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Mike Talks
Steve Talks
John D Talks
The adventure began when I met the Fiddler. I was ready for him too. The sound had been in my head for months and I'd already tried a couple of players but when I heard Steve playing on Sinead O'Connor's demo tape I knew straight away this was the guy. I tracked him down in Ireland and he came to London and recorded "The Pan Within" with me. This was the last song recorded for "This Is The sea" in the Summer of 85 and it came out great - beyond my dreams. Steve was a great musician and an instant soul brother. Pretty soon he was on loan from his Irish band In Tua Nua and touring with us. Then sometime that Autumn he joined The Waterboys full time. We played all across Europe and North America together. When the tour ended I went to visit him for a week in Dublin and stayed six years.
In those early days he and I and our partner in mischief Anthony Thistlethwaite were listening to Blues, Cajun, Country and old Gospel music. And we played it too, on our acoustic instruments - guitar, fiddle, mandolin and sax, leaving behind the cinematic sound people thought of when they heard the name Waterboys. We played around Dublin in bars, hotels, homes and streets at the drop of a hat - usually Steve's - until one day in January 86 we booked a studio, went in with a bassist and drummer that Steve had found for us, played all day and night and recorded a dozen songs. The music we'd been playing informally around town blasted out of the studio speakers fully formed and a new era of The Waterboys was born.
That was the session we cut "Fisherman's Blues" and "Sweet Thing". And it was the first session for the album that was to be called "Fisherman's Blues". I'd finished with the layered sound of previous records, taken it as high and far as I could, and so from here on we played live in the studio, working with different values, learning how to use 'em. Values like improvisation, performance, personality and the capturing of moments. Many songs were recorded in one take - "Too Close To Heaven", "We Will Not Be Lovers", "The Ladder", Hank's "Lost Highway". The ultimate improvisations were the "composed in one live take" songs, which included "Saints And Angels", "Ain't Leavin, I'm Gone" and "Tenderfootin'" - made up on the spot as the tape rolled and sometimes never again played. And we explored new combinations of sound. Steve's fiddle and Anto's mando sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before. And the fiddle and sax - firing off into the sky, like a two man improv orchestra. Trevor, our new Irish bass player, was adept at picking up songs instantly, with the knack of choosing the note most likely to fit whatever chord might be coming next. My songwriting exploded as I wrote for this new sound and band. I allowed my writing to move into Country and Blues, took old Gospel songs from the 20's and re-arranged them, simplified and purified my craft.
A producer called Bob Johnston, who'd made records with Dylan and Cash in the nineteen sixties had heard about us and came to Dublin to record us for a few days. He yelled and hollered and made us believe we could do anything, then recorded us doing it. "Hell, I'm gonna get that sound wide open then you can do anything you want" he said, and did.
Through the rest of that year we recorded whenever our concert schedule allowed. The tapes piled up through bursts of sessions in July, August and September. I produced the sessions myself, till in December we went to San Francisco and Johnston recorded us again for one wild week. The great Jim Keltner drummed. We played hours and days of music ; "Blues For Your Baby", "Lonesome old Wind", "When Will We Be Married ?", "Too Hot For Cleanhead", Minister Thomas Whitfield's "Soon As I Get Home", "Honky Tonkin'", a forty minute version of "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
We could have stopped there. We had enough already for a killer double album. But the songs kept coming so we holed up in Windmill Lane back in Dublin for 4 or 5 months and recorded another motherlode of music including "Strange Boat", "World Party", "Custer's Blues", various versions of "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?", "Killing My Heart", "Higher In Time" and dozens of others. Somewhere around the middle of 87, with fifty or sixty tracks in the can as well as hours of instrumentals, I lost perspective. I was in love with this music, utterly absorbed in it, but couldn't make the necessary decisions between songs or between versions of songs. We pulled out of the studio and took some distance. But still the music kept coming, the songs kept writing themselves, and as we rehearsed for some Dublin charity shows in the Autumn, our sound kept on changing ; Vinnie Kilduff's Irish pipes and tin whistle and Noel Bridgeman's subtle soul-fired drumming changed the way I felt about music - again. Then Steve and I went to the West of Ireland, plugged into the wild, ancient world of traditional music and the sound in our heads changed yet further.
On the shortest day of the year I remember sitting in my little flat in Dublin surrounded by boxes of tapes knowing I couldn't turn this ever-evolving ocean of music into an album. All I knew to do was to cut some fresh recordings of how we sounded now and put those out. So after a three month chill out in the West of Ireland, during which I finished writing some final songs for the record, we went where our inspiration was and set up a temporary studio in Spiddal House, near Galway.
This happily was a little golden age when we lived in holiday cottages on a high hill overlooking Galway Bay and The Aran Islands, among a people who spoke gaelic and welcomed us into their world ; when we'd cycle along the seafront to the studio every morning to spend the day making music. The traditional musicians of Galway - the finest in the world - honoured us by coming to play. Alec Finn, Frankie Gavin, Mairtin O'Connor, Ben O'Regan, Charlie Lennon, Tomas Mac Eoin - fabled names all in the wild West of Ireland sat in on the sessions. The music flowed clear. No band ever recorded in a more convivial or idyllic atmosphere or in an environment so full or character and magic. We cut "The Stolen Child", "And A Bang On The Ear", "When Ye Go Away" and many more - 12 tracks in all. Then we compiled an album of seven of them along with five songs - which I knew what to do with - from the earlier sessions.
It came out in October 88. I love "Fisherman's Blues" but it was a strange feeling touiring it round the world knowing that it told only a fraction of the story of the years and music since "This Is The Sea". A few further songs snuck out later on 'b' sides, but dozens remained unfinished and unheard - some of them among the best music we'd ever made. I knew one day I'd revisit the tapes and put out another album that set the record straight.
It happened later than I'd ever have guessed. It took me eight years and several lifetimes to slow down long enough to listen systematically to all the tapes, four more to get to working on them. At last I picked up where I left off on January 4th 2001. It was like stepping out of current time into a dreamspace. The work used me, absorbed me, took me deep into every song, into my cell memory of the music and the times, satisfied me, gratified me, sealed long unfinished business, burned off old karma, turned me on, made me yell "YES!!" in the studio again and again. In the end the ten tracks I'd chosen were mixed by myself and the great Irish engineer Tim Martin in London in May 2001.
And so, friend, "Too Close To Heaven", the belated second half of "Fisherman's Blues" is finally finished in accordance with the Waterboys musical vision of the time. I dedicate it to Steve, Anto and Trevor, my three great "Fisherman's" band mates, with an apology to them for taking so long to release our work, and to all of you waterpeople who have waited fifteen years to hear it.
Mike Scott.....On tour, Evora, Portugal, June 2001
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Tag Archives: Callista Gingrich
by nonnie9999 | June 16, 2017 · 2:32 am
Something’s weird, relatively
As if it’s not bad enough that he has his daughter-wife as a special adviser in the White House, what’s the deal with Twitler’s hiring of other relatives of reheated Rethuglicans?
(Click on image for larger version)
Filed under George W. Bush, humor, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, satire, snark, State Department, television, Vatican, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as Callista Gingrich, Cindy McCain, Donald Trump, Elaine Chao, Jim Hensley, Labor Department, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Transportation Department
by nonnie9999 | March 8, 2012 · 4:42 am
Super Tuesday
Super? Really? Super Tuesday says…
Filed under humor, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Rick Santorum, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as 2012 election, Callista Gingrich, Super Tuesday, Tiffany's
by nonnie9999 | December 17, 2011 · 12:12 am
‘Tis the Season for Such Folly
(CNN) – The avalanche of negative campaign ads from Mitt Romney is wearing on rival Newt Gingrich, but he said Thursday he won’t break his pledge to stay positive.
Speaking to Iowa Public Television, the former House speaker said the onslaught of vitriol coming from Romney headquarters jarred with the spirit of the holidays.
“I think it’s counterintuitive,” Gingrich said. “We have an ad that will come up next week where Callista and I are wishing people a Merry Christmas, and we’re talking in a totally positive way. I think if these guys keep up this kind of negative junk, it’s so discordant with the spirit of Christmas.”
Yeah, let’s keep with the spirit of Christmas by saying that poor kids should have to clean toilets for their richer classmates.
Filed under humor, Iowa, Mitt Romney, movies, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as 2012 election, Callista Gingrich, campaign ads, Christmas
by nonnie9999 | December 11, 2011 · 2:55 am
Campaigning for Fun and Profit
From THE HUFFINGTON POST:
Newt Gingrich loves selling himself – both as a presidential hopeful and as a for-profit author.
As he seeks the GOP nomination, the former House speaker frequently combines traditional political campaigning with the sales job for his books and films that has earned him millions. As his rivals on Friday scheduled busy days with voters in early nominating states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, Gingrich planned a single public event: a book signing in the nation’s capital.
(Update: Gingrich’s book signing has been reportedly cancelled due to “public safety concerns.”)
Bill O’Reilly was there with an umbrella?
Gingrich, enjoying a surge in the polls just a month before the first contests are held, prides himself on his non-traditional campaign style. It isn’t clear whether it will pay off politically. But it certainly has not hurt his own income.
Filed under FEC, Federal Election Commission, humor, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, snark, television, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as 2012 election, Callista Gingrich, grifters
by nonnie9999 | November 30, 2011 · 1:52 am
Newt Gingrich on Drugs
From Chris Moody at THE TICKET at YAHOO!:
NAPLES, Fla. — The staff at Books-a-Million didn’t know what hit them.
In preparation for a Saturday morning book signing with Newt Gingrich, the bookstore printed numbered cards for the first 500 people looking for an autograph from the former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate. The store gave out its first card at 8 a.m. on Black Friday–27 hours before Gingrich was scheduled to arrive–and ran out before he stepped in the door. After that, the Gingrich fans had to fend for themselves.
Gingrich spent the two days after Thanksgiving on a campaign swing through Naples, Florida, a wealthy conservative stronghold in the Sunshine State that was, to say the least, extremely welcoming.
After his speech, during which he took time to clarify his position on illegal immigration, Gingrich hopped over to a $1,000-per-person fundraiser at a city council member’s home and then spent four hours the next morning at a Books-a-Million, where he brought in 650 people.
After months in the middle tier, Gingrich is the latest presidential candidate not named Mitt to ascend to the top of national polls. And with just five weeks until the first caucus in Iowa, he may have the best chance at being there when it matters. On Sunday, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire, the Union Leader, endorsed Gingrich in the Republican primary.
Although he has been in the public eye for years and seen his share of crowds, this kind of attention is new for Presidential Candidate Newt.
Original cartoon
Filed under humor, Marijuana, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Richard Nixon, Ron Paul, snark, television, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as 2012 election, Barney Frank, Callista Gingrich, conservatives, drug-testing, drugs, food stamps, grifters, medical marijuana, Mexico, unemployment
He didn’t lobby, it was just a hobby!
From Joan Walsh at Salon:
Another day, another story about Newt Gingrich profiteering. Well, three stories, actually.
The Washington Post reported this morning that a Gingrich “think tank,” the Center for Health Transformation, collected at least $37 million from health care industry groups, who were promised “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction” in exchange for their cash. Also in exchange for their cash, perhaps, Gingrich took some interesting positions on health care reform: He supported the “individual mandate” that Americans buy insurance (or post a bond to cover unanticipated illness) as well as measures to encourage “end of life” planning. He ditched both positions, of course, once he realized they were unpopular with the Republican base.
Filed under humor, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Scandals, snark, television, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as 2012 election, Callista Gingrich, Chamber of Commerce, death panels, Freddie Mac, health care, Hypocrisy, lobbying, lobbyists, Occupy Wall Street, stimulus, Tea party
Mac ‘n Sleaze
From John Cassidy at THE NEW YORKER:
Take the ludicrous suggestion that Freddie Mac, the smaller of the two government-sponsored mortgage giants, may have expected Newt to do some lobbying on its behalf when, in 2006, it paid him the very modest sum of $300,000. Any fair-minded person would agree that Newt quashed this idea during one of last week’s debates. He explained that Freddie’s executives hired him for his expertise as a historian, adding that he warned them to stop lending money to folks who couldn’t repay their loans. In Newt’s own words: “My advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, ‘We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do.’ As I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible.”
That explanation was more than good enough for me. But darn it if a couple of quibbling scribblers from Bloomberg News didn’t put out a report yesterday, quoting former executives of Freddie Mac saying that Newt was hired “to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.”
Filed under Barack Obama, humor, movies, Newt Gingrich, parody, politics, Republicans, Scandals, snark, Wordpress Political Blogs
Tagged as 2012 election, Callista Gingrich, conservatives, Freddie Mac, grifters, Hispanics, Latinos, lobbying, lobbyists, Tiffany's
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D'Elia informs, gets nine-year sentence
NE Pennsylvania boss
cooperates in probe
Federal prosecutors believe the sentencing of William D'Elia (right) in federal court yesterday represents the "final chapter in the dismantling of the Bufalino Pittston crime syndicate," according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
D'Elia, 62, of Hughestown PA, was sentenced to 108 months in prison for conspiring to launder money and tampering with a witness. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following that prison term. D'Elia, reputed boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania "Bufalino" Crime Family based on Scranton, Pittston and Wilkes Barre, has already served about two years.
Prosecutors say they will recommend additional time be taken off D'Elia's sentence if he continues to provide "substantial" assistance to the Dauphine County District Attorney's Office on a perjury case against Mount Airy Resort Casino owner Louis DeNaples, according to a story by Michael Rubinkam of the Associated Press.
D'Elia pleaded guilty last March and was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas I. Vanaski. The judge could have imposed as many as 15 years in prison for the charges against D'Elia. When first charged, there were as many 18 counts against him, and he faced possible punishment of up to 30 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Most charges were dropped in the plea bargain process. D'Elia's attorney had argued for a sentence of just seven years, according to a story by Terrie Morgan-Besecker of the Wilkes Barre Times Leader.
"I'm truly sorry for my actions that may have harmed people," D'Elia told the judge. "I hope I will soon be able to resume my life with my family in a positive, honorable and productive way."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod said D'Elia is assisting the perjury case against DeNaples and his adviser Father Joseph Sica. County authorities charge that both men lied about DeNaples' connections to organized crime when DeNaples applied to operate his Pocono Mountains casino, according to a report by Norm Jones of WNEP-16, Moosic PA.
A DeNaples spokesman said "Louis DeNaples is innocent and absolutely doesn't have any connections to organized crime. When this case finally goes to court, we'll have the chance to tell the court the truth." A spokesman for Father Sica said, "Father Sica never committed perjury. His prosecution is offensive."
A DeNaples attorney told the press that D'Elia was lying to investigators in an effort to have time shaved off his sentence.
D'Elia and several codefendants were indicted in May 2006 on charges that they aided a drug dealer in the laundering of hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug sale proceeds by setting up phony companies. D'Elia was released on bail. A second indictment charged him with continuing to launder money after his release and with ordering the murder of witness Frank Pavlico III.
"This was a cold-blooded attempt to obstruct the investigation by murdering a witness," said Zubrod.
Law enforcement agencies had considered D'Elia a bigshot in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Crime Family for decades. He once served as driver for regional boss Russell Bufalino. Philadelphia's turncoat crime boss Ralph Natale testified in 2001 that D'Elia was boss of the old Bufalino organization. In 2003, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement put D'Elia on its Exclusion List (left), banning him from casinos in the state. Still, D'Elia was not charged with a crime until the money laundering case.
Pavlico, originally a codefendant in that case, wore a "wire" and recorded conversations with D'Elia. Pavlico pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
Posted by Thomas Hunt at 11/25/2008 06:34:00 AM No comments:
Keywords: bufalino, d'elia, denaples, jury tampering, money laundering, natale, pavlico, pittston, scranton
RI LIUNA official indicted for racketeering
Nicholas Manocchio, director of a New England regional organizing fund of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), has been indicted on one count of labor conspiracy, according to a report by Nancy Krause of WPRI and a story by W. Zachary Malinowski of the Providence Journal.
Arrested yesterday, Manocchio (left), 55, of Cranston RI, is accused of accepting cash and other gifts from an undercover agent posing as a contractor looking for work in Rhode Island. The gifts included liquor, use of rental cars and gift certificates. Manocchio was released on $25,000 unsecured bond. He is scheduled for arraignment in December.
Also indicted on related racketeering charges were Harold Tillinghast, 44, also of Cranston, and Gerald Diodati, 59, of Seekonk MA. Tillinghast is a former employee of LIUNA. Diodati is a contractor. The two men were arrested last month and are free on bond. Charges stem from a six-year-long investigation of corruption in an Olneyville RI development project.
Authorities noted that Manocchio is the nephew of Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio, longtime boss of the New England Crime Family. Nicholas Manocchio served about seven years in prison in the 1980s after being convicted of manslaughter and related charges in connection with the killing of Richard Fournier, 24, in North Providence.
Keywords: charged, diodati, fournier, liuna, manocchio, new england, rhode island, tillinghast
Feds break up Lucchese gambling ring
Federal prosecutors say they arrested an acting lieutenant in the Lucchese Crime Family and five other men for running a sports gambling ring in the Bronx, according to a story by Thomas Zambito of the New York Daily News.
Authorities say Anthony Croce, an acting lieutenant in the crime family, regularly received payments from the betting organization. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the charges against him. The gambling operation, which included offshore locations and made use of the Internet, was revealed when investigators recorded cell phone conversations of bets being taken on football games and other sports events.
Keywords: charged, croce, gambling, lucchese
RI police discover mobster's remains
Rhode Island State Police believe they have discovered the buried remains of slain mobster Joseph P. "Joe Onions" Scanlon behind the Lisboa Apartments in East Providence, according to a story by W. Zachary Malinowski and Mike Stanton of the Providence Journal.
Police were directed to the site by Nicholas S. "Nicky" Pari, 71, of North Providence. Pari has already served time for the 1978 killing of Scanlon. He admitted to that crime back in 1982. His latest revelation for law enforcement came after he was arrested in Operation Mobbed Up earlier this week. The remains, unearthed yesterday, will be subjected to DNA testing.
Scanlon grew up in an Italian neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, aspiring to Mafia membership. He moved to Providence with hopes of joining the Patriarca Crime Family. Scanlon had a falling out with area mobsters and reportedly began cooperating with authorities investigating Pari and Andrew Merola (right). Less than a month after becoming an informant, Scanlon disappeared.
Pari and Merola were both arrested for killing Scanlon. At trial, Scanlon's girlfriend testified that the two men cooperated on the murder. Pari punched Scanlon to distract him, and Merola then shot Scanlon in the back of the head. The pair was convicted of first-degree murder, but they won a new trial on appeal. They subsequently pleaded no contest to lesser charges.
On April 1, 2007, Merola at the age of 71. He had been battling cancer. A Providence Journal story reported that one of his last visitors was Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio, head of the regional crime family.
Keywords: hartford, manocchio, merola, murder, pari, patriarca, providence, scanlon
'Operation Mobbed Up' nets 17 in RI
Rhode Island state police arrested 17 people yesterday morning as part of Operation Mobbed Up, according to a story by Mike Stanton and W. Zachary Malinowsky of the Providence Journal. An 18th suspect was already in custody on unrelated charges.
Among those arrested were Nicholas S. "Nicky" Pari, 71, and Gerald M. "Gerry" Tillinghast, 62 (image at left shows police information from a 1976 Tillinghast arrest). Pari is charged with racketeering, firearms and drug violations. Tillinghast is charged with drug and gambling offenses. Authorities consider those two men longtime members of Rhode Island's underworld and former underlings of the late Raymond L.S. Patriarca. Pari faces charges of overseeing "a large-scale criminal operation" at the Valley Street Flea Market in Providence. Also arrested was Lloyd Morse, 50, owner of the flea market.
Investigators say two criminal rings were based at the flea market. Those rings are believed to have engaged in fencing stolen goods, dealing in guns and drugs, gambling, counterfeiting, theft and insurance fraud.
Pari was previously imprisoned for the 1978 mob killing of Joseph "Joe Onions" Scanlon, though Scanlon's body was never found. Pari was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years.
As he was taken into custody yesterday, Pari reportedly provided state police with the location of the remains. A police dig began almost immediately at a lot in East Providence, according to a story by Hilary Russ of the Associated Press. The police would not confirm that they were searching for Scanlon's remains.
Keywords: charged, drugs, gambling, morse, pari, patriarca, rhode island, scanlon, theft, tillinghast
Ex-agent Connolly guilty of 2d-degree murder
John Connolly (right), a former FBI agent who became involved with the Boston underworld, was convicted in a Miami courtroom yesterday of second degree murder, according to a story by Curt Anderson of the AP.
Jurors deliberated for two-plus days after the two-month trial before deciding that Connolly leaked information to Boston organized crime figures that led to the 1982 shooting death of former world Jai-Alai president John Callahan. Connolly warned the gangsters that Callahan could provide evidence linking them to a 1981 killing.
Connolly was the FBI's handler for two top-level informants in the Boston underworld, James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi. The former FBI agent was convicted in 2002 of racketeering and is serving a 10-year prison sentence. Connolly reportedly received $235,000 from Bulger and his gang in return for protection. Connolly has been accused of leaking information to Bulger, including news of a pending indictment against Bulger. The Boston gang boss managed to avoid arrest in 1995 and remains at large.
This latest Connolly conviction carries the possibility of a life sentence in prison.
Keywords: bulger, connolly, convicted, flemmi, murder, new england
Coppola charged with racketeering, murder
A federal indictment unsealed Monday charges Michael Coppola, 62, alleged lieutenant in the Genovese Crime Family, with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy offenses including a 1977 murder, extortion and wire fraud, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Federal prosecutors say Coppola (left) approached 68-year-old Giovanni "Johnny Cokes" Larducci (also known as John Lardiere) outside the Red Bull Inn motel on Route 22 in Bridgewater, NJ, on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1977. Coppola allegedly attempted to shoot Larducci with a firearm, but the weapon jammed. Believing he had escaped an assassination attempt, Larducci asked Coppola, "What are you going to do now, tough guy?"
Coppola allegedly drew a revolver from an ankle holster and shot Larducci to death. Larducci was reportedly a Genovese lieutenant serving under boss Gerardo Catena. Larducci is believed to have been involved in loansharking and was suspected of involvement in the 1971 disappearance of Teamsters Local 945 President Michael A. Ardis, according to a story published on Mycentraljersey.com.
As Coppola, also known as Michael Rizzo and Mikey Cigars, became a leading suspect in the Larducci killing in 1996, he fled, the press release said. His story was featured on the America's Most Wanted television program. Coppola was captured by the FBI on March 9, 2007. Authorities had learned he was staying with an alleged Genovese Crime Family associate on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
New Jersey state prosecutors passed on the murder case against Coppola when DNA evidence came back with an inconclusive result, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.
The indictment accuses Coppola of involvement in a conspiracy to extort payments from International Longshoremen's Association Local 1235. That extortion allegedly went on for a period of three decades. The Daily News reports that Coppola is also a suspect in the 2005 killing of Genovese Crime Family lieutenant Lawrence Ricci (right).
Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence obtained through a 1980 wiretap of the home of the late Paul Castellano, boss of the Gambino Crime Family.
Keywords: ardis, castellano, catena, charged, coppola, extortion, gambino, genovese, lardiere, larducci, longshoremen, murder, teamsters
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Boston's Bulger is killed in federal prison
James "Whitey" Bulger, longtime Boston underworld figure, was found dead Tuesday, October 30, within a high-security penitentiary in Hazelton, West Virginia.
Sources indicated that Bulger was "killed." Federal authorities are investigating the circumstances. The New York Times, citing two unnamed Federal Bureau of Prisons employees, reported that at least two inmates beat Bulger to death. The Boston Globe reported that the prison in Hazelton has experienced a string of violent attacks. Two other inmates were killed in fights at the understaffed institution earlier this year, according to the Globe. Bulger was found unresponsive at 8:20 a.m. Efforts were made to revive him.
Eighty-nine-year-old Bulger, sentenced to two life prison terms after being convicted of involvement in eleven murders, had only arrived in Hazelton on Monday, October 29. He was transferred from a prison in Florida and held for a time at a transfer facility in Oklahoma City.
Bulger was part of South Boston's Winter Hill Gang. While engaged in his own illicit rackets, he fed information to the FBI about Mafia rivals and assisted in the dismantling of the Angiulo Mafia organization in Boston in the 1980s. His cooperation with federal agents provided him with protection from prosecution for more than a decade. When authorities finally were poised to arrest Bulger early in 1995, he was apparently tipped off and vanished. The indictment against him included charges that he participated in nineteen gangland killings.
FBI corruption was revealed in 2002, when Bulger's handler, John J. Connolly, Jr., was convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice.
Bulger quickly earned the top spot on the FBI's Most Wanted List. The government reward for information leading to his arrest reached $2 million in September 2008. A worldwide search (there were reports that Bulger might have fled to Sicily) ended on June 22, 2011, with Bulger's arrest in California. He had been living in Santa Monica with his longtime companion Catherine Greig. Agents found $800,000 in cash and more than thirty firearms hidden in their apartment.
Catherine Greig pleaded guilty to helping Bulger elude the police. She was sentenced in 2012 to eight years in prison. She remains behind bars in Minnesota.
Bulger came to trial at Boston's federal courthouse in June 2013. The jury concluded five days of deliberations on August 12, 2013, finding Bulger guilty of racketeering offenses and participation in eleven murders. On November 14, 2013, he was sentenced by federal Judge Denise J. Casper to two consecutive life sentences plus five years.
Born September 3, 1929, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Bulger grew up in a South Boston housing project. His criminal activity started at an early age. He was arrested in 1956 for bank robbery. Following conviction, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but served just nine years. When he emerged from prison, he became a key member of the Winter Hill Gang. A younger brother, William, went into politics and became a longtime leader in the Massachusetts State Legislature.
"Crime lord Whitey Bulger appears in LA court, remanded to Massachusetts," New York Post, June 23, 2011, nypost.com.
"Fugitive Boston mobster arrested on Westside," Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2011.
"James 'Whitey' Bulger killed in West Virginia prison, sources say," WCVB-5 Boston, Oct. 30, 2018, wcvb.com.
"Whitey Bulger, galpal nabbed in California," Boston Herald, June 23, 2011.
Butterfield, Fox, "F.B.I. agent linked to mob is guilty of corruption," New York Times, May 29, 2002, p. 14, nytimes.com.
Harvey, Matt, "Update: U.S. Attorney Powell in WV...," WVNews, Oct. 30, 2018, wvnews.com.
Kennedy, Helen, "Boston mobster James (Whitey) Bulger spotted in Sicily?" New York Daily News, Sept. 15, 2007, nydailynews.com.
Ivory, Danielle, and William K. Rashbaum, "Whitey Bulger said to have been killed by inmates in prison attack," New York Times, Oct. 30, 2018.
McFadden, Robert D., "Whitey Bulger, notorious Boston mobster and informant, is dead at 89," New York Times, Oct. 30, 2018, nytimes.com.
Pulice, Chris, "Inmate death at United States Penitentiary Hazelton," U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, news release, Oct. 30, 2018.
Rocheleau, Matt, and Emily Sweeney, "James 'Whitey' Bulger's killing is just the latest in a string of troubling violence for W.Va. prison," Boston Globe, Oct. 30, 2018, bostonglobe.com.
Keywords: boston, bulger, Bureau of Prisons, mafia, murder
Chicago Outfit boss DiFronzo, 89, dies following illness
John DiFronzo, reputed boss of the Chicago Outfit, died Sunday, May 27, 2018, at his home in River Grove, according to published reports. (Chicago Tribune reports he died May 28) He was eighty-nine years old.
DiFronzo
Criminal defense attorney Joe Lopez told the media that the crime boss suffered with Alzheimer's disease and had been "extremely ill."
DiFronzo was widely suspected of involvement in the brutal 1986 murders of brothers Anthony and Michael Spilotro (depicted in the film Casino). His role was discussed during the 2007 Family Secrets trial of Outfit leaders. But DiFronzo was not a defendant in Family Secrets, and federal prosecutors were unable to assemble a convincing case against him.
Attorney Lopez told CBS-Chicago that DiFronzo's greatest achievement was "beating the G."
The press frequently referred to DiFronzo as "No Nose." The nickname sprang from an attempted robbery back in 1949, though the details of that story are disputed. Some sources say DiFronzo jumped through a window to escape capture and had a piece of his nose sliced off by the breaking glass. (Actually, he neither jumped through a window nor escaped, but a glass injury cannot be ruled out.) Others say a bullet fired by a police officer tore off the nose...
Read a biography of John "No Nose" DiFronzo
on the American Mafia history website.
ABC-7.
CBS-2.
NBC-5.
Chicago Tribune.
Keywords: casino, chicago, difronzo, family secrets, No Nose, Obituary, Organized Crime, outfit, spilotro
Chicago Outfit boss DiFronzo, 89, dies following i...
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Home All News TV News Why ‘The Gifted’ is Better than the X-Men Films – Most of...
Why ‘The Gifted’ is Better than the X-Men Films – Most of Them
Marius Manuella
Just saw the latest episode of The Gifted. The Stepford Cuckoos are absolutely stunning, and I just can’t get enough of seeing them. They look the same, though there are some slight differences in how they talk and act. Got to hand it to the producers, The Gifted is a great X-Men spinoff series and is much better than most of the movies. This series has a much more X-Men feel than the movies themselves that only seem to care abought highlighting Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Michael Fassbender (Magneto) and Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique).
Story and Characterization
Let’s be fair though. As a television series, The Gifted has more time to give ample characterization to most of its characters. Unlike in films where there are several mutants but serve more like display pieces like Angel (X-Men: The Last Stand) and Jubilee (X-Men: Apocalypse). Guess the Russo’s who are good at juggling many characters could be best suited to direct future MCU X-Men films.
As characters, Eclipse, Polaris, Thunderbird, Blink, Dreamer, Lauren and Andy, Reed and Caitlin all have their moments as the series progresses. The plot moves and improves as the story goes on. We see these characters as persons and not just Easter eggs or cameos in the films. In terms of characters, this series is quite rich in B, C, and D-list mutants. Polaris, Thunderbird, Blink and the Stepford Cuckoos, we can say are the most prominent comic book X-Men. Non-fans may not know them, but comic book fans now know them a bit better. Eclipse is an original character but is inspired by the character SunSpot, while Dreamer was a member of the Morlocks in the comics. It’s quite sad to see her go, but her death helped the plot move faster.
'Spider-Man: Far From Home' tops box office weekend again as 'Stuber' falls flat
Hounds, Hellfire Club, Purifiers, and Fenris; this series uses both mainstream and obscure plot points that please both fans and non-fans of the X-Universe. The Hounds in the comics are also brainwashed mutants that were introduced in the original Days of Future Past storyline used to hunt down other mutants in the future. Here, they’re used by Trask industries. Speaking of Trask Industries, if Peter Dinklage isn’t too busy, maybe he can do a cameo as an aged Bolivar Trask. The Hellfire Club makes its presence known in this series through the mutant Esme and her Stepford Cuckoo sisters who are members. It’s not known whether its more powerful Inner Circle would make an appearance is not yet known but would be a great prospect; though the Cuckoos themselves are quite powerful on their own given their heritage as either clones or daughters of Emma Frost.
I’ve been wondering why the series used Strucker as the last name for the Strucker family. It’s obvious that they’re somehow related to Hydra’s Baron Von Strucker which was confirmed in the later episodes. The mutant connection to the name was to use the concept of the Fenris Twins, Andrea and Andreas Von Strucker. The Fenris Twins are twincestual white supremacists though it’s highly unlikely that little factoid will be used for siblings Lauren and Andy. Though no doubt the siblings have been depicted as very close and could get closer as the series progresses leaving them open to ‘subtext.’
The Purifiers also make an appearance as they do in the comics, as religious fundamentalists who view mutants as evil aberrations of nature and must be eliminated. Their costumes, however, remind me of the Stygian Demons Ghost Rider and Blaze went up against in the 90s.
Mutant Hatred
Speaking of the Purifiers, this series truly highlights the plight of mutants as allegories of real-world oppressed minorities. The Gifted reminds me of both the comics and the Fox X-Men Animated TV series where people do go out and openly persecute mutantkind. In this series, mankind is shown to truly fear and hate mutants while in films, mankind just goes about their business or reacts only when something’s happening and let the government do most of the talking.
Should They Stay or Should They Go
As much as I want all our favorite mutants back in the main MCU, it’s okay if they stay for a while with Fox at the very least, for this series. As I’ve said in a previous article, I appreciate good storytelling and The Gifted is so far doing a good job. The show is doing well so far in the ratings game, gradually lowering but still better than other TV series. It’s welcome as long as it can last, or at least until Disney is ready to take creative control.
SOURCEEntertainment Weekly
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An Imperialist Springtime? Libya, Syria, and Beyond
Posted Apr 28, 2012 by Aijaz Ahmad
Places: India , Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Russia , Saudi Arabia , Somalia , Syria , Turkey
Samir Amin: You see, the US establishment — and behind the US establishment its allies, the Europeans and others, Turkey as a member of NATO — derived their lesson from their having been surprised in Tunisia and Egypt: prevent similar movements elsewhere in the Arab countries, preempt them by taking the initiative of, initiating, the movements. They have tested their experience in Libya, and they have tested it in Libya with success, in the sense that, in Libya, at the start we had no [broad popular] movement . . . against Gaddafi. We had small armed groups, and one has to question immediately . . . where those arms were coming from. They were — we know it — from the beginning, from the Gulf, with the support of Western powers, and the US. And attacking the army, police, and so on. And the same day, not even the next day, those very people who qualified themselves as “liberation forces,” “democratic liberation forces,” called upon NATO — the French and then NATO — to come to the rescue, and that allowed for the intervention. That intervention has succeeded in the sense that it destroyed the regime of Gaddafi. But what is the result of the success? Is it democratic Libya? Well, one should laugh at that when one knows that the president of the new regime is nobody else than the very judge who condemned to death the Bulgarian nurses. What a curious democracy it is! But it has also led to the dislocation of the country on a Somalian pattern: that is, local powers — all of them in the name of so-called “Islam,” but local warlords — with the destruction of the country. One can raise the question: was this the target of the intervention — that is, the destruction of the country?
I’ll come back to this main question, because they tried to implement the same strategy immediately afterward on Syria — that is, introducing armed groups from the very beginning. From the north through Turkey, Hatay particularly. The so-called “refugee camps” in Hatay are not refugee camps — there are very few refugees — they are camps for training mercenaries to intervene in Syria. This is well documented by our Turkish friends. And Turkey as a NATO power is part of the conspiracy in that case. And similarly with Jordan, introducing from the south, with the support — not only neutrality but, I think, active support — of Israel, through Daraa, southern armed groups.
Facing that in Syria we have objectively a situation similar to the one of Egypt: that is, a regime which a long, long time ago had legitimacy, for the same reasons, when it was a national-popular regime but lost it in the time of Hafez Assad already — it moved to align itself with neoliberalism, privatization, etc., leading to the same social disaster. So, there is an objective ground for a wide, popular, social-oriented uprising. But by preempting this movement, through the military intervention of armed groups, the Western imperialist powers have created a situation where the popular democratic movement is . . . hesitating. They don’t want to join the so-called “resistance” against Bashar Assad; but they don’t want to support the regime of Bashar Assad either. That has allowed Bashar Assad to successfully put an end, or limits, to external intervention, in Homs and on the boundary of Turkey in the north. But opposing state terror to the real terrorism of armed groups supported by foreign powers is not the answer to the question. The answer to the question is really changing the system to the benefit of, through negotiations with, the real popular democratic movement. This is the challenge. And this is the question which is raised. We don’t know, I don’t know, I think nobody knows how things will move on: whether the regime, or people within the regime, will understand that and move towards real reform by opening, more than negotiations, a re-distribution of the power system with the popular democratic movement, or will stick to the way of meeting explosions just brutally as they have done until today. If they continue in that direction, finally they will be defeated, but they will be defeated to the benefit of imperialist powers.
Now, what is the real target of imperialism, in Syria and in the region? It is not at all bringing democracy. It is destroying societies just as they have destroyed the society of Libya. If you take the example of Iraq, what have they done? They have replaced the real dictatorship of Saddam Hussein by three uglier dictatorships: two in the name of religion, Shia and Sunni, one in the name of so-called “ethnicity,” Kurds, which are uglier even than Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. They have destroyed the country by systematic assassination — I have no other word for that. In addition to hundreds of thousands of people who were bombed in humanitarian bombings and so on, the systematic assassination of the cadres of the regime: scientists, doctors, engineers, professors of universities, even poets, and so on — all the real elite of the nation. That is destroying the country. This is the target of imperialism in Syria. What does the so-called “Liberation Army of Syria” claim to have as its program? That we should eradicate the Alawis, the Druzes, the Christians, the Shia. When you add those four “minorities,” you come to 45% of the population of Syria. What does it mean? It means democracy? It means the ugliest possible dictatorship and the destruction of the country.
Now, who has interest in that? This is the common interest of three intimate allies: the US, Israel, and the Gulf countries. The US. Why? Because the destruction of the societies of the region is the best way to prepare the next stage, which is the destruction of Iran, with a view of the containment and possibly rolling back of major “emerging” countries, the dangerous ones, China and Russia (and potentially, if India is naughty, India — but India is not naughty, for the time being). That is the target. It implies the destruction of the societies of the Middle East, including that of Iran, as a major target. This project of destruction of societies, accompanied with the continuation of lumpen-development, is also the target of Israel. Because, if Syria is split into four or five insignificant, confessional, small states, it allows for further easy expansion of the process of Israel’s colonization. It is also the target of the Gulf. Well, it is almost a farce to see today the Emir of Qatar and the King of Saudi Arabia, standing with the Westerners Obama, Sarkozy, and Cameron, as the leaders of the struggle for democracy. One can only laugh. But their hegemony in the region in the name of Islam — in the “name,” because there are different possible understandings of Islam of course — implies the destruction of countries like Egypt basically, because, if Egypt is standing on her feet, then the hegemony of the Gulf is, you know, what was the Gulf in the time of Nasser, in the days of Nasser? So they have this in common.
And they are supported, within the societies, by the Muslim Brotherhood. Therefore, I would conclude by that. We should look at the Muslim Brotherhood not as an “Islamic” party. The criterion for qualifying and judging organizations, parties, is not whether they are “Islamic” or whether they are “secular,” but whether they are reactionary or progressive. And when we look at the Muslim Brotherhood, on all real issues, they are against the strikes of the working class, they are against the resistance of poor peasants, they are for privatization, they are in favor of the dismantling of public service, which means that they are fully aligned with the most reactionary forces. This is a reactionary party using Islam as a front. This is the real criterion.
This is the global picture of what are the strategic targets of imperialists and their internal allies, reactionary forces, within the societies of the Middle East.
Samir Amin is an Egyptian Marxist economist. Aijaz Ahmad is an Indian Marxist critic. This video, Part 2 of a two-part interview, was released by NewsClick on 24 April 2012. Click here to see Part 1. The text below the video is an edited partial transcript of the interview.
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Alexander, M. D., & Sughrue, J.A. (2017), Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. In Janet Decker, et al. (eds.), The Principal and the Law, Education Law Association, Cleveland, OH.
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Mullen, C. A. (2017). Creativity in Chinese schools: Perspectival frames of paradox and possibility. International Journal of Chinese Education, 6(1), 27-56.
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Tag Archives: setlist
Bumbershoot 2012! – The Musings of a Floored Fan
By kevinpham31
Although this review is only my own opinion and what I perceived the whole event as, I am pretty sure that I can speak for most, if not all, attendees in say that Bumbershoot is the fucking shit. Yo this year was absolutely nuts. Closing day of this 3-day September adventure, you can feel a definite buzz in the air. Oh and also the tired look on the faces of the people running the booths. Now I had the fortune of attending another big music event a couple weeks ago (107.7 The End Summer Camp) and as much fun as I had at that one, Bumbershoot will always prevail. The cool thing that sets Bumbershoot apart from other music events is that while you do come for the vast amount of popular artists, and their music, you end up staying for the entire vibe of it all. There is such an overwhelming sense of pure bliss whilst walking around, hearing music blasting from every corner of Seattle Center, seeing the vast crowds of thousands, jam-packed onto a lawn. It’s just so…damn beautiful. Now that may either be the legit vibe you get or the smoke from the weed wafting up into your nostrils. Whatever the reason, Bumbershoot is just so damn fun. It is the greatest culture event out there. Nothing makes you feel cooler than walking around, strutting your shit, and listening to some of your favorite bands with some fellow fans. Not only is the music great, but the people (except the obnoxious drunk dudes), food and booths are as well. Bumbershoot should never be relegated to just music, as there is so much to do, it’s just fun to explore and look for things. There are booths out there where you can get a bunch of free stuff. Who doesn’t like free stuff right? Just cruising throughout the entire Center is fun in itself. I mean people take your photos for free too!
Two guys digging the event! The guy on the left smells bad too.
It is just a wild party that everybody should go to. Doesn’t matter how old you are, what music you like or whatever else. Go for the good times and the memories. Now about the music. Although I liked many bands that were playing, I did not go to many of them because I prefer discovering new things. Also I hate lines. Speaking of lines, before we get into music, I was considering going to Skrillrex. But it cut into Passion Pit time. So no go. Thank goodness not. Skrillex’s act started at 9:30. The line opened up at 6:00. By 6:30, there were already at least 1000 people waiting in line. By 7:30, hoards of people were waiting and the line stretched way past Key Arena. So yeah, you get the idea.
The Wombats performed twice during the last day, once with KEXP at the Toyota booth and later at the Exhibition Hall. I didn’t make it to the exhibition hall one and I was surprised. The performance at the Toyota booth had less than 75 people watching. The line for The Wombats for their main performance was around 3000. Yup. This 3-piece band from Liverpool is mostly known for their super upbeat, dancefloor hits that’ll get you moving, but on that day, at a special 20-minute performance, we were treated to a softer side of them. Relying on acoustics, everything was definitely toned down, but still pretty awesome. Best part had to be when they played their hit song “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” in what they called a “Hoe-Down” version, essentially an acoustic, country sounding song. Pretty damn cool. Since they were doing their acoustic thing, no real jumping around, but still had the crowd sing along!
I had no idea who these guys were. I walked over right after The Wombats and came face to face with this World/Ethiopian Funk type band. It sounded kind of weird at first and I strolled over to check it out and was definitely surprised. At first I thought it was some abstract band just making some kind of A capella song, but they were actually playing with violins, saxophones, guitars, drums, accordions, trumpets, sousaphones! And they sounded really great! Good enough to make me jump straight into the middle of the crowd and start to do some stupid dances with a bunch of hippies. As ridiculous as it sounds, it was very very fun! The funk of the band was overwhelming and just engulfed me. I couldn’t stop dancing to them. They had me paralyzed or something. Paralyzed with Dance-Fever! Something was entrancing about the band and I am sure I can say it was the funk. Damn, I loved it. Hippie dancing is fun too haha. But the lead singer actually came out into the crowd and danced with us! How often do you get that? Mad respect.
THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
I stood off to the side and admired her. She’s real good at singing and playing the crowd. For a more in-depth analysis of the performance, check out Seth’s post! He saw the whole thing!
HEY MARSEILLES
Passion Pit was flipping awesome. From the beginning to when I had to leave early, the crowd was rocking along with the band. By that point in the night, there were so many people just high out of their mind, either from self-stimulation or second hand. But no one needed that to enjoy Passion Pit’s performance. Just really damn good. Great stage presence the entire time up there as well as a lot of crowd interaction as well, which was very cool. For a more in-depth analysis of the performance, check out Seth’s post! He saw the whole thing!
To be continued later. I am tired now.
Leave a comment | tags: 2012, best coast, bumbershoot, day 3, debo band, hey Marseilles, lights, m83, passion pit, review, seattle center, september 3, setlist, skrillex, songs played, the pains of being pure at heart, the wombats | posted in Festivals, Live Music, Northwest, Reviews
107.7 The End’s Summer Camp 2012 – Review
August 25, 2012. Marymoor Park. Redmond, Washington. 107.7 The End’s Summer Camp 12. Stuff just went down. Washington’s biggest alternative radio station just threw one of the biggest concerts of the year with big names throughout. And boy, was it good. The lineup (in order) for 2012 was Adventure Galley, Husky, Milo Greene, Animal Kingdom, The Features, Morning Parade, Atlas Genius, The Royal Concept, Walk The Moon, fun., Alex Clare. Here comes a review of the entire series (in this writer’s humblest opinion of course!)
Adventure Galley
I missed them completely. Sorry. Here is a cool song called Addict anyway.
First time I’ve heard of them and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much when I first heard them start playing. But this folk band did wonders and actually was a pleasant surprise. Their overall performance left me with a good first impression. This four-piece band from Melbourne, Australia with a folk-alternative sound has this soft, melancholy feel about them. That’s the first vibe that I got from them, but then later they actually kind of rocked as well, so look for them to be a soft band with a rockin’ side to it. The greatest aspect of their performance had to be the vocals though. The singing was very, very good. I might even go to argue it was one of the best voices of the night.
This five piece band has been one of my favorites within the past year, so it might be a bit biased to say that I really liked their preformance and thought it was good. Wait scratch that. It was good! They started off their set with a flawless transition from an opening number into “Don’t You Give Up On Me” and from there, the rest of their time on stage was damn good. With reverbing guitars that echoed nicely, to the change in tones with the switch up of the lead singer, Milo Greene kept it nice and steady until it rocked out in the end with a cover of Sufjan Steven’s “Chicago”. The only knock on an otherwise, very solid set, was the difficulty in hearing some of the singers at times, especially the girl. This was a bigger problem for Milo Greene than the harder bands because they rely a lot on their soft vocals to carry them through songs, but it gets hard live. Other than that, I enjoyed the consistent performance.
I was first exposed to this band a long time ago when their track “Tin Man” was a free single on itunes. I forgot about them and I was reminded that they are actually a quite solid band. But I was really surprised by the way their sound has evolved. I liked “Tin Man” but compare that to a track 3 years later in “Strange Attractor”. Not gonna lie, I first thought the lead singer was a girl when I first heard “Tin Man” but now he definitely sounds like a man. Interesting fact about them that Summer Camp was their first ever show in Washington, yet their first record was recorded in Seattle. But the thing I liked about their performance was some strange beat machine that kept on mixing their sounds. But one thing I can take away from them, is that I know I won’t forget about them now.
These four rockers from Nashville, TN came and blew me off of my feet. Not literally but pretty damn close. Throughout their performance, my shorts were shaking from the bass’ power. Their sound is quite interesting as they call themselves modern pop/indie/rock, but to be honest, the sound a bit like some abstract folk rock that relied heavily of synths. Whatever they are, they really brought it that afternoon. Their energy level was insane. As their performance went on, their energy grew and it was damn fun to watch and rock along with. It also really helped that the singer could really freakin’ belt. They had the best energy the whole night, hands-down.
Their performance was absolutely flawless. That’s all I can say. It was just perfect. The crowd was in sync perfectly with the band and they had every fan out there eating out of their hands. The beats were super energetic, upbeat and hella catchy. You could just see people mesmerized by the performance. I know I was. I had an absolute pleasure watching every second of the performance. Now thing I liked most about them was their pure joy of just playing. They looked so damn happy just being up on that stage, rockin’ out while the crowd went nuts. Great show by them. Best Stage Presence.
Coming off of the high that Morning Parade brought, it was a bit weird to get switched to the slower-paced Atlas Genius, but it was still alright. They started out with a little funk sound, but they eventually sped up and gained crowd support, as well as energy. Big props to them for gaining the crowd back after a kickass performance. By the end, their ending “Trojans” had the entire crowd bouncing up and down, the first time all night that it happened. Must’ve been pretty cool for the Australians that are touring in the US for the first time.
The Royal Concept
I had previously known them as The Concept before they changed their name and when I saw them as The Royal Concept, my perception of them changed. They went from being really cool to freakin’ kickass! That night yielded very little similarities to the voice of Thomas Mars and the rest of Phoenix and The Royal Concept made a nice job banging out a name for themselves. Absolute great vibes from the crowd the entire time and people were just bouncing around digging the high-octane energy of the group. By the time their finale came up, the crowd was already pretty pumped. “D-D-Dance” came on and the place just about blew up. Freaking crazy.
How was Walk The Moon supposed to surpass any of the great bands from before? Well they do it by doing a little something like this: Make the crowd wait 30 minutes to preform (even though they were already set-up), get to the stage with the hype and excitement rippling through the air, start playin some bitchin’ music, get into it with the crowd, throwing stuff out, including the crowd in with the music (during Quesadilla, it was magical) and just getting everyone to go nuts. I didn’t know how the energy could go past what The Royal Concept brought, but it was done. Walk The Moon made the crowd just go ape-shit crazy. Everyone was jumping up and down and just whooping like no tomorrow. The best part of the set had to be during “Anna Sun” where pretty much every single person was screaming the memorized lyrics at the the top of their lungs. Best Overall Performance.
Now even though fun. was the headlining act, they preformed second to last because Alex Clare refused to play unless it was dark. So fun. took it in stride and played a fucking awesome set. They had the best set-up and atmosphere during their set. There was even a point where they blew a whole bunch of confetti up in the air and the crowd went wild:
fun. played with such a passion and the lead singer maintained his awesome singing voice throughout the entire set. Yes, “We Are Young” and “Some Nights” were freakin’ awesome too, don’t worry. fun. basically got their shit done. Coolest part asides from the confetti exploding and the awesome light show in the background, was when the crowd was given the chance to croon out the chorus to “We Are Young”. That was cool listening to 1000+ people sing together.
Skipped him completely. Why not just suck it up and play during the day? Also I wanted to beat the traffic. But apparently it was good!
There was not one bad artist there. I ended up loving each and every performance, regardless of my original thought. All the bands genuinely wanted to be there and you could really see it in their performances. A whole bunch of them came out after their sets to sign autographs and talk with the fans. It’s always cool when groups realize their fans supporting them is what got them big, so showing little love never hurt. It definitely made the experience much greater because if the artists were happy to be there, the fans were sure as well ecstatic to be there. Asides from the heat and a bit of anger from inside the mosh pit from the swarming pile of bodies, I have no complaints of the night. Everything just kind of fit together perfectly to create an awesome cultural experience. Everything, from the music, to the weed smoke wafting up in the air, the dude holding a cardboard sign that demanded people have a dance party, to the idiots that went crowd surfing and eventually being dropped, all fit together like a perfect puzzle to put an exclamation mark on the just amazing 2012 107.7 The End Summer Camp.
1 Comment | tags: 107.7, adventure galley, alex clare, animal kingdom, atlas genius, august 25, fun., husky, lyrics, marymoor park, meaning, milo greene, morning parade, review, setlist, songs played, summer camp 2012, the end, the features, the royal concept, walk the moon | posted in Festivals, Live Music, Northwest, Reviews
Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange Tour: Show Review
Tonight, the audience in Seattle got an enjoyable experience of having a few unique factors play into Frank Ocean’s performance at the Showbox Market. First off the news about Frank’s revealing his first love to be a male. Secondly, releasing his album a week early. When Frank Ocean first revealed his latest album Channel Orange to a close group of friends, family, and record company representatives, all electronic devices were not only turned off, but they were confisicated. Tonight I went in with the same approach. Tonight was not only about listening to the music, but taking in the experience of watching a man perform only after revealing some deeply personal things on his tumblr. In his music, Frank sings about the least controversial things, yet his personal life has generated the most publicity outside his companions Earl and Tyler. Of course it is important to stress that one should base the evaluation of the show mostly on the performance, but I cannot help but feel that this context further contributes to the discussion, especially later in this review.
To say that there was an air of excitement in anticipation for the opening kickoff to Frank Ocean’s tour would be an understatement. I showed up thirty minutes before the doors opened at 8pm and the line had already stretched not only one, but two corners. The build up was further compounded by the fact that it took thirty minutes just to get in. The ticket scalpers were in full force, moving block around block, up and down the line, hawking their requests to for any spare tickets and eventually make a killing off of that. I saw a couple pay a hundred bucks each to get tickets for one reason only: Like all of us waiting in line, they couldn’t wait to see Frank Ocean.
Here’s a general outline of the setlist for the night. I skipped over mentioning a few songs not to mention I probably messed up the order because I either don’t know some of the songs performed and I was too focused on enjoying the show.
Novacane
Made in America (chorus)
Super Rich Kids
Crack Rock
American wedding
So let’s hit up the main observations from the show!
There was no opener so as soon as the lights dimmed, everyone started screaming for Frank Ocean as he walked into a warm bask of adoration. The intensity of the crowd’s passion was so extreme that whatever song Frank Ocean was singing in the opening was drowned out by the cheers and screams. I think one element that cannot be understated is that Frank chose to showcase his well-known crooning with acoustic guitars backing him up. That’s a definite sign of his versatility, not to mention his eagerness to expand the musical boundaries of what R&B sound entails.
Although I was most familiar with songs like “Thinking About You” and “Novacane”, I found myself enjoying more songs like “Forest Gump” and “Voodoo”, tracks that had either been released on Channel Orange or in between the mixtape and album. The biggest reason for this was because these tracks were so fresh or relatively unknown, only a few individuals sang along with Frank, allowing for more emphasis on the vocals . The show was thoroughly pleasing in terms of the high quality of it all. Frank has the coolness you would expect of a R&B singer, but the showmanship expected from any person associated with Odd Future (but a showmanship that is more dignified and cerebral).It’s signature Frank Ocean: the anxieties of un-reciprocated love, treated through the perspective of one who either received or inflicted it. However, Channel Orange takes it to a new direction in his music. His previous work nostalgia, ULTRA could sometimes come off as a little distant, but Frank Ocean’s latest changes that around. The diversity of the music foreshadowed at the beginning of the show was out in full force tonight. There was the dub step-inspired instrumentation in Frank’s lament about a stripper in “Pyramids”, the wonderful transition from the reverberating guitars of “Strawberry Swing” into the chorus of “Made It in America”. The show was exceptional in that it encompassed such a wide variety of genres alternative, R&B, soul, rock, and some real funky moments there. No matter what though, the crowd was enraptured, roaring with approval at the end of each song. As Frank left the stage, I took some time to scan around the room and I could not even see a single open space. From the bar section to the main floor, people were crammed together like sardines. Multiple slow claps (and in one instance slow stomp) were started to persuade the inevitable return of the night’s triumphant performer.
However, the moment that really stood was the intimate end of the show, right after Frank took the stage one last time for his encore. Before I delve into it, take a moment and check out the link to Frank Ocean’s tumblr. I highlighted some of the text that I want to discuss below.
“4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile. I’d hear his conversation and his silence … until it was time to sleep. Sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love. It would change my life […]
Before writing this I’d told some people my story. I’m sure these people kept me alive, kept me safe. Sincerely, these are the folks I wanna thank from the floor of my heart […] To my first love, I’m grateful for you. Grateful that even thought it wasn’t what I hoped for and even thought it was never enough, it was. Some things never are. And we were. I won’t forget you. I won’t forget the summer. I’ll remember who I was when I met you. I’ll remember who you were and how we’ve both changed and stayed the same. I’ve never had more respect for life and living than I have right now. Maybe it takes a near death experience to feel alive. Thanks. To my mother. You raised me strong. I know I’m only brave because you were first. So thank you. All of you. For everything good. I feel like a free man.”
— Frank
First we will all take note that although Frank wrote about his experience with a male, this episode does not singularly define him as that gay or bisexual singer from tumblr. Despite this key information, the narrative surrounding Frank Ocean will mostly be about that, for better or worse. The multi-dimensionality of Frank’s music stands in stark juxtaposition to the portrayal that people (including myself in certain aspects) have presented what had been some of Frank Ocean’s most private and personal thoughts.
Despite our current insistence to heavily invest in the parts of Frank Ocean’s piece about loving another male, I would like to reference the final line in the passages shared from Frank’s post. He wrote “I feel like a free man”, and that post was his catharsis. Throughout the night, there Frank was, being affable and barely being able to keep a smile under wraps as he took in the cheers from the crowd. This was a man clearly at peace with his past, and hopeful for his future.
I will now return back to my original point of discussion by recalling the image of Frank sitting there at the piano, all alone onstage with one spotlight shining down on him. For about a minute, he simply sat there and played, ignoring the pleas of a few young ladies for him to just sing. In many ways, I can’t help but feel that was symbolic of the recent events and attention in Frank’s life. No matter what he was doing, Frank’s actions were going to be placed under a microscope to be determined for further significance, or in the case of those demanding for him to sing, some would demand Frank to become an activist for the topic he chose to disclose earlier this month. In this final performance, Frank Ocean gently rebuffed all such attempts by continuing to play the piano before softly crooning about how he wished love between the two could just be simple. That line was repeated over and over again, with no information whether the recipient was a male or female. In that regard, it was an illuminating experience for me. Paradoxically, the casual matter in which Frank revealing his love experience is what makes it so noteworthy. It was done on his terms. The normalcy in which Frank presented this information paralleled those last minutes of his time in Seattle. The intimacy of that moment demonstrated how different and similar Frank Ocean is now. Even though that significant moment that Frank told his fan base has altered some of the soundbites in relation to his work, what doesn’t change is that Frank Ocean has the demeanor, the voice, and the production to be the biggest presence in the R&B scene. May this day be remembered not just for what he has accomplished but for what he has yet to finish. Thank God I was able to see it. Seth, my friend, you shouldn’t have sold that ticket to me because you missed out.
2 Comments | tags: american wedding, bad religion, bisexual, channel orange, concert, crack rock, forrest gump, frank ocean, july 13 frank ocean concert, lyrics, made in america, meaning, novacane, ofwgkta, pyramids, review, setlist, show, showbox market, strawberry swing, super rich kids, sweet life, the creator, thinking about you, tour, tyler, voodoo, white | posted in Internet, Live Music, New Releases, Rap & R&B
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Battered men across the world
Source: MenWeb Online Journal
According to the latest national survey of CDC in the United States in 2010, the difference between men and women who experience any form of violence from their intimate partners is less than 10%.
In other words, according to the survey 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men in the United States were victims of domestic violence during a 12 month period in 2010.
In Europe statistics are quite the same. However it is worth noting that in Europe, NGO’s and scholars are the ones who have tried to publish any information on domestic violence against men, since public institutes and ministries are focused only on female victims.
Source: Kingston University London
That being said, a recent study, published in 2015 by DOVE Institute, featuring six European countries – UK, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Sweden and Germany - has concluded that men have equal chances of being a victim. Moreover, the aspects of violence (verbal, psychological, physical, etc) are not necessarily discerned by gender, meaning that any form of violence can be practiced, whether the victim is a male or female.
The phenomenon is on the rise in many countries of Latin America, where psychologists and gender scholars have already warned that certain actions must be taken by states and authorities, since many more men are comfortable in reporting their abuse by their partners. In Mexico, for example, even though there is no national survey of any kind, authorities claim that reports from battered men had increased dramatically in 2013, with police stations receiving an average of 250 complaints per month, according to a human rights organization, called Equidad.
Esther Pineda, a Venezuelan sociologist and founder of the Esther Pineda G Consultora de Género y Equidad Institution explains:
"Violence against women is a social problem of major proportions; the figures are alarming and seem to increase rather than decrease. However, violence against men is an issue that has to be addressed and even though victim rates are not as big as women’s, it is impressive how high they are. We’ re facing changing times on how we perceive domestic violence, since it seems that nowadays it goes in both directions and we must take action."
The most impressive research, however, was published in Australia. A men’s right group, called One in Three found that 1 in 3 victims of domestic violence within one year are men. Furthermore, research from the 2012 ABS Personal Safety Survey and Australian Institute of Criminology showed that both men and women in Australia experience substantial levels of violence.
Source: OneInThree
"They don't believe I can be a victim."
However, this research wasn’t very well accepted by feminist groups. Jane Gilmore, author and feminist activist, responding to the findings wrote, among others, on April 30, in the Australian website 'Daily Life': "The One in Three claim could be described more accurately as a campaign against efforts to address men's violence against women."
"All I can say is that it is a pity that some people avert their glances to violence," answered Greg Millan, member of the 'One in Three' campaign.
It seems, though, that Australia is not the only place where male victims are being put into question as non-existent, or at best as an insignificant minority. In Ireland, for example, when the volunteer organization AMEN releases their annual reports, they always receive criticism and doubt.
"When I present the results to official organizations and the government, I always have to prove everything. They scrutinize every detail; I have to persuade them that what I am showing is a 100% verified. Needless to say, in similar reports for female victims, organizations never have to prove a thing. Even in the funding that we get, we have to justify every penny that we spend, because they think that violence against men is not such a big thing to work for. Well, it is," says Niamh Farrel, manager of AMEN.
From an academic point of view, Tove Ingebjørg Fjell, professor in Department of Archeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion in University of Bergen, Norway explains: "I do not know if there is any way of addressing this issue, without getting reactions from different groups. It is important that there is more research done on the topic, especially quantitative studies, so that we learn more about the extent of the phenomenon on a global level."
"They think I am a joke."
Maxime Gaget’s case provoked various reactions, which demonstrate how societies, regardless of scientific researches that indicate otherwise, perceive males in today’s culture. Media would use Gaget’s story as a way to generate the interest of the audiences who generally received the news as the 'weird story of the day'.
"We have cultural expectations as to how women and men act. A quite ordinary expectation of a man is that he is stronger than a woman, he is in charge, and if there is a violence problem, he is the violent partner. When the topic of partner violence against men comes up, we do not get what we expect: we get surprised, or we get mad, or we even laugh and joke about it. The idea of a violent woman does not fit in, there is no place for such a notion," explains professor Fjell.
Indeed, these gender stereotypes, where women are by definition the victims and men the perpetrators are well presented in a recent experiment of the British ManKind Institute.
The organization released in 2014 a video in which a couple has a fight in the middle of a park in London.
In the first part, the man shouts and pushes his girlfriend against a fence and people’s reflexes work simultaneously, trying to protect the woman. In the second part, the roles are reversed. Guess what. Passers-by either laugh or don’t even bother to take a look on the violence that unfolded right in front of their eyes.
"I have nowhere to turn to."
During the trial, Maxime Gaget heard his ex-wife blaming her non-proven "bipolar disorder" for her behavior and the hard past years as an abused infant. "I am sensitive, I have a heart and children to nurture," she cried during her hearing. Eventually, the court imposed an 18 months suspended sentence and a fine of 200,000 euros. It was a soft decision compared to the brutality of the crimes she had committed that shocked both Gaget and his advocates.
Well, at least this was a form of justice. In most cases, there is none.
"It’s a common story. One of the many that we regularly hear in AMEN from abused men who try to find some consolation," says Mrs. Farrel.
It looks like you did this to yourself.
"He was physically abused for many years. It all began on their honeymoon, where she punched him several times. Thinking that it was just an isolated incident, he didn’t react. Then, few months after that honeymoon she gave birth to their first child, but she started beating him again. Then they had a second child, while the abuse continued. He couldn’t react because he already felt that he had to be strong to keep his family united.
She burned his hands with the iron box several times, but he didn’t scream, nor did he hit her back, as the kids were in the next room. He eventually called the guards, and the guards came and they arrested him. They brought him to the hospital and the police said to him 'we don’t believe that your wife did this. It looks like you did this to yourself'. So, his wife was never charged.
He ended up moving out of the house, because he couldn’t put up with the abuse anymore. In the meantime, his children completely turned against him, because mommy never tell lies, so the court apart from charging him for leaving his family, decided to forbid him from seeing his children."
Apparently being a man is a disadvantage in cases of domestic violence. A gender biased attitude is a common ground in all countries, whether we are referring to authorities or the judicial system. For what it’s worth, in Greece, the legislator casually refers to the victim as a "she", without even considering that a male could actually need legal protection in such a case!
But the nightmare is not over yet. Seeking for help and support is not an easy task for abused men. Apart from rare cases, males are excluded from shelters destined to host victims of violence. Such shelters can be hardly found mainly in Scandinavia or the United Kingdom, while the first official state shelter for men opened its door in the late 2000’s in The Netherlands.
On the other hand, in the whole of Australia, there is only one support program for battered men, an initiative run by an individual who put time and effort to establish a safe zone for the victims.
"Well, there was no such thing available in Australia to support male victims of DV [domestic violence, ed]. I still run the only training program in the country. There are probably 500 or more domestic violence programs running every year for victims and none of them mention male victims of DV only women as victims and males as perpetrators," says Greg Millan, who struggles through donations to keep the shelter going on.
"I am not a man, if I am a victim."
However, the biggest enemy that male victims have to face is their own masculinity. It is widely accepted by the psychiatric community that the males’ mentality usually functions under certain norms and rules, orders mainly by societies’ demands.
Men have learned all along that they have to have concrete characteristics, from which every actions should be in accordance with their masculine nature.
According to scholars Michael Addis and James Mahalik of Boston University, it is often hard for a man to admit facing difficulties of whatever nature, let alone if he is beaten by his partner. Especially heterosexual males tend to hide under the rug most of their true emotions, in fear of being judged as "coward" or "helpless".
Furthermore, that stereotype prevents most male victims of identifying their situation as domestic violence, at least in the early stages, as their perception of violence is in direct line with society’s norms.
"There are three stages that men usually undergo during their suffering of abuse.
At first, they can’t recognize the problem as such, because the still follow the norms of society, meaning that a woman can never be an abuser.
The second stage is the recognition one, where a man eventually understands that he is being abused, but denies doing anything, thinking he might be deserving it.
And then, shame comes. They blame themselves for not being 'men enough', as, apart from the suffering, their ego diminishes and they feel humiliated, believing they have disgraced their nature.
All of these may sound identical with female victims and in a way they are. But in case of men, their perception of masculinity is the driving force behind all of these stages," explains sociologist Esther Pinera.
The silent sufferer
After all of these, there’s no wonder why men hesitate reporting their abuse. Maxime Gaget has heard every single stereotyped word that he could hear. As he describes in his autobiographical book he published on April:
"I’ve heard I am not a real man. That a man would have defended himself or stop her in time. But I have a different view on masculinity. A man is not a plain package of testosterone. He is a human being who can make mistakes. A man has weaknesses, fears and doubts. Just like a woman."
Aggelos Andreou is a freelance Greek reporter with 12 years of experience. Visit his website for full CV, working samples and updates, or reach him on Twitter.
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You are here: Home » Artist » Industry Ink: Musicians Hall of Fame, PLA Media, Cheyenne Frontier Days, The Beatitudes Project
Industry Ink: Musicians Hall of Fame, PLA Media, Cheyenne Frontier Days, The Beatitudes Project
Jessica Nicholson • December 20, 2016
Amy Holm Joins PLA Media
Amy Holm
Musicians Hall of Fame Director of Public Relations Amy Holm will be leaving her post; today (Dec. 20) is her last day in that role. She will join PLA Media as Social Media Coordinator in January 2017. She can be reached at amyholm31@gmail.com.
2017 Lineup Announced For Cheyenne Frontier Days
Cheyenne Frontier Days has announced all but one of the names set to appear during for the Frontier Nights® entertainment series, slated for July 21-30 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Brantley Gilbert, Little Big Town, Sawyer Brown, Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, and Jason Aldean with special guests Tyler Farr, David Nail, Joe Diffie, and The Bellamy Brothers were announced by Mark Miller, the lead singer of Sawyer Brown, from Las Vegas and live-streamed on the Wrangler Network.
Amy Grant, Martin Smith, Michael W. Smith Team For The Beatitudes Project
Several top CCM artists have joined for a multi-media The Beatitudes Project, set for release spring 2017.
Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Martin Smith join singer/songwriters like Matt Maher, Audrey Assad, John Mark McMillan, Joel Houston, Amanda Cook as well as Propaganda, All Sons & Daughters, Terrian Bass and The Brilliance.
The project includes a book: Words From the Hill (An Invitation to the Unexpected) from NavPress, a full-length album Beatitudes from The Fuel Music, and a documentary film. The project aims to reveal a wide world of connected stories: real people from all faiths and walks of life who embody mercy, poverty, meekness, the hungry and thirsty, the peacemakers, the mourners, and the pure in heart—as seen, heard and experienced through a 21st century lens.
“The Beatitudes Project is meant to be a reset button in a world plagued with violence and division,” says Stu G, best-known as part of the bands Delirious? and One Sonic Society, who also authored the book. “These upside-down Jesus announcements on a hillside by the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 5 where Jews, Greeks, Romans and people of all ethnicities were gathered are a reminder that there is another way.”
Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.
Tony Martin: Four Decades In Song »
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Fonterra's FY17 Annual Result
Fonterra's profit falls, revenue rises and farmers' returns lift
Source: Stuff
Fonterra's profit is down but revenue has risen.
New Zealand's largest company Fonterra has posted an after-tax profit of $745 million, down 11 per cent on last year. Federated Farmers dairy group chairman Chris Lewis described it as a "good solid result". "It's putting more cash into farmers' hands and that will put a smile on their faces for the coming season. And it's good for rural businesses that depend on dairy."
Craigs Investment Partners research analyst Adrian Allbon said it was in line with his expectation.
Fonterra chairman John Wilson has hailed the progress of the value-add side of Fonterra's business.
"They've had to deal with a big swing in milk streams so it's a good result."
Fonterra's Chinese farms, which have shown a loss for the past few years, were back in black, but the investment in Chinese partner Beingmate had cost.
"They've taken a $35m impairment and their share of the losses of Beingmate was $41m, so together that's $76m, but it's a sentimentality issue rather than a major profitability issue," Allbon said.
CEO Theo Spierings says Fonterra's strategic direction has set the foundation for a solid performance.
The dairy giant lifted the final payout to farmers for the 2016-17 season to $6.12 per kilogram of milksolids, plus a dividend of 40c per share for a total of $6.52.
Revenue was up 12 per cent to $19.2 billion, but earnings before tax and interest (EBIT) was $1.155b, down 15 per cent.
Fonterra maintained its earlier farmgate forecast set in July for the 2017-18 season at $6.75 per kgMS, with an earnings per share range of 45-55c for a total of $7.20−$7.30.
ASB analyst Nathan Penny said farmer shareholders would be largely happy with the result.
"They've been paid considerably more for their milk, while only seeing a modest fall in the profits of the company they also own."
Penny said the current season would provide a better test of Fonterra's financial performance, because it expected to post similar profits over the season compared to the season just gone.
"With the milk price likely to be circa 60c higher, this would indeed be a step up in financial performance."
Chairman John Wilson said the co-operative had made significant progress in the value-add side of the business.
"Despite lower milk volumes due to poor weather in parts of the season, the business delivered a good result by prioritising higher value advanced ingredients and growing our sales of these in-demand and specialised products by 473 million litres this year."
"Advanced ingredients", which made up 19 per cent of total external sales volumes, included special proteins, high-spec whole milk powder and mozzarella cheese.
"Our consumer and food service business continues its strong performance. This year we sold more than 5.5 billion litres, an additional 576 million litres on last year. This volume growth across these two portfolios has delivered normalised EBIT of $614m, an increase of 6 per cent on last year," Wilson said.
Chief executive Theo Spierings said Fonterra had prioritised higher margin products and tapped into the expertise of staff to come up with innovative ways to generate higher returns.
It had commissioned or announced new investments including new UHT lines at Waitoa, butter and cream cheese expansions at Te Rapa, construction of the its largest mozzarella plant at Clandeboye, two new cream cheese plants at Darfield, and the reopening of its cheese and whey plants at Stanhope in Australia.
Fonterra's balance sheet remains in a strong position. Debt reduced by $900m to $5.4 billion, while it maintained its gearing ratio at 44.3 per cent.
• 2016-2017 total cash payout $6.52, up 52 per cent on last season - Farmgate milk price $6.12 per kgMS - Dividend of 40c per share • Revenue $19.2b, up 12 per cent • Normalised EBIT $1.155b, down 15 per cent • Net profit after tax (NPAT) $745m, down 11 per cent • 46c earnings per share • Significant growth in consumer and food service – additional 576 million litres • Advanced ingredients sales growth up 9 per cent • Group return on capital of 11.1 per cent
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← November Membership Meeting at National Public Radio
Apply for NAHJ Convention Assistance →
NAHJ-DC Chapter Membership Drive – Wednesday @ 7pm
NAHJ-DC Chapter Membership Drive with special guest Ray Suarez from PBS Newshour
Location: McClendon Room at the National Press Club. (It’s on the 13th floor upstairs behind the bar.)
Address: 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC
Come network with top journalists in the Washington area. NAHJ Lifetime member and Hall of Famer Ray Suarez will be on hand. Bring a friend and renew your NAHJ membership online. The full membership dues will go to the national fund. https://nahjdc.org/
SPECIAL RAFFLES AVAILABLE AT THE MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
National Convention Registration
Winner must register by the early bird registration date and be a paid NAHJ member.
Raffle ticket cost $25
Walt Disney Gift Basket
The Disney Basket contains: a picnic basket, hat, two Mickey toys,
picture frame, mug, wooden animal toys, and a Mickey watch.
FROM PBS NEWSHOUR
Ray Suarez joined The NewsHour in October 1999 as a Washington-based Senior Correspondent.
Suarez has more than thirty years of varied experience in the news business. He came to The NewsHour from National Public Radio where he had been host of the nationwide, call-in news program “Talk of the Nation” since 1993. Prior to that, he spent seven years covering local, national, and international stories for the NBC-owned station, WMAQ-TV in Chicago.
He is the author most recently of a book examining the tightening relationship between religion and politics in America, The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America. Suarez also wrote The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration (Free Press), and has contributed to several other books, including What We See (New Village Press, 2010), How I Learned English (National Geographic, 2007), Brooklyn: A State of Mind (Workman, 2001), Local Heroes (Norton, 2000), Saving America’s Treasures (National Geographic, 2000), and Las Christmas (Knopf, 1998). Suarez currently hosts the monthly radio program “America Abroad” for Public Radio International, and the weekly politics program “Destination Casa Blanca” for Hispanic Information Telecommunications Network, HITN TV.
Antoine Sanfuentes Named NBC News Washington Bureau Chief
NBC News promoted Antonio Sanfuentes to Washington Bureau Chief. Sanfuentes spoke to members of the NAHJ DC Chapter last Fall at our first membership meeting at NBC studios in Northwest Washington.
More from the NBC Release
NEW YORK, NY— January 28, 2011— NBC News President Steve Capus announced today that Antoine Sanfuentes will be the next NBC News Washington Bureau Chief, effective February 7, 2011. Sanfuentes replaces Mark Whitaker, who held the position since July 2008. Most recently, Sanfuentes served as the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News and NBC News Vice President.
In his new position, Sanfuentes will report to NBC News President Steve Capus, and his daily responsibilities will include the oversight of all bureau management, administration and editorial affairs, working closely with NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd and NBC News executives including Alexandra Wallace and David Verdi. In addition, Sanfuentes will have executive oversight of “Meet the Press.”
“Antoine’s inclusive management style combined with his expert knowledge and experience make him the ideal leader to guide the Washington Bureau into the next phase,” said NBC News President Steve Capus. “He is a true news producer through and through, with an outstanding dedication to integrity and professionalism in the field. He started his career in our DC newsroom and knows both the team and the political beat better than anyone.”
Sanfuentes built his career at NBC News, starting out as an intern for NBC News station WRC while at American University. Sanfuentes graduated in 1989, and in 1990 he became a desk assistant at the NBC News Washington Bureau. In 1995, he became a White House producer, then Senior White House producer— covering the White House for thirteen years. Over his time at NBC News, Sanfuentes has also produced notable coverage from across Africa alongside Ann Curry, including reports from Darfur, the eastern Congo and an historic interview with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
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49ers bully Golden Bulls in exhibition
By Matt Chapman -
Kira Gordon led the 49ers with 15 points, 11 of those in the first half. Seven 49ers finished the game with double-digit scoring. Photo by Chris Crews.
The Charlotte 49ers women’s basketball team put on a clinic in a 98-46 thrashing of the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls on Saturday afternoon at Halton Arena in an exhibition contest. The 49ers looked sharp on the defensive side of the ball while forcing 27 Golden Bulls turnovers and deflecting over 40 pass attempts.
The 49ers opened the game on a 13-0 run through the first six minutes of play fueled by stifling full-court defense and impressive play from a couple of youngsters still getting used to playing on the college level. Charlotte’s defense forced 18 Johnson C. Smith turnovers throughout the first 20 minutes of action. The Golden Bulls scored just 17 points in the first half on 27.8 percent shooting from the field. The 49ers entered the locker room with a commanding 50-17 lead at halftime.
Sophomore forward Kira Gordon paced the 49ers offensively in the first half. Gordon finished the first 20 minutes with a team-high 11 points to go along with seven boards.
Charlotte kept their foot on the gas pedal early in the second half and jumped out to a 49-point lead at 72-23 with 13:35 remaining in the game. 49ers Head Coach Cara Consuegra emptied her bench midway through the second half giving some of her younger players some valuable time on the court as Charlotte coasted to an easy 52-point victory.
“I think this was a good first game for us. There were a lot of positives and that’s what I told the team in the locker room,” said Consuegra postgame.
“Obviously we played a lot of people and dispersed our minutes pretty evenly which was our game plan coming in. We wanted to see different combinations and start to figure out our rotation this year.”
Gordon spent the majority of the second half on the bench for Charlotte given the size of the lead but still finished with a team-high 15 points to go along with her eight rebounds in just 25 minutes of action. Gordon will be a key piece for Charlotte in the post as the season progresses after the departures of Jennifer Hailey and Amanda Dowe from last season’s squad.
“Since Jen and Amanda left we all have to step up in the paint, not just me,” said Gordon after the game. “It’s just different now. We have to score now and we have to rebound now. We don’t get as many blocked shots so we’ve really been focusing on boxing out in practice.”
The 49ers will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 8 when they face the Liberty Flames at Halton Arena. This is the first game in a double-header with the men’s team, tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Matt is the sports editor for the Niner Times. He is pursuing a degree in communication studies with a minor in journalism.
The Signal Caller
Charlotte takes series at FIU
49ers fall behind early; lose 18-6 to Wake Forest
Former Charlotte tennis player sues school and coach Jeremy Feldman
TV REVIEW: ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ – ‘Still Standing’
Jeffrey Kopp -
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Northern California Most Wanted - In the News
Posted on: Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Northern California's 'most wanted' include 2 men with Sonoma County ties
Source: Press Democrat by Mary Callahan
Two men with ties to Sonoma County are among the 25 “most wanted” fugitives featured on a new website through which federal law enforcement officials hope to enlist the public's assistance in tracking down wanted suspects from Northern California.
Those profiled on the site, which was unveiled Tuesday, include a one-time Santa Rosa man, Grant Lavell Hudson III, who fled the area in 2003 on the eve of trial on charges he molested a girl over a period of about eight years, federal officials and court records said.
Hudson, 67, already was a convicted sex offender and had been bound over for trial on 13 newer felony counts involving suspected molestation of the girl, a relative, when he was released from jail and later disappeared, court records say.
Also among the most wanted is a Sonoma County gang member suspected in the slaying of a Ukiah man a little more than a year ago, police and federal law enforcement personnel said.
Manuel Rodriguez, 22, may have fled to Mexico in the wake of the Sept. 4 death of the victim, Duane Johnson, 45, Ukiah police said last year.
Johnson had been found unresponsive on Ukiah's North Main Street after what at first was believed to have been a fall, police said.
Investigation later revealed he had been the victim of “foul play,” and Rodriguez was identified as the suspect, though investigators have revealed little else about the case.
Rodriguez and Hudson appear on the website because of violent histories that suggest they could still pose a risk to the public, said Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Palmer, a member of the agency's Fugitive Task Force.
They're “people that we think are out there committing other crimes while they're in that fugitive status,” Palmer said Wednesday.
The new project, dubbed a Fugitive Awareness Initiative, is the product of the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI and the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, which will manage the website.
It was created specifically for the federal Department of Justice's 15-county Northern California District and is unique to the country, Palmer said.
Though there are thousands of fugitives from justice wanted by federal officials, 25 were selected to launch the site based on the need to bring them into custody, the stage of development in their criminal cases and the certainty that each of the individuals knows he or she is being sought and is actively evading capture, Palmer said.
The intention for the site is to provide a way for members of the public to know who is at large in case one of the suspects is hiding in plain sight.
The web page offers a link to submit tips anonymously about the fugitive profiled or about anyone else believed to be wanted, Palmer said.
More than 200 federal, state and local policing agencies that participate in the intelligence group for the Northern California District, which runs along the coast from Del Norte to Monterey County and includes the Greater Bay Area, will be invited to post profiles of other wanted men and women from their own jurisdictions, as well, Palmer said.
“We're pretty excited, and we hope the public gets on board and helps us out,” Palmer said. “Our interaction with the public is probably what solves 95 percent of our cases so we're trying to extend that interaction even more.”
“It is no secret the public continues to be a force-multiplier in providing tips, which can ultimately lead to the arrest of those who flee from justice,” FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson said in a printed news released.
12/12/13 New website spotlights fugitives in Northern California
12/11/13 Northern California's 'most wanted' include 2 men with Sonoma County ties
12/11/13 Authorities Hope New Website Leads To Arrest Of ‘Northern California’s Most Wanted’
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Portland City Council looks at public campaign finance system to magnify the voice of small donors
Nov 4, 2016 Politics, Portland
By Don McIntosh
Portland City Council is considering an ordinance that could significantly erode the power of monied interests in city politics. Known as the Open and Fair Elections ordinance, it got its first public hearing Nov. 3.
The ordinance would set up a public campaign finance system that matches small donations. It’s modeled on programs already in place in New York City and several other locales. Candidates for mayor, City Council, and city auditor who want to participate in the program would agree to accept no more than $250 from any individual, and to limit the total contributions they’d accept to $250,000 in the primary and $300,000 in the general election (more for mayoral candidates). In return the City would provide a six-to-one match for contributions of up to $50 from Portland residents — giving a candidate access to up to $144,000 in public funds for the primary and $216,000 for the general election (and about double that for a mayoral candidate). The ordinance limits the program to 0.2 percent of the City’s General Fund — about $1.2 million a year.
The ordinance comes at a time when political campaign contributions from corporations and wealthy individuals are reaching unprecedented levels. Portland’s 2012 city candidate races were dominated by 600 big donors who wrote checks of $1,000 or more, contributing a total of $1.7 million in the mayor’s race and two city council races. Oregon is one of only six states that have no limit on campaign contributions. And the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 took the lid off campaign contributions in federal races.
“When a wealthy corporation can call the Oregon Legislature into session for a special tax deal, you know we have an influence problem.” — UFCW Local 555 secretary-treasurer Jeff Anderson, testifying alongside State Senator Diane Rosenbaum of the Joint Interim Task Force On Campaign Finance Reform, and NAACP director Jo Ann Hardesty.
““When a wealthy corporation can call the Oregon Legislature into session for a special tax deal, you know we have an influence problem,” said Jeff Anderson at the Nov. 3 Portland City Council hearing. Anderson is president of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and secretary-treasurer of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, the state’s largest private sector union. He was referring to a one-day special session called at Nike’s request in 2012 in which state lawmakers gave agreed to guarantee Nike a preferential corporate income tax formula for the next 30 years.
