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Progress for LGBT Rights in Haiti, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender
Posted on Friday, October 12, 2018
The terms lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) describe distinct groups within the gay culture. In the face of love, this group believes, everyone is equal and should be treated equally. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity is against international human rights law and standards. Their demands can be divided into six main categories -- preventing violence against the LGBT community, full recognition of gay families, including equality in surrogacy, providing appropriate social welfare to LGBT people, equality in health care, and educating the general population for tolerance and acceptance of the LGBT community. Some countries (about 25 nations, all of which are developed democracies or developing democracies), recognize same-sex marriage. By contrast, 10 countries or jurisdictions, all of which are Islamic and ruled by Islamic law (Sharia), impose the death penalty for homosexuality.
Should there be a Bar for Gay and Lesbian to meet in Haiti?
I think we need to start talking about this subject. Is there room for people who are gay or lesbian in Haiti? Due to several incidents of violence on gay and lesbian people in Haiti recently, many think that Haiti is one of the most hostile countries in the world in regard to LGBT. If you listen to the demonstrators protesting against gay and lesbian in Haiti, you would believe that there is no room for these people in Haiti. Some members of the society think it's OK to even commit physical violence against anyone who expresses these tendencies.
British Red Cross worker and his Haitian Gay partner attacked during engagement ceremony in Haiti
Posted on Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Chaos emerged last Saturday at Port-au-Prince where two male partners were holding a private engagement ceremony. The British national and his male partner were attacked with rocks and molotov cocktail by angry locals.
In an attempt to prevent loss of human life, Haitian Police arrived just in time. According to rights advocates the act was not justified. One of the homosexual's rights defenders condemned the action saying that it was homophobic act.
The homosexual community followers are now pushing for justice to be done. They believe that the perpetrators are guilt of crime.
Religious Coalition Says No to Gay Marriage
President Gérard of the Coalition of Religious and Moral Organizations (HCRMO) and its members gathered together in June to denounce the trend of allowing gay people to wed. Gay marriage has taken hold in the U.S., with 13 states permitting gay people to marry in religious ceremonies.
In a news conference, Gérard spoke of the sacredness of marriage between a male and female, whose sexual union is for the purpose of procreation. Moreover, he said the nuclear family (a male and female couple) is the nexus of all cultures, and not to be interfered with. According to HCRMO, gay marriages will violate God's plan, precipitating a breakdown of family values.
LGBT rights, Homosexuaslity or Masisi in Haiti
Posted on Friday, May 10, 2013
LGBT or Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community of Haiti managed to gather over 300 women and men whose sexual orientation is disgraced and greatly disapproved by Haitian society. This gathering was meant to ask the country to stop the discrimination against them. On May 17, 2012, a man spoke in Hotel Montana during the first National Congress of LGBT Population in Haiti where he said that he was proud to be the part of LGBT community.
This event was marked by the presence of the supporting institutions for the International Day against Homophobia. Some of the institutions which participated in the first National Congress of LGBT Population were: Kouraj, AIDS and Promoters Target Zero, Ministry of Public Health, FACDIS (Women in Action against Sexual Discrimination), Sérovie, UNDP, UNAIDS, movement initiator working with UNFPA (United Nations Funds for Population Activities) and Housing Works.
Lack of LGBT Rights in Haiti a Serious Concern to the Diaspora
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The government of Haiti (GOH) and Haitian culture does not support the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transsexual (LGBT) movement. In fact they openly oppose LGBT rights, having expressed their disapproval as far back as 1986.
The Roman Catholic Church and its affiliated groups have also condemned existence and practice of same-sex relationships. But one faith does show acceptance of LGBT people, Voodoo believers. LGBT persons are welcomed to participate in ritualistic rites, and are allowed to ascend the hierarchy as long as they prove themselves worthy.
The Diaspora, in New York City, in 2007 founded social service agency, Haitian Lesbian and Gay Alliance, (HLGA) to support the LGBT community and raise awareness in Haiti. Encouraged by the HLGA's public endorsement, a sprinkling of Haitian gays participated in a gay civil-rights march in 2008, the first of its kind in Haiti.
Homosexuality And Voodoo
Posted on Sunday, February 17, 2013
Homosexuality is still a sensitive issue in Haiti. Gay people are often discriminated and condemned and many of them are unable to express and show who they really are. However, not everything shuns homosexuality as there is one religion that accepts people of the third sex and that is Voodoo.
Voodoo religion has been linked to zombies, black magic, cannibalism and orgiastic rituals but what many people do not know is that this religion also worships one God. Voodoo practitioners have faith in one God and believe that they are guided by spirits called "loas" and "Iwas." And the doctrines of Voodoo are gay-friendly.
Allegation of Coup D'Etat conspiracy against Michel Martelly
Posted on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Breaking News. President Michel Martelly made a surprise visit during a meeting at the residence of Prime Minister Garry Conille and it was not to praise them. Quite the contrary.
According to information obtained from Radio Kiskeya, one of the senators who was present at the meeting made a phone call to President Martelly, stating that a group of Senators was plotting a coup D'Etat against him.
Some Senators reported that they had to leave as President Martelly became furious and was very offensive toward many of them.
Deblozay Pete Kay Premye Minis!
According to the information, Prime Minister Gary Conille was in a meeting with the Senators G-16 and other Senators at his private residence. It was reported that one of the senators who was present at the meeting made a phone call to President Martelly, stating that a group of Senators was plotting a coup D'Etat against him. Upon his arrival at the meeting, it was reported that the president did not attempt to be diplomatic at all with the Haitian Senators. Instead, he started insulting them immediately.
Liaison in Haiti needed - $40 us dollar a Month
Haitian Community in Mount Olive, A Small Town in North Carolina
Obtaining a Divorce in Haiti
Archives Nationales d'Haiti
Saint Michel de L 'Atalaye
Lascahobas, Haiti
Haiti tech Summit
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Tanzania urges foreign companies to invest in the country's vast energy market
Tanzania has urged foreign companies to invest in the country's vast energy market. Deputy Minister of Energy and Minerals Manju Msambya told the East African Power Industry Convention here that Tanzania has harnessed only 10 % of an estimated hydroelectric power potential of 4,780 MW.
Gas fields on the Songo Songo island have proven recoverable reserves of about 1 tcf while Mnazi bay in the Mtwara Region in the south has similar quantities of gas.
In order to exploit coal resources of about 1 bn tons lying in southern regions, the government plans to build a 200 MW power plant near the Mchuchuma coal mine, Msambya said.
According to media reports, the deputy minister said so far only 10 % of more than 30 mm people in the country have access to electricity. "Tanzania is committed to undertaking reforms in the power sector and encourages private sector role in development and operation of the power industry. Potential investors should take advantage of the reforms," he said.
The Tanzanian government plans to provide electricity to 40 % of the population by the year 2015 under a new power industry structure mainly managed by the private sector, he said. The deputy minister said the present vertically integrated utility will be divided into generation, transmission and distribution segments.
At present, the state-owned Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) produces about 98 % of the 600 MW generated in the country while the remaining 2 % are produced by the private sector. Outlining investment potentials, Msambya said power demand was expected to grow at an annual rate of 8 % up to the year 2015.
The forum attracted over 200 delegates from Australia, Canada, Germany, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Britain, the United States, Zimbabwe and the World Bank.
Source: Xinhua via Newspage
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US inches towards goal of energy independence
by Clifford Krauss and Eric Lipton
The desolate stretch of West Texas desert known as the Permian Basin is still the lonely domain of scurrying roadrunners by day and howling coyotes by night. But the roar of scores of new oil rigs and the distinctive acrid fumes of drilling equipment are unmistakable signs that crude is gushing again.
And not just here. Across the country, the oil and gas industry is vastly increasing production, reversing two decades of decline. Using new technology and spurred by rising oil prices since the mid-2000s, the industry is extracting millions of barrels more a week, from the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the prairies of North Dakota.
At the same time, Americans are pumping significantly less gasoline. While that is partly a result of the recession and higher gasoline prices, people are also driving fewer miles and replacing older cars with more fuel-efficient vehicles at a greater clip, federal data show.
Taken together, the increasing production and declining consumption have unexpectedly brought the United States markedly closer to a goal that has tantalized presidents since Richard Nixon: independence from foreign energy sources, a milestone that could reconfigure American foreign policy, the economy and more. In 2011, the country imported just 45 % of the liquid fuels it used, down from a record high of 60 % in 2005.
“There is no question that many national security policy makers will believe they have much more flexibility and will think about the world differently if the United States is importing a lot less oil,” said Michael A Levi, an energy and environmental senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“For decades, consumption rose, production fell and imports increased, and now every one of those trends is going the other way.”
How the country made this turnabout is a story of industry-friendly policies started by President Bush and largely continued by President Obama, many over the objections of environmental advocates, as well as technological advances that have allowed the extraction of oil and gas once considered too difficult and too expensive to reach. But mainly it is a story of the complex economics of energy, which sometimes seems to operate by its own rules of supply and demand.
With gasoline prices now approaching record highs and politicians mud-wrestling about the causes and solutions, the effects of the longer-term rise in production can be difficult to see.
Simple economics suggests that if the nation is producing more energy, prices should be falling. But crude oil, and gasoline and diesel made from it, are global commodities whose prices are affected by factors around the world. Supply disruptions in Africa, the political standoff with Iran and rising demand from a recovering world economy all are contributing to the current spike in global oil prices, offsetting the impact of the increased domestic supply.
But the domestic trends are unmistakable. Not only has the United States reduced oil imports from members of the OPEC by more than 20 % in the last three years, it has become a net exporter of refined petroleum products like gasoline for the first time since the Truman presidency.
The natural gas industry, which less than a decade ago feared running out of domestic gas, is suddenly dealing with a glut so vast that import facilities are applying for licenses to export gas to Europe and Asia. National oil production, which declined steadily to 4.95 mm bpd in 2008 from 9.6 mm in 1970, has risen over the last four years to nearly 5.7 mm bpd.
The Energy Department projects that daily output could reach nearly 7 mm barrels by 2020. Some experts think it could eventually hit 10 mm barrels, which would put the United States in the same league as Saudi Arabia.
This surge is hardly without consequences. Some areas of intense drilling activity, including northeastern Utah and central Wyoming, have experienced air quality problems. The drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which uses highly pressurized water, sand and chemical lubricants that help force more oil and gas from rock formations, has also been blamed for wastewater problems.
Wildlife experts also warn that expanded drilling is threatening habitats of rare or endangered species.
Greater energy independence is “a prize that has long been eyed by oil insiders and policy strategists that can bring many economic and national security benefits,” said Jay Hakes, a senior official at the Energy Department during the Clinton administration. “But we will have to work through the environmental issues, which are a definite challenge.”
The increased production of fossil fuels is a far cry from the energy plans President Obama articulated as a candidate in 2008. Then, he promoted policies to help combat global warming, including vast investments in renewable energy and a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions that would have discouraged the use of fossil fuels.
More recently, with gasoline prices rising and another election looming, Mr Obama has struck a different chord. He has opened new federal lands and waters to drilling, trumpeted increases in oil and gas production and de-emphasized the challenges of climate change.
He said he supported expedited construction of the southern portion of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Mr Obama’s current policy has alarmed many environmental advocates who say he has failed to adequately address the environmental threats of expanded drilling and the use of fossil fuels. He also has not silenced critics, including Republicans and oil executives, who accuse him of preventing drilling on millions of acres off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts and on federal land, unduly delaying the decision on the full Keystone project and diverting scarce federal resources to pie-in-the-sky alternative energy programs.
Just as the production increase was largely driven by rising oil prices, the trend could reverse if the global economy were to slow. Even so, much of the industry is thrilled at the prospects.
“To not be concerned with where our oil is going to come from is probably the biggest home run for the country in a hundred years,” said Scott D. Sheffield, chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, which is operating in West Texas.
“It sort of reminds me of the industrial revolution in coal, which allowed us to have some of the cheapest energy in the world and drove our economy in the late 1800s and 1900s.”
The foundation is laid
For as long as roughnecks have worked the Permian Basin, made famous during World War II as the fuel pump that powered the Allies, they have mostly focused on relatively shallow zones of easily accessible, oil-soaked sandstone and silt. But after 80 years of pumping, those regions were running dry.
So in 2003, Jim Henry, a West Texas oilman, tried a bold experiment. Borrowing an idea from a fellow engineer, his team at Henry Petroleum drilled deep into a hard limestone formation using a refinement of fracking. By blasting millions of gallons of water into the limestone, they created tiny fissures that allowed oil to break free, a technique that had previously been successful in extracting gas from shale.
The test produced 150 bpd, three times more than normal.
“We knew we had the biggest discovery in over 50 years in the Permian Basin,” Mr Henry recalled. There was just one problem: At $ 30 a barrel, the price of oil was about half of what was needed to make drilling that deep really profitable. So the renaissance of the Permian, and the domestic oil industry, would have to wait.
But the drillers in Texas had important allies in Washington. President Bush grew up in Midland and spent 11 years as a West Texas oilman, albeit without much success, before entering politics. Vice President Dick Cheney had been chief executive of the oil field contractor Halliburton.
The Bush administration worked from the start on finding ways to unlock the nation’s energy reserves and reverse decades of declining output, with Mr Cheney leading a White House energy task force that met in secret with top oil executives.
“Ramping up production was a high priority,” said Gale Norton, a member of the task force and the secretary of the Interior at the time. “We hated being at the mercy of other countries, and we were determined to change that.”
The task force’s work helped produce the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which set rules that contributed to the current surge. It prohibited the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating fracking under the Safe Drinking Water Act, eliminating a potential impediment to wide use of the technique.
The legislation also offered the industry billions of dollars in new tax breaks to help independent producers recoup some drilling costs even when a well came up dry. Separately, the Interior Department was granted the power to issue drilling permits on millions of acres of federal lands without extensive environmental impact studies for individual projects, addressing industry complaints about the glacial pace of approvals.
That new power has been used at least 8,400 times, mostly in Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, representing a quarter of all permits issued on federal land in the last six federal fiscal years.
The Bush administration also opened large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico and the waters off Alaska to exploration, granting lease deals that required companies to pay only a tiny share of their profits to the government. These measures primed the pump for the burst in drilling that began once oil prices started rising sharply in 2005 and 2006.
With the world economy humming, and China, India and other developing nations posting astonishing growth, demand for oil began outpacing the easily accessible supplies.
By 2008, daily global oil consumption surged to 86 mm barrels, up nearly 20 % from the decade before. In July of that year, the price of oil reached its highest level since World War II, topping $ 145 a barrel (equivalent to more than $ 151 a barrel in today’s dollars).
Oil reserves once too difficult and expensive to extract, including Mr Henry’s limestone fields, had become more attractive. If money was the motivation, fracking became the favored means of extraction.
While fracking itself had been around for years, natural gas drillers in the 1980s and 1990s began combining high-pressure fracking with drilling wells horizontally, not just vertically. They found it unlocked gas from layers of shale previously seen as near worthless.
By 2001, fracking took off around Fort Worth and Dallas, eventually reaching under schools, airports and inner-city neighborhoods. Companies began buying drilling rights across vast shale fields in a variety of states. By 2008, the country was awash in natural gas.
Fracking for oil, which is made of larger molecules than natural gas, took longer to develop. But eventually, it opened new oil fields in North Dakota, South Texas, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado and, most recently, Ohio. Meanwhile, technological advances were making deeper oil drilling possible in the Gulf of Mexico.
New imaging and seismic technology allowed engineers to predict the location and size of reservoirs once obscured by thick layers of salt. And drill bits made of superstrong alloys were developed to withstand the hot temperatures and high pressures deep under the seabed.
As the industry’s confidence, and profits, grew, so did criticism. Amid concerns about global warming and gasoline prices that averaged a record $ 4.11 a gallon in July 2008 ($ 4.30 in today’s dollars), President Obama campaigned on a pledge to shift toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels.
His administration initially canceled some oil and gas leases on federal land awarded during the Bush administration and required more environmental review.
But in a world where crucial oil suppliers like Venezuela and Libya were unstable and high energy prices could be a drag on a weak economy, he soon acted to promote more drilling. Despite a drilling hiatus after the 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 rig workers and spilled millions of barrels of crude oil into the ocean, he has proposed expansion of oil production both on land and offshore.
He is now moving toward approving drilling off the coast of Alaska.
“Our dependence on foreign oil is down because of policies put in place by our administration, but also our predecessor’s administration,” Mr Obama said during a campaign appearance in March, a few weeks after opening 38 mm more acres in the gulf for oil and gas exploration.
“And whoever succeeds me is going to have to keep it up.”
An American oil boom
The last time the Permian Basin oil fields enjoyed a boom, nearly three decades ago, Rolls-Royce opened a showroom in the desert, Champagne was poured from cowboy boots, and the local airport could not accommodate all the Learjets taking off for Las Vegas on weekends.
But when crude prices fell in the mid-1980s, oil companies pulled out and the Rolls dealership was replaced by a tortilla factory. The only thriving business was done by bankruptcy lawyers and auctioneers helping to unload used Ferraris, empty homes and useless rigs.
“One day we were rolling in oil,” recalled Jim Foreman, the general manager of the Midland BMW dealership, “and the next day geologists were flipping burgers at McDonald’s.” The burger-flipping days are definitely over. Today, more than 475 rigs, roughly a quarter of all rigs operating in the United States, are smashing through tight rocks across the Permian in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.
Those areas are already producing nearly a mm bpd, or 17 % more than two years ago. By decade’s end, that daily total could easily double, oil executives say, roughly equaling the total output of Nigeria.
“We’re having a revolution,” said G. Steven Farris, chief executive of Apache Corporation, one of the basin’s most active producers. “And we’re just scratching the surface.”
It is a revolution that is returning investments to the United States. Over several decades, Pioneer Natural Resources had taken roughly $ 1 bn earned in Texas oil fields and drilled in Africa, South America and elsewhere.
But in the last five years, the company sold $ 2 bn of overseas assets and reinvested in Texas shale fields.
“Political risk was increasing internationally,” said Mr Sheffield, Pioneer’s chief executive, and domestically, he was encouraged to see “the shale technology progressing.”
Pioneer’s rising fortunes can be seen on a 10,000-acre field known as the Giddings Estate, a forsaken stretch inhabited by straggly coyotes, rabbits, rattlesnakes and cows that forage for grass between the sagebrush. When Pioneer bought it in 2005, the field’s hundred mostly broken-down wells were producing a total of 50 bpd.
“It was a diamond in the rough,” said Robert Hillger, who manages it for Pioneer.
Mr Hillger and his colleagues have brought an array of new tools to bear at Giddings. Computer programs simulate well designs, minimizing trial and error. Advanced fiber optics allow senior engineers and geologists at headquarters more than 300 miles away to monitor progress and remotely direct the drill bit. Subterranean microphones help identify fissures in the rock to plan subsequent drilling.
Today, the Giddings field is pumping 7,000 bpd, and Pioneer expects to hit 25,000 bpd by 2017.
The newfound wealth is spreading beyond the fields. In nearby towns, petroleum companies are buying so many pickup trucks that dealers are leasing parking lots the size of city blocks to stock their inventory.
Housing is in such short supply that drillers are importing contractors from Houston and hotels are leased out before they are even built.
Two new office buildings are going up in Midland, a city of just over 110,000 people, the first in 30 years, while the total value of downtown real estate has jumped 50 % since 2008. With virtually no unemployment, restaurants cannot find enough servers. Local truck drivers are making six-figure salaries.
“Anybody who comes in with a driver’s license and a Social Security card, I’ll give him a chance,” said Rusty Allred, owner of Rusty’s Oilfield Service Company.
If there is a loser in this boom, it is the environment. Water experts say aquifers in the desert area could run dry if fracking continues expanding, and oil executives concede they need to reduce water consumption.
Yet environmental concerns, from polluted air to greenhouse gas emissions, have gained little traction in the Permian Basin or other outposts of the energy expansion.
On the front lines in opposition is Jay Lininger, a 36-year-old ecologist who drives through the Permian in an old Toyota Tacoma with a hard hat tilted on his head and a federal land map at the ready. A former national park firefighter, he says he is now battling a wildfire of a different sort, the oil industry.
Nationally, environmentalists have challenged drilling with mixed results. Efforts to stop or slow fracking have succeeded in New York State and some localities in other states, but it is spreading across the country.
In the Permian, Mr Lininger said, few people openly object to the foul-smelling air of the oil fields. Ranchers are more than happy to sell what water they have to the oil companies for fracking. Mr Lininger and his group are trying to slow the expansion of drilling by appealing to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to protect several animal species, including the five-inch dunes sagebrush lizard.
“It’s a pathetic little lizard in an ugly desert, but life needs to be protected,” he said. “Every day we burn fossil fuel makes it harder for our planet to recover from our energy addiction.”
Mr Lininger said the oil and ranching industries had already destroyed or fragmented 40 % of the lizard’s habitat, and 60 % of what is left is under lease for oil and gas development.
The wildlife agency proposed listing the lizard as endangered in 2010 and was expected to decide last December, but Congressional representatives from the oil patch won a delay. Oil companies are working on a voluntary program to locate new drilling so it will not disturb the lizard habitat.
But for Mr Lininger’s group, the Center for Biological Diversity, that is far from sufficient. Brendan Cummings, senior counsel of the center, said protecting the lizard was part of a broader effort to keep drilling from harming animals, including polar bears, walruses and bowhead whales in the Alaskan Arctic and dwarf sea horses and sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.
“When you are dealing with fossil fuels, things will always go wrong,” Mr Cummings said. “There will always be spills, there will always be pollution. Those impacts compound the fragmentation that occurs and render these habitats into sacrifice areas.”
A turn toward efficiency
If the Permian Basin exemplifies the rise in production, car-obsessed San Diego is a prime example of the other big factor in the decline in the nation’s reliance on foreign oil.
Just since 2007, consumption of all liquid fuels in the United States, including diesel, jet fuel and heating oil, has dropped by about 9 %, according to the Energy Department. Gasoline use fell 6 to 12 %, estimated Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
Although Southern California’s love affair with muscle cars and the open road persists, driving habits have changed in subtle but important ways.
Take Tory Girten, who works as an emergency medical technician and part-time lifeguard in the San Diego area. He switched from driving a Ford minivan to a decidedly smaller and more fuel-efficient Dodge Caliber. Fed up with high gasoline prices, he also moved twice recently to be closer to the city center, cutting his daily commute considerably, a hint of the shift taking place in certain metropolitan areas as city centers become more popular while growth in far-out suburbs slows.
“I would rather pay a little more monthly for rent than for just filling up my tank with gas,” he said, after pulling into a local gas station to fill up.
Mr Girten is one of millions of Americans who have downsized. SUV’s accounted for 18 % of new-car sales in 2002, but only 7 % in 2010. The surge in gasoline prices nationwide, they are already at a record level for this time of year, has contributed to the shift toward more fuel-efficient cars.
But a bigger factor is rising federal fuel economy standards. After a long freeze, the miles-per-gallon mandate has been increased several times in recent years, with the Obama administration now pushing automakers to hit 54.5 mpg by 2025.
As Americans replace their older cars, they have bought an average of 1.25 mm new cars and light trucks a month this year, new technologies mean they usually end up with a more efficient vehicle, even if they buy a model of similar size and power.
California has long pushed further and faster toward efficiency than the rest of the country. It has combated often severe air pollution by mandating cleaner-burning cars, including all-electric vehicles, and prodded Washington to increase the fuel efficiency standards.
Thousands of school buses, trash trucks, tractor-trailers and street sweepers and public transit buses in the state run on natural gas, which is cheaper than gasoline and burns more cleanly. That switch cuts the consumption of foreign oil, as does the corn-based ethanol that is now mixed into gasoline as a result of federal mandates.
Longer-term social and economic factors are also reducing miles driven, like the rise in Internet shopping and telecommuting and the tendency of baby boomers to drive less as they age. The recession has also contributed, as job losses have meant fewer daily commutes and falling home prices have allowed some people to afford to move closer to work.
The trend of lower consumption, when combined with higher energy production, has profound implications, said Bill White, former deputy energy secretary in the Clinton administration and former mayor of Houston.
“Energy independence has always been a race between depletion and technologies to produce more and use energy more efficiently,” he said.
“Depletion was winning for decades, and now technology is starting to overtake its lead.”
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The Braziller Series of Australian Poets
90 Broad Street, Suite 2100
Independent Publishing Since 1955
A Passing Bell
Ghazals for Tina
by Paul Kane
This collection by Paul Kane about the untimely passing of his wife performs the work of mourning by giving a shape to grief. Utilizing the poetic form of the classic Persian ghazal, A Passing Bell takes its place alongside other modern works on death and consolation, such as Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed. We are taken through the deep process of grieving, in all its ebb and flow of emotion, its agonizing sorrow and sense of despair, to further stages of acceptance and self-recovery.
Paul Kane is a poet and critic who has published six collections of poems and a dozen other books. He has received a Fulbright award, Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships and grants from the Mellon Foundation. He is the editor of Poetry of the American Renaissance and the general editor of The Braziller Series of Australian Poets, and is currently Professor of English and Environmental Studies at Vassar College. He lives in Warwick, New York.
*Coming January 2019
novels by Buchi Emecheta
Buchi Emecheta has long been hailed as one of the greatest women writers to emerge from Africa. Of Ibuza parentage, she was born near Lagos, Nigeria and later moved to England, where she lived until her death in January 2017. It was said that she found time for her writing by rising at four o'clock every morning. She was the author of numerous novels including The Bride Price, The Rape of Shavi, and Second Class Citizen, among others.
Click the covers below to view all of her novels published by George Braziller.
A THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AMERICA'S NATIONAL PARKS
Edited by Robert Manning, Rolf Diamant, Nora Mitchell, David Harmon
In twenty-three essays, richly illustrated with more than 350 color photographs, authors with personal and professional connections to the national parks share their deep and invaluable knowledge.
“A beautiful road map to inspiring the next generation of park stewards.”
—Frank Dean, President & CEO, Yosemite Conservancy.
“...the essays and often breathtaking photographs in this volume expertly examine the more than 400 sites of natural beauty and historic importance that make up the national park system.”
Learn more about the book here
The only program of its kind, The Braziller Series of Australian Poets is an invaluable introduction to the world of Australian poetry. Begun in 2013, this groundbreaking series presents five major Australian poets in uniform editions, with other editions forthcoming. The accessible volumes in this series provide an essential window into the vital world of Australian poetry.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SERIES
Afternoon in the Central Nervous System by Chris Wallace-Crabbe
Another Language by Eileen Chong
Daylight Saving by Robert Gray
The Deep North by Bronwyn Lea
Hook and Eye by Judith Beveridge
First Light by Philip Hodgins
Featured Author: Meyer Schapiro
Stay in touch with George Braziller on Twitter, Facebook, and more, or contact us directly.
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Euripides Volume IV
Loeb Classical Library 10
Trojan Women. Iphigenia among the Taurians. Ion
Edited and translated by David Kovacs
Loeb Classical Library > Euripides
DRAMA: Ancient & Classical
“Over the past decades, Kovacs has published widely on Euripides and can undoubtedly be called one of the specialists in the field of Euripidean manuscripts today. He shows his expertise by a masterly handling of the introductions as well as of the editorial work… All in all, it must be concluded that Kovacs both in his capacity as editor and translator not only meets, but surpasses the expectations put on him. I can only agree with Kevin Lee, who concluded in his review on the two first volumes by saying: ‘I look forward to seeing the next stages of Kovacs’ important task.’” —Elke Steinmeyer, Scolia Reviews
“Kovacs’s translations are in fairly literal…and yet very readable English prose. Both experts and generalists will benefit from the work of this experienced Euripidean scholar.” —John E. Thorburn, Religious Studies Review
“Kovacs’s translation is a tour de force… In general, the notes accompanying the translation, explaining such things as geographical and mythological names, are judiciously chosen, concise, and crystal clear… I have nothing but praise for [Kovacs’s] scholarship, and the lucidity of his writing, both as translator and commentator. [This volume] should be [the] standard translation for many years to come.” —John Davidson, Scholia Reviews
More Classics & Ancient World from Harvard University Press
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You Are The Only One by 15 Lightgrey (Critical Analysis and Dissection)
Length : 4 min 25 sec
Release : 7 August ‘17
Rating : 3.5 out of 5 stars
“I’ve got new sounds of freedom. Don’t give up on your dreams.”
The above quoted lines which resemble motivational materials from lectures of Zig Ziglar or Tony Robbins, are the lyrics to the song ‘You Are The Only One’ by the experimental DJ, ‘15 Lightgrey’. It is the brainchild of Tom Maisnam, who happens to be the song-writer/guitarist of the formerly active indie rock band ‘The Dirty Strikes’. He is currently recording as a solo artist professing electronic music, which is the pole opposite of the genre he used to deal in. His music is experimental even from the start, which is rather unusual.
History has shown us the proofs that, musicians kick-starting their career from experimental genres often fail to seek large followings and have low chances of landing in promising record deals. Despite these possible risks, 15 Lightgrey triumphs in gathering a significant amount of devoted listeners over time. The risks taken by 15 Lightgrey gives us the right time to quote Herman Melville, “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation”. Thus, the latest single ‘You Are The Only One’ is well-hyped among random listeners and highly appreciated among the indie-savvy circle.
‘You Are The Only One’ is built in the tempo of 120 bpm (which is interestingly the tempo of most of the hit songs around the world) and the time signature is 4/4. The genre can be classified as ‘electronic experimental ambience’, which is a slight fusion of ambient pop and electronica. The track is 4 minutes and 25 seconds long. It starts with the prominent beats which will survive throughout the song. The type of this particular beat is often used in progressive house music.
Then, exactly after 4 seconds, a steady rotation of electronic percussion comprising of 7 notes will be embedded in between the beats. A very sharp listener will be able to pick out the obscured notes in the background which surfaces exactly at 00:10, which in ascending tone serves as a primary bass of the song. Without this almost unrecognizable filler, the song would have lack sonic depth. The choice of this filler is a clever one. Then, the major percussion enters ain the form of electronic snare drums and forms a homogenous mixture with the beats. A synthesizer riff in the tone of a mellow electric piano will be introduced exactly at 20 seconds into the song. Along with the assigned bass in the background, the aggregate of the introduced sounds will remain as the groove of the track.
The vocals by Tom Maisnam will cue into the groove and deliver the motivational lyrics which has the power to lift the spirit of the listener. The structure of the lyrics is fluid-like as the two verses are separated by an ambience. The lyrics will disintegrate into a chorus of the titular line and vocables. The chorus has the similar synth sound of the riff but with higher notes and a significant melody. The ambient sound in the middle of the song evokes an unobtrusive quality. The drums will feature a high head chime at 3:08 and starts the outro. The song ending fade away will feature an ethnic vocables ‘Heiya Hey’.
The song is tranquil and hypnotic. The trance given out by the constant chanting of the titular line creates the ambient atmosphere of the song. The uses of the textural layers of different sounds is worth appreciating.
Stepping back and digesting the big picture, the song is one of the best contribution in the electronic music scene by a Manipuri recording artist. 15 Lightgrey is currently recording an upcoming full length album, which is entirely a good news to grasp. Let us hope that the more songs to follow will exceed the intrinsic sonic quality of this song.
(Ningombam Captain is the creator of the comprehensive review blog, Blue Bannerman Reviews. The writer is currently pursuing English Hons. in MS University, Vadodara. For reviews, Blue Bannerman can be contacted at the official facebook page and will cover critical analysis of songs, books, movies, and local eateries.)
20-May-2018 / Ningombam Captain
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Nudging for Care: Practical applications of behavioural science
This article originally appeared in the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association's Publication AVISO in both English and French.
Behavioural science - the body of research largely comprised of the distinct but related fields of psychology and behavioural economics - has become an increasingly popular policy approach since the launch of the UK Government’s Behavioural Insights Team in 2010. In Canada, labs have been set up across provincial and federal jurisdictions to help government better design and implement social programs.
Insights from this body of literature can offer a window into how people behave in various choice environments, resulting in interventions to curb harmful personal choices, or to ‘nudge’ people towards better choices that improve outcomes for themselves and society. Less publicized, however, are the practical applications of behavioural science outside policy realms. How can behavioural interventions be used to increase drug adherence in home-care settings, or reduce administration of certain classes of medication?
Fortunately, over the last decade, numerous studies have documented nudge effects across various settings. Combined with data from controlled experiments, we can draw conclusions about how hospice and palliative care might benefit from behavioural approaches to service design and delivery.
In complex operating environments like healthcare, caregivers are regularly inundated with sights and sounds (one estimate by the Acoustical Society of America found that the average hospital produces 135 alarms per patient, per day, about one every 11 minutes). This can make identifying cases of clinical deterioration a challenge. The Australian state of New South Wales sought to reduce preventable deaths caused by ‘unintentional blindness’ due to cognitive overload.
To combat this problem, the Between the Flags program was developed to provide caregivers with an easy-to-read, colour-coded ‘track and trigger’ chart, which enables vital signs to be graphically recorded. Observations recorded in the ‘yellow zone’ trigger a clinical review of the patient, while those in the ‘red zone’ trigger a rapid response. An interim report from 2013 found that 70% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that the Between the Flags program assisted with earlier detection and management of patients at risk.
Over-prescription of medication is also being addressed through behavioural approaches. Public Health England sought to address this problem by utilizing social norms to influence physicians to prescribe less. By telling physicians that they were prescribing particular classes of medications 80% more than other practices in their local area, Public Health England saw a 3% decrease in those prescriptions in the first 6 months alone. Similar approaches could be used to curb over-administration of antipsychotics to dementia patients for example, a known correlate of physical risks including infection and heart failure.
To date, hundreds of biases and cognitive shortcuts have been identified by researchers, making possibilities for service improvement virtually limitless. Recent studies have shown that patients in clinical settings are over-reliant on ‘system 1’ thinking - the fast, and largely automatic decision making process that can result in short-sighted behaviour. By identifying these mental shortcuts, we can better design processes to ensure patients and their families are acting in their own best interests. Designing for how people behave, rather than how we think they behave, can be used to improve intake forms, boost program compliance, or serve as the lens through which we analyze other procedural or service-related issues.
It is important to note however that many variables can affect the success of an intervention. Early testing and measurement on a smaller scale can help to identify which approaches are most effective before full scale roll-out. Behavioural interventions also require a ‘light touch,’ ensuring that nudges are effective, while simultaneously preserving individuals’ abilities to choose for themselves. When utilized properly, behavioural approaches offer scalable, cost-effective solutions to many challenges. In fact, a recent OECD report on Behavioural Insights and Public Policy showed that fewer than 3% of respondents indicated that interventions came at ‘substantial’ cost. All it takes is a nudge in the right direction.
Tagged: Healthcare
Newer Post2017 OCSA Conference Reading List
Older PostMy Care Plan: Join Me at Two Upcoming Conferences
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Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence tops the album charts
Our Work | June 25 2014
Lana Del Rey’s second album release, Ultraviolence, has gone straight to the top of the album charts – outselling Linkin Park’s The Hunting Party by two to one!
Diabolical, a creative music marketing agency in London, executed the two phase out of home campaign to help drive awareness and generate sales of the album. Here’s what they had to say about the campaign:
“We kicked off the campaign at the end of May by commissioning an art collective to do a bespoke mural on Great Eastern Street in the heart of East London. The idea was to create intrigue and awareness by revealing Lana Del Rey’s lyrics in a way that captured the spirit of the forthcoming album. This concept was reinforced with a nationwide poster campaign featuring more lyrics and the impactful album cover artwork. The campaign culminated in a 2nd phase of large format, statement outdoor throughout the release week in June, all of which were strategically placed in credible, relevant locations. We’ve had a great reception to the activity from the record label and even Lana’s fan base!”
All in all a great looking campaign – which surely helped achieve the number 1 spot.
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Arts & Entertainment Latest The Arts
JLedger / May 22, 2012 / No Comment
Yiddish Book Center to present “Yidstock”, July 11-15
Yidstock
AMHERST, Mass. – This July the Yiddish Book Center will bring the top names in klezmer to the stage for “Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music.”
The lineup includes Socalled, the Michael Winograd Trio, Hankus Netsky & Hebrew National Salvage, Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars with Eleanor Reissa, and the Grammy award-winning Klezmatics. The bands will take to the stage for back-to-back concerts July 14 and 15 at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass.
“Yidstock offers a rare opportunity over the course of two days for festival goers to take in performances by several generations of the most accomplished and influential klezmer musicians, including those who revived the music in the 1980s, those who made it blossom in the klezmer renaissance of the 1990s, and those who are blazing new trails
well into the 21st century,” says Seth Rogovoy, author of “The Essential Klezmer” who will deliver a talk at the festival. “In addition, several of the ensembles slated to perform share musicians among them, making the weekend-long festival a kind of extended jam session.”
In addition to two days of live concerts, the festival will also include a mini film festival, a klezmer brunch with the Brian Bender Duo, and a klezmer instrumental workshop.
Tickets for individual events, all-inclusive Yidstock Festival Passes, and group packages may be purchased online at yiddishbookcenter.org/yidstock or by phone at (413) 256-4900.
In collaboration with “Yidstock,” the Yiddish Book Center will present events in partnership with the Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, Mass.: “New Riffs on Everyone’s Favorite Yiddish Story” with Aaron Lansky, founder and president of the Yiddish Book Center, Sunday, July 8, 3 p.m.; and “Fiddler Off the Roof: A Klezmer Event” with Golem and Seth Rogovoy, Monday, July 9, 7 p.m.
“It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”
WORLD NEWS | 2018 | THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Baseball 2017 – All the Jewish major leaguers to watch
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MPACT
a division of the 21st Century Council
Individually Managed Personal Achievement and Career Training
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Sentinel, all rights reserved.
IMPACT receives grant to expand pre-k program
By Wes Mayberry
Gov. Robert Bentley announced a list of 202 new First Class Pre-K grants Tuesday as a result of the increased state funding for pre-k approved by the legislature and the competitive Preschool Development Grant he received in December. And one of these 202 new grants was awarded to the IMPACT Learning Center, which will allow its Pre-K Partners program to expand to a third elementary school in Scottsboro.
IMPACT’s Pre-K Partners program currently has classrooms at Nelson and Brownwood elementary schools that serve up to a total of 36 kids each school year. According to IMPACT Education Coordinator Kim Fossett, the program served approximately three percent of all 4-year-olds in Jackson County last year. But thanks to the new grant funding, a classroom will be added for the 2015-16 school year at Caldwell Elementary that can accommodate up to 18 additional children and will create two jobs in the form of the teachers for the classroom. Because of this, Fossett said everyone at IMPACT was delighted to hear that they had been awarded this grant funding.
“IMPACT was the only organization in Jackson County that received a grant, and we were very pleased,” Fossett said. “We are thrilled to be able to have a third Pre-K Partners classroom for children in this area.”
The Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs awarded these grants based on several criteria, including local needs, local demand and assurances of high quality standards at the new and expanding pre-k sites, and local match funding of 25 percent will be required. Fossett said some of the money from IMPACT’s recent Low Country Luau fundraiser would go toward providing these matching funds, adding that this expansion will be extremely beneficial.
“I sent a letter to Gov. Bentley and Sen. (Steve) Livingston thanking them for supporting the pre-k program,” she said. “It’s such a good program because it’s so important to provide children with a solid educational foundation.”
The three Pre-K Partners classrooms join pre-k programs at Stevenson Elementary and Woodville High School in serving 4-year-olds in Jackson County.
According to a press release, the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs received a record 410 applications for new First Class Pre-K classrooms for the 2015-16 school year, and the new grant funding works to accommodate this increased demand.
“Demand for these grants has far exceeded our supply,” Bentley said. “Only 13 percent of Alabama’s 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in the First Class program, and that is the reason we need to continue expanding access to this program. It is my goal to give more families the option of enrolling their children in voluntary pre-k, and I will continue my efforts to expand access to First Class even more.”
The recently approved Fiscal Year 2016 Education Trust Fund budget appropriates $48.5 million for Alabama’s high-quality and voluntary First Class Pre-K program, which includes a $10 million increase to expand the pre-k program to reach 3,600 additional 4-year-olds across the state. In addition, Alabama was one of 18 states to be awarded a Preschool Development Grant, which can be renewed for up to four years, from the U.S. Department of Education.
Alabama’s First Class program is nationally recognized for its quality. Alabama is currently one of only four states in the country to meet all 10 quality benchmarks established by the National Institute for Early Education Research. The benchmarks include teacher training, staff-child ratios, support services and more. First Class has now met all of these benchmarks for nine years in a row.
First Class is managed by the Alabama Office of School Readiness, which is part of the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs that is overseen by Bentley. Jeana Ross, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs, said the demand for expansion grants has been strong in communities throughout the state, and efforts will continue for additional expansion in the future.
“Alabama’s vision for First Class Pre-K is to provide the very best early childhood education program for all children and families,” Ross said. “Research consistently shows that high-quality early childhood education programs produce positive and lasting effects for children. This is achieved by ensuring all programs meet the highest standards of excellence. The grant awards are an exciting expansion of this No. 1, nationally ranked, high quality pre-k program that can help make the first years the best years for a child to grow and learn in Alabama.”
“The most important part of a child’s education is a good, solid foundation at a young age, and our First Class voluntary pre-k program provides that. All children, regardless of where they live, deserve the opportunity to excel. A high-quality voluntary pre-k program improves their chances of success in school long-term. This is a wise investment that will benefit children and families throughout Alabama,” Bentley added. “While these grants will help us offer voluntary pre-k to many more families, there is still a long way to go before all children have access. That’s why it’s important to build on this progress and make sure we’re offering this high-quality program to even more families in the years to come.”
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4minute Releases Choreography Practice Video for “Hate”
Ben Cho, Feb. 24, 2016, 9:45 a.m.
4minute just revealed a special choreography practice video for their newest track, Hate! On February 23rd, Cube Entertainment’s official YouTube channel revealed the choreography video for “Hate”, and the girls definitely kick butt with their perfectly timed choreography and dance moves. Fans will no doubt be hypnotized by each ot the members sex appeal, talent, singing, and dance.
4Minute is a five-member South Korean girl group formed in 2009 by Cube Entertainment with music singles and albums released primarily in South Korea and Japan. The members of the group are Nam Ji-hyun, Heo Ga-yoon, Jeon Ji-yoon, Kim Hyun-a, and Kwon So-hyun. The group debuted in June 2009 with its first single, "Hot Issue", and in December 2010, it released its first Japanese album, Diamond. In 2011, the group released its first Korean full-length album, 4Minutes Left.
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John Fries Award Entries Opens January 2018
Applications for the annual John Fries Award 2018 will open on 15 January.
The John Fries Award is an annual $10,000 art award recognising the talents of early career visual artists from across Australia and New Zealand.
The 2017 John Fries Award attracted the largest audience in its history, with more than 1,000 people attending opening night and more than double the number of people coming to see the finalist exhibition at UNSW Galleries in Paddington, Sydney.
Each year, hundreds of entries from across Australia and New Zealand flood in for the award, and it attracts some of the most experimental work across genres than any other in its class.
