I had never been that close to the best at anything gaming wise before and it kind of made me feel like I could do it.”
Killough really enjoyed their time with ‘Atlas Reactor,’ but the servers for the game shut down on June 28, 2019, making it unplayable. This was when Killough turned to a game that they had played before “Atlas Reactor,” the MOBA “League of Legends.” “When I came back, I was more able to play toward the things that I could enjoy and I believe it has helped me have more fun in gaming,” they said. “I don’t know where I would be in gaming if it weren’t for this silly little dead game ‘Atlas Reactor.’”
Killough will continue to work towards their goal of being No. 1 in “League of Legends,” both while they are here at Lawrence and beyond.
Reily McGee
Tags anton zemba, features, jack mcgee
Subculture on Main: “This is not who we are”
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Human Trafficking Prevention Month
Reily McGee - October 20, 2019
Games have been an important part of human history. From ancient times to our times, games have evolved to reflect the values, culture and lives of the people who created and played games. For me, games have been a way to learn, explore and create things in a way I was not able to with…
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Tid-bits from New Zealand: an election, a referendum, and a multi-party government policy programme
[This post first appeared on the UK Constitutional Law Group's Blog]
The new parliamentary year kicked off in New Zealand this week, following an election held late last year in the shadow of the Rugby World Cup.
A National-led, multi-party government was returned to power, with John Key continuing as Prime Minister. The National party won a record share of the party vote (47.3%, which translates into 59 MPs of the 121 MPs in Parliament). However, the coalition government’s overall majority in Parliament fell slightly as support for the minor parties in the coalition dropped (64 government MPs vs 57 opposition MPs, down from 69 vs 53 MPs following the last election).
After the election and the formation of government, there was little time for parliamentary business before the summer holiday. MPs return to serious business this week, under slightly revised Standing Orders (most notably, with new provisions regulating urgency and extended sitting hours, following growing concerns about the increasing amount of law-making being fast-tracked; see Geiringer et al, What's the Hurry? (2011)).
Three matters from the election and new term of government are of some constitutional interest:
- the voting system referendum and subsequent review;
- the multi-party coalition/governance arrangements and collective responsibility;
- particular policy commitments (constitutional review, regulatory standards, part-privatisation of State-Owned Enterprises).
Each of these matters has an on-going constitutional dimension, which will be played out in this 50th term of New Zealand’s Parliament.
Voting System Referendum and Review
As well as choosing their government, voters were also given the opportunity on election day to express their views on the current voting system.
The referendum process was a mirror image of the original referendum process adopted in 1992-1993 when New Zealand changed from the First Past the Post system (FPP) to the Mixed Member Proportional system (MMP).
Voters were presented with two questions:
A: Should New Zealand keep the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system?
B: If New Zealand were to change to another voting system, which voting system would you choose?
First Past the Post (FPP) / Preferential Voting (PV) / Single Transferable Vote (STV) / Supplementary Member (SM)
Like the original referendum, if there was a mood for change in the first part of the referendum, then the status quo would be run-off against the most popular alternative system in a subsequent binding referendum.
On election day, voters overwhelmingly endorsed MMP in first part of the referendum, securing 57.8% of valid votes -- up from 53.9% in the 1993 referendum which originally saw MMP adopted. A significant endorsement for proportional representation.
In the second part, the old FPP voting system was the most supported alternative (46.7% of valid votes), with nearly double the support of the SM system endorsed by the Prime Minister and the main lobby group promoting change (24.1%). But, still, more people spoilt their vote in the second part of the referendum than supported FPP.
MMP’s victory in the first part of the referendum obviates the need for a subsequent binding referendum. However, the victory automatically triggered a review of aspects of the MMP voting system. A public consultative review must now be undertaken by the Electoral Commission, with a report due in October 2012 (see Electoral Commission review process).
The terms of reference include:
- the thresholds for a proportionate share of the party votes (presently 5% of the party vote or one electorate seat),
- the ratio of electorate seats to list seats,
- dual candidacy in an electorate and on a party list, and
- the ranking of party lists.
The number of MPs in Parliament and seats reserved for Māori are specifically excluded from review.
The Electoral Commission is set to release its discussion paper this month, with a couple of issues expected to be at the forefront. The thresholds for entitlement to party list seats (particularly the one electorate seat rule which sees an MP bring in other list MPs on their coat-tails even though their party fails to meet the otherwise applicable 5% threshold) have been subject to a lot of criticism from both the public and experts. There is also significant public disquiet about so-called “zombie” MPs – those MPs rejected in electorate seats but who return to Parliament via the party list. This will provide some impetus to change the rules presently allowing dual candidacy, although the views of experts on such a change are more equivocal. (For some literature assessing the operation of MMP and multi-party government in New Zealand, see (2009) 7(1) NZJPIL (Special Issue: MMP and the Constitution) and (2011) 63(1) Political Science (Special Issue: Coalitions).)
The Electoral Referendum Act 2010 does not address any change process following the report of the Electoral Commission, with any decision about what to do with the recommendations being left for Parliament. The recommendations and process which follows will be watched with great interest, particularly whether any changes to MMP will be taken back to the people for endorsement.
Governance Arrangements and Collective Responsibility
As mentioned, a National-led government was formed soon after the election, with support from the single MP United Future and ACT parties, along with the three-member Maori party.
The coalition – or, rather, “confidence and supply” – arrangements took the same form as those adopted by recent administrations. In return for a commitment to support the government on confidence and supply, support parties negotiated ministerial positions (outside Cabinet) and a number of policy concessions (see the separate but largely similar agreements agreed with United Future, ACT and Maori parties). Otherwise, the principal focus of the agreements is operational and relationship arrangements.
From a constitutional perspective, the most notable aspect of the governance arrangements is the approach to the tricky “unity-distinctiveness” conundrum that underlies coalition politics (see Boston and Bullock, “Experiments in Executive Government under MMP in New Zealand” (2009) 7 NZJPIL 1). In particular, collective Cabinet responsibility has been deliberately eroded under MMP to allow greater ability for support parties to express disagreement with governmental policies and decisions.
Loose – and progressively looser – solidarity rules have been adopted in governance arrangements to ensure support parties can distance themselves from some decisions of government so that they can maintain their distinctiveness (see LAWS179: “The (r)evolution of collective responsibility”).
The first departure saw the inclusion of “agree to disagree” provisions, where a support party could seek permission not to support a particular governmental policy.
Subsequently, a form of “selective collective responsibility” has been adopted, where collective responsibility only applies to ministers from support parties in relation to matters within their ministerial portfolios. Outside their portfolio responsibilities, they are entitled to wear their party – rather than ministerial – hat and may refuse to support decisions made by Cabinet (except, of course, on matters of confidence and supply, which they must still support in parliamentary votes). This circumscribed form of collective responsibility – for ministers from support parties, restricted to portfolio responsibilities – is now seen as routine and is recorded in confidence and supply agreements, along with the Cabinet Manual (see Cabinet Manual, cls 5.22-5.28).
But the practice appears to be still evolving further. There have been some instances in the last term of government where ministers from support parties expressed disagreement in relation to decisions made within their portfolio responsibilities – with such dissent being condoned by the Prime Minister. This hints at further loosening of cabinet collective responsibility. However, any evolution has not yet been reflected in the Cabinet Manual (which lags behind practice, like a dictionary: see Kitteridge, “The Cabinet Manual : Evolution with Time”) or the newly agreed confidence and supply agreements, which merely restate the principle of selective collective responsibility within portfolio responsibilities.
Prime Minister John Key generally adopts a relaxed attitude to dissent within his government, no doubt reflective of the fact that his coalition brings together minor parties with very different ideological leanings. It will be interesting to see whether this further modified approach is fortified under the present government’s tenure.
(As an aside, the loosening of the demands of collective responsibility has led some to again question whether collective Cabinet responsibility continues to have any constitutional character: see Joseph, Constitutional and Administrative Law in New Zealand (2007), p 750 (“it is a rule of pragmatic politics, not a constitutional convention”) and Geddis, “Decisions, dissent and the myths of collective cabinet responsibility”.)
Particular Policy Commitments (Constitutional Review, Regulatory Reform and Part-Privatisation of SOEs)
Three particular policy commitments within the confidence and supply agreements have some constitutional interest.
First, the commitment to a wide-ranging review of Constitutional Arrangements has been renewed in the confidence and supply agreement with the Maori Party. Originally included in last term’s agreement, a review was belatedly instigated last year under the co-chairship of Emeritus Professor John Burrows QC and Sir Tipene O’Regan (see Department of Justice, “Consideration of Constitutional Issues”). While little progress was made before the election, the Review’s mandate is confirmed and a reporting date of September 2013 has now been set.
The Review’s terms of reference are wide. Various electoral and parliamentary matters are slated for review (size of Parliament, parliamentary term - including the possibility of fixed terms, number and size electorates, and party-switching consequences for MPs). A number of contentious issues relating to the Crown-Māori relationship are included (such as Māori representation in Parliament and local government, and the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements). These agenda items reflect key policy differences between the governing National party and supporting Maori party and the genesis of the review process – depending on one’s perspective, either to genuinely explore some compromise or to remove these issues from the political crucible. The Bill of Rights is also targeted for appraisal (particular entrenchment and the possibility of including property rights), as is the perennial question of a written constitution.
