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Julian Pettifer
1 Shows
4 Books / Tapes
Busman's Holiday
The Country Game
It's Patently Obvious
Much-travelled presenter and reporter who began his TV career at Southern Television as an announcer. He later joined ITN but moved to the BBC and in the 1960s was a regular reporter for Tonight and Panorama. Later moved his attention to environmental affairs, writing and presenting Nature, "Nature Watch" and The Living Isles. Nowadays, can sometimes be heard as stand-in host of Gardener's Question Time.
He won the 1968 BAFTA Reporter of the Year award for his reports from Vietnam.
He was one of the first faces to appear on the opening night of Southern Television on Saturday 30th August 1958, presenting a live outside broadcast from a yacht in the Solent. Unfortunately, the OB scanner broke down part way through his first link!
He was appointed OBE in the 2010 Queen's birthday honours.
Books / Tapes
Diamonds In The Sky: A Social History Of Air Travel
Internet Movie Database entry
Retrieved from "http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Julian_Pettifer"
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Maintaining Safe Mobility in an Aging Society
UMTRI researchers write the book on safe mobility for older adults
By 2030, 60 million drivers worldwide will be 65 years of age or older.
UMTRI researchers David W. Eby and Lisa Molnar, and Paula S. Kartje of the University of Michigan Health System, have written a book that addresses the complex issues surrounding the booming number of aging drivers. Maintaining Safe Mobility in an Aging Society provides practical solutions for sustaining safe mobility for this growing group.
The book serves as a complete resource for those providing services to seniors as well as those responsible for transportation policy. It takes a hard look at the skills related to safe driving and how they can be compromised by aging, and provides a comprehensive description of assessment practices, issues, and tools. It includes information to help older adults transition from full driving to driving cessation, and explores various means by which aging individuals can maintain safe mobility.
"The idea for this book arose from frequent requests we received from academic departments at the University of Michigan, practitioners outside the University, and community groups to present information on aging and mobility. We realized that there was no single source that drew together the diverse topics encompassing aging and safe mobility," says Eby, the book's lead author.
The book is organized into four parts. The first part presents an overview of aging and mobility issues and presents a framework for these issues. ]The second part discusses the current knowledge on the effects of conditions and medications on driving and crash risk. The third part discusses the issues and practices of driver screening and assessment and concludes with discussions of driver licensing policy issues. The final part covers topics related to maintaining safe mobility in older adulthood.
Maintaining Safe Mobility in an Aging Society is currently being published and will be released in the next few weeks through CRC Press.
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USA.com / New York / Westchester County / New Rochelle, NY / 10801
Basic InfoPopulation/RacesIncome/CareersHousingEducationOthers
10801 zip code is located in southeast New York. 10801 zip code is part of Westchester County. 10801 zip code has 3.42 square miles of land area and 0.02 square miles of water area. As of 2010-2014, the total 10801 zip code population is 41,265, which has grown 13.61% since 2000. The population growth rate is much higher than the state average rate of 3.26% and is higher than the national average rate of 11.61%. 10801 zip code median household income is $58,280 in 2010-2014 and has grown by 37.81% since 2000. The income growth rate is higher than the state average rate of 35.25% and is higher than the national average rate of 27.36%. 10801 zip code median house value is $460,700 in 2010-2014 and has grown by 76.85% since 2000. The house value growth rate is lower than the state average rate of 90.79% and is much higher than the national average rate of 46.91%. As a reference, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate for the same period is 26.63%. On average, the public school district that covers 10801 zip code is worse than the state average in quality. The 10801 zip code area code is 914.
Population 41,265 (2010-2014), rank #128
Population Growth 13.61% since 2000, rank #290
Population Density: 12,022.87/sq mi, rank #168
Median Household Income: $58,280 at 2010-2014—37.81% increase since 2000, see rank
Median House Price: $460,700 at 2010-2014—76.85% increase since 2000, see rank
Time Zone: Eastern GMT -5:00 with Daylight Saving in the Summer
Land Area: 3.42 sq mi, rank #1249
Water Area: 0.02 sq mi (0.44%), rank #1211
Area: New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
County: Westchester County
City: New Rochelle
School District: , rank #1713
Fastest / Slowest Growing Cities in NY
High / Low NY Cities by Males Employed
High / Low NY Cities by Females Employed
Best / Worst Cities by Crime Rate in NY
Richest / Poorest Cities by Income in NY
Expensive / Cheapest Homes by City in NY
Most / Least Educated Cities in NY
10801 Zip Code Map, Border, and Nearby Locations
Population and Races
Income and Careers
New York, Northern New Jersey, Long Island Area
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Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me, by Andy Martin
Latest Books, Nonfiction
December 31, 2015 by Nancy Bilyeau
By Nancy Bilyeau
In 1763 a noticeably nervous James Boswell made the acquaintance of poet-editor-essayist-lexicographer Samuel Johnson in Davies’ Bookshop in Covent Garden. Boswell’s subsequent years of intense observation of the great man led to the publication of the momentous Life of Samuel Johnson, a landmark in literary biography.
More than two centuries later, Andy Martin’s approach to Lee Child worked a bit differently. On Aug. 22, 2014, Martin, an author and Cambridge lecturer, sent an eloquent and amusing 320-word email to the bestselling author proposing “a kind of literary criticism in real time” by his coming to New York City to observe Child writing his 20th book. The next-day email response: “Very interesting idea. Much to discuss. Detailed answer Tuesday from New York. Lee.”
After not too much more back and forth, Child agreed to Martin’s proposal and the result is REACHER SAID NOTHING: LEE CHILD AND THE MAKING OF MAKE ME (with a quote opening the book from Boswell). It is a fascinating book that not only shows exactly how the sausage is made in the creation of a Lee Child novel but also reveals, with complete honesty, how Martin pulled off such an unusual project. Observing Child in action was not without its challenges. In Chapter 21, we learn that Child’s publishing team was having second thoughts about Martin’s book. “They think I should stop talking to you,” Lee informed him. “They are worried that the stuff you are writing is going to be picked up and turned into a thousand different ways of destroying me.” Fortunately, Martin’s research did not stop there; he was able to follow Child for a year through his creative process. And there is no destruction. From literally watching the author come up with his sentences and imagine his plot to tagging along on his book tour appearances and conference dates, Martin is present.
We asked Martin to take us behind the scenes of his going behind the scenes, and he graciously complied.
Why did you choose Lee Child as your subject and not the author of another type of successful genre or an author of literary fiction? Why Lee?
Lee Child & Andy Martin
Lee Child was not the first writer I thought of. He was third. The first two were Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. So I guess Lee was the first living author. But he reminded me a lot of the other two. There was something about his style or his voice or maybe just his attitude that I don’t find in Jonathan Franzen. And he said “Yes.” So that helped. And he was starting the following week. The pieces just fell into place. Almost like a novel.
Almost! I sensed throughout the book that you admire Lee’s method of working, his being fueled by pure spontaneous inspiration and no advance outlining, but that his essential fiction high-wire life shocked you, even intimidated you. Is that accurate?
If you think in terms of Star Wars, it’s like watching a guy who has the Force with him. Somewhere between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. Maybe with a touch of the Dark Side, come to think of it. I would describe my own feelings as more awestruck and a little mystified. I was watching a writer with a hotline straight to the muse. That is always going to be impressive.
Do you think of the art of storytelling in a different way after observing Lee?
It’s paleo-literature. Mythic realism. It’s not just that Reacher is a bit of a primitive–”a gorilla who can paint”–but that the Child oeuvre packs in a lot of evolutionary history. You can almost feel the nomadic hunter gatherers roaming around the savanna and huddling in a cave listening to tales of bravery and derring-do.
You seem ambivalent about the mystery/thriller genre. You describe Bouchercon as the scene of a “noir literary underworld, desperately looking for the clue that would make sense of it all.” Do you mean the clue to creating a great book or the clue to making money?
I’m ambivalent about the very notion of a genre. I like what Reacher says in Make Me, when he wanders into a bookstore, still reeling from concussion, and says that there are only two kinds of book: “Either shit happens or it doesn’t.” Bouchercon was a great party. I liked the idea of there being a certain unresolvable mystery attached to all those whose fundamental belief system hinges on resolving mysteries.
In the book you evidenced a lot of compassion for authors who struggle for success and are envious of Lee. What will they take away from your book?
Just about everyone is less successful than Lee. He never disses other writers (OK, almost never–I can think of one big exception). I remember one line of his that I think other writers (including me) should keep in mind: “Name any author. He/she is the best in the world at writing his or her own book.” One more line of his that sticks in the mind: “This is not the first draft–it’s the ONLY draft.” Maybe the rest of us tend to overdo the re-drafting.
Thriller authors are often patronized by the literary community. At one point you said that Lee perhaps accorded you too much respect because of your Cambridge degree. Do you think that if thriller authors are intellectually underrated by society, academics are overrated?
Academics are definitely not overrated by me. Yes, Lee loves academics for their fanaticism. Which is benevolent of him. But there is a real intellectual issue at the core. Jacques Derrida, my old mentor, reckoned there was nothing beyond the text; Lee thinks, in contrast, that there is nothing beyond the voice. The voice is more individual, it has a kind of DNA; the text tends towards the generic and the anonymous. The art of the author lies somewhere between.
Lee has said one of the reasons he agreed to cooperate with your book is he wanted people to understand how hard authors work. Why do you think so many people don’t believe that crafting these novels is difficult?
Fact: There are one or two people out there who are overseeing production in a writing factory. It’s hard, but it’s not quite the same thing that someone like Lee is doing. But beyond that I think there is a widespread myth of the ‘formula’- the secret plot structure. It’s like saying once you’ve worked out it’s fourteen lines, the sonnet is a piece of cake. It isn’t.
Do you think that the cost of Lee Child’s enormous success is having to answer Tom Cruise questions wherever he goes?
He should have a sign around his neck saying, NO MORE TOM CRUISE QUESTIONS, PLEASE! I did suggest he might like to have Tom Cruise play him in the movie of my book. I thought that would be fair. His counter-proposal is Jeremy Irons. I’ve already reserved Liam Neeson for me (OK, with glasses, but still…).
Andy Martin is a British author and academic. He is a regular contributor to BBC radio programmes and sometimes writes for “The Stone” and “Opinionator” columns in The New York Times.
To learn more about Andy Martin, please visit his website.
Photograph of Andy Martin and Lee Child, subway station, by JESSICA LEHRMAN.
Nancy Bilyeau
Nancy Bilyeau has worked in the magazine business for more than 20 years, with staff jobs at Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and InStyle and is currently the deputy editor of The Crime Report, at the Center on Media, Crime and Justice. She is the author of The Crown, The Chalice, and The Tapestry, a series set in 16th century England. Her new historical thriller, THE BLUE, set in the art and porcelain world of 18th century England and France, will be published in the U.S. and the UK in December 2018. For more information, go to www.nancybilyeau.com
Latest posts by Nancy Bilyeau (see all)
Up Close: Wendy Webb by Nancy Bilyeau - October 31, 2018
Between the Lines: J. D. Barker - September 30, 2018
Up Close: Brenda Novak - September 30, 2018
True Deception by Veronica Forand
A Particular Darkness by Robert E. Dunn
Spider Game by Christine Feehan
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100 Years of Jazz - Disc 02: New Orleans/Chicago/New York (1999)
Sobota, 10 Listopad 2018 08:55 | Wpisany przez bluesever |
1. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band – Chimes Blues (02:54)
2. Celestin's Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra – Station Calls (02:53)
3. Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Dodds, Blind Blake & Jimmy Bertrand – South Bound Rag (03:19)
4. Freddie Keppard – Salty Dog (02:47)
5. Clarence Williams’ Blue Five – Wild Cat Blues (03:02)
6. Tommy Ladnier & Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders – Travelling Blues (02:40)
7. Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five – West End Blues (03:11)
8. Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines – Weather Bird (02:43)
9. Piron's New Orleans Orchestra – Bouncing Around (02:45)
10. Jesse Stone and His Blues Serenaders – Starvation Blues (03:20)
11. King Oliver and His Dixie Syncopators – Tin Roof Blues (02:55)
12. Jelly Roll Morton Trio – Mr. Jelly Lord (02:52)
13. Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers – Someday Sweetheart Blues (03:31)
14. Jimmie Noone & His Orchestra – Bump It (03:23)
15. Clarence Williams and His Orchestra – Long Deep and Wide (02:56)
16. Bertha "Chippie" Hill, Shirley Clay & Artie Starks – Trouble in Mind Blues (03:10)
17. Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Green & Fletcher Henderson – Careless Love Blues (03:27)
18. Jelly Roll Morton – Mamie's Blues (03:17)
19. Pinetop Smith – Pinetop's Boogie Woogie (03:21)
20. The Washingtonians – East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (03:06)
When W. C. Handy, then living in Memphis, was invited to bring a 12-piece band to New York to record for Columbia, he could find only four musicians willing to make the trip. He traveled to Chicago to fill the remaining spots, but encountered hesitancy and suspicion there, too. “Like Memphians, Chicago musicians had never heard of a colored band traveling to and from New York to make records,” he later recalled. When Freddie Keppard had a chance to make the first jazz recordings for Victor in 1916, he also expressed reservations, but for a different reason. “Nothin’ doin’ boys,” he told his bandmates. “We won’t put our stuff on records for everybody to steal.”
Meantime, jazz was taking Chicago by storm. The greatest talents in New Orleans jazz set up shop in the Windy City during the years following World War I. Sidney Bechet moved to Chicago in 1917. Jelly Roll Morton had visited Chicago in 1914 and would later return for a long stay—the city served as his home base when he made his most important recordings in the 1920s. King Oliver first found widespread acclaim as a Chicago bandleader during that same period, and Louis Armstrong first came to public attention as a member of Oliver’s ensemble, while it was performing in Chicago.
Why did jazz ever leave New Orleans? Today, that city still tries to build tourism claims around its jazz heritage, but all the boasting and brochures can’t hide the fact that New Orleans’s jazz scene has been declining for almost 100 years. In 1918, Columbia Records tried to seize the momentum of the first jazz records by sending talent scout Ralph Peer to the Big Easy in search of recording acts, but Peer shocked the home office with his telegram after three weeks on the job: NO JAZZ BANDS IN NEW ORLEANS.
That was a slight exaggeration. A few outstanding jazz players still made their homes in New Orleans. Check out the music that trumpeter Sam Morgan later recorded for Columbia, which testifies to the homegrown talent that stayed in the Crescent City. Nonetheless, the most famous jazz musicians from New Orleans had already left home by the time the public started talking about the “Jazz Age,” and the city wouldn’t come to the forefront of the idiom again until the rise of Wynton Marsalis and others in the 1980s.
The usual reason given for the departure of the first generation of New Orleans talent is the closure of the city’s red-light district in 1917. Without brothels, the story goes, jazz musicians had no place to play. The real history is more complex. True, many musicians did lose gigs as a result of the navy’s determination to clean up New Orleans, but other factors contributed to this exodus, from the influenza epidemic that ravaged the city to sheer wanderlust. But the biggest reason jazz musicians had for moving to Chicago was the simple desire to escape the institutionalized racism of the South and find better economic opportunities. A half-million African-Americans eventually relocated from Southern states to Chicago—musicians, along with everyone else.
New York also saw its black population grow during this period, but its most significant contribution to the jazz idiom in the early 1920s came mainly from local talent. The first native New York jazz style was “Harlem stride,” a rambunctious piano music. The name refers to the striding motion of the performer’s left hand, which dances back and forth from the bottom of the keyboard to the middle register on every beat, as well as to the New York neighborhood where this performance style flourished.
New York native Thomas “Fats” Waller probably did more than anyone to prove that the city didn’t always need to import its jazz talent. He was the most famous of the Harlem stride players, but a host of other brilliant keyboardists—including James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Donald Lambert, Luckey Roberts, and Art Tatum—were also major contributors to the movement. With the exception of Tatum, all these musicians were born in the Northeast.
I suspect that Duke Ellington’s decision to move from Washington, D.C., to Harlem in the early 1920s—in retrospect, a turning point in jazz history—was spurred by the vibrancy of the local piano tradition. At that juncture, Chicago still would have been the favored destination for most aspiring jazz talents, but as a professional pianist immersed in the stride tradition, Ellington had different priorities. ---Ted Gioia, city-journal.org
yandex mediafire ulozto gett
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The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA) recently announced that Hope Chernak as its new Chief Program Officer. Hope has been a part of the MJCCA staff for the past year serving as the Executive Director of JUMPSPARK: the Atlanta Jewish Teen Initiative (AJTI). AJTI is a partnership program with the MJCCA, Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta (JFGA), and Atlanta Rabbinical Association (ARA).
“I am pleased to welcome Hope to her new capacity at the MJCCA,” said MJCCA CEO Jared Powers, “Hope’s combination of experience working within the Jewish community, her passion for sports, and her extensive background in Jewish education makes her a perfect fit for this position.”
“I am thrilled to accept this position as the Chief Program Officer of the MJCCA,” said Hope. “One of my primary objectives as incoming CPO is to enhance the MJCCA’s comprehensive array of programs and services, which includes building on the already exceptional outreach programming for the greater Atlanta community.”
Prior to moving to Atlanta, Hope spent 15 years in New York City, serving as the Managing Director of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) and as the Director of Youth and Informal Education & Israel Programs at Temple Shaaray Tefila. Hope grew up in Orlando, and spent eight summers on staff at Camp Coleman. Her career in Jewish communal work began at age 16 at the Roth JCC of Greater Orlando as a day camp counselor.
Hope brings a unique enthusiasm for sports to this role as she was a collegiate athlete, receiving scholarships for basketball, soccer and cross-country. She earned a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Management and Marketing at Webber International University. She formalized her academic training earning an M.A. degree in Religious Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the title Reform Jewish Educator (RJE). Hope was a 2016 recipient of the Grinspoon North American Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.
Success in school … Success in life
Wesleyan School
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TRY THIS: Rick & Morty
Tonight, there's a new addition to Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's mature counterpart. Rick and Morty has been in development for quite some time, but presented at last summer's TCA tour, so many have been looking forward to it with more enthusiasm for a few months now. Be sure to try it out tonight at 10:30pm ET/PT.
The animated series features an alcoholic genius inventor with a dopey grandson taking adventures together, with both characters being voiced by co-creator and executive producer Justin Roiland. The link between them, Morty's father, will be voiced by Chris Parnell, whom Roiland considers a "great match" for the character, comparing the brilliance to that of Garfield and Jon.
At the July presentation, he noted that the format of the program will look like "every episode is its own mini-movie," and that, although it's a very episodic series, there will be some tiny serialized narratives. As Adult Swim expands into Primetime, series like this may begin to have more airtime, assuming that viewers enjoy the antics of this duo. However, if Roiland's comments are any indication of what audiences may expect, there will be no easy copycats, either: "Every episode is as unique as we could think to make them."
Fortunately, as an animated series, Roiland did not need to design too many sets to be built, though it does utilize "a billion" new backgrounds, characters, and locations, which requires animators to work much harder than on other series (think FOX's Animation Domination lineup), which can often re-use images to save time.
Roiland further elaborated by noting that the series will pay homage to various science fiction tropes, and features quite a few guest voices as well. Be sure to listen for Sarah Chalke and Spencer Grammar, among others.
by Amy K. Bredemeyer at 8:00 AM Topics: Amy K. Bredemeyer, news, Rick and Morty
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B.C. companies in Eritrea at risk of using forced labour, watchdog claims
Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun 01.15.2013
Nevsun Resources’ Bisha mine site in Eritrea.
A Vancouver-based mining company is not doing enough to stop serious human-rights abuses, including the exploitation of forced labour, from taking place at its gold-mining operations in the impoverished and politically repressive African country of Eritrea, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The report, made public Jan. 15, names Nevsun Resources among a growing list of international mining firms “rushing to invest” in Eritrea’s burgeoning mineral sector, which includes deposits of gold, silver, copper, zinc and potash.
It states the Howe Street company failed to ensure Eritrean citizens conscripted into government service would not be used as forced labour during initial construction of the Bisha Mine in 2008.
And though it later look steps to strengthen its labour policies, Nevsun has struggled to effectively address reports of worker abuse linked to one of its construction contractors, the government-owned Segen Construction Company.
Former Segen workers at the Bisha site interviewed by Human Rights Watch staff said conscript workers were subjected to 12-hour work days, low pay and poor food and housing.
“The climate of fear was intense because of suspected retaliation for challenging practices the government undoubtedly was aware of,” the report states.
In one instance, a man told Human Rights Watch staff he’d been imprisoned for four months after leaving the Bisha site without permission to attend the funeral of a grandparent’s funeral.
Bisha is the first and, as of October 2012, only major operational mine in Eritrea.
Nevsun owns a 60-per-cent stake in the mine. The company issued a media release Friday defending its “strong practices and procedures to ensure that all individuals at Bisha are working of their own free will and are not conscripts.”
The use of conscript or forced labour in Eritrea is a widespread human-rights concern, according to Human Rights Watch.
The government enforces a “national service” program that conscripts young men and women primarily into military duties for a period of 18 months.
In many cases, the international human-rights watchdog said, people have been forced into indefinite service, with conscripts assigned to state-owned construction companies and forced to work under harsh and abusive conditions for years.
“Conscripts who attempt to escape their service face imprisonment, torture and other forms of human-rights abuse. Their family members also face harassment and reprisal,” the report said.
Segen is noted in the report to have a long track record exploiting forced labour.
Nevsun CEO Cliff Davis said the company first learned of allegations of forced labour related to Segen in 2009 and “reacted immediately” to remedy the problem.
Company procedures now demand all Eritreans at Bisha show documents to prove they have been discharged from national service. As well, employees at Bisha, including those working for contractors, mush carry photo identification cards.
“Clearly we do not employ any conscripted labour and our contractor doesn’t employ any conscripted labour, and what we’ve got are procedures in place to ensure, the best we can, that no one on our site is conscripted labour,” Davis said.
Human Rights Watch has acknowledged Nevsun’s efforts in Eritrea to support human rights of local workers.
“They have been quite open with us (and) the dialogue has been quite proactive, which is refreshing,” said Felix Horne, an Ottawa-based researcher with the organization.
But concerns around Segen and its continued presence at Bisha persist. Specifically, Human Rights Watch has questioned living conditions of Segen employees, noting Nevsun has been restricted from visiting the housing site. It also notes Segen has refused Nevsun’s requests to interview employees to verify they are working at Bisha voluntarily.
About 140 Segen workers remain on the Bisha site, with construction expected to wrap up this year, said Davis.
He said the Nevsun, which has been working in Eritrea since the late 1990s, is required by the government to use Segen.
“We’re not licensed to do construction. They have a licensing process. They have their own laws and requirements. They simply require us to use them,” he said.
“With hindsight, at the very start, we could have done better,” Davis said. “But as soon as we were made aware of these allegations we reacted immediately and we believe we fixed the problem.”
Horne said the Human Rights Watch report highlights the significant risk international companies in Eritrea face if they don’t take strong steps to monitor and regulate the human-rights performance of domestic companies involved in their projects.
“These companies need to take really strong proactive steps to identify the human-rights risks and mitigate those risks before they begin development of the mine and they should refuse to do business with any state-owned contractor that has been implicated in the use of (forced) labour,” Horne said. “They can’t say they don’t know.”
Three other international firms are also developing mining projects in Eritrea, including the Vancouver-based Sunridge Gold Corp.
Sunridge Gold has been actively exploring for copper-zinc-gold-silver mineral deposits in Eritrea since 2003, and plans begin mining production in 2015.
Michael Hopley, Sunridge CEO, said in an email the company “is not using and has not used in the past government-owned subcontractors that may use national service conscripts to complete their work.”
Hopley said Eritrean employees on site are “well paid, well trained and they and their families have access to medical care.”
In its media release, Nevsun said the Bisha Mine has contributed more than $400 million in cash remittances to the Eritrean government and government-owned entities since early 2011.
“In addition, the mine contributed tens of millions of dollars to the economy of Eritrea through salaries, wages, benefits, local supply-chain purchases and community assistance and the mine did not displace any local communities,” the releases states.
Human Rights Watch describes Eritrea as a “pariah state,” noting its government “has pursued a path of crushing political repression at home and a belligerent foreign policy, earning few friends.”
“Eritrea is a very repressive country. There is no independent media. There is no independent civil society. There is arbitrary detention and torture of opposition party members. There is just a slew of human-rights violations,” said Horne.
The country is among the poorest in the world, ranking 177th out of 187 countries in the 2011 Human Development Index.
dahansen@vancouversun.com
Twitter.com/darahhansen
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L’Oréal-UNESCO UK & Ireland For Women In Science Fellowship 2014 Award Winners are remarkable women – Professor Pratibha Gai of the University of York and Chair of the Judging Panel
Pratibha Gai, Professor of Chemistry and Physics, Founding Professor of Electron Microscopy and co-director of the York Nanocentre at the University of York chaired the judging panel for the 2014 For Women in Science Awards, announced at the Royal Society in London on 19th June 2014. The awards are run in partnership with the UK National Commission for UNESCO, the Irish National Commission for UNESCO, with the support of the Royal Society.
Professor Pratibha Gai
“…They are deeply talented, committed and hard-working scientists…”
We had an absolutely outstanding shortlist this year, and these four women – Dr. Clémence Blouet, Dr Tracy Briggs, Dr. Eva-Maria Graefe and Dr. Sneha Malde exemplify perfectly what the For Women in Science Fellowships stand for.
They are deeply talented, committed and hard-working scientists, who have huge passion for their research areas. I am excited to see what they all achieve in the coming year, and am confident that the influence and dedication of the female scientific community in the UK is well represented by these remarkable women.
The L’Oréal-UNESCO UK & Ireland For Women In Science Fellowship 2014 Award winners (pictured left to right in the main image above are):
Dr. Eva-Maria Graefe, Imperial College London, ‘Engineering holes in quantum systems’
Dr. Clémence Blouet, University of Cambridge, ‘The consequences of high-fat intake on the hypothalamus and the mechanism behind obesity.’
Dr Tracy Briggs, University of Manchester, ‘Understanding single-gene disorders that lead to systemic lupus’
Dr. Sneha Malde, University of Oxford, ‘Searching for New Physics through measuring the differences between matter and anti-matter’
Winners from the University of Cambridge, University of Manchester, Imperial College London and University of Oxford were each granted a £15,000 flexible fellowship to help further their research
The four winners stated that they will be using their prize money for a range of support such as equipment, field trips, attendance at conferences, childcare and collaborations.
Of the 289 women who applied for the fellowships, one in four said that they would use the fellowship money to fund childcare, highlighting the unique value of the fellowship in providing flexible funding to support women in science.
http://www.womeninscience.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/4womeninscience
https://www.facebook.com/forwomeninscience
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Kate Edwards, Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association – Developer Satisfaction Survey reports numbers of female developers have doubled over the past five years but “crunch time” is affecting work / life balance →
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Darklands, Aneurysm, Tournament & Tower at Shea Stadium
Another night, another show, Bushwick is one of my favorite places to see a show - especially in that neighborhood around the old Acheron, that walk home certainly invokes the memories. As is - Shea Stadium is a very exciting little venue tucked away in one of the countless warehouse spaces that defines that area. So when you get the opportunity to attend the record release parties of two solid bands in one night, Tournament and the almighty Tower you start to see that you are on track for rock and roll salvation.
Darklands where up first playing a wonderfully suburban brand of pop punk, unafraid to dip into vats of noise and worship the old masters. This is the kind of pop punk that captures the original spirit of the genre, it may not be quite as pissed off as some of their predecessors but that's okay. Instead we get music tailor made for VFW's and back rooms in alternative coffee shops. It certainly tapped into a bit of nostalgia in me. Though they didn't play for long it was hard not to vibe out to what they had done here and made me want to dive back into those old bands, to spin that Menzingers vinyl and look back on our collective youth.
I was pleasantly surprised by Aneurysm who sound like what would happen if Clutch had debuted on Subpop in 1990 and wanted to be a hardcore band. What I'm trying to say is that Aneurysm exist at a perfect crossroads of rock and roll, hardcore and old school grunge. It's groovy and powerful but also vicious enough to keep you on edge. Aneurysm comprehend the burning magic of rock and roll in all of its formations and grow it in their own, very special and powerful way. This is a band who are riding a powerful wave of rock and roll and seem to be hinting at far better things to come in the very near future.
The first highlight of the night was Tournament - though I'd never seen them before I was certainly impressed by their latest release Teenage Creature. They deliver some powerful and wonderfully dirty brand of rock and roll that can't help but to resonate. There is a very human pulse to Tournament's music and the deeper you delve into what they have refined the harder it is to turn away from their waves of sound. They draw you in and refuse to let you out of the otherworldly coffin they create. This is cleansing and pure rock and roll at its finest - destined to keep you on the edge of your seat and in love.
Of course the true triumph of the soiree was Tower, the band who I am quite convinced were sent from the heavens to save rock and roll. This is a band who have the stage presence, the songwriting chops and the sheer manic energy to make the entire genre seem worth it again. In a world where rock and roll often seems flaccid and boring Tower come screaming out with wicked guitar solos, a vicious frontwoman whose voice fucking sparkles and a rhythm section that pushes harder than you thought possible. This is a band who invoke the true spirit of rock and roll, and if they sold their souls for rock and roll I wouldn't be surprised. People go apeshit over Tower and they might be the band to take this entire degenerate scene to a whole new level.
As I walked home I kept repeating to my roommate, "Holy fuck, wasn't Tower amazing?" jumping up and down, unable to contain my excitement. They are the most potent live band I have seen in years and overshadowed everyone else to grace the stage - despite very capable performances on all fronts. Shea Stadium was the perfect venue for this shindig, not only did it remind me of the first time I saw Tower at the Acheron, it also came apart at the seams, showing us that this Brooklyn scene will last for now and forever.
Find the bands on Facebook!
Darklands: https://www.facebook.com/drklndspvd/?fref=ts
Aneurysm: https://www.facebook.com/Puritancandy/?fref=ts
Tournament: https://www.facebook.com/TOURNAMENTBAND/?fref=ts
Tower: https://www.facebook.com/TOWERnyc/?fref=ts
Labels: Concerts, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
charlie puth November 7, 2016 at 10:20 AM
thanks for post
William Braylen November 13, 2016 at 11:00 PM
The inconvenience is, neither of the cooking machines I had in the house were better than average at cooking chicken, meat, sandwiches, pizza, and so on: the microwave's brisk however the sustenance turns out rubbery . The stove on the other had takes much too long to go ahead, I can't see the nourishment when it's in there and it's simply not that functional to turn it on for two or three bits of chicken. Punk rocker Vicious
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Most NC texting charges come from drivers over 25
RALEIGH More than 1,200 drivers have been cited since the law went into effect in December 2009, according to court records reviewed by The Associated Press. Violators face $100 fines, plus court costs.
Brendan Byrnes, who works on the texting issue with AAA Carolinas, said young drivers with a grip on their cell phones have historically been a leading concern for safety advocates. But observers are increasingly seeing problems among adults behind the wheel who feel compelled to stay connected with work through e-mail, which also falls under North Carolina's texting law.
"This is really one of the biggest problems and the hurdles to not only fighting distracted driving but enacting legislation against distracted driving," Byrnes said. He noted that large groups of professionals -- real estate agents, sales personnel, even legislators -- are constantly on the road and want to get work done along the way.
Men account for a slight majority of North Carolina's charges. The average age of those ticketed with texting while driving is 28, according to the AP review. More than half were at least 26 years old when they were cited, including eight people over 60.
Priscilla Blake, of Rock Hill, S.C., was 67 when she was pulled over last year after dropping her niece off at university in Wilmington. She said she doesn't usually text while driving but was feeling sick and decided to try sending off a note to her niece.
Blake didn't know about the North Carolina law, but when a patrolman pulled her over she readily admitted that she was trying to send a message through her phone. She supports that law and thinks it would be useful in South Carolina.
"Texting takes concentration off driving," she said. "If you are texting, you are not looking at the road. Within a second, something could happen."
Sgt. David Sloan, who oversees traffic safety at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, said the ban is difficult for police to enforce because motorists are allowed to dial phone numbers but not messages. He said that forces authorities to take a close look at how long a motorist is tapping the keys on their phone.
Sloan suspects many of the tickets come simply after motorists acknowledge they were texting. Others come after close investigation following a crash. Roughly 700 were cited for other violations at the same time, some for driving while impaired, reckless driving or driving the wrong way.
At least one person appears to have been cited for texting while driving a motorcycle.
Sloan said it would be easier for officers if lawmakers required hands-free devices or banned phones for drivers altogether. That is already a prohibition for drivers under the age of 18.
Guilford County, home of Greensboro, has recorded the most texting-while-driving violations, with 118 through the beginning of this year. Mecklenburg County, home of Charlotte, had 114. Wake County, home of Raleigh, had 107.
AAA believes the number of violators in the state is far too low. A study commissioned by the motorist group last year found that 39 percent of North Carolina drivers admit to texting while driving.
"You've got a huge number of people committing this crime every single day -- in some cases on every car trip they take," Byrnes said.
Trump holds 2020 campaign rally at ECU
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Mistake sets arson suspect free without bond
A mistake made by a magistrate temporarily allowed the 36-year-old to walk free without bond. He was allowed to offer a note with a written promise to appear before a judge, despite the arson charge and his three-page criminal record.
ABC11 Eyewitness News spoke with Chief District Court Judge Robert Rader who said he can't comment on pending cases. However, he said he took action "the moment he heard about it."
Judge Rader said he spoke with the chief magistrate and asked him to make sure all judicial officials are aware of the judicial policies in the district relating to bonds.
The Judge was unable to comment on whether disciplinary actions are underway.
According to Utley's wife, her husband's temper is what led to him set the fire at Leaves and Trees, burning 16 people out of their homes.
"We were celebrating his birthday, and we got into an altercation," she said.
Now, after five years of marriage, she says she's filing for divorce.
Utley is now behind bars under a $2M bond.
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Teacher, 23, found shot to death in Woodlawn
By Leah Hope, Eric Horng and Laura Podesta
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 23-year-old man found shot to death Thursday night near the University of Chicago on the city's South Side was identified by his mother as a teacher who would have turned 24 on Monday.
Xavier Joy was shot several times around 10 p.m. in the parking lot of an apartment building in the 6200-block of South Ingleside in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. Joy was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Joy's mother, Nykea Pippion-McGriff, is absolutely devastated. She said her son was walking home when he was shot - they live two blocks away.
"There are no words. There are absolutely no words for why someone would take my son's life," she said.
"He taught kids and loved children, and... it could have happened to anyone, I guess, but he really didn't deserve it," said Garbiele Sanchez, Joy's girlfriend.
Sanchez said she was on the phone with him moments before he was shot to death after parking his car just two blocks away from home. Joy told her he would call back when he was inside.
"I was going to say, 'Bye, I love you.' And I heard someone say, 'What else do you have?' And I figured it was someone he knew," she said.
His phone, his relatives said, had been stolen.
Pippion-McGriff said he had recently attended Morehouse College in Atlanta for a year, where he played football. She said he was a teacher and mentor to young children.
"He taught for CPS, Evanston public school and worked for city services. This is someone who gave back to their community," Pippion-McGriff said.
"He's always been a good boy. Always been smart. Always been caring," said Tytrea Baker, Joy's grandmother.
CPS said Joy worked as a special education classroom assistant for the 2014-15 school year and has not been employed since that time.
Sanchez said she and Joy often talked about Chicago's violence.
"I was always telling him to be careful. And he said we had to move eventually. We had to move. We couldn't live here for the rest of our lives. It was too much," she said.
Investigators have not said what led to the shooting. Joy's mother said it could have been a robbery. She said the sound of several shots woke her up and she immediately had a feeling that her son was not OK.
"He loved his family. He loved his mom. He loved his dad. He loved all his extended, he loved everybody. And for him to die like this for a phone, really? A phone! I want whoever it is - I forgive you and I pray God forgives you - but this was not necessary!" Baker said.
"Xavier and my son, Arthur, were - are - the light of my life. They're the reason why I exist. I will not stop until I find out what happened," Pippion-McGriff said. "We've got to come together as a community to figure out what can be done to help our youth."
She asked anyone with information on who killed her son to come forward. She said she won't be able to rest until that happens.
A vigil was held at 5 p.m., and was attended by community residents and activists as well as U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush, who all expressed outrage over the shooting.
Joy's father, Ra Joy, released this statement Friday:
"Words cannot express the devastating pain and loss we are all feeling right now. Our oldest son, Xavier Joy, was shot and killed last night in Chicago. Our family is heartbroken by this tragic and senseless shooting. Xavier was an incredibly creative, funny, and smart young man. We hope and pray for an end to the violence that has impacted our family and so many others in our city. Our entire family is grateful for all those who have extended their love and condolences during this very difficult time. We ask for privacy as we grieve and make funeral arrangements."
Ra Joy is the executive director of CHANGE Illinois, a non-partisan coalition which aims to lead systematic political and government reform. CHANGE stands for the Coalition for Honest and New Government Ethics.
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, extended his condolences to Ra Joy and his family.
Jackson called Xavier Joy a "bright light" who lived a "short, meaningful life."
The 23-year-old graduated from one of Chicago's top high schools, Whitney Young. After his time at Morehouse, Jackson said he returned to the city to teach math and reading to under-served children.
Area Central detectives are handling the investigation. No one is in custody.
chicagowoodlawnchicago shootinggun violencechicago violenceman shotman killed
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hollywood wrap
Success of 'Spider-Verse' demonstrates new era for animation
LOS ANGELES -- The success of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" has been an out-of-this-world experience for the film's producers.
Eight-hundred people worked four years on this film to create something the producers believe moviegoers feel connected to because it's something special.
"People come up to us and they say, 'I took my son and he said, he looks like me or I want to be like her when I grow up' or 'They speak Spanish like us' or 'You finally did 40-something dudes with an out-of-shape body a solid for being a hero", said producer Chris Miller. "There's something for everybody in the movie and everybody can see that anyone can be a hero."
"Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" has earned north of $350 million at the worldwide box office.
Producers feel we are in a new era for animated movies.
"Animation is capable of so much," said producer and co-writer Phil Lord. "We are at the beginning of a golden age where there's going to be all kinds of different animated movies and we're just really excited about it. Look, if you said, 'I don't like westerns,' you'd never get to see 'Unforgiven.' If you said, 'I don't like romantic comedies,' you'd never get to see 'Tootsie,' you know? There's great movies in every genre."
In this genre, to win the Oscar, "Spider-Man" will have to beat out some tough competition: "Incredibles 2," "Isle of Dogs," "Mirai," and "Ralph Breaks the Internet."
Miller and Lord are first-time nominees who are still trying to process it all.
"It's hard to feel like the frontrunner in front of Brad Bird and Wes Anderson. That just seems ridiculous," said Lord.
"Yeah, amazing filmmakers and amazing films and it's exciting to just be part of this whole thing," said Miller.
SEE FULL LIST: Oscar nominations 2019: See full list
RELATED: How to watch the Oscars: Everything to know about the 2019 Academy Awards
Don't miss the Oscars LIVE on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. ET | 5 p.m. PT on ABC.
arts & entertainmentoscarsaward showsacademy awardsmoviespider manhollywood wrap
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Dad accused of throwing 5-year-old in ocean as swimming lesson
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Services for Native Americans (OAA Title VI)
ACL funds programs that support American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Americans in the areas of nutrition, supportive services for older adults, and caregiver services. The nutrition and supportive services grants include congregate and home-delivered meals, information and referral, transportation, personal care, chores, health promotion and disease prevention, and other supportive services. The caregiver services grants include assisting families in caring for older relatives with chronic illness or disability, and grandparents caring for grandchildren. There are other necessary services provided by ACL grants so the people we serve have meaningful support to help them live independently in their communities.
History of Title VI Programs
In 1978, the Older Americans Act was amended to include Title VI which established programs for the provision of nutrition and supportive services for Native Americans (American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians).
The program has since expanded to include caregiver support services. Eligible Tribal organizations receive grants in support of the delivery of home and community- based supportive services for their elders, including nutrition services and support for family and informal caregivers. The Authorizing Legislation comes from Sections 613, 623 and 631 of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended.
The Purpose of the Programs and How They Work
Services for Native Americans programs were first established in 1978 with the provision of nutrition and supportive services. In 2000, services expanded to include caregiver support services. Programs provide grants to eligible Tribal organizations to promote the delivery of home and community-based supportive services, including nutrition services and support for family and informal caregivers, to Native American, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian elders. These programs, which help to reduce the need for costly institutional care and medical interventions, are responsive to the cultural diversity of Native American communities and represent an important part of the communities’ comprehensive services.
Criteria Used to Determine Eligibility for Grants
Formula grants for the Services for Native Americans programs are allocated to Tribal organizations based on their share of the American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian population aged 60 and over in their services area. To be eligible for funding, Tribal organizations of federally-recognized Tribes must represent at least 50 Native American elders age 60 and over. There is no requirement for matching funds. Separate formula grant awards are made for nutrition and supportive services and caregiver support services.
Tribal Organizations Have Flexibility on Allocation of Resources
After meeting program requirements, Tribal organizations have flexibility to allocate resources among the various activities funded by each program. Tribes may also decide the age at which a member is considered an elder and thus be eligible for services. In FY 2011, grants for nutrition and supportive services were awarded to 254 Tribal organizations (representing more than 400 Tribes) and two organizations serving Native Hawaiian elders.
Nutrition and Supportive Services
Grants provide funding to Tribal organizations for a broad range of services to older Native Americans, including:
Congregate and home-delivered meals,
Information and referral,
Transportation,
Personal care,
Chores,
Health promotion and disease prevention, and
Other supportive services.
Caregiver Support Services
Grants assist American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian families caring for older relatives with chronic illness or disability, and grandparents caring for grandchildren. The program offers a variety of services that meet a range of caregivers’ needs, including information and outreach, access assistance, individual counseling, support groups and training, respite care, and other supplemental services.
Tribal organizations coordinate with other programs, including the Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA) program, to help support and create sustainable caregiver programs in Native American communities (many of which are geographically isolated). A core value of the Native American Caregiver Support Services, as expressed by Tribal leaders, is that the program should not replace the tradition of families caring for their elders. Rather, it provides support that strengthens the a family's caregiver role.
Data Show Extensive Services Provided to Native American Elders and Their Caregivers
FY 2013 output data give details on the units of service that have been provided through funding for this program:
Transportation Services provided approximately 657,287 rides to meal sites, medical appointments, pharmacies, grocery stores, and other critical daily activity locations.
Home-Delivered Nutrition Services provided more than 2.5 million meals to more than 22,000 home-bound Native American elders, as well as critical social contacts that help to reduce the risk of depression and isolation experienced by many home-bound elders.
Congregate Nutrition Services provided more than 2.3 million meals to nearly 52,000 Native American elders in community-based settings, which also provide opportunities for elders to socialize and participate in a variety of activities, including cultural and wellness programs.
Information, Referral, and Outreach Services provided approximately 700,000 hours of outreach and information on services and programs to Native American elders and their families, thus helping to empower them to make informed decisions about their care needs.
In-Home Services provided nearly 1.2 million units of service to assist Native American elders.
Caregiver Counseling and Support Group Services provided more than 29,000 units of counseling and support group services to caregivers caring for elders or grandparents caring for grandchildren.
Caregiver Respite Services provided close to 96,000 units of respite services to Native American caregivers caring for elders or grandparents caring for their grandchildren.
To obtain more information about the services provided to Native American elders and their caregivers, visit the AGing Integrated Database (AGID), an online query system based on AoA-related data files and surveys and well as population characteristics from the Census Bureau for comparison purposes. The system allows users to produce customized tables in a step-by-step process and output the results in print or spreadsheet form. Information on Title VI Services by Tribal Organization is available through this database.
Ongoing Evaluation Updates
In 2016 ACL/AoA contracted ICF International (ICF) to conduct a participatory evaluation of the Title VI Grant Program, which provides home and community-based supportive services for older American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian populations. The evaluation seeks to answer the following questions:
- How do tribes/organizations operate their Title VI Programs?
- What is the impact of Title VI programs on elders in the community? Are there differences nationally or by tribe/organization?
- Do Title VI programs that are sole-sourced funded have a different impact than programs that are funded through multiple sources?
The evaluation, still ongoing, has released its Evaluation of the ACL Title VI Programs: Year 1 Interim Report outlining the approach to and the design of the evaluation. In addition, the report provides information on the evaluation participants, timeline of the project, and initial findings.
Funding History
Funding for the Services for Native Americans programs during the past four years is as follows:
Part A/B
FY 2012 $27,601,000 $6,364,000 $33,965,000
Funding Allocations to States and Tribal Organizations
Resources and Useful Links
The AoA is currently funding three Resource Centers for Older Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. These centers provide culturally competent health care, community-based long-term care, and related services. They serve as the focal points for developing and sharing technical information and expertise for Native American organizations, Native American communities, educational institutions, and professionals working with elders.
University of North Dakota. Since 1994 the AoA has funded the National Resource Center on Native American Aging, University of North Dakota. A culturally sensitive staff and national steering committee govern the resource center, which provides education, training, technical assistance, and research. It also assists in developing community-based solutions to improve the quality of life and the delivery of related support services to the Native elderly population. A major project of this Resource Center has been the development of an elderly needs assessment tool to assist Tribes in planning for elder care services.
University of Alaska-Anchorage. In 2003, AoA funded the National Resource Center on Native American Aging at the University of Alaska-Anchorage to: 1) empower Native communities to incorporate traditional and contemporary health practices that have the potential to effectively support and treat elders within community health care systems; 2) provide technical information to promote culturally sensitive and functionally appropriate services to maintain social well-being; and 3) provide an arena for discussions about the increasing problems of elder abuse to help Native communities in developing their own plans to reduce and control occurrences.
University of Hawaii. The National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders was established in 2006 under a grant from AoA to the University of Hawaii School of Social Work. With the nation’s largest enrollment of Native Hawaiian students, the University of Hawaii has as its mission the development and transmission of knowledge for the betterment of all Native Hawaiians. The National Resource Center seeks to continue this commitment with a focus on improving the well-being of Native Hawaiian elders by forging stronger collaborative relationships among the University and Native Hawaiian and gerontology communities.
Other Federal Programs
Indian Health Services Elder Care Initiative. The goal of the Elder Care Initiative is to promote the development of high-quality care for American Indian and Alaska Native elders by acting as a consultation and liaison resource for IHS, Tribal, and urban Indian health programs.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) play a critical role in determining the type and quality of healthcare received by American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN). This site provides information on these programs and highlights aspects of specific interest to AI/AN.
Administration for Native Americans. The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) is a division of the Administration for Children and Families. The mission of ANA is to promote economic and social self-sufficiency for American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Native Pacific Islanders. ANA provides community-based project funding to improve the lives of native children and families thereby reducing long-term dependency on public assistance. Funding is provided to eligible Tribes and nonprofit Native American organizations through three competitive discretionary grant programs .
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FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2018, file photo, fans watch during the first half of an NFL football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Indianapolis Colts at Oakland Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. The Coliseum Authority approved a lease agreement on Friday, March 15, 2019, to keep the Raiders in Oakland for at least one more season. (AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron, File)
Board approves Raiders lease to remain in Oakland in 2019
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Coliseum Authority approved a lease agreement Friday to keep the Raiders in Oakland for at least one more season.
The board voted unanimously to approve the lease for 2019 with an option for 2020. The deal still must be approved by the Oakland City Council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, but no hang-ups are expected.
The Raiders will pay $7.5 million in rent for the Coliseum and the practice facility in Alameda in 2019 and have a $10.5 million option for 2020 in case their new $1.8 billion, 65,000-seat stadium in Las Vegas isn't ready by then. The rent will drop by $500,000 each year if the Raiders decide to play one of their two home exhibition games at another site.
The Coliseum Authority will retain naming rights for the stadium and get an additional $750,000 from the team to settle a dispute over parking revenue.
Barring any unforeseen setbacks in Las Vegas, this likely will be the Raiders' final season in Oakland after moving back from Los Angeles in 1995. The Raiders began playing at the Coliseum in 1966 and were there through the 1981 season before going to Southern California.
New Raiders star receiver Antonio Brown said earlier this week he was excited to be part of the final season in the East Bay.
"For me to be here in Oakland, a part of the Oakland Raiders and be able to be on the last team that's ever going to be here in Oakland, it's something special in itself," he said. "So, it's pressure in that, it's excitement in that, and there is a lot that comes with that, and I'm here today ready to embrace all that."
The Raiders had pulled out of lease extension talks after Oakland sued the team and the NFL over the planned move to Las Vegas. But with the Raiders planning to practice at the facility in Alameda in 2019, staying in the Bay Area was always the top priority.
The Raiders had talks about sharing a stadium with the San Francisco Giants, but that was opposed by the 49ers under territorial rights they have for San Francisco. The Raiders also could have looked into sharing Levi's Stadium with the 49ers, although owner Mark Davis was opposed to that option.
The NFL needed to get a final answer on where the Raiders will play this season in order to put together the 2019 schedule, which is expected to be released in April.
Professional football
Sports team and league operation
Sports industry
Media and entertainment industry
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Chrissy Teigen Won’t Reveal #WhoBitBeyonce
Dana Getz
Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images
Chrissy Teigen knows who bit Beyoncé, but in an act that can only be described as public torment, she's refusing to reveal the name.
“It’s not who I thought, I will say,” the model turned author said on Tuesday's Today show. “The problem is I love everybody involved so I’m like, 'zip.' You know I share everything. It’s you guys! I would definitely tell you. It’s so hard.”
Her comments come after Tiffany Haddish launched an internet-wide manhunt for the perpetrator behind the bite, a yet-to-be disclosed actress who came after Queen B during a December party. According to Haddish, who's slowly divulged the details of the night over the span of several weeks, the actress was flirting with Jay-Z when Beyoncé intervened, only to be met with a direct bite to the face.
Haddish said she wanted to fight the woman, but that Bey talked her down, telling GQ: "'She was like, Tiffany, no. Don’t do that. That bitch is on drugs. She not even drunk. The bitch is on drugs. She not like that all the time. Just chill.’”
After the story broke on Monday (March 27), Vulture did some important investigative work and narrowed the suspects down to two names: 90210 alum Sara Foster and Love & Basketball star Sanaa Lathan, both of whom later shot down the rumors.
"Flattering that anyone thinks I could get this close to Beyoncé," Foster wrote on Instagram, while Lathan tweeted: "Y'all are funny. Under no circumstances did I bite Beyonce and if I did it would’ve been a love bite."
Despite the denial, TMZ has since claimed it was, in fact, Lathan, according to multiple unnamed sources. One person explained it was "playful and noninvasive," not aggressive, but still caught Beyoncé off guard.
Teigen, for her part, has been very active in the search for the Beyoncé Biter™, first tweeting she could not "leave this planet without knowing who bit Beyoncé in the face" and that she could "only think of one person" who would do such a thing, and she was "the worst."
The Lip Sync Battle host has, however, since been informed of the actress's identity, but won't say who it is aside from that it's not who she initially thought, and that she had to (jokingly) check with her husband, John Legend, to make sure it hadn't actually been her.
“Listen, I think we’ve all done things under the influence," Teigen said on Today. "If I had a dollar for every time that I had a few glasses of wine or something and would have done something like that? Oh man, very rich."
That may be true, Chrissy, but the world needs answers!!! Someone have mercy on us and put this story to rest.
Jay-Z + Beyoncé's Best Onstage Moments
Source: Chrissy Teigen Won’t Reveal #WhoBitBeyonce
Filed Under: beyonce, chrissy teigen
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Paul Witkay in Smart Business: “How to Build a Creative Organization Without Any Authority”
Many great books on creativity and innovation have been written by professors and researchers, and I’ve read quite a few. The best book I’ve read by an actual CEO on how he personally developed a real-world creative organization is Ed Catmull’s recent work, “Creativity, Inc.”
Catmull, founder of animated movie industry leader Pixar begins his book with an entertaining story about how he dreamed of making the world’s first computer-animated movie. In 1986, he teamed up with John Lasseter, a Disney animator, and founded Pixar with financial backing from Steve Jobs. It took nine extremely challenging years for Catmull and Lasseter to create their first full-length animated movie, “Toy Story.” The rest is history.
Although Catmull claims to be an “accidental CEO,” he has clearly thought deeply about how to build and sustain a creative organization and openly shares his philosophies in his book. Here, I’ll discuss one of the most critical elements of Pixar’s culture — its brain trust.
The genesis of Pixar’s brain trust
According to Catmull, five brilliant men developed “Toy Story.” Their manner of collaboration was so powerful that Catmull created and institutionalized the brain trust as a critical element of the development process for every future Pixar film.
So what makes a brain trust work? The brain trust must have two critical elements:
1) All members of the brain trust must have a deep understanding of the customer experience — in Pixar’s case, the storytelling — and must have personally been through the creation process.
2) The brain trust has no authority. This is critical, because it means the director does not have to follow any of the specific suggestions from the brain trust. As a result, the team speaks more candidly and the director has no need to defend his decisions or actions.
Building up, not tearing down
Catmull realized that by giving the brain trust authority, it would have made the creative process competitive and inherently critical — almost like “a trip to the dentist,” he says. Without authority, however, there was no debate to be won. The brain trust only adds value by challenging and testing the director’s ideas by allowing the director to see things through other people’s eyes.
“Candor isn’t cruel. It does not destroy,” Catmull says. “On the contrary, any successful feedback system is built on empathy, on the idea that we are all in this together, that we understand your pain because we’ve experienced it ourselves. The brain trust is fueled by the idea that every suggestion is in service of a common goal: supporting and helping each other as we try to make better movies.”
Interestingly, the key characteristics of Pixar’s brain trusts are very similar to the philosophies behind the Alliance of CEOs. Just like a brain trust brings value to the creative process, the Alliance enables CEOs to challenge assumptions, think deeply and generate fresh perspectives and ideas.
The brain trust was just one example used in “Creativity, Inc.” — there are many others. If you’re looking to build a more creative organization, Catmull’s book is a great place to start.
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« Low-income Americans should thank Trump for all the benefits they receive from his taxes | Think Obama's sycophants remember all his 'transparency' promises? »
Remember when we blamed blizzards on winter?
We woke up to 39 degrees in Dallas. It was cold, but nothing compared to what our friends in the north are going through, as we see in this news report:
Blizzard warnings for New York City were canceled early Tuesday morning but remained in effect for areas north and west of the city.
The National Weather Services issued similar warnings for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
We wish everyone well and hope that the internet works. It's amazing how much work can be done from home these days with a laptop and the net.
I can remember a few of these March snowstorms growing up in Wisconsin and saying to myself: "The bad news is that I have to walk to school in this crushing snowstorm...the good news is baseball in three weeks!" Isn't baseball always the light at the end of the winter tunnel?
My guess is that someone will eventually blame this one on climate change, global warming, or possibly the election of Donald Trump.
The CBO may even do an addendum to the most recent Obamacare scoring saying climate change will put even more people on the uninsured rolls! After all, didn't the CBO project say the following?
1) The exchanges would be stable by now, with more than twice as many enrollees as they currently have, rather than suffering from severe adverse selection in most states as they now are.
2) ACA Medicaid expansion would be much smaller and less expensive than it has turned out to be.
It was a lot more fun when we blamed these storms on "old man winter." They blamed it on winter back in 1888 when a great blizzard shut down the region in mid-March:
The most severe winter storm ever to hit the New York City region reaches blizzard proportions, costing hundreds of lives and millions of dollars in property damage.
Although the storm also struck New England, New York was the hardest hit, with the 36-hour blizzard dumping some 40 inches of snow on the city.
For several weeks, the city was virtually isolated from the rest of the country by the massive snowdrifts.
Messages north to Boston had to be relayed via England. Even "Leather Man," a fixture of New York and Connecticut history who had walked a circuit of 365 miles every 34 days for three decades, was reportedly delayed four days by the Blizzard of 1888.
Leather Man, who walked during the day and slept in caves at night, was known as such because his clothes were made out of large patches of thick leather.
Let's recover from this blizzard and take a few pictures for the family album. Maybe someone in 2117 will talk about the great blizzard of 2017, or when winter reminded us that spring does not officially start until March 20.
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Interview: Dave Porter Talks “The Disaster Artist”, Working With James Franco, & Dealing With Creative Block
Posted by Aesthetic Magazine ⋅ December 28, 2017 ⋅ 1 Comment
Filed Under Breaking Bad, Dave Porter, James Franco, The Disaster Artist, The Room
By: Lucy Sky –
Follow @lucyskypress
The Disaster Artist composer Dave Porter
With The Disaster Artist, James Franco transforms the tragicomic true-story of aspiring filmmaker and infamous Hollywood outsider Tommy Wiseau — an artist whose passion was as sincere as his methods were questionable — into a celebration of friendship, artistic expression, and dreams pursued against insurmountable odds. Based on Greg Sestero’s best-selling tell-all about the making of Tommy’s cult-classic disasterpiece The Room (“The Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made”), The Disaster Artist is a hilarious and welcome reminder that there is more than one way to become a legend — and no limit to what you can achieve when you have absolutely no idea what you’re doing.
The movie features an original score by Dave Porter (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Blacklist), and in our new interview, Porter talks about why he loved working with James Franco, dealing with creative block, and more!
You’ve worked mostly on television composing projects, with just a few movies under your wing. What was it like working on such a highly anticipated, big screen film?
For starters, I’m not sure it was always a highly anticipated film. (laughing) It’s a pretty small movie in it’s budget and it’s original designs I think, but it’s been amazing how it’s caught fire. I’ve been lucky enough to have a very successful career in television, but I’ve also been doing movies here and there all along. No doubt, for me, there’s pluses and minuses to both. They’re different mediums and have different challenges, so I like being able to work in both because it gives me some new challenges to try to meet.
The Disaster Artist came to me because I was working on a project already with Seth Rogan and producing partner Evan Goldberg, which is a television series called Preacher, [that] they executive produce and often direct as well. I overheard them talking about The Disaster Artist, it intrigued me, so I went out and bought the book and read it and was really interested. They started working on it and luckily enough for me, they thought it was a good idea to introduce me to their friend and longtime collaborator, James Franco.
What was your initial reaction when you did watch The Room? What were your favourite moments of that movie?
The original, to be completely frank, I’ve never made it through the entire film in one sitting. (laughing) I’ve seen it all many times over, doing research for it, but I can only handle it in small doses. It’s excruciating, but I absolutely appreciate everyone’s love for it and I love it too in small doses.
Were there any stand out moments in there, even if they were bad?
(laughs) I think what attracted me to that movie and the whole project was the earnestness behind all of it. There’s this refreshingly naive poignancy and optimism about how they approach everything. That’s what is so great about what James Franco captured in The Disaster Artist, is it’s so alluring.
It’s truly a story of triumph in the face of total adversity, two friends who were the only ones who believed in each other and carried each other to their unexpected, yet a little odd triumph. What was your favourite part of that story, or how he portrayed it?
I think it’s so real and relatable. It’s not different from the story of almost everyone I know working in the business that I work in. Those of us that have been lucky enough to find success have all found it in ways that probably weren’t exactly the way we envisioned it when we started. These folks are the most extreme example of that, but there’s truth to that story [that] I think [is] in every hollywood story.
I think that was a lot of the reason that James related to it so much, everybody, actor and producer alike go through that struggle. Everybody is saying you can’t make it and it’s so difficult.
Yeah, for sure. I would even broaden it to say that anyone who puts anything creative out there in the public space to beshared with anyone takes that leap of faith that requires a belief in yourself and the strength to be criticized. That takes bravery and it takes strength. That’s a founding principle [to] all things artistic.
(L to R) The Disaster Artist director and star, James Franco, and The Room director, Tommy Wiseau.
Yeah, I think all things – be it art, writing, or however you put it out there, it’s truly a piece of yourself that you’re sharing with the world and it’s terrifying sometimes.
On the note of how difficult it is, because everyone wants to do it. Being in the film industry in general is extremely competitive. Would you say that being a composer is as competitive as being an actor or director?
I would actually. I think it really is. There’s a couple of factors that I think contribute to that. One is that in an era where making music for a living has become harder in all fields, certainly in the recording world, in the pop music world, and the classical world, the world of collaborating and making music for television has remained a stable way to make a living. It has drawn even more people than it ever has to be interested in the art-form, which is great, but it’s made it very much more competitive. You think about on a given project how many actors may be involved, how many writers could be behind a TV show for example, there are many directors, but there’s only ever one composer. So the available jobs out there has decreased in number, it’s a narrow path. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to do it.
That’s really interesting because if you think about it, it truly is the only way to be sure that you’re going to make a living at it. Very few people are buying records, people don’t buy the music anymore, but you’re still going to get paid to work in a film because the box office is paying for that and people are going to see it.
That’s right, because you’re wrapped up in the budget of something else that is still a profitable business.
You scored every single episode of Breaking Bad and gained a lot of success from that series, even taking home the ASCAP Composer’s Choice for Best Television Composer of 2013 and just this past year were nominated for Best TV Composer by the Soundtrack Academy Awards. What did you take from your experience working on the Emmy-Acclaimed series?
I definitely grew up as a composer working on Breaking Bad and I’m fortunate for that experience. So fortunate to work with Vince Gilligan, which I continue to be able to do. I came into it with a lifetime’s worth of music experience and some film and television composing experience, but to work on a high level drama like that taught me the most important things about writing music for TV and Films, which is how to be a storyteller. How to be really involved and supportive of the overall arc of a dramatic plot line and ways that music can contribute to make an overall project a stronger piece. How music can play a role and not just something that’s visceral, but can truly be embedded deeply into the whole project. Vince Gilligan fosters a very creative environment that allows everyone involved in the project to take risks, to try things. Having that ability and that permission to take risks and occasionally go the wrong way before correcting myself is really how I learned the craft.
What was it like going from working on a television show like that to working on a major production like this? How does your process differ between those two worlds?
I think the big difference between working in Film and working in TV is time. By that I mean there are two different aspects of time. One is how much time as a composer you have to write the music. In the television landscape, time is a precious commodity. We are often turning around episodes as fast as people can watch them. I may have a week to write enough music to fill an hour’s worth of television, whereas in a film project like The Disaster Artist, in the best case scenario, which we had in this case, where we have enough time – I had months to write enough music for a two-hourmovie. A lot of different time and again that allows time to explore and throw things at the wall and see what sticks, really hone in on exactly what you think is working.
The second aspect of the time issue is how much time in terms of time real estate there is for your music to have impact. One of the positive things about working in TV, if you take Breaking Bad for example, is that over the course of the show I had 62 hours worth of time to develop story and thematic things, to really grow ideas and musical offshoots of other ideas and really get in deep with the story. In a film you have the two hours and that’s it, so you have to move a lot faster in how your development moves and you have to follow the quicker pace that films have of getting a plot while getting characters from point a to point b.
A lot more concise too I’m sure.
Vince Gilligan also did the X-Files and the theme song for Breaking Bad is so acclaimed, people love it, which is the same with the X-Files – you just hear it in your head when you think of the show. Did that put any kind of pressure on you?
(laughing) I certainly grew up watching the X-Files and I consider Mark Snow a great friend, who is the composer for the X-Files. It is absolutely one of the most iconic themes in TV history. I don’t know that I was trying to reach such lofty heights when I was writing the theme for Breaking Bad. I was just trying to capture… not just the spirit of the pilot to Breaking Bad, which is what we were working on when I came up with that piece, but the spirit of where the whole story was going over Vince’s larger scale image of where he wanted the story to go. I happened to strike the right chord and of course the show struck the right chord. With any television theme, which again is very different from film because you don’t have that in a movie, it is such a great musical opportunity to put a unique identifier on a series. I love that process of TV show theme creation.
Especially when you hear it so many times, and people are binging shows on Netflix, you get so sick of it that you just wanna shut it off and skip it. It’s really great when you find a piece like that, that can actually fit and not make you wanna turn the episode off as soon as it comes on.
You’ve worked, of course, with a lot of different directors and people in the past. What were some of your favourite things about working with James Franco as a director? How would you say that he’s different from other directors you’ve worked with in the past?
What I loved about James… I’ve only been blessed to work with him on this one project so far, but, his obvious enthusiasm and passion for this particular project was just infectious. Like any time you were around him he’d… he was just so excited to be working on this movie and everyone else was too of course, but just being around that and someone who you know is spending so much time and energy. Obviously when you see his performance it’s clear how hard he works to get that, nevermind directing, producing, and all the other masks that he wore in the making of The Disaster Artist, was really great and it’s just so impossible to ignore and it got everybody really fired up about a movie. I’m not sure on paper it looked like it was an obvious success, it was a risky movie to make.
Very.
(laughing) And just like the original, The Room, you know I think it took everyone’s passion and complete dedication to get it to come out and it really did.
The Disaster Artist is nominated for two Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
It’s said of course that he was acting a little wild, I know you didn’t get to see it, but he was completely in character the entire time and that really reflects what you just said – he put so much of himself into this film. I think it really encompassed him for probably the entire time he was doing it. Have you heard some stories from people who were on the set seeing his antics?
(laughing) Well, as you probably know, composers are really late in the process – we’re one of the last things that happens. So I um, unfortunately, all the shooting was done by the time I was really getting involved and I didn’t really get a chance to see any of them in person. I did hear some stories, some rumblings, funny little things from Seth Rogen and others about it, and at moments of hilarity or frustration he would break into the accent when we were in meetings and stuff, which was always good fun and a quick way to lighten the mood.
You notice that he does that in the interviews after the film. I think he really enjoys putting that accent on.
(laughing) I agree – I totally agree.
I think it must have been really funny, especially for Seth because they work together so much, so it must have been so interesting for him to see such a contrast.
I would imagine, absolutely.
His brother as well, James and Dave Franco were starring in this movie together, and you said that your score aimed to highlight the friendship of the film’s protagonist. Would you say them being brothers made that more natural?
I think it probably did, I think it allowed them… I mean I can only think of my relationship with my sibling and think about how intertwined and complicated our relationship is, in the same way that Greg and Tommy’s became. I think it’s great and I will say that I think that for all the very well deserved attention James is getting, I think Dave Franco is fantastic in the movie too. In a role that, I don’t know much about acting, but it seems like it would be really hard, you know, to be just a bad actor. (laughter) To play, to really perform well as a poor actor, [is] hard to imagine, but their interplay is terrific in the movie and so is Greg and Tommy’s in real life. It’s really fascinating to see them together and I really credit Greg’s book The Disaster Artist, for sort of helping find the that moral center, that tonal center to the movie and I think in some ways, you know, we are witnessing all that unfolds in the room through his eyes a lot of the time and I think that both Greg and Dave Franco’s portrayal of him are so honest and vulnerable that it really allows for all of us to so quickly feel invested in their story.
The vulnerability is quite endearing.
It is. Absolutely.
I couldn’t imagine having to do that cause you spend so much time trying to be good at it, then get on thereand be bad. It’s really quite interesting.
It is, and I can’t say that I’ve had a lot of experience with it, I guess the closest I’ve ever come in my world is, in Breaking Bad we made some rock’n’roll tracks for Jesse’s theoretical band, his really bad garageband [that] appear on some of the DVDs and stuff like that. So I had to get, you know, my usual group of very talented studio musicians together, and we had to play earnestly but poorly and it was a really interesting experiment. [It’s] a really interesting artistic process to try to remove all the training, which becomes so inherent in anyone, whether you’re a writer, a musician, or actor, that if you’re doing something for a living you get so invested in, and frankly sometimes bogged down in.
It becomes almost like a second nature right, so it’s really hard to break that habit.
The movie was, of course, a representation of the two main characters and filmmakers of The Room and you said that you tried to keep your score from being similar to the score of the original movie. What was the hardest part of trying to keep it that original?
I actually don’t think it was hard. I just really think that The Disaster Artist and The Room are very different movies and very different stories, even though of course they have this huge thing in common. So I didn’t reference the original score on purpose but I didn’t necessarily go out of my way to [create] an anti-version or a diametrically opposed version, or anything like that. It just felt natural to do what we were doing for the Disaster Artist and my thought process there was that I was trying to do something that kind of straddled two worlds at once.
I wanted it to feel modern and very current so that this story didn’t at all feel – even though this story takes place right in the 90’s, late 90’s – trapped in that time frame. I think all the licensed music does a great job in positioning the film in that time space. I think the score’s role is to make it feel more universal in terms of time. It could be any time, but at the same time I was doing a little wink and a little nod to older Hollywood film scores that were more openly earnest, more openly swelling and brimming with expectation and positivity. So those were my two big goals for the score and I think the score for The Room does what it does for the Room, and I wasn’t impacted by that.
Did the book inspire you at all while you were composing?
Absolutely. I think the book’s inspired me most of all and I actually recommend it to anyone who gets interested in The Room or The Disaster Artist as a film and I know it inspired James too. It’s a great story and really opens up so many things, I mean as great as all the stuff, all the amazing stuff that goes into The Disaster Artist the film, it’s a small fraction of the crazy insanity that goes on in the book.
What parts of that story, aside from the relationship with the two main characters, did you try to impose into your music?
I think their relationship is the big thing, but there are other interesting sidebars, if you will, to the story. There is certainly the mystery that surrounds Tommy, particularly at the beginning of the film, which I found very interesting. He’s obviously quite an enigma, which plays into so much of the story and of course again is diametrically opposed to the Greg’s character, who’s an open book.
I really enjoy some of the frustrating moments in the film and moments that are frustrating for the artistically inclined person. Again, the repeated failures, the auditioning scenes, the meetings, and the interviews, and all those things that when you’re working in this world you do so much of and so much of, some of the time feels so fruitless. I definitely had empathy for those moments and I enjoyed being able to express that musically alongside how well all the actors do.
The best music comes from pain a lot of the time, so having that deep emotion and that sense of failure can really help create something more beautiful.
Absolutely, yeah. Pain, risk, and joy too. Any extreme emotions I would say, and all of them are present in The Disaster Artist.
Yeah, it’s an extremely emotion based movie. So that must’ve been very fun to work with.
Yeah, [when] as a composer you get a chance to work on something like that that’s so varied emotionally, it’s a great challenge but it’s also really exciting.
I like to finish off my interviews by finding out a funny quirk or story about the person behind the musician or whomever I’m speaking to. Do you have any quirks or anything that would surprise people about you that you haven’t spoken about publicly before?
(laughing) It might surprise, well it wouldn’t surprise people to know, that like most creative people living in California, I work in my backyard behind my house. My studio’s in a separate building behind my house, but between my house and the studio we have a small swimming pool in the backyard and when I get creatively frustrated, I have been known [at] (laughing) any time of year, to just walk out of my studio and directly into the pool.
Clothing still on?
Sometimes yes, depends on my state of being. (laughing)
So it’s kinda like an extreme splash of water in the face?
Exactly. The extreme cold shower. (laughing)
That’s a convenient place for it – right between the studio and the house.
That’s right. If it works and I’m jarred into some sort of creative light bulb-exploding moment, then I can turn around and go right back in the studio and if it doesn’t work I can head straight inside for a towel.
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Pingback: INTERVIEW: DAVE PORTER TALKS “THE DISASTER ARTIST,” WORKING WITH JAMES FRANCO, & DEALING WITH CREATIVE BLOCK | - February 23, 2018
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Four new Congo Ebola cases as medics prepare experimental treatment
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Four new cases of Ebola virus have been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry said, as authorities prepare to deploy an experimental treatment.
The latest confirmed cases near the town of Mangina in Congo’s North Kivu province bring the total for the current outbreak to 21, the ministry said in a statement late on Friday.
Two more people - one near Mangina and another in the city of Beni - died of Ebola, the ministry said. In all, the haemorrhagic fever is believed to have killed 38 people, although several of these cases have not been confirmed.
Authorities this week began vaccinating health workers and people who had contact with confirmed cases. The experimental vaccine, manufactured by Merck, proved effective against an outbreak in western Congo that ended late last month.
Officials are also ready to use an experimental treatment called mAB114 on Ebola patients for the first time, Steve Ahuka, a virologist at the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in the capital Kinshasa, told Reuters.
The treatment was developed in the United States using the antibodies of the survivor of an Ebola outbreak in the western Congolese city of Kikwit in 1995 and was 100 percent effective when tested on monkeys.
“It’s experimental. So we are following the protocol. It has been submitted to the ethical committee and the ethical committee gave its okay,” Ahuka said, adding it could be used within days.
He said other experimental treatments, including ZMapp, a similar antibody drug made by Mapp Biopharmaceuticals in San Diego, could also be used.
Ebola, which causes fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, is spread through direct contact with body fluids.
It killed more than 11,000 people during the largest-ever outbreak in West Africa from 2013-16. Authorities in Congo, which has experienced 10 outbreaks since 1976, have been more successful in containing it.
But the current flare-up poses fresh challenges as it is in a part of Congo stalked by myriad militia groups that regularly battle one another and kill and kidnap civilians.
So far, however, the disease has not touched so-called “red zones” where security risks would severely limit access for health workers. (Reporting By Fiston Mahamba; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Mark Potter)
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Quengineers
African Women in Science and Engineering
Highlighting the progress of the African Woman Scientist and Engineer
Author: African_Engineer
Female African Engineer. Spreading the word on STEM. Changing the world one engineer at a time.
Gladys Ngetich: Being Stubborn
2018-09-15 2018-09-14 African_EngineerLeave a comment
Gladys Ng’etich is a mechanical engineer and an athlete. None of these came easy! She stubbornly stayed focused on her goal, her dream to become an engineer. She is currently studying her doctorate in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Oxford. Here is her story.
Why did you choose engineering? Engineering became familiar to me from a really young age. My dad worked for Kenya Pipeline as an engineer for over 30 years. I grew up in the village where traditional roles for girls and boys were protected. My father would do wiring and piping around the house and involve my brothers. Whenever my mum would send me to take tea or lunch to them, I would ask to be given something to do, and even stay there. My surrounding was more or less like a workshop. As I went through school, I enjoyed Mathematics and Science. After completing, I was sure I wanted to do engineering, specifically mechanical engineering.
How did you start your Ph.D. in Thermofluids & Turbomachinery immediately after pursuing your undergraduate studies? It is rare, but possible. I have always wanted to further my studies especially in the area of Thermofluids. I developed interest in the area during my undergraduate studies. In the process of applying for the Rhodes scholarship for a Masters program, I was made aware of the possibility to enroll directly in a Ph.D. I got in touch with Prof. Kioni of Dedan Kimathi University who had gone through a similar program and he gave me a lot of hope. I decided to go for it. Once I got the scholarship, I had to apply for admission to a Ph.D. program in Oxford by writing a proposal. I was worried! I had already identified the Thermofluids lab that I wanted to work in. But I still didn’t know how to write a proposal! I had no research experience apart from my undergraduate project. So I visited the website, and contacted professors in the area that I wanted to get involved in. That is how I met my supervisor. My email talked about the scholarship, my interest in Thermofluids and that I was not too sure about how to go about the proposal. He responded, giving me a breakdown of the methods and equipment that are used in the lab, and an idea of what we would be exploring. Before we worked on the proposal, he asked me for a Skype interview to assess whether I had the basics to do Ph.D. After that, we proceeded to develop the proposal. I wrote a draft and sent it to him, using the methodologies he had mentioned. He gave me feedback and we refined it. And it was a very good proposal which we sent for admission and I was accepted. I believe that people should try and take up opportunities. There is no need to be afraid. In my mind, the PhD proposal was a big deal and yet, they just needed a brief summary of what I was anticipating to do in Oxford.
Tell me about adjusting to life in Oxford. Finding a good professor is a gift. My supervisor is the reason why I am still sane. When I arrived, I was worried that my work would not be upto “Oxford” standard. The work was also very demanding. Then, I was, and still am the only black woman in the research lab and one of three girls out of about 40 Ph.D. students. My supervisor would constantly find out how I was doing, and helped me adapt to the environment. He organized software training sessions for me when I arrived which was quite helpful. He also tracks my sports activities. For example, he asks what time I am targeting in upcoming athletics meets and so on. And then when an idea that needed patenting came about, he guided me through the process. My other colleagues have also been awesome. It is helpful to get tips from someone who has used a particular equipment or done a numerical simulation before. I would ask my colleagues in the lab for tips and tricks to do things, and it took a shorter time to learn that way. They have been very good in that regard.