Previous winners include Kuba Dorabialski, Eric Demetriou, Ben Ward, Bridie Lunney, Jess Olivieri and Hayley Forward, Jacob Leary, Sanne Mestrom and Hannah Bertram. Previous curators have included Oliver Watts, Sebastian Goldspink, Venita Poblocki and Andrew Leslie.
In 2018, the award will be curated by interdisciplinary artist, academic and curator, Consuelo Cavaniglia.
The award was established by the Fries family in 2010 in memory of former Viscopy director and honorary treasurer, John Fries, who made a remarkable contribution to the life and success of the organisation. After a successful five year partnership agreement, Viscopy merged with Copyright Agency on 30 November 2017.
ENTERING THE JOHN FRIES AWARD
Entry to this annual award will be open to artists of all ages and disciplines who identify as early career artists, and are citizens or residents of Australia or New Zealand. Artists are required to submit a portfolio of five works created over the past three years which demonstrate a current commitment to developing a professional artistic practice.
The award winner receives $10,000 and the award is non-acquisitive.
Artists working in all mediums are welcome to apply; including but not limited to sculpture, performance, new media, photography, painting, drawing, installation, ceramic, object based, hybrid practices, sound based and conceptual works.
Key dates for the John Fries Award 2018 are now available. Entries can be submitted from 9am AEDT on Monday, 15 January 2018 and close 5pm AEDT Monday, 19 February 2018.
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Home Blog Bombardier v. Boeing - what wasn't said
Bombardier v. Boeing - what wasn't said
Comments about the Bombardier affair demonstrate the abyss of misunderstanding about the nature of trade and of the economic process itself.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has initiated a court case against Bombardier, relating to the proposed sale of aircraft to the US company Delta Airlines. Claiming unfair competition, the threat is to impose a tariff of over 200%. This threatens the livelihood of workers at a branch factory in Northern Ireland, which manufactures the wings of the aircraft. Boeing apparently produces no aircraft which would compete with the Bombardier model, which is for short-haul routes. The alleged unfairness is that Bombardier has received financial assistance from the Quebec government.
While a lot has been said linking the affair to Brexit, with which it has nothing to do, no commentator has pointed out that the main losers in this affair are Delta Airlines, which is being made to pay more for the aircraft it has chosen, or will have to purchase an alternative, and Delta's passengers, since the additional costs will be reflected in higher fares. Other losers are the Canadian taxpayers.
There is more than a hint of double standards here, because Boeing is able to transfer to its civil aviation division technology originally developed as part of its military contracts for the US government. But then again Bombardier management knows the situation. The Northern Ireland dimension is also worth a look. Factories like Bombardier's are sometimes located in peripheral regions because of the availability of labour, with or without some kind of financial inducement from government. This is partly an attempt to mitigate the damage done by a tax system which ignores geographical disadvantage, since the same amount of tax has to be paid per unit of added value anywhere in the country; this has the effect of amplifying those disadvantages and sending large tracts of the country below the margin of economic production.
Factories such as Bombardier's wing production unit can only nibble at the problem. To make matters worse, they tend to be one-product plants - they have all their eggs in a single basket. This savours of bad commercial strategy as much as anything else, since aircraft technology is to some extent transferable, for example, to the buoyant wind power industry.
Returning to the Bombardier affair: the company got a raw deal from the British government over the Inter-City 125 train replacement project. Hitachi having won the contract on the basis that its design came closest to the original, impossible to meet, specification produced by the Department for Transport. The specification was then altered so much that it ought to have been put out for re-tendering, since the final design was one for which Bombardier had a product available almost off-the-shelf. For reasons which have not yet been revealed, Bombardier refrained from taking legal action.
Bombardier has also possibly lost out, over a contract to provide new trains for regional routes in France. This is a wasteful job-creating scheme supported by the French government, with the aim of keeping Alstom's Belfort plant with a flow of work, since the existing 1980s (Corail) stock can almost certainly be refurbished and kept in service for another decade or two. The replacement has been brought forward, but the clever scheme is to use new TGV high-speed trains on the regional routes. where they cannot operate at their 300 kph design speed. Bombardier does not currently produce a TGV equivalent and has thereby not had the opportunity to tender for the new trains.How all this fits into EU competition rules is an interesting question.
The worrying thing here is that none of these points has had an airing even in the heavyweight newspapers.
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This section contains information about offbeat careers, careers with special institutions, internet-based careers and careers immediatedly after 10+2. The highlight of this section however, are the articles which prepare freshers for the job market viz. planning careers, overcoming shyness, choosing and managing careers, etc.
A Career With the United Nations
A job with the United Nations (UN) is one of the most sought after. It has status and prestige, with lucrative emoluments. In this issue, we describe the various opportunities and how to apply for jobs with the UN.
A Guide to Alternative Careers
Most students while selecting a career, opt for predictable choices like management, computers, medicine, engineering and law, However, there are many more alternative careers, which although are not so common, are still rewarding for those who choose the road less traveled.
Are you Ready for the World?
Let's face it: It's tough being young these days. The world is much more competitive than it ever was, and there are so many things that need to be done. Newspapers and television tell us what kind of people we should be and the kind of clothes we should wear.
Career After Senior Secondary/Matriculation Education
After completing senior secondary education students often find themselves at the cross roads.
Choosing and Managing
A common question in the minds of young people is: which career to choose? Parents obviously want their children to become successful doctors, engineers or bureaucrats.
How to Plan Your Career?
Choosing a career is a difficult matter, in the best of times. Add to this opinions of friends and parents, and the young person is caught up in a confusing situation where making a decision is almost impossible.
Internet Opens Many New Careers
The rapid growth of the Internet has opened up many avenues for service providers. Thre are about 70,000 people who either have Internet connections in India or can access it through the Ernet and they are growing at an exponential rate.
Opportunities in the Insurance Sector
Insurance business has a positive correlation with economic development in an economy. As an economy develops over the years, insurance sector starts making inroads into the interiors of the system.
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On October 17, 2002, SearchKing filed suit in the United States District Court, Western District of Oklahoma, against the search engine Google. SearchKing's claim was that Google's tactics to prevent spamdexing constituted a tortious interference with contractual relations. On May 27, 2003, the court granted Google's motion to dismiss the complaint because SearchKing "failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted."[68][69]
WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton.WhatsApp joined Facebook in 2014, but continues to operate as a separate app with a laser focus on building a messaging service that works fast and reliably anywhere in the world.WhatsApp started as an alternative to SMS. Whatsapp now supports sending and receiving a variety of media including text, photos, videos, documents, and location, as well as voice calls. Whatsapp messages and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption, meaning that no third party including WhatsApp can read or listen to them. Whatsapp has a customer base of 1 billion people in over 180 countries.[46][47] It is used to send personalised promotional messages to individual customers. It has plenty of advantages over SMS that includes ability to track how Message Broadcast Performs using blue tick option in Whatsapp. It allows sending messages to Do Not Disturb(DND) customers. Whatsapp is also used to send a series of bulk messages to their targeted customers using broadcast option. Companies started using this to a large extent because it is a cost effective promotional option and quick to spread a message. Still, Whatsapp doesn't allow businesses to place ads in their app.[48]
Link text is the visible text inside a link. This text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to. Links on your page may be internal—pointing to other pages on your site—or external—leading to content on other sites. In either of these cases, the better your anchor text is, the easier it is for users to navigate and for Google to understand what the page you're linking to is about.
Measuring Success with Analytics — You can’t determine the success of your social media marketing strategies without tracking data. Google Analytics can be used as a great social media marketing tool that will help you measure your most triumphant social media marketing techniques, as well as determine which strategies are better off abandoned. Attach tracking tags to your social media marketing campaigns so that you can properly monitor them. And be sure to use the analytics within each social platform for even more insight into which of your social content is performing best with your audience.
AdWords is recognized as a web-based advertising utensil since it adopts keywords which can deliver adverts explicitly to web users looking for information in respect to a certain product or service. It is flexible and provides customizable options like Ad Extensions, access to non-search sites, leveraging the display network to help increase brand awareness. The project hinges on cost per click (CPC) pricing where the maximum cost per day for the campaign can be chosen, thus the payment of the service only applies if the advert has been clicked. SEM companies have embarked on AdWords projects as a way to publicize their SEM and SEO services. One of the most successful approaches to the strategy of this project was to focus on making sure that PPC advertising funds were prudently invested. Moreover, SEM companies have described AdWords as a practical tool for increasing a consumer’s investment earnings on Internet advertising. The use of conversion tracking and Google Analytics tools was deemed to be practical for presenting to clients the performance of their canvas from click to conversion. AdWords project has enabled SEM companies to train their clients on the utensil and delivers better performance to the canvass. The assistance of AdWord canvass could contribute to the growth of web traffic for a number of its consumer’s websites, by as much as 250% in only nine months.[30]
Many brands are now heavily using this mobile app to boost their marketing strategy. Instagram can be used to gain the necessary momentum needed to capture the attention of the market segment that has an interest in the product offering or services.[54] As Instagram is supported by Apple and android system, it can be easily accessed by smartphone users. Moreover, it can be accessed by the Internet as well. Thus, the marketers see it as a potential platform to expand their brands exposure to the public, especially the younger target group. On top of this, marketers do not only use social media for traditional Internet advertising, but they also encourage users to create attention for a certain brand. This generally creates an opportunity for greater brand exposure.[55] Furthermore, marketers are also using the platform to drive social shopping and inspire people to collect and share pictures of their favorite products. Many big names have already jumped on board: Starbucks, MTV, Nike, Marc Jacobs, and Red Bull are a few examples of multinationals that adopted the mobile photo app early. Fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein, who goes by @weworewhat on Instagram, collaborated with Harper's Bazaar to do a piece on how brands are using Instagram to market their products, and how bloggers make money from it. Bernstein, who currently has one and a half million followers on Instagram, and whose "outfit of the day" photos on Snapchat get tens of thousands of screenshots, explained that for a lot of her sponsored posts, she must feature the brand in a certain number of posts, and often cannot wear a competitor's product in the same picture. According to Harper's Bazaar, industry estimates say that brands are spending more than $1 billion per year on consumer-generated advertising.[56] Founder of Instagram Kevin Systrom even went to Paris Fashion week, going to couture shows and meeting with designers to learn more about how style bloggers, editors, and designers are currently dominating much of the content on his application.[57]
Engagement with the social web means that customers and stakeholders are active participants rather than passive viewers. An example of these are consumer advocacy groups and groups that criticize companies (e.g., lobby groups or advocacy organizations). Social media use in a business or political context allows all consumers/citizens to express and share an opinion about a company's products, services, business practices, or a government's actions. Each participating customer, non-customer, or citizen who is participating online via social media becomes a part of the marketing department (or a challenge to the marketing effort). Whereas as other customers read their positive or negative comments or reviews. Getting consumers, potential consumers or citizens to be engaged online is fundamental to successful social media marketing.[20] With the advent of social media marketing, it has become increasingly important to gain customer interest in products and services. This can eventually be translated into buying behavior, or voting and donating behavior in a political context. New online marketing concepts of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim to build customer participation and brand reputation.[21]
Facebook had an estimated 144.27 million views in 2016, approximately 12.9 million per month.[109] Despite this high volume of traffic, very little has been done to protect the millions of users who log on to Facebook and other social media platforms each month. President Barack Obama tried to work with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to attempt to regulate data mining. He proposed the Privacy Bill of Rights, which would protect the average user from having their private information downloaded and shared with third party companies. The proposed laws would give the consumer more control over what information companies can collect.[107] President Obama was unable to pass most of these laws through congress, and it is unsure what President Trump will do with regards to social media marketing ethics.
Another ethical controversy associated with search marketing has been the issue of trademark infringement. The debate as to whether third parties should have the right to bid on their competitors' brand names has been underway for years. In 2009 Google changed their policy, which formerly prohibited these tactics, allowing 3rd parties to bid on branded terms as long as their landing page in fact provides information on the trademarked term.[27] Though the policy has been changed this continues to be a source of heated debate.[28]
Great Social Content — Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content reigns supreme when it comes to social media marketing. Make sure you post regularly and offer truly valuable information that your ideal customers will find helpful and interesting. The content that you share on your social networks can include social media images, videos, infographics, how-to guides and more.
There’s no denying that a lot of social media is a matter of trial-and-error. Monitoring the metrics behind your campaigns in real-time allows you to make small tweaks to your social media marketing strategy rather than sweeping, time-consuming changes. This dynamic approach to marketing makes perfect sense in a day and age where social media is constantly evolving.
To this end, companies make use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram to reach audiences much wider than through the use of traditional print/TV/radio advertisements alone at a fraction of the cost, as most social networking sites can be used at little or no cost (however, some websites charge companies for premium services). This has changed the ways that companies approach to interact with customers, as a substantial percentage of consumer interactions are now being carried out over online platforms with much higher visibility. Customers can now post reviews of products and services, rate customer service, and ask questions or voice concerns directly to companies through social media platforms. According to Measuring Success, over 80% of consumers use the web to research products and services.[30] Thus social media marketing is also used by businesses in order to build relationships of trust with consumers.[31] To this aim, companies may also hire personnel to specifically handle these social media interactions, who usually report under the title of Online community managers. Handling these interactions in a satisfactory manner can result in an increase of consumer trust. To both this aim and to fix the public's perception of a company, 3 steps are taken in order to address consumer concerns, identifying the extent of the social chatter, engaging the influencers to help, and developing a proportional response.[32]
Instagram has proven itself a powerful platform for marketers to reach their customers and prospects through sharing pictures and brief messages. According to a study by Simply Measured, 71% of the world's largest brands are now using Instagram as a marketing channel.[58] For companies, Instagram can be used as a tool to connect and communicate with current and potential customers. The company can present a more personal picture of their brand, and by doing so the company conveys a better and true picture of itself. The idea of Instagram pictures lies on on-the-go, a sense that the event is happening right now, and that adds another layer to the personal and accurate picture of the company. In fact, Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of the program Dash Hudson, stated that when he approves a blogger's Instagram post before it is posted on the behalf of a brand his company represents, his only negative feedback is if it looks too posed. "It's not an editorial photo," he explained, "We're not trying to be a magazine. We're trying to create a moment."[57] Another option Instagram provides the opportunity for companies to reflect a true picture of the brandfrom the perspective of the customers, for instance, using the user-generated contents thought the hashtags encouragement.[59] Other than the filters and hashtags functions, the Instagram's 15-second videos and the recently added ability to send private messages between users have opened new opportunities for brands to connect with customers in a new extent, further promoting effective marketing on Instagram.
Social media marketing provides organizations with a way to connect with their customers. However, organizations must protect their information as well as closely watch comments and concerns on the social media they use. A flash poll done on 1225 IT executives from 33 countries revealed that social media mishaps caused organizations a combined $4.3 million in damages in 2010.[93] The top three social media incidents an organization faced during the previous year included employees sharing too much information in public forums, loss or exposure of confidential information, and increased exposure to litigation.[93] Due to the viral nature of the Internet, a mistake by a single employee has in some cases shown to result in devastating consequences for organizations. An example of a social media mishap includes designer Kenneth Cole's Twitter mishap in 2011. When Kenneth Cole tweeted, "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor has they heard our new spring collection is now available online at [Kenneth Cole's website]".[94] This reference to the 2011 Egyptian revolution drew an objection from the public; it was widely objected to on the Internet.[94] Kenneth Cole realized his mistake shortly after and responded with a statement apologizing for the tweet.[95]
Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to achieve your marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and and other content that drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media advertising.
Website saturation and popularity, or how much presence a website has on search engines, can be analyzed through the number of pages of the site that are indexed by search engines (saturation) and how many backlinks the site has (popularity). It requires pages to contain keywords people are looking for and ensure that they rank high enough in search engine rankings. Most search engines include some form of link popularity in their ranking algorithms. The following are major tools measuring various aspects of saturation and link popularity: Link Popularity, Top 10 Google Analysis, and Marketleap's Link Popularity and Search Engine Saturation.
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, the computer programmed algorithms which dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. SEO is performed because a website will receive more visitors from a search engine the higher the website ranks in the search engine results page (SERP). These visitors can then be converted into customers.[4]
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HidroAysen
September 30, 2017 / By admin / In News
Thus, it is better not do if they thought the side of the Carretera Austral. He also referred to the compatibility of the item with hydroelectric plants that would occur in other countries. "We could know the experience of Quebec, in Canada, which has 9 million and 4 million visitors, but those 4 million visitors are far from the dams," he said, recalling that the image shown at the seminar in this regard one bus was far from one of the dams built in the area. "A tourist is not going to travel a long distance to see a dam is going to go fishing, to look at nature, to live a special experience that you somehow transformed life" he said. Constanza Palacios, president of Public Counsel Engages Private Land-Queulat Palena Basin, presented the theme "Vision for tourism development from the local, in-Queulat Palena Basin." In his most detailed account of the tourist attractions in your area, inventoried by Sernatur, and "after show at this level everything has value for us, I presented what Transelec being studied as alternatives to the route of spreading out, and by superimposing the two things is a cross. Not that these projects affect us … we settled on "he said. "I was very impressed that the company says in its study of tourism investment in the project affected area are lower, they are not relevant.
Given that Sernatur asked to detail what investments to deliver data to support his view. To me what scared me is that it is not known to the investment made by a small businessman, what right do they judge what is a minor investment, because it is smaller than theirs? Because for the small businessman is not a minor. So for them all our investments are lower, trade and tourism, and this way of looking at the development I am concerned Aysen "he said. Dams and Tourism: Unthinkable today's northern businessman Aysen, Gonzalo Cortes, spoke about "Fishing Lodges, Adventure entrepreneurs, "noting that" we have a different view to theirs (HidroAysen). We see a huge potential for them is not interesting.
Normally these companies base their projects, their compensation and amortization of its investment in a much shorter time than you might think aysenino or entrepreneur who is in Aysen and planning their projects as a way of life. " He said normally this person "sees it as an option to do what he believes is the best possible quality of life, do what you like in the pristine environment, untouched and preserved for generations. Not for profit in the short term as projected by these big companies, which estimate their projects to profitability is the highest in the shortest time possible. And that's bad for the Aysen Region, which could lose all you have for these projects. " He also recalled that many of the dams that are listed as compatible with tourism were built in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and today would be impracticable to raise such alternatives, especially since studies have shown that energy demand in Chile is already covered by 2025 without the need to dam Patagonia. As a way to strengthen the approach reported in a few days ago the U.S. decided to dismantle four dams on the Klamath River, in order to allow recovery of biodiversity and tourism in the basin, in what The New York Times described as "the biggest dam removal in modern history".
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The Minneapolis Community Foundation is a key to our future. Keeping it alive and thriving is critical for future generations and the success a creating a place for all. The foundation thanks all for what they have given and hope that we can always be of service. Raising over $100,000 in gifts has been a great achievement. Those projects have included the improvements in Markley Park. Both being the public restrooms and the play area. But more can be accomplished with your help.
What is a Community Foundation
What is a community Foundation? How does a Foundation benefit the community? A community foundation is a wonderful institution. You can think of a community foundation as community savings account. It’s a vehicle to help build a brighter future for our hometown. A community foundation can embrace all the best aspects of our hometown, our place, our heritage and our potential.
The Minneapolis Community Foundation was founded in 1997. A community foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation that receives charitable gifts, manages and invests them, and grants the gift (either outright or from the earnings from an endowment) for the betterment of the community. These gifts can be tax-deductible for the donor. There has never been a more important time for us as a rural community to focus on our future. And the Minneapolis Community Foundation is a critical part of our success.
Ways of Giving
Cash Gifts
All such gifts qualify for maximum deductibility for income tax purposes, subject to the most favorable percentage of income limitation.
Appreciated Property
Gifts of appreciated securities and real property to the Foundation may provide important tax advantages to a donor.
The foundation may be named as the residuary beneficiary of a donor’s estate. After the estate is given to the legal heirs there may be an advantage for the estate to give the remaining proceeds to the foundation. Consult with your adviser.
When the life income interest of the donor or other named beneficiary is terminated the assets representing the gift will be distributed to the Foundation to be used in a manner directed by the donor.
Private Foundations may find it useful to make direct gifts or transfers all or in part of their assets to the Foundation.
Using the Minneapolis Community is a great avenue for our community and for future generations. We encourage everyone to consult with his or her tax adviser and investigate the benefits of giving to the foundation.
The mission of The Minneapolis Community Foundation is to expand private philanthropy in our community. The Foundation perceives philanthropy to entail the gifting of assets for charitable purposes, and the use of those assets to create meaningful impact.
The Foundation encourages individuals, families, and companies to become effective and strategic philanthropists. In accomplishing its mission, the Foundation seeks to increase donors' satisfaction with their philanthropy, and, more importantly, increase the influence of their giving and its benefit to the public good.
The vision of The Minneapolis Community is to transform philanthropic impulse into community results. We seek to understand donors' philanthropic goals and help them reach these goals by providing expertise, resources, and services to address their interests in creative and significant ways. The Foundation strives to create engaged, proactive, philanthropists who will plant the seeds for a thriving community.
Thank you to those who contributed to the Foundation in the past year. We know that with your help the future of Minneapolis is bright.
Current Board of Directors
Kevin Cline
Leslie Hargis
Bob Hudson
Merl Parde
Dr. Kerm Wedel
Dr. Ken Wedel
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Sydney White (2007)
Directed by: Joe Nussbaum
Writers: Chad Gomez Creasey
Sydney White is a modern-day adaptation of an old fairy tale. But instead of a princess, Sydney White is a college freshman hoping to fit in at her mother’s sorority. When she crosses paths with the head of the sorority, Rachel Witchburn, she’s cast out of Greek Row and finds a new home with seven dorks at a place called the Vortex. When Sydney learns that the Vortex is in danger of being turned into a Greek Life center for the fraternities and sororities, she comes up with a plan to help her new friends and save the Vortex.
Sydney White is an unlikely character for a teen romance. She was raised by construction workers, adores comic books and doesn’t own a dress when she sets off for college. She is thrown into the cutthroat world of female comradery, vanity, and jealousy when she attempts to join her mother’s sorority. We never get to find out if the tomboyish Sydney White would have found a way to fit in with the Kappas, because she’s singled out and bullied by Rachel Witchburn before she’s given much of a chance. When Sydney is rejected by her “sisters,” she calls them out for their superficiality and finds a place where she can be herself, and still finds love with a charming frat boy.
Self-Esteem and Body Image: 4 Stars
Most of Sydney White takes place in a sorority full of beautiful young women. While this setting doesn’t allow for much variety in terms female appearance, it does make Sydney’s personality stand out. It’s clear that Tyler is attracted to her down to earth nature, versus the dozens of gorgeous, superficial women on Greek Row. Sydney also sets a brazen example while she’s living with Kappas, eating a healthy breakfast every morning and encouraging the other women to do the same. Once Sydney is removed from the sorority and decides to run for student council president, she takes the opportunity to make friends with a variety of women, including Asian/Pacific Islanders, band performers,ROTC, Goth, Jewish, and transgendered students. Unfortunately none of these women are given much screen time or dialogue, but there is a faint message that intriguing women (and people) come in a variety of shapes, colors and social statuses.
Plot: 4 Stars (Spoilers)
Sydney White is a terrific example of a motivated young woman struggling to find herself in an unfamiliar place. She thinks she knows exactly what she wants at the beginning of her journey, but ends up forging a completely different path. By the end of the film, Sydney has learned something about leadership, friendship and injustice. She delivers a rousing speech that inspires the different social classes on campus to come together and acknowledge their similarities and awkwardness. The only thing that might have made this ending stronger is some mention of Sydney’s future plans as student council president, or a more solid reference to her academic goals.
Character Development: 4 Stars (Spoilers)
Sydney White begins her college experience in a sorority full of malleable women who blindly take direction from Rachel Witchburn. Sydney is too strong a character to survive in this environment, but the film does a good job of explaining why Sydney was drawn to the Kappas in the first place. There is an unfortunate missed opportunity when Sydney encourages the seven “dorks” to run for student council, rather than volunteering to take on Rachel herself. While her encouragement of her new friends is sincere, it would have been far more satisfying to see Sydney challenge Rachel from the beginning - to see her recognize her obvious potential and voluntarily step into the leadership role.
Love: 4 Stars
The love story between Tyler and Sydney is simple, but convincing. Their romance isn’t all powerful and they’re not headed for the altar, but they’ve found each other in a confusing and intimidating social environment. Sydney is never placed under a spell and she doesn’t need his kiss to bring her back to life (though she does pass out in the library after pulling an all-nighter - requiring an unexpected kiss to wake her up in time for her debate with Rachel). Sydney and Tyler spend some time getting to know each other, and even have a brief argument over his involvement in having the Vortex condemned. If anything is missing from this love story, it’s a bit more back story on Tyler. Sydney shows him her vulnerabilities and shares pieces of herself with him, but we have little information on how Tyler fits in so well on Greek Row, and if he ever questions his place on campus.
Family: 5 Stars
Sydney’s relationship with her father is comical and endearing. He’s raised a caring, independent young woman who thinks for herself and doesn’t simply follow the crowd. He allows her to solve her own problems and trusts her to make sound decisions, but is also on hand to help her navigate the brutal social terrain of her first year in college. From the very beginning, it’s clear that he’s never given her the impression that being a “girl” should limit her choices in life.
Gender Roles - Men: 3 Stars
Tyler Prince is predictably wealthy, confident and attractive. To his credit, he easily sees past Rachel’s blonde hair and blue eyes and recognizes the selfish and mean-spirited person underneath. He takes Sydney to the homeless shelter where he volunteers, and later spends an evening at the Vortex getting to know the seven “dorks” that have become Sydney's closest friends. All this helps to show that Tyler has a heart and some substance to him, but he never truly deviates from the cool, sophisticated archetype.
Sydney’s friends at the Vortex add some contrast to Tyler’s frat boy swagger. They’re shy, socially inept, and uncomfortable with girls. For the most part, these characters are their own stereotypes and mainly included for comic relief. But at least one of the dorks, Lenny, is given enough heart and dimension to qualify as more than a caricature. It’s not enough to win over Sydney, but he does catch the attention of one of Sydney’s Kappa friends, Dinky.
Language and Sexual Content 3 Stars
One unsettling feature of Sydney White is the repeated use of derogatory sexual terminology among the Kappa sisters, like “skank,” and “ho.” Most of this is done in a light-hearted manner and not in reference to any particular female, but still suggests that there is some legitimacy in demeaning other women for their sexuality.
Sydney White also includes some light jokes that portray college men as stereotypically crude and sex-obsessed animals, but these moments are brief and well-balanced against the film's more complete male characters. In addition, Sydney White doesn't shy away from including a few jokes to remind audiences that women have similar sexual instincts.
Friendship: 1 Star
Despite the overall positive message of Sydney White, the film paints a relatively bleak and oppressive picture of female friendships. Sydney’s only real friend of all the Kappas is Dinky, who doesn’t have the courage to stick up for Sydney or to continue their friendship after she’s been removed from the sorority. The women in Sydney White are only concerned with their looks and social status. The one redeeming quality in all of this, is that the Kappas eventually turn on Rachel, making it seem as if it were Rachel alone that was driving this mindset.
The male friendships in Sydney White aren’t much better. The “dorks” that live in the Vortex are all outsiders, and yet we don’t see any evidence that this has brought them closer together. No one pays any attention to Lawrence's experiments, no one ever reads Gerken’s blog, and Lenny never shares with anyone how Sydney humiliated him the night they first met. Their friendships are based on stereotypical conversations about pirates and video games, with no real substance or heart to them.
Similar titles with equivalent or higher ratings
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
10 Things I Hate About You (2003)
Mean Girls (2004)
Saved! (2004)
She's the Man (2006)
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(Source: Qld Police)
Meth, stun guns found in Gold Coast raid
October 17, 2018 6:10 pm in Gold Coast, The Loop List 2 by Jaydan Duck
A MAN and a woman have been arrested and charged after police allegedly found more than 50 grams of crystal meth and two stun guns in a raid at their home on the Gold Coast.
Detectives stormed the couple’s Cawthray Street home at Biggera Waters around 11am on Wednesday.
While searching the property, officers allegedly found more than 50 grams of methamphetamine, GHB, two conductive energy weapons, knives, around $10,000 cash and other drug utensils.
A man and woman, aged 32 and 36, were arrested at the scene and have since been charged with a long list of drugs and weapons offences.
The man was also charged with possessing tainted property, while the woman is facing an additional charge of unlawfully possessing a motor vehicle.
The couple will appear in Southport Magistrates Court tomorrow.
Detective Inspector Brendan Smith of the Gold Coast’s Northern Crime Group said police were committed to stopping the supply of dangerous drugs on the Coast.
“Offenders need to change their behaviour or expect police to come through their door at any time, day or night,” he said.
http://www.mygc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Meth-raid-3.jpg 321 845 Jaydan Duck http://www.mygc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/mygc-logo.png Jaydan Duck2018-10-17 18:10:552018-10-18 07:09:31Meth, stun guns found in Gold Coast raid
Jaydan Duck
Jaydan is a Digital News Producer at myGC.com.au. He was appointed Managing Editor of the Junee Southern Cross newspaper at the age of 17 and has since held positions in a number of newsrooms in New South Wales and Queensland. Jaydan joined the Hot Tomato Broadcasting Company in 2013 and has been keeping the Gold Coast up to date with the latest local, national and international news online at myGC.com.au ever since. With almost ten years’ experience in both print and digital media Jaydan is committed to providing the best coverage during major news and weather events.
JACKPOT! Three lucky Aussies wake $36 million richer
Police to crackdown on meth-addicted parents Woman followed home and sexually assaulted after night out
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Around 70 Airstrikes within 12 Hours… Israel Violates the Gaza Strip: Pregnant Woman and her Baby Girl Killed ,,, Residential Buildings Targeted … and Israeli Attacks Continue
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, May 4, 2019
The Israeli forces escalated their attacks against the Gaza Strip and killed a 5-month pregnant woman and her baby girl in a series of intense airstrikes and shelling throughout the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the Israeli warplanes continue until the moment to target residential buildings in central Gaza neighborhoods in a serious escalation that forewarns of inflicting more casualties.
This wave of escalation came a bloody day in which the Israeli forces killed four Palestinians. Two of them were civilians, including a person with a disability, who were targeted with live ammunition during their participation in the Great March of Return and Breaking the Siege, east of Khan Younis and al-Bureij refugee camp. Meanwhile, the other two were members of the Palestinian armed groups who were in a military site that was targeted in eastern Maghazi refugee camp shortly after the Israeli forces announced that two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a Palestinian shooting, east of al-Bureij…
https://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=12442
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ArtistsRussian PhotographyExhibitionsPublicationsFairsNewsAbout
Ann Rhoney: Life in Color
June 5 – July 20, 2018
Press Release Artists Press
Selected WorksThumbnails
Nailya Alexander Gallery is pleased to present Life in Color, a selection of painted photographs by artist and photographer Ann Rhoney, on view from Tuesday, June 5 through Friday, July 20.
Rhoney has created works of art that marry the light of photography with the colors of painting since the mid-1970s. Her tenacious questioning of the camera’s ability to register the nuances of color seen by the human eye recalls that of Josef Albers, who wrote in Interactions of Color (1963) that “color photography deviates still more from eye vision than black-and-white photography. Blue and red are overemphasized to such an extent that their brightness is exaggerated. Though this may flatter public taste, the result is a loss in finer nuances and in delicate relationships.” The rich blacks and silvers of Rhoney’s darkroom prints recall photography’s etymology as drawn light. By applying transparent paint to the surface, she fulfills photography’s promise of true luminosity, and reveals a dazzling spectrum of blues, peaches, and grays unattainable in traditional color photography.
Rhoney fell in love with photography as an undergraduate at Cornell University. She developed a particular sensitivity to light and color through her upbringing in Niagara Falls, a setting that has inspired generations of artists and writers, including the painters of the Hudson River School and the poet and novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne; Niagara Falls is also the subject of the first known photograph of North America, taken in 1840. Here, as a teenager, Rhoney worked summer nights selling postcards at the base of the falls. In the ethereal night-scape Niagara (1979), she paints the mist rising off the falls in subdued shades of amaranth and lilac.
Rhoney’s obsessive pursuit of light and color has produced artwork as much technically proficient as emotionally gripping. Her surprising juxtapositions of color evoke texture, atmosphere, and smell. The catalog for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2012 exhibition "Faking It" wrote of "Silk Dress Coming," “…the silver dress undulates like molten steel, and its carefully positioned streaks of rust and lavender rhyme with those of the admirer’s übermasculine conveyance. The chromatic affinities allowed Rhoney to propose a narrative relationship to which the ‘natural’ color of commercially available film would have been indifferent.”
Rhoney’s artwork was first shown in 1985 at the Daniel Wolf Gallery in Manhattan. Today, her photographs can be found in museums throughout the United States and in Europe, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo; the George Eastman Museum, Rochester; the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Her photographs have also appeared on the covers of New York magazine, Newsweek, and Life, and have illustrated articles in The New York Times,The New Yorker, and Vogue.
Ann Rhoney: Life in Color is the artist’s first solo exhibition at Nailya Alexander Gallery. Gallery hours are 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday, and by appointment.
Ann Rhoney
What Will You Remember? Ann Rhoney: Life in Color
L'Oeil de la Photographie Ann Rhoney, Life in Color
Nailya Alexander Gallery 41 E 57th Street, Suite 704 New York, NY 10022 (212) 315-2211
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See You On The Other Side
Tag Archives: hoax
Blog, Podcast
245 – T Is For Terror In The Aisles: Antrum and the Deadliest Movies Never Made
April 23, 2019 Mike Huberty Leave a comment
https://chtbl.com/track/751D9/traffic.libsyn.com/othersidepodcast/SYOTOS-245.mp3
If you read any of paranormal or horror movie blogs this week, you might have seen an article about a new “documentary” coming out that contains a film from the 1970s that has recently been rediscovered called Antrum. It was covered by Bloody Disgusting, Mysterious Universe, Unexplained Mysteries, and even Forbes magazine, who did the original interview with the producer Eric Thirteen.
Thirteen says that the movie was lost after a terrifying incident in a Budapest theater in 1988 and that bad things kept happening to anyone involved in the production of the film, or anyone who even watched it. Indeed the trailer even says that the film is rumored to be “haunted” or “cursed” and that you shouldn’t watch it alone, it says that it absolves the filmmakers of all liability. (Ha, let’s see that one hold up in court!)
The new release of Antrum: The Deadliest Movie Ever Made will feature a documentary with people who know the history of the production as well as have experienced some of the curse effects from watching the movie. What? You’ve definitely got my attention, so this has to be fake, right?
Of course it’s fake, producer Eric Thirteen even compares it to Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, a mystical evil spellbook that only existed in Lovecraft’s imagination. That was, until the author’s admirers created it and sold their fan fiction in book stores across the country and some people got convinced it was actually a reprinting of an ancient spellbook. He’s dropping the clues right in the interview that this is going to be a mockumentary!
COOL EPISODE UPDATE
Eric Thirteen himself listened to this episode and left a voicemail for us, which you can hear in its entirety in Episode 246 of See You On The Other Side.
Now, this movie sounds like a lot of fun and I love the cursed film angle as marketing (Zak Bagans even used it in his own documentary Demon House when he suggested that just watching his film could be dangerous and get you a spirit attachment who wouldn’t leave you alone!) But none of these blogs, who normally write about real people’s paranormal experiences bothered to let us know that it’s not a real documentary.
We just thought it was interesting, that these regular paranormal platforms wouldn’t let everyone know that this movie looks cool, but it’s just a movie. So, we wanted to handle that straightaway. This is pop culture using the paranormal as a marketing hook, because of course, that kind of buzz is great for publicity, as shown by the incredible financial success of the grandaddy of modern viral movie marketing, The Blair Witch Project. That was another fictional documentary where they tried to make the media believe it was real, and for awhile it worked just as well as Antrum is.
In this episode, we go into the similarities between the marketing campaigns of Blair Witch and Antrum, we’ll dissect Eric Thirteen’s interview with Forbes (as well as the incredulous coverage of it!), and then talk about some other fake films that used the illusion of versimiltude to get attention and sell tickets (or in our case, video rentals in the 80s!)
Faces of Death
Cannibal Holocaust (so real that the director was put on trial for murder!)
Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?
And we have bring up some other great films that deal with cursed movies as well.
In The Mouth of Madness (itself inspired by Lovecraft)
Masters of Horror‘s “Cigarette Burns” (written by a staffer of Aint It Cool News, a site that led the way in the success of The Blair Witch Project)
The real urban legend behind The Ring
For the song this week, it was a no-brainer. Just understand that you’re listening at your own risk and we take no liability for anything that might happen to you after you hear “The Deadliest Song Ever Made”!
And of course, to go with the deadliest movie ever made, we had to write “The Deadliest Song Ever Made”. You’ve been warned, listen at your own risk because we take no responsiblity for what happens after you’ve heard it.
Now that you’ve hit play you can’t go back
you’re cursed forever once you’ve heard this track
There’s just something so evil about this tune
It makes the listeners deceased way too soon
So listen at your own risk
you’ve sealed your fate
This is the deadliest song ever made.
Don’t plug your ears,
for it’s too late.
You’ve heard the deadliest song ever made.
It’s the world’s most fearsome melody,
just the sound of it will end your life early.
We’re not saying anything legally,
but you’re damned to Hell for all eternity.
a to zalien autopsyantrumblair witchcannibal holocaustfound footagehoaxhorror moviesmarketingmovie businessmovies
O is for Octopus (Tree): Unbelievable Paranormal Hoaxes
April 17, 2019 C.E. Martin 2 Comments
They say that seeing is believing, but that isn’t really true when it comes to the paranormal or supernatural. A long history of hoaxes and the prevalence of photoshop has lessened the ability of a picture to paint a believable thousand words. Today, witness testimonies and recordings of strange noises seem to inspire more belief in something not seen than a glossy 8×10.
But why don’t we believe in photos anymore? Is it because so many have been faked? Or is it because we have been so quick to believe them? To really understand the power a photo used to have, we need to look back in time, to simpler times…
In 1998, a hoax that is sadly forgotten today was launched–the story of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (Octopus paxarbolis). Now, before you roll your eyes and think that this was not a successful hoax (or else, you’d remember it) consider this: Snopes.org, once revered as the go-to site on the internet for debunking hoaxes and half-truths felt compelled, in 2014, to explain to the public that the Tree Octopus wasn’t real. That’s right, sixteen years later, some people still wondered if there really were Tree octopi—even though the webpage asking for help saving them explaining their major predator was Sasquatch.
What is a tree octopus? you might be wondering. Well, according to the official website (https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/) this gentle cephalopod hails from the rainy forests of the Olympic Peninsula, on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, residing both in fresh water and in the wet canopy of the forest. Its natural predators include house cats, the bald eagle, and sasquatch.
Yes, sasquatch.
Okay, so now you might be wondering how could anyone believe that an octopus could live on land and in fresh water, and that the rainy season of the Pacific Northwest is what allowed its continued existence.
Before you judge a whole generation, take into account the era this took place in.
In 1988, the USAF revealed the existence of the F-117 Stealth Fighter, an “invisible” plane.
In 1989, Bob Lazar came forward, claiming to have reverse-engineered UFOs at the then-highly classified Area 51 military base at Groom Lake, Nevada.
In 1993, The X-Files premiered on television, bringing conspiracies, UFOs and the paranormal into the popculture mainstream.
In 1995, Ray Santelli presented his Alien Autopsy film, which purported to show the examination of an alien body recovered from a UFO crash. (This wasn’t revealed to be a hoax until 2006).
In 1999, the year following the Tree Octopus’ internet debut, audiences were terrified with the “found footage” film, The Blair Witch Project, many initially believing the film was based on true events.
And let’s not forget, the Internet was epically exploding onto the scene, worldwide, in the 1990s, allowing people to not only get information previously hidden in libraries around the globe, but to share reports of the strange and unusual. 1995, for example, saw the formation of the Bigfoot Research Organization.
You also need to remember a similar hoax, revealed in 1993, that was much older: the Surgeon’s Photo.
You might not know it’s name, but this iconic black-and-white image of the Lochness Monster’s head and neck sticking out of the water is known around the world, even today. Despite the fact that it was entirely a hoax, perpetrated by a conspiracy of three men, it is still cited when the Lochness Monster is discussed. The revelation it was a hoax did not diminished belief in Nessie.
According to the website The Unmuseum, Nessie’s most famous photo happened like this:
A man named Duke Weatherell wanted revenge on the London Daily Mail newspaper. This was because in 1933, they had hired him to find the Lochness Monster. He found footprints, made casts and size estimates and sent them off to the London Museum of Natural History. Later, it was discovered Weatherell had been hoaxed himself by locals—the footprints were frauds. The paper who hired Weatherell in turn ridiculed the man and humiliated him.
Fast forward to April 1934, and Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson, a physician (and surgeon), presented the famous Nessie photo we’re talking about. This “proof” of Nessie remained contested, but believed, for decades. It wasn’t until 1993 that the full story came out, thanks to the work of David Martin and Alastair Boyd., who spoke to one of the men really responsible for the Surgeon’s photo, and who confirmed it was indeed a hoax.
Christian Spurling, stepson of Weatherell, admitted he’d made the “monster” out of some plastic and a clockwork, tinplate, toy submarine at his father’s request. Weatherell and his son actually took the completed faux Nessie out and photographed it. But they needed help disseminating the photo, since Duke had already been thoroughly discredited. They enlisted the aid of Maurice Chambers, who in turn contacted Colonel Wilson, who brought the photo forward and claimed credit for taking it.
Just five years after Nessie’s most famous mugshot was revealed to be a hoax, Lyle Zapato brought the plight of this Tree octopus to world attention with the creation of the website dedicated to saving it and used a similar methodology to fool people: he faked some photos (e.g. by placing a dead octopus in a tree and snapping some pics).
Today, the Tree Octopus is largely forgotten–a hoax when hoaxing was significantly harder to do. Hopefully, it and the surgeon’s photo have taught us all a valuable lesson: Don’t believe everything you see.
alien autopsyBigfootblair witchbob lazarhoaxloch ness monstersnopestree octopus
230 – Curses And Pranks: From The Rendlesham Incident To The Lost Franklin Expedition
January 7, 2019 Mike Huberty 1 Comment
http://traffic.libsyn.com/othersidepodcast/SYOTOS-230.mp3
We’re back for another round of paranormal discussion this week as we focus on our favorite new stories in the past week. Once again, Wendy and I are joined by Scott Markus from WhatsYourGhostStory.com and Tea Krulos, Milwaukee ghost tour guide as well as the author of books like Heroes In The Night, Monster Hunters, and the upcoming Apocalypse Any Day Now.
This last week I couldn’t stop thinking about “The Franklin Curse”, which was in the Canadian news right before the New Year. If you haven’t heard of Franklin’s Lost Expedition, it was a British expedition to find the Northwest Passage (a trade route through the Arctic where Europeans could sail to Asia without having to go under South America because the Panama Canal wasn’t built yet) launched in 1845. There were two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror and they were both fitted with state of the art technology. It was supposed to be an easy mission beaus there were less than 300-some miles of Arctic coast to chart. But they disappeared and several expeditions were sent out to find what happened. There was even a bounty of Twenty Thousand Pounds (worth a hundred thousand US dollars at the time) to find them. The local Inuit people had contact with the explorers and said that the crew had resorted to cannibalism by the end, but the ships and most of the bodies were never found.