Rather oddly, the terms of reference avoid issues relating to the Head of State and republicanism (especially as officials in New Zealand’s Cabinet Office are coordinating the multi-realm efforts to amend the line of succession). This apparently stems from a governmental concern that republican issues might distract people from more important constitutional issues. However, the government has acknowledged the republican question might still find its way into the Review, if there is a public appetite for discussion.
Earlier grand attempts to review constitutional arrangements petered out, partly due to a lack of cross-party support. Again it will be interesting to see if this review gathers greater momentum.
Secondly, the confidence and supply agreement with the ACT party breathes life into the Regulatory Standards Bill, albeit in a much diluted form. Earlier efforts by the ACT party in the last two terms of Parliament to advance a Bill insisting that new laws conform to “principles of responsible regulation” were widely condemned – including by Treasury, as the department responsible for such reform – and ultimately stalled (see Ekins, “Regulatory responsibility in New Zealand”.)
The ACT and National parties have agreed, however, to revise the Bill for enactment within the next 12 months. This Mark III version is to be based on the Treasury’s preferred alternative for regulatory reform (Option 5): strengthening Parliament’s own legislative quality and impact assessment processes. This shift in focus is welcomed, especially because the original Bill would have fundamentally reconfigured key constitutional relationships and placed the courts in an awkward position of adjudicating on the quality or merits of legislation.
But much work is still to be done to settle the suite of principles against which legislative quality is to be assessed (for example, the present suite is labelled by Ekins as “heterodox”). It seems strange to attempt to reinvent the wheel by generating controversial and loaded principles of regulation, when New Zealand has for many years had an excellent – more detailed, nuanced and respected – bible on legislative quality in the Legislative Advisory Committee’s Guidelines on the Process and Content of Legislation.
Thirdly, one of the central planks of the National party’s electoral platform was the part-privatisation of some State-Owned Enterprises. The National party negotiated on-going support from the ACT and United Future parties (but not the Maori party, which recorded its specific opposition) for the extension of a mixed-ownership model to three state utility companies and the government-owned coal mining company; that is, sale of 49% of the shares in these companies to the public, with retention of a 51% majority shareholding by the government.
Those plans took an interesting turn last week when it was revealed that the government was considering not carrying over the present Treaty of Waitangi clause into the new legal regime governing mixed-ownership.
The existing clause in the State-Owned Enterprises Act prevents the Crown from acting inconsistently with its obligations to Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi (and is supported by other provisions ensuring SOE land is preserved for return as part of the settlement of Treaty grievances). The incorporation of this Treaty obligation was a catalyst for the development of much of New Zealand’s modern Treaty jurisprudence and the rise in the Treaty’s constitutional gravitas (see Cooke, “The Challenge of Treaty of Waitangi Jurisprudence”, Baragwanath, “NZMC v AG”, and Ruru (ed), In Good Faith). The Treaty clause therefore has great legal and symbolic significance, especially for Maori.
Unsurprisingly, the government’s proposal not to roll over the Treaty clause (or to otherwise tinker with it) has sparked outrage amongst many Maori and others. Protests took place at the Waitangi Day celebrations over the weekend. Claim were quickly lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal, alleging the proposed part-privatisation breached the Treaty.
While the government has the parliamentary numbers to proceed with part-privatisation, the question of how it navigates through the Treaty implications and tensions with its Maori party coalition partner will be interesting. It is early days at this point. But the issue will no doubt occupy the political and legal domains in New Zealand for much of the year.
Dean Knight is a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington’s Faculty of Law, an Associate of the New Zealand Centre for Public Law, and a PhD candidate at LSE.
Tid-bits from New Zealand: an election, a referend...
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Good Biopic Movies for Women’s History Month
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 3:31 pm
This list of good biopic movies for Women’s History Month is in honor of the event currently running from March 1st to the 31st. Dedicated to recognizing the contributions of females in both the past and the present, Women’s History Month slowly came about after International Women’s Day was instituted in the United States in 1911. Plenty of films celebrate the contributions of the female gender, so I figured it was high time I recognized some of the better examples.
Elizabeth (1998) – Nominated for both Best Picture and Best Actress, the film stars Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I of England. As the story unfolds and Elizabeth ascends to the throne, she transforms from a gentle young woman into someone not afraid to order assassinations and executions. Blanchett gives a tour-de-force performance, and she’s assisted by Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Daniel Craig, Richard Attenborough, and Vincent Cassel. A number of historical events are changed for the sake of drama, but Elizabeth remains a compelling look at one of the most influential women who ever lived.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) – Cate Blanchett returns as Queen Elizabeth I and once again earns an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. More facts are changed around, and the film was accused of being anti-Catholic, but it features some great battle scenes and the addition of the hunky Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh.
Becoming Jane (2007) – Put together from biographies and letters from the lady herself, Becoming Jane tells the story of the early years of author Jane Austen’s (Anne Hathaway) life and her romance with Thomas Lefroy (James McAvoy). While not a true biopic, it’s still close enough for fans of Austen or those wanting to known a bit more about the creator of such works as Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice. The cast is rounded out by Julie Walters, James Cromwell and Maggie Smith.
Lady Sings the Blues (1972) – Based on jazz singer Billie Holiday’s autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues tells the story of her rise from a rape victim and prostitute to one of the most celebrated singers of all time. Diana Ross stars in the lead role, and she’s joined on the screen by Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor. Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Ross for Best Actress.
Gorillas in the Mist (1988) – Sigourney Weaver stars as Dian Fossey, a famed naturalist who worked to study and save the mountain gorillas of the Rwandan jungle. Nominated for five Oscars, the film co-stars Bryan Brown and Julie Harris. It’s set in Rwanda, so don’t expect a happy ending.
Madame Curie (1943) – Nominated for seven Academy Awards, this biographical tale revolves around Marie Sklodowska, her romance with the shy Pierre Curie, and her long road to discovering the element known as radium. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon star in the lead roles, reuniting after the previous year’s Mrs. Miniver.
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999) – Milla Jovovich stars as the 15th century war leader and martyr. Luc Besson directs and leads the title character through a number of grueling and highly-stylized battles. The supporting cast is outstanding, including Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Cassel and Tcheky Karyo.
Sweet Dreams (1985) – Jessica Lange received an Oscar nomination for her role as country music legend Patsy Cline. Ed Harris co-stars as her husband, and the original Patsy Cline recordings are used for all her musical numbers. While the film does contain several factual inaccuracies, it remains an entertaining film about a massive talent whose life was cut tragically short.
The Young Victoria (2009) – Emil Blunt shines in this lavish costumed drama about the early life of Queen Victoria and her subsequent romance and marriage to Prince Albert. Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Jim Broadbent, Ruper Friend and Miranda Richardson also star.
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) – Based on the uplifting autobiography by Beverly Donofrio, this film stars Drew Barrymore as a woman who overcomes getting pregnant at 15 and marrying a heroin addict to eventually earn her master’s degree. The film is set in the ‘60s through the ‘80s, and it co-stars James Woods, Steve Zahn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Logan Lerman and Brittany Murphy.
When you‘re done reading these good biopic movies for Women‘s History Month, you may also want to check out the following:
Good Historical Movies
75 War Movies to See Before You Die
10 Best Movie Roles for Professional Wrestlers
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Good Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Gallery : www.visitwallpapers.com Keyword Album: Rhino
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Walking With Dinosaurs 3D (2013) Movie Wallpaper Triceratops had three distinctive horns on its head and a large bony frill behind its head. Its body shape was similar to that of a rhinoceros.Triceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous, around 66 mil
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Anna Elizabeth Dickinson.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
In listening to the many interesting incidents of this young girl's life, not all entrusted to me for publication, my feelings have vacillated between pity and admiration,--pity, for all the trials of her childhood and youth, in loneliness, poverty, and disappointment; and admiration for the indomitable will, courage, and rare genius, by which she has carved her way, with her own right hand, to fame and independence. While so many truly great women, of other times and countries, have marred their fair names, and thrown suspicion on their sex by their vices and follies, this noble girl, through all temptations and discouragements, has maintained a purity, dignity, and moral probity of character, that reflect honor on herself, and glory on her whole sex.
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Philadelphia the 28th of October, 1842. Her father, John Dickinson, was a merchant of sound intellect, and moral principle, a clear, concise reasoner, an earnest abolitionist, and took an active part in the anti-slavery discussions of that time. He was a benevolent, trusting man, and through the noblest traits of his character became involved in his business relations, and was reduced to poverty. His misfortunes preyed upon his mind and health; and he died soon after with a disease of the heart, leaving a wife and five children, Anna, the youngest, [480] but two years old. The last night of his life was passed in an anti-slavery meeting, where he spoke earnestly; and on his way home, not feeling well, he stopped at a druggist's to get some medicine, and died there without a struggle.
Her mother, Mary Edmundson, was born in Delaware, of an aristocratic family. She is a woman of refinement and cultivation, and was carefully reared in conditions of ease and luxury.
