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Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey
Elevate student and teacher voices to promote equity and achievement
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Download the Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey:
About the Equity and Inclusion Survey
Today, educational excellence means creating learning environments where every student feels safe, included, and empowered to achieve. Bringing this vision to life requires hearing from students, teachers, and staff to better understand the state of equity and inclusion at school.
The Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey provides schools and districts with a clear picture of how students, teachers, and staff are thinking and feeling about diversity, equity, and inclusion in school. The survey can help schools and districts track the progress of equity initiatives through the lens of students and staff, identify areas for celebration and improvement, inform professional development, and signal the importance of equity and inclusion to the community.
The student topics were developed in partnership with the RIDES (Reimagining Integration: Diverse & Equitable Schools) Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Measure student and staff experiences of equity and inclusion in school
By asking students, teachers, and staff to reflect on their experiences of equity and inclusion in school, education leaders can gather actionable data to understand and improve the racial and cultural climate on campus.
The Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey exists as a series of scales, or groups of survey questions, that work together to measure a single construct, or topic (e.g., Belonging). We recommend that schools and districts select the topics that align with their strategic priorities or vision for equity.
Any middle or high school community that values diversity, equity, and inclusivity can use this survey. The student questions are designed to be developmentally appropriate for grades 6-12.
Schools and districts may also combine topics on this instrument with related topics from other Panorama survey instruments, such as Teacher-Student Relationships, School Climate, and School Safety.
Sample Topic
How diverse, integrated, and fair school is for students from different races, ethnicities, or cultures
How often do you spend time at school with students from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?
At your school, how often do students from different races, ethnicities, or cultures hang out with each other?
How fairly do students at your school treat people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?
Download the full survey.
A rigorous survey research and development process
Dr. Sam Moulton, Director of Research at Panorama, gives an overview of the research process, the instrument itself, and how schools can use it to promote equity and achievement for every student.
The research team followed a survey development process including pilot testing and refinement, an extensive review of survey literature, and feedback from experts on equity and inclusion in education.
Read the Validity Brief to learn about the research process
Take action on student voice data to advance equity
Develop staff capacity to confront issues of equity and inclusion. Panorama’s equity-focused professional development helps educators develop a shared language, reflect on data from the Panorama Equity and Inclusion Survey, and take meaningful action to cultivate equitable, culturally responsive schools.
Learn more about professional development with Panorama
We've built advanced tools for survey analytics and professional learning for K-12 schools and districts.
Learn more about the Panorama platform
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Home / Minutes of a meeting of the Cardiff New Synagogue Ladies' Guild 5 July 1978, Cardiff
Minutes of a meeting of the Cardiff New Synagogue Ladies' Guild 5 July 1978, Cardiff
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Minutes of a meeting of the Cardiff New Synagogue Ladies' Guild held on 5 July 1978 in Cardiff. The minutes report on arrangements for upcoming events, such as possible trips (for example to the Houses of Parliament) and an "Israeli" Evening in aid of the Spinal Rehabilitation Unit at the Tel Hashomer Hospital, near Tel Aviv. The minutes also record a request made for men to attend Guild meetings. This request - made by a male member of the Synagogue - was regarded as "not practicable". Instead, it was proposed to hold an annual Guild meeting at the Synagogue to which men would be invited. Finally, the minutes refer to a talk given at the meeting on the work of the Chevrah Kadisha (the organisation of Jewish men and women who prepare bodies of deceased Jews for burial according to Jewish tradition). The minutes are included in a Cardiff New Synagogue Ladies' Guild Minute Book, 1972-1979.
The Cardiff New Synagogue Ladies' Guild, a women-only volunteer group, was established in 1950. The ladies of the Guild organised religious, fund raising and social activities for the Synagogue - from the annual garden parties, to the food of festivals and to talks held in members' homes, as well as acts of tzedakah (justice or charity) and community welfare. The Ladies' Guild ceased to exist in 1986. In its place, a new guild formed that was open to both men and women, which focussed more on fundraising for the Synagogue.
The Cardiff Reform Synagogue was founded in 1948 as the Cardiff New Synagogue. The following year, it became a constituent member of the Movement for Reform Judaism. Born in reaction against the more restrictive traditions of the Orthodox Judaism of Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, such as the prohibition of driving on the Sabbath and the ban on interfaith marriages, the new Synagogue appealed to immigrants who had fled war-torn Europe, where the Reform movement was already well-established. The congregation worships in a converted Methodist Chapel on Moira Terrace, acquired in 1952.
'The History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales' by Cai Parry-Jones (http://e.bangor.ac.uk/4987);
JCR-UK/JewishGen (https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card1/index.htm).
Depository: Glamorgan Archives.
Jewish History Association of South Wales (JHASW)
Date joined:
Item uploaded: 26/09/2019
CREATOR: Cardiff Reform Synagogue
OWNER: Cardiff Reform Synagogue
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Central Roofing Donates $86,000+ to Local Charities in 2020
Through its successful Scrappin’ for Kids recycling program, Central Roofing Company raised funds in 2020 to support several Minneapolis-area charities.
Our informal motto is ‘When Blessed, Be a Blessing.’ That’s why we contribute to a variety of non-profit organizations dealing especially with the struggles of people in our area.
MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB) December 16, 2020
As 2020 comes to a close, recycling efforts at Central Roofing Company are bringing much-needed funds to several local charities. Fraser, Hennepin Healthcare, Aeon, Second Harvest, and the Voyager Center at Masonic Children’s Hospital are all receiving money this year from the Minneapolis-based commercial roofing company.
“We’re honored to give back to the communities where our company has worked for more than 90 years,” says Gerry A. Stock, president and CEO of Central Roofing Company. “Our informal motto is ‘When Blessed, Be a Blessing.’ That’s why we contribute to a variety of non-profit organizations dealing especially with the struggles of people in our area.”
Supporting Local Organizations
Central Roofing, Minnesota’s premier commercial roofer, raised more than $61,000 in 2020 through its successful Scrappin’ for Kids program. Started in 2013, the program involves recycling metal, aluminum and copper from the company’s jobsites. Since its inception, approximately $320,000 has been raised and donated to local organizations.
In addition to donating the income from recycling efforts, Central Roofing also helped raise more than $30,000 in 2020 for the Fraser annual “Walk for Autism” --- which ended up being a drive-thru event due to COVID-19 distancing restrictions.
“Central Roofing is a champion in advocacy, education, and financial support for Fraser,” says Diane Cross, president and CEO of Fraser. “As a presenting sponsor for the Fraser annual ‘Walk for Autism,’ Central Roofing directly supports the Fraser Autism Center of Excellence, which provides critical services for children, teens and adults living with autism.
“The support that Central Roofing provides Fraser has never been more important than during the past year. When the pandemic hit, Fraser had to quickly pivot to a new telehealth model to keep staff and clients safe. Central Roofing’s support helped us continue critical services to individuals and families, when they needed us most.”
Another activity put on hold as a result of COVID-19 is The Gathering Place at The Children’s Hospital at Hennepin County Medical Center. Central Roofing makes a yearly donation of $20,000 to help provide weekly dinner events for patients and parents at the Pediatric Long-Term Care Unit. Funds donated this year will be rolled over and added to activities planned for the children in 2021.
In spite of COVID-19, a different project being sponsored by Central Roofing will move forward in early 2021. A $23,000 gift to the Hennepin Healthcare Foundation is dedicated to the remodeling of the Pediatric Play Room at the hospital.
“We deeply appreciate the financial donation from Central Roofing designated for this remodeling effort,” says Rebecca DeRosia, senior development officer at Hennepin Healthcare Foundation. “In addition, the company’s ongoing support to The Gathering Place program has made a significant impact with thousands of people.”
Continuing the Giving
During 2020, Central Roofing also provided financial support to a variety of organizations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that were recommended by company employees. Some of these non-profit groups include Walk the Talk Missions and the People Serving People homeless shelter.
We’re honored to support so many valuable organizations in our community,” says Stock. “Our employees go above and beyond to get involved with groups to show the Team Central spirit in so many ways.”
Central Roofing Company is a nationally-certified woman-owned and operated private corporation based in Minneapolis, MN. Established in 1929 the company has more than 200 union employees. Central Roofing Company focuses on projects for commercial roofing, exteriors service, and metal wall panels. For more information, visit http://www.CentralRoofing.com.
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Kathleen Ziprik
Central Roofing
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Home NBA Bulls G Temple recovering from coronavirus
Bulls G Temple recovering from coronavirus
Chicago Bulls guard Garrett Temple has been in quarantine since testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 28.
The 34-year-old veteran discussed his situation on a call with reporters as his teammates were preparing for their first practice Sunday.
Temple said he began experiencing headaches and fatigue after visiting with family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving.
“I’ve done the contact tracing and I’m pretty sure I know I got it from a family member,” Temple said, per NBC Sports Chicago. “… Most of my family did not get it, which is good. My dad, my mom, nobody over 60, nobody with underlying conditions has it, which is great. My wife and my son are both negative, which is great. That’s where we are today.”
Temple, who signed a one-year, $4.7 million deal last month, said he is quarantining in a Chicago hotel and hopes to be cleared for individual workouts on Wednesday.
The Bulls are Temple’s 10th NBA team. He averaged 10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 62 games with the Brooklyn Nets in 2019-20, his 10th season in the league.
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Home Soccer Talking Point: Time for Werner and Havertz to repay Lampard’s faith
Talking Point: Time for Werner and Havertz to repay Lampard’s faith
Frank Lampard is convinced Timo Werner will become a Premier League hit, with the Chelsea boss vowing: “He will score a lot of goals for us.”
Four goals and four assists from 14 league games is a modest return for a player whose 28 goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga last season made him a must-get player for the Blues.
Lampard’s faith in Werner is nevertheless absolute, exemplified by the fact the German forward has started every league game this season for Chelsea, who head to struggling Arsenal on Boxing Day.
Where could be better to get back to scoring ways than at Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal have struggled desperately for results this season?
“Clearly, as a striker, you want to be scoring all the time, because you get judged,” Lampard said. “The positive thing is he’s getting chances in games, using his attributes to get in the box and using his speed to get chances, so they’ll come.
“I know he wanted to come here and be a success, I know he understood the rigours of the Premier League. He’s getting lots of chances and he will score a lot of goals for us.”
There has already been plenty to pick over from Werner’s performances in England, and the data from his early months shows qualities that Lampard will admire, alongside detail that may provide cause for concern.
‘TURBO TIMO’ IN A HURRY TO IMPRESS
Werner has played 1,207 minutes in the Premier League and has recorded 260 sprints, ranking fifth in that category among all players this season.
The list is headed by Liverpool’s Andy Robertson (299), followed by Leeds United’s Stuart Dallas (295), Leicester City’s James Justin (294) and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min (268).
Clearly, Werner’s relatively low Premier League goals return has not been for the want of trying. He has travelled 145.7 kilometres in those 14 appearances, which is the most of all strikers during the 2020-21 campaign. Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino (145.6km) is close behind Werner, followed by Tottenham’s Harry Kane (144.1km).
Of all Chelsea’s players, only N’Golo Kante has covered more ground, the workaholic midfield operator having travelled 158.6km.
Those figures reflect well on Werner, but in other areas we can see that he is finding it a challenge to adapt to English football.
QUITE THE CARRY ON
A player moving with the ball for at least five metres is defined as a carry by Opta, and last season Werner had 44 carries with shots, which put him top of the pile in the Bundesliga, 10 clear of nearest challenger Serge Gnabry.
He also ranked third in carries with chances created, posting 23 to sit level with Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.
This season, however, he has had seven carries with shots, joint 21st in the Premier League, and eight carries with chances created, which puts him in a tie for sixth place.
His touches in the opposition box have fallen from an average of 7.65 per game in the 2019-20 Bundesliga with RB Leipzig, to 5.64 in the Premier League at Chelsea.
He has fallen short of an expected goals (xG) return of 5.7, which is based on the quality of the chances that have come his way, yet outperformed that metric last season when scoring 25 times, excluding penalties, from an xG of 19.
If Chelsea thought they could parachute in his productivity, it appears they were wrong.
A goal machine in Germany he may have been, but just now Werner has plenty to prove to his doubters in England.
OH KAI
Werner is not the only Bundesliga import struggling, and Chelsea could do with the real Kai Havertz standing up.
Given he cost Chelsea a fee in the region of £70million when coming in from Bayer Leverkusen, Lampard would have anticipated more than one goal in his first 12 Premier League games.
Havertz’s role at Chelsea may not be exactly as it was at Leverkusen, but he is spending the bulk of his time in the same areas of the field and not coming up with the same goods.
Averaging 0.9 shots per 90 minutes for the Blues compared to 2.16 in the 2019-20 Bundesliga is an early worry, as is him having just two big chances to the 18 he had in his final campaign with Leverkusen. It equates to him have one big chance every four league games for Chelsea, when he had two every three last season.
Havertz’s involvement in the area has also decreased, with his average of 2.1 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes in the Premier League comfortably shy of the 5.1 he had in his previous campaign at Leverkusen.
SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
Perhaps the culture shock aspect is being underplayed. Werner and Havertz have shown for their previous clubs that both are first-class young talents, and in a year’s time the perception of both could be wholly different in England.
This has been a strange year for everybody, and to be moving to a new country amid a pandemic could be a jolt that even Premier League wages cannot quite cushion as some would like.
Leverkusen and particularly Leipzig played a quite different game to Chelsea, with Lampard’s methods different to what both knew at their previous clubs.
In the Premier League this season, Chelsea are averaging 19.1 open play sequences of 10 or more passes in a game, compared to just 11.6 at Leipzig last season and 17.5 at Leverkusen.
Their overall passes per sequence under Lampard’s instruction is higher too, averaging out at 4.7 to the 3.7 that Werner experienced at Leipzig and the 4.1 Havertz was familiar with at Leverkusen.
The German sides also posted higher numbers in the direct speed and directness metrics compared to Chelsea in 2020-21.
Perhaps Arsenal would want to face underachieving players in Saturday’s big London derby, given the Gunners have so many of their own flops this season.
Werner and Havertz should still come good over time, and Chelsea can just about afford to be patient with both.
As Lampard said, however, players “get judged” in England, perhaps sooner than happens elsewhere. It is time this recently vaunted pair shed their Premier League underachiever reputations.
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International travelers should get coronavirus test at 3 different times, CDC advises
By Janine Puhak
Fauci touts safety of vaccine development process, says Americans need to continue public health measures
NIAID Director Fauci said Nov. 19 that the rush to get a COVID-19 vaccine did not compromise its safety. He added that Americans need to double down on public health measures in the meantime.
ATLANTA - Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidance on international travel, urging Americans going abroad to get tested for COVID-19 at three different times: before, during and after the big trip.
The public health institute shared the news over the weekend, stressing that while testing cannot eliminate risk, it can help make travel safer for all.
“Air travel requires spending time in security lines and airport terminals, which can bring you in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces,” the CDC said in the Saturday memo. “Social distancing is difficult in busy airports and on crowded flights, and sitting within 6 feet of others, sometimes for hours, may increase your risk of getting COVID-19. How you get to and from the airport, such as with public transportation and ridesharing, can also increase your chances of being exposed to the virus.”
Now, the CDC is urging international travelers to get tested for the viral disease one to three days before going away, one to three days before returning to the U.S., and finally three to five days after returning home. People who have been abroad should also stay home for at least seven days after travel, regardless of their final test results, the CDC stressed.
"Even if you test negative, stay home for the full 7 days," the CDC wrote. "If you don’t get tested, it’s safest to stay home for 14 days after travel.”
A health worker performs a nasal swab sample at a COVID-19 rapid testing site in Florida. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)With just three days until Thanksgiving, and increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in Florida
The CDC also urges people to delay travel plans -- at any point -- if awaiting COVID-19 test results and heed any state or local travel requirements.
Above all, adventurers should proceed with utmost caution when traveling during this time.
“A negative test does not mean that you were not exposed or that you will not develop COVID-19,” the public health institute said. “Make sure to wear a mask, stay at least 6 feet from others, wash your hands, and watch your health for signs of illness while traveling.”
In another quick tip, the CDC suggested keeping copies of COVID-19 test results close during the travel journey, as you may be asked to show them.
Though the CDC has urged Americans not to travel this Thanksgiving, the Transportation Security Administration screened over three million passengers at airports across the country last weekend, marking the highest passenger volume since March.
Get updates to this story on FOXNews.com.
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Kennedy Agyapong pleads not guilty, wants judge handling case changed
<> Date: 25 September 2020
<>Category: <>general news
Kennedy Agyapong
Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong has pleaded not guilty over his alleged contemptuous comments in which he described a judge as “stupid”.
At today’s hearing, Mr Agyapong alleged that Justice Amos Wuntah Wuni will create a situation where he will be biased should he go ahead to hear the case.
He, therefore, wants the case halted.
The legislator risks a possible jail term or fine should he be found guilty of contempt.
READ ALSO: Accra High Court to continue Kennedy Agyapong's contempt case despite suit filed at Supreme Court
He was dragged to the court by Justice Wuni to justify why he should not be severely punished for making some comments regarding a pending case.
His lawyers on September 18 urged the court to halt proceedings.
They explained that an application has been filed at the Supreme Court challenging Justice Awuni’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Justice Awuni stated that nothing barred him from proceeding with the case.
The court proceeded to read the charges against the MP and he pleaded not guilty to the charge of contempt levelled against him.
The court afterwards played the controversial recording where the MP used certain insulting words against a Judge of the High Court.
Mr Agyapong's lawyers asked for an adjournment and said they want to return on Monday to listen to the video recording and respond to it appropriately.
His lawyers also disclosed that they have filed a fresh application at the High Court asking that Justice Wuni is restrained from hearing the matter.
They explain that “since his Lordships Amos Wuntah Wuni’s authority to exercise his jurisdiction in the committal proceedings is in issue, it will be bias and prejudicial for his Lordship to be a Judge in his own case in the exercise of such questionable jurisdiction”.
They also insist it is the Attorney General that has the power by law to initiate any criminal contempt proceedings and not the court that is alleging to have been threatened and scandalized.
The lawyers further revealed that they have petitioned the Chief Justice pointing him to the “unfair process emanating from his Lordship Awuni’s court”.
Mr Agyapong’s alleged comments were made in connection with a land matter in which Susan Bandoh and Christopher Akuetteh Kotei had sued him (Kennedy Agyapong), Ibrahim Jaja, Nana Yaw Duodu aka Sledge and the Inspector General of Police.
While the case was still at the Land Division of the High Court (Land Court 12), the MP allegedly scandalised the court on a programme aired on NET2 TV and Oman FM on September 2, this year.
A court order signed on September 9, by Justice Wuni said, "I hereby summon the said Kennedy Ohene Agyapong per a warrant issued under my hand and seal to appear before the High Court (Land Court 12) on Monday, September 14, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. to show cause why he should not be severely punished for contempt if the matters are proven against him to the satisfaction of the court."
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Everything in Pork Pie Order
Pork pie and sausage roll maker Pork Farms Bowyers has invested significant resource and time into creating its own tailored shopfloor organization program. Steed Webzell reports.
Shopfloor organization is fundamentally important to a food manufacturer. It helps to fuel tidiness, which in turn can assist with achieving the necessary levels of cleanliness – particularly important among suppliers to the UK’s leading supermarket chains.
At the Nottingham factory of Pork Farms Bowyers (PFB), the lack of organization in the production department was of major concern.Accidents were also occurring with some degree of frequency.The company was convinced the two problems were related, and that the 5S technique could help to overcome both. Alongside this, with customer audits common place, PFB didn’t want to give any of its prestigious customers grounds for taking business elsewhere.
In the last two years the company has made giant steps towards radically overhauling its workplace organization. One of the pioneers of the idea to transform PFB is manufacturing facilitator Jenny Perks. A change of role within the organization, along with a three-day workshop presented by Productivity Europe at a nearby company in November 2000, convinced her, along with the company’s new general manager, that there would be a lot to be said for deploying 5S at PFB. “We knew it would be hard to build without the use of 5S as a starting point and a foundation,” she says.
After the workshop, Perks set about creating a promotional plan, aimed at informing everyone at PFB, from senior management to shopfloor operators, about the plans for 5S. In April 200, Productivity Europe consultant Paul Quayle presented his first of five two day 5S workshops at PFB.Attendance was voluntary. “I was fairly confident they would succeed as soon as I saw who turned up for the first workshop,” he says.“This is always a good indicator that a company is prepared to support the initiative with resource.”
“The production area has been totally transformed, it is such a better area in which to work now – and our accident rate has decreased significantly” Jenny Perks, Manufacturing Facilitator, Pork Farms Bowyers
A steering committee was formulated consisting of managers from accounts, hygiene and quality, manufacturing, engineering, training and also a senior shop steward (the union has been “really positive”).The Productivity Europe workshops finished in January 2002 and encompassed 20 per cent of employees.The workshops encourage personnel to undertake internal audits, mapping out and identifying 30 problems.These are put into ‘serious, major, minor or trivial’ categories along with an indication of how difficult they are to fix. Serious problems that are relatively simple to correct then head the priority list.
In parallel with these courses,‘train the trainer’ sessions were also taking place. “This was the most powerful thing from our point of view,” adds Perks,“as it allowed us to present a further 11 workshops in 2002 and we set supervisors the target of getting 50 per cent of staff trained and, as an average across the site, this was achieved. We hope this will be 80 per cent by the end of 2003.”
Early on in the process PFB decided that the 5S program needed a title that would avoid any jargon. After some thought, STEPS was created – Sort, Tidy, Examine, Perfect and Sustain. In brief, the ‘sort’ step involves the removal of unwanted items.‘Tidy’ gets people to find a home for the remaining items that are deemed of use, while ‘examine’ is a daily routine ensuring that what is already in place has remained so.“In a way it’s a form of discipline,” clarifies Perks.“This has been a big mindset shift for us and it has taken time to instill that getting organized is one thing, but looking after an area is also important. For this reason we created a new in house logo,‘pride in our factory – pride in our brand.’”
The fourth step, ‘perfect’ is a way of standardizing, so that instructions are clear. “This step allows us to determine whether everyone is doing it the same way. We want to get away from operators having a little book of settings in their back pocket. ”‘Sustain’ is the final step and is a method of maintaining the progress that has been made. It is also subject to scrutiny at regular PFB performance reviews.
Actions for improvement – Pork Farms Bowyers
A lack of organization at shopfloor level was hindering performance and made it difficult to proceed with other improvement techniques
Workshops run by external consultant reached 20 per cent of workforce
Further internally run workshops raised the figure to 50 per cent of employees trained by the end of 2002; target is 80 per cent by end of 2003
High voluntary turnout at the first workshop indicated a strong desire for improvement at shopfloor level
Audit scores are published on noticeboards: rewards are given to high performing teams and individuals
The ball hasn’t stopped rolling. The company is part of the Northern Foods group; there has been a lot of credence from within the group regarding PFB’s efforts.“It’s difficult to say exactly how much STEPS has achieved in terms of cost savings,” says Perks.“Everything has been simplified and all items have a home, but how much does that equate to in time saved not looking for things? In visual terms the whole production area has been totally transformed, it is such a better area in which to work now – and our accident rate has decreased significantly.”
Quayle agrees that it is tricky to attribute direct gains to a program based purely on organization. “The areas are more efficient,” he says.“You can see the improvement in the way that things are marked out and identified. It is difficult to attribute savings directly to STEPS but if a workplace is organized there will be benefits. Once an area is sorted, operators become more critical – they don’t accept waste. For instance, if someone works in an untidy area they don’t worry about throwing something down. Environment affects behavior – once something like STEPS is started it gains its own momentum. It breaks down barriers and people begin to work together better.”
Were there any dissenters at PFB? “Yes, there is always a small minority,” admits Quayle, “So we work with the ones that do want to take part and slowly but surely the small group at the back gets smaller. Initial fear plays a part, some people will naturally be unsure of what it is all about and see it as more work.This remains until they begin to understand it.
That the workforce has bought into the ethic of STEPS so readily is testament both to them and to management. PFB has employed several reward techniques to bolster participation.There is a league table of audit scores, with a trophy for the highest placed team at specified intervals and a free meal for the team that makes the biggest leap in score, as well as a special STEPS ‘star’ award for the best performing individual, who wins a distinguished T-shirt and voucher. A training matrix on company noticeboards helps to promote the reward and recognition ethos.
PFB is now looking at other techniques.“As a group, Northern Foods has a shared vision for Lean manufacturing and our site is being hailed as the factory to visit to see how to get the foundations in place,” says Perks. Autonomous maintenance is also being looked at in some detail:“We expect to be able to link it into our third step, but it will entail a much more detailed look at the actual kit. We feel we have created an environment where people want to get involved and we will be starting some of these new initiatives with the team that has appeared consistently at the top of our STEPS league table, as we basically think that they are ready for more.”
Paul Quayle believes PFB was right to undertake 5S before considering other improvement techniques. “Some companies want to take on Six Sigma without having done 5S, which is crazy in my opinion.Any company needs workshop organization first before it tackles anything else. PFB have had good support from the top that has committed the resource and they were determined to make it happen. 5S doesn’t require a lot in the way of finance but it does need time.”
The measurable for the success of STEPS at PFB is the aforementioned audit scores. After the initial series of workshops, scores were around 40 per cent. But improvement was fairly rapid and once teams achieved a score of at least 80 per cent for three consecutive months they were transferred on to a continuous improvement audit linked to attributes such as safety.The team currently at the top of PFB’s league table has a score of 93 per cent.
For the future, the firm has its eye on Cranfield School of Management’s annual Best Factory award. “We entered last year and we are entering again this year. I think we are two or three years away from being in a position to win and while it is also about building business behind the trophy, it is good for us to use as a benchmark.”
According to Perks, the results of STEPS are also being noticed outside the company. Notoriously hard-to please retail customers who conduct regular audits are said to be impressed. This is just reward for a company that has created both an organized, tidy and safe production department with open channels of communication, and a foundation to continue building to become one of the UK’s most acclaimed manufacturing sites. As for other improvements such as product quality, it would probably be best to ask the consumer – the proof, as they say at Pork Farms Bowyers, is in the pie.
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“Flowing” Case Carts to the Operating Room
For: 1,100 Bed Metropolitan Hospital with 50+ Operating Rooms Situational Challenge Ensuring that all supplies and instruments reach the Operating […]
Quantum Leap Yield Improvement
Production Preparation Process (3P)—Milestone 13
In the highly competitive world of vinyl siding production, “process yield is king.” A fraction of a percentage point change in yield traditionally is very difficult to attain let alone sustain. So you can imagine what was going through one plant manager’s head when he got the news that yield had to improve 2.4% above last year’s performance.
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From Homophobia To Marriage: 10 Important Gay Moments On “The Real World”
By Stacy Lambe August 8, 2013 at 7:08pm · 7 comments
Last night, The Real World Miami alum Dan Renzi broke the news that Sean Sasser died of mesothelioma. Sasser became known by many as the boyfriend of Pedro Zamora, who first appeared on The Real World: San Francisco. While he only appeared on a few episodes of the show, Sasser and Zamora had a lasting impact on gay and straight viewers. Their moment on The Real World showcased an honest portrayal of gay life rarely seen on TV. Since then, the show has has included a number of LGBTQ characters that have molded the perception of queer life in America.
10. Dustin Zito’s gay porn past is discovered
Though straight himself, Dustin’s past with gay porn is discovered when off-screen friends of the housemates of RW: Las Vegas send links to his x-rated videos. The secret, which Dustin hoped to reveal himself, was usurped by the power of Google in the modern age of the show. Dustin’s pornographic past spurs the inevitable debate of “gay for pay” porn actors and their true sexuality as well as homophobia in the house.
9. Chris and Ruthie show two sides of alcoholism
Whether or not it was directly linked to struggles with coming out, both Chris (RW: Chicago) and Ruthie (RW: Hawaii) became two examples of LGBT culture facing addictions to drugs and alcohol. In Chris’ case, he admits from day one that he is a recovering alcoholic but then later works at a bar, which the roommates question how he can remain sober. On the other side of the coin is Ruthie, who over the course of the season is discovered to have a drinking problem. She’s eventually forced to go to rehab and sober up.
8. Zach and the boys show their homophobic side
In 2011, when it felt like most of the country had become more accepting of the LGBT community, the castmembers of RW: San Diego remind audiences that there’s still tons of ground to cover with acceptance. The housemates become visibly upset when they realize Frank is gay and hooking up with a guy in the house. They even discuss the double standard of hooking up with women and how it’s acceptable but then go back to complaining that their “straight friend” is now gay.
7. Mike goes through a retro gay awakening
Most LGBT characters on RW come on the show out, proud and open. However, that mentality is not always reflective of many who are either late to the game or slow to explore their sexuality. Mike from RW: D.C. was an example of a man finding his way – just in front of millions on TV. Even though he identified as bisexual, he primarily dated men on the show and dealt with issues related to gay marriage and his Christian background.
6. Danny doesn’t ask, doesn’t tell
Even though RW: New Orleans was part of a transition era for the series, where it became more about drinking than it did about documenting, the season touched on some more serious issues, including Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. During his time in Louisiana, Danny Roberts dated an active officer of the military, Paul Dill, who could not show his face on TV. Up until a reunion special, his identity had remained a mystery to protect him from trouble.
5. Norman Korpi is the first out LGBT housemate
Unbeknownst to Norman and audiences at the time, he and six strangers would launch MTV history with the first season of The Real World. Though he was one of the first openly gay people to appear on television as himself, MTV portrayed him as bisexual – blurring the lines of his sexuality.
4. Katelynn Cusanelli reveals she is transgender
On the 21st season, Katelynn becomes the series transgender roommate. At first, she reveals this information to only one of her roommates (JD) but later opens up to the rest of the housemates. On the show, she discusses her transition, which she completed nearly a year before appearing on the show.
3. Genesis encounters homophobia from a young girl
On RW: Boston, Genesis is confronted with a homophobia from a surprising source: a young girl who attends an after school program the cast members have to work at. The young girl reveals that she thinks she hates gay people because of her mother’s influence. Kameelah prompts an interesting and healthy discussion with the students in front of Genesis and helps pull back the layers of acceptance.
2. Pedro reveals he has AIDS
On the third season, RW: San Francisco debuted a man who would become one of the most influential gay people in MTV history. At the time, audiences were gripped week to week by Pedro’s passions and struggles. His relationships and work opened the eyes of many who had no idea what being gay or even living with AIDS meant.
1. Pedro and Sean get married
Nearly a decade ago, these two men made a historic impression on The Real World and TV history with their wedding, which aired on the 19th episode of the season. Long before the Supreme Court would come close to making a ruling on gay marriage, the exchange rings in a civil union at the house. It’s a touching, powerful moment for any young viewer – gay or straight.
Danny Roberts Genesis MTV pedro sean sasser The Real World TV
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Wow, it’s easy to forget how relevant the real world use to be. I remember being really young and watching danny and his military boyfriend and not understanding why it made me feel so happy seeing them : ).
August 8, 2013 at 10:08pm
JohnnyCorby
#10 happened in 1994 almost 20 years ago.
Missing from the list is when Stephen slapped Irene on Real World Seattle for calling him gay. Years later he would come out as a proud gay man.
Also missing is Karamo from Real World Philadelphia who broke ground as the first gay African American on a reality show.
What about black gay housemate Stephen being outed by Irene, after which he slapped her and threw her stuffed toy away? That was quite an episode.
@JohnnyCorby:
And yes, Karamo!
DAN RENZI from The Real World Miami? He was not only out, but brought a boyfriend back home to his family in KS, AND got an HIV test on national television? How on Earth is he not on this list??? I mean…
August 9, 2013 at 2:08am
Charlie in Charge
Not gonna lie – I got real misty watching that scene with Kameelah and Genesis. Love that moment.
susansylvester
just as Rebecca responded I’m surprised that any body can earn $8431 in four weeks on the computer. did you see this website >>> http://www.work35.com.
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"Some of the greatest, most revolutionary advances in science have been given their initial expression in attractively modest terms, with no fanfare."
Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942) is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy...
Name Daniel Dennett
Profession Philosopher
I am a very neurotic person all the time.
Joanna Kulig, Actress
More Quotes by Joanna Kulig
"Darwin's idea of natural selection makes people uncomfortable because it reverses the direction of tradition."
"I think many people are terribly afraid of being demoted by the Darwinian scheme from the role of authors and creators in their own right into being just places where things happen in the universe."
"The problem is that no ethical system has ever achieved consensus. Ethical systems are completely unlike mathematics or science. This is a source of concern."
"The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore so it eats it!"
"There is no reality of consciousness independent of the effects of various vehicles of content on subsequent action (and hence, of course, on memory)."
"The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it."
"We adore babies because they're so cute. And, of course, we are amused by jokes because they are funny. This is all backwards. It is. And Darwin shows us why."
"I don't think the 9/11 attacks taught us anything we didn't already know about religion. It has long been obvious - even to the deeply religious - that religious fanaticism is an extremely dangerous deranger of otherwise sane and goodhearted people."
"As every scuba diver knows, panic is your worst enemy: when it hits, your mind starts to thrash and you are likely to do something really stupid and self-destructive."
"In short, we need to recover the courage we celebrate in our heroes, and in particular, the courage to tolerate, for the sake of a free society, a level of risk we hardly ever imagined in the past."
"A child raised on a desert island, alone, without social interaction, without language, and thus lacking empathy, is still a sentient being."
"The mind is the effect, not the cause."
"Natural selection is not gene centrist and nor is biology all about genes; our comprehending minds are a result of our fast evolving culture."
"Words have a genealogy and it's easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language."
"We should get used to the idea that we'll probably never be able to find - and confirm - a good explanation of the ultimate origin of the universe, though I see no reason to believe that we can't press much further on this question than we have managed to date."
"In 50 years - or 20 years, or 200 years - our current epistemic horizon (the Big Bang, roughly) may look as parochial as the horizon Newton had to settle for in his day, but no doubt there will still be good questions whose answers elude us."
"Some cultural phenomena bear a striking resemblance to the cells of cell biology, actively preserving themselves in their social environments, finding the nutrients they need and fending off the causes of their dissolution."
"Wherever there is a design that is highly successful in a broad range of similar environments, it is apt to emerge again and again, independently - the phenomenon known in biology as convergent evolution. I call these designs 'good tricks.'"
"Now that mobile phones and the internet have altered the epistemic selective landscape in a revolutionary way, every religious organisation must scramble to evolve defences or become extinct."
"Human freedom is not an illusion; it is an objective phenomenon, distinct from all other biological conditions and found in only one species - us."
"If the history of resistance to Darwinian thinking is a good measure, we can expect that long into the future, long after every triumph of human thought has been matched or surpassed by 'mere machines,' there will still be thinkers who insist that the human mind works in mysterious ways that no science can comprehend."
More Quotes By Philosophers
Benjamin Whichcote QuotesTaisen Deshimaru QuotesErnest Renan QuotesWillard Van Orman Quine QuotesDaniel Dennett QuotesThales QuotesHypatia QuotesAbdolkarim Soroush QuotesImmanuel Kant QuotesJurgen Habermas QuotesGuru Nanak QuotesJames Mark Baldwin QuotesXun Kuang QuotesJan Hus Quotes
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"Being a little bit of a movie buff, the fact that I'm working in the middle of movie history is incredible."
Betsy Beers
Quote #82891
Betsy Beers (born 1957) is an American television and film producer whose credits include ShondaLand's Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice, How...
Name Betsy Beers
Profession Producer
I expected to be doing basement theater in the suburbs of Stockholm.
Gustaf Skarsgard, Actor
More Quotes by Gustaf Skarsgard
"In a world where shows have to keep going while the priorities change, I have to stay flexible."
"We take the suggestions people give us and build the best reality we can for them."
"I actually started, as a result of 'Scandal,' instead of wearing a bathrobe, wearing sweaters around at home in my leisure. And my poor husband was very confused! I said, 'It's what Olivia Pope does'."
"I spent the better part of my developing years in Massachusetts."
"I'm very dogged when I believe in something. I'm also dark and twisty."
"I record a podcast, 'Shondaland Revealed,' every week while we are shooting."
"I like to exercise in the morning before work. It puts me in a good mood, which makes my coworkers happy, and jump-starts my brain, which makes me happy."
"I obsess over places I will never live and restaurants at which I aspire to eat."
"The goal for Shondaland is to continue to make very good shows that we're proud of when they're ready."
"I'm not interested in overexpanding rapidly for expansion's sake."
"Write what you really care about. Write what you want to say because that is the experience that always rates as genuine on the page."
"Your structure and format may not be perfect, and you may not have picked the perfect franchise, but if I pick up a script, and the characters are real, whole, complicated and come from a place of somebody who really is feeling it, that's what people remember."
"I think the way I sort of approach it is, you just sort of keep your head down and focus on what you are doing and making shows that people will want to see on Thursday night."
"On 'Scandal,' they've proven that they're not scared of shocking the audience."
"I swear like a trucker when I'm excited."
"As much as I was encouraged by the number of female-centric shows being bandied about, it feels like we're being treated like a trend or a quota to be filled."
"Women on television are not a fad; we are not a trend - we are a reality!"
"Every movie I touched bombed."
"Sometimes, I cry because I'm sad, and sometimes, I cry just because it's just emotional and it's super awesome."
"I like to think that Harry Cohn is having a somewhat difficult time sleeping in his grave thinking of a chick with a white shag rug taking over his space."
More Quotes By Producers
Glen A. Larson QuotesLorenzo di Bonaventura QuotesLew Wasserman QuotesPeter Brook QuotesSheila Nevins QuotesEvan Goldberg QuotesTim Bevan QuotesL.A. Reid QuotesKenny Ortega QuotesSteven Shainberg QuotesDavid Nevins QuotesMatt Stone QuotesRobert B. Weide QuotesLou Adler Quotes
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How RC uses Zulip
Nick Bergson-Shilcock Jan 24, 2017
The core of the Recurse Center is the community, and the core of our online community is Zulip, the open source real-time chat system.1
We started using Zulip four years ago this month. Our original reasons for adopting it were straightforward: We wanted a private chat system that was persistent, easily searchable, and which supported syntax highlighting for code snippets. We also wanted full names and profile pictures to make it easier for people in our community to find each other, both online and in real life.
Zulip gave us all the benefits above, along with a slew of others we hadn’t expected. Switching to Zulip has turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made, and it’s impossible to imagine RC today without it.
One challenge is that it’s become increasingly hard to explain how RC works to potential applicants, since we’ve chosen to have a private Zulip server and so a lot of RC isn’t publicly accessible. This post aims to share an important part of RC that’s previously been nearly impossible to learn about without attending.
Why community is the core of RC
RC is an educational institution with an integrated recruiting agency.2 We run full-time, in-person programming retreats in New York City. People come from around the world to spend six or twelve weeks programming together in a self-directed, collaborative, and supportive environment. The primary educational value comes from the participants themselves: It is peer-to-peer, which is why RC gets better as the community becomes larger and more diverse.
While our retreats are in-person, online chat is a major part of RC. Participants use Zulip to ask and answer questions, get code review, and coordinate pairing sessions, reading groups, informal seminars, and countless other forms of collaboration. Zulip is even more essential for our alumni, who are in over 100 cities around the world but remain heavily involved thanks to Zulip.
We have a Zulip instance (called a “realm”) with approximately 1,000 members, who send 1,000-2,000 messages on any given weekday. For those not familiar with it, Zulip uses a system of streams (think channels) and topics (think threads). For instance, we have a graphics stream, and recent topics include “OpenGL objects as process resources?” and “Three.js shaders.”
Many of our streams are dedicated to specific subjects. We have streams for programming languages (e.g., python), tools (e.g., git), and domains (e.g., machine learning). But many of the most significant and widely used streams at RC don’t fall into one of those categories, and so I’d like to focus this post on them.
Alumni-checkins and checkins
Every day at 12:30am GMT, a bot called “Alumni Bot” starts a new topic for that day’s checkins. As past Recursers and residents around the world start their days, many chime in with updates about what they’re working on.
Many alumni post daily updates on our alumni-checkins stream. Laura is currently stationed in Antarctica. Shared with permission.
Like many of the best parts of RC, alumni-checkins was started by a Recurser. The stream has been so successful that we created a similar stream for current Recursers. We now have a checkins stream where people currently attending RC can share what they’re working on, what they’re stuck with, what they did the day before, etc. Here’s an example:
Some Recursers choose to post daily checkins to keep themselves on track, find collaborators, and get help. Shared with permission.
Writing review
This stream is for getting feedback on writing. It’s most commonly used for drafts of blog posts, but it’s also used for conference proposals, talks, papers, and resumes. This stream works remarkably well, and nearly everyone who asks for it gets helpful review and feedback.
Recursers give each other constructive feedback on the writing review stream. This request got feedback in under 30 minutes. Shared with permission.
This stream is powered by a blog aggregator (created by Recursers and appropriately named Blaggregator), which automatically posts links when Recursers who have opted-in post new blog posts. Each post gets linked under a new topic, which makes for easy, filterable discussion.
Recursers have built a bot to automatically share new posts from the community. Shared with permission.
The RSVPs stream is monitored by RSVPBot, an open source bot (authored by an RC alum) that supports creating and RSVPing to events. It also integrates with our Google Calendar, and it can be used to ping everyone attending an event when the event’s about to start.
A Recurser uses RSVPBot to set up a new event. Shared with permission.
This stream is dedicated to sharing our victories, from “my pull request was accepted” to “I finally figured out this bug” to “I’m having a baby!”
Recursers share personal successes on our Victory stream. Shared with permission.
Opt-in streams
We also have non-default, opt-in streams like politics. Our community is focused on programming and becoming better programmers. But Recursers establish close bonds with each other and have wildly diverse interests beyond programming. Naturally, people want to discuss lots of non-programming things, some of which can be contentious or just distracting to others. To accommodate this without detracting from our primary goal (making a great place to become a better programmer), we have opt-in streams, like politics.
Only a glimpse
This post was challenging to write because I could only highlight a few of the tens of thousands of messages Recursers exchange each month, and which comprise our online community. Furthermore, like all of RC, both the Zulip software and how RC uses Zulip are constantly changing and far from perfect. There are lots of things we’d like to improve or try, from better integrating Zulip with the rest of RC’s internal software to introducing moderators.
We plan to write more about those things, hopefully before another four years pass.
Thank you to the Recursers who gave permission to share their messages. Thank you also to Sasha Laundy (W'13) and Puneeth Chaganti (S'14) who built and maintain our blog aggregator; Carlos Rey (SP2'15) who built RSVPBot; Andrew Drozdov (SP1'15 and S2'16) who started alumni-checkins; Zack Maril (S'13) who started Victory; and Dan Luu (W'13) who started writing review. Thank you also to RC resident Tim Abbott, who leads the Zulip open source project, and to the more than 20 Recursers who have contributed to it. Finally, thank you to the hundreds of Recursers and residents who post regularly on Zulip and make it such great community.
You can read about Zulip’s open sourcing and RC’s involvement here.↩
RC is free to attend, and people are welcome regardless of if they’re interested in new jobs (in fact, our admissions process explicitly ignores whether people want or can get a job in the US).
For people who are interested in new programming jobs, either immediately after RC or years later, we offer a range of recruiting services from individual counseling to interview prep to negotiation advice.↩
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New frozen yogurt shop, tattoo parlor approved in Winsted
Mercy Quaye
WINSTED >> Under the condition to address certain concerns, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the opening of two business to Main Street and two to Rowley Street during its regular meeting on Monday night.
Residents of Winsted can expect enjoy new desserts from the opening of Berry Tree Frozen Yogurt shop at 127 Main St. Though the opening date has yet to be confirmed, the owner was charged with the task to provide the commission with information regarding parking, dumpster location, signage and lighting.
The other business that was approved on Main Street was Earthbound Ink. The tattoo shop is scheduled to open for business on 60 Main St. in early July.
The commission also approved a mother and daughter duo who are opening businesses next to each other while renting space in the same building on 19 Rowley St.
Owner of The Embroidery World is moving her business to Rowley Street because her former location didn't provide optimal parking for customers. She and her daughter were approved to open business though they still need to provide approval signatures from their landlord.
Her daughter will be opening her dance studio called Dance'N Beyond. The commission approved both businesses upon the condition of a follow up on "parcel amenities" which includes signage dumpster parking and lighting.
Reach Mercy on
Mercy Quaye is a social change communications consultant and a New Haven native. Her column appears Mondays in Hearst Connecticut Media daily newspapers. Contact her at @Mercy_WriteNow and SubtextWithMercy@gmail.com.
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and international
Artforms
Contemporary Performance & Live Art
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art
Contemporary Classical & Experimental Music
Art Politics
RealTime Audio
RealTime Traveller
RealTime Dance
RealTime Media Art
Artforms:
Nakkiah Lui has appropriated — or been appropriated by — the bourgeois comedy of manners. Tellingly, she doesn’t satirise the form, though now and then tips it into riotous farce, but uniquely centres Black is the New White on a well-to-do Aboriginal middle class family who come to acknowledge that, like their white peers, they can be oppressors of fellow Indigenous Australians and, when it comes to arguing over the black/white divide, they are sometimes their own and each other’s worst enemies. On the surface, Black is the New White is wickedly funny, infused with Aboriginal humour — blunt, droll, barbed — and, for a middle class family, not at all genteel. Its subjects are anxieties about self, love, community, gender and politics, joked about but indicative of a deeper unifying concern about race. That’s not surprising, even for a family like this at a remove from the grimmer aspects of Aboriginal life in Australia. Their insistent joking is more than communal fun; it’s a political weapon and a collective defence mechanism.
For a white Australian audience, Black is the New White offers potential insights into a class of people rarely portrayed on stage or screen, though increasingly in evidence in the professional characters in Redfern Now (2012-13) and scattered roles in a number of Aboriginal plays and television productions. Ray (Tony Briggs), the father in this family and a community leader, fancies himself as an Aboriginal Martin Luther King, wastes time debating the qualities of lettuce types on Twitter, plays golf, objects to his daughter’s relationship with an unemployed white experimental cellist and, when frustrated, hides in a virtual reality helmet (not turned on). And he’s doggedly racist. It’s beyond him to shake the hand of or offer a drink to the inadvertently naked, feckless Francis (James Bell), the boyfriend of his daughter Charlotte (Shari Sebbens). Ray growls, “How dare you be nude and white in my house.”
Cast of Black is the New White, Sydney Theatre Company, photo © Prudence Upton
The restless gravitational centre of Black is the New White is Charlotte’s challenge to her father: that he acknowledge his isolation from his community, that his wealth is disproportionate and that he let through a clause in a Land Rights case that severely disadvantaged his people. This manifests as a furious outburst in the second act but we witness its gradual escalation in the first. Though successful in cases against mining companies in court, Charlotte nonetheless feels out of her depth and is determined to do an advanced degree in New York, to learn how to change the law, not merely exercise it. Ray thinks that Charlotte should take up his activist legacy, doggedly insisting that she not go to New York, but instead accept a TV offer and become “a black female Waleed Aly.”
In Shari Sebbens’ finely nuanced performance we watch the affectionate Charlotte grow increasingly frustrated, attempting to maintain a smile and lay claim to love, honesty and her own place in the world as her father and sister Rose bluntly lay out their opposition to her relationship with Francis. A successful LA-based designer, Rose (Kylie Bracknell [Kaarljilba Kaardn]) is hostile to the diluting of black blood with white — it’s genocide, she claims, citing a 74% Indigenous marriage rate with whites.
Tony Briggs, Melodie Reynolds-Diarra, Black is the New White, Sydney Theatre Company, photo © Prudence Upton
Eruptions of confrontation aside, Lui wraps her play like a Christmas present with perpetual joking, amusing political jibes, Francis’ gaffes, communal hilarity (including song and dance), the playful sexuality of the black couples, and the presence of a “Spirit of Christmas” narrator (Luke Carroll) who, novelist-like, fills in back stories while remaining unseen by his subjects. (It’s a limited, thinly integrated role, though played with verve it aptly compounds a sense of the play as fable.)
Black is the New White could conceivably have been built entirely around a black family and a lone white guest, but Lui ramps up the tension and the fun with the eventual arrival of Francis’ parents. Dennison Smith (Geoff Morrell) is a former 1990s right wing conservative parliamentarian and Ray’s political enemy. Lui briskly reveals a man who cannot express love for the son he is determined to push into work by cutting off his allowance, or for his seemingly dotty wife, Marie (Vanessa Downing), whose loneliness and sexual starvation have propelled her into erotic discovery. The revelation is sadly funny in Marie’s telling and Morrell conveys its impact with palpable anguish and physical collapse.
Lui’s sense of humour and the performers’ engagement with it never obscure depth of feeling, although at the end of the play the sheer scale of change, resolution and conciliation, as so often in classic comedy, can only be sketched. Thwarted lovers Charlotte and Francis are reunited by their now bonded fathers (“Yes, a treaty!”). There is forgiveness, faults are admitted, humility attained and, above all, as Joan (whose considerable role in his successful career is admitted by Ray) argues, the preoccupation with difference between black and white must not be obsessed over. (That theme hits home most palpably with regard to the identity of Rose’s husband, Sonny [Anthony Taufa], ex-champion Aboriginal footballer, role model and banker, when he has a DNA test for an appearance on Celebrity Who Do You Think You Are?)
Nakkiah Lui’s considerable achievement is to have created a propulsive comedy rich in jokes, pointed ironies and serious commentary that simultaneously spring from the lives of the play’s characters, each of whom is deftly portrayed in word and performance, their souls bared and pain felt. Director Paige Rattray and an admirable cast do great justice to Lui’s play.
The production’s brisk pace allows a stream of politically incorrect utterances (from both sides of the fence) and painfully incisive remarks to fly by, many likely forgotten if cumulatively conjuring a nervy cultural and political context. Perhaps the sheer number of themes lightens the play’s focus, leaving behind a warm ‘she’ll be right’ aura, the kind of coziness often associated with bourgeois comedy. But as Lui has expressly stated, she didn’t want this to be another play about death and depredation, and her play introduces a new world to its white audiences and doubtless Aboriginal ones too. Will Lui, an experimenter to date, be “appropriated” by the comedy of manners after her play’s great success and write more in the same vein, or is she honing her craft and enlarging its range and potential?
It’ll be fascinating to learn what Aboriginal audiences make of Black is the New White if the play gains a wider reach, let alone the likes of Andrew Bolt and the much put-upon David Leyonhjelm — would it be a simple-minded, “Black racism; I told you so”? A favourite line in the play asserts that blacks are not passive-aggressive, it’s a white thing; that got a confirming laugh.
Sydney Theatre Company: Black is the New White, writer Nakkiah Lui, director Paige Rattray, performers James Bell, Kylie Bracknell [Kaarljilba Kaardn], Tony Briggs, Luke Carroll, Vanessa Downing, Geoff Morrell, Melodie Reynolds-Diarra, Shari Sebbens, Anthony Taufa, designer Renée Mulder, lighting designer Ben Hughes, composer, sound designer Steve Toulmin; Wharf 1, Sydney, 5 May-17 June
Top image credit: James Bell, Shari Sebbens, Black is the New White, Sydney Theatre Company, photo © Prudence Upton
RealTime is published by Open City, an Incorporated Association in New South Wales.Open City is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding body, and by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy (VACS), an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.
Open City is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding body, and by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy (VACS), an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.
Opinions published in RealTime are not necessarily those of the Editorial Team or the Publisher.
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Life sentence for murderer of UK soldier Lee Rigby, accomplice gets 45 years
Protestors demonstrate outside the Old Bailey court in London, on February 26, 2014, ahead of the sentencing of Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale for the killing of British soldier Lee Rigby in May 2013 (AFP Photo / Carl Court) © AFP
Muslim convert Michael Adebolajo, who murdered Drummer Lee Rigby in a south-east London street attack in May last year, has been sentenced to life in prison. His partner in the crime, Michael Adebowale, was given a minimum 45 years behind bars.
Michael Adebolajo, 29 and Michael Adebowale, 22 were read out their jail terms late Wednesday afternoon at the Old Baily court in London.
Before the sentences were given, the two scuffled with security guards, meaning the sentence was delivered while they were absent.
The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, described the actions of the pair as “sickening.”
Sue Hemming, head of special crimes and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service expressed horror at the nature of the attack.“Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale revelled in one of the most appalling terrorist murders I have seen whilst head of counter terrorism at the CPS,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Today’s sentence reflects the true horror of their actions in taking this young man’s life in such a barbaric way,” added Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick in a statement released by the force, shortly after Sweeney's ruling.
Right-wing British National Party and English Defence League protesters gathered outside the court as the sentences were read. Many of them were wielding signs which demanded: “Restore capital punishment.”
The bloody broad-daylight street attack in May last year on Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, south-east London shocked the nation.
Rigby was murdered as he returned to the Woolwich barracks on May 22 last year. Adebolajo and Adebowale mowed him down with a car before attacking him with knives and attempting to hack his head off with a meat cleaver.
Graphic video footage of Adebolajo with blood-tainted hands circulated the globe. Sweeney underlined that this level of media coverage was part of their intention.
Both were found guilty in December last year. At the trial, Adebolajo claimed they were ‘soldiers of Allah’ and were acting in revenge against the treatment of Muslims abroad.
The attack saw a surge in anti-Islamic sentiment in the UK, with a rise in both hate crimes and anti-Islamic street protests.
Police forces nationwide reported a surge in assaults against Muslims last year, with Mosques being a prime target. A mosque in Harlow, Essex, was the subject of attempted arson in August last year, and in June, an Islamic centre was burned to the ground in Muswell Hill, north London in an overnight attack.
UK moves to gag radical preachers, clamp down on Internet extremism
London Muslim community center burns down, arson feared over discovery of EDL ‘stamp’
UK foils 'nail bomb and shotgun' revenge terror plot targeting EDL
Woolwich message: Britons face grim legacy of 'peacekeeping'
Arrests, clashes as EDL marches through London in anti-Sharia law protest (PHOTOS)
Dramatic surge in hate crimes against Muslims recorded in the UK
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French forces launch airstrikes at armed Libyan group in Chad
The French armed forces have intervened in northern Chad and launched airstrikes at an armed group coming in from Libya, according to France’s Defense Ministry. The operation took place on Sunday and was organized in cooperation with the Chadian Army. A patrol of Mirage 2000 airplanes hit a column of 40 pickups coming from Libya that penetrated “deep into Chadian territory,” AP reported. The “intervention, in response to a request from Chadian authorities, helped hinder this hostile progression and disperse the column,” the ministry said. French President Emmanuel Macron visited Chad in December and reaffirmed French backing for African anti-extremist forces amid international concern about the chaos in Libya. Macron also met with French soldiers deployed in the Sahel region with Operation Barkhane, France’s largest overseas military mission.
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DCXC, News
Defending Va. state champs kick off season on top
Charlie Ban September 9, 2013 at 9:56am
West Springfield’s Katie Kennedy, Robert E. Lee’s Bailey Kolonich and Robinson’s Lauren Berman bust the rust at the Monroe Parker Invitational at Burke Lake Sept. 7. Photo: Ed Lull
Despite losing two national-class runners to graduation, the Chantilly boys and Lake Braddock girls started their state title defense with victories at the Monroe Parker Invitational Saturday in which was, for the most part, an early preview of the Northern Region meet.
Louis Colson staked his claim to the northern region, and perhaps the state, which has been vacated by three seniors who finished ahead of him last year. Before today, Colson, a Thomas Edison senior, had never broken 15:00 for the 2.98 mile course at Burke Lake. On his first race back, he won in 14:43 after breaking away from George C. Marshall’s junior Mackenzie Haight after two miles (9:48).
He’s had a strong summer, including a 15:37 at the Crystal City Twilighter 5k in July.
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Russia Defence Forum
Military Forum for Russian and Global Defence Issues
Immigration implications on Russian society
AbsoluteZero
Re: Immigration implications on Russian society
AbsoluteZero on Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:56 pm
TR1 wrote: I don't want to be anything like Saudi Arabia.
And they have had success in regions that have been war-town and feel marginalized post USSR collapse. I can assure you Orthodox attempts would NOT work in those areas, since they are associated with the ruling, far away authority.
If re-Christianization doesnt work then maybe at least make efforts for de-Islamization of Russia and the near abroad. It is undeniable that the Mohammedan ideology poses a big threat not just to Russia but also the West and the rest of the non Izlamic world.
Werewolf on Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:56 pm
"Christianisation" sounds like morbid joke to me, we currently and in past 8 years have seen what Christianisation has brought from US, UK, Spain and even Germany killing of tribes and wiping even some out by giving them mercury in vaccines all for the mighty flying spagetti monster.
Would be glad to see less of this retarded religion indoctrination especially on soil and in regions where this religions never have originated from, not our religions never was and never will be it only against us.
Easy, education and constantly reduction of religious indoctrination of new generations, forbidding defacto only reinforces such religous behavior and indoctrination it needs to be made loose from the people and loosed up from their culture and traditions and acted as what it is a social constructed supersticious believes, education of scientific knowledge is one of the major factors that will loose peoples minds from this mystical religious nonsense believes and see things like they are.
Last edited by Werewolf on Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
TR1 on Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:58 pm
AbsoluteZero wrote:
Kavkaz had Islam for many years without any real problems. Wahhabism is a problem. Islam is not.
GarryB
Points : 27853
GarryB on Sat Jan 24, 2015 5:07 am
I agree Wahhabism is the problem, not Islam.
ahmedfire
Location : The Land Of Pharaohs
ahmedfire on Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:41 pm
Man , you should apply for a job in washington post
AlfaT8
I was just wondering, does Russia have a re-Christianization
AlfaT8 on Sun Jan 25, 2015 11:58 pm
ahmedfire wrote:
Location : Greece
George1 on Mon Nov 09, 2015 12:36 pm
Russia to Fingerprint Immigrants En Masse Starting Next Year
Russia will start fingerprinting immigrants en masse to prevent repeated entries by people who have been refused entry.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia will start fingerprinting immigrants en masse starting next year to prevent repeated entries by people who have been refused entry, local media reported Monday.
"This measure will help detect foreigners who try to sneak into the country using a new name after they were denied entry," a source in the Federal Migration Service told the Russian Izvestia newspaper.
Under existing regulations, migrant workers from countries that have a visa-free agreement with Moscow must have their fingerprints taken within 30 days after coming to Russia.
"It is unclear whether this measure will be applied to all foreigners," the source told Izvestia.
According to the information obtained by the outlet, all migrant entry points – around 400 of them across Russia – could soon be equipped with fingerprint scanners to facilitate migrant processing.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20151109/1029793791/russia-fingerprint-immigrants.html#ixzz3qzdV4BGI
George1 on Fri Nov 20, 2015 3:29 am
Russian Parliament Calls for Migration Policy Changes
A draft decision to be adopted on Friday by the Federation Council and the State Duma says that the norms of international law and Russian legislation in particular must be improved in the migration policy sphere in order to prevent the spread of terrorism.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The norms of international law and Russian legislation in particular must be improved in the migration policy sphere in order to prevent the spread of terrorism, a draft decision to be adopted on Friday by the Federation Council and the State Duma (upper and lower houses of the Russian parliament) says.
"A reliable barrier should be put up at the state borders against the penetration of extremists into Russia," the document stresses.
According to the Russian parliament, an international exchange of information is also crucial in the prevention of terrorist attacks and joint measures are needed to cut off support to terrorist groups.
"Supplying terrorist groups with weapons, purchasing raw materials and objects of cultural value from them is complicity in their crimes that should be punished no less vigorously, than the actions of the militants themselves," the draft parliamentary document says.
On Monday, French President Francois Hollande called for a broad anti-terrorism coalition including the United States and Russia to tackle the threat of Islamic State (ISIL) radicals.
ISIL, which has ceased vast areas in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people, injuring over 300 others.
The rise of ISIL radicals in Syria is one of the main driving factors behind a major influx of refugees from the Middle East that Europe has been dealing with.
Ilya Rogachev, head of the Department for New Challenges and Threats (DNCT) at the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed in an interview with the Russian Kommersant newspaper that UN member-states must work on cutting off illegal oil trade carried out by ISIL, since it is a major source of their financing, according to the UN Security Council.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20151120/1030429241/russia-migration-policy-changes.html#ixzz3rzk9qS00
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Home Technology News Science Arctic sea 'ice-arches' weakening due to climate change: Report
Arctic sea ice grows and shrinks with the seasons and the ice has so far also lasted even through the warmest summers on record. However, now due to climate change, Kent Moore from the University of Toronto has observed that the beautiful arch-like structures sculpted out of sea ice are actually weakening due to climate change. He believes that the “incredible” ice is thinning and losing its strength, which bodes ill for the long-term retention of all sea ice in the region.
While speaking to BBC, Moore described how the multi-layer ice is at risk not just of melting in place, but of floating southward into warmer regions. The Arctic ‘ice-arch’ is some of the oldest, thickest floes in the ocean, but the computer models have predicted that the region would become ice-free during summer months sometime this century. Moore believes that the region could see ice deficiency and global warming could hasten the disappearance of the “Last Ice Area”.
Moore explained that over the last 20 years, the ice arches are definitely getting shorter. He said that data from the past 20 years show that the average duration of these arches is decreasing by about a week every year. The UoT professor noted that they used to last for about 200-250 days and now they last for 150-100 days. He added that the world was earlier losing about 42,000 sq km of ice every year through Nares Strait, but now it’s doubled and we’re losing around 86,000 sq km.
READ: Vast Wildfires In Siberia Linked To Warming Arctic
READ: US Plans Oil, Gas Lease Sale In Alaska's Arctic Refuge
‘Targeted action won’t be sufficient’
Further, Moore said that the world needs to hang on to the oldest ice in the Arctic for as long as possible. If we manage to implement the ambition of the Paris Climate accord, global warming can be curtailed and reversed, he said. Moore added that the area of the oldest ice is also going to be an important refuge for those species that depend on the floating floes for their way of life.
Moore remains hopeful that his analysis of the ice arches will focus more attention on this important region of the Arctic. However, he also said that action targeted specifically at preserving the arches won’t be sufficient to solve the problem. He said that his concern is that the last ice area may not last for as long as we think. He concluded that if we lose the ice arches, it will take a long time to replenish even if we do eventually manage to cool the planet.
READ: Ajanta Caves' Deposit Being Preserved For Eternity At Arctic World Archive
READ: George Clooney Stuck In Arctic In 'The Midnight Sky' Teaser On Netflix; Watch
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Julio - Agosto 2019 Experience and satisfaction with a multidisciplinary care unit for patients with...
Páginas 237-241 (Julio - Agosto 2019)
Multidisciplinary care unit
Patient's selection and data acquisition
Ethical disclosures
Protection of human and animal subjects
Confidentiality of data
Right to privacy and informed consent
Experience and satisfaction with a multidisciplinary care unit for patients with psoriasis an psoriatic arthritis
Experiencia y satisfacción en una unidad de atención multidisciplinaria para pacientes con psoriasis y artritis psoriásica
Ana Urruticoechea-Aranaa, Marta Serra Torresb, Mercedes Hergueta Diazb, María Eugenia González Guerreroc, Leslie Fariñas Padronc, Sara Navarro Martínc, Kelly Vargas Osorioc, Andrés Palacios Abufónb, María Jesús García de Yébenesd, Estíbaliz Lozad,
estibaliz.loza@inmusc.eu
a Servicio de Reumatología, Hospital Can Misses, Ibiza, Spain
b Servicio de Dermatología, Hospital Can Misses, Ibiza, Spain
c Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Hospital Can Misses, Ibiza, Spain
d Instituto de Salud Musculoesquelética, InMusc, Madrid, Spain
Table 1. Baseline Characteristics of Study Sample.a
Table 2. Referral Reasons and Final Diagnosis of Patients Attended in the Multidisciplinary Care Clinic.
Table 3. Patients With Laboratory Tests, Imaging Techniques and Others Required in the Multidisciplinary Care Clinic During the study Period.a
Table 4. Treatment Changes in the Multidisciplinary Care Clinic.a
Table 5. Satisfaction Questionnaire Results.a
To describe patient's characteristics, the activity and patient's satisfaction with a multidisciplinary care unit in patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
A retrospective medical records review of patients with psoriasis or PsA attended in a multidisciplinary care unit was performed. Included patients were contacted to fulfill a satisfaction questionnaire. A specific electronic database was set up. Data regarding to patients and their baseline characteristics and the activity of the unit were collected. Descriptive analysis were performed.
A total of 112 patients with 154 visits were included in almost 3 years, 54% women, with a mean age of 51 years, 43.7% presented hyperlipidemia and 30.4% arterial hypertension. Half of patients were referred due to diagnostic doubts and the other half for therapeutic problems. After the evaluation of the patients, 66 patients (58.9%) met diagnostic criteria for PsA, and 13 (11.6%) of an inflammatory disease other than PsA, and 95% came back to their usual physician. The most ordered test were laboratory tests (75.6% of patients), followed by X-rays in 57 patients (51.3%). In general the number of patients with different treatments increased, and 55.4% and 42% of patients changed their topic and systemic treatments respectively. The level of satisfaction was very high and all of patients considered that their disease was better controlled in this multidisciplinary care unit.
This multidisciplinary care unit has improved the care and satisfaction of patients with psoriasis or PsA, and increased collaboration between rheumatology and dermatology departments.
Psosiasis
Multidisciplinary care
Describir las características de los pacientes, la actividad registrada, así como la satisfacción percibida, de una consulta de atención multidisciplinar para pacientes con psoriasis o artritis psoriásica (APs).
Estudio observacional retrospectivo con revisión de historias clínicas de todos los pacientes atendidos en la consulta de atención multidisciplinar. Se contactó con todos ellos para que contestasen una encuesta de satisfacción. Varios investigadores recogieron datos sociodemográficos y clínicos, así como administrativos incluyendo el número de visitas en una base de datos especialmente generada para este proyecto. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo.
Se incluyó a 112 pacientes con 154 visitas en casi 3 años, 54% mujeres, y una edad media de 51 años; el 43,7% presentó hiperlipidemia y el 30,4% hipertensión arterial. La mitad fueron referidos por dudas diagnósticas y la otra por problemas terapéuticos. Tras su evaluación, 66 pacientes (58,9%) cumplieron los criterios diagnósticos de APs y 13 (11,6%) de una enfermedad inflamatoria distinta. El 95% regresó a su médico habitual. La pruebas complementarias más solicitadas fueron analíticas (75,6%) y radiografías simples (51,3%). En general, el número de pacientes con nuevos tratamientos aumentó y el 55,4 y el 42% de los pacientes cambiaron sus tratamientos tópico y sistémico, respectivamente. El nivel de satisfacción fue muy alto y todos los pacientes consideraron que su enfermedad estaba mejor controlada en esta unidad.
Esta consulta de atención multidisciplinar ha mejorado el manejo y satisfacción de pacientes con psoriasis o APs y ha incrementado la colaboración entre los servicios de Reumatología y Dermatología.
Artritis psoriásica
Cuidado multidisciplinar
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by raised, red scaly plaques. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a heterogeneous chronic inflammatory disease that, apart from the skin may affect the peripheral and axial joints, entheses, skin and nails, and other organs.1–3
Epidemiologic studies have also shown that, in patients with psoriasis, but specially in those with PsA, associated comorbidities may occur more frequently than expected.4,5 Cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease Crohn's disease, ophthalmic disease, depression and anxiety are common comorbidities in these patients.6
Taking into account all of this, psoriasis and PsA are heterogeneous and potentially severe diseases, that negatively impact patients quality of life.7,8
On the other hand, many of these patients are evaluated and managed by dermatologists and rheumatologist independently. However, in the dermatology clinics, PsA is not always suspected and therefore the diagnosis of the disease may be delayed.9,10 Furthermore, skin involvement sometimes has little or no attention for rheumatologists, even though it may have a considerable impact on the patient's physical and psychological health.11,12
In order to improve patient's outcomes and prognosis, national and international organizations as well as experts and patients recommend multidisciplinary treatment.13 In this context, in recent years, experiences from a few multidisciplinary care units or models for patients with psoriasis and PsA have been published in the literature.14,15 Although data from these units are still poor they suggest that skin and joint improved after the multidisciplinary consultation, were better considered compared with usual care and reported very high satisfaction levels. One of this units also described that after evaluation diagnosis and treatment were modified in 32% and 47% of cases, respectively.15
The aim of this study was to describe the experience of a multidisciplinary care unit where dermatologists and rheumatologists collaborate closely following pre-defined referral criteria and management protocols (see methods section for more information).
This project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Hospital Can Misses and patients gave informed consent.
A multidisciplinary care unit with specialists with experience and interest in psoriatic disease (2 dermatologists, one rheumatologist) was established to attend routine patients with psoriasis or PsA. Specific referral criteria were generated including: (1) Diagnostic problems (e.g. patients with psoriasis and arthralgia/arthritis); (2) Therapy related issues (e.g. the prescription of a biologic therapy in refractory patients); (3) Comorbidity management; (4) Safety concerns. Before the unit was implemented, a member of this unit followed a trainee program in another multidisciplinary care unit. Patients are referred from the dermatology and rheumatology departments. Visits (once a month) are made in the rheumatology department in order to take advantage of infrastructure (units and nursing staff). When the patient's problems are solved, they return to their reference specialist for standard follow-up. Patients are evaluated and treated using national and international guidelines. Additional tests as laboratory tests, imaging techniques or biopsies are ordered if necessary.
A retrospective observational study was performed. Medical records of patients attended in the multidisciplinary unit from August 2012 to December 2014 were reviewed. Included patients were contacted by telephone to come to the unit and complete the satisfaction questionnaire. However, if the patients was not able to come, the satisfaction questionnaire was completed by telephone. This was anonymous and patients gave informed consent.