In 2007, Dan Simmons wrote a fictionalized version of the events called The Terror and AMC released a TV version of it in 2018. Interestingly enough, HMS Erebus was discovered in 2014 by accident and HMS Terror was found in 2016. The local Nunavut people who live near the shipwrecks on King William Island have long felt that the island has had spirits or “invisible people” and that the disturbing of the wrecks has disturbed those spirits. Some of the locals have blamed six deaths that happened during a two-week period in August in their small community of Gjoa Haven on the curse of the Franklin. Earlier this year, Inuit elders went to the site of the wreckage to bless it, in hopes the spirits would be appeased.
Wendy was excited to share the latest news of the Rendlesham Forest Incident, often called Britain’s Roswell. We were first introduced to this story at the Paradigm Symposium by the brilliant Peter Robbins who wrote the book Left At East Gate with the now-controversial Larry Warren. But in the original incident, several US servicemen had seen strange lights in the sky descending towards the Rendlesham Forest over a period of nights in 1980. When they went to go explore the area they saw the lights land, they found burn marks on nearby trees and indentations in the ground in a triangular pattern, they even called the police about it.
Since then, the incident has been hotly debated, and Peter Robbins’ book goes into detail about missing time, underground bases, and government conspiracies. But just a week ago, researcher Dr. David Clarke had claimed that he was told the incident was just a prank played by British SAS commandos on their American counterparts. That’s backed up a little by a story from our friend C.E. Martin’s book, Stranger Than Fiction, where he recalls meeting a serviceman who was stationed at the air force base and talked about an area of the forest where electrical stuff didn’t work and cars didn’t start, they used to take people out there and prank them. So, that culture did exist on the base at the time! Is Clarke’s story true? Well, that’s another one we’ll be debating for a long time. We discuss Bobby Mackey’s Music World in this segment as well and here’s a link to our episode with their official paranormal investigation team.
Tea talks to us about a New Year’s ritual he started doing last year and that’s watching the live unveiling of the Doomsday Clock. The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to warn humanity about how close we are to destroying the planet through our own technology and hubris. While the danger used to be mostly nuclear war, they’ve included things like climate change in their determination. The closest it’s ever been is Two Minutes To Midnight, first in 1953 after the US and the Soviets both tested thermonuclear weapons for the first time and then again in 2018 mainly because they were shocked by the rhetoric of President Trump toward North Korea and what they consider to be an insufficient response to the temperatures changing throughout the world. Will 2019 bring us closer or further away from manmade destruction? Tea will let us know when it happens. And hey, here’s to hopinh we don’t blow ourselves up! Also, don’t forget that Iron Maiden wrote one of their best songs about The Doomsday Clock as well!
Also, Tea mentions that Josh Gates is going to be in Milwaukee at the end of January and he’s going (along with our frequent co-host Allison Jornlin from MilwaukeeGhosts.com) and hoping they can convince Josh Gates to finish looking for one of the prizes from the 1980s treasure hunt book, The Secret. That’s a puzzle book combining 12 short verses and 12 fantasy paintings. You would take the painting with a verse and try to determing the clues that would lead you to one of twelve boxes buried in various parks around North America. Each box contained a key that could be redeemed for a jewel worth $1,000. The author died in a car crash in 2005 and only 2 of the boxes have been found. So Josh Gates did a whole Expedition Unknown on the online braintrust that has been working on it for several years. Image 10 contains a clue that’s supposed to lead people to a park by Mliwaukee’s City Hall and Gates almost started digging there, but gave up because of the weather while they were recording the show. Tea is going to grab him and make him finish the job!
Finally, Scott talks about some new horror movie news that are based on real-life strangeness. One is the trailer for Followed which is about a YouTuber (they caller her a vlogger, but that word is kinda unwieldy) who decides to stay in a hotel. It’s probably based on the sad story of Elisha Lam, a young woman from Vancouver who was visiting Los Angeles and was seen acting strangely on security camera footage from the Cecil Hotel (former home of Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker). Two weeks later, they found her body in the water tank on the roof and still have no idea how she got there.
He also talks a little bit about the new trailer for The Haunting of Sharon Tate starring Hilary Duff. This new film beats Quentin Tarantino’s Charles Manson film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood out by a few months, but it’s also going to focus more on the strange premonition of death that murder victim Sharon Tate had a couple years before her and her friends were attacked by the Manson Family in a crime that would be immortalized for its strangeness and brutality.
One of the things that we talked about this week was the culture war between believers and skeptics, between the political Left and the political Right, between hardcore atheists and fundamentalists. This conflict has seemed to progress from just disagreeing about dogma and particular points of belief to “cancel culture”, the idea that if someone believes something you find offensive or has done something you don’t like, you want to take away their means of making a living.
It’s a scorched earth total war tactic that has become more and more popular in the world of social media (particularly in a space where hot takes are welcomed, like Twitter.) It’s no longer enough to “agree to disagree”, the other side is to be shunned and disrespected. There is no room for debate or discussion, you’re either with us or against us. We see this in the paranormal world all the time between the various factions of ghost hunters, UFOlogists, etc… And I guess, I don’t feel that’s very conducive to finding the truth, because things aren’t usually as absolute or black and white as we’d like them to be. Anyway, that’s the idea behind this week’s Sunspot song, “Us Vs. Them”
Us versus them
right versus wrong
Oh won’t you tell me
just what side you’re on.
It’s total war and
you gotta make a stand
you plant your flag and fight, down to the last man.
There is no middle
there is no excuse
there is no compromise
and there is no truce
You’re either with us or against us
you’re on or off of the team
We don’t need to talk or negotiate with the enemy
no we don’t make no deals
we don’t cross the line
we made our choice, we picked our side , and now we’re ride or die.
canadacharles mansonelisha lamfollowedfranklin expeditionhilary duffhoaxinuitMilwaukee Ghostsnativepranksrendlesham forest incidentthe terror
85 – April Fool’s Day: History’s Best Paranormal Pranks
March 28, 2016 Mike Huberty 1 Comment
http://traffic.libsyn.com/othersidepodcast/SYOTOS-85.mp3
April Fool’s Day. Just how did we get an unofficial holiday that’s based around making the people around you look stupid?
First things first, we have an update from our Zombie Apocalypse episode, because there’s been new research that about the parasite Toxoplasma Gondii that lives in the bellies of the little feline friends. This parasite has been said to manipulate the behavior of rodents to make them run towards cats instead of away from them!
We talk about the Gizmodo article last week that discussed how toxoplasmosis could be linked to the Rage disorder, IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder.) Ever have a friend that blows up at the littlest things for no reason or that has completely unpredictable behavior that results in one or more of you spending the night in jail? It just might be the parasite. In the movie, 28 Days Later, the virus that turns people into cannibalistic monsters is called “The Rage Virus”. Coincidence?
So, April Fool’s isn’t just a Hallmark holiday, it’s been around for hundreds of years and we’re not quite sure the origin behind it. Some say that it has to do with the changing of the Gregorian Calendar to the Julian (when celebrating the New Year went from April 1st to December 31st). If you got the New Year date wrong after the change, then you were the April Fool!
There was even an April Fool’s Day prank about the origin of April Fool’s Day when a Boston University professor suggested that it came from a day when the Holy Roman Emperor decided to let a court jester rule the land for a “day of absurdity”, the only catch is that he made the whole thing up and Associated Press writers didn’t catch it for a couple of weeks. You can still find that origin floating around the Internet (of course!)
But it seems that it’s not a Western Civilization phenomenon, because they have something similar in India as well for their Huli festival and people have traced this kind of celebration all the way back to Roman times. The best guess is that humans have been celebrating the Vernal Equinox for thousands of years and part of that celebration of new life is playing jokes on each other.
According to the Witchology website, even though we’re not clear on the origins of April Fool’s Day, there are some superstitions behind it:
Pranks are to be performed before Noon, otherwise it’s bad luck for the person doing the tricking.
If you don’t respond to an April Fool’s Day prank with good humor, then it’s bad luck for the person being tricked!
If you’re fooled by a pretty girl, then you’ve got a good shot at marrying her (that seems to be the “wishful thinking” rule…)
Speaking of marriage, men who get married on April Fool’s Day will be ruled by their wives (that seems like a relic from a much more misogynist age)
Children born on April Fool’s Day will be lucky… except for gambling!
But throughout history, people have used this time of year to pull paranormal pranks, from “discovering” the Loch Ness Monster to landing a UFO in London.
The Fox Sisters – these Victorian Age preteens became world famous with their spiritualism by hoaxing (which all began as a bit of fun on April Fool’s Eve), but it’s that fame that ended up being their undoing.
Virgin’s Richard Branson takes his love of ballooning to a new level as he flies a UFO-looking balloon over London, causing quite a hullabaloo in the process!
An April Fool’s day prank in a small German newspaper in 1950 where they pretended to have captured a “Martian” gets discovered by Roswell researchers three decades later and ends up in the non-fiction section of the library.
In 1972, a zoological expedition claims that they’ve found the Loch Ness Monster in a story that gets sensationalized writeups all over the world, only ending up being a prank pulled on them by their co-worker, who had no idea it would be one for the ages.
This one’s not paranormal but it’s close to where we are (in Madison, Wisconsin) the Capital Times publishes a story on April Fool’s Day in 1933 about the dome of the capitol collapsing, angering a sensitive reader base. It’s one of the first photo manipulations that today we’d just say was an “obvious Photoshop”.
This one isn’t as paranormal, but it’s brilliant. In 2014, NPR posted a story called “Why Doesn’t America Read Anymore” with explicit instructions not to respond on social media because it was just a way to see who’d actually been clicking through and reading on their stories or just commenting on the headlines on Facebook. It ended up getting thousands of comments, showing that next time you see people make enflamed and angry comments on a story on social media, you better read it before checking it out yourselves. (And that’s a topic we broach in our new EP release, “American Monsters”, which is coming out THIS WEEK!)
The song this week is the Sunspot song, “Fool”. A track about being unafraid of getting your heart broken again and again. It’s better to have an open heart that is vulnerable to the evils of the world, than in the words of John Lennon, to “hide your love away”.
I’ve been hurt more times than I can count
I’ve had my head smashed in and my guts pulled out.
I’ve been cheated on, mistreated some, my heart held for ransom,
I’m the jerk, that piece of work, who just can’t figure out
this big bad world is cruel,
so bury your soul deep and they never can hurt you,
I know that it might be uncool, but
I ain’t got time to tow the line on trust issues.
I’ve got a body made for working,
I’ve got a heart made for abuse,
I’ve got a penchant for fast living,
and I’m stretching out my youth.
I’ve got a mind to keep on loving,
Don’t care the ugly truth,
Well we’ve got all the cynics we need,
so I’d rather play the fool.
I’ve been wrong more times than you’d believe,
I’ve had my faith tested, my kindness deceived,
I’ve been betrayed and led astray and the victim of foul play,
and you might mock this laughingstock who won’t concede naivety,
I know this big bad world is cruel,
and if you bury your soul deep then they never can hurt you,
well I might sound just like a tool but
Don’t care about the ugly truth,
28 days laterapril foolsdayhoaxloch ness monsternessieparanormalpranksrage virustoxoplasma gondiiUFOzombies
A rock band's journey into the afterlife, UFOs, entertainment, and weird science.
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Women in Hebron: Resisting Occupation
By F.T Hupsel - June 24, 2019
Section: [Main News] [IN PICTURES] [Features]
Tags: [Hebron] [women‘s rights]
With the illegal Jewish settlements in the heart of the city, Hebron reflects the grim reality of the Israeli military occupation. For the past 14 years, 'Women in Hebron’, the only cooperative run solely by women in the Old City market, has been fighting the occupation by empowering women and their community through the production and sales of Palestinian handicraft items.
Their work started in 2005, when founder and former director, Nawal Slemiah, began selling items in the Old City market in the Israeli-controlled H2 sector, a short distance from the Ibrahimi Mosque.
The cooperative is now run by Nawal’s sister, Leila Hasan, who took over the business after recent family emergencies.
Laila told Palestine Monitor the organisation in itself has always been an act of community strengthening; honouring the role of women in the society and providing their families with additional income that could not otherwise be obtained.
“When you empower women, economically, then we start to be strong enough to defend our rights in the society and help fight the occupation,” Leila explained.
After the second Intifada began in 2000, their community was on the brink of collapse, as many of the men who were active during the struggle ended up either arrested or killed, including Nawal’s husband who was arrested for 12 years.
With no source of income, the women had to think about different ways to survive.
Embroidery as a heritage of Palestine.
Since 2005, Women in Hebron has expanded significantly. At one point, 150 women from the Hebron district worked within the cooperative.
They were able to open a small community centre in the village of Idna, located to the southwest of Hebron district, where they manufacture the products, participate in educational programs, and socialise with other women in similar situations.
One of the women who work in the manufacturing part of the cooperative, Alyia Ebeid, told Palestine Monitor that besides empowering women and the community, the work helps them cope with the harsh daily reality they face.
“I believe that in this art, when the women put all their minds into it, we can forget about the bad things, about the problems that surround us,” Alyia said.
In 1997, as a part of the Interim Agreements during the Oslo Accords, the “Hebron Protocol” saw the partition of the city into two zones called H1 and H2. H1 was to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) while H2 was to be fully controlled by Israel.
According to B'tselem, H2, which is made up of roughly 20 per cent of the occupied city, is home to approximately 40,000 Palestinians and 800 settlers who live in small, fortified compounds protected by around 2,000 Israeli soldiers.
Many settlers live in apartments above the Palestinian shops of the Old City. The two are separated by barbed wire and metal fences.
Settlers surrounded by soldiers on the 'tour’ that happens every Saturday.
A few families were able to move back into the Old City, encouraged by the internationally funded Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC), which has slowly been able to renovate about 1,000 homes, 120 shops and 10 schools.
40-year-old Sameera Chahabi was born in the Old City and worked with Women in Hebron for a few years, now her husband owns a shop in the Old City.
Sameera told Palestine Monitor that she believes Hebron represents the worst situation in the entire West Bank.
“They are right here, on top of us, they control us, they throw things at us. We are human beings, we need people to look at us as human beings,” Sameera said.
Her family lives in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, inside the H2 controlled area.
“There is always tension and problems, soldiers come into the house in the middle of the night, they break things, sometimes they just go on the rooftop to watch over the street, it’s a very difficult life here for us Palestinians,” she added.
When asked why they wouldn’t move to a safer place, Sameera explained that she was born here, that her entire family was from this region and she could not abandon it.
Laila on a slow day at the market. Due to the occupation, tourism has slowed greatly.
Over the years, systematic abuse and harassment by settlers and Israeli soldiers has become an established part of life in Hebron.
According to the United Nations, the presence of Israeli settlers in Palestine and cities like Hebron is making peace in the region unachievable.
Due to this impact, tourism has slowed greatly and business is not like it used to be.
Laila and Nawal, the co-founders of Women in Hebron, have been to the US multiple times trying to promote their business and get their voice and struggles recognised internationally.
For the past few years, they have also been trying to host volunteers and international visitors in the cooperative centre.
“We can host them, teach them the embroidery art and discuss the difficulties we have been facing under occupation,” Laila said. “We need more people to hear the story of Women in Hebron, to support us. I believe there are many women in the world who face similar problems.”
“We hope that one day the situation will change and maybe we can have a bit of peace and prosperity, meanwhile, If I can keep my shop open, this is my resistance,” Laila concluded.
Women in Hebron shop is located near the entrance of the Old City market.
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by oceyphillips | Jul 8, 2019 | A.I, TECHNOLOGY | 0 comments
Artificial Intelligence is probably the most complex and astonishing creations of humanity yet.
And that’s disregarding the fact that the field remains largely unexplored, which means that every remarkable AI programs that we see today represents merely the tip of the AI iceberg, as it were. While this fact might have been stated and restated a lot of times, it’s still hard to gain perspective on the potential impact of AI in the future. The reason for this is that the revolutionary impact that AI is getting on society at this relatively early stage in its development.
AI’s rapid expansion and powerful capabilities have made people paranoid about the inevitability and closeness of an AI takeover. Also, the transformation caused by AI in different businesses has made business leaders and the mainstream public think that we are close to achieving the peak of AI research and maxing out AI’s potential. But, understanding the kinds of AI which are possible and the types that exist now provides a clearer image of existing AI capabilities and the long road ahead for AI research.
Knowing the Varieties of AI classification
Considering that AI research purports to create machines mimic human functioning, the level to which an AI system may replicate human capacities is used as the criterion for determining the types of AI. Thus, depending on the way the machine compares to people concerning flexibility and functionality, AI can be categorized under one, among the numerous kinds of AI. Under this method, an AI that can perform more human-like functions with equal levels of proficiency will be considered as a more developed type of AI, whereas an AI that’s restricted functionality and functionality could be considered a more straightforward and less evolved kind.
Based on this standard, there are just two methods by which AI is generally categorized. 1 type is based on classifying AI and AI-enabled machines based on their likeness into the human mind, and also their ability to”believe” and possibly even “feel” such as individuals. According to this system of classification, there are four kinds of AI or AI-based systems: reactive machines, restricted memory machines, the theory of mind, and self-explanatory AI.
1. Reactive Machines
All these are the earliest forms of AI systems which have extremely limited capacity. They emulate the human mind’s capacity. These machines do not have memory-based functionality. This implies such machines cannot use previously obtained experiences to notify their present actions, i.e., those machines do not have the capability to”learn.” These machines may be used for responding to a restricted set or combination of inputs. They can’t be employed to rely on memory to boost their operations based on the same. An example of an AI machine is a system that beat chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue.
2. Limited Memory
Restricted memory machines are machines that, along with getting the capacities of purely reactive machines, are capable of learning from historical data to make decisions. Of come under this class of AI. Substantial volumes of training information, train all AI systems, such as the ones using deep learning which they store in their memory for solving issues to form a benchmark model. For example, an image recognition AI is trained with thousands of their labels and pictures to instruct it to name objects it scans. When an image is scanned with this kind of AI, it employs the training pictures as references to comprehend the contents of this image presented to it, and based on its”learning experience” it labels fresh pictures with increasing accuracy.
Almost all present-day AI applications, from chatbots and virtual assistants to self-driving vehicles are all driven by limited memory AI.
3. Theory of Mind
Though the previous two types of AI have been and are present in abundance, the subsequent two types of AI exist, for the time being, either as a theory or a job in progress. Theory of thoughts AI is another level of AI systems which researchers are engaged in innovating. A concept of thoughts level AI is going to have the ability to comprehend the entities it is currently interacting with by emotions, identifying their wants, beliefs, and thought processes. While artificial intelligence is already a budding business and also an area of interest for AI researchers, attaining Theory of mind level of AI will demand development as well. This is because to truly understand human demands, AI machines will have to perceive humans as individuals whose heads can be shaped by numerous factors, essentially”understanding” humans.
4. Self-aware
This is the final stage of AI development, which now exists only hypothetically. Self-aware AI, which, self-explanatory, is an AI which has evolved to be akin to the human brain it has developed self-awareness. Making this kind of Ai, which is decades, if not centuries apart from materializing, is and will be the supreme objective of AI research. This sort of AI will not be able to understand and evoke emotions in those it interacts with, but in addition have feelings, needs, beliefs, and possibly desires of its own. And that is the form of AI that doomsayers of the technology are cautious of. It may also result in catastrophe although the maturation of self-aware can increase our progress by leaps and bounds. This is because, after self-aware, the AI would be capable of having thoughts like self-preservation that might directly or indirectly spell the end to humankind, as such an entity plot elaborate schemes to take over humanity and could outmaneuver the intellect of any person.
The alternative system of classification which is more commonly utilized in tech parlance is that the classification of the tech to Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI).
5. Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)
This kind of artificial intelligence represents all of the existing AI, including even the most complicated and capable AI that’s been created to date. Artificial intelligence describes AI systems that could perform a task autonomously using human-like capabilities. These machines can do nothing more than what they are programmed to do, and so have a narrow or very restricted assortment of competencies. According to the system of classification, these systems correspond to limited memory AI and all the responsive. Even the most complex AI which uses machine learning to teach itself and profound learning drops under ANI.
6. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Artificial General Intelligence is the ability of an AI representative to learn, perceive, understand, and function completely as a human being. These systems will have the ability to independently build numerous competencies and shape generalizations and connections across domains, massively cutting back on time needed for training. By replicating our capabilities that are multi-functional this will make AI systems just as capable as people.
7. Artificial Superintelligence (ASI)
The development of Artificial Superintelligence will probably indicate the pinnacle of AI research, as AGI is becoming by far the most curable forms of intelligence on earth. Besides replicating the multi-faceted intelligence of human beings, ASI will be exceedingly better in everything they do because of greater memory, investigation and faster data processing, and decision-making capabilities. The growth of AGI and ASI can result in a situation most popularly referred to as the singularity. And our existence can threaten as of having such machines at our 12, the potential appears to be attractive or in the least, our way of life.
At this point, it’s not easy to envision the state of our world until more advanced kinds of AI become part of our lives. However, it is clear that there’s a way since the present state of AI development in contrast to where it’s projected to go is in its rudimentary stage to get there. This usually means that now is a little soon to be worrying about the singularity, for anyone holding a negative prognosis for the future of AI, and there’s still time. And for those who are optimistic about the future of AI, the fact that we have merely scratched the surface of AI growth makes the future more exciting.
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Tikamgarh , Madhya Pradesh
Orchha is the place in bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh which is famous for the being the place that has s a bit of the architecture that Khajuraho possesses. Another of the true architectural and sculptural wonders of this country, the Orchha temple also is another specimen of erotic sculpture depicting the lifestyle of people of an era which has passed many years ago. The best piece of architecture that you will probably come across here, among the many is the Orchha fort which is one of the best preserved forts in the country. The grandeur of the fort overshadows even the temples that are present here. Stories of the rise and fall of the Chandela dynasty are legendary. Also surprising is the friendship between the Mughals and the Rajputs which led to the building of the famous Jehangir Mahal here where the emperor used to come and live. Numerous tales of valour, chivalry, friendship and devotion resonate from the many structures that grace the soil of Orchha. One of the places that will truly make history come alive, here you see a life that once was. The Fort and palaces are very well preserved. Absolutely gorgeous murals, with colors that look like they have been applied recently and not a 1000 years ago. The Betwa river makes the perfect foil for this historical town and shows you one of the most stunning sunsets ever. The Chatur Bhuj temple (was originally meant to be the temple for Raja Ram), the Laxmi Narayan temple which has a unique triangular shape, the chattris all make for a fabulous experience. Even though Orchha is not very high up on the tourist list, this is truly a beautiful place that should not be missed at any cost.
Distance / Time Current Temperature Mean Rainfall Altitude Population Best Times Min Hotel tariff
km / Hrs 28.0°C /82.0°F 56 mm 734feet 8499.0 /km2 Jan-Mar,Nov-Dec Coming Soon
Chandreshekhar Azad Memorial
Chhatris
"Orchha (or Urchha) is a town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by Maharaja Rudra Pratap Singh in 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of central India, in the Bundelkhand region. Orchha lies on the Betwa River, 80 km from Tikamgarh & 15 km from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.[1.Orchha was founded in the 15th century AD,[2] by the Bundela chief, Rudra Pratap Singh, who became the first King of Orchha, (r. 1501-1531) and also built the Fort of Orchha.[3] The Chaturbhuj Temple was built, during the reign of EmperorAkbar, by the Queen of Orchha Ganeshi Bai,[4] while Raj Mandir was built by 'Madhukar Shah' during his reign, 1554 to 1591.[5][6]"
Dauji Ki Haveli
"Orchha is a hub of trading activities from very ancient times and this gave birth to the raising of a new class of people called merchants. These merchants were not only rich but also very influential among the ruling regime. The merchants used their wealth to build palatial mansions with elaborate decorations and splendid architecture. These mansions are the replicas of the royal palaces. In Orchha, there are so many ornamented houses, which popularly called as Havelis. \nDauji-ki-haveli is a classic example of a well-preserved Haveli, it looks like a miniature version of the royal palace. A remarkable feature of this Haveli is the rich collection of Mural paintings on its walls. Centuries old paintings are still glittering with brightness is an adorable seen."
Raja Mahal
"The royal residence of erstwhile kings of Orchha, Raja Mahal is situated in Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh. Beautiful towers decorate the exterior of this magnificent palace, and outstanding mural paintings adorn the interiors. \nThe palace houses two rectangular courtyards, which follows the ancient Indian concept of the mandapa. The most important feature inside the palace is the Diwan-i-Khaas, which is widely admired for its fantastic motifs. A 17th century monument that withstood the ravages of time is a worthy for a watch."
Rani Mahal
"Prettily situated in the fort complex, Rani Mahal in Orchha is famous for its lovely paintings and unique architecture. Rani Mahal, which is also known as the Queen's Chamber was the royal residence of the Queen of Raja Madhukar Shah. A great devotee of Lord Ram, the queen decorated her bedroom with murals featuring scenes from the epics. The exquisite paintings of Bhima and a bird flying with elephants are really fantastic. \nRani Mahal commands the panoramic view of the entire city and a glimpse of the beautiful river Betwa at a distance."
Chatturbhuj Temple
"Chaturbhuj Temple (Devanagri: ???????? ?????), dedicated to Lord Vishnu, is situated at Orchha in Madhya Pradesh, India. The name Chaturbhuj (Devanagri: ????????) is a derived from Sanskrit words ???: = four and ???? = arms, which literally means one who has four arms; and refers to Lord Vishnu\nBuilt in 875, during the reign of imperial Gurjara Pratihara dynasty, it is constructed within a later colonnade.[1] The temple consists of a sanctum with pancharatha Sikhara, a vestibule and a porch. The temple also has a curved tower with a small porch."
Laxmi Narayan Temple
"Laxmi Narayan Temple in Orchha exhibits a unique style of architecture, which is a beautiful mix of a fort and a temple moulds. The walls of this charming shrine are elaborately decorated with fabulous mural paintings, which show pulsating compositions from mythological themes. This temple also houses the very famous post mutiny paintings. \nThere is a flagstone path that connects Laxmi Narayan Temple with Ram Raja Temple. Another important structure of this delightful shrine is the flagstone path that connects this temple with the Ram Raja Temple. The temple along with its exquisite paintings presents an enthralling feeling and is a worthy to watch spectacle."
Ram Raja Temple
"The Ram Raja Temple is a temple in Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, India.[1] It is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage and receives devotees in large numbers regularly. The annual domestic tourist number around 650,000 and the foreign tourist number around 25,000. The daily number of visitors to the temple range from 1500 to 3000 and on certain important Hindu festivals like the Makar Sankranti, Vasant Panchami, Shivratri, Ram navami, Kartik Purnima and Vivaha Panchami the number of devotees who throng to Orchha range in thousands.[2] In Orchha, as well as the whole country, this is the only temple where Lord Ram is worshipped as a king and that also in a palace. A Guard of Honour is held everyday, police personnel have been designated as Guards at the temple, much in the manner of a king.[3] The food and other amenities provided to the deity at the temple are a royal repast. Armed salutation is provided to Lord Ram everyday. Even today the very first invitation card of any Hindu wedding in the region is sent to Raja Ram.\nIn the temple Raja Ram is accompanied by Mata Sita (on the left), brother Laxman (on the right), Maharaj Sugreev and Narsingh Bhagwan (on the right). Durga Maa is also present in the darbaar on the right side. Hanumaan ji and Jamwant ji are praying just below Maata Sita. The specialty of this temple is that Lord Ram has a sword in his right hand and a shield in the other. Shri Ram is sitting in Padmasan, with the left leg crossed on to the right thigh."
Rai Praveen Mahal
"An abode of love, Rai Praveen Mahal is the beautiful palace built for the Poetess and musician, Rai Parveen who was the lover of Raja Indramani. A two storied brick structure, positioned in the midst of a landscaped garden, Rai Praveen Mahal is so designed that it should suit to its magnificient surroundings. The natural flow of light is surged through the superbly carved niches. \nThe octagonal shaped beautiful Mughal garden and its pretty flowerbeds make the brick palace more gorgeous.\n"
Weather at a Glance
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Clothing required by month / season
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Best Moderate Worst Times to Visit - Data compiled from various sources and travellers
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Jewish Dems Commend Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Public Service
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to Gov. Martin O’Malley’s announcement that he is suspending his 2016 bid for president, the National Jewish Democratic Council released the following statement:
“Since the start of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s campaign, he has been a voice for the issues that matter to Jewish Americans. Although he has suspended his campaign, the Democratic Party is stronger for his leadership. He has been a fighter for issues our community holds dear, ranging from continuing to reform our health-care system and expanding economic opportunity to protecting the environment and improving our nation’s gun laws. Gov. Martin O’Malley has proven to be a true friend to the American Jewish community, and we thank him for his public service and look forward to what his future has in store.”
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Blatchford & Wielansky Named Academic All-District
OWU's Michael Blatchford & Wooster's Michael Wielansky named to 2018 Google Cloud Div. III Academic All-District Team
Story Contributions Courtesy of the Ohio Wesleyan & Wooster Sports Information Departments
2018 CoSIDA Google Cloud Div. III Academic All-District® Baseball Team
Two North Coast Athletic baseball players were voted first-team Google Cloud Division III Academic All-District® by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the organization announced on May 10th. Wooster junior shortstop Michael Wielansky (St. Louis, MO/Ladue Horton Watkins) and Ohio Wesleyan senior outfielder Michael Blatchford (Shaker Hts., OH/Shaker Hts.) were both first-team selections on the All-District VII Team and will now advance to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® ballot.
Wielansky, now a two-time Academic All-District® honoree, advances to the ballot for Academic All-America® consideration. Wielansky, a business economics major with a 3.42 GPA, was one of four infielders voted to the all-district team. Entering the week, the junior ranked second in Div. III with 64 runs and 42nd with 63 hits. The Fighting Scots' shortstop also ranks in the top-20 nationally in walks (35, 14th), doubles (18, 14th), and total bases (109, 19th).
Blatchford leads the NCAC in hits (65) and doubles (20) and ranks second in batting (.430), third in on-base percentage (.516) and runs scored (51), and fifth in slugging percentage (.642) and total bases (97). He majors in economics and minors in Spanish.
First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® ballot, with first- and second-team Academic All-America® honorees to be announced in June.
The Google Cloud Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and College Division. The College Division includes all NAIA, Canadian, two-year schools and other affiliations.
The Division II and III Google Cloud Academic All-America® program is partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2017-18 DII and DIII Academic All- America® teams.
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Crimes, Accused Persons and Persons Convicted in 2011
In 2011 the trials ended with penalty inflicted cover 36 707 committed crimes. The number of persons convicted with penalties came into force was 41 013. Compared to 2010 an increase of the number of crimes with penalties inflicted and persons convicted was observed by 3.7% and by 5.0% respectively.
Crimes2011_en.pdf
Crimes Concluded with Penalty Inflicted and Persons Convicted in Second Semester of 2011 (preliminary data)
Monday, 28 May 2012 - 11:00
According to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the second semester of 2011, the trials ended with inflicted penalty cover 15 620 committed crimes.
The number of persons convicted with penalties come into force amounted to 17 634, while 1 200 of them were Juveniles aged 14-17 years.
Crime2011H2_en.pdf
Anti-Social Acts of Minor and Juveniles in 2011 (Preliminary Data)
Monday, 2 April 2012 - 11:00
According to the NSI’s preliminary data the number of minors and juveniles registered in the Child pedagogic rooms in 2011 is 12 223. The coefficient of persons registered in the Child pedagogic rooms in 2011 is 1 894 per 100 000 persons of the population aged 8-17 years.
Crime2011pr_en.pdf
Crimes Concluded with Penalty Inflicted and Persons Convicted in First Semester of 2011
Monday, 14 November 2011 - 11:00
According to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the first semester of 2011, the trials ended with inflicted penalty cover 14 136 committed crimes. The number of persons convicted with penalties come into force amounted to 15 796. The number of persons with effective sentence of conviction amounted to 9 276 and conditionally sentenced are 6 520 persons.
Monday, 4 July 2011 - 11:00
In 2010 the trials ended with penalty inflicted cover 35 397 committed crimes. The number of persons convicted with penalties came into force is 39 070. Compared to 2009 a decrease of the number of crimes with penalties inflicted and persons convicted is observed by 5.4% and by 4.4% respectively.
Crimes, Accused Persons and Persons Convicted in Second Semester of 2010
According to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the second semester of 2010, the number of persons convicted with penalties come into force amounted to 16 052 as in comparison with the same period of 2009 a decrease by 5.5% is observed (See Annex).
The number of accused person is 18 408. At the same time the number of persons with effective sentence of conviction amounted to 9 793 (53.2% of the total number of convicted persons. Conditionally sentenced are 6 259 persons that presents 34.0% of the total number of accused persons.
In second semester of 2010 the trials ended with inflicted penalty cover 14 341 committed crimes that are by 7.8% more in comparison with the same period of 2009.
A tendency to regression of the number of minors and juveniles registered in the Child pedagogic rooms by 8.0% is observed in 2010. Their number in 2010 is the smallest for the past few years – 12 108.
The number of minors and juveniles new entrants (for the first time registered) in the Child pedagogic rooms in 2010 is by 0.3% more in comparison with 2009 and amounted to 4 170.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010 - 11:00
According to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute for the first semester of 2010, the trials ended with inflicted penalty cover 14 656 committed crimes, which present 1.4% less in comparison with the same period of 2009. The number of persons convicted with penalties come into force amounted to 15 930. In comparison with the same period of 2009 decrease is observed by 3.4%.
Anti-Social Acts of Minor and Juvenile Persons in 2008
The total number of minors and juveniles new entrants and registered persons at the Child Pedagogic Rooms in 2008 decreases respectively by 6.5% and 7.0% in comparison with 2007. A decrease by 13.4% compared to 2007 of the number of minors and juveniles registered at the Child Pedagogic Rooms as perpetrators of crime is observed.
Crime2008l_en.pdf
The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2015 in English.
Statistical Reference Book 2015 (Bulgarian version)
The National Statistical Institute presents to users of statistical information the annual publication - Statistical Reference Book 2015 in Bulgarian.
The NSI annual electronic bilingual publication of the NSI Crimes and Persons Convicted 2013, containing data on crimes with penalty inflicted, accused persons and persons convicted, is available for users of statistical information.
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World Society Russia Opinion Science Sport Hotspots and Incidents Business
Russian 'military men' taken captive in Ukraine
World » Former USSR » Ukraine
On July 11, it was reported that Ukrainian forces took two Russian citizens prisoners, a message posted on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian General Staff said.
The Russians were reportedly taken captive during the shelling of Donbass. A third man died from injuries. According to preliminary information, the killed man was a resident of the Russian city of Omsk.
Currently, the two Russian captives are being kept in a medical facility, where they receive medical assistance, the press service of the General Staff of Ukraine said.
According to the Ukrainian military, the captives are two Russian commanders - one being a platoon commander, and the other one - a company commander.
Kiev officials said that the battle occurred at night near the village of Troitskoye, the Donetsk region, when a group of Russian military men consisting of about 20 people, tried to make their way into the rear of the Ukrainian troops.
On July 9 overnight, Ukrainian troops launched more than 300 shells on the territory of the contact line with the People's Republic of Donetsk, putting the northern and western outskirts of Donetsk under heavy fire.
Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru
Topics donbass war in ukraine
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Red Wings Swap Sulak for McIlrath
March 25, 2019 • admin
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today recalled defenseman Dylan McIlrath from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions and assigned defenseman Libor Sulak to the Griffins.
McIlrath, 26, is a veteran of 350 AHL games, totaling 73 points (21-52-73), a plus-27 rating and 756 penalty minutes with the Connecticut Whale, Hartford Wolf Pack, Springfield Thunderbirds and Griffins since 2010-11. In 49 games for Grand Rapids this season, McIlrath has nine points (1-8-9) and ranks among team leaders with cheap nhl jerseys from china
a plus-12 rating (T3rd) and 94 penalty minutes (1st). The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native was originally acquired by Detroit from Florida on March 1, 2017 along with a third-round draft pick in exchange for Thomas Vanek and has totaled 30 points (8-22-30) and 255 penalty minutes in 146 games with the Griffins since joining the organization. He was also a member of the team’s 2017 Calder Cup championship team and has notched seven points (0-7-7), a plus-12 rating and 61 penalty minutes in 44 career AHL playoff games.
A former first-round pick (10th overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers, McIlrath has totaled five points (3-2-5) and 94 penalty minutes in 43 career NHL games between New York (2013-17) and Florida (2016-17). Prior to turning professional, McIlrath skated in 232 Western Hockey League games for the Moose Jaw Warriors, posting 74 points (16-58-74) and 551 penalty minutes from 2008-12, adding seven assists and 48 penalty minutes in 27 postseason contests.
Sulak was recalled by Detroit on Wednesday but has been sidelined for two games due to illness. The 25-year-old made the Red Wings out of training camp and was one of five players to make his NHL debut on Oct. 4 versus Columbus. He skated in six games for Detroit, logging six penalty minutes and averaging 19:23 time on ice. Since joining the Griffins, Sulak has recorded 12 points (4-8-12), 32 penalty minutes and 80 shots in goal in 54 games. The 6-foot-2, 207-pound blueliner previously debuted for the Griffins at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, notching two assists in two games, following a full season in the Finnish SM-Liiga, in which he led the Lahti Pelicans’ defensemen with 32 points (9-23-32) in 42 games and led the league with 307 shots on goal.
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CAPITALS VS. RANGERS: PROJECTION MODEL REVEALS STRONG PICKS FOR SUNDAY SHOWDOWN
The Detroit Red Wings played a mature game in Vegas. Why that matters
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My Father in Me: Stories of My Dad's Life and How They've Shaped Who I Am
Grace That Grows: A Method of Thought, Life, and Love for All Christians
Rock God: How God Shakes, Rattles and Rolls Our Easy-Listening Lives
Live Prayerfully: How Ordinary Lives Become Prayerful
Wait: Four Weeks of Preparing the Soul for Christmas
Follow: 40 Days of Preparing the Soul for Easter
Follow Prayerfully: A Guide to Prayer for Lent
Wait Prayerfully: A Guide to Prayer for Advent
Understanding Infant Baptism
Best Christian Books
James Bryan Smith: The Encouraging Community
May 15, 2013 Daniel Harris
"While it may be true that treating churchgoers as consumers by trying to meet their stated needs may make them feel more comfortable, by lowering our expectations of them as active participants we are decreasing the possibility of genuine transformation."... "I want a community who will take an interest in my well-being, a community who is not afraid to ask me to make a commitment to my own spiritual growth and service to others, a community who dares to offer me a reliable pattern of transformation and then backs it up by challenging me to enter into some form of accountability in order to help me meet our commitments." ... "I know three things from experience. First, people rise to the level of expectation. We fail because we do not ask for accountability and commitment. Second, people intuitively know that when things are made easy there is little chance that any good will come from it. We lower our expectations because we think people will respond in greater numbers, but in reality we do them no service, and most people sense this. Third, while not everyone in every church is ready to make a commitment to transformation, there are many who are ready and are not being challenged. Far too much attention is being paid to getting people to come to church, and far too little is paid to those who are hungering for a deeper life with God."
(James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Community, Ch. 6: "The Encouraging Community")
The First Thing John Ortberg Hates About Spiritual Formation
April 15, 2013 Daniel Harris
Leadership Journal recently published an article by John Ortberg called, "Seven Things I Hate About Spiritual Formation." It's fantastic. I count Ortberg among my heroes, and largely because of people like him, I too fit his self-description as someone who now spends a lot of time writing and thinking about spiritual formation. It is the field that I studied for a master's degree, and even if I only count the books that specifically claim to be about spiritual formation–if I were to put the ones I've hung on to over the years because they're the best next to each other on a shelf–I've got at least three feet of them. And my number one frustration with Spiritual Formation would be the same thing Ortberg lists first:
1. I hate how spiritual formation gets positioned as an optional pursuit for a small special interest group within the church. People think of it as an esoteric activity reserved for introverted Thomas-Merton-reading contemplatives. I hate that. Spiritual formation is for everyone. Just as there is an "outer you" that is being formed and shaped all the time, like it or not, by accident or on purpose, so there is an "inner you." You have a spirit. And it's constantly being shaped and tugged at: by what you hear and watch and say and read and think and experience. Everyone is being spiritually formed all the time. Whether they want to or not. Whether they're Christian or not. The question isn't if someone will sign up for spiritual formation; it's just who and what our spirits will be formed by.
In other words, spiritual formation isn't a series of retreats for those who are "into that sort of thing." It isn't one elective, among many, that a church can offer. (If your church has a spiritual formation pastor...what in the world are the other people on staff doing?) Ortberg's simple description nailed it: everyone has an "inner you," and it is being shaped into some kind of thing or another all of the time. By virtue of being humans, this is unavoidable, so we'll be wise if we pay attention to that process.
The questions of spiritual formation, then, are about what kinds of things help that process to go well and what kinds of things impede it. The issue is never if we "like" spiritual formation, because everyone–whether or not they ever read anything by John Ortberg, Dallas Willard, or any of the other authors in those three feet of books on my shelf–is inevitably getting a spiritual formation just from the experiences that come with being alive. The only issue that matters is whether that formation is a good one or a bad one. What kind of character do you and I have now because of our spiritual formation to this point? And considering the trajectory of our spiritual formation up until today, what can we realistically expect that our character be like when it's all said and done?
A few of the books in those three feet of the best of the best on my shelf are by Robert Mulholland, and he addresses the same issue:
Spiritual formation is not an option. Spiritual formation is not a discipline just for 'dedicated disciples.' It is not a pursuit only for the pious. Spiritual formation is not an activity for the deeply committed alone. It is not a spiritual frill for those with the time and inclination. Spiritual formation is the primal reality of human existence. Every event of life is an experience of spiritual formation. Every action taken, every response made, every dynamic of relationship, every thought held, every emotion allowed: These are the miniscule arenas where, bit by bit, infinitesimal piece by infinitesimal piece, we are shaped into some kind of being. We are being shaped either toward the wholeness of the image of Christ or toward a horribly destructive caricature of that image. This is why Paul urges Christians, 'Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him' (Col. 3:17, NRSV; italics added). The Christian spiritual journey is a life lived in, through, and for God.
Human life is, by its very nature, spiritual formation. The question is not whether to undertake spiritual formation. The question is what kind of spiritual formation are we already engaged in? Are we being increasingly conformed to the brokenness and disintegration of the world, or are we being increasingly conformed to the wholeness and integration of the image of Christ? (From Shaped by the Word)
In my own biased opinion, I think that all seems obvious enough. But if it's true, why does church after church after church tend to view spiritual formation exactly the way Ortberg described: "an optional pursuit for a small special interest group within the church"? Even for churches that pay attention to spiritual formation, why do they look at it as if it is one thing among many that they might choose to do, rather than acknowledging that everything they do forms people's spirits in some direction–and therefore paying more attention to the destination (kind of character) to which that direction predictably points?