Both were descendants of the early Quaker settlers, and rigid adherents to the orthodox Friends. Their courtship lasted thirteen years, showing the persistency and fidelity of the father on one side, and the calm deliberation of the mother on the other. As a baby, Anna was cross, sleepless, restless, and crying continually with a loud voice, thus preparing her lungs for future action. She was a wayward, wilful, intensely earnest, imaginative child, causing herself and her elders much trouble and unhappiness. They, seeing her impatience of control, endeavored to “break her will,” --a saying that has worked as much cruelty in the world as the proverb of Solomon, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Fortunately they did not succeed, and through the triumph of that indomitable will we boast to-day that the most popular American orator is a woman. She was considered an incorrigible child at school as well as at home. Though she always knew her lessons, the absurd and arbitrary discipline so chafed her free spirit that she was generally in a state of rebellion.
With courageous defiance she would submit to punishment rather than rules she thought foolish and unnecessary. She had an intuitive knowledge of character, and early saw the hypocrisy, deceit, and sham of the world,--the hollowness of its ceremonies, forms, and opinions; and with wonderful powers of sarcasm she could lay bare the faults and follies of those about her. Hence she was a terror to timid, designing teachers and scholars; and good children were warned against [481] her influence. Yet, as she was ever the champion of those who suffered wrong and injustice, she had warm friends and admirers among her schoolmates.
She says she always felt herself an Ishmaelite among children, fighting not only her own battles, but for those too timid and shrinking to fight for themselves. Her school-days were days of darkness and trial. Owing to her mother's limited means, she was educated in the free schools of the Society of Friends. Meeting there the children of wealthy Quakers, they would laugh at her poverty, and thoughtlessly ask her “why she wore such common clothes.” She would promptly reply, “My mother is poor, and we work for all we have.” Although she accepted her condition with bravery, she determined to better it as fast as she could; yet such taunts were alike galling to her and cruel in those who uttered them. Nevertheless, they were not without their power in developing the future woman; so far from depressing her youthful energies, they stung her into a nobler life. In her hours of solitude she would resolve to lift herself above their shafts, to make a home for her mother, and surround her with every comfort. Thus great souls feed and grow on what humbles smaller ones to dust.
Her love for her mother was the strongest feeling in her nature, and it was to relieve her from constant toil that she early desired some profitable employment that she might earn money for her own support. It was the sorrow of her childhood to see her mother pale and worn, struggling with all her multiplied cares,--for, in addition to her own family, she kept boarders and taught a private school. Thus, with ceaseless love and care and industry, that noble woman fed and clothed and educated her fatherless children, and to-day has the satisfaction of seeing them all noble men and women; and mid peace and plenty she remembers the long days of darkness, poverty, and self-denial no more. For the encouragement [482] of those parents who have wayward, wilful children, I would mention the fact that Anna, who was a greater trial to her mother than all her other children and cares put together, is now her pride, her comfort, and her support.
When about twelve years old she entered “Westown boarding-school of friends,” in Chester County, and remained there two years; from this she went to “Friends' select school” in Philadelphia, where she applied herself so diligently to her studies, that, although she pursued over a dozen branches at one time, she seldom failed in a recitation.
During all her school-days, she read with the greatest avidity every book that she could obtain. Newspapers, speeches, tracts, history, biography, poetry, novels, and fairy tales were all alike read and relished. For weeks and months together her average hours for sleep were not five in the twenty-four. She would often read until one o'clock in the morning, and then seize her school-books and learn her lessons for the next day. She did not study her lessons, for, with her retentive memory, what she read once was hers forever. The rhymes and compositions she wrote in her young days bear evident marks of genius. When fourteen years old she published an article headed “Slavery” in the “Liberator.” She early determined that she would be a public speaker. One of her greatest pleasures was to get a troop of children about her and tell them stories; if she could fix their attention and alternately convulse them with laughter, and melt them to tears, she was perfectly happy. She loved to wander all over the city alone, to think her own thoughts, and see what was going on in the outer world. One of her favorite rendezvous was the Anti-slavery Office in Fifth Street; where she would stay for hours to hear people talk about the horrors of slavery, or to read papers, tracts, and books on that subject. At seventeen she left school.
She was skilful in all kinds of housework, and orderly in [483] her arrangements. She was willing to do any kind of work to make an honest living. No service however hard, or humble, seemed menial to her. Being a born queen, she felt she dignified whatever she touched; even the broom became a sceptre of royalty in her hand.
When about thirteen years old she visited a lawyer's office one day, on her way from school, and asked for some copying. He, pleased with the appearance of the bright child, asked her if she intended to do it herself; she said, Yes. He gave her some, which she did so well that he interested himself at once in her behalf, and secured her work from other offices as well as his own. How she could get money to buy books was the one thought; next to helping her mother, that occupied her mind. To this end she would do anything,--run errands, carry bundles, sweep walks,--and as soon as she had obtained the desired sum, she would buy a book, read it with the greatest avidity, then take it to a second-hand book-store and sell it for a fraction of its cost and get another. When seven years old she would take Byron's works, secrete herself under the bed that she might not be disturbed, and read for hours. There was something in the style, spirit, and rhythm, that she enjoyed, even before the thought was fully understood. She had a passion for oratory, and when Curtis, Phillips, or Beecher lectured in Philadelphia, she would perform any service to get money enough to go. On one occasion she scrubbed a sidewalk for twenty-five cents, to hear Wendell Phillips lecture on “The lost Arts.” There are many very interesting anecdotes of her life during this period, illustrating her fortitude under most trying circumstances and her strong faith in a promising future. Through her magnetism and self-confidence she went forward and did many things gracefully and unchallenged, that others of her sex and age would not have had the courage or presumption to attempt. There was something so irresistible in her face and manner that entire [484] strangers would yield her privileges, which others would not dare to ask. In her fourteenth year while with relatives in the country, during the holidays, she attended a Methodist protracted meeting, and was deeply moved on the subject of religion, was converted and joined the church. Her mind, however, was much disturbed on theological questions for several years, but after great distress and uncertainty, with the opposing doctrines and opinions she heard on all sides, she found rest at last in the liberal views of those who taught that religion was life,--faith in the goodness, and wisdom of God's laws, and love to man. She disliked the silent Quaker meetings, and made every excuse to avoid them. Her repudiation of that faith was a source of unhappiness both to her family and herself. About this time she spent a few months as a pupil and assistant teacher in a school at New Brighton, Beaver County; but as her situation there was not pleasant, she applied for a district school that was vacant in that town. About to make the final arrangements with the committee, she asked what salary they gave. One gentleman remarked “A man has taught this school heretofore, and we gave him twenty-eight dollars a month; but we should not give a girl more than sixteen.” There was something in his manner and tone so insulting that her pride compelled her to scorn the place she needed, and, drawing herself up to her full proportions, she said with great vehemence, “Sir, are you a fool, or do you take me for one? Though I am too poor to-day to buy a pair of cotton gloves, I would rather go in rags, than degrade my womanhood by accepting anything at your hands.” And she shook the dust of that place from her feet, and went home to struggle on with poverty, firm in the faith of future success. Young, inexperienced, penniless, with but few friends, and none knowing her greatest trials, she passed weeks looking for a situation, in vain. At last she was offered a place as saleswoman in a store, which she accepted; [485] but finding that it was her duty to misrepresent goods to customers, she left at once, because she would not violate her conscience with the tricks of trade.
The distinctions she saw everywhere between boys and girls, men and women, giving all the opportunities and advantages of life to one sex, early filled her with indignation, and she determined to resist this tyranny wherever she found it. Sitting at home one Sunday in January, 1860, she read a notice that the “Association of Progressive friends” would hold a meeting that afternoon, to discuss “woman's rights and wrongs.” She resolved to go, and, in company with another young girl, was there at the appointed hour. Ten minutes were allowed the speakers to present their opposing views. “It was my good fortune,” says Dr. Longshore, “to be there, and to announce at the opening of the meeting, that ladies were particularly invited to speak, as the subject was one in which they were interested. In response to this invitation, after several persons had spoken, Anna arose near the centre of the hall. Her youthful face, black curls, and bright eyes, her musical voice, subdued and impressive manner, commanded at once the attention of the audience. She spoke twice, her allotted time, and right to the point. These were her first speeches in public, and her auditors will long remember that day.” She gave a new impulse to the meetings and a fresh interest in the association for months afterward.
The next Sunday she spoke again, and on the same subject. An attempt was made, by an opponent, by interruptions, foolish questions, sneers, and ridicule to put her down.