Patients aged 18 or above attended in the unit were included. A specific electronic database was set up for the purpose of this project. The following data were collected: (a) sociodemographics (age, sex), smoking status; (b) clinical variables including comorbidities (cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, arterial hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, obesity, hyperuricemia, gout, depression, anxiety, uveitis, hepatic disease, others), baseline disease duration; (c) multidisciplinary care unit related variables like number of visits, follow-up, speciality of referral, main referral reason, referral reason by symptoms, final diagnosis (following international diagnostic criteria), final destination, laboratory tests, imaging techniques and others required during the study period, treatment and treatment changes (topical therapy, ultraviolet phototherapy, NSAIDs, systemic steroids, DMARDs, biologics); (d) satisfaction questionnaire. Patients were asked to (1) qualify from 10 (excellent) to 0 (very bad) the general attention in the multidisciplinary care unit, (2) describe the care of the multidisciplinary unit compared with your usual care (much better, better, the same, worse, much worse), (3) describe the quality of the information given in the multidisciplinary unit (very good, good, normal, bad, very bad), and (4) answer the following question: Was your disease better controlled in this multidisciplinary care unit?
To describe the sample, we used the distribution of frequencies, the mean and standard deviation, or the median and interquartile range, depending on the distribution of the variable.
A total of 112 patients were analyzed that produced 154 visits (range 1–7, 77% of patients only 1 visit, 16% 2, 7% ≥3 visits) in almost 3 years. There was no waiting list during this period. Mostly women (54%), with a mean age of 51 years±12 years, and 20.5% were smokers (Table 1). Mean psoriasis and PsA duration were 16±15 years and 6±7 years respectively. Interestingly, in our study population, 43.7% of patients presented hyperlipidemia, 30.4% arterial hypertension, and 27.7% anxiety. A total of 88 patients (78.6%) were referred from the rheumatology unit. We found that 95% of patients eventually returned to their responsible physician.
Baseline Characteristics of Study Sample.a
Sex (woman) 61 (54%)
Age (years)b 51.4±12.8
Psoriasis duration (years)b 16±15
PsA duration (years)b 6±7
Smoking status
No 82 (73.2%)
Former smoker 7 (6.2%)
Cardiovascular 4 (3.6%)
Hyperlipidemia 49 (43.7%)
Arterial Hypertension 34 (30.4%)
Diabetes Mellitus 10 (8.9%)
Obesity 24 (21.4%)
Hyperuricemia 12 (10.7%)
Gout 3 (2.7%)
Depression 19 (17.0%)
Anxiety 31 (27.7%)
Uveitis 1 (0.9%)
Hepatic disease 18 (16.1%)
Others 17 (15.2%)
Visits to the multidisciplinary care clinicb 1.4±0.9
Speciality of referral (rheumatology) 88 (78.6%)
Follow-up in the multidisciplinary care clinic (years)b 0.2±0.5
Abbreviation: PsA, psoriatic arthritis.
Results are expressed as number and percentage (%) otherwise is indicated.
Mean±standard deviation.
The main reasons for being referral to the multidisciplinary unit (Table 2) were equally distributed between diagnostic and therapeutic doubts. When the reasons of the referral were analyzed according to the patient's symptoms, most of them were evaluated because of cutaneous symptoms (almost 77%), followed by articular symptoms (17.8%). After the evaluation of the patients, we found that 66 patients (58.9%) met diagnostic criteria for PsA, and 13 (11.6%) presented an inflammatory disease other than PsA.
Referral Reasons and Final Diagnosis of Patients Attended in the Multidisciplinary Care Clinic.
Main referral reason
Diagnostic 61 (50%)
Treatment 61 (50%)
Referral reason by symptoms
Arthralgia 12 (10.7%)
Arthritis 8 (7.1%)
Dactylitis 2 (1.8%)
Axial symptoms 1 (0.9%)
Cutaneous psoriasis 41 (36.6%)
Nail psoriasis 3 (2.7%)
Cutaneous problem 45 (40.2%)
Final diagnosis
PsA 66 (58.9%)
Inflammatory disease other than PsA 13 (11.6%)
Degenerative arthritis 5 (4.5%)
Other articular diseases 1 (0.9%)
Other cutaneous diseases 12 (10.7%)
During the study period (see Table 3), the following tests were ordered: laboratory tests in a total of 85 patients (75.6%), X-rays in 57 patients (51.3%), musculoskeletal US in 4 (3.6%), musculoskeletal MRI in another 4 patients (3.6%), biopsies in 10 (8.9%) and cultures (blood, tissues, etc.) in 4 (3.6%) patients.
Patients With Laboratory Tests, Imaging Techniques and Others Required in the Multidisciplinary Care Clinic During the study Period.a
Laboratory tests 85 (75.6%)
X-rays 57 (51.3%)
Musculoskeletal US 4 (3.6%)
Musculoskeletal MRI 4 (3.6%)
Biopsy 10 (8.9%)
Cultures (blood, tissues, etc.) 4 (3.6%)
Results are expressed as number and percentage (%).
Abbreviations: US, ultrasound; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging.
Following, after the evaluation of patients, the number of patients with different treatments increased (see Table 4). In the case of topical therapy from 44.6% to 88.4%, the DMARDs from 44% to 54% and biologic treatments from 17% to 29%. The number of patients with systemic steroids slightly increased, from 28.6% to 29.5%. We found that 42% of patients changed their systemic treatment, 33 patients (29.5%) a molecule change and 12 patients (10.7%) a dose change. Only 2 patients stopped their therapy.
Treatment Changes in the Multidisciplinary Care Clinic.a
After visit
Topical therapy 51 (44.6%) 99 (88.4%)
Ultraviolet phototherapy 1 (0.9%) 1 (0.9%)
NSAID 74 (68.7%) 83 (74.1%)
Systemic steroids 31 (28.6%) 33 (29.5%)
DMARD
Methotrexate 34 (30.4%) 44 (39.3%)
Leflunomide 9 (8%) 9 (8%)
Cyclosporine – 1 (0.9%)
Sulfasalazine 4 (3.6%) 3 (2.7%)
Others 4 (3.6%) 3 (2.7%)
Biologic therapy
Etanercept 7 (6.2%) 9 (8%)
Adalimumab 5 (4.5%) 13 (11.6%)
Infliximab 4 (3.6%) 4 (3.6%)
Golimumab 1 (0.9%) 3 (2.7%)
Ustekinumab 1 (0.9%) 2 (1.8%)
Changes in topic treatments
Without changes 50 (44.6%)
Molecule change 59 (52.7%)
Doses change 2 (1.8%)
Treatment cessation 1 (0.9%)
Changes in systemic treatments
Doses change 12 (10.7%)
Abbreviations: NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; DMARD, disease modifying antirheumatic drugs.
Finally, all but 10 patients answered the satisfaction survey (92% response rate). The level of satisfaction was in general very high (Table 5).
Satisfaction Questionnaire Results.a
Qualify from 10 (excellent) to 0 (very bad) the general attention in the multidisciplinary care unitb 9±1.2
Describe the care of the multidisciplinary unit compared with your usual care
Much better 52 (46.8%)
Better 51 (45.9%)
The same 8 (7.2%)
Worse 0 (0%)
Much worse 0 (0%)
Quality of the information given in the multidisciplinary care unit
Very good 58 (52.2%)
Good 48 (43.2%)
Normal 4 (3.6%)
Bad 1 (0.9%)
Very bad 0 (0%)
¿Was your disease better controlled in this multidisciplinary care unit? YES 112 (100%)
The care of the multidisciplinary unit compared with your their care was considered much better of better for 103 patients (almost 93% of the study sample). The same way, the quality of the information given in the multidisciplinary care unit was good or very good for 106 patients (95.4%). All of patients considered that their disease was better controlled in this multidisciplinary care unit.
We have shown the experience of a multidisciplinary care unit for patients with psoriasis or PsA. The main objectives of this unit are to facilitate an early diagnosis of PsA, improve management of patients with psoriasis and PsA, and increase cooperation between the rheumatology and dermatology departments. Referred patients are attended (at the same by a dermatologist and a rheumatologist) in a few days (maximum 1 month), are carefully evaluated including the assessment of comorbidities and the treatment is agreed by the specialists following national and international guidelines.
One of the positive contributions and target of this unit is an early diagnosis of PsA. This is especially relevant since a diagnostic delay of more than 6 months might contribute to poor radiographic and functional outcome in PsA patients.10 According to our data, an important rate of patients eventually met PsA criteria. Although we cannot demonstrate this, it is possible that since the unit was set up dermatologist feel more comfortable and referral patients earlier with any kind of diagnostic doubts. In fact, it has been shown that traditional care, where patients are attended by rheumatologists and dermatologist independently, might lead to diagnosis delay.9,10 In the literature other multidisciplinary care units have shown their ability to make at least an earlier diagnosis in these patients, and have shown that there were many discrepancies with the previous diagnosis.14–16 Moreover, like in our cohort, this multidisciplinary approach facilitate a differential diagnosis for cutaneous and joint problems as well.14,15
The same way, we also expected changes in the patient's treatments. Around half of patients changed their topic or systemic treatment (molecule or dose). We could not demonstrate neither that all of these changes improved patients outcomes and prognosis, but we would like to highlight that we increased the percentage of topic and systemic drugs, probably optimizing the previous ones. Only the rate of patients on corticosteroids slightly increased after the multidisciplinary evaluation. The same results have been described in other multidisciplinary care units.14–16 Another positive point of these multidisciplinary care units is the sharing decision making between two specialists with different but complementary visions. This way, discrepancies between specialists that can led to medical errors or compliance problems, for example, could be avoided.17,18
On the other hand, we would like to point out that apart from labs and X-ray, just a few of patients required MRI or biopsies probably reflecting that clinical evaluation made by the experts in psoriasis and PsA (who follow national and international guidelines) solved most of the referred problems.
Regarding to comorbidity, we have exposed that more than a half of patients evaluated in the unit presented comorbidities. Patients with psoriasis and PsA show a high prevalence of comorbidities and risk factors, among which the most important are cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.19–21 Other frequent comorbidities are hyperuricemia and gout.22 We found the same results in our patients. An adequate management of comorbidities is of great importance for the specialists, as comorbidity influences diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment decisions, and has a great impact on health care resources.23–26 Therefore, in a multidisciplinary care approach, a proper evaluation and management of comorbidities could be facilitated in order to improve outcomes in complex patients.
One of the main outcomes of our study is the great level of satisfaction in our patients. In their opinion, for most of patients this multidisciplinary unit compared with their usual care was better or much better. Interestingly, all of them considered that the disease was better controlled in this multidisciplinary care unit. Data from a case series of patients with psoriasis and PsA followed following a multidisciplinary care model was also very high.14 This is very important because in chronic diseases the adherence and compliance with treatments and visits is vital and is very influenced with the overall level of satisfaction of patients with the care they receive.27
Following, this study has some limitations. First, we have no control group. Ideally our results should have been compared with traditional care. However, the rate of diagnosis confirmation and treatment changes suggest that, to some extent, we are making earlier diagnosis of PsA and probably optimizing patient's treatments. On the other hand, we did not used a generic or specific questionnaire to assess patient's satisfaction and this was retrospectively evaluated. But taking into account the very high level of satisfaction reported we are confident that this multidisciplinary care unit really meant a good option for patients with psoriasis or PsA.
In summary, collaboration between expert rheumatologists and dermatologists in a multidisciplinary care unit facilitates a proper and overall evaluation of the skin and musculoskeletal burden, subsequently leading to an earlier diagnosis of PsA, comorbidities and risk factors and to a more comprehensive treatment approach. As a consequence the disease outcomes could improve as well as patient's satisfaction.
Ethical DisclosuresProtection of human and animal subjects
The authors state that for this investigation the procedures followed conformed to the ethical standards of the responsible human experimentation committee (Hospital Can Misses, Ibiza), and in agreement with the World Medical Association and the Declaration of Helsinki.
The authors declare that the confidentiality of the data has been guaranteed.
The authors state that the patient's informed consent was requested.
This manuscript was developed by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer.
Dr. Loza reports grants from Pfizer, during the conduct of the study; grants from Pfizer, grants from Abbvie, grants from Roche, grants from MSD, grants from BMS, grants from Novartis, grants from UCB, outside the submitted work. The rest of authors refer no conflicts of interest.
J.M. Moll, V. Wright.
Psoriatic arthritis.
Semin Arthritis Rheum, 3 (1973), pp. 55-78
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Psoriatic arthritis (PA): a clinical, immunological and radiological study of 180 patients.
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M.E. Husni.
Comorbidities in Psoriatic Arthritis.
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A. Ogdie, S. Schwartzman, M.E. Husni.
Recognizing and managing comorbidities in psoriatic arthritis.
Curr Opin Rheumatol, 27 (2015), pp. 118-126
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/BOR.0000000000000152 | Medline
C.F. Rosen, F. Mussani, V. Chandran, L. Eder, A. Thavaneswaran, D.D. Gladman.
Patients with psoriatic arthritis have worse quality of life than those with psoriasis alone.
Rheumatology (Oxford), 51 (2012), pp. 571-576
B. Truong, N. Rich-Garg, B.D. Ehst, A.A. Deodhar, J.H. Ku, K. Vakil-Gilani, et al.
Demographics, clinical disease characteristics, and quality of life in a large cohort of psoriasis patients with and without psoriatic arthritis.
Clin Cosmet Invest Dermatol, 8 (2015), pp. 563-569
K. Buder, G. Wozel.
Psoriatic arthritis: a diagnostic challenge?.
G Ital Dermatol Venereol, 145 (2010), pp. 407-414
M. Haroon, P. Gallagher, O. FitzGerald.
Diagnostic delay of more than 6 months contributes to poor radiographic and functional outcome in psoriatic arthritis.
C.Y. Ng, Y.W. Yang, S.H. Liu, J.F. Lu, L.C. Yang, C.H. Yang, et al.
SF-36 healthy survey on psoriasis quality-of-life: a study of 414 Taiwanese patients.
F. Valenzuela, P. Silva, M.P. Valdes, K. Papp.
Epidemiology and quality of life of patients with psoriasis in Chile.
Actas Dermosifiliogr, 102 (2011), pp. 810-816
L. Gossec, J.S. Smolen, S. Ramiro, M. de Wit, M. Cutolo, M. Dougados, et al.
European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of psoriatic arthritis with pharmacological therapies: 2015 update.
T. Cobo-Ibanez, V. Villaverde, D. Seoane-Mato, S. Munoz-Fernandez, M. Guerra, P.D. Del Campo, et al.
Multidisciplinary dermatology-rheumatology management for patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis: a systematic review.
Rheumatol Int, 36 (2016), pp. 221-229
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3377-z | Medline
J. Luelmo, J. Gratacos, M. Moreno Martinez-Losa, M. Ribera, J. Romani, J. Calvet, et al.
A report of 4 years of experience of a multidisciplinary unit of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
Reumatol Clin, 10 (2014), pp. 141-146
N.F. Velez, E.X. Wei-Passanese, M.E. Husni, E.A. Mody, A.A. Qureshi.
Management of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in a combined dermatology and rheumatology clinic.
Arch Dermatol Res, 304 (2012), pp. 7-13
M.M. Geurts, M. van der Flier, A.M. de Vries-Bots, T.I. Brink-van der Wal, J.J. de Gier.
Medication reconciliation to solve discrepancies in discharge documents after discharge from the hospital.
Int J Clin Pharm, 35 (2013), pp. 600-607
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11096-013-9776-x | Medline
M.M. Heiner.
Key barriers to optimal management of adult asthma in Australia: physician and patient perspectives.
Curr Med Res Opin, 23 (2007), pp. 1799-1807
J.A. Husted, A. Thavaneswaran, V. Chandran, L. Eder, C.F. Rosen, R.J. Cook, et al.
Cardiovascular and other comorbidities in patients with psoriatic arthritis: a comparison with patients with psoriasis.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken), 63 (2011), pp. 1729-1735
A. Jamnitski, D. Symmons, M.J. Peters, N. Sattar, I. McInnes, M.T. Nurmohamed.
Cardiovascular comorbidities in patients with psoriatic arthritis: a systematic review.
M. Khraishi, D. MacDonald, E. Rampakakis, J. Vaillancourt, J.S. Sampalis.
Prevalence of patient-reported comorbidities in early and established psoriatic arthritis cohorts.
Clin Rheumatol, 30 (2011), pp. 877-885
F. Oliviero, A. Scanu, P. Galozzi, A. Gava, P. Frallonardo, R. Ramonda, et al.
Prevalence of calcium pyrophosphate and monosodium urate crystals in synovial fluid of patients with previously diagnosed joint diseases.
Joint Bone Spine, 80 (2013), pp. 287-290
L. Palomo, C. Rubio, J. Gervas.
The comorbidity in primary care.
Gac Sanit, 20 (2006), pp. 182-191
J.A. Long, J.A. Husted, D.D. Gladman, V.T. Farewell.
The relationship between patient satisfaction with health and clinical measures of function and disease status in patients with psoriatic arthritis.
S. Lee, A. Mendelsohn, E. Sarnes.
The burden of psoriatic arthritis: a literature review from a global health systems perspective.
Pharmacy Ther, 35 (2010), pp. 680-689
M.E. Husni, K.H. Meyer, D.S. Cohen, E. Mody, A.A. Qureshi.
The PASE questionnaire: pilot-testing a psoriatic arthritis screening and evaluation tool.
J Am Acad Dermatol, 57 (2007), pp. 581-587
K. Kumar, K. Raza, P. Nightingale, R. Horne, S. Chapman, S. Greenfield, et al.
Determinants of adherence to disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in White British and South Asian patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a cross sectional study.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord, 16 (2015), pp. 396
Copyright © 2017. Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología
Modelos de atención multidisciplinar en pacientes con...
Reumatol Clin 2017;13:85-90
Estado actual de la atención multidisciplinar para...
Reumatol Clin. 2020;16:24-31
Norma de calidad para el manejo del paciente con artritis...
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HomeInstrumentationsLeadsheetsNo Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind)
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind)
Boyzone, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jim Steinman, Andrew Lloyd Webber
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - 5-Finger Piano
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Alto Sax Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Beginner Piano
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Cello Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Choir
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Clarinet Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - E-Z Play Today
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Easy Piano
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Flute Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - French Horn Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Lead Sheet / Fake Book
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Piano & Vocal
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Piano Chords/Lyrics
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Piano Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - SATB Choir
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Solo Guitar
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Tenor Sax Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Trombone Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Trumpet Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down the Wind) - Viola Solo
No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) - Violin Solo
Score: No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind)
Score: No Matter What (from Whistle Down The Wind) & full set of zero parts (Show part names)
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Expanding eighth-grade algebra participation
WFR Middle School tripled number of eighth-graders taking algebra, maintained 97% pass rate on state exam
Former Principal Elaine Hanzer remembers the first time she saw the list of students that SAS® EVAAS® (Educational Value-Added Assessment System) for K-12 suggested would be good candidates for eighth-grade algebra at the school (north of Raleigh, NC). At the top of the list was a student she knew personally – and not because he was a stellar student. He had been in her office for other reasons, had not taken pre-algebra, and was not recommended by teachers for higher-level math classes. "At first, I could hardly believe what I was seeing,'' says Hanzer, who just retired as Principal at WFR. "And then a realization set in; that child was me.'' Back in high school, Hanzer had to convince a high school guidance counselor that she was capable of taking the classes necessary to attend college – after years of being tracked into non-college prep classes.
EVAAS evaluates several years of end-of-grade testing to predict a student's ability to study higher-level subjects. Available to all North Carolina schools, it is widely used to place students in eighth-grade algebra. Taking algebra in eighth grade is considered a key stepping stone that allows students to progress to calculus by 12th grade. Students who take calculus in high school have a greater chance of successfully finishing a four-year college degree - particularly if they want to major in a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) field.
It's harsh to say, but teachers have prejudices, it (EVAAS) takes those out and you start dealing with fact; you know what a student is capable of.
Elaine Hanzer
Former Principal
Reducing the role of recommendations
Before using EVAAS to help select algebra students, WFR did what the majority of schools still do – relied on teacher recommendations. The first recommendation came in fifth grade when elementary school teachers suggest the advanced or regular math track. "But the recommendations come in the spring before the end-of-grade tests,'' notes Patches Jacobs, one of WFR's assistant principals. In addition, teachers routinely weeded out any pre-algebra students they didn't think could handle algebra.
The EVAAS recommendations caused some consternation, Hanzer notes, but it also led to soul searching – and some digging through the grade books. What the WFR math teachers discovered is that many of the students not recommended for advanced math were doing very well on class tests – but they were getting average to poor grades for other reasons, such as not turning in homework.
To test the EVAAS recommendations, Hanzer first encouraged teachers to put all the pre-algebra students that had a high probability of succeeding (as measured by EVAAS) into algebra. Then she recruited one teacher to teach a class of students who hadn’t taken pre-algebra, but were recommended through EVAAS. The teacher offered extra help to catch the students up. The administrators said the students struggled at first, but as the year went on that class got better and better. Some even exceeded the scores of the students who took pre-algebra. In particular, that one student that caught Hanzer’s eye did exceptionally well. At the end of the first year, every student passed the statewide algebra test – except the one student not recommended by EVAAS. “That student had been recommended by a teacher.’’
Expanding the use of SAS EVAAS for K-12
That first year, Hanzer took a conservative approach, bringing in the 50 students with an 80 percent probability of passing the class. Her team met extensively with students, parents and teachers to explain the program and the reasons for placing students in algebra. Meanwhile, Hanzer and Jacobs began laying the groundwork to get more students into advanced sixth grade math and pre-algebra in seventh grade.
In the second year, the school placed all students with a 70 percent probability of succeeding at algebra (170) into the class. This group represents nearly half the eighth grade at a school where slightly more than 50 percent of the students are considered economically disadvantaged. EVAAS recommends educators use the 70 percent threshold; the passing rate that year was 97 percent.
Hanzer says there has been a "culture change" at WFR that turns conventional education wisdom on its head. Maintaining a class notebook, turning in homework, class participation, organization, neatness and projects are de-emphasized in grading and recommendations. Teachers can no longer dock students for putting their name in the wrong corner of a paper, "or not folding it a certain way,'' says Hanzer, who found these grading practices disproportionately affected poorer students who have less support at home. Instead, as she learned with the algebra placements, challenging students and telling them they can handle advanced subject matter has a positive impact on work habits. "Those habits changed as the second semester rolled in,'' Hanzer says.
As the school increases the pipeline into pre-algebra, it expects more students to take algebra this coming year. But WFR's success has not been enthusiastically embraced by all of Hanzer's peers. When she talks to middle school principals, "They tell me they are taking a risk. When I ask why, they say 'because you are overriding what a teacher has learned about a student throughout the year.'" So Hanzer shares with them that her teachers embrace the data-driven approach and have agreed together to drop homework down to the lowest percentage in assigning grades. "It's harsh to say, but teachers have prejudices, it (EVAAS) takes those out and you start dealing with fact; you know what a student is capable of.''
Confident that EVAAS can help the school identify the right math class for students, WFR is now looking to identify sixth-graders capable of taking algebra in seventh grade and offering them geometry in eighth grade. She also counsels peers to be careful about placements where data is missing – for instance with a student who has moved from out of state. "The 70 percent cutoff is now mandated in our district, but we still look at every single student,'' Hanzer says.
And while Hanzer is retiring, she is considering taking up an offer to serve on a district task force for educating economically disadvantaged students. "That population has probably benefited the most from this data.''
Better identify students that should take higher level courses.
SAS® EVAAS® for K-12
Tripled the number of students taking eighth-grade algebra, while maintaining a 97% passing rate on the state Algebra I exam.
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Georgia's Best Weekly
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List of Online NNPA Papers
Junior League of Savannah Sponsors Habitat Savannah Family Reunion
By | December 24, 2008
The Junior League of Savannah will sponsor the Habitat Savannah Family Reunion honoring all Habitat volunteers and home-owners from the past 25 years. The event is planned for Sunday, January 18, 2009, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Oglethorpe Mall Food Court. “We invite all Habitat Savannah volunteers from the past 25 years to join us to celebrate the completion … Continue reading “Junior League of Savannah Sponsors Habitat Savannah Family Reunion”
Savannah’s newest author comes with Spice!
Tonya D. Simmons says that she has lived what she writes, and presents the reality of sexuality in her new book, Tonya D’s Recipe. “Many people live with curiosity about sexuality, but are scared to death to seek the knowledge that will free them, and open the door to sexual knowledge and satisfaction,” says Simmons. A native Savannahian, Simmons was … Continue reading “Savannah’s newest author comes with Spice!”
A Red Carpert Affair at New Birth
New Birth Savannah invites the city, as well as the region to Watch Night 2008, “A Red Carpet Affair”. Come for an evening of fellowship and praise, as we bring in the New Year, Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 9:30pm. Come as Travis Greene, of Warner Robbins, GA., leads us into praise and worship for the evening. We will bring … Continue reading “A Red Carpert Affair at New Birth”
Governor and Georgia Historical Society to Name First New Georgia Trustees in 260 Years
The Office of the Governor and the Georgia Historical Society (GHS) will honor Atlantan Bernard Marcus and the late Marguerite Neel Williams, of Thomasville, as new Georgia Trustees at the Society’s Georgia Days Birthday Bash and Annual Awards Gala, in Savannah, Saturday, February 14, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Mr. Marcus and Ms. Williams will be the first Georgians in 260 years … Continue reading “Governor and Georgia Historical Society to Name First New Georgia Trustees in 260 Years”
The Savannah Tribune announces the third in a series of articles written by guest columnist Taqwaa Falaq Saleem. Taqwaa is a 2008 honor graduate with the B.A. in English Language and Literature from Savannah State University where she was also awarded the coveted President’s Second Mile Award at the commencement ceremonies. She is currently a graduate student and teaching assistant … Continue reading “Black in America”
Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Honorary Co-Chairs
Bipartisan Collection of Distinguished Americans to Help Lead Inaugural Activities WASHINGTON, D.C. – The 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee announced the honorary co-chairs for the Inauguration of Presidentelect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden. In keeping with the President-elect’s commitment to an inclusive and bipartisan Inauguration, the list of honorary co-chairs includes members of the President-elect and Vice President-elect’s immediate … Continue reading “Presidential Inaugural Committee Announces Honorary Co-Chairs”
It’s the season for spreading joy and goodwill to others and the Williams and Williams Funeral Home continues to sweeten the day for Savannah residents and their families. The staffs at many local area nursing homes and senior housing complexes are very happy to receive donations for their annual Christmas celebrations. Ms. Belveanna Daniels, Office Administrator of Williams and Williams … Continue reading “Spreading the Joy”
Callen Alumni Elects Officers/Name Honorees for 2009
The Frank Callen Boys & Girls Club Alumni and Friends elected the following officers at the December meeting: Sam Jones, president; Raymond Rouse, vice president; Edward B. Campbell, treasurer; James Stewart, assistant treasurer; Dorothy H. Scott, financial secretary; Dorothy B. Campbell, recording secretary; Charlena Brown, assistant recording secretary; Joe Murray Rivers, parliamentarian; and Charley Brown, chaplain. The honors committee recommended … Continue reading “Callen Alumni Elects Officers/Name Honorees for 2009”
Get your Antioxidant: East a Salad
The goal of this series of articles and the goal of the Health Restoration 101 programs are to help you maximize your chances of living a longer, healthier life. Our programs are simple, comprehensive, well documented and easy to follow. “It’s not magic, but it can change your life.” by Carolyn Guilford, CNC You’ve probably heard a lot about antioxidants … Continue reading “Get your Antioxidant: East a Salad”
Help Cancer Patients “Look Good…Feel Better ®”
The American Cancer Society will hold its next Look Good…Feel Better ® volunteer training class for licensed beauty professionals on Monday, January 12, 2009 in Savannah. The fourhour class will train volunteers to teach beauty and skin care techniques, as well as tips for disguising hair loss, to women who are undergoing cancer treatment. Look Good…Feel Better ® is a … Continue reading “Help Cancer Patients “Look Good…Feel Better ®””
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(in English y Español)
As I write these lines, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival slowly comes to an end after creating havoc for a month out and about the Scottish capital. This has been a somewhat quiet year, quiet as far as scandals and gossip are concerned. There was of course the fall out between Tim Fountain (comedian and self-declared sex-addict) and the managers of Gaydar.co.uk. The comedian's show featured Gaydar-users' profiles and revolved around Fountain's nightly conquests that would start on the mentioned web page and, perhaps, continue in some Edinburgh apartment. Consequently he was banished from the site. However fleetingly, this whole polemic raised some interesting questions regarding the privacy of the net, its uses and abuses. Other 'scandalettes' featured in this year's Fringe were the allegations about an apartheid in Fringe venues against wheelchair users, the last minute addition of Steven Berkof to the Pleasance's (one of the main venues) programme, a drunken attack on one of the performers in La Fura Dels Baus' XXX, and some talk about how 'the venues think they are there for the performers' and the need of a readjustment in the festival's direction. If there were any more they managed to escape me, or luckily I managed to escape them.
Besides that there were the usual: crowded sidewalks, street performers, 2 for 1 offers, tons and tons and tons of flyers, hopes, drink promotions, disappointments, publicity stunts, late nights, nightly fireworks for the Military Tatoo, Three Weeks and Fest (two free newspapers devoted exclusively to reviewing during the festival season), Perrier Awards (Nestle-sponsored comedy awards) and Tap Water Awards (reactionary awards to all kinds of innovative performance, without the support from an unethical corporation that is). The truth be said, Edinburgh during August is too vast a picture to spot the tiny differences with last year's 'edition'.
In this Fringe Report I have focused on devised work and physical theatre seen at the Fringe. It being an over-all report I have not included every single piece I went to, but limited to the ones that, for one reason or the other, were worth mentioning. Not believing in the bogus star system of giving performances a numeral rating I have limited myself to reflect on the different shows without intending to classify them artistically. I have also included in my report an interview with Teresa Vallejo, one of the performers of La Fura Dels Baus' XXX, and, jumping outside the box, an interview with composer Carles Santos and a commentary about his latest piece The Composer, the Singer, the Cook and the Sinner performed at the Edinburgh International Festival. The interviews appear here both in Spanish, the language they were conducted in, and English. Aware of the somewhat biblical proportions of this feature I include an index so that you may jump directly to whatever interests you most.
Dance pieces:
Turtle Dreams by Dance Theatre Khaos.
It's Only a Rehearsal by Zero Visibility Corp.
Devised theatre:
XXX by La Fura dels Baus.
The Haunting of Hill House adapted and performed by Total Fear.
Physical theatre:
Chronicles – a lamentation by Piesn Kozla Theatre.
Damaged by Miracles by Falsa Imago.
Edinburgh International Festival:
The Composer, the Singer, the Cook and the Sinner by Carles Santos.
Interviews (in English and Spanish):
Interview with Teresa Vallejo, performing in XXX.
Interview with Carles Santos, composer and performer in The Composer, the Singer, the Cook and the Sinner.
This was one of the first shows I attended at the Fringe. Turtle Dreams is a solo piece choreographed and performed by Hiromi Ishikawa. The programme informed us that turtles in Japan are a symbol of happiness, long-lasting life, and a life-long journey. The piece revolves around childhood and youth memories and is fragmented in sections with titles such as 'Waking from my dream' and 'Between reality and memories'. There were nine different scenes in total, which would not have been a problem if Ishikawa would have managed to hold us in the silences. Instead these remained uncharged, making her performance appear half-hearted. If any energies had arisen during one of these scenes, the moment the stage was left empty these would fall flat on their face. I will not say it was an unpleasant experience, but over all there was something missing, a certain gusto. Although the movements were all graceful and precise I could not help but feel that the potential of the themes has not been fully tapped. Ishikawa produces stock images of childhood play, such as playing with the frailty of soap bubbles or rearranging cardboard boxes. Besides a purely aesthetical interest, her choreography did not reach a deeper level, which would have been appropriate when dealing with a theme such as memory. In an attempt to personalise the conventional scenarios, Ishikawa filled her performance with facial expressions that did little more than point at the piece's forcefulness. These were not expressions arising from her dance, or the memories supposedly evoked, but slapped on as false and clumsy masks. Nonetheless Ishikawa is a technically clever dancer, her choice of music should certainly be praised. Perhaps all she needs to do is try flying free, without of her technical and conceptual restraints.
This Norwegian group brought us an abstract, dance version of Ovid's tragic tale of Acteaon and Artemis. Ina Christel Johannessen's choreography dwells on the games of courtship between man and woman before presenting us with a second section, more clearly based on Ovid's myth. For the first half of the performance the auditorium lights were on, revealing the vast space of St. Stephen's church hall. The two dancers were subsequently dwarfed. However this was not a detriment to the performance. The couple, Line Tormoen and Dimitri Jourde, magically filled the space with their electric presence. Their physical strength is admirable and although their movements are truly athletic, they do not become exhibitionist. Throughout the piece we observe as an invisible bond between them comes into being. Talk about stage chemistry? The two are lovers outside the theatre, which may be, of course, what makes them such great dance partners. Johannenssen draws on club dancing, modern 'hipness' and break-dance, and at the same time is able to transform a simple hug into something utterly meaningful. She is both tender and sexually explicit. Both the subtlety of a hand against a chest and the exuberance of a fellatio serve the piece and illustrate the workings of a modern relationship. Even the not so uncommon post-coital silence was featured. The couple inhabit with ease the demanding choreography and the outcome is so slick, so precise, one can't take his eyes off it even for a second. Then, there was a somewhat awkward pause, without music or dance, in which the couple caught their well deserved breath. It was not completely clear whether the audience was being invited to stand up and dance, not that anyone would have ever wanted to after seeing them. This small moment created, besides a lot of giggles, a complicity amongst performers and audience. In the second half, during which the lights were dimmed, there was a remarkable scene in which the couple danced and performed headstands, pirouettes and backflips whilst kissing, with tongues! Throughout the piece there is a tension between wild desire and calm tenderness, between aggression and loving care, between man and woman, without assigning a particular or fixed role to either partner. At the end, after hearing Ovid's text recited in French by a somewhat breathless Dimitri Jourde, the couple enact the moment in which the hunter Acteaon is transformed into a stag by the hunter goddess Artemis and how he is devoured by his own pack of hounds. For this last section a curtain is pulled across backstage, it is a back and white picture of a forest. In the corner a stag's head is revealed hanging off a wall. After Jourde's casual, almost informal delivery of the text, the dance and this new backdrop become shockingly tragic.
From the very start XXX hands out both a full responsibility and an invitation to participate. As the audience enters one finds out that by sending a text message via mobile phone to a given number, his or her message appears projected on the stage. La Fura cleverly, and to set the mood, turn a passive moment into something that involves the audience. The show is a free adaptation of the Marquis De Sade's Philosophy of the Boudoir, and as such it is not surprising that it involves a lot of sex, and a lot of 'uncommon' practices.
The plot is rather simple: we observe as the young and innocent Eugenia is taught a number of lessons in depravity by a group of three libertines, Lula, a glamorous Madame/porn star, her incestuous brother Giovanni, and the aggressive Dolmance. The lessons go from how to pleasure a woman orally, to sadism and ultimately raping her own mother. However the real shock of the piece is the way it portrays sex as an experience that has become extremely mediated. This is slightly drilled into the audience as we are confronted with pornography clips, cyber-sex, a menu of sex toys and sex machines, and ultimately a live cam-chat with a girl somewhere in a strip club in Barcelona. De Sade's text is equally revolutionary and in addition to it we hear statements such as 'Plastic is much better than flesh' or 'Time and body no longer exist'. Formally the performance is equally mediated as a camera is moved around stage filming the actors. Theatre becomes cinema as camera angles impossible to archive due to the proscenium arch are projected on stage. We constantly see screens upon screens, or behind screens. The effect of seeing the actors' actions superimposed, on stage and on screen is somewhat dazzling at first, but ultimately works in favour of what La Fura is trying to say, or rather, shouting out at us. There is of course a great sense of humour in the piece, as it does not portray sex as something necessarily obscure and dirty but as having delicate and complex balance. The two best examples of this 'toilet humour' are a conversation one of the four characters has with his disappointed penis, projected on stage but appearing with a talking mouth; and the presentation of the 'Globalised Cunt' that comes with it's own travel case and it's own incorporated light. This light-hearted mood is broken on several occasions shortly after it settles on stage, making XXX a true rollercoaster. Moreover the show does not stop at the proscenium arch, it rolls into the auditorium to see if any adventurous audience members want a ride. There is a 'pheromone experiment' in which the audience are sprayed with pheromones and the lights turned off, whilst a crew members passes row after row recording with night-vision what people do. When the lights come back on, one of the characters is so disappointed in the audience's inability to spontaneously start an orgy that he starts asking for volunteers. Without giving too much away all I will say is that several spectators do get naked during the performance, one even receiving a fellatio from one of the characters. But don't be unnecessarily alarmed, not all you see in XXX is absolutely real. No, there is no live sex on stage and no, there probably were no pheromones. There are more important things to think and debate with yourself about, than whether it is all real or not. It is a piece with a sharp philosophical and political message, and it does not bite its tongue. The rhythm is frenetic and the images stunning. As you may guess, this is not a show for kids, the prude or fainthearted, but will certainly entertain anyone willing to take up a challenge. Whether you decide to remain in your seat or not, XXX makes you question your moral standards and preconceptions as well as question what kind of a society produces this kind of meditated 'sex'.
Shirley Jackson's novel is recreated in the dank, forbidding recesses of the Smirnoff Underbelly (one of the alternative venues). Total Fear sets out its stall for a few late-night scares in an unusual and innovative way. With the audience left to stand in the dark space throughout the promenade performance and the only light coming from torches hung round the necks of the characters, there's plenty of the requisite atmosphere for a tale that depends on the imagination for its shocks and scares. Following the novel and its two subsequent film versions Total Fear introduce us to a group of people that occupy the haunted Hill House for an experiment's sake. This analytical perspective is highlighted as the characters double up as narrators and ask the audience to observe and relate their impressions of other characters' reactions. The performance is interactive in more ways than this, as we are instructed to take Eleanor, the main victim of paranormal activities, from one character to another; or as we have to create the rooms with our descriptions. It is the audience who directly inflict the terror on the performers. We are told to press them down to the floor, pull them apart, silence them, or become the house's ghostly voices. Do we cooperate, or not? It is interactive to the extent that, depending on our decisions as an audience, the outcome of the piece will change. Total Fear has opted for creating an atmosphere with the actors' bare performances, there are no easy tricks that make you jump but a constant and claustrophobic sense of an indescribable fear. It is in this that the true horror of the performance lies. What are we capable of to inflict on others?
Piesn Kozla Theatre is an international group based in Poland. The company was founded by two ex-members of the famous Gardzienice ensamble and continues Grotowski's tradition of work. It is therefore a pure and essential, carefully constructed and physically demanding piece. The group thoroughly researched for two years the ancient polyphonic songs of lamentation in northern Greece and Albania. Proof of the care they take in such task is the fact that since their foundation in 1997 Piesn Kozla Theatre has only produced two pieces, this being the second. However Chronicles – a lamentation is neither a cultural salad nor blatant cultural appropriation. The traditional songs are handled with loving care, respect and artistic precision. It is clear that a lot of time has gone into it. The set, lighting and costume, of course, are all minimal in the style of Grotowski's Poor Theatre. However, there are few performances as rich as this one. The piece, using these traditional lamentation songs, retells the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh. The narrative however is obscured by the Polish text. Rather than approaching Piesn Kozla's work rationally, trying to figure out what exactly they are telling, one should sit back and enjoy the way in which this tale is told. One does not need to understand the plot in order to feel its power. Through flawless song and sheer physicality, the company evokes certain energies in the auditorium and these are what guides you though the performance. Bodies writhe and tumble around the space, transforming the whole environment with the smallest of changes in rhythm. There are many astounding moments of breathtaking emotion, grief, loss, remembrance. The power of the voices, accompanied only by the subtle drone of a harmonium, resonated within you and touched upon something that is usually dormant. Chronicles – a lamentation will make you question the preconceived idea that any work inspired by Grotowski puts, or needs to put, the performer in a trance. The bodies we see jumping gracefully around on stage have not lost touch with the present, on the contrary, they are present and they are so with every living fibre.
'Because of the irresistible attraction of my nerves, I have become an embarrassing human being.' This sentence is repeated throughout the piece, it is broken up into gibberish, turned upside down and back again illustrating the painful reality of a severely fragmented mind. Damaged by Miracles is inspired by D.P. Schreber's influential psychological memoirs. The text, I imagine, comes directly from his writings, but is so broken up that it becomes strange and unknown. The performers' accents, French and Spanish, highlight this with an interesting effect on the piece. Aude Tournay and Igor de Quadra play around with a tape recording machine, recording and repeating over and over the sounds, breaths and words, uttered into the microphone. This constant replaying of previous actions somehow resembles the analytical eye of the psychologist focused on a patient's behaviour and confession. The action is slowed down, copied and fragmented as the body becomes an alien shell when mental illness takes control. Body parts seem disjoined in a general and ever growing lack of coordination. Igor de Quadra becomes a man dancing with and against his madness, sometimes embodied by Tournay. He strips off his clothes and becomes a helpless baby, utterly lost in an incomprehensible world. Here we are told of the phenomenon of psychological dysfunction in a fresh way that does not involve screaming or drooling. It also shows how the situation can in fact be quite humorous for its victim. One moment we see them innocently playing, completely absorbed in some silly game, the next moment the situation becomes unbearably painful to watch. We are witnesses as the mind grasps in vain for itself. Madness possesses the body but not in the clichéd spasm, it is instead a simple choreography of disruption and clumsiness. The piece does not lead us to draw any ultimate conclusions. Only at the end, desk lamp in hand, does Tournay ask: 'Are you damaged?'
The title to this piece does not have anything to do with Peter Greenaway but is a reference to the unlikely and tangled plots of Rossini's operas. Carles Santos pays homage to the Italian composer by presenting us with a peculiar visualization of his works, as well as his own compositions. Although the piece is formed by an amalgamation of seemingly random fragments, arias, concertos, and choruses, the effect is not that of fragmentation. The stage here displays a magical unity though Santos' unique style. There is no set design but rather powerful and challenging performances. The three voices glide, jump and do cartwheels in front of our very eyes. However there is an inherit simplicity to The Composer: as the curtain rises all we see is a drop of water falling from above the stage onto an oven, there is nothing else. Then suddenly, the oven's door opens and the cook appears singing an aria to the tempo of this water drop. Throughout the performance bodies and voices are tested to their limits, whether it is singing with their head caged within a glass box, under a shower, or being bashed against the piano keys the singers' voices retain their strength and presence. The result is extremely funny. For a while, after the performance started, the audience continued giggling and clapping in joy after each of these vocal circus stunts. But once we had all become used to Santos' peculiar visual and musical language one realised how deeply emotional and mysterious these scenes were. There is little narrative besides observing the characters interact with the drop of water that occasionally becomes a stream, with each other, or with the piano. Santos gets down and dirty himself, which is admirable, as he drags across the stage, on all his fours, a bed carrying the Cook and the Sinner. They, whilst performing the most extenuating sexual positions, continue to sing a delightful duo. Not all music is live, only the three voices and the piano. There are a number of recorded orchestras, and even two sections that are completely recorded and have no live element. In the first one a chorus of cooking pots appears backstage. As we listen to a recording of Rossini's sublime religious music the light on these pots or from beneath them, the cooking rings, increases and decreases. Quite a simple thing, right? And yet, somehow this image electrified the music, giving it a presence within the theatre. During the second of these actionless scenes a screen came down, hiding the stage from our view. What followed is simply indescribabl: whilst listening to Rossini's score for The Tempest we watched a black and white film of bodies attacked by water jets. It was both playful, as if children were playing with hoses, and at the same time there was something darker at play. This was a piece in itself. Santos should be praised for his ability to break down conventions, whether theatrical or musical.
©2004 Pablo Pakula
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Student Selection
Q and A with Gemma Sisia
St Jude’s in Australia
Gift Packs for Students
Share Our Story
We love visitors
St Jude’s in Action
St Jude’s News
Beyond St Jude’s
St Jude’s Alumni
There’s an ‘elephant in the room’… literally.
Thrill-seekers and animal lovers traverse the globe to catch a glimpse of Tanzania’s tembo (elephants). Sadly, these majestic creatures face extinction as targets of ivory poachers.
A group of St Jude’s secondary students is committed to stamping out tembo terrorisers by raising awareness about poaching in the community.
Tembo Club was started in February by impassioned student activists, who boldly approached their teachers with the desire to save one of Tanzania’s national treasures.
“Poaching means we destroy natural resources that are beneficial to us. And of course, elephants have rights, so why shouldn’t they just live?”
“People think that conducting the black market of ivory is a good thing because they can get furniture. It’s a disappointment,” said Tembo Club President and Form 6 student, Christina.
Tembo tempo: St Jude’s students love visiting their four-footed friends in Tarangire National Park.
The students are right to be disappointed and concerned. Tanzania is one of Africa’s poaching hotspots. Between 2009 and 2014, the illegal activity reduced Tanzania’s elephant numbers by 60%.
“This is a big problem. If there are no more elephants, it will lower the status of our nation,” said Tembo Club Chairman and Geography teacher, Mr Fauz.
“We are the ambassadors for Tanzania. Protecting the natural resources of any country is an important thing to do. So I am proud to be one of them,” Christina said.
The club meets twice monthly. So far, 36 students and four teachers are a part of group, but this number is set to increase.
Growing the cause: 2017 Tembo Club with some of their teacher mentors, Mr Fuaz, Ms Hilder and Mr Elias.
“Most students wish to join our club, although we limit the number and I’m sure even though they are not members, they are motivated to do something like what we are doing already,” Christina said.
Nickson, Emmanuel and Nasra are three enthusiastic members of Tembo Club.
“I have a passion for art and this is one of the ways I can express my opinions to society. It can trigger someone to care about poaching,” Nickson expressed.
“We have good resources, good teachers, good mentors and good members among us. I can’t even express how glad I am for this group,” Emmanuel beamed.
“The best part is conserving the environment, telling people more about wildlife and how precious wildlife is to our society,” Nasra said.
Using their voices: Tembo Club raised awareness about ivory poaching at Science Day in March.
Deputy Chariman of Tembo Club, Mr Elias, believes the students’ efforts will have a widespread impact, thanks to their opportunities at The School of St Jude.
“With the support of the international community, we can all make a difference by saying no to poaching and saying no to buying products made from elephants.”
“We want the ivory market to be blacklisted and to disappear. If the market flourishes, the killing will continue. This is done by the very richest people in big business, so it requires a collective voice to say no to poaching,” Mr Elias said.
Pay us a visit and learn more about Tembo Club. You might even get the chance to see some tembo in Arusha’s beautiful national parks!
Rebel Wilson’s Win for St Jude’s
Triple the Action, Triple the Success
Engineering a Bright Future
Give the Gift of Education
A Voice of Reason
Our First Girls’ School Form 4 Celebration and Awards Day
Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s
Education with Empathy
Selection Day
Q & A with Gemma
St Jude's in Australia
GIFTS & TRIBUTES
We love visitors!
St Jude's in Action
St Jude's News
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 The School of St Jude – Fighting Poverty Through Education. The School of St Jude is a registered charity in Tanzania and a non-governmental organisation (NGO) providing 100% free, quality education to the poorest and brightest students in Tanzania. The School of St Jude is the largest charity of its kind in Africa. This site is owned and operated by The School of St Jude, trading as The School of St Jude Limited in Australia.
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Mark all parcels as being “second-hand goods” or “personal gifts”.
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SGS Expands Scope of NRTL Services in North America with UL 844 Approval
SGS’s state-of-the-art testing facility in Suwanee, Georgia, USA, has been recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) able to safety test and certify luminaire used in hazardous locations.
The expansion in its NRTL scope to cover UL 844 is a further demonstration of the Georgia Laboratory’s site’s growing capabilities. It offers a full-range of services relating to domestic and industrial electrical and electronic products, including testing on:
Products for hazardous locations
“The UL 844 addition to our global capabilities adds benefits for both our North American and global operations,” said David Chu, Global VP for CGR Electrical & Electronics.
The UL 844 standard covers fixed and portable lighting products that are installed and used in hazardous locations. Hazardous locations include oil rigs, mines, or any location where flammable liquids, vapors, gasses or combustible dust exists in large enough quantities to produce a fire or explosion.
Lights certified to UL 844 must also be tested against either UL 1598 or UL 8750 (LED) – the applicable standards for lighting used in ordinary locations. In the Georgia laboratory, SGS is able to test lighting against both the ordinary location standards and hazardous location standard.
OSHA’s recognition of SGS North America, Inc. as an NRTL signifies that the organization meets the requirements set out in 29 CFR 1910.7. Recognition means, “employers may use products approved by the NRTL to meet OSHA standards that require testing and certification of the products.”
The announcement of the expansion in its scope to include UL 844 certification was announced in a Federal Register Notice.
Jedd Smith
Products for Hazardous Locations, Technical Manager
SGS Electrical Products Services
SGS offers comprehensive testing, product inspection, process assessment and technical services covering the entire supply chain – from product development to retailing. SGS are experts in working with EE manufacturers and suppliers, helping them reduce risk, improve efficiency and product quality, and ensure compliance against both national and international standards.
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.
EU – Second SVHC Consultation in 2017 on Nine Proposals by ECHA
On September 5, 2017 ECHA launched a second 2017 public consultation on nine potential SVHCs. The Candidate List will expand to 182 if these proposals are accepted.
Carrefour and SGS Launch Visual Trust
Carrefour and SGS successfully launched the Visual Trust initiative during National Food Safety Week in Beijing.
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Loading the 9mm to Specifications
The Bolt Man
I have read several articals and from my own experience, found my 9mm shoots most accurately when the brass is .750" in length. The loading manuals show the 9mm case length to be .754" and trim length to be .751".
Someone please tell me why most 9mm brass measures .745" plus or minus .001-.002". New or once fired and resized makes no difference. I don't own a single case trimmer that will make a .745" length case into a .751" one.
It seems the gun industry makes chambers on the large side of the specs so any and all available ammo of that caliber will chamber easily. Then the ammo manufacturers make their ammo to the small or short side of the specs so it too will chamber easily.
What we end up with is a sloppy gun and more sloppy ammo which is not a good combination when accuracy is desired. In the case of the 9mm, 45 ACP and several in between, there is anywhere from .010" to .020" of slop for the cartridge to rattle around in the chamber. For a cartridge that headspaces on the case mouth, we end up with a cartridge that is held in place by the extractor. This is not good for consistent ignition or accuracy.
Who is wrong? The ammo manufacturers the firearms industry or the loading manuals.
It is no wonder many reloaders are disappointed with the accuracy of their ammo, gun or both. With conflicting data and sub standard fitting chambers and ammo, the task of developing accurate ammo in many of the auto loaders is nearly impossible.
I do not have a good answer for why these things are the way they are. Does anyone know of a brand of 9mm brass that is actually manufactured to the listed length of .754". I can use some. Of the more than 5000 rounds of 9mm brass I have, I will be hard pressed to come up with more than 200 rounds at .750". .754" is out of the question. I have seen none over .750". This is based on having sorted over 400 rounds and only 16 were .750" and none longer.
recoil junky
Elk Whisperer (Super Moderator)
If the 9mm brass is like 45ACP brass, it shrinks when you shoot it. Might be what you're seeing.
Keep your powder dry and when you go afield take the kids and please..........wear your seat belts.
I am the ORIGINAL recoil junky ©, often imitated, but never equalled.
Proud Father of a SoldierMedic in The 82nd Airborne 325thAIR White Falcons
IUOE Local #9
"Life is too short to tolerate crap." - Darrker
Many years ago, when I was a lot younger and dumber (if that's possible), I measured a couple thousand 9mm cases for length - every brand I could find or scrounge. I never found a single one that measured .754 - everything was shorter.
My thinking was that I would load some 9mm's for accuracy with carefully headspaced cases. .
My conclusion was, after all that, that 9mm's effectively are aligned in the chamber by the extractor, not the case mouth.
This thread is helping to explain a mystery I'd never quite solved, before. When reloading for 30 Carbine, I've found it critical to keep the case length within +/- .003" or else they won't fire/chamber, since that round really DOES headspace on the mouth. I'd always wondered why I didn't have to trim 9mm cases to the same exacting tolerances...and now I know why.
(I've done very little reloading with straight-walled cases, until recently.)
Marshal Kane
IME, I've come to the realization that the quest for super accuracy in handgun ammunition is hampered by the method in which the gun is supported while being fired.
Is the gun being fired from a rest e.g. Ransom rest, off the bench from a sandbag, standing and one/two hand hold, etc.? Not to even mention the capability of the shooter.
My point being that you can assemble the most accurate handgun ammunition ever made and still get unsatisfactory groups downrange due to the shooters capability. In general, super accuracy is more attainable with a long arm than a handgun so if your ammunition is grouping about 3" at 50 yards (which is factory specs for match ammunition), you are just about max'd out in your pursuit of accuracy.
My suggestion would be to just shoot using your current 9mm brass and enjoy it. IMO, the 9mm, along with many other handgun ammunition, was never meant to be a "tack driver".
OK, I've heard about this, but forgotten almost all of it. You've undoubtably heard about how accurate the .45 acp is, and how inaccurate the 9mm is and that a 9mm cold never shoot w/a .45. (BTW, the same thing is said about the .38 Super vs 9mm)
Enter about the 1990's and S&W comes out w/the PPC9, which is used for PPC shooting and it outshoots a .45. It will hang w/them, if not clearly exceed them in accuracy. Nobody shoots a .45 in PPC now, as the accuracy is the same, but the recoil is a bit dif. My 5" will shoot 2" w/generic white box ammo and my 6", 1"...BTW, that is w/a 10 round mag, at 50 yards, out of a R-rest.
So, IF I REMEMBER RIGHT, what was needed to make the 9mm accurate was to tighten up the chamber dimensions. The 9mm chambers used to be loose (compared to a .45) and that the shell would float in there a bit (exactly like you said in your 4th paragraph) and S&W tightened up the chamber specs...being as there are several folks out there building 9mms that will shoot accurately, the word has spread).
I think that the thinking used to be that 9mms were often carried in a military environment and that the slop was needed in order to make them function/run when dirty. Now...I would submit to you that most, if not all, 9mm development has been done by the europeans, until recently, and that their work hasn't been wrong, as it clearly met, and exceeded their goals.
I submit to you, that all the ammo out there is made to specs...or atleast they attempt to. But, not all the chambers are made to specs. Now, I've heard that nobody makes a .357 chamber to specs, but that is a dif story (I don't know what it headspaces on, shoulder, or case-mouth).
I'm surprised that you say that your gun likes the cases short. I would think that it likes em long...or longer than you can find em at.
BTW, what are you firing them in? The next step would be a match bbl...w/a tighter chamber. My guess is, that a bbl is about the only way to fix your problem.
Star or Federal would be the first place to start to look for long brass as they make the most accurate 9mm ammo...you can take that to the bank (or actually, Atlanta uses Star to make their ammo).
recoil junky,
The brass I measured is new R-P and once fired Win, R-P and FC. With the exception of one box of (100) new R-P where I found (41) casings that measured ,749" to .750" all the other new R-P and once fired casings were around .745".
I have never found accuracy to be best when the cartridges are held by the extractor rather than properly headspaced. I like many others have when using lead bullets resorted to adjusting overall length so the cartridge headspaces off the nose of the bullet when possible. This does provide consistent headspace. It may or may not be the best possible accuracy, but what does a person do when the industry only gives us sloppy material to work with.
Marshal Kane,
I feel a person has to understand whatever method used to test loads and gun for accuracy will likely be better than the method used for general shooting. Example: using a Ransom Rest for test a gun and load for accuracy should always out perform the shooter firing off hand standing without any form of rest. Using aids for testing accuracy is a necessary choice so some human error can be eliminated. I think we all understand shooting off hand, the group sizes are going to be larger.
stinky,
I agree with you. The chamber is probably the most important item. A tighter ( minimum dimension) chamber is necessary when best possible accuracy is desired. Also, when you say all ammo is made to spec, we still find that ammo usually has brass that measures only .745" in length and that length is seldom the best for best accuracy because it rarely headspaces on the case mouth as it should.
I didn't say my gun likes short cases. I said my gun shoots most accurately using the .750" length casings.
I shoot a Dan Wesson PM 9 that has a match grade chamber and has been fine tuned and fitted by Keith at Dan Wesson. I also shoot a Rock Island 9mm Tactical, which by the way in one heck of a shooter for an inexpensive gun. Very well fitted and never missed a lick. I couldn't say that about the tightly fitted PM 9. It took over (2500) rounds and about (3000) hand cycles of the slide to work it in so it would cycle without failures. Once worked in it has been a great gun and more accurate than I can be. That said, I am sure if I can come up with some brass that is long enough, I may be able to do even better, at least in the Ransom Rest. Then I will know what the gun is able to do for accuracy.
I also shoot a Star BM 9mm. It is a military style pistol similar to a 1911 in basic design. It isn't a tack driver, just a fun gun to shoot. Like any gun, it can be fooled into shooting better than it was disigned to with standard ammo. Reloading ammo allows us to better fit the ammo to the gun, tricking the gun into shoot more accuratey.
I am still looking for 9mm brass that is consistently .750" or more in length. All the Federal brass I have checked has been in the .745" range.
Try some Starline brass. That's what I use in my 40S&W and 45ACP. I don't shoot a 9mm so I can't "say" what it'll measure, but the other two are dead (+- .001-2) on for case length until they are fired, then for some mysterious reason they shrink.
I called Starline this morning and asked what length they manufactured their 9mm brass to. The answer was .744" to .746". The reason was stated to be that length avoids chambering problems in tight chambers. I suspect most if not all the other manufacturers will be similar. I believe finding 9mm brass much longer than .746" is going to be very difficult.
.745" is the most typical length of hundreds of rounds of new and once fired brass sized in my RCBS steel sizing die. Once fired brass will most often come up a little shorter than unfired brass due to the case being expanded. Resizing helps establish the longest possible case length.
It is normal for 9mm and 45 ACP brass to be shorter after firing. Mostly due to expansion without stretching like a bottle neck rifle case. Most sizing dies do not restore all the new factory dimensions, especially near the base where most dies fail to resize. The result is brass that is shorter than it was before firing. Some testing with 45 ACP indicates continued firing and resizing actually continues to shorten the brass. It is believed this is due to the sizing die working the brass toward the base, causing the brass to flow in that direction. I did conduct this test and it is true, although after twenty firings, I measured an average of only .0006" shorter.
Non lubed carbide sizing dies increase the shortening affect slightly faster than the lube type steel sizing die.
bobthenailer
IF you want 9mm cases the correct length ? you will have to take the time and take at least a couple hundred cases of the same brand brass ,size it the ck the length. you will probley find less than 30% will be at 0.750 this is what i did for the best accuracy from my 9mms .
With as much 9mm brass thats floating around that shouldnent be hard to come across lots of free brass. I must have sold or given away 3 or 4, 5 gallon buckets full over the years
bobthenailer,
I did sort (1000) each, Remington R-P and Winchester brass. It was cleaned and resized.
I found 14% of the Winchester and 12% of the R-P that were .750" or slightly more in length. I can trim those that are longer.
The vast majority of both brands were .745" to .748" long. Of the entire (2000) rounds only (19) were shorter than .745".
By later afternoon today, I had spoke to persons at Starline, Magtech, Remington and Winchester. They all indicated their 9mm brass is manufactured to a length of .745" plus .002" minus nothing. That accounts for the majority of the brass I have measured to be .745" to .748" in length.
I plan to perform a test using 9mm brass that is .750", .745" in length to see if there is a notable difference in group sizes. The load I will be using will be one known to shoot well in the two guns I will be using. I will try the (19) rounds of brass that is shorter than .745" also, using the same load. The shortest I found was .740" in length.
Since winter isn't over yet, here in Minnesota, there will be some delay. I will get back to this forum as soon as I have something to report.
R*H
I modified my shell holder to allow the sizer die to size an additional .025" of the case. This, through geometry, lengthens the case an additional .003" or so. I can get 99% of my FC cases to exceed .750" post sizing. The problem is the case mouths are seldom square and while one side of the case might measure .752", the other is usually under .750". if I sort those out, only 33% of my brass ends-up being at least .750" long on the shortest side. I have about 10K of once fired FC cases, and they last about 30-50 reloads, so I have a lifetime supply. But I too wish somebody would make long enough brass. I considered buying some 9x21, but the trimming would be too much.
I suspect a conspiracy by the bottleneck cases...
When you find 9mm cases that are 0.750" or longer, hoard them. They will give you the best accuracy.
The .45Auto has the same problem, except that one can use the L-SWC to minimize headspace.
I complained to Starline, but they told me that the cases were within specifications and they were making them to the large side of the specification.
I have NEVER found a straight-wall pistol case that needed to be trimmed, though I have trimmed .38 Special, since they headspace on the rim, to ensure a consistent crimp.
I have also considered trimming some 9x21 brass, but I shoot 9x21. By the way, all the 9x21 brass I have was new Starline and they were all about 1mm short, so then I thought maybe I should buy 9x23 and trim them.
What I sort of wish is that they would supply a 9mm "universal" case so we could trim to the length we want/need.
I can't seem to locate the picture, but my son used his Hi-Point 995 carbine and open sights to shoot a group from the bench that was just over an inch, at 50 yards. Three of the five shots formed a beautiful clover leaf. I was very happy with both his shooting form and the gun's inherent accuracy. This was done with mixed headstamp brass, 5.0gr of Unique and 124gr FMJ RN bullets. The same ammo cycles well in several handguns, but does not distinguish itself as being particularly accurate in them.
As Marshall explained in post #5, handgun accuracy is more about the shooter than the load. My son's cheap little carbine illustrates that 9mm ammo can be pretty accurate, if the gun has a long sight radius and shooter error can be minimized. Later this season we're going to mount a 2-6X LER scope and see how it will group the same ammo at 100 yards. I'm guessing 3" or better.
Handgun accuracy is more about the shooter than the load.
Handgun accuracy is totally about the load. For example, if you take the classic .38 Special 2.7gr of Bullseye under a 148gr HBWC load, accuracy will vary by primer brand and bullet brand. Some loads will be more than 50% more accurate than others, depending on the combination. In the 9mm, for example, accuracy and point of impact will depend on case barand and OAL in addition to the primer and bullet. The same principles apply to rifles and bows and arrows.
R*H said:
Perhaps I didn't express my thoughts very well:
It takes a lot more practice for accurate handgun loads to result in tight groups, because the skill of the person doing the shooting has a great impact on those groups. To be succinct: I can spend an hour or two showing someone how to shoot pretty consistent groups with a scoped rifle, but it takes a lot more practice time to get equally proficient with a handgun. I still contend that most accuracy problems with handguns are caused by the shooter, and NOT the ammunition.
Does you experience differ from mine?
I was talking about the handgun alone. Introducing a human shooter firing off-hand makes tight groups more difficult
. . . Introducing a human shooter firing off-hand makes tight groups more difficult
There can be several interpretations of accuracy and unless we include a description of what we think accuracy is, we could easily be talking apples and oranges.
If you say accuracy is totally dependent on the load, you are correct if you are only developing a load for one gun and taking steps to eliminate the shooter e.g. Ransom rest. You've succeeded in developing an accurate load.
What some of us consider accuracy to be is the whole picture, load, gun, and shooter. Here, all components have to come together to attain accuracy with the shooter being a big factor in the equation. You are an accurate shooter.
My original point being that one can develop an accurate load off the Ransom rest but add the shooter and accuracy can suffer. IMO, how far one goes to develope an accurate load depends on the shooters' capability and his gun. I load accurate ammunition for my wife, but you'd never know it from the results of her target.
I'm a lousy shot with a pistol...you could give me the most accurate 9mm ammo in the world and I'll show you a 5" group at 50 feet, every time.
However, give me standard factory loads, or my own run-of-the-mill handloads, and a scoped 9mm carbine to fire them from, and I can shoot groups half that size, at 50 yards.
To my way of thinking, that means pistols are accurate based mostly on the shooter, not the ammunition. To put it another way: Someone who is competent with a pistol will shoot decent groups with most ammo, and tighter groups with great ammo. A novice pistol shooter will shoot horrible groups with both; the greater impact on accuracy being the person pulling the trigger, not the ammo.
I guess it's just a perspective thing. For very good pistol shooters, I'm sure the ammo matters a lot.
My original point being that one can develop an accurate load off the Ransom rest but add the shooter and accuracy can suffer.
That is the case with any firearm. My personal goal is to develop target loads that are toward the low end of the power range. I don't like loads with alot of blast and recoil. This in turn makes for a more pleasant shooting experience, with less flinching.
Would you not prefer a mouse fart 1" load to a full-house 3" load, the latter being something you pulled straight from a manual? Don't you think that an accurate load will benefit both a novice and expert alike. The way I see it, no matter how much human error is interjected into the equation, the more accurate load will always be more accurate.
R*H Mar 19, 2011
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NewsMatch CoverageTransfer RumoursFeatures/Opinions
Everything You Need To Know: Manchester City vs Brighton (Premier League)
Manchester City return to Premier League action on Wednesday as Pep Guardiola’s side host Brighton & Hove Albion at the Etihad. Here's everything you need to know...
Brandon Evans
Manchester City return to Premier League action as Pep Guardiola’s side host Brighton & Hove Albion at the Etihad Stadium.
City are currently enjoying a decent run of form and, with Liverpool’s recent slip-ups allowing City to claw their way back into the title race, the clash with Brighton is a must-win situation.
On paper, Brighton should pose little threat to Pep’s in-form City side. The Blues are unbeaten since November whilst Brighton are missing several key players and have failed to win a match since November. However, football is often unpredictable, and the fixture may not be the cake-walk for City that many are expecting.
City will be going into the Wednesday's fixture with several key players missing. Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Aké and Raheem Sterling all missed Sunday's clash with Birmingham due to injuries. Although, the latter may be available for Brighton's visit after Guardiola confirmed in his press conference that he passed his fitness test. Moreover, on a positive note, Ederson will again be available following a bout with COVID-19, whilst Ferran Torres and Tommy Doyle are also available after submitting negative test results.
Scott Carson, Eric Garcia and Cole Palmer remain unavailable having recently tested positive for COVID-19, whilst Sergio Agüero will also be unavailable owing to self-isolation protocols.
Brighton meanwhile will be without Danny Welbeck, Aaron Connolly, Tariq Lamptey, Adam Lallana, Jose Izquierdo and Yves Bissouma (suspended), whilst Steven Alzate, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Jakub Moder are unlikely to feature.
(GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)
Wednesday evening shall see Manchester City and Brighton meet for just the 25th time in all competitions. City have emerged victorious in 15 of those encounters, Brighton have won five meetings and the two sides have drawn on four occasions.
City have won each of the previous seven meetings with Brighton, with the Blues’ most recent loss coming in a 2008 League Cup clash when the Seagull’s bested a City side containing Kasper Schmeichel and Michael Johnson via a penalty shoot-out.
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Heading into the fixture, Pep’s side are in great form and are undefeated in their last 13 games, 10 of which have been City victories. Since the loss to Spurs in November, City's form has seen a drastic upturn and Pep's side have since averaged 2.08 goals per game and have scored in each of their last seven fixtures. Additionally, City’s defensive form has also markedly improved and is in better shape than we've seen in a long time, as Ruben Dias and Co. have conceded just three goals in their previous 13 matches.
Whilst City’s recent form has been strong, Brighton’s form as of late has been remarkably poor, and their disappointing start to the season has resulted in Brighton sitting just three points above the relegation zone and they appear set for yet another relegation battle. Conversely however, despite the Seagulls having failed to win a Premier League match since November, the stats suggest that Brighton are a much better side than the table suggests.
Offensively, Brighton are averaging a respectable 1.24 goals per game - more than both Arsenal and Wolves, whilst defensively, only City and Liverpool have conceded less shots this season. With the likes of Neal Maupay, Ben White and Lewis Dunk, Brighton possess a decent squad, and the underlying stats suggest that Graham Potter’s side are far less hopeless than the likes of Sheffield United and have more than enough about them to survive the drop.
(Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Darren England will officiate the clash at the Etihad and the fixture will be the first time that England has taken charge of a Manchester City match.
England will be joined by Stuart Burt and Simon Bennett as linesmen whilst Michael Oliver will serve as the fourth official. As per usual, VAR will be in operation and VAR will be overseen by Mike Dean and Dan Robathan.
(Photo by Adam Davy - Pool/Getty Images)
You can follow Brandon on Twitter here: @BrandonEvans_18
Follow us on Twitter for live match coverage: @City_Xtra
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Zoom Sued For Security Lapses, Hires Ex-Facebook Security Boss Stamos
All Tech News > category news Mobility > category news Smartphones
Tom Jowitt, April 8, 2020, 5:49 pm
Mobile AppsMobilitySmartphones
Video conferencing app hit with lawsuit for overstating its privacy standards, as it hires former Facebook security executive
Popular video conferencing app Zoom Video Communications has hired Alex Stamos as an advisor as it scrambles to respond security and privacy concerns.
Stamos is formerly the security boss at Facebook, and prior to that he was the security chief at Yahoo. He also had previous stints at Loudcloud and NCC Group Domain Services, ISEC Partners, and security firm Artemis.
Meanwhile Zoom has also been slapped with a lawsuit from a Zoom shareholder, accusing the video-conferencing app of overstating its privacy standards and failing to disclose that its service was not end-to-end encrypted.
