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Vigilantes of California, Idaho, & Montana
The tolling of the bell of the Monumental Fire Engine house on the Plaza was the signal for the members to instantly assemble fully armed.
Thousands of citizens secretly joined the organization, and their services were soon called into requisition. On the evening of the 10th of June the shipping office of a Mr. Virgin, on the wharf, was robbed of a small safe containing a considerable sum of money. The thief was captured and placed in the custody of members of the Vigilance Committee at their rooms. The property was identified, and the prisoner convicted on the testimony of the boatman who had pulled out with the prisoner and his booty into the bay, where he was subsequently arrested. The Chief of Police now appeared at the rooms of the committee and demanded admittance and the custody of the prisoner. His request was refused.
After carefully deliberating upon the character of the punishment, it was finally determined that though not a capital offence, the necessity existed for the execution of the criminal, and that it should take place at once to prevent a rescue by the friends of the culprit, or an armed interference on the part of the civil authorities. He was accordingly notified of his doom, and given one hour to prepare for death. Shortly after midnight the condemned man was taken under a strong guard to Portsmouth Square, and hanged to the cross-beams of the gable end of an adobe building which had been used in former times as a post office, but was then unoccupied. A coroner’s jury of inquest on the day following returned this verdict:
John Jenkins, alias Simpkins, came to his death by being suspended by the neck with a rope attached to the end of the adobe building on the Plaza at the hands of an association of citizens styling themselves a Committee of Vigilance, of whom the following members are implicated. Then followed the names of the citizens who had been most conspicuous on the occasion.
When this verdict and the names were published on the day following, the Vigilance Committee ordered the names of all its members published likewise. The committee, however, was strongly opposed by the civil authorities and the legal fraternity generally, and Judge Campbell, of the Court of Sessions, holding his court sessions on the days appointed, charged his Grand Jury that all those concerned in the illegal execution had been guilty of murder.
The Governor of the State, MacDougal, afterward United States Senator, issued a proclamation addressed to the people at large, in which he referred to the action of the people as the “despotic control of a self-constituted association unknown to and acting in defiance of the laws in the place of the regularly organized government of the country.”
In the month of August the committee tried two men named Samuel Whittaker and Robert McKenzie. They were proven guilty of very serious offences of burglary, robbery, and arson. It was understood that they were to be executed on the 21st of that month. A writ was issued by Judge Norton, of the Supreme Court, commanding the sheriff to bring the prisoners before his court at a certain hour to be dealt with according to law. That night the sheriff and one deputy gained admission in some way to the rooms of the committee, where the prisoners were confined, led them down stairs, and placed them in charge of police officers awaiting them below. No immediate steps were taken by the committee to remedy this interference with their purposes, but on the following Sunday, shortly after two o’clock in the afternoon a carriage turned into Broadway from DuPont Street, and halted a short distance from the jail. It was at this hour that the prisoners were brought from their cells to hear divine service from the chaplain of the prison.
Criminals hanged by Vigilante Committee
A pre-concerted rush was made from the outside, the prisoners captured, and carried off to the rooms of the committee. The fire bell tolled the signal for the assembly of the members of the committee, and along with them poured a stream of fifteen thousand people before their rooms, wild with excitement, and yelling their approbation of the recapture of the prisoners. Brought face to face with the civil authorities, they would stand or fall by that act. The prisoners were sentenced to immediate execution, and hanged at once from the windows of the rooms of the committee, in the presence of and with the approbation of the assembled multitude. Only seventeen minutes elapsed between the reception of the prisoners and their execution by order of the committee. Public opinion and the press declared that the Vigilance Committee had redeemed its honor.
Having thus established their authority and vindicated their cause, they arose to the full height of their power, and struck terror among criminals of every degree. Henceforth there was no need of their services. Crime fled before their power of suppression, and they now left the execution of the laws in the hands of the civil authorities, retaining, however, their unaltered organization, and imparting to the officer as well as the criminal within his hands the knowledge that at any moment when necessary the committee would again ring the alarm upon its fire-bell, and protect and preserve that social order which by their vigilant acts they had rescued from a chaos of crime and placed in the hands of the civil authorities.
As far as known, but one woman died at the hands of the Vigilantes of California. She was a Spanish woman, of remarkable beauty, who dealt the game of Monte in the early days of Downieville. Clothed in her gay attire, her dark lustrous eyes flashing with the excitement of the game, and a profusion of dark locks falling upon her shoulders, together with a voluptuous form and superb carriage, she was the object of much attention from the rough miners and others who gathered around the table, and sat beneath her spell at the fascinating game of Monte.
Among the miners was a young man who had come from Kentucky to the distant El Dorado to seek his fortune among its gold hills. He was of fine physical appearance, genial disposition, warm and generous nature, and ever ready to do a good turn for his neighbor, or perform some deed of charity or kindness to the suffering, and withal as hard a toiler as the rest. He became a general favorite among all the rough miners.
Downieville California Gallows
Of course the sole places of amusement in those early days of Downieville were within the garish lights of the saloon and by the side of the Monte tables, over one of which the Spanish beauty presided. Like all his sex, the Kentuckian was charmed by her fascination. One night, with some companions, on his way to his tent after the game had closed and the senorita Dolores had retired, he passed the tent of the fair Spaniard, and while peeping for an instant through the canvas lapel of her abode was suddenly, in a playful freak, pushed by his companions through the door into the darkness of her tent, and fell prostrate upon its floor. Without a moments hesitation or an inquiry as to the intruder’s identity, she sprang upon him like a tigress in its lair, and plunged her dagger repeatedly in his prostrate form, until he laid a bleeding corpse at her feet.
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Japan finance minister Aso sorry for criticizing childless
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso has reluctantly apologized for saying childless people are to blame for the country's rising social security costs and its aging and declining population.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso speaks during a budget committee meeting at the lower house of the parliament in Tokyo Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. Aso reluctantly apologized for saying childless people are to blame for the country's rising social security costs and its aging and declining population. Aso said Tuesday that he apologized if some people found his remarks "unpleasant." (Yohei Kanasashi/Kyodo News via AP)
"If it made some people feel uncomfortable, I apologize," Aso said Tuesday after drawing complaints over a comment he made during the weekend at a seminar in Fukuoka, his constituency in southwestern Japan.
The gaffe-prone Aso, a 78-year-old former prime minister, is among conservative lawmakers in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government who have at times blamed the elderly or childless for long-term demographic trends.
"There are lots of strange people who say the elderly people are to blame, but that is wrong. The problem is those who don't have children," he told the audience. The comment was nearly the same as one he made in 2014 that also drew criticism. Others have made similar comments that many found offensive. In 2007, former health minister Hakuo Yamagisawa called women "birth-giving machines." In 2017, another senior ruling party lawmaker, Akiko Santo, said the government should consider awarding women who produced four or more children.
According to the latest government statistics, the number of births in 2018 fell to 921,000, the lowest since Japan began recording such statistics in 1899. Japan's total population fell by 448,000 people, a record decline, to 126 million. It is forecast to fall below 100 million by 2050, barring a huge influx of immigrants.
As of 2017, Japanese women on average gave birth to 1.43 children during their lifetimes. That compares with nearly 1.8 in the U.S. and Britain. Abe himself has no children. He has acknowledged that lack of access to affordable child care, excessively long working hours, elder care and other realities, especially in Japan's biggest cities, contribute to the country's low birthrate. But promised labor and other reforms to help alleviate the burden on families that discourage couples from having more children have made limited headway.
Longevity in Japan is another factor behind the aging of its population and rising costs for elder care. Aso retracted his comment when asked about it during a parliamentary session on Monday. He apologized at a news conference following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, but said his comment was taken out of context and misunderstood.
Opposition lawmakers disagreed. "He not only lacked consideration to those who choose not to or cannot have children, but he just doesn't understand what the problem is," said opposition lawmaker Kiyomi Tsujimoto, who belongs to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, on Monday. "He has no sense of human rights."
On Tuesday, Aso acknowledged his tendency toward gaffes. I'll have to watch what I say," he said.
Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
Elder care,
Elderly welfare
Taro Aso,
Japan government
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Issue 94.2 of the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library contains a very special article by Ben Pope of the University of Tübingen. The article, titled ‘The Empress, the Elector and the Painter’, examines Rylands German MS. 2, a sixteenth-century armorial in the Library’s collection that Dr Pope has identified as a previously unknown work by the workshop of renowned Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Younger.
Dr Pope shows that the armorial was produced for Elector August of Saxony, and that it was copied from an earlier armorial of c. 1500 that had been in the possession of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Much of the original content and structure of this ‘old armorial’ has been preserved in the Cranach copy, and on this basis it can be located in a late-fifteenth-century south German tradition of armorial manuscripts.
The old armorial was also closely linked to the Habsburg dynasty, and appears to have been dedicated to Bianca Maria Sforza, second wife of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Cranach’s copy therefore opens significant new perspectives on the relationships between aristocratic women and heraldic knowledge, and on the artistic patronage of Maximilian and Bianca Maria’s court.
Dr Pope’s extensive and richly illustrated article is available to read for free for one week (18th-24th February 2019). It draws attention to a previously unstudied item from the Library’s extensive collection, which continues to be a source of inspiration to scholars from around the world.
The armorial itself can be viewed here.
By Jessica Foster
Category: Uncategorized 0 Comments.
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Console Corner: PlayStation 5 by 2021 after ‘end of life cycle’ comments?
Less than 3 years left for the Sony PlayStation 4?
It has been one of the biggest successes in video game history but the PlayStation 4 is officially entering ‘the last phase of its life cycle’.
Depending on when you were born and when you got into gaming you will have been here before ushering in a new generation of console and waving goodbye to a trusty old friend.
From the C64 to NES, Master System, SNES, Megadrive, N64, Mega CD, Gamecube, Dreamcast, PlayStation, XBox and their derivatives ever since to name but a few, technology is constantly advancing and so that goes hand in hand with the video game industry.
And it seems we could be waving goodbye to the PS4 - which has sold a staggering 74 million units worldwide since its release in 2013 - in the next couple of years.
During Sony’s Corporate Strategy Meeting, Playstation boss John Kodera was reported as saying that the console was entering the “final phase of its life cycle”.
It seems we could be waving goodbye to the PS4 - which has sold a staggering 74 million units worldwide since its release in 2013 - in the next couple of years
Damien Lucas, gaming columnist
Wall Street Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuki reported it on Twitter, mentioning that membership services like Playstation Plus will continue to provide revenue for Sony despite the obvious hit to sale of the PS4 now gamers know it won’t be around too much longer.
Kodera then gave another interview, where spoke about Sony “preparing for the future” and games industry consultant Serkan Toto translated the key points on Twitter.
“While he doesn’t use the word “PS5”, Kodera says (again) the PS4 entered the final stage of its lifecycle and that Sony will spend the next three years “preparing for the future”.
Console Corner: Outward review
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Home | About The Consortium
The M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries is a collaborative organisation that works to improve library and information services within the M25 region and more widely across the East and Southeast. Since its formation in 1993 the Consortium’s work in three strategic areas has produced services and resources for the benefit of learners and researchers.
Services to learners and researchers
The Consortium took the lead in providing widening access to library collections through the M25 Access Scheme. The success of the M25 scheme influenced the creation of the SCONUL Research Extra scheme, now known as SCONUL Access. Today, the M25 Consortium’s mutual access scheme is known as Access25.
Alongside physical access, the Search25 service allows users to simultaneously cross-search members’ catalogues, both small and large.
Mutual Support of member libraries in improving services to their users
Through cpd25, the Consortium provides high quality training and development at an affordable price. cpd25 offers an extensive portfolio with a programme of events tailored for staff at different stages of their careers. The programme also covers a wide range of issues from legal compliance to building management that support the diverse aspects of library and information service provision.
The Consortium supports members in improving services for their users by providing a collaborative forum for sharing expertise and good practice. Working Groups in areas including Disaster Management, Quality Management and Disabled and Special Needs Support produced resources and services to support staff in member libraries. Through this work a number of valuable resources such as the Mutual Support Agreement have been made available to members.
Collaboration and Influence
Acting as a single voice for its diverse membership, the Consortium has been able to represent the interests of academic and research libraries at the regional and national level. The Consortium maintains links with other international, national and regional library consortia. Through these partnerships, the Consortium is able to influence policy and promote cross–sector collaboration.
Directory of Members & Representatives
M25 membership
Members’ Rights and Responsibilities
Join the M25 Consortium
Former Working Groups
Statement on Values and Inclusion
M25 Annual Reports
M25 Consortium Logos
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Britain to Decide on Extradition Fate of WikiLeaks' Assange
LONDON —Swedish prosecutors are reopening the rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange following a request from the lawyer of one of the alleged victims.
Assange was arrested last month in Ecuador's embassy in London, after the country reversed its decision to give him asylum. The 47-year-old Australian national is also wanted in the United States on hacking charges and the British government will now have to decide which extradition request should take priority.
In 2011, Assange was accused of rape by two women following a WikiLeaks conference in Stockholm. He sought asylum in London's Ecuadorean embassy, claiming the accusations were part of a plot to have him extradited to the United States over his whistleblowing activities. With apparently little hope of conviction, Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation in 2017.
In April, however, Ecuador reversed its decision to offer Assange asylum and allowed British authorities into the embassy to arrest him. One of the women who made the rape accusations requested the case be reopened.
Sweden's deputy director of public prosecution, Eva-Maria Persson, announced the reopening of the case Monday.
"After reviewing the preliminary investigation in its current state, my assessment is that there is still probable cause to suspect that Julian Assange committed rape," Persson said at a press conference in Stockholm.
Assange denies the rape accusations. In a statement, WikiLeaks said reopening the case would allow him to clear his name.
Sweden will seek a European arrest warrant and extradition after Assange has served a 50-week sentence in Britain for skipping bail.
The United States has also issued an extradition request for Assange over computer hacking accusations, related to the release of thousands of classified military and diplomatic communications via WikiLeaks, mainly relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain's Home Secretary will have to decide which extradition request should take precedence, says London-based extradition lawyer Anthony Hanretty.
"Whether it was hacking into computers or simply releasing information, against the allegations made in Sweden which are of the utmost severity. So it will come down politically to which one he thinks is more palatable for him to make."
Hanretty notes that Assange has already indicated he would contest any extradition to the United States.
"He no doubt will have fears that he will be held in solitary confinement in conditions which he will say will breach his human rights. There's also concern that if he is sent to the U.S., they will simply add further charges onto him once he is there. And it also depends on how the U.S. frames the charges against him. They will have to show that what he is accused of in the U.S. would amount to an offense in the U.K."
Under Swedish law, the statute of limitations on the rape case expires in August of next year, so legal experts say there is pressure on Britain and Sweden to speed up the extradition process.
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LA Phil Store
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Sonata in E-flat, No. 62, Hob. XVI:52
At 64, Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was the vigorous grand old man of the musical world when he embarked on a lucrative visit to London in 1794. Once there, surrounded by talented virtuosos and wealthy patrons, he returned to composing for the piano, something he hadn’t done for five years.
“I would sit down at the piano and begin to improvise, whether my spirits were sad or happy, serious or playful,” Haydn wrote. “Once I had captured an idea, I strove with all my might to develop and sustain it in conformity with the rules of art.”
Considering the thrillingly virtuosic flourishes of the outer movements, Haydn must have been in a rambunctious mood indeed when he captured these improvisations. And while there is no hint of serene leave-taking to be found here, the almost orchestral textures of this sonata and the demands it makes on the performer are a demonstration of the composer’s supreme mastery of the form and its technique.
In fact, there is every reason to believe that this was Haydn’s final sonata more because of circumstance than intention. For Haydn, as it was for other composers of his generation, the solo keyboard sonata was either a tool for teaching, or a flattering gesture of gratitude to a generous patron. Had subsequent opportunities presented themselves, the series might well have continued. There was no want of creative energy, after all. And while this was Haydn's last published sonata, it was by no tally his last composition. He returned to Vienna in 1795. The final string quartets and the gigantic oratorios, The Creation and The Seasons, were yet to be written. He died at the age of 77.
— Grant Hiroshima
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Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 112-93 loss to the Sacramento Kings
By Eric Pincus
The Lakers (9-35) lost their fourth straight game, falling to the Sacramento Kings (18-23) on Wednesday night. Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 112-93 defeat at Staples Center.
1. Brandon Bass led the Lakers in scoring for the first time this season, his first with the team. Bass scored 18 points on seven-of-12 shooting.
Over a two-minute span in the fourth quarter, Bass blocked three shots and gave the Lakers a chance -- but the Kings were able to push their lead back to double digits to close out the win.
Bass played almost 30 minutes, with Roy Hibbert in foul trouble most of the night.
2. The Lakers just couldn’t contain DeMarcus Cousins, who led all players with 36 points and 16 rebounds.
Cousins hit 13 of 22 shots (59.1%) and was 10 for 12 from the line (83.3%), all in 35 minutes.
“DeMarcus is showing at a high level that he’s an all-star,” said Kings Coach George Karl. “Is there a better center that’s playing basketball right now in the NBA? I don’t think there is. He’s helped us at both ends of the court.”
Though Cousins is not going to be voted in as an All-Star game starter by the fans, he may be selected by the coaches to the Western Conference squad. Last year, Cousins earned his first all-star nod.
3. With the 10-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game approaching Friday, Kings forward Rudy Gay said he remembered where he was on that night.
“I was in college. We had just beat [Pittsburgh], and somebody called me -- I think somebody at home had called me -- and told me that Kobe had like 70 in the third quarter. So I got right in my dorm and turned it on and watched the rest of it.”
Gay, who went to the University of Connecticut from 2004 to 2006, said he was thinking at the time, “Can I play in the NBA next year? Can I be able to guard that?”
The 6-foot-8 forward was eventually drafted by the Houston Rockets with the eighth overall pick in 2006, but was traded on draft night to the Memphis Grizzlies.
4. The Lakers started the game slowly, fought back, fell behind again and fought back again. But then the Kings pushed away with a quick fourth-quarter burst.
“They played great,” said Julius Randle of the Kings.
“He’s tough. He’s tough,” Randle said of Cousins. “He’s the toughest in my opinion. He’s a load. He’s hard to move.”
Randle finished with six points on two-of-11 shooting, along with a team-high 12 rebounds.
“I was very happy with the shots I got,” he said. “I got to my spots, I just didn’t finish them. Sometimes they don’t fall.”
5. The Lakers are still in last place in the Western Conference, better than just the Philadelphia 76ers (6-38).
The Lakers are 10 games behind the eighth-place Kings and just 3.5 in back of the 14th-place Minnesota Timberwolves (13-31).
Looking ahead to the 2016 NBA draft lottery, the Lakers would have a 55.8% chance of a top-three pick in next June’s draft. If the Lakers fall below third in the lottery, Philadelphia will get the team’s pick as part of the Steve Nash trade, via the Suns.
If the Lakers climb in the standings, their lottery odds for a top-three selection will dip to 46.9%.
Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus
‘Did they just do thaaat?’ Lakers parodied in ‘Family Matters’ intro
A sportsbook online site parodied the revamped Lakers lineup by placing the players into the intro of the popular ‘90s sitcom “Family Matters”.
Anthony Davis and LeBron James present one new concern for Lakers
Load management.
Hernandez: Anthony Davis was smart not to make any long-term promises to the Lakers and their fans
With only a season separating him from free agency, he wanted to dispel any misconceptions about his intentions.
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Leamington College old boys hold 12th reunion
Former pupils from Leamington College's 'Class of 49' met for their 12th reunion at Old Leamingtonians Rugby Club.
Former Leamington College pupils who attended the boys school in the 1950s met up for their 12th reunion in the town.
The 19 men, who were among the 61 pupils in the Class of ‘49 who attended the school from 1949 and up to either or 1955 or 1957 for those who stayed on at the sixth form, met at Old Leamingtonians Rugby Club in Bericote Road on Friday to catch up and share memories of their younger days.
The reunions, organised by Leamington College old boy Bob Lee, have been held since 2007.
Bob, who now lives in Woking, said he set about organising the events when he retired twenty years ago having kept a list of the names of his fellow class mates and then looking some of them up in the telephone directory.
Bob said: “The thing we tend to talk about and remember the most was the camaraderie we all had.
“It was a brilliant school and we all had a brilliant education.”
Bob keeps a scrap book which contains photos from his school days, photos from past reunions and memorabilia from the school including the school magazine The Leamingtonian.
Some of the pupils pictured in the rugby team photos also played for Old Leamingtonians.
Bob said he hoped the reunions would continue for years to come.
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The Upside of Downtown: Urban Innovation Centres Attract Technology’s Biggest and Best
The next billion-dollar tech startup might not come from Silicon Valley. It could be found in Toronto.
Since December, three investments of more than $200 million each have been announced by companies connected to the MaRS innovation hub in the city’s downtown core.
Funding rounds of that size have been rare for Canadian startups in the past. Three happening in quick succession is being taken by Toronto’s startup community as an indication that the wind is at their backs. Could it be just a matter of time before a unicorn emerges?
The signs are undoubtedly positive. Venture capital flows are growing strongly in Canada and the Liberal government in Ottawa has made fostering innovation a central plank of its agenda.
But Toronto is also benefitting from broader economic shifts. Innovation is moving from edge-of-town research parks to urban cores in response to the rise of sectors like digital health and financial technology that cut across traditional boundaries.
While many cities are trying to regenerate neighbourhoods as centres of urban innovation, Toronto already has an extensive Discovery District, with more than 30 research centres and hospitals adjacent to the University of Toronto campus.
At its centre is MaRS, one of the largest innovation hubs in the world. MaRS provides a unique platform to commercialize breakthrough discoveries by bringing together researchers, investors, entrepreneurs and corporates under one roof.
Last year, MaRS almost doubled in size to 1.5 million square feet with the opening of its West Tower, which contains advanced research facilities and space for startups such as LEAGUE (founded by Mike Serbinis, who also co-founded Kobo) alongside offices of global leaders including Facebook, PayPal and Johnson & Johnson’s JLABS.
MaRS recently announced that it had secured a $290 million refinancing deal from Manulife, Sun Life and iA Financial Group. The deal allows it to make early repayment on the bulk of two loans it received from the Province of Ontario to complete its new tower after the U.S. developer behind the project put it on hold as a result of the recession.
The provincial government received criticism for its decision. However, it asserted throughout that it was taking a calculated risk and had confidence in the MaRS model.
That confidence is clearly now shared by the private sector. Pharmaceutical giant Bayer and Versant Ventures kicked off the recent spate of investment announcements in December with news that it will spend US$225 million to set up a new regenerative medicine company called BlueRock Therapeutics in MaRS.
The investment was one of the largest early stage funding rounds for a biotech company ever and a vote of confidence in the model of innovation being pioneered at MaRS.
The BlueRock announcement was followed by news from Highland Therapeutics that it had secured $200 million in funding for a promising new ADHD drug. Meanwhile, the third investment announcement, from energy-storage firm NRStor, showed that it’s not just the health sector where Toronto startups are making gains.
There’s now a growing sense of confidence in Toronto’s innovation community, which has been gradually assembling the pieces to create a thriving ecosystem for startups for more than a decade.
MaRS CEO Ilse Treurnicht reflects this feeling. She believes Canada is well placed to succeed: “It feels like this is our moment to walk through this door.”
Toronto’s Discovery District has already given the world insulin, stem cells and the foundations for artificial intelligence. It could well also give it the next $1 billion startup.
Want to stay current with Canadian innovation news and events? Sign up for our mailing list.
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The Best Colon Cancer Screening
By Markham Heid
Something deadly may be lurking deep inside your bowels.
This is no joke: Colorectal cancer trails only lung cancer and prostate cancer when it comes to killing American men.
The good news is that this disease is frequently curable when discovered in its earliest stages. Thanks to an increase in screening, death rates dropped 12 percent during the past decade, according to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.
But when it comes to screening for colorectal cancer, the picture gets complicated.
Related from MensHealth.com: The Young Man’s Cancer
There are five different screening methods approved by the National Institutes of Health. One method involves doing what you do every morning after your coffee and donut (and handing it to your doctor). The other four—we’re sorry to say—involve a medical professional inserting either a snake-like device, a liquid, or a finger where the sun don’t shine.
We know what you’re thinking: "Hand over that cup; I’ll give you all the test samples you need!" But stool examination is the least sensitive of the five tests.
There’s really only one type of screening test you should consider, according to Mark Welton, M.D., chief of colorectal surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
“I recommend colonoscopy,” Welton says. The test can both detect abnormalities and remove those abnormalities for testing. “None of the other tests have that advantage,” he says, adding that the test is also incredibly sensitive. (You'll need to go to a doctor for a colonoscopy, but every man should also do these 5 DIY Medical Tests That Really Work.)
Welton advises healthy men to have their first colonoscopy at age 50. But for those who have a family history of colorectal cancer, screening should begin sooner.
To help your body stave off colorectal cancer, Welton recommends exercise and foods high in fiber. Both will speed up waste’s trip through your intestinal slip-n-slide, limiting the amount of time your sensitive insides are exposed to toxins. Click here for 50 More Ways to Add Years to Your Life.
Markham Heid Markham Heid is an experienced health reporter and writer, has contributed to outlets like TIME, Men’s Health, and Everyday Health, and has received reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Maryland, Delaware, and D.C.
Here's When to Get Screened for Colon Cancer
You May Need a Colon Cancer Screening Sooner Than You Think
The New, Better Tests for Prostate Cancer
Your Complete Guide to Colon Cancer Treatment
Should You Get Screened for Lung Cancer?
Experts Propose Changes To Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines
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Consent Order Darren Gerrard Simonson
Darren Gerrard Simonson - Consent Order
ORIGINATOR LICENSING
DARREN GERRARD SIMONSON
WHEREAS, Darren Gerrard Simonson ("Darren Simonson") has been advised of his right to Notice and Hearing pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 30A, section 10 and chapter 255F, section 11, and having waived those rights, entered into a STIPULATION AND CONSENT TO THE ISSUANCE OF A CONSENT ORDER ("Consent Agreement") with representatives of the Division of Banks ("Division") dated December 2, 2011, whereby, solely for the purpose of settling this matter without admission of any violation of law, Darren Simonson agrees to the issuance of this CONSENT ORDER ("Consent Order") by the Commissioner of Banks ("Commissioner");
WHEREAS, the Division, through the Commissioner, has jurisdiction over the licensing and regulation of persons and entities engaged in the business of a mortgage loan originator in Massachusetts pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 2;
WHEREAS, Darren Simonson has never applied for or obtained a Massachusetts mortgage loan originator license;
WHEREAS, on February 7, 2011, pursuant to the authority granted under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255E, section 8, the Division commenced an examination/inspection ("examination/inspection") of the books, accounts, papers, records, and files maintained by Intercontinental Capital Group, Inc., New York, New York, mortgage lender license no. ML60134;
WHEREAS, the Division’s review of books and records during the examination/inspection revealed that Darren Simonson originated one (1) Massachusetts residential mortgage loan application on behalf of Intercontinental Capital Group, Inc., at a time during which, according to his attested record in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System ("NMLS"), he did not have an approved Massachusetts mortgage loan originator license in accordance with Massachusetts law;
WHEREAS, by contemporaneous agreement set forth in the Consent Order, Docket No. 2011-055, entered between Intercontinental Capital Group, Inc. and the Division (the "Consent Order, Docket No. 2011-055"), Intercontinental Capital Group, Inc., without admitting any violation of law occurred, agreed to satisfy any administrative penalty assessed against Darren Simonson in consideration of the alleged mortgage loan originator licensing violation described above; and
WHEREAS, the parties now seek to resolve by mutual agreement, the aforementioned matters.
NOW COME the parties in the above-captioned matter, the Division and Darren Simonson, and stipulate and agree as follows:
Pursuant to the provisions of the Consent Order, Docket No. 2011-055, Intercontinental Capital Group, Inc., without any requirement or obligation to do so, agreed to satisfy an administrative penalty in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) which was assessed against Darren Simonson in consideration of his act of originating one residential mortgage loan when he was not licensed as a mortgage loan originator in Massachusetts.
Darren Simonson, during all relevant times in the future in which a Massachusetts mortgage loan originator license may be held, must comply with all laws and regulations applicable to him conducting the business of a mortgage loan originator, including, but not limited to, Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, and the Division’s regulation 209 CMR 41.00. Such obligations shall include a duty to ensure strict compliance with Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 2, which states, in part: "No individual shall act as a mortgage loan originator with respect to any dwelling unless such person has first obtained a mortgage loan originator license from the commissioner…"
This Consent Order and the Consent Agreement are the complete documents that represent the resolution of this matter. There are no other agreements, promises, representations, or warranties other than those set forth in this Consent Order and the Consent Agreement.
Dated at Boston, Massachusetts, this 2nd day of December, 2011
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Consent Order Richard Malcolm Kane
2011-002-CO
Richard Malcolm Kane - Consent Order
Docket No. 2011-002-CO
RICHARD MALCOLM KANE
Mortgage Loan Originator License No. MLO49374
WHEREAS, RICHARD MALCOLM KANE ("Richard Kane" or the "Licensee"), a licensed mortgage loan originator under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 2, has been advised of his right to Notice and Hearing pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 30A, section 10, and having waived those rights, entered into a STIPULATION AND CONSENT TO THE ISSUANCE OF A CONSENT ORDER ("Consent Agreement") with representatives of the Division of Banks ("Division") dated June 10, 2011, whereby, solely for the purpose of settling this matter, Richard Kane agrees to the issuance of this CONSENT ORDER ("Consent Order") by the Commissioner of Banks ("Commissioner");
WHEREAS, The Division of Banks ("Division"), through the Commissioner, has jurisdiction over the licensing and regulation of persons engaged in the business of a mortgage loan originator in Massachusetts pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 2;
WHEREAS, Richard Kane is licensed by the Commissioner as a mortgage loan originator under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 2. According to records maintained on file with the Division, the Commissioner initially issued a mortgage loan originator license, MLO49374, to Richard Kane to engage in the business of a licensed mortgage loan originator on or about March 9, 2010;
WHEREAS, on or about December 1, 2010 pursuant to the authority granted under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 14, the Division commenced an Investigation (the "2010 Investigation") of the books, accounts, papers, records, and files maintained by Richard Kane in response to an inquiry received by the Division's Consumer Assistance Unit;
WHEREAS, on or about January 28, 2011, based upon a 2010 Investigation the Division issued a TEMPORARY ORDER TO CEASE DESIST as well as an ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AND NOTICE OF RIGHT TO A HEARING (collectively referred to as the "Order"), Docket No. 2011-002, against Richard Kane and alleged a failure to comply with state and federal laws, rules, regulations and regulatory bulletins governing the conduct of a licensed mortgage loan originator in Massachusetts, which allegations Richard Kane has denied;
WHEREAS, on or about February 17, 2011, Richard Kane filed a response to the Order and by his response, Richard Kane further reserved his right to proceed to an administrative hearing in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws chapter 30A;
WHEREAS, on or about March 7, 2011, Richard Kane appeared at the Division's offices for an informal conference to discuss the matters raised by the Order;
WHEREAS, Richard Kane agrees to enter this Consent Order solely for the purpose of settling this matter and without admitting any allegations or implications of fact or the existence of any violations of applicable state and federal statutes or rules;
WHEREAS, the parties now seek to resolve by mutual agreement, the matters identified in the Order; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of the Division and Richard Kane having reached the following mutual agreement under this Consent Order to resolve the matters raised by the Order, the Commissioner has terminated the Order on this 10th day of June, 2011.
NOW COME the parties in the above-captioned matter, the Division and Richard Kane, and stipulate and agree as follows:
Immediately upon the execution of this Consent Order, Richard Kane will refrain from operating as a licensed mortgage loan originator, under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 255F, section 2.
Immediately upon the execution of this Consent Order, Richard Kane will surrender his Massachusetts mortgage loan originator license number MLO49374 by submitting a " Request to Surrender" filing to the Division through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS).
Richard Kane will refrain from submitting an application to obtain a mortgage loan originator license from the Commissioner for a period of forty-two (42) months from the effective date of the Order.
To the extent that Richard Kane wishes to resume or engage in business as a licensed mortgage loan originator at the expiration of the 42-month term as set forth above, Richard Kane shall be required to submit a completed application to obtain the relevant license from the Commissioner. Unless the Commissioner, in his sole discretion, agrees to accept such an application earlier, Richard Kane agrees not to submit such an application until the expiration of the 42-month term. The Commissioner shall have all of the discretion set forth within General Laws chapter 255F section 4 , and the Division's regulation 209 CMR 41.00 et seq. in determining whether to issue a license to Richard Kane to conduct the licensed business.
The provisions of this Consent Order shall not limit, estop, or otherwise prevent any other state agency or department, from taking any other action affecting Richard Kane.
In accordance with the terms of the Consent Agreement entered by Richard Kane and the Commissioner, Richard Kane has waived all rights of appeal that he may have relative to this Consent Order or any of its provisions.
Failure to comply with the terms of this Consent Order shall constitute grounds for the denial of any future license application submitted to the Division
This Consent Order and the Consent Agreement are the complete documents representing the resolution of this matter. There are no other agreements, promises, representations, or warranties other than those set forth in this Consent Order and the Consent Agreement.
Dated at Boston, Massachusetts, this 10th day of June, 2011
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Cart (19910901)
New Release Children's
New Release Non-Fiction
Alice's Adventures Under Ground : The Original Manuscript
Fiction > Classics
Author: Lewis Carroll
One "golden afternoon" in Oxford, in July 1862, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, accompanied three young sisters, Lorina, Alice, and Edith, on a boating trip. To keep the children amused, Dodgson, began to tell a tale about an inquisitive youngster called Alice, and her escapades in an underground world. Dodgson's story, later revised and illustrated by John Tenniel, would go on to become one of the most famous and best-loved children's books of all time--published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, under the pen name Lewis Carroll. However, the original tale--Alice's Adventures Under Ground--remains less well-known. In this facsimile edition of Dodgson's manuscript--now one of the British Library's most treasured possessions--with its accompanying commentary by former British Library curator Sally Brown, modern readers can enjoy the expressive story as it was first told.
Publisher : British Library, The
Imprint : British Library, The
Dimensions : --- length: - '7' width: - '4.75' units: - Inches
Availability date : February 2019
Bind : Hardcover
Author : Lewis Carroll
© Matilda Bookshop 2019
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Home TravelogueBudapest, an Historical City in Modern Times 1/7
Budapest, an Historical City in Modern Times
From the moment we arrived in Budapest, we knew this trip was going to bring many special memories, memories that would leave us with a much greater appreciation of the challenges faced by those held under the thumb of a brutal regime as was the case for each of the five countries we visited: Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. It was a history that our land tour guides always tackled in a forthright manner.
In the taxi from the Airport to our hotel (at no less than warp speed) we were provided with an ever so ‘fleeting’ glimpse of what life must have been like living as one of the satellite states of the Soviet Union. Gray run down factories and non-descript apartment buildings covered with graffiti, strung along broken fences and abandoned lots filled with rusting material. While this was certainly not indicative of the central city core where we would spend most of our days, it was a vivid reminder that Hungary has been free for barely 22 years after spending 45 years within the repressive Soviet Communist system.
As we approached the city centre and then crossed to the Buda side, it was a far different story. Our hotel, the Orion (Best Western), was located just below the Buda Castle and only steps away from the Danube. We had chosen this location as it provided easy foot access to the central city on both the Buda and Pest sides of the Danube, as well as easy access to our cruise vessel, the River Beatrice, whick would dock less than half a block from our hotel.
Not long after making a post on Facebook, our soccer buddies and travel friends, Suzanne Flannigan and Joseph Calado (subjects in an upcoming post on “Iron Man” in Zurich), told us they had at one time lived in a small apartment just a few doors from our hotel.
After a few hours of exploring the city, two things about this country stand-out. First, the people, and second the history. Each step along the way, whether at the hotel, in a restaurant, at a tourist site or when chatting with people on the street, we found the Hungarians to be welcoming, friendly, optimistic people who were helpful in every way.
As I always enjoy stopping to chat with people along the streets, I spied a young couple having their photos taken on the terrace of a nearby building. It only took a few seconds to convince the photographer to join the couple and let me take a shot. Having subsequently become friends with the three on Facebook, I have learned the couple were in fact brother and sister, likely born sometime shortly after the Soviet occupation of Hungary ended and who now live close to the nearby town of Hollókő.
Photo (hdm): Barbara and Bálint (left) with photographer Tamas.
Later, during an exchange on Facebook, I asked Bálint about his thoughts on home and country. He stated:
Sure, I can tell you many things about my country! The Hungarians are friendly and kind, but also a bit loner yet we really like having fun.
I can say that my country is hardly centralized to Budapest, but in the countryside you can find much nicer places! Villány and Eger is famous for their wine. Debrecen is the second biggest city in Hungary, an old and lovely city. I live not far from Hollókő, a small village famous for its traditional folk costume.
Here is a link: http://www.holloko.hu/
I hope I could help you. If you need more details, just ask me!
Bálint
This response was indicative of the people we met in Hungary. As for living outside the city, I recall one tour guide mentioning that nearly 1,000,000 people travel into Budapest each day to work or study. Barbara is currently preparing for an exam in Analytical Chemistry. Hmm, very pretty, and smart! As for the outgoing, happy young men, they could be Sean or any of his many friends. Hungary is certainly in good hands.
A bit more History
From 1537 – 1918, Hungry was held under the tight control of the Hapsburg Monarchy of Austria after the Kingdom of Hungary was enjoined. In modern times, after after several years of suppression by the Third Reich, they faced an equally horrendous future. As part of the spoils of war their country was ceded to the Union of Soviet Soviet Socialist Russia (USSR) then under a infamous leader, Josep Vissarionovich Stalin (born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953), one of the most murderous dictators in history.
In 1956, in a desperate attempt to gain their freedom, the Hungarian people rose up in a popular revolution only to be brutally crushed by a vastly superior Soviet military machine whose officers and men showed no mercy to the Hungarian Freedom Fighters who had fought so valiantly.
Photo (hdm): Statue on the grounds of the Hungarian Parliament commemorating Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (19 September 1802 – 20 March 1894) a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe (web source)
It was not until the USSR collapsed in the late 1980s, that the Third Hungarian Republic was formed on October 23, 1989. Over the past twenty-three years, the resilient Hungarians have worked to re-build their country into the welcoming nation it has become today, a nation based upon the democratic principles.
These somber facts are not meant to detract from the joy of touring the countries we will touch over the next two and one-half weeks, but simply to bring into focus what it means for people to live in a free and democratic society where the will of the people and rule of law is the force that drives the country and not the whims of an out of touch monarch or a brutal dictator.
For Lynn, Esther, Garth and me, we shall savour every moment as we soak up both the splendor and history of countries along the Danube from our home base aboard the River Beatrice.
Following are several photographs that provide a small sample of life in the city of Budapest. After hearing from our travel guide and doing more research, it is obvious we could spend many more days exploring the city and the country.
Footnote: Hungarian Freedom
200,000 fled the country with little more than the clothes on backs.
2,500 Freedom Fighters were killed and hundreds more injured
The heaviest resistance was in Budapest which was heavily targeted by Russian artillery and air strikes.
26,000 Hungarians were brought before tribunals
22,000 sentenced and 13,000 imprisoned
350 were executed
Current Day Cost Perspective
(Prices translated to Canadian Dollar)
Gasoline (litre) $1.85
Pair of Levis $100
Pair of Nike $100
Theatre $8.00
Resturant Dinner
Meal $7.00 – $15.00
Beer (domestic pint) $3.50 – $4.00
Wine $6.00 – $8.00
Capiccino $2.00
Note: In a small, trendy resturant just below the Buda Castle and near our hotel, the four of us had a light meal that included two pints of beer, a bottle of local wine and coffee. The total bill came to $55.00 Canadian. The resturant staff were friendly and the service excellent. As we travelled we always felt we received good value. These costs were fairly average for all the countries through which we travelled. The economies in Austria and Germany, appeared to be more advanced, however that would be expected given the advantageous position they have occupied since the end of World War II.
Given the medium monthly salary in Hungary (and similar in Slovakia and the Czech Republic) runs around $750, the living costs for the average working person would be high in comparison to Canada.
The Magic of Canal and River Travel
(A Photo Essay on Budapest Follows)
While travelling through England and Wales, as well as several countries on the European continent, Lynn and I were fascinated by the number of waterways that snake through the countrysides. Long boats of every type and size, were parked right to the very centre of many cities and towns. It was clear hundreds of travelers having caught the travel bug, chosing to either buy or rent one of these craft to take extended vacations. Others had selected larger, well appointed river cruise ships with professional crew to look after the operation, navigation and planning details.
Photo (hdm): While in the town of Foulridge (North Central England) visiting Lynn’s cousins, we observed many narrow canals such as the one in this photo, filled with longboats. In this photo Lynn stands on the walkway contemplating whether she could handle a year or two of drifting through the countryside.
Many were privately owned live-a-boards but in chatting with a few owners, learned that finding a parking spot was one of the biggest challenges they faced.
Checking in on a few that displayed “For Sale” signs, we found the craft sold in the range of $30,000 to $90,000, about the same as an average motorhome in Canada.
As for where one might travel, it is calculated that in England, Scotland and Wales, there are more than 4,000 kilometers on waterways. Within Europe, Russia and many other countries through the near and far east, the navigable waterways extend to well over 10,000 kilometers. As Garth and I can attest, there is nothing better than taking a leisurely evening cruise down a quietly flowing river with a glass of fine wine in one hand and holding hands with a lovely woman (that would be our wife of course), in the other.
In early 2012, when an opportunity arose to take a Uniworld cruise along the famed Blue Danube, Lynn and I jumped at the chance. (Actually, I preferred to stay home in order to have my morning coffee at Tim Horton’s, then, later, watch the afternoon TV soaps, but Lynn insisted. I am happy that her decision prevailed.)
In addition to the three day stay in Budapest at the beginning of our travels, we also opted to take the four day tour extension of Prague at the heart of the Czech Republic. It was not long after posting our plans on Facebook that friends Garth and Esther Dunn jumped on board. It was a good match as the Dunn’s are a fun loving couple willing to step out on a limb to experience new things and to meet new people.
Photo Essay of Budapest
Photo (hdm) Hungarian Parliament Buildings
A river view of the Parliament at sunset as our new home on the River Beatrice leaves Budapest. These legislative buildings, among the oldest in Europe, was started in 1885 and inaugurated in 1896 on the 1000th anniversary of the country. They were completed in 1904.
Over one thousand people were involved in construction, during which 40 million bricks, half a million precious stones and 40 kilograms (88 lb) of gold were used. After World War II the ‘Diet’ became single-chambered and today the government uses only a small portion of the building. During the communist regime a red star perched on the top of the dome, but was removed in 1990. Mátyás Szűrös declared the Hungarian Republic from the balcony facing Lajos Kossuth Square on 23rd October, 1989. (web source)
Photo (hdm): This massive staircase leads from the entrance area to a Rotunda under the main dome. With the a seemingly endless expanse gold, priceless emeralds, statues and rich colours, the Parliament is exceeded only in lavish richness by some of the Abbey’s and Cathedrals we would later visit. (web source)
Several guards were stationed in the Main Rotunda. More than once during our tour I was pulled up short by plain clohtes guards when I wandered a bit to far from the main tour group.
Photo (hdm) It was hard to capture the feeling of expanse this dome provided. It was directly over the display being protected by the above soldier.
Photo (hdm) One of many life sized statues that decorate the inside of the
Parliament Buildings.
Photo (hdm) View looking down from the Buda Castle and across across the river. In the foreground is the fenicular. The Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest. The first bridge across the Danube in Budapest, it was designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark in 1839, after Count István Széchenyi’s initiative in the same year, with construction supervised locally by Scottish engineer Adam Clark. It opened in 1849, thus became the first bridge in the Hungarian capital. At the time, its center span of 202 m was one of the largest in the world. The pairs of lions at each of the abutments were added in 1852. It is popular culture in Hungary to point out that the lions in fact have no tongues. (Wikipedia)
Photo (hdm) From artists concept of the Buda Castle Restoration work.
Phonto (hdm) Chain Bridge – Another View
Look at the clearance between the bridge and the water – not much room. When the River Beatrice went under bridges such as this the flag mast and all umbrella’s had to be lowered. Passengers on deck had to sit over be knocked over as we skimmed underneath.
Photo (hdm): Believe it or not, those red vegetables, the size of small turnips, are raddishes. This Central Market is located at the end of the six block, central tourist area through the centre of the city. It is must see for anyone who enjoys the sights, sounds and smells of markets. There are almost 200 stalls on 3 levels with cafes and restaurants on the top floor. There are stalls with fruit and vegetables, meats and sausages and plenty of souvenirs. In the basement is a supermarket for everyday provisions. The 19th century architecture is worth the visit even if you are not a shopper. The prices are very competitive by Canadian stanadards. (Web Source)
Photo (hdm) Esther and Lynn survey another of the dozens of food displays around the Central Market. I believe the total footage of this market was in the order of 160,000 square feet.
The many pedestrian area’s provide a plethora of food and beverage to attempt the passing tourist. At almost every opportunity we choose local food, wine and beer and were never disappointed. This meal with drinks for four from the kiosk in the background might have set us back $25.00 (Can).
Photo (hdm): This scene was taken a short way into a large large Church Cave. A wedding was underway when we entered so I only captured a few photos at the entrance.
Hungary has the best caves in Europe and the Buda hills happen to hold a few of
them in its limestone. Budapest is one of the world’s very few cities where more than 100
caves can be found within the municipal area. The Budapest caves are in the Buda
Mountains situated on the right bank of the Danube, and they are located under residential
districts.
These hydrothermal caves stand in contrast with the simple plan of a
stream cave as these caves are labyrinthine networks of passages. Most of them have
beautiful formations.
The longest cave of Budapest is the Pálvölgyi Cave. The other major cave systems, the
Mátyás-hegyi Cave, Ferenc-hegyi Cave, József-hegyi Cave and Szemlő-hegyi Cave are
also considerable in length and beauty.
Photo (hdm): These structurs sit flush along one of the main city arterials that run between the Danube directly below the a mountain. Behind these structures lie hundreds of connected caves. We simply did not have time to explore all that could be seen in a few short days.
Photo (hdm) Gellért Baths
This immaculately preserved Art Nouveau bath sitting directly below the Church Cave (above) and hotel was built in 1918, on the site of a previous Turkish bath. The beautiful building is filled with intricate mosaic tiling, stained glass windows, marble columns and statues.
The Gellért complex has a number of small mineral pools, an outdoor swimming pool with artificial waves, a bubbling effervescent pool, a Finnish sauna with plunge pools and massage services (web source). Be prepared to take a little extra cash into the bath as towels and mandatory bathing caps are extra.
The water in this thermal pool was so clear it was hard to believe no one had entered to soak their aging bones. Lynn grabbed me just moments before I dove in. She told me to read the sign, something I do not often do. Lucky me.
Photo (hdm): Pest side of Budapest taken from our moorage aboard the River Beatrice. Scenes such as this greated us each and every day of our tour down the Danube.
Photo (hdm): A different view of the Danube looking from Buba Castle
(Modified using Photoshop Ink Outline)
Photo (hdm) With Easter just around the corner, decorating is a very popular pastime in all the countries through which we travelled. Window displays, street scenes and giant Easter Eggs as being coloured by this young woman. When finished, in about two days, this giant egg would be fully covered from top to bottom and around the entire circumference. While the leaves were still waiting for a few more warm days before venturing forth, the color of Easter filled in the blanks.
Photo (hdm): Starbucks this is not but it is a coffee shop, the famous Gerbeaud Cafe on Vörösmarty Square in downtown Budapest. An archtectural feast for the eyes, it was founded in 1858 and recently celebrated it’s 150th Anniversary. As the builder, Henrik Kugler, didn’t have a heir he sold the cafe to Emil Gerbeaud descendant of a talented Swiss confectioner family. Here Garth is just walking out the door to the main patio area facing the square.(Information from Web)
More photos in the attached album
Tags: Adolf Hitler, Balint Geczy, Barbara Geczy, Buda, Budapest, Garth Dunn, Harold McNeill, Hungarian Freedom Fighters, Hungary, Joseph Calado, Joseph Stalin, Lynn McNeill, Pest, Suzanne Flannigan, Thomas HT Horvath, Uniworld
Esther Dnn
April 17, 2012 at 4:32 am | #
Wonderful to have the “little extra’s” your research has added to my memories of the trip…Thanks!!
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Valtteri Finishes Third in Austria Valtteri finishes third wit...
AMG F1 mb.com
Valtteri Finishes Third in Austria
Valtteri finishes third with Lewis in fifth in the heat of Austria
- Valtteri came home in P3 to score his third podium at the Austrian GP in his 50th race for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.
- Lewis crossed the line in P5
- Lewis (197 points) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 31 points from Valtteri (166 points)
- Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (363 points) lead Ferrari (228 points) by 135 points in the Constructors’ Championship
"I think we made the most of it today. We expected this race to be tricky, but it turned out to be even more difficult than we predicted. We had to do lots of lifting and coasting and couldn’t use all engines modes to keep the engine from overheating. So, we couldn’t really race properly, and I had to manage temperatures for the majority of the race. It made both defending and attacking very difficult. But you have to look at the positives – I got some good points out of this weekend and I don’t think there was much difference in terms of race pace. So, it isn’t all bad. We’ll investigate and hopefully come back stronger at Silverstone."
"It wasn’t the easiest day, we knew already before the race started that we might be in trouble here. Overheating proved to be a fairly big issue for us today. I think we had good pace, the car felt good, but we just couldn’t race due to the overheating. It seemed to be a limitation of our car this weekend and the other cars didn’t seem to struggle quite as much as we did, so we’ll have to look into this and try to fix it. There’s going to be more hot races coming up like Budapest, so we’ll need to get on top of this, otherwise it could be a difficult few races for us. I also damaged my front wing on the kerb, so we had to change it, which cost us a bit of time as well. It’s just one of those bad days in the office, but at least I still got some good points with fifth place."
"From a fan’s perspective, this was a really exciting race to watch; however, from our team’s perspective it was a difficult day. We said before the race that the high temperatures will be a huge challenge for us and that turned out to be true. Our Achilles heel was exposed, with both drivers struggling with overheating in these incredibly warm temperatures. We had to open up the bodywork all the way, turn down the engine and had to do lifting and coasting for long stretches. So, we couldn’t really race with our car today, neither attack nor defend, we were just trying to keep it alive and cooling it properly. On a more positive note, though, we still scored a good haul of points and managed to put in some decent lap times despite these limitations. However, it’s clear that we have to fix our cooling problems for the coming hot European races. As we say, the bad days are the ones when we learn the most to come back stronger. And we’ll be looking to do just that at the next race at Silverstone."
Andrew Shovlin
"It was good to see Honda get their first win since coming back into the sport; they have worked so hard for it, so hopefully they can enjoy the moment. For us it was an incredibly tough afternoon, we were on the limit with cooling all race. We knew this was our Achilles heel and the combination of ambient temperature and altitude were just too much for us to fight today. Valtteri did a good job to get on the podium, he was having to manage a lot whilst racing today and we had to give up a lot of performance to keep things cool, so we’re happy that he got some reward. Lewis was in the same situation as Valtteri with temperatures and he was having to having to manage from start to finish. He was keeping his tyres in good shape but unfortunately his front wing flap broke on the kerb at turn 10 on lap 27 and we were losing too much time so stopped for a new nose and the Hard tyre. It was a shame to lose the place to Vettel right on the end, but it was just a consequence of all the issues we were having to deal with. Whilst temperatures were the headline item for us today, we weren’t particularly quick even in Qualifying, so no doubt there are a few areas that we need to investigate and improve. We’re looking forward to Silverstone, the car should work better there so hopefully we can get back to fighting at the front."
Close Qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix
Disrupted Friday for Mercedes at Spielberg
We'll Give it Everything to Do a Better Job Than 12 Months Ago - Toto
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Cert:12
Hoop Dreams
Sat 21 Sep 2019
€6 Full Price
Sat 21 Sep 12pm Book Now
Wicklow Film Festival, Cinema
First exhibited at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary, Kartemquin's Hoop Dreams is the remarkable true story of two American dreamers; an intimate reflection of contemporary American inner-city culture, following two ordinary young men on the courts of the game they love.
Plucked from the streets and given the opportunity to attend a suburban prep school and play for a legendary high school coach, William Gates and Arthur Agee both soon discover that their dreams of NBA glory become obscured amid the intense pressures of academics, family life, economics and athletic competitiveness. But most importantly, both boys remain focused on their dream, no matter how hard tragedy strikes or how desperate their situation becomes. It is their faith in the game that unites their family and gives each person hope. And it is this faith that ultimately allows them to build upon their failures as well as their triumphs and make for themselves a potentially better life.
"At its center, we wanted the film to be warm and emotional," says producer Peter Gilbert. "We want people to see these families as going through some very rough times, overcoming a lot of obstacles, and rising above some of the typical media stereotypes that people have about inner-city families."
What emerges from Hoop Dreams is far more than a sympathetic portrait of two black teenagers reaching for the stars. While remaining epic in scope, it manages to be intimate in detail, chronicling the universal process of growing up, coming of age, the love and conflict between fathers and sons, brothers, best friends and spouses.
It's about success and failure not just on the court, but in school, at home, and ultimately, in society. And it does it in a way that no other film on sports has done before: it gives viewers an intimate look at the pursuit of the basketball dream while it is actually happening. Hoop Dreams won every major critics award in 1994 as well as a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1995. The film earned Steve James the Directors Guild of America Award and the MTV Movie Award’s "Best New Filmmaker." Hoop Dreams was subsequently named to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry, signifying its enduring importance to the history of American film, and has often been voted the greatest documentary of all time.
Q&A with Kate McCoullough after the screening.
This cinema is a member of the Europa Cinemas Network
Cert: 15A
Storytelling Yoga with Nicola Foxe
Sat 16 Nov 2019
Storytelling, Children, YARN Storytelling Festival
Christy Moore (Sold Out)
9 - 10 Aug 2019
Colum Sands - Song Bridge
Music, YARN Storytelling Festival
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DARE donations do not benefit Hopedale
Melanie Graham/Daily News staff
Mar 24, 2010 at 12:01 AM Mar 24, 2010 at 4:26 PM
Recent phone calls seeking donations on behalf of the D.A.R.E. program are not affiliated with any Hopedale organization, police said today.
According to Officer John Gagnon, the police department has received two or three phone calls from residents looking to see if the proceeds benefit Hopedale.
However, due to state cuts, Hopedale has not had a D.A.R.E. program for a number of years, Gagnon said.
Gagnon said if residents receive a call from D.A.R.E. to ask where the money is going and who it is benefiting.
If the solicitor says the money is going toward a Hopedale program, residents are encouraged to take down a phone number for the organization and contact police with the information at 508-634-2227.
Gagnon said residents can donate money to the organization if they ask the right questions and find out where the money is going. He added that he does not believe the calls are part of a scam.
"Sometimes people assume (the money) is coming to the town," Gagnon said. "Organizations come from all over. You have to ask where the money is going and to who specifically."
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Scott Brown: State should join Secure Communities now
Feb 22, 2012 at 12:01 AM Feb 22, 2012 at 10:05 PM
Responding to a recent Milford stabbing that police say involved an illegal immigrant, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown yesterday reiterated his stance that Secure Communities must be implemented throughout the state.
“This latest incident is proof that we need to do more to enforce our immigration laws,” Brown said in a statement.
David Segundo Dutan Guaman, 23, of 23 Water St., Apt. 1, was arrested early Saturday morning after police say he stabbed a 21-year-old man in the arm.
“It is unacceptable that there are people in the country illegally who are also committing serious crimes and threatening public safety,” Brown said. “It’s time we applied some common sense before more people are hurt or killed.”
Secure Communities is a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that facilitates sharing fingerprints and other data between local police and ICE.
Program opponents have worried it may lead to racial profiling or deporting people who are not convicted of serious crimes. They say it could keep immigrants from reporting crimes.
ICE has said it expects to implement Secure Communities nationwide by 2013. Boston is the only Massachusetts community currently participating.
Milford Police Chief Thomas O’Loughlin said Brown’s statement is important because ICE is implementing the program in locations where there is support for it, and the agency has enough resources to handle an increased volume of data.
“It’s very important,” O’Loughlin said. “We’d like to see it come here soon.”
Officers now share information manually about people they arrest and suspect could be in the country illegally. Under Secure Communities, the information sharing would be automatic for all people arrested, and the time it takes to receive information back from federal authorities would be reduced, O’Loughlin said.
But Secure Communities wouldn’t have necessarily prevented the Dutan Guaman stabbing. ICE focuses the program on deporting violent criminals, and Dutan Guaman had previously been charged only with nonviolent driving offenses, O’Loughlin said.
Dutan Guaman’s brother, Nicolas, is accused of driving the pickup truck that struck and killed Milford’s Matthew Denice when he was riding a motorcycle last August.
“I think it’s very important that, as a state, we take a stand on illegal immigration to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Denice’s brother, Michael, who supports Secure Communities. “Until we get to 2013, all citizens are at risk of becoming a victim.”
Brian Benson can be reached at 508-634-7582 or bbenson@wickedlocal.com.
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18 USC 2261 – Interstate Domestic Violence Act. Husband Brutalizing Ex-Wife and Driving Her to Another State Is a Federal Crime.
Posted on September 2, 2010 by Michael J. Petro
USA v. David Larsen, 08-3088.
On January 31, 2004, David Larsen brutally attacked Teri Jendusa-Nicolai, his ex-wife, when she came to his home in Racine County, Wisconsin, to pick up their two young daughters. The couple had divorced three years earlier after an abusive marriage, and Jendusa-Nicolai had recently taken Larsen to court for nonpayment of child support.
Larsen lured her into his home and began to beat her with a baseball bat, strangle, and smother her. When she did not succumb, he bound her head, ankles, and wrists with duct tape and placed her in a garbage can filled with snow. He then put the garbage can, with Jendusa-Nicolai inside, in the back of his pick-up truck and drove to a self-storage facility in Illinois where he had a rented storage locker. He left her there to die, in a cold storage locker, in the snow-filled garbage can with boxes wedged around it to prevent her from climbing out.
During the drive to Illinois, Jendusa-Nicolai managed to free her hands and call 911 from her cell phone. She gave Larsen's home address, and local law enforcement and rescue personnel broke into Larsen's home around 11 a.m. in an attempt to find Jendusa-Nicolai. They remained inside for about 15 minutes-just long enough to ascertain that she was not there.
Jendusa-Nicolai was able to make two more calls from her cell phone: She called her husband at noon and called 911 a second time around 2 p.m. At one point along the route to Illinois, she tried to extend her hand outside the garbage can in an effort to attract the attention of passing motorists. Larsen saw this, hit her again, and confiscated her cell phone.
Larsen was convicted of two counts: kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1), and interstate domestic violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2261(a)(2) and (b)(2) (the Interstate Domestic Violence Act). The district judge sentenced him to life in prison.
Larsen challenges both his convictions and his sentence. His first claim on appeal is a Commerce Clause challenge to the Interstate Domestic Violence Act; he contends that the Act unconstitutionally federalizes purely local violent crime with an insufficient nexus to interstate commerce.
We reject these arguments and affirm.
The Interstate Domestic Violence Act punishes those who use "force, coercion, duress, or fraud" to cause a domestic partner to travel in interstate commerce and who commit a violent crime against the victim "in the course of, as a result of, or to facilitate" that interstate travel.18 U.S.C. § 2261(a)(2). This statute lies well within the scope of Congress's power to regulate the channels or instru-mentalities of, or persons in, interstate commerce.