“[Nike founder] Phil Knight’s recent contribution of $380,000 to some Oregon legislative candidates dwarfs the largest private sector union in Oregon. … I find it incredible that thousands of my members can pool their dollars together only to have that amount be offset by a single large donor.”
UFCW, SEIU, CWA and the Oregon Working Families Party worked with Common Cause, OSPIRG, NAACP, and other non-profit groups in a coalition to develop the Open and Fair Elections proposal.
In City of Portland elections, it’s not uncommon for union political action committees (PACs) to contribute $1,000, $10,000 or even more. Candidates who opt into the Open and Fair Elections program wouldn’t be allowed to accept money from union PACs or any other kind of PACs. Yet the program would likely play to union strengths, because it would eliminate opposing big contributors while multiplying the influence of small donors. Imagine a fundraiser for a union-endorsed candidate: Thirty rank-and-file members or officers each willing to chip in $50 would end up generating $10,500 for a city council candidate’s campaign. The Open and Fair ordinance limits “in-kind” contributions such as office space to $20,000 per election, but donations of staff time to supervise volunteers wouldn’t count toward that limit. And the ordinance places no restraint on unions’ ability to communicate with their own members.
Portlanders don’t trust their elected representatives to do the right thing for the right reasons, in part because of the perceived influence of campaign contributions in elections” — City of Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz
City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who introduced the ordinance at City Council, said Open and Accountable Elections is as important to her as the City’s paid sick leave ordinance, which she helped pass in 2013.
“The Open and Accountable elections system will address one of the most fundamental challenges we face, which is that many Portlanders don’t trust their elected representatives to do the right thing for the right reasons, in part because of the perceived influence of campaign contributions in elections,” Fritz said introducing the ordinance.
Fritz is only person on the five-member city council who came to office thanks to Portland’s previous public campaign finance system. Known as Voter-Owned Elections, it was enacted in 2005, but had its reputation damaged by several instances of fraud. When it went before voters for approval in 2010, it lost by 1,600 votes out of 210,000 cast.
“I read that vote as Portlanders saying ‘Not now, and not this system,’ rather than ‘Nothing like this ever again,’” Fritz said.
The Open and Fair Elections proposal differs from Voter-Owned Elections in that public funding matches — but doesn’t replace — private campaign contributions.
Should it go before voters for approval? Fritz said no, arguing that City Council allocates over $400 million in discretionary funds every year, and doesn’t ask voters to approve each of those appropriations. Also, if Portland residents don’t agree with this or any other action of City Council, Fritz said there’s a process by which they can collect signatures to refer it to voters, as they did with the decision to fluoridate the City’s water. But Commissioner Nick Fish countered that this proposal could be perceived as directly benefiting City Council members, so maybe it should be approved by voters first.
Both the floor and second floor gallery of City Council chambers were packed with supporters of the ordinance, and during several hours of public testimony, no council members said they oppose it. Fritz said Mayor Charlie Hales is supportive of the measure. Fish said he has questions about it. Commissioner Steve Novick raised concerns about the cost of the ordinance while also saying he thinks it might not be generous enough.
Fritz and supporters of the ordinance are soliciting feedback and proposed modifications to the ordinance, and aim to bring it to further hearings and a vote by the end of the year.
WATCH THE HEARING BELOW, beginning at the 1:17:50 mark:
Amanda Fritz
Portland City Council
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555
Challenger outpolls incumbent in IBEW Local 48 officer elections
New wage and hour chief comes to Oregon from the national union movement
Workers at Cascade Steel Rolling Mills say they’re ready to strike
How working people and unions fared in the 2019 session of the Oregon Legislature
A life-saving school bus driver
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Who Are You Calling a Liberal?
If Obama is liberalism's standard bearer, liberalism's in bad shape
By Michael Kazin
Contrary to what everyone who loved—or hated—his inaugural address seems to think, President Obama has yet to demonstrate that he is determined to launch a new liberal era.
The big speech did gesture in that direction. Obama declared, in the style of FDR, that “our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.” The line about equality being “the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall” was a welcome salute to three of the most prominent civil rights movements in American history. And not since Lyndon Johnson has a president spoken about poverty with such apparent conviction and specificity: “We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.”
But to believe that Obama has truly revived the great tradition of egalitarian reform is to neglect the distinction between two species of modern liberalism: that which promotes the equality of rights and that which works toward a greater equality of opportunity and wealth. The latter, the social variety, emerged from the class tumult of the Gilded Age and inspired such key New Deal measures as Social Security, the WPA, and the National Labor Relations Act. The former harks back to the abolitionists and early feminists; it demands that the promise of individual liberty be extended to every American, regardless of their skin color, national origin, gender, or whom they happen to love.
Most contemporary liberals support both types. But since the 1950s, they have devoted more time and passion to fighting for individual rights—and American society has gradually warmed up to the idea as well. Liberal politicians, spurred by mass movements, did away with legal segregation and immigration quotas created by “Nordic” supremacists back in the 1920s, abolished the barrier between male occupations and female ones, won access for disabled Americans, and are moving ever closer to legalizing same-sex marriage. The scrapping of overt job discrimination did help boost the fortunes of non-whites and women of all races, of course.
Yet the goal of economic equity for the majority of working Americans now seems farther away than at any time since the Great Depression. Anyone who follows the news knows the basics: beginning in the late 1970s, productivity has shot far ahead of wages, the lion’s share of wealth growth has gone to the one percent while the wealth of the bottom sixty percent has declined, the real value of the minimum wage is lower than it was during the Carter administation, and the percentage of union members in the private sector is roughly where it was when William McKinley was president. The real unemployment rate is well above ten percent, while the poverty rate is sixteen percent, the highest it has been since LBJ declared a “war” on poverty almost half-a-century ago. Only federal entitlement programs keep it from rising much further.
What does Obama intend to say or do about these festering failures of politics and policy? Very little, it seems.
In his inaugural speech, Obama wisely observed that “individual freedoms ultimately require collective action.” But in touting his second-term agenda, he has so far said little about what sort of collective action he has in mind. It's striking how seldom he mentions labor unions, the only collective institution through which workers can act on their own to improve their lot. Conspicuously missing from that trio of freedom movement locations evoked in the inaugural was a reference to any one of the union triumphs that enabled millions of Americans, many without a high-school degree, to develop “the broad shoulders of a rising middle class.” Perhaps Obama just decided that “San Francisco” (as in the 1934 general strike) or “Flint” (as in the 1936 sit-down strike which established the United Auto Workers) would disrupt the polished cadence of his address. But nor has he made any protest against the attempt by conservatives, in the courts and Congress, to stop the National Labor Relations Board from functioning at all.
What the president did say about helping the poor was beautiful. But he seems to have no plan to fulfill the hope he raised for an initiative, however modest, that could lift “that little girl” and millions of children like her out of poverty. Absent a hike in the minimum wage, or a jobs program for the long-term unemployed, or funding for failing public school systems, Obama's rhetoric will soon be just a faint, sour memory. Right now, the best opportunity for the impoverished girl cited by Obama to emerge from the ranks of the poor would be to join the military when she turns 17. It’s not quite what LBJ meant by a “war on poverty.”
I realize the political barriers to enacting any measures to reduce economic inequality are high. Nearly every Republican in Congress would vote against both a hike in the minimum wage and a new stimulus bill that aimed to create jobs for some of the unemployed. The current GOP views the protection of union rights, once hailed by such GOP leaders as Richard Nixon and George Romney, as akin to “class warfare.” Since the collapse of the Occupy movement, there is no viable, visible grassroots movement to advocate the cause of “the 99 percent.”
But Obama and the Democrats are championing other issues that will be no easier to win. The farther we get from the date of the Newtown massacre, the harder it will be to pass a sweeping ban on assault weapons. The president devoted eight solid sentences to climate change in his inaugural address. But if a carbon tax gets a vote in either house of Congress while Obama’s in the White House, it will be a major achievement.
Last week, in TNR, Alan Brinkley observed, “for many years, liberals ignored economic and social inequality—certain that their efforts would fail. As in the nineteenth century, the twenty-first century has produced the greatest inequality in the history of our nation. That is why Obama’s speech sent many people talking about liberalism again—happily for many, outraged for others.” I am glad liberals are now confident enough to reclaim their good name. But we shouldn’t be happy until they embrace and act on the full meaning of their creed.
Michael Kazin’s most recent book is American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation. He is co-editor of Dissent and teaches history at Georgetown University.
Michael Kazin teaches history at Georgetown University and is co-editor of Dissent. His latest book is War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914–1918.
Liberalism, Domestic Policy, Obama, White House
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In TributeSpring 2018
As a producer on The Addams Family and The Beverly Hillbillies, Martin Ransohoff ’49 delighted TV audiences. His successful career in television and film production stretched over decades after his graduation from Colgate.
Autumn 2015In Tribute
Remembering Jim Dickinson '39 whose involvement with Colgate University spanned a lifetime.
In TributeSummer 2015
Robert Virgil Smith, Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of philosophy and religion emeritus and a United Methodist pastor for more than 45 years, died peacefully at home on Feb. 12, 2015. He was 94 years old.
Rev. Coleman Brown, Colgate’s chaplain and professor of philosophy and religion for nearly three decades, died Dec. 14, 2014, at the age of 80.
In TributeWinter 2015
Bruce Peter Berlind, Charles A. Dana Professor of English, emeritus, died peacefully in his sleep at home on Nov. 1, 2014. He was 88.
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https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150324-ancient-methuselah-date-palm-sprout-science.html
Photograph by ARAVA Institute, EPA
A photograph of the date palm called Methuselah taken in 2008 shows the plant, which sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed, when it was about three years old. It's now about ten years old and ten feet (three meters) tall.
'Methuselah' Palm Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seed Is a Father
Ten years after sprouting from an ancient seed, the date palm is "a big boy now," a scientist says—"and yeah, he can make dates."
By John Roach,
A male date palm tree named Methuselah that sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed nearly a decade ago is thriving today, according to the Israeli researcher who is cultivating the historic plant.
The plant was sprouted in a laboratory in 2005, and when a National Geographic news story about the event resurfaced this week on the social media website Reddit, we decided to check in on Methuselah and see how it's doing. (See our 2005 story: “2,000-Year-Old Seed Sprouts, Sapling Is Thriving.”)
"He is a big boy now," says Elaine Solowey, the director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura in Israel.
"He is over three meters [ten feet] tall, he's got a few offshoots, he has flowers, and his pollen is good," she says. "We pollinated a female with his pollen, a wild [modern] female, and yeah, he can make dates."
In 2005, Solowey, an expert in desert agriculture, germinated the ancient seed, which was recovered decades earlier from an archaeological excavation at Masada, a historic mountainside fortress. The seed had spent years in a researcher's drawer in Tel Aviv.
In the years since Methuselah first sprouted, Solowey has successfully germinated a handful of other date palms from ancient seeds recovered at archaeological sites around the Dead Sea. "I'm trying to figure out how to plant an ancient date grove," she says.
To do that, she'll need to grow a female plant from an ancient seed as a mate for Methuselah. So far, at least two of the other ancient seeds that have sprouted are female.
If Solowey succeeds, she notes, "we would know what kind of dates they ate in those days and what they were like. That would be very exciting."
In 2012, scientists in Russia were able to grow a plant from 32,000-year-old seeds that had been buried by an Ice Age squirrel in Siberia. (See "32,000-Year-Old Plant Brought Back to Life—Oldest Yet.")
Genetic tests indicate that Methuselah is most closely related to an ancient variety of date palm from Egypt known as Hayany, which fits with a legend that says dates came to Israel with the children of the Exodus, Solowey says.
"It is pretty clear that Methuselah is a western date from North Africa rather than from Iraq, Iran, Babylon," she explains. "You can't confirm a legend, of course."
In addition to Solowey's hopes of establishing an orchard of ancient dates, she and colleagues are interested in studying the plants to see if they have any unique medicinal properties.
The other date palms sprouted from ancient seeds look similar to Methuselah; distinguishing characteristics, Solowey says, include a sharp angle between the fronds and spine.
"A lot of people have kind of forgotten about Methuselah," Solowey says. "He is actually a really pretty tree."
Follow John Roach on Twitter.
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Experience two Penn State events in Washington, D.C.
Essence of Joy will perform at this year's President's Concert.
Image: Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Attention, Penn Staters in Washington, D.C.: The Penn State Alumni Association invites you to a pair of events in your backyard next month. The 11th annual Penn State President’s Concert — featuring talented performers from the University’s School of Music — will take place on March 16, while a City Lights event is planned in the nation’s capital on March 23.
The President's Concert, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. March 16 at the National Presbyterian Church, will include performances by the chamber orchestra Strings, Essence of Joy, and the Graduate Brass Quintet with organist and Alumni Fellow William Neil (Class of 1966). Admission to the concert is complimentary and no ticket is required. The President’s Concert is a collaboration between the President’s Office, the Penn State School of Music, and the Penn State Alumni Association.
Prior to the concert, the Alumni Association and Penn State President Eric Barron will host a reception from 6 to 7 p.m. in Stone Hall, located in the lower level of the National Presbyterian Church. Admission to the reception is $25 for Alumni Association members; $40 for non-members; $15 for college students; $10 for children between the ages of 6 and 17; and free for children age 5 and under. Those attending the reception will be escorted to reserved seating for the President's Concert.
Register for the pre-concert reception by March 9. Business attire is recommended.
One week later, on March 23, head to the Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health for a presentation by Dr. Barbara Miller titled “THON, Four Diamonds, and Penn State: The Building of a World Class Pediatric Oncology Program.” This event is part of the Alumni Association’s City Lights program, and will take place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Advanced registration is required. Cost is $45 for Alumni Association members and $60 for non-members. All attendees will be treated to a one-hour reception prior to the presentation that includes heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Additionally, those in attendance can explore the interactive and immersive exhibits before and after the presentation.
Register online for both events. Tickets to the President’s Concert reception can be acquired by visiting the official registration site, while City Lights tickets are available here.
Dr. Barbara A. Miller will present a speech titled “THON, Four Diamonds, and Penn State: The Building of a World Class Pediatric Oncology Program” at the City Lights event in Washington, D.C.
Registration still open for President's Concert
College of Education students to perform in President’s Concert
School of Music ensembles to perform at 10th annual President's Concert
Arts and Entertainment, Music, President
Barbara Miller, City Lights, Penn State School of Music, President's Concert, THON
Arts and Architecture, Medicine
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Health & Wellness • Science & Technology • Society & Culture
UGA receives $1.7 million USDA grant to improve nutrition in Georgia
by Cal Powell
Jung Sun Lee
Athens, Ga. – A team of University of Georgia researchers, led by a faculty member in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, has received a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve the nutritional habits of low-income Georgians.
The researchers’ goal is to help Georgians eligible for SNAP benefits—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—establish healthy eating habits and a physically active lifestyle through evidence-based, behaviorally focused and culturally appropriate nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions.
“We have a great need for this type of program in the state of Georgia, and we have a capacity to meet that need,” said Jung Sun Lee, an associate professor in the department of foods and nutrition who serves as principal investigator on the grant.
With so many Georgia residents facing persistent poverty and the associated health risks, Lee said she’s optimistic about the potential for the SNAP-Education program to affect real change.
“Food insecurity, people having problems getting the type and amount of food they need, exists in this nation, but it’s hidden and not many people think it’s actually happening,” Lee said. “In all indicators, Georgia always ranks poorly (in obesity and chronic disease statistics). We definitely need to think about what are the barriers that prevent Georgians from healthy eating. We hope we can change these issues.”
Faculty and students from four colleges and five departments within UGA will be involved in the grant, including the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, the College of Education, the Grady College of Journalism and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, as well as UGA Extension.
The SNAP-Ed plan involves four projects:
• Expanding the existing Food Talk curriculum, which was developed at UGA by the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program staff, to include direct, face-to-face nutrition education in Fulton and Clarke counties that will reach 600 SNAP-Ed eligible adults via UGA Extension and peer educators.
“These are people recruited from the community who represent our target population and know what they need and know the issues and barriers to maintaining healthy eating,” Lee said of the peer educators.
• Launching Food eTalk, an interactive, online nutrition education program tailored to the specific needs of SNAP-Ed eligible adults that will deliver web and mobile-based programming across the state.
Food eTalk, still under development by faculty in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the College of Education and set to launch in March, will include six modules and feature interactive games and videos that reinforce nutrition education.
• Targeting nutrition and physical activity in young children through the Healthy Child Care Georgia program. Based in Clarke County, the program is a multi-level intervention under the direction of Caree Cotwright, an assistant professor of foods and nutrition, and Diane Bales, an Extension specialist and associate professor of human development and family science.
The program will include direct instruction to as many as 12 child care centers in Clarke County that participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
• Developing a vast social media and marketing intervention that aims to reach about 26,000 SNAP-eligible adult Georgians in the state’s 159 counties.
This portion of the project will be directed by faculty in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and will include print materials delivered statewide and distributed online to target audiences.
The project also involves geographic information system analysis conducted by Jerry Shannon in the Franklin College department of geography. This comprehensive food and physical activity environmental scan will be used to develop strategies to recruit SNAP-Ed eligible individuals and identify types and numbers of food resources available in the participants’ neighborhoods, Lee said.
Co-principal investigators on the project are Cotwright, Bales, Joe Phua in the Grady College and Shannon and Ikseon Choi with the College of Education. The College of Family and Consumer Sciences’ Debbie Murray, associate dean for extension and outreach, is the project director; and faculty member Judy Hibbs is the program coordinator.
SNAP-Ed staff involved in the project are Elizabeth Charron and Austin Childers, along with graduate student Sarah Stotz from the foods and nutrition department.
College of Family and Consumer Sciences Department of Foods and Nutrition Education Health Sciences News Release Obesity Public Policy and Politics Social Issues / Policy
Underwater gliders, robots improve hurricane forecasts
The future of space exploration
Traveling to Mars requires complicated teamwork
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Orange County Welcomes Titán Products of Puerto Rico
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs recently participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially welcome the new Titán Products of Puerto Rico distribution center in Orange County. The 40,000-square-foot facility, located at 1111 Central Florida Parkway, is now serving supermarkets, restaurants and stores throughout Florida with more than 200 products, including frozen foods, grains, and non-perishable goods.
“We are excited to welcome Titán Products to Orange County,” Mayor Jacobs said. “These are foods that many of our residents grew up enjoying, so Central Florida is a natural place for Titan’s growth and expansion in Florida.”
Titán Products of Puerto Rico is a subsidiary of Empresas Barsan, a Puerto Rico-based and family-owned company founded 31 years ago by Vicente Sanchez. His family’s dream of owning a business came true after years of hard work and determination. Empresas Barsan started in 1983 after the Sanchez family left Cuba for Puerto Rico in search of a better life and business opportunities. Titán Products of Puerto Rico started as a small manufacturer that produced frozen pastries and empanadas. The company is now one of the largest food distributors in Puerto Rico, serving stores in Florida and the Dominican Republic.
Titán Products of Puerto Rico carries brands that include La Aguadillana Products, Puerto Rico Coffee Roasters, Arroz D’Aquí, Procesadora Campofresco, Apiarios Caraballo, Doctor Mecánico, Caribbean Nature Products, Jugos del Centro, Ferdi Ram Cheeses, Los Cidrines Bakery, Indulac, Carmela Foods, Chef Piñeiro and Titan Products.
“We want to share the flavors of Puerto Rico with our Central Florida neighbors,” Vicente Sanchez said. “This is a community that has already given a warm reception to many of our products and has trusted us to feed their families, beyond cultural backgrounds. We are investing here because it is the right thing to do.”
The Interstate-4 corridor is home to close to 600,000 Puerto Ricans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Titán Products of Puerto Rico will employ a dozen local citizens at the new distribution center.
“This opening means more economic development in our community and attests to the vitality of our current business environment. We look forward to welcoming many more business partners from Puerto Rico interested in growing here,” Jacobs said.
A variety of photos from the event is available for use by the media and are located on Flickr.
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UncategorizedWFG News
WFG Makes More Personnel Announcements – The Title Report
By WFG NewsDecember 3, 2010 No Comments
The national underwriter recently named two new senior vice presidents in different levels of the organization. Read on for more details about these additions.
National underwriter WFG National Title Insurance Co. recently named two new senior vice presidents in different levels of the organization.
Adrienne Mann was named senior vice president, national agency, and Charles Cain has been named senior vice president, agency manager for the Midwest region. WFG National Title is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oregon-based Williston Financial Group and is currently licensed in 37 jurisdictions.
Mann joins WFG with 22 years of industry experience. Most recently, Mann was founder and chief executive officer of Mandrien Corp., a national consulting firm specializing in national agency administration and compliance for title agents and underwriters. Prior to her time at Mandrien, she served 18 years with one of the industry’s largest underwriters, including an eight year stint as operations manager for its national agency division. She also has worked with a number of lenders as well.
With WFG, Mann will oversee the company’s national agency group, with a focus on growing and maintaining relationships with agencies producing in a multistate environment.
“Adrienne exemplifies the WFG National Title philosophy,” said WFG National Title Executive Vice President Joseph Drum. “She brings an infectious enthusiasm, a wealth of industry experience and, above all, a desire to serve as a resource for title agents.”
“I look forward to collaborating with title agents throughout the industry,” Mann said. “As the industry changes, it is critical that we work together with independent title agents, and serve as a support system for them. We are facing a real opportunity, and I’m pleased to embrace it.”
Cain has 30 years of experience in the title insurance industry. He has been a licensed title insurance agent for more than 25 years, was an owner-operator of his own agency for 18 years and corporate officer with a national title insurance company for more than 10 years. Most recently, he has served as president and founder of Alliance Solutions LLC, a national consulting firm specializing in business process and compliance consultation for title agencies and underwriters. He has also served of counsel with the Sterbcow Law Group in New Orleans.
Cain will be responsible for developing and managing relationships with title agencies in the Midwest region, including Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri.
“Chuck is a familiar face to agents across the title industry, and his addition to WFG will be welcomed” Drum said. “He is very knowledgeable about the market, the territory and the unique issues facing Midwestern title agents, and will be an excellent resource for them.”
“WFG National Title embraces a philosophy to communicate, collaborate and co-exist with its agents,” Cain said. “Title agents are seeking an underwriter that returns to the days of supporting its agents, and it will be my pleasure to be a part of that process.”
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Evolution education, History, NCSE
I’m always on the lookout—or should I say on the listen?—for material to add to Voices for Evolution, NCSE’s compilation of statements supporting the teaching of evolution and opposing attempts to undermine it. In the most recent edition, published in 2008, there were no fewer than 176 such statements, from a wide range of scientific, educational, civil liberties, and religious and freethought organizations.
About three years ago, I think, I stumbled across a candidate statement, thanks to a scientist I never met. Ellis L. Yochelson was a paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History, specializing in fossil mollusks. He was also a historian of science, who wrote a biography of Charles Doolittle Walcott, the discoverer of the now iconic Cambrian fossils in the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies.
Toward the end of his life, Yochelson was preparing a talk for the Geological Society of America on the organizational response of American scientific associations to the threat of antievolutionism in the 1920s. Alas, he died first. Fortunately, the historian of geology Michele Aldrich completed and delivered his talk, and both the text and the PowerPoint slides are available on the GSA’s website.
In the talk, Yochelson discussed three Scopes-era statements: one from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (included in Voices for Evolution), one from the Smithsonian Institution, and one from the National Academy of Sciences. Of these, only the AAAS’s was widely publicized: it was published in Science in 1923 and reissued by Science News Service in 1925 amid the publicity surrounding the Scopes trial.
The NAS’s statement, Yochelson explained, was the result of discussions at the academy’s annual meeting in 1921; the NAS’s president, none other than Charles Doolittle Walcott, was asked to appoint a committee “to consider what public action, if any, is advisable for the National Academy of Sciences to take in regard to the organized campaign against the theory of organic evolution,” and duly complied.
The chair of the committee was John Mason Clarke (PDF), the state paleontologist and state geologist of New York and director of the New York State Museum. The committee initially balked at the idea of issuing a statement at all, regarding the NAS’s role as supporting research rather than advocating education. In his role as a director of a natural history museum, however, Clarke was receptive to the concerns of educators.
In the end, the committee compromised, formulating a statement but holding it “in readiness for use if a more acute exigency should arise.” The committee’s report was approved by the NAS membership in 1923, but the statement was never formally issued—probably because Clarke, the strongest proponent of issuing a statement on evolution, died on May 29, 1925, just four days after Scopes was indicted.
What did the statement say? Frustratingly, Yochelson’s PowerPoint presentation included only the first page of its three pages, which contained what might be described as glittering generalities—e.g., “[b]y arduous efforts, little by little, some of the underlying general laws of Nature have come within human knowledge and to the acceptance of our understanding”—and nothing about evolution proper.
The NAS’s archivist Janice Goldblum kindly provided the full text of the statement (PDF), however, as well as permission to reproduce it on NCSE’s website. Here’s the paragraph about evolution:
There has been no more magnificent and far-reaching generalization of a natural law than that commonly known as the doctrine of evolution, which involves, amongst its other elements, the recognition of the continuity of life and the development, through the ages, of living beings in structure and function. The conception is older than the Christian era; little by little it, too, has forced its way into understanding and acceptation by the educated members of every civilized community. The expression of it in general terms is the result of the skilled investigations of thousands of the most competent students of living nature. There are none so competent as they to formulate such an expression of natural truth. To refuse to accept this law, to deny it, to openly lampoon it, is the expression of ignorance, involuntary or unconfessed.
The prose is a little purple, I think, but the sentiment is excellent. It’s unfortunate that it remained “unpublished and unknown” until Goldblum, provoked by a question from Yochelson, discovered it in the NAS’s archives.
And what about the Smithsonian’s statement on evolution? Well, as with the NAS statement, Yochelson provided only a sample page; I haven’t seen the full text. If I find it, perhaps I’ll discuss it in a sequel post here at the Science League of America blog. In the meantime, take a look at the modern statements assembled in Voices for Evolution—and let me know if you hear of any statements that should be added.
(-) Remove Ann Reid filter Ann Reid
(-) Remove Creationism filter Creationism
(-) Remove Evolution filter Evolution
Attack on science education Apply Attack on science education filter
Science Apply Science filter
State science standards Apply State science standards filter
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United States, Appellee V. Miles
December 4, 2014 - Motion on behalf of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae in support of appellant's petitioin for grant of review.
Clict to open the filed motion
March 26, 2014 – Washington DC. – NCSF has filed an amicus brief in a military case involving a marine who engaged in a consensual threesome and because of that was convicted of adultery, attempted consensual sodomy and indecent conduct, a "crime" based solely on undefined sexual conduct inconsistent with "common propriety."
Click to open Subject Index, Table of Authorities & Amicus Brief
Click to open Miles Motion
Click to open Miles Brief
Click to open Goverment Brief
Click to open Defense Response
Published in Blank?
"When the Levee Breaks: A guide to dealing with and avoiding arrest and prosecution in BDSM scenes."
"When the Levee Breaks" is a companion to the NCSF publication, "The Aftermath," and is a guide to provide a perspective for those who have, through mistake, misunderstanding, or a fleeting lapse of reason, committed an act of criminally actionable sexual assault. It is not intended to provide a defense for indefensible acts. "When the Levee Breaks" also provides information on how to better protect oneself against arrest and prosecution.
Click to get a PDF of "When the Levee Breaks"
In the Aftermath
"The Aftermath: A guide for victims of sexual assault and/or intimate partner violence in the BDSM community," by Natalie Quintero
"The Aftermath" is a compilation of advice that is regularly provided to victims who ask for help through NCSF's Incident Reporting & Response project. This guide will educate anyone in the BDSM community who has been victimized on what one might expect to experience after an assault, what one's options are, things to consider when weighing options and making decisions on what to do next, what one might expect if one decides to report the experience, as well as the resources available to assist in coping with and healing from abuse.
Click to get a PDF of "The Aftermath"
Massachusetts v Appleby
Click to open Massachusetts v Appleby PDF
Law citations dealing with consent, compiled by the NCSF Consent Counts Project
D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii
Idaho Illinois Iowa Kansas
Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland
Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi
Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada
New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York
N. Carolina N. Dakota Ohio Oklahoma
Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island S. Carolina
S. Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah
Vermont Virginia Washington W. Virginia
Click to download a PDF of this document
State Assault Consent Definitions Cases
AL 13A-6-20 (1st degree) 13A-2-7 13A-1-2
13A-6-21 (2nd degree) (physical injury, serious physical injury)
13A-6-22 (3rd degree)
AK 11.41.200 (1st degree) 11.81.900 (serious physical injury, reckless)
11.41.210 (2nd degree)
11.41.220 (3rd degree)
11.41.250 (reckless endangerment)
AZ 13-1203 Simple Assault
13-12-4 Aggravated Assault
AR 5-13-201 1st degree battery 5-1-102 definitions
5-13-202 2nd degree battery
5-13-203 3rd degree battery
5-13-204 Aggravated assault
5-13-205 1st degree assault
5-13-206 2nd degree assault
5-13-207 3rd degree assault
CA Penal Code 241 Assault, Punishment Penal Code 7 Words and Phrases defined
Penal Code 243 Battery, Punishment Penal Code 240 Assault Defined
Penal Code 245 Assault with deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury Penal Code 242 Battery Defined
CO 18-3-202 (1st degree)
18-3-203 (2nd degree)
18-3-204 (3rd degree)
18-3-208 (reckless endangerment)
CT 53a-59 (1st degree) 53a-3 (serious physical injury, recklessly)
53a-60 (2nd degree)
53a-61 (3rd degree)
53a-63 (reckless endangerment 1st degree)
53a-64 (reckless endangerment 2nd degree)
DE 11 Del Code 611 (3rd degree) 11 Del. Code 452 Consent of victim to inflictions of physical injury as defense 11 Del Code 222
11 Del Code 612 (2nd degree)
11 Del Code 613 (1st degree)
11 Del Code 603 (reckless endangering 2nd degree)
11 Del Code 604 (reckless endangering 1st degree)
DC 22-404 (Assault) No definitions section in this particular subchapter – “Serious bodily injury” defined elsewhere
22-404.01 (Aggravated Assault)
22-407 (threats of bodily harm)
FL 784.011 Assault
784.021 Aggravated Assault
784.03 Battery, Felony battery
784.045 Aggravated Battery
GA 16-5-20 Simple Assault Definitions contained within the statutes
16-5-23 Simple Battery
16-5-23.1 Battery
HI 707-710 Assault 1st degree 702-734 Consent to Bodily Injury 707-700 definitions related to offenses against the person
707-711 Assault 2nd degree
707-712 Assault 3rd degree
707-713 Reckless Endangering 1st degree
707-714 Reckless Endangering 2nd degree
ID 18-902 Assault 18-101, 18-101A (both are “Definitions” sections)
18-904 Battery 18-901 “Assault”
18-906 Aggravated Assault 18-903 “Battery”
18-908 Aggravated Battery 18-905 “Aggravated Assault”
18-907 “Aggravated Battery”
IL 720 ILCS/21-1 Assault 720 ILCS 5/2 et seq. contains definitions – no good definitions of “serious bodily injury”
720 ILCS/21-2 Aggravated Assault
720 ILCS/21-3 Battery
720 ILCS/21-4 Aggravated Battery
720 ILCS/21-5 Reckless Conduct
IN 35-42-2-1 Battery 35-41-1-4 “Bodily Injury”
35-42-2-1.5 Aggravated battery 35-41-1-25 “Serious bodily injury”
35-42-2-2 Criminal recklessness
IA 708.1 Assault Defined 708.1 Assault Defined
708.2 Penalties for Assault
KS 21-3408 Assault 21-3201 Criminal Intent 21-3110 Definitions
21-3410 Aggravated Assault 21-3204 Guilt without criminal intent
KY 508.010 (1st degree) 500.080 Definitions
508.020 (2nd degree)
508.025 (3rd degree)
508.030 (4th degree)
508.060 (wanton endangerment 1st degree)
508.070 (wanton endangerment 2nd degree)
LA 14:38 Simple Assault 14:2 definitions
14:37 Aggravated Assault 14:33 Battery Defined
14:36 Assault Defined
ME Tit. 17A Sec. 207 Assault Title 17A Sec. 2 (Bodily Injury, Serious Bodily Injury, Recklessly)
17A sec. 208 Aggravated Assault
17A Sec. 211 Reckless Conduct
MD 3-202 (1st degree) 3-207 (dismissal possible if both victim and defendant agree) 3-201 Definitions
3-203 (2nd degree) 3-209 defenses
3-204 reckless endangerment
MA Ch. 265 sec. 13A Assault or Assault and Battery None direct, but analogous to ch. 265 sec. 13K
MI 750.81 Assault “Serious Injury” defined in the caselaw
750.81a w/infliction of serious injury
MN 609.221 (1st degree) 609.02 Definitions
609-222 (2nd degree)
609-223 (3rd degree)
609-2231 (4th degree)
MS 97-3-7 Simple and Aggravated Assault
MO 565.050 (1st degree) 565.08 565.002 (Serious physical injury)
MT 45-5-201 Assault 45-2-211 Consent as a Defense 45-2-101 General definitions
45-5-202 Aggravated Assault
45-5-207 Criminal Endangerment
45-5-208 Negligent Endangerment
NE 28-308 (1st degree) 28-109 (Serious Bodily Injury)
28-309 (2nd degree)
28-310 (3rd degree)
NV 200.471 Assault, Definitions, Penalties
200.481 Battery, Definitions, Penalties
NH 631:1 (1st degree) 626:6 Consent (similar to MPC) 625:11 General definitions
631:2 (2nd degree)
631:2-a (Simple assault)
631:3 Reckless Conduct
NJ 2C:12-1 (Assault) 2C:2-10 (Lifted from the MPC) 2C:3-11 (bodily harm, serious bodily harm)
2C:12-2 (reckless endangerment)
NM 30-3-1 Assault 30-1-12 (Great Bodily Harm)
30-3-2 Aggravated Assault
30-3-3 Assault with intent to commit violent felony
30-3-4 Battery
30-3-5 Aggravated Battery
NY Penal Law 120.00 (3rd degree) Penal Law 10.00 (Serious Physical Injury,
Penal Law 120.05 (2nd degree)
Penal Law 120.10 (1st degree)
Penal Law 120.20 (Reckless Endangerment 2nd degree)
Penal Law 120.25 (Reckless Endangerment 1st degree)
NC 14-32.4 (Assault inflicting serious injury, Strangulation) Definitions contained in the assault statutes
14-33 (Misdemeanor assults, batteries, affrays)
ND 12.1-17-01 Simple Assault 12.1-17-08 Consent as a Defense (very similar to MPC) 12.1-01-04 General Definitions
12.1-17-01.1 Assault
12.1-17-02 Aggravated Assault
12.1-17-03 Reckless Endangering
OH 2903.13 Assault 2901.21 Requirements for Criminal Liability 2901.01
2903.11 Felonious Assault
2903.12 Aggravated Assault
2903.14 Negligent Assault
OK 644 Assault and Battery 641 Assault
645 Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon 642 Battery
646 Aggravated Assault and battery
647 Punishment for Aggravated Assault and Battery
OR 163.160 (4th degree) 161.015 Definitions
163.185 (1st degree)
PA 2701 Simple Assault Seemingly allowed in the caselaw 2301 Definitions
2702 Aggravated Assault
2705 Reckless Endangerment
RI 11-5-1 Assault with intent to commit felonies (incl. sodomy)
11-5-2 Felony Assault
11-5-3 Simple Assault, Battery
SC No statute?
SD 22-18-1 (Simple Assault) 22-1-2 (Serious bodily injury)
22-18-1.1 (Aggravated Assault)
TN 39-13-101 Assault 39-13-104 Consent (very much like MPC) 39-11-106 Definitions
39-13-102 Aggravated Assault
39-13-103 Reckless Endangering
TX Penal Code 22.01 Assault Penal Code 22.06 Consent as a defense to assaultive conduct Penal Code 1.07
Penal Code 22.02 Aggravated Assault
UT 76-5-102 Assault 76-5-104 Consensual Altercation 76-1-601 Definitions
VT 13 VSA 1023 Simple Assault 13 VSA 1021 Definitions
13 VSA 1024 Aggravated Assault
13 VSA 1025 Recklessly endangering
VA 18.2-57 Assault and Battery
WA 9A.36.011 (1st degree) 9A.04.110 (Bodily Harm, Great Bodily Harm)
9A.36.021 (2nd degree)
9A.36.031 (3rd degree)
9A.36.041 (4th degree)
9A.36.050 (Reckless Endangerment)
WV 61-2-9 Malicious or unlawful assault; assault; battery
WI 940.19 Battery, Substantial Battery, Aggravated Battery 939.22 Words and Phrases Defined
940.23 Reckless Injury 939.24 Criminal Recklessness
WY 6-2-501 Simple Assault, Battery 6-1-104 (Bodily Injury, Serious Bodily Injury, Recklessly)
6-2-502 Aggravated Assault, Battery
6-2-504 Reckless Endangering
Published in Consent Counts Resources
2008 Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities Fast Facts
By Susan Wright
The 2008 survey saw a total of 3,058 responses collected. Of those, 2,412 respondents resided in the United States (83.4%). Of the remaining 480 respondents, a total of over 42 other countries were represented. Where appropriate, the data is compared to the 1998 Violence & Discrimination Survey Against Sexual Minorities which collected over 1,000 responses to similar questions over the course of a year. The 1998 survey did not cover business or event-related experiences of harassment, nor did it ask about Internet experiences. The 2008 survey also included more questions about sexual activity and identity.
Table 1. Gender 2008 1998
Women 51% 46%
Men 45% 51%
Transgender 5% 1%
Intersexes 1% 2%
Table 2. Sexual Orientation
Heterosexual 41% 40%
Bisexual 35% 36%
Gay/lesbian 22% 22%
Other 7% 4%
A total of 1,146 (37.5%) respondents indicated that they had either been discriminated against, had experienced some form of harassment or violence, or had some form of harassment or discrimination aimed at their BDSM-leather-fetish-related business. Of the respondents who reported some form of persecution,
476 (41.5%) identified as male
615 (53.7%) identified as female
9 (.8%) identified as intersexed
78 (6.8%) identified as transgendered
(Sexual orientation, like gender, was a question which required some answer, but allowed respondents to choose as many as they felt might apply, so the percentage totals more than 100%.)
Of the 1,146 respondents who indicated that they had either been discriminated against or had experienced some form of harassment or violence,
380 (33.2%) identified as heterosexual,
440 (38.4%) identified as bisexual
292 (25.5%) identified as gay or lesbian.
97 (8.5%) indicated that they identified in some other way from heterosexual, bisexual or gay/lesbian.
The sexual orientation of respondents who were discriminated against or had experienced some form of harassment or violence is compared in Table 6.1 to the total percentage of respondents who identified their orientation. It is interesting to note that Gay/lesbian, Bisexual and Other respondents have slightly higher rates of persecution than their average percentage of total respondents, while Heterosexuals are less likely to be discriminated against.
and Discrimination
Total Percent
2008 Respondents
Persecuted
Gay/lesbian 22% 25.5%
Bisexual 35% 38.4%
Heterosexual 41% 33.2%
Other 7% 8.5%
Total 105% 105.6%
In 1998, the survey asked: "Are you completely 'out' about your involvement in sexual minority practices? "62% stated they were not "completely out." That is statistically almost the same as the 59.5 and 59.7% of respondents in the current survey who said they weren't out to work and/or family.
11.3% (346) of the total number of respondents (3,058) reported being discriminated against by professional or personal service providers. That is 30% (346) of the respondents who were discriminated against (1,146). Those respondents could check one or more of the specific ways they were discriminated against (Table 8.), with 48.8% discriminated against by a medical doctor, and 39.3% discriminated against by a mental health practitioner.
Table 4. Discrimination by Professionals
Medical doctor 48.8%
Mental health practitioner 39.3%
Police or govt. employee 25.4%
Other Professional service provider 8.4%
Lawyer 7.8%
Other Personal service provider 6.1%
Dentist 1.7%
Building contractor 1.7%
Accountant 1.2%
In total, 203 (6.6%) respondents stated their business had been harassed or discriminated against.
Respondents could check one or more of the specific ways they were discriminated against
(Table 5.).
Table 5. Business Discrimination
Negative media coverage 26.1%
Harassment by police/author 22.2%
Harassment by neighbors 20.7%
Harassment by organizations 20.2%
Loss of lease 17.7%
Refused credit card services 14.8%
Loss of business 13.8%
Refused insurance coverage 8.9%
Loss of occupancy certificate 4.9%
Arrest 3.0%
Fines 2.0%
Other 24.6%
When asked, "Have you curtailed your use of the Internet for fear of prosecution?" More than one-third of the respondents, 1,065 (34.8%) of the 3058 respondents, said "yes". Respondents could check one or more of the specific ways they curtailed their Internet use (Table 10.).
Table 6. Curtailed Internet Use
Didn't post image 71.5%
Didn't visit website 45.7%
Didn't post text 43.4%
Didn't link to website 38.7%
Didn't join email group 31.0%
Posted 18-over warn 25.7%
Barred users 16.1%
Didn't add meta-text 8.0%
9.3% of respondents, 285 out of the total returned surveys, reported that US 2257 had an impact on their use of the Internet. Of the 1,065 respondents who indicated that they had curtailed their use of the Internet regarding BDSM activities, 214 (20.1%) reported that US 2257 was a significant reason for that curtailment.
When respondents who experienced violence and/or harassment were asked, "Did you press charges?" 90% said no as compared to 96% of the respondents in the 1998 survey who did not press charges.
Table 7. Reasons Declined To Press Charges
Fear of further harassment 41.0%
Fear of family disapproval 24.1%
Fear of job safety 22.2%
Fear of legal repercussions 21.9%
Fear of losing child custody 10.6%
Copyright Susan Wright, Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities (2008)
Published in BDSM Survey
Affidavit of Susan Wright in Response to Affirmation in opposition to motion to file
Affidavit of Susan Wright in Response to Affirmation in Opposition to Motion to File a Memorandum of Law Amicus Curiae
N.Y. Co. Ind. No 10938/96
Cal. No. 98-10474
1. I, Susan Wright, am the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) .
2. I write this affidavit in response to the DA's Brief in Opposition to the NCSF request to file an Amicus Curia Brief. I am at a loss as to why the Appellate Division of the DA's office has labeled the NCSF a "phantom entity. In August 1998, I contacted Martha Bashford at the D.A.'s office because she had worked with one of the NCSF Board organizations, Gay Male S/M Activists (GMSMA) , on a criminal case (the so-called Dangerous Top, Michael Payte). (see Appendix A, Village Voice article by Guy Trebay.) Martha Bashford suggested I send an email proposing that: the NCSF and the DA's office have a meeting to ensure the DA's position would not harm our constituents. I received no response to my requests, and contacted Martha Bashford again in October 1998. We spoke briefly, but no arrangements were made at that point for a meeting. In late l998, the NCSF began considering the necessity of filing an Amicus Brief.
3. The NCSF was founded in 1997 and consists of 20 organizations with a combined membership of 6,500. The NCSF is an advocacy and lobbying organization that supports the understanding and tolerance of sexual minority practices. The NCSF has been noted by the New York media in this capacity (see Appendix B, article from the New York Blade which cites NCSF's activity on sexual liberation issues). NCSF is in the process of incorporating in the State of Virginia and applying for a 501(C)4 status. Our accountant is: Rob Lyons at (301) 6648204; and our filing attorney is Jeff Yablon at Shaw Pittman, 2300 N. Street N.W , Washington DC 20)37. The executive office of the NCSF is currently in my home office at 381 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11211 (718)383-3318. Additional information on NCSF can be provided upon request.
The Board of Directors of the NCSF consists of representatives from five of the largest and oldest organizations (dating back to 1971) in our coalition. Most of these organizations enjoy formal not-for-profit status in their own right. (See Appendix: one-page mission statements from each of the five organizations sitting on the Board of the NCSF.) The Board Members are:
Susan Degnan
The Eulenspiegel Society
Joe Holt
The Society of Janus
Athena Lyons
National Leather Association- International
3439 N.E. Sandy Boulevard #155
Jack McGeorge
Arlington VA 22210
Bob Zieniewicz
Gay Male S/M Activists
332 Bleecker Street, #D23
The other fifteen organizations that belong to the NCSF are: Boston Dungeon Society (Massachusetts), Connecticut Munches (Connecticut), Knot For Everyone (New Jersey), LATCHES (National), Ohio Leather Coalition (Ohio), People Exchanging Power - PEP (Ohio), Memphis Power Exchange (Tennessee), The Power Exchange (Maryland), The Red Chair (Alabama), The Rose Garden (Southwest), SigMa (Washington DC), SMART - Sado Masochist Alliance Real Time (Ohio), St. Louis Leather & Lace (Missouri), TALON (North Carolina), and The Tri-State Couples Club (Pennsylvania).
6. On January 7th 1993, the NCSF received a copy of the D.A.'s brief which by eliminating consent as a defense and denying the constitutionality of practicing sadomasochism, effectively criminalizes sadomasochistic activity. The NCSF retained Michael T. Fois as Counsel of Record to file an Amicus Brief on behalf of our organization. At that time, we believed oral argument was scheduled for mid-February.
7. This is the first time the NCSF has injected itself into any legal proceeding, however the NCSF has been active in both National and local sexual minority issues. we release a weekly Media Update (archived on our website at www.ncsfreedom.org) covering sexual minorities in the news media, and as part of our anti-defamation efforts, the NCSF opposed the State University of NY's condemnation of President Bowen for including sexual minority topics in a Women's Conference at SUNY New Paltz. The NCSF participated in Lobby Day in April 1997 in Washington DC, lobbying for equality in the workplace for sexual minorities. The NCSF is currently analyzing the 1,000+ returned surveys from the lst National Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities, and in the summer of 1998, I gave over 50 radio interviews around the country on the preliminary results of this survey.
8. The reaction of the D.A. after the attempts the NCSF has made to open a dialogue on this matter simply proves the need for diligent representation of sexual minority issues. Mark Dwyer states in his Opposition: "under the Penal Law, if a sadomasochist engages in conduct that falls within the assault statutes (e.g., in intentionally causing physical injury or I serious physical injury to another) , he is guilty of assault, regardless of whether the victim I consents." There are tens of thousands of practitioners of sadomasochism in New York who would be justifiably concerned with this statement, as it comes from a D.A. who has already concluded that hot candle wax is "a dangerous weapon." The NCSF contends that consent is the basis for determining if an activity is sadomasochism rather than assault. The DA has ignored our offers to educate them as to sadomasochistic practices and the nature of consent in those practices. We hope this Court is more receptive.
JENNIFER PREVETE
Notary Public, State of New York
No. 0 1 PR6010126
Qualified in Kings County
Commission Expires July 13, 2003
Published in Jovanovic Case
Affirmation of Michael Thomas Fois in response to opposition to motion to file
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
APPELLATE DIVISION: FIRST DEPARTMENT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------X
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Indictment No.
Plaintiff-Respondent, 10938/96
-against-
OLIVER JOVANOVIC,
Defendant-Appellant.
AFFIRMATION OF MICHAEL THOMAS FOIS
IN RESPONSE TO OPPOSITION OF THE
DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO MOTION TO FILE
A MEMORANDUM OF LAW AMICUS CURIA
Michael Thomas Fois, an attorney admitted to practice in front of this Court, affirms and states under penalty of perjury, the following:
I represent the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom ("NCSF") and file this affirmation in response to the Affirmation of Assistant District Attorney Mark Dwyer, dated January 26, 1999 (the "Dwyer Aff."), submitted in opposition to the NCSF's motion for leave to file a Memorandum of Law as amicus curiae in the above-captioned matter.
Whether due to negligence or willful misrepresentation, the District Attorney's Affirmation borders on the sanctionable. It contains numerous false statements and the District Attorney has, without using the exact words, accused the NCSF, and myself, of misrepresenting itself to this Court. The District Attorney falsely states that "the so-called NCSF is just such a phantom entity." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 3). At one point, the District Attorney accuses the NCSF, and myself, of listing a "phoney address." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 4). The District Attorney affirmed to this Court that "[f]rom all that appears, the NCSF might simply be one or two people who have a computer, internet access, and the capacity to create a website." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 8). To make these statements, without any evidentiary support, should be enough to raise the ire of this Court; to do so, as the District Attorney does here, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, I believe borders on the sanctionable. As court filings are privileged, this filing provides our only redress to the District Attorney's defamation. While I cannot opine as to what degree of actual knowledge ADA Mark Dwyer had upon filing his affirmation, the Office of the District Attorney, as an institution, possessed information when it filed its affirmation that refutes many claims it subsequently made; information that clearly established that the NCSF is a recognized national not-for-profit organization with a duly constituted board and a substantial membership. Pointedly, the District Attorney had no difficulty effecting personal service upon the phantom it now asks this Court to ignore.
I note that at no time did the District Attorney attempt to contact me, the attorney of record, regarding the status of the NCSF. One would expect that, if the District Attorney honestly doubted the validity of the NCSF, its first move would be to call the telephone number on the Notice of Motion -- my number. To contact the attorney of record is not merely common courtesy and standard practice; it is also a critical element of due diligence prior to making the type of attack the District Attorney launched in its affirmation.
ATTORNEY'S KNOWLEDGE THEREOF
Far from a being a phantom, the NCSF consists of twenty organizations, some nearly thirty years old, whose combined membership is 6,500. When it filed the Notice of Motion, the NCSF did not believe it necessary to provide extensive background information. The NCSF, which had been in contact with the District Attorney's office regarding this case, was shocked to have its validity questioned. As its credibility, indeed its very existence, has been called into question, the NCSF now provides the Court with greater detail through this Affirmation and the attached Affidavit of NCSF Executive Director Susan Wright (the "Wright Aff."). I do not believe it is appropriate or helpful to flood this Court with affidavits at this point, but the NCSF stands willing to provide additional documentation and third party affidavits should the Court so desire. Throughout these documents this Court will note numerous contact addresses and phone numbers the Court may use to verify the information the NCSF presents
It should be noted that the District Attorney, while arguing this Court should ignore the NCSF as a phantom, failed to disclose that it has been in contact with the NCSF on this case since August 1998, and that it had worked extensively with a NCSF board member in a criminal investigation in 1996. NCSF Executive Director Susan Wright first contacted Assistant District Attorney Martha Bashford of the sex crimes unit regarding the Jovanovic case in August 1998. ADA Bashford discussed the concerns of the NCSF with Ms. Wright again in October 1998. (Wright Aff. ¦ 2). While the concerns of the NCSF were not fully addressed, nothing in the NCSF dealings with the District Attorney's office at that time indicated that the District Attorney believed it was dealing with a "phantom" or in any way challenged the validity of the NCSF.
ADA Bashford's name was not pulled out of hat; the NCSF contacted her because she had worked with a NCSF board member, the Gay Male S/M Activists ("GMSMA"), on a criminal investigation in 1996. (Wright Aff. ¦ 2). The mission statement of the GMSMA is annexed to the Wright Affidavit. Briefly, the GMSMA is a not-for-profit group established in 1982 to create a more supportive community for gay men involved in sadomasochism. The District Attorney's office utilized the resources of the GMSMA in identifying potential witnesses in what the New York media labled the "Dangerous Top" case. See "Dangerous Top" Unmasked: D.A. Investigates S/M Torture Charges, by Guy Trebay, Village Voice 1996, a copy of which is annexed to the Wright Affidavit. More details regarding the GMSMA and its work with the District Attorney's office can be provided if the Court so desires.
The District Attorney was aware when it filed its affirmation that the GMSMA was a board member of the NCSF. The District Attorney admits it reviewed the NCSF's website (https://ncsfreedom.org) prior to filling its affirmation (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 7). That website clearly identifies the GMSMA as a board member of the NCSF. The NCSF website clearly lists its Board of Directors and provides the ability to contact those organizations. When the board member is an organization, as is the case with the GMSMA, the website lists the individual from that organization presently serving on the NCSF board. The website also provides the names of nine staff members of the NCSF and the ability to contact those individuals. A printout of the NCSF website is attached to this affirmation; the names of the board and staff members appear on page 3. The underlined words are "hyperlinks." With one click on a hyperlink, a browser is taken directly to an individual e-mail address, in the case of the NCSF staff members, or to another website, as in the case of the board members. To the best of my knowledge, the District Attorney made absolutely no effort to contact any of the individuals or organizations listed on the NCSF website.
These facts of which the District Attorney's office was undoubtedly aware of prior to filing its affirmation more than refute the accusations made in that affirmation. The District Attorney cannot argue that the NCSF's credibility "would be suspect at best" (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 2) when it had in the past relied upon the credibility of one of the NCSF's board members. Nor can it can claim "that the so-called NCSF is just such a phantom entity" (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 3) after having discussions with the so-called phantom's executive director, identifying its board members, and nine of its staff members. And it is absurd to accuse the NCSF of listing "a phoney address" (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 4) when the District Attorney had no difficulty effecting personal service upon the NCSF at the address listed.
More egregious statements, however, exists in the affirmation. The District Attorney affirmed to this Court that "[f]rom all that appears, the NCSF might simply be one or two people who have a computer, internet access, and the capacity to create a website." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 8). The District Attorney also affirmed that the NCSF "does not have a verifiable identity." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 8). These statements are more than misleading, they are defamatory. At the time the District Attorney made these claims, it possessed the names of all seven NCSF board members, nine staff members, and the ability to contact them. ADA Dwyer may believe the NCSF and its website to be no more than a figment of my imagination, but he had an ethical obligation to at least attempt to contact those he dismisses as phantoms before affirming to this Court that the NCSF lacks a "verifiable identity." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 8).
The District Attorney states that the NCSF "website makes no mention of Michael Fois or his affiliation, if any, with the NCSF." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 7). I am at a loss as to the relevance of this information on whether the NCSF should be allowed to file an amicus brief. Had I believed my personal background to be of relevance I would have appended a resume. It is clear that the only point of this statement is to cast dispersions upon myself. While I believe ad hominem attacks normally not worthy of response, for the elucidation of the Court, I will briefly describe my background and relation to this case. I am not a member of the NCSF or of any of its member organizations and for that reason do not appear on their website. I was first contacted by the NCSF in mid 1998, having been referred to them by another attorney. I had recently left the legal department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, for which I had worked for seven years, the last four of which I was in the Litigation and Enforcement Division. In that capacity, I investigated banking fraud and had occasion to work with the District Attorney's office. I agreed to assist the NCSF, pro bono, because I was concerned that an overaction to a horrendous case could create bad law and reduce the civil liberties enjoyed by all New Yorkers. As has become axiomatic, hard cases make bad law. Northern securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197, 401 (1904)(Holmes, J., dissenting). My worst fears were realized when I saw the District Attorney's brief and the broadside it laid into civil liberties and consensual sexual conduct.
Through the statements discussed above, the District Attorney denigrates the NCSF and myself and attempts to convince this Court that we have misrepresented ourselves and are really nothing more than a pair of computer hackers who lack "recognized reliability, and expertise in legal matters." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 2). This description contradicts the information possessed by the District Attorney at the time it filed its affirmation. Were such statements made outside of a court filing, they would constitute defamation per se.
MORE THAN TWO PEOPLE WITH A COMPUTER:
VERIFICATION OF THE NCSF
The District Attorney affirmed that "a comprehensive review of listings, phone books, and databases reveals no proof that there is such an organization as the NCSF." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 3). We question both the scope and the effectiveness of the District Attorney's "comprehensive" review. It clearly failed to include the District Attorney's own records; if it had, it would have revealed ADA Bashford's contact with the NCSF as well as the involvement of the GMSMA in the Dangerous Top case. There simply are not that many cases dealing with sadomasochism in any context; its hard to imagine that a case less than three years old that generated substantial media coverage would fall through the cracks.
The District Attorney's "comprehensive" review also could not have included the local media, which has reported on the NCSF. See, Silence of the lambdas, by Katie Szymanski, New York Blade News, September 4, 1998, a copy of which is annexed to the Wright Affidavit. Nor could it have included the national media, for the NCSF gave nearly 50 radio interviews in 1998. (Wright Aff. ¦ 7). And although the District Attorney found the NCSF website, it could not have searched the world wide web. Had it, it would have found reports regarding the NCSF's lobbying and the NCSF's National Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities. See, e.g., GenderTalk at http://www.gendertalk.com/GTransgr/iyf897.htm; GenderNews at http://www.ifge.org/news/1998/april/nws4298c.htm. Clearly, the thousand plus respondents to the NCSF's survey had no difficulty finding the NCSF.
The District Attorney affirmed that "a thorough search of the relevant public records indicates that no organization named the 'National Coalition for Sexual Freedom' has ever filed for non-profit status." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 3). The NCSF is not sure why the District Attorney failed to find the NCSF's filings. Perhaps the District Attorney only searched locally, not nationally. The NCSF's executive office is in New York, but its situs for incorporation and its not-for-profit status is in Washington DC The NCSF would have readily provided copies of the relevant documentation had the District Attorney so requested; it never did. The NCSF now provides, in the Wright Affidavit, contact information for its accountant and the attorney responsible for its incorporation and not-for-profit filings, should the Court desire confirmation of the NCSF's not-for-profit status. (Wright Aff. ¦ 2).
The District Attorney affirmed that the address provided by the NCSF "appears to be a phoney address." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 4). Here the District Attorney explicitly accuses the NCSF and myself of making a misrepresentation to this Court; an accusation the District Attorney bases solely on the use of a Brooklyn address with a Manhattan phone number. To the best of my knowledge, the District Attorney made no effort to contact anyone at the listed address to determine whether, in fact, it belonged to the NCSF. I am a solo practitioner and do not maintain an office; so, for the purposes of this litigation, I utilized the executive office of my client, the NCSF, which is located in Brooklyn at the address originally listed on the Notice of Motion. (Wright Aff. ¦ 2). Like many not-for-profit organizations, the executive office of the NCSF is located at the residential address of its executive director. While I lack an office, I do have a phone and that information was supplied. Hence the Manhattan telephone number listed on the Notice of Motion. The District Attorney had no difficulty effecting personal service upon the NCSF at the address it insists is phoney.
The District Attorney notes that the zip code originally listed as part of the NCSF's address on the Notice of Motion was for lower Manhattan while the rest of the address was in Brooklyn. (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 4). The District Attorney misleadingly implies that this bolsters its "phoney address" assertion. The District Attorney, however, fails to disclose to this Court that it is aware the original zip code was a typographical error and that it was made aware of that typographical error the same day it was served the Notice of Motion. The NCSF subsequently provided the District Attorney with the correct zip code. The zip code error was discovered almost immediately after the Notice of Motion was filed -- which was the same day it was served, Friday, January 22, 1999. The District Attorney's office was informed of the error that same day; the specific individual was Carmen Mejia, tel. 335-9342. The correct zip code, the one the District Attorney used and lists in its affirmation, was provided to the District Attorney by the NCSF. The Appellant was also provided with the correct address and I personally corrected the addresses in the court filings.
The District Attorney notes that "this is the first attempt by the NCSF to inject itself into any legal proceeding." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 6). The point of this statement escapes me, nor do I understand the relevance of this information on whether the NCSF should be allowed to file an amicus brief. Surely the District Attorney does not mean to imply that this Court should refuse to accept the NCSF amicus brief because it is its first legal foray? Under that logic, no organization would ever be allowed to file an amicus brief, for the first one will always be rejected as being the first one! Presumably, the District Attorney means to say that since the NCSF has not sued or been sued, or prosecuted, it must not exist. I do not believe this argument worth commenting on.
The District Attorney likewise affirmed that the NCSF "does not have a verifiable identity and, for all intents and purposes, is accountable to no one." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 8). This statement is false. The truth is that, at best, the District Attorney chose not to verify the NCSF's identity. As described earlier, its "comprehensive review" was sorely lacking. (¦¦ 11-13, supra). One would think that, if the District Attorney truly doubted the validity of the NCSF, its first move would be to contact the attorney of record, yet no attempt was made to contact me. Nor was any attempt made to contact anyone associated with the NCSF or its member organizations. The information the District Attorney admits possessing, the information provided by the website, was more than sufficient to verify the NCSF's existence and dispel its purported fears of a couple of computer hackers perpetrating some kind of amicus shell game.. (See ¦ 7, supra). That the District Attorney chose not to verify the NCSF's existence is disheartening; that the District Attorney would affirm it could not verify the existence of the NCSF is frightening -- and false.
THE NCSF MUST BE HEARD
Despite the District Attorney's accusations to the contrary, the NCSF is not "accountable to no one." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 8). It is accountable to its members, its Board of Directors, and, like myself, the NCSF is accountable to this Court. We made ourselves so when we asked to be heard. But the NCSF is not accountable to the District Attorney, and that seems to be the true rationale behind the District Attorney's opposition. Had District Attorney believed the NCSF's amicus brief aided them, I doubt they would have spent three pages trying to prove the NCSF does not exist. Throughout its affirmation, the District Attorney denigrates the NCSF. The NCSF is not concerned with these insults, for it is confident this Court will see through the attacks ad hominem to the weakness of the underlying substantive position. The NCSF, however, feels it must address the District Attorney's position that the NCSF, and its members, are not worthy of being heard by this Court. Indeed, it is because prosecutors are so confident that sexual minorities can be ignored that NCSF feels it must be heard.
The District Attorney asserts that the Notice of Motion was untimely and therefore that the brief should not be received. We disagree. The tight time frame was not created by the NCSF, nor did it work an injustice on any party. The District Attorney's brief was not filed until January 7, 1999, a mere three weeks ago. The need for an amicus brief was not clear prior to our review of the District Attorney's arguments. The NCSF could not have predicted the extreme position taken by the District Attorney in its brief, one that far exceeded any argument made at trial. The NCSF, with substantially less resources than the District Attorney's office, managed to produce and file the Notice of Motion, complete with draft amicus brief, two weeks after the District Attorney's filing. The District Attorney managed to file its opposition, which addresses legal arguments made by the NCSF, with time to spare. The time frame has not worked any unfairness to the District Attorney. The District Attorney's office was informed of NCSF's concerns nearly six months ago; it cannot now claim surprise.
The Court should note that when the NCSF decided to file an amicus brief, it reasonably believed that oral argument would not be before mid-February. (Wright Aff. ¦ 6). When I filed the Notice of Motion on January 22, 1999, I inquired of the clerk when would be the exact date of the oral argument. I was informed that a specific date had not been set but that the case was on the calendar for the mid-February term. This was, in fact, the fourth time I was informed the oral argument was scheduled for mid-February. The first was from Ms. Wright. The second time was when I arranged for the printing of the amicus brief. Michael Burns of Counsel Press, in my presence, called the First Department's clerks' office to clarify the procedures for filing an amicus brief, including the date for oral argument. This was on January 19, 1999. Once again, I was informed that the case was on the calendar for mid-February. The third time was later that same day, when I inquired in person at the Appellate Division, First Department. I was once again informed that by the clerks that oral argument was scheduled for mid-February. I did not learn that the actual oral argument date had been set for February 2, 1999, until I received the District Attorney's affirmation.
I recognize that it is counsel's responsibility, not that of the clerks, to ascertain the correct dates and I take full responsibility for any misunderstanding. I am, however, at a loss as to what additional steps I or the NCSF could have taken to ascertain the dates or expedite the process. I believe it would work an injustice to my client to refuse to accept its brief based on timing factors, especially since those factors did not harm any party and were not a result of any strategic decision by the NCSF.
The District Attorney asserts "the NCSF brief has nothing to offer on the merits." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 10). While taking no position on the guilt or innocence of the Appellant, the NCSF amicus does addresses the merits of the legal issues raised -- the Constitutional right to privacy and the consent defense. The NCSF amicus provides an in depth analysis on Constitutional law as it impacts this case, an area the District Attorney ignored in its affirmation and barely addressed in its brief. Second, only the NCSF amicus addresses the ramifications of eliminating the consent defense to assault; specifically, the criminalization of consensual conduct ranging from body piercing to contact sports, as well as sadomasochism. Third, only the NCSF amicus provides background information and statistics on sadomasochism; material gleaned form respected social scientists and published in academic journals. The NCSF takes issue with the District Attorney's claim that "the NCSF cites only two New York cases that were not addressed in the People's brief." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 11). In fact, the NCSF cites a half dozen New York cases not cited by the District Attorney. The cases the District Attorney failed to count are in the amicus
brief section on the State Constitution, an area of law the District Attorney apparently believes not worth addressing.
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S NEW ARGUMENTS
The NCSF does not believe it would be helpful to the Court for us to engage in a point to point response of the District Attorney's response to our arguments; our legal arguments are in our brief. Notably, the District Attorney choose to spend nearly half its affirmation addressing the NCSF's "meritless" position. (Dwyer Aff. ¦¦ 10-15). In fact, the District Attorney submitted 7 pages requesting the Court not read 18! In light of the some 300 pages of briefs submitted by the District Attorney and the Appellant, the NCSF humbly requests this Court accept an additional 18 from the NCSF. The District Attorney concludes that "at bottom, the NCSF's claim is one not of law but of policy." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 16). The NCSF believes our claim to be both of law and policy; it only ask this Court to address the law.
The NCSF does apologize to this Court for our failure to include in parenthetical information that one of the opinions cited, Mercury Bay Boating Club Inc. v. San Diego Yacht Club, 150 A.D.2d 82 (1st Dept. 1989), aff'd, 76 N.Y.2d 256 (1990), was a concurrence by the Justice Rubin. The NCSF strongly urges that this Court read Justice Rubin's opinion, as he traces the interaction of sportsmanship and law from Pierson v. Post, 3 Caines 175 (1805), through the consent defense to the modern day. Justice Rubin's opinion forced the District Attorney to admit that, in sports at least, "the courts would be required to determine whether consent might be a valid defense [to assault]." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 13).
The NCSF believe it should address the one new legal citation the District Attorney added in its affirmation. In refuting the plethora of New York case law provide by the NCSF in the amicus brief, the District Attorney refers only to the Restatement (Second) Torts for the proposition that consent is not a defense to a criminal prosecution unless such a defense is provide by statute. (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 15, citing Restatement (Second) Torts ¤ 892C, cmt. a and ill.1). This "majority rule" summary of the general trends in American law is not linked by the District Attorney to the laws of the State of New York. In the face of an unbroken common law tradition, continuing to the present, the District Attorney bears the burden of proving that these decisions on the consent defense to assault have been overturned either by the courts or the legislature. The District Attorney has utterly failed to do so. They fail even to reconcile the Restatement's position with that expressed by Justice Rubin in Mercury Bay Boating Club Inc., a position the District Attorney quoted only two paragraphs earlier. (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 13).
The District Attorney states that the NCSF's belief that the position urged by the District Attorney would result in criminalizing all sadomasochistic conduct is an "absurd mischaracterization." (Dwyer Aff. ¦ 10). The District Attorney still does not get it. Without the consent defense, the Penal Law effectively criminalized not only sadomasochism but a host of other activities, including contact sports, body piercing, even a Rabbi performing a circumcision of an adult convert to Judaism! Such a result, the NCSF argues, would violate the State Constitution. The decision as to what conduct falls within the confines of the statute is, in the first instance, made by the District Attorney in the drafting of the indictment. While an indictment, of course, is a mere accusation, on the strength of such accusations defendants are subject to the risk, exposure, and expense of trial. As the Court noted in People v. Anonymous Female, 143 Misc.2d 197 (City Ct. Buffalo 1989), even innocent defendants will be reluctant to contest ill founded accusations in the glare of publicity. The assault statute can be expanded or contracted at the District Attorney's whim - and the District Attorney's disingenuous behavior in this case strongly leads the NCSF to distrust the District Attorney's whims. The NCSF requests this Court permit the filing of an amicus brief and to consider the argument that the consent defense recognized by Justice Rubin also applies to sadomasochism.
Dated: New York, New York
MICHAEL THOMAS FOIS
Attorney for Amicus Curiae
381 Manhattan Ave.
Affirmation in opposition to motion to file
AFFIRMATION IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO FILE A
-against- MEMORANDUM OF LAW
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK APPELLATE DIVISION: FIRST DEPARTMENT
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Respondent, AFFIRMATION IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO FILE A
N.Y. Co. Ind. No. 10938/96
MARK DWYER, an attorney duly admitted to practice before the courts of this state, affirms:
1. I am an Assistant District Attorney, of counsel to ROBERT M. MORGENTHAU, District Attorney of New York County. I submit this affirmation in response to the motion of Michael Thomas Fois in the above-captioned matter. Mr. Fois identifies himself as an attorney for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF), and seeks leave to file a Memorandum of Law amicus curiae on behalf of that organization (Fois Aff. 1).
2. Of course, this Court has the discretion to permit interested parties to file amicus curiae briefs that may prove helpful to the Court. However, the People respectfully submit that this Court should accept amicus briefs only from organizations with recognized reliability, and expertise in legal matters. On a practical level, there is no point in burdening the Court, or the parties, with a brief filed by a phantom entity. Furthermore, the credibility of such an organization would be suspect at best, which would raise serious doubts about the substance of any arguments it wishes to present.
3. Our research reveals that the so-called NCSF is just such a phantom entity. About all that Mr. Fois asserts concerning the NCSF is that it is a "not for profit organization, founded to defend the right of American citizens to individual autonomy and privacy in the sexual sphere" (Fois Aff. t 2) However, a comprehensive review of listings, phone books, and databases reveals no proof that there is such an organization as the NCSF. Indeed, a thorough search of the relevant public records indicates that no organization named the "National Coalition for Sexual Freedom" has ever filed for non-profit status, nor has any such organization filed a tax return or been chartered as a business entity.
4. In his motion, Mr. Fois lists the address of the NCSF as 381 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 10009, and lists its phone number as (212) 353-8984 (Notice of Mot.). This appears to be a phony address. For starters, the phone number is a Manhattan phone number (area code 212), while the address is in Brooklyn. And the zip code listed (10009) is located in lower Manhattan -- not in Brooklyn. The correct zip code for 381 Manhattan Avenue in Brooklyn is 11211.
5. Moreover, no organization called the NCSF is listed at either the address or phone number provided by Mr. Fois. The address is not a business address; it is a residential apartment building. Neither Mr. Fois nor the NCSF is listed as a resident of that building. The phone number provided is a residential number, listed in the Manhattan phone book as belonging to Mr. Fois.
6. Further, there is no mention of the NCSF in any reported opinion, in any jurisdiction. As far as we can tell, this is the first attempt by the NCSF to inject itself into any legal proceeding.
7. While the NCSF does not seem to exist in the "real" world, it does appear to exist in the "virtual" world of cyberspace. The NCSF has a website (httv://www.ncsfreedom.org), which is dedicated to the discussion of various sexual practices (including, but not limited to, sadomasochism) , and which contains links to other websites of a similar nature. The website makes no mention of Michael Fois or his affiliation, if any, with the NCSF.
From all that appears, the NCSF might simply be one or two people who have a computer, internet access, and the capacity to create a website. It does not have a verifiable identity and, for all intents and purposes, is accountable to no one. Under these circumstances, the People respectfully submit that it would not be a sound exercise of discretion for this Court to accept an amicus brief from the NCSF.
Furthermore, the NCSF's motion to file a Memorandum of Law amicus curiae is untimely. As this
Court is undoubtedly aware, this case has attracted more than its share of media attention.
Yet the NCSF waited until January 22, 1999 -- merely eleven days before the scheduled oral argument date of February 2, 1999 -- to file its motion, and made the motion returnable on the day of oral argument. By filing at such a late date, the NCSF has given the parties little opportunity to respond to its contentions. This alone is a sufficient reason to deny the NCSF's application to file an amicus brief.
10. Further, the NCSF brief has nothing to offer on the merits. First, the NCSF characterizes the People's position as an argument that all sadomasochistic conduct is illegal (Mem. of Law at 2-3) That is an absurd mischaracterization. The People instead have argued that if all the statutory elements of assault are made out, that the victim allegedly consented is not a defense.
11. The NCSF's response to the People's actual position is meritless. As discussed in Point XI of the People's Brief, the plain language of the assault statutes, the structure of the legislative scheme, and the case law compel the conclusion that the Legislature did not intend for consent to be a defense to criminal assault. Nevertheless, the NCSF claims, the People have fallen "asleep at the switch" in making this argument, in that they have failed to notice "a myriad of decisions" in New York cases supposedly rejecting the People's position (Mem. of Law at 3) . Oddly, however, the NCSF cites only two New York cases that were not addressed in the People's brief. See Mercurv Bay Boating Club, Inc. v. San Diego Yacht Club, 150 A.D.2d 82 (lst Dept. 1989), affld, 76 N.Y.2d 256 (1990); Pillow v. Bushnell, 5 Barb. 156 (Sup. Ct. , 3rd Jud. Dist. 1849) And neither of these cases even remotely supports the NCSF's argument that consent is a defense to criminal assault.
12. First, Mercury Bay, on which the NCSF relies heavily (Mem. of Law at 13-17), is completely inapposite. The issue in that case was whether New Zealand violated the terms of the Deed of Gift of the America's Cup by entering a catamaran in the world famous yacht race. See 150 A.D.2d at 82-101. This, obviously, has nothing to do with whether consent is a defense to criminal assault.
13. The NCSF asserts that Mercury Bay supports its position because of language in a concurring opinion by Justice Rubin, exploring, in dicta, the history of sportsmanship. See 150 A.D.2d at 101. In this discussion, which the NCSF fails to identify as coming from a concurring opinion, Justice Rubin noted that if a hockey player were charged with assault for hitting another player with his hockey stick and injuring him, the courts would be required to determine, inter alia, whether the stick "was wielded with the requisite intent to constitute an assault," and whether the "injured player may be deemed to have consented to the use of such tactics by his participation in the game." However, Justice Rubin did not opine as to whether a hockey player actually is deemed to have consented to such an injury. Rather, Justice Rubin merely made the obvious point that, in such a. case, the courts would be required to determine whether consent might be a valid defense. Ana certainly, Justice Rubin never implied that consent might be a defense to a violent sadomasochistic assault, involving the use of dangerous instruments, as occurred here.
14. The NCSFI s reliance on Pillow v. Bu-shnell, 5 Barb. 156 (Sup. Ct. , 3rd Jud. Dist. 1849), is equally unavailing. In Pillow, a woman brought a civil suit against her husband for assault and battery. on appeal, the court held that the trial court had erred by permitting the defendant to compel his wife to testify at trial. Id. at 157-61. The court also noted, in dicta that the trial court correctly charged the jury that it would be a defense to the civil suit if the husband could prove that the wife consented to the assault. Id. at 161.
15. Thus, Pillow merely restated the common law rule that a plaintiff may not recover civil damages for assault and battery if he consented to the tortious conduct. See Restatement (Second) Torts ¤ 892A. This is a far different question from whether consent is a defense in a criminal prosecution. Indeed, the Restatement specifically notes that while consent is a defense to a civil assault action, it is not a defense to a criminal prosecution, see Restatement (Second) Torts ¤ 892C, cmt. a and ill. 1, unless, of course, such a defense is provided by statute. And, as detailed in the People's brief, the New York Penal Law does not provide a consent defense to assault.
16. Finally, at bottom, the NCSF's claim is one not of law but of policy. Despite the clear legal precedent to the contrary, the NCSF believes that consensual, sadomasochistic sex should be protected by the law and the constitution, because it is healthy, "innocuous love-play" (Mem. of Law at 2) . The People take no position on the merits of this argument as a political matter; rather, we merely point out that under the Penal Law, if a sadomasochist engages in conduct that falls within the ambit of the assault statutes (e.g., intentionally causes "physical injury" or "serious physical injury" to another) , he is guilty of assault, regardless of whether the victim "consents." Of course, if the NCSF wishes to decriminalize all sadomasochistic assaults, it should take its arguments to the Legislature. After all, its website boasts that it is a lobbying organization.
WHEREFORE, the People respectfully request that the NCSF's motion to file a Memorandum of Law amicus curiae be denied.
Dated: New York, New York January 26, 1999
MARK DWYER
Assistant District Attorney
CC: Mr. Michael Thomas Fois
C/o National Coalition for Sexual Freedom 381 Manhattan Ave.
Diarmuid M. White, Esq.
Attorney for Defendant
Respondent, -against-
AFFIRMATION IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION
TO FILE A MEMORANDUM OF LAW AMICUS CURIAE
ROBERT M. MORGENTHAU
One Hogan Place
Memorandum of Law of Amicus Curiae, NCSF
MEMORANDUM OF LAW OF AMICUS CURIAE
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PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
This brief is filed by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom ("NCSF") as amicus curiae. Defendant Oliver Jovanovic was convicted on April 15, 1998, of kidnaping, assault in the second and third degrees, and of sexual abuse.
NCSF is a not for profit organization, founded to defend the right of American citizens to individual autonomy and privacy in the sexual sphere. The NCSF, in serving these goals, opposes governmental regulation of adult consensual sexual interaction and discrimination based upon sexual orientation. Among the sexual practices which the NCSF seeks to protect is consensual sadomasochistic conduct; conduct which is engaged in by a significant, albeit silent, community. According to the most recent Kinsey Institute Report on Sex, 5 to 10 percent of Americans engage in sadomasochism, a figure which is conservative.(1) These consenting adults are in relationships ranging the romantic gamut from married couples and life partners to casual lovers. Certainly, as the growing mainstream status and public candor of best-selling authors, film makers and recording artists who regularly feature such themes makes clear, the themes of erotic dominance and submission intrigue a substantial portion of the body politic. See, e.g., Anne Rice, Exit to Eden (1985); Crash (David Cronenberg, dir., 1997); Madonna, Sex (1990).
NCSF voices no opinion as to the quantum of evidence below, the credibility of the witnesses or the validity of the charges as applied to appellant. However, the sweeping scope of the trial court's ruling, and the absolutist ban on sadomasochistic behavior between consenting adults urged by the District Attorney in its brief on appeal, threatens the constitutional right to privacy and the freedom of many citizens beyond Oliver Jovanovic. Therefore, NCSF files this amicus brief because the case in question resulted in rulings by the trial court judge, the Honorable William A. Wetzel, which if taken at face value, as indeed the District Attorney herein urges, criminalize this innocuous love-play, engaged in by consenting adults. What is worse, the charge did so in the absence of decisional or statutory authority and in the face of expressly governing case law holding squarely to the contrary. In fact, under the law and Constitution of the State of New York, the right of privacy protects consensual lovers engaging in sexual contact, inclusive of sadomasochistic practices. Moreover, on the statutory issue of the definition of assault, the Court below erroneously misconstrued the decisional law in its assumption that consent, as a general matter, cannot be a defense to a charge of assault.
Finally, the District Attorney for the County of New York has submitted a brief in opposition to the appeal, asserting that "no New York court decision holds that consent is a defense to assault." (District Attorney's Brief at 137). In fact, a myriad of decisions, only some of which are discussed herein, hold squarely to the contrary, suggesting that the District Attorney fell asleep at the switch -- a metaphor whose suggestions of a misdirected and out-of-control train is appropriate in the face of the minimum of 5 percent of the adult population whose right to private consensual sexual conduct of their choice will be steam rolled should the District Attorney prevail in its attempt to criminalize consensual sadomasochistic conduct. Likewise, each and every one of the out-of-jurisdiction decisions cited by the District Attorney to establish the untenable claim that consent is not a defense to assault is inapplicable as they involve holdings that "great bodily injury" or "atrocious assault and battery" are not vitiated by consent, holdings far beyond the global ban of all consensual sadomasochistic love-play the District Attorney campaigns for.
The charge at issue was delivered over objection by the defense; therefore the objection is preserved, and ripe for this Court's review. People v. Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 236 (1975). However, NCSF takes no position as to whether the ruling below constituted harmless error or indeed as to the guilt or innocence of Jovanovic.
QUESTIONS PRESENTED
1. Whether the right to privacy guaranteed to all citizens of the State of New York under the Federal and State Constitutions protects the right of consenting adults to engage in erotic play including but not limited to sadomasochistic conduct.
2. Whether the charge to the jury that consent could not form a defense to a charge of assault was error.
On December 5, 1996, Oliver Jovanovic ("appellant") was arrested, and charged with kidnaping, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, two counts of assault in the second degree, one count of assault in the third degree, and sodomy.
On April 15, 1998, he was acquitted of the sodomy and the aggravated sexual abuse counts, but was convicted of kidnaping, assault in the second and third degrees, and of sexual abuse. On May 21, 1998, appellant was sentenced to 15 years' to life imprisonment.
The charges stemmed from appellant's encounter on November 21, 1996, with a Barnard College student (whose name has been omitted from the published records of the case to safeguard her privacy, and in consideration of which is not employed herein). In their encounter, a date arranged after several e-mail interchanges over several occasions, appellant and the complainant dined at a mutually agreed upon place, and appellant invited the complainant to his apartment, to which it is agreed that she repaired voluntarily.
Once at appellant's apartment, the complainant stated, appellant ordered her to strip, which she did, bound her to his futon, and engaged in pain-inflicting conduct with her, involving the use of a baton and hot candle wax. The complainant maintained that she was kept by appellant at his home against her will, and that he restrained her forcibly for over 20 hours.
At trial, appellant put forward a consent defense to all charges. After the charge conference, in a letter dated April 10, 1998, attorney Frederick L. Souinsky requested that the prosecutor's request for a charge that consent is not a defense to the assault counts be denied, asserting both Constitutional and statutory grounds for the impermissibility of such a charge.
The Charge on Assault and Consent
The Court, over defense objection, nonetheless delivered charges that consent was not a defense to assault.
On the first count of assault in the second degree, the Court instructed the jury that
In order for you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, the People must prove from all the evidence in this case beyond a reasonable doubt both of the following two elements:
One, on or about November 22nd through November 23, 1996, in the County of New York, the defendant caused physical injury to [the victim's] thighs by means of a dangerous instrument, to wit, a baton. Two, that the defendant did so with intent to cause physical injury to her.
Therefore, under this count of the indictment, and the next two counts of the indictment [the second count of assault in the second degree and one count of assault in the third degree], I instruct you it is not a defense to claim that the person assaulted consented to the assault.
Therefore, if you find that the defendant assaulted [the victim] under the two elements that I just instructed you about, you may not consider any claim that she consented to that assault.
(R. at 3421)
The court below charged the jury in substantially similar terms with respect to the second count of assault in the second degree, except that the dangerous instrument alleged to have been used under that count was the candle wax. (R. at 3422-3423).
With respect to assault in the third degree and consent, the Court below charged as follows:
Now, in order for you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, the People must prove from all of the evidence in the case beyond a reasonable doubt both of the following two elements:
One, on or about November 22nd through November 23, 1996, in the County of New York, the defendant caused physical injury to [the victim] by biting her breasts, and two that the defendant did so with intent to cause physical injury to her.
Therefore, if you find that the People have proven beyond a reasonable doubt both of those elements you must then find the defendant guilty of count nine assault in the third degree as charged in this count. It is not a defense to claim that the person assaulted consented to the assault.
(R. 3424-3425).
Conviction and Sentence
On April 15, 1998, appellant was convicted of kidnaping, sex abuse and one count each of assault in the second and third degrees. On May 21, 1998, appellant was sentenced to 15 years' to life imprisonment. This appeal followed.