Spiritual formation should be to churches what science is to research universities. It is what we do, and we do it in a wide variety of contexts. Churches should be the leading centers of the world for this field, where people would naturally turn when considering questions like, "How do I become a truly good person? How do I live a truly good life?"
It's easy to go on a rant like this and ask why other people get it wrong so often. But then the answer to the questions in the above two paragraphs is significantly more difficult to swallow than those ranting sentences were to type. The answer (similar to #7 in Ortberg's list) always hits way too close to home. If what we're saying about spiritual formation is true, and those around us aren't valuing spiritual formation highly enough, a primary factor has to be that it hasn't been lived and taught well enough by those of us who do.
What Lent Isn't and What Lent Is
March 11, 2012 Daniel Harris
Two items caught my attention as Lent started this year, which reflected confusion about what it is. First, the picture above: Perhaps I've never enjoyed looking at a sign at a gas pump as much as I enjoyed this one. Promoted there, alongside the Marlboros and breakfast burritos, is, supposedly, an opportunity to repent and hear a first-century Jewish rabbi's call to deny ourselves, take up our own crosses, and follow him as he walked the road into his own unjust death.
Hey that sounds good. Oh, and let me grab a bag of Doritos to go with my three Lenten cheese enchiladas. As long as they're not meat-flavored, I think the man upstairs is pretty happy with me today!
The other attention-grabber was an article about churches offering drive-thru Ash Wednesday services. There are some good things that happen when churches begin to think beyond the way they've always done things, and much of the beginnings of my own Methodist heritage is based on how John Wesley was determined to preach in places that weren't normal. But still...
"From dust you came and to dust you will return. Repent and believe the gospel... Yes ma'am, that means changing the entire course of your life... No ma'am, getting out of the car isn't required to do so.... Say, is that Lady Gaga you have on the radio?... Okay, have a nice day [living exactly as you always have.]"
In their defense, there's probably at least someone who has had an encounter with God right there in their car because of these churches doing this who wouldn't have otherwise. And I'm sure that I don't know the whole story here, so I'm not offering criticism of these specific churches since I'm not there trying to figure out how to minister in their context as they are doing.
But, in general, the thing that came to mind for me as I read about it was this: our methods of ministering to people in the name of Jesus Christ aren't neutral and independent of the message we seek to communicate. Instead, our methods are part of the training people are going through in what it means to follow him. So, in what kind of training are we involving people when we encourage them to begin Lent without even bothering to get out of the car? Or, to put it another way, what percentage of people receiving an imposition of ashes while continuing to sit behind their steering wheel do we honestly expect to continue, for the rest of their lives, down the road of being whole-hearted, full-throttle students of Jesus? Again, there may be some example of someone to whom that has happened, for which I'm grateful. But is such a case a natural, predictable result of the way we do things with God, or are they just strange exceptions to the rule?
This kind of thing matters all of the time, but it really matters in Lent. Lent is the period of forty days leading up to Easter, not counting Sundays, and Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Lent is a time for house-cleaning our souls, so that when we come to Holy Week and Easter Sunday, we're prepared for the resurrection of the crucified Messiah to take more of its intended effect upon us. It's a time to pay attention to how dis-oriented we have become in the ways that we have lived our everyday lives and to find ways that we can re-orient ourselves to the one who said,
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
So if you and I got into the drive-thru line for our ashes to begin Lent this year, or picked up our Lenten enchiladas at the gas station, or whatever else it is that we may have done during this annual period of repentance and re-orientation, are the things that we're doing of the type that naturally help us, by God's grace, to become more likely and more able to follow Jesus with our own crosses in tow? Or are they things that just help us to feel religious while leaving the houses of our souls exactly as messy and disoriented as they were last Lent, and the one before, and the one before, etc.?
In Church, The Christian Year
Defining Ministry Success
February 3, 2012 Daniel Harris
I was in full-time Christian ministry for 11 years (9 of them in churches) and felt successful at very little of what I did. And I'm not entirely basing this on feelings. Though I did have some times where the implicit criteria for success was something like, "Well, Daniel, all buildings and children are still standing, so it looks like you're doing a great job!", in the times when it was anything more defined than that, my report cards usually weren't very good. Sure, there were some highlights along the way, but for the most part, I set a lot of goals and accomplished very, very few of them. If you analyze the paragraph above, you can see a partial definition of success: the ability to set good goals and achieve them. I don't have any problem with that, but it reveals the tremendous importance of being wise about the goals that we set.
As I think about the 11 years in full-time ministry (particularly the 9 in churches more so than the 2 as a missionary), I don't think many goals were set wisely, and since I accomplished so few of them, it's easy to see why I felt so unsuccessful at the time (and why I don't really carry any guilt about those report cards).
The tricky part is that every goal I ever set was something good. It's not like I ever had a goal of intentionally doing anything damaging or that would lead to a waste of people's resources and time. ("By next January I'd like to decrease participants' involvement by 50%, and put undue stress on those helping me.") No, of course every goal was something that if you looked at it, you'd say, "It would be good if that happened."
Yet those good things I wrote as goals almost never came to pass. It wasn't because I went through the process poorly. (For those of you familiar with such processes, I could BHAG and SMART with the best of them.) It wasn't because I was unwilling to work hard to accomplish things. There was a lack of talent for some of the things I tried to do, but that's not enough to explain how rarely I accomplished the SMART BHAGs I wrote down.
So what was the issue?
For me, the entire process was flawed because it seemingly had to start with a poor idea of success, which almost always boiled down to making something bigger and (of secondary importance) better. From this point on in any ministry efforts, I've decided to never again feel like adopting the bigger/better premise is the only option available.
As is often the case, this paradigm shift is due to running across a simple statement from Dallas Willard. In a 2010 interview in Leadership Journal, he said,
Success in ministry is to develop a vital relationship with God and the capacity to pass it on to others.
I have been part of a lot of goal-setting processes, but never one that implicitly or explicitly began there.
How would your church be different if every staff person and volunteer viewed success in their role through that statement?
If a staff member resolved to define success in this way, what resistance might they encounter?
Would this view of success bring up fears in anyone? What would they be, and what does that tell us about ourselves?
What kinds of goals could someone write down based on this framework of success? Do you believe those are worth a person's whole-hearted pursuit, really? Would the culture of your church/ministry allow it?
REVEALed: A Lot of People Have Been Here a Long Time Without Growing
November 23, 2011 Daniel Harris
[This is one of a series of posts related to the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey. To see the others, click here.]
In the previous post in the series, I talked about how, although we knew a lot of folks had been in our church for a long time, we were surprised at how high the tenure numbers were: 45% of our congregation had been here for a decade or longer. There were certainly important insights and conclusions given to us from this number, but it isn't even getting into the uniqueness of what REVEAL does. How long people have been here is an easily observable, external thing. Whether they've matured during that time is much harder to quantify, but it's exactly the kind of thing that REVEAL is designed to do.
A core feature of the REVEAL Survey is its Spiritual Continuum Profile, which helps a church's leaders to get a glimpse of the spiritual maturity of their congregation, based upon four segments:
Exploring Christ: These people are connected with a church to some degree and exploring what it means to be a Christian, but have yet to make a Christian commitment.
Growing in Christ: Despite the segment's name, these people may or may not be experiencing growth. They have come to profess the orthodox Christian beliefs as being true, but still have yet to arrange their lives around their faith in any significant ways, perhaps with the exception of church attendance.
Close to Christ: Characteristics of this group include that they participate in spiritual practices with some regularity, and they exhibit higher degrees of love for God and others.
Christ-Centered: Their relationship with Christ is the most dominant factor in shaping the lives of these people. It profoundly influences their use of time and resources, their attitudes, their practices, their levels of love for God and others, and their willingness to sacrifice anything for Christ.
In most churches, the second segment (Growing in Christ) is the largest, and that was the case with us. However, as it was with how long people in our congregation had been here, even though we weren't surprised that this was our largest segment, it was eye-opening to see how large the percentage of our people in this segment was: 46%.
So far in this post and the previous one, I've only mentioned information which REVEAL directly tells us, but what follows is my own analysis of the combination of these first two statistics.
So, our tenure numbers indicated that 45% of the people in our church have been here for a decade or longer. Then this number indicates that 46% of our people profess the right answers regarding their beliefs, but still have yet to arrange their lives around their faith in significant ways.
Certainly, although those percentages are very close to one another, there's nothing to indicate that they represent exactly the same group of people. In other words, there's no reason for me to walk down the halls on Sunday morning, pass by someone whom I know has been around for more than a decade, and assume that because they're part of the 45% who have been here for a decade or longer, they must also be part of the 46% who profess the beliefs, but need to start letting it affect their lifestyles. They can't be exactly the same groups of people, but the percentages are large enough that we can safely conclude there's a significant number of people in who would be counted as a part of both groups: people who have been here a long time and haven't grown.
So although we can't put a number on how many people have been here a long time and haven't moved forward, here's my best non-scientific shot at quantifying this group: there's a lot of 'em. There are a lot of people who have made our church their home for years, even decades, without experiencing any significant change in their beliefs and attitudes about God, without growing into greater levels of love for God and others, without maturing as followers of Jesus, without experiencing the abundant kind of life that Jesus said he came to offer us. (I'm using "them" here, but don't worry- I realize "they" aren't the biggest hurdle to our church doing great ministry.)
So what does this teach us, and what can we do about it? REVEAL gave us another great insight that helps to explore those questions, which will be the next post in the series: A lot of people have been here a long time without growing, and don't even know that they should be.
REVEALed: A Lot of People Have Been Here a Long Time
[This is one of a series of posts related to the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey. To see the others, click here.] One of the first things that was quickly obvious from our REVEAL results was how high our "tenure" was, meaning how long people have been a part of our church. According to the survey, 45% of the adults in our church have been here a decade or longer.
By itself, the fact that the percentage was high didn't surprise us. We're a very established congregation, having existed for more than 125 years. But I was surprised at how high. 45%! (And on our second survey, two years later, it's up to 47%!) Almost half of our people have been here longer than a decade.
While a positive note about people's loyalty and commitment over time can legitimately be drawn, I think that number should also raise some potential red flags for us:
If that many people have been here that long (combined with the data that said 59% of our people are above age 50), it becomes obvious that our church is going to face some major challenges in the next 20-30 years. History reliably shows that nobody can keep coming to church here forever...
Having that many people who have been here that long likely means that people are pretty accustomed to and happy with the status quo. Leading change is always difficult. Leading change in a church where half the people have been there over a decade is a monumental task.
At an earlier point in our history, these numbers must have been different. Perhaps people have changed, and our methods of bringing in new people haven't. Perhaps earlier generations simply placed a higher value on bringing in new people. Whatever the explanation is, I'm sure it's a combination of a lot of factors, but this number is serious. (Think of what it would say if we were a sports team: If half of our roster had been in the league 10 years or longer... It may be possible to still be good right now, but we won't be good much longer.)
It would be one thing if we had these numbers in a small, rural town where the entire population is aging and there are very few people moving in, but that's not the case. While we're not in a huge city (our population is about 110,000), we're a rare area in the country that has a thriving economy and plenty of growth.
While there are implications such as these that can be drawn from this statistic, this first insight is really just a demographic number. REVEAL really starts to do its work on the next insight it gave us: A lot of people have been here a long time without growing.
What REVEAL Revealed
October 7, 2011 Daniel Harris
I am a big fan of the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey, developed by the Willow Creek Association. The essence of REVEAL is that is is an attempt to take the measurements available to church leaders to a level beyond attendance and giving numbers by surveying people on their spiritual beliefs, attitudes, and practices. The intended result is that church leaders will then be able to focus their energy and resources on the things that are actually most catalytic in people's spiritual growth.
During the time that I had a full-time staff position in our church as Pastor of Discipleship, I was the primary person working with our REVEAL results, interpreting them to my fellow staff members and church leaders, and making/implementing suggestions based on what they told us. (I'm now in a very part-time staff role at the same church.)
Occasionally I get asked by people from other churches about our experience with REVEAL, so I thought it would be helpful to write about how I processed our data and the things that it taught us. And although it's no longer part of my staff responsibilities, I hope that looking at the data again as I write will help me and other leaders our church to focus our efforts in the most helpful ways.
This post will serve as a general Table of Contents for other posts in this series about REVEAL and provide links to each of them.
REVEAL-informed posts not part of this series:
A Parable of Churchville
What REVEAL Can't Reveal
Chiropractors and Spiritual Formation
New Posts in this Series
A Lot of People Have Been Here a Long Time
A Lot of People Have Been Here a Long Time Without Growing
A Lot of People Have Been Here a Long Time Without Growing, and Don't Know They Should Be
Methodist Strengths Become Weaknesses
Our Beliefs, Particularly Salvation by Grace
Our Practices, Particularly Reflection on Scripture
Our Mission, Particularly Evangelism
What We Tried to Do After Our First Survey
What the Second Survey Revealed
I hope that these posts will be helpful to others, and if you're a church leader curious about or involved with REVEAL, feel free to
if I can be of any help.
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Put Some Meaning in Your Methodism, 2: Methodism and Us https://t.co/LgvzLPBGWQ https://t.co/uXYPCdZ6JX
Put Some Meaning in Your Methodism, 1: Methodism and Me https://t.co/LZUJYVNC8V https://t.co/MT5biSdGbs
In contrast to what you may have heard, here's why Methodism is not in crisis. https://t.co/204OvsIcwZ
Put Some Meaning in Your Methodism, 4: Unpacking the Method
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New centre signals bright future for manufacturing in Renfrewshire
Chamber News, Member News 27th June 2019
The Lightweight Manufacturing Centre opening in Renfrewshire represents “a significant step in our ambitions to be the beating heart of modern Scottish manufacturing”.
That’s according to Renfrewshire Council Leader Iain Nicolson who joined First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the official centre opening today (Wednesday 26 June 2019).
The centre is the first phase of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) which is being built in the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS).
Based in the Doosan Babcock facilities at Westway Park and run by the University of Strathclyde, the centre helps manufacturing companies to benefit from lightweighting technology.
Lightweighting is already adopted in the high-value automotive and aerospace industries, developing lighter components that provide a range of benefits including improved speed, increased strength, reduced costs and greater sustainability.
“I’m delighted to see the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre officially open and I’m excited by the benefits it can offer to manufacturers big and small,” said Councillor Nicolson.
“Every business is looking for that competitive edge while also recognising the importance of reducing their impact on the environment and I look forward to seeing local businesses benefiting from its expertise over the coming years.”
In partnership with the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, Renfrewshire Council is leading development of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland.
Work starts this summer on the enabling infrastructure to transform a 52-hectare site next to Glasgow Airport into a hub for manufacturing innovation, home to NMIS and a £56million Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
Councillor Nicolson added: “There are already 9000 manufacturing jobs in Renfrewshire and it accounts for more than 20% of our economic output. There’s great potential to grow this even further and the Lightweight Centre opening is a significant step in our ambitions to be the beating heart of modern Scottish manufacturing.
“We have always been a place rich in creativity and innovation and look forward to supporting the development of these major investments, ensuring they bring jobs and opportunities to everyone in Renfrewshire.”
Find out more about the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland.
[Case study] Lightweighting has heavyweight potential for all manufacturers
Michelle Ferguson is Director of Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company, which is a division of Royal British Legion Industries and a Social Enterprise which supports armed forces veterans and others with disabilities. Here she outlines how they have benefited from working with the team at the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre.
“We took over the premises in Erskine Hospital Estate last year and have grown to a team of 17, with our main aim of helping people who face barriers to employment to learn new manufacturing skills, gain confidence and independence.
“We manufacture road and rail signs, specialist engineering cutting and prototypes. We became aware quite early in our manufacturing days that a number of these products had a real impact on the environment, causing thousands of tons to end up in landfill each year, so we wanted to consider a way to prevent this where possible and potentially re-manufacture them.
“As we didn’t have the technological know-how, we approached the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre who put us in touch with the team at the Lightweight Manufacturing Centre.
“I was surprised and delighted that they would give consideration to a Social Enterprise project like ours and they were so welcoming, involving our Operations Manager Andy Russell along with two of our veteran factory operatives Gary Jamieson and William Murray, throughout the full process.
“Everything about them was positive and their expertise has helped us to find a solution which we’re now exploring further. We see it as a game-changer which could have a hugely positive impact on the environment.
“We’re very proud to be based in Renfrewshire, where manufacturing is a real growth industry and embracing new technology and innovation. Many people may come to us initially because we’re a social enterprise, but they stay with us because of the quality products we manufacture.”
https://www.scotlandsbravest.org.uk/
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Artists Back
Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco & The People On tour
Fall 2018 & Spring 2019
Raised in Philadelphia, this is where the foundation of his musical roots in Jazz, Blues ans other musical art forms were born. To hear Joey DeFrancesco today, his music embodies the traditional art form infused with a distinct modern approach, just part of what makes his music unmistakably his own.
"He has dominated the instrument and the field as no one of his generation has." Chicago Tribune
"Mr DeFrancesco is a deeply authoritative musician, a master of rhythmic pocket, and of the custom of stomping bass lin beneath chords and riffs". New York Times
Joey DeFrancesco's emergence in the 1980s marked the onset of a musical renaissance. Organ jazz had all but gone into hibernation from the mid 70s to the mid 80s until DeFrancesco reignited the flame with his vintage Hammond organ and Leslie speaker cabinet. The son of "Papa" John DeFrancesco, an organist himself, the younger DeFrancesco remembers playing as early as four-years-old. Soon after, his father began bringing him to gigs in Philadelphia, sitting in with legendary players like Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones, who quickly recognized his talent and enthusiasm. With a natural gift for music, DeFrancesco also swiftly picked up on the trumpet after a touring stint with Miles Davis as one of the two youngest players ever recruited for any of Davis' ensembles.
DeFrancesco has recorded and/or toured with his own groups as well as numerous renowned artists that include Ray Charles, Diana Krall, Nancy Wilson, George Benson, James Moody, John Scofield, Bobby Hutcherson, Jimmy Cobb, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, David Sanborn and many more. The three time Grammy Award-nominee, with more than 30 recordings as a leader under his belt, has received countless Jazz Journalist Association Awards and other accolades worldwide, including being inducted into the inaugural Hammond Organ Hall of Fame in 2014, the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame in 2016 as well as topping the Critics Polls in DownBeat Magazine eleven times over the past fifteen years and the Readers Polls every year since 2005. DeFrancesco also hosts a weekly program on SiriusXM Radio's Real Jazz channel titled "Organized".
2018 sees DeFrancesco touring in support of his Grammy nominated record, "Project Freedom".
New Album Joey Defrancesco & Van Morrison "You're Driving Me Crazy" April 27th (Legacy Recordings) Le 27 Avril 2018 Van Morrison joined forces with Joey DeFrancesco for his 39th album "You're Driving Me Crazy", on Legacy Recordings. Going...
L'agenda à venir de l'artiste
© Copyright 2013 Renko Productions - All Rights Reserved - Legal
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Joe Addison Joins GIADA Executive Board
By Savannah Tribune | on September 13, 2017
The Georgia Independent Automobile Dealers Association, better known in the used car industry as GIADA, is a not-for-profit industry trade association that has been the voice of Georgia’s independent auto dealers since 1955. GIADA is committed to representing, educating, and informing Georgia’s independent motor vehicle dealers. As the country’s largest IADA, GIADA can certainly attribute much of its success & esteem to the 43 dedicated volunteers that serve as Board Members for the association, which maintains around 2,500 members annually while consistently advocating for all 4,500+ licensed dealers in the state. These delicate responsibilities, which range from compliance education to legislative action, requires equal parts devotion & organization. GIADA’s Executive Officers who carry much of this weight, are nominated by their peers for these leadership roles which help to drive this very lucrative industry. This year, local car dealer from Joe Addison Motors, Inc., Joe Addison has been designated as the association’s Sr. Vice President-at-Large. GIADA would like to give a warm welcome & special thank you for Joe’s dedicated time & service to go towards the betterment of our industry for dealers and consumers alike.
More From Front Page Go To The Front Page Section
Carver State Bank Welcomes The Consortium of Doctors
Anatolia Tile + Stone Announce Savannah Expansion
Greenbriar Celebrates 70th Anniversary With 5K Walk
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Trying to sound sexier? Sorry, guys, you just can’t do it
By Will Parker on April 14, 2014 in Humans, News
A series of experiments by researchers at Albright College suggests that men cannot intentionally make their voices sound more sexy or attractive, while women have little trouble increasing their vocal allure. The research, appearing in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, examined the patterns that emerge when men and women intentionally modify their voices to project […]
Male Scientists Not So Manly
By Will Parker on October 22, 2004 in News
A survey of academics at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom has found that male scientists typically have high levels of the female hormone estrogen. The levels of estrogen recorded are more usual in women than men, who normally have higher levels of the male hormone testosterone. The study suggests that these unusual […]
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Hawk Raised by Bald Eagles
Do Bloodworms Bite?
Underwater Explosions at 120k frames per second
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Business as usual: MD State Department of Education defends its digital curriculum, instead of our children's health
Maryland's landmark classroom screen safety law went into effect July 1, 2018. Passed unanimously in the House and Senate, and swiftly signed by Governor Larry Hogan, the bill establishes a state mandate to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE): consult with the Maryland Department of Health and develop Health and Safety Best Practices for Digital Devices to protect both public and private school children from the well-documented health risks posed by daily classroom digital device use.
However, MSDE has instead continued its established pattern of ignoring the serious health impacts of digital device use and assigned its classroom technology proponents, not MSDE student health experts, to draft these critical digital device best practices.
The following letter was written to the Maryland Board of Education President, Dr. Justin Hartings, and the other Board members, asking that they intercede to correct the situation, and make sure that MSDE student health experts are included in drafting protections for our children.
The letter includes the response from MSDE's staff when asked why student health experts are not involved in this landmark effort to protect students from epidemic myopia, obesity, addiction, sleeplessness, anxiety and depression - all of which are associated with the schools' demand for ever more digital device use.
Suffice it to say, it's business as usual in Maryland right now. Advocates for children's health and safety should contact their elected officials, the Maryland State Board of Education and Governor Hogan's office. A review of this process is desperately needed.
A practical guide to classroom screen safety best practices follows below; it has been provided to Maryland Department of Health, to MSDE and to the State Board of Education. Let's hope that this landmark effort does not get whitewashed and a meaningless set of best practices is offered instead.
As it stands now, MSDE is promising a computer safety video, produced by Maryland Public Television (MPT) - the same people who promote ever more screen use at school and at home. Interestingly, MPT is responsible for professional development training for Maryland teachers; MPT and PBS are among the biggest proponents for the schools' digital agenda.
Hardly the health advocacy that the Maryland General Assembly had in mind when the lawmakers unanimously passed this critical effort to protect our children.
Ongoing research is shared routinely on the Twitter account, @screensandkids. Please follow that account for the latest developments on Maryland's screen safety law as well.
Dear Dr. Hartings and Members of the Board,
I am writing to request that a recent Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) staff assignment is reviewed and corrected, to ensure that MSDE is appropriately fulfilling its legal obligations to implement HB1110: "Health and Safety Best Practices for Digital Devices," and to address the current appearance of impropriety as well.
The irrefutable public health threats associated with digital device use by children convinced the General Assembly to pass HB1110 during the last legislative session. The law requires MSDE to consult with the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) and draft health and safety best practices by June 1, 2019, to be presented to the local school districts by July 1, 2019.
The lawmakers recognized that as a consequence of using the schools' digital devices every day (and night, for studying), Maryland students are at risk for serious health problems. For example, the negative impacts of daily digital device use increase students' risk for myopia, obesity, sleeplessness, anxiety and addiction.
The bill was supported by the Maryland State Medical Association (MedChi), the Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Prevent Blindness, the Mental Health Association of Maryland and the Maryland Occupational Therapy Association, in addition to several pediatric specialists and child health advocacy groups nationwide.
"Educational" applications equally hazardous
The fundamental understanding expressed by the medical community in its support of the legislation centers on the use of the equipment itself, not on the content - in short, "educational" applications pose the same degree of physical health risks to children as any other use of digital equipment. Practitioners describe this situation as a public health issue facing our children, at the hands of the schools.
With unanimous support in both the House of Delegates and the Senate, and a swift signature from Governor Hogan, this new law establishes a clear state mandate: MSDE must protect Maryland students from the known health hazards associated with the schools' digital devices by drafting health and safety best practices.
However, MSDE has recently assigned its leading digital learning proponents - rather than student health experts - to draft the health and safety best practices for digital devices. This choice casts serious doubt on the Department's commitment to protecting the health of students or faithfully implementing the law. Rather, the Department now appears more interested in protecting its own digital curriculum than it is, the health and safety of Maryland students.
Last month, I met with MSDE administrators who were originally identified as project staff members for the creation of best practices. I was assured that the health concerns which instigated the law would be adequately addressed by school health experts. Now I'm told that the administrators and staff with whom I met have been replaced by leaders of the digital learning initiatives.
In a conversation last Wednesday (October 24th) with the Department spokesperson, no explanation was offered for the transfer of responsibility from the MSDE division that routinely handles school health matters, to the digital curriculum division.
When I questioned the change in oversight for these critical student health concerns, the spokesperson responded, "MSDE teaches; that's what we do." He continued, "The Department of Health is responsible for the health of children." He saw "no issue" with the state's leading technology curriculum proponents drafting MSDE's student health and safety best practices for digital devices.
This situation is intolerable and indefensible.
The Governor and the General Assembly have given MSDE a mandate to correct serious public health threats posed to our growing children through the schools' demand for digital device use every day. In response, the Department has shown a complete disregard for student health, and assigned unqualified staff - who also happen to be the most influential MSDE digital device advocates - to carry out this critical effort.
The spokesperson confirmed this dynamic on the phone with me, verbalizing that classroom health issues are not among MSDE's priorities; indeed, he suggested that MDH alone was responsible for addressing student health risks, while the focus of his Department was singularly curricular. "I don't see an issue here at all," he said.
The notion that MDH has become responsible for implementing this law has been voiced by other MSDE staff as well, which implies an abdication of responsibility.
While MSDE's digital platform may be the Department's sole priority, Dr. Hartings, it is hardly its sole responsibility, especially within the specific implementation of this law.
Long-standing Responsibility for Student Health
The schools' obligation to student health issues is long-standing and far-reaching, from vaccinations, mental health, nutrition, dental health, vision and hearing screenings and safe playgrounds, to sexually transmitted diseases and limiting screen time for child care centers, to name just a few. And while the MSDE spokesperson claimed only one staff member was medically proficient and "couldn't be everywhere at once," the fact is, significant numbers of school health staff are employed by MSDE.
By failing to include its own medical professionals in this critical effort to mitigate serious classroom health threats to Maryland students, the Department has failed to embrace the gravity of the physical and emotional risks its digital equipment is imposing, while it ignores its responsibilities as defined by statute.
It is more than disheartening to hear the Department spokesperson disavow responsibility for student health; it speaks to negligence. The Department has both a social contract and a legal obligation to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for all Maryland students. The sole responsibility for implementation of HB1110 is legally that of MSDE, not MDH, which is required to serve in a consulting capacity only.
Department has known about digital device health risks
The Department has been well aware of the risks to students for years, and has taken no initiative to protect our children. The negative health impacts were brought to the attention of the Department in 2015; the legislation was originally introduced to the General Assembly in 2016. The Department was made aware that OSHA has regulated the daily use of computers for decades to protect adult users from avoidable harm. State testimony that MSDE knew about also revealed that the equipment manufacturers themselves provide extensive safety warnings which explicitly inform consumers that "serious bodily harm" can ensue if safety warnings go unheeded.
The very MSDE staff now assigned to lead the health and safety best practices effort are the same who neglected to perform any due diligence for safety risks associated with classroom devices in the first place, and ignored the well-documented health warnings that have been published and broadcast in medical journals, radio, television, newspapers, and online media and shared in state testimony. They instead continued to encourage increased use of hazardous equipment, without any regard to our children's health, which is what prompted the introduction of the original legislation.
Now it is law. The Department should finally roll up its sleeves, get all of its health experts together, and work with MDH to get our kids the protections they need and are legally owed - at last. The serious nature of the ailments related to the schools' equipment dictate that qualified MSDE student health staff are part of the solution. Our children's health needs defending, not MSDE's curriculum. It is essential that the health and safety best practices for digital devices provide meaningful protections to ensure our children are not physically or emotionally damaged by their schools' demands.
Mandate from Maryland General Assembly
MSDE must carry out the will of the people as unanimously voiced by every member of the General Assembly and the Governor. The prolonged appearance of impropriety will only add to the public's significant distrust for MSDE, a distrust which is guaranteed to expand if this situation isn't corrected. And while the legislation does not require it, the creation of any sound public policy, of course, requires input from stakeholders. Interim updates on the progress of this landmark student health initiative would also serve the public interest.
I am attaching substantial documentation to help you better understand the serious health risks now threatening Maryland students. I've shared this research with leadership in both MDH and MSDE and included specific suggestions for mitigations as well. Ongoing research is also posted on my Twitter account. It has well over 500 followers, that include JAMA Pediatrics, the Pediatric Academic Society, the USC Roski Eye Institute, AAP leadership as well as national education leaders and national parent groups - many of whom are watching this Maryland policy-making, with a hope of replicating it in their states.
I hope I can look forward to a response from the Board, as little meaningful communication from MSDE appears to be forthcoming, despite several attempts to discuss this with members of its administration.
A GUIDE TO CLASSROOM SCREEN SAFETY
provided to the Maryland Department of Health, the Maryland State Department of Education, and the Maryland Board of Education, Fall, 2018
Background Notes:
Assumptions regarding educational versus recreational device use must be addressed and dispelled to ensure that teachers, administrators and parents recognize the fundamental medical hazards posed by the devices themselves, independent of the content. "Educational" applications are just as damaging to a child's vision, for instance, as any other content.
Growing children are not just small adults; they are developing in specific stages and at different rates, without a full set of adult physical or psychological capabilities. As such, children are more vulnerable to the hazards posed by devices. Students will suffer more serious damage due to those vulnerabilities, because the related health risks are cumulative and the schools are demanding use of devices at ever earlier ages.
Students using devices in an unsafe way will likely suffer a greater variety of long-term co-morbidities as well. For instance, online homework is associated with melatonin suppression, leading to sleeplessness, which contributes to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Severe myopia is associated with a higher risk of glaucoma, retinal detachment and cataracts later in life.
Because the schools are requiring daily device use from students, starting at a very young age, and continuing throughout these developmentally critical stages, extreme caution should be applied when demanding the use of school equipment - equipment that has been regulated for adults by OSHA since the 1990s.
New technologies poised for classroom use - including virtual reality tools and applications - will bring even higher levels of risk to Maryland students. It is within this context of increased digital exposures that policy makers must make responsible, well-informed, regulatory and purchase decisions to protect students from known - and future - classroom hazards.
The burden of safe hardware configurations appropriately rests with state vendors who are aware that laptops are not designed to be used as full-time workstations. Therefore, according to the manufacturers, the devices must be retrofit with peripherals to establish a safe work environment for students. Those peripherals are necessary to ensure the ergonomic safety of all students, regardless of age or height.
They may include a mechanism for raising the monitor to the appropriate eye level, an external keyboard, and an external mouse. Peripherals that ensure student safety should be part of any future purchases, but do not represent a significant cost to the state. Simple, low-cost, adjustable kickstands, for instance are readily available.
MEEC can certainly require appropriate configurations when writing its RFPs. Demanding safety from all vendors will go a long way in making the bids more competitive.
Finally, a theme runs through most of the documented medical hazards posed to students by these devices, and is echoed in the suggestions for mitigating many of those risks: keep the school's digital devices at school, and stop requiring students to take them home and use them at night.
The cost savings that the state will realize in reduced maintenance, repair, and replacement costs will be astronomical (the cost for a carrying case alone is between $35-$50 per student). Keeping the devices at school will also increase classroom productivity because the devices will be intact, operable, charged and ready for use in class when needed.
Many of the documented health risks to Maryland students posed by daily use of the schools' digital devices are listed below, with suggestions to mitigate those risks. I have omitted references to radiation and wi-fi routers, since ample documentation is already compiled by MDH. I have also omitted any reference to cell phone use as those devices are not school-issued.
Extensive additional medical references, studies and reports are available on my website www.screensandkids.us. The links contained herein are provided for your quick access to some of the more definitive or recent scientific evidence, underscoring the need for the best practices you are tasked to develop.
RISKS TO STUDENTS' EYE HEALTH AND VISION
I. Myopia (refractive error; nearsightedness)
- epidemic, nationally and world-wide; use of screens recognized internationally as major cause
- exacerbated by fixed, near work and lack of exposure to the sun
- genetic predisposition among Asian, African-American and Hispanic populations
- developmental predisposition among 11-15 year olds
- often undetected due to lack of proper eye exams
- blurs vision; interfering with academic, athletic abilities
- progressive; can lead to blinding conditions such as glaucoma, retinal detachment and cataracts
SUGGESTED MITIGATION:
- Schedule device use within grade levels to ensure routine breaks from screens on a daily basis. For instance, when device use is required in the first period, it must take place in the first 20 minutes of class. The next 20 minutes would be used without screens. Then in 2nd period, device use would also take place during the first 20 minutes, followed by a break. Third period, the same first 20 minutes. Each grade level team could determine what part of the class they would prefer, as long as the use and breaks were consistent throughout the school day.
- Increase recess and outdoor classes. Sunshine has proven to be a key factor in the mitigation of myopia. It stimulates dopamine in the brain, which helps to curb the elongation of the eye that is taking place when the child grows. That elongation helps to create the refractive error.
- Work toward increased eye exams - not just vision screening - for all students. The schools may be unwittingly exacerbating pre-existing conditions; one third of all students needs a comprehensive eye exam.
- Begin public health information campaign to alert families to risks at school and at home from excessive screen time; strongly encourage more breaks and more outdoor play.
- Develop classroom posters that remind teachers and students to take breaks; duplicate posters as flyers to be used at home.
- Develop classroom contracts similar to those needed for science class that outlines for the teacher, student and parent what the risks and mitigating practices are regarding the safe use of the school's digital devices (emulate the approach used for lab equipment).
II.Retinal Damage from Blue Light Exposure; associated sleeplessness
- Hazardous blue light is absorbed more by children because their lenses have yet to develop the protective pigmentation that provides adult eyes a bit of protection from retinal cell destruction caused by blue light, emitted by digital device screens.
- The light travels to the back of the eye - the macula - and the process permanently destroys the cells needed to see. This process has been recognized as part of aging. It has been called age-related macular degeneration or AMD. Today, signs of macular degeneration are being seen in much younger patients as a result of screen use.
- Blue light suppresses the production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep. Sleeplessness is directly associated with anxiety, depression, poor academic performance, and obesity. Obesity is epidemic among children today and leads to heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes. That's why the American Heart Association published a statement this summer calling for screen time limits for children.
- Blue light filters should be installed on every school-issued digital device and made a basic requirement for all future RFPs.
- No homework should be assigned on devices. Schools cannot control the time which students use the schools' equipment, and therefore, could be contributing to the interruption of critically important healthy sleep patterns, since many students are doing homework late in the evening.
- To protect students from the serious risks posed by blue light exposure, the use of screens in the classroom should be limited to actual school work; "free play" or "quiet time" should not be spent using devices.
III. Computer Vision Syndrome & Dry Eye Disease
- Children (and adults) blink 67% less often when using digital devices, which has caused a significant rise in dry eye disease symptoms in younger patients. Severe dry eye can permanently damage the cornea.
- Dry eye disease and computer vision syndrome are closely related since the symptoms can overlap: red, scratchy eyes, blurred vision, headaches and tearing.
- The student's discomfort can interfere with academic performance since the child finds it difficult to concentrate. Moreover, if children are accustomed to experiencing this discomfort, many will find it "normal," and not report it to an adult.
- Sore necks, back pain and shoulder discomfort are also related to computer vision syndrome, as those muscles can also affect a student's vision.
- Undetected, unreported chronic eye discomfort can be a sign of more serious conditions and permanently damage children's eyes and vision.
- Adhere to manufacturers' safety guidelines for safe workstation settings to include monitor height, monitor angle, and proper settings for glare and contrast (and audio settings - which are often ignored, and necessary to protect students' hearing).
- Review classroom seating and overhead lighting to minimize glare and reflection from windows or other light sources.
- Ensure proper ergonomic posture among students; require proper posture to avoid muscular discomfort.
- Train teachers and school nurses to recognize the signs of discomfort when children are using devices, and develop policies to offer paper alternatives whenever possible.
- Teach children to recognize and report their own symptoms of dry eye or digital eye strain.
- Make these issues part of the overall public education component (classroom posters and letters to the home) for digital device screen safety.
- In all cases, encourage parents to provide a full eye exam for their children and establish a policy of uniform, scheduled breaks from the screens throughout each school day.
There are many additional health and safety concerns that must be addressed in your deliberations, chief among them:
- fundamental cultural biases within the school climate that encourage ever-increasing screen use
- little awareness of screen addiction; it is exacerbated by the constant demand that students use devices regardless of healthier alternatives that would serve the same purpose, and also made worse with the increase of educational "gamification"
- little understanding of the associations between screen use and mental health issues: anxiety and depression are sharply rising and suicides have tripled among teenage girls in recent years
A clear understanding of the educational benefits and health risks posed by these devices must emerge so that they are used to their best advantage, without harming students in the process, visually, physically, or psychologically.
Business as usual: MD State Department of Educatio...
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Meet Ann Tatlock
Ann Tatlock is managing editor of Heritage Beacon, the historical fiction imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She is a novelist and children’s book author, and formerly worked as a writer and editor with Decision magazine. She and her husband have one daughter and live in Raleigh, North Carolina.
I largely write historical novels because I’m captivated by American life in the 20th century—particularly 1900 through 1970. This was a time of great progress in our country and around the world, but also of great turmoil and tragedy. These decades offer many fascinating backdrops for stories—the Spanish flu epidemic, the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Civil Rights era—all of which I’ve used in my stories. My research has led me to many inspiring true stories of faith and courage during these times of trial, and I want to capture that same kind of faith and courage in my own characters.
Once Beyond A Time is a historical novel with a twist. That twist places the book in the speculative category as well. I’ve also been known to call the book a non-paranormal paranormal novel. At first glance it looks as though some of the characters are ghosts, but that’s not the case at all. The main characters, the Crane family, move into a house in the mountains of North Carolina in the summer of 1967. They soon discover they’re able to see and speak with residents of the house who lived there in 1916, and who will live there in 2005. The story has to do with time; or rather, God’s timelessness. As the Alpha and the Omega, he stretches from the beginning to the end, unlike humans who occupy only one point in time. I wondered what it would be like if there were a place where all of time is happening at once, and where people could see into time the way God does (though still in a limited way).
The love of story. Stories entertain us, but more than that, they inspire us, touch us, teach us, and help us make sense of a sometimes seemingly senseless world. They also lift us up out of ourselves and allow us to live a thousand lives vicariously, which makes our own life so much richer.
The hardest part is fighting the temptation to compare myself to other authors. Publishing is an industry of numbers—how many books have you sold? How many awards have you won? I don’t want to feel I have to keep up with or do better than anyone else; I simply want to write for the love of story and with the hope of touching the hearts of my readers.
The best part is hearing from my readers and knowing they have been inspired or even changed by one of my stories. I have kept a hard copy of every letter I’ve ever received.
What is the craziest thing you’ve experienced as an author?
Some years ago, a couple of women traveled from Michigan to North Carolina to meet me because they had read and enjoyed my books. I felt honored that they would travel that far to visit with me. When I told my middle-school-aged daughter they were coming, she laughed heartily and said, “They’re coming all that way to meet you?” I had to laugh with her. My daughter saw me for what I was—a simple mom from the ’burbs who happens also to write novels. She tells me I’m the best mom ever, and what she thinks of me as a mother matters more to me than what others think of me as a writer.
Adopting my daughter from China as an infant and watching her grow up to be a beautiful and compassionate young lady. She truly is my pride and joy.
Reading! I don’t go anywhere without a book. My second favorite pastime is hunting for treasures in our local second-hand bookstores so I always have ample provisions for my first favorite pastime.
Yes, I have ten other novels, including I’ll Watch the Moon and Promises to Keep. All my books are listed on my website and on Amazon.
The story I’m working on is another historical-speculative novel. The main character is a young girl whose family belongs to a troupe of Vaudevillians in 1918. Annalise Rycroft is a talented singer who dreams of becoming a star and is driven to succeed–until she has an unexpected face-to-face encounter with three of her favorite fictional characters. Each character has something to tell her, and together they change the direction of her life.
Website: anntatlock.com
Link to book: http://tinyurl.com/ycov3ohw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ann.tatlock.1
Twitter: @AnnTatlock
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-tatlock-a319995/
December 27, 2017 · by Susan Mathis · in Susan's Blog · Tags: Ann Tatlock, historical fiction
Becky Smith says:
Thank you for introducing us to Ann and her books. I look forward to reading them! We would also love for you both to become part of a secret FaceBook page called Heart”wings” if you are interested. We are a group of over 900 ladies who are authors, readers, and others, who pray for each other celebrate birthdays, celebrate book releases, and encourage each other. We also have a Reader’s Nook where authors and readers share reviews, book sales, blogs, etc. Let me know if you are interested, because we would love to add you to our group.
Ann Tatlock says:
Thanks, Becky! I would certainly be interested in your group. Can you send me an invitation on Facebook?
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Bottom/ After many successive album covers with Roger Dean, English progressive rock band Yes instead commissioned Hipgnosis (known for designing album covers for Pink Floyd) to create the artwork for Going For The One (Atlantic, 1977). Yes's return at the height of the punk movement was an unexpectedly successful one. Top/ Billed "The English guys with the big fiddles" in the U.S., Electric Light Orchestra, a.k.a ELO, released their first No. 1 album in the UK, Discovery (Jet Records), in 1979. Typically consisting of pop songs with heavily classical overtones, the LP contained five hit songs including "Shine a Little Love" and "The Diary of Horace Wimp", many of which were heavily influenced by disco.
Blitzkrieg Pop
Real To Real Cacophony
Don't Dream It, Be It
Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
Rock 'n' Roll Damnation
No Problem Orchestra
The Nest That Sailed The Sky
Hello Earth
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
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Teleconferencing will speed up jail evaluations
by Jessie Stensland
Saturday, March 10, 2018 1:30am
Mental health professionals will soon be evaluating inmates at Island County Jail via videoconferencing.
The jail is one of four in the state that were picked to participate in a telehealth pilot program to evaluate how well the technology translates to mental health evaluations, according to David Luxton of the state Office of Forensic Mental Health Services. Snohomish, Yakima and Grays Harbor counties are also participating.
Luxton said the purpose of teleconferencing is to cut down on the time it takes inmates to receive court-ordered competency evaluations from Western State Hospital.
Jail Chief Jose Briones said the wait time has been a real problem at the Island County jail.
“It can take days, weeks or sometimes even months,” he said.