This was a tall, nervous, bilious man, who spoke with the arrogance and assumption usual in that type of manhood,as if he were a partner of the Most High in giving law to the universe; as if it were his special mission to map out the sphere of woman, the paths wherein she might with safety [486] walk. By some magnetic law he fixed his eyes on this strange girl, into whose soul the floods of indignation were pouring thick and fast; and when he finished, the scene that followed was almost tragic. She rose, her feelings at white heat, and, with flashing eye and crimson cheek, she turned upon her antagonist, looking him square in the face, and poured out the vials of her pent — up wrath,--the sum of all the wrongs she had felt through struggling girlhood; the insults to womanhood she had read and heard; the barbarisms of law, of custom, and of daily life, that but for the strong will God had given her to resist, would have ground her, with the multitudes of her sex, to powder. She poured out such volleys of invective, sarcasm, and denunciation, painted the helplessness of women with such pathos and power, giving touching incidents of her own hard experience, that her antagonist sunk lower and lower into his seat and bowed his head in silence and humiliation, while those who witnessed the scene were melted to tears. Never was an audience more electrified and amazed than were they with the eloquence and power of that young girl. No one knew who she was, or whence she came; but all alike felt her burning words, and withering scorn of him who had dared to be the mouth-piece of such time-honored insolence and cant about the sphere of woman. Pointing straight at him, and, with each step approaching nearer where e he sat, saying, You, sir, said thus and so, she swept away his arguments, one by one, like cobwebs before a whirlwind, and left him not one foot of ground whereon to stand. When she finished, he took his hat and sneaked out of the meeting like a whipped spaniel, to the great amusement of the audience, leaving their sympathies with the brave young girl.
From this hour Ellwood and Hannah Loagshore became Anna's most faithful and trusted friends and advisers. They [487] appreciated her genius, comprehended the difficulties of her position, and gave her a helping hand in securing means of support. They encouraged her ambition to become a public speaker. So intense and earnest was she in all her desires, that she easily surmounted every difficulty to secure her ends. No lions ever crouched in her path; it was the real, not the imaginary, that blocked her way.
Soon after the scene in the Sunday meeting, two gentlemen called at her home one day and inquired for Anna Dickinson. They had heard her speak, and were so much pleased that they desired to know something of her family and surroundings. As soon as they inquired for Anna, the mother's heart stood still, supposing that these men had come to complain of some of her pranks in the neighborhood; and she was by no means relieved, when she heard that her daughter had made a speech in a public meeting on Sunday, and they had come to congratulate her on her success.
Her public career was at first a great mortification to her mother, who felt that by this erratic course she was bringing shame and humiliation on her family, never dreaming that she was so soon to occupy one of the proudest positions before the American people, to distinguish her family, and place them in conditions of ease and luxury. But she shared the common fate of genius,--persecution in the house of its friends. At this time she became a constant visitor at the house of Dr. Longshore, and found there the affection and wisdom, the warm and sympathizing friendship, her generous and impulsive nature most needed for its development and control. They took her to their hearts, cared for her in every way, and to this day she calls their house her home.
“We felt towards her,” says Dr. Longshore,
as if she were our own child, and she lingered with us in her visits with filial devotion. We were the first strangers to manifest [488] an interest in her welfare and future plans, and she reciprocated our friendship with confidence and love. She was always so happy, so full of hope and life, that her presence seemed like that of an angel. Hour after hour, in the evening, when all was still, she would entertain us with her varied experiences, at home, in school, in church, in company, with lier teachers, playmates, and strangers, with her efforts to get books, clothes, comforts, laughing and crying by turn. Her recitals were so full, glowing, and eloquent, that we took 10 note of the passing time, and the midnight hours would often find us lingering still, pleased and patient listeners of this strange child's life.
After reading some thrilling account of the slave system, one night, she had a remarkable dream. She thought she was herself a slave-girl, the victim of all the terrible experiences of that condition. The toil, the lash, the starvation and nakedness, the auction-block, the brutality of driver and owner, were all so vividly painted on her imagination that she could not rid herself of the horrid realities of that system. She could never speak on that subject in public or private,. but this terrible memory would come vividly back to her, intensifying her feelings, and giving an added power to her words.
After attending the meeting of Progressive Friends for several weeks, she was invited to speak in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, and on the first Sunday in April, 1860, she made the first speech to which she had given any previous thought. The large school-house was crowded; her subject was “Woman's work.” Speaking from the depths of her own experience, she held the audience in breathless silence for over an hour. There was an indescribable pathos in her full, rich voice, that, aside from what she said, touched the hearts of her hearers, and moved many to tears. Her power seemed [489] miraculous to the people, and they would not disperse until she promised to speak again in the evening. Some one remarked at the adjournment, “If Lucretia Mott had made that speech, it would be thought a great one.” In the evening she spoke on the subject of slavery, for the first time, and with equal effect. A collection of several dollars was taken up for her, the first she ever received for giving an address.
Failing to find employment in Philadelphia, she accepted, as a last resort, a district school in Bucks County, with a salary of twenty-five dollars a month. She came home once in two weeks to take part in the Sunday meetings. On her eighteenth birthday she went to Kennett Square,--a small village thirty-two miles from Philadelphia,--to attend an anti-slavery meeting that remained in session two days. She spoke on slavery and non-resistance. In that doctrine of Friends she had no faith. A discussion arose as to the right and duty of slaves to forcible resistance. She and Robert Purvis, who was in the chair, spoke in the affirmative, and, in a protracted discussion, maintained their opinion, against the majority, “that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” Anna wound up one of her glowing periods with the words of Lovejoy: “If I were a slave, and had the power, I would bridge over the chasm which yawns between the hell of slavery and the heaven of freedom, with carcasses of the slain.” The effect of her speech was startling, and thrilled the whole audience. Robert Purvis unconsciously rose from his chair, and bent forward, electrified with a new hope of liberty for his race, looking as if their fate rested on her lips.
During her summer vacation she spoke several times to large audiences in New Jersey. On one occasion, in the open air in a beautiful grove, where hundreds had assembled to hear her, she spoke both morning and afternoon on temperance and anti-slavery, producing a profound sensation. At another time several Methodist clergymen had assembled [490] to lay the corner-stone of a new church in a village where she was announced to speak. They went to hear her, from mere curiosity, in rather a sneering frame of mind; she, knowing that fact, was moved to speak with more than usual pathos and power. They made themselves quite merry in the beginning, but before she closed they were serious, subdued, and in tears. The next day one of them introduced himself to her, and said, “I have always ridiculed ‘Woman's Rights,’ but, so help me God, I never shall again.” At all these meetings contributions were taken up for her benefit, and she began to think that this might prove to be her means of support. On the evening of the day that she closed her school, she advertised a meeting to be held in the schoolhouse, but the crowd was so great that they adjourned to a church near by. She spoke on “Woman's work;” and with the novelty of the subject and the whole proceeding, she quite startled that stolid community.
Shortly after this she attended another anti-slavery meeting at Kennett Square. This meeting, held just in the beginning of the war, was rather an exciting one, and prolonged discussions arose on the duties of abolitionists to existing laws and constitutions. In the report from “Forney's press” we find the following notice:
The next speaker was a Miss Anna E. Dickinson, of Philadelphia, aged seventeen years,--handsome, of an expressive countenance, plainly dressed, and eloquent beyond her years. After the listless, monotonous harangues of the previous part of the day, the distinct, earnest tones of this juvenile Joan of Are were very sweet and charming. During her discourse, which was frequently interrupted, Miss Dickinson maintained her presence of mind, and uttered her radical sentiments with augmented resolution and plainness. Those who did not sympathize with her remarks were softened by her simplicity and solemnity. Her speech was decidedly the feature of the evening, provocative as it was of numerous, unmanly interruptions, and followed by discussion of prolonged and diversified interest. Miss Dickinson, we understand, is a member of the Society of Friends, and had been solicited, several times during the day, to address the audience, but waited for the inspiration of the evening, which came in the shape of Mrs. Grew's remarks. They were told, said Miss Dickinson, to maintain constitutions because they were constitutions, and compromises because they were compromises. [491] But what were compromises, and what was laid down in those constitutions? Eminent lawgivers have said that certain great fundamental ideas of right were common to the world, and that all laws of man's making which trampled upon those ideas were null and void,--wrong to obey, but right to disobey. The Constitution of the United States sat upon the neck of those rights, recognizes human slavery, and makes the souls of men articles of purchase and of sale.
There is not space to give her admirable speech on the higher law, nor the discussion that followed, in which Miss Dickinson maintained her position with remarkable clearness and coolness for one of her years. The flattering reports of this meeting in several of the Philadelphia journals introduced her to the public.
On the evening of the 27th of February she addressed an audience of about eight hundred persons in Concert Hall, Philadelphia. She spoke full two hours extemporaneously, and the lecture was pronounced a success. Many notables and professional men were present; and, although it was considered a marvellous performance for a young girl, Miss Dickinson herself was mortified, as she said, with the length of her speech, and its lack of point, order, and arrangement. She felt that she was not equal to the occasion; instead of being flattered with the praises bestowed upon her, she was filled with regret that she had not made a more careful and thoughtful preparation. But she learned an important lesson from what she considered a failure, worth more than it cost her.