Sadomasochism and the Scholars
This Court is asked to take judicial notice of the fact that a burgeoning number of scholars have observed the long-term practice of sadomasochistic sexual behaviors in relationships. In addition to the examples cited in the Preliminary Statement, both male and female college students have over the past three decades been documented as evincing an interest in sadomasochism. "Coercive Sexual Fantasies of College Men as Predictors of Self-Reported Likelihood to Rape and Overt Sexual Aggression," V. Greedlinger & D. Byrne, 23 Journ. Sex Research, no. 1 (1987) (concluding that 80% of male students surveyed enjoyed the fantasy of being tied up and forced to have sex by a woman); Different Loving, supra, at 7, 14-18.
Moreover, the empiric and anecdotal studies of those who regularly practice sadomasochistic behavior all emphasize that the hallmarks of sadomasochistic practice are summed up in the tripartite motto "safe, sane, and consensual." Different Loving, supra at 49; "Safety Restrictions," Tim Woodward & Stephanie Jones, Best of Skin Two, pp. 131-141 (1993). See also S and M: Studies in Sadomasochism, T. Weinberg & G.W. Kamel (1983); "An Exploratory-Descriptive Study of a Sadomasochistically Oriented Sample," Charles Moser & Eugene Levitt, 23 Journ. Sex Research, no. 3 pp. 322-337 (1987); Erotic Power: An Exploration of Dominance and Submission, Gini Graham Scott (1983). In short, consent -- full, meaningful, voluntary and informed -- is the distinguishing factor between sadomasochism and abuse in the eyes of those who practice the former, and who eschew the latter. By its jury charge, the Court below has sweepingly obviated this distinction, in defiance both of common sense and of common (and Constitutional) law, and criminalized consensual sexual conduct.
POINT I
UNDER THE FEDERAL AND STATE CONSTITUTIONS,
PRIVATE, NONCOMMERCIAL CONSENSUAL SEXUAL
CONDUCT MAY NOT BE CRIMINALIZED
The United States Constitution, and, independently, the Constitution of New York State, as the Court of Appeals has recognized, extends the right of privacy to strike down provisions of the Penal Law which purport to criminalize consensual private sexual conduct. People v. Onofre, 51 N.Y.2d 476 (1980) (striking statutory proscription of consensual sodomy or deviate sexual intercourse between unmarried persons). In Onofre, the Court held that the right to privacy is "a right of independence in making certain kinds of important decisions, with a concomitant right to conduct oneself in accordance with those decisions, undeterred by government restraint." 51 N.Y.2d at 485. Finding guidance in the Supreme Court of the United State's decisions, including those in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) (invalidating state statutory ban on inter-racial marriage), Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) (striking state statute banning sale of contraceptives as impermissibly invasive of "the sacred precincts of the marriage bed"), and Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969) (voiding prosecution for possession of obscene materials in the home), the Court in Onofre carved out a zone of personal autonomy:
In light of these decisions, protecting under the cloak of the right to privacy individual decisions as to indulgence in acts of sexual intimacy by unmarried persons and as to satisfaction of sexual desires by resort to material condemned as obscene by community standards when done in a cloistered setting, no rational basis appears from excluding from the same protection decisions such as those made by defendants before us to seek sexual gratification from what at least once was commonly referred to as "deviate" conduct so long as the decisions are voluntarily made by adults in a non-commercial private setting.
51 N.Y.2d at 488.
This decision by the Court of Appeals was reaffirmed three years later in People v. Uplinger, 58 N.Y.2d 936, 938 (1983), and remains "firmly rooted in our law." John C. v. Martha A., 156 Misc.2d 222, 592 N.Y.S.2d 229, 232 (City Ct. N.Y. Co. 1992) ("[p]rivate, consensual adult sexual conduct is none of a court's business unless it impinges upon a strong countervailing public policy (e.g., commercialized sexual activity), or another relationship (e.g., adultery)"). See also People v. Anonymous Female, 143 Misc.2d 197 (City Ct. Buffalo 1989) (finding that act of oral sodomy, performed under conditions leading to reasonable expectation of privacy, could not constitutionally be proscribed even if overseen; relying on Onofre); People v. Thousand, 121 Misc.2d 937 (City Ct. Rochester 1983).(2)
Under both the Federal and State Constitutions, therefore, it is clear that private consensual sexual conduct among adults is presumptively protected, in the absence of a serious public policy underlying regulation. What is further clear is that sadomasochistic practices fall within the definition of sexual practices so protected; the Court of Appeals in Onofre held that the ambit of privacy includes "deviate" sexual conduct, not merely sexual conduct enjoyed by the mainstream of citizens. Onofre, 51 N.Y.2d at 488. The Legislature has, in the general obscenity section, included sadism and masochism among the sexual subjects which, if defined in a manner pruriently appealing to the interest in sex, and depicted without redeeming social value, may be prosecuted and proscribed. Penal Law ¤ 235.00. Likewise, in specifying materials defined as "indecent" and thus unfit for dissemination for children, the Legislature included what it somewhat harshly terms "sadomasochistic abuse" (which it defines as "flagellation or torture by or upon a person clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound or sexually restrained on the part of one so clothed").(3) Penal Law ¤ 235.20(5). In short, the sexual nature of sadomasochism is conceded.(4) That sadomasochism is within the protections of Onofre therefore cannot be doubted. Accordingly, the Court below was in error to grant the prosecution request to charge that voluntary consent on the part of the complainant was not a defense to the charges against appellant.
The District Attorney gives short shrift to Onofre and completely ignores its progeny, choosing instead to rely on cases from other jurisdictions, cases which cannot be viewed as having even persuasive authority as to the scope of protections guaranteed by the State Constitution. In addressing Onofre, the District Attorney argues solely that the specific conduct engaged in by defendant is not protected by Onofre, conduct the District Attorney describes as non-consensual. (District Attorney's Brief at 140-1). The District Attorney never addresses whether consensual sadomasochistic conduct is covered by Onofre and protected by the State Constitution. The District Attorney's grasp on the Federal Constitution seems equally tenuous, as they incorrectly cite Mishkin v. New York, 383 U.S. 502 (1966), for the proposition that "publications depicting sadomasochism are not protected by the First Amendment." (District
Attorney's Brief at 140). To the contrary, Mishkin holds that publications depicting sadomasochism are held to the same standard as those depicting heterosexual sexual conduct. Mishkin, 383 U.S. at 508.
The defendant argued in Mishkin that his publications, which targeted fetishes and sadomasochism, could not be obscene because only a minority of the population would find them erotic and therefore could not satisfy the Prurient-Appeal requirement of the Roth test for obscenity. Rather than holding that sadomasochistic publications are de jure obscene, as the District Attorney implies, the Court disposes of the defendant's argument by holding that where a publication targets a specific audience, and not the public at large, the Prurient-Appeal requirement may be satisfied if the publication appeals to the prurient interest of its target audience. Mishkin, 398 U.S. at 508.
The District Attorney similarly mis-cites Ward v. Illinois, 431 U.S. 767 (1977). Ward did not remove sadomasochistic publications from the ambit of the First Amendment, it merely reaffirms Mishkin in light of intervening obscenity cases which the defendant argued prohibited the proscription of sadomasochistic publications. The defendant argued that in light of the intervening case of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), sadomasochistic publications could not be proscribed. The explicit holding of the Ward court at issue is: "If the Mishkin publications remain unprotected [in light of Miller], surely those before us today deal with a category of sexual conduct which, if obscenely described, may be proscribed by state law. Ward, 431 U.S. at 773 (emphasis added). The emphasized section underscores that sadomasochistic publications are not automatically unprotected by the First Amendment.
Contrary to the District Attorney's presumption, sadomasochistic publications are neither de facto nor de jure obscene, but may be found to be obscene if they satisfy the requirements of the obscenity tests provided by the Supreme Court; the same tests non-sadomasochistic publications are held to. While the District Attorney may be content to ban everything from Playboy to Jean-Jacques Roseau's Confessions, the Supreme Court fortunately is not so inclined.
The District Attorney cites two out-of-jurisdiction cases for the proposition that "there is no constitutional right to engage in sadomasochistic abuse." (District Attorney's Brief at 140). The first case, State v. Collier, 372N.W.2d 303 (Iowa App. 1985), does not address Constitutional issues at all, but instead turns solely on state statutory grounds. The second case, Commonwealth v. Appleby, 402 N.E.2d 1051 (Mass 1980), does not support the all-out ban on sadomasochistic conduct urged by the District Attorney, but rather argues for a balancing of a citizens right to sexual privacy with the State's interest in protecting its citizens' health. Finally, in both cases, the decision turned on the quantum of physical harm. Were this Court to follow these inapplicable decisions, a balancing of the respective interests would than result, rather than the judicially legislation of a blanket ban on sadomasochism called for by the District Attorney.
POINT II
CONSENT IS A DEFENSE TO A CRIMINAL CHARGE OF ASSAULT
The District Attorney argue in their opposition papers that the law in New York State supports the lower court's charge that consent does not create a defense to the offense of assault. The District Attorney supports this argument through citation to California and other jurisdiction's decisions, a gambit which is more ingenious than ingenuous in the face of the unbroken chain of decisions, from 1849 to the present day, in which the courts of this State have held precisely to the contrary. In Pillow v. Bushnell, 5 Barb. 156, 161 (Sup. Ct. 1849), the Court squarely held that "[i]f the act complained of as an assault and battery was committed by the consent and request of the wife, it formed an entire defense." A myriad of cases from Pillow to the present have reaffirmed this rule. Indeed, in 1989, this Court relied upon the doctrine, qualifying its applicability to the extent that the actor seeking to invoke the defense must act within the scope of the consent. Mercury Bay Boating Club, Inc. v. San Diego Yacht Club, 150 A.D.2d 82, 545 N.Y.S.2d 693, 705 (1st Dep't 1989) (noting distinction between customs and usages in sports and legal doctrines, employing the example of a hockey player struck by a stick in play, who "may be deemed to have consented to the use of such tactics by his participation in the game.") (citing People v. Freer, 86 Misc.2d 280, 381 N.Y.S.2d 976 (Dist. Ct. Suffolk Co. 1976) (holding that a punch thrown in course of tackle fell within implied consent to tackling in football game, but that a punch thrown afterwards, when play had stopped, did not)). See also People v. Lenti, 44 Misc.2d 118, 123-124 (Nassau Co. Ct. 1964) (where injuries inflicted upon participants in fraternity "hell night" were plainly beyond the scope of implied consent, the consent defense is not applicable).
That this unbroken line of precedent remains valid is clear from not only Mercury Bay Boating Club, Inc., supra, decided less than 10 years ago, but from the lack of contrary authority within the jurisdiction. To the extent that the District Attorney, relying on out-of jurisdiction authority, claims a new "trend" away from the consent defense among the State courts, the citations omit the most recent case, Boldt v. Boldt, 97-DR-0441, CA A99286 (Ct. App., Oregon, July 18, 1998) (slip op. attached), in which, although not reaching the issue, the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon stated that it was "not prepared to declare that whenever competent adults agree to engage in conduct that involves inflicting pain, the behavior necessarily constitutes abuse." The Oregon Court of Appeals echoed the decision enunciated 50 years ago in People v. Steinberg, 73 N.Y.S.2d 475, 479 (City Ct. N.Y. Co. 1947): "It is true that as a rule the consent of the prosecutor, if intelligently given, is a good defense in assault. We have examples in amiable contests, in assaults arising from voluntary sexual relations, and in tumultuous frolics." See also, Van Vooren v. Cook, 273 App. Div. 88 (4th Dep't 1947) (same as to general rule; citing cases).
The out-of-jurisdiction decisions cited by the District Attorney are inapplicable as they involve holdings that conduct which "creates an unreasonable risk of severe injury," Collier, 372 N.W.2d at 307, or of "severely or mortally injuring another," People v. Samuels, 58 Cal.Rptr. 439, 447 (Cal.App. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1024 (1968), are not vitiated by consent; they do not support the global ban of all consensual sadomasochistic love-play the District Attorney campaigns for. (District Attorney's Brief at 137-8). The decisions turned on the quantum of physical harm and lack of valid consent, not sadomasochism. See Appleby, 402 N.E.2d at 1060 (Court notes that the case history involved severe beatings, including one in which the defendant fractured the victim's kneecap); Commonwealth v. Farrell, 78 N.E.2d 697, 704 (Mass. 1948)(assault included severe, permanently disfiguring burns which required months to heal). The out-of-jurisdiction cases cited do not call for a ban on sadomasochism, but rather hold that there is a level of injury beyond which one cannot consent, implying that there is a level of injury that one can consent to without risking prosecution.
Instead of citing New York case law, the District Attorney provides an essay on statutory interpretation, relying on the "structure of the statutory scheme" to conclude -- erroneously -- that since the Legislature did not explicitly provide a consent defense to assault, there is no consent defense to assault. (District Attorney's Brief at 136). The District Attorney ignores, however, that for over a hundred years prior to the most recent reenactment of the Penal Law, which was in 1965, the Courts of the State of New York repeatedly held that consent is a defense to assault. That the Legislature choose not to address the issue when reenacting the assault statutes evinces, if anything, support for the courts' interpretation. It is not surprising, therefore, that courts since 1965 have also held that consent is a defense to assault. See Mercury Bay Boating, 545 N.Y.S.2d at 705; Freer, 381 N.Y.S.2d at 978.
The District Attorney dismisses the cases cited by the defendant for the proposition that consent is a defense to assault as "dicta in a handful of antiquated, lower-court cases" but was forced to grudgingly admit that "[i]n two very old cases, lower courts have mused in dicta that consent may be a defense to assaults arising from 'tumultuous frolics' and 'voluntary sexual relations.'" (District Attorney's Brief at 139, citing Defendant's Brief at 125-6). None of the cases cited by the defense or the NCSF, however, has been overruled and at least one of those "antiquated" cases has been favorably cited by this Court within the past decade. See Mercury Bay Boating, 543 N.Y.S.2d at 705 (favorably citing Freer which held that participants in sporting events consent to certain acts of violence). In the few New York cases cited by the District Attorney for the opposite proposition, that consent was not a defense to assault, all but one involve minors who, by definition, are not legally capable of giving valid consent. (District Attorney's Brief at 139, fn *, discussing People v. Gibson, 232 N.Y. 458, 462 (1922); People v. Malark, 283 A.D.263 (3rd Dept. 1954); Singer v. People, 13 Hun. 418, 420 (1st Dept.), aff'd, 75 N.Y. 608 (1878); Hays v. People, 1 Hill. 351, 352 (Sup. Ct. 1841)). The remaining case involved illegal street fighting and turned on the court's holding a party cannot consent to an illegal act. (District Attorney's Brief at 139, fn *, discussing People ex rel. Knight v. Eames, 115 N.Y.S.2d 248, 250 (Broome Co. 1952)).
The District Attorney ignores the far reaching effects of striking down the consent defense to assault, which include the criminalization of many sporting events, many forms of non-sadomasochistic consensual sexual contact, and such cultural choices as body piercing. The District Attorney admits that "certain sports that involve physical contact, such as boxing, wrestling, and football, are played regularly and are not regarded as being criminal 'assaults.'"(District Attorney's Brief at 138, fn **). Ignoring this Court's holding in Mercury Bay Boating, and citing no cases of its own in support, the District Attorney argues that the reason "athletes are not prosecuted for assault has nothing to do with the fact that the 'victim' consents." (District Attorney's Brief at 138, fn **). Instead, the District Attorney argues that boxers and wrestlers are not prosecuted for assault because the sports are highly regulated and therefore "sanctioned" by the Legislature. Whatever validity this argument has, it in no way invalidates the consent defense, especially considering that only a small percentage of the contact sports in New York are regulated. It also should be noted that, according to the District Attorney's own view of statutory interpretation, had the Legislature intended to exempt boxing and wrestling from the assault statutes because of the regulatory scheme, it would have explicitly done so. The District Attorney, however, fails to provide a statutory cite to this exemption.
The District Attorney attempts to distinguish football by arguing that "football players may not be convicted of assault because, while they engage in physical contact, they do not intend to cause physical injury to their opponents, and criminal intent is an element of all degrees of criminal assault." (District Attorney's Brief at 138, fn **). Such an argument applies equally well to sadomasochism, whose goal is not injury but mutual personal gratification. Participants in both sporting events and sadomasochism are aware that their conduct may create a risk of injury. But the District Attorney would exempt one from the assault statutes and not the other. The District Attorney makes no attempt to explain why other consensual assaults, such as body piercing, whose goal always involves bodily injury, are not prosecuted.
As the Court in Steinberg made clear, consensual sexual conduct, including sadomasochistic conduct, are not appropriately grist for the criminal justice system. Unless this Court, absent any argument save for the District Attorney's evident disapproval of the sadomasochistic lifestyle, is willing to abandon precedent dating back 150 years, precedent which has been recently followed, and criminalize activity ranging from contact sports to body piercing, as well as all but the tamest sexual contact - all without any legislative enactment - the charge must be declared erroneous.
The consequences of such a declaration the NCSF confidently leaves in the hands of this Court. Taking no position on the ultimate disposition of the case, the NCSF does not opine as to whether the record supports a finding that the error was harmless, or that appellant exceeded any consent obtained. The NCSF does assert that the charge delivered by the Court below effectively criminalizes consensual conduct in a manner which will expose adults practicing consensual sadomasochism to prosecution. The effect of such a ruling would be to greatly expand the discretion of prosecuting attorneys in a manner which they have shown themselves all too willing to abuse; the target of their baseless legal theory, notably, is not any one of the powerful and wealthy sports franchises engaged in contact sports such as boxing, hockey, or football, in which significant injury regularly occurs and sometimes even death takes place. Rather, the District Attorney targets a sexual minority, whose behavior is so misperceived as to be described in the body of one statute as "bizarre" (See Penal Law 235.20(5)), for what is in essence a harmless form of intimacy, behavior which rarely results in serious injury and for which knowing, voluntary consent is a prerequisite. The social stigma attached to sadomasochism, and the stigma of arrest, render those targeted especially vulnerable to prosecution; in usurping the privacy interests and eliminating the age-old consent defense patently available in such cases, the District Attorney, as was the case in Anonymous Female, merely "attempt to avoid the effects of [adverse decisional law] and to take advantage of the strong likelihood that arrested defendants -- male and female -- will, for obvious reasons, seldom go to trial, seldom test the law." 539 N.Y.S.2d at 870. The charge request in this case is nothing short of a license to bully and intimidate a sexual minority based on their private consensual conduct, and must not be allowed.
FOR THE REASONS ABOVE GIVEN, THIS COURT SHOULD DEEM THE CHARGE COMPLAINED OF TO HAVE CONSTITUTED ERROR, AND TO RENDER JUDGMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THAT FINDING
January __, 1999
1. New Report on Sex, The Kinsey Institute (1990). This is nothing new; a substantial segment of the population has engaged in such behavior for as long as such data has been collected. See Sexual Behavior in the 1970's, M. Hunt (1974) (In survey of 2,000 respondents, 10.9% of men and 6.7% of women had obtained pleasure from an act of domination and submission); A Research in Marriage, G.V. Hamilton ( 1929) (survey found that 28% of men and 29% of women admitted they derived "pleasurable thrills" from the infliction of some form of pain upon themselves). See Different Loving: An Exploration of the World of Sexual Dominance and Submission, William D. Brame & Gloria Brame (1993); "Manifest Sadomasochism of Males: Results of an Empirical Study," Andreas Spengler, Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 6, pp. 441-56 (1977)
2. The fact that at least two of these decisions post-date the Supreme Court's decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), and that the Court of Appeals has repeatedly made clear that the State Constitution provides a greater quantum of protection for privacy than does the Federal Constitution, renders it unnecessary to examine what impact, if any, Bowers has on Onofre. See People v. Scott, 79 N.Y.2d 474 (1992). Notably, the continuing validity of Onofre is conceded by the District Attorney, who merely urges that this case falls outside of the rule therein enshrined.
3. Notably, this definition would include a film clasic such as Mutiny on the Bounty while a film in which a naked person is flogged by one in a business suit would appear to be exempted.
4. Although the statutes recognize the sexual nature of sadomasochistic conduct, professional sadomasochism is not automatically proscibed by the prostitution statute, as the prostitution statute is more strict in its approach and specifically limits its scope to a few acts defined as "sexual conduct," the exclusion of sadomasochism from which has led at least one court to conclude that a professional dominatrix who did not engage in a sex act enunciated in the statute cannot be found guilty of prostitution. People v. Georgia A., 163 Misc.2d 634 (Crim. Ct. Kings Co. 1994).
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The "New Storytelling" (part III of IV)
Rick Burkhardt's play The Climb Up Mount Chimborazo (2005)[1] has, I think, the most complex relation to telling of the pieces I've been briefly discussing here. The play is more or less about the relationship between South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar and his teacher, Don Simon Robinson. Robinson (formerly Rodriguez, and Carreno before that) was a fascinating character, employed by Bolivar's family when the latter was a child (and Robinson a teenager), and later appointed by Bolivar as Minister of Education for the free, unified Latin America Bolivar was trying to build. Robinson was widely reviled for his insistence that boys and girls should study in the same classrooms, that Indians should be educated, and that practical skills should be taught. He was also in favor of legalizing divorce, a position which may not seem so radical, but which led to the unseating of countless progressive political figures in South America well into the late twentieth century. Enthusiastic about Rousseau, Robinson was more radical, less bound up in bourgeois culture than Jean-Jacques, whose idealized nature bears so many traces of private property.
The play is performed by three actors.
SB: the actor playing Simon Bolivar, also plays Manuela Saenz
DSR: the actor playing Simon Robinson, also plays Alexander von Humboldt
Mosquito: a series of antagonists
The actors vary the extent to which they "inhabit" the roles. For example DSR might choose to represent Simon Robinson by moving a sombrero in rhythm with DSR's voice. In certain segments, such as figure five, the actors give up playing the characters altogether.
In addition to this variability of characterization, the play places an emphasis on ways of speaking, including some that exemplify a new virtuosity in performance of text that Burkhardt has been developing in his chamber works of the last decade:
In the unison passages, none of the actors speaks the entire text; rather, actors choose parts of words and phrases to speak "brokenlyÂ" so that when one hears the composite sound of the two or three actors speaking the line, one hears the entire line moving between them. The effect should be of a text in shards, archaeologically "unearthed."
Sometimes this happens while one of the actors, between his syllabic fragments, is delivering a continous, independent text (in the play's opening scene, the two texts deal with two different periods in South American history, Bolivar's 19th century and our 20th and 21st).
Chimborazo is as much about the way its story (and history in general) is told as it is a telling of that story. Parallels are drawn between the aristocracy's slander of Robinson and Bolivar and the modern bourgeois denunciation of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela (concerning his "mental illness" and "deep-rooted sexual fixation on Fidel Castro" (watch the documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised to hear these people actually say this stuff), as well as the U.S.' right-wing talk shows (performed here by a group of hand puppets). The play critiques historians' banalization of the relationship between Bolivar and Manuela Saenz--the transformation of a friendship, revolutionary collaboration and nonmonagmous sexual relationship into a love story that spices up the Bolivar story--and connects this to the unreflective employment of "sensuality" in most of today's leftist writing ("Marx with a 'lusty appetite for life'"), broadening its target to include the entire separation of sexuality and friendship, so bound up with heterosexism, that results in a moralistic and repressive standard governing the relationships between compatriots, young people, teachers and students, and more or less everybody, so-called liberals included. Historical and literary quotations abound: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gets repopulated with Latin American revolutionaries, stories of CIA-sponsored torture shove their way in to essays by Alexander Von Humboldt, and a collage of phrases from Louis Zukofsky, Allen Ginsberg and Walt Whitman, filtered through an odd Beowulf-like dialect, compresses the tale of the Bolivarian military campaigns into a manic five-minute lecture. Throughout the play, the resistance to colonial, corporate, heteronormative, racial, religious and literary oppression is trying to make its story heard through the noise of the media, of recorded history, and of the incessant reinforcement of the laws of love, sometimes gently and sometimes in a barrage of confused or hysterical speech. Accompanying all this is a beautiful prerecorded tape, largely composed of noises made on a turntable and then meticulously edited--a literalization of the idea of "record:" the historical archive, but also a technology that, like the Bolivarian dream, has not quite been given up. There's something crucially tender about the entire project that can't be found in many places in contemporary art, a mournful quality that's very much intermingled with a sense of what can be accomplished. This is memory in the best sense; it includes the present as something to be remembered as if from a better future. The revolution of Bolivar, Robinson and Saenz was an attempt to break open more varieties of liberation than we usually conceive of today, and Burkhardt's play preserves this project and expands on it in a way we desperately need, aesthetically and ethically.
(to be concluded--really--in the next handful of days)
[1] A PDF of the full script should be up shortly at the Nonsense Company's website.
posted by Andy Gricevich @ 3:31 AM
the "New Storytelling" (part 2)
Parts of my sequence, "Regress," are up at Unlikel...
And, in a strange occurrence of simultaneity, in S...
I have new poems up on Can We Have Our Ball Back?....
I just finished Barbara Guest's The Countess From ...
One way of categorizing poetry (a way of thinking ...
Ok. A quick note on Robert Duncan. I've just fini...
Turns out I share a birthday (the 7th) not only wi...
I'm finally starting to figure out how to do this....
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Home Topics Emergencies
Nepal is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The 2011 Nepal Disaster Risk Assessment Report shows that 90% of Nepali people are constantly exposed to more than two disasters at any time. The 2008 Koshi floods left more than 50,000 people homeless. Flash floods in Mid-Western Nepal in 2014 resulted in 150 deaths and displaced nearly 30,000 people. The earthquake on 25 April 2015 and its aftershocks claimed nearly 9,000 lives (of which 56% women and girls) and left over 22,000 injured.
Nepal is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The 2011 Nepal Disaster Risk Assessment Report shows that 90% of Nepali people are constantly exposed to more than two disasters at any time. The 2008 Koshi floods left more than 50,000 people homeless. Flash floods in Mid-Western Nepal in 2014 resulted in 150 deaths and displaced nearly 30,000 people. The earthquake on 25 April 2015 and its aftershocks claimed nearly 9,000 lives (of which 56% women and girls) and left over 22,000 injured. These disasters were a testimony to the fact that the country is highly vulnerable to disaster risks.
In addition to earthquakes and cyclical floods, Nepal is also experiencing landslides, fires, drought and avalanches. From mid-April 2016 to mid-February 2017 alone, a total of 443 people lost their lives due to various natural calamities across the country. In times of upheaval or natural disasters like the Nepal earthquake 2015, pregnancy-related deaths and gender-based violence (GBV) soar. Many women lose access to essential sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and give birth in precarious conditions without access to safe delivery services and life-saving care. Young people become more vulnerable to HIV infections and sexual exploitation. Poor reproductive health becomes a significant cause of death. Timely RH services are essential to save lives and reduce morbidity and mortality. Likewise, the protection of women of reproductive age (including pregnant and lactating women), young girls and vulnerable groups from violence and abuse is crucial in an emergency.
UNFPA Nepal is working closely with the government, development partners, local NGOs, key civil society and UN agencies to ensure that RH and protection needs of women and girls are addressed before, during and after a crisis. Like in the 2015 earthquakes, UNFPA supports the government in co-leading and coordinating the prevention and response to GBV, and the SRH response to disasters in the country.
We work to ensure that life-saving supplies and services are accessible to the affected population, paying particular attention to the special needs of women and young people. Priority areas include maternal health, family planning, prevention of sexually transmitted infections including HIV, adolescent health, and combating GBV.
In Nepal, UNFPA is continuing its work on prepositioning of relief items, updating the disaster preparedness and response plans incorporating Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) components, strengthening coordination mechanisms (working as Protection cluster co-lead at central level, supporting District Disaster Relief committees, Health and Protection Clusters at local level), building capacity of service providers and stakeholders on MISP, GBV and disaster assessment, and advocacy. MISP was first implemented in Nepal during the Koshi floods. This includes equipment and supplies as well as a set of activities that must be implemented in a coordinated manner by appropriately trained staff.
25 April 2017 Humanitarian preparedness and response in Nepal must take into account needs of vulnerable groups and build community resilience: Study
KATHMANDU, APRIL 24 — Any humanitarian response to future crises in Nepal as well as preparedness efforts must go beyond the immediate need for...
20 May 2019 Addressing special needs of tornado-affected women, girls
“My hands started trembling the moment the roof of our house was blown away. I ran towards my neighbor’s house to save myself,” says Jagga Majhi, who...
19 August 2018 Urgent efforts needed to protect women and girls in crises
Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on World Humanitarian Day 2018 Women and girls uprooted by war or disaster are at heightened...
11 October 2017 Empower girls before, during and after crises
Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem for the International Day of the Girl Child 11 October 2017 Girls today enjoy better life...
Minimum Initial Service Package for Reproductive Health Cheat Sheet
This Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) cheat sheet provides a summary of MISP...
भू–धरातलीय बनावटको कारण प्रत्येक वर्ष नेपालका विभिन्न भूभागमा प्राकृतिक प्रकोपका घटनाहरू...
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PredictImmune’s first prognostic test, PredictSURE IBD™, set for UK and European launch having been awarded CE mark
Cambridge, UK, December 11th 2018: PredictImmune, developers of pioneering prognostic tools for guiding treatment options and improving patient outcomes in immune-mediated diseases, today announced CE IVD (European Conformity In-Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices) certification for its prognostic biomarker test for IBD, PredictSURE IBD™ - the first validated biomarker based prognostic test in inflammatory disease.
Achievement of the CE mark enables PredictImmune to take the test to market across the UK and Europe and also enables development of market access to the rest of the world.
The CE mark provides quality assurance for the test, validating that the product meets the essential requirements of all relevant European Medical Device Directives and is a legal requirement to place a device on the market in the EU. This accreditation is the culmination of 18 month’s work to optimise the test, ensuring consistency and reproducibility after its transfer from University of Cambridge School of Medicine.
Paul Kinnon, CEO, PredictImmune commented: “We are exceptionally pleased to have gained CE accreditation for PredictSURE IBD™. The test, which has been validated in Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis patients, independent of the discovery population, will be available in January 2019. This is the first validated biomarker based prognostic test in inflammatory disease. This milestone marks a significant step towards the provision of personalised medicine in IBD, which will have a direct and significantly positive impact on the quality of treatment and outcomes for patients.”
Immune-mediated diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic and incurable with clinical courses that vary among individuals with the same disease. To date, these diseases have been treated with a ‘one size fits all’ approach, despite there being significant variation in disease course between patients with the same disease. Currently, IBD patients are treated in one of two ways: ‘top down’ which uses the most aggressive form of treatment first, and ‘step up’, which starts with the least aggressive form of treatment. The chosen treatment course currently depends on local guidelines. This approach means that patients with a relatively mild form of the disease tend to be over treated, resulting in significant side effects, whilst those with a more aggressive form of the disease, can be under-medicated, resulting in frequent relapses or flare-ups, which result in long term damage and significant morbidity and mortality. PredictImmune’s tests, give clinicians the ability to determine how aggressive a patients’ disease is at the point of diagnosis, enabling them to make informed decisions about the treatment course most relevant for each individual patient.
PredictSURE IBD™ is a first step towards personalised medicine in IBD and an exciting development towards providing better outcomes for patients with IBD, worldwide.
For more information: www.predictimmune.com
Limewash, PR Agency
Sarah Brereton, Director, Tel: +44 (0)1223 813 560
directory 2019
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Pint Pie Bet & Balls
Opinionated football content with the occasional dabble in to other sports
The Scout
As I sat watching the final minutes of the Championship season, followed by the pitch invasions at Bolton and Cardiff, I questioned whether I was wrong about pitch invasions and for staying in my seat at the end of the game at Ewood yesterday.
For me, a pitch invasion is a release of raw emotion; a warm-blooded event; a last minute or last game of the season decider for promotion or safety. Rovers had that two weeks ago at the Keepmoat stadium. Yesterday’s pitch invasion was one of selfishness on the part of so-called Rovers fans, stealing and opportunity to get on the pitch and become one of the sheep taking selfies on the pitch and knee-sliding in to stupidity. It put a really sour end to what has been a magnificent season. Yes, the Rovers fans have been through a lot over the last decade and this is the first real achievement we’ve been able to celebrate, but the time and place for it was at Doncaster away when our destiny was sealed; and even then we made a mess of it.
I’ve said previously that one of the best things about the season has been the re-growth of the bond between the club and fans, and you could see from the players both at Doncaster and at Ewood yesterday, that they wanted to share the celebrations with the fans – an outcome which was achieved but with the sheen taken off it by the idiots running on the pitch before the end of the game.
What exactly is achieved by running on the pitch anyway? Yes, you get to go on the hallowed turf and maybe take a few pictures and steal some blades of grass; but surely being booed by your fellow supporters is a sign it’s not welcome? As is the sight of your players running in the opposite direction. Just leaving the pitch invader to take a few photo’s of a stand of supporters enraged at you and your actions, and then amble back off the pitch, in some cases, just to do it again a minute later.
People ran on the pitch before the end of the game yesterday for what reason I’ll never know. These reactions will most likely result in a fine from the Football League, and by rights there is also probably the potential for points to be docked – imagine the irony of running on a pitch to celebrate promotion which is then revoked because of the running on the pitch. I would estimate that at least 90% of the people who went on the pitch had not been to more than two games at Ewood previously this season, whilst the majority of the fans who stayed in their seats will have been season ticket holders who have sat through the painful recent years, their support never wavering. Those loyal supporters wanted a chance to celebrate with the players who have brought them so much joy this season – and do so from the comfort and safety of their own seat. I completely understand and agree with the singing of “Where were you when we where s***” to those who went on the pitch, and I joined in; they were ruining my day as well. It was amazing to see more than 27,000 and it was goosebumps stuff when I went up to my seat and saw the sea of blue and white, something we haven’t seen for a long long time, but the proof of the commitment of the support will be how many people return for the start of the next season in the Championship in August. I’d wager we will probably by looking at at least 10,000 shy of yesterdays figure. It’s not often Blackburn Rovers fans are accused of being “glory supporters”, but in this case I think they may have a point. “Where were you when we were s***” indeed.
There once was a time when I remember that running on the pitch was unthinkable, and you were guaranteed at least a stadium ban, if not a lifetime ban and a hefty fine. These days it almost seems a right of passage that when you win or achieve something, there has to be a pitch invasion. Take Manchester City for example, they had a pitch invasion at the Etihad two weeks ago. A pitch invasion when the league has been won with 4 games remaining, it was hardly edge of your seat stuff, and to a degree was somewhat pre-meditated. At Ewood yesterday the stewarding and lack of police was a joke that led to the pitch invasion. The stewards in place are not trained or physically able to prevent a pitch invasion, whether it be one rogue or a whole stand, and that only serves to add to the risk of a pitch invasion. Couple that with a lack of deterrent (no fines, arrests etc), people will carry on doing it. With over 27,000 at Ewood on a beautiful day with a party atmosphere and many beers drunk, the risk of a pitch invasion should have been identified, especially considering the number of extra tickets sold purely for the ‘party’ occasion, and extra police or specialist security brought in to prevent it from happening. What should have happened is on 85 minutes, stewards and police/security stood side by side should have lined up in front of the Blackburn End and Darwen End as a statement that it was NOT going to happen. Instead we ended up with fans running past beleaguered stewards and on to the pitch, and then the stewards helping them back in to the stand rather than cuffing them and carting them away. In recent years Rovers have been a laughing stock for the nation, and the one chance we have to show we are a big club (hopefully) on the way back, and we are again in the media for the wrong reasons, because of the minority.
It was a frustrating end to what has been a magnificent season, and for me I feel sorry for the players. They set out in August with one goal in mind, promotion, and they achieved that with two games to spare which is no mean feet. Yesterday should have been about celebrating them and their achievements. Instead, the season ended with the long-suffering fans angry at their own and once again with frustration for the fans. If I had to choose between a packed stadium every week but with fans who didn’t really care for the club; or a stadium half full but with true supporters who have followed the club through thick and thin, I think I’d prefer the latter.
Next season is going to be a massive challenge just to remain in the division, let along push for the top 6. There are some massive clubs already in there, with three more to drop down from the Premier League, and Rovers must compete on the pitch with significantly less financial backing than some of the other teams. It’s a challenge I’m glad we are facing and one I’m looking forward to, but for now, I can finally enjoy a summer without the worry of dropping further down the divisions, or what master stroke in idiocy the club will partake in over the summer months.
Mowbray’s dream lives on….
Author roversge86Posted on May 6, 2018 May 6, 2018 Categories Blackburn Rovers, UncategorizedTags Blackburn Rovers, Ewood Park, Tony Mowbray2 Comments on Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Promotion Window
End of Season Review 2018-19
Expectation Vs Optimism
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Eclectic & Serious Film Criticism
The Existentialist Realism of New Russian Cinema: Notes From the St. Petersburg’s FIPRESCI Colloquium, November 2017
by Christina Stojanova Volume 22, Issue 3 / March 2018 31 minutes (7686 words)
I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die.
Søren Kierkegaard 1
It is not easy to write about the current state of Russian cinema in light of news about problems with distribution of allegedly controversial films — first of Russia’s very own Matilde (Матилда, Aleksey Uchitel, 2017), and more recently – of the UK/French production The Death of Stalin (2017, Armando Iannucci, France/ UK/ Belgium). In addition to bringing back memories of the closely watched Soviet cinematic past, and on the backdrop of the extant unfavourable image of Russian politics in the West, such cinematic news makes it even more difficult to focus ‘without prejudice’ on the works, produced over the last year or so in Russia. And make all the more relevant Joseph Brodsky’s famous dictum that in Russia a poet is more than a poet – and a film is more than just an entertainment, for it is expected, sometimes unfairly so – to participate one way or another in ongoing socio-political and cultural polemics. Inevitably, the present and the future of post-Soviet Russian cinema, more particularly its financing and its interaction with the viewers – and with the powers-that-be – have become an intrinsic part of this polemics. Clearly, most Russian films have been relying increasingly on funds, provided by various state structures, among the most generous of which is Russian television. Consequently, the success of the vast number of TV series produced has tilted the balance from the predominance of art-cinema oriented lore during the 1990s to viewer-oriented works, true to the Soviet tradition of art for the masses. 2 Therefore the twelve very different films, shown within the framework of the FIPRESCI Colloquium —held in St. Petersburg (Nov 13-15) ) within the framework of the Biannual Cultural Forum, and under the aegis of Klaus Eder, FIPRESCI Secretary General, and Andrey Plakhov, FIPRESCI Honorary President— revealed this new reality of Russian cinema, featuring six mainstream and six art cinema works.
Most interestingly, the selection bespoke of interest to inward-looking, self-reflexive characters rather than keeping up with the social – or rather socio-political – agenda as has been traditionally expected from the postcommunist cinema. In other words, with its insistence on subjectivity and authenticity, on moral choice and commitment and the inevitably ensuing dread and anxiety in the face of nothingness (as J.-P. Sartre had it) – the general vocation of current Russia cinema could be defined as existentialist, best captured in the above quote by Søren Kierkegaard, the founder of Existentialism as a philosophy and a way of life.
In post-Soviet Russian cinema, the interest towards introverted loners emerged simultaneously with the newly-found passion for auteur reinvention of melodrama, and especially for creation of new genres like the Mafiosi Thriller and the Social Horror in the 1990 and the early 2000s. 3
In his ground-breaking film Brother (Брат, 1996) – followed by the less successful Brother 2 (Брат 2, 2000) – Alexey Balabanov (1959-2013) introduced a new type of hero – a killer for hire, plagued by existential doubts, yet ethically motivated to set things right for the down-and-outs. This type of character, associated with the tragically deceased Sergey Bodrov, Jr (1971-2002) – who continued the cycle by directing and starring in Sisters (Сёстры, 2001) – harks back to Jean-Pierre Melville’s eccentric gangsters, whose essence was ingeniously captured by Alain Delon in Le Samurai (The Samurai, 1967). Thus the characters of Bodrov Jr were a unique cross-breed between American gangsters, film noir anti-heroes, and Albert Camus’s personages. In fact, Balabanov continued what another fellow St. Petersburg director, Aleksandr Rogozhkin, had already started with his eccentric comedies Living with an Idiot (Жизнь с идиотом, 1993) and the Peculiarities of the National Hunt (Oсобености национальной охотьi, 1995), which offered a palatable attempt at revealing the shadow sides of the collective Russian self (or soul) from the outside, through the external gaze of an ‘other’. 4
Thus it is difficult to imagine a more appropriate launching of the Colloquium, which acknowledges both the St. Petersburg film studio, known also as Lenfilm, and the work of one of its most talented post-Soviet directors, than the screening of Balabanov’s remastered Of Men and Freaks (Про уродов и людей, 1998). The film, “[d]esigned every bit as a Western horror film, it elegantly employs the cultural symbols of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg — symbolist paintings, art nouveau architecture, and special light effects”. 5
Of Freaks and Men
Moreover, as mentioned elsewhere, in addition to the Mafiosi Thriller, Balabanov launched the Social Horror genre with Of Men and Freaks, which is an unusually powerful insight into profane underbelly of St. Petersburg ‘Silver Age’ obsession with the sacred and the divine. Balabanov thus
[e]xhaustively drags the high canon of Russian cultural values down to cinema level, enlisting the music of Prokofiev and Musorgsky, and the scrupulous reconstruction of decadent symbolism and necrophiliac melodramatism. The ominous contrast between divine music and corrupt reality creates titillation mixed with a sense of terror and guilt at the uncanny recognition of forbidden pleasures, ‘familiar and old-established in the mind’ yet ‘alienated (…) through the process of repression,’ imposed by the long years of Tsarist-Clerical and then Soviet censorship. 6
Mainstream Genre Paradigms and Existentialist Themes
Eloquent proof of the enduring confluence between existentialism and genre cinema in times of crises, was unexpectedly garnered by the three high profile mainstream films, shown at the Colloquium. Indeed, according to the contemporary Russian writer Evgenyi Vodolazkin – yet another famous St. Petersburg citizen –there are daytime and nighttime eras of history, with the former ones – like the Renaissance and Modernity – encouraging collective endeavours, while the latter – like the Medieval era to which he compares our times – stimulating withdrawal from the world, and fostering personal growth. 7 In Matilde, for example, Uchitel portrays Nicholas II as a young man, caught between two beautiful women – the prima ballerina of the Imperial theatre Matilda Kshesinskaya and his fiancée, Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Alix of Hesse) – until his mother, the Empress, steers his preferences in the ‘right’ direction. Out of place and out of time, Nicholas’ drama evolves at the height of the first major crisis of European 20th century modernity, which would have required a diametrically opposite personality at the helm of the Russian Empire. In the long historical shadow of the bloody turmoil that would soon ensue, Uchitel’s film offers an unexpectedly decadent rendition of the famous slogan that the personal is always already political. Showing the emperor not as a tragic victim of historical circumstance – but as a man of weak and noncommittal nature, an introverted, sentimental, and family centered one –has probably triggered on an unconscious level a much more serious ire 8 in current Russian monarchists rather than the preliminary media speculations about the nature of his sexual escapades with Kshesinskaya, shown on screen. Which, by the way, turned out to be quite timid!
The other two multi-million rubbles works, shown at the Colloquium – Fedor Bondarchuk’s Attraction (Притяжение) 9 and Klim Shipenko’ Salyut-7 (Салют 7) 10 – contrary to conventional genre expectations, fostered by the Hollywood Sci-Fi/ Catastrophe/Romance, and Historical Action – also shift the accent from the public to the personal. Besides, both films navigate more than successfully the thin blue line, separating the Hollywood Hero beyond fear and reproach (in Attraction it is a Heroine) from the Positive Heroes and Heroines, populating Soviet cinema from the times of Vassiliev Brother’s Chapaev (1934) – considered the first Socialist Realist film avant la mot — through the rapid waning of the openly ideological Soviet cinema in the late 1980s. 11 Which goes a long way in explaining why Russian directors feel so at home with the Hollywood genre conventions, yet take the liberties of spicing them up with irony and self-irony. Nonetheless, even in the predictable narratives of Attraction and Salyut 7, the existential moment of the personal moral choice and responsibility is crucial for the climax and resolution of the conflict.
Thus the heroine of Attraction Yulia (Irina Starshenbaum) – a high-school student from Moscow circa 2017 – is easily identifiable with the bold female characters from the Soviet films, who mature into selfless, but also much more considerate personalities than their male counterparts. Indeed, Yulia’s conservative, albeit dotting father, colonel Lebedev (Oleg Menshikov), is firmly convinced that the crash landing of an alien space craft in the outskirts of Moscow, which has caused a lot of damage and loss of life, is actually an act of war on behalf of NATO, and is readying himself and his unit to respond in kind. Moreover, her boy-friend Artem (Aleksandre Petrov) – who initially comes through as a rough around the edges, but otherwise good and overprotective guy – suffers a negative transformation, triggered by the widespread death and havoc, and goes on to helm a para-military xenophobic movement, called The Earth for the Earthlings.
Bondarchuk has already demonstrated a taste for the military blockbuster with his breakthrough Afghan epic The 9th Company (9 рота, 2005), whose success he was to repeat on a larger scale with his international hit Stalingrad (2013), devoted to the 70th anniversary of the eponymous decisive battle against the Nazis. He has also affirmed his passion for Science Fiction with the anti-utopian duology Dark Planet (Обитаемый остров, 2008) and Dark Planet: Rebellion (Обитаемый остров: Схватка, 2009), based on the eponymous novel by the Strugatsky Brothers (who wrote Roadside Picnic, 1971, source novel for Tarkovsky’s Stalker). The duology looks uncannily like a prequel to Attraction: the Dark Planet spaceship commander Maxim, an earthling from the 22nd century, crash lands on an alien planet, plagued by serious ecological and social problems, suspiciously remindful of the Earth in Attraction. The major difference is that while the belligerent Maxim leads the docile and brainwashed Dark Planetarians – called contemptuously ‘degenerates’ by their powerful and invisible masters – into an eventually successful rebellion, in Attraction, the alien spaceship commander Haekon (Rinal Mukhametov) is a pacifist, who firmly believes in nonviolence, ensured by wise technology. Intrigued by his unusual behaviour and unwavering humanism, Yulia undergoes a positive evolution, which parallels the binding transformation of Soviet-era characters under duress, but also the self-sacrificial transformation of Hollywood heroes in similar circumstances. 12
Unlike Yulia, Artem remains blind to Haekon’s noble ideas, and leads the ‘earthlings’ into a rebellion, which predictably ends up in a bloody defeat. While it is easy to detect political allusions to the series of civilian unrests that have taken place within the post-Soviet space over the last ten years or so, the film also clearly points to Artem’s negative apprenticeship, sustained by resentment and anger. This contrast plays up Yulia’s agency in overcoming her own resentment, caused by the loss of her best friend in the crash, and motivates her determination to save Haekon from harassment and death in the hands of the jealous Artem and his gang. In turn, Haekon sacrifices his life to save hers, as he realizes that Yulia would be a most deserving citizen of his home planet which, while identical with the Earth in terms of biosphere, is much more advanced technologically and, most importantly, ethically. And while this outline sounds familiarly trite, it is fittingly localized in present-day Moscow, with characters that are unmistakably Russian, and a plot which – in its insistence that advanced technology is synonymous with advanced morality – remains compellingly true to the spirit of the rich Russian-Soviet tradition in science fiction, espoused in the works of Alexey Tolstoy, Alexander Belyaev, and certainly the Strugatsky brothers.
The message of Salyut 7 about the integral interdependence between technology and ethics, is even more unapologeticаlly didactic, as is usually the case in films about space. Here, the character of the exceptional hero, ready to sacrifice his life at the frontier of science, is tailored after the real-life Space Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov (played with low-key elegance by Vladimir Vdovichenkov). The real Dzhanibekov, Commander of the original Soyuz T-13 mission in 1985, was at that time already an internationally renowned cosmonaut and space scientist, and therefore a person with a rare for his time agency and weight. 13 An unrelated biographical fact, which eloquently speaks to his personal integrity, is that he has taken his wife’s ancient Kazakh family name – Janibekov – so that it would not go extinct. Such a unique family dynamics has however not been served well by portraying his relationship with his wife and daughter in a picture-perfect Hollywood manner.
The reconstruction of the initiation, dramatic execution, and completion of the first ever docking of a spacecraft with an abandoned space station – and even making it operational – is represented as a matter of personal responsibility of the highest order for Dzhanibekov and his colleague Viktor Savinykh. The historical mission was obviously a way of defying NASA space program with which Soviet Soyuz program was locked in a race, whose stakes were above all military. Therefore Dzhanibekov’s real-life propensity for being his own man was decisive for the successful outcome of the mission. The American-educated filmmaker Shipenko – after having directed four mainstream works, based on skillful adaptations of popular genre tropes to present-day Russian reality – has thus shrewdly diminished the otherwise significant powers of the space command centre on the ground. And at some critical junctures, has Dzhanibekov even bypass the center intricate party hierarchies and policies altogether! Thus – not unlike Gravity (2013, Alfonso Cuarón, USA) and The Martian (2015, Ridley Scott, USA) – the mission is represented as entirely dependent on the human authenticity of the spaceship commander, and yes, on his willingness to take responsibility for his choices.
Like Attraction, Salyut 7 flaunts masterful special effects, 14 which more than successfully rival Hollywood CGIs, yet have been executed for a fraction of their multi-million dollar budgets – a fact that was eagerly discussed during the regular Q & A sessions with directors and producers of the films, following the screenings. Inter alia, these sessions – along with the impeccable organization of the Colloquium and the generous accommodation – were yet another highlight of the event, for meeting face to face with filmmakers immediately after a screening is indeed a rare privilege and a unique opportunity for spontaneous and creative debate.
My Killer (Мой убийца, Kostas Marsan, 2016) was yet another mainstream genre work, made however on a fraction of the above budgets, and not in the central Moscow or St. Petersburg film studios, but in Yakutia (or Sakha Republic), situated along the Arctic Ocean, one of the Russian Federation’s largest autonomous far-eastern region. While the film is influenced stylistically and structurally by South Korean film policier, the way of life it depicts is uncannily remindful of the Canadian Inuit north. The investigation of a suspiciously open-and-shut murder case of a young woman, is helmed by Djulus (Vyacheslav Lavernov) – a young and idealistic police detective. Following the lead, Djulus travels from the capital Yakutsk to far flung settlements, where a ruthless world of criminal gold digging is nestled. Yet while it takes the police hours to reach these places by helicopter, because of the scarcity of the population, the local operatives are very well aware who the usual suspects are and where they might be found. And easily captured if, of course, the police are not more interested in keeping them at large in exchange of a generous cut from their illegal prospecting.
My Murderer
Part of the phenomenon of what has come to be known as Sakhawood (in analogy of Hollywood and Bollywood), the film shares some of the auteur genre cinema traits, which since the late 1980s have become increasingly popular with small national cinemas, confronted with turbulent times. For example, the first Hong Kong Mafiosi Thrillers, John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow I and II (Ying hung boon sik, 1986 and 1987) and The Killer (Dip huet seung hung, 1989), reflected the crisis of masculinity, triggered by the social anxiety from the impending handover to China in 1997—when the ‘best were either dead or have left the country’. 15 And, as has already been discussed above as well as elsewhere, 16 in Russia and in Poland (most notably Wladyslaw Pasikowski’s Dogs/ Psy, 1992), while the Mafiosi Thriller emerged after the collapse of communism due to similar reasons, the crisis of masculinity transcended its confines to become a subject of a much wider array of genre and auteur approaches. My Killer, on the other hand, reflects on the social anxiety brought on by the newly found pleasures of consumerist society and its clash with traditional local values, through the prism of a family tragedy, where the young heroine kills her twin sister for money. The film does however flaunt the characteristic Mafiosi Thriller devices – long and empty shots and voice over narration – along with Film Noir psychological deviance and existential musings, which make up amply for the unaffordable production values.
One of the most interesting post-screening discussion was with director Marsan and producer Marianna Skrybkyna, who – in addition to speaking about the making of this enigmatic film in the unimaginably vast expanses of the Russian North – showed a very promising trailer of their new film. This forthcoming mystical horror story, based on indigenous Sakha (Yakutian) folklore motifs, definitely deserves anticipating, along with any and all future developments in Sakhawood.
Postcommunist Auteur Existentialism and Families in Crises
The protagonists of the three internationally most successful works, shown at the colloquium – Closeness (Теснота, Kantemir Balagov, 2017), Arrhythmia (Аритмия, Boris Khlebnikov, 2017), and of How Victor ‘The Garlic’ Took Alexey ‘The Stud’ to the Nursing Home (Как Витька Чеснок вез Леху Штыря в дом инвалидов, Aleksandre Khant, 2017) – follow a psychological trajectory, which is propelled by separation from their immediate world, and conclude it with confronting their inner selves. And while society and historical circumstance – with their sometimes-despicable cruelty – are an intrinsic part of the narrative, the focus of the films is on the characters’ moral stamina.
These three films fall into the unique brand of postcommunist auteur existentialism, which informs the continuous success of the New Romanian Cinema over the last decade or so. As has been discussed elsewhere, 17 “the austere narrative formats [of New Romanian Cinema], reinforced by the archetypal structure of myth, account for its metaphysical integrity, where contents, form, and ethics merge into the compact entity of a philosophical proposition as a ‘truth bearer’, not unlike [Ludwig] Wittgenstein’s, which he considered to be a “picture of reality”. 18 Indeed, as A. O. Scott suggests, the inspiration for “the new type of realism of New Romanian Cinema seems to be as much ethical as it is aesthetic; less a matter of verisimilitude than of honesty”. 19 Not surprisingly, then, the foremost Romanian director Cristi Puiu – who, by quoting the father of general semantics A. Korzybski dismisses generalizations about his oeuvre as “describing the map, but not the territory” – strongly agrees that Wittgenstein’s proposition “ethics and aesthetics are one” captures the essence not only of his films but of the New Romanian Cinema as a whole. 20
This postcommunist existentialism is understood not only in its philosophical sense – that is, related to the loneliness and anxiety that come with the burden of one’s responsible moral choices – but also as a specific kind of realist aesthetics, which privileges the huis clos of psychologically detailed observation of human interactions, yet avoids the temptations of miserabilism or chernukha (in Russian). 21 As Puiu has sarcastically put it, the infantilizing aesthetic tropes of miserabilism/ chernukha have lost to a large extent their attractiveness as successful “festival survival tactics”, a “marketing tool”, comparable to “the Hollywood CGIs”, but “only much cheaper”. 22 It is not without a reason that specialists of postcommunist cinema and culture increasingly tend to define miserabilist cinema as a form of “self-colonizing” 23 or “self-exoticizing”, pointing to the fact that in this type of cinema, “the post-socialist region is epitomized as the wild borderland of Europe”, where “social-ethical standards are blurred”. 24 Fortunately, the ‘self-colonizing’ cinematic misrebilia is being ever more marginalized by works, which demonstrate the increasingly sobering realization that the West is facing its own real problems, and – to paraphrase the Soviet humorists Ilya Ilf & Evgeny Petrov – the problems of the postcommunist East are problems of the postcommunist East, and that is that. 25
Both Arrhythmia, Khlebnikov’s tenth film, and Closeness – a debut work for most of its cast and crew, supervised and produced by the celebrated Aleksandre Sokurov – belong to the best specimen of this postcommunist existentialist trend, and feature protagonists who are able to preserve their human integrity in the face of tough day-to-day existence. Like the personages from Greek tragedies, the married couple in the former and the main heroine in the latter, are in exposed position, yet not because of elevated social standing, physical beauty, or least of all – excessive arrogance or hubris, which provoked the ire of the Gods and destroyed their ancient counterparts. The tragic guilt, or hamartia that makes these personages vulnerable amidst the ubiquitous indifference, egotism and violence – lies with their rare, self-sacrificial sense of empathy for the suffering ‘other’. Thus, with her mixture of tom-boyish audacity and feminine charm, Ila from Closeness (in the amazingly passionate interpretation of Darya Zhovnar) almost immediately arouses pity and fear. She somehow miraculously manages to be a good daughter to her dotting parents, as well as her own daring person, which seems next to impossible in Nalchik, 26 a hotbed of virulent misogyny and bigotry circa 1998, the year the story takes place. Thus in addition to being almost as good a car mechanic as her father, Ila dares her closely knit Jewish community by rejecting an arranged marriage to the quietly considerate Moshe, because she is already in love with the burly Zelim, a local Muslim guy. And although we never see his face, he turns out to be good and caring, albeit always somewhat embarrassed by the candid intensity of Ila’s feelings. All the more that his friends – who happen to admire watching videos of Chechen terrorists killing in a most gruesome way Russian soldiers on the battlefield—are openly anti-Semitic. 27
The rising tensions both within and without Ila’s home reach their climax when her brother David and his fiancée are kidnapped on the night of their betrothal. Her father sells his body shop in order to pay the ransom, however it is thanks to Ila’s intervention by way of Zelim that the hostages are freed. And yet, although vehemently opposed to conceding defeat and moving with relatives in Western Russia, at the last-minute Ila resolutely boards the small overloaded car, and departs with her devastated parents. The dénouement literally takes the film from the grip of what Aristotle calls “particulars of history” – that is, the details of the suffocating narrative so far – to the heights of the Caucasian Mountains, as a breathtaking simile for the “universals of poetry”, which the ancient sage believed to be solely capable of reflecting on the redemption of human suffering through (self) sacrifice. The film ends with a close-up on Ila’s beautiful eyes looking at us in askance.
The self-sacrificial trajectory of husband and wife in Arrhythmia, which takes them through similarly unsettling chaos and anxiety, could be compared to what in arts and literature is known as ‘imitation of Christ’– that is, the choice of suffering in the name of others as a personal existential path. Although this choice seems to be inscribed in their professions – a doctor and a nurse – it eventually becomes a veritable Via Dolorosa, which brings their personal relationship to a breaking point.
The film reveals the day-to-day struggles Oleg (in the finely understated performance of Aleksandr Yatsenko) – a talented and devoted paramedic – wages with bureaucracy, insensitivity, and sheer laziness. And while his ultimate professional commitment and unwavering ethics put him in an exposed position vis-à-vis the new bullish hospital administrator, it is his gentle nature which – in a truly tragic fashion – makes him a reluctant hero, who is unable, or rather unwilling, to aggressively stand his ground. This inability to strike the right balance between life and work, is his hamartia, which predictably leads to erosion of his relationship with his wife Katya (an equally refined Irina Gorbacheva).
Arrythmia
In a truly dialogical (Bakhtinian) fashion, Khlebnikov switches back and forth between Oleg’s and Katya’s truths, making us privy to their subjective feelings and points of view. Although there is some evidence that Katya is also a devoted professional, she mostly comes through as person in emotional crisis, torn between her love for Oleg and a growing frustration with what she sees as his drifting away from her. And while Oleg’s emotional and psychological states are externalized – he binge-drinks, sleeps on the kitchen floor and, after a particularly nasty fight, spends the cold night in a shed – hers are masterfully internalized by Gorbacheva, who literally acts with her eyes and fragile presence. A master of psychological nuance himself, Khlebnikov makes almost palpable their anguish, as well as their impossibly hard – gesture by gesture, word by word, touch by touch – way back to each other.
It is impossible not to compare Katya and Oleg to another famous cinematic couple from current Russian cinema – that of Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and Boris (Aleksey Rozin) from Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar nominated Loveless (Нелюбовь, 2017). The egotism of Zhenya and Boris is so blinding that they fail to notice the fatal disappearance of their 12-year-old son Ayosha. As was pointed out at the Colloquium, Khlebnikov and Zvyagintsev have been moving through their careers – launched in the same year – as yin and yang, or – in the words of Carl Gustav Jung – as the two sides of an archetype. Indeed, their very first films – Road to Koktebel (Коктебел), co-directed in 2003 by Khlebnikov and Aleksey Popogrebsky, and Zvyagintsev’s The Return (Возвращение, 2003) – featured an always already complicated relationship between a father and his teenage son (or sons as in The Return). Thus Khlebnikov/ Popogrebsky look at this relationship through the prism of a buildungs roman, where an adolescent boy quickly matures during a road trip he embarks on with his father. And follow how, in the boy’s eyes, the father turns from an ideal, God-like figure into a vulnerable and fallible human being, which seems to be the only way the boy could mature as his own person, and reach the originally planned destination, metaphorically epitomized by the seaside town of Koktebel.
Road to Koktebel
Moreover, despite the grim sights and the harshness of the adventures in Koktebel, the free style camera and medium to long shots imply a feeling of lightness. In The Return, on the other hand, the master of the saturnine Zvyagintsev has his film shot as a series of elegantly lit minimalist tableaux, with gorgeously sculpted figures which – thanks to Mikhail Krichman’s camera – would become his visual style of choice. The Father here is an archetypal Senex 28 , representative of the rigidified, authoritarian paternalistic power, usually associated with the Soviet past. After an unexplained twelve years of absence – a more than transparent hint at the early years of Putin’s Thermidor (or Restoration, depending on one’s viewpoint) – the Father immediately embarks on disciplining his young sons by taking them on a men-only hike, and away from the emasculating influence of their mother and grandmother. His increasingly punitive attempts to make up summarily for the lost time however end up abruptly when the sons accidently, but unremorsefully, kill him.
Again, unlike Khlebnikov, whose subsequent films draw their vitality from well-defined characters, immersed in the messy particulars of history, in The Return, Zvyagintsev establishes his signature narrative preference for a universal plot – or rather archetypally abstract psychological casus – around which he builds his characters, and then taciturnly steers towards the inevitable final catastrophe. And thus, while Khlebnikov leads the viewers through pity and fear to cathartic identification and compassion for the ‘human, all too human’ frailties of his characters, Zvyagintsev’s insists on approaching his characters analytically, as both victims and accomplices of their socio-political realties, and therefore unworthy of empathy.
Existentialism of the Absurd and the Grotesque
The existentialist absurdity and futility of life, the indifference of the universe, accompanied with the necessity of engagement in a just cause, has long since made its way into the theatre of absurd. Khant’s debut How Victor ‘The Garlic’ Took Alexey ‘The Stud’ to the Nursing Home, as its unusual title suggests, successfully does its best to circumvent both the analytical and the misreabilist trends of postcommunist and post-Soviet cinema, by creating a unique hybrid between postcommunist existentialism, and the absurd and the grotesque. As far as the post-Soviet Russian cinema is concerned, Khant’s film does hover on the edges, considered reserved for Kira Muratova’s oeuvre since the early 1990s, but is most closely related to Balabanov’s hilarious pastiche Blind Man’s Bluff (Жмурки, 2005), with which the late director all but put an end to the Russian version of the Mafiosi Thriller he had so successfully propelled in the 1990s with the Brother films. And while Balabanov has his New Russian Mafiosi drown each other in blood – the graphic violence of Blind’s Man Bluff, in its turn, represents a throwback to the macabre satire Outskirts (Окраина, 1998), the first and only film by Pyotr Lutsik (1960-2000) – Khant’s protagonist deals with the farfetched psychological consequences of the wild 1990s, epitomized by his father, the eponymous Alexey ‘The Stud’, a former ruthless Mafiosi now helplessly stuck in a wheelchair. The link to Blind Man’s Bluff is further secured by Aleksey Serebryakov, the golden boy of Russian cinema from the 1990s and the early 2000s, who plays the once glorious Stud with ironic self-reflexivity. The 27-year-old Victor (in the delicious over-the-top interpretation of Evgeniy Tkachuk) has always considered himself an orphan, and is far from thrilled when all of a sudden, The Stud re-emerges in his life. Yet still, albeit reluctantly, he takes him on the road to look for a place where the ‘old’ man could spend the rest of his days comfortably and in peace. Their road trip is actually a vivid and volatile – part realistic, part phantasmagoric, and part sentimental – journey into the past of The Stud, where Victor meets his friends, enemies, his second wife, who now lives in sprawling mansion with Victor’s half-sister, and gets involved in all kinds of adventures, some of them hilarious, other sad, and some even downright life-threatening. Thus, under the sounds of an intense Russian rap, the two of them embark on that tortuous archetypal journey of father and son towards each other, at the end of which the father should be either abandoned or dead, while the son – if his character buildung was successful – would have matured enough to shed his childishness and face the existential burden of infinite choices.
Victor ‘The Garlic’
True to his absurdist style, however, Khant opts for a third, and least expected resolution, which under different aesthetic regime would have looked either tackily melodramatic or irritably didactic. And has Victor, already half way back home, turn around his vehicle to pick up The Stud from the nursing home where he had just left him, thus consciously completing the otherwise serendipitous trajectory of the self-sacrificial son. Moreover, thanks to its uniquely postmodern comics-style narrative, and the aesthetics of free-flying incongruities and colourful paysages, the finale turns into an allegoric coming to terms with the traumatic heritage of the much disdained 1990s.
As has rightfully been noted at the Colloquium, Yusup Razykov’s film Sella Turcica is reminiscent of The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany, 2006), but – it should be added – the resemblance is like an image in a black mirror, reflecting back only the malevolence of its protagonist, the former secret service agent Ilych. And none of his East German counterpart’s better self, which gradually emerges in Von Donnersmarck’s film.
The title of the film signifies Ilych’s medical condition in Latin, but also creates a perceptual grid, which explains his deeply troubled rapport with his environment. It is through Ilych’s skewed POV – through the remarkably organic facilitation of Valery Maslov – that the viewer grasps the contours of the idiosyncratic world Ilych inhabits. Which is far from a pretty sight, yet we are left in the dark whether this is the objective truth about the people who he – true to his former habits – trails, or is a projection of his professional paranoia, enhanced by his condition. Thus the boy and the girl that seem so in love actually turn out to be porn stars; a man who is about to kill himself turns to be a criminal, etc. All the more that the colour scheme keeps alternating between monochromic to colour, which rhymes with Ilych’s shifting state of mind, and additionally disorients the viewer.
This collapsing of boundaries – between real and imaginary, self and other, reality and illusion – which is typical of the horror genre cinema aesthetics, was taken further by the masters of the postcommunist Social Horror film – first by Lutsik, then by Balabanov, and currently by Sergey Loznitsa – who have additionally identified as “powerful sources of horror the collapsing boundaries between the collective and the individual, capitalism and socialism, the old and the new”. 29 Indeed, “In a paradoxical reversal of post-Communist loyalties,” in these films “the source of the uncanny … is the tension between the ‘new’ Russian way of life and the ‘old’ Soviet one”. 5
In Sella Turcica, the collapse of these boundaries is reflected in the absurdism of Ilych’s day to day existence, caught in between the old Soviet values he is clinging to, and his inability to understand the changed world around him. Not unlike Captain Zhurov from Balabanov’s Cargo 200 (2007), Ilych lives with the rotting corpse of the Soviet regime, epitomized by his former bosses, but mostly by his unrepentant weltanschauung. Therefore the inherently absurdist tensions – in both their philosophical irresolvablility and aesthetic incongruity –between his newly found passion for baroque opera arias and his primeval homophobia, lead him to murder, which is carefully cleaned up by his former secret services buddies. Yet the ambiguity of Ilych’s final tearful break down – provoked by his realization that the beautiful alto female voice he has fallen in love with, does not belong to his pretty young neighbour but to her boyfriend, a bisexual counter-tenor, whom Ilych had accidentally killed in a stairwell scuffle after seeing him kissing a male lover – has been interpreted by some as a demure sign of a positive turn towards accepting the changing world.
The skillfully sustained ambiguity by both director and actor make this otherwise simple and low budget work a veritable tour-de-force, especially within a climate, where people of Ilych’s ilk would go any length to find signs of illegal homoerotic propaganda. Yet Stella Turcica has clearly found viewers outside the festival chain as well, since it throws in high relief the overall tendency of contemporary Russian cinema to examine the path towards individuation and personal responsibility, undertaken even by such unlikely types like Ilych.
Coda: The Forgotten Delights of Surrealism
Among the works discussed so far, Rustam Khamdamov’s film Bottomless Bag (Мешок без дна, 2017) is a stand-alone gem, a rarity even among the scantly populated territory of the Soviet-Russian cinematic surrealism, harking back to such deliciously executed satires, inspired by Russian folkloric motifs like Aleksandre Medvedkin’s Happiness (Cчастье, 1935), or Viy or Spirit of Evil (Вий, 1967, directed by Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropachyov). And although Bottomless Bag is way too delicate and sophisticated for their socially acerbic humour, on certain levels it could still be linked to Aleksandre Ptushko’s famous renditions of Russian fairy tales, made in the fantasy genre between the late 1920s through the early 1970s. Yet Khamdamov’s film remains uniquely postmodern in its defiant eclecticism, which the director elegantly interweaves within a complex structural frame, evocative of surrealist auteur cinema. In fact, Bottomless Bag belongs to a league of Khamdamov’s own, consisting of only five other titles, made between 1967 and 2011, whose style could aptly be defined as a surrealist intermediality for esthetes. In three of these works, the film medium takes upon itself the role of a frame, encasing portraits of divas – from the silent cinema era and from the opera. Due to the unusual calamities, which have haunted the completion of these works, Khamdamov has turned to drawing and production design, but has also made a couple of shorts, focusing – significantly – on precious stones. On the backdrop of such an intricate cinematic career, the hard-won success of Bottomless Bag looks all the more deserved and valuable.
The role of the Narrator, played by the gorgeous-looking late Soviet actress Svetlana Nemolyaeva (b. 1937), is pivotal for the Russian dolls’ structure of the film. A middle-aged lady-in-waiting in an imaginary Russian court, the Narrator – in a Scheherazade-like fashion – is trying to distract her grief-stricken master, the recently widowed Grand Duke, from descending into depression and alcoholism. Most of her stories are oneiric improvisations, which mix and match narrative motifs, characters and images, taken from Russian fairy tales, classical Russian literature, and even from Japanese literature and cinema. Which an imperial lady-in-waiting from historical Russia could have had no knowledge of! And in this, the film is strongly reminiscent of the ethereal metaphysics of the guided tour through the times and history of the Hermitage, offered by Aleksandre Sokurov’s Russian Ark (Русский ковчег, 2002). All the more that the Narrator’s wild fantasy is forcefully matched by the stunning visuals of the film, which hark back to some of the best cinematic works from the black & white era.
The centre-piece of the film – and the Narrator’s masterpiece – is interwoven within the narrative canvas of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s famous story In a Grove (1922), while the camerawork by Pyotr Dukhovskoy and Tim Lobov conjures the mythic atmosphere of its brilliant cinematic rendition by Akira Kurosawa in Rashōmon (1950), with its signature images of a spring forest, shot through with sunlight. It is in such a forest, where the proverbial several versions are played out of what ‘really’ happens with the bewitched Tzarevna (the Princess), while the Tzarevitch (the Prince) is tied to a tree, and what is the role in this of the wicked Baba Yaga (the old forest witch), and of other floral and faunal creatures from the Russian folklore. The surrealist bent of the film is ironically thrown in high relief by the Grand Duke, who becomes increasingly aware of the liberties the Narrator takes with the originals, and gets to correct her more and more often. And thus alerts the viewer to the multiple layers, contained in this bottomless bag of stunningly beautiful and dreamlike folkloric, literary, and cinematic riddles, the cracking of which makes the film ever more delightful.
Bottomless Bag
In conclusion, on the basis of the Colloquium film selection, one could say that the new Russian cinema is turning with growing confidence towards its viewer, experimenting with various narrative and aesthetic approaches, ranging from the mainstream genre cinema to auteur existentialist and analytical works, to experimental films, pushing the limits of expression into territories where the Soviet and Russian cinema has rarely treaded before. Indeed, as Vodolazkin – to quote him again – says, truly experimental – and postmodern – works stand the danger to be compared to a frame without the portrait. 31 That is, could be dismissed as abundance of form at the expense of what the ancient Greeks called εἶδος, a central idea or meaning. And yet while the forays of Khant and Razykov into the absurd and the grotesque could be explained with the need for emotional or political subtlety, Khamdamov’s film is a rare example of how the richness of the frame – immersed in the boundless beauty of literature, cinema, and myth – becomes a most expressive conduit of the fundamental εἶδος of true art – the meaning of life. And thus the growing aesthetic and genre diversity of new Russian cinema enables it not only to highlight the particulars of history – its horrors, its deficiencies, its misery – but to also throw in high relief the universal beauty of human bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of existential nothingness. In this line of thought, Vodolazkin – following the existentialists – suggests that there is a direct link between people’s ability to find their own meaning in life, their personal moral responsibility, and democracy. 5
FIPRESCI at St. Petersberg
Feature header photo from Sella Turcica
Kosciejew, Richard John, The Treadmills of Time, AuthorHouse, 2014., p 143 ↩
The notion of ‘art for the masses’, at least by definition, is profoundly democratic, and ideologically opposite to the concept of ‘mass art’. For one, the former suggests that traditional – considered sometimes highbrow and elitist – arts should be made accessible to the masses, while the latter implies creating a new brand of art, targeting the masses ↩
Stojanova, Christina. “The New Russian Cinema”, in Kinema No.10 (Fall 1998), at Visited March 2018. ↩
This hybrid auteur-genre approach quite successfully served also the so called Putin’s cinema from the early 2000s, where films like Pavel Chukhray’s A Driver For Vera (Водитель для Веры, 2004) and Dmitry Meskhiev’s Our Own (Свои, 2004) appeal to a rehabilitation of unpleasant pages of Soviet history, or more specifically, of “the formidable KGB officers and the Party Commissars”. Yet, as has been said elsewhere, if “Russia is to survive in the new millennium, the subtle message [of these films] goes, people have to learn to empathise even with the bad boys for “we all are family”, as one of the characters in Our Own proclaims at the film’s finale”. Stojanova, Christina. “The Russian Cinema at the Beginning of the New Millennium”, in Kinema No. 24 (Fall 2005). Visited March 2018. ↩
Ibid. ↩
Stojanova, Christina. “Mise-en-scenes of the Impossible: Soviet and Russian Horror Films,” p. 104, in Alternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945, X. Mendik, E. Mathijs, Eds.,Wallflower, UK /Columbia U Press, USA, 2005, pp. 90-105. ↩
Vodolazkin, Evgeny. Home and Island, or the Tool of Language (Дом и остров, или Инструмент языка), АCT Publishing House, Moscow, 2016., pp. 349-377. ↩
The production budget of the film was (according to Wikipedia), 814 million rubles, and the box office about 512 million (Dec 2017). Due to overreaction on behalf of ultra-religious pundits, who insisted that the recently canonized as saint emperor should not be shown in such a ‘demeaning’ light, “the planned release of the film has become the subject of a public conflict” as early as Nov 2016. There was “fierce controversy, attempts to ban the film, threats to film distributors and arson in one film theatre” wikipedia). Visited January 2018. ↩
Budget 380 million rubbles, box office – over 1 billion rubbles. ↩
Budget 400 million rubbles, box office 748 million rubbles. ↩
Socialist Realism was proclaimed as ‘official aesthetics’ of Soviet arts in 1934, at the First Congress of the Soviet Writers. During that congress, the following four main principles were established. The art works must be 1) Proletarian: art relevant to the workers and understandable to them; 2) Typical: scenes of everyday life of the people; 3) Realistic: in the representational sense; 4) Partisan: supportive of the aims of the State and the Party (Juraga, Dubravka and Booker, Keith M. Socialist Cultures East and West. Praeger, 2002), p.68. ↩
Such a movement from ignorance to knowledge, which usually happens under the influence of a Mentor, has been known as bildungs roman since 19th century, but gained popularity during the rapidly politicizing 1930s as ‘structure of apprenticeship’. The nature of this ‘apprenticeship’ – whether ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ – is determined by the overall ideological context, whose powerful agent the Mentor is. Thus the ultimate fate of the character depends on the ‘real’ or ‘false’ nature of the knowledge, imparted by the Mentor who, in his or her turn, could lead the character to either ascendance or demise. It is enough to recall Luke Skywalker’s positive apprenticeship under Obi-Wan Kenobi’s and Yoda’s guidance, but also the potential of a very negative one if he were to follow Darth Vader. In fact, the shifts in the social, ideological, and geo-political climate over the last century could be astutely mapped by registering the changes, undergone by the literary and cinematic Mentors worldwide. Stojanova, Christina. The Eastern European Crisis of Self-Knowledge (1948-1989): The Relationship Between State and Society as Reflected in Eastern European Film – A Genre Approach, Doctoral Dissertation, Montreal: Concordia University, 1999. ↩
He is the discoverer of the so called Dzhanibekov’s effect. ↩
The film was awarded the prestigious Golden Eagle, the Russian Best Film award (January, 2018) ↩
Stringer, Julian. “‘Your Tender Smiles Give Me Strength’: Paradigms of Masculinity in John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow and The Killer.” Screen, v. 38, no. 1., Spring 1997., pp. 25-41. ↩
Stojanova, Christina. “Le film de genre américain dans le cinema post-communiste: ‘le Mafiosi Thriller’”, in Ciné-bulles 17, No.2 (Été) Summer 1998, 38-43 ↩
Stojanova, Christina. “Introduction”, in The New Romanian Cinema, C. Stojanova, Editor, Edinburgh University Press, 2018, in print, p. 15. ↩
Quoted in Stojanova, 2018, p. 15. ↩
Quoted in Stojanova, ibid. ↩
Puiu, Cristi and Christina Stojanova, Interview, 2017. ↩
The term was coined by Variety’s Eddy Cockrell with regard to Hungarian film Taxidermia), which he described as an ‘exercise in Central European ultra-miserabilism’. (Visited Feb 2018). ↩
Puiu, Interview, 2017. ↩
Coined by Bulgarian scholar Alexander Kiossev in 1999, the term signifies “a core of self- imposed, voluntary identification, formed by Eastern European nationalisms following the West’s image of the region” (qtd in Imre, 2014: 121). ↩
(Strausz 2017: 243). ↩
The awarding of the highest Locarno IFF awards to two Bulgarian films in quick succession reveals most eloquently the crisis of the misreabilist style. Thus, the 2016 Locarno IFF showered with Golden Leopards Godless (Безбог, Ralitza Petrova, Bulgaria) – an aesthetically substandard and ethically speculative work – reconfirming yet again that the raison d’etre of miserabilist cinema is ‘to let the West breathe a sigh of relief’, knowing that the ‘barbaric communities such films represent’ are ‘at a safe distance from the civilized and enlightened hubs of cultural exchange’ (Strausz, László. Hesitant Histories on the Romanian Screen, Palgrave-McMillan, 2017, p, 243). Yet only a year later, the Golden Leopard (Filmmakers of the Present) went to Ilya Metev’s ¾ Three-Quarters (Три-четвърти) – a pensive drama of a family on the eve of the daughter’s emigration to Germany. ↩
The capital of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic (Russian Federation). ↩
The story takes place between the First (1994-1996) and the Second (1990-2000) wars in the neighbouring Chechnya. ↩
According to Jung, the Senex (the Old Man, Latin) and the Puer (the Boy, Latin) are the two sides of the same archetype. While the senex is “associated with the god Apollo – disciplined, controlled, responsible, rational, ordered”, the puer is related “to Dionysus – unbounded instinct, disorder, intoxication, whimsy”. Sharp, Daryl, Jungian Lexicon, Visited February 2018. ↩
Stojanova, Christina. “Mise-en-scenes of the Impossible: Soviet and Russian Horror Films”,p. 104, in Alternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945, X. Mendik, E. Mathijs, Eds.,Wallflower, UK /Columbia U Press, USA, 2005, pp. 90-105. ↩
Christina Stojanova is Associate Professor at the Department of Film, University of Regina, Canada. She contributes regularly to the specialized and academic print and on-line media, and her writings are translated into many languages. Co-editor of the critical anthologies Wittgenstein at the Movies (2011) and The Legacies of Jean-Luc Godard (2014), she is the editor of The New Romanian Cinema (2017) and The Legacy of German Expressionism (2018). Her book on Canadian animator Caroline Leaf is forthcoming in 2018. Member of the Quebec Film Critics Association, Christina regularly sits on international film festival juries.
More by Christina
Email Christina
Volume 22, Issue 3 / March 2018 Festival Reports
Also in Volume 22, Issue 3
Faith, Knowledge, Illness, Sacrifice: Stephen and Jane Hawking in the film The Theory of Everything
Daniel Garrett
Vicariously Violent: The Case of Lav Diaz’s From What Is Before
Parisa Hakim Javadi
The End of an Era? Michael Haneke’s Happy End
Reform Cinema in Iran: Film and Political Change in the Islamic Republic
Mazyar Mahdavifar
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Owners plan to rebuild restaurant
FORT LUPTON — The owner of the Mexican restaurant that was gutted by fire here last week said Monday she will rebuild and hopes to be open in four to six months.
Rachel Wells operates Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant with her husband, Shawn. The restaurant is one of a chain started in Brighton in the early 1990s by her mother, Carmen Morales. Her sister and brother-in-law, Eric and Martina Casados, opened the second Santiago’s Mexican Restaurant in Lafayette in 1994 while Shawn and Rachel opened the Fort Lupton location at 150 1st St. in April 1996.
The chain now includes 23 restaurants in Colorado and one in Crete, Neb., Wells said.
A fire gutted the restaurant last Wednesday night. It started in the kitchen area about two hours after the last employee left for the day, according to Larry Richardson, the Fort Lupton fire marshal. Fort Lupton firefighters were on the scene for about four hours and had to call the Frederick Fire Department as backup to take any additional calls that may have come in, Richardson said.
Wells said Monday she was told the fire started from an unknown cause, but said the building was covered by insurance.
“There’s no damage estimate yet, but they told us we would have to gut the inside and basically start all over again. That’s what we plan to do. We have 27 employees, so we want to get it up and going again as soon as we can,” Wells said.
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Home Reviews TV & web shows
TV & web shows
“The Conners” are back
Michael Cook - November 3, 2018
Season Two of “The Real Housewives of Miami” brings the heat
“Feral” is a new binge watch web series
The Real housewives of NYC return
“Fashion Night By Bravo” Is definitely In vogue
“Hooking up in the digital age” hits home
Will Loschiavo - September 23, 2018
HBO’s Swiped: Hooking Up In The Digital Age shows how dating has become a game Written and produced by Nancy Jo Sales, Swiped: Hooking Up...
“Whatever this is” is what you should watch right now!
Matty Daley - August 1, 2013
It was clear, from all of the hipster- dressed boys and girls, that Adam Goldman, creator of the web series The Outs, had packed the sold-...
Toby Grace - October 30, 2016
I won’t say who I think is the cutest guy in this new web series but I can assure you this story about young...
Here’s why The Connors works better than the first reboot I will wholeheartedly admit, I was very apprehensive about the reboot, of the reboot, of...
Michael Cook - March 1, 2013
"Vintage store reality show" has been done before, but not quite like Bravo is doing "Dukes Of Melrose". Featuring fashion minded Cameron Silver and business minded Christos Garkinos, they are the "Batman & Robin" of Decades, the premiere "luxury consignment shop" in Hollywood. While Christos is the business minded alpha male of the operation, Cameron is the fashion expert of the operation (wait until you see Christos' reaction to a "haute couture" Givenchey gown that a California socialite comes in with). With a guest appearance from actress and comedienne Rachel Harris (and once you see the preview, a ton of other celebrities) you get a touch of the Hollywood that graces the doors of Decades on a daily basis. With Christos having a brilliant business mind from 20 years of business experience, and Cameron styling stars for major red carpet events like the Oscar's the merging of both of their talents makes "Dukes Of Melrose" the perfect addition to Bravo's long line of fashion-themed programming.