A. Commerce Clause Challenge to the Interstate Domestic Violence Act
The relevant portion of the Act provides as follows: A person who causes a spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner to travel in interstate or foreign commerce… by force, coercion, duress, or fraud, and who, in the course of, as a result of, or to facilitate such conduct or travel, commits or attempts to commit a crime of violence against that spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner, shall be punished…. 18 U.S.C. § 2261(a)(2).
We conclude, in line with four other circuits, that the Interstate Domestic Violence Act is a proper exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause power. See United States v. Lankford, 196 F.3d 563 (5th Cir. 1999); United States v. Page, 167 F.3d 325 (6th Cir. 1999); United States v. Gluzman, 953 F. Supp. 84 (S.D.N.Y. 1997), aff'd, 154 F.3d 49 (2d Cir. 1998); United States v. Bailey, 112 F.3d 758 (4th Cir. 1997).
Larsen conceptually locates his argument in the third Commerce Clause category. The Act is unconstitutional, he contends, because Congress lacks the authority to punish domestic violence, which is wholly intrastate conduct, non-economic in nature, and does not substantially affect interstate commerce. This argument is misplaced.
The Act punishes only those who cause a spouse or intimate partner to "travel in interstate or foreign commerce" and who commit a crime of violence "in the course of, as a result of, or to facilitate" that interstate travel. It is the victim's movement in interstate commerce-not the intrastate crime of violence-that implicates the Interstate Domestic Violence Act.
The Supreme Court has long held that movement of persons across state lines is sufficient to permit congressional regulation under the Commerce Clause. See Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, Me., 520 U.S. 564, 573 (1997).
Accordingly, we join the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits in holding that the Interstate Domestic Violence Act is a valid exercise of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause to regulate the channels or instrumentalities of, or persons in, interstate commerce.
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USSG 2B1.1: Healthcare Fraud and the Right Way to Calculate the Number of Victims.
Posted on October 26, 2009 by Michael J. Petro
United States v. Sutton, No. 08-3370 (7th Cir. 09/28/2009)
A jury convicted Varnador Sutton of a single count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1347 (prohibiting health care fraud) for his role in perpetrating a fraudulent scheme to collect money from Indiana Medicaid.
In May 2005, Sutton created a business called Regenerations, Inc., which purported to provide psychological counseling services reimbursable by Indiana Medicaid. Over the course of the next two years, Sutton billed Medicaid over $9 million for alleged psychological counseling that was never provided. Although many of the claims were denied, Medicaid did pay Sutton approximately $3.2 million for the alleged services provided by Regenerations.
At sentencing, the district court increased Sutton’s base offense level of six, see U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(a)(2), six levels based on its conclusion that there were more than 250 victims, see U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(2)(C). On this point the court accepted the government’s argument that each individual whose Medicaid number had been fraudulently used by Sutton should be counted as a victim under the guidelines.
At sentencing, the government argued that Sutton’s crime had over 250 victims. It reached this figure by treating all of the 2000-plus individuals whose Medicaid numbers had been used by Sutton as victims of his fraud. Sutton maintained, however, that the only victims were the two entities that sustained monetary loss-Indiana Medicaid and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
As relevant here, the application note to § 2B1.1(b)(2)(C) defines a “victim” as “any person who sustained any part of the actual loss determined under subsection (b)(1).” U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1 cmt. n.1. Subsection (b)(1), in turn, refers exclusively to the monetary loss occasioned by the crime, and the relevant application notes explain that the actual loss must be “pecuniary harm . . . that is monetary or that otherwise is readily measurable in money.” Id.at cmt. n.3(A)(i), (iii).
Although he used their Medicaid numbers to dupe Indiana Medicaid and the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services into paying for services that were never rendered, none of the individuals actually paid for a service they did not receive. Instead, Sutton simply appropriated their Medicaid numbers in order to bill Indiana Medicaid for services that were never rendered.
Thus, so far as the government’s evidence shows, the inchoate harm of having their benefits wrongfully depleted never materialized into an actual monetary loss such as having to pay for benefits that would otherwise have been covered. Given the government’s failure to demonstrate that any of the individuals suffered pecuniary harm, we are hard-pressed to see why we should treat all of those individuals as victims under § 2B1.1.
Because the guidelines are clear that monetary loss (or the intent of such loss) is required, and no such loss was suffered by the 2000-plus individuals whose identities were used by Sutton to perpetuate his fraud, the district court erred by imposing the six-level adjustment. Because there were in fact only two victims-Indiana Medicaid and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-no additional upward victim adjustment was warranted. See U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(2); United States v. Icaza, 492 F.3d 967, 969-70 (8th Cir. 2007) (district court erred by treating many individual Walgreens stores as victims when all pecuniary harm could be traced to single parent corporation).
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM Sutton’s conviction, but VACATE his sentence and REMAND for resentencing.
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“We’re thrilled to bring Angelo Xiang Yu back to Modesto,” Caroline Nickel, president and CEO of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Association, said in the release. “This will be his second time performing with the MSO and we’re excited to hear him bring Sibelius’ violin concerto to life. This piece known to be one of the most difficult violin pieces ever written — it’s sure to be a treat for anyone in the audience.”
Born in Inner Mongolia, Yu moved to Shanghai when he was 11, training at the Shanghai Conservatory. He came to the United States at age 19 and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
The winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010, he also was the youngest prize winner ever at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition in 2006. He performs globally, with orchestras, chamber ensembles and in recitals, according to the MSO.
“His astonishing technique and exceptional musical maturity have won him consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audience response worldwide for his solo recitals and orchestral and chamber music performances,” the MSO release said.
In addition to winning first prize as well as the Bach and audience prizes at the Menuhin Competition, Yu was awarded second prize at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition and third prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, the release said. In March 2017, he was chosen to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), beginning with the 2018-19 season.
Yu has played at several of the world’s leading summer music festivals including the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and the Bergen Festival in Norway and attended the Kronberg Academy in Germany and the Perlman Music Program in New York, according to the release. In March 2018, he played a recital in Boston’s Jordan Hall under the auspices of the Chinese Cultural Foundation.
Modesto Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday April 12-13
WHERE: Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto
ONLINE: www.galloarts.org
A Jurassic Park sequel Spielberg never considered
Watch clip of Frankie Valli perform; he’ll be in Modesto in June
Disneyland’s Millennium Falcon ride gets millionth rider after opening 7 weeks ago
By Devoun Cetoute
Having been open for about two months, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Resort welcomed the family who was the 1 millionth rider on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run.
What’s going on in the Modesto region? A lot, here’s a look
Sally Field, ‘Sesame Street’ to receive Kennedy Center award
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Top 10 Reasons Why the Music Industry is Failing
A Guest Post by Ramin Street
You know what? I miss my vinyl records.
I miss going to the record store (a real community experience) and buying an LP for $10-$15. I miss the larger sleeves with the cover art and the inside liner notes which told you who wrote what and who played on which track.
The last time this reality was in full form was the late 80s (perhaps early 90s). And since that time a number of changes occurred which created the mess the music business is in today (most of it self inflicted).
So without further adieu, here follows the Top 10 Reasons why the Music Business is Failing from both the perspective of a fan and a singer/songwriter.
They don't make them like him anymore! Ahmet Ertegun was known for his gift of discovering, developing and nurturing new talent.
1. Record Labels Stopped Doing Their Job
At some point along the way (late 70s) label executives became hipsters vs. real A&R agents, becoming more interested in keeping their jobs and playing it safe vs. finding authentic and originaltalent to nurture and promote over the long haul. We used to have an industry focused on finding the next new and amazing thing. Now we have an industry where labels copy other labels both in artists and material. Gone are the days of breaking out of the mold. For the last few decades it's been about formula. So it is then no wonder that radio has become a second tier medium that is mostly ignored in the United States (of course unless there's a game on).
2. The Record Labels Became Too Big
Much like banks, record labels became too big to service the industry well. By becoming larger companies within ever larger umbrellas they became more beholden to their masters to execute quick profits or upticks in stock value which from the 90s on down to the present only led to a race to the bottom.
3. Lack of Talent and Personality
Signed artists no longer have thestaying power, personality orsong writing abilities of their predecessors. They may be more marketable initially, but they're just not that talented. As such for the most part we don't remember many artists or "hit" songs from the last 20 years. I have to believe there are still amazing artists and song content out there, but some artists cling to the belief that they should write their own material when they clearly shouldn't. Others do come up with great songs but probably shouldn't be singing or performing them. Further, many song artists have failed to understand that music is a calling, a passion. You do it to do it. Yes you want to make a living, but fame and celebrity is the afterglow, not the inspiration.
The Brill Building in New York City, which served as the launching pad for some of America's top songwriters and fueled the careers of so many of the Country's top artists
4. Traditional Roles Have Disappeared
The music business was once an industry where producers, songwriters and artists used to besiloed within their own core competencies. As such, there wereclearly defined expectations and requirements that had to be met in order for someone to take on these titles. To our benefit, these lines got a bit blurred in the 50s & 60s. However since that time, with thedwindling of funds for music education in our public schools, we now have artists calling themselves songwriters with little knowledge of music theory, compositionor song structure or appreciation for styles that came before (to our detriment). We also have people calling themselves producers with minimal studio experience and an extremely limited understanding oforchestration/arranging to better help an artist in realizing his or her full potential.
5. Fan Abuse
Over the past 20 years the music industry has abused fans in the U.S with both unnecessarily high CD prices and obscenely high concert ticket prices. CDs cost pennies to manufacture yet cost the consumer upwards of $20 for a product that in most cases has delivered 1-2 decent tracks at best with the remainder serving only as filler. Concert tickets are also overpriced with all sorts ofmade up fees included in the ticket transaction to further pad the profits of the vendors who service this side of the industry. Frankly we live in an age wherethere are just too many other options available out there to entertain us that provide much more bang for the buck.
6. We Lost Some of the Old Experience
Compact discs which deliver music via the WAV audio format have provided excellent listening quality since their wider introduction in the 80s but we lost something in this transition in respect to the full experience we had with records. The product became much smaller as did the print which makes it less likelythat anyone is going to take the time to actually appreciate the album art or read the liner notes or credits. This, along with the cost and quality of content issues pervading the industry, has only served to further lessen the level of satisfaction the consumer feels after making a physical music purchase. No one contests the sparkling quality of digital offered via CDs, however you have to ask if it's so great why are the old vinyl shops still managing to survive? Answer:something about the experience is still missing. And the music industry (and electronics industry) have failed to address it.
7. MP3s Sound Horrible
The MP3 format which made music truly portable also cheapened it by lessening the fidelity and hence the overall experience. Granted, we have reached a wonderful age where music can now fly thru the air and into our cellphones and music players. Further, we can literallycarry a library of our favorite music in our back pocket to be made available anytime, anywhere "on tap". However, in its current format, MP3s sound tinnywhen listened to over an extended period of time. The format sounds even worse coming from most computers (MySpace's music player serves as a prime example of how absurdly degraded the sound can get). And so it's time toimprove our delivery and storage systems in order to create the infrastructure to improve the digital audio format (either back to WAV or something better).
8. Too Many Choices and Not Enough Filters
There are simply now too many outlets and too many touchpointswhere everything is just noise and clutter. At the same time no one trustworthy is directing, filteringor grading all the music being created and trafficked out (with the exception of the better known music blogs whose share of voice is still relatively small). Radio stations used to fill this role for the most part followed by the staff at your local record shop. Unfortunately with the gobbling up of local, independent stations by the likes of companies such as Clear Channel, all we have now are generic, universal playlists. Further, potential music enthusiasts are no longer simply being hit with the current offerings of the majors with their traditional marketing tactics. They are also being barraged daily by bands/artists and their management directly via social networking, email opt-in lists, etc. The fact that there is so much out there in the market is not necessarily the problem, however. The problem is that a lot of the good stuff is being missed entirely while a lot of garbage is being shoved down the throats of a consumer that as a result values music less and less, day by day. Put simply, we can't make sense of it all, so we turn a deaf ear. In short, we need better audience targeting and filtering tools.
9. Lack of Musicianship
There seems to be a serious lack of musicianship at play across so many of the song artists that are signed to major labels. It's become common knowledge that some of the most famous folks priding themselves on their singing ability rely way too heavily on auto-tune. There used to be a running joke about certain bands that made their living (and their hits) only playing 3 chords (nothing wrong with it - i.e. The Ramones). Yet now it really seems to have gone too far. Where are the virtuoso instrumentalists? Where are the guitar and drum heroes? The fact that we need video games to get our fix vs. seeing the real hero perform the real licks at a real show only further points to the fact that a deep seated need amongst music lovers is just not being served properly anymore.
10. Focus is on Beats over Melody
Finally, the loss of melody has been a major contributor to thedecline in music's standing in American culture. Traditionally, songs have comprised of four ingredients namely; melody, rhythm, harmony and lyric. Over the last 300-400 years, thestrongest and most memorable music ever written more or less receivedequal weight in these four areas. Classical music saw heavier weight applied to melody and harmony. Then jazz, blues and later rock each applied rhythm to a greater extent (i.e. the rhythm section using drums, bass and guitar). This gave energy to the songs and to their performances both on the turntable and on the stage. However over the last 30+ years so much emphasis has been applied tobeats vs. melody that the rhythm seems to be all we know. Problem is you can't hum or sing a beat. You need melody for that. And, unfortunately many of our modern producers only know how to address this need by lifting melodies from other people's songs. This can't last. With the proper permissions it's legal but is effectively cheating. And, in the opinion of this song artist only serves as the final nail in the coffin of an industry that has for far too long overstayed its welcome.
Ramin Streets is a Singer/Songwriter and Entrepreneur from Chicago, IL
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Danger & Opportunity
The Songwriter Future
Let's Get Engaged (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Book)
Open Letter to Venues
How to capitalize off of social media and create a comprehensive portfolio
Do Musicians Really Benefit From Digital Music Streaming Services?
Technology Didn't Kill The Music Industry. The Fans Did..
Making It In Today's Music World
Why You Need A Clear Brand For Your Music
How to Make Money off Youtube
How Musicians Make Money
What Is A Musician Entrepreneur (And why do I need to know)?
No Rules In This Game
Romancing The Stone
Gatekeepers Begone
Seeking Inspiration?
Your Band Can Raise $20,000 On Kickstarter with These Two Easy Steps
Five Tips for Promoting Your Band's Mobile App
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75 Musicians Share Their Perspectives on the Best Things About Being a Musician
How Spotify Has Become a Game Changer
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The Beginners Guide To Independent Music
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Eminem and Rihanna Top Pop Charts Together
By Tim Persinko
Published Aug 1, 2010 at 3:41 PM | Updated at 4:28 PM CDT on Aug 1, 2010
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Biting rapper Eminem and Barbados sensation Rihanna's new song together topped Billboard's Hot 100 Singles list for the second week running.
"Love the Way You Lie," a duet about domestic violence, knocked off Kate Perry's breezy summer anthem, "California Gurls."
"It was something that needed to be done," Rihanna told Access Hollywood about the song's theme, an abusive relationship.
"And the way he did it was so clever," the singer with the dramatic new red do said. "He (Eminem) basically just broke down the cycle of domestic violence, and it's something that a lot of people don't have a lot of insight on."
Cradle-Robbing Celebrities: Hef Ties the Knot
Rihanna is a survivor of domestic abuse. Her former boyfriend, performer Chris Brown, physically assaulted her in a Lamborghini last year.
The anticipatory buzz swirling around the video is almost as hot as the song itself.
Lost's Dominic Monaghan and the much-obsessed over Megan Fox have been caught on the set of the new video, rumored to be released next week. A long-lensed camera snapped the two actors sharing a kiss during the filming of the video, MTV reports.
Celebrity Ink
Eminem and Rihanna will also appear in the video, which is being shot in Los Angeles. Building on her on-stage experience, Rihanna will soon try on big-screen acting.
The pop princess signed on to the film "Battleship," reported Variety. The movie will be a sci-fi adaptation of the classic board game.
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Summer 2012's Best Indie Films - A Lot of Good Ones!
A particularly rich summer of smaller films challenging the blockbusters
By Scott Ross
Published May 25, 2012 at 11:02 AM | Updated at 11:56 AM PDT on May 30, 2012
This summer, amid the swirl of superheroes and secret agents, a new batch of small indie films will be trying to get a little love during what is traditioinally blockbuster season. Here are the movies to look for from some of the most respected storytellers working, a couple more who have not yet gotten their due and a newcomer who was the big winner at Sundance.
Moonrise Kingdom (Memorial Day weekend)
Director Wes Anderson teamed up with Roman Coppola to write this film about a couple of troubled tweens who run away together, forcing an uneasy alliance between her parents, his scout master and the one-man police force on a small island off the New England coast. Even by Anderson's standards, the film is maddeningly composed, mannered and inorganic, but he through all the twee he manages to convey a love and sincerity that win you over. It's his best film since "Rushmore," and was a major emotional hit at Cannes.
Safety Not Guaranteed (June 8)
Mark Duplass stars as a man who places a classified ad looking for "Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before." Aubrey Plaza ("Parks & Recreation") stars as the journalist in search of a story who answers the ad. Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance, and from the producers of "Little Miss Sunshine."
Your Sister's Sister (June 15)
From writer-director Lynn Shelton ("Humpday") comes the story of a man (Mark Duplass again) struggling with his brother's death. His best friend—who happens to be his dead brother's ex—sends him to her family's vacation home for some alone time, but when he gets there he discovers her sister drowning the sorrows of having walked out on her girlfriend of seven years. They of course sleep together, and then the woman who unwittingly brought them together shows up. The film is a hilarious and thoughtful look at the highs and lows of sex, relationships and family.
Take This Waltz (June 29)
Michelle Williams stars as a freelance writer with a seemingly happy marriage to a cookbook writer played by Seth Rogen. While away on assignment she engages in some seemingly harmless flirting with a young man, played by Luke Kirby, but things get dicey when she realizes that he lives right across the street from her house in Toronto. As she did in "Blue Valentine," Williams gives a painfully honest portrayal of a very unsympathetic spouse, and newcomer Kirby is every bit her equal as the homewrecker, making some potentially terrible dialog work. Written and directed by Sarah Polly.
New "Moonrise Kingdom" Clip Poses a Loaded Question
Frances McDormand stars in this clip from Wes Anderson's upcoming film, as a bullhorn-wielding mother who learns that her young daughter has run away, and must share the news with her husband, played by Bill Murray. Opens May 25.
(Published Friday, Dec. 7, 2012)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (June 29)
Having already won top prize at Sundance, director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin is currently at Cannes with his film about a young girl growing on the Louisianan Bayou who is forced to leave home in search of her mother after her father takes ill and prehistoric creatures begin to roam about her home.
Honorable Mentions: "To Rome With Love" (June 22), "Neil Young Journeys" (June 29), "Snabba Cash" and "Killer Joe" (July 27), "360" (Aug. 3), "Robot & Frank" (Aug. 24), "For a Good Time Call..." (Aug. 31)
Summer 2012's Top 5 Big Movie Franchises
About those blockbusters....we recommend these big franchise films.
And for homebodies, here's what's hot on summer 2012 TV.
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Amelie Mauresmo Biography
Professional tennis player
Born July 5, 1979, in St. Germain en Laye, France; daughter of Francis (an engineer) and Françoise Mauresmo.
Addresses: Office —c/o Women's Tennis Association, One Progress Plaza, Ste. 1500, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
Began playing tennis at the age of four; trained under the auspices of the French Tennis Federation beginning at the age of eleven; debuted on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Circuit, 1993; turned professional, 1994; won first professional tennis title at an ITF tournament at St. Raphael, 1995; won junior titles at the French Open and Wimbledon, 1996; named the World Junior Champion by ITF, 1996; finished in the top 30 for the first time on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, 1998; selected as member of the French team for Fed Cup play, 1998–99, then 2001–06; reached the finals of the Australian Open, 1999; member of the French Olympic team, 2000, 2004; won Italian Open, 2004; ranked number one on the WTA Tour for the first time, 2004; won first grand slam, the Australian Open, 2006; won second grand slam, Wimbledon, 2006; ranked number one on WTA Tour, 2006.
Awards: Tour Player of the Month, Women's Tennis Association, 2001; Prix du Public Award, Sanex, 2003; Commitment to Community Award, Florida Times-Union and Walker's Edge Magazine .
After showing exceptional promise as a junior tennis player, French tennis player Amelie Mauresmo reached the finals of the 1999 Australian Open. At the tournament, Mauresmo came out as a lesbian, which created a media furor which lasted for the next several years. While she continued to improve as a player, she could not win major tournaments. In 2004, Mauresmo reached one goal when she became the first French woman to be a number-one-ranked tennis player. Two years later, she finally won her first grand slam, the Australian Open, then won a second the same year, Wimbledon. Describing her, Stephen Bierley of the Guardian wrote, "Quick-witted, passionate, vulnerable, courageous. Of all the leading women tennis players, France's Amelie Mauresmo is the most complex."
Born in 1979 in a suburb of Paris, France, Mauresmo was raised in the village of Bornel from the age of one. She became interested in playing tennis when she was four years old when she watched France's Yannick Noah win the French Open in 1983. Her parents signed her up for lessons and she soon began training with older children. By the age of eight, Mauresmo was playing in a local tennis league.
Because of her promise as a player, Mauresmo trained under the auspices of the French Tennis Federation beginning at the age of eleven. She lived away from her family and focused on tennis at a special school. Mauresmo struggled with the separation and almost quit on several occasions. By 13, still under the French Tennis Federation umbrella, she was being coached with other French junior players by Gail Lovera, a former number-one-ranked player for France. Mauresmo lived in Paris while training with Lovera at the National Institute for Sport and Physical Education. Mauresmo was later coached there by Patrick Simon. The young tennis player had a difficult relationship with them both and struggled under the restrictions of the French Tennis Federation.
In 1993, Mauresmo made her debut on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tour playing at a tournament in Marseille, France. She continued to play on the ITF tour for several years, turning professional in 1994. She won her first professional tournament at an ITF women's circuit tournament at St. Raphael in France in 1995. Mauresmo also continued to compete in junior tennis tournaments.
Mauresmo blossomed as a young player in 1996. That year, she was given a wild card berth at the French Open. She made it to the second round of the women's tournament and won the junior women's title. That same year, Mauresmo won the junior women's title at Wimbledon as well. The ITF named her the 1996 Junior World Champion.
Mauresmo continued to improve in 1997 despite injuries that plagued her throughout the year. She also won a title on the ITF tour in Greece. Her career took a big step forward in 1998 when she finished the year ranked in the top 30 on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Mauresmo reached her first final in a WTA event, the German Open, that year, having never previously reached the quarterfinals of any WTA tour event.
Late in 1998, Mauresmo left the training and rigid regime of the French Tennis Federation. She did not like the sole focus on tennis and the regulation of her life by the organization. Mauresmo hired her own coach, Christophe Fournerie, who emphasized hitting the gym, bodybuilding, and other different methods of training in addition to tennis. She was also chosen to represent France as a member of the Fed Cup team, chosen by former French tennis star Noah.
Early in 1999, the 19-year-old Mauresmo reached the finals of the Australian Open, losing to Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-3. Mauresmo was unseeded when she began the tournament, and showed rapid improvement with each match. Her play was overshadowed by her announcement during the tournament that she was gay and in a relationship with a woman named Sylvis Bourdan. Mauresmo did not want to hide her sexuality any longer, but she had to deal with Hingis telling the media, as Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated reported, "She's half a man; she's here with her girlfriend."
There was public shock in France since Mauresmo was the first French athlete to ever admit being gay. However, she did not lose any of her endorsements. Mauresmo's tennis also did not suffer immediately. She was ranked in the top 20 in the WTA after the tournament, and even spent some time in the top ten. She played well the rest of 1999, despite injury problems including a severe ankle sprain and arm injury.
Mauresmo's injury woes continued in 2000 with back problems, but she continued to succeed on the courts. She reached the finals of several tournaments, including the Italian Open, but fell out of the top ten. Mauresmo tried to find her form again in 2001, winning four tournaments early in the season. She was working with a new coach, Alexia Dechaume-Balleret, who installed a training regime which Mauresmo could embrace. Her tennis improved with more focus to her powerful shots. Mauresmo tried to improve herself mentally as well by working with a sports psychologist for about a year and a half.
These changes did not translate into winning major tournaments for several years. Playing at the French Open was particularly difficult for Mauresmo, whose mental lapses there lead to annual early exits. The problem was not her play but her mind, especially at grand slams. As Leo Schlink wrote in the Advertiser , "Physically Amazonian and able to master virtually every shot, the striking Frenchwoman concedes she will not be able to convert a supreme talent unless she conquers her chronic mental shortcomings." Despite these problems, Mauresmo was still gaining in maturity as well and gradually seemed more confident and sure of herself over the next few years.
By this time, Mauresmo had two goals: Winning a Grand Slam, ideally the French Open, and being ranked number one in the world. She achieved the latter in 2004, despite personal losses including the death of her father and the end of a romantic relationship with her girlfriend, Pascale Arribe. Mauresmo won the Italian Open as well as a tourna- ment in Berlin that year. Though she lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open and the U.S. Open, and suffered a leg injury and loss at the semifinals of Wimbledon, Mauresmo was ranked number one for the first time on the WTA tour. This marked the first time a French woman was ranked number one. She held this ranking for five weeks beginning in September of 2004. She also won the Tour Championships in November, a big confidence booster.
Mauresmo faced a repeat performance at grand slams in 2005 but kept pushing for victories. Early in 2006, she finally achieved her other goal. She won two grand slams in 2006, beginning with the Australian Open. She won this tournament when Justine Henin-Hardenne was forced to retire due to illness in the second set of the finals. Though the ending of the match was unusual, Mauresmo was happy with the victory. She told L. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated , "I'm here with the trophy only because I've matured. I grew up, and I've had lessons from this professional career."
Mauresmo continued to win on the tour in 2006, including her second grand slam victory at Wimbledon. There, she again defeated Henin-Hardenne, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. In her victory speech, the Independent on Sunday quoted Mauresmo as saying, "I don't want anybody to talk about my nerves any more." Mauresmo also reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open, losing to Maria Sharapova badly 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. In 2006, Mauresmo was also ranked number one for much of the year.
After Mauresmo's tennis career ends, she is considering opening her own café in Paris and working as a bartender at her own bar. Tennis is not her whole life, even while playing on the WTA tour. She told Neil Harman of The Weekend Australian , "Probably what people see of me on the court is not 100 percent the real me. Tennis is not a real world anyway. I am truly myself when I am at home, with people I like: my friends, my family. I am almost me when I am in the tennis, but a few things are different."
Advertiser (Australia), June 6, 2003, p. 98.
Advocate , April 25, 2006, p. 44.
Australian , February 22, 1999, p. 29.
Daily Telegraph (London, England), June 29, 2001, p. 6.
Guardian (London, England), May 24, 2004, p. 22.
Independent (London, England), February 17, 1999, p. 17; June 7, 2005, pp. 62-63.
Independent on Sunday (London, England), July 9, 2006, p. 82.
Irish Times , May 29, 2000, p. 59.
New York Times , September 4, 1999, p. D5; January 20, 2001, p. D4; May 28, 2001, p. D7; September 8, 2004, p. D6; January 28, 2006, p. D1.
Observer (England), May 23, 2004, p. 16.
Sports Illustrated , February 8, 1999, p. 58; February 6, 2006, p. 105.
Sunday Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), July 4, 2004, p. 64.
Tennis , June 1999, p. 63.
Weekend Australian , June 19, 2004, p. 58.
"Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)," Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, http://www.sonyerricssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/PlayerBio2.asp?PlayerID=130450 (September 16, 2006).
"Tennis: Amelie Mauresmo," CBS SportsLine.com, http://www.sportsline.com/tennis/players/playerpage/201679 (September 16, 2006).
Amelie Mauresmo Biography forum
Hideki Matsui Biography John Mayer Biography
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Front Row Network
Dan Walker
Illinois' Prison Population Is Down 20 Percent - Who Gets Credit?
Photo: Apple Maps / Illustration: Brian Mackey / NPR Illinois
After decades of growth, the number of men and women in the Illinois prison system has declined sharply in the last several years. A complex blend of decisions is behind the drop — ranging from the highest reaches of power in the General Assembly down to individual police on the beat.
Illinois Prison Boom Rooted in '70s Fear
By Brian Mackey • May 25, 2015
flickr.com/roadsidepictures
The politics of "tough on crime" were born of a culture of fear in the 1960s and '70s. In Illinois, that was exemplified by the public statements of then-Gov. Dan Walker, who both described aspects of Illinois prisons that are still problems today, while at the same time arguing for policies that would leave Illinois’ criminal justice drastically overcrowded.
In Gov. Rauner, Echoes Of Gov. Walker
By Brian Mackey • May 4, 2015
file / WUIS
If you follow state government long enough, you start to hear the same things over and over again. That holds even across four decades.
Last week, I produced an obituary for the late Gov. Dan Walker, who died at the age of 92. In listening to several of his speeches from 1975 and '76, I was struck by the similarities to the sorts of things we hear from politicians today — particularly Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Both of these men came in after unpopular tax hikes, and both downplayed their wealth with folksy images. So I'm asking the question: Are they essentially the same guy?
Listen to State Week - May 1, 2015
By Brian Mackey, Amanda Vinicky & Charles N. Wheeler III • May 1, 2015
file / WUIS/Illinois Issues
This week, Governor Bruce Rauner restored $26 million in funding for some of the social service programs that were cut in April. Also, former Illinois Governor Dan Walker died at the age of 92. Kurt Erickson of Lee Enterprises' Springfield Bureau joins the panel discussion.
Dan Walker, From Power To Prison
By Brian Mackey • Apr 30, 2015
A former governor of Illinois has died. Dan Walker ran the state for one term in the 1970s. A Democrat, he focused much of his brief political career on fighting members of his own party.
At a time when most Democratic politicians in Illinois were cogs in a massive political machine, Dan Walker was a nobody.
Dan Walker, Governor Who Fought The Machine, Dies At 92
John H. White / National Archives
Former Illinois Gov. Dan Walker has died. The Democrat led the state from 1973 to 1977.
Walker came to fame in 1971 by literally walking the length of Illinois.
He spent much of his time fighting the Democratic machine. In Illinois in the 1970s, that meant fighting Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Former Gov. Dan Walker: In His Own Words
By Sean Crawford • Apr 29, 2015
Former Illinois Governor Dan Walker died early Wednesday at his home in Calfiornia. He was 92. His son confirmed the news to the Associated Press.
Walker served only one term as governor, from 1973-1977. But he left his mark on Illinois politics. His decision to walk the state in 1971 lifted him to the Democratic nomination. But he battled with his own party, including the Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. The infighting led to his defeat in the next primary and set the stage for Republicans to control the Governor's Mansion for a quarter century.
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Helen Mirren, Pharrell Williams, Michael B. Jordan and more stars named presenters at Oscars
Michael B. Jordan is one of a dozen stars who was announced as an Oscars presenter on Tuesday. (Emma McIntyre / Getty Images for SBIFF)
The Oscars may not have a host this Sunday, but there will still be plenty of starpower on the award show’s stage.
Helen Mirren, Pharrell Williams, Michael Keaton and “Black Panther” actors Michael B. Jordan and Danai Gurira are among the latest stars to be announced as presenters at this year’s Academy Awards.
Tyler Perry, Michelle Yeoh, Paul Rudd, Brian Tyree Henry, John Mulaney, Krysten Ritter and Elsie Fisher were also announced as presenters on Tuesday.
They join a lengthy list of big names who were already announced presenters at the annual ceremony, with others including Daniel Craig, Tina Fey, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Awkwafina, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Chadwick Boseman and Angela Bassett.
The Oscars were left without a host for the first time in 30 years after Kevin Hart stepped down amid a scandal involving homophobic tweets he shared years in the past resurfacing.
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Chick-Fil-A will open largest outpost in Midtown
By Jeanette Settembre
Sep 28, 2015 | 10:24 AM
The exterior of the new Chick-Fil-A on Sixth Ave. and 37th St. opens to the public October 3. (Michael Graae/For New York Daily News)
This big bird has landed.
Chick-fil-A, the southern chain known for its fried chicken sandwich and waffle fries, will open its first New York location — and its biggest in the nation — in Midtown on Oct. 3.
The massive, three-level restaurant at Sixth Ave. and 37th St. has 84 seats and 10 registers, two kitchens and, most important, no drive thru window.
That's a big change for the Atlanta-based company — which generates roughly 60% of its sales from motorists. In New York, there will be only walk-in traffic and lines — though "waiters" will take orders on iPads while diners are still waiting.
"So (their) meals will be ready once they reach the counter," said Chick-fil-A spokesman Ryan Holmes.
The Original Chicken Sandwich at the Chick-Fil-A is $4.15. (Michael Graae/For New York Daily News)
There's plenty of breaded competition in the city now — Shake Shack and celebrity chef David Chang have perfected their patties — but Chick-fil-A is the original and national leader, besting even KFC and Bojangles with 1,928 locations. Sales were up 14.4% since last year.
The chain is best known for that iconic — and antibiotic-free — chicken sandwich ($4.15), but it will soon unveil a 300-calorie grilled egg white, chicken and cheese breakfast sandwich ($4.55), which will be available from 6:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.
"We don't have plans to launch an all-day breakfast, but I wouldn't rule it out," says Holmes.
The restaurant has had an outpost in New York University's food court serving a limited menu for more than a decade, but are hoping more mouths flock to the brick and mortar.
"Waiters” will take orders on iPads while diners are still waiting. (Michael Graae/For New York Daily News)
"We expect people will be camping out," Holmes says.
Some may be protesting the chain, which came under fire in 2012 when aggressively religious chief operating officer Dan Cathy suggested that America was "inviting God's judgment" for gay marriage.
"I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about," he said at the time.
There was some question whether Cathy was speaking for himself or his chicken restaurants, but he later said of the chain, "We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit."
Food being made in the kitchen of the new Chick-Fil-A. (Michael Graae/For New York Daily News)
Two years later, he said he regretted only that he had brought the company into the same-sex marriage controversy. Cathy is now CEO of the company.
Holmes steered clear of the controversy.
"We're just here to serve really good food," Holmes said.
And in a local nod, he added that New York location's flatbread will come from Damascus Bread and Pastry in Brooklyn Heights.
jsettembre@nydailynews.com
Latest Eats
Sinful cocktails, mouthwatering eats at city’s best new rooftop bars, just in time for summer
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Middle East|On Iran, Bush Faces Haunting Echoes of Iraq
Middle East | News Analysis
On Iran, Bush Faces Haunting Echoes of Iraq
By DAVID E. SANGER JAN. 28, 2007
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 — As President Bush and his aides calibrate how directly to confront Iran, they are discovering that both their words and their strategy are haunted by the echoes of four years ago — when their warnings of terrorist activity and nuclear ambitions were clearly a prelude to war.
This time, they insist, it is different.
“We’re not looking for a fight with Iran,” R. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for policy and the chief negotiator on Iranian issues, said in an interview on Friday evening, just a few hours after Mr. Bush had repeated his warnings to Iran to halt “killing our soldiers” and to stop its drive for nuclear fuel.
Mr. Burns, citing the president’s words, insisted that Washington was committed to “a diplomatic path” — even as it executed a far more aggressive strategy, seizing Iranians in Iraq and attempting to starve Iran of the money it needs to revitalize a precious asset, its oil industry.
Mr. Burns argues that those are defensive steps that are not intended to provoke Iran, though there has been a vigorous behind-the-scenes debate in the administration over whether the more aggressive policy could provoke Iran to strike back. The State Department has tended to counsel caution, while some more hawkish aides in the Pentagon and the White House say the increase in American forces in Iraq could be neutered unless the American military forcefully pushes back against the Iranian aid to the militias.
To many in Washington, especially Mr. Bush’s Democratic critics, the new approach to Iran has all the hallmarks of an administration once again spoiling for a fight.
Some see an attempt to create a diversion, focusing the country’s attention away from a war gone bad in Iraq, and toward a country that has exploited America’s troubles to expand its influence. Others suspect an effort to shift the blame for the spiraling chaos in Iraq, as a steady flow of officials, from the C.I.A. director to the new secretary of defense, cite intelligence that Iranians are smuggling into Iraq sophisticated explosive devices and detailed plans to wipe out Sunni neighborhoods. So far, they have disclosed no evidence. Next week, American military officials are expected to make their most comprehensive case — based on materials seized in recent raids — that Iran’s elite Quds force is behind many of the most lethal attacks.
But as they present their evidence, some Bush administration officials concede they are confronting the bitter legacy of their prewar distortions of the intelligence in Iraq. When speaking under the condition of anonymity, they say the administration’s credibility has been deeply damaged, which would cast doubt on any attempt by Mr. Bush, for example, to back up his claim that Iran’s uranium enrichment program is intended for bomb production.
“It’s never stated explicitly, but clearly we can’t make the case about Iran’s intentions,” said a senior strategist for the Bush administration who joined it long after evidence surfaced that Iraq had none of the illicit weapons that the administration cited as a reason to go to war.
It has not helped that even as the administration is making its case against Iran, the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, was opening just a few blocks away.
The early testimony in that trial has laid bare again how Mr. Cheney, among others, carefully selected intelligence for use in a political campaign to make the case against Iraq. Now, several years later, the administration is paying the price in dealing with a country whose ability to project power and to build a sophisticated nuclear program is far greater than Saddam Hussein’s was in 2003.
The administration does not have definitive evidence that Iran is moving toward producing a nuclear bomb, but next week it will unveil what officials say is evidence of Iran’s meddling in Iraq.
In interviews over the past several weeks, officials from the Pentagon to the State Department to the White House insist that Mr. Bush’s goal in Iran is not to depose a government, Iraq-style, but rather to throw a series of brushback pitches.
Officials familiar with the intelligence prepared for Mr. Bush say American assessments conclude that Iran sees itself at the head of an alliance to drive the United States out of Iraq, and ultimately out of the Middle East. Other briefings have included assessments that Russia and China will never join meaningful economic sanctions against a country that they do business with, so if Mr. Bush wants to apply military and economic pressure, he must do so outside the United Nations.
One result was a strategy that Mr. Bush approved in the fall to push back on all fronts and to force Iran to recalculate what administration officials call its cost-benefit analysis for challenging the United States. The effort to stop European and Japanese banks from lending money to Iran’s oil sector is part of the equation. So is pushing down the price of oil, though administration officials grow silent when asked whether Mr. Cheney or others have discussed with Saudi Arabia the benefits of pumping enough oil to push the price down and deprive Iran of revenues.
But it is the military component of the strategy that carries the biggest risks. Two aircraft carriers and their accompanying battle groups were sent into the Persian Gulf, a senior military official said, “to remind the Iranians that we can focus on them, too.” American military forces in Iraq were authorized to move against Iranian operatives, though it is unclear what kind of evidence is needed, if any, that they are conspiring against American forces before military action is authorized.
American officials describe those measures as purely defensive. “We are definitely looking to protect our interests in the gulf, in Iraq itself, and to protect the lives of our soldiers,” said Mr. Burns, who insisted that there was no effort to stop Iran from ordinary exchanges with Iraq.
Yet administration officials clearly worry that the Iranians may not back down, and that a confrontation could build up — especially if a midlevel American commander or a member of Iran’s military or paramilitary forces in Iraq miscalculated. Both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates have warned against that risk, officials say.
Administration officials say that while all of Mr. Bush’s advisers have signed on to the strategy of more forceful confrontation with Tehran, there is considerable debate about how far to push it. Some Iran experts at the State Department have warned that encounters between Americans and Iranians inside Iraq could strengthen the hand of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by allowing him to change the subject from his failure to produce jobs and the rising cost of nuclear defiance.
Over the longer run, there is a continuing debate about whether military action may some day be necessary to set back Iran’s nuclear activities. For now American officials say they do not believe they have a good set of targets or the ability to contain Iran’s reaction. “It’s not a question of ideology,” one senior military official said, refusing to talk on the record about military planning. “We simply don’t have the forces to deal with the reaction. They’re busy.”
At the Pentagon, military officials say there are still arguments over the rules for confronting Iranian operatives. Are they legitimate targets simply because they are identified as part of Iran’s military? Or do American forces need evidence that they are importing weapons or sowing chaos? Publicly, officials say the answers to those questions are classified. Privately, a senior official said, “It’s all still a matter of debate.”
In coming weeks, administration officials say, more escalation is likely. The Iranians have told the International Atomic Energy Agency that they will announce in February that they are beginning industrial-scale efforts to produce uranium. It will probably be years before they can produce enough fuel for a bomb.
But the debate over whether the United States should stick to diplomacy or take more forceful action is bound to begin right away, and will sound familiar. Democrats, even while accusing the administration of failing to engage with Iran, are positioning themselves to sound tough.
“To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep all options on the table,” former Senator John Edwards recently told an Israeli security conference. “Let me reiterate — all options.”
For Mr. Bush, this is not only about options but about legacy. Already bloodied in Iraq, he will come under increasing pressure to show that he has not left the United States weakened in the Middle East. He does not want to be remembered for leaving Iran more powerful than he found it when he came to office.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: On Iran, Bush Confronts Haunting Echoes of Iraq. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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Europe|A Leader Turned Ghost
Europe | Man in the News
A Leader Turned Ghost
By JOHN F. BURNS JULY 22, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, England — With his arrest on Monday after more than 12 years on the run, Radovan Karadzic seems virtually certain to face trial in The Hague — and, at 63, the prospect of life imprisonment — for his role in masterminding massacres that war crimes prosecutors have described, in indictments drawn up against him, as “scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of history.”
But in his own mind, at least until he vanished from view in 1996 and became one of the most hunted men in Europe’s history, Mr. Karadzic saw himself as a sophisticated intellectual, a psychiatrist and poet with an intuitive understanding of his people, the Bosnian Serbs, and of the challenge to their survival, as he saw it, that came with the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
It was in his intellectual guise that he liked to present himself to visitors at the height of his power, when he ruled as president of the self-styled Srpska Republic and supreme commander of its armed forces, in the mountain redoubt of Pale, above the besieged city of Sarajevo.
At the Panorama, the converted ski hotel he used as his headquarters, he liked to hold court, of an evening, and make a show of his grasp of culture, politics and history.
It was a Lilliputian scene, at once absurd and menacing. Only a few miles away, artillery guns under his command were shelling Sarajevo into rubble, filling its soccer fields with graves, with a toll of more than 10,000 killed before the siege ended. Further afield, murderous paramilitaries working in the Serbian nationalist cause were driving tens of thousands of Muslims and Croats from their homes, making refugees of 1.5 million people, in the process known as “ethnic cleansing.”
Still ahead, in those first two years of the war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, was the worst atrocity of all, the one that came to define the madness that seized Mr. Karadzic and his partner in the Bosnian slaughter, the army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, who remains uncaptured even as the government in Belgrade prepares to hand Mr. Karadzic over to the tribunal in The Hague: the genocidal massacre in 1995 of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.
One night in the late spring of 1992, brandishing a Cuban cigar and downing successive glasses of French Cognac, Mr. Karadzic admonished a reporter from The New York Times for a dispatch from eastern Bosnia in which the reporter described terrified groups of Muslim women and children fleeing across the mountains from towns overrun by Serbian paramilitaries, who had gone house to house rounding up Muslim men, and killing them. This, the reporter had written, was the reality of “ethnic cleansing.”
“No, no, no,” Mr. Karadzic said, leaning forward intently at his desk. As though correcting an errant pupil, he said the reporter had failed to understand ethnic cleansing, presenting it as an abomination to those taking to the mountains, whereas it was, in reality, quite the reverse. Far from being forced from their homes, he said, the fleeing Muslims were being given an opportunity for which they should be grateful — the chance to “return” to the only place they could ever truly be at home, in towns and villages elsewhere where they could live with other Muslims, away from Serbs.
“They are going home,” he said.
As a rationale for genocide it was dizzying, but at the same time wholly in character for the delusional streak in Mr. Karadzic, who seemed to have been forged by the vicissitudes of his past to become the principal architect of an attempt to re-engineer Bosnian history.
Born to a poor rural family in Montenegro on June 19, 1945, he carried in his bones much of the tortured history of the region during World War II, when his father, Vuk, was a member of the Chetniks, Serbian nationalist guerrillas who fought the Nazi occupiers of Yugoslavia and the communist partisans of Tito.
When the Chetniks lost to Tito, his father went to jail, and he had a lonely childhood in the care of his mother, Jovanka, learning from her the romantic legends that have sustained Serbian nationalism for centuries.
In 1960, he moved to Sarajevo, and graduated from the university there in medicine, specializing in psychiatry. He concentrated on paranoia, but developed a reputation among colleagues at the university, where he taught, and among patients, for a quirkiness of character and professional lapses that made him, among the city’s intelligentsia, something of a figure of fun.
At the same time, he wrote and published his own poetry, hiring halls at the university for public readings of work that critics in Sarajevo tended to belittle for its dark and often obscurantist themes, many of them rooted in Serbian legend.
In his personal style he was florid, given to double-breasted suits and a carefully coiffed shock of hair. Later, as a war leader, he liked to don camouflage fatigues, and have his photograph taken with the gun crews shelling Sarajevo. He was a celebrated gourmand, becoming greatly overweight by the time that he made his mark in politics.
He began as a liberal, but as the strains on Yugoslavia’s survival grew after Tito’s death in 1980, he moved to the right, helping to found, in 1990, the Serbian Democratic Party, which became the vehicle for hard-line Serbian nationalism in Bosnia, and a handmaiden in the cause of a Greater Serbia that found its principal champion in Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader in Belgrade.
In April 1992, after the Muslim leader in Bosnia, Alija Izetbegovic, declared the republic’s independence, Mr. Karadzic, declaiming against what he described as a plan to implant an “Islamic republic” in Bosnia, left Sarajevo for his Pale redoubt and declared the foundation of the separate Serbian republic.
The grandiose manner he developed in the years of conflict was encouraged, many who knew him then believed, by the willingness of the United Nations and the Western powers, primarily the United States and Britain, to negotiate with him, in Pale and at diplomatic encounters across Europe.
Talks with emissaries like Cyrus R. Vance, the former United States secretary of state, and Lord Owen, a former British foreign secretary, took place even as the paramilitaries enlisted in the Serbian cause were laying waste to much of Bosnia. The death toll from the 43 months of war has been estimated at 150,000 to 200,000, and United Nations investigators have concluded that the deaths were accompanied by as many as 20,000 rapes.
After the 1995 Dayton agreement ended the fighting, and fearing arrest under U.N. war crimes warrants, Mr. Karadzic and General Mladic quit their posts and fled into hiding. Despite numerous raids by NATO troops who garrisoned Bosnia after the peace agreement, many of them led by American units, both men remained free until the Serbian president's announcement that Mr. Karadzic had been captured, apparently in or near Belgrade.
Over the years, there were reports of Mr. Karadzic hiding in Serbian orthodox monasteries in remote parts of Bosnia and his native Montenegro, dressing as a monk and shaving his head, and evading capture at American military checkpoints by disguising himself as a patient in an ambulance.
Despite numerous raids by NATO troops, many led by American units, both men remained at large until Monday.
Successive chief prosecutors at the Hague tribunal belabored NATO commanders in Bosnia, and their political superiors, for being, as they implied, insufficiently zealous in their pursuit of the two fugitives.
In Montenegro and in Serbian nationalist strongholds in Bosnia, Mr. Karadzic continued to be feted, in absentia, as a hero, with his image printed on T-shirts and his name painted on walls. In 2004, he even managed to get a novel published in Belgrade, and newspapers there said he had been spotted relaxing at cafes in the Serbian capital.
In an Op-Ed article in The New York Times in 2003, Carla Del Ponte, then the chief prosecutor at The Hague, expressed her own outrage.
“Only when fugitives like Dr. Karadzic and Gen. Mladic are transformed from symbols of a lack of backbone into symbols of the international community’s resolve will Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other traumatized states of the region stand a chance of establishing rule of law,” she wrote. “The time has come to summon the will and bring Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to justice.
“It’s what their victims, and the rest of the world, deserve.”
Correction: July 29, 2008
A Man in the News article last Tuesday about Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of Bosnian Serbs arrested on July 21 on longstanding war-crimes charges for atrocities committed in the Balkans conflict of the early 1990s, referred incorrectly to a British statesman who had helped draft the 1995 Dayton agreement that ended the conflict. At the time he worked on the agreement, he was Lord Owen, a former foreign secretary; he had been known as David Owen when he held that post.
Correction: August 2, 2008
Because of an editing error, a correction on Tuesday to a Man in the News article on July 22 about Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of Bosnian Serbs arrested on war-crimes charges, misstated the role of Lord Owen, a former British foreign secretary, in efforts to negotiate peace in the Balkan conflict. He worked on a solution known as the Vance-Owen agreement, which was rejected by all concerned parties in 1993; he did not help draft the Dayton agreement, which ended the conflict two years later.
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Media|MSNBC Presses Obama on Campaign Promises
MSNBC Presses Obama on Campaign Promises
By BRIAN STELTER NOV. 15, 2009
If President Obama happened to glance at “The Rachel Maddow Show” last Monday, he might have winced.
Ms. Maddow pretended to celebrate the passage of a health care overhaul bill in the House, calling it “potentially a huge generational win for the Democratic Party” — but then halted the triumphant music and called it an “electoral defeat.”
The Stupak amendment, she said, was “the biggest restriction on abortion rights in a generation.” Then she wondered aloud about the consequences for Democrats “if they don’t get women or anybody who’s pro-choice to ever vote for them again.” She returned to the subject the next four evenings in a row.
This is how it looks to have a television network pressuring President Obama from the left.
While much attention has been paid to the feud between the Fox News Channel and the White House, the Obama administration is now facing criticism of a different sort from Ms. Maddow, Keith Olbermann and other progressive hosts on MSNBC, who are using their nightly news-and-views-casts to measure what she calls “the distance between Obama’s rhetoric and his actions.”
While they may agree with much of what Mr. Obama says, they have pressed him to keep his campaign promises about health care, civil liberties and other issues.
“I don’t think our audience is looking for unequivocal ‘rah-rah,’ ” said Ms. Maddow, who calls herself a liberal but not a Democrat.
From left, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow have plenty to talk about with President Obama in office. Credit Virginia Sherwood/NBC
The spectacle of Democrats sniping at one another is not new, but having a TV home for it is. MSNBC — sometimes critically called the “home team” for supporters of Mr. Obama — has even hit upon the theme with a promotional tagline, “pushing back on the president,” in commercials for “Hardball,” Chris Matthews’s political hour.
“Our job is not to echo the president’s talking points,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. “Our job is to hold whoever’s in power’s feet to the fire.”
But is it good business? MSNBC is projected to take in $365 million in revenue this year, roughly the same amount as last year, when the presidential election bolstered its bottom line. Three years ago, before making a left turn, it had revenue of about $270 million a year. MSNBC’s parent company, NBC Universal, is on the verge of being spun out of General Electric in a deal that would make Comcast its controlling entity.
Gary Carr, the executive director of national broadcast for the media buying agency TargetCast, said the opinions matter less than the ratings they earn. With cable’s prime-time opinion shows, “you’re reaching a lot of people,” he said.
It is certainly reaching the White House. Anita Dunn, the departing White House communications director, calls Mr. Olbermann and Ms. Maddow “progressive but not partisan,” and in doing so, distinguishes them from Fox News, which she considers a political opponent. The MSNBC hosts, she said in an e-mail message last month, “often take issues with the administration’s positions or tactics and are never shy about letting their viewers know when they disagree.”
Ms. Maddow said that apart from an off-the-record meeting between Mr. Obama and commentators that she attended last month, she has heard little from the White House.
Mr. Griffin said, “We heard a whole lot more from the Bush White House.”
MSNBC’s liberal points of view have made the channel an occasional thorn in the side of G.E., but the channel has also fostered a diversity of opinions that people like Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, say were lacking in the past.
Rachel Maddow says, “I don't think our audience is looking for unequivocal 'rah-rah.' ” Credit Rob Bennett for The New York Times
“There’s been a huge market void for a long time,” Mr. Green said. Speaking of the MSNBC hosts, he said, “They are creating an environment where progressive thinkers and activists can thrive.”
Ms. Maddow, not surprisingly, agrees. “What looks like the middle of the country ought to look like the middle on TV,” she said in an interview this month.
She paused and added, “Maybe that would have helped us make better policy decisions in the country in the past.”
Sitting down to a midnight dinner in the East Village after her program on a recent Thursday, Ms. Maddow had shed her suit for a T-shirt. Four minutes in, a fan asked for an autograph. “You’re doing great work,” he said while she signed her name.
MSNBC’s political tilt — and Ms. Maddow’s ascension to one of the most influential positions in progressive America — are still starkly new phenomena. A Rhodes scholar with liberal radio roots, Ms. Maddow started to host MSNBC’s 9 p.m. hour on the eve of last year’s presidential election, at a time when MSNBC was wrestling with its political identity. New viewers materialized overnight, peaking at nearly two million a night in October 2008. Without an election to drive viewership, her program averaged 880,000 viewers last month.
As her objections to the Stupak amendment (so named for Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan) indicate, much of her work these days involves the Democratic health care overhaul. Ms. Maddow, Mr. Olbermann and Ed Schultz, the channel’s 6 p.m. host, formerly of Air America, have all exhorted Democrats to keep the public option.
Mr. Schultz started a broadcast last month by asking, “Where is the president? I think it’s time to be clear — crystal clear. What does Barack Obama want when it comes to health care in this country? What does he want in the bill?”
TV ads for Chris Matthews's show use the tagline, “pushing back on the president.” Credit Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times
Topics often tackled on Ms. Maddow’s program include the relationship between the United States military and politics (something she is writing a book about) and the repeal of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gays in the military.
Representatives for two gay members of the military, Dan Choi and Victor Fehrenbach, approached Ms. Maddow’s producers about coming out on her show, in March and May respectively. Introducing Mr. Fehrenbach, Ms. Maddow intoned that he was about to be fired “in the shadow of these political promises left unfulfilled.”
Asked why she thought the two men had contacted her producers, Ms. Maddow said, “Maybe it’s because I’m gay; maybe it’s because we’ve covered this issue before on our air.”
Other MSNBC hosts have also objected to some of the president’s policy decisions. In April, Mr. Olbermann, the channel’s best-known voice, urged Mr. Obama to hold members of the Bush administration accountable for what he called the “torture of prisoners.”
“Prosecute, Mr. President,” he said. “Even if you get not one conviction, you will still have accomplished good for generations unborn.”
Ms. Maddow, however, contrasts her channel’s advocacy with the activism conducted, she says, by others on cable news. “We’re articulating liberal viewpoints,” she said at dinner, “but we’re not saying ‘Call your congressman, show up at this rally!’ ”
On her show, she has criticized Fox News for seeming to promote tea party rallies denouncing the administration this year, and the Fox host Glenn Beck, who has promoted a “9/12 Project,” intended, he says, to restore the values that Americans sensed immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“I don’t have a constituency,” she said. “I’m not trying to form a — what would it be? — a ‘9/10’ movement.”
A version of this article appears in print on November 16, 2009, on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Opposition, From Right and Left. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
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International Business|Netflix Faces Hurdles, Country by Country, in Bid to Expand in Europe
Netflix Faces Hurdles, Country by Country, in Bid to Expand in Europe
By Mark Scott
LONDON — Netflix, whose digital distribution of movies and TV shows has made it a media force in the United States, now has wide eyes for Europe.
The American company said on Wednesday that it plans to expand its European offerings to six more countries, including Germany and France.
But it will face a variety of challenges in taking on Europe’s entrenched players country by country, including the fact that many of the domestic pay-TV companies already have exclusive rights to some of the programming that Netflix’s service typically carries.
In France, for example, Netflix will be unable to offer subscribers its own most popular in-house production, the political drama series “House of Cards” starring Kevin Spacey. The pay-television giant Canal Plus already has the French rights to the series.
But with its growth in the United States beginning to slow, Netflix may have no choice but to forge ahead in Europe, where it already has a foothold in Britain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands with a subscription service via cable or Internet broadband for which it charges the equivalent of about $10 a month.
The company did not say how much it would charge subscribers in the new markets it plans to enter, which are also to include Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland by the end of the year. But analysts say the arrival of a new competitor could prompt price wars, and that whatever impact that may have on the companies, it could be good news for consumers.
“The opportunity for online video services is large,” said Cesar Bachelet, senior analyst at the technology research company Analysys Mason. Mr. Bachelet expects the number of pay-TV households in Western Europe’s largest economies to increase more than fourfold by 2019, to 24.5 million.
Netflix’s expansion, to begin later this year, would be the company’s biggest rollout since it arrived in Europe in 2011. And wherever it turns, from Finland to France, Netflix will run into video-on-demand services that got there before it.
In Britain, Netflix has been battling the satellite giant Sky. Canal Plus already dominates the French market. And in Germany, Deutsche Telekom’s on-demand TV service is the powerhouse. But there are also other smaller rivals in each of these markets, as well.
And then there is Amazon, Netflix’s American rival, which already offers on-demand broadband video services across the Continent.
Joris Evers, a Netflix spokesman, declined to comment on the company’s plans or on how it would compete with so many established players.
“We will let our current performance speak for itself,” Mr. Evers said by email on Wednesday. The company’s share price rose 3.2 percent in early afternoon trading in New York on Wednesday.
Besides battling incumbents in 13 European countries, Netflix will also need to arrange rights deals for both American and local content in each of those markets.
That contrasts with its United States experience, where it has signed agreements for movies and television programs for the entire country.
The competition for the best programming could prove fierce. In Germany, for example, Sky Deutschland, a satellite television operator, already has rolled out an on-demand video service, for which it has signed deals for popular American series like “Game of Thrones.” France could prove even more challenging, according to Mr. Bachelet. “The French market is tough because it already has pay-TV providers that offer a lot of content,” he said.
To complicate matters, French laws require a delay in the online release of films until at least three years after they are shown in movie theaters. Netflix, whose European headquarters are in Luxembourg, also may be forced to help pay for film production in France to comply with national rules for distributors.
Despite the challenges, Netflix is eager to diversify beyond its core market in the United States, which now represents 72 percent of its 49.8 million global subscribers, according to its latest financial statement. The company also operates across Latin America.
Netflix’s chief executive, Reed Hastings, has said he wants to generate up to 80 percent of the company’s revenue from international markets. That would be a big step up from today’s portion, about 27 percent.
Rivals notwithstanding, Europe offers Netflix a potentially attractive growth area, as countries like Germany and France have built up extensive high-speed broadband networks that would be conduits for the company’s programming.
“These are big markets where you can sell to a large number of affluent customers,” said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at the technology consultancy Jackdaw Research. “Many Europeans are open to watching U.S. content.”
Analysts say Netflix, which has primarily focused on older content more than on recent releases, could also survive in parallel to European rivals that have invested heavily in new movies and television shows. Netflix in some ways serves as a living archive, with TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” from the 1990s or movies like “Back to the Future” from 1985.
Such fare has enabled the company in Britain, for example, to partner with the cable television operator Virgin Media, which offers new customers a six-month free subscription to Netflix when they sign up for a cable package.
That is similar to its approach in the United States, where Netflix has garnered more than 30 million subscribers nationwide, despite consumers continuing to pay for cable subscriptions from carriers like Time Warner Cable.
Europe also offers Netflix more regulatory certainty than the United States.
European Union lawmakers have agreed to protect so-called net neutrality — the principle that telecommunications companies and cable operators must treat all Internet traffic on their networks on an equal basis.
That contrasts with the United States, where regulators are still mulling changes that might allow network operators to charge companies like Netflix extra to use their cable networks because their video services soak up a lot of Internet capacity.
