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History Of Purchase Of Alaska
The history of Alaska dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period (around 14,000 BC), when foraging groups crossed the Bering land bridge into what is now western Alaska.At the time of European contact by the Russian explorers, the area was populated by Alaska Native groups. The name "Alaska" derives from the Aleut word Alaxsxaq (also spelled Alyeska), meaning "mainland" (literally, "the object.
Learn about the history of the century old Alaska Railroad. In 1915, the 70 miles of existing track was purchased from Alaska Northern, and Anchorage was.
Peratrovich, a Tlingit activist, worked relentlessly throughout her life to counter the legally entrenched anti-Native racism that plagued Alaska for decades following America’s purchase of the.
Alaska – History: People have inhabited Alaska since 10,000 bce. At that time a land bridge extended from Siberia to eastern Alaska, and migrants followed herds of animals across it. Of these migrant groups, the Athabaskans, Aleuts, Inuit, Yupik, Tlingit, and Haida remain in Alaska. As early as 1700, native peoples of Siberia reported the existence of a huge piece of land lying due east.
On March 30, 1867, the United States bought a large parcel of land from Russia for the hefty sum of $7.2 million. Alaska, as it was called, was more than 500,000 square miles in area, and located so.
Vitus Bering, a Dane working for the Russians, and Alexei Chirikov discovered the Alaskan mainland and the Aleutian Islands in 1741. The tremendous land mass of Alaska—equal to one-fifth of the continental U.S.—was unexplored in 1867 when Secretary of State William Seward arranged for its purchase from the Russians for $7,200,000. The transfer of the territory took place on Oct.
Oct 18, 2017. Presidential Proclamation (1967): The purchase of Alaska was the largest. From C-SPAN – American History TV, American Artifacts: Inside the.
Such reflection can generate insights into the complicated nature of history and remembering. Nuances get lost when, for the sake of convenience, we latch onto shorthand explanations, which serve as.
Alaska History Timeline Important Dates, Events, and Milestones in Alaska History. Offers a chronological timeline of important dates, events, and milestones in Alaska history
the acquisition of Alaska by the administration of President Andrew Johnson has had enormous economic and strategic value for the U.S. In the history of American land deals, it is second in importance.
Several readers rather better versed in Alaska than most have written to take issue with the University of Iowa economist David Barker’s essay (mentioned here earlier this week) titled “Was the Alaska.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game P.O. Box 115526 1255 W. 8th Street Juneau, AK 99811-5526 Office Locations
Growth within Alaska Air Group. By 1986 the company’s proven track record attracted the attention of larger airlines. In the end Horizon was acquired by Seattle-based Alaska Air Group, Inc., a holding company that includes us, Alaska Airlines.
This article covers the history of Anchorage, Alaska. Originally settled as a tent city near the mouth of Ship Creek in 1914, a townsite was platted the following year alongside the bluff to the south. Anchorage was mostly a company town for the Alaska Railroad for its first several decades of existence. The strategic location of Alaska, which led to a massive buildup of military facilities.
It brings a quiet end to the battle over whether to drill in the ANWR, one of the longest-running and most acrimonious battles in U.S. environmental history. The question has been embedded in federal.
Learn about key events in history and their connections to today. inhospitable and sparsely populated area. For decades after its purchase, Alaska was derided as “Seward’s folly” or “Seward’s.
In 2005, the foundation set up a three-day festival at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington. who retired shortly after the purchase and whose job went to Hopfinger,
Alaska Purchase: Alaska Purchase, (1867), acquisition by the United States from Russia of 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 square km) of land at the northwestern tip of the North American continent, comprising the current U.S. state of Alaska. Russia had offered to.
James Buchanan Siblings Names An announcer even called out his name for 200,000 cheering revelers. Breckinridge, who was 37 when he took office under James Buchanan in 1857. Castro would be 42 when it’s time to assume the vice. Now, along with Obama’s Kenyan half-sister, four of his five living half-brothers and other family members — including. No son
FAIRBANKS — The 1967 centennial celebration of the United States’ purchase of. of the Pioneers of Alaska. One of the goal of the Pioneers, since the organization’s 1907 inception, had been to help.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Army veteran Richard Bean Sr. The role the men played in history was a stunning discovery for the family of George Lewis Jr. His son, Ray Lewis, was born after the.
There’s no better time to do it than this fall, as the people of Sitka commemorate the town’s central role in American history exactly 150 years ago: the purchase of Alaska from the Russians on Oct.
Skagway booms to 8,000 to 10,000 population. Daily Alaskan newspaper appears. Chamber of commerce and volunteer fire department organize. Construction begins in May on White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad after an agreement is secured by Close Brothers of London to purchase Brackett’s road for a right-of-way.
The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 and formally took control in the Russian America capital of Sitka. Alaska History and Geography.
Cook said in doing research on items to purchase, he came across other individuals. As a board member of the American Bald.
The U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 has been engulfed by conspiracy theories since the days of Soviet history textbooks that blamed Russian czars for every inch of Russian land lost to.
Feb 23, 2015. The United States purchased Alaska from Russia for $7 million, or around 2 cents an acre, in 1867. Here are six facts you might not know about.
The Seward House Museum in Auburn will continue celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Alaska purchase — and partnering with the state to do so — Saturday, May 13. The day will kick off with "A Most.
Dec 22, 2017. The following important events in the history of Alaska affected political. 18 October 1867: The United States purchased Alaska from Russia.
If you bought snacks, drinks, or rented an inflight entertainment tablet during your recent Alaska Airlines flight, you can get a receipt for those purchases by.
What Happened Because Of The Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was a raid that took place in the Boston Harbor in 1773 during which American colonists dumped shiploads of tea into the water to protest a British tax on tea. This event was important because it fueled the tension that had already begun between Britain and America. That’s when the colonists’
Dec 4, 2015. Did Russia ever get paid for Alaska? A Russian conspiracy theory says no! I investigated the story and found some interesting history.
A brief overview of Alaska’s early mining history. The Russians had been aware there was gold in their territory of Alaska. In 1849 P. P. Doroshin, a Russian mining engineer, discovered gold in the gravels of the Kenai River on the Kenai Peninsula.
Our History. The history of the Lynden family of companies is also the history of Founder Henry "Hank" Jansen and his desire to expand a small delivery company called Lynden Transfer into something bigger.
Alaska. purchase Alaska from Russia. Seward’s Day commemorates the man who brokered the $7.2 million dollar deal, then-Secretary of State William H. Seward. While critics called the deal “Seward’s.
The shortage of oil and seafood is the least of America’s concerns in Collin Sullivan’s "William H. Seward vs. the Soviet Super-Men," a new time-traveling alternate-history comedy taking place Friday.
Why Is Millard Fillmore Important Before that was Millard Fillmore who left office in 1853. No, the contents of the bill don’t matter. Because more important than the contents is that he would be able to claim “credit” for. "What we have done is give people an opportunity to understand why the world considers the Guaranty to be. Two presidents
Jan 2, 2019. On March 30, 1867, the United States and Russia officially signed the purchase agreement, the Alaska Treaty of Cessation, which called for the.
Why Go. Alaska is made up of a fascinating—and wide—array of cultures, and its history is long and colorful. Walk into a museum and you can learn about ancient civilizations, the fervent gold rush of the late 1800s, or the pioneer spirit that built the state we know today.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A clock from the beginning. on the hunt for more information about the clock’s history. "The one.
Which of the following individuals would MOST likely agree with the decision to purchase Alaska? Elimination Tool. A. Thomas Jefferson. B. Grover Cleveland. C.
WISEMAN, Alaska (KTUU) – Wiseman, Alaska. Today it’s home to just a handful of people, but evidence of its rich history is not hard to find. Rusted remains of old mining equipment still line the.
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AMAs 2012: Red carpet
Recording artist Jordin Sparks poses on the red carpet at the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Pictures: AMAs show highlights
Recording artist Carly Rae Jepsen poses on the red carpet at the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Taylor Swift attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Nicki Minaj attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012 in Los Angeles.
Singer Cyndi Lauper attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Carrie Underwood attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Lance Bass attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Sean Kingston attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Kesha attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
From left to right, singers A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and Kevin Richardson of Backstreet Boys attend the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Jordin Sparks attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Phoebe Price attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
TV personality Heidi Klum attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Stacy Keibler attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Jenny McCarthy attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Jennifer Morrison attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Lucy Hale attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Psy attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Pink and athlete Carey Hart attend the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer will.i.am attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Kelly Rowland attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Chris Brown attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singers Amy Heidemann and Nick Noonan of Karmin attend the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Rapper Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Gwen Stefani of No Doubt attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Elisha Cuthbert attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Gloria Estefan and musician Emilio Estefan attend the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Singer Justin Bieber and mother Pattie Malette attend the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Hayden Panettiere attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Actress Kerry Washington attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012 in Los Angeles.
Singer Justin Bieber attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012 in Los Angeles.
Singer Christina Aguilera attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012 in Los Angeles.
Actress Ginnifer Goodwin attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Rapper 50 Cent aka Curtis Jackson attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Rapper Swizz Beatz attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
TV host Ryan Seacrest attends the 40th American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Charles Kelley, left, Hillary Scott, center, and Dave Haywood from the band Lady Antebellum arrive at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Credit: John Shearer/Invision/AP
Musical group No Doubt, from left, Adrian Young, Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont arrive at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Gavin DeGraw arrives at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Colbie Caillat arrives at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards on Nov. 18, 2012, in Los Angeles.
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Tracey Edmonds Bio, Wiki, Married, Net worth, Age, Affair, Boyfriend, Ethnicity
Celebs Biography
— Monday, June 4th, 2018
Date of Birth : Feb 18th, 1967
Age : 52 Years old
Net Worth : $30Million
Married : Babyface (m. 1992–2007)
Height : 5 Feet 7 Inches
Tracey Edmonds is a veteran personality of the American entertainment industry with an executive position in Edmonds Entertainment Group and Our Stories Films. She also served on the Producers Guild of America’s Board of Directors. She is popular for establishing herself as an award-winning producer, savvy business mogul, and TV personality as well.
Tracey Edmonds was born on 18th February 18, 1967 in Los Angeles, California. She holds an American nationality and belongs to White American ethnicity.
Education and Early Career
Edmonds joined Stanford University and studied psychobiology. She completed her graduation from Stanford University in 1987. After that, she turned her attention to films, producing some of her early credits.
Tracey is the child of Jacqueline Edmonds and George McQuarn who are divorced. She has a sister named Michael McQuarn.
As a proficient entrepreneur, Tracey began her professional career in mortgage and real estate. She then, established her own entertainment company, entitled 'Edmonds Entertainment Group', in 1993. After producing the popular film, "Soul Food", her company immediately scored a hit. Her company produced projects such as "Light It Up", "Soul Food: The Series", "Josie and the Pussycats", "College Hill", "Good Luck Chuck", " New in Town" and the recent hit "Jumping the Broom".
Tracey is currently working for 'Our Stories Films', as the COO and President. Tracey is the CEO of her own production company named Edmonds Entertainment. Through her company 'Our Stories Films', Tracey launched an inspirational, faith-friendly YouTube Partner Channel ALRIGHT TV in March 2013.
Talking about her personal life, the gorgeous lady met Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds in 1990 when she went for the audition. Kenneth and Tracey liked each other at the moment they saw each other. The duo dated for nearly 2 years before getting married on 5th September 1992. The couple had two sons together named: Brandon and Dylan. In 2005, the couple got divorced and separated ways.
Later on, she met an actor Eddie Murphy, who was previously married to actress Nicole Murphy. She was in a long-term relationship with Eddie from 2008-2012.
Since 2012, Tracey has been in a relationship with Deion Sanders, a former American Football and Baseball player who worked for CBS Sports and the NFL Network. Tracey and Sanders have two children: Brandon Edmonds and Dylan Michael Edmonds.
Sanders previously had two children: Deion and Deiondra with first wife Carolyn Chambers. Whereas he had three children: Shilo, Shelomi, and Shedeur with his second wife Pilar Biggers-Sanders.
Net Worth and Salary
From her entire work career, Tracey has been estimated to have a net worth of $30 million. Tracey's income average is around $56,000.
Body measurement
The American businesswoman stands 5 Feet 7 Inches tall. She has got Brown eyes and Light Brown colored hair that suits her white face color. Her body measurement is 34-24-32 inches. Tracey needs a bra size of 32B.
Wiki and Facts
Tracey’s zodiac sign is Aquarius. Tracey has achieved many remarkable awards for her contributions to the entertainment industry.
Tracey can be followed on her Instagram account: “@traceyeedmonds”, with more than 208k followers. Her Twitter account: “@Traceyeedmonds”, is also popular as her Instagram. She has 148k on her Twitter account only.
© 2019. All Right Reserved. Celebsbiography.com
By using Celebsbiography.com you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Published contents by users are under Creative Commons License.
Developed By: CelebsBiography
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Pig Protein Complex Assembly
Monoclonal Antibody - Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Tyr204) (D13.14.4E) XP® Rabbit mAb (Sepharose® Bead Conjugate), UniProt ID P27361, Entrez ID 5594 #3510
This Cell Signaling Technology (CST) antibody is immobilized via covalent binding of primary amino groups to N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS)-activated Sepharose® beads. Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Tyr204) (D13.14.4E) XP® Rabbit mAb (Sepharose® Bead Conjugate) is useful for immunoprecipitation assays. The unconjugated Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Tyr204) (D13.14.4E) XP® Rabbit mAb (#4370) reacts with human, mouse, rat, monkey, mink, pig, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila melanogaster, hamster, bovine and zebrafish Phospho-p44/42 MAPK protein. CST expects that Phospho-p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (Thr202/Tyr204) (D13.14.4E) XP® Rabbit mAb (Sepharose® Bead Conjugate) will also recognize phospho MAPK in these species.
Bovine, D. melanogaster, Dog, Hamster, Human, Mink, Monkey, Mouse, Pig, Rat, S. cerevisiae, Zebrafish
Application Methods: Immunoprecipitation
Background: Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are a widely conserved family of serine/threonine protein kinases involved in many cellular programs, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, motility, and death. The p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) signaling pathway can be activated in response to a diverse range of extracellular stimuli including mitogens, growth factors, and cytokines (1-3), and research investigators consider it an important target in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer (4). Upon stimulation, a sequential three-part protein kinase cascade is initiated, consisting of a MAP kinase kinase kinase (MAPKKK or MAP3K), a MAP kinase kinase (MAPKK or MAP2K), and a MAP kinase (MAPK). Multiple p44/42 MAP3Ks have been identified, including members of the Raf family, as well as Mos and Tpl2/COT. MEK1 and MEK2 are the primary MAPKKs in this pathway (5,6). MEK1 and MEK2 activate p44 and p42 through phosphorylation of activation loop residues Thr202/Tyr204 and Thr185/Tyr187, respectively. Several downstream targets of p44/42 have been identified, including p90RSK (7) and the transcription factor Elk-1 (8,9). p44/42 are negatively regulated by a family of dual-specificity (Thr/Tyr) MAPK phosphatases, known as DUSPs or MKPs (10), along with MEK inhibitors, such as U0126 and PD98059.
Monoclonal Antibody - p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (137F5) Rabbit mAb (HRP Conjugate), UniProt ID P27361, Entrez ID 5594 #4348
This Cell Signaling Technology (CST) antibody is conjugated to the carbohydrate groups of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) via its amine groups. The HRP conjugated antibody is expected to exhibit the same species cross-reactivity as the unconjugated antibody (p44/42 MAPK (Erk1/2) (137F5) Rabbit mAb #4695).
Bovine, C. elegans, D. melanogaster, Dog, Hamster, Human, Mink, Monkey, Mouse, Pig, Rat, Zebrafish
Application Methods: Western Blotting
Monoclonal Antibody - c-Raf (D5X6R) Mouse mAb - Western Blotting, UniProt ID P04049, Entrez ID 5894 #12552
Bovine, Human, Monkey, Mouse, Pig, Rat
Background: A-Raf, B-Raf, and c-Raf (Raf-1) are the main effectors recruited by GTP-bound Ras to activate the MEK-MAP kinase pathway (1). Activation of c-Raf is the best understood and involves phosphorylation at multiple activating sites including Ser338, Tyr341, Thr491, Ser494, Ser497, and Ser499 (2). p21-activated protein kinase (PAK) has been shown to phosphorylate c-Raf at Ser338, and the Src family phosphorylates Tyr341 to induce c-Raf activity (3,4). Ser338 of c-Raf corresponds to similar sites in A-Raf (Ser299) and B-Raf (Ser445), although this site is constitutively phosphorylated in B-Raf (5). Inhibitory 14-3-3 binding sites on c-Raf (Ser259 and Ser621) can be phosphorylated by Akt and AMPK, respectively (6,7). While A-Raf, B-Raf, and c-Raf are similar in sequence and function, differential regulation has been observed (8). Of particular interest, B-Raf contains three consensus Akt phosphorylation sites (Ser364, Ser428, and Thr439) and lacks a site equivalent to Tyr341 of c-Raf (8,9). Research studies have shown that the B-Raf mutation V600E results in elevated kinase activity and is commonly found in malignant melanoma (10). Six residues of c-Raf (Ser29, Ser43, Ser289, Ser296, Ser301, and Ser642) become hyperphosphorylated in a manner consistent with c-Raf inactivation. The hyperphosphorylation of these six sites is dependent on downstream MEK signaling and renders c-Raf unresponsive to subsequent activation events (11).
Monoclonal Antibody - HSP90α (D1A7) Rabbit mAb - Western Blotting, UniProt ID P07900, Entrez ID 3320 #8165
Bovine, Hamster, Human, Monkey, Pig, Rat
Background: HSP70 and HSP90 are molecular chaperones expressed constitutively under normal conditions to maintain protein homeostasis and are induced upon environmental stress (1). Both HSP70 and HSP90 are able to interact with unfolded proteins to prevent irreversible aggregation and catalyze the refolding of their substrates in an ATP- and co-chaperone-dependent manner (1). HSP70 has a broad range of substrates including newly synthesized and denatured proteins, while HSP90 tends to have a more limited subset of substrates, most of which are signaling molecules. HSP70 and HSP90 often function collaboratively in a multi-chaperone system, which requires a minimal set of co-chaperones: HSP40, Hop, and p23 (2,3). The co-chaperones either regulate the intrinsic ATPase activity of the chaperones or recruit chaperones to specific substrates or subcellular compartments (1,4). When the ubiquitin ligase CHIP associates with the HSP70/HSP90 complex as a cofactor, the unfolded substrates are subjected to degradation by the proteasome (4). The biological functions of HSP70/HSP90 extend beyond their chaperone activity. They are essential for the maturation and inactivation of nuclear hormones and other signaling molecules (1,3). They also play a role in vesicle formation and protein trafficking (2).
Polyclonal Antibody - Phospho-FAK (Tyr397) Antibody - Western Blotting, UniProt ID Q05397, Entrez ID 5747 #3283
Hamster, Human, Mouse, Pig, Rat
Background: Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a widely expressed cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinase involved in integrin-mediated signal transduction. It plays an important role in the control of several biological processes, including cell spreading, migration, and survival (1). Activation of FAK by integrin clustering leads to autophosphorylation at Tyr397, which is a binding site for the Src family kinases PI3K and PLCγ (2-5). Recruitment of Src family kinases results in the phosphorylation of Tyr407, Tyr576, and Tyr577 in the catalytic domain, and Tyr871 and Tyr925 in the carboxy-terminal region of FAK (6,7).
Polyclonal Antibody - FAK Antibody, UniProt ID Q05397, Entrez ID 5747 #3285
Application Methods: Immunohistochemistry (Paraffin), Immunoprecipitation, Western Blotting
Monoclonal Antibody - Src (36D10) Rabbit mAb, UniProt ID P12931, Entrez ID 6714 #2109
Bovine, Hamster, Human, Monkey, Mouse, Pig, Rat
Application Methods: Flow Cytometry, Immunofluorescence (Frozen), Immunofluorescence (Immunocytochemistry), Immunohistochemistry (Paraffin), Immunoprecipitation, Western Blotting
Background: The Src family of protein tyrosine kinases, which includes Src, Lyn, Fyn, Yes, Lck, Blk, and Hck, are important in the regulation of growth and differentiation of eukaryotic cells (1). Src activity is regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation at two sites, but with opposing effects. While phosphorylation at Tyr416 in the activation loop of the kinase domain upregulates enzyme activity, phosphorylation at Tyr527 in the carboxy-terminal tail by Csk renders the enzyme less active (2).
Monoclonal Antibody - Src (36D10) Rabbit mAb (Biotinylated) - Western Blotting, UniProt ID P12931, Entrez ID 6714 #8048
This Cell Signaling Technology antibody is conjugated to biotin under optimal conditions. The biotinylated antibody is expected to exhibit the same species cross-reactivity as the unconjugated Src (36D10) Rabbit mAb #2109.
Polyclonal Antibody - BAG6 Antibody - Western Blotting, UniProt ID P46379, Entrez ID 7917 #8523
Human, Monkey, Mouse, Pig, Rat
Background: BAG6 (BCL2-associated athanogene-6), alternately known as BAT3 (HLA-B-associated transcript 3), was originally identified as a gene within the class III region of the human major histocompatibility complex, but has subsequently been found to exhibit protein chaperone activity. BAG6, in conjunction with other chaperone proteins and ubiquitin ligases, regulates protein stability and insertion of tail-anchored membrane proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum (1-3). The BAT3 complex, consisting of BAG6, TRC35 and Ubl4a localizes to ribosomes synthesizing membrane proteins and facilitates tailed-anchored protein capture by TRC40 and subsequent insertion of the nascent protein in to the ER membrane (4,5). BAG6 also plays a critical role in clearing cells of mis-folded and mis-localized peptides via endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation and the ubiquitin-proteasome system (1,6,7). BAG6 may also act as a chaperone for glycoproteins through its interaction with DERLIN2 (8).In addition to its role as a chaperone, BAG6 has also been implicated in regulating chromatin structure and gene expression. For example, BAG6 and SET1A act as binding partners for BORIS to effect changes of chromatin structure and gene expression (9). Similarly, increased expression of BAG6 induces p300-mediated acetylation of p53, which is required for DNA damage response (10). BAG6 has also been found to interact with TGF-β, and in so doing acts as a positive regulator of TGF-β1 stimulation of type 1 collagen expression (11). BAG6 also suppresses bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signaling via its interaction with and regulation of small C-terminal domain phosphatase (SCP) that dephosphorylates SMAD proteins resulting in subsequent termination of BMP-mediated events (12).
Pig Negative Regulation of Protein Complex Assembly
Bovine erk1 Thr202/Tyr204 Phosphate
erk1 Thr202/Tyr204 Phosphate Target
Rat erk1 Thr202/Tyr204 Phosphate
Sepharose® Bead Conjugation Type
Monoclonal Antibody Flow Cytometry Erk1 Thr202/Tyr204 Phosphate
Pig Chaperone-Mediated Protein Complex Assembly
ELISA Antibody Pair Protein Complex Assembly
Polyclonal Antibody Chaperone-Mediated Protein Complex Assembly
Monoclonal Antibody Chromatin Ip-Seq Protein Complex Assembly
Zebrafish Positive Regulation of Protein Complex Assembly
siRNA Negative Regulation of Protein Complex Assembly
Previous Monkey Positive Regulation of Granulocyte Differentiation
Next Rat Nadp Binding
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One planet, one chance… (2011-08-02)
February 19, 2015 2752 2752
Waste not, want not” or so the adage goes. Yet, year after year people carry on regardless of the negative consequences their careless and wasteful behaviour has on natural resources.
Directors beware: There’s a new meaning to Business Rescue (2011-06-27)
All too often, the dream of setting up a company and establishing a business is rushed into by zealous individuals, eager to make a quick profit.
Managing Human Capital Matters (2011-06-20)
In some organisations, lip service is given to the fact that employees are their biggest and most important asset.
Disregard of company policies can cripple (2011-05-30)
When you first hear your colleagues discussing the need to draft or revisit a company policy, you may be inclined to think this is a menial task meant to keep someone busy.
The Challenges of Green (2011-05-23)
Back in 1624, John Donne coined the phrase that “no man is an island, entire of itself.”
Counting each drop (2011-04-26)
Is it not ironic how some people can take things for granted and simply believe that the current presence of natural resources, such as water for example, is in itself a guarantee of a future supply?
Frustrating the transaction (2011-03-28)
The new Companies Act 2008, has been looming over the heads of South African businesses for a number of years, and whilst this has caused much frustration and criticism regarding its delayed implementation; one thing is certain - the Act will bring about lots of change and even further criticism once it is implemented.
Until death us do part? (2011-03-01)
Article issued by CGF Research Institute, Goldman Judin Inc. & Richard Connellan
One wonders just how many people may have misunderstood the meaning and the commitment they made when they uttered the words, “until death us do part”?
Those were the days . . . of directorships (2011-01-31)
Article issued by CGF Research Institute and Goldman Judin Inc.
In comparison with the late 1980’s -- which seems just like yesterday -- it’s difficult to remember whether there were as many directors of companies then, as we know and experience it today.
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Academy Appointments
Two key staff have been appointed to the Academy, ahead of the 2017/18 season.
Ian Jones, pictured, takes up the role of Head of Coaching (Coach Development).
Ian Joins the club from Blackburn Rovers, where he was U18 Coach.
He has worked at all-age groups for well over a decade, having previously worked at Morecambe as Head of Coaching and also at Lancaster College as a Lecturer.
Ian also holds the UEFA A Award and AYA, and will be on the Elite Head of Coaching programme (EHOC) for the next three years operated by the PL.
The second appointment is Jack Higgins, who takes up the role of Head of Education.
Jack joins after completing his PGCE at Burnley College and will replace Pat McKiernan, who has retired.
Jack, a semi-professional footballer and ex-scholar at Rusden & Diamonds, has previous work experience of working as a PE Teacher within Primary Schools and has a First Degree in Sports Coaching.
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.WAV(Y)
Headquarters by The Council
Ice Cream Sundays
Culture | Insiders
The promoters behind Singapore's best nightlife events — and their upcoming gigs you don't want to miss
Where's the party?
Text: Tracy Phillips
In the past, it was only a handful of clubs that dictated the nightlife scene in Singapore. They set the direction for music tastes, decided which nights to draw crowds, and in turn, determined when and where people had a good time. This has changed dramatically in the last few years, thanks to a growing number of independent party promoters who are hosting regular events that offer much more diverse sounds and entertainment in unlikely spaces. On any given weekend, we can count on their specialty nights to deliver feel-good ambient, hip-hop and house music in warehouses, hotels and secret locations for a new generation of seasoned club kids. We asked some of Singapore's best party organisers why they do what they do and what you can expect from their next event.
Orio Leshem, Fat Fish Familia
Originally from Israel, Orio Leshem used to throw parties in Jerusalem in the early 2000s. The founder of Fat Fish Familia is known for his genre agnostic sets that can range from disco to sixties rock 'n' roll, to the latest house releases, all packed back-to-back in a set. It's this anything-goes format that has seen him and guests such as Louie Vega, Soulclap, and Wolf and Lamb pack out their various theme nights that includes The Lost Boys, Purpleism and the Fat Fish flagship event Strawberry Space.
State of the Singapore party scene: It's in a great place, compared to four years ago. There are a lot of interesting collectives, talented DJs and producers, and proper clubs that deliver fantastic vibes and great international bookings, as well as many badass promoters that deliver out-of-club experiences.
Contribution to Singapore's entertainment scene: We book different big acts from around the world who represent house, disco, funk and soul, and give local and Singapore-based DJs, artists and designers a platform alongside them.
Audience: Our audience ranges from 21 to 60 years old who want to share the love for life, music, and our planet.
Upcoming event: Our upcoming event is on 13 July, over the French Independence Day weekend. Guests can expect incredible sounds and out-of-this-world decorations (literally)! With music from over 15 local and international DJs, you can expect great vibes at our very first Strawberry Space Open Air. Guests will also have the chance to win amazing prizes. We will be donating proceeds from each ticket purchased to our non-profit partner, Paddle for the Planet to raise awareness for marine conservation and clearing plastic from our oceans.
Vibe of party in three words: Nothing but love!
Zig Zach, Blackout Agency
What started off as a club night with his buddy Danny Fry at Kilo Lounge in 2014 has gone on to evolve into Blackout, a full-fledged booking agency, music consultancy and events company. Over the last five years, it has been responsible for the party series Escape 56, Secret Villa Parties Asia, and the afternoon market Sunday Social that takes place in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
State of the Singapore party scene: Singapore has totally raised its game! On any given weekend, we are spoilt for choice. From warehouse parties, pool parties, rooftop parties, clubs, secret location parties and daytime parties, sometimes there can be abit too much going on for the amount of people we have here. However, it adds flavour and variety to this tiny island.
If you weren't a promoter, what would you be doing: I'd be beating people up for money. I was a professional muaythai fighter. I racked up 35 professional fights internationally before I decided to stop.
Upcoming event: The confirmed dates so far are 13 September and 9 November under the Escape 56 banner in Singapore. Our party in September has been picked up by Singapore Tourism Board and will be part of the F1 GPSS events. I'm glad that we're getting noticed for all the right reasons. We haven't announced our guest DJ or location, so we have to keep it a secret for now.
Vibe of party in three words: Unique. Quality. Experience.
Zaran Vachha, Collective Minds
Collective Minds is a collaborative events and talent agency that's located in nine cities across Asia. It has been responsible for bringing some of the most exciting and eclectic names in jazz, soul and electronica to our shores such as Kasmasi Washington, Daniel Casear, Lauryn Hill, and Mac Ayers to name a few. Co-founded by Zaran Vachha and Alfred Castillo who met while working on Singapore Jazz Festival, Zaran cut his teeth in London for 10 years and Hong Kong for five, before co-founding Collective Minds in 2017. Realising that promoters in the region were working against each other and not with each other while agents were taking advantage of this to drive up prices, their mission is to collaborate, not cannibalise, to champion niche markets and support independent promoters, and change perceptions of the Asian music scene in the process.
State of Singapore's party scene: The scene is popping. It seems Singapore is fighting hard to get rid of its 'boring' city label. People are doing some amazing stuff here. Each club is different from the next.
Becoming a promoter: I honestly tried to shy away from it. I have a degree in neuroscience and statistics and a masters in business, but it kept on drawing me back in. It has to be up there with the most stressful careers on the planet. If you don't believe me, come and fight me. I have always wanted to own a deli with wines, meats, and cheese though. Perhaps, I'll do that when I retire.
Audience: Whether you are a weekday lawyer who's a weekend raver, hip-hop kid stuck in the golden era, a red wine-drinking aunty or someone who's Spotify playlist is from the future, we want to ensure everyone has access to the music they want.
Upcoming event: We have Jose Gonzales at Capital Theatre on 11 July, Yaeji and Maseo from De la Soul at Kilo on 17 and 25 July respectively, San Holo at Zouk on 18 July, Rae Srummerd at Marquee on 19 July and Toro Y Moi at The Pavilion on 1 August.
Vibe of party in three words: Something for everyone.
Jake, Ice Cream Sundays
Singapore-based party collective, Ice Cream Sundays have only been around since August 2016, but they have already thrown over 20 parties, from intimate rooftop gatherings in residential spaces to large-scale public space takeovers. The collective got its start when high school classmates Jake Camacho and Daniel O'Connor reunited in Singapore after stints abroad, with a desire to introduce fresh experiences to the local scene. They kicked off their first event on a rooftop in Geylang. It quickly expanded when photographer Meltem Acik stepped in to take photographs for their first event, going on to become an integral member of the organising team. Soon after, Yasmine Faingnaert became involved as a volunteer, where she quickly made her contribution felt and took on a core role in the group. More recently, the collective has added resident DJs Nick Bong and Muto Masashi into the mix. A diverse group spanning six nationalities and counting, they believe in bringing people together to build friendships, collaborate, champion social causes, and celebrate good music.
State of Singapore's party scene: There's no shortage of top-class international acts stopping through, driven by the likes of The Council, Kilo, and promoters like Collective Minds, Blackout Agency and Fat Fish, to name a few. It's also especially heartwarming to see more Singapore-focused collectives, like Darker Than Wax, go from strength to strength. Beyond the world of promoters, the relatively recent spate of record stores such as White Label, The Analog Vault, and Choice Cuts, as well as content platforms like Singapore Community Radio, are tirelessly pushing the diverse spectrum of sounds day in, day out, and providing opportunities for lesser known local and regional talent to play.
Becoming a promoter: All of us at Ice Cream Sundays have day jobs that keep us busy when we aren't in party mode. Promoting the events is purely a passion project, albeit one that has become a truly significant part of each of our lives.
Contribution to Singapore's entertainment scene: We provide a refreshing alternative to the club circuit, because we try to pop up in unique outdoor venues around the island. Daytime parties are relatively out of the ordinary, especially when they fall on a Sunday. There weren't too many options for a good Sunday session when we kicked off a few years ago. Though we are not necessarily bound to Sundays anymore, the day-to-night concept will always be at the heart of what we do. Recently, we've started to collaborate with local creatives to integrate visual art, as well as decorative installations to really complete the experience, while still remaining true to the DIY spirit that permeates through all of our parties.
Audience: While the bulk of our crowd are in their mid 20s to mid 30s, the demographic has broadened to include all ages with a good blend of locals and internationals that has naturally developed over time thanks to the collaborative work we've done with a range of local collectives, DJs, and creatives.
Upcoming event: Our next event will be a collaboration with one of our favorite local collectives on National Day. It hasn't been announced yet, so we can't provide too many details, but mark your calendars for August 9th! The party will be held at a rooftop venue with a great view of the planes and fireworks.
Vibe of party in three words: Funky. Community. No-frills.
Prav, .WAV(Y)
.WAV(Y) was started by Prav and XG based on their mutual love of hip-hop and streetwear culture that they grew up with. The first .WAV(Y) party series was at a small bar along Haji Lane with a crowd of only five people on their first night, but it has grown exponentially over time. Championing unrelenting high-energy and uncompromising new school hip-hop, WAV(Y) has done over 40 standalone club nights in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, partnering up with global brands like GUESS and G-Shock.
State of the Singapore's party scene: It's a beautiful time for the Singapore scene at the moment. Everyone is pushing the envelope in their own respective artforms and it's so great to see our peers excelling in what they do.
Contribution to Singapore's entertainment scene: We're bringing something refreshing to the nightlife and entertainment scene here. We're building a community and platform for like-minded people to gather. The vibes and energy on the night are always really organic.
Audience: Our audience is a mix of people who are into different cultures and styles. The beauty of it is seeing people who dress differently and who are into different genres of music all vibing along together on the night.
Upcoming event: We're hosting our next .Wav(y) event on 13 July at Canvas.
Vibe of party in three words: Energetic, good, wavy.
Eileen Chan aka Cats on Crack, The Council
Co-founded by Clement Chin and Eileen Chan aka DJ Cats On Crack, the duo kicked off their first event in December 2015 and had so much fun that they decided to start The Council in January 2016, so they could continue to organise parties at unexpected locations. In May 2016, they opened their first club and homeground, Headquarters. Their second alternative music venue TUFF CLUB launched in April 2018.
State of Singapore's party scene: It's at a very exciting point right now, and there's a lot of room for exploration and experimentation. The audience has grown with an open mind and open ears too.
Contribution to Singapore's entertainment scene: Singapore has always had a thriving entertainment scene, but we've brought things back to basics. It's important to show the next generation of music lovers, punters and ravers that you don't need the frills to enjoy a good night out. Having our own venues has given us the flexibility to book acts, champion the sounds that we truly believe in, and the opportunities to take risks and experiment.
Audience: When we first started, there were a lot more expats and foreigners attending our events, whether it was at the club, our warehouse, open-air or pop-up events. It brings me a lot of joy to see that there are a lot more locals coming out to our events with an open mind to discover the emerging sounds of the underground.
Upcoming event: We're breaking conventions with the start of our new ambient series 'Soft Landing', where we hope to explore a different side of electronic music with our close-knit community of music lovers. We're ditching the dancefloor for a more relaxed and comfortable environment. With the right setting, we hope to open people's mind for a journey into curious spacious sounds.
Vibe of party in three words: Cathartic, spontaneous, energetic.
Concerts in Singapore: Top live gigs and performances happening from June to December 2019
Buro.'s guide to the best clubs, party nights, and live music venues in Singapore
Best New Music of the Week: Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, Blood Orange, and Subhas Nair
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Global Search Search In AllVideosClipsPeopleOrganizationsMentionsBillsCongress
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Committees of the 106th Congress
Legislative Branch Appropriations
Witnesses testified about the plans for the visitors' center and the amount of money needed for the work.
Federal Budget for Supreme Court
Justice Souter and Justice Thomas told the committee that the Supreme Court will take steps to hire more minority law clerks. They both pointed to the number of minorities in the top ranks of major law schools and among clerks for lower-court judges as…
Secret Service Appropriations
Witnesses testified about funding needs for the Secret Service’s fiscal year 2001 budget. Among the issues they addressed were problems with recruitment and retention, the establishment of a National Threat Assessment Center, and coordination…
U.S. Supreme Court 2001 Budget
Supreme Court justices testified about the Court’s fiscal year 2001 budget proposal. Their requests included two new Supreme Court employees for computer areas. Justice Souter talked about proposed renovations for the Supreme Court Building in…
Postal Service Appropriations
Postal officials testified about the U.S. Postal Service’s announcement that it will be cutting overhead by $4 billion…
2001 National Park Service Budget
Mr. Stanton and others testified about funding needs for the National Park Service. Among the issues addressed were…
National Drug Control Policy 2001 Budget
General McCaffrey testified about the drug enforcement budget request and spoke about interdiction efforts, anti-drug…
National Endowments for the Arts Funding
Mr. Ivey testified about funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. He said that they had been able to increase…
Ideology Rankings District Map
Ideology data is based on DW-NOMINATE statistics developed by Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal. More information can be found at Voteview .
Bill Young, R-Florida
Ralph Regula, R-Ohio
Jerry Lewis, R-California
John Edward Porter, R-Illinois
Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky
Joseph Skeen, R-New Mexico
Frank R. Wolf, R-Virginia
Thomas DeLay, R-Texas
James Kolbe, R-Arizona
Ron Packard, R-California
Sonny Callahan, R-Alabama
James T. Walsh, R-New York
Chuck Taylor, R-North Carolina
Dave Hobson, R-Ohio
Ernest Jim Istook, R-Oklahoma
Henry Bonilla, R-Texas
Joseph Knollenberg, R-Michigan
Dan Miller, R-Florida
Jay Dickey, R-Arkansas
Jack Kingston, R-Georgia
Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-New Jersey
Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi
George Nethercutt, R-Washington
Randy Cunningham, R-California
Todd Tiahrt, R-Kansas
Zach Wamp, R-Tennessee
Tom Latham, R-Iowa
Anne Meagher Northup, R-Kentucky
Robert T. Aderholt, R-Alabama
Jo Ann Emerson, R-Missouri
John E. Sununu, R-New Hampshire
Kay Granger, R-Texas
John E. Peterson, R-Pennsylvania
Roy Blunt, R-Missouri (Former)
David Ross Obey, D-Wisconsin
John P. Murtha Jr., D-Pennsylvania
Norm Dicks, D-Washington
Martin Olav Sabo, D-Minnesota
Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland
Alan B. Mollohan, D-West Virginia
Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio
Nancy Pelosi, D-California
Pete Visclosky, D-Indiana
Nita Lowey, D-New York
Jose E. Serrano, D-New York
Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut
Jim Moran, D-Virginia
John W. Olver, D-Massachusetts
Ed Pastor, D-Arizona
Carrie Meek, D-Florida
David E. Price, D-North Carolina
Chet Edwards, D-Texas
Bud Cramer, D-Alabama
Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-California
Sam Farr, D-California
Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Michigan
Allen Boyd, D-Florida
Julian Carey Dixon, D-California (Former)
James Clyburn, D-South Carolina (Former)
Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary
Energy and Water Development
Foreign Operations
Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
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Rural Development, Agriculture and Related Agencies
Transportation and Related Agencies
Treasury, Postal Service and General Government
VA-HUD and Independent Agencies
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Industry News, News
Jamie’s Italian Restaurants ‘Under Threat’ In Restructure Plans…
A number of Jamie’s Italian restaurants are believed to be facing closure after the group announced it is “exploring plans to restructure”.
The announcement came after the restaurant chain posted a £9.9m loss last year, with The Times reporting that a company voluntary arrangement could even be under consideration.
A spokesperson for parent company, the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, said: “The Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group can confirm it is exploring plans to restructure its Jamie’s Italian restaurant estate in the UK, to ensure the business is in good shape for the future.
“As part of this review, we are in conversation with our stakeholders, but no final decisions or proposals have been made at this stage.
“The review does not affect Jamie’s Italian international franchises managed through Jamie’s Italian International. The Jamie Oliver Media Group and the Jamie Oliver Licensing Group, which are both managed and run separately, are also unaffected.”
The brand announced the closure of six Jamie’s Italian restaurants in January 2017, with its parent group blaming “tough” market conditions.
It currently has 36 restaurants remaining in the UK.
It’s understood the brand’s international restaurants will not be affected by any closures.
The first month of 2018 has seen a number of casual dining groups close restaurants citing rising costs in a difficult market.
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Subscribe To Why Samuel L. Jackson Loved Working With James McAvoy On Glass Updates
Why Samuel L. Jackson Loved Working With James McAvoy On Glass
Corey Chichizola
While there are plenty of sequels and crossover films currently in the works, none had a path quite as fascinating as M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming thriller Glass. At the tail end of his recent hit Split, it was revealed that the film was set in the same universe as Shyamalan's 2000 comic book inspired drama Unbreakable. The crossover film was soon announced, serving as a sequel for both Unbreakable and Split. Fans have been eager to see both films' casts combine, including the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy. Jackson recently revealed how much he enjoyed working on the upcoming film, especially as McAvoy balanced his character's various personalties and even had conversations with himself. As Jackson told it,
As good as I like to think I am or what I do and how I do it, watching somebody transform characters in front of your eyes and have an argument with four different people is pretty amazing.
While Samuel L. Jackson may be a living legend with an Oscar nomination and three Golden Globe noms, there are still moments that humble the 69 year old. James McAvoy's work as a man with dissociative identity disorder just happens to be that kind of moment.
Samuel L. Jackson's comments to Collider make a great deal of sense, especially if you managed to see M. Night Shyamalan's Split. Through the film audiences saw McAvoy play seven or so characters, regularly flipping between the three strongest of Kevin's personalities. The final moments of the film finally saw him engaging in a fascinating onscreen conversation with himself; a final payoff after watching Casey survive her encounter with The Beast.
With characters like Bruce Willis' David Dunn and Samuel L. Jackson's Mr. Glass interacting with Kevin, it would be interesting to see if Kevin's personalities also make their debut. He was teased to share his mind with a whopping 23 identities, so there's a ton of storytelling possibilities that M. Night Shyamalan can experiment with in Glass.
While moveigoers were able to see Kevin's personalities communication in Split, it'll be even more fascinating if other characters like Mr. Glass are also participating in the conversations. Although it would no doubt be a challenge for James McAvoy, it sounds like a great way to explore new facets of Shyamalan's fictional world. We'll just have to wait and see.
Most of Glass' contents are a mystery, although it appears that David Dunn's unbreakable man will be attempting to chase down and apprehend Kevin Wendall Crumb. But where David goes, so does Mr. Glass' evil schemes. Casey from Split will also be present in the narrative, as well as Sarah Paulson as newcomer Dr. Ellie Staple.
Glass will arrive in theaters on January 18, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
SPOILERS: Glass Ending Twist, Explained
It Chapter Two Comic-Con Footage Has Us Crazy Excited
Confirmed: The New Saw Will Star Chris Rock and... Samuel L Jackson!
Who Is The Tallest Avenger? Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, And The Other Major Cast Broken Down By Height
How Spider-Man: Far From Home Could Lead To An MCU Sinister Six
First Cats Trailer Debuts The A-List Cast's Feline Looks
Surprise, Terminator 2’s Edward Furlong Is Back As John Connor In Dark Fate
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Don't Call it the Blacksonian: Lonnie Bunch on America's Best New Museum
The founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture talks about what comes next for a museum drawing historic crowds to Washington, D.C.
When the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened its doors in September, it fulfilled a promise made more than a century ago, in 1915, when black veterans gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. They pledged then to build a museum to black history and culture. Lonnie Bunch, the museum’s founding director, made their dream a reality.
Bunch also fulfilled a different promise, one he made to the country, or at least to reporters—or maybe just to himself. Over the course of the museum’s long construction, Bunch insisted that it would open before the nation’s first black president left the White House. The ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by President Barack Obama this fall was one of the high points of the year and an essential moment in the history of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Unlikely Trick of the Smithsonian's New African American Museum
The Smithsonian's newest museum—and the last on the National Mall—is deceptively large.
People get it. The wait for advance tickets to see the museum extends through spring 2017; tickets for May won’t be released until February. The last museum to be built on the National Mall adds knowledge and joy to America’s cultural treasury. At just three months old, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is still working out the kinks, yet it already serves as an essential repository for truth in the nation’s capital. Here, Bunch puts the museum’s historic opening and ever-changing context into perspective.
It’s been several months, but the congratulations are still pouring in on the museum’s opening. Just this week, The New York Times called the opening the “museum event of the year—probably the century.” How do you judge your opening?
I’m humbled by the response. You know, you work for more than a decade, hoping to create something that’s meaningful. To see the thousands, tens of thousands of people, reacting, sharing their stories, being made better by this history—it’s one of the most humbling and moving things to ever happen to me in my life.
I wanted to ask you about something else that popped up in Wesley Morris’s story. The museum doesn’t have an easy name. It doesn’t have an easy acronym—NMAAHC. But “Blacksonian” has become a popular shorthand, especially on Twitter. Morris, in The New York Times, refers to it as the Blacksonian. What do you think of that?
That’s not my favorite thing. I think that, while the name is long and unwieldy, the African American museum of the Smithsonian is a powerful enough name.
This museum, which I’ve had the pleasure to visit a couple of times now, offers such a very different, realer version of American history. A lot of your audience may only be familiar with a more sanitized history. They may even be expecting to see that sanitized history in the museum. Do viewers understand what they’re seeing? Do they accept it?
My understanding, based on all the people I talk to who walk through, people really value the fact that this is the unvarnished truth. It’s not a Holocaust museum. It’s not a museum of horrible moments. But it’s a museum that tells an accurate history that has moments of sorrow and moments of triumph and resiliency. I think the public responds well to that.
The traffic for the museum has been sensational. It’s still packed and promises to be that way for a very long time. Was the museum built in a way to accommodate those crowds and still give viewers the experience they’re there to see?
One of the challenges of the Smithsonian, and every Smithsonian museum, is: How do you craft a museum for the huge audiences that come? Especially that come the week between Christmas and New Year’s or the first week of April. What we’ve done is given people an opportunity by having open galleries on different floors to spread out the crowds. We’ll always be crowded, but that’s a good problem to have.
“It’s not a museum of horrible moments. But it’s a museum that tells an accurate history that has moments of sorrow and moments of triumph.”
Since the museum opened in September, circumstances have changed in this country. Circumstances have changed here in Washington, D.C. You have white supremacists hosting pride events here in this city. Does that change the counterpoint that the museum offers? Does the election affect the programming the museum has planned?
The museum always felt that its job was to be a space where Americans can debate issues, come together, and maybe find common ground. The last several months just reminds us of the importance of history and the importance of contextualization. We want to provide that and give them a tool to help [visitors] live their lives in this period of change and transition.
What has changed at the museum since it opened? What have you looked at and thought, “Maybe this isn’t working. Maybe we can do this a better way”?
To be honest, I wish we had another building. I think that it’s worked very well, the notion of people looking at a history, often an unfiltered history, then looking at culture writ large. There’s nothing dramatic I would change.
Reconstruction is I think one of the most challenging aspects of American history, because it’s a time when terrorism won in this country. Terrorism defeated the goals that we needed to reach as a nation. How do you approach that subject matter through a museum presentation?
Part of the notion has always been for those of us who are historians has been to recognize that terrorism is not new to African Americans. The way that the Redeemers, the people who wanted to take back the South, brutalized and murdered African Americans—for us, that means how to tell a story of missed opportunity. That’s what Reconstruction was. Here was a period of profound change where America had a chance to, if not integrate, bring together 4 million newly freed people—to craft an America that would live up to its stated ideals. In essence, the South lost the war but won the peace.
As a historian, how do you evaluate the era we are living through now? Do you agree that the election of Donald Trump was a direct response to the presidency of Barack Obama?
I think that you can draw parallels with Reconstruction. Clearly, we’ve gone from a period where people hoped that we were in a post-racial world—which, obviously, we could never be—to a period where there are great schisms in America, often around issues of race. What we hope is that we learn from history and realize that we don’t want to erase the gains. We want to remember that America is at its best when it’s struggling to live up to its stated ideals.
A statue of the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute is on display at the NMAAHC. (Susan Walsh/AP)
The museum is actively growing and acquiring. It has developed profound relationships with many, many donors, from corporations to individuals to private collectors. Does that make it more difficult for other, smaller African American history and culture museums to continue operating?
In fact, I would argue that it’s the exact opposite. What this museum has done is help to propel a national conversation around race, around history, and around preserving America’s cultural patrimony. What I think is happening is that museums, whether they be in Philadelphia or Chicago or Detroit, are reaping the benefit. All the museum directors who call me talk about how they can now grapple with bigger issues and that there’s great interest in their communities around the subject because of the excitement that’s come from the national museum.
The other thing that has really made this work is that we at the Smithsonian realize that there is no way that we could tell these stories or do this work without recognizing that we are standing on the shoulders of all these other African American museums.
What are some of the things that the museum is collecting or acquiring right now?
We are looking to build our collections on Reconstruction. We think that is such an important subject that we don’t have strong collections on. We’re also looking to try to make sure that we continue to develop the collections on urbanization, on the migration of blacks from the south to the north.
Can you give me an example of something that I maybe haven’t seen inside the museum of an object or artifact from Reconstruction?
One of the things you want is a military uniform worn by a black soldier during Reconstruction. African Americans were crucial in enforcing order during Reconstruction. The other things you want are some of the kind of old documents from the Freedman’s Bureau. A contract between the formerly enslaved and his or her master. These really began to lay out a different kind of relationship.
Okay, about soldiers who were tasked with enforcing order during Reconstruction: Do you have a sense of what that was like, psychologically, for those soldiers?
In some ways, for a lot of the soldiers, this was a chance to ensure that what they were fighting for would actually come to fruition. The notion of ending slavery and creating a society where African Americans have certain rights. So there was a sense of both pride that you were fighting for a country, and pride that you were also opening a door for your own community.
“People have a thirst for this.”
Now that you’re on the other side of the opening, what is something you would have done differently before you opened the doors?
I would have probably had a lot more dry runs working with unbelievably large crowds. We expected 3,000 to 4,000 people a day. We get 6,000 to 8,000 people a day. Even though we put plans in place, I’m not sure you can intellectualize what this experience would be. The best example is: At the Smithsonian, most people spend an hour-and-a-half in a museum. We figured people would spend 3 hours at our museum. That’s the way I began to look at the numbers. The challenge is that people spend five or six hours. We couldn’t plan for that. Making sure the visitor experience is as good as it can be—[that’s] what I will continue to work on for the next several months.
Five and six hours at a museum is unheard of.
What it really speaks to is two things. One is a thirst in America to understand this story. Not just the big moments—the Civil Rights movement and the Civil War—but to understand: What was it like to migrate from North Carolina to Newark, New Jersey? What was it like to create your own business in a segregated America? What I realize is that people have a thirst for this.
I can’t go anywhere. This morning, I took the train to Philadelphia to look at some exhibits. A woman stopped me and just said, “Thank you.” That happens over, and over, and over again. That to me means there was a great thirst to understand America through an African American lens.
What are you looking at in Philadelphia?
I’m looking at three exhibitions. I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to look at the Mexican Modernism show. I’m now at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. I just looked at their exhibition on the impact of art on World War I. I’m about to go look at some photo exhibitions. It’s a busman’s holiday. Every director wants to make sure that nobody gets in front of them and that they know all the new ideas that are going up.
What’s the feedback you’re getting from your peers—historians, museum directors, people who are familiar with what you’re doing at a very high level?
Overwhelmingly positive. The best way to tell that is every day I get a call from someone saying, “Can you get me into the museum?” I’ve gotten calls from colleagues at universities, whether it’s Yale or Stanford or Howard, all saying how proud they are of the museum and how it’s really helped to make history valuable again for the American public. What means most is people coming up and saying, “Thank you.” But to have your peers recognize how hard it was to struggle for 11 years to actually get a museum open. . . . As you know about historians, one of the things we’re very good at is always being critical. Every historian I know says, “You could have done X, but I like what you’ve done all across the board.” That to me is as high a claim as you can get.
It’s not every day that a museum opens on the National Mall. Does this museum opening and the success we’ve seen with it—the public acclaim—accelerate the possibility of building a Latino American or Asian American museum?
I don’t know the politics. All I know is, if museums realize that, even if they are ethnically specific, that their goal is to tell a quintessentially American story through that lens—I think there’s great need for that to happen.
You opened the museum in 2016. How do you follow that up in 2017?
That’s a good question. I think what you want to do is operationalize the museum. Make sure that its presentations and programs really reach out nationally. Make sure that you’re doing public programs around both historical issues and contemporary issues. I’m beginning to work with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund to look at what kind of programs we should do to help people grapple with this question of the tension between the police and the African American communities, and look at how this museum is really of value going forward—both by looking back but also by wrestling with contemporary concerns.
@kristoncapps
Kriston Capps is a staff writer for CityLab covering housing, architecture, and politics. He previously worked as a senior editor for Architect magazine.
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The new face of many historically black neighborhoods in D.C., like H Street. Ted Eytan/Flickr
Meet the Few African-American Owners in D.C.'s Bar Boom
Matt Vasilogambros
The revamped H Street corridor in Northeast D.C. has become a profitable place for African Americans to open bars. But they face more hurdles to getting a business running than the area's mostly white newcomers.
Halftime Sports Bar in Northeast Washington has gone through several lives in the last 50 years. It was a TV repair shop, a Caribbean restaurant, and most recently a rat hotel. The storefront has witnessed H Street's transformation, from a shopping district to a burned-out ghost town to a gentrifying powerhouse. Owner Karl Graham has seen each of these versions. He grew up six blocks away, and now he's ready to make his mark on this neighborhood's newest form.
"This is where my mom brought us down to go shopping," the 56-year-old says, sitting in his Washington sports-themed bar that opened earlier this year. "This was downtown for us. Once the riots hit, there was nothing for a very long time. But the whole city has changed."
H Street is just one of several neighborhoods here in the capital where business owners are flooding in, boosting a local economy that's propelled by a wave of young professionals who didn't grow up in the city. Where abandoned, boarded-up buildings stayed dormant for years, now hip, inventive gastropubs and taverns reside.
Liquor is where the money is in Washington. Last year, the D.C. government brought in $5.9 million in wholesale alcoholic-beverage tax revenue—the largest sum in five years, and likely the largest in many years before that. While that number represents all liquor sales in D.C., from bars to stores, it does show that with a boom of new residents comes a boom for selling booze.
But Graham is a rarity in the bar boom: He's an African-American owner, and he's from the District. Like the new residents of D.C.'s gentrifying neighborhoods, the owners of the bars that are coming in don't look like the historically black population.
Of the 44 liquor licenses issued for taverns that have opened successfully over the past two years in six historically black neighborhoods (Columbia Heights, H Street NE, Petworth, Shaw, Trinidad, and U Street), only 13 were by black applicants—several of whom are not from the District. Half of the applicants were white. And while some white owners grew up in D.C., such as Ghibellina (14th Street) owner Ari Gejdenson, most did not.
Owners apply for liquor licenses through D.C.'s Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration, where they submit paperwork, pay a fee, and seek approval through the Beverage Control Board for taverns, restaurants, nightclubs, and hotels. Bars fall under the tavern category since food accounts for at least 45 percent of a restaurant's annual receipts.
Financial barriers are not uncommon for local African-Americans trying to make it in gentrifying neighborhoods. It's difficult to secure loans in high-risk, low-yield businesses.
White applicants overwhelmingly dominated U Street and Shaw in successful liquor license applications—two neighborhoods that are almost unrecognizable compared with five years ago. Over two dozen restaurants have opened along 14th Street in the past two years alone, complementing new interior-design and high-end clothing shops. The transformation there started long before other neighborhoods to the east.
H Street is different, where a plurality of applicants were local African-Americans; one of them is Avery Leake. The owner of Avery's Bar and Lounge grew up near Eastern High School, served for nine years with the Capitol Police, and then pursued a career in party promotion. For someone with limited resources like Leake, H Street worked.
"It's not fully there yet, and the rent isn't as high," the 30-year-old says. "So, it's a good place for a minority to start a business who doesn't have a lot of capital. Take the same business up on U Street, and you're talking about maybe double the rent."
But even with the lower costs, Leake's path here was far from easy. He couldn't get a loan, he didn't have good credit, and he had to settle for a second-floor bar until he made enough to buy the rest of his building. With limited capital, he couldn't change the building structurally, but he could fix up the place with the help of friends and IOUs. The guy who was supposed to paint the bar's logo on the wall didn't even show up.
"I got a level, and I sketched it out," he says in his hip-hop-themed bar. "My stars were not perfect, and I was like, 'You know what, it shouldn't be perfect because everything about this place isn't perfect.' I got steep stairs. I'm a second-floor bar. I can't even afford a sign right now. I'm just going to embrace every negative thing that's happened and turn it into something great."
The financial barriers that Leake experienced are not uncommon for local African-Americans trying to make it in these gentrifying neighborhoods. It's difficult to secure loans in high-risk, low-yield businesses. And your business history also affects a new business owner.
"It's dollars and cents," says Halftime's Graham, who just sold his other H Street bar, the Elroy. "It costs a lot of money to start up a bar. You ain't starting up a popsicle stand. There are a lot of specifications. You can't be a criminal. You can't owe the District any money. And besides that, you need some kind of business background."
Graham, as a general contractor, didn't have the same construction barriers as Leake. He was able to get around a lot of the overhead that other people have in remodeling a new bar. But he, too, couldn't secure any property on U Street or in Shaw, because of the cost. Nor could he take advantage of grant programs from the District for new businesses, because they don't cover bars. But officials did hold his hand through the application process.