What is your current research about? I work in the Oxford Thermofluids Institute which primarily works on Thermofluids and heat transfer projects for aerospace applications. I am currently working on a project to study an advanced, efficient scheme for cooling jet engines. I have been doing computer simulations and now moving on to experimentation.
What are the two main things that you have learnt through your journey? First, balancing or juggling things. I am really passionate about sports. I participate in both athletics and football, and at the same time, I have to concentrate on my studies. I have learnt to make it work. Second, it has made me more open-minded. Meeting and having debates with people from diverse backgrounds in Oxford has made me realize that my truth is not the only truth. It has changed my perceptions in a lot of things. It has enabled me to be tolerant and listen to what people have to say, or why they believe what they believe.
The recent article about you on a Kenyan daily focused on your achievement after scoring low marks in primary school. Do we lay too much focus on academic achievement? Low marks usually have a story behind them. I got 293 in KCPE and was number 3 in my school. It was just because of the poor quality of the resources available in the school. I also know of a boy who scored C- last year but while doing his exams, he was also undergoing chemotherapy. People are rarely aware of the story behind the grade. I am aware that it isn’t sensible to remove the grading system. However, somewhere along the line, as Kenya, we focused too much on academic performance and squeezed everyone into a narrow path. We stopped caring about anything other than a university degree. On top of that, there is no diversification. Not everyone has to go to university, or do engineering or medicine to live a good life. If we broaden the field so that those kids who are talented in football can earn a living from playing football, then we will have succeeded. We also need to appreciate everyone at their level, from certificate and diploma, not only university degree. Above all, I believe we have to learn to praise and reward grit rather than instant success.
Tell us about your social entreprise ILUU. ILUU means ‘shine’ in my mother tongue. While in JKUAT, a group of us had an outreach program where we would visit schools in our villages, telling kids that it is possible to go to campus, having started from village schools. We would visit several schools at each person’s home village. When we graduated, we dispersed. Then four years ago, I spoke to a girl in Maasai Mara University who told me that I had visited her high school and I had inspired into joining university. And I thought “If one person can be inspired by my story, then I have done something.” I called my friends to get the team back together and establish something sustainable. And that is how ILUU was born. When we visit schools, we start with sexual and reproductive health, because people are very conservative where I come from. We talk to boys and girls separately. It is my feeling that these issues are ignored, leading to early pregnancies and marriages. Preventing these allows girls to further their education. Afterwards, we promote education. We are basically trying to mentor and inspire students who really have no one to look up to. With the work I have been doing at ILUU, I was awarded a fellowship by Skoll World Forum, an organization which gives support to social entrepreneurs, people working to help their communities.
What are you doing in terms of mentorship while in Oxford? I am involved in Women in Engineering Oxford, helping to organize activities for kids. So occasionally, especially women in engineering week, high school students come to Oxford and do simple engineering projects. At the end of the day, they are inspired. Last year, we made and tested solar powered car models with high school girls. After that session, you could see that they understood what engineering is. Most of them just don’t get what engineering is and I think when they see what they have created, it inspires them. I am also a part of organizing team for the Oxford Science Festival, where we will be talking about some engineering/science concepts to the Oxford communities. We hope that the event will raise the profile of women scientists and engineers. I also work with Beyond Boundaries Oxford who does the same thing.
Any hobbies? Athletics and football. I am an Oxford Blue Athlete. I realized I love hurdle races. I do the 400m and 100m hurdle races. I also play football for my college team. We are in division 3 in the University of Oxford league, consisting of teams from all 38 colleges. It has been sports, work and social entrepreneurship. It is good that I like them in equal measure.
Parting shot? Be stubborn. People like to give girls and women advice, unsolicited most of the time. How they should dress, what they should do with their career, family and so on. And we internalize this advice. We tend to give lots of attention to what people say and it affects what we want and how we behave. We take people’s advice, forgetting what we ourselves want. I am grateful that my mum taught me to be stubborn in going for what I want for I would not be here today.
Connect with Gladys Ng’etich on LinkedIn
I am a Sound and Transmissions Engineer
2018-07-28 2018-07-28 African_Engineer2 Comments
Meet Rosina Maku Matey. Different, challenging and life-changing are the words she uses to describe her career. Find out why she enjoys being a sound and transmissions engineer. You can also find her on Facebook.
4 recommendations to becoming a better engineer
Someone once said “The study of Engineering is for those who want to dedicate their career path to it, however, everyone, that is both men and women, can use and practice Engineering.” I would say this phrase begs for some provocative deliberation. That being said, in my effort to share some of my own experiences, this International Women in Engineering day (INWED 2018), I decided to put down a few recommendations (there are more than these, of course, but then the article would be too long!) that I would give to a developing engineer or to someone aspiring to enter the field. So let us just get straight into it.Read More »
My philosophy as an engineering student
2018-06-23 2018-07-27 African_Engineer1 Comment
Neddy Tanga is a second year Industrial & Manufacturing Student at Harare Institute of Technology, Harare, Zimbabwe. She tells us of her ongoing journey as an engineering student, and what encourages her to stay in an engineering career. She can be found on LinkedIn.Read More »
My journey as an aerospace engineer
The steps to greatness emerge from small beginnings. Her story is one of a little girl’s dream, carefully nurtured into an unquenchable passion, that has led her to an exciting career with endless opportunities. The sky is not even the limit! Be encouraged by the Bonolo Mpabanga‘s grit and determination, as you find out what it takes to be an aerospace engineer. Read More »
To promote and advocate for the female African Scientist and Engineer;
To link female mentors to mentees throughout Africa; To encourage uptake of leadership roles by the woman in STEM.
Bolts and Nuts: My take on Mechanical Engineering
I am a Civil Engineer
I am a Biochemist
I am a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering
The Electrical Engineer & her agenda for Africa
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After Lobby
By Chris Jaramillo / After the movie lobby comes the After Lobby
The Commuter Review
End of the line, Neeson
Liam Neeson has had an odd career trajectory. He became famous through major dramatic performances that culminated in his Oscar-winning portrayal of Oscar Schindler, but then he became an action star in his mid-50s after the major success of Taken ten years ago. Since then, he’s been cranking at least one action flick per year as a character who seems to be some permutation of a guy with “special skills” who then goes and beats up a bunch of dudes. And to be honest, we’ve been experiencing a series of diminishing returns as he makes these movies year after year. So welcome to the 2018 model of this formula: The Commuter.
Neeson plays…screw it, he’s Liam Neeson, I’m not going to bother with his character name. Here he’s supposed to be a decent family man and an insurance agent in Manhattan before he’s unfortunately laid off from his job. With his son going to college to soon, money preoccupies his thoughts as he boards the train for his usual commute home when a mysterious woman named Joanna (Vera Farmiga) sits next to him. She challenges him, as someone who rides this train everyday, to identify one person who usually doesn’t make this trip and he’ll be paid $100,000. Neeson is tempted very easily into this game, but before long he realizes he’s way in over his head as Joanna discreetly begins threatening the lives of Neeson’s family as well as every other soul on board this crazy train in the most convoluted scheme to solve a simple problem for a bunch of criminals since putting poisonous snakes on a damn plane to kill one friggin’ guy.
“GIVE ME A GOOD SCRIPT FOR ONCE FOR GOD’S SAKE!”
But we get ahead of ourselves…the movie is, if nothing else, a generic ripoff of a Hitchcock-like set-up: normal straight-shooter guy with loose morals has one bad day where he gets roped into a massive conspiracy and has to figure a way out of this mess. And to his credit, Liam Neeson has gotten quite good at portraying this kind of everyman, even with his thick Americanized Irish accent. And compared to his action career low point of Taken 3, he actually looks like he gives a damn to provide a decent enough performance before the film decides to turn him into the same secret badass he’s been playing in every movie since 2008. Yes, you find out he was former cop which makes him the ideal candidate to assist in Joanna’s scheme and be able to get into close quarter combat with various individuals on this train…it’d just be nice if the fights were remotely fun to watch or even necessary to the plot.
Actually, the whole “ex-cop” angle feels entirely vestigil for this film, and seems to be there exclusively so you have Neeson as yet another guy with “a specific set of skills.” Which doesn’t fit the whole “everyman” angle the movie so obviously wants to Liam Neeson to be, so any tension that Neeson could be in severe danger from whoever wants to fight him is immediately lost because, internally, you’re telling yourself he’s just the same guy as he was from Taken. And I know Neeson has made it quite clear that he doesn’t want to return to that franchise, but it’s not helping his case when he keeps taking jobs from people who just him to do his shtick from that film over and over again. Also not helping him is that he continues to take projects with eerily similar premises: he’s forced to use skills he’s acquired over a long period of time to investigate and uncover a solution to a problem posed by a bunch of criminals who very much want him dead.
“Maybe I’m to blame for always posing in films with a glock stretched out”
The sad part about The Commuter, is that bizarrely throws in additional characters to try to differentiate itself from other Neeson affairs. See, these characters could have been used for the film’s benefit: this movie is, after all, a mystery where Neeson has to suss out an identity that’s been kept secret from him for one reason or another. Hell, the opportunity for a Murder on the Orient Express situation of a detective interviewing various individuals was practically slapping its butt cheeks at the writer to take advantage of a solid premise, but that’s not what was important to three screenwriters on hand for this film. So all of the focus falls on Neeson instead dodging multiple dangers posed by people connected to Vera Farmiga’s character, while all the possible suspects on board are generic stereotypes of various kinds of New Yorkers who are weirdly given closure to tiny arcs in the end of the movie that fall completely flat and feel totally undeserved.
Also wasted? Some genuinely great actors like Sam Neil and Jonathan Banks (Mike from Breaking Bad) in bit roles that feel more like cameos than genuine supporting roles. As in you completely forget they were in the movie until the end credits drop their names in the cast list. Which contributed to my overall frustration with this film, but perhaps the most infuriating aspect about it is that it’s not bad. I couldn’t find anything here that was genuinely incompetent, from the writing to the acting. Everything just feels so safe, so by-the-numbers, that I can’t get even muster an iota of anger towards the movie. I was just merely bored by the whole affair as it keeps reminding me of much better products like Strangers on a Train or even Snakes on a Plane (which at least benefited from an absurd premise that was laughable).
“Man it would have been awesome to die by snakes…better than what they did to me”
Though speaking of one of the highlights of Samuel L. Jackson’s career, this movie doesn’t initially make it apparent as to what’s really the antagonist’s main goal until the very end of the film. Keeping their motivation a mystery to solve was a smart move on the filmmakers’ part, because once you do get to the end and you see how the whole grand plan plays out…you can’t help but say, “That’s the dumbest goddamn idea I’ve ever heard.” And what’s angers you more is that there were at least 101 different ideas these antagonists could have solved their problem without factoring in Neeson and without endangering the lives of dozens of other people, thereby making their initially small problem into an even larger clustermuck. It’s the Die Hard dilemma all over again of concocting a much more dangerous and attention-grabbing scheme rather than keeping it subtle. But Die Hard had humor, a charming protagonists, multiple support characters on both sides of the conflict with unique personalities that added to the drama. The Commuter has NONE of these qualities.
It’s a typical movie you’d see playing at 4pm on cable on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Definitely not worth a theater visit (as I take the bullet for you), but you might enjoy this as a low…
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Posted in Rental, ReviewTagged hitchcock, Jonathan Banks, liam neeson, metro, movie, new york city, non-stop, Review, sam neil, the commuter, thriller, trainsBy Chris JaramilloLeave a comment
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Home » Journalist » Is Kelly Evans Pregnant With Husband Eric Chemi? Baby Boy & Father Updates
Is Kelly Evans Pregnant With Husband Eric Chemi? Baby Boy & Father Updates
By arunin Journaliston July 11, 2019 July 11, 2019
American Journalist and anchor Kelly Evans is one of the popular faces in the American journalism world. She is currently affiliated with CNBC.
Moreover, Kelly co-hosts the show Closing Bell on the business channel of CNBC. Additionally, she has also hosted the Worldwide Exchange and Squawk on the Street.
Kelly has appeared in multiple shows so far in her career. She has appeared as a guest hostess of the show ‘On the Money’ on multiple occasion.
Kelly married fellow reporter Eric Chemi in April of 2017. In addition, they welcomed their first child together in 2018.
Kelly and Eric have a good and stable relationship. There are no rumors of divorce or any extramarital affairs between the pair.
Is Kelly Evans Pregnant with Husband Eric Chemi?
Several fans have suggested that Kelly Evans might be pregnant with husband Eric Chemi with their second child. So far, no official information is available regarding the matter.
The pair already have a son from this relationship. It is not known whether they are expecting their second child at present.
Kelly Evans’s Baby Boy
Kelly Evans and her husband welcomed their baby boy on 5 July 2018. This is the pair’s first child from their marriage.
Furthermore, there are no details available whether the pair are planning on having a second child.
Father Updates (Eric Chemi)
Father of Kelly Evans’ first child is Eric Chemi. Eric is a sportscaster for CNBC. He is currently based in Englewood Cliffs.
Eric is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate. In addition, he has a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
He joined the CNBC network in December 2014. He was heavily involved in the coverage of national anthem protests by NFL players in 2017.
Moreover, he also reported on the FBI’s investigation into bribery in college basketball. He began working as a senior editor-at-large during the initial years at the network.
Previously, he worked at Bloomberg TV and Businessweek. He was the head of data and research there. Additionally, Eric has also worked as a hedge fund trader at Fortress Investment Group.
Eric was a proprietary trader at JPMorgan at some point of his career.
Career So Far
Kelly was born on July 17, 1985, in Connecticut. She grew up in Lexington, Virginia throughout her childhood years.
She attended Rockbridge County High School. Additionally, she later graduated from Washington and Lee University. She was a George Washington Honor Scholar at the University.
Kelly’s career in the journalism world began in 2007. She first worked at the Wall Street Journal. Initially, she covered the real estate and economics reports.
In addition, Kelly has also worked as a reporter for the Global Economics bureau. In the 2012 Republican Primary, she was one of the moderators present.
Kelly Evans shares a laugh behind the scenes with Carmelo Anthony of the @nyknicks. See the full interview at @CNBC's Closing Bell today! #nyknicks #sports #nyse #closingbell #AskMelo #knicks #nyc
A post shared by CNBC (@cnbc) on May 20, 2016 at 11:28am PDT
Fans and critics have compared her with the former CNBC host Erin Burnett. Moreover, she has earned recognition by working in the network for many years.
She has clearly been the face of CNBC business channel. Previously, Kelly worked in CNBC Europe’s London.
She has interviewed a number of personalities over the years. Additionally, she has accumulated an impressive sum of net worth through her profession.
According to various reports, she has a net worth of $3 million.
Tags: American journalist CNBC CNBC business news channel Eric Chemi Kelly Evans
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Category Archive for "Editorial"
First Look: Book of Ra Deluxe
We continue our ongoing coverage of gambling technology with a first look at the slot game, Book of Ra Deluxe. Book of Ra Deluxe is a better version of the classic slot Book of Ra. What is so special and if it is worth to play it, you can decide...
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The Many Uses of Mobile Devices: Real Money Gaming
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The Sony Playman rumors and the handheld that Sony and Microsoft would REALLY make
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When you talk about browser games, many people think of SeeThru’s helicopter game, played to pass the time. It's the one where the amount of clicking on the mouse translates to how high a helicopter flies as it navigates jutting rocks on its trip through a cave. And most people...
The Variety of Games at Online Casinos
In our ongoing series on casino technology, we take a look at the basics of online roulette and video slots. There is no reason to be left behind when it comes to checking out online casinos. Neither is there much of an excuse not to gamble if you have the...
Streamers choosing Twitch over YouTube, with live gambling proving a popular watch
Welcome to another entry in our ongoing look at the intersection of casinos and gambling with technology. With its easy usability, integration with popular services and consoles, and major live videogame-centric streamers like Pewdiepie and h3h3productions moving a lot of their activity from YouTube, it's no surprise that Twitch continues...
Could Physically Walking around Sprawling VR Casinos be the Future of Online Gambling?
As we continue our ongoing look at the intersection of casinos and Virtual Reality (VR), we ask the question, “Could physically walking around sprawling VR casinos be the future of online gambling?” We are a privileged generation, as we can look back throughout the evolution of gaming and make reasonably...
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Home Page Essays Essay about India 's Way Of Life
Essay about India ‘s Way Of Life
University/College: University of Chicago
India ‘s way of life is among the world ‘s most established; progress in India started around 4,500 years back. Numerous sources portray it as “Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara” — the first and the incomparable society on the planet, as per the All World Gayatri Pariwar (AWGP) association. Western social orders did not generally see the way of life of India positively, as indicated by Christina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London. Early anthropologists once considered society as a transformative procedure, and “each part of human improvement was seen as driven by development,” she told Live Science. “In this perspective, social orders outside of Europe or North America, or social orders that did not take after the European or Western lifestyle, were viewed as primitive and socially sub-par. Basically this incorporated all the colonized nations and individuals, for example, African nations, India, and the Far East. (Zimmermann, 2015).
We will write a custom essay on about India ‘s Way Of Life specifically for you
In any case, Indians made critical advances in structural planning (Taj Mahal), arithmetic (the innovation of zero) and prescription (Ayurveda). Today, India is an exceptionally assorted nation, with more than 1.2 billion individuals, as per the CIA World Factbook, making it the second most crowded country after China. Diverse areas have their own particular societies. Dialect, religion, nourishment and human expressions are only a portion of the different parts of Indian society. Here is a brief diagram of the way of life of India. (Zimmermann, 2015).
India has 28 states and seven domains, as indicated by the World Health Organization. There is no official dialect in India, as indicated by a Gujarat High Court administering in 2010. Numerous individuals living in India additionally write in Devanagari script. Truth be told, it is a confusion that the dominant part of individuals in India communicate in Hindi. In spite of the fact that numerous individuals communicate in Hindi in India, 59 percent of India inhabitants talk an option that is other than Hindi, as per The Times of India. Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu are some different dialects talked in the nation. (Zimmermann, 2015).
India is recognized as the origin of Hinduism and Buddhism, the third and fourth biggest religions. Around 84 percent of the populace recognizes as Hindu, as per the “Handbook of Research on Development and Religion” Edited by Matthew Clarke (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013). There are numerous varieties of Hinduism, and four prevalent factions — Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya and Smarta. (“Indian Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org,” n.d.).
Around 13 percent of Indians are Muslim, making it one of the biggest Islamic countries on the planet. Christians and Sikhs make up a little rate of the populace, and there are even less Buddhists and Jains, as per the “Handbook
Indian apparel is firmly related to the beautiful silk saris worn by huge numbers of the nation ‘s ladies. The customary garments for men is the dhoti, an unstitched bit of fabric that is tied around the waist and legs. Men likewise wear a kurta, a free shirt that is worn about knee-length. For extraordinary events, men wear a sherwani, which is a long coat that is fastened to the neckline and down to the knees. The Nehru coat is a shorter adaptation of a sherwani. (“Indian Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org,” n.d.).
The nation observes Republic Day (Jan. 26), Independence Day (Aug. 15) and Mahatma Gandhi ‘s Birthday (Oct. 2). Diwali is the biggest and most imperative occasion to India, as indicated by National Geographic. It is a five-day celebration known as the celebration of lights as a result of the lights lit amid the festival to symbolize the inward light that shields them from otherworldly murkiness. Holi, the celebration of hues, likewise called the celebration of affection, is well known in the spring. (“Indian Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org,” n.d.).
READ: The history of the Catholic Church is marked with Essay
Indian transients started landing in the United States as ahead of schedule as 1820. Despite the fact that few in number at the time, the Indian populace has surged following the 1990s to wind up the second-biggest outsider gathering in the nation after Mexicans, and in front of those conceived in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Starting 2013, more than 2 million Indian-conceived outsiders dwelled in the United States, representing 4.7 percent of the 41.3 million remote conceived populace. (“Indian Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org,” n.d.).
Today, Indian residents are the top beneficiaries of brief high-talented specialist H-1B visas, representing 70 percent of the 316,000 H-1B petitions (introductory and proceeding with business) affirmed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in financial year (FY) 2014. India is likewise the second-biggest sending nation of global understudies to the United States after China: Close to 103,000 Indian-conceived understudies were selected in U.S. instructive foundations in the 2013-14 school year. (“Indian Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org,” n.d.).
Indian migrants have a tendency to have much higher instructive fulfillment contrasted with both the outside and local conceived populaces. In 2013, 76 percent of Indian settlers (over the age of 25) had a four year college education or higher, contrasted with 28 percent of all outsiders more than 25 and 30 percent of local conceived grown-ups. Quite, among school instructed Indian settlers, more than half had a graduate or expert degree. Indian understudies represented 14 percent of all makeshift visa holders winning doctorates at U.S. schools and colleges, with the larger part (84 percent) meaning to stay in the United States in the wake of accepting their degrees, as per the National Science Foundation ‘s Survey of Earned Doctorates. (“Indian Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org,” n.d.).
Indian society is fantastically unpredictable and takes after a tumult of psyche boggling extents. Be that as it may, underneath this appearing confusion is a logical establishment that is a great many years old. India is a place where there is sanctuaries. sanctuaries have been instruments for raising human awareness, and investigates the science behind their creation (Sadhguru, “Indian Culture: Why We Do What We Do”).
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A Passage to India - Hindu Influence Several different literary elements work in tandem to produce the magic seen in E. M. Forster's A Passage to India. Because this novel was presented to the world less than a decade after World War I, the fantastic and exotic stories of India seized the attention of the relatively provincial society of the day, and the novel's detailed presentation of Hinduism certainly excited the imaginations of thousands of readers. Benita Parry supports this assertion when saying, "Hinduism takes its place at the core of the novel just as it lies at the heart...
India And The United States Essay 1125 Words | 5 Pages
No two countries are similar. I witnessed this as soon as I exited the airplane and walked into the Indian airport. India and the United States are ten and a half hours apart from each other and are extremely different from each other. The climate, culture, and technology in India are very different from those in America. However, on my recent trip to India I realized that the two countries are similar in every day life and holidays that are sometimes overlooked because of the major differences. When I walked into my grandparents’ house, one of the first things I...
Fitness Essays (65) , Alcohol Abuse Essays (53) , Raisin in the Sun Essays (17) , Crime and Punishment Essays (15) , A Raisin in The Sun Essays (13)
Topic: Essay about India ‘s Way Of Life
Essay about India 's Way Of Life
India 's way of life is among the world 's most established; progress in India started around 4,500 years back. Numerous sources portray it as "Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara" — the first and the incomparable society on the planet, as per the All World Gayatri Pariwar (AWGP) association. Western social orders did not generally see the way of life of India positively, as indicated by Christina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London. Early anthropologists once co
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Brett Morris fuming at Brookvale Oval surface
March 25, 2019 Sport
“As a player, you work so hard week in and week out to get out there and to have this happen as a result of the ground, it is frustrating.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love getting out and playing at suburban grounds, I’m a country boy and any chance that happens, I love that sort of stuff.
“But it’s frustrating this happens as a result of the surface.”
Morris was forced to have knee surgery in the summer of 2015/16 after suffering a knee injury at Brookvale while playing for the Bulldogs.
Given he has now injured his knee twice on the same surface, Morris fears for his own safety should he play at the ground again.
“From now on it will certainly be the back of my mind, thinking about my safety, having past experiences,” he said.
“If a club lost a major player due to it, there would be a lot of uproar.
“Especially a club building their season, say if Newcastle went there and they lost [Kalyn] Ponga, how would their fans and players react? It’s something we need to look at.
“I can’t say I won’t play, this is my job, it’s what I get paid to do.
“But there will certainly be a bit of worry if I have to play there again.”
The 32-year-old also dismissed the comments made by Manly CEO Lyall Gorman which pointed to the torrential rain during the match as a factor in the poor surface.
“The first time I did it it wasn’t raining a couple of years ago,” Morris said.
“We can look at that as well. We had rain at the SCG when we played Souths and I didn’t see anyone’s knees digging that far into the ground there.
“It’s something for them to look at.”
Sam is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
Toddler fighting for life after racetrack incident
Olyroos thump Taiwan in 2020 qualifier
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Library Systems Report
Design Showcase
AL Direct
The Scoop blog
AL Live
A Library Ally You Didn’t Know You Had
ALA honors the lifetime advocacy of Jonathan Band
By Carrie Russell | October 3, 2017
From left: ALA President Jim Neal; Re:Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel; Prue Adler, associate executive director, Federal Relations and Information Policy; Matt Schruers, vice president for law and policy at the Computer and Communications Industry Association; Jonathan Band; Katherine Oyama, senior policy counsel for Google; and Carrie Russell, director of the Program on Public Access to Information at ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy
Anyone who has ever checked out—or checked in—a library book or an ebook has our nation’s balanced copyright policies to thank. While the US code includes the first sale doctrine and allows exceptions to copyrighted works on behalf of the public interest, that balance is intact only so long as it is defended. The first line of defense is often a library.
But much of that defense would not be possible if not for a person most librarians don’t even know: Jonathan Band, who for nearly 20 years has represented libraries on behalf of the American Library Association (ALA) and other library associations. Band is this year’s recipient of the L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award.
Band wrote the amicus brief cited in the landmark case Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in which the US Supreme Court ruled that the first sale doctrine applied to books printed abroad, enabling libraries to buy and lend books manufactured overseas. He writes amicus briefs on many other issues, including fair use, e-reserves, mass digitization, and third-party liability protections for librarians. He also drafts comments to the US Copyright Office on the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and has traveled to Marrakesh to argue for the information rights of people with print disabilities.
ALA President Jim Neal, who presented the award to Band at a reception on Capitol Hill on October 2, said:
“Jonathan Band has guided the library community over two decades through the challenges of the copyright legal and legislative battles. His deep understanding of our community and the needs of our users, in combination with his remarkable knowledge and supportive style, has raised our understanding of copyright and our commitment to balanced interpretations and applications of the law. The 2017 L. Ray Patterson Copyright Award appropriately celebrates Jonathan’s leadership, counsel, and dedication.”
The L. Ray Patterson Award is named for a law professor and copyright historian at the University of Georgia who was one of first people to assert that copyright existed “for the benefit of the public.” He urged librarians to fight for fair use and the public domain, principles that embody the fundamental tenets of librarianship: equitable access to information, preservation of the cultural record, intellectual freedom, and the right to read and learn.
Alongside librarians at Band’s reception were many Washington, D.C., attorneys, lobbyists, and public interest group leaders who also recognized Band’s contributions. Matthew Schruers, vice president for law and policy at the Computer and Communications Industry Association and a former protegee of Band’s, noted the complexity of laws related to intellectual property and called Band “a beacon of clarity in an opaque landscape.”
Today, copyright law is growing increasingly more complex, particularly concerning digital works and licensing agreements. Librarians and library users everywhere rely on expertise from Jonathan Band and others who work behind the scenes to protect the balance of US copyright policy and, with it, our access to information.
CARRIE RUSSELL is the director of the Program on Public Access to Information in ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy.
Rebuilding Communities after Disasters
How libraries are connecting patrons to support, aid, resources
Dewey Decibel Podcast: Dewey Goes Global
Episode 18 explores international affairs
Latest Library Links
There was no shortage of laughter or conviviality among the more than 21,400 library workers and exhibitors who gathered for the ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition, held June 20–25 in Washington, D.C. But the subject matter commanded a sober tone, as speakers and panelists touched on some of the most complex and urgent issues facing the country in 2019. Award-winning YA author Jason Reynolds kicked off the conference with a stirring address, challenging librarians to facilitate understanding and empathy in their communities.
American Libraries feature, July/Aug.
ALA President Wanda Kay Brown writes: “Libraries are essential for the health of our democracy, our communities, and our future. But too often we hear from elected officials and regular citizens alike that libraries are relics that are no longer necessary in our modern culture. ALA’s strength in representing and advocating for librarians and library workers is likewise critical. However, the feedback we frequently receive is that getting involved in an association as complex as ours is daunting. Over the course of my presidential year, I will work to promote both the value of libraries and ALA, broadly speaking, through a lens of social justice and inclusion.”
American Libraries column, July/Aug.
ACRL has published 2018 Academic Library Trends and Statistics, the latest in a series of annual publications that describe the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of academic libraries in all Carnegie classifications. The one-volume title includes data from associate of arts colleges, baccalaureate, master’s colleges, and universities and research/doctoral-granting institutions. The 2018 survey data is also available through ACRL Metrics, an online subscription service that provides access to survey data from 1999 to 2018.
ACRL Insider, July 17
A set of notebooks dating from 1788 that record the first attempts at communication between British settlers and Indigenous Australians reveals language that is still in use in Sydney Aboriginal communities. The Dawes notebooks, named for First Fleet Officer William Dawes who recorded his discussions with Aboriginal people of La Perouse, are on international loan from the SOAS University of London to the State Library of New South Wales’s landmark exhibition, “Living Language: Country, Culture, Community,” which opened July 13. The notebooks are important because they retain the conversational context that is crucial for contemporary language revival work.
Sydney (N.S.W.) Morning Herald, July 14
Principal Library Officer Ernest Nyari vividly remembers the scramble that would ensue every morning when he opened the doors of the library at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Students got stuck at the doorway as they rushed in. The library didn’t have enough space or books to serve the growing student population. At a cost of $41.28 million, China’s Aid program helped Tanzania build a new library at the university in 2018. The largest university library in Africa, the facility is staffed by 147 librarians and features high-speed internet and improved digital resources.
China Daily (Beijing), July 10
Olivia Páez writes: “ARCs, or advance reading copies, are a small selection of proofs that are provided to bloggers, journalists, and librarians to review before a novel is published. They are used to generate buzz among reviewers and those with influence in the book community and get readers excited about a book’s upcoming release. These are not finished copies. In fact, some ARCs say ‘uncorrected proof’ on the cover, meaning that they may contain typos or grammatical errors. Another important detail on the cover is the statement ‘not for sale.’ Here are some ideas for what to do with copies of ARCs that you may want to unload.”
Book Riot, July 17
The ASGCLA Accessibility Assembly completed a revision of its Service Animals Tipsheet in June. Focusing on the definitions and expectations of service animals identified in the Americans with Disabilities Act, the tipsheet notes that support animals are different from service animals and serve different purposes. Libraries will find a set of tips about practice and procedures regarding service animals in a library.
ASGCLA Direct, July 17
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America's Canceled Highways
A Place Where History, Politics, and Geography Intersect
Tag: I-95
Here, There, and Everywhere: Washington D.C.’s Many Unbuilt Highways
For the end of 2018, we conclude with a post on the nation’s capital. With the recent announcement of Amazon.com planning to build new headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia, local citizens and officials have questioned whether the transportation system of Washington, D.C. can handle the increased load on its system. The D.C. Metro has been criticized for years — with many residents of the area arguing that the iconic subway/local rail system is not far-reaching and comprehensive enough to meet the needs of many commuters.
The history of the D.C. Metro is also intertwined with the history of the freeway system in the nation’s capital — namely, that some of the Metro lines were built along corridors where Interstate highways might have run. Critics might argue that Washington D.C. has the worst of both worlds: an inefficient, incomplete rail system combined with an inefficient, incomplete expressway system. Whether you commute by car or without a car in D.C., you’re likely to run into hassles and headaches.
If you want to live in Washington D.C., you better get used to a busy commute!
What makes Washington so unique from every other city in the United States, besides being the seat of the federal government? A lot of it has to do with the transportation system. Much of the planning for the city’s original layout was borne from the mind of one man, a French military engineer by the name of Pierre L’Enfant (1754-1825). L’Enfant had a logical plan for the layout of the District of Columbia: streets that ran north-south would have a number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) while streets that ran east-west would have a letter (A Street, B Street, etc.). Streets that ran in a diagonal manner would be christened as as avenue with one of the state names (Pennsylvania Avenue, New York Avenue, etc.) You can read more details of this plan in a fascinating article at curbed.com here.
All very sound and orderly, but when it came time for Washington, D.C. to come up with its own freeway plan in the mid-1900s, the process was anything but. Numerous changes and revisions were made, and to this day, much of the D.C. freeway system, especially around the downtown areas, lies in bits and pieces.
Plans from 1955 Yellow Book
While it isn’t possible to cover all the canceled/altered/abandoned highway projects in one post, here are some of the more notable ones:
I-95:
Currently I-95 runs along the eastern half of the I-495 beltway, but this was not the original plan. As we saw with I-40 in Memphis, I-95 was to have made a direct cut through the city. The original plan (coming up from the south) was for I-95 to cross the beltway, travel the entire length of I-395, and then turn northeast, eventually merging with the College Park/I-495 beltway interchange. The “Northeast Freeway” had several different proposed routes. The latest one, from the early 1970s, would have had I-95 as an eight-lane freeway running through the North East sector of the city along the Pepco power line and B&O Railroad corridors. You can see evidence for the continuation of I-95 inside the beltway by the “over-engineered” interchange at College Park, which takes south-bound drivers to a Park and Ride on the Metro Green Line:
I-70S:
part of the proposed North Central Freeway. Before 1975, I-270 in Maryland was designated I-70S. While it currently terminates at the northwest corner of the I-495 beltway in North Bethesda, plans existed to extend the freeway into D.C. itself. Originally the freeway was to run along the same route as Canal Road and the Clara Barton Parkway before meeting up with I-66. The proposed route was then changed, with I-70S traveling along the I-495 beltway before turning south near Takoma Park, eventually merging with then-proposed I-95 In the North East part of D.C. The freeway was to be six lanes and travel parallel with the B&O railroad, with a cleared right-of-way. Residents of D.C. and Takoma Park stridently and occasionally violently opposed the highway, concerned over proposed demolitions in the Woodside Park and Sligo Creek Park neighborhoods. The proposed highway was abandoned in the early 1970s.
Also known as the North Leg Freeway. Up until the 1970s, plans existed to extend I-66 eastward by 1 1/2 miles from its current terminus at U.S. 29 and K Street. I-66 was to have run via tunnel underneath K Street before emerging at ground level to merge with I-95 (currently designated I-395) near New York Avenue.
Map of the proposed I-66, I-95, and I-295 extensions in the central part of D.C.
A slightly modified proposal showing more detail.
I-266:
Interstate 266 was to have been a short connecting freeway running much of its length along the Potomac River. The western terminus was supposed to have been where Sprout Run Parkway crosses I-66 in Arlington, Virginia. From there, I-266 was to run along the current route of Sprout Run, cross over the Potomac along the proposed Three Sisters Bridge, and then turn east, running along Canal Road NW before merging again with I-66 near Rock Creek and Potomac Parkways and K Street. Strong, and occasionally violent protests against the planned Three Sisters Bridge during the 1960s and 1970s caused the I-266 plan to be abandoned. The only segment of the proposed freeway to see completion became known as the Whitehurst Freeway (U.S. Route 29), which runs for approximately 0.8 miles.
Proposed route for the western segment of I-266.
An artistic rendering of the proposed Three Sisters Bridge in Arlington.
Also known as the Anacostia Freeway. Originally intended to follow the route of I-695 and become part of the “Inner Belt” in downtown D.C. Other proposals had the interstate running along D.C. Route 95.
Interstate 695 is only two miles long, but there were plans to extend the highway further east as well as west. During the 1960s proposals were made to extend I-695 west, which would have brought it in the vicinity of the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial along Maine and Independence Avenues, before terminating at I-66 near the Constitution Avenue interchange:
In the 1990s another proposal was made, this time to extend the freeway east along Southeast Boulevard, eventually merging with D.C. Route 295. The goal was to relieve congestion on the heavily-traveled John Philip Sousa Bridge.
Southeast Boulevard exiting off to Pennsylvania Avenue. The highway at left, which runs under the Penn. Avenue overpass to RFK Stadium, was originally intended as an eastern extension of I-695.
Interstate 595 was originally conceived as a spur freeway linking I-395 with Reagan National Airport in Arlington. It was to have followed the same path as current U.S. Highway 1. The route was never upgraded to Federal Interstate Highway standards.
Wikimedia map showing some of the various highway proposals for Washington D.C. during the 1950s – 1970s.
With the advent of Amazon.com coming to town, it will be fascinating to watch the city’s debate over transportation continue and what plans will be approved going forward.
Thanks to all you great readers for an exciting journey here in 2018! Rest assured, there will be much more to post in the new year!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DC_freeway_map.svg
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/data/page05.cfm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metro
https://dc.curbed.com/2014/8/13/10061100/facts-and-myths-about-dcs-street-system
http://www.vahighways.com/route-log/i266.htm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/10/30/no-new-freeways-slated-for-district/73617023-5f32-4617-99ae-edf7eab5192a/?utm_term=.ac20df4dc53b
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/03/georgetowns-waterfront-freeway.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Central_Freeway_(Washington,_D.C.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_270_(Maryland)#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_66#District_of_Columbia_2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Freeway_(Washington,_D.C.)
http://wwwtripwithinthebeltway.blogspot.com/2007/04/1971-dc-b-i-70s-i-270-takoma.html
http://www.fosc.org/NCFreeway.htm
http://www.dcroads.net/roads/southeast/
americascanceledhighways Uncategorized 2 Comments December 25, 2018 December 26, 2018 5 Minutes
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2/3 OF CZECHS SCARED OF ISLAM
The Prague Post says a sizable number of Czechs polled are rightly concerned about the Religion of Peace:
About two-thirds of Czechs who have used the European election calculator EUvox consider Islam a threat to Czech society, according to an analysis of the results carried out by the Academy of Sciences Sociological Institute, released today.
The institute assessed the opinions of 18,000 Czechs. More than 1 million people used the application throughout the EU.
EUvox is to help voters in their decision-making. It offers 30 questions. The result is the highest-percentage accord with a party running in the elections.
Islam is feared mainly by those who agreed most with the opposition Dawn and the Civic Democrats (ODS), the extra-parliamentary Party of Free Citizens, and partially also the government ANO movement.
Only about 10 percent of Czechs are not afraid of Islam. The least afraid of it are supporters of the Green Party.
We can only wonder why. Are alleged environmentalists that foolish? But it's good to see many others are rightly worried about the influence of such an awful religion.
SAUDI ARABIA WANTS TO BAN DUTCH BUSINESSES
Because they're seething over Geert Wilders's campaigns:
Saudi companies have been ordered to exclude Dutch firms from future projects over an anti-Islamic stunt by a far-right Dutch politician, in a royal decree made public by the Mecca chamber of commerce.
The decree bans “Dutch firms from taking part in future projects in the kingdom, whether directly or through sub-contracting,” according to a chamber circular seen by AFP on Saturday.
It also reduces to a minimum the number of visas “for Dutch companies and investors who are not part of vital projects in the kingdom”.
And it orders an end to visits by trade delegations between the two countries.
Not that the Dutch have much to lose, IMO. Saudi Arabia continues to be a dictatorship with oppressive, racist, anti-semitic policies, and if those Dutch companies were smart, they wouldn't be seeking to make money at all costs.
WOMEN IN IRAN NEED FREEDOM FROM THE HIJAB
An Iranian woman wrote for Front Page Magazine about her experiences in the country that for 35 years has forced women to wear oppressive garments that deny them vitamin D from the sun:
For 35 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has forced millions of Iranian women and young girls to wear a chador, hijab, or other form covering to hide their bodies and hair. Girls are ordered to wear a hijab at the age of eight or nine.
The moral police have been deployed to crack down on those women who do not fully comply with this Islamic rule.
Growing up in the Islamic Republic, I saw how many women and girls felt it intolerable to wear a hijab, not only because it breached the personal freedoms of each citizen, but also because they found it difficult to wear a hijab on hot desert days throughout the year. One of my university friends, Sahar, dreamt to one day be able to walk freely down the street, wearing whatever she liked, feeling the breeze, the wind blowing through her hair, and not having to wear this mandatory covering that had been part of her public life since she was eight years old.
One day, I attempted to help Sahar fulfill her dream and I took her to a field far from the eyes of the Islamic moral police, and she walked, ran, and jumped around without a scarf like a child. It felt as if she had been released from prison, like she was capable of feeling this simple pleasure of freedom for the first time. Nevertheless, we were still afraid that there might be a governmental observer or a spy hiding somewhere. It was not a totally liberating experience.
This simple individual freedom might be taken for granted by women in the Western democratic world. And some might find it comical, ridiculous, or bizarre to have such a simple dream. But this is truly a dream for millions of Iranian women.
The summer is coming and the heat reaches over 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Iran. Working a full day with a thick hijab around your head and body can also cause serious health problems.
Of course. One of those illnesses is called osteoporosis, and to see cults like Lev Tahor embracing that kind of vulgar idea - even trying to ape it - is offensive. Besides fighting against Iran's nuclear programs, the west also has to condemn Iran's own oppression of women in their society.
I CAN SEE IMPEACHMENT FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW
IT'S LOOKING LIKE IT'S GONNA BE A LANDSLIDE!
AND, THIS CHART PROVES IT:
IF WE TAKE THE SENATE, THEN WE CAN AND SHOULD IMPEACH OBAMA FOR BENGHAZI, FAST & FURIOUS, THE IRS SCANDAL, AND FOR FAILING TO ENFORCE DRUG LAWS AND IMMIGRATION LAWS.
LEV TAHOR'S LAWYER WANTS TO HELP THEM ESCAPE WITH CHILDREN FROM CANADA'S JURISDICTION
The Quebec children's services has kept special warrants for apprehension of the children in the Haredi cult's clutches that's helped prevent their parents from fleeing the country along with them. But now, their atrocious lawyer wants to help them escape from justice:
The lawyer for Lev Tahor said Quebec must lift an order for the apprehension of all the children of Lev Tahor to allow the group to travel freely outside of Canada.
An apprehension order was issued by Quebec’s court last year asking for the return of all 127 of the children of Lev Tahor, an extremist ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect that moved en masse to Ontario late last year after living in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts since 2001.
The apprehension order was not executed by Children’s Services in Chatham-Kent, where the group relocated. Guidy Mamann, the group’s lawyer, said they only discovered the order existed several weeks ago, when some of the children applied to get Canadian passports. He said passports aren’t issued to people who have an outstanding warrant against them. The passport office has since asked that the children who have valid passports return them.
Mamann said since the order won’t ever be enforced, it must be lifted, because keeping it in place could force some families to leave the country without their children.
Considering how abusive they are, not to mention brainwashed by their sick leader Helbrans, the children would be better off without the parents, who've done nothing to prove they truly love their children.
The Chatham-Kent division's refusal to respect the warrants is offensive, and puts into question their own devotion to children's safety when dealing with cults.
The 5 Towns Jewish Times interviewed the brother of a woman in the cult who's been trying to get and her children to leave, and he says there's two daughters still in Toronto awaiting a judge's decision for custody. I hope he gets the grant, because they shouldn't be anywhere near that disgusting bunch.
Water is Racist
STUDY: Black Children Drown At Far Higher Rates
Posted by Pastorius at 11:04 AM 1 comments Links to this post
HEADLINES OBAMA WOULD LOVE
THE DEBATE IS OVER: MAN-MADE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IS BULLSHIT
YES: BULLSHIT.
THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR ATTACKS ON SKEPTICS PROVES IT:
THE DEBATE IS OVER, MAN-MADE ICE AGE GLOBAL WARMING CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE DISRUPTION IS REAL!
IF THEY WERE RIGHT, THEN ONE OF THE 40 IPCC MODELS WOULD HAVE CORRECTLY PREDICTED THE LAST 17 YEARS, BUT NOT ONE DID.
IF THEY WERE RIGHT, THEN THEY WOULDN'T BE CHANGING THEIR DIRE PREDICTIONS AND THEY WOULDN'T BE CHANGING THE UMBRELLA TERM FOR THEIR MOVEMENT.
IF THEY WERE RIGHT, THEN THE LEADERS AND PSEUDO-INTELLECTUALS OF THEIR MOVEMENT WOULD HOLD SKYPE TELECONFERENCES INSTEAD OF JETTING AROUND THE GLOBE TO SEVERAL CONFERENCES A YEAR.
IF THEY WERE RIGHT, THEN SLIGHT WARMING IN THE 50 YEARS PREVIOUS TO THE LAST 17 MIGHT HAVE EXCEEDED THE WARMING OVER THE LAST 3 MILLION YEARS.
BUT, THEY ARE WRONG.
THE WORST PART IS THE FACT THAT THEIR POLICIES HAVE RETARDED WORLD ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ROBBED THE POOR AND THE THIRD WORLD OF 40 YEARS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH.
THAT'S RIGHT:
GLOBAL POVERTY HAS WORSENED BECAUSE OF THE CLIMATE ALARMISTS.
CLIMATE ALARMISM IS THE THIRD MOST HARMFUL IDEOLOGY ON EARTH - AFTER LEFTISM AND ISLAMISM.
IF WE WANT TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY, THEN WE HAVE TO MAKE LEFTISM, ISLAMISM, AND CLIMATE ALARMISM HISTORY.
DANNY GLOVER DOESN'T NEED AN AUDIENCE
The former co-star with Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon film series makes me feel additionally embarrassed I ever watched those movies years before, as he calls for a boycott of Israel: (via Breitbart London):
Danny Glover and others actors featured in a documentary on an American social justice activist have formally protested the imminent screening of the film in Tel Aviv, and announced their support for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel.
The film, “American Revolutionary: the Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” is due to be screened at the DocAviv festival, which is running through May 17.
In a statement, Glover and nine others featured in the film, along with Boggs, the 98-year-old philosopher and activist whose life is chronicled in the documentary, said: “We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and support their call for cultural and academic boycott of Israel… we were shocked to find the film slated to be screened at the DocAviv festival in Israel on May 13th and 15th. This was scheduled without our knowledge.”
[...] Boggs “has explicitly stated her support of the boycott and believes this screening is in direct contradiction to her legacy and ongoing work as a revolutionary,” the statement said.
I guess that's one "social justice" worker I don't need to know anything about. Nor do I need to bother any longer about the Lethal Weapon movies, and haven't for a long time. Until now, I had no idea just how bad those formerly associated with that movie really were.
SECURITY FORCES WRECK "ILLEGAL" BUILDINGS AT MA'ALE REHAVAM
Another disgrace committed by Israeli authorities while illegal structures by Muslims are otherwise ignored:
Security forces completed the demolition of 10 illegal structures in the West Bank outpost of Ma’ale Rehavam, south of Jerusalem, Wednesday afternoon, after the High Court rejected a claim by settlers that the land was purchased legally.
[...] The Jewish Home party called for the immediate cessation of demolitions of Jewish structures in the West Bank. “The demolition of homes in Judea and Samaria must stop immediately,” a statement from the party read. “There cannot be selective and vigorous law enforcement in which they destroy homes in Judea and Samaria, while thousands of illegal Bedouin homes are left standing.”
[...] The demolition of the structures, which were built on private Palestinian land near larger settlements, comes six months after the High Court of Justice ruled that they were illegal.
What if they weren't? Besides, look who pushed for this:
The ruling to tear down the structures came a decade after the structures were built, and six years after Peace Now filed a petition calling on the government to evacuate six West Bank outposts: Givat Asaf, Mitzpeh Yitzhar, Ramat Gilad, Ma’ale Rehavam, Givat Hara’a, and Mitzpeh Lachish.
When they were built, all six outposts became subject to a “delineation order,” an injunction stipulating that the state can evacuate them at any given moment. In 2007, Peace Now pushed for the state to act on the injunction, and in early 2011 the state finally agreed to evacuate all structures built on privately owned land.
Peace Now is the cancer of modern times. They may not even be legal entity, so that only makes this all the more atrocious.
SUDANESE WOMAN MAY BE EXECUTED FOR BEING CHRISTIAN
The Islamic dictatorship in Sudan is threatening a woman with death for converting to Christianity:
A Sudanese court gave a 27-year-old woman until Thursday to abandon her newly adopted Christian faith and return to Islam or face a death sentence, judicial sources said on Monday.
Mariam Yahya Ibrahim was charged with apostasy as well as adultery for marrying a Christian man, something prohibited for Muslim women to do and which makes the marriage void.
The worst part about this is that she's pregnant, which means they'll be obliterating the unborn child in her too. This is absolutely repulsive.
Hashtag uncovered in Hieronymus Bosch Painting?
CLOSE EXAMINATION OF BOSCHS "GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS" REVEALED THIS:
SERIOUSLY:
POSTMODERNISM DECLARES THAT THERE IS NO G-D, THAT ALL VALUES ARE SUBJECTIVE AND THAT MORALITY IS RELATIVE.
AND THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NORMAL AND NO SUCH THING AS DEVIANCY.
WHERE DOES THIS INEVITABLY LEAD?
TO THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS.
AND IT'S EMBODIED IN TODAY'S DEMOCRAT PARTY...
... IN THE LEFT'S SEXUALLY PERMISSIVE NANNYSTATE, WHERE "DO WHAT THOU WILT IS THE WHOLE OF THE LAW".
TOBACCO IS OUTLAWED; MARIJUANA LEGALIZED.
CHRISTIANS ARE RUN OUT OF THE NFL; GAY ATHLETES LIONIZED.
FETUSES TREATED AS MERE TISSUE AND ABORTION HELD SACROSANCT; ENDANGERED SPECIES GLORIFIED.
BODY-PIERCING AND TATTOOING CONSIDERED HUMDRUM; CHIVALRY CONSIDERED SEXIST.
MEANWHILE, PRESIDENT OBAMA PROTECTS THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND BOKO HARAM - ARMS JIHADISTS IN LIBYA, AND RETREATS FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ, WHILE ISOLATING ISRAEL.
IT CAN'T LEAD ANYWHERE EXCEPT TO THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS....
HISTORIAN FINDS A DEMOCRAT HASHTAG FROM 1864!
TIME TO BAN BOUNCY HOUSES???????
UNREAL:
Two young boys were injured after a “bouncy house” was swept away by a gust of wind Monday afternoon. Three children were inside the play structure when the wind lifted the inflatable toy 50 feet into the air.
WE PRAY FOR THE SWIFT AND FULL RECOVERY OF THE CHILDREN.
BUT SHOULDN'T WE DO MORE?
THESE BOUNCY HOUSES CAUSE 30 EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS FOR OUR CHILDREN EVERY DAY!
THAT'S MORE THAN GUNS CAUSE!
WE MUST BAN THEM!
(VIDEO AT THE LINK.)
EHUD OLMERT SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS IN PRISON
If it goes through, he'll be the 1st former prime minister to wind up behind bars:
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli court sentenced former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to six years in prison for his role in a bribery scandal, capping the stunning downfall of a politician who just a few years ago hobnobbed at the White House and claimed to be close to reaching a historic peace agreement with the Palestinians.
What garbage. All he did was commit dhimmitude.
Olmert, the first prime minister sentenced to prison, is set to become the latest in a string of top Israeli politicians to serve time for serious crimes. The scandals have fueled a feeling of public sorrow over the state of the country's political system mixed with relief that no one is above the law. [...]
Olmert was convicted in March in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a controversial real-estate project in Jerusalem. He was charged for acts while he was mayor of Jerusalem and national trade minister, years before he became prime minister in 2006.
Olmert has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyer said they would appeal Tuesday's sentence to the Supreme Court.
The six-year sentence was the maximum sought by prosecutors. Olmert also was ordered to pay a $290,000 fine. Judge David Rozen, a Tel Aviv district court judge, accused Olmert of undermining the public's trust as he delivered the punishment.
"A public servant who accepts bribes is akin to a traitor," Rozen said. "This is a man who was on top of the world. He served as prime minister, the most important position, and from there he reached the position of a man convicted of criminal offenses."
Olmert appeared stunned as he walked out of the courthouse without speaking to reporters. Rozen ordered him and several co-defendants to report to prison on Sept. 1.
Hope he doesn't try to flee the country beforehand, or he'll be fit for additional time in the pen. He's had this punishment coming to him for a long time now. Finally, he's getting what he asked for, after he sold out this country and endangered it.
TOM BREVOORT CONTINUES DOWN THE PATH OF APOLOGIA
On his blog, he keeps responding with contempt to anyone who dares speak negatively about Islam. In this example, somebody writes:
Why do you continue to release a book that promotes a religion that prompted the kidnapping of innocent Nigerian schoolgirls? It makes me sick.
And he answers with a classic defense:
No religion did that.
Particular sick, fanatical individuals did that.
And those kinds of individuals come in all sorts of backgrounds, from every conceivable religion and race and region.
All without admitting that "individuals" have to get their beliefs from somewhere. Can he even name what other religions he thinks spawned these kind of monsters excepting Islam? Possibly the same poster followed up with:
"And those kinds of individuals come in all sorts of backgrounds, from every conceivable religion and race and region." Not from every religion Tom. When was the last time you heard of Jews, Christians, Buddhists, or Hindus doing these types of things? You can put your head in the sand if you want, but Islam is a religion of hate that uses deception and sympathy from the ignorant to continue its mission. Read the Quran and then let's talk.
And what does Brevoort say this time?
When was the last time I heard of Jews, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus doing these kinds of things?
Pick up any newspaper anywhere.
Well...well...well. He has really sunk to new lows. And then:
"Pick up any newspaper anywhere." Really Tom? Please tell where I can buy that paper that talks about these groups, other than Muslims, that kidnap school children to sell into slavery, engage in ocean pirating, engage in suicide bombing, blow up world trade centers and other buildings, and decapitate innocent people on television. Please Tom, show me that paper and I will stand corrected.
His only reply?
Next question.
That's all? Proof he's not interested in arguing logic. Now I've really lost respect for that awful man. His words are even hurtful to some of the Jewish comics contributors whose company he's been working for. He even said that Joe McCarthy was a demagogue, but truly, McCarthy was just a jerk, a onetime Democrat who'd taken his MO with him; if it hadn't been for his overbearing approach, the fight against communism could've been handled a lot better. The real demagogue, IMO, is Brevoort.
While we're on the subject, a woman wrote in to voice her disappointment at how Carol Danvers - the only true Ms. Marvel to many - is being handled:
As a woman I am far more embarrassed by everything related to the awful direction you've taken Carol Danvers in, from the ugly and generic costume to the rubbish boy scout junior feminist characterisation to the people who think it's anything other than an empowered-woman-by-committee. I was never "embarrassed" by her almost iconic costume, or the character that went along with it who quickly became one of my favorites & someone I genuinely looked up to. Now I am just embarrassed to look at her.
You know, I agree. The second costume designed in the late 70s - the black one with a light streak and a sash band at the waist - was excellent, far better than the disappointment that is the new costume drawn for her as a female Captain Marvel. In fact, she really should remain as Ms. Marvel or Warbird, and not have to be saddled with the PC lunacy that's taking place now. Sure, she'd been created as a female take on a role first played by a male protagonist, but she was still her own role, and what they're doing now is pointless.
THE SCIENCE OF DIETS AND HEALTH VERSUS THE SCIENCE OF MAN-MADE CLIMATE CHANGE
YOUR AVERAGE NYTIMES-READING LIBERAL AGREES THAT THE SCIENCE REVOLVING AROUND OUR DIETS AND OUR HEALTH IS ALL OVER THE PLACE:
SOME STUDIES SHOW THAT CARBS ARE POISON AND PROTEIN AND FAT ARE GOOD
SOME STUDIES SHOW VEGETARIAN DIETS ARE BEST
SOME STUDIES SHOW THAT SATURATED FATS ARE BAD - OTHERS THAT THEY ARE HARMLESS
OLD STUDIES MADE OUT SALT AS A POISON. RECENT STUDIES SHOW SALT IS HARMLESS AND NECESSARY...
SO - ON THIS ISSUE - LIBERALS HAVE NO PROBLEM AGREEING WITH THE IDEA THAT THE STUDIES SHOULD ALL BE MET WITH A FAIR DEGREE OF SKEPTICISM.
THE SAME LIBERALS, THOUGH, ACCEPT THEORIES ABOUT MAN-MADE CLIMATE CHANGE AS IF THEY WERE PROVEN BEYOND ANY REASONABLE DOUBT ...
DESPITE THE FACT THAT GLOBAL CLIMATE IS AT LEAST AS COMPLEX AS DIET AND
DESPITE THE FACT THAT UNLIKE DIET STUDIES THERE ARE VERY FEW TESTS THAT PROVE ANYTHING ABOUT MAN-MADE CLIMATE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
AND BECAUSE THE CLIMATE MODELS HAVE ALL BEEN WAY WAY WAY OFF, MAN-MADE CLIMATE CHANGE THEORIES SHOULD REALLY BE MET WITH EVEN MORE SKEPTICISM THAN DIET STUDIES.
THE REASON LIBS'N LEFTIES DON'T QUESTION CLIMATE CHANGE THEORIES IS THAT THEY ARE NOW AN INTEGRAL PARTY OF THE PARTY PLATFORM AND A LITMUS TEST FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE MACHINE.
IF YOU ARE A SKEPTIC, THEN YOUR MEMBERSHIP ON THE LEFT AND AFFILIATION WITH ALL THAT IS CONSIDERED BY THE MASS MEDIA AND ACADEMY (WHICH ARE BOTH DOMINATED BY THE LEFT) AS SMART AND COOL IS THREATENED.
KEEP IT UP AND YOU'LL BE SHUNNED. CALLED A "DENIER" AND REVILED AS A KNUCKLE-DRAGGING FOX-WATCHING G-D-FEARING WAR-MONGERING GAS-GUZZLING... RACIST!!!!!!!
AND SHUNNED.
AND LEFTISM IS, ABOVE ALL ELSE, AN AFFILIATION WITH A MACHINE AND NOT A SET OF PRINCIPLES OR VALUES OR BELIEFS.
SUPPORTING THE PARTY ON AGW/CLIMATE CHANGE/"CLIMATE DISRUPTION" IS NOW A PREREQUISITE AND IF YOU AND YOUR FAVORED GROUPS WANT ANY OF THE GOODIES THE MACHINE CAN DOLE OUT WHEN THEY'RE IN POWER, THEN YOU HAVE TO PLAY ALONG.
THE CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX IS A PERFECT ONE FOR THE LEFT AS IT ALLOWS THEM TO TAX ANYTHING/EVERYTHING AND TO REDISTRIBUTE IT TO THE MEMBERS OF THEIR MACHINE.
NEXT TIME YOU RUN INTO A LIBERAL WHO FEELS THAT AS FAR AS MAN--MADE CLIMATE CHANGE IS CONCERNED "THE DEBATE IS OVER" AND "THE SCIENCE SETTLED" ASK THEM WHY CLIMATE SCIENCE IS ANY BETTER THAN DIET SCIENCE.
IF THEY HAVE A SHRED OF INTELLECTUAL HONESTY, IT SHOULD OPEN THEIR EYES.
CANADA SHOULDN'T ALLOW SYRIA JIHADISTS TO RETURN
Sun News makes clear that jihad is not Canadian:
Fighting armed jihad is not "as Canadian as maple syrup." It's completely against our values.
It's criminal. It's terrorism.
Yet that's just what Abu Dujana al-Muhajir wrote in a blog post. He's one of several Calgary youth who left the country to pursue jihad in Syria.
The Syrian civil war has raged on since 2011 and is still rife with sectarian strife, with many Islamist factions.
CSIS believes 30 Canadians are fighting in extremist groups in the country.
Abu Dujana's post lists writer Irshad Manji among a group of "deviants" and says Sun Media columnist Tarek Fatah is a "sell out" for his views on Islam.
Let's not try to downplay what Abu Dujana's saying. Let's not ignore it and hope it will go away.
While we firmly reject his attempts to normalize jihad among our youth, the truth is Islamic extremism in Canada is growing.
And they both need to come up with educational curriculum to prevent it, while simultaneously exiling any and all who go to Syria for the sake of jihad.
ABU HAMZA AL-MASRI PINS THE BLAME ON HIS EX-WIFE FOR JIHAD
The terror-directing imam whose hands got blown off told the US court where he's standing trial that his wife's responsible for his turn to jihadism:
Handless hate preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri was living “on the wrong side of morality” — working as a bouncer for a London strip club — until his first wife led him on a path to jihad.
Testifying at his terror trial in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, the one-eyed, Egyptian-born cleric said he married a non-Muslim Brit in the early ’80s who hated his “not very respectful lifestyle.” So she sought advice from his Islamic friends.
“They told her, ‘If you ask him to teach you Islam, he will spend more time with you,’” testified al-Masri, 56.
The extra time the couple spent studying Islam didn’t salvage the marriage — but did lead al-Masri on the path to become a well-known imam, he said.
The thrice-married al-Masri didn’t say why they divorced, but ex-wife Valerie Olga Macias has blamed their 1984 split on the cleric’s alleged affair with a hooker.
I'm not surprised he's trying to scapegoat his ex-wife for his abominations. Her quest for advice from other Muslims - according to his testimony - doesn't sound very plausible either.
Al-Masri, bereft of his hook-like prosthetic, raised his right stump to be sworn in before testifying.
Asked to define “jihad,” he said, “to struggle in the cause of God.”
Defense lawyer Joshua Dratel brought up previous comments al-Masri made about it being OK to lie to non-Muslims.
But al-Masri said he’s “no stranger to prison” and would rather stay incarcerated than lie “under oath.” “If my freedom comes at the expense of my dignity and beliefs, I don’t want it,” he said.
I think he's committing taqqiya just so he can be incarcerated.
MSNBC host says 'every single playbook' from President Trump is pushing towards another Holocaust
House Votes to Hold Ross, Barr in Contempt Over Citizenship Question on Census (Natalie Andrews/Wall Street Journal)
Line-Up for Next Democratic Debate
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Norman Swartz joined the Department of Philosophy at SFU in 1967 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1998.During Swartz's early years at SFU, the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology Department was in academic and administrative tur...
Swartz, Norman
Regional planning collection (James W. Wilson collector)
James W. Wilson was a Professor of Geography at SFU, who had served as the first executive director of the Lower Mainland Regional Planning Board and a relocation planner for the Columbia River Power Project in B.C.Collection consists of records a...
Wilson, James W.
The fonds of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics consists of records created and received in the course of the administration of the department and the carrying out of its functions of providing instruction and promoting research. The act...
John F. Ellis fonds
The files include Dr. Ellis's notes on numerous interviews, background research, and the correspondence which accumulated in the preparation of the report as well as a briefly annotated copy of the report itself.
Ellis, John F.
Cliff Lloyd fonds
Fonds consists of records made and received by Cliff Lloyd in his role as a professor. Includes correspondence, publications, research proposals, course materials and other documents.
Lloyd, Cliff
Canadian Association of Geographers: Western Division fonds
The fonds consists of records made or received by the WDCAG and reflect the administration and operation of the organization. Includes correspondence, minutes, reports, newsletters and publications, and other documents.
Canadian Association of Geographers: Western Division
Indo-Canadian collection
From 1979-1981 the University Archives collected historical information on the Indo-Canadian Community in British Columbia with a view towards acquiring records in this area. The Archives prepared a bibliography, and made copies of relevant materi...
The fonds of the SFU Childcare Society consists of records made or received in the course of administering the Society and its predecessor bodies and providing facilities, personnel and funding for childcare programs. The bulk of the material rang...
Simon Fraser University Childcare Society
The fonds of the Department of Philosophy consists of records created and received in the course of the administration of the department and the carrying out of its functions of providing instruction and promoting research. The activities document...
The Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) Department was established in 1965 as one of the original departments at SFU. It marked a significant academic innovation in that it united three separate disciplines under one head—the disti...
British Columbia Student Federation fonds
The fonds consists of records made or received in the course of administering the BCSF and carrying out its programs. Activities documented include the establishment and organization of the various student groups; executive and general meetings; m...
British Columbia Student Federation
Frances Wasserlein fonds
The fonds consists primarily of records created during the writing of Wasserlein's MA thesis at SFU, "An Arrow Aimed at the Heart": the Vancouver Women's Caucus and the Abortion Campaign, 1969-1971, completed in 1990. The fonds...
Wasserlein, Frances
Gerald Scott fonds
The fonds consists of the audiocassettes for eleven interviews conducted by Gerry Scott for his thesis.
Scott, Gerald
Susan Walsh fonds
The fonds consists of the audiocassettes for five interviews conducted by Susan Walsh for her thesis.
Walsh, Susan
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Lighting ‘Fresh Fire’ for a Move of God in Australia
“You’re important to God. You have a soul, you have a spirit. … He wants to talk to you. He wants you to talk to Him.” This was Franklin Graham’s last message in Australia as the 16-day Graham Tour came to a close in Sydney, Australia, where more than 6,800 gathered Sunday night.
Sixteen days of criss-crossing Australia. Time well spent changing the spiritual landscape of this wild and rugged continent and its warmhearted people.
Sunday night in Sydney, Franklin Graham issued yet another invitation on the last night of the Graham Tour. He urged Aussies to confess their sins and surrender their hearts to Christ.
“Let’s get this straight [with God] tonight. Do it. Come on,” he said.
Many of those who heard the Gospel these past two-plus weeks did. Thousands of the more than 59,000 people who attended the tour received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
>>See photos from Sunday’s event in Sydney.
Another 30,000 around the world in 114 countries watched the live stream, with more than 1,600 indicating decisions for Christ online and via text through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s internet ministry, Search for Jesus.
And there was a great celebration at the end of the invitation at all seven tour stops.
“Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” —Luke 15:10
A Recap of the Graham Tour
In 1959, God worked through Billy Graham’s Crusades to change this country.
Six decades later, the Graham Tour was birthed out of a desire to share the Gospel across Australia once more.
Every stop on the tour was unique. First, Perth, a very isolated city on the outskirts of Australia’s vast outback. Then to Darwin in the remote Northern Territory. Moving southbound to the trendy city of Melbourne. Northward to Brisbane—the only outdoor venue on the tour. On to Adelaide in South Australia and finally to Sydney, the largest city in Australia.
‘We’re Desperate for Revival Here’
“We have loved every minute of it,” Franklin Graham said of the Graham Tour. In his final message Sunday in Sydney, he asked the crowd one last time, “If you died tonight, would [God] welcome you?”
Gayle Cale, who lives in a Sydney suburb, was one of 6,000 prayer volunteers throughout Australia who answered questions and prayed with people who came forward at Franklin’s invitations to accept Christ.
“We’re desperate for revival here,” she said.
Arriving early Sunday at the International Convention Centre Theatre, she took time to marvel at the enormity of it all—and how the Gospel is working in her nation.
“It was exactly what people in Australia and everywhere need to hear,” she said.
Gayle noted how Franklin clearly presents the Gospel as his father did when she heard him preach in Sydney in 1968.
Another prayer volunteer, John Fitzpatrick from the town of Kiama, was a brand new believer when he attended Billy Graham’s 1979 Sydney Crusade.
He called the Graham Tour “a big blessing” and commented on everyone who came together to help make it happen. Over 260 churches, in fact. “It’s been a great catalyst for huge growth,” he said.
The hope of those involved in the evangelistic tour is for a lasting spiritual impact on Australia. More than 12,000 people were trained to disciple others through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s (BGEA) Christian Life and Witness class. This practical course teaches Christians how to effectively share their faith.
The BGEA also works with local churches to follow up with each new believer. Every person who came forward during the Graham Tour will be connected to a Bible-based church to help them grow and mature in their faith.
As the music and messages come to an end in this vast land, one thing remains: the seeds of hope and new life in Christ that have been scattered across the great nation.
“I’m thankful for [Billy Graham],” said Gayle, “and how his legacy of sharing the Gospel lives on through his son.”
John shared the same sentiments.
“So much is born from these moments,” he said, reflecting on Billy and Franklin Graham’s impact across his country. “They’re instrumental to lighting fresh fire for the move of God in Australia.”
Would God welcome you to heaven? You can be sure. Pray now.
Sixty years ago, Billy Graham’s Australia Crusades stirred up faith in God in the Land Down Under. One in every three people attended an event and millions more listened via radio, TV broadcasts and landlines. In all, it’s estimated that half of the population heard the Gospel in 1959 and more than 140,000 made a public decision for Christ.
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9 Finance & FinTech Trends for 2019
Each year we look at trends that will be relevant to our client base. Since a significant portion of experience has been with financial software companies, financial services and FinTech, here are 9 trends we think will be important in 2019:
Trade wars, tariffs trade deals, globalization, deficits and the state of the economy will be a big story. China will be a big part of the story. And recession watch will be a significant angle, after 37 quarters of the longest expansion in U.S. history. For example, we expect a lot of how- to-prepare-for-the-coming-recession articles. We're not going to predict how the economy goes -- though an uncertain economy combined with a volatile stock market doesn't look good -- just that it will clearly a big story in 2019.
Brexit matters but not from a political perspective but for what it means for London. Our interest here isn't in the political implications. We feel that there will be a lot of coverage regarding the impact on London as an important finance center. Finance firms and those that provide services to them may find they need to shift their European offices from London to some other EU city. We would have bet that Germany would be the most logical successor to London, but with uncertainty around what happens after Merkle, we will want to hedge that bet. (Though compared to the unrest in France, Germany still looks like a better choice.)
A big year in iPOs? Some high profile unicorns -- including Uber (currently valued at $72B) & Lyft ($15B), Slack ($10B) and maybe Airbnb ($31B) are looking like they'll go public in 2019. There will be a lot of attention paid to how they do with the idea that their IPOs serve as a market indicator. That may not be accurate. Moderna went public this month and raised $604M, valuing the company at approx. $7.5B. But the stock immediately fell below its initial asking price. So hard to read the tea leaves on that. If they delay their IPO, that, too, will generate coverage -- and tell us something about the market.
FAANG stocks will continue to generate ink. FAANG stocks are: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, and they will continue to dominate media coverage because a significant majority of Americans rely on them for information and entertainment. That's not going to change in 2019. (Keep in mind at least one of those companies isn’t profitable.) That said, Microsoft has almost stealthily become one of the most valuable companies but adding M to the acronym makes it unpronounceable.
The Cannabis market is growing strong. One issue that really hasn’t gotten attention: Because under federal law, pot is still illegal, the cannabis market remains a cash business – even in states that have legalized it. We expect three topics to get coverage: 1) Will banking laws change to allow legal cannabis retailers to accept credit card payments? 2) How much taxes is legal cannabis sales generating for each state? 3) How does HR handle employees who are work while high?
Student debt is a big issue and will continue to get coverage. This is an ongoing story that we include in our list because, while obvious, if we did not mention it, someone might gleefully knock us for not mentioning such an important issue.
The allure of the heartland for business and investment. The Midwest and other parts of the country that are not on the coasts have been slowly but steadily getting coverage over the past two years as being great, overlooked alternatives to expensive, overheating markets like San Francisco/Silicon Valley, New York City, etc. We think those articles will continue to hit in 2019. We also think economics of the heartland will take on additional importance as the 2020 elections approach, and voters, reporters and politicians realize there's still a strong feeling of have-notism among residents in rural communities.
The evolution of FinTech. Consumer-focused financial tech startups, known as FinTech, began as concepts to disrupt traditional banks by offering digital-first financial services. But because of the complexity, the initial wave of FinTechs focused on banking function at a time. We've reached a point when Fintechs are in a position to combine more offerings that are smarter, more dynamic and interactive than traditional banks' website or app functionality, offering new ways to bank, invest, pay and manage mortgages, track spending, etc. In 2019, we expect more FinTechs to be acquired by traditional banks but not just because of the FinTech's technology but because they provide access to millennials who may not be thrilled with traditional banks. There's also B2B FinTechs, which provide services to banks. We expect those to grow in importance but will be hard for them to get coverage outside of when they're acquired because they play a very behind-the-scenes role.
The state of bitcoin. Bitcoin and blockchain went mainstream in media coverage in 2018 (as we predicted) and will continue to generate coverage in 2019. In a time of daily political chaos, we think more people will be interested, there will more skeptical coverage trying to make sense of the bitcoin market. We think it will continue to defy logic but that won't stop people from investing in bitcoins or the market reducing its volatility.
Let us know if you think. We will publish another set of predictions in early January so stay tuned.
Posted by Norman Birnbach at 8:00 AM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Airbnb, cannabis, FAANG, finance, FinTech, heartland, Lyft, predictions 2019, Slack, student debt, trends, Uber
4 Additional Media Trends for 2019: including "News Fatigue"
We live in a media-centric world. And by "we," we certainly mean Birnbach Communications but we also mean Americans. That's true even as:
Traditional media has been facing a tough time because their business models have been failing, despite a significant uptick in the demand for news.
Digital media isn't the sure thing it was once thought to be, despite the lack of traditional media's baggage (like lack of printing presses).
Local media outlets have been shutting down, despite the common wisdom that hyperlocal was a solution.
People aren't reading newspaper content on paper (but on screens) or watching TV shows on TV (but on screens).
Last week, we issued our top five media trends that included: the rise of streaming content; the age of mass media is dead; the broken business model and the rise of "news deserts"; social media under scrutiny; and more apps will try to fight/block fake news.
But we have more -- yes, more -- media predictions. Keep in mind that some of these are based on predictions we made for 2018 but it's important to note that we believe this trends will continue, which is why they didn't make our top 5 but why we're included them here:
The shorter/faster news cycle is distracting Americans and causing news fatigue. We're suffering from news fatigue -- overwhelmed by news notifications on our phones that seems to buzz every hour. There’s never enough time to process significant news before we’re buzzed by the next alert (that may not be relevant). News is so pervasive it overtakes previously non-politicized events like sporting events, entertainment industry award ceremonies, family holiday meals, etc. That buzz is so addictive that people actively check social media to get the latest shocking news. Even reporters who don’t cover politics flood their social media timelines with political news (regardless of their political beliefs), making it harder to get their attention when pitching them. The 24/7 distraction also makes it harder for people to pay attention to your story – so it may take more touchpoints to break through the clutter.
The incredible shrinking newsroom. A decade ago, most newsrooms used to employ more reporters to cover the news, and the amount of pages that newspapers and magazines had to fill was larger. Today, news reporters have to cover more news with fewer resources and less space. Locally, at the Boston Business Journal, a terrific weekly, staff reporters typically file four or so stories a day, may have a weekly newsletter they produce and then must write a longer article for the weekly printed edition. Radio reporters now also have to write up a print story for the website in addition to producing their stories for the radio. All of this is to say that there are fewer reporters and they have to produce much more. This makes it challenging for them to take meetings, cultivate sources, uncover stories that need to be told. According to the UNC School of Media and Journalism's Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, the result of all this is that "Many newspapers have become ghosts of their former selves, both in terms of the quality and quantity of their editorial content and the reach of their readership." (See credibility issues, below.)
The credibility of news media is under attack. There is at least one area of commonality between liberals and conservatives: each group has key media it favors (due to confirmation bias, i.e., their echo chamber) and those outlets whose reports they disagree with and don't believe. Americans increasingly hate either Fox or CNN; the New York Times or Wall St. Journal, for example. With Trump and others calling articles they don't like "Fake News" or "the enemy of the people," and people on the other side pointing to Hannity (who had said he wouldn't campaign for Trump but then came out on stage at Trump's last rally before the midterms), etc., the problem is that the credibility of journalist and media outlets across the spectrum is now being questioned. That's a real problem for PR functions and agencies who work with reporters, editors and producers to tell their clients' stories. If there are those who disbelieve the New York Times or Wall St. Journal, will they believe your organization's news in those or other outlets? Seems doubtful.
The war on screen time. There will be greater acknowledgment that we’re all on screens too much throughout the day. It’s a problem for everyone, not just adults. We expect more people – suffering from news fatigue, will turn off notifications on their phones so they don’t get interrupted/distracted as much. And somewhat ironically, there will be apps, like Apple’s "Screen Time" and Google’s "Family Link," a parental controls app, that will help you manage your screen addictions.
We've previously mentioned news fatigue in posts about living in the "Age of Anxiety" and are including it in our 2019 set of predictions because we think both will continue (we're not out of the anxiety woods yet and were going to continue to suffer from news fatigue for some time to come.
We will post more of predictions over the next few weeks. Let us know what you think.