Mr. Hastings of Netflix has spoken out against the proposed American changes, even though his company has signed costly deals with the likes of the cable giant Comcast to guarantee fast access to networks.
Europe’s stance on net neutrality, analysts say, would allow Netflix to stream its services to European customers without it having to pay for access to broadband, cable or mobile networks.
The company’s European plans have put it head-to-head with Amazon, whose Prime service, which includes online video content, costs around $11 a month. That compares with Sky Deutschland, which charges the equivalent of about $13.50 a month for a Netflix-like service, while Canal Plus’s comparable offering in France costs about the same.
Amazon’s European video efforts date to 2011, when it bought the British on-demand video company Lovefilm for 200 million pounds, about $337 million. Lovefilm, which has been incorporated into Amazon Prime, has now expanded across Europe, particularly in Germany.
While exact figures on Amazon’s video subscribers are not available, analysts say the number of Prime customers stands at around 20 million worldwide, or less than half of Netflix’s total number of global users.
In a study by Decipher Media Research in London, Netflix was seen to be adding British subscribers at a faster rate than Amazon. That is partly because Amazon is a more diverse brand, not necessarily known for video programming, and partly because of interest in Netflix’s original content, like “House of Cards.”
“Netflix has a bigger catalogue of content than Amazon,” said Mr. Dawson of Jackdaw Research. “Video streaming is what its brand is known for.”
Correction: May 22, 2014
An earlier version of this article misstated an offer from the British cable operator Virgin Media. It offers new customers a six-month free subscription to Netflix; the subscription is not permanently free.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section B, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: Netflix FacesHurdles, Country by Country, in Bid to Expand in Europe. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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Movies|Roy Andersson’s Movies at the Museum of Arts and Design
Roy Andersson’s Movies at the Museum of Arts and Design
A scene from “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.”CreditCreditRoy Andersson Film Production/Studio 24
By Nicolas Rapold
You’d probably recognize the work of Roy Andersson even if you haven’t seen his films. His 1970s ads for a Swedish insurance company are quaint classics. In a typical example, a man gets on a pay phone to buy a car policy, while in the background a falling tree destroys the vehicle in question. The mishaps are good for a chuckle, but from these humble origins, Mr. Andersson has gone on to make some of the most elaborate comedic features since the heydays of Jacques Tati and Jerry Lewis.
The world this award-winning 72-year-old Swedish filmmaker creates is an indelible one. Populated by pasty-faced men in suits and assorted other hapless souls, his last three features have unfolded like a series of blackout sketches in what resemble preserved dioramas of life. In his newest, “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” a man drops dead in the capacious cafeteria of a cruise ship, leading the cashier to offer up the man’s tray of food and drink. In the back of the room, a diner’s hand shyly goes up: He’ll take the beer.
“Pigeon,” as Mr. Andersson has referred to it, opens June 3 at Film Forum, preceded by a retrospective at the Museum of Arts and Design showing the other two films in Mr. Anderson’s so-called “Living” trilogy as well as shorts. Each shot in the features has the same deadpan, uncanny look, opening on a deep-focus view of some room or bar, viewed slightly askew, with muted gray or beige walls or sidewalks.
“I want to purify and condense film language to make it very easy to understand,” Mr. Andersson said in a recent Skype interview from Stockholm.
A scene from “Songs From the Second Floor.”CreditRoy Andersson Film Production/Studio 24
In his work, people are arrayed like figures in a comic strip. They sit, stand, or lie, and we’re given a beat to take in their confusion, their vulnerability, their foibles and the slow-burn gag. A pair of pitiful salesmen in “Pigeon” sell terrible masks to an uninterested customer; in “You, the Living” (released in the United States in 2009), Part 2 in the trilogy, a man tries the whipping-away-the-tablecloth trick. It’s a dream, we’ve been informed, but it’s not the wish-fulfillment kind.
Just as potent in his work is the eerie undertone that all is not entirely well. The critic David Bordwell has called Mr. Andersson a “dystopian Tati,” for his striking three-dimensional comic spaces in which the life force somehow seems to be seeping away as we watch.
“Songs From the Second Floor” (released here in 2002) remains Mr. Andersson’s comic masterpiece. It’s a pure and bizarre piece of millennial art, set amid perpetual traffic jams at some apocalyptic turning point. It loosely tracks a businessman who has burned down his own shop, but it also looks in on his insane son and others. The end of days looms — Mr. Andersson makes jokes about get-rich-quick crucifix salesmen — and over-the-top doomsday sights appear, like self-flagellating crowds, the dead rising and even a sacrificial rite.
The “hyperreality,” as Mr. Andersson called it, makes for a forceful visual effect that is unforgettable. The same can be said of “You, the Living,” where the overarching conceit involves dreams being recounted for the camera and then dramatized. The filmmaker’s signature style is in effect, but occasional songs are added as in a musical. “Pigeon” takes another step away from reality with bewildering jumps between periods in Swedish history: One episode has the country’s 18th-century king riding into a modern bar to find a toilet.
But it’s a different historical scene in “Pigeon” that suggests how the lows of human existence are sometimes writ large in Mr. Andersson’s worldview. In a shocking tableau, British colonial soldiers herd native villagers into a giant rotating drum, evidently taking them to their demise. It’s breathtakingly twisted, yet what’s even stranger is that the director has depicted nearly the same scenario before. In an early entry in the Andersson canon, the 1991 short “World of Glory,” a truck in the middle of nowhere is loaded with naked men and women. The doors are closed, and the exhaust pipe is fed inside, in front of a crowd of witnesses. The echo of the Nazi gas chambers is unmistakable.
The director Roy Andersson.CreditMagnolia Pictures
What is this scene doing in a work by this jolly, round-faced filmmaker, who in person comes off as a delighted child? Mr. Andersson’s conscience, it seems, runs just as deep as his compositions. He’s happy to make us laugh with his chronicles of squelched dignity and stolid middle-class insensitivity. But he’s also posing a test about the act of watching and laughing, and what can underlie the banal culture on display.
“Existence contains so many things: brutal things, comic things,” he said in the interview. (It’s worth noting that from 2006 to 2009, Mr. Andersson labored on a museum exhibition called “Sweden and the Holocaust.”)
This all might seem far afield from the visual punch lines Mr. Andersson is known for. But as he has said before, he draws as much from Beckett as from Laurel and Hardy or Tati, and he regularly name-drops the likes of Otto Dix and André Breton. The stringent control of his current style came only after several years in the moviemaking wilderness, after an early success with a naturalistic teen film was followed by a flop. (He’s made just five features in total.)
Still, what remains in the end is funny, wistful, even clownish; the darker moments do not co-opt the mood of each film. But the layers of amusement and despair come closely packed in his films.
Mr. Andersson has a sense of humor about interpreting his work. Witness one hilarious, seemingly allegorical scene of a girl’s poetry recital in “Pigeon.” The teacher asks one prodding question after another about the poem, until finally, there’s nothing left for her to perform.
Which is to say: Don’t take it from me. Watch the films and, in a manner of speaking, see what you think.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section AR, Page 27 of the New York edition with the headline: All Is Not Well, and That’s Kind of Funny . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
Calling It as He Sees It, in Great Detail
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James Fields, who rammed his car into a Charlottesville crowd, killing 1, has been convicted of murder
By Scott McDonald On 12/8/18 at 3:50 AM EST
A jury found James Alex Fields Jr. guilty of first degree murder on Friday for the killing of Heather Heyer at a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Fields rammed his car into a group of counterprotestors at an Aug. 12 rally, injuring dozens and killing Heyer.
A jury convicted Fields on several counts of aggravated malicious wounding and leaving the scene of an accident.
The infamous scene began during a Unite the Right rally on the campus of the University of Virginia. The rally was staged by a group protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue on campus. A group of counter-demonstrators caused flare ups between the groups, and eventually the fatal ramming of the car into the crowd.
The jury deliberated several hours before handing down its verdict, according to this report by National Public Radio.
Whereas prosecutor Nina-Alice Antony showed Fields as an "angry white nationalist" filled with hate, his defense attorney, John Hill, said the 21-year-old Fields was acting in self-defense.
Antony painted a picture of authorities shutting down the Unite the Right rally, and the Fields driving his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of unsuspecting demonstrators still lingering. She talked about bodies flying through the air, following a hate and violence-filled intentional act. And during the trial, Antony brought out a meme Fields posted on social media three months earlier depicting protestors' bodies flailing about after a car plows into them.
Hill, on the defense, said his client was "scared to death" and drove his car sporadically in fear the throngs of people would attack him during the violent clashes on the street.
Heyer was a 32-year-old paralegal reportedly attending her first-ever protest, according to this report. One of Heyer's friends at the rally, Marcus Martin, recalled the scene that day in Charlottesville, and the NPR reporter had to dictate her conversation with a shaken-up Martin.
"He could hardly speak for a moment after becoming emotional talking about her and seeing the images of him being hit by the car and sprawled over the hood of that car
Fields lived in Ohio with his mother, and he drove overnight to be a part of the rally. He has been charged with a hate crime, which carries the death penalty.
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FXB International forges ahead in the fight against HIV/AIDS
The world’s largest HIV forum; ‘The International AIDS Conference, was held in Mexico City from August 3-8 this year.
Leaders, policymakers, academics, scientists and activists from around the world congregated for the conference, under the theme, “Universal Action Now!”
Which called for a renewed commitment from the international community to strengthen efforts at HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes worldwide.
Aimed at providing universal access to these services by 2010 and to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals – which also target the halting of the spread of HIV by 2015.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, reporting manual on HIV/AIDS of December 2007, 6,800 individuals worldwide are infected with HIV daily. More than 5,700 die from AIDS related illnesses.
Sub- Saharan Africa continues to be the most heavily impacted region of the world with AIDS as the primary cause of death.
Statistics from the UNAID’S 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic indicate that of the 33 million adults and children living with HIV, 22 million are found in Sub Saharan Africa. Approximately 20 million children world-wide have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
In Sub Saharan Africa alone, over 12 million children have been orphaned by the pandemic. Children affected by this pandemic find themselves particularly vulnerable and have no means of voicing their despair.
To address this need, François Xavier Bagnoud International (FXB) declared the World AIDS Orphans Day; a worldwide advocacy event to protect these vulnerable and under-privileged children.
During the World AIDS Orphans Day which is celebrated on May 7th, FXB encourages supporters to focus public and media attention on the plight of vulnerable children and the consequences of their social and economic exclusion.
During this day, supporters are also urged to lobby governments to consider these vulnerable children as a priority ensuring that urgent measures are taken to reintegrate them back into the society.
The establishment of the World AIDS Orphans Day is just one of many initiatives FXB has embarked on to achieve the MDG target of halting the spread of HIV by 2015.
Another notable and more recent achievement has been the establishment of 28 FXB-Villages, 12 of which are in Rwanda.
The FXB-Village model is a ‘low-cost, sustainable, community-based program to help families and communities respond to poverty, AIDS and the rising number of orphaned and vulnerable children.’
These villages aim to strengthen families’ capacities to improve their living conditions by providing a comprehensive and integrated package of support to needy families to help them get back on their feet.
To select beneficiaries, FXB works closely with basic administrative authorities, heads of PLWHA associations, heads of community groups, among other stakeholders.
FXB International is a non governmental organization that has been in operation in Rwanda since 1995. Its headquarters are based in Switzerland and it has branches in 18 countries worldwide.
Contact: turi-omollo@yahoo.co.uk
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UK Institutional Investment conference 2017
from fake news to artificial intelligence
The Newton investment conference 2017
Hanneke Smits – Chief executive officer
Filtering the covfefe: Gaining perspective on fact and fiction
Brendan Mulhern – Global strategist
Fake news and extreme views: The political dimensions of a turbulent world
Panel discussion chaired by Emily Maitlis – BBC journalist
Paul Brain – Investment leader, fixed income team
Emma Mogford – Portfolio manager, UK and European equities
Naomi Waistell – Portfolio manager, emerging and Asian equity team
Swipe right for revolution: How technological disruption is creating big opportunities for investors
Daniel Susskind – Fellow in Economics, Balliol College, Oxford
Mathieu Poitrat Rachmaninoff – Global automotive analyst
Victoria Barron – Responsible investment analyst
Caroline Keen – Portfolio manager, emerging and Asian equity team
Emily Heaven – Global health-care analyst
Finding robust investment solutions in a post-truth world
Curt Custard – Chief investment officer
Nick Clay – Portfolio manager, global equity team
Paul Flood – Portfolio manager, multi-asset team
Suzanne Hutchins – Portfolio manager, Real Return team
Julian Lyne – Chief commercial officer
Jamie Bartlett – Author, journalist and researcher
We live in mesmerising times. Technological disruption, from self-driving electric cars on our roads to android robots in our homes, is set to revolutionise our lives. Meanwhile, the political landscape is disorientating, with policies announced in tweets, elections fought on Facebook, and objective facts often less prized than appeals to sentiment. In this challenging environment, we believe using perspective to block out the ‘noise’ that can distract investors is more important than ever. We discussed with academics, commentators and innovators how investors can navigate a fast-changing world.
The slide pack used at the event.
Hanneke Smits
Hanneke is the CEO for Newton Investment Management, based in London. Hanneke previously served as a member of the Executive Committee at private equity firm Adams Street Partners from 2001 to 2014 and as Chief Investment Officer there from 2008 to 2014. Hanneke joined Adams Street in 1997 to successfully launch its presence in Europe and in Asia and to build out its global investment capabilities. In addition, she was previously an investment manager at Pantheon Ventures and has worked for Philips China Hong Kong Group.
Hanneke is a steering committee member of Level 20, a not-for-profit organisation she co-founded to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry; she is also a trustee of Impetus-PEF, a venture philanthropy organisation. Originally from the Netherlands, she has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Nijenrode University and a Masters of Business Administration from the London Business School.
As investors, we naturally seek to harness facts, not fiction. In a world of manipulated financial markets, an exponential proliferation of data and information, and, arguably, an increasing disregard for the truth, Brendan explained why and how we seek to maintain perspective.
Brendan Mulhern
Global strategist
Brendan is a global strategist and a member of the Real Return team. He attends the global strategy group, and has responsibility for analysing trends in financial markets and helping to develop the long-term themes that form the base of Newton’s investment framework.
Prior to joining Newton, Brendan was a member of the investment teams at AXA Investment Managers and Iveagh Ltd, managing multi-asset portfolios. Brendan holds a degree in international business economics and statistics and has completed the CFA* Program.
The political, and wider policymaking, landscape has become highly changeable. With extreme views shaping the political sphere, and central banks eyeing an end to years of ultra-loose policy, we looked at the implications of authorities’ actions and considered how investors might respond.
Panel discussion chaired by Emily Maitlis, BBC journalist
Emily Maitlis
BBC journalist
Emily Maitlis is one of the main BBC news presenters. Since 2006, she has presented Newsnight on BBC2, news bulletins on BBC1 and rolling news coverage on the BBC News channel. In June 2017, Emily was a member of the core presenting team on BBC1’s flagship general election results programme, alongside David Dimbleby, reprising her role in previous BBC UK and US election specials. Emily has interviewed numerous figures from the world of politics, sports and the arts, including Bill Clinton, David Beckham, Kofi Annan, Hugh Grant, Michael Caine, Juliette Binoche, as well as the last four UK prime ministers.
Emily spent six years in Asia as a radio journalist in Hong Kong, then as a documentary maker reporting from Cambodia, China and the Philippines, and finally as a business correspondent for NBC Asia, covering the collapse of the ‘tiger economies’ in 1997.
Paul Brain
Investment leader, fixed income team
Paul is investment leader of the fixed income team. He joined Newton in 2004, and manages a range of global bond funds. He is also the lead manager of Newton’s Global Dynamic Bond strategy. Paul is chairman of the bond/FX strategy group, and a member of the global strategy group and the investment committee.
Emma Mogford
Portfolio manager, UK and European equities
Emma is the lead portfolio manager on Newton Continental European fund and a number of UK funds. She was previously alternate manager on Newton’s UK equity funds, and has significant experience of managing UK equity income portfolios. As part of the team process at Newton, Emma is responsible for providing thought leadership on UK and European equities to the wider investment team. She is co-chair of the ‘Economics, geopolitics and demographics’ themes group. Prior to joining Newton in 2013, Emma was a fund manager and a global analyst on the utilities and chemicals sector at Neptune Investment management. Emma studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and holds the CFA* (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation.
Naomi Waistell
Portfolio manager, emerging and Asian equity team
Naomi is a portfolio manager on the emerging and Asian equity team. She worked on the European and global equity teams, also as a portfolio manager, before assuming her current role in 2014. She is alternate manager on both the Newton Global Emerging Markets Fund and the Newton Emerging Income Fund, co-chairs one of Newton’s thematic leadership groups and is a member of Newton’s responsible investment committee.
Naomi joined Newton in 2010, prior to which she gained investment experience at the financial consultancy arm of the Capita Group and as an associate with Praefinium Partners Investment Management. She is a CFA* charterholder, and holds both BA (Hons) and MA degrees.
Rapid and disruptive advances in technology are bringing about significant risks and opportunities across a wide range of sectors. We looked at these advances, and their consequences, with a focus on innovation in areas such as electric vehicles, health care and artificial intelligence.
Daniel Susskind
Fellow in Economics, Balliol College, Oxford
Daniel Susskind is a lecturer in economics at Balliol College, Oxford. Previously, he worked for the British government in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, in the Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street, and as a senior policy adviser at the Cabinet Office. He was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University. Daniel has also co-authored 'The Future of the Professions' with his father Professor Richard Susskind. The book explains how 'increasingly capable systems' – from telepresence to artificial intelligence – will bring fundamental change in the way that the expertise of specialists is made available in society. In an internet society, they argue, we will neither need nor want doctors, teachers, accountants, architects, the clergy, consultants, lawyers, and many others, to work as they did in the 20th century. Based on the authors' in-depth research of more than ten professions, and illustrated by numerous examples from each, this is the first book to assess and question the relevance of the professions in the 21st century.
Mathieu Poitrat Rachmaninoff
Global automotive analyst
Mathieu is a global research analyst specialising in the automotive sector.
Prior to joining Newton, Mathieu was a project manager at Renault. He started his career in 2005, holding various positions as an engineer before being appointed project leader on the new Renault-Nissan platform, responsible for the development of all the cable harnesses.
Mathieu is a graduate of Supélec, Paris and Imperial College, London, with majors in electronics and fluid mechanics, and has an MBA degree from Cambridge University.
Victoria Barron
Responsible investment analyst
Victoria joined Newton in 2015 and is a responsible investment analyst within the responsible investment team. Victoria undertakes research and engagement on environmental, social and governance issues with global companies, as well as voting and reporting to clients. She sits on the 30% Club Investor Group and has previously sat on a number of investor-related advisory bodies including the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association Analyst Committee and the QCA Corporate Governance Expert Group.
Prior to joining Newton, Victoria worked for Hermes Equity Ownership Services as sector lead for utilities, and CCLA Investment Management as stewardship project manager. While at CCLA she also undertook a part-time, year-long secondment to the FTSE Group. She graduated from Manchester University with a BSc in International Management and has an Environmental Technology MSc from Imperial College. She speaks Brazilian Portuguese.
Caroline Keen
Caroline is a portfolio manager in the emerging and Asian equity team. Caroline joined Newton in 2009, having begun her career at Blackrock within the global consultant relations group.
She is the lead manager of the Newton Oriental Fund and BNY Mellon Asian Equity Fund, as well as playing an integral role in the management of the Newton Asian Income Fund.
Emily Heaven
Global health-care analyst
Emily is an analyst specialising in the health-care sector. Prior to joining the research team, Emily was an assistant investment manager on the US equities desk.
Emily joined Newton in November 2010. She has passed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA*) qualification.
Emily has a BA in Classics from Exeter College, Oxford.
In the wake of the global financial crisis, the world has been marked by significant change, which has rendered investors’ traditional rules of thumb largely obsolete or unhelpful. Financial-market participants are faced with greater challenges than ever about how to discern truth from fiction. We explored how investors can put in place robust solutions against this challenging backdrop.
Chair: Curt Custard – Chief investment officer
Curt Custard
Curt joined Newton in 2017 to lead the firm’s investment teams, including portfolio managers, research analysts and the trading function. He is responsible for all aspects of Newton’s global investment processes, and is a member of the executive management committee.
Prior to joining Newton Curt was head of the Global Investment Solutions division of UBS Asset Management where he oversaw a 130+ person investment team in five locations. He has also held similar investment roles at Schroders and Allianz Global Investors.
Nick Clay
Portfolio manager, global equity team
Nick is co-lead of the Newton Global Equity Income strategy. He has been a member of the Global Equity Income team since 2012. He is a member of a number of investment groups, and chairs the equity income group.
From 2000 to 2012 Nick was the lead manager on a variety of global multi-asset strategies.
Prior to joining Newton in 2000, Nick acquired a range of experience as a UK equities manager at Morley Fund Management and as an analyst at Sun Alliance. Nick is an associate member of the UK Society of Investment Professionals.
Paul Flood
Portfolio manager, multi-asset team
Paul is a portfolio manager and strategist at Newton. He is lead manager of the Multi-Asset Diversified Return Fund and Multi-Asset Income Fund, and provides leadership and analysis on asset allocation, derivatives and convertible bonds for the wider house. Paul also provides leadership on investments in alternative assets. He is a member of the asset class strategy group.
Paul joined Newton in 2006, prior to which he worked at Mellon Investment Funds Europe as a unit trust dealer. He is a CFA* charterholder and has completed the certificate in quantitative finance (CQF).
Suzanne Hutchins
Portfolio manager, Real Return team
Suzanne Hutchins rejoined Newton in 2010 as global investment manager and member of the Real Return team. Suzanne has lead management responsibility for the Global Real Return USD strategy.
She moved to Capital International in 2005 as investment specialist for global equity, income and absolute-return-based strategies. She had additional client facing responsibility for ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues.
Suzanne initially joined Newton in 1991 as a research analyst after completing a BA (Hons) at University College London. During her first 14 years with Newton, she worked closely with Stewart Newton before becoming lead manager on the UK and Intrepid team. She managed multi-asset and global equity mandates, as well as RPI+ based strategies, for institutional and retail clients.
Julian Lyne
Julian is a member of Newton’s executive management committee with responsibility for all aspects of global distribution, client relationship management and marketing. He joined Newton in 2014 to lead the global consultant relations and UK institutional business development team.
Prior to joining Newton, Julian was Head of Institutional Business at F&C. Throughout his career he has held various roles covering client and consultant relations across both DC and DB arrangements.
‘Fake news’ – named word of the year by Collins Dictionary – has been a politically charged refrain in 2017. As Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media for Demos, Jamie explored the growth of fake news and the implications of disruptive changes in the way news is consumed.
Guest speaker Jamie Bartlett – Author, journalist and researcher
Jamie Bartlett
Author, journalist and researcher
Jamie Bartlett is the author of The Dark Net, an examination of the hidden corners of the internet, its strange subcultures, and the protagonists that inhabit it – from trolls, Bitcoin miners, political extremists and members of the hacktivist group Anonymous, to pornographers, drug dealers, computer scientists and neo-Nazis. In researching his book, Jamie spent a substantial amount of time embedded with these characters, comparing their real life personas with their online avatars. The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.
As Head of the Violence and Extremism Programme and the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think-tank Demos, Jamie has researched and written extensively about radical political parties and movements across Europe. He also writes on technology for the Telegraph and for several other publications on how the internet is changing politics and society.
Jamie’s next book, Radicals Chasing Utopia: Inside the Rogue Movements Trying to Change the World explores the individuals, groups and movements that reject the way we live today. In August 2017 Jamie presented the BBC 2 series Secrets of Silicon Valley.
* CFA and Chartered Financial Analyst are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.
Draining the punchbowl
As central banks start to withdraw liquidity support, can risk assets continue their strong run?
Global equities, Macro views, Real Return
One Belt, One Road, and the $900bn dollar question
China has a grand vision for its One Belt One Road project, but can it become a reality?
Y ESG matters for pensions
With Generation Y believing ESG factors are as important as investment outcomes, the industry should take note.
Industry views
What are the political and economic consequences of the European refugee crisis?
Sophia the robot
A glimpse into the future of artificial intelligence.
Electric vehicles – charging ahead?
Electric vehicles could spell the end of the road for the internal combustion engine.
Sector research
The $500,000 drug: set to upset the apple CAR-T?
The launch of a groundbreaking new treatment could change the way we think about drug pricing.
Newton global research team
Lavinia Dawkins
UK marketing manager
lavinia.dawkins@newtonim.com
Riverside Building
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SE1 7PB
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Same-sex couples find LGBTQ-friendly businesses at wedding expo, thanks to this company
6th Annual Jersey City LGBTQ Wedding Expo
Gallery: 6th Annual Jersey City LGBTQ Wedding Expo
By Corey W. McDonald | The Jersey Journal
JERSEY CITY — Cindy Sproul and her partner, Marianne Peuchl, had just started their online business in 1999 in the middle of the dot-com bubble.
“Not the best time to start a website,” Sproul said. But there was an immediate demand, and within weeks they had more than 1 million hits on their website.
But then the death threats started to come.
"When our website became more and more popular, the amount of death threats got more frequent," Sproul said. "We don't get that anymore, but it was crazy there for a while. I had to sell my house and move. They had found out where we were living."
Their business? Rainbow Wedding Network, an wedding resource specifically dedicated to the LGBTQ community.
Almost 20 years later, the business continues to thrive thanks to a demand Sproul says has never subsided in the 20 years they’ve been operating, even before most states allowed any sort of civil union. The company hosts 30 wedding expos a year and has held events in 36 states.
On Sunday, the business held its sixth annual local expo at the Liberty House Restaurant. More than 30 local businesses had booths set up, including Charming Moments Entertainment, Beauty on Location and Jersey City Ballroom.
The expo setting is an opportunity to to take away the “awkwardness” for couples, Sproul said. “Even in progressive states, gay and lesbian couples are still scared to call a photographer or DJ and say ‘Hey, we’re an LGBTQ couple, will you work with us?’ So we take that out of the scenario for the couple who come in.”
More than 300 people from all over the North Jersey and New York metropolitan area attended.
According to a study by the Public Religion Research Institute released last year, 46 percent of Americans believe that the owners of wedding-based businesses, such as caterers, florists, and bakers, should be allowed to refuse service to same-sex couples if it violates their religious beliefs. That figure is down from 53 percent the year before.
“Seeing that someone is LGBTQ friendly isn’t as important to me as seeing someone who actually wants to take the effort to come out and say ‘we want your business,’” said David Warner, 36, who is planning a wedding in the fall with his fiance, Michael Hollinshead. “Or in the winter when it’s cheaper,” Hollinshead added.
Rainbow Wedding Network’s first expo was held in 2003 in Minneapolis, and the company held an event in Massachusetts in 2004, when the state became the first to recognize full marriage rights for same-gender couples.
After same-sex marriage was fully legalized nationwide in 2015, Sproul said the company became extremely busy as couples who had always wanted to wed were seeing their dream come true.
“Once it became legal ... that first six months, we were having events all over the country and we did see an increase in attendance,” Sproul said. “But to be honest, from day one it has been a constant demand because of that awkwardness.”
Liberty House has been a partner with the company for six years now. Danielle Villa, the banquet director for the restaurant, said it’s the only wedding expo they host.
“We love it, and it’s getting bigger and bigger every year,” she said. “We’re doing more and more same sex couples (receptions) at Liberty House every year, and I’m just so happy to be a part of it.”
During the 2-and-a-half hour event, dozens of couples set up appointments with Liberty House and other businesses in attendance.
“And tomorrow I’m back on a plane to the next expo,” Sproul said.
Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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Penalties For DUI With Prescription Drugs In NJ
While most people think New Jersey DWI/DUI stops and arrests involve alcohol and commonly known controlled dangerous substances (CDS) like heroin and cocaine, it would surprise many who learn that prescription drugs carry the same penalties and are the rising trend in DWI cases. If a police officer stops you for DUI while under the influence of prescription drugs, you can face a 7 month loss of license for a first offense as well as other fines and penalties similar to a .10 alcohol DUI. Simply because the drug is available via prescription DOES NOT mean that the rules to their use and driving with them in your system don't apply. If you think about it logically, alcohol is legal but having too much can get you tagged for a DWI. The problem with prescription drugs is that there is no simple test so show that you are not impaired like there is for alcohol imparement. To the contrary, the police will use their investigative skills and Standard Field Sobriety Tests to make the case that you were under the influence at the time of your arrest. They may also use a trained DRE officer to prove their case. DUI with prescription drugs is still DUI.
Charging A Driver On Prescription Drugs With A DUI
Under New Jersey DUI laws, prescription drugs are included in the legal definition of narcotics. If an individual is charged with DUI having used prescription drugs, it must be proven by the prosecutor beyond a reasonable doubt that the drugs were in the driver's system at the time of the traffic stop and arrest and that the individual's driving conduct was influenced by the medication. In cases of prescription drug DUI arrests, the presence of the drugs in the individual's system is identified through a blood or urine test.
It must be proven in court that the driver's impairment was such that he or she was a danger to him or herself and others on the road. If the law enforcement officer suspects the driver of DUI with prescription drugs and finds the drugs in the vehicle, the officer can request that the driver present a valid prescription for the drugs. If the driver cannot provide the prescription there may be additional penalties such as prescription drug possession. A DUI stop for prescription drugs will include the standard field sobriety tests such as walking in a straight line and the one leg stand test.
Sentencing For Prescription Drug DUI
The typical prescription medications that a police officer will look for include Xanax, allergy medications, sleeping pills like Valium, cough syrups, and painkillers such as Vicodin. The sentences for a DUI with prescription drugs vary. If it is the first offense, there can be a jail sentence of 30 days, a suspension of the individual's driver's license for seven months to a year, 12 to 48 hours at the intoxicated driver resource center (IDRC), fines of $300 to $500, plus surcharges of at least $3,000.
If there is a second offense within ten years of the first offense, the driver is subject to a jail sentence between two days and three months, a suspension of the driver's license for two years, 12 to 48 hours at the IDRC, fines between $500 and $1,000 and surcharges of at least $3,000.
For a third offense within ten years of the first two, there can be a six month jail sentence, a license suspension for ten years, 12 to 48 hours at the IDRC, a $1,000 fine and surcharges of at least $4,500.
If you have been charged with DUI due to prescription drug use in Monmouth County or Ocean County, New Jersey, you have rights and it's important to have qualified legal representation to defend them in court. Contact the experienced DWI lawyers at Villani & DeLuca, P.C. Call 732-965-3999 today for your FREE consultation!
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Chorus Information
QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET
ROSARIO LA SPINA
Rosario La Spina trained at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music continuing his studies at RNCM, Manchester under the tutelage of Joseph Ward OBE.
In 2002, Rosario won first prize in the Mario Del Monaco International Opera Competition and made his principal role debut at La Scala as Riccardo (Oberto) reprising the role in Genoa.
He made his Opera Australia debut as Cavaradossi (Tosca) in 2005 and has subsequently appeared for the national company as Radames (Aida) The Prince (Love for Three Oranges), Alfredo (La traviata), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), The Duke (Rigoletto), The Prince (Rusalka), Calaf (Turandot), Macduff (Macbeth), Rodolfo (La bohème), Don José (Carmen) and the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann. His American debut was as Rodolfo for Seattle Opera in 2007; he returned to Seattle as Radames and made his first Canadian appearances in this same role.
Rosario has also been a regular soloist with the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras and appears on the CD/DVD Classical Spectacular with the Melbourne Symphony (ABC Classics). Other recordings include Puccini Romance with the Queensland Symphony (ABC Classics), The Prince in Rusalka under Richard Hickox (Chandos) and, in 2009, a major solo album released by Universal Music featuring Rosario with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. His 2010 Universal duo release Always You (with his sister, Anna-Maria La Spina) shot straight to the top of the classical charts in Australia.
The Verdi Bicentenary in 2013 saw him sing Alfredo and The Duke in Perth, Don Alvaro (La forza del destino) in Adelaide, Verdi’s Requiem in Taiwan and New Zealand, Radames in Detroit and Gaston (Jérusalem) in Fidenza; he also performed Don José throughout Japan.
Since 2014, Rosario La Spina has sung The Duke for Opera Queensland, Manrico (Il trovatore) for West Australian Opera, Pollione (Norma) and Canio for Victorian Opera, Samson (Samson et Dahlia) in Tokyo, Cavaradossi, Turiddu and Canio for State Opera of South Australia and The Prince (The Love for Three Oranges), Turiddu, Canio and Calaf for Opera Australia.
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Lubbock man shares letters exchanged with George H. W. Bush
Bill Pasewark reading his letter from President George H.W. Bush (Source: kcbd)
By Amanda Ruiz | December 5, 2018 at 9:41 PM CST - Updated December 6 at 4:26 PM
LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - George H. W. Bush will be laid to rest Thursday in College Station. The former President spent a lifetime corresponding by letter with friends, relatives and fans.
A Lubbock man was one of those that was lucky enough to hear from the former world leader, and says his letter still touches him to this day. “Good morning President Bush. You and I have enjoyed similar events in our lives,” Bill Pasewark started his letter to former President George H.W. Bush.
He continued in a one page typed letter highlighting their many similarities among them both. “Number one: Barbara was the name of my mother and sister. Of course President Bush’s wife was Barbara," he said. He went on to list four other similarities.
Number two is that both are world war two veterans, number three was they were born just two moths a part, four was that both men have six kids, and number five was that enjoyed sharing friendly messages to others. Pasewark even forwarded those letters he got from the second graders at All Saints Episcopal School on to President Bush to show kids were also writing friendly letters, too.
Bill Pasewark's letter to President Bush. (Source: kcbd)
Bill mailed that letter to the former president in 2015. Two months later, he was surprised to get a letter back from President George H.W. Bush.
“Dear William, I thoroughly enjoyed your letter and apologize for the delay in acknowledging it. It was fun reading about the events that we share in our lives and the letters from those kids are priceless," Pasewark said as he read aloud from President Bush’s letter.
President Bush's letter to Bill Pasewark. (Source: kcbd)
Pasewark said reading that letter for the first time had him elated. “My heart felt warm.” Pasewark says the president’s letter touched him in so many ways that he has since written more than 100 letters to make others feel good, too.
“President Bush was just a genuine person who did so many things for his country," said Pasewark.
While many are honoring the work this former president, Pasewark will continue to hold on to the words he received directly from President Bush forever.
“The letters from President Bush are a lifetime of genuine sincerity,” he said.
Copyright 2018 KCBD. All rights reserved.
Amanda Ruiz
Amanda Ruiz started at KCBD in late Dec. 2017. She is excited to be in Lubbock and to be a part of such a news-driven team. Coming from a long way from home, New York, she is eager to see what Texas will have in store for her. She graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Political Science.
Groom EMS and the Volunteer Fire Department have eight combined response vehicles and one very old building.
Destiny Richards
With Amazon Prime Day packages being delivered this week, the Amarillo community is taking extra measures to prevent porch pirates from stealing their packages.
East Amarillo one step closer to $9 million hotel, retail businesses and sports complex
Amarillo police and Department of Justice kick off National Public Safety Partnership today
Borger Police: Suspect on the run after aggravated robbery, police chase
Published 1:45 PM at 1:45 PM
The Garden at High Plains Food Bank looking for volunteers
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Home / Science and Technology / NASA: Space mission nearest to the sun
NASA: Space mission nearest to the sun
Pedestina, California: NASA has announced the departure of the human mission to the closest sun in human history.
NASA named the first solar proposition of the mission, but according to the new May 31 declaration, the mission is now attributed to the name of a distinguished scientist Yugin Parker. It will be the first mission to reach the closest to the sun's history, when it is also the first time in history that NASA has named its space plan in the name of a living person. Yogin Parker will be dropped out of the ground next year.
The Yugin Parker mission has been specially designed to tolerate the Sun's unusual heat and radiation and will reach only a distance of 40 million miles from the sun from which it will be able to review the sun's atmosphere. In addition, it will also consider the sun's magnetic field and the particles that are derived from, which are called today as solar.
Experts say that with the help of Yogin Parker, many Sun Sun secrets will be able to help the curtain. NASA said in one of his statements that this spacecraft will observe the outer atmosphere of the sun and give answers to many of our old questions like how a star works, and predicts solar activity and information from this mission. I will also increase. Similarly on earth we will be able to review the effects of sun on humans and self-satellites.
In order to bear the unusual extent of the sun, it has a wide range of thick carbon cables, so that its delicate electrical appliances can be protected from burnt, the 4-inch carbon layer of this spacecraft is 1377 degrees centigrade. The temperature will be able to bear. In addition, a partial detector is being installed on the spacecraft, which will be able to review the various particles out of the sun.
It is clear that Yugin Parker presented an important research in 1958, in which he told that the continuous particles of the sun are going out and the sun's magnetic field changes, which impacts the entire solar system. NASA had earlier sent the planet named Helies to the sun in 1976, which had reached 440 million km of sun.
NASA: Space mission nearest to the sun Reviewed by TechRectify on September 21, 2018 Rating: 5
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Ready to take on all challenges
Mon, 07/01/2019 - 1:11am admin
Pleasant Hill Collision Repair keeps car count up with shop versatility and lean operations
Ed Attanasio
Pleasant Hill, Calif.—By pursuing certified aluminum repair and working on any vehicle that comes through the doors without exception, Aaron Silva at Pleasant Hill Collision Repair stays busy.
Repairing 50-60 vehicles every month out of a 6,500-square-foot facility employing a crew of eight, Silva runs a lean operation with an emphasis on efficiency and quality.
“Our goal is to dedicate at least three to four full hours every day to each and every car we have here,” he said. “It all differs with each vehicle and is based on the brand as well. We get an equal amount of fender benders versus bigger hits and our workload consists of roughly 60 percent Asian nameplates. We get a lot of Hondas, Toyotas and Mazdas, recently, a lot more Subarus and Teslas as the market is changing.”
While many shops lean on their computer management systems for their day-to-day operations, Silva decided many years ago to do things differently.
“In many cases, updating the information on these systems requires a lot of time — time that we can use to fix the cars,” he said. “If I want to see what is going on with any vehicle we are working on, all I need to do is look into the shop. We use CCC for estimating, but I’ve never seen a true need for a management system. If you ask me right now what’s in the shop, I know each vehicle and the stage it’s in and who is working on it at all times.”
To make certain that Pleasant Hill Collision Repair integrates only original factory parts in its repairs, Silva said we are going directly to the source as often as possible.
“We have great relationships with many of our local car dealerships in this area and that helps us to use OEM parts almost exclusively. If the insurance company insists on an aftermarket part, we do everything in our power to get the factory part instead.”
Price-matching systems have been a solid solution for Pleasant Hill Collision.
“We use CollisionLink and Parts Trader with our estimating system and have had a lot of success with them,” he said. “Based on our experience, we try to stay away from aftermarket bumpers that range from decent to just simply unusable. If something does not fit properly, we will not to use it, because we won’t ever sacrifice our quality to please the insurance company.”
Silva has repaired a wide range of exotic brands over the years and relishes the challenge, but did have a little reservation to fix Teslas.
“We’re more than willing to work on them as there are a lot in our area. But, Tesla has done everything they can for us not to touch them, even though they don’t have enough certified shops around here to do the work. Getting parts has been our biggest challenge. We’re capable and open to the idea of getting Tesla-certified and we’re not afraid to invest in the necessary training, tools and equipment. They’re great vehicles with a ton of complex onboard technology (ADAS systems, autopilot systems, etc.), so you have to commit and invest if you want to repair them.”
Surviving consolidation
If somebody wanted to get into this industry, Silva could offer some sage advice based on his many years of experience. “Consolidation is not going anywhere with us. Yes, independent shops have to work a little harder to hit their numbers but the personal rewards are great. A few chains have moved into the neighborhood, but it hasn’t affected our volume, because we have created a reputation for quality and standing behind our work. To succeed today, it’s all about training and knowledge. You can have the right equipment, but if you can’t use it, what is the point?”
Tied to his community by supporting local schools and youth soccer teams, he gets a lot of exposure in the Pleasant Hill, Concord and Walnut Creek area without doing any marketing or advertising.
“My daughters have all played sports here in town and our involvement is a win-win. By sponsoring these youth programs as well as College Park High School’s sports teams, we are spending our money wisely and creating a positive image.”
When Silva finally decides to step away from the body shop business altogether, he still intends on staying busy. “I still want to work for at least another 5 to 10 years, because I still enjoy this industry and my connection to the community. But, when the time for stepping down comes around, I’m looking forward to working on my 13 classic cars and six motorcycles.”
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Toyota Supports Gold Star Spouses and Families
Mon, 07/08/2019 - 12:02pm admin
PLANO, Texas (July 3, 2019) – In recognition of the sacrifice made by military service members and their families, Toyota Financial Services has introduced a new program that waives the remaining lease payments for military customers who die or are catastrophically injured in the line of duty.
Gold Star families are the relatives of U.S. military members who have died while serving their country. Toyota’s program extends to the Gold Star families and goes a step further to include service members who have been catastrophically injured.
“We value our customers and recognize the sacrifices these heroes have made to defend our freedoms,” said Anna Sampang, Toyota Financial Services vice president of service operations. “We’re hopeful this new program will help their families as they navigate a difficult time.”
The company invites eligible Toyota and Lexus lease customers or their family members to contact Toyota Financial Services or Lexus Financial Services to be assisted. Toyota Financial Services will allow the customer’s estate or family to return the vehicle and will forgive the remaining lease payments and any end of lease fees from their existing lease contract.
“Toyota is grateful to the service members who have given so much to protect our country,” said Mark Templin, president and CEO of Toyota Financial Services. “We humbly thank the families of those who have sacrificed their lives or suffered catastrophic injuries to keep the United States safe, and we are honored to do our part to recognize their service.”
This program is the latest endeavor in Toyota’s extensive recognition of the men and women who serve in our nation’s armed forces. Since 2012, the company has supported Hiring Our Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation that connects veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses with career opportunities. Toyota also offers military rebates to U.S. military personnel, household members of eligible U.S. military personnel (including Gold Star families), U.S. military retirees, and U.S. military veterans within two years of discharge.
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Jim Fisher Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8 The Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8 is a wide-angle lens that captures a lot of light, but you'll have to stop down for edge-to-edge crispness.
Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8
August 19, 2014 3:49PM EST
Wide-angle field of view. Wide aperture. Focuses to 0.5 meter. Excellent build quality.
Some edge softness at wider apertures. Noticeable color fringing. Big for a rangefinder lens.
The Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8 is a wide-angle lens that captures a lot of light, but you'll have to stop down for edge-to-edge crispness.
The Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8 ($1,149) captures an ultra-wide field of view when paired with a full-frame rangefinder or mirrorless camera, and also manages to capture a lot of light. When set to its f/1.8 aperture, its center sharpness is excellent with some softness at the edges of the frame. It can also lock on to subjects just a half meter (about 20 inches) away, which makes a shallow depth of field possible. When stopped down, the edges sharpen considerably, which is a must for landscape shooters. Its an excellent value, especially when compared with the $7,650 Leica Summilux-M 21mm f/1.4 ASPH.
Carl Zeiss Biogon T* 2,8/21 ZM
Carl Zeiss C Biogon T* 4,5/21 ZM
Leica Tri-Elmar-M 16-18-21mm f/4 ASPH.
The Ultron can focus as close as 0.5-meter, which is beyond the 0.7-meter capability of most rangefinder cameras. If you're pairing it with the Leica M (Typ 240) you can use an EVF or Live View to confirm focus when you move in closer, and you won't have any concern about the limitation when using a camera with full-time Live View like the Sony Alpha 7. If you're using the lens with a film rangefinder or a body without Live View like the Leica M Monochrom you'll just have to guess at the focus when you get closer to 0.7-meter.
It's a rangefinder lens, so the Ultron is manual focus only. Its construction is all metal, with a large knurled focus ring and a physical aperture ring with half-stop clicks from f/1.8 all the way down to f/22. The focus ring turns smoothly, but it's appropriately tight. There's a printed depth of field scale on the barrel with markings for f/1.8 and f/4 through f/11 at full-stop increments. The lens is on the large size; it measures 3.6 by 2.7 inches (HD), weighs 14.5 ounces, and supports 58mm front filters. The metal lens hood is built into the barrel. It's noticeably bigger than Voigtlander's compact Color-Skopar 21mm F4 (1.1 by 2.1 inches, 4.8 ounces), but the Ultron captures more than four times the light at its widest aperture.
I used Imatest to check the sharpness and distortion characteristics of the lens when paired with the full-frame Leica M (Typ 240). At f/1.8 it manages a score of 2,150 lines per picture height on a center-weighted sharpness test. That's better than the 1,800 lines that we require to call an image sharp, but performance is not even across the frame. The center third is tack sharp (3,012 lines), but the middle third is on the soft side (1,559 lines) and the outer edges are fuzzy (529 lines).
Stopping down to f/2 doesn't improve things, but at f/2.8 the average score jump to 2,541 lines. The center (3,510 lines) and middle third (1,892 lines) show a lot of detail, but the outer edges (617 lines) are still a bit muddy. At f/4 the average score jumps to 3,006 lines, with outer edges that hit 1,095 lines. If you're shooting for sharp edges, you'll be happy with the results at f/5.6, they show 1,782 lines with an overall average of 3,274 lines. The lens is at its best at f/8—its average score is 3,128 lines and even the very outer edges top 2,200 lines. The Ultron shows more detail from edge to edge than the Zeiss Biogon T* 2,8/21 ZM; its edge resolution at f/11 lags behind that of the Ultron set at f/8.
The lens is extremely well corrected for distortion, it shows none at all. But it does show purple color fringing in high contrast areas. Whether it's tree branches against a sky or light coming in through window panes, it's evident. The effect lessens as you stop down, but it's still there at f/4. It's easy enough to fix in Lightroom—I found that dialing in a setting of 4 on the Defringe tool eliminated even the worst instances—but is a concern if you don't like to edit images. In the first image of Grand Central Terminal, the purple has been removed in Lightroom, but the crop above shows how it looks without editing. This is a tough situation for almost any lens, but the Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH. captured the image, under identical conditions, without showing any sort of color fringing.
If you're in the market for a wide-angle lens for a rangefinder or mirrorless camera, the Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8 is an excellent way to go. Its center is very sharp, even wide open, and most of the frame shows a lot of detail at f/2.8, with edge-to-edge crispness available at f/5.6. The lens is an absolute bargain when compared with Leica's 21mm Summilux, which costs more than $7,000 and has similar light-gathering capability. It's bigger than similar lenses that capture a comparable amount of light, so you may opt for the Voigtlander 21mm Color-Skopar or the Zeiss C Biogon 4,5/21 ZM if a compact design is more important than a wide aperture.
Thanks to Photo Village, Voigtlander's U.S. distributor, for loaning us this lens for review.
Bottom Line: The Voigtlander Ultron 21mm F1.8 is a wide-angle lens that captures a lot of light, but you'll have to stop down for edge-to-edge crispness.
Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM
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Home F1 Races British Grand Prix Sainz’s qualy ‘snowballed into a disaster’
Sainz’s qualy ‘snowballed into a disaster’
Failing to make it out of Q2, Carlos Sainz says he knew from the start of his flying lap that something wasn’t right and from there it “snowballed into a disaster”.
The McLaren driver will line up 13th on the Silverstone grid while his team-mate Lando Norris is eighth.
His best time in Q2, a 1:26.578, was 0.175s shy of making it through to the pole position shoot-out.
“I just felt immediately when I went into Turn 3 I had no rear end in the car,” Sainz said.
“I knew it was going to be a tough lap, and it just snowballed into a disaster.”
A lack of rear end grip has been a problem for Sainz throughout the British Grand Prix weekend.
He explained: “It’s been a bit of a difficult weekend for me, never quite feeling the rear end from the car.
“But apart from that Q1 was very positive, I was feeling like we could have a good qualifying, and then I just went slower with every set.
“I did a 1m26.2s on the first set, and then 1m26.3s, 1m26.5s and 1m26.7s at the end.
“So I just went slower and slower without really knowing why.”
He added: “Normally you improve half a second from Q1 to Q2, but I managed to lose half a second.
“So it’s difficult to explain, and not surprising because we definitely felt [it was] very tricky out there. But we need to explain why.
“Tomorrow should be better, but today I’m definitely not happy.
“Today it’s time to analyse why today was such a disaster in terms of why the balance of the car was changing so much in qualifying – but also knowing tomorrow is going to be an interesting day and we can move forward.”
Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page.
Carlos Sainz McLaren
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UK Government Backtracks On Rail Privatization
Railroads in the United Kingdom continue to be 'renationalized' after former attempts at privatization.
January 6, 2004, 1pm PST | Chris Steins | @urbaninsight
While the U.S. government continues to call for privatization as a major revitalization for Amtrak, the U.S. government-subsidized railroad passenger system, the United Kingdom continues to reverse its earlier railroad privatization program: "Rail bosses are to be stripped of much of their power by ministers, who believe the ramshackle network is running out of control, The Independent has learnt. The decision will concentrate power in the hands of Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, and represents a dramatic stage in the 'creeping nationalisation' of the industry which was privatised in 1995. Mr Darling is planning to extend his control by taking power from the Strategic Rail Authority, the semi-independent body which receives billions of pounds of taxpayers' money but has failed to enhance performance, relegating it to the same status as the Transport Department's Highways Agency. It will have fewer resources, less power and more accountability to the Government and parliament. The move follows what was in effect the renationalisation of Railtrack, the infrastructure company replaced last year by the state-backed Network Rail."
Thanks to Richard Layman
Furious ministers to strip rail chiefs of power
Published on Monday, January 5, 2004 in The Independent
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Boris Johnson’s model buses and other weird politician hobbies
From being cut in half to naked trampolining.
By Paul Dallison
Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to become next British prime minister | Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Stamp collecting. Sword swallowing. Running through fields of wheat. All acceptable answers when asked what your hobby is.
Boris Johnson, however, went down a different path and gave an extraordinary answer when asked what should have been a straightforward question by Talk Radio.
(The following is best read out loud in a bumbling, buffoonish upper-class English voice): “I like to paint. Or I make things. I have a thing where I make models of buses. What I make is, I get old, I don’t know, wooden crates, and I paint them. It’s a box that’s been used to contain two wine bottles, right, and it will have a dividing thing. And I turn it into a bus. So I put passengers – I paint the passengers enjoying themselves on a wonderful bus – low carbon, of the kind that we brought to the streets of London, reducing C02, reducing nitrous oxide, reducing pollution.”
So he makes model buses. Alas, Johnson didn't say if he paints giant lies about the U.K.'s financial contribution to the EU on the side of them.
His bizarre reply was roundly mocked, but it did at least give the Liberal Democrats something to do.
Leadership campaigns can be tough. Sometimes you need to relax... #JoinJo pic.twitter.com/brtxwTy4XE
— Jo Swinson (@joswinson) June 26, 2019
The man who's almost certainly going to be the next British prime minister isn't alone when it comes to having an unusual hobby. Here are some more:
Jeremy Hunt loves to dance the lambada
Johnson's rival for the Tory leadership can dance zouk-lambada (or Brazilian zouk) and salsa. BBC radio's Jeremy Vine show played the track "Lambada" by Kaoma in his honor on Wednesday and Hunt said: “When I was elected as an MP in 2005 my big passion was lambada dancing, I have a lot of Brazilian friends, I used to go to the carnival in Brazil." He added: “This is a dance for single people and quite an intimate dance so perhaps not one for the married listeners.”
Back in 2012, party colleague/rival Michael Gove revealed that Hunt has his own sprung dancefloor at home. Gove said Hunt's dancing was "something amazing."
Jeremy Corbyn admires manhole covers
The prospect of Johnson facing Corbyn across the House of Commons fills many Brits with dread. But Prime Minister's Questions would be a lot more interesting if it was model buses vs. drain covers.
"If you walk around and look at drain covers, you will see in London MWB, Metropolitan Board of Works," Corbyn, who also enjoys tending to his allotment and making jam, told ITV in 2015. "That gives you the age range because Metropolitan Board of Works hasn't been around for a long time" (it was disbanded in 1889).
"I know this sounds a little bit zany," Corbyn added, saying he picked up the hobby from his mother.
Jean-Claude Juncker plays pinball
The European Commission president is, by his own admission, a "brilliant" pinball player despite not being deaf, dumb or blind. He even has a pinball machine in his garage.
Why that hobby? “I like it, especially because of the noise,” Juncker told Luxembourg’s L’Essentiel. “I like to make noise.”
Dalia Grybauskaitė is a black belt in karate
While working at the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington, the now (and soon to be ex) President Grybauskaitė obtained a 1st dan black belt in karate. "Oriental martial arts embody a philosophy of life fostering responsibility, strong will, respect for a human being and an opponent; they teach courage, self-discipline and concentration. These qualities are also important in politics and in daily life," she said on her website after being presented with an honorary 9th dan taekwondo black belt, certificate and uniform by the president of the World Taekwondo Federation in 2018.
Jarosław Kaczyński watches rodeo
Most nights, according to an interview with the Polish tabloid Super Express, the most powerful politician in Poland stays up late at home, watching television with his two cats. His favorite thing to watch, he told an interviewer at the tabloid, are rodeos: “I only go to sleep around three. I can’t earlier. That’s when I look with amazement at people riding bulls. That’s a really enormous skill to be able to hang on for a few seconds onto a bucking beast.”
Jacques Chirac loved sumo
French President Jacques Chirac welcomed Mongolia's sumo champion Asashoryu Dolgorsuren Dagvadorg to the Élysée Palace in 2007 | Pool photo by Patrick Kovarik/AFP via Getty Images
The former French president was such a big fan of the sport that he named his pet dog “Sumo.” He also created the President of the Republic of France Cup and presented the trophy to the winning wrestler in the year 2000. The trophy was presented every year until Chirac left office in 2007. Donald Trump also handed over a special sumo trophy on a visit to Japan in May, although if Trump wants to see two fat men fighting with hardly any clothes on, he can go to a midwestern mall anytime he likes.
Mitt Romney enjoys water sports
The Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 election has been spotted doing activities such as surfing, body boarding, jet skiing and boating. None of this would be unusual but for the fact that his old rival Donald Trump is also believed to be partial to water sports.
Saddam Hussein wrote a romantic novel
The former Iraqi leader didn't get many chances to show his softer side as he was busy killing people, but in 2000 he released "Zabiba and the King." It's a love story set thousands of years ago about an Iraqi king — guess who that's based on — and "a simple, yet beautiful commoner" named Zabiba.
"Zabiba and the King" is available on Amazon. It's easy to spot as the cover art is a large photo of the author's face. Searching for it does, however, mess up your Amazon customer recommendations: "Customer who bought Zabiba and the King also bought Mein Kampf and The Complete Works of Jeremy Clarkson."
Penny Mordaunt was a magician's assistant
The U.K. defense secretary paid her way through college by being assistant to Will Ayling, a former president of the Magic Circle. And performing illusions is perfect practice for being a member of the Conservative Party. She is also a Royal Navy reservist and once lost a bet and had to say the word "cock" over and over again in the House of Commons. It won her the Spectator Speech of the Year Award, but she said she felt “a bit of a fraud” because “let’s face it, the reason I won this award is not because of the hours I put in or the carefully crafted speech, it’s because I referred to male genitalia during the course of it.”
Gerry Adams goes naked trampolining with his dog
The Irish republican surprised everyone when in 2015 he told Newstalk about his love of trampolining. “Yeah, I do it naked,” he said, adding: “I don’t do it with great expertise, just the joy of it – the dog does it with me. It saves me taking him for a walk. We just go out and bounce for a while.”
The king of Jordan is a Trekkie
Back when King Abdullah II was a mere crown prince, he got to make a cameo in a 1996 episode of “Star Trek: Voyager." Executive producer Jeri Taylor said, according to Buzzfeed: "Take away the title and the trappings, and at the core you have a Star Trek fan," albeit one rich enough to butt his way onto the show.
Silvio Berlusconi enjoys ...
... well, we all know what the ex-Italian PM and soon-to-be MEP enjoys doing in his spare time.
Penny Mordaunt
The Commission first vice president said negotiators were like ‘Dad’s Army’ soldiers without a plan.
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Like daughter, like father: Keeping Peace Corps in the family
By Peace Corps
When applying to the Peace Corps, some citizens may choose to serve as a way of carrying on the legacy of mentors or older relatives who served abroad in the past.
At age 65, Karl Hubert is currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda. Here he is pictured with Ven Nalubega, Peace Corps Uganda’s long-serving education program specialist.
However, for Karl Hubert, 65, a retired trial lawyer and educator currently serving in Uganda, he chose to follow in his daughter’s footsteps by applying to the Peace Corps and sharing his wealth of experience overseas.
“What motivated me to join the Peace Corps at 65 years of age is that I came to the realization that I had more years behind me than in front of me,” explained Karl, whose daughter Shari formerly served as the director of recruitment for the Peace Corps. “I asked myself, ‘How are you going to spend the majority of your years left here on the planet Earth?’
“After pondering the question, I decided that part of my years left should be dedicated to providing volunteer service,” the native Chicagoan concluded.
As a literacy specialist in Uganda, Karl teaches classes on critical thinking and reading comprehension to aspiring educators at a local teacher’s college so they may impart similar lessons onto future students.
“My main project while serving in Uganda is to teach more than 200 students and teach them how to reason, think and solve problems, as they develop skills in literacy designed to teach their young pupils in Uganda to become literate,” he explained.
While he only started living and working in his community in February, Karl has already spearheaded an effort to acquire more computer technology at the school – which currently supplies 10 computers for his class – so that his students can have greater access to learning.
With a number of degrees under his belt – including a bachelor of science degree in education from Loyola University, a law doctorate from Texas Southern University and a master’s degree in educational administration from the American College of Education – Karl believes his breadth of expertise in philosophy, psychology, law, and educational leadership has prepared him to deal with diverse people and personalities that he encounters in his Peace Corps service.
“The local work environment is very cordial and intellectually stimulating,” he noted. “I work with professional educators at the university and they have an awesome work ethic similar to mine, and are very willing to share ideas and support me and my work.”
While he’s thrived in the professional sphere, Karl is still trying to adjust to local social codes, particularly when it comes to privacy and personal space – or lack thereof – which can be quite customary of friendship in Uganda.
“This cultural variance has caused me to have to learn to be extremely patient, understanding and appreciative that another person even thinks enough of me to call upon to see how things are going,” he said. “This particular life lesson dealing with friendship not only requires lots of patience, but a litany of faith.”
As Karl strives to acclimate himself into his community, Shari – who now works as the Associate Dean of MBA Admissions at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business – feels great pride in watching her father embark on the next chapter of his life by giving back to his global community.
“My father has a huge heart and many talents,” said Shari, who recently helped to launch a Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program at the McDonough School. “He has spent the majority of his life in pursuit of justice for others or helping to educate the next generation. I’m so proud that he has chosen to spend his next chapter, after retiring, in continued service to others. I know how important the Peace Corps’ mission is to U.S. citizens and those around the world, and am glad that my father is now part of that amazing legacy.”
As an older Volunteer, Karl hopes that he may provide a sage and wise approach to human relations and problem solving in his Ugandan community, ultimately fostering a more symbiotic method towards sustainable change.
“I hope to leave an impact of having shared in the literacy efforts and goals of the Uganda Department of Ministry and Education of educating 57 percent of Uganda’s population which is under the age of 15,” Karl said.
“Further, I hope to leave an impact by creating a realization among my African brothers and sisters here in Uganda that their African American brothers and sisters in America love them,” he added. “Many of us would like to share our skills and experiences in underwriting the Pearl of Africa’s efforts to build a better tomorrow for its young citizens.”