Spring was opening, and her fresh young spirit and strong will demanded some new avenues to labor, some active, profitable work. In her searches for something to do, says a friend, “I met her one day in the street; said she, ‘I must work. I dislike the confinement and poor pay of school-teaching; but I shall go crazy unless I have work of some kind. Why can't I get into the Mint?’ After considering the possibilities of securing a place there, for some time, our plans were made, and, after many persistent efforts, we succeeded.” [492] In April she entered the United States Mint, to labor from seven o'clock in the morning to six at night for twenty-eight dollars a month. She sat on a stool all those long hours, in a close, impure atmosphere, the windows and doors being always closed in the adjusting room, as the least draft of air would vary the scales. She soon became very skilful in her new business, and did twice the amount of work of most other girls. She was the fastest adjuster in the Mint; but she could not endure the confinement, and soon changed to the coining-room. But this dull routine of labor did not satisfy her higher nature. After the day's work was done, she would go to the hospitals to write letters for the sick soldiers, to read to them, and talk over the incidents of the war. Many things conspired to make her situation in the Mint undesirable. The character and conversation of the inmates were disagreeable to her; hence she kept them at a distance, while, her opinions on slavery and woman's rights being known, she was treated with reserve and suspicion in return. In November she made a speech in Westchester on the events of the war, which increased this state of feeling towards her, and culminated in her discharge from the Mint, in the Christmas holidays. This meeting was held just after the battle of Ball's Bluff. In summing up the record of this battle, after exonerating Stone and Baker, she said, “History will record that this battle was lost, not through ignorance and incompetence, but through the treason of the commanding general, George B. McClellan, and time will vindicate the truth of my assertion.” She was hissed all over the house, though some cried, “Go on,” “Go on.” She repeated this startling assertion three times, and each time was hissed. Years after, when McClellan was running against Lincoln in 1864, when she had achieved a world-wide reputation, she was sent by the Republican committee of Pennsylvania, to this same town, to speak to the same people, in the same [493] hall. In again summing up the incidents of the war, when she came to Ball's Bluff, she said, “I say now, as I said three years ago, history will record that this battle was lost, not through ignorance or incompetence, but through the treason of the commanding general, George B. McClellan.” “And time has vindicated your assertion,” was shouted all over the house. It was this speech, made in 1861, that cost her place in the Mint. Ex-Governor Pollock dismissed her, and owned that his reason was the Westchester speech, for at that time McClellan was the idol of the nation. She says that was the best service the Governor could have rendered her, as it forced her to the decision to labor no longer with her hands for bread, but to open some new path for herself.
She continued speaking, during the winter, in many of the neighboring towns, on the political aspects of the war. As the popular thought was centring everywhere on national questions, she began to think less of the special wrongs of women and negroes, and more of the causes of revolutions, and the true basis of government. These broader views secured her popularity, and made her available in party politics at once. In the mean time Mr. Garrison, having heard Anna Dickinson speak at Westchester and Longwood, and being both charmed and surprised with her oratorical power, invited her to visit Boston, and make his house her home. Before going to Boston some friends desired that she should make the same speech in Philadelphia that had occasioned her dismissal from the Mint. Accordingly, Concert Hall was engaged. Judge Pierce, an early friend of woman's rights, presided at the meeting, and introduced her to the audience. She had a full house, at ten cents admission, was received with great enthusiasm, and acquitted herself to her own satisfaction, as well as that of her friends. After all expenses were paid she found herself the happy possessor of a larger sum of money than she had ever had before; and now, in consultation with [494] good Dr. Hannah Longshore, it was decided that she should have her first silk dress. With this friend's advice and blessing, she went to New England to endure fresh trials and disappointments before securing that unquestioned reputation and pecuniary independence she enjoys to-day. Through the influence and friendship of Mr. Garrison she was invited to speak in Theodore Parker's pulpit on Sunday morning, as leading reformers were then doing. Accordingly she spoke, in Music Hall, on the “National crisis.” Her first lecture in Boston was the greatest trial she ever experienced. Her veneration for the character of a Boston audience almost over-matched her courage and confidence in her ability to sustain herself through such an ordeal. Her friends also had misgivings, and feared a failure, as they noticed that Anna could neither sleep nor eat for forty-eight hours previous to the lecture. Some were so confident that she would fail to meet the expectations of the immense audience, that they refused to sit on the platform. Mr. Garrison opened the meeting. He read a chapter of the Bible, and consumed some time in remarks in order to make the best of the dilemma, which, in common with many, he, too, apprehended, while Anna waited behind him to be “presented,” in an agony of suspense she struggled to conceal. At last she was introduced, and began in some broken, hesitating sentences; but, gradually becoming absorbed in her subject, she forgot herself and her new surroundings, and so completely held the attention and interest of the audience for over an hour that the fears of her friends were turned to rejoicings, the anticipations of the few were more than realized, and her own long anxious hours of prayers and tears were forgotten in the proud triumph of that day. At the close she was overpowered with thanks, praises, and salutations of love and gratitude. As she delivered this lecture in several of the New England cities I give the following notice:-- [495]
The new star.
If to have an audience remain quiet, attentive, and sympathizing during the delivery of a long lecture, is any indication of the ability, tact, and success of the speaker, we think it may be claimed for Miss Dickinson that she is a compeer worthy to be admitted as a particular star in the large and brilliant constellation of genius and talent now endeavoring to direct the country to the goal of negro emancipation.
Music Hall was filled to overflowing; hundreds of the audience went early, and must have sat there more than an hour before the lecture began; and, yet, we do not remember to have seen less signs of weariness and inattention at any lecture we ever attended in this city. Her voice is clear and penetrating, without being harsh; her enunciation is very distinct, and at times somewhat rhythmic in its character, with enough of a peculiar accent to indicate that her home has not been in Massachusetts. Her whole appearance and manner are decidedly attractive, earnest, and expressive. Her lecture was well-arranged, logical, and occasionally eloquent, persuasive, and pathetic.
She traced the demands and usurpations of the Slave Power from the commencement of our government till the present time, and proved that, because it could not hope to control the country in the future as it had in the past, it raised the standard of rebellion,--an act long since determined upon when such an exigency should arise. Slavery being thus proved to be the cause of the war, the justice, necessity, and propriety of its abolition, as a means of present defence and future security and peace, was forcibly illustrated.
That the slave was prepared for freedom was proved by the thousands who have passed through so much danger and suffering to obtain it. The inhuman character of the fugitive slave enactment was most beautifully referred to, bringing tears to many eyes which are not accustomed to weep over the wrongs of the colored race.
She spoke in eloquent terms of Fremont, which met with a hearty response from the audience, as did other parts of her address. On the whole, we think her friends here must be greatly delighted with her first effort, on her first visit to our old Commonwealth.
Previous to the delivery of the lecture, the “ Negro Boatman's Song,” by Whittier, was sung by a quartette, accompanied by the organ, and the exercises were closed by singing “ America,” in which the audience joined.
Fall River Press.
She spent the following summer in reading and study, collecting materials for other lectures. She continued, as she had time, to visit the government hospitals, and made herself a most welcome guest among our soldiers. In her long conversations with them, she learned their individual histories, experiences, hardships, and sufferings; the motives that prompted them to go into the army; what they saw there, and what they thought of war in their hours of solitude, away from the excitement of the camp and the battle-field. Thus [496] she got an insight into the soldier's life and feelings, and from these narratives drew her materials for that deeply interesting lecture on Hospital Life, which she delivered in many parts of the country.
In October, 1862, she spoke before the Boston Fraternity Lyceum, for which she received many flattering notices and one hundred dollars. She had hoped, through the influence of friends, to make a series of appointments for the winter, and thus secure a means of support. But the military reverses and discouragements left but little spirit among the people for lectures of any kind, and she travelled from place to place until her funds were exhausted. Her lecture at Concord, New Hampshire, was her last engagement for, the season, and the ten dollars promised there was all she had in prospect for future need until something else might offer.
This was a trying experience, for she had just begun to hope that her days of darkness had passed and triumph was near. In speaking of it she says, “No one knows how I felt and suffered that winter, penniless and alone, with a scanty wardrobe, suffering with cold, weariness, and disappointment. I wandered about on the trains day after day, among strangers, seeking employment for an honest living, and failed to find it. I would have gone home, but had not the means. I had borrowed money to commence my journey, promising to remit soon; failing to do so, I could not ask again. Beyond my Concord meeting all was darkness; I had no further plans.” But her lecture there on Hospital Life was the turning-point in her fortunes. In this speech she proved slavery to be the cause of the war, and that its continuance would result in prolonged suffering to our soldiers, defeat to our armies, and the downfall of the republic. She related many touching incidents of her experiences in hospital life, and drew such vivid pictures of the horrors of both war and slavery, that, by her pathos and logic, she melted her audience to tears, [497] and forced the most prejudiced minds to accept her conclusions.
It was on this occasion that the secretary of the State Central Committee heard her for the first time. He remarked to a friend, at the close of the lecture, “If we can get this girl to make that speech all through New Hampshire, we can carry the Republican ticket in this State in the coming election.” Fully appreciating her magnetic power over an audience, he resolved at once, that, if the State Committee refused to invite her, he should do so on his own responsibility.