Labels: age of anxiety, credibility, media, news cycle, news fatigue, newsroom, predictions 2019, trends, war on screen time
3 Wall St. Journal Articles Validate Our "Age of Anxiety" Prediction
Back in Nov. 2018, we blogged about a new prediction: "Age of Anxiety to Continue into 2019."
The factors leading to the Age of Anxiety include:
What can seem like a continuous cycle of breaking news. Each hour we got another notification on our phones about another piece of news. The notifications can feel like they're hitting so often that we don't have time to process what happened an hour ago, leaving us feeling unsettled.
The continued proliferation of fake news, by which we mean disinformation -- intentionally false news spread deliberately (not merely news that one politician or another disagrees with) -- is succeeding in creating an atmosphere of distrust of news, politicians, institutions and each other.
The spread of misinformation -- wrong or incorrect information that is spread but not necessarily with the intent to deceive -- on social media is polarizing and causes distrust, which leads to anxiety. Social media also spreads anger as people inside one bubble get increasingly angry at people in another bubble.
Uncertainty about the economy, the future of healthcare (including key features people like: keeping kids on parents' policies until age 26 and coverage for people with pre-existing conditions), etc. leave people anxious.
There are other factors but for this blog, the key point we also made in that prediction is:
Consumers are looking for less stress, and we expect articles about unplugging and de-stressing. We also expect that companies that can position their products or services as helping to reduce stress, will see those messages resonate with consumers (even if that approach is not necessarily newsworthy on its own, i.e., it might not generate media coverage even as that approach could be effective).
We are advising our clients to look at how they can help reduce stress and anxiety through their products and services.
Meanwhile, here are three Wall St. Journal articles that appeared yesterday and today that validate our prediction:
Inner Peace Is a Booming Business though the columnist adds a cynical perspective: "Voices calling you to ‘find your escape’ are likely seeking a buck like everyone else." We think cynical plays won't work but the headline affirms our prediction.
The Battle to Control Your Mindfulness: A pair of apps preach relaxation to millions of customers -- but the competition between them is anything but Zen.
The Benefits (and Risks) of the Mental-Health Day. More workplaces are allowing time off for employees facing stress, anxiety or depression, but not all bosses are understanding of their workers’ needs.
Mindfulness has been getting increasing play over the past few years, and we expect that to continue in 2019.
Please note: we realize that by pointing out that we're living in the Age of Anxiety, we're not necessarily making people less anxious. But we think it is important to understand the moods and trends.
Please also note: When we say "validated," we don't mean that the Wall St. Journal saw our prediction and said, "Yes, those folks at Birnbach Communications are correct." We mean that we made the prediction, and then the Wall St. Journal wrote about articles that touched on a particular trend, proving we were right in making our prediction.
Labels: age of anxiety, predictions 2019, trends, Wall St. Journal, WSJ
Our Year in Review for 2018
In the spirit of that quote from Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it," we're taking a look at some highlights from 2018.
We correctly predicted that the news cycle would get faster and shorter -- that is: instead of a 24-hour news cycle (which was the case until about a decade ago), we now have news that breaks hourly. Or it seems to break hourly. And then the significance of the news dissipates in less time than ever. In 2018, there were just a couple of news stories that played out over a week. Must were forgotten the next day.
So as a way to remember good things that happened, to look around, here are some highlights of Birnbach Communications' year:
We generated nearly 36 bylined articles (for our clients and ourselves) this year -- nearly as many as we did in the last two years combined. This represents a growth in our thought leadership practice.
Blog articles we wrote for clients continued to drive traffic to their sites. For one client, traffic in 2018 increased substantially over the prior year. We generated 95.46% more visitors than 2017 and saw an increase of 95.24% in terms of new users in 2018 to the site as compared to 2017. The number of pageviews increased by 37.95%. For context, we worked for the client in 2017, too, so it's nice to see continued growth for them.
In our second year working for a STEM non-profit, we came up with new ideas to extend their reach. Our recommendation to develop a turn-key press release for the non-profit's partners was successful and generated more than 80 articles in local, education and national media.
We helped a client manage an acquisition by a global player that's little known in the U.S. Our work helped generate ongoing coverage of the deal and its implications. Our strategy successfully generated coverage and traffic to the site.
We helped generate awareness around funding announcements for clients operating in AI/robotics, healthcare and fintech sectors.
We generated international coverage for a non-profit and provided PR recommendations for an international scientific research institute.
We expanded our experience into agtech, fintech and finance, AI and robotics.
We have strengthened our positioning in thought leadership.
Our work in 2018 helped raise the profile of our clients among key constituencies, drive traffic to their site and supported lead-gen activities. Our thought leadership campaigns led to an acquisition and positioned our client as forward-thinking in their sectors.
We look forward to continued growth in 2019, and wish you the same.
Birnbach Communications Issues Five Media Predictions for 2019
For the 17th year, here are our top media, social media and marketing predictions for 2019. It is a disruptive time for the media, bringing both chaos and opportunities.
Without further ado, here are five of the agency’s top 5 media trends for 2019:
1. The growing number of streaming content services make consumers harder to reach. The number of people who stream content as well as the number of apps providing on-demand content is rapidly growing. Already 61 percent of Americans, age 18 to 29, regularly watch or listen to what they want, where and when they want it, according to Pew Research. Apps for CBS, TBS, NBC and ABC are ad supported – only by national brands – but more dominant services including Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, YouTube Red, and Spotify Premium are ad-free, putting their subscribers out of reach for marketers.
2. The age of the mass media is mostly over. It’s a niche world now. Partly that’s because marketers can now reach very specific audiences, along with nanoinfluencers, since online media can tailor content by gender, age, interest, political persuasion, etc. (Unfortunately, print media also is increasingly becoming niche, due to an ongoing reduction of the number of pages and size of their news staff combined with an increase in subscription rate.) In 2019, it’s complicated and expensive to reach a broad audience so marketers need to consider targeting key audiences through niche media.
3. The broken business model for news will cause continued problems in 2019, including an increase in “news deserts.” It’s not only print media that will struggle in 2019, online media will struggle, too. The reason: online subscription fees are lower than print subscriptions and online ads generate less money that print ads (even though online ads provide much more useable data). We expect, unfortunately, more layoffs, smaller printer runs, smaller and less frequent issues – both online and in print. In 2019, we're going to see a growing number of "news deserts," defined by the UNC School of Media and Journalism's Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, as "a community, either rural or urban, with limited access to the sort of credible and comprehensive news and information that feeds democracy at the grassroots level." News deserts are a problem because it means communities aren’t getting critical information related to civic life, government services, etc.
4. Social media will continue to undergo scrutiny and it won’t look good. And despite that, people still won’t quit Facebook, Twitter, etc. amid growing concerns about privacy and disinformation campaigns. We expect Congress and the EU, the UK and other governments to look to regulate social media. But we also expect that most won’t be able to regulate effectively because most politicians don’t have a firm grasp of how social media works. There will be more hearings but not many solutions because it’s a complex issue that algorithms alone can’t solve.
5. More apps will try to combat fake news. Already there are at least a dozen initiatives – with names like The Trust Project, News Integrity Initiative NewsGuard, The Journalism Trust Initiative, Accountability Journalism Program, Trusting News, Trust & News Initiative and the oddly named Media Manipulation Initiative. Many are funded and staffed by journalists and also use algorithms to detect fake news. We hope they succeed but suspect they’ll be as successful as Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter have been to fight hate speech -- which is to say: not very effective but better than nothing. (A.I. will get a lot of attention but trust in algorithm will decline.) In the meantime, Axios’s Jim VandHei offered some suggestions: Stop using the term – it doesn’t help. And people should “Quit sharing stories without vetting them.” (We don’t think that will happen, either.)
In addition to these media predictions, we will roll out additional trends focusing on technology, fintech, artificial intelligence, retailapoclypse, the labor shortage and gig economy, and other topics here on our blog at blog.birnbachcom.com.
Please let us know what you like or disagree with. We'd love to hear from you. As usual, next November, we will evaluate how we did with this year's predictions.
Posted by Norman Birnbach at 4:43 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: media, news deserts, predictions, predictions 2019, trends
4 Additional Media Trends for 2019: including "New...
3 Wall St. Journal Articles Validate Our "Age of A...
Birnbach Communications Issues Five Media Predicti...
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HP-branded corporations play key roles in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. They are complicit in Israel’s occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid regime. They provide computer hardware to the Israeli army and maintain data centers through their servers for the Israeli police. They provide the Itanium servers to operate the Aviv System, the computerized database of Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority. This forms the backbone of Israel’s racial segregation and apartheid.
In November 2015, HP split into two companies: HP Inc. for consumer hardware like PCs and printers, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP-E) for business and government services. Both HP-branded corporations remain complicit in Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism.
HP-branded corporations provide and operate technology that Israel uses to maintain its system of apartheid, occupation and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people. Hewlett Packard’s violations of Palestinian human rights have been well documented. Aside from providing services and technology to the Israeli army and police that maintain Israel’s illegal occupation and siege of Gaza, HP provides Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority with the exclusive Itanium servers for its Aviv System. This system enables the government to control and enforce its system of racial segregation and apartheid against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and is directly involved in Israel’s settler colonialism through its “Yesha database”, which compiles information on Israeli citizens in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.
HP has been described as the “Polaroid of our times”, a reference to huge mobilisations against the use of Polaroid technology by the South African apartheid regime for its racist passbook system. Polaroid’s 1977 withdrawal from South Africa marked a turning point in the international effort to end apartheid there.
Israeli Military
HP Split and Accountability
HP-E is contracted by Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority to provide and maintain the Itanium servers that house Israel’s population registry through 2020. Known as the Aviv System, this population registry is the basis of Israel’s ID card system. This ID system forms a core part of the Israeli apartheid regime’s tiered system of citizenship and residency that privileges Israel’s Jewish population and gives inferior status and rights to Palestinians, especially those in East Jerusalem. This leads to institutionalised racial discrimination and segregation in freedom of movement, housing, employment, marriage, healthcare, education, and policing. This discrimination is further exacerbated in the case of Palestinian “residents” in occupied East Jerusalem, whose most basic rights can and are being revoked arbitrarily.
The system also holds information about Israeli citizens living in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, therefore serving Israel’s settler colonial project directly. HP-E’s spin-off DXC Technology runs an R&D facility in the illegal settlement of Beitar Illit.
HP Inc. has been contracted to serve as the exclusive provider of personal computers to the Israeli military, which uses those computers within the context of ongoing war crimes and systematic oppression of the Palestinian people. HP has been supplying the Israeli military since 2009, with its most recent contract signed in 2014, extendable through 2019.
HP-E also has an ongoing contract with Israeli police to maintain their data centre, operated through HP servers.
In 2015, HP split into HP Inc.- which carried on the brand name and provides consumer hardware, and HP-E for business and government services. In such a scenario, the BDS National Committee maintains that:
“The onus is on each company to demonstrate to the public that it is free of illegal and unethical business activities.”
Further, despite multiple requests for clarification, both the new companies sharing and profiting from the HP brand are yet to provide unambiguous evidence to show that their business activities with Israel do not violate International Humanitarian Law and Palestinian Human Rights.
HP has, in the past, held a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence under which it developed and maintained the Basel System- the biometric identification system installed on checkpoints in the occupied Palestinian Territory, controlling the mobility of Palestinians. It also worked with the Israeli military, helping build its IT infrastructure. This included a program with the Israeli Navy which enforces the illegal naval blockade on Gaza. For these and other past ties of complicity with Israel’s occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism, HP-branded companies must provide reparations to the Palestinian victims of these crimes.
Latest news about the campaign
Join the Global BDS Week of Action Against HP
The BDS campaign targeting HP-branded corporations has achieved important successes.
US churches divest from HP
As of April 2019, 32 Christian congregations in the U.S. have declared themselves to be HP-Free churches and pledged not to buy HP products.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) instituted a human rights screen for all investments in 2016 leading to divestment from HP-branded corporations. The Unitarian Universalist Association instituted a similar human rights screen in 2015 leading to divestment from HP-branded corporations. The United Church of Christ (US) voted to divest from HP in 2015. The US Presbyterian Church voted to divest from HP in 2014. Friends Fiduciary Corporation, the socially responsible investment firm serving over 300 Quaker institutions in the United States, divested from HP in 2012.
More than 1.7 million people have signed a petition urging HP to end its role in Israeli apartheid.
Mass mobilization
More than 1.7 million people have signed a petition calling on HP to end its role in Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism.
In late 2016, the International Boycott HP Week of Action included 150 actions in 30 countries supporting the HP boycott!
In April 2018 the City Council of Dublin, Ireland’s capital, voted to endorse the BDS Movement and end contracts with HP-branded corporations.
In April 2017, the City Council of Portland in the state of Oregon voted to divest from all corporations, including HP, after a years-long campaign run by a coalition of organizations supporting human rights in Portland and around the world.
Students Organization and Trade Unions
In April 2019, the largest Trade Union of the Netherlands, Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), with 1.1 million members, dropped HP as a partner in their offers to their members.
The Students Federation of India, the largest student organization of India, with over 4 million members, has adopted the HP boycott in June 2018. More than a dozen student governments in the US have called on their universities to divest from HP.
In May 2017, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the U.K.’s largest teachers union, became an HP-Free Zone and pledged to “not buy or use HP products or services as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
HP relies on its good image and its contracts with public organisations, civil society bodies and private businesses. Effective grassroots campaigning can push HP to end its role in Israeli apartheid and settler colonialism. Sign the international pledge to boycott HP.
There are organizations working on BDS campaigns all across the world. Get active and connect with a group in your country now!
Boycott HP & Sign the International Pledge to Boycott HP!
The Palestinian BDS National Committee is calling for an individual and institutional boycott of all HP consumer products including laptops, printers and printer ink. Ask consumers not to buy HP products and work with your local retailers to get them to deshelve HP products.
Also, sign the international pledge to boycott HP. Click here to sign the pledge.
Campaign for Divestment
Banks and pension funds that you are a customer of are likely to be invested in HP. Pressure them to divest.
Universities across the world have contracts with HP or are invested in the company. Campaign for your university to cut their ties to Israel’s military industry!
Get Community Organizations & Progressive Organizations to Boycott HP
Many trade unions and other membership bodies have contracts with HP or hold investments in the company.
Organise a Boycott HP Pledge in Your Community
Ask community organisations, trade unions, churches and progressive organisations in your city to sign a pledge not to buy HP products.
Campaign for local governments to commit to not collaborate with, contract with, or invest in HP.
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Dangerous Liaisons: Norwegian ties to the Israeli Occupation
Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (NUMGE) and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
In May 2012 the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (NUMGE) and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) published a report demonstrating that Norwegian authorities and companies, through financial investments and trade, are involved in activities that contribute to Israel’s breaches of international law and human rights. The report further revealed how groups in Norway give direct support to the occupation by means of monetary transfers to individual settlements.
In May 2012 the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (NUMGE) and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) published a report demonstrating that Norwegian authorities and companies, through financial investments and trade, are involved in activities that contribute to Israel’s breaches of international law and human rights. The report further revealed how groups in Norway give direct support to the occupation by means of monetary transfers to individual settlements. “Dangerous Liaisons: Norwegian ties to the Israeli Occupation” is now available in English.
- The occupation undermines Palestinians’ rights and livelihood. The settlements have spread and are dispelling a large number of Palestinians. The fact that Norwegian investments and trade contribute economically to sustaining illegal Israeli settlements is completely unacceptable, says General Secretary of Norwegian People’s Aid, Liv Tørres.
The report presents an overview of various Norwegian ties to the Israeli Occupation, and lends clear recommendations to Norwegian authorities and businesses.
- Israel’s occupation is the greatest obstacle to a just peace between the Palestinians and Israel. The NUMGE and NPA hope and believe that this report, and its recommendations, will help ensure that the Norwegian society contributes to putting an end to the Israeli occupation and Israel’s repeated breaches of United Nations resolutions and conventions, says Jan Davidsen, President, Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees.
The full English report is available here: http://www.npaid.org/Media/20_Files/Om-oss/Annual-reports/Dangerous-liaisons
Norwegian People’s Aid
Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees (Fagforbundet)
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Beauchamps’ Chair Appointed to Board of Institute of Directors
Imelda Reynolds, Partner and Chairperson of Beauchamps, has been appointed to the board of the Institute of Directors in Ireland (IoD). The IoD, which has a membership of over 2,700 directors and business leaders in Ireland, is a leading advocate for best practice in corporate governance.
A Chartered Director, Imelda Reynolds is Chairperson of Beauchamps, a top Irish commercial law firm where she previously served as Managing Partner. Imelda is a practising solicitor with over 30 years’ experience. She is a past-president of Dublin Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Governing Body of Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and also chairs DIT’s Audit Committee. Imelda is an elected Council Member of the Law Society of Ireland and is Vice-Chair of a division of the Law Society’s Regulation of Practice Committee. She is also the Chair of the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board.
Imelda holds a B.C.L. from University College Dublin (UCD), a Diploma in European Law (UCD) and a Diploma in Corporate Governance (UCD).
Commenting on the appointment, Imelda Reynolds said:
“I am delighted and honoured to be appointed to the Board of the IoD. The IoD has a dynamic membership of directors and senior business leaders, representing all parts of the economy. As the leading voice in the debate on improving corporate governance standards in Ireland, the IoD plays an important role in promoting all aspects of responsible business practice for the benefit of our 27,000+ members and the business community as a whole.” “I look forward to working closely my fellow Board Directors and actively engaging with the IoD’s agenda to enhance the effectiveness and performance of boards throughout Ireland.”
Imelda Reynolds, Chairperson, Beauchamps
Beauchamps is one of Ireland’s leading full service commercial law firms. We are a growing, ambitious, solutions-focused firm with 190 people in our Dublin headquarters. We are large enough to provide a full range of services while making sure clients work with a consistent and experienced cross-disciplinary team.
Our clients include multinationals, banks, Irish and International corporations, banks, government and public bodies and regulatory authorities across a range of sectors. We have over thirty practice and sector areas including corporate & commercial, commercial property, banking and financial services, litigation and dispute resolution, EU, competition & procurement, M&A & private equity, enterprise & start-up energy & natural resources, construction, employment, insolvency & corporate restructuring, intellectual property and inward investment.
To learn more please visit www.beauchamps.ie or www.iodireland.ie or contact Contact Barbara Shaw: b.shaw@beauchamps.ie or 087 165 2692.
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Home/Technology/Terry Gilliams Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years
Terry Gilliams Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years
Enlarge / Jonathan Pryce stars as an aging Spanish cobbler who becomes convinced he is Don Quixote in Terry Gilliam's film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.YouTube/Warner Bros.
It's been 25 years in the making, but The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, director Terry Gilliam's tribute to the classic Spanish novel, has finally hit the silver screen. The project has foundered and been revived so many times, it became a poster child for Hollywood's notorious development hell, with a reputation of being cursed. But Gilliam persevered, and while the finished product isn't exactly a masterpiece, it definitely reflects the singular vision of one of our most original filmmakers.
(Mild spoilers for the film and Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century novel below.)
Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is inarguably one of the most influential works of Spanish literature. The book is written in the picaresque tradition, which means it's more a series of loosely connected episodes than a plot. It follows the adventures of a nobleman (hidalgo) named Alonso Quixano who has read far too many chivalric romances and becomes convinced he is a knight errant. With his trusty peasant sidekick, Sancho Panza, he embarks on a series of random tragicomic adventures, with the Don's hot temper frequently getting them into scraps. (Sancho usually gets the worst of the beatings and humiliations.) Don Quixote is the archetype of the delusional dreamer, tilting at windmills and believing them to be giants, preferring his fantasy to mundane reality.
Everything went almost comically wrong from the start.
Gilliam came up with the idea for his Don Quixote film back in 1989 when he read Cervantes' novel, but he didn't secure funding until 1998. Johnny Depp signed on to play the role of Toby Grisoni, while his then-partner Vanessa Paradis would be the female lead. Shooting commenced in 2000 in Navarre, Spain. But everything went almost comically wrong from the start. There were conflicts with the various actors' schedules, making it difficult to get everyone on set at the same time. The production site was near a NATO military base, and F-16 fighter jets flew overhead the entire first day of shooting, making it necessary to dub those scenes in post-production. A flash flood ruined the second day of filming by damaging equipment that was not covered by the insurance policy. The flood also caused continuity problems, since the colors of the terrain had noticeably changed.
Finally, on the fifth day, the film's star, the late Jean Rochefort, was clearly in pain during the scenes on horseback, despite being an experienced horseman. He turned out to have prostate problems and a double herniated disc, and while Gilliam tried to shoot around Rochefort's scenes, it soon became clear the ailing actor could not return to the set. The production was officially cancelled in November 2000.
The shoot did produce a critically acclaimed documentary film, Lost in La Mancha (2002), detailing the production's various woes. (It was originally intended to be an accompanying "making-of" special feature. A second follow-up documentary is in the works, titled He Dreamed of Giants.) In it, cinematographer Nicola Pecorini claims that "never in 22 years of being in this business have I seen such a sum of bad luck."
In the years since, Gilliam kept trying to revive the project with a constantly shifting cast and multiple rewrites of the script. Finally, he succeeded in getting funding and completing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, only to have its release delayed by legal disputes involving one of the earlier producers. The film ultimately debuted at Cannes last year, although it was ineligible for the top prize because of its ongoing legal woes.
Don Quixote tilting at a windmill. YouTube/ONE Media
It gets the better of him. YouTube/ONE Media
"Cut!" Adam Driver plays Toby Grisoni, an auteur advertising executive who comes to Spain to shoot a commercial. YouTube/ONE Media
"I am Don Quixote!" The beginning of a years-long delusion. YouTube/ONE Media
A delusional Javier mistakes Toby for Sancho Panza. YouTube/ONE Media
Javier/the Don ridicules the notion that his lowly Sancho can read. YouTube/ONE Media
A joust! Why not? YouTube/ONE Media
Toby and Javier/the Don run into Angelica (Joana Ribeiro), whom Toby first met while making his student film. YouTube/ONE Media
Thou shalt not covet thy boss's wife, Toby: Olga Kurylenko plays the alluring Jacqui. YouTube/ONE Media
An elaborate gala designed to humiliate the delusional Javier. YouTube/ONE Media
Oligarch Alexei Miiskin (Jordi Molla) uses and abuses Angelica. YouTube/ONE Media
A steamy tango as Toby and Angelica rekindle their spark. YouTube/ONE Media
You see windmills, but Don Quixote sees giants. Read More – Source [contf] [contfnew]
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Hadron Collider upgrade to unlock more ‘God particles’
Brexits data bogeyman
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Perspectives of a 91-Year-Old Economist
Bernie’s Baskets
Bernie’s Bio
Behind Each Work of Art
April 24, 2015 April 29, 2015 ~ Bernie K. ~ 3 Comments
Statue of David, by Leonardo da Vinci
There is more Behind Each Work of Art then the artist’s imagination, creativity and skill – much more. Frequently when you look at a beautiful work of art you have no idea of how it was made or what it took to make it. The process is lost. That is especially true when it was made in the distant past and when it has attributes that make it special. That is even truer — if that is a word — of the economic conditions and the culture that made its creation possible. When the work of art is massive and, as in some cases, when it took many years or even generations to create, there is always the open question about the conditions that made its creation possible. Importantly, when it took many, many workers to create it, they had to be supported and provided for during the entire time. How the societies were able to accomplish that, and how the works of art have survived the ravages of aging, wars and hostilities, as well as the process of production — how they were created and what made their creation possible — is lost to history as well.
Some of the renowned works of art that have survived are the Pyramids in Egypt, the Mayan pyramids and temples, the Taj Mahal and Hagia Sophia, the Turkish Cathedral in Istanbul. They are still around to be seen, experienced and admired. In part because they were made of materials, like stone and metals, that survive the ravages of time and the elements. Art works made of other materials, like wood, sod, leather, cloth or ice, are not so lucky.
Baskets are a classic example. Almost every society has them in one form or another. They were made from local materials.
Mr. Herman Prince’s, St. John Market Basket.
As with every other art form and craft, some reach of the level of fine art. Some of the contemporary American ones that have reached that level are in the Smithsonian Collection. They can be seen in A Measure of the Earth: The Cole-Ware Collection of American Baskets by Nicholas R. Bell (Renwick Gallery of the American Art Museum distributed by the University of North Carolina Press). Unlike the buildings, monuments, and artifacts that have survived, all we know about the baskets of yesteryear is the impression that they left in pottery shards — the remnants of the pots they were used to make. We don’t know what the baskets were made of or how they were made. The same is true for all the other works of art that degraded naturally or were lost through the ages. My art history professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Clemens Sommer, based the course on the concept that “art is a product of the culture”. It is interesting to reflect on the double meaning of the word “product” in that context.
It is important to recognize that behind every work of art there is a process. Along with it is the creator’s skill that is required to bring it to fruition. Often it is a skill that only they possessed and held as a closely guarded secret. It died with them. Moreover, the technology and the economic conditions have to be just right, to provide the components necessary to make it all happen.
Patrons, such as Isabella D’este of Mantua
supported the work of Leonardo DaVinci.
It is also necessary to support the creator and the others involved in the creative process. During the time it takes to create the work of art, the artist and everyone else involved in the process must be able to take care of themselves. Either they are able to provide the goods and services involved themselves or someone else must provide them. It could be a spouse, partner, a friend. a patron or the result of a grant. The bottom line is that without those goods and services and that support the piece would not, could not exist. Furthermore, the culture has an important role. In addition to providing the technological and economic conditions that made it possible, it gave rise to the idea — the concept — and it acknowledged the importance of the work of art once it was completed.
The acceptance and approval of the work of art is manifest when someone purchases it. Both the buyer and the artist are made better off. Its new owner was willing to give up the purchase price and whatever else they could have bought with it. The artist leaves with the funds that hopefully allows him/her to achieve their objective, with the realization that someone liked the work enough to pay the asking price. Perhaps it will encourage them to create additional pieces. In addition to the artist’s time, energy, resources, and funds (TERF), other materials, tools, and equipment are used to create the work of art– to bring the idea into its physical form, someone else’s TERF had to be used to make and provide them. They are integral to the piece. It could not exist without them.
As important as the artist’s contribution is, the role and value of the goods and services provided by others cannot, and should not, be neglected. Typically, those who provided them, expect to be reimbursed for their contribution. They are part of a bigger picture. When viewing any work of art, whether it was created in the distant past or more recently, it is important to understand the work from the perspective of this broader context. The preconditions that led to it must be present. Important as it is to acknowledge and honor the work itself and its creator, it is equally important to understand the economic, technological, and cultural conditions that made the work of art possible. Behind each work of art is a great woman: The Earth Mother.
The Fieldston Years
April 10, 2015 April 24, 2015 ~ Bernie K. ~ 1 Comment
Let me tell you about the advantages of a good high school education and the importance of one’s experiences during those formative years. I was a 1930’s kid. I entered The Ethical Culture Fieldston School in September 1941 as a Third Former, a high school freshman. Fieldston is an educational arm of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. It is the granddaddy of the humanistic movement. It was founded by Felix Adler in the 1880s.
Three months later, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, we were into World War II. The war ended in August four years later, shortly after our Class of ’45 graduated. Of the seventy-six students in the class, fifty were girls. Many, if not most, had been together since kindergarten, either at Downtown Ethical or at Fieldston Lower and Middle School. I was the only Queens kid.
My previous school experience was in traditional Queens public schools — PS 48, 23, 21 and 20. In fact, I was accepted by Fieldston directly from 8A. Consequently, I never finished the eighth grade and never graduated from elementary school.
We lived in Flushing, a mile away from the end of the No. 7 IRT subway. It took you to Times Square. From there you picked up the Broadway Subway and traveled to the end of the line at 242nd Street and hiked up the hill to Fieldson. To avoid the long, daily two-way commute during the week I boarded with three local families over the next four years. Being away from home during the week helped me learn how to take care of myself. Continue reading “The Fieldston Years” →
Monuments: The Unrecognized Achievements of Ancient Cultures
Of the People, By the People, and For the People
Revisiting Retirement
At (almost) 91
Kavanaugh: On Second Thought
Fine art and Craft
Health-Care
Lived History
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European Judicial Network (in civil and commercial matters)
1 How is the disposition of property upon death (will, joint will, agreement on succession) drawn up?
2 Should the disposition be registered and if yes, how?
3 Are there restrictions on the freedom to dispose of property upon death (e.g. reserved share)?
4 In the absence of a disposition of property upon death, who inherits and how much?
5 What type of authority is competent:
6 Short description of the procedure to settle a succession under national law, including the winding-up of the estate and sharing out of the assets (this includes information whether the succession procedure is initiated by a court or other competent authority on its own motion)
7 How and when does one become an heir or legatee?
8 Are the heirs liable for the deceased's debts and, if yes, under which conditions?
9 What are the documents and/or information usually required for the purposes of registration of immovable property?
10 Which documents are typically issued under national law in the course of or at the end of succession proceedings proving the status and rights of the beneficiaries? Do they have specific evidentiary effects?
Dispositions of property upon death can be drafted only by means of a will. Joint wills and agreements as to future successions are not permitted.
Testamentary dispositions can take the form of either:
designation of an heir, through which the testator disposes of the entire estate or a portion thereof without specifying the assets subject to that disposition;
legacy, through which the testator disposes of one or more specifically identified assets.
Testamentary dispositions do not need to be registered, irrespective of the form used.
In the case of a public will, which is a will drawn up in the form of a notarial deed, the notary must transfer the will following the death of the testator from the register of last wills and testaments to the register of transactions inter vivos and register the certificate of transfer.
In the case of a holographic will, which is a will drawn up privately, this must be presented to a notary, following the death of the testator, so that the notary can ensure it has legal effect by means of a record of publication, which will then be registered.
A testator may legally dispose of his entire estate. His spouse, his children and their descendants and (if there are no children) his parents are entitled to a ‘reserved’ portion, which is a minimum share of the estate reserved for them, but a will that does not observe this right is still valid and effective, provided it is not contested by the heirs described above. If the will is not contested or any proceedings to contest it are found to be without foundation, the will retains its full force and effect.
If there is no will, the rules on legal succession in the Civil Code apply. There can be cases where there is a will but it disposes of only a portion of the estate: for the remainder, the rules of legal succession will apply alongside those governing testamentary disposition. The individuals who inherit by law are the spouse, children, parents, siblings, and relatives up to the sixth degree. The portions of the estate inherited depend on which of the individuals listed above actually exist. The existence of children excludes both parents and siblings, and more distant relatives.
5.1 in matters of succession?
5.2 to receive a declaration of waiver or acceptance of the succession?
5.3 to receive a declaration of waiver or acceptance of the legacy?
5.4 to receive a declaration of waiver and acceptance of a reserved share?
An inheritance devolves to the heir on the basis of a declaration of acceptance, while a legacy devolves automatically, provided that it is not waived. Acceptance of an inheritance cannot be partial, and can be express (by means of a corresponding declaration) or tacit (which happens when the heir carries out an act that could not be carried out unless that individual were the heir, such as the sale of an item of succession property). The declaration of acceptance or renunciation occurs through a declaration issued by a notary or a clerk of the competent court in the jurisdiction where the succession is opened. The same rules apply in the case of heirs to reserved portions, who may not accept or waive only the reserved portion. Such heirs can, however, waive their rights to a reserved portion of an estate in cases where that portion has been damaged. If an heir to a reserved portion has been excluded from the estate or has been bequeathed a share of the estate smaller than the portion reserved for him, he may bring action solely in order to assert a right to receive the reserved portion.
There is no single procedure defined by law.
The succession opens when the testator dies. With reference to that date and on the basis of the will or the applicable legal rules, the persons designated as heirs or legatees are identified. Those individuals are then responsible for taking the necessary steps to issue declarations of acceptance or renunciation, which are then used to establish to whom and in what proportion the succession property is bequeathed.
If there are several joint owners, each of these individuals has the right to request the division of the estate, which can take place by means of a contract or through a request to the courts in ordinary civil proceedings to deliver a judgment dividing the estate.
Legatees automatically acquire their status unless they renounce the inheritance. The status of heir is acquired through an express declaration of acceptance or by means of an act that constitutes tacit acceptance. Persons designated as heirs who are in possession of succession property become heirs automatically after three months have passed following the date on which the succession opened.
Express acceptance, which must be provided within ten years of the opening of the succession, may take the form of acceptance pure and simple or acceptance under benefit of inventory in order to limit liability for the deceased’s debts.
Acceptance of succession devolved to minors and other individuals who are subject to a legal incapacity must be made expressly and under benefit of inventory.
The effects of acceptance of the estate or legacy are retroactive to the time when the succession is opened.
The heirs are liable for all debts of the deceased, in proportion to the value of their respective portions of the inheritance. Conversely, legatees are not liable for these debts.
The heir pure and simple has unlimited personal liability for the deceased’s debts, and is therefore liable even if the amount of the debts exceeds the value of the assets inherited.
If the succession has been accepted under benefit of inventory, the heir is liable for the deceased’s debts only up to the value of the assets inherited.
If the succession has been accepted under benefit of inventory, a report must be drafted describing and stating the value of all property forming the assets and all liabilities: the heir must be authorised by the courts to undertake any actions to dispose of succession property and this authorisation will be granted only if the actions in question are in line with the interests of the creditors under the succession.
Heirs and legatees are required to provide the tax authorities with a Declaration of Succession, which contains information about all succession assets including real property, with the corresponding land registry details. A copy of the Declaration of Succession is used to transfer land registry records, and thus register any properties in the names of the heirs or legatees who are now the owners.
The procedure to be applied for entry of the acquisition of property inherited by heirs or legatees in the Property Registers is different for the two categories. For a legatee, acquisition of ownership is entered on the basis of a copy of the will stating that legacy. For an heir, the express declaration of acceptance or the action establishing tacit acceptance is recorded.
9.1 Is the appointment of an administrator mandatory or mandatory upon request? If it is mandatory or mandatory upon request, what are the steps to be taken?
Appointment of an administrator is not mandatory.
Anyone drafting a will can name an executor, who is responsible for administering the assets only to the extent necessary for performance of that role.
The law indicates the individuals responsible for administering an estate if the heirs are subject to a legal incapacity.
If none of the persons designated as heirs accepts the succession, it is possible to ask the courts to appoint a curator for the estate in abeyance, who will administer the estate assets until an initial declaration of acceptance is issued, at which point the office of curator will automatically cease.
9.2 Who is entitled to execute the disposition upon death of the deceased and/or to administrate the estate?
If a legatee is expecting that action be taken by the heirs, it is those individuals who are responsible for executing the provisions of the will.
The testator can name an executor, who will then be responsible for ensuring that the provisions of the will are observed.
The assets of the estate are administered by the individuals who are required to execute the provisions of the will, until such time as those tasks have been completed in full.
9.3 What powers does an administrator have?
In general, administrators only have powers of ordinary management, so that they can protect the assets and their value. Authorisation from the courts is required for actions associated with disposals of property or extraordinary administration.
The municipality in which the deceased was born or was resident issues a Death Certificate, an extract from the Register of Deaths and a Certificate of Family Status, which contain the information relating to the death of the individual, his personal details and family relationships.
The status of heir or legatee is not attested by any documents issued by the public authorities.
Anyone wishing to assert the status of an heir or legatee can provide a Notarised Document, which is a declaration made before a notary by two witnesses who are not involved in the succession, subject to criminal liability. Public authorities also accept a Statement in lieu of a Notarised Document, drafted by the individual concerned, still subject to criminal liability.
The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective EJN contact point. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. Neither the EJN nor the European Commission accept responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.
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Music Searching for Jackie Shane, R&B’s lost transgender superstar
Searching for Jackie Shane, R&B’s lost transgender superstar
Jackie Shane is seen between sets in Toronto in the 1960s.
Jeff Goode/Toronto Star via Getty Images
ELIO IANNACCI
Published May 19, 2017 Updated May 19, 2017
When R&B singer Jackie Shane appeared onstage during her heyday in the 1960s, there was always a moment where she'd let her audience know just how lucky they were to be there. It is easy to catch on Jackie Shane Live – a disc that was recorded in Toronto's historic Sapphire Tavern in 1963.
On the recording, Shane, an American who moved to Toronto to build her career until mysteriously disappearing from the limelight in 1971, can be heard reminding the crowd of her prowess. In between the lusty roars and megaphone notes she vigorously exudes on Money, Shane pauses to state things such as, "This is the closest to Jesus Christ some of you will ever get!" or "I got so much to work with here – I'm a little piece of leather but well put together!"
Shane had no other choice but to be so self-assured. She was one of the only black transgender women working in soul music at the time, well before the idea of trans was identified and years prior to Canada's decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1969.
To revisit Shane's recordings today thoroughly requires an ability to read between the political and social lines of the ground she was breaking. "I go along handing out blessings [and] satisfying souls …," Shane says on the live album, before cautioning her crowd in a preacher-like swagger, "… but I don't satisfy nobody that's a square!"
More than four decades later, musicologists, soul fanatics and LGBTQ historians are still unsatisfied. In an era in which Oscar-winning films such as 20 Feet from Stardom and Searching for Sugar Man are about long-forgotten artists who helped pave the way, it is mind-boggling that Shane's legendary story hasn't yet made it to the silver screen. But her legacy is about to receive some long-delayed exposure.
Although Shane hasn't recorded a song, performed live or spoken to the media for more than four decades, a budding new interest in the soul singer's past is getting her more attention than most artists climbing the Billboard charts today. For example, a new anthology of essays, titled Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer (Coach House Press), chronicles the performer's life as a black transgender vocalist who took up a musical residency in Toronto in the 1960s. It repositions the Nashville-born talent as one of Canada's earliest transgender pioneers. On Yonge Street, minutes from Toronto's Gay Village, a larger-than-life mural includes a portrait of Shane; it was created using a whopping 55 gallons of paint by local artist Adrian Hayles in December. The 22-storey public artwork is one of several signs representing a sudden, powerful curiosity surrounding Shane's legacy.
In October, a two-disc musical project by Numero Group will showcase Shane's repertoire, including songs taken from studio recordings and live gigs. The comprehensive collection features never-heard-before tracks such as an extended, bluesy version of You Are My Sunshine. What makes this album so significant is that it will be the first group of recordings the artist has been directly involved with since the launch of her last two singles in 1969. Few facts about Shane have been checked properly (online bios have inaccurately stated Shane is a cousin to Little Richard, for instance), leaving many fans perplexed over her decision to abruptly leave an occupation that gave her so much acclaim and purpose. What is commonly retold is the idea that Toronto was a place Shane considers her second home and that the city's club scene in the sixties, which she brazenly took on with groups such as Frank Motley and the Hitchhikers, helped shape her sound.
Record collectors and die-hard followers online have long speculated about Shane's whereabouts – and well-being – ever since she quit the music business and left Toronto in 1971. A slew of rumours led fans to believe that Shane had been the victim of murder in 1998 – a myth that was ultimately dispelled by a 2010 CBC Radio documentary on the evasive singer.
The task of getting Shane on board the new album following a 45-year hiatus from the music business was challenging, to put it mildly. Numero producer Douglas Mcgowan spent hours on the phone with the now 77-year-old; he let her know about the countless Jackie Shane tributes that exist online, from YouTube to blogs to Facebook and Instagram (Shane does not own a computer). When Mcgowan was finally invited to meet Shane at her home in Nashville, he was forced to patiently hang out outside as she stewed.
"She didn't open the door for me and we'd been talking for months!" Mcgowan says over the phone from Los Angeles. "I had to come to her with an open mind – not an agenda – because I knew a dozen people had already reached out wanting to do book projects. You have to understand, Funkadelic asked her to join the band and she flat-out said no. She would like to return to the public eye on her own terms and on her own time."
In 2014, a shadow-puppet-animated short video by Toronto-based artists Sonya Reynolds and Lauren Hortie, called Whatever Happened to Jackie Shane?, made its rounds in LGBTQ-focused film festivals and tried to further crack the mystery.
"It was an obvious story for us to work on because all the elements are there: She has an obscure background, she's a musician and she was visible and queer in such a homophobic time," Reynolds says. "There's a real hunger for knowing LGBTQ icons of the past and a desire to know more about people like Jackie because not much is documented," she adds, noting that Shane's appearance wasn't the only thing that read as transgressive.
"Jackie was undermining a lot of gender norms with the way she pushed people to question gender. She sang songs with very coded lyrics. Even if the original songs she sang – which were not written by her – didn't mean to be coded in queer language, they were," Reynolds says.
Tracks such as Any Other Way (which implores the listener to tell the singer's female lover "that I'm gay"), Sticks and Stones (which deals with gossip and abuse) and New Way of Lovin' (self-explanatory) are far from explicit.
Listening to Shane live, you get another story. The anecdotes she revealed between her set lists at Toronto's now defunct Sapphire Tavern and the mention of chicken (a.k.a., young gay men) is direct and intentional. However, the lyrics to covers and standards that she interpreted through performance are what most people are fascinated by. "Jackie's songs had a long life because the lyrics had double meanings and double entendres," Reynolds says.
Part of the surprises woven into Whatever Happened to Jackie Shane? are stories taken directly from the pages of Canada's oldest tabloid, Tab. One describes how CHUM Radio invited Shane to the station for an on-air chat. To commemorate the event, Shane picked a stylish makeup palette and an ensemble that was as deliberately chic as Marlene Dietrich's costumes in Morocco. "[CHUM] were so upset by Shane's appearance that they didn't grant [Shane] the interview and didn't play [Shane's] record until it became so popular that they were forced to," Tab printed in an April 6, 1963, issue.
Canadian R&B singer Jully Black can relate to Shane's self-imposed exile from the stage. In fact, it is something that Black feels deeply connected to as she begins recording her first album in eight years (tentatively titled The Re-Education of Jully Black).
"There are many layers to Queen Shane's work that resonate today for people who are struggling and need some reprieve," Black says. "There's a layer of being a black singer and then there is the idea of gender identity. These are heavy weights for anyone to bear, so regeneration is necessary. If she does end up coming back, she has an opportunity to lead a whole new generation because they have a social conscience and they are being fed music that takes a 'just add water and stir' approach. Jackie is the opposite of that and depending on what she says, if she comes back, it could be incredible on a social level. She could be the Betty White of soul music."
Black's hope for Shane to return to the stage may be more than just a pipe dream. According to York University ethnomusicology professor Rob Bowman – a Grammy-winning writer tasked with penning the liner notes for Shane's upcoming album – Shane is contemplating a proper homecoming. "If she does, Toronto would be the place it'll happen," Bowman says.
Although it took weeks of postponed calls, Bowman extensively interviewed Shane; what he's gleaned from 30-plus hours of phone calls with the artist is worthy of a Hollywood biopic.
"Jackie did not want the idea of being gay or non-straight as something to be focused on. As far as she was concerned, it's as normal as the sky being blue. Jackie is extremely happy that the world has moved if not 360 degrees, at least a whole bunch of degrees from where it once was," Bowman says. "I told her about the mural going up on Yonge Street – I took a picture and sent it to her, which she framed. Jackie has said to me more than once, 'I never realized that I'd still mean something to people all these years later.'"
Review: Like Caitlyn Jenner herself, The Secrets of My Life is both compelling and maddening
Caitlyn Jenner’s new memoir sheds light on past struggles and future optimism
After a lifetime of hiding, gay refugees seeking protection in Canada are expected to prove their identity
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Ron Joyce October 19, 1930 - January 31, 2019
Co-founder of Tim Hortons and philanthropist Ron Joyce dies at age 88
Originally published by The Canadian Press on February 01, 2019
Ron Joyce, who rose from a childhood marked by the Great Depression to co-found the Tim Hortons doughnut chain, has died at the age of 88.
Joyce died Thursday in his Burlington, Ont., home with his family at his side, the family said in a statement.
The cause of death was not immediately clear.
"My father had a big vision and a big heart. Through hard work, determination and drive, he built one of the most successful restaurant chains in Canada," said Steven Joyce in a statement on behalf of the family.
"He never forgot his humble beginnings."
Joyce was born in Tatamagouche, N.S., in 1930, with two siblings to follow. The family moved to Westville, N.S., where his father struggled to find construction work due to the ripple effects of the Depression.
His father died in an accident when Joyce was three years old, while his mother was pregnant with their third child.
She moved the family back to Tatamagouche, where she bought a three-room house for $500 — half of the life insurance payment. Her other income came from a $20 monthly widow's allowance.
The house had no running water, electricity or insulation. A wood burning stove in the middle of the living room provided heat and was used for cooking and baking.
Joyce described this "modest upbringing" in his memoir "Always Fresh: The Untold Story of Tim Hortons."
He did not complete high school, but left Tatamagouche for Hamilton, where he gained worked in factories, the navy and a police force, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia.
He went on to invest in the first Tim Hortons shop in Hamilton in 1964. He purchased that first restaurant for $10,000. He helped grow it into a successful chain and in 1995, the company opened its 1,000th store.
In 1967, Joyce and Tim Horton, the professional hockey player, became full partners in the company. When Horton died in a car accident in February 1974, Joyce became the sole owner, purchasing his deceased partner's share.
He sold the chain to Wendy's International Inc. in 1996. It was later purchased by Burger King and the two brands became Restaurant Brands International in 2014.
"Ron was a larger-than-life friend who not only helped create one of Canada's most iconic brands but was passionate about ensuring Tim Hortons always gave back to the community," reads a statement signed from the Tim Hortons team.
His work with charitable organizations will continue to have a lasting legacy for future generations, the statement said.
He helped found the Tim Horton Children's foundation in 1975 after his business partner died. The foundation pays to send underprivileged children to one of several Tim Hortons camps and runs youth programs. This year, the organization will send more than 19,000 kids to camp, according to its website.
The foundation recently celebrated his commitment with the dedication of a Ronald V. Joyce house at its camp in his birthplace.
Joyce was awarded the Order of Canada in April 1992 for his work with the children's camp charity.
"His commercial interests are surpassed by his dedication," to the organization, reads the entry on the Governor General's website, and "his fundraising efforts and personal involvement ensure that thousands of youngsters enjoy a fun-filled camping experience each year."
Joyce also founded The Joyce Family Foundation, which focuses on providing access to education for children and youth facing significant financial need or other barriers to success. The foundation has donated more than $185 million since its start.
Joyce's generosity "has been felt across the country," said The Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, and its namesake foundation.
Joyce donated $7.5 million to support the hospital's redevelopment and expansion.
"We have lost a great Canadian and he will be missed," read the statement from the hospital's CEO Eric Vandewall and the foundation's president Anissa Hilborn.
In addition to the Order of Canada, Joyce's philanthropy earned him numerous awards, including the title of philanthropist of the year from the Burlington Community Foundation and a Canadian Red Cross NS Power of Humanity Award.
After selling Tim Hortons, Joyce moved on to establish the Fox Harb'r Resort in Wallace, Nova Scotia, in an effort to boost tourism and employment in the province.
The former hobby pilot also owned Jetport Inc., a Hamilton-based private jet charter company. Joyce previously flew his own company planes, aptly named Donut 1 and Donut 2, according to a biography provided by his charitable foundation.
Despite never completing high school, Joyce also held numerous honorary doctoral degrees, including accolades from Queen's University and the University of Calgary.
"He lived large and enjoyed the great journey of life," said Steven Joyce in the family's statement, adding the family greatly appreciates privacy at this time.
"He will be greatly missed."
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Aleksandra Sagan, The Canadian Press
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Denise LaSalle
JACKSON, Tenn. — Singer and songwriter Denise LaSalle, whose hit "Trapped by a Thing Called Love" topped the R&B charts in 1971, has died. She was 78.
Musician...
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Category Archives: Balen Report
Balen 2
By Sue | February 21, 2012 - 12:14 am | October 3, 2012 anti-Israel, Balen Report
Who’d have thought that journalists who wish to investigate, uncover and expose scandals and injustices without compromising their freedom or exposing their pet whistleblowers, would be subjected to the whims and fancies of the Supreme court in the course of its earnest deliberations over such things as the meaning of the word ‘predominantly’.
Who knows what was on the minds of Lord Phillips and pals as they grappled diligently on behalf of the BBC with the tricky business of defining what is or is not in the public interest.
The Freedom Of Information Act is supposed to
“promote an important public interest in access to information about public bodies.”
But when the unstoppable Freedom of Information Act collides with the immovable Data Protection Act, there’s bound to be trouble.Thankfully, the judges know what’s good for you. For your own good the BBC and a few other bodies enjoy a special exemption
(safeguard) so that you, the public, can’t poke your snoopy noses in.The safeguards are there
“to prevent interference with the performance of the functions of the BBC in broadcasting journalism, art and literature.”
So in certain circumstances
“……………the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information”
And who decides whether disclosing information outweighs the BBC’s public accountability?
“……………the disclosure of which, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person (which in the case of the BBC is the corporation itself, acting by its governors)…”
Eureka! The BBC itself is qualified to decide!
However, the judges are aware that this doesn’t look brilliant in terms of PR. They must rationalise the notion that concealment trumps transparency, and secrecy is more ‘in the public interest’ than accountability.
“ In this case, there is a powerful public interest pulling in the opposite direction. It is that public service broadcasters, no less than the commercial media, should be free to gather, edit and publish news and comment on current affairs without the inhibition of an obligation to make public disclosure of or about their work in progress.”
Excellent excuse! But his honour is still slightly apologetic:
“ I would add that I am conscious that this interpretation of the limitation may be seen as conferring on the BBC an immunity so wide as to make the particular statutory redemptions redundant, and leave the BBC almost free of obligations under FOIA.”
It certainly pans out that way, and sweet of you to notice.
“On a broad definition, it could be argued that all of the activities of the BBC are for the purposes of journalism, art and literature, as these are broad descriptions of a substantial part of its broadcast output . . .”
Go on. Why not make the BBC exempt from the FOIA altogether and be done with it? Even the the judge is wondering this:
“However, if a very broad definition was intended, there
would be little point in including the BBC in Schedule 1, Part VI of
FOIA. The BBC could have been omitted altogether from the scope
of the Act.”
However, here comes ‘the chilling effect’.
“The BBC submitted that disclosure of the Report (and any other information held for the purposes of journalism) would have a chilling effect upon their right to freedom of expression;”
The same phrase was uttered by a journalist in respect of the Leveson Inquiry. This monstrous chilling effect, this inhibiting, this compromising, this…..cramping the BBC’s style, evidently justifies concealing the contents of the Balen report for ever and ever. Does this apply to Murdoch’s journalists too?
The BBC’s desire for secrecy almost puts their internal workings in the same category as certain trials being beyond the reach of the open court for fear of revealing secret counter-terrorism information.
The appellant (Mr. Eicke QC,) has the temerity to think accountability is a reasonable request.
“(The appellant) not only disputes that the release of the Report would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression but submits that only the need to protect journalistic sources – or perhaps, indeed, more narrowly still, the need to protect sources who might otherwise be deterred from assisting journalists – would constitute an overriding requirement of the public interest sufficient to justify this interference with the citizen’s article 10(1)right of access to information.”
Quite so. since the Balen report was originally carried out in 2004, can the contents really still be for the purposes of journalism? Balen’s recommendations, if there were any, would surely have been implemented by now, if they were deemed worthy of implementing!
Despite the fact that during the period in question there was a reshuffle of BBC management personnel at the top, certain recommendations were put into effect, one of which is said to have been the appointment of Jeremy Bowen. Perhaps the Balen report concluded that they weren’t biased enough against Israel?
If the Balen report found bias against Israel in 2004 it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s biased in 2012. By this time surely the BBC could have got away with another of those ‘the-bias-was-all-in-the-past’ mea culpas and saved the £300,000. They must have thought it was worth spending the dosh to ensure they could continue to go about their business in any way they see fit, unfettered by scrutiny and without the threat of exposure.
Meanwhile, simmering away on the back burner is the detrimental effect the media’s self-interested or partial reporting has had on society. The BBC’s anti-Israel bias has consequences. One small example; the comments below an article about Iran’s nuclear ambitions on an official BBC blog by Robin Lustig, which boasts the strap-line ‘Trying to make sense of the world’ clearly demonstrates they’ve failed. They’ve only succeeded in making nonsense of it.
“And another thing, how is it that Israel is a ‘stabilizing’ influence on the region while Iran is a ‘destabilizing’ one? One of these countries is a theocratic violent terrorist state that refuses to abide by international law, while the other is a theocratic state that hasn’t invaded another nation in a thousand years? Satire cannot do justice to this hypocrisy”
The moral equivalence given to Iran and Israel elicits neither challenge nor counter argument, and is evidently deemed acceptable by the moderators.
This assumption reared its head on Question Time, which Melanie Phillips discusses here.
The BBC charter stipulates impartiality – not that such a thing is realistically achievable, but balance could reasonably be expected ‘over time’. If this is not happening, someone should intervene. Bias by omission, by emoting, and by overt propaganda are all against the rules, but who will enforce them? It’s not usual to trust bodies to self-police – not even the police – and especially the BBC who won’t or can’t recognise their own bias or admit they get anything wrong.
These legal appeals gather more and more moss the longer they drag on, and each time they’re re-appealed the entire legal history has to be reviewed and reconsidered. The procedure has to scrutinise previous hearings, till it begins to resemble that game where each player has to recite a shopping list from memory, adding another item one by one; as the the list grows longer, the harder and more tedious the task. The judges weren’t memorising shopping of course, they were seeking loopholes and cracks in previous hearings. Looking for hooks on which to hang excuses to keep the Balen Report in the family.
They seemed genuinely worried about creating a precedent that would fetter the BBC, and conscious that the Balen report’s qualification for exemption was tenuous. Did it really come into the category of “for the purpose of journalism art or literature? They admitted they were virtually gifting the BBC complete immunity from the FOIA. They saw that determining what was in the public interest could be stretched and squeezed, describing it as ‘elastic’.
In short they dallied over whether they liked the idea of civilians knowing the content of the Balen Report or not, and having pre-decided ‘not’, excreted copious verbiage in rationalising their fancy.
It boils down to a simple reality. The BBC, or the BBC Trust can continue as before. If there is bias, so be it. Like it or lump it.
The fear that ‘internal frankness’ would be damaged if ‘the public’ had ‘the right to know’ outweighs the fear that biased reporting has a corrosive effect on ‘the public.’ External frankness, external critical review and external analysis of output can get stuffed
On the BBC they refer to Israel as “Iran’s arch enemy.” Is that upside-down description even-handed, logical or accurate? What is the likelihood of an internal review correcting that?
I think I rest my case.
Balen Out
By Sue | February 15, 2012 - 4:26 pm | October 3, 2012 Balen Report
After dancing on the head of a pin for pages and pages, the conclusion is that “The Balen report was held for purposes of journalism. On the premise that it was also held for purposes other than those of journalism, it was not predominantly so held. That is why I consider that the report lay beyond the scope of the Act; and why I agree that the appeal should be dismissed. LORD PHILLIPS”
Read the full judgment through the link at the jc.com
The Protection of Information Act
By Sue | April 24, 2011 - 7:03 pm | October 13, 2012 anti-Israel, Balen Report, freedom of information
Everybody who frequents this site will know that the BBC has spent lashings of our telly tax on legal fees to safeguard the secrecy of a report they themselves commissioned. The subject was their coverage of the Middle East, and the question was: is the BBC biased against Israel?
The legal battle took many twists and turns, and Steven Sugar, who steadfastly fought for the release of the Balen report, very sadly and inopportunely died at the age of 60, shortly before another stage of the unfolding court case was due to be heard.
No-one knows whether Malcolm Balen’s findings confirmed the BBC’s anti Israel bias, but one thing’s for sure, the battle to keep them secret certainly gives the impression that they did. So, in some ways, the BBC’s intransigent refusal to let us take a peek works against them almost as much as the revelation of its contents might have done.
One slightly ironic bonus of this ongoing legal tussle is that the public gets to discover a bit of extra information for free, namely that the BBC is virtually exempt from the obligations of the FOI act, because of a cunning exclusion clause concerning ‘journalism art or literature,’ for the purpose of, yer honour m’lud.
Anything in that category is ‘out with’ the FOI act. In other words the entire BBC output can, if it likes, shelter under the same get-out umbrella.
So are we up in arms at the arrogance of the BBC for wallowing in a unique all-embracing exemption from scrutiny, which flies in the face of the ultra desirable, most-wanted virtue du jour – *transparency* – the essential quality that all organisations long for, and the one thing that makes everything come good? (WikiLeaks, anyone?)
Bear with me.
As well as (and to a large extent because of) the media – the dinner-party set, socialists, trade unions, celebrities and the Muslim community – all currently bask in a toxic climate of pro Palestinian advocacy and anti Israel activism. It’s a kind of global man-made antisemitic climate-change, and it is alive and well, flourishing even, in our universities. You can virtually get a doctorate in hating Jews.
The Arab sourced funding that some of our universities currently rely on has led to the alarming ascendancy of Islamic studies departments set up by Saudi Princes at places like Exeter, where anti Israel polemicists Ilan Pappé and Ghada Karmi prevail, and the LSE, Oxbridge and various other renowned academic institutions. I vividly recall reading with dismay this 2008 article about Aberystwyth University. It implies that if a student won’t toe the line they will probably fail their degree.
So here’s my point.
I found a FOI request that I am glad the BBC refused to deliver. It’s in the public domain, and there’s no super injunction preventing me from knowing about it. I found it on Google, by accident, as I was looking for something else.
I have no idea what this Palestinian gentleman from Strathclyde University intended to do with the information he requested. Ideas that ran through my head ranged from: *write a learned dissertation on Hasbara, *organise a troll blitzkrieg on B-BBC, and sadly, but inevitably, *kill infidels.
Why would I be grateful that the BBC refused to give details of the complainants and complaints about anti-Israel reports to a post graduate student who might be doing some important academic research? Because the student is a Palestinian activist with links to some very hostile people. Because we live in a culture of intimidation. Because B-BBC is number 12 on the list. Because because because.
I hesitated before posting this. I sought advice. They said “publish!” which I hereby do, sincerely hoping that B-BBC and I won’t be damned. What a sorry state I’m in to have such worries. It’s regrettable that some of us, because of our particular circumstances, are conscious of the need to take limited steps to preserve our anonymity, just because we dare to defend Israel.
Are You Being Served?
By Sue | September 24, 2010 - 9:20 pm | November 11, 2012 anti-Israel, Balen Report, BBC bias
In today’s (friday) Telegraph, tree version only, Neil Midgley has an article entitled “BBC’s £1/4m to keep Israel report secret.”
“The BBC spent more than £270,000 on legal fees to keep a report on its coverage of the I/P conflict out of the public eye, it disclosed yesterday. The sum was among nearly £400,000 of spending on outside advice about FOI requests.
The 20,000 word internal document was written in 2004 by Malcolm Balen, a senior journalist. Steven Sugar, a solicitor, asked to see it under the FOI act, and sued when the BBC refused. The case went all the way to the House of Lords. The courts eventually found in favour of the BBC and the report was never published.
In figures released under the FOI, the BBC has now disclosed that it spent £264,711 on barristers’ fees defending the case and £6,156 on other legal advice. […]On the Balen report a BBC spokesman said “If we are not able to pursue our journalism freely and have honest debate and analysis over how we are covering important issues, then our ability to serve the public effectively will be diminished.”
Mark Thompson, the D.G. complained last month about the burden of spurious FOI requests. He said questions had included the number of lavatories in Television Centre and the policy on biscuits. However, requests have also elicited less trivial facts, such as information about executive pay.”
About pursuing your journalism freely and having honest debate and serving us effectively. When can you start?
Try, Try and Try Again
By Sue | June 28, 2010 - 1:21 pm | November 15, 2012 Balen Report
The interminable legal wrangle over the non-release of the Balen report seems to hinge on whether it’s covered by an exemption from the FOI act on the grounds of being “for the purposes of journalism.”
The argument over whether ‘for the purposes of’ is the same as ‘actual’ journalism seems like dancing on the head of a pin.
Why does the BBC want to keep it secret? Surely it can only be because it harbours doubts about its own good practice at that time.
In any case much water has passed under many bridges since the BBC commissioned the report from Malcolm Balen in 2004.
It could be that they disagreed with the findings in the report and regretted commissioning it.
It could be that the BBC did stealth change their policy in some way in accordance with Balen’s findings, and hoped that would do. After the report they did create a new post. Middle East Editor. We all know what good that did.
It could be that the report wasn’t particularly conclusive, in which case the BBC’s efforts to conceal it would be more propitious as a grievance we can complain about, Palestinian style, than a revelation of whatever bias was detected by Mr. Balen.
There have been other detailed analyses of the BBC’s middle east coverage that have been ignored because they come from people who are regarded as having a vested interest. (Jews.)
One of the things people are particularly incensed about is the amount of the licence fee that the BBC has squandered in concealing it, thus drawing inordinate attention to the whole fiasco as well as wasting our money.
Pressure should be applied to the BBC to instigate a fresh report on the subject, framed in such a way that the outcome couldn’t be sheltered, either by the data protection act, an exclusion clause from the FOI act, or by or any silencing order devised by the likes of Carter Ruck.
Steven Sugar hasn’t given up. He’s contemplating an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Bye Bye Balen Report
By Sue | October 2, 2009 - 8:51 pm | October 2, 2009 Balen Report
BBC report to stay confidential
The report looked at the BBC’s news coverage of the Middle East
A bid to force publication of a review by the BBC of its Middle East coverage has been rejected in the High Court.
London lawyer Steven Sugar wanted the Balen report, which was drawn up in 2004, to be revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
But Mr Justice Irwin ruled that, as the material was held “for the purposes of journalism, art or literature”, the corporation had no duty to disclose it.
Balen Out?
By Sue | February 14, 2009 - 7:06 am | February 14, 2009 Ant-Israel, Balen Report
We may well be one step closer to seeing what’s inside the notorious Balen report, but the appeal process may succeed in dragging it out forever and a day. Whatever happens, the fact that they’ve gone to such lengths to keep it quiet speaks volumes, probably far more than actually revealing what’s in there. It’s been concealed for long enough to have gathered mythical status.
Some say it’s not all that damning of the BBC in any case, and even if it is, people will discredit it as they always do. There are already several outfits monitoring anti-Israel bias such as Honest Reporting, Just Journalism and so on, and they are routinely dismissed as biased by those who don’t like their findings.
Everyone is bound to wonder what’s in a report that has been kept so secret. Protestations that it contains inner workings of BBC procedure and is none of our business just make one think ever more suspicious thoughts. What is going on in this mysterious BBC? It’s not the flipping Magic Circle, is it? Are there secrets that, if let out into the open, will destroy some vital mystique forever and ever? And then, abracadabra, the BBC will wither and die. That’s ridiculous, surely.
Too much water has gone under the bridge now since the Balen report was first prepared. There has been another onslaught of bias since then, so we need another Balen report.
Anyone who has ever been personally involved in an event that gets into the newspapers will know that as soon as it goes into print it appears distorted and acquires handfuls of errors.
Anyone who reads a wonderful book and then sees the film is usually hugely disappointed. Or they may find it okay, but not in the same way as the original. Someone else’s interpretation can’t be anything but someone else’s interpretation.
Jeremy Bowen can make as many Panoramas as he likes. He is a man with a partisan view, and that’s his business. But the BBC must provide balance. It must counteract the damage done by biased reporting by people with a grievance. Because the ‘wrong-is-right’ acceptance of Islamist alien cultural norms together with ever increasing waves of antisemitism are a tinderbox, and like a bush fire, we mustn’t say we didn’t see it coming.
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Home > Crowdfunding for the Unconditional Basic Income experiment in Rheinau/ZH
Submitted by Ralph Kundig on Sat, 2018-11-10 00:51
Pilote experiment
A majority of residents in Rheinau have agreed to an experiment with an “unconditional basic income”, which will last a year and is intended to be the subject of a documentary film to be directed by the writer-director Rebecca Panian. The team around the director which is behind the pilot study prefers not to be dependent on either the taxpayer or private sponsors. Thus everyone is invited to support the project financially.
Over six million francs need to be collected by 4 December 2018! Why so much? The sum is based on the total needed for a basic income for a year for the 770 participants. The payments would be made at the beginning of each month, as would be the case in real life. The organizing team works on a volunteer basis and is not included in the budget. If any money is left over at the end of the experiment, a poll will be conducted among the contributors to decide democratically how the remaining amount should be used.
The parameters of the pilot study are as follows *:
Adults of 25 and over will receive a UBI of Fr. 2,500. If their monthly income is above this amount, they will not receive the UBI. If their income is lower, they will be able to keep the difference between their income and the UBI but have to return the balance to the commune.
Young people between 23 and 25 will be treated in the same way but with a UBI of Fr. 1,875.
Young people between 18 and 23 will receive a UBI of Fr. 1,250 a month on condition that they are in vocational training or studying. Any student grant will be deducted from the UBI. If they are neither in vocational training nor higher education they will receive only the children’s allowance of Fr. 200.
Children will receive a UBI of Fr. 650 even if their parents have an income of over Fr. 2,500 per month, but the amount of the children’s allowance will be deducted from this total.
* More information is available on the website of the experiment (DE)
Note that a UBI as we understand it, unlike that which is defined by the parameters of the pilot study, is unconditional (cf. the “U” in “UBI”) and carries no requirements in return. Its amount is similar to that in the study, including a children’s income which is 25% of an adult’s. Its implementation is supposed to avoid a clawback of the first part of any other income, so as to eliminate a possible threshhold effect.
Crowdfunding page (wemakeit.com)
Donations to the «Dorf testet Zukunft» project may be deducted from taxable income.
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[quote=Ralph Kundig]<img alt="" class="content responsive" src="http://bien.ch/sites/bien/files/misc/story/2018/11/rheinau-1.jpg" /><p><strong>A majority of residents in Rheinau have agreed to an experiment with an “unconditional basic income”</strong>, which will last a year and is intended to be the subject of a documentary film to be directed by the writer-director <strong>Rebecca Panian</strong>. The team around the director which is behind the pilot study prefers not to be dependent on either the taxpayer or private sponsors. <strong>Thus everyone is invited <a href="https://wemakeit.com/projects/dorf-testet-zukunft" target="_blank">to support the project financially</a></strong>.</p> <p><strong>Over six million francs need to be collected by 4 December 2018!</strong> Why so much? The sum is based on the total needed for a basic income for a year for the 770 participants. The payments would be made at the beginning of each month, as would be the case in real life. The organizing team works on a volunteer basis and is not included in the budget. If any money is left over at the end of the experiment, a poll will be conducted among the contributors to decide democratically how the remaining amount should be used.</p> <p>The parameters of the pilot study are as follows *:</p> <!--break--> <ul> <li>Adults of 25 and over will receive a UBI of Fr. 2,500. If their monthly income is above this amount, they will not receive the UBI. If their income is lower, they will be able to keep the difference between their income and the UBI but have to return the balance to the commune.</li> <li>Young people between 23 and 25 will be treated in the same way but with a UBI of Fr. 1,875.</li> <li>Young people between 18 and 23 will receive a UBI of Fr. 1,250 a month on condition that they are in vocational training or studying. Any student grant will be deducted from the UBI. If they are neither in vocational training nor higher education they will receive only the children’s allowance of Fr. 200.</li> <li>Children will receive a UBI of Fr. 650 even if their parents have an income of over Fr. 2,500 per month, but the amount of the children’s allowance will be deducted from this total.</li> </ul> <p>* <em>More information is available on the <a href="https://dorftestetzukunft.ch/projekt/" target="_blank">website of the experiment</a> (DE)</em></p> <p><strong>Note that a UBI as we understand it, unlike that which is defined by the parameters of the pilot study, is unconditional</strong> (cf. the “U” in “UBI”) and carries no requirements in return. Its amount is similar to that in the study, including a children’s income which is 25% of an adult’s. Its implementation is supposed to avoid a clawback of the first part of any other income, so as to eliminate a possible threshhold effect.</p> <p><a href="https://wemakeit.com/projects/dorf-testet-zukunft" target="_blank" title="wemakeit">Crowdfunding page</a> (wemakeit.com)</p> <p><strong>Donations to the «Dorf testet Zukunft» project may be deducted from taxable income.</strong></p>[/quote]
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Call for nominations: Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture
Funding opportunities Joanna Pawlik
The Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture is given for excellence in a subject relating to the history of science, philosophy of science or the social function of science.
The Wilkins, Bernal and Medawar lectures were originally delivered as three separate lectures, each given triennially. Since 2007, they have been combined under the one title of the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture, and have been given annually.
The subject matter for the lecture is some aspect of the social function of science, as per the Bernal Lecture Fund endowed by John Desmond Bernal FRS, the philosophy of science as per the Medawar Lecture endowed by Peter Medawar FRS, and the history of science in recognition of John Wilkins FRS, the first Secretary of the Society.
The call for nominations is now open!
For information on how to nominate including guidance notes please visit the nominations page. The closing date for nominations is 18.00 GMT on 30 January 2017.
To Nominate now click here
Tags: award science The Royal Society
Have you stood up for science? And faced difficulty or hostility in doing so? Nominations for the John Maddox Prize are now open…June 17, 2013
NHS England call for 2016 Healthcare Science Award nominationsFebruary 11, 2016
AHRC Call for nominations to Peer Review CollegeAugust 23, 2016
AHRC Call for nominations to Peer Review CollegeAugust 8, 2016
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Sales Rights
For sale with exclusive rights in: CA
Distributor: Publishers Group Canada Supplies to: CA Availability: Available Expected Ship Date: Jun 19, 2019 On Sale Date: Mar 23, 2018 Carton Quantity: 48 $22.50 CAD
Seasonal: Fall 2017 Master (INDIGO)
PGW Travel Spring 2018
PGW Winter 2018
The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love
By (author): Per J Andersson Translated by: Anna Holmwood
Active 5.19 x 7.79 x 0.89 in 304 pages Oneworld Publications
Pradyumna Kumar, aka PK, was born into a poor, untouchable family in a small village in eastern India. Throughout his childhood he kept a palm leaf bearing an astrologer’s prophecy: ‘You will marry a girl who is not from the village, not even from the country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox’. Incredibly, it was a prophecy that would come true, but only after the most remarkable journey that would take PK, armed with only a handful of paintbrushes and a second-hand bicycle, from the jungles of eastern India to the forests of Sweden. Part reportage, part travel narrative and part memoir, The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love is the extraordinary, life-affirming true story that has captured imaginations around the world.
Per J Andersson is a writer and journalist. He is the co-founder of Sweden's most well-known traveller's magazine Vagabond, and has been visiting India for the last 30 years. He lives in Stockholm. Anna Holmwood translates literature from Swedish and Chinese into English. She lives in Malmo, Sweden.
‘Charming…epic…a journey repeatedly facilitated by the kindness of strangers, but also fraught with danger and pitfalls…[a] 7,000-mile journey across continents, lasting almost five months – all in the name of love.’
'A feel-good story that’s so feel-good it makes other feel-good stories feel bad.'
'Often filled with sumptuous prose'
'A beautiful, epic tale of love and perseverance'
‘A must-read because you won’t find any other love story that is so beautiful, touching, and – above all – true’
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USCHO.com Fan Forum | board.uscho.com > College Hockey > Men's Division II and III
View Full Version : Men's Division II and III
Pages : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 [80] 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93
2016 NCAA Rankings - 10/5 Good Buddy!
Sunyac pick 'em - week 15
Oswego State Canton Photos
ECAC-West Pick 'em - '15-'16: Week 15
The Waaaaaaaay too early to talk about Lake Placid thread.
2/18 scores - can the Knights engineer a win?
2/19: We Don't Need No Stinking Scores!
2/20 - Playoffs?! The return of the DMG? Ephs!? SCORES!!
2016 NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs
UWS Hockey
ECAC-West Pick 'em - '15-'16: Week 16 - Wed. Playoffs!!
Road to the SUNYAC Champs!
National D-III Pick 'Em Challenge: Week 16
12 Team Field.....
Bowdoin Polar Bear Hockey 2015- 2016
Scores of 2/24 - Who will it be now?
King's College starting hockey in 2017-18
2/26 Oscars! This tourny is rated NC-HA. Indies rule? Why AC in winter?
NAIA Hockey Possible Comeback
2/27 - Bagels, Tennis Balls, & DMGs, Oh My! Cow v Elephant & more!
New arena in Boston. Anybody taking up residence?
Northeast-10 title game postponed due to mumps outbreak at St. Anselm
Sunyac pick 'em - finals
3/1 & 3/2 One bid conference semis
Regional Rankings - Part III
ECAC-West Pick 'em - '15-'16: Week 17 - Conf Finals
3/5/16- I'll take 6 from Pool A, One from Pool B. Hold and A and 3 C's for take out
2016 NCAA Tournament Thread
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/ Barry Eisler / 10:49 am Tue Dec 16, 2014
Opinion: Why you should care about journalist Barrett Brown's sentencing today
Screencap from a YouTube video by Brown that became central to the government's case against him.
Journalist Barrett Brown is expected to be sentenced by a judge today in a highly controversial case brought by the Justice Department. The below excerpt is an adapted and updated version of the foreword to Barrett's most recent book, written by author Barry Eisler.
If you don’t believe America has political prisoners, you’ve never heard of Barrett Brown. Which would be a shame on several fronts, because you’d be missing out on one of America’s most fearless and talented reporters, and on an object lesson regarding just how far the government is willing to go to suppress journalism and intimidate journalists.
I first came across Barrett in a 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, where he had written an article called “Thomas Friedman’s Five Worst Predictions.” The article perfectly showcased what I subsequently learned were the Barrett Brown trademarks: iconoclastic insight; hilarious wit, ranging from the dry to the outrageous; a broad and deep frame of reference; incisive argument; complete fearlessness about offending anyone deserving of offense; an abiding sense of citizenship and patriotism.
I was wowed by the article—both its substance, and, even rarer among political writers, its style. I sent Barrett an email telling him how much I had enjoyed it. A conversation ensued, during which Barrett asked if I’d be interested in reading the manuscript of his forthcoming book, Hot, Fat, and Clouded, with a chapter apiece on Friedman and other such bloviators. I told him it would be my pleasure. And it was—the book is a knockout, a hilarious, inarguable skewering of the self-indulgent empty-headedness and hypocrisy of Friedman and various other members of establishment punditry, the strength of whose brands somehow mysteriously manages to outpace the wreckage of all their mistaken judgments.
I told Barrett at length how much I enjoyed the book. He made a few changes, then sent me the revised manuscript and asked me to safeguard it in case anything untoward happened to him. I thought he was being melodramatic.
He was not.
In 2009, Barrett founded Project PM, “dedicated to investigating private government contractors working in the secretive fields of cybersecurity, intelligence, and surveillance.” He was particularly instrumental in using documents obtained by the hacktivist collective Anonymous to expose secret collaboration between the government and various contractors. The covert factions Barrett’s work threatened are powerful, and fought back. Two years ago, Barrett was arrested and threatened with 100 years in prison—yes, you read that correctly—allegedly for threatening an FBI agent, concealing evidence, and linking to a website that contained stolen credit card numbers. The allegations themselves are sufficiently preposterous, and the threatened sentence sufficiently draconian, to make it clear that Barrett, like William Binney, Thomas Drake, Daniel Ellsberg, Jeremy Hammond, Jon Kiriakou, Chelsea Manning, Jesselyn Radack, Edward Snowden, Aaron Swartz, Thomas Tamm, and many others, is in fact being persecuted as an example to anyone else who would dare challenge America’s Deep State.
Eventually, Barrett signed a plea deal on three of the lesser charges against him, the other charges were dropped, and the threatened sentence reduced from over a hundred to eight and a half years. His sentencing hearing has been repeatedly scheduled and then delayed, and is currently set for December 16.
If you agree with Martin Luther King’s dictum that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and if you believe that threats to journalists like Barrett are a threat to the dignity and freedom of all citizens, there are a number of ways in which you can make a difference:
Follow FreeBarrettBrown on Twitter.
Read the amazing Barrett Brown Review of Arts and Letters, written from Seagoville federal prison.
Donate to Barrett’s legal defense fund.
Buy his book. Read it. Tell others about it. All proceeds go to Barrett’s legal defense fund.
In doing what you can, you’re not just standing for Barrett. You’re standing for the First Amendment and for the values of freedom and Constitutional government that all Americans should hold dear.