Image credit: UK Government/Twitter
Stamos hire
The role of Alex Stamos is, according to Reuters, as a Zoom adviser and the firm has additionally set up an advisory board to improve its privacy and security.
Last week chief executive Eric Yuan said he recognized “that we have fallen short of the community’s – and our own – privacy and security expectations. For that, I am deeply sorry, and I want to share what we are doing about it.”
Usage of Zoom has spiked during the Coronavirus pandemic, and has seen the company’s shares rise dramatically over the past few weeks.
For example, the British government held its first-ever video-conferenced Cabinet meeting a couple of weeks ago, and even the Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted a photo of himself using the application, in which a meeting ID was visible.
The British government also pushed back amid criticism from some quarters over its use of Zoom. It said Zoom was used as many ministers were self-isolating at home, with no access to official government video conferencing systems.
Zoom criticism
But there has been criticism of the app over the lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions, as well as routing of traffic through China.
There has also been criticism of “zoombombing”, where uninvited guests crashed meetings.
The hiring of Stamos is somewhat ironic considering that he had been tweeting in late March, calling for Zoom to be more transparent and roll out a 30-day security plan.
Following those tweets, Zoom’s Eric Yuan called up Stamos, asking him to help the company build up its security, privacy and safety capabilities as an outside consultant, Reuters reported.
“To be clear, I am not an employee or executive of Zoom and I don’t speak for the company,” wrote Stamos in a blog post. I have refrained from any public comment on Zoom or discussions with journalists since my call with Eric, but in the interest of transparency I think it’s important to disclose this work.
“Zoom has some important work to do in core application security, cryptographic design and infrastructure security, and I’m looking forward to working with Zoom’s engineering teams on those projects,” Stamos wrote.
Zoom lawsuit
Meanwhile Zoom has also been hit with a lawsuit from a shareholder, Reuters reported.
The lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accused Zoom of overstating its privacy standards and failing to disclose that its service was not end-to-end encrypted.
Shareholder Michael Drieu claimed in a court filing that a string of recent media reports highlighting the privacy flaws in Zoom’s application have led to the company’s stock, which had rallied for several days in the beginning of the year, to plummet.
Zoom did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Do you know all about security? Try our quiz!
Facebook Recruits Yahoo’s Alex Stamos As New Security Chief
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Play Life, Live Games column: Game studios trying to make self isolation easier
Dusty Ricketts More Content Now
Being stuck inside the house for an extended period of time can get boring.
Video games can definitely help with that.
Several game studios have been trying to help people stay entertained while they self-isolate by giving away some games.
Steam has “Drawful 2,” “Goat of Duty” and “Nephise Begins” available for free download on PC. Also on PC, Good Old Games has more than 25 games available for free download now, including three games from the Ultima series of role playing games. The Epic Game Store is giving away “The Stanley Parable” and “Watch Dogs.” Ubisoft’s Uplay store is offering free downloads of “Child of Light” and “Rabbids Coding.”
On the console side, I don’t see where Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft are offering anything new for gamers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, but all three have free games available if you subscribe to one of their services.
Switch Online subscribers get free access to dozens of some of the greatest games from the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo. Xbox Gold subscribers get “Batman: The Enemy Within,” “Shantae: Half-Genie Hero” and “Sonic Generations” for free this month while PlayStation Plus subscribers can download “Shadow of the Colossus,” which I’m playing right now, and “Sonic Forces.”
So if you’re getting bored sitting at home home, consider giving some of these free games a try.
While I’m still working my normal 40-plus hours a week working from home, I’ve been using my self-isolation time to work my way through my huge backlog of games, in addition to still playing “Star Wars Battlefront 2” and “Friday the 13: The Game” almost daily.
Last week, I played and finished “Knack 2,” a fun action-platformer where you control a character made up of different pieces called Relics and the size of Knack varies based on how many Relics you currently have. I’m now playing through “Shadow of the Colossus,” the gorgeous remake of the PlayStation 2 classic. After that, I’m probably going to jump into either the remake of “Resident Evil 2” or “Detroit: Be Human.”
These are unprecedented times. Please do everything you can to keep yourself and others safe. Wash your hands, avoid crowds, self-isolate, stay home and play video games.
Dusty Ricketts is the editor of The Destin Log and The Walton Sun newspapers and can be reached at dricketts@thedestinlog.com.
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St. Mary's will be adjusting care partner policy in light of provincial lockdown - one visit for one hour every 7 days is permitted - for more information click here. Same day appointments for COVID-19 testing can be booked online at the St. Mary's Testing Clinic, located at 50 Bathurst Drive, Unit 1, in Waterloo. For more information click here. For COVID-19 general updates CLICK HERE.
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St. Mary’s Mission Legacy Awards 2019 Honour Five Outstanding Individuals
The 2019 recipients are, front row from left, Christine Henhoeffer, Kay Warner and Rosemary Corriveau, and back row from left, Norma Davis and Deb Kind.
May 10, 2019 (Kitchener) – Five outstanding women known for treating patients and staff at St. Mary’s General Hospital with compassion and respect are being honoured today with the prestigious Mission Legacy Award. The award ceremony is being held during Nursing Week, which is fitting given that four of the five recipients are current or retired nurses.
“St. Mary’s is blessed to have so many outstanding current and former, staff, leaders and volunteers,” says St. Mary’s President, Dr. Andrew Falconer. “This year’s recipients have and continue to live the mission of our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Hamilton. We celebrate and thank these strong, committed and talented women for their kindness, ingenuity and leadership”
Winners of the Mission Legacy Award for 2019 are:
Rosemary Corriveau
Rosemary Corriveau joined St. Mary’s in 1962, gained experience on multiple units and finished her career as an Occupational Health Nurse. Well-liked by her peers, Rosemary had a way of encouraging unity and collaboration when teams she worked with were at odds. She valued team work and always focused on what was best for the patient. She is described as a stalwart for her loyalty and reliability, providing solid, caring advice to her colleagues.
Norma Davis
As Patient Blood Management Coordinator, a role she developed, Norma Davis is largely responsible for St. Mary’s dedication and recognition as a leader in blood conservation. When staff hear the words blood conservation, they think Norma Davis. Working as a Registered Nurse for 30 years, Norma was an integral part of preparing patients for cardiac surgery. She worked tirelessly to improve patient outcomes, sharing her passion and knowledge with both patients and colleagues.
Christine Henhoeffer
Christine Henhoeffer graduated as a Registered Nurse from the St. Mary’s School of Nursing in 1971 and her clinical service at St. Mary’s included 28 years in management. She served on the hospital’s Board of Trustees for eight years and as board chair from 2013-2015. A valued mentor and wise leader, Christine was integral in the implementation of Lean management at the board governance level. She is a current member of the St. Mary’s General Hospital Foundation Board.
Deb Kind
For more than 25 years Registered Nurse Deb Kind has embodied St. Mary’s mission to treat patients with respect and compassion. She is incredibly supportive of her colleagues and is a natural leader, with the know-how, passion and instincts that align perfectly with her current role in the ICU. She provides emotional support and empathy to patients and colleagues, maintains the highest ethical standards and encourages families to participate in their loved one’s care journey.
Kay Warner
With 32 years of volunteer experience at St. Mary’s, Kay Warner demonstrates dedication and always treats others with respect and compassion. There isn’t a week that goes by without Kay overseeing the lottery booth in the front lobby. She greets patients with a smile and patiently listens to their stories, offering support, and often, some sage advice. During her downtime at the booth, Kay often knits mittens to donate to other meaningful causes.
Arianna Ongaro Specialist, Communications
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Andreas Kasper
Initially Andreas started out as a chef within a hotel specialising in sports team hospitality. Following this he went on to study Sports Science and spent the final year of study working as an Assistant Sports Scientist with Everton FC alongside university commitments.
This led to further specialisation in the area of sports nutrition and he began to work with both Wasps and Blackburn Rovers FC alongside his Masters degree study. Andreas is Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr Graduate accredited) and currently works within the England Rugby Union Performance Services Team as a Performance Nutritionist and as a Consultant Nutritionist with England Rugby League whilst completing his PhD in Cellular & Molecular Physiology at Liverpool John Moore’s University under Prof. Claire Stewart, Dr Adam Sharples, and Prof. Graeme Close.
More recently, Andreas has started to work with Derby County Football Club and Fulham Football Club.
England Rugby Union performance nutritionist (current)
England Rugby League nutrition consultant (current)
Derby County FC performance nutritionist (current)
Fulham FC performance nutritionist (current)
Catalans Dragons nutrition consultant (current)
Toronto Wolfpack nutrition consultant (current)
Blackburn Rovers FC performance nutritionist (prev.)
Wasps Rugby performance nutritionist (prev.)
Everton FC assistant sports scientist (prev.)
Formy Hall Golf Resort & Spa chef de partie (Prev.)
Liverpool John Moores University. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D. Pending) Cellular & Molecular Physiology. 2015 – Current.
Liverpool John Moores University. Master's Degree - Sports Nutrition. Distinction. 2014 – 2015.
Liverpool John Moores University. Bachelor's Degree - Sports & Exercise Sciences - Specialising in Physiology. 2011 – 2014.
Tweets by Andy_Kasper
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New & Forthcoming Titles | SpringerBriefs in Psychology and Cultural Developmental Science
SpringerBriefs in Psychology and Cultural Developmental Science
Series: SpringerBriefs in Psychology
Series Editors: Marsico, Giuseppina, Valsiner, Jaan
SpringerBriefs in Psychology and Cultural Developmental Science is an extension and topical completion to IPBS: Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science Journal (Springer, chief editor: Jaan Vasiner) expanding some relevant topics in the form of single (or multiple) authored book. The Series will have a clearly defined international and interdisciplinary focus hosting works on the interconnection between Cultural Psychology and other Developmental Sciences (biology, sociology, anthropology, etc). The Series aims at integrating knowledge from many fields in a synthesis of general science of Cultural Psychology as a new science of the human being.
The Series will include books that offer a perspective on the current state of developmental science, addressing contemporary enactments and reflecting on theoretical and empirical directions and providing, also, constructive insights into future pathways.
Featuring compact volumes of 100 to 11
5 pages, each Brief in the Series is meant to provide a clear, visible, and multi-sided recognition of the theoretical efforts of scholars around the world.
Both solicited and unsolicited proposals are considered for publication in this series. All proposals will be subject to peer review by external referees.
Responsible Editor, Lilith Dorko
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Job Vacancies & Volunteering
Statutory and Covid-19 Information
Learning at Home and Curriculum
Out of school activities
Useful links / information
Friends of Springfield School
Home / / Web-10
By studioatwindrush@gmail.com 7th April 2017
← Web-10
Teaching Assistants Required
Please look at our current vacancies regarding permanent and temporary Teaching Assistant roles. Closing date is Thursday 5th November 2020 at Noon. RelatedRead More »
Make some VE Day Great British Bunting
We have been sent some information by BBC Radio saying that with so many events cancelled or restricted for the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of VE Day on 8th May, they wanted …Read More »
© Springfield 2021
Teaching Space
Website by Windrush Group
Ric Mellis Co-opted Governor
Appointed by the governing body as a co-opted governor 18 October 2018
Term of office ends 17 October 2022
Attendance at FGB in 19-20 – 4 out of 5
I’ve been a governor at two schools – Madley Brook and the Henry Box School – and was, briefly, chair in both cases.
I’ve always been interested in education and children and worked for a number of years filming best practice in schools all over the country for the DfE.
I specialised in disability and inclusion and have worked a lot with young people with a wide range of conditions which could be a barrier to learning and inclusion.
My skills are problem solving, attention to detail and enthusiasm!
Vacancy for Co-opted Governor
Please contact the school office if you are interested in this position – office.7012@springfield.oxon.sch.uk
Helen White
Parent Governor
Parent governor elected 1st December 2017. Term of office ends 30th November 2021
I moved to Witney about 10 years ago, after meeting my husband who lived here. We are the lucky parents to identical twin girls. Beatrice is at Madley Brook Primary and Emily is at Springfield, both in reception year at the Bronze Barrow. Emily has been at Springfield since 2016, attending the Springfield nursery. Emily is a very happy girl and is blossoming under the care she receives at the school. Our little family has received full and sincere support from Springfield and I wanted to find a way to give something back. When the opportunity arose to join the school as a new parent governor in December, I took it. I also started working as a volunteer at Springfield, one day a week, helping out wherever I’m needed.
In my career I’ve always liked a challenge, so after university I worked for British Steel, both in R&D and then in one of their plant. I have since had roles as a technical author then as operations analyst, before settling on the role of a business analyst. Since the birth of Beatrice and Emily I have the best job, being a stay at home mum to my beautiful girls.
When it comes to hobbies, I like making things and recently that means pottering about with beads and wire making jewellery. Right now, I’m into making beaded flowers and have set myself a goal, for 2018, to try and make a bunch of beaded flowers for our home.
James Shryane
FGB Attendance in 19-20 – 5 out of 5
I joined the governing body as a parent governor in November 2017.
My childhood was spent in rural Shropshire until 1988 when I left to study Mathematics at Leeds University, later returning there to train as a Maths and IT teacher. After 21 years in mainstream Oxfordshire secondary schools, most recently as SENCO and Assistant Head at Didcot Girls’ School, I now work for the Oxfordshire Hospital School as Assistant Head Teacher.
Carol and I have two children, one at Springfield and the other at Madley Brook. The co-located nature of the two schools was a major factor in deciding to move to Witney in 2010 and this unique setup is of great benefit to the community. We both value the impact of school on our children’s lives and believe it is important to give something back as parents. I have spent five years as treasurer of Madley Brook PTA and Carol is a member of The Friends of Springfield School. We are very lucky to have such good schools on our doorstep and I hope I can contribute to Springfield’s continued success by being a member of the governing body.
Zoe Dobson
Teacher Governor
Staff governor elected by staff 11th July 2014. Second Term of office ends 16th September 2022.
I grew up in Chelmsford, Essex but studied in Oxford for my teaching degree which is where I met my husband. We decided to settle in this area and bring up our 2 children here. I’ve taught across the primary age range at New Marston First school, Hanborough Manor school and St John the Evangelist school in Carterton. I joined St. John’s as it opened. It was a fascinating experience to see the school grow from under under 20 pupils to the size it is now. I also worked for a short while as a SENCO. I have taught at Springfield since 2008 and for the last few years I have been teaching Key Stage 4. I am a member of my local church and co-ordinate the children’s work there. Children have always been a very large and important part of my life and my out of work time has mainly revolved around my family and my children’s friends. My daughter now lives in London and my son is at University so a new phase of my life is beginning and I am looking for new activities to fill my time. I have joined a gym but spend quite a lot of the time relaxing in the Jacuzzi rather than sweating in the gym! I also love eating out and socialising with friends.
Katherine Spencer
Co-opted Governor
Appointed by the governing body as a co-opted governor 1st September 2015
Term of office ends 31st August 2023
Serves as a governor at Madley Brook Community Primary School
Declared interest: Headteacher at Madley Brook Community Primary School
My name is Katherine Spencer and I am a community governor sitting on two committees for Springfield School; HR and Finance and Joint Executive with Madley Brook. As the headteacher of Madley Brook Primary School, being part of the governing body of Springfield School is a key part of my role. We have a unique situation with the co-location of our two schools and successful integration for all pupils across the school is very important to me. The schools share common ground on many educational and pastoral issues and being able to share these and come together for joint activities is beneficial for all and a great privilege to share. What do I like to do in my spare time? Well… when I eventually get some spare time, and I am not being a wife or a mother, and living in a male dominated household, sport takes up a great deal of my time, either participating or more likely, spectating. I like to run (as infrequently as possible), cycle (occasionally), ski (as often as I can but not as much as I would like) and watch rugby (religiously).
Anthony Russell – Parent Governor –
Appointed 6th February 2020
Appointment finishes 5th February 2024
As I teach in a mainstream secondary setting where the environment and pressures are slightly different I believe it will be an incredibly exciting opportunity whereby I could explore how my experiences in my own settings can adapt and encourage the growth of Springfield School.
I believe in developing the whole child through my own personal experience and the subject which I teach, I specialise in Drama and I believe that role play can be an empowering tool that is utilised to engage and develop the learning of students at all abilities.
Emma Lawley
Head Teacher Governor
Governor by virtue of her office since 1st September 2010
Parent Governor | Chair of Governors
Parent governor elected by parents 1st March 2017. Term of office ends 28th February 2021
I studied Electronic Engineering at Oxford Brookes University and gained a first class degree in 1997. Since then I have worked within the electronics industry and I am currently Head of Electronic Development for a small research and development company just outside of Bicester.
I’m a single parent with two children, Emily has just moved up into secondary school within Kidlington and my son Thomas is at Springfield on the Bronze Barrow site and has been there since he started within the nursery in 2010. I have always tried to play an active role within both my children’s schools, for 3 years I was a volunteer reader at my daughter’s primary school and have been a parent governor at Springfield since early 2013.
In the past few years, in a futile attempt to stave off old age, I have taken up running, cycling and swimming; I have completed the Blenheim Super Sprint Triathlon as well as several 10km runs at Blenheim and elsewhere.
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Amherst season ends in heartbreak in state semifinals
Scott A. Williams
MADISON - Harry Piotrowski and Tyler Biadasz sat in the press room heads hanging after their Division 4 state semifinal contest.
Biadasz tried to fight back tears when he answered a question during the postseason. The look of dejection on Piotrowski’s face was palpable.
Four months earlier the Amherst senior duo and a vast majority of the basketball team were celebrating a state football championship. The reaction this time was on the other end of the emotional spectrum.
When Biadasz’s desperation heave bounced off the backboard and the final second ticked off the Kohl Center scoreboard, the hard realization and crushing 44-41 loss to Cameron set in for the Falcons.
“ I would like to play against them again, but that’s not going to happen,” said Biadasz, trying to fight back tears. “This brotherhood is special and I can’t tell you how much these guys mean to me.”
After a miserable first half, the Falcons reached down and showed the heart of a champion to close an 11-point halftime deficit to one on several occasions late in regulation.
But a couple tough turnovers ensued in the closing minutes of regulation. Point blank shots refused to fall. And potential go-ahead free throws rolled off the rim.
It’s ironic that a football pass by Cameron to Peyton Dibble with under 10 seconds left in the second half for a dunk sealed the Falcons’ fate and season.
“I knew they were going to be sending (Dibble) deep and we didn’t talk about that at the timeout. That’s one of the things I’m going to regret,” Amherst coach Scott Groholski said. “Our guys had a look in their eye that to be honest I’ve never seen before.
“That’s one of those games you want to be a part of and then don’t want to be a part of. These guys have been great all year and they were competitors to the end. It just wasn’t our night.”
Whenever things were going wrong while piling up 25 wins during the regular season, Amherst’s experienced lineup dug down, racked their brains and found a solution.
Tyler Biadasz took it upon himself to almost fixed the problem single-handedly.
Nothing went right early on for the Falcons who were held to a season-low 11 points in the first half. That all changed once the ball found the hands of Biadasz.
Bulling and muscling his way to the basket, the hulking 6-foot-4 senior center placed the rest of his team on his back. He tallied 14 of his team-high 20 points after the break.
“I wanted the ball and nobody was going to stop my drive to the basket,” Biadasz said. “I’m proud of all of our guys. Our free throws and shots didn’t go our way and that’s basketball.”
However, the absence of a consistent perimeter threat from behind the arc left the Falcons with very little margin for error.
Their signature stingy defense defense enabled the Falcons to mount a comeback. In the end they just didn’t have enough offense.
And the dream of pulling off an improbable state championship double in football and basketball eluded Amherst.
“Amherst played really hard,” Cameron coach Troy LaVallie said. “They kept coming at us, but I don’t think they were ever able to get the lead. Ultimately our kids never panicked and we were able to make enough plays.”
CAMERON (44): Max Verdegan 1-6 0-0 2, Gunner Wilder 2-8 3-4 8, Brady Schoenecker 2-4 0-0 5, Peyton Dibble 9-14 3-5 22, Josh Koenecke 2-3 3-5 7.
AMHERST (41): Tyler Biadasz 8-13 4-8 20, Cam Gaulke 4-7 2-4 10, Garrett Groshek 2-5 0-0 4, Amaziah McCall 0-7 2-2 2, Harry Piotrowski 1-5 1-2 4, Mason Wideman 0-0 1-2 1.
3-pointers: Cameron 3 (Wilder, Schoenecker, Dibble); Amherst 1 (Piotrowski).
Records: Amherst 25-2 Cameron 26-0.
Scott A. Williams can be reached at 715-345-2282, or on email at ssswilliam@stevenspoint.gannett.com. Find him on Twitter as @SPJScottWill
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Franz Xaver Gruber was born in Hochburg in 1787 and later attended school here. His first experience serving as an assistant schoolteacher also took place in Hochburg. Memorial plaques on the side of the house built on the site of Gruber's home and birthplace, Unterweizberg 9 (original house was torn down in 1927), and on the school building (now a music school) commemorate Gruber's presence here.
The Franz Xaver Gruber Memorial House contains a model of Gruber's original house and the family linen weaving machine on which Gruber himself worked, according to word-of-mouth testimony.
Starting at Easter till 26th of October daily from 1.30 until 4.30 PM
Special tours by appointment
Tel. Tel. +43 (0) 7727 / 2652 or +43 (0) 7727 / 2255
Franz Xaver Gruber Memorial House
Hochburg 2
A-5122 Hochburg/Ach
http://www.fxgruber.at/
Baptismal font - organ
On 25th November 1787, Franz Xaver Gruber was born on the Steinpointner Sölde in Hochburg as the 5th of 6 children of Josephus Gruber, a…
The Grubers had been linen weavers for generations; the craft was passed down from father to son, and the intention was for all four sons…
Franz Xaver Gruber was supposed to become a weaver like his brothers, but the musical talent of the young lad soon became apparent. With…
On the 3rd weekend of advent every year, when the historical play “Die Suche nach der Stillen Nacht” (“The search for Silent Night”) takes…
Path of Peace
Mankind's yearning for peace, freedom and redemption is reflected in particular in the carol “Silent Night”. With his sculptures, which…
Franz Xaver Gruber Lebensbaum
"Unser Leben gleicht einem Baum. Es bedarf starker Wurzeln, um den Stürmen des Alltags standzuhalten. Äste und Zweige treiben gleich den…
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The Peacehaven
293-295 South Coast Road, Peacehaven, East Sussex, BN10 7HX 01273 589332
BUY A FUNKIN COCKTAIL FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN
We’ve teamed up with our friends at Funkin to give you the chance to win some amazing prizes, including 1 of 10 Pizza and Cocktail Parties worth up to £150, 1 of 30 £10 Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery vouchers and 1 of 50 Funkin Cocktail cans.
Fancy winning one of these fantastic prizes? Just download and register on the Stonehouse app, buy a Funkin Nitro Cocktail can, scan the QR code on your app at the till and then we’ll enter you into the big prize draw!
Funkin Nitro Cocktails available at participating restaurants, see terms and conditions for more details.
T&Cs: Funkin Cocktails/Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery Prize Draw - Specific Terms and Conditions:
Joint Promoters: (1) Funkin Limited - Correspondence Address: Funkin Limited, Marketing Team, 122 Arlington Road, Camden, London, NW1 7HP; Registered Office Address: Funkin Limited, Crossley Drive, Magna Park, Milton Keynes, England, MK17 8FL (“Funkin”); and (2) Mitchells & Butlers Leisure Retail Limited (trading as Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery) - 27 Fleet Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B3 1JP (“Stonehouse”) (each a “Promoter”).
Eligibility & Restrictions: Promotion open to UK residents (excluding NI and Scotland residents), aged 18 or over. Normal exclusions apply. Purchase required to enter. Participating Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery restaurants only in England & Wales (a “Participating Venue”) - see list of Stonehouse venues at https://www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk/nationalsearch. One entry to the prize draw per eligible purchase/transaction. Promotion open to sit-in diners only. Stonehouse Restaurants App & registration required to enter. Mobile phone with internet access required to enter to retrieve promotional QR codes from Stonehouse Restaurants App. Proof of purchase may be required.
Promotion Opens: 18th November 2019. Promotion Closes: 23:59, 5th January 2020.
Entry: At a Participating Venue and during the promotional period, purchase a can of a ready-to-drink Funkin Nitro Cocktail 200ml (only the following flavours included: Espresso Martini, Pink Gin Fizz and Passion Fruit Martini).
Download (and register if necessary) and open the Stonehouse Restaurants App on your mobile device via the Apple Store or Google Play Store (see https://www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk/app for more details on the App).
Retrieve the Funkin promotional QR code relevant to this promotion from the Stonehouse Restaurants App on your mobile device.
Note - promotional QR codes are unique to each individual and their Stonehouse App - screenshots or paper copies of QR codes won’t be accepted.
When making your eligible purchase at a Participating Venue, show this Funkin promotional QR code on your mobile device to Stonehouse staff.
Stonehouse staff will then scan your QR code. You will then be automatically entered into the prize draw.
Please ensure the personal details you have provided to register for the Stonehouse Restaurants App are accurate, as Funkin or Stonehouse will contact winners about their prize using these details.
There are 90 prizes in total to be won during this promotion.
There are three tiers of prizes to be won:
Tier 1 - Pizza and Cocktail Party for up to a maximum of 6 people at a Participating Venue of your choice (All Party attendees must be aged 18+; max. £15 food allowance per person; and max. 2 x Funkin Cocktail Nitro Cans* (variety subject to availability) allowance per person) *a soft drink alternative is available upon request, please inform the promotor when claiming your prize - 10 prizes in total.
Tier 2 - £10 Stonehouse Carvery & Pizza voucher to use at a Participating Venue on food or drinks - 30 prizes in total (voucher to be redeemed within 12 months of issuing).
Tier 3 - Voucher for a free Funkin Nitro Cocktail Can* to be served and redeemed at a Participating Venue via Stonehouse Restaurants App QR code redemption. *A soft drink alternative is available upon request, please inform the promotor when claiming your prize - 50 prizes in total (voucher to be redeemed within 50 days of issuing).
A valid entry during the promotional period will be entered into the prize draw to win any one of the above three prize tiers on a random basis. You can’t choose which prize tier your entry relates to. Max 1 prize per person during this promotion.
If you win a Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery voucher as a prize, Stonehouse’s voucher terms & conditions apply - more details available at https://www.stonehouserestaurants.co.uk/termsandconditions.
Prize Draw, Redemption Periods & Prize Delivery:
Winners will be drawn randomly at the end of the promotion by Stonehouse and Stonehouse will contact all winners by email (email will be the email linked to your Stonehouse Restaurants App) within 30 days of the end of the promotion. It is the responsibility of entrants to check junk/SPAM to ensure they are in receipt of these promotional communications.
The Promoters reserve the right to redraw and reallocate any prize if it can’t get in touch with a winner within 7 days.
As stated above, you need to be aged 18 or over to enter into this prize draw and to redeem the prizes. Stonehouse will require any information that they consider reasonably necessary in order to verify your eligibility to enter this promotion or redeem the prizes, including ID (passport/driver’s license) for proof of age. If you can’t sufficiently prove that you’re aged 18 or over within a reasonable period of time, you will forfeit your prize and we reserve the right to redraw and pick an alternative winner. We’ll notify you if you have forfeited your prize in these circumstances.
Please consume any prizes containing or relating to alcohol responsibly.
Any prize won during this promotion cannot be sold on by a winner and are non-transferable. The prizes must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if any part is unused. There are no cash or alternative prizes available in whole or in part, except that a Promoter reserves the right to substitute a prize with an alternative prize of equal or greater monetary value in the event of circumstances outside its control.
Tier 1 prizes only (i.e. the Pizza & Cocktail Party prize) - Stonehouse will contact winners within 30 days of drawing winners to make arrangements for the winner’s prize redemption at a Participating Venue of the prize winner’s choice. All Party attendees must be aged 18+. A soft drink alternative is available upon request, please inform the promotor when claiming your prize
Tier 2 prizes only (i.e. the Stonehouse voucher prizes) - Stonehouse will post to the winners within 30 days of them confirming their postal address. Voucher has a redemption period of 12 months from issuing.
Tier 3 prizes only (i.e. the Funkin Cocktail Can voucher prizes) - Stonehouse will send a QR code to winners via the Stonehouse Restaurants App for redemption of this prize. Voucher has a redemption period of 50 days from issuing. A soft drink alternative is available upon request, please inform the promotor when claiming your prize
Privacy & Winner Details:
Winners’ surname and county for Tier 1 prizes only obtainable by sending SAE with request to: FAO Marketing Team, Funkin/Stonehouse Prize Draw, Funkin Limited, 122 Arlington Road, Camden, London, NW1 7HP within 3 months of closing date. We won’t provide this information for Tier 2 or Tier 3 prize winners because we don’t consider these to be major prizes. Joint data controllers: Funkin Limited & Mitchells & Butlers Leisure Retail Limited. Your contact information will only be shared for the purpose of administering this promotion. Funkin will only use your contact details to contact you about this promotion and fulfil your prize.
Full T&Cs applicable: Funkin’s general promotion terms apply to this promotion in addition to these specific T&Cs - these can be accessed online at https://www.funkincocktails.co.uk/prize-promotion-terms/.
293-295 South Coast Road, Peacehaven, East Sussex, BN10 7HX
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Leaders in Ethics and Education
Winter Mini-Meeting
Featuring Chats with Change Agents
American lawyer and academic, John Sexton will join SVHE Executive Director, Eric Bain-Selbo and President Melanie Howard for a conversation about his latest work,the NYT Best Seller, Standing for Reason:The University in a Dogmatic Age. Sexton is President Emeritus of NYU and Dean Emeritus of the NYU School of Law.
Tracy Fessenden and John Carlson
Fessenden and Carlson will discuss their work at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. The Center advances multidisciplinary research and education on the religious dynamics of conflict and peace. Their conversation, with Board member Terry Shoemaker, will focus on the university’s role in civil discourse.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT – APRIL 15, 2021
Can We Talk? The University’s Role in Public Discourse
Guiding Questions & Introduction to the Event:
In a time when misinformation, disinformation, and “fake news” run rampant, how can institutions of higher education respond to the need for accurate information and civil discourse? What ethical obligations do universities and their faculties have to the common good related to accurate and honest information?
Executive Director Search
The Society for Values in Higher Education (SVHE), an organization that has been contributing to and shaping higher education for nearly 100 years, has begun a search for an Executive Director. SVHE is an international organization of educators who care deeply about ethical issues–such as integrity, diversity, social justice, and civic responsibility–facing higher education and the wider society.
The Society for Values in Higher Education is a fellowship of teachers and others who care deeply about ethical issues—such as integrity, diversity, social justice and civic responsibility—facing higher education and the wider society. We believe that such values call for study, reflection, discussion, and action. We pursue these activities through publications, projects, regional gatherings, and an annual national meeting.
Reading for the Common Good
Since 2013, SVHE has supported reading groups across the country by providing free books. Titles are selected by the conference planning committee and relate to our conference theme, books provided reflect our concern for issues affecting society generally, and higher education specifically. We have provided nearly 400 books to groups organized by SVHE members. This fall, six groups are meeting to discuss So You Want to Talk About Race? By Ijeoma Oluo. The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs are Spread by Cailin O’Connor and James Weatherall is the selection for the spring. Both books provide a lead up to our summer conference themed “Can We Talk? The University’s Role in Public Discourse.” All SVHE members are invited to organize a group. Group participants do not need to be SVHE members.
Support for Young Scholars
Since 2010, SVHE has offered support to young scholars through the Mary Jo Small Fellowship program. Named for a late member who made it her special work to nurture young professionals, Mary Jo Small Fellowships cover the cost of registration, room and board, and travel to a Fellows Meeting. While there, the Fellows have an opportunity to network with more senior professionals from across the country and form mentoring relationships in a welcoming environment.
About / Legal / Privacy Policy / Refund Policy / Photo and Video Policy / Contact Copyright © Society for Values in Higher Education 2017. All Rights Reserved. Web Site Design & Development by Ellen Marcus
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Guess who's back? Major star will return for Underworld 5
Krystal Clark
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Tag: Underworld
Tag: Kate Beckinsale
We've got good news for Underworld fans. The long-running franchise is sticking to its winning formula of vampires, werewolves and Kate Beckinsale. The British actress has officially signed on to reprise her role as Selene in the fifth installment.
Previously, it was rumored that Divergent star Theo James would become the new face of the series. As a young up-and-comer, his character, David, seemed like the next logical choice. But Lakeshore Entertainment and Screen Gems have lured Beckinsale back for another round of supernatural action.
More Underworld
Why does Michael Sheen keep coming back to the Underworld?
18 knock-down, drag-out horror movie fight scenes we'll never forget
Underworld 5 will be directed by Anna Foerster (Starz's Outlander), who'll take over from Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein (Underworld: Awakening). The film's script was written by Cory Goodman and will focus on "a new and younger generation of vampires and werewolves who are locked in a seemingly never-ending battle between supernatural races."
Beckinsale originated the role of Selene in the first Underworld back in 2003. She's headlined three of the four films, all but Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009). That was a prequel that focused on the werewolf Lucian (Michael Sheen) and his forbidden love affair with the vampire Sonja (Rhona Mitra).
Underworld 5 begins production in October.
Are you excited for Selene's return?
(via THR)
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In Defense of Degeneracy
How long have I been asleep that I woke up and suddenly the Alt-Right wants to go full Amish? When did they lose their sense of humor and get so frickin’ uptight? When did their comical irreverence get swapped out for an unintentionally comical reverence toward all things our forefathers deemed holy?
I realize that a lot of these whippersnappers are young and have short attention spans—call them “meme-impaired”—but whence cometh this seemingly sudden, undeniably hive-minded, and morally hysterical fixation on “degeneracy”? If you’re going to be a degenerate, isn’t your youth the best time to do it? Shouldn’t you at least wait until you develop arthritis to become a humorless, hectoring do-gooder?
That amorphous and ultimately indefinable group known as the Alt-Right and I share many interests and sentiments, but the thing I liked the most about them was their brash irreverence toward the reigning modern pieties. We all unfortunately inhabit a world where if you don’t agree that imaginary sins such as “sexism,” “racism,” and “homophobia” are the worst breed of moral failings, you are an evil person who deserves to be shunned at best and murdered at worst. Many elements of the Alt-Right were experts at gleefully and hilariously shitting all over such hyperbolic and moralistic delusions.
“You don’t beat the New Church Ladies by resurrecting the Old Church Ladies.”
I stopped identifying as a leftist nearly three decades ago for two primary reasons: 1) the left’s main premises were counterfactual and ran purely on the fumes of raw emotion; 2) the formerly freewheelin’, free-lovin’, live-and-let-live left had become a viper’s nest of poisonously hysterical neo-Puritans who merely bartered old hang-ups about saying “tits” and “fuck” for new ones about saying “nigger” and “tranny” and “bitch.”
The left can’t be defended with facts because trannies aren’t women, the genders are biologically different, and due to evolution’s pesky implications, the races aren’t anywhere close to equal.
I suspect that since the facts aren’t favorable to leftists of the fanatical type, they revert to moral hysteria to prop up and enforce their narrative.
What I hate about leftists isn’t merely that they’re factually dead wrong—anyone with more than one brain cell knows that the idea of innate equality is preposterous—it’s that they became so drunk on their pretensions of moral irreproachability, they developed a malignantly entitled arrogance that sees fit to hector and needle and hurt anyone who offends them. At some point in the late eighties, they began reminding me of the bitter nuns in the early seventies who smacked me around in the name of an allegedly loving God. As I said in my latest book, the resolutely anti-Christian New Left had ironically morphed into The New Church Ladies.
That’s why it’s depressing to behold this creepy and humorless tilt toward puritanical “traditionalism” and endless moral outrage amid the brash young fash-wavers of the allegedly “new” right. Is there really much—or any—psychological difference between some pissed-off leftist who gets up on a digital soapbox to “call out” someone for refusing to date black people and some pissed-off neo-righter who “calls out” some “degenerate” for actually dating black people?
Both of you are chest-thumping, virtue-signaling porcupines who should mind your own business. From my vantage point, you both willfully inhabit a nightmare moral Panopticon where everything is done for the Hive and the Indisputable Greater Good it fraudulently claims to represent. In other words, you both sound like total drags, and neither one of you will be getting an Easter basket from me next year.
As I see it, the One True Path toward defeating leftist delusions and sanctimony is through reason and humor. Be logical and be irreverent—and for the love of Pete, because Pete’s feeling unloved—please dispense with the preachifyin.’ You don’t beat the New Church Ladies by resurrecting the Old Church Ladies.
You can beat the left without having to ape their out-of-control moralism. It’s easy—just stick to the facts. Instead of calling a tranny a “degenerate,” why not call them “fucked-up?” It’s not only more accurate, it will probably piss them off more. Tell them they have a mental problem. Hurt them where they can feel it. They may not believe in your ideas of God and sin, but due to the fact that they all seem to have psychiatrists who feed them pills like Ritz crackers to a monkey, they apparently believe that “mental illness” is real. If you call them a sinner or a degenerate, they’re just going to think you’re a Bible-thumping nut.
Burn Them Down
97 Acres and a Mulignan
A Tidal Wave of Righteous Apathy
Suicide on the Trans-Black Express
Being Nice to Black People
Kicked in the Skull by Love
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Home | Creative Teaching & Learning | Demolishing exam factories… Raising emotional intelligence
Demolishing exam factories… Raising emotional intelligence
Should schools be fact-obsessed factories or educational establishments producing young people ready for the challenges of the 21st century? Paul Trainor explores the value of developing emotionally intelligent learners.
string(31) "The Leaning Tower of PISA tests"
string(32) "Creative Teaching & Learning"
string(55) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/leaning-tower-pisa-tests/"
string(247) "Gove and Wilshaw have waxed lyrical about China’s results and badmouthed English schools once more. But the Chinese would rather have an education system that is more like ours. Sue Lyle, back from a visit to China, slays some mythical dragons. "
string(437) "... to go further down that particular route.Sue Lyle is part time Senior Lecturer at Swansea MetropolitanUniversity and Director of Dialogue Exchange Ltd.Knowledge trails1) Demolishing exam factories… raising emotional intelligence – Should schools be fact-obsessed factoriesor educational establishments producing young people ready for the challenges of the 21st century ..."
string(5653) "don’t expect the schools alone to preparetheir children for the tests. One of the side effects of the one-child policy isthat Chinese parents, especially high achieving ones, put all their efforts intotheir only child and want him or her to be an outstanding achiever. To this end,they put their money into ensuring success by buying kindergarten places forthe children under six before compulsory schooling begins and then paying forafter-school training programmes or private tuition to coach them for schoolexamination success.An OECD report claims that most parents in China spend over 14 per centof their income on their children’s education. In Shanghai, over 80 per cent ofsecondary school students attend after school tutoring and then do a furtherthree to four hours homework every night, supervised closely by their parents.Once again, we are not comparing like with like.Do we really want this?This punishing regime has many implications for the lives of Chinese children.According to a study conducted by the Hangzhou Education Science PublishingHouse, Chinese students spend nearly ten hours per day studying in the primary 65Volume4.3n CreativeTeaching & LearningCommentgrades, 11 hours per day in middle school, and 12.5 hours per day in high school.A typical Chinese high school student wakes up at 5.30am every morning tostudy, has breakfast at 7.30, attends classes from 8.30 to 12.30, has lunch andthen more classes from 1.30pm to 5.30 and again from 7.30 to 10:30pm. Theyare also expected to study for several hours every Saturday and Sunday. Theimplications for students spending nearly all their time studying is that they havelittle opportunity to be creative, take initiative, or develop physical and socialskills – skills that many Chinese educators think they need.We should ask ourselves what the implications are of being more like theChinese for our children. High scores on tests is one thing, but at what cost toother aspects of children’s lives?The students I met were training to be teachers. In China, teaching is ahigh status occupation and universities recruit from the top 30 per cent ofthe cohort. Students who wish to be teachers in primary schools must havehigh scores in mathematics, Chinese, English and science. Furthermore, theymust be accomplished musicians – there was a piano in every classroom inthe kindergartens I visited. They must also demonstrate high standards ofcalligraphy and painting, be able to sing and act well and be all-round sportsmenand women.The BA degree courses were very demanding, involving 28 hours of lecturesa week and completion of many written assignments, as well as preparation forexaminations in all subjects. Time must be devoted everyday to piano practice, Comment66Volume4.3n CreativeTeaching & Learningsinging, dance and sport. Students frequently asked me if I thought their courseswere too demanding as they were struggling to cope. They were shocked tofind out how few lectures the average undergraduate in the UK has to attend.To become a teacher in China means you have achieved in a system thatis devoted to churning out high scores on tests and will therefore make goodrole-models for the children in a system dominated by test results. Additionally,teachers receive bonuses if the classes they teach achieve high test scores– such payment by results was a feature of 19th century British education thatis about to make a comeback.A dangerous pathIn contrast to China, teaching in the UK does not always attract the highestperforming graduates. In fact, schools find it difficult to recruit teachers withmathematics or science degrees. This failure is bound to impact on the qualityof teaching offered to our secondary school pupils. When discussing the PISAresults in Wales, NFER report that 17 per cent of head teachers claimed thatfailure to recruit mathematics teachers hindered classroom instruction.2Michael Gove has based his case for sweeping, controversial reforms ineducation on the fact that the UK’s PISA rankings have fallen over the years. Thevalidity of PISA is challenged by many academics and statisticians who arguethat comparisons between countries on the basis of PISA are not reliable andto base education policy on such results is foolhardy.What I have tried to point out here is that comparing the UK with China is nota fair comparison – we are not comparing like with like. We should thereforeresist calls for our teaching to become more like the regimes that are thenorm in the Asian countries that dominate the top of the PISA league tables.Education is so much more than teaching to test – but Michael Gove doesn’tseem to understand this.We should also not be brow beaten by a government who consistently blameteachers for poor PISA results – these tests are not a fair or even a good indicatorof the quality of our education system. Just this week, there are calls for the returnof testing for seven and 14-year-olds from the head of Ofsted, Michael Wilshaw– another indicator of the government’s obsession with testing and a sure wayto make teachers focus their teaching to the test. The lessons from China shouldbe a warning to us all not to go further down that particular route.Sue Lyle is part time Senior Lecturer at Swansea MetropolitanUniversity and Director of Dialogue Exchange Ltd.Knowledge trails1) Demolishing exam factories… raising emotional intelligence – Should schools be fact-obsessed factoriesor educational establishments producing young people ready for the challenges of the 21st century? Paul Trainorexplores the value"
string(11) "demolishing"
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string(7) "raising"
string(9) "emotional"
string(12) "intelligence"
The Leaning Tower of PISA tests
string(35) "The value of emotional intelligence"
string(62) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/thevalueofemotionalintelligence/"
string(221) "Young people are too often herded through a school system of
quick fix strategies and cast unprepared into the 21st century.
Here Paul Trainor argues for greater emphasis on holistic
development within the school culture."
string(398) "... in the secondary phase. Building onand reinforcing current teaching and learning strategies and providing a focus onReferences1) Mayer, J. D. & Salovey, P. (1997)What is emotional intelligence?In P. Salovey & D. Sluyter (Eds).Emotional Development and EmotionalIntelligence: Implications for Educators(pp. 3-31). New York: Basic Books2) Sharp, Peter, 2003 ..."
string(5744) "these skills.Practical as well as academic intelligence – this requires real-world opportunitiesand higher quality, more practical work experience so young people can developskills in a way that makes sense to them.Out of the top nine suggested in this study, numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 can be linked toemotionally intelligent attributes backing up the argument that schools need to seethis as a key feature of the school culture to prepare our learners for life and learning inthe 21st century.Emotional Intelligence in actionImagine taking the lid off a bottle of fizzy drink afterit has been shaken up – this is a practical analogy ofEmotional Intelligence in action. Anyone who doesnot want to be covered in the contents of the bottlewould release the screw top slowly and allow thepressure to release. Consider the pupil who has hada difficult night at home – a fall out with parents,woken up late, uniform wasn’t dry so has arrivedlate at school – all factors to shake the bottle. Thisis made worse when the lady in the school officehas reprimanded the pupil for being late; they thenwalk into the lesson late which has caused furtheraggravation. The final straw then occurs when theyare shouted at in front of the class by their teacherfor not having their book and no pen. The top is offand the pupil responds in an inappropriate, explosive4.5.6.7.8.9.Imagine taking the lid off abottle of fizzy drink after ithas been shaken up – thisis a practical analogy ofEmotional Intelligence inaction.“”89Vol 4.2School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comPrimaryFileLeadershipResourcesway, resulting in an emotional confrontation with the teacher. What could be donedifferently here to release the pressure in the bottle slowly allowing the pupil time tomanage their emotions and control their impulsive reactions? One aspect is teachingthe pupil the skill of understanding their emotions and what to do in challengingcircumstances. Another solution is for the adults to pick up the emotional cues andknow how to manage situations to get the solution they want – a healthy classroomclimate with pupils in a positive emotional state, ready to learn.Dr Goleman, when speaking at an NCSL event, said: “It is not about becomingmore emotional. It is being intelligent about your emotions and managing them well,knowing your own emotional state and how it is affecting your decisions. It is beingskilled in relationships. I find teachers quite receptive – they intuitively grasp why itmatters in the classroom. If children are upset or bored they are not going to learn.”Reaping the rewardsThe new Ofsted framework alludes to the teaching of these skills in the outstandinglesson criteria. ‘Teachers and other adults generate high levels of enthusiasm for,participation in and commitment to learning. Teaching promotes pupils’ high levels ofresilience, confidence and independence when they tackle challenging activities.’Research into the impact of Emotional Intelligence in UK and US schools hasrevealed its positive impact across various aspects of school life. As well as benefitsto the behaviour and climate in school, developing an emotionally intelligent schoolalso helps to improve the health and wellbeing of pupils’ attendance, self esteem,motivation, ability to avoid risk behaviour, happiness, life ambition, preparation for thechallenges faced in life after school and ultimately, higher levels of achievement. If aneducational publisher launched a product with evidence of impact in all of these areas,schools would be queuing to take the resource on trial. However, the creation of a trulyemotionally intelligent school is based on a culture which all adults buy into: teaching,modelling and recognising the required behaviours for all of the young people in theircare.Sharp (2003) asserts that emotional literacy ‘is a relatively untapped lever in raisingand promoting the national standards agenda in the secondary phase. Building onand reinforcing current teaching and learning strategies and providing a focus onReferences1) Mayer, J. D. & Salovey, P. (1997)What is emotional intelligence?In P. Salovey & D. Sluyter (Eds).Emotional Development and EmotionalIntelligence: Implications for Educators(pp. 3-31). New York: Basic Books2) Sharp, Peter, 2003,’TowardsEmotionally Literate Leadership’.Article published on nelig.com.Available at http://www.nelig.com/learn/articles/ps3.htm90Vol 4.2School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comPrimaryFileLeadershipResourcesKnowledge trails1) Philosophy and the emotions – Researchinto the effect of Philosophy for Children onchildren’s emotional and personal development.2) Thinking with our emotions – Howclassroom dialogue helps to achieve the aims ofPSHE and prepare students for post-school life.3) Smile your way to better grades –Performance in exams can be decided bypupils’ emotional state, so help them to higherachievement with some positive thinking!Article available in Creative Teaching andLearning on the Professional LearningCommunity (access by subscription).the affective domain, emotional literacy is a powerful added dimension to raising standards,improving behaviour and increasing attendance in a sustainable and humane way.’2‘Children who are emotionally competent are at an advantage. They have increased desireto learn and achieve and are likely to lead happy and productive lives. Almost all studentswho do poorly in school lack one or more elements of emotional literacy.’Elizabeth MorrisPaul Trainor is Assistant"
The value of emotional intelligence
string(41) "Protecting the ethical basis of education"
string(67) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/protectingtheethicalbasisofeducation/"
string(292) "Teaching is a vocation driven by a principled desire to help children make the most of their
lives. But is the pressure to achieve results creating a system that puts economics before
education? Dr. Ruth Heilbronn warns that Government policy is losing sight of the
moral purpose of teaching."
string(429) "... Education (IOE Press) for more information.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2012.666756Vol 3.3 n www.teachingtimes.comView pointEvery Child Journal26Knowledge Trails1) Demolishing examfactories –Paul Trainor discusses thebenefits of developingemotionally intelligent learnersover learners prepped only forsuccess in exams. Available inCreative Teaching and Learning.2) Is the Early ..."
string(5171) "without losing theirconfidence in their ability to act, since confusion can be paralysing. I believe that goodteacher educators should prepare student teachers for the real world of their classroomswhere they can acknowledge the tensions and survive them with their values alive.Professional assertivenessGood teacher educators should support and develop creative teachers, people who areresilient and have agency, what Turner and Simon have called professional assertiveness,and which they develop on their courses – ‘a professional attribute underpinnedby theoretical knowledge and pedagogic confidence fostered by the critical andinterrogatory stance fundamental to work at M-Level’.5It is heartening to know that people can resist the economic model and put thechildren and their own values first. An example is another reply that was posted on myblog by a headteacher, which I cite here as an encouraging story. The writer tells us that‘at the start of the week before this year’s KS2 SATS a child with very little command ofEnglish (or, as it happened, maths) was asked to be admitted to our school. Some staff,including senior managers, argued that we admit her after half term, so she would nottake the tests. We decided, though, that for her (not for us), the best decision was to admither to Year 6, because the longer she had in UK education prior to moving to secondaryeducation, the better settled she would be, and the more friends she would acquire.She bombed in her SATs (she had only been in the UK a month, but could not be safelydisapplied), and we accept the consequence of that to our figures. As a school leader, Iwould rather be judged on how we treated one family in need, than on the figures’.This writer also encourages another respondent – ‘ teachers must always assert theirmoral independence. We are not factory workers, adding apps to children. We are, as yousay, autonomous moral beings with a duty of care firstly to the children we serve’.In this I heartedly agree.Research baseThis viewpoint is based on theoretical research in philosophy of education informedwith empirical research taken from student teachers’ reflective writing. See TeacherEducation and the Development of Practical Judgement (Continuum) and CriticalPractice in Teacher Education (IOE Press) for more information.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2012.666756Vol 3.3 n www.teachingtimes.comView pointEvery Child Journal26Knowledge Trails1) Demolishing examfactories –Paul Trainor discusses thebenefits of developingemotionally intelligent learnersover learners prepped only forsuccess in exams. Available inCreative Teaching and Learning.2) Is the Early Yearsfoundationstage too restrictive?– Membersof the steering group for OpenEYE argue for a more openapproach to learning for EarlyYears children.Ruth Heilbronn has wide experience in schools, as a senior manager in urbansecondary schools, including responsibility for CPD, and has led various MFL teamsas a Head of Department and LEA advisor. Currently she is a lecturer in educationat the Institute of Education, University of London, specialist in teacher education,philosophy of education and languages in education.ReferencesRogers, D. and J. Webb. 1991. The ethic of caring in teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education 42, no. 3:173-81.Estola, E., Erikkilä, R., Syrjälä, L. 2003. A Moral Voice of Vocation in Teachers’ Narratives. Teachers and Teaching:Theory and Practice: 9, no. 3: 239-256.Wiedmaier, D., Moore, C., Onwuegbuzie, A., Witcher, A., Collins, J., Filer, C., 2007. Students’ Perceptions ofCharacteristics of Effective College Teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 44, no.1: 113-160.DCSF. 2008. Personalised Learning a Practical Guide. Nottingham: Department of Children, Schools and FamiliesTurner, K. & Simon, S. 2012. In what ways does studying at M-level contribute to teachers’ professional learning?Research set in an English university, Professional Development in Education, 2012, 1: 17, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2012.6667561.2.3.4.5.Thinking HatsBy Anna ForsythAll books priced at £17.99 eachThinking Hats – Book 1 Ages 5-7Thinking Hats – Book 2 Ages 7-9Thinking Hats – Book 3 Ages 9-11Creativity is the wealth of tomorrow. Developing laterality in approachto issues is exciting, challenging and critical learning. World-renownedEdward de Bono’s concept of ‘Thinking Hats’ has proven itself to be anexcellent way to ensure that students consider problems and issues fromdifferent perspectives; ‘actively thinking’.This series of three books teaches the use of Edward de Bono’s sixthinking hats; white for facts and information, yellow for optimism,green for creativity, blue for the overall picture, black for negative, redfor emotions.A series of 40 lessons in each book spans almost all the curriculum areasso that students practice using thinking hats in many contexts.Thinking Hats conceptThis series is based on Edward de Bono’sOrder Now: Tel: 0121 224 7599 Fax: 0121 224 7598or Email: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.ukThinking Hats half.indd 1 9/2/12"
Protecting the ethical basis of education
string(43) "Developing Resilience with Emotion Coaching"
string(20) "Behaviour Management"
string(19) "Conflict Resolution"
string(38) "Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties"
string(9) "Wellbeing"
string(51) "https://www.teachingtimes.com/developingresilience/"
string(289) "Helping children understand and reframe difficult emotions can go a long way to building resilience and countering unwanted behaviours. Janet Rose and Louise Gilbert share a powerful technique for helping both young people and adults improve their emotional intelligence."
string(368) "... DfE) (2011). Me and my school, The national evaluation of targeted mental health in schools 2008-2011. Nottingham: DfE Publication, p. 12.Hutchings, M. (2015). Exam Factories? The impact of accountability measures on children and young people. National Union of Teachers. https://www.teachers.org.uk/files/exam-factories.pdf ..."
string(10) "Janet Rose"
string(14) "Louise Gilbert"
string(5663) "selves’. Theme 3 – Behavioural Impact on Child: Emotion Coaching promotes children’s self-awareness of their emotions, positive self-regulation of their behaviour and generates nurturing relationships. A common belief reported was that Emotion Coaching supports children to calm down and better understand their emotions, as evidenced by this observation: ‘It releases huge burdens for some children who struggle with emotional control – they have been able to settle more quickly after an incident and have been confident in being able to say “can I speak to you?” without worrying about a negative response’. The implementation of Emotion Coaching into practice is not without its challenges. Practitioners identified time issues and difficulties in convincing other staff in their attempts to embed and disseminate Emotion Coaching. Nonetheless, the findings from these pilot studies suggest Emotion Coaching can be a valuable tool for practitioners in their work with children and young people. The reported improvements in adult self-regulation during behavioural incidents and enhanced social relationships with children and young people have important implications for professional practice, particularly for adults who support children with SpLD. There are consistent findings that Emotion Coaching can lead to a reduction in disruptive behaviour and a positive impact on behavioural regulation (improved pro-social behaviour) by the children/young people across the settings. The common participant claims of how Emotion Coaching helps to generate a more consistent response to behavioural incidents resonates with literature, highlighting the important of consistent responsiveness in promoting social and cognitive growth.45 The frequent descriptions by participants of the way in which Emotion Coaching de-escalates incidents and helps both the children/young people and adults to ‘calm down’ suggests improvements in the stress response system and reflects how children/young people (and adults) felt more able to regulate their emotional responses. The narrative provided by Emotion Coaching creates a communicative context for a child’s emotional experiences to be explicitly and meaningfully processed within a relational dyad. We suggest that Emotion Coaching operates as a stabilising factor to enable children with SpLD to focus their energies on learning and to help them moderate the challenges of school. Emotion-Coaching-trained practitioners appear well-positioned to provide the tools for children to self-regulate their emotions, reduce negative externalising behaviour and promote learning. Nurturing and emotionally supportive relationships provide prime contexts to improve current emotional state, enhance capacity for future self-regulation and promote resiliency skills.46 Oatley and Johnson-Laird believe that emotions are ‘both the glue and the gunpowder of human social relations’47and the research evidence to date suggests that ‘Emotion Coaching makes the glue stronger and the gunpowder less explosive’.48Dr. Janet Rose is a co-founder of Emotion Coaching UK and an Emotion Coaching Principal Lead.Dr. Louise Gilbert is a co-founder of Emotion Coaching UK and an Emotion Coaching Principal Lead. NotesDoH. (2011). No health without mental health: A cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages, DoH 14679.; Goodman, A., Joshi, H., Nasim, B. and Tyler, C. (2015). Social and emotional skills in childhood and their longterm effects on adult life. London: Institute of Education; Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) (2015). Minded to change: The link between mental wellbeing and healthier lifestyles. https://www.rsph.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/00f790f9-d779-4c21-88bc23bd885f2e9f.pdfOfsted (2018). School Inspection Handbook: Handbook for inspecting schools in England under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Department for Education (DfE) (2011). Me and my school, The national evaluation of targeted mental health in schools 2008-2011. Nottingham: DfE Publication, p. 12.Hutchings, M. (2015). Exam Factories? The impact of accountability measures on children and young people. National Union of Teachers. https://www.teachers.org.uk/files/exam-factories.pdf; Thorley, C. (2016). Education, education, mental health: Supporting secondary schools to play a central role in early intervention mental health services, IPPR. Thorley (2016), p. 20.Bergin, C. & Bergin, D. (2009). Attachment in the classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 21: 141-170; Immordino-Yang, H. (2016). Emotions, learning, and the brain: Exploring the educational implications of affective neuroscience. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.Center on the Developing Child (CDC) (2011). Building the brain’s ‘air traffic control’ system: How early experiences shape the development of executive function: Working paper no. 11. USA: Harvard University. http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu; Shonkoff, J., Richter, L., Van der Gaag, J., & Bhutta, Z. (2012). An integrated scientific framework for child survival and early childhood development. Pediatrics, 129(2): 460-472.See, for example, Hebron, J. & Humphrey, N. (2014). Mental health difficulties among young people on the autistic spectrum in mainstream secondary schools: A comparative study. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 14(1): 22-32.See, for example, Russell, S., & Blumenthal, N. (2000). Children in crisis: Detection and intervention: A practical guide for parents, educators and"
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Developing Resilience with Emotion Coaching
The Importance Of Seeing Yourself In What You Read
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Immersive Story Telling Is Trending In Classroom Edutainment
A Curriculum Planning Tool For Teaching Climate Change
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Car hacking – could it actually happen? Why security is the next frontier for vehicle manufacturers
Hackers are hard to spot online, but in real life – known in cyber circles as "meatspace" – they can be identified by their black hoodies and ethereal glow Credit: Vladimir Koletic/ALAMY
13 April 2017 • 8:47pm
Car hacking and connected vehicle security is poised to become one of the most talked-about (and worried-about) issues in the industry for three main reasons.
The first is that it’s a genuinely huge risk and represents a whole new frontier in vehicle security. While most people – both the industry and its customers – are still largely preoccupied with good old-fashioned smash-and-grab theft, criminals are increasingly sophisticated and will develop new techniques as technology allows it.
The second is that the media is weirdly paranoid about things like this. We tend to get a bit panicky whenever tech-related crime gets brought up, overusing words like “hacking” and “cyber” without any real grasp of what they mean.
And the third is that car hacking is a big part of the new Fast and the Furious film, The Fate of the Furious. This franchise is not renowned for its straightforward relationship with reality – think “danger to manifold!” and quarter-mile drag races that take 90 seconds – but the new film will be enough to prompt a glut of pontificating what-if articles, including this one.
As always, the reality is a lot less spectacular and probably a bit more depressing than the lurid portrayal of car hacking as found in The Fate of the Furious and elsewhere. But it’s a real risk and, depending on your interpretation of the key words “hacking” and “cyber”, might already be happening.
It’s a sunny April morning in 2020 but, as you start your car for the morning commute, something is wrong. The 20in touchscreen is dead. Suddenly it flickers into life but instead of the usual map there’s a message: “Your car’s computer has been locked. We control your data, brakes and steering. To unlock your computer you’re obliged to pay a fine of $200.”
You’re not alone. As one of 8.6 million connected cars in the UK (up from a mere 1.8 million in 2016) that are capable of vital wireless internet updates and diagnosis – and now destructive malware – you are one of many getting their first taste of auto ransomware.
“It might sound like fantasy but this could happen,” says Alex Moiseev, managing director of the European arm of software security specialist Kaspersky Lab, as he sits in his hi-tech Paddington office. “It happens with desk computers now. It’s just a question of time before the bad guys move into your car, too.”
The F1 connection
Moiseev should know. Kaspersky is contracted by Ferrari F1 which, at each race, relies on hundreds of sensors to provide thousands of data points in real-time – monitoring tyre pressure, fuel burn efficiency, brake force and so on – that are wired to laptops scrutinised by race engineers. It’s Moiseev’s job to ensure not a single kilobyte of top-secret data is infiltrated.
Kapersky ensures that the Ferrari F1 team has peace of mind over its secret race data
For while F1 connectivity gives engineers a competitive edge, the introduction of so much wireless data has created a minefield, too, potentially jeopardising production-line security, the company’s internet provider and even the driver’s safety.
On a race weekend alone, says Moiseev, there’s a notable increase in malware traffic, so protecting systems and data has never been more important, especially as, in common with other manufacturers, today’s race car wizardry is tomorrow’s road-car driver safety aid.
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The shocking ease with which a car’s computers can be hijacked was graphically illustrated last year when US hackers remotely took control of a Chrysler Jeep’s core functions – including brakes, wipers steering and transmission – during a dramatic filmed stunt.
It’s the very scenario that rival software security firm SQS is now hired by leading motor manufacturers to prevent. To date, says Stephen Morrow, its head of security services, cybercrime has resulted largely in legal exposure and asset theft for firms such as online shopping giant Home Depot and Sony Pictures Entertainment, which suffered major hacks last year. Soon, he predicts, attacks will move into the automotive arena, with potentially catastrophic results.
Soon it is predicted attacks will move into the automotive arena, with potentially catastrophic results
“Nobody is getting hurt yet, but as we start putting software in cars that are connected by internet, we are getting to the point where computer security intersects with public safety and human life. This is where things get much more serious,” he says. “Recent stunt hacks demonstrate that these vulnerabilities affect safety. Manufacturers need to get on top of things and take security much more seriously.”
Moiseev says the global motor industry got off to a very slow start. “It did not take cybercrime seriously enough – until recently,” he says. “For years automotive firms bought open-source software to run the 40-60 computers now controlling functions in the average car. Who vetted the people who wrote the codes? What bugs already lie dormant in our vehicles, waiting to be manipulated?”
The fightback
Fortunately for motorists, the fightback has begun. Moiseev painstakingly created a Ferrari race simulator complete with pitwall at Paddington which, when driven, is searingly lifelike. Technicians use it to attack-test Ferrari’s telematics, seeking – and remedying – weak points to keep race and road cars safe. He says such procedures are now becoming commonplace across the industry.
'What bugs already lie dormant in our vehicles, waiting to be manipulated?'
In a closely guarded backroom – spurred by a monitor dramatically identifying real-time global cyber threats – technicians write new, bulletproof, codes for clients’ in-car computers.
Asked if it was doing enough to protect drivers’ safety, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) told us: “Vehicle manufacturers are investing billions of pounds to make cars safer and more intelligent. Data security is paramount to the automotive industry. Manufacturers are always striving to stay one step ahead of organised criminals and constantly monitor for potential breaches so that customers’ information is kept safe.”
Last year the government weighed in, too, launching the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles which, this year, asked IT firms to bid for a £40,000 contract to investigate automotive cyber-attacks.
Auto cybercrime has also become a hot topic at top-level security conferences where leading experts, meeting in locations including Michigan, Detroit, San Francisco, Detroit and Shanghai in the past year, exchange intelligence.
But when will the industry’s luck run out?
In-car computer technology could leave vehicles vulnerable to hackers taking control – as happened to a Jeep in the US under controlled conditions
The SMMT says more than 1.5 million UK motorists per year now leave showrooms in cars featuring self-activating safety systems. More than half of new cars registered in 2015 had safety-enhancing collision warning systems, with other technologies such as adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking and blind spot monitoring surging in popularity. All rely on computers.
Statistics portal Statista predicts UK connected car take-up will increase from 1.8 million for 2016 to nearly 8.6 million by 2020. Worldwide, the number will rise to 160 million.
Carsten Maple, professor of cyber systems engineering at Warwick University, says: “Make no mistake, cyber security is a Tier One threat for the government, up there with terrorism and pandemics. Imagine if you had a major incident where all these autonomous vehicles stopped or crashed into each other. It’s possible.
“Let’s say I was a criminal. Would I say, 'Give me £100 and I’ll unlock your car’ or, if there’s lots of data in your car, connected to your phone, with details of where you went and who you spoke to, would I blackmail you instead? Even though it has not happened yet, there is a concern it might.”
Andrew Miller, chief technical officer at Thatcham Research, which conducts electronic risk assessments on every new car brought to the UK market, says: “We have connected vehicles now, many using a non-removable e-sim to connect, or wireless device, or your phone. It’s an amazingly complex area allowing one computer to speak to another, and delivering major benefits. It’s also an emerging risk – and with more connected vehicles, that risk will increase for motorists.
“When this risk will really emerge is the moot point: no one really knows. But the opportunity to fight back is right now.”
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POSTPONED TO 2022 - Ab-initio Design and Control of Quantum Optical Materials
Prineha Narang
Dirk R. Englund
Atom-like quantum defects in solids have seen exceptional progress in recent decades and now set the state of the art in several key quantum technologies, ranging from quantum memories in quantum networks to quantum sensors. However, it is clear that we have only scratched the surface of what would become possible with better methods to: (i) model and predict the properties of quantum defects quantitatively; (ii) image and produce quantum defects with nanoscale precision; (iii) coherently control mesoscopic quantum systems; and (iv) translate to practical applications.
Approaches include the development of new types of point-like quantum defects with application-specific properties. For example, entanglement-enhanced sensing techniques using small ensembles of coupled quantum emitters could improve magnetometry sensitivity by orders of magnitude. Molecular quantum systems with sufficient coherence could open new possibilities in applications and scaling. And spectrally stable, homogeneous emitter arrays could speed up entanglement rates in quantum networks by orders of magnitude and enable error-corrected quantum registers.
This workshop will bring together experimental, computational, and theoretical scientists and engineers to identify the key challenges and opportunities in mesoscopic quantum emitter systems. Specific topics include: (i) Predictive electronic structure simulations of atom-like point defects in solids and molecular quantum emitters, using classical and quantum computing resources; (ii) Fabrication and characterization of single and small-ensemble quantum defect systems; (iii) Photonic and electronic structures to improve quantum control; and (iv) Emerging quantum technology applications.
Participants should be aware that this workshop runs Saturday through Wednesday. Discounted lodging rates end after Tuesday night. If your flight is on Thursday out of Montrose, we recommend having dinner in Telluride on Wednesday night and taking Telluride Express to Montrose after dinner. TSRC scientists are eligible for the corporate rate ($119 + tax) at the Hampton Inn (970-547-4120) next to the airport.
TSRC is about expanding the frontiers of science, exploring new ideas, and building collaborations. The workshop schedule will allow for substantial unstructured time for participants to talk and think. All participants are expected to stay for the entire duration of the workshop. Scientists are encouraged to consider bringing family or friends. Telluride offers a number of options for children's camps (including Telluride Academy, Aha School for the Arts, and Pinhead Institute). There is more information on childcare, camps, and family activities on TSRC's website at https://www.telluridescience.org/travel/families. Please contact Cindy Fusting at cindy@telluridescience.org for more information.
725 W Colorado Ave Telluride, CO
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Corpus Christi Hosts First [un]Apologetic Conference
by Analiz Schremmer on June 2, 2017 in News
First Baptist Church Corpus Christi hosted its first [un]Apologetic conference south of Highway I-10 on May 5- 6. Three hundred and five people were present.
Brian Hill, pastor of FBC Corpus Christi, said he prayed for over a year for an [un]Apologetic conference to take place in his church. His hopes are that the event "energizes and emboldens" his congregation to better share their faith.
"In an ever growing secular society we cannot just assume people believe God exists and that the Bible is authoritative. We need to be ready to explain why we believe these truths and apologetics helps to remove those roadblocks in evangelism," said Leighton Flowers, director of apologetics for Texas Baptists.
Keynote speaker William Lane Craig, introduced as the world's premiere apologist, talked about the importance of being able to persuade people with the truth of Jesus Christ.
"Apologetics is defending the truth of what we believe in the Scriptures," Craig said as he presented his five arguments: contingency, cosmological, intelligent design, moral and ontological.
contingency - "The universe exists contingently, and the only argument for its existence is the existence of a necessary God. The cause of the universe cannot be part of the universe."
cosmological - "The universe exists, therefore the universe has a cause. Can something exist without a cause? If something can come into being from nothing, then why don’t we see this happening all the time?"
intelligent design - "The delicacy and complexity of the conditions today, from the Big Bang, are astounding. Our existence is balanced on a razor’s edge … initial conditions fine-tuned to a degree that is incomprehensible … this remarkable fine-tuning points to an intelligent design."
moral - "God makes sense of objective moral values. Can you be good without God? Without an objective reference point, we have no way of knowing if something is good or bad."
ontological - "If it is possible that God exists, then God exists."
In another session, best-selling author and sought after speaker Mark Mittleberg, discussed the necessary values to keep in mind when trying to reach a secular culture for Christ.
"This is an evangelistic primer for how to think about what other people in your life need as they move towards Christ," Mittleberg said. "Learn to speak the language, as a missiologist would."
The values Mittleberg mentioned included remembering that people matter, realizing that they are lost without Christ, knowing that Christ is their only solution and making sure to be equipped with answers for those who may question faith in Christ. He also recommended the book Confident Faith, which he said is geared for non-Christians.
"We need to remind ourselves this is a life and death issue. People desperately need what we have. We cannot keep this to ourselves," he said.
[un]Apologetic conferences also took place in Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, on January 27-28, with 430 attendees and at Austin Baptist Church on February 24-25, with 818 attendees.