The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation.
Category: Africa, Uganda, Education, From the Field, Becoming a Volunteer, Diversity, Prospective Volunteers, Peace Corps Volunteer
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Why the Peace Corps? Reconnecting with my East African Heritage Malaria Mobilization and Training What Girl Scouts can learn about leadership from RPCVs Speak Up! 2019 - More than a Public Speaking Competition
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Apply Now Map It
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Experience the Florida Keys by Way of a Private Jet Charter
You are here: Home Experience the Florida Keys by Way of a Private Jet Charter
Few places in the U.S. can beat what the Florida Keys have to offer for any lover of sand, sun, subtropical climates, laid-back lifestyles, and fishing. And, there is no better way to arrive than by a private jet charter to the Florida Keys. Keep these things in mind as you plan your Florida Keys excursion.
About the Keys
While considered part of mainland USA, the Florida Keys is a term used to describe a chain of islands off the southern tip of Florida that are connected by bridges. From top to bottom, the chain of islands spans 112 miles of some of the most stunning ocean views in the U.S. While often lumped together, each of the islands offers its own unique flavor to appeal to a wide and diverse group of people.
An endangered key deer found on Pine Key in the Florida Keys
This is the largest of the Keys and is best known for exquisite scuba diving. In fact, many say Key Largo has the best scuba diving in the U.S. This is the closest to the mainland and allows easy access to all the attractions of Miami, while still enjoying an island frame of mind.
Private aviation for visitors to Key Largo often fly into Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport, Miami International Airport, Homestead General Airport, the latter of which is only 30 minutes from Key Largo and practically on the doorstep of Everglades National Park. Scuba divers and snorkelers should spend a day at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for the stunning coral reef, as well as the Christ of the Abyss statue.
Fishing opportunities abound in the Florida Keys.
Islamorada is best known for its fishing and is generally considered to be the sport fishing capital of the world. There are plenty of big game fish available to be caught through the countless charter services offered on the island, including at the famous Robbie’s marina. The benefit of chartering a fishing boat (or yacht) is that the captain knows where to go and what technique to use to land you the types of fish you desire. Just like chartering jet flights has benefits, so does chartering fishing boats.
Christ of Abyss statue off of Key Largo.
This is about the halfway point for people driving down to Key West. It’s also home to one of the two airports in the Keys, Florida Keys Marathon Airport (MTH). Marathon is a popular family and fishing destination. It’s also a great tourist destination in its own right with the Turtle Hospital, Dolphin Research Center, and a EEA Air Museum.
Pine Key
Southernmost Point Marker in Key West.
Located between Marathon and Key West, Pine Key is home to Bahia Honda State Park that has one of the most stunning beaches in the Florida Keys. This is the least “touristy” of the islands and offers a laid back and low key opportunity to take in the best Mother Nature has to offer. The speed limit here is reduced, mainly to protect the Key Deer, which are endangered.
One of the bridges in the Florida Keys.
Perhaps the most famous destination in the Keys, Key West means different things to different people. Your stay can range from a a five-star resort area to a quiet bed and breakfast. Similarly, your getaway can be spent enjoying a raving nightlife area or a quiet day in the hammock outside a cozy little cottage. Dotted along the infamous Duval Street are outstanding restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops galore. There are even a couple of beautiful beaches to sunbathe on or to people watch: Smathers Beach and Fort Zachary Taylor beach. The southernmost point in the United States is also found here.
One of the benefits you receive when you charter a private jet to Key West is that you can skip the 112 mile drive down the keys and fly right into Key West International Airport instead.
Schedule a Private Jet Charter to Marathon in the Keys
Duval Street: The most famous street in Key West.
For the latest Florida Keys private jet charter information, be sure to contact Presidential Aviation. We can help you choose the right aircraft and charter jet schedule, so that your trip to the Florida Keys will be as relaxing as the Keys are themselves.
The Florida Keys is known for its vibrant reefs which are great for scuba diving and snorkeling.
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Quotes List
50 Short Inspirational and Motivational Basketball Quotes
Category : Sports Quotes
Looking for short inspirational and motivational basketball quotes? Are you a basketball lover who needs motivation and inspiration? You are exactly at the right place. Here are the top 50 basketball quotes for every basketball lover out there.
“Basketball is so unique. It’s both a team and an individual sport.” Adam Silver
“Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat” – Dean Smith
“You don’t play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.” Bobby Knight
“I gave everything I had to basketball. The passion is still there, but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.” Allen Iverson
“I’ve had enough success for two lifetimes, my success is talent put together with hard work and luck.” Kareem Abdul Jabbar
“Winners don’t wait for chances, they take them.” Anonymus
“Michael Jordon may have been the best basketball player in history, but he couldn’t have won six NBA titles without a team.” Mark E. Hyman
“Good basketball always starts with good defense!” – Bob Knight”
“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.” Bill Russell
“I’m not going to lie; listen, I’m nice at basketball.” Drake
“Basketball is in my blood. It is my obligation to try.” Hakeem Olajuwon
“The key is not the ‘will to win’… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” Bob Knight
“Basketball is a lifelong game. You continue to learn from the game day in and day out, and all along the way, you get better.” Scottie Pippen
“Teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one” – Mike Krzyzewski”
“I treated it like every day was my last day with a basketball.” LeBron James
“If every basketball player worked as hard as I did, I’d be out of a job.”Steve Nash
“Even when I’m old and grey, I won’t be able to play it, but I’ll still love the game.” Michael Jordan
“Basketball is a team game. But that doesn’t mean all five players should take the same amount of shots” – Dean Smith
“Trying to take money out of politics is like trying to take jumping out of basketball.” Bill Bradley
“Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game. – Michael Jordan
“Basketball really had its origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport. James Naismith
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan
“Basketball is such an escape from a lot of things.” Scottie Pippen
“Any American boy can be a basketball star if he grows up, up, up.” Bill Vaughan
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” Phil Jackson
“I’m the basketball version of a gravedigger.” Dennis Rodman
“The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play ‘Drop the Handkerchief.'” James Naismith
“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. Stevie Wonder
“What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.” John Wooden
“They said playing basketball would kill me. Well, not playing basketball was killing me.” Earvin ”Magic” Johnson
“Coaching is easy. Winning is the hard part.Elgin Baylor
“You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” Kareem Abdul Jabbar
“My greatest gift that I have in life is basketball.” Isaiah Thomas
“I grew up playing basketball and eating hot dogs on the corner. Prince Royce
“There is no ‘i’ in team but there is in win” Michael Jordan
“If you’re a basketball player, you’ve got to shoot.” Oscar Robertson
“Basketball doesn’t build character it reveals it.” James Naismith
“Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character.John Wooden
“I always dreamt of being a basketball player. A dream that only I believed in.” David Duchovny
“I can’t take my mind off basketball.” Giannis Antetokounmpo
“Basketball is basketball.” Oscar Robertson
“If all I’m remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I’ve done a bad job with the rest of my life.” Isiah Thomas
“My father was a soccer player. All my friends played basketball though, so I stuck with basketball.” Steve Nash
“I like a girl who can be a girl but also ready to play basketball.” Trevor Jackson
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Michael Jordan
“My focus is basketball, and that’s it.” Kyrie Irving
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”Michael Jordan
“You can’t be afraid to fail. It’s the only way you succeed – you’re not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.” LeBron James
“If I weren’t earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction if they saw me coming. Charles Barkley”
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Home / TRENDINGS / 10 Oldest Person Lived On Earth
10 Oldest Person Lived On Earth
Phil 22 November
The Bible states in Genesis 6:3, "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." But it seems like humans surpassed the age limit God has ordained for man. There are factors that explain why a person live fruitful years and why others pass away at a younger age. In this article, we will talk about the 10 oldest people who lived on earth.
The Bible recorded the oldest man on earth, Methuselah, who lived 969 years. But in this new age, the world’s average life expectancy is about 71.5 years, 68 years and 4 months for males and 72 years and 8 months for females. But compared to men, women typically live longer. Below are the top 10 oldest people who defied these numbers and considered as supercentenarians, or someone who has lived beyond their 110th birthday.
A majority of the women on this list are from Japan, who has the highest life expectancy in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
10. Ila Jones
Image: OLDEST
Ila Jones from the United States was born on August 21, 1903, and lived for 114 years and 61 days. Ila Jones is the second oldest living American, the oldest person alive in the state of Georgia, and the tenth oldest overall in the world.
9. Delphine Gibson
Delphine Gibson from the United States was born on August 17, 1903, and lived for 114 years and 65 days. Delphine Gibson is the oldest living person in America and currently the ninth oldest person alive in the world.
8. Tae Ito
Tae Ito from Japan was born on July 11, 1903, and lived for 114 years and 102. She is currently the fifth oldest living person in Japan and the oldest person living in the Iwate prefecture. Ito spent her whole life working in agriculture and retired at the age of 90.
7. Iso Nakamura
Iso Nakamura from Japan was born July 11, 1903, and lived for 114 years and 181 days. She was born in 1903 in the Ishikawa prefecture, where she is still living today. Nakamura is the fourth oldest living person in Japan and seventh overall in the world.
6. Maria Giuseppa Robucci
Maria Giuseppa Robucci from Italy was born on March 20, 1903, and lived for 114 years and 215 days. She was as Nonna Peppa, is one of a few Italian supercentenarians and is the sixth oldest living person in the world as well as the second oldest person alive in Italy.
5. Kane Tanaka
Kane Tanaka from Japan was born on January 2, 1903, and lived for 114 years and 291 days. Kane Tanaka is currently the fifth oldest living person in the world and one of several Japanese supercentenarians.
4. Giuseppina Projetto
Giuseppina Projetto from Italy was born on May 30, 1902, and 115 years and 143 days She the oldest living person in Italy since the death of Emma Moran (117 years, 137 days) in April 2017 as well as the death of Marie Gaudette (115 years, 110 days) in July 2017, she is also the oldest person born in Italy since Emma Moran’s passing.
3. Ana María Vela Rubio
Ana María Vela Rubio from Spain was born on October 29, 1901, and lived for 115 years and 356 days. She's a Spanish supercentenarian who is the oldest verified Spanish person ever. She is currently the oldest person alive in Europe after the death of Emma Morano (aged 117 years, 137 days) in April 2017 and the third oldest living person in the world.
2. Chiyo Miyako
Chiyo Miyako from Japan was born on May 2, 1901, and live for 116 years and 171 days. Chiyo Miyako is another verified Japanese supercentenarian and is the second oldest person alive in the world. She was born on May 2, 1901, and has been the oldest living person in the Kanagawa prefecture since 2015.
1. Nabi Tajima
Nabi Tajima from Japan earned the top spot. She was born on August 4, 1900, and lived for 117 years and 77 days. Nabi Tajima is currently the oldest living person in the world and was awarded the title after Violet Brown, who was 117 years and 189 days, passed away in mid-September 2017.
Tajima is the oldest verified Japanese and Asian person ever whose age is also verified by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Source: OLDEST
10 Oldest Person Lived On Earth Reviewed by Phil on 22 November Rating: 5
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MIFF 2013 Films with a Literary Flavour
by Hayley Inch
MIFF Membership Coordinator, Hayley Inch takes a look at upcoming MIFF films inspired by, or drawn from, literature.
The First Glance for the Melbourne International Film Festival was released on May 28, featuring thirty films that will appear in the upcoming July festival. Books and films have a rather linear relationship, with the former often acting as the inspiration for the latter, so to introduce First Glance here’s a selection of films that began life on a bookshelf.
Tim Winton’s The Turning presents a unique prospect in Australian filmmaking: a compilation of films based on the best-selling short story collection written by Winton and directed by some of this country’s greatest film talents, including Warwick Thornton, Robert Connolly, David Wenham, Mia Wasikowska and many more.
Building the story of a Western Australian community over three decades and seventeen interconnected stories, The Turning promises to be an astonishing moment in Australian cinema.
Also to be of interest to those of a bookish persuasion is Blancanieves, a silent, Spanish retelling of the Snow White fairytale (think The Artist with a lot more bullfighting); What Maisie Knew, a modern adaptation of the Henry James novel starring Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan and Alexander Skarsgård; and the newest academic broadside from Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology.
MIFF also announced the entirety of its Next Gen program, a selection of films that always contains thought-provoking cinema suitable for all ages. A Next Gen film to take particular note of is Approved for Adoption, an animation/documentary hybrid adaptation of Jung Henin’s autobiographical graphic novel.
Adopted as a child from South Korea and raised in Belgium, Jung’s journey back to the country of his birth is interspersed with honey-hued animated sequences that charts the cultural dissonance of his formative years.
But this is really only the merest dip into the First Glance pool. Head to the MIFF website to explore the full library of filmic delights.
Readings is a proud sponsor of MIFF.
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Reckonings: a journal of justice, hope and history
"That justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme." - Reflections on psyche and spirit, politics, poetry and prose
« Einstein on Consciousness | Main | Sockdolager »
The Experience of Solitary Confinement
Reflecting on the sentencing three days ago of Anders Behring Breivik, I was struck once again by the humanity of the Norwegian system of justice, particularly when compared to that of the United States.
Lisa Guenther is an associate professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University and the author of a forthcoming book, Social Death and Its Afterlives: A Critical Phenomenology of Solitary Confinement. Her essay is reprinted from The New York Times of 26 August 2012.
The Living Death of Solitary Confinement
By LISA GUENTHER
There are many ways to destroy a person, but the simplest and most devastating might be solitary confinement. Deprived of meaningful human contact, otherwise healthy prisoners often come unhinged. They experience intense anxiety, paranoia, depression, memory loss, hallucinations and other perceptual distortions. Psychiatrists call this cluster of symptoms SHU syndrome, named after the Security Housing Units of many supermax prisons. Prisoners have more direct ways of naming their experience. They call it “living death,” the “gray box,” or “living in a black hole.”
In June the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, headed by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, held the first Congressional hearing on solitary confinement. Advocates and experts in the field were invited to submit testimony on the psychological, ethical, social and economic issues raised by punitive isolation. Among the many contributors was Anthony Graves, who spent over 18 years on death row in Texas, most of them in solitary confinement, for a crime he did not commit. Graves describes his isolation as a form of “emotional torture.” Two years after his exoneration and release, he still feels trapped in isolation: “I am living amongst millions of people in the world today, but most of the time I feel alone. I cry at night because of this feeling. I just want to stop feeling this way, but I haven’t been able to.”
We tend to assume that solitary confinement is reserved for “the worst of the worst”: violent inmates who have proved themselves unwilling or unable to live in the general population. But the truth is that an inmate can be sent to the hole for failing to return a meal tray, or for possession of contraband (which can include anything from weapons to spicy tortilla chips). According to the Bureau of Justice, there were 81,622 prisoners in some form of “restricted housing” (code for solitary confinement) in 2005. If anything, these numbers have increased as isolation units continue to be built in prisons, jails and juvenile detention centers across the country. Given that 95 percent of all inmates are eventually released into the public, and that many of these will be released without any form of transition or therapy, solitary confinement is a problem that potentially affects every one of us.
In my own statement for the Senate subcommittee, I made a philosophical argument against solitary confinement, drawing on my research in phenomenology. Phenomenology is a philosophical method for uncovering the structure of lived experience by describing what it is like from a first person perspective. Rather than attempting to prove a set of objective facts, phenomenology tracks the way that a meaningful experience of the world emerges for someone in the total situation of their Being-in-the-world. It’s not that facts are unimportant, but rather that they are not meaningful in themselves; they become meaningful when they are experienced bysomeone in relation to a wider context or horizon. What happens when that horizon shrinks to the space of a 6-by-9 cell?
Consider the following testimony from prisoners interviewed by the psychiatrist Stuart Grassian in Block 10 of Walpole Penitentiary in 1982:
I went to a standstill psychologically once — lapse of memory. I didn’t talk for 15 days. I couldn’t hear clearly. You can’t see — you’re blind — block everything out — disoriented, awareness is very bad. Did someone say he’s coming out of it? I think what I’m saying is true — not sure. I think I was drooling — a complete standstill.
I seem to see movements — real fast motions in front of me. Then seems like they’re doing things behind your back — can’t quite see them. Did someone just hit me? I dwell on it for hours.
Melting, everything in the cell starts moving; everything gets darker, you feel you are losing your vision.
I can’t concentrate, can’t read . . . Your mind’s narcotized . . . sometimes can’t grasp words in my mind that I know. Get stuck, have to think of another word. Memory is going. You feel you are losing something you might not get back.
Deprived of everyday encounters with other people, and cut off from an open-ended experience of the world as a place of difference and change, many inmates lose touch with reality. What is the prisoner in solitary confinement at risk of losing, to the point of not getting it back?
The prisoner in a control unit may have adequate food and drink, and the conditions of his confinement may meet or exceed court-tested thresholds for humane treatment. But there is something about the exclusion of other living beings from the space that they inhabit, and the absence of even the possibility of touching or being touched by another, that threatens to undermine the identity of the subject. The problem with solitary confinement is not just that it deprives the inmate of her freedom. This harm is already inflicted by our prison system, and depending on how you feel about justice and punishment, depriving people of freedom may be justifiable. But prolonged isolation inflicts another kind of harm, one that can never be justified. This harm is ontological; it violates the very structure of our relational being.
Think about it: Every time I hear a sound and see another person look toward the origin of that sound, I receive an implicit confirmation that what I heard was something real, that it was not just my imagination playing tricks on me. Every time someone walks around the table rather than through it, I receive an unspoken, usually unremarkable, confirmation that the table exists, and that my own way of relating to tables is shared by others. When I don’t receive these implicit confirmations, I can usually ask someone — but for the most part, we don’t need to ask because our experience is already interwoven with the experience of many other living, thinking, perceiving beings who relate to the same world from their own unique perspective. This multiplicity of perspectives is like an invisible net that supports the coherence of my own experience, even (or especially) when others challenge my interpretation of “the facts.” These facts are up for discussion in the first place because we inhabit a shared world with others who agree, at the very least, that there is something to disagree about.
When we isolate a prisoner in solitary confinement, we deprive them of both the support of others, which is crucial for a coherent experience of the world, and also the critical challenge that others pose to our own interpretation of the world. Both of these are essential for a meaningful experience of things, but they are especially important for those who have broken the law, and so violated the trust of others in the community. If we truly want our prisons to rehabilitate and transform criminal offenders, then we must put them in a situation where they have a chance and an obligation to explain themselves to others, to repair damaged networks of mutual support, and to lend their own unique perspective to creating meaning in the world.
We ask too little of prisoners when we isolate them in units where they are neither allowed nor obliged to create and sustain meaningful, supportive relations with others. For the sake of justice, not only for them but for ourselves, we must put an end to the over-use of solitary confinement in this country, and we must begin the difficult but mutually rewarding work of bringing the tens of thousands of currently isolated prisoners back into the world.
Posted by John Roosevelt Boettiger on Monday, 27 August 2012 | Permalink
Loving a Vanishing World: a vivid perspective on the climate emergency — Emily Johnston
A letter about Martin Buber, from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics
Pablo Neruda, "Keeping Quiet"
Greta Thunberg and global warming
Pádraig Ó Tuama, and David Wagoner's poem "Lost"
On Being
W.S. Merwin in memorium, on his fellow poet and teacher John Berryman
St. Patrick's eve celebration of Celtic spirituality
Individuation, C.G. Jung, and W.H. Auden's poem, "The More Loving One"
Conflict, Truth and Reconciliation
Earth Consciousness
Good humor
Place and Time
Psyche and Spirit
Words and Whimsy
Search Reckonings
reckonings.net
Family Gallery - my nearest and dearest
These are my nearest and dearest.
A few of my own photographs that, to this photographer's eye, will stand the test of time.
Sabbath Touch
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U.S. men’s soccer team blanked by Costa Rica in…
U.S. men’s soccer team blanked by Costa Rica in World Cup qualifier, 2-0
Costa Rica players, center, celebrate a goal by Marco Urena (21) during the second half of their World Cup qualifying soccer match against the U.S. on Friday in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica forward Marco Urena, left, scores as United States’ Tim Ream defends during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
United States midfielder Fabian Johnson, left, and Costa Rica defender Cristian Gamboa go up for the ball during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley, right, and Costa Rica midfielder Celso Borges compete for the ball during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica defender Cristian Gamboa, left, drives against U.S. defender Jorge Villafana during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A spectator cheers prior to a World Cup qualifying soccer match between the United States and Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica forward Marco Urena, left, celebrates after scoring a goal on U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, right, during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, right, watches as Costa Rica players celebrate a goal by Marco Urena during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard (1) collects the ball as Costa Rica forward Marco Urena (21) attacks during the first half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. United States’ Geoff Cameron (20) helps defend on the play. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. forward Clint Dempsey, front, tries to control the ball as Costa Rica midfielder David Guzman defends during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. midfielder Darlington Nagbe, left, drives against Costa Rica midfielder David Guzman during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Austin Gonzalez, of New York, cheers as U.S. players take the field to warm up for a World Cup qualifying soccer match against Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. defender Tim Ream, top, and Costa Rica midfielder Celso Borges vie for a header during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. U.S. forward Bobby Wood (9) and Costa Rica midfielder Bryan Ruiz (10) watch. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica midfielder David Guzman, left, and U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley compete for the ball during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas makes a save on a shot by the United States during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas, right, holds on to the ball as U.S. forward Jozy Altidore, left, reacts during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. Also seen are Costa Rica’s Celso Borges, center right, and Kendall Waston, back left. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica players, center, celebrate a goal by Marco Urena (21) during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match against the United States, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica midfielder David Guzman, left, and U.S. forward Bobby Wood compete for the ball during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. Costa Rica won 2-0. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. forward Clint Dempsey, left, is restrained by teammate Michael Bradley, center left, during an argument with Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston (19) during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. Keylor Navas (1) looks on during the argument. Costa Rica won 2-0. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica forward Marco Urena, back right, is congratulated by teammates David Guzman (20) and Johan Venegas, left, after scoring a goal against the United States during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. Costa Rica won 2-0. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Costa Rica players celebrate a goal by Marco Urena against U.S. goalie Tim Howard (1) as U.S. defender Geoff Cameron, right, is slow to get up during the second half of a World Cup qualifying soccer match, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Harrison, N.J. Costa Rica won 2-0. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
HARRISON, N.J. — With another stunning home loss, the United States’ hopes of reaching an eighth straight World Cup berth are in peril.
Marco Urena took advantage of defensive mistakes to score in the 30th and 82nd minutes , giving Costa Rica a 2-0 victory on Friday night that brought the Americans’ resurgence under Coach Bruce Arena to a crashing thud.
“There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves, and we’re not,” U.S. captain Michael Bradley said. “We’ve got three games to play like our lives depend on it, and we will.”
Urena dribbled around defender Tim Ream, then caught Tim Howard leaning and beat the goalkeeper to the far post for the opening goal. The lone forward in a 5-4-1 formation, Urena doubled the lead with a shot from 18 yards after David Guzman intercepted a poor pass by Geoff Cameron.
The one that sealed the deal. (U.S. only):https://t.co/zZPKjCnVjZ
— ESPN (@espn) September 2, 2017
“On the night, we didn’t make any plays that mattered. We were probably outplayed in most positions on the field and made some critical errors,” Arena said. “They outplayed us and outcoached us tonight.”
Mexico leads the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region with 17 points and clinched Friday night, and Costa Rica is second with 14.
“It’s not complete yet, but this is a very important step,” Costa Rica coach Oscar Ramirez said through a translator.
The U.S. is third with eight points, ahead of Honduras on goal difference. Panama has seven points, and Trinidad and Tobago three.
“It’s going to be a battle amongst the remaining four teams,” Arena said.
The top three nations qualify for next year’s tournament in Russia, and the fourth-place team advances to a playoff against Asia’s No. 5 finisher.
“It puts more pressure on us,” Howard said, “but we’re still right in the thick of it.”
The Americans have lost two home games in a World Cup cycle for the first time since 1957 and likely will need points on the road to qualify. They play at Honduras on Tuesday and close the hexagonal next month at home against Panama and at Trinidad and Tobago. American forward Jozy Altidore is suspended for Tuesday’s game after an 80th minute yellow card for pushing Johan Venegas.
The U.S. opened the final round with a 2-1 home loss to Mexico and a 4-0 rout at Costa Rica, causing the U.S. Soccer Federation to fire Coach Jurgen Klinsmann and bring back Arena, the Americans’ coach from 1998-2006. The U.S. had been 9-0-5 since Arena’s return, winning home qualifiers against Honduras and Trinidad and gaining draws at Panama and Mexico.
Christian Pulisic, the Americans’ emerging 18-year-old star, had the best U.S. scoring chance in the 67th minute but was denied by goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who batted the ball with his right hand off his right foot, and it was cleared to safety. Navas then made a sliding stop on Altidore just before Urena’s second goal.
“He had a tough game today and obviously they paid a lot of attention to him,” Arena said of Pulisic. “I think he got a little frustrated.”
Many Costa Rican fans were in the sellout crowd of 26,500 at Red Bull Arena for the first World Cup qualifier in the New York area, avoided in the past by the USSF as it sought overwhelmingly pro-American venues.
Arena repeatedly hectored Panamanian referee John Pitti, who did not call penalty kicks when Altidore was pushed to the ground in the first half and Clint Dempsey was knocked down in the second.
Desperate for a goal, Arena finished the match with four forwards after inserting Dempsey in the 65th minute and Jordan Morris in the 84th.
Costa Rica went ahead after Howard cleared the ball to past midfield and the Ticos won possession. With Ream and Cameron split wide, Costa Rica captain Bryan Ruiz played a through ball to Urena – the U.S. claimed Ruiz handled the ball before passing. Urena took several touches to get around Ream and from a wide angle spotted Howard committing to his left to defend his near post. Urena slotted the ball to the far post, past the goalkeeper’s outstretched right arm.
“I was worried about him slotting it to the near post,” Howard said.
Ream, taking over from injured John Brooks, was paired with Cameron in central defense for the first time. Just before the goal, Arena slapped his arms in disgust when Ream played the ball back to Howard rather than advance it upfield.
“We got split there, our center backs, which shouldn’t happen,” Arena said.
Cameron’s gaffe led to Urena’s 13th goal in 56 international appearances. The U.S. quickly turned its attention to Tuesday.
“We’ll have to go to Honduras now and win,” midfielder Alejandro Bedoya said. “There’s no question about that.”
It was just the Americans’ third home loss in qualifying since 1985 — and came 16 years to the day the U.S. and Arena lost, 3-2, to Honduras at Washington’s RFK Stadium.
“We’ll take a day to reflect on this,” Arena said. “Clearly, walking away with zero points tonight is very disappointing.
“We lost to a team that played better than us tonight. … We had a couple plays at 1-0 where we had to put the ball in the back of the net and we didn’t do it.”
This is the second time the Americans have lost a home World Cup qualifier by multiple goals. The other time was in 1957 against Mexico.
Honduras won, 2-1, at Trinidad, getting goals from Alexander Lopez in the seventh minute and Alberth Elis in the 17th. Joevin Jones converted a penalty kick for the hosts in 67th after a foul by Catrachos left back Emilio Izaguirre, who received his second yellow card and was ejected. … Hirving Lozano scored in the 58th minute for host Mexico in its 1-0 victory over Panama.
Same. #USMNT pic.twitter.com/4mxO3mvxhf
— The American Outlaws (@AmericanOutlaws) September 2, 2017
Dodgers’ bullpen loses another late lead on a soggy day in Philadelphia
Angels blown out by Astros on off night for Felix Peña
Angels’ Noe Ramirez and Brad Ausmus suspended after Astros’ Jake Marisnick is plunked
Two horses die at Del Mar after head-on collision
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For the first time, complete access has been granted to the Mark Shaw Photographic Archive. Reel Art Press expands Shaw’s classic 1964 work, The John F. Kennedys: A Family Album.
Mark Shaw first met the charismatic young Massachusetts Senator and his elegant wife in 1959 when he photographed them for Life magazine. A close friendship and bond developed which allowed him extraordinary and informal access to the Kennedy family.
During the following four years, Shaw captured them at their most relaxed: in Nantucket, Hyannis Port, Jacqueline's family home in Merrywood, Virginia and on The Amalfi Coast with the Agnellis. On the campaign trail in West Virginia, where they felt overwhelmed by kindness, pre-White House at their first proper family home in Georgetown and at the star-studded inauguration gala.
Among the most memorable photographs must be the image that was JFK’s personal favourite; the photograph he told his family and friends he liked best. Perhaps somewhat poignantly, as the 60th anniversary of the assassination approaches, it is the image of Kennedy walking alone in the sand dunes at Hyannis Port which resonates, alongside a later iconic and moving image of the rider-less horse and the fallen leader’s reversed riding boots.
Shaw had earlier taken a series of natural, exuberant photographs of Jacqueline and John John and her personal note to thank him conveys just how much they meant to her, as she compared Shaw to a modern day Caravaggio and vowed to treasure them always.
No doubt she did just that. So many unseen images in this stunning 288-page book capture Jacqueline Kennedy carefree, barefoot, laughing and playing on the beach or in the house with her children. Accompanying text from the Special Agent assigned to protect Jacqueline, Clint Hill, opens a section dedicated to the ‘fifty mile hike’, which was the result of a wager between President Kennedy and his closest friends. There are some surprises here too, as few photographs of the infamous Dr. Feelgood have survived, but it is perhaps the sombre photographs from a rainy November evening that will haunt the reader.
Mark Shaw was one of the greatest fashion and editorial photographers of the 1950s and 1960s, renowned for his photographs of the Kennedys and for his fashion work. He was the first photographer to shoot backstage and in colour at the couture shows and his Vanity Fair lingerie campaign remains landmark.
La Lettre de la Photographie
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Reid Lee
Silk City & Dua Lipa - "Electricity"
July 16, 2019 / Reid Lee
A SuperDuo formed by Mark Ronson & Diplo, Silk City is already sizzling up the charts.
On January 2, 2018, American DJ and record producer, Diplo, and English-American musician, DJ, songwriter and record producer, Mark Ronson, announced a new project entitled, Silk City. The duo released their debut single "Only Can Get Better" featuring Daniel Merriweather on May 25, 2018. Their second single, "Feel About You" featuring Mapei, was released on July 20, 2018. The duo's third single, "Loud", saw Diplo reunite with previous collaborators GoldLink and Desiigner.
Their fourth and most recent single features British singer, songwriter Dua Lipa, called "Electricity", and was released on September 6, 2018. The seductive and striking music video was released on the same day.
So let’s have a bop and get charged up. Summer is in full swing babies, so let’s soak it up.
So today, with sweat dripping down my chest, I choose Silk City & Dua Lipa’s “Electricity” as my, danger - high voltage, charge me up, burn it out, song for a, sizzle on your skin, glitter in your hair, charmed and challenging all at once, Tuesday.
Emily King - "Marigolds"
She started her career in 2004 and her debut album East Side Story was released three years later in August 2007. In December 2007, King was listed as a Grammy nominee for Best Contemporary R&B Album.
Before she was born, Emily King's future parents made a pact: The two musicians vowed that if they started a family, they wouldn't give up music in favor of a more secure career. When King was a child in New York City, she lived happily with the consequences of that commitment. There was never much money, but there was always music, and she could tell early on that she, too, would become a musician. Since then, King has lived on the long tail of that commitment. She caught an early break when she signed to Clive Davis' J Records, but the label soon dropped her, spurring King to release an album and EP on her own. That path has led her to Scenery, her first album for the independent ATO label.
Scenery is a culmination for King and producing partner Jeremy Most. The two are perfectionists, and Scenery is a precise-yet-fluid blend of '80s pop and rock, contemporary R&B and light jazz touches that, together, reveal a starry-eyed earnestness. Most is a gifted producer who can bend limited means to full effect. He creates flawless orchestral segments from manipulated samples and the feeling of live drumming from his drum-machine programming. King contributes beautiful acoustic guitar work to songs like the gentle "Marigold," but her greatest strength as a performer is her voice.
She sings just above a whisper, rhythmic and insistent, as if she doesn't wish to jolt you, but also wouldn't mind if you danced. There's a trace of Michael Jackson in how King punctuates her phrases; in songs like "2nd Guess" and "Can't Hold Me," even the ends of her words mark the beat with a precisely articulated consonant or sharp breath. King has described her music in terms of '80s cinema, and it conjures the films of John Hughes, especially. That's due in part to her and Most's penchant for the Juno-60 and Juno-106 synthesizers, the hopeful, crepuscular tones of which will forever signify that era's romantic American visions. But there's an emotional kinship, too. Many of Hughes' best movies are coming-of-age films, and the bittersweet question they pose is whether anything will ever again feel as powerful as it does when we're young.
So today, with gold petals falling in my hair, I choose Emily King’s “Marigolds” as my, find your own treasures, hard won miracles, little prayers, song for a, stand together, hold on with love, let go with love, Monday.
Miley Cyrus - "The Most"
I can say that, honestly, I’ve never been a fan of Miley Cyrus’ music. She’s had some bangers and she has certainly had some hits, but I’ve always felt that there was some pandering, and some projection going on. Maybe I’m wrong, I could be, I don’t know what it’s like to be the child star of an adult star, but I was did not gravitate to her aggressive teenage years where she was shaking off the mantle of Hannah Montana.
After becoming an overnight sensation in 2006 as the lead of the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus soon established herself as a pop star in her own right. Thanks in part to Hannah, she became the youngest performer to have four number one albums on the Billboard 200 Albums chart when she was just 16. Though early albums like 2008's Breakout maintained her popularity, Cyrusrevealed more of her own voice with the 2009 single "Party in the U.S.A." from her EP The Time of Our Lives. She furthered her reputation as a freewheeling, sometimes controversial artist with 2013's hip-hop-influenced Bangerz, added trippy pop to her repertoire with 2015's Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, and touched on her country music heritage with 2017's Younger Now. By the time of her 2019 EPs -- which included She Is Coming -- Cyrus proved she could mix and match all of these styles with abandon.
She found of way of taking all the styles she’d been given, blending them together, and coming out the other side with something original. She’s certainly blossoming now, and finding herself and her music in the center of an incredible moment. I’m happy to see her transforming into a more mature artist. She’s already speaking with a stronger more authentic artistic voice, and to me, that is the most interesting thing an artist can do.
So today, with a little more care and a little less who cares, I choose Miley Cyrus’ "The Most" as my, love you more, work a little harder, swing a little deeper, song for a, find the sound, hear the voice, make the music, Friday.
Gioachino Rossini & Marilyn Horne - "L'italiana in Algeri"
L'Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice on 22 May 1813. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies.
Rossini wrote L'Italiana in Algeri when he was 21. Rossini stated that he composed the opera in 18 days, though other sources claim that it took him 27 days. Rossini entrusted the composition of the recitatives as well as the aria "Le femmine d'Italia" to an unknown collaborator. The opera is notable for Rossini's mixing of opera seria style with opera buffa. The overture is widely recorded and performed today, known for its distinct opening of slow, quiet pizzicato basses, leading to a sudden loud burst of sound from the full orchestra. This "surprise" reflects Rossini's early admiration for Joseph Haydn, whose Symphony No. 94 in G major, "The Surprise Symphony", is so named for the same shocking and semi-comic effect.
The work was first performed at the Teatro San Benedetto, Venice on 22 May 1813. It was a notable success and Rossini made progressive changes to the work for later performances in Vicenza, Milan and Naples, during the following two years.
The opera was first presented in London at His Majesty's Theatre on 28 January 1819 and on 5 November 1832 in New York. It fell somewhat out of favour as the 19th Century progressed, but notable performances were presented from the 1920s in "Turin (1925), Rome (1927) and London (1935)" and it has been revived frequently since World War II with many successful productions. In the 21st century, Rossini’s opera continues to be performed regularly. One of the most noted productions was the Metropolitan Opera House with Levine as the conductor and Marilyn Horne as the Lead. It was incredible
Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts (1992) and the Kennedy Center Honors (1995). She has won four Grammy Awards.
For many years, Horne was associated with the Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland in their performances of the bel canto repertoire. They first performed together in a concert version of Vincenzo Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda at The Town Hall in Manhattan in February 1961. This performance was so successful, it was repeated twice at Carnegie Hall. In 1965, they were paired again in a performance of Rossini's Semiramide with the Opera Company of Boston, and sang in a joint concert on October 15, 1979, which was telecast as "Live from Lincoln Center".
Horne made her debut at the Royal Opera House in October 1964 as Marie in Wozzeck. Her La Scala debut was as Jocasta in Stravinsky's opéra-oratorio Œdipus rex on March 13, 1969. Another of Horne's breakthroughs occurred that same year during a performance of Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe at La Scala, when Horne received a remarkable mid-act seven-minute ovation.[citation needed] Horne made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 as Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma with Sutherland in the title role. She thereafter appeared regularly at the Met, opening the 1972/1973 season as Carmen. A great success there was in Meyerbeer's Le prophète, in John Dexter's production. In 1984, she sang the title role of Handel's opera seria Rinaldo (directed by Frank Corsaro), the first Handel opera ever performed at the Met.
Although best known for her bel canto and opera seria roles, Horne also sang much American music, both contemporary music by composers such as William Bolcom, and traditional popular songs. She can be heard on the soundtrack of the 1961 film Flower Drum Song singing "Love, Look Away" and she sang the role of Lady Thiang on the Philips recording of The King and I starring Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley. She had previously sung in the women's chorus for the 1956 film version of The King and I.
Horne was married from 1960 to 1979 (separated 1974) to the conductor Henry Lewis, with whom she maintained a home in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles for many years, and with whom she had a daughter, Angela. Horne's mother initially had misgivings that the interracial marriage would have a negative impact on Horne's career, saying, "Be his mistress, for God's sake, not his wife", but soon reconciled with the couple.
In 1983, she published (with co-writer Jane Scovell) a candid autobiography, My Life, and a continuation volume, Marilyn Horne, The Song Continues, appeared in 2004.
Horne received many honors during her career. A New York Times article by Robert Jacobson, editor of Opera News, in celebration of the Met's 100th anniversary in 1983, listed the hundred greatest singers who had ever performed at the house and included Horne, the only one still actively singing at the time. She was awarded Yale University's Sanford Medal.
So today, with beauty of tone all around me, I choose Gioachino Rossini’s "L'italiana in Algeri" featuring Marilyn Horne as my light up the sky, let your eyes be lanterns, let your voice be a beacon, song for a, breath in beauty, find your footing, step carefully, Thursday.
Taylor Swift - "You Need To Calm Down"
Some people have hated on it, but I ask them, how much have you done for the LGBTQ+ community? This song is a bop, and the video has a TON of LGBTQ+ icons in it. It makes me proud and grateful for incredible allies. Thanks Taylor.
So today, with an Mmbop in my head, I choose Taylor Swift’s "You Need To Calm Down" as my laugh it off, change your attitude, get off my gown, song for a, 13 days away, little songs in my heart, here’s to hoping for more beauty in the world Wednesday.
The Cowboy Junkies - "Sweet Jane"
Some days you just need a little classic cool. Today these bandits came on the radio and I was instantly relaxed. They have a certain kind of magic that was only around for those 80’s outsiders.
So today, with chill down my back, I choose The Cowboy Junkies’ "Sweet Jane" as my, sweet ride, slow slide, fall in sweetly by your side, song for a, hold your breath, make a wish, say a little prayer, Tuesday.
The Staves - "Jolene (Ray LaMontagne Cover)"
Somewhere between HAIM and First Aid Kit, these three sisters have found that magical balance between beauty, pain, and symmetry. Their voices braiding into each other like strands of silver, gold, and copper, they find a way to tell a story that is unique and universal all at once.
Originally from Watford, Hertfordshire, England and began performing together at open-mic nights in Watford hosted by a local pub, The Horns. Originally performing as The Staveley-Taylors, the trio later changed their name to The Staves.
The sisters learned to play guitar from their father while growing up in Watford. As children, they aspired to create a sketch comedy television programme together. They enjoy Guinness and are vocal in challenging tropes about sensitive wilderness-bound artists that dominate modern folk music culture.
They’ve worked with Bon Iver, opened for the Civil Wars, had successful runs at SXSW and in international tours. I’m a newbie to their sound, but immediately fell in love.
So today, with a few days’ rest, I choose The Staves version of "Jolene” by Ray LaMontagne as my, change what you can, accept what you can not, look inward first, song for a, believe the beauty to be true, hold out for hope, expect the best is coming down the line, Monday.
Al Green - "Let's Stay Together"
The silky vocals of Al Green were made from rugged soul blending with Motown polish. Whether Green is crooning to seduce, lament or celebrate, he holds nothing back. The raw power of his voice has carried him from decade to decade and genre to genre in a career that remains robust to this day.
With his incomparable voice, full of falsetto swoops and nuanced turns of phrase, Al Green rose to prominence in the Seventies.
One of the most gifted purveyors of soul music, Green has sold more than 20 million records. During 1972 and 1973, he placed six consecutive singles in the Top 10: “Let’s Stay Together,” “Look What You Done for Me,” “I’m Still in Love With You,” “You Ought to Be With Me,” “Call Me” and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me).”
“Let’s Stay Together” topped the pop chart for one week and the R&B charts for nine; it was also revived with great success by Tina Turner in 1984. In terms of popularity and artistry, Green was the top male soul singer in the world, voluntarily ending his reign with a move from secular to gospel music in 1979.
Beyond his chart-making abilities, Green set a new standard for soul music and essentially created a new kind of soul—one that combined the gritty, down-home sensibility of the Memphis based Stax-Volt sound with the polished, sweeter delivery of Motown. Over a fat, funky bottom, Green’s subtle and inventive voice would soar into falsetto range with beguiling ease. His finest recordings showcase a penchant for jazzy filigree and soulful possession rivaled only by the likes of Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin. They also are the products of teamwork, as Green benefited immensely from a longstanding association with producer Willie Mitchell and the house band at Hi Records.
Green was born on an Arkansas farm in 1946 and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He sang gospel with the Greene Brothers, a family quartet, and belonged to the Creations and the Soul Mates in the Sixties. In 1967, Al Green and the Soul Mates had a Number Five R&B hit with “Back Up Train.” In terms of influences, “I was raised on the sound of Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers,” Green has said. A fateful crossing of paths between Green and Willie Mitchell in Texas, where both were performing, resulted in Green’s signing to Memphis-based Hi Records in 1969. Mitchell produced Green’s recordings and co-wrote material with him for the next eight years. It was a fruitful association that yielded high-quality albums (such as I’m Still in Love With You, 1972 and Call Me, 1973), as well as thirteen Top 40 hits that helped keep the sound of soul pure and alive in the Seventies.
Mitchell cut Green’s groove-oriented records at his Royal Recording Studio, a converted movie theater in downtown Memphis. Essential components of Green and Mitchell’s mix of silky ballads and bouncy funk included the Hi Records studio band: guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, bassist Leroy Hodges, keyboardist Charles Hodges and drummer Howard Grimes. In addition, drummer Al Jackson (of Booker T. and the M.G.’s) co-wrote and played on many of Green’s biggest hits. Strings, horns and backup singers added to the intricate tapestry. But it was Green’s light, skillful touch as a vocalist that made it all work so well.
Green’s breakthrough came in 1971 with “Tired of Being Alone” (Number Seven R&B, Number Eleven pop). A slew of hits followed, keeping Green in the Top 40 (and often the Top 10) through 1976. His consistent quality and flawless phrasing prompted music critic Robert Christgau to pronounce him among “the half dozen prime geniuses of soul.” His peak work as an R&B master is contained on a string of hit-filled albums released in the early Seventies: Al Green Gets Next to You (1971), I’m Still In Love With You (1972), Let’s Stay Together (1972), Call Me (1973) and Livin’ for You (1973).
With The Belle Album (1977), Green made an overt turn toward religious themes. The album was self-produced, as Mitchell amicably parted ways with Green over his turn to gospel. The 12th album of his career, it was “the most important release of my life,” according to Green in his autobiography, Take Me to the River. He elaborated, “God had called me to a higher place, turned me away from earthly to heavenly love, and while it hurt to say it, I had to leave the sensual for the spiritual.”
During the Eighties, Green recorded inspirational music for the Myrrh label while serving as pastor at a church he founded. The Nineties found him returning to his soul roots from time to time, yet to this day he remains primarily a singer and preacher of the gospel. On most Sundays, Green occupies the pulpit at Full Gospel Tabernacle Church on Hale Road in Memphis. The public is welcome to witness Green’s sermons, which are no less full of fire and feeling than the flood of singles that set the standard for soul in the Seventies.
So today, with my toes a’ tappin’ and my fingers a’ snappin’, I choose Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” as my , put your heart into it, fill it with soul, make magic from your passion, song for a, remember why you started, look to the past to build a future, find joy in the mundane, Wednesday.
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Home > News > Publisher News
Mud Luscious Press Closes Its Doors
By Claire Kirch |
Mud Luscious Press, a small press in Fort Collins, Colo., founded by J.A. Tyler in 2007 to publish "raw and aggressive works by writers unafraid to destroy and re-suture words,” shut down its operations Monday. Tyler, the founding editor, announced on the press’s website that the move was made “in equal parts failure, defeat, and sadness.”
“This decision wasn't made lightly,” Tyler wrote on Mud Luscious Press’s Facebook page, which filled up yesterday with posts from mourning small press fans. He then added: “But suffice it to say, the time has come to shut it down.”
Tyler told PW that Mud Luscious books were selling “unexpectedly well” to the point that producing and promoting them was “stealing from the future budget" and creating a "financial shortfall."
“I never entered it as a business,” Tyler said. ”I entered it as an artist. And it grew too fast.”
Mud Luscious, which typically published four titles each season, including Cataclysm Baby by Matt Bell (2012), and, most recently, Michael Kimball Writes Your Life Story (on a postcard) by Michael Kimball (Feb.) was distributed by Small Press Distribution. Its titles are still available through SPD, as well as from Amazon.com and Powell’s Books.
“Hopefully,” Tyler told PW last night, “We can get a lot of these books to other publishers to be reissued.”
While Nephew, a Mud Luscious imprint, which published 3-5 titles each year, has also shut down operations, Blue Square Press, another imprint, which was launched by Ben Spivey and David Peak in 2010, intends to continue publishing. Blue Square publishes 2-3 “experimental” titles each year.
“We were an independent press before becoming a Mud Luscious imprint,” Spivey told PW yesterday evening, “We’ll become an independent press again.”
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No Gods / No Managers (1999)
Reviewer The_stick
Who ever bought the Compilation "give 'em the boot" from Hellcat Records, may have been in for a shock; not a lot of punk rock.
However track 18 by Choking Victim, INFESTED, was somewhat of an unreal song, in gods eyes. You can't really sing along to this because no one in the world has a voice like that of CV. it actually sounds like a Choking Victim, and it is so good, I think I love it.
The only full length album these guys produced, No Gods / No Manners, is just as awesome. the title track 500 Channels, should really be the Earths International Anthem, and should be sung at least 5 times daily. other songs that are just as good, In my grave, Fucked Reality, In hell, Five Finger Discount, are godsent, to stimulate ones ears. Not one song sounds the same, each so unique and beautiful with a blend of punk, ska, and reggae, but at the same time so dark and gothic, probably to illustrate their religious views. but all in all each song is a hymn of enlightenment.
Any true punk rocking idiot, would love and cherrish this album, and treat it like it were their own child, get it now, or you will be sorry when you finally do that you didnt listen to me when i said get it now....
Weezer: The Green Album
Sublime: 40 oz. to Freedom
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I Am Ghost
Lovers' Requiem (2006)
Reviewer Ben_Conoley
December 1st 2006
Attention I Am Ghost: wanting to do something grand should never be confused with being able to do something grand. Touted by Epitaph as "a cinematic tale of monumental proportions," and described by vocalist Steven Juliano as "essentially a rock opera but for hardcore or goth kids," the Long Beach six-piece's debut full-length is nothing more than a self-obsessed dose of "more of the same."
Continuing with the status quo, Lovers' Requiem throws together equal parts new era-screamo and metal while touching on punk and hardcore. These boys can play their instruments, and their arrangements are sometimes impressive. Then again, you could walk out on any high school parking lot at lunch and throw together a top-of-the-line band just like them.
Lovers' Requiem is largely par for the course with what can be expected from a Johnny-come-screamo band signed out of nowhere. They've got screaming and singing, hardcore breakdowns and melodic intros, heavy metal licks and chugga-chugga guitars. You've heard most of the elements of this album before.
I Am Ghost sets themselves apart slightly with heavy use of both violins and keyboards. I suppose this is what they were getting at when they started throwing around "cinematic" and "opera" (by the way, has anyone ever actually seen an opera movie? "Phantom" doesn't count). To their credit, these elements do add a fair bit of expansion to an otherwise generic sound, and coupled with proper production, the songs do sometimes attain the mature proportions the band seems to be aiming for.
Nevertheless, there's a market for I Am Ghost, and they're certainly going to appeal to that market. I can't say I want anything to do with this market or am able to identify with it in any way, but it's still there. If this is what the kids want, then it's what the kids are going to get. Epitaph clearly knows this and is why the label has stayed profitable despite loss of credibility.
But here's what I'm trying to get at -- you can't just call yourself important and have it be so. Name one album in the last ten years that claimed immortality through the gate. Limp Bizkit? No deal. Important albums become so over time, not from day one. Let's get over ourselves and focus on making a good album rather than a huge impact fellas; reputation should never precede action.
Palehorse: Amongst the Flock
Killswitch Engage: As Daylight Dies
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Illustrated by Jon Gray
A Sense of Direction
Gideon Lewis-Kraus
A young secular writer’s journey along ancient religious pilgrimage routes in Spain, Japan and Ukraine leads to a surprise family reconciliation in this literary memoir
Gideon Lewis-Kraus arrived in free-spirited Berlin from San Francisco as a young writer in search of a place to enjoy life to the fullest, and to forget the pain his father, a gay rabbi, had caused his family when he came out in middle age and emotionally abandoned his sons.
But Berlin offers only unfocused dissipation, frustration and anxiety; to find what he is looking for (though he’s not quite sure what it is), Gideon undertakes three separate ancient pilgrimages, travelling hundreds of miles: the thousand-year old Camino de Santiago in Spain with a friend, a solo circuit of eighty-eight Buddhist temples on the Japanese island of Shikoku, and finally, with his father and brother, a migration to the tomb of a famous Hassidic mystic in the Ukraine.
It is on this last pilgrimage that Gideon reconnects with his father, and discovers that the most difficult and meaningful quest of all was the journey of his heart.
A beautifully written, throught-provoking, and very moving meditation on what gives our lives a sense of purpose, and how we travel between past and present in search of hope for our future.
“Beautiful, often very funny… a story that is both searching and purposeful, one that forces the reader, like the pilgrim, to value the journey as much as the destination.” New Yorker
“If David Foster Wallace had written Eat, Pray, Love it might have come close to approximating the adventures of Gideon Lewis-Kraus” Gary Shteyngart
“Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written a very honest, very smart, very moving book about being young and rootless and even wayward. With great compassion and zeal he gets at the question: why search the world to solve the riddle of your own heart?” Dave Eggers
Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written for numerous US publications, including Harper’s, The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Slate and others. A 2007-08 Fulbright scholarship brought him to Berlin, a hotbed of contemporary restlessness where he conceived this book. He now lives in New York, but continues to find himself frequently on the road to other places.
Abel’s Island
Love in a Bottle
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ExploreAustraliaNew South WalesSydneyNew Exhibition Explores the Life and Work of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
New Exhibition Explores the Life and Work of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
By Alex Greig - Online Writer
The eccentric couple were Mexican modernism’s most famous artists. Now some of their astonishing works are on display in Sydney for the first time.
Diego Rivera said of his first meeting with Frida Kahlo, “I did not know it then, but Frida had already become the most important fact in my life. And she would continue to be, up to the moment she died.” The tempestuous relationship between the artists forms the basis for a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection considers the work of Kahlo and Rivera through the prism of their 25-year union.
The biographical exhibition explores the art and relationship of these two giants of Mexican modernism and includes paintings by both artists, photographs of the couple, short films and personal letters.
SEE ALSO: MoMA Is Coming to Melbourne with 150 Modern Masterpieces
The pair met when Kahlo was a 15-year-old student at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City. Rivera, then 36 and already a celebrated artist, was engaged to paint a mural on the walls of the school. When they met again several years later, Kahlo had already been involved in the bus accident that would mar her health for the rest of her life. They married when she was 22, a union that her father likened to that of “an elephant marrying a dove”.
Photographer unknown, Frida and Diego with Fulang Chung 1937, gelatin silver print, 10.2 x 12.7 cm, Courtesy of Throckmorton Fine Art, Inc
Indeed, Rivera, with his hulking physical presence, thinning hair and pants belted high on his large belly, and Kahlo, with her dark looks, elaborately braided and decorated hair and petit frame did make an odd couple, especially considering their 21-year age difference.
Their marriage was the beginning of an obsessive, co-dependent union that didn’t end, even with their 1939 divorce after Rivera had an affair with Kahlo’s younger sister Cristina. The couple remarried a year later in San Francisco on Rivero’s 54th birthday.
Their fierce artistic and emotional connection was the basis for much of Kahlo’s self-reflective work. Surprisingly, the Gelman Collection is one of few exhibitions that have sought to juxtapose Kahlo’s and Rivera’s works. This is due to the difference in their subject matter – she explored her own identity while his enormous murals were concerned with social and political issues (particularly communism). However, their shared life and the dialogue that passed between them means that their works reflected on common themes and events.
Frida Kahlo, The bride who becomes frightened when she sees life opened 1943, oil on canvas, 63 x 81.5 cm, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art, © 2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF
Natasha and Jacques Gelman met in Mexico City and married in 1941, both refugees from World War II in Europe. They settled happily into the vibrant Mexico City of the 1940s and were enthusiastic collectors of Mexican art. They became close friends and patrons of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, though as two portraits of Natasha Gelman in the exhibition indicate, it may initially have been somewhat fractious. In Rivera’s portrait, Gelman is depicted as a glamorous blonde reclining on a chaise surrounded by lilies with much leg on display. It’s possible Kahlo did not approve of this depiction. Her own painting of Natasha Gelman depicts her as decidedly frumpy and dour, with two well-placed curls on either side of her head that could, with a little imagination, resemble devil’s horns.
The exhibition contains 33 paintings by the couple, including 10 of Kahlo’s best-known works, as well as three short films and 57 photographs. The paintings hung in the Gelman’s house in Cuernavaca until Natasha Gelman passed away at 86 in 1998. Her husband had passed in 1986.
Frida Kahlo, Diego on my mind (Self-portrait as Tehuana) 1943, oil on masonite, 76 x 61 cm, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art, © 2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF
The collection of intimate photographs, taken by various photographers including Kahlo’s own father, has never been seen in Australia before.
The artists’ voices are heard throughout the exhibition, with quotes – often poetic and frequently funny – scattered among the artworks. One that seems to sum up the intensity of their relationship and their art is from Kahlo:
“I have suffered two grave accidents in my life, one in which a streetcar knocked me down… the other accident is Diego.”
Pictured at top: Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait with monkeys 1943 oil on canvas, 81.5 x 63 cm, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art, © 2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico DF
SEE ALSO: Adelaide's New Museum is Fine Art Heaven
Esquire Drink + Dine – Restaurant Review
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Kitchen By Mike – Restaurant Review
We’ve Found the Best Eats in Parramatta
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The Great Shoots (3rd Edition)
Now in its Third Edition, this book continues to be unique in the history of sporting literature: the first and only one ever to embark on a comprehensive survey of the gameshooting scene both as it was and as it stands today.
Now in its Third Edition, this book continues to be unique in the history of sporting literature: the first and only one ever to embark on a comprehensive survey of the gameshooting scene both as it was and as it stands today. In this new and revised edition the fascinating story is brought right up to date. Many of the shoots chosen are owned by the rich and famous, and Brian Martin here provides a rare insight into their social lives; providing fascinating comment on their own estates and on shooting generally.
Before detailing the history and present sport of each estate, region by region, the author sets the scene by outlining the history of gameshooting in Britain: the changing attitude of society; how economics have played an increasingly important part; how the popular press has perpetuated an often inaccurate image, how technical developments have shaped both gunmaking and game rearing; and much more. The inter-relationship between shooting and conservation, and the important contribution to the general welfare of our flora and fauna by the overwhelming majority of shoot proprietors, are given special attention.
This superb volume has become the established celebration of the gameshooting world today.
Brian P. Martin is among Britain's most successful country and natural history writers. He has written over twenty-five books to date, including the bestselling Tales of the Old Gamekeepers. Brian has contributed to numerous magazines including his weekly column Rusticus which ran in the Shooting Times and The Countryman.
Britain's finest shooting estates - past and present
Brian P. Martin
288pages, 280 x 280mm
Colour photographs
'The Great Shoots is an impressive book to behold whether taking pride of place on a drawing room coffee table, or standing proud on a den library shelf... [it] would be a welcome addition to the libraries of game shots worldwide.' — Gary Creighton, British Country Sports
'The third edition of The Great Shoots is bigger and better than ever. Brian P. Martin has amassed over 275 pages of game shooting history, anecdotes and photography that will elevate the stature of any bookshelf. An ever better read if you've been lucky enough to visit some of the estates listed. More than a few for the bucket list can be found within.' — Shooting Gazette
'This is a beautiful and thoroughly researched book with a proper sense of history mixed with a clear understanding of the changing nature of shooting sports. It gives an insight into a past-time that remains important in much of the rural Westcountry.' — Philip Bowern, Western Morning News
'This is a sumptuous book that you can dip in and out of, filled with nostalgia and great photography and has become an established authority of the gameshooting world today.' — Martin Stanhope, NFU Countryside
'As well as being an informative and interesting read, looking at both the historical and current shooting scene on a number of top estates, The Great Shoots could also be described as a coffee table book. It will, no doubt, grace many a shoot lodge and gun room for the casual reader to dip in and out of. ' — BASC Magazine
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There is an Alternative to Neoliberalism – in Britain and Beyond
By Laurie Macfarlane, originally published by openDemocracy
Laurie Macfarlane introduces ‘New Thinking for the British Economy’ – openDemocracy’s new eBook outlining a new economic agenda for Britain.
Western political economy is in a period of upheaval. Neoliberalism – the set of economic ideas and policies that have dominated politics for the past 40 years – is rapidly losing legitimacy in the face of multiple crises: stagnant or falling living standards, sharply rising inequality of income and wealth, financial fragility and environmental breakdown.
The Global Financial Crisis of 2007/08 brought an end to the so-called ‘Great Moderation’ – the period of relative economic stability since the 1980s – and laid bare the underlying weaknesses of free market orthodoxy. The impact of the crisis, and the austerity policies that followed, have fractured the political argument in many countries, contributing to a series of political shocks across Britain, the USA and Europe. At the same time, the economics profession has entered a period of intellectual upheaval. Student-led campaigns for more pluralist economic teaching in universities have gained momentum, while increasing numbers of economists and commentators – including those in mainstream institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – acknowledge the shortcomings of orthodox economic ideas.
Political economic paradigms do not last forever. In the past century, Western political economy has experienced two major shifts from one paradigm to another: firstly from laissez-faire to the post-war consensus after the Great Depression of the 1930s, and secondly from the post-war consensus to neoliberalism in the 1980s. The evident failings of our present economic system, and the growing political mobilisation for change, suggest that we may be on the cusp of another major shift in economic thinking and policy. At this critical juncture, new ideas about the kind of society we want to live in, and the future we want to see, are needed more than ever.