As a result, court cases grind to a halt. Sometimes defendants end up serving more time in jail than their sentences because they were waiting 70-90 days for an evaluation and then waiting additional time for competency restoration, Briones said.
Luxton said the first evaluation through teleconferencing occurred at the Snohomish County jail a few weeks ago and it went well.
The inmate was worried that he was being evaluated by robots through the teleconferencing system, which actually provided the evaluator with a pretty good clue to the state of his mental health, he said.
The Office of Forensic Mental Health Services is a relatively new department within the Department of Social and Health Services.
The purpose of the department, according to its mission statement, “is to lead and manage a system of forensic mental health care that assists the courts and justice system to protect both public safety and the rights of accused mentally ill persons, by providing timely, high quality, and data informed mental health services.”
Teleconferencing mental health evaluations for jail inmates may help the state respond to a court decision commonly referred to as the Trueblood case. In 2015, the U.S. District Court ruled that the state Department of Social and Health Services was violating the rights of inmates suffering from mental health disabilities and ordered the state to complete evaluations within a certain time frame.
The state is fined for every day past the timeline that an inmate waits.
Inmates have to agree to be evaluated through the telehealth program, Briones said, but it could cut down the wait time to just two or three days.
The inmate would sit in front of a large screen and a camera and communicate remotely with a mental health professional.
The technology isn’t new; there are a variety of telehealth tools that connect health providers with patients across the country. Luxton, in fact, worked to set up telehealth systems within the U.S. military.
‘Person of interest’ ID’ed in Camano decapitation murder
Boarding the ‘Holodeck’ in Langley
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Eat Pray Love Movie Review
Title: Eat Pray Love
Directed By: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Julia Roberts, Billy Crudup, Viola Davis, James Franco, Tuva Novotny, Luca Argentero, Richard Jenkins, Javier Bardem, Hadi Subiyanto
Like Glee? Sorry, but this film’s not for you. Despite the fact that Eat Pray Love is directed by the show’s writer-director Ryan Murphy, it’s absolutely nothing like it. It’s got some fantastic music selection, ones that would be nice to hear the William McKinley High School kids revamp, but other than that, Eat Pray Love is exactly the opposite, dreary, no fun and unmemorable. Eat, pray, love? More like eat, pray, snooze.
Julia Roberts stars as Liz, a woman whose life changes after meeting a medicine man named Ketut (Hadi Subiyanto) who predicts she’ll have two marriages, one short and one long. This forces her to recognize the fact that she may very well be in the midst of the short one and ultimately compels her to cut her husband (Billy Crudup) loose. From there she lands in the arms of a young actor (James Franco) and when that doesn’t pan out, she opts to screw it all and go on a yearlong abroad adventure during which she’ll eat, pray and love.
The stateside moments and the eating parts work, it’s the praying and loving portions that come across as pretentious and boring garbage. The success of the New York portion is in large part due to Crudup who seems to be the only one interested in having any fun with his role. Viola Davis gets a few laughs as Liz’s stoic yet caring friend Delia, but generally looks like she’d rather take a nap than have anything to do with this project. The same goes for Franco as Liz’s fling, David, whose eyelids are so heavy he looks as though he could nod off any second. Sleepy cast aside, at this point you don’t totally despise Liz, the film is rather well paced and you’re ready to get on with the show.
Roberts’ co-stars lighten up quite a bit on the first leg of Liz’s trip, Italy. This is basically the portion of the film where Liz stuffs her face and Murphy manages to pull off a cooking show-style vibe; it’s almost fun to see the next delicacy that’s laid out in front of her. Plus, she’s got a nice bunch of friends to hang out with, weakly developed, but still amiable characters. The deepest she gets with these folks is having a heart-to-heart with new pal Sofi (Tuva Novotny) when she refuses to eat a pizza because she’s gained too much weight.
Not that Eat Pray Love has been anymore than passable so far, but it completely hits a wall the moment Liz steps foot in India. Not even a mildly intriguing Richard Jenkins can save this portion from being drowned in droning hums, chanting and praying. He makes for a good adversary, rather harshly urging Liz to get out of her head, but it’s nearly impossible to appreciate in the midst of parts about some meaningless connection Liz develops with a young Indian girl and way too much meditating.
Film producer and director best known for her work in movies such as FaceTime, Trevor, and The Professor. She has worked as an online movie blogger and reporter for sites such as CinemaBlend.com, ComingSoon.net, Shockya, and MTV's Movies Blog.
aforeverfan
I’m still going to see ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, because I loved the book so much. It is true that Liz was very selfish when she realized that not only did she not want to have a baby, but, that she also did not want to be married any more. She did the only thing she felt she could do and that was to tell her husband the truth, which in turn caused the divorce. But it would have been a whole lot worse had she decided to stay married and have a baby once she realized that that was not what she wanted for her life!
Zach Galifianakis Is All Smiles In The New Due Date Poster
Animal Kingdom Movie Review
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Confronting a Different World View: ALLIES Joint Research Project in Japan by Conor Friedmann
July.18.2019
Public Works by Colin Steele (F’3G)
Art and Culture at the Middle East Institute by Miranda Macaulay Miller (A’20)
Your Place, My Place: Investing in the Strength of Nairobi’s Informal Settlements by Geoffrey Tam (F’20)
China in the Indo-Pacific by Akash Mishra (A’22)
BUILD Latin America
BUILD Latin America; Empower
BUILD: Latin America
Bendetson Public Diplomacy Initiative
Civil-Military
EPIIC Reflections
Energy Politics: Europe and Russia
Global Leadership
IGL Alumni
IGL Community
Jean Mayer Award
Martel Scholars
NIMEP Morocco
Power Struggles
TUPIT
Tufts SURGE
by tuftsigl
This summer I had the opportunity to participate in the ALLIES Joint Research Project along with three other Tufts students – Daniel Lewis (A’20), Nicole Bardasz (A’20) and Michael Olesberg (A’19). We were accompanied by three cadets from the U.S. Military Academy and three midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy.
Spending three weeks in Japan, we stayed mainly in Tokyo to conduct meetings, but also visited cultural and historical sites in Kyoto and Hiroshima, such as Fushimi Inari-Taisha and the Hiroshima Peace Museum. Our purpose was, and is, to study various aspects of Japanese Civil-Military relations, with topics ranging from the Japanese Government’s rhetoric surrounding Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution to the possibility of nuclear proliferation in Japan. I am researching the influence of public opinion on Japan’s Self-Defense Force capabilities and acceptable actions, often two different discussions in Japan.
For the entire team, this trip proved to be a very enlightening, challenging, and fun experience that gave us the opportunity to begin to learn how to research a topic. Through our meetings and cultural excursions, we came away from this trip with a more informed perspective on the intricacies of Japanese society and defense policy. Through our time in Japan, we met with academics at universities such as the University of Tokyo and the National Graduate Institute of Security Studies (GRIPS), journalists at The Wall Street Journal, experts at think-tanks such as the Research Institute for Peace and Security (RIPS) and the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), and government officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the House of Representatives.
My most memorable meeting, though, was our experience with an official at the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan. The meeting was scheduled about ten minutes after our meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so we immediately found ourselves (a group of 11) racing through the Chiyoda and Roppongi neighborhoods of Tokyo. We passed the Ministry of Defense and then the National Diet Building. When we finally arrived at the building, the Office was underwhelming and not what we were expecting. Something felt wrong. We attempted to look for an entrance, and when we did, we were immediately confronted by a team of security guards, none of who spoke any English, and none of us spoke any Japanese. After a bit of incomprehensible negotiation by both sides, I called my contact at the Prime Minister’s office who had set up the meeting. He spoke to the guards via my cell phone, an aide was sent down for us, and we were led through security, right into a parking garage. We had arrived at the backdoor—the employee entrance.
Once through security, we convened in a conference room, in which the official with whom we were meeting had laid out Shinzo Abe promotional materials. Operation Tomadachi was front and center, and ‘Abenomics’ was on full display. This was already the most interesting meeting we had been to in Japan. As we began asking the official our questions, we realized we were going to get much more than we ever could have expected. The official, as we suspected, was very favorable towards Abe and the LDP, including its very right-wing, conservative message. The official, though, did not give us the average stump speech we had been expecting. We received stern answers to tough questions (I can’t disclose the answers in this blog post, as the official requested that he not be publicly cited). We asked about the future of the SDF, his perceptions on the Japanese people’s opinions of the military, and how the Prime Minister communicates his message on Article 9 and the SDF.
The meeting lasted roughly 90 minutes, but could have lasted well into the night. Yet in some ways it did. Following the meeting, our group had heated discussions about the topics we had just encountered. Though a bit fiery at times, especially for my liking, our discussion following that meeting was the most in-depth, thought-provoking, and perception-challenging of the trip. The answers we had gotten were distinctly of a conservative Japanese worldview, quite different from our American-centered perceptions. It was then that I realized just how important a trip like ours was. Our world views were being challenged. We were forced to think in a different mindset. This at first made many of us uncomfortable, but we were all able to grow to overcome that challenge. This ability to encounter a worldview opposite my own and truly acknowledge that view and confront it is a skill I am excited to bring back to Tufts, something I know the other students are excited to do as well.
As of now, we are all back home for the summer. We are all completing our portions of our paper for this fall. While challenging at times, the Joint Research Project has been an amazing experience and one I’ll never forget. I’ve learned to think critically about issues I’ve never before confronted, and to truly see the world from a different perspective.
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Search the full text of this book:
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Humanitarian Aid Work
Carlos Martín Beristain. Foreword by M. Brinton Lykes
Paper 2008 | ISBN 9780812220537 | $26.50s | Outside the Americas £20.99
View table of contents and excerpt
"An important guide . . . which describes what often takes years of experience in the field to understand. . . . Many of the concerns addressed and advocated, if put into practice, will have a lasting impact on the populations the humanitarian aid worker seeks to help."—International Social Work
"Drawing on over a decade of field experiences in Latin America as well as a burgeoning literature about the psychological and social effects of war and disasters, Martín Beristain developed this volume at the interface of theory and practice as one response to these complex social and political realities. Humanitarian Aid Work offers an excellent introduction to those seeking to respond to the complex social, political, cultural, and linguistic diversities within any humanitarian crisis."—from the Foreword
Throughout the world, there is a rising need for humanitarian aid. Enormous resources are being devoted to it; more organizations carry out cooperative projects; and emergency actions have grown to unprecedented levels. However, such expansion has not always meant that relief has been more adequately provided to victims, nor has it always had positive effects in reconstructing the social fabric.
This book helps us to understand how people respond to traumatic experiences in extraordinary circumstances and to appreciate the social and cultural context in which these responses occur. Carlos Martín Beristain offers a psychosocial approach that advocates a cultural sensitivity for humanitarian action and the work of collaboration, assistance, and accompaniment. He suggests alternative ideas for social reconstruction in such areas as prevention, care of victims, collective memory, respect for human rights, and help to the helpers.
Humanitarian Aid Work offers a constructive approach to the problems of groups affected by violence, catastrophe, or emergency situations. It is intended as a critical manual for aid workers. Academic research in psychology and the social sciences—as well as the author's experience in Central and South America—has been summarized to yield clear, action-oriented guidance. Research results from Europe, Africa, and Asia are also incorporated.
Carlos Martín Beristain is a physician and specialist in psychology.
View your shopping cart | Browse Penn Press titles in Human Rights, Law, Political Science | Join our mailing list
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Search Results for "Monster Energy NASCAR Cup"
Showing 10 of 185 results for "Monster Energy NASCAR Cup"
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Happy Harvick, Jones, Byron and Menard to Join Pre-Race Fan Q&A Session
Red-hot Kevin Harvick, winner of three of the first four races thus far in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, along with young guns Erik Jones and William Byron, and veteran Paul Menard make up a quartet scheduled to take part in the Pre-Race Fan Question & Answer Session prior to Talladega Superspeedway’s GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, April 29.
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Camp for free in 3 different areas at Talladega Superspeedway with a Sunday Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ticket!
“Two for $88” Dale Jr. Package Returns for GEICO 500
Talladega Superspeedway’s popular “Two for $88” Dale Jr. ticket package is back for the May 7 GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in celebration of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s triumphant return Sunday, Feb. 19 after qualifying second for next weekend’s season-opening Daytona 500.
Related Topics: Talladega Superspeedway, 2017 GEICO 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Bye Bye Winner’s Circle! Bobby Allison Starts Demolition of 'Dega's Gatorade Victory Lane
Earlier this week, Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch (left) and four-time Talladega winner and leader of the famed “Alabama Gang” Bobby Allison kicked off Phase II of Transformation –The Talladega Superspeedway Infield Project presented by Graybar by ripping up some of the checkered concrete floor of Gatorade Victory Lane.
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NASCAR Announces Format Changes for 2017
Increasing the sense of urgency and emphasizing aggressive racing and strategy, NASCAR, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, announced today an enhanced competition format that will be implemented in all three of its national series – the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR XFINITY Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Related Topics: Talladega Superspeedway, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR XFINITY Series
1000Bulbs.com Joins Talladega Superspeedway Family with the 1000Bulbs.com 500
The future of Talladega Superspeedway became brighter today. 1000Bulbs.com, the award-winning, internet-based lighting retailer recognized for growth, innovation and customer satisfaction, announced that the track's anticipated Fall NASCAR Playoff event (October 14) will be known as the 1000Bulbs.com 500.
Related Topics: Talladega Superspeedway, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Kids VIP Experience Presented by Children’s of Alabama
Talladega Superspeedway and Children's of Alabama, a not-for-profit medical center that specializes in medical care for ill and injured children, announced today that the track's Kids VIP programming will be known as the Kids VIP Experience Presented by Children's of Alabama. Loaded with an array of family-friendly activities for children 12-and-under, the first Kids VIP Experience Presented by Children's of Alabama of the season at Talladega will be prior to the running of the GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, April 29.
Related Topics: Talladega Superspeedway, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, 2018 GEICO 500, Pre Race Pit Pass
Captain Christopher T. Martin to Present Talladega Superspeedway's Freedom Trophy
A staple at Talladega Superspeedway, the patriotic Freedom Trophy will be presented to the winner of the April 29 GEICO 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race by United States Navy Commanding Officer, Captain Christopher T. Martin.
Elliott Ready for an Even Better “Home” Talladega Experience Upon Return in October
After Chase Elliott recently captured his first Talladega Superspeedway Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in the GEICO 500 (April 28), the second-generation driver from nearby Dawsonville, GA donned a construction hard hat and sledgehammer in Gatorade Victory Lane, signaling the beginning of demolition to part of the track’s infield to make way for the new, incredible Talladega Garage Experience, which will debut in October during the NASCAR Playoff doubleheader weekend.
Talladega Superspeedway’s Lynch Named Recipient of Coveted Buddy Shuman Award
Longtime Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch (right) was named the recipient of the coveted Buddy Shuman Award Wednesday during the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers Awards at the Encore Theater of the Wynn Las Vegas, part of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion’s Week to celebrate Joey Logano’s 2018 title season.
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The running back started to the left, then cut back to the right and had just broken into the open field when the television screen went dark – along with all of the lights in the house. The blizzard had been causing intermittent power outages, but it soon became apparent that electricity would not be returning tonight.
Steven immediately focused his attention on the highest priority task. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled around the house in search of a portable radio. He was convalescing at Amy’s house and was still figuring out where things were located. Ten minutes later, he was in possession of a state of the art boom box, circa 1985. The radio was even equipped with dual cassette decks (for easy dubbing, according to the manufacturer). Steven popped open the battery compartment and saw that he would need 4 D batteries.
His battery search bore fruit when Steven stepped into Amy’s “game room”. The room held dozens of board games, puzzles, golf clubs, a croquet set – anything you needed to have a good time. Steven could spot a cache of batteries on the top shelf of a closet in the room. He put all of his weight on his strong leg and reached above his head. He was able to reach the batteries, but they came down in a less orderly fashion than he would have preferred – the box of batteries conked him on the head on the way to the floor.
Steven grabbed a handful of D cell batteries and quickly had the radio tuned to the game. He looked around the room and saw that the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle had been laid out on coffee table in the middle of the room. Amy was crazy about puzzles – there were probably a hundred of them in the closet.
Steven decided to take a shot at the puzzle while he listened to the game. He took a seat on the floor and positioned his legs under the table. He began the task by separating out the outside pieces.
Two hours later, the football game was over – and Steven was becoming increasingly frustrated at the puzzle. He had only been able to put together bits and pieces of the outside of the puzzle. He had assembled some interior pieces, but he struggled to figure out how they went together. He had one chunk that pictured snow capped mountains, other pieces that showed a herd of elephants, and another portion an amusement park in a state of neglect – with roller coaster tracks that had begun to break into pieces and fall back to the ground. Other pieces didn’t seem to fit at all.
Steven was lost in his thoughts as was started when he heard the sound of a cough coming from the doorway. Amy had returned from work.
Steven smiled and looked up at Amy. “Finally, someone who can answer the great mystery of the universe. What the heck is this puzzle supposed to be.”
Amy laughed before responding. “Oh, dear. I hope you haven’t wasted much time. Those are all the extra pieces I found on the floor of the closet when I did spring cleaning. You’d got parts of at least a dozen puzzles.”
http://www.thesoapboxers.com/puzzled/
One Man’s Dream How To Reduce The Stress in your Life
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Tag Archives: Winchester College
Saved to serve
Posted on August 6, 2018 by Peter
The obituaries that are printed in national newspapers provide a brief summary of a person’s life. How did the person spend their life? What were their main priorities and achievements? It is a good for each of us to ask ourselves what we are doing with the precious life God has given us? I recently read a short account of the life of Michael Lapage, who died in July at the age of 94. His father was the vicar of Shaftesbury and Michael went to Monkton Coombe School, near Bath, where he became an accomplished rower.
In 1942 Michael left school and, deferring his place at Selwyn College, Cambridge, volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm. After training he joined 807 Naval Air Squadron and flew Seafire planes from the escort carrier Hunter. Later he flew reconnaissance and air-to-ground strafing missions during the Allied landings in southern France. Towards the end of the war he was deployed to the Far East where he was nearly shot down while on patrol off the coast of Malaya. The tailpiece of his plane was seriously damaged, but he managed to get back safely to his carrier. Michael knew that he could easily have lost his life that day.
After the war was over, Michael went to Cambridge University and was a member of the crew that won the 1948 Boat Race. That same year he rowed for Britain in the 1948 Olympic Games in London and won a silver medal. In 1950 he won a bronze medal in the, then, Empire Games. In 2012, at the age of 88, he carried the Olympic torch in the relay for the 2012 London Olympic Games!
After leaving university Michael taught at Winchester College until, in the late 1950s, he went to Kenya to serve as a missionary. He was a schools’ inspector during the Mau Mau uprising and was later ordained in Kenya as a minister of the Gospel. Michael’s Christian faith, and the experience of nearly being shot down in 1945, convinced him that he had been “saved to serve”.
Michael’s life was shaped partly by the challenges of the days through which he lived but mainly by his love for his saviour Jesus Christ. He knew that Jesus came from heaven to this earth not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. So Michael gladly dedicated his life to serving others and to telling them the good news about Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us.
Posted in Thought | Tagged 2012 London Olympic Games, 807 Naval Air Squadron, achievements, Allied landings, Bath, Boat Race, Britain, bronze medal, Cambridge University, Christian faith, Empire Games, escort carrier, Far East, Fleet Air Arm, France, God, good news, heaven, Jesus Christ, Kenya, Love, Malaya, Mau Mau, Michael Lapage, Monkton Coombe School, national newspapers, obituaries, Olympic Games, Olympic Torch, priorities, rowing, saved, Seafire plane, Selwyn College, serve, Shaftesbury, silver medal, Vicar, War, Winchester College | Leave a reply
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Joyner Lucas Tickets
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Moda Center at the Rose Quarter
Tacoma Dome
Pepsi Center
Chesapeake Energy Arena
Smoothie King Center
VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
Amalie Arena
BB&T Center
PNC Arena
Hampton Coliseum
XL Center
Capital One Arena
PPG Paints Arena
Bankers Life Fieldhouse
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Viejas Arena At Aztec Bowl
Honda Center
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Licensing news, England & Wales, June 2016
Insights & events> Publications> Licensing news England and Wales June 2016
Alcohol & entertainment licensing news
Lords Licensing Committee to review Licensing Act 2003
Forget the Euro's: Here come the Olympics…
Lessons to learn from the Councillor's 'rant'
New rules on targeting crime
Other licensing news
Psychoactive Substances Act 2016
It was announced at the end of May that a House of Lords Committee has been established to look at and report on the Licensing Act 2003. It has been asked to report by 31 March 2017.
Among the 12 Lords appointed to the committee is Lord Clement-Jones, the author and proposer of the Live Music Act in 2012, which had the effect of permitting live music in premises licensed to sell alcohol without the need for a specific permission.
The committee's remit is wide insofar as it can take into account the views of any party it feels may have an interest, before reporting. As such, it has to be hoped that they will look to hear from the vast range of people affected by the Licensing Act, including a range of operators, as well as local authorities, police and some of lobbies who will no doubt want to have their say.
The committee Clerk, Michael Collon can be reached through the Parliament website, so anyone interested in either making a contribution or finding out more as the committee starts to get itself going.
We will look to keep you updated as we hear more. Whilst the Committee may not have the power to change things, its report will certainly give a good flavour of what issues can be expected to be faced around the bend…
The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro officially begins on the 5 August, ending on 21 August. In terms of timezones, Rio sits four hours behind the UK (during British summertime) and as such, some events are likely to take place later in the evening than with the London games.
From a licensing point of view therefore, premises intending to open for the Olympics will need to check what permissions they have and whether they need to apply to ensure they can show the main events. For instance, the scheduled times for the following late starting events may need looking at:
Opening ceremony (5 August) 11:15pm
Swimming men's and women's finals (6 -12 August) some starting at 2am
Men's 10K final and Heptathlon final (13 August) between 1:55am and 2:45am
Men's 100m and 400m final (14 August) between 2am and 2:25am
Women's 400m final (15 August) 2:45am
Women's 200m and 100m hurdle finals (17 August) between 2.30am and 2.55am
Men's 200m final (18 August) 2:30am
4x100m relays (men and women) (19 August) between 2:15am and 2:35am
Men's 5,000m and 4x400m relays (men and women) (20 August) between 1:30am and 2:35am
Closing ceremony (21 August) 11:15pm
Whilst showing live TV does not require a licence, serving alcohol, hot drinks, or hot food does. There are a number of potential ways of ensuring you have the correct permission:
hours granted for the activities required at the wanted times
some licences have a condition on them permitting premises to open and provide licensable activities during major sporting events (sometimes on prior notice to the police/ council)
Unless you already have the hours or condition that already permits these activities, should you want to go down the route of varying your licence to allow this, you will need to apply immediately and will also want to look at TENs for the first few weeks in case the matter goes to a licensing hearing, which can take up to two months from application to grant.
If you are thinking of using TEN's, you will need to plan carefully to ensure that you use the 21 days you have over 15 'events' to ensure you are open for the nights you want. Don't forget, a TEN can only last a maximum of 7 days and there must be a 24-hour gap between TEN's.
A Councilor, widely reported in the press to have abused door staff and threatened to have a premises shut down when his partner was refused entry, learned a salutary lesson about modern technology when he was filmed on a doorman's body-cam. Whilst not all premises should have door staff- let alone body cam's to capture these moments, the power of proper incident recording cannot be missed.
In all cases, making a careful note of what is being said, with enough detail to identify the context, can be very helpful if it comes to a case of having to argue one person's word against the others, sometimes a long time down the line. Likewise, if there is good cause to retain CCTV, this is permissible, so long as the CCTV is only kept for a specific purpose and deleted thereafter.
The Gambling Commission has published new rules to target crime associated with gambling.
Following a consultation in 2015 the Commission has drafted new rules, which will come in to force later in 2016, to tackle crime linked to gambling.
Moving forward operators will have to:
undertake assessments to identify the risk of money laundering
draft policies, procedures and implement measures to deal with the threat of money laundering
report any criminal investigations involving them or their premises to the Commission
have systems in place to prevent employees from taking advantage of suspicious or irregular betting patterns.
Legal highs are no longer legal after the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
Selling legal highs is now a criminal offence carrying a maximum seven year prison sentence.
Police are understood to be targeting shops and online retailers who sell the drugs and/ or the paraphernalia. The crackdown will also focus on “pop-ups” and festivals across Scotland and the UK as a whole.
June 2016 is an exciting month for many reasons, not least for sporting reasons, as well as the small matter of a referendum. However, May was busy with enforcement hearings in the form of reviews, as well as client meetings across the country.
Of particular interest has been an increase in sophistication of Local Authority decision-making in relation to tricky review applications. It seems that as licensing policies become more sophisticated in many local authority areas, so the committees and their advisers seem to be grasping the nettle when it comes to testing evidence and making their decisions. In particular, we have been before committees at two separate reviews where they have questioned police evidence thoroughly and given a lot of thought to what effect their decisions are likely to have- not just in terms of the immediate benefit of their decision, but also the likely longer-term consequences.
This publication is intended for general guidance and represents our understanding of the relevant law and practice as at June 2016. Specific advice should be sought for specific cases. For more information see our terms & conditions.
Licensing news England and Wales - June 2016
by Matthew Phipps
Matthew Phipps
Interviews under caution
Licensing training
Pavement licences
Hospitality seventh sector deal: Q&A with UKHospitality’s Kate...
This will see tourism (and hospitality more generally) recognised as the seventh sector to be given this status....
TLT's licensing team grows Legal 500 rankings
Licensing news Scotland - January 2017
Opening new premises: The need for due diligence in uncertain times
Licence holders: key considerations ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2019
The Rugby World Cup is being staged this year in Japan. What permissions do you need to show the rugby and do you need to vary your licence?
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Architect Zaha Hadid’s Death is a Global Loss for Architecture
Zaha Hadid pushed boundaries with her buildings—and that’s what architects will remember. Hadid’s design was chosen to build The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, the contemporary art museum, opened November 10, 2012. MSU photo
The death of Iraqi- British architect Zaha Hadid, whose modern futuristic designs include a 39-apartment building under construction along the High Line, has caused reverberations in the architecture world.
By Muna Habib
Hadid, 66, died at a Miami Hospital on March 31 after she had a heart attack while being treated for bronchitis.The architect leaves a legacy that pushed architectural boundaries in terms of design and ingenuity.
Many in the field said she was a visionary who demonstrated that no design challenge is insurmountable.“She learned from modernism and then undid its dogmas, she then changed architecture for the digital age and wasn’t interested in following established canons,” said Amale Andraos, the dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, who paid tribute to the revered designer at an Iraqi photography exhibition on Friday. “Her death leaves an indelible mark, her absence a great void.” The dean explained that Hadid’s work crossed historical times as well as geographical contexts influenced by her Iraqi heritage and being educated all over the world. “The speed of her work, the complexity, and smoothness all contributed to the global impact her work had on the world of architecture,” she added.
Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker prize, commonly referred to as the Nobel peace prize of architecture. She was also twice awarded Britain’s Stirling Prize for architecture and awarded a dame – the female version of a knight by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012.
Her designs around the world include the shimmering opera house in Guangzhou, China; the ingenious spaceship-designed BMW plant in Leipzig Germany, funicular railway stations in Innsbruck, Austria, and the London Aquatic Centre.
Her final design, a 39-apartment condominium at 520 West 28th Street is still under construction along the High Line, West Chelsea’s elevated park. It is Hadid’s first residential building in New York City. The 11-story building is 135 feet tall and is an example of her visionary style that merges conventional and futuristic design. The contours of the building designed to give it a 3D appearance is paradoxical to the horizontal layout retaining a traditional apartment shape.
Other uncompleted work includes the Qatar 2022 World Cup stadium and a new Iraqi government building in Baghdad.
Her work has influenced different generations of students, many architects noted in comments after her death. “Everyone at some point drew like Zaha or adopted Zaha moves,” said Dean Andraos at Friday’s exhibition. The dean of Columbia’s architecture school remembered how she herself studied Hadid’s bold drawings obsessively as a student.
Even though some students approached on Thursday on Columbia’s campus did not recall who the famous architect was, it didn’t take long to find one who echoed the architecture school’s dean’s point on how inspirational Hadid’s work is for aspiring architects. Bishara J. Tannous, 23, a master’s student at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture remembered how he did a project based on one of her designs. “I designed a dormitory building and tilted it on its side to emulate her style that was radical, free and edgy,” he said.
Hadid was born and raised in Baghdad; she studied mathematics at the University of Beirut before moving to London in 1972 to study at the Architectural Association in London. In her early career, working for revolutionary Dutch architect Rem Koolhass before establishing London-based, ‘Zaha Hadid Architects’ in 1979.
One of the first designers to use computers to take the first digital design to extreme advances, she used her knowledge of mathematics combined with a manipulation of computer technology and her revolutionary vision and ambition to create a distinctive and revolutionary style, explained architect Bernard Tschumi, who first met Hadid as a student in 1972 when both were members of the Association of Architecture.
“Her work is a demonstration of her extraordinary ability to use an original model of her architectural sensibility by the use of computers,” said Tschumi.
Hadid also broke new ground as a female architect. Tschumi recalled when asked about the challenges faced in a profession dominated by men, she responded boldy. “It makes no difference,” he quoted her as saying, “you just have to work harder.”
Source: New America Media
Editor’s Note: The Broad MSU is located on 547 East Circle Drive. Admission is free. Museum hours: Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from noon to 9 p.m.; closed Monday. For more information, visit www.broadmuseum.msu.edu.
This article was reprinted in the April 17, 2016 - April 30, 2017 edition.
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Archive for Malcolm Gladwell
Why 84% of Dairy Breeders Will Soon Be Using Genomic Sires!
· Comments (0)
Friday, August 1st, 2014
There are certainly breeders who are not fans of Genomics and the heavy use of high index genomic young sires. Yet genomic sires now account for 50% of semen sales. That leads me to propose that genomics will soon be used by 84% of the breeders in the world.
The reason for this has nothing to do with the merits of genomic sires versus proven sires. Rather it has to do with the historical patterns of adoption of new technologies. The theory behind this is called the Diffusion of Innovations. According to this theory, consumers differ in their readiness and willingness to adopt new technology. There are the innovators (2.5 percent of the population), the early adopters (13.5 percent), the early majority (34 percent), the late majority (34 percent), and the laggards (16 percent), who are also the people who still don’t have cell phones or who are not on Facebook.
As far as genomics goes, we have seen that it has followed this same pattern. When genomics was introduced, there was a small percentage of breeders who were so excited about the technology, or technology in general, which started using genomic sires instantly. These were the innovators in the dairy breeding marketplace. Since the information was not publically available and held by the A.I. centers, this uptake was very restricted. Then came the public introduction of genomics and the early adopters started using it. For a little while after that genomics seemed to stall. While there was 16% of the marketplace that was excited about Genomics and the possibilities that it held, the majority of breeders were not convinced. They had skepticism about whether genomics would work and if they should be using this new technology in their breeding programs. Regardless, the momentum started to grow.
Malcolm Gladwell describes this point, after early adoption, as “The Tipping Point” in his titled bestselling book of the same name. It’s at this point that it is determined whether something will spread like wildfire or sputter and fade into oblivion. Gladwell’s central argument is that there are actually a number of patterns and factors that are at play. They have an effect in virtually every influential trend, ranging from the spread of communicable diseases to the unprecedented popularity of a particular children’s television show. If you analyze the evolution of any significant phenomenon, Gladwell suggests, you will find that the processes involved are strikingly similar. Based on his in-depth research spanning a number of different fields, industries, and scholarly disciplines, Gladwell identifies three key factors that each play a role in determining whether a particular trend will “tip” into wide-scale popularity or fade. He calls them the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.
The following is a closer look at each of these concepts and how they apply to what we have seen in the adoption of Genomics in the Dairy Breeding Industry:
The Law of the Few
Before the tipping point can be reached, a few key types of people must champion an idea, concept, or product, Gladwell describes these key types as Connectors, Salesmen and Mavens. If individuals representing all three of these groups endorse and advocate a new idea, it is much more likely that it will tip into exponential success. Regarding the use of genomics in the dairy breeding industry, these roles were filled by the large A.I. companies, their salespeople as respected high index breeders.
The Stickiness Factor
This refers to the unique quality that compels a phenomenon to “stick” in the minds of the public and then influences their future behavior. Gladwell defines the Stickiness Factor as the quality that compels people to pay close, sustained attention to a product, concept, or idea. In the dairy industry use of genomics, this was the allure of significantly more accurate genetic evaluations for young animals combined with the ability to dramatically accelerate breeding programs.
The Power of Context
This is enormously important in determining whether a particular phenomenon will tip into widespread popularity. Even minute changes in the environment can play a significant role in the likelihood of a given concept attaining the tipping point. If the environment or historical moment in which a trend is introduced is not right, it is not as likely that the tipping point will be attained. Clearly, in order for a trend to tip into massive popularity, large numbers of people need to embrace it. However, Gladwell points out that certain groups can often be uniquely helpful in achieving the tipping point. For genomics, commercial dairy producers were that group. When they started to adopt the use of genomic young sires that marked the point at which genomics fulfilled the three concepts and crossed the tipping point.
After the use of genomic young sires crossed the tipping point, the rate of adoption accelerated to the point where the limiting challenge was not consumer demand, but rather the ability of A.I. companies to supply the semen. Because young sires produce far less semen than mature proven sires, it is hard for A.I. companies to meet demand. This has actually led to an increase in the number of young sires being sampled compared to the number that was forecast when genomics was first introduced. A.I. companies have had to sample more sires than predicted in order to meet the growing demand. It has also led to a much shorter active use life span for sires than in the past.
The Polled Story
In looking at the three tipping point factors, when applied to the dairy industry, you can see why some trends may not have been adopted as quickly. An example of this is the use of polled sires. Polled sires have been around for years but have failed to gain significant traction until recently. (Read more: Polled Dairy Genetics: The Cold Hard Facts, From the Sidelines to the Headlines, Polled is Going Mainline! and Why Is Everyone So Horny For Polled?) That is because while polled certainly has the concept of the Law of the Few, it has not had the Power of Context. While there have been significant gains in quality of the polled sires available, adoption will not pass that tipping point until it meets the third concept that Gladwell highlights, which is the Power of Context. Until there is significant consumer demand that dairy cattle not be dehorned, the use of polled sires will not pass the tipping point. While there will certainly be polled sires in the top 10 genomic sires within 2-3 years, and proven sires in 5-6 years, polled semen will not account for more than 16% market share until it develops the Power of Context (consumer demand for animal treatment) needed to cross the tipping point. It’s for that reason that I think that widespread polled semen use will not really take off until 10-12 years from now. Until then, it will be the domain of the innovators and the early adopters and stay below 16% market share. In fact, I would argue that it has just recently crossed over in the past couple of years from the innovators to now include the early adopters.
Throughout history, there have been many excellent examples of products or technologies that have failed for a variety of reasons. Genomics met resistance similar what was faced by artificial insemination in the early days. However, currently genomic usage has crossed the tipping point. It is now inevitable that soon 84% of the dairy breeding industry will be using genomic sires.
Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?
Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?
Download this free guide.
Categories : Genomics, The Bullvine
Tags : A.I. Industry, Genomics, Malcolm Gladwell, Polled Dairy Cattle, Polled Dairy Genetics: The Cold Hard Facts See more at www.thebullvine.com/polled-dairy-cattle/polled-dairy-genetics-cold-hard-facts/ ©www.thebullvine.com, Sire Usage, Tipping Point
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Last Update Thursday, June 6th, 2019
Peek into "The Secret Life of Pets 2."
Editor's note: This schedule is good beginning June 7.
A star ( ) indicates a film that is new to the area.
"ALADDIN," PG
A kindhearted street urchin and a power-hungry Grand Vizier vie for a magic lamp that has the power to make their deepest wishes come true. Will Smith, Mena Massoud. 129 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: in 2-D at 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 6:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. daily. (No 6:30 p.m. show Thursday, June 13.)
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: in 2-D at 9:30, 10:30 a.m., noon, 1:30, 3, 4:30, 6, 7:30, 9, 10:30 p.m. daily, through Tuesday; 9:30, 9:40 a.m., noon, 12:40, 3, 3:40, 6, 9, 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Also at: White City, Ashland Street Cinemas. Call or go online for times.
"ALL IS TRUE," PG-13
A look at the final days in the life of renowned playwright William Shakespeare. Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen, Judi Dench. 101 minutes.
At: Varsity Theatre. Call or go online for times.
"AVENGERS: ENDGAME," PG-13
With the universe in ruins, the Avengers assemble to undo Thanos' actions and restore order. Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Brie Larson. 182 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: in 2-D at 12:15, 4:10, 8 p.m. daily. (No 8 p.m. show Thursday, June 13.)
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: in 2-D at 10:40 a.m., 2:30, 6:20, 10:10 p.m. daily, through Wednesday.
"THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM," PG
Documentarian John Chester and his wife Molly work to develop a sustainable farm on 200 acres outside of Los Angeles. 91 minutes.
"BOOKSMART," R
Two high school academic superstars and best friends try to cram four years of fun into one night. Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein. 105 minutes.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: 9:30 a.m., 12:05, 2:40, 5:15, 7:50 p.m. daily, through Wednesday. (No 9:30 a.m. show Monday.)
Also at: Varsity Theatre. Call or go online for times.
"BRIGHTBURN," R
A child from another world crash-lands on Earth, with sinister consequences. Elizabeth Banks, Jackson A. Dunn. 90 minutes.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: 10:25 p.m. daily, through Wednesday.
"DARK PHOENIX," PG-13
Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world. Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy. 114 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: in 2-D at 11:40 a.m., 1, 2:20, 3:45, 6:35, 7:50, 9:20 p.m. daily; in 3-D at 5:05 p.m. daily.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: in 2-D at 12:05, 1:30, 2:50, 5:35, 7, 8:20, 11:05 p.m. daily, through Wednesday; in 3-D at 10:45 a.m., 4:15, 9:45 p.m. daily, through Wednesday.
"FREE TRIP TO EGYPT," Not rated
Documentary follows a man's search for random Americans concerned about an Islamic threat and offering them a free trip to Egypt. 98 minutes.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: 7 p.m. Wednesday.
"GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS," PG-13
A crypto-zoological agency faces off against a battery of monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and the three-headed King Ghidorah. Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga. 132 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: in 2-D at noon, 6, 9 p.m. daily; in 3-D at 3 p.m. daily.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: in 2-D at 10:05 a.m., 1:10, 2:40, 4:15, 7:20, 8:50, 10:25 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday (no 10:05 a.m. show Wednesday), 1:10, 3:05, 4:15, 7:20, 9:15, 10:25 p.m. Monday; in 3-D at 11:35 a.m., 5:45 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, noon and 6:10 p.m. Monday.
"THE GOONIES (1985)," PG
Young misfits set out on a quest to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure. Sean Astin, Josh Brolin. 120 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: at noon and 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Wednesday.
"JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 — PARABELLUM," R
Super-assassin John Wick is on the run after killing a member of the international assassin's guild, and with a $14 million price tag on his head. Keanu Reeves. 130 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: 11:55 a.m., 2:55, 5:55, 8:55 p.m. daily. (No 11:55 a.m. shows Sunday or Wednesday.)
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: 10:55 a.m., 2, 5:05, 8:10, 11:15 p.m. daily, through Wednesday, with a 9:30 p.m. show added Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.
"LA TRAVIATA," Not rated
A Royal Opera production. 200 minutes.
"MA," R
A lonely woman befriends a group of teenagers and decides to let them party at her house. Just when the kids think their luck couldn't get any better, things start happening that make them question the intention of their host. Octavia Spencer, Luke Evans. 99 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:10 p.m. daily. (No 4:15 p.m. show Thursday, June 13.)
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: at 12:30, 3, 5:30, 8 and 10:30 p.m. daily, through Wednesday, with a 9:30 p.m. show added on Friday and a 10 a.m. matinee added Wednesday.
Also at: White City. Call or go online for times.
"MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL," PG-13
The Men in Black tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the MIB organization. Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth. 115 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: advance showings in 2-D at 4, 7 p.m. Thursday, June 13.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: advance shows on Thursday, June 13, in 2-D at 4, 6:50, 9:40 p.m., in 3-D at 5, 7:50, 10:40 p.m.
"NON-FICTION," R
An editor and an author cope with a middle-age crisis, the changing industry and their wives. In French with English subtitles. Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche. 108 minutes.
"PETER RABBIT," PG
A rebellious rabbit tries to sneak into a farmer's vegetable garden. James Corden, Fayssal Bazzi. 95 minutes.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: 9:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
"PHOENIX, OREGON," R
Two longtime friends battle mid-life crisis by opening a bowling alley-pizzeria in their small hometown. James Le Gros, Jesse Borrego. 108 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 13.
"POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU," PG
In a world where people collect Pokémon to do battle, a boy comes across an intelligent talking Pikachu who seeks to be a detective. Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton. 104 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: in 2-D at noon, 2:35, 5:10 and 7:45 p.m. daily. (No 7:45 p.m. shows Sunday or Wednesday.)
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: in 2-D at 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:15, 6:50, 9:25 p.m. daily, through Wednesday.
"ROCKETMAN," R
A musical fantasy about the fantastical human story of Elton John's breakthrough years. Taron Egerton. 121 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: 12:55, 3:50, 6:40, 9:30 p.m. daily.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: 9:30, 10:55 a.m., 12:20, 1:50, 3:15, 4:45, 6:10, 7:40, 9:05, 10:35 p.m. daily, through Wednesday.
"THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2," PG
Continuing the story of Max and his pet friends, following their secret lives after their owners leave them for work or school each day. Patton Oswalt, Kevin Hart, Harrison Ford. 86 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: in 2-D at 11:25 a.m., 12:20, 2:45, 3:55, 5, 6:10, 7:15, 8:25 p.m. daily (no 7:15 p.m. show Thursday, June 13); in 3-D at 1:40 p.m. daily.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: shows in 2-D at 10, 10:10 and 11 a.m., 12:20, 2:40, 3:40, 5, 6, 7:10, 8:20 p.m. daily, through Wednesday, with 9:30 p.m. shows added Monday and Wednesday. (No 10 a.m. show Monday, no 10:10 a.m. show Wednesday.); in 3-D at 1:20, 10:40 p.m. daily, through Wednesday.
"SHAFT," R
A cyber security expert enlists his family's help to uncover the truth behind his best friend's untimely death. Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse T. Usher, Richard Roundtree. 115 minutes.
In Grants Pass: SouthGate Cinema, 1625 S.W. Ringuette St.: advance showing at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 13.
In Medford: Tinseltown USA, Medford Center: advance showings 6 and 8:45 Thursday, June 13.
"THE TOMORROW MAN," PG-13
A man who spends his life preparing for a disaster that may never come and a woman who spends her life shopping for things she may never use try to fall in love while not getting lost in each other's stuff. John Lithgow, Blythe Danner. 94 minutes.
"THE WHITE CROW," R
The story of Rudolf Nureyev's defection to the West. Oleg Ivenko, Ralph Fiennes. 127 minutes.