"We are excited to see so many churches interested in training their members in how to share their faith to a culture that becoming more and more skeptical to the claims of Christianity,” Flowers said. “The [un]Apologetic conference gives Christians the tools we need to defend our faith and explain the hope we find in Christ."
Read more articles in: News, Great Commission
More from Analiz Schremmer
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NFL Draft Hub
Brooksie's BPA Draft - Pre-free Agency
· Edited: Mar 4, 2019
I have always been a mock drafter that has selected players based on team needs first, rather than best player available. Well, it took some guts – but I decided to switch it up and go BPA in this effort. The following draft was generated by Fanspeak's On The Clock, with Brooksie masquerading as the Browns' GM.
O17_R1_P17
MONTEZ SWEAT, EDGE, MISSISSIPPI STATE
My first choice was a hard one. This draft is incredibly deep with defensive tackle talent. Based on that theory alone, I decided to forgo an immediate choice at DT and go for more speed off the edge. I had to leave Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, and Jeffery Simmons on the board – but I was happy and confident I had done the right thing by selecting Montez of Mississippi State.
I think Montez is the kind of player that takes the Browns' defense from good to elite. Especially if our offense is efficient enough to score enough to put our opponents into obvious passing downs. His long arms keeps the offensive tackles at bay. Montez is incredibly quick into the offensive backfield. From that tactical point, he can make the quick decision – do I blow up the running game, or do I put the QB on his keister?
Wanna know the main reason these scenarios are possible? That dude that plays on the other side of the DL…..
DRE'MONT JONES, DT, OHIO STATE
Well, my oh my. It would seem that my patience has been rewarded. Instead of just attacking the DT prospect I always wanted at 17, I took the player with the more natural skills. Then lo and behold, the player I wanted at 17 was still on the board at 49. I get his name on the card in record time, and this Buckeye is coming home.
The level of enthusiasm I have for this pick is usually reserved for the game changing first round selections. Players that make everyone else around them better are generally ticketed for the first round. Dre'Mont was probably going to be a complimentary piece in the Buckeyes 2018 defense, but that all changed 2-1/2 games into the season. Nick Bosa went down for the season – and Dre'Mont stepped up. He flashed his full compliment of skills the rest of the season. Dre'Mont and Montez have this in common – they both like to play in the opponents offensive backfield so they can seek and destroy whatever they want to.
Gone are the days of the run stuffing, space eater defensive tackle. Dre'Mont is exactly what the NFL is trending to. DT's are now penetrating missles that blow up running lanes and add QB pressure up the middle.
Look at the Browns front four after this selection – RDE Myles Garrett; RDT Dre'Mont Jones, LDT Larry Ojunjobi, and LDE Montez Sweat. With the first two picks of the 2019 draft, our defense has gone from good to elite. As I am driving home, I don't stop at any post offices to see if my picture is up on the wall.
VOSEAN JOSEPH, LB, FLORIDA
With the front four upgraded, it is time to move further back on the defense to give some needed upgrades. To my complete surprise - this draft, as it has unfolded, gifts me with Florida ILB Vosean Joseph at pick 80. So I mock Vosean's speed and sprint the card to the commissioner's table with his name on it. Vosean is now a Cleveland Brown.
The first thing that jumps of Vosean's tape at you is his physicality. This will help with the tackling maladies that plagued the Browns last year. He may need to be careful about some of his hits – as they may be 15 yard penalties waiting to happen.
But there are two areas the Vosean absolutely excels at – speed and coverage. His God given talent shows through here. I think it would be a mistake to pigeon hole him as a middle linebacker. I see excelling inside, outside on the edge, a cover backer over a TE, or even as a strong safety/viper ala Jabrill Peppers.
AMANI ORUWARIYE, CB, PENN STATE
We all saw the difference that a true shutdown corner can make on our defense. Well…… Do I hear two? Amani Oruwariye fits that bill to a “T”. You now have all three deep thirds of the offensive fields shut off. Denzel on one side, Amani on the other, and Damarious/Jabrill will control the middle.
Amani comes into the league with better size than Denzel. He is an excellent sized corner at 6'1” and 204. And he has two more years of experience at the collegiate level than Denzel – Amani was a redshirt senior. For those reason I expect than with Denzel's natural second year growth. I expect these two to work very well together.
Day two of the draft comes to a close – but the Browns have been extremely productive in these 48 hours. To say they have upgraded a porous defense, would be a massive understatement.
119: R4P17
PRESTON WILLIAMS, WR, COLORADO ST
Everyone can take a second to breathe, we go back to the offensive side of the ball. Finally – a quarterb……. Wait, we took care of that last year.
We go back to Rashard Higgins' alma mater for our next choice. Meet Preston Williams. Preston has, I think, early Day Two talent – but he has some red flags in his jacket. Specifically, he has a domestic violence arrest he was suspended for – but that suspension was satisfied prior to the 2018 season. Still, many teams will remove him from their draft boards because of that.
The negatives that are identified in the linked video, I think can be fixed with proper coaching. And we have a good one here in Cleveland in Adam Henry. I think the upside of this pick far outweigh the risk.
145: R5P6
RYAN FINLEY, QB, NC STATE
One fact about the 2019 Cleveland Browns will come to light – Tyrod Taylor will not be a member of this team prior to April's draft. The interest will be mutual between him and a QB needy team choosing to go the veteran route.
So, that creates a roster hole at backup QB. My plan A would be to fill that with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Failing that would be Plan B – drafting a QB. I cannot think of a better fit than Ryan Finley of NC State.
He was Jacoby Brissett's successor at NC State. He performed admirably. Of course, having Kelvin Harmon and Jackobi Meyers as your primary wideouts doesn't suck. Finley took full advantage of that setup.
He is a prototypical pocket passer with mobility. Very accurate passer. A Mayfield – Finley – Stanton trio would work well in Cleveland.
O156_R5_P17
TJ EDWARDS, LB, WISCONSIN
The recent draft history between has been very favorable. The two most memorable picks have been LT Joe Thomas – a certain first ballot Hall of Famer; and ILB Joe Schobert – a Pro Bowl selection in 2018. I expect that track record to continue with this pick.
TJ Edwards patrols the middle at Camp Randall very well. And that is why I would seriously advocate not to even consider moving TJ to the outside. He is a thick, mobile player who is not afraid to throw his body around to make a needed tackle. He is also surprisingly mobile in coverage. I see him as a TE equalizer. Take a peek.
BENNY SNELL, RB, KENTUCKY
Remember in my opening I stated that I am not the one making all 256 picks? I am using Fanspeaks On the Clock draft simulator. Which means there are 31 other guys (or computers) making picks for other teams.
Which means I am COMPLETELY blown away that a talent like Benny Snell is still on the board. He is a big power back with speed. And the success he has had did not come against chumps – it came against the SEC West. The SEC West and the Big Ten East are probably the two toughest divisions in college football. A three headed monster in Cleveland of Chubb, Snell and Hunt would be the best in the league. Bar NONE.
MITCH HYATT, OT, CLEMSON
Let's be honest here. By this point in the draft, there are probably no plug and play Pro Bowl players left. So, it is all about depth and development players at this point.
In 2016, when Hyatt got to Clemson – he was First Team All Conference selection. What happened in the next three years? Not sure. But the talent certainly was there at one time. If we bring him on board, we pair him with the best OL coach in the business – and let's see what develops.
O223_R7_P7
AUSTIN SEIBERT, K, OKLAHOMA
Here is where I veer off the BPA track, and select for team need. Kicking simply cost the Browns the playoffs in 2018. Let's go get one of the best in the business – Baker's Sooner teammate, Austin Siebert.
WILL HARRIS, S, BOSTON COLLEGE
Projected early as a special teams ace – jarring hitter. We'll see how he develops as a strong safety.
Chillzilla
I really like this draft. It's so tough to do these prior to free agency. We honestly don't even know our needs yet. But you did a really nice job addressing our positional needs here.
Sweat is quickly becoming one of my favorites at 17. We may have to trade up to get him after his 40 time. In typical idiotic Browns fan logic, somebody said he was unproductive on facebook yesterday. That's so far from the truth it's laughable. He had 22.5 sacks over the past two seasons. He absolutely lives up to the physical hype and I think he could be a really fast riser, maybe even a top 6 pick. As of now, 17 is a realistic possibility though. If the Browns don't get a Frank Clark, Demarcus Lawrence, Trey Flowers or Dee Ford, he's a shoe in pick if he's on the board.
Jones is your guy and if he's there at 49 I'd be very happy with that pick. Was Simmons still available in this mock as well? If he's there I'd probably have to pick him even with the injury. He's a top 10 talent, even with the injury and off-field issues.
We need a physical linebacker like Joseph. No griped about that pick at all. But I do think we need to go get a receiver earlier in the draft. I think it's absolutely necessary to get another quality receiver in the first three rounds. There is going to be a major drop off after the second round guys, Samuel, Butler, Harry, etc. I'd like to see Dorsey use some of these extra picks to move back into the second round and nab one of these guys. We don't need all these picks, a lot won't make the team.
Hyatt is a solid pick for sure too. Worth developing. If the talent isn't there anymore, it's a late round pick so it doesn't matter much anyway. It's nice not having to rely on every single pick hitting anymore. We have the talent to make up for it.
No way Snell is there, but Fanspeak drafts are weird sometimes.
As for the kicker, I hope we go get a free agent. There is almost no correlation between college success and NFL success. Zane Gonzalez was one of the best kickers in college football history. I'd rather go with a proven veteran.
Very good work, Tom. As always.
Yup - when I saw Benny there as late as he was, my thought was "Give me another big hit off that doob!"
Kicker - that is why I was campaigning for Robbie Gould, but it looks like the Niners aren't about to let him out of town. They plan to say "Tag - you're it!"
New ST coach Mike Priefer did say in an interview that he likes the strength of Greg Joseph's leg. Ugh. I don't care for his accuracy or lack thereof. But because of Priefer's track record, I will have faith in him, until he gives me a reason not to.
One thing about Joseph, at least, is that he definitely got better as the season went on. If he beats out whatever other kicker they bring in, I'm willing to give him a shot. Phil Dawson only made 66% of his kicks in his first year with the Browns, Joseph made 85% (which is actually really solid).
Jim Simmons
Im not afraid of keeping Joseph. As you said he got better as the season went on, and the eary misses were, IMO, jitters. He knew he had to perform or he could be the next one out the door. As he got more comfortable, he got better.
That doesn’t mean you don’t go looking for competition for him.
nice job Brooksie
Also, one other thing to consider - how much of the special teams struggles were due to blocking schemes and just flat out poor execution by others? So glad Anus Jones is outta here.
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Largest exhibition of LGBTQ art in Asia to open in November
The collaboration between Sunpride Foundation and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre explores issues of inclusion in ‘Asia’s Gay Capital’
Lisa Movius
9th January 2019 11:03 GMT
Michael Ishaowanasai, Portrait of Man in Habits #1 (2000). Courtesy of Michael Ishaowanasai and the Sunpride Foundation
Sunpride Foundation and the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) will present Asia’s second and largest ever exhibition devoted to LGBTQ art. The two organisations announced plans today (9 January) for Spectrosynthesis II—Exposure of Tolerance: LGBTQ in Southeast Asia (23 November to 1 March 2020), a continuation of Sunpride’s traveling series, first held in 2017 at the Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art.
“Bangkok is one of Asia’s most LGBTQ-friendly and inclusive cities, with many exciting developments in recent years in the arts and LGBTQ communities,” says Patrick Sun, founder and executive director of Sunpride Foundation. “It is particularly relevant that our exhibition comes at a time when the Thai government has announced a new bill backing same-sex civil partnerships in Thailand.” Sun, a collector based in Hong Kong and Taiwan, adds that head curator Chatvichai Promadhattavedi “is a founding member of BACC. A champion for cultural diversity in Thailand, he has extensive knowledge of Thai and Southeast Asian art, and we have been in discussion to bring Spectrosynthesis to Thailand even before our show in Taipei.” Taiwan’s constitutional court mandated in May 2017 that it must allow same-sex marriage within two years, though a non-binding referendum passed last November calling to limit the rights for such unions, such as prohibiting adoption.
Including more than 50 artists, Spectrosynthesis II largely draws from the myriad cultures of Southeast Asia, which is “uniquely diverse in its mix of people and viewpoints and is a fertile ground for artistic exchange and expression,” says Sun, adding that the region’s cultural contexts vary greatly in terms of influences ranging from formal religious beliefs to Indian, Chinese and ancient indigenous cultures. Artists such as Sornchai Phongsa and Piyarat Piyapongwiwat from Thailand are included, as well as Michael Shaowanasai, Dinh Q. Lê and Danh Vō from Vietnam, Maria Taniguchi from the Philippines, and Singapore’s Ming Wong.
Maitree Siriboon, Isan Boy Soi 4 No. 3 (2009). Courtesy of Maitree Siriboon and the Sunpride Foundation
According to Sun, instead of focusing on the differences between the artists and their work, “we looked at subthemes, such as personal experiences, human rights and diversity advocacy… and focused on sharing the human experience of LGBTQ artists—the desire for love, acceptance, and to be treated as an equal.”
The show also includes perspectives from the rest of the continent and overseas-based Asians. Artists including India’s Sunil Gupta, China’s Ren Hang, Hong Kong’s Samson Young, and Sri Lankans Mario Nithiyendran and Lionel Wendt will provide a more broadly global context. New commissions are confirmed by artists Anne Samat from Malaysia, Balbir Krishan from India, and Arin Rungjang and Jakkai Siributr from Thailand, with additional projects in the works.
Since the first Spectrosynthesis, Sun says he has witnessed more work addressing LGBTQ identities and issues in the [Asian] art market: “In Taiwan, there is an increasing number of young gay artists who paint more freely now. It’s uplifting to see that there is a greater inclination for artists to express themselves, as well as a more enthusiastic market is that ready to embrace these works. On a whole, we are delighted to see—and it is something we aim for at Sunpride Foundation—artists who are now more willing to express themselves freely and be true to who themselves and just be who they are. It makes our work worthwhile.”
More NewsTopicsExhibitionsAsia Bangkok Art and Culture CentreSunpride FoundationDanh Vō
Kamel Mennour gallery's representation of Claude Lévêque suspended after allegations of abuse of minors
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New Zealand eradicates coronavirus
New Zealand has eradicated the coronavirus from its shores after health officials reported on Monday that the final person known to have been infected had recovered.
The news swiftly led to the country’s government announcing all forms of public events can again take place without limitations or social distancing guidelines.
It has been 17 days since the last new case was reported in New Zealand, and Monday also marked the first time since late February there had been no active cases.
Health officials caution that new cases could be imported into the country, which has closed its borders to everybody but citizens and residents, with some exceptions.
Today is a significant milestone as we announce that the last active case of COVID-19 in New Zealand has recovered. This means there are now 0 active cases in New Zealand. Thank you for staying home, playing it safe and for supporting those fighting the virus 💛 pic.twitter.com/11VdRxflWd
— Unite Against COVID-19 (@covid19nz) June 8, 2020
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said it was a pleasing development.
“Having no active cases for the first time since February 28 is certainly a significant mark in our journey but as we’ve previously said, ongoing vigilance against Covid-19 will continue to be essential,” Dr Bloomfield said.
The New Zealand government responded by removing all restrictions on public gatherings, meaning, among other factors, sport stadiums will again be able to hold fans without regulations about social distancing.
Experts say a number of factors have helped the nation of five million wipe out the disease.
Its isolated location in the South Pacific gave it vital time to see how outbreaks spread in other countries, and prime minister Jacinda Ardern acted decisively by imposing a strict lockdown early in New Zealand’s outbreak.
Just over 1,500 people contracted the virus in New Zealand, including 22 who died.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— South Korea reported 38 new cases, most of them in the Seoul region, where authorities are trying to stem transmissions among e-commerce workers, door-to-door sellers and people who went out amid loosened social distancing. Health minister Park Neunghoo called for officials to examine supplies of testing equipment in case infections continue to increase. He also called for education officials to double-check prevention measures. Schools fully reopened on Monday, with the last grades returning to classes in the final phase of the reopening.
— China reported four new cases, all of them brought from outside the country. China has officially announced a total of 4,634 deaths out of 83,040 total cases since the virus was first detected in the central Chinese industrial city of Wuhan late last year. China has increasingly opened up with the sharp reduction of cases, and officials in Beijing on Monday said the city was reopening the office where citizens can bring complaints and petitions.
People wear face masks in a Black Lives Matter protest in Seoul, South Korea, where schools reopened on Monday (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
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Survey shows little appetite for smoking ban
There is little support for an outright ban on smoking in pubs, according to a survey of pub staff and customers.
The survey by the Atmosphere Improves Results initiative, which is funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, found most people supported changes in policy rather than total bans.
Of the 8,000 customers and staff in 142 pubs polled, just 17% said they wanted a complete ban, with 41% preferring a more limited ban at the bar.
Nick Bish, chief executive of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers and chairman of the hospitality industry's Charter Action Group, which is responsible for the current self-regulatory code on smoking, welcomed the findings.
"These results show that our staff and customers have no appetite for a smoking ban. They want smoking restrictions that work for their own pub or bar - not blanket legislation," he said.
"Over the last few years we have more than doubled the premises with smoking restrictions and want to work with the Government to achieve even more. There is no great landslide of opinion in favour of a ban - a visit to Ireland's empty pubs will show that!" he added.
Speculation has been growing for some months that the Government is poised to announce a ban on smoking in public places, including pubs and restaurants, possibly through new powers for local authorities.
by Nic Paton
Buy this week's Caterer magazine for more industry news and analysis
TagsSmoking
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Germany says EU pragmatism needed on London finance links
Huw Jones
Published: Oct 30, 2020 at 10:57 a.m.
By Huw Jones
LONDON (Reuters) - A senior German government official said on Friday he was "deeply concerned" about the lack of progress in trade talks between the European Union and Britain, given the heavy reliance of German companies on funding from London's financial hub.
London is Europe's biggest financial centre, but faces being largely cut off from the bloc when Britain's post-Brexit transition arrangements expire on Dec. 31.
Britain and the EU have entered an intensive phase in talks on a free trade deal, though EU access for financial firms in Britain is being dealt with separately by Brussels.
"German corporates, for all that I can tell, rely massively on wholesale financing offered from the City of London, so in that sense we will have to maintain pragmatism, no matter what happens," Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Kukies told an online event held by Afore Consulting.
"But at the moment we are deeply concerned by the lack of progress in the negotiations," he said.
Kukies said no matter what comes up "there is so much depth and intensity of relationships between European countries and the UK that this will not degenerate into animosity, I am absolutely convinced about that."
The EU is accelerating work on a capital markets union (CMU) to cut reliance on London and help fund recovery from COVID-19, a five-year old project that has made patchy progress.
Germany holds the EU presidency and Kukies said the bloc's leaders would agree in December on a "very clear path" to implement the new CMU measures proposed last month.
Among them, incentivising long-term investments by amending the bloc's capital rules for insurers is likely to be prioritised, he said.
"One of our lessons learned from the Wirecard scandal is that we do want to strengthen particularly market supervisory powers of European institutions," Kukies said, referring to the collapse of the German payments firm.
Critics says stronger EU supervision is needed to make CMU work.
"We want to look at best practices in the U.S. and other regions of the world to see how markets supervision at the central level can help avoid some of the problems that we had."
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)
More reuters stories
Published 6 hours ago
Israel economy likely to grow 4.6% in 2021, says finance ministry
Updated 1 hour ago
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Kexgill House
The Overview
The Recognition
The Contents Insurance
Kexgill expansion. Student accommodation provider
Posted on 24th July 2017 24th July 2017 by weborchard
A UK based student accommodation specialist has unveiled a five-year expansion plan which could see the multi-million pound company double in size over the next 5 years as it seeks to acquire and invest in new assets across the UK.
The Kexgill Group, based at Hull, already has nine branches throughout the UK as well as a presence in Germany.
To better support its five-year growth plan, The Kexgill Group recently changed banking partner to Santander Corporate & Commercial. The bank has refinanced over £6 million in lending facilities which will allow the Group to fully support its current portfolio of properties as well as invest for growth if and when the opportunity arises.
The Kexgill Group expansion programme has been launched on the back of the company being judged Student Landlord of the Year in Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Durham and overall in the N/E of England one of 21 prestigious honours achieved in 2015.
Richard Stott, Managing Director Kexgill Group, said: “We have swept the board in this year’s awards across our sector so it’s the right time to be announcing our expansion plans. We will be targeting all areas in the UK and we see no reason why we should not be able to double our size over the next five years.”
“The awards – judged in the main by the students themselves – are recognition of the ambition and hard work show by the company and its staff of 50. Obviously, as the business grows, so will our workforce. This year has been a remarkable one for our company and it has provided us with a terrific platform from which to launch our five-year plan for further growth.”
Mick Graham, Real Estate Director of Santander Corporate & Commercial, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting the Kexgill Group at such a key time in the company’s growth. This is a fantastic opportunity to support a vibrant business which started in the Yorkshire area. The funding from Santander provides a very secure, long-term footing for the Kexgill group.
Award winning student accommodation in Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Preston, Salford and Stockton.
Kexgill student accommodation continuing to focus on improving the experience for University students.
Kexgill student accommodation
Kexgill Club Class®
Since 1978 Kexgill have been changing the perceptions of student accommodation in the UK. Our bright and beautiful homes provide a sanctuary for our students to spend their time in. All-inclusive rents, bespoke designed rooms and a busy timetable of events and gifts are just some of the reasons students choose Kexgill year after year. Every office is staffed with talented team members that are always wanting to go the extra mile and make each student’s stay a memorable one.
Kexgill – Sleep. Study. Succeed.
Copyright Kexgill Student Accommodation
Kexgill operate an Equality and Diversity Policy
available on request from Head Office
Site by Weborchard
Acceptable Use Policy Cookies Policy Privacy Policy Terms of Website use
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#Canada#Logistics#transport#Logistics
CN confirms purchase of H&R Transport
The Montreal-based company, Canadian National Railway (CN), has purchased the intermodal division of H&R Transport, according to Supply Chain Dive. ...
|May 16| 6 min read
The Montreal-based company, Canadian National Railway (CN), has purchased the intermodal division of H&R Transport, according to Supply Chain Dive.
The acquisition of the Alberta-based, H&R Transport, which are a Canadian logistics provider specialising in temperature-controlled and intermodal freight.
With H&R considering itself as the biggest refrigerated intermodal carrier in Canada on its website, the firm has around 550 trailers and containers, as well as 230 trucks.
In CN’s first quarter earnings call CEO, JJ Ruest, confirmed future acquisitions would “feed the beast” and enable new customers and a greater volume to the railroad.
Oracle Transportation Management upgraded with project44’s advanced supply chain visibility solution
Wipro joins Blockchain in Transport Alliance
GE Transportation technology pilot project begins at Port of Long Beach
In a research note to Supply Chain Dive, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote: “CN’s goal with the acquisition is to expand its intermodal service offering, move more consumer goods, and convert customers to their rail network.”
The deal follows CN’s purchase of TransX which closed in March. The revenue from TransX and H&R is set to be reported as intermodal revenue. Despite TransX revenue not being included, the figure has risen 4% during the first quarter year-over-year.
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#supply chain#lufthansa#airline#e-commerce#Supply Chain
Lufthansa Cargo unveils new e-commerce unit
The Germany-based cargo airline, Lufthansa Cargo, has confirmed a new wholly-owned subsidiary that is set to serve the cross-border e-commerce market, a...
|Jun 13| 6 min read
The Germany-based cargo airline, Lufthansa Cargo, has confirmed a new wholly-owned subsidiary that is set to serve the cross-border e-commerce market, according to Supply Chain Dive.
The new subsidiary, called heyworld, will integrate into Lufthansa’s existing cargo services and include offerings such as heyworld API that will enable customers’ existing ERP systems to be tailored pricing options and customised shipment tracking “at the package level.”
Heyworld’s website states: “Our shipping solutions cross borders and combine airfreight with last mile delivery. Our services range from moving stock to warehouses abroad to direct shipping to your customers around the globe.”
UPS partners with Inxeption to simplify B2B e-commerce for global merchants
DHL Express to deliver the 2019 DHL eCommerce Africa Conference and Exhibition
Exclusive from Maginus: Consumer choice and control in delivery is the future for eCommerce
The launch is the latest indication that the increasing cross-border e-commerce parcel volumes are beginning to impact the air freight industry.
Lufthansa’s press release states: “Ongoing digitisation has resulted in new standards with multiple layers, especially in the e-commerce segment, that go beyond the conventional core business of a cargo airline.”
E-commerce is having an increasing amount of influence on the air freight industry in recent times. Lately, Amazon has begun to enter the space with PrimeAir, following FedEx’s split from the e-commerce giant.
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The Edge’s Top Albums of 2020: #4 – Enter Shikari’s ‘Nothing is True & Everything is Possible’
Review: Transformers: War For Cybertron – Earthrise
The Edge’s Top Albums of 2020: #5 – Boy Pablo’s ‘Wachito Rico’
UniVision Heat: Southampton
The Edge’s Best Films of 2020
University of Southampton’s UniVision Song Contest, Live Tonight!
An Evolved Sound for an Ever Growing Band: A Review of You Me At Six’s SUCKAPUNCH
The Disturbing Trend of COVID Films
The Edge’s Top Albums of 2020: #6 – IDLES’ ‘Ultra Mono’
The Edge’s Top Albums of 2020: #7- Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’
Review: Pieces of a Woman – Promising But Mediocre Drama On Childbirth
News That Shook 2020
The Edge’s Top Albums of 2020: #8 – Kylie’s ‘Disco’
Top 5 Live Acts of 2020
The University of Southampton's entertainment magazine.
Nostalgic News
Weekly Roundups
You are at:Home»Culture»Preview: Annie at The Mayflower Theatre
The family musical is coming to the Mayflower theatre this week.
Preview: Annie at The Mayflower Theatre
By Laura Cox on July 27, 2015 Culture, Theatre
Annie, one of the world’s best loved family musicals, is coming to Southampton this summer as part of a new touring production. The show, which will run for eight performances at the Mayflower Theatre, stars Craig Revel Horwood, best known for his work as a judge on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, as the tyrannical Miss Hannigan.
Set in New York during the Great Depression, Annie follows the story of a young girl as she lives a hard life at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage. The titular Annie is determined to find her real parents and escape the misery of the orphanage. She is then invited to stay at billionaire Oliver Warbucks’ home for the Christmas period, much to Miss Hannigan’s annoyance. The cruel head of the orphanage is determined to thwart Annie’s plans to find her family, but Annie’s bravery and optimism shine through.
This production, new for 2015, contains much loved songs from the original soundtrack including ‘Hard Knock Life’, ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Easy Street’ and ‘I Don’t Need Anything But You’.
Craig Revel Horwood, who will be performing as Miss Hannigan for the Southampton leg of the tour, is a well known personality on UK television. In addition to his work on the award winning Strictly Come Dancing, Revel Horwood has also judged on Strictly Come Dancing in New Zealand, Dancing with the Stars, Strictly on Ice and Strictly African Dancing.
Speaking to the ChronicleLive about the role, Revel Horwood said:
“It’s a far cry from anything else I have ever done […] I think people will have a lot of trouble recognising me as I have to do a New York accent and I tower above everyone in the show […] It is going to be quite alarming when I first appear in the space, I hope [the audience]enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed rehearsing the part.”
Tickets are available from £20.00 to £42.50 on the Mayflower Theatre website.
Laura Cox
The Edge’s Favourite Games of 2020
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5 Whoppers From Trump’s State of the Union Address
Plus, what Trump didn't talk about
President Trump delivered a polarizing, reality-show tinged State of the Union address Tuesday in which he claimed credit for three years of solid economic growth while making more than 30 “dubious statements” about everything from blue-collar employment to American energy independence, according to the fact checkers at The Washington Post.
As Politico’s John F. Harris summed it up, “President Donald Trump likes his superlatives, and you have to give him credit: He definitely earned them this time. This was the most defiant, most boastful, most ostentatiously theatrical, most overtly campaign-oriented, most am-I-hearing-this-right? outlandish—the most flamboyantly bizarre—State of the Union Address of All Time.”
With the economy in its 11th year of growth, unemployment at a 50-year low and the stock market at record highs, Trump certainly had plenty of facts at his disposal to tout his record. But in typical Trumpian fashion he deployed numerous exaggerated or entirely fictional assertions in an effort to back his claim that the economy is “the best it has ever been” and is growing at an “unimaginable” pace.
Trump, who came to power decrying the “carnage” imposed on the U.S. economy by elites in both parties, sought to portray his administration as delivering a decisive break from President Obama’s — a dramatic turnaround that revived the country and justifies a second term. "If we had not reversed the failed economic policies of the previous administration,” Trump said, “the world would not now be witnessing this great economic success."
But most economists say that while there is plenty for the president to crow about, the economy is largely following a path that was established during the initial recovery from the Great Recession.
As the Post’s Tory Newmyer put it, “many key economic indicators — GDP growth, the unemployment rate, the stock market — show gains in the Trump era have simply continued along their trajectories from the Obama years.”
While Trump’s questionable claims were wide-ranging and worthy of extensive review, here are a few that touched on fiscal matters, along with brief fact checks:
1. Claiming the biggest tax cuts in history. “From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy … enacting historic and record-setting tax cuts,” Trump said Tuesday. The president has been exaggerating the size of the 2017 tax cuts for years, but the passage of time hasn’t made the claim any truer.
Here are The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Sarah Cahlan: “Trump constantly claims he passed the biggest tax cut in U.S. history, but that’s Four-Pinocchios false. The best way to compare tax cuts (or spending plans) over time is to measure them as a percentage of the national economy. The Trump tax cut, according to Treasury Department data, is nearly 0.9 percent of GDP — compared with 2.89 percent of GDP for Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cut, the actual largest tax cut. When measured as a share of the U.S. economy, Trump’s tax cut is the eighth-largest in the past century.”
2. Claiming to protect people with pre-existing conditions. “We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions," Trump said Tuesday, and not for the first time. But his administration has taken steps that would do the opposite, including ongoing efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which first established consumer protections for pre-existing conditions during the Obama administration.
Bloomberg’s Max Nisen: “The reality is, [Trump] came close to replacing the Affordable Care Act in 2017 with policies that would have gutted consumer safeguards for sick people and cut coverage for millions. The president continues to support a lawsuit that could eliminate the ACA, this time without even bothering to say how he'd replace it.”
3. Claiming unprecedented success for Opportunity Zones. Trump touted the Opportunity Zones program, which was created as part of the 2017 GOP tax reform and provides tax breaks for investors in about 9,000 low-income areas. “This is the first time that these deserving communities have seen anything like this,” he said. “It’s all working.”
But The Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin says it’s too early to reach any conclusions about the program: “Local governments and investors across the country have been excitedly touting opportunity zones and trying to encourage development. But it’s far from clear yet how well the program is working. There isn’t any official data on how much money is being invested or how much would have been invested without the incentive, and the law doesn’t require detailed disclosures.”
4. Claiming that drug prices are falling. Repeating a talking point the White House has been using for months, Trump said, “I was pleased to announce last year that, for the first time in 51 years, the cost of prescription drugs actually went down.”
Kaiser Health News’ Shefali Luthra says the claim is based on data that provide a misleading picture of what’s going on with drug prices: “We’ve examined this claim twice before, rating it Mostly False. But prescription drug prices are a major voter concern. So we wanted to take another look, in case things had changed. Experts told us the data remains essentially unchanged. Drug prices are still not going down.”
5. Claiming to protect Medicare and Social Security. Trump ran for office in 2016 promising to not cut popular entitlement programs, and he repeated that claim Tuesday: “We will always protect your Medicare and your Social Security.” But Trump recently said he would be open to entitlement cuts if he were to win a second term. Asked if entitlement reform would be on his agenda, Trump said that “[a]t some point they will be.”
More broadly, Trump’s budget requests have proposed substantial cuts to entitlement programs. His 2019 budget, for example, outlined $554 billion in Medicare cuts and up to $250 billion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years. And his 2020 budget called for more than $3 billion in cuts to the Social Security Disability Insurance program over four years.
“Not only has President Trump failed to strengthen Medicare and Social Security, but the financial outlook for both trusts has not improved or worsened, Linda Qiu says at The New York Times. “That is at least partly the result of Mr. Trump’s tax law, which has left the Treasury Department to collect fewer taxes from Americans and, in turn, invest less money into each program. Last April, the government projected that Medicare funds would be depleted by 2026, three years earlier than estimated in 2017. The report noted that less money will flow into the fund because of low wages and lower taxes.”
What Trump Didn’t Talk About: The National Debt or Trillion-Dollar-a-Year Deficits
The most obvious and widely commented upon omission from President Trump’s State of the Union address was the i-word: impeachment. But that wasn’t the only topic the president failed to touch on during his 78-minute speech. The fiscal watchdogs at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget note that Trump made no mention of the national debt, which has risen by $2.8 trillion since he took office, or the deficit, which has surged above $1 trillion, largely as the result of tax and spending policies he’s signed into law, and is projected to stay there for the foreseeable future.
Roll Call’s Jessica Wehrman points out that Trump’s ambitions for an infrastructure plan have also been scaled down dramatically:
“President Donald Trump used 189 words of his 2018 State of the Union address to call for a $1.5 trillion investment in U.S. infrastructure,” she writes. “On Tuesday night, the former real estate mogul signaled how much times have changed. Trump spent 29 words on the topic.”
The administration has dismissed a $760 billion, five-year plan proposed by Democrats and has instead embraced a five-year, $287 billion bill focused largely on roads and bridges that was advanced by a Senate committee last July. That legislation still faces questions about how it would be funded.
House Panel Will Hold Hearing on ‘The Disappearing Corporate Income Tax’
The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on what Democratic leaders have dubbed “The Disappearing Corporate Income Tax.” The hearing will include testimony from Jason Furman, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama; Rebecca Kysar, a Fordham University law professor focused on taxes; and Chye-Ching Huang, director of federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The hearing “will likely serve as a mechanism for committee Democrats to call for raising the corporate income tax rate,” the Washington Examiner reports. “Democrats seeking the Oval Office have called to increase the corporate income tax rate to as much as 25% to 35%. Corporate income is currently taxed at 21%, down from 35% before President Trump signed the tax overhaul bill into law in December 2017.”
Senate Acquits Trump on Both Impeachment Charges – Washington Post
Trump Promotes Low Unemployment and Rising Wages in State of the Union – New York Times
Michigan Governor Hits Trump's Economic Message in Dem Response – Politico
Trump Urges Congress to Pass Bill Allowing New Parents to Advance Tax Credits – The Hill
Trump Pushes Congress to Overcome Drug Pricing Gridlock in State of the Union – Modern Healthcare
Here's Why Democrats Were Chanting 'HR 3' During the State of the Union – The Week
Supreme Court to Consider Taking Obamacare Case This Month – The Hill
As Out-Of-Pocket Health Costs Rise, Insured Adults Are Seeking Less Primary Care – NPR
Why Home Health Care Is Suddenly Harder to Come By for Medicare Patients – Kaiser Health News
China’s Drug Patent Grab Makes Coronavirus Scary for Pharma – Bloomberg
Long-Term Maintenance for Trump’s Border Wall Could Cost Billions, but Government Isn’t Saying – Washington Post
States Weigh Expansion of Their Medicaid Programs – Roll Call
White House Threatens to Veto House Bill to Aid Puerto Rico Earthquake Recovery – The Hill
Trump Considers Withdrawing From WTO’s $1.7 Trillion Purchasing Pact – Bloomberg
Amazon, Microsoft Back Tax to Fight Seattle-Area Homelessness – Bloomberg
Views and Analysis
The Strangest State of the Union Ever – John F. Harris, Politico
Trump Has Some Nerve to Tout Health Care – Max Nisen, Bloomberg
Trump Touts His Economy as ‘the Best It Has Ever Been.’ The Data Doesn’t Show That – Washington Post
The Economy Is Strong, as Trump Says. But at What Cost? – Washington Post Editorial Board
Trump Claimed He Rebooted a Failing Economy. The Facts Don't Support Him, but Voters Might. – Tory Newmyer, Washington Post
Fact Check: Trump’s Exaggerated ‘Great American Comeback’ – Josh Boak, Calvin Woodward and Hope Yen, Associated Press
Trump on ‘Medicare for All’ and the Costs of Extending Health Care to Undocumented Immigrants – Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News
Trump Didn’t “Lift People Off Welfare.” He Cut Them Off. – Sarah Jones, New York
Trump Cites Sole Triumph: Rebranding Obama’s Economy As His Own – Jonathan Chait, New York
On Drug Pricing, The President’s Numbers Are Still Off – Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News
Trump Is Winning Like a Napoleonic General – John Authers, Bloomberg
Trump’s Plan Will Expand—Not Gut—Medicaid – Chris Pope, E21
Progress and Stumbles One Year into Trump's Plan to End HIV – Greg Millett, The Hill
Obamacare: A Big Issue Voters Might Be Missing – Mary Ellen McIntire, Roll Call
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The Liberties on Facebook
By Yvonne Reddin | September 28, 2010.
You don’t have to be Beyonce to be a celebrity in the Liberties, as student Melissa Carton-McKevitt knows quite well. Melissa set up a page on Facebook – “I’m from Dublin, but more importantly I’m from The Liberties” – which has had a great response from Liberties natives (‘Libertines’) who have moved away. Born and bred in the area, she has recently moved to Roscommon, but she comes back every weekend to have a drink in the local.
The Facebook page
“I figured the Liberties needed one, but I never knew what it would become,” Melissa explains. “With most Facebook groups people join them and never look at them again so I was delighted to see Libertines who had moved away in the eighties arranging reunions with old school mates they thought they would never have contact with again. I have great pride in where I’m from and it gave me great pleasure to see hundreds who felt the same away.”
“I have a love/hate relationship with social networking sites and would have been more on the hate side until seeing the response to the group. Whenever I’m tired of reading people’s status of how bored they are, I skip onto my page and read all those wonderful stories about the shop owner who would give ya the extra few jellies for free or the dog that nobody liked because it would always chase ya down Meath Street. It’s kinda like going to visit my Nanny – and sure who doesn’t like that?”
Her neighbour when she lived there was Imelda May’s dad, Tony, who Melissa describes as a true gent and a great storyteller. He told her once, “putting butter on cat’s paws to keep them in a bucket while moving them doesn’t work and that when he did it, his cat ran away.”
The sense of community in the Liberties “is like an unspoken mutual agreement that nobody robs their neighbours both in the literal and metaphorical sense,” Melissa says. “I think a lot of neighbour love has been lost in the last decade or so. There’s so many blocks of apartments and estates that nobody knows anyone anymore. “
Like Melissa and her family, generations have grown up there and many people wouldn’t go anywhere else. Melissa’s nanny says “She likes what she knows and she knows her own people.”
Melissa, a performer at heart, always wanted to be the next Sarah Brightman… Watch this space!
Will refurbishments effect the antique tradition on Francis St?
Sweet Christmas treats for all to enjoy
Reviving Gaeilge in Four Provinces pub.
Yvonne Reddin
https://www.theliberty.ie/author/yvonne/
Lee and O'Dea resign
Dublin Bikes
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360 allergic reactions to Pfizer’s vaccine so far in Mexico, 12 of them serious
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Why the Conservatives may be nervous; most of us will be better off in 2009
Blog 12 Jan 2009
Chief Executive, RSA
The state of voters’ finances will affect the Government’s popularity in 2009, but for reasons exactly opposite to those most people assume; on average, families will be much better off in 2009. In fact, this year will be the best for average disposable incomes for almost a decade. Why?
Pension and benefit increases for 2009 were set at last September’s RPI of 5% but will be implemented with inflation at virtually zero
Other tax and benefit changes will raise incomes, particularly for families on lower incomes
Mortgage holders are benefiting from falling interest rates, some families being hundreds of pounds a month better off
Although annual pay rises will be lower this year, many increases (particularly in the public sector) were agreed when inflation was higher and any, again, even small increases will lead to real improvements in living standards when set against zero inflation
Overall, the modal (most frequent) average improvement in disposable income in 2009 looks like it will be around 5%, a better figure than in any year since Labour took office. What will this mean? There are three broad possibilities. First, we simply won’t notice. Worried about losing our jobs and aware that tax increases are on the way, we may use the extra income to reduce our debts but not feel any better off. Second, the contrasting outcome; there is a general feel good factor which starts to show up in the opinion polls. Third, a phenomenon of which I have written in the past – the contrast between our personal optimism and our social pessimism – will become even more profound. We will blame the Government for the general background of bad economic news but assume that we are personally responsible for our own family finances improving.
The statistic on disposable incomes may also explain why David Cameron has decided to adopt such an aggressive and oppositional stance on the recession, even though, as many commentators have pointed out, the gap between Labour and Tory on policy substance is not as great as the rhetoric suggests. The Conservatives may judge that the biggest danger they face is public contentment in the face of rising average incomes and the possibility of the economy starting to pick up towards the end of the ear. By emphasising public debt and the position of savers Cameron is inviting the public to focus on two indicators that are unlikely to improve whatever happens in 2009.
An economy for all?
Asheem Singh Alexa Clay Riley Thorold
Is economic growth always good? It's time to listen to communities.
Fixing the safety net to prevent homelessness
Chris Hildrey
The loss of an address can be a crippling blow for those who need support. It’s time that was fixed.
How we ‘pulled apart’ and how we can ‘come together’ again
Anthony Painter
We shouldn’t underestimate how far our societies have pulled apart. Yet there is hope for renewal, says Anthony Painter. The question is not whether we come together – but how.
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Dolgeville grads helping out their community
Jon Rathbun
Times Telegram
The Friday-after-work, know-what-we-should-do? conversation that old high school buddies everywhere have and forget about by Saturday morning took hold for a pair of old Dolgeville Blue Devils and the Salisbury Yacht Club has grown over five years into a fun way to give back to the community they call home.
Mike Barnes and Eddie Petkovsek were looking for an idea to get together with friends with Petkovsek returning to Dolgeville from New Orleans for a Memorial Day visit.
“This idea started on a Friday night with Mikey and I hollering on the back porch about something irrelevant,” Petkovsek explains. “Then it dawned on us: Let’s do something about it.”
The initial conversation led to a few Saturday phone calls and text messages, and the playfully-named Yacht Club gathered Sunday when Hopson Hills Golf Course opened for the day.
“Had 12 or so of us in 2016 with no plan,” Petkovsek continued, “but a lot of energy, a rope and cold drinks made it happen.”
A tie after nine holes of best-ball play was broken when that rope was put to use in a tug of war.
“We were just looking for a way to get everybody together when Eddie came home,” Barnes said. “Then it was like, ‘We’re gonna get sponsors and help people out.’ … We go all local as much as we can and try to get people involved to help the community.”
The Memorial Day gathering and the tug of war continued until the coronavirus prompted the postponement of this year’s tournament which has grown both in participants and as an ambitious fund-raiser. Looking forward, Barnes, Petkovsek and the three other core Yacht Club members – 1998 classmate Justin Izzo, Matt Stallman and Gabe Kashuba – extended their tournament to 18 holes and sought a larger venue that could open the event to more players.
“Look at the day we got for being patient,” Barnes said while motioning to clear sky in his comments to players before teeing off at the Mohawk Valley Country Club Saturday.
A warm, sunny day was ideal for the golfers and the field filled quickly. Registration was open to returning players for one week and the rest of the slots – 18 foursomes – were filled in three days when they became available.
Repeated throughout the comments to players at the start of play is that rule No. 1 for the tournament is to, “Have fun,” along with rules of course etiquette and those to follow COVID-19 guidelines. The having of fun is one goal, but helping out in the community is the unspoken rule No. 2. Barnes and Petkovsek paid tribute to Barnes’ grandfather, Bill Bailey, who died after last year’s tournament and a moment of silence was held to reflect on role models past and present.
“Grandmas and grandpas are so important to our daily lives,” Petkovsek said in his pre-tee off comments, “and often times we forget how precious the time we get to spend with them really is.”
Families and children of local men who were killed in snowmobile and utility vehicle accidents over the past year were the recipients of the money raised by Saturday’s tournament. Barnes said Monday that an estimated $7,000 had been raised through the tournament and sponsorships after bills were paid, and an additional $2,000 was added when the Class of 2020 donated back the leftover money Yacht Club members had helped raise for banners to honor the graduating class along the village’s streets.
Last year, about $900 was donated along with school supplies to help Dolgeville teachers get ready for the academic year.
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TNZFICTION
20TH CENTURY HISTORICAL
LEGAL DRAMA
Book search:
Terri Blackstock
On Sale: 2019-11-05
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A gripping new novel from New York Times bestselling suspense author Terri Blackstock.
One father was murdered. Another was convicted of his death. All because their children fell in love.
Nate Beckett has spent his life fighting wildfires instead of the lies and rumors that drove him from his Colorado hometown. His mother begs him to come back now that his father has been released from prison, but it isn’t until he’s sidelined by an injury that he’s forced to return and face his past. But that means facing Brenna too.
Fourteen years ago, Nate was in love with the preacher’s daughter. When Pastor Strickland discovered Brenna defied him to sneak out with Nate, the fight between Strickland and Nate’s drunken dad was loud—and very public. Strickland was found murdered later that night, and everyone accused Roy Beckett. When the church burned down not long after, people assumed Nate set the fire to get even for his father’s conviction. He let the rumors fly and left town without looking back.
Brenna is stunned to learn that the man convicted of murdering her father has been pardoned. The events of that night set her life on a bad course, and now she’s fighting a brutal custody battle with her ex and his new wife where he’s using lies and his family’s money to sway the judge. Brenna is barely hanging on, and she’s turned to alcohol to cope. Shame and fear consume her.
As Nate and Brenna deal with the present—including new information about that fateful night and a wildfire that’s threatening their town—the past keeps igniting. Nate is the steady force Brenna has so desperately needed. But she’ll have to learn to trust him again first.
Praise for Smoke Screen:
“Full of secrets, lies, and with a visceral impact that grabs from the first sentence, Smoke Screen is Terri Blackstock at her finest.” —Colleen Coble, USA TODAY bestselling author
“Terri never fails to deliver a plot that moves, well-developed characters who are real, flawed, and relatable . . . Just a word of warning if you decide to pick up this book—don’t plan to do anything else until you finish it.” —Lynette Eason, bestselling, award-winning author
Terri Blackstock has sold over seven million books worldwide and is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author. She is the award-winning author of Intervention, Vicious Cycle, and Downfall, as well as such series as Cape Refuge, Newpointe 911, the SunCoast Chronicles, and the Restoration Series. Visit her website at www.terriblackstock.com; Facebook: tblackstock; Twitter: @terriblackstock.
By Terri Blackstock
Twisted Innocence
Truth Stained Lies
Season of Blessing
By Terri Blackstock and Beverly LaHaye
Showers in Season
Seasons Under Heaven
By Beverly LaHaye and Terri Blackstock
Shadow in Serenity
Read the Full Bio
© 2021 TNZ FICTION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SITE DESIGN BY CLEARLY MEDIA.
PRIVACY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS | CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS | DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
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Symposium highlights undergraduate summer research
More than 200 students, professors, and trainees gather online to celebrate undergraduate research discoveries
DeAnna Kweens, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute
In earlier years, Anjola Adeboye would have been sharing her summer experience in-person. This summer, students adapted, and Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), Owerko Centre and Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) joined forces to create an online version of the 2020 Summer Student Symposium.
The annual showcase event features undergraduates presenting their research to each other and the broader university community. During the virtual event on Aug. 28, more than 130 undergraduates from seven UCalgary faculties, in all years of study and stages of research, presented on topics from exercise and chronic pain, to brain inflammation.
Throughout the summer, ACHRI STEP, the Owerko Centre and the HBI Trainee Organization (HBITO) offered summer students several skill-building workshops including how to prepare for presenting their research.
“This summer has been a rather atypical but heuristic and deeply fulfilling process,” says Adeboye, a second year Bachelor of Health Sciences student at the Cumming School of Medicine.
I was ecstatic to present my research on the reliability of Google Street View for virtual audits at intersections due to the possibilities of using this technology in future epidemiological research.
“My study compares existing in-person audits of child bicyclist routes with virtual audits of 75 sites in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto. Of those sites, 13 were intersections.” Adeboye says, “Virtual auditing proves to be a promising tool in evaluating the physical makeup of where we live, learn and work.”
Overall, Adeboye says presenting virtually at the symposium was a blast and it was an honour to present alongside her talented peers. “My entire summer student experience gave me a newfound appreciation for the scientific community and the scientific process.”
Students and trainees from the HBITO were instrumental in planning the symposium, organizing the presentations, and hosting the all-day celebration.
Dr. William Ghali, PhD, vice-president (research) kicked off the event. “By gathering online during the symposium, summer students are building the scholarly community,” he says. “This event is the next step in their research career — and I’m proud to say that leading researchers are in our midst.”
Ghali reflected on his time as a summer student in gastrointestinal research and was amazed at the flexibility of the summer students.
They have been more creative and innovative than ever this summer. The ingenuity students have learned during COVID will serve them well throughout their careers.
The symposium featured keynote speaker Dr. Pierre Wijdenes, PhD, BMEN’17, postdoc in the Syed lab, and CEO at Neuraura, a company that uses fully implantable medical devices to improve the lives of those with neurological, psychiatric and sensory conditions. Neuraura began as collaboration with the University of Calgary between the HBI at the Cumming School of Medicine and the Schulich School of Engineering.
“Students should follow their gut and be mindful of their environment,” says Wijdenes. ”The whole world can be their playground. Get out and explore. Even if you fail, you fail forward.
"Sometimes we forget to ask students what they really want to do and where they want to end up. The answers to these questions are the best ways to support their futures and happiness."
In previous years, the ACHRI and HBITO have had their own symposiums celebrating summer student research. This is the first year that the ACHRI and HBI have teamed up with the Owerko Centre to bring more students together and share knowledge.
Work experience previews a career path for novice engineering students
Nursing students help spread the word about aging and Alzheimer's
Design students inspired by Tsuut’ina culture, ancestral practices
Future Alumni Network: Build leadership skills, meet top alumni and create campus traditions
Learning shifts from UCalgary classrooms to the workplace
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The Members Run This Union
Getting the Facts on Outsourcing and Privatization Cost
Heres the problem. The Union Committee at Bermuda Taxhaven Inc. is called into the production manager's office. "I just want to give you advance notice that we are going to outsource all the machining work on our Useless Gizmo line. We wont expect any layoffs right away, people will be absorbed on other work but the OT will disappear." Al Ciafarro the Chief Steward asks, "Whats the reason for this?" The plant manager replies, "We can get it done for a lot cheaper and they guarantee the quality." "Can we get copies of all the information, like what it costs to make the Gizmos here and what you will be paying for them?" asks Al. "Well if you are making an official request I guess I have to give it to you, but youll see that were making the right decision."
Heres another situation. The Personnel Manager of the Town of Quincy calls the union into his office. "Youll hear about this anyway so I thought Id tell you first. We are putting out a Request for Bids for someone to run the waste-water treatment plant." Freddy Legomyleg, the Local President says, "You mean youre going to privatize the treatment plant." "Call it what you want, we think we can save the town a lot of money this way. Youll likely all be hired by the new company so you dont have to worry," says the manager. Freddy replies "We would like to see the proposal they will be bidding on and all the information on what it has cost each year for the last two years to run the Treatment plant."
Make or Buy?
In both situations the union knows that they will have a fight. Although there are differences in the situations, one common task will be for the union to analyze the employer's figures and then come up with a proposal of their own. In many private sector cases this is called a "make or buy" situation. That is, can the union prove that they can make the product for the same price it costs the employer to buy the product.
What is the Real Cost of Making a Product or Providing a Service?
This will be the biggest fight and it is key to proving the union's case.
Typically management will give the union a breakdown of the cost per piece that includes the following:
Wages and Benefits (Labor)
Manufacturing Overhead
Assessments and Other Costs
Wages and Benefits are usually fairly obvious. If an employee earns $30 per hour in wages and benefits and produces 100 pieces per hour then the wages and benefits per piece are $30 divided by 100, or 30 cents per piece. Be careful that employers dont count some benefits twice, such as computing the yearly cost of benefits, and then adding in an additional figure for vacations.
Materials: These costs can be checked to see if they are accurate.
Manufacturing Overhead: This is usually a fixed figure that they add to everything. It is supposed to cover utilities, maintenance costs, building costs, salaries for non-production workers (white collar, engineering), advertising and many other items.
Assessments and Other Costs: This is a catch-all category that needs to be examined. Many parent companies charge their branch firms a "fee" each year for being allowed to operate. Supposedly this "pays" the parent company for helping them operate. It is really just a way for a parent company to take profits out of a subsidiary but call it something else.
It is in the Manufacturing Overhead and "Other" Category that We Have the Biggest Problem
Here is the problem. The employer will assign a cost per piece based upon all these categories. But in most cases the costs associated with overhead and assessments do not disappear when a company outsources parts. The company still has to pay all the overhead and still has to make payments to the parent company. Even if the management lays off some union members they rarely lay off engineers, white collar etc. They still have to make payments on the building and pay utilities.
Corporate accounting systems that count overhead costs and assessment costs are called "fully allocated cost systems." These are perfectly fair when an employer is trying to calculate what it costs to make products in-house, but unfair when comparing them to what it costs to outsource production.
The accounting system which only looks at costs that will actually change by outsourcing is called a "marginal costing method."
The first task of the union is, therefore, to examine the employer's figures to see if they are using a "fully allocated cost system." This means that they would be including as part of the cost per piece of the items that are manufactured in house, costs that will remain with the company even if they outsource production.
The only real way to make a comparison between products produced in-house and products produced through outsourcing is to only compare what money is REALLY saved, if any.
In many cases once the overhead costs and assessment costs are removed from the figures, the cost per piece of in-house production can be cut by one-third to one-half.
Figuring the Real Costs of Outsourced Parts
Often times management will give the union just one cost for the parts they are outsourcing. They will claim that they have a contract with the outsourcing company that guarantees 100 per cent quality. This may be true but there are still many hidden costs to outsourced parts. Here are some items that may not have been included when the company compared costs. The union should demand the cost of these items and make sure that they are tacked onto the cost per piece of outsourced parts:
1. Shipping and handling costs. Is the supplier providing shipping or does the company have to pay to have the parts shipped? Once the parts are delivered they must be moved into production. These costs (shipping, wages, benefits, overhead etc.) per piece should be added onto the cost of outsourced parts.
2. Legal fees, engineering expenses, negotiation costs. Time and money was spent arranging the outsourcing and negotiating a contract with the outsourcing company. Blueprints had to be made up, specifications arrived at, test programs run with supervision from the company. All these costs must be allocated to the price of outsourcing.
3. Any time, materials, or resources spent on re-working outsourced material that isnt up to quality standards must be included in the cost of outsourced parts. Although the parts are supposed to be 100% good, in real life this never happens. So any time workers spend inspecting parts or having trouble with parts must be charged against the outsourced parts.
4. Idle machinery and idle space does not help pay overhead costs. Therefore overhead costs must be allocated to parts that are outsourced, not shifted onto the parts produced in-house.
Public Sector Hidden Costs
In the public sector, unions have a bit of an advantage in that most data is part of the public record, and therefore the union has a right to see everything. By carefully examining the Request for Bids, and by looking for what is OMITTED, the union can get a clue to the hidden costs of privatization or outsourcing. In the case of the attempted privatization of the waste water treatment plant an examination of the data would show that the town would still have to buy and replace worn or damaged equipment. Since the town would still have these costs, they should be ADDED to any bid made by an outside company. The same is true for maintenance costs. Would the new company have access to using town maintenance employees to repair vehicles or equipment? Who would plow snow in the winter time in the waste water treatment areas? If the town retains these functions, then their costs should be added onto the bid of the new company.
Using Public Hearings
When privatization is threatened there usually must be public hearings, which maybe televised on cable TV. At these hearings the union should come prepared to question the local officials and the companies bidding on the privatization. Ask hard questions like, "How much profit are you guaranteed? Where will this profit come from? What services will you receive from the town? Are you going to cut workers pay and benefits? Are you guaranteeing the facilities will be in the exact same condition when or if they are returned to the town?"
Tips for Stewards
Whenever the union is engaged in a fight against outsourcing or privatization there is one thing that is key, information.
If the employer is bringing in outsourced work then the union needs details on quality, how much time union members spend on re-working parts, moving parts etc. If the employer is contemplating outsourcing or privatization then the union needs detailed information on how the services could be done more efficiently or parts produced more efficiently.
In many cases only the steward is close enough to the action to gather this information over an extended period of time.
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Alternatives to Layoffs
Management Schemes Part 1 - History
Management Schemes Part 3 - Putting Together a Plan
Plant Closings (WARN and Warning Signs)
Privatization Doesn't Pay!
Saving Jobs In The Public Sector
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Management Schemes Part 2 - A Short Glossary of Terms
Protecting Jobs, Union Wages and Benefits
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4. Can Souza or Whittaker pass Romero?
The middleweight division is the UFC’s most crowded. Not only is it loaded with high-profile fighters, but they’re all riding big win streaks. Champion Michael Bisping will fight Georges St-Pierre next and Yoel Romero is assumed to be the challenger in waiting. And don’t forget about Gegard Mousasi, who just finished Chris Weidman at UFC 210 for his 7th win in eight fights.
Souza or Whittaker would have to put on an epic performance in Kansas City to move past Romero. But Bisping vs GSP still isn’t scheduled and if Romero decides to wait that out, it’s possible Souza or Whittaker could continue improving their resumes to go for Romero’s spot in the meantime.
Holm-Correia set to headline Singapore Fight Night
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Contact Toyota
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Hampton Downs to host 2019 Toyota Festival
28 February 2019 / Corporate
Hundreds of Toyota enthusiasts are expected to descend on north Waikato’s Hampton Downs Motorsport Park on Saturday 30 March to celebrate the 2019 Toyota Festival.
Now in its seventh year, the Toyota Festival has become an annual highlight for enthusiasts of the company and its wide variety of sports and performance models, 4WDs, SUVs and even humble previous generation bestselling models in mint condition like the Corolla.
“The Festival is our way of saying thank you to the wider Toyota family for supporting us and giving something back to them,” says Andrew Davis, Toyota New Zealand’s General Manager of Marketing and Motorsport.
“The variety of models they bring along seems to increase every year. And with the passing of time we inevitably are getting a small number of older and increasingly rare models.”
Previous models of the Supra sports car will get special attention in 2019 as a lead up to launch of the all new Supra later this year.
All Supra owners who arrive in their Supra will be eligible to join an online poll to find the best Supra and be in to win a prize.
A variety of activities will be available for enthusiasts including laps of the track in their own Toyota, or track sessions and tuition with Toyota Racing New Zealand expert drivers. Another option is drift sessions on the club circuit.
The popular off-road course provides a chance for 4WD owners to try out their vehicle with tuition available.
“All of these events have become so popular that participants need to pre-register as the number of spaces available fill up quickly,” says Mr Davis.
The Gymkhana time challenge will be held again, and the Show and Shine competition will cater for different classes, depending on the age of the vehicle.
Festival goers will have the opportunity to win a track ride in a NZ V8 Camry driven by Chelsea Herbert. Castrol Toyota Racing Series Simulators will be set up and there will be tours of the Toyota Racing New Zealand workshop, where all the single seaters and 86s, competing in the Castrol Toyota Racing Series and Toyota 86 Championships, are prepared.
The Festival will also have displays by different groups of owners – 86 Owners, NZ GT Four (Celica) Owners, Soarer Owners, MR2 owners and NZ Supra Owners – highlighting their particular type of Toyota pride and joy.
The Festival started in 2013 in support of an 86 Owners Club and MR2 Club track day and expanded in 2014 to cater for all Toyota owners. Alternating between the North and South Islands it has quickly grown to be the biggest individual marque track day of the year in New Zealand.
There is free entry and parking for all who attend.
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Home Latest News ‘You got it’: how bird flu turned one US farmer’s life upside...
‘You got it’: how bird flu turned one US farmer’s life upside down
In April 2015, Greg Langmo’s five turkey farms teemed with toms, hens and chicks. His family’s decades-old business in Meeker county, Minnesota, was thriving, and the hundreds of thousands of birds he bred and sold each year were healthy.
And then, late one evening, Langmo’s phone rang. Birds in one of his barns, usually active, were sitting, unable to make the short walk to their feeders and waterers. The following morning, he found hundreds of limp, white-feathered bodies. Langmo sent some dead toms to the University of Minnesota’s veterinary diagnostic laboratory. That night, the farmer lay sleepless. Again, his phone rang. It was a vet from the lab: “You got it.”
Langmo’s farms had been hit by the Eurasian/North American H5N2 strain of lethal avian influenza, which – along with another lethal strain, Eurasian H5N8 – rampaged across poultry farms in the American west and midwest between December 2014 and June 2015. A third strain, Eurasian/North American H5N1, was detected in nearly 100 wild birds by US wildlife biologists.
It was the first time a foreign strain of bird flu – H5N8 – had entered North America and mixed with mild bird flu viruses. It’s one of many lethal bird flu outbreaks to kill billions of birds and cost billions of dollars over the past hundred years. Such losses are part of the reality of farming today.
Lethal avian influenza’s advent is strongly linked to the development of modern agriculture, which created a global network of disease incubators – industrial farms in some parts of the world, live animal markets in others – linked by trading routes, movement of labourers and equipment, and migration of wild birds.
Critical diagnosis
Soon after the diagnosis, says Langmo, “the rest of the birds began dying by the bushel”. To stop the spread, Langmo and his employees killed survivors with a swift crack to the back of the head. Within three days, virtually all 11,000 toms in the infected barn were dead.
Then they moved into the other barns. Workers from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) arrived and doused any live birds with water-based foam – an asphyxiant used to mass-euthanise poultry in emergencies only. Foam flowed across the floors, bubbling like a choppy sea, the turkeys beneath it gasping for air. Fifteen minutes later, all were dead.
“Only other poultry farmers will know the helpless feeling of losing a great flock of birds,” Langmo reflected. He lost 225,000 turkeys across five farms.
Langmo was one of 211 American commercial poultry farmers who battled bird flu during the 2014-15 outbreak, the worst the $40bn (GBP31bn) US poultry industry has experienced. Twenty-one flocks on backyard farms were diagnosed and destroyed. Nationwide, more than 50 million chickens and turkeys died from the virus or were killed to control it. American commercial poultry farmers lost about $1.6bn. The US poultry industry lost an estimated $3.3bn.
“This outbreak was … arguably the most significant animal health event in US history,” says Dr Julie Gauthier, assistant director for poultry health at USDA-APHIS.
Deadly history
Lethal bird flu – originally “fowl plague” – was first diagnosed on Italian farms in 1878. While poultry die-offs reported before 1878 may have been bird flu, this was the first time scientists distinguished the virus from bacterial poultry diseases, such as fowl cholera.
Subsequent research revealed that bird flu is an influenza-A virus. These viruses are rarely lethal and often mildly afflict their natural hosts. But lethal influenza-A viruses, which mutate in and emerge from the bodies of domesticated animals, are known to infect and kill not just poultry, but birds, horses, swine, bats, dogs and even humans.
The emergence and coexistence of three hybrid lethal bird flu strains – H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8 – in the US during the 2014-2015 pandemic underscores the ability of influenza-A viruses to rapidly mix, transform, infect and persist.
Lethal bird flu viruses have emerged more frequently as poultry farms have expanded capacities and quickened animal-rearing rates over the past 50 years. In the 37 years from 1959 to 1995, these viruses emerged 14 times globally, about one outbreak every 2.6 years; while in the 13 years from 1996 to 2008, they arose 11 times, about one outbreak every 1.2 years.
These species don’t mix
Scientists and farmers are divided over the best way forward. In terms of prevention, should birds be kept inside, which would reduce potential contact with wild birds? Should large-scale movement of animals (industrial farming depends on the transportation of large populations of birds after breeding and for slaughter) be scaled down? That is one of the key vectors by which the disease may be spread.
Some regions of the world look to good farm hygiene and high levels of biosecurity, where infected birds are confined and killed to eradicate disease; others, particularly in countries with many outdoor industrial farms, struggle with implementing biosecurity and may lack available veterinary care, so they allow diseases to circulate, using vaccines to reduce illness and mortality.
“[Vaccines] do not prevent birds from becoming infected with the avian influenza virus or from producing and shedding the virus into the environment,” says Gauthier, adding that up until now culling birds was the preferred solution in the US.
Constant threat
Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, a UK-based animal protection organisation, believes that establishing a network of small farms serving local communities is one powerful possibility, because it reduces the need for transporting animals, farm labourers and equipment. Scientists are recognising the benefits of giving birds more space – research shows chickens stressed by overcrowded living conditions typical to commercial farms have diminished immunity to disease.
After a major avian influenza outbreak in Thailand from 2004 to 2005, experts determined that industrial farms were more likely to be infected than backyard farms. In the Netherlands, after a 2003 outbreak, scientists suggested that thinning commercial flocks could prevent the next epidemic.
“When you confine animals in these filthy, crowded, stressful conditions, just like humans, they become breeding grounds for disease,” says Baur.
After considering his financial losses from the 2014-2015 pandemic, Langmo spent a year rebuilding his business, downsizing from five farms to two. He says he’s boosted biosecurity by cutting cross-traffic, checking birds’ health more frequently and improving sanitation with routine deep-cleanings.
“After a thorough sanitisation, each barn literally needs to be as clean as your kitchen, no feathers, no nothing”, says Langmo. “It’s very expensive.”
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Is the boom in communal living really the good life?
The government will find taking back control brings its own headaches | Anand Menon and Alan Wager
From dolphins to rewilding: 11 environment-aware holidays for 2021
Trading With Politics
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New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets, 10/25/19 Prediction & Odds
Knicks vs. Nets Prediction
The New York Knicks and the host Brooklyn Nets each lost their season opener two nights ago. Which side will earn their first victory of the season when the rivals do battle tonight?
537 New York Knicks at 538 Brooklyn Nets
Barclays Center at 7:40PM ET
According to oddsmakers, the Nets are a 9-point favorite to win on the spread line. The total is set at 225.5 points. As of Friday morning, 60 percent of public bets are coming in on host Brooklyn. Check out our NBA Public Betting Page for the latest information.
Knicks falter in fourth
New York lost by a score of 120-111 Wednesday night in its season opener at San Antonio. The Knicks were outscored 37-27 in the fourth quarter of the defeat. Julius Randle paced New York with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting including 1-of-4 from 3-point range and 4-of-6 from the free throw line to go with 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Marcus Morris Sr. tallied a team-best 26 points to go with four boards and three steals. R.J. Barrett became the second-youngest player to score at least 20 points in his NBA debut as he accounted for 21 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Kevin Knox tallied 13 points and five rebounds off the bench. Elfrid Payton added 11 points, eight assists, five steals and two rebounds as a reserve.
Irving has huge Nets debut
Brooklyn dropped its opener at home Wednesday night against Minnesota as it fell by a count of 127-126 in overtime. The Nets overcame a 12-point halftime deficit, but then blew a fourth quarter lead before being outscored 12-11 in the extra session. Kyrie Irving poured in 50 points in his Nets debut as he shot 17-33 from the field, 7-of-14 from 3-point range and 9-of-10 at the free throw line to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Caris LeVert pitched in with 20 points, five boards, four assists and three steals. Taurean Prince had 15 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals. Joe Harris contributed 14 points, four rebounds and two assists. Spencer Dinwiddie added 14 points, three boards, two assists and two steals off the bench.
The Knicks are 0-8 ATS in their last eight Friday games. New York is 4-9 ATS in its last 13 games overall.
The Nets are 1-5 ATS in their last six home games. Brooklyn is 0-4 ATS in its last four games versus the Atlantic Division.
The Knicks fought valiantly into the fourth quarter at the Spurs two nights ago, but let's be realistic. This isn't a very talented team and there is a definite youth movement that is going to have its fair share of low moments. Barrett had a surprisingly good debut, but it wouldn't shock many people to see him throw up a dud tonight. There's a definite learning curve in the NBA and no one sparkles consistently right off the bat. I think the Nets learned a few things the other night and with Irving showing he wants the ball in his hands in all situation, this seems to be another game where he can dominate offensively but in a decisive win this time.
NBA DAILY PREDICTION: BROOKLYN NETS -9
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MICOR FINALLY to Start Shipping Leader50 Semi-Auto Bullpup 50 BMG Rifles
by Nick Leghorn |
We first talked about this gun on February 28… of 2011. It has taken over a year and a half for MICOR to take their concept for a 50 BMG bullpup rifle from the drawing board to full production, and now you too can own one of these compact yet massively overpowered firearms for the low, low price of $10,000. Well, actually you can’t have it just yet — they’re only taking pre-orders right now. Pre-orders, to the tune of $2,000 a pop. Needless to say we’ve asked for one for testing and evaluation, but if you can’t wait and want one for yourself head on over to their site where you can plunk your cash on a pre-order.
Ben H says:
Time to sell a kidney…
The way the butt pad looks on that doesn’t look comfortable at all. We’re talking 50bmg here.
The .50 cal in bullpup config has never appealed to me. The thought of having a catastrophic failure with a round that big, that close to my face scares the hell out of me. I fire a 5.56 bullpup a lot. I figure if that lets go with a kaboom, the receiver will likely save my face (for the most part). .50 cal? Not so sure. Could a kaboom even be life-threatening?