But, through his influence, she was invited by the Republican committee, and on the first of March commenced her regular campaign speeches. In the four weeks before election, she spoke twenty times,--everywhere to crowded, enthusiastic audiences. Her march through the State was a succession of triumphs, and ended in a Republican victory. The member in the first district, having no faith that a woman could influence politics, sent word to the secretary, “Don't send that d-- woman down here to defeat my election.” The secretary replied, “We have work enough for her to do in other districts, without interfering with you.” But when the would-be honorable gentleman saw the furor she created, he changed his mind, and inundated the secretary with letters to have her sent there. But the secretary replied, “It is too late; the programme is arranged, and published throughout the State. You would not have her when you could, and now you cannot have her when you will.” It is pleasant to record that this man, who had the moral hardihood to use a profane adjective in speaking of a woman, lost his election; and thus our congressional halls were saved from so demoralizing an influence. His district was lost by a large majority, while the other districts went strongly Republican. When the news came that the Republicans had carried the State, due credit was awarded to Anna Dickinson for her faithful [498] labors in securing the victory. The governor-elect made personal acknowledgments that her eloquent speeches had secured his election. She was serenaded, feasted, and eulogized by the press and the people.
New Hampshire safe, all eyes were now turned to Connecticut. The contest there was between Seymour and Buckingham. It was generally conceded that, if Seymour was elected, Connecticut would give no more money or troops for the war. The Republicans were completely disheartened. They said nothing could prevent the Democrats from carrying the State by four thousand, while the Democrats boasted that they would carry it by ten thousand. Though the issue was one of such vital importance, there seemed so little hope of success, that the Republicans were disposed to give it up without making an effort. And no resistance to this impending calamity was made until Anna Dickinson went into the State, and galvanized the desponding loyalists to life. She spent two weeks there, addressing large and enthusiastic audiences all over the State, and completely turned the tide of popular sentiment. Even the Democrats, in spite of the scurrilous attacks on her by some of their leaders and editors, received her everywhere with the warmest welcome, tore off their party badges, and substituted her likeness, and applauded whatever she said. The halls where she spoke were so densely packed, that Republicans stayed away to make room for the Democrats, and the women were shut out to give place to those who could vote. There never was such a furor about an orator in this country. The period of her advent, the excited condition of the people, her youth, beauty, and remarkable voice, all heightened the effect of her genius, and helped to produce this result. Her name was on every lip. Ministers preached about her, prayed for her as a second Joan of Arc, raised up by God to save that State to the loyal party, and through it the nation to freedom and [499] humanity. As the election day approached, the excitement was intense; and when at last it was announced that the State was saved by a few hundred votes, the joy and gratitude of the crowds knew no bounds. They shouted and hurrahed for Anna Dickinson, serenaded her with full bands of music, sent her presents of flowers, ornaments, and books, manifesting in every way their love and loyalty to this gifted girl, who, through so many years, had bravely struggled with poverty to this proud moment of success in her country's cause.
Some leading men in Connecticut presented her a gold watch and chain as a memento for her valuable services in the State, paid her a hundred dollars for every night she had spoken there, and for the last night before election, in Hartford, four hundred dollars. From the following comments of the press, the reader may form some idea of the enthusiasm of the people:--
Miss Dickinson at Allyn Hall.
The highest compliment that the Union men of this city could pay Miss Anna B. Dickinson was to invite her to make the closing and most important speech in this campaign. They were willing to rest their case upon her efforts. She may go far and speak much; she will have no more flattering proof of the popular confidence in her eloquence, tact, power, than this. Her business being to obtain votes for the right side, she addressed herself to that end with singular adaptation. But when we add to this lawyer-like comprehension of the necessities of the case, her earnestness, enthusiasm, and personal magnetism, we account for the effect she produced on the vast audience Saturday night.
Allyn Hall was packed as it never was before. Every seat was crowded. The aisles were full of men who stood patiently for more than three hours, the window-sills had their occupants, every foot of standing-room was taken, and in the rear of the galleries men seemed to hang in swarms like bees. Such was the view from the stage. The stage itself and the boxes were filled with ladies, giving the speaker an audience of at least two hundred who could not see her face.
To such an audience Miss Dickinson spoke for two hours and twenty minutes, and hardly a listener left the hall during that time. Her power over the audience was marvellous. She seemed to have that absolute mastery of it which Joan of Arc is reported to have had of the French troops. They followed her with that deep attention which is unwilling to lose a word, but greeted her, every few moments, with the most wild applause, which continued often for several minutes, breaking forth afresh with irrepressible enthusiasm. We find no occasion to abate a word from the very high estimate given of [500] her as an orator from her first speech in this city. And she added vastly, on Saturday night, to the estimate of her by her versatility and ability as an advocate. The speech, in itself, and its effect was magnificent,--this strong adjective is the proper one. If the campaign were not closed, we should give a full sketch of the speech, for its pertinent effect. But the work of the campaign is done. And it only remains, in the name, we are sure, of all loyal men in this district, to express to Miss Dickinson most heartfelt thanks for her splendid, inspiring aid. She has aroused everywhere respect, enthusiasm, and devotion, let us not say to herself alone, but to the country. While such women are possible in the United States, there isn't a spot big enough for her to stand on, that won't be fought for so long as there is a man left.
Fresh from the victories in New Hampshire and Connecticut, she was announced to speak in Cooper Institute, New York. That meeting in May, 1862, was the most splendid ovation to a woman's genius since Fanny Kemble, in all the wealth of her youth and beauty, appeared on the American stage for the first time. On no two occasions of my life have I been so deeply moved, so exalted, so lost in overflowing gratitude, that woman had revealed her power in oratory,that highest art to touch the deepest feelings of the human soul,--and verified at last her right to fame and immortality. There never was such excitement over any meeting in New York. Although the hall was densely crowded long before the hour announced, yet the people outside were determined to get in at all hazards,--ushers were beaten down, those without tickets rushed in, and those with tickets were pushed aside, and thousands went home unable to get standing-places even in the lobbies and outer halls.
The platform was graced with the most distinguished men and women in the country, and so crowded that the young orator had scarce room to stand. There were clergymen, generals, admirals, judges, lawyers, editors, the literati and leaders of fashion, and all alike ready to do homage to this simple girl, who moved them alternately to laughter and tears, to bursts of applause and the most profound silence. Mr. Beecher, who was president of the meeting, introduced the speaker in his happiest manner. For more than an hour she [501] held that large audience with deep interest and enthusiasm, and, when she finished with a beautiful peroration, the people seemed to take a long breath, as if to find relief from the intensity of their emotions.
Loud cries followed for Mr. Beecher; but he arose, and, with great feeling and solemnity, said, “Let no man open his lips here to-night; music is the only fitting accompaniment to the eloquent utterances we have heard.” So the Hutchinsons closed the meeting with one of their soul-stirring ballads, and the audience dispersed.
As none of the materials furnished for this sketch have interested me more than the comments of the press, I give the following. Knowing that Anna Dickinson will be as great a wonder to another generation as Joan of Arc is to this, the testimony of our leading journals to her eloquence and power furnishes an important page in future history:--
Miss Dickinson at the Cooper Institute.
The crowd at the Cooper Institute last evening must be truly called immense, no other word being adequate to the emergency. The attraction was an address by Miss Anna E. Dickinson, of Philadelphia, upon the subject of “ The Day — the Cause.”
She is of the medium height, slight in form, graceful in movement; her head, well-poised, is adorned with full and heavy dark hair, displaying to advantage a pleasant face, which has the signs of nervous force and of vigorous mental life. In manner she is unembarrassed, without a shade of boldness ; her gesticulation is simple, drawing to itself no remark; her voice is of wonderful power, penetrating rather than loud, as clear as the tone of metal, and yet with a reed-like softness. Her vocabulary is simple, and in no instance can there be seen a straining after effective expressions; yet her skill in using the ordinary stores of our daily language is so great, that with a single phrase she presents a picture, and delivers a poem in a sentence.
Miss Dickinson shows in her oratorical method the feminine peculiarities which lead her sex to prefer results to preliminaries, the sharply defined success of conclusions to the regularly progressing course of previous argument. Her lecture was consequently very effective to the ear, and difficult to report with justice to the speaker. She defined the contest with the South as the struggle between liberty and slavery in the broadest sense of the words, extending to the moral, mental, and social world, and illustrated her position with rapid allusions to the political history of the last ten years. She then drew a variety of comparisons between the loyalty of the two parties at the North, and, in answer to the question what sort of generals each had given to the country, made [502] some hits of great force at many well-known officers, and paid a tribute of praise to others.
It was in this part of her address that the brightness of her wit and the power of condensed expression already alluded to was seen most clearly. A single stroke of the pencil placed not only a name but a character distinctly before the audience, who took quickly, and fully enjoyed every point. The enrolment act, the threats of the Northwest to compromise for themselves and leave New England out in the cold, and the present splendid revival of patriotic confidence in the North,were treated with surprising power. The applause which burst from the audience at almost every sentence was more hearty and enthusiastic than even in the excited political gatherings of an election season, and was, moreover, applause born of the deepest and best feelings of loyalty. At the conclusion of the lecture, which came to a close with a truly beautiful peroration, the Hutchinson family sang one of their best pieces, and then, by request, followed it with the John Brown song, in the chorus of which the audience joined with a thrilling effect.
New York Evening Post.