Some longtime community members are disheartened that the ones taking advantage of the boom don't look like the people who lived here for so long.
While this isn't for everyone, he warns, local African-Americans interested in opening a bar shouldn't shy away from it. The black community, he says, needs strong business leaders. And even though the change in the city has meant a changing face of Washington, neither man is upset with gentrification.
"This was our Georgetown for so long," says Leake, who thinks back to his great-grandparents who owned a business on H Street. "It wasn't pretty. It was what it was. But we have to accept the fact that D.C. is not the old Chocolate City. I think change is great. Evolving is great. If H Street evolves, everyone has to evolve with it."
But the city can't forget its past. And that's why it's disheartening to the communities' longtime members that the ones taking advantage of the boom don't look like the people who lived here for so long. It's why Leake wants his bar to serve young African-Americans who are looking to spend money "with someone who looks like them." And while Graham wants to serve all facets of the new H Street, he says his history here is invaluable to people looking for a neighborhood bar run by someone who saw every version of what the property looked like.
"A lot of outsiders have come in, maybe just to capitalize on what they think is a boom," Graham says. "I'm not an outsider. I've been here. I can talk about the city. I used to climb the fence at RFK to sneak into the Redskins game, back in the day. I remember when the Senators played and Frank Howard hit home runs. I was here. This is my home."
Stephanie Stamm contributed to this article.
This post originally appeared on National Journal, an Atlantic partner site.
MORE FROM NATIONAL JOURNAL:
The New Face of the Marijuana Movement
Obamacare's Foundation of Lies
Rise of the Republican Pragmatists
@MattVas
Matt Vasilogambros is a former staff writer at The Atlantic.
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Extension of historic district approved despite challenges
Historic District Extension • Chelsea, Manhattan
West Chelsea Historic District. Image: Courtesy of NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Property owners unsuccessfully petitioned for exclusion. On October 23, 2008, after contentious hearings at the Landmarks, Public Siting, & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, the full Council voted to approve the designation of seven more blocks for the West Chelsea Historic District.
When the matter was before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, several property owners in the area expressed opposition to the proposal, or asked that their property be carved out of the district. 5 CityLand 78 (June 15, 2008). At the Subcommittee hearing on October 2nd, a representative of the New York Terminal Warehouse Central Stores testified that the owners had planned to sell the property to Related Companies, developer of the nearby Hudson Yards project, for apartment conversion, and now stood to lose over $100 million. He called the designation “a political effort to stop development.” James Pastreich, owner of properties at 547 West 27th and 554 West 28th Streets, pleaded with Subcommittee Members to exclude the 28th Street site, which currently houses a bar. Pastreich wanted to use his air rights to build a six-story building at the site. (read more…)
Tags : 547 West 27th and 554 West 28th Streets, Hudson Yards project, James Pastreich, Landmarks Preservation Commission, New York Terminal Warehouse Central Stores, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, Related Companies, West Chelsea Historic District
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City Planning Commission Hears AdAPT NYC Micro-Unit Proposal
Rezoning/UDAAP • Kips Bay, Manhattan
Rendering of micro-unit interior. On the left, the canvas space, and on the right, the toolbox space. Image Credit: Office of the Mayor.
City’s proposed micro-unit pilot program criticized for lack of permanently affordable housing. On July 24, 2013, the City Planning Commission held a hearing on the City’s first micro-unit building, part of the Mayor’s adAPT NYC program. The development will serve as a pilot program to test the viability and marketability of 250- to 360-square-foot units in a single building. The City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development proposed the plan to be built at 335 East 27th Street in Manhattan by Monadnock Construction and nARCHITECTS. The 10-story development will contain 55 pre-fabricated one- to two-person residential units; 22 units will be affordable for a period of 30 years and the rest will be available at market rates. The micro-units will have a studio-style design with a toolbox zone (kitchen, bathroom, and storage space) and a canvas zone, which will be an open space for eating and sleeping. (Read CityLand’s past coverage here.)
Tags : AdAPT NYC, Capsys, Monadnock Construction, nARCHITECTS
Category : City Planning Commission
City’s First Micro-Unit Development Begins Review
Mixed-use development will feature 55 experimental micro-units between 250- and 350-square-feet each unit. On April 8, 2013 the City Planning Commission certified the adAPT NYC proposal as complete and ready for review. The plan, proposed by the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, seeks to initiate an innovative approach to affordable housing through the development of micro-units. A new, 10-story building will be constructed to house 55 residential units as well as retail and community space. The chosen development site, at 335 East 27th Street in Manhattan, is currently a 12-space parking lot used by New York City Housing Authority employees. The 4,725-square-foot site is bordered by Mt. Carmel Place, East 28th Street, First Avenue, and a pedestrian-only portion of East 27th Street. The site is immediately adjacent to one of NYCHA’s Nathan Strauss Houses to the north and Bellevue South Park to the west. Bellevue Hospital is also close by and to the east.
Tags : Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation, AdAPT NYC, Capsys, Monadnock Development, nARCHITECTS
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SPV-2000 Overview
Manufacturer: Budd Company
Constructed: 1979–1980
Capacity: 86–109
Operators: Federal Railroad Administration, ONCF, CDOT/Amtrak, MTA
Car length: 85 feet 4 inches (26.01 m)
Width: 10 feet 6 inches (3.20 m)
Height: 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m)
Maximum speed: 80 to 120 miles per hour (130 to 190 km/h)
Weight: 127,000 pounds (58,000 kg)
Track gauge: 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Budd Metroliner
The Budd Company
Rail Passenger Cars
Budd SPV-2000 Multiple Unit Railcar
The Budd SPV-2000 is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit railcar built by the Budd Company in 1979–1980 for use on North American commuter railroads. The design was a successor to Budd's popular Rail Diesel Car (RDC) but based on the body of the Amfleet passenger car. It did not prove a success: Budd built 31 cars and they proved mechanically unreliable.
Budd announced the design in 1976. At the time it contemplated multiple unit operation of up to six cars with a top speed of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h). Power would be provided by 360 horsepower (270 kW) General Motors diesel engines. Popular Science depicted a tapered cab similar to the power car of the Advanced Passenger Train; the SPV-2000 would enter service with a more traditional blunt-end operator's cab. Budd said that SPV stood for "Special Purpose Vehicle" (Self-Propelled Vehicle became common), and emphasized the design's suitability for both intercity and commuter rail service.
The body shell of the SPV-2000 was very similar to the Amfleet passenger coach, which in turn was based on the Metroliner electric multiple unit. The SPV-2000 featured operator cabs at both ends and (in the standard configuration) 86 seats in 22 rows. There was an accessible toilet at one end and a small space to store luggage at the other. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) cars could seat 109.
Budd unveiled the first SPV-2000 in Philadelphia on February 9, 1978, and then sent it on a demonstration tour around the United States. Budd eventually sold SPV-2000s to four customers: the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), ONCF (Morocco state railways), the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT), and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In 1978 Los Angeles County Supervisor Baxter Ward proposed using SPV-2000s on the former Pacific Electric line to Long Beach, California, but nothing came of this proposal. The SPV-2000s were considered for a resumption of Cape Cod rail service via Braintree, Massachusetts and an SPV-2000 made a demonstration run in August 1979, but nothing came of this either. Beyond the 30 cars it sold, Budd constructed the demonstrator and 14 incomplete shells.
The Federal Railroad Administration purchased a single SPV-2000 in 1981 and converted it into a track geometry car which it designated T-10. The T-10 remained in service with the FRA until 2000 when it was replaced by newer equipment. It was then sold to Caltrain.
ONCF
Budd sold six SPV-2000s to ONCF (the Moroccan state railways) for use on King Hassan II's royal train. Under King Mohammed VI, Hassan II's successor, the train has fallen into disuse.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation purchased 13 SPV-2000s at roughly $1 million apiece in 1980; 12 for use on the New Haven–Springfield Line and one for commuter service on the Danbury Branch. The New Haven–Springfield Line cars were leased to Amtrak (numbered 988–999) and painted in Amtrak's Phase III livery. The cars proved mechanically unreliable and were often pulled by locomotives, leading to the derisive sobriquet "Seldom Powered Vehicles." Amtrak withdrew them on January 12, 1986 and placed conventional locomotive-hauled Amfleet trains on the route. The cars saw some use on the Metro-North Railroad; most were stored in New Haven. In 1994 the remaining 11 had their power removed and were converted to coaches for use on Shore Line East commuter service. These were dubbed "Constitution Liners" and are no longer in regular service.
The MTA purchased ten SPV-2000s for use on its Hudson Line between Croton–Harmon and Poughkeepsie. The order cost $12 million. The SPV-2000s made their first runs on October 17, 1981. This run was coordinated with the re-opening of the New Hamburg station. Problems with the SPV-2000s developed quickly, and a 1982 New York magazine article characterized the cars as "defective". The MTA SPV-2000s are all out of service; one is preserved at the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum in Willimantic, Connecticut.
The Federal Railroad Administration's SPV-2000 inspection car at Union Station in Phoenix, Arizona, ca. 1990.
By Clay Gilliland from Chandler, U.S.A. - DOT inspection car, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31661458
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RTA should gradually replace rail cars at cost of $715 million, consultant says
Updated Apr 17, 2019 ; Posted Apr 17, 2019
An RTA consultant suggests replacing the authority's fleet of cars — at a cost of $715 million over 30 years — rather than trying to continue repairing the cars they have.
By Courtney Astolfi, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The least expensive way to upgrade Great Cleveland RTA’s aging rail cars is to buy new ones at an estimated cost of $715 million over a 30-year period, according to an RTA consultant.
Other options outlined in a study by the consultant would cost tens of millions of dollars more. The most expensive proposal – overhauling the existing fleet twice before replacing it decades from now – tops out at $888 million.
The consultant, LTK Engineering Services, recommended Tuesday that RTA trustees pursue the least expensive option. In a later interview, RTA Interim General Manager Floun’say Caver told cleveland.com said the agency can find the money for the cars.
Caver said he is “laser focused” on cobbling together grants and money from federal and state sources. RTA already has set aside $24 million that can be used to match grants.
“We will have the ability — we will make the ability to purchase those cars,” he said. “We have to.”
Caver said RTA intends to put out a request for new cars by the end of 2019 or early 2020. He expects RTA to hire a consultant between now and then to develop a detailed plan for the purchase.
Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s discussion, and other findings from the consultant
•RTA uses both heavy rail (Red Line) and light rail (Blue and Green lines). Forty heavy-rail cars remain in service. They are 35 years old and have an expected life of 30 years. Thirty-four light-rail cars remain in service. They are 38 years old and have an expected life of 30 years.
•The light-rail fleet is generally in fair condition and might last another 10 years, the consultant concluded. The cars received an overhaul in 2007. The heavy-rail fleet is generally in poor condition and has a useful life of five years or less.
• The consultant said RTA should begin replacing the cars rather than continue investing major capital funds in the existing fleet. Over the last decade, the cost increased 148 percent to maintain heavy rail and 90 percent to maintain light rail.
• Caver said it usually takes three years to request, design, build and receive rail cars. He expects the process of buying new ones to begin by early next year. Because the light rail lasts longer than heavy rail, RTA will not need to buy both types of cars at once. The cost for buying the new cars will be $240 million, but will increase to the $715 million-mark over the course of a 30 year-span, an RTA spokeswoman said.
• The consultant said RTA should continue operating both heavy and light rail because switching to a single type would require “tremendous” infrastructure costs.
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▼ Underwater Sports
Cultural Heritage Educational Materials
The new CMAS booklets for children and young at heart allows you to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment. As a result, you can develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions.
Heritage at Risk - Special Edition: "Underwater Cultural Heritage at Risk: Managing Natural and Human Impacts"
This publication forms part of the ICOMOS Heritage at Risk series. Underwater Cultural Heritage at Risk demonstrates the application of the principles of the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
Training manual for the UNESCO foundation course on the protection and management of underwater cultural heritage in Asia and the Pacific
raining Manual for the UNESCO Foundation Course on the Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia and the Pacific is a fruit of a UNESCO regional capacity-building project to protect and manage underwater archaeological sites through the establishment of a regional Centre of Excellence, funded by the Royal Government of Norway.
UNESCO Manual for Activities directed at Underwater Cultural Heritage
The 14 chapters of this Manual explain the Annex of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001) and illustrate the 36 Rules concerning Activities directed at Underwater Cultural Heritage.
Recommendations on the protection of underwater cultural heritage
UNESCO published a brochure that introduces the importance of safeguarding the Underwater Cultural Heritage of World War I to the general public. The brochure also summarizes the results of the conference from 26 to 27 June 2014 in Bruges (Belgium) and promotes education on peace and Underwater Cultural Heritage.
Magazine: THE GREAT WAR AND THE SEA
“The sea played a particularly important part in the First World War. A part to which too little attention has been paid. This is one of the reasons why the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) thought it appropriate to devote a special issue of the De Grote Rede magazine to this topic on the occasion of the centenary of the First World War.
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Rocketboom creator selling Twitter account on eBay
Andrew Baron is offering up his account, with more than 1,500 followers. At the same time, he's selling guest hosting of his Twitter account on Craigslist.
Daniel Terdiman
April 13, 2008 12:37 PM PDT
Rocketboom creator Andrew Baron is selling his Twitter account on eBay. As of Sunday morning, the account--which includes 1,506 followers--was up to $560 on eBay. eBay
Here's an interesting question: In the world of social media, how important is identity? For example, if someone "friends" someone else, does it really matter who the friendee is?
Well, we might be getting a bit of an answer to this question. That's because Rocketboom creator Andrew Baron has announced he's selling his Twitter account--which includes more than 1,500 "followers"--on eBay. And as of Sunday morning, the auction had already gone up to $560.
"I really love my Twitter account but I feel like I haven't been using it the way I want to," writes Baron in the eBay auction description. "Quite honestly, I feel sorry for all of my followers because they wind up with my tweets in their timelines and I haven't been able to utilize the medium the way I want to. I also participate in another Twitter account over on Rocketboom so I'm thinking I'll post more over there and start up a new account to do what I want to do next.
"It would be silly to just delete this account I have here, especially if there is someone out there that had like interests and had something to say or wanted to get involved in some relevant conversations. In terms of monetary value, I have no expectations or needs at all so I decided not to put a minimum bid on this. Whatever will be, will be....The winner of this auction gets my account with all of my followers."
One thing he points out is that Twitter allows users to change their account name so that whoever ends up buying his account can alter the ID but still retain the 1,500-plus followers.
"So basically it's like getting a new account with your own name," he wrote, "but having a pre-installed audience."
Another interesting element to this saga is that he's actually attracted a fair number of new followers since he put the account up for sale on eBay. At that time, he said in his auction description, the account had 1,397 followers. And now it's over 1,500.
On the other hand, he acknowledged that his followers are following him.
"Also, as with any dynamic group, there is obviously risk," he wrote. "My followers could jump ship at anytime. There is no guarantee on this part. People will come and go, that's just the way it is."
This is definitely the key point. It's true that he has attracted a rather large audience of followers on Twitter--though, according to Twitterholic, a site that tracks the most followed Twitter accounts, he's not in the top 100 accounts--but those people are interested in him and what he has to say.
Yet, the fact that the auction has already fetched $560 is noteworthy. People seem to want those followers, and it will be interesting to see what happens when the auction ends and the transfer occurs.
But in the meantime, as the auction proceeds--it doesn't end until April 22--Baron is offering two-day guest hosting spots on his Twitter account for sale on Craigslist for $150.
Barron is also offering two days of guest hosting on his Twitter account while the eBay auction is still running. He's asking $150 for the guest host spots. Twitter
"Are you really creative and feel as though you have a lot to offer online culture? Are you interested in online video, social networks, blogging, technology, art and design? If so, this could be a great chance to take a stage and say something," he writes on the New York Craigslist site.
"I'm selling a 2-day guest host spot on my Twitter account to someone who meets just the right profile. I'm looking for someone that my colleagues, friends and others will benefit from in a culturally and socially valuable way. Maybe you have some great videos or a great album of music, or have a story you want to tell. Maybe there is a great cause that you want to spread. Maybe you even have a great product that needs improvement and would like to leverage a great brain trust of interested and capable people."
This is very odd. In some ways, this is more interesting, and at the same time, more cynical. Guest-hosting blogs, of course, is a well-known sport, but selling the slots? And at the same time as the account is up for complete sale?
Well, for someone like Baron, who is sometimes adept at publicity, this is quite the attempt to get some. And of course, here I am helping him.
For me, however, this isn't about Baron at all. It's about the nature of identity and the question of how valuable identity is and whether people in social networks are really willing to be sold like customers of a product being hawked to another company. My guess is that, on the surface, they're not.
But I also am willing to bet that Baron's Twitter followers will give the buyer a brief honeymoon to establish whether he or she has something valuable to say. If so, they may stick around. If not, it'll be sayonara, and too bad you spent those Benjamins to buy the account. Stay tuned.
Discuss: Rocketboom creator selling Twitter account on eBay
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The World Remembers 64th Anniversary of the West-Sponsored Coup in Iran
by Andre Vltchek
After WWII, the West had one huge ‘problem’ on its hands: all three most populous Muslim countries on Earth – Egypt, Iran and Indonesia – were clearly moving in one similar direction, joining group of patriotic, peaceful and tolerant nations. They were deeply concerned about the welfare of their citizens, and by no means were they willing to allow foreign colonialist powers to plunder their resources, or enslave their people.
In the 1950’s, the world was rapidly changing, and there was suddenly hope that the countries which were oppressed and pillaged for decades and centuries by first the European and then North American geopolitical and business interests, would finally break their shackles and stand proudly on their own feet.
Several Communist countries in Eastern Europe, but also newly liberated China, were actively helping with rapid de-colonizing process in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Those developments were exactly what the West in general and both the U.K. and the U.S. in particular, were not ready or willing to accept. ‘Ancient’ belief in some sort of ‘inherited right’ to colonize, to loot and to control entire non-white world, was deeply engraved in the psyche of the rulers in both Europe and North America.
Peaceful, tolerant and socially oriented Islam was seen as a tremendous threat, at least in London, Washington, and Paris. It had to be stopped, even destroyed – resolutely and by all available means. Only the pre-approved Wahhabism, which was collaborative with the West and from the onset at least partially ‘co-produced’ by the British Empire, was singled-out and allowed to ‘bloom and succeed’.
Iran fell first, in 1953.
Actually, it did not fall; it was brutally destroyed.
According to the logic of the Empire, Iran had to be derailed and ruined, in order to prevent so-called ‘domino effect’.
As written by Irfan Ahmad, an Associate Professor of Political Anthropology at Australian Catholic University, Melbourne and author of “Islamism and Democracy in India”:
“…Major theatre of de-democratization was Iran, whose elected government was overthrown, in 1953, by a US-UK alliance. Mohammad Mosaddeq was Iran’s elected prime minister. He enjoyed the approval of Iran’s parliament for his nationalization program. The US and UK organized a CIA-led coup to oust Mosaddeq – because Iran refused make oil concessions to the West. During World War II, the UK had taken control of Iran to prevent oil from being passed to its ally, the Soviet Union. Through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the UK continued to control Iran’s oil after the war. The French-educated Mosaddeq was highly critical of Iran’s draining of resources to the West. Soon after getting elected as prime minister in March 1951, Mosaddeq and his National Front alliance had moved to nationalize Iranian oil and throw out foreign control of oil fields. One such was the Abadan refinery, then the largest in the world. The UK retaliated by imposing economic sanctions, backed by its heavy naval presence in the region. Mosaddeq, however, was undeterred; his popularity only increased among the Iranian people. Faced with Mosaddeq’s resistance, the UK-US alliance staged a coup to over throw Mosaddeq’s government.”
France, the U.K. and Israel attacked it, in 1956, during so-called “Suez Canal Crises”. Although the invasion eventually ended and Canal stayed in the hands of Egypt, the country never fully recovered. There were further Israeli attacks and invasions, and after President Gamal Abdel Nasser passed away in 1970, gross meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs by the Western countries. Gradually, Egypt was turned into an impoverished client state.
In Indonesia, a progressive and religiously tolerant President Ahmed Sukarno was overthrown more than a decade after Mohammad Mosaddeq in Iran. The coup took place in 1965, with direct involvement of the United States. Between 1 and 3 million people were brutally slaughtered.
Sukarno’s main ‘sins’, at least in the eyes of the Western Empire, consisted of strong left wing, patriotic stands, which included nationalization of almost all natural resources. Sukarno was also one of the founding fathers of non-aligned movement.
By the end of the 1960’s, socialism in the Muslim countries had been almost thoroughly demolished. Dark era of collaboration, particularly in the [Persian] Gulf region, arrived.
The 1953 coup in Iran was later replicated in various parts of the world, even as far as Latin America.
For years it is has been no secret that the U.S and the U.K. planned and executed this deadly event.
In its article, CIA admits role in 1953 Iranian coup, published on 19 August 2013, The Guardian reported:
“The CIA has publicly admitted for the first time that it was behind the notorious 1953 coup against Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, in documents that also show how the British government tried to block the release of information about its own involvement in his overthrow.
On the 60th anniversary of an event often invoked by Iranians as evidence of western meddling, the US national security archive at George Washington University published a series of declassified CIA documents.
“The military coup that overthrew Mosaddeq and his National Front cabinet was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government,” reads a previously excised section of an internal CIA history titled The Battle for Iran.”
Declassified, U.S Department of State “Top Secret” documents from 1952, also clearly demonstrated great appetite of the U.K. to perform the coup in Iran:
“Subject: Proposal to Organize a Coup d’etat in Iran
“The British foreign Office has informed us that it would be disposed to attempt to bring about a coup d’état in Iran, replacing the Mosadeq Government by one which would be more “reliable”, if the American government agreed to cooperate…”
Although the U.S. government was originally hesitant about supporting the U.K. in planning to overthrow Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadeq, it soon changed its mind and allowed the CIA to plot and execute the coup.
What followed was 26 years of perversely brutal rule of Shah Reza Pahlavi, as well as of the British-US control over almost all great natural resources of Iran.
In brief: the West performed an experiment on Iran and on its people: how would the country react to a bloodbath, to overthrowing of its popular leader, to a theft of its resources?
As it did for centuries, the U.K. ‘scored’: it correctly predicted that it would be able to ‘get away with murder’. It managed to convince its offspring, the United States, that huge international crimes pay, as long as they are committed barefaced.
And the US industrialized these crimes, as it earlier did production of automobiles or radio sets. Crimes got mass-produced. One ‘inappropriate’ government after another got overthrown, destroyed; all over the world: Congo, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam… Crimes were piling up, and still are.
1953 in Iran marked the beginning of a ‘new chapter’ in the world history – a terrible and brutal chapter.
Iranian people and Iranian leadership are well aware of it. The country that suffered so much, the country which lost hundreds of thousands of its sons and daughters to Western imperialism, geopolitical games as well as naked greed, is now standing tall and strong, unwilling to surrender or to even budge.
It wants to go forward, it is going forward, but in its own direction, at its own pace, for the benefit of its people.
Iran is not alone. There is now an entire powerful alliance in place, consisting of countries from all over the world: an alliance of those who are not afraid to confront deadly expansionism and consequent terror. From Bolivia to China, from South Africa to Russia, Syria, Venezuela and the Philippines, people are remembering Iran of 1953, determined to defend their countries and the world against the greatest evil, which is imperialism!
More articles by:Andre Vltchek
Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are his tribute to “The Great October Socialist Revolution” a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.
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SCDOT Commission approves I-26 expansion project
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The South Carolina Department of Transportation approved a 1.8 billion dollar project that will expand I-26 between Charleston and Columbia.
Thursday, the SCDOT commission listened to SCDOT Deputy Secretary of Intermodal Planning, Jim Feda, as he proposed a new plan to widen 18 corridors along I-26.
SCDOT says the program is specifically targeting rural sections of the interstate that are critical to freight transportation across the state.
“Improving the I-95 and I-26 interstate corridors is absolutely critical to the continued economic growth of the state and it is long overdue. I applaud the staff and Commission for recognizing that we needed to address the interstate needs in the rural areas of the state,“ said 6th Congressional District Commissioner, J. Barnwell Fishburne.
They plan to tackle this $1.8 billion project over the course of some years by spending $110 million on it per year.
The $110 million will come from money that currently goes back to taxpayers. As of right now, there’s a six year program in which taxpayers can file for tax credits connected to the increased gas tax enacted in 2017 on state income tax returns. Once this program ends in 2023, the DOT plans to allocate that money, which averages to about $114 million, and put that toward widening I-26.
Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said, “Trucking is the primary mode of freight travel in South Carolina and it’s projected to grow by more than 60% over the next two decades. To close the widening gap on I-26 between Columbia and Charleston is estimated to cost about $1.8 Billion in today’s dollars and to widen the first 33 miles of I-95 is estimated to cost $1.2 Billion. We must start today with identifying how to break these corridors into projects that can be advanced as funding becomes available.”
Many members of the commission believe this project is long overdue and essential for economic growth. Being that the tax credit program does not end until 2023, funding for the project will not be available until 2023.
Thursday, the commission added the additional funds they plan to use toward the I-26 widening project in their 10 year plan. Although, they will not touch or have access to that money until 2023.
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Business Entertainment Law
Malaysian Company Claims Fox, Disney Sabotaged Its Theme Park
November 26, 2018 December 6, 2018 MARTIN MACIAS JR
Disney, eldStories, parks
LOS ANGELES (CN) – Entertainment giants 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company colluded to sabotage the development of a Fox-themed park and resort in Malaysia in order to wrestle away more profits and creative control, the park’s developer claimed in a federal lawsuit Monday.
Genting Malaysia Berhad, an international theme park and resort development firm, said in a 29-page complaint that Fox Entertainment Group undermined a 2013 contract that allowed the firm to license select Fox intellectual property for use in the construction of what was to become Fox World, the globe’s first Fox-branded theme park.
In exchange for the right to use Fox properties in the park, Genting agreed to pay Fox annual license fees and royalties on certain revenue such as retail and food & beverage. Sharing profits from gate admission sales, however, was not included in the agreement.
The company said it worked feverishly to bring the park to life, with plans on making it the centerpiece of an “idyllic mountain retreat” in the Genting Highlands an hour outside Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
The Walt Disney Co. logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Fox World was in the final phases of development, ahead of its 2019 soft opening, but was delayed because Fox sabotaged the project at nearly every opportunity, the complaint said.
In one case, Fox required Genting to replace their preferred vendor with a Fox-appointed vendor “whose inexperience and unethical business practices led to its termination from the project and months of delays,” the complaint said.
The company claims Fox failed to provide on-site support at the construction site and didn’t hand over style guides or digital assets, including the company’s own 21st Century Fox logo.
Fox later blamed Genting for project delays and threatened to terminate the contract or “force a renegotiation of the economic terms of what it viewed as a below-market deal,” including a negotiation for a share of ticket sales, the complaint said.
But Genting said the entity orchestrating the sabotage was Disney, which is in the process of acquiring Fox in a deal now expected to close in the first half of 2019.
The firm said the Burbank, California-based company was concerned about Fox Worlds’ proximity to the Genting casino outside Kuala Lumpur.
Disney killed the Fox World project in order to reap a windfall of advance payments from Genting, boot out competition for its Disneyland parks in Asia and protect its “family-friendly” brand, the complaint said.
“But seller’s remorse – first by Fox and later by Disney – is not a valid ground for terminating an agreement,” the complaint stated.
In a statement, a Disney representative called the claims “utterly without merit.” Fox did not return a request for comment by press time.
Genting said it was the “sole owner, financier, and risk-taker concerning the future success of the park,” adding that Fox never invested any of its own money into the project.
Genting – which said its mountain retreat attracts 23 million visitors a year and features the only legal land-based casino in all of Malaysia – said it has already invested nearly $750 million in the project, even though the agreement only called on it to spend $130 million.
Fox wanted to compete with Disney and Universal, which both operate theme parks around the world, having only “dipped its toe into the business by licensing individual properties that it owned, such as The Simpsons and Avatar, for use in third-party-branded parks,” the complaint said.
The firm seeks to enforce its rights under the contract with Fox and to hold Disney and other named defendants responsible “for their meddling,” the complaint said.
Genting, represented by the firm Kasowitz, Benson & Torres, also seeks to recoup the $750 million it has invested in the park and over $1 billion in punitive damages.
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Clemons: Celebrate National Newspaper Week with The Covington News
Gutknecht: We are your community newspaper
Yarbrough: UGA dean walked a fine line in fine form
Dick Yarbrough
Updated: July 2, 2013, 7:55 p.m.
I try to make it a habit to hang around with smart people. Given that my IQ is not much larger than my waistline, this isn’t difficult to do.
One person who fits that bill — and is a nice guy to boot — is the dean of my beloved Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Georgia, Dr. C. Culpepper Clark.
It is no small coincidence that the dean of the Grady College hails from Grady County. It is just another obvious example of the fact that God is partial to UGA. Our dean could have come from Ashtabula, Ohio. The Ashtabula College of Journalism? That would never have worked.
No need to dredge up times that are blessedly in the rearview mirror, but suffice it to say that it has been a bumpy ride during much of the tenure of Michael Adams, the soon-to-be past president of my alma mater. But let bygones be bygones. I will always treasure the form letters from his office acknowledging my financial support of UGA.
Walking the fine line between his egocentric supervisor (Adams) and an opinionated columnist/Grady grad of wide circulation who can find the humor-impaired like a moth finds a porch light (guess who) has not been easy for Cully Clark. But if my barbs at his boss ever caused him discomfort, he never let it show. (Unlike his boss.)
Dean Clark retired this week with much less fanfare than Mike Adams, but his good works deserve applause. The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at UGA is a better place because he was there (and it was pretty good to begin with.) Because of the dean, I have continued to support the university through scholarships and internships and a recently-announced chair in Crisis Communications Leadership at the Grady College. I doubt any of this would have happened had he not been around.
We had lunch recently to celebrate his retirement and to talk about the future. We discussed our efforts to make the Grady College a national leader in the area of crisis communications in the days to come. There will be no shortage of opportunities.
Ironically, our get together coincided with the fiasco that is Paula Deen. Whether or not she has been treated fairly is not the issue. What matters is that when not crying or begging forgiveness, it is clear she was not prepared for the fallout that occurred after she mentioned she had used a racial slur in the past. Now, her food empire is crumbling like a half-baked cake. It didn’t have to happen.
It is my hope that future leaders will understand that the court of public opinion can harm an organization’s reputation as much or more than the court of law and that the place to find out how to deal with crises will be good ol’ UGA and the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Cully Clark’s replacement will be Dr. Charles Davis, currently a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, another top-notch facility. By the way, if you doubt my theological belief of God’s favorable view of UGA, Dr. Davis hails from Athens, the Classic City of the South.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in criminology from North Georgia College in Dahlonega and his master’s degree in journalism from the Grady College. Truth in advertising requires me to tell you that the new dean got his doctorate from the University of Florida, but he drives a red and black pickup truck, I am told, which makes up for a host of sins. Plus, you can take the boy out of Athens, but ... well, you know the rest.
At the same time that Cully Clark steps into the next phase of his academic and personal life, Dr. Jere Morehead will be installed as the University of Georgia’s 22nd president. The Board of Regents made a great choice in Dr. Morehead, currently the university’s provost. He has already made a favorable impression on the Yarbrough clan by his personal participation at the ceremony announcing my commitment to the crisis communications program at the Grady College.
Life goes on at the University of Georgia, but I will miss Dean C. Culpepper Clark, of Grady County.
He has been and will remain a good friend for whom I have the highest respect. Like Nik Wallenda and his recent Grand Canyon hike, Cully Clark walked a fine line and survived the experience.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb2400@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139.
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Amanda Austin
Prom is for Adults, Too...
By Mike Corbett In case you haven’t heard, it’s prom season, and this year those high school brats aren’t the only ones celebrating. This Saturday, May 31st, at 10:30pm, The Dallas Comedy House is throwing a prom of its own! Things will kick off with a special show featuring lovely ladies of LYLAS, and their dates for the evening, the dashing men of LYLAB. After that, everyone will dance the night away, create lifelong memories and make questionable decisions, just like a real prom! Buy your tickets now, they’re going fast!
In honor of this momentous occasion, I’ve decided to take a look at some of the classic prom songs you’ll no doubt here when you hit the floor with your date for one of those special slow dances.
Heaven by Bryan Adams Our first number comes from Canada’s greatest export, Bryan Adams. This ballad was a smash hit back in 1985, when the prom dresses had more ruffles than a potato chip factory, Aquanet was just starting to burn a hole in the ozone layer, and people actually cared about Bryan Adams. The song was inspired by Journey’s “Faithfully” which Adams heard when touring with the band in the early 80’s. The video features Adams singing to stacks of televisions in an empty room. I imagine these days he does the same thing, but has each TV showing a crowd of screaming fans, his personal version of heaven.
Here’s to the Night by Eve 6
Once dismissed as one hit wonders, Eve 6 came roaring back in 2001 with Here’s to the Night, cementing their status as a two hit wonder. Here’s to the Night became an anthem for graduating classes in high schools and colleges that summer, and remained a popular prom song for several years afterwards. The video features a house party, all filmed via a hand held camera, because teens loved that kind of shit back then. It’s why this video looks like a mellow version of Can’t Hardly Wait or American Pie.
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day
Truly one of the most beautiful and poignant songs ever written.
(DISCLAIMER: The author of this article is no longer capable of being objective towards Green Day having been a huge fan for 20 years. It’s pretty bad, and may have at one point caused him to get an awful tattoo in honor of the band, which later had to be covered up. It’s also entirely possible that this was the only song he would dance to at his prom, a decision his date was not pleased with. Surprisingly, he is still without a date to DCH’s prom. But man, what a great song.)
More Than Words by Extreme
Before his incredibly successful run as the lead singer of Van Halen, Gary Cherone was the lead singer of Extreme, and produced one of the least extreme songs ever written. More Than Words was a huge hit in 1991, despite being about as exciting as elevator music. The video matches that intensity quite well. It’s black and white and features Cherone, looking like someone who produces elevator music, seemingly serenading his guitar player. All the while a few other people sit around, clearly confused about whether or not they should leave and give the pair some privacy.
All My Life by KC and JoJo
In 1997, KC and JoJo left the group Jodeci, put out this chart topping hit and promptly disappeared from popular culture. But what a gift they left us. This song was still being played at my prom in 2004, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it carried on after that. There’s not much to note in the video, just a standard performance intercut with some scenes of love and affection. It is worth noting that KC and JoJo are dressed like the much more fly cousins of Morpheus from The Matrix. We can all only hope to one day achieve a scarf game that strong.
I hope this look back has gotten you excited for the 2014 Dallas Comedy House Prom. This Saturday night, come on down, have some laughs, and make some memories, all without the fear of having to have an awkward conversation with a chaperone.
Mike Corbett is a Level 2 Sketch Writing Student at the DCH training center and an intern for the DCH blog. You can read more of his comedy stylings HERE.
Tagged: Best Prom Stories Ever, Bryan Adams, Comedy shows dallas, comedy soundtracks, Dallas Comedy House, Dallas Dating, dallas parties, Dallas Prom, Dating Show, DCH prom, Deep Ellum, Eve 6, events dallas, Extreme, Get Lucky, KC and JoJo, Live COmedy, LYLAB, LYLAS, Mike Corbett, My Rotting Brain, parties, prom, Prom Date, Prom Dates, Prom Horror Stories, Prom King, Prom Playlist, Prom Punch, Prom Queen, Prom Sex, Prom Songs, prom soundtracks, Prom Stories, Prom Tickets, Sex on Prom Night, shows, THings to do Saturday May 31st in Dallas
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Today’s Dayton Ballet took its first steps when two sisters pushed aside their living room furniture to make room for young performers. As young girls, Josephine Schwarz and her older sister Hermene, were first mesmerized by during Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova’s performance at Memorial Hall in 1910.
In their living room, sisters set the stage for the Dayton Ballet
Lisa Powell, Staff Writer
Josephine and Hermene Schwarz held first dance classes in their home
Today’s Dayton Ballet took its first steps when two sisters pushed aside their living room furniture to make room for young performers.
As young girls, Josephine Schwarz and her older sister, Hermene, were mesmerized by Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova’s performance at Memorial Hall in 1910.
This photograph of Josephine and Hermene Schwarz, founders of the Dayton Ballet, was taken in 1927. the same year they started the Schwarz School of Dance, now the Dayton Ballet School. Photo courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University."
Dance continued to influence their lives. At age 8, a case of mumps left Josephine bed ridden and fragile. To rebuild her strength and balance, she was enrolled in a local dance academy.
As her dance skills flourished, her father’s haberdashery business began to fail and eventually went bankrupt.
“I had to give up my music lessons, my drama classes and my dancing,” she told the Dayton Daily News in 1993, “but I couldn’t give up my dancing. I just couldn’t.”
To earn money for her own lessons, she began a school of dance in her family’s Dayton View home with Hermene as the accompanist on piano. Ten students each paid 10 cents to study with her.
Josephine and Hermene Schwarz, founders of the Dayton Ballet, in an undated photograph. The sisters began teaching students in their Dayton home. DAYTON DALY NEWS ARCHIVE
Photo: HANDOUT
Hermene, who was also a talented dancer, earned money working in a doctor’s office so the siblings could study with famed Russian ballet teacher Adolph Bolm in Chicago during several summers.
The siblings co-founded the Schwarz School of Dance in their home in 1927. The Schwarz School would later become the Dayton Ballet School. Josephine taught dance along with Hermene, who also designed costumes and built scenery.
PHOTOS: Schwarz sisters leave a legacy of dance
In 1928, during a trip to Chicago, Josephine saw a performance by German modern dancers that moved her to tears and impacted her career.
“I had never cried at a dance performance before. It was so beautiful,” she said in 1993. “I loved modern dance because it was so free; you could do anything. But I never lost my love for ballet.”
Josephine (left) and Hermene Schwarz were first mesmerized by dance as small children when they saw Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova's perform at Memorial Hall in 1910. DAYTON DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE
The Depression took its toll on the sisters’ school and enrollment dropped. Josephine, who had seen an advertisement for George Balanchine’s new School of American Ballet, took $70 out of the bank, left the school in Hermene’s hands and moved to New York City.
Years of work earned her a spot with a theater company and then a position as a featured dancer in a Broadway revue called “Life Begins at 8:40,” starring Milton Berle. A knee injury sent her home to the Gem City, where Hermene continued to run the Schwarz School.
In 1937, Josephine and Hermene co-founded the Experimental Group for Young Dancers, the forerunner of the Dayton Ballet, which trained dancers in both ballet and modern dance, a progressive pairing for the time.
Josephine Schwarz, who co- founded the Dayton Ballet with her sister Hermene, worked with the company until she retired in 1980. DAYTON DAILY NEWS ARCHIVE
Photo: Walt Kleine
“Miss Jo” and “Miss Hermene,” as they were known, taught, choreographed and produced dancers that influenced Dayton and beyond. The sisters opened their classes to black students at a time when much of the country was segregated. One of their students, Jeraldyne Blunden, went on to found the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
Hermene died in 1986 and Josephine died almost two decades later in 2004.
At the time of Josephine’s death, Barbara Weisberger, a founder of the Pennsylvania Ballet, said “Miss Jo” turned out students that had an all-encompassing sense of what dance was.
“She taught that good dance is good dance, with one beating heart,” she said.
HISTORY EXTRA is a weekly pictorial history feature showcasing the Miami Valley’s rich heritage. If you have a unique set of historic photos found in your parents’ or grandparents’ attic that depicts the past in the Miami Valley, contact Lisa Powell at 937-225-2229 or at Lisa.Powell@coxinc.com.
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The godlike antihero known as the Spectre has aligned himself with several human spirits in his unending quest for vengeance against the wicked.
Aliases: Aztar, Jim Corrigan, Hal Jordan, Crispus Allen, The Spirit of Vengeance, The Avenging Wrath of God, The Ghostly Guardian
First Appearance: MORE FUN COMICS #52, 1940
When someone uses the phrase “Biblical wrath,” whether they know it or not, they are making reference to the mysterious being known as The Spectre. Although he first appeared as one of the so-called “mystery men” in the early 1940s, the Spectre has actually existed since the dawn of time, so referring to him merely as a Super-Hero seems reductive. He is, quite literally, the embodiment of God’s Wrath.
In the mid-20th Century, the Spectre bonded with the spirit of murdered 1940s police officer Jim Corrigan, creating a bond between the human ghost and the eternal spirit, and becoming a crusader for those seeking ultimate justice. Since then, the Spectre has bonded with other human hosts, most notably former Green Lantern Hal Jordan, as well as murdered Gotham City cop Crispus Allen.
This Spirit of Vengeance has used his supernatural abilities to bring about bloody justice to those who have committed heinous crimes. Being an agent of the Presence, his power levels are quite truly off the charts. Even if you are just an average criminal just looking to make a score, pray you never run into the Spectre. Batman will break your bones, but the Spectre will break your soul.
When Lucifer Morningstar rebelled against God, he did not do so alone. Several Angels joined him in his rebellion, and when they lost their battle, they were cast down to Hell, becoming what we now call Demons. One of those demons was known as Aztar, and he went to the gates of Heaven and begged forgiveness for joining Lucifer’s rebellion. The Presence then chose for Aztar to become a vessel for one of his Divine aspects, and this case the Divine Wrath. The Divine Wrath combined with Aztar to form a new being – the Spectre.
From that point forward, the Spectre was God’s instrument of vengeance. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, killed the first-born sons of Egypt, and brought down the walls of Jericho. He was banished to Limbo upon the birth of Jesus, as aspects of God's vengeance and his forgiveness could not co-exist on Earth at the same time. When Christ died on the cross, the Spectre was released from Limbo, and sought vengeance on mankind for killing him. But because of the example set by Jesus, it was decreed by God that all aspects of Himself were now to be bound to human souls. He bonded with an Indian man, and that would be the first of many souls who cried out for vengeance and bonded with the Spectre.
It was in the 1940s that the most well known host bonded with the Spectre. His name was Jim Corrigan, and he was a hard-nosed detective in New York City. Corrigan grew up under an abusive, fundamentalist preacher father, who often taught him that God’s wrath was coming for those who sinned – especially for young Jim. Eventually running away from his father, Jim became arrogant and mean spirited, finding work in the police department. Eventually, Corrigan was murdered by mobster Gat Benson in 1940. As his soul cried out for vengeance, it bonded with the Spectre. After getting revenge on those who had killed him, the Spectre was tasked on bringing vengeance to those who had committed evil acts. Although technically undead now, Jim Corrigan returned to the police department, and also started fighting crime as the DC Super Hero the Spectre. He was even a founding member of the Justice Society of America.
After World War II, The Spectre seemed to vanish from Jim Corrigan, who continued his work as a detective for the next two decades. During a séance, the Spectre was released from Corrigan’s body, where he admitted that he had been trapped inside of him by the demon Asmodus. Now free, the Spectre defeated Asmodus, and he and Corrigan formed a symbiotic relationship again, which they retained for several decades.
Eventually, Corrigan grew weary of the responsibility of being the host to the Spectre, and let his spirit pass away to Heaven, leaving the Spectre without a host. The rogue Angel Asmodel tried to bond with the Spectre, which caused Earth’s mystical defenders to beg Corrigan to resume his role. He refused, and chose to remain at peace, so the Spectre was bonded to the soul of Hal Jordan, the recently deceased Green Lantern of Earth. Jordan, who had committed great evil while under the influence of the Parallax entity, sought to transform the Spirit of Vengeance into the spirit of the Spirit of Redemption.
Eventually, Hal Jordan returned to life and to the role of Green Lantern, and he and the Spectre were separated for good. The Spectre then bonded with the soul of another murdered detective, this time Gotham P.D.’s Crispus Allen. In the altered reality of the New 52, the Spectre found yet another host, interestingly enough a police officer named Jim Corrigan. It is unknown if this Jim Corrigan is an alternate reality version of the ‘40s Corrigan, or somehow maybe his relative.
Simply put, the Spectre is arguably the most powerful Super Hero in the DC Universe. Essentially granted omnipotence by the Presence, another name for God, the Spectre can control time and space, control matter, not to mention exhibit mastery over “basic” super powers like energy manipulation, super strength, and flight. He can turn invisible, phase through solid objects, and has been known to grow to enormous size. He has vast mental powers which include creating hallucinations among his victims. He doesn’t seem to have any known weaknesses, although those who use magic and can wield it well could pose a threat to him, at least for a little while. He can also resist all forms of mind control. Only the being alternately known as “The Presence” or “The Voice” seems to have any true control over the Spectre’s abilities.
Essential Storylines and History
“The Spectre!” (MORE FUN COMICS #52, 1940)
In the Spectre’s very first appearance, he is seen as a “mystery man” style hero, appearing as an angry, pale ghost clad in a green cloak. His first comic book appearance tells his origin story, how police detective Jim Corrigan ran afoul of the local mobster named Gat Benson, who ended up murdering him in a grisly fashion. As Corrigan cried for vengeance from beyond the grave, the mysterious “Voice” – now believed to be the Presence - bonded him to the Spectre. Jim Corrigan’s undead form was now home to a powerful entity, and the Spectre became one of Earth’s first Super Heroes, becoming a founding member of the Justice Society of America.
“The War That Shook The Universe” (SHOWCASE #60, 1966)
After serving with the Justice Society of America in the Second World War, the Spectre seemingly vanished, although the undead Jim Corrigan remained “alive” and continued to work as a New York City detective. Twenty years later, in the pages of SHOWCASE #60 in 1966, The Spectre returned, bonding once again with Corrigan. In this new incarnation, the Spectre was far more powerful, bordering on omnipotence. After several more appearances throughout the next few years, The Spectre finally received his own ongoing series, which lasted for ten issues. He then receded into the background of the DC Universe once again. But you can’t keep a good ghost down.
The Wrath of the Spectre” (ADVENTURE COMICS #432, 1974)
During the gritty 1970s, the Spectre returned again, this time in the pages of the long-running series Adventure Comics. In this latest incarnation of the character, the vengeance he took out on criminals was much more grotesque and harsh than it had ever been in the past, disturbing many longtime readers. Many of those stories were then shelved until the 1980s, when they were finished and released as THE WRATH OF THE SPECTRE limited series.
“Crimes of Violence” (THE SPECTRE #1, 1992)
The Spectre, who by this point was nearly a God himself, was crucial in defeating the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, by going back to the very dawn of time and preventing the creation of the Multiverse. After the Crisis, he received his longest running solo series starting in 1992, which ran for five years and 62 issues. In these new series of adventures, the Spectre’s role as the embodiment of the Wrath of God was more fully explored, as was the Spectre’s history going back to pre-Biblical times. We learn in this series that the Spectre was not the first embodiment of God’s anger, but the classic DC villain Eclipso was.
“All Ye Who Enter Here” (THE SPECTRE #1, 2001)
Eventually, Jim Corrigan grew tired of his extended life span on this plane, and decided to shuffle off this mortal coil and go to the afterlife. This caused his bond with the Spectre to be severed, and the Spirit of Vengeance to exist without a human host. At the same time, during the so-called Day of Judgment, the fallen Angel named Asmodel sought to add to his power by bonding with the Spectre. A group of magic users tried to persuade Jim Corrigan to return from the afterlife and become one with the Spectre again, but he refused, content with eternity.
This is when the soul of the recently departed former Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who sacrificed his life to save the Earth during the Final Night crisis, chose to bond with the Spectre. Hal now saw his role differently than previous hosts – he saw himself as a Spirit of Redemption, not Vengeance. After a brief time as the Spectre’s host, the spirit’s true purpose for bonding with Jordan become clear: he was to purge the last vestiges of the evil Parallax entity from his soul, allowing Jordan to return to life and to his role as the Green Lantern. But once again, the Spectre was left without a human host.
A Ghostly Rampage (DAY OF VENGEANCE #1-6, DAY OF VENGEANCE: INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL, 2005)
Without a human host once again, the Spectre becomes unhinged. He not only kills murderers, but he begins to kill people for much less serious crimes like stealing. Without a human host, he simply has no context for what punishment is fit for which crime. It is then that his old nemesis Eclipso seduces him into destroying all magic, as magic defies the laws of physics, which are God’s laws. Convinced of this course of action, the Spectre begins killing magic users of all kinds, coming into conflict with the community of mystical heroes on Earth.
When he kills the ancient Lord of Order named Nabu, the Presence intervenes, and once again bonds the Spectre to a human host, that of recently slain Gotham City police officer Crispus Allen. With his new host, the Spectre’s crusade against magic comes to an end, and the world has a new hero. The spirit of Crispus Allen remains as the host to the Spectre until the events of the Multiverse shattering Flashpoint event.
“A Stranger Among Us” (THE PHANTOM STRANGER #0, 2012)
After the events of 2011's FLASHPOINT, the history of the DC Universe was reimagined, and it seems that the previous versions of the Spectre were erased from history. In what is known as the New 52 timeline, Jim Corrigan is now a modern day Gotham City Police Detective whose girlfriend is kidnapped. Corrigan is then guided by the ancient entity known as the Phantom Stranger on the instructions of “The Voice” to the abandoned warehouse where Jim's girlfriend is being kept. Sadly, this turns out to be a trap. Both Corrigan and his girlfriend are murdered by the kidnappers, and just as in previous realities, Corrigan’s cries for vengeance draw the attention of the Spectre.
Accusing the Phantom Stranger of betraying him, the Spectre is about to attack him, but the Presence intervenes, and sends the Spectre off to serve justice on those whom God thinks are more deserving of his swift and terrible vengeance. Jim Corrigan is forced to oblige. Corrigan eventually joins Gotham City’s task force on crimes with a supernatural bent to them. No one at the GCPD suspects that Jim Corrigan isn’t exactly alive anymore.
Team Affiliations
• The Justice Society of America
• The All-Star Squadron
• Gotham City Police Department
• New York City Police Department
Appearances in Other Media
Guest Appearances/Cameos
Live Action:
• Constantine
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Main Character Appearances
• DC Showcase: The Spectre
• DC Universe Online
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
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DEAN LIVES | The Show
AUDIENCE REACTIONS
AUDIENCE PICTURES
Drew Anthony
CREATOR / DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
Connecticut-born Drew Anthony always had a desire to entertain and perform. He loved to sing and make friends and family laugh. His first foray onto the stage was in local musical theater in such shows as The Sound of Music, Carousel and Oklahoma.
Yet despite his love of the theater, Drew chose a different path. He had grown up singing the Great American Standards with his grandmother from a very early age, and this lead him to pursue a B.F.A in Jazz Voice at the prestigious New School University Jazz Division in New York City. Here he received the title of “Manhattan’s Smoothest Crooner”, after putting his first show together entitled Falling in Love.
After moving back to Connecticut he produced a show entitled Come Fly With Me, presenting it at Yale University’s Sprague Memorial Hall. He later returned to New York City and presented his show The American Standards at Danny’s Skylight Cabaret, which he then took to Foxwoods Resort and Casino.
In 2006 Drew decided to roll the dice and move to Las Vegas. Soon after his arrival, he landed a job at the historic Riviera Hotel and Casino where legendary artists like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Elvis Presley performed. Continuing his love of the American Standards his show was appropriately titled Old Vegas Style.
A new chapter in Drew’s life began when he took a starring role impersonating Dean Martin in the critically acclaimed Las Vegas hit show The Rat Pack is Back. Drew Anthony has since become one of the worlds finest Dean Martin impersonators:
“It is an honor to play Dean Martin, I have great respect for what he was able to do with his life. When you have left this earth and still are making people happy with what you did while you were here, I can’t think of any higher achievement one can accomplish with their life. I enjoy playing him, I appreciate his work and I do the best I can with every performance to be sincere, accurate, and respectful to the memory of Dean Martin.”
Drew is proud to present his new show DEAN LIVES, which celebrates the joy that only Dean Martin could bring to the masses, and the pride he gave to being Italian-American. This is not just an ordinary tribute show – it is a magical journey intertwining Dean’s most beloved hit songs with a beautifully arranged 12-piece orchestra, in a completely compelling and unique way!
David Perrico
MUSICAL ARRANGER
David Perrico: Trumpet, Conductor, and Award winning Composer is a native of Youngstown, Ohio and has earned a B.M. from Youngstown State University and M.M. from UNLV in Jazz Studies/Composition. Since relocating in 2004, Perrico is one of Las Vegas’ most in-demand musicians, with the Las Vegas Review-Journal naming David Perrico – Pop Evolution “Best of Las Vegas 2013” award winner. He has performed internationally with the legendary Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (1994-2001) as soloist and Road Manager and featured in headlining shows including Donny & Marie, Pin Up, Natalie Cole, Cirque du Soleil-Viva Elvis, Gladys Knight, The Rat Pack Is Back, and numerous others.
As a composer, Perrico has received national awards for original Jazz, Symphonic compositions and a spotlight in the PBS series “ArtScene” with his 20-piece band Pop Evolution that headlined the Stratosphere & Palms. Perrico also served as Music Director for the shows “Dean Lives”, “Pin Up”, “Zowie Bowie-Vintage Vegas” & “ALICE” and Adjunct Faculty at UNLV Jazz Studies (2006-2012). He has 17 CD and 5 DVD recordings to his credit, including The Family Guy Live DVD, and the Grammy award-winning album One Voice by Gladys Knight and is endorsed by Phaeton Trumpets and Legends Brass.
His newest creation David Perrico-Pop Strings Orchestra that debuted at Red Rock Resort January 10, 2015, has quickly become one of the hottest acts in Las Vegas. Pop Strings is an exciting “super band”15-piece orchestra featuring 8-piece strings section, playing Perrico’s arrangements of Pop, Club, Rock, Classical, R&B, Jazz, and original songs. Featuring the finest musicians in Las Vegas, Pop Strings Orchestra and Pop Evolution Big Band continue to earn legions of new fans, delight critics, and generate incredible media excitement for the new Las Vegas sound. Both Super Bands have residencies at The Smith Center Fine & Performing Arts and Palms Hotel/Casino.
Cast >
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DEAN LIVES SHOW
A Salute to one of the most beloved entertainers of all time – Dean Martin
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Copyright © 2019 DEAN LIVES INC
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Lerwick, Scotland, UK
Around 100 miles north of mainland Scotland, the 100 or so Shetland Islands are Britain’s most northerly isles. Of these, 15 are inhabited, including Mainland which is home to the capital, Lerwick.
Life has thrived here for around 6,000 years, and signs of it are remarkably well preserved. One of the most astonishing and multi-layered archaeological sites is Jarlshof, 25 miles south of Lerwick on a headland at the southern tail of the island. Here, Neolithic dwellings stand close to Bronze Age houses that share underground tunnels. During the Iron Age, locals constructed a broch, or circular stone tower; later Norse arrivals built longhouses before it became a farmstead in medieval times. The result is as eye-catching as it is educational, with patterns of dry stone walls upon, and indeed mostly sunken into, the lush green turf.
There’s plenty more history in the air. The restored Broch of Clickimin looks out onto Clickimin Loch near Lerwick. The Broch of Mousa, one of the best-preserved examples of a broch, stands on a small island of the same name a short boat ride away. Old Scatness near Jarlshof is the site of another broch as well as an Iron Age village.
Although Norse explorers set ashore and bestowed the name “Leir Vik” that roughly translates as “muddy bay,” Dutch herring fisherman laid the permanent foundations for the modern capital in the seventeenth century. Fishing has been vital to the islands ever since.
You can’t really miss Lerwick Town Hall. It occupies the highest point in town and stood as a symbol of regional wealth on the back of a herring boom on its completion in 1884. At Fort Charlotte, first built in 1665 before being rebuilt and named after the wife of George III in 1781, learn of attacks by enemy fleets during two Anglo-Dutch Wars. Another favorite is the ruined castle of Scalloway, six miles to the west of Lerwick.
Staying in the capital, the Shetland Museum and Archives tells the story of the islands in various exhibits, from archaeological artifacts to historic photographs, from maritime memorabilia to examples of local crafts such as weaving and basketry. Indeed, the islands are still renowned for woollen and cashmere knitwear, intricate lace shawls and fine jewelry.
Last but by no means least, there are nature’s treasures. Stunning landscapes and seascapes define the islands. Of course, you may meet some of the famous locals, the adorable Shetland ponies. Puffins are a favorite for wildlife spotters too. At Sumburgh Head, an RSPB reserve on the southern tip of Mainland, a colony of about 5,000 birds choose the steep grassy banks and rocky cliffs as their breeding ground.
Scenic Shetland & Jarlshof
Shetland Ponies and Panorama
A Walk Around Lerwick
See all featured experiences
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Home | Imprint | Data Protection | Friday, 07/19/19
The UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classic concluded in February, 2010 with Germany defending the team title. The final point tally was extremely close as only seventeen points seperated the Germans and the Australians. The Netherlands and Great Britain finished a distant third and fourth, respectively. In the women's keirin, Australian star Anne Meares withdrew, allowing China's Guo Shuong to capture the event. Meares' replacement, Emily Rosemond, failed to get any points letting Germany off the hook. Kudos to German cyclist Maximilian Levy for capturing the men's keirin and finishing third in the sprint. Congratulations also to the points race champion, Georgia Bronzini of Italy and Alison Shanks in the individual pursuit.
The track cycling season concludes in Copenhagen, Denmark with the World Cycling Championships March 24-28. The track has been sanded to give it a "like new" appearance and to aid world record efforts. The plan could pay off, especially in the women's sprint. Anne Meares and Kaarla McCulloch of Australia are currently the record holders in the team event 500 meter standing start. Australia could very well begin to dominate track cycling in the near future. In the current world rankings, the Australians are rated first, fifth, and ninth in the team sprint and third and fourth in the team pursuit. Another team on the rise is China. The Chinese have focused on the sprints and took home five golds at the Beijing event.
The UCI has set the schedule for next year World Cup Classic with the first event in Melbourne, Australia December2-4, 2010. The setting shifts to Cali, Columbia December 16-18 and then Beijing, China on January 21-23, 2011. The final leg next year is Manchester, Great Britain at the historic Manchester Velodrome.