Moonshine7102 says:
Their website claims the breech mechanism is machined from maraging steel. Yield strength and ultimate tensile strength for this type of material are measured in giga-pascals (layman’s version: tougher than the brick sh!t-house you hear so much about). If their claims are accurate, I would have no qualms about firing this weapon. I’d also want to see documentation of their alloying/machining/heat-treat process first.
nonnamous says:
The higher the strength, the less toughness….jus’ sayin’
Dyspeptic Gunsmith says:
Actually, without doing an engineering dissertation on maraging steels, the ability to resist brittle fracture at higher strengths and hardnesses is their primary sought-after attribute. That’s why you choose a maraging steel over a carbon-alloy steel: you want to prevent crack formation and propagation in the piece.
Here’s typical attributes of maraging steel:
http://www.steelforge.com/metaltidbits/maraging.htm
I have to give MICOR full credit for using modern materials technology where it counts in a firearm, even tho I’m certain that doing so contributed to part of the lofty price here.
16V says:
Dyspeptic Gunsmith, It is so nice to have someone else who knows how to science.
I do wonder if they cryo it too, for that last engineering margin?
As a welding engineer who doesn’t know much about maraging steels, please, dissertation-ize away.
Interesting how its got so much Ni and still gets martensite to form.
People say the same thing about the RFB, but there have been numerous case head seperations and over charged proof loads put thru them. The operators of those weapons suffered the same severity of injuries you would receive in similar circumstances with a convential rifle.
A .50BMG bullpup makes as much sense as a pistol bayonet.
SCS says:
Have to agree.
bloodyspartan says:
The Shorter the Weapon , the shorter the Arc.
Though the website is painfully light on actual specs, it’s like to have a similar barrel length to a Mattel gun in .50BMG.
Kain says:
Note: I have a pistol bayonet for my glock, made by Ka-Bar. I am currently convincing my accountant that I NEED one of these…
GS650G says:
Great for those stray elephants in your backyard.
Compact and massively overpowered? What’s not to like?
Oh, right. The $10k price tag. Details…
Ugliest .50 I’ve ever seen. No thanks to bullpups.
NOT lefty-friendly
Rambeast says:
Matt in FL says:
I want someone I know to buy one so I can shoot it.
Billy Wardlaw says:
Man is that thing ugly! Please send it to Kel-Tec for a make over.
LOL now THAT is funny! +10
It looks reminiscent of a bushmaster m17s
J- says:
Same designer.
“10-round detachable box magazine of proprietary design”
Exceedingly bad move. There’s already a heavy-weight (so to speak) in the .50 BMG semi-auto market. It would have been an excellent investment to just pay said heavy-weight the royalties and use their magazines. Or even better, design your magazines and mag well such that the two mag types are interchangeable. At least on your rifle…
I wish I could afford one, or even afford to feed one. Sadly i’d have to sell all my guns and my car to buy this.
And whats up with the carry handle/optics mount? Did these guys go out of their way to offset the optic as much as possible from the barrel?
And I wonder how pissed off the people on the benches next to you would be if you were to shoot this?
I was at an indoor range in Utah that rented full auto guns and silencers. They also had a barret 50 cal. I don’t remember the rental rate on the gun but the ammo was ungodly expensive, something on the order of 8-10 bucks a pop. And they let you shoot it indoors. I passed, there’s just some abuse even I won’t endure.
It depends on the baffle angles on the comp.
I’ve been on some ranges with .50 BMG’s with big, clamshell-like comps, where the guys on either side of the .50 on the firing line are just fine. Yes, it’s noisy, but it’s no more offensive (and perhaps less offensive) than a “conventional” hunting rifle in some high-pressure magnum round – like a .300 WM, .338 WM, .300 Wby, etc.
But if you’re standing to the rear and off to the side of the shooter… holy crap. You don’t so much “hear” the report as feel the shock wave ripple through your guts – literally. Guys who have been in the military in tube arty have told me you get the same sensation near the big guns. First time it happens to you, it’s highly discomforting.
Didn’t I see some years ago a long stroke recoil operated .50 BMG bullpup? I read somewhere that the recoil on that was on par with a 12 gauge, even though it was light (for a .50) because of the long recoil action. A gas operated rifle just makes no sense, it’s sending all the recoil back to the shooter.
Not if you do it right. (Not saying they do.)
1freeman1951 says:
That would be the Barrett M82A2, Designed to be fired off the shoulder like the bazooka. The quick handling characteristics allowed for use against highly mobile targets such as helicopters. Not very PC. Wish Barrett would re-introduce it to the market. Or perhaps Serbu could make a bullpup version of their BFG-50A which is essentially a gas operated Barrett M82A1.
Oddux says:
Ow, my ears. Stupid video.
إبليس says:
Why does a muzzle brake that huge need to be closer to a shooter’s face? How does triple heading protection work? Plugs, muffs, and then a pillow tied around your ears with twine?
Again, the worst of the blast from .50’s with brakes like this tends to be off the sides, to the rear of the muzzle.
Take another close look at the video. NB the camera’s focus shakes and get fuzzy at 0:16 to 0:17 – that’s when you can see the blast front pass over the camera from the brake.
1919a6 says:
Wow,massively overpowered? Isn’t this a Recoil Magazine type comment?
Also we as shooters need to remember the entire sport. Not just what we are into.
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Share this Story: New song to benefit Street Health Centre
New song to benefit Street Health Centre
The Whig-Standard
Kingston band the Gertrudes are donating the sales of the band's newest single, "Emergency to Emergency," to the Street Health Centre on Barrack Street. Supplied Photo
A local band aims to give the city’s Street Health Centre a financial boost.
The Gertrudes are donating the proceeds from their newest single, “Emergency to Emergency,” to the Kingston Community Health Centres-run facility, which connects those living with mental health challenges, substance use or addiction to health and social services.
New song to benefit Street Health Centre Back to video
The single is the second from the Gertrudes, who started playing and recording together again during the pandemic after a seven-year hiatus,.
The new song is based on the traditional Irish tune “Rocky Road to Dublin.”
“‘Emergency To Emergency’ is an attempt to express and reflect on some of the anxiety and profound sense of isolation so many people are experiencing at this time,” the Gertrudes’ Greg Tilson said in a news release.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in the social safety net and infrastructure, said Wendy Vyuk, who serves as the director of Community Health for KCHC.
“We are so touched by this effort by the Gertrudes to help us support our clients in this unique time,” Vyuk said in the same release. “This gift will make a difference to many lives and is a wonderful example of the power and generosity of our local community.”
To hear and purchase “Emergency to Emergency,” go to thegertrudes.bandcamp.com/track/emergency-to-emergency.
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Beach Communities
Q. Roo
2020 U.S. presidential elections
Expat Community
Yuca Planet
Historic Yucatan
Maya Universe
YucaTech
New Health Section
Yucatan hoteliers agonize during the “January Slope”
3 thousand jobs lost in Yucatan in December 2020
Trump’s return to the business world looks ‘very dark’.
Strange Bedfellows: Climate Disaster and the Financial Sector
COVID vaccine arrives in Tizimín, Yucatan
Headlines,
People wrap themselves up in plastic to hug mom on Mother’s Day
By Yucatan Times on May 12, 2020
CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO (May 11, 2020).- During this health contingency for COVID-19, two minors were completely covered with transparent plastic bags to visit their mother, who is a health worker in the northern state of Chihuahua.
Through a video that went viral on social networks, it could be seen how the woman left the Clinic Number 11 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in the city Delicias, Chihuahua, surprised to see the minors, who in turn hugged her and they gave him a couple of roses as a gift for Mother’s Day.
“We cannot be with the family, celebrate with our children, many colleagues are outside their homes, others have their children staying with their grandparents. We chose a profession that requires patient care and we demand care from the family; unfortunately today we had to celebrate Mother’s Day in isolation, through video calls and voice messages, to feel close to our loved ones ”, wrote Mayra, who recorded the moment of the meeting.
Thousands of doctors, nurses and other health workers who are in the first line of care for patients with COVID-19 have chosen to take preventive measures to avoid contagion and protect their family members.
According to the latest report from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), there are 365,980 people employed as doctors in Mexico, and 162,990 of them are women.
Yucatan Times
chihuahuadoctorhealth workersMexicomothermother's day
The arrival of tourism to the.
In December 2020, 2,999 jobs registered.
New York City’s recent decision to.
Tizimín, Yucatán, January 16, 2021.- Governor.
COVID-19 the most lethal assassin in Mexico.
Covid killed 10,000 Mexicans in 10.
State capitols and D.C. brace for potentially violent protests.
UNITED STATES (The Washington Post/AP) –.
Luxury sports car stolen in Ecatepec, Estado de Mexico found in Merida
Agents of the National Guard deployed.
The stucco mask of Ucanha, Yucatan a new discovery
MÉRIDA, Yuc.- The archaeological site of.
The National Rifle Association announced that.
As of today, limitations on DEA, CIA, and/or FBI agents in Mexico.
Starting today, any foreign agents in.
BUSQUE A UN MÉDICO
All Rights Reserved The Yucatan Times 2020
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Should You Watch 'The Crown,' Netflix's British Royal Drama?
By Kristin Hunt
Published on 11/14/2016 at 11:12 AM
Americans have been without a British king or queen since that whole dust-up back in 1775, but that hasn't stopped us from gawking at the royalty across the pond in the tabloids. Netflix is banking on this fascination with The Crown, a new period drama about Queen Elizabeth II's rise to power. The first season picks up in 1952 and depicts her early years on the throne, and Netflix plans to pump out five more seasons to take us all the way up to present day. Should you make an early investment in this monarchy, or rebel against it like a true American? Here's what you need to know.
Do you love BBC dramas?
The Crown is aimed at Anglophiles who already watch Call the Midwife, Poldark, or any other show featuring Brits in retro costumes. Previously, all those Downton Abbey diehards had to wait for PBS to pick up its shows months after they already aired in the UK. Now Netflix is muscling in on that territory in a big way. (A $100 million way.)
Like those shows, The Crown strives to immerse you in the past with its painstaking attention to detail. The series isn't just interested in the spectacular, flashy points of Elizabeth's life. It covers her opulent wedding and coronation, of course, but it spends much more time on quiet meetings between the hesitant new queen and her staff, or flashbacks to li'l Liz and her dad, who also wasn't keen to be king. If you already follow similar historical dramas on the BBC or ITV, you'll dig this deliberate approach. But if you don’t, The Crown can come off as awfully dense and slow.
Are you into salacious royal gossip?
The scandalous lives of English monarchs have fueled many titillating costume dramas. Hell, "movies about Henry VIII's dick" could be its own Netflix category. But much to the chagrin of slutty-history fans, The Crown doesn't really fit the bill.
That’s not to say the show doesn't have scandals: King Edward VIII's blasphemous marriage to a divorcée and Princess Margaret's similar attempts to wed a much older divorced dude come up. (Quick history refresher: Edward was Elizabeth's uncle; when he abdicated the throne, her dad became king. Margaret was Liz's younger sister.) Still, the tortured romances here are chaste as can be. There's no bodice-ripping to be found, just a lot of angsty hugs and wailing about decorum. Although Prince Philip's butt does manage to beat the odds with two on-screen appearances.
Are you a history nerd?
Despite a compelling performance by John Lithgow as the infamous Winston Churchill, The Crown is most interesting when it peers outside of Buckingham Palace. It touches on international affairs over the course of its 10 episodes, like Soviet testing of the H-bomb and foreshadowing the Suez crisis. In the standout episode "Act of God," the show devotes an entire hour to the Great Smog of 1952, when the entire city of London was choked with a lethal fog that killed 4,000 people. This wider perspective is one that any history geek will admire -- and it only makes Prince Philip's tantrums about flying lessons look even more frivolous.
Do you want to get mad about old gender standards?
You can't have an old-fashioned show without some old-fashioned sexism. When Elizabeth takes the throne, pretty much everyone around her doubts she can do it. Unsurprisingly, pretty much everyone around her is a man. She endures the most abuse from her own insecure husband, who devolves into a walking version of #MasculinitySoFragile as the show goes on. (Yes, Doctor Who fanatics, this means you have to watch Matt Smith play an enormous asshole.) This struggle to be taken seriously as a woman still resonates today.
Do you just wanna see some corgis?
The closest thing Elizabeth has ever had to a royal entourage is her arsenal of corgis. The queen has kept those dogs as pets her entire life, and won't even appear in an Olympics spot without them. So you'd think The Crown would cash in on the cute corgi action… except the dogs are limited to five or six all-too-brief cameos. Clearly, Netflix has no idea what those guys can do with a mini-pumpkin.
Kristin Hunt is a freelance writer for Thrillist and would love to grab drinks with Princess Margaret. Follow her on Twitter @kristin_hunt.
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The best Los Angeles theater of 2016
Los Angeles's theater scene has been top-notch lately, but these are the best productions we saw this year
By Dany Margolies Posted: Tuesday December 20 2016
In looking back at the most unpredictable year in most of our memories, one of the few things we could count on was the brilliance of theater in Los Angeles. Classics and soon-to-be classics, old musicals and new ones, solo shows and big-cast extravaganzas—we had it all. And whatever the vintage, the work seemed to speak to issues the nation has struggled with in every era, and we personally struggle with every day. So, narrowing down a list of the best of the best that quenched our constant thirst for story was a surprisingly tough but happy task, pointing out the quantity and quality of the art we’ve been blessed to see. So before you say hello to the new year, here’s a roundup of the 10 best productions of 2016.
Photograph: Joan Marcus
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder–Ahmanson Theatre
It may be based on the 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman, but this fresh new musical was the colorful frothy delight of this year. While the distant heir to a British earldom bumps off the relatives standing in his way, the comedy goes over the top and into wild orbit. One performer played all of the relatives—male, female, young, old, crazy and crazier. But the performers around him never faded by comparison, beautifully singing the lovely old-fashioned score as Darko Tresnjak’s state-of-the-art staging soared by.
Photograph: Courtesy A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun–Ruskin Group Theatre
The Younger family’s dreams may have been deferred in playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s 1958 classic, but this thoughtfully simmering production directed by Lita Gaithers Owens drew its audience into the cramped but immaculate home and made us watch our fellow humans endure crushing disappointments, and yet rise to try again. With actors at times a few feet in front of us, there was the chance of spotting “actorly” moments. But we saw none, only this family in ordinary and extraordinary circumstances.
Photograph: Courtesy Pantages
Cabaret–Pantages Theatre
Those who walked in expecting a cheery musical showing us “life is a cabaret” were in for a shock. But those familiar with this musical and its hard-hitting commentary on the easy rise of a hate-filled political regime were in for a bigger shock. Sam Mendes directed this version to highlight the garish ugliness of ignorance and the hellish consequences of turning a blind eye. He had help from a cast willing to “go there,” in particular Randy Harrison as the all-seeing, all-knowing, not-doing-enough Emcee.
Casa Valentina–Pasadena Playhouse
A place where a person can be his authentic self sounds like heaven. But apparently, where two or more people converge, no matter how nirvanic the setting, there will be conflict. And so it goes with the haven for cross-dressing men in this world created by playwright Harvey Fierstein. Thanks to Tom Buderwitz’s scenic design, the fully furnished two-story house revolved, allowing the audience into each room and each secret, shatteringly and provokingly revealed by the stupendous cast.
Photograph: Craig Schwartz
Disgraced–Mark Taper Forum
Perceptive and challenging, Ayad Akhtar’s script is so sharp it feels as if it left scars. Amir is an Indian-born Pakistani Muslim, now an Americanized attorney. He lives in a beautiful Upper East Side apartment with his Caucasian wife, Jen, who studies Islamic art. On this night, they have invited to dinner Amir’s African-American colleague at his firm and Jen’s Jewish-American art dealer. Thanks to a stellar cast under Kimberly Senior’s calibrated direction, the play built to a paralyzing blast of the explosives that too many people, despite our politeness, keep hidden deep inside.
Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)–Mark Taper Forum
In Suzan-Lori Parks
’ existential meditation on personal responsibility, a Civil War–era slave is offered his freedom on condition he join his master to fight the Union. The work borrows from Homer’s Odyssey, but the telling is all Parks’ poetry, touching on race, identity and morality while full of humor and surprise. The only downside to Jo Bonney
’s expansive staging and her cast’s universal yet personal characterizations was that the three-hour work seemed to slip by far too quickly, leaving us thirsting for the supposedly upcoming parts 4 through 12.
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale–Pacific Resident Theatre
Among theater’s fascinating women is Tennessee Williams’ Alma Winemiller, who wants to be adored by the boy next door, but who won’t pretend to be anything but her true self. In this revival, director Dana Jackson conjured the period details, then aimed straight for the script’s deep psychological study of Alma, John and their strangest of parents. A supporting cast of equally eccentric townsfolk and the genteel shabbiness of the scenic design set the stage, but Ginna Carter’s unusually likeable, strikingly realistic portrayal of Alma made this a once-in-a-lifetime theatergoing experience.
Photograph: Tim Sullens
The Engine of Our Ruin–Victory Theatre Center
In a luxury hotel suite “somewhere in the Islamic world,” American diplomats and ministers from that Muslim nation meet for what could politely be called negotiations and less-politely be called mind-messing. The participant with the biggest agenda, however, is the woman serving as their interpreter. This flawlessly acted, lavishly designed work written by Jason Wells and directed by Maria Gobetti let the audience be the biggest winner, as we learned once again that words are our best allies and worst enemies.
PhotographL Craig Schwartz
Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up–Kirk Douglas Theatre
Lucy Alibar’s solo-performance show required its audiences to listen with utmost attentiveness. Memories of her childhood as the bright daughter of a Southern lawyer who defended the defenseless are recounted in metaphors. Under Neel Keller’s direction, the evening stayed visually memorable, taking place in a knotty woods or a cluttered garage or perhaps the unfettered mind of Lucy’s young self. But it was the lessons of protecting our fellow beings, soothing the bullies, and respecting the oddballs that captured the audience’s hearts.
Photograph: Caught in the Moment
West Side Story–Musical Theatre West
An old musical based on an even older play pulsated with fresh life thanks not only to the surprisingly timeless material but also to the brisk but heart-wrenching direction of Joe Langworth. The cast looked young, but the skills required for this show didn’t just start in rehearsals. These kids were schooled, and it showed. The dancing could have passed for a national tour, the orchestra sounded like a Broadway pit, and a few of the voices were the stunners here, particularly a Maria who could take over where the Golden Age superstars left off.
Looking to see a show today?
Photograph: Gene Schiavone
The best Christmas shows and Nutcrackers in Los Angeles
This year's top-notch theater isn't over. Check out these seasonal shows while you still can!
Time Out Los Angeles Site map
© 2021 Time Out America LLC and affiliated companies owned by Time Out Group Plc. All rights reserved. Time Out is a registered trademark of Time Out America LLC.
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More E. coli illnesses linked to romaine lettuce, CDC says 67 people in 19 states sick
Kelly Tyko
An additional 27 people have been infected with a strain of E. coli linked to romaine lettuce, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Days after announcing the outbreak and issuing a safety alert for lettuce harvested in Salinas, California, the CDC released an update saying 67 people have been sick from 19 states.
This is up from 40 people from 16 states in the Nov. 22 advisory, which led to a call from the health officials to pull romaine lettuce from the California region from stores across the nation, and for restaurants to not serve the lettuce.
The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to the lettuce "to determine the source of contamination and if additional products are linked to illness."
The CDC is advising consumers to not eat – and retailers not to sell – the lettuce harvested in the region, including "whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and packages of precut lettuce and salad mixes which contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad."
E. coli outbreak alert:Do not eat any romaine lettuce from Salinas, California, CDC says
Pork recall 2019:515,000 pounds of pork products recalled because they were not inspected
Most romaine lettuce products are labeled with a harvest location showing where they were grown, according to the CDC. If it isn’t labeled with a growing region, don’t eat it, the CDC advises.
A total of 39 hospitalizations have been reported, the CDC said. Six people have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.
E. coli symptoms vary and can include abdominal cramps, nausea, fatigue and diarrhea. Symptoms usually begin within three to four days after eating or drinking items containing the bacteria. However, the CDC states that symptoms can start anywhere from one to 10 days after exposure.
Banned from Facebook and Twitter, pro-Trump extremists hatch Inauguration Day violence in dark reaches of the web Christopher & Banks store closing sales: All locations liquidating after retailer files for bankruptcy protection Despite stimulus help, fewer than 4 in 10 Americans could pay for an emergency $1,000 expense The Daily Money: Subscribe to our newsletter Dog food recall expands: More than 70 dogs have died and 80 pets sick after eating Sportsmix pet food
The illnesses started Sept. 24 and cases have been reported through Nov. 14, the CDC said, noting 67% of people sick were female. The ages of those sickened range from 3 to 89 years, with a median age of 25.
Wisconsin has the most cases with 21 up from 10 previously reported, followed by Ohio with 12, and California and Maryland had four cases.
Arizona, Idaho and Minnesota and Pennsylvania each has three cases. New Mexico, Texas and Virginia had two cases a piece.
The following eight states had one reported case each as of the Tuesday report: Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington.
“We are concerned about the potential for contaminated lettuce on store shelves and in people’s refrigerators," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases, in a statement sent to USA TODAY. "Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, it is critically important to avoid buying or eating romaine lettuce from the Salinas growing area so you can protect yourself and your family.”
Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko
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overnights June 19, 2019
Jane the Virgin Recap: No Cheating at Lotería
By Kathryn VanArendonk
Chapter Ninety-Four
Editor’s Rating 5 stars *****
Photo: Kevin Estrada/The CW
Remember how last week the whole recap was about how what I really wanted between Jane and Rafael was for them to sit down and have a long conversation with each other about their past? How important I felt like it was for them to acknowledge how rocky things have been, and how difficult it would be to feel like this time is really real? Well, guess what!
“Chapter Ninety-Four” hits a lot of buttons that I’ve been waiting for this season to get to, and I am just thrilled to pieces about it. First is the Jane and Rafael stuff. It feels like they finally talked things out in a way that made sense, incorporated everything that’s been happening between them all season, didn’t force Rafael to have a meltdown, and acknowledged Jane’s feelings. Jane is able to acknowledge all of Raf’s hurt feelings, and he can say honestly to her that it’s going to take a long time for him to feel like he trusts this. At the same time, Jane can say that it’s not fair for Raf to have expected her to do anything other than what she did — her husband came back from the dead! Insisting that Jane should’ve had no feelings for him at all is an unreasonable and unattainable standard.
Raf’s hurt feelings always made sense, but Jane finally tells him that she can’t be made to feel guilty for her actions, either. Cheating on your living spouse with a normal, has-always-been-alive third party is just never going to be the same as exploring a relationship with your used-to-be-dead husband. I’ll tell you what, the emotional logic of telenovelas is some advanced math.
It takes Jane a while to get to the point where she can make that statement, though. First comes Rafael’s proposal, which for me packed a much stronger emotional wallop than the big musical moment in the previous episode. The sweet smallness of his proposal during the family Lotería, the fact that he had to arrange it so everyone in the family would be there, the sense that the proposal was organized but not over-the-top … it was just perfect. Then, another crucial piece of this relationship for me: Mateo’s low-key response, which Jane and Raf initially worry is due to his new ADHD meds, and which they then discover is because Mateo is simply terrified. Like the rest of us, Mateo feels he has no reason to trust that this time they’ll actually get married. How can he feel safe that no one will come back from the dead, that no one will grow emotionally distant, or that no one will suddenly get in a huge argument and leave? His questions are more than justified.
The only way Raf and Jane can think to answer Mateo is to promise that they’ll get married immediately, something Raf is thrilled about and something Jane is obviously just doing her best to pretend she likes. One thing “Chapter Ninety-Four” does really nicely is make clear how much of Jane’s obviously masked reluctance is about trying to reassure Mateo, and how much of it is really about her ongoing guilt. She’s guilty that she couldn’t force herself to not be curious about Michael after he returned, but she’s just as guilty at the idea that she and Raf are not already married — not already in the process of building their new life together — because of her. She feels she has set them back, so of course she also feels like she has to yank them back onto the correct track, in spite of how rushed and half-baked it seems.
Rafael is not bothered at all by the slapdash idea of a courthouse wedding. Like Mateo, he is desperate for reassurance that this time it’s real, that this time they’ll make it work. His need for affirmation forces Jane to sacrifice her own feelings, and Jane’s misinterpretation of Petra’s plea to be a bridesmaid somehow gets Jane caught in a sewing machine, surrounded by mint-green tulle and repeatedly slamming her face against the machine’s case. Even this doesn’t make her insist that the wedding shouldn’t happen right now; she charges ahead, using cover-up to mask her bruises and wearing a neck brace, but trying to make the best of things.
At last, Jane and Raf have the conversation they most needed to have. Jane accepts it’ll take some time before Rafael trusts her again. Rafael listens while she points out that Michael’s return from death was not her fault, and she could only have done things the way she did. She promises now to keep choosing Rafael, and although they do not get married in this episode, it’s an exchange that is nearly as good as vows. (In order to help Mateo feel more secure, they also let him marry the two of them now. It’s sweet, but I am pretty sure that kid is not ordained, and I just don’t want him to walk around thinking he has that power now! Could be really awkward at school!)
Let’s see, what else, what else … oh right, Krishna and Petra were in cahoots this whole time! I am so thrilled for them! They pretended to have Krishna betray Petra so that Milos would give her the hotel shares, and then he did, and now Krishna’s going to transfer them back to Petra and get a huge payday!
Maybe even better, Jane and Petra have a beautiful moment when Jane tells Petra how frustrating it was to feel manipulated into making her the maid of honor, especially once Petra evinces zero appreciation for the work Jane put into Petra’s silly symbolic mint-green dress. Slowly, Petra has shifted into my very favorite character on this show. She tells Jane that she’s going to try to be less selfish, but then mutters, “But hey, it is who I am. So don’t expect, like, a huge change.” I love her so much.
And also, Xiomara has decided to go to nursing school! There’s something nice and plausible about Xo spending so much of her life running from what she sees as Alba’s fate, only to realize that the thing she wants is to become a nurse like Alba was. There’s something even nicer about it happening (in part) through a game of Lotería. We learn that the game played a role in Xo’s not becoming a performer at a young age — they played for her future, and her father cheated in order to try and protect her. This time it’s Alba who cheats, for the same reason. Ultimately, none of it matters, because it’s Xo who has to make the choice to go.
Jane and Rafael are getting married! Maybe Petra finally foiled Milos! To be continued!
From Our Narrator, With Love
• I truly loved the Lotería theme, including Our Narrator’s use of the stylized cards to represent various characters on the show. Especially the one for Petra, she who is “always wearing fancy shorts.”
• It’s also nice when Our Narrator reinforces an idea that Jane and Rafael haven’t quite seen the truth of yet, as when Mateo explains that he has no reason to believe she and Raf will actually get married. “Can’t blame that on ADHD medication,” Our Narrator interjects, when Mateo explains his reasoning. “You’re not wrong!”
#Rogelio
• I need to apologize. I spent this whole recap talking about things like Raf and Jane’s relationship, and how important and helpful their conversations were, and I devoted no space to what is actually the most significant plot development of this episode: Rogelio has to spend the entire episode wearing his tail from This Is Mars. It curls over his shoulder when he stands in the Villanuevas’ small kitchen. It wraps around his waist when he and Xo are in their living room, discussing her future. Finally, he masters its animatronics well enough that Rogelio can do some reshoots on the Mars pilot, including a scene where the tail shoots a gun and then reholsters it!
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jane the virgin season 5
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Shale Oil & Gas
Oil Rises to 11-month High
By Laura Sanicola January 12, 2021
© viking75 / Adobe Stock
Oil hit an 11-month high just below $57 a barrel on Tuesday, bolstered by Saudi Arabia's plans to limit supply, offsetting worries that rising coronavirus cases globally would curtail fuel demand.
Brent crude settled up 92 cents, or 1.7%, at $56.58 a barrel by after touching its highest level since last February at $56.75. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 96 cents, or 1.8%, to $53.28.
Saudi Arabia plans to cut output by an extra 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March to keep inventories in check.
The Saudi cut is part of an OPEC-led deal in which most producers will hold output steady in February. Last year's record cuts from OPEC and its allies helped oil recover from historic lows reached in April.
But OPEC+ compliance with pledged oil output curbs fell to 75% in December, among the lowest levels since the supply pact started in May 2020, tanker tracker Petro-Logistics said on Tuesday, which could weigh on oil prices.
U.S. crude oil production was also expected to fall by 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.1 million bpd, according to an Energy Information Administration report released on Tuesday, a smaller decline than its previous forecast for a drop of 240,000 bpd.
"Storage at Cushing is only 10.2 million barrels below the all-time record high, so there is no problem with supply here in the U.S., but the complex is responding positively to this chatter about undersupply," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.
Oil also gained on expectations for a drop in U.S. crude stockpiles. Analysts expect crude inventories to fall by 2.7 million barrels for a fifth straight week of declines.
The first of this week's two supply reports, from the American Petroleum Institute, is due at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT).
The market is also being supported by the prospect of increased economic stimulus in the United States. President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20, has promised "trillions" in extra pandemic-relief spending.
However, oil price gains were capped by demand concerns as coronavirus cases rise around the world.
Chinese authorities introduced new curbs in areas surrounding Beijing on Tuesday and Japan is to widen a state of emergency beyond Tokyo.
(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Additional reporting by Alex Lawler and Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by David Gregorio and Matthew Lewis)
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Our Fave Looks From the Chanel Métiers d’Art Show
Fashion, Street Style
Céline Dion is Launching a Gender-Neutral Kids Clothing Line
Eighty-five looks weaved around the Temple of Dendur at the Met on Tuesday night, but we distilled it to the 13 best for your viewing pleasure. The Christmas countdown is officially on! And how do we know? Because the Marks & Spencer Christmas advert has just hit screen. And the star is a certain Holly Willoughby – and her enviable wardrobe. We can’t stop thinking about the fabulous purple coat that she wears during the ad – which is FINALLY available to purchase now.
Although it was released in store earlier this month, you can now purchase it online for £89. The single-breasted design has already proved a massive hit on Instagram, due to not only the gorgeous wide lapels, the on-trend, oversize fit and super cosy wool texture – but also the fact that Vogue Williams, Holly and fashion blogger Erica Davies have all rocked it. Now if you don’t know who Erica Davies is – let us enlighten you. Erica is a huge fashion influencer and has always been a big fan of M&S, having single-handedly made THAT starry-print constellation dress a sellout last year.
Speaking about how to style the purple coat of dreams, the chic mother-of-two advised: “Do not fear the purple hue. It works SO WELL with navy blue, bright yellow (yes really), orange or red AND emerald green. It’s a completely useful shade if you want to inject some colour into your life. And who doesn’t want that? We couldn’t agree more, E.
Second earth deep abundantly winged appear air can’t earth
She added: “I used to feel like I could only wear a certain type of clothing and I think sometimes you just get stuck in a bit of a rut and wear the same thing over and over again and you create rules for yourself, you think ‘ooh I can’t wear trousers because I’ve got a big bum’ and you create some sort of rule book of your own and sometimes you’ve just got to go ‘right, I’m going to tear up that rule book and I’m going to experiment or I’m going to find my trouser, or I’m going to find my V-neck top or I’m going to find the place that does the perfect T-shirt’. It’s about finding the right things.”
“Anyone can get dressed up and glamorous, but it is how people dress in their days off that are the most intriguing.”
Ali, who gave birth to the couple’s baby daughter Isla in September, looked gorgeous in a black maxi dress that featured an off-the-shoulder neckline. Holly was also her typically stylish self, wearing a white summer dress, while Scarlett looked lovely in a zebra-print number.
Fashion, Shopping
MIDDLETON’S BABY’S NAME REVEALED
The gang, who were joined by their other female friends and I’m a Celeb co-host Dec, appeared to be in high spirits as they were pictured chatting and laughing. It’s all go-go-go for the cast as I’m a Celeb returns on Sunday night. This year’s celebrity campmates are expected to be revealed the day before but the various star sightings at Brisbane Airport have already given the game away.
Presenters Holly and Dec have also been drumming up excitement over on their social media accounts.
The This Morning star shared a photo of the pair on Instagram.
Holly and I are looking forward to welcoming you to Australia next Sunday night.
There’s only a week to go before I’m a Celebrity returns to screens, and ahead of the launch, show’s leading ladies have been enjoying some downtime together. Presenter Holly Willoughby, who has stepped in for Ant McPartlin this year, was pictured having a laugh with Scarlett Moffatt, who co-hosts the spin-off show, I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp. The TV stars were joined by Declan Donnelly’s wife Ali Astall on their day out in New South Wales, Australia. Photographed in a suitably verdant setting alongside her co-presenter, Holly looked ready to take on anything with a retro Cowgirl-esque outfit. Dressed in the supercool Danish brand Ganni, a.k.a the go-to designer for influencers worldwide, Holly wore the ultra cute ‘Salvia’ suede mini skirt in dark camel with frill detailing that buttoned all the way up at the front.
#chanel #issue #show
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China Unicom Cuts Forecast For CDMA as Sign-Ups Slow
By John RyanDow Jones Newswires
June 24, 2002 6:30 am ET
HONG KONG -- China Unicom Ltd. said it is slashing its subscriber forecast for its Code Division Multiple Access cellular-telecommunications services for the third quarter -- the second time since January that the company has cut subscriber estimates.
The company said late Sunday it would lease capacity for 4 million CDMA network subscribers in the third quarter and decide on fourth-quarter numbers before Sept. 30. The new third-quarter forecast is unchanged from second-quarter expectations.
Earlier this year, China's second-biggest mobile telecommunications provider was forecasting it would lease capacity for 15 million users this year. It subsequently slashed that forecast to 10 million users.
China Unicom's reduced expectations were matched by a price cut its parent, China United Telecommunications Corp., charges for the CDMA network. The parent, also known as Unicom Group, cut the quarterly lease fee by 17.7% to 61.4 yuan ($7.41) per customer from 74.6 yuan.
It didn't say when that price cut would come into effect. The price cut is a result of lower construction costs for the CDMA network, China Unicom said.
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Loos Memorial
Roll of Honour
Click Here for more Roll of Honour pictures
17175 Private
Percy Adams
9th Bn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
25th September 1915, aged 22.
Panel 57 to 59.
Lived at 17 Mount Pleasant Street, Burnley, Lancashire.
S/10047 Lance Corporal
John Alexander
"C" Coy. 6th Bn. Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
Panel 119-124
Son of William Alexander, "Gowanlea", Carstairs Junction, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Picture courtesy of great nephew, Les Stewart
S/3173 Private
John B. Allan
8th Bn. Seaforth Highlanders
25th September 1915, aged 20
Son of James Allan, of 9, Callon St., Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
Image courtesy of Joseph O'Raw and William Kilgour
Stanley Owen Allday
1st/5th Bn. South Staffordshire Regiment
13th October 1915, aged 19.
Son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy G. Allday, of 150, Hagley Rd., Edgbaston, Birmingham.
James Elliott Balfour-Melville
3rd Bn. attd. 2nd Bn. Black Watch, (Royal Highlanders)
Son of Leslie M. and Jeanie Amelia Balfour-Melville, of New Club, Edinburgh.
William Ballantyne
1st Bn. Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
After serving an apprenticeship (I don't know what) in Biggar, Lanarkshire, he went to London as a travelling salesman. In the 1911 census he was living as a lodger at 86 Grove Lane, Camberwell, London SE, and working as a 'Draper's Assistant'.
William joined the 14th Bn London Scottish Regiment as Private 1455 prior to the outbreak of WW1. He went to France on 15 Sep 1914, was wounded in November 1914, and was invalided back home. He rejoined his regiment in France in March 1915, and on 18 Sep 1915 was gazetted to the 1st Bn Black Watch, and was commissioned as 2nd Lt. He fell in action at Hulluch, France, during the Battle of Loos. He was 25 years old. His remains were never recovered and he is commemorated on Panels 78 to 83 at Loos Memorial, France.
Born 6 Feb 1890, at Drochil Cottages, Newlands, Peeblesshire.
Son of John and Christina Ballantyne.
Click on images above enlarge to enlarge
For details of William's brother John Ballantyne who also died in the war see
Tincourt New British Cemetery
Picture and information courtesy of Tom Lang
George Henry Bell
1st Bn. Welsh Regiment
2nd October 1915, aged 37.
Husband of Annie Bell, of 89, Hawkstone St., Dingle, Liverpool.
Albert Bickle
10th Bn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Son of Alice Ann Bickle, of 14, Whittam St., Burnley, and the late John Bickle. His father fell at the Dardanelles. Previously lived at 34 Calder Vale Road, Burnley.
G/1269 Private
Charles Henry Bolt
2nd Bn. Royal Sussex Regiment
Son of Mrs. Harriett Bolt, of Beacon House, Watersfield, Pulborough, Sussex.
There is an interesting account of the events leading up to the 25th September and the great loss of lives suffered on that particular morning on the following link: Click Here
Charles Henry Bolt's brother John Gordon Bolt also saw action in WW1 but survived despite a bullet hitting him which his wallet appeared to stop or deflect. Amongst the bundle of photographs, postcards and letters was this photo of his brother Charles and as you can see there is damage caused by the bullet. This incident must have happened sometime after 23rd December 1917 as there is a Christmas postcard with that date.
Pictures and Information provided by Colin Hill
James Henry Bullen
Son of James and Ann Bullen, of 134, Every St., Burnley.
Fred Burrows
Son of Mrs Burrows, 70 Railway Street, Nelson, Lancashire.
Prior to enlisting in November 1914, he worked as a doubler in the employ of Messrs. J. Nelson & Co.
Fred was killed in the attack on 25th September, 1915, along with another Nelson lad, Rennie Higson. Private Higson's cousin, William Wilton, who also served, wrote that both Fred and Rennie had been killed and were buried together, neither man's remains were identified after the war.
G/207 Private
William Stanley Bushell
6th Bn. Queen's Own, (Royal West Kent Regiment)
8th October 1915.
Panel 95 to 97
16332 Lance Corporal
David Butterworth
Son of Walter and Mary Alice Butterworth, of 39, Seed St., Blackpool.
David enlisted in Burnley and prior to this was a butcher in Blackburn.
Austin Button
Husband of Mrs Button, 114 Gordon Street, Burnley.
Prior to enlisting, Austin was a weaver at Messrs. Preston's, Burnley Lane, Shed. Last reported as "Wounded and Missing."
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This is why NORAD began keeping an eye out for Santa Claus
The United States Armed Forces, for all of its serious and mission-oriented mannerisms, has always gone out of its way to keep the magic alive around Christmas time. The Marines have Gunny Claus and Toys for Tots, the Army has celebrated with fun runs and lavish feasts, and the Navy, presumably, just drinks plenty of eggnog.
Meanwhile, the men and women of NORAD, a joint effort between the United States Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force, monitor the movements of Santa Claus so all the good boys and girls can know when he’s coming.
This yearly tradition is beloved by many, but it all started because of a simple typo and a good-spirited colonel.
I mean, how else would the kids know to get a hold of Santa?
(NORAD)
In the winter of 1955, Sears ran an advertisement in the Colorado Springs local paper encouraging people to call Santa Claus directly. The hope was that kids would call in and ask for a toy and Santa would tell them they could find it at their local Sears.
Problem was, no one ever got a hold of Santa. The number listed in the advertisement was off by one number, and it directed thousands of kids to call the extremely sensitive red phone of Col. Harry Shoup at the Combat Alert Center of NORAD.
This is what the NORAD command center has looked like ever since.
(NORAD Public Affairs, Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braym)
His number was only ever given to four-star generals and to the Pentagon. This was at the height of the Cold War, and this phone was only ever meant to ring if the Russians were expected to attack North America. And yet, it was ringing non-stop with requests for toys. He suspected that something was amiss when he received his first phone call asking, “is this Santa Claus?”
Shoup was a little annoyed and, apparently, made the child cry. Feeling guilty, he played along in hopes of getting to the bottom of what had happened. He asked the kid to put his mother on the phone, who was understandably upset at the thought of Santa making her child cry. She told him that the number was in a Sears ad. As a result, Shoup assigned lower-ranking airmen to answer the phone until he could take it down.
As troops do, they poked fun at Col. Shoup for his mistake. They placed Santa-themed decor all around the command center, just to egg him on. At the center of the room was a giant glass map that tracked all air traffic in North America, and on Christmas Eve, there was a crudely drawn Santa on his sleigh in one of the corners — just to drive the joke home further.
He asked his troops, “what is that?” They replied, “Colonel, we’re sorry. We were just making a joke. Do you want us to take that down?” In a his-heart-grew-three-sizes-that-day kind of moment, Col. Shoup smiled, walked over to the radio and said,
“This is the commander at the Combat Alert Center, and we have an unidentified flying object. Why, it looks like a sleigh.”
On the other ends of the radio, other military personnel and air traffic controllers weren’t in on the joke, but understood immediately. Because they, too, were working Christmas Eve night, they wanted in on some of the holiday spirit and continued asking for updates on Santa’s location.
The children still trying to call Santa would also be told of his whereabouts. The junior airmen would reply to the kids with a cheery, “he’s not in at the moment, he’s currently over Nebraska” or wherever Col. Shoup indicated he was.
Year after year, kids continued calling NORAD to get updates on Santa’s location and every year NORAD played along – presumably with a different phone number than the red phone on the commander’s desk. As time went on, NORAD began keeping tabs on Santa through their website and social media.
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NORAD Tracks Santa
Japan’s submarines are getting more lethal thanks to this upgrade
With more Chinese submarines roaming the Pacific and the Trump administration pushing US-made hardware, Japan is putting into play a new piece of gear that may give its subs an edge at sea and keep its defense firms afloat.
On Oct. 4, 2018, in the city of Kobe, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched the Soryu-class diesel-electric attack sub Oryu, the 11th sub in the class and the first to be equipped with lithium-ion batteries.
The Oryu has a number of upgrades over previous Soryu-class boats, which are the biggest diesel-electric subs in the world, but the biggest change is the batteries.
The JSMDF submarine Oryu at its launch on Oct. 4, 2018.
(JMSDF / Twitter)
Diesel-electric subs use power from their diesel engines to charge their batteries, which they switch to during operations or in combat situations in order to run quietly and avoid detection.
The lithium-ion batteries in the Oryu — which store about double the power of the lead-acid batteries they replace — extend the range and time the sub can spend underwater considerably.
Mitsubishi turned to Kyoto-based firm GS Yuasa to produce the new batteries.
The latter company said in February 2017 that Japan would be the first country in the world to equip diesel-electric attack subs with lithium-ion batteries, putting them on the final two boats in the Soryu class: the Oryu, designated SS 511, and its successor, designated SS 512.
Japanese officials at the launch of the JSMDF submarine Oryu, Oct. 4, 2018.
Previous Soryu-class subs used two Kawasaki diesel generators and two Kawasaki air-independent propulsion engines. (AIP allows nonnuclear subs to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen, replacing or augmenting diesel-electric systems.)
Both platforms have a top speed of 12 knots, or about 14 mph, on the surface and of 20 knots, or 23 mph, while submerged, according to Jane’s.
Soryu-class subs are outfitted with six tubes in their bow that can fire Japan’s Type 89 heavyweight torpedo. They can also fire UGM-84C Harpoon medium-range anti-ship missiles against targets on the surface.
Construction started on the 275-foot-long Oryu — which displaces 2,950 metric tons on the surface and 4,100 metric tons underwater — in March 2015. It’s expected to enter service with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force in March 2020.
The Oryu’s launch comes as Japan’s military and defense industry face pressure from two vastly different sources.
The Trump administration has been pushing Japan to buy more US military hardware, which Trump sees as a way to cut the trade imbalance between the two countries.
Japan, which has tried hard to court Trump, has beefed up its purchases of US-made gear. Tokyo spent about .5 billion through the US’s Foreign Military Sales program in the most recent fiscal year, after never spending more than about 0 million a year through fiscal year 2011, according to Nikkei Asian Review.
Those acquisitions have helped Japan get sophisticated US hardware but have been of little benefit for Japan’s defense industry, which has struggled to export its own wares. Additional purchases from the US are likely to leave Japanese firms with fewer orders.
Facing pressure from US military imports and with Chinese and South Korean firms gaining an edge in commercial shipbuilding, subs are the only outlet left for Japanese heavy industry, which has specialized technology and strong shipbuilding infrastructure, according to Nikkei.
A Chinese Shang-class (Type 093) nuclear-powered attack sub in the contiguous zone of the Senkaku Islands, January 2018.
(Japanese Ministry of Defense photo)
The Oryu also launches amid rising tensions in the East and South China Seas, where a number of countries have challenged Beijing’s expansive claims and aggressive behavior.
China has put “growing emphasis on the maritime domain,” the Pentagon said in 2018. Beijing can now deploy 56 subs — 47 of which are believed to be diesel or diesel-electric attack boats. That force is only expected to grow.
While those subs need to surface periodically, they can still operate quietly and strike with long-range anti-ship missiles — capabilities that likely weigh on the minds of US and Japanese policymakers.
Of particular concern for Tokyo is Chinese submarine activity in the East China Sea, around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which Japan controls but China claims.
In January 2018, a Chinese Shang-class nuclear-powered attack sub was detected in the contiguous zone around the islands — the first confirmed identification of a Chinese sub in that area. The presence of a concealed sub was seen by Japan as a much more serious threat than the presence of surface ships, and Tokyo lodged a protest with China.
Japan is using its own subs to challenge Beijing.
In September 2018, JMSDF Oyashio-class attack sub Kuroshiro joined other Japanese warships for exercises in the South China Sea — the first time a Japanese sub had done drills there, the Defense Ministry said.
The drills, done away from islands that China has built military outposts on, involved the Japanese sub trying to evade detection.
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The site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is on fire
Ukrainian authorities say a wildfire has broken out in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, where the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred in 1986, but radiation levels remained within safe limits.
“Radiation levels have not risen either inside the exclusion zone or in adjoining areas,” the zone’s administration said in a statement on June 5, 2018.
Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman wrote on Facebook that “radiation levels are safe. In Kyiv and in Chernobyl itself, including at the Chernobyl power station site, they are significantly below the acceptable limits. So there’s no need to worry.”
“I stress once more: the situation is fully under control,” he added.
The fire broke out in dry grass on the morning of June 5, 2018, in the area of high radiation less than 10 kilometers from the power station, and later spread over some 10 hectares of woodland, the state emergency service said in statements.
It published photographs of smoke billowing from woodland and flames spreading along the ground.
The state nuclear-industry regulator said the former nuclear power station was not at risk from the flames.
More than 130 firefighters were battling the fire as well as two planes and a helicopter that dumped water on the fire, the state emergency service said, adding that the wind was not blowing toward the capital, Kyiv.
Entrance to the zone of alienation around Chernobyl.
Wildfires occur regularly in the woods and grassland around the power station. In 2015, a forest fire burned for four days.
Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor, which is about 100 kilometers north of Kyiv, exploded in 1986 during testing in the worst such accident ever.
Radioactive fallout from the power station contaminated up to three-quarters of Europe, according to some estimates, with Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, all then part of the U.S.S.R., the worst affected.
A 30 kilometers radius around the power station is still an exclusion zone where people are not allowed to live.
The three other reactors at Chernobyl continued to generate electricity until the power station finally closed in 2000. A giant protective dome was put in place over the fourth reactor in 2016.
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How US soldiers keep Abrams tanks ready for action
The following is an interview with Sgt. 1st Class Robert Ford, one of the soldiers entrusted with maintaining the tank capabilities at Army Prepositioned Stocks-5.
Look through the pictures to see how Ford and a team of contractors reattach a turret on an Abrams M1A2. Ford also recently passed the board for entry into the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club, and he talks about what he learned.
With nine years of service, Ford is on his third overseas deployment, having served in both Afghanistan and South Korea. (The interview was edited for clarity and length.)
Abrams M1A2 tanks stored at an Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 warehouse at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Sept. 10, 2019. APS-5 is a massive amount of ground force equipment positioned to provide strategic planners options to win in the US Central Command’s area of responsibility.
(US Army photo by Kevin Fleming)
What is the most important thing to know about maintaining the Abrams M1A2?
Ford: The most important thing to know about the maintenance of tanks is that they are very big and very expensive. Even the smallest components can cost a lot more than the average military vehicle, which means it’s that much more important to get the maintenance on them right.
For example, the operation we recently did to put a turret back on a tank had to be completed with extreme care and precision as not to damage the vehicle. The cost of error is one of those things you can’t help but to think about when planning maintenance on these.
Sgt. 1st Class. Robert Ford, quality assurance for tanks, 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait, watches as contractors at Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 work to lift a 30-ton turret at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Sept. 23, 2019.
I noticed a huge team effort in putting the turret back on the tank. Is that a special event for people here?
Ford: We rarely pull turrets off or put them on, so every time it does happen it seems like it becomes a bit of a spectacle. That’s because we are lifting a 30-ton piece of equipment and moving it around with no room for error. It’s definitely something to see and experience.
It takes a lot of eyes to ensure that turret is coming out and going in straight. The turret is a machine fit — only just big enough to get into the hole of the tank. If anything is off to the left or right, there is a possibility of damaging equipment and that equipment is very expensive. In this case, the turret was level and fit well into its proper place.
Sgt. 1st Class. Robert Ford, quality assurance for tanks, 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait, stands in front of an Abrams M1A2 tank at Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Oct. 6, 2019.
What is your role in a maintenance operation like this?
Ford: I fill the quality inspection role while [the contractors] are doing the majority of the work. As the contracting officer’s representative, I ensure the terms of the contract are fulfilled. I also verify and accept the completed work on behalf of the government.
As you can see there [in the third photo], the guy on the tank is in charge of the crane. I’m just there for safety reasons and then just to ensure it’s put together properly and safely. That’s all I’m looking for. But, if they need my advice as an expert on the vehicle, then I’ll interject when I feel it’s necessary. I try to stay back and let them do the job.
A contractor with Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 directs a crane operator to briefly stop lowering a 30-ton turret onto an Abrams M1A2 so others could check its alignment to the mount at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, September 23, 2019.
I noticed you jumped in a few times to help give directions. Is that typical?
Ford: There were a couple instances where they were unsure on how to move forward on that operation and, you know, time is always of the essence. That’s when I stepped forward to provide another set of eyes. But this was their operation, and I was mostly just watching it come together.
Some of the contractors have more familiarity with older tank models because they used those when they served. Sometimes I have to help fill the knowledge gap they have to help things along. But they have familiarity with each other — using hand signals they worked out that I don’t know, and that’s important for working as a team.
Ernie Boyd, work center supervisor at Army Prepositioned Stocks-5, provides positioning guidance as a crew lowers a turret back on an Abrams M1A2 tank at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Sept. 23, 2019.
Can you tell me a little about the team doing the work?
Ford: I think the team takes their role very seriously. Take Ernie Boyd for example. He is a retired Marine with 14 years of experience working on tanks. He is one of my go-to guys for tanks and for solving work center issues.
He definitely takes his work seriously — you can tell. He’s a supervisor for the work center, but during this turret operation, he was doing a lot more than supervising. He was extremely hands-on in ensuring that operation went according to plan.
Sgt. 1st Class. Robert Ford, quality assurance for tanks, 401st Army Field Support Battalion-Kuwait, provides another set of eyes for a maintenance operation to place a turret back on an Abrams M1A2 tank at Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Sept. 23, 2019.
What is Army Prepositioned Stocks-5?
Ford: APS-5 is a massive set of equipment placed here to make rapidly deploying units faster. We give the warfighter the material capability they need to complete their missions.
Looking at the big picture, our job is to ensure APS-5 continues to provide viable strategic options to win.
All of our tanks are stored inside our warehouses ready for issue. They are configured for combat, meaning a unit can come in, hop in a tank, and drive it off the lot. They’re quick and ready to roll out for any mission.
This mission is important because there will come a day when a deploying unit will need this equipment, and if it’s not ready, then it could slow their mission down. It can be a life or death situation. Being able to provide the warfighter with the most ready equipment is our focus every day.
A maintenance crew at Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 reattaches a 30-ton turret to an Abrams M1A2 tank at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Sept. 23, 2019.
Tell me about the first time you saw Army Prepositioned Stocks-5.
Ford: I walked into one of our warehouses and saw an entire battalion worth of tanks. They were in lines all facing each other as far as I could see — 72-ton vehicles all the way down from wall to wall.
You don’t often get to see something like that. Usually tanks are scattered out in fragmented lines waiting for operations or maintenance.
When I first saw it, I definitely felt excited about our mission and my part in it because I am the only tank [quality assurance] soldier here. All those tanks sitting there embodied my reason for being in Kuwait.
Contractors with Army Prepositioned Stocks-5 watch closely as a crane lowers a 30-ton turret back onto an Abrams M1A2 tank at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, Sept. 23, 2019. The turret is machine-fit to the tank, and must be placed carefully to avoid costly damage.
What do you think of DFAC food?
Ford: Um, keeps me alive. I haven’t died or anything yet (laughter). Dry chicken and rice are great — just be sure you have plenty of water so you can swallow the chicken.
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in lots maintained by the 401st Field Support Brigade at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, Oct. 22, 2016.
I know you will soon be inducted into the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club. Why did you decide to go to the board and what did you learn?
Ford: Sergeant Audie Murphy Club provides continuous opportunities to serve throughout a career and beyond. The club’s mission is to develop and build professional noncommissioned officers and to provide community service to every Army community. So every duty station I go to from here forward, I get to go out to do good things for people while representing the Army and the NCO corps.
I learned it’s a big challenge, and with big challenges like that you don’t succeed on your own. I had to seek out a lot of mentorship and leadership scenarios from my leaders and all the way up through brigade. I had to expose my flaws and weaknesses; that way, they could help me correct those weaknesses. It’s just not enough to go in having read a book. You have to have real-life application of regulations and policies.
Trucks bring in APS-5 equipment from Camp Buehring back to Camp Arifjan during the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team turn-in, Feb. 5, 2019.
(US Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Veronica McNabb)
Of the Army values, which stand out most to you?
Ford: I think loyalty is a big one for me. Your loyalty is always being tested. You have to constantly be loyal to your seniors, your peers, your subordinates, your unit, the Army, and the nation. You have to buy into that mission to really give it all that you have – you can’t waver on that.
Respect is another huge value for me. Without respect, you can’t have trust. Without trust, you can’t be a leader and you can’t be led. That’s our primary job, and you can’t be a good leader without first being a good follower.
Soldiers assigned to the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team prepare to move 22 M1A2 Abrams Tanks from an Army Prepositioned Stock-5 warehouse to a remote staging lot during a large-scale equipment issue at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, June 29, 2019.
(US Army photo by Justin Graff)
What advice would you give to young soldiers?
Ford: Don’t be afraid to fail, just put yourself out there. You never really know how much support you have until you are out there asking for support, so put yourself out there and allow people to help you.
We have a lot of good leaders in the military. They see you taking initiative and they see your desire to better yourself, they’re going to pick you up and provide you with what you need.
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Navy translator helps search for missing troops in Vietnam
As the sun rises over the jungle canopy, the workers are already on the move. They take in the crisp scent of the morning air as they head up the rocky mountain path, slipping between the trees of a wet, dew-covered forest in Vietnam.
At the top of the green mountain ridge, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Quoc Bao Lam is waiting to greet them with a smile and a handshake before getting started on the day’s work.
On a normal day, Lam is a master-at-arms with the military police at Naval Station Everett, Washington, but today he’s part of a unique assignment. He is acting as the lead linguist for a recovery team deployed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on its fourth mission to Vietnam.
Remote site
Lam works at an excavation site found on a remote mountain peak in one of the Vietnamese jungle’s most austere locations. The site is only accessible by helicopter, and the nearest village is about 5 and a half miles away, down a long steep rocky trail on the brink of being overgrown by the jungle. Being at a site so removed, a linguist is a necessity for a successful recovery mission.
Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Quoc Bao Lam, left, a linguist deployed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, talks with local people in Quang Binh, Vietnam, Sept. 6, 2018.
(Photo by Senior Airman Donald Hudson)
“Nothing in this mission could be accomplished without the skill sets and abilities of an experienced linguist on the team,” said Marine Corps Capt. Mark Strickert, DPAA senior recovery team leader. “Linguists translate intent, interpret body language, serve as cultural advisors, facilitate negotiations and build camaraderie with the local community and government officials we work with so closely every day. Linguists are the underlining glue in the tireless steps we take to fulfill our nation’s promise to bring our fallen home.”
The mission of DPAA is to provide the fullest possible accounting for missing service members to their families and the nation from past conflicts.
The total number of service members unaccounted for from the Vietnam War was 2,646, but through the work of DPAA, 1,052 of those missing have been found, identified and repatriated. The work of DPAA continues to find the remaining 1,594 missing U.S. service members from the Vietnam War.
Painstaking work
The work to recover missing service members starts with intense analyzing of historical records from all sides of a conflict surrounding the missing individuals. This is followed by interviewing eye witnesses, gathering local accounts and pinpointing and evaluating possible dig sites. Once all the data has been compiled and strongly suggests a specific area, recovery teams are brought in to dig and sift the soil, looking for remains of the missing individuals.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Quoc Bao Lam.
When Lam first learned about DPAA and its missions to Vietnam to recover missing troops, he felt an instant connection and he knew he had to find a way to contribute.
“I wanted to be a part of this important work,” Lam said, “to have an opportunity to help my fellow service members and their families find closure, and possibly help to find some of the lost or fallen friends of my father.”
Lam moved to America at age 8 with his mother and siblings. His father, Ouang Lam, had left five years prior to escape prosecution and possible execution at the end of the Vietnam War.
From the start of the conflict, Ouang fought with South Vietnam’s army. As U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War increased, the U.S. Army began seeking out local people who could speak English, Chinese and Vietnamese to help U.S. troops better navigate the region.
Becoming a translator
After applying to train with the U.S., Ouang was sent to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to get a better grip on the English language and military terminology. Once proficient in English, he was sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he was taught how to fly medical helicopters before going back to his country and the war.
For the rest of the war, Ouang delivered supplies and wounded U.S. and South Vietnamese troops by helicopter. He regularly came under fire and, throughout the conflict, lost fellow aircrew, friends and family. Ouang made it to the rank of chief warrant officer 3 at the war’s end.
North and South Vietnam were reunited. Those who had worked with the Americans were soon hunted by the authorities. Ouang had to leave his country to save his and his family’s lives.
Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Quoc Bao Lam, right, lead linguist, translates for Marine Corps Capt. Mark Strickert, left, senior recovery team leader while deployed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Quang Binh, Vietnam, Sept. 6, 2018.
Ouang began building a new life for his family in Chicago, thanks to a religious group that sponsored individuals who had fought alongside U.S. troops during the war. They brought foreign veterans and their families to the U.S. to ensure they were not harmed by the new Vietnamese government.
After all he experienced during the war, Ouang was against war for the rest of his life. Ouang urged his children to go to school and not join any military service, but Lam wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Luckily before his father passed away, Lam was able to explain why he chose to serve in the military after realizing school was not for him.
Father’s pride
“My father was incredibly upset and did not talk to me for some time,” Lam said. “After a few years I sat down with him and talked about why I joined the Navy. While he still did not like the idea of me being in the armed forces, over time came to be very proud of my service to the country that has given his family so much.”
If it wasn’t for Ouang’s close work with the U.S. during the war, he may never have gotten out of Vietnam after the country’s reunification and would have never had the chance to provide his family with the American dream.
“Lam’s father is always watching from above and he would be proud of Lam working to find his lost friends from so long ago,” said Lam’s mother. “We have been proud of everything that he has done so far in life, to give back to the U.S. for all the U.S. has done for our family. We are extremely proud.”
After weeks of facilitating negotiations, advising on cultural differences and interpreting body language, Lam’s mission in Vietnam came to a close.
From his position atop the mountain, Lam surveyed the green valley below, as the setting sun cast the sky in hazy blues and purples.
This article originally appeared on the United States Department of Defense. Follow @DeptofDefense on Twitter.
This is what you should know about the sport of swordsmanship
Sports come in all levels of intensity. Basketball, American football, and rest-of-the-world football (aka soccer) fans all love to believe that their sport of choice is the most hardcore and dangerous. None of these hold a candle to combat sports.
Traditional martial arts in which contestants fight one another without weapons need little explanation. Though particulars change a bit depending on the style of fighting, you generally follow the rule of trying to hit your opponent more often and more powerfully than they hit you. Fairly self-explanatory, sure, but mastering it takes years. But what is perhaps more intriguing is when the fight does involve weaponry and how the fighters spar without lopping off each other’s heads like Roman gladiators.
Many traditional swordsmanship styles, such as Kendo and fencing, are still practiced today and fuel highly-publicized events. Then there’s SCA heavy combat, which is more akin to intense, live-action role-playing because contestants use the “honor system” for scoring points.
The next level of badassery is Historical European Martial Arts — though the name is now a misnomer as the sport allows use of a wide-variety of weapons from many eras and cultures. Training begins with wooden or plastic weaponry that can be purchased from sites like Purpleheart Armory, but when the fighter is ready, it’s time to grab their steel and enter a Combat Con tournament.
There are several championships held for different styles of weaponry: Longsword, sword and buckler, and rapier are just a few of many.
All participants must wear proper armor, the weapons must be dulled, and all commands from the referees are final. Shy of that, the fighters have 90 seconds per match (or until a maximum score has been reached) to make their ancestors proud through combat.
From here, you move onto to team fights as facilitated by the International Medieval Combat Federation. Here, teams of up to 16 combatants enter to fight for their nation’s glory using actual weapons and actual armor.
The objective here is to knock all of your opponents to the ground. The rules are simple: follow instruction from the referee and don’t cause unsportsmanlike harm to or remove any protective gear from an opponent.
So… who’s down?
Chinese government rejects allegations that its face masks were defective, tells countries to ‘double check’ instructions
The Chinese government is rebuffing the notion that its face masks exported to other countries were “defective” and suggested that the nations did not “double-check” the instructions.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday claimed in a tweet that the “true story” behind the alleged faulty face masks sent to the Netherlands was that the Chinese manufacturer explicitly “stated clearly that they are non-surgical.”
“Masks of various category offer different levels of protection, for day-to-day use and for medical purposes,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in the tweet. “[Please] double-check the instructions to make sure that you ordered, paid for and distributed the right ones. Do not use non-surgical masks for surgical purposes.”
The statement comes as the Dutch government recalled 600,000 of the Chinese-manufactured face masks for being defective and not meeting safety standards — over half of the 1.3 million total N-95 protective masks that were delivered to the Netherlands.
Hospitals in the country were requested to return the masks that did not properly fit on faces and prevent COVID-19 virus particles from making human contact. The N-95 mask is able to block out 95% of airborne particles when used properly.
“When they were delivered to our hospital, I immediately rejected those masks,” one hospital employee reportedly said to Dutch broadcaster NOS. “If those masks do not close properly, the virus particles can simply pass. We do not use them.”
Other countries have expressed concern with medical equipment manufactured in China. After purchasing 340,000 test kits from a Chinese manufacturer, Spain’s government claimed that 60,000 of them did not accurately test for COVID-19.
European Union Minister for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said in a blog post that the Chinese government was attempting to be perceived as an international ally in the “global battle of narratives.”
“China is aggressively pushing the message that, unlike the US, it is a responsible and reliable partner,” Borrell wrote. “In the battle of narratives, we have also seen attempts to discredit the EU as such and some instances where Europeans have been stigmatized as if all were carriers of the virus.”
Representatives from the Communist Party of China (CCP) in recent weeks have shifted the narrative surrounding the coronavirus’s origins by questioning its validity. Despite health officials and scientists widely agreeing that COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China — likely from a wildlife market — government officials suggested that the US Army may have shipped the virus to China.
The Global Times, which operates under the Chinese government’s purview, also claimed in a tweet that Italy “may have had an unexplained strain of pneumonia” in November and December — around the same time as China reported its first positive case.
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Air Force confirms pilot death in Ukraine crash
The Air Force has confirmed that an American pilot from the California Air National Guard was killed during a familiarization flight with a Ukrainian pilot in a Su-27UB fighter aircraft on October 16 during the Clear Skies 2018 exercise, an event orchestrated to allow Ukraine to better incorporate its forces with eight NATO militaries.
The Air Force said in a statement:
The U.S. service member involved in the crash was a member of the 144th Fighter Wing, California Air National Guard, Fresno, California. The Airman was taking part in a single-aircraft familiarization flight with a Ukrainian counterpart. No other aircraft were involved in the incident. The identity of the service member is being withheld for 24 hours pending next of kin notification.
The Ukrainian pilot was also killed in the crash.
“This is a sad day for the United States and Ukraine,” Maj. Gen. Clay Garrison, California ANG commander and Clear Skies exercise director, said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends, and fellow Airmen of both the U.S. Airman and Ukrainian aviator who were killed in the incident.”
A Su-27B aircraft flies during Open Skies 2018 in Ukraine.
(U.S. Air National Guard)
The aircraft crash took place at 5 p.m. local time in Ukraine, and appears to have involved a Su-27UB, a two-seater combat trainer/fighter jet. A statement from the Ukrainian General Staff gave the first indication of what had occurred.
“We regret to inform that, according to the rescue team, the bodies of two pilots have been discovered: one is a serviceman of the Ukrainian Air Force, the other is a member of the US National Guard,” it said.
The incident is currently under investigation.
The Air Force said before the exercise that it would send 450 personnel to the exercise with approximately 250 of them playing a direct role. These were mostly maintainers and pilots. Multiple state national guards are involved in the exercise, including those of California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
The exercise focused on air sovereignty, air interdiction, air-to-ground integration, air mobility operations, aeromedical evacuation, cyberdefense, and personnel recovery. It takes place as Ukraine is increasing its military capabilities and continuing hostilities from a Russian-backed separatist movement has claimed lives in its eastern regions.
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Golf made my friend a better Marine
Chase Millsap
We all know that Marines win our nation’s battles, and their discipline under pressure is a matter of life or death. However, and as weird as it may seem, there is a lot that the driving range and the fairway can teach us about winning battles. I know because I recently joined my friend Marine Major Ben Ortiz and his fellow golf warrior, Erik Anders Lang, for a round at the Desert Winds golf course on Marine Corps Base Twentynine Palms.
Major Ben Ortiz or, ‘Bennie Boy’ as I call him, have known each other since our first days at the Naval Academy. I already know what you’re thinking… of course, two Academy grads and officers are golfers. But literally, nothing could be further from the truth. Golf was never supposed to be part of either of our lives.
“Seriously, dude? You play golf, now?” I ask a little sarcastically as Bennie and I walk to the clubhouse.
Bennie is a Mustang (an officer who was enlisted first), and he grew up in a neighborhood outside of Chicago where even the mention of golf could get you ridiculed for life or worse. After joining the Marines he deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan where he’s been a kind of intelligence officer that grunts love and terrorists hate. So when he asked me to play golf with him, I immediately started to question his mental state.
“Dude, you have no idea. Golf has made me a better Marine. More focused…lethal.” Bennie smiles as he justifies why we are on a golf course at 0730.
Major Ortiz tees off with focus
As we approach the clubhouse, I meet a squad of Marines who have been recruited to play with us this morning, but we are also joined by a true golf warrior, Erik Anders Lang. Erik is a bit of an anomaly himself. He never picked up a club until his thirties, and now he travels the world for his series Adventures In Golf. At first, I am a little wary that Erik, who looks a little like he just rolled out of bed, can compete with the Marines on their home turf. But after watching Erik tee off with a nearly 350-yard drive down the center of the first hole, I realize that I am not only watching a true golfer but a sniper.
As Bennie, Erik, and I walk the desert course we begin to chat about the game and the Marine Corps. At each hole, I realize the golfers are fighting the terrain, the weather and even their own subconscious, an enemy more elusive than the adversaries Bennie and other Marines face abroad. As we near the end of the course, Bennie begins to explain his theory a little more.
“Intel is all about collecting and analyzing information and then turning it into something useful for the Grunts. A lot of people think that bad intel is a result of bad information, but there is a second and even more important component, the analyst. If I am distracted or unfocused, I can be the weak link. Golf, and the battle on each hole, has taught me about mental and physical discipline.”
Major Ortiz (4th from left) and Erik Lang (center) after a round of golf.
Erik smiles and nods in agreement. He knows the mental strength it takes to master the club. After a quick competition on the driving range, which Erik (the sniper) wins, we sit down in the chow hall for an After Action of the morning’s performance. Bennie has changed out of his golf clothes and into cammies, and Erik begins to explain to us how Tiger Woods inspired him to pick up a club.
“Not everyone is perfect in golf,” Erik starts. “He’s human, he’s obviously made mistakes, but if you watch carefully you can see how he processes the course and the ball with each shot.”
Erik’s got a point. Now, I am pretty sure that when Tiger Woods stepped onto the 18th green, poised to win the 2019 Masters, there was almost nothing going through his mind other than the basics of putting. In the seconds before Tiger’s final stroke, there was no time for self-doubt, fear or even distractions from the thousands standing around him and the millions watching all across the globe. With one quick putt, Tiger was back on top of the world and his pure calmness, poise, and discipline under such pressure is something we all can admire, especially Marines like me.
But unlike Tiger, Marines must use these same attributes for something much bigger than a green jacket. Now, I begin to see what both Bennie and Erik are stressing to me. Golf is a sport of discipline and focus which can extend beyond the course and onto the most stressful battlefields abroad.
Bennie now speaks to the group before we roll out for the day.
“I hope that other Marines will realize that the course is much more than a game. It’s about training too.”
I think Bennie’s onto something that both Erik Lang and Tiger Woods already know: maybe we can all be better Marines if we spend a little time on the course.
Major Ortiz (left) and the Author (right) after our round of golf. Bennie’s war face is the same from Quantico.