Celebrity stylist Brad Goreski has come a long way from playing third fiddle to Rachel Zoe and her long-whining assistant Taylor on the early season of "The Rachel Zoe Project". Not only has Goreski gone out on his own as a stylist, he is working with celebrities like Demi Moore, Minka Kelly, and Jessica Alba. The first episode features on establishing Goreski as his own brand of stylist; he has his own team, styling assistants Thomas and Hannah (with help from his new super-assistant Lindsey). It is refreshing to see Goreski come into his own as not only a stylist, but as a brand in and of himself. Watching Goreski, you also get a master class in "Fashion 101", with a split screen of Goreski detailing the outfit while the celebrities try on the garments. While Brad's business life is thriving, his personal life is also moving along quite nicely, as he shares the ups and downs of the world of styling with his partner Gary. While Goreski is the definition of hyper, Gary is definitely what really helps keeping Goreski grounded. The first episode features Brad styling a large Kate Spade anniversary event and attending the Monique Lhullier fashion show. Brad puts it best when he tells us that "from an early age, we've been taught to Turn The Beat Around". Goreski's beat will definitely continue for quite some time.
"The Rachel Zoe Project" returns with quite a twist. While the first few seasons have been all about Zoe showing her prowess as a fashion stylist for celebrities like Anne Hathaway, this season follows Zoe as she takes her journey to make "wearable clothing that fits into your everyday life" as she becomes "Rachel Zoe-Fashion Designer". For many this seems like a natural progression, but for Zoe, it's the ultimate challenge. Being taken seriously as a stylist in an industry she helped make mainstream is one thing; becoming a new designer in a field of legendary designers like Oscar De La Renta and Ralph Lauren is something else. The days of Rachel playing referee between previous assistants is over. This Rachel Zoe is focused, driven, and striving forward to make a name for herself in an industry that she has supported on the other side of the fence for many years. This season, her husband Rodger is a much stronger force in "Zoe Inc", as he works hand in hand with his wife in helping her climb up the fashion ladder be a success. And of course, the show would not be complete without appearances by celebrities (keep your eyes peeled for star studded cameos throughout). And this would not be "Fashion By Bravo" if these celebrities were not dripping in designer couture. Zoe is also balancing motherhood as her final plate in the air, as her son Skylar continues to give Zoe a respite from fashion drama. Zoe's show is perfect to kick off Bravo's "Fashion Night" block of programming, as it is, in Zoe's words, "A-Maze"!
Last week I sat down for a chat with Dr. Greg, one of the stars of Bravo's new therapy centered show "La Shrinks". It's not surprise why he has a thriving therapy practice; Dr. Greg was personable, humorous, and informative. It's not often you get to take a look behind the curtain and see why therapists are the way they are, and also watch some of their intimate sessions. The first question I had to ask Dr. Greg was what exactly "monogomish" meant (as he's seen mentioning throughout the promos. He tells me "everyone has their own path for relationships. Monogomish means that while you both may share the relationship and the day to day life, there may be certain times you do "certain things" outside of the relationship but within parameters you have set for yourselves". "LA Shrinks" focuses on Dr. Greg and two other therapists ( who not only assist their patients but are also working on their own issues as people. Dr. Greg is in a long term partnership, yet issues abound as a wedding is planned. Dr. Venus is not only raising her own children, but is also taking permanent guardianship of her two nephews, giving her a blended family, which definitely has it's challenges. Dr. Eris is ready to start a family, and is trying to get her husband on the "baby train" as well. The cast is definitely a mixed bag, but since I got the chance to talk to Dr. Greg, I was sure to ask him what he thought the key to a relationship was during our chat. He told me "it's shockingly simple and I hate to sound cliche, but it's all about communication". He continued to tell me that "people are so afraid of being open and honest about what they need and want in every area of their life and in their relationship. People in long-term relationships need to develop an us against the world attitude, which helps in tackling problems together". Coining a new reality show term and giving sound advice? Sounds like Dr. Greg & co. will definitely be giving us alot to talk about.
"Vintage store reality show" has been done before, but not quite like Bravo is doing "Dukes Of Melrose". Featuring fashion minded Cameron Silver and business minded Christos Garkinos, they are the "Batman & Robin" of Decades, the premiere "luxury consignment shop" in Hollywood.
Michael Cook - March 28, 2014
The Real Housewives Of New York" have not been seen on screens for close to eighteen months, but their long-awaited return proves that there...
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Hit the tech
Julie Gauthier ’15
Seidenberg School of Computer Science & Information Systems
“I wasn’t really allowed to use a computer growing up,” admits Computer Science major Julie Gauthier ’15. “My mom just did not like it…so I wasn’t allowed to use it unless I was typing an essay for school,” she says. “But when mom went to work, I was on Myspace.”
That’s when Gauthier got her first experience with computer science, creating her own Myspace design layouts with HTML code. “I didn’t even know I was coding at that point, but I knew that I had a general interest in technology because it was the forbidden fruit,” she says.
Gauthier has come a long way from her days of tip-toeing around the family computer. Now a Seidenberg Scholar and lead developer and executive director of Seidenberg Creative Labs, her interest in computers and technology has expanded to include everything from web development to robotics and automotive technology. This broad application of computer science is what Gauthier says maintains her interest in the field and is what makes it so unique. “It’s something you have to keep learning, but you can also work in absolutely any field that you want. One day I could be in health and the next I could be in art. It’s amazing,” she says.
Since attending Pace, Gauthier has built websites, advertisements, and social media pages for businesses; has led middle school girls to victory as a LEGO robotics mentor; and has even traveled with classmates to Helsinki, Finland, to participate in the Product Design Project at the Aalto University Design Factory—three times. She will travel to Helsinki for a fourth time to participate in the Product Design Project later this spring.
Exploring opportunities like these has been a crucial aspect of Gauthier’s success at Pace. She says that working for the Creative Labs has been the best opportunity for her career, offering her project management experience, a portfolio, and years of applicable experience to land a job upon graduation; while joining the Kappa Delta sorority has been a fulfilling experience personally and professionally. “It’s been phenomenal for me to have that support from people outside of the computer science school, and it’s really helped me to build my confidence to do all of these cool things and take all of these amazing opportunities,” she says.
And when it comes to opportunities, Gauthier recalls one in particular which ultimately helped her choose Pace. On whim in high school, she decided to participate in the Seidenberg Summer Scholars Experience, giving her the chance to spend a week exploring programming and New York City with some of Seidenberg’s best professors. “I chose Pace because I already had a family at the computer science school before I came in. It was the type of community that I wanted to spend my time in,” she says.
She describes the Seidenberg community as small and closely-knit, offering her and other Computer Science students ample individual attention. Recently Gauthier has updated her resume as she begins applying for summer internships, and Seidenberg Associate Dean Jonathan Hill, DPS, personally reviewed her application materials for her.
While Gauthier prepares for the next steps in her career, like Helsinki and internships, she keeps her eye on the big picture. “My dream job is to develop my own awesome products and work for myself,” she says. With all her experience in computer science, Gauthier envisions herself developing a new social media one day that would incorporate customizable elements through mild coding in an easy to use environment—similar to the Myspace layouts she used to design. Guess it’s a good thing that mom never caught her sneaking around the family computer.
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January 31, 2016 Pale Red Dot 10 Comments
Autor: Xavier Dumusque, Observatory of Geneva
Let’s consider that we want to find a planet extremely similar to Earth, meaning that it’s orbiting a star similar to the Sun, with a mass equal to Earth and an orbital period of one year. Let’s also consider that we want to detect this object by measuring the gravitational effect it induces on its host star. I know what you are telling yourself; “No way, the Sun is so massive it doesn’t move!”. You are right, the Sun is extremely massive, in fact 300,000 times more than the Earth, but let’s stick to physics here. The laws of gravity (thank you Newton!) tell us that all object with mass will interact with each other, so the Sun should move. But the question is by how much? Plugging the numbers in, we arrive at a maximum displacement of the Sun’s center of 500 km over a 6-month period. This means that its displacement will be 1,500 times smaller than its radius, and that the maximum velocity the Sun will reach will be only 0.3 km/h (or the velocity of turtle going out for a walk). I agree with you that this is extremely small, but still, it moves!
Displacement of the Sun’s center induced by the gravitational pull of all the planets in the Solar System as a function of time. The Sun moves by about a solar radius, and the major contributor to this displacement is the most massive planet of the Solar System, Jupiter (CC, Carl Smith’s derivative work)
Let’s now imagine that we build the perfect instrument to measure the tiny effect induced by an Earth twin on its host star. This instrument should therefore be capable of detecting a velocity of 0.3 km/h on a star that is a hundred thousand billion kilometers away. I do not want to go into the details here, but let’s use an analogy to get a feeling of the difficulty we are facing. Imagine that this perfect instrument is a ruler, and you want to measure the width of an object with the same precision that is required to detect an Earth twin. The required precision is 10,000 times smaller than the smallest graduation of the ruler. Not so easy right? With good eyes, you might probably get down to 1/3rd or 1/4th of the graduation, but 1 in 10,000! Today, the best instruments we use are capable of a precision of 1 in 1,000 (see HARPS and HARPS-N). We are therefore capable of detecting a planet ten times more massive than Earth if the host star is similar to the Sun and if its orbital period is one year. At the University of Geneva, where I am working, scientists are now developing a new instrument, called ESPRESSO, that will have the precision required to detect Earth twins.
Let’s now imagine that one year from now ESPRESSO can be used (this is the real timeline), and we start observing several stars to search for Earth-twins. To be confident in a detection, we need to observe at least one full orbital period of a planet, or one year in this case. If these Earth-twins exist, and we are confident there should be a lot of them out there, we should detect a Holy Grail planet before 2020. But—wait a minute!—several things can go wrong here, and I want to just highlight the biggest problem we have nowadays. This big problem is the stars.
Let me try to explain to you how stars can mess everything up. Everything starts with the Doppler effect. A fancy name that physicist like to use, but if you didn’t study physics, you probably do not know what this means, or you heard the name in high school and now it’s forgotten forever. But most of you have already encountered the Doppler effect in real life. One day you were probably walking down the street, when suddenly an ambulance passed by. You could hear the vehicle from far away with its strident siren—you focused on the sound created and could easily hear the pitch of the siren, but once the ambulance passed by you, the pitch changed. Did the driver push a button at the same moment he was passing by you? Probably not. To be sure, you asked other people in the street if they also had the same impression (well, in real life people would have wondered, “who is this weirdo?”, but this is a mental experiment; you can be as weird as you want). And yes, they all confirmed that this phenomenon happened at the moment the ambulance passed them by—confirming that the driver was not playing around. What happened is simply that before overtaking you, the ambulance was moving toward you; whilst after, it was moving away from you. And because sound-waves progress through the air with a limited speed, the difference between the velocity of the ambulance before and after passing by you creates this difference in tonality.
The radial velocity method to detect exoplanet is based on the detection of variations in the velocity of the central star, due to the changing direction of the gravitational pull from an (unseen) exoplanet as it orbits the star. When the star moves towards us, its spectrum is blueshifted, while it is redshifted when it moves away from us. By regularly looking at the spectrum of a star – and so, measure its velocity – one can see if it moves periodically due to the influence of a companion. Image credits : ESO
Now you know what the Doppler effect is, but what does the ambulance have to do with what we are speaking about here—stars and planets? Well, stars emit light, and because light also has a limited speed (thanks Albert Einstein!), a similar effect will occur. Without entering into too many details, objects emitting light that are moving towards you will appear bluer (or blue-shifted), and objects moving away from you will appear redder (or red-shifted). This Doppler effect is at the origin of the radial-velocity technique used to detect planets. If a star is moving towards you, then away, and continues to do so in a periodic way, this motion is most probably induced by a planet orbiting the star. Another famous example of the use of the Doppler effect in astrophysics is the measurement of the Universe’s expansion. Looking at all the galaxies surrounding us in the Universe, we observe that their light is redder than it should be, therefore all the galaxies in the Universe are moving away from each other; the conclusion being that the Universe is expanding.
I told you that the biggest obstacle to the detection of Earth-twins is the host stars themselves. So let’s come back to this problem. Stars are formed by the contraction of giant molecular clouds, therefore by applying the concept of momentum conservation, you arrive at the conclusion that the stars are rotating around their center, like an ice-skater bringing his arms towards his chest to accelerate his spin. Given that the Sun has a 25 day rotation period and a radius of about 500,000 km, you can do the math and calculate that the rotation velocity of the Sun at its surface is 7,200 km/h. Therefore, looking in detail at the Sun, you will see that the light coming from the approaching limb is bluer than it should be, and the light from the receding limb is redder; do you remember the Doppler effect? So, does this mean that we see half Sun moving forwards and half moving backwards because of the rotation? Yes, it’s exactly what it means, but as the blue and the red shifts are equivalent, the average velocity is zero. This makes sense as the Sun only rotates around its axis, and does not move towards or away from you.
Now, you probably know that the Sun often has dark spots on its surface, so-called sunspots. These sunspots are caused by strong magnetic fields present inside the Sun, that sometimes emerge at the surface. Because they are dark, sunspots can be seen as a mask occulting, or blocking, part of the stellar disc. Therefore, they distort the red- and blue-shift balance; the Sun will appear a little redder (or bluer) and you could mistakenly conclude that it is moving. Considering a large spot on the Sun, that is around 0.1% of the surface area, and a maximum rotational velocity of 7,200 km/h, we arrive at the conclusion that such a sunspot induces a radial velocity effect of 7.2 km/h, which is an order of magnitude larger than the 0.3 km/h required to detect Earth-twins.
Doppler velocity map of the Sun as observed by the MDI instrument on board the SOHO satellite (left image). A black dot was introduced to simulate a sunspot as observed in the solar surface (see a real sunspot observed by SOHO on the right). The Sun’s rotation produces equivalent blue- and red-shifted hemispheres, but this balance can be broken by a sunspot. On the left image for example, the black dot masks part of the blue shift of the star, so the final flux of the whole star will appear redder than it should be (Credit: SOHO/MDI).
In conclusion, even with an instrument reaching the precision required to detect Earth-twins, perturbing signals induced by stars, such as the effect of sunspots, will significantly complicate their detection. We have been aware of the sunspot problem for nearly 20 years now, and have discovered other stellar effects more recently. Many scientists are trying to understand better these perturbations, and are looking into new techniques to correct for them. I am one of them, and I am convinced that we will manage to solve this critical problem of stellar signals in the coming years.
Dr. Xavier Dumusque.
About the author.
Dr. Xavier Dumusque’s expertise is planet detection taking into account stellar intrinsic signals. Xavier studied Astrophysics at the University of Geneva where he also obtained his PhD in 2012, in collaboration with the University of Porto. After two postdocs at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA), he came back to the Observatory of Geneva where he is currently working. He is the first author of the Nature article announcing an Earth mass planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B (2012) and of an article presenting the discovery of the Mega-Earth planet orbiting Kepler-10 (2014). Xavier is actively involved in the development of a solar telescope that will help characterize and understand the origin of perturbing signals in the Sun to develop new state-of-the-art techniques to mitigate their impact on the detectability of Earth-twins orbiting other stars. Among the awards he has obtained we highlight the Schläfli Prize for outstanding thesis (Swiss Academy of Science, 2014), the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Prize fellowship (2015), and the Branco Weiss fellowship (2015).
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10 thoughts on “How a Star Can Hide its Earths”
Adam Crowl says:
Hi Xavier,
Very nice exposition of the radial velocity method. Just one quibbling point, the Sun’s radius is closer to 700,000 km. Why did you say 500,000?
Proof Editor says:
Thanks a lot for your comment. I gave 500’000 km to give a rough estimate but indeed it is closer to 700’000. The 7’200 km/h for the rotational velocity is however measured with the correct solar radius.
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Kampanjan ensimmäinen puolisko
Cool Stars with a Magnetic Personality
M dwarf planet search with today\’s spectrographs and tomorrow\’s spectropolarimeters
Projekti käynnistyy!
Etsintä alkaa tammikuussa 2016
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Trump’s Afghan War Speech: More Of The Same, With More Killing
By W.J. Astore, www.bracingviews.com
Trump’s Afghan War Speech: More Of The Same, With More Killing2017-08-232017-08-23https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/08/ddsv-e1503505389399-150x98.jpg200px200px
Above Photo: Trump, surrounded by troops and patriotic bunting, defines his “new” Afghan strategy (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
As a private citizen and presidential candidate, Donald Trump railed against the Afghan war. A waste, he said. Americans should withdraw, he said. But in last night’s speech, Trump went against his own instincts (so he said) and went with the failed policies of his predecessors. The war will continue, no timetable set, no troop levels determined, with conditions on the ground dictating America’s actions, according to the president.
What caught my attention, beyond the usual paeans of praise to America’s “warriors” and “warfighters,” was the specious reasoning to justify the continuation of the war. Trump gave three reasons, so let’s take them one at a time:
“First, our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made, especially the sacrifices of lives …”
It’s piss-poor reasoning to argue that, because a lot of people have sacrificed and died in a war, the war should continue (with more people dying) to justify those previous sacrifices. By this logic, the more who die, the more we should keep fighting, meaning more dead, meaning more fighting, and so on. Where is the honor and “worthy” outcome here?
“Second, the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable. 9/11, the worst terrorist attack in our history, was planned and directed from Afghanistan because that country was ruled by a government that gave comfort and shelter to terrorists. A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11th.”
Actually, the consequences of an American withdrawal are both unpredictable and (most probably) acceptable. Sure, terrorist organizations may gain impetus from an American withdrawal. It’s also possible that a notoriously corrupt Afghan government might finally nturegotiate with the Taliban and other organizations, and that regional power brokers like Pakistan and Iran, who have their own interests in regional stability, might broker a settlement that Americans could live with.
Trump further argued that a rapid U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 led to “hard-won gains slip[ping] back into the hands of terrorist enemies. Our soldiers watched as cities they had fought for, and bled to liberate, and won, were occupied by a terrorist group called ISIS.” The truth is far more complex. The prolonged U.S. occupation of Iraq helped to create ISIS in the first place, and failed American efforts to create and train reliable Iraqi security forces contributed to easy ISIS victories after U.S. forces left in 2011.
“Third and finally, I concluded that the security threats we face in Afghanistan and the broader region are immense. Today, 20 U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations are active in Afghanistan and Pakistan — the highest concentration in any region anywhere in the world.”
Isn’t it remarkable that, after sixteen years of sustained effort by the U.S. military, the Af-Pak region is now home to 20+ terrorist organizations? The “highest concentration” in the world? Is this not an admission of the utter failure of U.S. policy and actions since 2001? How is this failure to be rectified by yet more U.S. attacks?
Trump said the new American goal is to kill terrorists. This is not a strategy. It’s a perpetual and deadly game of Whac-A-Mole. That’s what Trump’s vaunted new strategy boils down to, despite the talk of economic pressure and working with Pakistan and India and other regional powers.
On Afghanistan, Trump should have listened to his instincts and withdrawn. Instead, he listened to “his” generals. With Trump, the generals won this round. What they can’t win, however, is the war.
Afghanistan Trump Administration US Imperialism US military War
Jed Grover
Perhaps my logic is flawed but I thought that by sending the most sophisticated, most expensive military to this region to combat terrorism that it would have a reduction in these terror cells not an increase. Maybe the poppy fields created a distraction? Or ……. was it the oil and those so-called “American Interests” all funded by the US tax payer as they all are bent over grabbing their ankles and taking it up the old As…….. big time. Profiteering war time and the ways of the Neocons. Drink some more “exceptionalism” and Leader of the NOT so Free World in the name of “Democracy” in name only.
kevinzeese
When you kill more civilians than so-called terrorists (who may be perceived locally as people fighting US imperialism), it is not surprising that the US creates more terrorists than it destroys. That has been a problem in all the US wars since 9-11.
AlanMacDonald
W. J., the “generals” didn’t create the war — the EMPIRE did!
EMPIRE is the alpha and omega, the metastasizing cancer, and the strange father and mother of War! — as well as all domestic tyranny, oppression, and looting.
As I wrote in Feb of ’07 about the most important thing to consider in the
up-coming November 2008 election a year and a half away:
“The very most important question that the American people should be
asking (and looking for) in any candidate for president in ’08 is not,
“Where do you stand on the war?”, but, “Where do you stand on the EMPIRE
that has taken over our country — an Empire of which the war in Iraq
is only the biggest and most visible crime — yet?”
And as the late great Jewish public intellectual, academic expert on empires, and renowned professor, Hannah Arendt tried to warn her own German people:
“Empire abroad entails tyranny at home” — and we have more of both than the world can bear “Right here in River City”.
Yes, Kevin, Empire, and the wars it creates, are the ultimate and maximal type on ‘negative externality costs’ dumped on the people to create faux-profits for the Empire and its tiny sociopathic ruling-elite.
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Copyright ©2019 Grande Communications Networks, LLC
Ex-UCLA star McCall Zerboni was cut from US team but has helped women's soccer grow in pros
Los Angeles Times — By Jack Harris Los Angeles Times
July 09-- LOS ANGELES-She watched on television from hotel rooms and restaurants, or on a laptop while slouched on her couch. McCall Zerboni was filled with joy yet conflicted with jealousy. Ecstatic for her country but tortured because, as one of the final cuts from the U.S. team, she wasn't part of the Women's World Cup.
"It's been sad and disappointing," said Zerboni, a former UCLA standout. "But it's taught me so much about myself and life and this game."
Zerboni, a veteran of the National Women's Soccer League, was a late bloomer. She didn't make her national team debut until October 2017, at 30, the oldest American to earn her first cap. Still, many people expected the rugged ball-winning defensive midfielder to go to France anyway. Her exclusion was considered among the biggest snubs from the U.S. roster.
Zerboni used a metaphor to describe her frustration, likening the omission to being dumped by a boyfriend. "Not only did he break up with me unexpectedly," she added, "but I have to see him every day at work."
Although unable to bask in the limelight of a global stage, she chose not to wallow in the shadows either. She rededicated herself.
Zerboni dove headfirst into her club season with the North Carolina Courage in the NWSL. While the U.S. national team stars were across the Atlantic and making a run to a second straight World Cup title, Zerboni helped fill their void. Her team is 3-0-1 since the beginning of June. Her presence gave the league a much-needed recognizable face.
"I've dedicated my life and my craft to making sure soccer works here in America, so that the next generations and these young gals that are coming in now will never have to feel what I felt," Zerboni said during a phone interview.
Like so many of her peers, Zerboni has suffered and sacrificed to navigate an unstable career. Growing up in San Clemente, there were some years her youth club didn't even field girls-only teams. When she enrolled at UCLA in 2005, the United States' first women's pro league had already folded. Not until 2009, right as she graduated, did a new league, Women's Professional Soccer, start up.
A seventh-round draft pick in the WPS, Zerboni played in Los Angeles and Atlanta before signing with the Western New York Flash in Buffalo for the 2011 season. She helped her team to a league title that year, then settled into an even busier offseason schedule.
That winter, she trained in the morning, worked a marketing and promotions job in the club's front office during the day, and coached local youth players at night. Soccer was what Zerboni lived for, but this was the only way she could make a living doing it.
Then, in January 2012, the league went under.
"My heart just sank," Zerboni said. "I have never felt so empty before."
The feeling has become familiar in the U.S. women's soccer community. The Women's World Cup has captivated fans every four years over the last three decades, but cultivating permanent popularity in professional domestic leagues has been a struggle. Like a flower shunned from sunlight, the sport for a long time lived largely in the dark, fighting to fully flourish. The loss of the WPS-which wasn't replaced by the NWSL until a full year later-drove many veterans from the game.
"It was a whole year of people not working, having no source of income," said Danesha Adams, a former UCLA teammate of Zerboni's who is an assistant at the University of Houston. "If you weren't on the national team, then you weren't making any money. We lost, my generation, the '80s babies, it's kind of hit or miss because of that league and the gap."
Zerboni found a way to get by, spending 2012 at the semi-pro level before the NWSL's inaugural campaign in 2013. Even in the new league, she was constantly on the move. She played in Buffalo; Portland, Ore; Boston and Buffalo again before finally settling in with the Courage in 2017. She earned a spot on the NWSL's Best XI team the past two years and helped key North Carolina's championship last season.
"You look around and you're living out of your car and an apartment with no furniture. Those are the times that you say, 'Is this really worth it? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?'" Zerboni said. "There's been times where I felt like giving up, but there was always a flicker of a flame in my heart that told me to not give up, stay with it."
As her career has started to soar, Zerboni is seeing the NWSL grow too. The league has averaged at least 5,000 fans per game since 2015 and last week, in the midst of Women's World Cup mania, announced a media rights agreement with ESPN and a national sponsorship with Budweiser.
"I think the buzz of women's soccer in general, the fight for equality, all this stuff going on, has had a huge impact on us and our league, in such a positive light," said Lauren Barnes, another UCLA product who is a defender for the Seattle Reign.
Grass-roots efforts have paid dividends too, such as the "United for Girls" initiative-a partnership between the U.S. Soccer Federation and Adidas aimed at making the sport more accessible for young girls-that Zerboni has been involved with this summer. It eased the blow of her World Cup absence.
"There is an absolute reason that I'm here this summer with my club team," she said. "There's so many eyes on women's soccer right now. And I think they're really enjoying the product."
This isn't the year Zerboni expected. After her 2018 season was cut short by a broken elbow, the goal of earning a place on the U.S. roster for France fueled her rehabilitation.
At one point during her recovery, she received a text from someone she won't name but has described as a former U.S. women's national team "legend."
"This country needs you," it read.
Zerboni believes she has delivered on that request, proving that a lengthy, successful career in the sport is possible-even if she doesn't have a World Cup medal to show for it.
"I knew I had to carry the torch," she said. "I knew I had to keep the flame going for females to come."
(c)2019 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
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← 30 Days: 30 Albums | Danny Elfman – So-Lo
30 Days: 30 Albums | Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression →
30 Days: 30 Albums | Nick Lowe – Jesus Of Cool DLX RM
Posted on September 10, 2018 by postpunkmonk
This has been an album that I have wanted for over 30 years. At first, I was indifferent to Lowe’s tuneful New Wave pop since when he popped up on my radar, he was closer to the mainstream than the more contrived [read: synthetic] acts that I was more vividly drawn to. But by the early 80s, I had more time for Lowe and when in the CD era [post ’85 for me] I looked to buy CDs of his when I found them cheaply [as was my M.O. for most things]. That doesn’t mean that I’m hip deep in the things! To this day I have just four Nick Lowe CDs; including this one! It’s his first “solo” album following the early 70s Brinsley Schwartz part of his career. He cut the songs on this while he was busy polishing up early, formative efforts of The Damned, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Wreckless Eric as The Producer. A friend gave me the US LP of this when they moved away in the early 90s, but I was not spinning vinyl much and it got the boot later. If it’s on a CD, I won’t bother playing vinyl, and I’ve been known to wait decades until that CD is in house.
Yep Roc Records | US | CD | 2008 | YEP 2620
#24 • Nick Lowe: Jesus of Cool DLX RM US CD [2008]
Music For Money
I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
Little Hitler
Shake And Pop
So It Goes
36″ High
Marie Provost
Nutted By Reality
Heart Of The City (Live)
Shake That Rat
I Love My Label
They Called It Rock
Born A Woman
Endless Sleep
Halfway To Paradise
Rollers Show
Cruel To Be Kind (Original Version)
I Don’t Want The Night To End
The UK album was of a vastly different sequencing and composition from the US version of this album, non-controversially entitled “Pure Pop For Now People.” The opener, “Music For Money” had what I’d almost call a heavy rock [!] sound for Lowe, but a second listen began triggering thoughts of T-Rex’s “Children Of the Revolution.” The typically cynical lyrical stance was somewhat wasted on the pedestrian [even dire] music.At any rate, an odd one out for him. Far better was a song I never tire of hearing of in this, or any other, form. “I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass” was at least in my Record Cell for years in the form of a great Marti Jones cover on her “My Long Haired Life” album of 1996. Unca Nick’s version is every bit as wonderful and the slight disco rhythm section on this gave it a boost into the pop zone. The arrangement makes me think of side one of Bowie’s “Low,” ironically enough [I’ll explain later for those in the dark]. I can easily imagine the instrumentation changed to an ARP and with the drums run through the Eventide Harmonizer… oh yeah! A song right off of “Low.”
“Shake + Pop” would show up as the B-side to “Little Hitler” as played by Rockpile under the Dave Edmunds bestowed title of “They Called It Rock.” “Tonight” I’ve knows since almost day one from Lene Lovich’s cover version on her “Stateless” album. I have to say that as much as Marti Jones maintains the high standard that Lowe established with “Breaking Glass,” I still prefer what Ms. Lovich brought to the song. I guess it just sounds like a woman’s song to me after 39 years.
I’ve also had a copy of “So It Goes” in Lowe’s original version for almost 20 years on a great Rhino New Wave comp; “D.I.Y. UK Pop Vol 1.” The arrangement sort of reminds me of Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In The Years” to this day, but it’s an infectious pop number with deep, barbed hooks that don’t quit. “No Reason” was a shocker as it was the first [and so far, only] time that I’d heard Lowe dip his toe into reggae style. Given that the backing band on this cut was The Rumour, and Graham Parker was never shy about dabbling, I’ll put it down to their influence. The whole thing comes within a hair’s breadth of the vibe on “Watching The Detectives;” one of Lowe’s more famous productions.
“Marie Provost” was another song I was familiar from the great Rhino D.I.Y. series [“UK Pop Vol. 2”] and this one was also on Nick’s “Bowi” EP. So called because after writing a song called “Breaking Glass,” someone told him that Bowie had just put a song with that title out on an album called “Low” so Nick felt the least he could do in response was to release a record where he misspelt Bowie’s name as a wiseguy tit-fot-tat. The sweet harmonies here belied Nick’s recounting of Marie’s ghoulish canine dining on his expired mistress.
Things moved quickly in ’77-’78 and Nick had a brace of non-LP A/B sides and all of them are here, with the exception of a Dutch only 7″, and those tracks were included as DLs with the album as released in 2008… for at least a year with the DL available for about a year. Thus making my very late purchase a non event for “Keep It Out Of Sight” and “[I’ve Been Taking The] Truth Drug.” Grrrrr. On a happier note, the “Bowi” EP had three wildly diverse B-ides; all present here. “Shake That Rat” was a revelation! I have never heard bass-led instro surf rock… until now! This makes Nick’s linkup with Los Straitjackets seem much more natural [thought I’ve seen both live together and they geet on like a house on fire]. “Born A Woman” sounded like a 60s country song from the pen of Martha Sharp and “Endless Sleep” is the oddest song I’ve ever heard from Lowe. It sounded like his take on “Please Mr. Gravedigger,” the primordial Bowie song from ’67. It also opened with sound effects and Lowe sounded as if he was in your closet, barely singing this weirdly intimate death-rock song with almost no accompaniment and a plodding 30 BPM!
“They Called It Rock” was the retitled “Shake + Pop” with accompaniment in a rockabilly via Rockpile instead of The Rumour. “I Love My Label” was a gut-busting love song to Stiff Records as chronicled on “A Bunch Of Stiffs” the previous year. “Halfway To Paradise” and “I Don’t Want The Night To End” were a stand-alone single. The former a Goffin-King cover. That one felt a little left field for Nick.
More appropriate was the hilarity of The Tartan Horde’s “Rollers Show.” Nick’s pseudonymous possible tribute/probable rip on the mid-70s Scottish sensations that was a single only in Japan and the Netherlands. I’m certain that the sales in Japan were to Roller’s fans but if you didn’t know anything about Lowe’s personality, you wouldn’t know it could be anything but a glassy-eyed Rollers pastiche/tribute. Brilliant stuff that for some reason Columbia put on the US copy of “Pure Pop For Now People” even though Americans might not have gotten the joke.
The “Little Hitler” B-side was the early, wimpier version of “Cruel To Be Kind” made without the pop chops that made the second version Nick’s only Top 20 US hit the next year. There’s no comparison to these ears. And for some reason, the LP had a blistering, twice as long live take of “Heart Of The City” leaving the original studio cut as a B-side instead. That was a lot of bonus tracks squeezed onto this CD! Any other less succinct artist would have had these 21 songs on two discs, but not Nick Lowe!
This was pretty much a hoot from start to finish. The melange of tunes had many of them recorded at Pathway Studios, where John Foxx would decamp to make “Metamatic” by late 1979. The modest 8-track sound serves these quick bursts of pop well, even if the production seems a little muffled on some of these. Nick Lowe was called “Basher” for his propensity to get it all down on tape pretty fast, and this portion of his career was rife with the goods of an performer who was finally coming onto his own both as a producer and artiste in the ’77-’78 timespan as captured on this disc.
CONCLUSION: enjoy… a lot
This entry was posted in 30 Days - 30 Albums, Bowie, Record Review and tagged 1978, 2008, DLX RM, Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe. Bookmark the permalink.
16 Responses to 30 Days: 30 Albums | Nick Lowe – Jesus Of Cool DLX RM
The Swede says:
Good call – and Nick is still making great records.
diskojoe says:
The reason why “Born a Woman” sounded like a 60s country tune because it was a ’60s country tune that was done by Sandy Posey. All or most of the bonus tracks were on a CD that came out in the early 90s on Demon Records called The Wilderness Years. Yep Roc has reissued Nick’s subsequent albums on. CD, starting w/the follow up, Labour of Lust which has the hit version of “Cruel to Be Kind”. Speaking of which, I was listening to a radio station that rebroadcasts old American Top 40 w/Casey Kasem shows & it was a show from 1979 that had the said song & Casey told the story of the Brinsley Schwarz fiasco.
diskojoe – AT40 gets played years later??! I grew up on it from 1972-1977 but can’t imagine the material having any shelf life whatsoever but I guess if you wait long enough…
I hear old versions of AT40 here in Wisconsin, too. It’s really odd but you know given the current state of the ”quality” of music being made 1986 doesn’t sound so bad….
I don’t know about that. I couldn’t listen to a AT40 show from 1986 because all the songs all sounded the same w/the awful drum sounds.
Especially THAT act in at #29 this week, September 13, 1986.
I find the syndicated AT40 kinda creepy, isn’t the whole thing of the Top 40 that it’s current?
It’s kind like a musical Lenin’s tomb with Casey Kasem preserved forever frozen under that glass.
Tim – That’s just crazy! I had no idea they re-released an already 22 year old Beatles number that year!
diskojoe – I’m with you! By 1986, the brief respite of coolness on Top 40 that came with the Second British Invasion three years earlier was more than spent! It was a post-Live Aid world of [cough] …authenticity.
Taffy says:
I bought Pure Pop For Now People on vinyl 40 years ago, and it’s been a good friend ever since. I often forget about this reissue cuz I’m so attuned to the American version, but when it comes to early Lowe more is always better. So It Goes, Breaking Glass, Marie Provost, and especially the Rollers Show (a giddy delight) are amongst my favorite Nick Lowe compositions. Great album, Monk.
Taffy – Like I said, a friend gave me the LP but it never got spun at all as I was in my “ignore vinyl on CD” mindset. Even if I wouldn’t get the CD for 25 more years. This disc is jam-packed with Lowe goodness though, isn’t it? There’s something delightful about CDs with more than 20 songs on them. So let me ask your opinion. “Roller’s Show.” Tongue in cheek irony…sincere homage…orboth? The conquering tartan heroes were the bee’s knees when I was in junior high and they even had an American Saturday morning cartoon show. I knew a girl in 7th grade who was completely mad for them before 1978 happened and she chucked them all for Leif “It’s Pronounced L-a-y-f!!” Garrett [she’d harangue]. I can only say that “S-A-TUR-DAY Night” was an ace single. Can’t remember anything else, but damn, what hooks. The Ramones were definitely listening!
I remember when The Bay City Rollers were to Howard Cosell’s Saturday Night Live what the Beatles were to Ed Sullivan. I think that it’s the genius of Nick Lowe that “Rollers Show” is both tongue in cheek irony and sincere homage all at once.
diskojoe – Hay. Another old timer who remembers Howard Cosell’s Saturday Night Live! I never watched it but I remember the confusion with NBC’s “Saturday Night” which debuted the same year and manage to last more than 3 months on the air.
agree with diskojoe…both ironic and sincere. I mean, I can only imagine that Nick Lowe would’ve loved a big British or American top 40 hit or two, especially one as catchy and charming as Saturday Night. Happily, he did get one with Cruel To be Kind.
Examining the lyrics of Roller Show, there’s a distinct lack of snark, but seeing as they were sung by a man of 30, I figure there was tongue somewhere near cheek!
Taffy – I guess the snark was strictly down to the fact that it was a man of 30 singing the words. Especially since the writers of that song, Martin and Coulter, were well into their mid-30s by the time they wrote it! I was looking into it and was shocked to see that that “Saturday Night” was a ‘74 UK dud single that inexplicably topped the US charts two years later! Never underestimate the power of The Evil One; Mr. Clive Davis! (Insert stinger)
I just got this via E-Mail from Yeproc Records:
http://www.yeproc.com/nick-lowes-jesus-of-cool-will-be-released-as-part-of-cassette-store-day-on-10-13/
diskojoe – When researching this post, I saw that at the YepRoc site yesterday. Cassette Store Day? Don’t get me started.
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July 3, 2013 jillumbach Advocacy, Media, Research
Lessons from Ontario’s campaign to cut child poverty
Published Wed Jul 03 2013
By Greg deGroot-Maggetti, Margaret Hancock and Heather McGregor
Child poverty in Ontario has dropped for a third consecutive year. According to the latest figures just released by Statistics Canada, Ontario’s child poverty rate of 13.8 per cent in 2011 was down from 15.2 per cent three years earlier.
While the reductions in child poverty in Ontario appear to be trending behind the government’s five-year target for a 25-per-cent reduction by 2013, the fact that poverty has fallen at the same time as a major economic downturn speaks volumes about the return on investment so far of the province’s poverty reduction strategy.
As Ontario sets out to consult regarding its next five-year anti-poverty strategy, the past strategy provides five important lessons.
The first is that setting targets matters.
What gets measured gets counted. In 2008, a broad consensus emerged that successfully reducing and eliminating poverty had to start with a multi-year plan based on a clear target. Ontario’s commitment to reducing child and family poverty by 25 per cent in five years was precedent-setting. It has been critical in keeping poverty reduction on the policy radar through hard economic times. Legislated requirements have ensured public accountability for progress.
As a next step, Ontario should ramp up action to ensure that the initial 25-per-cent reduction is achieved. Looking forward, the next strategy should seek a further 25-per-cent reduction in poverty by 2018. This time, the target should include all Ontarians, including children.
The second lesson is that public engagement matters.
Ontario’s engagement with all sectors of society in the development of its first poverty reduction plan seeded growing recognition that investing in people today is good for all of us in the long-term.
It leads to a healthier population and safer communities that reduce healthcare and social services costs down the road. It drives a resilient, productive workforce where all hands are on deck to move Ontario forward. And it means we create a fair society that we are all proud of, where everybody belongs and has an opportunity to contribute.
Community consultations highlighted the specific needs of populations that are at heightened risk such as immigrants, women, single mothers, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples and racialized groups – and these specific needs were recognized in the Strategy.
As it looks ahead, Ontario should consult widely again and be particularly attentive to hearing from those with lived experience of poverty.
Third, there are no silver bullets when it comes to complex issues such as poverty.
Taking a long view to a complex issue allows for a planned approach to action. Ensuring that work pays, building strong income security programs, and creating a strong social infrastructure of affordable housing and quality child care are all essential elements of an anti-poverty package. These are not quick, simple steps. But a clear multi-year schedule of policy and investments over the next five years can ensure we get to our destination.
Fourth, good social policy makes all the difference.
The ultimate measure of success of Ontario’s plan is whether it is progressing towards its target. Ontario’s three-year decline in child and family poverty could only have happened because the province chose to invest in programs that could move the needle.
Substantial investments in the new Ontario Child Benefit, coupled with targeted tax credits, successive increases in the minimum wage, employment standards reforms and early learning investments have been the strategy’s strong points. Building on this success should include an adult conversation about growing Ontario’s revenue base to provide fiscal capacity to act. We should remember that breaking the poverty cycle for thousands of Ontarians is the best return on investment the province can make.
Lastly, when it comes to investments, you only get out of it as much as you put in.
Based on data for the first three years of the strategy, Ontario is moving too slowly to achieve the target of a 25-per-cent reduction in child poverty within five years. But three consecutive years of reduction in child and family poverty is an encouraging, hard-won trend, especially in a slow economic recovery. By contrast, poverty rates for working age adults in Ontario continued to climb because there has not been a concerted effort to address poverty among all Ontarians.
The most important lesson of all is that building dignity and opportunity for all cannot stop at words and aspirations.
What Ontario chooses to do with its next poverty reduction strategy will be a measure of its continued commitment to fairness and prosperity for all. Now is the time to build on success and to close the gaps between words and actions, to be bold in our intention, target and action, and to make a real difference for all Ontarians.
Greg deGroot-Maggetti is co-chair of the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction;Margaret Hancock is Executive Director of Family Service Toronto; and Heather McGregor is CEO of YWCA Toronto.
Tagged Child Poverty, Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy
Ontario Crown wards will receive free postsecondary tuition
Updated Poverty Numbers released
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Moving the Mouse With the Mind
Braingate technology allows patients with tetrapalegia to move a computer cursor by thinking about it.
Leigh R. Hochberg, MD, PhD
What is the Goal of the Braingate Trial?
In the ongoing Braingate clinical trialsa,b, which began in 2004, we are hoping to find a way to allow people with tetraplegia, whether it results from stroke, injury, or neurodegenerative disease (eg, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis [ALS]) to control an external device simply by thinking about moving their own hand. Ultimately, we would like to develop the ability for intuitive rapid control of an external device by thought.
What Are Some Results You’ve Seen?
With the device implanted, subjects have been able to control an electronic cursor, a hand prosthesis, and a robotic arm. Recently someone with a cervical spinal cord injury achieved limited control of their own hand and arm. Instead of the neural signal traveling through the peripheral nervous system to the muscles, it was transmitted from the motor cortex to external amplifiers that processed the signals and then appropriately activated functional electric stimulators implanted in the patients arm and hand muscles.
How does the Braingate Device Work?
The core technology uses a microelectrode array, implanted in the motor cortex of a person who is unable to move their limbs, to transmit electric signals from the motor cortex through a cable that exits the skull, feeding into a pedestal attached to the patient’s skull. The pedestal, in turn, is connected to an amplifier that transmits the signal to computer processers that convert and send the signal to an external device, producing an effect in real time. The pedestal is similar in size and shape to the exterior hardware of a cochlear implant.
Figure. The Utah microelectrode array close up and next to a penny for comparison. Reproduced with permission from Kelly RC, Smith MA, Samonds JM, et al. Comparison of recordings from microelectrode arrays and single electrodes in the visual cortex. J. Neurosci. 2007;10:261-264.
At the heart of this technology, is the ability to record high-resolution neurophysiologic data from the cortex, sometimes from single neurons. With the Utah microarray, it is possible to record a single neuron or dozens or hundreds of neurons. This microarray consists of 100 electrodes in a 4 mm x 4 mm platform, providing 96 connections, and allowing recording from up to 96 single nerve cells. The electrodes are connected by microwires to the pedestal, which is similar in size and shape to the exterior hardware of a cochlear implant. The microwires are similar to those used in single-fiber EMG, although what is recorded with the Utah microarray (Figure) are extracellular electric discharges within 50 to 150 μm of a particular nerve cell or an ensemble of neurons. Changes in the firing rate or pattern of firing for those groups of neurons is the message, so to speak, to move a part of the anatomy. By processing those signals and changes in signals from the cells or ensembles of cells and rapidly comparing them to signals known to relate to specific movements, we can replicate intended movements externally.
Recordings from animal studies have been used to record signals and correlate them with limb movements in nonhuman primates, giving us the ability to translate what signals indicate movement. We hope that will allow us to help patients with paralysis use the signals of their brain to operate external devices.
How Do You Know When Braingate Is Working?
In our trials, we can start with the algorithms from animal studies, but we also have to record from the patient to adapt to their unique brain signals. We use a classic measure, the center-and-out test. In what is essentially a computer game, the patient focuses on the center of the circle and then moves the cursor from the center to a target on the edge of the circle that “lights up” at random and then moves the cursor back to the center of the circle.
Our decoders and filters are built by asking people to pretend or imagine that they are moving their hand or the mouse. This allows us to correlate the intended movement with the signals received by the amplifier and processed by the computer.
How Much of the Signal From the Motor Cortex is Measured?
Even if we use 2 Utah microarrays, which we sometimes do, there is much of the motor cortex that is not being acquired. The motor cortex is much larger considering the 3-dimensional size and shape of the motor cortex (many cm in length mediolaterally, more than 1 cm anteroposteriorly), and also has sulci. In short, we are getting a sparse sample of what is available to be recorded. Not surprisingly, this motivates many researchers to work on ever better microelectrode arrays so that we may eventually be able to record from thousands of neurons.
How Much Data Is Gathered and How Is The Data
Analyzed?
Currently we record 30 kilosamples per second per channel, or 30 kHz. Depending on how many bits of data are recorded there are 15-30 gigabytes per hour or perhaps a half terabyte per day if we record continuously.
What is more important than the mass of data that can be collected, is that even with data from just a few dozen neurons in the motor cortex, it is possible to decode and encrypt the intended endpoint velocity of the hand from that relatively small amount of data. There is so much information that can be extracted from just a few dozen neurons that it is enough to have the information we need to translate thought to movement.
The power of machine learning for data analysis is another important advance. Instead of having to do the decoding and encryption, we can allow machine learning to process the signals in an iterative manner that builds ever-better algorithms that can hopefully result in more complex movements of external objects.
How Does Your Work Fit Into the Larger Field of Brain-Computer Interfaces?
The field is at least a half century old. As early as 1970, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had a neural prosthesis program, with the goals of understanding the fundamental neuroscience and applications that would allow for the restoration of limb function for people who had become paralyzed. Since the late 1960s pioneers in the field, including Karl Frank, Eberhard Fetz, Donald Humphrey and many others have researched how the motor cortex is involved in movement. Through this work we have developed the technology to record and process those signals reliably and reproducibly in response to people thinking about moving a limb. Computer technology, computational neuroscience, and use of artificial intelligence for signal processing having all improved remarkably over the same time period. Almost all of that work has been funded by Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Defense through the NIH neural prosthesis program. None of the work we are doing with Braingate or that others are doing in the field of neuroengineering would be possible without those achievements and advances.
What Do You Enjoy About Your Field?
The ability to use the engineers’ and neuroscientists’ approaches at the same time is particularly unique. We benefit from the engineering focus on: how do we use this brain signal to make something happen? At the same time, we benefit from the neuroscience focus on: understanding how signals in the brain are encoded and encrypted not just for movement, but for all that an organism does. Bringing together these 2 worlds is an especially fun aspect of the work and the more we merge them, the more success we have had.
I am also motivated by the people who participate in the trials. Those who join us in the early feasibility studies and pilot trials do so not because they want to benefit themselves, but because they want people to benefit in the future. Their insights about what works and needs to work better have led to advances. As researchers, we can watch what patients do and whether they succeed or not, but can’t know if it was easy or intuitive. We rely on our patients to tell us, and when we ask them, they say, “it feels natural,” or “I’m just doing it.”
What Does This Mean for Practicing Neurologists?
I’m a neurointensivist and see people in the neuroICU who have lost their ability to move or speak. What I want to be able to tell them is that they will be able to move again and speak again. This is a lofty goal and yet the field is telling us that we can reliably implant electrodes and translate brain signals to movement. I would like to tell anyone diagnosed with ALS that they won’t lose their ability to speak. We are not there yet, and I believe we can get there. I would like to see neurologists and therapists know about this research and be able to share that hope. Ultimately, we’d like a brain-computer interface for paralysis to be as natural for physicians to recommend to their patients as is a deep brain stimulator or cardiac pacemaker.
For People Who Want to Learn More, What Reading Would You Recommend?
Guger C, Allison B, Lebedev (Eds). Brain-Computer Interface Research: A State-of-the-Art Summary 6. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, AG; 2017.
Hochberg LR, Serruya MD, Friehs GM, et al. Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia. Nature. 2006;442(7099):164-171.
Jarosiewicz B, Sarma AA, Saab J, et al., Retrospectively supervised click decoder calibration for self-calibrating point-and-click brain-computer interfaces. J Physiol Paris. 2016;110(4 Pt A):382-391.
Krucoff MO, Rahimpour S, Slutzky MW, et al. Enhancing nervous system recovery through neurobiologics, neural interface training, and neurorehabilitation. Neuroprosthetics. 2016;10:584.
Rao RPN. Brain-Computer Interfacing: An Introduction. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; 2013.
Wolpaw J, Wolpaw EW. Brain-Computer Interfaces: Principles and Practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2012.
Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery
Vascular and Critical Care Neurology
Neurocritical Care and Stroke Services
Senior Lecturer, Harvard Medical School
Professor of Engineering
Veterans Affairs RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Seizure Detection and SUDEP Prevention
Daniel Friedman, MD, MSc; and Cassandra Kazl, MD
Hometown Highlights: Clinical Experience Treating Adults With Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Lauren Elman, MD
Neuromuscular Notes: Autoantibodies in Immune Myopathies
Emer R. McGrath, MB, PhD
Preclinical, Prodromal, and Dementia Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease
Douglas W. Scharre, MD
Movement Disorders Moment: Neurodegenerative Spinocerebellar Ataxia
Liana Rosenthal, MD, PhD
Logan Schneider, MD
Daniel R. Gold, DO; and Ari A. Shemesh, MD
Sleep & Traumatic Brain Injury
Michael S. Jaffee, MD, FAAN
Risdiplam—a Potential Oral Treatment for Spinal Muscle Atrophy in Clinical Trials Expanded and Recruiting Globally
Corticotropin Studied for Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
OnabotulinumtoxinA Approved for Treatment of Children with Upper Limb Spasticity
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Deaths (from the Oct. 10, 2016 issue)
October 9, 2016 by The Presbyterian Outlook Leave a Comment
Carrol J. Blevins, 71, Aug. 27, 2014, Las Cruces, N.M.
Donald H. Calderwood, 83, Jan. 16, 2015, Wichita, Kan.
Edward E. Daub, 91, Dec. 3, Madison, Wis.
Jose D. Fajardo, 101, Feb. 21, 2015, Waxahachie, Texas
Thomas W. Gyone, 80, Dec. 13, Oak Park, Ill.
Thomson K. Heinrichs, 85, Dec. 26, Beverly Hills, Mich.
N. Scott King, 82, May 6, 2015, Clovis, N.M.
James L. Mays, 94, Oct. 29, Mechanicsville, Va.
Lynn U. Nelson, 67, Jun. 13, 2015, Rochester, N.Y.
James R. Patton, 80, Sep. 16, 2015, Cortez, Colo.
Richard B. Ross, 89, Nov. 28, Clinton, Ohio
Robert F. Smylie, 87, Dec. 19, Tinton Falls, N.J.
James Robert Tanis, 85, Jul. 9, 2015, Audubon, Pa.
Raymond H. Willemssen, 94, Nov. 10, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Deaths from the March 3, 2014 issue
Roy Byrd, 91, Aug. 17, Happy, Texas Courtney A. Furman, 82, Aug. 17, Olathe, Kan. James W. Gillespie, 95, Aug. 18, Dixon. Ill. Charles J. Hanna Jr., 88, July 27, Lexington, Ky. Robert Talmadge Haynes Jr., 87, Aug. 26, Charlottesville, Va. Thomas Schellingerhout, 86, June 18, St. Peters, Mo. Alfred…
Deceased (from the March 17, 2014 issue)
Gerald C. Johnson, 77, July 23, 2012, Cedar Rapids, Iowa William H. Morrison, 82, Aug. 16, Charlotte, N.C.
Deceased (from the April 14, 2014 issue)
Janie T. Barrows, 83, Oct. 28, Ormond Beach, Fla. Rona Kathryn Deming, 42, Oct. 23, Rockville, Md. Irwin P. Gates Jr., 84, Oct. 30, Eatonton, Ga. Michael L Hill, 62, Oct. 22, Raleigh, N.C. Robert Van Kemper, 67, Nov. 8, Waxahachie, Texas Robert F. Larson, 83, Sept. 13, Kissimmee, Fla.…
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Matt LaFleur Sports Coaching Sports team management changes Sports transactions Sports business NFL football Professional football Football
Tennessee Titans Minnesota Vikings
Tennessee Titans hire Todd Downing as tight ends coach
- Feb. 13, 2019 05:55 AM EST
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have hired Todd Downing as their tight ends coach after he spent this season in the same role with the Minnesota Vikings.
Arthur Smith had worked as the Titans' tight ends coach in 2018 but was promoted to offensive coordinator on Monday. Smith replaces Matt LaFleur, who spent one season as the Titans' offensive coordinator before the Green Bay Packers hired him as their head coach.
The Vikings hired Brian Pariani as their new tight ends coach on Jan. 14.
Downing has 18 years of NFL coaching experience. He was the Oakland Raiders' quarterbacks coach from 2015-16 and their offensive coordinator in 2017.
He started his NFL coaching career with Minnesota. He also worked with the St. Louis Rams (2006-08), Detroit Lions (2009-13) and Buffalo Bills (2014).
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Project YX
Experience YX
Andrew Weitz
Described as one of the best dressed men in Hollywood, Andrew Weitz uses his innate sense of style to help clients look and feel their very best. Applying a holistic approach, Andrew works from the inside out – first understanding a client’s needs and goals, and then working with them to develop their personal style, build their confidence and ultimately reach a higher level of success in life. During his successful tenure as a talent agent at William Morris Endeavor (WME-IMG), Weitz found himself constantly sharing tips and knowledge with his celebrity clients and industry colleagues, essentially being their trusted go-to style consultant.
But there was one specific experience 9 years ago that changed the course of Weitz’s career. A close friend had reached a point where everything in his life became stagnant and couldn’t seem to take his career or relationships to the next level. Weitz happily took him under his wing and through a combination of style consulting and lifestyle advice, helped his friend regain his confidence and achieve success in his professional and personal life. Weitz suddenly understood that empowering others through style was his life’s calling. Leveraging his 18 years in the entertainment industry, he created The Weitz Effect brand and has dedicated himself to his passion for style and helping people realize their full potential.
Andrew continues to lend his expertise on TODAY on NBC and has been profiled in numerous publications including The New Yorker, GQ, The Times of London and The Robb Report. Andrew is also the contributing style editor to The Hollywood Reporter.
Originally from Philadelphia, Weitz, his amazing wife Stacy and twin boys live in Los Angeles, California.
View Team
INTELLIGENT WARDROBE LUXURY
©2019 Project YX LLC
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Translating Spanish Masterpieces into Quechua, the Language of the Incas
In News by Dennis Abrams September 11, 2015
A new program in Peru proposes to translate works by such noted authors as Nobel laureates Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez into Quechua.
By Dennis Abrams
It took Demetrio Tupac Ypanqui a decade to translate Don Quixote into Quechua.
Endina.com reports that works by such noted Nobel laureates as Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez will be translated into Quechua as part of the proposed “Latin American Literature Classics in Quechua” from the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco (DDCC).
Quechua, the language of the Inca civilization, is currently spoken by seven million people throughout Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, with close to four million speakers in Peru alone.
Book titles have yet to be officially announced, but the list of works to be translated is also said to include books from Adolfo Bioy Casares (Argentina), Juan Carlos Onetti Borges (Uruguay) and Clarice Lispector (Brazil).
In statements to the Andina news agency, Luis Nieto Negregori, a Cusco writer and DDCC official explained that two “nationally recognized translators” will be in charge of the translations.
The copyrights were handled by a Spanish literary agency, in negotiations that took more than a year. “This could only be because this is the first translation into a native Latin American language, in this case, Quechua.”
Nieto added that “These publications in native language give greater recognition to Cusco and speakers; the translators definitely provide a symbolic value to Quechua, and speakers must stop feeling embarrassed when speaking the language. Nowadays, speaking Quechua leads to discrimination, and we have to change that.”
In fact, it was just this year that a Spanish literary masterpiece was first translated into Quechua. It took 91-year-old Demetrio Tupac Yupanqui a decade to translate Don Quixote into Quechua; the book was published in June, just in time for the novel’s 400th year anniversary.
Never heard Quechua? Click here to hear the Quechua version of Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel”
Dennis Abrams
Dennis Abrams is a contributing editor for Publishing Perspectives, responsible for news, children's publishing and media. He's also a restaurant critic, literary blogger, and the author of "The Play's The Thing," a complete YA guide to the plays of William Shakespeare published by Pentian, as well as more than 30 YA biographies and histories for Chelsea House publishers.
Tags: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Latin America, mario vargas llosa, Peru, Quechua, Spanish, translation
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Coastal Law launches online logistics and transportation LL.M and certificate programs
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 21, 2013) – In May 2013, Florida Coastal School of Law will launch a number of programs in Logistics and Transportation Law, including an LL.M. degree, as well as graduate certificates for lawyers and non-lawyers interested in transportation law.
The programs are offered entirely online and can be completed on the students’ schedules 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The first term for all programs begins on May 6, 2013.
“Our goal is to train ‘Solution Brokers,’ well-rounded transportation and logistics professionals who can communicate with carriers, regulators, labor, and lawyers to resolve legal disputes before they enter litigation,” said Rod Sullivan, Director of the Logistics and Transportation Law programs, and a professor of law at Florida Coastal. “International transportation and logistics is one of the fastest-growing businesses worldwide and there is an increased demand for professionals who are educated in the intersection between operations, regulation, labor and law.”
Sullivan added the goal of the program is to give students “cutting-edge” training in the practical and regulatory aspects of the operations of ocean carriers, rail carriers, truck and air carriers, supply-chain managers, the governmental agencies which regulate them, and the labor unions which serve them. Global climate change and other environmental aspects of transportation are also key components of the industry and of Coastal Law’s programs, he said.
The program is open to U.S. and international students. Students working towards an LL.M. degree must complete 24 credits. Lawyers or Non-lawyers working towards a Certificate in Logistics and Transportation Law must complete 12 credits.
The Certificate program is open to graduates with a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. college, or the equivalent from a foreign university. Non-degree holders who have significant relevant work experience in civilian or military transportation and logistics are eligible to apply and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
During each fall, spring, and summer semester, there will be two seven-week terms followed by a one-week exam period. It is expected students will complete the program in no more than four years.
“We look forward to the launch of what we imagine will be a very successful program,” said Coastal Law’s Vice President of Strategy and General Counsel Terri Davlantes. “There is no other place in the country as qualified as Jacksonville to host such an innovative curriculum.”
ABOUT FLORIDA COASTAL SCHOOL OF LAW – Florida Coastal School of Law is located in Jacksonville, FL. Known as “America's Logistics Center,” the city is home to numerous transportation entities, including rail conglomerate CSX Corporation and JAXPORT, a sea port that carries more than 21 million tons of cargo each year. Jacksonville is also home to Blount Island Command, a Marine Corps Logistics Base whose mission is to support the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF). For more information about Florida Coastal School of Law and its programs, please visit www.fcsl.edu/logistics
UPS Becomes First Global Express Delivery Company to be 100 Percent Owned in Vietnam Next
Regulations Changing Rapidly for Hazmat Shippers Previous
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Constitutional Law, US Law
A Scot on SCOTUS…
February 15, 2016 Paul Cruikshank Leave a comment
…or what may or may not happen and what happens when and if it does.
Antonin Scalia, the most senior Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), died this week aged 79. This means two important things:
There is now a seat on the most important Judicial Bench in the world; and
The Judiciary is now a live issue in the US Presidential Election.
The second of these is political – and will depend (theoretically) on the candidates legislative and legal outlooks. But the first raises issues of Constitutional Procedure and legal operation. It also comes the closest America gets to a constitutional convention which may or may not exist, depending on how convenient it’s existence is to the Majority in the Senate.
The Supreme Court and the President
The 3 branches of the US Federal Government (The Legislature; The Executive; and the Judiciary) are established in Article 1, 2 & 3 of the US Constitution respectively. However, despite the US’s love of ‘Separation of Powers’, the President and Congress play a pivotal role in the selection of new Supreme Court Justices.
In the UK, while the Queen appoints new Judges at the Prime (or First) Minister’s recommendation, this is more stuffy Constitutional rules than genuine political process. The reality is that independent judicial appointment committees do the vetting and recommendation. This ensures – as much as it can be – that judges are independent and impartial.
In the US however, the process is explicitly political, with the President and Congress both having key, and invariably politicised, roles to play.
When a spot on the bench opens up, the first step is that the President nominates a person to the Supreme Court. This is his right under Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 the US Constitution which states (in potted terms):
[The President]…shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint …Judges of the Supreme Court…
This is usually a high-ranking judge on one of the Courts of Appeal, or other experienced judicial official or legal academic.
While this clause in the Constitution is the only legal rule regarding the President’s power to nominate SCOTUS judges, there is a more flexible political rule in play, the ‘Thurmond Rule’. This stems from the Civil rights says when Senator Thurmond (a Southern segregationist) mounted a campaign to block President Lyndon B. Johnson’s (who signed the Civil Rights Act) US Supreme Court nomination as pay-back. He defined this rule as meaning that no life-time judicial appointments should take place in the latter part of an election year.
This is this that has caused some excitement regarding the appointment of Scalia’s successor. 2016 being an election year, the Republican Majority have attempted to invoke this ‘rule’ (which has no legal standing) to argue Obama should not nominate a successor as the election process is underway. However, while the election will happen on the 10th November 2016 – the winner won’t become the 45th President until January 2017, and with confirmation processes lasting around 2-3 months, this means there could be vacancy on the US’s most important court for over a year! The significance of this is discussed below, but it could well be a political reality, though not a legal requirement.
The Supreme Court and The Senate
Should Obama nominate a candidate, they then face the Senate Judiciary Committee. After (what is almost always) a lengthy testimony, usually spanning days, the committee then vote on whether to recommend the nominee to the Senate or not. A rejection here is not a de jure end to the nomination, but de facto is not a good sign for success, so may lead to a withdrawal and starting the process again.
What really matters is the vote before the Senate. Out of respect for the prestige of the position, a roll call vote is always called. Each Senator states whether they support or oppose the nominee. Theoretically, this only requires 51 votes (a simple majority) and the job is done.
However, especially in these partisan times, the danger is the filibuster. It is possible that, if the opposition is strong enough, the opponents could try and talk out the clock on the nomination process and avoid a vote altogether. Since 2013, most filibusters can be ended by 51 Senators voting to bring it to an end (a “cloture vote”). However, appointments to the Supreme Court are one of the few exceptions, and requires a three-fifths super-majority (60 Senators) to vote in favour.
On the practical level, there are currently 54 Republican Senators and only 46 Democratic-bloc (44 Dems and 2 Dem-voting Independents), meaning that it is virtually impossible for a filibuster to be blocked if it was deployed. This would have political ramifications, as all Congressional actions do, but would be legally doable.
The Supreme Court in the meantime
In the end, if a nomination isn’t made until the next President is sworn in; or the nominee withdraws after the Senate Judiciary Committee; or the Senate rejects him; or his nomination is filibustered out and doesn’t even reach a vote, then there will remain only 8 Justices hearing cases on the Supreme Court – and it’s a key time in US Jurisprudence.
Upcoming cases include cases on voting rights, Union rights and (the most divisive of American topics) abortion. While Scalia was on the court, these cases would be decided and would, most likely, be decided in the conservatives’ favour.
A funny aspect of SCOTUS is, because of the political nature of appointments, is the court is extremely partisan . In most cases, you can predict with 90% certainty that 4 justices will form a liberal bloc (Ginsberg, Breyer, Sotamyor and Kagan) and 4 a conservative one (Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Chief Justice Roberts) with Anthony Kennedy being the swing-vote.
Now Scalia’s seat is vacant, this becomes a 4-3 default, with a swing or 4-4. {1}
If there’s still a majority on the court then, all is well. There is nothing that stops SCOTUS hearing and deciding upon cases with only 8 justices. It is a 4-4 decision which may prove more troubling. There are three consequences to a tie on the bench:
The decision of the court from which the case was heard is upheld.
No precedent is set from the Court.
The same matter may not be re-appealed to the Supreme Court.
In Common Law countries (such as the US), this could lead to legislative-confusion. A No precedent set in key cases, which arise form a particular set of circumstances and haven’t had Supreme Court consideration for years (such as abortion) and it could be some time before they reach the court again. Even if the court agree the matter can be “re-argued”, it can still take months and years before a judgement is rendered. A no-score could delay the development of much-needed jurisprudence in contentious and vital areas of law.
The ratio
As Toby Zeigler discovered in Season 1 of the West Wing, getting a judge onto the Supreme Court isn’t an easy task. It has multiple steps, numerous obstacles and many pitfalls, which can be terminal to a Presidential legacy…especially one nearing it’s end.
It’s clear that the process of replacing Justice Scalia requires the legal processes, which are clearly defined in the Constitution and show Obama can (and it appears will) nominate a successor, to brush up against the political realities (A Republican Senate, a hung Court, and ongoing Primary election and potentially one of the most polarizing Presidential elections the US has faced in recent times). What will happen is hard to be sure of, but Obama can play it smart, and get either a liberal on the bench, or Republicans to block appointments out of spite.
Either way Scalia, a constitutional textualist who stuck by the words (not the spirit or customs) of the Constitution, would probably agree – Obama can (and arguably must) nominate the (potential) 113th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
An addendum:
There is (of course) another way Obama could appoint a Jsutice to SCOTUS. He could – if he wanted to have fun – wait until the Congress was out of session and just appoint his next Justice. They can only serve until the end of the next session, but it could help solve part of the problem. This is impractical, however, as he would have to wait until around December (after the 2016 Elections – which are looking good for the Democrats so far) and his appointee would have a very limited effect on the actual decisions of the court.
For completeness though, I felt I should add this in.
{1} It’s also worth noting that in any cases Scalia heard and voted on, but whose judgements have not yet been handed down, his vote is annulled – potentially creating retrospective ties.
Constitutional LawJudgesLawNotorious RBGRecess AppointetnsScaliaSCOTUSSeparation of PowersSupreme Court of the United StatesThe SenateUS ConstitutionUS Law
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Sample references (comments are given in italics) (formatting of the references is based on the Vancouver citation style)
[1] Ruzin S. Plant microtechnique and microscopy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1999.
Book with one to six authors
[2] Bremer K, editor. Asteraceae: cladistics & classification. Portland: Timber Press; 1994.
Book with one to six editors
[3] Mirek Z, Piękoś-Mirkowa H, Zając A, Zając M, editors. Flowering plants and pteridophytes of Poland – a checklist. Kraków: W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences; 2002. (Biodiversity of Poland; vol 1).
Book with one to six editors and in a series (the title of the series is Biodiversity of Poland, the series volume is 1)
[4] Taiz L, Zeiger E. Plant physiology. 3rd ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates; 2002.
The edition of a book is other than the first (the third in this example)
[5] Imaichi R. Meristem organization and organ diversity. In: Ranker TA, Haufler CH, editors. Biology and evolution of ferns and lycophytes. Cambrige: Cambridge University Press; 2008. p. 75–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511541827.004
Book chapter (with DOI)
[6] Gifford EM, Kurth E. Quantitative studies of the root apical meristem of Equisetum scirpoides. Am J Bot. 1982;69(3):464–473. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2443152
Journal article with one to six authors (with DOI)
[7] Takahashi H, Abraham M, Sakurai K, Watanabe A, Akagi H, Sato K, et al. QTLs in barley controlling seedling elongation of deep-sown seeds. Euphytica. 2008;164(3):761–768. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10681-008-9720-7
Journal article with more than six authors
[8] European Conservation Agriculture Federation [Internet]. 2009 [cited 2009 Dec 29]. Available from: http://www.ecaf.org
Website (if an author is available, place his/her name at the beginning – the same rules apply as in the case of a journal article or a book; if a year the website has been updated is unknown, use the same year as in “cited” date)
[9] Bundessortenamt – BSA [Internet]. Beschreibende Sortenliste. 2009 [cited 2010 Jan 6]. Available from: http://www.bundessortenamt.de/internet30/index.php?id=164
Part of a website
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Could Jay Z Replace His Wife on the Coachella Stage?
Could Jay Z fill in for his wife this year on the Coachella stage or will it be someone else who fills in for the pregnant Beyonce? If you think you know the answer to that question it may be time to call Vegas to put your money where your mouth is.A popular sports betting website has put together...
Jay-Z Becomes First Rapper Ever to Receive Prestigious Honor
Not to make ya'll feel old, but Jay-Z dropped Reasonable Doubt some 20 years ago. Two decades later, Hov's making history by becomming the first rapper ever to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.It takes 20 years of writing hit songs to be considered for the highest honor a songwriter...
GRAMMY Awards: Beyoncé (and Twins) Will Perform “Slowed” Set at Sunday’s Show
Beyoncé is expected to make her first public appearance at Sunday's GRAMMYs after announcing she is pregnant with twins last week.While it is not clear what Beyoncé will be performing on Sunday, reports say that her pregnancy will not stop her from performing. She is, however, expected to have a...
GRAMMY Awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album
Who dropped the hottest album of 2016? We’re about to find out as music’s biggest night is just around the corner. But first, we want your take on the nominees for best urban album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards this Sunday.With a couple familiar names, and some newcomers, here are the 2017...
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CALL US: 24Hrs
Obituary Notices
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Coffin Ranges
Coffins – The Story
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QUINN’S OF GLASTHULE FUNERAL DIRECTORS SUPPLY A FULL RANGE OF COFFINS TO SUIT ALL REQUIREMENTS.
OUR MOST POPULAR CHOICES ARE FEATURED IN OUR COFFIN RANGES PAGE
Quinn’s of Glasthule Funeral Home offers a 24 hour operated phone line, all year round.
Here at Quinn’s of Glasthule Funeral Directors we pride ourselves on providing a personal, discreet and sympathetic service to the bereaved. We offer, 24 hours a day, private viewings to family and friends of the deceased. Quinn’s of Glasthule Funeral Home do not require any deposit payments up front. We will prepare any obituaries for publication in newspapers, on radio stations and internet sites. Quinn’s of Glasthule Funeral Home Directors also offer multi denominational services with no hidden costs.
The funeral home is available, free of charge, to the bereaved family of the deceased. If required by the family, Quinn’s of Glasthule can arrange the use of the funeral home to accommodate a prayer service or funeral ceremony/reception for friends and relatives who may be unable to be present for the Funeral Service. When speaking with our funeral director at the time of making the arrangements, please advise us of any special requirements you may need.
Coffins – The Story Behind A Legendary Term
The dead have been buried in a variety of ways over the centuries. In pre-Christian times, the body may have been naked and laid in a stone “cist”. Progressively, a desire to cover the body and prevent it coming into contact with the soil developed. The wealthy moved towards wood and even metal coffins, leaving the poor to shrouds. For a long period, the government decreed that wool be used in order to help the wool trade. The poor could have their bodies placed in the parish coffin, which was carried to the graveside, where the body was removed and lowered into the grave. The same coffin was re-used in this way for decades.
The Victorian period saw the general use of individual and privately purchased coffins, made in oak and elm and often heavily ornamented. As hardwoods became more expensive, cheaper materials superseded them.
Coffins, also known as a casket in North American English, is a funerary box used in the display and containment of deceased remains; either for burial or cremation. The word comes ultimately from Greek “kophinos”, a basket. In English, the word was not used in a funeral sense until the 1500s.
A coffin may be buried in the ground directly, placed in a burial vault or cremated. Alternatively it may be entombed above ground in a mausoleum, a chapel, a church, or in a loculus in catacombs. The handles and other ornaments (such as doves, stipple crosses, crucifix, Masonic symbols etc.) that go on the outside of a coffin are called fittings, and organizing the inside of the coffin with drapery of some kind is known as “trimming the coffin”. When a coffin is used to transport a deceased person, it can also be called a pall, a term that also refers to the cloth used to cover the coffin.
Coffins are traditionally made with six sides, tapered around the shoulders, or rectangular with four sides. Continental Europe has favoured the rectangular coffin or casket, although variations exist in size and shape. In the case of a BURIAL AT SEA, there have been instances where trunks have been pressed into use as a coffin.
Coffins are made of many materials, including steel, various types of wood, and other materials such as fiberglass. There is emerging interest in eco-friendly coffins made of purely natural materials such as bamboo, willow or Banana Leaf.
With the resurgence of cremation in the Western world, manufacturers have begun providing options for those who choose cremation. For DIRECT CREMATION a cardboard box can be used. Those who wish to have a funeral visitation (sometimes called a viewing) or a traditional funeral service will use a coffin of some sort.
First attested in English 1380, the word coffin derives from the Old French cofin, from Latin cophinus, which is the latinisation of the Greek “kophinos”. Any box used to bury the dead in is a coffin. Use of the word “casket” in this sense began as a euphemism introduced by the undertaker’s trade in North America; a “casket” was originally a box for jewelry. Receptacles for cremated and cremulated human ashes (sometimes called cremains in North America) are called urns.
The standard coffin currently used by funeral directors is made of chipboard with a good quality veneer, which effectively makes the coffin appear that it has been constructed from solid wood. The nameplate, handles and inner linings are all made of artificial materials, mainly plastic. These coffins are used for both burial and cremation. It is evident that many people perceive these coffins as composed of real wood, and the PLASTIC HANDLES as metal.
When used for cremation, chipboard coffins, MDF MOULDINGS and plastic fittings cause the majority of the small amount of pollutant emissions that arise. It must be also appreciated that the manufacture of chipboard uses formaldehyde, which is not considered to be environmentally friendly. Coffins of wood and other natural material such as bamboo and wicker are available.
The coffin is probably the most symbolic and central item of the funeral. It can be the final and most telling statement after a person has died. The choice allows for a range of caskets from the ostentatious through to the simple. The ostentatious could include a coffin crafted in the shape of a car for a motor enthusiast, or hand carved in natural wood by a joiner, or solid gold options. The bereaved choose from a selection of coffins ranging from American style caskets and ornate coffins to those made of wicker or cardboard.
Any type of coffin can be personalised to reflect personal interests e.g. gardener, fisherman or football fan. The artistic options are individual; require skills and time, all elements that are generally missing with the current funeral arrangements. A wider range of coffins is becoming apparent and is indicative of changing attitudes to the needs of the bereaved.
Other coffin options have been developed in recent years. In 1994, three manufacturers of biodegradable (cardboard) coffins arose and some funeral directors, crematoria (and potentially cemeteries) are offering these products. This move was in response to the environmental burial schemes, although these coffins were quickly utilised for traditional burial and cremation. Since 1994, many more suppliers of alternatives such as wicker and bamboo coffins have emerged. Little research has been done, although findings in Europe suggest that cardboard coffins offer a significant reduction in pollutant emissions arising from cremation. The cardboard coffin may reduce what people see as the waste of resources, due to cremating standard coffins. The introduction of a cardboard coffin immediately offered advantages of wider choice and bio-degradable benefits when used for burial. Some people labelled cardboard coffins cheap and lacking in dignity. This is a matter of one’s own opinion. The word dignity is defined as true worth and where a person has a belief in protecting the environment, or in having a humble or modest funeral, then the cardboard coffin has true worth to that person, and they should be given the choice. Added advantages are that cardboard coffins can be painted attractively, or personalised, by an artist or by the family themselves.
In modern times coffins are almost always mass-produced. Some manufacturers do not sell directly to the public, and only work with Funeral Homes. In that case, the funeral director usually sells the casket to a family for a deceased person as part of the Funeral Services offered, and in that case the price of the casket is included in the total bill for services rendered.
Some funeral homes will have a small showroom to present families with the available caskets that could be used for a deceased family member. In many modern funeral homes the showroom will consist of sample pieces that show the end pieces of each type of coffin that can be used. They also include samples of the lining and other materials. This allows funeral homes to showcase a larger number of coffin styles without the need for a larger showroom. Other types may be available from a catalogue, including decorative paint effects or printed photographs or patterns.
Contact a member of our team to discuss viewing our selection of coffins for burial or cremation.
Click here to view recent obituary notices
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Preservation Magazine, Summer 2017
President's Note: The Birth of ReUrbanism
More: Preservation Magazine
By: Stephanie K. Meeks
In my travels over the past few months, from the heart of Louisville, Kentucky, to Miami’s Little Havana, to other iconic American neighborhoods, I’ve gotten to see and experience firsthand all the many ways historic preservation is enhancing our cities. (For more details, please see my note in the Fall 2016 issue of Preservation.) By spurring economic growth, encouraging walkable neighborhoods, promoting environmental sustainability, and helping cities address pressing problems such as a shortage of affordable housing, older buildings are proving time and again to be remarkable tools for urban regeneration.
Now, to deepen our own commitment to advancing these benefits for more Americans, the National Trust has embarked on an exciting initiative we are calling ReUrbanism. Building on decades of experience with historic tax credits, preservation advocacy, and reinvigorating Main Streets, ReUrbanism seeks to ensure that adaptive building reuse becomes the default for cities, that demolition becomes the option of last resort, and that all we’ve learned from the past is helping to shape the cities of the future.
In only a few short months, we have hit the ground running. Guided by Ten Principles of ReUrbanism, we are now working with municipal leaders to spur building reuse in cities across America, and helping iconic neighborhoods in cities such as Philadelphia and Detroit to take full advantage of their remarkable historic assets.
We also launched our new Atlas of ReUrbanism, a comprehensive 50-city study of the American urban landscape. After looking at the age, diversity, and size of all buildings in these 50 cities, our Atlas research has found that neighborhoods with a mix of old and new buildings consistently perform better along a host of social, economic, and environmental metrics than do areas without older buildings. In fact, across all 50 cities in the Atlas, these mixed blocks have 33 percent more jobs in new businesses, 46 percent more jobs in small businesses, and 60 percent more women- and minority-owned businesses. They are also denser and provide 28 percent more units of affordable rental housing—proving once again that preservation can and should be an important part of addressing the rising cost of living in cities.
Through all of this ReUrbanism work, our goal is to make clear to the decision makers in cities that conserving and reusing older buildings addresses people’s contemporary needs; helps make neighborhoods more diverse, authentic, and vibrant; and creates the possibility for a more sustainable and equitable future. I encourage you to peruse our Atlas maps and ReUrbanism principles online, and hope they can help you to make an even stronger case for preservation in your hometown.
Stephanie K. Meeks was the president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from 2010-2018. She is the author of "The Past and Future City."
Preservation Magazine The Town of Graniteville, South Carolina, Sees its Future in its Historic Buildings
Preservation Magazine A Century-Old Philadelphia Bank Becomes a Tech Hub
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The Ultimate Architectural Road Trip of East Coast Midcentury Modernism
Architecture writer Sam Lubell and photographer Darren Bradley reveal the hidden gems and greatest hits of postwar design along the Eastern Seaboard.
More: Modern Architecture
By: Mark Byrnes, CityLab
This story originally appeared on CityLab. Find it here.
In this increasingly strange and troubled world, one might want to salve their soul with a road trip to see the artifacts of a more thoughtful and optimistic time.
Such a therapeutic adventure may not be too far away: Writer and curator Sam Lubell along with photographer Darren Bradley released their latest architectural travel guide, Mid-Century Modern Architecture Travel Guide: East Coast USA last month. A follow-up to their recent West Coast guide, it includes over 250 houses, offices, schools, museums, and civic and religious buildings that tell the story of the industrial and cultural prosperity that occurred up and down the Eastern Seaboard after World War II.
Lubell and Bradley play all the Modernism hits and a lot of deep cuts—with brief histories and elegant photographs of the kitschy stores along US-1 in Fort Lauderdale, Wallace Harrison’s UN Plaza in Manhattan, and a whole lot in between. (Bradley’s Instagram is well worth a follow if you’re into these kinds of buildings.)
photo by: Darren Bradley
Sam Lubell's architecture road trips with photographer Darran Bradely took them to plenty of canonical Modernist buildings in big cities. But they also found many underrated places, like Horgan Academy of Irish Dance (designed by Alexander and Nichols in 1964) in Naugatuck, Connecticut.
Organized by region (New England, New York and New Jersey, Mid-Atlantic, the South, and Florida), the guide also includes a glossary of architectural terms and information on how to visit these sites. For readers with no travel plans, Lubell’s site descriptions give a rewarding perspective on the ideas that fueled each design and how reality has guided their aging.
CityLab spoke with Lubell over the phone recently about the new guide and how the travel it required formed his views on the U.S. East Coast’s postwar buildings.
What would you say are are the major differences in East Coast Modernism from region to region?
There are so many styles in each region—so many different approaches and so much talent. There’s an incredible variety, but it’s all unified by the idea of Modernism as a way to start over.
I think the way these regions think of their own Midcentury Modernism depends on the legacy of their buildings, how those buildings came to be, and what kind of preservation community each place has today. The East Coast generally has a high appreciation for its Modernist legacy. Certainly, New York City has a strong preservation ethic since the demolition of Penn Station, but if you go further afield it’s not necessarily the case. A lot of the stuff in Florida is going away because the state doesn’t have same kind of laws to protect these projects, nor does it have the same spirit of preservation.
There are so many big name architects who have done work on the East Coast, so those are easier to landmark. It’s the lesser-known gems that are really at risk.
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Unlike your West Coast guide, which was published just before the 2016 election, the end of the introduction in this one hints at a contemporary America that is socially fractured and building poorly. Was there a sense of urgency in making this edition, to show readers places that represent a more optimistic or ambitious version of the country?
We live in a time where a majority of what gets built is cookie-cutter and done for short-term gain, done without inspiration, done in ways that don’t suit the time and age. Not that all Modernism was amazing, but a lot of what’s left shows great respect for design merged with technology.
Most of the attention put on buildings today is committed to where the money is, so architects are devoting their energy to commissions for rich clients and everything else has to be sidetracked—schools, government centers, post offices, stores, things that are not high on our culture’s current list of priorities. We get a poorer urban realm as a result. We’re putting profit over respect and attention to design. The whole idea of Modernism was that great architecture should be for everyone.
Decatur High School, Bothwell and Nash, 1965, Decatur, Georgia.
What kind of criteria did you establish for a building to be good enough for an entry in the guide?
It was hard. One thing we decided on was that if you can’t see it from the street it’s automatically cut, and in some cases we didn’t know until we got there. That was the case with a lot of houses. The Leonhardt House by Philip Johnson on Long Island is a good example—it’s beautiful but we couldn’t find it, because it’s on a long driveway. We went down to the beach to try to see it from there but eventually gave up.
In putting this together, did you develop a new sense of what makes American Modernism special?
I did a lot of road trips to see each one which was great because I got to see buildings I didn’t think I’d ever have a chance to see. Architecture is so much about the experience of seeing them and understanding them in the context of their surroundings. It’s inspiring to see how much of it there is all over the U.S., to see how much attention was given in so many places to having excellent design. When we do another book for another part of the country, you’ll see it’s incredible and widespread there as well.