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One last chance to confess: Australia's worst ever serial killer Ivan Milat will be questioned over decades-old cold cases linked to him before he succumbs to terminal cancer
Serial killer Ivan Milat to be questioned over decades-old unsolved murders
Former road worker, 74, was convicted in 1996 of seven killings of young people
He now has terminal cancer and has been transferred to a Sydney hospital
Milat has been linked to the death of Peter Letcher, who has found dead in 1988
By Charlie Moore and Stephen Johnson For Daily Mail Australia
Australia's worst serial killer Ivan Milat will be questioned over decades-old cold cases linked to him before he dies of cancer.
The 74-year-old former road worker has protested his innocence, despite being convicted in 1996 over the murder of seven young people between 1989 and 1993.
Milat has been transferred from Goulburn's Supermax prison, in southern New South Wales, to Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick.
Australia's worst serial killer Ivan Milat will be questioned over decades-old cold cases linked to him before he dies of cancer
The prisoner, who dumped his victims in the Belanglo State Forest, has also been linked to other unsolved deaths, including that of Peter Letcher, an 18-year-old man found dead in January 1988.
In late 1987, the Bathurst man had left his home town in the NSW central west to visit a former girlfriend in Sydney before his remains were found in the Jenolan State Forest.
The deceased man had five bullet holes in his head and Milat was employed by the Department of Main Roads at the time in that area.
His elderly father Brian Letcher, who now lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland, said a confession from Milat would mean a lot to him.
'He would pass a lie detector test': Serial killer Ivan... 'He doesn't deserve to be dying in pain in hospital': Ivan...
'We have only ever had rumours,' the 77-year-old man told The Australian.
'If he would confess to it, it would be a big relief, but there's probably a 100 per cent chance of him not confessing.'
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the NSW Police for confirmation about whether detectives are preparing to interview with Milat, who is serving seven life sentences.
However, The Australian reports detectives are preparing to question him about a series of cold case crimes.
His relatives have already been visiting him in hospital including his daughter Lynise Milat.
The 74-year-old former road worker has protested his innocence, despite being convicted in 1996 over the murder of seven young people between 1989 and 1993
Late last year, Milat wrote a 10-page letter proclaiming his innocence runs for 10 pages.
Retired detective Clive Small, who led the police investigation into the Milat murders, said it was 'very frustrating' how the serial killer hadn't been challenged on his outlandish claims.
'The amount of evidence, if it's listed, it leaves no doubt that he's the murderer of the seven backpackers,' he told Sydney radio station 2GB last year.
'He believes that if he says it often enough, people will just start believing him.'
Milat's victims included three backpackers from Germany, another two tourists from Britain and two Australian travellers from Melbourne.
Daily Mail Australia looks at a series of unsolved murders going back to the early 1970s that could be linked to Milat.
Milat has been transferred from Goulburn's Supermax prison, in southern New South Wales, to Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick
Keren Rowland: February 1971
Keren Rowland, from Canberra, was 20 when she went missing on 26 February 1971, the night of the Royal Canberra Show.
Keren Rowland went missing in 1971
She had travelled to Civic to pick up her sister and go to a party in nearby Deakin, however it was decided that her sister would get a lift with her fiancé and Keren would follow in her own car.
She never arrived at the party and was reported missing by family members at about midnight.
Keren's white Mini Morris 850 , was later found on a suburban street on the side of a road with no petrol in the tank.
The next day, Milat reported for work in Liverpool, in south-west Sydney, where colleagues say he boasted about murdering someone and burying the body in the bush.
Keren's remains were discovered at the Air Disaster Memorial nearly three months later on 13 May 1971.
She was found lying on her back, with her arms above her heard and her clothing pulled down.
There was also a beer bottle near her head, in a striking similarity to the way the bodies were found in Belanglo Forest.
A cause of death has not been established.
Robyn Hoinville-Bartram and Anita Cunningham: July 1972
On July 4, 1972, student nurses Robyn Hoinville-Bartram and Anita Cunningham left Melbourne for a hitch-hiking holiday to visit Robyn's mother in Bowen, north Queensland.
The 18-year-olds went missing and in November Robyn's body was found in a creek under a bridge on the Flinders Highway, about 80km west of Charters Towers.
Robyn Hoinville-Bartram (left) and her friend Anita Cunningham (right) went missing in 1972
She was naked from the waist down and had been shot twice in the head by a .22 calibre rifle.
Anita Cunningham is still missing and police believe the women may have been victims of a serial killer.
Police examined Milat's movements around the time of the disappearances - but never officially linked him.
Gabrielle Jahnke and Michelle Riley: October 1973
Best friends Gabriel Jahnke, 18, and Michelle Riley, 16, left Brisbane on October 5, 1973 to hitchhike to the Gold Coast for a holiday.
They were last seen alive when they got out of from a Black and White taxi near Petrie Bight, Brisbane at about 10am the next day.
Gabriel's body was found at the bottom of a steep embankment at the side of the Pacific Highway in Ormeau on 13 October.
Best friends Gabriel Jahnke (pictured), 18, and Michelle Riley, 16, left Brisbane on October 5, 1973 to hitchhike to the Gold Coast for a holiday
Michelle's body was found about 12 metres from the roadway on the Mount Tamborine Highway 6km south of Logan Village on 23 October.
Both were bludgeoned to death and had their clothes pulled up, suggesting sexual assault.
Michelle Pope and Stephen Lapthorne: August 1978
Missing since 1978: Stephen Lapthorne
Michelle Pope, 18, and Stephen Lapthorne, 20, were last seen driving from his home in West Pymble, Sydney to her Berowra home on 25 August, 1978.
The couple have never been seen since, and Stephen's lime green Bedford van has also never been found.
Detectives initially suspected they were murdered and their bodies buried in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, but they have also not ruled out death by misadventure.
All leads received since their disappearance were followed up without success.
In October 1981, the State Government offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to their location.
In August 2005, Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich held an inquest into the couple's disappearance and issued death certificates for both.
Milat was named as the person most likely to have killed the couple but the coroner handed down an open finding as to the date, time and cause of death.
Leanne Goodall: December 1978
Leanne Goodall, 20, was dropped off at Muswellbrook train station in the Hunter Valley by her brother Warren on 30 December, 1978.
He thought she was going to take the train to see relatives in Sydney but she went to Newcastle to see her parents first.
She was last seen at the Star Hotel in the city at 3.30pm that afternoon.
Leanne Goodall (left and right) went missing in December 1978 and has never been seen since then
The young woman, who was about to start a course at Newcastle Technical College, was reported missing but was never found.
Milat stayed at several hotels in the region in late 1978 and early 1979 while he was employed as a road worker.
He was known to stay at the Star Hotel, which was popular with young people.
Robyn Hickie: April 1979
Four months after Leanne went missing, Robyn Hickie, 18, vanished.
The youngster arranged to meet a netball teammate at the Belmont Hotel, south of Newcastle.
She left her home in Swansea but never arrived.
Police investigated for a few months but then dropped the case, believing she had run away.
Milat was never investigated over her death, but was living in a hotel near where Robyn worked.
Robyn Hickie (left), 18, vanished in April 1979 and days later Amanda Robinson (right) went missing
Amanda Robinson: April 1979
Amanda Robinson, 14, was last seen on her way home to Swansea after a school dance on April 20, 1979.
She got off the bus and walked home along Lake Road, never to be seen again.
Leanne, Amanda and Robyn's suspected deaths were considered together for an inquest in 2001.
Six suspects including Milat gave evidence - but he angrily denied being responsible.
Addressing the girls' parents, he said in court: 'I had nothing to do with whatever happened to their children. I can look at them people, right in the eye, and say, 'I had absolutely nothing to do with your children going missing'.'
Deborah Balken and Gillian Jamieson: July 1980
The high schools friends, 20, from western Sydney, went for a night out at Parramatta's Tollgate Hotel on 12 July, 1980.
They were seen chatting to a man wearing a large-brimmed black cowboy hat.
Deborah later phoned a friend to say they were getting a lift to a party in Wollongong.
During the conversation Deborah said they were with a former workmate of Gillian who she described as being 'the gardener fellow.'
Deborah Balken (left) and Gillian Jamieson (right) went missing in July 1980. They have never been found despite police searches
That was the last time the two women were heard from.
No trace of either woman has been found despite exhaustive police inquiries, leading the deputy state coroner to make a finding that they were both dead.
Milat was listed as one of four persons of interest in the case and was questioned in his cell in 2004.
At the time of the suspected murders, he was working at the Granville depot of the then Department of Main Roads.
An exhaustive investigation and media campaign was carried out by NSW Police Homicide Squad at the time, but little information was forthcoming.
The women's disappearance was reinvestigated and reported to the deputy state coroner in May 2006.
He found that both women died on or after 12 July, 1980 - but he was unable to comment on the place of death or the manner and cause of death from the evidence available.
The coroner named four persons of interest, including Milat, but there was insufficient evidence to allow an arrest to be made.
Detectives have conducted extensive enquiries but have now exhausted all leads.
Murders Milat was convicted for
Between 1989 and 1992 seven young backpackers went missing while hitch-hiking on the outskirts of Sydney, New South Wales.
Their bodies were all discovered in the Belanglo State Forest, near Bowral, south of Sydney, and found to be victims of serial killer Ivan Milat.
The victims were:
Victorians Deborah Everist and James Gibson, both 19, who were last seen in December 1989, and who were each stabbed multiple times.
German Simone Schmidl, 20, who disappeared in January 1991 and died from multiple stab wounds, including a knife through her spinal cord.
German Gabor Neugebauer, 21, who was gagged and shot six times and his 20-year-old girlfriend Anja Habschied, who was decapitated after they disappeared in January 1992.
Britons Caroline Clarke, 21, who was shot 10 times as if she was target practice and Joanne Walters, 22, who was stabbed. Last seen in April 1992.
Ivan Milat in 1996 received seven life sentences for the murders
www.theaustralia...
Serial killer Ivan Milat to be questioned over unsolved murders before he dies of cancer
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Home Inside North Korea North Korean trade officials in China grapple with sanctions
North Korean trade officials in China grapple with sanctions
Ha Yoon Ah
North Korean vehicle in Dandong, China. Taken in February 2019. Image: Daily NK
Business activities by North Korean trade officers are getting curtailed due to China’s active implementation of UN sanctions. For North Korean trade officers, the business environment is also becoming increasingly difficult because of the “loyalty funds” they are expected to pay to the North Korean regime and heavier surveillance by the Chinese government.
Daily NK met with a North Korean trade officer active in China’s Liaoning Province who was willing to talk about the difficulties he is facing.
Previously, Daily NK reported that North Korean workers were returning home from China en masse and rumors have been circulating that the Chinese authorities plan to send more back to North Korea in June.
According to the trade officer, the number of trade officers in the country has dwindled since the sanctions began and the overall number of North Koreans in Liaoning Province is also decreasing.
He expressed hopes that the sanctions will be lifted as he faces a lack of income due to the sanctions combined with the ever-increasing requirement to pay loyalty funds to Pyongyang.
The following is an excerpt from the interview with the trade officer.
Daily NK: What is the situation like for North Korean trade officers working in China?
North Korean trade official: Whether we receive a work permit or not is no longer important. The more important thing is whether you can make money or not in China. The number of people working in trade is decreasing compared to pre-sanction days. Even if you can make money, you cannot make as much as before.
Before the sanctions, if you built a good relationship with a Chinese trader then you could have a guaranteed income, open up a bank account and operate your business steadily. However, these days, you cannot even open a bank account, and even if you open one using a Chinese person’s name, you’ll be watched. It’s not possible to launch a big project because cash flow is blocked. Recently, China has been cracking down on bank accounts.
Daily NK: You said that the number of North Korean trade officers has decreased, can you tell us more about it?
North Korean trade official: I’m not sure about the rural areas, but the number of people from Pyongyang has reduced a lot, perhaps by a fifth or even a third. The number of trade officers in Dandong and Shenyang has decreased and laborers are continually dwindling as well.
North Korean women exit the customs office in Dandong. Taken in February 2019. Image: Daily NK
Daily NK: How is the situation in Pyongyang?
North Korean trade official: After I take a train from Dandong in the morning and arrive in Pyongyang in the afternoon, I don’t stop anywhere else and take a taxi straight home. When people hear that I’ve come back to Pyongyang, so many of them will come to see me. Party executives, state enterprise people, and friends – they all come and bleed me dry. It’s getting worse these days.
I’m afraid of going back because they blatantly ask for money. I tell my wife not to tell anybody that I’m back in Pyongyang. Even when it’s time for me to go back to China, I schedule my time so that I go straight to Pyongyang Station and stay there until the train heading to China comes.
Daily NK: What is the most difficult thing right now?
North Korean trade official: What is the point of telling you everything? There are so many difficulties. I have been out of China for a while but with each year, the amount of money that I have to pay up the ladder doubles. They are testing my limits. I have to meet my quota, so I have to do a lot of side work. However, I cannot do business right now so even the side work is not enough to make money. If I fail to meet my quota, I will be reprimanded and sent back to Pyongyang. It’s scary.
Daily NK How much money do you make per month?
North Korean trade official: To be honest, I make about 3000 RMB (approximately 500,000 KRW). I’m embarrassed. I don’t have a lot of money, but people in Pyongyang think that you come back rich from China […] If I don’t take care of my staff, I cannot operate my business so even if I take a loss, I take care of them first. Therefore, my plans keep getting delayed.
Daily NK: Do you have any final words you’d like to share about the situation?
North Korean trade official: Many of the North Korean trade officers who are working in China are having a tough time. Not many businesses are working out. Even those who are talented will suffer from big losses if they come to China now. It’s not just that the number of workers is declining, but the replacement cycle is also getting shorter, which means that it’s really hard to do business properly. I really wish that the sanctions would be lifted, that’s all I want.
Everybody is thinking about this but they don’t dare to say it out loud — if my family were in China, we would defect right away. However, I cannot do it under these circumstances because my family is held hostage [in North Korea] and if I run away, it will get them killed.”
*Translated by Yongmin Lee
Kim Jong Un orders “severe punishment” for those who build houses on farmland
Disruptors of Kim Il Sung mourning period face eviction from Pyongyang
North Korea crackdown broadens on international calls
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Home › Vivo › Z1 Pro
Vivo Z1 Pro - Specifications
SpecificationsDisplayCameraCPUBatteryPrices 2
Dimensions: 77.33 x 162.39 x 8.85 mm
SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 712
CPU: 2x 2.2 GHz Kryo 360, 6x 1.7 GHz Kryo 360, Cores: 8
GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 616, 500 MHz
RAM: 4 GB, 6 GB, 1866 MHz
Storage: 64 GB, 128 GB
Display: 6.53 in, IPS, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 24 bit
Battery: 5000 mAh, Li-Polymer
OS: Funtouch 9.0 OS (Android 9.0 Pie)
Wi-Fi: a, b, g, n, n 5GHz, ac, Dual band, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct
USB: 2.0, Micro USB
Positioning: GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
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Information about the brand, model and model alias (if any) of a specific device.
Brand name of the company that manufactures the device.
Model name of the device.
Model alias
Аlternative names, under which the model is known.
Z1Pro
Information about the dimensions and weight of the device, shown in different measurement units. Body materials, available colors, certifications.
Information about the width, i.e. the horizontal side of the device when it is used in its standard orientation.
77.33 mm (millimeters)
7.73 cm (centimeters)
0.25 ft (feet)
3.04 in (inches)
Information about the height, i.e. the vertical side of the device when it is used in its standard orientation.
162.39 mm (millimeters)
16.24 cm (centimeters)
Information about the thickness/depth of the device in different measurement units.
8.85 mm (millimeters)
201 g (grams)
0.44 lbs (pounds)
7.09 oz (ounces)
Estimated volume of the device, calculated from the dimensions provided by the manufacturer. Applies for devices in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped.
111.13 cm³ (cubic centimeters)
6.75 in³ (cubic inches)
Materials used in the fabrication of the device's body.
The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is used in mobile devices for storing data authenticating the subscribers of mobile services.
Information about the type and size (form factor) of the SIM card used in the device.
Nano-SIM (4FF - fourth form factor, since 2012, 12.30 x 8.80 x 0.67 mm)
Number of SIM cards
Information about the number of SIM cards, supported by the device.
Information about some specific features related to the SIM card(s) of the device.
Dual SIM stand-by (Both cards are active. When one is busy, the other is not active)
A mobile (cellular) network is a radio system, which allows a large number of mobile devices to communicate with each other.
UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. Based on the GSM standard, it is deemed as a 3G mobile network standard. It has been developed by the 3GPP and its major advantage is the provision of greater bandwidth and spectral efficiency, due to the W-CDMA technology.
UMTS 850 MHz
UMTS 2100 MHz
LTE is deemed to be the fourth generation (4G) of mobile communications technology. It has been developed by the 3GPP based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA technologies in order to increase the speed and capacity of wireless data networks. A further development of the technology is called LTE Advanced.
LTE 1800 MHz
LTE-TDD 2300 MHz (B40)
Mobile network technologies and bandwidth
Communication between devices within mobile networks is realized via various generations of network technologies, which provide different bandwidth.
Mobile network technologies
There are several network technologies that enhance the performance of mobile networks mainly by increased data bandwidth. Information about the communication technologies supported by the device and their respective uplink and downlink bandwidth.
UMTS (384 kbit/s )
LTE Cat 12 (102.0 Mbit/s , 603.0 Mbit/s )
Operating system is the system software, which manages and controls the functioning of the hardware components of the device.
Information about the operating system used by the device as well as its version.
Funtouch 9.0 OS (Android 9.0 Pie)
System on Chip (SoC)
A system on a chip (SoC) includes into a single chip some of the main hardware components of the mobile device.
The SoC integrates different hardware components such as the CPU, GPU, memory, peripherals, interfaces, etc., as well as software for their functioning.
Information about the process technology used in manufacturing the chip. The value in nanometers represents half the distance between elements that make up the CPU.
10 nm (nanometers)
CPU is the Central Processing Unit or the processor of a mobile device. Its main function is to interpret and execute instructions contained in software applications.
2x 2.2 GHz Kryo 360, 6x 1.7 GHz Kryo 360
CPU bits
The CPU bits are determined by the bit-size of the processor registers, address buses and data buses. 64-bit CPUs provide better performance than 32-bit ones, which on their part perform better than 16-bit processors.
The instruction set architecture (ISA) is a set of commands used by the software to manage the CPU's work. Information about the set of instructions the processor can execute.
A CPU core is the processor unit, which executes software instructions. Presently, besides single-core processors, there are dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core and so on multi-core processors. They increase the performance of the device allowing the execution of multiple instructions in parallel.
CPU frequency
The frequency of the processor describes its clock rate in cycles per second. It is measured in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz).
2200 MHz (megahertz)
GPU is a graphical processing unit, which handles computation for 2D/3D graphics applications. In mobile devices GPU is usually utilized by games, UI, video playback, etc. GPU can also perform computation in applications traditionally handled by the CPU.
GPU frequency
The frequency is the clock rate of the graphic processor (GPU), which is measured in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz).
500 MHz (megahertz)
RAM capacity
RAM (Random-Access Memory) is used by the operating system and all installed applications. Data in the RAM is lost after the device is turned off or restarted.
4 GB (gigabytes)
Information about the type of RAM used by the device.
RAM channels
Information about the number of RAM channels integrated in the SoC. More channels mean higher data transfer rates.
Double channel
RAM frequency
RAM frequency relates directly to the rate of reading/writing from/in the RAM memory.
Every mobile device has a built-in storage (internal memory) with a fixed capacity.
Information about the capacity of the built-in storage of the device. Sometimes one and the same model may is offered in variants with different internal storage capacity.
64 GB (gigabytes)
128 GB (gigabytes)
UFS 2.1
The display of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.
Type/technology
One of the main characteristics of the display is its type/technology, on which depends its performance.
In mobile devices display size is represented by the length of its diagonal measured in inches.
Approximate width of the display
Approximate height of the display
150.6 mm (millimeters)
The ratio between the long and the short side of the display
2.167:1
The display resolution shows the number of pixels on the horizontal and vertical side of the screen. The higher the resolution is, the greater the detail of the displayed content.
Information about the number of pixels per centimeter (ppcm) or per inch (ppi) of the display. The higher the pixel density, the more detailed and clearer is the information displayed on the screen.
395 ppi (pixels per inch)
155 ppcm (pixels per centimeter)
Color depth
The color depth of the display is also known as bit depth. It shows the number of bits used for the color components of one pixel. Information about the maximum number of colors the screen can display.
16777216 colors
Display area
The estimated percentage of the screen area from the device's front area.
83.62 % (percent)
Information about other functions and features of the display.
Different sensors measure different physical quantities and convert them into signals recognizable by the mobile device.
Sensors vary in type and purpose. They increase the overall functionality of the device, in which they are integrated.
The primary camera of the mobile device is usually placed at its back and is used for taking photos and recording videos.
Sensor model
Information about the manufacturer and the model of the image sensor used by the camera of the device.
Digital cameras use image sensors for taking photos. The sensor characteristics are some of the main factors determining the quality of the camera integrated in the mobile device.
CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)
Aperture (f-stop number) indicates the size of the lens diaphragm opening, which controls the amount of light reaching the image sensor. The lower the f-stop number, the larger the diaphragm opening is.
Cameras of mobile devices use mainly a LED or a Xenon flash. The LED flash has a softer burst of light and in contrast to the much brighter Xenon flash, is used for recording videos as well.
One of the main characteristics of the cameras of mobile devices is their resolution, which shows the number of pixels on the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the image.
15.93 MP (megapixels)
Information about the maximum resolution available for shooting a video with the device.
2.07 MP (megapixels)
Video FPS
Information about the maximum number of frames per second (fps), supported by the device while recording a video at maximum resolution. Some of the main standard frame rates for recording and playing video are 24p, 25p, 30p, 60p.
30 fps (frames per second)
Information about additional software and hardware features of the privamery camera, which improve its overall performance.
Sensor size - 1/2.8"
Pixel size - 1.12 μm
Secondary rear camera - 8 MP (ultra-wide angle)
Aperture size - f/2.2 (#2)
Angle of view - 120° (#2)
Third rear camera - 2 MP
Secondary cameras are placed above the screen of the device and are usually used for video calls, gesture recognition, etc.
Information about the maximum image resolution of the secondary camera. Often, the resolution of the secondary camera is lower than the one of the primary camera.
Information about the maximum resolution available for shooting a video by the secondary camera.
Information about the maximum number of frames per second (fps), supported by the secondary camera while recording a video at maximum resolution.
Pixel size - 0.8 μm
Information about the type of speakers and the audio technologies supported by the device.
The loudspeaker is a device, which reproduces various sounds such as ring tones, alarms, music, voice calls, etc. Information about the type of speakers the device uses.
The radio in a mobile device is a built-in FM radio receiver.
Information whether the device has an FM radio receiver or not.
Tracking/Positioning
Information about the positioning and navigation technologies supported by the device.
The tracking/positioning service is provided by various satellite navigation systems, which track the autonomous geo-spatial positioning of the device that supports them. The most common satellite navigation systems are the GPS and the GLONASS. There are also non-satellite technologies for locating mobile devices such as the Enhanced Observed Time Difference, Enhanced 911, GSM Cell ID.
Wi-Fi is a technology that provides wireless data connections between various devices within a short range.
Wi-Fi communication between devices is realized via the IEEE 802.11 standards. Some devices have the possibility to serve as Wi-Fi Hotspots by providing internet access for other nearby devices. Wi-Fi Direct (Wi-Fi P2P) is another useful standard that allows devices to communicate with each other without the need for wireless access point (WAP).
802.11n 5GHz
802.11ac (IEEE 802.11ac)
Bluetooth is a standard for secure wireless data transfer between different types of devices over short distances.
The technology has several versions, which improve the connection speed, range, connectivity and discoverability of the devices. Information about the Bluetooth version of the device.
Bluetooth uses various profiles and protocols related to faster exchange of data, energy saving, better device discoverability, etc. Some of those supported by the device are listed here.
A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile)
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that allows different electronic devices to exchange data.
There are several USB connector types: the Standard one, the Mini and Micro connectors, On-The-Go connectors, etc. Type of the USB connector used by the device.
There are several versions of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard: USB 1.0 (1996), the USB 2.0 (2000), the USB 3.0 (2008), etc. With each following version the rate of data transfer is increased.
Тhe USB interface in mobile devices may be used for different purposes such as battery charging, using the device as a mass storage, host, etc.
The headphone jack is an audio phone connector, a.k.a. an audio jack. The most widely used one in mobile devices is the 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Information whether the device is equipped with a 3.5 mm audio jack.
Information about other important connectivity technologies supported by the devices.
Information about some of the most widely used connectivity technologies supported by the device.
Computer sync
OTA sync
A web browser is a software application for accessing, fetching, displaying and navigating through information on the World Wide Web.
Information about some of the features and standards supported by the browser of the device.
Audio file formats/codecs
Mobile devices support various audio file formats and codecs, which respectively store and code/decode digital audio data.
List of some of the most common audio file formats and codecs supported standardly by the device.
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
AAC+ / aacPlus / HE-AAC v1
AMR / AMR-NB / GSM-AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate, .amr, .3ga)
AMR-WB (Adaptive Multi-Rate Wideband, .awb)
eAAC+ / aacPlus v2 / HE-AAC v2
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec, .flac)
MP3 (MPEG-2 Audio Layer II, .mp3)
OGG (.ogg, .ogv, .oga, .ogx, .spx, .opus)
WMA (Windows Media Audio, .wma)
WAV (Waveform Audio File Format, .wav, .wave)
Video file formats/codecs
Mobile devices support various video file formats and codecs, which respectively store and code/decode digital video data.
List of some of the most common video file formats and codecs supported standardly by the device.
3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project, .3gp)
AVI (Audio Video Interleaved, .avi)
DivX (.avi, .divx, .mkv)
Flash Video (.flv, .f4v, .f4p, .f4a, .f4b)
H.264 / MPEG-4 Part 10 / AVC video
MKV (Matroska Multimedia Container, .mkv .mk3d .mka .mks)
MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14, .mp4, .m4a, .m4p, .m4b, .m4r, .m4v)
WMV (Windows Media Video, .wmv)
The batteries of mobile devices differ in capacity and technology. They provide the electrical charge needed for the functioning of the devices.
The capacity of a battery shows the maximum charge, which it can store, measured in mili-Ampere hours.
5000 mAh (milliampere-hours)
The battery type is determined by its structure and more specifically, by the chemicals used in it. There are different battery types and some of the most commonly used in mobile devices are the lithium-ion (Li-Ion) and the lithium-ion polymer battery (Li-Polymer).
Charger output power
Information about the electric current (amperes) and voltage (volts) the charger outputs. The higher power output allows faster charging.
5 V (volts) / 2 A (amps)
Information about some additional features of the device's battery.
Some devices have additional features, different from the standard ones above, but equally important and worth mentioning.
Information about other features of the device.
SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) India: head - 0.752 W/kg; body - 0.402 W/kg
Most recent comparisons including Vivo Z1 Pro
List of the latest comparisons made by the website visitors, which include Vivo Z1 Pro
Vivo S1 Helio P65
Realme X Master Edition
Vivo S1 Pro
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God Will See Us Through.
God Will Take Us Through was shot in Sierra Leone and produced as the centrepiece film for Christian Aid Week 2019
Not Good Enough for My Son.
The ERA Foundation
Sol Ryan had to have his arm amputated 10 days after he was born. When his father Ben saw the prosthetics that were available for small children, he knew that it wasn’t good enough for his son.
A Risk Worth Taking.
Richard Browning grew up making model aeroplanes with his aeronautical engineer father. Now he's taking flight engineering technology to the next level.
Stronger than the Storms.
Vilia lost her home and her mother in the Haiti earthquake of 2010.
A Positive Life.
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance
When Ugandan teenager Daphine discovered that she was HIV positive, she thought that she would never get anyone to love her and never get married. She thought that HIV positive people never gave birth and could never be happy.
Higher, Further, Faster….
Inspired by his skydiving grandfather, Aerospace Engineer Angelo Grubisic fell in love with the high-risk sport of wingsuit BASE jumping. He’s using his engineering knowledge to apply aeronautical principles to this extreme sport.
Payback.
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
Adam Deen joined the Islamist extremist organisation, al-Muhajiroun, whilst at university in London. He rose to become one of its senior members, under Omar Bakri Muhammed.
Double Joy.
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Trust
In a remote parts of Kenya where eye-care services are nearly non-existent and thousands of people are suffering from preventable blindness, Dr Hilary Rono is changing lives.
Someone to Kill.
When the towers of New York’s World Trade Centre collapsed in flames on 9/11, neo-Nazi Canadian Daniel Gallant at first thought it was his group that was responsible. It was the start of a racial holy war.
Wanted.
With the recent terrorist attack at a Berlin Christmas market refugees living in Germany have never been under such political and social scrutiny.
Be Like Water.
Fleeing the war in Somalia with her mother, Fowzia is forced to grow up with the challenge of being seen as ‘different’. Kids can be cruel but Fowzia discovers strength and resilience in some peculiarly powerful places.
Some Father’s Son.
Billy McCurrie was 12 years old when his father was killed by the IRA. At 16, consumed with anger, Billy joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). A year later he got his chance to kill.
Duckrabbit were hired to produce a series of TV adverts and photography for Oxfam’s 2012 national ‘See for Yourself’ campaign.
Strictly Beza.
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
How do you get messages about safe sex and HIV prevention out to young people in a country where more than half the population is under the age of 24 and cultural attitudes make it difficult for the subject to be discussed openly?
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2X Clear Plastic Transparent With Lid Storage Box Collection Container Case RSK
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Laona Equity
Disbursing
Translated version of this PSD: Ukrainian
The proposed project is designed to support Laona Group in financing additional stock of pharmaceutical products, improving operations, ensuring faster processing of payments, restructuring its balance sheet and improving its equity position.
The transition impact and demonstration effects associated with this potential investment are expected to include:
Introduction of new customer support and customer loyalty programmes
Setting standards of business conduct and corporate governance
Strengthening backward linkages with local suppliers
Promotion of environmental protection
Laona Group is a Ukrainian pharmaceutical wholesale and retail group. Alba Ukraine is a wholesale pharmaceutical distribution company and the key asset of the Laona Group
The Bank will provide a financing package to Laona Group consisting of equity investment up to USD 12 million and a loan of USD 13 million.
USD 35 million
Environmental classification and rationale
The project is Categorised B. Operation of the pharmaceutical wholesale and retail network and future construction of a warehouse facility are associated with a number of site specific issues, which can be readily identified, assessed and mitigated through measures as defined in the Environmental and Social Action Plan.
Due diligence completed
An Independent Consultant was retained to audit the Company’s internal risk management resources and assess their capabilities to operate to the standards required by the Bank’s Performance Requirements (PRs). Additionally, site visits were undertaken to operational facilities in Borispyl and Odessa. A detailed analysis of the use of proceeds of the loan and equity financing was undertaken.
Key environmental issues and mitigation
The Company’s operations carry a low degree of environmental and social risk. Due diligence identified a need to document management systems procedures at the Corporate level and additionally identified a number of waste management, contractor management and emergency response issues which require to be addressed in order that the Company can operate to the standards of the Performance Requirements (PRs). These issues require mitigation actions to address not only operational risk but also the risks posed by the construction and fitting-out activities which are part of the Project going forward.
Summary of Environmental Action Plan
The Company will be required to adhere to the relevant host country and EU environmental, health and safety regulations and standards; and to operate to the standard required by the Bank’s PRs. To ensure this occurs, the Company is required to develop a capability around EHS management and implement an EHS Management System. The use of mercury containing lamps and ozone depleting substances in refrigerants will be reviewed to identify whether feasible replacement materials are available, and associated phasing-out programme will be developed if necessary. An effective contractor management programme, particularly during the construction and fitting-out works, will be required as a risk management tool to minimise the risk of negative impacts.
Disclosure of information and consultation
In the context of the EBRD’s participation in the project, the Company will release locally a summary of relevant environmental issues associated with the project and summarise mitigation measures, action plans and other initiatives agreed.
The Company will monitor the environmental impact of its operations in accordance with national law and regulations. The Bank will evaluate the project's compliance with the applicable environmental and social requirements during the lifetime of the project by reviewing annual environmental reports prepared for the project covering:
(i) ongoing performance of project-specific environmental, health and safety activities as reflected in the results of periodic and quantitative sampling and measuring programmes, and
(ii) the status of implementation of environmental mitigation and improvement measures. The Bank’s representatives will also conduct periodic site supervision visits when deemed appropriate.
Andriy Dmitrenko
Lyubov Tsymbal CFO
E-mail: LTsymbal@alba.kiev.ua
PSDs in Ukraine
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The next stage of SPAR Eastern Cape’s STOP Plastic campaign was launched this week as the biggest food retailer in the region aims to take the project to another level.
At a function at the Boardwalk Hotel in Port Elizabeth on Monday, Angelo Swartz, who will soon take over from Conrad Isaac as the SPAR EC managing director, said they were ready to strengthen their commitment to cleaning up the environment.
There would be a number of incentives in Phase II, including an amount of R250 000 which would be set aside for prizes for bodies that come up with innovative ideas to make a difference.
Since launching their campaign in April last year SPAR EC has sold 4.3-million fewer plastic bags compared to the corresponding period the previous year.
However, both Isaac and Swartz agreed they needed to continue their commitment to the project in collaboration with various parties.
In outlining their plans, Swartz said it was something they could not do on their own and invited role-players from all walks of life to join them.
To kick-start Phase II there will be a promotion on Saturday (July 13) where customers at SPAR stores will be given a free paper bag for every 10 plastic bags they provide.
Swartz outlined further plans as they continued to build on the success of the opening phase.
“We are going to stay committed to raising public awareness about the situation, not only by driving it through our products but also by telling people why they need to make a difference,” he said.
One of the major initiatives would be to encourage a diverse group of parties to think about creating innovative changes.
“We are going to challenge society in general to come up with initiatives that really affect the community,” added Swartz. “To this effect, a total of R250 000 will be made available for prizes for new ideas that can make a difference.
“We will be calling on corporates, small businesses, schools, tertiary institutions and customers to come up with ideas and to tell us about them.
“The fund will cover prizes for those members of the community who make the biggest difference.
“This is what SPAR is all about – our purpose is not only to sell groceries but to also inspire people to do and to be more.”
Swartz identified several other areas on which they would focus.
“In addition, we will continue to work with our suppliers to achieve responsible packaging solutions. It’s not only about the plastic bag, but about all the plastic that is used just once.
“Plastic does have a place in our lives, but we have to find responsible ways to use it and to come up with innovative solutions for re-use.”
He added that they would continue to work with like-minded organisations and companies who were eager to make a difference.
“We want to encourage everyone to get involved, to the point where even if it is our competitors. We can’t do this alone and if we are doing something for the right reasons, it takes the commercial aspect out of it.”
Equally important, said Swartz, was to educate the public to make better choices in terms of packaging and using alternatives to the plastic bag.
Besides Saturday’s promotion of 10 plastic bags for a free paper bag, he said they would be setting up regular promotions with suppliers in which, by buying certain products, customers could qualify for paper bags.
“We don’t want to put all the cost of alternative packaging onto the customer so this will be a way to encourage them to try a better option.”
Swartz said it was incumbent on everyone to ensure the future of our world.
“We don’t inherit the planet from our parents, we borrow it for our children,” he said. “And what we do today matters; what we do is going to have consequences – good or bad.
“This campaign is not about what is commercially viable. The SPAR brand is about making a commitment as to what we stand for and this STOP Plastic campaign is the right thing to do.”
Article Provided by: www.fullstop.co.za
Photo 1: SPAR Eastern Cape managing director Conrad Isaac’s welcomes guests to the launch of Phase II of the STOP Plastic campaign at the Boardwalk Hotel in Port Elizabeth on Monday. Photo: Leon Hugo
Photo 2: SPAR Eastern Cape’s Angelo Swartz, who will soon take over as managing director, outlined the way forward for Phase II of the STOP Plastic campaign at the Boardwalk Hotel in Port Elizabeth on Monday. Photo: Leon Hugo
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Funding boost for Loch of Strathbeg nature reserve
Published: 09:00 Saturday 31 January 2015
RSPB Scotland’s Loch of Strathbeg nature reserve has been awarded £53,250 of funding to transform the visitor facilities and volunteer accommodation at the site near Fraserburgh.
The capital grant comes from the Coastal Communities Fund and will vastly help to improve the visitor experience at this popular coastal reserve and promote the area as an outstanding wildlife tourist destination.
Loch of Strathbeg is the UK’s largest dune loch, home to thousands of wild geese, swans and ducks, including 20 per cent of the world’s population of pink-footed geese.
The cash will also help to create around 33 new volunteer roles annually, bringing significant economic benefit to the area through wildlife tourism and increased local expenditure.
Residential volunteers and local people, including community groups, will receive training in environmental management and conservation, while young people seeking a career in conservation will benefit from the residential internships on offer at Loch of Strathbeg.
The improved facilities on the reserve will also allow local communities to have more opportunities to engage with the diverse natural environment on their doorstep, inspiring active and healthy communities, as well as encouraging economic growth in and around the
area.
Building work is expected to start in March 2015 and is due for completion by March 2016.
Commenting on the award, Simon Busuttil, RSPB Scotland’s reserve manager for East Scotland, said: “We are delighted to receive this award from the Coastal Communities Fund.
“The Loch of Strathbeg nature reserve is a fantastic asset for wildlife and local communities who both visit and help us look after the reserve.
“This award will allow us to provide more opportunities for volunteers to stay at the reserve and contribute to protecting an important coastal wildlife site while developing the skills necessary to save nature,” he added.
Amazing book of finds on the site of the AWPR
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Home > Discover > Case Studies > Aarhus encourages residents to trial alternative means of commuting
Aarhus encourages residents to trial alternative means of commuting
By Fiona Twisse / Updated: 15 Jan 2019
From 2014 to 2017, the City of Aarhus in Denmark ran the Smart Mobility project, which consisted of 22 mobility management pilot projects. The pilots developed, tested and evaluated different ‘soft measures’ and their impact on commuting behaviour. Their evaluation has delivered a wealth of knowledge and expertise on how to influence people to commute differently.
Aarhus is going through a period of economic growth. The city is attracting new jobs and businesses, and new neighbourhoods have been built to accommodate its new residents. Despite these positive developments for Aarhus, this growth has a downside. Increased traffic volumes and higher numbers of commuters cause congestion and a high demand for the limited number of parking spaces. City life and the environment suffer from increased traffic.
The Aarhus municipality is trying to address these challenges in several ways, including:
investing in some large infrastructure projects, such as cycling infrastructure and the Letbanen light rail;
encouraging residents to change their travel behaviour through ‘mobility management’.
Mobility management uses ‘soft measures’ such as information and communication. The core of mobility management is knowledge of different target groups – their everyday lives, habits, needs and preferences, as well as their eventual behaviour changes. Unlike new infrastructure, mobility management measures do not require large, long-term investments (e.g. instead of expanding traffic capacity, these measures use methods that aim to optimise the use of existing infrastructure).
Aarhus’s mobility management projects have the primary aim of changing commuting habits. At the same time, the city’s promotion of active modes – walking and cycling – reflects the city’s health agenda with its focus on improving social and mental wellbeing. Feedback from participants, who increased their activity levels by cycling, confirmed that such measures can have positive results for physical and mental health.
Between 2014 and 2017, the City of Aarhus ran the Smart Mobility project, which consisted of 22 pilot projects aimed at different target groups. The pilots tested small-scale solutions in ‘a laboratory setting’. Their development, testing and evaluation provided knowledge and expertise on how and why different mobility management measures can be successful.
In spring 2014, the Aarhus municipality set up an organisational structure. Because mobility management affects many aspects of society, Aarhus municipality chose to involve different disciplines and departments. A core team of three was formed, consisting of an anthropologist, a landscape architect and a civil engineer. A project group that met on a monthly basis brought together staff from municipal departments working on climate, health, environment, communities and co-creation, youth and innovation. The project was partly financed by the Danish Transport, Construction and Housing Authority.
The Aarhus city administration defined four target groups, because different groups of citizens face different challenges in their daily travel behaviour. The target groups were the municipality’s own employees (mainly those in the Technology and Environment department of some 250 employees), residents in selected urbanised areas (Klostervangen, Vestervang and the Øgade quarter), residents in a suburban area (Beder-Malling) and young people.
For several pilots, participants shared their experience – positive and negative – in blogs (e.g. Superpendlerne, Early Birds and Medvind). The blogs ran for the period of the pilots and the candid accounts were a way of gathering information on the experience of participants with their new way of commuting.
This case study will elaborate on two of the 22 pilots: ‘365 days by bike’ and ‘Super commuters’.
365 days by bike
In this pilot, 30 local residents were offered an electric bicycle (e-bike) for a year as a substitute for their car – which had previously been their primary means of transport – for commuting journeys. All participants, recruited through social media, were located in Beder-Malling, a suburban area south of Aarhus. The distance of their commuting trips to Aarhus varied between 12 km and 17 km. The pilot ran from 27 April 2015 until 27 April 2016.
E-bikes were delivered by a local retailer and the participants were able to test different models. Throughout the project, they had access to repair and maintenance services at a local bike repairer. In the winter, the commuters were able to change their tyres and were given powerful lights. The participants also agreed to track their journeys with a mobile app.
Smart Mobility checked the health of the participants six times, including at the beginning of the project, which was an important motivational factor for the participants. At the local sports centre, the participants were checked on their general condition – weight, fat percentage, body mass index and blood pressure – and they met with physiotherapists.
During the period of the trial, participants communicated with each other and the Smart Mobility team in a closed Facebook group. At the start of the year, the project team expressed excitement about following the experiences of the participants closely, including in the autumn and winter when it would become dark, cold and wet.
The coloured jackets worn by the participants of the Smart Mobility project became an important item. Not only were participants able to recognise each other on bike paths, it also made them visible to other Beder-Malling residents who became increasingly aware of the project. All participants emphasised that the jackets gave extra motivation during the start-up period as they could follow and motivate each other.
Super commuters
During this pilot, 18 participants replaced their car with other modes of transport – a combination of a foldable bike, bus and train – for their commuting trips to Aarhus. The participants, all from the suburban Beder-Malling area, were recruited through a social media campaign.
Initially, the project team struggled to find participants, possibly because of the autumn period during which the pilot was to run (9 September 2015 until 9 December 2015) or because the residents did not consider that a combination of a foldable bike, bus and train was a convenient alternative to their car. In the end, mostly young families registered for Super commuters to the surprise of the project team. Young families usually have full schedules with many activities and bus travel might not give the desired flexibility.
At the start, Smart Mobility asked the participants to reflect on their reasons and motivation to sign up for Super commuters. An important reason was to avoid the rush hour, which was described as stressful, time-consuming and annoying. Many expressed the desire to challenge their everyday routines and habits, and some expressed concerns that they might lose the freedom and flexibility of their car:
‘Driving a car gives me the freedom to decide over my own time. But I hope – and possibly I’m imagining this – that the bicycle will give the same freedom.’
Based on commuting routes and the need to keep the foldable bike as light as possible, the bikes were equipped with locks and lights, but did not have a luggage rack or gears.
On the Superpendlerne blog, the participants wrote weekly reports about their experience (e.g. what they missed most about their car, how other people reacted to them commuting differently and how the change of habit affected their family life).
Smart Mobility’s 22 pilots have shown that, to change travel habits, it is essential to give residents the opportunity to try out new experiences so they can overcome barriers and prejudices. This became very clear in the blogs, where participants explained how using e-bikes overturned their perspective. For example, many never realised the distances that they could cover with an e-bike, and some never imagined that e-bikes could become a substitute for a car. A 28-year-old female participant wrote that she would never ride the distance of her commuting trip on a regular bike:
‘It's either an electric bike or a car.’
The pilots also changed the perception of the image of e-bikes. Some associated e-bikes with retired people and with a certain sense of ‘cheating’. A 27-year-old male participant wrote:
‘At first, I found it an enormous taboo to ride that bike, but now I think it's smart to do it. I'm saving a lot of time.’
The high purchase price of an e-bike is a barrier for many people. Therefore, the trial was a good opportunity to become familiar with an e-bike. Of the 30 participants, 18 bought their e-bike at the end of the project, while some others bought another type of bicycle. The participants described their e-bikes as ‘smart’, ‘fast’, ‘heavy’, ‘helpful’ and as ‘a realistic alternative’. Some came across technical problems when water got into the displays, others said the display was so bright that it dazzled them when riding in the dark.
All participants tracked their journeys through an app, which appeared to be an important motivator. The app registered a total of 128 154 km covered by the project’s participants during the trial. However, after Christmas (i.e. eight months into the ‘365 days by bike’ pilot), the participants did not track the distance they travelled as much anymore and, for the remaining 4 months, did not seem to be as much of a motivator A participant wrote:
‘At first, it was motivating for me to keep an eye on the rankings and to maintain the rank I had. It was a great motivation in the first half year’.
A boost in mental health and wellbeing was felt by all participants. Those with previously low levels of physical activity indicated that they not only moved much more because of the trial, but that they also felt mentally and physically energised. At the same, those who already exercised regularly reported that they exercised or moved less since they started using the e-bike, as one participant wrote:
‘More active on the bike, less time for other exercise’.
The project co-ordinators of the Aarhus municipality regard the format of the pilot as a good business case for investment in health.
The ‘Super commuters’ pilot did not bring about behavioural change. All participants switched back to using a car as their main mode of transport for commuting, even those who reported a positive experience from the trial, such as physical exercise and fresh air. The main reason was that public transport was not able to offer the same flexibility. Waiting times and delays made the participants return to the car, as this participant described:
‘Because of long and late working days, combined with few and inflexible departure times in the evening, my bike was standing in the shed for several days this week... It was simply too time consuming to go by public transport, while I already was absent from the family due to work.’
Also, the rush hour appeared to be another obstacle:
‘Now that the autumn sets in, I am experiencing increased public transport pressure. It is often difficult to find a place for my bike! My regular bus is hopeless, so I experiment a bit with departure times – I leave for work later and come home later. I tried the train, but it is crowded in the morning, too.’
The physical infrastructure appeared to be another decisive factor that determines whether a folding bicycle can be an effective means of transport. The train appeared to be far more attractive than the bus because it offers more space for the bike and travellers do not have to lift their bike into the vehicle.
The relationship with fellow travellers was mixed. Although the participants felt strong concerns about bothering passengers in crowded buses, they were often met with curiosity from other passengers. The folding bike appeared to be a good conversation starter. The participants also mentioned fresh air, relaxation and overtaking cars stuck in traffic jams as positive aspects of their journeys.
All in all, the rush hour and low bus frequencies led to delays and increased the stress of having to plan ahead. This did not fit into the busy life of the young families that participated in the pilot. In its report, the Smart Mobility project team concluded that today’s expectations and priorities for families and individuals – spending time with partners and children, work, education, leisure activities, holidays – require flexible mobility. However, at the beginning of the project, the team noted that the participants had also expressed the desire to have peace of mind, wait less time in traffic jams and exercise more. Consequently, achieving such aims cannot be fully met with changes to the way in which people commute.
Challenges, opportunities and transferability
This case study described two of the 22 pilots of Smart Mobility. The 365 Days by Bike pilot shows a clear potential for transferability and upscaling. Particularly positive experience with, and the potential of, the e-bike make it an interesting measure for replication elsewhere. Already during the project, other inhabitants of Beder-Malling reacted to the pilot and started to use e-bikes for commuting. The City of Aarhus especially emphasises the project’s potential for improving physical and mental health, and suggests that health departments could play a larger role in implementing such measures in the future.
On the contrary, the Super commuters pilot did not create a change in the commuting habits of the participants. This does not mean that it has little transferability potential. The pilot has shown that the context and physical infrastructure are essential to the success of the measure. While the bus was generally deemed to be too crowded and not frequent enough, the train was considered a far more attractive option for commuters with foldable bicycles, especially if this would allow working on the train. Therefore, a project like Super commuters could be successful in other contexts (e.g. where commuters travel to business districts by train or light rail).
Smart Mobility has produced a range of documentation, including a catalogue, project reports, press releases, links to press coverage and blogs. The 37-page catalogue describes all of the 22 pilots, including an evaluation and assessment of their potential. For now, the documentation remains available only in Danish.
The results of four pilots – 365 days by bike, Super commuters, Peacefulness of the Latin Quarter and The Southern Hinge – have been described in four comprehensive reports. They provide a wealth of information on the behaviour and motivation of Aarhus residents.
The City of Aarhus has been approached by several cities that were interested in Aarhus’s experience with the Smart Mobility project.
Contact persons:
Charlotte Kjær Petersen: chakp@aarhus.dk
Gustav Friis: guf@aarhus.dk
Liv Maria Stender Boisen: livma@aarhus.dk
Project website: www.smartmobilitet.dk
Smart Mobility on Twitter
Smart Mobility on YouTube
Images: Courtesy of Aarhus Kommune
Ralf Tinga
First published: 02 Jan 2019
Latest revision: 15 Jan 2019
Ian Byrne
commented 6 months 4 days ago
Interesting comparison
This is a fascinating comparison between two projects both aimed at the same target group of commuters in Beder-Malling, and it's interesting that the e-bikes appears to have been very successful, but the folding bike/bus/train option wasn't. Some of the comments are also interesting, such as the substitution of e-bike time for other exercise time, or the perceptions of e-bikes. I can recognise my own attitudes (although at just 5km each way, I use a regular cycle, not an e-bike). Thank you for sharing both, and not just the more successful one!
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Abington state rep says she was 'almost killed' by abuser as a teen
Cody Shepard The Enterprise @cshepard_ENT
Rep. Alyson Sullivan publicly disclosed her personal domestic violence story for the first time in an interview on East Bridgewater Community Access Media.
EAST BRIDGEWATER — A state representative from Abington disclosed in a cable access interview that she was abused as a teenager – to the point she almost died.
Rep. Alyson Sullivan, elected last November to the 7th Plymouth District, representing Abington, Whitman and parts of East Bridgewater, publicly disclosed her personal domestic violence story for the first time in an interview on East Bridgewater Community Access Media released this week.
"This is going to be the first time that I'm publicly speaking on it," she said. "... I didn't speak on it during the campaign, because that's not what I wanted to run on. But I do want to bring awareness to domestic violence, domestic violence survivors, sexual assault survivors that it can happen to anybody."
Sullivan was interviewed by East Bridgewater Police Chief and OneVoiceEB advocate Scott Allen, sharing her story of physical and emotional abuse that began as a teenager at the hands of her older, former boyfriend. She was joined by her sister, Kelly Dwyer, who serves as the executive director of the Governor's Council to Address Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Their father, Michael J. Sullivan, was a former U.S. attorney, Plymouth County district attorney and director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Sullivan described how she grew up in a "great" and supportive household, where her mother and father had a very loving relationship. But she said she began dating an older man in high school.
"Unfortunately, at the end of my sophomore year, I met the man who would eventually become my abuser," she said. "I was about 15 years old when I met him and it wasn’t until right before my 21st birthday that I was able to detach myself from him. I say detach, it's because for so many years I thought I was in love with this man, that this man loved me and that he cared about me. It was just a cycle of abuse that started to escalate even more than what you would just think as cute and protecting."
The newly elected state representative said it began as emotional and mental abuse, but escalated to physical abuse.
"I'm lucky to be here today sitting in front of you, that's how severe it got," she said.
Sullivan said the man, whose name was not disclosed during the interview, was "very protective" of her, telling her he didn't like when she wrote certain clothing or hung out with certain friends. But he then became abusive over the years, she said.
"The first time he struck me, it was a slap and he immediately cried right after. And he said he was so sorry and he wouldn't do it again," she said. "By this time, I'm living with him. I'm about 19 years old, I'm living with him. I'm controlled by him."
The abuse began to escalate, she said. Around Christmas in 2008, Sullivan said the man "almost killed me." She was planning to attend a work Christmas party with her friends, which he had said she could go to, but Sullivan canceled the credit card her boyfriend had access to. He became angry when he found out, she said. She tried to give him $10 of the $20 her mother gave her for the party, but it "wasn't good enough."
"He tried to shove me in the car. In fear of not being able to get out of that car ... I had both hands, both legs trying to stop from going in the car," she said. "My girlfriend at the time, my coworker, she called 911. The police showed up."
Sullivan said an Abington police detective told her that he could either arrest her boyfriend, arrest her friend for filing a false police report or he would give her friend his phone number so Sullivan could call him when she felt it was safe to do so.
Days later, Sullivan said she went through a "hell-like night," which eventually led to her boyfriend's arrest.
"I really thought I was dying. The worst beating I think I have ever received," she said. "I was strangled to the point where I was passed out. I came to. And I knew that if I continued in this relationship, I'm not going to come out alive."
That day, she went to the mall with her best friend – with marks on her face, two black eyes, she said – and disclosed everything. She then called the detective who left his number days earlier and her boyfriend was arrested on Jan. 2, 2009.
Through many more months of restraining orders and court appearances, Sullivan said she was able to get the help she needed and break free from her abuser.
Dwyer, who is 18 months older than her sister, said she knew Sullivan's boyfriend had a bad reputation but didn't see most of the signs because she was a kid herself at the time.
“The support can really come from anybody," Dwyer said. “Like a best friend, a police officer, a sibling. It really does take a village to support somebody that’s going through some really traumatic things to get them the help that they need.”
Allen said he hopes Sullivan's story will lead others in her situation to seek help.
"My hope with this show today is that if there's someone out there that's a victim, in a situation like yours, that you reach out, reach out to the governor's council, reach out to the East Bridgewater Police Department, we have a domestic violence outreach unit," he said. "Let us know. There are so many resources."
Patriot Ledger
Wicked Local Brockton
The Enterprise, Brockton, MA ~ 5 Cohannet St., Taunton, MA 02780 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service
East Bridgewater
West Bridgewater
Pros and College
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eventplanner.tvHoe omgaan met 'trollen'? Online reputatie management
Hoe omgaan met 'trollen'? Online reputatie management
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Hoe overleef je in een trol-cultuur waar online reputatiemanagement moeilijker en moeilijker wordt? In deze aflevering deelt auteur Lori Randall Stradtman haar inzichten.
18-09-2017 - by Kevin Van der Straeten
Reageer op deze tv aflevering
How do you survive modern day troll culture where online reputation management is getting harsher and harsher. In this eventplanner TV episode, author Lori Randall Stradtman shares her insights.
Hi, Laurie, welcome to our studio.
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
We're going to talk about online reputation managements. We live like in a troll culture these days, but what does that mean?
Well, what that means is we're at a point in human history when never before... we're at a turning point. Never before have we been required to be online to talk with so many people, to show who we are online. And yet at the same time it's so hostile in many cases. And what I mean by that, and I showed before we started. I actually have a puppet I use when I do workshops. There's a lot of that going on online, right. You express an opinion about something; it could be something incredibly innocent. I'll make up an example like aardvark awareness, which I don't think exists. And you just say, wow, I loved that aardvark special I saw on television last night. And someone comes up, all about aardvarks and what a terrible person you are, and how awful it is, and did you know about aardvarks? And all of a sudden something that was congenial, it was polite, it was fun, it was interesting turns into. And that happens much faster than it ever has before online for lots of interesting reasons.
Well, if we're going to dish. And I hate to say it, but the United States has been a trendsetter in this regard. Especially in the last year, year and a half, online communities have changed radically. And a lot of people who used to keep their opinions to themselves or within a small group of friends, suddenly decided, that it's time to be like that. And they feel like they have a cause. And a lot of their causes all across the spectrum, it's not just political conservatives for example. It's people all over the spectrum. And there is this antagonism, there is this heat. In emotional terms it's a very hot medium. And what can happen is an issue, and I'm going to use the aardvark issue since I think it's imaginary, we're hoping it's an imaginary issue. But what happens is let’s say there's a big aardvark discussion on YouTube, and people are putting up different videos about aardvark this and aardvark that. And then it can bleed over into Twitter. And then it can go over onto Facebook. And within a few hours you can have an all-out firestorm about aardvarks, where people are ruining lifelong friendships. People are jeopardizing their career prospects. Because when an otherwise educated, level-headed, competent, bright person, turns into this, online over nothing. That doesn't look too good.
No, it doesn't, it doesn't. But I see the same happening with businesses. They post a lovely post on something very casual. For example, let’s say Starbucks will post, well, we have a lovely new coffee. And suddenly, I don't know where it comes from… yeah, those guys.
Yes. It's amazing, isn't it? They could talk about… Remember the cups at Christmas time? That was a fine example, it was like, okay, we have a new cup now. And then all of a sudden it's the end of the world and everyone is up in arms. So the climate is very hot. It's a medium that's gotten incredibly hot. And the biggest difference between online and like, written, you know, just strictly written media, is the emotional climate. And trolling. There's a difference between people who are being reactive, and trolls. Honest to goodness trolls feed off of emotional energy. They feed off of the shock, or the anger, or the hurt. And sadly that's a growing trend. And others are just highly reactive. They're so sensitized now that one mention of aardvarks, and suddenly they have had enough and they're just going to, you know, Because they've been so sensitized. But when someone is flaming out in that highly sensitized behavior, it looks and feels and smells a whole lot like a troll.
It does. But as a business, or as a person it can be both, what do you do when something happens when you post something like this?
Well, there are two different avenues that we need to discuss. The first is what we are putting out, what kind of things are we sharing. And because when they're inflammatory, odds are very good. It's ringing the dinner bell for these, you know. It is, I didn't plan on using the puppet so much this morning. It just works. But putting things out that might not even seem that inflammatory. Staying emotionally level is key. It's the key regardless of whether it's stuff that you're sharing, or things that you see out there that someone else has shared that might not be your cup of tea.
But does that mean, if you have an opinion to share, that's your good right, that you can't do it because you think maybe there will be trolls doing it?