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Torture on Trial: Peace Activists declared 'danger to community'
By Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa
TUCSON JUDGE DENIES BAIL; DECLARES TWO WHO PROTEST TORTURE "...A DANGER TO THE COMMUNITY"
TUCSON -- At a detention hearing today in federal court in Tucson, Betsy Lamb, a retired Catholic lay leader, and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada were jailed without bail until their trial. Lamb, Zawada and Mary Burton Riseley were arrested on November 18 at Fort Huachuca, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, during a protest of military use of torture against war detainees. Magistrate Hector Estrada was concerned by evidence that both Lamb and Zawada had failed to heed an order of the court in cases pending in other jurisdictions. Betsy Lamb is awaiting trial for a September anti-war protest outside the office of Rep. Greg Walden, in Bend, Oregon. As a standard condition of release on her own recognizance, Lamb had promised not to commit any other crime while awaiting trial. Fr. Zawada has an outstanding bench warrant for failure to appear for a court date in Washington, D.C., where he has been arrested several times in recent years for anti-war protest. Army Prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone came to court with three witnesses in dress uniform, several poster-sized photo enlargements and a videotape of the arrests. But the magistrate said he already knew the defendants' intent, and would only listen to Seamone's summation. Seamone described the defendants' peaceful passage through police barricades at the gate of Fort Huachuca as a violent act because it had to be met by police, who were forced to go face to face with the unarmed protesters and lift them from a kneeling position. In the eyes of the law and legal precedent, Seamone argued that such violent trespass warranted pretrial detention for the safety of the community. Were the court to release Zawada and Lamb, "their blatant defiance is likely to happen again" Seamone warned, gravely predicting that "all kinds of chaos" would ensue at the gate to Fort Huachuca. Attorney Rachel Wilson, representing the defendants, objected repeatedly without success to Seamone's arguments. Wilson told the court that Ms. Lamb had "learned her lesson" and was willing to post bond along with her promise to return to court for trial. Estrada was unmoved. He told the defendants he didn't trust them and that he believed they were right where they wanted to be - before him in chains. Protest is brinksmanship, and the point is to not be arrested; better to organize a conference or seminar, he chided. Estrada then ordered that Lamb and Zawada be kept in custody until their February 4 trial because they "remain a flight risk, and are a danger to the community." Not even Capt. Seamone had suggested that the defendants were a "flight risk". Responding to the court's conclusion, Felice Cohen-Joppa said of her friends, "Betsy Lamb and Jerry Zawada are not a danger to the community - they, along with Mary Burton Riseley, are the conscience of the community. They are shining a light on the involvement of military intelligence in torture around the world. Their nonviolent acts are no more a danger to the community than were the nonviolent acts of Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr." Lamb and Zawada are not the only people now in prison for peaceful protest of U.S. torture practices. On October 17, Magistrate Estrada sent Frs. Steve Kelly and Louie Vitale to prison for five months in prison for a similar protest at Fort Huachuca in November, 2006. They are scheduled to be released in mid-March.
For more information, visit tortureontrial.org
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BN Blitz Home
Micah Hyde assuming a leadership role in Bills' rebuilt secondary
Micah Hyde has assumed a leadership role in his first season with the Buffalo Bills. (James P. McCoy/Buffalo News)
By Jay Skurski|Published Sun, Jul 30, 2017 |Updated Sun, Jul 30, 2017
PITTSFORD - It was evident before free agency even started that the Buffalo Bills were going to drastically rebuild their secondary.
Starting safeties Aaron Williams and Corey Graham were cut. No. 1 cornerback Stephon Gilmore wasn't franchised, which meant he was a goner as soon as he hit the open market. An influx of talent was needed. More than just that, though, the Bills also needed a new leader f0r the back end of their defense.
In Micah Hyde, they've found a player who fills both roles.
"I think one of the first conversations I had with coach" Sean McDermott, "he mentioned that and I know that’s what I bring to the table," Hyde said Sunday after the Bills wrapped up their fourth practice of training camp at St. John Fisher College. "I try to do the best that I can to get these young guys lined up, give them some knowledge on and off the field, and from there we can become a versatile group."
Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said Hyde's leadership ability hasn't disappointed.
"His production alone with his leadership should raise the level of the secondary," he said. "That was part of the reason why we signed him."
In particular, Hyde has bonded with first-round draft pick Tre'Davious White, who is starting at cornerback opposite Ronald Darby.
"I’m fortunate to have a lot of great grasp with him," White said. "He’s a guy who played a lot of different positions in Green Bay, so he’s sort of a guy that I can pretty much go to in any aspect of the defense, just from a nickel standpoint or a safety standpoint, knowing where my hip is and just knowing that that guy is going to be able to talk because (he) knows pretty much everything that’s going on on the field."
Hyde's lessons aren't limited to the playing field, either. Although the defense under Frazier has been looked at as less complicated than the one under Rex Ryan last year, it's still new for the 42 defenders in training camp.
"I think every day we’re going to add stuff to it," Hyde said. "I think even when the regular season comes, we’re going to add more stuff to it. So every day, a lot more stuff is thrown on our plate and that’s what the studying and stuff is for. We’re staying in these dorms for a reason, so we can get this studying in.
"I’m trying to sleep at night and I can hear people playing music. Hopefully, they’re up studying and listening to music, so that’s good.
Jay Skurski – Jay Skurski was named one of the 10 best beat writers in the country in 2017 by the Associated Press Sports Editors for his coverage of the Bills. A Lewiston native and St. Francis High School graduate, he's got a passion for golf and strives to be a single-digit handicap.
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by: Farhat Nasim
Canada to create national drug agency to cut cost of prescription medicines
Latest News, News, Pharmaceuticals
Branded medicines cost, on average, 20 per cent more in Canada than in other advanced economies, and around 20 per cent of Canadians are uninsured or underinsured, Ottawa says.
OTTAWA: Canada will create a national drug agency to help cut the cost of prescription medications as part of a plan to broaden the state-funded healthcare program, the finance ministry said in its budget on Tuesday.
Unlike other countries with universal healthcare, Canada does not cover prescription drugs, leaving most Canadians to rely on a mixture of public and private insurance plans.
Prescription drug spending in Canada has jumped to C$33.7 billion ($25.3 billion) in 2018 from C$2.6 billion in 1985 and a promise to boost drug coverage is set to be a major plank for the ruling Liberals in an election this October.
The new Canada Drug Agency would “take a coordinated approach to assess the effectiveness and negotiating prescription drug prices,” which could help lower the cost of medications by up to C$3 billion a year in the long term, the budget said.
The agency – which is not scheduled to start work until the 2022-23 fiscal year – would assess the effectiveness of new drugs, negotiate prices and recommend which medications represented the best value for money.
“These measures alone will not fully close the gap for people who need prescription drugs and can’t afford them. But they do mark important first steps on the way to a system that helps all Canadians get the medicine they need,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in his budget speech.
Innovative Medicines Canada, the main lobby group for patented drugmakers, said it would welcome any move to streamline what it called a very complex drug regulatory process, but added it was not clear where the government planned to make the C$3 billion in annual savings.
“The industry is very aware of the sustainability issue on drug costs. … I think there will be some very good conversations coming up in the next few weeks and months,” the group’s president, Pamela Fralick, said by phone.
Ottawa will also create a national strategy to improve access to high-cost drugs for rare diseases, investing up to C$1 billion over two years starting in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
SCOPE FOR NEGOTIATIONS
The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association said it was cautiously optimistic about the measures.
“We believe it leaves scope there for them to be negotiating on behalf of all Canadians, which includes private and public payers,” Chief Executive Officer Stephen Frank said by phone, adding he was not too concerned by how long it would take to set up the agency.
“There’s no way to snap your fingers and cut the price of drugs,” he said.
Reuters reported in late January that the government was set to unveil a limited expansion to the healthcare system to help cover the cost of drugs.
A senior government official, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation, said the Liberals would disclose more plans for dealing with high-drug costs during the election campaign.
Those plans would depend in part on the final report of a Canadian advisory council studying prescription drug coverage, which is due in August, added the official.
Also Read: Novartis faces shareholder criticism over drug prices at annual general meeting
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The Photographic Chain: Five minutes with Bob Krist
My dreams is… that the market shakes itself out, so talented young visual story tellers can make a living. We have seen explosion in the tech field which allows the creation of video and audio. Photographers have all the the tools that allow them to share wonderful stories. There are so many talented visual people, but sadly we are not seeing a market place that allows to this stuff to be paid in a decent way. In my stage of development, it is not so important, because I am all set. But I really feel for young photographers who see no clear path to earn a living. Long term sustainability of a photography career is much harder now.
Image © Bob Krist
The biggest lesson in my career… is that hard work is more important than talent. When you hear about great photographers, everyone talks about their eye, their sensitivity… But when you get to know them, they all have a ferocious work ethic. That was eye opening. We always think about talent, but not about the ability to generate ideas which is even more important than the eye. Former National Geographic Photography Director Bob Gilka used to say: I am up to my ears in talent, but only ankle deep in ideas. I have many guys who can shoot, but not too many that can propose a story and put together the whole thing.
The biggest lesson in my life… is that life can go in a second. The loss of my youngest son is the biggest and hardest lesson in my life. It made me realize that fame and fortune and all that, is not as important as safety of those who you love.
The moment I will never forget… was an assignment that hardly yielded any pics. I was shooting a story in Trinidad for Islands Magazine. One night there was a knock on my door and I was taken to ¨Shango¨ ceremony. I witnessed an all night ceremony. People in trances, people speaking in voices. The was so very low light and I couldn’t use flash. I saw the most amazing things I have ever seen. I was able to shoot six photographs, but non were ever published.
Photography is… changing. I think its great that we can share stories in so many ways and are no longer dependent on magazines and big publishers. I like all the story-telling possibilities of video these day. For an old still shooter, it is scary on one hand, and fascinating on the other, to be able to craft the whole story from start to finish. You are now the writer, the editor, the image maker and the publisher too…it’s a brave new world!
The Time Machine:
Image was taken in 1979, when Bob was working on his first national magazine assignment, shooting a story about shad fisherman on the Hudson River, right off Manhattan.
So who is … Bob?
More about Bob: www.bobkrist.com
In Human Journey
Tags Kike Calvo
Award-winning photographer, journalist, and author Kike Calvo (pronounced key-keh) specializes in culture and environment. He has been on assignment in more than 90 countries, working on stories ranging from belugas in the Arctic to traditional Hmong costumes in Laos. Kike is pioneering in using small unmanned aerial systems to produce aerial photography as art, and as a tool for research and conservation. He is also known for his iconic photographic project, World of Dances, on the intersection of dance, nature, and architecture. His work has been published in National Geographic, New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, among others. Kike teaches photography workshops and has been a guest lecturer at leading institutions like the School of Visual Arts and Yale University. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic blog Voices. He has authored nine books, including Drones for Conservation; So You Want to Create Maps Using Drones?; Staten Island: A Visual Journey to the Lighthouse at the End of the World; and Habitats, with forewords by David Doubilet and Jean-Michel Cousteau. Kike’s images have been exhibited around the world, and are represented by the National Geographic Image Collection. Kike was born in Spain and is based in New York. When he is not on assignment, he is making gazpacho following his grandmother’s Andalusian recipe. You can travel to Colombia with Kike: www.colombiaphotoexpeditions.com
Ivory Poaching Threatens ‘Elephant Memory’
Fire, Ferrets and Falcons: Grasslands News from December 2012
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Lohmann returns to restructured Dean’s Office
By Emily Cohen
Orient Staff
Janet Lohmann will return to Bowdoin to become dean of students, a new position in the College’s administration, on July 1 after serving as dean of students at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio for one year. Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster reported Lohmann’s appointment in an email to the College on Monday.
Lohmann will replace Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs Kim Pacelli, who announced in December that she will leave the College at the end of June. The new role of dean of students is part of ongoing efforts by the College to restructure the Office of Student Affairs.
In her new role, Lohmann will lead the College in hiring staff to fill three other positions in the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs that are currently held by interim deans. The deans, Interim Assistant Deans for Upperclass Students Abbey Greene Goldman and Michael Pulju and Interim Dean of First-Year Students Melissa Quinby, will continue in those positions for another year as the College conducts national searches.
Lohmann is looking forward to returning to Maine and Bowdoin, where she had been for 14 years before taking the position at Kenyon. Most recently, she served as dean of first-year students at Bowdoin.
“Maine is a very special place for me. It’s where my heart resides, and I’m thrilled to be coming back to the community that I care about deeply and colleagues who I am excited to reconnect with,” she said. “I think I needed to step away from Bowdoin to return to Bowdoin.”
As Dean of Students at Kenyon, Lohmann oversees the health and counseling services, as well as the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, which assists in making decisions about violations of the college’s expectations and policies. In her new position at Bowdoin, she will oversee the college’s Title IX program in addition to Health Center and Counseling Services. This position does not include oversight of Residential Life, as Pacelli’s position as senior associate dean of student affairs does.
“The dean of students [position] allows me just a larger lens to look at the student experience, and to work with key partners in the dean’s office and Health and Counseling to ensure that what we’re doing for students is meeting their needs,” Lohmann said.
Lohmann described her experience at Kenyon as “transformative,” explaining that the more “professional” position allowed her to play a greater role in making decisions and being a leader among her colleagues.
“The transformation has happened in that I have a stronger voice. People are really looking to me to make certain decisions on behalf of the students,” she said. “I am so appreciative of Kenyon for giving me this opportunity.”
Foster echoed Lohmann, citing the new skills and experience she gained at Kenyon as beneficial.
“Even though it was a short tour there, it’s amazing how much you can learn and grow when you break away from where you’ve been, to do something new and different and be exposed to a whole different way of thinking, a way of approaching the work,” he said.
Lohmann held various positions at Bowdoin before leaving for Kenyon. Initially a visiting assistant professor of sociology in 2003, Lohmann became assistant dean of student affairs in 2007 and then associate dean of student affairs and dean of first-year students in 2008. She was also interim senior associate dean of student affairs for four months while Pacelli took family leave. Lohmann was a leader in starting the Bowdoin Advising Program to Support Academic Excellence (BASE), an initiative to support first-generation students in their transition to college, among other projects that have continued at the College.
Lohmann’s role as dean also included consulting with students who were considering taking a medical leave from the College. As the Orient reported last semester, several Bowdoin students have expressed past frustration with Lohmann who, at times, encouraged students to take medical leave when they had not considered all of their options.
Austin Goldsmith ’18 is one of the students with whom Lohmann consulted about the possibility of medical leave after she got a concussion playing volleyball. Goldsmith did not end up taking medical leave. She explained that while the situation was frustrating because she felt “powerless” in the decision-making process, she appreciated the support that Lohmann demonstrated after she recovered from her concussion.
“I’m not going to say that was a great experience, but I think what I love about Dean Lohmann was that she followed up with me as a person and had conversations with me as a person,” Goldsmith said.
Although she said that Lohmann is generally perceived on campus to be a “positive force,” Goldsmith believes that the decisions that Lohmann had to make due to her position created a negative connotation.
“Even though you don’t like the decisions she makes, she’s still a great person,” said Goldsmith. “I feel very strongly about that.”
Sarah Steffen ’16, who took a medical leave during her first year after consulting with Dean Lohmann, agreed that students’ perception of Lohmann is altered by her position as a disciplinarian.
“I think that not everyone has a positive experience with the dean’s office in general, and I think that’s normal,” Steffen said. “I think it’s important to have really strong people with a lot of integrity in those positions, and I feel like she does. But I hope people can see that.”
As part of the ongoing restructuring efforts, a new position, the assistant dean of students for community standards, will be added to the Office of Student Affairs. This new position will be responsible for “addressing and resolving violations of the College’s Academic Honor Code and Social Code.” The new dean will also be Advisor to the Judicial Board, a role currently held by Associate Dean for Upperclass Students Lesley Levy. Lohmann will assist the hiring process for this new position as well.
“The structure of the dean’s office is going to look different, and my responsibilities are figuring out what that structure looks like and how we can work most efficiently,” said Lohmann.
Foster said he is looking forward to seeing Lohmann take on these new responsibilities.
“This role will be very different,” he said. “Now she’ll come in and really lead, and so I’m really excited about that.”
Read MoreAdministration
More from News:
College removes several housing options for ’17-’18
By Rohini Kurup •et; April 7, 2017
The Housing Lottery opened on Monday with several changes in housing options for the 2017-2018 academic year. Cleaveland Street Apartments will no longer be offered as student housing; one-bedroom triples in Brunswick Apartments will revert back to doubles and the fifth floors of Osher and West Halls will no longer be available to upperclassmen in order to eliminate quints in the first-year bricks.
Amended ordinance could spell trouble for off-campus living
By James Callahan •et; April 7, 2017
At its meeting on Monday, the Brunswick Town Council passed an amendment (8-1) to the town’s disorderly property ordinance that intends to crack down on repeat offenders of the ordinance. The amendment extends the “reset period” for disorderly homes from 60 to 270 days.
Community remembers Renata Ledwick for creativity, kindness
By Claudia Pou and Emily Weyrauch •et; April 7, 2017
J-Board appointments released after oversight
By Jono Gruber •et; April 7, 2017
Yesterday, the new student appointments to the Judicial Board (J-Board) were released to students, staff and faculty in an email from Associate Dean of Upperclass Students Lesley Levy. The new members were informed of their acceptance on February 22, but due to an administrative oversight, the rest of the College was not informed until this week.
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Perdurabo expanded
Perdurabo on pre-order
Perdurabo hardcover : $20 : http://bit.ly/d7bmsW
This will be available August 10, 2010, but is available now for pre-order.
The name “Aleister Crowley” instantly conjures visions of diabolic ceremonies and orgiastic indulgences—and while the sardonic Crowley would perhaps be the last to challenge such a view, he was also much more than “the Beast,” as this authoritative biography shows. Perdurabo (the magical name Crowley chose when inducted into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) traces Crowley’s remarkable journey from his birth as the only son of a wealthy lay preacher to his death in a boarding house as the world’s foremost authority on magick. Along the way, he rebels against his conservative religious upbringing; befriends famous artists, writers, and philosophers (and becomes a poet himself ); is attacked for his practice of “the black arts”; and teaches that science and magick can work together. While seeking to spread his infamous philosophy of “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” Crowley becomes one of the most notorious figures of his day. Based on Richard Kaczynski’s twenty years of research, and including previously unpublished biographical details, Perdurabo paints a memorable portrait of the man who inspired the counterculture and influenced generations of artists, punks, wiccans, and other denizens of the demimonde.
Richard Kaczynski, Ph.D., is the author of The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley, editor/annotator of a forthcoming edition of Crowley’s Sword of Song, and co-editor with Hymenaeus Beta of The Revival of Magick and Other Essays. He has been a student of the Western hermetic tradition since 1978, and has lectured internationally on these topics since 1990. His writing has appeared in numerous magazines (High Times, The Magical Link, Neshamah, Cheth, Mezlim, Eidolon, Different Worlds) and books (Concordance to the Holy Books of Thelema, The Golden Dawn Sourcebook, Rebels and Devils, People of the Earth). A research scientist and statistician with the VA Northeast Program Evaluation Center, Kaczynski is also affiliated with Yale University’s School of Medicine (Department of Psychiatry). He lives in Ellicott City, MD.
Crowley Deals
Crowley Pre-order
Joseph Thiebes
The latest episode (#8) of Speech in the Silence podcast ( http://speechinthesilence.com ) features Richard Kaczynski reading two selections from the newly expanded edition of his book, “Perdurabo.” Great stuff!
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Home Home / News & Events / Environment
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 3 July, 2019 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, U.S. & Canada, Vancouver
Conclusion of the Seventh Round of Negotiations to Modernize the Columbia River Treaty Regime
The United States and Canada held the seventh round of negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty regime June 19-20, in Washington, D.C.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 24 June, 2019 | Topics: Environment, News, U.S. & Canada, Vancouver
Conclusion of the Sixth Round of Negotiations to Modernize the Columbia River Treaty Regime
The sixth round of negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty regime was held April 10-11 in Victoria, British Columbia.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 12 April, 2019 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, U.S. & Canada, Vancouver
United States, Mexico, and Canada Conclude Trilateral Agreement on Environmental Cooperation
Today the United States of America, Mexico, and Canada finalized a new environmental cooperation agreement (ECA).
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 30 November, 2018 | Topics: Environment, News
Conclusion of the Third Round of Negotiations to Modernize the Columbia River Treaty Regime
October 19, 2018 – The United States and Canada held the third round of negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty regime October 17-18 in Portland, Oregon.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 19 October, 2018 | Topics: Environment, News, Press Releases, U.S. & Canada, Vancouver
U.S. Signs Agreement To Prevent Unregulated Commercial Fishing on the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean
Media Note Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC October 1, 2018 U.S. Signs Agreement To Prevent Unregulated Commercial Fishing on the High Seas of the Central Arctic Ocean The United States is pleased to be a signatory of the agreement to prevent unregulated commercial fishing on the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean. …
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 1 October, 2018 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, Press Releases, The Arctic, U.S. & Canada
U.S. Delegation to the G-7 Environment, Energy, and Oceans Ministerial in Halifax
The Group of Seven (G-7) Environment, Energy, and Oceans Ministerial will take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 19–21, 2018.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 18 September, 2018 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Halifax, Press Releases, U.S. & Canada | Tags: G7
Conclusion of the Second Round of Negotiations To Modernize the Columbia River Treaty Regime
The United States and Canada held the second round of negotiations to modernize the Columbia River Treaty regime August 15-16, in Nelson, British Columbia.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 21 August, 2018 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, Press Releases, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Columbia River Treaty
Canadians to Attend U.S. Program on Health Surveillance in the Arctic
Canadian professionals in the fields of public health and veterinary medicine will visit Minneapolis, MN, and Anchorage and Fairbanks, AK, from May 15 to 25 as participants in an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 15 May, 2018 | Topics: Calgary, Education, Environment, News, Press Releases, Public Affairs, Quebec, The Arctic, U.S. & Canada, Western Hemisphere | Tags: Health
Embassy joins local government partners to open newest spoke in Ottawa’s cycling network
On Friday, May 19, U.S. Mission to Canada Chargé d’Affaires Elizabeth Moore Aubin attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by Mayor of Ottawa Jim Watson to open the Mackenzie Avenue Cycling Lane to the public. Chargé Aubin and Mayor Watson were joined by Dr. Mark Kristmanson, CEO of the National Capital Commission, and Nathalie Des Rosiers, …
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 19 May, 2017 | Topics: Chargé D’Affaires, Environment, Events, Key Officials, News, Ottawa | Tags: bike lane, City of Ottawa, Government of Ontario, Mackenzie Avenue, NCC
Joint Statement from President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
“No two countries share deeper or broader relations than Canada and the United States.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 13 February, 2017 | Topics: Border Issues, Business, Economic Affairs, Energy, Environment, News, Ottawa, President of the United States, Security & Counterterrorism, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Donald J. Trump, entrepreneurship, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Enbridge Line 67 Draft SEIS Released
The State Department is today releasing the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) for the proposed Enbridge Line 67 oil pipeline expansion project.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 10 February, 2017 | Topics: Energy, Environment, News, Press Releases | Tags: pipeline
The United States and Canada: The Strength of Partnership
“Our exceptional and unique ties are rooted in a common border that stretches for 5,525 miles, over 200 years of closely interwoven history and culture, our largest economic relationship worldwide, our similar values.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 13 December, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Border Issues, Economic Affairs, Energy, Environment, News, The Arctic, Trade, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Council of American Ambassadors, The Ambassadors REVIEW
Ambassador Heyman’s Remarks at Mackenzie Avenue Bike Lane Reception
“The U.S. Embassy is committed to being a good friend and neighbor.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 12 December, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Environment, Ottawa, Speeches, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Mackenzie Ave
Secretary Kerry’s Remarks at COP-22
“We have to get this right, and we have to get it right now.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 17 November, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News, Speeches, Video | Tags: ActOnClimate, Climate Change, COP-22, John Kerry, United Nations
Ambassador Heyman welcomes U.S. delegates to IJC meetings in Ottawa
“I am pleased to welcome members of the U.S. delegation to Ottawa this week for semi-annual meetings of the International Joint Commission (IJC).”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 24 October, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: boundary waters, International Joint Commission
DOE, NRCan Announce Pilot Plant to Advance Oxy-Combustion Carbon Capture
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Canada’s Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) today announced the opening of a new 1 Megawatt Thermal (MWth) facility to test an advanced process to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired power plants.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 18 October, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Department of Energy, Natural Resources Canada
HFC Amendment to the Montreal Protocol
“The world came together today in yet another milestone on the path toward a safer, more sustainable future.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 17 October, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: HFC, John Kerry, Montreal Protocol
Achieving Carbon Neutral Growth in the Airline Industry
“Today the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted an unprecedented global market-based measure (MBM) that puts the international aviation industry on a path toward sustainable, carbon-neutral growth. It builds on over a decade of work by the United States and other ICAO Member States to reduce international aviation emissions by developing new technologies, improved operations, …
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 6 October, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: Climate Change, ICAO, International Civil Aviation Organization, John Kerry
President Obama on the Paris Agreement
Today, the world meets the moment. And if we follow through on the commitments that this agreement embodies, history may well judge it as a turning point for our planet.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 5 October, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: ActOnClimate, Barack Obama, Paris Agreement on Climate Change
Paris Agreement to Enter into Force
“Today, less than six months later, enough countries – representing enough of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – have submitted their instruments to formally join. The Paris Agreement will enter into force in 30 days.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 5 October, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: Climate Change, John Kerry, Paris Agreement on Climate Change
Ambassador Heyman on the Great Lakes Public Forum
“On October 6, I will be pleased to join Environment Minister Catherine McKenna at the Great Lakes Public Forum in Toronto.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 5 October, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Environment, News, Ottawa, Toronto | Tags: Great Lakes, Great Lakes Economic Forum, Statement by Ambassador Heyman
Ottawa Citizen Style features Mrs. Vicki Heyman
Published September 27, 2016 Vicki Heyman: Lornado’s Lasting Legacy Laura Robin, Ottawa Citizen It’s the hottest part of the afternoon on one of the hottest days of the summer, well over 40 C with the humidity. Vicki Heyman has a miserable head cold that she picked up during two weeks of appointment-packed travel in the North with her husband, U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman. She must be …
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 30 September, 2016 | Topics: Culture, Environment, News, Ottawa | Tags: Laura Robin, Lornado, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Citizen Style, vicki heyman
Presidential Memorandum on Climate Change and National Security
“This memorandum establishes a framework and directs Federal departments and agencies (agencies) to perform certain functions to ensure that climate change-related impacts are fully considered in the development of national security doctrine, policies, and plans.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 21 September, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News, Security & Counterterrorism | Tags: Barack Obama, Climate Change, John Kerry, Presidential Memorandum
CEC Ministerial Statement
“The CEC as a long-standing platform for environmental cooperation among Canada, Mexico and the USA, is well positioned to build on the momentum from Paris and respond to our Leaders’ mandates.”
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 12 September, 2016 | Topics: Environment, News, U.S. & Canada | Tags: CEC, CEC Ministerial 2016, Commission for Environmental Cooperation, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Minister Catherine McKenna, Trilateral
Birds of a Feather Create Treaties Together
August 16 marked the 100th anniversary of a treaty signed between the United States and Canada, a treaty that has led to a century’s worth of conservation efforts aimed at protecting some of Earth’s most precious animals: migratory birds.
By U.S. Mission to Canada | 22 August, 2016 | Topics: Environment, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: birds, Migratory Birds Treaty
Remarks by Ambassador Bruce Heyman at the CSG ERC 56th Annual Meeting & Regional Policy Forum
This conversation we are having today about climate, about our shared efforts to move toward a low-carbon future and about protecting our Arctic, is one that deserves to be at the very top of our agenda.”
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 9 August, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Environment, Quebec, Speeches, The Arctic, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Council of State Governments/ Eastern Regional Conference
Leaders’ Statement on a North American Climate, Clean Energy, and Environment Partnership
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Barack Obama, and President Enrique Peña Nieto share a common commitment to a competitive, low-carbon and sustainable North American economy and society.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 29 June, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Barack Obama, NALS, NALS2016, North American Leaders' Summit, Trilateral
North American Climate, Clean Energy, and Environment Partnership Action Plan
The North American Climate, Energy, and Environment Partnership was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Barack Obama, and President Enrique Peña Nieto on June 29, 2016, at the North American Leaders Summit in Ottawa, Canada.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 29 June, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Featured Event, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News, Ottawa, Trade, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Barack Obama, NALS 2016, North American Leaders' Summit, ObamaCAN, POTUS Visit, Trilateral
Ambassador Heyman’s Remarks at the North American Climate Policy Forum
“To have decision-makers, influencers, and thought leaders like you engaged in generating a cross-border discussion — a pan-continental discussion actually — is really impressive.”
By Ambassador Bruce Heyman | 23 June, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Energy, Environment, News, Ottawa, Speeches, The Arctic | Tags: ActOnClimate, North American Climate Policy Forum, speech
Ground breaks on Mackenzie Avenue cycling lanes
“I am confident that this fantastic project will bring dedicated bike lanes to Mackenzie, but will not only do that, will be a welcome addition to downtown Ottawa.”
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 17 June, 2016 | Topics: Ambassador, Environment, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, Speeches | Tags: cycling, greening initiatives, Mackenzie Avenue
Oceans Week in Halifax
As part of Oceans Week in Halifax, Dr. Scott Doney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, spent 2.5 days in the city discussing climate change and its affects on the oceans.
By U.S. Consulate General Halifax | 9 June, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, Halifax, News | Tags: Oceans, World Oceans Day
“On World Oceans Day, I challenge all who love the ocean – and all who love the planet – to join us.”
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 8 June, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: John Kerry, Oceans, World Oceans Day
U.S., Canada, and Mexico Show Progress on North American Energy Collaboration
“Trilateral energy cooperation between the United States, Canada, and Mexico is crucial to advancing our energy security and growing low-carbon economies.”
By polleselmd | 3 June, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Department of Energy, energy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Trilateral
U.S., Canada Target Reductions in Chemicals on New Binational List to Reduce Public Health Risk
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna today announced that Canada and the U.S. have agreed to target reductions of eight chemicals.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 31 May, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, Toronto, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Great Lakes, Minister Catherine McKenna, water
North America celebrates 100 years of Migratory Birds Protection
This year, the United States, Canada, and Mexico mark the Centennial of the Migratory Birds Treaty — the cornerstone of international efforts to conserve birds that know no borders.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 23 May, 2016 | Topics: Environment, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada, Western Hemisphere | Tags: birds, migratory birds, Migratory Birds Treaty, Trilateral
EPA Announces 28 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grants Totaling Over $12.5 Million to Restore Great Lakes
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced 28 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants for projects to restore and protect the Great Lakes.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 5 May, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, Toronto | Tags: Great Lakes
Secretary Jewell, Minister McKenna Continue Conversation on Shared Priorities During Canadian Visit
In the lead-up to the North American Leaders Summit this summer, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today made her first official visit to Canada and met with the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna, to continue the momentum from Prime Minister Trudeau’s March 10 visit to Washington, D.C. on shared national …
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 28 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, News, Ottawa, Press Releases, U.S. & Canada | Tags: arctic, bilateral meetings, Department of Interior, ECCC, Environment, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Minister Catherine McKenna, Parks
Interior Secretary Jewell to Visit Canada & Continue Conversation on Shared Priorities
On Wednesday, April 27, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will make her first official visit to Canada.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 27 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, Press Releases, U.S. & Canada | Tags: arctic, conservation, Department of the Interior, indigenous, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell
Acting Assistant Secretary Garber Travels to Ottawa
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Judith Garber will travel to Ottawa, Canada, April 27-29.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 27 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, Our Ocean | Tags: arctic, Department of State, Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
UN Signing Ceremony of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
“Paris marked the moment when the world finally decided to heed the ever-rising mountain of evidence that had been piling up for years.”
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 22 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: John Kerry, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, United Nations
“Just as the people who came together on Earth Day in 1970 embraced their responsibility to preserve our planet, today we face a threat that also requires collective action.”
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 22 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: Barack Obama, Earth Day, Earth Day 2016, Presidential Proclamation
Fishackathon 2016 Launches in 40 Cities Worldwide
The U.S. Department of State’s third annual Fishackathon begins today on Earth Day in 40 cities around the world.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 22 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, News, Toronto, Vancouver | Tags: Department of State, Fishackathon
Department of Interior Grants to Protect North American Waterfowl, Other Bird Species
“One hundred years ago, the United States and Canada signed the first Migratory Bird Treaty, recognizing that protecting these birds and their habitat requires an international effort,” said Secretary Jewell. “As we celebrate the centennial of this landmark conservation treaty this year, we are reminded of the many millions of acres of wetlands lost over …
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 20 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Department of the Interior, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, migratory birds
U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Travel to Canada
Dr. Jonathan Pershing will travel April 12 – 13 to Ottawa, marking his first official trip as U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 12 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Climate Change, Department of State, Jonathan Pershing
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, ECCC Minister Catherine McKenna align shared priorities
Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and United States Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy today made the following statement as they concluded successful meetings in Ottawa, Ontario. “Canada and the United States share a common vision: that of a prosperous and sustainable North American economy. One that offers new jobs and new opportunities …
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 7 April, 2016 | Topics: Environment, News, Ottawa, Press Releases, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Climate Change, Enivronment and Climate Change Canada, Environment, EPA, Statement, Sustainable Prosperity, University of Ottawa
EPA Announces $1 Million in Pollution Prevention Funding for Great Lakes States
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing approximately $1 million in funding to support pollution prevention work in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
By U.S. Consulate General Toronto | 18 March, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Fisheries & Marine Issues, Key Documents, News, Toronto | Tags: Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Great Lakes, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior
How the U.S. and Canada are Fighting Climate Change Together
It is fitting that the United States and Canada — who share the longest common border of any two countries in the world — also share common values and priorities. These have driven and will continue to drive our strong commitment and collaboration on a pathway to a clean energy future.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 11 March, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, News, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Department of Energy, Natural Resources Canada, NRCan, Official Visit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
EPA Taking Steps to Cut Methane Emissions from Existing Oil and Gas Sources
“Today, as part of the Obama Administration’s ongoing commitment to act on climate, President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to new actions to reduce methane pollution from the oil and natural gas sector, the world’s largest industrial source of methane.”
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 10 March, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, Featured Event, Key Officials, News, U.S. & Canada | Tags: Climate Change, EPA, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, methane, Official Visit
U.S.-Canada Joint Statement on Climate, Energy, and Arctic Leadership
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau share a common vision of a prosperous and sustainable North American economy, and the opportunities afforded by advancing clean growth.
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 10 March, 2016 | Topics: Environment, Featured Event, Former U.S. Government Leaders, Key Officials, News, Ottawa, Policy, The Arctic, U.S. & Canada, Western Hemisphere | Tags: arctic, Barack Obama, clean energy, Climate Change, methane, Official Visit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Consulate General Supports Conference on Environmental Migration
Wilfrid Laurier University hosted a two-day workshop on environmental migration on January 21-22, 2016, sponsored by US Consulate Toronto.
By U.S. Consulate General Toronto | 25 January, 2016 | Topics: Energy, Environment, News, Toronto | Tags: Conference on Environmental Migration, environmental conference, juan alsace, Wilfrid Laurier University
COP-21
“I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it.” Read more on the White House Blog!
By U.S. Embassy Ottawa | 30 November, 2015 | Topics: Environment, Former U.S. Government Leaders, News | Tags: Barack Obama, Climate Change, COP-21, Global Warming, Paris
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Lanthanides: Properties and Reactions
[ "article:topic", "THE ODDO-HARKINS RULE", "electron configuration", "transition metals", "Periodic Trends", "showtoc:no", "Ytterby", "gadolinite", "lanthanides" ]
Supplemental Modules (Inorganic Chemistry)
Descriptive Chemistry
Elements Organized by Block
f-Block Elements
The Lanthanides
Electron Configuration
Properties and Chemical Reactions
Metals and their Alloys
Periodic Trends: Size
Color and Light Absorbance
Occurrence in Nature
Non-nuclear
Practice Problems
The Lanthanides consist of the elements in the f-block of period six in the periodic table. While these metals can be considered transition metals, they have properties that set them apart from the rest of the elements.
The Lanthanides were first discovered in 1787 when a unusual black mineral was found in Ytterby, Sweden. This mineral, now known as Gadolinite, was later separated into the various Lanthanide elements. In 1794, Professor Gadolin obtained yttria, an impure form of yttrium oxide, from the mineral. In 1803, Berzelius and Klaproth secluded the first Cerium compound. Later, Moseley used an x-ray spectra of the elements to prove that there were fourteen elements between Lanthanum and Hafnium. The rest of the elements were later separated from the same mineral. These elements were first classified as ‘rare earth’ due to the fact that obtained by reasonably rare minerals. However, this is can be misleading since the Lanthanide elements have a practically unlimited abundance. The term Lanthanides was adopted, originating from the first element of the series, Lanthanum.
Like any other series in the periodic table, such as the Alkali metals or the Halogens, the Lanthanides share many similar characteristics. These characteristics include the following:
Similarity in physical properties throughout the series
Adoption mainly of the +3 oxidation state. Usually found in crystalline compounds)
They can also have an oxidation state of +2 or +4, though some lanthanides are most stable in the +3 oxidation state.
Adoption of coordination numbers greater than 6 (usually 8-9) in compounds
Tendency to decreasing coordination number across the series
A preference for more electronegative elements (such as O or F) binding
Very small crystal-field effects
Little dependence on ligands
Ionic complexes undergo rapid ligand-exchange
Similarly, the Lanthanides have similarities in their electron configuration, which explains most of the physical similarities. These elements are different from the main group elements in the fact that they have electrons in the f orbital. After Lanthanum, the energy of the 4f sub-shell falls below that of the 5d sub-shell. This means that the electron start to fill the 4f sub-shell before the 5d sub-shell.
The electron configurations of these elements were primarily established through experiments. The technique used is based on the fact that each line in an emission spectrum reveals the energy change involved in the transition of an electron from one energy level to another. However, the problem with this technique with respect to the Lanthanide elements is the fact that the 4f and 5d sub-shells have very similar energy levels, which can make it hard to tell the difference between the two.
Another important feature of the Lanthanides is the Lanthanide Contraction, in which the 5s and 5p orbitals penetrate the 4f sub-shell. This means that the 4f orbital is not shielded from the increasing nuclear change, which causes the atomic radius of the atom to decrease that continues throughout the series.
Table 1: Electron Configurations of the Lanthanide Elements
Idealized
La 5d16s2 5d16s2 Tb 4f85d16s2 4f9 6s2 or 4f85d16s2
Ce 4f15d16s2 4f15d16s2 Dy 4f95d16s2 4f10 6s2
Pr 4f25d16s2 4f3 6s2 Ho 4f105d16s2 4f11 6s2
Nd 4f35d16s2 4f4 6s2 Er 4f115d16s2 4f12 6s2
Pm 4f45d16s2 4f5 6s2 Tm 4f125d16s2 4f13 6s2
Sm 4f55d16s2 4f6 6s2 Yb 4f135d16s2 4f14 6s2
Eu 4f65d16s2 4f7 6s2 Lu 4f145d16s2 4f145d16s2
Gd 4f75d16s2 4f75d16s2
One property of the Lanthanides that affect how they will react with other elements is called the basicity. Basicity is a measure of the ease at which an atom will lose electrons. In another words, it would be the lack of attraction that a cation has for electrons or anions. In simple terms, basicity refers to have much of a base a species is. For the Lanthanides, the basicity series is the following:
La3+ > Ce3+ > Pr3+ > Nd3+ > Pm3+ > Sm3+ > Eu3+ > Gd3+ > Tb3+ > Dy3+ > Ho3+ > Er3+ > Tm3+ > Yb3+ > Lu3+
In other words, the basicity decreases as the atomic number increases. Basicity differences are shown in the solubility of the salts and the formation of the complex species. Another property of the Lanthanides is their magnetic characteristics. The major magnetic properties of any chemical species are a result of the fact that each moving electron is a micromagnet. The species are either diamagnetic, meaning they have no unpaired electrons, or paramagnetic, meaning that they do have some unpaired electrons. The diamagnetic ions are: La3+, Lu3+, Yb2+ and Ce4+. The rest of the elements are paramagnetic.
The metals have a silvery shine when freshly cut. However, they can tarnish quickly in air, especially Ce, La and Eu. These elements react with water slowly in cold, though that reaction can happen quickly when heated. This is due to their electropositive nature. The Lanthanides have the following reactions:
oxidize rapidly in moist air
dissolve quickly in acids
reaction with oxygen is slow at room temperature, but they can ignite around 150-200 °C
react with halogens upon heating
upon heating, react with S, H, C and N
Table 2: Properties of the Lathanides
Ionization Energy (kJ/mol)
Melting Point (°C)
Boiling Point (°C)
La 538 920 3469
Ce 527 795 3468
Pr 523 935 3127
Nd 529 1024 3027
Sm 543 1072 1900
Eu 546 826 1429
Gd 593 1312 3000
Tb 564 1356 2800
Dy 572 1407 2600
Ho 581 1461 2600
Er 589 1497 2900
Tm 597 1545 1727
Yb 603 824 1427
Lu 523 1652 3327
The size of the atomic and ionic radii is determined by both the nuclear charge and by the number of electrons that are in the electronic shells. Within those shells, the degree of occupancy will also affect the size. In the Lanthanides, there is a decrease in atomic size from La to Lu. This decrease is known as the Lanthanide Contraction. The trend for the entire periodic table states that the atomic radius decreases as you travel from left to right. Therefore, the Lanthanides share this trend with the rest of the elements.
Table 3: Periodic Trends
Atomic Radius (pm)
Ionic Radius (3+)
La 187.7 106.1 Tb 178.2 92.3
Ce 182 103.4 Dy 177.3 90.8
Pr 182.8 101.3 Ho 176.6 89.4
Nd 182.1 99.5 Er 175.7 88.1
Pm 181 97.9 Tm 174.6 89.4
Sm 180.2 96.4 Yb 194.0 85.8
Eu 204.2 95.0 Lu 173.4 84.8
Gd 180.2 93.8
The color that a substance appears is the color that is reflected by the substance. This means that if a substance appears green, the green light is being reflected. The wavelength of the light determines if the light with be reflected or absorbed. Similarly, the splitting of the orbitals can affect the wavelength that can be absorbed. This is turn would be affected by the amount of unpaired electrons.
Table 4: Unpaired Electrons and Color
Unpaired Electrons
La3+ 0 Colorless Tb3+ 6 Pale Pink
Ce3+ 1 Colorless Dy3+ 5 Yellow
Pr3+ 2 Green Ho3+ 4 Pink; yellow
Nd3+ 3 Reddish Er3+ 3 Reddish
Pm3+ 4 Pink; yellow Tm3+ 2 Green
Sm3+ 5 Yellow Yb3+ 1 Colorless
Eu3+ 6 Pale Pink Lu3+ 0 Colorless
Gd3+ 7 Colorless
Each known Lanthanide mineral contains all the members of the series. However, each mineral contains different concentrations of the individual Lanthanides. The three main mineral sources are the following:
Monazite: contains mostly the lighter Lanthanides. The commercial mining of monazite sands in the United States is centered in Florida and the Carolinas
Xenotime: contains mostly the heavier Lanthanides
Euxenite: contains a fairly even distribution of the Lanthanides
In all the ores, the atoms with a even atomic number are more abundant. This allows for more nuclear stability, as explained in the Oddo-Harkins rule. The Oddo-Harkins rule simply states that the abundance of elements with an even atomic number is greater than the abundance of elements with an odd atomic number. In order to obtain these elements, the minerals must go through a separating process, known as separation chemistry. This can be done with selective reduction or oxidation. Another possibility is an ion-exchange method.
The Oddo-Harkins Rule
The abundance of elements with an even atomic number is greater than the abundance of elements with an odd atomic number.
The pure metals of the Lanthanides have little use. However, the alloys of the metals can be very useful. For example, the alloys of Cerium have been used for metallurgical applications due to their strong reducing abilities.
The Lanthanides can also be used for ceramic purposes. The almost glass-like covering of a ceramic dish can be created with the lanthanides. They are also used to improve the intensity and color balance of arc lights.
Like the Actinides, the Lanthanides can be used for nuclear purposes. The hydrides can be used as hydrogen-moderator carriers. The oxides can be used as diluents in nuclear fields. The metals are good for being used as structural components. The can also be used for structural-alloy-modifying components of reactors. It is also possible for some elements, such as Tm, to be used as portable x-ray sources. Other elements, such as Eu, can be used as radiation sources.
Which elements are considered to be Lanthanides?
How do the Lanthanides react with oxygen?
What causes the Lanthanide Contraction?
Why do Lanthanides exhibit strong electromagnetic and light properties?
What do the Lanthanides have in common with the Noble Gases?
Elements Lanthanum (57) through Lutetium (71) on the periodic table are considered to be Lanthanides.
Lanthanides tend to react with oxygen to form oxides. The reaction at room temperature can be slow while heat can cause the reaction to happen rapidly.
The Lanthanide Contraction refers to the decrease in atomic size of the elements in which electrons fill the f-subshell. Since the f sub-shell is not shielded, the atomic size will decrease as the nuclear charge still increases.
Lanthanides exhibit strong electromagnetic and light properties because of the presence of unpaired electrons in the f-orbitals. The majority of the Lanthanides are paramagnetic, which means that they have strong magnetic fields.
Both the Lanthanides and Noble Gases tend to bind with more electronegative atoms, such as Oxygen or Fluorine.
Petrucci, Hardwood, Herring. "General Chemistry: Principles & Modern Applications". New Jersey: Macmillan Publishing Company, 2007.
Moeller, Therald. The Chemistry of the Lanthanides. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1963.
Cotton, Simon. Lanthanides and Actinides. London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1991.
Lanthanide Contraction
gadolinite
lanthanides
transition metals
Ytterby
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Blair and Warren: a deadly duo for peace
Rick Warren builds bridge to Islam
Rick Warren on the ropes
I will set a Plumb Line amongst My People
It's right to allow calls to gay ministers
Once saved; always saved
Easter; myths and traditions obscure amazing truths
Q 'n' A sessions after Sunday sermons?
Sexuality, eschatology, Israel: and falling leaves
Countering the Insider Movement: a new film
Voting: the great church splitter
What is Next for Rick Warren?
Roger Oakland sees the drive for 'peace and unity' as the bait which will draw Christian churches and believers into a multi-faith mix.
by Roger Oakland
Tony Blair and Rick Warren
He is commonly known as “America’s Pastor.” One of his books, The Purpose Driven Life, has been listed as one of the most widely distributed books ever published. Pastors from around the world follow his every move. He has become the leading voice with regard to church-growth methodology. The past several decades show that Rick Warren has always been at the leading edge of innovative and creative ideas for both evangelical and non-evangelical communities.
Being purpose driven is the phrase that has been coined to explain how to be motivated and make a difference in the world and the church. Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan is designed to work together to solve global problems with global solutions by uniting global religions to work together for the cause of good. His Daniel weight loss program that he promotes uses ideas from New Age gurus thus giving a facelift to what it once meant to be an evangelical Bible-believing Christian.
Furthermore, those who have resisted the agenda authored by Warren to re-shape Christianity for the twenty-first century are often told to get with the program, make the transition, or find another place to fellowship. The Purpose Driven Peace Plan has taken what was once evangelical Christianity by storm. The only question that remains to be answered is what will be the next level of indoctrination that will comply with Warren’s agenda to influence the world and the church?
One doesn’t have to be a prophet to answer this kind of question. Common sense and an analytical mind can make predictions just by adding up the facts. Warren’s three-legged-stool plan that involves the cooperation of the world’s governments, businesses, and religions has not yet been perfected. While Warren has positioned himself with relationships with world leaders like former Prime Minister Tony Blair of England, who has a similar interest to unite religions together for the cause of peace, there is much more to be done.
So, what is next? In my view, this is what to expect. The Purpose Driven P.E.A.C. E. Plan will become an even more important emphasis for Warren and Blair. Since both are willing to work together with leaders of all religions and Blair has committed to work closely with Rome since his conversion to Roman Catholicism, it is obvious where this is headed.
Those who follow Rick Warren, the man, will also follow Rick Warren and his methods. I believe this will lead toward a peace plan that will eventually come under the jurisdiction of Rome under the guise of a Christianity that will embrace all religions for the cause of peace in the name of Christ. While many will believe this christ is Jesus Christ, this so-called messiah will actually be the antichrist.
Roger Oakland is an author and lecturer and the founder of Understand the Times International. Over the past twenty-five years, he has lectured at numerous churches, conferences, universities, and educational facilities in over one hundred countries.
Roger Oakland, 28/02/2013
Christians Together in the Highlands and Islands > Survival Kit > What is Next for Rick Warren?
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Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy: Implications for the Philippines
Home / Announcements • News and Events / Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy: Implications for the Philippines
The Strategic Studies Program (SSP) of the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS) aims to promote interest and discourse on significant changes in Philippine foreign policy, and develop capacity building for strategic studies in the country. The program views the Philippines’ latest engagements with the great powers and multilateral cooperation with other states in the Asia-Pacific region as a catalyst to further collaborative and multi-disciplinary research between the intellectual communities within East Asia.
In light of these objectives, we would like to extend our warm invitation to a public lecture, “Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy: Implications for the Philippines,” on 13 July 2018, 9:00 am to 12:00 nn at the Seminar Room, Hall of Wisdom of the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City. This public lecture aims to provide insights on the significance of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy for the Philippines and the Indo-Pacific region in general. Experts from the United States, Taiwan, and the Philippines will discuss issues related to this national policy. The invited speakers include scholars from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C., and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of the National Chengchi University, Taiwan. Members of the academe, government and military representatives, and foreign delegates are also expected to attend this event.
The public lecture is free and is sponsored by the UP CIDS Strategic Studies Program, in collaboration with the UP Department of Political Science, Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, Inc. (APPFI), and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Interested participants may register at https://goo.gl/forms/AZ4tCC9l4nv7rKqa2. The online registration closes on 12 July 2018, Thursday at 5:00 pm.
For concerns and inquiries, you may email [email protected] or contact 981–8500 loc. 4266/4267/4268.
This entry was posted in Announcements, News and Events on 06/29/2018 by CIDS.
← Marxist movements and radical criticism of PH romcoms tackled in 3rd Marx bicentennial lecture PSPC and UP PolSci host lecture by Professor Dan Slater →
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South Africa 6.9.2018 02:07 pm
Msimanga mulls laying criminal charges against Gauteng government
Numerous warnings were issued about the safety of the building, which were allegedly ignored.
Following a devastating fire in central Joburg at the Bank of Lisbon building that is also home to the department of health, the DA’s Gauteng premier candidate, Solly Msimanga, has said government may be culpable in the tragedy.
Three firefighters lost their lives in fighting the fire on Wednesday, while many other people were admitted to hospital.
Msimanga said the provincial government would need to take responsibility for the deaths.
“Despite the fact that the Gauteng Provincial Government was aware that the Bank of Lisbon building was not compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, nothing was done to ensure safety of the employees working in this building.
“I have therefore asked our legal team to explore if there is criminal culpability on the part of the Provincial Government and the politicians who allowed this tragedy to happen. Families have been shattered because of this dark event – there must be accountability.”
Earlier in the day, Jack Bloom and Alan Fuchs, the DA’s shadow MECs for health and infrastructure, respectively, said they had submitted a motion of “urgent public importance to the Gauteng Legislature calling for two Gauteng MECs to resign over their failure to heed warnings about the unsafe Bank of Lisbon building”.
“We call on infrastructure development MEC Jacob Mamabolo and health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa to take accountability for their failure to heed multiple warnings that the Bank Of Lisbon building was a health hazard and staff should have been moved elsewhere.”
Mamabolo had earlier admitted that the building, which is owned by his department, was only 21% compliant and contravened the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The building did not have functioning fire extinguishers, and the water pressure and emergency exit routes were inadequate.
“Ramokgopa ignored persistent complaints by staff about unsafe conditions at her head office in the building where the fire broke out on the 23rd Floor. Her own office is there, so how could she have failed to see and act on the safety risks?” said Bloom and Fuchs.
Ramokgopa had also ignored reports by her Directorate of Occupational Hygiene Risk Management that identified “high risk unresolved challenges” in the building.
Msimanga said “the failing ANC’s arrogance has led to these tragic losses; if they had listened to the building inspectors and warnings from the employees this would not have happened. The uncaring ANC put its employees and residents in harm’s way on a daily basis.”
He said Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba had been working tirelessly to clean up the ANC’s “mess” in the city by ensuring there were more fire engines and personnel.
“Two fire engines were fully refurbished and five new fire engines were acquired earlier this year to serve areas such as the Johannesburg CBD, and there are plans to procure more fire engines.
Msimanga said he would engage with various unions to listen to their concerns about the safety of workers in government buildings to establish what safety measures could be implemented.
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There was much uncertainty in both North and South regarding the war effort. Many northerners doubted that the Union could be restored, and many southerners doubted that they could maintain their independence. People on both sides were losing their romantic sentiments toward war as soldiers huddled in cold, muddy winter camps.
The Confederate defensive line through Kentucky had been broken, and Federal forces were preparing to advance on the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers. Federals were also readying offensives on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. Southern concerns intensified as Confederate armies had been depleted by soldiers returning home for the winter.
Confederate hopes for independence were fading following their worst month of the war to date. Conversely, optimism was rising in the North as Federal armies were threatening northern Virginia at Harpers Ferry; Richmond and Norfolk at Fort Monroe; Savannah and Charleston at Port Royal, South Carolina; New Orleans and Mobile on the Gulf Coast; in northwestern Arkansas; and on the Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers.
Federal armies were advancing on several fronts as massive efforts were underway to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond and split the Confederacy in the West. Southerners were watching the advances with apprehension because they knew that hard fighting would be needed if they were to maintain their independence. Northerners were complaining that the Federal forces were still not moving fast enough.
Federal forces were still on the offensive, and hopes were dimming for Confederate independence. Few southerners openly acknowledged the possibility of defeat, but the possibility was apparent nonetheless. Northerners who had called for more action were now seeing it, but they were not yet satisfied.
The Confederacy was still reeling from recent defeats, but the Federal momentum was beginning to slow. Henry W. Halleck was using extreme caution in the West, and George B. McClellan was stalling in the East. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s recent Confederate victories in the Shenandoah Valley helped brighten southern spirits, and the deadly struggle for the Confederate capital had begun.
The war’s momentum had shifted from the North to the South. The Federals had gone from nearly capturing Richmond to trying to avoid destruction on the Virginia Peninsula. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee were emerging as southern heroes, but Confederate fortunes in the West were still precarious.
The respite after the Seven Days’ campaign was coming to an end. The Federals had two major armies in Virginia: one on the Peninsula between the York and James Rivers, and another in northern Virginia. After stopping the threat on the Peninsula, Robert E. Lee was shifting his Confederate army to the north to stop the new threat.
The war’s momentum had clearly shifted to the South. Northerners were alarmed by the turnaround after having been so close to total victory just three months ago. Washington officials were scrambling to accommodate wounded Federal troops after the terrible defeat at Second Bull Run. The U.S. Army Surgeon General requested that women and children scrape lint for bandages.
President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had become the top issue of the war. Southerners were arguing that the decree exposed the North’s true war aim: to free the slaves. Northerners were voicing resentment about changing the war’s scope from preserving the Union to ending slavery. Abolitionists were arguing that it was too little.
The three major Confederate offensives had been stopped: Robert E. Lee’s Confederates were back in Virginia after a failed invasion of Maryland, Braxton Bragg’s Confederates were back in Tennessee after a failed invasion of Kentucky, and Earl Van Dorn’s Confederates had failed to reclaim Corinth, Mississippi. Meanwhile, the Federals were planning offensives of their own.
Fighting was generally subsiding after months of intense military activity, command changes, and preparations for future offensives. Despite successful campaigns in the spring and summer, the Confederates were gradually being pushed back into defensive positions.
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Melville, Orwell, Doublethink
Tags: blasphemy, cognitive dissonance, double bind, Doublethink, Father Mapple, flogging through the fleet, George Orwell, Herman Melville, Homage to Catalonia, Hunting Captain Ahab, John Dos Passos, Mary Glendinning, Moby-Dick, nationalism v. internationalism, Pierre or the Ambiguities, Roy Porter, sadomasochism, United Nations, virtuous expediency, voter suppression, White-Jacket, Winston Smith, writing as exorcism
This is my second major Orwell blog: see https://clarespark.com/2012/10/15/orwell-power-and-the-totalitarian-state/ for the first one.
During my recent forays into the changing interpretations of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four (1949), I was surprised to learn that Orwell had read passages from Herman Melville’s White-Jacket (1850) while broadcasting on the BBC during the early years of WW2. Specifically, he excerpted a gory description of a naval doctor performing an unnecessary and fatal amputation on a wounded U.S. sailor. Elsewhere in White-Jacket, HM had sharply and vividly written about “flogging through the fleet,” a practice that he abhorred, possibly because he had been caned as a child by his own father. Indeed, Roy Porter sent me an ad from a British newspaper offering White-Jacket as sadomasochistic porn. (On the dynamics of sadomasochism see https://clarespark.com/2009/09/21/managerial-psychiatry-jung-murray-and-sadomasochism-2/.)
Though at least one Orwell biographer (Jeffrey Meyers) has emphasized GO’s masochism, I have not found a source yet that relates where the conception of Doublethink originated. Did Orwell know about “cognitive dissonance” from experience, or reading, or had he read Melville’s Pierre, or the Ambiguities (1852), where Melville not only describes his mother’s frequent mixed messages, but invents “Plinlimmon’s Pamphlet” that praises “virtuous expediency” as the best morality attainable on this deceptive earth. My book on the Melville Revival (Hunting Captain Ahab: Psychological Warfare and the Melville Revival) is nearly entirely devoted to this theme of the double bind/cognitive dissonance/virtuous expediency, all of which signify what Orwell chose to call Doublethink.
Here are the double binds that I suggest were made apparent in Melville’s novels, and then may have driven his academic revivers in the 20th century into all manner of psychogenic symptoms and illnesses. (It is my contention that Melville readers who wished to advance in academe had to suppress the evidence before them in order to please the reigning ideology in the universities that employed them, so many derided Melville/Ahab as crazy, while defending Plinlimmon’s sensible philosophy, that they attributed to their “moderate” Melville/Ishmael .) But first take Doublethink in Pierre.
There is no conflict between “truth” and Order. Mary Glendinning, Pierre’s mother in the novel, wants her son “just emerging from his teens” to grow into a manly individual, but not such an individual that he disobeys her choice in choosing his future wife, who will also be perfectly obedient to her wishes.
Pierre is expected to revere his dear perfect (Christian) father, but he must not be so good a Christian as to rescue from near-beggary his “natural” half-sister Isabel.
Pierre reads the double bind, jilts his mother-chosen fiancée, runs off with Isabel, and mother dies of insanity. This book will not end well. (See Pierre’s scolding mother in this hard to find set of illustrations by Maurice Sendak, for a truncated edition of Pierre. https://yankeedoodlesoc.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/pierre3.jpg.)
In the much quoted Father Mapple’s sermon in Moby-Dick, the abolitionist preacher speaks of snatching the truth even if it lies hidden under the skirts of judges and Senators. It is unclear here whether “truth” signifies the truth of Christ, or of the truth as defined by lawyers (or today, scientists). But it is a fact that during Captain Ahab’s speech on “the quarter-deck”, he declares that “Who’s over me? Truth hath no confines.” Since Ahab is widely described as a blasphemer, I suspect that it is empirical truth that the relatively powerless see, and which is denied by their superiors, that Melville meant to call out. Which links him now to Orwell’s famous “dystopia.”
For Winston Smith works in “the Ministry of Truth” where he rewrites history to suit the propaganda requirements of Big Brother and the Inner Party. Recall Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia (1938), where he denounces journalists for taking the Soviet line that all anarchists and Trotskyists were in league with Franco’s fascists. John Dos Passos, in Century’s Ebb, remembered Orwell as an individualist striking out at those man-made institutions that forced him to lie for the sake of Order. Compare Dos’s elevation of Orwell as truth-seeker to the trendier line that Orwell, like Melville, was a premature anti-imperialist, and for that alone we honor his life and work.
[Added 11-10-12 Dos quote: )“If one thinks of the artist as…an autonomous individual who owes nothing to society, then the golden age of the artist was the age of capitalism. He had then escaped the patron and had not yet been captured by the bureaucrat…. Yet it remains true that capitalism, which in many ways was kind to the artist and to the intellectual generally, is doomed and is not worth saving anyway. So you arrive at these two antithetical facts: (1) Society cannot be arranged for the benefit of artists; (2) without artists civilisation perishes. I have not yet seen this dilemma solved (there must be a solution), and it is not often that it is honestly discussed.” (George Orwell, in TRIBUNE, 1944). Quoted by Arthur M. Eckstein, “George Orwell’s Second Thoughts on Capitalism,” The Revised Orwell, ed. Jonathan Rose (Michigan State UP, 1992), p.204.
Another double bind that is especially relevant today: There is no conflict between national identity and international identity. Hence, the United Nations is our best bet to avoid wars of the catastrophic magnitude of the world wars of the 20th century, or to halt “voter suppression” on November 6, 2012. Such are the psychic requirements of political correctness, the term itself an example of Doublethink, for facts (correctness) are non-partisan. Melville’s takedown of “virtuous expediency” is more to the point.
For a related blog see https://clarespark.com/2012/10/14/reality-and-the-left/. For “political correctness” as decorum, an idea passed out by liberal elites, see https://clarespark.com/2010/07/18/white-elite-enabling-of-black-power/, especially the suggestion by Christopher Edley, whose career has been remarkable.
Call Me Isabel (a reflection on “lying”)
Filed under: Uncategorized — clarelspark @ 10:24 pm
Tags: absolute objectivity, Andrew Delbanco, Byron, censorship, FDR, Henry Murray, Herman Melville, Hitler-Ahab, John Milton, lying, Maurice Sendak, Melville scholarship, Pierre or the Ambiguities, Plotinus Plinlimmon, Satanism, virtuous expediency
Illustrations by Maurice Sendak from a truncated edition of “PIerre”
From the chapter “The Journey and The Pamphlet” (Herman Melville, Pierre, or the Ambiguities,Book XIV):
“When a youth discovers that his father has been misrepresented as morally irreproachable, and is hence disillusioned and angry] an overpowering sense of the world’s downright positive falsity comes over him; the world seems to lie saturated and soaking with lies.” Properly instructed by philosophy, the youth will discard his romanticism, and then realize that “…A virtuous expediency…seems the highest desirable or attainable earthly excellence for the mass of men, and is the only earthly excellence that their Creator intended for them.”
During the research phase of my work on the politics of the interwar and postwar Melville Revival I discovered several juicy items. One factoid (that Melville was a brutal husband and father) was considered to be excellent red meat for a journal article by several editors, and indeed Andrew Delbanco (Columbia U. superstar) quoted my nugget in his Melville biography, without noting that it was bogus, and that I had demonstrated it to be bogus throughout my book.
Another fact (not a factoid) was the suppression of a family letter by key revivers strongly suggesting that the plot of Melville’s novel Pierre, or the Ambiguities (1852) was taken from real life, and that Melville’s family had hidden the existence of a real-life natural sister roughly corresponding to the character Isabel (an archetypal Dark Lady, i.e., a rebel and emancipator) in the novel. Briefly, Pierre jilts the safely blonde and wealthy girl preferred by his mother, risks being disowned and ostracized, and runs away to the city to “gospelize the world anew” as a [Voltairean, Byronic, Promethean] figure. In short, Pierre is another Captain Ahab, a character who had been linked to Hitler in the approved Melville scholarship, and in my book, Hunting Captain Ahab: Psychological Warfare and the Melville Revival (Kent State UP, 2001, 2006), I show parallel passages in both novels linking the two characters as truth-seekers in the mode of John Milton speaking through Satan in Book IX of Paradise Lost.
When I offered to write journal articles about my findings (in the late 1980s), including the suppression of the family letter, I aroused angry, even hysterical responses in editors. They wanted dirt on Herman Melville (he was crazy or violent), but not an accurate account of his family situation, one that made impossible demands to be both a good Christian and lover of truth, but not to disturb conservative notions of order. For these editors, like the officially sanctioned Melville scholars, were conforming to the profile of the moderate men that Melville had denounced in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857), see https://clarespark.com/2010/11/06/moderate-men-falling-down/. These scholars were therefore advocates of “virtuous expediency” as “Plotinus Plinlimmon’s” pamphlet had advised. To say that they were merely ideological or incompetent is to excuse what was a blatant lie—the pretense that the family letter didn’t say what it said, or ignoring its existence altogether in order to maintain the Melville-as-Ishmael fiction. Or you can call the polite suppression of the family letter a noble lie, if you prefer, for “community cohesion” and “stability” trump the discovery of the truth every time. Melville scholars generally approve of “virtuous expediency” and don’t see it as a sin against the truth. As Dr. Henry A. Murray argued, the perfect father was needed as “the focus of veneration”. Murray also linked Melville, the romantic artist, to Hitler in a confidential report to FDR.
I further discovered that in one College Board exam constructed by Terence Martin, it was correct to state that Ahab was a terrorist, while Ishmael was an advocate for interdependence–the antithesis of Ahab. Does this distortion of the text rise to the ignominious accusation of lying, or is it merely ideological? When a student’s future is guaranteed by lying, what does it say about our culture and the path to success? The world is indeed, soaked in lies. Call me Isabel. If Anthony Weiner is to be punished, let us all take a personal inventory as we go about our business, deferring to others for opportunistic purposes.
Clearly, judging by the book sales of such as Jonah Goldberg and Ann Coulter, demonization of the Democratic opponents, like the world-wide demonization of Captain Ahab/Melville is rewarded; similarly left-wing authors often return the favor, hence our polarized polity. Did Jonah Goldberg, like Noam Chomsky before him, lie about the major claim of Walter Lippmann’s important book Public Opinion, in order to buttress Goldberg’s populist agenda in opposing “the nanny state”? I say that he did. (See https://clarespark.com/2009/08/19/noam-chomskys-misrepresentation-of-walter-lippmanns-chief-ideas-on-manufacturing-consent/.) Has this kind of wicked distortion anything to do with the witch hunt being mounted against Anthony Weiner? I thought it did, and criticized these right-wing publicists of hypocrisy. For this I was reprimanded by another scholar, who, in passing, denied that anyone could claim “absolute objectivity” as a historian.
Although I am generally very cautious about definitive answers to controversial questions, I have no problem claiming absolute objectivity in declaring that many of Herman Melville’s most revered biographers withheld documents that would have changed their readings of his texts (not just the family letter about an Isabel, but other weighty letters that countered the rumor that he was a violent father and husband). In doing so, they betrayed the ideals of professional scholarship. I feel the same in authoritatively stating that Melville was ambivalent and a waverer, as many another writer has been– while in the dangerous position of endangering his economic survival by flouting the prejudices of his relatives or patrons (see the life of Goethe for another waverer, compare for instance the two Wilhelm Meister novels). The same goes for scholars who fail to defy their dissertation directors or colleagues (when warranted) in order to get a job. If conforming to what is known to be timid scholarship is not lying, then I don’t know what is. (For more on this theme, see the following blog: https://clarespark.com/2011/06/13/weinergate-papa-freud-and-the-imperfect-father/.)
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Economy 21 March 2019 The Fed Sees Trouble Ahead
by Panopticon | Mar 21, 2019 | Economy | 0 comments
“The markets’ responses to the latest US Federal Reserve Board’s interest rate and balance sheet decisions were telling…
“The nature of the Fed’s announcements – a majority of the members of its Open Market Committee expect no rate increases this year and the Fed plans to end the shrinking of its balance sheet by the start of October – ought to have been positive for the stock market. Instead the Dow Jones index ended more than half a percentage point down…
“There is a fundamental reason why what might previously have been regarded as good news by the markets (equity investors don’t like rising interest rates because they make bonds more attractive) wasn’t embraced enthusiastically by the markets.
“That’s because the Fed’s expectations of where rates might be at the end of this year and, indeed, in 2020, are based on its assessment of the economic outlook for the US. It’s not bullish…
“The impact of the tax cuts for business and wealthy individuals is waning; the trade policies have punctured China’s growth rate, slowed growth in the global economy and damaged the profitability and competitiveness of trade-exposed US businesses; US companies used the tax cuts to buy back their shares rather than invest, and consumer confidence and spending are faltering.
“With Trump saying the US tariffs on China’s exports will remain in place “for a substantial period of time” until China shows it is complying with the terms of the trade deal now being negotiated, the likelihood an early end to the damage being down to the world’s two largest economies is receding.
“With the Federal funds rate set within an historically low range of 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent and the balance sheet massively expanded relative to pre-crisis levels, the US financial system remains awash with cheap liquidity.
“Those are not settings that would reflect the super-charged growth targets Trump said he could deliver. Instead the Fed’s sudden shift in thinking and policies ought to have him worried about his re-election prospects and the rest of us worried about an even more significant global slowdown.”
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/the-economy/the-sudden-shift-that-should-have-all-of-us-worried-about-the-global-economy-20190321-p5163x.html
“The worst agricultural downturn since the 1980s is taking its toll on the emotional well-being of American farmers. In Kentucky, Montana and Florida, operators at Farm Aid’s hotline have seen a doubling of contacts for everything from financial counseling to crisis assistance.
“In Wisconsin, Dale Meyer has started holding monthly forums in the basement of his Loganville church following the suicide of a fellow parishioner, a farmer who’d fallen on hard times. In Minnesota, rural counselor Ted Matthews says he’s getting more and more calls.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-20/america-s-farmers-call-for-help-as-debts-climb-to-1980s-levels
“Are you sitting down for this? According to a recent survey, one in five American adults have nothing saved for retirement or emergencies. A further 20 percent have squirreled away only 5 percent or less of their annual income to meet certain financial goals.
“Less than a third of all Americans have saved at least 11 percent or more.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/03/20/the-retirement-crisis-is-much-worse-than-you-think/#5abea56d3949
“US tariffs on Chinese imports could remain in place for a “substantial period of time”, even extending beyond the reaching of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday.
““We’re talking about leaving [the tariffs] for a substantial period of time because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China, that China lives by the deal,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.”
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3002584/us-president-donald-trump-says-tariffs-chinese
“China’s rising unemployment adds to the economic woes of a shrinking labour force, which had declined every year since its 2011 peak to 897.3 million in 2018, with 775.9 million people employed.
“That puts pressure on the government to create 11 million new jobs this year to cap the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 5.5 per cent and registered unemployment rate within 4.5 per cent.”
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3002521/chinas-middle-class-stress-over-debt-payments-unemployment
“Iranian leaders vowed on Thursday to control soaring prices, bring stability to the national currency and create jobs as the nation marked the end of a year of economic crisis fuelled by renewed U.S. sanctions.
“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a new year speech that the Islamic Republic successfully resisted the U.S. sanctions, and called on the government to boost national production to face enemy pressures.”
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-iran-politics-new-year/iran-vows-to-control-prices-boost-production-despite-u-s-sanctions-idUKKCN1R12WL
“The United Nation’s high commissioner for human rights said Wednesday that recent U.S. sanctions that are aimed to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro threaten to deepen the nation’s crisis.
“Commissioner Michelle Bachelet told the Human Rights Council of the U.N. that Venezuela’s “pervasive and devastating economic and social crisis” started before the U.S. first levied sanctions.”
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/21/business/economy-business/u-n-rights-chief-u-s-sanctions-deepen-venezuelan-economic-crisis/#.XJNPryj7TIU
“Rates have been at the historic low for a year and the bank gave no indication of plans to cut them any time soon despite slowing growth. The decision disappointed the powerful National Confederation of Industries, which issued a statement saying “the weak performance of economic activity shows that Brazil must reduce rates.”
“Brazil’s economy is still bearing the scars of the record recession in 2015-2016, with growth barely above one percent in the past two years. Recent economic indicators, though, show signs of a contraction in 2019.”
https://www.france24.com/en/20190321-brazil-central-bank-holds-rates-steady-despite-slowdown
“Rolling power cuts that are blighting South African business and bringing the country’s streets to a grinding halt may continue indefinitely, the minister responsible for the nation’s bankrupt power company has warned.
“Lengthy blackouts were imposed across Africa’s most industrialised economy for a sixth day as the demand for power outstripped supply. Pravin Gordhan, the public enterprise minister, admitted to “a huge struggle ahead of us to overcome this crisis”.”
https://www.continentaltelegraph.com/world/south-africas-continuing-power-cuts-the-result-of-an-orgy-of-looting-the-state/
“The political wrangling over the past months has alarmed donors who have kept Tunisia afloat with loans granted in exchange for a promise of reforms such as cutting a bloated public service. The president’s son has accused Chahed of failing to tackle high inflation, unemployment and other problems.
“…since 2011, nine cabinets have failed to resolve Tunisia’s economic problems, which include high inflation and unemployment, and impatience is rising among lenders such as the International Monetary Fund.”
https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/20/tunisian-president-wants-to-amend-constitution-to-dilute-pms-power
“Amid Haiti’s ongoing political and economic crisis and a mere six months after the government of Prime Minister Jean Henry Céant was sworn into office, the lower chamber of deputies dismissed the newly formed government by a vote of 93 in favour, six against, while three abstained.
“Lower Chamber President Gary Bodeau noted that neither Céant nor any of his cabinet ministers were present.”
https://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/2019/03/20/haitis-government-collapses-six-months-into-a-new-term/
“As Yemen’s war grinds into its fifth year with peace efforts stalling, ten-year-old Afaf’s father sees little hope he will be able to give his starving daughter the food or healthcare she needs.
“Across Yemen’s remote mountain villages, the country’s war-induced economic crisis has left parents like Hussein Abdu destitute, hungry and watching their children waste away from malnutrition and unclean water.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hunger/hunger-stalks-yemens-remote-villages-after-four-years-of-war-idUSKCN1R20HA
“One of the UK’s major toilet tissue importers has been stockpiling to ensure it can maintain supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit. German-owned Wepa has stockpiled an extra 600 tonnes of finished product, or about 3.5m rolls, in UK warehouses.
“UK boss Mike Docker said Wepa was now chartering ships to import materials, rather than use trucks. Last week, Morrisons’ chief executive said the supermarket had seen an increase in demand for toilet paper. David Potts speculated it might be related to people stockpiling goods ahead of the end of the March deadline for the UK to leave the EU.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-47640908
“Banks and other financial companies are shifting more assets and jobs out of the United Kingdom as the country lurches towards Brexit.
“Financial services companies in Britain have announced plans to move £1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) into the European Union, according to consultancy EY. That’s up from an earlier estimate of £800 billion ($1.1 trillion).”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/20/business/brexit-economy-bank-assets/
“The European Union now has the lowest average number of primary dealers since the global financial crisis, trading body AFME said on Wednesday, as falling turnover in government bond markets have depressed trading revenues.”
https://uk.reuters.com/article/eurozone-bonds-trading/europes-bond-markets-left-with-lowest-number-of-primary-dealers-since-crisis-afme-idUKL8N2174HE
“Economic conditions around the globe are steadily getting worse, and FedEx has slashed its revenue forecast for the second time this year with its Chief Financial Officer directly citing the faltering global economy…
“…as the global economy continues to deteriorate, we could quickly have a giant mess on our hands, because the global financial system is far more vulnerable today than it was in 2008.”
https://moneyandmarkets.com/global-economy-fedex-worst-shape-great-recession/
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Cody Coyote Biography
Cody Coyote was born on April 17th, 1992, raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and is of Ojibwe/Irish descent with ancestry from Matachewan First Nation. With his fusion of strong, profound lyricism accompanied by corresponding influential sounds, this multi-award nominated Hip-Hop/Electronic artist grasps his listeners attention and delivers a mesmerizing performance. Outside of music, Cody Coyote is also a motivational speaker, workshop facilitator and is the host of “The Beat” on elmnt fm.