‘New Thinking for the British Economy’ – a new eBook published today by openDemocracy – brings together leading thinkers to outline the broad pillars of a new post-neoliberal agenda, and the type of policies that are needed to get us there. While there are matters for continued contestation, it is clear that a consensus on the broad outlines of a new political economy are beginning to emerge. This is an economy that embodies in its basic institutional structures the foundational principles of democracy, equality, subsidiarity, resilience and sustainability. This more democratic economy is inclusive and participatory, pays attention to matters of scale and decentralisation, and is plural, allowing for the innovation of new economic forms and approaches at different levels. It involves building new, democratic models of ownership and control of key resources and decision-making across the economy. This new economy is also radically green and sustainable, living safely within ecological limits and boundaries. It is informed by a politics and ideology that leans towards the pragmatic and practical, with a strong non-sectarian solutions-orientation.
While debate around ‘the economy’ is often limited to areas of policy that involve monetary exchange, the question of who gets what and why is inherently political, and therefore requires a much deeper of analysis of where power lies in our society. For this reason, the book explores a range of areas that are not typically considered to be within the sphere of economic policy but which nonetheless play a critical role shaping our political economy – such as the media, our care systems, racial inequalities and our constitutional arrangements – as well as more traditional policy areas such as trade, finance, housing and industrial policy. The authors also grapple with strategic questions relating to how to turn these new ideas into reality, such as the ‘critical paths’ needed to create the space for further change; the power dynamics of building new institutions and displacing entrenched vested interests; the tensions and debates that remain on questions of policy; and the intellectual or policy development gaps that need to be filled.
This weekend thousands of people will gather in Liverpool for The World Transformed – a 4-day festival of politics, arts and music – to debate and discuss how to create a better world. openDemocracy has teamed up with Commonwealth Publishing and the Democracy Collaborative to produce limited edition hard copies of each chapter, which will be available to purchase for £1.
The project to build a new economy is not merely an intellectual endeavour. Rising temperatures, collapsing biodiversity, depleting natural resources and growing resentment towards an economic system that is widely perceived to be unfair all mean that maintaining the status quo is simply not an option. The question is what comes next. We hope this volume serves as an important contribution to this debate.
Click here to download a free electronic copy of ‘New Thinking for the British Economy’. Hard copies of each chapter can also be purchased for £1 via Commonwealth Publishing and the Democracy Collaborative. If you would like to order physical copies, and inquire about organising author events, please contact Dan Hind or visit the Commonwealth Publishing website – www.commonwealth-publishing.com
Tags: alternatives to neoliberalism, building resilient societies, new economy
Laurie Macfarlane
Laurie Macfarlane is currently economics editor for openDemocracyUK. Formerly senior economist at the New Economics Foundation, he focused his work on reforming the financial sector and the economy to align with the long-term interests of society. Macfarlane is co-author of the critically acclaimed book ‘Rethinking the economics of land and housing’ (February 2017), described by the Financial Times...
Joseph Martinez
I am a farmer. I value practical, common sense. The writers on Resilience.org have earned my trust. Keep at it. You are helping to create a sustainable future.
Development for the Many
By Laurie Macfarlane, originally published by Open Democracy
Why the Distribution of Wealth has More to Do with Power than Productivity
It’s Time to Call the Housing Crisis What it Really is: The Largest Transfer of Wealth in Living Memory
Ten Years after the Crash, is Civil Society Ready to Take on Big Finance?
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Aug - Sept 2007 Issue
What Trade Means to My State
By ripon_admin on November 9, 2015 with 0 Comments
by TIM PAWLENTY
Twenty-five years ago this October, something remarkable happened in Minnesota: two governors, each from his nation’s heartland, put their names to a document formalizing their friendship. One line bore the signature of Minnesota Governor Al Quie; the other, the signature of Yu Mingtao, governor of Shaanxi Province in the People’s Republic of China.
That ceremony in the fall of 1982 – a moment that would have been inconceivable just a decade earlier when President Richard Nixon paid his historic visit to the communist nation – went virtually unnoticed. Even the state’s largest newspaper relegated the event to a brief buried in its B-section.
The significance of that first official meeting between Minnesota and China may have been lost on many, but visionary political, business and education leaders knew exactly what it meant. Three years had passed since the United States normalized diplomatic relations with its former enemy and it wouldn’t be long before the door opened again to trade with the West.
A year later, another governor, Rudy Perpich, brought Minnesota’s first official delegation to China and the state opened an official trade office to help our companies do business in markets all over the world. And as China slowly began the economic reforms that laid the foundation for its economic success today, Minnesota companies were among the first to invest there.
For example, 3M was the first foreign company to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in China. Cargill also formed an investment company in Shanghai and was first to win approval to conduct business in China. And, Northwest Airlines was the first U.S. airline to provide non-stop air service between the United States and China.
By 1989, some 80 Minnesota companies were doing business in China. And today hundreds and hundreds of our small, midsized and large companies do business there, exporting more than $1.2 billion a year in manufactured goods.
…manufactured exports alone are responsible for nearly 111,000 jobs statewide. In fact, one in six manufacturing jobs in Minnesota is dependent on exports.
In 2005, I became the fourth Minnesota governor to lead an official delegation to China. Our delegation had more than 200 members, the largest such mission undertaken by any state. Each governor’s visit was historic in its own right. And each built upon the work of his predecessor, opening doors, building bridges, and strengthening ties.
Beyond that mission, my administration launched the Minnesota-China Partnership, a nationleading initiative that brings together public and private organizations throughout the state to promote all facets of Minnesota’s relationship with China.
Over the years, each time Minnesota has extended itself, China has responded enthusiastically. Cooperative partnerships between Minnesota and China abound in many areas. More than 25 government delegations have visited Minnesota in the past decade, including some of the most prominent and influential leaders in China. And earlier this year, Minnesota and China formalized an agreement to work together to stimulate two-way investment between Minnesota and China.
Of course, our trade relationships extend well beyond China, but I think our efforts there well illustrate the importance Minnesota places on international trade, as well as our commitment to cultivating international opportunities.
The year that the first Chinese delegation visited Minnesota, the state’s total manufactured exports to all foreign markets were less than $3 billion. In 2006, Minnesota companies exported more than $24 billion in manufactured goods, services and agricultural commodities to 205 foreign destinations.
Those foreign sales are an important part of our state’s economy – accounting for about 10 percent of our gross state product. They translate into thousands and thousands of good jobs and everything that goes with them – house payments, groceries, health care, vacations, college tuition, and retirement savings.
Between making, selling, and transporting goods to market, manufactured exports alone are responsible for nearly 111,000 jobs statewide. In fact, one in six manufacturing jobs in Minnesota is dependent on exports.
Governor Pawlenty meets with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi duing a trade mission to China in November 2005
The breadth of companies involved in international trade is amazing. A few examples:
Satellite Industries sells portable sanitation equipment in more than 80 countries and employs 58 people in Minnesota. Export sales, up 20 percent from a year ago, represent 28 percent of the company’s total annual revenues.
Capital Safety USA manufactures fall protection equipment, employing 280 people. The company’s international sales, up 91 percent in the past three years, account for 9 percent of the company’s annual revenue.
Digital River is a global leader in e-commerce products and services. It has six global data centers, displays in 18 languages, and transacts business in 27 currencies. International sales accounted for 41 percent of sales in 2006, up from about 24 percent in 2003. The company employs nearly 1,100 people in Minnesota and has major offices in Germany, England, Ireland, Luxembourg, Taiwan, and Japan, and customers in nearly every country across the globe.
Excalibur Sires provides artificial insemination products and services for the Jersey livestock market. With five full-time employees, the company markets its products and services in at least 12 countries. International sales account for 41 percent of total revenue. The company’s international sales have risen tenfold in the past two years.
Even when Minnesota companies buy foreign components it can create and save jobs here at home. Not long ago, the future was uncertain for a struggling Minnesota company that manufactures emergency lights for police cars and other vehicles. Lackluster sales and increased competition were starting to hurt.
Things turned around after the company found sources in China to build the components for an improved product line. Today, parts are shipped in and the finished products assembled in Minnesota. The company, which cut its costs in half, is now one of the largest in its industry.
The pocketbook impact of international trade in Minnesota is further magnified when you consider foreign direct investment in the state. Today, several hundred affiliates of foreign companies call Minnesota home, including China’s Laiwu Steel Group, India’s Suzlon Energy, and Denmark’s Coloplast, just to name a few. Foreign companies employ more than 83,000 people in Minnesota, an increase of 8 percent over the past five years.
The basic benefits of trade are the same for Minnesotans as all Americans: reduced prices for goods and services, boosted economic growth and well-being, enhanced productivity, and higher per capita income. But – much like Minnesota’s first meeting with the Chinese governor – the significance of trade goes unnoticed or unacknowledged by many people.
Like some of my predecessors, I’ve led several trade missions to established and emerging markets around the world. In late October, I’ll take a delegation of Minnesota business leaders on a trade mission to New Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai to explore opportunities in India.
The missions are important for promoting our export industries to new customers and the state as a great location for foreign direct investment. But they’re also important opportunities to remind Minnesotans of the stake they have in the global economy.
In a world where sales in Beijing and Chongqing, China, have a direct bearing on life in Alexandria and St. Paul, Minnesota, it’s a lesson we can’t afford to forget. RF
Tim Pawlenty is the Republican Governor of Minnesota. He also serves as Chairman of the National Governors Association.
The Coming Transition from Analog to Digital
Keeping America’s Food Supply Safe and Secure
DHS Report Card: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The President’s Vision for Global Trade
U.S. Trade Policy: Does it help or hinder U.S. business?
Doha Do or Die
What Trade Means to the American People
Dark Days Ahead?
Reflections from the Perot Campaign of 1992
Soft News, Hard Sell: Treating the audience as Consumers, not Citizens
Ripon Profile: Chalres Grassley
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View By Class
Induction Ceremony
Criteria For Selection
Tickets Membership
The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame is dedicated to fostering an appreciation for the role sports play in contributing to the quality of life in Riverside. The Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, athletic administrators, and community leaders who have brought fame or honor to the City of Riverside through their involvement in athletics. Furthermore, the Hall of Fame encourages participation in sports among young people by recognizing to Riverside student athletes with scholarships; sponsoring local athletic events; and providing sports-related clinics for the benefit of athletes, their coaches and parents.
The Hall of Fame recognizes those persons who have brought exceptional fame and honor to the City of Riverside through their participation in their chosen sport;
The Wall of Distinction recognizes those athletes, coaches and contributors who have excelled at a local, national or international level of competition;
The Annual Awards Dinner provides a venue to induct and publicly honor inductees into the Hall of Fame and other notable contributors to the Riverside sports scene.
Funding endeavors represent an ongoing effort to conduct activities that generate necessary funds to conduct the business of the association;
Membership activities seek to solicit new members while retaining our current membership. Members help support the mission of the Riverside Sport Hall of Fame. Every dollar collected in membership dues and all proceeds from events are returned to the community to support activities that help preserve and memorialize Riverside’s important sports history. Membership helps insure that the organization can continue to honor Riverside’s top student athletes annually in the Parade of Champions and with meaningful scholarships.
A Vision Is Realized
As its first chairperson, Dr. Chuck Kane would begin each Riverside Sport Hall of Fame committee meeting by requiring everyone in attendance to share one good piece of news with the rest of the group. It was a way to bring the group together, especially in its formative stages, but also a way to celebrate life. The meeting would start with smiles, laughs, congratulations and heartfelt responses. It is tradition that carries on today.
The effort to form a Hall of Fame to recognize Riverside’s rich athletic history dates to the late 1930s, and at least five other efforts were undertaken but fell short. The current effort gained momentum at the rededication ceremony of the Bobby Bonds Sports Complex in June 1999. With the support of the Riverside Parks and Recreation Department, the Riverside Sports Advisory Committee and numerous city leaders, in February 2001 the City Council appointed a task force to pursue a Hall of Fame. Dr. Kane, a former Riverside Community College president, was appointed its first chairperson. Under his direction, the group flourished. Its efforts resulted in a sold-out banquet to induct the inaugural class in May of 2003.
The Hall of Fame’s mission is to celebrate the achievements of athletes, coaches and contributors who have brought fame and honor to Riverside. Members of The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame come from the ranks of residents, former athletes, athletes, coaches of high school, college and other levels, administrators and athletic directors. In addition to the spring banquet, The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame every fall also honors individuals who have demonstrated excellence in sports on the Wall of Distinction. The Hall of Fame plaques and the Wall of Distinction are on display on the exterior of the Community Medical Group building at the corner of 14th Street and Magnolia Avenue. The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame display includes a plaque honoring Dr. Kane, who died in February of 2004. His vision and spirit will be remembered always. And that’s a piece of good news worth sharing.
In addition to the commemoration of our greatest sports heroes and supporters, The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame is committed to community outreach through education. In 2004, a very relevant seminar concerning the problem of “Steroids and Performance Enhancement Supplements” was presented by Ellen Coleman a renowned speaker, exercise physiologist and registered dietician and author of the book “Eating for Endurance”. Another great program was presented by Chris Carlisle, Head Strength coach from USC. His message to Riverside athletes articulated proper strength training technique. The talk concluded with an open invitation to some of the participants to observe a practice at USC. Both seminars were attended by coaches, parents and athletes and have been made available on The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame website for the benefit of all.
The ideas that were born of the efforts of Dr. Chuck Kane and his committee thrive today. Meetings will always begin with that good piece of news shared among dedicated volunteers who share the vision for The Riverside Sport Hall of Fame. And as Chuck wished, each year new, eager, young sports-minded citizens are brought onto the managing board to insure that the interest in recognizing excellence in Riverside sports continues for many years to come.
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Home Music Music News
April 7, 2016 2:32PM ET
The Dream Life of Rivers Cuomo
How fatherhood, Freudian therapy and Tinder helped the Weezer frontman find his groove
Erik Hedegaard
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Rivers Cuomo discusses his past romantic failures, his present marital bliss and how psychoanalysis informs Weezer's music.
Peter Yang
Rivers Cuomo is ambling through the shadows and light near the Hot Dog on a Stick stand close by the Santa Monica Pier, hands shoved into black skinny-type jeans, dark hoody covering a dark T-shirt, baseball cap worn brim forward, slender, on the very shortish side, and, unless you are an avid fan, hardly recognizable as the frontman for Weezer, Nineties nerd-rock giants, emo legends and purveyors of hook-filled whimsicalities such as “Undone — The Sweater Song,” “Buddy Holly” and “The Good Life” on the group’s first two records, the Blue Album and 1996’s more confessional Pinkerton. Thereafter, for the past two decades, the band has alternately hoped against hope to recapture that early magic and not given a hoot, all depending on the vagaries of the man in charge. He’s 45 now, married, has two kids, a daughter, 9, and a son, 3, who sleep on mats in the same room with him and his wife, because why should they not?
Weezer's Rivers Cuomo on Reviving the Spirit of the Nineties, Joining Tinder
Today, he woke up around seven, tried and failed to remember the night’s dreams, checked his e-mail to see if his manager had responded to a new song he’d sent him (featuring lines like “We’re all bisexual!”), and he had (“It’s crazy, maybe too crazy”), swung his pale, skinny legs out of bed, took a leak, went to the kitchen, sprinkled Starbucks’ Via instant coffee into a thermos, repaired to his humid, plant-filled garage studio, journaled stream-of-consciously for 25 minutes, meditated for an hour, ate his usual breakfast of nonfat Greek yogurt, a hard-boiled egg and some trail mix, after which he sat down to a small wooden box with a hole-filled maze on top of it. He dropped a small steel ball into the maze and used knobs to rotate the surface so that the ball traveled the course, trying not to let the ball drop into any of the 60 holes. The game, called Labyrinth, was a Christmas gift for his daughter. She played it twice, he’s played it every day ever since. His record is 43 holes before failure. “I’m calm up until the point where if it’s a pretty high number and it looks like I’m going to break my record, but then if it drops in a hole, I’ll scream,” he reports. And you best believe that he will one day make it to the finish line, if only because that’s the kind of deeply dogged, slightly addlepated and easily obsessed guy he has always been.
And so here he is at the boardwalk among pretty blondes on bikes and handsomely tanned panhandlers. He starts walking and says, “We got a new manager a year ago, and he said to us, ‘You guys should make a beach album.’ It was inspiring and so obvious, given we love the Beach Boys and live right here. It’s so close to us, yet we’d missed it.”
The result is Weezer’s 10th LP, out now, with a cover displaying Cuomo, bassist Scott Shriner, drummer Pat Wilson and guitarist Brian Bell standing in white sand in front of a lifeguard stand, enabling Cuomo to call it the White Album. Musically, it looks back to early-Weezer power pop, largely thanks to producer Jake Sinclair, who wanted to bring those days back. But for lyrics, Cuomo had to find inspiration elsewhere. For one, while out on tour, he’d meet people on Tinder — not in order to hook up, but just to find interesting people to hang around with and experience.
He also came to the boardwalk where he’s standing today, to check out various seaside subcults and scenes — all of which, him being Cuomo, he did at some remove. Taking a seat out of the sun, he says, “I’d look at people and fail to engage with them. I’ve long since given up on that. I’m passive.”
And yet while this may be true, he’s also spent almost his entire career veering from one extreme to another. After the initial success of the Blue Album, he enrolled at Harvard, where he hobbled around on crutches after getting an operation to correct a birth defect that involved legs mismatched in length by nearly two inches. Several years later, he let it be known that he had taken a vow of celibacy in order to get into a meditation program. (He is big on meditation.) He once went a year without talking to another soul, basically, save for his pet gecko. He maintains a curious relationship with his fans. On the one hand, he’s invited bunches of them to go to Shakespeare plays with him. Then again, he’s sick unto death of how many of them are stuck in the past.
“People always want to tell me their Weezer story,” he says, “about how they were in homeroom every morning in seventh grade and listening to Pinkerton with their best friend. I try to respond as graciously as I can, which is usually not graciously. I’m praying for a way to steer those interactions into something that’s more enjoyable. I think I’m going to try just immediately cutting in with ‘Tell me a different story.’ ”
His own story, of course, is about as different as it gets, with him being born to wicky-wacky parents who raised him on an ashram in Connecticut, a cloistered existence that didn’t end until he was 11 and went to public school, where he was a much-bullied outcast who nonetheless did not lack for girlfriends (and lost his virginity at the age of 17, which he maintains was “pretty late”). At first, he wanted to become a pro football player, but when his mismatched legs and diminutive stature began to interfere, he switched dreams, to rock star, which he set about making a reality shortly after graduating from high school, by moving to L.A. He was nothing if not determined, and when his brand of “the most sophisticated speed metal that existed” didn’t land a deal, he ditched the approach, studied photos of himself at a much younger age and returned entirely transformed.
“This is what no one gets,” he says, shedding new light on the band’s roots. “Weezer was an intentional paring down of guitar technique, song structure and lyrical persona so that it would be so innocent and unintentional and seem like we had just picked up our instruments 12 months before. I stopped using hair gel, Aqua Net and hair spray. I looked at those pictures of me when I was four or five, and I had the glasses and a bowl cut, a T-shirt and a blue windbreaker. It was just like, ‘This is how I am in my natural state!'”
So, far from being some kind of nerd-happy, quasi-poseur put-on, which many people have suspected, Weezer is simply an authentic reflection of Cuomo’s younger self, with lyrical content derived from bouts of post-adolescent, self-conscious angst, compounded by awkward, frustrating encounters with girls who, for instance, turned out to be lesbians or otherwise were unavailable, apparently making him the only rock star in the history of rock stars not able to get laid upon the slightest twitch of a sacral nerve, which, God bless him, had to happen to somebody.
“Yeah, well, in the Eighties, the fantasy, including mine, was you’d become a rock star and be rolling in girls,” he says, “but it didn’t turn out that way.”
He settles birdlike upon a bench across from a fried-clams joint and goes on: “For one thing, by 1994, our fan base was girls 10 and under. Then, girls went to other guys in the band first. Then, there was something about the alternative revolution that Weezer was very much a part of that said, ‘We’re above exploiting our female fans,’ and maybe the female fans were above it too. I was so frustrated by the reality compared to what I was dreaming it would be as a teenager in bed at night — so much so that on Pinkerton I [was] determined to share everything. This is who I am. I’m a pig, I’m a dog, and I want girls.”
And how did that work out?
He scowls. “You know how the album was received. It didn’t work out so well. I mean, it’s happened, but if I go out, nobody is going to come on to me. They never have. Whether I’m recognized or not, it doesn’t make a difference. Our female fans just want to take a selfie with me and then usually they’ll walk off.”
In the shade, it’s crazy how baby-faced Cuomo is — he could easily pass for one of the skateboarders making a racket nearby and so interfering with his thoughts that he gets up and moves to a different location, up a flight of stairs at the pier to a landing not far from the aquarium. Speaking of girls, what about his past penchant for massage parlors and the quest for happy endings? Did going to such places not make him super-duper-uncomfortable?
“Um,” he says, “not in an unpleasant way. I liked some awkwardness and weirdness. ‘Is this one of those places or not one of those places, and who is going to broach the subject?'”
He liked that?
“Yeah,” he says. “I guess I did.” He pauses. He continues, “I still go to massage parlors.”
Which, offered without further qualification, seems very strange, given that he is married. A few seconds tick by.
Just to get massages, right?
“Yeah. Do I get offered? One place I did. I just point at my ring.”
Whew. But this does bring up his marriage, in itself a circumstance that has gone relatively unexamined. Introduced to meditation by producer Rick Rubin in 2003, Cuomo immediately decided that he had to go on this one particular 45-day meditation retreat, but to be accepted into the program, he either had to be married or have gone without sex for two years. At first, celibacy, which also forbade masturbation, seemed like the only viable option. “I stopped looking at any kind of pornography, because that’d be self-torture,” he says, and shortly thereafter, for the first time in his life, he began to experience nocturnal emissions. Suddenly, he changed his mind about abstinence. “A few days into it, ‘All right, I have to get married,'” he says. But finding a suitable mate wasn’t so easy. He tried to join eHarmony but was rejected. “I filled out an incredible amount of stuff online and got a response that said, ‘We’re sorry, there’s no one on eHarmony that is a suitable match for you.'” Months went by, years went by, while he both tried to purge his mind of impure thoughts and get himself a spouse. Eventually, he looked to the past, to a Japanese woman named Kyoko who he’d hung out with in 1997.
“This would be two years into celibacy, in 2005, and I was suffering immeasurably from a crush on a girl at Harvard who had a boyfriend. I was on day eight of this apostate meditation course. It was almost like a switch got flipped in my mind. I let go of the Harvard girl, and Kyoko popped into my mind. I called her. We started talking again and then started talking rationally about what a future together might be like.” A year later, they got married and began a life together that has both endured and seemingly relieved Cuomo of many of his past anxieties and burdens.
“I don’t worry so much about being lonely at night or going out and finding somebody or all the drama that comes with that,” he says. “Stability is great for me.”
But Satan never sleeps, so one must wonder, when Satan does hop onto his shoulder, what does Satan whisper into his ear?
“Sadly, my Satan is not intimidating to me,” he says. “It’s shrunk to this tiny voice. All the usual stuff — ‘Isn’t she hot? Wouldn’t you like to?’ — I’m such a tame animal at this point. I mean, it might be fun to perform sin X, but if I indulged every whim like that, I would destroy my life in 24 hours. And I love my life.”
Is he able to remember his dreams? “Normally, I don’t,” he says. “But once I started going through psychoanalysis, I’ve made an effort to remember.”
Freudian psychoanalysis?
He nods. “I started a few weeks ago. I’ve worked with a life coach before and been in couples therapy for about five years, and everybody these days thinks everything Freud said was wrong. Girls don’t wish they had penises, and guys don’t want to kill their fathers. But then I read something that said new research is showing that Freudian analysis can do as much good as, or more than, cognitive-based therapy. I found this real old-school master who is, like, 84 and from Austria, and I lie back on a couch and talk about my dreams. It’s like talking into a black hole. It is terrifying. He says that I have generalized anxiety. But who doesn’t?”
For a moment, he looks disappointed by the diagnosis, but soon enough he’s talking about why he started going to a shrink now in the first place.
“I’m always looking for something to help me penetrate a different inside, deeper, darker — and I’m working on a new album, the Black Album, which is going to require new psychological techniques, new writing techniques, new places to hang out, like Echo Park and Silver Lake. Psychoanalysis is going to play a big role. It’s going to be more R-rated, with maybe swear words for the first time on a Weezer album.”
He pauses, takes a quick breath. “I don’t care about mental health. All I care about is creative inspiration, and psychotherapy just seems like a cool, weird thing to try.”
And so there it is. On the one hand, the thought that he’s going to see a shrink just for the sake of his music is kind of a letdown — on the other, he is who he is.
But it doesn’t matter, not at all, because tomorrow morning, shortly after rising, he will once again be able to sit and play the game of Labyrinth, dropping the small steel ball into the maze and guiding it along the path to the 60th and final hole, first having to break his previous record of 43 holes, and should he come close and fail, he will scream. But there’s no doubt he will go on with dogged determination and the occasional scream, for as long as it takes to get where he wants to go.
In This Article: Rivers Cuomo, Weezer
‘Stumptown’ Spotlights Female Veterans And Indigenous Women; Cobie Smulders Addresses Character’s Bisexuality – Comic-Con
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DoD is Changing the Way Industry Offers Cyber Solutions
FIFTH DOMAIN - MARK POMERLEAU
To compete against near peer adversaries in the cyber sphere, industry officials say the Department of Defense has to be more agile in equipping its workforce and cyber warriors. But doing so will likely require major changes in the way DoD procures software and equipment, which is still geared toward a lengthy process that lends itself to producing large platforms, and to the culture of how the Pentagon does business.
Nate Fick, CEO at Endgame, an endpoint security company, said the military needs to get rid of onerous requirements that typically drive the acquisition process for software. He suggested a new approach that moves away from hardware and platforms and instead focuses on buying streams, or organic, evolving product.
Think about a customer who is focused on consuming a product and sees that they are buying a specific item this year and then will need to buy the newest thing two years later. Fick, a former Marine officer, said that approach doesn’t work because it doesn’t keep up with the dynamism of the adversary.
Similarly, Brad Medairy, senior vice president who leads all of Booz Allen Hamilton’s cyber business, believes while certain rapid contracting vehicles such as other transaction authorities provide agility, they still fall under the old way of thinking in terms of deliverables.
“In the cyber game, I think that they need to rely on industry more to innovate and deliver outcomes in unique ways,” he told Fifth Domain. “The government needs to shift that buying mentality … to buying more outcomes and solutions and holding the industrial base accountable for that.”
One example could be managed services, he said. He pointed to threat hunting-as-a-service as an example. Since most organizations are facing a shortage of talent, rather than concentrate on buying a number of individuals for a service or solution, the Pentagon could purchase an outcome – such as threat hunting – as a service for a certain rate per month.
For all the domains of warfare – land, sea, air, space and cyber – the Department of Defense organizes forces to maneuver in each corresponding domain. But this paradigm shift has caused industry partners to change how they offer certain cyber solutions to DoD.
In the past, cyber defense has been conducted by IT administrators who automated tools to alert them of malicious activity. But because the military is building forces to be used in war, not just an office environment, the products being built for the commercial sector are no longer suitable, John Harbaugh COO at Root9B, a cybersecurity company, told Fifth Domain.
Instead, Harbaugh, who was a former U.S. intelligence official, believes the commercial space will have to evolve in the coming years to address the demand coming from the government and DoD. This includes creating platforms and capabilities that enable and empower network defenders to maneuver in cyberspace as a warfighting domain.
Fick said DoD leaders are beginning to recognize that prevention isn’t always going to work and detection response can take too long. With this shift, cyber warriors need platforms just like those in the physical domains.
From a warfighter perspective, Harbaugh said, the platform needs to be tailorable and easily controlled. That means if the operator is trained and certified for a certain type of mission they will only be allowed to operate those systems.
For vendors, this approach means not just taking what is already being sold to the commercial space, and trying making it fit to ta warfighter model. Rather, it’s about how to reimagine the definition of cyber warfare and not sell a solution that is going to be out dated in six months or a year.
This article was originally posted by Fifth Domain. Click here to view the full article on their site.
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California Soccer League (Soccer Field) 8 AM – 2 PM
Summer Bridge for Freshmen Class of 2023 (Library) 7/1/2019 – 7/3/2019, 11:59 PM
Fourth of July Holiday
Summer Bridge for Freshmen Class of 2023
Summer Bridge for Freshmen Class of 2023 7/8/2019 – 7/12/2019, 11:59 PM
Filming/Parking Black Top & Colton St 7/10/2019, 10 AM – 7/11/2019, 10 AM
Baseball Diamond #1 8:45 AM – 12:45 PM
Summer Bridge for Freshmen Class of 2023 7/15/2019 – 7/19/2019, 11:59 PM
LASPD Parking (blacktop)
Baseball Diamond #1 8:45 AM – 4:45 PM
Baseball Diamond 8:45 AM – 12:45 PM
Transportation-Using Parking Structure only 7/31/2019 – 8/1/2019, 11:59 PM
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Toshiba And SanDisk Introduct A One Gigabit NAND Flash Memory Chip, Doubling Capacity Of Future Flash Products
World's First Commercial One Gbit NAND Flash Chip Using Multi-Level Cell Technology
LAS VEGAS, NV, AND TOKYO, JAPAN, Nov. 12, 2001 - Toshiba Corporation and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) jointly introduced today the world's first commercial one gigabit (1Gbit, or 1024Megabit)) NAND flash memory chip, a new generation of flash memory that effectively doubles the amount of storage that the two companies can put in their flash memory cards. The new 1Gbit flash chip will be manufactured on the same 0.16 micron process technology that is currently used in the production of the 512Megabit NAND. It is based on the patented multi-level cell (MLC) technology pioneered by SanDisk that allows two bits of data to be stored in one memory cell, doubling memory capacity. This commercialization of NAND MLC flash is viewed by both companies as a crucial step for improving margins, expanding existing markets and enabling new markets for flash memory data storage. The announcement was made at the COMDEX 2001 trade show where SanDisk is showing products at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, Conference Room 10.
Two 1Gbit dies also can be stacked in a single TSOP (Thin Small Outline Package) to produce 2Gbits or 256 Megabytes of memory. Use of the MLC technology, either as embedded chips or in removable cards, is expected to greatly expand the data storage capabilities of cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 audio players, streaming audio and streaming video. Both companies will independently market the chips to their respective customers. It is expected that new CompactFlash™, MultiMediaCard and Secure Digital card products based on the 1Gbit flash memory chip will commence production in the first half of 2002. On Nov. 5, 2001, SanDisk introduced a 1 Gigabyte CompactFlash card, the first product using the 1Gbit NAND, MLC technology.
Takeshi Nakagawa, Corporate Senior Vice President, President and CEO of Toshiba Semiconductor Company, said, "Collaboration with SanDisk has brought brilliant success in the NAND flash arena. With this gigabit MLC flash technology, we take a significant step towards a core element of strategic vision for our flash business: to provide the highest capacity flash memory with the lowest cost per bit in the market. This MLC NAND flash product will rapidly expand demand for embedded flash storage as well as flash-based media cards. It is a great pleasure to introduce fruits obtained through the efforts of Toshiba and SanDisk."
Eli Harari, CEO and President of SanDisk, said, "This announcement represents a technological breakthrough and a crowning achievement for the many Toshiba and SanDisk personnel who have worked so closely together on this project for many months. This MLC gigabit technology should provide both SanDisk and Toshiba with a highly competitive cost structure. Toshiba, with its superb process technology and manufacturing prowess, has proven to be a highly strategic and valued partner for SanDisk in our continuing quest to accelerate our flash technology roadmap and expand the markets for our flash storage products in the years ahead."
The 1Gbit NAND memory chips will be produced for both companies using 0.16 micron process technology in Toshiba's advanced fabrication production facility at Yokkaichi, Japan, and at the Dominion Semiconductor manufacturing plant in Virginia under the FlashVision Joint Venture established by Toshiba and SanDisk. The two companies expect to apply the MLC technology to chip capacities below 1Gbit, as well as to future generations of NAND flash with capacities beyond 1Gbit.
The MLC gigabit flash chip employs new advanced concepts and operational algorithms that greatly increase MLC write speed, thereby enabling the MLC chip to deliver essentially the same performance as standard NAND chips.
About SanDisk Corporation
SanDisk Corporation, the world's largest supplier of flash data storage products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale, CA.
About Toshiba Corporation
Toshiba Corporation is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products, and power systems. The company's integration of these wide-ranging capabilities assures its position as an innovator in advanced components, products, and systems. Toshiba has 188,000 employees worldwide, and annual sales of over US$47 billion. Visit Toshiba's website at http://www.toshiba.co.jp The matters discussed in this news release contain forward looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties as described under the caption, "Factors That May Affect Future Results" in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The companies assume no obligation to update the information in this release.
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Draft Plan for Downtown Santa Monica Released Today
Revised Downtown Community Plan now a stronger tool for the community as it enters next phase of outreach and refinement
The City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department issued today a revised draft of the guiding planning document for Downtown Santa Monica called the Downtown Community Plan (formerly the Downtown Specific Plan). This new release sets priorities for Downtown and includes the vision the community expressed over the last four years in a more user friendly format.
"The plan is how we’ll answer the question: ‘How do preserve and enhance the civic, cultural and economic heart of Santa Monica?’” said City Manager Rick Cole. “This is a living document to guide our efforts to strengthen a ‘hometown’ Downtown. By collaborating to do 'real planning' we can establish binding standards to protect our unique sense of place and ensure future infill development compliments our historic character.”
The plan has been renamed the Downtown Community Plan (DCP) to be more representative of what the document is—a roadmap for the long-term planning, preservation and care of the Downtown community. This edition is the result of community and stakeholder input and represents a 20-year vision for Downtown.
“Downtown Santa Monica is our community’s living room making it essential to include all residents in the creation of this document,” said Mayor Tony Vazquez. “This includes that feedback and more work lies ahead in getting diverse input to ensure our blueprint truly represents what Santa Monicans want to see for their downtown.”
This version has been extensively rewritten and reorganized from the previous edition released in February 2014. It’s now shorter and more results-driven with clear actions to be taken on by public and private interests in the areas of affordable housing, arts and culture, historic preservation, open space, mobility and placemaking.
The next phase of work around the DCP will involve a series of innovative community outreach activities this spring to inform residents, business owners and other stakeholders about the Plan and to gather input and feedback for a final DCP to be released in late summer. Information on community events and an online public input tools will be released later this month. For more information and to sign up for email updates, visit downtownsmplan.net.
About the Downtown Community Plan (formerly the Downtown Specific Plan)
The Downtown Community Plan is guided by the 2010 Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) vision of a thriving, mixed-use urban environment that provides multiple opportunities for living, working, entertainment and enrichment. The LUCE envisioned an energetic and contemporary Downtown for residents, employees and visitors that integrates the light rail and preserves the unique character of the district and its commercial and residential life. The LUCE also called for enhancing Downtown through better linkages to some of City's most visible attractions: the Civic Center and the Beachfront. However, the LUCE deferred implementation of the vision and the specific standards to creation of a Downtown Specific Plan.
Over the past two years, the Downtown Specific Plan (now called the Downtown Community Plan)) process has included over a dozen workshops and public hearings, as well as stakeholder interviews and discussions with various boards to develop an action plan to achieve a community vision for the future of the Downtown. For more information, visit downtownsmplan.net.
Constance Farrell
constance.farrell@smgov.net
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A Place For Us
by Marney McNall July 3, 2018
Movies reveal a lot about our culture’s fears, hopes, and values. During our summer At The Movies series, we’re talking about what moves us and why.
Keala Settle didn’t want to sing a solo. Comfortable in the choir, she considered herself an extreme introvert. The director of The Greatest Showman, however, needed a hit song to help get the greenlight from the Hollywood studio to go ahead with the film. He asked her to step forward—but she refused again and again.
Being an Oddity
It was to be a new musical inspired loosely by the story of P.T. Barnum, the visionary showman who started the Barnum & Bailey Circus that ran for 146 years (from 1871-2017). In the movie, Keala plays Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady—a central character among the circus performers referred to as the “oddities.” Several of the “oddities” represent real people in circus history.
Eventually the director convinced Keala to sing for this all-important workshop, to step into the ring and use her gifts to help The Greatest Showman become a reality. Standing nervously behind the music stand, she began, her breath coming short and eyes tearing up. But as she continued, something in the lyrics clearly hit home with her, power and strength building in her words. She stepped out from behind the music stand. No longer tentative, she belted out: “I know that there’s a place for us. …I’m who I’m meant to be. This is Me.”
At some point in our lives, we’ve probably all been made to feel that we don’t matter, that we don’t belong, or that we’re not enough. It’s hard to step forward, to step past those fears of failure and memories of hurt. But God gave us individual value as soon as he created us—unique, with our own gifts, and yet unified as one body in Christ. The creator of the universe knows you have value because he made you. And he gave each of us a role to play.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it, 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV).
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others, Romans 12:4-5 (NIV).
After Keala finished her song, the head of the studio stood up from his chair, crossed the room and hugged her. In her ear, he said, “Young lady, you just bought your first major motion picture.” “This is Me” became the musical’s anthem song. Keala recently sang it at the Oscars.
It’s time to see yourself as God sees you: immeasurably valuable—a child of God. Your voice matters. It takes us all, using our unique gifts, to express to the world even a small portion of all that Christ is. So let’s build each other up, and accept that we are each, in our different ways, fearfully and wonderfully made. Plus, watching The Greatest Showman gives you an excuse to burst into song at any moment and show off your dance moves.
What about you? Who in your life needs encouragement to step out and use the gifts God gave them?
#At The Movies
#Grow Your Faith
#The Greatest Showman
Father’s Day: The Other Side of Things
by Marney McNall Jun 6, 2019
Getting To My Father’s House
by Jacquayle Dailey Apr 4, 2019
by Marney McNall Sep 9, 2017
Marney McNall
VBS Day 4 Recap
by Seacoast Church Jun 28, 2018
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From childhood fan to valuable walk-on, North Carolina WR Thomas Jackson finally found a moment to celebrate
Campus Rush
Courtesy of Jeffrey A. Camarati, UNC Athletic Communications
North Carolina WR Thomas Jackson has experienced all the ups and downs of a walk-on. He's found reason to celebrate this season.
By Lindsay Schnell
Thomas Jackson knows it surprised other people, but he wants to make clear that he wasn't caught off guard. The defense was, absolutely, and the crowd probably was, too. Later, his teammates admitted they didn't see it coming either, not until Jackson streaked into the end zone on a 34-yard reception, giving the Tar Heels a 34–28 lead over Florida State. How often does a former walk-on score a decisive touchdown, especially on the road in a hostile environment against the No. 12 team in the country?
UNC, then unranked, went on to win that day at Florida State, after a late field goal gave the Tar Heels a 37–35 upset over a team originally expected to contend for a spot in the 2016 College Football Playoff. Jackson, a 5' 11", 195-pound receiver who grew up dreaming of playing for the Tar Heels, isn't an obvious hero. But that's only fitting, he says, when you consider his entire walk-on journey.
"I've had some people reach out and say it's pretty inspiring, seeing a walk-on score but that's where I was supposed to be," Jackson says, referring to both his route run that day against FSU and the fact that he's found a permanent spot in the UNC huddle. "It was cool, seeing my teammates' reaction. Everyone was so surprised but me, I was on the sideline like, 'It's about time, I knew I could do that.'"
Jackson, from Charlotte, N.C., grew up a Tar Heel fan partially because he didn't have any other choice. His dad, David, a former defensive back, was captain of the 1969 team, lettering in '68 and '69. Thomas wears the same No. 48 as David because he was confident that despite his walk-on status, no one would ever try to take his dad's number away from him.
UNC receivers coach Gunter Brewer says now that Thomas was a "very dynamic" high school player. Stats back that up: In his final two seasons at Charlotte Country Day, Jackson totaled 1,023 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, plus 563 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Named MVP of his team, Jackson also played lacrosse all four years and basketball for two. Still Thomas generated little to no interest from local FBS schools. As a rising senior, he attended a summer football camp at Wake Forest, and was mistakenly placed with kids two years younger than him. UNC-Charlotte, a member of Conference USA, barely gave him a sniff. Brewer, who wound up offering Thomas a spot in Chapel Hill as a preferred walk-on, says that even in the era of YouTube highlights and middle schoolers who get scholarship offers, kids can slip under the radar.
THAMEL: The Mad Hatter wants one more shot, but will Les Miles get it?
"More and more, early offers are extended to a certain amount of people and (rosters) fill up before other people have a chance to develop," Brewer explains. "Then, when a kid becomes good their senior or junior year, those slots are already taken.
"That's why you see someone like a Marshall University every year—they land a great player and you say, 'Where did that guy come from?' It's not a science or an exact mathematical equation, but people get really overlooked because we're recruiting the cream of the crop as sophomores and it takes other guys time to mature."
Jackson joined the program in 2014, and immediately wondered if he'd been too ambitious is his quest to play ACC football. "Oh my god, the first couple weeks it was like, what have I gotten myself into?!," he says.
On the field, Jackson slowly earned respect—and confidence. In a one-on-one drill the first week of fall camp 2014, he beat his defensive back by "three or four steps," corralled a pass and thought to himself, "OK I can do this."
Off the field, he struggled. Jackson says the biggest difference between a walk-on versus a scholarship player are the relationships. Committed athletes often get to know each other well before they move into the dorms, forming bonds with others in the signing class through a series of text message conversations and official visit hangouts. By the time walk-ons join their class in August or September, friendships and cliques have been established. The fact that walk-ons are not permitted to eat at training table adds another layer of separation.
"I think it's lonely for everybody who goes to college, especially at first, when you're away from everything you knew," Jackson says. "The good thing is that because I had to be at the stadium every day for practice, eventually your relationships progress."
Turns out, those friendships grew even deeper than he realized.
One day last season, after a particularly bad practice that included quite a few dropped passes and a lot of screaming from the coaching staff, Jackson sat in the tunnel of Kenan Memorial Stadium and had a thought that he's sure runs through every walk-on's mind at some point: Do I even want to do this anymore? Then, Tar Heels trainer Kenny Boyd walked by. Malik Carney followed Boyd.
Boyd talked about how the Tar Heels program doesn't prioritize people based on their aid allotment and that, despite a rough day, he knew the coaches and players in the locker room believed in Jackson. Carney's words were even more personal. "We all have days we don't want to play anymore," he told Jackson. "But you've gotta hang in there, because we've all got your back. And you know you're one of my boys."
"That's something I'll never forget, that those guys went out of their way to make sure I was O.K.," Jackson says now. "That moment, I was so close to quitting but having those two people talk to me made me realize that even if football doesn't work out, the relationships I've built make it worth it."
The football part is working out now. Though he did not record any receiving statistics in 2015 after playing in just five games, Jackson proved himself to be a valuable commodity on special teams, and was put on a scholarship this fall in a moment he laughingly describes as "anti-climactic." Called into head coach Larry Fedora's office after practice early this fall, Jackson worried that he was about to get lit up for messing up a special teams play. Instead, Fedora told him, in a sort of nonchalant way, that he was going to give Jackson a scholarship. "Are you serious?!" the junior cried out. "Why are you being so calm about this?!"
Breaking down the first College Football Playoff rankings
"The general perception of any walk-on story is that they're not supposed to be there," Brewer says. "But Thomas found a way on the field because he plays with a lot of energy, always executes his assignments and plays with heart. He has a lot of talent that a lot people slept on."
Jackson instantly shared the news with his parents, calling home to tell them that after six years of private school tuition, he'd finally be able to take away the financial burden. David Jackson says that yes, he got a little teary when he heard that his son had reached "the ultimate benchmark."
"Being a walk-on, you're on the outside, you don't feel like you belong," David says. "Most of the walk-ons back in the day, they'd last maybe a year. Most of them didn't survive. But Thomas, he's thrived."
He's learned, too, that perseverance on the football field is transferable.
"I know now that if I want to accomplish something, I can," Thomas says. "I know when I eventually get a job, I'll face challenges, and I'll deal with it. Or when I really want to get a good grade in a class, I'll figure out a way. If I can play football, I can do anything. Really."
So far this season, Jackson has caught 11 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns for the No. 18 Tar Heels (6–2, 4–1 ACC), who host Georgia Tech on Saturday. He is, he says, exactly where he's supposed to be, even if most people doubted him along the way. He hears the criticism and the haters, and ignores it … save for one thing that he relates to being a walk-on. If he hadn't been a walk-on, if he'd been a featured, premier player, this part probably wouldn't be true but right now, it is.
His touchdown celebration dances need a whole lot of work. And that will come with more trips to the end zone, a place that, Jackson says, walk-ons belong just as much as anyone else.
Know a good walk-on story in college football? Lindsay Schnell wants to hear it. Email her at SIwalkon@gmail.com
thomas jackson
unc football
acc football
north carolina football
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Now Stream This: Indie Dramas, Screwball Comedies, Horror Anthologies and ‘Walk Hard’
Posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2018 by Chris Evangelista
(Welcome to Now Stream This, a column dedicated to the best movies streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every other streaming service out there.)
Looking for something to stream this weekend and beyond? I’ve got you covered. This latest edition of Now Stream This has scoured streaming services to bring you back a variety of films: comedy, horror, drama, as well as modern-day movies and classics from Hollywood’s yesterday.
Here you’ll find the directorial debut of Amber Tamblyn; a classic screwball comedy; a horror anthology film; a forgotten Nicole Kidman thriller; a recent highly acclaimed sci-fi flick; an intense indie drama; yet another incredible performance from Michael Stuhlbarg; and much more. It’s time for best movies streaming right now. Let’s get streaming.
1. Paint It Black
Now Streaming on Netflix
Genre: Indie-Drama
Director: Amber Tamblyn
Cast: Alia Shawkat, Janet McTeer, Alfred Molina, Emily Rios, Rhys Wakefield
Actress Amber Tamblyn made her directorial debut with this intense, stylish drama. Alia Shawkat plays a young woman dealing with the sudden death of her boyfriend. The grieving process is hard enough as it is, but Shawkat’s character also has to contend with her dead lover’s extremely unstable mother, played with smoldering yet sad menace by Janet McTeer. Paint It Black is one of those rare unpredictable films that never goes the way you’d expect. It also looks incredible, proving that Tamblyn has a great directorial eye (with some help from cinematographer Brian Rigney Hubbard).
For fans of: The Neon Demon, Sunset Blvd., Search Party, mood lighting.
2. Bringing Up Baby
Now Streaming on FilmStruck
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett, May Robson, Nissa the Leopard
You can’t go wrong with this Howard Hawks classic. Audiences avoided this screwball comedy when it hit theaters in 1938, but it’s since gone on to become renowned as the masterpiece that it really is. Cary Grant plays an absent-minded paleontologist who gets caught-up in a madcap adventure with a possibly crazy heiress, played by Katherine Hepburn. Do these two loons fall in love? Of course they do, but before that happens they have to deal with a missing dinosaur bone and a leopard named Baby. Bringing Up Baby is one of the funniest damn movies ever made, so if you’re feeling blue (and I can’t blame you if you are), feel free to fire this flick up and forget your troubles for 102 minutes.
For fans of: His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, What’s Up Doc?, endless double entendres.
3. Arrival
Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Genre: Sci-Fi Drama
Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg
Jóhann Jóhannsson’s death over the weekend was a huge loss for film scores. Jóhannsson seemed to be at the very beginning of an incredible film score career, only to have his life tragically cut short. One of his recent, haunting scores is featured in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama Arrival. Amy Adams stars as a linguist recruited to decode an alien language. The more she interacts with the aliens, the closer the world comes to catastrophe. This is big, bold, intelligent science fiction, the likes of which Hollywood usually shys away from. Villeneuve packs Arrival with big ideas, but best of all, the film has an emotional core that you might not expect. And underneath it all is Jóhannsson’s eerie, experimental score.
For fans of: Blade Runner 2049, Contact, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, heptapods.
Director: Jake Kasdan
Cast: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell
Walk Hard was not a hit when it played in theaters, but since then it’s gained a cult following. And rightfully so. This movie is hysterical, and endlessly quotable. Director Jake Kasdan and co-writer Judd Apatow take a sledgehammer to the by-the-numbers musician biopic (i.e. Walk the Line, Ray, etc.). John C. Reilly is Dewey Cox, the type of musician who likes to think about his entire life right before he plays a show. From beginning to end, Walk Hard is laugh-out-loud funny, and features some killer cameos too good to spoil.
For fans of: Airplane!, Young Frankenstein, The Naked Gun, famous characters announcing who they are when they enter a scene.
5. A Serious Man
Genre: Dark Comedy
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick
Were you (rightfully) bummed-out when Michael Stuhlbarg failed to net a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination this year for Call Me By Your Name or The Shape of Water? Well, the Academy is starting to make a habit of stubbing Mr. Stuhlbarg, and they should quit it. For example: the actor failed to receive a Best Actor nod for his brilliant turn in the Coen Brothers’ quirky dark comedy A Serious Man. Stuhlbarg plays a physics professor in the 1960s whose life slowly falls apart. What follows is a funny, surprising film that only the Coen Brothers could create. And heads-up: the very last shot of the film is stunning.
For fans of: Inside Llewyn Davis, Burn After Reading, Barton Fink, accepting the mystery.
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20th Century Fox, A24, Action/Adventure, Comedy, Horror, Independent, Miramax, Netflix, Netflix/Streaming Video, Paramount Pictures, Sci-Fi, Television, Thriller, A-Serious-Man, Arrival, Birthday Girl, Bringing Up Baby, michael stuhlbarg, Monsters, Nicole-Kidman, Paint It Black, Robert-Pattinson, Walk-Hard
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(E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune via AP) In this June 6, 2019 photo, singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty to 11 additional sex-related felonies during a court hearing before Judge Lawrence Flood at Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. R. Kelly, already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was arrested in Chicago Thursday, July 11, 2019 on a federal grand jury indictment listing 13 counts including sex crimes and obstruction of justice.
By Sara Burnett And Caryn Rousseau | The Associated Press
· Published: 6 days ago
Chicago • R. Kelly was arrested on federal charges that accuse him and members of his entourage of recruiting women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with the singer and paying them to cover up his crimes, including those at the center of his 2008 acquittal on child pornography charges.
Kelly, who was already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was indicted on allegations that he and his business manager paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and used physical abuse and blackmail to prevent girls and their relatives from providing evidence to law enforcement about his sex acts with minors and videos depicting them.
An indictment unsealed Friday in Chicago says he arranged for a girl and her parents to travel overseas so they could not talk with police prior to his 2002 indictment on 21 counts of child pornography. The pornography case stemmed from allegations that Kelly recorded a video of him engaging in sex acts with the girl, who was 12 or 13 when they met in the mid-1990s. Kelly and the girl denied they were in the video, even though the picture quality was good and witnesses testified it was them. She did not take the stand.
The indictment says the payments continued after the 2008 trial, and that Kelly also transferred the title on a luxury SUV to the girl in 2013.
Prosecutors also say Kelly went to great lengths to recover videos he made of himself with minor girls when he realized some were missing from his "collection," including making some victims and witnesses take lie-detector tests to ensure they had returned all copies of the videos.
A separate indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York includes charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and the sexual exploitation of a child. It says Kelly and his managers, bodyguards and other assistants picked out women and girls at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly. They also set rules the women and girls had to follow, including not leaving their rooms — even to eat or go to the bathroom — without Kelly’s permission, calling the singer “Daddy” and not looking at other men, the indictment alleges.
The indictment alleges that the criminal acts occurred over two decades dating back to 1999, both in the U.S. and overseas. It accuses Kelly of engaging in sexual acts with girls under 18 and of not disclosing that he had a sexually transmitted disease. It also accuses him of producing child pornography, including by asking minors to send him photographs.
The Chicago indictment charges Kelly with child sex crimes, including producing child pornography, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. It also names Kelly's business manager, Derrel McDavid, and another employee.
Kelly is scheduled to appear in court in Chicago Friday afternoon. His arraignment on the Chicago charges was scheduled for Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in New York said if convicted of the charges Kelly could face decades in prison. Chicago prosecutors also want Kelly to forfeit more than $1.5 million.
Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, said the 52-year-old R&B artist was walking his dog when he was taken into custody Thursday evening. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, he was being held at the high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.
Greenberg said the new federal allegations appear "to largely be the same" as what he is charged with in state court earlier this year. He said Kelly "was aware of the investigations, and the charges were not a surprise."
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"He and his lawyers look forward to his day in court, to the truth coming out and to his vindication from what has been an unprecedented assault by others for their own personal gain," Greenberg said. Kelly also looks forward to making music and performing "for his legions of fans that believe in him."
The arrest was the second time this year that Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on sex charges. The Grammy winner, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in Illinois of sexually abusing three girls and a woman. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.
Then on May 30, Cook County prosecutors added 11 more sex-related counts involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.
Darrell Johnson, a publicist for Kelly, delivered a statement at a chaotic news conference Friday in Atlanta, where he was interrupted seconds after beginning by the family of a woman who lived with Kelly in Chicago. The relatives of Joycelyn Savage pleaded to speak with their daughter.
"I want to know where my daughter is," Timothy Savage, Joycelyn Savage's father, angrily interrupted Johnson. "Where is she at? Answer that question!"
Johnson said he had "nothing to do" with Joycelyn Savage and that she was not being held. In an interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King in March, Joycelyn Savage defended her relationship with Kelly and denied reports she was being held against her will.
Kelly has faced mounting legal troubles this year after Lifetime aired a documentary "Surviving R. Kelly," which revisited allegations of sexual abuse of girls. The series followed the BBC's "R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes," released in 2018, that alleged the singer was holding women against their will and running a "sex cult."
Soon after the release of the Lifetime documentary, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said her office had been inundated with calls about the allegations in the documentary. Her office's investigation led to the charges in February and additional counts added in May.
Associated Press Writer Ben Nadler contributed from Atlanta.
This story has been corrected to show that defense attorney Steve Greenberg, not U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick, said Kelly was arrested Thursday while walking his dog.
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Scott Morrison slams 'deeply distressing' restaurant plan for Bali bombing site
By James Massola and Amilia Rosa
Updated April 26, 2019 — 4.00pm first published April 25, 2019 — 9.59pm
Jakarta: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lashed the "deeply distressing" decision by Balinese authorities to allow a restaurant and nightclub to be built on the site of the Sari Club, which was destroyed in the 2002 Bali bombings.
Survivors of the bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, have already expressed their fury over the construction of a five-storey restaurant and nightclub, which would have a monument to the victims on the top floor.
The owners of the site have demanded the Bali Peace Park association pay $5 million up front for a 100-year lease for the top floor of the building. The owner and the Bali Peace Park association have been wrangling over the site, which is currently a dirt carpark home to a few food carts, for years.
A building permit was recently issued by the investment office of the Badung Regency administration and construction work is expected to start shortly. The proposed redevelopment would hold a complex that would seat 353 people.
After criticising the proposal on Thursday evening, Mr Morrison said on Friday that Australia's consul-general in Bali, Helena Studdert, had been working on the matter for some time and stressed "this is a decision of a local authority".
A building permit sign for a 700-sqm building on the 800-sqm site was placed above fading photos of the bombing victims at the former Sari Club site in Bali on Wednesday. Credit:Amilia Rosa
"This is not the decision of the Indonesian government at, you know, a national level. There has been some communication between foreign ministers on this. And our consul-general has been working very hard to try and address this situation," he said.
"For the 88 Australians, and their families, for whom this is rightly - and it is for all Australians, I think - a very sacred place, I am deeply disturbed, deeply disturbed by the decision that would see an entertainment complex put on that site. It's in another country. They have their own rules. They are sovereign. They can make their own decisions. But we will continue to make our representations about that issue."
"We've gotta remember there are many Indonesians killed that night, and many people from many other countries that were killed that night as well. We have funded the development of a Peace Park at that site, a place of remembrance and quiet reflection. Very much, I think, within the Balinese mindset."
A spokesman for the Bali governor, Wayan Koster, said "the governor of Bali is aware of the situation and currently coordinating with related institutions regarding the matter."
The comments from Mr Morrison are the second time in six months that the Prime Minister has been at loggerheads with Indonesia, one of Australia's nearest and most important neighbours.
In October last year, Mr Morrison's floated the idea of moving Australia's Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a move that enraged Indonesia, and was subsequently abandoned.
A memorial to the bombing victims has been built adjacent to where Paddy's Bar once stood, across the road from the Sari Club.
The bar was destroyed by a suicide bomber, while the club was destroyed by a car bomb. The attacks were conducted by members of terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, which has links to al-Qaeda.
Earlier on Thursday, Tata, a spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, deflected questions from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age about the development.
"I don't know about it but I think it has to be checked with the Bali provincial government," Tata said.
Asked if building a restaurant and nightclub was disrespectful to those who had died, the spokesman again said "we have to check it with the provincial government, why it decided to build a restaurant there".
Peace Park Association chairman David Napoli said that back in 2010, the site owners had initially set the price of the 800-square-metre block of land at $26 million.
"A memorial on the roof is just not feasible. It's an outrageous idea, people with disabilities would have trouble getting up there, no one would see it up there, and the price is unbelievable. It's outrageous," he said.
An Australian air force medic sits with injured Australians awaiting evacuation after the 2002 bombing. Credit:Kate Geraghty
Australian Bali bombing survivor Jan Laczynski said a previous Bali governor had promised him, on the tenth anniversary of the attacks, that the site would never be redeveloped.
"This is staggering and really it has come out of the blue. We were always hopeful a peace park would be built on the site," he said.
"It's bizarre, the idea that you would work through restaurants and nightclubs to get to a memorial, it's just bizarre. To put a five-storey building there and pretend like it has never happened is just awful."
Lina, who like other Indonesians goes by just one name, also survived the attacks. She said she had been part of a delegation that met with the owners about the proposal on Thursday morning to express their concerns about the development.
"I am not happy because it is very dangerous if the Bali Peace Park is on the rooftop," she said.
"Especially when people are coming in the evening, it is not great to have to go to the rooftop."
Komariah who runs a small food outlet at the site said "we were told on April 21 by a local official that we have to clear everything by May 5".
"We've been here since seven years ago ... They put up that [building permit] sign just last night."
The Bali Peace Park association has campaigned for the site to be turned into a memorial park. Credit:Amilia Rosa
Scott Morrison
James Massola
James Massola is south-east Asia correspondent, based in Jakarta. He was previously chief political correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Canberra. He has been a Walkley and Quills finalist on three occasions.
Amilia Rosa
Amilia Rosa is Assistant Indonesia Correspondent for Fairfax Media.
Most Viewed in World
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When will ordinary people rise up?
Adam Parsons
Download full report [PDF]
Public uprisings and mass occupations have become a significant force for change on the world stage since 2011, as evidenced in the Middle East revolutions and Occupy protests across North America and Europe. This essay explores the nature of this new social actor, which can be seen as the latest expression of the ‘people’s voice’ – a phenomenon also witnessed in the peace, justice and environmental movements of recent decades. Recognising that this collected voice of engaged citizens is acutely aware of the need for world reconstruction and renewal, the question is whether the growing power of the people’s voice is sufficient to challenge the immense forces of profit, greed and control that stand in the way of transformative change. The Middle East protests and Occupy movements have many connections and similar causes, chiefly the vast social and economic inequalities that span rich and poor countries alike, but it would be over-optimistic at this stage to assume that they mark the emergence of a truly global movement of ordinary people.
Only a joint demand for a fairer sharing of the world’s wealth, resources and political power is likely to unify citizens of the richest and poorest nations on a common platform, one that recognises the need for global as well as national forms of redistribution as a pathway to ending poverty and extreme inequality. The urgent need for world rehabilitation may only begin with a united voice of the people that speaks on behalf of the poorest and most disenfranchised, and gives the highest priority to the elimination of extreme deprivation and needless poverty-related deaths. Based on such an appeal to our common humanity and compassion, the greatest hope for the future is a worldwide popular movement that demands a fairer sharing of global resources as its all-embracing cause.