I'm glad you asked that, because the truth is I believe that this is still an extraordinary time in human history. We have the power to build businesses, to create things, to create awareness for things that count, things that matter, things that make people's lives better. And so when all the people who are doing good, shut up, we can't have that, you know, that's not the answer. he answer isn't to step back and say, I'm done with that. Because professionally, I don't think there's going backwards. But what we can do is to express ourselves in a level way. And not to be boring, but you know when ... I'll give you an example. When you're walking down the street, we're walking down the street and we kind of trip, trip on something, we automatically recover our center of gravity. Without even thinking, it's instinctive. We always do that, because we don't want to fall on our faces. Well, it's the same sort of thing that we need to develop online as we communicate with people. You trip, somebody shoves you, recover your emotional center of gravity quickly, and don't let them get you, Whether it's internal, because they feed on it internally too. Because, you know, how you feel somebody's energy in the room, they feel you, they just do. And so yes, by all means share. Share things that matter to you, share things that make peoples’ lives better, that make your life better. And do it from your best self. And if, and when this kind comes around then there are strategies you can use. You know, we certainly don't have to oblige them and just let them go on, and on, and on. With name calling, logical fallacies like ad hominem attacks. Or I know you are but what am I. Or these silly juvenile schoolyard ridiculous things that otherwise, educated, responsible, bright people who are effective in other areas of their lives are resorting to. You've got the President of the United States who can't seem to hold himself back on Twitter.
He does look a bit like your puppet.
Indeed, right. Three in the morning and… it doesn't have to make sense, because it's an emotional venting that is taking place. And things do, it's become more socially acceptable for many to do the same kind of thing. So we have many, many dragons where we didn't used to have as many, because they're too ashamed of themselves to act like that, they knew better. Nobody was brought up to carry on like that. No civilized person was brought up to carry on like that. So definitely it's a trend. But we can block them if they're repeat offenders who have nothing worthwhile to contribute to the conversation.
And it's okay to block them?
It's encouraged. Just like in life if you had someone coming to your door every day, who was pestering you or calling you names, you wouldn't invite them in. If there's someone who's being obnoxious to you, you don't just allow them. And a lot of people have gotten confused with the difference between being kind and being nice. And online more than ever there is , I'm a huge believer in being kind, it never has to be nasty or spiteful. But it doesn't follow that being kind means having mushy limits to what you'll tolerate. And especially for businesses in group forums, any kind of group forum, or on a personal profile where there's a lot of discussion going back and forth, there can be rules of the road. It’s just like with cars and traffic, there are rules of the road. We have common understandings, you stop at stop signs. You stop at red lights.
But if you do that, so for example I have a Facebook page of my company or event, and there's somebody trolling us, I block the person, you don't have the risk that he will take another route and be even more angry than before?
Absolutely. So thank you for bringing that up. Usually things get to a point. And as things are escalating, because normally they don't start out with insults. If they do, then you just can block them and they'll just go somewhere else. But normally as tensions escalate, there’re two most important things I can suggest. The first thing is to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and to try and really see them and hear them and understand where they're coming from. Particularly if it's a business and it's a customer service issue. It's like, okay, I want to understand you. And a lot of times if it's legitimate the person will calm down. Because they're being seen and heard and they'll be less triggered. And we don't have to agree about everything at the end of the day, that's not even the point really. It's the mutual respect, I see you, I hear you, I get where you're coming from. That's humongously valuable, and in the greatest percentage of the time that's going to be the thing that makes the biggest difference. Because every human being, we have an integral need to be seen, really seen and heard. And if you give someone that gift generally you will have a friend for life, when you've been genuine. Now, some people… that's not going to work. And so you would go to them, you could say, Hey, you know what, I would love to explore this further with you. Let’s take it off here privately. And that's a really good way of resolving things. And some people don't want to resolve. Some people are flying off at the mouth, like individuals on Twitter at three in the morning. And those are the ones that are… it's healthy to block. Just like at the dinner table, if someone's going to be incredibly rude, except it's much easier to ask them to cool it.
Right, exactly. It’s an example. So, okay we hear you. Now, we need you to be quiet for a little while. Or what we're really talking about is aardvarks in springtime. If you've ever seen that movie, it's a classic, we love it. And we just need you to be quiet. If you can't say something nice, if you can't say something productive, something that contributes, then we're going to have to block you and we really don't want to. Do you hear me? So at that point the ball's in his court. He can either continue to be rude, which he may well. Or if there is some genuine goodwill there and some genuine desire to relate to people, in a non-trolling out of mom's basement kind of way, then that can shift. Does that help?
Yeah, sure. Lori, I see our time is almost up. People who want to know more on this subject, you wrote a book on it.
I did, I did. I wrote, Online Reputation Management for Dummies. It's about how to build a brand online. And most recently I have been talking a lot more about helping people to find their voice online. Because it's a little scary out there. But if we don't express the best part of ourselves and share things that change peoples’ lives in a positive way, then we're sitting on our talents, we're sitting on the best part of us. I think we need that, I think the world needs everybody's best and brightest self.
Okay, Lori, thank you very much for your time.
And you at home, thank you for watching our show, I hope to see you next week.
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Online accommodation website Wotif.com, which is set for debut on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) later this week, i
Online accommodation website Wotif.com, which is set for debut on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) later this week, is considering the possibility of expanding overseas.
Co-founder and chief executive Graeme Wood said that with a market share in Australia of about 36 percent, Wotif’s major growth opportunities were offshore, according to a media report.
“We will continue to grow in Australia through organic growth and new initiatives,” Wood told AAP. “But the big blue sky is really in international markets. There are less mature markets than Australia and New Zealand that we’re focusing on right now and we stand a reasonably good chance of getting in and getting the same dominant position in those markets as we have done in Australia.”
Wood reportedly said a definite decision to expand offshore had not been made yet, but if it went ahead, the United States wouldn’t be a priority.
“It’s not so much the US that we’re looking at, because that’s a very mature market, the immediate costs over there are very high and there are lots of incumbent players there who spend a lot of money in the media and are well known brand names,” he reportedly said. “There are markets in the Asian sector in our time zone that are less mature in terms of online accommodation bookings or online travel generally, and if we get in there quickly enough and work hard at it then we will be successful.”
Earlier this year, Wotif.com lodged a prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to seek a listing of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange in an initial public offering (IPO).
The company shared that Graeme Wood, Wotif.com’s chief executive officer and managing director, will retain a 25.1 percent shareholding in the company post IPO.
Under the IPO, a total of 85.984 million shares are being offered for sale by Wotif.com’s existing shareholders, representing approximately 42 percent of the company’s issued capital. The remaining 58 percent of the company will be retained by its existing shareholders.
“The offer price is to be set through an institutional bookbuild within a pricing range of $1.75 to $2.00 per share. Based on the midpoint of this range, the offer size is approximately $161 million and Wotif.com’s market capitalisation will be approximately $381 million. The proceeds of the offer (net of the offer costs) will be received by the selling shareholders,” stated the company.
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Home F1 Wolff Slams Negative Press on Lewis Hamilton
Wolff Slams Negative Press on Lewis Hamilton
Toto Wolff believes that the record-breaking career of Lewis Hamilton has not received sufficient recognition. He explained his bemusement that the Briton’s achievements have attracted what he deems to be “negativity and envy” as much as they have drawn praise and accolades.
Hamilton secured a fifth world drivers’ title in 2018, winning 11 of the 21 races to take his tally of grand prix triumphs to 73.
Only Michael Schumacher (7 titles, 91 race wins) stands ahead of Hamilton in both measures, while the 33-year-old has already surpassed Schumacher’s tally of pole positions, reaching 83 single-lap successes by the end of this year.
Wolff believes parallels can be drawn between the two, with Schumacher’s dominant run of success with Ferrari often dismissed as dull – complaints which have also surfaced towards Hamilton in recent years.
“Not everybody recognises a great career, a great sportsman or greatness overall while it’s happening. There is a lot of negativity and envy whilst it happens,” Wolff told Reuters.
“It’s only being recognised once a career has ended as having been really great and I don’t know why that is. We are extremely privileged in following a career of maybe the greatest racing driver of all time.
“Obviously Michael has set the records and was unbelievable but Lewis is on a similar trajectory.
“Also with Michael, it was only recognised after he retired and even more when tragedy struck. And I think it’s a pity.
“We are live spectators, live witnesses of a great racing driver at the peak of his abilities.
“In the U.S. you are very much inspired by success. In Europe it triggers much more envy and negativity.
“I am certainly biased because I have an emotional attachment to Lewis, for me the greatest sports person that is in his career in Britain.”
Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher
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Lewis Hamilton Expects Sebastian Vettel to Shrug off Poor Form
Ralf Schumacher Believes Sebastian Vettel May Lose No 1 Status at Ferrari
Haas F1 Agreed to Split with Rich Energy
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Mel Gibson's War of Words with 'Maccabee' Scribe
By Raphael Chestang 8:15 PM PDT, April 11, 2012
Mel Gibson has reportedly entered into a bitter spat with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who is working on Judah Maccabee, a film Gibson wants to direct.
The film, based on a true story, follows the title character who led a revolt in the second century B.C., joining with his father and four brothers to conquer the Greek-Syrian armies that had invaded Judea.
Mel Gibson to Make Movie About Jewish Hero
Earlier today, news broke that Warner Bros. was not happy with the script Eszterhas turned in. Subsequently, The Wrap obtained a letter penned by the writer featuring allegations that Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks during their collaboration on the script.
Now, Deadline.com has received Gibson's retort written in a letter shown in its entirety below.
I have your letter. I am not going to respond to it line by line, but I will say that the great majority of the facts as well as the statements and actions attributed to me in your letter are utter fabrications. I would have thought that a man of principle, as you purport to be, would have withdrawn from the project regardless of the money if you truly believed me to be the person you describe in your letter. I guess you only had a problem with me after Warner Brothers rejected your script.
I will acknowledge like most creative people I am passionate and intense. I was very frustrated that when you arrived at my home at the expense of both Warner Brothers and myself you hadn't written a single word of a script or even an outline after 15 months of research, meetings, discussions and the outpouring of my heartfelt vision for this story. I did react more strongly than I should have. I promptly sent you a written apology, the colorful words of which you apparently now find offensive. Let me now clearly apologize to you and your family in the simplest of terms.
Contrary to your assertion that I was only developing Maccabees to burnish my tarnished reputation, I have been working on this project for over 10 years and it was publicly announced 8 years ago. I absolutely want to make this movie; it's just that neither Warner Brothers nor I want to make this movie based on your script.
Honestly, Joe, not only was the script delivered later than you promised, both Warner Brothers and I were extraordinarily disappointed with the draft. In 25 years of script development I have never seen a more substandard first draft or a more significant waste of time. The decision not to proceed with you was based on the quality of your script, not on any other factor.
I think that we can agree that this should be our last communication.
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NSF and USAID announce latest round of awards to address global development challenges
IMAGE: The Amu Darya river basin is shown as seen from space. The Amu Darya is the largest river in Central Asia, and flows through Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.... view more
Credit: Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center
Building sustainable fisheries, monitoring landslide risk, studying the emerging bioeconomy: these are some of the research projects announced today in the newest round of an interagency partnership to foster collaborative global research.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awards will advance the scientific and technical capacity of the U.S. and countries in critical areas of development. The projects are the latest set of Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) awards, which pair NSF-funded U.S. scientists with researchers in developing countries, who are funded by USAID.
NSF's 16 PEER awards span eight countries and include research in ocean acidification, malarial transmission, climate adaptation and more.
"By linking NSF-funded scientists and engineers with foreign counterparts, we can leverage U.S. investment while strengthening global research capacity," said Jessica Robin, NSF program director for PEER. "These projects tackle crucial research areas, such as biodiversity conservation and food security, which affect the lives of millions worldwide."
There are 45 total research projects in this year's PEER program, selected from more than 500 proposals and representing a $10 million investment from USAID.
This year's solicitation included a special focus on transboundary water issues in Central Asia, an effort to generate sustainable solutions to critical water issues in the region. Scientists from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will partner with Johns Hopkins University researchers to examine water resource management in the Anu Darya river basin, one of the largest in Central Asia. Another team from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan will work with scientists from University of Idaho on glacier dynamics.
PEER is a collaboration between USAID and eight federal science agencies, including NSF, NASA, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, the United States Forest Service, and the United States Geological Service. The program is administered by the National Academy of Sciences.
PEER has supported more than 150 projects in over 40 countries since its start in 2011. The next call for PEER pre-proposals will open in October 2015.
-NSF-
Jessica Arriens
jarriens@nsf.gov
@NSF
http://www.nsf.gov
National Science Foundation, US Agency for International Development
Researchers in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, in Gabon (IMAGE)
Amu Darya Delta (IMAGE)
Fires and Deforestation on the Amazon Frontier, Rondonia, Brazil (IMAGE)
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136076∨g=NSF&from=news
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Model development is crucial in understanding climate change Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
View all in Atmospheric Science
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NYFF: The Aquarius Letters
By Yonca Talu on October 11, 2016
Brazilian standout Aquarius screens October 9 and 11 in the 54th New York Film Festival, following an acclaimed premiere at Cannes, governmental upheaval in Brazil, and political controversy regarding the film’s thwarted chance of vying for the Academy Award. Film Comment critic Yonca Talu corresponded with the director of Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho, about the film and his recent experiences. Their exchanges are reprinted below. The film opens Friday.
Dear Kleber,
Going back to the roots of communication seems like an exciting way of talking about a film that deals so much with memory and the vestiges of time. In fact, I keep thinking of T.S. Eliot’s concept of the “historical sense” in trying to wrap my head around Aquarius. In Eliot’s words, this is the “perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence.” For me, Aquarius is exactly about this idea of the co-existence of the present and the past in regard to personal history. Clara’s whole struggle is shaped by the belief that the simple act of remembrance can trigger transformation, and revitalize a tarnished present that has been deprived of its essence, of its “historical sense,” so to speak.
The film has sparked a lot of introspection for me, but I would like to seize the moment by asking you to walk me through your experience of releasing the film in Brazil and all the controversy that has surrounded it, including the censorship and the Oscar selection process. In some ways, Clara’s journey of resistance in the film has found a counterpart in your personal journey as a filmmaker, while also echoing, in a fictional realm, the impeachment process that has paralyzed and polarized your country for months.
I am fascinated by this mise en abyme effect that your film has produced, and the questions it brings up about the interplay of reality and fiction in cinema. As a filmmaker, how do you go about fictionalizing tensions you perceive in society, and what do you make of the fusion of fiction and reality that has emerged around Aquarius?
Dear Yonca,
Much of what has been written and discussed about Aquarius’s tumultuous release in Brazil—and this is of course, beyond discussing the film itself as a film—has focused on words like “struggle”, “tensions,” and even “retaliation,” words normally associated with the political arena and not so much with the film world. I actually believe that these words do come up every now and then in the arts, for books, plays, films, but they are not, by definition, what you would normally expect when a film, a work of fiction and cinema language, is about to be released. So, I would like to point out that there has been a huge amount of support and love for Aquarius in Brazil and also for our political views on the current state of Brazilian politics. It would have been impossible to actually get the film out if the whole scenario was purely hostile.
I started noticing this from the first moment, at the Cannes Film Festival, when we got massive support and also when the Brazilian right started its attacks. For three months, much was discussed about the film, for and against, without anyone actually seeing it. We started getting requests by big media to actually show them Aquarius (which we did with caution), whereas Brazilian journalists who were in Cannes would get their ideas out, all of them raving about the film. The two dissonant voices in Brazilian media came from right-wing journalists who had not yet seen Aquarius, one of them calling for a boycott on the film. The other one suggested the film’s crew attended Cannes on some sort of glamorous holiday package paid by taxpayers, sponsored by the Dilma Rousseff government so we would stage the protest. The concept of attending Cannes to present a film in competition as some sort of glamorous holiday shows how artists are currently seen by some in Brazil, and this also confirmed some of the very negative reactions Brazilian artists in general seem to be getting from the right, a complete lack of understanding of how democracy works and also on the very nature of an artist’s work, normally pictured as vagabonds, bon vivants who do not actually work like real decent people do. This was probably the most comical aspect of this whole non-discussion, though I have to say that I struggle to use the word “comical” because it is, in fact, quite sad.
Then again, for every negative reaction, there was and still is a couple of positive ones, and the path to the release of Aquarius was paved with this huge political and human energy, a cloud of ideas and admiration that seemed to grow bigger every time the film was screened in an international film festival prior to its Brazilian release date. These screenings were attended by many Brazilians who would go online and rave about the film. It happened in Sydney, Munich, Paris, Lima; it just made the whole film grow.
And, of course, the similarities between the storyline in Aquarius and Dilma’s predicament were much discussed. They are, in fact, quite staggering. When we went up the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, the impeachment process had just begun after a very ugly chain of events that felt like a weird mix of Kafka and a cheap reality show. On that same week, the new interim government pulled the plug on the Ministry of Culture, widely seen by conservatives as a safe haven for radical leftists. That lasted about a week in May and it was also part of our protest. They decided it was a bad idea to get rid of the Ministry of Culture and brought it back, just like that crazy anarchist in Airplane!, plugging and unplugging the runway lights. Tools normally offered by democracy were re-orchestrated and creatively applied to meet the needs of conservatives who grew impatient and frustrated with four defeats in 13 years in Brazil’s very democratic general elections. They had to get to power through this nonsensical impeachment process with full support from big Brazilian media, which presented an outlandish narrative where all things liberal and left were presented as rotten through and through. Some people actually believe now that corruption was a concept brought into Brazilian society by PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores, the Workers’ Party) less than 15 years ago. A fascinating case of short-term collective memory. Clara’s words in the film “Do you know when you feel mad, but you actually know you are not mad?” began to resonate strongly, and soon the story of these two women trying to resist eviction from their homes began to hit people.
The most paranormal correlation between Clara and Dilma took place in late August. The three months which topped the whole lab generated political crisis, and what would be the season finale, took place on the exact week Aquarius was coming out nationwide, and after five raucous advance screenings took place all over the country. The Recife screening, the very first one in the country, on August 20th, at the 1952 movie Palace, the São Luiz, was about the most dramatic. One thousand seats, all taken. People began to cheer and applaud from the moment Clara starts throwing pieces of rotten wood on the marble table. Everyone could tell the film seemed to be hitting a nerve; a very cathartic experience.
Aquarius opened Thursday, September 1st, 12 hours after Dilma was finally told to leave office by senators, many of them accused of corruption crimes, whereas no charges whatsoever were ever presented for Dilma herself as a politician, as a citizen, or as president. As for myself and for the group of friends who made Aquarius, we just went where the film took us. We opened the Gramado Film Festival, which was quite a big night, we had massive advance screenings in São Paulo and Rio, juggling huge media coverage (mostly supportive) through reviews, articles, and interviews. I was either reacting accordingly or just reacting with irony to two very specific, government-related attacks: the unusual 18 rating the film got from the Ministry of Justice, something that became a huge controversy and that led us to argue in very technical terms with censors that, in reality, it did not make much sense. I have to say that a whole history of film and censorship came to mind during that episode, an area of cinema I have always been very fond of, having lived in Britain during my teenage years, at the time of the video nasties. I also thought of Jose Mojica Marins (Zé do Caixão), Verhoeven, De Palma, and also, inevitably, the dictatorship years, when I was a child, in the ’70s, a time when I was not allowed to see Sonia Braga’s films in cinemas because they were all rated 18, sometimes with cuts made by the Departamento de Censura.
In continuation of what you said about Aquarius touching a public nerve, I would like to return to this sense of history that pervades the film. By beginning the film in 1970, with an episode that serves as a reference point for everything that follows, you take us into Clara’s past, but also your own childhood and your country’s past. In fact, the latter seems to form the unspoken foundation of the whole film, hovering over every event like a dark cloud before the storm. Even though this is never explicitly addressed in the film, Clara has been through all the major transformations of Brazilian society in the last half-century, from the presidency of Vargas to the military dictatorship up until today, and deep down she carries the wounds and the weight of all those years of censorship, corruption, and violence.
For me, the most striking image of this occurs when she enters the archives and is confronted with that decaying mess: she is so small next to those mountains of files and yet she radiates a kind of spiritual strength that eclipses the brutality and perversion they contain. Perhaps it’s because of images like this that one is tempted to read allegorical meanings into your film.
In the same vein, I was also reminded of the fireworks explosion at the end of Neighboring Sounds, and given that Aquarius also ends on a note of rage, an act of destruction this time, it seems to me that on a subtextual level (and of course coupled with the recent developments), the film depicts the end of an era, almost like a Western would depict the state of a nation. I know that for Neighboring Sounds, there was a conscious desire on your part to show the apartment block as some sort of microcosm of the country. In the case of Aquarius, how much were the writing process and the making of the film informed by an awareness of history?
A lot of what I do in a film, as writer and director, comes from the pleasure I will get from making the film and how I will develop and shoot scenes, sequences, shots. In my mind, it has to be a pleasurable experience for me and hopefully for everyone involved. So, it really is all about satisfaction, personal, emotional and technical, and one interesting example is that opening segment in Aquarius. First, at script stage, it felt like a letter I was writing to people I knew from the past, or to people I knew very young and who have now changed, who have grown older. And of course to those who have died, and in some ways, maybe for obvious reasons, these are the ones who move me the most. So, I had good feelings about that whole segment, it was an emotional experience for me which led me to the desire to shoot it, and that’s where the whole experience becomes a technical challenge which will enable some very personal memories to actually become something physical, or at least visual in a film.
I remember an evening like that one, as a child, or maybe I remember that party, or that party in the film is a composite of different family gatherings, most of them from families I know. I was there, and to put it together in detail, on a film set, with a budget, 36, 38 years after it happened, was quite wonderful, like trying to physically build a set of memories. Filmmakers have gone through this long before I had the chance to do this, but it was the first time I felt this. One can think of Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, Scola, Allen, Desplechin, you know, the list is long…
I remember now that in production meetings, ideas and memories, “madeleines” from my own life and from my collaborator’s own memories would come back as we discussed T-shirts, facial hair, cigarettes and period cars, and the military regime. And of course, bits and pieces from my family or from families I know and used to know. I remember playing on that beach in the late ’70s and cars out onto the sand. Once I figured out what I wanted to actually shoot, I realized all of that worked as some sort of timeline extension for the film, which takes place in 2015, but starts in 1980 (with a strong feeling of the 1970s) and those personal memories from aunt Lucia which probably take us back to the late ’40s, or maybe the early ’50s, in some bedroom in Recife.
So, in a film about archives, and one in which we actually visit one (municipal, chaotic, paper sewage) I thought that segment in the beginning of the film should be a living archive of memories, one Saturday evening in the year 1980 where so many people were just there, living their lives, nothing truly spectacular took place (no one dies, no accidents or fires or guns are fired), but still, we get a sense of time lived. I was happy to see that one of the hundred or so articles, critiques, and texts published on Aquarius in Brazil took as a starting point one particular T-shirt seen briefly at the party in 1980, a T-shirt from Recife’s mythical book store Livro 7, the largest in Brazil at the time (it opened in 1971 and closed in 1998), and which became something of a landmark not only as a place in Recife but also as a symbol of Recife’s very peculiar personality as a cultural center. It was a place I was taken to on Saturday mornings: while my parents would go through books, me and my brother would get a chance to pick up books we wanted to read and they would pay for our selections. So, it is special to see that one T-shirt resonates like that, it seems to touch a historical, emotional nerve, even if for most people around Brazil and abroad, the T-shirt is just a T-shirt, worn by one of the housemaids in the kitchen.
About the ending that you mentioned, that seems to bring on a different kind of catharsis, less emotional and more energy-driven; it seems to work well with audiences. I actually love to experience a physical reaction in a film, that emotional knee-jerk reaction that happens very rarely in cinema, something like Viggo Mortensen reacting to those nasty men who come calling at the diner in Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, or that whole chunk of the final 25-30 minutes of Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Why are these reactions usually connected to violence and terror and brutality? That’s of course very tricky, but I thought we might pull it off if Clara got very violent and angry, chucking pieces of rotten, cancerous wood onto that marble table, and maybe through cutting and sound, it could feel brutal in a visual and emotional sense. I also believe that in a country where, historically, injustice is ever so present, that final sequence really kicks in. As some observers (mostly foreign, non-Brazilian) have pointed out, Clara never calls the police.
Interview: Kleber Mendonça Filho and Emilie Lesclaux
By Jonathan Robbins
The director and producer of Neighboring Sounds shed some light onto its delicate complexities
Film of the Week: Neon Bull
High in the saddle: set deep in the world of Brazilian rodeo, Gabriel Mascaro's explicit drama grabs sexuality by the horns
Review: Aquarius
By Yonca Talu
(Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France, Opening October 21)
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Retail banking Payments Innovation
Findex
Latin American P2P lender Afluenta banks $8 million in funding round
Source: Afluenta
Afluenta, the leading Latin America peer-to-peer lending network that brings together investors and creditworthy borrowers, announces today the completion of its Series B funding round from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector institution of the World Bank Group, and Elevar Equity, a leading impact venture capital firm. IFC and Elevar Equity are investing $4 million each.
Afluenta is the leading company of the new Latin American FinTech generation that is revolutionizing the banking industry. It seeks to disrupt the traditional financial services industry, cutting out middlemen and using proprietary technology to transform the process of applying for a loan, thus facilitating access to financing. Afluenta offers borrowers a simple, affordable and less bureaucratic experience, while delivering better yield for individual and institutional lenders.
A pioneer in the region, Afluenta plans to use the proceeds of the Series B financing for accelerating its network expansion plan across Latin America. Launched in Argentina in 2012 and in Peru in 2015, Afluenta plans to launch new services in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil in the next 12 months to consolidate as the first pan-regional player of this new and disruptive alternative financing.
"Afluenta is uniquely positioned to lead the emerging class of innovative FinTech companies in Latin America. Already a leader in Argentina, Afluenta will expand marketplace lending to multiple countries in the region and disrupt traditional models for loans and investments, making these services more accessible and affordable to millions of people," said Johanna Posada Gil, Co-Founder at Elevar Equity who co-leads with $ 4 million dollars investment, which represents its first investment into a peer-to-peer company in Latin America. Elevar Equity is a leading investment fund that provides equity capital for exceptional entrepreneurs whose high growth companies bring positive economic and social impact to underserved communities.
"Afluenta has built a world class technology and solid track record in the challenging Latin American economies to demonstrate that the peer-to-peer business model works and effectively delivers value to both borrowers and lenders," said Salem Rohana, IFC Country Manager in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. "This $4 million investment in Afluenta reflects IFC's interest in supporting innovative business models in the region to improve access to finance for companies and individuals." It represents IFC's first global investment in a peer-to-peer industry.
"We are grateful to Elevar Equity and IFC for their support and commitment to Afluenta's growth and success," said Alejandro Cosentino, Founder and CEO of Afluenta. "This Series B world class investors give us valuable resources to further develop our evolving technology, develop new products, offer much better service to our customer base and expand our reach to a whole new segments of potential customers."
Register for our latest webinar: The Road to PSD2 is paved with AI
Business Development Manager, Derivatives Trading Technology (London, UK)
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Innovation Through Improvisation: How “Key & Peele” Busted The Formula And Created Something New
From Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People: Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele talk about the improv-based, collaborative methods to the madness of their acclaimed show. Plus: How to create a catchphrase the Key & Peele way.
[Photo by Casey Rodgers; styling: Melanie Leftick; grooming: Helen Robertson/Celestine Agency; illustration by Justin Mezzell]
By Joe Berkowitz 5 minute Read
For more on global leaders in technology, design, media, music, movies, marketing, television, and sports, see Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People In Business 2013 report.
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are plenty proud of their hit sketch-comedy show Key & Peele, but they have no delusions about why it was put on the air. In 2006, the Comedy Central smash Chappelle’s Show, starring African-American comedian Dave Chappelle, publicly fell apart. The network was “looking for someone to fill that void,” says Key (the tall, bald one), who is hanging out with his comedy partner in their Sunset Strip production offices. Comedy Central wanted Key and Peele to follow Chappelle’s old formula to the letter–so much so that the network insisted that these new guys introduce their sketches onstage in front of a live audience, just as Chappelle did.
Key and Peele do that–but nothing else about their show resembles Chappelle’s hit.
“The duo discards almost one in four sketches. Says Key, ‘When it gets heart wrenching is when it gets exciting.”
As devoted students of improv comedy, Key and Peele wield their individuality like weapons. It’s an arsenal that prominently features two lifetimes’ worth of biracial experience and a skein of nerdy interests. (When I first meet the two, they’re riffing on Game of Thrones, the source of a running gag of references on their show.) That duality has helped the pair create a show unlike any other on television. Sketches are as likely to explain the electoral college as they are to explore the condition of not feeling black enough. Every scene is a beautifully shot cinematic opus, edited down to a YouTube-friendly three minutes, and capped with a dark-twist ending. “I think the mark of any great sketch show is that it’s a true outgrowth of the creators’ organic voice,” says David Wain, a performer in the seminal ’90s comedy troupe The State, who has cast Key and Peele in several movies he’s directed. “They’re not trying to fit someone else’s mold. They’re both just so damned talented and versatile and funny.”
Nearly every element of Key & Peele has a basis in improv, the comedic training renowned for in-the-moment creation and one-upmanship. The two met in the Chicago improv scene and got their first big break when they were MadTV cast members in the mid-’00s. Every member of the writing staff has a background in improvisation; show runner Ian Roberts is a cofounder of Upright Citizens Brigade, whose Los Angeles and New York improv theaters and schools have become the preeminent industry breeding ground.
We’ve got more with Key & Peele on creating material about race that isn’t really (just) about race.
Improv emphasizes showing over telling, a principle that often manifests in a technique known as “the invisible game” on Key & Peele. The central joke of these scenes is ladled out, beat by beat, but never spoken of. “The audience loves to figure things out,” says Key, who has extensive professional acting experience and a unique physicality honed by emulating silent masters such as Chaplin and Keaton. “They love it when a performer leaves a trail of bread crumbs for them, and they get to participate in the comedy.”
Key, left, and Peele perform an impromptu sketch called “Do I Know You?” Watch the video below.
This sense of coconspiracy extends to Key & Peele’s creation process, a rigorous winnowing down of more than 330 sketches to the 82 slots for the upcoming season. A giant whiteboard in the creators’ office is awash with notecards bearing neatly scrawled words such as “honest bully.” Many represent “dooks”–half-baked scenes unloaded at the writers’ meeting. Everyone dog piles on these ideas, trying to figure out the comedic engine that will make them work as sketches. Once that’s thought through, the dook originator writes a draft. Then come notes from Key and Peele, an internal table read, and more than three presentations to the network before Key and Peele decide which sketches get on air. “Anyone who’s really utilized collaboration,” says Peele, citing Pixar and the Muppets, “has a philosophy like, ‘Let’s throw it all against the wall and see what sticks.’ That’s how we do it. At a certain point, we’re cutting scripts that we love.” Key adds, “When it gets heart wrenching is when it gets exciting. And that’s where we are with the third season right now.”
Season three of Key & Peele, which premieres September 25, will continue the pair’s steady move away from explicitly racial sketches into new territory. Although the series has mostly steered clear of recurring characters, the half-proud gay couple Samuel and LaShawn will return, and there will be a spiritual sequel to the East-West College Bowl sketch, for which the staff famously created 32 separate looks and such far-fetched football player names as J’Dinkalage Morgoone and X-Wing @Aliciousness (nerd alert for fans of Game of Thrones and Star Wars).
Key and Peele are branching out beyond TV, too. Keanu, a feature film script cowritten by Peele, is a fish-out-of-water romp wherein a gangster with an exotic pet menagerie kidnaps a cat belonging to Key and Peele–who fight back by making like gangsters themselves. The scenario sounds like the logical extension of a Key & Peele sketch, which makes sense given that the duo and series director Peter Atencio strive to make each sketch look like the funniest set piece in a 93-minute movie. Fans of Key & Peele‘s season two Halloween episode, as well as all those macabre sketches in which characters meet grisly fates, won’t be surprised that the pair have a fondness for horror movies. Key costars in the fall indie horror comedy Hell Baby, and Peele has his own horror script in development. If Key and Peele’s dedicated skewering of clichés has had any effect on pop culture, nobody will care whether the black guy dies first or not.
Jordan Peele On How To Create A Catchphrase The Key & Peele Way
It Should Come From Character.
“We don’t try to target catchphrases. There are so many things people say. They giggle when they think of Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids. There may be a phrase that people are saying more frequently, but it’s simply being generated from her character. I don’t think [McCarthy] ever sat down and thought, What would be a good catchphrase for this character?”
It Should Already Exist.
“In the pilot, we almost stumbled upon ‘I said, bitch.’ We didn’t create the syntax; it was something that we both knew. If it becomes a catchphrase, then it does so in the best possible way, as opposed to generating syntax in a vacuum.”
It Should Come From Behavior.
“We were screwing around in the writers’ room, saying, ‘Delete it, delete it,’ and then we realized, Ah, that’s a catchphrase. The catchphrase came after the behavior.”
A version of this story appears in the June 2013 issue of Fast Company.
Joe Berkowitz is a writer and staff editor at Fast Company. His latest book, Away with Words, is available from Harper Perennial.
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The 5 trades impacts that score this year
Haberkip It is one of the pioneers in France of "sustainable purchasing". At the beginning of the years 2000, Olivier Menuet, now president of SNCF Energy, a subsidiar
It is one of the pioneers in France of "sustainable purchasing". At the beginning of the years 2000, Olivier Menuet, now president of SNCF Energy, a subsidiar
It is one of the pioneers in France of "sustainable purchasing". At the beginning of the years 2000, Olivier Menuet, now president of SNCF Energy, a subsidiary of the public company, déchantait. It is realized that the purchaser was to make a maximum of economy without any consideration of social or environmental. "I fell violently out of my chair," he says. It didn't correspond to my values, nor to the person I was." He then left the company with the idea to find a job more in line with its aspirations.
"In 2003, I started in the hard, he said, but I was convinced by what I wanted to do." His perseverance paid off when he began to intervene as a professor in a master's degree in sustainable development at HEC and then joined the SNCF, which wanted to then set environmental goals. Its purpose was to convince the buyers, the suppliers and even sub-contractors "do not do less saving," says Olivier Menuet, but to make it better these economies."
"get values extra-financial performance is extremely complicated," said Olivier Menuet. But we need to be ambitious and change mentalities in order to become creators of values in the plural: financial but also human and environment-friendly." Today, he can have the satisfaction of seeing that the profession to be among the most requested.
In search of meaning
The business link to sustainable development are exploding in the past three years, explains Caroline Renoux, founder of recruitment firm Birdeo. It is the conjunction of several elements. On the one hand, the executives, in a quest for meaning, want to exercise a profession that will have a positive impact both in their professional lives and on the environment. "Many young people no longer want to work for polluting industries," says t-it. On the other hand, companies are increasingly being confronted with new laws such as the law for the energy transition of 2015. Birdeo has determined the TOP 5 of these new jobs "impact" recruitment in 2019:
1. Analyst ESG - It is responsible for the good taking into account by enterprises of the criteria of environmental, social and governance (ESG). He has to put ESG analysis available to the management teams and fostering interactions between financial analysts and extra-financial.
2. Responsible for the sustainable purchasing - It takes environmental issues into account, in addition to the duties of the buyer classic. It must ensure that three criteria - respect for the environment, commitment to the community and under economic - or integrated in the purchasing policy of the company, both for itself and for its stakeholders.
3. Consultant in CSR & sustainable development - , He accompanied the definition of the strategy of the management in the area of social and environmental responsibility (CSR) in accordance with the legislation in force and set the goals of the managers. It designs a range of products and services, their production and marketing, and manages the negotiation of contacts with strategic customers.
4. Innovation manager - It directs and controls the policy of research and development (R&D) and control the different parameters (costs, investments, staffing, strategy, priorities). It supports growth and contributes to the improvement of the competitiveness of the company.
5. Responsible for communication in sustainable development - It is tasked to assist firms to adjust their content and strategies according to their commitments in terms of sustainable development. It enhances the image of the overall company positioning in line with these commitments.
Publish Date : 19 Nisan 2019 Cuma 00:00
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Current: World war II survivor dies at 101
World war II survivor dies at 101
A Filipino-American man who survived one of the Second World War's most brutal episodes and helped America battle the Japanese has died at the age of 100.
Ramon Regalado helped fight to rebuff a Japanese invasion while serving with the Philippine Scouts under the US Army. When that effort failed, he was among the tens of thousands of prisoners who endured a more than 60-mile trek known as the Bataan death march.
Cecilia I. Gaerlan, executive director of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society, which has fought to honor Regalado and others said, 'he really embodied the qualities of the greatest generation and love for country”.
Regalado was born in 1917 in the Philippines. He was a machine gun operator with the Philippine Scouts under U.S. Army Forces when troops were forced to surrender in 1942 to the Japanese after a grueling three-month battle.
The prisoners were forced to march some 65 miles (105 kilometer) to a camp. Many died during the Bataan Death March, killed by Japanese soldiers or simply unable to make the trek. The majority of the troops were Filipino. Regalado survived and slipped away with two others all of them sick with malaria. They encountered a farmer who cared for them, but only Regalado lived.
Afterward, he joined a guerrilla resistance movement against the Japanese and later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work as a civilian for the U.S. military. In his later years, he gave countless interviews to promote the wartime heroics of Filipinos, who were promised benefits and U.S. citizenship but saw those promises disappear after the war ended.
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Eastern Haze: December 2013
Words by Lucia Udvardyova
Published on December 17, 2013 10:38 Berlin Time
In her monthly report, Lucia Udvardyova tracks the movements in and from the best of the Central and Eastern European sonic underground, distilling the best of her Easterndaze blog.
Main image: “Untitled (unpredicteble future)” (2004) by Mircea Cantor—photo taken by Lucia Udvardyova at the MNAC, Bucharest.
It’s Saturday night. I’m tagging along with a bunch of Moldavians through the periphery of downtown Bucharest passing chaotic traffic, horns, flamboyant Las Vegas-style Christmas street decorations, eclectic architecture that defies any categorization and well-dressed passers-by—an amalgam that is one of the last havens of self-contained anarchy in Europe. As I rush via Piata Universităţii, the square loaded with meaning where most of the protests and demonstrations usually take place, including the 1989 one, I talk to protesters who gather in the freezing cold to voice their support of farmers fighting a corporation in a bid to save their environment. I’m a bit hungover from last night; I went to see the post-punk stalwarts Soft Moon supported by local EBM-inflected act with a rather suggestive German name, Tanz Ohne Musik. I’m still not sure whether I liked either of the gigs.
During the week, I visited the flat/studio of the guys from Future Nuggets located in the old town which, strangely, looks like Potemkin village. Future Nuggets is a collective, label, cross-pollinary music project and a group of sonic enthusiasts who, a couple of years ago, rediscovered the Romanian psych electronic rock project Rodion. Coincidentally, I also get to meet them too as they’d just returned from Moscow. Rodion Ladislau Rosca is an affable man in his sixties, with whom I speak Hungarian. We sit on the couch, they talk animatedly, and in spite of the several generations that divide them, there is a mutual respect and camaraderie that binds them. He tells me about the love for his mother and the trauma that her death—just few months ahead of the execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu—caused. He, in effect, became disinterested in music for more than two decades, leading a modest life in a Transylvanian village. There is a new documentary about Rodion, which is due out next year.
Future Nuggets’ members, apart from playing in Rodion’s newly reformed band, have a band called Steaua De Mare, a hypnagogic instrumental project that delves deeper into the recesses of Romanian collective and personal history, “flirting with progessive-manele and other international and outernational crossbreeds.” They also have various side projects, for instance the amazing Plevna. The collective stands out as it doesn’t shy away from recontextualising their own musical heritage—such as manele—and placing it within a modern context. One of the members of the group, Andrei Dinescu, who looks like a young Todd Rundgren and whose father is a famous Romanian poet, has played with a prison band, for instance.
Manele is a Romanian music style largely performed by highly skilled musicians, lăutari, from the local Roma community, which in the past would have been denigrated for its “lowbrow-ness”. Gradually, the downtown youth has fallen in love with the music their parents loved to hate, dancing to it in dingy basements and listening to it on YouTube while the music itself has mutated and embraced electronics. Manele was previously unofficially prohibited from the public realm, banned from the radio and basically relegated to weddings and restaurants where you have to book a table in order to hear it. I talk to Adrian Schiop, a writer who has just published a fly-on-the-wall autobiographical novel about a love affair between an ex-con and a scholar set in one of Bucharest’s most deprived areas, the Ferentari. He also did a PhD on manele and happened to YouTube-DJ at the aforementioned basement, with the indisputable king of the genre, the amazing Florin Salam, on heavy rotation. Schiop considers manele one of the most authentic musical movements to emerge in Romania, being much more authentic than, say Romanian hip-hop, which can be perceived as one of the symbols of the “self-colonisation” of Romanians, avidly adopting Western models of modus operandi without critical reflection.
I also get to hang out with my friend Gili Mocanu of Somnoroase Pasarele, a painter and a musician who has a studio in the Lizeanu district. An epitome of post-communist dystopia, Lizeanu is an area where the old and the new worlds come together and collide. Uniform concrete block estates where hustlers, junkies and enterpreneurs of various kinds abound. As Gili plays me his haunting rework of Ceausescu’s last speech, the electricity in the whole block eerily goes off, and on again, and off.
The Romanian capital remains elusive and somehow subliminally claustrophobic, like the music of Iancu Dumitrescu, a doyen of Romanian avantgarde composition, whom I don’t get to meet. In a way, Dumitrescu’s legacy looms large, mostly abroad, but Gili’s music, in some liminal way, is a continuation of this aesthetics.
Rochite’s music, then, embodies Bucharest. It’s inane, playful and utterly lovable.
I spend most of my days roaming the streets, hanging out with strangers and recording in order to capture the moment, the transition, the fissures and seams, and hoping that they won’t evaporate in a bid to instill “normalcy”. ~
As part of a programme courtesy of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Bucharest. You can read previous editions of Eastern Haze here.
Hear Why Yegorka Is One Of Berlin’s Most Exciting New Labels With This EP By Tadleeh
© Eastern Haze: December 2013 – Telekom Electronic Beats
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Millennials: A Generation Of Page-Turners
Neil Howe Contributor
The next teens you see engrossed in their phones might not be texting or Snapchatting, but reading a suspense thriller. That’s thanks to Hooked, an app aimed at 13- to 24-year-olds that serves up pulse-pounding stories in the form of SMS conversations. Since launching in 2015, Hooked has been downloaded nearly 2 million times and recently became the top-grossing book app for iOS. This milestone comes on the heels of new research showing that Millennials lead other generations in reading and still generally prefer print books to e-books. These data depict a publishing industry in transition—one that’s modernizing in response to evolving reading habits but in no danger of succumbing to new digital overlords.
Contrary to popular belief, Millennials read more than older generations do—and more than the last generation did at the same age.
A young woman reads in a library. (Credit: Shutterstock)
According to the latest Pew Research Center survey on book reading, 18- to 29-year-olds are the age group most likely to have read a book in any format over the past year. Fully 80% have done so, compared to 73% of 30- to 49-year-olds, 70% of 50- to 64-year-olds, and 67% of the 65+. When asked why they read books or any written content in general (such as magazines or blogs), Millennials are far more likely than older adults to say it’s for a specific purpose, such as work, school, or research. But they’re also equally likely to read “for pleasure” or “to keep up with current events.”
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These findings are echoed by a recent report from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). The study examined the narrower category of “literature,” or novels, plays, short stories, or poems not required by work or school. Last year, 43% of 18- to 34-year-olds read literature, outmatched only by 65- to 74-year-olds (at 49%)—early-wave Boomers well known for their high level of educational attainment and penchant for high culture. An older NEA report found that the share of 18- to 24-year-olds who read literature rose sharply starting in 2002—in other words, when this age group began to be dominated by Millennials.
Readers today have more ways than ever to access the written word. But the tried and true endures: Print books remain by far the most popular format among all age groups. Last year, 72% of Americans read a print book, dwarfing the share who read an e-book (35%) or listened to an audiobook (16%). And according to the Pew study, adults under 30 are no more likely than their elders to read digital books exclusively (around 6%). A survey of college students found that 92% prefer reading print material to digital material. If the cost of the print and digital copy of a leisure book were the same, 80% would pick the paper version. Even late-wave Millennials and homelanders are attached to hard copies: In 2014, nearly two-thirds (65%) of 6- to 17-year-olds told Scholastic they’ll “always want to read books in print,” up from 60% two years earlier.
These preferences are reflected in sales trends. After years of steady growth, e-book sales slowed sharply starting in 2014 and have since plateaued. In the first half of 2016, sales of digital adult and young adult fiction fell 18% and 35%, respectively—the largest declines of any format.
Meanwhile, children’s and young adult books continue to see strong sales in hardcover and paperback. Since 2005, the juvenile market has grown an impressive 40%. Though YA fiction’s success can be partly credited to its crossover popularity, readers under 30 still constitute the majority of its reader base, according to Nielsen. YA bestsellers like The Fault in Our Stars have given rise to a rich shared cultural vocabulary surrounding books—one that both mirrors and informs young people’s worldview.
The independent bookstore also has been defying expectations. Even as big retailers like Barnes & Noble continue to shutter stores, the ranks of mom-and-pop bookstores have grown 21% from 2010 to 2015. Owners attribute the resurgence to superior customer service and book buyers’ desire for a social experience. “My customer is here because they care about more than price,” the owner of a thriving Manhattan bookseller told The Wall Street Journal. “They want to be greeted, they want a sense of community, and they have a craving for culture.”
Why are books resisting the digital tsunami that has overtaken other media industries like music and television? Many readers simply consider physical books better in all respects. Professor and author Naomi Baron says there’s a “physical, tactile, kinesthetic component to reading” that gets lost with e-books. It’s the same impulse that drives consumers to visit their neighborhood bookstore instead of Amazon. The biggest selling points of e-books—portability and lower prices—aren’t yet enough to get readers to make the switch.
To be sure, young people are consuming plenty of electronic text in the form of their social media feeds, articles, blogs, online magazines, and apps like Hooked. A Pew analysis revealed that Millennials who follow the news are more likely than any other generation to prefer reading it (42%) to watching (38%) or listening to it (19%). But the vast majority of news-reading young adults (81%) prefer to get their fix online. Millennials are not giving up traditional books, but they are trending more toward phones and tablets.
Where does this leave the publishing industry? There’s no question that its more traditional arm—print books sold in brick-and-mortar stores—still faces challenges. Sales of this kind totaled $11 billion in 2015, down from $17 billion in 2007. But what was considered a permanent downward trend is now recovering, with sales rising modestly since 2014. The bottom line is positive: Though demand may fluctuate, Millennials are readers who will continue to seek the specific experience that print books fulfill. More broadly, they’re a bright spot for those in the business of text-based content. Not everything has to be a video or a picture. There’s just as much room, if not more, for words as there used to be.
Neil Howe
Neil Howe is a historian, economist, and demographer, and a leading authority on generational trends. He coined the term "Millennial Generation" and is the bestselling a...
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Sir Lewis Leigh Fermor's Diary: Life in Colonial India >
Diary (1902-1904): 30th December 1902-1st January 1903 (p.40-41) [LDGSL/348/2/3]. Click to enlarge.
Religion played a large part in the lives of the Indians through whose villages Fermor was travelling. Whenever he mentions a specific Indian by name, their religious affiliation is almost always clarified; for example when listing his servants they are described as ‘Madat Ali, a Musalman’ (Muslim) or ‘Mohan Lal, a Hindu’ (14th-17th April 1903), and Tata, running Empress Cotton Mills, is ‘a Parsi’ (19th October 1903). Naturally therefore, religious festivals were big events.
During Fermor’s first field work season, the end of Ramadan fell on New Year’s Eve:
[A]s each Mahommedan servant descried the moon in the pink sky he salaamed it for this marked the end of a month’s fast which the Mahommedans are supposed to observe.
New Year’s Day was, consequently, Eid al-Fitr, the religious holiday occurring after the end of Ramadan. In Kotkhera (Kotkhedi) in 1903, this ‘commenced with the firing off of guns’. During his second season this festival occurred on the 21st December, in celebration of which Fermor was given a dish which is still eaten at Eid in the Indian subcontinent today:
[F]or breakfast [...] the seasonable dish composed of Sewain (a material in between macaroni and vermicelli in coarseness) chhuhara (dry date) raisins, almonds, sugar and milk and served hot.
Some traditional musical instruments. Clockwise from top: Turi, a brass trumpet; Kara, a conical drum beaten with a stick in one hand and the fingers of the other; Tikara, a drum always used in pairs; Madol, beaten with one hand at either end; Tota Sanayi, made of wood with a brass mouthpiece; Sanayi, made of wood with brass at either end. [Montgomery Martin, The History, Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India. Vol.III – Puraniya, Ronggopoor, and Assam, London: Wm.H. Allen & Co., 1838 (pl.VII).]
The principal Hindu festival referenced in the diary is Holi. He describes it as going on for several days in his first season, with the first day, in his view, containing ‘nothing but a little very poor dancing in evening by a man attired as a woman’, ‘a tall pile of sticks which produced a splendid blaze’, and ‘ drum beating all night’ (13th March 1903). Fermor seemed to view such religious festivals primarily as pretexts for the Indians to come to him for money; in his article for the Royal College of Science magazine, he writes, ‘the servants, on their return from prayer, came in a body bringing flowers and salaamed us’ (Fermor 1903, p.242) on Eid al-Fitr, with the aim of being given money. He goes on, ‘[t]he Hindus will take the opportunity of extracting money after the same fashion when the Holi [...] takes place’. This did indeed happen:
[O]n March 16 the dancer and his band and the women came the former to dance and the latter to sing for money. Gave the band Rs2 [two Rupees] and the women Rs2 and the raja’s brother’s son Rs1. Then up came a band and dancer and women from Berkesar[?]. Had to give Rs2.
Fermor’s own celebration of Christmas, in the non-Christian culture of rural India, was unsurprisingly low-key. He was at least joined by a colleague, Mr Vredenburg, on his first Christmas abroad, with whom he spent the day shooting and fishing. In the evening the two of them sat round a fire ‘with about 20 natives and listened to their songs accompanied by beating on an empty oil-can, which served as a drum’ (25th December 1902). Later they ‘continued on V’s harmonium in his tent’, perhaps singing carols or other songs reminding them of home. His second Christmas seems to have been somewhat less successful. Despite having a special dinner of ‘goat and plum-pudding’, the day consisted of a ‘badly arranged’ hunt, followed by an evening of Indian dancing and acting where ‘the dialogue was Marathi [so he] could not understand anything except when they broke into Hindustani’ (25th December 1903).
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Chris Nathan Does Right By Hometown at the Tralf – 7/29/10
From recording songs on an old four track in his bedroom at his parent’s house in Angola to fronting rock group Woke up in Vegas to Southern rock crooner, Chris Nathan has always tackled any of his numerous musical projects head on. His talents have since taken him to one of the most prominent music capitals in the world – Nashville – though he hasn’t yet forgotten his roots, returning to them recently as he performed at the Tralf, a show that garnered much fanfare, causing it to be the venues most talked about show in recent memory. Nathan surely responded in kind, giving everything he had to those in attendance, a kind of all out performance you don’t see too often nowadays.
Nathan has long had an intriguing, beguiling even, show aesthetic, as not only is he an uber-talented rock frontman, but perhaps an even more talented acoustic singer/songwriter, something he showed off at the beginning of the nights festivities, entering stage left all by his lonesome, getting things underway with ‘Spin’ and ‘Saving Savannah,’ before welcoming the rest of his band on stage halfway through ‘Moving On Top of the World.’ From there he broke into crowd favorites like ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ ‘Sugarcane’ and ‘Words,’ before wowing the crowd with a dead on Southern rock rendition of Warren G’s classic ‘Regulators.’ Now, as someone who has known Chris for most of my life, you’d think this type of stuff would have grown stale throughout the years, but it is still exciting to see fire over cover tunes like he did when he was performing as a teenager. And it was nice to see that some things haven’t changed, like Chris’ dan cing abilities. If you don’t know all that much about Nathan, he is a big, big fan of old school rap and R&B, something Tralf crowd-goers learned in spades this night. Chris continued his whirlwind of effervescence with ‘Sunshine and Alcohol,’ before slowing the pace with the plodding, calculating, and very well-written mind you, ‘Livin’ a Lie,’ a song aimed directly at the music industry, namely big record labels. Nathan and the boys again showed the crowd they have OG chops with a pinpoint cover of 2Pac and Dr. Dre’s timeless ‘California Love’ which ended that particular portion of the set. The crowd was literally dancing – in the aisles, at the tables and even at the bar.
More acoustic tunes were next, with Chris giving his band another breather, returning to the stage solo for tremendous offerings such as ‘Happy,’ and an abbreviated cover medley of Jay-Z’s ‘Empire State of Mind’ and Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity.’ Usually Nathan’s cover medleys consist of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’ (which he offered up a bit acapella), ‘California Love’ and ‘Regulators,’ though he opted to perform the latter two with his band instead. He even took the time to appease us old-schoolers with a bit of the lost track ‘Angelwater,’ and if you know this song, you obviously were friends with Chris in high school.
The band was welcomed back onstage for more hi-jinx, including guitar solos; bass solos and drum solos, as well as some sweet freestyle rhymes from Nathan. When the house lights came up, the crowd wanted more, though due to contractu al obligations and time constraints, Nathan could not deliver, but he took the party to the Pearl Street Bar immediately following.
It was a great show, one in which you just know people in attendance got their money’s worth, and I’m sure Nathan wouldn’t have it any other way. Chris, as a good friend and a fan, please come back home real soon. We’d love to have you.
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Minister sets out long-term UK energy role for Qatar
By Rob Cockerill2009-10-30T14:23:54+00:00
Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of State for Energy & Industry Affairs of the State of Qatar, recently attended the launch of the UK’s South Hook Gas LNG firm and underlined the region’s commitment to the UK’s energy future.
The company owns and manages the regasification capacity and System Entry Capacity at the South Hook Terminal at Milford Haven in Wales.
Speaking to an audience of 300 key figures from Qatar, the UK and the global energy sector, His Excellemcy Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al-Sada emphasised the common interests of the UK and Qatar.
He said, “The Qatar Government wants to be a long-term trading partner with the UK, especially in the energy sector. Like the UK, we understand the importance of solid industrial foundations to achieve economic growth. And we understand that today, diversification of energy supply is a vital part of achieving security of supply. We are therefore proud to have a physical flow of Qatari gas here in the UK. And we are committed to an ongoing role as a partner in the UK’s energy future.”
He welcomed the approach of the UK Government and praised the ‘positive climate for investment’ that has attracted such outside participation, adding, “South Hook Gas will play a key role in managing the terminal’s capacity in an effective and flexible manner as the future of the energy sector in the UK unfolds.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, Mr Ahmed Al Khulaifi, Chairman of South Hook Gas, explained, “We are proud to have a physical presence in the UK. Our UK presence demonstrates our willingness to play a valuable long-term role in the UK energy sector.”
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High school student builds portable battery-powered x-ray machine
By Ryan Whitwam 05.22.2012 :: 1:32PM EDT 05.22.2012
RyanWhitwam
Did you build anything cool in high school? Maybe a sweet model volcano or a light bulb powered by a potato? That’s nice and all, but a Pakistani high school student recently built a portable x-ray machine. If that wasn’t impressive enough, portable x-ray machines didn’t exist before. Your parents are retroactively disappointed in your potato battery now.
At the age of 15, Adam Munich was chatting with some folks online and heard a pair of stories. One about rolling blackouts, and another about the unavailability of x-ray equipment in remote areas. This is how the idea of a battery-operated x-ray machine came to Munich. He spent the next two years learning about x-ray technology and building his device in a pair of old art cases.
The final device is separated into two parts. There is a control box that houses all the electronics, and a second case that contains the x-ray tube, the high-voltage capacitors, and voltage multipliers that drive it. The capacitors step up the power to 75,000 volts, which is just enough to produce a usable x-ray beam.
Images are produced here with the aid of a scintillation screen, which is a plastic sheet that fluoresces green when struck with x-rays. This is a less ideal setup, but it costs next to nothing compared to the expensive radiation detectors used in hospitals. While the device should work on human limbs, Munich has thus far been testing it on various electronic devices.
You might be wondering about safety with a device built by a student that shoots radiation. Well, Munich also built his own Geiger counter to make sure the device doesn’t do more harm than good. He spent about $700 over 2 years building the device, and is currently working to get the cost down to $200. For now, its main use is getting young Mr. Munich into college. I’m sure he’ll do fine. He’s smarter than most of us.
via PopSci
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& occasionally about other things, too...
Welcome back, Tiger!
The very few who read this blog know how passionate I’m about popular Hindi cinema; and by the way, it's majorly disconcerting to all those who love mainstream Hindi cinema that an entire industry is known across the world as 'Bollywood,' which seems like a cheap derivative of the original American brand. Anyway, the point is that it shouldn’t surprise the few readers of this blog that I frequently write about popular Hindi cinema especially after I see a film in a cinema hall.
These days, thanks to the Android box that we have installed at home, we are able to access Indian movies and television channels easily. No more having to buy pirated DVDs for $1. If one is indifferent to the quality of the print, one can get to see the latest releases in Bombay the same or the next day. I don’t watch any television news from India because I no longer relate to it in the way I did a decade ago when I was in India.
Yes, I’m in the tenth year of living in Toronto. Reminds me of the Pink Floyd lines from the timeless ‘Time,’
“…and then one day you find
ten years have got behind you
no one told you when to run
you missed the starting gun.
And you run and you run
to catch up with the sun that’s sinking
racing around to come up behind you again
the sun is the same in a relative way
but you’re older
shorter of breath and one day closer to death…”
Isn't that classic, yes it is. But also maudlin and depressing. So let’s get back to popular Hindi cinema.
On Christmas eve Mahrukh and I went to see Tiger Zinda Hai – on the first weekend of the film’s release. And it was as expected a totally awesome experience. The crowd was like it'd be in India. The cinema hall, which probably takes about 500 people, was brimming full with people.
I've written about the unique and unparalleled experience of watching a Hindi movie in Toronto on two occasions in 2016 so I won’t repeat myself. If you’re interested in reading about it, here are two examples:
The Sultan experience in Toronto
Dangal: A father’s quiet desperation
Back to TZH: The audience erupted into a mighty and ceaseless applause as soon as Salman Khan came on the screen. From then, when he wrestles with wolves, to the end when he sings and dances to Swag se karen ge sab ka swagat, there is constant and loud cheering, whistling on a few occasions, and sporadic hollering; the applause just doesn’t cease. In any other movie this would be a disturbance, but in a Salman Khan movie, I guess it's background score.