“He’s a rapper with a powerful message...” - CBC’s All In A Day
While being actively engaged in the industry for over 5 years, Cody Coyote’s journey includes being up for nominations in the “Best Rap/Hip-Hop CD” and the “Single Of The Year” categories at the 2015 Indigenous Music Awards as well as the “Best Music Video” category at the 2018 Indigenous Music Awards. Cody Coyote was also a recipient of the Ontario 150 Award.
“Introducing an Indigenous Voice in Canadian Music” - Globe and Mail
Since then his career has brought him to platforms such as the Juno showcase held at the Ottawa Music Summit on March 30th, 2017, The National Arts Centre on January 25th, 2018, November 16th, 2018 and returning again on September 13, 2019, RBC Bluesfest on July 8th, 2018 and Westfest 2018 as a headliner. Cody Coyote has also toured across Canada and to the United States to perform music as well as guest speak and facilitate workshops at various venues and schools.
Cody Coyote’s most recent album release entitled “Mamawi” means “All Together” in Anishinaabemowin and was released on November 1 2017. With much time to devote to his craft, this dedicated artist is set to release his second full length album entitled “Ma'iinganag”, which translates to “Wolves”, on August 16, 2019 with it being available on all platforms August 17, 2019.. This new album will express a new sound that is unlike any other and leave listeners yearning for more.
“A blend of hip-hop and rap, Ojibwe artist Cody Purcell’s music draws on the challenges he has faced in his own life and "issues found within First Nations communities." And his latest single, “Can You Hear Me Now?” encapsulates all these themes. The Searchlight regional top-10 contestant, who goes by Cody Coyote, likes to experiment with his sound, blending modern with traditional. Personal lyrics layered with catchy beats and a rich soundscape — Cody Coyote is definitely one to keep an eye on. — TM” – CBC Music
Photo Credit: Ilaria M. Zuzak
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Corp Author National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Data and Research Priorities for Arresting AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Title Preventing and mitigating AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa : research and data priorities for the social and behavioral sciences / Barney Cohen and James Trussell, editors ; Panel on Data and Research Priorities for Arresting AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, Committee on Population, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council.
OHIOLINK NETLIBRARY EBOOKS ONLINE
Subject AIDS (Disease) -- Africa, Sub-Saharan.
AIDS (Disease) -- Prevention.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome -- prevention & control.
Africa South of the Sahara.
Alt Name Cohen, Barney, 1959-
Trussell, James.
Resume 21
2 Societal Context 57
3 Epidemiology of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic 69
4 Sexual Behavior and HIV/AIDS 105
5 Primary HIV-Prevention Strategies 155
6 Mitigating the Impact of the Epidemic 204
7 Building Capacity for Aids-Related Research 251
Appendix A: Panel Visits to Three African Countries, January 20 February 12, 1995 315
Appendix B: Biographical Sketches 340
Description 1 online resource (xii, 356 pages) : illustrations, maps, charts
Bibliography Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Societal context -- Epidemiology of the HIV/AIDS epidemic -- Sexual behavior and HIV/AIDS -- Primary HIV-prevention strategies -- Mitigating the impact of the epidemic -- Building capacity for AIDS-related research.
Summary The AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to affect all facets of life throughout the subcontinent. Deaths related to AIDS have driven down the life expectancy rate of residents in Zambia, Kenya, and Uganda with far-reaching implications. This book details the current state of the AIDS epidemic in Africa and what is known about the behaviors that contribute to the transmission of the HIV infection. It lays out what research is needed and what is necessary to design more effective prevention programs.
Note English.
Print version record.
030905480X (print)
Additional Format Print version: National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Data and Research Priorities for Arresting AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Preventing and mitigating AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1996 030905480X (DLC) 96011347 (OCoLC)34281781
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Path to sainthood
Board approves miracle needed for Blessed Marianne Cope's canonization
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (CNS) -- The path to sainthood for Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai has been cleared after a Vatican congregation Dec. 6 confirmed a second miracle attributed to her intercession.
The final step for her canonization is approval by Pope Benedict XVI.
The Vatican decision was announced Dec. 6 by the sister's religious community, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities in Syracuse, N.Y., and by Honolulu Bishop Larry Silva.
Mother Marianne, who worked as a teacher and hospital administrator in New York, spent the last 30 years of her life ministering on the Hawaiian island of Molokai to those with leprosy. She died on the island in 1918 at age 80.
The Dec. 6 ruling by the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes confirmed recent decisions by a medical board and a group of theologians declaring that a second miracle could be attributed to Mother Marianne's intercession.
The first miracle required for her beatification was the medically unexplainable recovery of a New York girl who recovered from near death from multiple organ failure after prayers were said to Mother Marianne. The miracle was approved in 2004 by a medical board and a group of theologians. At the end of the year, Pope John Paul II affirmed the case. She was beatified in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 14, 2005.
The only known detail about the second miracle is that a woman's healing was declared inexplicable since doctors had expected her to die and were amazed at her survival. The Sisters of St. Francis will not disclose details of the second miracle until after the pope's proclamation of Mother Marianne's sainthood.
The announcement confirming the second miracle could be attributed to Mother Marianne's intercession was "too good to be true," said Sister Patricia Burkard, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.
She told Catholic News Service Dec. 7 that in the 24 hours since receiving the news, she not only rejoiced with fellow sisters but gave countless interviews about Mother Marianne.
For the religious community, the news also was bittersweet because Sister of St. Francis Mary Laurence Hanley, director of Mother Marianne's cause, died Dec. 2 at age 86 at the sisters' regional house in Syracuse.
The funeral for Sister Laurence was scheduled for the evening of Dec. 7. Sister Patricia called it a "wonderful coincidence" so near to the announcement of Mother Marianne because Sister Laurence's "life's work was fulfilled."
Sister Laurence began working on Mother Marianne's cause in the summer of 1974 as a part-time project while teaching. In 1977, she began full-time work on the cause, which she saw from its beginnings until now.
Sister Laurence worked with "great zest" nearly until the time of her death, said Sister Patricia, noting that just two months ago Sister Laurence's health declined rapidly and only recently she was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.
"My work is finished now," Sister Laurence said in the summer as she put together the last pieces of Mother Marianne's cause.
Sister Patricia said the sisters find comfort in knowing Sister Laurence is with Mother Marianne and they "probably have much to rejoice in that meeting of one another."
Sister Patricia said the sisters see Mother Marianne as a "guide for our own dedication and ministry" and they also know they share her with many in Hawaii "where she is beloved."
She said the nuns view her as "an ordinary person ... who knew what was hers to do and did it."
This past May, Sister Patricia brought a small box holding the reliquary of bone fragments of Mother Marianne's remains to Hawaii and stopped at all the islands to allow people to venerate the relics, which are on permanent display in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu.
Honolulu's Bishop Silva said in his statement that the Vatican announcement caused particular joy in Hawaii because of Mother Marianne's work there but also because her "example of selfless love can soon be an inspiration to all the world. She was a woman who brought hope and joy to people who had good reason to lose hope and to lament their condition in life."
"At this time when so many people are losing hope because of our economy and the increased unrest throughout the world, Blessed Marianne inspires us to work simply for the good of others and to allow God to work miracles through the simple things we do. We look forward to honoring this holy woman in our celebrations."
Mother Marianne, as the head of her religious community in Syracuse, led the first group of Franciscan sisters to the Hawaiian Islands in 1883 to establish a system of nursing care for leprosy patients. Of 50 religious superiors in the United States, Canada and Europe who were asked for help she was the only one to accept the challenge.
Once in Hawaii, she relinquished her leadership position in Syracuse to lead her mission for 35 years, five in Honolulu and the remainder on Molokai.
When she died, a Honolulu newspaper wrote: "Seldom has the opportunity come to a woman to devote every hour of 30 years to the mothering of people isolated by law from the rest of the world. She risked her own life in all that time, faced everything with unflinching courage and smiled sweetly through it all."
– Contributing to this report was Carol Zimmermann in Washington.
PHOTO Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai is depicted with people she ministered to in this religious icon by Margaret Girdwood. The path to sainthood for the Franciscan nun, who cared for people in the leprosy colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, has been cleared after a Vatican congregation confirmed a second miracle attributed to her intercession. (CNS photo)
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Home > Volume 82 Issue 15 > STOCKS LACKLUSTER IN FIRST QUARTER
Volume 82 Issue 15 | pp. 11-12
STOCKS LACKLUSTER IN FIRST QUARTER
Chemical, drug, biopharmaceutical indexes all finished near or below where they started
By WILLIAM J. STORCK, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU
First-quarter stock performance for chemical, drug, and biopharmaceutical companies was as much influenced by geopolitical events early in the year as it was by economic realities. What followed was a varying set of results for the three indexes maintained by C&EN.
The best performance came from the biotech index of 15 companies, which eked out a modest 2.6% gain over the end of 2003 to 445.4. The chemical company index was almost unchanged, falling just 0.1% to 167.4, while the pharmaceutical index fell 6.9% to 355.8. All three indexes are based on 1992 equaling 100.
This performance contrasts greatly with the rates of change in the fourth quarter of 2003, when the chemical index rose 20.3% and the biotech index jumped 48.1%. Only the pharmaceutical company index performed sluggishly in the fourth quarter, turning in a 3.3% rise.
Both chemicals and biotech outperformed broader market indexes in the first quarter. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.9% during the period, while the NASDAQ declined 0.5%.
The chemical index peaked early in the quarter, on Jan. 8, when it hit 170.0, 1.4% above its Dec. 31 close. Then, as stock markets around the world were hit by worries over rising oil and natural gas prices, the terrorist attack in Spain, and the Mideast turmoil, the index slowly and fitfully sank to its low of 156.7 on March 22, 6.6% below the end of 2003. In the week and a half that ended the quarter, it increased 6.8%.
Stock price increases for the 25 companies making up the index certainly were not widespread. Just nine of the firms saw their stock become more valuable during the quarter, while stock prices at the other 16 declined. Thus, a few of the companies saved the index from being worse than it was.
For instance, IMC Global’s stock rose 44.0% in the quarter to $14.30 per share on the news that it and Cargill would merge their agricultural chemicals businesses into a separate, publicly traded company. And FMC’s stock rose 25.5% to finish at $42.82 per share. Most of the increase at FMC came in the last three trading days of the quarter, when the price jumped 15.4% after the company said it would substantially beat securities analysts’ estimates of first-quarter earnings.
Other companies with double-digit increases were Monsanto, up 27.4% to $36.67 per share; W.R. Grace, up 21.4% to $3.12; and Arch Chemicals, up 10.0% to $28.23.
Share prices at the two largest U.S. chemical companies—Dow Chemical and DuPont—declined in the quarter. The stock price of industry leader Dow declined 3.1% to $40.28 per share, while number two DuPont’s shares fell 8.0% to $42.22.
While the chemical index ultimately seemed to be standing still, the pharmaceutical index dropped. It increased through almost the first half of the quarter, making its high of 392.2 on Feb. 11, 3.6% above the December close. Its low of 347.9 came on March 24, 8.1% below the December close.
Only one of the nine companies that make up the index had a higher stock price at the end of the quarter than it had at the beginning. This was Baxter International, whose shares rose 1.2% to $30.89.
Big losers in the quarter were Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, and Wyeth. Bristol-Myers was down 15.3% to $24.23 per share. The company, which has been operating under a cloud of accounting problems for some time, had to restate results for the past few years. And Wall Street does not like it when companies restate results.
Abbott’s stock price fell 11.8% during the quarter to $41.10 per share after the company’s earnings guidance for the first-quarter and for full-year 2004 fell short of analysts’ estimates.
And Wyeth was down 11.5% to $37.55 per share after, among other problems, being cited for misleading claims for its selective serotonin inhibitor Effexor and the halt of trials on new uses of its hormone replacement therapy Premarin. Although the estrogen drug was found by the National Institutes of Health to decrease the risk of hip fracture, it also increased the risk of stroke.
The biopharmaceutical index was at its highest on March 5, at 479.0, up 10.5% from its 2003 close, and hit its low of 430.5 on March 22. The low was off only 0.7% from the last day of December.
ANALYSTS AND INVESTORS were relatively optimistic about most biotech stocks in the quarter, but there were a few companies that did not hold favor. Chiron fell 22.8% to $44.01 per share after a couple of analysts downgraded its stock.
Earnings guidance from two companies sparked a downturn in the respective stock prices. Xoma had a 22.1% price decline to $5.14 per share after it said it would post a 2004 loss greater than its 2003 loss of $58.7 million.
And Icos said it expects a loss between $192 million and $215 million this year compared with a loss of $125.5 million in 2003. This drove its stock price down 10.5% to $36.93 per share.
In the first three trading days of the second quarter, the rally that began near the end of March continued as investors focused on an employment report from the Labor Department that indicated economic expansion and anticipated improved corporate earnings.
Thus, by April 5, the Dow Jones industrial average had risen 1.9% from the end of the first quarter to 10558.4. And the NASDAQ had climbed 4.3% to once again close above the 2000 level at 2079.1.
C&EN’s chemical and drug indexes both beat the Dow Jones average, but not the NASDAQ in those three days. The chemical index was up 2.6% to 171.7 while the pharmaceutical index rose 2.8% to 365.5. The biotech index beat both of the broad indexes, increasing 4.7% to 466.5.
TABLE 1 - CHEMICAL STOCKS
Stocks at most chemical companies fell in first quarter, but there were some big increases
TABLE 2 - DRUG AND BIOTECH STOCKS
Biopharmaceutical stocks rose, but drug stocks took a hit in first quarter
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Chakmir
Chakmir Population, Caste, Working Data Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh - Census 2011
Chakmir is a village situated in Khaga tehsil of Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh. As per the Population Census 2011, there are total 12 families residing in the village Chakmir. The total population of Chakmir is 56 out of which 28 are males and 28 are females thus the Average Sex Ratio of Chakmir is 1,000.
The population of Children of age 0-6 years in Chakmir village is 15 which is 27% of the total population. There are 5 male children and 10 female children between the age 0-6 years. Thus as per the Census 2011 the Child Sex Ratio of Chakmir is 2,000 which is greater than Average Sex Ratio (1,000) of Chakmir village.
As per the Census 2011, the literacy rate of Chakmir is 31.7%. Thus Chakmir village has lower literacy rate compared to 57.4% of Fatehpur district. The male literacy rate is 39.13% and the female literacy rate is 22.22% in Chakmir village.
As per constitution of India and Panchyati Raaj Act (Amendment 1998), Chakmir village is administrated by Sarpanch (Head of Village) who is elected representative of the village.
Chakmir Data as per Census 2011
As per the Population Census 2011 data, following are some quick facts about Chakmir village.
Children 15 5 10
Scheduled Caste 56 28 28
Illiterate 43 19 24
Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 100% while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 0% of total population in Chakmir village.
In Chakmir village out of total population, 34 were engaged in work activities. 0% of workers describe their work as Main Work (Employment or Earning more than 6 Months) while 100% were involved in Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. Of 34 workers engaged in Main Work, 0 were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 0 were Agricultural labourer.
Main Workers 0 0 0
Non Working 22 9 13
Map of Chakmir, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh
Nearby Villages to Chakmir, Khaga
Below are the list of villages near Chakmir village in Khaga.
Mohabalipur 977
Shekh Mau 469
Chak Maieuddinpur 135
Dandwa 1,045
Peer Mohammadpur 662
Chakmir, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh - Wikipedia
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Response to Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s issues paper on Review of Opal fares from 1 July 2020
Response to Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s issues paper on Review of interment costs and pricing
Response to NSW Department of Fair Trading’s consultation paper on Rules of Conduct for Operators of Retirement Villages – Retirement Villages Amendment Regulation 2019
Response to Department of Health’s Proposal for a new residential aged care funding model – consultation paper
Response to The Treasury’s Retirement Income Disclosure Consultation Paper
In 2013, which much pomp, the NSW Government established the Cemeteries and Crematoria Authority to deal with the shortage of burial plots in Sydney. The main remedy it offered at the time was renewable-tenure burial plots. These are plots that will accommodate remains for a period of 25 years. Then, the lease on the plot needs to be released or the plot is cleared, as is common practice in more densely populated countries in the developed world. Six years on from those reform, there have been less than fifty (50!) renewable-tenure burials.
CPSA’s submission focusses on the impact of the shift from residential aged care services to in-home care services under way in Australia on the operations of retirement villages.
CPSA is concerned that the proposed model, the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC), has been developed on the basis of care practices funded and shaped by the current Aged Care Funding Instrument, which may compromise the effectiveness of AN-ACC. CPSA urges that the introduction of AC-ANN be delayed until the Aged Care Commission has made its final report to the Governor-General and the Government has responded to its recommendations.
Building on the release of the Retirement Income Covenant position paper in May 2018, Government is seeking views on the disclosure fact sheet for retirement income products. Its consultation paper proposes a standardised, simplified document that outlines key metrics and features to help consumers compare different retirement income products.
Review of the Social Security Commission Bill 2018
Submission to the House Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs
Witness Statement to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
On 12 February 2019, CPSA's Policy Manager Paul Versteege gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. A transcript of this evidence is available on the Royal Commission's website. Paul Versteege's evidence was based on a witness statement provided to the Royal Commission.
CPSA’s response – Draft Older Persons Transport and Mobility Plan 2018–2022
CPSA welcomes the draft plan, noting that it is thorough and attempts to address a range of issues of concern for older people using transport in NSW. However, there are two major areas of concern that CPSA believes were not adequately addressed in the plan. These are the transparency regarding the Transport Access Program and access to information about transport services.
Pre-Budget Submission 2019
CPSA welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the 2019 Budget and would like to highlight the following federal budget priorities it has identified in the areas of aged care, social services and health.
Submission to the Financial Services Royal Commission – Interim Report
CPSA welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Financial Services Royal Commission’s Interim Report. In this submission, CPSA will confine itself to commenting on issues related to the provision of financial advice. CPSA’s comments are in response to the questions listed at the end of the financial advice section in the Commissioner’s interim report. These comments are based on policy positions CPSA has held and advocated for throughout previous reviews of the financial advice industry and regulation.
Submission to Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW on the Cemetery and Crematorium Operator Code of Practice
CPSA appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Cemetery and Crematorium Operator Code of Practice. As CPSA’s focus is on consumer rights and protections this brief submission will focus on those clauses in the Code of Practice that deal with the customer-operator interface.
Submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission’s Access to Digital Assets upon Death or Incapacity Consultation Paper
CPSA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Access to Digital Assets upon Death or Incapacity consultation paper released by the NSW Law Reform Commission.
Submission to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee’s Inquiry into Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Bill 2018
CPSA is concerned that the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission as outlined in the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Bill 2018 in response to the Carnell-Patterson Review would commence operations while the Royal Commission into Safety and Quality of Aged Care is being conducted.
Submission to Inquiry into the Aged Care Amendment (Staffing Ratio Disclosure) Bill 2018 Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport
CPSA supports the quarterly publication of ratios of aged care recipients to staff members for each residential care service as set out in the Aged Care Amendment (Staffing Ratio Disclosure) Bill 2018.
Report on Housing Insecurity and Older People in NSW
CPSA's report on housing insecurity and older people in NSW.
Submission to the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation’s Easy and Transparent Trading Consultation Paper
CPSA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Easy and Transparent Trading consultation paper released by the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation.
Coping With Bereavement In Older Age
Coping with bereavement in older age: How bereavement impacts the personal finances, health and social wellbeing of an individual.
Submission to the Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into Financial and Tax Practices of For-Profit Aged Care Providers
CPSA is pleased to submit the following comments to assist the Standing Committees on Economics inquiry into the Financial and Tax Practices of For-Profit Aged Care Providers. CPSA’s submission will address tax avoidance and minimisation strategies, the associated impacts on the quality of service delivery, value for money for government and the adequacy of accountability and probity mechanisms for the expenditure of taxpayer money.
Are You Retired and Addicted To Term Deposits?
Do you think term deposits are 'no risk'? Do you think investing in shares is a casino? Do you think financial planners can't be trusted? Then this is something you should read.
Submission to the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency on the Draft Guidance Aged Care Quality Standards
CPSA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft guidance material for the new aged care quality standards. CPSA represents pensioners of all ages and low income retirees. As such, CPSA is interested in ensuring that the aged care system is able to deliver high quality, person centred care to all those who need it, regardless of their geographical location and their capacity to pay. In an increasingly market-based aged care system, the accreditation standards and how they are interpreted and implemented is critical in ensuring that all residents have access to safe care that meets their needs. This submission focuses on how the guidance material can be improved to ensure that the realities of care experiences are properly being captured through the auditing process, particularly in residential aged care.
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ice age ecology, early career academia, and diversity in STEM
Can we please stop calling wild horses invasive?
By Jacquelyn Gill on May 2, 2014 • ( 89 Comments )
The horse has a complex and fascinating environmental history. Wild horses have become such an icon of the American west that it’s easy to forget that humans introduced them to the continent five hundred years ago, during the age of European exploration. Horses quickly became part of Native American livelihoods and played an integral role in Western expansion, from Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the establishment of the open range ranching culture that still exists today. For centuries, horses played a central role in exploration and human livelihoods, until horse power was largely replaced by fossils fuels. Now, the human-horse relationship is shifting once again, and in contentious ways.
Wild, free-roaming mustangs. Wikimedia Commons.
In this piece on wild horses published in Slate a couple of weeks ago, Warren Cornwall wrote about managing horses as an “invasive species.” Certainly, horses have been a continual source of controversy in recent decades, as American and Canadian land managers, animal rights activists, and ranchers fight over culling campaigns and other management techniques. As Cornwell writes,
But a majestic icon can also be a four-legged pest. Today’s horses are an invasive species, introduced to the Americas by Europeans. Left unchecked, they overwhelm fragile desert ecosystems by chomping too much of the greenery to stubble. And they compete for the grass with another invader that has more economic clout: cattle.
Except here’s the thing: horses are native to North America. They were certainly here well before humans. Fifty million years ago, Eohippus (cousin to rhinos and tapirs) was dog-sized and living in tropical forests — hardly recognizable as horse-like. But by 4 million years ago, the modern genus Equus had evolved, and unlike its ancestors, had adapted to open, semi-arid grasslands that were expanding as the climates cooled and dried during the Pliocene (5.3 million years ago). Today’s horses, Equus ferus, are likely descended from a holarctic population that once spread throughout Eurasia and North America, taking advantage of land bridges exposed during glaciations. By 10,000 to 8,000 years ago, American horses had gone extinct, likely due to a combination of hunting and climate change.
Evolution of horses. Wikimedia Commons.
When Europeans brought horses back to the Americas 500 years ago, they were reintroducing a long-time native. In other words, the Conquistadors launched the first rewilding campaign.
We’ve have known that horses were native to the Americas at least since Darwin, who was shocked to find Equus teeth and bones during his explorations of Patagonia in 1833. In 1849, Joseph Leidy wrote on The fossil horses of the Americas. In fact, horse evolution was one of the earliest textbook examples of evolution; Thomas Huxley* popularized the example with his work on the horse’s family tree, which was widely taught in biology classes.
And yet, well over a century later, the US Supreme Court oversaw a case to determine whether modern horses are native to North America. Based on growing genetic evidence, the scientific community is in consensus that modern horses are native, descended from ice-age grandsires. The Bureau of Land Management disagrees. On the BLM’s website, they list “myths and facts” about wild horses in the United States. Myth 12 addresses the question of nativeness:
The disappearance of the horse from the Western Hemisphere for 10,000 years supports the position that today’s American wild horses should not be considered “native.”
The problem I have with the framework is that they’re not really busting a myth: horses are native to North America. The BLM arguments aren’t statements of fact, but rather value judgements and opinions. 10,000 years may be a lot of time to the federal government, but ecologically speaking, it’s not. It’s important to remember that the horses at the end of the last ice age would be easily recognizable as modern today– just like the white pines 10,000 years ago are the same white pines we have now. The difference is between ice age landscapes and their modern versions is really about what’s gone missing: today, an entire functional guild of large herbivores and their predators, including horses, are absent. For the most part, the rest of the components– the survivors– have stayed the same. According to any definition of “species,” ice age horses are modern. It’s not surprising that the domesticated horses brought by Europeans went feral and quickly adapted to conditions in the west; they’d only been gone for a few thousand years.
The endangered Przewalski’s horse, the only true wild horse species left in the world, lives in Asia. Wikimedia Commons.
When it comes to wild horses, time is used as an argument to justify special treatment, but in this case, I’d argue that species are the units that matter. Scientifically, we’re talking about a reintroduction, not an invasion**. The semi-arid grasslands of the west co-evolved with horses, and there’s widespread evidence that large herbivores play important roles in their habitats, both past and present. Horses could play an important role in the restoration of overgrazed, heavily-invaded habitats, but that would take a sea change in the perspective of land managers in the west.
The true non-native megafauna in the west are cattle. Because the horses compete with cattle for resources, horses are seen as a detriment to rangelands. But the idea of horses as invasive pests is a subjective statement of values, not an objective fact. My problem is not with ranchers who want to earn their livelihoods, but with land managers who are trying to hide preference behind the guise of objectivity. This isn’t just a problem with the BLM; it’s widespread in conservation, too. In the case of wild horses, the BLM is more concerned about rangelands than wilderness — and that’s ok! But when that motivation spreads confusion, misinformation, or outright bad science, I have a problem, especially given problems plaguing rangelands today (e.g., shrub encroachment and overgrazing). The horses weren’t responsible for the landscape degredation in the west. Instead of spending millions of dollars culling, corralling, or practicing birth control on wild horses, why not direct some of those resources to researching how native grazers like horses could be a part of a holistic rangeland management practice?
Maybe it’s time we stopped thinking of wild horses as invasive pests, and started celebrating them as a successful reintroduction.
*It turns out that Huxley’s straight-line evolutionary diagrams were wrong, however. As George Gaylord Simpson noted, the pattern of horse evolution was more like a shrub with tangled branches than a straight-trunked tree. All modern equids just happen to be the only survivors of what has been a rather diverse group over the evolutionary history of the horse.
**There are wild horses in other parts of the US, and I would support their classification as “native” anywhere it’s supported by the fossil record.
Tagged as: conservation controversies herbivory invasives management megafauna paleontology
Jacquelyn Gill
O Best Beloved: Just-so stories in ecology and evolution
What’s your Post-PhD story? Announcing a Blog Carnival!
I’m not sure if this was already brought up in the comments (there are a lot of comments – sign of a good article!), but whether they’re native or invasive is beside the point that they are damaging ecosystems. Pleistocene horses in North America would have had significantly more predators to keep their numbers in check. Even if everyone agreed that horses were native, it would be incredibly irresponsible to just “leave them alone” and assume they’re making a beneficial contribution to the ecosystem they’re in. Ideally, we’d have fully functioning ecosystems – including horses – with top predators playing their role in controlling herbivore numbers and movement patterns, but until then there needs to be a plan in place to ensure they don’t threaten other species and themselves. The Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands is a classic example – a well-intended rewilding effort to bring herbivores back to the landscape. Unfortunately, thousands of animals (including horses) starved to death because their were no means of controlling the populations. Is starving really better than a managed control system?
All this to say that, if horses are “native” to North America, so are cheetahs, lions, and other large carnivores. We can’t just cherry pick the things we happen to like and call it conservation.
Sharon Eliashar says:
According to Dr. Ross McPhee, Curator at the Natural History Museum, Paleontologist and Ancient DNA scientist, E. Caballus is one of North America’s oldest large Native wildlife species. To say that E. Caballus is not Native to N. America is equivalent to saying the earth is flat. Continuing to deny the established science of E. Caballus is a tactic used by some to invalidate the horse’s rightful place here in North America, and justification to manage horses as invasive, non-native species. Stating that if we call horses native we should call cheetahs or lions native is just pure nonsense and leads me to believe that there is a hidden agenda.
Horses were extirpated during the great Megafauna extinction of North America – they died out in the Americas yet survived in Asia and Europe. When the Spaniards brought the horses to the Western Hemisphere, they were returning the horses to their native place of origin. Wild horses are a re-introduced native wildlife species.
Management of wild horses in N. America is indeed challenging because as a species, horses are very successful in their native habitat – grazing on grasses they co-evolved with; management needs to be taken seriously.
Hi Sharon – cheetahs and lions were also extirpated during the great megafauna extinction of North America. Would releasing cheetahs and lions from Africa or the middle east qualify as a reintroduction? By your logic, it would. The point I was trying to make is that you can’t just cherry-pick one species (e.g. horses) without taking into account all the other species that are in the exact same situation.
Also, calling one persons research “established science” doesn’t make it so. There is a ton of research on the genetic lineage of horses, and it’s well established that all species of North American horse are extinct. The horses introduced by Europeans are closely related to North American horses, just like Asiatic cheetahs are closely related to the now-extinct North American Cheetah. No “hidden agenda” Sharon. Just a complex topic!
Jacquelyn Gill says:
To be fair, American lions (Panthera atrox) were a different species from African lions (Panthera leo), and cheetahs were a different genus (Miracinonyx).
Exactly:The N. American large cats became extinct – they were not extirpated. My logic doesn’t suggest that we “reintroduce” them here, since they were never native to N. America.
Additionally, Josh, please cite the scientific research and data that establishes that “all species of North American horses are extinct.”
Culling is a common practice used to combat the negative impacts invasive species place on an ecosystem. For instance, culling eradicated an invasive species of goats on Isabela island in the Galapagos. The goats ate plants that hindered the natural ecosystem of the tortoises (Galapagos Conservancy, n.d). The islands infestation totaled around 100,000 goats. The culling project called the Isabela Project brought the number of goats down to 266 on Isabela island and other small surrounding islands. The project achieved this by getting funding to form a hunting team to eradicate the goat population. Helicopters served their purpose by quickly ridding areas of goat populations. By using helicopters, it took only one year to eliminate all goats from Santiago Island. After all the goats got culled, they were left to decompose (Hirsch, 2013, para. 8). The decomposing goats helped to give nutrients back to the Isabella Islands ecosystem that the goats originally destroyed. This concept of leaving the body of an animal in the environment to restore an ecosystem would work well after horse cull.
S. E. says:
Great article – except there is one huge mistake which seems to be the crux of the misunderstanding of the native horse: North America’s horses NEVER went extinct, they were extirpated. They died out in the Americas, but survived in Eurasia, to be domesticated in Eurasia, and returned to North America by the Spaniards.
The language is something of a semantic argument. Extinction biologists talk about “local” or “regional” extinctions, i.e., “went extinct in North America.” In my field, “extirpated” often has connotations of overhunting, rather than natural causes, so it’s not always necessarily the most correct term. “Extinct” is totally reasonable at the spatial and temporal scales we’re talking about here.
I understand how “local extinction” has been used, however, extinction is extinction, the end of a species. If you are laying out the argument that the horses are native because E. Caballus has been found to be genetically equivalent to E. Lambei, then those Pleistocene horses never went extinct. “Died out” would be more accurate than extinction if extirpation is not the correct term and even “Local extinction” would be more accurate.
I am an educator and it has been very difficult to present the story of E. Caballus, when there is seemingly conflicting information out there, especially coming from a scientist with your credentials.
Perhaps this from Wikipedia may help clarify things: “In ecology, extinction is often used informally to refer to local extinction, in which a species ceases to exist in the chosen area of study, but may still exist elsewhere. This phenomenon is also known as extirpation.”
In other words, it’s not conflicting information, it’s just that words often have multiple meanings, especially in the sciences (and these meanings may differ slightly from layperson meanings — see “theory” as a good example). When we’re talking about losing a taxon from an entire continent, “extinction” is totally appropriate to use. “Horses went extinct in North America but survived in Eurasia” is a correct sentence.
That is correct, but you didn’t say that they survived in Eurasia. Your statement was: By 10,000 to 8,000 years ago, American horses had gone extinct, likely due to a combination of hunting and climate change.
This is my only issue with your well-written article, and how using informal terms can lead to confusion and be intentionally used to contradict your position, which I happen to agree with.
I’m sorry if that was confusing — I thought “American horses” made that clear, especially since the next sentence states that Europeans brought horses “back to the Americas.” I always appreciate feedback, and thank you for taking the time to share yours.
The strain of horses introduced to the americas came from europe and are not the same as the species that went extinct or continued to exist in asia. The horses in the American West are feral, not wild. They should be removed from all habitats where they exist. Native species (elk, deer, antelope, bison, prairie dogs, ect) should not suffer from the expending horse population. Feral horses have zero benefit the environment they inhabit. Much like the feral hog they are a plague and have to be eliminated. http://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Feral-Horse-and-Burro.pdf
Interestingly, the DNA of mustangs in northern British Columbia (Chilcotin regions) were tested in 2015 and found to have some traces of Siberian Yakutz horse in them. Now, it’s possible that Yakutz horses were introduced to Alaska by the Russians when they owned it and some of them made their way south into British Columbia, but the Yakutz horse is a very primitive breed. Almost makes a person wonder if not all the original wild North American horses did not go completely extinct.
I do not know if you are still active on here or not but I just wanted to put out some of my thoughts on the issue. First, I have an environmental education, though it’s probably limited in comparison to yours, so please excuse ignorance.
I used to keep rare localities of Boa constrictor imperator. I had pairs from the Tamaulipas, tarahumara mountains, and many others. Something that would often come up in forums is that over time, only a few generations in most cases, the animals being produced differed in appearance from the original imports. This was attributed to selective breeding, which is common in reptile keeping, but in these cases it was unintentional as the goal was not to change the appearance. Maybe it was done subconsciously.
I am wondering how selective breeding with the horses may have changed them from the animals that evolved in North America that went extinct 10k years ago. If an animal can fill the same role in the ecosystem, but is different, it really isn’t the same as having the original animal, is it? I just catch myself thinking about domesticated animals that we have changed over time through selective breeding, such as ducks, and thinking that if a species went extinct, I would not want to replace that species with a “reintroduction” of an animal we have changed over time. Maybe our breeding practices have had very little effect on the horses.
I agree with you 100% that 10k years is not long at all, ecologically speaking. I know these horses have survived elsewhere, and this is a stretch, but if we could clone animals that disappeared from North America during the ice age that didn’t survive elsewhere, could we justify reintroducing them? I have always loved the scene in Jurassic park where Ian Malcolm and Dr. Hammond hammond discuss the issue of cloning and Ian Malcolm explains that these animals were not killed off by deforestation and were chosen by nature. I do not feel that it is fair to compare the history of horses in North America to the wolves which were extirpated from much of their native range due to bounties and a lack of hunting regulations.
My degree was based on eastern deciduous forests, so I have limited knowledge of the ecosystem were these horses live. I do know, that there was a documentary about how much of an effect the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone changed the land. Is it possible, that over that 10k years, more had changed in that environment than we may realize? These are just some thoughts I have and wanted to share in hopes of sparking some conversation. I am in no way trying to start an argument and please know that I am 100% against them using the land out there for cattle or fossil fuels.
I have always been of the opinion that we should leave the environment as if man didn’t exist, to the best of our ability. I support reintroduction of animals pushed out by humans, but if the horses would not be here without the existence of man, should they be here at all?
Many of the people in the equine programs at my school supported the horses out west simply because they like horses. I don’t think we should defend stuff just because we like them, especially if it may not be the right thing.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. One thing I try to do in my work is to understand the conservation legacies of past extinctions and other events. I think there have been changes, as you suggest — such as the way these communities function as ecosystems, their resilience to climate change, etc. There’s growing evidence that natural grazers can actually promote diversity, which can be very helpful. In the case of the horses, they were here until 10-8,000 years ago, in essentially their modern form. Yes, breeding has had influences (just as with, say, dogs, cows, or cats), but unlike many domesticated animals, horses can survive in the wild. Their historic reintroduction has had impacts, and there are certainly horses in places they likely never were (like some islands), but in the ecosystems they co-evolved with, I’d like to see a stronger assessment of what their role was, and whether a reintroduction could help. What I caution against is the assumption that they’re “invasive” because they’ve been out of the area for a while. Ecologically speaking, it wasn’t really that long a time.
Sharon brink says:
how do humans fit into this model of introduced species?
You’re letting sentiment cloud your oh so scientific mind. They are not the same as the original horses, which when extinct FOR A REASON. You just want them around because they’re “an icon”. You know what? I’m going to stop calling starlings an invasive species, or pigeons for that matter. Oh, better yet, Asian carp. They’re iconic alright.
If you read the post, you’ll see that my argument has nothing to do with sentiment. It’s a scientific argument– there’s nothing “oh so” about it (and there’s really no reason to be rude). I actually think conservation decisions made because of values can be valid (and I’ve said as much on this blog), but the purpose of this post was to explain that horses have a longer history in North America than post people realize. I didn’t say anything about them being an icon.
Starlings and Asian carp were never in North America before humans brought them here. There are pigeons native to most continents, and it’s only the fact that they thrive in cities that makes people consider them a pest. In contrast, horses actually evolved here. That’s what makes them different.
There was no “original horse,” because evolution is a long process of gradual change. But the wild horses that we see today in Europe or North America are functionally the same as the ones that went extinct here, as little as 8,000 years ago. Every other species you see on the landscape was around at that time — there hasn’t been a long enough time for these to become totally new species. As for the reason they went extinct, the thinking is that humans played a role. Without us, there would likely be native horses here today still.
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This article is ridiculous. Horses may have evolved in north America millions of years ago but they went extinct here. What we have now are FERAL, INVASIVE horses. Completely different scenario with different species and to claim otherwise is to deny science and logic completely. There’s a reason biologists and ecologists call these horses invasive and want them removed. They don’t have any natural predators and their population is out of control.
I am a biologist and ecologist. Perhaps you didn’t read my post clearly?
Becky O. says:
I think that, while Equus certainly did evolve in N. America it is fallacious to say that should be reintroduced/classified as a native wild animal here because the plants and animals co-evolved with them so recently, especially after the domestication process. Canis lupus also evolved in N. America. Should we therefore let dogs, Canis lupus framiliaris run free on the landscape? The fact is that we don’t know how different the modern domestic horse is from the ones that roamed the N. American West 10,000 years ago behaviorally speaking. How do they forage? Are their guts best adapted to digest domestic feed or wild shrubs? How do they interact with modern foragers like pronghorn, deer, elk, and bison? While they may be very closely related to extinct horses like dogs and wolves are closely related, equivalent species according to the biological species concept, they may still be more poorly adapted to our landscape than you think. Certainty there are political forces at play here… does the government want to sterilize horses for the good of the ecosystem and the health of the horses or are the horses competing with cows for grazing space? So I think the debate over management is worth having.
I also think having the opinion that wild horses add something to our public lands and the american experience is fine, but it’s more of a cultural value than a biological one. We aren’t introducing a true native here, we’re introducing a domestic animal that is very very closely related to the wild animals that used to live here. No one would ever consider reintroducing other animals that went extinct around the same time as Equus did…saber toothed cats, sloths, dire wolves, mammoths, etc.
I’m not sure what you mean about plants and animals co-evolving with them recently. All the plants we have today were also around during the end of the last ice age before Equus went extinct — it was, in effect, a “modern” flora and fauna.
Canis lupus evolved in Eurasia and migrated into North America. Canis lupus familiaris diverged quote some time ago, and their genetic story is pretty complex. We do still have grey wolves and other canids roaming free, so it’s not really a good analog.
Behaviorally speaking, we actually know quite a lot about horse diets in the past– stable isotopes, pollen and phytoliths in teeth, and tooth microwear tell us quite a lot about things like foraging habits, dietary preferences, and home range sizes.
Interestingly, many people are actively suggesting that we reintroduce mammoths (or elephants) and other extinct animals, in a process known as de-extinction. That’s not what I’m advocating here. But I do think that the language we use is important, and the way the BLM talks about horses is very misleading. In some environments, yes, they’re destructive (like on coastal islands they were never present on). But in other environments, we known that large animals are important for biodiversity. If we’re okay with cows running around rangelands, or sheep, why not horses? Are you okay with bison reintroductions, even though they have some cattle genes? And I’d argue that ALL conservation questions involve both scientific and cultural perspectives.
kirkmike157 says:
American wild horses certainly do have natural predators – especially the cougar. More than 50% of the foals in one feral Montana band were killed by mountain lions before reaching one year of age. With coyotes and wolves added in, predation is a significant challenge.
The survival rate of horses not protected & inoculated/de-wormed by humans is very low; and usually do not live much longer than 13 years (10 years in Argentina). Yes, there are still predators on open ranch lands & mountains–including in rural areas in the mountainous areas of the Eastern US where bears, coyotes, & (sometimes) rabid animals exist. A mare normally has only 1 foal a year with a minority of foals living a full year after birth, so they have a very low survival rate. Where there is a shortage of grazing land, their worm-count jumps adding to their susceptibility to “internal predators.” This is the reason only the best horses thrive and the unfit. Die in a Darwinian way. You almost NEVER find a wild or feral horse with conformation abnormalities and lack of soundness that exists rampantly among domestic (including supposedly well-bred) horses which require a high degree of veterinarian intervention to keep them functioning as intended. Humans with bad taste VERY OFTEN results in the (supervised) breeding of horses that have neurotic behavior, small hooves & bones, incorrect leg structure,excessive height, flat croups, & high withers results in inferior horses, metabolic disorders, & neurological diseases. Given a choice between a wild or feral horse vice a pedigreed horse–bred for looks instead of function– to perform a variety of jobs, I would prefer a wild or feral one….
I was watching Unbranded and partway through felt the whole thing was a little off. Then I found your article, which I think shed some light on things for me. Thanks for writing. 🙂
Devon says:
Any wild animal is “feral”. Do you expect that the horses that were here for millions of years were somehow “tame”?
As the author said, the previous wild horses and modern wild horses are the same species. And other people have already pointed out how incorrect you are about their natural predators.
Stop making arguments based on some kind of misplaced intuition and scary sounding rhetoric, and stick to the facts.
If you want to try to make the argument that the ecosystem can not support the horses, you might get somewhere, but not without some kind of evidence to support your claim.
Feral and wild have two different meanings when talking about animals. Learn them and then come back
Debi Cole says:
Did you not read that some Mustangs have ASIAN DNA? That possibly they were reintroduced by the Russians, but just as possibly crossed the land bridge with our semi-human ancestors or maybe didn’t die out at all?. If they are so invasive why do they fit so well into the eco-system unlike other domestic species? And as for natural predators, those were removed by the White Ranchers who brought in their invasive species of domestic cattle and sheep. There were plenty of natural predators: Cougars, lynxes, bobcats, bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, etc. All of which has been driven to the brink of extinction by man.
scarlettsnorkelz says:
You….are Very Misinformed
Pollinator says:
First of all, we shouldn’t call them wild when they are actually feral. They are invasive and they have an impact on the wildlife. If we were perfectly rational, we would curb their populations. We must learn to love wildlife as much or more than we love horses. Unfortunately, most people cannot see this issue rationally.
It really depends on where you’re talking about. As I said int post, in many places, local wildlife co-evolved with horses for tens of millions of years. The real damage is done by cattle overgrazing, but that’s a hotbed political topic.
Zachary Blanchard says:
Thats simply not true.
What’s not true? That cattle overgrazing has been detrimental in arid lands? (Note that I said overgrazing, not grazing.)
If they were born in the wild…They are wild!
Lisa LeBlanc says:
Layperson here, and REALLY late to the party, but…
Someone recently posited that, if the American wild horses are supposedly the descendants of domestic runaways brought over by the Spanish or some other European incursion, how is it they survived their first bitter Winter, various unfamiliar predators, unfamiliar foods? Folks are always dropping their domestics off near federal Herd Management Areas, and they do not do well without support.
There have been incidental finds of horse and burro bones that pre-date the Spanish by a few hundred years. Singular fossil finds of horse fossils less than 12,000 years old. Native American oral histories and petroglyphs indicating the presence of horses in their daily lives before the advent of the Caucasian. I’m willing to capitulate that the ‘modern’ horse may have experienced a catastrophic die-off – but not complete extinction.
We no longer have the Short-Faced bear, but we do have dozens of offshoots of that branch. We no longer have the Dire Wolf, Giant Tortoises or Saber-toothed cats – but their representative species are present in modern North America. Bison, beaver and armadillo – all managed to survive in some capacity.
I’d also like to express that individual horse and burro populations that exist today develop physically in direct correlation to their specific environment. What forage and water resources support herds in a particular region may be wholly inappropriate for those in another. These animals self-medicate on plants and mineral licks. While certain common colorations may be present in disparate regions, others demonstrate ‘primitive’ striping on their legs and backs that indicate a strong genetic tie to zebra, onager and wild ass.
No one can definitively state that all species of equus became extinct in North America. Uncovering our prehistory is still in it’s infancy. This North America bears little resemblance to what existed 5 – to 10,000 years ago. We can’t know what lies beneath until it’s uncovered. But in the interim, whether reintroduced or resurgent, wild horses and burros are supposedly under the ‘protection’ of the Federal government – a protection that finds more ways to vilify and remove them than it does trying to keep them free and on the range.
There is a great deal of sniveling about how costly the Wild Horse and Burro Program is, while conveniently ignoring the fact that as long as they remain free-roaming, they cost the taxpayer nothing. They consume 11% of available forage and must share their allowable ranges with domestic livestock. Typically, the ratio of livestock – cattle and domestic sheep – to wild horse or burro is about 50:1 on federally designated Herd Management Areas.
Labeling them ‘feral’ or ‘invasive’ isn’t just inflammatory rhetoric; it’s good politicking.
I agree with you up until the argument that these species persisted here past, say, 10,000-8,000 years ago (at the absolute max). There just isn’t fossil data to support that statement– not that I think we need it to justify their presence. As a paleoecologist who works on Pleistocene megafauna, I am unaware of any such fossils, and they would rewrite the field as we know it if they were to be found. Again, I obvious agree that wild horses are native, but we can make that argument with the existing, sound, science.
Also, an important correction: black and brown bears are not descendants of short-faced bears (modern beavers are not descendants of giant beavers, etc.). Modern species are surviving cousins, not great grandchildren, of ice age animals. This is a common misconception, but it’s worth pointing out, because extinction is forever: many species were lost for good at the end of the last ice age, and in the case of survivors on other continents (like horses and camels), a lot of genetic diversity was lost.
I appreciate the clarification. Just my luck I’d be having another discussion with a less-than-open-minded paleoecologist and get caught with my short-faced bear pants down…
I also truly appreciate your not denigrating me for the Peter Pan Syndrome when it comes to my hope of proof of equus AFTER the Ice Age extinctions. We (wild horse and burro nuts – er – advocates) have gotten so far as to refer to them as reintroduced, but it’s still not enough.
Thank you, Jacquelyn, sincerely.
I am open minded in that I am open to new data, but I’m limited to drawing conclusions from the data that are available. New data would result in a new conclusion. If we discovered that horses did persist, it would be a major deal! I am open to that, but I think it’s really unlikely.
More importantly, I don’t think we need horses to have been here just before European arrival to make the argument that they’re a natural part of many of our landscapes. 12,000 years ago was really recently, ecologically speaking!
midmiocene says:
It’s sickening to see those who stand to benefit financially by calling horses “non-native” and pretending concern about invasive species just so they can continue to make money off of cattle grazing use junk science. As Jacquelyn brought out, horses have been here for a very long time. If these grazers are concerned about invasive species they might start by taking a look in the mirror.
Some quotes about horses in my favorite time period, the Middle Miocene:
“Clarendonian Chronofauna: Grassland Savanna Land mammal diversity in North America reached its zenith during the Barstovian mammal age….It is not uncommon during this savanna acme to collect in a single site 20 genera of ungulates of which half are Equidae…. The acme of land mammal diversity, dominated by horses and other savanna herbivores, is attained in the Barstovian.” ~ Effects of Past Global Change on Life, chapter: Global Climatic Influence on Cenozoic Land Mammal Faunas. S. David Webb and Neil D. Opdyke, p. 193
“Horse diversity increased so dramatically that at some fossil sites from fifteen million years ago as many as a dozen species can be found. Today the world’s horses (and their relatives the zebras, asses and onagers) are reduced to the single genus Equus, whose wild members live only in parts of Asia and Africa…. the familiar horses, zebras, asses and onagers that share our modern world represent but a single surviving branch on a once luxuriant equid family tree that reached its full glory during the Miocene.” ~ Natural History 4/94. Article: The Heyday of Horses by Bruce J. Macfadden
Yes, horses are native to North America. Their extinction here was artificial – i.e. it wouldn’t have happened without overkill by human hunters. They deserve to be here.
Melissa Ohlsson says:
Horses ARE native… more proof found almost in my backyard!
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/fossil-find-horse-course
Angelo Scaldaferri says:
I think it would be a good idea to remove all the mustang horses that aren’t one color and reintroduce the ones that are that color. Then it would be easier for the average person to distinguish the wild horse form the feral horses.
I think the first question is, when is a horse feral versus wild? All the horses here were reintroduced from European populations. The second issue is that even if you were to do something like that, the horses would still have the genes for other colors, so you’d still have horses born that look different from their parents. 🙂
I think the mustang horses here have some natural selection placed on them, so evolved into a new breed. Maybe to make the horses “less-domesticated” crossbreed them with Przewalski’s horse and reintroduce them to less populated areas. They would probably look similar to this, though:
Interesting post. I would just like to post the following as food for thought:
Even though horses may have originated in North America, I don’t think we should discount the impact of selective breeding, or artificial selection. It’s through artificial selection that humans can rapidly change the characteristics of native plants and animals.
The Siberian fox experiment, which ran from 1950 to around 2010, illustrated how quickly humans can change a species. The head scientist of that project culled aggressive and timid foxes from his breeding population and kept the more friendly foxes and the result is foxes that have droopy ears, juvenile characteristics and crave human attention.
My question simply is: If artificial selection played a role in the development of domesticated European horses, is it fair to call such domesticated animals native?
If so, it seems like one could release a bunch of feral dogs onto the range and say they’re essentially native “wolves.”
You raise important points, though the fact that wild horses have been successful when given the opportunity suggests that they’re able to thrive in the right conditions. There’s a lot we don’t know about how plastic (that is, how changeable) horses’ traits are. On on extreme end, pigs can become feral and boar-like even within their lifespan, if left alone!
There are already herds of mustangs that look like that. At least the Grullo ones do. The rest are other shades of Dun. The Kigers of Oregon, the Sulphors of Utah and more.
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Horace Boothroyd III says:
The horses that are now pests in the American West are not native but an invasive species introduced from Europe.
Whining otherwise simply hands a brush to those who wish to paint liberals as stupid.
If you had read this post, you’d know that 1) the horses in the American West are the exact same species that were there 10,000 years ago, 2) I didn’t whine, and 3) I didn’t mention anything about liberal or conservative politics.
If you have a specific comment you’d like to respond to, feel free.
om says:
No, today’s feral horses, which represent nearly every breed, are not wild nor are they native. You can’t take a domestic animal that is the product of 9000 years of genetic engineering by humans, release it in to the wild, and call it wild. That is over use of your imagination.
The other thing you fail to realize is that over the past 10,000+ years the plant communities of North America evolved WITHOUT horses. This is why we see so much damage caused by horses today.
You need to not pretend you are a scientist. You need to not pretend you are a biologist. You need to not tell others how to live.
Now we canlump you in with the rest of the feral horse industry activ ists who prey on the weak-minded while they try to destroy every last bit of wildnesss that is left in NA.
Feral horses have done just fine without human intervention, so they’re not as domesticated as, say, chickens or cows. I’m basing my statements on science, not imagination or any particular agenda. I am a scientist and a biologist. I have a PhD, and I’m a practicing ecologist — what’s more, my area of research is ice age ecology, so I’m basing my comments on my expertise in this area.
I’m not an industry activist: I have received no money from anyone, and was not asked to write this post. This post is based entirely on my own scientific and personal opinions. I’m not preying on the weak-minded by contributing to a discussion. In the case of wild horses, it’s clear that the opposition is not about protecting “wilderness,” because the BLM is mandated to protect rangelands. Heavily cattle-grazed areas are not wilderness.
I’m not telling anyone how to live, I’m just explaining the fascinating ecology of horses — they’ve been a part of North American ecosystems much longer than humans have. 10,000 is not sufficient time for those ecosystems to have evolved to different conditions. Anyone working in grassland restoration will tell you that bison grazing and fire are important parts of restoring biodiversity; my research on the end of the last ice age shows that when we lost our biggest animals, we changed the ecosystems that survived. We know from other places that support large populations big animals that large herbivores are important in maintaining biodiversity. There’s a lot we need to study about horses in North America, but we need to stop pretending that our arguments about horses as “invasive” are scientific, when really it’s clear that it’s about a very narrow view of what the land should be used for: cattle grazing. I’m not against grazing: there are lots of folks interested in holistic grazing management strategies, which has sadly been forced by decades of poor grazing practices that have decimated rangelands in the west. That’s not the fault of horses.
I did not publish your second comment because it was completely out of line. Personal attacks will not be tolerated on my blog. Your comments not only indicate that you didn’t read my post very carefully (given how grossly you misrepresented my statements), but also reflect that this is an issue that you are so deeply emotional about that we won’t have a productive discussion of any kind.
Angie Harguess says:
You have more patience than I do. I do not understand why people can be so nasty when their butts are not kissed. All we want is for the horses to be allowed a decent amount of land so they can survive without causing trouble. I don’t necessarily want all the cows and sheep to be removed but they also have to be kept to a minimum so they don’t destroy either. The reality is that there are more invasive plants on the range than most people realize and it may take several different animal species the keep them under control. If logic is not good enough to be reason for the horses to stay, how can there be any logical argument for the cows and sheep? Stop spending rediculous amounts of money killing off the predators and there would be a few less horses and money to cover better ran roundups because some people do want to adopt them. And charge the going rate for grazing on private property to support the ones already in holding pens. I would be more supportive of the cows being out there if they were brought in for direct butcher (more money for the owner) instead of going to environmental disasters called feed lots. One way to get the cows off blm land is to quit eating anything that is not locally/grass raised, the ranchers would be run out of business. Organic rules should require the animals be raised on privately owned lands which would get them off blm/public lands. Just a thought, or two.
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Buddy2Blogger says:
Rubenature says:
Reblogged this on for Biodiversity's sake! and commented:
Very interesting post by Jacquelyn Gill. I think that the key in this discussion is next sentence: “By 10,000 to 8,000 years ago, American horses had gone extinct, likely due to a combination of hunting and climate change.” More research is needed to clarify this point which is from my point of view the answer to the discussion.
American Soustannie says:
Reblogged this on American Soustannie.
Eumaeus says:
Is there and ‘objective fact’ invasive species? Aren’t there just a lot of species trying to ‘get theirs’. So islands used to get populated by storm fall out or strange rafts of survival blowing across oceans and now they travel through Walmart’s efficient distribution channels. The real problem is Homo sapiens that think they are somehow outside of the natural world. Maybe that’s too deep…
Great questions, and I think you hit the nail on the head. We can’t separate these definitions from human values.
beachblogger says:
kjmacleod says:
I think there’s something really interesting about how people respond to the idea of “invasiveness”… Immigration is a hot topic in the UK at the moment and it seems to have corresponded with a massive surge of interest in invasive species. But, as you point out with the example of cattle, people only seem concerned about “invasives” as pests – whereas species that were introduced and so were invasive many years ago that have economic or even traditional importance, like corn, or potatoes, and so on and so on are conveniently forgotten… Here, anyway, another problem is that fast-growing native species are replacing more fragile endemics because of land use changes, and are acting like invasives in their own way. Could it be that wild horses are becoming more “pest-like” because humans have changed the ecosystem in such a way that they are no longer controlled? Interesting stuff – and great post!
I think that right now, we don’t have the science to test that, and it would be great research to do. There’s evidence in other systems that native grazers can help rejuvenate rangelands that have been damaged by domestic grazers. I don’t know whether the various populations are sustainable, or growing, or need culling in the absence of native predators.
Nancy Kurinec (Storm) says:
The BLM is pushing the non native status regardless to the fact that science has proven that the horse species is native to the North American Continent. As opposed to the opinion of many, the wild horses and burros are native species of the United States and Canada. Fossilized evidence in many places, point to the fact that the wild horses were here, not only well before the Spanish arrival, but at the time of their arrival. In addition, there is much evidence that the African zebra, wild asses, etc, all originated here, and migrated to other points of the world. In addition, they have filled an absolutely necessary niche in ecological balance.
E. caballus is genetically equivalent to E. lambei, but no evidence exists for the origin of E. caballus anywhere except North America. Domestication has nothing to do with basic biology – although deniers continually bring this up. “The key element in describing an animal as a native species is where it originated; and whether it co-evolved with their habitat.” Equines did both. The species originated in North America, fossils and DNA evidence prove this and it is also indigenous to the ecosystem of the North American Continent. People and agencies, e.g., BLM and USFWS deny the native status of equines, because they no longer have any economic value to them.
http://www.beringia.com/research/horse.html
“All branches of the horse family (Equidae) share an
ancient evolutionary origin and long-standing duration in
North America, having evolved here for ca. 60-million
years ago. Few other mammalian families can lay as much
claim to native status and belonging on this continent. Two
other extant families in the Order Perissodactyla are the
tapir and the rhinoceros families, and both are similarly
rooted in North America”
“The horse family has branched
out to all continents except Australia (prior to the arrival of
whites) and Antarctica. These animals have contributed
positively to our planetary communities, and they continue
to do so in many ways and on many levels today
http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20140201.12.pdf
Thanks for your comment — we’re obviously in agreement that horses are native to North America!
I do want to correct one thing you’ve written here, which is that the fossil record doesn’t support that horses were here at the time of European arrival; they had gone extinct in North America before then.
Victor Ros says:
Thanks for the very interesting and refreshing perspective. I enjoy the idea of not designating feral horses as invasive, and welcome it. There is a lot of hype about whether horses should be designated as feral or wild, and the reason seems to eradicate from the fact that feral animals are at the same time equated to invasive pests, which is not necessarily so. Whether we like it or not, feral is the term used to describe horses who have or whose ancestors have been domesticated at some point in time whether morphological traits have been altered or not.
marioquevedo says:
Interesting topic and discussion; it applies widely, beyond wild horses and the BLM. I’d say that there is a wee crack in the story (you know, that’s how the light gets in): the Conquistadors likely launched the first rebrowsing campaign, not a rewilding one; to really rewild, tooth and claw are also needed.
Thanks for your comment! I’ve seen the term “rewilding” used in a lot of different concepts, based in part on on geography– in some cases, I’ve seen the term applied to the reintroduction of a tortoise, or for beaver in the UK. I agree that we can go much further than that, practically!
As you likely know better than me, the term rewilding is indeed hip these days in Europe. It is easy to read about innitiatives to bring back this or that largish herbivore, but I feel that predators are intentionally left aside to avoid the fuzz. Perhaps we could just lower the variance around the term “rewilding” by thinking in terms of ecological restoration, which would require a more thorough approach.
More to the point of the post, and writing as one that could use the topic in a classroom, it would be great to see more detail around the last horse extinction in North America. They were Americans, but did they become maladapted, or were just erradicated? I haven’t followed the literature too closely, but I guess more data is needed to really address that.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up and reply!!
V Fisher says:
Scientists have since discovered that horses survived the ice age and fossils have been found placing them in the America’s some 300-400 yrs. after they previously claimed they disappeared. An equine fossil has been found in Canada carbon-dated 2900 yrs. ago. Horses are native and indigenous to the Americas. Fact.
Anything within 300-400 years puts dates within the radiocarbon error range, so I’d be really hesitant to quibble about those kinds of dates. I haven’t heard anything about a 2900 age — do you have a good source?
And yes, I agree that horses are native to the Americas!
Canadian Museum of Nature I-8581, and another found at Hemlock Park Farm, Frontenac County, Ontario dates to about 900 years ago. Someone told me that the second one was probably contaminated and not accurate, but could not confirm this. The first one has a normalized age: 2840 +/- 90 and an uncorrected age of 2760 +/- 90.
Are these ultra-purified bone collagen dates? I’d be seriously skeptical of any dates so much younger than the previous record. I can’t really comment on these without more information. I’d follow up with someone like Tom Stafford or John Southon, to be honest.
Sorry, don’t know. Here is a link to equine DNA being found on a Clovis tool.
http://horsetalk.co.nz/2012/11/29/why-did-horses-die-out-in-north-america/#axzz30aVU4b8T
Thanks! Though, that would be about 12,000+ years old. I’m not arguing that horses aren’t native. There’s been ample evidence of that!
Great piece. This is off topic a bit but one of my biggest gripes is getting land managers and the public to understand the difference between wild and feral horses. Yes, there are places where horses are wild. But, there are also places where horses are abandoned and left to multiply and roam. Those feral herds, as lovely as they are (I like to see them, for sure!), are a different resource than their wild counterparts and have to be treated as such. Again, I know that’s off topic. Sorry for the tangent!
Not at all! Thanks for your comment.
lyle says:
But let me put a question how many generations of an animal being feral does it take before they are wild again, or is the selective breeding in the animals past a bar to ever being wild?
My though is that horses that descended from those that escaped from the spanish would be now called wild.
I think this is a great question, and one that would be difficult to give a hard and fast answer to. Look at pigs, which quickly revert to boars even in their lifespan! They can grow tusks, their tails straighten, and their behavior changes, relatively quickly.
I’d agree with you that those horses are “wild” rather than just “feral,” in most cases. I don’t have a good sense as to how much horse domestication has changed the horse’s morphology, genetics, or behavior — my guess is much less than, say, cows!
I’m sorry, I should have been more specific. I’m really only talking about 1 or 2 generations. Three at the outside. And in particular, horses that we know are let go or abandoned, given the local culture.
Tom Green says:
Nice article, and could certainly be expanded to include other species!
Most important to this discussion of land management of feral/wild horses is that there are no predators left to keep them in ecological balance. Most feral/wild herds are reaching carrying capacity and degradation of soils at risk. Pumas are not up to the task, and we lost our American Lion when we lost the American Horses. Something needs to control the horses just like every other herbivore. Either we intervene with “humane” birth control, shoot them, or bring back the carnivores. If you think it’s difficult for a BLM land manager to deal with horses, ask them how difficult it would be to introduce a wolf pack or grizzly that might actually solve the problem.
I think it would be awesome to spend research dollars to determine if our spanish horses fulfill ecological roles that are lost. Who knows, maybe we should be introducing elephants to replace mammoths, and dromedaries to replace camels too?
But let’s be even more truthful: horses are charismatic. We already have unarguably native species like prairie dogs that should have their ranges expanded, but instead land managers control them to appease ranchers. Or even less charismatic, how about the dwindling native bats and bugs?
It should be noted that land managers don’t rely on “native” versus “introduced” to determine action. The Nature Conservancy, for instance, will consider removing native trees and shrubs if they are encroaching on a remnant of prairie that no longer has wildfire, bison, or whatever missing link that once kept the prairies intact. It is fun to discuss what “native” means, and 1492 is often used as a guide, but even that fails when species are considered to have naturalized without mankind’s involvement.
Through the eyes of a paleontologist, it’s obvious ecological communities are moving targets, and adaptation is the key. But this is the 21st century, and our federal lands are often the last stronghold of endemic species on their last few hundred acres. Whether its a horse or a jackrabbit that is threatening the remnant population, we should expect our land managers to act.
If a land manager proposed a hunt to control elk instead of horses, would there even be a discussion? I do not mean to condemn any animal, but clearly there are circumstances where introduced species have destroyed entire ecosystems and forced species into extinction. I love and respect horses, but land management decisions shouldn’t be held hostage by our own bias.
That being said, there may well be other lands that would benefit from re-introduction of large grazing animals. For north america, I’d prefer something like bison that has lost most of its former range… *especially* if I were a land manager and might need to cull the population in the future.
My hope is that we can keep what’s left intact, and that requires wise and difficult decisions.
Thanks so much for your comment. I agree that this kind of research is desperately needed — I’m working on the paleorecord, but we have the opportunity to do some cool modern experimentation.
The elk question is interesting. I’ve been thinking about the caribou reintroduction campaigns here in Maine, or wolves in Yellowstone. Historic reintroductions can be pretty contested, but it’s still easier to get buy-in than, say, the idea that horses are native. I think that there are ways in which we can meet multiple conservation goals with rewilding — e.g., in cases where large herbivores play a positive role in ecosystem health (like bison!).
amandelman says:
Thanks for this great post, Jacquelyn. It’s a provocative discussion that’s also been rattling around in nature-society geography. I wonder, though, when you say “horses _are_ native to North America” whether that’s any more of an unequivocal fact than the value judgements and opinions of US federal agencies.
From my readings on the issue, nativeness can be almost as tricky a thing to pin down as “invasive” and “exotic.” The nine-banded armadillo is a great example. The “native” populations in the southwest have been steadily migrating north and east will eventually converge with the genetically indistinguishable westward-moving “invasive” population introduced in Florida several decades ago. Similarly, there are some plants that start behaving rather invasively even in their native range under certain ecological circumstances. Charles Warren wrote a great article in 2007 for _Progress in Human Geography_ reviewing a lot of this fuzzy native-invasive territory, including some of the wonderfully complicated problems around nativeness that emerge when we think about both temporal scale—how long before an introduced organism can count as native?—and agency—why are seeds clinging to muddy waterfowl a natural invasion, while burrs clinging to a human’s socks are not? I realize that some of these questions may sound heretical from an ecological science standpoint, but they also seem suggestive of the ways value creeps into what might otherwise seem fact-based scientific categories.
Much of my thinking on the native/invasive issue comes from work like Michael Pollan’s _Second Nature_ and, more recently, Emma Marris’s _Rambunctious Garden_. Paul Robbins and Sarah Moore also published a 2013 article on “ecological anxiety disorder” that I find useful in this territory. Together this work suggests that the problem might not be about rigidly delineating fact from value. Rather, we might recognize that values permeate all of these discussions (especially at the fuzzier boundaries). We might then debate those values as such and then proceed with normative claims and interventions from there.
I’m glad you brought that up, Adam. I think in this case, there’s the risk of quibbling over different definition of “native,” which will be biased by our own perspectives (as a paleoecologist, I’ll have my own biases, and I don’t think something being scientific makes it, de facto, objective). I can see how you might get from this piece that I’m arguing for facts over values; rather, I’m in agreement with you– even what we think of as “objective facts” are steeped in values, and I’d like us to be more upfront about that.
I think the entire native-vs-invasive discussion is fraught with these sorts of value judgments, and ecologists and conservationists have historically done a poor job of addressing them. And, as you bring up, natives can “act” invasive, which just starts to show how nebulous these concepts can be.
These sound like great pieces, thanks for suggesting them! I love Rambunctious Garden, but I hadn’t heard of the Robbins and Moore piece. I’m definitely checking this out!
Thanks for clarifying, J. I’ll admit I may have read a touch hastily.
The Robbins & Moore piece is fun, especially for some of its more provocative psychoanalytic claims. That said, it’s more useful for the ways it charts a middle ground between the relativists and the purists (much as Marris or Pollan do) and so it may not hold many surprises for you.
Also, I definitely didn’t mean to imply Marris would be new for you (and certainly not Pollan’s _Second Nature_ either). Of all the ecologists I know (not many!) I would expect you to be the first to read her.
Pingback: Can we please stop calling wild horses invasive? | Habitat For Horses
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Edward Hall Armstrong
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Edward Hall Armstrong joined the Confederate Army in 1861 at the age of 20. He was appointed 2nd Lt. 1 July 1862 and subsequently captain on 17 September 1862. He never married; however, he mentions a girl (name not given) in letters sent home. After his death on 6 June 1864, an engagement ring was found in his pocket. His manservant brought him home to Rocky Point.
Stephen Carroll Pearsall, Rieglewood, Columbus County, NC
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Edward Hall Armstrong. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://cdm16360.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15239qs/id/3545. (Accessed July 18, 2019.)
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Article Highlight: Vol. 41, Issue 3, “Shame, Blame, and Status Incongruity: Health and Stigma in Rural Brazil and the Urban United Arab Emirates”
This week on the blog we are highlighting a paper by Lesley Jo Weaver and Sarah Trainer entitled Shame, Blame, and Status Incongruity: Health and Stigma in Rural Brazil and the Urban United Arab Emirates. The authors build on sociologist Erving Goffman’s classic notion of stigma as a social phenomenon to investigate the stigma attached to two seemingly disparate conditions: food insecurity in rural Brazil, and obesity in the urban United Arab Emirates. The authors’ analyses emphasize that both circumstances are stigmatized because they represent a deviation from a deeply-held social norm. Additionally, in both cases, the stigma related with food insecurity and obesity is likely at least as damaging to personal wellbeing as are the biological effects of these conditions. To close, Weaver and Trainer suggest that these forms of stigma transcend individuals and are principally structural in their origins. Viewing stigma as a common element of the human condition refocuses the analytic lens toward structural-level factors that need to be addressed in order to improve human wellbeing.
Weaver and Trainer begin by discussing the theoretical grounding of stigma. Frequently defined as an indicator of disgrace signifying physical, moral, or social flaw, stigma is a powerful determinant of physical and mental health. Whether externally imposed by others or internalized and self-directed, stigma may come from or produce feelings of shame and embarrassment. Sociologist Erving Goffman described stigma as a “single social process uniting a dizzying range of conditions and behaviors… Stigma is stigma because it is ‘fundamentally discrediting’—that is, it is perceived to index something inherently negative about a person.”
Precisely because stigma draws on core beliefs held by mainstream society and has consequences for both physical and mental health, stigma should be a public health concern. Having a unitary conception of stigma can be operationalized as status incongruity—that is, the potentially measurable difference between culturally held attitudes of what people should be or achieve in a given realm, and what they are actually able to be or achieve.
Food insecurity is defined as a lack of secure access to safe and culturally appropriate foods at all times. Food security is often stigmatized since it may be a public symbol of poverty, or force one to have to obtain food in socially unacceptable ways. Even when not visible, food insecurity often generates self-directed stigma, often with damaging psychological impacts and experiences of status incongruity.
While clinically obese bodies are an epidemiological norm worldwide, they are rarely socially normalized in modern Western cultures. Further, evidence suggests that obesity stigma has increased along with increasing global obesity. Obesity cannot easily be hidden, and therefore stigma acts through both internal shame and external blame, which distinguishes it in profound ways from food insecurity. Stereotypically, obesity stigma stems from a combination of Western beauty ideals of aesthetic thinness and increased risk of ill health, along with moral beliefs that obesity signals lack of control. Further, obesity now can serve as a visible marker of poverty in many cultural settings, signaling status incongruity.
The authors discuss two different case studies—Brazil and the UAE—precisely because the severity of the differences between the settings exemplifies the powerful underlying similarities in the ways stigma influences health and well-being through feelings of shame, blame, status incongruity, and social isolation.
Weaver’s research in rural Northern Brazil focused largely around food insecurity and mental health. Ethnographic research conducted in urban Brazil establishes that bodies are read as high or low status, and weight and body shape are a key part of that. There is also an agreed-upon set of factors that signal the “good life.” These signals include things such as the ownership of a television and computer, participation in leisure activities, and the attainment of a desirable body shape. Some food items signal luxury and abundance while others carry stigma because they indicate humbleness, if not outright poverty.
Household food insecurity scores collected from pilot study phases were associated rather strongly with symptoms of depression among heads of household. The depression associated with food insecurity in this setting may be a result of the understandable stresses of having limited resources, but potentially also a result of the shame related to having to eat low-status foods or engage in non-normative food behaviors, such not being able to invite neighbors to eat or reciprocate sharing food.
Many people reported that they were unaware of food insecurity in the community, despite the authors’ documentation of its frequency. It appears in this setting that the harmful effects of food insecurity on mental health might stem more from self-stigmatization of one’s own food insecurity than from active stigmatization by others. The authors state they suspect that shame and self-stigma surrounding food insecurity motivates people to hide it.
In the United Arab Emirates, the authors’ discussion of stigma focuses on interwoven behavioral and aesthetic norms, and stigma related to perceptions of deviations from these norms. Food and eating patterns, as well as bodies and body norms, have seen particularly profound changes over the course of only twenty or thirty years of intense socioeconomic, structural, and cultural shifts. Despite the conspicuous consumption and wealth on display in the UAE, poverty and food insecurity are also present within the local population and foreign workers, but again the social pressure to hide such deprivation was intense.
Much more publicly considered in the UAE is the growing apprehension over obesity and associated chronic diseases. While “fatness” was once a desirable physical characteristic, especially in women who were expected to “fill out their skins” in order to display familial wealth, today young people reliably express physical female beauty ideals that aspire to an hour-glass shape, while stigmatizing bodies categorized as too fat or too skinny.
At issue here are “bodies that don’t conform.” The implications of lack of cultural consonance with body norms in this context are serious. In the UAE, the recipients of stigma are very thin or obese bodies, and in Brazil, the recipients are people experiencing food insecurity. The moral discourse around these issues, the ways in which this stigma is enacted, and the importance of specific types of stigma over others varies in important ways between research sites, however. The relative importance of internal versus external stigma in each case is likely related to the fact that one condition (food insecurity) can be hidden, while the other (obesity) cannot.
For the authors, a second common element linking these two cases of stigma is the fact that each signifies a departure from a social norm, accompanied by intense social isolation. Third, both food insecurity and obesity have well documented consequences for physical health, as well as important but poorly understood consequences for mental and social health. Weaver and Trainer states that these common features suggest stigma around food insecurity and obesity can be conceptualized as two “outlets” for the same social phenomenon: “health stigma.”
The authors conclude by asserting a useful implication of considering stigma as a single social phenomenon is that it refocuses away from the individual and toward structural causes of stigma. While the everyday issue of stigma is enacted on the individual level, stigma is only stigma because people concur at a larger population level that a position is stigma-worthy. Focusing on the commonalities between stigma experiences functions as an important reminder that stigma is not just personal but also collective. Policy implications of stigma-as-structure have largely been overlooked.
Posted in Article Highlight, Issues, Medical Anthropology, Medical Humanities
Tagged anthropology, Brazil, Culture, ethnography, fat, food insecurity, Global health, health, Humanities, medical anthropology, medical humanities, mental health, obesity, psychological anthropology, society, stigma, UAE
In the News: Health Disparities and Water Quality in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics
August 2016 – The 2016 Summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has dominated news headlines in recent weeks. The athletics event, taking place from August 5 to August 21, featured 207 countries in the Parade of Nations as well as the first ever Refugee Olympic Team. It is the first time the games have been held in South America. But besides highlights on the events and spotlights on athletes’ training regimens and backgrounds, there is another stream of news stories surrounding the Olympic Games. These stories have focused on two key public health issues related to this year’s Games: health disparities and water quality issues.
Rio’s Olympic beach volleyball venue is on Copacabana Beach. Photo from Marcio Jose Sanchez for AP.
Only two years ago the FIFA World Cup was making similar headlines in Brazil. As reported in 2014, and highlighted in this blog[1], there have been past concerns about access to quality healthcare despite the surge of funds for the World Cup event. These reports unmasked a problematic system of health disparities to a global audience. The Daily Californian[2] stated that many Brazilians were “unhappy that their government [was] funding stadium renovations instead of spending on more instrumental matters like improved health care and emergency services.” Reports relating to the current Olympics have painted a similar picture for the present health scene. As Reuters[3] reported in December 2015, the governor of Rio de Janeiro declared a state of emergency “as hospitals, emergency rooms and health clinics cut services or closed units throughout the state as money ran out for equipment, supplies and salaries.” According to CNN[4], the financial crisis has been causing difficulties in the “provision of essential public services and can even cause a total breakdown in public security, health, education, mobility and environmental management.”. While the state of emergency declaration provides a critical 45 million reais ($25.3 million) in federal aid and may facilitate the transfer of future funds, estimates state that Rio de Janeiro owes approximately $355 million to employees and suppliers in the healthcare sector alone, and the state needs over $100 million to reopen the closed hospital units and clinics.[5] While the city of Rio spent approximately $7.1 billion on improving toll roads, ports and other infrastructure projects, the Brazil Ministry of Health devoted only $5.7 million to address health concerns[6].