When will ordinary people rise up? How a united voice of the public could transform the world
In 2011, an astonishing new phenomenon took centre stage in world affairs: the rising voice of the mass public. From Tahrir Square to the Puerta del Sol, Wall Street and St Paul's Cathedral, the sudden ‘democratic awakening' of global civil society was arguably the biggest political event since the late 2000's financial crisis. An overwhelming number of articles, websites, interviews, videos, social posts and even books have picked apart the importance of this unanticipated phenomenon, although no-one really knows how it will evolve as we move deeper into 2012 and beyond. We have entered an uncharted era, a ‘laboratory of possibilities' in which the political imagination of everyday people is given license to propose radical alternatives to existing social arrangements and economic structures.[1] For perhaps the first time in history, it is the world's people - not their leaders or governments - who are declaring their needs and pointing the way to a more just, sustainable and hopeful future.
The deep significance of what happened throughout the Middle East from late 2010 may only be grasped with future hindsight, not least the events in Cairo from January 25th to February 11th 2011. Throughout those momentous eighteen days, the world's attention was captivated by the fearless protesters who amassed in Tahrir Square in their tens of thousands, defying the tear gas, tanks and water cannons that defended the old corrupt regime. Journalists described the atmosphere inside the square as electrifying, with ‘reservoirs of creativity' being expressed by the people taking part, and a communal solidarity that posed a stark contrast to Mubarak's police and thug militias; people caring for each other with food, blankets and medical supplies, different political factions discussing and singing together, the Muslims praying at their appointed times while others stood guard.[2] By the time that Mubarak was thrown out of office and charged with killing protesters, there was no longer any doubting where power ultimately rests. Even an autocratic regime with monopoly military command, long supported by the world's reigning imperial superpower, could not withstand the non-violent, massed power of the people united. A blueprint for change had fired the imagination of millions of others across the world, a sense of ‘this should happen everywhere'.[3]
People power uprisings and mass occupations have since spread across a large tract of the world; throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East, around the Mediterranean and into Southern Europe, across Western Europe and North America. Following the so-called Arab Spring and European Summer, the American Dawn took the movement to another level of inventiveness, using new media and social networking tools to proliferate occupations to almost every corner of the USA. Mobilisations were soon coordinated internationally by leaderless grassroots assemblies, and reflected their global solidarity in protest slogans like ‘We are all Egyptians', ‘We are all Greeks now', and the ubiquitous ‘99%'. It is already a cliché to repeat how the Occupy movement's ‘Hot Fall' of 2011 was a game-changer, a wake-up call for deep-rooted change, and the spark for a shift in political discourse towards issues of social and economic inequality, greed, financial corruption and the undue influence of corporations on government.[4]
For all the commentary and media debate, it remains peculiarly difficult to define or apprehend this distinctly Western expression of the emerging people's voice. You cannot summarise the importance of Occupy solely in terms of its unique version of direct democracy and horizontal networking, but must also observe its living alternative to the business-driven, consumerist and atomised societies that we live in today.[5]Every Occupy encampment has been a kind of social experiment in different ways of relating and being with each other, like small islands of solidarity and mutual support that organise co-op kitchens, communal living and free events, and provide a meeting place for all people - including the unemployed, the socially excluded, the evicted and the homeless - without attaching any stigma or sense of exclusivity. Only ill-informed media pundits and non-participants appeared agitated about the movement's lack of concrete policy demands.[6] The people involved were too busy being a part of the movement, standing off evictions from police battalions and realising their newfound sense of freedom and non-violent, non-materialistic, solidaristic power - and even breaking the law on behalf of the public good when it stands in the way of true justice.
The new face of civil resistance
This is the new face of civil resistance, so spontaneous and inspired that social movement theorists will struggle to categorise its constantly altering manifestations. Just as the Middle East uprisings demonstrated the ability of ordinary people to overcome the power of repressive governments, the European protests and Occupy movement revealed that real power lies with the majority of people - the 99%. But this is by no means the sum total of the ‘people's voice', which must also include the many other strands of global civil society that, consciously or unconsciously, has informed the mass demonstrations for peace and justice in recent years. This includes the workers and peasant movements that have united internationally in the struggle for land, labour, water and other human rights; the non-governmental organisations and grassroots groups that organise ceaseless campaigns on single or multiple environmental and social issues, as well as ‘counter-summits' at gatherings of world leaders; and the diverse elements of the global justice movement that have entered the world's lexicon since the 1990s - the Zapatistas, the World Social Forums, the WTO protesters and so on.
The growing power of the people's voice is also strikingly evident in the anti-war and peace movements, most notably during the historic Iraq war demonstrations of 2003 which popularised the idea of public opinion as ‘the new superpower' in world affairs.[7] Even celebrity activism events, from Live Aid in 1985 to Live 8 and Live Earth in 2005/7, can be considered part of a growing global awareness of our shared humanitarian responsibilities. Almost every day now is named after a particular issue or cause, from World Health Day to Human Rights Day to the World Day of Social Justice, and it is a challenge to keep up with every Global Day of Action: for climate justice, for a global financial tax, for moving beyond fossil fuels, to move the planet toward cleaner energy, to Occupy the World. Add to this the millions of people of goodwill in every country who vocalise the need for a more just, sustainable and compassionate world order, and we have a broad sense of the articulate people's voice in its many and varied expressions.
Together, this collected voice of engaged citizens is acutely aware of the need for world reconstruction and renewal. No-one could read all the vast number of campaign materials and reports that begin with a description of ‘multiple and multifaceted crises', namely the food crisis, the environmental crisis and the financial and economic crises that have erupted into a global systemic crisis. For the hundreds of organisations who prepared papers for the Rio+20 Earth Summit, it was common to describe the world's major challenges as a ‘planetary emergency', backed up with comprehensive evidence from leading scientists about the ongoing decline of biodiversity, the degradation of natural resources and the ecological boundaries that humanity is pushing up against. Meanwhile, the promises of corporate-led globalisation to benefit all, both in advanced industrial countries and the developing world, are no longer defensible to the wider public who are suffering the worst effects of economic recession and government cutbacks. Even in the richest and most powerful country in the world - the United States, there is the highest poverty rate among developed nations, the greatest inequality of incomes, and the lowest level of social mobility. In terms of social and environmental indicators on a global scale, people everywhere are loudly pointing out that almost every trend line is going in the wrong direction.
Among this cacophony of voices calling for dramatic change to established institutions and structures, there is a huge awareness now that world leaders and policymakers are paying only lip service to the unfolding human and environmental catastrophe. As Western countries slide further into financial turmoil and unemployment hits ever greater heights, politicians call only for increased austerity and a return to former days of consumer-led growth and competitive free markets. Public consciousness of the issues at stake is rising at an unprecedented pace, but the forces arrayed against creating a fairer and sustainable world appear practically insuperable. This is the main subject of countless critiques and debates today: the vested interests that push for a further concentration and centralisation of power and wealth into the hands of a minority, and the corporate-dominated political and legislative process that enables the furthering of these aims.
Overcoming the forces of power and control
Almost any major development issue can illustrate the extent to which these powerful forces of economic and political self-interest control the current world direction. The threat to small farmers, pastoralists, fishers and indigenous peoples from land and resource grabbing by foreign financial interests, for example.[8] Or the immense subsidies paid to the fossil fuel industry, despite the critical need for transferring support to cleaner alternatives.[9] Or the lack of meaningful reforms to the financial industry, despite the spectacular failures of international banks that led to a world system failure in late 2008 and colossal government bail-outs.[10] Or the potentially catastrophic example of a pre-emptive strike on Iran, driven by powerful economic and strategic interests regardless of the real threat of sparking a nuclear war.[11] Such a list could go on indefinitely.
Standing behind these trends are the oligarchical and corporate forces that global civil society movements are up against - relatively small groups of wealthy elites and vested interests that consolidate power and dominate government policy, often with no sense of civic duty and with little or no regard for constitutionally-protected rights or the common good. The concentration of political, economic and media power not only upholds the present system based on unsustainable consumption and growth, but it ensures the continuation of negative social and environmental outcomes. Although private interests with economic power comprise a social minority, they are over-represented in dominant institutions and maintain the full support of most government leaders elected to office. Through the dynamics of the ‘revolving door', the same political leaders of today become advisors to the boards of major companies tomorrow. Even the United Nations, founded as a forum for people's representation and the protection of their universal rights and interests, is now hijacked by the growing influence of large corporations and business lobby groups.[12] As a result, private interests are increasingly prioritised over public interests in both national and international forums, and viable solutions for the world's multiple crises are effectively blocked or at best weakened. Instead of searching for comprehensive responses for threats related to climate change, food production, water supply, human rights violations, deforestation or poverty and health issues, false solutions are promoted that protect wealth and profits and fail to tackle the core of global problems. As each critical year passes by, we pay witness to the further concentration and control of private interests over land, resources, and all aspects of peoples' lives.
The question is whether the emerging voice of the mass public is sufficient to challenge these immense forces of profit, power and control. After decades of failed conferences and summits on the world's intractable problems, we are well aware that existing institutions are not up to the task of initiating wholesale systemic transformation. The actions of businesses are limited by their adherence to the profit imperative and the pressure to grow shareholder value, while governments are constrained by short-term political imperatives and their commitment to economic growth above all other concerns. The limitations of large civil society organisations (CSOs) to affect transformative structural change are also well discussed, as most mainstream CSOs work within the same business-as-usual political context and focus on single issues and short-term wins, or remain constrained by a narrow policy-oriented approach. Reformist or ‘within-the-system' changes are not succeeding, and often do not even generate the small wins or incremental changes that they seek.[13]
There are also serious limitations to ‘outside-the-system' changes, especially when governments are overthrown and newly-elected leaders fall captive to the same forces of institutional power that prevent meaningful change, as happened in the ‘people power' overthrow of the Marcos administration in the Philippines, the break-up of the former Soviet Union, the entry of the Greens into the parliaments of Europe, and following the end of apartheid in South Africa.[14] Only months after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the military-appointed interim government was already pursuing neoliberal policies and centralising state control rather than promoting social justice.[15] At the same time, local alternatives to the prevailing economic order - sustainable communities, transition towns and innovative business models that prioritise social and environmental values over profit and growth - are not yet of a large enough scale to mount a serious challenge to the existing political economy.[16] These rapidly-growing local initiatives provide great hope and inspirational models for a sustainable future society, but the dominant trend is still towards the centralisation of state and market power, and the shifting of real power away from ordinary people and communities towards largely undemocratic global institutions and multinational corporations.
A global movement of ordinary people
If it is clear that governments, private institutions and civil society organisations acting alone are not capable of steering the world onto a just and sustainable course, can we imagine a new movement of ordinary people that can fill the vacuum in global leadership? Is the people's voice, in its current latent form, capable of being organised into an implacable countervailing force that no government or vested interest can withstand? If this is even a plausible scenario, will it happen spontaneously, or do civil society leaders - or perhaps some modern-day Gandhi or Luther King figure who captures the hearts and minds of the entire world's people - need to catalyse this vast transnational public opinion? What would such a movement look like? How will it be coordinated? What would be its values, its nature, its global issues of shared concern? And are we seeing the first signs of its awakening in the new protest movements of 2011? Exploring this issue is not merely of theoretical interest, but could provide the most important source of hope if the world is to make a safe passage into the 21st Century.
To try and answer these questions, it is firstly important to examine whether the recent uprisings indicate the advent of global democracy or something else that currently lacks a name. Of course, it would be over-optimistic at this stage to assume that the Arab Spring and Occupy mark the emergence of a global movement of ordinary people who are united in their values, goals and long-term vision [see box]. The Middle East protests could well be as significant to the Arab world as 1989 was to Eastern Europe, but "protests alone do not make a movement", as explained by the non-violent social movements expert, Professor Stephen Zunes. Whether the issue at stake is the power of Wall Street or a corrupt dictator, being ‘right' and having the majority of public opinion on your side is not enough to consolidate human rights and create long-term, pro-democratic changes to society.[17] Many parallels and connections can be drawn between both of these remarkable international uprisings, especially their desire to bring about true democracy and their shared aspirations for equality and justice, but the two movements are not directly connected in their short-term objectives or by any long-range strategic planning. The aims of the Arab Spring were clear from the outset: to oust repressive dictatorships. But the initial aims of Occupy were less straightforward, and clearer in what the movement was against rather than what it was for.[18]
However, many commentators are rightly enthusiastic about the unique South-North character of Occupy, and its credible claim of affinity with Tahrir Square as evidenced in cross collaborations and the common tactics of non-violent, youth-led and leaderless mass gatherings.[19] The Occupy movement consists of a wave of spontaneous demonstrations that span rich and poor countries alike, and most of the protests have taken place in countries characterised by vast social and economic inequalities. Similarly, the Arab Spring was not only driven by political grievances, as sometimes portrayed in the media, but also by urgent economic causes and a growing gap between rich and poor.[20] All of the mass protests in disparate countries, from Tunisia and Egypt to Israel, Spain, Chile and the United States, are marked by a popular revulsion against a global economic system that has caused huge inequalities in income, and excluded millions of people despite its promises of more equal opportunities and shared prosperity.[21] From this perspective, the uprisings of the past year reflect a worldwide reaction to a common predicament: enormous and growing socio-economic divisions, combined in many countries with corruption, maladministration and a high concentration of wealth.[22]
Box: Imagining a global citizens movement
Prior to the sudden awakening of the people's voice in 2011, the vision of a new movement of global citizens was mainly the preserve of committed scholar activists. The World Future Council, for instance, founded itself upon such a vision following the failure of the Johannesburg ‘Earth Summit' in 2002. They observed that many people feel we are on a path to disaster, and yet we lack a global voice to speak up for our much broader common values as ‘world citizens' who care about the future of humanity and the planet. Their first initiative was called ‘Earth Emergency: A Call to Action', and sought the creation of a council of eminent individuals from various countries, backgrounds and beliefs that could serve as a forum to focus global attention on the priorities for action.[23]
A more recent initiative called The Widening Circle[24] was formed in 2010 as an action campaign to advance a global citizens movement for a ‘Great Transition'.[25] Recognising the limitations of dominant institutions to change the pathway of global development, the initiative calls for new ways of thinking and acting that rise to the level of a popular global movement. This requires a more inclusive form of consciousness and association, the campaign states, one that goes beyond national identities and embraces a sense of ourselves as global citizens, or humanity-as-whole. The Widening Circle campaign seeks to catalyse such a diverse popular movement of concerned citizens the world over, as spelled out in its consensus document titled ‘Imagine All the People'.[26]
The birth pangs of this new political actor have long been evident in the burgeoning movements for social justice and the environment, which have often coalesced into a genuinely international phenomenon with its own identity and values-driven agenda.[27] On many occasions, diverse participants with a single-issue focus (from Greenpeace, Amnesty, Jubilee and Via Campesina to the many grassroots peace, justice and environmental groups) have united under a multi-issue and inclusive banner, most notably with the large gatherings of the World Social Forum, the many civil society ‘counter-summits', and NGO coalitions such as Make Poverty History. These coalition movements are perhaps the most serious expressions yet for a new development trajectory centered on universal democratic values and human rights principles, but they remain hampered by organisational divisions, divergent priorities and the absence of an overarching vision or strategy for systemic change. They can be viewed as a forerunner and source of hope for the possibility of a truly global citizen's movement, one that rallies itself around a holistic vision of social transformation in order to build a just and sustainable future for all.[28]
Those thought-leaders who have tried to imagine a worldwide movement of engaged citizens have stressed the importance of shared values to this vision of change. As many of these thinkers point out, an upsurge of public awareness and engagement is dependent upon a profound shift in values among a significant segment of the world population. James Gustave Speth has called this the rise of a ‘new consciousness', which for some is a spiritual awakening - a sense of life's interconnectedness and deeper meaning - while for others it is a more intellectual process that comes to appreciate our present unsustainable modes of being, and embraces a new ethic of ecological and social awareness that necessitates fundamental changes to our collective human behaviour.[29] Paul Raskin of the Great Transition Initiative has explored in detail the shift in values that is needed, from the values of the past that are expressed in consumerism, individualism and the domination of nature, towards a new suite of values and worldviews that are grounded in quality of life, human solidarity and ecological sensibility.[30] Civil society organisations have also seriously studied the importance of working with cultural values, and the need to activate and strengthen those values that will help us to overcome our collective inertia and deal with today's profound global challenges.[31]
David Korten further emphasises the importance of a values shift in terms of redefining our conception of wealth, instead measuring it in the health of our families, communities and natural environment rather than in strictly utilitarian terms. He argues that this will inevitably shift policies from hoarding to sharing, from concentrated ownership to equitable distribution, and from the rights of ownership to the responsibilities of stewardship.[32] As explained by The Widening Circle campaign, many historic documents have long enshrined the universal principles that should underpin a future global society, in particular the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Agenda 21 and the Earth Charter.[33] These and scores of other internationally-agreed statements provide a framework for understanding the values and goals that should form the basis of a new way of living, and must therefore be urgently translated from a set of ideals into reality.
The global wealth-poverty divide
These common causes of global protest cannot be taken too literally, however, as there is a significant difference between the wealth-poverty divide in the Global North compared to countries in the Global South. In the high-income countries where Occupy has largely taken root, opposition to economic trends is driven by people, typically young, who are educated and rightly angered by the growing concentration of wealth in their respective countries, as well as the prospect of paying for a financial crisis in their future that they had no part in creating. But few of these protesters are desperate, as compared to the South where millions of people live on the outskirts of overcrowded cities in slum conditions, often with little education and without a chance of accessing formal employment opportunities.[34] Many of the state provisions or social safety nets that are taken for granted in the North barely exist in the poorer regions of the world, especially in those countries - like Egypt - that adopted the International Monetary Fund's neoliberal programmes and experienced the deregulation of food prices, sweeping privatisation and massive austerity measures. Deprivation and inequality is relative, and even in the grip of an economic downturn the average purchasing power of the bottom 10 percent of Americans remains higher than around two-thirds of the rest of the world's population.[35]
Unfortunately, these differences are not captured in the slogan ‘We are the 99%' which, although brilliantly evocative as a meme or rallying cry, applies mainly to income inequality in the United States, but not to global levels of inequality. The domestic income gap in both rich and poor countries is alarming and generally rising, not least in the United States, but the world as a whole is much more unequal than any individual country.[36] If living standards are compared between the North and South, it is often repeated that the wealthiest 20 percent of the world's population - a proportion that would include almost every Occupy protester - account for 80 percent of the consumption of global resources.[37] Of the poorer 80 percent of humanity, an overwhelming number of people are struggling with basic issues of health, sustenance and even survival.[38] From this perspective, it is difficult to see the Occupy protesters as sharing the same platform of concerns as the majority world, or even the same level of inequity and injustice, which may help to explain why the movement is notably small or absent outside of North America and Europe.
If we want to imagine a coalescing of diverse movements into a phenomenon that is more truly global in nature, this has several implications. A global movement must be built on a platform of globally shared concerns, but the Occupy protests are mainly focused on a range of local or national issues within mostly developed countries. In North America where the movement's name was coined, an explanation for the economic suffering across the region is primarily based on a U.S.-centric narrative - the thirty years of deregulation and pro-corporate policies that led to a casino Wall Street economy, a corrupted politics, and eventually a financial crash in 2008 that left tens of millions of people homeless, unemployed, economically insecure and laden with debt.[39] But there is a much bigger picture to this story. Many writers, such as J.W. Smith, have detailed at length how the world's resources have been monopolised by wealthy elites and the rich industrialised nations through centuries of wars, ‘plunder by trade' and modern methods of unequal trade.[40] The history of development is in many ways defined by the exploitation of human and natural resources in less developed areas of the world, and the use of export trade, privatisation and the leverage of debt to facilitate the continued flow of wealth to the most developed nations.[41] An extensive literature explains how the era of neoliberal globalisation has maintained and entrenched this unequal world system since the 1980s via ‘structural adjustment' in the South, market deregulation, and a competitive ‘race to the bottom' in environmental rules and worker standards for transnational corporations.[42]
Drawing the battle lines internationally
Although several manifestos co-written for the worldwide protests in 2011/2012 make a compelling case for universal rights and global equality,[43] this wider perspective is largely missing from the Occupy movement's demonstrations and activities on the ground. In itself, it is a huge step forward to have a broad-based association of people in the streets protesting for better standards of living and a fairer economy, relative to the kind of society in which they live. It is natural for people in the United States, for example, to perceive that they are the richest and most powerful country in world history, yet they lack even the healthcare entitlements that other developed countries take for granted, while a large majority of the population has seen little material progress despite the substantial wealth produced in recent decades - wealth that is spectacularly captured by the ‘1 percent' (or even the 0.01 percent).[44] But this aspiration is not enough to challenge a global system of extraction that creates and perpetuates immense poverty in the Global South, furthered by an American foreign policy based on violent and imperialist modes of control over world resources. As expressed by one of the founding participants of Occupy in London, people in the developing world "don't see why they should support a movement of Westerners who want to regain levels of affluence that depend at least in part on the extraction of their countries' labour and resources."[45]
In recognising that the Occupy movement is not truly global in nature or sufficiently inclusive of the majority poor in developing countries, it could lead to a very different set of priorities for the wider public who seek a fairer world. For a start, the agenda for change would have to enlarge in scope beyond reducing inequality in the U.S. or other rich countries alone, and must include global levels of inequality. Economic reforms cannot be limited to redistributing the wealth of the ‘1 percent' back to ordinary Americans or Europeans, but must consider international redistribution as a correction to unjust global economic arrangements and enormously uneven levels of development across the world. In this case, the targets of the ‘99 percent' agenda would not only focus on domestic issues of democracy and finance, but include the powerful global institutions and processes that maintain these unjust economic arrangements between rich and poor countries. There is nothing new about drawing the battle lines internationally in this way, which has a long history dating from the New International Economic Order in the 1970s to the so-called anti-globalisation protests from the late 1990s.[46] An inclusive and global agenda for change would recognise that transnational business, financial markets and the holders of capital are the chief beneficiaries of corporate-driven globalisation, but more than half of humanity who exist without sufficient means for dignified survival are the chief casualties of an economic system that concentrates wealth and resources among the most affluent parts of the world.
All this returns to the original questions: if the current protest movements across diverse continents are neither fully united nor representative of the entire world's people, what would a truly global movement of ordinary citizens look like? If such a movement is based on shared values and a single platform of globally shared concerns, what would be its demands? How could it construct a framework of action that moves beyond a spirit of protest to the articulation of a commonly-held vision? And - perhaps most importantly - how could it unite the people of goodwill in both the richest and poorest areas of the world? The purpose of asking these questions is not to predict future world trends, but to try and understand how a fused and directed global public opinion can quickly become a force that ushers in world repair and renewal. Such a phenomenon will not come into existence by itself unless many millions, even hundreds of millions of ordinary people understand the need to participate in its manifestation. The problems of the world are so immense and interrelated, and the need for global solutions and structural transformation is so urgent, that the most pressing question concerns how a worldwide popular mass movement can actually begin its formation.
The priorities of world protest
From the cursory analysis above, we can surmise the following point of view. Only a collective demand for a fairer sharing of the world's wealth, resources and political power is likely to unify citizens of the richest and poorest nations on a common platform, one that recognises the need for global as well as national forms of redistribution as a pathway to ending poverty and extreme inequality. Central to this focus is the wealth and income differences between the poorest and richest nations, which remain the greatest economic divisions that persist today. The United Nations reported in 2010 that the number of very poor countries has doubled since the 1970s, while the number of people living in extreme poverty has also grown two-fold.[47] These global wealth disparities may no longer be based on a distinctly geographical North-South divide, as the globalisation era has created an ‘international consumer class' that includes many elites in developing countries, with a huge superfluous population that also exists in many developed nations.[48] But even after several decades of economic growth there remains a majority of people in the Global South who are relatively marginalised, largely excluded from the formal economy, and often overlooked by government welfare and employment programmes without any extant plans for how to incorporate them into the mainstream economic system. All the people categorised as the ‘extreme poor' live in developing countries, and still almost half of the developing world population live on less than $2-a-day, even according to the World Bank's latest (probably under-estimated) statistics.[49] To reiterate, no matter how severe the fiscal austerity measures in North America, Western Europe and other developed nations, most residents in these countries still comprise the wealthiest 20 percent of the world population who account for the vast majority of total global private consumption. In comparison, the poorest fifth of the world - far more than a billion people - make do with barely any resources at all.[50]
For global citizens who identify themselves as part of an emerging world community, this is the starting point for recognising our common humanity: the enduring condition of excessive luxury and extreme poverty within and among countries, and the enormous disparities in living standards between the richest and poorest regions of the world. A call for the sharing of world resources, if upheld as the leading concern of a global citizens movement (or whatever else we term the coming together of people from all nations with a united cause), would inevitably lead to dramatic changes in political priorities. First and foremost, world public opinion would have to focus on the plight of the millions of people now starving to death in the Global South. The situation today remains as critical as ever, and not only in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel where currently 17 million people face food insecurity and starvation.[51] In Yemen in the Middle East, for example, the number of food-insecure people has doubled since 2009, leaving almost half the population facing hunger.[52] Worldwide, at least 925 million people go hungry every day, following an astonishing 1.023 billion people in 2009 - a historic high reached not as a result of poor harvests or a lack of available food, but the global economic crisis combined with stubbornly high food prices. Although the FAO's global hunger statistics may even be considerably underestimated, this means that at least one in seven people in the world suffers from chronic hunger and malnutrition, with a child dying every six seconds because of undernourishment-related problems alone.[53]
If other poverty-related causes of avoidable deaths are taken into consideration, the statistics are even more disturbing. Every day, at least 41,000 people die needlessly of poverty-related causes according to the World Health Organisation's most recent data.[54] An estimated 7.6 million children (under 5) died of preventable causes in 2010 alone, equivalent to one child mortality every four seconds (the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia).[55] Rarely does this tragedy appear on primetime news headlines, while most of these deaths occur quietly and invisibly in the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the world's conscience. It is a truism to repeat that the challenge is not one of resource availability, infrastructure or technical knowledge, but one of resource distribution. There has always been enough food, fuel, oil and minerals in the world to meet the basic needs of the entire population. The world's food reserves alone - although fairly low after decades of market-oriented agricultural policies - are still sufficient to meet the requirements of all regions suffering from food shortages, if those reserves were adequately distributed to those in desperate need.[56] Cost and affordability is not the real issue either when bringing everyone above the global absolute poverty line ($1.25 a day) would require just 0.2 percent of global income,[57] and when the trillions of dollars raised to bail out banks in 2008 would be enough to end global extreme poverty for 50 years.[58] The root of the problem is a lack of widespread popular concern among ordinary people in affluent society, as much as it is a lack of political will. Until a united voice of the global public demands an appropriate response from governments, one that is commensurate with the dire privations of today, we can assume that the fact of starvation and penury amidst plenty will relentlessly continue.
An emergency relief programme
Ending hunger and poverty-related deaths is obviously not enough to shift the world onto a just and sustainable course, but we cannot underestimate the knock-on effects of such a show of global solidarity. If we accept that the world is ‘one human family' with the same needs and rights, as enshrined in the many UN declarations, our first major priority must be to provide the very basics to those in a life-threatening state of deprivation. If we are clear that governments and global institutions will never prioritise the necessary level of reforms and redistributions to achieve these ends, despite decades of rhetoric and broken promises, then we accept that the people of the world must make it their own priority and lead by example. A little imagination can suggest the kind of actions that could ensue: simple acts of sharing and saving food on the household and community level, local initiatives that are soon scaled up into national and cross-border efforts led by ordinary citizens and charitable organisations. Ultimately, huge demonstrations and a deafening public outcry would be needed, even greater than the international protests that we have already seen, but unified and coordinated towards this central aim. If such a grassroots pressure erupted, governments would have no choice but to listen and heed the call, and even the private sector might feel compelled to get involved with monetary donations and the redistribution of food, medicines and other basic material needs. In meeting the urgent demands of a colossal and worldwide public opinion that favours an irrevocable end to hunger, an emergency relief programme would have to be organised at the international level as the only means to eliminate needless poverty-related deaths in the shortest possible space of time. The United Nations and its relevant agencies would be best placed to help coordinate its most important task to date: a comprehensive plan to mobilise governments and all necessary resources to alleviate the suffering of those at risk of death from extreme deprivation.[59]
This may sound like utopian thinking in the present context of economic breakdown and declining aid budgets, but it assumes that the precondition of curative world change is a massive outpouring of goodwill from ordinary citizens towards the most deprived and marginalised people of the world. It assumes nothing more than redirecting public attention towards immediate human need, which is far from an attempt to satisfy some vague or idealistic theory of world revolution. Yet a fundamental reordering of global priorities in favour of securing the most basic necessities of food, water, healthcare and housing for the majority poor is likely to have profound repercussions in the longer term. A newfound sense of trust, hope and possibility would surely rally masses of people, both rich and poor, behind a far-reaching and shared aspiration for world transformation. There is no question that the poorest half of the world, those crying out for help and succour and a better way of life, would embrace a fairer allocation of global resources. The real question is whether a critical mass of people in more affluent countries - the 20 percent of the world population who over-consume and waste the majority of global resources - will uphold and champion the principle of sharing in response to world need. Perhaps only then can we foresee the implementation of a sustainable development pathway for the world, regardless of the opposition of powerful elites and the myopia of global decision-makers.
The challenge has long been outlined in thousands of documents published since the first Rio ‘Earth Summit' in 1992: to achieve adequate standards of living for all within the constraints of a severely polluted and overstrained environment. We know that we are already using around 50 percent more natural resources than the Earth can sustainably produce.[60] We know that the high-consumption lifestyle adopted by the affluent parts of the world (both in developed countries and among richer people in developing countries) is driving the planet towards environmental destruction, and leading to a ‘natural resource grab' that devastates poor communities and is subsidised by the most vulnerable nations. We also know that ecological limits and threats from climate change make it impossible for the less developed countries to imitate the same model of fossil-fuel-based industrialisation as the Global North, or for the majority world to share the same standard of living as the wealthiest 20 percent.[61] What we don't know is whether affluent society will accept the only way out of this impasse, which is to demand that governments distribute resources more equitably and sustainably both within and between countries. In other words, we await the rich world population to join forces with the poor and together forge an enormous public opinion in favour of sharing the world's resources.
Pointing the finger at ourselves
This is easy to say, but we have to reflect upon what this means for us personally in our day-to-day lives - those of us who are well-fed, live in relative comfort, and at least have access to basic social protection and essential services no matter how bad our economic circumstances. First of all, it means that we have to make the effort to understand how global economic arrangements are fundamentally skewed in favour of the most materially-advanced nations, and how we enjoy an artificial standard of living that is based on the exploitation of cheap labour and natural resources at relatively low cost. We have to fill our awareness with the sheer extent of life-threatening deprivation in the world, and keep in mind that our collective response to human need - as expressed by the actions of our elected governments - is tragically inadequate on a global scale. Although an abundance of information is freely available on the internet and other media, there remains a considerable lack of mindfulness among affluent society about the daily misery and destitution experienced by countless men, women and children in distant countries.
For the billions of people considered the ‘relative' poor, which would include 95 percent of the developing world population who live on less than $10 a day,[62] sharing the world's resources is more than a matter of putting food on the table. It will mean a chance to live in dignity with a sense of freedom and self-worth, safe in the knowledge that there will always be access to adequate food, healthcare, shelter, basic amenities and education. This is what we ourselves have to want for the world beyond anything else: for all people to be freed from a life of drudgery and squalor, and able to experience the same level of variety, leisure and culture that we ourselves enjoy. We can only imagine the transformations that will take place if the less-privileged majority of people, the roughly two-thirds of humanity who are excluded from the benefits of a corporate-led global economy, are given a chance to contribute their talent and creativity to the restoration of the world. It will never happen unless we, in our unreal worlds of excessive consumption, luxury and waste, fully appreciate that we can no longer continue with such an imbalance in global resource allocation. We have to understand that we can never live peacefully or ‘well' so long as the greater proportion of the world population lives in penury and degradation, while a wealthier proportion of the world lives mostly regardless of their plight and largely at the cost of their deprivation. In the final analysis, we have to recognise that we are the ones who enable this divided world to endure, and our continued acquiescence can only indicate our respective complicity and complacency.
An even more difficult question to face is whether we will take upon ourselves the implications of sharing global resources to our present consumerist way of life. In approaching the limits of the planet's resources with regard to population, water, soil, raw materials and energy, it is clearly not enough to try and raise the living standards of the poor while doing nothing to address the consumption levels of the comparatively rich. This is the politically expedient way to try and tackle poverty that must be reversed if social justice is to be compatible with environmental sustainability.[63] We have to accept that the claims of the poor take precedence over the claims of the rich, while the claims of the rich must be subordinated to the sustainability of the Earth's life support systems. The basic requirements for food, clothing and housing in the Global South are clearly a higher priority than the demands for additional consumption in the Global North. The road to a fairer world inevitably requires that the industrialised nations accept reductions in material and non-renewable energy use, at least in overall and relative terms, so that it is possible for less developed countries to grow their economies sufficient to meet the basic needs of their populations. For this to happen, a new era of simplicity must be inaugurated based on a revised understanding of what constitutes the ‘good life', with reduced resource consumption and more frugal living commonly prized as the social ideal. National priorities have to shift from economic growth and Gross Domestic Product to an emphasis on ‘societal well-being' and ‘sustainable sufficiency'. And the rich nations must lead the way if more realistic standards of living are to become aspirational for the Global South.[64]
The principle of sharing
There is no shortage of analysis pointing out these basic premises for a new economy, but for the necessary social transformation to come about by democratic means we will have to want these changes for ourselves. Plenty of evidence already demonstrates that a simpler way of life can contribute to happier, more fulfilling lives, and that spreading prosperity more evenly around the world can benefit everyone.[65]Few people are likely to oppose the restructuring of modern societies if it leads to less formal working hours, more recreation time, a less frenetic pace of life and greater well-being for all. Nonetheless, the desirability of a new way of living has to be recognised by a majority of people in the developed world, and translated into an informed world public opinion that understands the urgency of adopting new lifestyles along with new models of production, consumption, organisation, ownership and governance.[66] A far-reaching programme of education towards these ends will undoubtedly be required at all levels of society, although the motivation for social change and global resource reallocation must initially come from the shared awareness and heartfelt concern of ordinary people. We have to perceive the common sense and necessity of restructuring our political and economic systems in order to create a sustainable and peaceful future, while understanding that the redistribution of world resources according to need is the only way to end poverty in the immediate term.
If the wider public makes a resounding call for sharing global resources, their political representatives would have no choice but to make a commitment to economic sharing as a guiding principle of government policy, both nationally and internationally. An ethos of sharing and generosity may even become the distinguishing hallmark of leading politicians, who would be forced to reorder government priorities in direct relation to the pressures of massive public campaigns and the ballot box.[67] The basic principle behind every policy would be to share, as fairly as possible, all the benefits from economic activity among society as a whole. All of the concerns of civil society who advocate for a fairer economy and more equality could then come into play: for progressive tax systems and the closure of tax havens, the cancellation of unjust debt, the redirection of military spending and perverse subsidies towards addressing environmental threats and global poverty, international taxes that target transnational corporations and address public concerns - including a financial transaction tax to offset the costs of the havoc wreaked by speculative markets, and so on. Through such widespread policies of redistribution, global forms of taxation and a more equitable sharing of government revenue, it could be possible to rapidly meet national and global commitments to securing the basic rights of the poor and vulnerable throughout the world. At the same time, the whole of society will need to be mobilised in major programmes of environmental repair and ‘ecological conversion' to avert climate chaos and further planetary destruction.[68] And in the longer term, alternative mechanisms will be needed to distribute the world's natural resources and economic power more evenly between countries, requiring more inclusive systems of global governance also guided by the principle of sharing.[69]
This process of world rehabilitation may only begin with a united people's voice that speaks on behalf of the poorest and most disenfranchised, and gives the highest priority to the elimination of extreme deprivation and needless poverty-related deaths. Based on this appeal to our common humanity and compassion, we can reframe the original questions about a global movement of ordinary people in even more simple terms. Is it possible to imagine a vast swathe of the world population, in the rich world as well as the poor, rising up to demand a more equal distribution of the food, raw materials and energy sources of the planet? Can we foresee masses of ordinary people who genuinely identify themselves as brothers and sisters of one human family, and who therefore demand that all the resources, technology and scientific know-how of the world are freely shared among everyone? Can we imagine a worldwide popular movement that demands a fairer sharing of global resources as its all-embracing cause?
From competition to cooperation
It is impossible to overestimate the scale of this challenge when the world's ‘operating system' is based on the competitive geopolitical interests of twenty or thirty wealthy nations, and held in place by the overriding control of multilateral banks and corporations. So long as governments compete for economic ascendancy and power, there is no global vision of a better world that acts in the best interests of all humanity. A huge leap is required to move from competition between nation states towards the cooperative management of the world economy, which is the prerequisite for a ‘global community' that is committed to the equality and value of all people.[70] Even the most enlightened heads of state and parliamentarians, however comprehensive their plans for the economic and social betterment of people's conditions, will remain unable to break the impasse of political short-termism and selfish nationalistic thinking without massive and informed public support. The responsibility for change rests with us, the ordinary people of the world, and we must demonstrate the values of caring, mutual respect, generosity and sharing among ourselves if the same values are to become expressed in our political and economic institutions. We already express these core human values in our homes and communities, but now we must demonstrate the perennial ethic of sharing on a global basis between the people of different nations.
If this is a revolution, it is a revolution of people coming together for the first time in human history without any traces of ideology or political ‘isms'. The changes cannot be led by any political party or civil society organisation, but must come about through the free assembly, discussion and activity of ‘world citizens' in every country. This is where the fearless Arab protesters, the Indignados and Occupy have led the way, in which movements the young have demonstrated their capacity for leading this burgeoning new force in international affairs - a united voice of the people, consciously mobilised in all nations towards a common set of principles and aims. To see the incredible aerial photographs of millions gathered in Tahrir Square, the enormous general assemblies at Zuccoti Park in late 2011, or the mass rallies in Madrid and dozens of other cities is to witness the untapped potential of the people's voice to lead government decisions. We still have a long way to go before realising a truly global citizens movement committed to sharing and conserving the world's resources, with the rights of the poorest and most excluded taking pride of place in our hearts and minds. When that happens - which it must, if a fundamental restructuring of the global economy is to lead to justice and peace - there will be no gainsaying the power of ordinary people to transform the world.
[1] "There is a sweet spirit in this place. I hope you can feel the love and inspiration of those Sly Stone called "everyday people" who take a stand with great courage and compassion, because we oppose the greed of Wall Street oligarchs and corporate plutocrats who squeeze the democratic juices out of this country and other places around the world. I am so blessed to be here. You got me spiritually breakdancing on the way here, because when you bring folk together of all colors and all cultures and all genders and all sexual orientations, the elites will tremble in their boots. Yeah!" Democracy Now!, 'Cornel West on Occupy Wall Street: It's the Makings of a U.S. Autumn Responding to the Arab Spring', 29th September 2011, <www.democracynow.org>; Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom, 'Why Now? What's Next? Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom in Conversation About Occupy Wall Street', The Nation, 9th January 2012.
[2] Thomas Friedman, ‘Speakers' Corner on the Nile', New York Times, 7th February 2011; Ahdaf Soueif, ‘Hosni Mubarak resigns: 'Look at the streets ... This is what hope looks like', The Guardian, 11th February 2011.
[3] Writers for the 99%, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action that Changed America, Haymarket Books, 2012, p. 155.
[4] Sarah Van Gelder (ed), This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99%, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011.
[5] Noam Chomsky, Occupy, Penguin books, May 2012.
[6] Charles Eisenstein, ‘Occupy Wall Street: No Demand is Big Enough', 30th October 2011, <www.realitysandwich.com>
[7] Anthony Barnett, 'World Opinion: the New Superpower?', openDemocracy.org, 18th March 2003; Patrick E. Tyler, ‘A New Power In the Streets', New York Times, 17th February 2003.
[8] GRAIN, The Great Food Robbery: How Corporations Control Food, Grab Land and Destroy the Climate, Fahamu Books, 2012.
[9] Bill McKibben, ‘No More Handouts to Big Oil', YES! Magazine, 12th April 2012, <www.yesmagazine.org>
[10] Share The World's Resources, ‘UN Conference on the Financial Crisis: A Missed Opportunity?', STWR, 3rd July 2009, <www.stwr.org>
[11] Fidel Castro Ruz and Michel Chossudovsky, ‘Conversations with Fidel Castro: The Dangers of a Nuclear War',
Global Research, 13th November 2010, <www.globalresearch.ca>
[12] Friends of the Earth International et al, ‘Ending corporate capture of the United Nations: Joint Civil Society Statement', May 2012, <www.foei.org/en/get-involved/take-action/end-un-corporate-capture>
[13] Michael Narberhaus, Orion Kriegman, Pamela Pezzati and Paul Raskin, Civil Society Organizations: Time for Systemic Strategies, Great Transition Initiative, October 2011; Michael Narberhaus et al, Effective change strategies for the Great Transition: Five leverage points for civil society organisations, Conference background paper - Smart CSOs Conference in London, 14-15 March 2011, pp. 6-10.
[14] David C. Korten, Nicanor Perlas and Vandana Shiva, Global Civil Society: The Path Ahead, Living Economies Forum, November 2002, <www.davidkorten.org/global-civil-society>
[15] Jadaliyya, ‘Press release: "We reject the economic program presented by Ganzouri's cabinet to the IMF", 22nd March 2012; see <www.dropegyptsdebt.org>, @DropEgyptsDebt.
[16] For example see The Global Transition to a New Economy: Mapping a Green and Fair World, <www.gtne.org>; Global Transition 2012, <globaltransition2012.org>
[17] Stephen Zunes, ‘Protests Are Not a Movement', New York Times, 7th October 2011; Stephen Zunes, ‘Arab Revolutions and the Power of Nonviolent Action', National Catholic Reporter, 7th December 2011; Stephen Zunes, 'Egypt: Lessons in Democracy: Could 2011 be to the Arab world what 1989 was to Eastern Europe?', YES! magazine, 1st February 2011.
[18] Philip Goff, ‘Reconceiving class war: How does the Arab Spring relate to the Occupy movement?', Tax Justice Focus, Second Quarter 2012, Vol 7 Issue 1, <www.taxjustice.net>
[19] Joseph E. Stiglitz, ‘Introduction: The World Wakes', in Anya Schiffrien (ed) et al, From Cairo to Wall Street: Voices from the Global Spring, New Press, May 2012; Richard Falk, ‘Global Revolution After Tahrir Square', richardfalk.wordpress.com, 9th Nov 2011; The Julian Assange Show, Occupy: Episode Seven, 29th May 2012, <www.assange.rt.com>
[20] STWR, ‘A Global Call for Sharing and Justice', Share The World's Resources, 23rd February 2011, <www.stwr.org>
[21] Jeffrey D. Sachs, ‘Occupy Global Capitalism', in Janet Byren (ed), The Occupy Handook, Back Bay Books, 2012.
[22] Paul Rogers, A World Divided - or Coming Together?, Oxford Research Group, Briefing Paper, 15th February 2012, <www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/monthly_briefings>
[23] World Future Council and Earth Emergency, <www.earthemergency.org/wfc.htm>
[24] The Widening Circle, <www.wideningcircle.org>
[25] See Great Transition Initiative (GTI) Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition <www.gtinitiative.org/resources/paperseries.html>
[26] Paul Raskin, Imagine all the People: Advancing a Global Citizens Movement, Kosmos Magazine, Spring/Summer 2011.
[27] Susan George, ‘The Global Citizens Movement. A New Actor For a New Politics', Transnational Institute, October 2001, <www.tni.org>
[28] Paul Raskin, ‘Imagine all the People: Advancing a Global Citizens Movement', Kosmos magazine, Spring/Summer 2011; Orion Kriegman, ‘Dawn of the Cosmopolitan: The Hope of a Global Citizens Movement', Tellus Institute, 2006, pp. 12-14, <gtinitiative.org>
[29] James Gustave Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, Yale University Press, 2009, Chapter 10.
[30] Paul D. Raskin, ‘The Great Transition Today: A Report from the Future', Tellus Institute, 2006, <www.gtinitiative.org>
[31] World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam et al, ‘Common Cause: The case for working with our cultural values', September 2010; <valuesandframes.org>
[32] David C. Korten, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, Kumarian Press, 2006.
[33] The Widening Circle, Key Ideas, Our Strategy, <www.wideningcircle.org/keyIdeas/GCM.htm>, accessed 11th June 2012.
[34] Paul Rogers, op cit; Paul Mason, Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions, Verso, 2012, chapter 2.
[35] Branko Milanovic, a leading World Bank economist specialising in research into inequality, in fact estimates that the poorest 5% in the U.S. earn about as much as the richest 5% in India, even despite the massive incomes of a handful of Indian mega-millionaires. See Jonathan Glennie, ‘Global inequality: tackling the elite 1% problem', The Guardian, 28th November 2012.
[36] According to Branko Milanovic's most recent calculations, few countries have a Gini measure of income inequality above 60, while the world's Gini coefficient is 70, up from 55 in 1850. See Jonathan Glennie, op cit.
[37] In the UNDP's 1998 study on ‘Consumption for Human Development', it was estimated that 20 percent of the population in the developed nations consume 86 percent of the world's goods. See also Christian Aid,The Rich, the Poor, and the Future of the World: Equity in a constrained world, April 2012.
[38] cf. Paul Rogers, op cit.
[39] John Cavanagh, Robin Broad, ‘Occupy vs. the Global Race to the Bottom - Incorporating corporate globalization into the Occupy analysis and agenda', YES! Magazine, 21st February 2012, <www.yesmagazine.org>
[40] J. W. Smith, The World's Wasted Wealth 2: Save Our Wealth, Save Our Environment, Institute for Economic Democracy, 1994; Wolfgang Sachs (ed.), The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power, London: Zed Books, 1992.
[41] Gilbert Rist, The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith, Zed Books, 2008.
[42] For example see the sources in: John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander (eds), Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible, International Forum on Globalization, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004.
[43] In particular, see the #GlobalDemocracy manifesto co-written for the worldwide protests on 15 October 2011 [Ana Sofia Suarez and Shimri Zameret, 'A manifesto for regime change on behalf of all humanity', The Guardian, 14th October 2011], and the Global May Manifesto published by the People's Assemblies Network for the May 2012 protests [People's Assemblies Network, ‘Global May Manifesto', 4th May 2012].
[44] Paul Krugman, ‘We Are the 99.9%', New York Times, 24th November 2011.
[45] Jason Hickel, ‘How to Occupy the World', CommonDreams, 16th December 2012, <www.commondreams.org>
[46] Gilbert Rist, op cit, chapter 9; Marianne Maeckelbergh, The Will of the Many: How the alterglobalisation movement is changing the face of democracy, Pluto Press, 2009.
[47] UNCTAD, The Least Developed Countries Report, 2010: Towards a New International Development Architecture for LDCs, November 2010; Agence France Presse, ‘Number of world's poorest countries doubled since 1970s: UN', 25th November 2010.
[48] Wolfgang Sachs, Development: The Rise and Decline of an Ideal, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, August 2000; Robin Broad and John Cavanagh, Development Redefined: How the Market Met its Match, Paradigm Publishers, 2009, p. 59.
[49] Adam Parsons, ‘Should We Celebrate a Decline in Global Poverty?', Share The World's Resources, 16th March 2012, <www.stwr.org>
[50] In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%. The poorest 10% accounted for just 0.5% and the wealthiest 10% accounted for 59% of all consumption. See World Bank, World Development Indicators 2008, August 2008, <data.worldbank.org/indicator>
[51] World Bank, 'Drought Worsens in the Sahel Region of Africa - Millions of People at Risk', 31st May 2012; UN News Centre, ‘Funding gap threatens efforts to assist millions facing hunger in Africa - UN official', 10th May 2012.
[52] Sam Jones, ‘Yemen food crisis reaching 'catastrophic proportions', The Guardian, 23rd May 2012; OCHA, Humanitarian Bulletin: Yemen, Issue 02, 5th April 2012.
[53] Figures from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). See Share The World's Resources, ‘The Prospects for Ending Hunger: New Figures, Same Problems', 17th September 2010, <www.stwr.org>
[54] Figures based on World Health Organization, Disease and injury regional estimates, Cause-specific mortality: regional estimates for 2008, <www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates_regional/en/index... Note: Only communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional diseases have been considered for this analysis, referred to as ‘Group I' causes by the WHO. Ninety six percent of all deaths from these causes occur in low- and middle-income countries and are considered largely preventable.
[55] UNICEF, Levels & Trends in Child Mortality Report 2011, 2011. See also Anup Shah, ‘Today, around 21,000 children died around the world', Global Issues, accessed 11 May 2012, <www.globalissues.org>
[56] In the case of India, for example, it now grows so much food that it has a bigger grain stockpile than any country except China, yet approximately one-fifth of its people are malnourished (an estimated 250 million people) - a proportion that has changed little in the last two decades despite an almost 50 percent increase in food production. Vikas Bajaj, ‘As Grain Piles Up, India's Poor Still Go Hungry', New York Times, 7th June 2012.
[57] Kate Raworth, A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can we live within the doughnut?, Oxfam, 13th February 2012.
[58] Oxfam, 'Bank bailout could end poverty for 50 years - Oxfam tells G20', Press release, 1st April 2009.
[59] The only real precedent for the concept of an emergency programme taking place between countries to end hunger and unnecessary deprivation within an immediate time-frame was the Brandt Report, written by the Independent Commission in 1980, whose proposals were largely ignored following a gathering of world leaders in 1982. See Willy Brandt, North-South: A Program for Survival (The Brandt Report), MIT press, 1980.
[60] World Wildlife Fund, Living Planet Report 2012, May 2012, <wwf.panda.org>
[61] The Royal Society, People and the Planet, April 2012; World Wildlife Fund, Living Planet Report 2012, May 2012, <wwf.panda.org>; Christian Aid, The Rich, the Poor, and the Future of the World, op cit.
[62] For the 95% living below $10 a day statistic, see Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen and Prem Sangraula,Dollar a day revisited, World Bank, May 2008, p. 3, note 5. Using 2005 population numbers, this is equivalent to just under 79.7% of the world population, and does not include populations living on less than $10 a day from industrialised nations. See also Anup Shah, ‘Poverty Facts and Stats', updated 20th September 2010, <www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats>
[63] George Monbiot, ‘Is Environmentalism Compatible with Social Justice?', 14th February 2012, Monbiot.com; Kate Raworth, A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: Can we live within the doughnut?, op cit.
[64] Stephen A. Marglin, Premises for a New Economy, Great Transition Initiative, January 2012, <www.gtinitiative.org>; see also the People's Sustainability Treaties, <sustainabilitytreaties.org/draft-treaties>
[65] Samuel Alexander, Living Better on Less? Toward an Economics of Sufficiency, Simplicity Institute Report 12c, 2012; see also the reports by the Well-being programme of the New Economics Foundation, <www.neweconomics.org/programmes/well-being>
[66] Michael Narberhaus et al, Civil Society Organizations: Time for Systemic Strategies, op cit.
[67] See House Resolutions 1078, ‘The Global Marshall Plan', introduced into the 110th U.S. Congress. The resolution called for the creation of a plan that demonstrates the commitment of the United States to world peace and prosperity. The 111th Congress has updated the resolution (now HR 1016). Network of Spiritual Progressives, The Global Marshal Plan, <www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/gmp_one>
[68] Susan George, Whose Crisis, Whose Future?, Polity Press, Paris, 2010, chapter 5.
[69] STWR, ‘International Sharing: Envisioning a New Economy', Share The World's Resources, September 2011, <www.stwr.org>
[70] cf. James B. Quilligan, The Brandt Equation: 21st Century Blueprint for the New Global Economy, Brandt 21 Forum, 2002, see pp. 57-58 and Afterword, <www.brandt21forum.info>
Poverty and hunger, Inequality, People's movements
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Following the ‘hoax summit' and failure of political leadership at Rio+20, it is clear that the responsibility for change rests with ordinary, engaged...
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The experience of Iceland, as highlighted in the film ‘Future of Hope', presents movements for social justice with a vision for creating change on a...
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As the world economy continues to deteriorate, the American public must influence a momentous turnaround in global priorities and light the way for other...
Article: Mobilising 'world public opinion'
A renewed air of questioning is being felt in the movement for global justice. Non-governmental organisations are wondering what to do next after the...
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Dore Murders: Everything you need to know about Sheffield's most shocking crime on 35th anniversary
It was the most brutal and shocking crime in Sheffield's history - and today marks the 35th anniversary of when unimaginable horror came to the city's most exclusive suburbs.
Tuesday, 23 October, 2018, 09:52
It was on October 23, 1983 that a quiet family home in Dore was thrust into the global media spotlight when an on the run criminal brutally slayed three members of the same family just hours after a joyous wedding celebration and leading to one of Britain's biggest ever manhunts.
The crazed killer was Arthur Hutchinson and his victims were husband and wife Basil and Avril Laitner and their son Richard while 18-year-old daughter Nicola was raped repeatedly at knifepoint by the twisted fugitive.
Triple killer Arthur Hutchinson murdered Basil, Avril and Richard Laitner at the family's home in Dore.
Laitner family speaks out after Hutchinson's appeal bid
Here's the full story of one of the darkest days in Sheffield's history and the hunt for Britain's most wanted man.
On the evening of October 23, 1983, solicitor Basil Laitner, 59 and his doctor wife, Avril, 55, were winding down after their daughter Suzanne's wedding to Glaswegian optician Ivor Wolfe just a few hours earlier.
Twisted killer Arthur Hutchinson, now 77, will die in prison.
More than 250 guests had toasted the happy couple in a huge marquee in the garden of the £150,000 luxurious family home in Dore Road, Dore and the couple, along with son Richard and other daughter Nicola were preparing to settle down for the night after a day of jubilation.
Hutchinson, whose motive was thought to be robbery, had forced his way into the home through a patio door and the first person to be stabbed to death was Richard.
Hearing the fracas, Mr Laitner had gone to investigate, encountering Hutchinson at the top of the stairs.
Police at the scene at the house in Dore Road in October 1983.
The killer stabbed him three times and then entered the couple's bedroom where despite attempts to resist, Mrs Laitner became Hutchinson's third victim, also knifed to death in a bloody frenzy.
He then turned his attention to Nicola, holding her at knifepoint, making her step over the body of her dead father before he tied her up and repeatedly raped her.
Blood from a knee injury sustained when he had gone on the run from police three weeks earlier was found on bedsheets - and would later prove crucial in snaring Hutchinson.
The family's home in Dore became the focus of one of Sheffield's most shocking crimes.
Before fleeing the crime scene, Hutchinson helped himself to champagne and cheese - and these would also prove vital clues in the hunt for the killer.
The trio of bodies and a distraught Nicola were found the following day by workers David Wetherall and George Wordsworth who had come to clear up the wedding marquee.
Hutchinson, now 77, was 42 when he committed the crime which shocked the nation.
Born on 19 February, 1941, in Hartlepool, County Durham, Hutchinson, dubbed himself "The Fox" after evading police for days before his eventual arrest.
He was raised by his mother Louise along with his half-brother Dino Reardon - and from an early age, was known for his violent streak.
At the age of seven, he reportedly stabbed his sister and by the time he was in his late teens, he had drifted into petty crime, stealing cars and switching number plates.
He also took to hanging around his home village, armed with a large five foot stick and began acting in a predatory manner around local girls.
In 1968, after a string of relationships Hutchinson settled down and married a local woman - but the marriage was a violent one, with Hutchinson beating and raping his wife on a regular basis.
After the collapse of the marriage, he was convicted for a number of sexual assaults and served five years for carrying firearms and the attempted murder of his brother.
He had only just been freed when in 1983, he was arrested and put in custody for a brutal rape.
However, on September 28 he climbed from a toilet window at Selby Magistrates' Court, slashing his knee on barbed wire and went on the run, avoiding the police by hiding in bushes and gutters and surviving by eating dandelions.
It is thought Hutchinson's motive when he ended up in the affluent suburb of Dore after three and a half weeks as a fugitive was to commit armed robbery of the wealthy Laitner family - his crime would prove to be far worse.
THE VICTIMS
Basil Laitner, 59, was a respected solicitor with offices in Hartshead and prominent member of Sheffield's Jewish community.
His wife Avril, 55, who had survived cancer, was a popular and respected doctor in the city while the couple's son Richard, 28, a qualified barrister, was also hoping to follow in the medical profession.
Richmond College student Nicola, then 18, was the only member of the family spared by Hutchinson. Why he spared her after her rape ordeal is unknown. Her evidence helped to bring Hutchinson to trial.
Hutchinson's identity was quickly established by police thanks to the description given by Nicola and scientific evidence in the form of fingerprints left on a champagne glass.
An incident room was set up in the village hall in Dore and police forces across the country were put on alert.
It emerged that after his escape in Selby, he had been treated at Doncaster Royal Infirmary on October 2 and 4 for his injuries.
Following the murders on October 23, he stayed in the Carlton Road guest house in Worksop the following night and a week later was spotted drinking in The Drum pub in Bentley, near Doncaster.
He also moved from place to place - from Barnsley, Nottinghamshire, Manchester, York and Scarborough - and used disguises to alter his appearance.
It was during this time he gave himself the nickname The Fox, using the name in a letter sent to the Yorkshire Post.
Police also took the unusual step of releasing his photo - and his mugshot was splashed on the front pages of newspapers across the world.
He called a reporter at the Yorkshire Post to say he had been roaming around Doncaster and his voice was played on Radio Sheffield as the manhunt intensified.
He was eventually recaptured on a farm in Hartlepool on November 5 after police tapped his mother's phone and a call which revealed he was "coming home."
THE ARREST
The area around Hutchinson's family home in Hartlepool was flooded with police and dogs on Bonfire Night, 1983.
He was eventually brought down by a police dog, just a few yards from his mother's home after making a break across open countryside to reach safety and in the ensuing scuffle, managed to stab himself with his own knife.
During his trial, on 11 September 1984, Hutchinson accused Mike Barron, then a reporter with the Sunday Mirror, of committing the murders.
However, Hutchinson was found guilty of all three murders and the rape on 14 September 1984 after a four-hour deliberation and sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum term of 18 years, which could have seen him released from prison in 2002 in the event of the Parole Board deciding that he no longer posed a risk.
After the conviction, the then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, placed Hutchinson on the list of prisoners whose life sentences should mean life, meaning that he would probably never be released.
At the time the court took the unusual step of allowing Nicola to be named, due to the massive public interest in the trial which saw huge queues form for the public gallery at Durham Crown Court.
The family's funerals at the Sheffield Synagogue in Wilson Road were attended by hundreds of mourners and were the focus of an intense media spotlight.
Hutchinson later appealed against the Home Secretary's ruling.
His case was in 2008 at the High Court, where solicitors argued that a whole life tariff was a breach of his human rights. However, his appeal was rejected and the High Court agreed with the Home Secretary's ruling that life must mean life.