The Tiger series is special to me because it advocates a sensible approach to India-Pakistan relations, and does so at present times when the powers-that-be in India have convinced them that Pakistan is evil. There seems to be an imminent possibility that the subterranean tension may bubble over and turn into something more than a mere exchange of gunfire across the borders.
Like his predecessor Kabir Khan, who introduced the world to Tiger, Ali Abbas Zafar, the director and the co-writer of the sequel, too, has an idealistic and romanticised view of how the subcontinental relations should be. I harbour a similar hope that the subcontinental neighbours will at least be civilised with each other if not turn into best buddies. I felt that for a few brief moments during the duration of the film when everyone suspended their disbelief, there were some in the audience who agreed with the director's vision.
But most of the audience members remained unmoved, at least so it seemed. It’s probably an indication of how the audience – although South Asian, but predominantly Indo-Canadian – feels about the present situation in the subcontinent.
I found the scenes where the Indian and the Pakistani agents bicker only to end up as friends deeply satisfying and emotional, but the audience didn’t react to the scenes in any discernible manner. There were minor guffaws and short, almost embarrassed, laughter. The scene where both the Indian and the Pakistani flags are raised on the bus carrying the Indian and Pakistani nurses was greeted with only half-hearted cheering.
The rescue of the Indian nurses and the intricate and ever-changing circumstances that lead to constant twists in the storyline keep the audience engaged. In Tiger Zinda Hai, the story invests into bringing alive the ISIS-unleashed crisis by introducing a young lad being used as a human bomb by the evil head of the outfit Abu Usman.
Sajjad Delafrooz, an Iranian actor, who performs this role turns in a refreshingly studied and underplayed performance. He shows an amazing ability to switch from rose-tinted tenderness to blood-red menace especially in scenes with the head nurse Poorna (Anupriya Goenka). This is no crazed dictator of a murderous movement, Usman is a cool-headed, calculating head of a militant outfit that knows what he wants and how to get it.
Paresh Rawal as Firdaus, the sleazy middleman who slithers into a position of benefit irrespective of the situation, is expectedly consummate. Thankfully, Katrina Kaif’s character, Zoya, the Pakistani agent now married to Tiger, and mother to his son, Junior, is not just a pretty face (although, admittedly, pretty she is. Indeed, very pretty) and has enough action scenes, which she performs dexterously and with chutzpah that is clearly missing from Tiger’s action scenes.
As it turns out, Zoya is a Shia because she prays to Ali and whispers Ya Ali Madad before taking on the bad guys in a hand-to-hand combat. Although the outfit Usman runs is not called ISIS in the movie, the parallels are unmistakable, and the writer-director appears to have got the Shia-Sunni tensions right.
Salman Khan is cool and does what he knows best – be himself. Then, in a pivotal scene, he takes his shirt off. The audience gleefully whoops and drowns the ensuring dialogues for the next few minutes. Together, Salman and Katrina make a perfect couple. Their chemistry is amazing. It’s time they got married in real life, too.
Posted by Mayank Bhatt at 19:53
Labels: Ali Abbas Zafar, Salman Khan, Tiger Zinda Hai
Mayank Bhatt
About Generally About Books
“I was born a Hindu, no doubt. No one can undo the fact. But I am also a Muslim because I am a good Hindu. In the same way, I am also a Parsi and a Christian too.”
- Mahatma Gandhi 30 May 1947
"We should be careful who we pretend to be."
- Kurt Vonnegut
My debut novel is available in bookshops & online. Buy & read it
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The ones I like
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Authors and friends
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The best in longform journalism
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Mawenzi House Publishers
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Foundry Corporate News
Vince Ebert: What would it be like, if we in Germany all drove electric cars?
Vince Ebert
What if we all drove electric? Wouldn’t it be nice, to be free of the emissions? Is this possible? And will we have to do without Saarland? Vince Ebert takes a look into the future.
My neighbor recently bought a Tesla. A very cool car! From 0 to 100 in three seconds. The only drawback: You have to recharge it every few hours. And that takes time. Even with a supercharger, the tank is only half full after 20 minutes. There are not many of these charging stations yet. "There must be cordless cars," he said to me the other day. "With a fuel that is available everywhere, and with which you can travel 700, 800 kilometers..." But that, of course, is still a dream.
Some politicians are so enthusiastic about the electric car, that they want to ban the dirty petrol and diesel engines by 2030. But does the electric car really solve our energy and environmental problems?
Let’s start slowly and imagine that the politicians’ wishes are realized; that by 2020 one million electric cars will be driving on Germany’s roads. According to the federal government, modern rapid-charging stations of 350 kilowatts each will be installed throughout the country. It is 8:00pm, and ten percent of the one million electric car owners want to recharge their vehicles. In addition to the normal power requirement, an output of 35,000 megawatts is required. This would correspond to the output of about 23 medium-sized, coal-fired power plants. Or 35,000 windmills, if you want to make them more sustainable, however, this only works when the wind is blowing. If it is summer and the sun is still full in the evening, you could also recharge the cars with a solar-energy system the size of 350 square kilometers.
If we were to replace all 60 million combustion engines in Germany with batteries, and assume that every vehicle owner is charging his car only every two days for half an hour each; And if we continue to assume that the charging process could be spread evenly over the entire two days by a smart system, we would need almost 140 new power plants or 220,000 additional wind turbines or a photovoltaic system of the size of the Saarland (2570 km²) to cover the additional electricity demand. Admittedly, in the case of Saarland, many Germans are thinking: "It’s worth it ..."
100 years ago, the biologist Thomas Huxley once said: “[It is] the great tragedy of Science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact." Millions of Germans at the outlet.
At this point it is by no means a question of demonizing the electric motor. On the contrary. I personally find electric cars pretty cool. They have a higher efficiency than a combustor and do not simply blow a valuable raw material into the air. However, they are not an ecological panacea.
To replace 30 kilograms of gasoline, you currently need a modern lithium ion battery that weighs around 900 kilograms. And in the case of millions of planned electric cars, you need a very nice pile of lithium, which, together with the rare earth metal neodymium, is not particularly sustainable. In addition, the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics concluded that the production and recycling of a modern battery had a negative impact on the overall eco-balance compared to the internal combustion engine.
Not to mention the organizational problems. Even if the required electricity would be ecologically correct for massive recharging, one can only imagine the traffic jam when millions of Germans hit the road for their holidays with their electric cars at the same time, and at the service station Spessart they don’t stand at the fuel pump for a quick two minutes, rather block it up for an hour.
The politicians suggest that driving with electric cars is possible without any significant environmental impact. But to move a vehicle from point A to point B, you need a certain amount of energy. And you have to generate that energy somehow, whether with electricity, gasoline, or muscle power.
If we replace the gasoline engine with electric, we only shift the resource and environmental problems. Usable energy is not available free of charge. You always have to pay a price for it. The sun does not send us an invoice. But the solar power provider does.
If you would like to know more about the science cabaret, artist, and best-seller author, visit his website www.vince-ebert.de or Facebook at www.facebook.com/Vince.Ebert
The Senseless Dream of the Electric Future
Volkswagen launches ELECTRIC FOR ALL campaign
Sensation at the International Motor Congress - agreement made in front of audience
bdg: Leaders in science and politics are calling for a different financing of new energies
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3 Terrible Reasons to Buy Procter & Gamble
Published May 25, 2018 MarketsMotley Fool
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) has long been an investor favorite. According to the conventional wisdom, the company has a lot going for it. P&G is nearly 200 years old. It's an S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat, having raised its dividend every year for 62 years in a row, and the company has 22 billion-dollar brands, household names including Tide, Bounty, and Crest.
While Procter & Gamble has historically been a winner on the stock market as it has steadily grown over the years and paid a reliable dividend, it's struggled more recently. In fact, the household-products giant has significantly underperformed the S&P 500 during any meaningful time interval in the last 10 years. Over the last decade, for instance, the stock has gained just 12% while the broad market has nearly doubled.
As the chart shows, that disparity has become more pronounced over the last few years as P&G is one of the few megacap stocks that is down over the last five years.
Nonetheless, the stock still has its supporters: Out of the 22 analysts covering it, only two rate it below a hold, and 10 of those analysts consider it a buy or even a strong buy, with the average one giving it a price target of $81.74, 10% above its current trading price.
You may already be familiar with some of the popular bull arguments for Procter & Gamble. Below, I'll review them and explore why they are bad reasons to invest in the stock.
1. The brand portfolio
P&G corporate and investors love to tout the company's portfolio of brands, which is unmatched by any consumer packaged goods (CPG) company except for Coca-Cola. However, growth is king in investing, and even brands that generate billions of dollars in revenue annually can become albatrosses if they can't deliver sales growth. For example, Gillette, the razor brand that P&G acquired in 2005 for $57 billion, has been a leader in razors for more than a century, but the brand has now become threatened by online upstarts like Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired by rival Unilever, and Harry's. As a result, Gillette has been forced to lower prices and has lost market share in recent years. In P&G's grooming division, which is led by Gillette, net sales have fallen 1% through the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, and operating profits are down 13%.
The rise of e-commerce is also shaking up the company's traditional strength in supermarkets and drugstores where it commands valuable shelf space. Smaller brands have become more popular with consumers, who are searching for unique and authentic brands, and online retailers like Amazon can push their own private-label products, rather than branded ones, if they choose.
2. The dividend
Procter & Gamble's dividend is often cited as a reason to invest in the company, and indeed, few of its peers can claim to have paid rising dividends for 62 years. The Pampers maker also offers a strong dividend yield at 3.9%. However, its growth has been lacking in recent years. Since 2015, its highest dividend increase was 4%, and in 2016 it was as low as 1%. Dividend growth has been slow as earnings growth has essentially stalled during that time, and considering its payout ratio, or the percentage of its profits that go to dividends, is at 72%, the company only has so much room to raise its dividend without growing its profits in line.
Furthermore, the 3.9% yield may be appealing to income investors, but with the Federal Reserve expected to continue raising interest rates, even 10-year treasuries will likely offer a better yield soon. Even for income investors, there are simply better options out there.
As a consumer-staples company and a Dividend Aristocrat, Procter & Gamble is a classic defensive stock, or a stock that should outperform the market in a recessionary climate. After all, consumers still need products like detergent even in tough times, and the company's dividend makes it an appealing investment when stocks are falling. However, that perceived safety has come at a steep price as the chart at the top of the article shows, as investors have missed out on nearly all of the market's growth over the last 10 years.
While it's true that P&G is less risky than many other stocks, again there are simply better options for investors concerned about wealth preservation or income. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B), for example, is a classic example of a well-diversified company that has successfully weathered many economic downturns. Elsewhere, utility stock Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) has risen alongside the market over the last 10 years and has offered a better yield than P&G most of that time.
CPG companies like General Mills and Campbell Soup have struggled broadly in recent years as consumer tastes and shopping habits have changed, and Procter & Gamble, though not a food company, isn't much different. The stock is likely to continue to underperform as consumer trends favoring e-commerce and smaller brands are unlikely to change -- and they undermine the company's historical strengths.
10 stocks we like better than Procter & GambleWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*
David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Procter & Gamble wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 8, 2018
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Published August 23
Rep. Duncan Hunter calls indictment 'pure politics,' denies using campaign funds for personal expenses
By Paulina Dedaj, | Fox News
Rep. Duncan Hunter: I did not spend any money illegally
Rep. Duncan Hunter speaks exclusively with 'The Story with Martha MacCallum' after being accused of using campaign funds for personal expenses.
EXCLUSIVE – Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told Fox News on Thursday night that charges filed against him and his wife, Margaret, were “pure politics” and that he never used campaign funds for personal spending.
Hunter and his wife were indicted on charges of illegally converting $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses and filing false records. They pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Speaking to Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on “The Story,” Hunter said many of the trips in question “were fundraisers.”
He continued, “That’s how we campaign and try to raise money is by traveling, having dinners, meeting people and raising more money. That’s how people get to hear me and hear what I have to say, and they donate money.”
Hunter and his wife were indicted on charges of illegally converting $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses and filing false records. (Facebook)
Still, he added, “My campaign did make mistakes. There was money spent on things, not by me but by the campaign, and I paid that back before my last election. I paid back $60,000 dollars after I did an objective audit. This is pure politics.”
Hunter said that he has been a “prolific fundraiser” and has raised “millions and millions of dollars for the Republican party, and for myself and other candidates.”
The congressman was pressed about a specific accusation: that he wanted to buy a pair of shorts during a Hawaii vacation but didn't have the money, so his wife told him to buy the clothing at a golf shop and describe the purchase later as “[golf] balls for the wounded warriors.”
“I don’t remember that but I would never do that,” Hunter said.
He also said that his wife handled most of the family expenses when he was first deployed to Iraq in 2003 and that she continued to manage them when he joined Congress.
Hunter (right) also said that his wife, Margaret (center) handled most of the family expenses and was the campaigner manager. (AP, File)
“When I went away to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave her power of attorney. She handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress... She was also the campaign manager so whatever she did, that’ll be looked at too, I’m sure, but I didn’t do it.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., this week called the charges “deeply serious” and said Hunter would be removed from the three House committees on which he sat. Hunter agreed to comply with Ryan's request and step down from his assignments -- avoiding the spectacle of a debate and vote on the House floor.
Fox News’ Martha MacCallum and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Paulina Dedaj is a writer/ reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter @PaulinaDedaj.
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Ye Ole Refinishing Shop PRIVACY POLICY Ye Ole Refinishing Shop (the “Company”) is committed to protecting the privacy of its users. This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is designed to help you understand what information we gather, how we use it, what we do to protect it, and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our Service. Unless otherwise indicated below, this Privacy Policy applies to any website that references this Privacy Policy, any Company website, as well as any data the Company may collect across partnered and unaffiliated sites. For purposes of this Agreement, “Service” refers to the Company’s service which can be accessed via our website at www.franklinrefinishingshop.com or through our mobile application. The terms “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the Company. “You” refers to you, as a user of Service. I. 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By using the Service, you consent to Weebly’s collection, disclosure, storage, and use of your Personal Information in accordance with Weebly’s privacy policy available at https://www.weebly.com/privacy. VII. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES As part of the Service, we may provide links to or compatibility with other websites or applications. However, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by those websites or the information or content they contain. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by us through the Service. Therefore, this Privacy Policy does not apply to your use of a third-party website accessed by selecting a link via our Service. To the extent that you access or use the Service through or on another website or application, then the privacy policy of that other website or application will apply to your access or use of that site or application. We encourage our users to read the privacy statements of other websites before proceeding to use them. VIII. AGE OF CONSENT By using the Service, you represent that you are at least 18 years of age. IX. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY The Company reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use at any time. If we decide to change this Privacy Policy, we will post these changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances we disclose it. Any such modifications become effective upon your continued access to and/or use of the Service five (5) days after we first post the changes on the website or otherwise provide you with notice of such modifications. It is your sole responsibility to check this website from time to time to view any such changes to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to any changes, if and when such changes may be made to this Privacy Policy, you must cease access to this website. If you have provided your email address to us, you give us permission to email you for the purpose of notification as described in this Privacy Policy. X. MERGER OR ACQUISITION In the event we (or Weebly) undergo a business transaction such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your Personal Information may be among the assets transferred. You acknowledge and consent that such transfers may occur and are permitted by this Privacy Policy, and that any acquirer of our (or Weebly’s) assets may continue to process your Personal Information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If our information practices change at any time in the future, we will post the policy changes here so that you may opt out of the new information practices. We suggest that you check this Privacy Policy periodically if you are concerned about how your information is used. XI. EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS & OPTING OUT We will send you Service-related announcements on occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if our Service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, or a new enhancement is released, which will affect the way you use our Service, we might send you an email. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. Based upon the Personal Information that you provide us, we may communicate with you in response to your inquiries to provide the services you request and to manage your account. We will communicate with you by email or telephone, in accordance with your wishes. We may also use your Personal Information to send you updates and other promotional communications. If you no longer wish to receive those email updates, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each update or communication. XII. CONTACT US & WITHDRAWING CONSENT If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the practices of this Site, or wish to withdraw your consent for the continued collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information, please contact us by sending an email to lelandh@lelandhooverconsulting.com. Last Updated: This Privacy Policy was last updated on Mon May 28 2018.
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H.R. 7243 (115th): To amend Public Law 115-217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by such Public Law in honor of Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe, and for other purposes.
Stephanie Murphy
Sponsor. Representative for Florida's 7th congressional district. Democrat.
Enacted — Signed by the President on Dec 21, 2018
This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on December 21, 2018.
Pub.L. 115-389
The bill was passed in a vote in the House. It goes to the Senate next. The vote was without objection so no record of individual votes was made.
The bill was passed by both chambers in identical form. It goes to the President next who may sign or veto the bill. The vote was by Unanimous Consent so no record of individual votes was made.
GovTrack.us. (2019). H.R. 7243 — 115th Congress: To amend Public Law 115-217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by ... Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr7243
“H.R. 7243 — 115th Congress: To amend Public Law 115-217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by ...” www.GovTrack.us. 2018. July 18, 2019 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr7243>
To amend Public Law 115-217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by such Public Law in honor of Sergeant First Class Alwyn Crendall Cashe, and for other purposes, Pub. L. No. 115-389, H.R. 7243, 115th Cong. (2018).
|date=December 10, 2018
|quote=To amend Public Law 115-217 to change the address of the postal facility designated by ...
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Boruch joins Hanson as program manager for water resources
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Christopher Boruch, F.SAME, recently joined Hanson Professional Services Inc.’s Jacksonville office as the company’s program manager for water resources. He is responsible for expanding and managing the firm’s water resources practice in the southeastern U.S.
Prior to joining the company, Boruch was a regional operations director for an architectural and engineering firm in Jacksonville. He has more than 30 years of project management and business development experience in the region. Boruch retired after 25 years of military service that included assignments in combat engineering units in the United States and overseas; a staff position at the U.S. Army Engineer School; at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, for the Directorate of Training and Doctrine; and as a reserve component adviser. He also served the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for which he held positions including deputy chief of the Environmental Restoration Division at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C., and deputy district engineer for the Far East, Baltimore and Jacksonville districts. In addition, he was a project manager for the city of Jacksonville’s Department of Public Works.
He received a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from St. John’s University and a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University. He was designated a fellow of the Society of American Military Engineers and is a member of the American Water Resources Association’s Florida Section, Military Officers Association of America and Project Management Institute.
Hanson is a national, employee-owned consulting firm providing engineering, planning and allied services. The Jacksonville office is located at 8075 Gate Parkway West, Suite 204, Jacksonville, FL 32216-3685. The office may be reached by phone at (904) 737-0090.
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League Cup Test For Youth Team
Mark Fletcher (Shutter Press
Pools Youth Team return to action on Saturday when they make the trip to Oldham Athletic for their latest Youth Alliance League Cup group game (12noon kick-off).
Having picked up just one point from their opening two Group 6 fixtures, Ian McGuckin is hoping that they can get back to form in the competition this weekend.
Wednesday’s confidence-boosting 5-1 FA Youth Cup triumph over Hebburn Town has lifted spirits ahead of the clash with The Latics and McGuckin says the players can’t wait to get going.
“The lads are buzzing after the game during the week,” he admitted.
“They performed well at the First Team stadium and enjoyed a convincing win so it’s important we look to build on that on Saturday.
“We are really focused on trying to get a couple of good results in our remaining group games to give ourselves the best chance of getting through to the next stage of the competition.
“It won’t be easy at Oldham but with the confidence we have in the squad at the moment we know that if we play well we can get the result.”
McGuckin will leave it late to make a decision on the fitness of defender Jack Leonard who has missed some training this week due to illness but other than that has a full squad to choose from.
The game takes place at Oldham’s Chapel Road Training Ground in Hollinwood and kicks-off at 12noon.
Oldham Athletic U18 vs Hartlepool United U18 on 06 Oct 18
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2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Papua New Guinea is a constitutional, federal, multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 6.3 million and more than 800 indigenous tribes. The most recent general elections, held in 2007, were marred by bribery, voter intimidation, and influence peddling. A coalition government, led by Prime Minister Michael Somare, was formed following the elections. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were some instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently.
The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, but there were serious problems in some areas. Human rights abuses included arbitrary or unlawful killings by police, police abuse of detainees, poor prison conditions, police corruption and impunity, lengthy pretrial detention, infringement of citizens' privacy rights, government corruption, violence and discrimination against women and children, discrimination against persons with disabilities, intertribal violence, violence against ethnic Asians, and ineffective enforcement of labor laws.
The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, police killed a number of persons during the year. According to police reports, most killings occurred during gunfights with criminal suspects who were resisting arrest. However, public concern about police violence persisted.
There were no further known developments in the following cases involving police actions: the 2008 death of a young man resulting from a shootout between police and youths in Kimbe Province; the 2008 police killings of three gunmen who tried to rob the Bank South Pacific in West New Britain; the March 2007 shooting of three persons in which one person died and two were injured; the May 2007 shooting of three persons, two of whom died; and the 2007 shooting death of Jeffrey Kui.
There were numerous press reports during the year of vigilante killings and abuses related to alleged involvement in sorcery and witchcraft. For example, in January a group of men in Mount Hagen reportedly stripped a woman naked, bound her hands and feet, stuffed a cloth in her mouth, and burned her alive for allegedly confessing to have eaten a man's heart. Amnesty International (AI) reported that in February local residents shot and killed a man from Ban village near Mount Hagen and threw his body into a fire. They then dragged the man's son from his home and burned him alive. When police arrived and attempted to investigate the deaths, heavily armed local residents prevented them from removing the bodies to a hospital for autopsies. In September the National newspaper reported that members of a community in Sandaun Province beat to death three men for allegedly performing witchcraft on a local resident prior to the resident's death on September 1. Police had taken the three men into custody, but community members negotiated their release after assuring police that the men would not be harmed. However, enraged community members killed the men later the same night.
The constitution prohibits such practices; however, individual police members frequently beat and otherwise abused suspects during arrests and interrogations, and in pretrial detention. There were numerous press accounts of such abuses, particularly against young detainees.
In April authorities arrested five police officers in connection with the alleged rape of a cleaning woman at a police station in Port Moresby; the authorities were investigating the case at year's end.
There were no further known developments in the June 2008 police shooting that resulted in the amputation of the suspect's leg, the August 2008 police shooting and wounding of bank robbery suspect William Kapris, the 2007 case in which an auxiliary police officer in Rabaul allegedly shot and injured a high school student, or the 2007 alleged police beating of a soldier in Port Moresby.
On September 22, a National Court judge found seven members of the police force in Madang liable for breach of basic human rights of five young men in 2004. The prosecution claimed that the police officers forced two of the five detainees to have sex with each other. In addition the prosecution alleged that the policemen subjected the detainees to torture and held them for three weeks without charges. The court found the seven policemen, as well as their commissioner and the government, liable. At year's end damages were pending assessment.
Despite minor improvements to existing cells and increased capacity, prison conditions generally remained poor, and the prison system continued to suffer from serious underfunding. Of the four prisons that remained closed during most of 2008, two were reopened, and two--in Tari, Southern Highlands and Daru, Western Province--remained closed due to tribal conflicts and health concerns, respectively. Neither prisons nor police detention centers had medical care facilities. In some police holding cells, detainees lacked bedding and sufficient food and water. Overcrowding in prisons and police cells remained a serious problem. The Correctional Services deputy commissioner for operations confirmed that the country's prisons had a holding capacity of 3,600 beds, but the number of inmates at year's end was 4,901, approximately half of whom were pretrial detainees. There were 226 female and 238 juvenile prisoners. While there were some improvements in the pace of police investigations and an increase in the number of judges in the magistrates' courts and the National Court, in some areas infrequent court sessions, slow police investigations, and bail restrictions for certain crimes continued to exacerbate overcrowding. Prison escapes were common, even from high‑security installations.
Male and female inmates usually were held separately, but some rural prisons lacked separate facilities, and there were reports in the past of assaults on female prisoners. There were no separate facilities for juvenile offenders; however, in some prisons juveniles were provided with separate sleeping quarters. To hold minors waiting to be arraigned prior to bail being posted, there were three juvenile reception centers located in Port Moresby, Lae, and Goroka. Human Rights Watch reported that juveniles routinely were held with adults in police detention cells, where in many cases they were assaulted by older detainees. Police denied juvenile court officers access to police cells. Pretrial detainees were held in the same prisons as convicted prisoners but had separate cells.
The government permitted monitoring visits by independent human rights observers, and one such visit was made during the year.
The constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these prohibitions.
A commissioner who reports to the minister for internal security heads the national police force, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary. Internal divisions related to clan rivalries and a serious lack of resources negatively affected police effectiveness. Police corruption and impunity were serious problems. At year's end there were no reports of any action taken against officers who in 2007 allegedly assaulted the director of police prosecutions in Port Moresby.
Police shootings are investigated by the police department's Internal Affairs Office and reviewed by a coroner's court. If the court finds that the shooting was unjustifiable or due to negligence, the police officers involved are tried. Families of persons killed or injured by police may challenge the coroner's finding in the National Court, with the assistance of the Public Solicitor's Office. Cases of accidental shootings of bystanders by police during police operations are also investigated and reviewed by a coroner's court. Despite these prescribed procedures, in many cases investigations remained unresolved.
There is an Ombudsman Commission that deals with public complaints and concerns about members of the police force.
Under the law, to make an arrest police must have reason to believe that a crime was committed, is in the course of being committed, or will be committed. A warrant is not required, and police made the majority of arrests without one. Citizens may make arrests under the same standards as the police, but this was rare in practice. Police, prosecutors, and citizens may apply to a court for a warrant; however, police normally did so only if they believed it would assist them in carrying out an arrest.
Only National or Supreme Court judges may grant bail to persons charged with willful murder or aggravated robbery. In all other cases, police or magistrates may grant bail. Arrested suspects have the right to legal counsel, to be informed of the charges against them, and to have their arrests subjected to judicial review; however, the government did not always respect these rights. Detainees had access to counsel, and family members had access to detainees.
Due to very limited police and judicial resources and a high crime rate, suspects often were held in pretrial detention for lengthy periods. Although pretrial detention is subject to strict judicial review through continuing pretrial consultations, the slow pace of police investigations, particularly in locating witnesses, and occasional political interference or police corruption frequently delayed cases for months. Additionally, circuit court sittings were infrequent because of shortages of judges and travel funds. Some detainees were held in jail for up to two years because of the shortage of judges.
The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial independence in practice.
The legal system is based on English common law. The law provides for due process, including a public trial, and the court system generally enforced these provisions. Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there are no juries. Defendants have the right to an attorney. The Public Solicitor's Office provides legal counsel for those accused of "serious offenses" (charges for which a sentence of two years or more is the norm) who are unable to afford counsel. Defendants and their attorneys may confront witnesses, present evidence, access government-held evidence, plead cases, and appeal convictions. The shortage of judges created delays in both the process of trials and the rendering of decisions.
There is an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. District courts may order "good behavior bonds," commonly called "protection orders," in addition to ordering that compensation be paid for violations of human rights. However, courts had difficulty enforcing judgments. Additionally, many human rights matters were handled by village courts, which were largely unregulated. Village and district courts often were hesitant to interfere directly in domestic matters. Village courts regularly ordered that compensation be paid to an abused spouse's family in cases of domestic abuse rather than issue a domestic court order.
The constitution prohibits such actions; however, there were instances of abuse. Police raids and searches of illegal squatter settlements and homes of suspected criminals often were marked by a high level of violence and property destruction. Police units operating in highland regions sometimes used intimidation and destruction of property to suppress tribal fighting.
In December 2008 police evicted approximately 400 persons from a squatter settlement in Port Moresby by bulldozing and burning down their homes in response to the murder of prominent businessman Sir George Constantinou, allegedly by residents in the settlement. Police stated that they had given the settlers three days' notice to move out. The government did not provide any temporary accommodation, transportation, or food to the squatters.
According to reports by local media and AI, police burned down 50 houses in the Porgera District on April 27, during a police crackdown on lawlessness and illegal mining in the area. Police stated that the occupants were illegal squatters engaged in illegal mining and other criminal activities. A number of landowners in Porgera subsequently filed suit against the police, charging that during the operation police also destroyed more than 300 homes of legal residents who lived near the mining area.
The constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. All newspapers included a variety of editorial viewpoints and reported on controversial topics. There was no evidence of officially sanctioned government censorship; however, newspaper editors complained of intimidation tactics aimed at influencing coverage.
In 2008 the managing director, editors, and subeditors of the daily newspaper Post Courier reportedly were referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee over coverage of a diplomatic scandal involving a foreign government. However, the Post Courier confirmed that the government did not follow through with such a referral, and the journalists were not called before the committee. Journalist Simon Eroro, who had received threats related to the case, was still working for the Post Courier at year's end.
There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitored e‑mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. In practice cost factors and lack of infrastructure limited public access to the Internet. The International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2008 approximately 2 percent of the country's inhabitants used the Internet.
The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however, the government often limited this right in practice. Public demonstrations require police approval and 14 days' notice. Asserting a fear of violence from unruly spectators, police rarely gave approval.
In October police denied approval for a march and rally planned by the Papua New Guinea Council of Churches and the Salvation Army in support of the UN campaign "Stand Up, Take Action" against poverty. Also in October, police prevented a protest from being held in Madang against the building of a marine industrial park in Vidar.
The constitution provides for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right in practice.
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right in practice.
There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination against religious groups, including anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community in the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2009 International Religious Freedom Report at www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/.
The constitution provides for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons, refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern.
Although a party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, the government has not enacted enabling legislation and has not established a system for providing protection to refugees. The government did not grant refugee status or asylum. In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The government also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention or its 1967 protocol.
With support from the UNHCR, the government continued to provide protection to approximately 2,700 persons residing at the East Awin refugee settlement who fled the Indonesian province of West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Another 5,000 such persons, classified by the government as "border crossers," lived in villages adjacent to the border with Indonesia. During the year approximately 300 West Papuans who had been living in Papua New Guinea for many years voluntarily returned to West Papua Province in Indonesia under a voluntary repatriation program.
Registered refugees residing in the East Awin refugee settlement were granted a residence permit that allowed them to travel freely within the country and, on a case-by-case basis, to travel abroad, depending on the urgency of the business and a guarantee of financial support by sponsoring institutions.
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic but flawed elections based on universal suffrage.
The most recent general election was held in 2007. Bribery, voter intimidation, and undue influence were widespread in some parts of the country during the election. After the election the National Court registered 53 election petitions that alleged illegal practices. By year's end 28 petitions were dismissed and 14 were withdrawn, two by-elections and four judicial recounts were ordered, and court decisions were pending on the remaining five petitions.
Election-related violence erupted between supporters of two rival candidates in the weeks leading up to the November by-election for the Kandep open electorate in Enga Province, reportedly resulting in at least two deaths and a number of injuries. Due to the violence, the by-election polling, originally scheduled for one day, was spread out over a week. In November the government reported that a total of 275 persons, mostly polling and electoral officials, were held against their will for nearly three days at two different locations by supporters of two of the candidates before being freed by mobile police squads.
Political parties could operate without restriction or outside influence.
There is no law limiting political participation by women, but the deeply rooted patriarchal culture impeded women's full participation in political life. There was one woman in the 109‑seat Parliament. She served as minister of community development, the only cabinet position held by a woman. There was one female National Court justice and no female provincial governors. A 2008 proposal for three nominated seats for women to increase the number of women in Parliament failed to pass during the year.
There were six minority (non‑Melanesian) members of Parliament. Of these, two were in the cabinet, and three were provincial governors.
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively, and officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.
Corruption at all levels of government was a serious problem due to weak public institutions, leadership, and governance; lack of transparency; politicization of the bureaucracy; and the use of public resources to meet traditional clan obligations.
In February former Southern Highlands governor Hami Yawari was charged with misappropriating more than 300,000 kina (approximately $116,730) belonging to the provincial government. At year's end this and other cases involving Yawari were awaiting assignment of trial dates before the National Court. In March the Ombudsman Commission announced it was freezing funds in the rehabilitation education sector infrastructure trust accounts (RESI) pending further investigation after it determined that none of the more than 37 million kina (approximately $14.4 million) withdrawn from the RESI accounts had been spent on improving educational establishments. Investigation of the matter continued at year's end. In April the government suspended the Police Association president, Robert Ali, and members of his executive committee pending investigation of alleged misappropriation of more than 500,000 kina (approximately $194,550) of association funds. The case remained pending at year's end.
The Ombudsman Commission was still investigating the May 2008 case involving allegations that representatives of a foreign government had offered 80 million kina (approximately $31.1 million) to government officials in exchange for establishing diplomatic relations and a separate 2008 case in which the media claimed that a government minister had 100 million kina (approximately $38.9 million) in a foreign bank account. At year's end no investigation reports on either case had been released.
Public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws as stipulated in the leadership code of conduct. The Ombudsman Commission, the Leadership Tribunal, and the Public Accounts Committee are key organizations responsible for combating government corruption.
No law provides for public access to government information. The government published frequent public notices in national newspapers and occasional reports on specific topics facing the government; however, it generally was not responsive to individual requests, including media requests, for access to government information.
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
On the evening of December 11, unknown assailants shot and wounded Chief Ombudsman Commissioner Chronex Manek as he returned home from an official function. Manek reported that three men armed with guns jumped out of a vehicle that had followed him home, surrounded his vehicle, and shot him twice through his car window as he rammed his car into their vehicle in an attempt to escape. The assailants then fled the scene. Manek was treated at a local hospital for a bullet wound in his arm and later released. The authorities were investigating the incident at year's end.
The government cooperated with international governmental organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other organizations.
The constitution provides for equal protection under the law irrespective of race, tribe, place of origin, color, or sex; however, enforcement of the provisions was not effective.
Violence against women, including domestic violence and gang rape, was a serious and prevalent problem.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by imprisonment, and prison sentences were imposed on convicted assailants, but few rapists were apprehended. The willingness of some communities to settle incidents of rape through material compensation rather than criminal prosecution made the crime difficult to combat. The legal system allows village chiefs to negotiate the payment of compensation in lieu of trials for rapists.
Domestic violence was common and is a crime. However, since most communities viewed domestic violence as a private matter, few victims pressed charges, and prosecutions were rare. Widespread sexual violence committed by police officials and their unresponsiveness to complaints of sexual or domestic violence served as barriers to reporting by both women and men. Traditional village mores, which served as deterrents against violence, were weak and largely absent when youths moved from their villages to larger towns or to the capital. AI reported that there were only three shelters for abused women in Port Moresby, all privately run; the situation was even worse outside the capital.
Violence committed against women by other women frequently stemmed from domestic disputes. In areas where polygyny was customary, an increasing number of women were charged with murdering one of their husband's other wives. Independent observers indicated that 90 percent of women in prison had been convicted for attacking or killing another woman.
Prostitution is illegal; however, the laws were not enforced, and the practice was widespread. Sexual harassment is not illegal, and it was a widespread problem.
Under the country's family planning policy, couples and individuals have the right to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children free from violence and coercion. However, in practice the decision of the husband or male partner on such matters usually prevailed over the wishes of the woman. Access in practice to contraception and adequate obstetric and postnatal care was hindered by logistical problems faced by the Health Department in distributing supplies. Medical facilities also were limited in their capacity to provide adequate services to the growing population. Women and men had equal access to diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
The laws have provisions for extensive rights for women dealing with family, marriage, and property disputes. Some women have achieved senior positions in business, the professions, and the civil service; however, traditional discrimination against women persisted. Many women, even in urban areas, were considered second‑class citizens. Women continued to face severe inequalities in all spheres of life: social, cultural, economic, and political. There is no employment antidiscrimination law.
Village courts tended to impose jail terms on women found guilty of adultery while penalizing men lightly or not at all. By law a district court must endorse orders for imprisonment before the sentence is imposed, and circuit‑riding National Court justices frequently annulled such village court sentences. Polygyny and the custom in many tribal cultures of paying a "bride price" tended to reinforce the view that women were property. In addition to the purchase of women as brides, women sometimes were given as compensation to settle disputes between clans, although the courts have ruled that such settlements denied the women their constitutional rights.
According to statistics published by the UN Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization, women continued to lag behind men in literacy and education; 53 percent of women were literate, compared to 62 percent of men. The Ministry of Community Development was responsible for women's issues and had considerable influence over the government's policy toward women.
Citizenship is derived through birth to a citizen parent.
Independent observers generally agreed that the government did not dedicate significant resources to protecting the rights and welfare of children. Religious and secular nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operated programs to protect and develop youth and children.
Primary education was not free, compulsory, or universal. Substantial fees were charged and posed a significant barrier to children's education. Many children did not progress further than primary school.
Boys and girls had equal access to medical care, but many children did not receive effective care. Government‑provided free medical care for citizens, including children, was no longer available due to budget cuts and deteriorating infrastructure, particularly in rural areas.
Sexual abuse of children was believed to be frequent. Independent sources confirmed that in two major cities, 1,000 or more cases of child sexual abuse were reported during the year. Incest is a crime and reportedly increased in frequency. There were cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children between the ages of 14 and 16 in urban areas, including minors working in bars and nightclubs. Human Rights Watch documented numerous instances of police abuse of children.
The legal age for marriage is 18 for boys and 16 for girls. There is a lower legal marriage age (16 for boys and 14 for girls) with parental and court consent. However, customary and traditional practices allow marriage of children as young as age 12, and child marriage was common in many traditional, isolated rural communities. Child brides frequently were taken as additional wives or given as brides to pay family debts and often were used as domestic servants. Child brides were particularly vulnerable to domestic abuse.
The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. The maximum penalty for violators is 25 years' imprisonment or if the child is under age 12, life imprisonment. Child pornography is illegal. Penalties range from a minimum of five to a maximum of 15 years' imprisonment.
The law does not prohibit all forms of trafficking in persons. The criminal code does not prohibit the trafficking of adults, but prohibits the trafficking of children for sexual exploitation or slavery. There were reports of trafficking of women and girls within the country for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Custom requires the family of the groom to pay a "bride price" to the family of the bride. While marriages were usually consensual, women and girls were sometimes sold against their will. There also were reports of Asian women being trafficked into the country to work in the sex industry. Transactional sex was common and often involved the sexual exploitation of children. There were reports of men trafficked to mining and logging camps for the purpose of forced labor.
Asian organized crime groups, foreign logging companies, and Papuan businessmen were believed to lure the majority of foreign trafficking victims to the country with false offers of legitimate jobs.
The government investigated allegations of corruption among officials dealing with passport issuance and immigration. The allegations primarily involved the illegal issuance of residence and work permits for Chinese or South Asian nationals migrating to the country. Although they originally suspected that corrupt officials were aiding the transport of trafficking victims into the country, authorities did not uncover any evidence that mala fide permits and passports were used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there was concern that the country may have been used as a route for trafficking in persons to Australia through different means.
The maximum penalty for slavery-related offenses is 20 years' imprisonment. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for enforcing the law but was ineffective in doing so. There were no prosecutions for trafficking in persons during the year. The Ministry of Justice conducted an antitrafficking workshop during the year.
There were no government programs to assist trafficking victims.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be found at www.state.gov/g/tip.
The constitution prohibits discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities; however, there are no antidiscrimination laws. Persons with disabilities faced discrimination in education, training, and employment. No legislation mandates accessibility to buildings, and most buildings were not accessible.
Through the National Board for the Disabled, the government granted funds to a number of NGOs that provided services to persons with disabilities. The government provided free medical consultations and treatment for persons with mental disabilities, but such services were rarely available outside major cities. In several provinces, apart from the traditional clan and family system, services and health care for persons with disabilities did not exist. Most persons with disabilities did not find training or work outside the family structure.
Centuries-old animosities among isolated tribes, a persistent cultural tradition of revenge for perceived wrongs, and the lack of police enforcement sometimes resulted in violent tribal conflict in the highland areas. In the last few years, the number of deaths resulting from such conflicts continued to rise due to the increased availability of modern weapons.
During the year tribal fighting continued in Western and Eastern Highlands Provinces. In March several hundred members of the Watut tribe raided Biangai tribe villages in Bulolo District, Morobe Province, burning houses, looting properties, and destroying food gardens. Government officials established a peace mediation team to settle the conflict between the two tribes. An agreement was signed between the Morobe provincial government (MPG) and the affected ethnic groups to resolve the matter amicably and in accordance with the law. The MPG also established a Law and Order Committee responsible for coordinating and overseeing all current and future peace mediation efforts in the province. At year's end tensions remained between the two groups, but there was no further violence.
In early May three Chinese employees of the predominantly Chinese-owned Ramu nickel-cobalt mining project were seriously injured in an attack by a group of Papua New Guinea workers who reportedly were angry about working conditions at the site (see section 7.e.). On May 12, violence broke out during a protest march organized in Port Moresby by the organization "NGOs and Civil Society Group" to press authorities to clamp down on the influx of Asians into the country. The protesters alleged that Asian immigrants were taking over cottage industries they thought should be reserved for citizens. Some protesters and others looted shops run by Asians. By May 14, the violence had subsided in the capital as many Asian-owned businesses closed as a precaution. However, over the following days, violence erupted in the cities of Lae and Madang and in several Highlands towns as crowds attacked Asian businesses there. According to press reports, thousands of persons were involved in the looting before police were able to contain the situation. One looter in Lae reportedly was hacked to death and another trampled to death. Some injuries were reported, including several looters shot by police. The authorities subsequently apologized for the violence, and the government announced the appointment of a bipartisan parliamentary committee to investigate the violence, assess its causes, and review the types of businesses operated by Asians in the country. In November, however, three members of Parliament resigned from the committee to protest the ousting of its chairman; according to press reports, Parliament voted to replace the chairman after he indicated the committee would expose involvement of certain politicians in questionable activities with Asian individuals. The committee had not produced a report by year's end.
Sodomy and acts of "gross indecency" between male persons are illegal. The maximum penalty for sodomy is 14 years' imprisonment, and for acts of gross indecency between male persons (a misdemeanor), it is three years. However, there were no reports of prosecutions directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) persons under these provisions during the year. There were no specific reports of societal violence or discrimination against LGBT persons, but they were vulnerable to societal stigmatization.
There were no reports of government discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; however, there was a strong societal stigma attached to HIV/AIDS infection that prevented some individuals from seeking HIV/AIDS-related services. Unlike in some previous years, there were no known reports that companies dismissed HIV‑positive employees after learning of their condition. The nongovernmental Business Coalition against HIV/AIDS worked to combat discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
The law provides for the right to form and join labor unions, subject to registration by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR), and workers exercised this right in practice. The government did not use registration to control unions; however, an unregistered union has no legal standing and thus cannot operate effectively. An estimated half of the approximately 250,000 wage earners in the formal economy were members of approximately 50 trade unions. The Public Employees Association represented an estimated 12,000 persons employed by national, provincial, and municipal governments, or one‑third of the public-sector workforce. Unions were independent of both the government and political parties.
The law provides for the right to strike, although the government may and often did intervene in labor disputes to require arbitration before workers may legally strike. The law prohibits retaliation against strikers, but it was not always enforced. The DLIR is responsible for enforcement. Employees of some government‑owned enterprises went on strike on several occasions during the year, primarily to protest against privatization policies or in pay disputes. In most cases the strikes were brief and ineffective.
The law provides for the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining, and workers exercised these rights in practice. However, under the law the government has discretionary power to cancel arbitration awards or declare wage agreements void when they are contrary to government policy. The DLIR and the courts are involved in dispute settlement. Wages above the minimum wage were set through negotiations between employers and employees or their respective industrial organizations.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers against union leaders, members, and organizers; however, the DLIR enforced the law selectively.
The constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that such practices occurred in the formal economy. Some children were obliged to work long hours as domestic servants in private homes (see section 7.d.).
The law establishes the minimum working age as 16; for hazardous work, the minimum age is 18. However, children between the ages of 11 and 18 may be employed in a family business or enterprise provided they have parental permission, a medical clearance, and a work permit from a labor office. This type of employment was rare, except in subsistence agriculture. Work by children between the ages of 11 and 16 must not interfere with school attendance. Some children under 18 worked in bars and nightclubs and were vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation. Children also were exploited in the production of pornography. There were children selling cigarettes, food, CDs, and DVDs on the street and in grocery stores near mine and logging camps. Some children (primarily girls) worked long hours as domestic servants in private homes, often to repay a family debt to the "host" family. In some cases the host family was a relative who had informally "adopted" the child. The DLIR is responsible for enforcing child labor laws.
The Minimum Wage Board, a quasi-governmental body with labor and employer representatives, sets minimum wages for the private sector. In April the board increased the minimum wage to 100.80 kina (approximately $39) per week and also abolished the separate, lower youth wage for new entrants into the labor force between ages 16 and 21. Although it was above the national per capita income, the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family who lived solely on the cash economy.
The law regulates minimum wage levels, allowances, rest periods, holiday leave, and overtime. The law limits the workweek to 42 hours per week in urban areas and 44 hours per week in rural areas, and it provides for premium pay for overtime work. The law provides for at least one rest period of 24 consecutive hours every week. Although the DLIR and the courts attempted to enforce the law, they were not effective.
The DLIR is also responsible for enforcing the Industrial Health and Safety Law and related regulations. The law requires inspection of work sites on a regular basis; however, due to a shortage of inspectors, inspections took place only when requested by workers or unions.
Workers' ability to remove themselves from hazardous working conditions varied by workplace. Unionized workers had some measure of protection in such situations. The law protects legal foreign workers. The few illegal foreign workers lacked full legal protection.
In May fighting broke out between Chinese and Papua New Guinea workers at the predominantly Chinese-owned Ramu nickel-cobalt mining project; the local workers reportedly were angry at the project's Chinese managers following an industrial accident at the site. In July the authorities ordered construction work halted at the project. In August the project resumed, reportedly following resolution of a number of health and safety issues.
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Navyhistory.com
History of Ships and Navies
Navy Links
HistoryShopping.com
Navalshopping.com
Historycentral.com
America's Wars
Ê US Aircraft of WW2
NationbyNation.com
Multieducator Products
Sibyl SwStr
(SwStr: t. 176; a. 2 30-par. P.r., 2 24-pdrs.)
Sibyl– a wooden-hulled, side wheel steamer built at Cincinnati, Ohio, as Hartford in 1863—was purchased by the Navy at Cincinnati on 27 April 1864, renamed Sybyl on 26 May 1864, and commissioned at Mound City, Ill., on 16 June 1864, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Henry H. Gorringe in command.
Sibyl was based at Cairo, Ill., and used as a dispatch boat for Rear Admiral David D. Porter, the commander of the Mississippi Squadron. Her first cruise began early in July and took her downriver as far as Natchez, Miss., delivering messages to Navy ships en route. She continued this type of service through the
end of the Civil War, gathering intelligence of Confederate activity as she steamed up and down the river. She was decommissioned at Mound City on 31 July 1865 was sold at public auction there on 17 August 1865 to R. J. Trunstoll, and was redocumented as Comet on 28 September 1865. After more than a decade of mercantile service, the ship was abandoned in 1876.
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King Richard III, The last Plantagenet King, will once again be Laid to Rest
Loving Remains: Bone Worship and Richard III
By Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Region: Europe
Theme: History
“But it’s all vanity, all vanity. This is truly the theatre of the absurd.” – Rev. David H. Clark, The Leicester Mercury, Mar 20, 2015
The things bones can do to people. In the case of Richard III, his remains have become an opportunity. Those liking pageantry got their show in Leicester cathedral on Thursday, a grand, somewhat bizarre spectacle to draw in audiences and the media ratings. Period attire was worn. The clergy got busy. Benedict Cumberbatch, a distant relative of the long deceased sovereign, read a poem by the poet laureate. The residents of Leicester – at least some of them – have decided that, “The world is watching. Let’s put Leicester and our county on the map.”
Such occasions dispel notions that the British are somehow shedding their monarchical mania, becoming the upright citizens of a modern state. Even in this era, enjoyment can be gained from such a burial, bathed as it is in tones of the governors and the governed. Be submissive. Be humble. The man was a king. This was an attempt at allegorised celebrity – reading a monarch’s legacy of five hundred years through the narrowest prism of the twenty first century, Richard transformed into a pop phenomenon – absent those blighting references to child and wife butchery.
Tom Sykes, writing for The Daily Beast, suggested that, in burying Richard III a second time, the nation would be “doing it right” which seemed to suggest that monarchs need exceptional burials. He writes in the tone of true sovereign worship, with a suggestion that the divine right has somehow survived, a nostalgic binge and twinge. “More than 500 years after his death in August 1485, King Richard III, the last Plantagenet king, will once again be laid to rest on Thursday in the grandeur of Leicester Cathedral, surroundings undoubtedly more suited to a king than the unmarked and forgotten grave under which a municipal car park from which he was exhumed a little over two years ago.”[1]
Not all have suffered that level of nostalgic bloom over a monarch who did receive the classic Tudor treatment of historical blackwashing. Polly Toynbee in The Guardian proved particularly savage. This sweet commemorative ceremony was nothing short of grotesque. “He may have been a child-murdering tyrant, but he was a king. So, in a nation where we still think like subjects, not citizens, thousands came to humble themselves before his 500-year-old bones.”[2] His bones were effectively being sanctified, with his remains rendered holy in historical time. The quality of the monarch, let alone his character, was quite something else. Royalty as station is always forgiven.
Then there was the choice of venue and ritual – Richard was being given a curious treatment at a location he would not have given a second thought to. York, for instance, has been deemed by some, especially those in York, to be far more fitting, with some measure gathered from e-petitions. Biographers have undertaken their own battle of the script, wondering where the ill-fated monarch would have hoped to be buried. Rosemary Horrox pitted for York Minster; Professor Mark Ormrod of York University thought otherwise. “It would certainly have been unusual in 1485 for a king of England to be buried in York.”[3]
Having received the fatal battle blows at Bosworth Field, mused Alex Thompson of Channel 4, “logic suggests Leicester is about the last place he’d want to be laid to rest.”[4] Then came the ceremonialism of “Anglicanism, all cooked up by the spooky Tudors because one of them couldn’t get Rome to endorse regal domestic crime.” The monarch would have been bemused, and perhaps even dismayed. It was John Ashdown-Hill, the discoverer of the remains, who suggested that a Catholic burial would be more fitting.
To hell, then, with the history and its tawdry accounts. The festivities were very much an attempt, as it has been historically, to worship bones and make some ruddy cash out of it. The Church bone industrial complex has proven to be an effective and enduring one, with Europe covered in pilgrimage arteries that feature the finger of a saint, the nose of another miracle worker, and, well, feet. All very Catholic of course, an irony that was evidently lost on the Anglican organisers.
In the case of King Richard, getting him to be buried in Leicester itself was a money point, a phenomenal wastage of council funds even as governments are supposedly tightening their belts before the austerity demon. No doubt the wish to see those funds recouped over time is very strong.
In the local paper, Anglican clergyman Rev. David H. Clark, thought it all rather silly, taking an old snipe at the misuse of religious resources, not least of all the use of £500,000 from the diocesan kitty. “This claim ‘with dignity and honour’ is a successful attempt to hook this pile of old bones into the religious establishment and has wasted thousands of ecclesiastical man-and-woman hours, which might have been better spent practicing and promoting Christianity.”[5] That the bishop and the dean weighed in to support the royalist escape was beyond Clark. “It’s all faintly idolatrous: as if Monarch’s Bone Worship had come into fashion.” As indeed it has.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: [email protected]
[1] http://linkis.com/thedailybeast.com/oKtv6
[2] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/26/britain-king-richard-iii-tyrant
[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10331395/A-sordid-song-and-dance-over-Richard-IIIs-bones.html
[4] http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/richard-iii-tourism-trade-leicester/9237
[5] http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Person-Richard-III-circus-totally-absurd/story-26206464-detail/story.html
Copyright © Dr. Binoy Kampmark, Global Research, 2015
Articles by: Dr. Binoy Kampmark
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ShortTakes
Health-care insurers' profits up 56 percent
WASHINGTON -- As the nation struggled in 2009 with rising health-care costs and a recession, the five largest health-insurance companies racked up combined profits of $12.2 billion -- up 56 percent over 2008, according to a new report by liberal health-care activists.
Based on company financial reports for 2009 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the report said WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Cigna Corp., Aetna and Humana Inc. covered 2.7 million fewer people than they did the year before.
The report Thursday also said three of the five insurers cut the proportion of premiums they spent on their customers' medical care, committing relatively more to salaries, administrative expenses and profits.
The report was prepared by Heath Care for America Now, a coalition of liberal advocacy groups and labor unions.
Industry representatives Thursday criticized the report's approach, pointing out that 2008 was a bad year financially across many industries, skewing the 2009 comparison.
SEATTLE -- A stolen airplane found in the San Juan Islands and chalk-outline feet drawn all over a burgled grocery store suggest that Washington's infamous teenage "barefoot burglar" is back at it.
Authorities across Western Washington state have been hoping to catch alleged bandit Colton Harris-Moore since the lanky 18-year-old escaped from a halfway house in April 2008.
Since then, he's suspected in scores of burglaries, many of them near his home on Camano Island and in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle. Investigators believe he more recently turned to joy riding in airplanes.
Surveillance video of some burglaries showed the culprit barefoot -- hence the moniker.
Harris-Moore's legend has only grown since fall, with a Facebook page now boasting 16,800 fans and a Time magazine piece dubbing him "America's Most Wanted Teen Bandit."
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic official said Rep. Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek re-election for his seat representing Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress.
The official spoke to the Associated Press on the condition that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak ahead of the official announcement.
The decision by the eight-term congressman comes less than a month after a stunning Republican upset in the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat his late father, Edward M. Kennedy, held for almost half a century.
Patrick Kennedy has been in and out of treatment for substance abuse since crashing his car outside the U.S Capitol in 2006. Still, he has been comfortably re-elected twice since then, after making mental-health care his signature issue in Washington.
PORTLAND, Maine -- The recent cold snap in the Deep South has sucked federal emergency home heating dollars away from cold-weather states, causing heating aid to dry up faster than usual in many Northern states.
The South was the beneficiary in January when the Obama administration released $490 million in emergency heating funds, using a formula that took into account colder-than-normal temperatures and, for the first time, unemployment levels. Both factors favored the South, so Sun Belt states reaped the biggest gains.
Compared with the previous winter, Maine saw a drop in aid of 81 percent, followed by Vermont's 80 percent and New Hampshire's 78 percent. Alaska's was down 62 percent, Minnesota 28 percent.
Emergency funding more than tripled for Florida and Georgia, and more than doubled in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, according to the Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition. Puerto Rico picked up $540,000 under the formula.
WASHINGTON -- Toyota's top executive is expected to visit the United States in early March amid pressure from a House Republican that the company's leader testify before Congress about the automaker's safety lapses.
Toyota confirmed Thursday that Akio Toyoda, Toyota's president and the grandson of the company's founder, was expected to visit the U.S. in early March to meet with government officials and members of Congress but said his schedule was still under discussion. The executive previously said he intended to travel to America to meet Toyota workers and dealers in the aftermath of a global recall of 8.5 million vehicles.
Toyoda's trip is intended to reassure rattled car owners and company employees after the massive recalls.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama at the White House next week.
China today urged the United States to immediately cancel plans for President Barack Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama. The meeting is set for Thursday.
China accuses the Dalai Lama of pushing for Tibetan independence, which the Dalai Lama denies, and believes that shunning the exiled Tibetan monk should be a basic principle of international relations. Obama has been under intense pressure to meet with the Dalai Lama after putting off a meeting in October.
"We urge the U.S. side to fully understand the high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues, honor its commitment to recognizing Tibet as part of China and opposing 'Tibet independence,'" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.
WASHINGTON -- Republican groups are raising money under the guise of the U.S. Census Bureau, leaving the government's people-counters worried that a flurry of misleading letters could make some Americans less likely to respond to the real thing.
After the Republican National Committee raised money with such mailings, congressional Republicans are now conducting a fundraising "census" of their own.
House Minority Leader John Boehner writes in a new mailing that people were specially chosen to receive "the enclosed CENSUS DOCUMENT containing your 2010 Census of America's Republican Leadership."
Like other solicitations in recent months, Boehner's seeks to capitalize on the name of the Census Bureau.
The Census Bureau is worried the flurry of misleading letters could deter participation, and Democrats are pushing legislation to stop it.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Two astronauts were spacewalking outside the International Space Station late Thursday night.
Visiting shuttle crewmen Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick ventured out to help put on the last big space station addition. The new room and domed lookout represent $400 million in home improvements.
The 23-foot-long room, named Tranquility, was delivered this week by space shuttle Endeavour. Once Tranquility is attached to the space station, Behnken and Patrick will hook up power and data cables. The plumbing will be tackled during a second spacewalk Saturday night. Three spacewalks will be needed to install Tranquility and its observation deck.
-- from wire reports
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U.N. says cell phone use surging
More than half of the people in the developing world are now cell phone subscribers, a U.N. report said Tuesday, highlighting strong global growth in telecommunications.
There were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the end of 2009, compared with about 1 billion in 2002, the International Telecommunication Union said in a report. In developing nations, 57 percent of people were signed up.
"The rate of progress remains remarkable," the U.N. agency said.
The report tallied cell phone, land-line telephone and Internet usage in 159 countries, from the mainly European nations that are most advanced in information technology to those in sub-Saharan Africa that are the least developed.
Internet growth slows
Internet use has grown, but at a slower pace, the report said.
An estimated 1.7 billion people, or 26 percent of the world's population, were online last year, up from 11 percent in 2002.
Still, four out of five people living in poor countries had no access to the Internet, with China alone comprising a third of the people online in the developing world.
"One important challenge in bringing more people online is the limited availability of fixed broadband access," the report said, noting that such services are mainly in the rich world and China.
-- wire report
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Blair's Reviews > Limbo
Blair's review
bookshelves: 2018-release, non-fiction, read-on-kindle
Limbo is a work born of writer's block. It sets out to explore the importance of inbetween states and interstitial spaces, providing along the way a brief cultural history of the concept of 'limbo'. Most interesting for me were the section about ghosts (of course) and the section about the limbo dance, which explains its origins. Traditionally it was a funeral dance, performed at wakes in Trinidad and Tobago during the 19th century; it's said to have originated on slave ships travelling between Africa and the Americas.
Fox links his musings on limbo together with stories about his older brother Karl, who left home to sail the world in 1985 and has rarely revisited the UK since. These were less enjoyable for me. I feel a bit bad about saying so, as they're obviously personal to the author. But I didn't feel they were as clearly connected to the idea of limbo as Fox seemed to think, or especially interesting in their own right. More compelling is the story of Fox embarking on his own journey across the seas – as a passenger on a cargo ship.