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4 times Iran’s navy got beat down in the Persian Gulf
The Iranian Navy sure does talk a big game for the sheer number of times it got slapped around in its home waters. When Iranian sailors captured U.S. Navy sailors in 2016, the usual response would have been a short, potent facepunch from a nearby carrier group. When President Obama opted not to slap them around, what should have seemed like a close call instead appears to have artificially inflated some Iranian egos, because traditionally, Iran is not good at Navy things.
Iran has been hit or miss on the water (usually miss) since they lost to the outnumbered Greeks at Salamis in 480 BC. Its biggest naval win came against Iraq on Sept. 28, 1980, a day they still celebrate as “Navy Day” because no other engagement would qualify. Ever since, Iran has been threatening anyone within earshot with its aging, rusted patchwork of garbage scows it calls a navy.
Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran, 1941
During World War II, the Allied powers thought neutral Iran was more likely to aid the Axis powers than the allies when push came to shove. Since Iran’s rich oil fields were not something anyone wanted in Hitler’s hands, the Soviets and the British Empire invaded Iran in August 1941. The British Commonwealth ships steamed into Abadan Harbor and promptly lit up the Iranian fleet, killing its leadership and deposing the Shah. The two allied powers then divided the country between them.
Operation Prime Chance 1987
After Iran crippled the Iraqi Navy during the early days of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranians pretty much had free rein to wreak as much havoc as they wanted on Iraqi shipping – even if those ships weren’t flagged as Iraqi. The Iranians began targeting tankers and container ships flagged as neutral countries in an effort to choke Iraq into submission. Pretty soon, other countries were reflagging their ships as American, both to deter the Iranians from attacking or laying mines and benefitting from U.S. protection.
The Iranians did not stop mining the Gulf, so the United States began setting up oil platforms as maritime staging areas for special operations missions. Operating from these bases, the Navy took down a number of Iranian minelayers while protecting international shipping lanes.
Operation Nimble Archer, 1987
U.S. forces attacked and burned Iranian oil platforms after Iran fired a missile at a Kuwaiti tanker, hitting it and wounding dozens of sailors. The Navy determined the attack came from an otherwise-unoccupied oil platform, which they next surrounded, boarded, and destroyed – using both Navy SEALs and accurate fire from four destroyers as well as aircraft.
The special operators who boarded the platforms also seized valuable classified intel, as the platforms were controlled by the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Operation Praying Mantis, 1988
In 1988, it wasn’t a flagged merchant who hit an Iranian-laid mine. This time it was a US Navy ship, the USS Samuel B. Roberts. Unfortunately for Iran, Ronald Reagan was still President, and the USS Enterprise carrier group was in the area. An entire battalion of United States Marines assaulted an oil platform being used to stage Iranian attacks in the Gulf. When the platform tried to fire on the Americans, they were punished for the effort from US Navy destroyers and Cobra helicopters.
The Iranians responded by sending an Iranian missile boat, the Joshan, straight at the U.S. fleet. When Joshan missed that shot, the American fleets overwhelmed the ship with missiles and guns, sending her to the bottom. Meanwhile, Iranian aircraft and destroyers joined the fray, one destroyer was sunk the other was heavily damaged, and the Iranian fighters were no match for US Navy A-6 Intruders.
That time a Marine general led a fictional Iran against the US military – and won
Watch Iranian sailors in a close encounter with a US carrier
Iran just threatened to do something it couldn’t possibly do
Why Iran is training to swarm the US Navy with speedboats
Iran readying massive military exercise in Persian Gulf, officials say
Iran Just Claimed Control Over the Persian Gulf. Here's How They'd ...
Iran navy conducts “massive drill” in Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman ...
Navy drops high-explosive footage of awesome weapons tests
The Naval Air Weapons Command has collected a lot of footage at their China Lake Ranges in California, and it released a new video that’s just five minutes of bombs hitting targets, piercing the ground, crushing towed vehicles, and creating massive light shows.
NAWCWD China Lake Ranges 2018
The video includes rockets, missiles, and bombs, and even has a little surface-to-air action at the start, with shoulder-fired missiles taking out aerial drones.
There are plenty of live weapons in the videos, as well as some inert ones. You can tell the inert ones because they’re blue, and also they’re the ones that don’t create a massive fireball after they explode. While the footage, from armored vehicles and tanks blowing up to trucks getting crushed, is exciting, that’s obviously not why the Navy does it.
The range has a crap-ton of cameras and sensors, allowing weapon designers and testers to see exactly how current and prototype weapons act when hitting a variety of targets. That’s why you see some munitions slam through a target just before flying across a wall with black and white grids.
Personnel rail launch an Integrator unmanned aerial vehicle at Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake, California.
The high-speed cameras capture the rotation, flight path, and speed of the round as it flies past the grid, either during normal flight or right after flying through a wall or two. That lets designers figure out the best way to tweak a weapon for stable flight or for performance after piercing a bunker wall or two.
And the large ranges and massive restricted airspace allows Navy and other pilots to train in realistic conditions. So, when you want to learn to nail a fast-moving Land Rover, come to China Lake!*
*Must bring your own jet and bombs.
The range can be used for surface-to-surface warfare, but that isn’t featured much in the video, so this one is mostly for the aviation geeks. Check out the video at top.
This deadly gun is the Navy’s last line of defense against a missile attack
The weapons the Army, Air Force, and Navy all want desperately
U.S. Navy Successfully Tests Laser Weapon in the Persian Gulf | Time
The 66 religious symbols the VA will put on tombstones
The VA will provide a headstone for any eligible veteran, even if they’re already in an unmarked grave, in any cemetery around the world. In selecting a headstone, the National Cemeteries Administration has approved only 67 possibilities to date — which includes the Hammer of Thor for any believers of Norse gods out there.
Mjölnir (Thor’s Hammer) was one of two selected in 2013. The other was an icon of a sandhill crane for a same-sex spouse of a departed veteran.
Anyone can request a new emblem of belief to be added to this list. All you have to do is establish that there is, indeed, a need for the icon, that the deceased sincerely held the belief, and “submit a three-inch diameter, digitized, black and white representation of the requested emblem that is free of copyright or trademark” to the Memorial Products Service, found here:
Memorial Products Service (41B)
5109 Russell Road
Quantico, VA 22134-3903
In the meantime, feel free to choose from the following.
Available Emblems of Belief Fact Sheet
Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government ...
Order a Headstone, Marker or Medallion for a Veteran Buried in a ...
Headstones, Markers and Medallions for Placement in Private ...
Types of Headstones, Markers and Medallions Available - National ...
Claim For Standard Government Headstone or Marker
Headstones, Markers and Medallions - National Cemetery ...
Pre-order your ‘Baby Yoda’ toy now while you still can
Hasbro finally announced that they are making holiday spring wishes come true with ‘Baby Yoda’ toys.
Well, not Baby Yoda, because obviously that character isn’t Yoda, but he doesn’t have a name or a species yet and “The Child” isn’t as much fun to say.
So if the Baby Yoda Funko Pop didn’t do it for you or your children or your husband, then check out these collectibles:
Baby Yoda Talking Plush – Official Teaser
BAHAHAHAHA watch that video with the sound on.
So far, this plush is the only physical toy we’ve seen but the other mock-ups look pretty cute.
Don’t forget to use Amazon Smile.
The Child Talking Plush
This little guy comes with 10 sound effects, as seen in the video above, and is soft and cuddly, which honestly makes sense because we all want to just cuddle the sh** out of the Yoda Baby.
The Black Series will feature other characters from The Mandalorian so you can collect them all! Each sold separately.
6.5-inch Posable Action Figure
You can make this little guy raise his teeny tiny little arm and use the Force! Don’t pretend like you won’t.
These guys all seem to be really into his whole “eat a live frog” phase…
For the Bounty Collection, you can be just like our Mandalorian and collect the baby! Isn’t that fun? These little 2.2-inch Yoda Babies come in three 2-packs “to choose from.” None in the bassinet, though. Interesting.
Um. One of those poses is called “don’t leave” — talk about manipulation.
Oh, and don’t forget the obligatory Funko Pop! version.
So, which of these are your favorites?
‘The Mandalorian’ recap: Episode 2 is fun, if slow
‘The Mandalorian’ recap: Episode 3 gets interesting
How to build your own Lego Baby Yoda
Star Wars 'Baby Yoda' toys coming to a store near you - CNN
Baby Yoda 4" Plush Toy: Toys & Games - Amazon.com
The Child Plush by Mattel – Star Wars: The Mandalorian – 11'' – Pre ...
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Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner
Magoosh (pronunciation: mə’guːʃ) (a play on the Old Persian word magush, which refers to a smart person and this word also represents Iranian origin) is an online test preparation and study abroad counselling company based in Berkeley, California that informs trainees through audio/video lessons, practice test concerns, and online email assistance.
The business also has complimentary mobile apps for both iPhone and Android – Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner. Magoosh was founded in 2009 by Hansoo Lee, Bhavin Parikh, Pejman Pour-Moezzi and Vikram Shenoy while they were trainees at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. In June 2009, Magoosh launched its very first product– GMAT math practice questions with video descriptions.
Over the next two years, as Magoosh’s customer base began to expand, the GMAT item and the Magoosh group continued to grow. Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner. Pejman stepped away from the organisation in 2010 to pursue other chances but remained on the board. Hansoo and Bhavin worked with two full-time staff members and, with them on board, developed a new preparation program for the GRE.
In December 2011, Magoosh distributed 800 totally free SAT accounts to high school students through collaborations with Bay Area non-profit companies. It was likewise around this time that Bhavin’s co-founder Hansoo Lee was detected with an unusual case of non-smokers’ lung cancer and had to eliminate himself from day-to-day operations.
Bhavin Parikh and previous co-founder Pejman Pour-Moezzi, together with Lee’s fiancée Wendy Lim, founded The Hansoo Lee Fellowship for Business Owners, which is utilized each year to support Haas MBA students wanting to pursue their entrepreneurial ventures full-time. After Hansoo’s passing, Bhavin became the CEO and the only staying co-founder of Magoosh.
In 2015, it released full prep programs for the ACT, LSAT and Praxis examinations. And in 2016, the company launched a complete MCAT product. To date, Magoosh has about 30 in-office staff members at its offices in downtown Berkeley and more than 1.5 million trainees have actually used Magoosh’s web and mobile apps to get ready for standardized examinations. [] The company has been ranked by Inc.
and by Business owner magazine as one of the finest entrepreneurial companies in America. [] San Francisco Organisation Times No. 21 Fastest-Growing Private Company in the Bay Location (2016) Entrepreneur 360 No. 111 Finest Entrepreneurial Company in the U.S. (2016) Inc. 500 No. 186 Fastest-Growing Private Business in the U.S. (2016) Localwise Best Employer: Education (2016) San Francisco Service Times No.
2 Fastest Growing Company in the East Bay (2015) TINYpulse Happiest Company in Education (2015, 2017) Intel Structure Entrepreneurial Award (2010) North Bridge Venture Partners Competitors (2010) UC Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Venture Laboratory Competitors (2009) Ingenious, The (2012-04-02). “The Ingenious Company: Magoosh Modifications the Way Students Preparation for Standardized Tests” – Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner.
Retrieved 2013-06-21. Garland, Russ (2010-06-16). “The Daily Start-Up: Bubble Survivor Coremetrics To Wed IBM – Endeavor Capital Dispatch – WSJ”. Blogs.wsj.com. Recovered 2013-06-21. ^ “Magoosh Reveals a Video Bible for the Recently Modified GRE”. Xconomy. 2011-09-13. Obtained 2013-06-21 – Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner. “Interview With Creator Of Magoosh – Online Test Prep”. Killerstartups.com. 2012-08-21. Recovered 2013-06-21.
Rightstartups.com. 2013-04-20. Obtained 2013-06-21. “Group”. Magoosh. Retrieved Jul 23, 2019. “Website Offers SAT Preparation Free Of Charge|Fox Organisation Video”. Video.foxbusiness.com. 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2013-06-21. Buchanan, Leigh (Aug 30, 2016). “How I Kept Our Startup Dream Alive After Losing My Co-Founder”. Inc.com. Obtained Jul 23, 2019. “Haas MBA graduate and business owner Hansoo Lee passes away at age 35 – The Daily Californian”.
2013-03-17. Recovered 2013-06-21. “The Bay Location’s 100 fastest-growing private business of 2016”. Bizjournals.com. 2016-10-14. Recovered 2016-12-14. “Business owner Magazine”. entrepreneur.com. 2016-04-10. Recovered 2016-12-14. “Inc. Publication “. inc.com. 2016-04-10. Obtained 2016-12-14. “2016 Work Regional Awards”. localwisejobs. Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner.com. 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2015-06-11. “The Bay Area’s 100 fastest-growing private business of 2015”. Bizjournals.com. 2015-10-20. Obtained 2015-06-11. “2015 Happiest Company Awards”.
2015-02-01. Recovered 2015-06-11. TINYpulse. “2017 TINYpulse Happiest Business Awards”. www.tinypulse.com. Obtained 2018-01-25. “Gas Innovation Wins Intel Entrepreneurial Award” (Cheap Online Test Prep For Sale By Owner). Newsroom.intel.com. 2010-11-18. Recovered 2013-06-21. ^ “North Bridge Venture Partners Reveals Winners of $150K Seed Capital Competition|North Bridge”. Nbvp.northbridge.com. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
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Cylinder-head gaskets
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Tailored for the aftermarket product development and launches
Victorreinz.com>News>Press News
Aug 16, 2020 100 Years Dedicated to Mobility: Dana Celebrates Victor Reinz® Sealing Technology Anniversary
Dana Incorporated is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the historic REINZ brand, which was joined with Victor in 1993 to create the well-known Victor Reinz® brand of today. The name REINZ stands for German automotive history. A century ago, Hugo Reinz helped to lay the foundations for one of the largest international automotive suppliers of today. Founded in 1920 in Berlin, at a time when automobiles were still rare on the streets, the former Hugo Reinz GmbH started its first business year.
Then as now
Since 1947, the company’s headquarters has been located in Neu-Ulm, Germany and has developed steadily. With more than 1,300 employees, REINZ-Dichtungs-GmbH is a subsidiary of Dana Incorporated – a global company with 36,000 employees on six contents. It is now one of the largest and best-known employers in the region. The brand name Victor Reinz® stands for innovative gasket technologies with the highest quality standards, then and now.
Innovations for the future
Almost all well-known brands and models of car manufacturers worldwide are equipped with professional Victor Reinz sealing solutions for the engine and exhaust system.
Since the beginning of the development of metallic bipolar plates in 2001, the company has been an innovative pioneer in the field of fuel cell technology and won the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Award in the category "Best Success Story" with its product development in 2019. It was also recognized as a 2020 finalist for the prestigious Automotive News PACE Awards.
The wide range of innovative Victor Reinz® sealing products is not only favored by the European automotive industry, but also lead the market in many industrial product areas.
"We connect the proud tradition of our now 100-year-old success story to the people and their experiences that have left their mark on the company over this long period. This is what we are building on with our innovative and future-compliant products, together for and with our customers”, declares the Dana Neu-Ulm Managing Director Frank Bader, who has formed the management duo together with Olivier Lassurguère, since 2019.
"Dana Incorporated has the aim of being one of the world's leading automotive suppliers for another 100 years", states Olivier Lassurguère. "Our vision is to collaborate with the automobile manufacturers to shape the engine of the future."
Download article as PDF-file
Aug 13, 2020 Victoria’s Practical Tips:Video Tutorials made by Victor Reinz® – Now for Trucks!
Hot on the heels of its successful video tutorials for passenger cars, Dana is launching a new series specifically for commercial vehicles. The videos demonstrate the proper installation of replacement truck parts from Victor Reinz®. Like in the car series before it, the new series stars mechatronics technician Victoria, hence the title “Victoria’s Practical Tips”.
The new truck training videos explain step by step how to professionally remove the defective part and install the original Victor Reinz replacement part. Three practical tips for commercial vehicle experts from and with Victoria are currently online: how to replace a valve cover gasket, an oil pan gasket and an intake manifold gasket. The fourth episode, on how to install an exhaust manifold gasket, has just made its debut.
All “Victoria’s Practical Tips” videos – for cars and trucks alike – can be accessed free of charge on the Victor Reinz website at www.victorreinz.com/victoria.
It looks like these installation instruction videos from Dana have struck the right chord with the customers – and thus with the target group. This can be seen in the high access rates on the Victor Reinz website and YouTube views numbering in the high five figures. The big advantage lies in being able to see exactly how the professional replacement is carried out professionally in practice.
Installation of a truck exhaust manifold gasket in storyboard
In the video, mechatronics technician Victoria demonstrates the removal of the old exhaust manifold gasket, including all preparations – from tipping the driver’s cab to disassembling the exhaust manifold. The middle part focuses on cleaning and inspecting all sealing surfaces on the engine and exhaust manifold. The important comparison between the old gasket and the new one is also shown. Finally, the new Victor Reinz exhaust manifold gasket is installed and the exhaust manifold is mounted.
The entire tutorial is 3:26 minutes long and can be used internationally, since it works without a speaker. Important installation steps are additionally marked with icons in addition to the picture.
Victoria’s Practical Tips: an overview
Truck Edition
- Valve cover gasket
- Oil pan gasket
- Intake manifold gasket
- Exhaust manifold gasket (available immediately)
Car Edition
- Cylinder-head gasket
- Exhaust manifold gasket
- PTFE oil seals
- Oil pan
Mar 16, 2020 Updates in Victor Reinz® Media Pool: Dana Launches Release and Expands its Image Portfolio
In 2018, Dana presented the first version of the company’s proprietary media pool platform with over 18,000 photos and graphics in superlative image quality. This is now followed by a release – with even more and improved functions, as well as additional marketing material. In addition to photos of nearly all Victor Reinz gasket products, the new version also offers promotional images for sales promotion.
With its current relaunch, Dana is leapfrogging several release versions of the medial pool at once. The user interface in particular offers a great many new functions. Further updates for the future are already in planning – and they won’t be quite as extensive as this one.
Overview of the Media Pool’s New Functions:
- German/English language selection
- Search function optimization
- Revised filters for multiple selection in dropdown menus
- Status query for products and items
- List view for results in simple search (Gallery)
- Sorting function for results in simple search (Gallery)
- Optimization of Excel downloads for product data (collective export for all products into a single Excel file)
- “Forgot my password” option for the login page
- Password change via profile page
With its promotional images, Dana gives its customers and employees another marketing tool to promote sales. The graphic image positions depict special product groups so they can be put to perfect use for advertising and image Building.
Via media pool
Dana’s media pool platform is a reaction to numerous customer requests for high-quality photos of Victor Reinz gasket products. The image material can be used to present and explain the aftermarket products in an ideal manner.
The portal offers the option of searching for products and product groups, displaying the relevant photos and downloading them in print quality.
The multiple search function helps users find photos of different products at the same time. This is especially convenient using a product list in a single document or Excel format which is entered via copy and paste. The photo material in the media pool is continuously updated and expanded.
Dana media pool
Jul 28, 2019 Visit us at Automechanika South Africa - Stand OD22 in the Outdoor Area
This year Dana will do it a little differently and have an outdoor stand which will display its comprehensive portfolio of Victor Reinz® sealing products and Spicer® drivetrain parts at Automechanika Johannesburg, South Africa.
Automechanika is the largest international trade show in the region for the automotive aftermarket, which takes place from September 19 – 21, 2019.
The new range of Victor Reinz gaskets for North American engine applications significantly expands coverage and seamlessly integrates into the current Victor Reinz product offerings of more than twenty-five thousand-part numbers.
Another highlight of this year’s show will most certainly be the newly built Spicer Jeep fitted with the Ultimate Dana 60™ crate axle which will be a major attraction for many attending this year.
We look forward to welcoming you on our stand at the Automechanika Johannesburg, South Africa Stand OD22.
May 27, 2019 Dana to Showcase Array of Sealing and Thermal-Management Products at Automechanika Dubai
Dana will display its comprehensive portfolio of Victor Reinz® sealing products at Automechanika Dubai, the largest international trade show in the region for the automotive aftermarket, which takes place June 10-12. In addition to its premium sealing products, the company will exhibit its Tru-Cool® thermal solutions and Spicer® drivetrain parts.
Dana will highlight its recently launched Victor Reinz gaskets for North American light vehicle applications, underlining the company’s market leadership as the only gasket manufacturer with a truly global offering. The new range of gaskets for North American engine applications significantly expands coverage and seamlessly integrates into the current Victor Reinz product offerings of more than 25,000 SKUs.
Beyond displaying its expanded product line, Dana also will showcase an array of Spicer products, including driveshafts, crate axles, and off-highway technologies. Of special interest will be Spicer u-joints for the Mercedes-Benz Actros, heavy-duty driveshaft range for Volvo Trucks and MAN Truck & Bus, and its unique offering of genuine Dana Spicer Jeep parts. As a first, visitors can see Dana’s exclusive Tru-Cool thermal solutions, including transmission oil coolers designed to significantly extend the life of transmissions and lubrications by maintaining lower operating temperatures. The transmission oil coolers are available in stacked plate or fin and plate design.
To see more of Dana’s products and technologies, visit the aftermarket sales team at Automechanika Dubai booth C34 in Hall 2 (located within the German Pavilion).
Mar 15, 2019 Dana Invests 13.5 Million Euros, Adds 60 Jobs in Neu-Ulm, Germany
Dana announced that it is expanding its facility in Neu-Ulm, Germany, to address the future challenges of manufacturers of engines and components for e-mobility.
In 2018, Dana invested a total of 13.5 million euros to expand production of cylinder-head gaskets and transmission valve body separator plates. This investment created 60 new jobs. With the new, fully automated coating and assembly lines, as well as the new press line, Dana is creating additional capacities for cylinder-head gaskets for use in internal combustion engines.
“We are providing additional resources and production capacities to optimally serve our customers' increased market share and continuous sales growth in the engine production segment,” said Stefan Genelin, head of automotive products for Dana Power Technologies, Neu-Ulm site. “Thanks to the new production lines, we can produce a cylinder-head gasket every 1.86 seconds”.
The new coating line, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, punches the gasket blanks directly from the coil. They are then washed, pre-treated, primed, coated, dried, and vulcanized – all fully automatic – with the highest quality. From these semi-finished products, the sealing layers for the proven Victor Reinz® multi-layer steel cylinder-head gaskets are punched out, embossed, and stacked. Finally, the gaskets are riveted on the new assembly line. The latest camera technology is used for automatic quality Control.
The new production lines supplement current operations and expand production capacity by increasing the level of automation, including improved product quality and competitiveness.
In addition to investments in the production of cylinder-head gaskets, a new washing area and cleanroom were built for the manufacture of transmission plates for automatic and dual-clutch transmissions.
The new operations can also be used in the future to manufacture components for battery-powered or fuel cell-powered electric vehicles.
Nov 26, 2018 Dana Launches All-New Mediapool for High-Quality Victor Reinz® Product Images
In response to customer demand, Dana has developed a mediapool platform featuring more than 18,000 high-resolution product photos from its Victor Reinz® brand. The company’s site is now live and offers a searchable, digital media portal for customers and Dana employees across the world to download and share images from the complete Victor Reinz gasket and sealing product portfolio for the aftermarket.
To enable users to gather images of different products simultaneously, Dana’s new mediapool for Victor Reinz has multi-search functionality as part of the high-tech platform. Searching for multiple parts at the same time can be done via copying and pasting either a product list from a document or excel spreadsheet into the portal. In addition, by providing instant access to high-quality media kits, the comprehensive media database complements the e-commerce capabilities and detailed product information available on DanaAftermarket.com.
“Dana’s new mediapool platform represents a unique system in the aftermarket and new way to make our trusted Victor Reinz products accessible to customers,” said Rico Schlegel, Victor Reinz Product Manager at Dana. “A key motivation behind launching the extensive media site was repeated customer requests for an increasing number of high-quality images. With this advanced mediapool, we are pleased to give users the ability to search for, download, and share a range of photos for every part to help them better showcase the Victor Reinz brand.”
Since the mediapool includes all-new images, Dana worked for two years to capture the thousands of searchable photos for the platform. Each image is high-resolution and print-quality.
Aug 28, 2018 Replacing a Cylinder-head Gasket: New Assembly Video by Dana at Automechanika
The expert removal of a defective cylinder-head gasket and the successful installation of a new one is a critical discipline in engine repair. Dana will present a new Victor Reinz® assembly video, “Replacing a cylinder-head gasket,” at Automechanika 2018 in Frankfurt am Main.
The seven-minute video shows the necessary step-by-step work processes – from removing the cylinder-head and cleaning the sealing surfaces, to tightening the new cylinder-head bolts. The short film can be used internationally because it works completely without speakers and text fadeins. Icons indicate safety-related information and important tips.
The complete assembly is carried out by the well-known expert, Victoria. The video is a seamless continuation of the successful series, “Victoria’s practical tips,” now with a total of six episodes. All videos are available on the YouTube Channel VictorReinzSealing, or on the website www.victorreinz.com/victoria.
Victoria’s Practical Tips – Episodes
Expert replacement of an oil pan
Assembly tips for installing or replacing a PTFE oil seal
Replacing the valve cover gasket – professional instructions with tips
Replacing the intake manifold gasket – professional instructions with tips
Replacing the exhaust manifold gasket – professional instructions with tips
Professional replacement of a cylinder head gasket (available from September 2018)
Automechanika is an important aftermarket event for Dana. In 2016, the fair in Frankfurt am Main posted record figures with 136,000 visitors from
170 countries and 4,820 exhibitors. This year, Automechanika will take place from 11 to 15 September. Dana's booth G91 is located in hall 3.0.
Visitors can also look forward to a specially prepared BMW V8 engine and an Ultimate Dana 60™ crate axle solution from Dana.
The BMW engine impressively demonstrates Dana’s Victor Reinz® sealing products utilizing reliable gaskets across the engine – from the cylinderhead gasket to various secondary gaskets. Victor Reinz gaskets are also suitable for use in heavy-duty and off-highway vehicles.
The Ultimate Dana 60™ crate axle is equipped with extremely durable and reliable Spicer® gearing and is available in various ratios (with Victor Reinz engine gaskets inside).
Jul 27, 2018 Dana to Expand Aftermarket e-Commerce Platform for Customers in EMEA Region
Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) announced today that it is expanding its e-commerce platform, DanaAftermarket.com, to support customers in the European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) region. The company will feature the platform at Automechanika 2018, Sept. 11-15, in Hall 3 booth G91, alongside its broad range of drivetrain, sealing, and thermal-management solutions for the aftermarket.
State-of-the-art e-commerce platform
Recently launched in the U.S., the sophisticated customer-experience platform will become available to EMEA customers later this year. It will provide immediate, 24-hour access to more than 110,000 Spicer® parts for commercial, light, and off-highway vehicles and will assist users in confidently searching and purchasing the right part for their vehicles. Offering diagrams, videos, and a vast literature library, Dana will use a visual display at Automechanika to demonstrate how DanaAftermarket.com efficiently locates specific product requirements, including detailed specifications, pricing, and availability.
“As the demand for Dana’s high-quality trusted products and premium brands continues to increase, we are focused on improving customers’ abilities to find the right part to meet their individual needs,” said Mark Wallace, executive vice president of Dana and president of Dana Commercial Driveline Technologies. “We are excited to showcase the new DanaAftermarket.com features, which brings part searching capability to hundreds of EMEA customers.”
Spicer quality right out of the box
In addition to demonstrating its e-commerce solution, the company’s booth will feature the highly durable and reliable Ultimate Dana 60™ crate axle with Spicer® gearing, which is available in a variety of ratios as a prepackaged solution for light vehicle drivetrain builds.
Trusted sealing solutions for a wide-range of market applications
Dana will also exhibit its Victor Reinz® sealing solutions, which include cylinder-head gaskets and secondary gaskets, on a BMW V-8 engine. While the gaskets will be presented on a high-profile engine for passenger cars, these superior sealing products are also available for heavy-duty and off-highway vehicles.
Off-highway axles and transmissions delivering powerful results
To further demonstrate the breadth of its product portfolio in off-highway applications, Dana will display a Spicer® Model 990 independent front suspension axle, designed to deliver maximum power and torque for open-field tractor applications; a Spicer® off-highway transmission, handling applications of 50 to 1,000 horsepower (37 to 746 kW); and a Spicer® TE30 powershift transmission, designed for heavy-duty vehicles, such as large forklifts and harbor equipment.
As Dana continues to expand DanaAftermarket.com capabilities for its EMEA and global customers, the company plans to launch part-searching features for its Victor Reinz® and Glaser® brands by the end of this year.
Automechanika 2018 is held from Sept. 11-15 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Jun 27, 2018 New Quality Standard: Dane Neu-Ulm certified acc. to IATF 16949
Trust is a good thing – certificate-based trust is better. REINZ-Dichtungs-GmbH, a subsidiary of the US-American company Dana Incorporated, is certified acc. to IATF 16949 effective immediately.
This certificate is an extension of the basic standard ISO 9001 and contains special process specifications for automotive manufacturers. The required automotive-specific quality standards apply across the entire supply chain of the automotive industry. The goal of IATF 16949 is to document supplier quality in a verifiable manner thereby strengthening the trust base of the customers even further than previously. IATF stands for International Automotive Task Force, a consortium of the leading automotive manufacturers and associations.
“After implementing a strict action plan, we are now the proud owners of the IATF certificate,” says Willi Gaier, Head of Quality Management at Dana in Neu-Ulm, Germany.
“The certification is a basic requirement for Reinz-Dichtungs-GmbH. Without IATF 16949, you as a supplier are virtually excluded from supplying an automobile manufacturer (OEM), this also applies to new orders,” the quality expert continues.
The quality management under the direction of Willi Gaier had to first filter the newly added requirements of the IATF and then compare them with the existing processes in the company. “In most cases we were already compliant with the standard, we had to install new processes or adapt process technologies in one position or another,” says Willi Gaier. “Overall, we didn't sweat in the course of the five-day audit.”
One of the special requirements of the automotive industry is the sampling after a production stop for more than one or two years - and even longer, depending on the customer. A matter of course for Reinz-Dichtungs-GmbH: The current parts catalog goes back to cylinder head gaskets from the 1950s.
The IATF 16949 certificate is valid for three years and must be confirmed annually by IATF-certified auditors. After expiration a re-certification is necessary.
Jun 18, 2018 Dana Neu-Ulm - Reinz achieves top suppliers status at AGCO
AGCO Your Agriculture Company has awarded Reinz-Dichtungs-GmbH the “Partner” status for suppliers. The gasket specialist from Neu-Ulm, a subsidiary of the U.S.-American Dana Incorporated company, now belongs to the first three suppliers of AGCO with the highest supplier status. Altogether AGCO works together with roughly 2,000 suppliers.
The award was granted in the framework of the 2018 EME Supplier Day at the AGCO plant of combine harvester production in Breganze, Italy, under the motto “We strive for perfect partnerships”. Volker Just, Key Account Manager, accepted the award for Dana Neu-Ulm.
AGCO is one of the worldwide leading manufactures of agricultural machines and tractors with the known brand Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra®.
Teuvo Mehtanen, Director Purchasing, AGCO Power
“Reinz-Dichtungs-GmbH is a company very close to AGCO and who ensures with its gaskets that everything stays in place as it should – whether pressure, oil or temperature. Not only do they give AGCO high priority and work closely with our engineers and researchers, they also ensure year after year outstanding quality with zero ppm values and 100% compliance with requirements. Dana/Reinz is a partner who supports AGCO with the latest innovations and manufacturing processes and who also supports its customers in markets where there is a lot of competition”.
Given priority
For Dana/Reinz, the AGCO “Partner” status means more than just an award for a long-standing collaboration that began in the 1970s and has been very intensive and successful for 15 years.
“Being a Partner means that we are given priority in inquiries, especially for new developments, and are the first supplier to be approached. This means that we are involved in new projects very early on and always get the chance to submit our offer early”, explains Volker Just, Key Account Manager, about the benefits.
Currently Dana/Reinz supplies the motors of AGCO among others with three-layer metal cylinder head gaskets featuring wave stopper technology and exhaust manifold gaskets.
About AGCO
AGCO Your Agriculture Company (NYSE: AGCO) is one of the worldwide leading companies in the areas of development, production and sales of agricultural machines. AGCO supports productivity increase in agriculture with its comprehensive range of products and associated services. The agricultural products from AGCO are sold under the five core brands Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra® with the support of Fuse®, precision technology and agricultural optimization services. AGCO was founded in 1990 and has its corporate headquarters in Duluth, Georgia, U.S. In 2017, AGCO produced net sales of 8.3 billion U.S. dollars.
www.AGCOcorp.com
Nov 02, 2017 Victor Reinz® Transmission Control Plates for Global Automotive Applications
Long-distance highway trips, joyriding on country roads or stop-and-go in city traffic – for modern car transmissions to function reliably there’s a seemingly inconspicuous component which is actually of vital importance: the transmission control plate. Dana Incorporated has optimized the development, application-specific configuration and production of these transmission control plates. The gasket specialist has now become so successful with this product that the production capacities in Neu-Ulm, Germany have expanded to iclude Wuxi, China and planning for expansion into the USA is underway.
Be it for torque converter automatic transmissions or continuously variable transmissions (CVT): car manufacturers need transmission control plates (separator plates) for flow control and for sealing off the hydraulic control unit at the same time. The problem: solutions previously available on the market tend to leak, impairing the transmission’s efficiency. Even tiny particles of dirt can damage adjoining components (such as valves), and thus the entire system. Doesn’t it seem obvious that a gasket specialist would put special effort into the development and construction of transmission control plates? That’s just what Dana did. The company has decades of experience in cylinder-head gaskets and is now one of the leading suppliers of metal beaded flat gasket systems.
The starting shot: the establishment of a production facility in Neu-Ulm in 2015
In 2015, US automotive supplier Dana installed a new production plant in Neu-Ulm. It specializes in the production of transmission control plates and meets the strictest cleanroom requirements. The entire production and assembly is fully automated. Even quality control is handled by a camera system, so that trained employees in special clothing only come into contact with the finished and packaged product during preparation for shipping. The machines and lines are specifically designed for movements in the micrometer range. “The presses punch the transmission control plates with maximum precision. Cutting-edge production lines then handle partial coating along the complex seal contours with a special elastomer developed in-house,” explains Robert Blersch, Senior Manager for Products in Transition at Dana. “The result is a reliable seal which can withstand even aggressive transmission oils. With this degree of leak-tightness, the transmission control plate increases the efficiency of the entire transmission and makes a major contribution to modern drive concepts with reduced consumption values and CO2 emissions.”
Further developments: Production facilities in China and the USA
It wasn’t long before market demand exceeded the initial plant capacity of the production facility in Neu-Ulm. Volkswagen, for instance, now uses the new transmission control plates on a large scale for its DL 382 7-gear dual clutch transmission in models from AUDI. Other original-equipment manufacturers are also requesting large quantities. “For that reason, we expanded production based on the Neu-Ulm model to a Dana plant in Wuxi – a city not far from Shanghai in the Jiangsu province,” explains Robert Blersch. This puts global production volumes in the range of several million transmission control plates per year. And that will continue to rise. “Against the background of rapid and sustained growth in Europe and China, we are also thinking about serial production in North America. 95 percent of the automobiles there run with automatic transmissions. We would also integrate production into Dana’s existing production facilities.”
A brief description of transmission control plates
Modern automatic transmissions have to enable more and more shifting operations in shorter and shorter reaction times. This poses a big challenge for the transmission’s hydraulic system. At its core is a hydraulic shifter and an electronic transmission control unit comprised in a single mechatronics module. While the control unit continuously calculates the most efficient gear during the trip, the hydraulic shifter takes care of implementing it. And where is the transmission control plate located? Directly in the hydraulic module. It controls the flow of transmission oil through the flow channels to control the automatic transmission. At the same time, it seals off the entire system inside and out.
Jul 28, 2017 Dana Heads to Inter Cars Expo in Warsaw to Showcase Victor Reinz® Products
Dana will display an array of Victor Reinz® products at the 2017 Inter Cars Expo taking place September 22-24 in Warsaw, Poland. This is Dana’s first year attending the event to network with automotive enthusiasts and display its award-winning products. Inter Cars is the biggest importer and distributor of automotive spare parts for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in Poland. Victor Reinz has been one of the leading manufacturers in the automotive industry since 1909 with the invention of the cylinder-head gasket.
The 16th Annual Inter Cars Expo takes place Sept. 22-24 at the PGE National Stadium. The event is eagerly awaited by manufacturers and consumers for the great opportunities to network and learn about compelling companies and products within the industry.
“We are thrilled to participate in the Inter Cars event in Warsaw,” said Area Sales Manager of Automotive Service Parts, Bartosz Czuba. “As one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers, we are excited about the opportunity to display our extensive line of Victor Reinz products at this important automotive event.”
Dana will showcase a full-range of Victor Reinz products. These products range from head gaskets, secondary gaskets, oil seals, and much more. The main product at Dana’s exhibit is the model DV6 engine. The engine will be opened on the display table so attendees can see the engine’s full range of devices. This display shows where the engine is installed, along with the different gaskets, turbo kit, and other pieces that make up the engine. The setup allows guests to take a close look at the engine, physically touch the equipment, and witness how the product fits into the existing infrastructure. Dana is enthusiastic about the opportunity to visit with customers and discuss their needs at Inter Cars Warsaw.
Jul 28, 2017 Dana Aftermarket Showcases Spicer®, Victor Reinz® Brands at Automechanika Johannesburg 2017
Dana will showcase a robust range of Spicer® and Victor Reinz® technologies, including a complete set of driveline and sealing solutions for off-highway, commercial, and light vehicles during Automechanika Johannesburg 2017, Sept. 27-30. The event is South Africa’s leading international trade fair for the automotive service industry, targeting trade visitors from the sub-Saharan Region.
Dana plans to display its premium aftermarket products that achieve high-quality and top performance standards for original equipment solutions. Specifically, the company will display Victor Reinz products including cylinder-head gaskets, sealants, valve cover gasket sets, integrated oil seals, and more as well as Spicer® axle, transmission, and driveshaft components. Dana representatives also will be on-site to highlight the advanced technology features of the products for those interested in learning more about the wide range of products.
As a key automotive aftermarket supplier in South Africa, Dana continues to grow its presence in the versatile, cost-conscious region, providing the market with necessary products for the right price. By closely monitoring the needs of the South African automotive industry, Dana constantly works to be the first supplier to provide the market with aftermarket components to meet regional needs.
Automechanika is the world’s leading brand among business-to-business automotive trade fairs. This year, more than 600 exhibitors from over 20 countries will present innovations and solutions for the automotive market, from Sept. 27-30, 2017 at the JHB Expo Centre in Nasrec, South Africa. Dana also has showcased its growing global footprint through exhibitions at other recent international Automechanika shows, including Dubai, Istanbul, Jeddah, and Frankfurt. Automechanika Johannesburg attendees can visit Dana in hall 5 stand D03.
Mar 30, 2017 Dana To Bring Spicer® and Victor Reinz® Driveline and Sealing Products to 2017 Automechanika Show in Istanbul April 6 through 9
Dana, a global leader in highly engineered driveline, sealing, and thermal management technologies, is ready to bring a strong lineup of its products to the 2017 Automechanika Istanbul trade show. The show, Turkey's leading international trade fair for the automotive industry, will take place from April 6 through April 9 at the TÜYAP Fair Convention and Congress Center.
Guests visiting Dana’s booth will have access to the company’s Spicer® driveline products and Victor Reinz® premium sealing products for the light, commercial, industrial, and off-highway vehicle aftermarkets together in one exhibit. The company has previously shown its Spicer products at Automechanika Istanbul, but this year will mark the first time that Dana will present the products as a complete driveline package with axle, transmission, and driveshaft applications. Additionally, a wider range of Dana products will be on exhibit and available this year, particularly light- and heavy-duty driveshafts, in response to the needs of its customers in the regional market.
Current and potential customers from around the globe who visit Dana’s Automechanika exhibition booth also will have the opportunity to interact directly with Dana’s technical and product specialists about the company’s diverse product portfolio, ask questions, and establish a personal rapport with Dana’s product and aftermarket experts.
This year will mark Dana’s third time exhibiting at Automechanika Istanbul. The company’s continued presence at Automechanika Istanbul is testament to Dana’s long-term commitment to meeting the needs of its customers in Turkey and the surrounding region, with advanced technologies and high-quality original equipment solutions that meet top-performance standards.
Mar 30, 2017 Dana Announces New Facebook Page for its Victor Reinz® Sealing Product Line
Dana’s Victor Reinz® sealing product line recently began engaging with its audiences in a new way—through Facebook. The new Facebook page was created as a forum for members of the Victor Reinz team to share information about products, brand news, expertise, experiences, and more with their customers and fans worldwide.
“We are excited to join the Facebook community as an extension of our relationship with customers around the world,“ said Alfred Wimmer, Director Aftermarket EMEAR (Europe/ Middle East/ Africa/ Russia). “Connecting with our audiences on the popular social media platform gives us the opportunity to collectively share our passion for Victor Reinz and the automotive industry, at a whole new level of interaction.“
By increasing its social media presence, the team hopes to better familiarize the Facebook community with the Victor Reinz product portfolio, and continue to position the brand as the number one choice when customers need service parts of original equipment quality delivered promptly.
To engage with Victor Reinz on Facebook, click here.
Jan 30, 2017 Dana Takes Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, and GWB® to 2017 Automechanika Shows in Dubai and Jeddah
Dana, a global leader in highly engineered driveline, sealing, and thermal-management technologies, is ready to bring a strong lineup of its aftermarket products to the 2017 Automechanika Jeddah and Dubai trade shows.
Automechanika Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's leading regional trade fair for the automotive aftermarket industry, will take place from Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events. Automechanika Dubai, the largest automotive aftermarket trade exhibition in the wider Middle East and Africa, will take place from May 7 through May 9 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
At each of the upcoming Automechanika shows, Dana will provide guests who visit the exhibitor booths access to Spicer® driveline products and Victor Reinz® premium sealing products for the light, commercial, and off-highway vehicle aftermarkets. Dana also will present its GWB® industrial driveshaft products, developed for the Middle-Eastern marketplace, at its exhibitor booths. The company has previously shown its Spicer products at these shows, but this year will mark the first time that Dana will present the products as a complete driveline package with axle, transmission, and driveshaft applications. By bringing its Spicer, Victor Reinz, and GWB products into one exhibit, Dana will be able to better showcase its diverse product portfolio, along with its comprehensive solutions for driveline, sealing and industrial applications.
Current and potential customers from around the globe who visit Dana’s Automechanika exhibition booths also will have the opportunity to interact directly with Dana’s technical and product specialists about the range of products provided by Dana, ask questions, and establish a personal rapport with Dana’s product and aftermarket experts.
This year will mark Dana’s ninth time exhibiting at Automechanika Dubai, and the second time at Automechanika Jeddah; over the past decade, Dana has expanded its reach in each of the two markets. The company’s continued presence at these and other Automechanika shows around the world is testament to Dana’s commitment to offer advanced technologies and high-quality original equipment solutions that meet top-performance standards for its global customers.
Jan 22, 2017 Dana Technologies Help Power Award-winning Vehicles, Engines
Dana Incorporated announced today that several of its advanced technologies are incorporated into vehicles and engines that have recently received significant industry accolades. Specifically, its technologies are utilized on the 2017 North American Truck and Utility Vehicles of the Year, the Motor Trend Truck of the Year, and six of the 2017 Wards 10 Best Engines.
The 2017 Honda Ridgeline and 2017 Chrysler Pacifica, named the North American Truck and Utility Vehicles of the Year at this year's North American International Auto Show, incorporate Dana's high-performing technologies into their powertrain assemblies. The Honda Ridgeline features Dana's Victor Reinz® cam cover module on its 3.5L V-6 engine, and Victor Reinz® heat shields are incorporated on the Chrysler Pacifica.
Motor Trend's Truck of the Year, the 2017 Ford Super Duty, boasts a variety of Dana's leading driveline, sealing, and thermal-management technologies. Specifically, Dana supplied its Spicer® front and rear axles, as well as Spicer® propshafts, for the 2017 F-250 through F-550 models.
In addition, Dana supplies exhaust manifold, exhaust gas recirculation, and turbo gaskets; thermal-acoustical protective shielding (TAPS); and charge air, transmission oil, engine oil, and diesel fuel coolers for the Ford Super Duty 6.7-liter diesel engine. Dana's valve stem seals, transmission oil cooler, and plastic cam covers also are incorporated into the 6.2-liter gas engine. Together, these technologies help the automaker meet industry demands by improving fuel economy and engine durability, and by reducing oil consumption, weight, and emissions.
Multiple Dana solutions were also integrated onto this year's Wards 10 Best Engines. Included among these are Dana's Victor Reinz® exhaust manifold gaskets, which deliver peak performance and withstand temperatures up to 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, Dana's Long-brand engine oil cooler helps to properly utilize energy and improve fuel economy while reducing emissions.
Dana technologies on the 2017 Wards 10 Best Engines include:
Chevrolet Volt 1.5L DOHC 4-cyl./Dual Motor EREV – Equipped with Victor Reinz TAPS and valve stem seals.
Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid 3.6L DOHC V-6/Dual Motor PHEV – Features Victor Reinz heat shields.
Ford Focus RS 2.3L Turbocharged DOHC 4-cyl. – Equipped with Long engine oil cooler and Victor Reinz cylinder head, exhaust manifold, and secondary gaskets.
Honda Accord Hybrid 2.0L DOHC 4-cyl./Dual Motor HEV – Includes a Victor Reinz cam cover.
Infiniti Q50 3.0L Turbocharged DOHC V-6 – Equipped with Long engine oil cooler.
Mercedes-Benz C300 2.0L Turbocharged DOHC 4-cyl. – Utilizes Victor Reinz secondary gaskets and TAPS.
"Having the honor of being a part of these industry-leading vehicles and engines speaks to the culture of innovation and customer service at Dana," said James Kamsickas, president and chief executive officer of Dana. "Every day we strive to develop technologies that will help our customers meet their performance and efficiency goals. It is a privilege to have had the opportunity to help power these well-deserving award recipients."
About the North American Car and Truck of the Year
The North American Car, Truck, and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards honor excellence in innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, driver satisfaction and value. Initiated in 1994, they are judged by about 60 professional automotive journalists from the United States and Canada who work for magazines, television, radio, newspapers and web sites. They are the longest-running award not associated with a specific publication, a structure that produces a diverse base of jurors. This year's winners were announced on Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
About Motor Trend's Truck of the Year
The Motor Trend Truck of the Year awards are selected by Motor Trend Magazine to recognize the best new or significantly refreshed truck in a given model year. The contenders are ranked in superiority, significance, and value.
About Wards 10 Best Engines
The Wards 10 Best Engines competition, now in its 23rd year, continues to recognize the industry's latest powertrain technologies, based on horsepower and torque; technology; efficiency; and NVH performance. The awards were presented on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Oct 27, 2016 1,000,000 Gaskets: BMW Engines with Cylinder-head Gaskets from Dana
Neu-Ulm, Germany, October 2016. The automaker BMW equips his modular engine unit, introduced in 2013/14, with Victor Reinz® gasket solutions.
Motor B37
1.5 l three-cylinder in-line engine (diesel) with 70 kW (95 HP) or 85 kW (116 PS)
used, for example, in the 214d Active Tourer, Mini One D, 116d, 216d Gran Tourer and Mini Cooper D
1.2 l three-cylinder in-line engine (gasoline) with 55 kW (75 PS) and 75 kW (102 HP) or 1.5 l three-cylinder in-line engine (gasoline) with 75 kW (102 HP) to 170 kW (231 HP)
used, for example, in the Mini One, 216i Gran Tourer, 116i, 118i, 218i Active Tourer, 318i, X1 sDrive 18i, Mini Cooper and i8
2.0 l four-cylinder in-line engine (gasoline) with 135 kW (184 HP) to 190 kW (258 HP)
used, for example, in the 320i, 220i Active Tourer, Mini Cooper S Cabrio, 125i, X1 xDrive 25i, Mini John Cooper Works and 730i/Li
BMW engines have a compact design, achieve high performance per liter of displacement, produce maximum peak injection pressures and exhibit different combustion chamber diameters. In addition, they feature specific designs with an open oil channel across the entire width of the gasket and valve bags. Altogether, a true challenge for the gasket specialists from Dana.
In the basic design, the engineers from Neu-Ulm developed a multi-layer steel cylinder-head gasket (MLS) with identical top and bottom sheets for gasoline and diesel engines for the BMW modular engine unit. Partially coated stainless steel 1.4310 with different thicknesses is used. To seal the combustion chamber of gasoline engines Dana uses the wave stopper® technology while distance sheet stoppers are used for diesel engines. With gasoline engines, backland stoppers seal the balance of the gasket in addition.
Because of the specific requirements of the new BMW engine generation, the gasket experts had to take entirely new development approaches. Standardized safety distances for beads and bore holes to adjacent functional elements were completely reassessed. Expanded basic development helped in addition to ensure the enhanced requirements. Manufacturing methods considered so far not feasible produced outstanding sealing results, especially when punching backland stoppers. All development steps were assessed first via FE analyses and implemented upon agreement with BMW, tooling procurement and production.
"The cooperation with BMW is always a special challenge to us, however, it also allows us advancing together with BMW. The tasks presented to us require our entire engineering development know-how", says Hans-Dieter Waltenberg, project manager at Dana in Neu-Ulm. "When BMW is then satisfied with our solutions in the end, both sides are winners."
Currently, the development and optimization work for the 2nd generation of the BMW modular engine unit is underway. Especially the 2.0 l four-cylinder in-line engine (gasoline) requires beads and additional backland stoppers.
Oct 12, 2016 Dana Aftermarket Delights Customers with New Products, Online Catalog at Automechanika Frankfurt 2016
At Automechanika Frankfurt 2016, the world’s leading international automotive trade fair held September 13-17 in Frankfurt, Germany, Dana gave guests who visited their exhibitor booth direct access to their Spicer® driveline and Victor Reinz® and Glaser® sealing premium aftermarket technologies for light, commercial, and off-highway vehicles.
Dana’s exhibit attracted show attendees with many new products, including a new Spicer® Medium Duty Commercial Vehicle Series driveshaft for the Mercedes Benz Sprinter, recently introduced online catalog, and interaction with their on-site technical experts from every region. Visitors were pleased with Dana’s exceptional hospitality and dynamic nature of the exhibit, which created key opportunities for Dana to interact with current customers, and attract and inform potential new customers from around the globe.
By bringing their Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, and Spicer® product lines into one exhibit, Dana was able to showcase its diverse product portfolio and introduce comprehensive solutions for their customer’s driveline and sealing needs.
Among the attractions at Dana’s exhibition space was an Audi V6 3.0l TFSI engine. The engine, features Dana’s Victor Reinz® Multi-Layer Steel (MLS) Power Wave cylinder-head gasket, with Dana’s patented Wave-StopperTM sealing technology around the combustion chamber to prevent leakage. This unique gasket is enhanced to sustain high-pressure sealing even at the most extreme temperatures and engine forces, and can be tailored to suit almost any engine configuration.
Visitors also were able to get instant access to the comprehensive Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, and Spicer® product ranges through the company’s recently-introduced, well-received online catalogs. This regularly-updated tool allows customers to easily view and order Dana Aftermarket products. Features include technical bulletins, specifications, and installation videos for certain products.
Dana’s continued presence at Automechanika is testament to the company’s commitment to offering advanced technologies that meet customer needs, and offer high-quality original equipment solutions that meet top performance standards.
This year’s Automechanika Frankfurt hosted approximately 136,000 visitors from more than 170 countries, with a record of 4,820 exhibitors. Numerous exhibitors reported that the quality of their interaction with visitors was exceptionally high, and event organizers reported that visitor satisfaction for the event was 95 percent, with more than 80 percent of exhibitors reporting that they were able to effectively reach their visitor target groups at the show.
Aug 02, 2016 Dana Aftermarket to Display Victor Reinz® Sealing Products at Automechanika Frankfurt 2016
Dana will be exhibiting at Automechanika Frankfurt 2016, taking place Sept. 13-17, 2016, displaying its extensive aftermarket product portfolio, including Victor Reinz® sealing solutions for light, commercial, and off-highway vehicles. Attendees can view Dana’s premium sealing solutions in booth G91, hall 3.0; previously, Dana’s exhibit space was located in hall 5.0.
Dana’s presence at the global fair offers direct access to not only Dana’s premium technologies, but on-site technical experts available to customers from every region. Since the last Automechanika Frankfurt in 2014, the Dana Aftermarket has released more than 2,200 new parts. Many of the parts, complete with newly redesigned packaging, will be showcased within the digital content display at Dana’s booth.
In addition, Dana’s exhibit will display an Audi V6 3.0l TFSI engine, which features Dana’s Victor Reinz Multi-Layer Steel (MLS) Power Wave cylinder-head gasket. The three-layer gasket is stamped from spring steel to form functional gasket layers, and utilizes Dana’s patented Wave-StopperTM sealing technology, consisting of multiple concentric waves, and full beads for additional macro sealing around the combustion chamber to prevent leakage. The distinct properties of the gasket are optimized to maintain high-pressure sealing even at the most extreme temperatures and engine forces, and allow it to be tailored to suit almost any engine configuration.
For many years Dana has supplied cylinder-head gaskets for Audi´s V6 gasoline engine program. The gaskets can be found in Audi’s A4/S4, A5/S5, A6, A7, Q5, and Q7 models since 2012.
Dana’s continued presence at Automechanika emphasizes the company’s commitment to offering advanced sealing technologies that meet customer needs and offer high-quality and top performance standards for original equipment solutions.
Those visiting Dana’s exhibit booth also can view the company’s recently introduced online catalogs, which provide instant access to the comprehensive Victor Reinz® product ranges. The digital catalogs allow customers to view Dana Aftermarket products, complete with technical bulletins, specifications, and installation videos available for certain products. The catalogs are regularly updated to ensure Dana product information is as up-to-date as possible.
At Automechanika Frankfurt, Dana will join more than 4,500 exhibitors from 75 countries who will present innovations and solutions for future automotive mobility.
Jul 26, 2016 Dana to Directly Sell Victor Reinz® Gaskets to Aftermarket Network in North America
Dana announced today that it will begin selling its original-equipment line of gaskets and sealing products, under the Victor Reinz® brand name, directly to its network of aftermarket customers in North America, effective Nov. 1, 2016. For the past decade, Mahle Aftermarket has held the rights to distribute these gaskets under the Victor Reinz name in North America. Victor Reinz sealing products, engineered and manufactured by Dana, or to Dana specification, are distributed by Dana in all other global aftermarkets.
"Dana has long been the premier original-equipment supplier of gaskets and sealing solutions for virtually every major vehicle manufacturer in the world," said Dwayne Matthews, president, Dana Power Technologies Group. "Our expertise and knowledge of the market will again allow our customers in North America to get as close to Dana as possible. This means better service and technical support, and a more cost-effective solution by eliminating a party in the distribution process."
Victor Reinz gasket sets are known worldwide for meeting the highest standards of quality while addressing specific needs of the aftermarket, such as gasket set contents, packaging, labeling, cataloging, and vehicle coverage.
"Dana is proud to be the complete solution provider for our Victor Reinz products for the global aftermarket," said Doug Wolma, vice president and general manager of the Dana Aftermarket Group. "Aftermarket customers can be assured that the type of quality, technology and manufacturing excellence that is needed at the OE level is reflected in every Victor Reinz gasket set sold in the aftermarket."
Apr 05, 2016 Dana Aftermarket finds success with Saudi Arabian market at Automechanika Jeddah 2016
Dana Holding Corporation recently enhanced its commitment to participating in leading aftermarket events by exhibiting at the inaugural Automechanika Jeddah 2016. With its extensive product portfolio on-site, Dana was able to educate attendees on the breadth of its premium aftermarket Spicer® and Victor Reinz® technologies, including driveline and sealing solutions for light, commercial, and off-highway vehicles.
This newest edition to the Automechanika brand of global fairs gave Dana the opportunity to have face-to-face interaction with Middle Eastern customers and present its Spicer and Victor Reinz aftermarket products to the region.
“We weren’t sure what to expect from Automechanika Jeddah, since it’s in its first year, but we were very pleased with the event attendance and outcome of the tradeshow,” said Jan von Ungern-Sternberg, area sales manager for Dana Aftermarket. “Being able to have in-person interactions with current and prospective customers in that region proved to be invaluable. The significant amount of interest we received in our high-performing brands exceeded expectations, which was encouraging.”
More than 170 exhibitors from 27 countries were on-site for the trade exhibition, which took place at the Jeddah Center for Forums & Events in Saudi Arabia from Jan. 26-28. With Saudi Arabia positioned as an emerging market that is quickly growing, Automechanika Jeddah was created to highlight key opportunities in the automotive aftermarket space. Manufacturers and distributors on-site presented a range of solutions, including repair and maintenance, parts and components, electronics and systems, tires and batteries, and more. Dana will be participating at other upcoming Automechanika events in 2016, including Automechanika Istanbul from April 7-10; Automechanika Dubai from May 8-10; and Automechanika Frankfurt, Sept. 13-17.
Feb 01, 2016 Dana Holding Corporation Acquires Magnum Gaskets® Business
Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Magnum Gaskets®, a U.S.-based supplier of aftermarket gaskets and sealing products for automotive and commercial-vehicle applications. Magnum Gaskets will enhance Dana’s sealing product offerings and complement the company’s Victor Reinz® and Glaser® global sealing brands.
“This acquisition fits well with Dana’s growth strategy and our company’s global position as a preeminent supplier of gaskets and sealing technologies for original-equipment manufacturers and the aftermarket,” said James Kamsickas, Dana president and chief executive officer. “The Magnum Gaskets brand has grown aggressively over the past few years, and in this acquisition we see great value for our customers and our shareholders.”
The Magnum Gaskets brand offers a broad range of gasket solutions, including cylinder head, valve cover, oil pan, and manifold gasket sets for the North American automotive aftermarket. Distribution of Magnum Gaskets to existing customers will not be disrupted during the acquisition.
“The aftermarket sealing business is a priority for Dana, and we are proud to add Magnum Gaskets to our portfolio of well-respected aftermarket brands, expanding Dana’s market position as a world leader in gasket and sealing technologies,” said Doug Wolma, vice president and general manager of the Dana Aftermarket Group. “We are pleased to have another outstanding product offering within our aftermarket business to better meet our customers’ needs in North America and around the world.”
Located in Bannockburn, Illinois, Magnum Gaskets was purchased from Modern Silicone Technologies Inc. (MSiTM), a leading American contract manufacturer of high-tech molded gaskets with a focus on liquid silicone rubber injection molding and liquid silicone rubber over-molding onto rigid substrates.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Magnum Gaskets
The Magnum gaskets brand features complete gasket sets of world-class quality for domestic and imported cars and light trucks, including diesel and performance coverage. For more information, visit www.magnumgaskets.com.
About Dana in the Aftermarket
Powered by recognized brands such as Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes®, Dana delivers a broad range of aftermarket solutions – including genuine, all makes, and value lines– servicing passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles across the globe. Leveraged by a global network of 13 distribution centers, Dana’s dedicated aftermarket team provides technical service, customer support, high fill rates, and on-time delivery to customers around the globe. For more information, please visit www.dana.com/aftermarket.
About Dana Holding Corporation
Dana is a global leader in the supply of highly engineered driveline, sealing, and thermal-management technologies that improve the efficiency and performance of vehicles with both conventional and alternative-energy powertrains.
Serving three primary markets – passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway equipment – Dana provides the world's original-equipment manufacturers and the aftermarket with local product and service support through a network of nearly 100 engineering, manufacturing, and distribution facilities.
Founded in 1904 and based in Maumee, Ohio, the company employs approximately 23,000 people in 25 countries on six continents. For more information, please visit dana.com.
Dec 16, 2015 Dana Aftermarket featuring Spicer®, Victor Reinz® solutions at Automechanika Jeddah 2016
Dana is showcasing its Spicer® and Victor Reinz® aftermarket products at the inaugural Automechanika Jeddah 2016, the latest automotive trade show in Saudi Arabia. To extend its technology reach and develop stronger customer relationships in the Middle Eastern market, Dana will be exhibiting a range of innovative Spicer and Victor Reinz technologies, including driveline and sealing solutions for off-highway, commercial, and light vehicles.
The company provides customers in every region with premium aftermarket products designed to achieve the same high-quality and performance standards that are expected from original equipment manufacturers. At Automechanika Jeddah, Dana will introduce Middle Eastern customers to the premium aftermarket parts and products for original-equipment solutions.
Victor Reinz aftermarket products on display will include cylinder-head gaskets, sealants, valve cover gasket sets, integrated oil seals, and more. In addition, Spicer axle, driveshaft, and transmission components will be on display. Dana representatives will be on hand to highlight the advanced technology features.
Show attendees can visit Dana in booth C45. Automechanika Jeddah is the latest Automechanika trade fair, offering local visitors and exhibitors direct access to the automotive aftermarket industry in the Middle East.
More than 150 exhibitors from 25 countries will present innovations and solutions for parts and components; electronics and systems; tires and batteries; accessories and tuning; repair and maintenance; and service stations. The event is scheduled from Jan. 26-28, 2016 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Dana will later return to Automechanika Istanbul on April 7-10, 2016, Automechanika Dubai on May 8-10, 2016 and Automechanika Frankfurt on Sept. 13-17, 2016.
Powered by recognized brands such as Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes®, Dana delivers a broad range of aftermarket solutions – including genuine, all makes, and value lines – servicing passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles across the globe. Leveraged by a global network of 13 distribution centers, Dana’s dedicated aftermarket team provides technical service, customer support, high fill rates, and on-time delivery to customers around the globe. For more information, please visit www.dana.com/aftermarket.
Sep 28, 2015 Dana Announces Redesigned Victor Reinz® Installation Instructions
Dana announced today it has launched a refreshed set of assembly instructions for its Victor Reinz® aftermarket solutions. The Victor Reinz directions have been enhanced to include colorful and detailed diagrams that are universally understood, removing text-heavy instructions and allowing global customers to easily review the installation details.
Dana optimized the instructions in an effort to simplify the layout and make it easier for customers to follow each assembly step. Previous instructions included written explanations in German, English, and French, while the new design is entirely visual. The company’s product program management team designed the new options to be user-friendly and offer a comprehensive, product-specific, and visually appealing guide to Victor Reinz installations.
The instructions have been updated for multiple Victor Reinz aftermarket products, including cylinder-head gaskets, sealants, valve cover gaskets, half rings, integrated oil seals, and more. Installation instructions are shipped with orders. Customers also can access additional product details, view the complete Victor Reinz product portfolio, search part numbers, and find global network and sales partners on www.victorreinz.com.
Jul 22, 2015 Production line for transmission control systems in Neu-Ulm sets new standards
Neu-Ulm, Germany, June 2015. Dana has invested in a new production line for transmission control plates in Neu-Ulm. The gasket specialist will be manufacturing separator plates for the hydraulic control of automatic and dual-clutch transmission systems for the European market at its own facility. The initial serial production for transmission control plates has already started.
The production of transmission control plates is subject to demanding cleanliness requirements – even the tiniest particles can permanently damage the functioning of the parts. For this reason, the specially built production facility on the premises of Dana has been adapted to meet the strictest requirements of the automotive industry. The entire production and assembly is fully automatic and uses a newly developed method that guarantees the highest levels of industrial cleanliness. Quality control is conducted by a camera vision system. Individually trained employees wearing special clothing in a clean room prepare the finished, assembled transmission control plates for shipping.
For Bruno Keller, production manager, this process is a further milestone in the production of innovative gasket systems. The Dana development team took advantage of its established knowledge in the field of developing and producing multi-layer-steel cylinder-head gaskets while carrying out its transmission control plate project. The company was one of the first manufacturers to develop and produce metal-elastomer cylinder-head gaskets and is now one of the leading suppliers of metal-elastomer sealing systems. This solution has set the benchmark for the industry thanks to its many innovations. The elastomer coating developed in-house is a decisive prerequisite for the seal and thus for the reliable functioning of the automatic transmission’s hydraulic module. According to Günther Unseld, director, global advanced manufacturing, this is a further step in expanding the technological leadership of Dana.
Victor Reinz® transmission control plates unlock completely new possibilities for gearbox manufacturers: earlier sealing concepts always exhibit tiny leaks. Dana’s new gasket design offers maximum reliability, improves the efficiency of the entire drivetrain, and thus makes an important contribution to increasing the efficiency of modern drive concepts with reduced consumption value and CO2 emissions.
With the production of transmission control plates, Dana is tapping into a new field of business with enormous potential for development, since more and more automobiles are equipped with automatic, dual-clutch, stageless or automated manual transmissions. Potential customers include all of the world’s largest automotive and transmission manufacturers. The first serial production orders for a European automobile manufacturer have already come in.
The new production line for transmission control plates is a strong signal from Dana to its subsidiary REINZ-Dichtungs-GmbH. This investment further reinforces the Neu-Ulm location, securing existing jobs and creating new ones. And Neu-Ulm is the starting point for the transmission control plates’ worldwide roll-out. Serial production launch in China is just around the corner, while further market introductions are being planned.
Learn more about transmission control plates
Innovative automatic transmissions combine the advantages of hand-shifted and conventional automatic transmissions in a single transmission concept. More and more shifting operations with shorter and shorter reaction times create a significant challenge for the transmission’s hydraulic system. This system’s control center includes a mechatronics module that combines electronic transmission control and the hydraulic shifter within the gearbox into a single unit. The control unit calculates the most efficient gear, while the hydraulics handle the operation. The transmission control plate is directly placed in the mechatronic unit’s hydraulic module and fulfils a dual function: first, it seals off the entire system inside and out, and second, it controls the flow of transmission oil through the flow channels to control the automatic transmission.
Apr 20, 2015 Dana announces new Chinese Victor Reinz® website at Auto Shanghai
Dana announced today it has launched a website specifically designed for Victor Reinz® Aftermarket products in China, www.victorreinz.cn. Customers in the Chinese market will benefit from targeted information on this new Chinese-language version of the original Victor Reinz website.
In order to have a successful launch, Dana has ensured the site is as user-friendly as possible, offering a variety of content, including detailed product listings, assembly and installation instructions, and a complete product catalog. Website visitors also can receive more information about Victor Reinz aftermarket products, such as cylinder-head gaskets, sealants, manifold gaskets, and turbocharger mounting kits. The informative new website format is rounded out by a comprehensive download area containing a full product catalog – with more than 15,000 items – and product brochures.
Another valuable feature available to Chinese users is an optimized search function, an efficient resource used to learn more about Victor Reinz sales partners and its global impact. The site now features an interactive world map, which highlights members of the worldwide sales network and includes individual contact information.
In addition to these enhanced features, the latest news is communicated to customers through regular updates to the website, including product details, service information, and event dates.
Dana will be displaying its aftermarket technologies in booth 5BF101 at Auto Shanghai 2015, scheduled from April 22-29. Auto Shanghai is one of the leading automotive industry trade events in China, building a platform for collaboration between Chinese and international auto companies. As this year’s theme is “Innovation for Upgrading,” Dana and other suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors will be displaying innovative technologies and products.
Powered by recognized brands such as Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes®, Dana delivers a broad range of aftermarket solutions – including genuine, all makes, and value lines – servicing passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles across the globe.
Leveraged by a global network of 13 distribution centers, Dana’s dedicated aftermarket team provides technical service, customer support, high fill rates, and on-time delivery to customers around the globe.
For more information, please visit www.dana.com/aftermarket.
Dana is a global leader in the supply of highly engineered driveline, sealing, and thermal-management technologies that improve the efficiency and performance of vehicles with both conventional and alternative-energy powertrains. Serving three primary markets – passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway equipment – Dana provides the world's original-equipment manufacturers and the aftermarket with local product and service support through a network of nearly 100 engineering, manufacturing, and distribution facilities. Founded in 1904 and based in Maumee, Ohio, the company employs 23,000 people in 25 countries on six continents. In 2014, Dana generated sales of $6.6 billion. For more information, please visit www.dana.com.
Apr 16, 2015 TecDoc connects Dana service parts with the Technical Service Information
Neu-Ulm, Germany, April 2015. The TecDoc service part databases now yield better search and service results for Dana customers. A variety of service parts is now directly linked to the Technical Service Information (TSI), which provides important additional information on manufacturer specifications, repair, and installation. This gives customers all the data and facts on their desired products in one place.
As soon as the TecDoc Catalog or TecDoc WEB Catalog displays a Victor Reinz® service part as a search result, the user will see a download button at the top right under the “Service Information” tab. The relevant Technical Service Information from the specialists in Neu-Ulm is available for direct download in PDF format here.
“We want to give our customers quick and easy access to our repair and installation instructions. So it makes sense to put our information where our customers are actually looking for service parts: in TecDoc catalogs,” explains Edwin Puscher, Dana service parts sales manager for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
An example such as the Victor Reinz oil seal for the crankshaft of many different engines makes it quite clear how important the Technical Service Information is:
With this oil seal, the crankshaft sealing ring is seated in the sealing ring housing, requiring a special tool to install it properly. If the installation instructions are not followed, the engine won’t start anymore or will only run in “emergency” mode. In such case, the TSI from TecDoc will provide practical assistance for the work at the shop.
In addition to the link in TecDoc, the Technical Service Information for Victor Reinz service parts is also available for download at www.victorreinz.com/tsi
Dec 18, 2014 Reaching high: Dana invests in high-bay warehouse in Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm, Germany, December 2014. Dana is expanding its Neu-Ulm location by adding a high-bay warehouse for the Aftermarket division. The new addition is a multi-million euro investment scheduled for completion in October 2015.