A second appeal was rejected and the Euorpean Court of Human Rights also dismissed an appeal in 2015. Â
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Mera Gaon Mera Desh
Major Jaswant Singh (Jayant) makes a citizen's arrest of a petty thief Ajit (Dharmendra) and hands him over to the police, who is then imprisoned for six months. After completing his sentence, Ajit approaches Jaswant Singh for employment and helps him on his farm. There, he meets Anju (Asha Parekh) and the duo falls in love. But Ajit soon learns about a dacoit, Jabbar Singh (Vinod Khanna), who is terrorising the community. He decides to confront him and in retaliation, Jabbar abducts Anju. Now, Ajit must take careful steps to rescue his love as well as free the community from the clutches of Jabbar Singh.
Major Jaswant Singh (Jayant) makes a citizen's arrest of a petty thief Ajit (Dharmendra) and hands him over to the police, who is then im... Major Jaswant Singh (Jayant) makes a citizen's arrest of a petty thief Ajit (Dharmendra) and hands him over to the police, who is then imprisoned for six months. After completing his sentence, Ajit approaches Jaswant Singh for employment and helps him on his farm. There, he meets Anju (Asha Parekh) and the duo falls in love. But Ajit soon learns about a dacoit, Jabbar Singh (Vinod Khanna), who is terrorising the community. He decides to confront him and in retaliation, Jabbar abducts Anju. Now, Ajit must take careful steps to rescue his love as well as free the community from the clutches of Jabbar Singh.
Dharmendra,Vinod Khanna,Asha Parekh,Asit Sen,Laxmi Chhaya,Jayant,Purnima,Sudershan Sethi,Master Bhagwan,Uma Dutt,Paro,Shah Agha,Birbal,Sudhir,Sudershan Sethi,Dulari
More in Action
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China conducts surprise launch of Long March 4C rocket, lofts four satellites into space
Tomasz Nowakowski
Archive photo of a Long March 4C rocket launch on April 10, 2018. Photo Credit: Xinhua/Wang Jiangbo
Without any prior notice, China sent a Long March 4C booster aloft on Tuesday, April 10, carrying three Yaogan-31 spacecraft along with one microsatellite.
The launch was performed at 4:25 GMT (00:25 a.m. EDT) from the LC43 launch complex at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in China’s Gansu Province.
Details of Tuesday’s mission as well as pre-launch preparations were kept under tight wraps by China. Beijing has not even released any NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) indicating that the launch was imminent.
Despite the information embargo, it is assumed that the flight most likely lasted for about 15-20 minutes ending in spacecraft separation. This assumption is based off the fact the satellites were delivered into a low-Earth orbit (LEO) by a Long March 4C booster.
Confirmation of the mission’s success came about one hour after liftoff. The successful delivery of the payload into space was announced by the state-run Xinhua press agency.
The primary payload of Tuesday’s mission was a trio of Yaogan-31 satellites, namely Yaogan-31 01A, 01B and 01C, each fitted with two deployable solar arrays. However, detailed technical parameters of this group, as well as previous spacecraft in the series, were not disclosed by China. Xinhua insists that the newest triplet in the series will be employed for “electromagnetic environment surveys and other related technology tests.”
Contrary to official statements made by Beijing, Western analysts suspect that the Yaogan satellites’ purpose are of a military nature and employ either optical or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors.
A report released in May 2016 by the National Institute of Advanced Studies located in Bangalore, India, suggests that the Yaogan satellites are part of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) system that Beijing is developing. The document states that “the Chinese have in place a robust space-based system that performs the location and tracking functions for the ASBM system.”
The first Yaogan spacecraft was launched in April of 2006, with the most recent Yaogan launch (prior to Tuesday’s flight) being carried out on January 25, 2018, when a Long March 2C rocket orbited three Yaogan-30 satellites.
Besides the three Yaogan-31 spacecraft, Tuesday’s mission also delivered one smaller satellite, whose identity remains undisclosed. Xinhua only informs that the fourth passenger of the flight was a “micro nano technology experiment satellite.”
The Long March 4C booster employed for Tuesday’s launch has a liftoff mass of an estimated 250 metric tons and is 150 feet (54.7 meters) in length with a diameter of 11 feet (3.4 meters). It is capable of delivering payloads of up to 4.2 metric tons to LEO, 2.8 metric tons to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), and up to 1.5 metric tons into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
Tuesday’s launch was the 271st orbital flight of the Long March rocket series overall and the 11th mission for China this year. Beijing’s next launch is currently scheduled to take place on April 21, when a Long March 3B booster is slated to deliver the Apstar 6C communications satellite into space.
Tagged: China China National Space Administration Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Long March 4C The Range Yaogan
Tomasz Nowakowski is the owner of Astro Watch, one of the premier astronomy and science-related blogs on the internet. Nowakowski reached out to SpaceFlight Insider in an effort to have the two space-related websites collaborate. Nowakowski's generous offer was gratefully received with the two organizations now working to better relay important developments as they pertain to space exploration.
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Major core stage hardware completed for first SLS flight
The SLS core stage pathfinder arrives at NASA’s NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Photo Credit: Steven Seipel / NASA
NASA has completed major work for all five parts of the core stage for the first flight of the massive Space Launch System (SLS). Additionally, manufacturing has been completed for all four core stage test articles with evaluation underway on the engine section structural test article at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Announced in a Sept. 28, 2017, news release, NASA finished major welding on the liquid hydrogen tank that will be used for the first flight of the SLS, Exploration Mission-1, scheduled for no earlier than late 2019 with an uncrewed Orion capsule. All five structures—the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, the engine section, intertank and forward skirt—will be joined to form the 212-foot (65-meter) tall core stage. The hydrogen tank alone comprises nearly two-thirds of the stage.
Major welding is completed for the SLS core stage to be used for the EM-1 mission in 2019. Photo Credit: Jude Guidry / NASA
“The big items are done, and the team is focused on the intricate details of outfitting the flight hardware to perform specific tasks for the most powerful rocket in the world,” Chad Bryant, the SLS core stage manufacturing lead at Marshall, said in the news release. “When assembled, the core stage will stand taller than a 20-story building and include hundreds of cables for everything from data collection to propulsion systems.”
The three sections of the core stage that will require the most work inside are the engine section, where four RS-25 engines will be housed, along with the intertank and forward skirt, which hold most of the avionics. After that, engineers will apply thermal protection insulation to maintain cryogenic propellant as cold as minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 253 degrees Celsius). This insulation will be added to the outside of the stage and in critical places inside the rocket.
“Think about this work like building a car,” said Bryant. “We have the main structure or frame built. Now, we are installing the guts and electronics that turn the rocket into a transportation system: propulsion systems in the engine section, computer and other electronics in the forward skirt and the intertank.”
The two largest core stage structures were built and welded at the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The liquid oxygen tank is currently undergoing hydrostatic testing, which requires the tank to be filled with 200,000 gallons (7.6 million liters) of water to experience similar pressures of flight.
“This is the first time we are doing this test for an SLS tank, and it’s a major milestone,” Ben Birkenstock, SLS stages manufacturing engineer at Marshall, said in the news release. “We’ve covered the tank with sensors, and we’ll collect data to show the tank welds hold up when it is loaded with water that simulates propellant.”
The pathfinder arrives at Michoud
Meanwhile, the SLS core stage pathfinder arrived at Michoud on Sept. 27 where the team will use it to test critical operations including assembly, transporting the stage on NASA’s barge Pegasus to Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and lifting it onto the B-2 test stand where production cores will be hot-fired for pre-launch testing called “the green run.”
“NASA did not want to do complex operations for the first time with a one-of-a-kind piece of flight hardware,” Tim Flores, manager for stages ground support equipment, said in the news release. “The SLS core stage pathfinder will allow us to practice all these critical maneuvers with a dimensional replica of the core stage that is the same size, shape and weight as the valuable flight hardware.”
The pathfinder stage was built and assembled at G&G Steel in Cordova, Alabama. Dynetics Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama, is expected to completed final outfitting of the stage and turn it over to the space agency in early October.
Tagged: EM-1 Lead Stories Marshall Space Flight Center NASA Space Launch System
Heather Smith's fascination for space exploration – started at the tender age of twelve while she was on a sixth-grade field trip in Kenner, Louisiana, walking through a mock-up of the International Space Station and seeing the “space potty” (her terminology has progressed considerably since that time) – she realized at this point that her future lay in the stars. Smith has come to realize that very few people have noticed how much spaceflight technology has improved their lives. She has since dedicated herself to correcting this problem. Inspired by such classic literature as Anne Frank’s Diary, she has honed her writing skills and has signed on as The Spaceflight Group’s coordinator for the organization’s social media efforts.
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Home News Bugsy comes to life on stage
Bugsy comes to life on stage
DR ALEC BASSON
Dr Tania Zastron.
Every year, one in 10 people die of a stroke globally, making it the second-leading cause of death.
Survivors suffer impaired mobility, and struggle to execute daily tasks that most of us take for granted. Since they need lifelong support, which can be very expensive, it is important to help them perform physical activities on their own, as this will improve their quality of life and ability to do everyday tasks.
“One of the ways to achieve this is through sensory-motor exercises that can induce the functional recovery in chronic stroke survivors, and improve their brain’s ability to reorganise itself in response to sensory input, experience and learning,” says Dr Tania Zastron, who recently obtained a Doctorate in Sport Science at Stellenbosch University.
As part of her study, Dr Zastron developed a cost-effective and simple task-specific eight-week sensory-motor training (SMT) programme to determine whether exercise can improve the connectivity strength between different affected areas of the brain, as well as functional recovery in chronic stroke survivors.
She points out that of the 71 men and women who were approached to participate in the study, only 22 met the inclusion criteria, which included being 18 years or older; having had a stroke six or more months (chronic stroke) prior to the intervention; being able to maintain standing balance for 30 seconds; having the ability to walk seven metres independently; and physician approval for participation.
These 22 individuals completed three 45- to 60-minute sessions a week over the eight-week period, and had an average age of 70 years. Dr Zastron randomly divided them into two groups, i.e. a SMT group and an attention-matched control group (CON). The CON group was used to ensure the results found in the experimental group were not merely because they received some form of attention.
The SMT completed task-specific balance training focused on manipulating the visual system, as well as parts of the sensory system concerned with balance and spatial orientation (vestibular) and the conscious perception of touch, pressure, pain, temperature, position, movement and vibration (somatosensory).
The CON group listened to educational talks regarding various lifestyle topics for the same duration as the SMT group.
Both interventions were delivered by experienced biokineticists at centres close to the participants’ homes.
Dr Zastron says participants in the SMT group did balance exercises which included, among others, head nods, trunk leans, reaching, catching, throwing, single leg stance, weight shifting, walking (normal, high knees, butt kicks, sideways, backwards), tandem walking, weight shifts with stepping, agility ladders, line walking; sit-to-stands, walking with direction and obstacles, reaching and walking, 360° turns and sitting on an exercise ball and reaching.
She adds that these exercises were performed under sensory-manipulated conditions, for example using dimmed lights, moving of the visual surroundings, using dark glasses, asking participants to close their eyes and changing the surface area underneath their feet, head tilts, etc.
These type of exercises are important because a stroke critically disturbs the balance within the different structures in the brain, says Dr Zastron.
“After the central nervous system has been injured, brain reorganisation lays the foundation for motor learning, acquiring new skills as well as functional recovery.”
Dr Zastron says her research showed that the SMT programme indeed works.
“Participants showed improved postural sway or balance when standing on a foam pad with their eyes open, reduced somatosensory dependence, improved turning performance while walking, as well as improvements in perceived physical and social functioning. Their fear of falling also decreased.
“The brain activation results showed that there was increased connectivity strength between parts of the brain responsible for motor learning (the improvement of motor skills through practice, which are associated with long-lasting changes in neurons), motor control (the way in which the nervous system produce movement) and postural balance,” she adds.
“Overall, the SMT programme led to a higher perceived level of physical functioning, which in turn increased the participants’ self-efficacy and created a state of improved functioning in daily living and overall well-being.”
Dr Zastron says with improved postural control comes improved functional mobility, because the individual is able to change and maintain his or her posture better, while moving from one position to another.
“It has been reported that turning is one of the most frequent activities to cause a fall in stroke survivors.
“Therefore, if turning performance improves with SMT, it can reduce the risk of falling in chronic stroke survivors.”
She adds that the findings of her study highlights the importance for stroke survivors to participate in balance training programmes.
“The use of balance training under sensory-manipulated conditions should be encouraged in the rehabilitation procedure for chronic stroke survivors. Exercise may be a cost-effective and simple way to help these individuals live independently.”
Dr Zastron says SMT programmes are important because studies have shown that globally 70 million stroke survivors will be living with disability by 2030.
She points out that risk factors for strokes include, among others, hypertension, smoking, diabetes, enlargement and thickening of the walls of the heart’s main pumping chamber and an abnormal heart rhythm.
“Research shows that an individual’s risk of a stroke increases by 22% when overweight, and 64% when obese.
“Given estimations that 20 million people worldwide will die of a stroke by 2030, we must do everything in our power to reduce the risks.”
Dr Zastron says that apart from stroke survivors, people with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases could benefit from her programme.
She adds that, in terms of future research, it would be valuable to investigate whether improvements are retained at all as well as how long effects are maintained after stroke survivors have finished the balance training programme.
*Dr Alec Basson is a science writer and journalist.
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Margot Robbie’s surprise new co-star
Margot Robbie’s new co-star has been revealed for Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Picture: Getty Images
by Nadia Salemme
MARGOT Robbie has a new co-star on Quentin Tarantino's upcoming movie … and he is an Australian.
Adelaide actor Damon Herriman has been cast as cult leader Charles Manson in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
He will star alongside Oscar-nominee Robbie, 28, in Tarantino's upcoming ninth film, which is currently shooting in Los Angeles.
Former Neighbours star Robbie portrays pregnant movie star Sharon Tate, who was brutally killed in 1969 during the Manson family murders.
MORE: Charles Manson, how he died
MORE: The evil making of Charles Manson
Australian actor Damon Herriman will portray Charles Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s new movie. Picture: Getty Images
Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are also in the cast.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was dubbed "a Pulp Fiction-like tapestry of stories with characters around LA that summer", according to Hollywood industry site, Deadline.
Busy actor Herriman, 48, is known for a string of roles, including in homegrown horror flick 100 Bloody Acres and recently, in US TV series Justified.
He also appeared in local TV series Laid, as well as Hollywood movie J. Edgar - which also starred DiCaprio - and The Water Diviner with Russell Crowe.
Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate. Picture: Margot Robbie/Instagram
The ensemble cast also includes Al Pacino, Burt Reynolds, Dakota Fanning and Girls creator Lena Dunham, along with Rumer Willis and Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke's daughter, Maya Hawke.
The movie is set to be released in August, 2019.
In March, Robbie said she had learned of her casting in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by reading about it online.
Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio on set. Picture: Leonardo DiCaprio/Instagram
"I only just got the offer two days ago, well I read about it online in fact," Robbie said, according to Fairfax.
"I didn't even know if it was a true article or not, so I called up and I was like 'is there an offer in?' and they were like 'there is' so now I step aside and let my team do their work."
Manson - one of America's most notorious killers and cult leaders - died at the age of 83.
Manson was the mastermind behind the brutal slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, and six other people in the Los Angeles area in August 1969.
The guru-like maniac had ordered members of his cult - which he dubbed "The Family" to go on a murderous rampage.
Manson - who exerted a form of mind control over his mainly female followers - had been in prison for four decades.
In the 1960s, he surrounded himself with runaways and disaffected youths and then sent them out to butcher members of Hollywood's elite.
Why Margot Robbie’s mother’s home won’t go to auction
celebrity hollywood margot robbie movies quentin tarantino
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Future A-listers: ASU muscians you should know
A list of up-and-coming ASU musicians you should be listening to
Photo by Delia Johnson | The State Press
ASU freshman psychology major and member of Baseline, Gianni Jinks, plays his guitar in Tempe, Arizona on Tuesday, March 20, 2018.
By Maya Foxall | 04/19/18 1:53am
Arizona State University's student body is made up of a range of talents, and music is most definitely one of them. From punk bands to soul singers, here are five music groups around ASU that you should be listening to right now.
Freshman filmmaking practices major and singer Ryan Moreno or Rmo describes his music as R&B and soul. Although he started making music in late December 2017, Moreno says he has been able to make a lot of musician friends and continue making music and plans.
Moreno says confidence was the reason behind his recent debut to the music scene.
“I’ve always loved music, and I’ve always loved singing. But I kind of kept it a secret," Moreno says. "I always did other forms of art at the time, but I never had the confidence to sing or anything like that in front of people. And then I just obtained the confidence. I just started doing it and rolling with it.”
On top of the two tracks he has already released, Moreno has new projects including an EP with about five songs and several features coming up within the next few months.
LIL QWERTY
Jay Washington, a senior communications major known by his stage name LIL QWERTY, is an ASU student and an experienced rapper. Named after the the six letters at the top left of a computer keyboard, LIL QWERTY has been performing for four years. A highlight for him was opening for Lil Pump at a show in Texas where he got booed off the stage.
“It was a bunch of trap artists. We just fit the bill because our name was similar, but not our actual music,” says Washington. “So I learned a lot from that. Either you quit in that moment or you have to really, really believe in what you're doing.”
Once he became involved in music, his name was a big part of the learning process. After several months, he made a name change that had a deeper meaning to him than his previous name, Milky Mel.
“After six months of people telling me that it had to change I eventually went to LIL QWERTY because I don't think I'd be able to really make anything without the internet, so I felt like QWERTY was a good way to just kind of acknowledge that,” says Washington.
With his experience and music, Washington said that moments like the Lil Pump show taught him to believe in himself and his music.
This pop punk band from Mesa has been performing for around two years now and have many plans ahead for their music. Gianni Jinks, ASU student majoring in psychology, is the guitarist and the backing vocals for the band, and Gage Heiner is the drummer. Shawn Sass is the bassist, and Michael "Slack" Cully is also a guitarist and backing vocals.
Michael Schuster, freshman business law major and the vocalist for the band, says they have had many fun experiences like music festivals and touring.
“It’s been super awesome because we grew up watching bands and listening to bands that were doing all these cool things,” says Schuster. “We’ve been able to have all these experiences that we never thought we’d have.”
“It’s been a dream come true on a smaller scale," Schuster says.
Garden by Baseline
76TH STREET is an indie pop, power duo (and best friends) who have been performing together since they were 10 years old. Now recent ASU graduates, Spencer Bryant and Haley Gold are full-time musicians with an EP releasing within the next month.
Gold says that their music is quite unique and was initially difficult to describe. She says that the experience of performing and growing with her best friend has become an important part of their music.
“It’s been really incredible to get to be on this journey with your best friend.” Gold says. “I think that our bond is the source of our music and songwriting. It’s kind of the dynamic of the two of us that brings out the lyrics in our songs and our experiences.”
The two musicians have performed for years and toured the Four Corner states as well as California. They are excited about their EP, which is being released one song at a time.
Elna Rae
This dreampop band started around February 2017 and is on a West Coast tour. Sam Granados-Diaz, sophomore art studies major, is the drummer; Omar Biebrich is the guitarist and vocals; Naman Nanda, junior industrial design major, is the guitarist; and Nitin Nanda, fifth-year biotechnology and bioscience major, is the bassist and vocals for the band.
“So it's been a little over a year, and the three guys had already been making music," says Granados-Diaz. "They’ve known each other forever. They hit me up and asked if I could play drums, and then it just started clicking. It's been wonderful.”
Granados-Diaz says that the process has been very surprising but great nonetheless, especially after the release of their EP.
"We released that EP, and people started to like it, and we’ve been slowly building our social media presence and all that," says Granados-Diaz. "People seem to be responding well, which is really, really wonderful to see."
They currently have their demo album, "College Degree," and their EP, "Dexter," available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.
college degree (demo) by Elna Rae
Reach the reporter at mfoxall@asu.edu or follow @mayafoxall on Twitter.
Like State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
'Yellow Zone' deconstructs trash for fashion
By Megan Barbera | 04/26/19 4:49am
The Phoenix music scene in a nutshell
By Kiera Riley | 04/25/19 5:02am
Religious outreach on campus has students feeling uneasy, violates University policies
By Mikenna Yarmus-Gannon | 04/24/19 4:06am
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Fla. produce prices on the rise after cold snap
MIAMI (AP) - Crops damaged during the record cold snap in Florida earlier this month means state-grown produce will be more expensive.
State agricultural officials and grocers say the crops that were hit the hardest and likely to see the biggest jump in prices were: sweet corn, green beans, squash, cucumbers, melons and tomatoes.
Alex Munoz, owner of Brother's Farmers Market in Hollywood, says he can't even get basil. Two weeks ago, he was paying $10 a case for green beans and $7 for yellow squash. Now it's up to $47 for the beans and $44 for the squash.
State agriculture officials say it's too early to say how much of a loss Florida faces. The state supplies three-quarters of the nation's fruit and vegetables during the winter months.
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Steroidal.com » Testosterone » Low Testosterone
Testosterone in Every Cycle
Testosterone Side Effects
Testosterone Types and Variants
Testosterone Injections
Testosterone For Sale
Effects Of Testosterone
Medically Reviewed and Written by Dan Chaiet on Mar 19, 2019
Low Testosterone and Endogenous Testosterone
As previously explained throughout this article, the term ‘endogenous’ refers to anything manufactured and secreted from within the body, while the term ‘exogenous’ refers to anything introduced into the body from an outside source (via ingestion or injection, for example). When the phrase ‘endogenous Testosterone’ or ‘natural endogenous Testosterone production’ or any variation thereof is used, it is referring to the body’s own production and secretion of Testosterone, which occurs in the Leydig cells of the testes. Exogenous Testosterone, is, of course, administered through various routes of administration such as transdermal administration, injection, or ingestion via oral tablets or capsules. Within this section of this Testosterone article, the concern is with the endogenous Testosterone production, the dynamics surrounding it, and perhaps the most important and most concerning and examined aspect in society today: low Testosterone. This subsection will examine the risks of low Testosterone, the causes of low Testosterone, the typical treatments for low Testosterone, and the considerations for those looking to engage in long term Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) as one of the treatments for low Testosterone.
A Brief Description of Endogenous Testosterone
It has previously been described in-depth at the beginning this article of how Testosterone, whether endogenously or exogenously, operates at the cellular and systemic level in the human body. The manufacture and secretion of endogenous Testosterone by the Leydig cells of the testes is but only one of several axis points in a larger axis network known as the HPTA (Hypothalamic Pituitary Testicular Axis). This is a component of the endocrine system that is composed of various hormones that act as messengers to continue a signaling cascade through each axis, which will ultimately lead to the production of Testosterone. This endogenous Testosterone production is the final product that the majority of individuals are concerned with, and the other hormones that are involved in the operation of the HPTA serve as intermediary (but very necessary) hormones in the functioning of endogenous Testosterone production. The understanding of endogenous Testosterone production and how the HPTA works to enable the manufacture of Testosterone is essential to the overall understanding of how the body secretes endogenous Testosterone, the causes of low Testosterone, how it can be remedied, as well as the issue of post cycle therapy (PCT) following any anabolic steroid cycle, and any other specific details in regards to this aspect of the endocrine system.
The diagram displayed above is a picture of the HPTA. The HPTA, as previously described, is a system of interconnected axes that regulates and determines endogenous Testosterone secretion, as well as how much Testosterone is determined to be circulating throughout the body at any given time. How much maximum endogenous Testosterone is manufactured and circulating within each human body is predetermined by a set of ‘blueprints’ and ‘instructions’ in the form of their genetics (DNA). There are indeed other determining factors that also influence the amount of Testosterone any person will endogenously secrete as well. These other factors include: age, diet, body composition, lifestyle habits, and physical activity. Every single one of these factors, in addition to the absolute prime determining factor of genetics (DNA), is the ultimate arbiter in determining how much endogenous Testosterone is manufactured.
The HPTA operates through a system dynamic known as negative feedback. This is specifically known as the negative feedback loop, which is a self-regulating mechanism of a system. This negative feedback loop will influence the operation of the HPTA in such a way so as to reduce changes. What this means is that the body will decrease its endogenous Testosterone production if what it deems as excessive levels of Testosterone are detected circulating through the bloodstream. The HPTA will then adjust the output signals accordingly if excessive (or insufficient) amounts of Testosterone are detected. This recognition and alteration process is the basic description of the operation of the negative feedback loop. This whole process is controlled by the hypothalamus, which serves as the ‘master’ endocrine gland for literally all endocrine and hormonal processes in the body. What causes the hypothalamus to determine whether there is ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ Testosterone in circulation is determined by the genetic code (DNA) as mentioned earlier. This negative feedback loop is one of the many (but major) processes involved in the body’s maintenance of hormonal homeostasis. Homeostasis is defined as the regulation of a system, and this can be the regulation of a computer system, a mechanical system, or an ecological system. In this particular case, it is referring to the internal systems of the body – specifically, the endocrine system. This is achieved by the body for the purpose of maintaining steady and continuous satisfactory conditions. Every endocrine axis and every endocrine gland within each axis operates by way of the negative feedback loop in one manner or another, and to fluctuating degrees.
The HPTA consists of and operates by way of the following 5 hormones in order to maintain homeostasis:
– GnRH (Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone)
– LH (Luteinizing Hormone)
– FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone)
– Testosterone
The first axis point within the HPTA is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus will, through monitoring of the bloodstream (as the contents of blood plasma flows through the veins and capillaries passing through it), detect a necessity for the body to produce more endogenous Testosterone, and in response it will release variable amounts of GnRH. GnRH is a signaling hormone that will act to inform the next axis point, the pituitary gland, to commence the production and secretion of two other important signaling hormones known as gonadotropins: LH (Luteinizing Hormone) and FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone). LH and FSH are the two hormones that exert the signaling process to the third axis point, which is the testes, to begin the synthesis and secretion of Testosterone. This is the final stage, and ultimately the final manufacture and production goal of endogenous Testosterone, in the HPTA.
The inhibition, reduction, suppression, and/or complete shutdown of the HPTA (and subsequently, endogenous Testosterone production) is essentially determined by two primary hormones:
– Excess Testosterone
– Excess Estrogen
There are, of course, other conditions and hormones that might act to impede and subdue HPTA function, such as physical trauma to the testes, or other hormones and hormonal factors such as Progestins and Prolactin. However, when the concern is with the normal feedback loop and how the body’s own regulatory systems serve to inhibit (or stimulate) endogenous Testosterone production, the two primary hormones that are determinant here are Testoserone and Estrogen. When the hypothalamus identifies surplus amounts of Testosterone and/or Estrogen in the bloodstream, the hypothalamus will work to reinstate homeostasis by engaging in the opposite process of what was previously outlined – it will suppress or shut down its manufacture and release of the various signaling hormones throughout the axis. Excesses of Testosterone or Estrogen that can signal this negative feedback loop can result either from the use of exogenous androgens on an anabolic steroid cycle or even from endogenous imbalances within the body. There are many different factors that can affect this process.
When the hypothalamus will reduce or stop its production of signaling hormones within the axis, the opposite process essentially results: the hypothalamus will halt the release of GnRH, which then halts production of LH and FSH, which then ultimately reduces or halts production of Testosterone at the Leydig cells of the testes. It is only once the hypothalamus’ ideal hormonal homeostasis (as determined by genetics and the other factors described) has been restored, only then will the secretion and release of the various signaling hormones within the HPTA will begin once again. Such a process can require months before the body will restore its function to that of normal levels again, and this is without the intervention of any exogenous Testosterone stimulating compounds. What determines how long this will be achieved by the body all on its own capabilities is dependent on many factors – how long the suppression has been for, the individual’s personal genetics, environmental factors, and many more.
Signs, Symptoms, and Risks of Low Testosterone
The awareness of low Testosterone and its risks and impairments has increased dramatically over the recent decade or two at the time of this writing (2013). There is an increasing amount of medical professionals and physicians that have found themselves treating more and more male patients concerned with and exhibiting signs and symptoms of low Testosterone, which is a diagnosis that is becoming increasingly common as the years go by. This is likely due to the fact that more and more males are becoming increasingly aware of the condition rather than an increase in the incidence or development of the condition. It is a normal aspect of aging that Testosterone levels in males decline as they grow older.
There are two primary categories for the causes and conditions of low Testosterone, both of which have been mentioned thus far in this all-inclusive Testosterone article. They are andropause and hypogonadism. Andropause is defined as the condition descriptive of males (mostly middle-aged males and older) suffering from age-related decline in proper endogenous Testosterone production. Hypogonadism is defined as a condition in which the testes are manufacturing inadequate and insufficient endogenous Testosterone in individuals of any age and could be due to any number of a broad variety of causes such as genetics, physical injury, disease, or any other reason. Andropause is a form of hypogonadism, as it is a hypogonadal condition. However, andropause is a subcategory that refers specifically to age-related decline of Testosterone.
It is a very well documented fact that as males age, serum Testosterone levels will decline. What is interesting to note, however, is that in many cases, LH levels will for the most part remain unchanged while Testosterone levels decline and low Testosterone is associated with negative alterations in body composition, energy levels, muscle strength and mass, sexual, physical, and cognitive functions as well as mood[1]. The same studies that have determined this have also determined that the age-related low Testosterone in the presence of increasing or unchanged serum Testosterone levels demonstrates that this is a result of the aging of the Leydig cells of the testes. The Leydig cells have undergone, due to the aging process, desensitization to LH stimulation whereby now their response to LH has diminished substantially. This is one such cause for low Testosterone in those that suffer from andropause, and is perhaps the most common cause. It is also one of the causes of which various treatments for this particular cause of low Testosterone will not work (this will be explained shortly). In any case, it is very evident that the frailty commonly displayed by aging men is resultant of these declines in endogenously manufactured androgens, as it is well known that this decline in Testosterone is a key contributor to sarcopaenia (loss of muscle mass and strength), which is a key sign of increased frailty whereby TRT (Testosterone replacement therapy) has been suggested as a treatment for this[2]
These signs and symptoms of low Testosterone will manifest themselves regardless of the cause, whether it is andropause or general hypogonadism. As mentioned above, the symptoms of low Testosterone include the following:
– Sexual dysfunction (loss of sex drive and libido, erectile dysfunction, fewer erections)
– Fatigue
– Thinning of the skin
– Loss of muscle mass and strength (sarcopaenia)
– Increase in body fat
– Negative mood changes (increase in depression and negative thoughts)
– Low motivation
– Low energy
– Emotional fluctuations
The health complications and risks resulting from low Testosterone can be quite concerning as well. It goes without saying that the frailty issues and all of the signs and symptoms listed thus far could even be considered risks and health complications in and of themselves, but there have been various well documented examples of health risks of low Testosterone. These include anemia[3], chronic fatigue[4], development of osteoporosis[5], development of diabetes mellitus[6] [7], cardiovascular disease and chronic heart failure[8], and mental/psychological problems including depression[9] as well as the beginnings of evidence for the development of dementia[10].
It is interesting to note, however, that the treatments for low Testosterone, particularly andropause, are a conflicted one. Individuals that exhibit general hypogonadism as a result of various other causes are far more likely to receive surefire treatment for their condition as opposed to age-related low Testosterone (andropause) even though andropause is becoming an increasingly common condition. It is as of yet not fully recognized by all medical professionals as a valid disorder warranting treatment, although trends point towards the recognition and treatment of the condition to becoming more popularly accepted and widespread. In any case, the acceptance of the condition of andropause and its treatment is currently more widely accepted in places outside of the United States, such as Australia and Europe than it is within the United States[11].
In any case, a thorough examination of the patient is always necessary when determining low Testosterone. Physicians will want to rule out any possible other explanations for the various symptoms described prior to attributing them to low Testosterone. It is imperative that the individual be first aware of the signs and symptoms of low Testosterone, which are normally all-inclusive to varying degrees. Following this, the proper consultation with medical professionals will be necessary involving the proper testing procedures including blood work in order to pinpoint and determine that the symptoms are in fact caused by low Testosterone. Following this, the appropriate treatments can be applied.
Every individual should also remember that TRT is normally not a temporary therapy/treatment, and is normally a lifetime therapy, meaning the consistent administration of Testosterone is for life. Every individual considering TRT must keep this factor in mind.
The long-term safety of Testosterone replacement therapy has been well-documented in all aspects, especially in the examination of prostate health of TRT patients, which has been a general concern among those curious about TRT where it has been determined that the risk of prostate-related problems is no greater in TRT patients than that of the general population[12]
Typical Treatments For Low Testosterone, Monitoring of Vital Markers, and Considerations of Long-Term TRT
The general treatments for all forms of low Testosterone can vary, but they can be generally narrowed down to two primary medical treatments (in no particular order):
1. Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT)
2. HPTA recovery attempts with Testosterone stimulating compounds
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT): The first listed treatment, TRT, which has already been discussed fairly in-depth throughout this all-inclusive Testosterone profile, is perhaps the most widely utilized treatment, and as such it will be covered first. Although there is no set-in-stone proper protocol of treatment for low Testosterone, TRT is generally the first and foremost treatment that is usually administered by medical professionals. However, it only makes sense that prior to the administration of exogenous Testosterone, an attempt to recover the patient’s endogenous Testosterone production and HPTA function should first be approached. This has become an increasingly popular among low Testosterone treatment protocols among physicians but is not yet popular enough that the majority are adopting this two-stage method of treatment. As it stands, TRT is currently the first line of treatment, and therefore TRT is what will be covered first. The administration of exogenous Testosterone at a dose that mimics the body’s normal physiological range of approximately 50 – 70mg weekly of Testosterone is normally the target. In such a case, the use of a long-estered Testosterone variant such as Testosterone Cypionate or Enanthate administered once weekly at a dose of 100mg per week is sufficient. Once the weight of the ester and any possible wastage is factored out, the resulting amount is normally within the physiological range. Other forms of application such as transdermal gels (AndroGel) normally prescribe a 5 – 10mg daily topical application, which equates to 35 – 70mg weekly.
Of course, any application type can be adjusted according to the patient and physician’s determination and decisions. Generally, this involves the patients input and feeling as to how they feel they are doing during their treatment, followed up with blood work in order to monitor what the blood plasma levels of Testosterone actually are. Blood work during the course of TRT of any sort should involve a consistent monitor of all hormone panels, which should always include at the very least:
– Total Testosterone levels
– Free Testosterone levels
– SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin)
– Estrogen levels (Estradiol in particular)
– Full thyroid panel (T3, T4, and TSH – Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)
– Liver function (bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase – formerly known as SGOT – and alanine aminotransferase – previously known as SGPT)
– Total cholesterol – HDL and LDL
– Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)
These are generally the most essential blood values to monitor for individuals on TRT. The majority of physicians that understand proper TRT should already have these tests and functions covered. Additional values to be tested for during blood work will normally also be covered, but those listed above are the most essential. Total Testosterone levels are perhaps the most important due to the fact that the patient and physician must understand where the current form of exogenous Testosterone administration is placing their Testosterone levels at, followed by how much of that Testosterone is actually free and how much is bound to SHBG. After this, Estrogen levels are perhaps the second most important factors to monitor, as many individuals, although they are utilizing a TRT dose of Testosterone, can succumb to rising Estrogen levels that might possibly present Estrogenic side effects. In such cases, the use of an aromatase inhibitor at a mild dose might be necessary and/or an adjustment of Testosterone doses to a lower dose. Normally this would be guided under the physician’s recommendations, but most TRT patients can expect to encounter the use of either Aromasin (Exemestane) or Arimidex (Anastrozole) as one of the two aromatase inhibitors utilized at a moderate dose for Estrogen control if aromatization problems arise during TRT. Letrozole (Femara) is not normally utilized due to its impractically strong nature. Following these vital markers, liver function, cholesterol, and PSA levels are important to monitor, as they are all potential values that Testosterone administration can and do indeed influence and change. As such, blood tests should be performed every two months as they all should be monitored at that approximate frequency throughout TRT administration.
One final important note to make in the considerations for TRT is the fact of Leydig cell atrophy of the testes. Although it is understood that TRT is a treatment for life, there are male patients that might perhaps wish to disengage from TRT for any reason at any point in their life. Others might elect to simply wish to avoid the testicular atrophy during TRT administration despite the dedication to long-term lifelong therapy. One of the most common questions asked by TRT patients is “how can I avoid testicular atrophy during Testosterone replacement therapy?” The answer is in the periodic use of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin). HCG is a gonadotropin derived from the urine of pregnant women, but the interesting thing about it is that it holds a component of its structure that is structurally identical to LH (Luteinizing Hormone). As such, it will act in an identical manner to LH in the human body at the testes in men, and thus stimulate the Leydig cells to begin or continue the production of Testosterone, thereby avoiding prolonged periods of Leydig cell and testicular atrophy. Although there are a myriad of different protocols for the periodic administration of HCG during TRT, the general concept is to administer HCG every so often (approximately once every several weeks to once every two months) at approximately 500 – 1000iu every two to three days for a total period of 1 – 2 weeks so as to maintain testicular size and function.
2. HPTA recovery attempts with Testosterone stimulating compounds: Although a lesser known and lesser attempted treatment, it really should be utilized more frequently and prior to the resort of utilizing exogenous Testosterone for TRT for the rest of the patient’s life. It has been previously mentioned, however, that the vast majority of TRT patients that attribute their low Testosterone to andropause is the result of Leydig cell aging rather than reduced output of LH secretion from the pituitary gland1. Therefore, in such cases, the only possible option for their treatment of low Testosterone is to engage in the use of exogenous Testosterone for the purpose of Testosterone replacement therapy. For those individuals suffering from low Testosterone as the result of reduced LH and FSH output, which is for example very typical of ASIH (Anabolic Steroid Induced Hypogonadism) sufferers, the first line of treatment would typically be the attempt to recover the HPTA through Testosterone stimulating compounds. It is a very well-known fact that there is a vast suppression of serum gonadotropins, and subsequently Testosterone levels, following anabolic steroid use that will normally continue for an indefinite period following the termination of anabolic steroids[13] [14] [15]. The problem with administering HCG alone or engaging sufferers of this type of low Testosterone in TRT is that both of these treatments are indefinite in nature – they require consistent lifelong administration, and do not lead to the body’s endogenous production continuing on its own without outside assistance.
The use of aromatase inhibitors (AIs), Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs) and HCG all together in a combined treatment is normally utilized to attempt to restore HPTA function without the requirement for lifelong TRT administration. Following this, if these therapies do not succeed, then TRT is typically the second line of treatment. Aromatase inhibitors in particular have been shown in many studies to elevate the gonadotropins LH and FSH, and consequently, total serum Testosterone levels[16]. As far as SERMs are concerned, they are in fact used as a frequent treatment for HPTA recovery within medicine due to their Estrogen antagonistic actions on the pituitary gland, which also consequently leads to an increase in Testosterone production by the Leydig cells of the testes[17] [18] [19] [20] [21]. Although the standard treatment for low Testosterone is that of TRT, more and more medical professionals are continually adopting the use of endogenous Testosterone stimulating agents as previously described in order to treat sufferers of low Testosterone that do not exhibit Leydig cell nonfunctioning due to the aging process[22]
Medical References:
[1] Aging and declining testosterone: past, present, and hopes for the future. Zirkin BR, Tenover JL. J Androl. 2012 Nov-Dec;33(6):1111-8. doi: 10.2164/jandrol.112.017160. Epub 2012 Aug 9.
[2] Do androgens play any role in the physical frailty of ageing men? O’Connell MD, Tajar A, Roberts SA, Wu FC. Int J Androl. 2011 Jun;34(3):195-211. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2605.2010.01093.x. Epub 2010 Aug 17.
[3] “Unexplained anemia in the elderly”. Makipour S, Kanapuru B, Ershler WB (October 2008). Semin. Hematol. 45 (4): 250–4. doi:10.1053/j.seminhematol.2008.06.003. PMC 2586804. PMID 18809095.
[4] “Testosterone replacement therapy in hypogonadal men: assessing benefits, risks, and best practices”. Miner M, Canty DJ, Shabsigh R (September 2008). Postgrad Med 120 (3): 130–53. doi:10.3810/pgm.2008.09.1914. PMID 18824832.
[5] “Trends and determinants of prescription medication use for treatment of osteoporosis”. Farley JF, Blalock SJ (July 2009). Am J Health Syst Pharm 66 (13): 1191–201. doi:10.2146/ajhp080248. PMID 19535658.
[6] Testosterone supplementation in men with type 2 diabetes, visceral obesity and partial androgen deficiency. Boyanov MA, Boneva Z, Christov VG. Aging Male. 2003 Mar;6(1):1-7. PMID: 12809074
[7] “The dark side of testosterone deficiency: II. Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance”. Traish AM, Saad F, Guay A (2009). J. Androl. 30 (1): 23–32. doi:10.2164/jandrol.108.005751. PMID 18772488.
[8] “Effect of long-acting testosterone treatment on functional exercise capacity, skeletal muscle performance, insulin resistance, and baroreflex sensitivity in elderly patients with chronic heart failure a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study”. Caminiti G, Volterrani M, Iellamo F, et al. (September 2009). J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 54 (10): 919–27. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2009.04.078. PMID 19712802.
[9] Depression is correlated with the psychological and physical aspects of sexual dysfunction in men. Pastuszak AW, Badhiwala N, Lipshultz LI, Khera M. Int J Impot Res. 2013 Mar 7. doi: 10.1038/ijir.2013.4.
[10] “Testosterone effects on cognition in health and disease”. Cherrier MM (2009). Front Horm Res 37: 150–62. doi:10.1159/000176051. PMID 19011295.
[11] Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male. Carruthers, Malcolm (2004). London: Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 1-84214-032-9.
[12] Is Testosterone Treatment Good for the Prostate? Study of Safety during Long-Term Treatment. Feneley MR, Carruthers M. J Sex Med. 2012 Jun 6. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02808.x.
[13] Effect of anabolic treatment on the serum levels of gonadotropins, testosterone, prolactin, thyroid hormones and myoglobin of male athletes under physical training. Clerico A, Ferdeghini M, Palombo C, et al. J Nucl Med Allied Sci 1981;25:79–88.
[14] Response of serum testosterone and its precursor steroids, SHBG and CBG to anabolic steroid and testosterone selfadministration in man. Ruokonen A, Alen M, Bolton N, Vihko R. J Steroid Biochem 1985;23:33–8.
[15] Physical health and fitness of an elite bodybuilder during 1 year of self-administration of testosterone and anabolic steroids: a case study. Alen M, Hakkinen K. Int J Sports Med 1985;6:24–9.
[16] Treatment of male infertility secondary to morbid obesity. Roth MY, Amory JK, Page ST. Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab 2008;4(7):415–9.
[17] Pulsatile patterns of gonadotropins and testosterone in man: the effects of clomiphene, with and without testosterone. Naftolin F, Judd HL, Yen SSC. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1973;36:285–8.
[18] Evidence for a role of endogenous estrogen in the hypothalamic control of gonadotropin secretion in men. Winters SJ, Troen P. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1985;61:842–5.
[19] Studies on the role of sex steroids in the feedback control of gonadotropin concentrations in men. II. Use of the estrogen antagonist, clomiphene citrate. Winters SJ, Janick JJ, Loriaux DL, Sherins RJ. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1979;48:222–7.
[20] Short- and long-term effects of clomiphene citrate on the pituitary–testicular axis. Santen RJ, Leonard JM, Sherins RJ, Gandy HM, Paulsen CA. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1971;33:970–6.
[21] Estrogens in the feedback regulation of gonadotropin secretion in men: effects of administration of estrogen to agonadal subjects and the antiestrogen tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitor d1-testolactone to eugonadal subjects. Gooren LJ, Van der Veen EA, van Kessel H, Harmsen-Louman W. Andrologia 1984;16:568–77.
[22] Tan RS, Scally MC. Anabolic steroid-induced hypogonadism – Towards a unified hypothesis … Med Hypotheses
(2009), doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2008.12.042
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The Unacceptable Persistence of the Digital Divide
Millions of Americans lack broadband access and computer skills. Can President Trump bring them into the digital economy?
by David Talbot
Most homes in the United States have Internet service, but they don’t in the poor parts of Cleveland and nearby suburbs. A survey in 2012 showed that 58 percent of the area’s households with incomes under $20,000 had neither home broadband nor mobile Internet access, often because of the cost. Another 10 percent had a mobile phone but no home broadband. Until recently, one such household was a ground-floor two-bedroom apartment in a public housing project called Outhwaite Homes, where a circumspect 13-year-old girl named Ma’Niyah Larry lives with her mother, Marcella.
This story is part of our January/February 2017 issue
Ma’Niyah has a special-education plan for math; to help her, she’s been assigned problems to do online through Khan Academy. But her mother says she cannot afford broadband from Time Warner Cable, which would begin at around $50 a month, even for an entry-level offering, plus modem and taxes (and the price would rise significantly after the 12-month teaser rate expired). The family has a smartphone, but it’s harder for Ma’Niyah to use the small screen, and Marcella watches her data caps closely; just a few hours of Khan Academy videos would blow past monthly limits. Fast Internet access is available in a library a few blocks away, but “it’s so bad down here that it’s not really safe to walk outside,” Marcella Larry says. Ma’Niyah’s bedroom, its wall decorated with a feathery dream-catcher, faces a grassy courtyard where gang-related gunfire rang out on two nights last summer, causing Ma’Niyah to flee to the relative safety of the living room.
There is a patchwork of attempts to deal with this problem. The region’s public housing agency, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, recently gave Ma’Niyah a tablet and a wireless hotspot in a trial program to help close the “homework gap” that’s opened up between kids who have Internet-connected computers at home and those who don’t. And Marcella Larry qualifies for a discount program AT&T offers to families that receive food subsidies: DSL service—far slower than what the government defines as broadband—over phone lines for $5 to $10 a month. But it’s hardly a long-term solution. AT&T agreed to offer the package for four years as part of its effort to win regulatory approval for its acquisition of DirectTV.
Marcella and Ma’Niyah are among the millions of people on the wrong side of America’s persistent digital divide. A survey by Pew Research shows that fully one-third of American adults do not subscribe to any Internet access faster than dial-up at their home at a time when many basic tasks—finding job listings, doing homework, obtaining social services, and even performing many jobs—require being online. Even many people who are willing to pay for service can’t get it. Thirty-four million Americans have no access at all to broadband as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission defines it: a download speed of at least 25 megabits per second and an upload speed of three megabits per second. These speeds are what FCC chairman Tom Wheeler calls “table stakes for 21st-century communications.”
People without broadband are not necessarily entirely offline: like Marcella Larry, some of them rely on smartphones. But because of small screens and data caps, phones are not an adequate substitute for home broadband. Its absence in some communities is a growing problem at a time when the jobs of the future will be increasingly digital: the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 500,000 information technology jobs will be created in the next few years. Already, one in 20 American adults is deriving some income from online “gig” employment (not including ride- or home-sharing services), according to joint studies by Microsoft Research and the Pew Research Center. Such opportunities are only expected to grow—for people who have broadband access.
In Cleveland, which along with Detroit ranks among the worst-connected cities in the nation, help is on the way for some residents. Housing projects like the one where Marcella and Ma’Niyah Larry live are about to benefit from an ambitious project to provide the fastest service in the city using a combination of fiber-optic networks and a new breed of wireless connection. But no comprehensive solution is in evidence for these cities—or the nation as a whole. Despite having invented the Internet’s protocols, the United States lags far behind much of the industrialized world in available broadband speeds and affordability of fast services—a problem that is particularly acute in inner cities and rural areas. In past eras, great national efforts led to universal electricity and telephone service. Now the nation could use an ambitious plan to improve service, drive down costs, and expand access to children like Ma’Niyah and everyone else who deserves it.
Of course, computers and broadband by themselves don’t magically lead to college degrees and better jobs. After all, much of what people do with Internet access once they get it is hardly productive. But some of them may not be getting the training they need to make effective use of software and online services. And there are many correlations between broadband access and income levels or success in finding employment. As the White House Council of Economic Advisers says, “The digital divide is likely both a cause and a consequence of other demographic disparities.”
When people do get broadband and computer training, their lives can change in remarkable ways. Take Monica Moore. She’s a single mother who lived in a decaying neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland and spent more than 20 years working as a file clerk at the Cleveland Clinic. Then three years ago came ominous news. “At work, they said everything was going to electronic medical records and they were going to outsource my job,” Moore, now 47, recalls. “Oh my gosh, my job.”
Moore had few computer skills and rarely used the Internet. The high cost of service from Time Warner Cable kept her offline. But faced with the prospect of losing her job, she steeled herself and entered a storefront training center called the Ashbury Community Center. She started learning software like Office and Excel, and wound up taking online classes through the University of Phoenix. She spent evening after evening doing that work until, in early 2016, she collected a bachelor’s degree in finance. She was one of more than 6,000 people who have received computer training over the past five years thanks to the Ashbury Center and its partners in a nonprofit collaborative called Connect Your Community.
Today, she’s still at the Cleveland Clinic—only she’s got a new job that pays $20,000 more than her old one, editing and uploading digital reports in the hospital’s bustling cardiac catheterization lab. “I was stuck 20 years in the same job due to the fact I didn’t have the means, the technology,” Moore says. “This opened so many doors for me, and I’m just so thankful.” While finishing her degree, she recognized the value of getting Internet access at home. She decided it was worth $154 a month for a cable deal that includes high-speed access in her new home in the suburb of South Euclid.
Fast and cheap
To solve the access problem for more low-income people, Cleveland needs to focus on public or subsidized housing, where 50,000 of the city’s 375,000 inhabitants live. I took a trip to the 14th-story roof of a public housing project named Cedar Estates with Lev Gonick, CEO of a local nonprofit called DigitalC. We stepped out into the drizzle and beheld a panoramic view of America’s industrial rise and decline. To the north was Terminal Tower, a symbol of the region’s onetime economic might: the 52-story Art Deco tower was once the second-tallest building in America. To the south, smoke rose from two steel mills that represent the vestiges of a local industry that today employs fewer than 2,000 people, down from Cleveland’s steelmaking peak of 47,000. Also in sight: vacant factories and blocks of near-worthless frame houses.
Gonick pointed to St. Vincent’s Charity Hospital, one kilometer away. A high-speed fiber-optic network passes through St. Vincent’s; built using a 2009 federal stimulus grant, it connects institutions including at least 800 schools, medical facilities, and government buildings in greater Cleveland. Now the plan is to extend the network to residents in the housing projects. Because it would cost $350,000 to run fiber from St. Vincent’s to Cedar Estates and several nearby buildings, DigitalC will instead close that gap with a wireless technology costing one-tenth as much to install: a millimeter-wave transmission system from a company called Siklu. The new service will be able to deliver one-gigabit-per-second connections to the building, and a bank of servers in Cedar Estates’ basement telephone room will use the existing copper telephone network to provide broadband service to all 163 apartments.
The goal: to provide the fastest and cheapest service in the city, completely removing the cost barrier that poor residents now face. Gonick believes the whole project is so cheap to build that when you throw in an FCC subsidy (called “lifeline”) of $9.25 per month, all tenants in the housing project will easily be able to afford broadband.
While delivering fast, cheap service is an end in itself, DigitalC and partners also plan to give all tenants in the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority refurbished computers and training similar to what’s offered at Ashbury. The tenants will be directed to online workforce training schools such as Career Online High School, too. At the same time, the government of Cuyahoga County is working to put more services online, including workforce training, benefits enrollment, and potentially telemedicine appointments, says Scot Rourke, chief transformation officer for the county. “We want to do more than manage poverty,” he says. “If we have broadband, we can do more kinds of education and training. We’ve got to get people into jobs that will give them the wages to get out of poverty.”
Paths to such jobs exist for those who seek them. One of the new businesses within Terminal Tower is WeCanCodeIt, a 12-week software engineering boot camp for people with little experience in technology. The program aims to equip them for jobs like building websites. One student is Melissa Hughes, 40, who left her job as an HIV-testing counselor in Philadelphia and is now unemployed in Cleveland. “In my previous field there was not stability,” she says. “Adding coding skills will give me more opportunity.”
New efforts to introduce kids to coding are taking root as well. At a recent “hip-hop coding” seminar organized by several academic institutions in a downtown office space, teachers and librarians photographed themselves doing break-dance moves and then used Scratch, the popular programming language and online community developed at MIT, to design multimedia animations of their antics. Maria Trivisonno, a librarian in the Cleveland suburb of Warrensville Heights, explained the audience she had in mind: the kids who pour into the library after school, looking for things to do. “We want to teach kids how to create things online, not only how to find information,” she said between dance moves. “If you can start kids young thinking about how to code, it will help them as they get older.”
Don’t be scared
While Gonick’s project might provide a model for cheap broadband in public housing and for educational efforts that might help people put it to good use, there’s a bigger problem to crack: how can we get more and cheaper digital infrastructure everywhere else in the country? The key is to stimulate competition. For example, after Google began offering broadband on fiber-optic lines in the Kansas City area in 2012, existing providers increased the speed of their services by 86 percent over what it had been a year prior—the largest increase in the country at the time, according to Akamai Technologies.
But Cleveland has no such luck. It has only two companies providing service—Time Warner Cable and AT&T—and the latter doesn’t compete very strongly. AT&T doesn’t offer most of the city anything close to what the FCC considers broadband, and some streets can still only get dial-up service from the company.
The situation is perhaps worse in rural areas. Drive an hour east of Cleveland and you reach the community of Andover, flanking the Pennsylvania border. Much of the region has only slow DSL from CenturyLink. “They claim it’s ‘high speed,’ but downloading things literally takes minutes,” says Cindy Schwenk, a retiree who works part time at the Andover Public Library. When she’s there, she can use Wi-Fi to download things on her smartphone in just seconds because the building, unlike residences in the area, has a fast connection from a state library consortium. People sometimes sit in their cars outside the building after hours to get online.
The Andover area relies economically on part-time residents who vacation at nearby Pymatuning Lake. But other areas without such draws may get left behind in an increasingly digital economy.
How can we jump-start competition in these places? One model is emerging: let local governments find partners to build out the basic fiber-optic infrastructure, or at least the empty conduit that can carry fiber underground, and then let service providers compete for customers over such networks (or pull fiber through the conduit, as the case may be). That’s what a few cities are doing, including the aerospace mecca of Huntsville, Alabama. In this case, what’s going on in Huntsville isn’t rocket science. The city is building the basic fiber infrastructure, known as “dark fiber”; Google will “light” the fiber and provide the service. In Ammon, Idaho, the city built a fiber network and let private service providers duke it out. Now customers can use a Web interface to switch providers in a few seconds. No need for the company-specific cable or optical networking boxes that are common in homes across the country.
But in most places, efforts to install new networks often crash into decidedly low-tech obstacles. For example, utility poles. These are almost always owned by an electric company or telephone company, and the latter has an interest in making it slow and costly for competitors to add new fiber to the poles. The FCC has streamlined the rules for how companies attach to poles, but under federal law the rules benefit only ISPs, telephone companies, and cable companies. If the entity trying to install fiber happens to be, say, a county redevelopment agency in a rural area, FCC regulations don’t apply, and pole owners are freer to make the process lengthy and difficult, even if the agency has been told by the state or local government that it may use the poles. Cutting red tape to help install fiber and then adopting flexible service models to facilitate competition could “help get away from today’s rigid models of information services,” says Christopher Mitchell, director of the community broadband networks initiative at the Institute of Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit that, among other things, studies broadband. That might finally help end the digital divide across the United States.
Does everyone deserve access to affordable high-speed Internet, just like water, sewers, electricity, and telephone service? In Ma’Niyah Larry’s apartment and at the Ashbury Community Center, where Monica Moore rebooted her career, you can see that the argument could be made. “There is never a shortage of people who want to show up here and learn,” Bill Callahan, director of the Connect Your Community collaborative, remarked as we looked around the community center.
One of those people was Claudette Hughley, a 55-year-old unemployed physical-therapist assistant and mother of three adult children. She has spent her life offline and needs to find work. She’s now learned how to use e-mail, how to create and edit Word documents, and how to scroll through online job listings. These are all steps toward fully crossing the digital divide.
“I’m just getting more comfortable with doing things like this,” she said. “I want to broaden my mind—and not get scared.”
David Talbot
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This Other ‘Underground Railroad’ Ran South Through Texas
Refugees fleeing civil unrest, violence and persecution are nothing new: More than 100 years ago, it was a large portion of the American population trying to find a safe haven. They were slaves.
By Reynaldo Leanos Jr.February 17, 2017 6:53 amArts & Culture, Border & Immigration
Lupe Flores walking around the Webber Cemetery in Alamo, Texas. (Photo by Reynaldo Leanos, Jr.)
You likely know a thing or two about the underground railroad that helped hundreds escape to the north. But just 15 minutes outside of McAllen there are forgotten pieces of a lesser-known underground railroad that went in a southerly direction.
The Jackson Ranch Cemetery in San Juan, Texas is less than a mile from the US-Mexico border. Tombstones with dates as far back as the mid 1800s are scattered in the tall grass. It looks like the grass hasn’t been mowed in years.
Roseann Bacha-Garza, is the program manager of the Community Historical Archeological Program with Schools at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She’s been researching this area for years — studying the historical regional and cultural heritage on the border. One way she does that is by examining the genealogy of families who originally settled here.
“This is the other Jackson Ranch cemetery and apparently Nathaniel Jackson is buried back here,” Bacha-Garza says on a tour.
The Jacksons were slave and plantation owners from Alabama. Bacha-Garza says Nathaniel’s journey to Texas began when he married a woman named Matilda Hicks.
“She was a slave in their plantation back in Alabama.”
Nathaniel Jackson did not believe in the Confederate cause and eventually freed his slaves. In the 1850’s he, Matilda, their children and five other families traveled to Texas in five covered wagons. Nathaniel and Matilda were a mixed-race couple looking for a fresh start. They wanted to live in peace. And they found that here in south Texas.
Bacha-Garza says the family was known for something else — they would protect slaves and would smuggle them across the Rio Grande into Mexico where slavery had already been abolished 20 years prior.
“During that time in the 1850s it was reported that there were approximately 3,000 black slaves that would have escaped over the river,” Bacha-Garza says.
Karl Jacoby recently wrote about one of those slaves in his book The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire.
“After 1850, there’s a fugitive slave act that would allow you to seize slaves in the north, but there was Mexico adamantly refusing to sign any fugitive slave agreement with the US. So once a slave made it to Mexico they really were safe in a way that didn’t exist in the northern US,” Bacha-Garza says.
That’s why the families who helped slaves on this side of the border were so important to the underground railroad to the South. Along with the Jacksons, the Webbers also helped. But Bacha-Garza says there’s still a lot we don’t know about these families and their histories.
“I’m constantly doing research, as are other members of this family, sometimes you can see them on blogs on the internet,” Bacha-Garza says.
Lupe Flores is a descendant of both the Jacksons and the Webbers. He’s 27 years-old and a graduate student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley — where he studies Anthropology and Mexican American Studies. Flores says he grew up hearing stories about his family’s past, but — at the time — he didn’t think too much of them.
“I was in undergrad when I began to systematically researching my grandmother’s, her family’s history here in Hidalgo County. So I always had a sense of you know there was something about the ranch, or whatever, but I just never really internalized it,” Flores says.
That’s changed. He now reflects on his family’s history pretty frequently.
One thing he thinks about, and writes about, is what he calls the “permutations of resistance” — especially on the border.
“Through different times in the history and in the present, I mean there’s been people resisting policies of the state, the borders of the state,” Flores says. “Back then it was helping slaves cross into Mexico. In the 1900s, you had prohibition and this area was also a place of cross border movement during prohibition and then now in the contemporary period.”
Today the border is much more militarized by the state, but resistance still occurs. Usually in the form of helping undocumented people get into this country.
“Even with walls being built there’s still always going to be a way to subvert the state and it’s machinations to control the border,” Flores says.
After learning about his family’s role in this story, Flores looks at the Valley history differently. It’s a story he wants to magnify. Because, up until now, the story of the underground railroad that took slaves North has been told. But the Texas story — the one where slaves found freedom by fleeing South — continues to be a local, hidden tale.