Overall it's interesting but not terribly illuminating, and didn't quite manage to convince me that it needed to be a book rather than a feature-length essay in a magazine or online.
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October 3, 2018 – Finished Reading
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RAPE CASE: Ekiti to conduct psychiatric test on offenders, publish pictures on website
The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Ekiti state, Barr. Wale Fapohunda, has expressed worries over the increasing number of rape cases recorded in the stated despite a high number of convictions.
He said to curb the trend, the government would henceforth, conduct a compulsory psychiatric test and publish the names and photographs of offenders on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
The names of such offenders, he said, would also be announced on the state-owned radio and television stations while the monarch of the town such a suspect hails from would be alerted for them to get information about his personality.
Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti on Monday, he said the governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, was surprised about increasing cases of sexual violence and that there was a need for proactive actions to nip the situation in the bud.
Fapohunda expressed optimism that the new measures will support the aggressive prosecution and exclusion of offenders from the governor's prerogative of mercy that were already in place.
"The additional measures put in place include pasting the photographs of convicted offenders in prominent public spaces in their communities and their local government headquarters.
"Issuing an advisory to the traditional rulers of the offender's communities on the status of the offender. Uploading the sex offenders photograph on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
"Showing photographs of sex offenders on Ekiti State Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State, announcing their names on radio and television.
"Compulsory Psychiatric Test for all persons of whom the Director of Public Prosecution has issued a case to answer legal advice for the offence of child defilement. This also includes persons standing trials," he said.
The Commissioner clarified that the government would take actions that will deprive offenders of their rights to dignity.
Fapohunda stated that the government was aware that conviction alone will not solve the problem, promising that public education and awareness would be stepped up to sensitise the populace.
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Kerala Infrastructure
Home > Kerala Infrastructure
Kerala has the highest road density among other Indian states. Every nook and corner of the state has motorable roads with a well developed transport system operating in public and private sector enabling a seamless movement of people and goods across the state. The state has 8 major National Highways, viz, NH-47, NH-17, NH-49, NH-47A, NH-208, NH-212, NH-213 and NH-220, spanning a length of 1523.954 Km. The total length of the State road network in Kerala during 2006-07 increased to 162149 Km from 160944 Km in the previous year. Road density in the State is 417 Km/100 Sq.Km, which is far ahead of national average of 100.39 Km/100 Sq.Km. The length of road per lakh population is 509.23 Km, which is also much higher than the national average of 321.3 Km.
The Indian Railways has spread its impressive network in Kerala connecting the state with all the major cities of the country. A number of long distance trains operate from Kerala to these locations on a daily basis. The Railway division at Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad and Madurai (Tamil Nadu) jointly carry out transport operations in Kerala. The railway network extends over 1148 route Kms in Kerala of which 111.14 km are metre gauge. The total route length of Railways in Thiruvananthapuram Division is 625.80 km.
There are 3 International Airports in Kerala; at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, handling both international and domestic flights. Out of these Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports are owned by Government of India and that at Kochi is owned by Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), a company set up by Govt of Kerala with Public Private Participation (PPP).
The traffic dealt with by the three airports has been growing steadily in recent years due to increased tourist arrivals, large number of Keralites working in Gulf and other countries and also as a result of the ‘Open Sky’ policy measures taken by Government of India. During 2005-06, 62390 flights (31225 domestic and 31165 international) were operated from the three airports. Besides expansion of the existing airports, two more airports are about to come up in the State, one at Kannur district and the other at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district. It will also help the tourism sector of Kerala with more connectivity and easy flying across the state.
Sea port
Along its coastline of 585 Kms, Kerala has one major port at Cochin and 17 non-major ports. The non-major ports are under the administration of Government of Kerala. Government of Kerala intends to provide a boost to coastal shipping with the development of ports, which will ease the burden on the heavily congested highways in the State apart from savings in transportation cost. The Cochin Port, with container handling facility, is one of the most modern international seaports in the country. It spreads over 827 hectares and has a water frontage of 7.5 Km.
An International Container Transshipment Terminal is being developed at Vallarpadam in Kochi, completion of which would make the Cochin port a major hub port in the Indian Ocean region. Government has also decided to develop a Deep Water Container Transshipment Terminal at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram through PPP mode. The Terminal when completed would be able to cater to container vessels up to 8000 TEUs in the initial phase and 10000 to 12000 TEUs sizes
Kerala is gifted with numerous backwaters, making it one of the States in India where waterways are successfully used for commercial Inland Water Transport. The transportation is mainly done with country craft and passenger vessels. There are 41 navigable rivers in Kerala, and the total length of the Inland Waterways in the State is 1687 Km.
The Inland Canals play an important role in the economy of the State as they interconnect the rivers, on the banks of which are situated places of commercial and industrial importance. Besides, they also give a connection from interior places to the West Coast Canal System. The West Coast Canal spans a total length of 560 Km starting from Kovalam
Kerala is one among the few Indian states which has the lowest rates for electricity for both domestic and commercial outfits. Hydel energy is the main source of power generation in the state, and the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is the sole organization to supply power to different categories of consumers. KSEB has an installed capacity of 2087.23 MW on its own, with another 570.016 MW contributed by NTPC and private sector producers, thereby taking the total installed capacity of State to 2657.25 MW.
There are 24 Hydel projects owned by KSEB and 2 by private agencies. The wind farm located at Kanjikode, Palakkad with an installed capacity of 2.025 MW is the only one of its kind utilizing the non-conventional energy sources. The Brahmapuram and Kozhikode Thermal Power Plants with installed capacities of 106.6 MW and 128 MW respectively uses LSHS as fuel and are owned by KSEB.
Kerala has a well-developed telecommunications infrastructure, with the highest tele-density in the country. All the 988 telephone exchanges in the state are digital and are connected to the National Internet Backbone (NIB) by optical fibre cables. Kerala’s leadership in telecom infrastructure is further strengthened by the International Gateway facilities offered by VSNL. Kochi, the primary International Gateway in India, handles two-thirds of the country’s data traffic.
The state is a forerunner in several e-commerce and e-governance initiatives of the country. The district of Malappuram has even emerged as the first 100% computer literate district in the country. NASSCOM, the apex organization of the software industry in the country, has already rated Kochi as the second-best destination in India for setting up IT enabled Services (ITES) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) ventures.
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IELTS Speaking Test Sample 72
Last Updated: Sunday, 07 July 2019 16:34
IELTS Speaking Test # 72
Part 1 - Introduction & Interview
[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Songs and singing
Q. Did you enjoy singing when you were younger? [Why?/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, I did enjoy singing when I was younger because it helped me to have fun and feel better when I needed to give a lift to my mood. Besides, I had a really good voice, when I was younger (in fact, I would participate in school singing competition), and I thought, I could also become a good singer.
Q. How often do you sing now? [Why?]
Answer: Unfortunately, I don’t really sing very often these days. In fact, I can’t even remember when the last time I sang, and it’s primarily because I don’t really have a good voice today that I used to have when I was younger. Besides, life has become much more complicated these days where it is just not easy to get into the mood of singing. But, sometimes I hum and sing a few lines of my favourite songs when I listen to music in my room alone.
Q. Do you have a favourite song you like listening to? [Why?/Why not?]
Answer: One favourite song, which I like to listen to, is a very romantic song, from an old Bengali movie called “Pitch Dhala path” (Bitumen Paved Road), with the title “male bee whispering in the ears of a flower”. I like this song because it touches the romantic cords of my heart repeatedly, and it has some really great and original lyrics.
Q. How important is singing in your culture? [Why?]
Answer: As in any other culture, singing is an important part of my culture as well primarily because it helps us express our feelings and emotions unlike anything else. Besides, any cultural functions or gatherings, unless they are strictly religious, in my country are considered to be “incomplete” without any singing acts.
Part 2 - Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card
[The topic for your talk will be written on a card which the examiner will hand you. Read it carefully and then make some brief notes.]
Describe a film/movie actor/actress from your country who is very popular.
who this actor or actress is/was
what kinds of films/movies he/she acts/acted in
what you know about the life of this actor/actress
and explain why this actor/actress is/was so popular in your country.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
When he was born in a very little known suburb of Calcutta in 1942, no one exactly had any reason to believe that he would become the greatest Bangladeshi film actor of all time. His name is "Razzak". Having started his film career in 1966 in a film called "Behula" (named after a "lady" considered to be the epitome of love and sacrifice in a mythological story), the legendary actor has worked in all kinds of movies including drama, romance, action, comedy and fantasy.
Being referred as "Nayak Raj" (King of the actors) in the Bangladeshi film industry, the actor has performed brilliantly, eclipsing all of his contemporary actors and actresses, in all kinds of movies by exceeding all kinds of expectations. In fact, Razzak is the only actor in Bangladeshi film history who has won Bangladesh National Film Award for best actor five times in his 50 years' acting career.
Razzak's powerful acting and good looks made him arguably the most famous and popular actor in Bangladesh. He is not just an actor, but also a film director and producer. I am no movie critique, but what I understand from watching some of his famous movies, Razzak's acting demands some artistic reverence without which one probably wouldn't be able to understand that even his "body language" offers more dialogues than his speech itself. Besides, the actor has an extraordinary ability to blend in any kind of acting so easily, making our experience of watching him on the big screen so magical and lively.
In fact, this great actor himself, married with 5 children, is like an "institution", taking him to an unparallel height of artistic abilities. He, in his bright career, acted in over three hundred films in Bengali and Urdu and won the hearts of millions. Being the paramount figure in Dhaka film industry, this great actor has also remained a style icon for a long time in Bangladesh. Finally, He was also elected goodwill ambassador of UNICEF as the first Bangladeshi film artiste. Dead at 75 years of age, this great actor will remain in the hearts of millions of Bangladeshi movie lovers for generations.
Discussion topic: Watching films/movies
Q. What are the most popular types of films in your country?
Answer: Having started its journey during the late 1950s, the film industry in Bangladesh has certainly come a long way to assimilate itself into the cultural environment of my country. During this period of time, the movie lovers in Bangladesh have seen all kinds of films, including fantasy, action, drama, romance, adventure and comedy. But, when it comes to naming the most popular types of films in my country, I would certainly say that fantasy, action and romance types are the winners with "romance" being at the top. However, it's not that the other types of films are not made in Bangladesh, but they don't really become as commercially successful as the other 3 types which I have mentioned. In fact, in the history of Bangladesh, the most commercially successful movie "Beder Meye Josna" (the daughter of snake charmer) is a "Romance" type.
Q. What is the difference between watching a film in the cinema and watching a film at home?
Answer: Well, watching a movie in a movie theatre and watching it at home has some notable differences. First, the theatre has a really large screen, modern sound system, great visual impact and an arrangement where we tend to watch it with a large number of people we do not know at all. We have to follow the time schedule and some rules to watch the movie and can't take a break whenever we want as the movie continues to run. We need to spend a large sum of money to enjoy a movie at a modern and cosy theatre and we often decide to watch a movie with friends or family there.
On the contrary, we usually watch movies at home on our computer screen, laptop or a large TV which is not as large as the screen in a theatre is. The sound and visual impression are not comparable to the theatre but we have the freedom to watch it whenever we want and can take breaks as many time as we want. We usually watch a movie at home with some of our family members or alone unlike a cinema hall. Finally, it costs very little and sometimes nothing to watch a movie at home. Finally, we often watch a movie at home because we want to watch that very movie while going to a cinema could be a social activity with friends.
Q. Do you think cinemas will close in the future?
Answer: No, I do not believe that cinema will close in the future and we will not enjoy a newly-released movie at the comfort of a modern theatre. It is true that the number of cinema halls in my country has shrunk at an alarming rate in the past few years, but people will always choose to visit a theatre with friends and family as part of their free time activities.
Large and modern TV screens with impressive sound quality and the popularity of movie streaming service like Netflix will definitely reduce the number of moviegoers in the future, but it does not mean that cinema hall will become history and we will no longer enjoy a movie at a theatre.
Discussion topic: Theatre
Q. How important is the theatre in your country’s history?
Answer: My country, Bangladesh, has witnessed the tradition of theatre from an ancient time. Of course, it has changed in the course of time as the country itself went through a lot of transformations demographically, geographically, socially and economically. But, historically speaking, the theatre in Bangladesh has played an important role in shaping a powerful political and cultural movement which eventually helped create a "Bangladesh" as we see it today.
Q. How strong a tradition is it today in your country to go to the theatre?
Answer: The theatre groups, which were created after 1971, tried to raise social consciousness among its fellow citizens by launching a language-based nationalistic movement. Most of these theatre groups, including Nagarik Natya Sampraday (Citizens Community Theatre) and Dhaka Theatre, were mostly non-professional groups. However, later on, during the 1990's, important attempts were made to create professional theatres such as "Bangla Theatre", "Theatre Art" and "The Center for Asian Theatre", but still the "theatre culture" hasn't exactly flourished in my country as expected since the profession is just not economically viable enough. So, it is fair to suggest that theatre hasn't exactly developed as an "industry" for "cultural expression" in Bangladesh because of very limited financial gains, and as a result, no strong tradition as yet that would encourage its people to visit there for the purpose of promoting this "collaborative form of fine art".
Q. Do you think the theatre should be run as a business or as a public service?
Answer: Running a cinema as a public service is not practical and I believe if we ever try to make it a public service, it will lose its appeals and quality. First, millions of dollars are spent on making a movie and those funds mostly come from private organisations and business people who invest heavily to make a profit. If the funds are provided by the states, we won't see many exciting movies in the future. Besides, the government already has many unfulfilled responsibilities to its citizens and controlling cinema as a public service is not a good idea, at least not in my country.
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IELTS Speaking Sample 22
Last Updated: Monday, 25 September 2017 15:28
IELTS Speaking Mock Test 22
Part One- General Discussion
Q. Good afternoon. My name is Christopher. Could I have your name, please?
A. Good afternoon. My name is Leon Frederic and you can call me Leon.
Q. What places in your country should a foreigner visit?
A. I am from Belgium and our country has many attractive tourist spots. Brussels, for example, is the centre location, the heart of Europe and an international metropolis that attracts a lot of tourists every day. This is a highly recommended place for tourists and foreigners.
Apart from that, Bruges is another attractive destination which was listed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites. SPA, which is also called ‘Pearl of the Ardennes’ is another tourist spot I would recommend to international tourists. Cathedral of Saint Bavo, Ghent is one of my favourite places in Belgium and I think this is a worth visiting place for any foreigner.
Q. What places would you recommend a visitor to go to in your hometown?
A. I am from Aalst, Belgium. This city has many beautiful places to visit. Belfry of Aalst and Saint Martin's Church are two places I would highly recommend to a new visitor. A visitor should spend a considerable amount of time visiting ‘t Gasthuys - Stedelijk Museum Aalst’ which is an interesting museum in my opinion.
Q. Tell me something about your family.
A. Well, I live in a nuclear family which is quite different than the family my grandfather had. I, in fact, can compare the changes because I observed both of these two types of families. My father is a researcher and professor in a university and he teaches physics while my mother is a housewife and works as a part-time consultant at local law firms. My mother was, in fact, a full-time lawyer, but sacrifices her career when my elder brother came to the world. I have got two sisters and a brother and I am the youngest in the family. I am very close to my family and I admire all of them for their great help and support for me.
Q. What do you do in your spare time?
A. I mostly hang out with my friends in my leisure time. I have some really good friends and we have many common passion and interests and playing the guitar is one of those. I often read books or use the internet in my free time when I am at home. If I get a long vacation I love to visit different places with my family. Last month we went on a tour and stayed near a beach for 3 days.
Part 2 - Cue Card
Describe the best present you have ever received in your life.
what the present/ gift was
who gave it to you
when you received it
and explain why this is the best present you have ever received.
[ You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you’re going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
Click here for the answer of this Cue Card Topic
Q. Do you think that present giving will play an important role in our daily life in the future? Why?
A. Yes, the present giving and exchanging gifts is already an important part in our daily life and it will continue for a long. We give gifts to people we care about and this is a way to show that we care. People, in fact, expect gifts in many parts of the world on special occasions. For instance, most of the children and young people in my country expect that their family members, relatives and friends would be present on their birthday and would give them gifts.
Gift exchange is a part of many cultures and I can think of several occasions when people love to do that. For instance, during the Christmas seasons, New Year and other occasions it is quite customary to exchange gifts. This is an important part of our life as it brings us closer to each other, represents our good wishes and blessings. As the society has evolved, the custom of gift changing might have slightly changed but its main role has remained the same - to show our love and good wishes for others we care about.
Q. Do you think that the brand name is very important for sales?
A. Yes, I think so. From my personal experience, I can say that good brands ensure proper quality of a product and that is why people are ready to pay more to purchase the branded products - be it a pair of jeans, a laptop or a household appliance. Brand names ensure better sales as they give a positive impression, customer satisfaction and guarantee of the quality to a customer. The after-sales service of a reputed brand is comparatively better than that of a brandless product and this is why many people do not take the risk of purchasing brandless products. Due to the lack of customer service and decent guarantee on non-brand products the sales are on the rise for branded products. This is even more applicable in this modern era when replica products are quite common in the market. The upsurging sales volume of the branded cellphones despite the presence of brandless mobiles at a very lower price is a proof that people still rely on branded products.
Q. In terms of the media, which do you think will play the main role in present giving, television, newspaper or the Internet?
A. I am quite positive that the internet has a greater role to play in our present giving trend and in the future, the internet would be the hub to send or receive the gifts with the booming of the e-commerce and related technology in almost all of the world. To be honest, the internet is a more powerful media that will reach more people in the future than the television and newspaper would. This is why the main role of choosing, purchasing, sending or receiving a gift would all be done with the help of this technology. The television and newspaper fail to connect the people all around the world and provide the platform for gift exchanging but this is not the fact in the case of the internet. The rich features like the wish list, online greeting, the global e-commerce website like amazon.com and worldwide express delivery systems would, in fact, change the way we purchase and present gifts to others.
Q. Compare the gift which people have received 10 years ago to the present that people now are receiving? What's the difference between them?
A. Well, that's a nice question. I can answer this from my own experience. Ten years ago people used to receive gifts mostly from their relatives, friends and family members and household appliances, story books, pens, diary, money, dresses and showpieces were the main gift items at that time. These days, people get gifts from a wider circle including people they do not know very well. For instance, in my last job, I was given a wrist watch by a person who joined the company just three months ago and that was quite a surprise for me. In terms of the gift items people receive these days, technological devices, electronic gadgets and household electronic appliances are more frequent than the storybooks, pens and dresses. I believe the number of occasions when people exchanged gifts in the past has increased as well and these days we have more occasions to celebrate and more people to give us gifts!
Q. Do you think the custom of gift giving changes over time? Why?
A. Well, the customs of gift giving varies widely across the countries. The custom has changed, evolving and will change in the future. Ther are few reasons that influence the fact. First of all, people give gifts marking various ceremonies or religious occasions. But the types of gifts are different now than it was before. Earlier, people used to give monetary gifts to others while the tradition is less frequent at present time. Moreover, guests also used to provide some other types of materialistic gifts on different occasions. But now the types are different and people rely on the internet mostly to pick the gifts. Basically, it is the time and trend that sets the types of gifts. In the past, people had fewer options and they chose the right one as a gift. But now amid thousands of websites, they get the desired stuff and often get confused which one to pick. This will continue to change in the future as well.
Q. How can the Internet change the way people exchange gifts?
A. The Internet plays a great role in the way we exchange gifts these days. It has made selecting and sending gifts easier for them. Now people do not need to be present physically at stores to purchase a present; rather they can place an order while the product is delivered on the doorstep to the recipient. I think this is a great way and the internet will change the way of exchanging gifts even more in the coming days.
[I think that's all I want to ask you today. Thank you very much. It was very interesting talking to you and I wish you all the best. Goodbye.]
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What Is a Stretch IRA?
Tip: What’s in a Name? If you fail to name a beneficiary on your IRA, it may be much more difficult for your beneficiaries to ‘stretch’ the inherited IRA over their lifetimes.
The Investment Company Institute reports that there is roughly $7.9 trillion in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA).1 To help put that in perspective, that’s nearly half the annual gross domestic product of the U.S.2
If you have a traditional IRA, you may have the opportunity to stretch it out, meaning the account may be structured to extend its tax-deferred status across multiple generations.3
With a traditional IRA, the account holder must begin taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) by April 1 of the year after he or she turns 70½. These payments are based on the IRS’ tables for life expectancy. To calculate an RMD, divide the account balance by the account holder’s anticipated lifespan.
Let’s assume, for example, a 73-year-old has an IRA with a balance of $250,000. According to the Internal Revenue Service's 2017 lifespan table, the person's life expectancy is 14.8 years, so the RMD is:
$250,000 ÷ 14.8 = $16,891.89
At that rate, it may take several years to deplete the account — in some cases, longer than the account owner is likely to be alive. So what are your options?
First, you can name your spouse as beneficiary of the traditional IRA, and he or she can roll the balance into a new account. If your spouse is over age 70½ when you die, he or she must begin taking RMDs based on his or her life expectancy. When your spouse dies, the second-generation beneficiary may transfer the balance into an inherited IRA. Then, the owner of the inherited IRA must begin taking RMDs based on his or her life expectancy. (See illustration.)
This gives the money in the inherited IRA a longer time to remain tax deferred. Keep in mind, however, that there is no guarantee that the person who inherited the IRA will continue the tax-deferred treatment of the account.
How About a Roth IRA?
Fast Fact: Inheritance. The IRS rules that allow a stretch IRA are the rules under which one inherits an IRA. This is why stretch IRAs are sometimes referred to as “inherited IRAs.”
Stretching a Roth IRA follows similar rules to a traditional IRA. But remember, a Roth IRA does not require any RMDs. If you name your spouse as a beneficiary, he or she can roll the balance into a new Roth account. Since it remains a Roth IRA, your spouse is not required to take RMDs either. When your spouse passes, the beneficiary must begin taking distributions. The distributions will be tax free since it’s a Roth IRA.4
Stretching an IRA can be a powerful strategy. But it’s critical to understand the limitations and benefits before following the approach.
A single father, age 55, rolls over $250,000 from his employer’s retirement plan into a traditional IRA and names his son, age 25, as beneficiary. At age 70½, the account owner starts taking RMDs.
When he dies at age 80, his son moves the assets into an inherited IRA and starts taking RMDs based on his life expectancy.
By the time it’s exhausted, the IRA will have lasted 85 years and paid out over $2 million in benefits — all from a $250,000 rollover.
This is a hypothetical example used for illustrative purposes only. It is not representative of any specific investment or combination of investments. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Actual results will vary.
Investment Company Institute, 2017
CIA World Factbook, 2017
Contributions to a traditional IRA may be fully or partially deductible, depending on your individual circumstance. Distributions from traditional IRAs and most other employer–sponsored retirement plans are taxed as ordinary income and, if taken before age 59½, may be subject to a 10% federal income tax penalty. Generally, once you reach age 70½, you must begin taking required minimum distributions.
To qualify for the tax-free and penalty-free withdrawal of earnings, Roth IRA distributions must meet a five-year holding requirement and occur after age 59½. Tax-free and penalty-free withdrawals also can be taken under certain other circumstances, such as a result of the owner’s death. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminated the ability to "undo" a Roth conversion.
Should You Borrow from Your 401(k)?
Does it make sense to borrow from my 401(k) to pay off debt or to make a major purchase?
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Calistoga, city, Napa county, western California, U.S. Located just northeast of Santa Rosa, Calistoga lies near the head of Napa Valley, 80 miles (130 km) north of San Francisco. Located in an area of natural hot-water geysers and mineral and mud springs, it was founded in 1859 as a health spa by Sam Brannan. The city supposedly received its name through a promotional twist of its founder’s tongue (he reportedly said “Calistoga of Sarafornia” instead of “Saratoga of California”).
Calistoga: Old Faithful Geyser of CaliforniaOld Faithful Geyser of California, Calistoga, Calif. EugeneZelenko
The city’s “Old Faithful Geyser of California,” which shoots hot water 60 feet (20 metres) into the air, erupts regularly every 30 minutes. In the summer of 1880, author Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, honeymooned near an abandoned silver mine in the vicinity of Mount St. Helena, which lies 8 miles (13 km) northeast; there he prepared notes for The Silverado Squatters (1883). His sojourn is commemorated by a monument within what is now Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. A petrified forest containing giant redwood fossils and Bothe–Napa Valley State Park are nearby. Calistoga has flourished as a popular resort and has developed an important wine industry, comprising several vineyards. The sale of Calistoga Brand waters (sparkling mineral and mountain spring) is also economically important. The area’s history is preserved at the Sharpsteen Museum. Inc. town, 1886; city, 1937. Pop. (2000) 5,190; (2010) 5,155.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager.
California, constituent state of the United States of America. It was admitted as the 31st state of the union on September 9, 1850, and by the early 1960s it was the most populous U.S. state. No version of the origin of California’s name has been fully accepted, but there is…
Santa Rosa, city, seat (1854) of Sonoma county, western California, U.S. It is situated on Santa Rosa Creek, at the foot of the Sonoma Mountains, 50 miles (80 km) north-northwest of San Francisco. Founded in 1833 by Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and named for St. Rose of Lima, it developed as…
San Francisco, city and port, coextensive with San Francisco county, northern California, U.S., located on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. It is a cultural and financial centre of the western United States and one of the country’s most cosmopolitan cities. Area 46 square miles (120…
Geyser, hot spring that intermittently spouts jets of steam and hot water. The term is derived from the Icelandic word geysir, meaning “to gush.”…
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Focus on Women in Leadership Seminar, Lansdowne Club, 12th of October 2017
We are delighted to invite you to the Focus on Women in Leadership Seminar and Professional Networking event at the Lansdowne Club, 9 Fitzmaurice Place, London W1J 5JD on the 12th of October from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
The aim of this seminar is to review challenges faced by women in leadership positions and highlight key strategies in overcoming these challenges. This event will also provide an opportunity for professionals to be connected to potential mentors to guide them towards their own career progression, as well as, to provide an opportunity to network with a diverse range of professional women from different industry sectors.
Our inspirational panellists include:
Pinky Lilani (CBE DL- Food Guru, Motivational Speaker and Champion for Women): Pinky Lilani CBE DL is a food guru, author, motivational speaker and internationally acclaimed champion for women. She is the force behind the annual Women of the Future Awards, the Asian Women of Achievement Awards, The Ambassadors programme, The Inspirational Women’s Network, The Women of the Future Summit and the Global Empowerment Award. She is Patron of DIL, The Westminster Society and Frank Water. Pinky is an Ambassador for the Tiffany circle of the Red Cross and on the Board of Trustees of the Royal Commonwealth Society. She is a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London and an Associate Fellow of the Said Business School, Oxford.
Farzana Baduel (Founder and CEO – Curzon PR): Farzana is Founder and CEO of Curzon PR, an award-winning strategy and global communications firm. Farzana set up Curzon in 2009 after previously serving as Vice-Chair of Business Relations for the British Conservative Party. Farzana has nurtured Curzon PR, driving it forward as an international leading communications agency, representing a wide variety of clients across three key portfolios – Government, Corporate and Arts & Culture. Government clients have included the government’s of Canada, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and Bahrain. Corporate clients have included Apollo, DLF and 12 Hay Hill whilst Arts & Culture clients have included the Ukrainian Biennale, Hyper Japan and Art Bahrain Across Borders.
Saba Shaukat (Managing Director and Founder – Sentient Design Lab): Saba Shaukat is Managing Director and Founder of Sentient Design Lab, a creative digital design and innovation agency helping companies to design new digital products and services. Her specialist areas are in Fintech, working with FTSE 250 companies, challenger banks, launching new digital currencies and sharing economy solutions. In 2017, Saba was named by Innovate Finance on the Women in Fintech Power list. Prior to this, Saba has spent the past two decades in the mobile telecoms and technology industries working at Board level with BT, Vodafone, BBC and Deloitte Consulting in Global Marketing, Brand Extension and joint ventures and partnering across the EMEA and emerging economies Saba has extensive experience in leading global teams to create new commercial ventures and take to market new data and digital products and services. Saba obtained an MBA from London Business School. She is advisor and associate at Ashridge Executive Management and Silicon Valley based Hult International Business School, working with Boards and Government on innovation and disruptive technology. She is a commentator on technology for the BBC. Saba was on the regional Board of one the Prince’s Trust charities. She mentors young people on entrepreneurship and business skills. In 2012, she mentored her team to victory in the Princes Trust, nationwide Enterprise Challenge competition. She is also Executive Director and Trustee of the Association of MBAs, a global membership organisation incorporating the top 250 Business Schools and over 30,000 MBAs across the world.
Farrah Hamid (Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer– Prettly.com): Farrah is Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer of Prettly.com, a curated online marketplace delivering beauty treatments to the homes and offices of busy women in London. Prettlywas founded three years ago, and the company has since grown to become one of the leading on-demand mobile beauty players in the city. It has been featured in top beauty press including Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Marie Claire and more, and named by Time Out, The Independent, The Telegraph etc as one of the “best mobile beauty services in London”. Overall, Farrah has more than 10 years of experience in the business world and previously focused on marketing and communications for a diverse range of companies, from start-ups to large lifestyle and corporate brands. Farrah holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College in the United States and an MBA from London Business School in the UK.
Saira Awan Malik (BPF Trustee and Entrepreneur): Saira Awan-Malik is a corporate lawyer. From 2009-15, she was an associate in the London office of international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP focusing on corporate and financial transactions, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and capital market issuances. In June 2015, Saira left Cleary Gottlieb to join her family business, TCS (Pakistan) Limited, which is a dominant player in the courier and logistics industry in Pakistan. She is working to develop the international and e-commerce side of the business. Saira received an undergraduate degree in History from Yale University in May 1999. She read Law at Cambridge University (2001-3) and subsequently completed the Bar Vocational Course at Inns of Court School of Law in London. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in October 2007. Saira has served on the board of the British Pakistan Foundation since 2012. In April 2013, she launched the BPF Women’s Network. She is also a founder member of the British Pakistani Lawyers’ Association.
Limited places available!
PreviousBPF Legal Forum: Speaker Series and Networking Event, Scene Dining, Manchester, 9 November 2017
NextNusratFateh Ali Khan – Music Transcending Boundaries #MoreInCommon by Grand Trunk Project Team, Grand Trunk Project Initiative
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Case study: Cutting-edge ED technology deployed at St Vincent’s University Hospital
Solution improves patient pathways throughout the department
St Vincent’s University Hospital wanted to create a more modern and efficient way of running its emergency department to support clinicians in safely and effectively managing patient pathways throughout the department.
The hospital, which has a mission to continue to achieve excellence and relevance in healthcare delivery, partnered with IMS MAXIMS to implement a functionally-rich, easy-to-use ED system that fully integrates with other hospital systems and provides a comprehensive suite of reporting analytical tools.
The new software, live since November 2015, allows real-time tracking of a patient journey through the department and provides an instant overview of a patient’s status, while improved reporting now measures key performance targets set by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The rise in demand for healthcare services in Ireland has heightened the immediate requirement to co-ordinate care as effectively and efficiently as possible.
As one of the country’s busiest emergency departments (EDs), St Vincent’s identified technology as a key enabler for transforming the care delivery and looked to upgrade its existing IMS MAXIMS ED system, which had been in place for 14 years. The software had served the department well, but the hospital had since outgrown its functionality and needed something that would give consultants and their teams the capability to maximise the operation of the ED.
Becoming more efficient would allow clinicians to reduce the time spent on unnecessary administrative tasks and increase contact time with patients. It would also help to facilitate communication between departments and with patients and other healthcare providers, such as GPs, plus reduce bottlenecks while further saving staff time.
At the time, the ED was planning to become a much-larger department, having experienced significant rises in emergency admissions. It had grown from just over 33,500 attendances back in 2002, when the original IMS MAXIMS system was installed, to around 50,000 for the last two years. This move to a larger location presented an ideal opportunity to change to a more powerful, modern and flexible ED system that could share information across departments and would underpin the department for many years to come.
St Vincent’s worked closely with IMS MAXIMS to install and test new functionality of the ED system which would go on to transform the way the department operated. The new system provides:
Real-time, configurable patient tracking, including display of breach time indicators, KPIs, alerts, re-attendance, prioritisation of patients
Notification of new results and clinical notifications, previous history, incoming arrivals
Triage work-list and assessment, supporting multiple triage protocols, highlighting urgency levels, allocating nursing staff and providing decision support to define pathways
Clinician work-list and assessments, support the streamlining of patients for clinician intervention
Discharge summaries that include future care plans, support network, medication, outpatient booking and clinical outcomes
Improving pathways
A multidisciplinary team involving consultants, senior nursing staff, and administrative staff ensured the system would meet the hospital’s needs, while dedicated project managers at both St Vincent’s and IMS MAXIMS worked alongside each other, to ensure the project met the clinical requirements of users.
Both teams recognised that streamlining and improving pathways could help gain vital seconds and minutes and reduce delays on a patient’s progress through the ED, supporting more-timely clinical care.
Professor John Ryan, consultant in emergency medicine at St Vincent’s, said: “Access to demographic data on our patients allows us to deliver timely critical care to injured and ill patients that attend our department with emergencies.”
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) were fully engaged with the project, providing support and consultation within their functional area of the ED so that any potential issues across registration, triage, diagnosis and treatment and discharge could be quickly highlighted and resolved using HCPs experience.
Usability was a major requirement and teams focused on reducing clicks and increasing software integration to lower the number of times staff had to log in to disparate systems. In addition, hospital reports, training videos and links to third party systems were integrated into the solution to provide all resources in one place.
By enhancing the previous system’s reporting facilities, St Vincent’s has greater visibility of trends in admissions from ED, which can produce useful insights into improving areas of the patient experience.
Professor John Ryan said: “The tracking system is highly valuable for ourselves and visiting physicians in locating patients in an environment where there can at times be in excess of 100 patients being cared for. In a data-driven department where we place so much emphasis on audit and research, the search facilities and report generation give us comprehensive access to information on our business, allowing us to plan staffing and resources that match the demand.”
Reporting to local and national requests to provide new patient pathway information is an important function to help measure the ED’s performance. The hospital can now run Patient Experience Times reports for the Health Service Executive or reply to ED task force requests quicker and more easily by linking the reporting functionality directly to the discharge process.
The integration and migration challenge
The hospital chose to upgrade to IMS MAXIMS’ latest ED module and implement, what in practice, was a completely-new application. This involved migrating 16.5 million records from the previous system, creating new interfaces and a large amount of data mapping testing.
In a data-driven department where we place so much emphasis on audit and research, the search facilities and report generation give us comprehensive access to information on our business, allowing us to plan staffing and resources that matches the demand
The project team built a new bi-directional interface for the ED to ensure clinical and administrative data could move seamlessly between the hospital’s Patient Administration System (PAS) and other hospital systems and be available for clinical use at the point of care. In addition to reducing the amount of manual processes performed by administration staff, the interface updates Patient Master Index and Admission Discharge and Transfer activity in real-time, to help coordinate care more efficiently, and reduce the risk of any unnecessary delays in transfer or medical errors.
“Without this system it would be impossible to treat and care for patients across the different zones of the ED. As an extremely-busy department, we required an IT system that was flexible to adapt to the evolving needs of emergency medicine. From the start we had the confidence that IMS MAXIMS could deliver the system,” said Dermot Cullinan, director of ICT at St Vincent’s University Hospital.
The new system ensures St Vincent’s can manage the demands on the department 24/7. The tool is rapidly becoming the eyes and ears of the department.
Senior consultants remain in control wherever they are in the hospital, accessing the system on iPads to gain an overview of staff movements and using it to deliver care to patients within specific timeframes. This real-time view of the department means issues can be identified quickly and steps taken to avoid them or respond.
“The ED team has an integrated system that has facilitated mapping of the patient journey through the department from start to finish, and gives a detailed view of what is happening with patients at any given time,” said Cullinan.
“The comprehensive tracking capability of the system allows medical staff to have a complete view of patients from anywhere in the department and beyond ending the reliance that would have existed with a paper-based or whiteboard-oriented solution.”.
Reporting on department performance has also been significantly improved – St Vincent’s no longer has to use third-party tools to generate reports and wait weeks for the results.
The new system has its own reporting database, which means detailed reports are created within hours. This allows staff to conduct a quick and efficient handover during the morning and evening patient assessments while externally, they allow St Vincent’s to report to the HSE on patient experience targets including wait time and triage time.
The faster and detailed reporting function means St Vincent’s can predict trends and analyse admissions by the hour allowing hospital staff to identify areas of improvement for the patient experience, and implement appropriate and rapid changes in hospital practice.
“The new system is the cornerstone of how the ED operates – it has simplified and sped-up many core activities and it would be impossible to manage the department without it,” said Cullinan.
“It’s a powerful tool for making sure we keep on top of what’s happening within the department. Its advanced reporting capability is helping us to energise our data, allowing us to move from reactive, historical reporting to proactive modelling of the ED, its relationship with the wider hospital and the community.”
One example of the streamlined core activity is the generation of discharge notes, as Professor John Ryan explains: “We also welcome the discharge letter facility, which pulls together the presenting complaint, investigations, treatment and diagnosis into a functional letter for patients’ general practitioners on discharge.”
Reducing clinical risk
St Vincent’s now has a modern and effective solution that enables nurses and clinicians to better manage patient journeys through the department.
It’s a powerful tool for making sure we keep on top of what’s happening within the department
The team has designed and built a number of Integrated Care Pathways (ICPs) into the new software including Waterlow, Sepsis, Falls, MEDEL, MITT. The extensive training St Vincent’s received from IMS MAXIMS means the hospital has built an in-house capability to quickly and comprehensively build and maintain existing ICPs as and when required.
The new software arms clinicians with patient information securely, wherever and whenever it’s needed, including the urgency of each case, the length of wait and any risk factors. It provides everything that St Vincent’s needs to ensure patients follow the best-possible pathway and helps avoid waiting time breaches with on-screen alerts. The information captured is readily available for HCPs should a patient re-attend in the future, reducing the likelihood that a patient will have to retell their medical history numerous times to different clinicians.
The move away from paper-based care has helped eliminate issues created by missing patient notes, mislaid orders or results and unreadable handwriting. St Vincent’s now have a much-more-complete patient record, accessible by all appropriate ED staff, supporting the delivery of safer, better care.
In terms of future plans, the ICT team is already receiving requests and ideas from the ED for what it would like to see coming next – a positive move which will help the system remain in tune with business needs. Internally, St Vincent’s plan is to move the ED to a completely electronic patient record in the next 12-18 months and has already started the process.
This move aims to significantly reduce the current clerical workload shared by the ED multidisciplinary team. Physicians will be able to record their notes electronically with tablet devices at the bedside and from these same notes automatically generate discharge letters and prescriptions – optimising the legibility and quality of medical records in the process.
The fully-customisable software will allow the department to extend the functionality to include integrated care pathways, nursing triage and assessment/reassessment documentation, early warning score functionality, patient notes and handovers, with the ultimate aim to become a paperless department in the future.
With a view to integrate care outside the hospital, the new ED module will be extended to St Michael’s in Dun Laoghaire later in 2016. Beyond this, St Vincent’s plan to generate electronic messaging of discharge summaries and clinical records to allow continuity of care into the primary sector.
IMS Maxims
Comment: The real benefits of healthtech – releasing time to care
Winners of 2018 Health Tech Awards are announced
No cash, no staff: how can the NHS afford to digitise?
NHS organisations to access IMS MAXIMS cloud-based services on G Cloud 9 Framework
Comment: How clinical IT will underpin proposed Five Year Forward View transformation
OPINION: Resolving the digital paradox
Multi-million pound package to achieve NHS digital excellence
Case study: Achieving clinical credibility in NHS IT projects
INTEROPen accelerates development of NHS interoperability standards
IMS MAXIMS awarded a place on the new Digital Outcomes and Specialists Framework
NHS and patients to benefit from new partnership providing secure messaging solutions
First-of-a-kind technology rollout across Irish hospitals
IMS MAXIMS achieves NHS accreditation on G-Cloud 10
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals triggers digital transformation with MAXIMS go-live
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Bogue
pickups and pickup covers
Larel Rexford Bogue (Rex Bogue) was born in 1951 and raised in San Gabriel, California. He played in bands while growing up, rubbing shoulders with Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Bogue studied at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and displayed a talent for music technology and electronics. Bogue experimented with lasers and was a pioneer of the live music laser show. He moved on to building innovative guitars: and was one of the early users of active pre-amps in guitars. In 1972 he approached John McLaughlin with a proposal to build him a guitar. This instrument was to become John McLaughlin's iconic Double Rainbow 6/12 double neck. At the time Rex was apprenticing in Ren Ferguson's Venice Beach shop. Ferguson made the guitar and Rex did the electronics. According to Ferguson:
"Rex would dream up fantasy stuff he made with parts from aerospace suppliers. He opened a shop, selling gadgets and pickups that would do everything but fly across the room. He had many ideas, but the business side was lost on him. He'd get excited about manufacturing something, get investors, then get bored and move on."
Santa Monica luthier Larry Brown shared a work-shop with Ferguson and also worked on the Double Rainbow.
"That thing weighed about 35 pounds and took two years to complete, I fretted the necks. When Rex got paid for it, he bought a lot rum; he was a connoisseur!"
Rex also did electronic work for Alphonso Johnson and Jorge Strunz, sold preamps under the Balz Deluxe and Balz Galore names, and built instruments for Frank Zappa and Miroslav Vitous. By the early 1990s, however, Bogue was suffering from health problems related to his diabetes and he finally passed away in 1991.
Source: Dave Marshall
Rex Bogue CA
Buy Bogue electric guitars
Buy Bogue pickups and pickup covers
Buy Bogue electronics
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Excerpts from Relevant Laws and Decrees
(All translations unofficial.)
Constitution of the Republic of Turkey/Türkiye Cümhuriyeti Anayasas1
(No. 2709, Adopted November 7, 1982)
Preamble, (Amended: 1995/4121.1)
(Paragraph 5)
No protection shall be given to thoughts or opinions that run counter to Turkish national interests, the fundamental principle of the existence of the indivisibility of the Turkish state and territory, the historical and moral values of Turkishness, or the nationalism, principles, reforms, and modernism of Atatürk, and that as required by the principle of secularism there shall be no absolutely no interference of sacred religious feeling in the affairs of state and politics;
The provisions of Article 1 of the constitution establishing the form of the state as a Republic, the provisions of Article 2 on the characteristics of the Republic, and the provisions of Article 3 shall not be amended, nor shall their amendment be proposed.
Article 26Freedom of Expression and the Dissemination of Thought
26.1 Everyone has the right to express and disseminate his thought and opinion by speech, in writing, or in pictures or through other media, individually or collectively. This right includes the freedom to receive and impart information and ideas without interference from official authorities....
26.2 The exercise of these freedoms may be restricted for the purpose of preventing crime, punishing offenders, withholding information duly classified as a state secret, protecting the reputation and rights and the private and family life of others....
26.3 No language prohibited by law shall be used in the expression and dissemination of thought. Any written or printed documents, phonograph records, magnetic or video tapes, and other means of expression used in contravention of this provision shall be seized by a duly issued decision of a judge or, in cases where delay is deemed prejudicial, by the competent authority designated by law.
Article 27Freedom of Science and Arts
27.1 Everyone has the right to study and teach freely, explain, disseminate science and arts and to carry out research in these fields.
27.2 The right to disseminate shall not be exercised for the purpose of changing the provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, of this constitution....71
Article 28Freedom of the Press
28.1 The press is free and shall not be censored. The establishment of a printing house shall not be subject to prior permission and to the deposit of financial guarantee.
28.2 Publication shall not be made in any language prohibited by law....
28.4 In the limitation of freedom of the press, Articles 26 and 27 of the constitution are applicable.
28.5 Anyone who writes or prints any news or articles which threaten the internal or external security of the state or the indivisible integrity of the state with its territory and nation, which tend to incite offense, riot or insurrection, or which refer to classified state secrets and anyone who prints or transmits such news or articles to others for the above purpose shall be held responsible under the law relevant to these offenses....
Article 42.9
No language other than Turkish shall be taught as a mother tongue to Turkish citizens in teaching and learning institutions. Foreign languages to be taught at learning and teaching institutions and the rules under which schools conducting training and education in a foreign language are to be determined by law. The provisions of international treaties will be respected.
Turkish Penal Code/ Türk Ceza Kanunu (No. 765, Adopted March 1, 1926)
Those who, except in circumstances indicated in the aforementioned articles, publish articles inciting people to break the law or harm the security of the country, or make publications or suggestions that make people unwilling to serve in the military or make speeches to that end in public meetings or gathering places, shall be imprisoned from between two months to two years and be punished with a heavy fine of between twenty-five and 200 lira.
N.B.: The monetary fine in the article written is raised 180 times.
Article 158(Amended: 1961/235)
Whoever insults the President of the Republic face-to-face or through cursing shall face a heavy penalty of not more than three years.
If the insulting or cursing happens in the absence of the President of the Republic, those who commit the crime will be liable to imprisonment of between one and three years. Even if the name of the President of the Republic is not directly mentioned, allusion and hint shall be considered as an attack made directly against the President if there is presumptive evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the attack was made against the President of Turkey.
If the crime is committed in any published form, the punishment will increase from one-third to one-half.
Article 159(Amended:1961/235)
Those who publicly insult or ridicule the moral personality of Turkishness, the Republic, the Parliament, the Government, State Ministers, the military or security forces of the state, or the Judiciary will be punished with a penalty of no less than one year and no more than six years of maximum security imprisonment....
If insulting Turkishness is carried out in a foreign country by a Turk the punishment given will be increased from one-third to one-half.
Article 311Inciting to commit a crime, Threatening with the goal of inciting panic and fear (Amended: 1953/6123); (Amended: 1981/2370)
One who publicly incites the commission of a crime shall be punished in the ways below.
1. If the penalty of the felony incited is higher than the duration of the heavy penalty, a heavy imprisonment of between three and five years;
2. If limited heavy imprisonment or imprisonment is necessary, it will be from three months to three years imprisonment in accordance with the type of crime.
3. In other circumstances, a heavy fine of between 1,000 and 5,000 lira will be applied.72
(Amendment: 1981/2370)
If the incitement occurs by various means of mass media, sound tapes, records, films, papers, periodicals, or with other press instruments, or by writings written by hand and then multiplied and printed or distributed, or by signs or written announcements hung, the heavy imprisonment and fines which will be determined according to the paragraphs above will be doubled.
Article 312--(Amended: 1981/2370)
One who openly praises an action considered criminal under the law or speaks positively about it or incites people to disobey the law shall be sentenced from six months to two years of imprisonment and to a heavy fine of between 2,000 and 10,000 lira.73
One who openly incites people to enmity and hatred by pointing to class, racial, religious, confessional, or regional differences will be punished by imprisonment of between one to three years and a heavy fine of between 3,000 and 12,000 lira.74 If the incitement is done in a way that could possibly be dangerous for public security, the punishment given to the perpetrator is increased from one-third to one-half.
Penalties given to those who carry out crimes in the paragraphs written above by means outlined in the second paragraph of Article 311 will be increased accordingly.
Anti-Terror Law/Terörle Mücadele Kanunu (No. 3713, Adopted April 12, 1991)
Article 8Propaganda against the indivisibility of the State(Amended: 1995\4126.1)
Written or oral propaganda, along with meetings, demonstrations, and marches, that have the goal of destroying the indivisible unity of the state with its territory and nation of the Republic of Turkey cannot be conducted. Those who conduct such activities shall be punished with imprisonment of between one and three years and a heavy fine of between 100 million lira and 300 million lira. If this crime is conducted habitually, imprisonment cannot be converted into a monetary fine....75
If the propaganda crime determined in the first paragraph is committed by means of periodicals determined in the third article of the Press Law No. 5860, the owner will also be given a monetary fine of an amount up to ninety percent of the past months average sales even if the frequency of the periodical is less than a month. This fine, however, cannot be less than 100 million lira. The responsible editor of the periodicals will be subject to one-half of the monetary fine given to the owner as well as imprisonment of between six months and two years.
If the propaganda crime determined in the first paragraph is committed by press works or other mass communication instruments outside of the written periodicals in the second paragraph, the responsible editor as well as the owners of the means of mass communication will face imprisonment of between six months and two years and a heavy fine of between 100-300 million lira. In addition, if the act is committed by means of radio or television, a broadcast prohibition of between one and fifteen days can be given to the said radio and television stations.
If carried out by means explained in the second paragraph or by methods of mass communication outlined in the third paragraph, the punishment determined in paragraph one will increase from one-third to one-half.
Political Parties Law/ Siyasi Partiler Kanunu (No. 2820, Adopted April 26, 1982)
Article 81: Preventing the Creation of Minorities
Political parties:
a) cannot put forward that minorities exist in the Turkish Republic based on national, religious, confessional, racial, or language differences....
b) cannot by means of protecting, developing, or disseminating language or cultures other than the Turkish language and culture through creating minorities in the Republic of Turkey have the goal of destroying national unity or be engaged in activities to this end;
c) cannot use a language other than Turkish in writing and printing party statute or program, at congresses, at meetings in open air or indoorgatherings; at meetings, and in propaganda, cannot use or distribute placards, pictures, phonograph records, voice and visual tapes, brochures and statements written in a language other than Turkish; cannot remain indifferent to these actions and acts committed by others; however, it is possible to translate party statutes and programs into foreign languages other than those forbidden by law.
The Law concerning the Founding and Broadcasts of Television and Radio/ Radyo ve Televizyonlar1 n Kurulus ve Yay1nlar1 Hakk1nda Kanun (No. 3984, Adopted April 13, 1994)76
Article 4: Broadcasting principles:
Radio and Television broadcast are to be carried out in the understanding of public service according to the principles below:
Broadcasts cannot be contradictory to the following:
a) the existence and independence of the Turkish Republic, the indivisible unity of the state with its territory and nation;
b) the national and spiritual values of society....
d) the general morality, civil peace, and structure of the Turkish family;
Must be conducted in accordance with:
h) the general goals and basic principles of Turkish national education and the development of national culture;
i) fairness and objectivity in broadcasting and the fundamental principle of respect for the law....
l) to present news in a speedy and correct way;
m) the principle that broadcasts will not be made that have a negative effect on the physical, intellectual, mental, and moral development of children and youth....
t) radio and television broadcasts will be made in Turkish; however, for the purpose of teaching or of imparting news those foreign languages that have made a contribution to the development of universal cultural and scientific works can be used.
Foreign Language Education and Teaching Law (No. 2923)
a) The mother tongue of Turkish citizens cannot be taught in any language other than Turkish....
c) Taking into consideration the view of the National Security Council, the Council of Ministers by its decision will determine in Turkey what foreign languages can be taught.
Decision No. 92/2788, Official Gazette, March 20, 1992
2...It had been decided by the Council of Ministers on March 4, 1992 that in official and private courses education and teaching are to be made in the following languages: English, French, German as well as Russian, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese.
The law concerning fundamental provisions on elections and voter registries/ Seçimlerin Temel Hükümleri ve Seçmen Kütükleri Hakk1nda Kanun (No. 298, Adopted April 26, 1961)
....It is forbidden to use any other language or script than Turkish in propaganda disseminated in radio or television as well as in other election propaganda.
Press Law/ Bas1n Kanunu (No. 5680, Adopted July 15, 1950)
The press is free.
The publishing of printed works is subject to the written directives in this law.
Article 16Criminal responsibility for crimes committed by means of the press--(Amended 1983/2950)
1. The responsibility for crimes committed in periodicals belongs, together with the person who caused the crime, whether the writer, news writer, artist, or caricaturist, to the periodicals responsible editor. However, punishments depriving liberty given to responsible editors without regard to their duration shall be converted to monetary fines.... Responsible editors cannot be punished with security detention.
2. The responsible editor is not required to give the name of writers, news writers, artists, or caricaturists who publish with a pen name or alias. Without regard to the first paragraph, the responsibility for a writing, or a news report, or a picture, or a caricature, where the author of a work is not clear or where the authors names is not revealed in a true manner by the responsible editor at the latest during the first court interrogation, shall fall to the responsible editor as if he were the person who through writing, or news writing, or making a picture or caricature caused the crime.
3. The responsible editor is not responsible for writings, news, pictures, or caricatures published by the periodicals owner without his approval. Under such circumstances, the legal responsibility of the responsible editor belongs to the person who publishes the writing, news, picture, or caricature.
4. In crimes that are committed in publications that are not defined as periodicals [books], the legal responsibility belongs to the publisher together with the writer, translator, or artist. However, regardless of the duration, all verdicts giving the penalty of imprisonment for the publishershall be converted to fines. Computation of the fine is based on the amount mentioned in the Law No. 647 on the Execution of Penalties, Article 4, Paragraph 1. Publishers are not to be penalized with security detention.
In the case where the author of the printed work published as a non-periodical is not identified, the responsibility belongs to the publisher without regard to the aforementioned articles. In the case when the work is published without the knowledge and consent of its writer, translator, or artist, only the publisher becomes responsible as if the one who created the work.
When the above mentioned persons are not identified or a case in a Turkish court is not opened against them, the responsibility belongs to the seller and distributor when the publisher is not known.
In quotations that are made in publications published in Turkey without the consent of the owner, the responsibility belongs to the one who made the quote.
If publication is made in any language prohibited by law, the relevant articles which envision converting into monetary fines and of not giving a penalty of placing under security detention shall not be applied.
Article 31(Amended 1983/2950)
The entry or distribution into Turkey of works published in a foreign country that contradict the indivisible unity of the state with its territory and nation, national hegemony, the existence of the Republic, national security, public order, general law and order, the common good, general morality or health can be outlawed by a decision of the Council of Ministers.
Provincial Administration Law/ _l Idaresi Kanunu (No. 5442, Adopted June 10, 1949)
Article 2/d/2 (Amended 1959:7267)
Village names that are not Turkish and give rise to confusion are to be changed in the shortest possible time by the Interior Ministry after receiving the opinion of the Provincial Permanent Committee.
Police Duty and Responsibility Law/ Polis Vazife ve Selâhiyet Kanunu (No. 2559, Adopted July 4, 1934)
Article 8(Amended: 1985/3233)
If the police are in possession of incontrovertible evidence and by order of the districts highest civil servant, areas where plays are conducted, presentations given, films or videos shown that will damage the indivisible unity of the state with its territory and nation, constitutional order, or general security or common morality can be closed by the police or have their activities stopped.
If the reason for the closing or ceasing of activities require a legal investigation by the state, the investigation file shall be immediately given to the judiciary....
The Law concerning crimes committed against Atatürk/ Atatürk Aleyhine Islenen Suçlar Hakk1nda Kanun (No. 5816, Adopted July 25, 1951)
Anyone who publicly insults or curses the memory of Atatürk shall be imprisoned with a heavy sentence of between one and three years.
A heavy sentence of between one and five years shall be given to anyone who destroys, breaks, ruins, or defaces a statue, bust, or monuments representing Atatürk or the grave of Atatürk.
Anyone who encourages others to commit the crimes outlined in the paragraphs above will be punished as if committing the crime.
If the crimes outlined in the first article are committed by a group of two or more individuals, or publicly, or in public districts or by means of the press will have the penalty imposed increased by a proportion of one-half.
If the crimes outlined in the second paragraph of the first article are committed using force...the penalty will be doubled... .
71 See Article 4.
72 Fine later increased three times according to Turkish Penal Code Article 119.
73 Fine later increased three times.
75 Parliament amended the Anti-Terror Law in October 1995. Before its amendment, Article 8 punished all so-called separatist propaganda regardless of the method, intent, or idea behind it.
76 Until 1993, television and radio broadcasting was state controlled under Article 133 of the constitution. In 1993, parliament amended Article 133 to allow for private radio and television stations.
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17/01/2017 7:00 AM AEDT | Updated 17/01/2017 3:51 PM AEDT
Outback In The Alps: Finding Australia's Place At Davos
The world is not looking Down Under on the big issues.
Martin Seneviratne Junior doctor currently at Stanford as a John Monash Scholar
We're leaving ourselves out in the cold.
"We are living in a world marked by uncertainty, volatility and deep transformation," declared Professor Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, ahead of next week's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Citing global populism and over-simplified ideologies, he has warned "we will be in a much more fragile world".
Every year in mid-January, the quiet Swiss ski village of Davos transforms into the world's boardroom, as 3000 business, political and cultural leaders arrive for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Since 1971, here in one of Europe's highest-altitude cities, politicians, CEOs and academics having been coming for a birds-eye view of the global agenda. If security is any barometer for importance, during these four days in January, Davos also plays host to 5000 military-grade security guards, 50km of fencing and two surface-to-air missile systems.
What has traditionally been a Euro and US-centric meeting, this year is being dominated by Chinese voices.
This year's delegates include over 50 heads of state, nine Nobel Laureates, the heads of the IMF, World Bank and EU Parliament, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Al Gore is running a session on the future of climate action and Sir Tim Berners-Lee will lead a discussion on internet privacy, while Sheryl Sandberg will talk about resilience in leadership. Matt Damon is showcasing his water sanitation project, while Shakira joins as a UNICEF Global Ambassador.
Perhaps because of limited parking for private jets, the WEF also invites 50 'Global Shapers', aged 20-30 years old, drawn from around the world to represent the youth voice. I was among the fortunate 50 selected for next week's meeting.
The key global issues of the day play out through the Davos agenda each year. What has traditionally been a Euro and US-centric meeting, this year is being dominated by Chinese voices. On Tuesday, Xi Jinping -- President of the People's Republic of China -- will become the first sitting Chinese leader to attend Davos, and will give the opening address at the base of Mount Rinerhorn.
While many Western leaders are beleaguered by domestic affairs (Theresa May is the only G7 leader to attend Davos this year), China is taking centre stage. This is particularly pertinent given the theme for this year's meeting: "Responsive and Responsible Leadership". Following a tumultuous 2016 when unpredictable populist swings caused political upsets around the world, the Davos meeting asks how we can navigate the line between consultation and determinism.
AFP via Getty Images
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan with Swiss President Doris Leuthard and her husband Roland Hausin listen to the national anthems during a welcome ceremony upon their arrival for a state visit to Switzerland on January 15, 2017 at Zurich Airport.