The expansion of the high-bay warehouse will add 67 m in length, 10 m in width and 19 m in height to make extra storage space for 17,000 Victor Reinz® products. The expected pick capacity is 1.4 million articles removals per year. Together with the existing high-bay warehouse (built in 1984), the Dana service parts warehouse will then have space for 45 million cylinder-head gaskets, oil seals, and turbocharger mounting kits.1
“The Victor Reinz service part range is constantly being improved and refined and enjoys steady increases in turnover. Roughly 1,000 new items are being added each year. Adding to our high-bay warehouse will enable us to expanding our worldwide aftermarket service even further, keeping a wider variety of service parts in stock and supplying our customers with the speed they’re used to,” explains Bernhard Obermeier, project manager in charge of expanding the high-bay warehouse. “That’s a major competitive advantage!”
The high-bay warehouse is being constructed as a silo with an automated small parts storage system in which shelf structures, walls, and ceiling form a single unit. State-of-the-art storage and retrieval machines transport the article containers at speeds of up to 6 m/s. These newly developed boxes are tailored to the dimensions of current and future articles and make ideal use of our storage capacities.
1 A comprehensive overview of the Victor Reinz® product range can be found at: www.victorreinz.com/online-catalog
Dana’s Aftermarket product line
Powered by recognized brands such as Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes®, Dana delivers a broad range of aftermarket solutions – including genuine, all makes, and value lines–- servicing passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles across the globe. Leveraged by a global network of 13 distribution centers, Dana’s dedicated aftermarket team provides technical service, customer support, high fill rates, and on-time delivery to customers around the globe.
Further information can be found at www.victorreinz.com
Sep 10, 2014 From print to mobile: Dana introduces Victor Reinz® aftermarket catalogs and new iOS tablet app at Automechanika 2014
Neu-Ulm, Germany, August 2014 – At Automechanika 2014, Dana Holding Corporation is presenting its updated Victor Reinz® aftermarket product catalogs as well as launching a new app for iOS, each featuring the full line of car, truck, agriculture, and turbocharger replacement parts.
The newly refreshed catalogs contain Dana’s latest technology offerings. For car engines alone, Victor Reinz lists 8,700 engines, including approximately 700 new engines. For trucks, 5,500 engines are available, with nearly 300 listed in the catalog for the first time. The agriculture line is seeing changes as well, listing more than 1,300 engines. Finally, the turbocharger catalog showcases 4,400 turbocharger units, including 204 sets, with 52 appearing for the first time.
"At Dana, we seek to provide global customers with the most innovative, up-to-date technologies to meet evolving market demands," said Markus Meier, supervising product manager. "Our latest catalogs – and supporting app – highlight our newest offerings and allow customers to easily explore products and select equipment best suited to their needs.”
In addition to its updated catalogs, Dana’s newly launched Victor Reinz product app offers users the full technology portfolios, consistent with the catalogs. The app is easy to navigate and offers users the ability to quickly search for products by part number or key words. It also features a section with the latest Dana news about new product offerings and company information. To organize product needs, customers can utilize the app’s notes section, which is accessible through the homepage, to compile, review, and prioritize products they are interested in purchasing. The Victor Reinz app is free for download and available in the Apple app store.
Attendees at this year’s Automechanika can visit Dana in booth D54, Hall 5.0, to test the new app and learn about its features and capabilities. The Victor Reinz catalogs are available through wholesalers, the newly launched app, and for download through the Victor Reinz website, www.victorreinz.com.
Automechanika is the world’s leading automotive trade fair, offering a unique spectrum of innovations and solutions for parts and components; electronics and systems; repair and maintenance; accessories and tuning; service station and car wash; and IT and management. The event is held 16-20 September in Frankfurt, Germany.
Dana, a worldwide leading supplier of drive trains, sealing systems and thermal management products, also presents a broad spectrum of high-performance and efficient solutions for the field of aftermarket parts. The product range of successful brands includes Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes® and offers replacement parts of superior quality worldwide. The offer comprises aftermarket products from original and third-party manufacturers for the maintenance and repair of passenger cars as well as utility and off-road vehicles.
The Dana Aftermarket team operates out of 13 distribution centers all over the world and is there to provide personal customer assistance and technical support. Extensive inventories in stock guarantee high product availability with quick delivery times.
Sep 10, 2014 Dana is equipping top models with Victor Reinz® gaskets
Neu-Ulm, August 2014. Major automobile manufacturers presented their new top models at the 2013 IAA International Motor Show in Frankfurt. The absolute stars included the Mercedes S-Class S 500 with Plug-in-Hybrid, BMW’s electrifying i8 and i3 models and the Porsche 918 Spyder. All of the world premiers have one thing in common: They run with Victor Reinz sealing technology.
The Porsche 918 Spyder’s high-RPM V-8 engine with 447 kW
(608 HP) and an engine displacement of 4,593 cc is a technical masterpiece. Victor Reinz cylinder-head gaskets maximize sealing performance at top RPM levels. The Neu-Ulm − based specialists have also succeeded in developing an integrated gasket for both cylinder-banks. The exhaust manifold gasket is also from Dana.
BMW also takes advantage of Dana’s gasket expertise in its i8 and i3 models. BMW i8’s TwinPower Turbo 1.5 liter 3-cylinder gasoline engine with 170 kW (231 HP) and the i3’s Range Extender are fitted with Dana cylinder-head gaskets, while the drive train of the BMW i3 is additionally equipped with secondary gaskets from Dana.
In addition to cylinder-head, exhaust manifold and other secondary gaskets, Dana has also equipped many new models with high-grade thermal acoustic protective shielding systems in 2013 in its capacity as a system partner and supplier.
Dana, a leading supplier of drive trains, sealing systems and thermal management products worldwide, also presents a broad spectrum of high-performance and efficient solutions. The product range of successful brands Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes® delivers replacement parts of superior quality worldwide. The lineup comprises aftermarket products from original and third-party manufacturers for the maintenance and repair of passenger cars as well as utility and off-road vehicles.
Further information available at: www.victorreinz.com
Apr 07, 2014 Dana Enables Efficiency, Performance of Award-Winning Vehicles
Technologies from Dana Holding Corporation are enabling award-winning vehicles and engines to operate at peak efficiency and performance. The company's technologies are prominent on the 2014 Motor Trend Car and Truck of the Year, the Green Car of the Year, and six of this year's Ward's 10 Best Engines.
Dana's innovative technologies help automakers increase overall vehicle performance and efficiency by maintaining optimum operating temperatures and reducing noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), ensuring a great driving experience for consumers.
"The demand for fuel efficiency and performance are the top drivers in today's market. Dana's technologies are designed to specifically address the weight, space, noise, and performance concerns of our OEM customers, while enabling a quieter and more efficient ride for the everyday driver," said Roger Wood, Dana president and chief executive officer. "The number of award-winning vehicles that contain Dana's innovations demonstrates the standard we set for our products, as well as the dedication of the people who design and manufacture them."
Dana technology is featured on the Motor Trend Car of the Year, the Cadillac CTS. On the HFV6 3.0L and HFV6 3.6L LY7 engines, the technology includes Dana's Victor Reinz® cylinder head gaskets, exhaust and secondary gaskets, intake manifold gasket, heat shields, and valve seals, while the Gen IV 6.0L - LSA engine includes Dana's heat shields and exhaust manifold gaskets. These technologies reduce oil consumption, improve noise, vibration, and harshness, and help protect engine components from extreme temperatures, while ensuring the highest durability.
This year's Motor Trend Truck of the Year, the 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, features a Spicer® rear driveshaft, Victor Reinz exhaust gaskets, and Long® active warm-up technology, which significantly lowers fuel consumption and emissions by enabling engines to quickly reach optimum operating temperatures.
In addition, Dana's Victor Reinz cylinder head cover module is featured on Green Car Journal's Green Car of the Year, the 2014 Honda Accord. This was the ninth year for the award, which was presented at the L.A. Auto Show in November.
In addition to these award-winning vehicles, Dana supplies many technologies to the 2014 Ward's 10 Best Engines.
Audi 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 – Features Victor Reinz cylinder head gasket and secondary gaskets that deliver improved reliability and durability while reducing oil consumption and bore distortion.
Ram 3.0L Turbodiesel DOHC V-6 – Equipped with Victor Reinz exhaust gasket and Long active warm up that reduce emissions and fuel consumption by enabling engines to quickly reach optimum operating temperatures.
Fiat 83-kW Electric Motor – Includes Dana's Long battery chiller that helps minimize temperature variation and improve battery operation.
Chevy 6.2L OHV V-8 – Uses Long engine oil cooler, Victor Reinz secondary gasket and exhaust gasket, and heat shields to lower and control engine oil operating temperature and protect the engine from extreme heat.
Honda 3.5L SOHC V-6 – Features Victor Reinz cylinder head cover modules providing optimal design performance and improved durability.
Volkswagen 1.8L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 – Utilizes Long engine oil coolers which lower and control engine oil operating temperature.
Driving Award-Winning Vehicles (PDF)
About Motor Trend Car and Truck of the Year
The Motor Trend Car and Truck of the Year awards are selected by Motor Trend Magazine to recognize the best new or significantly refreshed car in a given model year. The contenders are ranked in superiority, significance, and value.
About Ward's 10 Best Engines
In its 20th year, the Ward's 10 Best Engines competition continues to recognize the industry's latest powertrain technologies, based on efficiency; horsepower and torque; technology; and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) performance. The awards were presented on Wednesday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Powered by recognized brands such as Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes®, Dana delivers a broad range of aftermarket solutions – including genuine, all makes, and value lines– servicing passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles across the globe.
Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter www.dana.com/aftermarket.
Apr 07, 2014 Neu-Ulm – Dubai – Frankfurt: Meet Dana at the Automechanika 2014
Dana will be exhibiting at twice at Automechanika – the key events for the Automotive Aftermarket.
From June 3-5, 2014, the company will be exhibiting at the German Pavilion at the Automechanika in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates on the Persian Gulf. In addition to Victor Reinz®,
the Spicer® brand will also be represented
at the trade fair stand in Dubai.
The world’s largest trade fair for the aftermarket sector in the automotive industry will be held from September 16-20, 2014 at the Automechanika in Frankfurt. Dana, the world’s leading supplier of drivetrains, sealing systems and thermal management products, will be presenting a comprehensive product portfolio for the industry. In 2012, the fair was attended by roughly 150,000 professionals in the industry from 176 countries and 4,600 exhibitors from 74 countries.
Right on time for the Automechanika in Frankfurt Dana will once again be presenting its new service part catalogs for the passenger car, utility and agricultural vehicles, as well as its expanded range of turbo kits. The new editions of the catalogs will be available for the first time at the trade fair.
Please make a note of the trade fair dates for 2014 right in your calendar >>
Further information can be found at www.dana.com/aftermarket.
Dec 18, 2013 A smooth first filling after a replacement: REINZOADD gets turbochargers off to a perfect start
Start-up trouble after installing turbochargers is now a thing of the past. Dana offers a highly dependable additive for initial turbocharger fillings: the synthetic high-performance REINZOADD lubricant. REINZOADD provides a smooth start after the replacement thanks to a combination of additional ingredients and MoS2.
During normal operation, the turbocharger is integrated into the lubrication circuit and is constantly rinsed with oil – but after it’s been replaced, it starts out dry. Only once the engine has been started does the lubrication circuit build up the necessary pressure to fill the turbocharger with oil – but there’s a delay. And this critical dry phase is precisely what REINZOADD is there for to bridge. It is essential to fill up the turbocharger before the first compression takes place. Otherwise, the turbocharger will run hot and cause irreparable damage – or even total destruction – to the engine.
REINZOADD uses the solid lubricant MoS2 to form a heavy-duty lubricating film on all surfaces of the turbocharger to reduce friction and wear – with ideal properties for emergency operation. The turbocharger is ready to start right away.
The Dana turbo experts recommend using REINZOADD every time a turbocharger is installed – for all designs from conventional turbochargers to ones with variable turbine geometry.
Benefits of REINZOADD lubricant
A tested additive for initial turbocharger filling which has proven itself in daily use at the shop
An effective combination of additional ingredients and MoS2
Allows you to start up the turbocharger safely right after installation
Reduces friction and wear
Improves turbochargers’ emergency operation properties and extends their service lives
Dana, a worldwide leading supplier of drive trains, sealing systems and thermal management products, also presents a broad spectrum of high-performance and efficient solutions for the field of aftermarket parts. The product range of successful brands includes Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes® and offers replacement parts of superior quality worldwide. The offer comprises aftermarket products from original and third-party manufacturers for the maintenance and repair of passenger cars as well as utility and off-road vehicles. The Dana Aftermarket team operates out of 13 distribution centers all over the world and is there to provide personal customer assistance and technical support. Extensive inventories in stock guarantee high product availability with quick delivery times.
Aug 14, 2013 Updates to the Aftermarket Catalog: Dana updates its product line for service parts
Neu-Ulm, Germany, August 2013. Dana’s Aftermarket team has updated its service parts catalog for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and agricultural and construction machinery. New items in the product range include gaskets for roughly 300 more engines – from the multi-layer steel cylinder-head gasket to the elastomer intake manifold gasket. This brings the number of engines we list up to over 13,000 and the number of spare parts we offer to well over 15,000.
The new issues of the Aftermarket catalog for the Victor Reinz® brand ordinarily appear every two years in time for the Automechanika trade show in Frankfurt, Germany. But now Dana is presenting a comprehensive update just nine months after the Automechanika 2012.
“We keep a constant eye on the market and adjust our range of gaskets as quickly as possible,” explains product manager Markus Meier. “We have added 234 units for passenger cars, 42 for commercial vehicles, and 21 for agricultural and construction machinery to our lineup since last September’s Automechanika.”
Dana is providing the updates to the three catalogs in total in PDF format under the name Catalog News. Like the regular catalog, the Catalog News lists all new engines with the service parts Dana offers for them. All information is also provided in pictorial form with icons to break the language barrier so that it can be understood worldwide.
You can download the Catalog News from the website for the Victor Reinz Aftermarket product line at www.victorreinz.com/news. This gives customers the option of filtering search results by manufacturer to give them only the information they actually need.
Jun 12, 2013 Totally compatible: REINZOSIL sealant passes biogas motor oil test with flying colors
The universal VICTOR REINZ silicon sealant REINZOSIL is suitable for gaskets in biogas engines.1 The biogas motor oil used here has no known negative effects on the sealant. And extensive testing has proven it. This expands REINZOSIL’s product range by adding an important field of use.
In tests, cured samples of REINZOSIL had to prove their resistance under a wide range of temperatures in biogas motor oil. Even after two weeks at 120°C, the compound exhibited no visual changes such as swelling, discoloration or other damage. The measurement values for the technical material properties remained within a good tolerance range in all trials in the tensile testing machine.
“The positive test result for biogas motor oil gives our customers certainty”, a fact that product manager Christian Katzer is happy to note. “The result once again underlines the versatility of REINZOSIL.”
About REINZOSIL
REINZOSIL is a fast-curing silicon sealant for sealing flat joints with sealing gaps – without having to disassemble components. The sealant is extremely stable, even at high temperatures. Detailed information on REINZOSIL can be found at www.victorreinz.com.
1 When installing a cylinder-head gasket, additional sealants should only be applied if this is specified explicitly by the manufacturer.
About Dana in the Aftermarket Powered by recognized brands such as Dana®, Spicer®, Victor Reinz®, Glaser®, GWB®, Thompson®, TruCool®, SVL® and Transejes®, Dana delivers a broad range of aftermarket solutions – including genuine, all makes, and value lines – servicing passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles across the globe. Leveraged by a global network of 13 distribution centers, Dana’s dedicated aftermarket team provides technical service, customer support, high fill rates, and on-time delivery to customers around the globe.
Jan 25, 2013 More than just a catalog: The Victor Reinz® product line: Simple, fast and APP-TO-DATE
Neu-Ulm, January 2013. Dana is constantly expanding its aftermarket service for customers: The entire Victor Reinz® product catalog, with over 15,000 items, is now available to you as an online catalog at www.victorreinz.com/online-catalog and as an app for the iPhone. The database is linked to more than the TecDoc vehicles and revised and updated every three months.
Both versions offer expanded convenience and search functions in addition to the classic catalog in print form. The Victor Reinz® product line app makes it especially easy to find the replacement part you’re looking for.
“Customers can conduct searches using all of the vehicle manufacturers’ OE numbers as well as item, use, comparison or competitor number. If Dana has the part in question in its product line, then the customer will be able to find it,” assures Dana product manager Guido Reiter. “It could be anything from a cylinder head gasket to a turbocharger installation kit; it makes no difference at all. If none of the aforementioned numbers is on hand, then the vehicle’s type number will usually suffice for a successful search,” continues Guido Reiter.
The Victor Reinz® product line app can be found at the app store for download worldwide. It is currently available in German, English, French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish. Further languages will be added shortly.
The Victor Reinz® product line app
Scan the QR code with an app such as “Scan” (iPhone).
Dec 13, 2012 Award received for high customer satisfaction in the Victor Reinz® replacement parts business
The customer satisfaction survey conducted this year by the Steinbeis Customer Satisfaction Campaign has yielded more outstanding results.
Victor Reinz® customers continue to enjoy top-notch service with Dana. In addition to individual consultation, this also includes on-time deliveries of the required parts in top quality.
The “Award for high customer satisfaction” certificate is a special honor presented by the Steinbeis Foundation – and this is the fifth time the company has received it.
The aftermarket team sends out its thanks for the great participation rate and extraordinarily good ratings. The positive feedback will be used to improve customer service even further.
About Steinbeis
The "Campaign for High Customer Satisfaction" was initiated in 1997 by the Steinbeis Foundation with the aim of enabling companies to measure customer satisfaction and to assess this satisfaction by means of prepared questionnaires and standardized analyses, including comparisons of companies (benchmarking).
The Steinbeis Foundation was established by the German State of Baden-Württemberg to promote technology transfers from academic institutions to business.
Leveraged by a global network of 13 distribution centers, Dana’s dedicated aftermarket team provides technical service, customer support, high fill rates, and on-time delivery to customers around the globe. For more information, please visit www.dana.com/aftermarket.
Sep 17, 2012 From cars to agriculture:The new Victor Reinz® product line for the aftermarket
At the Automechanika 2012, Dana presented the new Victor Reinz® aftermarket catalogs. For the first time, the company also published an agricultural catalog featuring replacement parts for construction and agricultural machines as well as for special-purpose vehicles in road construction. This product line goes back to models from 1950.
Altogether, the catalogs on offer comprise four publications covering the entire product line of Victor Reinz Service Parts. "This provides the full coverage of the replacement parts market that we had set as our goal: cars, commercial vehicles and agricultural machines," says Markus Meier, Supervising Product Manager. "And also new – our catalog with turbocharger mounting kits for over 4250 turbochargers."
Both the car and truck catalogs contain the manufacturers' latest updates. For car engines alone, Victor Reinz lists over 8000 units, including 650 new engines. For the CV aftermarket, nearly 5000 engines are available, with 250 listed in the catalog for the first time.
Dana's specialist catalog for agriculture provides an exclusive service. "Such a comprehensive compilation of replacement gaskets for tractors, excavators and caterpillars must be unique," declares Markus Meier. Appearing every two years and once again in time for the Automechanika 2012 in Frankfurt, the Victor Reinz product catalogs are available through wholesalers or the Internet.
Simple, fast and APP-TO-DATE – Find our comprehensive product catalog with more than 15.000 service parts at www.victorreinz.com.
Experience the Victor Reinz product world as mobile App and research service parts by:
Manufacturer, vehicle, OE no., competition no., REINZ no., model code
Sep 05, 2012 Turbo Quality for the Aftermarket
Customized Victor Reinz® Turbocharger Mounting Kits from Dana
Dana is expanding its portfolio of top-quality sealing technology for the aftermarket. With more than 800 applications and 170 references, the world’s leading sealing specialist is setting new benchmarks in the business of turbocharger mounting kits.
The solutions Dana offers for passenger, commercial, off-highway and agricultural vehicles are optimal for meeting all the challenges posed by the replacement of turbochargers. While the outer packing is labeled with model version and engine type, the inside contains everything the assembler needs to do his work – and all that made of ultra high-quality materials. Stud metal screws and nuts satisfy DIN standards 10.9 and 8.8 for heat-resistant materials.
Victor Reinz® turbocharger mounting kits are high-performance product packages for dealers and shops alike, perfectly matched to meet turbocharger replacement requirements. The kits are custom-configured for each individual turbocharger and contain all the gaskets and parts needed for the safe and expert assembly of components, ranging from turbo gaskets and secondary sealing systems to shielding parts. The product portfolio is being extended continuously.
Dana optionally supplies the MoS2 additive REINZOADD. Prior to initial operation the oil bore must be completely filled to prevent the turbocharger from running dry.The fully synthetic molybdenum disulfide (MOS2)-based solid lubricant suspension in mineral oil forms a heavy-duty lubricating film on all frictional and sliding surfaces to reduce friction and wear. REINZOADD has optimal emergency running properties and provides an extra-long service life for the turbocharger.
Download Flyer Turbocharger-Mounting-Kits
Apr 18, 2012 “Wired” Sealing Technology
Complete Gasket Set for Toyota Hybrids Dana is already equipping two hybrid vehicles with top-quality Victor Reinz® sealing technology.
From today, complete gasket sets will be available on the replacement parts market for the Toyota hybrid-drive models Auris and Prius. With this development, Dana has once again proven its sealing competence in sustainable engine concepts.
The Auris and Prius hybrids are equipped with a 1.8 liter VVT-i gasoline engine (2ZR-FXE) with an output of 73 kW (99 hp). The range of replacement parts includes the following Victor Reinz components:
MLS cylinder head gasket (3-layer)
„Hybrid drive technology and Victor Reinz sealing know-how make perfect synergy. The aim was to deliver the optimum sealing technology for engine repair work in order to ensure the Toyota hybrids’ outstanding emission values," explains Erwin Widmann, Aftermarket Product Manager at Dana.
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Sealing Solutions in the Areas of Engines and Exhaust
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Yum Brands to separate China unit amid activist pressure
KFC owner Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) said it plans to spin off its dominant China business, which has been besieged by food scandals and marketing missteps, amid pressure from an activist shareholder who recently joined its board of directors.
Shares of the parent company of the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains rose about 5 percent to $75.22 in early trading, before retreating to $73.55 in the afternoon.
Yum’s move on Tuesday is the latest sign of activist hedge funds’ strengthening grip over Corporate America.
Keith Meister, CEO of hedge fund Corvex Management, in May disclosed a stake in Yum and unveiled his plan for a Yum China split at a major investment conference.
His arrival appeared to serve as a catalyst for the spin-off, which Yum spokesman Jonathan Blum said was the result of a “rigorous, year-long review.”
Yum was already at “the 10-yard line” with regard to the China spin-off when Meister entered the picture, a person familiar with the transaction said, calling the relationship between Yum and activist Meister a “meeting of the minds.”
Yum appointed Meister, a portage of billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, to its board last week. Corvex owns nearly 5 percent of Yum.
TWO STOCKS ON THE MENU
The split will create two independent, publicly-traded companies: a higher-risk and potentially higher rewarding Yum China and a more stable, high-cash flow Yum Brands.
Yum’s 6,900-restaurant China division is the core driver of its business, contributing 54 percent of overall operating profit in the latest quarter.
That largely debt-free business will be headquartered in Shanghai and run by China leader Micky Pant, who in August replaced Sam Su, who was instrumental in making Yum the biggest Western restaurant chain in that country.
It will become a franchisee of Yum Brands in mainland China, paying the parent a percentage of its sales for exclusive rights to the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands.
Yum’s China business recently has become significantly more volatile as it grapples with the country’s persistent food safety issues, increased local competition and a cool-down in what is still the world’s fastest growing major economy.
Yum China’s sales at established restaurants have swooned in four of the last five quarters.
When Yum cut its full-year profit forecast on Oct. 6, citing weakness in China and the drag from the strong U.S. dollar, its shares tumbled 19 percent.
“Yum Brands is being tainted by the China business, so Yum Brands will trade at a higher multiple because it’s a better business now that it’s not attached to Yum China,” Hedgeye Risk Management analyst Howard Penney said.
The post-spin Yum Brands will focus on the more mature U.S. business as well as emerging markets such as India. It is expected to provide shareholders a steady stream of income from royalties while allowing Yum to take lease obligations off its balance sheet.
Yum Chief Executive Greg Creed, best known for leading the successful U.S. turnaround of Taco Bell, will head the new Yum Brands.
“The separation of these two businesses gives shareholders the choice to own a growing annuity-like franchise cash flow stream, as well as the leading restaurant concept in a country with the fastest-growing consumer class,” Meister said in an email to Reuters.
CHINA WOES
Yum Brands entered China in 1987 through its KFC brand, making it one of the first U.S. fast-food chains to set up operations there.
For years, its KFC and Pizza Hut brands reaped the rewards of catering to China’s growing middle class with restaurants that offered a higher level of service and perceived food safety better than local rivals.
But the business in China hit road blocks. Among other issues, Yum recently has battled a scandal at a minor meat supplier, bird flu outbreaks, disappointing promotions, competition from cut-price delivery services for Mom and Pop restaurants and increasingly sophisticated local chains.
Nevertheless, Yum said it plans to one day have 20,000 China restaurants serving the country’s still growing consumer class.
The separation, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2016, is intended to be tax free to shareholders.
Goldman Sachs is financial adviser to Yum Brands, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Mayer Brown are its legal advisers. PJT Partners is as an independent financial adviser to Yum’s board.
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Gallery now offering art and alcohol
Wonky Pitcher Cellar in Pickering now offering art and alcohol
A PICKERING art gallery has reopened with a licence to sell alcohol.
The newly-christened Wonky Pitcher Cellar in Market Place, formerly the Pickering Gallery, was officially re-opened by Cllr Helene Haythorne, mayor of Pickering.
Alongside the art, including images by local photographers, original artworks and prints, the gallery will now also sell a range of bottled gins, ales, wines and ciders.
Chris Jones, who runs the establishment with his wife Sarah, said: “We spent a lot of time looking around and thinking about what the town doesn’t have. We spotted an opportunity - and we also picked up on the gin craze.”
The UK gin trade is booming. Recent figures indicate that British drinkers bought 40 million bottles of gin in 2016, prompting a large surge in small-batch producers such as the new Rare Bird distillery in Malton.
The Wonky Pitcher Cellar stocks 37 different gins, some local, a couple from Europe. It will also wine made locally in Westow.
Chris said: “We looked at the wine market and it’s such a massive thing. So we stuck with Yorkshire wines.
“What we’ve tried to do is stock the shop with stuff you can’t get in the supermarkets.”
The shop has been an art shop for about 20 years.
Chris said: “When we took it over we changed a lot of things.” But he added that the latest move into art and alcohol has been “brilliant”.
“Now we’ve got a constant stream of local people coming in and we’re starting to build up for Christmas,” he said.
He added they will continue to run their framing business and to support local artists, as well as stocking sculptures, ceramics, gifts and greeting cards.
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Displaying items by tag: Pop Music
The Screaming Never Ended- Luke Goss Chats with ZANI
Matt and Luke Goss of Bros, with their battle cry of ‘When Will I Be Famous’ certainly came true in November 1987, when this song became their breakthrough single, peaking at number two in the British Hit Parade. By the start of 1988, Bros mania was spreading across, not just the UK, but the world.
Published in Culture
Lulu – A Brief Profile on ZANI
Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie was born in 1948 in Lennox Castle, Lennoxtown, Scotland, the daughter of a butcher. Marie grew up in Dennistoun, Glasgow, where she attended Thomson Street Primary School and Onslow Drive Junior School.
Published in Music
Sunday, 16 August 2015 14:23
A Brief History of British Music Shows
The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971- 1987)
The BBC2 television music show ran from 1971 to 1987. Unlike other contemporary music programs OGWT featured non chart music with a preference for serious rock music and album songs.
Published in Film
Diamond Geezer – Barry Cain Recalls Spandau Ballet
It was April 1980 and punk was dying.
Dig the new breed who were still pretty much the old breed with the occasional knob on. The Jam, the Clash and the Stranglers were no longer punk bands in any sense of the word. They’d ‘progressed’. A straight punk band wasn’t cool any more. Ska had wrestled the scene away from punkified London and carried it off to a ghost town in the bleak midwest for a bleak midwinter. It wouldn’t survive.
Breaking Glass with Hazel O’Connor
© Words Barry Cain
I stopped listening to ‘pop’ music in the mid ’80s. I simply heard it. It had become a means to an end, a way to make good, quick money. The musical notes had turned into £ signs as I cashed in on any new kid in pop town by publishing one shot poster magazines.
Published in Music Archive
Marcus Reeves Mistaken Identity
I knew Marcus Reeves was talented, and could pen a song. In addition I had the pleasure of meeting him last year, and what a sharp, intelligent, focused and witty man he is. Furthermore, his understanding of music and songwriting was overwhelming, as we discussed these subjects at a bar in Denmark Street London WC1. So, when I received his latest offering, I did not hesitate for a second before hitting the play button, and the track I heard increased my already high opinion of Marcus Reeves.
Cyndi Lauper - All Hail Queen of Queens
We all know New York is going off at the moment, and one manifestation of the city's new-found confidence seems to be a new-found love of Cyndi Lauper – the original queen of Queens. Lauper's iconic image and quirk-fuelled pop has taken hold again in music, whether it be the 80s-tinged pop that is presently engulfing Britain or the echoes of her influence in stars like Karen O and Santigold in the US.
George Michael Alan McGee – He is a Pop Genius
Barely a week goes by without an album getting the legacy-edition treatment. Usually I'm against the money-grabbing mentality of major labels, but I've been enjoying these reissues. Featuring rare demos, live footage and extra tracks from huge talents like John Martyn, Dennis Wilson and Johnny Cash, they're great historical documents.
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Martha Stewart Living December 2020
We've expanded our magazine to bring you more of the ideas you want for organizing, entertaining, cooking, and decorating- all in one place. Plus, our special Gardening issue, Entertaining Issue, Decorating Issue and Holiday issue are all yours to enjoy as a subscriber.
Meredith Corporation
living it up
I FEEL LUCKY. That might be a funny thing to say, given the year we’ve had, but I do. I’ve worked for Martha Stewart for the better part of the past two decades—starting at Blueprint, then at Martha Stewart Weddings, and now on Living. It feels full circle, as this was the magazine that turned me on to all things Martha in the first place, when it debuted 30 years ago this winter. Initially, it was my mom’s magazine, but it quickly became “our” subscription, and then I simply had to have my own. Like many of you, I love to get lost in the pages, dreaming of flowers to plant, delicious meals to make, fun ideas to craft, and tidying and organizing … well, just about everything. Martha, and…
ON THE ROAD EVER GREEN If a scene from a snow globe spanned 1,400 acres, it would look like The Rocks, in Bethlehem, New Hampshire (shown; therocks.org). Framed by the White Mountains to the east, this Christmas-tree farm belongs to a local land trust, and each purchase aids conservation efforts. Here, three more wonderlands where you can select a conifer and whisk it home. NEWBURGH, MAINE A trek through Piper Mountain’s rolling hills will leave you exhilarated—and hungry. Head to the barn, where free homemade apple-cider donuts await. pipermtn.com ROUND HILL, VIRGINIA Roll past a panorama of Loudoun Valley in a tractor-drawn wagon at Snickers Gap Tree Farm, then stroll back to choose your spruce, hot cider in hand. snickersgaptrees.com LAKE ELMO, MINNESOTA Meet a new match at Krueger’s Christmas Trees—home to rare firs like the deep-emerald Korean—and…
a vision for living
A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS FROM DAY ONE, the mission of this magazine has been to teach and inspire. I named it Living to express that living is limitless—an ever-expanding subject with the home, and the art of homemaking, at its center. Within that realm, we focused on eight key content areas: cooking, entertaining, gardening, decorating, celebrating holidays, housekeeping, crafting, and collecting. Together with a group of extraordinarily talented and creative people, I concentrated as much on the visuals—producing arresting images of everything from desserts to handmade ornaments—as I did on the words. Each story was finely crafted, and all of the recipes and instructions were carefully researched and tested. Within a few years, our reach broadened into television shows and book publishing, and then, later, digital storytelling. We rapidly expanded our coverage…
THE STEPS 1. START WITH a sturdy log, about 15 inches long, that lies flat and evenly. Using a hammer and nail, tap a small hole at the middle of the top. 2. HAMMER 4 more holes on each side of the center hole, spaced evenly. 3. PUSH a candleholder’s spike halfway down into the center hole (to ensure that the shamash is taller than the other candles). Hot-glue dried shelf mushrooms around the exposed spike to cover it. Push a holder into each of the remaining holes so they’re flush with the log. 4. HOT-GLUE more dried shelf mushrooms, dried moss, or both on the sides and bottom of the log, to cushion it and lend extra stability. 5. DRIP a little melted candle wax inside each holder, to help hold the candles upright,…
the nice list
“Martha was always in my side-view mirror doing basically what I was doing professionally, plus 20 other things. She was just lighting the world on fire.”—chef Geoffrey ZakarianThe year MarthaStewart.com launched, bringing Living content to a whole new audience. At the time, the internet as we know it was barely four years old—few companies had websites—but the platform was both innovative and interactive. 1997 “Martha is an American icon. She’s one of those people who are instantly recognizable by a single name. Her reach extends to all of America, not only within the food world. She was the first person to give me a platform by including me on her show in the ’90s, when I came here from Sweden.”—chef Marcus Samuelsson“My favorite memory of Martha is watching her captain her Hinckley…
COSMIC COOL Jack Frost has nothing on these glistening boughs. Transform store-bought papier-mâché forms into brilliant baubles by painting them in icy hues and hot-gluing on Dresden-paper stars. Then fill in your tree with Dresden snowflakes, and reserve a supernova for the topper. For sources, see page 140. Take a Shine Dresden designs have bedecked holiday goods for 200 years and are a cinch to work with: Each sheet has multiple rows of the same motif that you can easily cut apart; large ones are pressed individually. TONY TREATS Jewel-like packaging makes chocolate nonpareils even more enticing. Bundle them in silvery crepe paper, secure the tops with iridescent ribbon, and tuck the parcels into metallic-paper cones. (You can buy decorated cones, or wrap plain papier-mâché versions from the crafts store in shimmery paper, and glue contrasting…
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Click above button for 3-D showcase, virtual tour
Westport Manor offers Furnished , All inclusive, extended Stay type units in 1 Bdrm, 1 Bath. These are also used as our AIRBnB units ask us for details. These units include all the amnetiies you need. Just bring your Luggage& pets
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Established in 2009. In the Heart of the Westport Entertainment District.
Westport Manor was built in 1942 as what was then known as "War Bride Apartments" When Rosie the riveter went off to work and her husband went off to fight in WW II, this is where many chose to live.
In 2004 it was purchased by the current owner who decided to update it, while retaining much of it's previous charm and Westport feel. The entire complex was rehabilitated with thermal windows, Blown Non/Toxic Cellulose insulation. New 100 amp electrical panels, all new copper plumbing with lead free soldered joints, Granite counter tops, Turkish Travertine tile and as a stroke of good luck we were able to rehabilitate the wonderful Antique Red Oak floors. Cat 5-E wiring was added for communication. Time Warner and Google Fiber are both available.
Westport, in the heart of Kansas City, is a small village that is filled with legend and history. The Westport District celebrates the lively history of Westport and its first citizens. We welcome you to visit us and step back in time to an earlier day when Westport and the Town of Kansas were on the nation?s frontier. More than 150 years ago, thousands of adventurers from all walks of life came to Westport to explore and seek their fortunes along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails.
Everyday, more and more people began their westward journey in Westport and as the town grew, the foundation for Kansas City was laid. Today, Westport is a thriving community where people live and shop in many of Westport?s original buildings. Although the reason why people flood to Westport has changed in the past 150 years, the energy and vitality of the district remain the same!
The City Of Fountains
Home of the 2015 World Series champion Royals, Kansas City is a port city situated at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. Famous for barbecue and steaks, the city features more than 240 neighborhoods and 210 urban parks, and City Market has served as a public farmer’s market since 1857. The local economy is based largely on education, government, healthcare, technology and six casinos.
Latest Population Increase 99.97
Median age 35.2
Median Household Income $45821.00
Median Home Price $133400.00
Things to Do in
Places like Worlds of Fun, Oceans of Fun, LegoLand, Starlight Theatre, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Country Club Plaza, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and Jazz Museum, WW I Museum and Union Station
Exquisite Interior Spaces
TRAVERTINE TILE BACK SPLASHES
BLACK & STAINLESS GE
REHABBED RED OAK FLOORS
WASHER & DRYER HOOKUPS
HI STYLE "Track" LIGHTING
for 21ST CENTURY LIVING
Westport Manor Pays your electric, water, sewer, trash and recycling.
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Venmo now has over 40 million active users as payments skyrocket
Posted on: April 25th, 2019 by ABC News No Comments
Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Venmo now has over 40 million active customers, parent company PayPal revealed in its earnings report.
The mobile payment app, which is popular with millennials and encourages social interactions, is also processing dramatically more money.
Payment volume jumped 73% in the past year to $21 billion, and expected to hit $100 billion in 2019, the company said Wednesday in its first quarter earnings release.
Venmo defines users as customers who have used the digital wallet at least once in the past 12 months.
Venmo also has more than 40 partnerships, and just added Chipotle as one earlier this year, PayPal said.
In the context of other digital wallets, Venmo holds a desirable spot. While PayPal counts 215 million users, Amazon Pay reported about 30 million users in 2016 and likely has 50 to 60 million current users, according to Lisa Ellis, a mobile payments analyst at research firm MoffettNathanson.
Apple has said it has “tens of millions” of Apple Pay users. According to research-driven venture capital firm Loup Ventures, Apple Pay had over 252 million users, or 31% of the active iPhone base as of August.
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The Complexity of Yaoi (the good and the bad)
Posted on February 12, 2020 August 8, 2020 by y0uc4n7kn0w
So yesterday Star covered the very important and very lovely topic of Yuri. But today, today it’s all about something I love and have lots of thoughts about—Yaoi. The forbidden boys love genre whose fanbase is LOUD. And I mean really, really loud. But yaoi, to me is both a enjoyable, but complicated, genre…that a lot of pretty boys. Like a lot a lot of pretty boys.
Now first off let’s start at the beginning with what is yaoi? Well, its basically a boys love with or without hentai involved. The stories are normally aimed at women, mainly older women, and they are usually filled with absolute eye candy of characters—the pretty boys. There are, naturally, other subgenres within the broad category of yaoi and these range from bara to omegaverse to everything in between. But regardless of how many flavors it comes in, I mostly want to talk about the content. The stories found in BL and yaoi…are actually some of the most dramatic and unique as I’ve seen—and they are just as good as any shoujo out there. Sometimes their romance plot lines are even better.
I feel like yaoi gets a bad rep for being a fanservice genre that’s more kink than substance and while I can’t deny that a portion of the yaoi genre fits the bill, I often find myself drawn to stories that hold emotional significance. For example, one of my favorite Yaoi’s of all time is “I can hear the sunspot” which is about a near deaf boy who meets another boy that he can actually hear and understand and they fall in love. It’s a slow burn, focusing at first on their relationships as friends before blooming into something more. It’s a story that, if told with a hetero-normal couple, might be pretty epic. It’s also a yaoi that doesn’t necessarily include sex in it—the most it depicts is kissing. It, along with other titles like Given, or Doukyuusei, are labeled as yaoi/boys love but they depict nothing more scandalous than a josei or ecchi. And these are just some examples of great storytelling that tend to focus more on the central relationship than getting their characters naked. Of course, there are some yaoi that are much more scandalous but still tell heartwarming, heartbreaking, or emotionally moving stories and use the story itself as an anchor, and the actual sex as an afterthought. Examples of this include the classic movie titled simply Boys Love, Hitorijime my Hero, and Only the Flowers Knows. There are honestly just so many titles that prove yaoi is more than just whose top and whose bottom and that the genre of yaoi can provide stories that are captivating and soft.
But naturally, for every coin there are two sides. While there are a lot of yaoi out there who don’t fall into tropes, there are just as many that do. And while many find these tropes “hot” or “exciting”…they can also be very troubling. Take, for instance, the all goo common theme of a predatory love interest. And what I mean by this is that at the start only one of the romantic interests are gay. They then “turn” the other or have them have a sexual awakening. In a way, this kind of storyline almost has basis in homophobia. Which is…not the best. Take for example the classic The Tyrant Falls in love. This manga is EXTREMELY troublesome for its depiction of the two main characters relationship at the start but also fairly popular. I also find more often than not, yaoi is much more violent than other romance genres and depicts sexual violence towards men as well as more extreme and kink forms of love like BDSM, hate/love relationships, incest, omegaverse, and so many more that I won’t name and it’s this part of the yaoi fandom that is the loudest, which is why I think the entire genre gets a pretty bad rep. Instead of people shouting to normies how amazing The Stranger by the Beach or Goshujin-sama to Kedama is, we hear about popular series popping up like Yarichin Bitch Club, Killing Stalking, Caste Heaven, or Papa to Kiss in the Dark. Not exactly the best representations of the genre as a whole…but I get it. I do want to make it clear that this increased violence in the genre doesn’t necessarily make these stories bad, they just make them more extreme and a little harder to get on board with.
Yaoi itself…is just a genre of romance. Nothing really more and nothing really less. I think when you compare it to Yuri, it is certainly the ‘darker’ side of fandom, as I often find Yuri to be sweet. Yaoi is complicated, a little crazy, just as sweet, but also dark, and occasionally a little spicier. Both genres have their merits, and just like regular shoujo (or hentai for that matter I guess), they consist of many subgenres that make them up as a whole.
So basically, next time you read that something is a yaoi. Don’t fully dismiss it. There was a time in my youth that I would’ve said “HELL NO” to reading a yaoi. But then look what happened. I watched a sweet and dramatic one, and then one day became leader of a yaoi fan guild on Gaia (please don’t follow my example).
Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk (I’m going to start calling these Weeb Talks). What are your thoughts on Yaoi? Love it? Hate it? Never thought about it twice? I’d love to hear your views in the comments below.
Stay Weebstastic!
P. S. “one guild, under other guys, fluff or hard-core, with no judgment and acceptance for all.”
Posted in Anime Musings, HolidaysTagged aniblogger, anime, Anime Musings, boys in love, boys love, caste heaven, dokidokidays, doukyuusei, fangirl, fudanshi, fujoshi, given, hitorijime my hero, love stories, papa to kiss in the dark, romance, shoujo, shounen ai, the tyrant falls in love, weeb, weeb wednesday, weeboo, yaoi, yaoi anime, yaoi couples, yaoi fangirl, yaoi manga
Yuri through the ages– GL and the like
Sex & Love & Hentai, oh my!– Quick and Dirty for the normies
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Manuscript Preparation Guidelines
Book Proposal Tips
Query Guidelines
Rights Inquiry
Artful*
Being the Heretofore Secret History of that Unique Individual the Artful Dodger, Hunter of Vampyres
Amazon|47North
Trade Paperback (July 2014)
Brilliance Audio
Audio edition (July 2014)
You are, no doubt, familiar with Oliver Twist. London in his day was dark and dreary, and with good reason. It was infested with vampires.Yes, while Mr. Dickens left out the small fact that several of the characters in Oliver Twist were actually vampires, this new work will show the reader the dark reality.
In Artful, best-selling author Peter David tells the story of an older and somewhat wiser Dodger, who has escaped the fate related by Mr. Dickens and continues his less-than-honest dealings in the backstreets of London. But when he sees a young boy about to be kidnapped, he takes action, only to find himself thrust into a battle between the world’s greatest vampire hunter and the most powerful vampire in London for the control of the British Monarchy, all of Britannia, and therefore, the world.
*The author of this title is no longer represented by The Zack Company, Inc.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs associated with other online booksellers. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, The Zack Company, Inc. will receive an affiliate commission.
This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful to J. K. Rowling
The Singular “They”
New K. B. Wagers Novel Now Available for Pre-Order
A Thousand Words or So on Book Covers
Producer David Barron Options Film & TV Rights to Behind the Throne, by K. B. Wagers
THE ZACK COMPANY, INC.
Copyright © 2017 The Zack Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Developed by TRIGUNS
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2010 NAHBS News
Shimano Dura Ace Comes Full Circle
Posted on 28. Feb, 2010 by Paul Skilbeck in 2010 News
The newest element of Shimano’s Dura Ace component range is the 7850 C24 carbon wheelset. Continuing the industry-wide trend to produce component groups that include more than the traditional drivetrain and brakes, Shimano’s top level wheels feature the same technological advances and attention to detail that characterize the rest of the DuraAce lineup.
Fittingly for their exhibit at the NAHBS, the C24 wheels are also handbuilt at Shimano’s facility in Japan. “Every wheel has a serial number that can be traced back to their individual builder at the factory,” explains Shimano USA’s Media Liaison, Devin Walton. “Like all of the frame builders here at the show, Shimano’s wheelbuilders take pride in their work and are committed to producing products of the highest quality,” he explains.
The C24 wheels feature 390g alloy-carbon composite rims that will accomodate tubeless clincher tires or a standard tube and tire setup. The rear wheel has a titanium freehub body compatible with an 8,9 or 10-speed cassette, a wider hub flange, and the wheel is constructed with an offset rim. These design features increase wheel rigidity and enable a direct transfer of power from rider to forward motion.
Front wheels have 16 spokes and rear wheels have 20.Both wheels feature Shimano’s quality proven angular contact bearings with oversized 7075 alloy axles and rim wear indicators. Combined wheel weight for the pair is 1458g.
Expect to see the C24 wheels used by Shimano-sponsored teams at this summer’s Tour de France, continuing a winning heritage that began back in 1974 with Freddy Maertens and the Flandria team.
You need not ride Le Grande Boucle to experience Shimano quality yourself. Look for the Dura Ace 7850 C24 wheelset at your local Shimano dealer.
- Matt Butterman
CED – Branching Bicycles
The top bar curves down like a wave and branches out with subtle swellings. The curves resemble a tree, the fuselage of a bird in flight, a dolphin arching through the water. You can tell that Edward Jones or “Cycle Ed”, CED for short, makes bicycles inspired by nature. He won’t even plan out a frame before he builds it. “I don’t work from any drawings,” he says, yet the product is strong and graceful.
Jones starts building a bike with the base and the angles, and goes from there. He sets up the basic structure, then goes for a walk in the woods. He looks at the trees, at the sky, at whatever is around him for inspiration. “Nature is the ultimate architect,” he says. Some osmosis of form must occur during these walks in the woods, for when Jones comes back to connect all the components you can tell just by looking at his finished frame that it is inspired.
At the show, the bike is set up on a stand of steel and wood. A wooden branch in the base seems connected to the bicycle like a magic wand organically sprouting into a bike frame.
But it’s not just about the bikes. “People are what’s most important,” he said. “This is my outreach to others. This is the media by which I reach other people.”
For more information, contact Edward Jones at CYCLEED@EARTHLINK.NET
- Erik Lokensgard
Industry Nine – Elevating Performance
“We are dedicated to providing an elevated level of performance”. This is the I9 mantra espoused by owner Jeff Baucon, translating to the push of the company to only bring to market products that meet their criteria of “better”. I9’s Wheel system in overview is a proprietary hub/spoke design that accommodates any standard rim.
From a distance, the wheels are visually stunning with a broad spectrum of color options for spokes and hubs. Upon closer inspection I notice the medical quality finish and a most interesting spoke/hub interface. A traditional wheel is a spoke laced into the hub and held into the rim by a spoke nipple with the threaded relationship at the rim. I9 has flipped the equation where an aluminum nail type spoke comes in from the rim side, and threads directly into the hub flange. End result is the lack of nipple and a reduction of weight at the rim where the rotational mass is. The ride is described as laterally stiffer which usually means more weight, yet with the MTB Ultralite Race wheelset on Stans Podium rim, the scale said 1310g. I am suddenly overwhelmed by wanting to call mom and tell her about having the cake AND eating it.
Jeff goes on to tell me some history of the company. The I9 product line is all made in-house at the Turnamics machine shop in Asheville NC. Turnamics is run by Clint Spiegal, a lifelong cyclist with a big brain geared for mechanical engineering. Clint has literally reinvented the wheel.
The hub is pawl style engagement with 60 points of contact. In human speak, that’s an engagement point every six degrees. My math can be poor at times so I ask Jeff to help me wrap my brain around the proclaimed 3 degree engagement when 360 divided by 60 is six degrees. He sits me down, pats my head and draws a picture of the six pawls in the hub which form a 6 sided star or 2 overlapping triangles. These 2 triangles are slightly out of phase with each other by three degrees. I start to fidget a bit, he smiles then continues that while one set of pawls (triangle) is engaged, the other is three degrees behind it. They play leap frog of sorts around the drive ring, effectively doubling the engagement points.
Whew! I got it!
But then I asked him with a furrowed brow, “why not just make a 120 point drive ring?”. He smiles and says that a 60 point ring allows for more surface contact between pawl and engagement point, and therefore a stronger drive connection. Again, fancy speak that means the Samsonite gorilla can stomp on it with confidence.
The best was saved for last: the hub’s serviceability. Two different sized hex wrenches are all that is needed to pull down the hub and service it. Jeff says a big part of the design was looking forward to make both the consumer abd shop mechanic happy by not having to buy an exotic tool kit to service the I9. Also, the hubs are compatible across many boundaries. You can run anything fro a QR, 15mm, up to a 20mm thru axle on the same front hub by switching end caps. The rear hub can go between QR,10mm and so on by an axle swap.
I have been a mechanic for over 20 years and without question, this is the most well thought-out hub I’ve seen. I9 has wheelsets for all flavors of cyclists from road to mountain, cyclocross, and now even BMX that will have a patented “happy bolt” system. I walk away knowing that the phrase “to re-invent the wheel” really can have a positive connotation.
-Tim Richardson
Tubes of the Trade – Sourcing the Ride
Tubesets are to the handmade bicycle frame what wood is to a violin. Pick the right material and they both sing; choose the wrong stuff and they go flat.
One of the major themes of this year’s NAHBS is the renaissance of traditional frame materials like steel. Tubing manufacturers have all branched off into carbon production at various points of their history, but most are returning to focus on their core business – metals.
We’ll look at four premier tubing manufacturers to see how their products lend support to, and develop along with, the handmade bike industry.
1. Dedacciai
Italian manufacturer Dedacciai have been producing tubesets for just 16 years, but during that time, frames built with Dedacciai tubing have been ridden to victory in Grand Tours by Miguel Indurain and Marco Pantani, among others.
“Sponsorships are how we promote the brand and gain market share,” says Lorenzo Altissimo of Dedacciai. That practice has shown strong returns in the company’s short history, as 70-80% of the OEM steel tubing used by the Italian bicycle industry is sourced by Dedacciai, and it is used by many iconic Italian brands such as Bianchi, De Rosa and Pinarello.
Dedacciai have branched into carbon frame production, and it’s a dominant part of their product line now. But 2010 marks their third year at NAHBS, and steel tubes for North America’s handmade builders is a market in resurgence.
“Steel is increasing again,” says Altissimo. “We’re happy about steel coming back.”
2. Tange
Japanese company Tange (“ton-gay”) have been in business for 90 years. After sourcing tubes for the Japanese bike invasion of the 1980s, Tange withdrew from the North American market for many years before re-entering 5-6 years ago.
Production has shifted from Japan to Taiwan, but Tange has kept its focus on Cro-Mo steel. “The North American market is still small for us, ” says Alvin Hsu, Sales Director for Tange, “but it’s definitely on the rise again. We’re here at NAHBS to see what the trends are, and to remind builders of our long heritage of quality tubesets.”
3. Columbus
The Columbus dove logo is a symbol long associated with quality framesets. Founder A.L. Columbo of Italy opened shop in 1919, and produced metal tubing for all sorts of industrial applications. By the 1930s, bicycles built with Columbus tubing were winning races at the international level.
Columbus’ latest innovation is XCr, a seamless, stainless steel tubeset unique to the industry and highly prized for its mechanical characteristics and weldability. Add “environmentally friendly” to XCr’s list of virtues: stainless steel avoids the toxic process of cadmium plating that other alloys require.
XCr carries the load of Columbus’ immense reputation for quality and innovation, and is their key player in the big markets of the U.S., U.K. and Japan. “We produce all of our tubing in Italy and really believe in the superior qualities of stainless steel. It’s stiffer and stronger than Ti and has wonderful anti-corrosive qualities,” says Fabrizio Aghito of Gruppo SPA, Columbus’parent company that also owns the Cinelli brand. “We’re here at NAHBS to continue our strong relationship with handmade builders. Steel is back and it will only continue to grow.”
4. Reynolds
Like Columbus, Reynolds has a long history in metal production. In Reynolds’ case, it extends back to the roots of the Industrial Revolution in Britain; through the 19th century Reynolds produced steel nails. By 1887, Reynolds produced its first butted steel bicycle tubing.
The Birmingham (U.K.)-based company was bought by an American owner, Coyote Sports, in 1997, and in 2000 was bought back from receivership after Coyote went bust. It’s been a privately-owned, U.K.-based company since then. All tubing is produced at the company’s Birmingham plant.
Reynolds’ flagship tubing is 953 stainless steel. This wonder alloy has much higher tensile strength than traditional blends and can accomodate thinner walls to produce very light frame weights of 1.1 to 1.2kg. It is offered in a mirrored finish and, new for 2010, 953 stainless fork blades.
Titanium is another strong card in Reynolds’ hand. They have produced a new hydroformed Ti tubeset and titanium demand has increased strongly over the past year. Biggest sales of Ti tubesets are to builders in Italy and the U.S..
The North American handmade market is very important for Reynolds. “It’s a dynamic, changing market, always adding and growing,” says Terry Bill, Reynolds’ Sales and Production Manager. “Independent builders are always receptive to new ideas, and our job is to listen to their needs and develop our products to meet them. This close relationship between builders and tubing manufacturers is what drives our industry to produce new and innovative products.”
Photography: Ward Morrison
Laborers of Love – Three Part-timers Building Rideable Art
Posted on 28. Feb, 2010 by NAHBS News in 2010 News, Featured
So you’ve seen the late night infomercial that promises fame and fortune from opening up a framebuilding shop in your garage?
No, you haven’t. And you never will.
Handmade bikes are not about the money. They’re about the love of bikes, the coming together of technology and art, and creating something of enduring value – even if it can’t be measured in dollars and cents.
1. Foresta Bikes
Craig Forest Ryan of Foresta Bikes teaches Studio Art in the Noblesville, IN school system. At nights and on weekends, wife Susan relents and lets him pursue his other passion. What he produced for his first NAHBS was a work of rideable art that may or may not ever sell.
Like many craftsman builders, Ryan takes complete control of the production process from rider measurement to clear coat. In his two and a half years of building frames, he’s built a small fleet that hangs in his garage for now. He’s hoping to open for business in the near future.
“I didn’t want to sell until my investment in liability insurance could be paid back,” Ryan says. ”I also want to be absolutely sure that my best possible work is ridden by customers. You can’t rush true craftsmanship.”
2. Helm Cycles
Twenty-three year old Herbie Helm is not yet out of college. The Industrial Technology student at Western Michigan University builds at his mentor Doug Fattic’s shop when his studies allow.
Helm displayed the magnum opus of his young life for the first time at NAHBS. The beautiful lug work, gracefully curved seatstays and “flying buttress” cable stops of his frameset displayed artistry not seen from many veteran builders.
When Helm graduates this spring, he hopes to become a teacher. ”I’m not holding my breath about becoming a full-time builder, but I’ll keep doing it anyway,” he says.
3. Palermo Bicycles
Palermo Bicycles come not from the sun-dappled isle of Sicily, but from owner Tom Palermo’s home studio in Baltimore, MD. By days, he’s a web developer for the Federal Government.
The one-man operation came to life in 2003, when Palermo began plying his trade repairing frames in the back shop of Proteus Bikes in College Park, MD, once home to Japanese/American builder Koichi Yamaguchi.
-Matt Butterman
Photography: Dave LaMay and Matt Shields
Dario Pegoretti – Glad to be Back
Dario Pegoretti is known the world over as one of the top frame builders, having built for many of the pro teams, Greg LeMond, and a galaxy of the sport’s great names. Pegoretti comes to NAHBS for the people. “The people here have a real passion, the show is not like Vegas, not like a business show. The customers here are all consumers, so they have a deep passion for the bicycles. This is why I keep coming back.”
Like many other builders, Pegoretti often meets existing customers, Robin Williams, for example in 2008. And conversation with these individuals is not limited to bicycles. “We talk about life – our lives – music, sometimes bicycle frames… it depends,” says the mellow Italian who looks like he would be a very good uncle.
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爱上海,上海419论坛,上海龙凤419 – Powered by Lilita Emil!
Waves of Autumn Colors
Women in Agriculture.
High corn
20 Firespike
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By Bodie PennisiUniversity of GeorgiaA vigorous, shrub-like annual, Firespike (Odontonema strictum) likes to show off its strikingly beautiful crimson flowers and shiny, pest-free foliage. The 2007 Georgia Gold Medal winner is a standout in late summer and can hold its own in any landscape. Volume XXXIINumber 1Page 20 Firespike is not a native to North America but grows well here. It’s a perennial in extreme south Georgia, where it can come back beautifully after being cut back to the ground and mulched during winter.Its sparse, stiff branches grow mostly straight up to about 4 feet tall in a plant that’s 3 feet tall. Firespike’s dark green leaves, 2 to 3 inches wide and up to 8 inches long, have wavy margins and long, pointed tips.In late summer, Firespike produces abundant upright panicles, each 9 to 12 inches tall, of brilliant red, tubular flowers. The individual flowers are about an inch long and two-lipped. The blooms produce a sweet nectar that attracts hummingbirds and butterflies like magnets. It’s an irresistible addition to your garden.Firespike prefers places with full sun to partial shade and moist but well-drained soil. It’s one of the few flowering plants that can still have striking red blooms in partial shade. And once it’s established, it can tolerate all but the longest droughts.Low maintenanceIt’s a low-maintenance plant. All you have to do is give it a light sprinkling of a complete fertilizer, such as 6-6-6, each four to six weeks during the growing season.For best effect, plant Firespike as background plants in mass plantings in mixed-shrub borders, where it can rise above smaller plants in the foreground.It’s a knockout in large, mixed containers, too. Combine it with other Georgia Gold Medal winners like Mickey Mouse cuphea (2006), Georgia Blue veronica (2005) or Blue Fortune hyssop (2004).Under those conditions, a weekly dose of a liquid fertilizer will keep Firespike looking its best all summer long. Pinch or prune back the shoot tips through early summer to encourage branching, compact growth and more flowers.The flowers can be striking additions to cut-flower arrangements, too.Firespike is easy to propagate from softwood cuttings. The cuttings you root in the spring should bloom by fall. Cuttings can also be taken in the fall and overwintered for planting the following year.Like all Georgia Gold Medal winners, Firespike was chosen because it’s underused but deserves to be more popular in Georgia. When you take one home for your landscape, you’ll be taking home a winner.(Bodie Pennisi is a Cooperative Extension floriculture specialist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.) read more
Twig munchers
If something appears to be chewing off the ends of tree branches in your landscape, that something is most likely a twig girdler. Twig girdlers are long horned beetles – so named because their antennae are longer than their body. It is a pest of pecan and hickory trees, but may also attack persimmons, hackberries and other hardwood trees. Adults do the damageAdult beetles girdle twigs and small branches causing the ends to break away or hang loosely on the tree. It is not uncommon to see the ground under infested trees almost covered with twigs that have been cut off. The bugs don’t usually hurt adult tree unless they are munching in pecan orchards where the loss of branch tips could reduce nut production in the following few years. They can be detrimental to young trees by causing a deformity in branching, but the pests won’t kill the tree.Most girdled twigs are from 1/4 to 1/2 inch (occasionally up to 3/4 inch) in diameter, and 10 to 30 inches long. Cuts from outsideThe nature of the girdle itself distinguishes the twig girdler from other branch pruners and squirrels. The twig girdler’s cut is the only one made from the outside of the branch. The female lays her eggs in the tips of the branch, and then chews around the branch leaving a little wood attached in the center. This usually breaks off in the wind. The cut end of the branch looks like mini-beaver damage. Since the twigs are girdled while the leaves are present, the severed twigs retain the leaves for some time. Control by destroying eggsLook closely at the fallen branch, and you will see tiny holes where the eggs were laid. The holes will usually be by a bud scar or near a side shoot. The best way to control twig girdlers is to pick up the twigs and discard them since the larvae develop and pupate inside them. Insecticide is rarely justified or practical.For more information on controlling pests in home landscapes, find University of Georgia Cooperative Extension publications online at www.caes.uga.edu/publications. read more
Board to debate fee increase
B oard to debate fee increase More aggressive UPL prosecution. Creation of the Bar’s website, along with other critical technological improvements. The website allows members to sign up for and take online CLE courses, updates them on Bar activities, provides daily clipping services on stories of interest to the legal community, provides legal research links and, most recently, allows members to send change of address information to the Bar online. The evaluation of proposed attorney ads, and the provision of advisory opinions for both attorney advertisements and direct written communications to potential clients. Those efforts help attorneys comply with Rule Regulating The Florida Bar 4-7. PAO 99-4, which holds that an attorney paid on a salaried basis by an insurance company to defend company insureds faces a potential conflict of interest. Absent an actual conflict, however, the attorney ethically may undertake such representation only if: the attorney reasonably believes that he or she can adequately represent the insured’s interests; the insured consents after consultation; the attorney’s professional independence in representing the insured is assured; the attorney honors the duty of confidentiality owed to the insured; and the attorney is not assisting the insurer in conduct constituting the unlicensed practice of law. Senior Editor It’s been 11 years since the last one, but at its December 15 meeting in Coral Gables the Bar Board of Governors will consider asking the Supreme Court to raise annual membership fees. The board will also take on several other issues, including three proposed ethics opinions relating to duties of attorneys hired by insurance companies to represent policyholders. The Budget Committee, citing declining reserves and the need to meet new challenges, has proposed raising annual fees from $190 to $265 for active members and from $140 to $175 for inactive members. The board needs to act in December in order to give the Bar time to petition the Supreme Court for a rule amendment to allow fees to be raised. “Since the last annual fee increase from $140 to $190 in the 1990-91 budget year, inflation has increased 33 percent, meaning it takes $252 of today’s dollars to equal the $190 of 10 years ago,” said Budget Committee Chair Jesse Diner. “The proposed increase, to $265 for active members and to $175 [from $140] for inactive members, will hopefully last for five years if no new major programs are implemented.” Diner also noted the 1990-91 fee hike was only anticipated to provide sufficient funding for three to five years, but under careful stewardship the increase lasted much longer. “Hopefully, we can make this fee increase last much longer, as well,” he said. Eleven years is the longest the Bar has gone in its 51-year history without an annual fee increase, Diner added, and shows the fiscal responsibility of the Bar. But despite careful oversight, the deficit for the just-ended 1999-2000 fiscal year was just over $1 million and would have been around $2.2 million without the solid return on the Bar’s investments, he said. That loss, according to Budget Committee Chair-elect William Kalish, is projected at $2 million for the current 2000-2001 budget, even after the return on investments. “Fiscal responsibility dictates that reserves be no less than one-third of an annual budget,” Kalish continued. “After returns on investments, the Bar will fall below adequate reserves by the end of 2002. This projection is based on an investment return of eight percent, which some consider optimistic in today’s market and in light of the Bar’s relatively conservative investment strategy.” Diner, Kalish and President-elect Terry Russell also said the fee hike is needed so the Bar can both maintain its many improvements of the past decade and also meet new challenges. “A strong organization should never be stalled by a lack of resources,” Russell said. “The Bar must: Establish a strong program against continuing infringement on the practice of law by nonlawyers; continue to be committed to improving the access to legal services for all Floridians; keep up with technological advances and improve members’ electronic access to Bar services; and augment the Clients’ Security Fund.” The last fee increase led to improving and strengthening a number of Bar programs, as well as new efforts, including: PAO 99-3, which holds that an attorney is ethically prohibited from entering into an agreement with an insurance company to represent insureds where the attorney’s independent professional judgment and the client’s rights will be affected by restrictive billing practices imposed by the insurance company. December 1, 2000 Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Regular News On other matters, the board will hear a detailed report on the Bar’s campaign to educate voters on the November merit selection and retention local referendums and to urge them to vote “yes.” Representatives of the Government Lawyer, Tax and Workers’ Compensation sections will present their annual reports to the board. In addition, former Bar President Alan Dimond will report on the activities of the ABA Committee on Multijurisdictional Practice. Former Bar President Ray Ferrero, chair of the Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, will report on that company’s activities. Also expected to report will be Gerald Williams, president of Florida Lawyers Legal Insurance Company, and Michael Cohen, executive director of FL A, Inc. The board will also be making several appointments, including two lawyers for six-year terms on the JQC. The board will also pick one lawyer for a three-year term on the Florida Rural Legal Services, Inc.’s board, one lawyer from the Southern District for a four-year term on the federal Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference, and one lawyer from each district court of appeal jurisdiction for two-year terms on the Florida Realtor-Attorney Joint Committee. Nearly doubling the contribution to the Clients’ Security Fund, which compensates clients when errant lawyers misappropriate their funds. “That program serves as a visible sign of the personal and professional integrity of the vast majority of Bar members,” Russell said. The opening of the Center for Professionalism and the funding of its programs and activities. Improvements to the Bar’s Lawyer Regulation Department, including creating the Ethics School for lawyers facing minor grievance charges can get the cases dismissed in exchange for attending classes aimed at helping them avoid future problems; a grievance mediation program that is frequently used, commonly for communication-related problems, to resolve disputes, and the new Attorney Consumer Assistance Program, which seeks to screen grievance complaints to determine which can be settled cooperatively between clients and attorneys. An expanded ethics advisory service, including wider availability of the toll-free ethics hotline. Board to debate fee increase Diner noted that even with the fee increase, the Bar compares favorably with other state bars and with other professions in Florida. At the $265 mark, the Bar would rank tied for 17th among the nation’s 34 mandatory state bars, including being behind California ($398) and Arizona ($340). That’s also lower than several voluntary bars — which do not fund grievance programs — including Connecticut ($525), Delaware ($355) and Tennessee ($310). Within the state, physicians pay $400 to belong to the Florida Medical Association, teachers pay $300 to $600 for the Florida Education Association, and engineers pay $250 for the Florida Engineering Society. Those figures do not include additional state licensing fees. Presented at the Board of Governors’ October 13 meeting by the Budget Committee, only for information, the proposed annual fee hike produced an extensive discussion. Board members appeared generally supportive, but emphasized that they wanted more information and to carefully examine the budget figures. The accompanying chart gives a breakdown on how Bar members’ annual fee money is spent. Aside from the budget, the board will hear appeals on three controversial ethics opinions approved by the Professional Ethics Committee. All involve the obligations of attorneys hired by insurance companies to represent policyholders when they are sued. The opinions have been under review, development and appeal for more than a year. The proposed advisory opinions are: PAO 99-2, which holds that an attorney hired by an insurance company to represent an insured may not provide information relating to the representation to an outside auditor at the request of the insurance company without the specific consent of the insured. Such consent cannot be implied by the contract between the insured and the insurance company. read more
NCUA faces Ponzi scheme legal battle
The NCUA is embroiled in a contentious legal battle to recover $100,000 in embezzled credit union funds invested in a $71 million Ponzi scheme.Ohio business owner John Struna is serving a federal prison sentence of more than three years for embezzling $2.3 million from Taupa Lithuanian Credit Union from 2002 to 2013. continue reading » 3SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
Is mobile-first, desktop-first, or element-first best for credit union web design?
9SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr For the past few years, the debate on the Internet has raged on. Which is superior: “mobile-first” design or “desktop-first” design. In the last few years, “element-first” design has also stepped forth as a contender. At first it seems like a clear-cut issue: which option will bring the best overall results? But the reality is far more nuanced. In this post, we’ll discuss the differences between the three approaches, and then dive into what we believe is the true solution for credit union web design.Desktop-First DesignWhat is desktop-first design?Desktop-first is the way all credit union websites were designed in the primitive era—the era when smartphones and tablets didn’t exist. Gasp! When mobile devices finally rolled onto the scene, the typical approach was to design a desktop version of a website, then reduce its elements and content when being rendered for mobile. This process is best known as graceful degradation: starting with all the bells and whistles, and then getting rid of some of them as you make concessions for different devices and browsers.Advantages:A potential advantage of desktop-first design is the brainstorming phase. If you don’t feel limited in your approach from the start, then you may be more creative. You might find a new way of looking at your site or customer base that you could have missed during mobile-only. continue reading » read more
Team Biden not worried about ‘trespasser’ Trump refusing to leave White House
And just imagine Trump’s pique when he realizes the center of the media universe has shifted to Biden and his transition team just as soon as this race is called. The Biden campaign was responding to multiple reports that Trump has no intention of conceding the election even when it becomes clear he has no path to victory.“Trump-world is becoming concerned that someone is going to have to reckon with him that this race is coming to an end — but who?” tweeted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. Collins further reports that Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and other aides “have not attempted to bring Trump to terms of what’s happening and have instead fed his baseless claim that the election is being stolen from him.” – Advertisement – – Advertisement – Newsflash: Everyone still working at the White House is a spineless wonder. Hey, here’s an idea: How about just letting the whizzes at Fox News handle it? They seem up to the task.Okay, back to reality: Would a concession be nice and helpful in healing our democracy? Sure. But we all knew that if and when Trump was booted from office by the will of The People, he’d sooner burn it all down than leave peacefully. “Nobody I have spoken to on the campaign or in the White House believes that Trump would ever publicly acknowledge a loss, even long after the election is certified,” tweeted Axios reporter Jonathan Swan. – Advertisement – Yep. Trumper will go to his grave insisting the election was stolen out from under him because Georgia and Pennsylvania weren’t called for him when he was up with 50% of the votes reported. Seriously, has the guy ever even watched returns come in? Because Trump’s unhinged tirade from the White House briefing room on Thursday displayed a level of ignorance that is, frankly, irreconcilable with the bare basics of how elections are called.That said, Trump really did the Biden campaign a favor when he unleashed that attack on the fundamentals of our democracy just before a stretch of hours when Biden would blow by Trump in the Pennsylvania count and even edge ahead of him in Georgia. Team Biden no longer has any obligation to wait for a concession speech from Trump because one obviously isn’t coming. When the race is finally called for Biden, he can simply move ahead with his victory address to the country.In fact, Biden has been pitch perfect throughout this entire time of uncertainty—exuding confidence, counseling patience, and preempting Trump at every turn. The only way to handle a bully like Trump is to never give an inch—thus the “trespasser” designation. If Trump’s going to trash our democracy, then he may as well be treated like the garbage he’s spewing. – Advertisement – read more
Madrid to toughen COVID-19 measures on Friday with targeted lockdowns
Topics : The Madrid region, one of the worst hit in Spain, is to introduce targeted lockdowns and other restrictions on movement on Friday in areas with high COVID-19 cases, local authorities said on Wednesday.Madrid accounts for around one-third of active coronavirus cases in Spain, with a higher incidence in high-density and low-income neighborhoods, mainly in the south of the city.”We are taking measures but it is not enough … Nothing will work if we are not responsible,” Antonio Zapatero, head of COVID-19 response in Madrid, told reporters. “There has been a relaxation of behavior that we cannot afford.” He said people were organizing parties, drinking in the street and not respecting quarantine rules.He did not give details of the measures to be announced on Friday, but said the health department was considering locking down areas with the highest incidence of the virus.Since restrictions on movement were lifted and mass testing began in late June, infections have risen in Spain from a few hundred a day to thousands, outstripping other hard-hit nations such as Britain, Italy or France.Spain’s cumulative number of cases, at 603,167, is the highest in Western Europe, while the number of deaths exceeded 30,000.Authorities in Madrid hope to start using quick tests from next week, which would help track coronavirus cases faster and reign in the epidemic. read more
Selling a home during the wetcan flushing out the house hunters
LJ Hooker Cairns South sales agent Robyn Wakefield in the rain at a luxurious Bayview Heights house. PICTURE: ANNA ROGERSDESPITE the wet footprints and muddy puddles, selling a home during Far North Queensland’s wet season could actually have a number of hidden benefits.LJ Hooker Cairns south agent Robyn Wakefield said while the number of people through a home in poor weather was usually lower, those who did make the effort were often more committed.“If you have a really rainy day you get your serious buyers. I love the wet season because when you see a car pull up you get excited — you know these people are looking to buy as opposed to just perusing the market,” she said.“In actual fact it’s always the busiest time of year.”Ms Wakefield said the rain was also great for buyers to check for leaks or drainage issues.“As a vendor the wet weather can be a real eye opener. If you’re a responsible vendor you’ll get those things fixed,” she said.More from newsCairns home ticks popular internet search terms3 days agoTen auction results from ‘active’ weekend in Cairns3 days agoREIQ Far North region zone chair Tom Quaid agreed and said a spot of simple housekeeping measures would preserve a clean, tidy home during an inspection day.“A few towels or extra mats on the floor as well as a spot for umbrellas to prevent drips through the house will help keep a home looking neat and tidy,” he said. “Another thing for sellers to be mindful of is keeping the lawn as neat as possible despite the rain. “While no-one likes mowing in the wet, it’s very easy for grass to get out of control in this weather and worth getting a little damp if it means your home is looking closer to its best.”Mr Quaid said photography was even more important during periods of inclement weather.“In the wet weather it’s very easy to put things off so you need to make sure there is something enticing to make sure your buyer is willing to brave the rain,” he said.“Professional photography when the sun is shining is a must to make sure that the first impression buyers have of your home is a positive one.“A floorplan and 360-degree photography can also help to give your property an edge here.” read more
Mercer Switzerland head of retirement to leave consultancy in autumn
Willi Thurnherr, head of retirement at Mercer in Switzerland, will be leaving the consultancy on 30 September.He had been in this position since 2007 and is rumoured to be joining another international consultancy in Zurich. Catherine Schoendorff, chief executive at Mercer Switzerland, is to head the retirement business on an interim basis.She confirmed to IPE that the consultancy was “looking into internal and external options” to replace Thurnherr. “We are sure we will be able to present a successor shortly,” she added.Further, Schoendorff stressed that Switzerland would remain a “market of great importance and a major growth opportunity” for Mercer.Schoendorff herself had been named country head of Mercer Switzerland in January this year.She joined the consultancy in 2011 after a decade at Hewitt as leader of its pension administration business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.Over the last year, there have been several shifts in the Swiss international consultancy universe, with former Publica head Werner Hertzog having left Aon Hewitt Switzerland in May 2014.Around the same time, Edouard Stucki left as a senior consultant at Towers Watson Switzerland.At beginning of 2015, he joined comPlan’s asset management team, managing the assets of Swisscom’s Pensionskasse. In July last year, Mercer Switzerland announced its head of investment Christian Bodmer was to leave the consultancy. read more
Strike duo to stay at Reds – agents
However, despite both being linked with moves back to Italy the agents of Balotelli and Borini insist that will not happen. “[Balotelli] has a contract with Liverpool and can’t really be offered to other clubs,” agent Mino Raiola told Mediaset Premium. “He chose to leave Italy and was aware of what he was leaving; he hasn’t had the success he was hoping for, but he still needs time. “Juventus have denied their interest in him, and I have had absolutely no contact with Inter (Milan), so that’s the current situation now.” Borini’s representative Marco de Marchi has also denied his player will be leaving Anfield. “Borini will not return to Italy in January,” he told SportItalia. “He is happy with Liverpool, the club he is playing for.” Rodgers expects there to be little or no business done in this transfer window with any departures likely to be loans for players who have not had much pitch time. Liverpool forwards Mario Balotelli and Fabio Borini will not be returning to their native Italy in the January transfer window, according to their agents. His injury list is easing with defender Jon Flanagan set to return soon having not featured since the end of last season because of a knee injury. The 22-year-old, who has been used on both the left and right side of defence by Rodgers, is out of contract in the summer and increased competition in those areas – Javier Manquillo and Alberto Moreno both arrived last summer – presents a challenge for him in the next couple of months. “When I saw that we signed two full-backs, I immediately thought ‘I need to up my game now’,” he told the Official Liverpool Magazine. “I know I need to consistently do well if I’m to get in the team and then stay there. “I want to keep developing as a footballer, that’s why not being available has been so frustrating, but competition for places doesn’t bother me. I’m always up for the fight. “I’ve been out for what has felt like a really long time. I’ve got in the team before and kept my place. Now I need to do that again.” There has been no update on the fitness of captain Steven Gerrard, who was withdrawn as a precaution at half-time at Sunderland due to tightness in his hamstring. With striker Daniel Sturridge to return from a long injury lay-off later this month, the pair are set to slip even further down the pecking order. In the absence of Raheem Sterling, who was given a short break by manager Brendan Rodgers, Borini was preferred to his fellow countryman in Saturday’s victory at Sunderland but neither are likely to feature prominently in the remainder of the season. Press Association read more
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Catholic Church ‘sect’ attack
Lay Catholics have claimed the Pope is “ruining” a Church which is now a corrupt “sect”.Herbert Kohlmaier, the head of the Catholic lay initiative, today (Tues) launched a stinging attack on the Church following controversial comments by ultra-conservative Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner over the Haiti earthquake which have caused public outrage.In an interview in Oberösterreichische […]
Cardinal Schönborn to start US visit
Vienna Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn is to start a six-day trip to the USA tomorrow (Sat).The archdiocese press service said he will give speeches and meet with politicians, economists and scientists in Kansas City, New York and Washington, D.C.His first stop will be Kansas City, Missouri, where he will visit various Church institutions at the […]
Teen baseball attack as card game turns nasty
A teenage gambler has been arrested after he invited pals around for a card game and then attacked them with a baseball bat.A 49-year-old man told cops he and a 19-year-old girl had been playing with the teenager when he suddenly stopped, picked up a baseball bat and started to attack them.Police said the […]
Demonstration to be held over murder of Coptic Christians
By Lisa ChapmanA demonstration against the murder of Coptic Christians in Egypt earlier this month is to be held on Viennas Ringstraße on Thursday afternoon.Car club ÖAMTC today (Tues) issued a warning to motorists to avoid driving into the city and to use public transport instead as 700 to 1,000 people were expected to gather […]
Evangelical Church membership stable in 2009
By William GreenThe Austrian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions reported today (Fri) its membership had remained stable last year.The Church said 3,128 people had left and 839 had joined in 2009. At the end of the year, it had 325,314 members, down 0.69 per cent year on year.The number of people who […]
Catholic Church exodus
By David RogersThe number of Catholics leaving the Church soared last year, according to Catholic press agency Kathpress.It reported today (Weds) that 53,216 people had left the Church last year – 30.9 per cent more than in 2008.The figure was 0.96 per cent of all Austrian Catholics, the agency said.The number of Catholics in Austria […]
Russian girl in intensive care after ski crash
By Thomas HochwarterA ten-year-old Russian girl is in intensive care as she collapsed minutes after a skiing accident.Officials in Sölden in Tyrols Imst district said the girl lost control of her skis on the childrens “Mini-Giggijoch” slope. She crashed into a pile of snow and probably landed on the back of her head, according to […]
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Best Places to Live if you’re an Artist
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If you’ve often imagined what life would be like living alongside like-minded artistic people, then you’ll be interested in learning about where the most arty communities base themselves. Artists have traditionally sought out low cost areas to have their studios and congregate with people who share their passion. Here we take a look at some of the best places to live if you’re an aspiring artist:
East End, London
After Chelsea became too expensive following its success of the sixties, artists descended on areas of the East End. This area was perhaps made popular in the late eighties by Damien Hirst who attended college in the area and held his first exhibition here. Charles Saatchi moved into the area and the movement known as the Young British Artists was born. This area has also become quite expensive though, as arty areas often do when they become successful. Another cheaper area with a strong artistic atmosphere is Bow.
St Ives, Cornwall
This beautiful, picturesque seaside resort is ideal if you want to be inspired by awesome views, wildlife and the tranquillity to get creative. The area has become popular for retiring artists who buy a cottage to let out during the summer and then live there out of season and attend local art classes. St Ives has been an attractive spot for artists since the 19th century.
The world-famous festival attracts many artists who seek to find a more permanent base in the city. Edinburgh boasts such a wealth of museums, galleries and literary heritage that it’s easy to see why artistic people flock here. For Artwork Reproduction, visit http://www.river-studio.com/artwork-copying/artwork-copying-reproduction.php
This charming village in Wales is a haven for book lovers with book shops on every corner and the Telegraph Hay Festival that attracts big numbers of literary fans. The beauty of the nearby Brecon Beacons is enough to inspire both writers and painters alike.
This stunning town is unsurprisingly a World Heritage Site with incredible architecture, the Theatre Royal and many music and literary events. The beauty of Bath should be enough to inspire any budding artist with its glorious views, parks and heaps of heritage.
Ever since the days of Tennyson and Dickens, the Isle of Wight has attracted artistic types. The Isle hosts both an internationally acclaimed music festival, a literary festival in Cowes and an arty extravaganza in Ventnor.
Sir Edward Elgar spent his career in Malvern and the surrounding beauty of the Severn Vale countryside must have influenced his work. The town still holds music festivals and for a more contemporary vibe, the Malvern Fringe offers modern art and entertainment.
You might not associate this rather run-down seaside town as an artistic hub but it is experiencing a regeneration. World famous artist Tracey Emin spent her formative years in Margate and recently the opening of the Turner Contemporary Art Gallery has breathed fresh energy into the coastal town.
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Lift-Off Percussion and Entertainment July 13th, 2014
Sunday July 13, 2014, Lift-Off Concert Marcel Falize formed the group Lift-Off in 2010. This band consists of the Falize family and friends. Having a Lift-Off concert during the Rieu Maastricht period is normally not possible, but due to the finals of the World Championship Soccer, there was no Rieu concert on Sunday July 13. Time for a Lift-Off concert! Two buses with Rieu fans traveled from Maastricht to Heerlen to attend this wonderful concert. Watch the videos below for an impression of this concert.
Bus stop at Maastricht Railway station
On the pictures: Barbara, Kevin and Harold Johnson (UK), James and Rose Gregg (New Zealand), Victoria and Hanne Jäger (Germany).
Concert, part 1
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BGI Group: Strengthening COVID-19 detection efforts across the world
BGI is the world's leading genomics solutions group, with the mission to empower scientists and health professionals to improve human health conditions by providing cutting edge genomic tools. BGI Group started out at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 in China and is now spearheading the worldwide response, deploying millions of PCR detection tests as well as emergency laboratory solutions, automated viral nucleic acid extractions and powerful sequencers to track virus mutations. In addition, over 300,000 of BGI’s test kits have been donated by BGI and partner organizations.
Proven 'Fire Eye Laboratory': Offering a total solution
The Huo-Yan ('Fire Eye') Laboratory System is an all-in-one, high-throughput detection solution that brings together the best of BGI Group, combining BGI Genomics' SARS-CoV-2 testing kits, MGI’s automated RNA extraction equipment and sequencers, and the genomic skills and knowledge of scientists throughout the BGI Group. The Fire Eye lab was first created in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, where a 2000 m2 emergency testing lab was built in five days, to handle 10,000 COVID-19 tests daily.
A comprehensive solution for rapidly scaling up diagnostic testing, Fire Eye labs are being implemented in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
MGI: Sequencing-based detection and viral evolution surveillance
The Fire Eye laboratory equipment is produced by MGI, a part of the BGI Group focused on sequencing tools and lab automation. MGl's cutting-edge laboratory robots automate sample preparation, enabling laboratories to handle thousands of samples a day. MGl’s high-throughput genetic sequencers play a critical role in the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 viral evolution. Sequencing allows us to understand the virus blueprint, dynamically track virus mutations and identify new strains of the virus. It can also be used to confirm results of PCR-based tests.
Bringing accurate and rapid COVID-19 testing around the world
BGI Genomics, part of BGI Group, has developed a real-time fluorescent RT-PCR kit for detecting SARS-CoV-2, with production capacity of two million reactions a day to meet global demand. Over 10 million test kits have been produced and are being distributed to more than 80 countries. BGI’s SARS-CoV-2 test has been granted approval by the US FDA Emergency Use Authorization, Europe’s EMA, China’s NMPA, Japan’s PMDA and Australia’s TGA.
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MGI Tech Co. is democratizing access to genomics and transforming lives by developing advanced life science tools. Founded in 2016 as a division of BGI Group, MGI is a leading producer of clinical high-throughput gene sequencers, reagents, laboratory automation tools and other life science equipment.
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The Origins of the Kingdom of Arangoth
From #BlkDragon*Inn
Revision as of 03:19, 1 August 2017 by Tagert (talk | contribs) (Undo revision 7449 by Tagert (talk))
This article describes the origins of the kingdom of Arangoth. See the History of Arangoth for a full list.
1 The Birth of the Arangothian
2 The Rise of the Grand Duchies
3 The First King of Arangoth
3.1 The Search for the Apple-Pear Tree
3.2 The Founding of Tagrana
4 The Succession of Kings
4.1 King Ware and the Assi
4.1.1 Arangoth and Rondis Unite, and the People Rebel
4.1.2 An Anxious Prince, and the War Rages
4.1.3 Prince Aladar's Illness and Illegitimate Son
5 The Order of the Beady Eye
6 A King's Desire for World Domination
7 King Aladar
The Birth of the Arangothian
Many years ago, the land known today as Arangoth was inhabited by a primitive race known as the Goxal, who were ignorant to the ways of metalworking and ate their meat raw. They inhabited the lands around Song Deep, at peace and knowing neither leaders nor any hierarchy, and they traded their crops to the dwarvish miners of Ruthmarna to the south for metal tools and trinkets. For many generations it was thus.
But then stirrings in the far west led to great changes upon the landscape of the world. The noble Gemarinds had once possessed a kingdom of their own, but for the space of several generations had fallen under the rule of their close southern kin, the Mingits. However, the Mingit empire was destroyed very suddenly when a vast horde of nomadic raiders appeared from the western desert, leading the Gemarinds and the Mingits to flee to the east. Today the Mingits are scattered, dwelling in separate quarters in many cities (including Drache).
The Gemarinds briefly established a second kingdom, but it was destroyed centuries ago by the tailed Leturians who migrated into what had been the Mingit empire. The Leturians made slaves of many Gemarinds, but many others continued yet further east, finally coming upon the lands of the primitive Goxal, who welcomed them into their midst. The whole land was then filled with song, there was no illness, and every animal could talk--or so they say. Eventually, however, the Gemarinds chose to assert themselves as the rulers of the land, drew their swords against the peaceful Goxal, and spilled their blood. Since then, the primeval music has vanished from the land, although it is remembered in the name of Song Deep; some hint of it may yet remain in the lapping Song Deeps' waters. Generations passed, and the Goxal and the Gemarinds gradually intermixed. It is from them that the native Arangothian humans of today are descended.
The Rise of the Grand Duchies
The first state which arose upon the territory of Arangoth was the Grand Duchy [sitharang] of Leptatarna, bordering upon Song Deep. The first historically well-documented ruler was Folvaholk the Great, Grand Duke [sithire] of Leptatarna. His tomb of tall megaliths stands atop a great hill, and the inscription there names him as Folvaholk, Grand Duke of Leptatarna, son of the mighty Fenduth, Grand Duke of Leptatarna. Of Fenduth, however, nothing save his name is known.
Folvaholk the Great built roads connecting other Arangothian-inhabited areas to Leptatarna, among them the great north-south highway that passes through the mountains of Ruthmarna and connects Inner Arangoth to the Darian valley in the south, where the city of Drache later arose. He subjected the dwarves of Ruthmarna to his authority, and coerced them into swearing fealty to him by threatening to deprive them of the foodstuffs from Leptatarna on which they subsisted. He established his son Kukarek as Grand Duke of Ruthmarna, and from that point onward, the heir to the Grand Duchy of Leptatarna--and later to the throne of the Kingdom of Arangoth--always held the title Grand Duke of Ruthmarna.
Folvaholk's son and successor Kukarek established good relations with the Khalar tribes to the north of Song Deep and put an end to their raids on Arangothian villages and towns. There were other Grand Duchies as well, namely Sresaria (in the Sresar Vale), East Arangoth, and Transdariania (in the Darian valley).
In olden times, however, there was no king of Arangoth; instead, each of the Grand Dukes was considered equal to the others. When conflicts arose among them, they generally warred among themselves at the expense of many lives and much money. These conflicts generally kept the land in perpetual misery, because none of the Grand Dukes could agree on the span or borders for different Grand Duchies.
The First King of Arangoth
During one particular feud between the Grand Dukes of East Arangoth and Sresaria, Leptatarna, lying directly between these two places, got the worst of the conflict. Grand Duke Kukarek's grandson was Tagran, and while he was Grand Duke of Leptatarna, the other Grand Duchies began to respect Tagran as an impartial intermediary and sought out his help in resolving their disputes. This came about when one of Tagran's advisors convinced him to mediate between his two warring peers in Sresaria and East Arangoth. Tagran hesitated, until his advisor gave him a stone, which he called the Stone of Concord. The advisor claimed that whoever possessed the stone was sure to have the power and authority to mediate disputes wisely. The stone actually had no powers whatsoever, but it gave Tagran confidence, and he managed to bring about a peace between the two feuding parties. His mediation was then sought routinely, until finally he was proclaimed the first King of Arangoth.
The Search for the Apple-Pear Tree
Grand Duke Tagran of Leptatarna, upon becoming the first King of Arangoth, decided to build a new city to serve as the kingdom's capital. Until then, the largest city in the region had been the market center of Hornath ul-Marfed, but it was not majestic enough to suit the new king's tastes. Moreover, Tagran had had a dream in which he stood before a tree from which both an apple and a pear grew, and he resolved to find the tree and build his new capital on the spot. King Tagran and his entourage traveled all over Leptatarna looking for the tree. Week after week passed with no luck; no such tree seemed to exist anywhere in the world. Finally, while they were camped alongside Song Deep, Tagran went fishing and caught a large pike, in the belly of which he found a pomegranate. This was close enough to the apple-pear tree, so he decided forthwith to found his new capital there. Because they were also only a few miles from where the Peraltok River flows into Song Deep, he decided to fudge things a bit further and build the city there.
The Founding of Tagrana
Stones from the mountains of Keletoth-ul-Sangli (the Horse's Head) to the northwest were moved by camel to the construction site. The camels were worked so hard during the city's construction that the native breed died out, resulting in the extinction of the Arangothian camels. The roof of the royal palace was made of pure gold, mined by dwarves in Ruthmarna, and its walls were decorated with lapis lazuli and other precious stones. The palace housed two hundred and thirty-seven rooms and was shaped like a vast spiral when viewed from above, with an onion-domed tower at its center. The dome was taller than any tree, and within it, a magical fire was kept burning at all hours. Legends surrounding this magical flame said that it would continue burn for as long as the Kingdom of Arangoth remained.
Among the two hundred and thirty-seven rooms were spacious guest quarters for visiting dignitaries, kitchens in which the finest delicacies to be found in Arangoth were prepared, kennels, stables, pools, archives, armories, treasuries, and the throne room, from which King Tagran dispensed justice. The city itself became known as Tagrana, named after its builder, and it was the capital of Arangoth until it was nearly destroyed during the cataclysm that brought an end to the Old Kingdom. Arangothian years are still counted from the foundation of the city of Tagrana (470 years ago in the actual year 2000).
The Succession of Kings
Tagran reigned for thirty-one years. His son Arduin reigned for twenty-seven years; Arduin's son Amurath reigned for six years, but his reign was cut short when he suddenly fell ill and died young. Amurath's younger brother, Forban, ascended the throne of Arangoth and reigned for thirty-seven years. During Forban's reign, his son, Prince Herbord, was the commander of the Arangothian armies. During the four years when the Griffon King Karos waged war upon the land of Elvendeep, Prince Herbord led the Arangothian forces which entered the war on the side of the elves. The Griffon King was finally forced to withdraw after he suffered a terrible neck injury. That same year, Prince Herbord's son Anskar was born. Herbord later ascended to the throne and reigned for sixteen years, and following his reign, Anskar reigned for forty-one years. In the reign of King Anskar occurred the Fall of the House of Silad. From this point onwards, the King would appoint governors to the outlying provinces, rather than rely on hereditary succession.
Anskar's son Gerd reigned sixteen years, and Gerd's son Rafold reigned twenty-three years. Rafold's son Arduin reigned forty-one years; Arduin's son Aladar reigned twenty-three years. Aladar had no children, so Ware, son of his brother Forban, succeeded to the throne upon his death.
King Ware and the Assi
A people known as the Assi dwelt along the valley of the upper Nie River. They were a lawless band of ruffians who pillaged towns and villages in East Arangoth, although they never dared to attack any major fortresses or cities. They also sent raiding expeditions eastward to the Kingdom of Rondis, which is mostly surrounded by the Kanemara Mountains but is open and vulnerable to attack on its southern border. The East Arangothian peasantry was made utterly miserable by the relentless Assi raids, but the noblemen who lived in their secure chateaus and fortresses were little inclined to risk their own necks. They longed for glorious battle against people of honor, not frustrating border-patrol duties, and the royal court did nothing for many years. Finally, however, the court was jolted into action.
King Ware of Arangoth decided to marry his daughter to the Prince of Rondis, a prosperous mountain kingdom to the east. He sent his daughter across the wild borderlands along the Nie River with a magnificent entourage and an enormous dowry in gold. On the way, she and her whole entourage, including dozens of nobles, were overtaken by Assi tribesmen and carried off into the wilds of Elgar Forest. No one from the entourage was ever seen alive again, but the Assi left the heads of several of the guards impaled on pikes outside an East Arangothian citadel.
King Ware, blinded by fury, swore to wipe the Assi from the very face of the map and redoubled his resolve to ally his kingdom with the Rondissians. The outrage shared by both royal courts lead to their vow to punish the Assi a thousandfold for what they had done. Now that his daughter was dead, King Ware decided that his son, Prince Aladar, would wed a Rondissian princess. Palandra was her name, and her father, the King of Rondis, quickly assented to the union. However, because of the war-torn borderlands, it was deemed unsafe for the princess to travel to Arangoth for the wedding. Instead, the marriage was concluded by proxy; the Chancellor of Arangoth was sent to kneel in Palandra's bed and recite the wedding vows in Prince Aladar's name. He returned with only a small portrait of the princess for Aladar; as soon as the war was over, the sixteen-year-old boy was told, he could be united with his bride.
Arangoth and Rondis Unite, and the People Rebel
The Arangothians and the Rondissians concluded an alliance against the Assi, and though they fought them for many years, they were never able to defeat them. Whenever the two allied kingdoms seemed to be getting the upper hand, the Assi would flee to their homeland in Elgar Forest. Neither the Arangothians nor the Rondissians had the courage to follow them into such a hell-hole, and so, year after year, the Assi raiding parties grew bolder and carried off the livestock, adolescent daughters, and any other moveable wealth of the poor peasantry. The peasants of Arangoth reacted by refusing to pay taxes to a king who could not protect them. They chased the royal tax-collectors away with scythes and pitchforks, and some even joined the Assi. East Arangoth was on the brink of a bloody peasants' war.
An Anxious Prince, and the War Rages
In the meantime, Prince Aladar was eager to see his wife (of several years now) in person, having only a portrait of the Rondissian princess brought back by the Chancellor from the proxy wedding. Her father was too protective to allow her to leave Rondis while there was still the slightest danger associated with the roads, and to add to the unpleasantness of the situation, Arangothian and Rondissian troops began to quarrel with each other, making joint operations against the Assi very difficult to arrange. The war continued for many months. One year passed, and a second, and then a third, and still the battles raged upon the Nie River and in the Kanemara Mountains.
Prince Aladar's Illness and Illegitimate Son
In the meantime, Prince Aladar grew weak and sickly, and finally a long illness left him confined to his bed in a terrible delirium. At this, King Ware tore his beard and cried, "O dastardly death, you have taken my only daughter from me--do not also take my only son!" The most learned doctors of Arangoth hied to the prince's bedside, but they were all unable to cure him.
Finally, it was a peasant girl named Delvige who restored Aladar's health with fragrant herbs, melodies, and laughter. Aladar, who was now eighteen and had still not been permitted to meet his Rondissian bride because of the war, fell deeply in love with Delvige, and in the course of time she bore him a son. When King Ware found out, he was furious. He first ordered Delvige's nose, ears and lips cut off, and then ordered her and her child to be dragged to their deaths behind a horse on the cobblestone streets of Tagrana. He eventually repented of this, and instead simply had them sent away to a distant province of his kingdom. With that, Prince Aladar lost his will to live, and he once more fell terribly ill, leaving the doctors of the city shaking their heads and saying he might live another two years, or another four, but not much beyond that.
Now King Ware again feared that he would be left without an heir, and so he sent for Delvige's son, his own grandson, and had him raised in the palace. The illegitimate boy was named Donnovath, or "hope." The king grew very fond of the little child, and had ingenious toys crafted for him of precious metals and gems.
The Order of the Beady Eye
About this time, a guild of knights known as the Order of the Beady Eye entered the region from somewhere in the west, from whence they had been expelled (for some reason or other known best to themselves). They promised King Ware that they would subdue the Assi once and for all, on the condition that they be allowed to settle in the lands they helped to conquer. The king accepted these terms. With the Order's help, the Assi were finally pacified, and their forests were declared the new Arangothian province of "Elgaria." However, Elgar Forest is a place both deep and dark and full of insidious beings who kneel to no sovereign.
King Ware sent out several of his most capable underlings to organize the new province, naming one of them Grand Duke, but they all ended up dead or scared out of their wits. The Order of the Beady Eye alone was able to keep the indigenous population of monsters and cutthroats in check because of theie extraordinary discipline. When King Ware saw it was hopeless to expect his own noblemen to govern the new province, he turned it over to the Order of the Beady Eye, whom he instructed to govern there in his name. The Order built mighty roads connecting parts of the forest with the seashore near the mouth of the Darian River and with the foothills of Ruthmarna. Now that the passage was safe, Prince Aladar and Princess Palandra were united at long last, just in time for their fifth anniversary. Donnovath, Aladar's illegitimate son, was soon removed from the succession by the birth of Palandra's first male child, named Forban. However, Donnovath's descendants comprised the noble family of Gosprey [from gosporre, or 'prince'] and held many important offices of state.
The Order of the Beady Eye diligently patrolled the Nie River and other rivers with well-armed pinnaces or shallops, and to pay for all their undertakings they invited families from Inner Arangoth and Sresaria to settle there and clear farmland from the forest, taking a fraction of their crops in local taxes for defense. Gradually the knights carved out a thriving farming community in the heart of dark Elgar Forest, and they even stocked the fearsome Black Lagoon with pike and catfish.
King Ware was pleased to have found a new fighting force willing and eager to serve the Arangothian crown, and he set about taking advantage of it. The Order of the Beady Eye was next sent against the Korthai pirates of the southwestern coast, which is how Arania became part of the kingdom. Their cunning architects improved the old pirates' lair, transforming it into their Order's headquarters, known as Sivriana. Beginning the year after that, the Order knights along with the regular Arangothian army were sent to bring peace to the mountains of the northwest, carving out the Province of Outer Arangoth (including Caern) over the course of the next decade. Until then, the region's inhabitants had been a lawless mixture of elves (outlaws from Elvendeep to the south), mithril-mining dwarves and human bandits. The pattern of government established in Elgaria continued in these new unstable regions, and Arania and Outer Arangoth were henceforth governed with the king's consent by the Order of the Beady Eye. The leader of this group, called their grand master, was therefore very powerful. The grand master who brought the guild to Arangoth was named Sivrian Dollitrog, and his descendants (of the Dollitrog family) inherited his post from him for several generations. The Dollitrogs were known for their valor and for the sanctity of their given word, and they were by far the tallest people in Arangoth, being descended from a race of giants.
A King's Desire for World Domination
Encouraged by his great military successes, King Ware began to contemplate trying to conquer the whole of the known world. In twelve years he had doubled the size of his kingdom and added three new provinces. When the Korthai pirates had been driven out of Arania, they had fled first to the harbor at the free city of Ethcabar-Antara and had then moved southwards to Aslar, Tollor, the Isles of Myst, and Equine Island. Considering only that Ethcabar had, willingly or not, granted refuge to the enemies of Arangoth, King Ware demanded that this free city submit to his suzerainty and pay an enormous indemnity. The proud city naturally refused, and newly-built Arangothian warships blockaded Ethcabar harbor while an army with a large contingent from the Order set off overland across Elgaria and down the Nie River to lay siege to the city.
The attempt at conquering Ethcabar turned into a disastrous fiasco. The army was decimated passing through unsafe parts of Elgar Forest. The Nie River had overflowed its banks due to an unusually rainy spring, which made marching alongside it nearly impossible. The task of building enough rafts to float the remaining army downstream to Ethcabar delayed them for over a week. In the meantime, the burghers of Ethcabar conducted a daring nighttime assault upon the Arangothian navy lurking in their harbor, burning and sinking most of King Ware's fleet.
The king of Aslar at the time was a native of Ethcabar, and convinced the Aslarians that if Ethcabar fell, Aslar would surely be attacked next. Those lucky enough to have survived the Ethcabar Campaign so far were faced with the prospect of an army from Aslar fast approaching to help defend the city. A general retreat was ordered, which is still commemorated every year in Ethcabar. Still, Ethcabar recognized that chance had played a large role in their deliverance from the Arangothian onslaught, and therefore the city graciously arranged a perpetual peace with King Ware, pledging not to harbor any pirates who plagued the Transdarianian coast.
The strategy vis-a-vis the Khalar tribes to the north had always been to arrange a peace agreement with whatever tribe controlled the mountains on the southern border of Kahlahra. This was generally the Sherkhen tribe, which regularly agreed to seventy-year peace treaties with Arangoth. Each time the peace was renewed there were great festivities upon the waters of Song Deep (the common border) and costly presents were exchanged. The Sherkhen emissaries brought thoroughbred Khalar horses for the Arangothian king, and the Arangothian emissaries in turn presented gem-encrusted gilt sabres, goblets, and trinket-boxes to the Sherkhen chiefs and their wives. King Ware thought to refuse the renewal of this treaty when it expired, and to extend his dominion north across Song Deep. However, his armies were still tied up in the conquest of Outer Arangoth, and so he did renew the treaty with the Sherkhen.
King Aladar
King Ware had reigned for 56 years at the time of the Ethcabar campaign, and afterwards he reigned for another 22. In all, he reigned 78 years and died a very old man. Since Prince Aladar died before he did, Aladar's son Prince Forban succeeded to the throne and reigned for 20 years. After that, Forban was succeeded by his own son, King Aladar.
Aladar was a wise king in part because of an ability he had been given around the time of his birth by a magician from some faraway and unknown place. The magician had offered to impart this ability in return for a purse of silver, and Aladar's parents had agreed. Since most magicians asked for purses of gold, this seemed like quite a bargain. The whole thing had soon slipped their minds, and they never mentioned it to Aladar. The details only came out years later after an examination of the old court account books.
The ability meant that when Aladar looked at someone, he saw directly into that person's innermost soul. He could tell whether a person was honest and well-meaning or dishonest and evil, and so when he became king, he was able to pick faithful advisors, knowing from looking at them with his inner eye that they would never turn against him. His first chancellor was a man by the name of Perlim Silkenvest, chosen because he was unquestionably loyal, even ruthlessly so. Chancellor Silkenvest, the king supposed, would counterbalance his own personal tendency to be overly forgiving and lenient. Criminals too learned that the king could correctly judge their guilt or innocence by a simple glance. King Aladar's first wife, Queen Thrinda, died in childbirth, although her son survived to become the later King Dorn.
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Practical Plant Identification
Many important taxonomic characters are difficult or impossible to observe with the naked eye. For example, you may wish to count the number of tiny teeth at the apex of a ray floret of a composite, or determine whether a leaf has minute hairs in the axils of the veins. Anatomical structure of parts such as roots and bark is particularly hard to see. A good hand lens, used in good light, will suffice for many purposes. However, for those who will be looking at a great deal of material, a dissecting microscope is very useful. This should not be confused with a light microscope, which has a built-in light in the base, a raised stage for slides, and several objective lenses for increased magnification. A dissecting microscope has a much lower range of magnification and a low stage on which a fairly large object can be placed, with room under the head of the microscope for hands holding tweezers, etc. A separate lamp illuminates the object. Dissecting microscopes are much more comfortable to use than hand lenses, with binocular eyepieces and a greater maximum magnification that provides better resolution of very small features. Forceps and perhaps dissecting needles should also be obtained, as they allow convenient manipulation of small plant parts.
One must expect harvested plant material, even of a whole herb, to look very different from live plants of the same species. Unless plants are small, people do not normally collect whole plants. Larger plants would typically be cut or broken into pieces; only the tops may be collected, or lower leaves may be stripped from thick stems, which are then discarded. Since dried material is often brittle, more breakage can occur during initial processing. Some characters, such as the height of a large plant, usually cannot be observed, and others may be observed only imperfectly. For example, if a plant has large, petiolate lower leaves but smaller, sessile upper leaves, broken pieces with each type of leaf base may be found, but not attached to a stem in a neat sequence.
Dried material also may change appearance greatly by shriveling, which can make parts hard to measure, and colors may change to some extent (although if colors are too faded, it is often an indication of poor quality due to improper processing). Dried flowers may lose parts such as petals, which may be found loose. Most dried leaves, flowers, and fleshy fruits are more easily examined if they are rehydrated. Various wetting solutions may be used to rehydrate herbarium material. The simplest is to use hot water with a very tiny spot of dish soap in a watch glass or similar container. Solid or hard fruits do not rehydrate as quickly, and the use of boiling water can be helpful. With a few chemicals, a more efficient wetting solution can be made. Dr. Lynn Clark’s Modified Pohl’s Solution (based on a recipe by the late Dr. Richard Pohl) uses 750 ml distilled water, 250 ml 1-propanol, and 2 ml Ivory liquid soap to make one liter of solution; it can be kept in dropper bottles. Once material has softened, it can be spread out with forceps so that its original shape and size can be seen.
Sometimes the initial processing of an herb leaves it broken into rather small pieces, which is less than ideal, but informative parts may be found with patience and care. Small flowers often remain intact in broken material, although inflorescences usually do not. Information regarding the likely shapes of the leaf base, apex, or margins, the venation pattern and the presence of surface pubescence or glands may be obtained from broken leaves by sorting through the pieces to find those that include suitable portions of the leaf. If leaves are broken, it may or may not be possible to estimate their size accurately by examining the larger pieces. Leaf size is more likely to be an important character in plants that have uniformly small leaves, rather than those that have leaves potentially ranging in size from small to enormous. Small leaves, even when broken, often include enough of the leaf in a single piece to allow some estimate of the size to be made. (The exception is if material has been comminuted, or broken into tiny fragments in which few taxonomic characters remain visible. A few plants are traditionally treated like this during their initial processing, but botanicals of Western origin ought to have their identity certified before they are processed to that degree.) Sliced roots and rhizomes should be sorted through to find pieces that give the best view of the internal structure, which means those that are cut most nearly straight across rather than at an angle.
Fortunately, quality control of botanicals does not usually involve actual identification, but confirmation of identity. One doesn’t start with an unlabeled unknown and have to determine from scratch which of the 300,000 or so species of higher plants it is, which can be an exhausting task even with the best of material. Rather, one starts with a plant that has already been named by someone else, and must determine only whether that initial identification seems to be correct. If not, one simply rejects the material, without any need to figure out what it actually is. Knowing what the plant is supposed to be makes the use of botanical literature (including this manual) much simpler. One only has to look up descriptions of the plant named and ask: are these consistent with the material at hand, or not? The material can also be compared to illustrations, or to previously obtained reference plant materials of known identity. Such comparisons are not always straightforward: some plant species have highly variable leaf shape or pubescence, for example, and material that does not look much like a given illustration or reference sample might in fact be the same species. Written descriptions can make it clear when features of a species are variable, thus avoiding “false negatives” in which correctly identified material is wrongly rejected.
For those who are buying a large amount of a single botanical, a sampling scheme is necessary to ensure that a sufficient amount of the material has been checked for identity. Otherwise, one might by happenstance check the only portion of the material that did not contain excessive levels of some adulterant! A useful approach is outlined by the World Health Organization’s manual, Quality Control Methods for Medicinal Plant Materials (1998). In WHO’s recommended system, at least 10% of the containers in a batch should be sampled, rounded up, with a minimum of five containers (or all of the containers if the batch includes four or fewer). For each container, equal samples should be taken from the upper, middle and lower portions of the material, mixed, then repeatedly mixed, quartered, and divided in half by returning diagonally opposite portions to the container, until a suitable amount remains. These samples would also be used for any laboratory tests performed, such as ash content and screening for chemical markers, and for preservation of voucher specimens for each batch in case doubts about its identity should arise later.
Comparing a written description to illustrations or to reference specimens often enhances one’s mental picture of a plant. Previously obtained reference material of known identity is particularly useful because it can convey information on color, texture, and the like in more detail than any description or illustration. To avoid “false negative” results in which the identity of material is wrongly called into question, one must remember that an illustration or a piece of reference material represents a single individual, and thus can display only a portion of the variation that is present within a species. For example, if the flower portrayed is hairless and the flowers of the material to be identified are hairy, they may belong to the same species, yet appear substantially different at first glance. In case of apparent discrepancy between the material examined and the illustration or reference material, one must therefore consult a written description to determine whether the suspect character is indeed found in that species.
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This time on Grindhouse Grooves, the latest in noteworthy music videos for the discriminating cult movie fan, we’ve got alien worlds, killer cars and a song from the first Jason Voorhees! PSYCHIC RITES SINGULARITY Dir. Mike Wilson Psychic Rites ‘Singularity’ from Pleasure Kill on Vimeo. CHRISTINE is the obvious…
April 28, 2014 Jon Abrams
This time on Grindhouse Grooves, we’ve got a dating Jason Voorhees, wild animation, a REAR WINDOW homage and a hell of a lot more! Umberto Temple Room Dir. Arche Noir Noir, whose head Jan Schulze Beckendorf we interviewed here, shows off his giallo influences to great effect in this…
March 28, 2014 Jon Abrams
This time on Grindhouse Grooves, we’ve got an ass-kicking Tom Hanks, two former child stars, wild animation and more! BUCKWHEAT GROATS TOM HANKS DIR. JARED LAPIDUS AND BUCKWHEAT GROATS Sure, throwing a faux Tom Hanks into a ridiculous (NSFW) rap video about how badass he is awesome, but even better…
This time on Grindhouse Grooves, we’ve got an ’80s fantasy homage, a hot rod worm, plenty of whacked-out animation and more! DOG BLOOD CHELLA RIDE DIR. GOLDEN WOLF Dog Blood – Chella Ride from Golden Wolf on Vimeo. Dooooogs iiiiin spaaaaaace! It may seem like a concept ripe for comedy,…
February 14, 2014 Jon Abrams
This time on Grindhouse Grooves, we’ve got Count Floyd, a dancing exorcist, a good use of the Prelinger Archives and more! THE WET SECRETS NIGHTLIFE DIR. TREVOR ANDERSON Count Floyd returns! Joe Flaherty reprises his “SCTV” role as Floyd takes out the latest tween sparkly vampire flick from the library…
January 20, 2014 Jon Abrams
This time on Grindhouse Grooves, we’ve got a depressed Ewoks, a softcore porn homage, a Hitchcock tribute, a serial killer and more! Marijuana Deathsquads Ewok Sadness Dir. Isaac Gale Hell hath no fury like a furry STAR WARS character scorned in this impressively twisted take on Marijuana Deathsquads’ great track…
GRINDHOUSE GROOVES – THE TEN BEST PSYCHOTRONIC MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2013!
December 30, 2013 Jon Abrams
Picking my Top 10 movies for 2013? No problem. I only saw a few dozen new movies, so choosing ten wasn’t that much of an issue. But music videos? That’s a much tougher call, as I’ve probably watched a few hundred music videos in the last twelve months. And so…
You look bored. Are you bored? Sitting there at work with nothing going on? Why not watch some music videos? It’ll give you a chance to catch up with the music that those young people are listening to, and simultaneously allow you to watch some cool short films. That also…
December 4, 2013 Jon Abrams
The No-Budget Nightmares crew took over our music video coverage recently with a round-up of noteworthy vids featuring SOV recreations — be sure to check out that edition here! Then scroll down and bask in the warm, atonal glory of some of the most interesting psychotronic music videos to hit…
August 23, 2013 Jon Abrams
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. Welcome to another round-up of new music videos with their hearts in genre films and exploitation that serve as great short films that accentuate the music they’re made to promote while still having an original vision. This time, we’ve got animated wildness, sexy neon…
[TOP 10 GRINDHOUSE GROOVES] TOP 10 MOST RIDICULOUS SOUNDTRACK MUSIC VIDEOS
August 6, 2013 Jon Abrams
Music videos were an essential way of promotion in the ’80s — studios couldn’t release a big-budget flick without a catchy title track they could sell to the MTV-addicted masses. The title track is now a bit of a lost art, and now we’re left with blockbusters that have the…
Breakbot You Should Know Dir. Gerson Aguerri Breakbot’s ’70s-ish track stars out with a ’60s pop-arty THE TOUCHABLES vibe, then moves into a more ’80s computer animated look, and while it’s all fun to watch, it’s not all that coherent thematically. Still, it’s good visual fun for a nice low-key…
June 28, 2013 Jon Abrams
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. Welcome to another round-up of new music videos with their hearts in genre films and exploitation that serve as great short films that accentuate the music they’re made to promote while still having an original vision. This week, we’ve got ’80s nostalgia (x3), David…
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. Welcome to another round-up of new music videos with their hearts in genre films and exploitation that serve as great short films that accentuate the music they’re made to promote while still having an original vision. This week, we’ve got stars in peril, computer…
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. Welcome to another round-up of new music videos with their hearts in genre films and exploitation of whether that means spaghetti westerns, tales of the future, great use of character actors or an embracing of pulp paperback history, that serve as great short films…
May 6, 2013 Jon Abrams
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. It’s time for another edition of Grindhouse Grooves, showing the latest videos who take their cues from the more dingy side of the cinematic tracks. This time we’ve got apocalyptic animation, bowling ball heads, badass bikers and more! Vitalic Fade Away (Dir. Romain Chassaing)…
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. It’s time for another edition of Grindhouse Grooves, showing the latest videos who take their cues from the more dingy side of the cinematic tracks. This time we’ve a new video from Darren Lynn Bousman, vintage animation, serial killers and a nanobot invasion! Sally…
April 9, 2013 Jon Abrams
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. It’s time for another edition of Grindhouse Grooves, showing the latest videos who take their cues from the more dingy side of the cinematic tracks. This time we’ve got churches keeping off the zombies, tripped-out alien worlds and a nice guy minotaur, all backed…
MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS. It’s time for another edition of Grindhouse Grooves, showing the latest videos who take their cues from the more dingy side of the cinematic tracks. This time we’ve got dangerous girls galore, first person carnage and Kenneth Anger! Django Django Wor (Dir. Jim…
BEYOND MOTHERBOY: THE POP MUSIC LEGACY OF “PSYCHO”
Everyone knows Bernard Herrmann’s excellent score for PSYCHO, an exceptional piece of work that’s as much a part of the Hitchcock film’s legacy as the infamous shower sequence. Herrmann, however, wasn’t the only musician who took tonal inspiration from the granddaddy of slasher flicks. In anticipation of the newest…
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Category Archives: Wearable Technology
Kiroco Manufactures Patented Wearable Tech for Medical Sector
Kiroco Technology have signed an agreement with Bristol based company Tap2Tag to produce exclusive NFC wearables that have the potential to save lives.
Tap2Tag is leading the field in medical wearables producing a medical alert device that is designed to help first-responders and paramedics gain instant access to critical medical information in an emergency.
Kiroco Technology have designed and manufactured an exclusive NFC bracelet that Tap2Tag are now selling worldwide.
Chris Ford of Tap2Tag said “We approached Kiroco Technology as whilst we offer silicone bracelets to our customers we were looking for a more elegant piece of jewellery that people would want to wear whether just out and about or at a formal event. Also with Kiroco having the relevant patents we knew that we were working with the right people’.
Of the design and manufacture, Fiona Cartwright of Kiroco Technology said “Our design had to encompass a unisex market, be durable to withstand being worn 24/7 and have a versatile fit for varying wrist sizes. Continuing Fiona said “Working with Chris in the medical sector highlights the importance that wearables can have in our lives and we are glad to be working together.”
Having previously appeared on Dragon’s Den, without gaining any backing, Chris has now signed up distribution in a number of countries including Canada, Australia and South Africa and will be looking to provide a choice of more elegant jewellery styles to the market place in the coming months.
Source: Kiroko Technology
This entry was posted in Wearable Technology and tagged Kiroko, Kiroko Technology, NFC, Tap2Tag, wearables on May 15, 2017 by Tim Cosgrove.
Samsung Addresses a Growing Mobile Health Market with Industry’s First Smart Bio-Processor
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today announced that it is addressing the growing trend of quantified health with an all-in-one advanced system logic chip for the health-oriented wearables market, the Bio-Processor. The Samsung Bio-Processor, now in mass production, is specifically designed to allow accelerated development of innovative wearable products for consumers who are increasingly monitoring their health and fitness on a daily basis.
“With improvements in smart, fitness devices and an increase in consumer health consciousness, more and more people are looking for ways to monitor various personal bio-data, or fitness data, to constantly manage their health” said Ben K. Hur, Vice President of marketing, System LSI business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s Bio-Processor, which can process five different biometric signals, is the most versatile health and fitness monitoring chip available on the market today and is expected to open up many new health-based service options for our customers.”
Samsung Bio-Processor: Small in size; Big on Versatility
Samsung’s Bio-Processor is the industry’s first all-in-one health solution chip. By integrating not only Analog Front Ends (AFE), but also microcontroller unit (MCU), power management integrated circuit (PMIC), digital signal processor (DSP), and eFlash memory, it is able to process the bio-signals it measures without the need of external processing parts. Even with its integrated design, the Bio-Processor is particularly innovative thanks to its incredibly small size. When compared to the total area of the discrete parts, the Bio-Processor is only about one fourth of the total combined size, which is ideal for small wearable devices, offering a bounty of options when designing new devices.
While heart rate monitoring alone may have been compelling in the past, the ability to measure a variety of fitness data is expected in today’s wearable products. To meet such demands, Samsung has designed its Bio-Processor to integrate five AFEs including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (ECG), skin temperature, and galvanic skin response (GSR) into a single chip solution that measures body fat, and skeletal muscle mass, heart rate, heart rhythm, skin temperature and stress level, respectively. In addition, combinations of these fitness inputs can be considered for a variety of new use cases.
To speed product development and better understand Samsung’s new Bio-Processor, several wearable reference platforms are now available to demonstrate various use cases. For example, wrist band, board and patch type reference devices exhibit the Bio-Processor’s potential by demonstrating its ability to measure multiple fitness variables on an extremely small device.
Samsung Bio-Processor is currently in mass production and will be available in fitness/health devices within the first half of 2016.
Source: Samsung Electronics
This entry was posted in Technology, Wearable Technology and tagged bio-processor, mHealth, S3FBPBA, samsung on December 29, 2015 by Tim Cosgrove.
First ‘Smart Dress’ that uses environmental data to predict the wearer’s emotions revealed by Telefónica R&D
The ‘Environment Dress’ is the winner of “Next Things 2015 – Behaviour”, the Fourth Global
Art and Technology Challenge, presented by Telefónica R&D and LABoral Centre for Art and
Industrial Creation
The dress was awarded for linking art, design and style with Internet of Things and machine
Telefónica R&D has announced the first ‘Smart Dress’
prototype that can accurately capture information about surrounding elements and analyse how it affects people’s emotions.
The ‘Environment Dress’ collects a wide set of data, including temperature, infra-red and
ultraviolet radiation, carbon monoxide and noise, then determines what environmental and
behavioural patterns the wearer is experiencing. The dress then alerts the wearer of the
potentially elevated presence of external agents.
The wearable, created with open source hardware and software, is the winning project from “Next Things 2015 – Behaviour”, the Fourth Global Art and Technology Challenge, presented by
Telefónica R&D and the LABoral Centre for Art and Industrial Creation. The challenge sets out to
foster cross-discipline collaboration between the artistic, creative and technology communities.
In the near future the ‘Environment Dress’ is expected to geo-locate and share data with users
online for global accessibility. The creators are also working on a mobile application that will allow wearers to manage and personalise their parameters (lights, alarm systems, etc.).
The dress will also be able to indicate how the user is feeling at any given moment. Through
machine learning it will continuously learn from the measurements it takes and associate those
with the wearer’s emotions and moods. This means that in the future, the dress may be able to
predict certain moods and associate them with changes occurring in the wearer’s environment
such as changes in atmospheric pressure or increased noise.
Source:.Telefonica
This entry was posted in Wearable Technology and tagged environmental dress, laboral centre, next things 2015, smart dress, telefonica, wearable technology on December 3, 2015 by Tim Cosgrove.
Bitwalking dollars: Digital currency pays people to walk
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Bitwalking, earn money while you walk.
Image caption Japan is one of four nations which include the UK where Bitwalking will be initially launched
A digital crypto-currency has launched that is generated by human movement.
Bitwalking dollars will be earned by walking, unlike other digital currencies such as Bitcoins that are “mined” by computers.
A phone application counts and verifies users’ steps, with walkers earning approximately 1 BW$ for about 10,000 steps (about five miles).
Initially, users will be given the chance to spend what they earn in an online store, or trade them for cash.
The founders of the project, Nissan Bahar and Franky Imbesi have attracted more than $10m (£6.6m) of initial funding from mainly Japanese investors to help launch the currency and create the bank that verifies steps and any transfers.
Image copyright MURATA
Image caption Robots made by Murata which will also make a wristband that will verify users’ steps
Japanese electronics giant Murata is working on a wearable wristband that will provide an alternative to carrying a smartphone and show how many BW$ the wearer has earned.
Shoe manufacturers are poised to accept the currency, and a UK high street bank is in talks to partner with the project at one of the UK’s biggest music festivals next year.
The founders have a track record in disruptive technology that could help developing nations as much as richer ones.
Last year they launched Keepod, a $7 USB stick that acts like a computer in Nairobi, Kenya.
Image copyright KEEPOD
Image caption The Keepod $7 USB stick that acts like a computer is now in 87 countries.
Fitness boost
The idea of Bitwalking is to take advantage of the trend for fitness trackers by offering an additional incentive to keep fit.
The global scheme plans to partner with sportswear brands, health services, health insurance firms, environmental groups, and potentially advertisers who could be offered unique insights into the audiences they are targeting.
In the future, employers may be invited to take part in a scheme that would be offered to their employees to encourage them to stay fitter, with the currency they earn converted and then paid alongside their salaries.
In developed nations the average person would earn around 15 BW$ a month, but it is hoped that in poorer countries where people have to walk further for work, school, or simply to collect water, the Bitwalking scheme could help transform lives.
Image caption Malawi and Kenya are the first two African nations included in the Bitwalking project at launch
Double income
Salim Adam walks around six miles (10km) a day to work as an IT teacher at his local college in Mthuntama in northern Malawi.
He has worked out that he can earn 26 BW$ a month just by having the app running on his mobile phone. His current salary is the equivalent of $26 USD.
The impact Bitwalking could make in developing countries isn’t lost on the founders. It is one of the central reasons for creating the currency. In Malawi, one of the African nations to join at the launch of the project, the average rural wage is just US$1.5 (£1) a day.
Business advisor, Karen Chinkwita runs Jubilee Enterprises, giving business guidance to young people in Lilongwe. She said: “There may be a temptation for some to walk instead of work.
“But most people want to earn more money and will do both. With some education we can teach them how to use that money to create even more opportunities.”
The Bitwalking manager for Malawi, Carl Meyer, has set up the first two Bitwalking hubs in Lilongwe and Mthuntama where local people will be trained how to trade the BW$ online for US$ or the local currency, Malawi Kwacha.
Eventually an automatic online exchange is planned that will match up buyers with sellers and a rough exchange rate will begin to emerge.
The Go! app for iOS and Android devices will initially be offered to a handful of countries, including the UK, Japan, Malawi, and Kenya, to give the organisers a chance to iron out any difficulties before other countries come on board.
Image caption The Bitwalking app shows the steps taken and how much the user has earned
The idea isn’t completely new. Several start-ups have tried to connect keeping fit to earning rewards but most have failed to measure movement accurately enough to avoid scammers.
Bitwalking hasn’t officially released the algorithm used to verify steps but says it uses the handsets’ GPS position and wi-fi connections to calculate the distance travelled.
The team has created its own walking algorithm to verify users’ workouts after testing Google’s and finding that steps could be spoofed.
The phone reports the speed and type of movement as measured by the accelerometer.
At its launch the total amount someone can claim in one day will be capped at around 3 BW$ (roughly 30,000 steps) and running multiple accounts will be banned.
The success of the scheme is likely to depend on how much interest there is from established companies such as big sportswear brands, health insurance firms, or charity and environmental groups all of whom have an incentive to work with the fitness sector.
In Japan, it is not unusual for firms to offer employees rewards for fitness activities. Bitwalking’s founders hope their project could help extend this idea to other nations.
The country’s largest convenience chain store, Lawson, runs a successful scheme that pays its workers up to $50 a year to eat healthily and keep fit.
Image caption Gold card: Lawson’s ‘Ponta’ card rewards staff for staying fit with cash to spend in store
But the Lawson scheme is based on promises and trust, so unlike Bitwalking it is not verifiable. The vouchers earned cannot be traded for cash.
Despite the freedom to trade, it is likely that unless BW$ can be freely used to buy goods and services they are likely to drop in value from parity with the US$ – the point where the founders are launching it.
The online store will sell goods for the same price in BW$ as US$.
Keeping the virtual shelves of this online store fully stocked will be one of the first challenges.
The shop isn’t expected to be open all the time, but plans are in place for other retailers and service providers to accept the currency in their stores too.
Image copyright BITWALKING
Image caption The online marketplace where users can spend what they earn on goods.
It is still not clear how a currency that appears to be so easy for users to produce could maintain its value, nor if the initial funding for the scheme will be sufficient to sustain it in the initial period while confidence in its value is being built up.
The Bitwalking website will invite people to apply to join the scheme so the company has some control over user numbers.
Privacy steps
Because the new scheme necessarily tracks its users there will be data available that could be particularly valuable to advertisers – and accompanying concerns over privacy.
“That won’t be for sale,” says co-founder Nissan Bahar.
“We may explore offering advertisers the opportunity to focus on different groups depending on how active they are, but we won’t pass on any information relating to individual’s movements.”
Image caption The Bitwalking founders are interviewed for the BBC Click television show
Transfers of the new currency will also be carefully monitored with transactions going through a central ‘bank’ which verifies each deal using the block chain method used to transfer other crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin.
Users will have access to their own wallet which stores the dollars they’ve earned and will be able to transfer them to others via the app.
“It’s a currency that can be earned by anyone regardless of who they are and where they live,” says Franky Imbesi.
“For some it will be a free cup of coffee a week perhaps offered by local businesses to encourage people to explore their local shops. For others it could be a game changer, transforming their lives by enabling them to earn and trade in the same way with the rest of the world.
“And all while encouraging us to protect the planet and stay healthy.”
Source: Dan Simmons BBC Technology
This entry was posted in Technology, Wearable Technology and tagged bitwalking, digital currency, Franky Imbesi, murata, Nissan Bahar, smartphone on November 25, 2015 by Tim Cosgrove.
MasterCard Launches New Program that can Turn any Consumer Gadget, Accessory or Wearable into a Payment Device
Famed Designer Adam Selman, Capital One, GM, Nymi, Qualcomm, Ringly and TrackR Among First to Join
MasterCard will showcase prototypes with launch partners at Money 20/20
MasterCard today introduced a new program that will bring MasterCard payments to a wide array of consumer products across the automotive, fashion, technology, wearables, and yet to be imagined categories. The program gives consumers the freedom to shop using the device or thing that is most convenient to them, with the highest level of security available.
The program will launch with the support of several marquee partners across multiple verticals to fit every lifestyle need. Designer to the stars Adam Selman, automaker General Motors, wearable technology innovator Nymi, smart jewelry company Ringly, and Bluetooth locator TrackR are among the prominent consumer brands enabling their products through the program.
Exclusive designs from Adam Selman and prototypes from GM (key fob), Nymi (wristband) and Ringly (ring), will be on display at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas this week and are showcased in this video.
The Internet of Things (IoT) – the hyper-connected world where every device from the phone to the washing machine will be connected to the Internet – is transforming the way consumers interact and transact. According to Cisco, there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020. MasterCard is establishing the program as the foundation to enable payments for IoT.
The program is an extension of the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) and the Digital Enablement Express (Express) program, and brings to fruition the vision that every device will be a commerce device. Through MDES and Express, any accessory, wearable or device can be payment-enabled and quickly scaled to millions of MasterCard accounts.
“As more and more ‘things’ become connected, consumers will have endless possibilities when it comes to how they pay, and will need all of their devices to work seamlessly together,” said Ed McLaughlin, Chief Emerging Payments Officer at MasterCard. “This program eliminates the boundaries of how we pay by delivering a secure digital payment experience to virtually anything – rings, fitness and smart bands, car key fobs, apparel, and whatever comes along next.”
Technology and Issuer Partners
As part of the program, MasterCard worked with NXP and Qualcomm Incorporated to develop technology that makes it simple to enable secure payments on virtually any device or accessory.
Capital One is the first issuer to embrace the program and will leverage Express, enabling them to expand to a whole new category of devices. The Capital One Wallet will authenticate the users to provide strong security for provisioning and managing tokens. It also includes enhanced real time transaction notifications identifying the device used in each transaction. Capital One is one of many issuers with tens of millions of MasterCard credit and debit accounts already participating in MDES.
The launch of the program puts in place a standard for expanding secure contactless and embedded payment options globally. Products will begin rolling out in 2016 in the U.S., with plans to expand to other markets.
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), http://www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.
Partner Quote Sheet
Read why our launch partners – including Adam Selman, Capital One, General Motors, NXP, Nymi, Qualcomm, Ringly, and TrackR — support our program to enable any device to make payments.
Adam Selman, fashion designer:
“Technology is vital to the fashion industry, from textiles, printing techniques, and innovations in garments, it keeps fashion changing and evolving. Usually technology’s role in fashion is behind the scenes. What sets the MasterCard program apart is that it features the technology, while still remaining invisible, yet interactive and totally functional with the wearer. It’s exciting to be part of a project that is creating something new and fresh. At the end of the day, that’s what fashion is all about.”
Tom Poole, managing vice president, Digital Payments at Capital One:
“We are always looking for new ways to enhance the consumer payment experience, by offering tools and pioneering technologies focused on ecommerce and mobile accessibility. We are excited about the potential this new initiative and other new payment options hold as we work to offer more choices to help make our customers’ lives easier.”
Tom Grekowicz, senior manager, GM Rewards Card:
“Vehicles are becoming more connected and this will enable our customers to maximize their connections to all aspects of their lives, including new and easier ways to pay for goods and services. This partnership with MasterCard will help us learn more about our customers’ preferences and how we can best serve them.”
Jeff Miles, vice president of Payments at NXP:
“By integrating our loader service into MasterCard’s ecosystem, we’re providing OEMs with a simple method to quickly deploy secure payments in new mobile and wearable devices. Just as mobile payments have removed the traditional barriers in commerce for consumers, this partnership will remove barriers for OEMs, making it far easier to rapidly deploy new technologies with secure payment capabilities.”
Karl Martin, founder and CTO of NymiTM:
“MasterCard’s initiative is a natural fit with Nymi’s vision of seamless and secure user experiences. Commerce is no longer restricted to stores, whether they be brick and mortar or online. The Nymi Band offers a new interface for secure authentication that can be applied to a broad range of experiences, enabling commerce anytime, anywhere. The next generation of integrated experiences is about ease and delight, where security can simply be assumed.”
Dr. Conroy Cormac, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated:
“The digital payments space is in the midst of a dramatic transition in the industry. We are delighted to be working with MasterCard to accelerate this transition across mobile, automotive, and IoE platforms and bring end-to-end connectivity for issuers, retailers, and service providers. We are collaborating to bring MasterCard Tokens across a range of smart wearable devices based on Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets and technologies.”
Christina Mercando d’Avignon, founder and CEO of Ringly:
“We created Ringly to keep women connected to the people, messages and notifications that are important to them. Through our partnership with MasterCard, Ringly will not only be able to keep people connected, but will provide another layer to how our customers can use their jewelry while on the go. Our mission is to make women’s lives more manageable through beautiful jewelry and discreet technology.”
Christian Smith, president and founder, TrackR:
“Our goal with TrackR is effortless organization. This is another example of how TrackR can simplify daily tasks, whether it’s finding your misplaced keys or paying for your coffee.”
Source: Mastercard
This entry was posted in IoT, Wearable Technology and tagged contactless payments, IoT, MasterCard, mobile paypent, wearable devices on October 27, 2015 by Tim Cosgrove.
How digital will transform the future of healthcare
The health-care industry has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Research and development have given us astonishing new treatments, powerful diagnostics, and a rapidly growing wealth of knowledge. Medical specializations and providers have proliferated. Governments and insurers have become powerful players. And the patient has become a vocal and proactive consumer, ready to search for better options, even if that means going abroad.
But, even as healthcare has become more effective, it has also become more complex and costly. Growing and aging populations are putting increased pressure on health-care systems that are already buckling under the burden of chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes. The Institute of Medicine estimates that in the United States alone, some $750 billion a year – about 30% of total health-care spending – is “wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems.” If we are to ensure that health care remains affordable and widely available for future generations, we need to rethink radically how we provide and manage it.
Crucially, healthcare needs to become connected. It should become effortless for medical professionals to share relevant data with colleagues around the world. Medical devices and systems in hospitals should be able to combine multiple sources of information. A new generation of consumer technology, such as wearable health sensors, could automatically alert doctors to potential medical problems before they become acute episodes. Though such innovations must confront challenges like system interoperability and the need to protect patients’ privacy, the Internet’s integration into the travel and banking industries shows what is possible.
Connected healthcare is slowly becoming a reality. Philips, for example, has developed a technology that allows doctors to digitally share medical data from a prostate cancer biopsy with colleagues around the world. In the past, the biopsy could be shared only physically, which made diagnosing the exact type of prostate cancer difficult. As a result, surgeons and patients may have opted for invasive surgery just to be safe. Now, teams of doctors worldwide have an additional tool to work together towards more accurate diagnoses and enhanced treatment plans for individual patients.
Wearable devices, life-saving data
The entire patient experience will be transformed, with better prevention, quicker diagnoses, shorter hospital stays, and longer independent living becoming the norm. If patients return to the hospital, they will bring useful data, captured by wearable devices, about the evolution of their vital signs. They can continue to track themselves as their treatments progress, and their data can be integrated with medical records to provide a long-term view of their health, rather than an episodic snapshot of the day they visit a doctor. With access to professional coaching and support around the clock, patients will feel more empowered to manage their own physical wellbeing.
Connected healthcare can also provide access to life-saving treatment to more people, particularly in developing countries and rural areas. In Indonesia, which has one of the world’s highest infant mortality rates, midwives in the rural area of Medan collect medical data from pregnant women using a mobile app. The data are analyzed by obstetricians and gynecologists elsewhere, allowing women at high risk of illness to be identified and treated early. In Uganda, midwives in village health centers send compressed ultrasound scans to remote specialists, nearly doubling the number of newborns that can be delivered by a skilled health worker.
More broadly, connected health technology will cause professional health care and consumer markets to converge. This will create a continuum that starts with a focus on healthy living and prevention, empowers consumers to take control of their own health, and enables countries to improve their citizens’ overall wellbeing. The continuum will then move on to definitive diagnostics and minimally invasive treatments, optimized for quality and cost, and, finally, to recovery and home care, shifting medical care as soon as possible to more comfortable and cost-effective non-hospital settings.
Governments, insurers, medical professionals, patients, and caregivers need to work together to ensure that the transition to this health continuum is well managed, so that access can be expanded, outcomes can be improved, and productivity can be enhanced. Together, we have the opportunity to improve the lives of billions of people, create healthier societies, save costs, and boost economic growth.
This article is published in collaboration with Project Syndicate. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
Author: Frans van Houten is Chief Executive Officer of Royal Philips.
This entry was posted in Wearable Technology on February 23, 2015 by Tim Cosgrove.
Mediadate teams up with Garmin to optimize clinical trials through mobile health technology
vívofit Activity Tracker Integrated with Medidata Clinical Cloud to Enable Enhanced Patient Engagement, Data Quality and Operational Efficiencies in Clinical Trials.
Medidata, the leading global provider of cloud-based solutions for clinical research in life sciences, today announced a strategic collaboration with Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. By integrating Garmin’s vívofit activity tracker with the Medidata Clinical Cloud®, Medidata is enabling its life sciences customers to make use of mobile health (mHealth) devices with the potential to enhance patient engagement, data quality and operational efficiencies in clinical trials.
Designed to be worn on a person’s wrist 24/7, Garmin’s vívofit measures steps taken, distance, calories burned and hours slept. The water-resistant device—which displays fitness data through its always-on LCD display—is being used by Medidata to capture patient data in clinical trials. The company selected the vívofit because of the ease of use provided by its year-long battery life, which can improve the convenience and speed associated with capturing direct-from-patient data and, as such, has the potential to increase compliance among study participants in a clinical trial setting.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Garmin, a company that shares our passion for innovation and our commitment to enhancing people’s health and well being,” said Glen de Vries, Medidata’s president.
“Integrating the vívofit with the Medidata platform is part of our ongoing efforts to unify mHealth devices with cloud-based technologies in a clinical trial setting. We believe these efforts will result in better data, enhanced patient experiences and more efficient trials.”
Medidata has built cloud-based infrastructure that enables life sciences companies to explore the use of mHealth technologies in clinical research. This infrastructure gathers data from devices worn by patients and integrates it with other traditional clinical data, including labs, vital signs, medical history and adverse events. In doing so, the infrastructure provides life sciences companies with the ability to conduct sophisticated analysis on trial performance. Medidata is currently working with top life sciences organizations to explore the feasibility of using the vívofit in clinical trials. The data is pulled from the Garmin activity tracker in 15-minute increments and then analyzed to evaluate its connection with traditional clinical measures and determine whether it can provide better insight into patient health status or response to therapy.
“At Garmin, our mission is to develop innovative technology that promotes healthy and active lifestyles,” said Allison Swelin, Strategic Partnership Development Manager at Garmin International. “We’re excited to see Medidata use the vívofit in their pursuit to help the global life sciences industry find better, easier ways to collect data directly from patients.”
Source: Garmin/Mediadata
This entry was posted in Wearable Technology and tagged Garmin, Mediadata, mHealth, wearable device on February 16, 2015 by Tim Cosgrove.
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