SOUTHGATE CINEMA: 541-476-1112, www.catheatres.com
TINSELTOWN USA: 541-770-2508, www.cinemark.com
MOVIES 6 (WHITE CITY): 541-826-7308, www.cinemark.com
ASHLAND STREET CINEMA: 541-488-4040, www.catheatres.com
VARSITY: 541-482-3321, www.catheatres.com
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Main article: Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the then-Houston, Texas, team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. The Oilers won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.
1 Franchise history
1.1 Houston Oilers era (1960-96)
1.1.1 1960s
1.1.3.1 Renovation to the Astrodome
1.1.4.1 Final years in Houston
1.2 Tennessee Oilers era (1997–98)
1.3 Tennessee Titans era (1999-present)
1.3.1 Name change
1.3.2 1999 Super Bowl run
1.3.3 2000–2003
1.3.4 2004–05
2 Notes and references
The Houston Oilers began in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. They were owned by Bud Adams, a Houston oilman, who had made several previous unsuccessful bids for an NFL expansion team in Houston. Adams was an influential member of the eight original AFL owners, since he and Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt were more financially stable than the others.
The Oilers appeared in the first three AFL championships. They scored an important victory over the NFL when they signed LSU's Heisman Trophy winner, All-America running back Billy Cannon. Cannon joined other Oiler offensive stars such as quarterback George Blanda, flanker Charlie Hennigan, running back Charlie Tolar, and guard Bob Talamini. After winning the first-ever AFL championship over the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, they repeated over the same team (then in San Diego) in 1961. They lost to the Dallas Texans in the classic 1962 double-overtime AFL championship game, at the time the longest professional football championship game ever played. In 1962, the Oilers were the first AFL team to sign an active NFL player away from the other league, when wide receiver Willard Dewveall left the Bears to join the champion Oilers. Dewveall that year caught the longest pass reception for a touchdown in professional football history, 99 yards (91 m), from Jacky Lee, against the San Diego Chargers. The Oilers won the AFL Eastern Division title again in 1967, then became the first professional football team to play in a domed stadium, when they moved into Houston's Astrodome for the 1968 season. Previously, the Oilers had played at Jeppesen Stadium at the University of Houston (now called Robertson Stadium) from 1960 to 1964, and Rice University's stadium from 1965 to 1967. Adams had intended the team play at Rice from the first, but Rice's board of regents initially rejected the move. After the Astrodome opened for business, Adams attempted to move there, but could not negotiate an acceptable lease with the Houston Sports Association (owners of the Houston Astros) from whom he would sublease the Dome. The 1969 season, the last as an AFL team, saw Houston begin 3-1, but tumble afterwards. They qualified for the playoffs, but were annihilated by the Raiders 56-7, to finish the year with a record of 6-6-1.
The years immediately after the AFL-NFL merger were not as kind to the Oilers, who sank to the bottom of the [[AFC Central] division. After going 3-10-1 in 1970, they went 4-9-1 in 1971, and then suffered back-to-back 1-13 seasons in 1972-1973. But by 1974, the Oilers led by Hall of Fame coach Sid Gilman brought the team back to respectability by reaching .500 at season's end. The next year, Bum Phillips arrived and with talented stars like Elvin Bethea and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, the Oilers had their first winning season of the decade. Inadequate offense doomed them to a 5-9 season in 1976, but the team improved to 8-6 the following year, and in 1978, the Oilers' fortunes improved when they drafted University of Texas football star Earl Campbell, who was Rookie of the Year that year and led the Oilers to their first playoff appearance since the merger. Defeating Miami in the wild card round, they then trumped New England, who would not lose another home playoff game until 2009. But in the AFC Championship, the Steelers routed them 34-5. The 1979 season was a near rerun of 1978 as the Oilers finished 11-5 in the regular season and again earned a wild card spot. Passing the Broncos, they edged by San Diego in the divisional round. Despite this, several of their starters had been taken out of commission by injuries and for the second year in a row the AFC Championship witnessed the team go down to defeat in Pittsburgh 27-13. A controversial out-of-bounds penalty nullified a touchdown by wide receiver Mike Renfro.
The team suffered through more lean years in the early 1980s. 1980 saw the Oilers go 11-5 and achieve a wild card spot for the third year in a row, but they were quickly vanquished by Oakland 27-7. A frustrated Bud Adams fired Bum Phillips, who was succeeded by Ed Biles. Afterwards began a long playoff drought as the Oilers fell to 7-8 in 1981, and 1-8 in the strike-shorted 1982 season. Another miserable year followed in 1983, as Houston went 3-13. Biles resigned in Week 6 and was succeeded by Chuck Studley, who served merely as an interim coach until Hugh Campbell was hired in the offseason. In 1984, the Oilers won a bidding war for CFL legend Warren Moon but didn't return to the playoffs that year either, with two wins and fourteen losses. The aging Earl Campbell was traded to New Orleans during the offseason and replaced by Mike Rozier from Nebraska University. In Week 14 of the 1985 season, Hugh Campbell was replaced by Jerry Glanville, who saw the team through the last two games to finish 5-9. A 31-3 rout of Green Bay on the 1986 season opener looked promising, but in the end Houston only managed another 5-11 record. Another strike in 1987 reduced the season to 15 games, three by substitute players. After ending 9-6, the team achieved its first winning record and playoff berth in seven years. After beating the Seahawks in overtime, they fell to Denver in the divisional round. Going 10-6 in 1988, the Oilers again got into the playoffs as a wild card, beat Cleveland in a snowy 24-23 match, and then lost to Buffalo a week later. 1989 saw a 9-7 regular season, but as always the team could only manage a wild card. In a messy, penalty-ridden game, they were beaten by Pittsburgh.
The Oilers' resurgence came in the midst of a battle for the franchise's survival. In 1987, Adams threatened to move the team to Jacksonville, Florida unless the Astrodome was "brought up to date." At the time the Astrodome only seated about 50,000 fans, the smallest capacity in the NFL. Not willing to lose the Oilers, the city responded with $67 million in improvements to the Astrodome that included new Astroturf, 10,000 additional seats and 65 luxury boxes. These improvements were funded by increases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel tax, as well as bonds to be paid over 30 years. However, Adams' increasing demands for greater and more expensive accommodations to be funded at taxpayer expense sowed seeds of tension that assisted the team's departure (some would say expulsion) from Houston.
Adams was frustrated that the Oilers, despite their gaudy regular-season performances, could not make it to the AFC Championship Game, let alone the Super Bowl. In 1992, for example, the Oilers compiled a 10–6 regular season record, but made history against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card playoffs by blowing an NFL record 35–3 lead and eventually losing 41–38 in overtime, a game now known simply as "The Comeback" or "The Big Choke", depending upon one's point of view. Adams had been blamed for the team's previous spells of incompetence, largely because he had overly micromanaged the Oilers. He displayed this tendency again before the 1993 season. After three losses in the wild card playoffs and three losses in the divisional playoffs, he gave the Oilers an ultimatum – unless they made the Super Bowl in 1993, he would break up the team. While the Oilers responded with a 12–4 record, their best record ever in Texas, and another AFC Central title, they lost in the second round to the Chiefs. Adams made good on his threat, most significantly trading Moon to the Minnesota Vikings. Without Moon, the Oilers appeared to be a rudderless team. They finished the next season 2–14, the third-worst record for a full season in franchise history. The Oilers managed to get back to respectability over the next two years, but would never make the playoffs again in Texas. However, they did manage to establish the future cornerstone of the offense by drafting Steve McNair in 1995.
At the same time, Adams again lobbied the city for a new stadium, one with club seating and other revenue generators present in recently–built NFL stadiums. However, mayor Bob Lanier turned him down almost out of hand. Houston residents were wary of investing more money on a stadium so soon after the Astrodome improvements, and the city was still struggling to recover from the oil collapse of the 1980s. Adams, sensing that he was not going to get the stadium he wanted, began shopping the Oilers to other cities. He was particularly intrigued by Nashville, and opened secret talks with mayor Phil Bredesen. At the end of the 1995 season, Adams announced that the Oilers would be moving to Nashville. City officials there promised to contribute $144 million toward a new stadium, as well as $70 million in ticket sales. At that point, support for the Oilers all but disappeared. Houstonians wanted to keep the team but did not want to give Adams any more money for what he did. The 1996 season was a disaster for the Oilers; they played before crowds of less than 20,000 and games were so quiet that it was possible to hear conversations on the field from the grandstand. It was especially notable that the team went 8–8, finishing 6–2 in road games and finishing only 2–6 in home games. After the season, the city agreed to let Adams out of his lease a year early, allowing him to move the Oilers to Tennessee.
The Oilers' new stadium would not be ready until 1999, however, and the largest stadium in Nashville at the time, Vanderbilt Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University, seated only 41,000 and would not allow for alcohol sales. At first, Adams rejected Vanderbilt Stadium even as a temporary facility and announced that the renamed Tennessee Oilers would play the next two seasons at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis. The team would be based in Nashville, commuting to Memphis only for games—in effect, consigning the Oilers to 32 road games for the next two years. Even though this arrangement was acceptable to the NFL and the Oilers at the time, few people in either Memphis or Nashville were happy about it. Memphis had made numerous attempts to get an NFL team, and many people in the area wanted nothing to do with a team that would be lost in only two years—especially to longtime rival Nashville. Conversely, Nashvillians showed little inclination to drive over 200 miles (320 km) to see "their" team.
The result was, in many ways, almost as much of an embarrassment as the lame-duck season in Houston. Oiler fans took to the practice of wearing bags over their heads. The Oilers played before some of the smallest NFL crowds since the 1950s. The few fans there were usually indifferent, and often those that attended were fans of the opposing team. Oddly enough, the Oilers went 6-2 in Memphis while going 2-6 on the road. Not helping matters was a history of hostility between the NFL and the city of Memphis; two attempts to earn a permanent franchise, the Memphis Hound Dogs and Mid-South Grizzlies, were met with rejection by the league. Despite this, Adams had every intention of playing in Memphis the next season. That changed after the final game of the 1997 season. The Oilers faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in front of 50,677 fans—the only crowd that could not be reasonably accommodated in Vanderbilt. However, nearly all neutral observers estimated that the crowd was at least two-thirds Steeler fans. Adams abandoned plans to play the 1998 season in Memphis and ended up moving to Vanderbilt after all. The team rebounded that season, and was in playoff contention until losing their last two games for another 8–8 record.
Tennessee Titans secondary logo, the three stars is taken from the state flag
During the 1998 season, Adams announced that in response to fan requests, he was changing the Oilers' name to coincide with the opening of their new stadium and to better connect with Nashville. He also declared that the renamed team would retain the Oilers' heritage (including team records), as had all other relocated teams except the Browns/Ravens, and that there would be a Hall of Fame honoring the greatest players from both eras.
Adams appointed an advisory committee to decide on a new name. He let it be known that the new name should reflect power, strength, leadership and other heroic qualities. On December 22, Adams announced that the Oilers would be known as the Tennessee Titans starting in 1999. The new name met all of Adams' requirements, and also served as a nod to Nashville's nickname of "The Athens of the South" (for its large number of higher-learning institutions, Classical architecture, and its full scale replica of the Parthenon).
In 1999, Adelphia Coliseum, now known as LP Field, was completed and the newly christened Titans had a grand season, finishing with a 13–3 record — the best season in franchise history. They won their first game as the "Titans," defeating the Bengals before a sold out stadium (Every game since the Titans moved to Nashville has been sold out). They finished one game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars for the AFC Central title. The Titans did not lose a game at home. Tennessee then won their first round playoff game over the Buffalo Bills on a designed play, known as "Home Run Throwback" in the Titans playbook, that is commonly referred to as the "Music City Miracle": Tight-end Frank Wycheck made a lateral pass to Kevin Dyson on a kickoff return with 16 seconds left in the game and the Titans trailing by 1 point; Dyson returned the pass 75 yards (69 m) for a touchdown to win the game. After reviewing the replays, the call on the field was upheld as a touchdown. The original play did not call for Kevin Dyson to be on the field and he was only involved due to an injury of another player.[1] The Titans went on to defeat the Indianapolis Colts in Indy, and then defeated the Jaguars in Jacksonville in the AFC Championship Game. The Titans' Cinderella season led to a trip to Super Bowl XXXIV, where they lost a heartbreaker to the St. Louis Rams when Kevin Dyson was tackled one yard short of the end zone in a 23-16 game (in favor of the Rams) as regulation time expired, in a play known as "The Tackle".
In 2000, the Titans finished with an NFL-best 13–3 record and won their third AFC Central title—their first division title as the Tennessee Titans. They won Central division titles in '91 and '93 while still in Houston as the Oilers. The Titans would go on to lose their home Divisonal playoff game to the eventual Super Bowl Champions the Baltimore Ravens.
In 2002, despite starting the season 1–4 the Titans finished the season 11-5 and made it to the AFC Championship Game but lost to Oakland. In 2003, quarterback Steve McNair won the MVP award, sharing it with Peyton Manning. The Titans went 12-4 and made the 2003 playoffs, winning their wild card game over the Baltimore Ravens and losing in the AFC divisionals to the New England Patriots who went on to win the Super Bowl.
The 2004 season created an unusual number of injuries to key players for the Titans and a 5–11 record. Their 5–11 record turned out to be their second-worst record ever since the Houston/Tennessee Oilers became the Tennessee Titans. Numerous key players were cut or traded by the Titans front office during the off season, including Eddie George, Derrick Mason, Samari Rolle, Kevin Carter, and others. This was done due to the Titans being well over the salary cap.
In 2005, the Titans took the field with the youngest team in the NFL. Several rookies made the 2005 team including 1st round pick, cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, offensive tackle Michael Roos, and three wide receivers, Brandon Jones, Courtney Roby, and Roydell Williams. After losing their first game of the season on the road to the Pittsburgh Steelers 34–7 and then winning their Week 2 home-opener against the Baltimore Ravens 25–10, the Titans began the season 1–1, but quickly fell out of contention. They lost on the road to the St. Louis Rams 31–27 and lost to their division rival, the Indianapolis Colts 31–10. After getting some redemption on the road against their new division rival, the Houston Texans 34–20, they lost five-straight games to the Cincinnati Bengals (31–23), the Arizona Cardinals (20–10), the Oakland Raiders (34–25), the Cleveland Browns (20–14), and then (coming off of their Week 10 Bye), their division rival, the Jacksonville Jaguars 31–28. The Titans would win at home against the San Francisco 49ers 33–22, but then, they went on the road and got swept by the Colts 35–3. The Titans would sweep the luckless Texans 13–10 at home, but that would be their last win of the year, as they lost their remaining three games to the Seattle Seahawks (28–24), the Miami Dolphins (24–10), and the Jacksonville Jaguars (40–13). Their record for the season was 4–12.
In 2006, The team finished at 8–8, a definite improvement over the previous year's mark of 4–12. The year saw Vince Young lead the team to an 8–5 record as the starting quarterback. That span also included 6 straight victories. The team's chances of making the postseason at 9–7 ended at the hands of the New England Patriots in a 40–23 defeat.Floyd Reese resigned as the franchise's Executive Vice President/General Manager on January 5, 2007 after thirteen seasons at the helm. He was replaced by Mike Reinfeldt on February 12 of the same year.
After starting a promising 6–2, the Titans lost 4 of their next 5 games to fall to 7–6. They then won their next 3 games including a must-win game against the Indianapolis Colts. They were tied for the final playoff spot with the Cleveland Browns, but they had the tiebreaker and the Titans made the playoffs at 10–6. In the wild card round they lost to the San Diego Chargers, 17–6.
The year began with the Titans selecting Chris Johnson out of East Carolina University in the first round of the NFL draft, and subsequently acquired former Titan (most recently Eagle) DE Jevon Kearse and former Falcons TE Alge Crumpler. After a Week 1 injury to Vince Young, Kerry Collins took over the starting quarterback position and led the Titans to a 10-0 record before their first defeat at the hands of the New York Jets on November 23. The Titans followed up the 34-13 loss by defeating the winless Lions on Thanksgiving by a score of 47–10. In week 14, Tennessee clinched its second AFC South title with a 28-9 victory over the Cleveland Browns. In the week 14 game against the Browns, Rookie Chris Johnson rushed 19 times for 136 yards and 1 touchdown and Lendale White rushed for 99 yards and 1 touchdown. They later clinched a first round playoff bye with a loss of the New York Jets in San Francisco. On December 21, 2008, the Titans played the Pittsburgh Steelers in a contest to decide the number one seed in the AFC. The Titans won 31-14 and clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Their final record was 13–3, which ties their franchise record for most wins. On Saturday, January 10, they lost their home playoff game 13–10 to the Baltimore Ravens, who had previously won their Wildcard game at Miami on January 4. The playoff game against Baltimore consisted of 3 red zone turnovers by the Titans, and 12 penalties against Tennessee.
After their successful 2008 season, the Titans looked to be very promising in 2009. However, the opening game against Pittsburgh resulted in a 13-10 overtime loss and things disintegrated from there as they dropped the next five matches. This losing streak culminated in a catastrophic 59-0 defeat at the hands of New England. After the bye week, the team began recovering and won five in a row. During the Week 10 game in Buffalo, Bud Adams was seen making an obscene gesture towards Bills fans, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (who was also attending the game) fined him $250,000. Afterwards, the Titans sustained a defeat against Indianapolis, wins over St. Louis and Miami, a loss to San Diego, and finally a victory in Seattle to end the season at 8-8.
^ http://www.nfl.com/news/story/6908433
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Founded in 1960 • Based in Nashville, Tennessee
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Houston Oilers 1960 AFL Champions
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William T. “Bill” O’Donnell – Woonsocket
William T. “Bill” O’Donnell, 84, of Woonsocket, R.I., formerly of Somerville and Boston, Mass., died on April 18, 2019.
He was the loving husband for 50 years of Jean (McKenna) O’Donnell, father of Erin Catherine and son-in-law, Aaron Hoban, and grandfather of Aidan Araujo. He was the brother of Philip of Mashpee, Mass., James of Boston, and the late Steven O’Donnell, and sisters-in-law Marilynn Gove O’Donnell and Carol Webster Blair; and nieces and nephews representing two generations. He was the son of the late William Sr. and Anne (Flaherty) O’Donnell.
Born in Boston, he was an active member of the Irish community, traveling often for both business and pleasure to Ireland. A member during his lifetime in a number of Irish-American charitable and cultural organizations, he was a past president and life member of the Eire Society of Boston, a member of the Irish Cultural Center and The Charitable Irish Society, and was also the treasurer and a board member of the Belfast (NI) – based nonprofit corporation, Intercomm, USA. During the 1980 presidential campaign he was a senior press aide to Independent presidential candidate, Congressman John B. Anderson.
He was a proud citizen of the United States and Ireland. During most of the historic, tumultuous decade of the eighties covering local protests, hunger strikes in Ireland and the Anglo-Irish Agreement, he was the Editor of the Irish Echo weekly newspaper in Boston. In the late 80s he joined the Boston Redevelopment Authority as Community Relations Manager. In 1995 he retired from the BRA and later spent three years as an ADR case manager and arbitration analyst for John Hancock Financial Services.
For many years he was involved in organizing Boston-based job training programs benefiting young people from both traditions in Ireland, north and south. He served from 1995 to 1998 as president and CEO of Boston Ireland Ventures, a nonprofit corporation working to stimulate inward investment, development and job creation in Ireland. For the past 25 years, he wrote a regular newspaper column for the Boston Irish community, and for the past 20 years he contributed a monthly column “Here & There” to New England’s largest circulating newspaper serving an Irish American readership, the Boston Irish Reporter of Dorchester.
He attended St. Clement schools, Medford, Mass., and graduated from Somerville High School. He attended Suffolk University and Boston State College. He was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War.
His funeral will be held Tuesday, April 23, 2019, at 11 a.m., from the Holt Funeral Home, 510 South Main St., Woonsocket, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at noon in St. Charles Church, 8 Daniels St., Woonsocket. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, West Wrentham Road, Cumberland. Calling hours will be held on Monday from 4-7 p.m., in the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the New Beginnings Soup Kitchen, 323 Rathbun St., Woonsocket, RI 02895.
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From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers comes Vanessa Diffenbaugh's much-anticipated new novel about young love, hard choices, and hope against all odds.
Praise for The Language of Flowers
We couldn’t put it down.
— Good Housekeeping
Diffenbaugh effortlessly spins this enchanting tale, making even her prickly protagonist impossible not to love.
— Entertainment Weekly
Vanessa Diffenbaugh has given us a deeply human character to root for, and a heart-wrenching story with insight and compassion to spare.
— Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife
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EXPLORE TIRANA
The 39 Steps comedy at Metropoli Theater
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The play's concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four. comedy of the author Patric Barlow, adopted by John Buchan and the successful film of Alfred Hitchcock, comes as premier for the first time in Albania and Europe. It is one of the most appreciated works on Broadway. Director of this play is Qëndrim Rijani. The play's concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four: Neritan Liçaj, Jonida Vokshi, Florian Agalliu, Donald Shehu, Amri Hasanlliu and Mardit Lleshi. One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay, an actress (or sometimes actor) plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements, and two other actors play every other character in the show: heroes, villains, men, women, children and even the occasional inanimate object. This often requires lightning fast quick-changes and occasionally for them to play multiple characters at once.
Data: April 14-20-21-22-23, - 3,4 May 2017
Location: Metropoli Theater, near city center. 3, 4 ,
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'Clinton Cash' The Book Which May End the Hillary for President Campaign
Clinton Cash, A new book by Peter Schweizer follows the Clinton money trail, revealing the connection between their personal fortune, their “close personal friends,” the Clinton Foundation, foreign nations, and some of the highest ranks of government and how the cash they received for the Foundation was rewarded with favors from the state department.
Schweizer reveals the Clinton’s troubling dealings in Kazakhstan, Colombia, Haiti, and other places at the “wild west” fringe of the global economy. In this blockbuster exposé, Schweizer merely presents the troubling facts he’s uncovered. Meticulously researched and scrupulously sourced, filled with headline-making revelations, Clinton Cash raises serious questions of judgment, of possible indebtedness to an array of foreign interests, and ultimately, of fitness for high public office.
According to the NY Times' Amy Chozick who read an advance copy of the book, it claims
'that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton’s State Department in return.
“We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” Mr. Schweizer writes.'
From 2001 to 2012, the Clintons’ income was at least $136.5 million, Mr. Schweizer writes, using a figure previously reported in The Post. “During Hillary’s years of public service, the Clintons have conducted or facilitated hundreds of large transactions” with foreign governments and individuals, he writes. “Some of these transactions have put millions in their own pockets.”
Of course the Clinton machine is already primed to trash the book whose publishing date is still three weeks away. But this book is different because rather than get information from "old friends" and other contacts Schweizer presents events and evidence and " meticulously documents his sources, including tax records and government documents."
Peter Schweizer is the perfect person to write such a book. Among his other qualifications such as being founder and President of the Government Accountability Institute, a team of investigative researchers and journalists committed to investigating and exposing cronyism, misuse of taxpayer monies, and other governmental corruption or malfeasance, Peter Schweizer was the editor of Big Peace when I wrote for them a few years ago. As an editor he was a stickler for facts and back up, I am sure he demands the same from his own work.
When released this book is going to hurt the Clinton campaign in a big way.
Posted by Unknown at Monday, April 20, 2015
Heaven protect us from his chutzpah....
April 20, 2015 at 9:54:00 AM EDT
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by Debi Buzil | Nov/Dec Music Review 2000, November/December 2000
Ecstatic Chant; Interview with Dave Stringer
“There is no instrument which can touch you as deeply as your own voice”
Russill Paul, Indian composer/musician
Dave Stringer is an accomplished composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. He has a special gift for bringing people together in ecstatic chant – his own version of “kirtan”-devotional, group singing. His CD, simply titled “brink” is reflective of his depth of persona, drawing from Eastern and Western elements, bits of jazz and pop, alongside an introspective tone. It’s a very good recording. Dave works and travels with many exceptional yoga teachers including Sean Corn and Saul David Ray, Johnny Kest and Daren Friesen.
This interview took place over the phone from Dave’s home in LA. He recently returned from three weeks touring the north and southeast regions of the U.S. He brings the experience of ecstatic chant to yoga centers across the country, creating a distinctly meaningful experience for those who participate in his gatherings.
DB: Please talk about your start as “kirtan” singer, as a spiritual singer.
DS: This “thing” started for me as a call and response singer. When I was a kid, we would sit around the campfire and play guitar . . . so in a way to sit with a group of people and get them to sing has been in my experience for a long time.
In the modern era, I ended up in an ashram in India. For many years I had been making sounds that were like mantras in my own writing. Somehow they were sounds that could speak of some state that mere words couldn’t really convey. It’s as if I could tell the truth on one level, but that would obscure the truth on another level. I could speak emotionally with truth, but that would obscure the intellectual meaning. So, I started to get involved with singing just as pure sound.
At the ashram, I didn’t understand the Sanskrit they were chanting, so I experienced it simply as sound vibration. I came to India with a little accordian and a small dulcimer to keep myself entertained. I was hired as a film editor, and really didn’t know much about ashrams, or what life would be like there. Because I was an employee of the ashram, I was a separate entity-I would sit around and listen to people chant from across the road. I would then figure out the chants on my dulcimer and accordian. Eventually, I made more steps toward “officially” learning the chants. I did a stint teaching school in India when the film editing job was done. Basically, a bunch of schoolchildren taught me the chants! I learned chants from eight- and ten-year-olds. That imparted the knowledge in a most simple way.
DB: You talk about the mantras being “simply sound” that you use to express yourself. Tell us more.
DS: Here’s how I can explain it. Obviously these mantras are quite old, and all will refer to different deities which we could talk about for a long time, in terms of what they “mean.” My own particular quest has been to find out how these mantras relate to me as an American. I didn’t grow up in India, so there’s a part of me that already has a different lens I’m looking through the world with. So for me to have an experience of Saraswati-I understand that she is “of the streams,” and associated with learning, speech, expression and music-but I keep trying to find an image from the world I encounter every day. I’ve begun to see Saraswati in terms of the flow of information on the Internet, in our communications via cell phones, and in the stream of traffic going by. I’m looking to see Saraswati as part of the urban world I’m living in, as a part of ecstatic creation.
I’m primarily teaching people to chant who have not had much experience with these deities. My own struggle is in how these mantras become meaningful in my “Western” life, and what this means to others chanting. I ask people to focus on the sounds and the vibrations. The point of singing ecstatically is to free yourself from thinking all the time. People will come to me and say “Oh! You sang so beautifully to Krishna.” If that is their experience, it’s fine with me. The truth is when I’m really singing there’s not a thought in my head-that’s why I sing. It’s to get to a place beyond thought, beyond form, and singing is the only way I know how to do this.
DB: In mid-November you will be coming to Chicago to do an evening of ecstatic chant, and some workshops. What can we expect during a “Kirtan with Dave Stringer?”
DS: Kirtan can deliver on what rock n’roll promises, but never quite delivered. I use a hybrid of Western and Indian instruments, partly because the sounds of the Indian instruments speak to the beyond, and the sounds of Western instruments speak to the present. Chant is really a mighty river that absorbs the sounds of gospel, funk, rock, Irish folk. . . . I’ve never found a music inappropriate for chant. In Nashville I had a pedal steel guitar, and it was sublime. What you can expect is that we are gathering to engage . . . there’s no audience, and no performer. I want people to express themselves ecstatically, whether that means singing really loud, clapping their hands or dancing. The way the band is playing supports this, passing the intelligence of the chant between the musicians and the crowd.
For American audiences, part of the point is to see that it’s not traditional what we’re doing, but it is authentic. To sing in a call-and-response fashion is universal. What fascinates me about chanting is the way that everybody has to participate-the way it brings people together in a unified experience. We breathe together, and reach towards something ecstatic. That’s a beautiful thing.
Dave Stringer will be hosting an evening of ecstatic chant at Moksha Yoga Center (312.942.YOGA) on Saturday, November 18, and a chanting workshop the following day. This spring he will release a chant-inspired asana practice in collaboration with Yoga teacher Sean Corn, as well as a CD of his own ecstatic chants.
Dave Stringer can be contacted at www.davestringer.com.
Debi Winston Buzil offers musical instruction and workshops in chant and sacred movement. She may be reached at debi@devi2000.com and through her website, devi2000.com.
Stay Cool: Beat the Summer Heat
Yoga Service Comes of Age: The 4th Annual YSC Conference
Following the Call to Art: Yoga in Daily Living
Form Follows Function – Gary Kraftsow’s Viniyoga Therapy Workshop
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Marvel Didn’t Skip Spider-Man’s Origin. It’s Going On Right Now.
The following post contains SPOILERS for Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home.
Tom Holland is the third big-screen live-action Spider-Man and the first whose story began after Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider.
Wait, was he bitten by a radioactive spider?
It’s probably safe to assume Holland’s Peter got his powers from some kind of scientifically modified arachnid. But we really don’t know. We also don’t know conclusively that he had an Uncle Ben — or if he did, if he was killed by a criminal Peter could have stopped but didn’t. In Holland’s first appearance as Spider-Man, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, he made some vague references to events that could have involved Uncle Ben — with lines like “When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you.” But viewers have to want to really look for those hints to find them.
When I interviewed director Jon Watts about the new Spidey film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, he said that when he made his first Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel deliberately avoided all of those details of Spider-Man’s earliest days. “Back then,” Watts told me, “people were saying ‘Why are you making another Spider-Man movie?’ The focus was on showing people things that they had never seen before, not retelling that origin.” After the public reception of The Amazing Spider-Man films, which retold Spidey’s classic origin with a new Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) just a few years after Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man had done the same, that makes total sense.
So Watts and Marvel avoided discussing Uncle Ben — if there was an Uncle Ben at all. There were no magical spider-bites. No one talked about great powers or their affiliated great responsibility. Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home are instead hugely entertaining Spidey adventures, with young Peter Parker battling classic villains while trying to balance his private life with his public superhero persona.
At least that’s how those movies have been positioned. There is another way to look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man, though. From a certain perspective, it’s possible to argue Marvel hasn’t skipped Spider-Man’s origin. Instead, they’re telling it right now — much more slowly than ever before, with Peter Parker learning that with great power comes great responsibility not from Uncle Ben, but from a series of men in his life.
Most viewers who know Spider-Man’s history assume that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker had an Uncle Ben. But the longer the MCU’s Spidey franchise goes without mentioning him or his famous lessons about power and responsibility, the more I’ve begun to wonder if the reason this Peter Parker never talks about it is because he hasn’t fully learned those lessons yet. Both Homecoming and Far From Home feature a very young Peter Parker who waffles — somewhat uncharacteristically, at least within the larger canon of Spider-Man stories — between doing what he wants, and what his elders want for him.
In Homecoming, that older man is Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who recruits Peter Parker to fight in his Civil War, but then tells him to go back to his relatively quiet life with his aunt in Queens. Having gotten a taste of the superhero big time, Peter wants to instead become a full-fledged Avenger, and continually disobeys Tony’s orders not to pursue the super-villainous scavenger known as the Vulture. It’s only at the end of the film, after Peter manages to defeat the Vulture and prevent a major theft of Tony’s technology, that the older hero relents and offers Peter a spot on the Avengers. Instead, Peter turns him down, returning to his friendly neighborhood for a little while longer.
It’s possible to read this scene as Peter learning the lesson Tony wanted him to understand about not trying to do too much too soon. It’s also possible to say Peter hasn’t learned all that much, and he’s instead decided, as teenagers often do, that he now wants something else — namely a prolonged adolescence. In essence, he rejects greater responsibility, something a Peter Parker with an Uncle Ben and those famous lessons of his would never do.
Sure enough, when Spider-Man: Far From Home begins, Peter is still avoiding his responsibilities, even though they’ve only grown in the interim. In the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, Tony Stark is dead, and the world is looking for a new hero. Everyone — from former S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to Tony’s old friend Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and even Peter’s Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) — want Peter to step up and become the new Tony Stark.
Peter Parker ghosts them all and goes on vacation in Europe.
Trouble follows him across the Atlantic, but even after a bunch of monstrous creatures called the Elementals show up — even after a new hero named Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) warns him they have the power to destroy the entire world — Peter keeps trying to bail and go back to his class trip. When Mysterio feeds into his desire to have a sane, simple life, he cons him into forking over his technological inheritance from Tony Stark. It’s only when Peter realizes Mysterio tricked him, and is planning to use the stolen tech to harm thousands of people, that he answers the call and saves the day.
Whether Mysterio’s unusual lesson about power and responsibility sticks won’t be clear until the next Spider-Man film. And Spidey purists could certainly argue that Marvel’s current approach to Peter Parker, and the way he is growing into his role, is very different than the way he’s always been portrayed. But I like watching Holland discover, in subtle ways, the meaning of power and responsibility. Spider-Man is, at his core, an imperfect hero. He didn’t save Uncle Ben. He didn’t save Gwen Stacy. Failure and mistakes are as essential to his DNA as radioactive spider venom. So while a somewhat irresponsible Spider-Man sounds like a contradiction in terms, it actually makes total (spider) sense.
Gallery — Every Spider-Man Movie Ranked:
Does MCU’s Spider-Man Have An Uncle Ben?
Source: Marvel Didn’t Skip Spider-Man’s Origin. It’s Going On Right Now.
Filed Under: Jon Watts, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-man, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tom Holland
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Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira islands, has a population of 10.7 million and is a constitutional democracy with a president, a prime minister, and a parliament elected in multiparty elections. National parliamentary elections in September 2009 were free and fair. Security forces reported to civilian authorities.
There were human rights problems in some areas. Police and prison guards occasionally beat or otherwise abused detainees and prisoners, incarcerated minors were not held separately from adults, pretrial detainees were held with convicted criminals, and prison conditions were poor. Other problems included violence against women and children, discrimination against women, and trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and forced labor.
The government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however, according to media reports security forces shot and killed at least four persons during the year. The government investigated all cases of killings by security forces. In one case, a rapper, Nuno "Snake" Rodrigues, died during a car chase. After the investigation, the police officer involved was accused of manslaughter and was awaiting trial at the end of the year.
The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however, there were credible reports of excessive use of force by police and of mistreatment and other forms of abuse of detainees by prison guards.
In March 2009 the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) released a report on the 2008 visit to a number of prisons and detention centers in the country. During the visit the delegation received numerous allegations of physical and verbal mistreatment of detainees by law enforcement officials and expressed concern over the large number of nonstandard objects (baseball bats, a plastic pistol, telescopic batons, and cudgels) it found in rooms used by police for interrogations.
There were credible reports, including in the media, of excessive use of force by members of the security forces. During the year the Inspectorate General of Internal Administration (IGAI) investigated reports of mistreatment and abuse by police and prison guards. Complaints included physical abuse, threatening use of firearms, excessive use of force, illegal detention, and abuse of power. The majority of the complaints were against the Public Security Police (PSP) and the Republican National Guard (GNR)--314 and 207 complaints, respectively, in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics were available. The IGAI investigated each complaint, and punishments for officers found to have committed abuses ranged from temporary suspension to prison sentences. During 2009, 562 investigations against all security forces took place. Types of punishment handed down included letters of reprimand, temporary suspension of duties, prison sentences, mandatory retirement with wage cuts, and discharge from the security forces.
There were reports that guards mistreated prisoners at some prisons. Other problems included overcrowding, inadequate facilities, poor health conditions, and violence among inmates. There were high rates of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C in the country's prisons.
In 2009, the latest year for which data are available, there were 56 deaths in the country's prisons. According to the Directorate-General of Prison Services, 40 were caused by illness and the other 16 by suicide. The majority of deaths due to illness were caused by infectious diseases associated with drug abuse; approximately 10 percent of the prison population has HIV/AIDS, and more than half of these (57 percent) are also infected with hepatitis C. A 2008 report by the office of the Ombudsman for Justice considered the country's prison death rate generally high compared to European standards.
In its 2009 report the CPT stated it received a number of allegations of physical mistreatment of prisoners by custodial staff at the Monsanto high security and Coimbra central prisons, as well as, to a lesser extent, the Oporto Central Prison. The allegations involved punches, kicks, and blows with batons to prisoners after they had been brought under control, in some cases apparently requiring medical treatment for the prisoner.
According to the Directorate-General of Prison Services, on October 15, there were 11,573 prisoners and detainees in the country's prisons (94.7 percent men and 5.3 percent women), 95 of whom were youths between 16 and 18 years old (94 men and one woman). The maximum number of prisoners facilities can accommodate is 11,921. During the year the prison system operated at 95.8 percent of capacity. There was a youth prison in Leiria, but elsewhere in the prison system juveniles were sometimes held with adults. Pretrial detainees were held with convicted criminals.
Under the government's "open regime" system, prisoners may earn the right to work outside of the prison and to see their families on a regular basis.
Prisoners and detainees had reasonable access to visitors and were permitted religious observance. Authorities permitted prisoners and detainees to submit complaints to judicial authorities without censorship and to request investigation of credible allegations of inhumane conditions. Authorities investigated credible allegations of inhumane conditions and documented the results of such investigations in a publicly accessible manner. The government investigated and monitored prison and detention center conditions.
An ombudsman can serve on behalf of prisoners and detainees to consider such matters as alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders to alleviate overcrowding; addressing the status and circumstances of confinement of juvenile offenders; and improving pretrial detention, bail, and recordkeeping procedures to provide assurance that prisoners do not serve beyond the maximum sentence for the charged offense.
The government permitted visits by independent human rights observers, and prisons were visited during the year by university researchers and news media.
Most of the guidelines and legislative proposals the government adopted in 2004 to reform the prison system were not applied in practice. However, some improvements were made during the year, including the implementation of a revised plan for the prevention and control of circulation of drugs, the approval and implementation of an improved health-care manual, an increase in the number of volunteer programs, and an increase in professional training courses.
Due to a considerable increase in predicted total costs, the government cut back on the five-year prison reform plan adopted in 2008. Only four of the 10 new prisons originally projected will be built, and two rather than three will be renovated. The goal of the reform was to increase security, improve detainee conditions, rationalize financial and human resources, and improve working conditions of prison staff.
The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the government generally observed these prohibitions.
There were approximately 50,000 law enforcement officials, including police and prison guards. The Ministries of Internal Administration and Justice are primarily responsible for internal security. The Ministry of Internal Administration oversees the GNR, the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), and the PSP. The SEF has jurisdiction over immigration and border problems. The PSP has jurisdiction in cities, and the GNR has jurisdiction outside cities. The Judiciary Police are responsible for criminal investigations and report to the Ministry of Justice.
An independent ombudsman chosen by parliament and the IGAI investigate complaints of abuse or mistreatment by police. However, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the slow pace of investigations and the lack of an independent oversight agency to monitor the IGAI and the Ministry of Internal Administration.
The constitution and law provide detailed guidelines covering all aspects of arrest and custody, and the authorities generally followed the guidelines. Persons can be arrested only on a judicial warrant, except that law enforcement officials and citizens may make warrantless arrests when there is probable cause that a crime has just been or is being committed, or that the person to be arrested is an escaped convict or a suspect who escaped from police custody.
In the country's legal system, the investigating, or examining, judge is a central figure. Investigating judges direct inquiries into severe crimes or complex inquiries. As members of the judiciary, they are independent and outside the domain of the executive branch. They are separate from the prosecutors of the Public Prosecutors Office, who are supervised by the Ministry of Justice. Under the law an investigating judge determines whether an arrested person should be detained, released on bail, or released outright.
Bail exists, but detainees are not released on their own recognizance. Depending on the severity of the crime, a detainee's release may be subject to various legal conditions.
Detainees have the right to legal counsel from the time of arrest, but police did not always inform detainees of their rights. The government assumed legal costs for indigent detainees.
A suspect may not be held for more than 48 hours without appearing before an investigating judge. Investigative detention for most crimes is a maximum of four months; if a formal charge is not filed within that period, the detainee must be released. In cases of serious crimes, such as murder, armed robbery, terrorism, violent or organized crime, and of crimes involving more than one suspect, the investigating judge may decide to hold a suspect in detention while the investigation is underway for up to 18 months and up to three years in extraordinary circumstances.
A suspect in investigative detention must be brought to trial within 14 months of being charged formally. If a suspect is not in detention, there is no specified deadline for going to trial.
In its 2009 report the CPT noted that few detained persons had an effective right of access to legal counsel during police custody. While police registers indicated that detainees were informed of their right to an attorney, a considerable number of detained persons complained that, in fact, they had not been informed of their rights. In some police stations there was a "striking discrepancy" between the number of detainees who were recorded as having been informed of their rights and the number who actually exercised their rights.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. As of October 15, 2,289 individuals (20 percent of the prison population) were in preventive detention, an increase from the previous year. The average detention time was eight months; approximately 20 percent of preventive detainees spent more than one year in incarceration. Lengthy pretrial detention is usually due to lengthy investigations and legal procedures, judicial inefficiency, or staff shortages. If a detainee is convicted, pretrial detention counts against a prison sentence. If found innocent, a detainee has the right to request compensation.
The constitution and law provide for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected judicial independence in practice.
Observers, including the media, business corporations, and legal observers, estimated the backlog of cases awaiting trial to be at least a year.
The constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right in practice. All defendants are presumed innocent. Jury trials are rare in criminal cases. When the crime in question is punishable by a prison sentence whose maximum limit is more than eight years, either the public prosecutor or the defendant may request a jury trial. Juries consist of three judges and four public members.
Trials are public. Defendants have the right to be present at their trial and to consult with an attorney upon arrest, at government expense if necessary. They can confront and question witnesses against them, present evidence on their own behalf, and have access to government-held evidence. Those convicted have the right of appeal. The law extends these rights to all citizens and foreign residents.
Regional Human Rights Court Decisions
During the year the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found against the government in 15 cases. Some cases involved multiple violations of the government's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Eight involved the length of proceedings, six the right to own property, five the right to effective legal recourse, and two the freedom of expression. In 2009 the ECHR issued 17 judgments that found at least one violation by the government. The judgments found 10 violations involving protection of property, three violations involving length of legal proceedings, and two violations each of the right to a fair trial and freedom of expression. The government complied with the court's decisions.
There is an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. All persons, both citizens and foreign residents, have access to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation. Civil cases do not have jury trials. There are administrative as well as judicial remedies for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of the press. According to the European Federation of Journalists, the law requires journalists to surrender confidential information and to disclose sources in criminal cases. Thus far, however, the statute has been neither invoked nor tested.
There were neither government restrictions on access to the Internet nor reports that the government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. According to International Telecommunication Union statistics for 2009, approximately 48 percent of the country's inhabitants used the Internet.
The constitution and law provide for freedoms of assembly and association, and the government generally respected these rights in practice.
For a complete description of religious freedom, please see the 2010 International Religious Freedom Report at 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/irf/rpt/.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. The government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in providing protection and assistance to refugees, returning refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other persons of concern.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the government did not employ it.
The country's laws provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status. The government has established a system for providing protection to refugees, and it is active and accessible.
The government considers other EU countries to be safe countries of origin. In accordance with EU law, it returned applicants for asylum to their country of entry into the EU for adjudication of their requests.