But China does not exclusively represent top-down leadership. In one of Davos' most oversubscribed sessions, Jack Ma -- China's richest man and founder of the online marketplace Alibaba -- will speak about how his e-commerce platform is supporting grassroots entrepreneurship across Asia.
As much as it is about setting a future agenda, Davos captures the zeitgeist of the time by shining a spotlight on particular countries and organisations that are pioneering in different fields. The President of Estonia is leading a discussion on cyber security, the Princess of Norway chairs a session on youth engagement, while Stanford University hosts a workshop on brain-computer interfaces. Which begs the question -- where does Australia feature in this exposition of international talent?
Encouragingly, there are a number of sessions being led by Australians at this year's meeting. The Australian National University is running a workshop on "Precision Public Health" -- how to use big data to personalise care and manage chronic disease. Elizabeth Blackburn will join forces with fellow Nobel Laureate (and adopted Australian) Brian Schmidt to discuss 'how science can promote a more secure, peaceful and prosperous world.' A step up from Tony Abbott's controversial 2014 Davos trip, while Australia had the G20 presidency, when he referred to the Syrian conflict as a case of "baddies versus baddies."
Australia has all the ingredients to be a global thought leader.
Yet one cannot help but notice all the big themes coursing through the Davos agenda this year on which Australia is not part of the conversation. On the idea of the Fourth Industrial Revolution driven by artificial intelligence and automation; on issues of global migration and refugee rights; on climate change policy; on renewable energies; on building economies of innovation -- the world is not looking Down Under. Peter Holmes à Court -- a regular Davos attendee -- wrote an article last year entitled "At Davos forum, it's no longer cool to be Australian", citing our declining economic relevance in a "post-oil, post-iron" economy and negative global views towards Australian immigration policy.
That said, Australia has all the ingredients to be a global thought leader -- our privileged history of unbridled economic growth, high-quality education and healthcare, coupled with our modest population size, put us in a prime position to be a testbed for innovative economic and social policy.
The spire of St. Johann church, right, stands among snow-topped buildings ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017.
Davos may be criticised as the ultimate ivory tower where economic elites set lofty ambitions for global policy from a gilded ski chalet; but it still represents a unique psychoanalysis into the world's dreams and vulnerabilities. So on the eve of Davos 2017, let us consider how Australia might be that trailblazer for some of the trends echoing through the Davos agenda: technological innovation, socially-conscious businesses, environmental responsibility, new forms of democracy.
In the theme of 'responsive and responsible leadership', Australia must learn from the global priorities being discussed and cultivate new areas of international expertise in a rapidly-changing global economy.
"We are at some kind of a turning point of history," Professor Schwab writes. And when the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party is opening the world's top economic conference in the Swiss Alps, change is definitely afoot.
The annual WEF meeting at Davos runs January 17-20. Livestreaming of most sessions is available at www.weforum.org.
MORE: blog china davos innovation switzerland world world economic forum
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Timeline • Countries • Results • Search • Problems • Hall of fame • About IMO
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in a different country. The first IMO was held in 1959 in Romania, with 7 countries participating. It has gradually expanded to over 100 countries from 5 continents. The IMO Board ensures that the competition takes place each year and that each host country observes the regulations and traditions of the IMO.
The IMO Foundation is a charity which supports the IMO. The IMO Foundation website is the public face of the IMO. This is a particularly valuable resource for people who are not necessarily mathematical specialists, but who want to understand the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Data is held at IMO-official in compliance with EU data protection legislation. If a participant wishes to become anonymous (neither photo nor name on public display), then contact the IMO secretary with a request. We will comply with bona fide requests expeditiously.
E-mail: Gregor Dolinar (Secretary of the IMO Board) • Webmaster: webmaster@imo-official.org • Copyright © 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad. All rights reserved.
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Cold as Marble (Light as a Feather #2) (Hardcover)
By Zoe Aarsen
Simon Pulse, 9781534444317, 384pp.
Paperback (10/8/2019)
Look out for the original series—starring Peyton List, Brent Rivera, Liana Liberato, Ajiona Alexus, and Dylan Sprayberry—now streaming on Hulu!
McKenna’s mission to save her friends from their predicted deaths continues in the second installment in the Light as a Feather series that’s perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina!
The deadly game continues…
Olivia and Candace are dead, both casualties of Violet’s deadly game of Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board. McKenna and Mischa are the only ones left, and having failed to locate and destroy the source of Violet’s power, her curse still abounds, eager to claim more lives.
What does Violet want? And how can she be stopped? Armed with a mysterious package containing clues, as well as a little help from the beyond, McKenna hopes to end this once and for all…before it’s too late.
Zoe Aarsen is a graphic designer and copywriter originally from the Midwest. She is pretty convinced that her apartment is haunted by the ghosts of every cat and hamster she’s ever owned. Visit Zoe Aarsen’s blog at ZoeAarsen.com and follow her on Twitter at @ZoeAarsen.
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Glenn McGillivray is Managing Director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. Prior to joining ICLR, he served as Assistant Vice President of Corporate Communications for Swiss Reinsurance Company Canada and was Corporate Secretary for three Swiss Re operations in the country. He began his insurance career at Toronto-based the Personal Insurance Company of Canada and went on to work for a major Canadian corporate law firm before joining Swiss Re in 1994 and the ICLR in November, 2005. Glenn has written more than 200 publications, journal, magazine articles and blogposts on a range of industry issues for Canadian Underwriter, Canadian Insurance, Municipal World, Disaster Management Canada and Canadian Consulting Engineer magazines, as well as for the International Journal of Insurance Law. Additionally, he speaks and lectures regularly on subjects related to the area of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance. Glenn is author of the Swiss Re publications “Cross-border litigation in the age of free trade”; “Twister: The professional reinsurer’s perspective”; and “Inside an Icestorm”. His work has appeared in the Financial Times of London’s Reinsurance Survey. He holds a B.A. in political science from Wilfrid Laurier University, a M.A. in political science from McMaster University, and a graduate diploma in corporate communication from Seneca College.
flood mapping
The state of flood mapping in Canada
2 October 17, 2014 at 2:42 pm by Glenn McGillivray
On October 10, ICLR held a Friday Forum workshop entitled ‘National Riverine Floodplain Mapping Framework and Advancements in Urban Overland Flood Risk Assessment’, which largely looked at the state of flood mapping in Canada.
The workshop was lead by Tim Mereu, Vice President of MMM Group, with responsibility for water resources and environmental services. He has thirty years of consulting experience with a focus on water resources, including flood risk management, policy and standards development, master planning, channel restoration, and storm water management. Tim was the project manager for the recently completed National Floodplain Mapping Assessment undertaken on behalf of Public Safety Canada (PSC).
ICLR Friday Forum: National floodplain mapping framework (Oct 10, 2014) from glennmcgillivray
PSC is the lead federal agency responsible for disaster prevention and mitigation. In response to the increase in flood intensity and flood damage over the past number of years, PSC issued a public tender in August 2013 seeking to assess the current state of flood plain maps in Canada in order to help inform potential mitigation activities. In support of this objective, PSC requested three deliverables in its tender: 1) A report on international flood mapping practices in seven countries other than Canada and a recommended standard; 2) An assessment report on the current state of flood plain mapping in Canada; and, 3) A costing report on requirement to bring current Canadian flood plain maps up to a recommended standard.
MMM Group was awarded the contract.
The October 10 presentation focused on the National Floodplain Management Framework including proposed mapping standards, anticipated implementation steps, and the scope and intent of a proposed national flood risk database.
The National Floodplain Management Framework produced by MMM identified:
• The type and extent of information that must be collected and managed;
• The key standards and guidelines that will apply to the development of flood hazard maps and a flood risk database.;
• The anticipated cost of updating and preparing new hazard maps, as required, and the compilation of data for the flood risk data base; and
• A list of initiatives to be completed as part of implementation.
The second half of the presentation focused on recent advancements in effectively defining urban overland flood risk. Urban overland flooding is caused by intense rainfall events in areas where there is insufficient storm sewer system capacity and poorly defined overland flow routes.
Currently, areas in Canada prone to urban flooding are not generally defined. Moreover, in areas that are known to be flood prone the risk is rarely quantified. By better defining areas at risk, municipalities can focus efforts in effective urban overland flood mitigation.
All posts by Glenn McGillivray
Factoring groundwater into flood risk
The U.S. National Flood Insurance Program isn’t the only game in town
Industry impacts of the Fort McMurray wildfire
Search Engine Optimization – A Moving Target
Ontario’s Auto Insurance Rate Reduction Strategy Likely To Fall Short
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Hardy deal paves way for Lloyd’s buyer scramble
By Alex Wright2012-03-28T10:54:00+01:00
Omega and Novae next targets for big insurers that want a Lloyd’s licence
Analysts predict more M&A activity in the Lloyd’s market after CNA Financial’s acquisition of Hardy for £143m last week.
Omega and Novae have emerged as potential targets for larger insurers looking to get into the Lloyd’s market.
The Hardy deal, which was announced last Wednesday, will result in CNA paying Hardy shareholders 280p per share in cash for the insurer – 1.55 times the company’s 2011 net tangible assets of 183.5p.
Hardy had been the subject of a £171m cash offer from Beazley, Lloyd’s fifth biggest insurer, in 2010, which valued the company at about 1.4 times its book value.
But Beazley has since issued a statement saying that it is no longer in talks with Hardy.
Panmure Gordon analyst Barrie Cornes said the takeover came as no surprise, given the issues Hardy has faced over the past few years and its strategic review.
He said that CNA’s valuation of Hardy was “reasonably good” as the company had been well run and managed for many years.
“They are paying 1.55 times the book value, and I think it’s a fair price,” he said.
Beazley will now have to compete with others looking to buy a Lloyd’s licence through acquisition in a tough priced market with fewer opportunities.
Ruling out a counter-bid for Hardy as “unlikely”, Cornes said he expected Omega to be the subject of a cash deal and Novae to be part of an options process in the future.
Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan concurred with that view on the basis of the premium CNA was paying and Hardy management’s recommendation of the offer.
“We believe shareholders should accept the offer and move on,” he wrote in a research note.
Flanagan also suggested the move was positive for Beazley, “with the group now unlikely to be dragged into a drawn-out bidding process that we could not envisage it winning”.
Bermuda-domiciled Hardy suffered a pre-tax loss of £42.1m during 2011 owing to an unprecedented series of natural catastrophes.
CNA’s chairman and chief executive Thomas Motamed said Hardy was a respected brand with a long and distinguished history of disciplined underwriting in the Lloyd’s market. “The Hardy franchise is built on a strong foundation and has a bright future,” he said.
Hardy’s chief executive Barbara Merry and director of underwriting Patrick Gage will continue to lead the team.
Hardy shareholders are likely to approve the CNA deal next month with the acquisition set to be completed by the end of June 2012.
We say …
● The premium paid for Hardy by CNA reflects the fact that the company is a fundamentally good and well-run business, despite big losses in 2011.
● Beazley remains in the market for acquisitions but might have to bide its time for the right deal to come along at the right price.
● Lloyd’s insurers are flavour of the month, with more companies seeking to extend their global footprint and reach.
Hardy raises Q1 cat loss estimates
Loss estimate hike hits Hardy stock
Bidders line up to buy Hardy
Hardy mulls interest from several potential buyers
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Gun Control: Seattle police uses new mental-health law to confiscate gun from non-violent man
March 8, 2018 by IWB
by Dr. Eowyn
On March 1, 2018, Seattle’s police department became the first law enforcement agency in Washington state to confiscate a firearm under a new law known as an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) — a gun control law that permits police or family members, with a judge’s permission, to temporarily take firearms from people who may present a danger to others or themselves.
The unnamed 31-year-old man, who is suspected of being mentally ill, is described by neighbors as “intimidating” people and “staring down” customers through store-front windows with a gun holstered at his side. Tony Montana, who knows the man from his apartment complex, said, “He was roaming the hallways with a .25 caliber automatic. And it created a lot of fear obviously because I didn’t know if he was coming after me or gonna just start shooting the place up.”
Note: Washington state allows concealed carry of firearms, with permit.
Seattle police say the department received several calls about the man’s escalating behavior, including from a restaurant near the man’s home in the 2200 block of Second Avenue complaining that the man was harassing them while carrying a holstered firearm. The volume of complaints convinced Seattle police to seek an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO), aka red flag law, requiring the man to surrender all his firearms.
The man refused to comply, so police returned with a warrant, arrested him at his apartment, seized a .25 caliber handgun, and are in the process of recovering several other firearms the man owned that are currently with a family member.
Sources: KOMO News; KATU2
On November 8, 2016, the Washington State legislature passed Initiative Measure No. 1491: Extreme Risk Protection Act (ERPA), which allows police to confiscate firearms from individuals deemed to be mentally ill and so are “at high risk of harming themselves or others.”
ERPA claims that individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others often exhibit signs that alert family, household members, or law enforcement to the threat. Signs that the person “may soon commit an act of violence” can include “acts or threats of violence, self-harm, or the abuse of drugs or alcohol”. Accordingly, ERPA provides “a court procedure for family, household members, and law enforcement to obtain an [extreme risk protection] order temporarily restricting a person’s access to firearms.”
After a family member or law enforcement petitions for an ERPO, the superior court of the state of Washington must order a hearing to be held not later than 14 days from the date of the order. But the court can issue an ex parte Extreme Risk Protection Order even before a hearing.
In that hearing, the individual targeted for an ERPO has the burden of proof and must prove “by a preponderance of the evidence” that he/she “does not pose a significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others by having in his or her custody or control, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm.”
During the hearing, the court will determine whether grounds for an Extreme Risk Protection Order exists by considering “any relevant evidence,” including —
Any act or threat of violence;
“dangerous mental health issues” — whatever that means;
“stalking”;
conviction for domestic violence;
“abuse of controlled substances or alcohol”;
“ownership, access to, or intent to possess firearms“;
“unlawful or reckless use, display, or brandishing of a firearm”;
“recent acquisition of firearms“
In other words, merely owning a firearm is “evidence” to justify an Extreme Risk Protection Order that will be used to remove or confiscate the firearm.
The duration of an ERPO is one year, but the order can be renewed. For Washington state’s one-page brochure on ERPO, click here.
Five states have passed the ERPO law: Washington, Oregon, California, Indiana and Connecticut. Texas has a modified version. At the federal level, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation last May that would encourage states to adopt ERPO. (Washington Post)
Both Democrats and Republicans are receptive to ERPO, but not the National Rifle Association. In a statement, the NRA says the Extreme Risk Protection Order “strips the accused of their Second Amendment rights [and] would be issued by a judge based on the brief statement of the petitioner.” (Wikipedia)
Tags confiscate, control, gun, law, man, mentalhealth, nonviolent, police, seattle Post navigation
Stockman: Good Riddance to Gary Cohn, He Gave Trump Terrible Advice
Washington state law allows students to return to school after arrests for guns, threats
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Bell and Farry express regret at Michelin announcement
Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell and Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry have expressed their deep regret at today’s announcement by Michelin that it plans to close its Ballymena factory by 2018.
Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell said: “Today’s announcement is devastating news for the affected workers, their families and the local community as a whole. My thoughts are with them as they struggle to come to terms with the prospect of having to seek employment elsewhere; and with the external contractors who will also be affected by today’s announcement.
“The loss of 860 jobs is a huge blow for Ballymena and north Antrim and is bad news for the Northern Ireland economy as a whole. This decision is hugely regrettable and I know the company will not have taken it lightly.
“I want to assure the affected staff that, together with Invest Northern Ireland, the Department for Employment and Learning, and colleagues in the entire Northern Ireland Executive, we will do all that is possible to limit the impact of this announcement. I have asked for an urgent meeting with the company and will also be meeting with Executive colleagues later today to discuss the way forward.
“Invest NI has offered Michelin support over the years, including, most recently, a grant to help with the installation of an in-house plant to generate a percentage of their electricity requirements. Invest NI will continue to work with the company and all other partners in order to help staff to consider all alternative employment options.”
Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry added: "My Department will engage and work proactively with management to offer redundancy clinics to the company and their employees. The Redundancy Advice Service works in partnership with a range of agencies including the Further Education Colleges and HMRC to provide advice on alternative job opportunities and access to training courses and a range of other issues such as benefits and taxation.
"The Redundancy Advice Service can work with management to help co-ordinate and deliver a tailored package of support and provide information and professional advice about the options and support available to them including employment, training, re-skilling, education opportunities and careers advice. I commend the pledge by Michelin to support employees throughout this process.”
Employees may also contact the Department for Employment and Learning directly to take up the support available by contacting their local Jobs and Benefits Office or JobCentre – details available on http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/social-security-jobs-and-benefits-offices.htm or by calling 0300 200 7822.
Dr Stephen Farry / Jonathan Bell MLA / Michelin Tyre plc
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Invest Northern Ireland Launches New Hall of Fame DVD to Celebrate the Best of Local Entrepreneurship
Invest Northern Ireland, in association with Ulster Bank, yesterday launched its first ever ‘Hall of Fame’, a DVD profiling some of the most innovative and successful business professionals of recent times, at a gala event at the Transport Museum, Cultra.
Attended by over 200 of Northern Ireland’s top business people the event was designed as a celebration of entrepreneurial achievement during National Enterprise week, 14-20 November.
Speaking at the launch Leslie Morrison, Chief Executive of Invest NI said: “We have a long history of producing individuals who possess real entrepreneurial talent and a strong desire to succeed. This event is a celebration of their success and gives an insight into what it takes to achieve international recognition.”
The first set in a series of video testimonials, the DVD will be distributed directly to schools, colleges, universities and libraries across Northern Ireland. The ‘Hall of Fame’ will also be accessible via the web and the next series of interviews is already under way.
“The ‘Hall of Fame’ DVD will inspire others to build upon and learn from the experiences of those who have created highly successful businesses. By nurturing a culture that supports and celebrates enterprise we are building a stronger and more competitive economy for tomorrow,” continued Mr Morrison.
Keynote speaker Simon Woodroffe, founder of YO! Sushi and panelist on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den programme shared his own unconventional business experiences at the event. He was joined by joint MCs Declan Curry from the BBC’s Business Breakfast programme and local broadcaster Wendy Austin.
Commenting on the ‘Hall of Fame’ event sponsor Cormac McCarthy, Chief Executive, Ulster Bank Group said:
“The need to present business and entrepreneurialism positively is more pressing than ever.
“The private sector will increasingly be driving the Northern Ireland economy in the next few years but this will require a steady supply of innovative, competitive and enthusiastic wealth creators. The inspiration needed to prompt this supply shines through in the DVD,” he continued.
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AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945: BRISTOL TYPE 156 BEAUFIGHTER.
© IWM (MH 4560)
The media for this item are free to reuse for non-commercial purposes under the IWM Non Commercial Licence. Video, sound and images can be embedded with the code we offer here, and images can also be downloaded. By downloading any images or embedding any media, you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is: © IWM (MH 4560)
<a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205126831" target="_blank"> <img src="https://media.iwm.org.uk/ciim5/22/826/mid_000000.jpg?action=e&cat=Photographs" alt="AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945: BRISTOL TYPE 156 BEAUFIGHTER."> </a> <span> AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945: BRISTOL TYPE 156 BEAUFIGHTER. <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/privacy-copyright">© IWM (MH 4560)</a> </span>
[url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205126831][img]https://media.iwm.org.uk/ciim5/22/826/mid_000000.jpg?action=e&cat=Photographs[/img][/url] [url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205126831]AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE 1939-1945: BRISTOL TYPE 156 BEAUFIGHTER.. © IWM (MH 4560)[/url] [url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/privacy-copyright]IWM Non Commercial License[/url]
The first production Beaufighter Mark IIF night fighter, R2270, fitted with dihedral tailplanes and equipped with AI Mark IV radar, in flight. This aircraft served with No. 406 Squadron RCAF.
Second World War (production), Second World War (content)
Royal Air Force official photographer
PUNNETT R S
Royal Canadian Air Force, 406 Squadron
Port threequarter front view
Associated keywords
Associated themes
Royal Air Force 1939-1945, Fighter Command
Second World War Posters
American Airmen In Britain During The Second World War
Over two million American servicemen passed through Britain during the Second World War. In 1944, at the height of activity, up to half a million were based there with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Their job was to man and maintain the vast fleets of aircraft needed to attack German cities and industry.
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The Hidden History of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali’s resistance to racism and war belongs not only to the 1960s, but the common future of humanity.
Film footage of Muhammad Ali is used to sell everything from soft drinks to cars. The image we are spoon-fed is the improbably charismatic boxer, dancing in the ring and shouting “I am the greatest.”
The present Muhammad Ali is also a very public figure, despite his near total inability to move or speak. His voice has been silenced by both his years of boxing and Parkinson’s disease. This Ali has been embraced by the establishment as a walking saint.
In 1996, Ali was sent with his trembling hands to light the Olympic Torch in Atlanta. In 2002, he “agreed to star in a Hollywood-produced advertising campaign, designed to explain America and the war in Afghanistan to the Muslim world.”
Ali has been absorbed by the establishment as a legend — a harmless icon. There is barely a trace left of the controversial truth: There has never been an athlete more reviled by the mainstream press, more persecuted by the US government, or more defiantly beloved throughout the world than Muhammad Ali. There is now barely a mention of this Ali, who was the catalyst for bringing the issues of racism and war into professional sports.
The mere thought of athletes using their insanely exalted and hyper-commercialized platform to take stands against injustice is now almost unthinkable. Such actions would break the golden rule of big-time sports — “jocks” are not to be political, except when it comes to saluting the flag, supporting the troops, and selling war.
That is why, when Toni Smith, the basketball captain at little Division III Manhattanville College, turned her back on the flag in 2003, the attack was rabid. The same year, Wake Forest basketball All-American Josh Howard said about the US war on Iraq, “it’s all over oil…that’s how I feel.” Howard was not only derided publicly, but NBA draft reports stated, “Antiwar remarks reflect rumored erratic behavior.”
The hidden history of Muhammad Ali and the revolt of the black athlete in the 1960s is a living history. By reclaiming it from the powers that be, we can understand more than the struggles of the 1960s. We can see how struggle can shape every aspect of life under capitalism — even sports.
Fighting for Justice
No sport has chewed athletes up and spit them out — especially black athletes — quite like boxing. For the very few who “make it,” it is never the sport of choice. Boxing is for the poor, for people born at the absolute margins of society.
The first boxers in the United States were slaves. Southern plantation owners amused themselves by putting together the strongest slaves and having them fight it out while wearing iron collars.
But after the abolition of slavery, boxing was unique among sports because, unlike every other major sport, it was desegregated as early as the turn of the last century. This was not because the promoters who ran boxing were in any way progressive. Quite the contrary. The brutality of the sport itself gave promoters a stage to make a buck off of the rampant racism in American society.
Unwittingly, these early fight financiers opened up space where the white supremacist ideas of society could be challenged.
This was the era of deeply racist pseudo-science. The attitude was not only that blacks were mentally inferior but also physically inferior to whites. Blacks were cast as too lazy and too undisciplined ever to be taken seriously as athletes.
When Jack Johnson became the first black heavyweight boxing champion in 1908, his victory created a serious crisis. The media whipped up a frenzy around the need for a “A Great White Hope” to restore order to the world. Former champion Jim Jeffries came out of retirement and said, “I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro.”
At the fight, which took place in 1910, the ringside band played, “All coons look alike to me,” and promoters led the all-white crowd in the chant “Kill the nigger.” But Johnson was faster, stronger, and smarter than Jeffries. He knocked him out with ease.
After Johnson’s victory, there were race riots around the country — in Illinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas and Washington, D.C. Most of the riots consisted of white lynch mobs attacking blacks, and blacks fighting back.
This reaction to a boxing match was one of the most widespread racial uprisings in the United States until the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Right-wing religious groups immediately organized to ban boxing. Congress actually passed a law banning boxing films.
Even some black leaders, such as Booker T. Washington, pushed Johnson to condemn African Americans for rioting, and to toe the line. But Johnson remained defiant and faced harassment and persecution for most of his life. He was forced into exile in 1913 on the trumped-up charge of transporting a white women across state lines for prostitution.
The backlash against Johnson meant that it would be twenty years before the rise of another black heavyweight champ — Joe Louis, “the Brown Bomber.” Louis was quiet where Johnson was defiant. He was handled very carefully by a management team that had a set of rules Louis had to follow including, “never be photographed with a white woman, never go to a club by yourself and never speak unless spoken to.”
But he was devastating in the ring, scoring sixty-nine victories in seventy-two professional fights — fifty-five of them knockouts. Despite having an image where his handlers had him scrape and shuffle, Joe Louis — and his dominance in the ring — represented much more to poor blacks, and also to the radicalizing working class in the 1930s.
This played out most famously during Louis’s two fights against German boxer Max Schmeling in 1936 and 1938. Schmeling was heavily promoted by Adolph Hitler as proof of “Aryan greatness.” In the first bout, Schmeling knocked out Louis. Not only did Hitler and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels have a field day, but the Southern press in the United States laughed it up. One column in the New Orleans Picayune wrote, “I guess this proves who really is the master race.”
The Louis-Schmeling rematch in 1938 was a political brouhaha — a physical referendum on Hitler, the Jim Crow South, and antiracism. The US Communist Party organized radio listenings of the fight from Harlem to Birmingham that became mass meetings. Hitler closed down movie houses so people would be compelled to listen.
Louis devastated Schmeling in one round. Hitler quickly cut the radio power in all of Germany when it was clear the knockout was coming.
“The Brown Bomber” held the heavyweight title for twelve years, the longest reign in history. He beat all comers, the overwhelming majority of them white — successfully defending his heavyweight title a record twenty-five times. As poet Maya Angelou wrote about Louis, “the one invincible Negro, the one who stood up to the white man and beat him down with his fists. He in a sense carried so many of our hopes, and maybe even our dreams of vengeance.”
Thirty years after the fight, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in Why We Can’t Wait,
More than twenty-five years ago, one of the Southern states adopted a new method of capital punishment. Poison gas supplanted the gallows. In its earliest stages a microphone was placed inside the sealed death chamber so that scientific observers might hear the words of the dying prisoner to judge how the victim reacted in this novel situation.
The first victim was a young Negro. As the pellet dropped into the container, and the gas curled upward, through the microphone came these words. “Save me Joe Louis. Save me Joe Louis. Save me Joe Louis.”
In a society so violently racist, boxing became an outlet for people’s anger — a morality play about the thwarted ability, the unrecognized talents and the relentless fighting spirit that shaped the black experience in the United States.
Muhammad Ali’s identity was forged in the 1950s and 1960s, as the black freedom struggle heated up and boiled over. He was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942. His father, a frustrated artist, made his living as a house painter. His mother was a domestic worker.
The Louisville of Ali’s youth was a segregated horse-breeding community where being black meant being seen as part of a servant class.
But young Clay could box and he could always talk. His mouth was like no fighter or athlete or public black figure anyone had ever heard. Joe Louis used to say, “My manager does my talking for me. I do my talking in the ring.” Clay talked, inside the ring and out. The press called him the “Louisville lip,” “cash the brash,” “mighty mouth,” and “gaseous cassius.”
He used to say he talked because his hero was a pro-wrestler named Gorgeous George. But in an unguarded moment he said, “Where do you think I’d be next week if I didn’t know how to shout and holler? I’d probably be down in my hometown washing windows and saying yassuh and nossuh and knowing my place.”
But Ali was more than talk. His boxing skills won him the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics at age eighteen. When he came back from the Olympics — and this is the first step in his political arc — he held a press conference at the airport, his gold medal swinging from his neck, and said:
To make America the greatest is my goal
So I beat the Russian and I beat the Pole
And for the USA won the medal of Gold.
The Greeks said you’re better than the Cassius of Old.
Clay loved his gold medal. Fellow Olympian Wilma Rudolph said, “He slept with it, he went to the cafeteria with it. He never took it off.” The week after returning home from the Olympics, Clay went to eat a cheeseburger with his medal swinging around his neck in a Louisville restaurant — and was denied service. He threw his medal in the Ohio River.
The young Clay then started actively looking for political answers and began finding them when he heard Malcolm X speak at a meeting of the Nation of Islam (NOI). He heard Malcolm say, “You might see these Negroes who believe in nonviolence and mistake us for one of them and put your hands on us thinking that we are going to turn the other cheek — and we’ll put you to death just like that.”
The young fighter and Malcolm X became both political allies and fast friends. Malcolm stayed with Clay as he trained for his fight against the “Big Ugly Bear,” the champion Sonny Liston. With Malcolm around, rumors flew through the sports pages that Clay was going to join the NOI, and the press hounded him wanting to know. At one point he said, “I might if you keep asking me.”
When everyone was predicting an easy knockout for Liston, Malcolm said,
Clay will win. He is the finest Negro athlete I have ever known and he will mean more to his people than Jackie Robinson. Robinson is an establishment hero. Clay will be our hero…. Not many people know the quality of mind he has in there. One forgets that although the clown never imitates a wise man, a wise man can imitate the clown.
Although the verdict was out on whether he was wise or a clown, no one gave him a chance against Liston, a hulking ex-con who used to work for the Mob breaking legs on picket lines. Ali — quicker, stronger and bolder than anyone knew — shocked the world and beat Liston. He then said famously, “I’m king of the world!”
When Ali said he was the greatest, it wasn’t far from the truth. His trainer Angelo Dundee once said with a smile, “He destroyed a generation of fighters by boxing with his hands down. Everyone else who did that got creamed but Ali was so quick he could get away with it.”
Ali set a new standard for ring speed. He used to say “I’m so fast, I can turn off the bedroom lights and get in bed before it gets dark.” As writer Gary Kamiya put it,
No one had ever seen anyone that big move that fast; no one had ever seen anyone that graceful hurt other people so badly. Fighting Ali was like being forced to glide across the floor with Gene Kelly in a murderous duet; a single deviation from the beat, a hundredth of a second’s pause coming out of a liquid twirl, and a baseball bat would explode against your head.
In his professional career he won fifty-six of sixty-one fights, with thirty-seven knockouts.
The day after he beat Liston, Clay announced publicly that he was a member of the NOI. There are no words for the firestorm this caused. The champ was with a group that called white people devils and stood unapologetically for self-defense and racial separation. Not surprisingly, the men of the conservative, mobbed-up, corrupt fight world lost their minds.
Ali was attacked not only by the sports world, but also by the respectable wing of the Civil Rights Movement. Roy Wilkins, of the older Civil Rights generation said, “Cassius Clay may as well be an honorary member of the white citizen councils.” Jimmy Cannon, the most famous sportswriter in America at the time, wrote: “The fight racket since its rotten beginnings has been the red light district of sports. But this is the first time it has been turned into an instrument of hate.”
Ali’s response at this point was very defensive. He repeatedly said that his wasn’t a political, but a purely religious conversion. His defense reflected the conservative politics of the Nation of Islam. Ali said,
I’m not going to get killed trying to force myself on people who don’t want me. Integration is wrong. White people don’t want it, the Muslims don’t want it. So what’s wrong with the Muslims? I’ve never been in jail. I’ve never been in court. I don’t join integration marches and I never hold a sign.
But much like Malcolm X, who at the time was engineering a political break from the Nation, Clay — much to the anger of Elijah Muhammad — found it impossible to explain his religious worldview without speaking to the mass black freedom struggle happening outside the boxing ring. He was his own worst enemy — claiming that his was a religious transformation and had nothing to do with politics, but then in the next breath saying,
I ain’t no Christian. I can’t be when I see all the colored people fighting for forced integration get blown up. They get hit by the stones and chewed by dogs and then these crackers blow up a Negro Church…. People are always telling me what a good example I would be if I just wasn’t Muslim. I’ve heard over and over why couldn’t I just be more like Joe Louis and Sugar Ray. Well they are gone and the Black man’s condition is just the same ain’t it? We’re still catching hell.
If the establishment press was outraged, a new generation of activists was electrified. As Civil Rights leader Julian Bond reminisced,
I remember when Ali joined the Nation. The act of joining was not something many of us particularly liked. But the notion that he would do it, that he’d jump out there, join this group that was so despised by mainstream America and be proud of it, sent a little thrill through you.… He was able to tell white folks for us to go to hell; that I’m going to do it my way.
At this time, he was known briefly as Cassius X, but Elijah Muhammad gave Clay the name Muhammad Ali — a tremendous honor and a way to ensure that the young Ali would side with Elijah Muhammad in his split with Malcolm X.
Ali proceeded to commit what he would later describe as his greatest mistake — turning his back on Malcolm. But the internal politics of the Nation were not what the ruling class and the media noticed. To them the name change — something that had never occurred before in sports — was another slap in the face.
Almost overnight, whether you called him Ali or Clay indicated where an individual stood on civil rights, Black Power, and eventually the war in Vietnam. The New York Times insisted on calling him Clay as an editorial policy for years thereafter.
This all took place against the backdrop of a black freedom struggle rolling from the South to the North. During the summer of 1964, there were one thousand arrests of civil rights activists, thirty buildings bombed and thirty-six churches burned by the Ku Klux Klan and their sympathizers. In 1964, the first of the urban uprisings and riots in the northern ghettos took place.
The politics of Black Power were starting to emerge and Muhammad Ali was a critical symbol in this transformation. As news anchor Bryant Gumbel said, “One of the reasons the civil rights movement went forward was that black people were able to overcome their fear. And I honestly believe that for many black Americans, that came from watching Muhammad Ali. He simply refused to be afraid. And being that way, he gave other people courage.”
A concrete sign of Ali’s early influence was seen in 1965 when Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) volunteers in Lowndes County, Alabama launched an independent political party. Their new group was the first to use the symbol of a black panther. Their bumper stickers and T-shirts were of a black silhouette of a panther and their slogan was straight from the champ: “We Are the Greatest.”
Every fight after his name change became incredible morality plays of the black revolution versus the people who opposed it. Floyd Patterson, a black ex-champion wrapped tightly in the American flag, said of his fight with Ali, “This fight is a crusade to reclaim the title from the Black Muslims. As a Catholic I am fighting Clay as a patriotic duty. I am going to return the crown to America.”
In the fight itself, Ali brutalized Patterson for nine rounds, dragging it out yelling, “Come on America! Come on white America….” Then in a fight against Ernie Terrell who also insisted upon calling him “Clay,” Ali took him apart in the ring and said repeatedly, “What’s my name? Is my name Clay? What’s my name fool?”
Future Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver wrote in his 1968 autobiography Soul on Ice, “If the Bay of Pigs can be seen as a straight right hand to the psychological jaw of white America then [Ali/Patterson] was the perfect left hook to the gut.”
Resisting the Vietnam War
In early 1966, the army came calling for Ali and he was classified 1-A — to be drafted. He heard this news surrounded by reporters and he blurted out one of the most famous phrases of the decade, “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.”
This was an astounding statement. There was little opposition to the war at the time. The antiwar movement was in its infancy and most of the country still stood behind it.
Life magazine’s cover read, “Vietnam the War is Worth Winning.” The song, “Ballad of the Green Berets” was climbing the charts. And then there was Ali. As long-time peace activist Daniel Berrigan said, “It was a major boost to an antiwar movement that was very white. He was not an academic, or a bohemian or a clergyman. He couldn’t be dismissed as cowardly.”
The reaction was immediate, hostile, ferocious and at times amusingly hysterical. Jimmy Cannon wrote,
He fits in with the famous singers no one can hear and the punks riding motorcycles and Batman and the boys with their long dirty hair and the girls with the unwashed look and the college kids dancing naked at secret proms and the revolt of students who get a check from Dad, and the painters who copy the labels off soup cans and surf bums who refuse to work and the whole pampered cult of the bored young.
Jack Olsen wrote years later in Sports Illustrated, “The noise became a din, the drumbeats of a holy war. TV and radio commentators, little old ladies…bookmakers, and parish priests, armchair strategists at the Pentagon and politicians all over the place joined in a crescendo of get Cassius get Cassius get Cassius.”
Ali was given every opportunity to recant, to apologize, to sign up on some cushy USO gig boxing for the troops and the cameras, to go back to making money. But he refused. His refusal was gargantuan because of what was bubbling over in US society. You had the black revolution over here and the draft resistance and antiwar struggle over there. And the heavyweight champ with one foot planted in both.
As poet Sonia Sanchez remembered:
It’s hard now to relay the emotion of that time. This was still a time when hardly any well-known people were resisting the draft. It was a war that was disproportionately killing young Black brothers and here was this beautiful, funny poetical young man standing up and saying no! Imagine it for a moment! The heavyweight champion, a magical man, taking his fight out of the ring and into the arena of politics and standing firm. The message was sent!
An incredible groundswell of support built up for Ali. That is why, despite the harassment and the media attacks and the taps on his phones, he stood firm. At one press conference later that year, he was expected to apologize. He was always rumored to go back on the war statement. He instead got up and said, “Keep asking me, no matter how long, On the war in Vietnam, I sing this song, I ain’t got no quarrel with the Vietcong.”
By now it was 1967 and in another huge step for the antiwar movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. came out against the war. In a press conference where King first proclaimed his opposition he said, “Like Muhammad Ali puts it, we are all — black and brown and poor — victims of the same system of oppression.”
Ali and King, to the anger of the NOI, struck up a private friendship that we know about thanks to the good people at the FBI. Here is one short wire-tapped transcript with Martin Luther King, Jr. in which Muhammad Ali is referred to derisively as “C.”
MLK spoke to C, they exchanged greetings. C invited MLK to be his guest at the next championship fight. MLK said he would like to attend. C said he is keeping up with MLK and MLK is his brother and he’s with him 100 percent but can’t take any chances, and that MLK should take care of himself and should “watch out for them whities.”
The only time these private friends came together in public was later that year, when Ali joined King in Louisville, where a bitter and violent struggle was being waged for fair housing. Ali spoke to the protesters saying,
In your struggle for freedom, justice and equality I am with you. I came to Louisville because I could not remain silent while my own people, many I grew up with, many I went too school with, many my blood relatives, were being beaten, stomped and kicked in the streets simply because they want freedom, and justice and equality in housing.
Later that day, he cemented his position as a lightning rod between the freedom struggle and the antiwar struggle when a reporter kept dogging him about the war, until finally he turned around, cameras whirring and said,
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end.
I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.…
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.
Said Julian Bond, “When Ali refused to take that symbolic step forward everyone knew about it moments later. You could hear people talking about it on street corners. It was on everybody’s lips. People who had never thought about the war–Black and white–began to think it through because of Ali.”
Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam was front-page news all over the world. In Guyana there was a picket of support in front of the US embassy. In Karachi, young Pakistanis fasted. And there was a mass demonstration in Cairo.
On June 19, 1967, Ali was prosecuted by an all-white jury in Houston. The typical sentence was eighteen months in these cases. Ali got five years in prison and the confiscation of his passport. He immediately appealed. Ali, undefeated and untouched, was stripped of his title for refusing to serve in the military, beginning a three-and-a-half-year exile from the ring.
Support came from unlikely sources. Floyd Patterson, who was himself being shaped by the movements around him said, “What bothers me is Clay is being made to pay too stiff a penalty for doing what is right. The prize fighter in America is not supposed to shoot off of his mouth about politics, particularly if his views oppose the government’s and might influence many among the working class that follows boxing.”
One group that deeply understood Ali’s significance was the US Congress. The day of his conviction they voted 337 to 29 to extend the draft four more years. They also voted 385 to 19 to make it a federal crime to desecrate the flag.
At this time, one thousand Vietnamese noncombatants were being killed each week by US forces. One hundred soldiers were dying every day, the war cost $2 billion a month and the movement against the war was growing. Ali’s defiance is far more than a footnote in the movement. As one observer said, “He made dissent visible, audible, attractive and fearless.”
By 1968, Ali was out on bail — abandoned by the Nation of Islam and hangers-on and stripped of his title. But he was never more active because there was a young generation of blacks and whites that wanted to hear what he had to say. And Ali obliged.
In 1968, he spoke at two hundred campuses. Here is one speech, brimming with confidence — as if the US state were no more menacing than Floyd Patterson:
I’m expected to go overseas to help free people in South Vietnam and at the same time my people here are being brutalized, hell no! I would like to say to those of you who think I have lost so much, I have gained everything. I have peace of heart; I have a clear, free conscience. And I am proud. I wake up happy, I go to bed happy, and if I go to jail I’ll go to jail happy.
Down Goes Ali
Ali, who appealed his sentence, was aided by the tide against the war. A divided Supreme Court overturned his sentence in 1970, as the justices said it would “Give black people a lift,” and Ali was victorious. He returned to the ring in 1971 a slower fighter, but as intelligent as any fighter who ever laced up his gloves.
Ali lost to Joe Frazier in 1971 in an attempt to win back his title. The fifteen-round fight was so brutal it sent both fighters to the hospital. Then, in 1973, Ali lost to and then beat Ken Norton. Then came the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire against George Foreman. In many ways it revealed the limits and ambiguity of Black Power — and the decline of both Ali’s militancy and the movement it inspired and was inspired by.
Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko — a darling of the United States who had killed Ali’s old friend Patrice Lumumba to seize power and then looted a quarter of the country’s wealth — secured the fight arm in arm with a social parasite named Don King.
Together they dressed up the fight in the colors of black nationalism. Squatter camps along the road leading from the airport were obscured by huge billboards that said: “Zaire: Where Black Power is a reality.” In the lead up to the fight, Mobutu rounded up scores of alleged criminals and had one hundred of them executed in order to ensure calm for the foreign press and dignitaries.
But if everything surrounding the fight was horrid, the fight itself was incredible. The African crowd — who like blacks in the United States saw Ali as their hero — chanted “Ali, Bomaye!” (Ali, Kill him!). But Foreman, strong and in his prime, was expected to trounce Ali.
Instead, Ali beat Foreman in one of the greatest upsets in history. He spent the first several rounds allowing Foreman to exhaust himself trying to pummel Ali, who in the weeks leading up the fight had practiced this “rope-a-dope” strategy, defending his head and body while keeping his back against the ropes.
After Foreman had spent himself, Ali suddenly exploded from the ropes, dispatching Foreman in a series of lightning blows in the eighth round. It was one of the most strategically brilliant boxing matches ever fought.
Ali’s fighting career continued as the Black Power movement and the freedom struggle declined. The American ruling class smashed a section of the movement, and accommodated others. In some respects, Ali represented both sides of that. He was both smashed and accommodated. Ali came back to the ring a much slower fighter but he found that he could take a punch. And he took them until he was physically destroyed.
Though slowed, Ali was much loved. Louisville named a thoroughfare after him. Presidents invited him to the White House, and, as mentioned, he today shows up to light the Olympic torch and shill for war. Jim Brown, one athlete who has never stopped organizing, said, “The Ali that America ended up loving was not the Ali I loved the most. The warrior I loved was gone.”
But if Ali’s present has been absorbed by the mainstream, his past is written and it belongs to us. When activists today strive to connect the war at home with the war abroad, we have the Ali of the 1960s as part of our tradition. As Tommie Smith said recently, “It’s not something I can lay on my shelf and forget about. My heart and soul are still on that team, and I still believe in everything we were trying to fight for in 1968 has not been resolved and will be part of our future.”
Smith is right: Ali’s stirring resistance to racism and war belongs not only to the 1960s, but is part of the common future of humanity.
Republished from What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States .
Dave Zirin is the author most recently of Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy .
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Onslow paramedic resigns following revenge porn charges
Mike McHugh
Jun 7, 2018 at 3:38 PM Jun 7, 2018 at 3:38 PM
An Onslow County paramedic has resigned after being accused of posting revenge porn online.
Luis Reyes, 37, of Sugarberry Court in Jacksonville was arrested by the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office on June 6, after turning himself in to the Onslow County Magistrates where he was charged with disclosing private images and disseminating obscenity, according to warrants.
Reyes is accused of uploading images depicting “intimate parts of another person” without her consent onto Reddit, a public website, according to warrants.
According to warrants, the alleged incident occurred between May 11 and May 12. Three days later, Reyes resigned from his position as an Onslow County paramedic, according to Onslow County Communications Specialist Cornelius J. Jordan.
“Mr. Reyes was hired as a paramedic by Onslow County on Sept. 8, 2015. Mr. Reyes held that position until he resigned on May 15, 2018. His final salary was $38,675.20 annually,” Jordan wrote in an email to The Daily News.
The Daily News requested and was denied a copy of Reyes’ resignation letter, to which Jordan responded: “Pursuant to North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 153A-98 privacy of employee personnel records, resignation letters are not public records.”
Reyes remains free on a $7,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Onslow County District Court on June 7, according N.C. Courts. Reyes waived his right to counsel, according to the Onslow County Clerk of Courts office.
Reporter Mike McHugh can be reached at 910-219-8455 or email mike.mchugh@jdnews.com.
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“I will have harnessed for you a chariot of Lapis Lazuli and gold, with wheels of gold and horns of Amber."
Epic of Gilgamesh (2650 BC)
Example of Lapis Lazuli with Pyrite inclusions
The name ‘lapis’ derives from the Latin word for stone, and ‘Lazulum,' meaning blue or Celestine, which likely derives from the Persian ‘Lazhuward,' the name the Persians gave to the Afghan deposits and also the source of the word ‘azure.' While Lapis Lazuli was called ‘sapphirus’ (blue) by the Ancient Greeks and in Imperial Rome, this name is now used to refer to the blue variety of Corundum, Sapphire.
Chemical composition of Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli is an opaque gem composed of multiple parts of lasurite, a mineral responsible for its beautiful blue color, of calcite, which causes the white striations and pyrite,with its golden shards.
Lapis Lazuli extraction
Lapis Lazuli: The raw gem
The most renowned deposit of Lapis Lazuli is that of Sar-e-Sang, in the Kokcha Valley of the remote district of Badakhshan in Northern Afghanistan. Active for over 7000 years, it is the site of some of the most ancient mines in the world. There are certainly other deposits of Lapis Lazuli, but the Afghan variety remains the best by reputation and experience. During antiquity, Afghan Lapis Lazuli was exported along ancient trade routes to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, China and even Japan. The medieval Persian geographer Estakhri visited the Afghani Lapis Lazuli mines in the 10th century and when Marco Polo visited them in the 13th century, he wrote: “There is a mountain in that region where the finest Lapis Lazuli in the world is found."
Due to the many deposits present in Chile, Lapis Lazuli was made the Chilean national stone on 20 September 1984. Other countries where this wonderful gemstone is extracted include Russia (Lake Bajkal), Angola, Myanmar, Canada, Pakistan and the United States.
The history of Lapis Lazuli
The wonderful blue of Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli was mentioned as far back as 2650 B.C. in the famed ‘Epic of Gilgamesh,' the famous poem from Ancient Mesopotamia. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur had a thriving trade in Lapis Lazuli and its royal tombs, excavated in the late 1920s, contained more than 6,000 exquisite Lapis Lazuli statuettes, dishes, beads and seals. The ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks attributed divine forces to this celestial gemstone. Used for religious ceremonies and personal adornment, Lapis Lazuli was also worn as a talisman, amulet and inlaid jewel.
It was also used as a recompense for courage, and the Romans in particular believed it to be a strong aphrodisiac. An antique Roman bust made of Lapis Lazuli can be admired in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Namur.
During the first century B.C., During the first century B.C., Pliny the Elder described Lapis Lazuli as “a fragment of the starry vault of heaven." A big hit with ancient alchemists, Lapis Lazuli was even used in arts as a pigment. The color ‘ultramarine’ was once produced from crushed Lapis Lazuli. The wonderful blue hue is found, for example, in Persian miniatures from the 13th and 14th centuries, Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper,' and in a miniature in the Church of Saint-Germain d’Auxerre. The color ‘ultramarine’ was highly sought after due to its intensity and resistance to light, and its prices even exceeded that of gold. From 1828 onwards, the color was created synthetically, making it more accessible.
Properties of Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh (2650 B.C.)
Lapis Lazuli is an easily cut gemstone. The only limit is the cutter’s imagination. Generally, a cabochon cut is preferred, but it can also be cut as a table, in beads, carvings or figurines. It can be difficult to find uniform and intense blues, and examples between 10 and 20 carats are considered exceptionally rare.
Lapis Lazuli is not only an antique gemstone, with 7,000 years of history behind it, but also features in various myths and traditions.
Varieties of Lapis Lazuli
According to certain Persian treatises on Lapis Lazuli, its colors may be classified into three groups: nili (dark blue), assemani (light blue) and sabz (green).
When grading Lapis Lazuli, the most attractive and coveted color is a uniform royal blue (rich violet blue). Flecks of color or, in general, flecks of green, negatively impact the beauty and value of the gemstone. In contrast, the presence of Pyrite give Lapis Lazuli a mystical, suggestive edge.
Chilean examples have a lighter color due to the high percentage of Calcite.
Care for Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli requires special attention. It cannot be exposed to heat sources or boiling water, and soaps, acidic and saline solutions should be avoided. A dry or slightly moist cloth is all that is needed for cleaning.
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Prepare to be engolfed: U.S. Open to take over Torrey Pines
The U.S. Open comes to San Diego County for the first time ever, from June 9 to 15, at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla. The event will draw the creme de la creme of the golfing world and promises to bring national exposure and a much-needed infusion of capital to the local economy.
But along with that comes huge crowds, traffic congestion, a tourist “frenzy” and at least a degree of uncertainty as to whether the international sporting event will live up to its billing as a business bonanza.
The Open, now in its 108th year, is one of four major golf tournaments on the PGA Tour. It will far surpass the annual Buick Open, which is played at Torrey Pines each winter, in scope.
“This event, like other major sporting events, carries with it intense media interest all over the country and the world, as well as exposure for San Diego as a tourist and meeting destination,” noted Sal Giametta, vice president of public affairs for San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, who added the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C. generated an estimated $124 million in revenue for that community. “We certainly expect the event here, this year, to exceed that,” he added.
The much-ballyhooed U.S. Open is the goose that laid the golden egg for its host, The Lodge At Torrey Pines. “This has been a tremendously visionary thing in the works for years,” said Steve Pelzer, executive vice president, sales and marketing for Evans Hotels, which owns and operates The Lodge. “The hotel’s been sold out for this event for years. We’ll have 50,000 people a day coming.”
Pelzer added the 2008 U.S. Open will be cutting edge. “The U.S. Open has not been in (Southern) California since 1947 (1948 in L.A.),” he noted, “and it’s really only the second time in its history that it’s been on a public golf course, the first time on a municipal course.”
But the outlook of at least two local businesses on the prospects of deriving huge financial benefit from the week-long 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines is less sanguine.
“Not as much as we would have anticipated originally,” is how Leslie Araiza, director of public relations at The Grande Colonial La Jolla, summed up the historic hotel’s view of how the U.S. Open is shaping up. “We all (hoteliers) went into this thinking we’d reap the benefits and be sold out for the entire week with five-night minimums. But that’s just not our reality.”
The reality for The Grande Colonial has turned out to be more like 70 percent occupancy for that week.
How could the U.S. Open prove to be more bust than boom for some local merchants? Araiza has a theory. “It’s primarily the parking,” she said, adding there has been one question in common asked by all potential hotel guests: How am I going to get to the U.S. Open from the hotel?
The answer to that question, for the majority of U.S. Open spectators, will likely be via shuttle bus from Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley, which has been designated as the transportation hub for the tournament event.
That doesn’t come as welcome news to George Hauer, owner of George’s At The Cove on Prospect Street, who fears the city of San Diego, by designating Qualcomm Stadium as the event’s transportation central, will effectively cut many local businesses out of the circulation “loop.”
“The obvious answer is, yes, we’ve been expecting to (do great business),” said Hauer about the U.S. Open’s potential. “But if everything goes out of Qualcomm ... who knows what will happen? It could be a mob scene. Or it could be a disaster. We have absolutely no idea.”
Bill Harris of Mayor Jerry Sanders office said “not to worry” about fears that the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines will not “measure up.”
“I suspect the restaurants will get additional business with the thousands upon thousands of people expected,” Harris said. “They’re going to be purchasing things, going out to eat and going to find some entertainment. It’s going to be a very busy week up and around Torrey Pines Mesa.”
Lt. Dan Christman, in charge of special events operations for the San Diego Police Department, said a plan is in place to deal with the 250,000 spectators expected during the four days of the golf tournament. “For general spectators, the majority of people are going to be shuttled by bus from Qualcomm,” he said. “Then there are about 7,500 other parking spaces for media, corporate sponsors and volunteers being used to disperse traffic evenly in the Torrey Pines area.”
Christman expects 20,000 people will visit Torrey Pines on Monday and Tuesday, 30,000 on Wednesday and upwards of 50,000 on the weekend. He offered this advice to travelers in the area: “If they have an alternative route that avoids the area of the golf course - they should take it.”
Mike Antolini, manager of the 2008 U.S. Open for the USGA, said it’s time for Torrey Pines, La Jolla and San Diego to shine. “The course is in the greatest condition it’s ever been in,” Antolini said. “The city, the host committee, the spectators, the 6,000 volunteers it’s going to take to pull off San Diego’s first U.S. Open ... everyone can expect something special that is very unique.”
One word of warning to those planning to attend the tournament: there is a significant list of prohibited items, including cell phones, cameras, camcorders, large bags, signs, posters or banners, TVs, radios, pets, containers or coolers, lawn or folding armchairs, bikes, ladders or metal-spiked golf shoes.
More Online
The U.S. Open for Neophytes
U.S. Open Schedule of Events
Spectator’sGuide
Official Scoring from Torrey Pines
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Lake of the Ozarks set for FLW Bass Fishing Tournament
BRIAN JOHNSON, brian.johnson@flwfishing.com
The FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament season will continue Saturday, May 18, with a T-H Marine FLW BFL Ozark Division tournament on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Navionics. Up to 400 boaters and co-anglers will be competing for top awards of up to $8,000 and $3,000 respectively in the one-day tournament.
Takeoff: 6:30 a.m. CDT. Weigh-In: 3 p.m.
Pa He Tsi Lake Access
Lake of the Ozarks State Park
U.S. Highway 54
Osage Beach, Mo.
Hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association/Convention & Visitors Bureau
Anglers set to fish the Lake of the Ozarks in this mid-May BFL divisional tournament are in for a great day of bass fishing, with many parts of the lake expected to produce notable bites. Lake News Online reports bass are being caught on spinnerbaits and crankbaits along windy main-lake points in the Lower Osage area of the lake, with topwater lures, shaky-head worms and creature baits cited as productive in coves around logs and docks in Upper Osage. For anglers staying mid-lake, running umbrella rigs, spinnerbaits and crankbaits on windy main- and secondary-points, or working jigs, shaky-head rigs and tubes in spawning pockets could also be good bets. A 22-pound five-bass limit should be enough to secure the win at this Ozark Division tournament.
The 2019 BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2019 BFL All-American will be held May 30-June 1 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland, and is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism and the Commissioners of Charles County. Top performers in the BFL can move up to the Costa FLW Series or even the FLW Tour.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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[Review] "Summer of 84" is chilling kid horror packed with nostalgia
If you were to look out your window right now, could you see your neighbors? Maybe your neighbor is the old man who sits on his lawn yelling at kids. Or maybe you have the hot girl or guy next door living by you. Whoever they are, ask yourself, how well do you really know them? The truth is, we never really know who anyone is. As the new film Summer of 84 reminds us, “even serial killers live next door to somebody”…
…Directed by the team that brought you Turbo Kid (Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) and written by Matt Leslie & Stephen J. Smith, Summer of 84 tells the story of Davey (Graham Verchere), who comes to believe that the cop next door, Mr. Mackey (Rich Sommer), is a serial killer. Not just any serial killer either. A killer of young boys the same age as Davey. With the help of his friends Tommy, Dale, and Curtis (Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, and Cory Gruter-Andrew, respectively) and Davey’s babysitter, Nikki (Tiera Skovbye), the group sets out to prove that Mackey isn’t the friendly neighborhood cop everyone thinks he is.
The first thing that needs to be pointed out about Summer of 84 is that this film IS NOT Turbo Kid. I love Turbo Kid. If you have eyeballs and ears, you probably love Turbo Kid. It was a fantastic, over the top, nostalgia soaked, visual ecstasy that could not have been a better debut for the directors. But I repeat, Summer of 84 IS NOT at all like Turbo Kid, and that’s OKAY. Why do I say that? Sometimes, we as fans latch onto the style and techniques of a director’s (or in this case, team’s), debut film, expecting more of the same for years to come. For some directors, that’s the case. Tarantino, for example, is often pretty consistent with his tone. But others express talent by flexing their muscles with all kinds of different movies that feel nothing like each other, and that’s the case here.
Other than the incredible, eerie 80’s era soundtrack composed by Jean-Philippe Bernier, Jean-Nicolas Leupi & Le Matos (all of whom worked on Turbo Kid), Summer of 84 gets rid of the over-the-top nature of the directing team’s previous film and instead focuses on a story set in a much more believable reality. Summer of 84 is surprisingly restrained, a slow burn that evolves into a Goonies type murder mystery with a Stranger Things vibe. While the trailer seemed to advertise a film that was a love letter to 80s slashers, Summer of 84 is actually quite the opposite, taking a more modern approach with only the slight reference here and there, like a kid being stalked through overly foggy streets, for example. But there is no cheesy dialogue, or outrageous kills, or masked killers. Summer of 84 wants you to feel that what you are seeing is as real as possible, so that it can stab you in the gut when you’re not looking and just starting to feel safe.
The film is able to do this through a cast of characters that are relatable, all of them well performed by the kid actors. Kid-lead horror can be hit or miss, usually leaning towards the miss side, but everyone in Summer of 84, especially Verchere, has a charming innocence. They feel like the friends you had, or the boys you knew in school. The script does an excellent job of bringing these people to life, and presenting their friendships as REAL, something which a lot of films fail to do. The kids are sarcastic with each other, but never cruel, and there is a genuine love between each of them, a bond which cannot be broken no matter what. Their friendship is so natural and unquestionable, that there is real tension and tragedy to Summer of 84 once the horror takes off. Skovbye, who acts as a sort of love interest to Davey, resembles the purest form of childhood crushes, an older, attractive person who not only appreciates your crush, but feels the same. Sure it’s a little unrealistic, and I’d probably have to question the intentions of my teenage babysitters if they were into 12yr old me, but it’s the fantasy that works so well. Because what Summer of 84 does best is relish in the fantasies of childhood and the excitement of danger. Watching Summer of 84 brings back so many feelings of being a kid again that it’s like an extra sweet peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chocolate milk after a summer day of adventure outside.