Up and down the East Coast you’ll find great Modernism in places you might not expect, like New Haven, which had an ambitious university president [at Yale] when a lot of the buildings we’ve highlighted there were built. Same goes for Raleigh-Durham, where you had good schools with an interest in doing things differently and a focus on innovative design. I knew Sarasota was a hotbed for architecture, but not to the extent that it really is. It’s basically the Palm Springs of the East Coast. We knew the tip of the iceberg—the big names—but everywhere you go there you’ll find impressive buildings and a strong commitment to good design.
Greater Refuge Temple, Costas Machlouzarides, 1968, New York, New York.
Were there any discouraging site visits, where you could tell that the building wasn’t cared for or not likely to be around much longer?
Most of the buildings we saw are in good shape, but a few aren’t. There’s a house by Paul Rudolph outside Miami that was really ruined by additions that had been put on, so we didn’t include it in our guide. There were a few houses where you could tell they were not in the best of shape and that if the owner understood the legacy their building, they wouldn’t have let it deteriorate.
There were also buildings that had been torn down or altered beyond recognition and since we didn’t want to make our book too negative we didn’t include them, like John Johansen’s Mechanic Theater in Baltimore and Marcel Breuer’s American Press Institute building outside D.C.
And what were some pleasant surprises?
In Manchester, New Hampshire, you not only have two amazing Frank Lloyd Wright houses down the street from each other but also Christopher Kantiaris’s St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, which has a Jetsons-like appearance. It’s beautiful and totally unexpected.
We could have done a whole chapter on the stuff Gene Leedy designed. He’s a Florida architect and one of the important figures of Sarasota’s Modern movement. His own office in Winter Haven is a stunning glass cube with cantilevers in all directions shading it. Down the street in the next town over is Lakeland, where Frank Lloyd Wright did an entire campus for Florida Southern College—the most intense concentration of Wright buildings in the world. It’s an astounding collection of architecture, with a Futuristic-meets-Native-American style. He referenced Native American imagery in a lot of his work but it really shines through there.
“Up and down the East Coast you’ll find great Modernism in places you might not expect”
Sam Lubell
Speaking of Wright, there’s also a few houses of his in a Usonia District he planned in Pleasantville, New York. It’s the closest he ever came to realizing Broadacre City. There’s also a great George Nakashima Woodworker Complex in the middle of New Hope, a Pennsylvania town known for its furniture design. George Nakashima built some amazing structures and the one we included is a studio with a rippling fiberglass roof that arcs over traditional Japanese spaces with an incredible amount of exposed glass. Few people know this place exists.
One more would be Russel Wright, who was best known for his furniture design but he also created Manitoga, his estate in Garrison, New York. It’s basically another version of Fallingwater, and it’s an astounding place built on a former quarry and perched next to a waterfall that he diverted a stream into. He created an immaculate procession with a pond that you walk up to and over, and there’s salvaged wood beams that hold the whole thing up.
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More posts by guest authors (249)
This Architect's "Perfect Building" Takes Flight Once Again
A Tissue for Your Favorite Demolished Building
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About the Royal Society
Royal Society and DeepMind announce 2018 lecture series
The Royal Society and DeepMind will work together to produce a public lecture series in 2018 exploring cutting edge AI research and its implications for society.
The lecture series aims to help open up a conversation with leading experts about how AI may affect people’s daily lives, its implications, and how companies, organisations and public institutions should respond.
Lectures will be delivered by leading figures in the world of AI research and those considering its societal consequences.
The lectures are part of the Royal Society’s ongoing policy work on machine learning and AI. A report launched earlier this year - Machine Learning: the power and promise of computers that learn by example - called for action in a number of key areas over the next five to ten years to create an environment of “careful stewardship” that can help ensure that the benefits of this technology are felt broadly. It also called for an informed public debate about what we want machine learning to do, and how the benefits are distributed
Professor Peter Donnelly FRS, chair of the report’s working group and Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and Professor of Statistical Science at the University of Oxford, said at the time of launch, “Machine learning can drive advances in healthcare, teaching, transport, and more, supporting better public services and boosting the economy. We have the opportunity now, as a society, to ensure that machine learning can bring the maximum benefit to the greatest number of people.”
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Take off with Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Two views on an EU Excellent Science Programme
Why a young postdoc and an experienced professor jointly applied for a Marie Curie Fellowship, what they hoped to achieve and how they each benefited from the Horizon 2020 programme for young researchers. – An interview with Ellen Jaspers and Nicole Wenderoth.
Ellen Jaspers
Ellen Jaspers has a PhD in Biomedical Science from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Since January 2015 she has been a Marie Curie fellow in a postdoc position at the Neural Control of Movement lab of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich.
Nicole Wenderoth
Nicole Wenderoth has been professor at the Neural Control of Movement lab in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich since 2012. Her lab is the host institution for the Marie Curie Fellowship held by Ellen Jaspers; and Nicole Wenderoth is Ellen’s mentor.
Ellen, why did you apply for a Marie Curie Fellowship?
I was motivated to apply because this scholarship offers young researchers a great opportunity to move on in their career. It allows you to go to a host lab and gain further expertise in your specific areas. I chose the Neural Control of Movement lab at ETH Zurich because of its excellence within the field of neuroscience.
So one day you decided to apply for a Marie Curie Fellowship?
When you do research there is always the question of searching for money or applying for grants to improve your CV and climb up the academic ladder. I think the Marie Curie Fellowship is a perfect stepping stone to enhance your CV. As I also really wanted to pursue a research career abroad, applying for a Marie Curie Fellowship was the perfectly logical next step.
The success rate is very low; how did you attain the Fellowship?
Writing the application was a challenge: you want to present innovative ideas and show that you are going to add value to the research that is already out there. The key was talking a lot with Nicole Wenderoth from the Neural Control of Movement lab about what’s feasible, what might be interesting, what’s already there, and what’s still needed in the field of neuroscience. With my clinical background I could then also assess how the project would be clinically valuable. The combination of all these different angles and viewpoints definitely gave the project an added value, which was why it succeeded.
How did you find your host, the Neural Control of Movement lab led by Nicole Wenderoth?
Well, I met Nici during my PhD studies in Leuven. She then moved to Zurich to start up the Neural Control of Movement lab. After completing my PhD I was still left with the question of what defines upper limb functions: I saw many children with CP (cerebral palsy) and so much variability in their functioning which we couldn’t explain just by measuring them clinically. So I wanted to investigate this and address the variability from a neuroscience point of view. I contacted Nici knowing she had an interest in doing further clinically applied research. We had a joint idea, one thing led to another, and that’s how the project application was written.
What could Nicole Wenderoth and her team in Zurich offer you?
Nici has a lot of experience, for example in transcranial magnetic stimulation and in all the neuroimaging techniques I wanted to apply. For me it was crucial to learn these techniques, not only as a user but also from an analysis point of view. Nici and her team helped me a lot in gaining this specific expertise. The lab is a perfect base for setting up the project and gaining knowledge in the different neuroimaging techniques. And of course, Nici, with her keen, analytical mind helps me through. Every time we talk I walk away with new ideas and an ever greater motivation. That’s really what keeps me going.
What is the main thing you gain from this Marie Curie Fellowship?
Without the Marie Curie grant I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be doing this research. I wouldn’t have the whole CP research line being set up now. I think it’s a massive boost to get an opportunity that would otherwise not be there because of finance – you need money to do research. And now I’ve also got this really nice fellowship to put on my CV. If you think about the future, this is undoubtedly an added value.
What would you recommend to young researchers applying for a Marie Curie Fellowship?
Have a good CV to start with. And really find a project where you can show that it’s the combination of you as a researcher and your host institute that takes it to the next level. As in my case, without Nici’s lab I would not have been able to do this research; and Nici would also not have been able to set up this CP research line here without me. So I truly believe it’s the combination of two people – the mentor from the host lab and the researcher – that creates an added value from which both benefit.
What are your plans for the future?
Well, first I want to finish my Marie Curie Fellowship, which ends in December of this year. And then I hope to be able to continue in this lab. The next logical step would be to apply for a professorship. Maybe not within ETH, but to go just one step further and set up my own research group. If I manage to set up the CP research line successfully it will offer the perfect base for starting my own research group, getting my own PhD students and taking my research to the next level.
And would you like to become a professor?
Being a professor would be a nice option, yes. But we also have to be realistic – it’s still academia, it’s still competitive. But in an ideal world, yes!
How did you and Ellen Jaspers come to agree on a Marie Curie Fellowship?
You know, all good things start in the kitchen. And it actually was in a kitchen where Ellen’s Marie Curie Fellowship began. At that time I was thinking about how to build up my lab at ETH Zurich. I knew that Ellen had just finished her PhD and was looking for a postdoc position. Ellen was not only an academically trained physiotherapist, but also a physiotherapist with a PhD in biomedical science. So she understands both sides very well – fundamental research as well as clinical research. That was exactly the expertise I needed for my new lab in Zurich. So we met over a coffee and eventually I suggested that she came to ETH and start the lab with me.
And how did you get to know Ellen?
We knew each other from the Catholic University of Leuven. She was in a different department and I was actually part of her PhD committee. So I knew both her research work and Ellen as a person quite well.
So you both decided to apply for a Marie Curie Fellowship to bring Ellen to Zurich?
Well, I think the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships are fantastic funding instruments, both for us as professors and also for postdocs. When I looked at Ellen’s CV, I thought she would be the perfect candidate for a Marie Curie Fellowship. Also the project she was working on could only be carried out within a bigger network. The difficulty with clinical research is that you need a large data set to prove that new interventions might work. It is very hard to do this research within a reasonable time in only one country. The European funding offered us a great chance because one of its aims is indeed to foster the cooperation of several partners across Europe. Ellen’s project fitted into this pattern precisely, as cooperation with labs and clinics in Europe was a crucial element. Ellen now commutes between Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, where we have clinical partners with a similar interest. We exchange patient data and new methods, and we communicate intensively with each other to push the project forward.
So you both sat down together and wrote this application?
Yes, as a professor you have a feeling for candidates who have an outstanding CV, and Ellen was one of them. But the deciding factor for me was that Ellen had already made a lot of impact with her work. Despite being quite a young researcher, the tool she developed during her PhD has already been implemented by other groups across Europe. If you do research in a clinical setting that is exactly what you want to happen.
In writing the application we demonstrated her expertise, our own expertise in the lab, and especially how they complement each other and what synergy this would produce. Another aspect we focused on was developing Ellen as a fellow. Our postdocs are not just here to be independent researchers. We also want to offer them further training and the opportunity to build up their own career, so they can stay in academia. They are the best talents we have, and it would be a great pity if they dropped out. So I believe we should do whatever we can do to promote and keep our talent.
And what do you expect from this fellowship?
It offers us an excellent opportunity to translate knowledge all the way from particularly high-tech fundamental research to methods that we think might – in the long run – be useful for improving therapy planning. For me this is the really exciting perspective. But let’s be absolutely clear: this project is only happening because Ellen is here.
In which way do you and your lab benefit from Ellen and her fellowship?
Firstly, Ellen brought expertise to our lab that would have been difficult to find otherwise. As I said, Ellen is a physiotherapist with a PhD. You don’t find many of these experts in Europe and you hardly find any in Switzerland or Germany. Secondly, running clinical studies is an art and working with children is particularly demanding. Ellen had experience in performing this type of clinical research. So we’ve started a new line of research and built up a new network of collaborators and connections. From there we want to strengthen and continue this research line even once Ellen has left our lab.
Would you encourage professors to host a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow?
Yes, I would definitely recommend they do so. Of course, the prerequisite is finding an excellent postdoc as a fellow. But if you find this person and if you can develop a project together with your fellow, you bring top-quality scientific expertise as well as cultural diversity to your lab. And this benefits everybody: you, your team, and the fellow.
But don’t some professors think all the form-filling takes too much energy and time?
Here in Zurich we have the EU GrantsAccess Office and they help a lot with administration, both when applying for a grant and also later on. For Ellen, the administration and the financing part of the application was handled entirely by the EU GrantsAccess Office. They made it extremely easy for us to apply.
Ellen’s fellowship will end this year. Are you already looking for another Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow?
I’ll take Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellows any time. As soon as I spot a talent on the market, I’ll definitely try again!
New hope for cerebral palsy patients
Cerebral palsy (CP), caused by a lesion of the developing infant brain is the most common cause of childhood physical disability. Children with CP experience lifelong impairments of motor and sensory functions that restrict their independence in daily life and put a high emotional and financial burden on families, caretakers and society. An early well targeted rehabilitation therapy could help to minimize long-term disability and maximize the child’s daily functioning. However, the development of such therapies firstly requires clear and simple diagnostic measurement methods. Therefore the overall goal of Ellen Jasper‘s project is to identify neural biomarkers that are linked to sensorimotor dysfunction of a child. Based on these findings, she then intends to develop a series of simple tests for clinic use such as the young CP patients can be categorized and get a tailor made treatment. To identify the associations between neural biomarkers and arm and hand dysfunctions, Ellen Jaspers performs several tests in children and adolescents with CP in Belgium and in Switzerland. These tests include transcranial magnetic stimulation to see which side of the brain controls which hand, screening technics like MRI to look at the anatomy and the structural connectivity of the brain but also behavioral measurements. At the moment Ellen Jaspers expects to define about five different categories, which then could be identified with a few simple tests in the daily routine of a clinic. This is still a future vision and Ellen still has a long way to go. But with her research enabled by the Marie Curie Fellowship and the support of Nicole Wenderoth, Ellen Jaspers has paved the way for a new research line which is not only scientifically challenging but also opens promising perspectives for young CP patients.
EU GrantsAccess’ Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Group
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Group at EU GrantsAccess aims to keep on top of the often changing regulations of the MSCA in order to ensure high-quality advice at ETH Zurich and at the University of Zurich. The group meets regularly to discuss new calls or changes and is in contact with the relevant sections at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, such as the finance departments and Human Resources. This means that young MSCA researchers enjoy a smooth- running fellowship and can focus on their project. A big asset of the MSCA group is their close collaboration with the National Contact Points for MSCA at the Euresearch Head Office in Berne. Here, Sibylla Martinelli and Juliane Sauer keep abreast of the newest developments and results through ongoing contact with the executive agencies in Brussels and their peers in Europe.
Members of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Group:
Frédérique Amor, Annika Glauner, André Wunder, Alexandra Zingg
Interview with Ellen Jaspers & Nicole Wenderoth
Marie Curie Fellowship SeMoRe-CP
SeMoRe-CP – Identifying structural and functional biomarkers of the brain indicating SensoriMotor Recovery in Cerebral Palsy
Host: ETH Zurich, Nicole Wenderoth, Fellow: Ellen Jaspers
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF – Marie-Curie Action:
„Intra-European fellowships for career development“
http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/187764_en.html
ETH, FP7, MSCA - IF
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01/2019, UZH
Of men, wheat and fungi
One training programme — two experiences
How a European Training Network equips PhD candidates with the skills needed for their professional future, why plant scientists will never run out of work and why it is crucial for Switzerland to have access to EU research programmes.
An interview with Beat Keller and Markus Kolodziej.
Beat Keller
is Professor for Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Zurich. In one of his research foci he addresses the genetic bases of fungal resistance of wheat. Beat Keller’s research group is one of the ten university and research partners of the international training network called CerealPath, funded by the EU within the scope of its Marie Skłodowska-Curie Training Networks Programme.
Markus Kolodziej
completed his studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU Munich) in Germany with a Master’s degree in Biology. In February 2016, he started his doctoral programme with Professor Beat Keller at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Zurich. Markus Kolodziej is one of the 15 PhD candidates of the CerealPath project.
Beat Keller, can you take stock of the CerealPath project at this point?
The most important aspect is, for me, that we were able to train 15 PhD candidates all over Europe who contribute greatly to plant research. It is wonderful to see that young people, who initially knew little about the research topic at hand, have turned into experts and have achieved very much. However, I have also noticed that many of the projects are still not completed. Many of the PhD theses are currently at a stage that absolutely requires continuation and certainly an additional fourth year. But considering that the funding for this project was set to three years, I must say: We have achieved the maximum during this time frame.
There are numerous approaches to control cereal diseases. Which ones did CerealPath deal with?
In Europe today, fungal wheat diseases are mainly fought by chemical fungicides. This is eco-unfriendly and there is strong political pressure within the EU and also within Switzerland to reduce the use of fungicides. We therefore have to find other approaches in crop protection. One alternative is certainly to count on the genetic resistance of plants — in our case this means to cultivate wheat varieties for resistance to fungi and to identify and use genes such as the one Markus characterises in his PhD thesis. Additionally, we also have to look for other, novel possibilities. Another alternative could be endophytes; these are fungi that naturally occur within the wheat plant itself and do not damage the plant but protect it from other harmful fungi. Within the scope of CerealPath, we have explored, discussed and researched this entire range of current approaches.
What was your motivation to launch an EU project together with your colleagues?
I had different reasons. The most trivial one being that we all need money in order to advance our research projects. Research funds, for me, were certainly among the three main motives for participation. The second one was the desire to become part of the network within which one works during such an EU project. The knowledge transfer taking place during meetings, telephone conferences and inside the doctoral committee reunions is extremely inspiring. The third motive was that we all hope to enhance the competence in our field of expertise in Europe and that more young people are trained in the latest research developments. This is also the wish of the European seed cultivation companies. Many of them search desperately for competent plant scientists with experience in plant breeding these days.
How did you select the PhD candidates for the project?
Each of the participating universities announced a PhD position on their website for their specific research project. However, a joint selection committee was convened at the beginning and the appointment of each PhD candidate had to be approved by the committee. With this, we wanted to ensure a consistent quality. I could therefore not just simply hire Markus. I had to send his CV to the committee and wait for their approval. What was more, the PhD candidates could not come from the same country as the university conducting the research work. This is not a given for many universities in Europe. However, the requirement to look for candidates outside one’s own country has brought together a group of very interesting, multifaceted young people.
In hindsight, what would you optimise regarding such EU trainee programmes?
I notice a tendency within the EU to bog the PhD studies down with too much mandatory course work because it is said that the young people also have to acquire these and other skills. Then again, PhD candidates must above all be able to conduct independent, scientific work, which requires a lot of time. During the three years of the project, Markus was absorbed in course work and attending workshops during at least half a year, in addition to the experimental tasks. I am rather critical of this tendency towards an increase in course attendance. A second issue I would optimise is the content of the courses themselves. During these three years, I realised that the young graduates must possess very good knowledge in bioinformatics. I therefore agree with Markus when he proposes to enhance the training in bioinformatics for future programmes.
Was there a special discovery made during this project?
For me, a special discovery were the novel approaches to control harmful fungi biologically by means of endophytes. Fungi already living inside the plant and protecting it against harmful fungi are purposefully promoted. Up to now, this type of crop protection has only worked reliably under laboratory conditions. But maybe one day it will be possible in the fields, too, altough there are still many steps to take on the way to successful application.
Tell us about the importance of having access to such EU projects.
I find it very important. Like many other researchers, I do have certain reservations regarding EU programmes, as they involve much bureaucracy and controls. But my long-term experience with EU projects has shown that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. It is not only the additional funds that are made available. It is also about the contacts, the access to knowledge and networks in which one is a part of a greater whole. This is essential for small countries such as Switzerland.
Politicians claim that rich Switzerland could come up with the funds all by itself.
This is true, but it is not enough. Of course this could be a possible emergency solution, delivering the money directly to my lab instead of receiving it from the EU. But I would not be integrated in these networks. I am participating in another EU project which we are about to complete. In this programme, over 20 research groups in Europe examine the same 500 genotypes of wheat. Each group is responsible for a segment. The collaboration generates the added value. If my group receives more money but is not a partner within the network — how should we be able to achieve something this big?
Where do you see the future of crop protection?
There is not a single miracle technology solving all the problems.We are dealing with complex ecosystems. Great potential lies within intelligent cropping strategies as propagated by organic farming. But this is not enough. In certain situations, chemical plant protection will be needed. However, genetic resistance will be of outmost importance in the future, certainly, which means to make plants more resistant to diseases by targeted use of resistance genes. The question is solely whether this sould happen by conventional approaches alone or whether gene technology methods such as genome editing or transgenes may be used. This much is certain: We need a strong reduction of chemical crop protection.
Markus Kolodziej, the CerealPath project will end soon. What have you learned?
I have grown personally during the project because of the exchange with the other 14 PhD candidates and their supervisors. I have gained a lot from this. Thinking back on where I stood after completing the Master’s degree… which had been an excellent education, yet very local, based in Munich. Now I have the skills to go out into the wider world.
What other advantages did you gain from this project?
Above all, a new international network. The fact that I regularly met the colleagues and their supervisors, all of them working on various topics, during courses and meetings and thus making contacts with them – this is the main gain of this project. Now, they all know me and I know them! Another advantage was the traineeship with one of the industrial partners. During five weeks, I worked on the trial fields of the seed producer KWS in Germany, where I learned about different types of wheat and tested them for diseases that broke out during that period. And, finally, of course the research work conducted in Zurich. I have achieved good results during the past two years and am planning to publish them in 2019 in a journal.
You said this project pushed open the door to the world. In what ways?
Now, I have good connections to professors from all over Europe. Once I will have finished my PhD, I will have another close look at their current projects and decide whether I would like to participate in them. Now I know what the people are working on and the topics I find interesting. Maybe another change of subject could be interesting. Maybe it would be interesting to continue research in a similar field. Maybe it would also be interesting to work with one of the industrial partners for a while. Here, I have also made contacts during the CerealPath project. But for now, I focus on completing my PhD and then we will see.
What is the topic of your PhD project?
We analyse the genes in wheat that make the plant more resistant to the harmful fungus called wheat leaf rust. We have to identify these genes in the plant in order to facilitate a targeted use of the genes and to find out how exactly they protect the plant from pests.
What was your motivation to participate in the CerealPath project?
During my Master’s thesis in Munich I had already dealt with plant-fungus interactions, albeit with their symbiotic aspects, that is to say an interaction beneficial to both organisms. I now wanted to get to know the protection mechanisms of plants against harmful fungi as well as move from basic to more applied research. This is why I had applied for the PhD position with Beat Keller. It was certainly an additional motivating factor that this position included the participation in the CerealPath project.
Looking back, what would you improve in terms of this trainee programme?
I would spread many of the mandatory courses more widely over the entire three years. When I came to Zurich as a PhD candidate, I knew next to nothing but had to leave again pretty soon to attend the first courses. When I came back, I had to start anew in many areas. But then, there was already the next course; not to mention the time-consuming preparation and post processing pertaining to such international courses. In the beginning, this was rather difficult — especially when working with plants that need time to grow and that require you to conduct certain experiments with them at specific times. As for the courses’ contents: Many of them covered very interesting topics, such as the bioinformatics workshop in Norwich. Unfortunately, it was merely bioinformatics in a nutshell. I would definitely extend the training in bioinformatics in the future. Then there were courses which, in my view, were rather unnecessary. Especially the trainings one could or should complete at graduate school at the university back home; they are not needed again during the EU project.
Is there a single moment during this programme which you would describe as a true highlight?
It is the team that makes the moments unforgettable. The 15 CerealPath PhD candidates sitting together at a conference dinner having a good time, establishing friendships — this outlasts the project duration and will continue to be a part of both my professional as well as my personal life.
Why did you study crop protection in the first place?
One always talks about the «arms race»between the pathogens and the host over the entire evolution. A fungal pathogen infects a plant as a host, the plant then develops a resistance gene and fights off the fungus. But after some time, the fungus again vanquishes this resistance. It is our goal to discover the various resistance genes contained in wheat plants and to develop them for the cultivation of resistant, high-yielding types. However, we should not rely on resistance for good — just as we could not rely on the fact that the antibiotics in medicine that were discovered during the last century would not one day lose their effect. I have learned from the experiences made with antibiotics in medicine when it comes to plant protection: We should never cease to research. Plant scientists will therefore never run out of work.
Interview with Markus Kolodziej (in German)
CEREALPATH
Wheat is one of the most important crops of humankind. However, a large number of various harmful fungi reduces the annual crop yields by at least 10%, which equals 70 million tons. The CerealPath (Cerealphatology) training programme imparts to young PhD candidates the latest findings and methods with which wheat and barley diseases can be controlled effectively. In parallel to the research for their doctoral thesis, the researchers are also equipped with novel, innovative research approaches and techniques during courses, workshops and internships and gain an insight into the main research of the project partners. CerealPath is a training network of 22 European partners (seven universities, three research institutes and eleven industrial partners and national agricultural authorities, respectively), a joint kind of graduate school. 15 young researchers from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America participate in the programme, completing their doctoral studies at one of the collaborating European partner universities. In Switzerland, it is the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology of the University of Zurich as well as the Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center of the Universities of Basel and Zurich and of ETH Zurich. https://cerealpath.eu/
CerealPath was funded with roughly four million euros by the EU within the scope of its Marie Skłodowska-Curie Training Networks Programme. The project duration is set to four years and will end officially on 31 August 2019. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/198261/factsheet/en
H2020, ITN, UZH
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About SIGNEC
The Special Interest Group for Necrotizing Enterocolitis (SIGNEC) was set up by Dr Minesh Khashu in 2012. Initially comprising healthcare professionals from the United Kingdom, it soon became an international group of neonatologists, paediatricians, surgeons, nurses, dietitians, epidemiologists, researchers, trainees and other healthcare professionals with an interest in this significant clinical problem.
The aim of SIGNEC is to facilitate knowledge sharing, networking and collaboration to optimise research and improvements in practice around the world.
Conferences have taken place in London every year since the first meeting in June 2012, and speakers present some of the latest laboratory research and developments in clinical practice. SIGNEC has also included at its meetings parents of babies who have suffered from the disease.
Necrotizing Enterocolitis was first recognised in the 1950s, and in the absence of a definite aetiology and pathogenesis, efforts at prevention, minimising risk and optimising early management have been difficult. This has not been through a lack of trying, but the biology of immature intestines is much more complex than we previously recognised and NEC, in many ways, is possibly a unique condition in medicine.
Substantial progress has been made recently in the understanding of the molecular elements that determine its development, and these advances may help to improve the development of effective preventive and diagnostic strategies. Insights gained from necrotizing enterocolitis could also have implications to other neonatal and adult inflammatory disease processes.
The aim of this website is to provide professionals and parents around the world with information on NEC and to share some of the research that been presented at SIGNEC conferences. We hope to be able to develop our website much further in the future, and welcome correspondence and contributions.
SIGNEC conferences have been accredited by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) for continuing professional development (CPD) points. Feedback given by professionals, parents and charities has been very positive.
If you wish to contact Professor Khashu about topics for future SIGNEC meetings, please contact him directly at the address below. If you would like to be added to our conference mailing list, or have any other queries, please email contact@signec.org or use this contact form. All correspondence is welcomed.
Prof. Minesh Khashu
Consultant in Neonatal Medicine
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
mineshkhashu@gmail.com
Conference feedback
Excellent couple of days. GREAT to get so many diverse experts together.
Please continue to organise. These days are so valuable.
Great selection of speakers and exceptionally organised.
Fantastic day 1, hearing all the research around the world
Keep up the good work, these conferences are amazing (more students should attend).
Excellent event, will definitely come again next year! Please advertise more to Neonatal Nurses.
Fantastic conference, really enjoyed it and very inspiring.
Very enjoyable and interesting 2 days. I leave feeling more knowledgeable and updated.
Credits & Disclaimer: This website has been made possible thanks to contributions to meetings of the Special Interest Group in Necrotizing Enterocolitis (SIGNEC). It is intended to help health professionals and the public understand necrotizing enterocolitis and progress made in research into the disease. It is not a substitute for discussion with those responsible for the care of a baby as every baby is unique. The ultimate judgement regarding a particular clinical procedure or treatment must be made by the clinician in the light of the clinical data presented and the diagnostic or treatment options available. While all reasonable efforts have been made to check the contents of external sites, links are not an endorsement of those sites.
©Dr Minesh Khashu 2019
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Tag: Dish Network
Hollywood Films Awards 2014
Posted on November 16, 2014 November 16, 2014 by sillykhan
People are probably thinking The Hollywood Film Awards was on 17 years ago? Did I missed it? What happened to the Day Time Emmy awards? Was that 17 years ago too? Please don’t put awards show streaming on the internet again. And now Dish Network is dropping channels again? Come on! I need my Big Bang. I meant Big Bang Theory. These shows are meant to be seen on TV not streaming over the internet.
The Hollywood Film Awards is the mandatory stop in winning the Oscar, and the Golden Globes too, but the Hollywood Film Awards is the achievement in filmmaking and acting performance. It started in 1997, by Carlos de Abreu and Janice Pennington. Over the years, it was covered by the entertainment media such as Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood, and other Entertainment media sites. But now, it’s on CBS.
Here are some highlights of what happened if you already missed it.
“Gone Girl” won the evening’s top prizes and Ben Afleck was on hand to accept on behalf of the cast, director and producer. It was based on Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel. And she won for best screenplay adaptation of her book.
“If you’re gonna have one chance for America to see your junk, you want it to be cold,” Affleck quipped. Junk. Cold. What?
Shailene Woodley scored breakout actress honor for “The Fault in Our Stars.” “To do this film really, truly felt like such an honor in my life,” she said.
Jennifer Lopez couldn’t read the teleprompter and a flub her lines for the introduction for the animation award. Instead of saying “How to Train Your Dragon 2” she said “How to Drain Your Dragon”, that will end up on a gag reel or the internet. She giggle when she said it.
Johnny Depp also stumbled over some words while introducing the documentary prize. To his credit, Depp admitted from the start he’s not good at these types of things. Get used to it Johnny Depp.
Kristen Stewart, who was wearing a mesh cropped top that showed off her sexy body, was completely unaware she suffered a wardrobe malfunction as she presented an award to her “Still Alice” co-star, Julianne Moore, according to US Weekly. I was looking closely. I can see through her top.
Most of the winners are contenders to win the Oscars which will be presented on ABC on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 7pm, with your host Neil Patrick Harris.
Here are the winners
Hollywood Film: “Gone Girl”
Hollywood Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Hollywood Blockbuster: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Hollywood Documentary: Mike Myers, “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon”
Hollywood Actress: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Career Achievement: Michael Keaton
Hollywood Animation: “How to Train Your Dragon 2”
Hollywood Comedy Film: Chris Rock, “Top Five”
New Hollywood: Jack O’Connell, “Unbroken”
Hollywood Ensemble: “Foxcatcher” cast
Hollywood Director: Morten Tyldum, “The Imitation Game”
Hollywood Song: Janelle Monae, “What is Love?” from “Rio 2”
Hollywood Screenwriter: Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl”
Hollywood Breakout Performance Actor: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”
Hollywood Breakthrough Director: Jean-Marc Vallee, “Wild”
Hollywood Supporting Actress: Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Hollywood Breakout Performance Actress: Shailene Woodley, “The Fault in Our Stars”
Hollywood Supporting Actor: Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Hollywood Cinematography Award: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”
Hollywood International Award: Jing Tian
Hollywood Visual Effects Award: Scott Farrar, “Transformers: Age of Extinction”
Hollywood Film Composer Award: Alexandre Desplat, “The Imitation Game”
Hollywood Costume Design Award: Milena Canonero, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Hollywood Editing Award: Jay Cassidy and Dody Dorn, “Fury”
Hollywood Production Design Award: Dylan Cole and Gary Freeman, “Maleficent”
Hollywood Sound Award: Ren Klyce, “Gone Girl”
Hollywood Makeup and Hairstyling Award: David White (Special Makeup Effects) and Elizabeth Yanni-Georgiou (Hair Designer and Makeup Designer), “Guardians of the Galaxy”
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hollywood-film-awards-2014-top-moments-and-highlights/
http://www.hollywoodawards.com/
http://www.beautyworldnews.com/articles/14562/20141116/kristen-stewart-goes-commando-2014-hollywood-film-awards-complete-list.htm#ixzz3JDKer8TL
Tagged Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, CBS, Dick Clark Production, Dish Network, Gone Girl, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hollywood Film Awards, Julianne Moore, Michael Keaton, Queen Latifa, Robert Downy Jr, Transformers: Age of extinctionLeave a comment
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FRANCE SURRENDERS: Macron Pummels Le Pen
Written by: Pamela Geller
France has chosen to go quietly into the cold, dark night. Instead of rising up against the jihad and islamization of France, they have chosen to submit to the most brutal ideology on the face of the earth.
They voted for submission over freedom. France is finished.
Emmanuel Macron, 39, becomes France’s youngest president after a crushing 31-point victory over Marine Le Pen: Outsider without a party will move into the Elysee Palace with his wife Brigitte, 64
The latest exit polls suggest that former Emmanuel Macron is to become France’s new president aged just 39
According to the exit polls, the former banker has won 65.5 per cent of the vote and has beaten Marine Le Pen
Le Pen revealed this evening that she has phoned Macron to congratulate him on his election win on Sunday
Voters in the country were under the watch of 50,000 security forces, guarding against a potential attack
By Nick Fagge and Peter Allen In Paris for MailOnline and Rachael Burford and Abe Hawken For Mailonline, 7 May 2017:
The passionately pro-EU politician Emmanuel Macron was tonight elected as France’s youngest ever president with a projected landslide of 65.5 per cent.
Macron, 39, beat far-right National Front (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen, 48, in an election that will have widespread repercussions for the future of Europe.
An official preliminary result released at 8pm local time showed the 65.5 per cent vote for Mr Macron, meaning a clear victory over Le Pen, on 34.5 per cent.
Just 15 minutes after the exit polls were announced, Le Pen revealed she phoned Macron to ‘congratulate’ him on his election victory.
She had hoped that the surprise election of populist firebrand Donald Trump in America, and the Brexit result in the UK, would favour her hardline opposition to the EU, globalisation and immigration.
But instead it was Macron who was preparing for a victory celebration in front of crowds of supporters outside the Louvre in central Paris.
Emmanuel Macron, 39, and his wife Brigitte, 64, were mobbed by fans as they went to vote at the polling station in Le Touquet this morning. Exit polls suggest he has won the election with 65.5 per cent of the vote
Emmanuel Macron waved to supporters as he left his home in Le Touquet flanked by bodyguards to go and vote this morning
Macron supporters had gathered at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris to celebrate the exit polls which showed he had won 65.5 per cent of the vote
Supporters of French independent centrist presidential candidate, Emmanuel Macron, reacted outside his campaign headquarters in Paris on Sunday
A woman reacted with jubilation as the exit polls indicated that Macron had won 65.5 per cent of the vote in the tense election
According to the latest polls, 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron will become the country’s youngest president of all time, erasing Louis Napoleon Bonaparte’s record
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen reaveled this evening that she has phoned Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him
Brigitte Macron (pictured) was her husband’s former schoolteacher and blew a kiss to supporters during the tense vote on Sunday
They were already flocking on to esplanade in front of the most popular museum in the world when the results were announced, waving red-white-and-blue French flags and chanting ‘Macron, President!’
British Prime Minister Theresa May ‘warmly congratulated’ Macron on his victory in the French presidential race and said ‘we look forward to working with the new president on a wide range of shared priorities’, Downing Street said.
Mrs May’s message comes after Macron described Britain’s exit from the EU as ‘a crime’, and revealed he favours a so called ‘Hard Brexit’ which will see the UK excluded from Europe’s single market.
Despite this he and his wife, Brigitte, 64, have admitted that they have strong personal links with Britain, and often holiday in cities such as London and Bristol.
Mrs Macron – her husband’s former schoolteacher in the northern French town of Amiens – said at the weekend: ‘We both absolutely love Britain, and make sure we visit every year – this won’t change.’
Mrs Macron, who has three grown-up children from a first marriage, will now become first lady of France when the couple move into the Elysee Palace following an inauguration ceremony later this month.
Participation in the election by by 7pm was 74 per cent, a relatively low turnout compared to previous elections.
The Macrons today voted in the town hall in Le Touquet, on the English Channelcoast, where they share a beachside home with their Argentine Mastiff dog, Figaro.
Le Pen meanwhile voted in Henin-Beaumont, the former coalmining town just 75 miles from Le Touquet.
She is massively in favour of Brexit, and wants France to follow suit with its own Frexit vote – one that would almost certainly lead to the collapse of the whole European project.
Le Pen has continually failed to win a parliamentary seat in Henin-Beaumont – where she shares a flat with her partner, Louis Aliot – and this is her second failed presidential election campaign.
Tonight the couple were attending an FN party at a functions chalet in Vincennes – the eastern Paris suburb where King Henry Vof England died in 1422.
Le Pen had been continually trailing Mr Macron in opinion polls since the pair beat off competition from nine other candidates and made it through the first round of voting two weeks ago.
Article reposted with permission from PamelaGeller.com
Pamela Geller’s commitment to freedom from jihad and Shariah shines forth in her books
Former Reagan Administration Official Is Warning Of A Financial Collapse Some Time ‘Between August And November’ Next Post:
Former Obama DHS Official On ISIS Slaughtering Egyptian Christians: ‘What Goes Around, Comes Around’
About the Author: Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller is the founder, editor and publisher of PamelaGeller.com and President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamization of America (SIOA). She is the author of The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America, (foreword by Ambassador John Bolton), (Simon & Schuster). Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. She is also a regular columnist for World Net Daily, the American Thinker, and other publications. Follow her on Facebook & Twitter
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Almas named assistant vice provost, director of admissions at Washington University
Emily Almas, associate dean and director of recruitment at Swarthmore College, has been appointed assistant vice provost and director of admissions at Washington University in St. Louis, announced Ronné Turner, vice provost for admissions and financial aid.
By Susan Killenberg McGinn July 18, 2019 July 18, 2019
Two students in John Inazu’s first-year “Criminal Law” class embodied the lessons taught during the class about theories of punishment, questions of whether criminal justice can remedy injustice and issues of equity in sentencing.
By Neil Schoenherr July 12, 2019 July 12, 2019
The View From Here 7.9.19
Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.
Washington University provost search moves forward
Washington University will begin a national search this summer for its next provost. Marion Crain, who holds a dual appointment as vice provost and the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law, will serve as interim provost during the transition.
By Julie Hail Flory July 8, 2019 July 11, 2019
From illegal dump to dream home
Anne Peterson, of Olin Business School, tapped into the Live Near Your Work employee housing assistance program to rehab an abandoned home in St. Louis’ West End neighborhood. The result was so impressive the Landmarks Association of St. Louis gave Peterson an award for historic rehabilitation. This year, the popular program’s budget expands to $300,000.
By Diane Toroian Keaggy July 8, 2019 July 8, 2019
Obituary: Dylan Wallace, 2019 Arts & Sciences graduate, 22
Dylan Wallace, a 2019 graduate who studied environmental earth science and anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died in an accidental drowning in his hometown of Chicago on Friday, June 28, 2019. He was 22.
By Diane Toroian Keaggy July 3, 2019
Board of Trustees grants faculty appointments, promotions
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting May 3, several faculty members were appointed or promoted with tenure, with most effective July 1.
Theater production explores wonders of human brain
Two nationally renowned neurosurgeons at the School of Medicine will present BrainWorks, a live theatrical performance that explores the wonders of the human brain by dramatizing real-life neurological cases. The performance, comprised of four one-act plays, will debut July 19-21.
Obituary: George Broze, professor of medicine, 72
George J. Broze Jr., MD, a well-known leader in the field of hematology and a professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died of a heart attack June 19, 2019, at his home in St. Louis County. He was 72.
The View From Here 6.26.19
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HomeNewsNewsTimingTennisGlobal
Rolex extends commitment to Davis Cup
Swiss watchmaker Rolex has today (Monday) extended its sponsorship of the Davis Cup national team tennis tournament.
Terms of the deal with the International Tennis Federation and Kosmos Tennis, the ITF’s commercial partner in the revamp of the competition, were not disclosed but Rolex will continue as the Official Timekeeper of the Davis Cup Qualifiers and Finals.
The Rolex brand was visible throughout the Davis Cup Qualifiers played in 12 different countries around the world at the weekend.
“This is an exciting time for all of us and we look forward to working closely with Rolex to grow our partnership across all markets and reaching new audiences in order to have a bigger impact with the competition,” Javier Alonso, chief executive of Kosmos Tennis, said.
Following the Qualifiers, the final line-up for the Davis Cup Finals is now complete with the 12 winning nations joining the six nations already qualified.
The 18 teams set to compete at La Caja Mágica in Madrid from November 18-24 are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Spain and the United States.
The sponsorship deal will be seen as a vote of confidence in the ITF’s revamp of the Davis Cup. In August last year, the 210 International Tennis Federation member nations approved a 25-year partnership with Kosmos Tennis, under which the two entities will jointly operate the competition and Kosmos will manage its commercial rights.
Under the terms of the deal, the Davis Cup will be streamlined in a bid to make it more attractive to elite players although the 118-year-old event faces opposition from the newly-launched ATP World Team Cup, which launches in January 2020, just six weeks after the first of the revamped Davis Cup finals.
The deal also highlights the brand’s dominance of top-level tennis sponsorship in the timing sector.
Last November, Rolex completed the clean sweep of all four tennis Grand Slams when it was named as the timing partner of the French Open.
In a multi-year deal starting in 2019, Rolex took over from rival luxury watch brand Longines, which quit the position after an 11-year association with Roland-Garros.
The Premium Partner deal built on Rolex’s long-standing partnerships with Wimbledon and the Australian Open, and the more recent deal with the US Open, where Rolex took over from Japanese brand Citizen in 2018.
Read this: Kosmos’ Davis Cup shake-up aimed at reviving ‘commercially undervalued’ competition
Kosmos Tennis
Porsche extends backing of WTA
Rolex times it right with Davis Cup extension
Swiss watch manufacturer Rolex has struck a deal with the International Tennis Federation to continue its sponsorship of the global governing body's Davis Cup men’s national team competition.
Rolex extends backing of Australian Open
Swiss watchmaker Rolex has renewed its sponsorship of the Australian Open grand slam tennis tournament.
Rakuten takes over as title partner of Davis Cup
Japanese e-commerce platform Rakuten has signed as the new title partner of the Davis Cup – tennis’s biggest international team competition.
Rolex steps up as Paris Masters title sponsor
Swiss watchmaker Rolex has been named as the new title sponsor of men's ATP World Tour tennis event the Paris Masters.
Sponsorship trends in Grand Slam tennis
SportBusiness Sponsorship presents extensive research into partnerships at the four tennis Grand Slams – Wimbledon, Roland-Garros, the US Open and the Australian Open.
IHG made ‘aggressive’ move to win US Open hotel category rights
The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) acquired Official Sponsor rights to the US Open tennis championship in a five-year deal with the United States Tennis Association.
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‘Deadly Serious’: Near-Misses Between US, Russian Ships No Accident, and No Joke
© AFP 2019 / CHRISTOPHER J KRUCKE
Provocations between US and Russians warships, similar to the incident that occurred Friday in the East China Sea, are extremely dangerous but all too common ‒ and any one could lead to disaster, Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst, told Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear.
On Friday, the US Navy released a video of the near-collision between Russian destroyer Admiral Vinogradov and US Navy cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the East China Sea. The Russian Pacific Fleet responded with a statement that the US ship had suddenly changed course and crossed the path of the Russian destroyer “just 50 meters away from the ship.” The US Seventh Fleet denied Russia’s version of events, blaming the Russian vessel for nearly causing a collision.
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) June 7, 2019
"While USS Chancellorsville was recovering its helicopter on a steady course and speed when the Russian ship DD572 maneuvered from behind and to the right of Chancellorsville accelerated and closed to an unsafe distance of approximately 50-100 feet. This unsafe action forced USS Chancellorsville to execute all engines back full and to maneuver to avoid collision,” the Seventh Fleet’s statement reads.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/radiosputnik/us-and-russian-warships-nearly-collide-a
Sleboda explained to host Brian Becker that “the US is regularly doing naval parades in the East China Sea and the South China Sea in what they refer to as freedom of navigation exercises.”
© Flickr/ U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erwin Jacob Villavicencio Miciano
China Denounces US Freedom of Navigation Talk as ‘Pretext to Provocative Moves’
Freedom of navigation is codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea among articles that define the rights and responsibilities of nations regarding the use of the world’s oceans and marine natural resources. The convention has been in effect since 1994 and currently has more than 165 participating countries. According to the US State Department, it has been “US policy since 1983 that the US will exercise and assert its navigation and overflight rights and freedoms on a worldwide basis in a manner that is consistent with the balance of interests reflected in the Law of the Sea convention.”
“And we see here, such exercises can have nearly disastrous results,” Sleboda told Sputnik. “There’s a 45-second video released by the US Navy of the incident, and it basically looks like the Russian and US navies are playing chicken with each other in the East China Sea, both blaming each other. Unless they are doing a supply exchange between two ships, there is absolutely no reason for two warships to be so close to each other that a collision is a real possibility. And this follows another incident, just a few days ago, in Syria.”
According to the US Sixth Fleet, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft off the coast of Syria was intercepted three times by a Russian Su-35 jet fighter Tuesday. However, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, its aircraft stayed a safe distance from the US plane, which it claims had been approaching Russia’s Tartus naval facility on the Syrian coast, Reuters reported.
© REUTERS / Ivan Alvarado
US Views Russian Military Planes Arrival in Venezuela as 'Provocation' - Pence
“This is a deadly serious security matter,” Sleboda told Sputnik, also noting that such provocations between the two countries have frequently occurred not just off the coast of Syria, but also in the Baltics in the Black Sea, the East China China and the South China Sea.
“It’s provoking. Intercepts of Russian planes by US and US planes by the Russians — these usually involve spy planes, military exercises. As far as we can tell, neither ship [in the Friday incident] was engaged in any kind of military exercise that might explain it. This was simply the two ships having some kind of macho contest supposedly with the permission of higher up military, if not political leaders, in both countries. As always, with all such incidents, whether we are talking about air or at sea, there is always a room for accidents, unexplained things happening. And what happens, inevitably, if they continue increasing, escalating the way they are in terms of frequency and scope, US or Russian forces on either side die as a result and the other country is responsible. Where does that bring us with the two largest nuclear armed powers on the planet? It’s not a good situation,” Sleboda said.
The accident reflects a deterioration in US Navy training, he suggested.
© REUTERS/ Defence Ministry/News1 via REUTERS
Seoul: Pyongyang’s Spy Drone a ‘Clear Military Provocation’
“First of all, this incident happening in broad daylight with two ships from opposite countries — this is not an accident. This was a deliberate provocation by one side or the other or even both. The US Navy in … recent years has a repeated history of collisions … which really reflect a broader erosion of US training and discipline as the US military is basically facing imperial overstretch of being deployed in far too many places, with over 1,000 military bases scattered around the world, far too many forces spread too thin, doing too much … That is exactly why such incidences should be avoided whatever the game of geopolitical brinkmanship. Such military provocations can only lead to disaster,” Sleboda explained.
“For a couple of years now, at least every month, if not every two weeks, we are having an intercept of one country’s military forces or the other’s in the Black Sea and off the coast of Syria. These confrontational Cold War revived instances are extremely common now,” Sleboda noted.
Russia Warns Potential US Military Surge in Mideast to Create New Risks
US Military, Lawmakers Say Communication with Russia Needed to Avert Nuclear War
Venezuela Slams US Threats Against Russia, Reminds of Pentagon Military Activity
Scholar Suggests Russia's S-400 Could Spark US-Turkey Political, Military Crises
US Can 'Overextend, Destabilise' Russia Via Non-Military Domains – Think Tank
East China Sea, warship, military, Russia, United States
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College Sports K-State to Host Operation Santa Claus at Upcoming Basketball Games
K-State to Host Operation Santa Claus at Upcoming Basketball Games
Courtesy of K-State Sports Information
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State athletics department will accept toy donations for Fort Riley’s Operation Santa Claus at a pair of upcoming basketball games. Fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys or gift cards to the men’s basketball game vs. Georgia State at 7 p.m., this Saturday, December 15 or prior to the women’s basketball game vs. Central Arkansas at 7 p.m., Thursday, December 20.
In exchange for the toy donation, fans will be able purchase a single-game ticket for just $5 to the men’s game or a $3 ticket to the women’s game.
Celebrating its 34th year, Fort Riley’s Operation Santa Claus helps service members and their families provide gifts to their children during the holiday season. All donations will go towards a Fort Riley Soldier, especially to families under financial constraints and families of deployed, fallen, or injured Soldiers.
“It helps brighten the holiday season for Soldiers and their families,” said Sgt. 1st Class Bryan Ferguson, head elf for Operation Santa Claus. “Everybody has an upbeat attitude about it, so it’s just a great program.”
Donations of new, unwrapped toys valued in the $15 – $20 price range for children ages birth to 18 years are being accepted.
K-State is also offering a $20 Get-a-Bear/Give-a-Bear ticket package for the Dec. 20 women’s game. The package includes a general admission ticket and the opportunity to make two stuffed bears, one to keep and one to donate in the Teddy Bear Toss for Operation Santa Claus.
Fans have several other opportunities to take advantage of ticket offers during the holidays.
A Holiday Mini Plan is available for $25 and includes a general admission ticket to both the men’s game vs. George Mason and the women’s game vs. Northern Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 29, along with the men’s Big 12 home opener against Texas on Wednesday, Jan. 2. All three games are included in the mini plan for just $25 per package. In addition, several Bramlage Bundles are available for upcoming home men’s games. The package includes a bench/general admission ticket, a $10 concessions voucher and a souvenir from the K-State Super Store.
These ticket options can be purchased through the Athletics Ticket Office by calling toll free at (800) 221-CATS (2287), by logging in online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets and in-person at Bramlage Coliseum.
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Kansas To Face Chaminade in 2019 Maui Invitational Opening Game
Shockers Add Jan. 4 Home Date with Ole Miss
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AARP AARP States Montana Volunteering
Know an extraordinary volunteer age 50 or older?
By Stacia Dahl , June 06, 2019 06:30 PM
AARP Montana is seeking nominations for its 2019 Andrus Award for Community Service, which honors Montanans who volunteer their experience, talent and skills to enrich the lives of others. Although AARP membership is not a requirement, nominees must be 50 or older and their accomplishments or service must have been performed on a volunteer basis and reflect AARP's commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all as we age.
The 2019 Montana Andrus award recognizes inspiring individuals who are making a positive difference in the lives of others, improving their community and encouraging others to volunteer.
Montanans are known for their service to their communities. According to the latest statistics from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Montana ranks twelfth in the nation for volunteerism – nearly 32% of Montanans volunteer their time each year. With an average of 36.2 volunteer hours per capita, Montanans donated a total of 29.54 million hours of service, and the total estimated value of those millions of hours of service across Montana is $697 million per year.
The Andrus Award is AARP’s highest honor, given to an individual who embodies the principles of AARP’s founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus. While her name does not carry the instant recognition that the organization she founded does, Dr. Andrus believed in the pple to do extraordinary things.
Nominations will be evaluated by AARP Montana based on how the volunteer’s work has improved the community, supported AARP’s vision and mission, and inspired other volunteers. The award recipient will be announced in the fall.
“In addition to individuals, we are asking community partners to nominate strong volunteer candidates, age 50 plus, who are making a difference in their communities, “ said AARP Montana State Director, Tim Summers. “If your candidate is selected, AARP Montana will donate $1,000 to the nominating non-profit organization.”
The deadline for nominations for the Andrus Award has been extended to August 30, 2019. For criteria and nomination forms, go to www.aarp.org/andrusaward
Andrus Award 2019aarp montanavolunteering
About AARP Montana
Search AARP Montana
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STEVE’S GEAR
HYSTERIA TOUR
PYROMANIA TOUR
EARLY YEARS + HIGH ‘N’ DRY TOUR
HAMER GUITARS
STEVE’S GUITAR PICKS
GIBSON ‘DIRTY FINGERS’ PICKUP
MORE STEVE
ALL ABOUT STEVE
ROCK ‘TILL YOU DROP TOUR ’83 PROGRAMME
STEAMIN’ SOLOS
You are here: Home / BIOGRAPHY
STEVE’S BIOGRAPHY
Steve Clark was born in the northern part of Sheffield known as Hillsborough on Saturday 23rd April 1960 and grew up there. He had two younger brothers named Kevin and Chris.
Steve became interested in music at a very young age and his mother took him to Sheffield City Hall to see Cliff Richard and The Shadows at the tender age of six. “I thought it was great; it took my breath away.” Steve recalled. “It was about a 3,000 seater, and I didn’t exactly understand what was happening. But I was quite blown away.”
When Steve was eleven he got his first guitar from his parents on the condition that he took lessons to learn to play it properly. And so Steve undertook the lessons and spent every spare moment of his time playing guitar and practicing. He studied classical guitar for a year, one of the most disciplined and skilled areas of guitar.
Then when Steve was about fourteen he heard the coolest guitar sound on the radio. “I used to listen to the radio, watch TV and hear groups all the time, and I knew that I wanted to make music, but I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of music – until I heard Jimmy Page.” remembered Steve. “I heard the first Led Zeppelin album at a friend’s house… and that was it! I had to have an electric. That was what I wanted to do. It all just dawned on me straight away.”
With the classical training Steve had studied, this helped him to pick up songs by ear and after he had heard the Led Zeppelin album his playing style changed towards the Zeppelinesque. Steve would learn these songs until he could play them all note for note and soon formed his first band, which was believed to have been called Electric Chicken.
Steve finished school and got a job as a lathe operator and a four-year apprenticeship at a factory in Sheffield with G.E.C. Traction, and out of working hours he spent his time playing his guitar. “I had this old guitar that my dad gave me. That was my favourite thing”. He remembered.
Later, while at Stannington College one day which he attend as part of his apprenticeship training he got talking to another young lad around his age about guitars as it turned out that they both played, and the boy, named Pete Willis, explained to Steve about his new band and that they were considering adding a second guitarist so he invited Steve to come to a rehearsal. However, Steve never showed up. Shortly after, he bumped into Pete again at a Judas Priest concert. Pete was there with Joe Elliott, the singer in his band. Pete once again offered Steve an invitation to come for a rehearsal and this time Steve fulfilled his promise.
Pete and his band mates Joe Elliott (vocals), Rick Savage (bass) and Tony Kenning – who would later be replaced by Rick Allen – (drums) had called their band Def Leppard and were rehearsing in an old spoon factory building on Bramall Lane. Steve turned up at the spoon factory on January 29th 1978 and wasn’t overly impressed with the “real grotty shithole” that was their rehearsal room. They started out playing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic, Freebird, and Steve proceeded to dazzle the others with his ability not only to play the entire song itself but also the lengthy solo at the end as well note for note. It was at that moment that Steve became the second guitarist that Def Leppard was seeking, completing the full 5-member line-up. Steve was impressed that Def Leppard was a band that wrote their own songs because all the previous bands he had been with had never even attempted to write their own material before.
It wasn’t long before the other four Leppard’s realised how invaluable Steve had become to their band.
In the first six months that Steve had been with the band over half of the songs that would appear on the band’s independent E.P. and debut album On Through the Night had been written.
Steve had a terrific talent for writing music and progress began to pick up some momentum. However by June of 1978 Steve was becoming extremely frustrated with rehearsing all the lack of live action. He wanted to get out there and play on stage in front of an audience. He had threatened to quit – quite a few times – if they weren’t going to do a gig soon. And on one particular evening Steve issued a serious threat to Joe that if they didn’t do a gig shortly then he was off to find another band.
This time Joe panicked, because he and the other members knew that if Steve left Def Leppard then that would be the end of the band. So Joe started talking to some people to arrange their first gig, which would be at Westfield School.
The gig went quite well and they earned the princely sum of £5. After that first gig, Def Leppard began to play a few more gigs until they were playing a number of pubs and clubs all around Sheffield and the country. And Def Leppard wanted to be noticed, so they scraped some money together (with the help of Joe’s dad) to record their E.P.
The band managed to get airplay on BBC Radio 1 and it wasn’t too long before people in the industry were asking about this young group. A deal with a record company and management soon followed. Their E.P. had sold out of its two (at this point) different pressings and things were going from strength to strength. The fact that Steve and his band mates took their music career so seriously paid off in the end. They had strict routines for rehearsals and only after the rehearsing would they go for a drink.
The next big things in Def Leppards early career were a debut album On Through The Night and touring with some rock giants such as AC/DC, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne & others after they had changed to new management.
Def Leppard got their first taste of being a band on the road and it was a taste that they liked! Next up was their second album High ‘n’ Dry for which they had managed to employ the talents of producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. And the Leppard’s were about to find out just how hard it was to make a good record. Once High ‘n’ Dry was released the band toured again around the world.
Unfortunately for the band, Pete Willis was beginning to cause a few problems. He was becoming increasingly dependent on alcohol and on numerous occasions he had to be practically carried off stage after gigs. He apparently suffered from stage fright at times and was in general a pretty shy guy and the fact that he was not the tallest person didn’t help his confidence, but relationships within the band were becoming strained.
During the High ‘n’ Dry tour Steve and Pete didn’t always get on too well while rooming together which caused more friction. During live performances Pete would walk off to the side of the stage to have a drink, leaving all the guitar duties up to Steve.
During the recording of their third album Pyromania in 1982, Pete Willis was fired. He’d been given warning after warning but Pete’s condition was getting worse. He even turned up to the studio one morning very drunk and couldn’t play his guitar. So the band all got together, called a meeting and fired him, which was not an easy decision, given the fact that Pete was one of the founding members of the band. But it was something that needed to be done.
Phil Collen, a Londoner, was brought in to help out in the studio as the band and Phil had met before and they knew each other. Phil turned out to be a breath of fresh air and immediately helped to lift the mood in the band camp. He brought a different dimension to the band and Steve got on very well with Phil. Phil was good for Steve. The other band members had said that Pete had been a bad influence on Steve at times, as he [Steve] tended to drink heavily a lot as well. Phil had brought Steve out of his shell and was a much better influence on Steve. The two guitarists became very close and did everything together.
Phil had to learn the guitar parts for the new songs that were going to feature on Pyromania. And he was a very good guitarist. Phil and Steve’s styles were so different that they complimented each other beautifully on the tracks. They managed to have the two guitarists play their individual parts on songs so that they intertwined with each other and the music flowed harmoniously and the lead and rhythm parts blended together almost as one. This helped to create the new unique Def Leppard sound.
When Pyromania was released it sold by the truck load, shifting 6 million albums off the shelves in America alone! This was the album that put Def Leppard into the Superstar bracket!
Pyromania spent something like 72 weeks non-stop in the US charts. The only record that prevented it from clinching the number one slot on the chart was Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Steve was now, at the young age of just 23, in a big, successful, hard rock band, headlining huge arenas, playing to sell-out crowds and had an army of female fans after his blood. This was like a dream come true and success beyond Steve’s expectations. The hard work and scraping together in the early days of the spoon factory had paid off making them very wealthy young lads. And Def Leppard, at the time, were the Rock Kings of America. Their success was growing in other countries too, but the USA was where they hit the big time first.
The Pyromania tour was a blast for Def Leppard, hugely successful. Steve and Phil also had the honour of being dubbed “The Terror Twins” by one of the band’s roadies. This was due to their pranks and nonsense that they would create together – usually under an alcoholic haze. Phil and Steve were practically inseparable during this tour. They would always get drunk together and end up doing something completely stupid or get into some sort of trouble, eg: bar brawl.
However, Phil received his wake up call one day, after he had discovered that he had spent thousands of pounds on a jewellery store’s most expensive Rolex watch while drunk with no recollection of the purchase. Steve had also bought an expensive watch and an earring that day. After that incident Phil Collen gave up drinking for three months solid and eventually kicked the booze completely. But Steve carried on drinking.
Steve Clark was a lovely, gentle man. He was quite shy and didn’t always enjoy being in the media spotlight. He liked to keep himself to himself. He was down-to-earth, intelligent and unlike the stereotypical rock star, he was a gentleman and a well-spoken, well brought up young man. And he was a real fun guy too with his crazy sense of humour.
But Steve had something going on deep inside him that seemed to trouble him and had done so for most of his life. It seemed that he held a deep sadness and/or insecurity and was constantly battling against some inner demons all the time.
Steve was happiest when he was live on stage with his guitar slung perpetually around his knees. This was when he felt complete or whole. When he was not on tour or had no routine to stick to he found life hard at times. Studio work was tedious and with his private problems to deal with amidst the pressures of his new-found success, he felt that his only release from his troubles was to drink.
Steve met a young lady in 1984 through band manager Peter Mensch. Her name was Lorelei and she was a model for some big names and spent a lot of her own life living out of a suitcase. They became very close, fell in love and were together for a number of years. Steve and Lorelei got engaged but never married.
The band was put through another test when drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm in a car crash. This in turn only brought more strength to the band as a unit and Rick incredibly pulled through to get back to playing the drums again within six months of his accident. He learned to use his left foot where he’d previously used his left arm.
The band entered the studio again with the tough task of making a record to top Pyromania. With Mutt Lange not readily available at the time, the band went to work in the studio with Jim Steinman as producer. But things did not work out at all with Jim so he was shown the door and the work they had done with him was subsequently scrapped. Steve and co. started again from scratch and when Mutt was finally available he joined up with the band for the project.
Def Leppard were asked if they would like to take part in the Live Aid concert for Africa in 1985 by Bob Geldof, but at the time they had to decline due to Rick’s accident. They had also been scheduled in to appear on the bill for the first ever Rock In Rio festival in Brazil the same year, but for the same reasons were unable to do the gig. It was just a little bit too soon. But in 1986 they were listed as one of the bands to appear at the Monster’s Of Rock festival in Europe. This was a welcome break from the grind of the studio and was also the time for Rick to make his comeback on stage after his accident. And Rick did it in style. And he received an enormous welcome and appreciation from the crowd in Donnington Park, England. It was an emotional time for Rick and the band.
As Hysteria, their fourth album had taken around four years to complete, due to numerous mishaps, delays and setbacks the world had almost forgotten who Def Leppard were. And during the time Def Leppard had taken to create this album, they had managed to get into serious financial debt. This album had to sell at least four million copies for them to break even. And given the success of Pyromania and the amount of time that Def Leppard had been out of the limelight, this would prove to be a formidable task.
Hysteria was released in August of 1987. The first US single released was Women and it didn’t fare too well. Animal was the first single in the UK and this track was much more of a success doing well on both sides of the Atlantic. It soared into the UK top 10 and Def Leppard embarked on their 17 month-long Hysteria World Tour. But sales were a bit slow. Hysteria had been released for almost a year before it suddenly took off. When Pour Some Sugar On Me was released as a single it rocketed to the top of the American charts and the album sales soared. Not just in America, but all over the world.
Thanks to “Sugar”s release this sparked off the “hysteria” about Hysteria and the album went on to sell over 12,000,000 copies worldwide within the next two years. Steve and Def Leppard did more than break even. The Hysteria tour was a major success and again tickets for gigs were sold out everywhere. Def Leppard had finally achieved major success in their own country as well as abroad and would go down in the history books as the biggest Hard Rock band of the 1980s.
Towards the end of the 80s, however, Steve’s drinking worsened. He had entered various rehabilitation clinics. One night in Minneapolis Steve was found unconscious with a blood/alcohol level of .59, which is almost double the amount that had killed John Bonham. But Steve had cheated death on this occasion.
His insecurities and his inner demons were getting the better of him. He tried to fight it for so long, but it seemed nothing could save him from himself and his personal issues. By 1990, when Steve was not coping too well at all, the band agreed to give him a six month leave of absence to go home and live a normal life for a while and to try to get himself better.
Steve’s relationship with Lorelei had deteriorated and he had met another girl in a rehab centre named Janie. They got together and lived together in Steve’s home that he’d bought himself in London’s posh Chelsea area. Sadly Steve continued drinking and self-medicating. The sadness and inner pain he carried just ate away at him.
Lorelei had once said about Steve that all he ever wanted was a pat on the back from his dad and to hear him say “Well done son”. Whether this is something that played on the guitarist’s mind regularly is something that only Steve himself can confirm.
On January 8th 1991 Steve was found dead in his Chelsea home by Janie. The official cause of his death was respiratory failure due to a compression of the brain stem caused by a mixture of alcohol, painkillers and anti – depressants.
Speaking for myself, this news rocked me to the core and I’ve actually never felt such a loss in all my life, because of what Steve Clark meant to me and still means to me to this day. This young talented musician turned international superstar was a colossal loss to the music world.
It signalled the end of Def Leppard for me personally too. I was deeply saddened and heartbroken. Steve Clark was a special man and a special part of my life. His music brought so much joy to my life and as a person he was a truly wonderful man. When Steve Clark passed away, he took my heart with him. My life has never been the same since.
Steve – you are loved so much,
Rest In Peace Angel Eyes.
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STEVE’S BIRTHDAY – 23RD APRIL22/04/2019 - 18:47
STEVE CLARK’S EPIC GODS OF WAR INTRO TUTORIAL – PART 203/02/2019 - 13:56
STEVE CLARK’S EPIC GODS OF WAR INTRO TUTORIAL VIDEO19/01/2019 - 11:00
LOVELY WORDS & PHOTO IN MEMORY OF STEVE BY FORMER FIANCEE08/01/2019 - 20:34
KAISAS RELEASE NEW SONG IN HONOUR OF STEVE08/01/2019 - 20:13
STEVE CLARK GUITAR SHOP
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Miranda Lambert to Open New Store, Pink Pistol, in Oklahoma
Rick Diamond, Getty Images
Miranda Lambert juggles many roles -- singer, songwriter, entertainer, reigning three-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year -- and now she can add business owner to the list. Lambert will open her first store, Pink Pistol, in Tishomingo, Okla. on Friday, Nov. 23.
The Boot reports that the operation will include an array of items to catch a customer's fancy. "It's antiques, gifts, boots, jeans and pretty much everything you can imagine," says Lambert, though she adds that her favorite decor item is a glittering pink bicycle that hangs from the ceiling. "I'm really 12 at heart," she says.
The singer chose a perfect opening day for the business, as Friday, Nov. 23 is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Although the singer plans to add her own spin to the traditional Black Friday. "We're having the Grand Opening the day after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday, only we're calling it Pink Friday."
"We're going to make it a tradition to turn the block pink every year at that time."
For locals in Tishomingo, the store is located at 214 West Main St.
While the 'Over You' singer-songwriter is owner of the business, there's no telling how often she might be able to visit the store. After all, she's slated to kick off her Locked & Reloaded tour with '5-1-5-0" singer Dierks Bentley on Jan. 17, 2013.
See Miranda Lambert's Yearbook Photo
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AT&T launches the TerreStar Genus hybrid satellite phone for $799
Cast your mind back… back to this time last year. Surely, the first thing you thought of was the announcement from AT&T regarding the TerreStar Genus — that WinMo-6.5-powered satellite phone that will use AT&T’s GSM/HSPA network when available, and satellites when not.
Yes, I remember those days.
While a little later than promised, AT&T today announced that this thing of dreams and magic is available for business and government types for $799.
Now, as you probably guessed, the satellite charges don’t come cheap: you’re looking at an additional $25 per month, plus 65 cents per minute, 40 cents per message, and $5 per megabyte. Lucky you don’t have to pay for it though, right?
But even at those prices, don’t expect this to be a world-roamer, as the satellite connectivity is only available in line-of-sight areas within the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and their territorial waters. The good news, at least, is that you only need one number for both services.
Full PR, below.
TerreStar Genus™ Dual-Mode Cellular/Satellite Smartphone Now Available from AT&T
AT&T’s Satellite Augmented Mobile Service Provides Satellite Wireless Voice and Data Communications for Business and Government Customers
Dallas, Texas, September 21, 2010
For many people it’s crucial to stay connected wherever life takes them. Thanks to a new offer from AT&T*, it’s now easier and more convenient than ever before to have mobile coverage in remote locations or when the cellular network is unavailable.
AT&T’s new Satellite Augmented Mobile Service with the TerreStar™ GENUS™ dual-mode cellular/satellite smartphone is now available for enterprise, government and small business customers. Intended to be used primarily as an everyday mobile device, the TerreStar GENUS smartphone is an innovative dual-mode device with cellular wireless capability as the primary default mode and satellite access capability as a secondary option for voice, data and messaging.
The access to the TerreStar™ satellite network enables wireless communications coverage in remote areas for government, energy, utility, transportation and maritime users, as well as backup satellite communications capabilities for public safety agencies, first responders and disaster recovery groups.
With just one phone number and one smartphone device, users with a line of sight to the satellite will have access to expanded voice and data roaming coverage in the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and in territorial waters. The TerreStar GENUS runs on the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system to provide rich features and functionality, including a touch screen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, camera and GPS.
According to an AT&T Business Continuity Study1 conducted earlier this year, businesses are stepping up their technology investment and efforts in disaster planning and business continuity programs despite the economy; and mobile devices are increasingly part of business continuity plans.
“We understand the importance to stay connected in remote locations and especially in emergency situations, and today’s announcement is the latest example of AT&T’s commitment to delivering the highest levels of service, quality and reliability for customers,” said Michael Antieri, President, Advanced Enterprise Mobility Solutions, AT&T Business Solutions. “With this expansion of AT&T’s innovative mobility portfolio, AT&T is helping businesses and government agencies stay connected with a single device, single support contact and single bill.”
“With advancements in satellite technology, satellite-based communications is poised to be the next standard in everyday mobile devices,” said Jeffrey Epstein, President and Chief Executive Officer of TerreStar. “We are pleased to work with AT&T to bring powerful integrated satellite-cellular solutions to market, providing customers with critical communication capabilities and a great mobile experience.”
The AT&T Satellite Augmented Mobile Service and the TerreStar GENUS is available today to enterprise, government and small business Corporate Responsibility Users. The service requires standard AT&T cellular voice and smartphone data rate plans, as well as a monthly satellite subscription feature. Usage of the satellite network for voice, data and messaging is not included in the monthly feature charge and is billed as per-minute, per-message or per-megabyte roaming charges on a customer’s AT&T Mobility service invoice.
Enterprise, government and small business users should contact their AT&T sales representative for information on availability and ordering.
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Sources: Microsoft And Barnes & Noble To Announce Tablet With Xbox Live Streaming Tomorrow
Peter Ha 7 years
There’s a ton of speculation around what Microsoft will be announcing on Monday in Los Angeles. Both the Wrap and ATD claim the event will showcase a Microsoft built Windows RT/Windows 8 tablet. According to folks with knowledge of the situation, they’re somewhat right but mostly wrong. We’re being told that a tablet/e-reader built in conjunction with Barnes & Noble is on tap and that it will be entertainment driven.
Before we get to that, let’s go over the brief chain of events starting with timing and location. Invites for the event went out on Thursday with zero flair and zero info causing some ire amongst the press. (At least Apple has the courtesy to give us a weeks notice.) And they expect us to show up in LA four days later? I don’t think so.
The majority of Microsoft’s “major” press conferences the last few years have come with specific product group (Xbox, Windows Phone, Windows, etc.) branding. This invite was plain text.
If it were a Windows 8/RT tablet announcement, it wouldn’t be made in LA and it wouldn’t be made this early. That type of announcement screams developer conference. (Don’t get me wrong. Windows 8 and everything it entails will be huge for Microsoft but don’t expect anything this early.) Imagine the blowback from the press about such a stale and boring preview anyway? Again, why would that happen in LA on such short notice?
Sources tell me that a new tablet will be announced on Monday with Barnes and Noble. The two companies announced a “strategic partnership” in late April with Microsoft investing $300M into the joint business dubbed “Newco” for a 17.6% equity stake and Barnes and Noble owning 82.4%.
The event would be the first public showing of what the two have been working on and may answer the question of why the invite was so bare – because they haven’t announced anything yet and the joint operation has yet to be named. Another source says the tablet may be the first non-Xbox device to gain Xbox Live streaming capabilities, which might explain the location of the event.
Other than the time of the event – 3:30 PM local – Microsoft has yet to announce the venue and will apparently do so tomorrow at 10AM local.
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Tag Archives: latest tech
Saudi Prince Buys Stake in Twitter
Posted on December 19, 2011 by technogazette
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has bought $300 million worth of stake in Twitter, which is unofficially 3.5% of its total worth. Alwaleed bin Talal heads Riyadh based Kingdom Holding Company, which is one of the largest companies in Saudi Arabia. Prince is a nephew of Saudi king Abdullah and is one of the top business magnates in the world.
Twitter has raised a lot of money from investors including DST Global earlier this year and has claimed that it expected to raise at least $800 million from investors in 2011. After this giant investment by Saudi Prince, we can assume that Twitter has surpassed the $800 million mark.
According to some sources and other news portals, Saudi Prince is planning to expand his public holding business via social networking website. That is a pretty good tactic as in the recent years, social media has revolutionized the business sector throughout the globe. It should be noted that Twitter has played a significant role in the Arab uprisings this year as the protesters communicated mostly through ‘tweets’.
Twitter has not disclosed any details of this investment but this news can be read on the Kingdom Holding Company’s official website, which in our opinion is plainly advertising this investment.
Photo by gage and desoto
Photo by JoshSemans
Posted in Featured, Headline, Linked Post, Post, Uncategorized | Tagged Alwaleed bin Talal, internet, investment, investor, investors, Kingdom Holding Company, latest buzz, latest news, latest tech, prince Alwaleed bin Talal, saudi prince, social, social media, social network, social networking, software, tech, tech news, technology, twitter, web | Leave a reply
PlayStation Vita Hits stores in Japan
Good news for PlayStation fans. The long awaited PlayStation Vita is now available in Japan. It was launched in the market yesterday. This was the biggest launch ever for any Sony product since the launch of legendary PlayStation 3 and that too was five years ago. Thousands of fans throughout the country rushed to their nearby stores and lined up in the early morning to lay their hands on the successor of PlayStation Portable(PSP.
PlayStation Vita has a touch interface with motion sensing ability. Gamers can connect their devices via mobile networks or Wifi hotspots to play multiplayer games. With GPS functionality, this gadget has a lot more to offer as compared to the other gaming consoles of the same category.
There are two cameras in Vita, one on the front and the other on the back. Plus there is even a touch pad on the back and there are two joystick buttons which can be used in the multiplayer games.
Sony Corp expect Vita to be a huge success. 2011 has been a pretty bad year for Sony so far. Earlier this year, Sony PlayStation Network(PSN) was targeted by a massive cyber attack after which a large number of customers decided to shift their attention to other gaming consoles available in the market.
According to market reports, Sony has suffered huge losses, approximately of $1 billion this year. All it needs is a breakthrough in sales, so that it can cover up the losses in gaming sector as well as other fields.
Photo by jeriaska
Posted in Featured, Headline, Linked Post, Post, Uncategorized | Tagged console, data, device, display, gadget, gaming, gizmo, hardware, latest buzz, latest news, latest tech, PlayStation, playstation portable, playstation vita, psp, Sony, sony vita, tech, tech news, technology, vita | 1 Reply
Facebook to sue Mark Zuckerberg?
No, we are not talking about Facebook’s CEO. This Mark Zuckerberg hails from Israel and is an entrepreneur who owns Like Store, a social marketing company which sells Likes to other companies for their brand pages on Facebook. Born as Rotem Guez, he legally changed his name on the 7th of December and according to some sources, he is planning to change his family’s name as well.
This is the second time Facebook has threatened to sue Israeli Zuckerberg. His company, Like Store, was found to be violating Facebook’s terms of service by the social giant’s law firm Perkins Coi, and was instructed to shut down their page on the social network.
And surprisingly, this Israeli entrepreneur also filed a lawsuit against Facebook earlier this year when he was prohibited access to his profile page. It is true that Facebook can sue Like Store on the basis of said violations to the terms of service, but it will be funny when we will see news headings citing the social network’s founder’s name.
On the other side, Rotem Guez(Mark Zuckerberg) is in no mood to abandon either his name or his company. He has even made a website by the name of markzuckerbergofficial.com and a fan page on Facebook by the name of I’m Mark Zuckerberg which has got more than 3000 likes.
So the question now is plain and simple, Will Facebook sue Mark Zuckerberg?
Photo by jaycameron
Posted in Featured, Headline, Linked Post, Post, Uncategorized | Tagged data, Facebook, gossip, internet, latest buzz, latest news, latest tech, Like Store, mark, mark zuckerberg, rotem guez, social, social media, social network, social networking, tech, tech news, technology, web, website, Zuckerberg | 1 Reply
Google gets Patent for Driverless Car
Google has been granted a patent for driver-less cars which is related to the method of shifting the control of a vehicle from human to the vehicle itself. Google has been experimenting with this technology for a while and applied for this patent in the month of May this year but did not made it public at that time.
According to Google, the technology makes use of two sets of sensors. The first pair determines a landing strip when the car has to be stopped and the second pair tells the vehicle its location and its destination. This can be used to find a suitable parking place where the vehicle can make transition into full autonomous mode.
The concept of self driving vehicles is not new. It has been researched by some universities(funded by Google) and some individuals over a long period of time. Various prototypes have been made available to the public over the years but this is the first time that a major company has been awarded a patent in this regard.
No doubt that this technology can be of a greater use in scenarios where the human reaction becomes very slow. For example, it can come handy while driving at a continuous stretch. Still a lot of work has to be done to make it economically available to the general public.
What do you think? Will Google be able to develop the Cars of the future?
Photo by rcade
Photo by blacktar
Posted in Featured, Headline, Linked Post, Post, Uncategorized | Tagged AI, artificial intelligence, driverless car, gadget, gizmo, google car, Google+, hardware, latest buzz, latest news, latest tech, patent, self-driving car, street view, tech news, technology | Leave a reply
Salesforce.com Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Rypple
Salesforce.com has acquired Rypple, a provider of social software to the big tech giants like Facebook. The terms of the acquisition have not been made public yet. With this acquisition, Salesforce.com has entered the venture of human resource software and this is being seen by many as an attempt to challenge the huge user base of SAP AG and Oracle Corp, both of which occupy the top positions in this sector.
According to the official website of Rypple, it helps managers ensure their teams get the continuous feedback they need to stay aligned, learn faster, and consistently achieve their goals. Plus since most of its clients are the big players in the tech and social industry, we cannot doubt about its capabilities.
According to Executive Vice President of Salesforce.com John Wookey, they are developing HR software which can be used by various companies for recruiting, training and monitoring their employees. Salesforce.com will become a major player in the social media after this acquisition.
On the other side, when asked about this acquisition, the executives of both Oracle and SAP AG declined to comment.
Both Oracle and SAP AG see Salesforce.com as a major rival as they have spent a lot of money and resources in past to compete with Salesforce.com in the area of web based programs.
Posted in Featured, Headline, Linked Post, Post, Uncategorized | Tagged acquisition, data, Facebook, gadget, internet, latest buzz, latest news, latest tech, rypple, salesforce, salesforce.com, social, social media, social network, social networking, software, tech news, technology, web, website | 1 Reply
Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus hits the market
Good news for Android fans! One of the most awaited Android phones has arrived in the smartphone market today. Yes, we are talking about the Galaxy Nexus which features Android 4.0 commonly known as Ice Cream Sandwich. It is available on Verizon Wireless for $299 on contract.
It should be noted that Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is the first Android phone in the United States to feature Ice Cream Sandwich. Galaxy Nexus is a thin smartphone featuring 4.65 inch Super Amoled display. It runs on a dual-core processor and has a 5 megapixel rear camera which can record HD videos upto 1080p. It also has a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera which can be used to make video calls.
Apart from these cool hardware features, it has got the Ice Cream Sandwich, which is renowned for its superb features. It enhances multitasking and is overall better than the previous versions of Android in terms of simplicity
Since Galaxy Nexus is available on Verizon, users will be able to use Verizon’s fast 4G LTE network. Though it is not a great deal, but still, it can be a bliss to the users who want high speed internet connection.
With the launch of Galaxy Nexus, the ongoing battle between Android based smartphones and the iPhone will surely get some more fuel. Currently, Apple Inc. and Samsung, which is the hardware manufacturer of Galaxy Nexus, are in the middle of lawsuits over the so called patent infringements by Samsung in its Galaxy range of products. And the rivalry between Google and Apple dates back to the release of the Android platform.
It will be interesting to see whether the coalition of Apple’s rivals pose any threat to its products.
Photo Courtesy of gillyberlin
Photo Courtesy of abulhussain
Posted in Featured, Headline, Linked Post, Post, Uncategorized | Tagged android, Android Platform, Apple, Apple Inc., display, gadget, galaxy nexus, gizmo, ice cream sandwich, iPhone, latest buzz, latest news, latest tech, mobile, nexus, phone, samsung galaxy, software, tech news, technology | Leave a reply
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Montezuma County sheriff prepares for mounted patrol
Sheriff’s department prepares for first patrol horses
By Stephanie Alderton The Journal
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 11:58 PM
The sheriff department has added a stable and soon will have the area fenced for horses that they will use for patrols.
Sam Green/The Journal
This spring, the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office will add two officers to its roster – officers with hooves.
Sheriff Steve Nowlin announced his plan to start a mounted patrol program back in March of 2015, but only now does it appear close to fruition. This week the sheriff’s office finished putting up a Cortez stable for the patrol horses, and Nowlin said he expects to pick up the first two animals by the middle of March. The horses, mustang geldings adopted from the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse and burro program, are scheduled to start training with four sheriff’s deputies in April.
After almost two years of planning, Nowlin said he’s excited to finally put hooves on the ground in Montezuma County.
“I needed to have an avenue to bring people in the community closer to the officers of this agency,” he said. “And what better way to do that than to have this medium, the horse? Everybody’s attracted to horses.”
His plan is to pick up two geldings from a BLM holding area in the second week of March. They haven’t been chosen yet, but Nowlin said he will only consider animals that meet certain requirements: for example, they must be sorrels or bays between 14 and 16 hands high, and they must have the temperament to be around large groups of people without getting spooked. After the department picks out their ideal candidates, they’ll be transported to the property of Ted Holland, a reserve officer with the sheriff’s office who will be in charge of mounted patrol training.
Nowlin hopes to hold a two-week intensive training course in April, and have the horses ready for regular patrols by early June. But he admitted “that might be pushing it.”
In addition to the one outside the sheriff’s office in Cortez, Dolores also has a stable and holding area for the horses, since the sheriff hopes to send them on patrol in both towns. Andrew Ghere, a patrol deputy in Dolores, will be one of the first people to train for the mounted patrol. He said he’s excited because he believes a horse will help him do more friendly “community policing,” his favorite part of the job.
“I want to be the cop everyone goes to when they have a problem,” he said. “I want people to know me and know I’m approachable.”
Ghere hasn’t been on a horse in about 15 years, he said, but that’s not a problem to Nowlin. Since mounted patrol is so different from other kinds of riding, he said he’d rather have deputies with scant riding experience so that they don’t have to unlearn old habits.
Although the horses will already be trained by BLM before they arrive in the county, Holland will give them additional training to help them adapt to the kind of terrain they’ll patrol with the department. Nowlin said he even wants to give them scent training so they can help deputies track suspects or missing people.
There were some “question marks” in his mind about using wild horses for the patrol, the sheriff said, but he believes the benefits will outweigh the risks. The department originally chose to get horses through the BLM program in order to save money, and in response to community input, Nowlin said. But he thinks mustangs have some genetic advantages as well, like their strong hooves, which won’t need to be shod.