In practice the government provided protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
In addition to refugees and applicants for political asylum, the government also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees. The country granted humanitarian protection to 45 persons in 2009 and to 18 persons in the first six months of the year. In 2009 the country granted asylum to 14 persons and, during the first six months of 2009, to three persons.
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
In September 2009 the country held national parliamentary elections that were considered free and fair. The Office for Democracy and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assessed the conduct of the elections positively but noted that independent candidates were barred from the contest in contravention of the country's OSCE commitments and that there were some problems with voters' lists. Political parties operated without restriction or outside interference.
Madeira last held elections in 2007. The most recent elections in the Azores were in 2008. Both were considered free and fair.
The law reserves to each gender a minimum of one-third of the places on electoral lists in national, local, and European parliamentary elections. There were 68 women in the 230-member parliament and five women in the 17-seat cabinet. There was one member of a minority group in the parliament; there were none in the cabinet.
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, and the government generally implemented these laws effectively. There were no reports of corruption in the executive or legislative branches of the central government during the year. However, there were media reports of corruption involving local government officials.
The highest profile corruption cases involved two city mayors, Valentim Loureiro and Isaltino Morais. In July 2009 Loureiro, the Social Democratic Party mayor of Gondomar and chairman of the board of the country's professional soccer league, was given a suspended prison sentence of three years and two months for corruption and influencing soccer referees. After Loureiro appealed, the higher court replaced the sentence with a fine of 30,000 euros ($40,000). In August 2009 Morais (Independent), the mayor of Oeiras, was sentenced to seven years in prison for tax evasion, abuse of power, corruption, and money laundering and was fined 463,000 euros ($620,000). His appeal resulted in a reduction of the prison sentence to two years, an acquittal of the charge of abuse of power, and a reduction of the fine to 197,266 euros ($264,336).
Public officials were subject to financial disclosure laws. The Central Directorate for Combating Corruption, Fraud, and Economic and Financial Crime is the government agency responsible for combating corruption.
The constitution and law provide for public access to government information, and the government provided access in practice for citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media.
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
The country has an independent human rights ombudsman appointed by parliament who is responsible for defending the human rights, freedom, and legal rights of all citizens. The ombudsman's office operated independently and with the cooperation of the government.
The ombudsman had adequate resources and published mandatory annual reports as well as special reports on such problems as women's rights, prisons, health, and the rights of children and senior citizens.
The parliament's First Committee for Constitutional Issues, Rights, Liberties, and Privileges exercises oversight over human rights problems. It drafts and submits bills and petitions for parliamentary approval. During the year new laws went into effect in areas including protection of common-law marriages, enforcement of prison sentences, and regulation of immigrant workers and minors born in the country to immigrant parents.
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race, gender, disability, language, and social status, and the government effectively enforced these prohibitions.
The law makes rape, including spousal rape, illegal, and the government generally enforced the law when the victim chose to press charges and the cases were not settled out of court through mediation by both parties' lawyers. During 2009, the latest year for which data is available, 188 cases of rape were reported to the Association for Victim Support (APAV), a nonprofit organization that provides confidential and free services nationwide to victims of any type of crime; 139 of the cases were linked to domestic violence. In 2008, 193 such cases were reported (132 linked to domestic violence).
Violence against women, including domestic violence, continued to be a problem. Penalties for violence against women range up to 10 years' imprisonment.
During 2009, 15,904 domestic violence crimes were reported to the APAV, for a total of 6,682 cases; 88 percent of the victims were women. According to NGOs and media reports, there were 41 deaths related to domestic violence during the year.
The law provides for criminal penalties in cases of violence by a spouse, and the judicial system prosecuted persons accused of abusing women; however, traditional societal attitudes discouraged many abused women from using the judicial system. According to data from the Ministry of Justice, in 2008, the last year for which data was available, 1,157 individuals were convicted of domestic violence crimes, of a total of 2,430 domestic violence court cases.
The government encouraged abused women to file complaints with the appropriate authorities and offered the victim protection against the abuser. In addition legislation allows third parties to file domestic violence reports. The government's Commission for Equality and Women's Rights operated 14 safe houses for victims of domestic violence and maintained an around-the-clock telephone service. Safe house services included food, shelter, and health and legal assistance. The government-sponsored Mission Against Domestic Violence conducted an awareness campaign against domestic violence, trained health professionals, proposed legislation to improve legal assistance to victims, increased the number of safe houses for victims of domestic violence, and signed protocols with local authorities to assist victims.
Sexual harassment is a crime. Penalties for sexual harassment range from one to eight years in prison. If perpetrated by a superior in the workplace, the penalty is up to two years in prison, or more in cases of aggravated coercion.
The Commission on Equality in the Workplace and in Employment, composed of representatives of the government, employers' organizations, and labor unions, examines, but does not adjudicate, complaints of sexual harassment. During the year reporting of sexual harassment rose. In 2007 more than 300 cases of sexual harassment were reported to the Authority for Labor Conditions (ACT) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity; three of these resulted in the dismissal of the perpetrator.
Couples and individuals have the right to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing, and timing of their children, and to have the information and means to do so free from discrimination, coercion, and violence. There was easy access to contraception. According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), 67 percent of women used some kind of contraception. UNFPA statistics stated that skilled attendants assisted all childbirths in the country in 2009, the last year for which data is available, and that there were seven maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the country in the same year. Women were diagnosed and treated for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, equally with men.
The civil code provides women full legal equality with men; however, in practice women experienced economic and other forms of discrimination. According to 2009 National Statistics Institute data, women made up 47 percent of the working population and were increasingly represented in business, science, academia, and the professions, but their average salaries were approximately 23 percent lower than men's.
The State Secretary for Equality addresses, among other topics, problems such as economic discrimination and the integration of women into the mainstream of society.
Citizenship is derived by birth within the country's territory and from one's parents.
Child abuse was a problem. The APAV reported 611 crimes against children under the age of 18 during 2009, the latest year for which data was available. Approximately 90 percent of the cases involved domestic violence.
On September 3, a Lisbon court convicted six of seven defendants charged in a high-profile, child sexual abuse case involving a pedophilia ring at the state-run Casa Pia children's home. The convicted defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 18 years. Long-time Casa Pia driver Carlos Silvino, the primary defendant, was convicted on 126 counts (including sexual abuse, procuring children for abuse, and pornography), sentenced to 18 years in prison, and ordered to pay each of his 20 victims 15,000 euros ($20,100). Television personality Carlos Cruz was convicted of three counts of sexual abuse against two children, sentenced to seven years in prison, and ordered to pay each of his victims 28,000 euros ($37,500). Former ambassador Jorge Ritto was convicted of three crimes, was sentenced to more than six years in prison, and was ordered to pay his one victim 25,000 euros ($33,500). The other three defendants were convicted of two to four crimes each and sentenced to between five and seven years in prison. All six of the convicted defendants announced that they would appeal. The seventh defendant, Gertrudes Nunes, who allegedly allowed her home to be used for abuse, was acquitted. The country's longest-ever criminal trial had more than 900 witnesses, including 32 victims, and lasted more than eight years.
There were reports that Romani parents used minor children for street begging.
Statutory rape is a crime. Minimum age for legal consensual sex is 16 years of age. Penalties for statutory rape range up to 10 years in prison. The law prohibits child pornography; penalties range to eight years in prison.
The country is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. For information on international parental child abduction, please see the Department of State's annual report on compliance at http://travel.state.gov/abduction/resources/congressreport/congressreport_4308.html.
The Jewish community in the country was estimated at 3,000. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year. The government does not collect such statistics, and none was reported to the ombudsman.
There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.
For information on trafficking in persons, please see the Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report at 2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip.
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination against persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of other state services or other areas. The government effectively enforced the law. The law also mandates access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, and the government implemented these provisions in practice; however, no such legislation covers private businesses or other facilities.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity oversees the National Bureau for the Rehabilitation and Integration of Persons with Disabilities, which is responsible for the protection, professional training, rehabilitation, and social integration of persons with disabilities, as well as for the enforcement of related legislation.
The government estimated the Romani population of the country to be between 40,000 and 50,000 persons.
On April 29, the European Committee of Social Rights accepted a complaint from the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) which alleged violations of the European Social Charter by the government. The ERRC claimed that the government's resettlement programs for Roma excluded persons not included in the original census of informal Romani encampments, provided inadequate financing of rehousing projects, failed to be implemented by local authorities, and perpetuated spatial and social segregation of Roma because resettlement areas were located on the outskirts of cities, with poor infrastructure, limited or no access to public services, and often inadequately sized dwellings. In addition the complaint accused the government of failing to improve the "deplorable" living conditions in informal Romani encampments, which frequently lacked access to potable water, electricity, sewage removal, and sanitary facilities. On November 30, the government submitted its official response to the case.
During the year a number of gay pride parades took place in the country with no reported incidents.
There was no official or societal discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, statelessness, or access to education or health care. On August 4, according to the NGO ILGA-Portugal, the state secretary for equality called on the Portuguese Blood Institute to remove questions about sexual orientation from questionnaires filled out by blood donors.
There were no reports of societal violence or discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
The law recognizes workers' right to form and join independent unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice; members of the armed forces are excluded from this provision. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce was unionized. The law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the government protected this right in practice.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right in practice. If a long strike occurs in an essential sector such as justice, health, energy, or transportation, the government may order strikers back to work for a specified period. The government has rarely invoked this power. Police may join unions and have recourse within the legal system, but they may not strike.
The constitution and the labor code recognize and protect the right to bargain collectively, and these laws were effectively enforced. Collective bargaining was freely practiced. Collective bargaining agreements covered approximately 90 percent of the workforce.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and there were few reports that it occurred.
There are two foreign trade zones in the island autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores. There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in export processing zones.
The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred. Women, men, and children were trafficked for forced labor. Men from Eastern Europe (typically from Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, and Romania) and African Portuguese speaking countries were, through fraud, coercion, and debt bondage, subjected to conditions of forced labor in the farming and construction industries. Police and NGOs have also reported that family networks brought approximately 50 to 100 Romani children to the country and forced them to work as street beggars. Also see the Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report at 2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip.
The government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in the workplace.
The minimum working age is 16 years old. The ACT of the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity registered four cases of child labor during the first six months of 2009. In recent years there has been a greater social consciousness of child labor problems, increased awareness through government campaigns, and a reinforcement of investigations. However, there were reports that Romani parents used minor children for street begging.
The government's principal entity to investigate and respond to reports of illegal child labor is the ACT. The ACT sponsors and finances the Integrated Program for Education and Professional Training, which attempts to return minors who are victims or at risk of child labor to school. During the year the program worked with 2,500 students, 70 percent of whom were boys; approximately 51 percent of the students were in the 16- to 17-year age group and 46 percent were in the 13- to 15-year age group. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, and generally did so effectively.
The minimum wage, which covers full-time workers, rural workers, and domestic employees who are 18 years of age and older, was 475 euros (approximately $637) per month and did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. According to the European Working Conditions Observatory, 10 percent of employed persons were at risk of poverty. However, widespread rent controls and subsidies on basic food and utilities raised the standard of living. Most workers received higher wages; in 2008 the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity calculated the average monthly salary of workers, excluding public servants, to be 1,072 euros (approximately $1,436).
The legal workday may not exceed 10 hours, and the maximum workweek is 40 hours. There is a maximum of two hours of paid overtime per day and 200 hours of overtime per year, with a minimum of 12 hours' rest between workdays. Premium pay for overtime worked on a rest day or public holiday is 100 percent; overtime performed on a normal working day is paid at a premium of 50 percent for the first hour and 75 percent for subsequent time worked. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity effectively monitored compliance through its regional inspectors.
Employers are legally responsible for accidents at work and are required by law to carry accident insurance. The ACT develops safety standards and is responsible for their enforcement. The ACT's inspectors sufficiently and regularly monitored these standards both proactively according to regulations and advanced scheduling, and reactively in response to complaints filed. Inspection findings were generally effectively enforced. According to the ACT there were 115 deaths from work-related accidents in 2009. Workers injured on the job rarely initiated lawsuits, as insurance policies covering medical and compensation costs covered the majority of workers. Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to their employment, and authorities effectively enforced this right.
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Police Shootings, Helicopter Crashes, and Bystanders with Cameras: Weighing the Rights of “Accidental Journalists”
Demonstrators carry a mock coffin at a march in Minneapolis condemning police killings of black men and women. Photo by Fibonacci Blue via Flickr (CC BY-2.0)
On 4 April 2015, a white US police officer shot an unarmed black man named Walter Scott in the back. Officer Michael Slager had stopped Scott due to an alleged traffic violation. Scott abandoned his car and ran from the scene, with Slager first following behind. Then, Slager fired eight shots, hitting Scott repeatedly in the back. Slager put handcuffs on Scott’s body, retrieved an object from some distance away, and dropped the object near his body. He then radioed in the message, “[s]hots fired and subject is down. He took my Taser.”
With over 304 killings of black people by US police in 2014 alone, and only a small fraction of these episodes resulting in criminal charges, it is highly likely that this story would have gone unnoticed. The police officer’s call to the station may have been deemed sufficiently credible and the matter would have been closed after a brief internal investigation. However, this time a bystander filmed the event on his camera phone, providing authorities with documentary evidence of what actually occurred that day. The footage has been broadcast by news outlets worldwide and gone viral on social media, generating major waves in ongoing protest movements across the US demanding justice and accountability for police abuses against people of colour. It also contributed to the decision to prosecute Michael Slager, who has been charged with murder.
The Walter Scott incident is not an isolated example of footage or images produced by a person — who is not a journalist by profession — being picked up and used by the mainstream media. In the category of police brutality alone, two well-known recent examples are the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the fatal choking of Eric Garner by police in New York.
The significance of eye-witness documentation in these cases raises many interesting questions concerning the rights of these “accidental journalists” and the public interest value of the work.
What is an “accidental journalist”?
I use the term “accidental journalist” in this context rather than the more mainstream notion of “citizen journalists” because I believe the two, while at times related, are distinct. A citizen journalist is someone who, while perhaps not trained and employed by a traditional news organization, sets out to report on an issue of public interest. The citizen journalist has the intent to report on something, while the “accidental journalist”, such as Feidin Santana who filmed the Walter Scott shooting, is a bystander who was in the right place at the right time and captured something newsworthy. Many situations could see overlap between these categories, but the distinction is clear.
So should an accidental journalist receive the same type of protection as a regular journalist when publishing their news or footage?
I would argue that the accidental journalist merits the same level of protection as the traditional journalist or established blogger, based on the inherent public interest in bringing news and information into circulation for broad public consumption. This principle is firmly established under international law and I believe its protective qualities can be extended to those who are not professional journalists or routine bloggers, but only a “journalist for a day.”
This sheds light on the ongoing expansion of norms protecting traditional media to other actors. For example, the increase in online publication has given rise to questions about the level of legal protection available to bloggers’ sources compared to those speaking with the traditional media. Various courts, especially in the US and Canada, have affirmed that so-called shield laws, which allow journalists to protect their sources, apply equally to bloggers. Other courts have ruled that the public has an interest in disclosure regardless of whether the material is published by traditional journalists or bloggers. In Grant v. Torstar Corp., for example, the Supreme Court of Canada wrote:
…the traditional media are rapidly being complemented by new ways of communicating on matters of public interest, many of them online, which do not involve journalists. These new disseminators of news and information should, absent good reasons for exclusion, be subject to the same laws as established media outlets.
Apart from sourcing, there are sometimes elements of personal risk involved in cases like these. In the cases of both Brown and Scott, the individuals who filmed these incidents of fatal police abuse took significant risks when they chose to document and publish this footage, leaving themselves vulnerable to official scrutiny, and placing them in the mainstream media spotlight.
Should eyewitness documentation be subject to copyright?
Reports surfaced in April 2015 that news outlets worldwide received cease-and-desist letters concerning the Walter Scott footage. The letters were sent by PR firm Markson Sparks on behalf of Feidin Santana, demanding the news outlets to pay a US $10,000 fee or to stop using Santana's footage. Markson Sparks claims that Santana owns the footage and, now that the initial newsworthy event has passed, is eligible to licence it. The firm is also considering charging news outlets retroactively for previous use of the footage without Santana's permission.
Activists are calling for greater accountability for police, including by filming them. Source: Flickr user Timothy Krause
Copyright is a double-edged sword when it comes to free speech. It is intended as an incentive to put valuable ideas and images onto the market, but it restricts their dissemination. An exception to the right to claim copyright lies in the concept of “fair use”, which allows media organizations to use limited amounts of copyrighted material as part of news reporting.
Feidin Santana's decision to pursue fees for his video footage begs the question: can something that qualifies as news at one point cease to constitute news at a later time, allowing the producer of the material to assert a copyright claim?
English courts addressed this question in the case of Ashdown v. Telegraph Newspapers, in which the Sunday Telegraph published excerpts from the personal diary of Parliamentarian Paddy Ashdown which described a conversation about cabinet appointments between the Ashdown and now former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Court found that the case fell within the defence of “fair dealing for the purpose of reporting current events” and focused mainly on the fact that the matters discussed in the article were still relevant to public interest. The Court stated that the meeting “was undoubtedly an event” and while, two years later, it was not current “in the sense of recent in time”, it was still a matter of current interest to the public. The Sunday Telegraph was therefore free to use the material.
A US court recently warned about the threat that is posed to freedom of expression when decisions on copyright infringement are made too hastily. In May, the Appeals Court of the Ninth Circuit reversed its decision in Garcia v. Google to order the removal of the Innocence of Muslims video from YouTube, following a copyright claim by an actress in the film. In a separate opinion one of the judges reasoned:
…[b]y refusing to immediately rehear this case en banc, we condoned censorship of political speech of the highest First Amendment magnitude. Although amateurish, offensive, and banned in many undemocratic countries, Innocence of Muslims is a film of enormous political, social, and religious interests…. The censorship of Innocence of Muslims by our court violated the public’s First Amendment right to view a film of immense significance and public interest.
It is also important to note that copyright is an effective tool to suppress free speech online. Last year, it was revealed that Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa had attempted to stifle critical speech about his policies by issuing copyright violation notices to critics who used government-made footage of the president when reporting on his policies. Some months later, Serbian Vice President Aleksandr Vucic pursued a similar tactic in an effort to censor a satirical online video that included footage taken by a State-run news outlet. These cases are by no means exceptional. Without question, copyright can indeed serve as a convenient excuse for censoring politically sensitive content online.
Public interest as a guiding principle
Perhaps “public interest” should be the guiding principle when answering the copyright question. The underlying logic of copyright protection is that it fuels a system through which the wider public gets increased access to newsworthy items. It encourages the war photographer to go to great lengths to provide us with accurate reporting on what really goes on in a war zone. The accidental journalist has not made a similar investment as the traditional journalist in being able to capture the news – they did not invest in reporting equipment or conduct background research. There must still be an incentive for them to bring the news into circulation. We cannot expect everyone to act with complete altruism in these situations, can we?
Aftermath of the Vauxhall helicopter crash. Source: Flickr user EG Focus
Or can we? There is a fine line to be walked here. Once we accept that the accidental journalist has a right to claim, this also means they will be able to exercise control rights that may prevent others from publishing their work and effectively limit the circulation of the newsworthy materials rather than enhance it.
In contrast to the case of Walter Scott and the claims of Feidin Santana, there is the case of Nic Walker, a bystander who photographed a 2013 helicopter crash outside London's Vauxhall. Walker’s photos of the crash, which he posted online, were picked up by news outlets. Though some commenters encouraged him to seek compensation for the use of his content, Walker stated that he did not want to profit from the crash.
Some news outlets, such as the Guardian, maintain a policy under which they seek, when possible, to get permission and pay for the use of images taken from social media. Such practices may be crucial in ensuring that accidental journalists continue to share their “lucky reporting” with the wider public and feel duly acknowledged (and compensated) for doing so. Otherwise, it may only be a matter of time before stumbling upon an event of importance and capturing it means contacting a publicity agent rather than the press. It is hard to imagine that would be of benefit to the wider public’s interest.
The main question, then, is where the line should be drawn. Should there be specific guidelines for accidental journalists, providing sufficient incentive to increase the free flow of information without at the same time restricting it precisely by creating an incentive scheme? Or can we rely on these standards to work themselves out in practice? The question, for now, remains unanswered.
What are your views on this emerging issue? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Written byNani Jansen Reventlow
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AU2019 - meeting of ECOWAS 1st ladies for combating early marriages and promoting girls education - high level panel (1)
AU2019 - Meeting of ECOW
Niger: African Development Bank President attends historic African Union summit, decries child marriage
Whilst in Niamey, Adesina also participated in a high-level panel on combatting child marriage, organized on the sidelines of the summit
The continent has waited for far too long, and we are glad this historic moment for the people of Africa is being witnessed in Niger
NIAMEY, Niger, July 8, 2019/APO Group/ --
The president of the African Development Bank (https://www.AfDB.org), Akinwumi Adesina joined continental leaders in Niger for an African Union summit which saw the official launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement – the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization.
The agreement, ratified in April, will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member States of the African Union.
The Bank has been central in shaping the AfCFTA agreement, setting its strategy and format and approving a $4.8 million grant to the AU for the establishing of the Secretariat and to accelerate its roll out. Nigeria made history at the summit by becoming the 54th African country to sign up.
Commending all the parties involved for bringing this historic agreement to fruition, President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou said: “The time has come to translate words into actions. The continent has waited for far too long, and we are glad this historic moment for the people of Africa is being witnessed in Niger.”
His comments were echoed by AU President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and AU Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat who both stressed the need to celebrate the strides the continent has made.
“An old dream has come true. The founding fathers must be proud,” said Faki.
Child marriage a scourge, women’s inclusion must be prioritized - Adesina
Whilst in Niamey, Adesina also participated in a high-level panel on combatting child marriage, organized on the sidelines of the summit by the First Ladies of West African Economic Community states and Niger’s first lady Dr. Lala Malika Mahamadou Issoufou.
The panel, themed: Combatting child marriage and promoting girls’ education and retention in schools, heard testimonies from young girls as well as from Niger’s traditional chiefs, who committed to support the recommendations of the meeting.
“It is totally unacceptable that in Africa some people would block the future of girls. Fundamentally, we have to protect girls, help them achieve and perform.” Adesina said.
Highlighting the need to urgently address “this plague which jeopardizes the future of girls in Africa,” Adesina urged participants to prioritise the inclusion of women. “Women are the backbone of the African economy and of the African communities,” Adesina stated.
President Issoufou also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting the First ladies.
“Keeping girls in school is one of the best ways to end child marriage. Like men, an educated girl will contribute to her community’s transformation,” the President said.
Rounding off the conversation Niger’s First Lady described the issue as a “critical priority.”
“It is not just a West Africa issue, but an issue for the entire region. So all of us must come together – public, non-governmental institutions, religions leaders, communities, families, and schools – for a sustained multi-stakeholder approach to combat early marriage and promote girls’ education,” Malika Mahamadou Issoufou concluded.
Click on the following link to view pictures: Flickr album (http://bit.ly/2Jvk1v9)
Email: a.ahouassou@afdb.org
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) (https://www.AfDB.org/en) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 44 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states.
For more information: j.mp/AfDB_Media
Niger: African Development Bank President attends historic African Union summit, decries child marriage Whilst in Niamey, Adesina also participated in a high-level panel on combatting child marriage, organized on the sidelines of the summit NIAMEY, Niger, July 8, 2019/APO Group/ -- The president of the African Development Bank (https://www.AfDB.org), Akinwumi Adesina joined continental leaders in Niger for an African Union summit which saw the official launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement – the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization. The agreement, ratified in April, will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member States of the African Union. The Bank has been central in shaping the AfCFTA agreement, setting its strategy and format and approving a $4.8 million grant to the AU for the establishing of the Secretariat and to accelerate its roll out. Nigeria made history at the summit by becoming the 54th African country to sign up. Commending all the parties involved for bringing this historic agreement to fruition, President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou said: “The time has come to translate words into actions. The continent has waited for far too long, and we are glad this historic moment for the people of Africa is being witnessed in Niger.” His comments were echoed by AU President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and AU Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat who both stressed the need to celebrate the strides the continent has made. “An old dream has come true. The founding fathers must be proud,” said Faki. Child marriage a scourge, women’s inclusion must be prioritized - Adesina Whilst in Niamey, Adesina also participated in a high-level panel on combatting child marriage, organized on the sidelines of the summit by the First Ladies of West African Economic Community states and Niger’s first lady Dr. Lala Malika Mahamadou Issoufou. The panel, themed: Combatting child marriage and promoting girls’ education and retention in schools, heard testimonies from young girls as well as from Niger’s traditional chiefs, who committed to support the recommendations of the meeting. “It is totally unacceptable that in Africa some people would block the future of girls. Fundamentally, we have to protect girls, help them achieve and perform.” Adesina said. Highlighting the need to urgently address “this plague which jeopardizes the future of girls in Africa,” Adesina urged participants to prioritise the inclusion of women. “Women are the backbone of the African economy and of the African communities,” Adesina stated. President Issoufou also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting the First ladies. “Keeping girls in school is one of the best ways to end child marriage. Like men, an educated girl will contribute to her community’s transformation,” the President said. Rounding off the conversation Niger’s First Lady described the issue as a “critical priority.” “It is not just a West Africa issue, but an issue for the entire region. So all of us must come together – public, non-governmental institutions, religions leaders, communities, families, and schools – for a sustained multi-stakeholder approach to combat early marriage and promote girls’ education,” Malika Mahamadou Issoufou concluded. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
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Cancer patient dies after severe beating in Zion
By Leah Hope and Laura Podesta
ZION, Ill. (WLS) -- A $25,000 reward is being offered for information in the murder of a 46-year-old cancer patient from Missouri who was being treated in north suburban Zion.
Shannon Vincel, of Springfield, Mo., was sitting outside the Guest Quarters, a hotel property for the Cancer Treatment Center of America, when she was attacked Monday night. Police said she was struck her in the head with a blunt object around 9:48 p.m. near 27th Street and Gabriel Avenue.
Vincel died Tuesday night at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville. Her family took her off life support after a severe head injury.
The Cancer Treatment Centers of America has pledged $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual responsible for Vincel's murder.
Vincel had been traveling to and from Zion every two weeks for radiation treatment for breast cancer, and had just returned on Monday after celebrating her mother's birthday.
"She was a very nice person, very, very outgoing, and very talkative. A sweet person, she was very sweet," said Charlie Moats, a Guest Quarters visitor.
Moats said he was outside with his brother and Vincel a half-hour before the incident.
"I'm just confused. It's terrible, just terrible. I'm ready to go home," he said.
A spokesperson for Cancer Treatment Centers of America issued a statement Thursday: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victim involved in the tragic incident outside of Guest Quarters West, one of our hotel accommodations located at 1911 27th Street, Zion, Ill. We continue to support the ongoing investigation of the Zion Police Department in support of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. Our number one priority remains the safety and wellbeing of our patients, guests and employees."
Guests and those who live and work nearby were shaken by the brutal attack.
"It's really bad that this young lady came in for treatment for something that she and somebody had to do this to her. It's really sad," said Blondie Curtis, a resident.
"Whoever did this, I wish they'd come forward and turn themself in because that don't make no sense what they did to this woman. She came up here to get herself cleared of cancer and they took her life out," said Valerie White, another resident.
Zion police and the Lake County Major Crime Task Force are investigating. They would not comment on a motive, but said they are looking at area surveillance video and interviewing residents.
"I have an 80-year-old mother that could have been out here. I have friends from the CTAC that run. It could have been anybody," said Tammy Williams, who works nearby.
Anyone with information should call police at (847) 872-8000, or Lake County Crime Stoppers at (847) 662-2222.
zionbeating deathcancer
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The National Release Short Film 'I Am Easy To Find': Watch
posted by Katrina Nattress - May 13, 2019
While fans eagerly await the release of The National's eighth studio album I Am Easy To Find, the band has premiered a short film of the same name that acts as a companion piece for the new music. The nearly 27-minute-long film was directed by Mike Mills (20th Century Women) and stars Alicia Vikander (Ex-Machina). Though it features music from the new album, the visuals are meant to be more than just an extended music video.
As Mills describes it, the two projects are “playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other— they share music and words and DNA and impulses and a vision about what it means to be human in 2019, but don’t necessarily need one another.”
“The National gave me the stems for their songs, some were sketches some were finished and encouraged and allowed me to create my own versions of the songs to score the film,” he continued explaining in a statement. "The album then features different versions of these same 7 songs — and 9 new songs which sometimes refer to the themes, texts, ideas from the film — but are their own work, their own piece of art.”
Watch I Am Easy To Find below.
The National celebrate the release of I Am Easy to Find with an album release party hosted by iHeartRadio on May 17. Find out how you can stream it live here.
Photo: Graham MacIndoe
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It’s a Beautiful Day – It’s a Beautiful Day (album) – Classic Music Review
By altrockchick on July 30, 2014
Sending you to MP3’s so you can get the good stuff.
The story of It’s a Beautiful Day is a tale that could teach you young-uns out there a few things about the weird goings-on in the music industry:
The band agreed to a management agreement with one Matthew Katz. Mr. Katz had already pissed off Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape to the extent that both were trying to dump him (though IABD didn’t know that at the time). Katz shipped his new find to Seattle for a spell, much in the same way a baseball team ships a promising young talent to the minors for more seasoning. They played in a ballroom that Katz ran on Capitol Hill that is now a storage facility, a place where the crowds were measured in handfuls. They spent a typically dreary, drippy Seattle winter living in an attic of a house Katz owned, trying to get by on a chintzy meal allowance.
It’s a Beautiful Day eventually returned to San Francisco and started to play gigs without management permission, in violation of their agreement. I guess one unethical turn deserved another. This led to the opportunity to open for Cream (good) and the beginning of years of legal battles with Katz (not so good).
That first big break almost led to a second: the chance to play at Woodstock. Unfortunately, they lost a coin flip to Santana. No shit.
And just to make sure that you realize that this story has no heroes, there is some pretty compelling evidence that the song “Bombay Calling” on this album was written by an Oakland jazz saxophonist named Vince Wallace, and not by leadman David LaFlamme as listed.
And just to add insult to Vince’s injury, Deep Purple then absconded the music from “Bombay Calling” for their song “Child in Time.”
You can now understand that while I’ll fuck any race, ethnicity or gender, I will never fuck a musician.
It’s a Beautiful Day is their eponymous début album, and I have to say up front that it’s not their best work. Their follow-up album, Marrying Maiden, was more consistent and somewhat more cohesive. On that album they added a touch of bluegrass and a little bit of hillbilly to the mix and gave up any pretense of trying to be a blues-rock band. I don’t think they ever really settled on an identity, something I find very puzzling. It’s obvious to anyone who listens to this first album that their niche was slow-to-mid-tempo mood pieces integrating jazz and folk influences. When they tried to speed it up, get nasty or join the pointless jam crowd, they were way, way out of their league.
Consumers will find this a very conveniently-structured work, particularly in an era where you don’t have to buy the whole album unless iTunes or Amazon zonks you with the ALBUM ONLY label for the one song you want. My shopping advice is easy to remember: get the first two songs and skip the rest. I might go with a third if I weren’t so totally sick of the faceless girl motif of the psychedelic era.
The time they spent in the Seattle attic wasn’t a total loss, for that’s where “White Bird” was born. One of the signature songs of the period, the song was written by David LaFlamme and then-wife Linda (who also handled the keyboards) to capture the experience of their Seattle imprisonment. There are two things that knock me out about this song: the arrangement and the late Pattie Santos’ vocal (David LaFlamme’s vocal is okay, but he tends to oscillate between too stiff and too emotive). The opening passage sets the mood right at the start with the softly played organ serving as an alt-drone (thankfully, they didn’t use a fucking sitar) and David LaFlamme’s pizzicato violin. I spent five winters in Seattle, my friends, and that is exactly what winter sounds like: the constant drone of gray skies relieved only by the splash of rain on the window pane. An acoustic guitar joins the vocalist in the verses, playing the rather simple chords in a syncopated, echoing rhythm. As the vocal duet proceeds, the best parts are when Pattie Santos and David LaFlamme are in perfect balance; unfortunately, LaFlamme has difficulty controlling his emotions from time to time and gets too loud and dramatic, like a guy watching a football match. Fortunately, you get used to it after a while because the mood of the song is so mesmerizing and soothing. LaFlamme was classically trained and a soloist with the Utah Symphony (not exactly a name band), which may explain both his vocal stiffness and his mastery of the five-string violin. You hear that most clearly in the violin counterpoints that complement the choruses and dominate the crescendo at the end of the minor-key bridges, and in the extended instrumental passage, a brilliant composition all by itself. In that passage, LaFlamme’s superior musicianship with the violin is crystal clear, and the rest of the band members all seem to raise their game in response, especially bassist Mitchell Holman. The lyrics to “White Bird” fall into the category of “supportive but not particularly remarkable.” What matters is the mood, and “White Bird” is a stellar example of mood-creation.
It’s a Beautiful Day does nearly as well on the second track, “Hot Summer Day,” once you get past the superfluous high-pitched organ intro. This is a slightly more up-tempo piece flavored with a light harmonica, reflecting the more comfy, laid-back feeling you get when summer has arrived as opposed to the draggy feeling you get when the mugginess arrives LIKE IT HAS RIGHT NOW IN FUCKING PARIS. Anyway, the duet vocal here begins as a modified call-and-response in the first two lines of the verse before the voices come together. Patti Santos sounds like the sweet scent of a soft summer breeze, and while LaFlamme gets close to overdoing it, he generally manages to keep his dramatic tendencies in check. The drum work from Val Fuentes is varied, dynamic and very complementary, and Mitchell Holman again supplies solid bass support. The lyrics are eminently forgettable, but hardly seem to matter. The band is playing to its strengths and all is right with the world.
And then, holy fuck! A loud, screechy electric guitar riff breaks the mood faster than a fart and David LaFlamme attempts to transform himself from a rather formal gent into a defective prototype of Robert Plant. This “song” is appropriately called “Wasted Union Blues,” and the emphasis on the word “wasted” cannot be strong enough. It gets even worse as they try to break up the rhythm and only end up breaking wind. Skip it!
“Girl with No Eyes” is very much a parlor piece in waltz time, its formality enhanced by celeste and harpsichord. I’m sure that some people will think this is a very lovely piece, but to me it sounds somewhat amateurish and the lyrics are a weird combination of the love-is-all cliché and a bad acid trip:
Girl with no eyes,
who can she be?
she’s looking at me.
Beautiful girl,
who does she see?
she seems to be staring.
Doesn’t everybody know
love takes a lifetime?
And doesn’t everybody know
love is the eye sight?
It’s the eye sight of a lifetime
She’s just a reflection of all of the time that’s gone by.
She’s just a reflection of all of the time I’ve been high.
I guess all that would make sense to people who took golden sunshine daily with their morning meal, but to me it’s typical hippie fragmentation: when you run out of vocabulary, throw in some bullshit about love, love, love.
“Bombay Calling” is the subject of the Vince-Wallace-Deep-Purple dispute mentioned above. Personally, I like Vince’s version the best: it’s rather playful (which makes sense, since Vince originally wrote it to poke fun at the stereotypical music Hollywood used to “portray something ‘middle eastern,’ Indian or Asian, Northwest Orient or the Land of Sky Blue Waters.”) Vince had a sense of humor! IABD’s version is competently played but they take the music way too seriously, as if they’re trying to communicate ancient wisdom. The piece melts right into “Bulgaria,” a song that pisses me off on multiple levels. First, the first two minutes are dominated by a high-pitched sound that is damned close to dog-only range and lingers in your eardrums for hours afterward. Second, I happen to love the music of Bulgaria, known for its wild time signatures, energetic instrumentation and emotion-laden but disciplined vocals; this piece is as far from Bulgaria as Council Bluffs, Iowa. Finally, why the fuck is this song called “Bulgaria?” The silly lyrics make no mention of Bulgaria, not even its famous 300-pound wrestlers and weight lifters:
When you’re in a dream
The time passes so slowly
Open up your heart
Go sleep on the moment you were born
Go sleep on the moment love was born
Love for you and me
Let be all the love within you tonight
Set free all the love within you tonight
In addition to plagiarism, I propose a charge of false advertising.
The album ends with one of those very, very long songs that came into vogue during the late sixties. I’ll have to do a count someday of how many long-form songs from the 1960’s aren’t crushing bores, but that will have to wait until my old age when I can’t fuck anymore and need something to occupy the mind to ward away debilitation. “Time Is” a nine-and-a-half minute drag where the band speeds up, slows down, speeds up, finally finds a rhythm and then stays on one chord for what seems like forever. David LaFlamme babbles about eternity and “lovely time” in a senseless vocal riff and the band members contribute whenever the hell they feel like it. The lyrics tell you nothing about time that you didn’t already know, so if you’re looking for a more engaging song about time, see Chambers Brothers, The.
So, what we have here is a so-so album from a slightly confused band recorded in the waning days of psychedelia. Beyond the first two songs, there isn’t much to recommend it except for the iconic cover. Oh, well.
I was going to end my Psychedelic Series with this album, but two things have led me to reconsider. The first is that I hate ending a series on a so-so album, even if it is the ending of a series with so-so music.
The second is, well, goddamnitalltohell, I realized that there was one more album I absolutely had to do to bring the series to its proper close and bid “happy trails” to the hippies. No, I’m not talking about the Quicksilver Messenger Service, but the one album that I have tried to avoid and now can avoid no longer. Somehow it’s very fitting that the review of that album will come out on the day before my thirty-third birthday, guaranteeing that my anniversaire will symbolize my blessed and well-deserved liberation from the Psychedelic Era.
And I’m going to party like a bitch in heat times three. Without drugs.
GO TO THE FINAL POST IN THE SERIES: WOODSTOCK
Posted in: Classic Music Reviews, Progressive/Electronic, Rock, Punk, Alternative, Garage, The Psychedelic Series | Tagged: alt rock chick, altrockchick, David LaFlamme, female blogger, female music blogger, Hal Wagenet, it's a beautiful day, it's a beautiful day (album), Linda LaFlamme, Mitchell Holman, music review, Pattie Santos, Val Fuentes, Vince Wallace
Darren Shupe July 30, 2014 at 11:55 am | Reply
Actually, the best work they did was for KSAN and, by extension, Tom Donahue during those live performances during the spring and summer of 1971. They’re out there for the intrepid BitTorrent fan, and I think they’ve been released on some fairly obscure labels. “Hot Summer Day” never sounded so good before or after. Great review of a pretty pedestrian album, though.
caravan70 July 30, 2014 at 12:00 pm | Reply
Actually, the best work they did was out at the Family Dog on the Great Highway during those spring and summer concerts with Tom Donahue from KSAN hosting in the spring and summer of 1971. Those, I think, have been re-released on some small label, but they’re great… best version of “Hot Summer Days” I’ve ever heard is on the summer one, I’m pretty sure. In any event, great review of a not-so-great debut album. I agree that “Marrying Maiden” is much better – but again, they were one more instance of a San Francisco band that was hyperbolically better live than in the studio (see, for example, Moby Grape).
altrockchick July 30, 2014 at 12:17 pm | Reply
Thank you! And I’m so glad you mentioned “Big Daddy” Tom Donahue. During a period when my dad was a starving student and couldn’t afford records he recorded Donahue on KMPX on a old reel-to-reel his parents had laying around. He pulled them out for me sometime in my teens when I was bitching about how shitty radio was, and even though the sound quality wasn’t great, the diversity of the set lists were breathtaking. I mentioned in my Dave Van Ronk review that I stumbled on a radio station somewhere in Southern California that tried to copy the format, but went dark in about six months. Definitely my idea of the perfect radio station.
Sorry for the double comment (now triple, I believe). I’m still figuring out this WordPress thing. In any case, thanks for the tremendous reviews and always thought-provoking insights.
WordPress’ comments function needs a tweak or two. I appreciate all three comments!
Psychedelia | altrockchick August 2, 2014 at 4:12 pm | Reply
[…] It’s a Beautiful Day, 1969 […]
Classic Music Review: Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone | altrockchick August 4, 2014 at 8:23 pm | Reply
[…] It’s a Beautiful Day […]
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A Native Perspective of Laura Amy Schlitz's THE HIRED GIRL
Eds. note on Oct 25, 2015: Scroll down to see links to discussions of The Hired Girl that are taking place at School Library Journal, Book Riot, Reading While White, and on independent blogs.
Eds. note on Jan 12, 2016: I appended Sarah Hamburg's research on the history of Baltimore during the time period of The Hired Girl.
On October 2, 2015, I posted a short note about one passage in Laura Amy Schlitz's The Hired Girl. Schlitz's book is one of the books the Heavy Medal blog is discussing. That blog, for those who don't know, is at the School Library Journal website, and is where Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt host discussions of books that may be in contention for the prestigious Newbery Medal. Books that win that award are purchased by school and public libraries across the country. Because books that win the Newbery carry such prestige, teachers assign them to students.
When he introduced the book on October 15, Jonathan Hunt linked to American Indians in Children's Literature and summarized my comments about The Hired Girl.
I appreciate that Jonathan Hunt brought my concerns to readers of Heavy Medal, but he also dismissed them as minor and said that The Hired Girl is among his top three books for this year. I've been active in the discussion and have read and re-read the book as I participate. The discussion has has spread over three distinct pages at School Library Journal, and over at Book Riot, too. The Jewish aspects of the book figure prominently in those discussions.
With this blog post, I'm bringing my thoughts into a single place for anyone interested in focusing on a Native perspective on The Hired Girl. Just below this paragraph is my "For the TL/DR crowd" which means 'too long/didn't read, but here's the key points.' Beneath it is my in-depth look at the book.
from a Native Perspective
For the TL/DR crowd
Mascots and Halloween costumes are evidence that
adults, much less children, do not have the
background information needed to see Joan's
thinking is wrongheadded when she talks about
"civilized" Indians or when she invites Oskar to play Indian.
Discussing pejorative terms used in the Author's Note,
but not including "natives" in that discussion
suggests Schlitz herself may not understand that her
depictions of Native people in the book is, itself, wrongheadded.
Praising The Hired Girl and ignoring concerns over
Native content is another, in a too-long line of, instances in
which gatekeepers throw Native people under the bus.
An In-Depth Look
Set in 1911, The Hired Girl is about Joan, a 14 year old Catholic girl who runs away from her father's farm in eastern Pennsylvania. Her mother died a few years prior and Joan's life with her dad and older brothers is, to say the least, devoid of joy. The only source of joy is the teacher who gives her books. Near the end of the first part of the book, the teacher visits Joan. She gives her a bouquet of flowers wrapped in newspaper. Joan takes them in the house and returns outside. The teacher tries to give her some more books but Joan's dad comes upon them and sends the teacher and the books packing.
Back inside the house, Joan reads the newspaper that the flowers were wrapped in.
She reads an article about the Amalgamated Railroad Employees (railroad workers) being on strike and thinks maybe she ought to go on strike, too, so that her dad will give her some money for the work she does. In that same paper, she reads ads looking for "white girl to cook" and "first-class white girl for cooking and housework" and wishes she could be a hired girl. Her efforts to strike fail, her dad burns her books, and she runs away to Baltimore with the idea that she'll find work as a hired girl.