The Christ the Redeemer statue is visible above the Santa Marta favela in Rio de Janeiro. Photo from Joao Velozo for NPR.
In addition to these issues (and the high-profile Zika virus, which is causing health concerns in multiple countries[7]), concerns surrounding water quality and cleanliness in Brazil has garnered considerable attention. A recent scene involving the diving and water polo pools turning a swamp-green color because of an algae bloom left some athletes complaining of itchy eyes.[8] While the Olympic Games have brought international attention to the impact of water quality on the athletes and visitors, the residents of Rio have been dealing with theses concerns on a daily basis for much longer. With almost 13 million people living in and around Rio, the current sewage system is struggling to cope. One news report[9] notes that “about 50 percent of what Brazilians flush down the toilet ends up in the country’s waterways. Diseases related to contaminated water are the second leading cause of death for children under five in Brazil.” Tests performed in a variety of areas, including the sailing venue of Guanabara Bay, over the course of a year found high levels of “superbugs of the sort found in hospitals on the shores of the bay.” The possibility of hospital sewage entering the municipal sewage system remains a concern.[10]
An economic recession, compounded by water concerns, political unrest, and a presently faltering healthcare system all leave many Cariocas— citizens of Rio– who rely on the public health system in a challenging and hazardous situation across the social, medical, and political spheres. With hopes of local profits from the Olympic Games ranging in the billions of dollars, much is at stake for both residents and investors.[11] Despite the risks and tribulations, many residents welcome the international event and attention, and credit the Olympics for cultivating “several underutilized, often abandoned spaces have been transformed to ones that appeal and cater to local residents”. Many “beautification” projects leave residents hoping the installation of new art and the newly constructed spaces will leave a lasting impression on its residents and visitors long after the games end.[12] Despite this optimism, the citizens of Rio are not impacted equally by the Games.[13] The improved infrastructures will likely benefit those who already have access to services. Tourism, and tourism cash, has been weak in the favelas, or shantytowns, which house at least 25% of the population in Rio. The infrastructure inequities have even bypassed some neighborhoods entirely, leaving those residents out of the celebrations.[14]
Overall, these Olympic Games promise once again to bring the world’s cultures together in competition and camaraderie, yet they do not do so without controversy. This global spectacle illuminates athletics and sportsmanship, as well as the intersections between cultural events, politics and nationalism, power and profit, and community health. These larger issues lead to questions about what will happen to the residents of Rio after the Games have drawn to a close.
[1] https://culturemedicinepsychiatry.com/2014/07/11/news-the-2014-world-cup-and-healthcare-in-brazil/
[2] http://www.dailycal.org/2014/07/08/uc-berkeley-faculty-graduate-students-look-world-cup-different-light/
[3] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-health-emergency-idUSKBN0U716Q20151224
[4] http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/americas/brazil-rio-state-emergency-funding-olympics/
[5]http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-health-emergency-idUSKBN0U716Q20151224
[6] http://wuwm.com/post/let-s-do-numbers-money-spent-rio-olympics#stream/0
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/world/americas/brazil-zika-rio-olympics.html?_r=0
[8] http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-olympics-rio-diving-pool-idUKKCN10O0UW?feedType=RSS&feedName=sportsNews
[9] http://wuwm.com/post/rios-water-problems-go-far-beyond-olympics#stream/0
[10] http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/02/sport/rio-2016-olympic-games-water-quality-sailing-rowing/index.html
[11] http://www.newsweek.com/rio-2016-who-stands-benefit-successful-olympics-453094
[12] http://www.kvia.com/news/rio-olympics-bring-beautification-projects/40884340
[13] http://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/11/487769536/in-rios-favelas-hoped-for-benefits-from-olympics-have-yet-to-materialize
[14] http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/08/14/olympic-infrastructure-causes-suffering?videoId=369565427
Posted in Commentary, Current Events, Guest Blog, Medical Anthropology, Medical Humanities, News
Tagged anthropology, biomedicine, Brazil, care, community health, Culture, Current Events, favela, Global health, health, health inequalities, health inequities, Humanities, illness, infrastructure, international, medical, medical anthropology, medical humanities, medicine, nationalism, news, Olympic Games, Olympics, political, profit, Rio de Janeiro, science, society, South America, sports, STS, technology, tourism, united states, usa, water, water quality
Book Releases: New Texts on Sex Tourism, Biotechnology
This week, we are featuring two book releases from the University of Chicago Press. The first book is Gregory Mitchell’s Tourist Attractions: Performing Race and Masculinity in Brazil’s Sexual Economy. This new book, published in December 2015, presents an ethnographic perspective on gay sex tourism in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahia, and the Amazon. Mitchell examines issues of race, masculinity, and sexual identity amongst both sex workers and sex tourists. In particular, he asks how men of various racial, cultural, and national backgrounds come to understand their own identities and one another’s within this complex series of commercial, sexual, and cultural exchanges. Details about the book can be found here.
About the author: Gregory Mitchell is assistant professor at Williams College, where he teaches in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies program and in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology.
Image via UC Press website
The second book, debuting in September 2016, is Hallam Stevens’ Biotechnology and Society: An Introduction (cover image not yet available.) Each chapter of the text will address a different topic in the cultural and historical study of biotechnology, from gene patents, to genetically-modified foods, to genetic testing and disability, assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), and the intersections of race, diversity, and biotechnologies. The text will be of equal interest to scholars of science and technology studies (STS), posthuman theory, and the history and culture of medical technology. Details about the book can be found here.
About the author: Hallam Stevens is assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He teaches courses in the history of the life sciences and information technologies. He is the author of Life Out of Sequence: A Data-Driven History of Bioinformatics, also available here via the University of Chicago Press.
Posted in Book Release, Issues, Medical Anthropology, Medical Humanities, News
Tagged anthropology, biomedicine, biotechnology, Brazil, Culture, ethnography, globalization, health, history, medical anthropology, medical humanities, medicine, sex tourism, society, STS
Autism in Brazil and Italy: Two Cases From the June 2015 Special Issue
Our July 2015 entries on the blog highlighted individual articles from our latest release, the June 2015 Special Issue on the conceptualization of autism (which you can access here.) These articles, focused centrally on anthropological and ethnographic accounts of autism across the world, explore contemporary issues surrounding identity, subjectivity, citizenship, biosociality, neurodiversity, and disability. In this week’s installment, we visit two more articles from the issue to investigate concepts of autism and its treatment in two countries: Brazil and Italy.
Autism in Italy: Rigidity and the Culture of Therapy
Read the full article by M. Ariel Cascio here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-015-9439-6
In Italy, therapy and educational professionals who work with young adults with autism (ages 14-34) note that autism is often marked by a desire for intense social structure and timeliness: what they describe as “rigidity” or “rigid mind.” While the desire for structure is considered a core feature of the autism diagnosis across the world, Italian professionals who serve in community-based therapy, day centers, and residential homes for people with autism nevertheless have a complex relationship with “rigidity” as a mechanism for treatment.
Cascio interviewed both staff members at centers and programs for young people with autism as well as mental health and social service professionals throughout the region who worked on autism across the life course. These professionals voiced the value in creating structure for people with autism to assist in their development of improved social skills. Therapeutic centers and programs are themselves operated within an institutional structure that facilitates organized social interactions, both between their clients with autism and amongst staff members. However, professionals who worked at these programs often felt stymied by expectations from parents and their peers who wished for children with autism to adhere to a particular therapeutic regimen, diet, or activity schedule. The professionals likewise cautioned one another that taking any staunch, singular, and indeed “rigid” route to therapeutic intervention could prove counterintuitive to helping people with autism develop new social skills. Professionals embraced the idea of providing structure while, simultaneously, seeking to blend behavioral therapies to match individual client needs, as well as to create opportunities for clients to engage in valuable, less structured social activity.
These concerns about rigidity in the treatment of autism arrive at a time when older social structures for the care of neurodiverse individuals have been disassembled. In the 1970s, new social movements led to the deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals and care facilities, replacing the separation of mentally ill and neurodiverse individuals with integration policies that mandated new employment opportunities and equal-opportunity education for the developmentally disabled. Local mental health services attached to the national health care system provide psychiatric, behavioral, and therapeutic services that accompany other integration policies. This state of flux, at the societal level, refutes the notion that social services for autism must remain “rigid” and immmovable: they, too, change and develop with time given broader changes in the resources and services made available by the state to the disabled.
The Italian case presents a unique perspective on both the relationship between care professionals and the nature of diagnosis and treatment, as well as between concepts of autism at the scale of individual treatment and at the level of the state and national systems of health care. Like the discussion on Brazil, Italy similarly provides a fascinating context for the study of autism as a condition that is diagnosed globally, yet treated and conceptualized locally.
Autism in Brazil: Diagnosis, Identity, and Treatment Models
Read the full article by Clarice Rios and Barbara Costa Andrada here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-015-9448-5
Brazil’s model for delivering social services to the developmentally disabled was directly modeled after the Italian system of deinstitutionalization and social integration of the mentally ill and neurodiverse. Treatment interventions for people with autism, however, were not included in Brazilian social services until the early 2000s, when adolescent and child mental health conditions were integrated into existing mental health systems. This shift increased programming for people with autism, however concerns accompanied this new system about the nature of diagnosis and treatment, as expressed differently by mental health professionals and the parents of children with autism.
Rather than viewing autism as an integral piece of an individual’s identity, Brazilian mental health professionals instead employ a social model of disability that stresses the environment that a person with autism exists within. Therapies emphasize social inclusion and bolstering all mental health clients’ sense of autonomy, so as to combat the exclusion and institutionalization of the individual. This model did not emphasize treatment plans specific to autism, but rather sought to improve the lives of all clients with mental disabilities. Mental health professionals voiced concerns about creating autism-specific services, saying that these programs would exclude people with other forms of mental disability from seeking appropriate care (and exclude people with autism from engagement with people of other mental disabilities.)
Parent activists who have children with autism, on the other hand, take an identity-based approach to championing the rights of people with autism. They argued that by underscoring the specific nature of autism as a mental disability, and providing services tailored to the treatment of autism, their children would be better prepared for social inclusion. Parents feared under-diagnosis of the condition, which would mean that their children– failing to have a certified diagnosis by a health professional– would be unable to seek out care resources and early intervention programs to improve behavioral and social outcomes.
In both instances, the authors stress that the dichotomy between medical and social models of disability is scarcely stable when examining autism in Brazil. Mental health professionals and parents of children with autism both grasp the importance of medical certification of autism (diagnosis) as a means to access services (that are aligned with the social model of illness.) However, parents and professionals disagree on the nature of these services; parents hold that social inclusion for people with autism requires an understanding of their difference from non-autistic people, while professionals strive to avoid employing specific diagnosis categories as a means to separate the kind of care and services they deliver to clients with other mental health conditions.
The Brazilian case thus highlights the nature of autism and mental disability as both a medical and a social condition: one that must be negotiated, treated, and diagnosed in light of its manifold implications for human health, development, and social life.
Posted in Medical Anthropology
Tagged autism, autistic, biosociality, Brazil, disability, identity, italy, medical anthropology, mental health, neurodiversity, new issue, psychological anthropology, subjectivity
News: “Uncontacted” Tribes Emerge in Brazil
As reported by the BBC, the Brazilian organization FUNAI (which handles affairs of indigenous people within the country) released a statement on July 1st 2014 stating that seven members of an isolated tribe entered a village on the Peruvian border and made “peaceful contact” with the locals.[i] The group has been referred to in news media as an “uncontacted” tribe because of its formerly limited interaction with settled society outside of the Amazon rainforest, where the group makes its home.
This image of two members of the tribe was released by the Brazilian organization FUNAI.
The reemergence of this tribal group proves to be a source of enlivening discussion for scholars of the culture of medicine. The American Association for the Advancement of Science—the organization behind the journal Science—published a news piece that the tribal people “first exhibited flu symptoms on 30 June, 3 days after their first meeting with government officials in the Brazilian village of Simpatia.”[ii] After returning to the town, the article notes, the group was met by a medical team who administered flu vaccines and held them for six days at a treatment facility. They hoped to stop the disease from being transmitted to fellow members of the tribe, who due to infrequent contact with the villagers, could lack established immune defenses against the illness.
Another piece from Forbes news describes this interaction in further detail. “Doctors were flown in to the remote village and were able to talk to the nomads through an interpreter who knew a similar language, persuading them to take medicine that helped them to recover before they went home to their people,” the piece explained.[iii] The author also cites Carlos Travassos of the FUNAI organization, who remarked that, “at first [the tribal people] were afraid and wary, but thankfully in the end they understood, believed us, trusted the medical team and accepted the medicine…it was a difficult and slow dialogue.” The case therefore highlights the cross-cultural impact of medical treatment and the possible problems of delivering care that is non-native to the patients.
This news invites us to revisit postcolonial theory and to weigh the relationship between the settled, modernized world with that of local natives who have sustained their lifestyle alongside globalized societies which they come into contact with. It also suggests that the notion of the exotic “other,” and romanticizing of tribal life, remain objects worthy of introspection and critical interest.
[i] Newar, Rachel. (August 4 2014). Anthropology: The sad truth about uncontacted tribes. BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140804-sad-truth-of-uncontacted-tribes
[ii] Pringle, Heather. (July 25 2014). Did Brazil’s uncontacted tribe receive proper medical care? American Association for the Advancement of Science News. http://news.sciencemag.org/health/2014/07/did-brazils-uncontacted-tribe-receive-proper-medical-care
[iii] Rodgers, Paul. (July 20 2014). Indians Emerge From Jungle, Catch Deadly Flu. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulrodgers/2014/07/20/indians-emerge-from-jungle-catch-deadly-flu/
Posted in Current Events, Medical Anthropology, News
Tagged anthropology, Brazil, FUNAI, uncontacted tribe
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Culture, Power and Politics
An open seminar
Democracy is in the Streets: Fifty Years of 1968
With Hilary Wainwright
PHOTO: TIM CRABTREE
May 1968 saw an escalation of protests and political actions by students and workers in France, leading a situation of near-revolution that lasted for several weeks and re-set the terms of political debate for a generation.
Although ‘the events of May’ are remembered as the most obvious and symbolic expression of the revolutionary spirit in that moment, ‘May 1968’ was only one episode in an international series of events and struggles against the bureaucratic cultures of post-war welfare capitalism and the Stalinist ‘socialism’ of the Soviet bloc, from the early 60s to the mid- 80s. This was the moment when the counterculture, student radicalism, Black Power and a new wave or working class militancy coincided with a wave of global anti-imperial struggle and the birth of the women’s movement, the green movement and Gay Liberation.
The consequence of these struggles, their partial defeats and limited victories have been colossal: arguably the adoption of neoliberal policies by governing elites across the globe was motivated as much as anything by the need to contain their demands for radical democracy and collective freedom. On the other hand, sceptics have argued that the counterculture and the New Left undermined working class solidarity, ultimately paving the way for a postmodern culture of narcissism, hedonism and futile identity politics.
The implications of these movements and the debates that they provoked were decisive and long-lasting for the development of radical philosophy, political theory and cultural studies . What is the significance of this history for contemporary radicalism? And would it be accurate to say that ‘1968’ didn’t happen in Britain until 1982?…
https://culturepowerpolitics.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/hilaryjeremyon1968.mp3
May 13, 2018 jemgilbert
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Current (https://current.org/2013/06/michael-sullivan-veteran-frontline-producer-dies-at-67/)
Michael Sullivan, veteran Frontline producer, dies at 67
By Andrew Lapin | June 27, 2013
Sullivan (Photo: Frontline)
Michael Sullivan, an influential producer for PBS’s Frontline for more than 25 years, died at his home in Marblehead, Mass., June 23. He was 67.
Known to his colleagues as Mike, the Harvard University graduate joined Frontline in 1987 as a senior producer, after a stint at Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO-TV. While at Frontline, Sullivan worked alongside David Fanning, the program’s founder and e.p., on some of the flagship documentary program’s most acclaimed projects. Those works included 2003’s Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?, 2004’s Ghosts of Rwanda, and a series of films directed by David Sutherland, including this year’s Kind Hearted Woman.
“He was a strong character and at times quite thoughtful,” Fanning told Current, adding that Sullivan brought ambition and unique forensic skills to Frontline. “He loved to take on arguments and to challenge them.”
Sullivan left the show briefly in 2000 to work on PBS’s proposed public-affairs program Public Square, which never found sufficient funding. He returned to Frontline after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to become e.p. of special projects, a role in which he oversaw many complex, multipart investigations.
“He was an active and vibrant partner to us intellectually, and always pushed us to do the big stories — the ones that mattered, and the ones that would be remembered,” Raney Aronson-Rath, Frontline deputy e.p., told Current.
Religion was a favorite topic for Sullivan, and he explored the subject in series such as God in America, The Mormons, and Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero.
“I thought we needed more sensible coverage of religion and its impact on the American scene,” he told Current in February.
“Mike was an optimist, and he always held out hope,” Louis Wiley, senior editorial advisor for Frontline, told Current. “No matter how grim the day’s headlines were, he would make the argument that reason and intelligence would prevail, eventually.”
In January, Sullivan exited Frontline following budget cuts to the program and a phasing out of his role. He continued to work as an independent producer and was working on a Frontline project about immigration reform at the time of his death. Fanning said the film will air “whenever immigration reform gets resolved.”
A public memorial for Sullivan will be held July 2 at Harvard University’s Memorial Church in Cambridge, Mass.
Please send obituary notices to lapin@current.org
PBS’s Russell takes KOCE executive post, Dominowski to Indiana, Sullivan exits Frontline after two decades, and more . . .
Andrew Russell, PBS senior v.p. for strategy and research, is moving to PBS SoCal in Orange County, Calif., as chief operating officer, a new position. “Obviously, I see Andy as someone who can superbly lead this place when I retire in a few years,” Mel Rogers, PBS SoCal president, told Current. “That is part of why I want him here. But my replacement will be decided by our board of trustees. I can’t imagine a scenario whereby they would not choose Andy. Who could be better?”
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Tonga country brief
Development assistance in Tonga
Governance, economic and private sector development in Tonga
A more effective, efficient and equitable health system in Tonga
Skills development in support of economic opportunities for Tongan workers
Australia Awards in Tonga
Australian Volunteers program in Tonga
Tonga and Australia: standing strong together infographic
The Kingdom of Tonga is a Polynesian country that lies to the south of Samoa, southeast of Fiji and north east of New Zealand. The Tongan archipelago is comprised of 176 islands, 36 of which are inhabited by a population of approximately 106,000. The islands are divided into four main groups — Tongatapu, Ha'apai and Vava'u and the Niuas. The capital Nuku'alofa is located on the main island of Tongatapu.
Political overview
Tonga is a constitutional monarchy, making it unique in the Pacific. Its monarchy is over 1,000 years old and its constitution dates back to 1875. Following the death of King George Tupou V in March 2012, his younger brother became king and took the title King Tupou VI. King Tupou VI’s official coronation was held on 4 July 2015. As Head of State the King is Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Armed Forces. The King is advised by a Privy Council whose members he appoints.
The governing structure comprises the Executive (Cabinet), Legislature and Judiciary. A reformed constitution was agreed by the Legislative Assembly in December 2009 and implemented through legislation passed in April 2010. The new constitution considerably reduced the King's power, which was devolved to the Cabinet. Cabinet now answers to the Legislative Assembly however the King retains the right to veto legislation.
The Legislative Assembly comprises 17 People's Representatives, nine Noble Representatives elected from among the holders of Tonga's 33 noble titles, and up to four additional members appointed by the King on the advice of the Prime Minister. The King appoints the Prime Minister on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly.
The most recent election was held in November 2017. The current Prime Minister is the Hon. Samuela ‘Akilisi Pohiva.
Australia and Tonga enjoy a close bilateral relationship, supported by our aid program, Defence Cooperation Program, the Tonga Police Development Program and people-to-people links. The Tongan Government established a High Commission in Canberra in August 2008.
People to people links
Australia is an important focus for Tongans seeking education, travel and business opportunities. The largest communities of Tongans in Australia are in Victoria and NSW, with smaller groups in the ACT and Queensland. Approximately 32,000 Australians identify themselves as of Tongan ancestry.
Tonga represents almost 60 per cent of the 31,344 Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) participants to date. 14,569 Tongan workers (1,929 women, 12,640 men) have been granted visas to participate in the SWP since it commenced as a permanent programme in July 2012. Australia is one of the largest sources of remittances to Tonga.
Australia has provided 572 scholarships (Australia Awards) to Tongan students since 2007. Tertiary-level scholarships are focused on addressing Tonga's skills shortage in the fields of education, health, engineering, economics and public sector management. In 2018, Australia offered 57 new Australia Awards to Tongan students.
By the end of 2020, the New Colombo Plan alumni will have grown to around 40,000 young Australians with experience of living, studying and undertaking work experience in the Indo-Pacific. Nearly 160 will have undertaken mobility projects in Tonga, in fields of study including nursing, tourism, and sustainability.
The Australian Volunteers Program matches a broad range of skilled Australians with partner organisations in the Indo-Pacific region, to support them to achieve their own development goals. By supporting sustainable development, the Australian Volunteers Program contributes to continued economic growth and improved stability and security. In 2018-19, Australia will support 31 volunteer assignments in Tonga..
The Defence Cooperation Program in Tonga includes the provision of Australian Defence Force advisors, a range of training and capacity building initiatives and support for bilateral and regional exercises. Australia also contributes to the Tonga Police Development Program, a joint undertaking between Tonga, Australia and New Zealand, which aims to build police capacity and service standards.
More information on development assistance to Tonga
Tonga has a small open economy which is vulnerable to external shocks. The economy is heavily reliant on foreign aid and remittances from Tongans working overseas. The US is the main source of remittances, followed by New Zealand and Australia. Foreign development assistance in the form of loans, grants and direct aid is an important component of the Tongan economy.
Construction and infrastructure projects funded by donor grants and soft loans are sources of growth. Despite its economic difficulties, Tonga remains one of the best performers in the Pacific in terms of progress against the Millennium Development Goals. Agriculture is the leading productive sector. The manufacturing sector is very small.
Tourism is currently modest but with a large potential for expansion. Tonga's main trading partners are New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, the United States and Japan. Most Tongan exports are agricultural produce while imports cover the full range of consumer and industrial goods.
Two-way trade between Australia and Tonga was valued at approximately $96 million (in goods and services) in 2018. Tongan goods exports was valued at around $2 million, mostly made up of agricultural produce, including vegetables, fruit and nuts, but also including vehicle parts and accessories and hardware items such as nails, screws, rivets, nuts and bolts.
Australia's goods exports to Tonga totalled approximately $18 million, with major items including meat, measuring and analysing instruments, and liquefied propane and butane.
Australian exports of services to Tonga totalled $36 million (largely personal travel). Tongan exports of services to Australia totalled $40 million (largely personal travel).
High level visits
In December 2018, Australia’s Ambassador for Women and Girls Dr Sharman Stone visited Tonga, highlighting the positive work Australia and Tonga are doing to address gender inequality, and emphasising the strength of the bilateral relationship.
In June 2018, then-Defence Minister Payne visited Tonga as part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 18, handing over five Australian-gifted Unimog vehicles to His Majesty’s Armed Forces and promoting the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
In March 2018, then-Foreign Minister Bishop and then-Minister for International Development and the Pacific Fierravanti-Wells visited Tonga to observe relief and recovery efforts in response to Tropical Cyclone Gita.
In August 2017, Australia’s Environment Ambassador Mr Patrick Suckling visited Tonga to re-emphasise Australia’s support for Tonga in implementing Paris commitments, including through renewable energy infrastructure, climate change science projects and climate finance.
In June 2017, a bipartisan parliamentary delegation visited Tonga to meet with key people and observe issues regarding Australia’s relations with Tonga. The delegation was led by Senator the Hon Ian MacDonald, and included Mr. Milton Dick MP, Mr. Steve Georganas MP, and Senator John Williams.
In June 2017, then-Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Pitt visited Tonga for the signing of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER Plus) by Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and other Pacific island countries.
In September 2016, then-Minister for International Development and the Pacific Fierravanti-Wells visited Tonga. This visit focused on political, economic, defence, policing and education links. The Tonga-Australia Aid Partnership was also signed, reflecting Australia and Tonga’s shared development priorities and providing a clear strategic focus for our aid investments over the next three years.
This visit follows four high-level visits to Tonga in 2015 by then-Foreign Minister Bishop (April 2015), President of the Senate Parry (April 2015), the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove (July 2015), and a parliamentary delegation led by the then Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Mr Ciobo with MPs Jane Prentice, Sharon Claydon and Nola Marino (December 2015).
Last Updated: 2 January 2019
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Artist of the moment……Samuel Borenstein
{ February 28, 2014 @ 5:02 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: canada, canadian, joyce borenstein, landscapes, lithuania, painter, sam borenstein } · { Leave a Comment }
Samuel Borenstein was born in Lithuania in the year 1908. Borenstein painted in an expressionist and impressionistic manner the landscapes of his native country and his adopted country of Canada.
Borenstein worked in many mediums including watercolor, oils, ink, and gouache.
For his artistic education Borenstein was basically self taught having only been to a formal school for art for less than one year.
The artist moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the year 1921.
Borenstein was based out of Montreal for most of his adult life.
Samuel Borenstein passed away in 1969.
The artist had a daughter named Joyce Borenstein who is an artist. Joyce Borenstein wrote and directed a movie that told the story of her father named “Colours of my father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein. “
The movie was nominated for an Academy Award.
Another great family of artists!
Price range information: Sorry none avaiable.
Artist of the moment…….David D. Stern
{ Tags: abstract, david stern, dusseldorf art academy, essen, figurative, german, germany, painter } · { Leave a Comment }
David D. Stern was born in Essen, Germany in the year 1956. Stern paints the figure with a very thick impasto technique. The end result is a figure lost in a sea of abstracted shapes.
For his artistic education Stern attended the Dusseldorf Art Academy. In addition Stern attended the F.H. Dortmund Art School located in Dortmund, Germany.
Stern moved to the United States in 1994 settling in New York City in 1995.
The artist was affected by the events of September 11, 2001 and his artistic output slowed. In recent years however Stern has been active again as a painter.
David Stern is based out of New York City.
In this clip a brief biography on David Stern:
What a great paint surface the artist achieves. The work is both figurative and very abstract at the same time.
Artist of the moment……Jack Tworkov
{ Tags: abstract, american, jack tworkov, painter, Polish } · { Leave a Comment }
Jack Tworkov was born in Biala Podlaska, Russian Empire in the year 1900. Tworkov was renowned for his abstract paintings. When he began as an artist Tworkov wanted to be a writer. For his artistic education Tworkov attended Columbia University, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Student’s League of New York City.
Price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $500,000. Tworkov worked as a printmaker and also in watercolor, oils, and acrylic.
Tworkov was also an avid teacher working at many well respected institutions with art programs including American University, Black Mountain College, Pratt Institute, and Yale University.
His family moved to the United States in 1913.
In this clip we view some works by Tworkov set to Chopin:
In many of his abstract works Tworkov worked with basic geometric shapes and basic color.
Tworkov died in 1982 at the age of 82 years of age.
Artist of the moment…….William Brice
{ Tags: abstract, american, Art Students League New York City, chouinard art institute, fanny brice, painter, printmaker, realism, teacher, william brice } · { Leave a Comment }
William Brice was born in New York City in the year 1921. Brice was renown for his wonderful blend of abstract and figurative works. Brice worked in many mediums including printmaking, oils, ink, charcoal, and pastel.
His mother was a well known actress and radio personality named Fannie Brice. Below a picture of his mother.
The artist’s father had a tough life. He enjoyed gambling and sometimes ripped people off with various schemes in order to gamble.
As his mother made good money acting William Brice had a private art teacher in his early years. The artist enjoyed the paintings of Picasso and Matisse. I can easily see Matisse coming into play for his great use of color. Brice when on to study at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, California. Later the artist would attend the Art Student’s League of New York City.
Brice had his first solo show at the age of 26 years of age at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
In this clip we view a collection of 25 years of drawings from Brice and hear about his influence on another artist:
The artist was also a teacher in Los Angeles working for the Jepsen Art Institute and then U.C.L.A.
Brice passed away at the age of 86 years of age in 2008.
Artist of the moment……..Asaad Arabi
{ Tags: asaad arabi, damascus, expressionist, france, landscapes, painter, paris, people, Sorbonne, syria } · { Leave a Comment }
Asaad Arabi was born in Damascus, Syria in the year 1941. Arabi works in a very modern style and blends a great sense of design with cultural motifs to create some truly magnificent paintings. Arabi enjoys painting city scenes with women in lengthy Arabic clothing. My personal favorite of the artists are his works of jazz musicians.
Asaad Arabi likes to paint not only what we see, but what might be hidden just beneath the surface.
Arabi is based out of Paris, France.
For his collegiate education Asaad Arabi attended the Sorbonne where he earned a PhD in Aesthetics.
Some prominent collections holding his works include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Barcelona Contemporary Museum of Art.
Most works painted by this artist are in acrylic. He seems to lay it on very thick, the works have a great paint quality to them. Very expressive indeed!
Artist of the moment……Auguste Bonheur
{ Tags: animals, auguste bonheur, ecole des beaux-arts paris, france, french, landscape, oscar raymond bonheur, painter } · { Leave a Comment }
Auguste Bonheur was another child of the renown painter and teacher Oscar Raymond Bonheur. Auguste Bonheur was born in Bordeaux, France in the year 1824. Auguste Bonheur was renown for his paintings of animals and the landscape.
Auguste Bonheur was the first son born to Oscar Raymond Bonheur.
The artist was a medal winning artist at the famed Paris Salon.
For his artistic education Auguste Bonheur attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts located in Paris, France.
His sister has already been profiled here, Rosa Marie Bonheur. A wonderful painter of the animals and the landscape.
The artist passed away in 1884 in Paris, France.
Price range information: Works range from $2,000 to $30,000. Auguste Bonheur worked many in oils.
Auguste Bonheur is part many prominent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, England and the Museum of Art located in New York City.
What an awesome family of painters! Its great to see that most children took what lessons their father taught them, and all surpassed him with their high level of talent!
More on the other artists of this family coming soon!
Artist of the moment…….Bernard Stern
{ Tags: american, Belgium, bernard stern, brussels, faces, painter, printmaker, sculptor } · { Leave a Comment }
Bernard Stern was a painter who was also a printmaker, and sculptor who enjoyed working with the face and figure. The artist also created a large body of rather abstract works.
His lineage is more difficult to remember than most artists! Stern was British and born in Brussels, Belgium.Stern was married first to a Vietnamese princess and later to an American woman.
He lived in all of the major artistic cities at some point. London, England and Paris, France and New York City.
Bernard Stern came from a short family and he also was very short but had a great work ethic and tremendous determination.
The artist lived an incredible life as he was born to wealthy Jewish family in Brussels, Belgium in the year 1920. He was the only son. As his family was Jewish one day all of their possessions weren’t theirs anymore and the artist didn’t panic. He had belief in himself and turned out to be a great businessman with his lampshade painting business!
Bernard Stern was also a great businessman. He created a company that specialized in painting lampshades.
The artist did marry a princess from Vietnam. The couple had three children. The marriage ended and Stern took up painting avidly once again.
Stern was known as the man who lived life at 100,000 volts!
What a great businessman and artist! The artist also had a great collection of art. What an amazing life this artist had. It seems he had the best of everything and still wanted to create art!
Bernard Stern was killed in a car accident in France in 2002 and was killed at the age of 82 years of age.
Stern is part of museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, France and the Museum of Modern Art located in Chicago, Illinois.
What a talented artist with a very unique lifestyle !
Artist of the moment…….Louise K. Stone
{ Tags: abstract, american, Art Students League New York City, Cincinnati Art Academy, geometric shapes, hans hoffman, louise k. stone, painter, pennsylvania academy of fine arts } · { Leave a Comment }
Louise K. Stone was born in Findlay, Ohio in the year 1902. Stone was an abstract painter who worked with basic geometric shapes and great color.
For his artistic education Louise Stone attended the Cincinnati Academy of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Art. Stone also took classes at the Art Student’s League of New York City.
The artist also studied in Germany with Hans Hoffman.
Louise K. Stone passed away in 1984.
Artist of the moment…….Wei Zixi
{ Tags: china, chinese, figure in landscape, landscape, scroll painter, wei zixi } · { Leave a Comment }
Wei Zixi was a very prolific Chinese painter of the landscape and figure. Zixi did much of his work with ink painted on hanging scrolls.
Wei Zixi was born in 1915 in Suiping, Henan, China.
The artist was a member of the Jiangsu Chinese Paint Academy.
Wei Zixi passed away in 2002.
I wish more information was available for this artist! In the upcoming posts we will spend some time looking at the wonderful Chinese painters that work on hanging scrolls. I love the atmosphere and design of these well executed works!
In this clip we visit a museum named for the artist. Not much artwork of Wei Zixi is shown. I included the clip as it contains a wonderful part in which traditional landscape painter Henry Li shows which brushes he uses to make clouds, mountains, and trees:
Price range information: Works range from $10,000 to $75,000.
Wei Zixi was able to get great depth on his wonderful compositions. The artist was also a very capable draftsman I would rank in the same category of other landscape artists including Claude Lorraine.
Artist of the moment……Marcel Russ
{ Tags: canada, canadian, haida, jewelry, marcel russ, printmaker, raven clan, ron russ, sculptor, Totem poles } · { Leave a Comment }
Marcel Russ is a wonderful artist representing the Haida (Raven Clan). Marcel Russ was born in Queen Charlotte Islands in the year 1973. Other artists in his family include his father Ron Russ.
Russ works as a jewelry designer, sculptor of totem poles, and graphic designer, and printmaker.
The artist learned how to work with argillite from his father. He started working with this stone when he was 8 years old. He began to work with wood when he was 12 years of age.
The artist also has an uncle named Chris Russ who is also an artist. It runs in the family genes! Through out the Haida nation both sides of his families have been renowned for their work with argillite and wood carvings.
Price range information: Works range from $500 to $20,000.
In this clip a candid interview about giving back to your local community with Marcel Russ:
Another great family of artists to profile!
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Posts Tagged ‘frederick brill’
Artist of the moment………..Bob and Roberta Smith
{ January 30, 2015 @ 12:10 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: bob and roberta smith, british, England, frederick brill, goldsmith's college, jessica voorsanger, London, patrick brill, poster art, tate museum, typography, university of reading } · { Leave a Comment }
Patrick Brill, also known as Bob and Roberta Smith, is a British artist renown for his art which uses typography and a poster format. Patrick Brill was born in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom in the year 1963. His father was a professional landscape artist named Frederick Brill.
Brill attended the University of Reading where he earned a bachelors degree. The artist went on to earn a masters degree from GoldsmithsCollege.
Brill is more commonly known as Bob and Roberta Smith.
His wife, Jessica Voorsanger, is also an artist and an advocate for exposing people with learning disabilities to art.
Brill is associate professor at London Metropolitan University.
The artist works in acrylics and printmaking. The artist has also recently been working with sculpture.
In this clip an interview with the artist:
Below we view a brief documentary from the Tate about Bob and Roberta Smith:
This artist reminds me of Stephen Powers for his use of color and text.
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Glebe Island 2005
Airview
[0508-0802-10]
Ports Wharves
Glebe Island Johnstons Bay White Bay
Balmain Glebe
Airview is a commercial aerial photography company supplying the Dictionary with both stock and artistic aerial photography
Glebe Island
Rocky outcrop bounded by White Bay to the west and north and Johnstons Bay to the east and south and linked to Balmain by causeway in 1840s. It was the site of abattoirs from 1850s to 1912, then levelled and used as wharves.
Johnstons Bay
Bay between Rozelle and Pyrmont first spanned by the Glebe Island Bridge, and later the Anzac Bridge.
White Bay
Bay in Sydney Harbour adjacent to Rozelle and Balmain, dominated by the former White Bay Power Station.
Harbourside suburb on a peninsula west of central Sydney, named after the First Fleet assistant surgeon, with a working-class and industrial history. From the 1960s, as industry waned, it became popular with professional and business people who wanted to live close to the city.
Inner-city suburb named for its original status as Anglican church land granted to Richard Johnson, chaplain of the first fleet in 1790. The Glebe Point area became fashionable in the nineteenth century, while the southern part of Glebe became a working class district.
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Home > College of Sciences > Chemistry and Biochemistry > Faculty Publications > 204
Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications
X-ray Emission Spectroscopy of Proteinogenic Amino Acids at All Relevant Absorption Edges
F. Meyer, Universität WürzburgFollow
M. Blum, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
A. Benkert, Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS)Follow
D. Hauschild, Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS)Follow
Y. L. Jeyachandran, Bharathiar UniversityFollow
R. G. Wilks, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbHFollow
W. Yang, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryFollow
M. Bär, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-SenftenbergFollow
Clemens Heske, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
F. Reinhart, Universität Würzburg
M. Zharnikov, Heidelberg UniversityFollow
Lothar Weinhardt, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Nonresonant N K, O K, C K, and S L2,3 X-ray emission spectra of the 20 most common proteinogenic amino acids in their solid zwitterionic form are reported. They represent a comprehensive database that can serve as a reliable basis for the X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XES) studies of peptides and proteins. At the most important N and O K edges, clear similarities and differences between the spectra of certain amino acids are observed and associated with the specific chemical structure of these molecules and their functional groups. Analysis of these spectra allows the generation of spectral fingerprints of the protonated amino group, the deprotonated carboxylic group, and, using a building block approach, the specific nitrogen- and oxygen-containing functional groups in the side chains of the amino acids. Some of these fingerprints are compared to the spectra of reference compounds with the respective functional groups; they exhibit reasonable similarity, underlining the validity of the spectral fingerprint approach. The C K and S L2,3 XES spectra are found to be specific for each amino acid, in accordance with the different local environments of the involved C and S atoms, respectively. © 2017 American Chemical Society.
Meyer, F., Blum, M., Benkert, A., Hauschild, D., Jeyachandran, Y. L., Wilks, R. G., Yang, W., Bär, M., Heske, C., Reinhart, F., Zharnikov, M., Weinhardt, L. (2017). X-ray Emission Spectroscopy of Proteinogenic Amino Acids at All Relevant Absorption Edges. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 121(27), 6549-6556.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b04291
UNLV Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
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Hybrid Machining of Inconel 718
Zhiyong Wang, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
K. P. Rajurkar, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Fan, University of Nebraska, LincolnFollow
S. Lei, Purdue University
Y. C. Shin, Purdue University
G. Petrescu, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture
A new approach for machining of Inconel 718 is presented in this paper. It combines traditional turning with cryogenically enhanced machining and plasma enhanced machining. Cryogenically enhanced machining is used to reduce the temperatures in the cutting tool, and thus reduces temperature-dependent tool wear to prolong tool life, whereas plasma enhanced machining is used to increase the temperatures in the workpiece to soften it. By joining these two non-traditional techniques with opposite effects on the cutting tool and the workpiece, it has been found that the surface roughness was reduced by 250%; the cutting forces was decreased by approximately 30–50%; and the tool life was extended up to 170% over conventional machining.
Cryogenic turning; Inconel; Inconel 718; Low temperature engineering; Machining; Plasma enhanced machining; Surface roughness; Turning (Lathe work)
Engineering Mechanics | Manufacturing | Materials Science and Engineering | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanics of Materials
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0890-6955(03)00134-2
Wang, Z., Rajurkar, K. P., Fan, J., Lei, S., Shin, Y. C., Petrescu, G. (2003). Hybrid Machining of Inconel 718. International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture, 43(13), 1391-1396.
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Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art: How Good is Autofocus Accuracy on Nikon D810
Related: focusing, Nikon, Nikon D810, Nikon DSLR, Sigma, Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art, Sigma DG HSM Art
Get Sigma DG HSM Art including the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art B&H Photo.
See Sigma DG HSM Art lens reviews in diglloyd Advanced DSLR.
The weak point of most DSLRs is autofocus at distance. The autofocus system itself often lacks precision (scientific sense), and the lens can contribute by offering less than ideal optical performance and/or a lens motor not up to highly precise operation. Not so with the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art or so it seems—I wanted to find out if I could rely on DSLR autofocus with the Sigma.
In my review of the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art:
Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Examples: Autofocus Accuracy (Nikon D810)
Includes images up to full resolution, with crops. The images also serve to document the optical quality possible with the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art wide open at f/1.8.
f1.8 @ 1/125 sec, ISO 64; 2017-05-06 19:51:02
NIKON D810 + Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art
[low-res image for bot]
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South Asians for Human Rights pay tribute to Asma Jahangir
On a warm Colombo summer evening, South Asians for Human Rights paid a rich tribute to their founding member, Asma Jahangir, who was a spokesperson of the organization at the time of her passing. SAHR was co -founded by Asma Jahangir, from Pakistan, Mr. I.K Gujral, former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Kamal Hossain, lawyer and politician from Bangladesh, Dr. Devendra Raj Pancday, economist and activist from Nepal, and Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy from Sri Lanka, who is a former UN Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and a leading human rights lawyer. SAHR was created as a democratic regional network with a large membership of committed human rights defenders to find a regional response to human rights issues.
Speaking on the occasion to a houseful of human rights defenders from across South Asia, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, recounting her memories of Asma Jahangir, said that Asma had the kind of courage that she not only fought for justice but also enabled kindness, generosity and integrity.
“When I worked with her very closely in the 1980s and the 1990s, she was known as the “little heroine”, this diminutive figure who was a doughty fighter for social causes but whose house was an open place where sensitive people from all over the world gathered, bonded and knew that she would always be there for them.”
Ms. Coomaraswamy said that we owe it to Asma to fight for what is right and just in all our societies, and that the world is not as safe of a place as it used to be with Asma.
Mr. I A Rehman, a life-long colleague of Asma and a leading human rights defender from Pakistan, said that one critical challenge to human rights defenders is that we are struggling without Asma Jahangir. He said “what greater tribute can be paid to her than thousands of human rights defenders across the world are missing her tremendously and they feel that the journey is much harder without her.”
SAHR Chairperson, Sultana Kamal, presented Asma Jahangir’s daughter and prominent journalist, Munizae Jahangir, with a book compiled by the South Asian Human Rights defenders paying tributes to Asma Jahangir.
Published in Daily Times, August 19th 2018.
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The Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill (Part3)……The Science?
“All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it’s here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.” – President Barack Obama
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” – H.L. Mencken, famous columnist
Al Gore, former vice president: “I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.”
These quotes are representative of a host of statements by environmental activists that all but admit, that at a minimum, there is an intentional attempt to use fear and deception as a means to advance their agenda.
The scientific community is split into two very distinct groups on the subject of global warming/climate change – those who believe it is induced by humans and those who don’t.
Let’s start with the hypothesis about how excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can create a greenhouse effect that results in global warming.
The work of scientists (Fourier 1824 and Tyndall 1861) have been cited as the basis for the greenhouse effect theory. However, an analysis of these papers shows neither included the concept of the atmospheric greenhouse effect. The earth’s atmosphere contains trace gases, some of which absorb heat. These gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide) are referred to as “greenhouse gases.”
Below is a link to a scientific paper that destroys the basic premise of the greenhouse effect through the science of thermal dynamics and physics. The basic analysis is a comparison of the mechanics of a greenhouse and the thermal dynamics of earth’s atmosphere. It is clear and concise. It contends that the IPCC has manufactured science that supports a political agenda rather than a scientific premise.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0707/0707.1161v4.pdf
The United States Department of Energy, confirmed in a 1985 report that the “CO2-greenhouse effect”, the theoretical atmospheric greenhouse effect (projecting the climatic effects of increasing carbon dioxide) does not compare to the actual warming phenomenon in a glass house. This comprehensive pre-IPCC publication explicitly states that the terms “greenhouse gas” and “greenhouse effect” are misnomers.
Commonly held perceptions of the climatic relevance of CO2 and other so-called greenhouse gases rest on a staggering failure to grasp some of the fundamentals of physics. Correct interpretation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and sound appreciation of the necessary physical conditions for emission of radiation by gases lead to the understanding that within the troposphere no backradiation can be caused by so-called greenhouse gases. Therefore, it is not at all correct to speak of a thermal effect of these gases on the biosphere.
The thermal conditions in our and any atmosphere are determined by its pressure and the mass of its main components. Higher concentrations of CO2 in our atmosphere – at least until they reached 2% (a 60-fold increase) and thus became injurious to health – would endanger neither the climate nor mankind. To avoid further misunderstanding, the terms greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases should be avoided in describing the functioning of the atmosphere. A more correct term would be atmosphere effect.
The operation of this effect is described in “The Thermodynamic Atmosphere Effect” at http://www.geocities.com/atmosco2/atmos.htm.)
It is completely incomprehensible and unjustified to imagine that mankind can or must protect the climate by attempting to control trace amounts of CO2 in the air. Source – Heinz Thieme http://freenet-homepage.de/klima/indexe.htm
Also in all of these articles allude to problems with the computer models being used to predict the impending climate disaster. However, when these models are tested against actual data from satellites and weather balloons the models appear to be wrong. See the following articles for more details:
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/essd06oct97_1.htm
http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/15727/Global_Warming_Computer_Models_Seriously_Flawed_Studies_Show.html
So here is where we are:
Current plans and actions to protect the climate lack an adequate basis in the proven results of scientific research. The group of scientists currently offering policy advice has so far failed to demonstrate the alleged mechanisms by which trace gases will damage weather and climate. Moreover, several potentially major influences on climate are being ignored. Enhanced scientific understanding of meteorological processes might suggest substantially different climate protection activities, if in fact these are necessary or feasible. Substantial further research is required by experts in biology, chemistry, thermodynamics and meteorology to improve knowledge of atmospheric dynamics and assess the extent to which human activities affect climate. Source – Heinz Thieme http://www.geocities.com/atmosco2/Influence.htm
In the final installment of this series the discussion will turn to the potential economic impact of this craziness. If allowed to move forward The Waxman Markey Climate Change Bill will have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy and it’s citizens.
Quote by Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth: “A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources.”
Stephen Schneider, Stanford Univ., environmentalist: “That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have.”
Posted in Global Warming
Tagged Cap and Trade, Climate change, conservative, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas, IPCC, politics, Waxman Markey Climate Change bill
The Waxman – Markey Climate Change Bill (Part 2) … Does “human activity” really induce global warming?
“Not only do journalists not have a responsibility to report what skeptical scientists have to say about global warming. They have a responsibility not to report what these scientists say.” – Ross Gelbsan, former journalist
Even though the mainstream media refuses to cover it, there is momentum building in the scientific community to challenge the current hype around global warming and the allegedly negative effects of greenhouse gases. Today’s blog is intended to point you in the direction of this information as I continue to lay the ground work for debate on why this bill is bad for America.
Let’s start with a documentary produced in the U.K. on the subject:
(N.Y. Post) March 17th BRITAIN’S Channel 4 has produced a devastating documentary titled “The Great Global Warming Swindle.” It has apparently not been broadcast by any U.S. networks, but is available on the Web.
Distinguished scientists specializing in climate and climate-related fields talk in plain English and present readily understood graphs showing what a crock the current global-warming hysteria is.
These include scientists from MIT and top-tier universities in a number of countries. The names of some were paraded on some of the global-warming publications that are being promoted in the media – but they state plainly that they neither wrote those publications nor approved them. One threatened to sue unless his name was removed.
While the public has been led to believe that “all” leading scientists buy the global-warming hysteria and the political agenda that goes with it, in fact the official reports from the United Nations or the National Academy of Sciences are written by bureaucrats – and then garnished with the names of leading scientists who were “consulted,” but whose contrary conclusions have been ignored.
There is no question that the globe is warming – but it has warmed and cooled before, and is not as warm today as it was some centuries ago, before there was as much the burning of fossil fuels as today. None of the dire things predicted today happened then.
The documentary goes into some of the many factors that have caused the Earth to warm and cool for centuries, including changes in activities on the sun, 93 million miles away and wholly beyond the jurisdiction of the Kyoto treaty.
According to these climate scientists, human activities have very little effect on the climate, compared to many other factors, from volcanoes to clouds.
These climate scientists likewise debunk the mathematical models used to hype warming hysteria, showing that they’re contradicted by hard evidence stretching back centuries.
Much effort has been put into silencing scientists who dare to say that the emperor has no clothes. One of the scientists interviewed in the documentary reported getting death threats.
In politics, even conservative Republicans seem to have taken the view that, if you can’t lick ’em, join ’em. So have big corporations, which have joined the stampede.
No one denies that temperatures are about a degree warmer than they were a century ago. What the climate scientists in the British documentary deny is that you can mindlessly extrapolate that, or that we are headed for a climate catastrophe if we don’t take drastic steps that could cause an economic catastrophe.
“Global warming” is just the latest in a long line of hysterical crusades to which we seem to be increasingly susceptible.
For more information on this documentary go to:
http://www.greatglobalwarmingswindle.co.uk/ It is also available on YouTube.
“A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources.” – Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth
Next there is the infamous open letter that another group of scientists wrote to the U.N. on the subject. The letter not only disagrees openly with the reported conclusions of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) but also challenges the methodology of how it was written. See below:
Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary-General, United Nations
Dear Mr. Secretary-General,
Re: UN climate conference is taking the World in entirely the wrong direction.
It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages. Geological, archaeological, oral and written histories all attest to the dramatic challenges posed to past societies from unanticipated changes in temperature, precipitation, winds and other climatic variables. We therefore need to equip nations to become resilient to the full range of these natural phenomena by promoting economic growth and wealth generation.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued increasingly alarming conclusions about the climatic influences of human-produced carbon dioxide (CO2), a non-polluting gas that is essential to plant photosynthesis. While we understand the evidence that has led them to view CO2 emissions as harmful, the IPCC’s conclusions are quite inadequate as justification for implementing policies that will markedly diminish future prosperity. In particular, it is not established that it is possible to significantly alter global climate through cuts in human greenhouse gas emissions. On top of which, because attempts to cut emissions will slow development, the current UN approach of CO2 reduction is likely to increase human suffering from future climate change rather than to decrease it.
The IPCC Summaries for Policy Makers are the most widely read IPCC reports amongst politicians and non-scientists and are the basis for most climate change policy formulation. Yet these Summaries are prepared by a relatively small core writing team with the final drafts approved line-by-lineby government representatives. The great majority of IPCC contributors and reviewers, and the tens of thousands of other scientists who are qualified to comment on these matters, are not involved in the preparation of these documents. The summaries therefore cannot properly be represented as a consensus view among experts.
Contrary to the impression left by the IPCC Summary reports:
z Recent observations of phenomena such as glacial retreats, sea-level rise and the migration of temperature-sensitive species are not evidence for abnormal climate change, for none of these changes has been shown to lie outside the bounds of known natural variability.
z The average rate of warming of 0.1 to 0. 2 degrees Celsius per decade recorded by satellites during the late 20th century falls within known natural rates of warming and cooling over the last 10,000 years.
z Leading scientists, including some senior IPCC representatives, acknowledge that today’s computer models cannot predict climate. Consistent with this, and despite computer projections of temperature rises, there has been no net global warming since 1998. That the current temperature plateau follows a late 20th-century period of warming is consistent with the continuation today of natural multi-decadal or millennial climate cycling.
In stark contrast to the often repeated assertion that the science of climate change is “settled,” significant new peer-reviewed research has cast even more doubt on the hypothesis of dangerous human-caused global warming. But because IPCC working groups were generally instructed (see reference) to consider work published only through May, 2005, these important findings are not included in their reports; i.e., the IPCC assessment reports are already materially outdated.
The UN climate conference in Bali has been planned to take the world along a path of severe CO2 restrictions, ignoring the lessons apparent from the failure of the Kyoto Protocol, the chaotic nature of the European CO2 trading market, and the ineffectiveness of other costly initiatives to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Balanced cost/benefit analyses provide no support for the introduction of global measures to cap and reduce energy consumption for the purpose of restricting CO2 emissions. Furthermore, it is irrational to apply the “precautionary principle” because many scientists recognize that both climatic coolings and warmings are realistic possibilities over the medium-term future.
The current UN focus on “fighting climate change,” as illustrated in the Nov. 27 UN Development Programme’s Human Development Report, is distracting governments from adapting to the threat of inevitable natural climate changes, whatever forms they may take. National and international planning for such changes is needed, with a focus on helping our most vulnerable citizens adapt to conditions that lie ahead. Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity’s real and pressing problems.
A complete list of signers available at the bottom of this blog.
http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/open-letter-100-scientists-ban-ki-moon-0
“The answer to global warming is in the abolition of private property and production for human need. A socialist world would place an enormous priority on alternative energy sources. This is what ecologically-minded socialists have been exploring for quite some time now.” – Louis Proyect, Columbia University
Here are a few other sites to visit:
http://climateresearchnews.com/2009/02/japanese-scientists-dispute-man-made-warming-hypothesis/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5086
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=212
Again, all of this reading is in preparation for the final 2 parts of this series. Part 3 will deal with the scientific facts in dispute. Part 4 will summarizes my opinion about the potential impact of proposed governmental policies and regulations of greenhouse gas. More to come….
I have included these signatures to make a point which is there is clearly not a consensus opinion or indisputable evidence on this subject as we are often led to believe.
Don Aitkin, PhD, Professor, social scientist, retired vice-chancellor and president, University of Canberra, Australia
William J.R. Alexander, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Civil and Biosystems Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Member, UN Scientific and Technical Committee on Natural Disasters, 1994-2000
Bjarne Andresen, PhD, physicist, Professor, The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Geoff L. Austin, PhD, FNZIP, FRSNZ, Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Timothy F. Ball, PhD, environmental consultant, former climatology professor, University of Winnipeg
Ernst-Georg Beck, Dipl. Biol., Biologist, Merian-Schule Freiburg, Germany
Sonja A. Boehmer-Christiansen, PhD, Reader, Dept. of Geography, Hull University, U.K.; Editor, Energy & Environment journal
Chris C. Borel, PhD, remote sensing scientist, U.S.
Reid A. Bryson, PhD, DSc, DEngr, UNE P. Global 500 Laureate; Senior Scientist, Center for Climatic Research; Emeritus Professor of Meteorology, of Geography, and of Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin
Dan Carruthers, M.Sc., wildlife biology consultant specializing in animal ecology in Arctic and Subarctic regions, Alberta
R.M. Carter, PhD, Professor, Marine Geophysical Laboratory, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Ian D. Clark, PhD, Professor, isotope hydrogeology and paleoclimatology, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa
Richard S. Courtney, PhD, climate and atmospheric science consultant, IPCC expert reviewer, U.K.
Willem de Lange, PhD, Dept. of Earth and Ocean Sciences, School of Science and Engineering, Waikato University, New Zealand
David Deming, PhD (Geophysics), Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma
Freeman J. Dyson, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, N.J.
Don J. Easterbrook, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Geology, Western Washington University
Lance Endersbee, Emeritus Professor, former dean of Engineering and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Monasy University, Australia
Hans Erren, Doctorandus, geophysicist and climate specialist, Sittard, The Netherlands
Robert H. Essenhigh, PhD, E.G. Bailey Professor of Energy Conversion, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, The Ohio State University
Christopher Essex, PhD, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Associate Director of the Program in Theoretical Physics, University of Western Ontario
David Evans, PhD, mathematician, carbon accountant, computer and electrical engineer and head of ‘Science Speak,’ Australia
William Evans, PhD, editor, American Midland Naturalist; Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame
Stewart Franks, PhD, Professor, Hydroclimatologist, University of Newcastle, Australia
R. W. Gauldie, PhD, Research Professor, Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean Earth Sciences and Technology, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Lee C. Gerhard, PhD, Senior Scientist Emeritus, University of Kansas; former director and state geologist, Kansas Geological Survey
Gerhard Gerlich, Professor for Mathematical and Theoretical Physics, Institut für Mathematische Physik der TU Braunschweig, Germany
Albrecht Glatzle, PhD, sc.agr., Agro-Biologist and Gerente ejecutivo, INTTAS, Paraguay
Fred Goldberg, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Royal Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden
Vincent Gray, PhD, expert reviewer for the IPCC and author of The Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of ‘Climate Change 2001, Wellington, New Zealand
William M. Gray, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University and Head of the Tropical Meteorology Project
Howard Hayden, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Connecticut
Louis Hissink MSc, M.A.I.G., editor, AIG News, and consulting geologist, Perth, Western Australia
Craig D. Idso, PhD, Chairman, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Arizona
Sherwood B. Idso, PhD, President, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, AZ, USA
Andrei Illarionov, PhD, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity; founder and director of the Institute of Economic Analysis
Zbigniew Jaworowski, PhD, physicist, Chairman – Scientific Council of Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection, Warsaw, Poland
Jon Jenkins, PhD, MD, computer modelling – virology, NSW, Australia
Wibjorn Karlen, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Dept. of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, Sweden
Olavi Kärner, Ph.D., Research Associate, Dept. of Atmospheric Physics, Institute of Astrophysics and Atmospheric Physics, Toravere, Estonia
Joel M. Kauffman, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
David Kear, PhD, FRSNZ, CMG, geologist, former Director-General of NZ Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Zealand
Madhav Khandekar, PhD, former research scientist, Environment Canada; editor, Climate Research (2003-05); editorial board member, Natural Hazards; IPCC expert reviewer 2007
William Kininmonth M.Sc., M.Admin., former head of Australia’s National Climate Centre and a consultant to the World Meteorological organization’s Commission for Climatology Jan J.H. Kop, MSc Ceng FICE (Civil Engineer Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers), Emeritus Prof. of Public Health Engineering, Technical University Delft, The Netherlands
Prof. R.W.J. Kouffeld, Emeritus Professor, Energy Conversion, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Salomon Kroonenberg, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Geotechnology, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Hans H.J. Labohm, PhD, economist, former advisor to the executive board, Clingendael Institute (The Netherlands Institute of International Relations), The Netherlands
The Rt. Hon. Lord Lawson of Blaby, economist; Chairman of the Central Europe Trust; former Chancellor of the Exchequer, U.K.
Douglas Leahey, PhD, meteorologist and air-quality consultant, Calgary
David R. Legates, PhD, Director, Center for Climatic Research, University of Delaware
Marcel Leroux, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Climatology, University of Lyon, France; former director of Laboratory of Climatology, Risks and Environment, CNRS
Bryan Leyland, International Climate Science Coalition, consultant and power engineer, Auckland, New Zealand
William Lindqvist, PhD, independent consulting geologist, Calif.
Richard S. Lindzen, PhD, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A.J. Tom van Loon, PhD, Professor of Geology (Quaternary Geology), Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland; former President of the European Association of Science Editors
Anthony R. Lupo, PhD, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Dept. of Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric Science, University of Missouri-Columbia
Richard Mackey, PhD, Statistician, Australia
Horst Malberg, PhD, Professor for Meteorology and Climatology, Institut für Meteorologie, Berlin, Germany
John Maunder, PhD, Climatologist, former President of the Commission for Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization (89-97), New Zealand
Alister McFarquhar, PhD, international economy, Downing College, Cambridge, U.K.
Ross McKitrick, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Economics, University of Guelph
John McLean, PhD, climate data analyst, computer scientist, Australia
Owen McShane, PhD, economist, head of the International Climate Science Coalition; Director, Centre for Resource Management Studies, New Zealand
Fred Michel, PhD, Director, Institute of Environmental Sciences and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, Carleton University
Frank Milne, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Queen’s University
Asmunn Moene, PhD, former head of the Forecasting Centre, Meteorological Institute, Norway
Alan Moran, PhD, Energy Economist, Director of the IPA’s Deregulation Unit, Australia
Nils-Axel Morner, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics, Stockholm University, Sweden
Lubos Motl, PhD, Physicist, former Harvard string theorist, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
John Nicol, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics, James Cook University, Australia
David Nowell, M.Sc., Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, former chairman of the NATO Meteorological Group, Ottawa
James J. O’Brien, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Meteorology and Oceanography, Florida State University
Cliff Ollier, PhD, Professor Emeritus (Geology), Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
Garth W. Paltridge, PhD, atmospheric physicist, Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia
R. Timothy Patterson, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences (paleoclimatology), Carleton University
Al Pekarek, PhD, Associate Professor of Geology, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Dept., St. Cloud State University, Minnesota
Ian Plimer, PhD, Professor of Geology, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide and Emeritus Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
Brian Pratt, PhD, Professor of Geology, Sedimentology, University of Saskatchewan
Harry N.A. Priem, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Planetary Geology and Isotope Geophysics, Utrecht University; former director of the Netherlands Institute for Isotope Geosciences
Alex Robson, PhD, Economics, Australian National University Colonel F.P.M. Rombouts, Branch Chief – Safety, Quality and Environment, Royal Netherland Air Force
R.G. Roper, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Arthur Rorsch, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Molecular Genetics, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Rob Scagel, M.Sc., forest microclimate specialist, principal consultant, Pacific Phytometric Consultants, B.C.
Tom V. Segalstad, PhD, (Geology/Geochemistry), Head of the Geological Museum and Associate Professor of Resource and Environmental Geology, University of Oslo, Norway
Gary D. Sharp, PhD, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study, Salinas, CA
S. Fred Singer, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia and former director Weather Satellite Service
L. Graham Smith, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Western Ontario
Roy W. Spencer, PhD, climatologist, Principal Research Scientist, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama, Huntsville
Peter Stilbs, TeknD, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Research Leader, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden
Hendrik Tennekes, PhD, former director of research, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Dick Thoenes, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Brian G Valentine, PhD, PE (Chem.), Technology Manager – Industrial Energy Efficiency, Adjunct Associate Professor of Engineering Science, University of Maryland at College Park; Dept of Energy, Washington, DC
Gerrit J. van der Lingen, PhD, geologist and paleoclimatologist, climate change consultant, Geoscience Research and Investigations, New Zealand
Len Walker, PhD, Power Engineering, Australia
Edward J. Wegman, PhD, Department of Computational and Data Sciences, George Mason University, Virginia
Stephan Wilksch, PhD, Professor for Innovation and Technology Management, Production Management and Logistics, University of Technolgy and Economics Berlin, Germany
Boris Winterhalter, PhD, senior marine researcher (retired), Geological Survey of Finland, former professor in marine geology, University of Helsinki, Finland
David E. Wojick, PhD, P.Eng., energy consultant, Virginia
Raphael Wust, PhD, Lecturer, Marine Geology/Sedimentology, James Cook University, Australia
A. Zichichi, PhD, President of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva, Switzerland; Emeritus Professor of Advanced Physics, University of Bologna, Italy
Posted in Global Warming, Government Regulation, Uncategorized
Tagged Cap and Trade, Climate change, conservative, Dave Johannes, economy, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas, ideology, IPCC, Obama, politics, Tea Party, Uncommon Sense, Waxman Markey Climate Change bill
The Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill (Part1)……What is it?
I will apologize in advance for posting so much information that is already in the public domain but I thought if I can put it all in one place maybe you could scan it and use it as a reference with Part 2 – nobody wants to read it not even congress.
First up we have a summary of the bill from the legislators that wrote/sponsored it.
The U.S. House of Representatives – Committee on Energy and Commerce
The Waxman-Markey discussion draft, “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” is comprehensive energy legislation. The legislation will create millions of new clean energy jobs, save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, enhance America’s energy independence, and cut global warming pollution.
The legislation has four titles: (1) a “clean energy” title that promotes renewable sources of energy and carbon capture and sequestration technologies, low-carbon transportation fuels, clean electric vehicles, and the smart grid and electricity transmission; (2) an “energy efficiency” title that increases energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, including buildings, appliances, transportation, and industry; (3) a “global warming” title that places limits on the emissions of heat-trapping pollutants; and (4) a “transitioning” title that protects U.S. consumers and industry and promotes green jobs during the transition to a clean energy economy.
To read the entire draft bill go to:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090331/acesa_discussiondraft.pdf
So how does the bill deal with cap & tax? Below is a summary from GreenBiz.com:
The bill aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and would give away up to 85 percent of the pollution permits in a proposed cap-and-trade program.
Here is the breakdown of the permit allocation:
• 15 percent of the carbon permits will be auctioned off (proceeds will go toward helping low- and moderate-income families)
The rest will be given away as follows:
• 35 percent for electric utility sector, including 30 percent for distribution companies and 5 percent for privately owned coal companies
• 15 percent for carbon-intensive industries, such as steel and cement, in 2014 (reduced by 2 percent every year)
• 10 percent for states for renewable energy and efficiency investment from 2012 to 2015 (reduced to 5 percent between 2016 to 2022)
• 9 percent for local natural gas distribution companies (reduced to zero between 2026 and 2030)
• 5 percent for tropical deforestation projects
• 3 percent for automakers toward advanced technologies through 2017 (reduced to 1 percent from 2018 and 2025)
• 2 percent for domestic adaptation to climate change between 2012 and 2021 (increases to 4 percent between 2022 to 2026, to 8 percent in 2027)
• 2 percent for international adaptation and clean technology transfer from 2012 to 2021 (increases to 4 percent between 2022 to 2026, to 8 percent in 2027)
• 2 percent for carbon capture and storage technology from 2014 and 2017 (increases to 5 percent after 2018)
• 2 percent for oil refineries from 2014 to 2026
• 1.5 percent for programs helping home heating oil and propane users (reduced to zero between 2026 and 2030)
• 1 percent for Clean Energy Innovation Centers for R&D funding
• 0.5 percent for job training from 2012 to 2021 (increases to 1 percent after 2022)
There is a combined renewable energy and energy efficiency standard of 20 percent by 2020 (15 percent for renewable energy and 5 percent in energy efficiency). If a state cannot meet the requirement, its governor may cut the renewable target to 12 percent and boost the energy efficiency goal to 8 percent.“This bill marks the dawn of the clean energy age,” said Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in a statement. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revive our economy and create millions of good-paying clean energy jobs.”
The bill, however, has some environmental groups expressing concern and recommending outright rejection.
“Congressmen Waxman and Markey have done an admirable job satisfying a lot of competing interests,” Liz Perera, Washington representative for Union of Concerned Scientists’ Climate Program in a statement. “But now, as the bill moves forward, Congress needs to strengthen many of the bill’s provisions to ensure that we dramatically cut emissions, save consumers money, and strengthen our economy with a well-designed climate and energy policy.”Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen and TheCLEAN.org coalition are calling for politicians to dump the bill and start over.
Next we have a response document from GOP.gov, The website of Republicans in Congress:
The Waxman-Markey Climate Legislation: Higher Energy Prices, Fewer Jobs, and More Government Intrusion
On March 31, 2009, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Waxman (D-CA) and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Markey (D-MA) released their draft “American Clean Energy and Security” legislation. Both Chairman Waxman and Chairman Markey plan on considering their bill in Committee over the next few weeks.
Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket … that will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers … -President Barack Obama, Meeting with the Editorial Board at the San Francisco Chronicle, January, 2008
Just shy of 650 pages, the Waxman-Markey bill contains four sections outlining mandates for renewable energy, mandates for energy efficiency, an incomplete cap-and-tax proposal, and a “transitioning” section focused on forestalling expected job loss. With regard to the cap-and-tax proposal in the bill, there are no specifics on how CO2 emissions allowances would be allocated to energy producers-in other words, will they be free or auctioned, and at what price. Therefore, the bill provides little for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to use to calculate its economic impact. However, in contrast to the details which are conveniently left out of the bill, there are plenty of details on how the plan increases energy prices, strains the economy, reduces jobs, and intrudes into private citizens lives.
– Higher Energy Prices: The bill imposes a national cap-and-tax regime that will tax every domestic energy producer for their carbon emissions-a tax which will inevitably be passed onto consumers. Independent researchers, CBO, and the President all agree that this cost will be passed to consumers. Furthermore, other provisions in the bill also increase the cost of energy, such as a new federal renewable electricity standard that will likely cause electricity prices to spike.
– Fewer Jobs: The bill does little to address the enormous loss of jobs that will ensue when U.S. industries absorb the cost of the cap-and-tax plan and other provisions, likely sending millions of American jobs overseas. In addition, the bill mandates undeveloped technologies for coal-fired plants, causing coal-fired plants to close when they cannot comply with federal regulation.
– More Government Intrusion: The bill creates a host of new federal mandates on everything from outdoor light bulbs and table lamps to water dispensers, commercial hot food cabinets, and Jacuzzis. The bill would also increase the demand for electricity (to fuel vehicles via new transportation mandates) at the same time as the other portions of the bill cause consumer electricity costs to spike.
To read the full response with point by point rebuttal go to:
http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/09/04/21/the-waxman-markey-climate-legislation
This might be the most dangerous piece of legislation to come out of the House of Representatives this year from an economic impact standpoint (which considering what they have done so far that is saying something). This piece of legislation is Al Gore and environmentalists dream come true. Well almost, apparently the folks at Greenpeace and tree hugger.com can not support the bill in its’ watered down form. It is 650 pages of economic devastation and of course, nobody had time to read it. So in case the request was made for the bill to be read out loud as is often required the Democrats hired a speed reader – this is not a joke – they really hired a speed reader!
First, let me say I do not really trust the Republicans or the Democrats in this dispute. However, common sense tells you that there are a multitude of unanswered questions in the global warming debate. This should lead one to wonder who the winners and losers in this are going to be. History shows that any time the government wants to create regulations like these somebody is going to get rich. More to come…..
Posted in Global Warming, Government Regulation
Tagged Cap and Trade, Climate change, conservative, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas, IPCC, politics, Taxes, Uncommon Sense, Waxman Markey Climate Change bill
A story that hits closer to home………65,000+ jobs lost
There is an industry in America that is generally overlooked by almost everyone, yet it touches almost every industry and every home. Direct mail, printing and related services employ approximately 9 million people in the U.S. generating $900 billion a year in revenue. The printing and mailing industry in partnership with USPS generate and deliver 203 billion pieces of mail per year. Often the butt of jokes, Americans take for granted the exceptional level of service we receive from the USPS.
I have made my living for over 30 years in the printing and mailing industry. In that time I have never seen the industry in this bad a shape. The recent economic meltdown has had a major effect on the USPS, direct mail and related industries. The tightened credit markets and the mortgage crisis have virtually destroyed an entire sector of the direct mail market. Couple this with a massive slowdown in consumer spending and retail sales, you have the perfect storm. Mail volumes have dropped drastically, resulting in the elimination of approximately 50,000 USPS jobs in the last 7 months and record revenue losses. The mailing/printing industry also lost over 15,000 jobs in the same period.
(Value of Mail – USPS) – “For more than 230 years, the Postal Service has delivered mail to every citizen regardless of address – six days a week. But the Postal Service may be forced to curtail its’ operations due to legislative efforts to reduce the volume of Standard Mail or advertising mail. This includes mail such as catalogs, retail offers, coupons and ads for local services. Efforts to reduce the amount of advertising mail could undermine the economics of mail and require the USPS to make difficult choices about the kinds of services it is able to provide Americans. The postage paid on letters, checks and bills (First Class Mail) is not nearly enough to fund today’s universal service mail system”. Standard mail is actually the most highly prepared mail the USPS receives and handles making it the most profitable.
While the industry tries to deal with the problems I have already mentioned it also remains under attack directly and indirectly. There are attempts to impose government regulation through “Do Not Mail” legislation, the constant misinformation about the industry’s environmental impact and identity theft concerns. Government, environmental groups and consumers do not understand or appreciate our industry’s role in the economy or the self regulation measures we have adopted to address concerns from recycling, waste reduction, privacy protection and forest stewardship.
In 2007 American businesses spent about $284 billion on advertising their products and services. Of this 21.5% or $61 billion was spent on direct mail. A common complaint from proponents of “Do Not Mail” legislation is that consumers are continually bombarded with mail they do not want. However this does not have to be the case as the industry, the postal service and credit bureaus already provided consumers ways to selectively manage the mail they receive. All provide opt out choices on both an individual advertiser or category basis. Some of these services are listed below:
For pre-screened credit card and insurance offers go to http://www.optoutprescreen.com or call (888) 567-8688
For catalogs and other advertising mail go to: DMA Choice at https://www.dmachoice.org and set up your mailbox preferences. This site is sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association an organization that supports both the industry and consumer in maintaining a customer and environmentally friendly mail system.
Also individual advertisers welcome your direct feedback. You can contact them directly and ask to be removed from their mail list. Unwelcome direct mail is a bad investment for the advertiser so your feedback is appreciated by them even though it might seem negative.
There is also an extremely negative perception of the environmental impact of direct mail. Here are a few facts about how green our industry really is:
Forestry – Currently in the U.S. there are over 1,600 paper companies and printers who are members of the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC is an international organization dedicated to green and sustainable forestry practices worldwide.
The wood products industry (which paper companies are a large part of) in North America plants more trees than it harvests each year. As a result, the amount of U.S. forestland today is about the same as it was in the early 1900’s despite a dramatic rise in population.*
Recycling – 66% of the U.S. population has access to recycling for magazines, catalog and direct mail paper as a result 55% of all paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling in 2007.*
Last year, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) successfully worked with the Federal Trade Commission to legalize the placement of the DMA “Recycle Please” logo on direct mail to encourage recycling. Prior to that time, the FTC considered it an unfair business practice for direct marketers to use the logo because there was no conclusive research demonstrating that a majority of consumers had access to recycling for direct mail. Now due to DMA’s efforts, many catalogers are using the logo and participating in a nationwide “Recycle Please” program to raise consumer awareness about the new opportunity and capacity to recycle catalogs and direct mail pieces throughout the US. Through this program, DMA intends to improve the overall recovery rate for catalogs and other “mixed paper.”*
Greenhouse Gas Reduction – Shopping by mail-order or through a catalog replaces shopping trips made by car. This reduces gasoline consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. In fact, by replacing just two shopping trips to the mall each year, Americans could eliminate 3.3 billion driving miles, reduce emissions by 3 billion pounds, and save more than $490 million on gas costs.*
Going Green – Last year, the Direct Marketing Association adopted the “Green 15,” a set of standard business practices to reduce our environmental impact. These recommendations will encourage the direct mail community to focus on using more recycled, certified paper, reducing paper size, and decreasing unwanted and undeliverable mailings by improving list management and targeting.*
The USPS – The postal service has a wide variety of green initiatives covering everything from their delivery vehicle fleet, delivery route optimization, facilities management, internal recycling programs to eliminating undeliverable as addressed mail and educational campaigns such as “environMAIList” a program which encourages green practices in business mailing policies & production. The USPS has already become a recognized leader in environmental stewardship having won over 70 major environmental awards including 40 prestigious White House Closing the Circle Awards.
For more information on industry environmental efforts visit:
Sustainable Forestry Initiative at – http://www.sfiprogram.org
Forest Stewardship Council at – http://www.fsc.org
The USPS at http://www.usps.com/green
Direct Marketing Association at – http://www.the-dma.org
* = source DMA
Last, there are the concerns regarding identity theft through the USPS. According to the Federal Trade Commission only 2% of all identity theft results from mail. The most common sources for identity theft are online or in-person commercial transactions, theft by a personal acquaintance or family member or loss of a wallet.
The Postal Inspection Service has formed an alliance with banking, credit card, retail, airline and law enforcement representatives known as the Financial Industry Mail Security Initiative. This collaboration allows the inspection service, law enforcement and private companies to pool resources and information to target criminals and fraud schemes. Through this collaboration effective strategies are developed to prevent and deter fraud schemes. The Postal Inspection service also leads the Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness, a program that informs consumers about overseas fraud activities that target Americans with a variety of fake check, money order and charity schemes.
For more information on identity protection and mail fraud visit:
The Postal Inspection Service at http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov
The Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness at http://www.fakechecks.org
The Federal Trade Commission at: http://www.ftc.gov
As I hope you can see direct mail while not perfect, is a responsible, environmentally conscious industry. In spite of all the job losses and set backs of the past 18 months we are not asking for a bail out. However, we are an integral part of the U.S. economy directly employing millions of Americans and contributing $900 billion a year to the CDP.