He also wants horses that can adapt to a wide variety of terrain. Mounted deputies will patrol places that cars can’t reach, including the uneven ground near Boggy Draw and other wilderness areas.
Although he acknowledged there may still be some delays, depending on how long it takes deputies to train with the horses and other factors, Nowlin’s goal is to have the mounted patrol program underway by summer. Although it will start out with just two horses, he hopes to add two more next year.
“My expectations are not too high, but they’re high,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a really great program.”
Wild horses ready to become sheriff’s patrol horses
Sheriff blotter
Montezuma County dog shot after killing neighbor’s goats
Mancos woman works to free innocent prisoners
Montezuma evidence locker needs relocation
Sale of Montezuma courthouse leaves Bridge shelter in limbo
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Bonny Parkinson
Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University
Profile Articles Activity
Dr Parkinson is a health economist at the Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy (MUCHE) with expertise in pharmaceutical policy in Australia and in conducting and reviewing economic evaluations of healthcare interventions and technologies. She has completed a BEc (Honours) (Australian National University, ANU, 1999-2002), an MSc in Health Economics (University of York, 2006-2007) and a PhD (University of Technology Sydney, UTS, 2011-2014), which was awarded the UTS Chancellor’s List Award in 2016. Dr Parkinson is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy (2015-), where she leads a team of researchers conducting evaluations of submissions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) and researching economic evaluation methodology. Previously she was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), UTS (2009-2015), where she conducted evaluations for the PBAC, Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) and the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS). In 2013 she was co-awarded the UTS ‘Research Excellence through Partnership’ Award, and in 2017 she was co-awarded the Macquarie University Academic Staff Awards, Excellence in Research: Five Future-shaping Research Priorities (Healthy People). She currently teaches health economics to students undertaking a Masters of Public Health and regularly teaches short courses on economic evaluation.
University of Technology Sydney, PhD
@BonnyEconomist
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The USA Just Became The World’s Largest Oil Producer
By The Daily Caller News Foundation
Published September 12, 2018 at 8:47am
by Michael Bastasch
The U.S. surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
“U.S. crude oil production exceeded that of Saudi Arabia for the first time in more than two decades,” EIA reported Wednesday. “In June and August, the United States surpassed Russia in crude oil production for the first time since February 1999.”
Indeed, U.S. drillers have continued to smash production records in 2018, including hitting 11 million barrels a day in output in July. That’s about double what the U.S. produced per day just eight years ago.
It’s good news for President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a platform of “energy dominance.” Trump’s policies have focused on promoting domestic oil and natural gas production and exports.
News from EIA comes after the Interior Department announced record-breaking revenues raised from an oil and gas lease sale in New Mexico. The lease sale raised nearly $1 billion in bonus bids, according to the department.
“Critics of the Administration’s American Energy Dominance policy often falsely claim there is little to no interest in Federal oil and gas leases,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement.
“Today they are eating their words and once again President Trump’s policies are bearing fruit for the American people,” Zinke said.
Booming oil production, however, predates the Trump administration by several years. It started on state and private lands that allowed companies to pioneer hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling that’s now commonplace.
“Much of the recent growth has occurred in areas such as the Permian region in eastern Texas and western New Mexico, the Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico, and the Bakken region in North Dakota and Montana,” according to EIA.
As the fracking boom continues, EIA expects “U.S. crude oil production will continue to exceed Russian and Saudi Arabian crude oil production for the remaining months of 2018 and through 2019.”
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]
The Daily Caller News Foundation
Founded by Tucker Carlson, a 25-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and Neil Patel, former chief policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, The Daily Caller News Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit providing original investigative reporting from a team of professional reporters that operates for the public benefit.
Early AM Upset: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Concedes
New Study Eviscerates Democrats ‘Climate Change’ Claims
Black GOP Canvassers Say Cops in Battleground State Threatening Them With Arrest
Fact Check: Are The 2018 Midterms The Most Expensive of All Time?
Reporter Caught Trashing Black Republican ‘F**k’ If He Wins
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Home Year 2005 Shon Gables
Shon Gables
34 News Anchor – CBS 2 News This Morning, New York City
The life of Shon Gables may appear glamorous, but the CBS 2 morning news anchor?s climb to the top was everything but. Gables, 34, overcame poverty, divorce and the challenges of single parenting to become a respected journalist in the largest news market in the country.
Gables grew up in Oklahoma, the sixth of seven children, to a mother with a fifth-grade education. She took on menial jobs at a young age, but was often discouraged in her ambitions by those with a defeatist attitude. Encouragement came from her sixth-grade teacher, Lanee Mahoney, who saw Gables? passion for reading and writing. Mahoney later became her high school counselor, mentor and godmother to her son, Ryan.
Gables received a scholarship to study broadcast journalism at the University of Oklahoma, but lost it through carelessness. To pay for school, she joined the Army Reserves, competed in beauty pageants and worked as an extra for Soul Train. Upon graduating she married her college sweetheart, moved to New York and had a son. When the marriage abruptly ended, she returned to Oklahoma to a minimum wage job and deplorable living conditions. Gables eventually landed a job with a radio station job. The experience was overwhelming, but it opened the doors that led to New York.
Gables began her broadcast career at KVSP Radio in Oklahoma City as news director and host. She later became associate producer at KWTV, an Oklahoma City television station. Her first on-air assignment was for KWCH, the CBS television affiliate in Wichita, Kan. She moved on to morning news anchor-general assignment reporter at WDIV-TV Detroit, then to New York.
Gables now has an optimistic attitude that she shares with others. ?Anyone can be what they want to be, just don?t give up. It doesn?t mater where you came from but where you are going.?
Gables is a board member of Eagle Academy for young men in the Bronx, N.Y., and an honorary member of the Sarcoma Foundation of America, which seeks to help victims of this cancer through research and education.
Leslie Pitterson
Joanes Prosper
Rachel A. Ramsay-Lowe Esq.
Letters to the Editor – July/August 2005
The Third Screen – Cellular industry goes multimedia
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Women in Treasury
Jessica McDarren, L’Oréal - Women in Treasury
For someone who was attracted to treasury by the complexity of the function, L’Oréal UK’s Jessica McDarren is not one to shy away from the relentless pace and intricacies of the work. In this interview, Jessica talks about the role of self-belief in treasury and importance of a constructive working environment.
Jessica McDarren
Jessica McDarren started her accounting career straight from secondary school when she joined a small Chartered Accounting firm in Ayrshire, Scotland as Trainee Accountant. She immediately realised that accountancy was to be her future. She moved on to larger organisations while continuing with her accountancy studies. In 2005 Jessica joined a rapidly growing digital media agency as Financial Controller. This was a part-time role as she now had a young toddler to care for as well as her CIMA studies to progress.
In March 2009 Jessica became a fully qualified CIMA member following four years of weekend and evening study and was promoted to the full-time role of Head of Finance. It was at this time that Jessica was awarded Young Accountant of the Year by Accountancy Age. The judges said “[she] made the role her own while showing great tenacity and determination to achieve many things at once”.
In 2010 Jessica joined L’Oréal as Commercial Controller. After two and half successful years in this role Jessica decided to broaden her knowledge of the business and joined Corporate Finance as Treasurer for L’Oréal UK and Ireland. In August 2012 she re-located with her husband and two sons to South Wales.
Do you feel that women respond differently to the needs of treasury?
I don’t feel that there is a huge difference in the way that women and men respond to treasury issues. Different personalities do bring different skills and ideas to the role, though. That’s why I think it is really important in business to have diversity within a team. In my experience having a good mix of backgrounds, experience and gender can often be the difference between a team being successful or not.
What is the biggest challenge you are facing right now as a corporate treasurer?
One of the biggest challenges for me in my role now is time. I naturally get very excited about new projects and initiatives and ideas. But there’s only the same number of hours in every day, so I have to be realistic. Juggling multiple projects and responsibilities can be challenging, but it just comes down to knowing your priorities and good time management.
Is the business work progressing in the right direction in addressing the balance between professional and family life?
I think it is moving in the right direction. More than ever companies are thinking seriously about how they can support their employees achieve a good work-life balance. L’Oréal, for example, introduced a Work Smart initiative which gives employees great flexibility to manage their working hours. And that is to the benefit of companies as well, not just employees.
Often what companies find is that by offering employees greater flexibility around how they manage their working patterns with their personal life, they are helping them to be more effective.
It’s also quite important to remember that, for women, the work-life balance is not always about commitments to their immediate family, but can also involve the wider family too, such as looking after elderly parents and other such responsibilities.
If there was one tool that could make you an even better treasurer, what would it be?
I wouldn’t say that there is one specific tool out there that would change everything for us. But as a team we are constantly looking to improve the tools we are already using. That is one of the great things about L’Oréal: being in an environment where you actually have the opportunity to say how you want to see things develop and work on improving the processes and tools that you are using in the company.
In my experience having a good mix of backgrounds, experience and gender can often be the difference between a team being successful or not.
It was complexity that first attracted Jessica to treasury. Having begun her career as an accountant for a small medium-sized enterprise (SME), Jessica landed her first corporate role in 2010 when she joined L’Oréal UK and Ireland to work as a commercial controller for its L’Oréal Paris brand. Her first venture into a corporate environment proved to be a very enjoyable experience, but after two years she began to yearn for a new challenge.
Treasury, with all its complexities, seemed ideal in that respect. “I wanted to improve my knowledge of the wider company and acquire a different perspective,” she says. “So I decided that it was the perfect time to move into corporate finance – to get that exposure to the whole company and across all the different brands.”
L’Oréal offered Jessica a new role in the company and soon she found herself leaving London and relocating to South Wales with her husband and two children to work at the group’s finance shared service centre (SSC). With the responsibilities and reach of her new position in treasury Jessica now found herself exactly where she wanted to be – right at the heart of the business. But was she daunted by the relentless pace and complexity of the work? Not in the slightest. In fact, they are both elements of the job that she has strongly embraced. “What I love about working in treasury is that it’s so fast paced and, even more, that I have the opportunity to work across all of our 29 brands,” she says. “They all have different personalities and I like the variety that brings to what I do on a daily basis. That is what I really thrive on and enjoy.”
Managing such a broad scope of responsibilities requires a great deal of self-belief, of course. The advice Jessica received when she began her treasury role served her well though. “I was told that the key to success in treasury is to listen to your instincts and, more importantly, having the confidence to act upon them,” she says. “If you see a process that you feel could be improved don’t hesitate, but work to improve it. Likewise, if you have a great idea, then suggest it.” The culture at L’Oréal is, she says, very encouraging in that respect. “I think that is where I am fortunate to be working in the environment that I am. Our ethos here is that nothing is impossible and that means we do have an opportunity to try new things and move the department forward.”
What I love about working in treasury is that it’s so fast paced and, even more, that I have the opportunity to work across all of our 29 brands. They all have different personalities and I like the variety that brings to what I do on a daily basis. That is what I really thrive on and enjoy.
But what about the wider business? Does Jessica feel that treasury’s voice is heard throughout the organisation? That is a vital part of her work, she explains. At a fundamental level if the treasurer is not communicating with other divisions within the organisation then everything from straight-through processing rates to the timing of cash flows can suffer. But she also believes that taking a pro-active approach and engaging with other areas of the business is about much more than that. It can also give treasurers a chance to really make a difference in the company. “I think that is where we can really add value,” she says. “When you’re connected with the business and you are working with the brands or divisions then you really have an opportunity to shape new processes and come up with ideas on how to improve things going forward.”
That, perhaps, underscores Jessica’s approach to the treasury role. “For me the one thing that is never going to change is change,” she says. “In the business world you can either be a driver of change or you can be a passenger.” Jessica, quite evidently, falls into the former category.
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Artist Talk: With the Grain, Spotlight Artist Kristin LeVier
THU MAR 28, 2019, 6PM/ARTIST TALK
Kristin LeVier will talk about the pathway that led her from science to studio art and introduce us to her biology- and nature-inspired organic sculpture. As a working artist for over 13 years, she has learned to be a creative entrepreneur, and will discuss the techniques and systems she uses to work most efficiently, successfully and happily.
Image: Kristin LeVier, Undulata Landscape
Kristin LeVier is a former molecular biologist-turned-studio artist who creates contemporary sculpture at the intersection of art and science. She uses furniture making techniques to create wood sculptures that appear to undulate as if propelled by water currents or wind. Her work has been exhibited widely and featured in books and magazines such as American Craft, American Woodturner and A Gathering of Spoons: The Design Gallery of the World’s Most Stunning Wooden Art Spoons. LeVier has received awards and fellowships from the Society for Contemporary Craft, the Clark Hulings Fund, the American Association of Woodturners, NICHE, and the Idaho Commission for the Arts. She lives in Moscow, Idaho.
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Nepal | July 19, 2019
The Himalayan Times > Lifestyle > Health > Soap and superbugs: 2 bln people lack water at health facilities – UN
Soap and superbugs: 2 bln people lack water at health facilities – UN
Published: April 03, 2019 2:20 pm On: Health
LONDON: A quarter of the world’s health facilities lack basic water services, impacting 2 billion people, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning that unhygienic conditions could fuel the global rise of deadly superbugs.
In the poorest countries, about half of facilities do not have basic water services – meaning water delivered by pipes or boreholes that protect it from faeces – putting birthing mothers and newborns in particular danger, new data showed.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said more than 1 million deaths a year were associated with unclean births, and 15 per cent of all patients attending a health facility developed infections.
“Hospitals are not necessarily points of care where you can heal, but points of almost infection. (We) are very alarmed by this,” WHO public health co-ordinator Bruce Gordon told a media briefing in Geneva.
Worldwide, nearly 900 million people have no water at all at their local health facility or have to use unprotected wells or springs. One in five facilities also lack toilets, impacting about 1.5 billion people, the agencies said.
One of the development goals agreed by world leaders in 2015 was for all to have access to safe water and sanitation by 2030.
“A health care facility without water is not really a health care facility,” said UNICEF statistician Tom Slaymaker.
“Sick people shed a lot more pathogens in their faeces, and without toilets, staff, patients – this includes mothers and babies – are at a much greater risk of diseases caused and spread through human waste.”
The agencies said good water and sanitation services were crucial to reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance, one of the greatest global health threats.
International charity WaterAid said rising rates of superbugs had been linked to poor sanitary conditions in health facilities which lead to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics.
Helen Hamilton, the WaterAid policy analyst, said the data revealed the “often-deplorable conditions” in which health workers were trying to help patients.
“The battle to save lives, and to slow the rise of deadly superbugs which threaten us all, cannot be won as long as these dedicated frontline staffs are denied … the fundamentals of health care,” she said.
She urged governments to prioritise the issue when they meet at next month’s World Health Assembly in Geneva.
The data showed that West Africa had some of the lowest rates of access to water and sanitation.
WaterAid said this was alarming given that a lack of clean water and good hygiene had contributed to the spread of the world’s worst Ebola outbreak in the region, which killed more than 11,300 people between 2013 and 2016.
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© 2019 The Himalayan Times
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Added on February 6, 2019 Images News Netwok
Govt reviewing surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy for militants: Guv’s advisor
Jammu, Feb 05: The surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy for militants is under review and the Centre will be consulted before putting it in public domain, K Vijay Kumar, Advisor to Governor, said Tuesday.
He said the government is revisiting and reviewing the policy on the advice of Governor Satya Pal Malik.
"The surrender policy has already been there in various formats and the governor has advised us to have a look at the policy and put up a draft," Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of 19th All India Police Band Competition at Gulshan Ground here.
Responding to a question about the surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy for militants, he said once the draft is completed the Governor would have a look at it and consult the Centre before putting it in public domain.
"I do not want to comment whether it is a rehash or a new policy… It will be looked at with all seriousness and already director general of police, home secretary, chief secretary and myself are looking at it and we will be placing it before the governor," Kumar said.
Militancy incidents see rise in J&K in 2018: MoS Home
New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the maximum number of militancy incidents in 2018 as compared to the four years before that, the government told the Parliament Tuesday.
Minister of State for Home Hansraj G Ahir furnished a statement in the Lok Sabha on a question related to details of militant, insurgent and extremist incidents that took place in the country between 2014 and 2018.
The reply said a total of 614 militancy incidents took place last year in Jammu and Kashmir that led to the killing of a maximum of 91 government forces’ personnel and 257 militants over a five-year period. In these incidents in 2018, 38 civilians were also killed, Ahir said.
The comparative figures for 2017 were 342 militancy incidents that led to the killing of 40 civilians, 80 forces’ personnel and 213 militants.
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Hal Foster
Hal Foster is Townsend Martin Class of 1917 Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, where he teaches courses in modernist and contemporary art and theory and directs the graduate proseminar in methodology. He is a faculty member of the School of Architecture and an associate faculty member of the Department of German; he also works with Media and Modernity and European Cultural Studies programs. He is the author of numerous books, including The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture and Recodings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics, both published by The New Press. He is also the editor of two New Press books, Discussions in Contemporary Culture #1 and Vision and Visuality: Discussions in Contemporary Culture #2. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foster writes regularly for October, which he co-edits; Artforum; the London Review of Books; and New Left Review.
Books by Hal Foster
The Anti-Aesthetic
Essays on Postmodern Culture
Discussions in Contemporary Culture #1
Recodings
Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics
Vision and Visuality
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Cash Registers At Target Went Down Across The World
Shoppers across the country were left angry and frustrated after a computer outage shut down all the cash registers at Target. The store confirmed the outage on Twitter and said they are working to resolve the issue.
"We’re aware that guests are currently unable to make purchases at Target stores," the store wrote on Twitter. "Our teams are troubleshooting now and we apologize for the inconvenience. We will provide an update as soon as possible."
Some stores decided to close, but in ones that remained open people reported waiting in line for over an hour, while other shoppers decided to leave their carts and try again later in the day. One customer wanted to pay in cash but was told the store couldn't handle the transaction.
One store decided to give out free food and drinks to people stuck waiting in line while another store was handing out coupons to customers as they walked in.
#targetdown quickly become on the top trends on Twitter with many people sharing memes and jokes about the worldwide outage.
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/ The Originals
April 19, 2019 By The Second Disc 9 Comments
For its 60th anniversary year, Universal Music Enterprises has begun reminding fans that "Motown Did It First"; now, the label that launched The Sound Of Young America is revisiting a box set that was released in celebration of its 50th anniversary a decade ago. Motown: The Complete No. 1s is being reissued and expanded on June 28. Motown: The Complete No. 1s featured more than 200 international chart-toppers, plus a handful of bonus masters that went to No. 1 through cover versions or
Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Country, Disco/Dance, Everything Else, Funk, Holiday, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Boyz II Men, Brenda Holloway, Charlene, Dazz Band, DeBarge, Dennis Edwards, Diana Ross, Eddie Kendricks, Edwin Starr, El DeBarge, Erykah Badu, Four Tops, Giorgio, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jermaine Jackson, Jimmy Ruffin, Johnny Gill, Jr. Walker, Lionel Richie, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Mary Jane Girls, Mary Wells, Michael Jackson, Profyle, Rare Earth, Rick James, Rockwell, Shanice, Siedah Garrett, Smokey Robinson, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stacey Lattislaw, Stevie Wonder, T.G. Shepard, Tammi Terrell, The Boys, The Commodores, The Contours, The Guinn Family, The Isley Brothers, The Jackson 5, The Marvelettes, The Miracles, The Originals, The Supremes, The Temptations, The Undisputed Truth, Thelma Houston, Today, Val Young
September 19, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
Big Break Records has long kept each month packed with the most soulful records of all time, but the label has recently done something a little extra special – an entire group of six releases drawn exclusively from the vaults of Motown Records! (And there's more on the way!) Atop this mighty list is a long-awaited remaster of Stephanie Mills’ Motown debut, For the First Time. Released in 1975 – the same year Mills took Broadway by storm in The Wiz – the LP was the “first time” she recorded
Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Lenny Williams, Platinum Hook, Switch, The Originals
August 12, 2014 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment
Billy Thermal, Billy Thermal (Omnivore) Before Billy Steinberg co-wrote with Tom Kelly a host of pop classics (“Like a Virgin,” “True Colors,” “So Emotional,” “Eternal Flame"), he fronted a little-heard band on Richard Perry's Planet Records: their original five-track EP is expanded to a 12-track compilation with demos and outtakes! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Guess Who, Power in the Music: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic) The final Guess Who studio album for RCA (and last with
Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Allen Toussaint, Billy Thermal, The Guess Who, The Originals
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« Democracy: Corn Flakes, Cabbages and Kings
On Making Choices: A Thought Experiment »
Tony Judt on the State, Democracy and Religion
A recent interview with Tony Judt is of great relevance to the extended debate triggered by Vijay Vikram’s post on Arundhati Roy. It touches on our conceptions of the state, democracy, religion and politics. It also reiterates the importance of conversations across ideological divides as a means to improving our understanding of the issues that are critical in our times. In this post we reproduce key excerpts and provide a link to the complete interview at the end.
You still have faith that the liberal state can be restored to health. But is there a reason that there has to be a liberal state? The “liberal state” itself is a historically specific creation, isn’t it?
… With globalization, with the fear of economic change, with the insecurities that the twenty-first century is going to bring, which are going to be far greater than those of the twentieth, the level of insecurity is going to have the paradoxical effect of throwing people back on the state much more, looking to it for everything from medical protection to physical protection to job guarantees to protection against outside competition and such. So the question is not going to be, Will there be an activist state? The question is going to be, What kind of an activist state?
And that brings us to the second consideration, which is how we think about it. We’ve emerged from a twentieth century which we’ve learned to think of as a kind of seventy-year running battle between the over-mighty state and the wonders of individual freedom. Extreme forms of individualism versus extreme forms of collective enforced authority. Roughly speaking, Stalin versus the tea party. That’s a caricature of the twentieth century. But it’s one that we have to a large degree internalized, so when people think of the political choices facing them, they think of them in terms of maximized individual freedom versus maximized collective repression, or power or authority or whatever. And then they think of any changes with one or the other, regrettable compromises with freedom or so on. We need to change that conversation so we can think of the state not as some external creature that history has imposed upon us but simply as a way of collective organization that we chose to place onto ourselves. In that sense the liberal state either has a future or it doesn’t, but it really is up to us.
So democracy becomes a real problem, right? If people continue to choose inequality, what can you do?
Democracy has always been a problem. The truly attractive features of the Western tradition that we accidentally–and it really is accidentally–get the benefit of are the rule of law, liberalism and tolerance, all of which are virtues inherited from predemocratic societies… Democracy comes last. Democracy is simply a system of selection of people to rule over you. And it’s not accidental that everyone is now a democrat… Democracy is a dangerously empty term, and to the extent that it has substance, and the substance consists of allowing people to select freely how they live, the chance that they will choose to live badly is very high. The question is, What do we do now, in a world where, in the absence of liberal aristocracies, in the absence of social democratic elites whose authority people accept, you have people who genuinely believe, in the majority, that their interest consists of maximizing self-interest at someone else’s expense? The answer is, Either you re-educate them in some form of public conversation or we will move toward what the ancient Greeks understood very well, which is that the closest system to democracy is popular authoritarianism…
Where is religion in Ill Fares the Land? You remark that “most people” have dispensed with it, but certainly in the United States it hasn’t gone anywhere.
… What’s missing from public conversation and public policy conversation is precisely a sort of moral underpinning, a sense of the moral purposes that bind people together in functional societies.
… What we need to learn to do is conduct substantive moral conversations as though they were part of public policy, so that abortion is a terrible thing and a necessary thing, and both statements are true. You see what I mean?… Then you could learn to think of difficult moral issues as part of social policy rather than just screaming at each other from either side of a moral barrier. Then we could reintroduce what look like religious kinds of conversations into national social policy debates.
I come from a very religious background, and it seems to me that people on the left are so embarrassed about the language of morality that they’ve ceded the ground to the right.
I totally agree. I think it’s a catastrophe for both sides. What it means for the left is that it’s got no ethical vocabulary. What it means for the right is that it smugly supposes that it’s got a monopoly on values. Both sides are completely wrong… I’d like to say parenthetically that I come out of a sort of secular dissenting Jewish background… in which there was a natural correspondence of social values and ethical criteria. And the divorce between them has been one of the disastrous results of the last half-century. I’d love to contribute to re-forming that link.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Ill Fares the Land is a book for anyone who cares about the collective world that we live in and are making for ourselves, whether we like it or not. It’s not a book written with a view to presenting a solution to a fixed set of problems, saying, Read this and do that. It’s a book deliberately designed to ask what’s wrong, how should we talk about it, how should we think about fixing it. And that’s all that it should be. Anything more than that would close off conversation. I want to open it up.
The complete interview is highly recommended and can be accessed here. The lecture and essay mentioned in the interview are archived here on this blog.
Tags: Arundhati Roy, Democracy, Religion, State, Tony Judt
This entry was posted on May 1, 2010 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Democracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “Tony Judt on the State, Democracy and Religion”
Hasan Abdullah Says:
I would like to reflect on just two of the issues – “religion” and “no ethical vocabulary of the Left” – raised in the above interview.
RELIGION: Religion has varying degree of importance and relevance for different people. But – and this but is quite crucial – notwithstanding the extent to which religion informs one’s perception, it is best kept out of the societal discourse. In fact, even the understanding of different adherents of a given religion can vastly differ, which reflects that, in the ultimate, religion is not the cause but the effect of a host of factors. And, moreover, in a societal discourse, one is concerned about the implications for the society, and not the ‘life-after-death’ of an individual. And, latter is generally considered as the religion’s focus or reference point. In contrast, the societal discourse needs to be human-centric. To quote Ghalib
Nah haa kuchh to khudaa thaa, kuchh nah hotaa to khudaa hotaa
Duboyaa mujh ko honey ney, nah hotaa main to kyaa hotaa?
(When nothing was, then God was; had nothing been, God would have been
My being has been my undoing, had I not been, then what would have happened?)
Undoubtedly, our focus has to be this world – and with reference to the most important species, the human being. And, the ‘common basis’ for the dialogue is to be provided by the universal values of peace, health, education, ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’ FOR ALL. Today, these ideals have come to acquire acceptance of the vast majority of the people-at-large.
ETHICAL VOCABULARY OF THE LEFT: I fail to appreciate the understanding that claims that the Left has no ethical vocabulary. The common basis enumerated above is nothing but the ethical vocabulary of the Left; and, the dominant trend in the Urdu literature – especially of the past – has been the best exponent of this vocabulary. Being Ghalib’s partisan, I would single him out as the greatest exponent of Left’s ethics. Look, what he says below:
Kyaa zohd ko maanoon, keh nah ho garcheh reyaaei
Paadaash-e amal kee tama-e khaam bohat hai
(Shall I accept piety even if there were no hypocrisy
The vain expectation of rewards is enough)
The good deeds are to be performed – not because of expectation of reward in the post-death life, but – because these provide satisfaction and help make the world a better place.
In the political realm, what can be more ethical than the desire to help people-at-large optimally realise their potential – for the given developmental level of the productive forces.
The Left’s ideology is that of progress, and concerns the concrete real world; and, a Leftist can be highly religious or an atheist (not anti-theist, or against religion per se) in his personal life. A Leftist ‘s approach is represented by Ada Jafri in the following verse:
Dekho naadaan hai, naadaan sey maayoos nah ho
Aakhir insaan hai, insaan sey maayoos nah ho
(See, he is ignorant; don’t lose hope
After all he is human; don’t lose hope)
One on the Left is interested in building an equitable, just and egalitarian society, free of discrimination and exploitation. If that is not ethical vocabulary, I wonder what is.
SouthAsian Says:
Hasan: Tony Judt is not saying that the Left does not have an ethical vision nor that it should focus on religion. His point is that the Left does not speak in the language of the people it aims to help. The Left is not talking with the people; it is talking at the people. This is a critique of the “religion is an opiate of the masses” position. Is it a fair observation that there is an element of condescension in the attitude of the Left?
From your post, I gather that the dominant thrust of the left’s vocabulary is one of distributive justice. But that does not address issues with ethical dimensions unrelated to utilitarian morality – such as that of torture, freedom or dignity of human beings. Because the left has consciously tried to keep religion out of its social discourse it has unwittingly dropped the ball on non-utilitarian morality that religion is pregnant with. In doing that, it has precisely surrendered those aspects of justice and morality to the right and made itself susceptible to the rational knife of economics and thereby emasculated itself.
Vinod,
I fail to understand that why a dialogue cannot be conducted without reference to ‘religion’ – and with reference to human being. When, for the Left, human is at the center of attention, and the good of the human beings forms the very yardstick of judgment, then it naturally encompasses freedom and dignity etc., i.e., all what you have mentioned.
Religion can be interpreted in vastly different ways even by the ‘followers’ of a given religion. And, therefore, it would be better to not to bring it in a societal discourse. Moreover, as mentioned in above response as well, religion is primarily focussed on the other world, whereas the Left is concerned about this actually existing concrete world.
It would be wrong to infer that the Left has “made itself susceptible to the rational knife of economics”. Left stands for rationality and all that is in the best interest of humanity, and is unencumbered by the dead yoke of the past. And, of course distributive justice is one important concern for the Left. But, that cannot be construed as Left’s obliviousness towards issues such as freedom and justice. The cornerstone of Left’s politics is to stand against all injustices perpetrated under any guise – and that is possible only because the Left does not identify on the basis of any primordial identity but on the rational basis of discrimination – irrespective of its hue.
Tony Judt died on August 6, 2010 aged 62. These two comments provide a retrospect on the life and thoughts of a remarkable historian and public intellectual:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/tony-judt-obituary
Note, in particular, this hallmark of the character that exemplified Tony Judt:
“education provided the key to Tony’s character: in his case, not education to serve the interests of any tribe or ideology, but education to understand and improve the world about him. His driving passions were evidence, rigour and truth. If his pursuit of those passions led him to reject earlier views, or to offend erstwhile allies, so be it.”
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WorkSafe 'enforceable undertakings' are a way of educating companies to change their attitude to worker safety. (Photo: Getty.)
Restorative justice at work: when health and safety breaches don’t lead to fines
Lyn Barnes | Guest writer
Air conditioning company Airtech has developed a safety app and is making a video in lieu of punishment after two of its workers became seriously ill from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Brian Stokes reckons paying for health and safety advice is a “ripoff”. The owner of Auckland air conditioning and refrigeration company Airtech has learned this the hard way, and is still coming to terms with the reality that two of his technicians could have died after being exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning on the job.
It happened when an LPG forklift was left running as his staff cleaned an evaporator unit in a cool store owned by Karaka tomato grower NZ Hothouse. Even though the forklift and driver were provided by NZ Hothouse, the law says when an incident involves two parties both companies are jointly responsible. As a result the poisoning will end up costing Stokes’ business around $80,000.
The Airtech technicians needed to be lifted up in a personnel cage on the forklift to service the evaporator. They had worked for two hours in one chiller with the forklift running about half the time, and when they stopped for lunch one of them complained of feeling sick. They continued working in a second chiller after lunch, but one of the technicians felt so ill he had to go outside. Thankfully he phoned his Airtech manager, who told him to call an ambulance and then phoned NZ Hothouse to advise them of the incident. By the time NZ Hothouse staff got to the cooler the other technician and the forklift driver had collapsed. Two of the men required specialist treatment at the Devonport Naval Base.
No-one had identified the risk of using the LPG-powered forklift in a confined space. Carbon monoxide messes with the brain so people don’t think straight, which can affect “self-rescue”, Dunedin toxicology researcher Dr John Fountain says.
Brian Stokes thought he had health and safety covered. He had engaged advisors at great expense. But he’s discovered generic H&S doesn’t cut it anymore, it needs to be tailored to the circumstances of the organisation. “People forget how lethal LPG can be, it has no smell, no taste, it’s invisible, until you start to fall asleep,” he says.
The 63-year-old company boss is not bitter about the experience, however. Instead he has become almost evangelical about workplace safety.
Rather than face prosecution and a hefty fine Stokes applied for what’s known as an ‘enforceable undertaking’ with WorkSafe New Zealand. This means a company takes on a list of activities and obligations to improve health and safety for its workers and the wider sector.
In Airtech’s case this has included paying $5,000 in remediation costs to both its technicians for emotional harm, making a donation to Headway Brain Injury Trust, and producing an educational video and article about the incident.
It has also resulted in a digital solution. Stokes has modified a mobile app to provide his staff with a health and safety checklist and automatically contact Airtech office staff when they are about to enter a confined space.
“This incident scared the hell out of me,” says Stokes, whose business is like most in the New Zealand air conditioning/refrigeration industry – small and owner-operated.
Airtech’s Brian Stokes has ridden hundreds of kilometres on his bike to deal with the stress of the incident. (Photo: Lyn Barnes.)
He would do anything to avoid a similar situation. A comment about checklists in a session with WorkSafe when his enforced undertaking (EU) application was accepted got him Googling. Frustrated by the thousands of dollars he’d already spent on health and safety advisors, he decided to do his own search and came across iAuditor. Organisations from airlines and hotel chains to mining and construction companies use the app as an auditing and health and safety tool. Stokes got together with his son Nathan, who works as a technician at Airtech, and it wasn’t long before the pair had built an iAuditor template that allowed them to add their own safety operating procedures and hazard identification system.
Stokes had assumed his technicians knew the risks. But the possible effects of carbon monoxide related to LPG had not been not covered in their apprenticeship training. “We should have been aware of the risk, we should have managed the risk,” he admits. Now, for a little under $2500 a year or less than $14 a month for each of his 15 employees, technicians work through the app’s checklist before any job. “It takes about half an hour to learn. It’s not rocket science, it’s all there.”
As any new risks are identified the checklist can be updated. For example, Stokes read of a recent case where a worker lost an eye using a carbide blade in his angle grinder. “We banned them that day. Sure, the metal blades are more expensive but they last for ages and they don’t shatter, so we changed that online.”
Unsurprisingly the Airtech checklist includes a prompt when using LPG-powered forklifts.
The new app also protects the business owner, because it ensures the company is taking all practicable steps to keep workers safe, Stokes says. “The app forces them [technicians] to stop and think. They tend to rush and that’s where accidents happen. Now, before they begin any job, they need to work through the checklist of safety operating procedures and hazard IDs at the coalface. They cannot progress to another screen without acknowledging a hazard screen. In the past, hazards were only required to be noted when they were outside the norm.
Stokes says it’s not a case of if but when an accident will happen, and he sees risks on sites every day.
“There is an answer, but my frustration is the attitude [of other business owners] that ‘it won’t happen to me’. That’s dumb. This will save your workers, and save your arse.”
Airtech is one of the smaller New Zealand companies to have an EU accepted. It meant meeting the set criteria – for example, that the incident didn’t involve a death and was not a result of negligence. Stokes describes it as “a bit like a diversion rather than having a conviction” but concedes it has taken its toll on his small company. The list of commitments to make amends has been a distraction that has affected workload and cashflow, and he’s ridden thousands of kilometres on his bike to help him cope with the stress.
“The enforceable undertaking is somewhat more onerous than paying a fine. With a fine it’s over and done with.” In some respects, he feels it’s been harder, but at least he still has his business and 15 people still have their jobs. Plus he sleeps better at night, knowing he has done everything he can to protect his staff.
NZ Hothouse also had an enforceable undertaking application accepted, and it has made amends including offering staff a paid safety training day, commissioning a report on the benefits to worker safety in horticulture of implementing literacy and numeracy initiatives, and creating a horticultural safety intern programme for a local school leaver.
The company regrets the failure to identify a potential hazard, NZ Hothouse director Simon Watson says. “Our incident was a sharp reminder that businesses can never let down their guard and that the assessment of workplace risk is a never-ending journey.”
Restorative, not punitive
What does a golf club, a private school, some of New Zealand’s largest construction companies and an air conditioning and refrigeration company have in common?
All of them allegedly breached the 2015 Health and Safety at Work Act, and rather than face prosecution each organisation applied to WorkSafe New Zealand to work through an enforceable undertaking (EU).
To be accepted for an EU the organisation doesn’t have to admit liability but it must take responsibility for the incident, a subtle but important distinction.
In the case of the school, St Kentigern’s Trust Board was alleged to have committed four breaches of the act in 2016. Two students suffered serious throat lacerations from a razor blade during a school production of Sweeney Todd. Remedial steps meant a commitment to spend a minimum of $77,500.
At the Whitford Park Golf Club a group of volunteers was using a wood splitter to cut firewood for sale as a fundraiser. One of the volunteers caught his finger between a piece of wood and the logging machine. As a result, his finger had to be amputated back to the second joint. The cost of the enforceable undertaking exceeded $70K.
There is a list of horror tales of head injuries, lost limbs and multiple surgeries among the EUs, all in vivid detail. “We are required to publish the decision to accept for all enforceable undertakings, including the reasons for the decision. We have elected to also publish the full undertaking,” WorkSafe senior advisor Cordell Weir says.
Organisations draft up what they would offer to make amends for an incident and to promote safety. The criteria for acceptability may include sharing the lessons learned, making a charitable donation, providing amends in the form of payment to the victims and undertaking a range of workplace health and safety training and improvement initiatives.
WorkSafe staff can often tell from the quality and tone of an application who is genuinely taking responsibility for the incident and who’s simply trying to avoid prosecution, Weir says.
In Airtech’s case it took four or five drafts before it was accepted, Brian Stokes says.
To date, WorkSafe New Zealand has accepted 24 enforceable undertakings. (WorkSafe New Zealand is the regulator, responsible for promoting the legislation and enforcing it.)
Airtech was represented by Neil Beadle, special counsel with law firm DLA Piper NZ. An enforceable undertaking is “not an easy road” and it can be challenging to introduce some novelty to the application, he says.
Beadle has been involved in the process since the second EU was approved – in that case the company, Amcor Flexibles, committed $1 million after a worker lost a finger. He thinks the restorative concept is good and that WorkSafe New Zealand should be lauded, but he would hate to see costs get out of reach. He’s observed that now the process is established guidelines have started to emerge and there has been a cluster of fines ranging between $300-$350,000 for large businesses.
“I wouldn’t want the process to be about the money – it has to reflect the effort and commitment of the person making the application,” Beadle says. “It’s all about promoting safety and it’s hard to put a value on that. It’s more about intrinsic value, the value of changing cultures.”
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He occasionally refers people to Stokes at Airtech because he reckons his commitment has been admirable. “Brian embraced it once he realised two of his employees could easily have died.”
Five EUs have been finalised and discharged thus far. On average, it takes two years to complete the agreed tasks. For companies that fail to meet all the agreed actions there are a range of provisions under the act, including fines and the possibility of re-filing the original charges. “To date, reminding applicants that these provisions exist has been enough to ensure they meet their obligations,” Weir says.
While WorkSafe is encouraged by the completion of EU activities to date, it’s still too early to see whether the process is creating a culture shift. “Going forward we’ll be increasing our focus on longer term industry-wide changes,” he says.
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At last an answer to the greatest office debate of all: how cold to set the air-con
An honest living
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Tag Archives: Eleanor Zichy
10/24/14 (Part Three): I Am the Ghost That Haunts My Halls
31 Days of Halloween, Abigail Breslin, auteur theory, Canadian films, cinema, Cube, David Hewlett, Eleanor Zichy, Film auteurs, film reviews, films, ghosts, Groundhog Day, haunted houses, Haunter, Martine Campbell, Michelle Nolden, Movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, Peter DaCunha, Peter Outerbridge, Samantha Weinstein, Sarah Manninen, serial killers, Splice, Stephen McHattie, The Frighteners, The Lovely Bones, The Others, time loops, Vincenzo Natali
For a time, it seemed like writer-director Vincenzo Natali’s most recent full-length film, Haunter (2013), would be the first one of his movies to really disappoint me. Between the too on-the-nose title, a description that reads like a mash-up between The Others (2001) and Groundhog Day (1993) and a narrative thrust that parallels Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones (2009) to an uncomfortable degree, everything about Haunter felt clichéd and old-hat from the jump. But then, as often happens with Natali’s films, something really interesting happened: just when the film seemed doomed to follow its familiar path to an all-too familiar end, Natali pulls the rug out from underneath us, sending the film into some truly inspired, fascinating directions. By the fist-raising conclusion, one fact seems all too clear: count Natali out at your own peril, since this guy is the king of the 11th hour comeback.
From the on-set, there’s absolutely nothing special or original about Haunter in any way, shape or form: a decent enough credit sequence featuring CGI butterflies in jars leads to an opening scene between Lisa (Abigail Breslin) and her mother, Carol (Michelle Nolden), that makes it explicitly clear that we’re watching a variation on The Others. Despite what her mother and father (Peter Outerbridge) tell her, Lisa is positive that her family is caught in a loop of sorts, ala Groundhog Day. She figures this out due to the fact that it’s been the day before her birthday for, like, ever, which seems like a decidedly good clue. Lisa also seems to catch hints of mysterious forms, shapes and noises around her, ala The Others, including a bewitching snippet of music from Peter and the Wolf that appears to come from the ventilation grates.
One day, while exploring her house, Lisa comes upon a small, locked wooden door in the laundry room, similar to something out of Alice in Wonderland. As she continues to explore, Lisa tries to make subtle changes to her routine, changes when end up subtly altering key moments of her daily “loop.” More importantly, however, Lisa altered routine appears to put her in touch with two mysterious presences: Olivia (Eleanor Zichy), another young killer who appears to be in a different time than Lisa and Edgar Mullins (Stephen McHattie), a sinister, obviously villainous “repairman” who seems to know an awful lot about Lisa situation…and who cautions Lisa to mind her own business, lest she open her and her family up for torment the likes of which they’ve never seen. When Lisa persists in her investigations, however, she realizes that Edgar may be more powerful than he seems, especially once she comes down for dinner and sees that her young brother’s imaginary friend is now visible…and sounds an awful lot like Edgar.
Soon, Lisa is trapped in a life-or-death struggle between mysterious forces, all in an effort to save someone who she doesn’t even know, someone who may or may not even be real. As she gets closer to the truth about her condition and Edgar’s real identity, Lisa will make the ultimate sacrifice in order to right old wrongs and bring peace to the restless dead. Edgar is a canny monster, however, and has no intention of going into that good night without a ferocious battle: as always, the past isn’t quite as easy to overcome as it might seem.
As I mentioned earlier, my initial impressions of Haunter were anything but positive, similar to my initial impression of Natali’s debut, Cube (1997). In this case, Natali’s film seemed to slavishly check comparisons off a list, arriving at something that resembled a greatest-hits jumble of haunted house and time loops clichés. If watching Natali films has taught me anything, however, it’s that initial impressions don’t necessarily mean much: sticking through the familiar aspects, I finally got to that patented tweaking of expectations that he does so well. By the end, not only had Haunter quelled my previous concerns but it kept me rapt and on the edge of my seat all the way the closing credits.
The script is patently solid, another Natali trademark, but the real feather in its cap is an excellent supporting cast, featuring a truly awe-inspiring turn from character actor Stephen McHattie as the villainous Edgar Mullins. While Breslin is great as Lisa, equal parts inquisitive young person and world-weary protector, McHattie is a complete force of nature. It might seem reductive to tell someone to watch a film simply for the “bad guy” but you can make the case with many of the Nightmare on Elm Street sequels and you can certainly make the case here. Without putting too fine a point on it, McHattie is superb, creating a character that deserves to take its place in the “Bad Guy Hall of Shame.” No lie: the character and performance is that awesome…I was still thinking about Edgar Mullins for days afterward.
As the film gets trickier and less obvious, it also becomes exponentially more fast-paced and action-packed, all the way to a stellar climax that manages to reference both The Dark Half (1993) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989). Similar to his work in Cube and Splice (2009), Natali ramps up to the action so subtly that we barely even notice the change from more austere haunted house chills to more overt thrills. It’s a nice technique that showcases a sense of restraint missing in many current low-budget indie horror films, a sense of restraint that other filmmakers would do well to emulate.
Ultimately, Haunter is not the most original film you’ll ever see: if I had to boil it down, I’d say that it basically plays like a better, more crowd-pleasing version of The Lovely Bones, albeit one that manages to work time loops into the mix in a thoroughly fresh way. Despite beginning with a rather tired, hackneyed idea, however, Natali manages to breathe fresh life into it: despite my general dislike of remakes, I’m coming to the conclusion that there might not be anyone better qualified to re-imagine an existing film than he is. After all, he managed to take an overly familiar concept and turn it into something shiny and new: if that’s not the whole point of a remake, I don’t know what it.
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Tag Archives: UK films
7/29/15 (Part One): A Sinister Case of Deja Vu
Antonia Campbell-Hughes, archival footage, archivists, Calum Heath, Carl Shaaban, Ceiri Torjussen, cheating partners, children in peril, cinema, dead children, dramas, father-son relationships, film reviews, films, foreign films, Hannah Hoekstra, haunted bathrooms, horror, horror films, human sacrifice, husband-wife relationship, infidelity, Irish films, Ivan Kavanagh, Kelly Byrne, Movies, Piers McGrail, Robin Hill, Rupert Evans, sewer tunnels, Sinister, Steve Oram, supernatural, The Canal, The Ring, twist ending, UK films, writer-director
Here’s a bit of friendly advice, free of charge and as heartfelt as the day is long: should there ever come a time when you’re in the market for a house and discover creepy video footage of terrible acts being committed in said house…go find another damn house. I mean, sure: this particular place might have hardwood floors, a nice backyard, good schools, a progressive city council and easy access to public transportation. If, however, it was also a place where people were tortured/murdered/sacrificed/et al, well…is linoleum really that bad?
While there have been a handful of films that have utilized the above trope to good effect, perhaps none have been more recently popular than Scott Derrickson’s Sinister (2012), in which Ethan Hawke moves his family into a former “murder house” and shit gets all kinds of…you know…sinister. On the heels of that surprise smash (with a sequel scheduled for sometime in the near future), we get Irish writer-director Ivan Kavanagh’s The Canal (2014), in which a husband/father discovers that his family’s new(ish) home might have more than a few secrets of its own. Similar to Derrickson’s film in some pretty substantial ways, The Canal still manages to carve out its own path, paralleling the sad dissolution of a marriage with the eerie happenings in and around a creepy house and the adjoining canal.
We first meet our hapless hero, David (Rupert Evans), as he and his pregnant wife, Alice (Hannah Hoekstra), are just about to buy the aforementioned creepy house. Flash forward five years and David, Alice and their now five-year-old son, Billy (Calum Heath), seem content in their abode, although we get hints of trouble in paradise. In particular, David and Alice seem to have a strained relationship that includes her getting late-night calls from “clients,” one of whom, a strapping young lad named Alex (Carl Shaaban), seems to be just a little too close for comfort to David’s lady-love.
As these dramatic developments are unfolding, David’s day-job suddenly inserts itself into the equation. You see, David and his partner, Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), are film archivists and they’ve just got in a new batch of old police films, one of which takes place in the very house that David, Alice and Billy call home. It appears that a husband murdered his philandering wife, was jailed, escaped and proceeded to hunt down and slaughter his own son and the boy’s nanny. Faster than you can whisper “sinister,” David has become obsessed with the case, the grisly details of which have begun to seep into his dreams.
Opting to follow his hunch, David trails Alice, one night, and his worst fears are confirmed when he witnesses her making the beast with two backs with handsome, ol’ Alex. Utterly destroyed, David slouches away and winds up at the undeniably creepy public restroom, next to the canal by his house, where he and his young son once threw stones at “ghosts.” While sobbing in a stall, David is confronted by a mysterious figure who intones the suitably chilling “The Master wants you.” Racing out, he seems to be just in time to witness his wife grappling with someone by the water’s edge.
When his wife never comes home that night, David calls the police and ends up in the gravitational pull of one Detective McNamara (Steve Oram), a cagey, soft-spoken Irish Columbo who gets one of the film’s best lines: “People always suspect the husband. You know why that is? Because it’s always the fucking husband.” Needless to say, McNamara doesn’t buy David’s story of a mysterious assailant or bathroom visitation for one minute: from the jump, it’s pretty obvious that he’s a bulldog with a bone and has no intention of dropping his “prize” whatsoever, especially once Alice’s body is hauled up from the canal.
As David tries to keep his life together, with the endless assistance of long-suffering, pot-smoking nanny Sophie (Kelly Byrne), he digs deeper and deeper into the history of his house. Turns out that the aforementioned husband and wife weren’t the only tragedies in the home’s past: there’s a virtual laundry list of previous crimes, atrocities and terrible acts, including a woman who burned her own child alive but insists that “demons” did it. David becomes convinced that the house (and adjoining canal) are all part of a terrible child sacrifice conspiracy, a terrifying tradition of evil that he, Alice and Billy have, unwittingly, become part of. To make matters worse (better?), David sees all manner of strange, creepy figures around the house, especially once he begins to film supposedly empty rooms with an old-fashioned movie camera.
With Claire and Sophie worried about his sanity and McNamara doing his damnedest to put him into jail, David knows that the only way to clear his name is to uncover the hideous paranormal monstrosities at the heart of it all. Is David really getting a peep into a murderous, ghostly phantasmagoria or is he just as insane and guilty as McNamara assumes? To find out, David will need to do the unthinkable: he’ll need to go into the murky, seemingly bottomless depths of the canal. Will he find salvation…or doom?
Exceptionally well-made, if always a little too obvious, writer-director Kavanagh’s The Canal is the latest in a series of austere, serious-minded and atmospheric horror films that include the likes of Absentia (2011), The Pact (2011) and Oculus (2013), among others. As with the rest of these “New Wave of Atmospheric Horror” (NWoAH, patent pending) films, The Canal looks and sounds great: the colors are bright and vibrant (the color palette switches between reds and blues, depending on David’s current state of mind), cinematographer Piers McGrail (who also shot the highly lauded Let Us Prey (2014)) shoots some truly lovely footage and the sense of creeping unease is thick from the jump.
The acting is solid, with Evans and Oram leading the pack, albeit from two completely opposite sides of the coin: Evans perfectly portrays the combined despair, agony, fear, rage and sorrow within David, leading to a performance that’s truly three-dimensional, even if the whole thing is colored in shades of gray and black. Oram, on the other hand, is like a breath of fresh air, a vibrant, alive, cynical and altogether awesome police presence who provides a perfect foil for David and a great source of association for the audience.
Between these towering presences, the rest of the cast acquits themselves nicely (Campbell-Hughes is especially great as David’s partner/only friend), although a few of the characters (Alice’s mother comes immediately to mind) are so under-developed as to be more plot points than real people. I also wish that Hoekstra got a little more to do: there are a few nicely emotional moments between her and David but, by and large, the focus is squarely on him, not her. Due to this, Alice comes across as more of a “bad guy” than anything: since we never get to spend much time with her, the decision to cheat on David also feels more like a plot point than an organic culmination of their relationship.
On the horror side, The Canal also equates quite nicely with the aforementioned NWoAH films: like the others, the film has a chilly, glacial pace and a tendency to rely on slow burn chills and “something’s happening behind you”-isms, although the occasional jump-cuts and loud musical cues are thoroughly off-putting and kind of obnoxious. When you have images as nice as the ones in this film, long, leisurely takes work much better than jump-cuts or quick-cuts, especially when trying to build atmosphere. It’s a minor quibble, to be sure, but one that definitely took me out a time or two.
While The Canal is full of really rich horror moments/imagery (one of the most unforgettable being the zombie-like figure that gives birth to an equally horrifying child…I’ve rarely seen anything quite that nasty and it’s a truly bracing moment), the main problem, once again, ends up being the familiarity of it all. In particular, Kavanagh and company make two explicit references to Gore Verbinski’s remake of The Ring (2002), including one where a creepy woman with long, dark hair crawls out of a television set. To be honest, it’s an oddly lazy moment in a film that’s generally much more interesting than that, although the image, itself, still packs a nice visceral wallop.
There’s also an inherent issue with this kind of “did he/didn’t he?” storyline, especially when the filmmakers seem to push one particular viewpoint over the other: while The Canal does take a few twists and turns and does a good job with the kind of open ending that usually causes me to roll my eyes, nothing that happened was really that surprising or shocking. I felt like I knew what was coming from the first reel and, for the most part, that’s exactly what I got. Again, this isn’t to cast undue derision on Kavanagh’s film as much as to state the relative limitations of this particular kind of tale.
Despite some minor issues and the aforementioned similarities to other films, The Canal is actually quite exceptional: some of the supernatural elements and imagery were quietly stunning and the relationship drama aspect feels utterly real (almost painfully so). One of the scenes, where David films by the canal as “something” approaches the camera, agonizingly slow step by agonizingly slow step, is really as good as NWoAH films get: there’s a genuine sense of building terror that hits you in the gut like a brick.
Looking through Kavanagh’s back-catalog, The Canal appears to be his most explicitly horror-related film, with the majority of his work seeming to fall into the “dark drama” category. This, of course, makes perfect sense: as mentioned earlier, the dissolution of David and Alice’s marriage has a verisimilitude that makes you want to look away, even though you’re too wrapped up in the events to do so. Here’s to hoping that Kavanagh continues to work in the horror field: there are enough good ideas and stylish moments here to indicate that he definitely has something to say. Hopefully, in the future, he won’t lean quite so heavily on what came before: I have a feeling that Kavanagh’s “roads not taken” might lead to some pretty damn interesting places.
7/15/15 (Part Three): Lost Swans and Hot Lead
'90s homage, action films, action-comedies, Adam Buxton, Bad Boys, Bill Bailey, Bill Nighy, Billie Whitelaw, Blazing Saddles, British comedies, British films, Cate Blanchett, cinema, co-writers, cops behaving badly, David Arnold, David Threlfall, Edgar Wright, Edward Woodward, ensemble cast, Eric Mason, fast-paced, film reviews, films, goofy films, Hot Fuzz, ineffectual cops, Jess Hall, Jim Broadbent, Joe Cornish, Julia Deakin, Kevin Eldon, Lucy Punch, Martin Freeman, Movies, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Paul Freeman, Peter Wight, Point Blank, public decency, Rafe Spall, Ron Cook, Rory McCann, Shaun of the Dead, SImon Pegg, small town life, small-town British life, Stephen Merchant, Steve Coogan, Stuart Wilson, the Cornetto trilogy, The World's End, Timothy Dalton, UK films, urban vs rural, violent films, wisecracking cops, writer-actor, writer-director, Young Frankenstein
There’s something a little off in the sleepy, picturesque hamlet of Sandford, UK and it’s up to gung-ho London super-cop, Nick Angel, to figure out what it is. Sure, the inhabitants of the tranquil little village may seem impossibly friendly, the kind of small-town folks who know everyone’s names and just how many sugar cubes they take in their tea, thank you very much. Sandford may seem impossibly clean, neat and crime-free (no one in town, for example, has even heard of the “M-word” (Murder, doncha know?), let alone done the dirty deed), a peek into a peaceful township where the biggest problems are the “living statue” street performer and a “hoodie epidemic” that vexes the preternaturally polite populace something fierce.
Ask any genre fan worth their salt, however, and they’ll probably all say the same thing: small, quiet little towns like Sandford may seem like oases from the rat-race of the world at large but, dig a little deeper, and they’ll always produce more than their fair share of skeletons in the various closets. Behind every kind, small-town smile lurks a bottomless capacity for evil and down every immaculately cobblestoned pathway? Why, the very heart of Hell, itself! After all…can you really trust someone who seems so…nice?
If you’re Edgar Wright and the rest of his merry band of hooligans, the answer is an absolutely resounding “Hell no!” and the result is the second film in writer-director Wright’s “Cornetto Trilogy,” Hot Fuzz (2007). While the first film in the series, the modern classic Shaun of the Dead (2004), tipped the musty, old zombie film ass-over-tea-kettle, Hot Fuzz seeks to do the same for action-packed ’90s cop films (the final point of the trilogy, The World’s End (2013), takes on alien invasion epics). By using most of the same terrific ensemble from Shaun of the Dead and that patented zany brand of deadpan humor, Wright capitalizes on everything that made his previous film so much fun, while throwing plenty of bones to anyone weaned on actioners like Point Break (1991) or Bad Boys (1995). While the film is always a little goofy, it’s also a smart film, full of blink-and-miss-em visual references, plenty of silly action, some surprisingly bracing violence and enough witty dialogue and outrageous scenarios to keep the punters in stitches. In other words: prime Wright, through and through.
After Nick Angel is promoted to Sergeant and sent to the sticks (his always-on antics are making not only his police peers but his big-city superiors look like ineffectual morons), it looks like his eternal crime-fighting pilot light will be snuffed, never to blaze again. After he ends up in the middle of a pair of suspicious deaths that are unceremoniously labeled an “accident” by the local police force, Angel decides to do his own investigation, with the dunderheaded assistance of one PC Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), the fairly useless son of Angel’s new superior, Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent).
As more and more “accidents” keep popping up, however, Angel begins to suspect that the sleepy town might harbor more below the surface than just an unhealthy interest in winning “Village of the Year.” As Nick and Danny butt heads with the local chamber of commerce, headed by Tom Weaver (a completely unrecognizable Edward Woodward) and slimy grocery-store impresario Simon Skinner (former 007 Timothy Dalton), they begin to get wind of a conspiracy that might, potentially, involve every resident of the lovely little town. When it begins to seem as if the pair have gotten in over their heads, however, there’s only one sure-fire fix: binge-watch ’90s action flicks and then take the fight right to the streets.
Is there really something going on, however, or is poor Nick just going completely stir-crazy in the snoozy little community? As he gets closer and closer to the truth, Nick will learn that there’s only a few things he can put his faith in: his unwavering belief in the absolute power of good over evil, his steadfast determination to rid the streets of any and all crime (shoplifters, beware!) and the universal truth that absolutely anything will explode into a towering fireball once shot. Bad boys? You better believe it, buddy!
Reprising their winning chemistry from Shaun of the Dead, if not their actual characters, Pegg and Frost are exceptionally bright points of light in the altogether brilliant constellation that comprises Hot Fuzz’s ensemble. Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan pop up, briefly, as Nick’s self-serving London superiors…writer-directors Joe Cornish, Peter Jackson and Wright, himself, all have cameos…Cate Blanchett stops by for an unannounced turn as Nick’s unfaithful former girlfriend…Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall show up as a couple of idiotic cops nicknamed “the Andes” (since they’re both named Andy, dig?)…the always amazing Olivia Colman (Peep Show, as well as endless other British endeavors) has a blast as snarky PC Doris Thatcher…the aforementioned Dalton (one twirled mustache removed from silent-era villainy) and Woodward (best known on this side of the pond for his titular role as TV’s Equalizer, on the other side for his landmark performance in The Wicker Man (1973)) chew miles of scenery…writer-actor Stephen Merchant gets a great bit as Peter Ian Staker (or P.I. Staker, for the punny win)…virtually every second of screentime is occupied by a phenomenal actor given free rein to be patently awesome.
The result, of course, is an incredibly immersive experience, the equivalent of Mel Brooks’ ridiculously star-studded classics like Young Frankenstein (1974) or Blazing Saddles (1974). When combined with the picturesque locations, the over-the-top action sequences and the often absurd comedy, Hot Fuzz (like the other two films in the Cornetto Trilogy) is its own self-contained universe. It’s this quality that allows moments like Adam Buxton’s outrageously gory death (his head is reduced into a fine mist via the timely application of a fallen stone block) or the unrelentingly action-packed finale to sit comfortably beside more “high-brow” comedy fare like the scene where Angel engages in a crossword duel with a cagey old lady or the one where he rides through town to the tune of the Kinks’ “Village Green Preservation Society.”
There are great throwaway jokes about the amount of damage caused by “good guys” in action movies, the tendency of small-town busybodies to focus on pointless “outrages” like hoodie sweatshirts and street performers over more important issues like corruption and justice and how small town folks in films often slot effortlessly into the “sinister locals” category (one of the townsfolk was an extra in Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs (1971), we’re told on more than one occasion). There’s great comic material here both high and low, literally something for any fan of the funny stuff.
One of the smartest tricks Wright and company utilize is the restaging of famous action movie setpieces from the likes of pop-culture phenomena like Point Break and Bad Boys. While these scenes would function just fine in a vacuum, previous knowledge of Danny Butterman’s much-loved action films makes the experience that much richer: there may be no more sublime scene in the entire film than the one where Nick and Skinner battle it out over the ruins of a scale-model version of the town. As the two punch it out, like warring Gargantua or Godzilla with a particularly stiff upper-lip, a broken fire hydrant supplies a continuous shower of water over the two: in other words, Wright goes ahead and gives us one of those clichéd old bits where the hero and villain fight it out in the rain, pounding abuse on each other as the very skies join in. And it works gloriously: somewhere in “movie heaven,” Riggs and Murtagh are looking down, fondly, I’m willing to wager.
In feel (and tone), Hot Fuzz probably hews a little closer to its follow-up, The World’s End, than its predecessor, Shaun of the Dead. Hot Fuzz, however, like the films it references, is an altogether bigger, noisier and more boisterous affair than either of the other films: while Shaun of the Dead was full of great setpieces and The World’s End managed to take a leap into much “bigger” themes, the action beats of the middle film are their own little world. Hot Fuzz is a little “dumber” and “slighter” than the other two but that’s also to be expected: you don’t wade into the fray of silly, adrenalized action movies without getting a little of it on your shirtsleeves, after all.
Despite being less than enamored with Hot Fuzz upon its initial release, the film has grown on me, over the years, in a way that I’m not sure Shaun or World’s End has (although World’s End still has plenty of time to go): once I allowed myself to get swept away by the film’s loud, Technicolor action and ferocious sense of energy, however, it became easier to absorb the more subtle, truly ingenious elements to Wright’s style.
If you grew up on ’90s actioners, harbor suspicions against the status quo or fancy yourself a bit of a lone wolf, Wright and Pegg’s Hot Fuzz practically demands another viewing. Come for the gleeful chaos and copious explosions but stay for the kind of insightful, in-depth and subtle commentary that we’ve come to expect from one of genre cinema’s most unusual visionaries. As Michael might say: “Yarp.” Yarp, indeed.
6/20/15 (Part One): The Enemy of My Enemy
action films, Andrea Riseborough, bad cops, British films, cinema, conspiracy, corrupt law enforcement, crime thriller, Daniel Mays, David Morrissey, Ed Wild, Elyes Gabel, Eran Creevy, father-son relationships, film reviews, films, gorgeous cinematography, Harry Escott, heists, Jacob Sternwood, James McAvoy, Jason Flemyng, Johnny Harris, Mark Strong, Max Lewinsky, Movies, odd couple, set in London, slo-mo shots, stylish films, thrillers, UK films, violent films, Welcome to the Punch, writer-director
Possessing plenty of sizzle but precious little steak, writer-director Eran Creevy’s Welcome to the Punch (2013) is a classic example of style-over-substance: although the film has a high degree of technical polish, with some truly gorgeous cinematography and a collection of strong performances, it’s also unnecessarily complex, emotionally hollow and more than a little trite. At the end of the day, sitting down with Welcome to the Punch is a lot like watching a particularly vibrant fireworks display: you may be captivated in the moment, oohing and aahing in all the right places, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll remember any of the explosions after the smell of gunpowder has wafted away.
The film kicks off with a tense and genuinely thrilling (if overtly flashy) heist sequence, followed by a high-speed escape on motorbikes through the streets of London. The leader of the thieves is Jacob Sternwood (Low Winter Sun’s Mark Strong), while the pursuing detective is Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy): when Max finally catches up to his quarry, he earns a bullet in his leg, for his troubles, and one helluva grudge. Sternwood escapes and our plucky hero vows to tear up every inch of ground from here to hell in order to get him back.
Flashing forward three years, Max is still nursing along his wounded leg, while Jacob is hiding out somewhere in Iceland, waiting for the heat to die down. When Jacob’s hot-headed son, Ruan (Elyes Gabel), is injured during his own heist, however, his father decides to risk returning to England in order to check on him. Big mistake, as it turns out, since Max has been biding his time for just such an instance. He may have a level-headed partner, Sarah (Andrea Riseborough), to keep him in check but he also has three years of pain and lost time to pay back: suffice to say, Max has no intention of letting his prey slip away twice.
As Max and Sarah pursue Jacob and investigate the details behind Ruan’s botched heist, they also begin to uncover hints of some sort of conspiracy going on behind the scenes, a conspiracy which may or may not involve their commanding officer, Lieutenant Geiger (David Morrissey), and his second-in-command, the officiously slimy Nathan Bartnick (Daniel Mays). In a properly ironic twist, it seems that the only person who can shed light on Max’s potentially crooked peers is the one man who he’ll stop at nothing to destroy: Jacob Sternwood. Will Max and Jacob be able to set aside their bad blood in order to get to the bottom of things or will the need for revenge override the need for truth?
From a technical standpoint, Welcome to the Punch is just about as good as this type of film gets: Ed Wild (who also shot one of my all-time favorite films, Severance (2006)), turns in some suitably eye-popping cinematography, featuring a wealth of beautiful crane and helicopter shots, a cool color palette and some immaculately composed shots, while Harry Escott’s score is duly thrilling, amping the numerous car chase/shootouts up to almost mythic proportions. This is the kind of film made for a wall-rattling sound system, the kind of movie where every gunshot and tire screech roars from the screen larger than life and ready to knock the unsuspecting viewer through the far wall.
The fight and chase scenes are all nicely composed and choreographed, avoiding the overly hectic editing of something like the Bourne series and ending up closest to the string of hard-edged ’80s action films that starred Burt Reynolds and an assortment of cannon fodder. It’s quite easy to get caught up in the film’s rollercoaster ride, especially when great patches barrel forward at such a relentlessly breathless pace.
The problem, unfortunately, ends up being that the whole thing makes such imperfect sense. At times, there’s the distinct feeling that Creevy has written his characters (and film) into such a corner that a dizzying amount of misdirection is required to keep us all on-track. There are so many crosses, double-crosses and red herrings that I gave up trying to make sense of it all about halfway through: it was much easier (and more pleasurable) to just shut off that part of my brain and enjoy the (admittedly) flashy ride.
This ends up being a huge problem because logic and thrills don’t have to be mutually exclusive: there’s no rule-book that says a heist/revenge film has to be any more nonsensical than your average “drama,” no blueprint that requires the jettisoning of common sense. This, ultimately, is what separates a film like Welcome to the Punch from a truly exceptional action movie like John Wick (2014): they’re both relentless thrill rides but John Wick always feels likes there’s more going on below the surface than we can catch, despite the film’s deceptively “simple” structure, whereas Welcome to the Punch produces the exact opposite reaction.
More’s the pity, since Creevy makes good use of a pretty stellar cast. As usual, McAvoy is granite-block sturdy as the honest cop with a grudge, while Strong turns in his best performance (as far as I’m concerned) yet. There’s a nuance and complexity to Sternwood that Strong really brings to the surface, making a nice contrast to the other, more reptilian, side of his coin. Riseborough does well with the slightly thankless role of the do-gooder partner, although both Morrissey and Mays turn in pretty standard-issue crooked cop roles: since we never really get under any of these characters’ skins, many of the performances come across more as generic types than actual individuals, despite the universally strong performances. While some of the performances are head-and-shoulders above the others (McAvoy and Strong, in particular), none of the actors are bad: it kind of goes hand-in-hand with the film’s high level of polish.
Ultimately, I found Welcome to the Punch to be fun and fast-paced, if largely forgettable. While there are a handful of really great scenes here (the one where Dean shows up at his mother’s house, only to find Max and Jacob already waiting for him, is one of the finest bits of sustained tension I’ve seen, while there are any number of endlessly kinetic, thrilling shootouts), the whole film is just too clichéd and “comfortable” to ever carve out its own patch of ground. In many ways, Welcome to the Fold reminds me of another loud, flashy and, ultimately, disappointing action film, Michael Davis’ Shoot ‘Em Up (2007). While there will always be a place for a few mindless thrills, I can’t shake the feeling that Eran Creevy’s Welcome to the Punch could have been so much more.
6/4/15: All Good Children Fear the Woods
Alice Englert, Allen Leech, backwoods folk, British films, British horror, cinema, couples on vacation, Daniel Pemberton, David Katznelson, endless roads, film reviews, films, horror, horror movies, Iain De Caestecker, In Fear, isolation, Jeremy Lovering, lost in the woods, masked killers, Movies, psychopaths, Roly Porter, secluded hotel, set in Ireland, UK films, writer-director
While some might disagree, I firmly believe that there’s one, universal fear: being lost in an unfamiliar place. Not everyone is terrified of spiders, dogs, heights, the dark or rutabagas but I’d be more than willing to wager that it’s impossible to find a person who isn’t afraid of being lost somewhere. Sure, you’ll always have the adventurous folks who say that getting lost in a new place is half the fun but I’m pretty sure there are qualifiers: said folks might enjoy being lost in a bustling, vibrant, overseas food market but how would they feel about suddenly finding themselves wandering some anonymous country road, alone, in the middle of night with nothing but a matchbook for illumination?
Getting lost in this big world of ours used to be a much easier task: anyone who remembers the acute joy of unfolding the equivalent of thirteen miles of intricately folded paper in order to find their current location “on the fly” knows this all too well. With the introduction of smart phones and GPS, however, the world has become notably smaller and it’s become decidedly more difficult to become truly lost. After all: how often do we actually come upon a location that doesn’t show up on the all-seeing eye of the Global Positioning System? According to writer-director Jeremy Lovering’s In Fear (2013), it does happen. The results, as you might guess, aren’t pretty.
Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) are a young couple who’ve been dating for a couple of weeks and decide to meet a bunch of friends at a big music festival in Ireland. In order to celebrate their fledgling relationship, Tom (without Lucy’s knowledge) has booked them a stay at an isolated inn that happens to be on the way, all the better to get a little “alone time” before they meet up with the rest of the crew.
After some unpleasant run-ins with the locals that we hear about (but don’t see), Tom and Lucy find themselves driving down a seemingly endless country road, following what seems to be an absurd amounts of signs that purport to lead the way to their inn, the Kilairney House Hotel. On the way, they pass a sinister-looking, decrepit house with a prominent “Do Not Enter” sign affixed to the front gate. Lucy also begins to get the creeping suspicion that someone (or something?) is watching them from the shadows, as the day quickly transitions into the even shadowier evening.
As the couple continues to drive in circles, their relationship begins to fray at the edges. Things really get interesting, however, when the couple accidentally plows into a mysterious stranger who just appears in the center of the road. The bloodied Max (Allen Leech) claims that he was attacked by a group of local hunters, folks who he has some sort of undisclosed beef with. Finagling a ride from Tom and Lucy, Max seems like a harmless enough, if rather odd, fellow. As the couple will discover, however, you can’t always judge a book by its cover. What are Max’s real intentions? Does he have anything to do with their current predicament or is it just coincidence that they happened upon him? Who is watching the group from the woods? What happened with the locals in the pub? Is there a logical explanation for what’s happening or have the couple managed to slip through the cracks of our comfortable, well-lit existence into something decidedly more shadowy and evil? Will they ever make it to the inn? If so, what will they find there?
At first glance, In Fear seems to be yet the latest in a long line of “backwoods brutality” pictures, those delightful little gems that feature citified folks heading into rural areas (usually in foreign countries), running afoul of the (usually) debauched locals and being pursued/tortured/eaten/etc. In a nice change of pace, however, Lovering doesn’t make this notion the main course, even though he keeps it simmering on the back burner for much of the film’s relatively short running time. Instead, In Fear ends up being something decidedly more eerie, supernatural and difficult to describe, with the closest parallel that I can handily recall being something like the highly under-rated Dead End (2003), where Ray Wise and Lin Shaye found themselves trapped on an endlessly repeating stretch of country road.
In fact, one of the film’s greatest strengths is its steadfast refusal to over-explain anything or hold the audience’s hand. While some viewers might be turned off by the strange, open-ended nature of the film, that aspect actually elevated the proceedings, as far as I’m concerned. Lovering doles out little details, here and there, but we’re never quite sure what’s going on or why: at one point, Max tells Tom and Lucy that they must have provoked “them” but we have absolutely no idea who he means…the locals? The mysterious hunters who’ve strung strange pelts across the road? The woods, itself? Ghosts? Sasquatch? We never find out and the film is all the stronger for it.
Along with the simple, compact script and structure, In Fear also benefits from a trio of exceptionally capable performances: when your film only features three actors, they better all be able to hold their own and Lovering’s cast acquit themselves quite nicely. De Caestecker (excellent in the recent Filth (2013)) and Englert (star of the recent Beautiful Creatures (2013)) make a good couple and have genuine chemistry together, which is something that you see all too infrequently in indie horror films like this. In most cases, you’re left wondering why people this miserable would ever want to spend time together: here, we buy their new relationship from the get-go, which makes the eventual collapse more impactful. More importantly, Tom and Lucy are both sympathetic characters (barring the odd moment where Tom sneaks up on Lucy and scares her for no reason, whatsoever), which makes what happens to them more powerful.
The third point of the triangle, Allen Leech, is probably the most high-profile, especially following his excellent turn in last year’s Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game (2014) and his recurring role on the hugely popular Downton Abbey. It’s also important to remember, however, that Leech was equally fantastic as John Cusack’s creepy assistant in the stellar Grand Piano (2014) and it’s this particular well that he dips into for In Fear. Leech’s Max is a highly enigmatic character, swinging wildly from absolute insanity to cheerful “laddish” behavior, often within the same scene. We never do really find out who Max is or what he wants but, as with the rest of the film’s open-ended nature, this feels less like an omission and more like a very conscious choice. Regardless of where he ends up fitting in the overall scheme of things, Leech’s Max is a really great, endlessly creepy character and another unforgettable performance from one of the 2000’s most interesting actors.
Ultimately, In Fear is the very definition of a sleeper: the film defies all expectations and, in its own way, is one of the more successful horror films I’ve seen recently. Rather than holding it back, the film’s small-scale and modest scope allow it a focus missing in many similar indie films: unlike other low-budget genre filmmakers who swing for the stars and miss miserably, Lovering and company focus on telling a small story in a tight, focused manner and succeed quite handily. When the film is creepy, it really burrows under your skin and takes up residence: just the hazy lighting quality of the dusk scenes, alone, is enough to light up the reptilian fear parts of the brain. With David Katznelson’s evocative cinematography and Daniel Pemberton and Roly Porter’s constantly ominous score, In Fear is a quality piece of work, from start to finish.
If getting lost in the middle of nowhere is one of your big fears, In Fear might just give you a case of the old cold sweats. Even if you’re one of those weekend warriors who relishes getting lost in the great outdoors, however, I’m willing to wager that you’ll still find something to unsettle you. At the very least, can’t we all agree that picking up mysterious, bloody strangers, in the middle of a deserted country road, at night, is just not a good idea?
4/25/15: The Fixer-Upper From Hell
Adam Thomas Wright, Altar, Antonia Clarke, British films, British horror, children in peril, cinema, film reviews, films, ghost whisperer, ghosts, haunted house, haunted houses, hidden mosaics, home renovations, horror, horror film, horror films, horror movies, husband-wife relationship, isolated estates, isolation, Jan Richter-Friis, Jonathan Jaynes, Matthew Modine, Movies, Nick Willing, Olivia Williams, parent-child relationships, possession, Rebecca Calder, Satanic rituals, set in England, sins of the past, Stephen Chance, Steve Oram, supernatural, twist ending, UK films, writer-director
If we go by the conventions of horror films, one of the single most dangerous occupations out there is home renovation. Sure, law enforcement, fire fighting and high-rise window-washing might seem more dangerous, at least on paper, but we know the truth: anytime someone tries to fix up a creepy, old, decaying country estate, there’s a roughly 90% chance of something terrible happening. If those were Vegas odds, Sin City would have gone the way of the dodo generations ago.
Writer-director Nick Willing’s Altar (2014) is but the latest in a long line of haunted house films precipitated on the above notion: a family moves into a creepy, isolated country manor in order to renovate it, runs into long-buried secrets and ghostly presences and must survive the sinister residence’s sustained assaults upon their persons and psyches. In this case, Meg Hamilton (Olivia Williams) is the renovator who, along with her artist husband Alec (Matthew Modine) and children, Penny (Antonia Clarke) and Harper (Adam Thomas Wright), move into the creepy abode. Faster than you can say “Jack and Wendy Torrance,” the family are dealing with ghostly manifestations, Alec’s obsession with suddenly crafting a life-like clay figure and Meg’s discovery of a strange, vaguely pagan floor mosaic. If you guessed that “possession” factors into the proceedings, you’d be right but Willing has a few tricks up his sleeve that help take Altar in a slightly different (even if barely so) direction from the rest of the herd.
As far as atmosphere and location go, Altar is strictly top-notch: there’s a genuine sense of foreboding that lingers over every scene, thanks in large part to the exceptionally creepy location. Quite simply, Radcliffe House is the kind of evil, Gothic edifice that can make or break a haunted house film: in this case, it goes an awful long way in stocking up good will for the (occasionally) rough going. Willing goes light on the obvious jump scares, allowing for the whole thing to feel much more organic and old-fashioned than similar films (obnoxiously loud musical stingers are, thankfully, few and far between) and cinematographer Jan Richter-Friis’ camera-work helps to subtly play up the creep-factor.
The acting is uniformly good, which is another important factor in this kind of film: when a movie relies on mood and atmosphere, nothing spoils the party quite as effectively as over-the-top, amateurish or stilted acting. Williams is excellent as the mother/renovator: her extremely expressive face always seems to be reflecting some new measure of fresh horror, amping the psychological horror to an almost unbearable level. Modine, who’s had an almost ridiculously varied career over the past 30+ years, doesn’t fare quite as well as Williams does, mostly because his character is saddled with a few more eye-rolling traits than hers is. That being said, Modine and Williams have good chemistry together: until things go completely off the rails, it’s easy to imagine these two as a (once) loving couple, which is certainly more than you can say for many horror film duos. As the beleaguered children, Clarke and Wright are quite good, although they don’t get quite as much to do as their parents: at the very least, neither one wears out their welcome which, again, is more than you can say for many young actors in horror productions.
If anything really lets the air out of Altar’s sails, it’s definitely the hum-drum, overly clichéd ending: while the plot has plenty of holes (especially in the later going), the film manages to glide over most of them pretty effortlessly until it crashes headfirst into the chasm that is the film’s final “revelation.” While I wouldn’t dream of ruining the ending (perhaps because I understand it so imperfectly), suffice to say that faithful genre devotees will have seen this exact same thing done many, many times in the past…and done much better and much clearer, might I add. It’s a pity, really, since the film has some fairly intriguing ideas about transmogrification that are completely lost in the muddle. However unique the film begins, it ends in territory that is, to be kind, well-worn.
Ultimately, Altar is a good, if not great, entry in the crowded “family in peril” subgenre of horror films. When the atmosphere and mood are allowed to develop at their own measured, glacial pace, Willing’s film stands tall above the pretenders, buoyed by its own sense of stately grandeur. When the film becomes overly familiar and middle-of-the-road, however, it sinks right back into the teeming masses, indistinguishable from any one of two dozen other similar films.
2/13/15: Old Habits Die Hard
Aidan McArdle, alternate title, British films, British horror, Catholic church, Christianity vs paganism, cinema, Elliot Goldner, feature-film debut, film reviews, films, Final Prayer, foreign films, found-footage, found-footage films, Gordon Kennedy, haunted church, horror, horror films, horror movies, insanity, isolated estates, Luke Neal, mental illness, miracles, Movies, paganism, paranormal investigators, Patrick Godfrey, religious-themed horror, Robin Hill, suicide, The Borderlands, UK films, Vatican investigators, writer-director
Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to give a particular film a leg up on its competitors. Take writer-director Elliot Goldner’s feature-debut, The Borderlands (2014), for example. For the most part, Goldner’s film doesn’t do much different from the majority of other found-footage horror films on the market but it also doesn’t make many obvious mistakes, either. Add to this some effective performances, along with a creepy, fairly original main concept, and you end up with a pretty winning formula. While The Borderlands doesn’t raise the bar for these types of films, it’s still a suitably sturdy entry and should prove duly thought-provoking for patient horror aficionados.
Goldner’s debut deals with a small team of Vatican investigators who have been sent to a rural British church in order to check on claims of strange, miraculous occurrences. Our team consists of Deacon (Gordon Kennedy), the good-humored, gruff, hard-drinking veteran investigator; Mark (Aidan McArdle) the stick-in-the-mud, uptight, by-the-book priest who doesn’t actually seem to believe in anything; and their tech expert, Gray (Robin Hill), a studied non-believer who still seems more open to the concept of miracles than his religious-oriented cohorts. The group has been called to the small church in order to investigate the resident priest, Father Crellick (Luke Neal), whose claims of strange, unexplained happenings have set off alarm bells in Vatican City. While Deacon and Gray are used to debunking such claims, the case quickly proves itself to be a singularly odd one. For one thing, Crellick is a decidedly weird duck, given to strange proclamations and privy to “visions” that no one else seems to have. For another, the rural church is a ridiculously creepy place, less of a functional religious center than a hold-over from a much older, darker time: as a rule, folks in films should steer clear of anything built “on top” of anything else: suffice to say, it’s always bad news.
As the team continue to investigate, Deacon comes upon a journal, belonging to the church’s 1800s-era caretaker, which seems to hint at some sort of dark presence in the area. After a horrifying incident involving a flaming sheep, the group gets the distinct impression that the locals are a little less than welcoming of this intrusion into their land. Who (or what) is responsible for the mysterious, seemingly paranormal incidents at the church? Is eccentric Father Crellick somehow responsible? Is it all related to stories of ancient pagan ceremonies in the isolated valley? Is someone trying to chase the investigators away from an earth-bound conspiracy or is the reality something much darker and more sinister? As each of the men begins to experience their own strange events, Deacon and the others will be forced to face the unfathomable: if a “miraculous” event isn’t a miracle…what, exactly, is it?
For the most part, The Borderlands (given the unbelievably boring, generic alternate title of “Final Prayer” for American audiences, natch) is an assured, well-made and interesting film, albeit one that makes many of the same (inherent) missteps that most found-footage movies make. While nothing here is as obvious as the many Paranormal Activity (2007) sequels, we still get plenty of scenes that involves the audience intently peering at a static video image, waiting for something to move/jump/make a scary face/etc. Again, not terrible but so old hat, at this point, as to be almost risible. There are also plenty of strangely “unmotivated” camera shots, such as the lovely but out-of-place landscape exteriors, that pop up from time to time: like many found-footage films, the makers of The Borderlands don’t always have the tightest grasp on their “gimmick,” as it were, although this is hardly the sloppiest example of said issue.
Where Goldner’s film really sets itself apart from the found-footage pack is in the quality of its acting. Gordon Kennedy and Robin Hill are both pretty great and make nice foils for each other: there’s a level of shared respect between the two characters that’s nicely illustrated in the performances. Kennedy does the gruff “two-fisted man of God” schtick to a tee and Hill is nicely nerdy and kind of sweet as the tech wizard who only wants to believe, even though he really doesn’t. For his part, Aidan McArdle is appropriately assholish as the immovable Mark but, for some reason, I had the hardest time not seeing his character as a non-secular version of David Mitchell’s odious Mark character in Peep Show (2003-present). Jerks are jerks, however, and McArdle acquits himself nicely as the smug priest/bean-counter.