Despite the performances of the kids, the real star of the show is Rich Sommer as Mr. Mackey. Sommer is perfect in the role. There is something childish about Sommer, regardless of his intimidating stature. He looks and acts exactly like the town sees him as, a friendly, lonely guy who loves kids and wouldn’t hurt a fly. But isn’t that how a killer would act in public? Summer of 84 and Sommer’s often calm demeanor manipulate the audience frequently, going as far as to make us begin to question whether or not the kids are overreacting just as much as their parents say they are. We go from believing Mackey’s the killer, to not believing it, to having no idea, and round and round we go, until the final, utterly terrifying reveal that proves who the real killer is.
My one gripe with the characters is that, while we feel sympathetic to their friendships, none of the relationships, including Davey and babysitter Nikki, is fully developed, mostly as a result of the events which occur throughout the film. In fact, its arguable that Davey and his relationship with Mr. Mackey is the most developed, as they are the only two characters who have a solid, complete story. But Davey has very little conflict with his friends, and in that sense, his development with them feels incomplete. There isn’t much of a point A to B, and with the way the film ends, we don’t get to see a lot of the relationships come to full fruition, one way or the other. Whether or not this is intentional on the filmmaker’s part is debatable, but its rather disappointing, never the less.
What isn’t disappointing, however, is the horror which is carefully laid throughout Summer of 84. Yes, the film is a slow burn. Yes, a majority of the film focuses on the characters and the fun of just being a kid and having the excuse to do something dangerous like spy on your neighbor. But once the horror takes off, holy shit does it take the fuck off. Some will say it comes a little too late, and I’ve got one leg in that boat, but when all the questions are finally answered and the confrontations with the killer are allowed to play out, Summer of 84 is relentless in its terror. It may look like a kid’s horror film on the surface, and in many ways, it is, but it is not what I would deem kid’s horror because it is just so damn dark. We’re not talking about Monster Squad here. Remember when I said the film resembles the vibe of Stranger Things? That's true, but it's more like what Stranger Things would be like if it watched its parents get chainsawed in half after catching them screwing like rabbits. You just don't walk away from that without some issues. After all, the plot revolves around a child killer, and kids are by no means safe in Summer of 84. Not to mention, the gore, while minimal, is effective, disturbing, and absolutely grotesque. The directors clearly have an understanding of how to effectively create tension and the ultimate payoff, so it’s just unfortunate that most of the true horror doesn’t come until the final twenty minutes or so, all of it leading to an anti-climactic, albeit chilling, ending that will leave your jaw hanging.
Summer of 84 may not satisfy on every level, and it certainly has its flaws, but overall is a fun horror film with a strong nostalgic factor that should put a smile on any 80s-kid’s face. The filmmaking team is one that I expect will continue to impress with their twists on standard genre tropes, just as they’ve done with Summer of 84. Just be prepared to spend the next few days being suspicious of your neighbor and their habit of buying lawn gnomes for their yard, or whatever weird crap they do. I mean, what are they trying to hide with all those creepy little gnomes, anyway…?
Summer of 84 is out now on VOD.
Scott Starr
Great review as usual Matt. I was hoping to find this on here as I have been thinking about renting it. I like how you mentioned the difference in tone between this and the director's other films. It is true for me that I have certain expectations of directors based on their past work and I am pleased to see that you have addressed this tendency in film fans here. I also like that you discussed the role of child actors in horror films. They can certainly make or break them and it's good to know they deliver on this one. I think I'll check it out.
Thanks Scott! Glad to have helped. And yes, I thought it was important to mention for exactly that reason, because I certainly found myself with expectations based on Turbo Kid and quickly understood I couldn't expect the same from the film. Very important to separate directors from their films and look at each film separately, great to hear you appreciated that. Let us know what you think when you watch it!
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Newfangled Elgar
By Mark Swed
Mark Swed is The Times' music critic
Perhaps it’s just millennial blues, but we seem to be having a bit more trouble than usual letting go of our century’s favorite figures. Browsing in a book store the other day, for instance, I noticed a new mystery novel in which Groucho Marx is, with full permission of the Groucho estate, the detective. And on the shelves of the record stores you can now find a CD imported from England that contains a brand-new symphony by the beloved English composer Edward Elgar, completed 54 years after his death. The Elgar family has permitted Anthony Payne to fashion something out of the fragments for a Third Symphony.
Badgered for a new symphony by George Bernard Shaw, Elgar began it in 1933. But diagnosed with and dying of incurable cancer at the end of that year, Elgar instructed his close friend, violinist W.H. Reed, to burn the sketches. Reed, who had played some fragments from the proposed symphony with the composer, served history instead, and published extended excerpts of them in his book “Elgar as I Knew Him.”
And now, thanks to the ministrations of Payne, a 61-year-old British composer, broadcaster, musicologist and critic, we have a Symphony No. 3 if not the Symphony No. 3. On Feb. 15 at Royal Festival Hall, Andrew Davis conducted the BBC Symphony (the BBC had originally commissioned the piece from Elgar) in its first performance. A recording with the same performers has been rushed out by NMC Recordings.
Advance word of the project was greeted with skepticism and, among many Elgarians, alarm. Unless a work is fully mapped out (as was Mahler’s Tenth Symphony, which primarily lacked orchestration at the time of his death), these enterprises are almost guaranteed to fail. In recent years we have had Schubert symphonies completed from the kinds of fragments that Elgar left, and there was even a Beethoven Tenth, but they have not caught on. Elgar had been crystal-clear about the fate of his symphony in progress: “No one must tinker with it,” he told Reed.
And yet from the reactions to the Elgar Third, the doubters seem to have been won over. The premiere got favorable reviews. The audience for it has been hugely enthusiastic. “I love it to bits,” a fan wrote on the Internet the other day. Eighty copies of the score were sold at the first concert, according to the work’s publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, an unheard-of quantity. The recording, released in England the day of the concert, immediately sold out its first 10,000 copies and NMC has rushed to re-press.
And, yes, what the British have been saying about the symphony turns out to be quite true. Elgar revivified works.
If this is not the symphony that Elgar would have written, no one, least of all Payne, is pretending it is. A companion CD has been released in which Payne describes exactly what Elgar left behind and what Payne did with it. “Elaborated"--the word being used to describe Payne’s contribution--is too modest. He used the sketches in the way they best seemed to fit together, thinking of the fragments as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. He went to other Elgar sources, as the composer himself had indicated he planned to do to fill out the work. But in the end he had to map the symphony and compose a considerable amount himself. So he went ahead and did it, in a mood of homage to Elgar.
There are a number of reasons, I think, why this symphony is as affecting as it is. But the main one is that Elgar did write just enough to give the 56-minute work an authentic ring. Although he orchestrated only the opening bars, Elgar completed the exposition section of the first movement, and that exposition is magnificent. The symphony begins boldly with an epic sweep--the vision of British Empire that will live on forever, if only in the imagination. The second theme is the purest of Elgarian lyricism--that late autumn, burnished glow of a dying Romanticism.
Three more decent-size chunks throughout the four movements offer unmistakable evidence of the composer’s personality. Beyond that there are only small bits and pieces. Payne, however, is helped enormously by the fact that Elgar had planned all along to borrow from an unfinished oratorio, “The Last Judgment,” and some obscure incidental music he had written for a historical drama, “Arthur,” by Laurence Binyon.
That Payne succeeds where other symphonic archeologists have failed is due, in part, to the fact that Elgar was hardly a master of structure on the level of Schubert or Beethoven or Mahler. Elgar was a long-winded composer, especially in his development sections, and his large works are not especially interesting formally. His two completed symphonies are overblown. But Payne has a surer grip of long-range goals than Elgar did. It’s the personality that matters, and Payne also shows he has a knack for mimicking Elgar’s sound.
Elgar’s music was not loved for originality; it was loved for, and still is loved for, capturing the mood of Edwardian England. The composer will always be revered for having put Britain back on the musical map after two centuries out of the mainstream. His “Pomp and Circumstance” March No. 1 was turned into “Land of Hope and Glory,” and it became England’s unofficial second national anthem. After his death, Elgar’s reputation went in decline as England tried to modernize its attitudes. But Britain has come around to Elgar again. London is in a dress-up mood at century’s end; kids are displaying a gothic look. Kennedy (formerly Nigel Kennedy) has an enthusiastic recent recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto that promotes extreme Romanticism as newly hip.
Elgar seems right for the times outside Britain, as well. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has Elgar’s Second Symphony on the agenda in two weeks and the “Enigma” Variations the second week of the Hollywood Bowl season. Davis plans to conduct the Elgar Third in America on the East Coast and in the Midwest next season. And his acceptably straightforward, but not quite inspired, performance on disc will remind us that the 20th century isn’t over yet.
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Column: Paul Konerko’s baseball career is a tale of excellence
Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko throws a ball before Friday’s game against the Angels. Konerko has come a long way since making his major league debut with the Dodgers in 1997.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
By Bill ShaikinStaff Writer
It is a slur, a slam, a label that carries the air of disparagement. When the Cooperstown debates flare anew each winter, candidates who do not measure up in the eye of the beholder are dismissed with these words: “It is the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Very Good.”
We come today to celebrate the Hall of Very Good.
For every 100 players, one makes the Hall of Fame. But no team wins with one player alone. It is the best of the rest, the stars who are not superstars, that we take this opportunity to salute.
We do it today as Paul Konerko plays his final game in Southern California. This is the year of the Derek Jeter farewell tour, and the Angels presented Jeter with a custom surfboard before his final game in Anaheim. The Angels do not plan to present Konerko with anything.
Konerko is to the Chicago White Sox what Tim Salmon was to the Angels, the sturdy loyalist who stuck around for a surprise World Series championship, to the delight of long-suffering fans.
“My only goal, really, when I got to the big leagues was to play for one team for 10 years,” Konerko said. “I figured, if I did that, all the other stuff would just come along with it. And it has.”
Konerko, 38, has hit 437 home runs. If he hits six more before he calls it a career, he could finish in the top 40 on the all-time list.
He hit his first home run with the Dodgers, in 1998, amid turmoil that rivaled anything Frank McCourt had to offer. The new Fox ownership traded Mike Piazza in May, over the head of general manager Fred Claire, then fired Claire and manager Bill Russell in June.
Tom Lasorda, installed as interim general manager, played for the present, not the future. Konerko was the Dodgers’ top prospect, but he was a first baseman, with Eric Karros ahead of him. On July 4, with the Dodgers 121/2 games out of first place in the National League West and eight games out for the wild card, Lasorda traded Konerko to the Cincinnati Reds for closer Jeff Shaw.
“I was surprised not because I got traded, but because of the timing of the trade,” Konerko said. “I don’t think it really mattered what they got at that point. It didn’t seem like they were going to win.”
They didn’t.
“We traded him because of a single reason: Karros was at first base,” Lasorda said. “We got a closer. I’ve said this time and time again: pennants, playoff games and the World Series are won or lost in the bullpen. You’re not going to win if you don’t have a good closer.”
The stink that surrounded the Piazza trade made it imperative for the Dodgers to retain Karros, a fan favorite who wanted to stay. In retrospect, there is no question the Dodgers should have chosen Konerko over Karros.
Shaw pitched for the Dodgers through 2001, but they never made the playoffs during his tenure. Karros’ slugging percentage dropped nearly 100 points from 1999 to 2000, which was the last year he hit more than 15 home runs.
Karros had three seasons with an .800 OPS, the last in 1999. Konerko had 12, the first in 1999, when the White Sox acquired him from Cincinnati for outfielder Mike Cameron and installed him at first base, for the next decade and a half, and for six All-Star games.
Konerko played alongside Frank Thomas, who will enter the Hall of Fame in July.
“When Thomas stepped on the field, he was a game changer,” Salmon said. “Paul was the consistent cog in the wheel that produced and let everybody else do their jobs. It would be nice to have those guys acknowleged.”
Salmon heard all about how he would have to choose between staying with his team and playing in the World Series. So did Konerko.
“I guarantee we probably heard it worse, when you’re talking about 80-something years of a drought,” Konerko said.
The Angels won in 2002, for the first time since they were born in 1960. The White Sox won in 2005, for the first time since 1917.
“When you’re on the field for the last out of a World Series, on the winning side, there’s nothing really even close,” Konerko said. “I don’t think I’ve had that type of a feeling before, or since.”
After the 2005 World Series, Konerko was a free agent. The Angels came hard after him, led by Manager Mike Scioscia, who coached him in the majors and minors with the Dodgers. Scioscia said the Angels got “very close” to signing Konerko, but loyalty to the White Sox won out.
The White Sox repaid that loyalty this season, signing Konerko for a farewell season much as the Angels did with Salmon in 2006. To enjoy the rare privilege of calling his retirement shot, each player had to accept a bench role.
Konerko said he is proudest of staying with one team and playing every day. He will leave the numerical assessment to the numbers people.
“The amount of the numbers that are out there today is nauseating,” he said. “It’s just ridiculous. It’s too many people. Nowadays, you have a laptop and a blog, and you’re an expert. I hate to sound like an old guy, but I feel like the technology has gone faster than people could be smart about it, when it comes to our game.
“People think they can quantify everything.”
On the Baseball Reference website, three of the top 10 hitters ranked as comparable to Konerko are Orlando Cepeda, Willie Stargell and Jim Rice, Hall of Fame members all, not that Konerko expects to come close to Cooperstown.
“With the way my career has gone, that’s enough for me,” he said. “Even to have somebody ask me a question about that is pretty cool.”
For Konerko, it will be a place in the Hall of Very Good, and a spot in the hearts of his team’s fans. Jeter might get all the farewell gifts, but he and Konerko each get the love at home.
“They’re both iconic in their organizations,” Scioscia said. “When you go to the South Side and walk in the stadium and say Paulie, everybody knows who you are talking about.”
Bill Shaikin
Bill Shaikin, a California Sportswriter of the Year honoree, covers baseball and sports business for the Los Angeles Times.
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PIEDMONT & GEORGE'S CREEK COAL CO. v. SEABOARD FISHERIES CO.
254 U.S. 1 (41 S.Ct. 1, 65 L.Ed. 97)
PIEDMONT & GEORGE'S CREEK COAL CO. v. SEABOARD FISHERIES CO.*
No. 58.
Argued: March 16 and 17, 1920.
Decided: Oct. 11, 1920.
opinion, BRANDEIS [HTML]
Messrs. John M. Woolsey, J. Parker Kirlin, and H. Brua Campbell, all of New York City, for petitioner.
Messrs. Philip L. Miller, and Royall Victor, both of New York City, for respondent.
Argument of Counsel from pages 2-4 intentionally omitted
Mr. Justice BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.
The Atlantic Phosphate & Oil Corporation owned a fleet of nineteen fishing steamers. It owned also factories at Promised Land, Long Island, and Tiverton, Rhode Island, to which the fish caught were delivered and at which its vessels coaled. When the fishing season of 1914 opened the company was financially embarrassed. Its steamers and factories had been mortgaged to secure an issue of bonds. Bills for supplies theretofore furnished remained unpaid. The company had neither money nor credit. It could not enter upon the season's operations unless some arrangement should be made to supply its vessels and factories with coal. After some negotiations, the Piedmont & George's Creek Coal Company, then a creditor for coal delivered during the year 1913, agreed to furnish the Oil Corporation such coal as it would require during the season of 1914the understanding of the parties being that the coal to be delivered would be used by the factories as well as by the vessels, that the greater part would be used by the vessels, that the law would afford a lien on the vessels for the purchase price of the coal and that the Coal Company would thus have security. Shipments of coal were made under this agreement from time to time during the spring and summer as ordered by the Oil Corporation. In the autumn receivers for the corporation were appointed by the District Court of the United States for the District of Rhode Island, and later a suit was brought to foreclose the mortgage upon the vessels and factories. At the time the receivers were appointed five cargoes of coal shipped under the above agreement had not been paid for. The Coal Company libeled twelve of the steamers asserting maritime liens for the price and value of either all the coal or of such parts as had been used by the libeled vessels respectively. Meanwhile, the vessels were sold under the decree of foreclosure. The Seaboard Fisheries Company became the purchaser and, intervening as claimant in the lien proceedings, denied liability. The District Court held that the Coal Company had a maritime lien on each vessel for the coal received by it. The William B. Murray (D. C.) 240 Fed. 147. The Circuit Court of Appeals reversed these decrees with cost and directed that the libels be dismissed. The Walter Adams, 253 Fed. 20, 165 C. C. A. 40. Then this Court granted the Coal Company's petition for a writ of certiorari. 248 U. S. 556, 39 Sup. Ct. 12, 63 L. Ed. 419.
As to the facts proved there is no disagreement between the two lower courts. The substantial question presented is whether these facts constitute a furnishing of supplies by the Coal Company to the vessels upon order of the owner within the provisions of the Act of June 23, 1910, c. 373, § 1, 36 Stat. 604 (Comp. St. § 7783). 1
That coal was furnished to the vessels to the extent to which they severally received it on board, is clear. The precise question, therefore, is: Was the coal furnished by the libelant, the Coal Company, or was it furnished by the Oil Corporation, the owner of the fleet? In determining this question additional facts must be considered:
No coal was delivered by the Coal Company directly to any vessel; and it had no dealings of any kind concerning the coal directly with the officers of any vessel. All the coal was billed by the Coal Company to the Oil Corporation and there was no reference on any invoice, or on its books, either to the fleet or to any vessel. There was no understanding between the companies when the agreement to supply the coal was made or when the coal was delivered that any part of it was specifically for any one of the several vessels libeled, or that it was for any particular vessel of the fleet, or even for the vessels then composing the fleet. Indeed, the first shipment was stated on the invoice to be 'coal for factory.' The negotiations of the Oil Corporation with the Coal Company did not relate to coal required at that time by the particular vessels subsequently libeled as distinguished from other vessels of the fleet.
The coal was sold f. o. b. at the Coal Company's piers which were at St. George, Staten Island, and Port Reading, New Jersey. At these piers it was loaded on barges which were towed either to the Oil Corporation's plant at Promised Land or to that at Tiverton. Some of these barges were supplied by the Oil Corporation, some by the Coal Company. If supplied by the latter, trimming and towing charges were added to the agreed price of the coal. Upon arrival of the coal at the factories it was placed in the Oil Corporation's bins. At Promised Landwhich received four of the five shipmentsthe bins already contained other coal (1,068 tons) which had been theretofore purchased by the Oil Corporation and had been paid for. With this coal on hand that delivered by libelant was commingled. At each plant both the vessels and the factory were from time to time supplied with coal from the same bins; but the greater part of the coal supplied from each plant was used by the vessels. Weeks, and in some instances months, elapsed between placing the coal in the bins and the delivery of it by the corporation to the several vessels. When it made such deliveries it furnished coal to the vessels, as it did to the factories, not under direction of the Coal Company but in its discretion as owner of the coal and of the business.
The quantity of coal delivered to each vessel was proved; but to what extent the coal supplied to the several vessels which bunkered at Promised Land came from the 1,068 tons previously purchased, and to what extent it came from the lots purchased from the Coal Company it was impossible to determine. In making the computations which formed the basis of the decrees in the District Court it was assumed, that of the coal supplied to the several vessels which bunkered at Promised Land, a proportionate part of that received by each had come from the coal purchased from libelant.
The Coal Company contends on these facts that it furnished necessary supplies to the several vessels within the meaning of section 1 of the Act of June 23, 1910. But the facts show that no coal was furnished by that company to any vessel 'upon order of the owner.' The title to the coal had passed to the Oil Corporation when it was loaded on board the barges at the Coal Company's piers. It was delivered to Promised Land and Tiverton as the Oil Corporation's coal and placed in its bins. As its coal the later distribution was made in its discretion to vessels and factories. A large part of the coal so acquired by the Oil Corporation for use in its business was subsequently appropriated by it specifically to the use of the several vessels of the fleet and this use of the coal by vessels of the fleet was a use which had been contemplated by the parties when it was purchased. But the fact that such a use had been contemplated does not render the subsequent appropriation by the owner a furnishing by the coal dealer to the several vessels.
To hold that a lien for the unpaid purchase price of supplies arises in favor of the seller merely because the purchaser, who is the owner of a vessel, subsequently appropriates the supplies to her use would involve abandonment of the principle upon which mar itime liens rest and the substitution therefor of the very different principle which underlies mechanics' and materialmen's liens on houses and other structures. The former had its origin in desire to protect the ship; the latter mainly in desire to protect those who furnish work and materials. The maritime lien developed as a necessary incident of the operation of vessels. The ship's function is to move from place to place. She is peculiarly subject to vicissitudes which would compel abandonment of vessel or voyage, unless repairs and supplies were promptly furnished. Since she is usually absent from the home port, remote from the residence of her owners and without any large amount of money, it is essential that she should be self-reliantthat she should be able to obtain upon her own account needed repairs and supplies. The recognition by the law of such inherent power did not involve any new legal conception, since the ship had been treated in other connections as an entity capable of entering into relations with others, of acting independently and of becoming responsible for her acts. Because the ship's need was the source of the maritime lien it could arise only if the repairs of supplies were necessary; if the pledge of her credit was necessary to the obtaining of them; if they were actually obtained; and if they were furnished upon her credit. The mechanic's and materialman's lien, on the other hand, attaches ordinarily although the labor and material cannot be said to have been necessary; although at the time they were furnished there was no thought of obtaining security upon the building; and although the credit of the owner or of others had in fact been relied upon. The principle upon which the mechanic's lien rests is, in a sense, that of unjust enrichment. Ordinarily, it is the equity arising from assumed enhancement in value resulting from work or materials expended upon the property without payment therefor which is laid hold of to protect workmen and others who, it is assumed, are especially deserving, would ordinarily fail to provide by agreement for their own protection and would often be unable to do so. 2
The fact found by the lower courts that the parties understood the law would afford a lien on the vessels for the coal is, in this controversy, without legal significance. If the coal had been furnished to the several vessels by the libelant, maritime liens would have arisen and could have been established under the statute without proof that credit was given to the vessels. Since the libelant did not furnish any coal to the vessels, the erroneous belief of the parties that the law would afford a lien either for all the coal furnished to the Oil Corporation or for that delivered by it to the several vessels could not create a lien under the statute. Clearly no maritime lien could arise therefrom valid as against the claimant which had acquired title to the vessels under a mortgage antedating the purchase. Astor Trust Co. v. E. V. White & Co., 241 Fed. 57, 154 C. C. A. 57, L. R. A. 1917E, 526.
The difficulty which confronts the Coal Company does not lie in the fact that the contract for the coal was made with the Oil Corporation. A vessel may be made liable in rem for supplies, although the owner can be made liable therefor in personam, since the dealer may rely upon the credit of both. The Bronx, 246 Fed. 809, 159 C. C. A. 111. Likewise, the fact that the coal which was supplied to the several vessels had been purchased under a single contract presents no difficulty. For while one vessel of a fleet cannot be made liable under the statute for supplies furnished to the others, even if the supplies are furnished to all upon orders of the owner under a single contract (The Columbus D. C. 65 Fed. 430; Id., 67 Fed. 553, 14 C. C. A. 522; The Newport, 114 Fed. 713, 52 C. C. A. 415; The Alligator, 161 Fed. 37, 88 C. C. A. 201; Astor Trust Co. v. E. V. White & Co., 241 Fed. 57, 61, 154 C. C. A. 57, L. R. A. 1917E, 526), each vessel so receiving supplies may be made liable for the supplies furnished to it (The Murphy Tugs D. C. 28 Fed. 429). The difficulty which under the general maritime law would have blocked recovery by the Coal Company is solely that it did not furnish coal to the vessels upon which it asserts a maritime lien; and there is nothing in the Act of June 23, 1910 (Comp. St. §§ 7783-7787), which removes that obstacle.
It is urged by the Coal Company that it was the intention of Congress in passing the act to broaden the scope of the maritime lien and that the construction of the act adopted by the Circuit Court of Appeals renders the statute inoperative in an important class of cases which it was intended to reach. The language of the statute affords no basis for the latter assertion, and the Reports of the Committees of Congress (Senate Report, No. 831, Sixty-First Congress, Second Session) show that it is unfounded. Those reports state that the purpose of the act was this: First, to do away with the artificial distinction by which a maritime lien was given for supplies furnished to a vessel in a port of a foreign country or state, but denied where the supplies were furnished in the home port or state. The General Smith, 4 Wheat. 438, 4 L. Ed. 609. Second, to do away with the doctrine that when the owner of a vessel contracts in person for necessaries or is present in the port when they are ordered, it is presumed that the materialman did not intend to rely upon the credit of the vessel, and that hence no lien arises. The St. Jago de Cuba, 9 Wheat. 409, 6 L. Ed. 122. Third, to substitute a single federal statute for the state statutes in so far as they confer liens for repairs, supplies and other necessaries. Peyroux v. Howard, 7 Pet. 324, 8 L. Ed. 700. The reports expressly declare that the bill makes 'no change in the general principles of the law of maritime liens, but merely substitutes a single statute for the conflicting state statutes.' The act relieves the libelant of the burden of proving that credit was given to the ship when necessaries are furnished to her upon order of the owner, but it in no ways lessens the materialman's burden of proving that the supplies in question were furnished to her by him upon order of the owner or of some one acting by his authority. The maritime lien is a secret one. It may operate to the prejudice of prior mortgagees or of purchasers without notice. It is therefore stricti juris and will not be extended by construction, analogy or inference. The Yankee Blade (Vandewater v. Mills) 19 How. 82, 89, 15 L. Ed. 554; The Cora P. White (D. C.) 243 Fed. 246, 248.
The Coal Company relies strongly upon The Kiersage, Fed. Cas. No. 7,762, 2 Curtis, 421, Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. v. Metropolitan Steamship Co. (C. C.) 166 Fed. 782, and American Trust Co. W. & A. Fletcher, 173 Fed. 471, 97 C. C. A. 477. The language of the state statutes there under consideration differs from that of the federal act. Furthermore, the state legislation creating liens for work and materials furnished in the repair and supply, as well as in the construction of vessels, are largely extensions of the local mechanic's lien laws applicable to attention The Yankee, 233 Fed. 919, 925, 927,
The Coal Company also urges upon our attention, the Yankee, 233 Fed. 919, 925, 927, 147 C. C. A. 593. There the court in sustaining a maritime lien declared that the supplies were delivered not to the charterer but to the vessel, holding that
'A materialman may make actual delivery of supplies to a vessel in the maritime sense, by causing them to be transported by rail and buildings. 3 point of origin to the vessel side, when the attention The Yankee, 233 Fed. 919, 925, 927, that the supplies are for the vessel and are to be delivered to her, and is completed by an actual delivery to the vessel consistent with the instructions of the order and intentions of the parties giving and accepting it.'
And in respect to the coal supplied the court there found specifically that
'The quantity to be supplied to and daily consumed by the Yankee, was mentioned and considered by the parties. * * *'
In the case at bar there was no understanding when the contract was made, or when the coal was delivered by the libelant, that any part of it was for any particular vessel or even for the vessels then composing the fleet. And it was clearly understood that the purchasing corporation would apply part of the coal to a nonmaritime use. The difficulty here (unlike that presented in Vigilancia D. C. 58 Fed. 698; The Cimbria D. C. 156 Fed. 378, 382; and The Curtin D. C. 165 Fed. 271) is not in failure to show that the coal was furnished to the vessels but in failure to prove that it was furnished by the libelant.
It was also argued that the parties made an express agreement that the Coal Company should have a lien; that is, that they created by agreement a nonstatutory lien. The concurrent findings of fact by the lower courts, which we accept (Baker v. Schofield, 243 U. S. 114, 118, 37 Sup. Ct. 333, 61 L. Ed. 626; La Bourgogne, 210 U. S. 95, 114, 28 Sup. Ct. 664, 52 L. Ed. 973; The Germanic, 196 U. S. 589, 595, 25 Sup. Ct. 317, 49 L. Ed. 610) are to the contrary.
State Report Title: Piedmont & Georges Creek Coal Company v. Seaboard Fisheries Company.
Act of June 23, 1910, c. 373, section 1: Any person furnishing repairs, supplies, or other necessaries, including the use of dry dock or marine railway, to a vessel, whether foreign or domestic, upon the order of the owner or owners of such vessel, or of a person by him or them authorized, shall have a maritime lien on the vessel which may be enforced by a proceeding in rem, and it shall not be necessary to allege or prove that credit was given to the vessel.
Compare Van Stone v. Stillwell & Bierce Mfg. Co., 142 U. S. 128, 136, 12 Sup. Ct. 181, 35 L. Ed. 961. See O'Conner v. Warner, 4 Watts & S. (Pa.) 223, 226; Bolton v. Johns, 5 Pa. 145, 150, 47 Am. Dec. 404; Taggard v. Buckmore, 42 Me. 77, 81; Buck v. Brian, 2 How. (Miss.) 874, 881; Montandon v. Deas, 14 Ala. 33, 44, 48 Am. Dec. 84; Mochon v. Sullivan 1 Mont. 470, 473.
See 'Confusion in the Law Relating to Materialmen's Liens on Vessels,' 21 Harvard Law Review, 332, and 'The New Federal Statute Relating to Liens on Vessels,' 24 Harvard Law Review, 182, both by Fitz-Henry Smith, Jr.
DAMPSKIBSSELSKABET DANNEBROG et al. v. SIGNAL OIL & GAS CO. OF CALIFORNIA. THE STJERNEBORG.
THE THOMAS BARLUM. THE JOHN J. BARLUM. DETROIT TRUST CO. v. BARLUM S. S. CO.
HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY CO. et al. v. N. O. NELSON MFG. CO.
W. A. MARSHALL & CO., Inc., v. THE PRESIDENT ARTHUR.
MAHNICH v. SOUTHERN S.S. CO.
THE JACK-O-LANTERN. NEW BEDFORD DRY DOCK CO. v. PURDY.
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Jewish Human Rights
By Doreen Lustig
Thursday, December 13, 2018, 3:57 PM
PDF Version.
A review of James Loeffler, “Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century” (Yale UP, 2018)
With whom have we not spent heart-warming hours there, looking out from the terrace over the beautiful and peaceful landscape, without suspecting that exactly opposite, on the mountain of Berchtesgaden, a man sat who would one day destroy it all?
(Stefan Zweig, “The World of Yesterday,” 1942)
On February 23, 1942, Stefan Zweig and his second wife Charlotte Elisabeth Altman committed suicide in Brazil. In his suicide letter, Zweig wrote:
I would not have asked to rebuild my life in any other place [other than Brazil] after the world of my own language sank and was lost to me and my spiritual homeland, Europe, destroyed itself … I send greetings to all of my friends: May they live to see the dawn after this long night. I, who am most impatient, go before them.
What would happen to those who survived to see the dawn after the long night? James Loeffler’s “Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century,” an ambitious work of intellectual history, focuses on the way in which Jewish international lawyers envisioned this dawn. A common narrative would define those lawyers as divided between those who would cling to Zweig’s vision of the world of yesterday and its aspirations for an international world order, and those who would turn inward, to territory, to the nation and the establishment of a state—a secure home for the Jewish people. Loeffler’s fascinating book attempts to destabilize this accepted binary. His heroes do not conceive of their cosmopolitan vision as simply lost or replaced by the particularism of the nation-state. Rather, their vision and practices combine both aspects—they are, at once, both Zionist and cosmopolitan: “rooted cosmopolitans.”
Histories of international law have flourished over the past two decades, and gained considerable momentum with the publication of Martti Koskenniemi’s book, “The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870–1960” (2001). “The Gentle Civilizer” framed the history of international law as the history of ideas developed and practiced by international lawyers. In Rooted Cosmopolitans, Loeffler joins this body of literature, offering a history of Jewish international lawyers. Loeffler’s book is also relevant to another vibrant scholarly conversation on the history and theory of international human rights. Samuel Moyn’s groundbreaking work on the history of human rights challenged the notion of 1945 as a watershed moment in the history of international human rights law, and dedicated greater attention to social activists and their networks. Similarly, Loeffler’s periodization does not follow the traditional claims on 1945, or the revisionist arguments on the importance of the 1970s. Tracing the footsteps of his Jewish protagonists, his narrative begins with the interwar period and the League of Nations minority regime. The figures he studies include the most celebrated international lawyers of the twentieth century, such as Hersch Lauterpacht, alongside the less familiar advocates Jacob Robinson or Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International. The paths of most of these men (women are quite marginal in this narrative) would cross at different points set out by the book; some would join forces and collaborate with each other, while others would engage in fierce debates and ultimately take different directions.
Why is the Jewish identity of different lawyers relevant to the study of their ideas and contributions to international law? What does writing a Jewish history of international law mean in the broader context of the history of international law or the history of human rights? Loeffler’s Jewish international lawyers, like those in other studies that follow a similar vein, challenge a common feature of international legal history, which tends to focus on national legal traditions of international law—German, French, British, American—or histories of international lawyers from the Global South. But Loeffler’s Jewish history of international law doesn’t simply defy national affiliations. Nationalist sensibilities and cosmopolitan values are woven together in a history that introduces the emergence of human rights and Zionist ideologies as complementary components in the international postwar vision.
Loeffler’s book is divided into three chronologically consecutive parts (Emergence, Convergence and Divergence), their titles alluding to the interplay between Zionist and cosmopolitan sensibilities. The tension between sovereignty and cosmopolitanism, apology and utopia, has long characterized the push–pull between two ends of the spectrum that constitutes international law. One of the most striking contributions of Loeffler’s book lies in his attempt to blur the line between these familiar categories and unsettle established biographical perceptions on cosmopolitan vs. purely Zionist figures.
Loeffler dedicates the first part of the book, “Emergence,” to the interwar years and the involvement of Jewish international lawyers in the minority regime at the League and in the Zionist movement. Hersch Lauterpacht, the ultimate cosmopolitan figure in the history and theory of international law, is portrayed here as an important visionary of the Zionist human rights tradition. The quest of Jacob Robinson, another prominent international lawyer, to search for new solutions after the anti-Jewish violence of the 1905 Russian Revolution, leads him to endorse Simon Dubnow’s idea of Nationhood without territory and become a central advocate for minority rights. “Minority rights in the deepest sense of the term,” he declared in one speech, “means the rights of spiritual belonging to all other parts of the nation across the whole world” (41).
The collapse of the minority regime paves the way to the second part of the book: “Convergence.” According to Loeffler, the promotion of human rights after the Second World War was “the brainchild of American policymakers and intellectuals, who replaced the delegitimized European model of minority rights with a new idea of American-style civil liberties” (91). As Mark Mazower claimed, “beyond the smokescreen of the rise of human rights we see the need to bury the body of the minority regime as deep as possible.” But Loeffler adds to Mazower’s observation by emphasizing the role of Jewish jurists in the postwar rise of human rights. Take the Nuremberg Trials as an example. Behind the scenes of this great legal drama, we find Jacob Robinson and Hersch Lauterpacht engaged in almost every aspect: from the very definition of a new category—crimes against humanity—to the gathering of evidence, preparation of briefs and the choice of defendants.
Indeed, Loeffler’s book highlights an unnoticed aspect of the Nuremberg Trials. Histories of the Nuremberg trial have often conceived it as an international trial conducted in the name of humanity as a whole. Its critics accused it of being a “victor’s justice” trial. Thus, it is not surprising that the Nuremberg architects, most prominently Robert Jackson, were keen to avoid yet another legitimacy concern: the accusation that Nuremberg constituted a case of “victims’ justice”—the prominent critique against the Eichmann trial. Were these two projects so far apart?
The famous Nuremberg statement—that international law must not be applied “upon impersonal [state] entities, but upon human beings”—came directly from Lauterpacht’s pen. Hersch Lauterpacht also drafted the opening and closing statements for the British prosecutor Hartley Shawcross: “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (Gen. 27: 22). Does the involvement of Robinson and Lauterpacht bring Hausner of Jerusalem closer to Jackson of Nuremberg? Loeffler’s juxtaposition of the telling of the history of the involvement of Jewish jurists in both the Nuremberg (international) trial and Eichmann (national) trial could problematize the assumed distinctions between them. However, such juxtaposition may risk confusing between mere involvement and significant influence. Did their presence and work for the Nuremberg trial enable them to shape the deep logic and design of the Nuremberg trials? At least for Jacob Robinson the answer is probably not. His perspective would only gain its pivotal role later, at the Eichmann trial, in which victims’ testimonies received primary attention and the Holocaust occupied the heart of the trial.
Both Lauterpacht and Robinson move between the sovereigntist arena, promoting the establishment of the State of Israel in its early days, and assisting various projects at the UN—the ultimate international arena. “[T]he same dramatis personae populated both stories,” notes Loeffler. “Throughout 1947 and 1948 Robinson shuttled between roles as Israel’s top lawyer at the UN and the first legal advisor to the nascent UN Commission on Human Rights. Lauterpacht wrote influential drafts of both the International Bill of Rights and Israel’s Declaration of Independence, while secretly advising the newborn State of Israel on legal strategy in its conflict with the Arab world” (144).
Both Lauterpacht and Robinson came to realize that their vision for a robust human rights regime was not about to materialize at the UN level, as Loeffler’s book observes: “‘It is clear to me,’ Lauterpacht would later argue, ‘that the Declaration does not carry things further and that in some important respects has put the clock back. We shall have to make a new start.’” In a series of lectures in Jerusalem, Lauterpacht explained: “There is no prospect for the fulfillment of the purpose of the Charter in the matter of human rights and freedoms unless an effective right of petition is accepted as being of the essence of the system.” Similarly, Robinson considered the Commission on Human Rights a “waste of time” and focused his efforts on the Genocide Convention, the International Refugee Convention and the International Criminal Court. It took him years to secure an Israeli commitment to the Refugee Convention. The International Criminal Court initiative would reach a dead end.
Various protagonists in Loeffler’s story wished for an Israeli leadership position at the UN Human Rights Commission, to no avail. The starting point of the Non-Aligned movement in Bandung marked the starting point of a prolonged exclusion of Israel from Third World initiatives. Then came Suez and its diplomatic casualty: the ideal of Jewish neutrality. As noted by Loeffler, “Lauterpacht’s hopes for bold Israeli leadership on the UN human rights front also died in the sands of Sinai.”
In this third and final part of the book, “Divergence,” we also find the origins of the familiar tension between Zionism and human rights. In the aftermath of the Eichmann trial, the Israel of the 1960s emerges as “the ultimate parochial entity, incompatible with the Universalist imperatives of human rights and global justice” (260). Over the course of the following decade, human rights would become a transnational movement. Jewish activism would no longer focus its advocacy efforts in the international arena. The 1967 war would position Israel and the Zionist movement at the far end of the sovereigntist extreme. At a deeper level, Loeffler points to a shift in the quality of the link between particularism and universalism during this period. While human rights replace the minority regime as the cosmopolitan vision of the postwar period, they restore the objective of the previous regime in constraining majorities from abusing their power against disempowered groups. That objective is lost once human rights become “a vehicle for sovereigntist claims of anticolonial movements” (271). Amid the loss of their human rights agenda and the loss of the UN as their arena, Jewish advocates turned to the American administration and redefined the Jewish cause in relation to Israel. The term “prisoners of Zion” vividly captures this shift. Israel, notes Loeffler, became “the source of heightened Jewish vulnerability and the best solution to it (294).
Were Jewish international lawyers agents of a specific kind of humanism? Is there something special about the Jewishness of various advocates of human rights that renders their ethnic, religious or national identity particularly relevant or irrelevant to their special involvement in international law? And, if so, what aspect of their Jewishness should we deem responsible for, or deeply related to, their life-long human rights project? Is it their Jewish ‘fate’? Culture? Legal tradition?
Loeffler’s answer is clear. The personal biographies of his heroes are the explanation and the source of inspiration for their international legal ideas and life projects. Their persecution as members of a minority group enabled them to appreciate, perhaps sooner or better than others, the need for a minority protection regime. Only those who were there could feel the urgency of establishing an international human rights regime. Those left with no political identity or recognized status, their language dwindling, their homeland lost, were the best advocates for the principle of non-refoulement. Their life experiences assigned them the special responsibility of crafting an international magna carta: “The Jewish destiny relied on and affirmed the new spirit of international law” (22).
One can debate the extent to which Jewish advocates were indeed pivotal to the postwar international human rights projects of the Refugee Convention, the ICCPR and conventions such as CERD. There is no single Jewish approach to these projects, and the history of the involvement of different figures that Loeffler traces is often the history of those who ran against the grain of their group in a somewhat solitary crusade to salvage cosmopolitan ideals. Indeed, Loeffler’s story highlights the forgotten commitment of Jewish lawyers to various human rights projects. However, the festive tone of the book could blur the important distinction between failed attempts to shape human rights and concrete influence on their content. This is largely a history of the failures of Jewish international lawyers to influence the content and practice of human rights rather than a history of their lasting contribution.
Another distinction the book often avoids is the distinction between the personal biography of a thinker and her or his body of work. Understanding Lauterpacht the thinker through the prism of Lauterpacht the Jew may illuminate some important aspects of his life’s work in a new and unconventional light. However, such a reading may also distort or narrow the scope of our understanding. Some of us will not reduce our understanding of a literary text to a reflection of the concrete psychological state of its author. Similarly, a text of or about the law is more than a reflection of its author’s biography. The prism of the Jewish context is not merely the history of persecution and survival. Jewish identity is comprised of cultural heritage, moral and legal traditions and alternative visions for a legal order within or beyond the nation state.
Moreover, even if we replace or complement the particularism of the Jewish fate with the spiritual dimensions of Jewish existence, we sustain the very sense of particularism that some of these jurists sought to defy. Loeffler addresses this concern in the last pages of the book:
The phrase ‘[t]o be human as a Jew’ reads like an oxymoron today. It smacks of special pleading or relativism. Human rights are supposed to transcend difference, not affirm it. Yet this is not the only way to define human rights … To survive as a minority required political self-definition, which in turn meant collective politics (296).
I am quite skeptical of the view that this is the only option for conceiving the complex relationship between Jewish identity and cosmopolitan values. The Second World War and the interwar period that preceded it did not only shatter the dream of the League of Nations and the possibility of a feasible minority regime. For intellectuals like Zweig, who conceived of themselves in humanist terms, the plight of the war was not only or primarily physical: It was the plight of losing their identity as cosmopolitans. This was an experience of loss precisely because their Jewishness was thrust upon them against—and despite—their choices. Zweig was no longer the Austrian author, the man of letters, the visionary of a post-nationalist Europe. He was a Jew.
Reading Lauterpacht’s life-long work as a whole, through the prism of his Jewish identity, risks conceiving his ideas as an instrumental device for the survival of his people or himself. This seems too narrow an understanding of who he was and how his international legal work should be remembered. Perhaps a different reading would concede that these men and women, living through the days of yesterday, losing their entire world and mother tongue, were faced with an impossible choice between clinging to the cosmopolitan dream, regardless or adopting Zionism. Personally, they may have been torn, even motivated by their individual tragedies. Conceptually, however, understanding their cosmopolitan vision as a concrete Jewish tradition is a contradiction in terms.
In the concluding remarks of his suicide letter, Zweig notes that he would “prefer to end [his] life at the right time, upright, as a man for whom cultural work has always been his purest happiness and personal freedom – the most precious of possessions on this earth.” During 1933, Zweig contacted the National Library in Jerusalem and expressed his interest in entrusting artifacts from his personal archive to the institution. These are now part of the Stefan Zweig Archive, preserved at the Library. Zweig’s choice to end his physical life merely affirmed the death of who he was. Perhaps sending his papers to Jerusalem conveyed a sense of despair, an action of last resort, a recognition that there might be no other safe haven for his life’s work. Jerusalem was, perhaps, the only place that could save his cosmopolitan art from oblivion. In his lost Vienna, he could only be read as a Jew.
Correction: An earlier version of this review misidentified the publisher as "New Haven." The book was published by Yale UP. (December 14, 2018, 2:19 p.m.)
Doreen Lustig is a Senior Lecturer at Tel Aviv University Law School. She writes on the history and theory of international law and constitutional law. Her Book, "Veiled Power: the History and Theory of Corporate Regulation in International Law" is forthcoming with Oxford University Press in 2019. She received a joint B.A.-L.L.B (majoring in sociology and anthropology) from Tel Aviv University and earned an L.L.M (2007) and J.S.D (2012) from NYU Law School. During her graduate studies at NYU she was a Hauser Research Scholar and fellow of the Institute of International Law and Justice. Prior to her studies at NYU she clerked for Justice Eliezer Rivlin of the Israeli Supreme Court.
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WV Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations Addressed by Supreme Court
By Steven Wellman of Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC posted in Workers' Compensation on Friday, June 29, 2018.
On May 17, 2018, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals issued a decision applying the WV workers' compensation statute of limitations to bar an untimely. The court's decision has broad implications for workers and employers across West Virginia. While it gives employers solace in that it is an employee's responsibility to initiate the claim process by filing a timely WC-1 form, it also reminds employers that a worker's reliance on conduct by the employer or a claim administrator regarding the filing of a claim may prevent the employer from relying on the statute of limitation to deny an untimely filed claim.
WV Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations Clarified
In Baker, the court addressed the timeliness of a workers' compensation claim filed two years after the first injury and less than six months after a second similar injury. The court held that the worker's failure to seek medical attention and file a claim regarding the first injury in the time required by statute forever barred recovery of workers' compensation benefits for that injury, even though the employer and the insurer had been given timely notice of the injury.
The WV Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations Requires a Timely Claim Form
Baker v. Centre Foundry & Machine Company involved the statute of limitations and the claimant's burden to file a claim utilizing the proper and required form within six months of the date of injury. The fact that the employer and the insurers had timely notice of the injury did not excuse the worker from failing to timely file a WV workers' compensation claim form.
Facts that Pertain to the WV Workers' Comp Claim Form in Baker v. Centre Foundry
The claimant, Baker, alleged that he suffered a work-related injury on April 10, 2014. His foreman filed a Supervisor Accident Report regarding the injury as he was required to do by WV law, but Baker did not fill out a WV workers' compensation WC-1 claim form. The filing of a WV workers' compensation claim form, the WC-1, initiates the workers' compensation claim process. Baker did not seek medical treatment and eventually "forgot" about the injury.
In November 2015, Baker's back symptoms "started to worsen." On March 8, 2016, Baker suffered another back injury while working for the same employer, and the employer completed a First Report of Injury. The employer had changed workers' compensation insurance carriers between the dates of the two alleged injuries. After the second incident, Baker again did not submit a completed WC-1 claim form although he asked the employer to file a claim for him.
When the workers' compensation carrier providing coverage at the time of the 2016 alleged incident did not issue a claim decision, Baker filed a petition against the company, alleging that it had failed to timely act on the claim. The Workers' Compensation Office of Judges denied the petition on the ground that Baker had not timely submitted a claim on the required WC-1 form.
Thereafter, Baker completed a WC-1 form, but, instead of citing the 2016 incident, he listed the 2014 incident as the basis for his claim. The claim administrator for the 2014 claim denied the claim as untimely.
The WV Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations Bars Baker's Claim
Baker appealed the denial of his claim for benefits regarding the 2014 alleged injury. The carrier for the 2014 claim defended on two grounds. Repeating its prior reasoning, the carrier argued first that Baker did not file a timely claim regarding the 2014 alleged injury on a WC-1 form within six months of the date of injury as required by West Virginia Code § 23-4-15(a). Second, the carrier argued that Baker did not seek medical attention for the 2014 alleged injury "immediately" as required by W. Va. Code St. R § 85-1-3.1, instead waiting approximately 22 months. The carrier maintained that Baker's failure to act rendered the claim non-compensable. Baker countered that the employer and its carriers had notice of both injuries/claims and that the notice requirements had been satisfied.
The WV Supreme Court of Appeals determined that the WV workers' compensation statute of limitations had indeed expired regarding Baker's April 10, 2014 back injury. The court noted that while it had found in favor of workers when a WC-1 Form was timely filed with a minor defect, an example of a minor defect would be a forgotten signature. However, Baker failed to file a WV worker's compensation claim form within two years of his April 10, 2014 injury at all. As such, the court upheld the Board's decision.
For employers, the concern of the decision, if there is any, is that the court specifically noted that its decision had no bearing on Baker's ability to file the WC-1 form with the insurance carrier related to the second back injury he sustained in March of 2016. The court stated that if Baker had refrained from filing a claim for the second injury based on the second carrier's statement that he should seek compensation from the first carrier then the statute of limitations might not apply to the second claim. In other words, if the second claim administrator misinformed or misled Baker, thereby causing him not to file a timely claim for the second injury, then the statute of limitations might not apply to the second claim.
The clear takeaway from Baker v. Centre Foundry is that the WC-1 is still required and it must be filed within six months of the date of injury for the claim to be timely. The fact that Baker notified the employer of an injury is not enough. The fact that the employer submitted a claim to its insurer and/or the State is also not enough. But, if a claim administrator allegedly causes a claimant not to file a timely claim, then the statute of limitations might not apply to bar an otherwise untimely filed claim for workers' compensation.
Do You Have Questions about the WV Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations?
If you have questions about how court decisions applying the WV workers' compensation statute of limitations, you need to talk to an attorney who specializes in workers' compensation issues. Contact Steven K. Wellman at Jenkins Fenstermaker, PLLC for consultation with a workers' compensation attorney recognized by his peers as one of the best in the field. You can reach Steve by calling 866.617.4736 or by completing the firm's online contact form.
This article should be considered advertising material, Steven K. Wellman, responsible attorney. This article is being provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice pertaining to any particular situation or circumstance.
Tags: Baker v. Centre Foundry, WV Workers' Compensation Claim Form, WV Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations, Workers' Compensation Statute of Limitations
Related Posts: The West Virginia Opioid Reduction Act and Workers' Compensation, Statute of Limitations in OP Claims Affirmed by the Supreme Court of Appeals of WV, The WV Workers' Compensation Fee Schedule and Provider Agreements, Update: Temporary Total Disability and WV Workers' Compensation Overpayment
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Interview: Balinko's little team that could
The Ironi Ramat Gan coach is sure the club can reach this season's BSL Final Four.
balinko 88. (photo credit: )
When Robi Balinko took charge of Ironi Ramat Gan in the summer the club had just one goal - avoid relegation. On Sunday, Balinko takes his team to the Malha Arena to face Hapoel Jerusalem with both sides tied for third position in the league, each with 25 points after 16 games. Despite having one of the smaller budgets in the BSL at his disposal Balinko has managed to build a team capable of pushing for a Final Four berth. Balinko's men have already proven their potential this season by beating each of the Final Four favorites, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem, Bnei Hasharon and Hapoel Holon. Another win against Jerusalem on Sunday will give Ramat Gan a massive advantage in the race for a top four finish, but the 46-year-old coach is not getting ahead of himself just yet. "I'm optimistic, but cautious. I know Jerusalem is a very good team and is the favorite. I think we have a 20 percent chance of winning," Balinko tells The Jerusalem Post. "Playing Jerusalem in Malha is no simple task, but we're entering the game with the aim of claiming a win." Ramat Gan is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Ironi Ashkelon, a defeat that ended a three game win streak. "The defeat to Ashkelon was very disappointing and very frustrating. "This was a game we had to win. If we aspire to compete for a Final Four berth we have to win these kinds of games. Every game from now on is essentially a playoff game," the coach says. Balinko is the main reason behind Ramat Gan's success this season, building a balanced roster in which every player knows his place. "The key to our success is the lack of ego on the team. The players put their egos aside for the greater good. "We manage to get the maximum out of our players. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts," Balinko says. "Through the years all the sides I coached were typified by the fact that they played as a team and were not too dependent on any one player. With this system you can't stop the team by stopping a single player. "This also allows the team to overcome injuries and the absence of players. "We were without the injured Ori Itzhaki for a while and Jerome Beasley had to go to the US for personal reasons, but the team still functioned." Balinko began his basketball career older than most coaches after serving as a company commander in the paratroopers 890 regiment. "I think my leadership skills come from my army service," he says. "A coach is the leader of the team and there are some similarities between being an officer in a fighting unit and a coach of a team. Of course there's a huge difference because in the army you're fighting for you life." Balinko had to wait longer than most of his colleagues to finally get a real chance in the top flight, but after so many years in basketball wilderness he's at least making the wait worth while. "I always believed I could coach at these levels. There were years I believed more and years a believed less, but I always knew that if I get the right chance I'll be able to display my abilities." Balinko used the fact that almost everybody wrote Ramat Gan off even before the season began to his advantage, motivating his players to prove their critics wrong. "We were spurred on by the fact that we were labeled as a relegation favorite at the start of the season. "I told the players that the only thing we can do about the fact that commentators and journalists are saying we're going to be relegated is to prove them wrong on the court," Balinko stresses. Despite claiming wins earlier on in the season over Bnei Hasharon, Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv the coach admits that he only truly believed that his side can achieve more than just BSL survival after the 99-77 victory at Hapoel Afula/Gilboa on January 13 . "I think that I understood what we're capable of after the win in Afula. We won by 20 or so points, recording our fifth win of the season, and I felt the team was gelling well. This win came after the victories over Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem and was a test of our character," he says. One of the biggest surprises in Ramat Gan and for that matter in the entire league is the play of Nir Cohen. The 26-year-old, who spent the last two seasons at San Diego University, is averaging 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24 minutes on court. "I thought Cohen was a good player, but I'd be lying if I said I thought he'd be this good," Balinko says. "I knew all about his abilities, having trained him in the past. He came to train with Ramat Gan in the summer only because he couldn't find a team to sign for. "After two training sessions I told the chairman that Cohen is not leaving this arena. We didn't plan to sign him, but I told the chairman that Cohen can make the difference. The truth is that I never dreamt he would make such a significant difference." Another key member of Ironi's unlikely success is Jerome Beasley. "I was surprised that we managed to sign Beasley," Balinko admits. "Part of being a coach is knowing how to take decisions under pressure on the court and off the court. "We were given the option to sign Beasley and I immediately called three coaches, David Blatt, Erez Edelstein and Sharon Druker, and after talking to them I decided to sign him. I didn't even have a chance to watch his DVD."
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Whitney Houston.(Photo by: JERUSALEM FILM FESTIVAL)
‘Ferrante Fever’ and a diva’s downfall
Two documentaries – on novelist Elena Ferrante and singer Whitney Houston – are highlights of Jerusalem festival.
The Lev Smadar theater looked like a giant book club at the screening of Giacomo Durzi’s documentary Ferrante Fever on Monday.
The film, which was screened as part of the Jerusalem Film Festival, which runs through August 5, attracted an intense and mainly female crowd, many of whom looked as if they were attending with their BFFs.
That was fitting because the best-known novels of Elena Ferrante, the Neapolitan quartet, are about the lifelong and extraordinarily complex friendship of two girls from a working-class Naples neighborhood.
The title of the documentary is not hyperbole, because these literary page-turners are truly a phenomenon. Their quality and intensity have made them wildly popular – according to the film, they have been published in 48 countries – and interest in the author has been fueled by the fact that Ferrante, who apparently writes under a pseudonym, has never revealed her true identity or made a public appearance. This has led to wild speculation — that she is actually a man, or a married couple who works together, for example. In 2016, an Italian journalist came up with the theory that she is the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors. But Ferrante refused to come forward to confirm or deny that, and the film does not try to expose the reclusive author, only to celebrate her work and define its appeal.
Michael Reynolds, the editor-in-chief of Europa Editions, which published Ferrante’s work around the world, sums it up by saying, “There has never been anything quite like this before” in literature. Other writers and literary figures from Italy and around the world discuss the impact her work has had on them, among them Jonathan Franzen and Elizabeth Strout, as well as Ann Goldstein, her English translator. Common themes emerge as they discuss her books: the charged and often contradictory emotions between female friends and mother and daughters, the literary elegance, and the lack of political posturing and sentimentality. But all agree on one thing: the books are addictive. Even Hillary Clinton, in a radio interview during her campaign, said she had to “ration” the books so she could still work.
There are no revelations here, and the movie is a traditional talking-heads documentary, interspersed with animations of her characters and a recreations of a dark figure who might be Ferrante, as well as effective clips from the feature films made from her early books.
Like a good book club session, Ferrante Fever is fun because it’s nice to be in the company of people who are as crazy about these novels as you are.
One of the other highlights of the 35th Jerusalem Film Festival so far has been a portrait of a very different woman: Whitney, a Whitney Houston biopic by Kevin Macdonald.
You might think you know all you need or want to know about the troubled pop star, who struggled with drug addiction for years and died in 2012 at the age of 48. But in the hands of Macdonald, who made the extraordinary Bob Marley documentary Marley, and who also directed several feature films, including The Last King of Scotland, it is not like an episode of Behind the Music but a gripping and tragic story.
Macdonald is true cinema royalty since he is the grandson of Emeric Pressburger, the Austrian Jewish director who made such classics as The Red Shoes. He is a relentless interviewer, pressing Houston’s family and associates about how such a talented young woman could have descended into drug-fueled hell.
The answer, as it often is in such stories, is both clear and elusive. Her gifts as a singer, as well as her beauty and vivacity, made everyone around her wealthy, and they were reluctant to discipline her or even give her a modicum of support until it was way too late. In spite of her poise and talent, she didn’t have the strength she needed to take control of her life.
Her visit to Israel with her then-husband Bobby Brown in 2003, in which the couple were baptized in the Jordan River and feted by the Black Hebrews of Dimona, is not included in the film, but many will recognize the disoriented figure seen in the later parts of Whitney from the news clips of her visit here.
The film reveals the truth of her hardscrabble upbringing in Newark, during which she and her brothers were shuffled from house to house as their mother, gospel star and backup singer Cissy Houston, performed all over the country, as well as her bisexuality, which her publicity machine tried to keep a secret, and other little-known chapters in her life. It’s heartbreaking to see how the father she idolized and supported financially for decades ended up suing her for $100 million, and how she was kicked out of rehab because she couldn’t pay her bills after her associates bilked her.
Macdonald puts her story in the context of what was going on culturally and politically at the time, and avoids most biopic clichés to turn Whitney into a sad and riveting fable of a princess who seemed to embody so many fantasies but never had the stability she needed.
Both Ferrante Fever and Whitney will be shown later in the week at the festival, and will likely be headed for theaters or television.
For more information, go to the festival website at http://jff.org.il/en
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