Catalogs and advertising mailers have been around since Ben Franklin produced the first mail order catalog in 1774. The mail is used to raise over $200 billion a year in charitable donations covering everything from medical research to famine relief. Direct mail and the U.S. Postal Service are both a part of Americana. The postal service according to recent surveys remains the most trusted government agency by citizens with an 83% rating compared to an average of all other agencies of only 47%. (source: 2007 Privacy Study)
Our goal as an industry must now be to educate consumers and law makers of the value we provide to the economy and the quality of life in the U.S. For those of us in the industry it has been a difficult 18 months watching tens of thousands of our fellow workers in graphic arts and related industries lose their jobs. The economic down turn has been tough to weather but the prospects of facing even deeper losses due to the misperceptions about the industry by detractors who don’t understand it is unfathomable. If you think that advertising mail is just “junk mail” please use the resources I have provided and give us another look before you decide your position on this valuable industry. If you already understand the value of mail, please write your congressional and state legislators and let them know where you stand. Eliminating advertising mail is eliminating jobs and is not the answer to protecting the environment, your identity or your mailbox.
Posted in Global Warming, Government Regulation, The Economy, Uncategorized
Tagged conservative, Dave Johannes, Direct Mail, economy, Global Warming, Identity theft, ideology, politics, Tea Party, The United States Postal Service, Uncommon Sense
The Truth about Change…..there is plenty of change but is it really what you want……
“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.” -Mark Twain
So in a 100+ days we have seen more sweeping changes in our government than we have in the last 25 years, but is it the change we want? We have witnessed a full scale assault on our system of government, our economy, our security, states’ rights and our national sovereignty. Government spending, intervention, regulation and oversight is at an all-time high. Our Constitution is being shredded by an arrogant approach to governing that starts with the premise that the government knows what is best for us. Ironically, the Constitution was written and designed to protect our rights from just this type of governing.
Here is a quick list of some of the adventures the new administration and the current Congress have taken us on so far, in no particular order:
The Stimulus Bill – (N.Y. Times) Feb 14th “The president made clear when we started this process that this was about jobs,” Mr. Boehner (R) Ohio, said after the vote. “Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. And what it’s turned into is nothing more than spending, spending and more spending.” “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.” – White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel This was undoubtedly part of the logic behind the $787 million stimulus bill that nobody in Congress read. The bill was a democrat’s wish list which contained such stimulating items as $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn’t turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There’s even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons. Plus $252 billion is for income-transfer payments — that is, not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. There’s $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don’t pay income tax. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren’t job creators.* source* -The Wall Street Journal The only jobs we are creating are government jobs – 66,000 census workers and 800 IRS agents. (Category – Excessive Spending)
Closing Guantanamo Bay – On Jan. 22nd, President Obama signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay. On May 18th, the democrats denied President Obama’s request for $80 million to close Guantanamo Bay. “When they (the administration) have a plan, they’re welcome to come back and talk to us about it.” – House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) Apparently, lawmakers are concerned about what would happen to the roughly 245 current Guantanamo inmates, many considered hardened terrorists particularly which congressional districts they would land in. Rep. Frank Wolf (R., Va.) said the Justice Dept. was prepared earlier this month to release Guantanamo prisoners into his district — which the administration denied — and he called for a moratorium on such releases. “We need a plan. We need to know where these men will go,” Mr. Wolf said. (Category – National Security)
Release of the “torture memos” – April16th, (CBS News) -“Withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time,” Mr. Obama said. “This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States.” (WSJ) – “The four memos from 2002 and 2005 revealed new details about the interrogations, including a detailed description of water boarding, or simulated drowning, and descriptions of lesser-known methods such as “walling” and using insects. Sections involving names of some detainees and the way techniques were applied to particular prisoners were blacked out.” This should really improve our national security and relations with Muslims everywhere. The administration’s arrogance was on full display as this was done over the objections of their own CIA Chief Leon Panetta and others in the U.S. intelligence community. (Category – National Security)
Greenhouse gases are harmful – April 17th, The Obama Administration used its’ regulatory power to circumvent the need to try and force unpopular legislation. Instead, the EPA announced that greenhouse gas emissions were a threat to public health because they contribute to climate change. This sets the stage for the EPA to regulate emissions from a wide spectrum of sources including vehicles, power plants, manufacturing facilities, oil refineries and airplanes. The executive branch trumped the legislative process to further their agenda by cutting off a congressional debate that they couldn’t win. We still live in America – don’t we? (Category – Excessive Government Regulation)
The apology tour – President Obama has made a habit of using his speeches abroad to apologize for American behavior in the past. Here are some highlights.
Jan. 26: “All too often the United States starts by dictating … and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved. So let’s listen. And I think if we do that, then there’s a possibility at least of achieving some breakthroughs. … My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect.”
— President Obama, in an interview with Al Arabiya
April 1: “If you look at the sources of this crisis, the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to a regulatory system that was inadequate.”
— President Obama, at a press conference ahead of the G20 in London
April 2: “It is true, as my Italian friend has said, that the (economic) crisis began in the U.S. I take responsibility, even if I wasn’t even president at the time.”
— President Obama, at the G20 in London, as reported by Germany’s Der Spiegel
April 6: “I know there have been difficulties these last few years. I know that the trust that binds us has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced. Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not at war with Islam.”
— President Obama, in Ankara, Turkey
April 16: “Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas. My administration is committed to renewing and sustaining a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security.”
— President Obama, in an op-ed that appeared in U.S. and Latin American newspapers prior to the Summit of the Americas
April 18: “We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations.”
— President Obama, at the Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad
Is this a new form of “statesmanship”? Are these the positions that we want our leader expressing to the rest of the world. We are not a perfect nation but we are a good and generous one. We give the rest of the world billions of dollars a year in foreign aid and relief efforts trying to make it a better place. Let’s be honest – the hardworking people of our country are not the ones who are benefiting from the political hi-jinx that our politicians pull around the world – they and their cronies do! The only thing, “We, the people” need to apologize for is electing some of these idiots, in the first place.
Remember the words of George Washington – “’Tis folly in one Nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its Independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favors from Nation to Nation. ‘Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. …….. ‘Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world.” (Categories – National Security/Foreign Policy/National Sovereignty)
The Chrysler Bailout/Bankruptcy – (N.Y.Times) WASHINGTON — President Obama forced Chrysler into federal bankruptcy protection on Thursday so it could pursue a lifesaving alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat, in yet another extraordinary intervention into private industry by the federal government. – This intervention resulted in the UAW getting a 55% ownership share in Chrysler for about $4.2 billion while the taxpayers got about 8% for our $12 billion. Really! This is the kind of good deals you get when the government gets involved with business. So far the buy out has only saved union and management jobs . On the other side of the equation, the 789 dealerships closing will result in the loss of another 30,000 jobs in communities of every size nationwide. Many of these are family run businesses left holding inventories of cars and parts. Watch out GM is next. (Categories – Excessive Spending/Government Intervention)
The G20 Rollover – (Telegraph.co.uk) A single clause in Point 19 of the communiqué issued by the G20 leaders amounts to revolution in the global financial order. “We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into the world economy and increase global liquidity,” it said. SDRs are Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic paper currency issued by the International Monetary Fund that has lain dormant for half a century. In effect, the G20 leaders have activated the IMF’s power to create money and begin global “quantitative easing”. With this agreement President Obama helped lay the groundwork for global financial regulation. The creation of a Financial Stability Board is the first step towards an international financial regulator. These moves are designed to strengthen the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and possibly create a new world currency. In the future, the FSB could/will technically be able to impose global financial regulations that the SEC would be obliged to follow. Welcome to the New World Order, goodbye sovereignty! (Categories – Economic Security/Foreign Policy/National Sovereignty)
Executive Pay Limits – May 15th , (N.Y. Times), Obama Administration officials are contemplating a major overhaul of the compensation practices in the financial services industry, moving beyond banks to include more loosely regulated hedge funds and private equity firms. Federal policymakers have been discussing ways to ensure that pay is more closely linked to performance. Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Financial Services Committee, said he believed giving the government new authority to take over troubled companies could be adopted by the House. “This would give the government the same powers that you would get as if the company were in bankruptcy,” Mr. Frank said in an interview shortly after meeting with Mr. Geithner on the plan. But Mr. Frank and other lawmakers said other elements of the plan could take more time, like expanding the authority of the Federal Reserve to become a systemic regulator. Among the ideas under consideration are incorporating compensation as a “safety and soundness” concern on official bank examinations as well as expanding the existing regulatory powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve to obtain more information. This sounds an awful lot like socialism, today banks, financial services companies and hedge funds – tomorrow? Is your job next? And ….. Where in the constitution does the government get this authority? I guess if you control salaries the redistribution of wealth model is easier to manage. (Categories – Government Intervention)
The administration will tell you that all of this is being done to protect the country and for the general welfare of its’ citizens. To which our founding fathers would have responded as follows:
“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” — James Madison
This only a handful of the examples that illustrate that the federal government is out of control. There are many more spanning a broad spectrum of categories from nationalizing private businesses, retroactive taxes, state’s rights, financial regulation and continued bailouts to plans to “reform” health care , gun laws, cap & trade and card check. It is the time to this stop madness.
We are careening down the road toward socialism at an incredible rate of speed. Politics long ago replaced leadership, statesmanship and governing. The elected officials and bureaucrats in Washington have thrown our constitution and all the values used to create it out the window. The federal government has pushed citizens and the states aside, in an effort to take total control. We can not let this happen. You need to write or contact every elected official in your voting district. Tell them to cease and desist or they will lose their jobs. The time to act is now. Let’s take back America!
Posted in Global Warming, Government Regulation, ideology, National Sovereignty, New World Order, States Rights, Taxes, The Economy, Uncategorized
Tagged Cap and Trade, Car bailout, conservative, Dave Johannes, economy, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas, ideology, Leadership, National Sovereignty, New World Order, Obama, politics, States Rights, Taxes, Tea Party, Uncommon Sense
Obamanomics 101, closing the loopholes ……..
(NPR, All Things Considered) May 4, 2009 · President Obama sent a broadside Monday across the bow of those companies that now avoid taxes by keeping much of their business on the books of offshore subsidiaries. The practice is perfectly legal right now (1), but the White House wants that to change.
President Obama vowed Monday to “detect and pursue” American tax evaders(2) and go after their offshore tax shelters.
In announcing a series of steps aimed at overhauling the U.S. tax code, Obama complained that existing law makes it possible to “pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, N.Y.”
The president said he wants to prevent U.S. companies from deferring tax payments by keeping profits in foreign countries rather than recording them at home, and called for more transparency in bank accounts that Americans hold in notorious tax havens like the Cayman Islands.
“If financial institutions won’t cooperate with us, we will assume that they are sheltering money in tax havens and act accordingly,” Obama said. (3)
The president, who hammered on this issue during his long campaign for the White House, said at a White House event that his plan would generate $210 billion in new taxes over 10 years and “make it easier” for companies to create jobs at home. (4) Over a decade, $210 billion would make a modest dent in a federal deficit expected to swell to $1.2 trillion in 2010.
He said the government also is hiring nearly 800 new IRS agents to enforce the U.S. tax code. (5)
Under the plan, companies would not be able to write off domestic expenses for generating profits abroad. The goal is to reduce the incentive for U.S. companies to base all or part of their operations in other countries. (6a)
“The plan will reduce the ability of U.S. companies to compete in foreign markets,” said John Castellani, who heads the Business Roundtable, which represents some of the largest U.S. companies. “We believe it will not only reduce jobs, but it will also cripple economic growth here in the United States. It just couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says eliminating the deduction on U.S. expenses associated with foreign profits would encourage multinationals to move more of their essential functions abroad. (6b)
“Those are the good jobs at good pay that America should want,” Hufbauer said. “I mean, do we want these headquarters’ expenses to be incurred in Singapore or London?” (6c)
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the proposals would end “indefensible tax breaks and loopholes which allow some companies and some well-off citizens to evade the rules that the rest of America lives by.” (7) Geithner called them “common-sense changes designed to restore balance to our tax code.”
Once again I ask you – can you believe what you just read? I highlighted in the copy some key statements woven into this story. Here are my observations based on these key statements in the same order they appear in the story.
First and very important to note, while the administration may not like it, the practice they are complaining about is not illegal.
Even though it is not illegal, the President referred to the users of this “legal loophole” as “American tax evaders.” He also vowed to “detect and pursue” them. What does that mean? If it’s not illegal, does this mean the administration plans to bully, harass and attempt to publicly embarrass these companies? At a minimum it means that Obama’s full scale assault on capitalism and American business will continue. The administration seems to be intent on making the business community the bad guys for everything in the eyes of the public. Of course, the savior for the average citizen in “Obama World” is more government oversight and control.
Now for the scariest statement in the article “If financial institutions won’t cooperate with us, we will assume that they are sheltering money in tax havens and act accordingly,” – what does he mean by this? In America, there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. We don’t assume guilt and persecute. Plus let’s not forget that what these companies are doing is not illegal under the current rules. The financial institutes the President is referring to are in foreign countries so what is their incentive to cooperate with his administration? So without the cooperation of these foreign institutes the result will mostly likely be a smear campaign against these “evil corporations”.
The President goes on to assert that by closing these loopholes it will “make it easier” for companies to create jobs at home. What?? So paying higher taxes will stimulate job growth? What school of economics teaches this business theory? This quite possibly the dumbest thing I have heard from the administration so far.
We are also finally getting to see how the president is going to stimulate job growth. He is going to make government bigger by adding IRS agents to persecute real businesses. This will result in increased job loss in the private sector. Is it possible to have a prosperous economy with a giant government workforce? Who are you going to tax in that model? The last time this model was tried we referred to it as the Soviet Union and as I recall their economy collapsed.
(a, b,& c) In yet another stroke of business genius, the administration asserts that by eliminating certain write off and deductions it will reduce the incentive for U.S. companies to base all or part of their operations in other countries. However, conventional wisdom would indicate just the opposite is likely to occur. Rather than moving things back to the U.S., it is more likely that large multinational companies would move their headquarters offshore taking high paying executive and management positions with them.
Of course this brilliant strategy would not have been be complete without a comment on this “common sense” approach to fair taxes by everyone’s favorite “tax evader” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner who is certainly an expert on “indefensible tax breaks and loopholes which allow ……some well-off citizens to evade the rules that the rest of America lives by.” Apparently it is O.K. to be a “tax cheat” as long as you have a cabinet post but “make no mistake”, this won’t be tolerated in the private sector. The arrogance of this administration is at times overwhelming considering how little any of them seem to understand about how business works in the real world. Maybe they should all go get a job at a company that produces a product. Then they could learn what it takes to satisfy customers, to stay competitive, and make a profit so that the business can succeed.
So what is the solution – instead of creating more ways to tax businesses which drives jobs to other countries, let’s lower business taxes to stimulate job growth domestically. The U.S. has some of the highest business taxes in the industrialized world which is why jobs are leaving the country. The U.S. has been steadily climbing the world rankings for business taxes. We are currently ranked #1. Since 2000, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Greece, Italy and Mexico have all lowered their business taxes to stimulate business growth, some by more than 10%. Since 1993 U.S. business tax rates have remained virtually flat. Currently, the effective federal business tax rate is 39.3% in the U.S. which is down from 39.4% in 2000. Japan is at 30% down from 40.9% in 2000. However most of Europe has rates between 25 and 35%. Of course, China arguably the world’s largest competitor is communist and they succeed in the global economy on the back of their people and the ability to play by their own rules.
This administration has capitalism and business squarely in it’s sights. America became the great nation it is by becoming the preeminent economic force in the world. Government jobs do not improve the economy or the GNP. The only way that America can remain a powerful and respected nation that can protect its’ people, its’ sovereignty and its’ way of life is to remain an economic powerhouse. The only way this happens is, we change our tax laws to make America more competitive, instead of forcing us to compete with one hand tied behind our back.
I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it’s time America was run like a business. – Donald Trump
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, the public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled. – Ross Perot
Posted in Government Regulation, Taxes
Tagged conservative, Dave Johannes, economy, Obama, politics, Taxes, Tea Party, Uncommon Sense
You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything……………
This is the chorus from a country song that is so grounded in common sense that you wonder why more people don’t get it. I thought about the song as I was listening to a group of radio political pundits debate whether the Republican Party needed a makeover to re-establish its’ clout. Ironically, most of the debate was about style over substance and if the party should move more to the center or more to the right.
As I listened to their babbling I couldn’t help but think that political parties are supposed to represent an ideology that is based on a system of values. So if that is true – how much room do they really have to move before they begin to compromise their beliefs?
It seems that politics today is more about winning the election than it is about a commitment to principles and values. Ideally, candidates in a political contest would debate clearly articulated points of differentiation providing the voters a choice between approaches to problem solving and philosophies of governing.
However, the political strategists of the day seem content with and adept at blurring those lines. Combine that with a little help from the media and often you don’t know who you are really electing until the election is over and the candidate is in office. This by the way is not a shot at any single elected official but rather a comment on the sad state of our political system. Both parties are guilty!
Back to our pundits – they talked about strategies to recruit younger, better looking, more energetic candidates. They suggested a need for candidates who had a better TV presence and were more gifted speakers. One of the esteemed panel even went as far as to say that the content of the message doesn’t matter as much as how it is delivered.
I am not sure what horrifies me more; the fact that this might be true or that we have become a nation of media junkies. It seems we are no longer capable of telling the difference between a commercial and the program.
What I never heard discussed by the panel was the importance of leadership, experience, a record of performance and a well defined ideology by which the candidate would govern. Aren’t these the characteristics that you would want to understand about a candidate that you were considering voting for?
However, this is the real rub. The candidates aren’t the only ones that have to stand for something. As voters, our responsibilities are the same as the candidate’s. We need to invest enough time in the process that we have well thought out and defined positions on the issues. We also have a responsibility to understand, at least conceptually how the candidate will solve a problem or address an issue.
Unfortunately, far too many of us don’t make the time to study the issues instead we get our news in sound bites. We vote for what sounds “good” without ever knowing if it is good. In the end the only ones that can hold the candidates accountable are the voters. This accountability should start on the campaign trail not once they are in office. There should be no surprises once elected. If we understand the issues and set expectations of our elected officials we won’t have to worry about “falling for anything.”
So in the end the pundits got it all wrong! It is not about if the Republicans should move right, center or left. It is not about if they should be more moderate or more conservative. It is about both parties deciding what they stand for and sticking to it. Both parties need to use the election process to honestly sell their views and let the voters decide.
If you lose, you try again next time but you don’t sell out your principles to get in office and then rediscover them once elected. That is corrupt and corruption will destroy trust in the government. When the government loses the trust of the people the country will cease to be great.
Restore the Republic, Reject the Socialistic Agenda of the Progressive Left!
One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace; good people don’t go into government. – Donald Trump
Posted in ideology, Uncategorized
Tagged conservative, Dave Johannes, ideology, Leadership, Tea Party, Uncommon Sense
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Delaware’s unemployment rate holds steady at 3.9 percent
Sep 21st, 2018 · by Ian Gronau · Comments:
DOVER — The state Department of Labor’s monthly report for August showed the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.9 percent for the third consecutive month after a fairly precipitous drop from 4.5 percent in January. The state’s rate continues to track with the national rate, which dropped to 3.9 percent back in July.
State economist Dr. George Sharpley is cautiously optimistic about the coming months, speculating that the rate may see a few more drops before 2019.
“I think the unemployment rate will probably fall a bit more before the end of the year, maybe to around 3.7 or 3.5 percent, but probably not below that,” he said.
Dr. Sharpley is a believer that the payroll data that usually lags several months behind the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s unemployment projections provides a clearer representation of what the economy is up to. By reviewing these data, he feels some of the recent job gains in the state may be overstated.
“We have payroll data through March and we’re just starting to get usable data through the second quarter,” he said. “In the recent unemployment report, construction jobs are noted to be up by 2,000 over the year which seems very unlikely. Through March, the payroll data showed it was down by 200 from March 2017 — a turnaround that quickly with an increase of 2,200 jobs just doesn’t happen. I’m quite certain that’s an overestimate.”
The recent labor report claims the state added around 7,500 jobs since August 2017, but Mr. Sharpley speculates that the “real number” is less.
“I would put the most likely job growth over the last 12 months closer to 5,000 than 7,500, but that’s more my opinion than anything,” he said. “The Bureau of Labor analysts may disagree with me, but they have a lot more confidence in their methods than I do.”
According to Dr. Sharpley, as the unemployment rate has been falling, wages have been rising in the state — but he recommends caution in taking the numbers at face value.
He says payroll data indicates a 1.4 percent growth in wages for the first quarter of 2018.
“That’s not much, especially since inflation is running a bit higher than that — so in real terms it’s actually a bit of a decline in wages,” he said.
Over the course of 2017 in Delaware, there was 3.9 percent wage growth from the previous year, but Dr. Sharpley says these figures are likely misleading as well.
“In 2016, the overall annual wage was $53,780 and then in 2017 that jumped to $55,856,” he said. “But, that doesn’t necessarily represent what the average worker is getting. The best wage data comes from the same payroll data that the best employment data comes from, but that includes things like bonuses that may not be spread among all employees. So although we saw some big gains there, I traced a lot of that back to financial services getting some big bonuses — typically concentrated among top executives.”
More generally though, Dr. Sharpley expects average wages to rise somewhat proportionally to the unemployment rate, provided that it falls further.
Staff writer Ian Gronau can be reached at 741-8272 or igronau@newszap.com
Tags:Featured · Jobs
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Tag Archives: University of Tübingen
More on Possible Blood Tests for Pre-Symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease (NHS Digital / Nature Medicine)
Summary People with a rare hereditary form of Alzheimer’s Disease (Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Disease) have raised levels of a protein called neurofilament light chain (NfC) in their blood, arising from damage to previously healthy nerve cells. These elevated levels of … Continue reading →
Posted in Diagnosis, For Doctors (mostly), For Nurses and Therapists (mostly), For Researchers (mostly), In the News, International, NHS Digital (Previously NHS Choices), Quick Insights, Universal Interest | Tagged APP or PSEN Mutations, Australia, Basel, Bazian, Behind the Headlines, Biomarkers, Biomarkers Predicting Cognitive Decline and Alzheimer's Disease, Blood Proteins as Biomarkers of Disease Research, Blood-Based Biomarkers, Blood-Based Biomarkers of Pre-Symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease, Columbia University Medical Center, Dementia Research Centre, Dementia Research Centre: University College London, Department of Biomedical Sciences: Macquarie University, Department of Cellular Neurology: Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Department of Neurodegeneration: Queen Square Institute of Neurology, Department of Neurology: Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Neurology: Keck School of Medicine at USC, Department of Neurology: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Department of Neurology: Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology: Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Department of Neurology: Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy: University of Tübingen, Department of Radiology: Washington University School of Medicine, Departments of Medicine Biomedicine and Clinical Research: University Hospital Basel, Division of Biostatistics: Washington University School of Medicine, Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network, Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Disease, Early Diagnosis, Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease, Edith Cowan University: Western Australia, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health: University of Melbourne, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Germany, Harvard Medical School, Hereditary Alzheimer's Disease, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York), Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine: Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Macquarie University, Macquarie University (New South Wales), Massachusetts General Hospital, National Institute on Aging, National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institute on Aging (US), Nature Medicine, Neurodegeneration Division: The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Neurofilament Light Chain (NfC), Neurofilament Light Chain (NFL), Neurofilament Light Protein (NF-L), Neurofilament Light Protein in Blood: Potential Biomarker of Neurodegeneration, Neurologic Clinic and Policlinic: University Hospital Basel, Neuroscience Research Australia, Non-Invasive Biomarkers, Plasma Biomarkers, Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease, Preclinical Biomarkers and Dementia, Preclinical Biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease, Protein-Based Biomarkers in Blood May Deliver Accurate Diagnoses, School of Medical Health and Sciences: Edith Cowan University, School of Medical Sciences: University of New South Wales, Serum Neurofilament Light Chain Protein, Switzerland, Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain: Columbia University Medical Center, United States, University College London, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Tübingen, US National Institute on Aging, USA, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Washington University School of Medicine | Leave a comment
Funding Initiative (JPco-fuND) for International Dementia Research (MRC)
Summary The EU Joint Programme for Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) has announced €35 million (£25.7 million) funding for research into neurodegenerative diseases. Nine of the 21 research projects involved will benefit UK research teams; these will receive MRC funds through … Continue reading →
Posted in Commissioning, For Doctors (mostly), For Nurses and Therapists (mostly), For Researchers (mostly), International, National, Parkinson's Disease, Quick Insights, UK | Tagged 3DMinBrain, 3DPD, Aarhus University, ADAGE: Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology Within the Ageing Physiology., AIT Austrian Institute of Technology Vienna, Animal and Cell Models, aSynProtec: Alpha-Synuclein Pathology Propagation in Parkinson’s Disease and Quest for Novel Protective Strategies., Australia, BRIDGET: Brain Imaging Cognition Dementia and Next Generation GEnomics: a Transdisciplinary Approach to Search for Risk and Protective Factors of Neurodegenerative Disease., Cambridge, Canada, Cardiff, Cardiff University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Bordeaux, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Gif sur Yvette, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, CircProt, CNRS Valbonne, Collaboration, Collaboration: Working Across Boundaries, Collaborative Projects, Collaborative Research, Copenhagen University, Cross-Sector Partnerships, CureALS, DACAPO-AD, Dementia Research, Dementia Risk Factors, Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE) Bonn, Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen Tübingen, Dr Rob Buckle: Director of Science Programmes at the Medical Research Council, EADB: A European DNA Bank for Deciphering the Missing Heritability of Alzheimer’s Disease., Edinburgh, EfrAME: Pathway Complexities of Protein Misfolding in Neurodegenerative Diseases: a Novel Approach to Risks Evaluation and Model Development, Environment and Health, EPI-AD: Targeting Epigenetic Dysregulation in the Brainstem in Alzheimer’s Disease., ERA-NET Co-fund, Erasmus MC Rotterdam, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, ESMI: European Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3 / Machado-Joseph Disease Initiative., EU Joint Programme in Neurodegenerative Disease (JPND), EU Joint Programme on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), EU Joint Programme: Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), Europe, European Member States, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas da Universidade Lisboa, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta Milano, Foundation Carlo Besta Neurological Institute, Funding Alignment of European Member States: Associated Countries: Three Third Countries (Canada Switzerland and Australia), Funding Initiatives, GBA-PARK: GBA1 Mutations in Parkinson Disease: Clinical and Biochemical Prodrome Risk Profile and Pathogenetic Modelling for Therapeutic Intervention., German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases DZNE Tübingen, Global Challenge of Neurodegenerative Disease, Global Leadership, Global Outlook, H. Lundbeck A/S, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Horizon 2020, Hospital Universitari Vall D'Hebron, IGBMC/CNRS/INSERM/Unistra Illkirch, Inserm Lille Hinxton, Inserm U836, Inserm U862, Inserm/UEVE U861 Evry, INSTALZ: Genomic Instability in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders: a Single-Cell Approach., Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epiniere Paris, Institut Pasteur de Lille, International Collaborations, International Dementia Research, International Partnerships, International Programmes, IRCCS C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Istituto Nazionale Neurologico Carlo Besta Milan, Joint Transnational Co-Funded Projects in Partnership with European Commission Under ERA-NET Co-fund Scheme, JPco-fuND Initiative, JPcofuND (Funding Programme), JPND Initiative, JPND Research Projects, JPND Research Strategy, JPND Transnational Research, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm), King’s College, KU Leuven, Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) Neuroscience Division, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Leuven University, Lifestyle Risk Factors, London, London University College, Longitudinal Cohorts, Lund University, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, MADGIC, Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Biomedicine Muenster, McGill Genome Center Montréal, Medical Research Council (MRC), Medical Research Council Cambridge, Medical University Graz, Medical University of Greifswald, Misfolded Proteins, ModelPolyQ, NAB3, National Research Council, Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Neurodegenerative Disorders, Neurodegenerative Research, Overlapping Risk Factors, Oxford, Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre, Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre: University of Oxford, Partnership, Partnership and Collaboration, Partnership Working, Professor Philippe Amouyel: Chair of JPND Management Board and Coordinator of JPco-fuND Initiative, PROP-AD, Protein Misfolding, Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, REfrAME, Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Risk and Protective Factors, Risk Factors, Saarland University, Sanger Institute, Sanger Institute-EBI Single-Cell Genomics Centre, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati-SISSA Trieste, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) Bratislava, SNOWBALL, STAD, Stichting VU-VUmc Amsterdam, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland, SYNACTION, Technion Haifa, Technische Universität Dresden, The Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Tissue Disease and Degeneration, Universidade de Lisboa, Universita' degli studi di Milano, Universitaetsklinikum Bonn, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia Modena, Universite D´Artois, University College London, University College London (UCL), University College of London (UCL), University Hospital Cologne, University Hospital of Bonn, University Medical Center Goetingen, University Medical Center Utrecht, University of Bergen, University of Bonn, University of Coimbra, University of Copenhagen, University of Eastern Finland, University of Eastern Finland Kuopio, University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Helsinki, University of Mainz, University of Milan, University of Milano, University of New South Wales, University of Ottawa, University of Oxford, University of Tübingen, University of Tel Aviv, University of the Azores Ponta Delgada, University of Toulouse, University of Tuebingen, University of Würzburg, University of Zurich (UZH), Upsalla University, VU University Medical Center | Leave a comment
Results from JPND Transnational Research Call on Risk Factors (JPND)
Posted on September 4, 2013 by Dementia and Elderly Care News
Summary The following international JPND research projects (under the EU Joint Programme for Neurodegenerative Disease) have recently been approved for funding following the JPND’s Transnational Call 2012: “European research projects for the identification of genetic epigenetic and environmental risk and … Continue reading →
Posted in For Researchers (mostly), International, Proposed for Next Newsletter, Quick Insights, UK | Tagged Akershus University Hospital and University of Oslo, Ammar Al-Chalabi: King’s College London, APGeM: Pre-Clinical Genotype-Phenotype Predictors of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia, Cardiff University, COURAGE-PD: COmprehensive Unbiased Risk Factor Assessment for Genetics and Environment in Parkinson‘s Disease, Epidemiology, EU Joint Programme: Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), EU Joint Programming on Neurodegeneration (JPND), Focussed Epigenetics, Frontotemporal Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases – Tübingen, Germany, JPND Research Projects, JPND Transnational Calls on Risk Factors and Healthcare Evaluation, JPND Transnational Research Call on Risk Factors, JPND: Joint Programme on Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Julie Williams: Cardiff University, Kings College London, Modifiable Risk Factors, Multiple Powerful Cohorts, Norway, PERADES: Defining Genetic Polygenic and Environmental Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease, Peter Heutink: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases – Tübingen, RiMod-FTD: Risk and Modifying factors in Fronto Temporal Dementia, Risk Factors, Stem Cell Metabolomics, STRENGTH: Survival Trigger and Risk Epigenetic eNvironmental and Genetic Targets for Motor Neuron Health, Thomas Gasser: University of Tübingen, Tormod Fladby: Akershus University Hospital and University of Oslo, University of Tübingen | Leave a comment
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Three Takeaways on Nuclear Power Survey
By Meighen Speiser, Chief Engagement Officer
Within the climate community, one of the greatest areas of debate is the role of nuclear energy in the mix of climate solutions. Nuclear power already accounts for nearly 20% of America’s power supply, and there are growing voices of support for researching, developing, and building greater nuclear power capacity as part of a broader strategy for mitigating the causes of a changing climate. However, the topic is controversial.
Calls for growth are meeting stiff resistance. Questions about whether the risks of nuclear power outweigh the opportunities; whether it’s “clean” or “green”; or whether it is a necessity given the urgency of the climate challenge fill the debate.
It’s no wonder then that the public, too, has an uncertain perspective on whether nuclear energy, old or new, is a path that they support moving forward. To better understand where the American public stands on nuclear energy, ecoAmerica conducted our American Climate Perspective Survey in July, which sheds light on this issue:
Nuclear Power vs. “New” Nuclear Technology: While less than half of Americans support existing nuclear power (49%), they are more in favor of innovations in new nuclear technologies (73%).
Persistent Concerns: Americans are still very concerned about the risks of nuclear power. Concerns remain about waste (84%), health and safety (81%), and weaponization (73%). While there are some differences in how Democrats and Republicans, men and women think about these risks — a strong majority remain concerned.
A Consensus of Support for Renewables: One of the persistent findings of ecoAmerica and other research is that a strong majority of Americans, of all stripes, support renewable energy, like wind and solar.
The findings of the American Climate Perspective Survey show that concern about nuclear power readily exceeds support. What remains true is that there is robust and lasting support from across the aisle for renewable energy.
To learn more about the of results of the survey, view it HERE. And be sure to follow our Talking Points series, where we provide quick, simple, and effective tips and tricks about translating climate perspectives into climate action!
Download Survey
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Home › Uncategorized › Cyprus Launches 2nd Licensing Round
Cyprus Launches 2nd Licensing Round
by erpic-manager on March 21, 2017 in Uncategorized with No Comments
Energy Brief
The Republic of Cyprus has launched its second licensing round, making 12 blocks within its offshore exclusive economic zone (EEZ) available for bidding to international oil companies. The announcement first appeared in the Official Journal of the European Union on February and was placed on the website of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (www.mcit.gov.cy) on February 13. Companies have 90 days to submit their bids. Evaluation of the applications is expected to take place over a six month period, and blocks could be awarded before the end of the year.
Following the discovery in December by Noble Energy of around 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas inBlock 12, as well as the numerous and sizeable discoveries made by Houston-based Noble in the Israeli offshore, the Cyprus bidding round is expected to attract considerably more attention than the first round in 2007. While Cyprus made 11 blocks open for bidding then, few bids were placed and only Block 12 was awarded.
Noble Energy holds a 70% working interest in Block 12 after a farm-in by two subsidiaries of Israel’s Delek Group, Noble’s main partner in the Israeli offshore. Noble is assessing the results of the Cyprus A-1 well, the first offshore well ever drilled in Cyprus, and is looking to carry out appraisal drilling during the latter half of 2012.
As expected, Turkey voiced its objection to the launch of the licensing round through a statement from its foreign ministry. Ankara holds that the government of Cyprus does not have the right to explore or exploit hydrocarbons in Cypriot waters because the Greek-Cypriot republic does not represent Turkish-Cypriots, who reside in the northern side of the island, which has been under Turkish military occupation since 1974.
In the statement, Ankara said: “We protest this unilateral step, which is both irresponsible and provocative, taken by the Greek-Cypriots despite all warning.” The statement said that the Cyprus EEZ overlaps areas claimed by Turkey as part of its continental shelf and that it also violates an agreement that the Turkish-Cypriot administration signed with the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO) giving TPAO the right to explore in Cypriot waters that are part of the EEZ.
Turkey “will give every support to the [Turkish-Cypriot administration] to prevent possible violations of Turkish-Cypriot concession blocks and thus to protect their rights and interests in maritime areas, the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said. It also warned foreign oil companies to avoid exploration in the areas that Turkey claims as its own in the Mediterranean.
The Republic of Cyprus is a member of the European Union and is a signatory of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The EU, UN, US, Russia and others have expressed their support for Cyprus’s right to explore for hydrocarbons in its EEZ.
The Cyprus Foreign Minister on February 17 replied to Ankara’s statements saying that Cyprus would proceed with the exploitation of its natural wealth, the Cyprus Mail reported. “The Republic of Cyprus is determined to proceed in exploiting its natural wealth, especially in relations with hydrocarbons, for the economic development and prosperity of its people, without discrimination.” It added: “Turkey once more proves that its aim is not the protection of the rights of Turkish-Cypriots, as it professes, since it is claiming for itself a significant part of Cyprus’ western, southern and northern EEZ.”
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Zachariah Baker (1800-1863) & Edee Busby (1802-1882)
Posted on May 9, 2016 by fillinginthefamilytree.com
Zachariah Baker & Edee Busby are Todd’s 3X Great Grandparents. We know we are on the right track with this line because Todd’s dad Lanny’s DNA puts him into the “DNA Circles” at Ancestry.com for Edee Busby and for Zachariah’s father, Zachariah Baker.
Zachariah Baker was born around 1800 in Virginia. His parents are Zachariah Baker & Susanna Washburn. Read about them here.
Edee Busby was born December 18, 1802 in Maryland. Her parents are John Busby and Agnes Wisner. Read about them here.
Zachariah and Edee were married February 3, 1825 by Rev. Elijah Stone in Harrison County, Ohio.
On the 1840 US Census, Zachariah Baker is head of a household of 15 in Vermillion, Richland County, Ohio. The household was: 1 male under age 5 (David was 2); 3 males aged 5-9 (Nathaniel was 8, Abraham was 6, Zachariah was 9); 2 males aged 10-14 (Samuel was 13 and John was 14); 1 male aged 40-49 (Zachariah was 40); 4 females under age 5 (Agnes was 4, Rachel was 3, Sarah was a baby); 1 female aged 5-9 (Mary Jane was 11); 1 female aged 10-14 (Susanna was 13); 1 female aged 20-29; 1 female aged 30-39 (Edee was 38).
On the 1850 US Census, the family was still farming in Vermillion, Richland County, Ohio. Zachariah was 50, Edee was 46. They had 11 children at home: Mary Jane, age 21; Zachariah, age 20; Nathaniel, age 18; Abraham, age 16; Agnes, age 14; Rachel, age 12; David, age 10; Anna, age 8; Belinda, age 6; Henry, age 4; Edee, age 1.
On the 1860 US Census, the family is in Vermillion, now in Ashland County, Ohio. Zachariah was 60 and Edee was 56. Children at home: Rachel, age 22; David, age 21; Anna, age 20; Henry, age 13; Edith, age 11.
Zachariah died in 1863. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
On the 1870 US Census, widowed Edee was 69 and lived with daughter Edee, age 20. Oldest son John lived next door with his family.
On the 1880 US Census, Edee was 78 and lived with widowed daughter Sarah, age 39, and her son John, age 10. It is noted on the census that Edee had a broken arm.
Edee died on October 3, 1882 in Ashland County, Ohio. Her Find A Grave memorial is here.
The 15 children of Zachariah Baker & Edith Busby, all born in Ohio:
John W. Baker – John was born October 21, 1825. He married Elizabeth Bault. They had 5 children. John was a wagon maker (1860, 1880) and a farmer (1870). He died September 9, 1880 in Ashland County, Ohio. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Samuel B. Baker – Samuel was born October 29, 1826 He married Ruth Bault on February 22, 1848 in Ashland County, Ohio. They had 5 children and farmed in Ashland County, Ohio and then in Noble, Indiana. He died March 12, 1886. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Susanna Baker – Susanna was born January 23, 1827. She married John Bault and they had a daughter. Susanna died in 1855. She is buried in Union County, Ohio. Her Find A Grave memorial is here.
Mary Jane Baker – Mary Jane was born June 1, 1829. She married McClure Davis on March 10, 1853 in Ashland County, Ohio. They farmed in Ashland County, Ohio and had 5 children. She died November 22, 1895. Her Find A Grave memorial is here.
Zachariah Curtis Baker – Zachariah was born October 27, 1830 in Ashland County, Ohio. He married Elizabeth Harlan on August 12, 1850 in Ashland County, Ohio. They had 11 children. By 1880 the family moved to Atchison County, Missouri. He died on April 22, 1905. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Nathaniel L. Baker – Nathaniel was born April 7, 1832. He married Margaret Neely. They farmed in Ashland County, Ohio and had 5 children. He died June 24, 1893 in Ashland County, Ohio. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Abraham H. Baker – Abraham was born December 29, 1834. He married a woman named Sallie and they had at least 1 child. He died on February 15, 1881, and probate records for his estate indicate he left no widow or children. The records list the names of his living brothers and sisters. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Agnes Baker – Agnes was born July 14, 1836. She married James Harlan and they had 5 children. She died January 28, 1872 in Noble County, Indiana. Her Find A Grave memorial is here.
Rachel Baker – Rachel was born August 28, 1837. She married Fredrick Wagner, who had served in the Civil War, on November 19, 1865 in Ashland County, Ohio. They had 4 children. She died in 1910 and is buried in Richland County, Ohio. Her Find A Grave memorial is here.
David Baker – David was born on October 7, 1838. He married Catherine Shelly on October 10, 1861 in Ashland County, Ohio. They had 8 children. He died November 8, 1886 in Ashland County, Ohio. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Sarah Ann Baker – Sarah was born January 27, 1840. She married a Mr. Gray. On the 1880 US Census she was a widow, living with her mother as Sarah Gray, with a 10-year-old son John Gray. On the 1900 US Census, Sarah lived with adopted daughter Ivy Pearl McCormick in Ashland County, Ohio. I have no record of her after that.
Belinda Baker – Belinda was born June 23, 1841. She married Amasa Jones on December 16, 1858 in Ashland County, Ohio. They had 11 children. She died July 4, 1901 in Ashland County, Ohio. Her Find A Grave memorial is here.
Emanuel Baker – Emanuel was born April 17, 1843, He died as a child.
Henry J. Baker – Henry was born October 16, 1845. He married Almira in 1875, probably in Iowa, and they had 6 children. He died July 9, 1919 and he is buried in Lancaster County, Nebraska. His Find A Grave memorial is here.
Edee May Baker – Edee is Todd’s 2X Great Grandfather. Read about her here.
This entry was posted in Hickman Family History and tagged Abraham H. Baker, Agnes Baker Harlan, Agnes Wisner Busby, Amasa Jones, Belinda Baker Jones, Catherine Shelly Baker, David Baker, Edee Busby Baker, Edee May Baker Showalter, Elizabeth Bault Baker, Elizabeth Harlan Baker, Emanuel Baker, Fredrick Wagner Baker, Henry J. Baker, James Harlan, John Bault, John Busby, John W. Baker, Margaret Neely Baker, Mary Jane Baker Davis, McClure Davis, Nathaniel L. Baker, Rachel Baker, Ruth Bault Baker, Samuel B. Baker, Sarah Ann Baker Gray, Susanna Baker Bault, Susanna Washburn Baker, Zachariah Baker, Zachariah Curtis Baker by fillinginthefamilytree.com. Bookmark the permalink.
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Hailing from the ravaged manufacturing city of Flint, Michigan, once the proud birthplace of General Motors, Michael Moore broke onto the scene with 1989’s Roger & Me, a broadside to the auto industry that forever changed the landscape for documentary filmmaking. With his patented mix of schlubby irreverence and liberal populism, Moore became an instant cult of personality and the film’s box-office success paved the way for documentaries—his documentaries, anyway—to be viable commercial enterprises. In the wake of Roger & Me’s success, Moore dabbled in television (with TV Nation) and narrative filmmaking (with Canadian Bacon), but he ultimately returned to the first-person essay style that put him on the map. Throwaway efforts like The Big One and Slacker Uprising (a.k.a. Captain Mike Across America) aside, his subsequent films have taken on some of the biggest issues of our time: violence and gun culture (Bowling For Columbine), the deceptions of the Bush Administration after 9/11 (Fahrenheit 9/11), and the woes of the health care system (Sicko).
Well-timed to respond to the current financial crisis, Moore’s latest documentary Capitalism: A Love Story is his most sweeping agitprop to date, a multi-pronged argument against a system that he contends is fundamentally corrupt and undemocratic. As ever, Moore supports his assertions through sarcastic narration and emotional appeals, threading interviews and information with small pieces of anecdotal evidence, like the corruption of a privately operated juvenile detention facility. Moore recently spoke to The A.V. Club about his new film, his desire to rebuild America’s economic system from the ground up, and his dual mission: to agitate and entertain.
The A.V. Club: Since Bowling for Columbine, your films have had an essay-like quality to them, with a lot of observations built around a central thesis. How do films like that develop, and what happened with Capitalism specifically?
Michael Moore: I’ve been thinking about this film for probably about 20 years. I mean, I think about this issue every time I make a film, because it always seems to come back to this. But I’ve never really just come out and said it, you know? I’ve kind of danced around it or hoped that other people would say, “Oh yeah, [Roger & Me is] not really a movie about Flint or GM. It’s a movie about an economic system that’s unfair and unjust, and it’s not democratic.” But I guess I was asking for too much, because I didn’t really read a whole lot of that. It’s just all the typical nonsense that I’ve come to expect, so I figured, “Well, I’m just going to come out and say it here. And I’m going to explore this thesis I have. And I may run across things that actually don’t support the thesis and I’ll put those in too. Or I’ll have things happen that I’m not expecting.” And that often happens, like with Bowling For Columbine: I set out to make a film thinking that what we needed was stronger gun-control laws, then I go to Canada, and while I’m there, I’m told that, “Well, actually, we have more guns per capita than you have in your homes.” “Huh. And you only kill 200 people a year out of 33 million? Okay. So it’s not the guns, then. What is it?” Then the film goes down a different road. I love when that happens.
AVC: So how did this one start then? You’d expect it to open with the collapse, but…
MM: I started the film before the collapse. It came out of Sicko. It came out of seeing that the problem we have with our healthcare system is purely and simply because of greed, and because of a system that requires the health insurance industry to make a profit. And I’m telling you, anthropologists, when they dig us up hundreds of years from now, they’re going to look at us, and go, “They actually were trying to profit off somebody who had cancer or a brain tumor or something.” We’re going to look either really stupid or really cruel.
AVC: The tentacles of the industry reach so deeply. There’s a poll in the Times today that suggests an enormous majority of people are in favor of a public option, yet it seems off the table.
MM: Yeah, so how can that be if this is a democracy? That’s my point. It’s not. Because in this economy, it’s not democratic. Those with the money call the shots. They lobby, they buy the Congress, and so even when two-thirds of the people want the public option, they can’t have it.
AVC: The structure of the Senate kind of makes things difficult, too. This whole idea that legislation can’t pass with a simple plurality, that you need 60 votes.
MM: That’s a new thing. That started under Bush because the Democrats were afraid to do anything once they actually got control, but Bush was still president. So they got into this thinking, “We’re not going to get anything passed unless we got 60 votes.” Okay, now we got a Democratic president, and they don’t need the 60 votes. Why do they need 60 votes? Filibuster? Can you see these guys trying to filibuster what the American people want? Can you see them going for 24 days reading from cookbooks? I’d like to see them try.
AVC: Just the threat of it is enough.
MM: Let them filibuster. Let’s see how long that lasts. Come on! Come on, what a bunch of fucking wimps, these Democrats.
AVC: You have scenes in this film and in Roger & Me that reflect nostalgically on the glory days of Flint and the manufacturing sector, and presumably on the system in general. If the system is broken as you contend, can it incrementally be fixed? And if not, what do you replace it with?
MM: I don’t think you can repair or reform the existing system, and I think it’s crazy to try it. I think that it’s the 21st century. Let’s create a new economic order that fits this century. We’re smart enough to do that. Why are we having this debate between a 16th-century economic philosophy and a 19th-century economic philosophy? Capitalism vs. socialism.
AVC: So what do you call it? What does it become?
MM: Let’s not worry about that right now. Why don’t we just try to construct something that’s run by democratic principles and has an ethical core to it?
AVC: This film comes out strongly against the bank bailouts. And there’s general agreement that it was pushed through Congress with far too few restrictions and far too little oversight. But do you really feel like the crisis itself was overblown?
MM: Oh no, there was a crisis. They lost our money. [Laughs.] Something had to be done.
AVC: Both Obama and McCain were in favor of the bailout.
MM: Because that was the only thing that the president was proposing. They’re out on the campaign trail. It wasn’t really upon them to try and figure out at that moment what to do with the economy with the election six weeks away, eight weeks away. What they should have done is what happened during the savings-and-loan scandal. They put them all [the banks] into receivership. They didn’t nationalize them. They just put them into receivership. They took some time and they sifted through. The weak ones were killed. The strong ones survived. And then they supported the strong ones, and they were returned back to their private or public ownership, and the government got all of its money back, plus some, out of that.
AVC: But you don’t feel like this was a larger scale issue? The phrase thrown around was “too big to fail.”
MM: If it’s too big to fail, it’s too big to exist.
AVC: Yeah, but these “too big to fail” companies are part of the foundation of our whole financial system.
MM: Yeah, and there goes everybody’s pension fund, and all of that. But why wasn’t the approach, “Okay, what we’ve got to do is, we’ve got to make sure the system doesn’t collapse, we’ve got to make sure people’s pension funds and the average everyday working people are protected here.” That wasn’t the presiding thought. It was, “Just write them a blank check and they’ll know what to do with it.” No questions asked.
AVC: If you’re sympathetic to its message, Capitalism is a film that’s likely to leave people angry over various injustices, but short of revolution, what can people do? What is the takeaway from the film?
MM: Well, the first thing is, they’re going to walk out of the theater knowing more than when they walked in. I’m going to show them things they haven’t seen, I’m going to tell them things they haven’t heard. I’m going to expose them to ideas that for some reason aren’t discussed on the cable shows or the op-ed pieces. Why is it in this whole year, I’m the only one saying a very simple and obvious thing? “Maybe the problem here is the very system itself.” Now, that doesn’t mean I’m right, but why in the discussion, why in the discourse, are certain viewpoints just completely shut out? I can’t be the only one to have thought that. But why haven’t I read that op-ed? Why isn’t the system itself part of the debate on the talk shows? I think it’s okay to ask that question. Maybe there was some shoddy contracting going on. Maybe the way we did this was wrong at the core, at the foundation.
AVC: Well, you do have plenty of people talking about specific things that need to be done to bring the system in line.
MM: Yeah, they’re just talking about it. They’ve been talking about it for a year. “Yeah, let’s get the regulations back, and now let’s get the rules back.” And here we are, a year later, not one regulation. Not one. They had no intention of it. Quit the bullshit, you know? I don’t want to hear any more Sunday talk shows where [panelists say], “This needs to be regulated.” Shut the fuck up. If that’s true, why aren’t we doing it? It’s not going to happen, because capitalism isn’t going to let it happen. Because the richest one percent aren’t going to let it happen, and their lobbyists have been working full time to make sure that they can continue to do the very things that brought about this collapse. And they’ll just move into other areas [than the housing market]. So now there are derivatives on, what, on life insurance policies?
AVC: Whether you want to call it Astroturf or not, it seems like populist anger these days is coming mainly from the right. What do you make of that?
MM: The right, as always, for the last 30 years, have been very good about organizing, turning out their people, being relentless, being angry. And they’ve gotten away a majority of the time. So hats off to them. Where are we? While those town hall meetings were going on in August, I thought, “What liberals do I know who would ever organize or do something in August?” [Laughs.]
AVC: Maybe it’s easier to rally in opposition of something. Elections are one thing, but with something like healthcare, people may not even be clear on what it is they’re supporting.
MM: Well, with healthcare, the problem there is that [Obama] essentially took a half measure, which is the public option. It’s hard to get the base excited about only going halfway. He started with the compromise position. He should have started with everything we wanted.
AVC: Single-payer.
MM: Yeah. And then if you have to compromise, you have to compromise. But he didn’t start there. He started with the compromise. A car dealer doesn’t start with the absolute bottom line he’ll sell at, you know?
AVC: Does your position as a well-known and influential activist ever run counter to your instincts as a filmmaker? For example, would the Michael Moore of 1989 be more inclined to make a film about something small like, say, the effects of privatizing juvenile detention facilities than maybe the broader statement of capitalism?
MM: No. I thought I was making a statement about capitalism through the start of General Motors in Flint, Michigan. But it really didn’t engender that sort of discussion. The discussion was about bunny rabbits and Pauline Kael. But I learned.
AVC: But [Roger & Me] sparked a broader discussion than that, didn’t it?
MM: I’m not complaining. Yes, of course, it set a record. No documentary had been distributed by a major studio in shopping-mall cineplexes. It was a radical departure for documentary and a huge door opener for other documentary films, so I’m very proud of all of that. But I would have liked to have had this discussion before now.
AVC: So did the response to Roger & Me inspire you to go larger?
MM: Yeah. What I eventually did next, really, was television. That was my idea of going larger. I’ll reach a larger mass audience by doing TV Nation. And that fed a lot of political humor and things that came after TV Nation.
AVC: Do you see yourself returning to a format like that in the future? Is that something you’re interested in?
MM: It’s a lot of hard work to do a weekly TV show. It’s certainly not fun.
AVC: There’s a funny little bit in the film where you’re out on Wall Street and a suit responds to one of your questions by saying, “Stop making movies.”
MM: Yeah, “Don’t make any more movies.”
AVC: “Don’t make any movies.” What is it like to be at the target of that kind of confrontation and hostility?
MM: I deal with it on a daily basis. It just goes with the territory. I don’t appreciate it. I don’t enjoy it. A lot of it’s hateful, a lot of it is violent or involves the threat of violence. And then I go, “Well, what’s my choice?” I want to make these movies. I want to tell people what’s going on, or what I think is going on. Because I have an opinion, I have become public enemy number one to the Fox News Channel and the right wing. They’ve done a good job lying to people about me. That’s why, in this film, I decided to talk about my religion, things like that. Because I think a lot of these people who have been told to hate me, if they actually watched my movies, wouldn’t hate me at all. They wouldn’t necessarily agree with everything I’m saying, but they would know instantly that I love this country and that I have a heart. And that, you know, sometimes I’m funny. And even if you don’t agree with the politics, you’ll have a few laughs while you’re watching the movie, you know? I’m really out to make a great film, always. I’m asking you to come to the theater on a Friday night and spend 10 bucks. You worked hard all week, got a babysitter, you know? I’d feel bad if I had you come into a theater and you leave feeling ripped off. I want you leaving saying to your wife or to your date, “Wow. Now I haven’t seen that in a movie.” Or, “It’s been a long time since I walked out of the theater feeling this agitated, this good.” That’s what every filmmaker hopes for, I think.
AVC: Do you know what’s next for you?
MM: I said it in the film. Nothing. Nothing until I see what the people are willing to do. This is the first time in four films where I haven’t lined up the next film before I finished this one.
AVC: [Capitalism] is such a grand statement that it’s kind of hard to know what to do for an encore.
MM: I have no deal with any studio. I have nothing lined up. And I’m not going to, unless I sense that people get behind the president. He’s out there all alone, nobody’s got his back. You’re not going to agree with him on everything, but, man, this is the guy you want in your corner. The smart guy. The guy who’s from the working class, who grew up as an African-American in this country. Underline “this.” So I’m counting on him siding with us and doing what’s right, in spite of how much Wall Street has had to buy him off, tried to buy him off. But I don’t think that’s going to work. We’ll see.
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Along Quotes
“I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know.”
“I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.”
“Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.”
“My grandma said – when I was really young and I’d sing along to the radio – why do you sing in an American accent? I guess it was because a lot of the music I was listening to had American vocalists.”
“I happened to come along in the music business when there was no trend.”
“I was training to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the wrong way round somewhere along the line.”
“If you want to grow a giant redwood, you need to make sure the seeds are ok, nurture the sapling, and work out what might potentially stop it from growing all the way along. Anything that breaks it at any point stops that growth.”
“In the case of Apple, they did originally do production internally, but then along came unbelievably good outsourced manufacturing from companies like Foxconn. We don’t have that in the rocket business. There’s no Foxconn in the rocket business.”
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”
“But I feel music has a very important role in ritual activity, and that being able to join in musical activity, along with dancing, could have been necessary at a very early stage of human culture.”
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Foodbiz+
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Robyn Rutledge finds no contradictions between her love for good food and drink and her deep passion for health and wellness. Often teased by her friends for her policy to always BYOT (“bring your own turmeric”), Robyn is constantly researching ingredients and recipes that can profoundly impact one’s state of health and wellbeing. Robyn is Founder & CEO of SBG Consulting. She also joined TSG Consumer Partners in 2007, a leading strategic equity firm. She focused on sourcing and structuring transactions in the consumer industry, and helped guide innovative and differentiated food and beverage companies and their management teams tackle both high-level strategic and day-to-day challenges. Prior to TSG, Robyn was a member of the investment team at Thoma Cressey where she focused on the consumer products and marketing services sectors. Robyn’s career in finance and investing started in New York as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
Robyn was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and received a B. Comm with First Class Honors from Queen’s University in Kingston. She also holds an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar and slipped in time to intern in the wine industry. When not at her desk, you will likely find Robyn outdoors, running or biking, sipping wine with her husband Rob or chasing her highly-energetic, parkour-loving toddler around the playground.
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AGW in general »
Consequences »
Forests: An Endangered Resource
Author Topic: Forests: An Endangered Resource (Read 14252 times)
Sigmetnow
Climate change is increasing the vulnerability of many U.S. forests through fire, insect infestations, drought, and disease outbreaks. Forests play an important role in absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, but the rate of uptake is projected to decline.
Explore interactions between climate change and forests.
From: the National Climate Assessment
http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/forests
image.jpg (184.13 kB, 1023x789 - viewed 260 times.)
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 07:57:42 PM by Sigmetnow »
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
Re: Forests: An Endangered Resource
The Rapid and Startling Decline Of World’s Vast Boreal Forests
Scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about the fate of the huge boreal forest that spans from Scandinavia to northern Canada. Unprecedented warming in the region is jeopardizing the future of a critical ecosystem that makes up nearly a third of the earth’s forest cover.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_rapid_and_startling_decline_of_worlds_vast_boreal_forests/2919/
In a surprising new study, scientists say they’ve pinned down the climate factor most strongly tied to variations in terrestrial carbon storage — that is, the ability of plants and other features of the Earth’s surface to take up carbon, thus preventing it from going into the atmosphere. They’re arguing that the biggest driver is tropical nighttime temperatures, which are expected to warm at a faster rate than average temperatures otherwise will.
“The idea here is that on warm nights, plants — and other parts of the ecosystem as well, potentially — are consuming and using up more of their sugars and losing that carbon to the atmosphere more than they do on cooler nights,” Anderegg said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/09/the-surprising-factor-affecting-carbon-storage-in-the-worlds-forests/
California Drought Puts Tens of Millions of Big Trees at Risk: Study
As many as 58 million of California's large trees are at risk due to the ongoing drought, according to a new study — and researchers say that means big changes may be ahead for the state's forests even if El Nino does drive increased rainfall in the coming year.
Using imaging tools on board the Carnegie Airborne Observatory, ecologist Greg Asner and a team from the Carnegie Institution for Science surveyed forests affected by the drought that's been ongoing since 2012. Their research, which shows how California's forest canopies have lost water over time, was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/california-drought-puts-tens-millions-big-trees-risk-study-n486861
Nine-year-old boy plants seed that yields 3 trillion trees
Felix challenged his classmates—and ultimately, children throughout the world—to plant a million trees in each country, an idea that grew into an international youth organization called “Plant-for-the-Planet.” In 2011, the UNEP turned its Billion Tree Campaign over to the organization Felix had started. By that time, the UN program had celebrated the planting of 12 billion trees.
The team also found that on average, some 15 billion trees are lost each year while only 5 billion new trees are gained, a net loss of 10 billion trees per year. So if we want to maintain the current total of 3 trillion, we need to achieve some combination of planting a lot more trees and reducing the number that are lost.
http://climate.nasa.gov/news/2393/
Forest Loss Pushes Far Beyond Plantation Boundaries in South America, Africa
Which of the world’s forests are natural, and which have been planted by humans?
It seems like a simple question, but researchers have been struggling to answer it for years. Satellites can’t easily distinguish between primary and secondary forests, which occur naturally, and planted forests, which are created and managed by people to supply timber, rubber and other commodities. And few countries provide accurate maps of plantation locations.
But we’re getting closer. Researchers from Global Forest Watch and Transparent World recently mapped tree plantations in seven heavily forested nations, and found that in most of the countries, more than 90 percent of tree cover loss is occurring within natural forests. That’s a problem since natural forests, especially those in the tropics, provide much greater climate, water and biodiversity benefits over planted landscapes.
http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/01/forest-loss-pushes-far-beyond-plantation-boundaries-south-america-africa
World heritage forests burn as global tragedy unfolds in Tasmania
‘Devastating’ long-term prognosis for ancient Gondwana ecosystem as bushfires turn trees more than 1,000 years old to tinder
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/27/world-heritage-forests-burn-as-global-tragedy-unfolds-in-tasmania
Chinese Oil Companies to Buy One-Third of Ecuador's Rainforests
In a move that has angered local tribes and environmental activists, Ecuador plans to sell more than a third of its rainforests to Chinese oil companies.
The country's Amazonian rainforest measures 8.1 million hectares (20 million acres) in size – slightly larger than the total area of South Carolina – according to a 2008 study published in PLOS ONE. The reason for this sale is twofold: Ecuador owes China billions of dollars in debt, and the country's rainforests are rich in oil reserves, the report added.
As of last summer, Ecuador was at least $7 billion in debt to China, Reuters said. That's more than 10 percent of the country's GDP, and it gave Chinese oil companies the ability to bargain their way into those useful rainforests.
https://weather.com/science/environment/news/ecuador-rainforests-sold-to-china
Risk level rises for North American forests
“Our analysis shows virtually all US forests are now experiencing change and are vulnerable to future declines. Given the uncertainty in our understanding of how forest species and stands adapt to rapid change, it’s going to be difficult to anticipate the type of forests that will be here in 20 to 40 years.”
“When you chop down trees, you create hotspots in the landscape that are just scorched by the sun. These hotspots can change the way that heat moves through a landscape,” says the report’s lead author, Kika Tuff, a PhD student at the university’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Low air pressure in the cleared spots pulls the cool moist air from the shade of the trees, to be replaced by hot, dry air. The cleared areas then get the rainfall, while the nearby forest dries.
The warming effect is most pronounced within between 20 and 100 metres of the forest’s edge, where temperatures can be as much as 8°C higher than deep in the forest interior.
Since 20% of the world’s remaining forests lie within 100 metres of an edge, and more than 70% lie within a kilometre of an edge, the discovery suggests that the warming effect could be happening anywhere, or everywhere.
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/risk-level-rises-for-north-american-forests/
Forest restoration: from Stone Age to drone age
Forest restoration still relies on back-breaking manual labor with basic tools like spades, machetes, and hoes. But now researchers are developing techniques for automated forest restoration — or AFR — using drones to survey forests, gather and disperse seeds, and control weeds, among other possibilities.
http://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/forest-restoration-from-stone-age-to-drone-age/
World’s largest sovereign wealth fund just dropped 11 companies over deforestation
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, dropped 11 companies in 2015 over their connections to forest destruction.
The GPFG, which manages $828 billion worth of funds, released its annual report for 2015 today, revealing that six palm oil companies, four pulp and paper companies, and one coal company were dropped from its investment portfolio.
http://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/worlds-largest-sovereign-wealth-fund-just-dropped-11-companies-over-deforestation/
China's forest conservation programs show a decade of improvement in tree cover.
But that didn't mean China's thriving manufacturing industry was just going without timber. The nation now sees significant timber imports from places like Vietnam, Madagascar, and Russia, Dr. Viña says. "We think that success in reducing deforestation in China is basically being transferred into deforestation in other regions," he says.
Globally, deforestation continues, but at a slowing pace.
Although global deforestation has yet to reverse course, reports do suggest it is slowing. In fact, global deforestation rates have been cut in half since 1990, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). In the 1990s, an average of 0.18 percent of the world's forests were lost each year, but from 2010 to 2015, that average loss dropped to 0.08 percent.
"It is encouraging to see that net deforestation is decreasing and that some countries in all regions are showing impressive progress. Among others, they include Brazil, Chile, China, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Uruguay, and Viet Nam," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said in a press release in 2015.
And with decreasing deforestation, that means more carbon storage. The FAO also reported that carbon emissions from forests decreased by 25 percent from 2001 to 2015.
http://m.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0319/China-s-forest-conservation-program-shows-proof-of-success
Ash dieback and beetle attack likely to 'wipe out' ash trees in UK and Europe
Almost all the ash trees in the UK and across Europe are likely to be wiped out by a “double whammy” of a bright green borer beetle and the fungus that causes ash dieback, according to a comprehensive new academic analysis.
The loss of the ash, one of the most abundant tree species in the UK, would mean losing even more trees than the 15 million elms killed by Dutch elm disease in the 1970s. Ash is the most common hedgerow tree, with 60,000 miles of tree lines. It is the second most common tree in woodland, after the oak, and there are many ash trees in towns and cities.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/23/ash-dieback-and-beetle-attack-likely-to-wipe-out-all-ash-trees-in-uk-and-europe
Image: Dead branches in the crown of an ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) in Frankfurt Oder, Germany. Photograph: Patrick Pleul/dpa/Corbis
image.jpg (173.4 kB, 1240x744 - viewed 179 times.)
Poland approves large-scale logging in Europe's last primeval forest
Greenpeace accuses government of ignoring scientists over fate of Białowieża woodland, home to 20,000 animal species and Europe’s tallest trees
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/26/poland-approves-large-scale-logging-in-europes-last-primeval-forest
Re: Poland old forest logging
Amazing. Market value of 180K cu. m of wood even discounted and amortized over a decade is worth all that old forest.
There is a quote from Aldo Leopold to the effect that a trade presented as getting something for giving nothing turns into getting nothing for losing everything. You can't bargain with Nature in terms of human values, She sets the terms, and exacts a hard bargain.
Are you thinking of Wendell Berry's:
“We thought we were getting something for nothing,
But we were getting nothing
for everything.”
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."
Yes, of course it was Berry ...
Invasive insects are ravaging U.S. forests, and it’s costing us billions
Last week, a group of researchers published saddening news about “sudden oak death,” spread by an invasive water mold, that has killed over a million trees in coastal California. The pathogen, they found, simply cannot be stopped — though it can still be contained, and the harm mitigated. But it is too extensively established now in California to eradicate.
Unfortunately, it’s a familiar story. The U.S. is subject to the introduction of 2.5 new invasive insects into its forests ever year, according to a comprehensive new analysis of this problem, in the journal Ecological Applications, by Gary Lovett of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and a group of 15 colleagues from Harvard, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and numerous other institutions. And that number is just for insects — it doesn’t count diseases, like sudden oak death.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/10/the-slow-motion-crisis-thats-facing-u-s-forests/
Even without replanting efforts!
Young Forests Can Store ‘Enormous’ Amounts of Carbon
Woodland areas that regrow after forest fires, logging operations or other disturbances can sequester huge amounts of carbon dioxide and they play an unexpectedly valuable role in mitigating climate change, according to a study by 60 scientists from across the globe.
The research, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, is the first to quantify how much carbon these so-called second-growth forests can sequester, and it turns out it’s huge. The scientists found that over the span of 40 years, Latin American second-growth forests can stash away the equivalent of 21 years worth of the region’s human carbon dioxide emissions.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/young-forests-store-enormous-amounts-carbon-20348
Officials announce over 66 million trees dead in California
Coordinated effort continues to remove dead trees
Sacramento - As wildfires burn across California, new estimates on the number of dead trees in California were announced, prompting continued concern for California’s forest health and wildfire danger. Today the US Forest Service released the outcome of its latest aerial surveys over California forestland, finding that over 66 million trees have now died due to drought and bark beetles since 2010. That number is up from 29 million dead trees in 2015 and 3.3 million in 2014.
http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/downloads/newsreleases/2016/2016_TreeMortality.pdf
DoomInTheUK
Quote from: Sigmetnow on June 22, 2016, 09:52:32 PM
...over 66 million trees have now died due to drought and bark beetles since 2010. That number is up from 29 million dead trees in 2015 and 3.3 million in 2014.
A 2000% increase in just a couple of years. If that's not a sign that it's out of control, then I don't know what its!
Addressing deforestation alone will be insufficient to maintain biodiversity in the future:
http://phys.org/news/2016-06-deforestation-tropical-biodiversity.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36656443
Extract: "Human disturbances are making the Amazon rainforest more flammable, according to researchers."
Paladiea
http://abcnews.go.com/US/california-drought-causing-trees-die-millions-scientist/story?id=40317017
Interesting analysis on the recent spike in tree deaths.
Accompanying NASA article:
http://climate.nasa.gov/news/2457/nasa-maps-california-drought-effects-on-sierra-trees/
LA Times gif attached (click to animate).
Oh and an article on mass mangrove death:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-10/unprecedented-10000-hectares-of-mangroves-die/7552968
Sierra Nevada dead trees 2014-2016 LA Times[5].gif (400.11 kB, 723x800 - viewed 210 times.)
The most enjoyable way to think about heat transfer through radiation is to picture a Star Wars laser battle, where every atom and molecule is constantly firing at every other atom and molecule.
Amazon no longer a carbon sink thanks to drought. Should I also crosspost this in the drought section?
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_527669_en.html
Bad news about Australian mangroves from Queensland to the Northern Territory:
Extract: "Close to 10,000 hectares of mangroves have died across a stretch of coastline reaching from Queensland to the Northern Territory.
International mangroves expert Dr Norm Duke said he had no doubt the "dieback" was related to climate change.
"It's a world-first in terms of the scale of mangrove that have died," he told the ABC."
Eric Holthaus: What a tree looks like ~10 years after being hit by a EF-5 tornado. Huge trunk, tiny branches. #greensburg
https://mobile.twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/755195895956766720
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Cattle Grazing Is Now Causing Massive Deforestation Hotspots In The Peruvian Amazon
Deforestation in the Amazon has been a growing problem over the past five decades, with ranchers leading the way in clearing rainforest for cattle and cultivation. But while Brazil, the largest country in South America, seems on track to reduce deforestation, other major Amazonian countries like Peru are increasingly struggling to protect their share of the world’s largest rainforest.
In fact, a new wave of deforestation is underway in the Huanuco region of central Peru, which now has the highest concentration of the deforestation in the country, according to an Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) report published this month. The report is based on algorithms of satellite data from 2013 through 2015 and points to cattle grazing as the main culprit, Matt Finer, senior research specialist at the ACA told ThinkProgress. “We just hadn’t really dealt with that driver before. You hear that more in the context of Brazil.”
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/19/3796321/peruvian-amazon-shows-new-deforestation-hotspots/
From the TV show, "House."
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102 million dead California trees 'unprecedented in our modern history,' officials say
The number of dead trees in California’s drought-stricken forests has risen dramatically to more than 102 million in what officials described as an unparalleled ecological disaster that heightens the danger of massive wildfires and damaging erosion.
Officials said they were alarmed by the increase in dead trees, which they estimated to have risen by 36 million since the government’s last survey in May. The U.S. Forest Service, which performs such surveys of forest land, said Friday that 62 million trees have died this year alone.
“The scale of die-off in California is unprecedented in our modern history,” said Randy Moore, the forester for the region of the U.S. Forest Service that includes California. Trees are dying “at a rate much quicker than we thought.”
Scientists say five years of drought are to blame for much of the destruction. The lack of rain has put California’s trees under considerable stress, making them more susceptible to the organisms, such as beetles, that can kill them. Unusually high temperatures have added to the trees’ demand for water, exacerbating an already grim situation.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-dead-trees-20161118-story.html
This story is playing out all over the planet and is almost always related to AGW.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/whats-killing-the-aspen-93130832/
Unhealthy forests affect distant ecosystems
Ecologists have demonstrated, once again, the global importance of healthy forests. Fell enough woodland in North America, and the consequences make themselves felt in the forests of Siberia.
And clear the tropical rainforest in the Amazon, and the Siberian conifers experience even greater cold and drought. This “teleconnection” confirms that activities in one region can disturb the climate equilibrium in another.
http://climatenewsnetwork.net/unhealthy-forests-affect-distant-ecosystems/
California Forests Failing to Regrow After Intense Wildfires
Huge, destructive fires are more common with climate change, and the loss of regeneration threatens to exacerbate global warming.
There are warning signs that some forests in the western U.S. may have a hard time recovering from the large and intense wildfires that have become more common as the climate warms.
After studying 14 burned areas across 10 national forests in California, scientists from UC Davis and the U.S. Forest Service said recent fires have killed so many mature, seed-producing trees across such large areas that the forests can't re-seed themselves. And because of increasingly warm temperatures, burned areas are quickly overgrown by shrubs, which can prevent trees from taking root.
"With high-severity fires, the seed source drops off," said study co-author Kevin Lynch, a forest researcher at UC Davis. "We aren't seeing the conditions that are likely to promote natural regeneration."
Historically, severe fires were uncommon in the forests covered by the study, largely made up of yellow pines and mixed conifers, but extended drought and heatwaves have exacerbated fire conditions across the West. The changing climate is also seen as a factor in recent wildfires in the Southeast, which is also mired in drought.
For the study, published Wednesday in the journal Ecosphere, the researchers surveyed 1,500 plots in burned areas at different elevations in the Sierra Nevadas, Klamath Mountains, and North Coast regions. There was no natural conifer regeneration at all in 43 percent of the plots, they reported.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21122016/california-forests-wildfires-climate-change
It’s not your imagination. More trees than ever are standing dead in Colorado forests
Annual survey estimates there are 834 million standing-dead trees, threatening watersheds and worsening risk of ruinous fires
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/15/dead-trees-colorado-forests/
Brazil halves environment budget amid rising Amazon deforestation
In a bid to contain a growing budget deficit, the government has slashed the funding to enforce forest protection laws
The Brazilian government is cutting its environment ministry budget by 51% as part of a bid to limit the country’s spiralling deficit.
The cuts come as deforestation rates are rising, driven by demand for timber, soy and beef. The Amazon region saw a 29% increase in forest clearance last year, according to preliminary data from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute.
It is an even steeper drop in spending than the 31% Donald Trump’s administration is proposing for the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The environment ministry oversees Ibama, the agency responsible for enforcing laws to protect the forest. Sharp spending cuts risk weakening its capacity to carry out inspections, warned NGO Observatorio do Clima.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/04/03/brazil-halves-environment-budget-amid-rising-amazon-deforestation/
The linked article is entitled: "Business as Usual: A Resurgence of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon", and it details the continuing sad story for tropical forest deforestation:
http://e360.yale.edu/features/business-as-usual-a-resurgence-of-deforestation-in-the-brazilian-amazon
Extract: "After years of positive signs, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon is on the rise, with a sharp increase in 2016. As powerful economic forces push for development …"
Amazon deforestation thru 2016.PNG (281.02 kB, 557x595 - viewed 875 times.)
Pine bark beetle is killing east yellowstone and spreading, huge swaths dying. Looks like fall, except pine don't change color in fall and it ain't fall. I hear the wood gets color too, but of course, no logging in yellowstone ... West yellowstone is better, but i saw it occasionally as far west as Gallatin. And as far north as three forks, montana where the jefferson, madison and galltin come together to make the missouri. Nothing is replacing as a succession species that i saw. That whole area is monoculture pine, too much for the beetle to eat, and winters not cold enuf to kill them. One of the people i talked to is trying to plant spruce, but it's hard. Pheromone packets help a little. Saw it as far east as nebraska, but more varied trees there.
NatGeo article here:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/pine-beetles/rosner-text
Incidentally, the trout fishing is superlative this year on the madison and the shoshone.
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« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:21:12 AM by sidd »
Another 50K sq. km. of the Amazon opened to mining. Temer and his corrupt gang busy at work. Read and weep.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/24/brazil-abolishes-huge-amazon-reserve-in-biggest-attack-in-50-years
Hre is paper about carbon sequestration potential of forest topsoils in the USA. The authors estimate 2 Petagram C by 2100 .
DOI: 10.1126/science.aal4369
discussion at
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-reforesting-topsoils-massive-amounts-carbon.html
TOP CLIMATE SCIENTIST JOINS COALITION IN CALLING FOR AN END TO CLEARCUTS AND TIMBER PLANTATIONS
One of the world’s leading climate scientists joined a coalition of 18 conservation, scientific, and community organizations calling on Oregon’s new Carbon Policy Office (CPO) and the Department of Forestry (ODF) to do an about-face on the state’s evolving forest carbon policy and to immediately implement measures to curb the harmful climate impacts of clearcutting and tree plantations. In a thirteen-page letter sent to CPO Director Kristen Sheeran and State Forester Peter Daugherty, the coalition urges the state to abandon the timber industry’s preferred ‘hands off’ approach to forests and climate change in favor of a forest carbon policy based on science and principles of environmental justice. The letter was also sent to forest policy makers in Washington state since that state is on a similar track with respect to forests and climate. ...
https://sustainable-economy.org/top-climate-scientist-joins-coalition-in-calling-for-an-end-to-clearcuts-and-timber-plantations/
Csnavywx
Quote from: sidd on June 30, 2017, 07:36:01 AM
I was up in Shoshone and Yellowstone back in 2016 and was shocked at how bad it was. I have photographs from the 80s and early 90s when I used to go up there as a kid and it had totally changed. The snow patches and ice had visibly retreated way up and in some spots beetle kill went all the way up to the tree line.