Texas Standard for February 16, 2017
UT-Austin President: White Supremacist Posters Are ‘Abhorrent’
Lawmakers Point to Covert Planned Parenthood Video in Fetal Tissue Debate
Local Leaders Discussing Privatizing San Antonio Airport Operations
Older Latino Voters Focused on Economics, Abortion in 2016 Election
GOP-Backed ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Bill Wouldn’t Have Prevented Dallas Crime Spree
Uvalde County: Home of Chalk Cliffs, Clear Rivers and Cypress Trees
El Paso Co. School Board Worries More Students May Strain Resources
Will This Year’s SXSW Get Political?
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New Crime Lab Protocol Leads to Reviews of "Mixed DNA" Evidence
by Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle Sept. 12, 2015 1:36 PM
By Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle Sept. 12, 2015
"New Crime Lab Protocol Leads to Reviews of "Mixed DNA" Evidence" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
This past spring, the FBI notified crime labs there were errors in the data used to calculate the chances that DNA found at a crime scene matched an individual. But it downplayed the impact of the errors on court cases, setting off a low but distinct rumble throughout the criminal justice system nationwide.
After reading the FBI's notice, district attorneys like Galveston County's Jack Roady asked DPS to reassess evidence that had already been tested for use in upcoming trials — this time, using the FBI's corrected data, which was related to population statistics.
"When the FBI sent out the 'pop stat' issue memo, that these were some errors and should not be any issues, I don't have any reason to think they were wrong in that," Roady said.
But a second concern emerged after Roady got his evidence analysis back from one of the eight Texas Department of Public Safety crime labs that tests DNA evidence. Recently, DPS and crime labs nationwide have switched to a more conservative analytical approach when looking at "mixed DNA" — which refers to when more than one individual's DNA is present on evidence.
"It still included the defendant," Roady said of the new analysis this past summer in a case. "However, the likelihood that the defendant was the only source of the DNA went from 1 in a billion, down to less than 1 in a 100."
Luckily for Roady, the evidence tested was not primary or what he called "lynchpin evidence." But the different result was troubling.
"Any change in the evidence causes concern for the prosecutors," he said. "We want to present evidence that we know is reliable."
As word of the new DPS approach spread, so have questions from prosecutors and defense attorneys to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which spent much of August discussing with its board, attorneys and even the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as to what it could all mean — most of all, for defendants.
"While in many cases the changed protocols may have no effect," the commission wrote in an obtuse Aug. 21 memo posted on its website. "But the potential impact on criminal cases raises concerns for both scientists and lawyers."
As the DPS later explained this past week in a memo to attorneys, DNA analysis is a developing science and as standards change, so do the ones used at the state crime labs.
"The Texas DPS Crime Laboratory Service is committed to keeping and remaining current," DPS informed prosecutors in a Sept. 10 memo noting that on Aug. 10, it had switched to a new standard when analyzing "DNA mixtures."
But the lack of certainty in the new standards, which was not used at all crime labs in the state across the board, has also raised questions. Only eight of the DNA crime labs belong to DPS. Others are operated by local governments.
"Different labs have used different protocols in Texas, and we don't know the scope of the problem," said Amanda Marzullo, policy director at the Texas Defender Services, a team of lawyers who file appeals for Texas death row inmates. "So someone who could be included in one scenario might not be, in light of these new procedures."
One of the experts who has been working with the forensic science commission to explain to judges and others the interlacing triggers that have prompted questions about DNA analysis is Bruce Budowle of the University of North Texas Health Science Center, who declined to offer a definitive read.
"I don't have much to discuss as we are still looking into the issue and whether it is a minor or greater problem," Budowle said in an email to The Texas Tribune. "I cannot say until more information is gathered and thus am hesitant to opine at this time."
While the commission's lead as both clearinghouse for concerns and air traffic controller for ideas about how to proceed has won praise from prosecutors, judges and others, the challenge before it has brought to light how science and law in Texas can lead insular lives even when the two intersect.
"DNA is a very hard science," said Rob Kepple, executive director of the Texas County and District Attorney Association. "What we didn't appreciate or know was that after the physical test was done for the mixed samples, there's this level of interpretation that needs to be done."
Although no one is convinced — yet — that the new interpretation standard adopted by DPS and states elsewhere will impact cases, the three-staffer commission's swift action has helped to move government entities in a remarkable collaborative fashion.
On Thursday, in an attempt to determine how far-reaching the new standard could be, DPS sent district attorneys a list of 24,468 lab cases "potentially impacted by this protocol change" since 1999, in which mixed DNA was analyzed. Because one criminal case could involve more than one lab test, the number of defendants and victims included among those lab cases could not be calculated by the Tribune.
"It's kind of an unknown of the magnitude of what this situation will be," said Skylor Hearn, a former Texas Ranger who is now assistant director over the law enforcement support division at DPS. "We do have an obligation to provide information that has the potential to be exculpatory. As do prosecutors. So we have to give them the information first."
The new protocol adopted by DPS does not eliminate suspects or victims, insists Hearn. "It's not saying, 'It's not you.' It reduces the ratio, which could impact at trial."
That reduced ratio, he said could be used to create reasonable doubt.
In a letter to the district attorneys, Brady W. Mills, DPS deputy director of the crime laboratory service, notified them of next Friday's commission meeting at Dallas' Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science, where DNA experts tapped by the commission will discuss how to proceed.
It is expected to draw a large crowd, from DPS staff and prosecutors to judges and defense attorneys. One stakeholder joked that perhaps AT&T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys, might be the right venue to accommodate all of those who are interested in attending.
Until then, Texas prosecutors are busy combing through DPS' 24,468 lab test list see whether there was a resulting criminal case occurred and whether they need to have the DNA data submitted for another analysis under the crime labs' new standard.
Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza has already set up a review of the DPS lab cases which involve 100 criminal cases in that county since 1999.
"It's a serious matter and entails a lot of work," Garza said.
In Galveston County, Roady has notified both his Commissioners Court and judges that any case that is re-examined will require notification to defendants and their attorneys.
That notification to defendants is expected to be costly, and no one has a handle on exactly how it will be done uniformly and how it will affect local budgets. For now, those in the criminal justice community are waiting until there are more answers next Friday.
"We very recently became aware of this issue and have notified defense attorneys on all pending criminal cases where there is DNA testing," said Cynthia Meyer, spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. "We will be monitoring this meeting and any recommendations from the Forensic Science Commission to address this issue."
DPS Crime Lab Statement (332.1 KB) DOWNLOAD
<p>This article originally appeared in <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/">The Texas Tribune</a> at <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/12/new-crime-lab-protocol-forcing-review-dna-evidence/">https://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/12/new-crime-lab-protocol-forcing-review-dna-evidence/</a>.</p> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/12/new-crime-lab-protocol-forcing-review-dna-evidence/"> <p><strong>Texas Tribune mission statement</strong></p> <p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.texastribune.org/">The Texas Tribune</a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.</p> <script src="https://dot.texastribune.org/static/dist/dot.min.55eef7d282ec435600d1.js" integrity="sha384-kWHbWWrJHsBy04/FLYpSF8whX7iznTaWu7KCwxjA7qmPD3La29VFha61MJDfKQ+e" crossorigin="anonymous" data-tt-canonical="https://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/12/new-crime-lab-protocol-forcing-review-dna-evidence/"></script>
New Crime Lab Protocol Leads to Reviews of "Mixed DNA" Evidence By Terri Langford, Houston Chronicle September 12, 2015 This past spring, the FBI notified crime labs there were errors in the data used to calculate the chances that DNA found at a crime scene matched an individual. But it downplayed the impact of the errors on court cases, setting off a low but distinct rumble throughout the criminal justice system nationwide. After reading the FBI's notice, district attorneys like Galveston County's Jack Roady asked DPS to reassess evidence that had already been tested for use in upcoming trials — this time, using the FBI's corrected data, which was related to population statistics. "When the FBI sent out the 'pop stat' issue memo, that these were some errors and should not be any issues, I don't have any reason to think they were wrong in that," Roady said. But a second concern emerged after Roady got his evidence analysis back from one of the eight Texas Department of Public Safety crime labs that tests DNA evidence. Recently, DPS and crime labs nationwide have switched to a more conservative analytical approach when looking at "mixed DNA" — which refers to when more than one individual's DNA is present on evidence. "It still included the defendant," Roady said of the new analysis this past summer in a case. "However, the likelihood that the defendant was the only source of the DNA went from 1 in a billion, down to less than 1 in a 100." Luckily for Roady, the evidence tested was not primary or what he called "lynchpin evidence." But the different result was troubling. "Any change in the evidence causes concern for the prosecutors," he said. "We want to present evidence that we know is reliable." As word of the new DPS approach spread, so have questions from prosecutors and defense attorneys to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which spent much of August discussing with its board, attorneys and even the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as to what it could all mean — most of all, for defendants. "While in many cases the changed protocols may have no effect," the commission wrote in an obtuse Aug. 21 memo posted on its website. "But the potential impact on criminal cases raises concerns for both scientists and lawyers." As the DPS later explained this past week in a memo to attorneys, DNA analysis is a developing science and as standards change, so do the ones used at the state crime labs. "The Texas DPS Crime Laboratory Service is committed to keeping and remaining current," DPS informed prosecutors in a Sept. 10 memo noting that on Aug. 10, it had switched to a new standard when analyzing "DNA mixtures." But the lack of certainty in the new standards, which was not used at all crime labs in the state across the board, has also raised questions. Only eight of the DNA crime labs belong to DPS. Others are operated by local governments. "Different labs have used different protocols in Texas, and we don't know the scope of the problem," said Amanda Marzullo, policy director at the Texas Defender Services, a team of lawyers who file appeals for Texas death row inmates. "So someone who could be included in one scenario might not be, in light of these new procedures." One of the experts who has been working with the forensic science commission to explain to judges and others the interlacing triggers that have prompted questions about DNA analysis is Bruce Budowle of the University of North Texas Health Science Center, who declined to offer a definitive read. "I don't have much to discuss as we are still looking into the issue and whether it is a minor or greater problem," Budowle said in an email to The Texas Tribune. "I cannot say until more information is gathered and thus am hesitant to opine at this time." While the commission's lead as both clearinghouse for concerns and air traffic controller for ideas about how to proceed has won praise from prosecutors, judges and others, the challenge before it has brought to light how science and law in Texas can lead insular lives even when the two intersect. "DNA is a very hard science," said Rob Kepple, executive director of the Texas County and District Attorney Association. "What we didn't appreciate or know was that after the physical test was done for the mixed samples, there's this level of interpretation that needs to be done." Although no one is convinced — yet — that the new interpretation standard adopted by DPS and states elsewhere will impact cases, the three-staffer commission's swift action has helped to move government entities in a remarkable collaborative fashion. On Thursday, in an attempt to determine how far-reaching the new standard could be, DPS sent district attorneys a list of 24,468 lab cases "potentially impacted by this protocol change" since 1999, in which mixed DNA was analyzed. Because one criminal case could involve more than one lab test, the number of defendants and victims included among those lab cases could not be calculated by the Tribune. "It's kind of an unknown of the magnitude of what this situation will be," said Skylor Hearn, a former Texas Ranger who is now assistant director over the law enforcement support division at DPS. "We do have an obligation to provide information that has the potential to be exculpatory. As do prosecutors. So we have to give them the information first." The new protocol adopted by DPS does not eliminate suspects or victims, insists Hearn. "It's not saying, 'It's not you.' It reduces the ratio, which could impact at trial." That reduced ratio, he said could be used to create reasonable doubt. In a letter to the district attorneys, Brady W. Mills, DPS deputy director of the crime laboratory service, notified them of next Friday's commission meeting at Dallas' Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science, where DNA experts tapped by the commission will discuss how to proceed. It is expected to draw a large crowd, from DPS staff and prosecutors to judges and defense attorneys. One stakeholder joked that perhaps AT&T; Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys, might be the right venue to accommodate all of those who are interested in attending. Until then, Texas prosecutors are busy combing through DPS' 24,468 lab test list see whether there was a resulting criminal case occurred and whether they need to have the DNA data submitted for another analysis under the crime labs' new standard. Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza has already set up a review of the DPS lab cases which involve 100 criminal cases in that county since 1999. "It's a serious matter and entails a lot of work," Garza said. In Galveston County, Roady has notified both his Commissioners Court and judges that any case that is re-examined will require notification to defendants and their attorneys. That notification to defendants is expected to be costly, and no one has a handle on exactly how it will be done uniformly and how it will affect local budgets. For now, those in the criminal justice community are waiting until there are more answers next Friday. "We very recently became aware of this issue and have notified defense attorneys on all pending criminal cases where there is DNA testing," said Cynthia Meyer, spokeswoman for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. "We will be monitoring this meeting and any recommendations from the Forensic Science Commission to address this issue." Reference DPS Crime Lab Statement (332.1 KB) DOWNLOAD "New Crime Lab Protocol Leads to Reviews of "Mixed DNA" Evidence" was first published at by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Link back to the original article, which is located at https://www.texastribune.org/2015/09/12/new-crime-lab-protocol-forcing-review-dna-evidence/.
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Review into electronic balloting for unions just a delaying tactic, says Thompsons Solicitors
Thompsons Solicitors responds to the Knight Review
Thompsons Solicitors has questioned the government’s approach to modernising the method of balloting for industrial action, arguing that the government could have implemented electronic balloting without a review.
The firm was responding to an independent review of the case for electronic balloting for industrial action commissioned in November 2016 following the introduction of the Trade Union Act, and carried out by Ken Knight, a former chief fire officer and chief fire and rescue advisor for England.
In its submission, Thompsons points out that other important and far-reaching decisions already take advantage of electronic voting, including the Conservatives’ internal election for their Mayor of London candidate, and shareholder voting for multi-national corporations, yet rather than listen to trade unions and other organisations and include reforms in the Trade Union Act, ministers instead opted to delay reform by announcing the review.
Rather than looking at whether online voting systems are any more secure than traditional methods, Thompsons believes that the government should simply ensure they are just as safe and concentrate instead on enfranchising more union members.
"In an unwarranted and unjustified attack on trade union democracy, the Trade Union Act 2016 was passed by the Tories to limit the scope for unions to undertake industrial action. The introduction of electronic balloting could go some way towards righting that wrong."
Iain Birrell
practice lead of the trade union law group at Thompsons Solicitors
Iain Birrell, practice lead of the trade union law group at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “This review is actually unnecessary. Electronic voting is already a tried and tested method which is proven to boost participation in elections. If Conservative ministers believe themselves to be democrats, then responding to unions’ long-standing desire to use electronic balloting by passing the necessary legislation would be the sensible thing to do.
“While the existing system of union balloting undoubtedly meets required standards – with levels of voter fraud and intimidation low to non-existent –the introduction of e-balloting would be beneficial to the union movement and enhance democratic decision making and accountability even further.
“At every chance, Tory ministers complain about low turnouts in ballots on industrial action. Yet it’s the same ministers standing in the way of a simple mechanism to boost turnout. This is straightforward hypocrisy.
“There is no evidence to show a difference in safety between e-balloting and postal voting systems. With electronic balloting, there is a real opportunity - which the government should grasp with both hands - to increase turnout, especially among younger members and those with accessibility problems who might currently struggle to vote.
“As the Conservatives use an e-balloting system in their internal London mayor elections, it is scandalous that they are not giving working people the same opportunity - a reminder of the Tories’ double standards when it comes to the union movement.
“In an unwarranted and unjustified attack on trade union democracy, the Trade Union Act 2016 was passed by the Tories to limit the scope for unions to undertake industrial action. The introduction of electronic balloting could go some way towards righting that wrong.”
You can find Thompsons’ full response to the Review here.
Iain Birrell’s Profile
Independent Review of Electronic Balloting for Industrial Action: Knight Review – Call for Evidence
Employment Matters Claims
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November Facility Visit (1)
Five researchers from the Hunan Province Cultural Heritage Bureau and Museum in China
On November 11, the researchers came to study the repair, maintenance and conservation of old buildings, and toured the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation on the fourth floor. The person in charge of the facility provided explanations and answered questions.
Director of Culture and Fine Arts Bureau of Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in Mongolia, along with four researchers
On November 13, the group visited us and toured the Audio-Visual Documentation Section of the Department of Intangible Culture Heritage on the basement floor, the Library of the Department of Research Programming on the second floor, the Restoration Studio and the Analytical Science Section of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the third and fourth floors, and the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation on the fourth floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
25 Cultural Property Volunteers from Kawasaki City’s Tama Citizen Hall
On November 18, the group visited us to see our organizations and facilities for conserving cultural properties, as part of fostering volunteers to focus on using local cultural properties. They toured the Audio-Visual Documentation Section of the Department of Intangible Culture Heritage on the basement floor, the Conservation Science Section and the Restoration Studio of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the third floor, and the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation on the fourth floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
Six Researchers from the National Palace Museum in Taiwan
On November 25, the researchers visited us to inspect scientific research on conservation technology and traditional techniques concerning ancient Japanese roof tiles. They toured the basement X-Ray Photographing Room, the Conservation Science Section and the Restoration Studio of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques and the Fumigation Chamber on the third floor, and the Analytical Science Experimental Laboratory of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the fourth floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
Donations received
An offer for donation was made by the Tokyo Arts Dealers’ Association to subsidize projects for the publication of the results of investigation and studies related to cultural properties conducted by the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. Another offer was also made, this one by the Tokyo Bijutsu Club, to subsidize the Institute’s research projects.
The Tokyo Arts Dealers’ Association has donated 1 million yen each spring and autumn since the autumn of 2001; this was their 14th donation. The Tokyo Bijutsu Club has also donated 1 million yen in spring and autumn since the autumn of 2006, making this donation its fourth.
On November 28, we received bank transfers of donations from the Tokyo Arts Dealers’ Association (Director Shimojo Keiichi) and the Tokyo Bijutsu Club (President Asaki Masakatsu).
Although we did not have an opportunity to meet either Director Shimojo Keiichi of the Tokyo Arts Dealers’ Association or President Asaki Masakatsu of the Tokyo Bijutsu Club because they were busy, we are most grateful for their understanding of the Institute’s work and their donations. We would like to use these donations for valuable projects conducted by the Institute.
（2008.11 / GOTO Yoshinobu)
Optical Survey at Nara National Museum
The Department of Research Programming concluded an agreement on collaborative investigation with the Nara National Museum (an optical survey of Buddhist art and a contract on the creation of high-definition digital content), as part of the research project Survey Research on Applications of High-definition Digital Images. From Tuesday, November 4 to Friday, November 7 of this year, we performed non-destructive analysis using fluorescent X-rays, high-definition full-color recording, high-definition fluorescent recording with visible light excitation, and reflective near infrared recording in the Nara National Museum. Our targets were the pedestal that is stored in Kasuga Taisha Shrine and used in reading the picture scroll Kasugagongenkenki, and the pedestals of Sakyamuni Buddha trinity and the Buddha of Healing, stored in the Golden Hall of Horyu-ji Temple. The purpose of this survey was to examine the materials and production processed used and create high-definition digital content based on the above optical survey. In this survey, we acquired various types of information that were not likely to be confirmed by the naked eye because of changes brought about by aging in every case. We are considering reporting our findings in discussions with the Cultural Department of Nara National Museum.
（2008.11 / TSUDA Tetsuei)
Third Conference on the Study of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties
3rd Conference on Study of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties
The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage held its third conference on the study of intangible folk cultural properties on November 20, 2008. This year’s topic was Conservation of Goods Related to Intangible Folk Cultural Properties. To conserve intangible folk cultural properties, including manners and customs, folkloric performing arts, and folklore techniques, not only must the skills be transferred, but many goods such as materials and tools, huge decorations, floats, and stalls must be appropriately secured and maintained. From this viewpoint, we listened to examples of four cases reported by relevant organizations engaged in actual maintenance and protection, and had discussions with people involved on the floor. Eager discussions were held on the difficulty of “conserving while using” (i.e. the organization of conservation activities with a view to new creation) and building a system to conserve both the tangible and intangible as a whole. The detailed agenda for this conference will be summarized and issued in March 2009.
Finishing detachment of painting of constellations on ceiling at Kitora Tumulus
Detaching painting of constellations
Ceiling after painting of constellations was detached
The National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo is now engaged in the detachment of wall paintings from the Kitora Tumulus, as part of the project Survey on Conservation of Kitora Tumulus, a Special Historic Site entrusted from the Agency for Cultural Affairs. In July 2007, we started to detach the painting of constellations from the ceiling, and we finished the operation at the end of November, 2008. The status of plaster over the painting of constellations varied in different positions, as did work on the ceiling, so we had difficulties detaching the work. However, we eventually detached it as a total of 113 pieces of plaster. The completion of this work means that all paintings confirmed in the stone chamber have now been detached, including the paintings of the four guardian gods of the directions and the twelve horary signs. Hereafter we plan to detach the unpainted plaster around the painting of constellations. We will then combine the detached plaster pieces to reform the painting of constellations with plans to exhibit in the future.
（2008.11 / TSUBOKURA Sachiko)
Seminar on the joint research between Japan and Korea: Conservation environment for stone heritage
Participants at the seminar of the Japan-Korea joint research
Investigation for making a deterioration map at the stone pagoda of Bulguksa temple
The Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques is conducting joint research on environmental impact Institute (USA) spoke on energy conservation for museums with consideration for storage and display environment and Mr. Shiraishi Yasuyuki of the University of Kitakyushu spoke on comprehensive assessment system building environmental efficiency (CASBEE) and its case studies. Reports on concrete endeavors on this matter were also given by the Kyushu National Museum and Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore. A total of 141 people participated in the seminar and held active discussions. on cultural properties and development of restoration techniques together with the Conservation Science Division of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Korea. Currently, research is being conducted to find the causes of deterioration of stone heritage in an outdoor environment, including Buddhist images carved on natural cliff, and restoration materials and techniques are being developed and evaluated. In addition, a seminar is held once a year alternately in Japan and Korea.
This year’s seminar was held on November 6, 2008 in the lecture hall of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Korea. Director Suzuki Norio and 5 researchers from the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, attended. Kuchitsu Nobuaki and Morii Masayuki of the Institute and Yamaji Yasuhiro of Beppu University presented case studies of the conservation of stone heritage in Japan. Before the seminar, visits were made to conservation sites in Kyongju – stone pagoda of Bulguksa temple and the three-storied pagoda of Gameunsa temple site – and discussions were held with Korean researchers on restoration materials and techniques. A visit was also made to the Museum of Kyungpook National University in Taegu to investigate the objects excavated from Dae-gaya.
We hope to continue such joint research and to increase interaction between Japan and Korea.
（2008.11 / MORII Masayuki)
Conservation of fragments of mural paintings in Tajikistan (first to third missions) and holding of a workshop on the conservation of mural paintings excavated in Central Asia
Surveying the status of mural pieces before joining, with local trainees
As part of an exchange program commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation is conducting conservation of mural paintings in the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan. Three missions were dispatched from summer to autumn, and a workshop was held in early December 2008.
Since there are not many conservators in Tajikistan, the excavated mural painting fragments have been left in the storage of the National Museum without appropriate treatment. The goal of this project is to transfer to Tajikistan conservation knowledge and techniques that the Center has accumulated to date and to foster Tajik specialists in conservation. Until now, 4 trainees have participated in works related to the storage, investigation and photography as well as the cleaning of the mural painting fragments.
In December, a workshop was held at the National Museum to which a total of 5 conservation specialists were invited from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. The participants reported the actual conditions of the conservation of mural paintings in their respective countries. We introduced the new undertaking being conducted in Tajikistan, and the participants were able to actually experience a series of the work. We hope to promote activities for the conservation of mural paintings in Central Asia and to improve conservation methods by holding similar workshops in the future, working jointly with local experts and exchanging opinions.
Conclusion of the agreement on the Indo-Japanese Project for Conservation of the Mural Paitnings at Ajanta Caves
General view of the Ajanta Caves
Agreement Signing Ceremony (ASI, New Delhi)
On November 21, 2008, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) concluded an agreement on a research project for the conservation of the mural paintings at Ajanta Caves.
There are many valuable Buddhist mural paintings at Ajanta Caves dating to both the earlier period (1st century BC to 2nd century AD) and the later period (5th century to 6th century AD). However, these mural paintings have deteriorated severely due to structural problems of the bedrock itself, damage from floods in rainy seasons, bat excrement, and blackened markings likely caused by smoke.
To deal with these problems, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo will survey Caves no. 2 and no. 9 of Ajanta from 2008 to 2010 as part of an exchange program commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Indian and Japanese specialists will exchange and share knowledge of conservation techniques and materials, expertise, and experience, aiming at improving the techniques and abilities of both groups of experts.
（2008.11 / SUZUKI Tamaki)
Workshop on conservation and restoration of stone statues of the tombs of Tang dynasty in Shaanxi (Xi’an)
Visit to Shunling Tomb
The conservation project for the stone statues of the tombs of the Tang dynasty, conducted jointly with the Xi’an Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage in China since 2004, will end this year. In this joint project, Chinese and Japanese specialists have held yearly workshops. The fifth and the final workshop, a larger one than the others, was held in Xi’an on November 17 and 18, 2008. The purpose was to show the results of the project to specialists in Chinese institutions and universities, to exchange opinions on various problems concerning the conservation of stone cultural properties, and to interact with each other. About 40 specialists participated in the workshop. The participants conducted an on-site inspection on November 17 and held presentations and active discussions on November 18. Contents of the workshop were as follows:
*Morii Masayuki (National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo)
”Environmental observation after the construction of shelter on the Usuki stone Buddha”
*Tomoda Masahiko (National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo)
”Conservation and management of stone sites: the case of the Angkor Site”
*Tsuda Yutaka (Geolest Co. Ltd., specialist of UNESCO Longmen Grottoes project)
”Condensation at Longmen Grottoes”
*Fang Yun (China University of Geosciences, Wuhan)
”Observation of cracks and deformation on the rock carvings of Shunling Tomb”
*Zhen Guangquan (Xi’an Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage in China)
”Research on materials for protecting stone cultural properties”
*Zhu Yiqing (Zhong Wei Kang Long Nano Science & Technology Development Co. Ltd.)
”Materials for the conservation of stone objects and its evaluation system”
*Wang Li (Nanjing Museum)
”Conservation of the cliff inscriptions at Huayangdong Cave in Mount Maoshan, Jurong, Jiangsu”
*Ma Tao (Xi’an Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage in China)
”Surface treatment for the conservation of the stone statues of Qianling Tomb”
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Ukrainian government returns Torahs confiscated by Communists
"This is a real miracle of Hanukka," says Brodsky Choral Synagogue’s Rabbi Moshe Azman.
UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS return the Torah scrolls to the Brodsky Choral Synagogue in Kiev on Thursday.. (photo credit:ROMAN VILENSKI)
They came dancing into the Brodsky Choral Synagogue, a giant Romanesque building in downtown Kiev, tallit-covered Torah scrolls in their arms. Some 80 years after the communist rulers of what was then a Soviet republic confiscated the holy books in a crackdown on religious freedom, senior administration officials and lawmakers brought them back.
Thursday’s delegation included Boris Lozhkin, the director-general of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine; Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko; Oleg Lyashko, leader of the Radical Party; and 70 parliamentarians.
“I am proud to return these Torah scrolls to the Jewish community. They belong to you,” Petrenko told attendees, including community leaders and Israeli Ambassador Eliav Belotserkovsky.
Thursday’s ceremony comes only weeks before President Petro Poroshenko is expected to arrive in Jerusalem for a state visit, and marks the end of a multiyear legal saga that pitted the capital’s Jewish community against their government.
“The return of the Torah scrolls is a real miracle of Hanukka,” Moshe Azman, the rabbi of the synagogue and the head of one of Kiev’s two Chabad hassidic communities, told attendees. “We are witnessing an independent Ukraine overcome the totalitarian past and build a free future.”
After a wave of protests and street battles swept pro-Russian president Victor Yanukovich from power in early 2014, Moscow has vociferously accused the post-revolutionary government of fascism and anti-Semitism.
While such claims have been forcefully disputed by both local Jewish leaders and the government, several moves – such as the appointment of a suspected neo-Nazi to a senior police position and the passage of a bill extending recognition to a nationalist militia that collaborated with the Nazis – have raised questions about Kiev’s commitment to combating racism.
Meanwhile, nearly a year after announcing that it would appoint a special envoy to monitor anti-Semitism, the Foreign Ministry still has not filled the position.
Asked if he believed that the return of the scrolls was motivated by a desire by Poroshenko to curry favor with the Israelis prior to his trip, Azman replied in the negative, telling The Jerusalem Post that “we have been working for a long time to get them back.”
“There is no connection. We pushed to get them back.”
He recalled having received 18 other scrolls from the Kiev Archive during the Yanukovich period, stating that recovering such artifacts is a “hard bureaucratic situation.”
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk only signed the order to release the scrolls the day before the ceremony, he said.
According to Israeli-Ukrainian journalist Shimon Briman, much of the credit for the return of the scrolls belongs to lawmaker Georgy Logvinsky, who used his close connections with the Justice Ministry to push for their return.
As for any political implications, he speculated that Yatsenyuk’s willingness to return the scrolls could be seen as the prime minister scoring political points against Poroshenko purposefully prior to the latter’s Israel trip.
Despite last week’s ceremony, however, further scrolls are still being held in government archives across the country, Briman added.
During the event, Lyashko called for streets named after communists to be renamed after former prime minister Golda Meir, who was born in Kiev, and Ukrainian Jewish Zionist leader Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Community leaders honored a Jewish soldier killed last year while fighting for Ukraine against Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk.
International newsucsj December 17, 2015 Comment
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Jewish Culture, USSRucsj December 30, 2015 book review
In Azerbaijan, Muslims and Jews Are Allies
Jewish Cultureucsj December 17, 2015
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The symbolism of fire in literature
1557 words (6 pages) Essay in English Literature
11/04/17 English Literature Reference this
Looking Past the Smokescreen
“Fire represents many things to many people and cultures. It is recognized as a purifier, a destroyer and as the generative power of life, energy and change. It represents illumination and enlightenment, destruction and renewal, spirituality and damnation” (Varner). Throughout history, fire became a very significant element in the principle of human development because of its versatility, such as lighting, communicating, and protection from predators. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury takes the representation of fire to a whole new level. Imagine living in a world where people are not in control of their own thoughts. Imagine living in a society populated by non-readers, people with no sense of their own history, a government that has banned books. Imagine being Guy Montag, a fireman in Fahrenheit 451 who burns books for a living. In Montag’s world, firemen produce fires instead of eliminating them to destroy any works of literature, for they promote creativity and free thinking, which is a threat to the government. Set in the 24th century, in the midst of a nuclear war, this dystopian novel tells the story of a futuristic period of time when books are illegal, and the punishment for whoever holds one in possession is to have his books and house burned to ashes. While walking home from work, Montag meets a young, bright girl named Clarisse. She tells him that firemen once used to put fires out instead of starting them, which he thinks to be nonsense. Later on, Montag realizes that fire can mean much more than what he uses it for. Throughout the novel, fire is present to imply several meanings that can be made explicit by referring to destruction, warmth and beauty, and resurrection.
Fire seems to have many symbols throughout the novel, but the most recognisable is destruction. At the beginning of the book, Montag is shown as a fireman that is filled with pleasure as books are burned. The very first passage in the novel states, “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed” (Bradbury, 1). This narration by Montag expresses his love for fire and the ruin that follows. Fire is destruction, fire is power. One flame can burn a whole house down to the ground. After meeting Clarisse, she asks about his job, his marriage, why he burns books, and if he is truly happy. Being faced with these questions, Montag realizes that he is not happy with his life, and he thinks that books might contain answers for the reason of his unhappiness. Although he is an enforcer of the law of books being banned, Montag is found a lawbreaker himself. Later in the novel, Montag starts stealing a couple of books from collections he is sent to burn. He brings these books home and hides them in the furnace, secretly reading them day by day. However, his wife Mildred has a different point of view when it comes to books; she did not quiet agree with her husband’s actions. One day, Montag leaves for work, not knowing that his wife has other arrangements. While on the job, the alarm goes off, meaning another house to burn. Montag realizes that the address shown on the screen of the alarm, is his own. Once he arrives with his co-workers at their destination, he sees his wife driven away in a taxi with a suitcase. He realizes that his wife must have called in the alarm on him. Beatty, the captain of the fire department, orders Montag to burn his own house with his flamethrower. In the process of burning the house, Montag narrates, “The house fell in red coals and black ash. It bedded itself down in sleepy pink gray cinders and a smoke plume blew over it” (Bradbury, 54). At that moment, it is evident that Montag sees fire as a negative force, a destructive nature of firemen. Although Montag sees pleasure in burning in the beginning of the novel, his view of fire changes to destruction when he loses his books and home.
In contrast to destruction, in the course of the novel, Montag’s opinion on fire changes once more, making him interpret fire to be beautiful and a source of warmth. It is beauty. “He hadn’t known fire could look this way. He had never thought in his life that it could give as well as take. Even its smell was different” (Bradbury, 68). In his eyes, everything about fire cried beauty, from its intense colours to its dancing flames. Another way fire is expressed to be beautiful is when Beatty says, “Its real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it” (Bradbury, 53). The reason to why books are burned is because the government wants its people to not worry about problems, for it is believed that with too much knowledge comes responsibilities and complications. After breaking the law, Montag runs away and finds a camp fire where he meets a man named Granger and many other intellectuals. He realizes that the camp fire was welcoming, much different than he has always known it to be, destructive. He is surprised by his thought when he sits around the fire with the others by narrating, “It was not burning; it was warming! He saw many hands held to its warmth, hands without arms, hidden in darkness […] How long he stood he did not know […] He stood a long time, listening to the warm crackle of the flames” (Bradbury, 68). Through the symbol of ‘the hearth’, which is usually found in the centre of homes as a source of heat, it is revealed that fire can be warming as well. Although at the beginning of the book, Montag has a love for the destructive side of fire, by the end of his journey, he is able to see a beautiful, warming side to it.
Equally important, fire gives a symbolic meaning of resurrection when referring to the Phoenix. “There was a silly damn bird called a Phoenix back before Christ: every few hundred years he built a pyre and burned himself up. He must have been first cousin to Man. But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again…” (Bradbury, 76). After the nuclear war and the bombing of the city, Granger associates mankind with the Phoenix bird that burns itself up in flames and is reborn out of its ashes. “It looks like we’re doing the same thing, over and over, but we’ve got one damn thing the Phoenix never had. We know the damn silly thing we just did. We know all the damn silly things we’ve done for a thousand years, and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we’ll stop making the goddam funeral pyres and jumping into the middle of them. We pick up a few more people that remember, every generation” (Bradbury, 76). The difference between humans and the phoenix is that humans have the ability to identify their mistakes, and are aware of not committing them over and over again. The fire brings the death of old, and the birth of new. This similarity is effective because it provides the reader with a sense of self-renewed hope for humankind. In the last section of the novel, fire is represented as the rebirth of mankind by building another society where man would embrace knowledge instead of be afraid of it.
Destruction, warmth and beauty, and resurrection are three of the most noticeable representation of fire in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. At first, Montag only knows the damaging power of fire, yet gradually comes to appreciate that fire can be engaging and renewing. The author uses the symbol of fire as a destructive force by burning books and homes of characters in the novel. When Montag realizes that fire can be used for more than just destroying houses, he associates it with warmth and beauty. Last but not least, the Phoenix signifies fire because it destroys itself in flames and is then reborn, just as Montag’s world is destroyed by the nuclear weapons in order to start a new beginning. Ray Bradbury was telling us that fire impersonates the actions of the characters, and how they view fire to be a negative or a positive force. The author successfully shows the various interpretations of fire through the development of Montag’s mind, and the same fire that had control over Montag before, will now assist him in creating a new intellectual world.
Bradbury, Ray.Fahrenheit 451. Ed. Book Club. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. <http://lhsblogs.typepad.com/files/complete-text.pdf>.
Varner, Gary. “Fire Symbolism in Myth and Religion.” AuthorsDen, 2009. Web. 12 July 2014. <http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=62&id=43114>.
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Tijuana: Where the world’s migrants wait
The Rev. Saul Montiel, a U.S. - Mexico border missionary, distributes health kits at the Plaza el Bordo in Tijuana on May 7. UMNS photos by Kathleen Barry.
Editor's note: On May 7, the active bishops of The United Methodist Church went to the U.S. Mexico border to learn more about the people there and the issues they face. "This is one of two commentaries by United Methodist pastors who work at the border each day. In the other commentary, the Rev. John Fanestil stands in Friendship Park on the U.S. side.
A border metropolis with a population of almost 3 million, Tijuana, Mexico, is a perfect location for bi-national, international, legal and illegal activities.
Because it is the largest border metropolis in Mexico, Tijuana is a popular place for the U.S. government to drop deported individuals. They seem to believe nobody will notice! Migrant groups intersect at the border - exiting and the other arriving.
In recent years, the number of deportations has escalated to unprecedented figures. According to Instituto Nacional de Migracin, the state of Baja California, which is immediately south of the U.S. state of California, leads all states in Mexico in the number of repatriated migrants received from the United States.
The number of deportations from the United States to Tijuana alone each year averages 100,000. Because of this, an estimated more than 3,000 deported individuals wander around Tijuana every day.
Baja California receives more than 33 percent of the more than 400,000 people deported annually from the United States.
This number does not reflect the migrants going north. Migrants remain at the border until they either cross into the United States or return to their place of origin. The fusion of these migrants and their inability to move from Tijuana continues to cause a demographic explosion.
Migrants in Tijuana also are international migrants. Many - especially those from Central America - who do not succeed in crossing or are being deported stay in Tijuana. This is the reason for a high concentration of Central Americans living in Tijuana as undocumented.
Surprisingly, migration from Mexico to the United States is almost zero. This is because Mexico's economy is strong and because the efforts of the United States to secure its southern border have been extraordinary.
First Stop: Puente Mexico, Tijuana River
The Tijuana River, known in Tijuana as "El Bordo," has become a place of refuge for thousands of Mexican and Central American migrants. At El Bordo, the riverbank that extends 2.5 miles along the U.S. Mexico fence, migrants have built and excavated "pocitos." Pocitos are tunnels about 15 meters (16 yards) long and a meter (3.28 feet) deep in which migrants - men and women - live in hiding from any potential assault of police or organized crime. Twenty pocitos have been found in the Tijuana River.
At the bridges along the Tijuana River, migrants gather as a community. During their recent border visit, the United Methodist bishops talked and prayed for three migrants coming out of the United States. One of those leaving was a 16-year-old who cried as he told us his own migration and deportation story.
Second Stop: Plaza el Bordo known also as "El Mapa"
United Methodist bishops raise their hands in prayer in El Faro Park on the Mexican side of the border fence in Tijuana during the May 7 immersion experience.
This is where people who live in the Tijuana River go for help.
As many as 800 people may come here for a meal. This place gathers international and national migrants; migrants repatriated from the United States and migrants looking for an opportunity to cross in to the United States.
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation is an increasing need among these migrants. Once they are in Tijuana, many migrants feel lonely and depressed because they miss their family, lack money and employment and cannot move off the Tijuana River. Some turn to drugs and other means of substance abuse to try to escape their reality. They include those recently deported and those deported several months ago.
Male and female prostitution is common. Women are forced to prostitution because they have no other means to survive. This is where many organizations and religious groups provide help. The United Methodist Church and the Methodist Church of Mexico are active in this ministry. The United Methodist bishops distributed health kits, prayed for the deportees and listened to family separation stories.
Visit: Coahuila and First streets (Red-Light District "Zona de Tolerancia")
Procuring is illegal under federal law in Mexico; states legalize and regulate prostitution only in red-light districts.
Prostitution is an illegal and serious clandestine crime, not only in Tijuana, but also in San Diego. Girls of 12, 13 and 14 are sold into forced prostitution. Many work on Coahuila and First streets, and a high number of them cross illegally to San Diego as sex slaves. Motels in San Diego, El Cajon and Tijuana that advertise "massages" operate this type of activity.
More than 15,000 women work as street prostitutes, others in the city's more than 200 clubs and brothels. The large majority of them are migrant women trapped in sex trade, sex trafficking and prostitution. Prostitution and trafficking can take place in the massage parlors and strip clubs, on the streets in cars or in a tent at the edge of fields cultivated by migrant workers. Sex traffickers or coyotes (immigrant smugglers) lure poor women and children with false promises of jobs, sometimes kidnapping those they transport to be sold.
Third Stop: El Faro (Friendship Park for Communion without Borders)
Read about the work of Rev. John Fanestil, who works in Friendship Park on the U.S. side of the border.
The Church and immigration
Border separates families at Christmas
Slideshow: Bishops visit U.S./Mexico border
El Faro Park is a historic place for bi-national family reunions disrupted by the construction of a new and intimidating U.S.-Mexico wall that reaches out into the Pacific Ocean. This area also attracts international and national tourists. People come to see the monument that announces the boundaries between the United States and Mexico. Visitors are curious to see and touch the $4 million wall that separates the countries.
Methodist ministers from the United States and Mexico serve Holy Communion here every Sunday. The United Methodist bishops celebrated Communion without borders, laid hands on the wall and prayed for families separated by the border and immigration. Leaders from the Methodist Church of Mexico and the California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference as well as the United Methodist bishops conducted the service.
*Montiel, a missionary with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, works with the California-Pacific Annual Conference in its San Diego office.
News media contact: Amanda Bachus, Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5473 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Methodist peacebuilders, others raise concerns about re-imposing hard borders on the island of Ireland.
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NATO sees no direct link between support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia over INF Treaty (Video)
NATO assures it will continue providing political and practical support to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says there is no direct link between the efforts to resolve the situation in Ukraine and the efforts to force Russia into compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty).
"The illegal annexation of Crimea and the continued efforts to destabilize Ukraine is part of a broader pattern we have seen over several years. But at the same time we don't see any direct link between the efforts to solve the crisis in and around Ukraine – as in eastern Ukraine, Donbas, and Crimea – and the efforts to bring Russia back into compliance with the INF Treaty. We are focused on both. And we will continue to provide strong support – political support and practical support for Ukraine at the same time as we are calling on Russia to come back into compliance [with the Treaty] and preparing for our response if Russia doesn't come back into compliance," he said at a press conference at a Defense Ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, June 26, when asked whether he expected that the issue of Donbas and Crimea would become more difficult to be settled after Russia had taken a firm line on the INF Treaty.
Read alsoZelensky: Course towards full membership of EU, NATO remains Ukraine's priority
Stoltenberg noted that the violation of the Treaty, the deployment of the SSC-8 (Novator 9M729) missiles was one of the episodes of Russia's pattern of behavior over the past few years.
"The violation of the INF Treaty, the deployment of the new SSC-8 missiles are part of a pattern we have seen over several years from Russia – a more assertive behavior, aggressive actions against Ukraine, illegally annexing Crimea, modernizing the armed forces, investing in new conventional capabilities, investing in new nuclear capabilities and also rhetoric which is much more assertive that we have seen before," he said.
As was reported, the United States and its NATO allies want Russia to destroy its 9M729/SSC-8 nuclear-capable cruise missile system, which Moscow has so far refused to do. It denies any violations of the INF Treaty, accusing Washington of seeking an arms race. Without a deal, the United States has said it will withdraw from the INF treaty on August 2, removing constraints on its own ability to develop nuclear-capable, medium-range missiles.
Tags: #Russia#Crimea#Donbas#NATO#RussianAggression#Stoltenberg#INFTreaty
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Renewables to be cheaper than coal even without climate policy, CSIRO says
By Cole Latimer
December 21, 2018 — 1.30pm
The CSIRO and the energy market operator say existing coal plants are still one of the lowest cost forms of power but new wind and solar farms will soon be cheaper, even without a carbon price.
The join energy cost report co-authored by CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator also found more batteries would be needed to support the growing level of renewables, and the grid would need to lean heavily on consumers to use less power at peak times.
“Our data confirms that while existing fossil fuel power plants are competitive due to their sunk capital costs, solar and wind generation technologies are currently the lowest-cost ways to generate electricity for Australia, compared to any other new-build technology," CSIRO chief energy economist Paul Graham said.
"This also holds when the cost of fossil generation technology is adjusted for climate policy risk or not."
The report found if nuclear power was built it would be the most expensive form of power, while gas is the cheapest.
Nearly 9000 megawatts of renewable generation and battery storage technology is expected to enter the grid over the next four years.
The CSIRO has tracked a decline in the cost of new build renewable generation compared to new build coal-fired power. Credit:CSIRO
It comes as the Australian Energy Market Commission released its power price forecasts, indicating electricity prices will fall over the next two years due to increasing levels of new renewable generation being built.
AEMC chief executive Anne Pearson said renewables were driving down power prices nationally.
However, Mr Graham warned that as the levels of renewables rise there would need to be more investment in energy storage technologies such as batteries or pumped hydro to smooth out the intermittency of wind and solar power.
Although, he said this would ultimately make it even cheaper.
A combination of renewable power and batteries - like Tesla's mega-battery in South Australia - are driving costs down even further.
“Data indicates we may need additional flexible technologies – such as energy storage, demand management and peaking gas plants – if the share of variable renewables increases beyond 50 per cent," he said.
“At a global level, the investment costs of a wide range of low-emission generation technologies are projected to continue to fall, and we found new-build renewable generation to be least cost, including when we add the cost of two or six hours of energy storage to wind and solar."
He said the energy network would also lean more heavily on households and businesses to not use their electricity during peak times.
“Demand management is a resource we expect the electricity sector will need to draw on more deeply in coming years to assist in balancing the system and reducing costs.”
AEMO said it uses the CSIRO data to develop its plans on where it should focus its efforts to aid the growth of the wider electricity grid.
Cole Latimer
Covering energy and policy at Fairfax Media.
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Does the U.S. Need ‘Deep Engagement’?
Posted By Jordan Michael Smith On October 13, 2016 @ 12:20 am In | 4 Comments
The new book from Stephen Brooks and William Wohlforth might be unsettling to readers accustomed to encountering the hawks who typically populate the media. Unlike them, the authors of America Abroad admit that the United States has made mistakes abroad, they reckon with the reality of failed policies, and they consider other countries’ perspectives. Try to imagine William Kristol or Fred Barnes advocating an assertive American foreign policy but conceding that “the United States has at least its fair share of flaws, and, given its outsized role in the world, those flaws can produce negative ramifications; the aftermath of the 2003 invasion is arguably the most dramatic recent example but there are obviously many others.”
America Abroad’s arguments are strengthened considerably by its nuance and fairness. Indeed, even those of us who favor a foreign policy guided by more restraint may admit that Brooks and Wohlforth have produced perhaps the most convincing defense of American power since the Cold War ceased. It at least ranks with Joseph Nye’s Bound to Lead and Zbigniew Brzezinski’s The Grand Chessboard in that regard. Those who have followed the authors’ careers will not be surprised at the quality of this work. Political scientists at Dartmouth, they are best known for a series of journal articles arguing that American preeminence is resilient and a positive force for the U.S. and the world.
In writings that culminated in their 2008 book World Out of Balance, Brooks and Wohlforth refuted foreign-policy realists’ belief that rival states would try to balance American power. The reality was that America was so predominant, geographically isolated, and legitimized in its global leadership that it would remain the lone superpower for decades. World Out of Balance didn’t pretend that America was more virtuous than other nations or that it was capable of endless wonders. The book simply declared that the structural conditions of the international system meant that the U.S. would lead the world for years to come, for better or worse. Like Mark Twain’s death, rumors of American decline were greatly exaggerated.
This new book picks up where World Out of Balance left off. Brooks and Wohlforth outline here what they think America should do in a world where it is predominant and likely to remain so for at least a generation. They propose a strategy they call “deep engagement.” It would prioritize three overlapping objectives in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: reducing threats to U.S. national security, promoting a liberal economic order, and fostering international institutions. These have been the priorities of all presidential administrations since World War II, they write. Meanwhile, “concerns about other priorities such as democracy promotion, human rights, and humanitarian intervention have waxed and waned between administrations and even sometimes within them.”
America Abroad is helpful reading for anyone who thinks the country’s current woes will translate into a decline in international power. U.S. economic, diplomatic, and military might dwarfs that of China, the next-best competitor. The authors make the important point that a state needs to undertake high-tech defense spending consistently for decades to reach the top levels: even if China were at parity with America in every area, time alone would preclude the two countries from being equally powerful because of America’s tech edge.
Most interesting is their explanation for why the U.S. kept intact its massive military—which was built to fight Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union—once those foes were gone. For some analysts, such as Chalmers Johnson, the decision to maintain America’s dominant posture was evidence that a desire for empire, not fears of the Soviets or other strategic considerations, was what had truly motivated decision-makers for a half-century.
Brooks and Wohlforth contend that policymakers kept America’s massive foreign-policy structure together because it proved helpful in dealing with the problems in the immediate post-Cold War environment: reunifying Germany, assuring the transition to democracy among states in Eastern and Central Europe after communism, and so forth. Holding on to security commitments established during the Cold War makes sense if they make the regions more secure and prevent rival hegemons from emerging, Brooks and Wohlforth argue. “U.S. alliances always served not only as capability-aggregating mechanisms against potential adversaries but also as tools for controlling risks and exerting influence among its allies,” they write. “The Cold War’s end and the Soviet Union’s dissolution simply caused the balance to swing toward the latter two functions.” No other work has outlined the logic of American foreign policy in quite this way.
Although they see America’s position as durably preeminent, Brooks and Wohlforth are not maximalists. “Those who advocate ambitious projects to assertively spread democracy and liberal principles and foster dramatic improvements in human rights, by the sword if necessary, make the same mistake as proponents of pulling back: they fail to appreciate the major benefits America obtains by sustaining its long-standing grand strategy,” they write. They have harsh words for the George W. Bush administration and believe the U.S. could best exploit the current moment by building new, favorable international institutions in the way Harry Truman and his advisors did in the late 1940s.
And yet, for all their success in forcing readers to examine U.S. policy in new ways, their policy proposals are not as persuasive as their analyses. For one thing, they overstate the differences between their ideas and those of their critics. For instance, they write that the Bush administration’s troop buildup in the Middle East was overkill and that democracy promotion and nation-building are unattainable goals. They state that even the troop levels from 1991–2002 may have been too much. This is not “deep engagement,” as everyone but the authors would understand the term. Given that their policies, if implemented, would involve a scaling back of troop levels in the Middle East, it seems strange for them simultaneously to argue that they do not want the U.S. to retreat from its existing programs in any capacity.
America Abroad also overstates the benefits of deep engagement and understates the costs. In a throwaway line, for instance, the authors state that “the era of major interstate wars between Israel and its neighbors would likely not have ended, or have ended so soon, without U.S. engagement in the region.” It is unclear why this is necessarily so: America has significant leverage even in areas where it doesn’t have a significant presence, such as Africa. Its immense strength doesn’t need to be deployed or demonstrated to be understood by players around the world. Conversely, the U.S. has paid a significant strategic price for underwriting the security of Israel and Saudi Arabia, with upshots ranging from inflaming terrorism to suffering gas shortages in the 1970s. America Abroad downplays the role U.S. troops play in igniting anti-Americanism in the Middle East, painting it as virtually irrelevant to terrorists’ motives. Given that American boots on the ground in Saudi Arabia inspired the creation of al-Qaeda, this is simply unconvincing.
[1]Similarly, Brooks and Wohlforth underestimate the importance of the temptations policymakers face to use the massive military at their disposal. Wars like Vietnam and Iraq are not small miscalculations but brutal mistakes that cost a tremendous price in human lives, both Americans’ and others’. Losing wars can be psychologically catastrophic for countries as well, experiences that frequently serve as preludes to revolutions. The authors’ confidence in an “Iraq syndrome” that inhibits Americans’ use of force seems misplaced given how many Republicans have recently called for troop increases in Iraq to defeat the Islamic State. If there was a Vietnam Syndrome, it didn’t last very long—certainly not long enough. Any Iraq Syndrome that exists could prove to be equally short-lived.
“The core solution to temptation lies at home, not in America’s grand strategy abroad,” Brooks and Wohlforth write. There have to be better domestic constraints on when leaders can use the military, according to them. Let’s be clear: if the 2016 election season shows anything, it is that American institutions are deeply flawed and that they are incapable of strengthening any checks on the executive branch, especially when it comes to foreign policy. The nominee of one party has not indicated she favors any shedding of executive power, and her opponent has suggested he would act something like a king. To call Brooks and Wohlforth’s ideas on this point unrealistic is putting it favorably.
Ultimately, America Abroad is far better at redefining international-relations theory for a unipolar era than it is at extracting from that theory to offer suggestions for moving forward. But any reader who favors a more restrained foreign policy will have to at least reckon with this book; he will come away better for it.
Jordan Michael Smith is the author of the Kindle Single “Humanity: How Jimmy Carter Lost an Election and Transformed the Post-Presidency.’’
4 Comments To "Does the U.S. Need ‘Deep Engagement’?"
#1 Comment By PAXNOW On October 13, 2016 @ 9:43 am
Imagine the surprise of a family if they found their breadwinner throwing most of the family income at real and mostly imagined enemies and even borrowing against future incomes to continue this folly. This is what the U.S. is doing. We are throwing away present and future GDP at real and imagined enemies. These are vital resources that should be used at home for truly pressing domestic problems. Worse still we are causing death and carnage to our own people and to people who used to like and love us. Mainstream media is berating Trump at every turn; however, he did correctly question why we are in Syria and elsewhere. Hillary did not answer and the so-called (sic biased) moderators promptly shut him up. Does the 800 pound gorilla have so much power that it can stifle even presidential debates? Does Netanyahu have more rights than Putin to interfere with our national sovereignty? I would like to see them both butt out. God Bless America.
#2 Comment By Kurt Gayle On October 13, 2016 @ 10:59 am
“[Brooks and Wohlforth] propose a strategy they call ‘deep engagement.’ It would prioritize three overlapping objectives in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: [1] reducing threats to U.S. national security, [2] promoting a liberal economic order, and [3] fostering international institutions. These have been the priorities of all presidential administrations since World War II, they write.”
I have three objections to prioritizing these three objectives:
[1] Aside from than the Russian nuclear arsenal, there are currently no significant “threats to U.S. national security” in “Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.” Improving relations with Russia and resuming efforts toward the mutual reduction of both countries’ nuclear arsenals are most effective ways of dealing with the only significant threat to U. S. national security.
[2] By definition, in international relations, the “liberal economic order” (LEO) is the global free trade establishment. For the first two or three decades after WWII most Americans benefited from the LEO. However, during the past two or three decades the LEO/global free trade has severely damaged US manufacturing, US jobs, and the US middle class.
Not surprisingly, during the current US election cycle the LEO/global free trade has come under fierce attack from the Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump – as it was attacked by the second-leading Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. A majority of Americans are now convinced that the liberal economic order is not in their interest. In fact the international economic order is presently defended only by American establishment/economic elites and their sycophants.
[3] “Fostering international institutions” may be in the US national interest only so long as it remains clear that the US is a sovereign country and that no decision of any international institution may be imposed upon the US without its consent.
#3 Comment By EliteCommInc. On October 13, 2016 @ 1:25 pm
Until this,
“Vietnam and Iraq are not small miscalculations but brutal mistakes that cost a tremendous price in human lives, both Americans’ and others’”
Vietnam was not a loss. While mistakes were made. Eventually, the North Vietnamese gave way. And while one can fault the US for not supporting the South. The US was not present in Vietnam when it was invaded by the Chinese and Soviet supported North Vietnam. We were not making democracies.
We supported a fledgling democracy. Further the cold war strategy under which the en-devour was engaged made some strategic sense.
What has been engaged after the cold war makes little sense and worse, has no legal, moral or strategic force. The collapse of Iraq occurred while our forces were present, active and claiming to be in control
— that would classify as a failure.
#4 Comment By EliteCommInc. On October 14, 2016 @ 10:14 am
Just to be clear on Iraq —
This failure rests almost exclusively on the mission. That mission and strategy is owned by the political leadership.
Regime change requires a far heavier hand if force is required to make it happen. I think the surge and its accompanying socio mechanisms, i.e. paying people to behave are clear evidence of the heavy hand position. Sustained it might have had long term consequences to the advantage of all. The military was placed in an untenable position. And the military leadership was either unwilling or unable to make that clear. Pressed by an ethos of can do – will do that serves the military well.
Subsequent to that failure, the Sec of State and other interventionist advocated more in smaller nation states with even more disastrous effects. Same issues; no legal, moral or strategic veracity in doing so. Even in these smaller states — Syria, Libya — failures.
If not for the some reasoned behavior by the Ukrainians and the Russians, the Ukraine and Crimea would most likely be aflame.
Despite these failures think tank strategists, elected officials, and government Dept heads continue to press for more. I take it the more includes Egypt an Iran which but for the military would be in chaos. A step back and looking at the whole, we have over reached. And employing the same will not get us to the imagined, unnecessary goal.
I am unclear how much more evidence one needs to acknowledge by policy and leadership that comes with it — but the Washington obtuseness is very strange.
And I am being told I am morally unsound because I support Mr. Trump.
Scarey that given what we face.
URL to article: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/does-the-u-s-need-deep-engagement/
[1] Image: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/archive/sept-oct-2016/
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Home / Featured / Study: Atheists Find Meaning In Life By Inventing Fairy Tales
Study: Atheists Find Meaning In Life By Inventing Fairy Tales
Atheists often snidely dismiss religion as a fairy tale. Yet a study finds the meaning atheists and non-religious people attribute to their lives is entirely self-invented.
Written by Richard Weikart | Thursday, April 19, 2018
But apparently many atheists and non-religious people have a hunger for meaning and a sense of moral rectitude that their worldview cannot satisfy. Sure, they are free to invent their own meaning and morality, but then they should be honest and admit that their meaning and morality has no advantage over the meaning or morality religious people put forward —or for that matter, it has no advantage over the meaning and purpose evil people invent. Their self-created meanings are every bit as much “fairy stories” as the religious ones they like to lampoon.
Atheists often snidely dismiss religion as nothing but a fairy tale. Allegedly, religion is a self-created mythical crutch to comfort people who are unwilling to face the stark realities of the universe. As one famous atheist put it, religion “is the opiate of the people.” By this Karl Marx meant religion is a tool to anesthetize the masses so they can be oppressed.
Atheists portray themselves as arch-rationalists who embrace reality without flinching. As I explain in my recent book, “The Death of Humanity: And the Case for Life,” many prominent atheist thinkers, such as Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, have insisted that because there is no God, there is also no cosmic purpose, no objective morality, and no transcendent meaning to life. The atheistic Duke University philosophy professor Alex Rosenberg dismissed meaning and morality as an illusion in a 2003 article, “Darwin’s Nihilistic Idea: Evolution and the Meaninglessness of Life.”
But then many of them flinch. Just a few weeks ago the online magazine Real Clear Science announced that famous Christian pastor Rick Warren and Christian scholar William Lane Craig were mistaken to claim that without God, life has no meaning. This article claimed that a new empirical study verified that atheists do find meaning in life. The subtext seems to be: See? Atheism isn’t so bad after all.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. The prominent atheistic evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne has also expressed dismay that anyone would dare suggest that atheists don’t have any meaning in their lives. But if you dig deeper—for example, by actually reading the empirical study—you find that atheists who insist that non-religious people can find meaning in life have changed the meaning of the word “meaning.”
Why We Should Stop Using The Message
Atheists At Risk of Dying Out Due to Belief in…
Robin Hood, History, and Neo-Atheists (Copan)
The Ghost At The Atheist Feast: Was Nietzsche Right…
What The Fighting Over Gender Issues Is Really About
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