Her profits from this meeting were nearly a thousand dollars. After her remarkable success in New York, the Philadelphia “Union league,” one of the greatest political organizations in the country, invited her to speak in that city. The invitation was signed by leading Republicans. She accepted it; had a most enthusiastic and appreciative audience, Judge Kelley presiding, and, after all expenses were paid, she had seven hundred dollars. In this address, reviewing the incidents of the war, she criticised General McClellan, as usual, with great severity. Many of his personal friends were present, and some, filled with indignation, left the house, while a derisive laugh followed them to the door. The Philadelphia journals vied with each other in their eulogiums of her grace, beauty,, and eloquence. The marked attention she has always received in her native city is alike most grateful to her and honorable to her fellow-citizens.
July came, and the first move was made to enlist colored troops in Pennsylvania. A meeting was called in Philadelphia. Judge Kelley, Frederick Douglass, and Anna Dickinson were there, and made most eloquent appeals to the people of that State to grant to the colored man the honor of bearing arms in defence of his country. The effort was successful. A splendid [503] regiment was raised, and their first duty was to serenade the young orator who had spoken so eloquently for their race all through the war. The summer passed in rest and study.
In September, a field-day was announced at Camp William Penn. General Pleasanton reviewed the troops. It was a very brilliant and interesting occasion, as many were about to leave for the seat of war. As the day closed and the people began to disperse, it was noised round that Miss Dickinson was there; a cry was heard at once on all sides, “A speech! A speech!” The moon was just rising, mingling its pale rays with those of the setting sun, throwing a soft, mysterious light over the whole scene. The troops gathered round with bristling bayonets and flags flying, the band was hushed to silence, and, when all was still, mounted on a gun wagon, with General Pleasanton and his staff on one side, and General Wagner and his staff on the other, this beautiful girl addressed “our boys in blue.” She urged that justice and equality might be secured to every citizen in the republic; that slavery and war might end forever, and peace be restored; that our country might indeed be the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
As she stood there uttering words of warning and prophecy, it seemed as if her lips had been touched with a live coal from the altar of heaven. Her inspired words moved the hearts of our young soldiers to deeds of daring, and gave fresh courage to those about to bid their loved ones go, and die, if need be, for freedom and their country. The hour, the mysterious light, the stillness, the novel surroundings, the youth of the speaker, all gave a peculiar power to her words, and made the scene one of the most thrilling and beautiful on the page of history.
In the autumn of 1862, she was engaged to go to Ohio, to speak for a few weeks before election, and a large sum of [504] money was pledged for her services. But some Pennsylvania politicians, appreciating her power, and desiring her help at home, decided to outbid Ohio and keep her in her own State. Accordingly she accepted their proposals, and threw her whole energy and enthusiasm into that campaign. She endured all manner of discomforts and dangers in travelling through the benighted mining districts of the State. She met with scorn, ridicule, threats of violence, and more than once was pelted with rotten eggs and stones, in the midst of a speech. But she went through it all with the calmness and coolness of an experienced warrior. One of the committee admitted afterward that Miss Dickinson was sent through that district because no man dared to go. She returned home after weeks of hard labor and intense excitement, weary and exhausted, and though all agreed that the Republican victory in that State was largely due to her influence, the committee forgot their promises, and, to this hour, have never paid her one cent for her valuable services. Their excuse was, that the fund had been used up in paying other speakers. As if a dozen honorable men could not have raised something in an hour of victory to reward this brave and faithful girl. During the winters of 1863 and 1864, she received invitations, from the State Legislatures of Ohio and Pennsylvania, to speak in their capitals at Columbus and Harrisburg. In January, 1864, she made her first address in Washingtan. Though she now believed that her success as an orator was established, yet she hesitated long before accepting this invitation. To speak before the President, Chief Justice, Senators, Congressmen, Foreign Diplomats, all the dignitaries and honorables of the government, was one of the most trying ordeals in her experience. She had one of the largest and most brilliant audiences ever assembled in the capitol, and was fully equal to the occasion. She made a profound impression, and was the topic of conversation [505] for days afterwards. At the close of the meeting, she was presented to the President and other dignitaries,, and, the next day, had a pleasant interview with the President at the White House.
As this was one of the greatest occasions of her life, and as she was honored as no man in the nation ever had been, it may be satisfactory to all American women to know by whom she was invited and how she acquitted herself. Accordingly, I give the invitation and some comments of the press.
To Miss Anna E. Dickinson, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Miss Dickinson,
Heartily appreciating the value of your services in the campaigns in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the qualities that have combined to give you the deservedly high reputation you enjoy; and desiring as well to testify that appreciation as to secure ourselves the pleasure of hearing you, we unite in cordially inviting you to deliver an address this winter at the capital, at some time suited to your own convenience.
Washington, D. C., December 16, 1863.
H. Hamlin, J. H. Lane, James Dixon, Charles Sumner, H. B. Anthony, Henry Wilson, John Sherman, Ira Harris, Ben. F. Wade, and sixteen other Senators. Schuyler Colfax, A. C. Wilder, Thaddeus Stevens, Henry C. Deming, William D. Kelley, Robert C. Schenck, J. A. Garfield, R. B. Van Valkenburg, and seventy other Representatives.
Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the United States Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives Hons. J. H. Lane, James Dixon, Charles Sumner, H. B. Anthony, Henry Wilson, John Sherman, A. C. Wilder, Thaddeus Stevens, Henry C. Deming, William D. Kelley. Robert C. Schenck, J. A. Garfield, and others:
Gentlemen,--I thank you sincerely for the great and most unexpected honor which you have conferred upon me by your kind invitation to speak in Washington.
Accepting it, I would suggest the 16th of January, as the time; desiring the proceeds to be devoted to the help of the suffering freedmen.
Truly yours, Anna E. Dickinson. 1710 Locust St., Philadelphia, Jan. 7, 1864.
The House of Representatives, by a remarkably large vote, have tendered Miss Dickinson the use of their hall for the occasion.
Admission to the floor of the House, $1 00; to the galleries, 50 cents. Tickets for sale at the principal hotels and bookstores.
Miss Anna Dickinson's lecture in Washington. [from the regular correspondent of the evening Post.]
Washington, Jan. 17, 1864.
Miss Dickinson's lecture in the Hall of the House of Representatives, last night, was a gratifying success and a splendid personal triumph. She can hardly fail to regard it as the most flattering ovation — for such it was — of her life. Long before the hour designated in the newspapers for the commencement of the lecture the hall was filled, the capacious galleries as well as the floor. Seats for five hundred persons had been arranged upon the floor, and the tickets-one dollar each — were sold by noon of Saturday.
A large number of Congressmen were present with their wives and daughters, and many of the leading men of the departments. Here and there an opposition member was visible, but so few in number as to make those who were present unpleasantly conspicuous. At precisely half-past 7 Miss Dickinson came in, escorted by Vice-President Hamlin and Speaker Colfax. A platform had been built directly over the desk of the official reporters, and in front of the clerk's desk, from which the lecturer spoke. Mr. Hamlin sat upon her right and Mr. Colfax upon her left. She was greeted with loud cheers as she came in, and Mr. Hamlin introduced her to the select audience in a neat speech, in which he very happily compared her to. the Maid of Orleans.
This scene was one which would evidently test severely the powers of a most accomplished orator, for the audience was not composed of the enthusiastic masses of the people, but rather of loungers, office-holders, orators, critics, and men of the world. But the fair speaker did not seem to be embarrassed in the least,--not even by the movements of a crazy man in the galleries, who carried a flag, which he waved over her head when she uttered any sentiment particularly stirring or eloquent.
At eight o'clock Mr.Lincoln and Mrs. Lincoln came in, and not even the utterance of a fervid passage in the lecture could repress the enthusiasm of the audience. It was a somewhat amusing fact that just as the president entered the hall, she was criticising, with some sharpness, his Amnesty Proclamation and the Supreme Court; and the audience, as if feeling it to be their duty to applaud a just sentiment, even at the expense of courtesy, sustained the criticism with a round of deafening cheers. The crazy man in the gallery, as if electrified by the courage of the young woman, waved his flag to and fro with frantic delight. Mr. Lincoln sat meekly through it, not in the least displeased. Perhaps he knew that sweets were to come, but whether he did or not, they did come, for Miss Dickinson soon alluded to him and his course as president, and nominated him as his own successor in 1865. The popularity of the president in Washington was duly attested by volleys of cheers.
The lecture itself was an eloquent one, and it was delivered very finely. Miss Dickinson has evidently made a most favorable impression upon Congress and the people of Washington. After the lecture was finished the audience called lustily for Mr. Lincoln to speak, but he edged his way out of the crowd to a side door, telling the vice-president on his way out that he was too much embarrassed to speak; which statement, made known [507] to the people present by Mr. Hamlin, caused much laughter. The “ freedmen” will obtain over one thousand dollars as the solid result of the lecture; those present as hearers were delighted; and Miss Dickinson has the consolation of feeling not only that she has aided a good cause, but that she has achieved a fine personal triumph. B.
Miss Dickinson's lecture in Washington
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Freedmen's Relief Society of the District of Columbia held on the 26th of January, 1864, the following letter was read:--
Washington, January 23, 1864.