I thought I had seen the worst, but that came when we trekked up to the Yoho National Forest in Canada. Huge swaths of that forest were dead or dying when we went through. It hadn't yet gotten to Banff, but it was knocking on the door. I feel fortunate I got to see Banff before it hit. What a beautiful place.
Recent articles on bark beetle activity:
Alaska:
https://brookvilletimes.com/voracious-spruce-bark-beetles-are-back-in-force-in-southcentral-alaska/
Rhode Island/Northeast US
No big attack yet, but the beetles have infiltrated:
http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180617/ri-prepares-for-pine-beetle-attack
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/officials-park-closes-to-remove-trees-infested-with-bark-beetles
New study:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180620094908.htm
Colorado:
Some enclaves have been relatively spared:
http://crestedbuttenews.com/2018/07/pine-beetles-are-at-normal-levels-in-cb/
Others, not so much:
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Tiny-Beetle-Killing-San-Diego-Trees-Increasing-Wildfire-Risk--487355431.html
Yale Env. 360 article:
https://e360.yale.edu/features/small-pests-big-problems-the-global-spread-of-bark-beetles
« Last Edit: July 12, 2018, 04:11:25 PM by Csnavywx »
This year i am seeing bark beetle damage in PA. Been a hard winter, so mebbe it will abate a little.
Nine of the 13 oldest baobabs, aged between 1,000 and 2,500 years, have died over the past dozen years. The sudden collapse is "an event of unprecedented magnitude."
Africa's oldest baobab trees are dying from a mysterious threat
Rising temperatures, increasing drought due to climate change is a suspected factor
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4745548
Alexander555
I have seen several of them, in Zimbabwe and in the Kruger National Park in South-Africa. And the most Southern Baobab is half way the Kruger Park. So they prefer hotter and drier regions.
jacksmith4tx
Wildfires In The U.S. Are Getting Bigger
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/wildfires-in-the-u-s-are-getting-bigger/
"That dichotomy — fewer fires, more land ablaze — is in keeping with long-standing trends. Since 1985, the trend in the number of wildfires hasn’t changed much, but the trend for total acreage burned has gone up and up and up. So what gives? Experts say there’s no single cause in the midst of all that smoke. Instead, the trend is probably related to the interaction of changing climate, short-term weather patterns and a philosophical shift in how we manage both forests and fires."
"Fire managers began to change their philosophy and allow some fires to burn in a more natural way in the 1970s.... Over the last 15 or 20 years, that’s become more of the norm. In the past, every little fire that started got put out before it burned much land. Today, one fire might be allowed to eat up much more built-up kindling... It’s better to let the fire burn more acreage than risk lives unnecessarily.
But transitioning to a more natural sort of fire management isn’t necessarily going to return the forests to a past state of balance with the blaze, Collins warned. Decades of extreme fire prevention have altered forest adaptation. Areas that burn severely today might never grow back the same way. “You can’t just turn the switch back on,” he said. “We might be turning [some forests] into shrublands.”
Science is a thought process, technology will change reality.
Trees growing less dense
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-wood-density-european-trees-decreasing.html
To scale up European forests there has to be water in the top soil. This year some trees started to drop their leaves in July. If they stop growing in July because of a lack of water. And they stop growing when the winter arrives. There is not much time left to grow.
vox_mundi
Hot Weather Killed 'Up to Half' of Young Christmas Trees
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-wales-46301490
The British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA) said some of its members had lost up to half of what they had planted in the spring.
It could hit supplies in eight to 10 years' time, while availability of smaller trees could be lower this year.
... "The fierce sun of the summer baked the roots, and they dried out. It's cost me around £7,000," said Mr Morgan, who supplied the tree for 10 Downing Street last year.
Concerned that climate change will cause ongoing issues, he is now considering changing the types of trees he plants.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― Leonardo da Vinci
Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late
Iconic Forests Reaching Climate Tipping Points in American West, Study Finds
Climate change in the American West may be crossing an ominous threshold, making parts of the region inhospitable for some native pine and fir forests to regrow after wildfires, new research suggests.
As temperatures rise, the hotter, drier air and drier soil conditions are increasingly unsuitable for young Douglas firs and ponderosa pines to take root and thrive in some of the region's low-elevation forests, scientists write in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Wildfires in these areas could lead to abrupt ecosystem changes, from forest to non-forest, that would otherwise take decades to centuries, the study says.
"Once a certain threshold was crossed, then the probability of tree establishment decreased rapidly," said Kimberley Davis, a researcher at the University of Montana and lead author of the study. "The climate conditions are just a lot less suitable for regeneration." ...
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11032019/forest-wildfire-climate-change-tipping-point-study-douglas-fir-ponderosa-pines-west
Hurricane Maria Devastated Puerto Rico’s Forests at an Unprecedented Rate
The tropical storm snapped and uprooted trees long thought to be the hardiest—and some of the most important for keeping carbon out of the atmosphere.
As Hurricane Maria raged across the island with rampaging rains and winds gusting at up to 155 miles per hour, it inflicted serious damage on 20 to 40 million trees. Some species were hit harder than others, and in the aftermath of the onslaught, the makeup of Puerto Rico’s lush ecosystems has likely been permanently altered. And Maria’s destructive powers might well be a harbinger of far worse times to come: With global temperatures on the rise, the researchers forecast that similar storms will follow.
“These hurricanes are going to kill more trees...the factors that protected many trees in the past will no longer apply,” study author María Uriarte, an environmental biologist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, said in a statement.
But not all species were affected in the same way. “There were winners and losers,” Uriarte told Mark Tutton at CNN. Uriarte was surprised to find that large, old hardwoods like tabonucos (candlewoods) and ausubos (bulletwoods)—thick, dense, slow-growing breeds that have traditionally showed resilience in the face of natural disasters—were among the fallen. The loss of these staple species further endangers the birds and other wildlife that typically make their homes in their branches, trunks, and leaves. Others, like the common sierra palm, which have the flexibility to sway and buckle in the gales and easily resprout after damage, fared far better.
Ultimately, these long-term shifts in composition could make for “lower saturated and less diverse forests,” Uriarte said in a statement. And that could have some serious long-term consequences.
With their lower density, palms can’t store as much carbon as hardwoods. If these forests morph into glens of short, skinny, light-bodied trees, they might not do as good a job keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. Additionally, every bout of forest destruction takes trees out of commission, compromising the ability of Earth’s ecosystems to stave off climatic changes, Yadvinder Malhi, an ecosystem scientist at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the study, told Tutton at CNN.
Emissions from the decay of felled trees could even begin to outweigh the carbon taken in by replacements, turning these forests into net carbon emitters. In other words, the landscapes of the future might end up feeding the very changes that put them at risk. ...
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/hurricane-maria-devastated-puerto-ricos-forests-at-an-unprecedented-rate/
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A small step for a big change: Rational compassion
Human nature is a concept that has been debated for thousands of years by philosophers, and more recently by psychologists, a wide range of scientists, but also by common people. This concept is essential to comprehending our own nature and our purpose on Earth. While there is no common definition or shared understanding of human nature, I believe that empathy is a prevalent characteristic of human beings. Whereas human nature differs substantially from individual to individual and is understood and manifests itself distinctly across countries, cultures and communities, oftentimes there is this shared feature of humans: empathy. We can connect that to the fact that across cultures and borders people seem to want similar things, such as health and happiness, in whichever way they might manifest themselves for the individual. The desire to be healthy might be associated with what the Epicureans suggested of human nature: that it is quintessential to our nature to avoid pain and to seek pleasure. Thus, when witnessing suffering in any perceivable way, in ourselves or others, our instinct is to avoid or to remove the cause of pain. That is a natural reaction because our first response to human suffering is feeling emotionally touched and feeling empathy.
The next thing we could do is to act on the feeling of empathy in a rational way. That would bring us exactly to rational compassion, a concept supported and spread by Paul Bloom through his book “Against Empathy: The case for rational compassion”. We could easily employ our rationality to act on our feelings of empathy if we believe ourselves to be rational beings, as Aristotle claimed. How can we use rational compassion in our societies? How can we apply it to make countries a bit better for their inhabitants? For instance, as Paul Bloom suggested, we could commit to analyzing which charities and NGOs are the most efficient worldwide and start by donating a certain monthly amount to these organizations.
More specifically, how can we use rational compassion in my own country, Romania? First of all, the most useful thing would be for each of us to change the perception we have of animals and people in need of support, money or treatment by educating ourselves and by reading more about manners of contribution to those in need. I believe that in Romania there is a high need of workshops and seminars conducted throughout schools and universities that could lead to future generations understanding that less is more. Give a bit of what you have, renounce some of your material possessions and you can help others lead a better live! What is more, there is a dire need for pupils, students and other categories of people to get involved with charities and NGOs, to learn more about these organizations and to start volunteering. The more direct contact with and the more awareness of societal issues we have, the more we can develop the feeling of empathy and act on it afterwards. I also believe that certain sensitive issues that people misconceive should be publicly discussed in educational environments. Therefore, universities in Romania should learn from internationally famous universities that have a variety of societies for like-minded people. These associations provide students with an adequate space to socialize, to generate revolutionary ideas and to create innovative projects. The student societies we usually lack in Romania and we definitely need are: LGBT and feminist groups, animal rescue and animal protection groups, environmental groups. and minorities’ rights groups. Another thing to do is to use crowdfunding and other social platforms to raise awareness of those in need. For example, someone can create a webpage dedicated to marginalized, peripheral villages inhabited by Roma people, who are in need of better housing conditions, jobs, education for children, a stable source of electricity, running drinkable water and so on. A considerably numerous group of empathy-led people could take everything in their own hands and alternately go to the village to teach the children who do not have access to school.They could also gather second-hand things and donate them to the people in the village and make a campaign to raise money in order to improve the living conditions of the village inhabitants. Last, but not least, a pressure group can be formed to force the local authorities to deal with the electricity and water problems. This is just one possible example, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of such cases in Romania, from poor children, orphans, lonely and sick elders, abandoned animals to mistreated wildlife and so on. I want to believe that we can act on our empathy and transform it into rational compassion for the better of the country. But what Romania needs most is ‘acting’ and people who would be willing to do something. Unfortunately, most people sit and discuss the corruption and the miserable state of the country. Stop complaining, start doing Romania! Life is not going to give you lemons for your lemonade, you have to grab them for yourselves!
aidaltruismanimalsbookschangecharitycompassiondaily lifedevelopmentdonationempathyfeelingshappinesshelphuman natureideasinspirationNGOprojectrandomrationalitysharingthoughtsvolunteeringwriting
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Wang Lijun
Intrigue in Beijing
Fate of ousted Communist leader to be decided soon
Bill Gertz
The sentencing in China this week of Chinese defector Wang Lijun to 15 years in prison for seeking political asylum in the United States moves Beijing’s leaders a step closer to ending the most explosive political scandal in decades: What to do with ousted neo-Maoist leader Bo Xilai.
Wang on Trial
Wang Lijun faces death penalty or lengthy prison term
China’s government on Monday began the trial of Wang Lijun, the senior Communist Party police official who sought to defect to a U.S. consulate but was turned away, with a secret hearing in southern China.
Denied Defector Faces Trial
China set to file treason charges against defector turned away by U.S.
China’s communist government is preparing to file treason charges against a former official who sought political asylum at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu but was turned away to avoid upsetting U.S.-China relations, according to U.S. officials and Chinese reports.
Defection Denied
Vice President’s office behind turning away of senior Chinese defector from consulate in China
The office of Vice President Joe Biden overruled State and Justice Department officials in denying the political asylum request of a senior Chinese communist official last February over fears the high-level defection would upset the U.S. visit of China’s vice president, according to U.S. officials.
Broken Bo
U.S. scrutinizes Chinese military amid leadership struggle
U.S. intelligence agencies are closely watching China’s military for any signs of division or unrest related to the ouster of leftist leader Bo Xilai. The former Chongqing party chief, who promoted a return to hardline, Maoist-style communism and had close ties to the military in the region, was formally dismissed from the party’s ruling Politburo last week.
China Party report says would-be defector signed asylum request at U.S. consulate
A former Chinese security official, whose attempted defection to the United States was rejected by the Obama administration, officially requested asylum during his 10-hour stay at the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, China, according to an official Chinese report.
Bye Bye Bo
Flamboyant China Party Boss Ousted
China’s powerful regional Communist Party chief in southern Chongqing, who was angling for a seat on the collective dictatorship that rules China, was ousted on Thursday, state-run media reported. U.S. officials and outside China watchers said the ouster of Bo Xilai, who was behind a Cultural Revolution-style revival of Maoism, signals high-level divisions within the Party hierarchy months before a major leadership change.
Leader of “Red Campaign” survives reports of purge
Chinese Party Leader Accused of Corruption Appears on State Television
A senior Chinese communist party leader who dispatched armed forces to a U.S. consulate to head off the defection of a former police chief was shown on state-run television this week, a sign he has survived allegations of corruption. Bo Xilai, Communist Party leader in China’s Chongqing city, was shown attending a meeting of the ruling Politburo and sitting next to a senior military official.
Chinese Demand Return of Documents
Botched defection leads to diplomatic crisis, puts whistleblower at risk
The failed defection of a high-ranking Chinese police official is shining a light on a power struggle at the highest levels of China’s communist system—and bringing to the fore a debate among U.S. intelligence officials as to what is really happening in the People’s Republic of China. The dramatic events of Feb. 6 at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, in southern China, involved a rejected asylum appeal by Wang Lijun, a former director of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau.
House Probes Botched Defection in China
House committee seeks cables, memos on police chief who sought asylum but was rejected by White House
The House Foreign Affairs Committee is investigating whether the U.S. government mishandled a request for asylum from a senior Chinese Communist Party official who was turned away from a U.S. consulate after spending a night at the diplomatic post in southern China. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, disclosed the staff investigation in a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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Hat-trick for SA animation
Revolting Rhymes scored a hat-trick this weekend, winning Best Storytelling at the Shanghai International Film and TV Festival, then Best Animation at the World Banff Media Festival in Canada, and finally the Cristal for Best TV Production at Annecy in France.
Produced by Magic Light Pictures, Revolting Rhymes was animated at Magic Light’s Berlin studio and Cape Town’s Triggerfish Animation. Revolting Rhymes is an adaptation of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s classic book of surprising fairytales. The animation premiered on BBC One at Christmas 2016, opened the New York International Children’s Film Festival in February 2017, and won Best Animated Short at TIFF Kids in Toronto, Canada last month.
Triggerfish’s Mike Buckland and Sarah Scrimgeour also presented at Annecy on Revolting Rhymes’ post-production pipeline – an honour in itself.
This is the second year in a row that Triggerfish has worked on a project which has won at Shanghai, BANFF and Annecy, following the success of Stick Man, an adaptation of the Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler classic, also produced by Magic Light Pictures for the BBC. Stick Man went on to win 11 international awards, including four at Kidscreen.
Triggerfish’s hat-trick follows just days after the release of the National Film and Video Foundation’s (NFVF) second Economic Impact Assessment on the South African film industry, which found that the sector’s GDP contribution had increased from R3.5billion in 2013 to R5.4billion in 2016.
“With South Africa officially in recession, it’s more important than ever that our economy finds new avenues for growth,” says Triggerfish Animation CEO Stuart Forrest. “The animation sector is still the smallest part of the film industry, according to the NFVF’s study, but our three awards on three continents this weekend are further proof that we are punching above our weight. We believe that with continued government support, animation can become a key, job-intensive growth sector in South Africa.”
At Annecy, Triggerfish also pitched Mama K’s Super 4 as part of Animation du Monde. Created by Zambia’s Malenga Mulendema, the show follows four African teenagers who are recruited for the low-budget superhero operation of a former secret agent. Mama K’s Super 4 is a result of the Triggerfish Story Lab, supported by The Walt Disney Company and The Department of Trade and Industry.
Triggerfish is currently animating an adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Highway Rat, their third BBC One Christmas collaboration with Magic Light Pictures.
Related Topics:animationawardsfilmlocalMike BucklandRevolting RhymesSarah ScrimgeourTriggerfish
HR joins the tech revolution
Vodacom expands fibre
Triggerfish launches free digital learning Academy online
4YFN to select world’s best startups
CT animation gets Oscar nod
Timberlake to headline iTunes London festival
Apple has announced that Justin Timberlake, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Jack Johnson and Jessie J are among the headliners at this year’s iTunes Festival in London.
Running every night in September at the Roundhouse, the iTunes Festival features more than 60 acts performing at the legendary venue.
Performances can be watched live or on-demand by millions of iOS users around the world on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, as well as by music fans with iTunes on their computer or in stunning HD with Apple TV. Tickets are free for competition winners only.
Music fans from across the world, including the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico can win tickets to the iTunes Festival through competitions run by local media partners. In the UK, fans can win tickets using the iTunes Festival app and the iTunes Store as well as select media partners including Channel 4, Global Radio and Metro.
Sir Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse and Crowded House played the first iTunes Festival at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts in 2007. Since then over 370 artists have performed in front of more than 370,000 fans and tens of millions more online and on television. Other performers have included Adele, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys, Paul Simon, Jack White and Oasis. Performances are available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.
* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA
New PS games ready for download
Sony has announced its June line-up for PlayStation Plus subscribers, including Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and two new catalogue releases, Demon’s Souls and ICO and Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection.
Immerse yourself in the ancient world of Amalur and its 10,000 years of magical history in the action-packed tale Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, created by acclaimed New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore. Take destiny into your own hands as you combat your way through this vast and vibrant world as envisioned by the visionary creator of Spawn and much-admired artist, Todd McFarlane.
In Demon’s Souls you are summoned by a mysterious maiden as the last hope for humanity to take on a mighty demon horde that has taken over the kingdom of Boletaria, after a terrible curse was mistakenly unleashed by King Allant the XII whilst in search of greater powers. Prepare for a battle that has so far defeated all other realm champions as you set out on this epic journey to save the Kingdom from a fate worse than death.
ICO and Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection brings two exciting worlds to PS Plus ready for fans to explore. Adopt the role of ICO, a young boy who finds himself imprisoned by the people of his village inside the walls of a menacing castle before joining forces with a young girl named Yorda as she attempts to escape in ICO. Take on the role of a young man named Wander in Shadow of the Colossus as you journey through an enchanted land, battling 16 enormous beasts known as the Colossi in order to restore the life of a girl named Mono, whose soul is trapped in this haunting world.
For gamer’s on-the-go, grab your PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) and transport yourself to lush forests in the cartoon-quality action title Rayman Origins. Alternatively, weave through airborne mazes as you avoid falling coconuts in Coconut Dodge HD, both available on PS Plus from 5th June.
PS Plus provides subscribers with access to top-rated games on PS3 and PS Vita, extending the service to two platforms for a single price for a one-year subscription. Additionally, 90 day subscriptions are also available giving user’s access to the same fantastic titles and great PlayStation Store discounts.
PS Plus subscribers receive an array of exclusive features, including 2GB cloud storage (1G for PS3 & 1G for PS Vita) for game saves. Automatic updates and beta access, as well as a huge collection of exclusive dynamic themes and PlayStation Network avatars, makes PS Plus the place to be in 2013.
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Author:Pasquale Villari
←Author Index: Vi Pasquale Villari
sister projects: Wikipedia article, Commons category, Wikidata item.
Italian historian and politician.
This author wrote articles for the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Articles attributed to this author are designated in EB1911 by the initials "P. V."
Pasquale Villari
1058950Q549208Pasquale VillariPasqualeVillariVillari,_Pasquale
WorksEdit
La Storia di Girolamo Savonarola
The History of Girolamo Savonarola and of His Times, translated by L. Horner
The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola, translated by L. Villari
Niccolo Machiavelli and his Times (1878)
Mediaeval Italy from Charlemagne to Henry VII (1910)
"Medici," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911) (Family)
"Pisa," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)
"Rimini," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)
"Rome," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911) (Roman Republic in the Middle Ages)
Works about VillariEdit
"Villari, Pasquale," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)
Works by this author published before January 1, 1924 are in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago. Translations or editions published later may be copyrighted. Posthumous works may be copyrighted based on how long they have been published in certain countries and areas.
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Leatham, William Henry (DNB00)
←Leate, Nicholas
Leatham, William Henry
by Charlotte Fell Smith
Le Bas, Charles Webb→
Leatham, William HenryCharlotte Fell Smith1892
LEATHAM, WILLIAM HENRY (1816–1889), verse-writer and member of parliament, born at Wakefield on 6 July 1815, was second of nine children of William Leatham, banker, and author of 'Letters on the Currency' (London, 1840). A sister became the wife of the Right Hon. John Bright, another of Joseph Gurney Barclay, the banker. His family had long been quakers, and William Henry was educated at Bruce Grove, Tottenham, and under a classical tutor. At nineteen he entered his father's bank at Wakefield, and in the following year (1835) made a tour on the continent. His first published work was a volume of poems (1840), one of which, 'A Traveller's Thoughts, or Lines suggested by a Tour on the Continent in the Summer of 1835.' somewhat in the manner of 'Childe Harold.' re-appeared in 1841.
As early as 1832 Leatham assisted in the return of the first member — a liberal — for Wakefield. In July 1852 he contested the town in the liberal interest, and was defeated. At the general election of 1859, after a contest of unparalleled severity, he was returned by three votes, but was unseated on petition. Both Leatham and the defeated candidate were prosecuted for bribery, but a nolle prosequi was ultimately entered by the Government. In 1865 Leatham was returned or the town free of expense, and presented with a testimonial by 8,700 non-electors. He did not offer Jiimself for re-election in 1868, but in 1880 was returned for the South-west Riding of Yorkshire. He died suddenly at Carlton, near Pontefract, on 14 Nov. 1889, leaving six sons and one daughter.
He married in 1839 Priscilla, daughter of Samuel Gurney [q. v.] of Upton, Essex, and then settled at Sandal, near Wakefield, the subject of his poem, 'Sandal in the Olden Time.' A few years after their marriage Leatham and his wife formally joined the church of England, purchasing in 1851 Hemsworth Hall, now in the possession of their eldest son, Mr. Samuel Gurney Leatham.
Besides the work already mentioned Leatham published in verse: 1. 'The Victim, a Tale of the Lake of the Four Cantons.' 1841. 2. 'The Siege of Granada,' 1841. 3. 'Strafford, a Tragedy.' 1842. 4. 'Henry Clifford and Margaret Percy, a Ballad of Bolton Abbey.' 5. 'Emilia Monteiro, a Ballad of the Old Hall, Heath.' 1843. 6. 'The Widow and the Earl, a Tale of Sharlston Hall.' 7. 'Cromwell, a Drama in five Acts.' 1843. 8. 'The Batuecas.' 1844. 9. 'Montezuma,' 1845. 10. 'Life hath many Mysteries.' &c, 1847. 11. 'Selections from Lesser Poems.' 1855. A later volume of 'Selections' was published in 1879. Leatham also wrote in prose two volumes of 'Lectures' delivered at literary and mechanics' institutes, 1845 and 1849, and 'Tales of English Life and Miscellanies.' 2 vols. 1858. These and many of the poems were first issued in local journals.
[Wakefield Express, 16 Sept. 1889; Smith's Catalogue; information from Mr. S. Or. Leatham.]
C. F. S.
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Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/195
MELISSUS
About 325 the Meletiaiis counted in Egypt twenty- nine bishops, Meletius included, and in Alexandria itself, four priests, tliree deacons, and one army chap- lain. Conformably to the Nicene decree, Meletius lived first at Lycopolis in the Thebaid, but after Bishop Alexander's death he took a personal part in the negotiations which united his party to the Arians. The date of liis death is not known. ' He nominated his friend, John, as ids successor. Theodoret men- tions very superstitious Meletian monks who practised Jewish alilutions. The Meletians died out after the middle of the fifth century.
Ceillii;i{, Hi^totrc Generate dcs auteurs ecclesiastiques. III (Paris, lTi2). 6rS-81. II (1765), 615-16; Hefele, Meletius in Kirchenlei., ed. Kiulen, VIII (1893), 1221 sq.; Achelis, Mele- tius von LykopoUs in Realencyelopadie, ed. Hauck. XII (1903), 558-62; Hefele, Histoire des Conciles, ed. Leclercq, I (1907),
211-12,488-503. H. Leclercq.
Melfi and Rapolla, Diocese of (Melphiensis et Rapollen'sis), in the province of Potenza, in Basili- cata, southern Italy. Melfi is situated on a pleasant hill, on the slopes of Mt. \'olture. Tlic origin of the city is not well known; iiut the town became famous in 1043, when it was chosen capital of the new mihtary state created in southern Italy by the twelve Norman counts, founders of the Kingdom of Naples. Nicholas II made it a diocese immediately dependent on the Holy See; its first bishop was Baldwin. Its beautiful cathedral, a work of Bishop Roger, son of Robert Guiscard (1155), was destroyed by the earthquake of 1851. Among its other bishops, mention should be made of Fra Alessandro da San Eljiidio, a former gen- eral of the Augustinians (1328), and a learned theolo- gian. In 1528, Clement VII, in view of the scarcity of its revenues, united the Diocese of Rapolla to that of Melfi, "aeque principaliter". Rapolla is a city founded by the Lombards, on the banks of the Oli- vento River. The Normans took it from the Greeks in 1042, and fortified it with works still to be seen. The town, which has a beautiful cathedral, was an episcopal see, suffragan of Siponto, in the time of Greg- ory VII. Other bishops were Cardinal Giovanni Vin- cenzo Acquaviva (1537), who gave a noble organ to the cathedral, and Lazzro Caralffini (1622), founder of the seminary. Several councils were held at Melfi: one in 1048; another 1059, under Nicholas II, impor- tant on account of the prohilsition of the marriage of priests, the deposition of the Bishop of Trani, promo- ter of the schism of Cerularius, and the investiture of Robert Guiscard of the Duchy of Apuha and Calabria; the council of 1067; the one of 1089, against simony and the concubinage of priests, and for the freedom of the Church; lastly, the council of 1100. The united sees have 14 parishes, with 40,000 inhabitants, 66 priests, 5 religious houses of women, and 1 school for boys and 1 for girls.
Cappelletti: Le Chiese d' Italia, XXI (Venice, 1857). U. Benigni.
Meli, Giovanni, Sicilian poet, b. at Palermo, 4 March, 1740; d. 20 Dec, 1815. He was the son of a goldsmith of Spanish origin, and received his first edu- cation from the Jesuits. He afterwards studied nat- ural science and medicine, and practised as a physi- cian in the hamlet of Cinisi and later at Palermo itself, where for nineteen years he held the chair of chemistry at the university. Towards the end of his life he took minor orders. In childhood he had been led to poetry by reading Ariosto, and in poetical composition found relief from domestic unhappiness. His poems are written in the Sicilian dialect, and as a vernacular poet of this kind he has no rival in Italian literature. His longer works, "La Fata Cialanti", "Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza", " L'origini di lu Munnu", are fantastic poems in oikiva rima in imitation of Berni. The Buc- colica, eclogues and idylls of the four seasons of the year, is full of Sicilian colour, and has won him the title of " the modern Theocritus" . Meli was a staunch
supporter of the Bourbon regime, and among his lyrics " Anacreontiche " and "Odi", is an ode in honour of Nelson, which however, he is said to have suppressed after the latter's execution of the Neapolitan patriots. His last work, the "FavuU morah", is a collection of Esopian fables in verse with an underlying allegorical or satirical meaning.
Opere di Giovajjni ilELl (Palermo, 1857); La Buccolica, la Lirica, le Satire, e VElegie di Giovanni Meli ridotte dal siciliano in italiano da Agostino Gallo (Palermo, 1858); Navantari, Studio critico su Giovanni Meli (Palermo, 1904).
Edmund G. Gahdneb.
Melia, Piu.?, Italian theologian, b. at Rome, 12 Jan., 1800 ; d. in London, June, 1883. He entered the Society of Jesus on 14 Aug., 1815, taught literature at Reggio, and afterwards was engaged in preaching. He left the Society in 1853. He wrote two books: "Alcune ragioni dd P. Pio Melia della C. di G." (Lucca, 1847), a defence of the Society of Jesus, and "Alcune affirmazioni del Sig. Antonio Rosmini-Ser- bati" (Pisa, s. d.), an attack upon Rosmini (q. v.). In his "Life of Rosmini", Father Lockliart merely declares that the latter work was written by cer- tain Italian Jesuits ; Father de Backer, in his " Dic- tionnaire des Antonymes", attributed it to Passaglia, but his " Bibliotheque de la Compagnie de Jesus", re- edited by Sommervogel, follows Beorchia, who attrib- utes it to Melia. Melia, who attacked especially Rosmini's doctrine on original sin, was answered by Rosmini (Milan, 1841) and Pagani (Milan, 1842) ; then began a bitter controversy which had to be ended by a direct command of Pius IX.
Sommervogel, Bibl. de la C. de J., V (Brussels and Paria, 1894); Lockhart, Life of Rosmini (London, 1886).
Wm. T. Tallon.
Melissus of Samos, a Greek philosopher, of the Eleatic School, b. at Samos about 470 B. c. It is probable that he was a disciple of Parmenides, and that he is identical with the Melissus who, according to Plutarch (Pericles, 26), commanded the Samian fleet which defeated the Athenians off the coast of Samos in 442. He wrote a work which is variously entitled ■fepl Toi ii^'Tos, irepl ifiicreas, etc., and of which only a few fragments have come down to us. In at- tempting to combine the doctrines of Parmenides with those of the earliest philosophers of Greece (see Ionian School of Philosophy), Melissu.s, though he fell into many contradictions, forestalled, in a sense, Aristotle's more successful effort to define the infinite and the incorporeal. Like Parmenides, he depreciated sense- knowledge, and held that change, motion, and multi- plicity are illusions. At the same time, he was influ- enced by the lonians, especially by Heraclitus, to attach value to the question of origins. He definitely predicates infinity of being, and assertrS that reality " has no body ". By the infinite he miderstands "that which has neither beginning nor end", and in his con- ception of " that which has no body", he does not, as Aristotle points out (Metaph. I, 5, 986 b.) attain a correct understanding of the immaterial. "The physi- cal doctrines ascribed to Melissus by Philoponus, Stoboeus, Epiphanius, and others do not seem to have been held by him. 'I'here is, however, a possibility that, as Diogenes Laertius informs us, Melissus avoided all mention of the gods because we can know nothing about them. Like Plato, Aristotle, and some of the other Greek philosophers, he probably thought it wisest to take refuge in a profession of ignorance regarding the gods, so as to avoid the imputation of hostility to the popular mythologv.
Fairbanks, First Philosophers of Greece (New York, 1898). 120 sq., gives fragments of AlelLssus's work, with translations of references to him in Aristutic, Epiphanius, etc.; P.abst, De Melissi fragmentis (Bonn, ISSU); Kern, Zur Wiirdigung des Melissus (.Stettin, 1880); Zeller, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, tr. Alleyne, I (Lend., 1881), 627 sq.; Tannery, Pour (Vitstoire de la science hellene (Paris, 1887), 262 sq.; Turner. History oj Philosophy (Boston, 1903), 51 sq^-.
William Turner.
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Popular Science Monthly/Volume 13/June 1878/The Pygmy Monkey
< Popular Science Monthly | Volume 13 | June 1878
←The Scientific Study of Human Testimony II
Popular Science Monthly Volume 13 June 1878 (1878)
The Pygmy Monkey by Émile Oustalet
Scientific Courses of Study→
616898Popular Science Monthly Volume 13 June 1878 — The Pygmy Monkey1878
THE PYGMY MONKEY.[1]
By E. OUSTALET.
THERE was lately presented to the London Zoölogical Society, by an engineer attached to the navigation service of the Upper Amazon, a monkey, which may be regarded as one of the smallest representatives of the order Quadrumana. The animal is not so big as a squirrel, its body measuring only fifteen centimetres, with a tail of about the same length. The tribe to which it belongs, that of the Hapalians, stands at the foot of the monkey series, at the head of which are the anthropoid apes. While the latter are remarkable for a stature nearly equal to that of the human species, a robust body without caudal appendage, and a voluminous brain with numerous convolutions, the Hapalians, on the other hand, in size do not surpass some of our Rodents. The body is rather slender, but covered with a heavy coat of hair, and terminated by a long tail; the brain is almost perfectly smooth. Like the Cebians, with which they constitute the Platyrrhine family, they have neither callosities nor cheek-pouches, but they differ from the other monkeys of the New World in the claw-like nails of all the fingers except the thumbs of the posterior members, and in the teeth, which number only thirty-two, the great molars being reduced to two on each side of each jaw. To these characters correspond notable differences in the habits and modes of life. Thus certain naturalists have supposed that the Hapalians (which they designate by the not very appropriate name of Arctopitheci—"bear-monkeys") must be regarded as an independent family, of the same rank as the families of the Platyrrhines and the Catarrhines. Even though we do not adopt this opinion, we are forced to admit that the Hapalians offer certain affinities with the Rodents, if not in the skeleton and the dental formula, at least in the gait. Like our squirrels, they are essentially arboreal, and run up and down the trunks of trees with great agility, buying their claws deep into the bark. Like the squirrels, too, they are lively and alert during the day, and spend the nights concealed in holes; like them, they shelter themselves against cold by gathering around them their bushy tails; like them, finally, they are exceedingly timid and wary, fleeing at the least noise, and seeking refuge in the foliage. But here the resemblance ends: for, while the Rodents, with their strong incisors and molars, easily cut and bruise the hardest grains and fruits, the Hapalians, whose jaws are of a different conformation, live on birds'-eggs, insects, fruits, and buds. As regards intelligence, the Hapalians appear to be far inferior to other monkeys, and in them the sense of touch in particular is poorly developed, the anterior members terminating in true feet, the digits of which are armed with claws, and the posterior members presenting only imperfect hands. The head is roundish; the flat face is animated with small but very bright eyes; the ears are often adorned with tufts of hair, which give an odd character to the physiognomy. Finally, the body is covered with a thick coat of soft, silken hair, often with regularly-arranged bands in the back and tail.[2] By
The Pygmy Monkey.
their aspect, and the coloration of their fur, by their size, by their mode of life, as also by the details of their organization, the Hapalians constitute a very natural family. Still, they may be divided into two genera, the Uistitis (Hapale or Jacchus), with long, tufted tail, with no fringe of hair around the face, but with tufts of hair on the ears; and the Tamarins (Midas), whose head is adorned with a fringe, but whose ears are more or less denuded. We will set this latter group completely aside, and consider only the Uistitis.
The species of the genus Jacchus, all, without exception, are found in tropical America, between the Isthmus of Panama and latitude 30° south, but chiefly, if not exclusively, in the region lying to the east of the Andes, some of them inhabiting the virgin forests, others the thickets scattered over the plains. The best-known species is the common Uistiti (Hapale or Jacchus vulgaris), with gray-russet pelt, with alternate red and blackish streaks, and with from fifteen to eighteen rings on the tail, a white, triangular spot on the forehead, and long white hairs on the sides of the head. It is a native of Guiana and Brazil, and was long ago described by Buffon, Illiger, and Geoffroy St.-Hilaire. It is of very small size, but a little larger than the pygmy monkey, recently acquired by the Zoölogical Society; its body measures from twenty to twenty-three centimetres, and the tail about fifty-five centimetres.
The common Uistiti is, no doubt, familiar to our readers, for it is often imported into Europe. It has even reproduced in captivity, and many naturalists, as Cuvier, Pallas, and Audouin, have made some very interesting observations on it. The young ones, which are born with the eyes open, have a very large head, a dark-gray skin of pretty uniform color, excepting the tail, which plainly shows the rings. Immediately after birth they cling to their dam, who, however, does not seem to have any great affection for them, and turns them over to the male as soon as she feels tired; he in turn gives them back to his consort when they try to suck. The adult animals, though they are by nature timid, become attached to those persons who care for them, and, though they do not exhibit much intelligence, they nevertheless appear to be able to associate ideas. Thus, one of the two Uistitis, which Audouin kept for a long time, acquired the habit of shutting the eyes whenever he ate grapes, and this because he had once squirted the juice of grapes into the animal's eyes. At the sight of a wasp this animal, as also its companion, was seized with sudden terror, and took refuge in the bottom of its cage, covering its head with its hands, though this was the first time it ever had seen that insect, and though it daily pursued flies with great address. Audouin, who had observed this occurrence, conceived the idea of offering to his two Uistitis not a live wasp, but a colored picture of one; to his great surprise, the monkeys fully recognized their enemy and manifested much alarm. Now, we know that most of our domestic animals, and even certain highly-organized monkeys, while they manifest pleasure or rage at beholding their own images in a mirror, are nevertheless perfectly indifferent in the presence of the portrait, however life-like, of an animal of a different species.
Pallas tells us that some Uistitis have endured perfectly well the winter cold of St. Petersburg, while, on the other hand, they were greatly incommoded by the heat of the summer. But this must be an exception, for, as a rule, in our menageries these little monkeys, despite all the care bestowed on them, have great difficulty in living through the winter season. They are fed mainly either on eggs, which they empty with much dexterity, or on fruit; the latter must be soft and sweet, for the Uistiti rejects almonds no less than acid fruits. Flesh meat has no attraction for them; and, when they seize with their hands a living bird, they first choke it to death and then tear open the cranium to get at the brain. Their cries are various: they express alarm by a sort of bark, anger by a short hiss, joy by a low cry, or by a rather pleasant purring. On the slightest opposition, they bristle the hair of their head and grit their teeth, and endeavor to bite the hand that would seize them. Nevertheless, it is but just to say that these inequalities of temper are seen rather in individuals captured at an advanced period of life than in those taken young. To capture these, the Indians wound or kill the mother, and then, without difficulty, seize the young ones, which she carries on her back.
Very nearly allied to the common Uistiti is the Hapale aurita, or eared Uistiti, with fur of russet black, streaked on the back with faint black bands; also the cowled Uistiti (Hapale humeralifer), with white face, surrounded with brownish hair, blackish body, a collar of snowy white on the scapular region, and tail bearing incomplete rings. These two species are, like Hapale vulgaris, natives of Brazil, and, like that animal, they are noticeable for the tufts of white hair which grow on the anterior surface of the ears. In other Uistitis, on the contrary (as the Hapale penicillata), and the white-headed Uistiti (Hapale leucocephala), which inhabit the same regions, the tufts on the ears are black. Finally, in the black-tailed Uistiti (Hapale melanura),of which, in all probability, Buffon's Simia argentata is only an albino variety, the hair, which is light brown, is very short, and the tail is of a uniform, light-brown color. To the same category belong the Pygmy Uistiti (Hapale pygmæa)—of which we give a figure copied from nature—and the white-footed Uistiti (Hapale leucopus), a species described last year by Gray, and which has the forearms, feet, and hands, of a nearly pure white color, while the rest of the body is brownish gray, with more or less mixture of red. This animal was discovered at Medellin, in Colombia; while the Hapale pygmæa—which differs from it both in markings and in size, having red spots and blackish streaks, and being much smaller than Leucopus—is confined to certain regions of Brazil and Peru.—La Nature.
↑ Translated from the French by J. Fitzgerald, A.M.
↑ The name Hapalians, given to these monkeys by Illiger, is derived from the Greek ἁπαλός, which means soft.
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Popular Science Monthly/Volume 18/March 1881/The Problem of Municipal Nuisances
< Popular Science Monthly | Volume 18 | March 1881
←Physical Education III
Popular Science Monthly Volume 18 March 1881 (1881)
The Problem of Municipal Nuisances by Roger Sherman Tracy
Cerebral Localization; Or, The New Phrenology→
625532Popular Science Monthly Volume 18 March 1881 — The Problem of Municipal Nuisances1881
THE PROBLEM OF MUNICIPAL NUISANCES.
By ROGER S. TRACY, M. D.
THE general democratic tendency of the past three hundred years has had some curious results. Free thought and free speech have brought about a universal freedom in criticism, so that, at the present time, singularly enough, it has come to be looked upon as a sign of high civilization and progress for every man to have an opinion about everything, whether he knows anything about it or not. One of the most complicated political problems that men have ever had to treat, viz., the Eastern question, is discussed in this city, by individuals and newspapers, with more readiness and assurance than in the council-chambers of Berlin or London, and every man above the condition of a rag-picker will give you his opinion on the philosophy of evolution. This exaggerated sense of self-importance brings with it not only the tendency to criticise everything not in accordance with each person's notion of what is right or expedient, but, inasmuch as conflicting currents of thought and action are unavoidable, a profound feeling of dissatisfaction with one's own environment. This feeling of dissatisfaction shows itself in curious ways. In place of the intense patriotism and personal loyalty of past ages, we find a widespread belief in almost all highly civilized nations that things are better managed elsewhere than at home, and the newspapers, here and abroad, are crowded with this not-always-well-based self-criticism. New York newspapers are great sinners in this respect. While they are continually extolling the natural advantages of the city, her magnificent river-front and harbor, her advantageous situation, her brilliant sky, they are also constantly bewailing her bad government, her lukewarm public spirit, and the universally asinine quality of her public officers. One would think that her present position as a metropolis is entirely due to natural advantages, and has been gained in spite of the most earnest opposition from her leading citizens. The elevation of an honest, sober, intelligent citizen to a public office makes him straightway an ass in the estimation of his fellows. A public officer, who declines to do what certain citizens want him to do, is believed by them to be prima facie corrupt. If he agrees to do what they wish, some other citizens are equally certain that he has been bought. It seems impossible for a man to remain in public office in New York City for six months without having charges or intimations of bribery come to his ears, in one form or another. And not only are our public officers all supposed to be open to corrupt influences, but, when they are put in office, they are believed ipso facto to become suddenly ignorant of all that they knew before. And not only are they taunted with ignorance, incapacity, and an itching palm, but they are continually reminded that things are much better managed elsewhere, and that the sooner they learn how a city ought to be governed, by observing how other cities are governed, the sooner they will become of some use in their places.
One of the things New-Yorkers complain most about is the dirty streets, including the garbage-box nuisance. It is a popular belief, fostered by the leading newspapers, that New York is the only large city in the civilized world where such a filthy nuisance as the garbage box would be tolerated, and those officers who have charge of the public health are continually reminded of Paris and London, where no such frightful eyesores exist, and where the public service in this regard is immaculate, as every person who has taken a flying summer trip through those cities is ready to testify.
Another frequent cause of complaint is the offensive odors from manufacturing establishments, which also are believed to be kept under such strict watch in Paris and London that they are never nuisances; and the American visitor, being sure that such things are banished from those cities, wants to have them driven out of this one.
The purpose of this paper is not to show that the complaints of our citizens are unfounded, for they are, unfortunately, too well founded, but to do something toward stemming the prevailing current of opinion—1. That the dirty streets and offensive odors of New York are entirely due to the negligence, stupidity, or corruption of public officers; and, 2. That Paris and London are free from the same kind of nuisances. I shall, in other words, try to show that Paris and London, in similar circumstances, are troubled with dirty streets and offensive odors, depending upon the same causes as in New York, and that the public officers of those cities find precisely the same difficulties in abating such nuisances that are met with here; and I submit that the public officers of the city of New York ought not to be called or considered stupid, ignorant, or corrupt, because they meet with the same difficulties as the intelligent, honest, and trained public officers of Paris and London, and, like them, do not always succeed in surmounting them to the satisfaction of the public.
This is not the place for a complete discussion of the subject of street-cleaning, but it may be well, as a preliminary to what follows, to call attention to some points on which there is decided popular misapprehension. It is believed by most citizens of New York that ample funds are given to the Bureau of Street-Cleaning, and that, if this money were honestly expended, our streets ought to be as clean as those of Paris. Now, the facts of the case are these:
Our Bureau of Street-Cleaning employs 387 street-sweepers. Paris has a permanent corps of 3,180, besides 190 machines, each doing the work of ten men. Our bureau has to clean, more or less perfectly, 1,415 acres of paved street surface; Paris, 2,667 acres. The great difference in force, in proportion to the work to be done, is apparent at a glance. Our sweepers are paid $1.60 per day for eight hours' work. The Paris sweepers receive sixty cents per day for ten hours' work. For the sake of ease in calculation, we will suppose that as much work is done here in eight hours as in Paris in ten hours. Then each sweeper in New York costs a dollar a day more than each one in Paris. From the figures already given, the following results may be deduced:
If New York sweepers received Paris wages, we should, with our present force, save yearly $141,255.
If New York sweepers received Paris wages, we could, without increasing the expense of street-cleaning, increase the force by 645 men, i. e., nearly treble it.
If there were as many sweepers in New York as in Paris, in proportion to the area required to be cleaned, the expense of street-cleaning in New York would be increased by $474,500.
If Paris sweepers received New York wages, the expense of street cleaning in Paris would be increased by $1,160,700.
As a matter of fact, the expense of street-cleaning in New York for 1879 was $690,000, including $40,000 for removing ice and snow; and in Paris for 1878, $817,000, including $181,000 for the removal of ice and snow.
An important part of the duties of a street-cleaning bureau is the removal of ashes and garbage. It is also exceedingly difficult, in a large city, to do this effectively and economically. I say, in a large city, for in a small village the garbage nuisance is at its minimum, and it increases with the number and crowding of inhabitants. It is unfair to compare the New York method of removing ashes and garbage with that of smaller and less compact towns, like Boston and Philadelphia. The difficulties to be surmounted in this city are even greater than in Paris or London, because of the peculiar shape of the city, and because we are surrounded by water. But this is a digression.
It is a common belief, reiterated in the daily journals, that the household and street refuse of Paris is sold for enormous amounts, and that so much money is received on this account that the street cleaning service of that city is a source of revenue instead of expense. This is not so. The chief revenue in this regard is derived from the rag-pickers. In New York these people ransack the boxes and barrels on the street, without paying for the privilege, and all that they collect brings them a clear profit. In Paris, on the other hand, the privilege of rummaging the dust-heaps is farmed out to wealthy contractors, who employ about 7,000 chiffoniers, and have a monopoly of rag-picking. So far as I can ascertain, this is the only source of actual revenue to the city of Paris from its street refuse, and what the amount of this revenue is I can not learn. It is very hard to find out anything about the municipal expenditures of that city, as it has no official journal like our "City Record."
Now, let us see what are the practical results of the methods of street-cleaning and removal of household refuse adopted in Paris:
"Street-cleaning in cities has for its aim the removal of dust, mud, snow, filth, and household refuse. As regards the latter, which ought to be thrown directly into the carts, municipal regulations in Paris continually conflict with a corporation very jealous of its privileges; I refer to that of the rag-pickers, who conduct a business represented by nearly 7,000 persons, collecting with their hooks material worth 4,000,000 francs ($800,000) a year, and feeding the manufactories of paper, pasteboard, lampblack, etc. We are obliged, therefore, to yield to the demands of these Diogenes of the street, and to allow, to the great prejudice of sight, smell, and health, the throwing upon the public street, toward evening, of all kinds of refuse, to be picked over by the hook of the rag-picker. They insist upon this, and they wield a great power."—(Fonssagrives, "Hygiène et Assainissement des Villes," Paris, 1874, p. 174.)
"In Freycinet's opinion ('Assainissement des Villes,' p. 343), as far as promptness and completeness of street-cleaning in the narrower sense are concerned, Paris is in advance of all other great cities; but it is not so with the household refuse, which, in the absence of special means of removal, must naturally take its way over the street. Although this refuse, intended for removal and thrown on the street for this purpose, ought to he taken away at an early hour of the morning, it often remains upon the street till evening, is scattered about, etc., and all, according to Freycinet, because they do not wish to interfere with the unhealthy occupation of the rag-pickers, who rummage the mess for rags and bones."—(Götel, "Oeffentl. Gesundheitspfl. in den Ausserdeutschen Staaten," Leipsic, 1878, p. 205. The italics are mine.)
Götel states that things are much better managed in Lyons and Bordeaux in this respect—very much smaller cities, be it noted.
So it appears that the problem of the expeditious and inoffensive removal of household refuse has not yet been solved in Paris, the opinion of amateur sanitarians in this country to the contrary notwithstanding.
Last December there were two heavy snow-falls in Paris, only four days apart. The first storm crippled the street-cleaning department, and after the second the authorities were almost in despair, being hampered, as ours are, by the lack of funds, and, while their hands were tied, being harassed, howled at, and snapped at by the journalistic jackals. Almost a complete history of this episode can be gathered from the following comments of the press:
"As regards locomotion, the streets are gradually becoming more practicable for both riding and walking, thanks to the army of sweepers that the municipal authorities have at length set to work. It is remarked, however, that on the occasion of the last heavy fall of snow in Paris, some five or six years ago, the public thoroughfares were cleared much more rapidly than this time, owing to the military having been engaged in the task, and some surprise is expressed that they were not made use of this year. Certain it is that the public have had to suffer much loss and inconvenience, which they might have been spared by more prompt and energetic measures on the part of the authorities."—(London "Standard" Paris correspondent, Decembers, 1879.)
"In some of the public gardens the snow is untouched, and they have ceased to be thoroughfares; but in the streets it is slowly being carted away, the traffic being carried on under great difficulties. Most of the tramways have stopped working."—(London "Times" Paris correspondent, December 10, 1879.)
The depth of snow that fell in these storms was estimated to be fifty centimetres (twenty inches). The chief of the Department of Public Works, M. Alphand, being called upon to explain why he did not immediately remove it all, stated that there had fallen altogether about 7,000,000 cubic metres of snow, and that it cost three francs a cubic metre to remove it, or 21,000,000 francs for the whole (about 84,000,000). The Municipal Council did not feel authorized to expend this vast sum, but they did generously vote 500,000 francs ($100,000), in addition to the regular appropriation for street-cleaning, and M. Alphand was thus enabled to put an immense force at work upon the streets.
It is worthy of notice how differently this public officer was treated from our own. In the spring of 1879 our Police Commissioners were summoned before the Mayor, and two of them removed from office because they had not kept the streets clean during the winter. No extra appropriation for them—nothing but disgrace! A comparison of the condition of the streets in both cities may be instructive. In Paris twenty inches of snow fell in December, eight inches at one time and twelve at another. And this was a remarkable event in that city, although such storms are not uncommon here. For instance: on February 3, 1876, we had eleven inches of snow; on January 13, 1877, thirteen inches; and March 16th following, three and a half inches. In the winter which proved so unfortunate for our public officers, we had, on January 1, 1879, five inches of snow, and on the 16th thirteen inches more, or eighteen inches in all, and nearly as much as fell in Paris last winter. Between these storms we had freezing weather, the thermometer marking above the freezing-point only six times, and never rising above 38° in the hottest part of the day. So the cases are not altogether dissimilar. Let us see how much better the efficient street-cleaning department of Paris did its work than ours.
The following extracts are from the "Figaro" of December 10, 1879:
"'La Presse' says, 'A little less politics, and a little more sweeping.'
"'Le Mot d'Ordre': 'A little more sweeping! "La Presse" is right; let them sweep out. the head of the bureau.'
"'La Presse': 'We have lived in countries where snow is not an exception, as it is in Paris. In those places snow has never been an obstacle in getting about the streets. As soon as the snow begins to fall, they sweep it up and carry it away.'"
And "Figaro" adds: "All this is perfectly true; in London, they melt the snow instantly with jets of steam; in Berlin, where it snows almost constantly in winter, the street-cars do not cease running for an instant, owing to analogous measures, which keep the rails absolutely free. But we are in France, we are in Paris; and a practical spirit is, unfortunately, the only thing we lack."
How much all this sounds like the talk of our own newspapers!
The attacks of the press were so persistent, and the displeasure of the public so marked in various ways, that M. Alphand was summoned before the Municipal Council. In his speech, reported at length in "Le Figaro" of December 12, 1879, he referred in the following words to some of the statements made in the newspapers:
"Foreign countries have been mentioned; it has been stated that in them the snow is removed immediately. Brussels has been given as an example; now I myself was in that city three years ago, at the very time when they had a fall of snow; I declare to you that I did not see a single cart carrying away snow, and when it thawed people splashed along in a black mud twenty-five centimetres thick" (ten inches).
M. Alphand stated that there were at that time employed in removing snow 13,940 men, 3,900 horses, and 2,400 carts.
Imagine our Board of Apportionment supporting the hands of its public officers, in trying times, in this fashion!
This immense body of laborers was put at work before the middle of December. And how much did they accomplish?
On January 5th a correspondent writes: "Beneath our feet such mire as has not been seen since the first week succeeding the original deluge. . . . From the first fall of snow, upon the 4th of December, the regular scavenger service was suspended, and now, that the snow has melted away, great heaps of offal and filth of all sorts lie rotting in the open air." (The italics are mine.)
In a letter to the "New York Evening Post," dated at Paris, January 6th, Edward King writes: "Coming into the city after a brief journey to Spain a day or two since, I almost fancied myself in New York, so familiar seemed the long banks of snow, garnished with dirt and the refuse from kitchens. The municipal authorities have been unable to maintain their reputation for promptness in street-cleaning, in presence of the unaccustomed snowy visitation."
As late as February 18, 1880, more than two months after the snowfall, and with mild weather intervening, notwithstanding the efforts of 14,000 men and the expenditure of $100,000, "Le Figaro" has the following paragraphs:
"There still remain, in many of the side streets, disagreeable reminders of the snow of last December. Thus, to mention only one instance, but one that counts, we call attention to the streets and passages of the districts bordering on the Eighteenth Ward (arrondissement). The streets and narrow alleys lying between the Rue Ordener and the fortifications, and between the long Rue des Poissonniers and the Avenue de Saint Ouen, are in a wretched state. Heaps of filth, composed of earth-mixed snow, vegetable scraps, and refuse of all kinds, stagnate in the puddles formed by the holes in the pavement.
"The complete repair of this pavement is absolutely necessary. The old women of the quarter quarrel every day about who shall clean in front of the houses, and the streets remain filthy.
"Between the passages Traëger and des Poissonniers there is an open space of about one thousand square feet" (one hundred square metres). "This space is now a mere slough of filth, where the inhabitants, careless of sanitary laws, deposit the most unseemly products of their meals." (Something left to the imagination here.)
"Let there be a hot sun, and an epidemic will sweep away the tenants of these hovels by the hundred.
"Note to the Commission of Hygiene and Public Health, and to the ashmen. The tenants of this quarter have lost the habit of seeing these men."
The extraordinary parallelism between such passages and the comments of our own newspapers in the spring of 1879 will be noticed by every one.
Query? If 14,000 men and $100,000 are unable to clean 2,667 acres of street in Paris in two months after a snow-fall of twenty inches, what ought in justice to be expected from a force of 400 men, with no extra appropriation, working on 1,415 acres of street in New York, after a snow-fall of eighteen inches?
In London, such snow-storms never occur; but, that the authorities find it difficult there also to keep the streets in that condition of perennial neatness demanded by the press and the public, the following extracts will show:
"There is a natural dowdiness about the streets of London, especially in autumn, which is perhaps incurable. . . . The pavements begin to be deeply smeared with that peculiarly nasty London slime, which can only here be produced in its glutinous and slippery perfection."—("Saturday Review," November 1, 1879, p. 531.)
"The streets of London are being much improved by wood pavement" (they will find this a mistake), "but they are still allowed to remain in a condition of dirt which can not be otherwise than very injurious to the public health. London smells are as objectionable as London noises, and in removing the latter some attempts might with advantage be made at least to diminish the former. This end would in great measure be attained by a proper system of street-cleaning. Under existing arrangements there is no provision for a thorough and periodical cleaning of the roads. They are not even swept, the result being that in dry weather they are littered with refuse and abominations of various sorts, which pollute the atmosphere and fully account for the unpleasant odors which have during the present summer prevailed in the metropolis and been the cause of general complaint. Water-carts are of very little service in washing the streets; they may lay the dust for the time, but they merely transform it into mud without removing it. Heavy thunder-showers exercise a more beneficial effect, but their visitations are uncertain, and the manure they wash into the drains often stagnates in the sewer, and might be turned to profitable account if collected and disposed of. The attention of the vestries has lately been called to the whole question of street-cleaning by the National Health Society, and the sooner some steps are taken to purify out-door as well as in-door London the better."—("St. James's Gazette," quoted in "New York Sun," September 5, 1880. The italics are mine).
The bad odors above mentioned are also referred to in the following extract from the "Lancet" of May 29, 1880: "Attention has at length been drawn in the daily press to the disgusting smells pervading many of the principal London streets at the present moment. A correspondent likens the smell in Victoria Street, Westminster, to that of a charnel-house; and the smell in the Quadrant, Regent Street, on Friday and Saturday last, was so like that of carrion, that we heard the question debated whether it did not come from some open windows in the houses near the spot where it was felt" (sic!), "and might not arise from some, perhaps unknown, can-ion there. But this is not the only part of Regent Street which has recently been distinguished by a foul smell. The stench (arising from foul sewage according to some, from foulness of the roadway according to others) has been specially obvious to the passer-by about the center of the street, and between Oxford Circus and Margaret Street. In the latter place it was particularly disgusting on Saturday evening. Other streets in the West of London have, and are, suffering from persisting stink" (sic! punctuation and all). "It has been suggested that this offensive state of things has arisen from the long spell of dry weather, and consequent insufficient flushing of the sewers or streets, or both. But are the sanitary authorities of the metropolis so wanting in ingenuity, energy, and means that the effects of absence of rain upon the sewers and streets at this time of the year can not be counteracted?"
From the above it appears that New York is not the only city where rain is expected to help in cleaning the streets, or where the public authorities are expected to make up for the meteorological defects of an exceptional season.
In the removal of ashes and garbage, London does not seem to be much in advance of New York, as witness the following extracts: "What can be more unreasonable than the practice of accumulating kitchen stuff and household dirt of every description in heaps under our windows during the heat of summer?. . . The scavenging of our cities and towns is done by contract, and the men employed in the work are so underpaid that, as a matter of experience, they decline to discharge their duty except when bribed by householders. Complaints reach us of the extent to which the practice of levying black-mail is carried by the London dustman, and doubtless the evil is rife elsewhere. Servants are powerless to compel the inert and insolent men who parade the streets with carts to empty the dust-bins. . . . Altogether, the system of clearance is a fiasco."—(London "Lancet," August 17, 1878, p. 233.)
Substitute garbage-box for dust-bin in the following letter,[1] and it might do for the complaint-book of the "Herald":
Meadowside, Putney, September 20, 1880.
Sir: At an inquest held a few days ago on the body of a child who died at Lisson Street, Marylebone, the coroner, Dr. Hardwicke, commented strongly on the serious injury to health occasioned by the present system of allowing dustbins to remain in London and its environs for lengthened periods without being cleaned out. Perhaps you would bring your influence to bear in this matter, which certainly appears to me to require looking into.
An uncleaned dust-bin, with its festering mass of decaying animal and vegetable refuse, particularly in hot weather and in crowded districts, is a grave evil, as any one who has given the slightest attention to the matter of hygiene will allow, and the present system of having them emptied once in a fortnight is simply absurd. Of course, those who are addicted to cleanly habits can have their dust-receptacles attended to oftener by entering into a private contract with the dustmen; but those whose means are straitened, or who can not afford this luxury, must be content to endure their pestilence-breeding bins, with all the foul odors and health-depressing influences attached to them, until such times as it may please the dustmen to give them a dirty clean-out, the visits of these gentlemen being, like those of the angels, "few and far between," in the poor and crowded districts of this great city.
I have frequently been told by members of the working classes that it is no unusual thing for the dust-bins in their neighborhood to remain unattended to for months at a time; and, when they appeal to the dustmen in charge of any passing cart, they are either laughed at or met by a volley of abuse for their pains.
Surely such a state of things, which is easy of remedy, should not any longer be permitted.
G. Stanley Murray, M. D.
The italics in this letter are mine. The writer shows his imperfect acquaintance with the necessities and difficulties of the public service, in the last paragraph, when he writes, "which is easy of remedy." To be sure, the remedy seems plain enough to any one who has never tried to make his own plan work practically. All that is needed is a few carts, horses, and men, with system, energy, intelligence, and industry—men with the latter qualities, as is well known, being exceedingly plentiful in the world, and their services dirt-cheap. A writer in the "Contemporary Review" for October, 1879, page 294, Henry J. Miller by name, representing himself as a poor man appealing to the upper classes for aid in bettering the condition of the poor, makes the following suggestion in his article "Lazarus to Dives," which, as an off-hand solution of a great problem, equals anything in our own daily journals: "Furnish" every householder "with two boxes, varying in size according to the dimensions of his domicile: one to form a receptacle for dust, cinders, old rags, broken bottles, and what is generically known as 'dry dirt'; and the other for decayed vegetables, the entrails of fish, and that kind of refuse that we rather uneuphoniously call 'muck.' Such boxes to be taken away once a week, and empty ones left in their stead. As a corollary to this, forbid him, under penalties, to continue his present practice of pitching derelicts into the street, as the readiest means of being quit of them; and make him responsible for the cleanliness of his door-steps and the pavement in front of his dwelling."
I have but one more subject to touch upon. In the spring of 1878 a determined effort was made by a public-spirited citizen to have the Health Commissioners of this city punished because they did not drive all offensive businesses out of the city. The attack upon them failed, and it failed for the same reason that similar attacks have failed, and will fail elsewhere, and that is, because the trades classed as offensive constitute an important part of the industries of a great city, and their banishment would strike a terrible blow at her commercial prosperity. The meat business alone in New York runs up toward a hundred millions annually, and the city can not afford to lose it, with the hundreds of smaller allied businesses that must inevitably follow it wherever it goes. I have brought up this subject because, singularly enough, the same trouble and similar complaints have arisen in Paris this summer, and the parallelism between the course of the journals there and here is as marked in this case as in the others mentioned above.
The Paris correspondent of the London "Lancet," in the issue of July 31, 1880, writes: "For some time the atmosphere of Paris has been anything but agreeable. Toward the evening, an unpleasant smell—or rather a more unpleasant smell than usual—has been noticeable, so much so, indeed, that it has at last become offensive even to the republican nostrils of the Municipal Council. This odor has been supposed by some to emanate from the sewers, while others have attributed it to putrefaction in the numerous kiosques which adorn (or disfigure?) the boulevards. It would appear, however, that the effluvium originates outside the fortifications, in the twenty-seven dépotoirs, or night-soil depots, which at some distance surround the capital, and perhaps also in the sewage-boats which are anchored in the Seine, near the Pont des Invalides. It depends in a great measure upon the absence of the disinfectants which should be used by the contractors who empty the cesspools, but who appear, from the statement of one of the Municipal Councilors, to have been abetted by the police in their neglect."
A month later, August 28th, the same correspondent writes: "The pestilential smells which have infected Paris for some time are awakening a feeling of indignation against the responsible authorities, which is expressed freely in the daily papers, and that quite independent of party spirit. A few days since the well-known critic, Francisque Sarcey, devoted an article to this matter in the 'Dix-Neuvième Siècle,' and invited the inhabitants of his district to sign the petition in preparation against the nuisance; and the 'Figaro' of to-day prefaces some satirical remarks by the statement that 'Paris est en ce moment infecté par les odeurs les plus épouvantables. Tous les égouts sont à découvert.' The odors, which in reality emanate, as was stated in a previous letter, from the night-soil dépotoirs which surround the city, and also from the carts and boats which convey the sewage outside the walls, are due to the neglect of the contractors in the use of disinfecting measures, and there seems to he no doubt about the connivance of the police at this abuse. . . . The 'Petite République Française' thinks that the only remedy lies in the suppression of the bureaux which are fallaciously called 'sanitary' or 'hygienic,' and which cover the responsibility of the prefect by a semblance of official sanction, which, as a matter of fact, they can not withhold." (The italics are mine.)
The usual hasty charges of corruption and incompetence, it will be observed, and the usual expression of a belief that matters could be mended by turning the incumbent officers out of their places and putting green men in their stead!
Meanwhile the Council of Hygiene was busily at work tracing the source of these odors, and endeavoring to find means of suppressing them. The "Journal Officiel" of October 7, 1880, contains the report of a commission appointed for this duty, in which they take strong ground with regard to the harmlessness of the odors, so far as the public health is concerned. It has always been maintained by the Board of Health of this city that the odors complained of by our citizens were not detrimental to health, but only destructive of comfort, and its officers have been much ridiculed for this opinion. It is not unpleasant, therefore, to find that the corresponding board in Paris takes the same view. The following extract will show this:
"The commission deems it necessary, in the first place, to reassure the public with regard to the influence exercised by sewer emanations upon mortality and upon the diffusion of contagious or epidemic diseases. In a communication to the Academy of Medicine, March 6, 1877, M. Bouley has stated that the proof of this contagious action, far from being demonstrated, was contradicted by certain observations. This doctrine has been maintained in the Council of Hygiene, by MM. Bouchardat and Hillairet, whose authority in such matters is well known. The emanations from the mouths of sewers, as well as those from the great chimneys of our factories, do not contribute, in any degree whatever, to the development or propagation of epidemic affections."
In this report, the bad odors complained of in Paris, especially during August and September, penetrating to the center of the city, are attributed to the ventilating shafts of "fosses d'aisance," the dépôts des vidanges at Billancourt, Aubervilliers, and Les Hautes-Bornes, Arcueil. As remedies they recommend the prompt prosecution of persons who discharge night-soil into the sewers (which is not allowed in Paris, and accounts for the cleanliness of her sewers), the thorough flushing of the sewers, a vast increase in the water-supply for cesspools and water-closets, the ventilation of the sewers, and the strict supervision of fat-rendering establishments. And they add that, "in seeking these means of prevention, we do not lose sight of the just recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, dated January 7, 1878, that they ought to be practicable and susceptible of being put in operation without entailing the suppression of the manufactures themselves." (Italics in original.)
The report lays great stress upon the facts that the odors from poudrette-works, fat-rendering establishments, fertilizer-works, etc., are not injurious to health, and that a suppression of these works, such as the public demands, would result in great inconvenience and even danger to the city: "Il faut le reconnaître, ce sont des établissements nécessaires."
M. Alphand, chief of the Department of Public Works, who was held partly responsible by the public for the state of affairs, made a speech before the Council of Hygiene, October 1st, which is reported in the "Journal Officiel" of October 7, 1880. He speaks more at length than the commission above-mentioned with regard to establishments of the kind that have caused so many complaints in New York. He says:
"The abattoirs of La Villette give rise, as our colleague Dr. Voisin has remarked, to disagreeable odors. These odors do not come, as has been supposed, from the barge which receives the manure and entrails of the slaughtered animals; those matters are, in fact, thoroughly disinfected and removed daily. The bad smells which escape in the vicinity of these abattoirs of La Villette are produced by the fat-rendering, which is done immediately after the killing. This is a nuisance inevitably connected with all establishments of this kind. . . .
"There is, at the gates of Paris, between the Chemin de Fer du Nord and the canal, all along the street La Haie-Coq to Aubervilliers, a collection of factories that treat animal matters and spread abroad nauseous smells. . . . It can not be too strongly insisted upon that these emanations, so objectionable to the sense of smell, have no miasmatic character, and are not dangerous in a medical point of view. . . .
"An evident proof of the harmlessness of these odors, as far as the public health is concerned, is found in the following figures: The complaints of bad odors began in August and increased in intensity up to the month of September. Now, the mortality lists, for the first week of August, show 1,114 deaths; the list for the week from September 9th to 16th shows only 881, a number smaller than the average when Paris is in the best sanitary condition."
The following words of M. Alphand are worthy of consideration here in New York:
"Besides, the public must not demand the impossible, and the production of emanations more or less disagreeable, more or less offensive, can never be completely avoided in the midst of this collection of two million human beings, and many hundreds of thousands of animals—dogs, cats, horses, cattle, poultry, etc."
The speech of M. Alphand was not dealt with tenderly by the newspaper men, who naturally knew much more about the subject than he did. M. Francisque Sarcey, in the "XIXième Siècle," scarifies him in the following terms, which lose much of their vigor and sarcastic force in the translation:
"M. Alphand deduces from this very unanimity an argument against the press; it is the newspapers, he says, that have thrown bitterness into the question. It is they who have made all the trouble! By crying out against the bad smells, they have finally persuaded the Parisians, and even foreigners, that these bad smells really exist. Before this concerted outcry, Parisians never noticed that it stunk in their city. Now, behold! they are all up in arms against this pretended infection. Who is to blame? Those incorrigible gabblers—the newspaper men. For a trifle, M. Alphand would be willing to say that it is we who are malicious enough to stink, for the pleasure of giving trouble to the authorities. For the past week it stunk every evening in my quarter, and it stunk strongly. One evening, in particular, it stunk so that I found myself compelled to shut my windows, and then it only stunk the more. On my honor! yesterday morning I had an article to write; I am in the habit of entertaining our readers with all the subjects that interest me, and just at the time when they interest me, and, as it stunk in my quarter, I immediately said, with my usual bonhomie, 'Oh, my children, how it stinks in my quarter!' No, you can not imagine how it stinks in my quarter. This phrase is my witness that I did not ask myself, before uttering this cry of suffering, whether M. Andrieux had made an arrest the night before, nor even whether M, Andrieux was the prefect of police. I said, it stinks, because it stunk, with the ingenuousness of a man who holds his nose, exclaiming, 'My God! how it stinks!"[2]
The war of words between the public and the officials is still going on, and is becoming more virulent. At the session of the Conseil Général of October 26th, M. Raspail is reported to have made "a furious attack on the prefect of police, in reference to the factory at Les Hautes-Bornes, the worst of all the factories surrounding Paris, which had been already closed by M. Léon Renault. In spite of M. Voisin, this factory was reopened, thanks to the influence of M. Léon Say, a friend of M. Pauville, the new owner. The papers drawn against this establishment are flawless. Workmen refuse to labor in summer in its vicinity, and those who do work there are seized with vomiting. In place of closing this pestilential center, it is allowed to grow larger. And this is the history of the other depots and ammonia-factories in the suburbs.
"These bastilles of infection," says M. Raspail, "must disappear, and they will disappear, I assure you, in spite of all possible protection."[3]
This paper is already too long. I have had in its preparation but one object, viz.: to demonstrate that some of the nuisances existing in New York continue to exist, not on account of the ignorance, incompetence, or negligence of officials whose duty it is to abate them, but because there arise in connection with their suppression certain vast problems which are not yet solved anywhere in cities of equal size with this. And these problems do not lie on the surface, but only confront the theorist when he applies himself to practical work with personal responsibility, and he begins to find that the means at his disposal are inadequate to the results expected from him.
↑ London "Lancet," October 2, 1880, p. 563.
↑ "Lancet," October 16, 1880, p. 639.
↑ "Figaro," October 27, 1880, p. 5.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_18/March_1881/The_Problem_of_Municipal_Nuisances&oldid=8850914"
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Extremism, Scandals Rip Apart Democrat Party: Radicalism, Racism, Anti-Semitism, Sexism, Socialism Threaten Left’s Return to Power
Date of publication: 13 02 2019, 12:49
It took them a little more than a month.
Since Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi reclaimed the gavel for the first time in nearly a decade, the Democrat Party has been riding high.
President Donald Trump lost the first round of the battle with Democrats over his planned border wall, ending the longest government shutdown in history a few weeks ago–with no wall funding, despite a promise not to make such a concession.
Pelosi, gloating, signed the three-week continuing resolution with eight different ceremonial pens and rubbed it in by framing herself as somehow equal to the president in terms of power–even though, constitutionally, practically, and by any other measure the legislative office of the Speaker of the House is inferior to the executive office of the President of the United States.
Meanwhile, Democrats throughout the party have been launching their presidential primary campaigns–vying for the shot at a one-on-one battle with Trump in the November 2020 general election–in speeches, media tours, social media blitzes, and stunts filled with missives at the president and red political meat for the Democrat base.
But the good times for Democrats have come to a screeching halt in the past few weeks. A raft of scandals involving racism, antisemitism, radicalism, allegations of sexual assault, and extreme views on a variety of issues has hit the Democrat Party hard as it slinks back into the limelight after a two-year period of GOP control of all levers of government in Washington and most state governments across the country.
These hurdles threaten the Democrat Party’s chances at a return to national power in 2020, with its rising stars and key players throughout the federal and state governments tangled in a web of problems that could cost Democrats the White House in two years and more deeply hurt the party in down-ticket races while tearing down fragile coalitions assembled by Democrat leaders desperate to put a check on Trump.
Trump has taken advantage of the Democrats’ misfortunes, first delivering a State of the Union address last week that received rave reviews from the public per post-speech polling, then hitting El Paso, Texas, on Monday evening for a rally where he bashed Democrats and the media as per usual but also began laying the groundwork for the core themes of 2020. Trump beat up the Democrats on these scandals and ripped his political opposition’s emerging extreme views on a variety of issues, all while celebrating a new poll that has him surging up at a 52 percent approval rating–the highest he’s had in years.
The scandals are far-reaching, and affect the highest levels of the party. The policy developments on everything from environmental issues to life to immigration are equally profound and deep-seated in the Democrat Party. How its leaders handle all of this will determine much in the way of whether voters will give Democrats a chance in the next presidential election and, perhaps more importantly in the meantime, affect their ability to be part of the governing conversation in Washington or govern states like Virginia where the entire party leadership is embroiled in scandal.
The Democrat Party’s streak of bad luck started in late January when Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, in the wake of the introduction of a late-term abortion bill from Democrat Delegate Kathy Tran that would allow abortions as late into pregnancy as when a mother is going into labor, advocated for infanticide.
In an interview with WTOP, the Democrat governor said:
This is why decisions such as this should be made by providers, physicians, and the mothers and fathers that are involved. When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physician—more than one physician, by the way—and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s non-viable
Northam, who was a doctor before running for office, added that even if a baby is born alive he or she would be “kept comfortable” until doctors and the mother decide whether to keep it alive–essentially offering up the choice to murder the child after he or she has been born:
If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. So I think this was really blown out of proportion. We want the government not to be involved in these types of decisions.
Northam’s extreme views on killing babies after they are born coincided with the New York legislature and Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo putting in place a new law in the state that guarantees a “fundamental right” to abortion. The radical law enshrines a “right” to an abortion through the third trimester of pregnancy up to and including during the giving of birth, among other extreme provisions. Cuomo has come under serious fire from all sides for backing it, and he took to the pages of the New York Times to write an op-ed defending himself, claiming he was an “altar boy” growing up and that his duty is to enforce the law, not his personal beliefs.
But it’s not just a couple of governors or a handful of state legislators who are embracing this radical view on abortion, where politicians are pushing policies that amount to murder of already-born children or abortion as mothers are giving birth: It’s the whole Democrat Party in Washington, at the direction of Pelosi, that has refused to allow votes on the House floor for four straight legislative days now on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act from Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO).
The legislation, which passed the House last Congress on a bipartisan basis, would afford various legal and health protections to babies born alive after failed abortions–including requiring them to be taken to a hospital and given medical care by health professionals. Republicans, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other top House GOP officials confirmed to Breitbart News, intend to seek unanimous consent to force a vote on the bill every day that the House is in session until Pelosi relents. For now, Pelosi–through her designated floor officials, other Democrats who are supportin her on this–has blocked the effort four times and is expected to continue to do so. Republicans are prepared to go all year if necessary.
“What the Democrats have done is taken this radically callous position toward life,” McCarthy said in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel this weekend. “The president spoke about this trying to give voice to the voiceless in the State of the Union address. I thought he did a terrific job. But when you look at what the Democrats have done in New York and now in Virginia, talking about infanticide, I mean this is crazy what they are doing.”
Tags: Democrats Party; US; US House of Representatives
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The Treaty of Waitangi
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The Waitangi Sheet
Description: Documentary heritage submitted by New Zealand and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 1997. The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of the nation of New Zealand. It was signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson, several English residents and approximately 45 Maori chiefs. The document signed at Waitangi was then taken to a number of other Northland locations to obtain additional Maori signatures.
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Archives, New Zealand
Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga, Wellington Office
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