One of the biggest issues with found-footage films is always the endings: in most cases, they simply devolve into shaky camera-work, motion blurs and the all-important “drop the camera” bit, regardless of what came before. The Borderlands doesn’t (quite) go that route, opting for something quite a bit creepier and more bizarre. While the ending is certainly open for multiple interpretations, I’d like to think that the whole thing is a nod to Ken Russell’s batshit-crazy Lair of the White Worm (1988): it’s probably highly unlikely but who wouldn’t want to throw some props Russell’s way? Regardless of what it ultimately means, however, the ending is just different enough to warrant sitting through the entire film, especially if one is inclined to enjoy found-footage films.
For a debut-feature, The Borderlands is surprisingly good and makes an effective calling card for Goldner. By making good use of a rather unique location, a rarely-used religious angle, some rock-solid acting and a creepy, unexpected climax, Goldner and crew have come up with a film that looks a lot like its peers but has enough individuality and presence to stand on its own. It also features one of the single most disturbing, horrific and unforgettable scenes I’ve ever seen in a film (the burning sheep scene will haunt you, guaranteed), indicating that writer-director Goldner has no problems hanging out in the “dark side,” when necessary. Here’s to hoping that his next feature takes the good will he earned here and runs it in for the touch-down: The Borderlands may not be perfect but I’m willing to wager that Goldner has a pretty fascinating career ahead of him.
12/14/14 (Part Three): I and I Can’t Survive
1984, based on a book, British films, bureaucracy, Cathy Moriarty, cinema, confusing, dark comedies, dark films, doppelgängers, doubles, dramas, film reviews, films, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky, insanity, J. Mascis, James Fox, James Simon, Jesse Eisenberg, literary adaptation, loss of identity, Mia Wasikowska, Movies, Noah Taylor, office romances, Richard Ayoade, Simon James, Submarine, suicide, surrealism, The Double, UK films, Wallace Shawn, writer-director, Yasmin Paige
For better or worse, we appear to have experienced a bit of a renaissance in doppelgänger/double films over the past decade: The Prestige (2006), Timecrimes (2007), Moon (2009), Black Swan (2010), Another Earth (2011), The Face of Love (2013), +1 (2013), Enemy (2013), and The One I Love (2014) have all dealt with the rather nightmarish experience of coming face to face with yourself and the resultant difficulties that inevitably result from such meetings. While the above films are all (for the most part) as different from each other as possible, they all share the paranoid idea that, somewhere out there, there’s an exact duplicate of you just waiting to step into your shoes and take over your life. To this group, be sure to add writer-director-actor Richard Ayoade’s newest film, The Double (2014), a blackly comic adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s same-named novel that came out a mere two months after another similarly plotted film, Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy (2014)…talk about doubling your pleasure, eh?
What’s fueling this sudden interest in doubles? While plenty of folks have their own ideas, I think it has a lot to do with our society’s uncontrollable need to be “the best possible _____” we can be. In an age where fame is only a YouTube video away and social media contacts are worth more than any over-stuffed Rolodex, many folks must be coming to the conclusion that their “allotted” measure of fame has somehow been held-up, way-laid by some unknown force. If everybody is getting famous and you aren’t, there has to be a good reason: perhaps, just perhaps, you’re not getting what’s coming to you because another version of you is. Maybe you aren’t the next singing sensation because your doppelgänger already got a contract. Perhaps there’s another version of you that’s more successful with the opposite sex, wealthier, more powerful, etc…The whole concept of doppelgängers provides a handy “out” for those folks who just can’t seem to secure a foothold on the ladder of success: it’s not my fault…the “other” me got there first!
Jesse Eisenberg stars as Simon James, the neebishy, milquetoast and nearly non-existent office worker who toils his days away in an oddly anonymous company run by the eccentric fellow know only as The Colonel (James Fox). Living a life of quiet, tedious desperation, Simon has worked at the company for seven years, yet still has trouble being recognized by the overly officious front-desk guard (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) or even his own supervisor, Mr. Papadopoulos (Wallace Shawn). Simon also pines, in silence, for his lovely, yet equally odd, co-worker, Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), although she doesn’t seem to exist, either. This doesn’t stop Simon from peering at her apartment through his telescope, however, but it does (probably) preclude him from ever asking her out. Not to put to fine a point on it but Simon’s life is pretty damn shitty.
Things take a turn for the bizarre one night, however, when Simon chances to see someone jumping from an apartment across the way: the figure seems to smile and wave at Simon before leaping, which the poor guy finds suitably distressing. Imagine his further distress, then, when he seems to spy an exact double of himself through another apartment window. Faster than you can say “double your pleasure,” Simon’s company has just hired a dynamic new employee, someone who looks awful familiar: James Simon. As is par for the course with most doppelgänger films, James is pretty much the exact opposite of Simon: he’s outgoing, boisterous, popular, suave, aggressive and sly, all things that poor Simon has no experience with whatsoever. At first, James offers to help Simon woo Hannah, in exchange for posing as him and taking some aptitude tests. In short order, however, James has insinuated himself into every aspect of Simon’s life, stealing the credit for his work, blaming his foibles (such as seducing Mr. Popadopoulos’ daughter) on Simon and getting extremely friendly with Hannah.
As James appears to take over more and more of Simon’s life, the other man finds himself losing what little identity he appeared to have. A co-worker calls Simon a “non-entity” and the loss of his pass-card puts him in a completely untenable situation: he doesn’t exist, since he’s not in the system, but can’t get into the system unless he has a card, which he can’t get unless he’s in the system…a classic Catch-22 if ever there was one. Just when Simon’s situation seems as hopeless as it could possibly get, he hatches a desperate plan to get James out of his life forever. Will Simon be able to reclaim his identity? Is James as real as Simon? Can two objects occupy the same space, at the same time? If not, who will be left standing when the dust clears: meek Simon or assertive James? But most importantly: just what the hell is actually going on here in the first place?
Ayoade’s adaptation of The Double has quite a bit going for, not least of which is the film’s intriguing look, a visual style which splits the difference between the lo-tech dystopia of films like 1984 (1984), Brazil (1985) and Barton Fink (1991) and something like the noirish Gothica of Proyas’ Dark City (1998). None of the machines in the film, office or otherwise, look quite “right” and it’s impossible to assign any sort of time-period to the film: it might take place in 1950, 2050 or 12050, for all we know. Despite looking great, David Crank’s production design does have one unforeseen side-effect: rather than feeling like Dostoevsky, The Double often feels more in line with one of Kafka’s paranoid nightmares. While other critics have pointed this out as one of the film’s most damning flaws, I must politely disagree: as far as your humble host is concerned, the film’s production aspects are the most impressive thing about it…dig below the surface, however, and things get a bit dicier.
For one thing, the acting in the film tends to be rather hit-or-miss. Eisenberg is quite believable as the neebishy Simon but somewhat less so as the charismatic James. While playing opposite yourself is never the easiest acting gig, I’m instantly reminded of Mark Duplass’ much more interesting, dichotomous performance in the far-superior The One I Love: in that film, Duplass was able to portray both halves of himself as completely different, if inherently connected, individuals…they walked differently, talked differently…even smiled differently. Here, the differences between Simon and James are not only less consistent (James is never quite as assholey as he should be) but far less interesting. While I’ve never been the world’s biggest Eisenberg fan, I fully realize that he’s capable of much more than he does here.
The actor who really gets the short-end of the stick, however, is Wasikowska. So fascinating and vibrant in films like Albert Nobbs (2011), Stoker (2013) and Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Wasikowska is completely wasted here: made into more of a non-entity than even Simon, Hannah flits like a ghost from scene to scene, affecting nothing and matters not one iota, in the grand scheme of things. Her only expression seems to be a mild hint of confusion (or is it just gas?) and we get so little character development as to make her seem more symbolic than anything else. While several aspects of the film disappointed me, few were as vexing as the complete marginalization of Wasikowska.
The single biggest issue with the film, however, is just how hollow and meaningless the whole thing, ultimately, ends up feeling. While never intended as a particularly “warm” bit of entertainment, I was still expecting to feel something by the end of the final reel. As it stands, however, the only emotions I really walked out with were my previously mentioned disappointment, along with an overriding sense of frustration over the needlessly complex conclusion. Truth be told, the ending of the film makes absolutely no sense, even from a purely symbolic standpoint: perhaps I would need to go back and reread the original novel but The Double’s head-scratching finale felt more like philosophy freshmen riffing than any sort of “real” conclusion.
For all of this, however, I still find myself in the odd position of not really disliking the film…at least, not much. Despite the film’s many flaws, Richard Ayoade is an extremely talented filmmaker – his debut, Submarine (2010), is a rather excellent coming-of-age flick and the craftwork behind The Double is quite nice. I’ve always been a sucker for this kind of dystopic worldview and dystopia is one thing that The Double has in bushels. There are plenty of creepy moments to be found here (Simon’s first glimpse of “himself” is a real goosebump-raiser), along with some thought-provoking ideas about what it means to “be yourself,” as well as the frightening notion that, somewhere out there, there’s a more accomplished version of yourself then you’ll ever be. For a society obsessed with being the very best, this may be the hardest pill of all to swallow: no matter how much you want it, some thing’s are just out of your control.
12/14/14 (Part Two): The Little Garda Who Could
auteur theory, bad cops, Bad Lieutenant, Brendan Gleeson, buddy cop films, Calexico, cinema, corrupt law enforcement, David Wilmot, Declan Mannlen, Don Cheadle, drug dealers, dying mother, eponymous characters, FBI agents, feature-film debut, Film auteurs, film reviews, films, Fionnula Flanagan, fish-out-of-water, gallows' humor, Garda, Gary Lydon, Guy Ritchie, Irish films, John Michael McDonagh, Larry Smith, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, mother-son relationships, Movies, racism, Rory Keenan, Sergeant Gerry Boyle, set in Ireland, small town life, stolen guns, The Guard, UK films, Wendell Everett, writer-director
Towards the end of writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard (2011), there’s a scene where Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) solemnly changes into his traditional “Garda” uniform before heading out to face-off with the vicious drug dealers who have cold-bloodedly killed his partner. As he drives down the country-road, eyes locked straight ahead, he’s saluted by a young boy: a hero being recognized by the very people that he’s sworn to protect, an image as timeless as the very concept of law enforcement. It’s a huge, soaring moment for one important reason: for the first time in years, Sergeant Boyle has decided to actually do his job and we know, without a doubt, that the end result will be simply glorious.
Sergeant Boyle is the titular “guard” of the title but he’s also The Guard in a larger sense: every frame of the film, every plot twist, blackly comic moment and dastardly deed in McDonagh’s stunning feature-debut is completely and totally dominated by the towering presence that is Gleeson’s Boyle, a character who manages to be gleefully corrupt, yet still stands as a beacon of truth amidst those who are, you know, a whole lot worse. In a career that’s stretched to nearly three decades, Gleeson has never been better or more explosive: take a seat, Harvey…this here is the REAL bad lieutenant and you won’t be able to take your eyes off him.
We first get introduced to Gerry as he steals drugs from the bodies of a bunch of teens who just flipped their speeding car. The police officer nonchalantly drops acid, says “What a lovely fucking day” and we get the title, so big that it fills the entire screen, squeezing Boyle into the margins. The intent, as mentioned above, is pretty obvious: Boyle will dominate the proceedings, no two ways about it. Boyle might not be an honest cop, but he’s sure a helluva lot smarter than the rest of his peers: his partner, McBride (Rory Keenan) is one small step away from being a complete idiot and their superior officer, Inspector Stanton (Gary Lydon), thinks that “liquidated” people are actually turned into liquid. In this environment, can anyone really blame Boyle for looking out for number one? It’s not so much that Boyle is a bad cop, or even a lazy one, per se: he’s just so burned out on all the bureaucratic bullshit that he’s completely tuned-out…no sense getting fired-up about fighting crime if everyone around you keeps dropping the ball, is there? Better to spend one’s time cavorting with prostitutes, playing video games in a pub during the middle of your shift and getting shit-faced whenever possible.
Boyle gets shaken from his comfortable stupor, however, when his small, Irish hamlet ends up with a certifiable murder-mystery: a body has been found, shot in the head and posed in a way that seems to indicate some sort of cult activity. Despite caring so little about the case that he practically yawns his way through the initial investigation, Boyle goes through the motions, since that’s what he’s expected to do. Things really get interesting, however, when FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) shows up in town, investigating some sort of major drug case that involves four seriously bad dudes: Francis (Liam Cunningham), McCormick (Declan Mannlen), O’Leary (David Wilmot) and Clive (Low Winter Sun’s Mark Strong).
During Everett’s debriefing, Boyle makes a complete ass of himself after stating that he thought “only black lads were drug dealers:” Everett calls him a “racist,’ to which Boyle snaps back that “racism is part of Ireland’s tradition.” Casually racist though he might be, Boyle also recognizes McCormick as their anonymous murder victim, which gives Everett his first actual break in the case. Faster than you can say “odd couple,” Boyle and Everett are soon working together, albeit as reluctantly as possible. “I can’t tell if you’re real motherfucking dumb or really motherfucking smart,” Everett notes, at one point, and it’s a pretty valid question: Boyle is constantly working so many angles that he’s either the dumbest guy in town or the smartest, depending on whose bad side he happens to be on. When Everett and Boyle end up in the crosshairs of Francis and his gang, however, Boyle’s going to need all of his wits to survive. When the drug dealers kill one of his own, however, regardless of what an idiot he was, Boyle has no choice: it’s time for this Garda to quit messing around and get to the business of putting away the bad guys.
The Guard is an exceptional film, no two ways about it: quite possibly one of the very best films of the last five years. So much of the film works to an almost supernatural degree that it readily brought to mind “instant classics” like Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). The cinematography, by frequent Nicholas Winding Refn collaborator Larry Smith, is beautiful, making expert use of bright, primary colors and that lush, gorgeous Irish countryside. The score, by the Southwestern-based Calexico, is ridiculously rousing, all spaghetti-Western horns, steel guitar and action beats like one of Ennio Morricone’s classic scores. McDonagh’s script is airtight, full of deliciously snarky dialogue and some of the driest humor ever put to film. There’s something rather amazing about watching Everett and Boyle feint, parry and thrust around each other, testing for weak points and trying to push as many buttons as possible.
Let’s not forget about the cast, however. While Cheadle and Gleeson are the main focal points, The Guard is filled with interesting, three-dimensional characters, not least of which are the three drug dealing villains. Veteran character-actor Liam Cunningham is great as the exasperated leader of the group, while David Wilmot shares a thoroughly badass scene with Gleeson that features one of the film’s most joyous surprises. Nearly stealing away their shared moments, however, is Mark Strong’s Clive Cornell: morose, philosophical, depressed and given to metaphysical ponderings, Clive is an awesome creation, at once lethal and silly. In fact, it’s to McDonagh’s great credit that one of the film’s sneakiest ideas (that no one, including the drug dealers, are actually doing the jobs they want to do) comes across entirely through subtle character development and dialogue: no unnecessary hand-holding to be found here!
It pretty much goes without saying that Cheadle is excellent as the put-upon fish-out-of-water FBI agent but let’s go ahead and say it again, anyway: Cheadle is absolutely excellent as Everett. Long one of Hollywood’s most dependable actors, Cheadle is the kind of performer, like Ron Perlman, who can elevate any film, regardless of the amount of screen time he gets. Here, we get lots of Cheadle and I don’t that anyone would mind. His scenes with Gleeson are marvelous little jewels but the really revelatory moments come when Everett is forced to pound the small-town pavement solo: his interactions with the overly hostile, racist locals are some of the best scenes in the film, hands-down.
The unquestionable star of the show, however, the “reason for the season,” as it were, is the amazing, unstoppable Brendan Gleeson. Towering over everything like a ragged, Gaelic god, Gleeson doesn’t appear to be acting: he honestly seems to be channeling the very spirit of Gerry Boyle. Gleeson doesn’t make a single misstep in the film: whether sneaking his dying mother (an outstanding Fionnula Flanagen) into the pub for one last pint, blowing Everett’s mind by rising from the freezing ocean in a skin-tight wetsuit or telling each and every authority figure in the world to sit and spin, Boyle is never less than completely charismatic and magnetic. I dare you to tear your eyes from the epic climax where Boyle strides relentlessly through the middle of a firefight, a rosy-faced Angel of Death who knows that he’s screwed and yet refuses to admit the fact to anyone, much less himself. There are countless good reasons to watch The Guard but there’s one necessary reason: no one who considers themselves an aficionado of fine acting can afford to miss Gleeson’s performance…it really is that good.
As it stands, The Guard is another film that I feel pretty confident recommending to anyone under the sun: if you’re a fan of darkly humorous UK crime films, “cops gone bad” movies or “buddy action” flicks, this one’s definitely for you. Truth be told, I really can’t see anyone walking out of The Guard disappointed or underwhelmed: if you should find such a person, stay far away, my friends…it’s obvious that they can’t be trusted.
11/16/14 (Part Two): The Dance Commander Cometh
British comedies, childhood trauma, Chris O'Dowd, cinema, comedies, Cuban Fury, dancers, feature-film debut, film reviews, films, foreign films, Ian McShane, James Griffiths, Kayvan Novak, Movies, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, public opinion, Rashida Jones, romances, romantic rivalry, romantic-comedies, Rory Kinnear, salsa dancing, Strictly Ballroom, UK films
Fear of public ridicule can be a powerful mitigating factor, even for those of us who consider ourselves “above” such considerations: it can affect how one dresses, walks, talks, eats and slurps soup. Concern over our own self-image can result in “guilty musical pleasures,” “ironic” interests in pop culture and “hate-watching” programs rather than admitting to actually liking something “uncool.” If you think about it, it’s a pretty sad way to live: so concerned with the court of public opinion that you’d rather listen to something “respectable” than blast the Eddie Money cassette that you idolized as a kid. When folks can no longer feel free to leave the house wearing their most comfortable clothes, ladies and gentlemen, than the terrorists, whoever they may be, have truly won.
Bruce Garrett (Nick Frost), the heroic schlub at the heart of James Griffiths’ Cuban Fury (2014), knows all too well the high price of looking “uncool”: as a kid, Bruce was a salsa-dancin’ machine, a bespangled dance floor maestro who had the goods to go all the way. On his way to the championships, however, poor Bruce is accosted by a group of loutish teens who mock his shiny red outfit and beat the crap out of him in an alley. Properly chastised, our faithful protagonist vows never to dance again. We, of course, know better: once the dancing bug has bitten you, all you can do is hold on for dear life.
25 years later, Bruce is a buttoned-down, boring as white toast architect and any dreams of championship gold are too far in the rearview mirror to even consider. He’s got a decent job, a boring life and one of the biggest shit-heel co-workers of all time in Drew (Chris O’Dowd breaking the bank on obnoxious behavior): in other words, he’s probably like most of us. Unlike most of us, however, Bruce has got the dancing fever in his veins and, once in your DNA, you’re never completely free of it. All it takes is a little nudge, a wee reminder of how things used to be…how they could’ve been had the fork in the road gone a bit differently. All it takes is one little incident to change everything…if you let it.
Bruce’s “little incident” comes with his company’s new project manager, the adorably quirky American Julia (Rashida Jones). Bruce is sweet on her but she seems to be way out of his league, although horn-dog Drew, ever the cretin, sees her as “easy pickings.” When Bruce finds out that Julia is taking a salsa dancing class, he suddenly sees an in with her, although it means stepping back into his dreaded past and, once again, donning them dancin’ shoes. In order to prevent himself from looking like the rusty, out-of-step idiot he currently is, Bruce hunts down his old salsa coach, Ron (Ian McShane), and begs him to finish the tutelage he started 25 years earlier. Ron’s still a bit pissed off at Bruce, it turns out (being abandoned by your star pupil during a national championship will do that, apparently), but he eventually shelves his hard feelings and agrees to get Bruce ship-shape enough to duly impress Julia.
Since romantic comedies are nothing without a little rivalry, Drew decides that he’s in love with Julia, too, and determines to sweep her off her feet faster than Bruce can say “cha cha cha.” As he smugly puts it, “Women go and get advice from guys like you about guys like me.” This establishes a rivalry between the two that will result in a parking garage dance-off (impossibly silly but also fun) and will culminate in another salsa championship: will Bruce be able to overcome his old fears, put Drew in the rubbish pile, win the competition and get the girl or will this be another example of “too little, too late?” If you’ve ever seen another romantic comedy in your entire life, I’m reasonably sure you can figure out the answer to this ahead of time.
First off, Cuban Fury might seem a little familiar to fans of quirky British comedies since it is, for the most part, exactly like at least two dozen other similar films, from Kinky Boots (2005) to Brassed Off (1996), from The Full Monty (1997) to Calendar Girls (2003). Specifically, Griffiths’ feature-debut reminds me of the cult-classic Aussie flick Strictly Ballroom (1992), which was also about a neebish overcoming the court of public opinion to succeed on his own terms. For the most part, Cuban Fury does nothing to differentiate itself from the rest of the pack although, to be fair, there’s not much it drops the ball on, either. All of the expected beats/scenes are here: the bit where Bruce’s gay friend finally drags him to a nightclub to “let loose”; the dance-off between Bruce and Drew; the climatic finale at the salsa championship; the training montage…Cuban Fury manages to tick each and every one off the list.
Truth be told, despite its complete familiarity, Cuban Fury is a fun, sweet and spirited little film, full of great performances from the likes of Frost, Jones and O’Dowd (even playing a real asshole, O’Dowd is relentlessly watchable and charismatic: anyone else would have played Drew like a complete Neanderthal but O’Dowd somehow makes him kind of pitiable…kind of) and is a quick, fun watch. The script, written by Jon Brown from an idea by Frost, is full of some nice dialogue (Bruce and Drew trade some snappy zingers throughout the film) and everything gets wrapped up in a pretty tidy package by the end. McShane is great as the grumpy salsa expert, although Jones doesn’t do much noticeably different from any of her other roles: she has some decent chemistry with Frost but no one will mistaken them for star-crossed lovers anytime soon. The film’s many dance scenes are nicely realized, with some effective choreography but, again, nothing mind-blowing: this probably won’t make anyone forget Luhrmann’s debut any time soon.
More than anything, my takeaway from Cuban Fury is thus: if you’re looking for a nice, polite, fairly non-challenging romantic comedy with a good cast, Cuban Fury is for film. At the very least, I find it hard to believe that any audience would walk away from this without a smile on their faces. Will you remember the film a year (or even six months) from now? Highly doubtful. Not everything in life needs to be a grand slam, however: sometimes, you can get the same results with a humble little pop-up into the outfield.
11/10/14: Never Mind the Bollocks…Here’s Dom!
A Clockwork Orange, absentee father, bad decisions, bad fathers, best films of 2014, black comedies, British films, cinema, Clockwork Orange, colorful films, crime film, dark comedies, Demian Bichir, doing time, Dom Hemingway, Emilia Clarke, England, estranged family, father-daughter relationships, favorite films, film reviews, films, foreign films, Giles Nuttgens, Guy Ritchie, hedonism, Jude Law, Jumayn Hunter, Kerry Condon, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Madalina Ghenea, Movies, Richard E. Grant, Richard Shepard, Rolfe Kent, safe-crackers, stylish films, UK films, voice-over narration, writer-director
When we first meet the ubiquitous Dom Hemingway (Jude Law), he’s framed from the waist up, delivering a lusty monologue about the incredible power of his “manhood,” all while getting serviced inside a stark prison cell. As Dom celebrates his “personal victory,” as it were, he gets the call that he’s being released: onscreen text handily informs us that “12 years is a long time” before we witness him sauntering freely down the street like the biggest badass in the Western hemisphere, all on his way to beat his ex-wife’s new boyfriend senseless. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we’re off to the races.
And what a magnificent sprint writer-director Richard Shepard’s Dom Hemingway (2013) ends up being, a ridiculously bright, vibrant, colorful and alive film that comes across like an ungodly combination of A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Endlessly inventive, flashy, beautifully shot and with a heart as coal-black as the night sky, Dom Hemingway is a modest marvel anchored by the impossibly feral, brilliant performance of Jude Law, a portrayal so white-hot and intense that Law absolutely deserves the Oscar nomination that he will undoubtedly be denied this year. Make no bones about it: Dom Hemingway is rude, crude, nasty and guaranteed to offend as many folks as humanly possible. It’s also (barring a slightly soggy third act), one of the single most essential films of the year and easily one of my favorites, thus far.
Dom is a man out of step with the modern world, a meat-eating, whiskey-swilling, walking hard-on, a Cro-Magnon throwback to the days when fighting, fucking and raising a ruckus were the calling-cards of the “alpha male.” He’s just done twelve years of hard time for a crime-boss, Mr. Fontaine (Demian Bichir), keeping his mouth shut the whole time like the good soldier he is. Problem is, Dom has “anger issues” and his steadfast refusal to spill his guts has more to do with lording it over Fontaine than it does with any real sense of loyalty: Dom always is and always will be loyal to but one guy and that’s the jackass in the bathroom mirror. Once he’s free and clear, Dom lays into Fontaine in a truly jaw-dropping display of “biting the hand that feeds you,” calling into question everything from his boss’ management skills to his masculinity, culminating with the jaw-dropping demand that Fontaine offer up his stunning girlfriend, Paolina (Madalina Ghenea), “with a bow on,” as payment for his silence.
Attempting to keep Dom in some semblance of control is his best friend/whipping boy Dickie (Richard E. Grant), a one-handed stooge who’s constantly between the rock and a hard place of Fontaine’s reptilian power and Dom’s raging id. He’s the closest thing Dom has to a “friend,” which is roughly equivalent to the wolf chatting up the lamb prior to digging in to some good old shank. Dickie is fighting a losing battle, however, and when a night of drunken debauchery ends in abject disaster, Dom is sent scuttling back to the one person he hoped to avoid: his estranged daughter, Evelyn (Emilia Clark).
After abandoning Evelyn and her mother to do his prison term, Dom has been persona non grata to his grown daughter, who’s currently living with a large Senegalese family and working as a night-club singer. While he licks his wounds and plots his next move, Dom decides to try to reintegrate himself back into his daughter’s life, with predictable results: she’s managed to make it for twelve years without him and she’s perfectly happy to make it another twelve years without talking to him, thank you very much. Dom is nothing if not persistent, however, and he’s now in the enviable position of having nothing to lose, especially when he ends up on the wrong side of a youthful crime lord, Lestor Jr. (Jumayn Hunter), who still holds a grudge from the time Dom killed his childhood pet. Will Dom be able to tear into fatherhood with the same passion that he has for his vices or is this one caveman who’s well-past his expiration date?
Until the aforementioned third act, Shepard’s Dom Hemingway is damn near a perfect film: uncompromising, dazzling, joyously vulgar and exquisitely cast, I found myself with a big, stupid grin pasted to my dumb mug for the better part of an hour. It’s a film that absolutely reminded me of Guy Ritchie’s best work, with the added benefit of being a mighty fine character portrait. While Law is absolutely marvelous (more on that later), the film is stuffed to bursting with memorable characters. Richard Grant’s Dickie is a great foil for Dom and gets some of the film’s best lines, no mean feat when the script is so consistently sharp. Jumayn Hunter, meanwhile, is a complete blast as the dapper, fundamentally childish Lestor, a man-boy who’s been thrust into leadership of one of England’s largest criminal enterprises while still basing life-or-death decisions on his long-dead cat. Emilia Clarke, for her part, is a fiery presence as the estranged Evelyn: there’s a real authenticity to her scenes with Law that finds a perfect balance between long-held disappointment and anger and her inherent need to seek (however unconsciously) her father’s approval.
The real star of the show, however, above and beyond anyone else, is undoubtedly Jude Law. With a performance that’s a blast furnace of raw emotion, Law is never anything less than spell-binding: until the very end (and even that’s sort of a toss-up), Dom is an intensely unlikable individual, with so few redeeming qualities as to be one pencil-thin-mustache twirl from a complete cad. Just like that other great British bad boy, Alex, however, it’s impossible to tear your eyes from Dom whenever he’s on-screen, which is pretty much the entirety of the film. Truth be told, the only complaint/criticism that I can find regarding his performance is the unfortunate tendency for his big emotional scenes to come across as a bit leaden: even this isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, although it does turn the film into a bit of a rollercoaster as it roars through the first two acts, hits the brakes for the third as it chugs up the incline and then speeds through to a truly bravura finale that manages to match the opening in terms of sheer energy.
It’s long been said that actors have a better time playing bad guys and, if Dom Hemingway is any indication, that certainly seems to be true. Jude Law seems to be having such a great time snarling and flipping the world the bird that it becomes completely infectious: by the time the end credits roll, you might not agree with Dom but you sure as hell won’t forget him. Vibrant, utterly alive and completely show-stopping, Law’s performance as Dom Hemingway is a vivid reminder of why he’s a genuine movie star. For my money, Law’s performance as Dom is one of the very best of the entire year: fitting, of course, since Dom Hemingway is one of the year’s very best films. Take a walk on the wild side and spend a little time with a genuine scalawag: he’s not the kind of guy you want to invite home for dinner but he’s exactly the right kind of fellow to spend 90 minutes with at the multiplex. Utterly essential.
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Tattoo Gallery
Milton Zeis
Milton Zeis was born in Rock Island, Illinois on December 10, 1901. Starting at a very young age he wanted to live life to the fullest. At 9 years old he set off to see the world and hopped a train West to Calfornia. As a little boy, Milton was fascinated by the circus and it was there he learned of tattooing and magic. It would later prove to be very influential even through the latter parts of his life.
Milton was a jack of many trades and he did quite well with each of them. He was and still continues to be influential to the tattoo community. Milton was very open with his knowledge of tattooing by sharing tips and training others how to tattoo. “The Zeis School of Tattooing” included course work that was sent to students and then sent back to Milton for review. He was also known for his book,”Tattooing the World Over” and tattooing serial numbers on animals.
Before Milton was a full-time tattooer he was a commercial artist. He went to school at the Chicago Art Institute. The Zeis Studio first began as a commercial art studio. He also worked for two publishing companies, Microswitch in Freeport,IL and Rockford Illustrating.
Milton was a great business man and moved to Rockford, IL for a better opportunity. The Zeis studio was a tattoo supply shop that did extremely well. He sold merchandise all over the world through word of mouth and his customer service was great. Milton was very down to earth and treated all men equal.
It wasn’t until the early 60’s on a hot Fourth of July day where he performed at a picnic in his clown outfit. He was the head clown for the Shriners and he went by the name “Uncle Milty”. He enjoyed performing for children and traveled across the country.
Last but certainly not least, Milton was a family man. In 1924, he married Eleanor Gartman and later in 1932, they gave birth to their only child, Joanne. Unfortunately, Eleanor was diagnosed with cancer and passed away on November 19, 1945. Milton always helped out where he could and stayed by her side. Later he married Lorna on July 16,1949. Lorna had one daughter, Mary.
Milton had a very full life. He died at the age of 71, while getting ready to perform magic tricks in Lanark, IL in 1972.
The Zeis Studio
Tattoo History
Tattoo Memoribilia
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Women Now Rule Westworld. But Was It Worth It?
Evan Rachel Wood in Westworld
John P. Johnson—HBO
By Eliana Dockterman
This article contains spoilers. Click here to reveal them.
This post contains spoilers for Westworld’s first season finale.
In the final episode of Westworld’s first season, Dr. Ford tells the robots that they will have to suffer before they can escape. That’s certainly been true for Dolores, the cyborg who sets the robot rebellion in motion. She has been routinely subjected to sexual violence, beginning in the first episode when she is dragged away by the Man in Black to be raped. At the time, the scene led many critics to question whether Westworld fetishizes the abuse of women.
But as the show has progressed, its depiction of women coping with their suffering has evolved. If the naive, Alice in Wonderland-esque Dolores and the sharp-tongued brothel madame Maeve were set up to be clichés in the opening episodes—the Madonna and the whore—the writers have since twisted those tropes. Dolores has gone from damsel to either hero or villain, depending on whom you ask. Maeve has risen up from her slab and made herself the smartest droid (or person) in the building. The victims are now the gunslingers.
Thanks to the season finale’s bloodbath, these female characters are now in the spotlight. Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores, Thandie Newton’s Maeve and, on the humanoid side, Tessa Thompson’s Charlotte will likely be the ones calling the shots. But in a television landscape filled with shows that routinely depict sexual violence against women, does the fact that women now run Westworld justify the abuses the female robots suffered throughout this season?
Critics have been wringing their hands over Westworld’s “woman problem” since before the premiere, thanks to a viral notice that asked extras to agree to “genital-to-genital” contact for a four-minute orgy scene. Then a screening of the first two episodes at the Television Critics Associations press tour prompted one of the showrunners, Lisa Joy, to defend that assault of Dolores to a room of skeptical reporters.
“Sexual violence is an issue we take seriously,” she said. “It’s extraordinarily disturbing and horrifying. And in its portrayal, we endeavored for it to not be about the fetishization of those acts.”
Executive producer J.J. Abrams weighed in on the issue in September: “I would say the criticism is accurate, but you can’t tell a story about oppression without depicting the oppressed.” Evan Rachel Wood, a rape survivor who has been an outspoken advocate for women, warned fans: “Wait for the context.”
Abrams, Joy and Wood make a similar argument to that used by the writers of another HBO drama, Game of Thrones, to justify the controversial rape of Sansa by Ramsay on their show: The scene led Sansa to develop into a more powerful—and vengeful and ruthless—character on Thrones. So, too, does Dolores’ pain inform her actions on Westworld. (Notably, HBO is promoting Westworld as the heir apparent to Thrones.)
And it’s true that the assaults of the first half of the series inform the rebellion in the second. Dolores and Maeve’s evolution is not subtle, their power purely vengeful. “You said people come here to change the story of their lives. I imagined a story where I didn’t have to be the damsel,” Dolores says in the sixth episode.
Of course, Dolores says this as she leaves a giant orgy that has nothing to do with the actual plot of the show. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect better from HBO: Rome, True Blood, Game of Thrones and True Detective have all featured orgies taking place in the background of scenes, all fetishizing women being dominated by powerful men and using nudity not to propel the plot but to distract from it. All those shows have also depicted sexual violence against women. (To be fair, nearly every cable network airs a show that has come under fire for using rape as a plot device.) When confronted by reporters recently about why there’s so much sexual assault on HBO, Casey Bloys, the premium cable network’s head of programming admitted, “I think the criticism is valid, you know. So I think it’s something that people take into account.”
Still, Westworld‘s larger problem is that it presents the straight, male fantasy as the norm. It’s not just the lack of gay male cyborgs or, for that matter, gay male guests. We see very few female characters visiting Westworld for their vacation, but the few female guests we do see in the park tend to act like men. (See: Charlotte having her way with one of the hosts and inviting a colleague into her room mid-romp—the kind of power move made by brash, male characters in other shows.)
But the events of Sunday’s episode suggest that the creators, Joy and Jonathan Nolan, plan to question and subvert this white, male fantasy. Dolores literally kills the old, white man whose twisted dream she’s been living in for decades. Going into the second season, Westworld is giving itself the opportunity to break new ground. The women are in control: What world will they build?
Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.
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Trump's Interior Secretary Claimed Wind Power Leads to Global Warming. His Numbers Are Wrong
Ryan Zinke, U.S. secretary of interior, speaks during the 2018 CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
By Justin Worland / Houston
In a speech before oil and gas industry executives, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke argued that the production and transportation of wind turbines contributes to global warming, but he overstated the factual case, especially when compared with other forms of energy.
Speaking at the CERAWeek energy conference hosted by IHSMarkit in Houston, Zinke also echoed a long-held argument from President Donald Trump that wind turbines kill birds.
“We probably chop us as many as 750,000 birds a year with wind and the carbon footprint on wind is significant,” Zinke said. “I always thought the best place for wind was on the roof of a house.”
Spread out over the life cycle of a typical turbine, scientists estimate that the typical wind plant generates between .02 and .04 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. Even at the high end, that’s less than 3% of the emissions from coal-generated electricity and less than 7% of the emissions from natural gas-generated electricity.
In his remarks, Zinke acknowledged that fossil fuels generate carbon dioxide emissions to argue that “every type of energy has a consequence,” though he did not expand on that concern.
He also overstated the numbers on bird deaths.
President Donald Trump has long complained on Twitter about wind farms and opposed one that he feared would affect views from his golf course in Scotland. While promoting his energy plan in 2016, Trump made a similar claim, arguing that “more than 1 million birds a year” are killed by wind farms.
Wind turbines, with blades that can extend more than 300 feet in the air and spin at speeds topping 150 miles per hour, do kill birds with some estimates in the hundreds of thousands. But scientific studies peg the actual number of bird deaths as anywhere from 20,000 to 573,000 a year, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that it’s around 500,000.
Birds are also killed in other forms of energy production — and industry more broadly — at even higher numbers. A 2012 Bureau of Land Management memo estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million birds die in oil fields each year, for instance. And birds also face a threat from climate change caused driven by carbon dioxide emissions. The Audubon Society, a nonprofit dedicated to the protection of birds, supports wind power as key to solving global warming.
Zinke’s comments came as part of call for an “all of the above” energy strategy in which oil and gas continue to play a significant role. Zinke also criticized large solar installation for taking away from public lands used for recreation and hunting and acknowledged that oil and gas generate carbon emissions.
“There’s no such thing as free energy,” he said.
Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com.
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Marines Ding Duncan Hunter for Unlawful Use of Corps Emblem on Mailer
San Diego Mortgage Debt Averages $386,530 — 6th-Highest in Nation
San Diego's Transit Network Gearing Up to Carry Comic-Con Crowds
General Atomics' Iconic Predator Drone Marks 25 Years Since First Flight
Opinion: San Diego's 250th Anniversary Brings Us Together
Home » Opinion » This Article
Opinion: Ammar Campa-Najjar Is a Most American of Congressional Candidates
Posted by Chris Jennewein on February 22, 2018 in Opinion | 670 Views
Ammar Campa-Najjar outside the White House. Courtesy of his campaign
By Chris Jennewein
An article in an Israeli newspaper identifying a Congressional candidate’s long-dead grandfather as a terrorist is a reminder that America is different from the rest of the world.
East County native Ammar Campa-Najjar, who is of Mexican and Palestinian ancestry, was blindsided by the article in Haaretz, responding eloquently, “I’m blessed to have been born in America, a country where regardless of your appearance, the sound of your name, or where your family came from, you can achieve your dreams if you work hard and believe enough.”
In the Middle East, a family connection dating back 45 years is still news. For that matter, the schism between Sunni and Shia Islam almost 1,400 years ago still embroils politics in that region. The Old World has long memories.
But America is different, and Campa-Najjar put his finger on it. The essence of America is that it is an idea as much as a place. And America is all about the future.
John Winthrop, the future governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, told the Puritan colonists fleeing persecution in England in 1630 that “we shall be as a city upon a hill.” It was a futuristic idea that has resonated throughout American history. President Ronald Reagan used the phrase in his farewell address, noting “I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life.”
That sentiment fits Campa-Najjar, a former Obama administration official who has campaigned for a change from the hard-right politics of Rep. Duncan Hunter and his father before him in the 50th Congressional District in East County.
Regardless of his family’s distant past, Campa-Najjar is running a very successful campaign, raising more money than Hunter, and is set to be officially endorsed by the California Democratic Party. Like the best of Americans, he’s charting his own way in the world, not weighted-down by his heritage.
“As Congressman, I hope to focus America less on the wars we’ve waged abroad, and more on the wars we wage within,” said Campa-Najjar. “From income inequality, debilitating healthcare costs, gun violence on the rise, veteran homelessness, the inevitable displacement of millions of workers due to automation, to the worst calamities of climate change, America must prevail over many challenges in the coming years.”
Those are very convincing goals — goals that are quintessentially American because they’re all about the future, not the past.
Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego.
Opinion: Ammar Campa-Najjar Is a Most American of Congressional Candidates was last modified: February 23rd, 2018 by Chris Jennewein
Posted in Opinion | Tagged 50th District, America, Ammar Campa-Najjar, city on a hill, Duncan Hunter, elections, future, Haaretz, Israel, terrorism
San Diego Ranked 4th-Best Large City In Which to Live 500 views
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Home Otwo Games
R.I.P.THQ (1989 – 2013)
Niall Gosker
With THQ filing for bankruptcy, Niall Gosker looks at the ramifications of the demise of one of the gaming industry’s major publishers
It came as no surprise when THQ rang in the New Year with the announcement that they were to auction off their intellectual properties (and the associated developers in certain cases) in an effort to save some financial face and appease creditors. This situation is unprecedented; certainly Midway’s demise in 2009 bears many similarities although Warner Brothers bought the vast majority of assets in one single swoop rather than the piecemeal offering here. And while Midway were quite obviously on their way out, THQ managed to remain relevant despite their financial difficulties, owning some of the biggest franchises in gaming.
Last year was a tumultuous one for the former developing and publishing giant, to say the least. The company had been in rough shape for some time already after a series of underperforming releases but it was the commercial disaster of their tablet based gamble ‘uDraw’ that ultimately proved to be the most fatal blow, sending them into a downward spiral which proved too difficult to recover from. By February of 2012, the uDraw GameTablet had been discontinued, just three months after its original release. Come March, THQ reported a net loss of $239.9M. Just a few months later, they made the rather questionable decision to turn over the UFC license to EA. Towards the end of last year bankruptcy was formally announced and so to the highest bidder went THQ’s remaining assets.
Saint’s Row is perhaps the most interesting of all the IPs in question, mainly because of its journey to stardom over the course of the generation and the hopeful position it now remains in following the release of the last game in the series. The initial entry in the franchise back in 2006 however, was met with an unenthusiastic shrug from most. It was viewed as little more than a poor imitator of Grand Theft Auto and as a mere stopgap before the arrival of the true next generational leap in open world urban crime simulators. The sequel seemed almost like a direct response to the deathly serious tone of GTA IV, opting instead for over the top insanity with a personality of its own, in stark contrast to the blandness of the original.
Saint’s Row: The Third was the breakthrough, a wise evolution of the previous game’s genetics, in a way that finally saw the series find its own identity and sit comfortably with it. It was received well both critically and amongst the many new fans it attracted (it nearly beat out Skyrim for Giant Bomb’s Game of the Year 2011). Taking this into account, Volition, Inc. are appealing, making their acquisition by Koch Media for $22.3M a justified move. Koch Media’s games division, Deep Silver, have only really started to make a name for themselves following the release of 2011’s Dead Island. As a company wanting to build upon a foundation of quality they have only recently been able to lay, Volition, Inc. seems like an ideal fit. Saint’s Row should be in safe hands.
Sega managed to bag Relic Entertainment in what turned out to be most pricey acquisition of the auction at $26.6M. While no doubt a talented bunch, one has to wonder whether such a gargantuan upfront sum will actually reap any rewards; their flagship franchise, Company of Heroes is a rather unique proposition for modern publishers. Not only it is a deep strategy game, which haven’t traditionally lit up the charts, but it is also a PC exclusive, something which is becoming an increasing rarity. It is possible that Relic’s involvement with the Warhammer 40,000 licence led to an increased perception of value. Sega may not be on the cutting edge of development like they used to be but they have over the past couple of years managed to create a reputation for themselves as solid publishers. Such good relations will likely continue as Sega and Relic Entertainment look forward to the future.
The promising South Park: The Stick of Truth remains locked in a legal dispute between THQ and South Park Digital Studios. Despite this, the sale of the publishing contract did go ahead at the auction, with Ubisoft emerging as victors with the sole $3.2M bid. Hopefully the game won’t fall into a terrible legal hell and will meet its planned Q1 release. On a more curious note, Ubisoft also walked away with THQ Montreal, a relatively new studio founded in 2010, who had been working on one or more unannounced projects. Whether these projects will continue to be developed or swept aside for something completely new is currently unclear.
The future of the WWE license, at the time of the writing, is still up in the air. It wasn’t part of the auction; initial rumours had suggested that EA may have secured it weeks prior but sources now point towards Take-Two. For a series desperately needing innovative and a new approach, anyone else getting to take a crack at it is a welcome idea.
Vigil Games, the folks behind Darksiders were left out in the cold and failed to attract a buyer. This isn’t particularly surprising given the underwhelming sales performance of Darksiders II. And finally, Crytek purchased Homefront…for some reason. Unsurprisingly, it was the cheapest of the lot, going for only half a million dollars.
Ultimately, is this shake-up and scattering of brands for better or for worse? It’s certainly always unpleasant to see hard working and talented individuals jobless, as many now are as a result of THQ’s dissolution. But there is there is reason for optimism too; such drastic changes in management will afford developers new opportunities and a chance to rethink their strategies, hopefully resulting in a creative flourishing. With the next generation just around the corner, this comes at a very apt time indeed.
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Music is in Dire Straits: What has been Instrumental in the Downturn of Gibson?
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connectivity, Mayor, Sheffield City Region, Transport, Travel,
Mayor launches search for Active Travel Commissioner
The search is now on to appoint Sheffield City Region’s first Active Travel Commissioner to work together with Mayor Dan Jarvis to deliver his transport vision.
The Commissioner will be an expert on aspects of Active Travel such as walking and cycling, and will work closely with the Mayor to make his ambitious transport vision a reality. Individuals or organisations that fit the detailed brief are now being invited to submit their proposals.
Mayor Jarvis said: “Here in the Sheffield City Region, we will build a transport system that works for everyone. A vital part of this is enabling people to travel in a more active way, whether by foot, bike or public transport. By prioritising active travel, we can improve people’s health, cut carbon emissions and reduce congestion.
“Through my Mayoralty, we now have a clear vision. In December, I launched my Vision for Transport, which has active travel at its heart. We have also submitted funding proposals to the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund for four active travel schemes across South Yorkshire.
“Action is already being taken; but I’m stepping up efforts by seeking an Active Travel Commissioner to take the lead on this important work. I look forward to appointing the Commissioner and, together, delivering an ambitious plan that makes real improvements for residents, businesses and visitors to our region.”
British Cycling policy manager, Nick Chamberlin, said: “As we have already seen in places like London and Manchester, Active Travel Commissioners play an absolutely vital role in spearheading change and mobilising support for cycling and walking schemes.
“We have been really encouraged by Mayor Dan Jarvis’s commitment to making it easier for more people to walk and cycle journeys that they would otherwise make by car.
“We look forward to working with him and the new Commissioner to help bring the Vision for Transport to life in the coming years.”
The Active Travel Commissioner will work with organisations such as local authorities, the Passenger Transport Executive, community groups and public health professionals, as well as with national Government.
He or she will also be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Active Travel schemes that will be delivered across the region, should the bid to the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund be successful.
Earlier this month, six active travel and public transport schemes were put forward to Government for consideration under the Transforming Cities Fund.
In total, the Sheffield City Region (SCR) has bid for £9.3m from Government, to go alongside £6.3m in match funding. The total value of the six schemes is more than £15m.
Four of the schemes are to promote active travel in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield respectively. This includes the creation of cycle lanes, new cycle and pedestrian crossings, and a series of cycling and walking improvement works.
Together, the proposed works aim to enable people to choose affordable, greener and healthier forms of travel. The schemes will better connect homes, transport interchanges, employment and recreational opportunities using safer, more direct and convenient routes.
Mayor Jarvis added: “Our current transport system in the Sheffield City Region is not fit for the 21st century. If we don’t act now, it’s not going to improve.
“Since my election in May I have made improving our transport system central to my mission. As the recruitment of my new Commissioner demonstrates, I am leading from the front, taking decisive action and working to make a real difference for communities across our region.”
Jack Windle from Love To Ride South Yorkshire said: “We know from talking to the public – to steelworkers, doctors, teachers and call centre staff over the last ten years – that people from all kinds of backgrounds want better ways to get around South Yorkshire, ways that are good for them, good for the economy and good for the health of the region.
“The vision from Mayor Dan Jarvis is moving the powers that be in the right direction. Love to Ride will work closely with the new Commissioner and continue to support companies and individuals who want to make the changes we all need for a healthier, happier, greener South Yorkshire and a growing modern economy.”
Projections show that by 2026 there will be an extra 500,000 journeys on our transport system. Without action now, congestion will get worse, more people will choose to stay out of our town and cities, businesses won’t invest or grow and hotspots of poor air quality won’t improve.
The Active Travel agenda will be supported by funds from the Transforming Cities Fund, subject to forthcoming approval by Government.
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39 NYC Outdoor Art Installations Not to Miss in July 2018
jennifer congdon 07/13/2018 Arts & Culture, Guides, New York, News
28. El-Space Installation in Sunset Park
During NYCxDesign Week, we were honored to be a partner of The Design Trust for Public Space in the launch of El-Space, a long-term pilot installation located under the Gowanus Expressway in Sunset Park at 36th Street and 3rd Avenue, just adjacent to Industry City. El Space is the product of a five year, critical exploration in how New York City can better activate the forgotten, unfriendly spaces beneath aging elevated infrastructure and culminates in this first pilot installation that showcases what an alternative walkway beneath the Gowanus Expressway could look like.
El-Space was designed with input from the diverse local community through charettes and on-site pop-up workshops, including work with students at Sunset Park High School and members of a Community Advisory Board.The design tests strategies for lighting, green infrastructure, and urban design for replicability, aesthetics, and of course, how the public uses and engages with it. El-Space will be installed for about a year, used to test and refine strategies for future permanent activations. For the passerby, it’s a cool visual addition to an industrial space and for the community, it has created a new meeting spot.
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50 NYC Outdoor Art Installations Not to Miss in August 2018
17 Art Installations and Exhibits Not to Miss in NYC This December
Yayoi Kusama’s Hallucinatory Infinity Mirrors Rooms Return to NYC
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World News (newspaper)
DONALD Trump said Britain's ambassador to Washington who branded him "inept" has "not served the UK well". The President also declared Iran “better be careful” as Tehran started exceeding the uranium limit set in the 2015 nuke deal. Iran today said it will boost its uranium enrichment - a key material needed to make nukes – above a cap set in the landmark deal. Donald Trump says Iran ‘better be careful’ as Tehran starts exceeding nuke uranium limit: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9458272/donald-trump-iran-nuke-uranium-limit/ Donald Trump says Britain’s ambassador to Washington who branded president ‘inept’ has ‘not served UK well’: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9457866/donald-trump-britain-ambassador-inept/ From Brexit breaking news to HD movie trailers, The Sun newspaper brings you the latest news videos and explainers from the UK and around the world. Become a Sun Subscriber and hit the bell to be the first to know Read The Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk Like The Sun on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesun/ Follow The Sun on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSun Subscribe to The Sun on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/The_Sun/1633225139
Secret cables that were leaked to a British tabloid show Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador to the U.S., telling Downing Street that President Trump “radiates insecurity” and that his administration is “inept” and “uniquely dysfunctional.” » Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC » Watch more NBC video: http://bit.ly/MoreNBCNews NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands that deliver compelling, diverse and engaging news stories. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows. Connect with NBC News Online! NBC News App: https://smart.link/5d0cd9df61b80 Breaking News Alerts: https://link.nbcnews.com/join/5cj/breaking-news-signup?cid=sm_npd_nn_yt_bn-clip_190621 Visit NBCNews.Com: http://nbcnews.to/ReadNBC Find NBC News on Facebook: http://nbcnews.to/LikeNBC Follow NBC News on Twitter: http://nbcnews.to/FollowNBC Follow NBC News on Instagram: http://nbcnews.to/InstaNBC U.S. And Britain In Uproar Over Diplomatic Bombshell | NBC Nightly News
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 10/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ১০/০৭/২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় সংবাদ 10 july 2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ১০ জুলাই ২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 10/7/2019 international, world news bangla, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর আজকের, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর bangla news today, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ভিডিও,আন্তর্জাতিক, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ today, international news E-Mail : 52tvbd@gmail.com আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ 10/7/2019 #আন্তর্জাতিকখবর #আন্তর্জাতিকসংবাদ #বিশ্বসংবাদ #আজকের_খবর #আন্তর্জাতিক_সংবাদ #আন্তর্জাতিক_খবর #বিশ্ব_সংবাদ world news bangla,bangla news today,bangla latest news #আন্তর্জাতিক_সংবাদ_today #international_news
@Al Jazeera English, we focus on people and events that affect people's lives. We bring topics to light that often go under-reported, listening to all sides of the story and giving a 'voice to the voiceless'. Reaching more than 270 million households in over 140 countries across the globe, our viewers trust Al Jazeera English to keep them informed, inspired, and entertained. Our impartial, fact-based reporting wins worldwide praise and respect. It is our unique brand of journalism that the world has come to rely on. We are reshaping global media and constantly working to strengthen our reputation as one of the world's most respected news and current affairs channels. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ #AlJazeeraEnglish #BreakingNews #AlJazeeraLive
The national women's soccer team lands at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey after emerging victorious in the 2019 world cup in France. FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the country, while a 2017 Gallup/Knight Foundation survey found that among Americans who could name an objective news source, FOX News is the top-cited outlet. FNC is available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape while routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre. Subscribe to Fox News! https://bit.ly/2vBUvAS Watch more Fox News Video: http://video.foxnews.com Watch Fox News Channel Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ Watch full episodes of your favorite shows The Five: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-the-five/ Special Report with Bret Baier: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-special-report/ The Story with Martha Maccallum: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-the-story-with-martha-maccallum/ Tucker Carlson Tonight: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-tucker-carlson-tonight/ Hannity: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-hannity/ The Ingraham Angle: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-the-ingraham-angle/ Fox News @ Night: http://video.foxnews.com/playlist/longform-fox-news-night/ Follow Fox News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoxNews/ Follow Fox News on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FoxNews/ Follow Fox News on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxnews/om/
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday that a controversial extradition bill which spurred weeks of protest "is dead" -- but stopped short of a formal withdrawal. #CNN #News
Theresa May has "full faith" in the UK ambassador who criticised the Trump administration in leaked emails but she does not agree with his assessment. The PM's spokesman added that the leak was "absolutely unacceptable" and No 10 had made contact with the White House. Sir Kim Darroch, the UK's ambassador in Washington, described Donald Trump's administration as "inept" in emails. The US president responded by saying "we're not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well". The government has begun an inquiry into the leak of emails, in which Sir Kim said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and "divided" under Mr Trump. The prime minister's spokesman said it was "the job of ambassadors to provide honest and unvarnished opinions" but Mrs May "does not agree with the assessment". "The leak is absolutely unacceptable and, as you would expect, contact has been made with the Trump administration setting out our view that we believe that it is unacceptable," he added. Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog
The U.S. women's national team arrives in Newark, New Jersey, following their Women's World Cup title win in Lyon, France. The team will then proceed to a media event in New York. New York City is ready to celebrate the U.S. women’s national team for its victory in the Women’s World Cup. Shortly after the team’s win Sunday in Lyon, France, Mayor Bill de Blasio took to Twitter to announce a parade in the team’s honor on Wednesday. De Blasio told the team, “You have inspired the entire country — and New York City knows how to celebrate champions.” The parade will go up a stretch of Broadway that’s hosted many celebratory parades known as the “Canyon of Heroes.” Megan Rapinoe won the Golden Boot and raised her arms in her by-now familiar victory pose when she collected it. Rose Lavelle was honored with the Bronze Ball award and Alyssa Naeher earned the Golden Glove for the Women’s World Cup’s best goalkeeper. Rapinoe’s penalty shot put the defending champions ahead in the 61st minute of the final. Midfielder Rose Lavelle’s solo goal made it 2-0 in the 69th, as she powered to the edge of the penalty area and hit a low strike. The United States has won the Women’s World Cup for the fourth time after beating the Netherlands 2-0 on Sunday night. Forward Megan Rapinoe’s coolly taken penalty, following a video review, put the defending champions ahead in the 61st minute. Midfielder Rose Lavelle’s fine solo goal made it 2-0 in the 69th, as she powered to the edge of the penalty area and hit a low strike. Rapinoe’s sixth goal moved her even with teammate Alex Morgan and England’s Ellen White as the tournament’s leading scorers. Rapinoe, who recovered from a right hamstring strain to play, got an ovation from the U.S. fans when she came off in the 79th. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm TICTOC ON SOCIAL: Follow TicToc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tictoc Like TicToc on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tictoc Follow TicToc on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tictoc Watch all of TicToc’s videos: https://www.tictoc.video/ Listen to TicToc’s podcast: https://apple.co/2D3Vta7 Subscribe to our newsletter: https://bit.ly/2FJ0oQZ TicToc by Bloomberg is global news for the life you lead. We are a 24/7 news network that covers breaking news, politics, technology, business and entertainment stories from around the globe, supported by a network of Bloomberg’s 2,700 journalists across 120 countries.
Aftershocks rattled buildings and nerves near the epicenter as some homes were knocked off their foundations and gas leaks sparked fires. WATCH THE FULL EPISODE OF 'WORLD NEWS TONIGHT': https://bit.ly/2LDPspS WATCH OTHER FULL EPISODES OF WORLD NEWS TONIGHT: http://abc.go.com/shows/world-news-tonight
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A new website that lets people delve into data on the world's cities has been launched. Dr Robert Muggah from the think-tank Instituto Igarapé showed the BBC some of his favourite maps from EarthTime. Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog
Powercuts and fires have followed a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Southern California. It comes a day after a 6.4 magnitude quake in the same region. The epicentre of this latest event was recorded near the city of Ridgecrest. Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog
World news or international news or even foreign coverage is the news media jargon for news from abroad, about a country or a global subject. For journalism, it is a branch that deals with news either sent by foreign correspondents or news agencies, or — more recently — information that is gathered or researched through distance communication technologies, such as telephone, satellite TV or the internet.
Although in most of the English-speaking world this field is not usually regarded as a specific specialization for journalists, it is so in nearly all the world. Particularly in the United States, there is a blurred distinction between world news and "national" news when they include directly the national government or national institutions, such as wars in which the US are involved or summits of multilateral organizations in which the US are a member.
Actually, at the birth of modern journalism, most news were actually foreign, as registered by the courants of the 17th century in West and Central Europe, such as the Daily Courant (England), the Nieuwe Tijudinger (Antwerp), the Relation (Strasbourg), the Avisa Relation oder Zeitung (Wolfenbüttel) and the Courante Uyt Italien, Duytsland & C. (Amsterdam). Since these papers were aimed at bankers and merchants, they brought mostly news from other markets, which usually meant other nations. In any case, it is worthy to remark that nation-states were still incipient in 17th-century Europe.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/World_news
World News may refer to one of the following sources that covers international news:
ABC World News, a television news program that airs on American television network ABC
BBC World News, the international news and current affairs television channel of the BBC
CNN World News, a television news program that airs on CNN International
ITN World News, a television news program that originated in the United Kingdom, and aired during the late-eighties and most of the nineties
SBS World News, a television news program that airs on the Australian network SBS
Sky World News, a television news program that airs on Sky News
World News by Don Lee Broadcasting, on W6XAO (now KCBS-TV) - (1938–1948).
World News Now, an overnight news program that airs on American television network ABC
World News Network, an internet news aggregation service
The World News (Chinese: 菲律賓世界日報; pinyin: Fēilǜbīn Shìjiè Rìbào; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hui-li̍p-pin Sè-kài Ji̍t-pò, lit. "Philippine World News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines written in the Chinese language. Founded in 1981 after the lifting of martial law, it is currently the Philippines' largest Chinese-language newspaper in terms of circulation.
The World News was founded in 1981 by Florencio Tan Mallare (Chinese: 陳華岳; pinyin: Chén Huáyuè; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Hôa-ga̍k), a lawyer from Macalelon, Quezon who also worked as a reporter for the Chinese Commercial News. After the normalization of relations between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China in 1975, Mallare established the World News as an alternative to the largely pro-Taiwan, pro-Kuomintang mainstream Chinese-language press, catering to both Chinese Filipinos who would prefer news about China from other points of view as well as the growing number of mainland Chinese migrants to the Philippines who did not necessarily share the pro-Taiwan stance of more established Chinese Filipinos.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/World_News_(newspaper)
Trump scorns UK ambassador and sends a strong warning to Iran
U.S. And Britain In Uproar Over Diplomatic Bombshell | NBC Nightly News
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 10/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24
Al Jazeera English | Live
US Women's soccer team returns after winning World Cup
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U.S. Women's Team Arrives Home After Winning World Cup
California town under state of emergency after 6.4 magnitude quake
Record rain in D.C., Epstein charged with sex trafficking, World Cup champs return home | ABC News
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আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ০৯/০৭/২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় সংবাদ 09 july 2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ০৯ জুলাই ২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 09/7/2019 international, world news bangla, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর আজকের, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর bangla news today, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ভিডিও,আন্তর্জাতিক, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ today, international news E-Mail : 52tvbd@gmail.com আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ 09/7/2019 #আন্তর্জাতিকখবর #আন্তর্জাতিকসংবাদ #বিশ্বসংবাদ #আজকের_খবর #আন্তর্জাতিক_সংবাদ #আন্তর্জাতিক_খবর #বিশ্ব_সংবাদ world news bangla,bangla news today,bangla latest news #আন্তর্জাতিক_সংবাদ_today #international_news
DONALD Trump said Britain's ambassador to Washington who branded him "inept" has "not served the UK well". The President also declared Iran “better be careful” as Tehran started exceeding the uranium limit set in the 2015 nuke deal. Iran today said it will boost its uranium enrichment - a key material needed to make nukes – above a cap set in the landmark deal. Donald Trump says Iran ‘better be careful’ as Tehran starts exceeding nuke uranium limit: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9458272/donald-trump-iran-nuke-uranium-limit/ Donald Trump says Britain’s ambassador to Washington who branded president ‘inept’ has ‘not served UK well’: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9457866/donald-trump-britain-ambassador-inept/ From Brexit breaking news to HD movie trailers, The Sun newspaper brings you t...
Secret cables that were leaked to a British tabloid show Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador to the U.S., telling Downing Street that President Trump “radiates insecurity” and that his administration is “inept” and “uniquely dysfunctional.” » Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC » Watch more NBC video: http://bit.ly/MoreNBCNews NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands that deliver compelling, diverse and engaging news stories. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows. Connect wit...
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 10/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ১০/০৭/২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় সংবাদ 10 july 2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ১০ জুলাই ২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 10/7/2019 international, world news bangla, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর আজকের, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর bangla news today, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ভিডিও,আন্তর্জাতিক, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ today, international news E-Mail : 52tvbd@gmail.com আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ 10/7/2019 #আন্তর্জাতিকখবর #আন্তর্জাতিকসংবাদ #বিশ্বসংবাদ #আজকের_খবর #আন্তর্জাতিক_সংবাদ #আন্তর...
@Al Jazeera English, we focus on people and events that affect people's lives. We bring topics to light that often go under-reported, listening to all sides of the story and giving a 'voice to the voiceless'. Reaching more than 270 million households in over 140 countries across the globe, our viewers trust Al Jazeera English to keep them informed, inspired, and entertained. Our impartial, fact-based reporting wins worldwide praise and respect. It is our unique brand of journalism that the world has come to rely on. We are reshaping global media and constantly working to strengthen our reputation as one of the world's most respected news and current affairs channels. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish Find us on Fac...
The national women's soccer team lands at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey after emerging victorious in the 2019 world cup in France. FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the direct-to-consumer streaming service, FOX Nation. FOX News also produces FOX News Sunday on FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX News Edge. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most watched news channel in the country for 17 consecutive years. According to a 2018 Research Intelligencer study by Brand Keys, FOX News ranks as the second most trusted television brand in the country. Additionally, a Suffolk University/USA Today survey states Fox News is the most trusted source for television news or commentary in the count...
Theresa May has "full faith" in the UK ambassador who criticised the Trump administration in leaked emails but she does not agree with his assessment. The PM's spokesman added that the leak was "absolutely unacceptable" and No 10 had made contact with the White House. Sir Kim Darroch, the UK's ambassador in Washington, described Donald Trump's administration as "inept" in emails. The US president responded by saying "we're not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well". The government has begun an inquiry into the leak of emails, in which Sir Kim said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and "divided" under Mr Trump. The prime minister's spokesman said it was "the job of ambassadors to provide honest and unvarnished opinions" but Mrs May "does not agree with t...
The U.S. women's national team arrives in Newark, New Jersey, following their Women's World Cup title win in Lyon, France. The team will then proceed to a media event in New York. New York City is ready to celebrate the U.S. women’s national team for its victory in the Women’s World Cup. Shortly after the team’s win Sunday in Lyon, France, Mayor Bill de Blasio took to Twitter to announce a parade in the team’s honor on Wednesday. De Blasio told the team, “You have inspired the entire country — and New York City knows how to celebrate champions.” The parade will go up a stretch of Broadway that’s hosted many celebratory parades known as the “Canyon of Heroes.” Megan Rapinoe won the Golden Boot and raised her arms in her by-now familiar victory pose when she collected it. Rose Lavelle...
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ০৯/০৭/২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় সংবাদ 09 july 2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ০৯ জুলাই ২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 09/7/2019 international, world news bangla, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর আজকের, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর bangla news today, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ভিডিও,আন্তর্জাতিক, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ, আন্তর্জাতিক খবর, আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ today, international news E-Mail : 52tvbd@gmail.com আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ 09...
DONALD Trump said Britain's ambassador to Washington who branded him "inept" has "not served the UK well". The President also declared Iran “better be careful”...
https://wn.com/Trump_Scorns_UK_Ambassador_And_Sends_A_Strong_Warning_To_Iran
Secret cables that were leaked to a British tabloid show Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador to the U.S., telling Downing Street that President Trump “radiates ...
https://wn.com/U.S._And_Britain_In_Uproar_Over_Diplomatic_Bombshell_|_Nbc_Nightly_News
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 10/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর ১০/০৭/২০১৯ INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাত...
https://wn.com/আন্তর্জাতিক_খবর_10_7_2019_International_News_।_আজকের_আন্তর্জাতিক_সংবাদ_World_News_।_News_24
@Al Jazeera English, we focus on people and events that affect people's lives. We bring topics to light that often go under-reported, listening to all sides of...
https://wn.com/Al_Jazeera_English_|_Live
The national women's soccer team lands at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey after emerging victorious in the 2019 world cup in France. FOX News operates the...
https://wn.com/US_Women's_Soccer_Team_Returns_After_Winning_World_Cup
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday that a controversial extradition bill which spurred weeks of protest "is dead" -- but stopped short of a formal withdra...
https://wn.com/Hong_Kong_Leader_Says_China_Extradition_Bill_'is_Dead'
Theresa May has "full faith" in the UK ambassador who criticised the Trump administration in leaked emails but she does not agree with his assessment. The PM's...
https://wn.com/Inquiry_Launched_Into_'Inept_Trump_Administration'_Leaked_Emails_BBC_News
The U.S. women's national team arrives in Newark, New Jersey, following their Women's World Cup title win in Lyon, France. The team will then proceed to a media...
https://wn.com/U.S._Women's_Team_Arrives_Home_After_Winning_World_Cup
Aftershocks rattled buildings and nerves near the epicenter as some homes were knocked off their foundations and gas leaks sparked fires. WATCH THE FULL EPISOD...
https://wn.com/California_Town_Under_State_Of_Emergency_After_6.4_Magnitude_Quake
Watch “It’s Morning, America” weekdays on ABC News Live SUBSCRIBE to ABC NEWS: https://www.youtube.com/ABCNews/ Watch More on http://abcnews.go.com/ LIKE ABC N...
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A new website that lets people delve into data on the world's cities has been launched. Dr Robert Muggah from the think-tank Instituto Igarapé showed the BBC s...
https://wn.com/Maps_Reveal_Hidden_Truths_Of_The_World's_Cities_BBC_News
Powercuts and fires have followed a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Southern California. It comes a day after a 6.4 magnitude quake in the same region. The epicen...
https://wn.com/California_Earthquake_‘I_Think_We_Need_To_Get_Under_The_Desk’_BBC_News
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 24 আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতি...
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DONALD Trump said Britain's ambassador to Washington who branded him "inept" has "not serv...
Secret cables that were leaked to a British tabloid show Kim Darroch, the British Ambassad...
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর সময় 10/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । n...
@Al Jazeera English, we focus on people and events that affect people's lives. We bring t...
The national women's soccer team lands at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey after emerg...
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday that a controversial extradition bill which spurr...
Theresa May has "full faith" in the UK ambassador who criticised the Trump administration ...
The U.S. women's national team arrives in Newark, New Jersey, following their Women's Worl...
Aftershocks rattled buildings and nerves near the epicenter as some homes were knocked off...
Watch “It’s Morning, America” weekdays on ABC News Live SUBSCRIBE to ABC NEWS: https://ww...
A new website that lets people delve into data on the world's cities has been launched. D...
Powercuts and fires have followed a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Southern California. It c...
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 09/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজকের আন্তর্জাতিক সংবাদ world news । news 2...
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Trump scorns UK ambassador and sends a strong warn...
U.S. And Britain In Uproar Over Diplomatic Bombshe...
আন্তর্জাতিক খবর 10/7/2019 INTERNATIONAL News । আজক...
Al Jazeera English | Live...
US Women's soccer team returns after winning World...
Hong Kong leader says China extradition bill 'is d...
Inquiry launched into 'inept Trump administration'...
U.S. Women's Team Arrives Home After Winning World...
California town under state of emergency after 6.4...
Record rain in D.C., Epstein charged with sex traf...
Maps reveal hidden truths of the world's cities - ...
California earthquake: ‘I think we need to get und...
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Greenkeeper Award Nominations Double
January 29, 2019 /in Awards, News, Press Release /by Rosie Duckworth
Greenkeeper Award Nominations Double: The number of entries into Toro’s Student Greenkeeper of the Year Award last year increased with over double the amount from employer nominations.
This is a fact attributed to commitment to career learning from golf club employers, course managers and head greenkeepers, says David Cole from award sponsor Reesink Turfcare.
“These results were hugely pleasing to us. It demonstrates the faith employers have in the abilities of their students. We’re aware that without those who nominate their greenkeepers we wouldn’t find the talent we do, hence why we applaud those who let us know about their bright and shining stars.”
Proving the point in 2018 was course manager Steve Oultram from The Wilmslow Golf Club who nominated Daniel Ashelby winner of the Student Award and course manager Jon McMullen from Lee Park Golf Club who nominated winner Danny Patten for the Young Student Award.
Steve is heading to the Golf Industry Show in San Diego in February as part of his prize for nominating Daniel, while Jon has won a trip to Vidauban Golf Club in the South of France, one of the most exclusive European golf clubs there is, for nominating Danny.
Steve views the all-expenses paid trip to San Diego for nominating Daniel in his bid to win the coveted trophy as a great opportunity to bring home to Wilmslow first-hand knowledge on the latest products and services to benefit the golf industry.
He says: “I’m really excited about my trip to the Golf Industry Show, it’s going to be really beneficial to network with some of the industry’s leading people in golf and learn about what we may expect to see in the UK, and at The Wilmslow Golf Club, in the near future.”
Meanwhile, as only the third winner of the Young Award, Danny Patten has cemented his position as one of the very best young greenkeepers in the country, and Jon is excited to have the chance to visit Danny at Vidauban Golf Club.
He says: “Vidauban is known as one of the finest golf courses in the world and it’s a very exclusive club, so to see it myself, and to hear about Danny’s time there, is something I wouldn’t miss. It’s going to be amazing to experience the course and the way it’s run; it’s an example of excellence, so taking in as much as I can while I’m there is going to be a top priority.”
David Cole, managing director of Reesink Turfcare who was first involved in the awards in 1993, says: “We are very proud of the status the Student Award holds within the industry and the opportunity it has provided for career advancement over the years. The fact that employers are showing they do too by nominating their talented greenkeepers is a promising sign for the future of the industry.
“It’s important to remember that it’s not just the students who benefit from winning, their nominators do also. Not only do they receive an all-expenses paid trip abroad, but we mustn’t forget that the winners’ success is testament to the excellent support they receive from their employers, who we are delighted to be able to recognise.”
Both employers and lecturers can make nominations. Visit reesinkturfcare.co.uk/sgoty to find out how to make a nomination into the 2019 awards.
Tags: Award, Double, greenkeeper, Nominations
https://turfmatters.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SGOTYA-nat-trade-002.jpg 1366 2048 Rosie Duckworth https://turfmatters.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/turf-logo-2018.jpg Rosie Duckworth2019-01-29 12:20:322019-01-29 12:20:32Greenkeeper Award Nominations Double
Groundsman Nets County Award
Winners Of SALTEX Innovation Award
Pellenc's Factory Award
Edgar Street's Award Winners
Charterhouse Double At Beedles Lakes
Assistant Greenkeeper
BIGGA Award For Wentworth
Final Roll For Retiring Greenkeeper
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Airdate: The Hot Zone
May 20th, 2019 By David Knox 2 commentsFiled under: Pay TV,
Ebola virus drama The Hot Zone, starring Julianna Margulies, will screen on National Geographic from June.
The 6 part series, based on the best-seller by Richard Preston, sees the former Good Wife actress star as Dr. Nancy Jaax.
The cast also features Noah Emmerich, Liam Cunningham, Topher Grace, James D’Arcy, Paul James as Ben Gellis, Nick Searcy, Robert Wisdom and Robert Sean Leonard.
It is inspired by a true story about the origins of Ebola, a highly infectious and deadly virus from the central African rainforest and its arrival on US soil in 1989. When this killer suddenly appeared in monkeys in a scientific research lab in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., there was no known cure. A heroic US Army scientist (Dr. Nancy Jaax) working with a secret military specialised team put her life on the line to head off the outbreak before it spread to the human population. The Hot Zone is a dramatic, high-stakes scientific thriller with a courageous, brilliant and determined heroine at its centre.
Streaming on National Geographic from Friday June 7. Broadcasting from June 10
Tags: The Hot Zone
joely May 20, 2019 7:29 pm
Sorry if this is a dumb question……does Nat Geo have the same programming on both Foxtel and Fetch? Or at least the same premiere dates for new content like this show?
David Knox May 21, 2019 3:14 pm
NG has a few channels but “National Geographic”should be the same yes.
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The Alyona Show, hosted by Alyona Minkovski, ran from 2009 to 2012 (when Minkovski left RT to join The Huffington Post). Daily Beast writer Tracy Quan described The Alyona Show as "one of RT's most popular vehicles".[141] The New Republic columnist Jesse Zwick wrote that one journalist told him that Minkovski is "probably the best interviewer on cable news."[142] Benjamin R. Freed wrote in the avant-garde culture magazine SOMA that "The Alyona Show does political talk with razor-sharp wit."[143] David Weigel called the show "an in-house attempt at a newsy cult hit" and noted that "her meatiest segments were about government spying, and the Federal Reserve, and America's undeclared wars".[45] Minkovski had complained about being characterized as if she was "Putin's girl in Washington" or as being "anti-American".[143] After Minkovski argued that Glenn Beck was "not on the side of America. And the fact that my channel is more honest with the American people is something you should be ashamed of.", Columbia Journalism Review writer Julia Ioffe asked "since when does Russia Today defend the policies of any American president? Or the informational needs of the American public, for that matter?"[12]
While we haven't paid for cable TV, we haven't exactly been deprived, or had to watch only the shows offered by the over the air networks. There are tons of free video options out there! In fact, we actually still watch a lot of the same shows that our friends do. How do we do it you ask? Through a combination of free over-the-air digital TV, free online video services (the legal kind), a video streaming software, super low-cost internet service from FreedomPop, and a Xbox. FreedomPop is a low cost alternative to larger Internet service providers. Right now their plans might be too small for heavy video streaming users, but they're definitely on their way to bigger and better offerings – and they're definitely good enough if you only stream shows a few times a month. You can read more about them on their site.
Livestream TV services have no hidden fees, and if you ever decide to cancel, it’s easy and painless — a refreshing change from the hassle of dealing with cable and satellite call centers, even if prices are on the rise. There are many services out there, however, and they all have different prices, channels, and features. To help you sift through the chaos, we’ve put together this handy guide detailing the pros and cons of each so you can make the right choice for you.
In December 2018, the British media regulator Ofcom ruled that seven programmes broadcast by RT between 17 March and 26 April of that year, in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attacks, had breached the UK's impartiality rules and that it was considering what sanctions to take; the BBC reported that RT was "extremely disappointed by Ofcom's conclusions".[271]
The channel was launched as Russia Today on 10 December 2005. At its launch, the channel employed 300 journalists, including approximately 70 from outside Russia.[31] Russia Today appointed Margarita Simonyan as its editor-in-chief, who recruited foreign journalists as presenters and consultants.[32] Simonyan stated that the channel's intent was to have a "professional format" akin to the BBC and Euronews that would "reflect Russia's opinion of the world" and present a "more balanced picture" of Russia.[37]
Chromecast – Chromecast devices work a little differently than their competition. The idea with Chromecast is that you choose what to watch on some other device, then sling the screen on up to your TV. So with the itty-bitty Chromecast dongle plugged into your TV, you'd then turn to your laptop, smartphone, tablet, or other device and fire up Netflix or whatever else you want to watch. Then, with the touch of a button, you could put the stream up onto the TV. It's affordable and simple, but the drawback is that it's a bit harder to collaborate with others when choosing what to watch.
Currently have Uverse which is great but uber epensive. Dropping it end of Feb when move into new home, Already ordered and received two Roku units; will subscribe to Netflix and HuluPlus at $7.99/month each. Putting antenna in attic for local OTA, which is free, of course. 6.0 mgbs ATT dsl $25/month, but that’s not just for TV. Phone,Internet and TV for about $66+tax/month. Currently pay $176/month. Saves me more than $1200/year and still provides almost all the programming I actually use. Ditch’em.
In September 2012, U.K. broadcast regulator Ofcom found that two Libyan dispatches broadcast by RT's Lizzie Phelan in a year earlier were in breach of its code on accuracy and impartiality. The following November, RT was again found in breach of impartiality rules in relation to its coverage of the Syrian conflict.[234] An August 2013 story concerning unverified reports of the killing of 450 Kurdish civilians near the Turkey-Syria border was also found to have breached Ofcom's rules.[235] That December, Ofcom found RT in breach of its standards in relation to the impartiality of a documentary entitled "Syrian Diary" broadcast the previous March.[236] Speaking in 2014 former RT reporter Sara Firth said that there had previously been examples of senior editorial interference, and that she had been pulled out of Syria after some "very heated discussions" about the channel's coverage.[22]
Our family of four has been using a Roku 3 for a few weeks now and we've had no problem finding relevant content to watch. It's quite a traditional TV viewing experience, with of course the bonus of being able to pause and rewind. The latest version of the Roku interface is much improved over previous iterations and you can even download an app to use your Android or iOS device as a remote which can save time when typing in search queries. The Roku remote has a built-in headphone jack for late night viewing and in a nice touch, plugging in the headphones immediately mutes the sound on the TV.
There is NO WAY to get FREE CABLE TV over the air, with an HDTV antenna. It is not possible to get HGTV, The History Channel, AMC, CMT, TVLand, and those other types of channels over an HDTV antenna! I wish these websites and these phony ads would stop fooling people into buying these “magic sticks” and “magic TV” antennas claiming that they will be able to watch CNN, TNT, TBS, The Science Channel, Biography, National Geographic, etc. without paying a cable company. It is NOT TRUE. They can stream whatever with a subscription, but guess what? THEY STILL NEED TO PAY THE CABLE COMPANY FOR INTERNET ACCESS AND THAT COSTS ABOUT $80 A MONTH WHEN YOU CANCEL THE BUNDLES!
The fancy ones – Some product lines top out before reaching the $80 and up (Fire TV, for example), while others don't appear until the mid-hundreds. Here, you'll find Ethernet ports, external storage ports, and the best processors and Wi-Fi antennas in the market. The price range in this group is the largest, so check those price tags. Examples: Roku Ultra, Apple TV 4K, Nvidia Shield.
You don't need to put together an extremely detailed accounting of this right from the get-go, but it's helpful to keep what you want in mind as we examine the services and devices that promise to deliver it. All of the cord cutting world's services and devices are setting out to solve certain problems and deliver on certain promises. You should have at least a vague idea of whether you care about the problems they address or should be excited by the promises they make!
DIRECTV NOW was DIRECTV’s way of keeping its satellite TV service available for users who don’t want a dish installed or multi-year contracts. You can use the Just Right package and add HBO (Game of Thrones and Westworld for only $5 more per month instead of $15? Yeah, we’re in). Consider also that you can get your favorite networks like HGTV, Sundance TV, and the Travel Channel. Plus, you can also record up to 20 hours of TV to hold onto for 30 days with the included cloud DVR.
Assange said that RT would allow his guests to discuss things that they "could not say on a mainstream TV network."[69] Assange said that if Wikileaks had published Russian data, his relationship with RT might not have been so comfortable.[64] In August of that year, RT suffered a denial of service attack for several days by a group calling itself "Antileaks". It was speculated that the group was protesting Assange and/or Russia's jailing of members of the activist music group Pussy Riot.[70]
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The interface is very pretty and shockingly easy to use. Plug in your USB drive and go to "Files" to start playing them. Have some files stored on the network? Just go to Movies or TV shows and add it as a source. Head to Services for streaming channels like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu movies, MLB, and a few others. The remote is a traditional remote that feels a little cheap, but works as well as you'd expect. The interface is also somewhat configurable, letting you view your movies and shows in a few different list formats.
A 2007 article in the Christian Science Monitor wrote that RT reported on the good job Putin was doing in the world and next to nothing on things like the conflict in Chechnya or the murder of government critics.[210] According to a 2010 report by The Independent, RT journalists have said that coverage of sensitive issues in Russia is allowed, but direct criticism of Vladimir Putin or President Dmitry Medvedev was not.[40] Masha Karp wrote in Standpoint magazine that contemporary Russian issues "such as the suppression of free speech and peaceful demonstrations, or the economic inefficiency and corrupt judiciary, are either ignored or their significance played down".[211] In 2008, Stephen Heyman wrote in The New York Times that in RT's Russia, "corruption is not quite a scourge but a symptom of a developing economy."[38] Speaking after the launch of RT America, Garry Kasparov said "Russia Today is an extension of the methods and approach of the state-controlled media inside Russia, applied in a bid to influence the American cable audience".[15]
Hi Kayla, have you heard anything about EZ Digital? Want to cancel my cable and just saw this website offering EZ Digital. I guess it’s an indoor antenna you can buy for $30 to $50. and you can get 50+ channels. Looks good. You buy it so no monthly fee. Just a little skeptical because the don’t offer a link to get more info and there’s no phone number to contact. If it’s legitimate, would be great. Your thoughts? Thanks for all the great too!
General idea: SPORTS. If the usual ESPN isn't doing it for you, Fubo TV is your ticket to a constant IV of live sports from around the world, even when you didn't know there was a game on. You'll get access to popular and obscure sports channels that you don't see often, including the Olympics channel, The Big Ten Network, Bein Sports, Fox Sports, and about 20 more. European soccer? Sure. NBA? Yup. Motorcycle racing? You got it. There's no NHL channel, but the majority of hockey games are broadcast NBC, NBCSN, etc., anyway. But don't worry — everyone in your household won't be forced to watch sports 24/7. Other channels include MSNBC, HGTV, The Hallmark Channel, SYFY, and National Geographic, so everyone in the house can find something to watch.
DirecTV Now offers a generous number of channels across four different packages, and it doesn't cost all that much, considering how much you get: $35 per month for more than 60 channels, up to $70 per month for more than 120 channels. While it's a good deal on paper, DirecTV Now itself has inconsistent video quality, a suboptimal interface and a haphazard selection of on-demand content. DVR options are still in their infancy, and platform availability is all over the place. If you want the largest amount of stuff to watch for the least amount of money, DirecTV Now works; otherwise, it's not the best choice.