Rev. W. H. Channing:
Sir,--We have the honor to enclose herewith a draft for ten hundred and thirty dollars, being the proceeds of the lecture delivered by Miss Anna E. Dickinson, in the House of Representatives, on Saturday evening, the 16th inst.
It is the special request of Miss Dickinson that this fund be appropriated for the benefit of the National Freedmen's Relief Society of the District of Columbia, of which you are the vice-president.
It was in response to an invitation of members of Congress that Miss Dickinson delivered her lecture at the capitol. Her benevolence and patriotism evinced in this gift entitle her to the gratitude not only of those who are the recipients of her munificence, but of every lover of his country.
Very respectfully, your obedient servants, H. Hamlin, Schuyler Colfax.
Immediately upon her return from Washington, she was invited by a large number of the leading citizens of Philadelphia to repeat her Washington address in the Academy of Music, to which she replied :--
Messrs. Arch. Getty, Alex. G. Cattell, Thos. Allman, Edmund A. Souder, and others:
Gentlemen,--I thank you heartily for the honor conferred on me by your most kind invitation, and for the added pleasure of receiving it from my own city of Philadelphia. I would name Wednesday, the 27th inst., as the time.
Truly yours, Anna E. Dickinson, Washington, D. C., January 20, 1864.
The profound impression she made at Washington greatly heightened her rapidly increasing reputation, and she was urged to deliver that address both in New York and Boston. [508]
In Boston, George Thompson, the eloquent English orator and member of Parliament, paid this beautiful tribute to her genius:--
If one unaccustomed to public speaking is ever placed in an embarrassing position, it is when he is called upon, as I am now, to address an audience that has been so charmed and highly excited by such eloquence as that which it has been your privilege and my privilege to listen to to-night. Shakespeare says, “As when some actor who has crossed the stage retires, the eye looks listlessly to see who follows next;” and so I come before you to-night. I have nothing to address to you to-night, nothing. I have been spellbound. America, be proud of your daughter! Were she my countrywoman, I should be proud of my country for her sake. Appreciate her, reward her by following her counsels. I must confess, long accustomed as I have been to public meetings, and hearing the best eloquence on either side of the Atlantic, and to hearing those who are esteemed our most gifted men in Parliament, I have listened to no speech which, for its pathos, its argument, its satire, its eloquence, its humor, its sarcasm, and its well-directed denunciations, has ever been surpassed by any I have heard before. I pray God that the life of this lady may be spared, that she may. see the desire of her heart in the unanimous adoption by her fellow-citizens of the great principles she has enunciated to-night. Give me America free from slavery. Give me America in which shall be established universally, as your lecturer has said to-night, without distinction of clime, color, class, or condition, liberty for all, government by all and for all.
Her reputation was now thoroughly established, and during that winter she addressed lyceums nearly every night at a hundred dollars. “Chicago; or, the last ditch,” was the title of the lecture she delivered in all our Northern cities. In the spring she made a few campaign speeches in Connecticut. She used what influence she had to prevent the renomination of Mr. Lincoln; for she distrusted his plan of reconstruction, after an interview with him, in which he read to her his correspondence with General Banks, then military commander at New Orleans. She was convinced in that interview that in his policy he was looking to a re-election instead of maturing sound measures for reconstruction. During that presidential campaign, though she continually laid bare the record of the Democratic party, the treason of its leaders and generals, and its want of loyalty during the war, yet she had [509] no word of praise for Mr. Lincoln. She never took his name upon her lips, except to state facts of history, after the Baltimore Convention, until his death. She was invited to go to California during that campaign, and offered thousands of dollars, if she would go there and speak for Mr. Lincoln; which she declined. At the opening of the lyceum course that fall, in consequence of her position with reference to the Republican nominee, she had not a dozen invitations for the winter; but, as the season advanced, they began to come in as usual, showing that the committees had withheld them during the months preceding the election, hoping, no doubt, to awe her to silence on Mr. Lincoln. In 1865, she spoke in Philadelphia on the Lincoln monument, and cleared a thousand dollars, which she gave to Alexander Henry, the mayor, to be appropriated for that purpose. On this occasion, she paid a beautiful tribute to the many virtues of our martyred president, delicately making no mention of his faults.
One of the most powerful and impressive appeals that she ever made was in the Convention of Southern Loyalists, held in Philadelphia in September, 1866. In this convention there was a division of opinion between the Border and the Gulf States. The latter wanted to incorporate “negro suffrage” in their platform, as that was the only means of success for the liberal party at the South. The former, manipulated by Northern politicians, opposed that measure, lest it should defeat the Republican party in the pending elections at the North. This stultification of principle, of radical public sentiment, stirred the soul of Anna, and she desired to speak in the convention. But a rule that none but delegates should be allowed that privilege prevented her. However, as the Southern men had never heard a woman in public, and felt great curiosity to hear her, they adjourned the convention, resolved themselves into a committee of the whole, and invited her to address them. The following sketch from an eyewitness [510] will give some idea of the effect she produced on Southern men--
A good-natured view
Of some matters in and about the Convention is given in the following spicy letter of James Redpath to the Boston Traveller: --
The address of Anna E. Dickinson.
Philadelphia, Sept. 7.
My last despatch from the Convention predicted that the border statesmen would receive a lecture from Anna Dickinson, and stated that they acted as if they anticipated it. This prediction was formed from the appearance of the Maryland delegation, and a knowledge of the character of the orator; and it was fulfilled.
It was curious to note the audience. There sat, directly in front of the platform, three or four hundred Southern men, few of whom had ever heard a woman speak,--few of whom could debate, when antagonistic views were advanced, without the grossest personal vituperation.
Their ideal of controversial oratory was with them, and sitting at the right hand of the young maiden as she stepped forward to deliver a speech as denunciatory as ever he uttered, but as free from offensive personal allusions as any oration can be. It was Brownlow, the bitterest and foulest-tongued man in the South. On her left sat John Minor Botts, with his lips tightly compressed, and his face telling plainly that he remained there from courtesy, but would remain a patient listener to the speech.
She began; and, for the first time since it met, the Convention was so still that the faintest whisper could be heard. She had not spoken long before she declared that Maryland had no-business in the Convention, but ought to have been with the delegates who came to welcome. There was vehement applause from the border States.
“ That is a direct insult!” shouted a delegate from Maryland.
She went on without regarding these coarse interruptions, reviewing the conduct of the border States with scorn, and talking, with an eloquence I never heard equalled in any previous effort, in favor of an open, hearty, manly declaration of the real opinion of the Convention for justice to the colored loyalist, not in the courts only, but at the ballot-box.
There was none of the flippancy or pertness which sometimes disfigures her public speeches. It was her noblest style throughout,--bold but tender, and often so pathetic that she brought tears to every eye. Every word came through her heart, and it went right to the hearts of all. Kentucky and Maryland now listened as eagerly as Georgia and Alabama.
Brownlow's iron features and Botts' rigid face soon relaxed, and tears stood in the old Virginian's eyes more than once, while the noble Tennesseean moved his place, and gazed at the inspired girl with an interest and wonderment which no other orator had brought to the fanatic's hard face.
She had the audience in hand as easily as a mother holds her child; and, like the child, this audience heard her heart beat. It was ennobled thereby. It was really a marvellous speech. The fullest report of it would not do it justice, because the greatness lay in its manner and its effect, as well as in its argument. [511]
When she finished, one after another Southern delegate came forward, and pinned on her dress the badges of their States, until she wore the gifts of Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and Maryland.
There have been many speculations in public and private as to the authorship of Anna Dickinson's speeches. They have been attributed to Wendell Phillips, Charles Sumner, George W. Curtis, and Judge Kelley. Those who know Anna's conversational power, who have felt the magnetism of her words and manners, and the pulsations of her generous heart, who have heard her impromptu replies when assailed, see at once that her speeches are the natural outgrowth of herself, her own experience and philosophy, inspired by the eventful times in which she lived.
As well ask if Joan of Arc drew her inspiration from the warriors of her day. It was no man's wish or will that Anna Dickinson uttered the highest thought in American politics in this crisis of our nation's history; that she pointed out the cause and remedy of the war, and unveiled treason in the army and the White House. While, in the camp and hospital, she spoke words of tenderness and love to the sick and dying, she did not hesitate to rebuke the incapacity and iniquity of those in high places. She was among the first to distrust McClellan and Lincoln, and in a lecture entitled “My policy” to unveil his successor, Andrew Johnson, to the people. She saw the sceptre of power grasped by the party of freedom, and the first gun fired at Sumter, in defence of slavery. She saw the dawn of the glorious day of emancipation, when four million American slaves were set free, and that night of gloom, when the darkest page in American history was written in the blood of its chief. She saw our armies go forth to battle, the youth, the promise, the hope of the — nation,--two million strong,--and saw them return, with their ranks thinned and broken, their flags tattered and stained, the maimed, halt, [512] and blind, the weary and worn; and this, she said, is the price of liberty. Through the nation's agony was this girl born into a knowledge of her power; and she drew her inspiration from the great events of her day. Her heroic courage, indomitable will, brilliant imagination, religious earnestness, and prophetic forecast, gave her an utterance that no man's thought could paint or inspire.
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