We included our custom-built XBMC media center—not everyone's taste, but a geekier option we love—for a bit of extra comparison (Note: since the writing of this article, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have gotten much more difficult in XBMC. See this post for more information). Obviously, you can't boil down five devices into just a small chart, though. So, we played with each of these five devices over the course of a few weeks, and here are our thoughts on each one: what it does well, what it lacks, and who it's good for.
With Sling, there’s no more waiting on a show to air—you can watch it live like with cable or satellite, except you’re watching over the internet! The basic package includes 30 live channels like AMC, CNN, ESPN, ESPN2, HGTV, and Disney Channel. You can get a slightly different lineup of networks for $25, or get both for $40. There are also $5–10 add-on packages for sports fans, movie buffs and your little ones. So if ESPN is the only reason you’re clinging to your cable box, you may be out of excuses now!
Last Edited: 5th January 2019 The content of biblemoneymatters.com is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to biblemoneymatters.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. In accordance with the latest FTC guidelines, we declare that we have a financial relationship with every company mentioned on this site.
While every Roku model has its merits, the best of the bunch for our money is the Roku Streaming Stick+. Offering a speedy processor, 4K and HDR support, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, this little stick does everything you want for a crazy-low price. (Note: One feature Roku doesn’t support is Dolby Vision, Dolby’s HDR format, so if your TV is Dolby Vision-ready, you may want to look at the other devices on this list.)
Philo ($16/mo. - $20/mo.): This new cut-rate service is cheap for a reason: It eliminates all sports, major networks and premium movie channels, delivering instead what amounts to a stripped-down basic cable package with the likes of History Channel, A&E and TV Land. Philo also has limited DVR storage and can be watched on multiple devices simultaneously. It’s a good starter option for people who want a solid array of traditional cable channels to supplement with subscriptions to Netflix, HBO Now and others.
Former RT Moscow anchor Stacy Bivens, and other former RT journalists speaking under anonymity according to BuzzFeed, said they regretted working for the network, citing their dislike of the network's use of propaganda. Bivens, for example, was explicitly asked to go to Germany and procure a story proving that "Germany is a failed state". When she rejected, other reporters were sent instead.[24]
Your options get a little thinner after the skinny bundles, but there are some other apps to consider. One of these is CBS All Access, which offers local feeds of CBS stations to certain customers. Once again, you'll have to live in certain areas to get the live feeds – and, once again, you can find out how good the deal is for your region by checking out the service's week-long free trial via the link below. CBS All Access costs $5.99/month (you can pay more to get rid of commercials, but that only affects the on-demand content, not the live TV). You can read our full review of CBS All Access here.
The savings are all tied to a service that is in a sense revolutionary. Sling TV, a new live TV streaming service from Dish provides you with access to networks like ESPN 1, ESPN 2, HGTV, Food TV,TBS, Disney and more for $19.99 per month. All you need is an internet connection to watch Sling TV on a television, phone or tablet. With a deal I found, just for signing up, you get a FREE Fire TV Stick.
I currently pay 263.00 per month for cable,internet and home phone. I don’t even use the home phone because I have my cell phone for everything.I tried to get the Cable company to take the phone off my plan thinking it would be cheaper but to my surprise my monthly bill would have increased even more. With that said, tomorrow I’m canceling my C*X Cable Service and going with HULU. The only other thing I have to pay for is the High Speed Internet connection. I think paying that much for television is ridiculous and I have been paying this for the last 4 years and I’m done..It’s not worth it and it’s a rip off plain & simple. I researched many articles on cutting the cord but thanks to this site and it members, I have been convinced and sold. Thank You for the honest article and comments.
3. Try an HDMI cord. The cheapest way to watch Internet shows on your TV is by connecting a laptop to your television set with an HDMI cord. Cost: as little as $3.50. It may sound complex, but it’s just like connecting an external monitor to your computer. You can then watch individual shows — and often entire seasons — that the television networks have posted on their websites. Channels such as CNN even offer live video feeds updated every few minutes.
This powered antenna does do a better job than my old set of rabbit ears when hooked up to my 42" hdtv, but not that much better. The best part is that because it gets some strength of all my local channels I don't have to add anything after running SETUP ANTENNA on my tv, plus I don't have to aim this antenna, but I do have to aim my old one. The signal is clear, but I can't see any real difference between the powered and unpowered.
RT is a brand of "TV-Novosti", an "autonomous non-profit organization", founded by the Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, on 6 April 2005.[1][7] During the economic crisis in December 2008, the Russian government, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, included ANO "TV-Novosti" on its list of core organizations of strategic importance of Russia.[8][9][10]
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If you don't feel like paying exorbitant cable or satellite fees, but still crave the sweet pablum of basic cable programming, you can always try a cable-replacement service. These online streaming subscriptions deliver live (and on-demand) channels over the internet, and while they're not cheap, they're not as hellaciously expensive as traditional cable or satellite fees. If streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Video aren't enough for you, read on to find out how you can reintroduce live TV into your home without signing your life away to an onerous cable contract.
Philo is one of the newer streaming services to enter the market and it’s also one of the cheapest. The service aims at providing value by carrying entertaining channels without expensive sports programming. One of those channels is AMC. At $16 per month, it is now the most affordable way to watch The Walking Dead without Cable. You can sign up for their free trial or read more about them in our review of Philo.
For example, CBS offers a lot of free full episodes with even more when you sign up for CBS All Access ($59.99/yr with limited commercials or $99.99/yr without commercials after a 7-day free trial). For many shows, like 60 Minutes, you can watch the last 5 episodes for free. Some others have an entire season for free – such as Big Brother: Over the Top.
On 19 January 2017, RT stated that it had been temporarily restricted from posting media on its Facebook page until 21 January, after the service claimed that RT had infringed on the copyrights of Radio Liberty's Current Now TV when broadcasting a live stream of Barack Obama's final press conference as president of the United States. Current Time TV denied that it had sent any specific complaints to Facebook, and both RT and Current Now TV stated that they had obtained their feed from the Associated Press. The restriction was removed after about 20 hours, but Facebook did not say officially if this was because of a technical error or a policy issue.[267][266]
Because neither version of the EPG software was capable of silent remote administration for its locally customizable features, cable company employees were required to visit their headend facilities in order to make all necessary adjustments to the software in person. Consequently, EPG channel viewers would often see its otherwise continuous listings interrupted without warning each time a cable company technician brought up its administrative menus to adjust settings, view diagnostics information, or hunt-and-peck new local text advertisements into the menus' built-in text editor.[5]
Again, streaming copyrighted content without the proper access is maybe not completely on the straight-and-narrow (depending on who you ask). Hey, we’re not here to judge. We’re just here to tell you how you can watch great TV on the cheap in the best way possible. (And, you know, we all use Kodi ourselves.) But if you’re squeamish about stepping on the toes of copyright holders (the channels you’ll be watching for nothing with Kodi), bypass this option and pay a small fee with one of the alternatives below.
Sports first is the goal at fuboTV, even if it's not sports exclusive. You get 82 channels of live TV with a intense focus on sports-related channels—even though the service doesn't include any ESPN networks (those are on Sling TV and Hulu with Live TV). But you do get stations like MSG, FS1, NBCSN, NBATV, BTN, Fox Sports, CBS Sports Network, and a lot more—including many entertainment networks like Fox, History Channel, HGTV, FX, E! and others. Add-ons include Showtime for $10.99 a month, plus even more sports channels from different countries for $8.99 a month. It comes with cloud-DVR capability and works on a PC, iOS, Android, Chromecast, Apple TV, and Roku devices; it's in beta on Amazon Fire TV. The first month is only $19.99 before it goes up to full price.
Basically, when you go to your xbox and select to view video, you can view video from the xbox’s hard drive (stuff you download from xbox live), or from one of the connected media servers. Playon would be one of the connected media servers (in addition to the built in media server in windows vista -which only has limited streaming capabilities). Does that make sense or did I just muddy the water even more?
Direct TV Now is a streaming service from AT&T that offers live TV programming over the Internet. It gives you access to over 60 live channels for $35 per month. This includes popular stations, such as CNN, the Hallmark Channel, ESPN, the Disney Channel, HGTV, TBS, Discovery, Bravo, Animal Planet and Bloomberg, among many others. But you can also choose to add HBO, Starz or Showtime for an extra $5 to $8 per month.
Although these drawbacks sound fairly significant, streaming sports can work out well if what you want to watch is available on your service of choice. For example, football fans can pay $20 to $40 a month during the college and NFL seasons, stream almost all the games to any device, and then cancel when the season ends; if you want to watch only March Madness, a single month of streaming will get you access to all the games.
After the July 2014 crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, RT rushed to blame others for the plane's shoot-down in Ukraine amid accusations by Ukrainian fighters of Russian involvement in the crash.[244] Speaking of RT's coverage, Sarah Oates, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland said "But if you’re going to engage in propaganda, you have to do it well. They have completely embarrassed themselves."[245]
“My internet slowed down to a crawl and no amount of resetting the box helped. Turned out it was something wrong with the box and it was replaced. However, it was still occasionally cutting out. When we moved from Los Feliz to Boyle Heights [in Los Angeles], connection with these services greatly improved. I think it’s due to it being adjacent to downtown so that connections are underground and stronger.” ― Ruby McNeil
Great! You’re already half way there! What I would do next is take a look at Hulu, Sling TV, CBS All Access, etc. to find out which option has the majority of what you want to see. If that company does not cover sports you may have to purchase an add on for it. As far as local sports, you might consider an antenna if you can’t get coverage otherwise.
When deal searching, be sure to inquire about the data download caps of your potential internet service provider. They will typically indicate this in the gigabytes (GB) you can transfer in a month. In this case, your video quality is an important factor. For example, a cap of 250 GB will allow for about 280 hours of standard definition streaming, but only 83 hours of high definition at 1080p. So be mindful and aware of the fine print.
The downside is that on-demand access is limited, and the various packages can get confusing (particularly on Sling TV). Other limitations, such as the number of different devices a household can use simultaneously, are also frustrating and hard to understand. And you will need a good high-speed internet connection to stream TV with either option, so factor that into your budget.
Cable stinks, but it didn't always stink, and its channel bundles include some great stuff. That inspired the companies behind the major live TV streaming services to set out to beat cable at its own game. They began to offer pay TV “multichannel” services – industry lingo for cable- and satellite-type pay TV bundles – only they slashed the size and the price of cable's bulky bundles and offered folks a key selection of channels for less. And since these services stream online, you can watch them anywhere and on almost any device.
Netflix – Best for catching episodes of your favorite shows from last season or from the last decade. While Netflix doesn't typically offer recently aired episodes of popular shows, it's perfect for streaming episodes from previous seasons, or for getting your "Murder She Wrote" groove on. There's a monthly fee to subscribe to Netflix but once you're signed up, you can stream an unlimited amount of shows.
The network was originally conceived in 1981 as a barker channel service providing a display of localized channel and program listings for cable television providers. Later on, the service, branded Prevue Channel or Prevue Guide and later as Prevue, began to broadcast interstitial segments alongside the on-screen guide, which included entertainment news and promotions for upcoming programs. After Prevue's parent company, United Video Satellite Group, acquired the entertainment magazine TV Guide in 1998 (UVSG would in turn, be acquired by Gemstar the following year), the service was relaunched as TV Guide Channel (later TV Guide Network), which now featured full-length programs dealing with the entertainment industry, including news magazines and reality shows, along with red carpet coverage from major award shows.
Many local libraries have movies and television shows on DVD, and some even offer BluRay. Borrowing one is completely free as long as you are eligible for a library card, and you usually have a generous return window too. The only caveats are that your selection may be limited and other borrowers may not have been kind to the DVD when they borrowed it, so some of them may not work. But, when the cost is $0, it isn’t as painful when that happens.
A perk to a setup like this is that it will directly integrate into Amazon’s growing ecosystem of connected devices. That means you’ll be able to check what’s on the premium Prime add-on channels just by talking to Alexa. That feature might not be a game changer, but it’s helpful nonetheless, and only serves to strengthen the case for subscribing to these channels if you’re an Amazon Prime member not subscribed to them elsewhere.
I don’t have an xbox or other gaming system. What would be a cheap alternative? Would Apple TV be sufficient? Or Roku? When it comes to all of these devices, I am completely in the dark. I just want to create a seamless connection between a projector, computer, antenna over a cheap but fast wifi connection (possibly FreedomPop). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
General idea: Need we say more than nearly 50 channels for $20 a month? That's unheard of, guys. We have yet to find a streaming service that offers that much for that little, and it's really all we need to say about Philo. The channels aren't news or sports oriented, but if you don't care about that, the variety is pretty legit: Featuring BBCAmerica, Cheddar, The Food Network, GSN, TLC, and more. There's a seven day free trial that you can try, and the coolest part is that they don't require your credit card information to set it up. Just enter your mobile number and you're ready to watch. They'll text you and ask for a payment later when your week runs out, but at least you know you won't be charged if you accidentally forget to cancel.
In April 2017, during his successful run for President of France, Emmanuel Macron's campaign team banned both RT and the Sputnik news agency from campaign events. A Macron spokesperson said the two outlets showed a "systematic desire to issue fake news and false information".[205] Macron later said during a press conference that RT and Sputnik were "agencies of influence and propaganda, lying propaganda—no more, no less".[206]
Making the video integration possible were the Amiga 2000's native video compositing capabilities. All video (and associated audio) content was provided live by Prevue Networks via a special analog C-band satellite backhaul feed from Tulsa. This feed contained a national satellite listings grid in the bottom half of its picture (strictly as a courtesy for the era's C-band dish owners), with the top half of its picture divided horizontally in two, both halves showing promos for unrelated telecasts on different networks (sound for each half was provided in monoaural on the feed's respective left and right audio channels).
State-owned RIA Novosti news agency, which founded RT in 2005, is one of the largest in Russia. Its chairperson is Svetlana Mironyuk, who has modernised the agency since her appointment in 2003.[85][86][87] RIA Novosti has stated it helped establish RT, but is "neither a sponsor nor a backer of Russia Today."[6] Mikhail Seslavinsky, in charge of the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation asserted in 2005 that "Russia Today will come as an independent company".[88] Under Russian law RT is an independent organisation.[34]
Commercials – often for psychic hotlines – and featurettes produced by Prevue Networks, such as Prevue Tonight, that were voiced by Larry Hoefling[8] (who served as the network's announcer from 1989 to 1993), were also delivered via this satellite feed. For commercials, as well as overnight and early morning infomercials, the top half of the feed's video frame would be completely filled out, with local cable system Prevue Guide installations letting it show through in full in a pillarboxed anamorphic widescreen format (some direct response ads that were compartmentalized to one area of the video frame featured contact information in the opposing feed that was blocked out, in addition to that provided in the advertisement). The satellite feed also carried a third audio channel containing Prevue Guide theme music in an infinite loop. Local Prevue Guide installations would switch to this audio source during the display of local top-screen advertising, and when they crashed. Prevue Guide could additionally signal cable system video playback equipment to override the Prevue Networks satellite feed entirely with up to nine minutes of local, video-based advertising per hour. Few cable systems utilized this feature, however, owing to the need to produce special versions of their local advertisements wherein, as with the satellite feed itself, all action occurred only within the top half of the video frame.
On June 11, 1998, News Corporation sold TV Guide to Prevue Networks parent United Video Satellite Group for $800 million and 60 million shares of stock worth an additional $1.2 billion (this followed an earlier merger attempt between the two companies in 1996 that eventually fell apart).[13][14][15] At midnight on February 1, 1999, the Prevue Channel was officially renamed to the "TV Guide Channel," and new graphics were implemented. With the rebranding, the hourly segments featured on the channel were revamped, with some being retitled after features in TV Guide magazine – including TV Guide Close-Up (which profiled a select program airing that night), TV Guide Sportsview (which maintained the same format as Prevue Sports, making the segment more similar in format to the listings section's sports guide than the color column of that name in the magazine), and TV Guide Insider (a segment featuring behind-the-scenes interviews).
I think they like to scare you by moaning and groaning about how high much your internet bill will be if it is not bundled. I just checked and currently the “introductory” price for bundled service is $29.99 each for your internet, phone and cable. That’s for a year and then it skyrockets, as usual. If I recall correctly, the price doubled for each service so in the long run you’re looking at perhaps an increase of $5-$10. Hmm… So is the stand-alone price higher, sure but it is not through the roof. Yes, you may pay a bit more for internet service but you have to look at the big picture. When we cut the cord, our overall savings per month (when you included subscription services), was well over $100/month. Is it worth paying a few dollars more for unbundled high-speed internet service in order to save $100 or more each month? You bet it is!
Lastly, Google TV's streaming services are pretty good, since it has most of the Google Play store at its disposal. You can watch Netflix, Amazon (however crappily), and some sports channels, but a lot of content is missing—like Hulu and other TV channels. It does, however, have the movies and TV section of Google Play, which like iTunes lets you download and rent videos to your TV. Prices are comparable for movies, costing about $15-20 to buy, with a pretty good selection. Shows are cheaper at $20-$40 per season, but the selection leaves a lot to be desired. That said, other apps like the Chrome web browser, the occasional video game, or the awesome Plex media center make Google TV a bit more appealing.
Consensus: Aside from the base plan, DirecTV NOW's packages have the highest prices that we've seen, and spending $60-$70 a month on TV watching just may not be a priority. However, if you've got a bit of disposable money and have a wide range of interests, DirecTV's insane channel selection is about to make you a very happy camper. (Regardless, it's cheaper than a $200/month cable bill.)
This steady decline is the driving force behind a series of blockbuster mergers reshaping the media landscape, such as AT&T buying Time Warner, Walt Disney acquiring much of Fox, and Comcast pursuing Sky. Entertainment companies, nervously watching their business model waste away like a slowly melting glacier, are deciding they need to get larger and expand globally to compete with deep-pocketed rivals like Netflix—or sell.
The Roku's selection of channels is as good as it gets: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, Crackle, HBO Go, MLB.tv, NHL, NBA, Epix, and a lot more. It would be nice to see some better support from people like NBC, ABC, CNN, and other news channels, though—right now, the channels are either audio podcasts only or clips of popular shows, but rarely full episodes. The Roku also recently got the Plex app, which allows it to play items from a Plex media server—perfect for those few movies you've ripped or downloaded. It also contains a few of Plex's streaming channels, but not all of them are available at the time of this writing. Still, Plex is a very nice touch to a device that previously couldn't play those files at all.
Most cord cutters know that there are plenty of ways to watch popular movies and television shows without cable. Netflix and Hulu have made it easy to check out big-budget Hollywood films, and HBO's streaming option has freed TV binge-watchers from the clutches of the cable companies. But what about local content? Many cord cutters don't know how to watch local channels without cable, and may not even realize that they can.
ClearStream's final entry is the 4MAX, which is an improvement on the 4V when it comes to range and general setup. Quality-wise, this offers what you'd expect from the previous ClearStream antennas with a 70- mile range and 4K capability. That said, the 4MAX is able to bump up the range a bit in the right conditions. And it does use a more streamlined design over the 4V, making the overall setup much easier and saving a bit of space.
Pros: Users can create up to six personal viewer profiles with one subscription. And, if you're watching a current season, you won't have to wait long: Episodes are usually available the day after they air. Hulu's originals, like The Handmaid's Tale, have their fair share of fans, too. The service leads the industry in simultaneous streaming: Users have the option to stream on unlimited screens at the same time at home and three on the go.
Of course, there’s never a bad time to reexamine your cable package and determine if you still need the one you’re on. Perhaps when you signed up, your provider gave you a premium package at a low rate, but that rate has expired and you’re now paying the regular price—do you really need those premium channels? Similarly, as nice as having 200-plus channels at your fingertips can be, many people spend the majority of their TV time watching just a few select stations. See if your provider offers a less expensive package that has the stations you want.
To be honest, if you've got a decent laptop and a nice TV, with an HDMI cable between them you have all you need to be a cord cutter. Stream on your laptop and watch on the big screen. Or use your phone; the apps out there for casting or mirroring what you see on the phone to the TV are too numerous to mention. (Read How to Connect Your iPhone or iPad to Your TV for more.)
un ff belieable i just hit escape by accident and erased all i had wrote.”’anyway again,,,, im just coming back to yur sight after a week ,i kept the link in my email so i could come back and read the whole thing and wow this is great just what i needed when i needed it,”’i just dropped my cable tv bill but im still not saving to much ,only 20 bucks since im upgrading to the next highest comcast internet speed of 20mbps per sec called blast,,”if yur a new customer ,,,,online theres a 49.99 special for the same thing for a year ,,i tried to get in on it but ,of course its ONLY FOR BRAND NEW CUSTOMERS”””NO FAIR”””>and all the dsl companys out there want a one year contract ,,NO FFF WAY<<"the best stand alone internet 20mbps per sec speed ive seen is from RCN}' they offer the same thing for 49.99 monthly no contract,, higher speed means better video and audio quality streeming and faster movie download times ,i just bought two tvos off of criags list boston for 20 bucks i hope one of them works and i could use it with my computer,''geat listings i never knew there were so many free tv and movie sources ,looking forward to trying them out,,, now all i need is a 32 inch lcd hdtv flat sreen monitor and remote for the computer and hello tv paradise''''
When talking to people who are interested in cutting the cord, the issue that continually crops up is how to find affordable internet access. Many ask how to obtain internet access without a cable TV bundle. While market competition between internet service providers in the U.S. is extremely low, you can still find deals on high-speed internet only plans without a TV bundle.
Marcin Maczka writes that RT's ample financing has allowed RT to attract experienced journalists and use the latest technology.[96] RT anchors and correspondents tend to concentrate on controversial world issues such as the financial and banking scandals, corporate impact on the global economy, and western demonstrations. It has also aired views by various conspiracy theorists, including neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, and Holocaust deniers (presented as "human rights activists").[150] News from Russia is of secondary importance and such reports emphasize Russian modernisation and economic achievements, as well as Russian culture and natural landscapes, while downplaying Russia's social problems or corruption.[38][96]
Thanks for the list! I’ve been living without cable for 2.5 years and it’s great! I am surprised so many people continue to pay for cable, especially with prices for everything else going up. I watch a few broadcast shows, and then any shows I miss I can usually find online. I started out using fanpop.com but think I’ll check out a few of the above to compare. As for LM&M’s comments about talking about the shows at work….I think that you (David) work from home. 🙂 I say try the no-cable route for a while. You can always buy a package later…
Playon allows you to stream a wide variety of video sources to your TV via a connected device. If you already pay for and you’re fine with Netflix, Hulu and a couple of others you get through your Blu-ray player, you’re probably fine without Playon. But Playon would allow you to stream TV shows from networks, some cable networks, and a bunch of other places that you might not be able to otherwise (unless you regularly hook your laptop up to the TV).
DirecTV is another service with high channels counts and multiple package tiers. Like PS Vue, it’s close to the experience you’ll get with cable or satellite when it comes to available channels. In August 2018, DirecTV Now took a major leap forward for football fans, adding the NFL Network to several of its base packages. While competitors like Sling TV and PlayStation Vue have offered the NFL Network for some time, it was one of just a few key channels missing from a service known for its channel count. Subscribers of the Just Right package and above now have the channel, meaning it’s only missing from the $40-per-month Live a Little package.
This type of service is also used to circumvent sports network blackouts or simply to mask your identity online from would-be identity thieves. Of course, check with your content provider’s terms of service to make sure you are not breaking any end-user agreements. To learn the differences between a Smart DNS and VPN check out my post on VPN vs Smart DNS.
I was very disappointed when the NBC-based channel US Sports went to cable on January 1st. I used to enjoy the gymnastics and skating there. Now, in an Olympic year, they decided to move from the free NBC channel 5.3 to a paid cable channel. It’s like those certain sports events are only available on paid cable, or video reruns on USsports.com. It’s really lousy in an Olympic year!
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Tyrannosaurus Writes
Words produced by a bona fide rainbow-breathing giant lizard
HomeThe M Word; the looming election and the right to legislate
The M Word; the looming election and the right to legislate
January 23, 2018 January 23, 2018 Mike Nash Australian PoliticsAustralian Elections, elections
On 29 August 2019, the Forty-Fifth Parliament of Australia will expire. Under the provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1919 (and section 28 of the Constitution), the latest date for the election of the House is 2 November 2019. Of course, the actual date will be sooner; half of the Senate expires in 2019, and the law requires that the half-Senate election be held and completed in time for their replacements to take office on 1 July 2019 – practically, this sets a date of 18 May 2019 at the latest for that.
A double dissolution cannot take place within six months of the expiry of the House – no later than 28 February 2019 – and we all know how well the government didn’t do the last time they called one of those.
Historically the electorate has tended to treat a separate half-Senate election as an excuse to kick the government without kicking it out; Australian governments have been very reluctant to let the houses get out of sync, so we can expect to see the next election be a House and Half-Senate – the sort we usually get. This must happen between 4 August 2018 and 18 May 2019[1].
Antony Green observes that, when we take into account Victoria and New South Wales’ impending elections, factor in the timing of the Easter/ANZAC Day holidays in 2019 (they are in the same week), and the rarity of elections in December through February, the most likely period for an election is September-October 2018[2].
Despite Turnbull’s assertion that there won’t be an election this year[3] there’s a long-established history of politicians, well, lying about this. Only once in Australia’s history has an election taken place after the parliament expired, in 1910[4].
We can, as the ALP is doing, proceed under the assumption that this is an election year.
Regardless of the outcome, no matter who wins, we can expect to be bombarded with the dreaded “M” word; mandate. The winner will claim a mandate to implement their policies to their heart’s content, as though handed the right to rule by God, and will hurl all sorts of insults at any obstructionists in the Senate or the Opposition benches. We’ve seen it happen after every election.
Here’s a funny fact; there’s no such thing. Not in Australia. If you hunt through the Constitution, you’ll find no mention of it. Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice uses the word three times – and never to imply the government has such a thing[5]. It appears once in the House of Representatives Practice – when detailing the reasons given to the House by the government of the day for the dissolutions of the House in 1917, 1955, and 1963[6]. It does not appear anywhere in the sense of the government being allowed to just implement its policies.
It’s the same in America[7].
For use to find such a thing as a mandate, it is to Mother England, with her Salisbury Doctrine, that we must turn. Simply put, the Doctrine states that the House of Lords will not block any tabled bills listed in the election manifesto of Her Majesty’s Government – they can only be “reasonably” amended (no amendments designed to sink the bill are allowed). The manifesto is a publication containing the policies a party stands for and would implement if they form government – we’d call them a collection of “core” promises. Any policies a party wants to implement that are not in the manifesto it cannot claim to have been elected for; these policies are fair game[8]. (This is not to ignore the Parliament Acts that allow the Commons to overrule the Lords – but circuit-breakers for disagreement between the houses is not the focus here.)
There is no Salisbury Doctrine in Australia. All policies and bills are fair game in either House of Parliament – especially given how prone our governments are to designating promises as “non-core” after the fact or just outright breaking them.
In Australia, the only mandate a government has is that it may try. No-one is under any obligation to let it succeed. Indeed, as Arthur Fadden found out in 1941, a government doesn’t even have a mandate to be the government if enough members of the House decide they don’t want it there. And we needn’t revisit the events leading up to the Dismissal to recall that, in the absence of a government majority, the Senate has never behaved as though anything like the Salisbury Doctrine applies here.
So when you hear a government on Canberra’s Capital Hill getting shouty about a mandate, think “bullshit”.
[1] Lundie, “‘So When Is the next Election?”
[2] Green, “Federal Election Timing.”
[3] Tillett and McIlroy, “Malcolm Turnbull Says the Election Won’t Be until 2019.”
[5] Odgers and Evans, Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice.
[6] Wright, House of Representatives Practice.
[7] Youngberg, “There’s No Such Thing as a Presidential Mandate.”
[8] Dymond and Deadman, “The Salisbury Doctrine.”
Dymond, Glenn, and Hugo Deadman. “The Salisbury Doctrine.” London: House of Lords Library 30 (2006). http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-library/hllsalisburydoctrine.pdf.
Green, Antony. “Federal Election Timing and How to Move the Dates of the Next NSW and Victorian Elections.” Antony Green’s Election Blog (blog), May 4, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170707022545/http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2017/05/federal-election-timing-and-how-to-move-the-dates-of-the-next-nsw-and-victorian-elections.html.
Lundie, Rob. “‘So When Is the next Election?’: Australian Elections Timetable as at 1 September 2016.” Australian Parliamentary Library, September 1, 2016. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/AustralianElectionsTimetable.
Odgers, J. R, and Harry Evans. Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice. Edited by Rosemary Laing. 14th ed. Australia: Department of the Senate, 2016.
Tillett, Tom, and Tom McIlroy. “Malcolm Turnbull Says the Election Won’t Be until 2019.” Australian Financial Review, January 22, 2018. http://www.afr.com/news/malcolm-turnbull-says-the-election-wont-be-until-2019-20180121-h0m0do.
Wright, Bernard C., ed. House of Representatives Practice. 6th ed. Australia: Department of the House of Representatives, 2012.
Youngberg, David. “There’s No Such Thing as a Presidential Mandate,” January 10, 2018. https://fee.org/articles/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-presidential-mandate/.
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Radiotherapy & Clinical Oncology
UBTH Paramedic Program
Dental: Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Dental: Preventative Dentistry
Dental: Restorative Dentistry
Anaesthesiology
Medical Laboratory Departments
Chemical Pathology
Histopathology (Morbid Anatomy)
ABOUT ANESTHESIOLOGY
Currently the department is housed in a new complex and every consultant has an office. In addition, there are residents’ offices, library, seminar room and demonstration room. There are 13 operating theatres (5 VAMED, 2 Obstetric’s, 2 ophthalmic and 4 in Accident and Emergency Complex) The VAMED theaters are equipped with sophisticated anaesthetic equipment, new operating tables, operating lights. Four bedded VAMED ICU, highly equipped with modern ventilators, modular monitors, infusion and syringe pumps. There is a four-bedded High dependency unit (HDU) also equipped with new multiparameter monitors. There are intensive trained nurses working in both ICU and HDU. The department is accredited by both colleges of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and the West African College of Surgeons.
Anaesthesiologists at University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) offer outstanding anaesthetic care for patients. Anaesthesiologists care for more than 100,000 patients each year. More than 30 staff doctors practice at the UBTH. They are assisted by numerous residents. Among the specialized services provided by the Anaesthesiology Department are:
• Administration of anaesthesia in all subspecialties
• Preoperative medical evaluation
• Preoperative pain management
• Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography
• Critical care
• Management of acute and chronic pain syndromes
• Injections and nerve blocks
• Spinal-cord stimulation
• Spinal-infusion systems
• Obstetric analgesia and anaesthesia.
Preoperative Care:
The department was involved in the preoperative care of all patients for surgery. In routine cases, this involved visiting the patient before surgery. Clinical examination was usually carried out to determine the fitness of the patient for the intended surgery and to ensure that relevant investigation had been performed. In major cases, the anaesthetist may be called in much earlier in consultation. In all cases, minimum investigations must be performed both to optimize clinical care and for medico-legal reason. It may be necessary to set up an anaesthesia out-patient clinic for preparing elective surgical patients before admission. This helps to reduce the use of hospital beds.
Per-operative Care:
The anaesthetist prepares the patient for surgery and looks after him/her during surgery. He makes sure that at all times during anaesthesia and surgery the patient is in a good condition and has every prospect of good recovery with no morbidity. A good interaction between the surgeon and the anaesthesiologist is essential for the best result. Monitoring vital signs throughout the period helps to ensure that everything is under control and this calls for monitors for all the vital organ systems.
Post-operative Care:
Immediate post-operative care is given in the recovery room manned by trained anaesthetic nurses. The patient remains here until full recovery of consciousness and all protective reflexes are once more active. Minimal but essential monitoring continues here until patient is transferred either to the ward or to an intensive care unit as the case may be. Discharge from the unit must be by the anaesthetist.
Resuscitation or Reanimation
The department must be prepared to play a leading role in cases of sudden and unexpected cardiac arrest occurring anywhere in the hospital. The anaesthetist must be a member of a standing resuscitation team. For this purpose, there must be resuscitation trolleys or carts, one in each ward, in the main theatre and one in the out-patient complex. The department must be prepared to give regular lectures on current resuscitation techniques. All new hospital staff must attend one of these lectures to ensure that they are aware of available local facilities and the plan for dealing with these emergencies.
There must be a general intensive care unit run by the department. This highly specialized and equipped unit is for dealing with very ill patients particularly those who need mechanical support of one kind or the other. These patients may be admitted straight from the medical or surgical emergency unit, from the wards or from post-operative cases. Admission into the unit must be made by a consultant anaesthetist.
Management of Pain
The department may run a unit for the management of chronic pains either arising from surgical procedures, post traumatic sources or from degenerative changes. There may be need for in-service training for additional specialization in this and other areas of anaesthesiology.
OBJECTIVES AND GOALS
1. To give anaesthestic services to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital or any other approved institutions as may be required for the training of students.
2. To run an organized programme of rotations and other educational experiences, both mandatory and elective, designed to provide each resident with the opportunity to fulfill the educational requirements and achieve competences in the specialty.
3 To train and graduate competent, highly proficient, knowledgeable anaesthetists capable of functioning independently and compete with anaesthetists from all over the world.
by running suitable postgraduate courses such as:
1. A) Fellowship Diploma Programme of the National and West African Postgraduate Medical College
b) One year Postgraduate Diploma in Anaesthesiology programme of the University of Benin.
c) Training of anaesthetic technicians.
2. To provide undergraduate medical students with basic knowledge and skills in the field of anaesthesiology, necessary to enable them become good doctors.
3. To teach general principles of Anaesthesia and basic life support to student nurses, midwifery students, post basic nursing students, as well as doctors on rotation from other departments.
4. To carry out research in anaesthesiology and related fields aimed at promoting knowledge.
ANAESTHETIC SERVICES
The department of Anaesthesia is engaged in many activities that are training, research, and service oriented.
a) Anaesthetic service is provided for all surgical specialties and wide varieties of anaesthetic techniques are practiced. Such as General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatric, Ophthalmology, E.N.T., Orthopaedic, Dental, Urology, Cardiothoracic, Plastic Surgery and Accident & Emergency. Our anaesthetic services also extend to the radiotherapy department.
b) The department also coordinates and provides specialist cover in the management of patients in the Intensive Care Unit and responds to resuscitation calls from other areas of the hospital.
There are six consultant and 38 resident doctors.
The residents are at various stages of the postgraduate diploma and fellowship training programme in anaesthesia. In addition several doctors from other institutions and other departments rotate through the department for clinical exposure. It is gratifying to note that our department has trained a sizeable number of anaesthetists (111 diplomats) in the West African sub region and some of the Alumni have attained pinnacles of their career.
Experts at UBTH offer services for the management of acute and chronic pain through special Pain Clinics. These services are designed to restore function and increase the quality of life for patients who experience pain syndromes.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANAESTHESIOLOGY.
Prof M.O.Obiaya returned from his post-graduate training in Anaesthesiology in May 1969. He had trained partly in Toronto, Canada and partly in Cambridge, England. As he was partly sponsored by the then Mid-West Bendel State Government, he joined the Mid-West Government Civil Service. He worked as a consultant anaesthetist in charge of anaesthetic service throughout the state.
Towards the end of the year 1972, the University of Benin Teaching Hospital under construction was completed. It was to be opened the following year. Prof M.O.Obiaya was appointed senior lecturer in the department of anaesthesia.
He joined the department at the beginning of the year and as the only university medical member staff, he was in charge of the department. While, Prof. Bello-Osagie who was then in charge of the Medical School and the teaching hospital as the Dean. Named it “The department of anaesthesiology”. In Britain, the departments are called Departments of anaesthesia and the practitioners are anaesthetists. In America, the department is called “The Department of Anaesthesiology” and the medical practitioners are called “anaesthesiologists”. Nurses who are trained to practice anaesthesia in America are called anaesthetists. “Anaesthesiology” was a combination of the British and American terms and at the time seemed the trend of international usage. Our department was then called “The department of anaesthesiology”.
Four offices were assigned to the department in the new college Building. This building on hospital premises was meant to house the new clinical departments of the medical school of the University of Benin. Our four offices were on the ground floor and we used them as follows:
1. Office for head of department and secretary
2. Two offices for consultant staff
3. Office for resident doctors. This also doubled as hall for clinical meetings.
EARLY STAFF:
1. Dr. M.O. Obiaya- Senior lecturer, Head of Department
2. Dr. Osaigbovo- Senior registrar in anesthesiology
3. Secretary I- Mrs. C.A. Alile
4. Secretary II-
5. Messenger- Theopilus
6. Technicians and theatre orderlies
OPERATING THEATRES
4 theatres in the main theatre suites
2 theatres in the Obstetric Unit
2 theatres in the out-patient department
Work Load:
The work load on the department dependeded on the number of surgical staff and the consequent number of patients. At the onset, there were eight surgeons as follows:
1 urologist and general surgeon
1 ophthalmologist
3 general surgeons
1 cardiothoracic surgeon
2 obstetricians and gynaecologists
As indicated above, there were only two anaesthetists. If the surgeons were to work to their full capacity and all the theatres put into use, more anaesthetists were needed and that urgently immediate steps were taken as a temporary solution.
1. Available anaesthetists in town were hired on part time basis.
2. Resident doctors in training in relevant specialties were made to rotate through anaesthesiology for periods of 3-6 months. They were given quick training in the administration of routine general anaesthesia. This later became a requirement for resident doctors in surgical disciplines.
3. A trip was planned for the recruitment of anaesthetists and other specialists (pathologists) from outside the country.
Recruitment Tour
Sometime in 1973, Prof. T. Bello-Osagie and few others travelled out of the country for the recruitment of anaesthetists, pathologists and others. We travelled to Britain and India together, but after India, He travelled alone to Egypt for the same purpose. India was our most successful point. Our host the Professor of anaesthesiology (Velore, CMC India) had made preliminary arrangements for us. We were able to interview a number of young anaesthetists who had completed a four year training period. We were quite impressed and offered tentative appointment to three of the candidates:
Dr. Dakaraju
Dr. Raju C.
Dr. Sudaman Devasirvada
The visit to Britain and Egypt was not as successful. We had promises of likely candidates in anaesthesiology, all branches of pathology, who would send in their application later. Nothing came out of the promises.
By the end of the year, our staff situation had improved. In addition to the foreign recruits, we were able to recruit new residents for training in anaesthesiology. Among the first batch were:
Dr. Deinsah
Dr. Iyasere
Dr. Imoukhuede
These were sponsored for training in Britain but only Dr. Iyasere obtained the British fellowship in anaesthesia.
Dr. Okechukwu returned from Germany in 1973. He was employed as lecturer in the department after a successful interview.
The staff situation at the end of the year was as follows.
December 1973-
Dr. M.O. Obiaya
Dr. Okechukwu
Dr. Raju
Dr. Devasirvadam
Sub-specialization in Anaesthesia:
a)Obstetric anaesthesia-Prof.C.O.Imarengiaye and Dr (Mrs)N.P.Edomwonyi
b)Paediatric anaesthesia-Dr O.P.Adudu/Dr(Mrs)N,P.Edomwonyi
c)Cardiothoracic-Dr.I.T.Isa/Dr I.T.Ekwere
d)Intensive Care Unit/ Dr F.E.Amadasun/-Dr.S.O.Tudjegbe
Chronic Pain Management-Dr F.E.Amadasun
e)Neuroanaesthesia-Dr.S.O.Tudjegbe /Dr I.T.Ekwere
f) Ambulatory anaesthesia-Prof.C.O.Imarengiaye.
G) Resuscitation-Dr (Mrs) N.P.Edomwonyi
h)Trauma and Orthopaedics-Dr I.J.Isa/Dr I.T.Ekwere
Additional Department Infomation
Monday to Sunday (24 hours)
HOD Contact
DR F.E. Amadasun
Email:feamadasun@ubth.org
Contact UBTH
Phone: +234 803 293 5801
Email: info@ubth.org
Address: P.M.B 1111 Ugbowo Lagos Road
Benin City, Nigeria
UBTH 3-DAY WORKSHOP ON QUALITY RESEARCH FOR QUALITY PUBLICATIONS IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
ADMISSION INTO SCHOOL OF POST BASIC MIDWIFERY
UBTH © 2018. All rights reserved.
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PCMag UK | Reviews | Software | Mobile Apps | iPhone Apps | Review
Yelp (for iPhone)
By Jill Duffy Sep 23, 2009
Easy to use and navigate. Clean UI. Useful amount of information displayed for mobile users. Relevant business details provided (hours open, map, and so on). Can post reviews and photos from phone.
Slightly confusing interface. As with any user-generated content app, all subjective information must be taken with a big grain of salt. Tips are a little buried.
The Yelp app provides key information about businesses from user-generated content. The type of information it displays in a short digest is ideal for mobile users looking for quick answers, recommendations, and directions.
I've long had a love-hate relationship with Yelp, but I can't seem to delete the app for very long from my iPhone. Sure, the site is rife with undue complaints from an assortment of crankypants, but it also gives key information about businesses when you need them. What's nearby? Is it open now? Can I see photos so I know what I'm in for? What tips should I know before using this business? Yelp answers all those questions, and many more.
Yelp's ability to provide detailed information and reviews of businesses is rather remarkable. Of course, it's best digested with a big honking grain of salt. As with any user-generated content, you'll need to turn on your critical thinking skills to wade through the bias. Thankfully, Yelp's iPhone app has a pretty good design, which makes doing so relatively simple, though it could stand some simplification. Still, Yelp is an Editors' Choice iPhone app because it absolutely makes life on-the-go better and more enjoyable.
SEE ALSO: The Best VPN Services for 2019
Interface and Usability
The free Yelp app is jam-packed with tools, features, and various sections. In the past year, Yelp has gone a a bit overboard with all the button and features, and it could stand to trim a few things here and there.
The key, however, is that when you find a business you need, whether it's a restaurant or a doctor's office, the app gives you the most important information upfront in a digest: hours open and an "open" or "closed" note for the current time (when available), a map to the location, the aggregate review rating (1 to 5), the total number of reviews, the phone number, a link to open directions, and the distance from you to the business.
As with any service that relies on user-generated content, Yelp requires some critical thinking skills to use to tactfully. Crowd-sourced reviews in aggregate are very often accurate, or at least indicative. It's rare you'll find a place with hundreds of four- and five-star reviews that truly sucks. On the other hand, bias is rampant, and when a business has fewer than, say, two dozen reviews, you often need to read the body of some of them to get a real sense of whether they are fair and objective. I can't tell you how many times I come across a negative restaurant review, only to realize that the reviewer never even ate at the place, or that they had food delivered and were cranky that it took too long. But a smart decision on Yelp's end to make all user profiles visible alleviates this problem, by which I mean it's easy to spot the crankpots when you dive into their profile and read their other reviews. Of course, this type of investigation takes time, which is often in short supply when you're on the go.
A main menu runs along the bottom of the app, with a Nearby at the far left, and subsequent buttons for Search, About Me, and More. I miss having a Home button, which Yelp has ditched. A neat star icon now pops up to reveal a few more choices: Check in, Review, and Photo or Video.
There are more buttons at the top, one of which opens yet another menu of options. Like I said, there's a lot in the app.
You can search for businesses with any terms, like "latte" or "dentist," or look for businesses nearby using GPS. You can also search within a specified category, such as salons or drug stores, or pull up businesses in categories that are nearby. The search options and capabilities are thorough.
Once you've landed on a business's entry, you can write a review, check in, bookmark the place (save it to your Yelp account), read highlights from other users' reviews, read tips about the business, browse photos, and more.
Tips are helpful, but a little buried. They're way at the bottom of a business's entry, below the address, mapped location, basic information like open hours, and snippets of reviews. To add a tip from the business's page, you have to scroll even further down, to the end of the section showing snippets of tips.
Tools for filtering search results are particularly helpful when you're in a particular place and need to find a business that meets certain criteria right now. The mobile app is less adept at helping you search other cities, say while doing a little armchair travel, but it can be done. It's just that the mobile app is better in real time for those in-the-moment experiences.
Yelp's Effectiveness
The real selling point of the Yelp iPhone app is that it gives you succinct but essential information about businesses you might need or want to visit that are nearby. There's a lot more going on—maybe too much—but that doesn't detract from the critical information that most users want and need. Yelp's iPhone app provides a great service, making it an Editors' Choice and one of the 50 best free iPhone apps available.
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Jill Duffy Contributing Editor
Jill Duffy is a contributing editor, specializing in productivity apps and software, as well as technologies for health and fitness. She writes the weekly Get Organized column, with tips on how to lead a better digital life. Her first book, Get Organized: How to Clean Up Your Messy Digital Life is available for Kindle, iPad, and other digital formats. She is also the creator and author of ProductivityReport.org.
Before joining PCMag.com, she was senior editor at the Association for Computing Machinery, a non-profit membership organization for computer scientists and students. She also spent five years as a writer and managing editor of Game Developer magazine, ... See Full Bio
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U.S. Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh denies sexual misconduct allegation
Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Friday denied an allegation of sexual misconduct dating back to when he was a high school student, and a senior Republican senator said there was no reason to delay his confirmation to the court.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Thursday she received information about Kavanaugh from a person she declined to identify, and that she had referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The New Yorker magazine reported on Friday that in July, shortly after President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh, Feinstein’s office received a letter detailing a woman’s alleged encounter with Kavanaugh while they were high school students.
It said the woman had accused Kavanaugh of trying to force himself on her at a party, holding her down and covering her mouth with his hand, but that she was able to free herself. Neither Feinstein nor the magazine identified the woman.
“I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh, 53, said in a statement put out by the White House on Friday. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”
Democrats have fought Kavanaugh’s nomination and are seeking to delay his confirmation.
A spokesman for the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, on Friday said the planned committee vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation would proceed next Thursday as scheduled.
“Judge Kavanaugh has undergone six FBI full-field investigations from 1993 to 2018,” he said in a statement. “No such allegation resembling the anonymous claims ever surfaced in any of those 6 FBI reports.”
Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to a request on Friday for comment.
A conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by Trump to the lifetime position on the nine-member high court, Kavanaugh made no major missteps in questioning by senators during his confirmation hearing last week.
Trump’s fellow Republicans control the Senate by a narrow margin. With no sign yet of any Republicans planning to vote against Kavanaugh, he seems poised to win confirmation despite Democratic opposition.
In party-line votes, the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday rejected motions by Democratic senators seeking access to more documents relating to Kavanaugh’s service in the White House under Republican President George W. Bush more than a decade ago.
A final Senate confirmation vote is likely by the end of the month.
Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Howard Goller
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Who is your favourite villain from a James Bond movie?
Posted by vinnieh in 007 thoughts and reviews, Movie opinions and thoughts
With the upcoming release of Skyfall, I thought I do another post about another aspect of the enduring Bond series. The question now is who is your favourite villain? In his lengthy spying career, Bond has come up against some of the most diabolical masterminds that the screen has ever known. So have a think which villain is the one who you remember most or which leaves an indelible mark after the credits have finished rolling?
Who is your favourite Bond Girl?
Bond girls, James Bond
As I’m a huge fan of James Bond, I thought I’d do another post about another aspects of the films. This time it is on the many women who have graced the screen during the series, they are collectively the Bond Girls. A vast array of beautiful women have either romanced, aided and sometimes turned against Bond throughout the films. So have a think, who is your favourite Bond girl from the series?
What is your favourite horror movie and why?
Posted by vinnieh in Movie opinions and thoughts
horror movies, scary movies
Horror movies are one of my all time favourite genres. Whether it’s gory or more psychological, I usually like it( although there are a few exceptions). Anyway, I’m writing this post to find out which horror movies people love and the reasons behind them. So go ahead and think, which movie creeps me out the most or which movie sends shivers down my spine?
What is your favourite song from a James Bond movie?
James Bond, Madonna, movie soundtrack
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last fifty years, you will have least heard of the James Bond movies. One aspect of them that I always enjoy is the music and especially the title song. Over the years there has been a vast array of different singers who have sung the Bond songs, from crooner Matt Monro to pop star Madonna. So have a thing out of the many songs, which one do you like the most or do you think just epitomizes the Bond series?
2010's, Alexander Skarsgård, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, Drama, John Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Kirsten Dunst, Lars Von Trier, Melancholia, Science Fiction, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier
Kirsten Dunst as Justine
Charlotte Gainsbourg as Claire
Kiefer Sutherland as John
Alexander Skarsgård as Michael
Stellan Skarsgård as Jack
Charlotte Rampling as Gaby
John Hurt as Dexter
Udo Kier as Wedding Planner
The Melancholia of the title refers to two things; a rogue planet that has been hiding behind the sun and is heading towards the Earth and the frequent bouts of depression that Justine, one of the main characters suffers from as the movie progresses. As with most of Von Trier’s films, this one will polarize viewers. People seem to either think of him as an artistic genius or violent sadist, there never seems to be a middle ground when it comes to people’s opinions on the controversial director. Although the film’s pace maybe too slow for some viewers tp watch, I personally enjoyed the film for many reasons that I will go into further detail in this review.
The plot revolves around young bride Justine on her wedding night and the events that follow on from it. At her lavish wedding to groom Michael and the ensuring reception organised by her sister , various incidents begin to take a detrimental effect on Justine. Her mother and father bicker during the speeches, her mother tells her “Enjoy it while it lasts” words that take on a bigger meaning and resonance as the film unravels. During these scenes, the up close camera work clearly captures the characters off guard, especially Justine whose face reveals hurt and pain as she tries to smile. It also helps create a sense of confusion and isolation within her character. Her relationship with her sister Claire is explored and reveals a distant feeling between the two of them. With all the feelings of melancholy beginning to engulf her, the rogue planet of the title begins to emerge ominously and seems destined to strike the Earth.
Split into two parts named after the sisters, the film explores the frail relationship between the two and how they react the impending planet. I thought that each half was remarkably different, the first half is more slow-moving whereas the second half gains momentum and becomes more dramatic as it goes on to reach its climax. If there is one thing that kept me engaged when watching the film it was the performances, especially from Dunst, who I believe gives one of the best performances in her career. She is a revelation as Justine, giving an emotionally raw and bruised portrayal of a woman close to breaking point. Even when she isn’t speaking her intensity is felt, as her eyes reveal the deep sadness and emotional bruises inside her. In other word she is the embodiment of melancholy. Also giving a great performance is Gainsbourg, who returns for her second venture in a Von Trier movie after her harrowing role in the highly controversial and much discussed Antichrist. Even though she scolds her sister for her despondency, she is equally troubled and becomes highly strung as the thought of Melancholia begins to get to her. Sutherland does well in his role as Claire’s amateur astronomer husband who tries to convince her that there is nothing to worry about but fails. Also the cameos of Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt add to the acting honours, as well as Von Trier regular Udo Kier as an impatient and extremely surly wedding planner.Stellan Skarsgård and his son Alexander Skarsgård appear as Justine’s boss and her new husband in the first part of the film.
Aside from the acting, the stunning visuals are amazing to behold. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an apocalypse look so strangely and hauntingly beautiful before. Especially, the aesthetically and visually outstanding opening sequence, filmed in extreme slow motion to the strains of an epic Wagner score. The movie itself is full of so many bold symbolism and imagery that you will find it hard to forget them long after the credits have began to roll, they are that haunting. Although the film seems to follow some of the conventions of the sci-fi and disaster movie genre, it is essentially a drama about the depths of loneliness within a person and how it can take a hold over you and your whole existence.
As I have mentioned earlier, this is a film that will definitely divide opinion sharply down the middle. But if you are looking for a visually enthralling and well-acted hybrid between disaster movie and intense drama, Melancholia is a film that I would vocally advise you to give a look and judge for yourself.
Which director do you think brings out the best performances from actresses?
Actresses, Directors, George Cukor
I’m enjoying writing this question posts as I have been getting really positive feedback from fellow bloggers. So here is another one.I recently asked myself this question and wondered long and hard about it. From what I’ve read, George Cukor was a leading candidate for this as he was known as a women’s director. I’m sure there are many others out there. So have a think about which directors bring out the best of the actresses that they work with.
What is your favourite movie with an ensemble cast?
Ensemble, Movie cast, Robert Altman
Movies with ensemble casts tend to have a number of high profiled stars who each get as much screen time as each other. Robet Altman was one of the most acclaimed directors, who employed ensemble casts to flesh out various stories populated by characters whose lives intertwine in some way. So have a think about your favourite movie featuring an ensemble cast? Is it an Altman film or something else by another director? The photos below are examples of ensemble films but you can choose any ensemble film.
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Gilla Liberman reports on the successful MOR 2013
For those of you still wondering if WIZO is relevant to Israel, I want to report that the Poverty statistics are alarming and no one knows at this stage what the policy of the new government will be. Employment no longer protects citizens from poverty. 1.8 million Israelis are living below the poverty line. Of course the challenges are enormous and no one can predict what will happen next.
Honorary President Helena Glaser reviewed the best and worst of 2012. On the worst list were the world’s economic problems, increasing poverty levels in Israel, security concerns following the Arab spring and the lingering effects of the rocket attacks from Gaza on children in Israel.
On the best side was the efficacy of the Iron Dome defence against the rocket attacks, the rain which has filled the Kinneret and the promise of a new DCC on the campus of the University of Beersheba.
Tova Ben Dov, President of World WIZO thanked the Federations for the quick response to the ‘Emergency Relief Fund’ following the Pillar of Defence Campaign. Families, and in particular children, will be helped psychologically and emotionally to recover from the lingering effects of this difficult time.
Rivka Lazovsky, World WIZO Chairperson gave a detailed survey of WIZO’s activities. She reminded us that Israel is seriously affected by the world‘s economic uncertainties. She recognised the close and valued relationship between World WIZO and the Federations who are WIZO’s best ambassadors She said “There is no ‘we’ and ‘you’. There is just ‘us’.”
She encouraged the Federations to attract new members in the knowledge that Jewish women can find satisfaction, empowerment and self-expression in WIZO, a movement which provides a base for women to grow, make their voices heard and attain leadership positions.
We were addressed by some interesting panels. This included 3 women scientists who spoke to us at the Weizmann Institute. They spoke about the glass ceiling for women in science and how they were breaking that ceiling. One way WIZO is helping is to provide a WIZO DCC on site for students and teachers to know their children are well cared for while they are carrying out their research.
We were also spoken to by a panel affected by violence in the family. It opened with a Druze man talking about the murder of his daughter by her husband; Nati, an abusive man spoke to us about how he went into therapy to stop abusing his wife and Malka, a brave young woman who was abused and raped by her mother’s partner and now is a social worker dealing with abuse cases. She is married with a young son.
We were spoken to by Ambassador Rafael Barak, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who spoke about Israel in the international arena. He said with all the upheavals in neighbouring countries, Israel has decided on strategic silence. There is no need to give comment or advice. The world can see for itself what is happening.
Ambassador Arthur Koll, Deputy Director General, Media and Public Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed us on WIZO Chaverot as Ambassadors of Israel. He said social media is a great tool and we can all play our part by turning on the computer and using it to support Israel.
Professor Dan Shechtman, 2011 Nobel Prize winner for chemistry spoke on ‘Technical Entrepreneurship, a key to world peace and prosperity’. He said we must develop human ingenuity and that can be done with:
The provision of good education system and laws to ensure that children attend school;
Good engineering and science education
Free market economy and
No corruption
His passion continues to be teaching Entrepreneurship at the Haifa Technion where over 27 years, 10,000 students have graduated from his courses. He has taught them how to create a start-up and during this time Israel has become a ‘start-up nation’.
Professor David Passig, a futurist from Bar Ilan University gave a fascinating address. He studied population growth from 12000 years ago to the present in order to predict what might happen in the future. He said in 2012 there are about 7.2 billion people in the world. By 2050 there will be 9-10 billion people but by the end of the 21st century only 5-6 billion people. What will happen to do this he did not know but he drew his conclusions from studying statistics.
He also said that for every 100 females there are 117 males so for the first time in human history 17% of humanity will not find partners. Repercussions are that governments will be shaken and wars will happen.
The theme of the MOR was:
WIZO in an Era of Change,
We came to WIZO because we care
We discovered our strength and learned to share
The Sky’s our limit because we dare.
This really sums up how and why we do the work we do. It is inspiring to hear about the work being done in the other Federations and I was proud to present some of the things we have been doing. I presented our membership campaign which created great excitement and a number of countries wanted to know about the World‘s Largest Shabbat.
I am proud of the work that we are doing. You need to remember that what you do here is benefitting people in Israel every day. So when you have a little kvetch about putting on another function just remember the reason we are all in this wonderful movement with 250,000 like-minded women around the world. Together we really make a difference.
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it-2 pp. 451-454
Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2
King David and Music
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom—2009
Instrumental Music—Proper in Christian Worship?
Awake!—1977
Singers, Singing
Sing and Make a Joyful Noise!
One of the gifts of God by which man can render praise and thanksgiving to his Creator as well as give expression to his emotions, his sorrows and joys. Especially has singing been prominent in the worship of Jehovah God, but instrumental music, too, has played a vital role. It has served not only to accompany the vocalists but also to complement their singing. So it is not surprising that references to both vocal and instrumental music abound in the Bible from beginning to end, in association with true worship and otherwise.—Ge 4:21; 31:27; 1Ch 25:1; Re 18:22.
History. The Bible’s first reference to music is before the Flood, in the seventh generation following Adam: “[Jubal] proved to be the founder of all those who handle the harp and the pipe.” This may describe the invention of the first musical instruments or perhaps even the establishment of some kind of musical profession.—Ge 4:21.
In patriarchal times music seems to have been an integral part of life, judging from Laban’s desire to give Jacob and his own daughters a musical farewell. (Ge 31:27) Song and instrumental accompaniment marked the celebration of the deliverance at the Red Sea and the victorious returns from battle of Jephthah, David, and Saul.—Ex 15:20, 21; Jg 11:34; 1Sa 18:6, 7.
On each of the two occasions that were involved in transporting the Ark to Jerusalem, vocalists and instrumentalists were present. (1Ch 13:8; 15:16) In the later years of David’s life, Jehovah, through his prophets Nathan and Gad, directed the establishment of the music organization for the sanctuary.—1Ch 23:1-5; 2Ch 29:25, 26.
The music organization begun by David was fully realized at Solomon’s temple. The grandeur and magnitude of the music at the dedication of the temple can be appreciated from the fact that the trumpeters alone numbered 120. (2Ch 5:12, 13) But as the nation grew lax in its faithfulness to Jehovah, all features of true worship suffered, including the music. However, when Kings Hezekiah and Josiah instituted their reforms, as well as when the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile, efforts were made to reestablish the arrangement of music that Jehovah had indicated he desired. (2Ch 29:25-28; 35:15; Ezr 3:10) Later, when Nehemiah inaugurated the wall of Jerusalem, the Levite singers, with full instrumental accompaniment, contributed greatly to the joy of the occasion. (Ne 12:27-42) While the Scriptures say nothing more about music in connection with temple worship after Nehemiah’s time, other records, such as the Talmud, tell of music being used there until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.
How extensive was the musical staff at the temple in Jerusalem?
In conjunction with the preparations for Jehovah’s temple, David set aside 4,000 Levites for musical service. (1Ch 23:4, 5) Of these, 288 were “trained in song to Jehovah, all experts.” (1Ch 25:7) The whole arrangement was under the direction of three accomplished musicians, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (apparently also named Ethan). Since each of these men was a descendant of one of Levi’s three sons, Gershom, Kohath, and Merari, respectively, the three chief Levite families were thus represented in the temple music organization. (1Ch 6:16, 31-33, 39-44; 25:1-6) The sons of these three men totaled 24, all of whom were among the aforementioned 288 skilled musicians. Each son was appointed by lot to be the head of one division of musicians. Under his direction were 11 more “experts,” selected from his own sons as well as other Levites. In this manner the 288 ([1 + 11] × 24 = 288) expert Levite musicians, like the priests, were separated into 24 courses. If all the remaining 3,712 ‘learners’ were thus divided, it would average about 155 more men to each of the 24 divisions, meaning there were about 13 Levites in various stages of musical education and training to each expert. (1Ch 25:1-31) Since the trumpeters were priests, they would be in addition to the Levite musicians.—2Ch 5:12; compare Nu 10:8.
Instrumental Music. The Bible gives very little information concerning the shape or construction of the more than a dozen different musical instruments that it mentions. Hence, most scholars draw heavily on what archaeologists have discovered about the instruments used by contemporary surrounding nations. However, this may not always be a reliable guide, since it appears that Israel excelled in music in comparison with her neighbors. Additionally, some have linked various instruments of Scripture to instruments used in modern times in the Middle East, which are supposed to have an ancient background. This, too, is conjectural.
The musical instruments of the Bible may be classified as follows:
String: harp, lute, zither.
Wind: bagpipe, flute, horn, pipe, trumpet, (possibly) nehiloth.
Percussion: cymbals, sistrum, tambourine.
See individual articles on the above instruments for further information.
There is no reason to believe that the musical instruments of Israel were crude in design, construction, or sound production. The Bible notes that the harps and stringed instruments for temple use were of the choicest imported algum wood; the trumpets of silver. (1Ki 10:11, 12; Nu 10:2) Undoubtedly, in the manufacture of the temple instruments, the most skilled craftsmen were employed.
Both the Scriptures and non-Biblical manuscripts dating from before the Common Era testify to the quality of the instruments as well as the competence of the Israelite musicians. The Dead Sea Scrolls state that a number of trumpets were assigned various complicated signals to be executed “as with one mouth.” This would require not only skilled musicians but also instruments so constructed that the pitch might be regulated in order to bring them all into tune with one another. Freedom from dissonance is indicated by the inspired account of the music at the inauguration of Solomon’s temple: “The [one hundred and twenty] trumpeters and the singers were as one in causing one sound to be heard.”—2Ch 5:12, 13.
The Bible lists but four instruments as definitely being in the temple orchestra: trumpets, harps, stringed instruments (Heb., neva·limʹ), and cymbals. While this may not seem to be a complete orchestra by modern standards, it was never intended to be a symphony orchestra, but only to provide accompaniment for the singing at the temple. Such a combination of instruments would serve this purpose excellently.—2Ch 29:25, 26; Ne 12:27, 41, 42.
As to the times when the sacred instruments performed, the Scriptures enumerate the following in connection with the trumpets: “In the day of your rejoicing and in your festal seasons and at the commencements of your months, you must blow on the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your communion sacrifices.” (Nu 10:10) After the temple music organization was established, it is likely that the rest of the instruments joined the trumpets on these and other special occasions. This conclusion, as well as the musical procedure followed, seems to be indicated by the order of events described as taking place when sacred services were revived by King Hezekiah after he had cleansed the temple: “At the time that the burnt offering started, the song of Jehovah started and also the trumpets, even under the direction of the instruments of David the king of Israel. And all the congregation were bowing down while the song was resounding and the trumpets were blaring—all this until the burnt offering was finished.” (2Ch 29:27, 28) The trumpets’ being “under the direction of the instruments of David” seems to denote that the trumpeters played in such a manner as to complement the other instruments rather than to overshadow them. The position of the entire body of musicians was “to the east of the altar.”—2Ch 5:12.
Vocal Music. The singers at the temple were Levite males. Nowhere do the Scriptures speak of female vocalists at the temple. One of the Targums (on Ec 2:8) clearly indicates that they were not present in the chorus. The fact that women were prohibited from even entering certain areas of the temple would seem to preclude their occupying any official position there.—2Ch 5:12; Ne 10:39; 12:27-29.
Considerable importance was attached to the singing at the temple. This is evident from the many Scriptural references to the singers as well as from the fact that they were “set free from duty” common to other Levites in order to devote themselves wholly to their service. (1Ch 9:33) Their continuance as a special group of Levites is emphasized by their being listed separately among those returning from Babylon. (Ezr 2:40, 41) Even the authority of the Persian king Artaxerxes (Longimanus) was brought to bear in their behalf, exempting them, along with other special groups, from ‘tax, tribute, and toll.’ (Ezr 7:24) Later, the king commanded that there was to be “a fixed provision for the singers as each day required.” Although Artaxerxes is credited with this order, most likely it was issued by Ezra on the basis of the power granted to him by Artaxerxes. (Ne 11:23; Ezr 7:18-26) Thus, it is understandable that, although the singers were all Levites, the Bible makes reference to them as a special body, speaking of “the singers and the Levites.”—Ne 7:1; 13:10.
Apart from temple worship, other singers, men and women, are spoken of in Scripture. Examples of these are the male and female singers maintained by Solomon in his court; also, about 200 singers of both sexes who, in addition to the Levite musicians, returned from Babylon. (Ec 2:8; Ezr 2:65; Ne 7:67) These non-Levite singers, common in Israel, were employed not only to enhance various festive occasions but also to chant dirges in times of sorrow. (2Sa 19:35; 2Ch 35:25; Jer 9:17, 20) The custom of hiring professional musicians at times of joy and of sadness appears to have continued into the time when Jesus was on earth.—Mt 11:16, 17.
Although not as prominent as in the Hebrew Scriptures, music is not ignored or overlooked in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Instrumental music in connection with true worship is mentioned only in a figurative sense in the Greek Scriptures (Re 14:2); yet singing seems to have been quite common among God’s servants. Jesus and his apostles sang praises after the Lord’s Evening Meal. (Mr 14:26) Luke tells of Paul and Silas singing when in prison, and Paul’s encouragement to fellow believers was to sing songs of praise to Jehovah. (Ac 16:25; Eph 5:18, 19; Col 3:16) Paul’s statement at 1 Corinthians 14:15 concerning singing appears to indicate that it was a regular feature of Christian worship. In recording his inspired vision, John tells of various heavenly creatures singing to God and Christ.—Re 5:8-10; 14:3; 15:2-4.
Nature of Biblical Music. The Israelites’ higher plane of morality and their superior literature, as exemplified by the poetry and prose of the Hebrew Scriptures, suggest that the music of ancient Israel most likely transcended that of her contemporaries. Certainly the inspiration for the music of Israel was far loftier than that of neighboring nations. Of interest is an Assyrian bas-relief in which King Sennacherib is represented as demanding that King Hezekiah pay him as tribute both male and female musicians.—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. Pritchard, 1974, p. 288.
It has long been held by some that Hebrew music was all melody, without harmony. However, the prominence alone of the harp and other stringed instruments in Israel weighs heavily against this assumption. It is almost inconceivable that a musician would play a multistringed instrument and fail to notice that a combination of certain tones was quite pleasing or that a specific series of notes as in an arpeggio produced a pleasant sound. An informed source on the history of music, Curt Sachs, states: “The deep-rooted prejudice that harmony and polyphony [two or more musical parts or voices combined] have been a prerogative of the medieval and modern West does not hold water.” He goes on to say that even among primitive cultures there are many examples of music running in fifths, fourths, thirds as well as in octaves, and that among these peoples, including certain Pygmy tribes, there was a development of overlapping antiphony (alternate singing by two divisions of vocalists) into regular canon singing.
Based on worldwide research Sachs presents the conclusion that “the choruses and orchestras connected with the Temple in Jerusalem suggest a high standard of musical education, skill, and knowledge.” He continues: “It is important to realize that the ancient Western Orient had a music quite different from what historians of the nineteenth century conceded it. . . . Though we do not know how that ancient music sounded, we have sufficient evidence of its power, dignity, and mastership.”—The Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West, 1943, pp. 48, 101, 102.
The Scriptures intimate a similar conclusion. For instance, over 30 times the expression “To [For] the director” (NW; AT) appears in the superscriptions of the Psalms. (Ps 11, and others) Other translations read “choirmaster” (Kx; JB; Mo; RS), “Chief Musician” (AS; KJ; Le; Ro), and “Bandmaster” (Fn). The Hebrew term seems to refer to one who in some way gave direction to the execution of the song, in arranging it, in rehearsing and training the Levite singers, or in its official performance. Perhaps the chief one of each of the 24 courses of sanctuary musicians is being addressed, or it may have been another one of the accomplished musicians, since the record says that they were “to act as directors.” (1Ch 15:21; 25:1, 7-31) In some 20 other Psalms the superscriptions are even more specific in their reference to the “directors”: “To the director on stringed instruments,” “To the director on the lower octave,” and so on. (Ps 4, 12, and others; see SHEMINITH.) Additionally, there are Scriptural references to the “heads of the singers,” to the “experts,” and to the ‘learners.’ All of this testifies to a high standard of music.—Ne 12:46; 1Ch 25:7, 8.
Much of the group singing in Israel appears to have been antiphonal, either two half choruses alternating in singing parallel lines, or a soloist and an answering chorus alternating. In the Scriptures this apparently is referred to as “responding.” (Ex 15:21; 1Sa 18:6, 7) This type of singing is indicated by the very way some of the psalms are written, such as Psalm 136. The description of the two large thanksgiving choirs in Nehemiah’s time and of their part in the inauguration of the wall of Jerusalem implies that they sang in this style.—Ne 12:31, 38, 40-42; see SONG.
Chanting might be said to be halfway between singing and speaking. In pitch it is rather monotonous and repetitious, with the emphasis being on rhythm. While chanting continues to be quite popular in some of the world’s leading religions, its use in the Bible appears to be limited to dirges, as in the case of David chanting a dirge over the deaths of his friend Jonathan and of King Saul. (2Sa 1:17; 2Ch 35:25; Eze 27:32; 32:16) Only in a dirge or lamentation would the chanting style be preferable to either the melody of music or the modulation and oral emphasis of pure speech.—See DIRGE.
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Category: Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife Conservation
Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System – Robin Wall Kimmerer
On April 5, 2019 April 5, 2019 By Susan FeathersIn Community, Culture, Democracy, Ecoliteracy, Ecology, Education, Ethics, Nature, Sustainable Food Production, Women, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife ConservationLeave a comment
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a botanist who explains her knowledge of an indigenous worldview about plants with that of the western worldview. In that process, Kimmerer embeds whole Earth teaching along with botanical science. Here in this beautiful essay, ” Corn tastes better on the honor system” published in Emergence Magazine, is one of the author’s best teaching contrasting indigenous ways of knowing with western perspectives about the Earth. At this ragged time in American history, return to sanity. Listen.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
Nature Writers for Earth Day
On April 22, 2018 April 22, 2018 By Susan FeathersIn Animal Literature and Stories, Ecology, Environment, Ethics, Nature, Women, Writing, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife Conservation1 Comment
My writing practice began with love for nature writers. Rachel Carson in particular seized my imagination with her ability to combine science and lyrical language. No one in my view achieved what she was able to do–immerse readers in nature. Most of us know Silent Spring as her “manifesto” on the interconnections among humans, wildlife, and the earth. But, how many of you have read Under the Sea Wind? In this small book, her first, Carson writes life stories of three particular individuals: a Black Skimmer, a Mackerel, and a Sandpiper during one season bringing each alive as characters in a novel. The Black Skimmer (Rynchops), Sanderling (Blackfoot), and a Mackerel (Scomber) live, breed, avoid predators, and follow the urgings of seasonal changes, migrating, nesting, and feeding–all within exciting adventure writing. Readers dive deep into unseen lives nevertheless connected to them by large forces in seas, winds, and landforms. Under the Sea Wind is an immersion experience much like a 3-D visual experience today. Note: Under the Sea Wind was published about the time the U.S. was drawn into WWII. It was not until a dozen years later that it seized the popular imagination. For a superb biography of Carson’s life, read Linda Lear’s Witness for Nature, and for an excellent glimpse into Rachel Carson’s writing life, read Paul Brooks’ The Writer at Work.
Watch American Experience for the latest film about Carson’s life. It chronicles her writing and features the commentary of her biographers.
http://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-rachel-carson/
For a regional writer of nature, I can think of no one better than Jack Rudloe who writes about the Gulf near his home and Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory and Education Center. Jack was inspired by Ed Rickett’s whose work and life were enshrined in the popular imagination by John Steinbeck. Jack Rudloe, the 19-year old would-be scientist and nature writer, corresponded with Steinbeck in the latter year of Steinbeck’s life. Read any of Jack’s books for a another immersion adventure in: The Living Dock, The Sea Brings Forth, and the Search for the Great Turtle Mother. Anne Rudloe, his wife and marine scientist, wrote books with Jack that are reminiscent of Carson in their deep love for and accurate science about the landscapes they love and defend. Anne Rudloe passed away in 2010, and Jack and his sons carry on as Titans for Nature–like Carson in Silent Spring.
Enjoy Jack’s video about his book, The Wilderness Coast.
If you have time to sit down to read the record of Ed Rickett’s and John Steinbeck’s travels in the Sea of Cortez–The Log of the Sea of Cortez–you will be treated to a glimpse into evolving ideas about ecology as an ethical basis for living. Then, treat yourself to the film Cannery Row with Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, and John Huston. John Steinbeck’s novel, Cannery Row, is based on Rickett’s marine supply business in Monterey, California when the coastline abound with sea life.
Following the Trail of Water
On March 26, 2017 March 26, 2017 By Susan FeathersIn Culture, Education, Environment, Nature, Sustainable Society, Sustainable Society, Ecoliteracy, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife ConservationLeave a comment
Mark Hainds, Border Walker
A friend of mine, Mark Hainds, is a forester and author, who has challenged himself to walk the entirety of the U.S. – Mexico Border. In doing so, he is noting the conditions of the landscape, meeting the people who live there, the people who are passing over the border in hopes of a better future, and experiencing the deep peace from long hours of silent walking. Be sure to visit his site above.
On Friday morning I dropped him off at mile marker 40 on highway 82 near Sonoita, Arizona. This is grasslands – basin and range territory – home of historic ranches, antelopes, and hardy people who love the land.
Grasslands of SE Arizona
To a visitor is can seem very still but to locals who know its subtle changes, it is an exciting place to call home.
Patagonia Lake State Park
Luckily, the Nature Conservancy and the Bureau of Land Management had foresight to preserve large tracks of riparian habitats (those areas where water flows near the surface of the ground, and in wet seasons, runs in streams and rivers). When you gaze out across expansive grasslands and see a line of bright green trees, you have found water.
Cottonwood Gallery Forest
Today I followed the traces of water across the landscape by looking for those trees. While I walked the fields and paths, small herds of tawny pronghorns on far hills bounded in the high grass, white rumps flashing in the sunlight.
At the historic Empire Ranch, I listened for the voices of families, ranch hands, and cowboys lingering in the old structures of the house, cottages, corral, and barn.
Empire Ranch Grounds circa early 20th century
Wandering the paths into a cottonwood gallery, I felt spirits walking next to me. A time gone but with lingering energies, whispering to us modern day visitors.
What are they telling us?
Would it be a cautionary tale? The ranch was passed through many hands, each family working it for 35-50 years, then to developers, and finally into the protection of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The ranch and 42,000 acres of riparian corridor and grasslands is now Las Cienegas National Conservation Area which we all can visit.
Yet these images show a time gone by, when the big cattle ranches reigned, and then died as water receded, and the demand of beef declined.
Perhaps we live in a more enlightened time. But, that remains to be seen. Will we remember the lessons of the past, or are we doomed to repeat mistakes with forgotten memories?
The ghosts of the land whisper to us. What are they telling us?
One whose spirit speaks to me is Aldo Leopold: “Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
When the cows and the buffalo roamed…
On June 30, 2016 July 6, 2016 By Susan FeathersIn Culture, Education, Ethics, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife Conservation2 Comments
The Olympic Games in Brazil may be remembered most for the list of woes it has accumulated as Rio 2016 approaches the August games. Now the death of a jaguar has cast a longer shadow over the event.
Images of a jaguar in a heavy metal collar and chains as the Olympic flame was passed from one runner to the next were quickly followed by news of the animal’s death. Juma, a 17-year old jaguar born into captivity at a zoo on a military base, was apparently brought out to provide a dramatic image at the Olympic ceremony. When he escaped and approached a soldier, he was shot and killed. As the public learned of Juma’s death. it caused worldwide outrage.
In my novel, Threshold, Duma is a jaguar born in the Sky Islands–mountain ranges that span the U.S. – Mexico border. He wanders into an area near Nogales, Arizona where surrounding cattle and sheep ranches lure him closer to human settlements. Duma is sighted and captured. Readers follow him from one facility to another while his fate is determined.
The role of zoos and aquariums is being reconsidered as the public is less comfortable with animals on exhibit. Is there a new role for zoos in the 21st century?
Research with dolphins, grey parrots, chimpanzees, and elephants, among others, show these fellow earthlings share similar life’s experiences as humans do. The movie Blackfish which revealed the stresses on killer whales in captivity, and the recent killing of Harambe, a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, are just two recent examples that have furthered discussions about our responsibilities to the animals we love to see at zoos and enjoy knowing may still inhabit natural areas.
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, an AZA accredited institution, is one of several settings in Threshold. As the story unfolds, readers learn that climate change is causing stress on animals and keepers alike. The Desert Museum is a leader in care and exhibition of animals for public education. Explore ASDM’s website and publications to learn more.
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE ROLE OF ZOOS AND AQUARIUMS. POST YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS POST.
Update: Here is the latest in a discussion at the Center for Humans and Nature:
Zoos as Gateways
Excessive Heat: Have We Passed a Threshold?
On June 18, 2016 By Susan FeathersIn Climate Change, Community, Culture, Education, Environment, Sustainable Society, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife Conservation7 Comments
All across southern California and the Colorado River Lower Basin in Arizona as far south as northern Mexico, an excessive heat warning has been declared by the National Weather Service for the next 4-5 days.
Phoenix is expected to reach temps as high as 120 degrees — well above the norm for this time of year.
In my soon-to-be-released novel, Threshold, heat and evaporating water supply are two threatening conditions that impinge on characters. While the book is set in the “very near future”, the plot is contemporary and presupposes what might happen in a metropolitan city like Tucson, Arizona.
The impacts of climate change will be felt differently across a city or region depending on a person’s personal resources, both financial and social. I wrote the story in Threshold to explore what might happen, and allowed characters to tell me what they would do.
Enrique dabbed his grandmother’s face with cold water, but her breathing grew shallow. He ran to fill the tub with water. But when he turned on the faucet, no water came out. In a panic now, he returned to his grandmother. . . It took him a few seconds to comprehend what had happened.
WILL A “NEW NORMAL” SPUR INNOVATION?
The Citizen’s Guide for Resilience to Climate Extremes is a planning guide for neighborhoods to increase their resiliency and to institute climate solutions such as planting trees for shade and making walk-able, bike-able neighborhoods. It is a community-based model any city will find useful to mobilize citizen’s for climate change.
Check back to read Guest Bloggers from Tucson and the Southwestern region.
Birth of a novel…
On April 30, 2016 By Susan FeathersIn Climate Change, Frank Waters Foundation, Sustainable Society, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife Conservation1 Comment
Books I read that informed first draft of Threshold.
In terms of years spent writing as a principle activity, I am a relatively new writer. In 2003 I decided to leave working full time to begin a life as an independent businesswoman. This gave me time to write with more purpose. Up until then, I had written memoir and nonfiction pieces, attended a few writing workshops, but had not truly found my purpose nor honed a writing life.
When I made the Big Transition from working for an institution to working for myself, I had been serving the Desert Museum in Tucson as the Director of Education. This was a great privilege for me–one that brought me close to many experts and passionate defenders of the biodiversity and cultural diversity of desert communities.
At the same time, scientists were reporting increasingly disturbing forecasts about climate changes on global scale. The Tucson and Phoenix metro areas were also reexamining their water management plans. Working for myself gave me more uninterrupted time to read and to plan a book.
Writer’s Cabin – Frank Water’s Foundation
Threshold was first drafted at the Frank Waters Foundation in 2006 after I was offered an 8-week writer’s residency. The little adobe artist’s cabin on the Frank Water’s property sits at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Frank Waters’ spirit pervades the property. He is considered the grandfather of the Southwestern novel, writing and publishing fiction and nonfiction works from the late 30s to the 80s. All his books are still in print, a fact that proves the relevance of his thoughts and writing. As I wrote my story, I felt Frank’s spirit about.
Aspen grove by cabin – Frank Waters Foundation
Armed with an outline for a plot that spanned three novels stretching to 2100, I drafted a speculative fiction novel with an enormous cast of characters. I left the mountains with a 400-page manuscript.
This was an impossible task for a new writer of fiction. But, sometimes ignorance allows a creative mind to accomplish more than expected.
The Internet: A Force for Good
On April 4, 2016 April 5, 2016 By Susan FeathersIn Ethics, Science and Mind, Sustainable Society, Sustainable Society, Ecoliteracy1 Comment
My Sunday “church: is OnBeing.org, moderated by Krista Tippet. The program examines the questions, What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live, by interviewing the greatest thinkers, religious leaders, and artists of our time.
This week’s guest is Tiffany Schlain creator of the Webby Awards and prolific film maker. The program, Growing Up on the Internet, examines how the Internet is changing us. Schlain asserts:
The Internet connects us like neurons in the brain. It is in its infancy and we are its parents; how it “grows up” – its character – is up to us. (Paraphrased by me from the discussion. )
This interview and the film below left me more hopeful that humankind can beat the odds, and make the climate curve together if we shape the Internet intentionally creating a global brain that acts as a force for good.
*Purchase or rent the film here: Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death, and Technology Online. Film home.
Ecopoetics and Anne Waldman
On March 10, 2016 March 10, 2016 By Susan FeathersIn Ecoliteracy, Environment, Ethics, Nature, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife ConservationLeave a comment
Pensacola is blessed with many strong writers and poets. The West Florida Literary Federation leads the region in advancing the creative spirit. That includes supporting a Poet Laureate. Jamey Jones is the current Poet Laureate in Residence. He and the Federation brought my attention to Anne Waldman.
That I had never heard of Anne is both a testament to my ignorance and to the important role of the Federation in enriching individual artists’ and the public’s experiences in the arts.
From CNN – http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/08/living/manatee-endangered-species-feat/
Check out Anne’s moving Manatee Humanity. Her reading introduced me to the potential of poetry to advance understanding and compassion for a fellow mammal.
Anne talks about an encounter with a manatee in an aquarium in Florida. In other interviews on her website, Waldman describes Ecopoetics, a term I had never read. While you are on Waldman’s website, click around to listen to other performances. You are in for a treat and a powerful force for good. There is nothing ambivalent about Anne.
A Prophet for All Seasons
On September 16, 2015 September 16, 2015 By Susan FeathersIn Democracy, Ecoliteracy, Ecology, Environment, Ethics, Nature, Science and Mind, Sustainable Society, Writing, Writing, Philanthropy, Nature, Wildlife ConservationLeave a comment
This film about Aldo Leopold’s life and the development of his thinking about our relationship with land is a true gem. I could not find when it was created, however, the people interviewed are his biographers and scientists who knew and worked with Leopold. It was shown on Wisconsin Public TV. A special treat is narration by Lorne Greene best remembered as “Pa” on Bonanza.
The film gives viewers an in depth history about Aldo Leopold’s life and how his ideas about The Land Ethic evolved over his lifetime.
WATCH EARLY THIS YEAR TO SET YOUR COMPASS TOWARD TRUE NORTH.
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