When she gets to Baltimore, the day ends with a near-rape. Joan escapes that, and ends up crying and praying on a park bench. In the midst of her prayer, a man offers to help her. That man is Solomon Rosenbach. His demeanor makes him more trustworthy than the man who tried to rape her. She tells him her story and that she's looking for work. The near-rape makes her wary, but Soloman has a plan that she's ok with, so she follows him to his home. He goes inside and tells his mother about her; Joan waits outside. Mrs. Rosenbach appears, asks her a few questions, and decides Joan--who is now going by Janet--can stay with them a few days if Malka, their Jewish housekeeper, doesn't mind. Feeling safe in their home, Joan decides she'd like to work for the Rosenbach's. She tells Mrs. Rosenbach that "you'll find me very willing" to help out. Here's that part of the story (Kindle Locations 1203-1219):
“Willing to work in a Jewish household?” she said, and when I didn’t answer right away, she added, “You, I think, are not Jewish.”
“No, ma’am,” I said. I was as taken aback as if she’d asked me if I was an Indian. It seemed to me — I mean, it doesn’t now, but it did then — as though Jewish people were like Indians: people from long ago; people in books. I know there still are Indians out West, but they’re civilized now, and wear ordinary clothes. In the same way, I guess I knew there were still Jews, but I never expected to meet any.
Joan is taken aback at the idea that she might be thought of as Jewish, or, Indian because she thought the Jews are like Indians: people from long ago. Joan knows there are Indians now (remember, the story takes place in 1911) and that they are "civilized" and "wear ordinary clothes."
What does Joan think civilized means? Does it mean wearing ordinary clothes like the ones she wears? Does she think wearing those clothes make those Indians civilized?
In the paragraphs immediately following that passage, we learn from Joan that the information she has about Jews is from Ivanhoe, but we aren't told where Joan got her information about Indians.
Let's see, though, what we might find out if we dig into books for children published during Joan's childhood, which would be 1897 (the year she was born) to the year she ran away, 1911. Maybe she read Wigwam Stories Told by North American Indians, by Mary Catherine Judd, published in 1901 by Ginn & Company in Boston. Wigwam Stories is recommended in a lot of publications of that time. It was recommended, for example, in 1902 in the Journal of Education published by Oxford University Press, in 1906 in Public Libraries: A Monthly Review of Library Matters and Methods, published by the Library Bureau, in 1910 in The Model School Library, published by the California Teachers Association, in 1915 in Books for Boys and Girls: A Selected List, published by the American Library Association, and in 1922 in Graded List of Books for Children, published by the National Education Association.
The preface for Wigwam Stories ends with this note from the author:
See that last sentence in the preface? It says "Careful investigations undertaken by the largest of nonreservation schools, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, prove that 94 per cent of the 4000 students recorded there have never "returned to the blanket," but have become modern home makers."
Maybe Wigwam Stories is the source of Joan's information. Maybe she read it and asked her teacher for more information, and her teacher told her about Carlisle Indian Industrial School. That teacher is sympathetic to the conditions miners work in, so maybe she's also aware of the goings-on at Carlisle. Maybe she's even seen the before and after photographs taken of students--photographs meant to persuade people that the school was changing the children so that they would not, as the note says, "return to the blanket." Here's one of those photos:
Is that what Joan has in mind? Jonathan (at Heavy Medal) is arguing that when Joan thinks "they’re civilized now, and wear ordinary clothes," she is telling us that other people think in stereotypical ways, but she does not. He would have us think that she's more knowledgeable than other people of that time, but later, she invites Oskar to play Indian. At that part of the book, Joan and Malka are taking care of Mrs. Rosenbach's grandchildren. One is a little boy named Oskar. Malka wants him to nap, but he doesn't want to (Kindle Locations 3888-3900):
Malka looked at me with desperation in her eyes, and I rose to the occasion. I remembered how Luke and I used to play on the days when Ma aired her quilts. “I’ll take Oskar up to my room. We’ll make a blanket tent and play Indians. He’ll like that, won’t you, Oskar?”
Oskar looked intrigued, so I led him upstairs. I rigged a tent by draping the bedclothes over the foot of my bed and the top of the dresser. We crawled inside the tent, and I told Oskar there was a blizzard outside (we made blizzard noises) with wild wolves howling (we howled). Then I was inspired to say that we were starving to death inside our tent, and that we would die if no Indian was brave enough to go out and hunt buffalo. Oskar took the bait. “I’ll go,” he said, and squared his shoulders. “I’ll go kill the buffalo.”
“I’ll make you a horse,” I offered. To tell the truth, I was starting to enjoy myself. I tore strips from my old sage-green dress to make a bridle, and I tied them to the back of a chair. Oskar rode up and down the prairie, rocking the chair back and forth and flapping the reins.
Then he demanded a buffalo. I produced my cardboard suitcase, which he beat to death with his bare hands. He dragged the slain buffalo back to the tent, and we pretended to gnaw on buffalo meat. “You’re good at playing,” Oskar said earnestly.
I felt terribly pleased. But of course, one buffalo was not enough; he had to hunt another one. Then we killed a few wolves. After the last wolf was dead, he collapsed in the tent beside me.
With that passage, we get more insight into what Joan knows about Indians. If Jonathan is correct, doesn't it seem that she would not teach that stereotypical play to Oskar? Jonathan and others who are defending this book insist that Joan's mistaken ideas are corrected along the way. Where is the correction to playing Indian? I don't see it.
Near the end of the book, Joan and David (another of Mrs. Rosenbach's sons) kiss and she falls in love with him. He is not in love with her. She thinks about him all the time and at this part, wonders how people can stand to be apart (Kindle Locations 4099-4101):
I think about the conquistadors and how they left off kissing their wives and went sailing across the ocean to conquer a lot of innocent natives who would probably have preferred to stay in their hammocks and kiss their wives.
There's a lot to say about that sentence, but I want to focus on "natives." Look it up in your favorite dictionary. You'll see it is considered dated and offensive. The Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary gives an example "Raleigh wanted the cooperation of the natives and treated the Indians with respect." Now--I believe that Joan would use that word. The problem is that it is not addressed in the story, and it is not addressed in the Author's Note either. In it, Laura Amy Schlitz's wrote: (Kindle Locations 4992-4999):
In The Hired Girl, I have tried to be historically accurate about language. This has led me to use terms that are considered pejorative today, such as Hebrew, Mahomet, and Mahometans.
I used Mahomet and Mahometan for two reasons. The word Muslim, which is now preferred, was not in use until much later in the twentieth century. And, as a reader of Jane Eyre, Ivanhoe, and The Picturesque World, Joan would have encountered the words Mahomet and Mahometan. These are the words that were used at that time.
Similarly, many Jewish people today find the term Hebrew offensive, but the fact that many Jewish organizations in Baltimore used it (the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, the Hebrew Literary Society, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, etc.) suggests that at the turn of the century, the word Hebrew was used with pride.
Why didn't she address her use of "natives" in the note?
Those who praise The Hired Girl are saying that it is clear to readers that Joan is naive and has mistaken ideas about a lot of things. They think we should trust the child reader to know that Joan is naive.
People who say that we should trust the child reader must not interact much, if at all, with Native people. Do they not know that Native people across the country are sharing blog posts, videos, and posters, asking that people not dress up like Indians for Halloween? Do they not know that Native people are showing up, week after week, to protest the use of Native imagery for mascots, from elementary schools to professional athletic teams? Do they not know that Native parents are at schools again and again to ask teachers not to use books that dehumanize us, or to ask that schools not do things like the Land Run and Thanksgiving Dinners?
Who is planning all those insensitive activities? Adults. Adults who ought to be able to read such activities critically. They can't. Or won't. Either way, the outcome is the same. And those who praise The Hired Girl think children are capable of reading critically when, all around us, there is evidence that adults can not, or will not read critically about things that are, on their face, problematic?
Predictably, another defense of The Hired Girl is that the main character is Roman Catholic. "Not enough books about Roman Catholics!" they say. "We cannot let those problematic Indian parts knock this book out of contention for the Newbery!" Come January, we'll know what the Newbery Committee decides. Will The Hired Girl be yet another book in a long list of books that does something so well that the committee decides it has to overlook the problematic Native content? I hope not.
Blogs discussing The Hired Girl are listed here. I encourage you to read through them, too. In particular, study contributions by Sarah Hamburg. Most Jewish people who are discussing the book are fine with depictions of Jews. Sarah presents a different view that aligns in interesting ways with my view of specific parts of Schlitz's story. I find the parts of the story, for example, where Joan thinks God wants her to convert the Rosenbach's to be troubling because Catholics sought to do that with Native peoples, too. A few weeks ago, the Pope was in the U.S. to canonize a priest who established and oversaw brutal missions and mission work in California. (If you see other blog posts, let me know and I'll add them.)
October 15: Jonathan Hunt at Heavy Medal, The Hired Girl
October 18: Betsy Bird at Fuse#8, Are Historical Heroes Allowed to Have Prejudices in Children's Literature?
October 19: Roger Sutton at Read Roger, Which book will hurt which reader how?
October 21: Justina Ireland at Book Riot, Accuracy or Bias: On Prejudicial Characters in Children's Literature and Beyond
October 20: Amy Koester at The Show Me Librarian, Problematic Trust: Why Can't We Just "Trust Child Readers"
October 22: Megan Schliesman at Reading While White, A Matter of Trust
October 22: Justina Ireland at This is Not a Blog. Okay, Maybe It is. Dammit., On an Author's Expectations
Update, January 12, 2016
Last week, I added Sarah Hamburg's tweets to a comment I made in the comments section of this post. Today, I'm bringing them up into the body of the post, because Sarah's historical research on Baltimore at that time is significant and I want her research to have more visibility. (Note: all the tweets are hers, but I included her name on the first one.)
Sarah Hamburg @sarahrhamburg 8 Nov 2015
The Hired Girl is set in that year, and follows Joan, a Catholic girl who escapes her farm & is hired by a wealthy Baltimore Jewish family.
In the book, there are no references at all to Black Americans, aside from a newspaper article & people working as porters on the train.
And though the book focuses on religious difference, the only overt act of antisemitism = when a Jewish man is passed over for a commission.
Prejudice in the book is primarily that of individual beliefs & sentiments, which change-- and reconcile-- as people get to know each other.
But researching Baltimore in that year, this is what I found: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-03-21/entertainment/bal-ae.bk.neighborhood21mar21_1_blacks-and-jews-rouse-white-woman (this book has an entire chapter devoted to 1910.)
In 1910, Baltimore passed a sweeping Jim Crow housing law. http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/25/105900067.html?pageNumber=34
The law came as a response to George Mechen, an African-American lawyer, moving into a white neighborhood in Baltimore in the summer of 1910.
When he moved in, white residents protested, and threw rocks. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1715&dat=19800216&id=p6s7AAAAIBAJ&sjid=7ikMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4985%2C3778859&hl=en
His residence, at 1834 McCulloh St., would have been half a mile from the house where Joan lives and works in the Hired Girl.
Eutaw Place, where her employers the Rosenbachs live, would have been one of a few neighborhoods in the city where Jews could buy housing.
At a meeting in July, 1910, White residents signed a petition, and expressed fear that Black people would move to Eutaw Place as well.
Milton Dashiell then drafted a bill that would prevent Black people from moving into majority White neighborhoods, and vice versa.
Dashiell cited fear of a "Negro invasion" of Eutaw Place.
In December of 1910, City Solicitor Edgar Allan Poe wrote in favor of the segregation ordinance:
http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2498&context=mlr
Mayor J. Barry Mahool, a prominent Progressive interested in women's suffrage and social justice, signed that first law a few days later.
This article and book describe what came next.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Not_in_My_Neighborhood.html?id=N-5riPQX-KEC
None of this is in The Hired Girl. Which is set in Eutaw Place, Baltimore in 1911.
I have been thinking a lot, especially this week, about how children's books present history. What is included, and how. And what's left out.
About stories of historical bigotry that focus on personal attitudes-- and their reconciliation through personal relationships.
What does this literature tell children about the past, and in consequence, about our present?
Diversity in children's literature isn't only about numbers. It is about who controls the story of our past and future.
Just wanted to add a link to this article here (with thanks to @debreese for sharing it): http://wowlit.org/communities/files/2011/09/Ching-cultural-authenticity1.pdf
Labels: Laura Amy Schlitz, not recommended, Pub Year 2015, Sarah Hamburg, The Hired Girl
K T Horning said...
What a great post, Debbie! Thank you so much for the clear and insightful focus on the American Indian content of the book, and for providing the historical context as well. Your comments about the author's note make it clear that the author wasn't thinking about Joan's perceptions of Indians as dated or offensive -- at least, not enough to merit comment.
Nina Lindsay said...
Thank you so much for rounding up these thoughts here. So valuable to have them together to refer to like this.
Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 12:53:00 PM CDT
Durable Goods said...
I don't know why any non-Native would want to mention Indians in any of their works of children's or teen literature. If they do, they become subject to your analysis. It concerns me that what will eventually happen is writers will simply avoid mentioning native people and culture and once again this population will become invisible. If that is your intent, I think you are doing a bang-up job.
Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 10:29:00 AM CDT
That's just absurd, Durable Goods. You assume that "writers" and "non-Natives" are the same group, first of all. Plenty of writers are Native/First Nations and do bang-up jobs of representing their nations and people. Second, Native/First Nations have never been "invisible." "Invisible" may well have been an improvement over the depictions of "savages" that populated American and British literature for so long (and still do, in places. Finally, it is in fact possible for a non-Native writer to mention First/Native Nations people in their writing and not insult them. Finally, can you find any writer who has voluntarily silenced themselves due to Debbie's critiques? They've argued, learned, remained stubborn, etc. But silenced? Due to Debbie's awesome publishing powers? I'd like an example.
--Veronica
To Durable Goods-- If those non-Native authors want to write about Native people and communities without the existence of feedback from actual Native people and communities, maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if they DID give it up. "...become subject to your analysis" is such an interesting construction, too. The idea that the gaze should only go one way, and that Native people are somehow wholly dependent on outsiders to render them "visible" to that gaze, seems like such a fundamental part of what's wrong in the current dynamics of publishing.
I'm not sure when your time before "once again" occurred, Durable Goods. Native peoples have been reduced to stereotypes in children's literature for as long as I can remember, and before that, too. Debbie is merely shining a light on the stereotypes and helping non-Native people like you and me understand and recognize them.
Debbie, I am very surprised to learn that many Jewish people today find the term" Hebrew" to be offensive. This is the first time I have encountered this viewpoint. I would be very grateful if you would provide the source of your information regarding this idea.
Anonymous at 9:42 PM,
I didn't say that the term Hebrew is offensive. The author of A HIRED GIRL, Laura Amy Schlitz, said those words in the Author's Note at the end of her book.
Monday, November 2, 2015 at 4:25:00 AM CST
Thank you for that clarification. You are absolutely correct and I apologize for my error. Obviously, Laura Amy Schlitz is the person to whom I need to direct my question.
As the book gets more attention again this award season, just wanted to link to this here as well. Again, I'm struck by the dynamics of a book that takes place in the same neighborhood during the same year as the passage of our nation's first Jim Crow law-- in which one of the central characters (who serves as the protagonist's mentor) says: "It's hard for you to understand, because you've grown up in America, and America is truly the Promised Land. Even here, there is bigotry; but there are laws to protect us." There is nothing in the book to either contradict that sentiment, or convey the deeper historical reality. (And Debbie, I know you have other thoughts on that quote as well.) Again, the issue isn't just with this singular book-- or other individual books that have been discussed this year-- but with a dominant presentation of history and present-day realities that underlies so many books published for children. https://twitter.com/sarahrhamburg/status/663420968669421568
Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:29:00 AM CST
Yes, I do, Sarah. My comments about "Promised Land" didn't make it into the review. There is, in fact, so very much more to say about the book. Including all my notes would make it an unwieldy piece of writing.
So--a quick note on "Promised Land."
Who did that "Promised Land" belong to, in the first place? Mr. Rosenbach--is he ignorant of history? Doesn't he know that land was taken from Native peoples? Is it convenient to ignore that fact? And what of the bigotry he's speaking of? Laws to protect him? What about laws that removed Native peoples from their land?!
It is interesting to think about land and ownership of land right now--given the occupation taking place in Oregon. A group of armed White men is occupying federal offices, saying that they'll stay there until land in Oregon is return to its rightful owners---which is, farmers and ranchers---in the view of those occupier. The fact? That land actually belongs to the Paiute Nation.
In her comment at 11:29, Sarah pointed to her Twitter page. For those who do not have access to Twitter, I am doing a copy/paste below, of Sarah's tweets (Note: for ease of reading, I'm only including her name/time stamp in the first copy/paste). What I've shared, and what Sarah has shared, are important context for how THE HIRED GIRL ought to be considered. I am disappointed that it was given the Scott O'Dell Award yesterday (Jan 6 2015).
In December of 1910, City Solicitor Edgar Allan Poe wrote in favor of the segregation ordinance: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2498&context=mlr
This article and book describe what came next. http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2498&context=mlr
Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 12:11:00 PM CST
A Native Perspective of Laura Amy Schlitz's THE HI...
HUNGRY JOHNNY is Amongst the 2015 Winners at Wordc...
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Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock's THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES
When I learned that Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock's The Smell of Other People's Houses has Native characters in it, the title took on a dark connotation. Central to European and US racism towards Native peoples was their characterization of Native peoples as primitive, dirty, and in need of "civilizing." Thanks to a friend who was at the American Library Association's Midwinter meeting last month, I was able to read an advance reader's copy of it.
Most of Hitchcock's story takes place in Fairbanks in 1970. Here's the synopsis:
In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. This deeply moving and authentic debut is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.
Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
Four very different lives are about to become entangled. This unforgettable book is about people who try to save each other—and how sometimes, when they least expect it, they succeed.
The story is told in alternating chapters, by Ruth, Dora, Alyce, and Hank. This review is primarily about Dora.
The book starts out with Ruth. Her little sister is named Lily. They live with their grandmother. I believe they are white. Nothing in the story tells me they are not white. As the story begins, Ruth and her friend Selma, and Lily and her friend Bunny (Lily and Bunny are 11 years old) are about to sit down to eat together. Bunny gets to talking about the fish camp her family goes to. Lily asks Gran why they don't have a fish camp, and gran says "because we aren't native."
To that, Bunny says (on page 17 of the ARC):
"I'm not native, I'm Athabascan."
Clearly, she objects to being called native. Ruth and Selma laugh at her. Lily (Ruth's little sister) responds:
"What's so funny? She is Athabascan," says Lily. "Natives are the people like Dora's mom, the ones who hang out all day at the bar--they're too drunk to even bother fishing."
Remember--Lily is eleven years old, but she apparently holds some rather stereotypical ideas about Native people. Maybe because she's eleven, we're meant to excuse her remark.
Later on that page we learn a little more, from Ruth:
Fish camps are pretty much handed down from family to family, but maybe Gran shouldn't have lumped all Alaska Natives together. It didn't seem to make Bunny very happy. Especially because Bunny and Dumpling actually have the nicest parents in Birch Park.
Are there tensions in Alaska between different Alaska Native groups that would cause Bunny to be upset that gran would use "native" to describe her and her family? Are her objections specific to the alcoholism of Dora's mother? Are we to understand that "natives" in Alaska are more likely to be alcoholic than Athabascans? From Dora, we learn that most people in Fairbanks "lump all native people together" and that she (Dora) is Eskimo or Inupiat, while Dumpling is Athabascan, or Indian (p. 27-28).
As the synopsis indicates, Dora is one of the main characters in the story. Her escape is from her own home. Her dad, we read, drinks, too. But there's more: her dad sexually abuses her, and her mother knows about it. Near the end of the story, he beats up her mother and threatens to shoot Dora. By then, Dora has been living next door with Bunny and Dumpling's family for awhile.
When Dora wins some money, her mother pesters her for it so she can buy more beer. When her dad gets out of jail for shooting up the bar, he wants her money, too.
There are characters in the story that might be Eskimo or Inupiat (not sure what Dora's preferred term is). George, the old guy who works at Goodwill, knew Dora's great grandparents, but I can't tell if he's Eskimo/Inupiat or not. Nick, the bartender with nice teeth might be, too. Dora's mom dated him for awhile. If these two men are Eskimo/Inupiat, that would be cool, because they're likeable. But--we don't know.
And then there's Dora's mom's friends, Paula and Annette. Paula has a beaded wallet, so maybe she's Eskimo/Inupiat. The three woman are loud and drink together, a lot. Paula seems nice enough but the vibe I get of them is not good. In that scene in which Dora's father threatens to shoot her, Paula and Annette came running out of the house, abandoning Dora's mom.
The contrast between the Bunny and Dumpling's Athabascan family and Dora's Eskimo or Inupiat family, is striking. In the Athabascan home, Dora feels safe and cared for. Dumpling's family may be shown that way so that we'd have more than one image of Native peoples, but I wish that we were given more information about Dora's parents so that we might understand them as more than the stereotypical drunken and violent Indians. Why do they throw pictures across the room, cracking the glass and putting them back on the wall, with that cracked glass? What is the backstory on them? Without it, I think this story confirms troubling stereotypes. I'm also unsettled by the sexual abuse. Sexual abuse of Native women is rampant, and while there's no doubt that incest is part of that, I wish that wasn't part of Dora's story.
I'd also like to know more about Indigenous peoples of Alaska. Hitchcock gestures to complexities in terms used but I'm reading and re-reading those passages trying to make sense of it. Due out in 2016 from Random House, I'm marking this as not recommended.
Update, Feb 9 2016:
My social media feeds yesterday carried news about a research study comparing alcohol use across Native and White populations:
The researchers analyzed data from a survey of more than 4,000 Native Americans and 170,000 whites between 2009 and 2013. Called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the survey was administered by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The UA study also used another nationally representative survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to measure how often Native Americans and whites engaged in excessive drinking in the past month. Again, findings for the two groups were comparable.
About 17 percent of both Native Americans and whites were found to be binge drinkers, and about 8 percent of both groups were heavy drinkers. Binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks on one to four days in the past month. Heavy drinking was five or more drinks on five or more days in the past month. Sixty percent of Native Americans reported no alcohol use in the past month, compared to 43 percent of whites.
“Of course, debunking a stereotype doesn’t mean that alcohol problems don’t exist,” Dr. Cunningham said. “All major U.S. racial and ethnic groups face problems due to alcohol abuse, and alcohol use within those groups can vary with geographic location, age and gender.
“But falsely stereotyping a group regarding alcohol can have its own unique consequences. For example, some employers might be reluctant to hire individuals from a group that has been stereotyped regarding alcohol. Patients from such a group, possibly wanting to avoid embarrassment, may be reluctant to discuss alcohol-related problems with their doctors,” he said.
I think it was being shared in Native networks because we are keenly aware of the stereotype which is, I believe, reflected in Hitchcock's story.
Labels: Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, Pub year 2016, The Smell of Other People's Houses
Ann Bennett said...
I had stopped reading fiction for a good portion of my life. One reason was information was not authentic. I'm reaching the point where unless people are immersed in a culture, maybe they should think long and hard before they write about it. Stereotypes are hard on people and especially children.
I recognize the alcohol motif as being very similar to the moonshine motif of the South. It always grates on me. I went to a conference where a New York agent was present, and I listened to quasi Southerners with their moonshine stories. I've listened to tales from people who are much younger than me about "chain gangs" which were outlawed before my memory began.
I started following you because I had considered writing stories I had been told as a child. They were never labeled culturally.
Your posts in addition to the comments have been a big eye opener for me. Maybe it is because I grew up in a region of poverty. It takes incredible character to survive difficult life circumstances. Alcohol is abused as an escape by some but not by all or most. Why should an entire group of people be smeared with a repetitive meme. Isn't there more depth in their lives that can be explored.
My grandfather was a moonshiner. He never drank. He caught fish and sold them in a town square and worked very hard to make a living. There was so much more to the man. And yes he was flawed. Aren't we all?
Monday, February 8, 2016 at 9:21:00 AM CST
Debby Dahl Edwardson said...
" I wish that we were given more information about Dora's parents so that we might understand them as more than the stereotypical drunken and violent Indians"
This makes me think of Chimimanda Adichie, in her brilliant Ted Talk: "the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete."
It would be important to get a sense of the trauma, especially the historical trauma, that has shaped characters' lives, giving the reader a more well-rounded picture of why these characters do the things they do. This is especially important in books written for young people, especially books written by those of us who are white about non-white peoples. Otherwise what we write just feeds into the dominant stereotypes.
Monday, February 8, 2016 at 1:22:00 PM CST
mallard said...
Sadly, your review is the only thing feeding into dominant stereotypes. If you'd read this book in its entirety, you would have realized that what THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES does is dispel these stereotypes. It seems you have missed the point entirely. Did you tell Sherman Alexie that PART TIME INDIAN, feeds into dominant stereotypes? When people write about their communities and cultures, how can someone outside of that community and culture, like yourself, honestly feel that you have the right to criticize? Did you live in Alaska? Are you familiar with the 251 tribes that exist there? By your own admission, it appears you know very little about AK Natives, and yet, you are lumping them all into one category. Even the name of your website, American Indians in Children's literature, does not speak to the Alaska Native experience. We are not "American Indians." You are doing the very thing you say others should not do. And by the way, Dora wishes that wasn't part of her story as well. Because Dora is a real person. There are hundreds of Doras in AK and they are tired of the silence that perpetuates abuse. Perhaps you've never met one of us. But we are speaking out. We are even more tired of people like you saying our stories shouldn't be addressed. Please, don't speak for us, we have our own writers who are printing books and performing plays.
This author was the voice of Independent Native news (produced in AK) for many years and certainly isn't someone that makes these kinds of generalizations about the very people that she represented as a reporter, and a multi generational Alaskan. Did you even read her bio? Her website might shed some light and give your readers knowledge and context. www.hitchcockbs.com/blog If you really are concerned about accuracy in literature this is a book that should be embraced, as Alaskans have, calling it "The Alaskan version of The House on Mango Street." -Fireside Books, Palmer Alaska
mallard, I am so glad to read your comments on here questioning Debbie Reese's knowledge of the Alaska Native experience. While I have largely agreed with her content on AICL, I have long wondered about too much stock being put in her opinion about all indigenous experiences. Clearly the author of THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES knows her stuff, and knows MORE about the Alaska Native experience than does Reese. Is it really so unbelievable that 11-year-old Lily would differentiate between Athabascans and Natives and use that terminology? It seems wholly natural to me, that Lily would have learned and mimicked that information from adults. This continues an unfortunate trend where I am losing some of my trust in Reese's reviews.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at 1:56:00 PM CST
Wow. It seems that you found no real issue but rather the need to say something negative. As a Gwich'in Athabascan, I can only laugh and shake my head at this incredulous assessment of a novel written by one of our own. It was read by both me and Inupiaq journalist Nellie Moore before publication so you have also criticized our vetting of the story.
Your outside perspective seems to have kept you from understanding even the smallest hint at the cultural identity of these characters. Obviously George, who you couldn't tell was native or not, was hunting seals at one point. Only Alaska natives can hunt seals. That's good writing without beating the reader over the head. Perhaps you just don't know enough about Alaska culture? Your ignorance is not the writer's fault. Readers who truly want to learn about the real Alaska will get much from this book, as could you, Debbie if you were not so quick to jump to false conclusions.
Ms. Hitchcock writes from her own experience. But she has long understood the politics of this region. Without her reporting we might have lost some valuable land to the federal government, orchestrated by a Native Corporation and against the wishes of the tribes in the region. She actually reported on this for NPR, (even quoting Gwich'in speakers in their own language) and helped to stop an egregious move. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88732658
Using your own standard, I must say, I cannot recommend readers to your blog. I can however, recommend they read The Smell of Other People's Houses.
Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 11:35:00 AM CDT
Thank you for everyone -- Debbie & the other commenters -- for your thoughts on this book. It makes me examine the content more closely with heightened awareness of the complexities of any single book.
Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 11:14:00 AM CST
Now it's a Morris finalist! Luckily for teens and readers everywhere, not everyone has been hoodwinked by Reese's "Not Recommended" review. We can come to our own conclusions about the Alaskan Native and Athabascan experience rather than be schooled by a member of the Nambé Pueblo nation.
Monday, December 5, 2016 at 10:15:00 AM CST
Anonymous at 10:15 AM on December 5:
It is not the first, nor will it be the last, book to get shortlisted --- or to win --- an award.
You find my critique unpersuasive. Others have studied it and come away with a different view of it. You didn't. Indeed, your use of "hoodwinked" and "schooled" reflects poorly on you.
THE CROW'S TALE by Naomi Howarth
Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie on Winning the American ...
Lisa Charleyboy on Winning the American Indian Lib...
Debby Slier's LOVING ME
Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock's THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S...
Richard Van Camp and Julie Flett on winning the Am...
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Home CelebritiesBonnie Bedelia’s Acting Career
Bonnie Bedelia’s Acting Career
Celebrities, Celebrity Q&A
https://americanprofile.com/articles/bonnie-bedelia-acting-career/
By Ken Beck on January 6, 2013
https://americanprofile.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/bonnie-bedelia-150x150.jpg
What can you tell me about movie star Bonnie Bedelia? Was she in a soap in the 1960s?
—Robert Alls, Riner, Va.
Bedelia, 64, currently starring as Camille Braverman in the NBC drama “Parenthood,” played teen Sandy Porter on “Love of Life” from 1961 to 1967. She went on to a career encompassing Broadway (“My Sweet Charlie”) and film. Her movie credits include “They Shoot Horses Don’t They,” “Lovers and Other Strangers,” “Heart Like a Wheel,” “Presumed Innocent” and “Die Hard.” She starred as Capt. Kate McCafferty from 2001 to 2004 in the TV series “The Division.” The native New Yorker has been married since 1995 to actor Michael MacRae and is an aunt to actors Macaulay, Kieran and Rory Culkin.
Found in: Celebrities, Celebrity Q&A
‘Grizzly Adams’ Bear
Joe Mantegna Supports Military
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Press Release - April 25, 2013
Air Lease Corporation Announces the Placement of a New Boeing 777-300ER and Lease Extensions of Four Aircraft with KLM
LOS ANGELES, California, April 24, 2013 — Today Air Lease Corporation (NYSE: AL) announced a long term lease agreement with KLM (The Netherlands) for a new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, which is scheduled for delivery in March 2015. Additionally, ALC and KLM reached agreement on lease extensions for three 737-800s and one 777-200ER, currently operating in the KLM fleet."ALC’s management team has a history that spans many decades working closely with KLM to support their fleet needs.
We are very pleased to provide an incremental 777-300ER for their long-haul operations and extend leases on four aircraft currently in their fleet,” said Grant Levy, Air Lease Corporation’s Executive Vice President.
ALC is an aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. ALC and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline partners worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. For more information, visit ALC's website at www.airleasecorp.com.About KLMKLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded in 1919, making it the world’s oldest airline still operating under its original name. In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to form AIR FRANCE KLM. The merger produced the strongest European airline group based on two powerful brands and hubs – Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Retaining its own identity, the group focuses on three core businesses: passenger transport, cargo and aircraft maintenance.In the Netherlands, KLM comprises the core of the KLM Group, which further includes KLM Cityhopper, transavia.com and Martinair. KLM serves all its destinations using a modern fleet and employs over 33,000 people around the world. KLM is a leader in the airline industry, offering reliable operations and customer-oriented products resulting from its policy of enthusiasm and sustainable innovation.
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news release Akron Art Museum to Receive Grant from National Endowment for the Arts for Upcoming Exhibition Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art
For Release: February 7, 2018
Akron, Ohio—National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $25 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $30,000 to the Akron Art Museum for the upcoming exhibition Open World: Video Games & Contemporary Art. The Art Works category is the NEA’s largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.
“It is energizing to see the impact that the arts are making throughout the United States. These NEA-supported projects, such as this one to the Akron Art Museum, are good examples of how the arts build stronger and more vibrant communities, improve well-being, prepare our children to succeed, and increase the quality of our lives,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “At the National Endowment for the Arts, we believe that all people should have access to the joy, opportunities and connections the arts bring.”
Open World, which will be on view from October 2019 through January 2020, will present the work of artists for whom the widespread popularity and cultural influence of video games plays a pivotal role in their practice. The exhibition will draw attention to the phenomenon of video games in contemporary culture through the presentation of a range of artworks, including paintings, sculpture, textiles, prints, drawings, animation, video games, video game modifications and game-based performances and interventions by makers who self-identify as artists.
The exhibition will not include commercially produced games. However, the artworks in Open World will reference a broad cross-section of games, ranging from early text adventure and arcade games, to modern massive multi-player online roleplaying games and first-person shooters. Participating artists are influenced by some of the most beloved video game franchises, including Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, The Sims and Final Fantasy.
Open World refers to open-world video games, which allow players to roam through virtual worlds, freely selecting their objectives. The title also refers to the rich opportunities video games offer for creative expression.
“Through games, artists build immersive, alternate words. They use digital games to create meaning through imagery, music, sound effects, animation and narrative. The rules governing the experience of playing a video game can express a viewpoint and encourage critical thinking or empathy by directing the player’s attention to systems at work within the real world,” Associate Curator Theresa Bembnister said.
Artists confirmed for participation in Open World to date include Butt Johnson (New York), Angelo Ray Martínez (South Bend, IN), Tim Portlock (St. Louis), Suzanne Treister (London) and Angela Washko (Pittsburgh). Many others are under consideration.
For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
< List All
Misfit Toys Workshop
BeatrixJar Workshop and Third Thursday
Brew Haha
Jean Pierre Gauthier Exhibition
Dominic Caruso
Design, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Phone: 330.376.9186 x229
Email:dcaruso@AkronArtMuseum.org
Biennial Report
A comprehensive overview of FY2013 to FY2014.
Download report >
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Institute for Latino Studies adds experienced educator and nonprofit leader as new associate director
Author: Evelyn Gonzalez
Categories: Faculty News, Internationalism, Centers and Institutes, and General News
Paloma Garcia-Lopez — an educator, nonprofit leader, and manager with more than 15 years of experience — has been appointed associate director of the Institute for Latino Studies (ILS) at the University of Notre Dame. In her new role, Garcia-Lopez will manage and oversee all of the activities and staff of the institute. Garcia-Lopez will focus on enhancing annual programming, special events, communications, fundraising and budgeting. She will be a central figure in the development of a strategic plan to support scholarly initiatives in Latino studies as a key component of Notre Dame’s academic mission.
Sociologist Robert Vargas wins book award for research on Chicago turf wars
Robert Vargas, a Notre Dame assistant professor of sociology and faculty fellow in the Institute for Latino Studies, has won a book award for his ethnographic study of Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and its confrontational relationships between police, politicians, and gangs. The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences will present its Outstanding Book Award to Vargas at its annual meeting in March in Kansas City, Missouri.
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The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions has lauded the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for contributing immensely to the stability of the Nigerian economy, in spite of the recession the country witnessed in 2016.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim Adebayo stated this on Wednesday, May 15, 2019, during the committee’s screening Mr. Emefiele for a second term following the latter’s nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari for a second and final term in office as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Senator Adebayo, while grilling the nominee on the state of Nigeria’s economy, said the renomination of Mr. Emefiele was an indication that the President recognized the Bank’s contribution to the health and stability of the economy.
Adebayo, who also dismissed recent allegations of fraudulent activities in the CBN through a leaked audio tape, expressed satisfaction with the presentation of Mr. Emefiele. He, however, charged the CBN Governor and his team of Board and Monetary Policy Committee members not to be deterred but rather redouble their efforts at ensuring the promotion of a sound and stable economy
Also commending the CBN Governor on the successful reforms carried out during his first tenure, other senators, who took turns to speak, called for greater improvement in the areas of foreign exchange management, development finance and access to credit among others. They also sought clarification on the issue of foreign exchange windows
In his response to the questions, Mr. Emefiele said more needed to be done to get Nigeria to the desired heights, even as he promised that the impact of the Bank’s development finance interventions would become very visible within the next two years.
Alluding to the pace of development in some Asian countries that were Nigeria’s peers at independence in 1960, Mr. Emefiele promised to implement the Bank’s policies for the betterment of the Nigerian people, who are at the heart of the Bank’s vision of a people-centred Central Bank.
The screening exercise followed the call by the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, to the committee at the plenary on Tuesday to carry out the screening and report back to the Senate within one week.
Mr. Emefiele was appointed as CBN Governor on June 2, 2014, is due to end his first tenure on June 2, this year.
Tagged: #Senate Committee gives EmefieleCBN kudos at Screening
Ebun Francis| Senate president, Ahmed Lawan, on Wednesday said the 2019 bud
The interbank segment of the Foreign Exchange Market has received a fresh b
Chidi Samuel| President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate commenc
Chid Samuel| South Africa on Tuesday promised to unravel the circumstances
#theUBAMarketplace2019: Abuja aglow as Presidents, dignitaries, celebs set for Africa’s biggest event
… 120 SMEs to display goods and services during Event …..Wizkid, Niniol
Emefiele warns of tough times ahead as Senate committee okays his nomination
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Hosting the 2012 International Women of Courage Award Ceremony - March 8, 2012
March 08, 2012— Washington, D.C.
categories: Keynote Address, Speeches
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Good morning and welcome to the State Department once again. I am so grateful that all of you have joined us here today for what has become, in our view, one of the most important and special occasions of the year here in Washington. I want to thank my friend and colleague, Ambassador Melanne Verveer who has been, as you know, a tireless champion for women and girls for decades. [Applause.] Melanne and her team have not only made this event such a special occasion year after year, but they have helped put women and girls at the center of everything we do here at the State Department and in the Obama Administration. So thanks again, Melanne. Although, it was left out of her mention of the 7th grade girls that one of them is her granddaughter. So…[laughter]…she is very committed to the next generation, and I thank you for everything you have done and will do.
Now, why is this a special occasion? Well, for one thing, it is the way we mark International Women's Day, to gather leaders and activists, and particularly our honorees here in Washington to recognize their remarkable achievements. And for the fourth year, we are so honored to be joined by the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. [Applause.] Now, I do take a point of personal privilege in talking about the First Lady, because I have just an inkling of what her life is like every day…[laughter]…and I want to publicly thank her for being an inspiration for women and girls and families and communities here in the United States and around the world.
It's always an honor to share a stage with her, and I think it's also a reminder that we have a lot of work to do. It is, of course, about the leadership and the voice of a first lady or a secretary of state, but it is much, much more than that. And what Michelle and I have tried to do in our own ways is to lift up the voices of others, because we want a great crescendo of voices, an international chorus that says clearly and unequivocally that women and girls deserve the same rights and opportunities as their fathers and brothers and sons. And today, we will hear remarkable stories from our honorees. They come from diverse and distant places, but in one important way they all walk the same path. They, too, are working tirelessly for justice. They are working for accountability. They are working for freedom, and they are working tirelessly to improve the lives of women and girls.
Whether pushing for change in the halls of government in the Maldives, the courts of Saudi Arabia; whether making sure women have a voice in Libya's future and a role in Pakistan's government; whether enduring imprisonment or abuse for trying to assist other women and girls at risk, these women, who you will meet today, are all making a difference in the face of adversity, often under the threat of violence that is sometimes hard for those of us here in Washington or across our great country even to imagine. And while we honor them today, we know that tomorrow their work will and must continue so that every woman and girl someday will have the opportunity to live up to her own God-given potential.
As I often say, this isn't just the right thing to do; it is also the smart thing to do. Improving the lives of women improves the lives of their families, strengthens their communities, and does create more opportunities for economic growth and prosperity. We know that investing in women's employment, health, and education levels leads to greater economic growth across a broad spectrum. It also leads to healthier children and a better-educated population overall. We know that political systems that are open to full participation by women produce more effective institutions and more representative governments. And we know that the work that so many of you do will be done day after day as it moves us closer and closer to realizing the vision of equality.
As long as you are on the front lines of this struggle, the United States will be with you, and we will use every tool at our disposal to help you. That's why next week when all of the United States ambassadors from around the world gather here in Washington, I will be issuing the first ever Secretarial policy directive on gender. This guidance…[applause]…this guidance, which complements the recently released USAID gender policy, will instruct our embassies and bureaus to implement specific steps to promote gender equality and advance the status of women and girls in all of our work in order to further both our national security and our foreign policy goals.
Now, this issue is not just a priority here at the State Department or at USAID, but across the Administration, and that is why we are so pleased that the First Lady is here lending her support. She and President Obama have made it absolutely clear that women and girls will be a focus of what we do here at home and around the world.
Last year, Mrs. Obama traveled to South Africa and spoke at a forum for young women leaders from across Africa. And she told those bright, young women that now is the time for their voices to be heard. For them and for so many others, she said that the power was in their hands to help usher in an era when women would no longer be second-class citizens, and they would be able fully to participate in open and accountable government. I cannot think of anyone better to carry that message and to signal America's commitment to advancing the rights and opportunities of women and girls, and I'm so grateful to both President and Mrs. Obama for all they have done to make this a priority.
So please join me in welcoming our First Lady, Michelle Obama.
Speech from https://eca.state.gov/video/secretary-clinton-2012-international-women-courage-award-ceremony/transcript.
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Remarks on Exxon Corruption - Feb. 2, 2017
February 02, 2017— Washington, D.C.
categories: Floor Speech - U.S. Senate, Speeches
Mr. President, for the first time in more than a decade, the Republican Party controls the house, the Senate and the White House, and this week they are starting to roll out their legislative agenda.
So now that they have complete control of the agenda, what do the Republicans have in store? Something to bump up wages for working families or something to create more jobs, something to tackle the student debt crisis, maybe something to deal with all the jobs that get shipped overseas?
Nope. One of the Republican Party’s first orders of business is a giveaway to ExxonMobil that will help corrupt and repressive foreign regimes and help it to funnel money to terrorists around the world.
Here's the problem. Big corporations like Exxon and other oil and gas mining companies often pay millions of dollars to foreign governments to access natural resources located in these countries, and many of these foreign regimes are corrupt. And Exxon’s massive payouts regularly end up in the pockets of government officials rather than in the hands of the people. These corrupt officials get filthy rich while their citizens face punishing poverty and dangerous working conditions. Where still some of these undisclosed payments can end up financing terrorists.
Just over six years ago, Congress passed a bipartisan provision to help tackle this problem, with strong support of Senator Dick Lugar, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Congress required oil, gas and mining companies to disclose payments that they make to extract natural resources. Republicans and Democrats agree that shining a light on these payments would help combat corruption and terrorism around the globe and would help citizens in some of the very poorest nations in the world hold their own governments accountable.
Disclosing these foreign payments also helps investors right here in the United States so that they can make more informed investment decisions. Some investors may want to stay away from companies that could face expensive lawsuits for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other anticorruption laws. Other investors quite frankly may just prefer not to invest in companies that could be helping prop up corrupt foreign governments or indirectly financing terrorism.
So Congress directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to write up the rule, and the S.E.C. spent years soliciting input from investors from human rights advocates, from anticorruption experts and from oil, gas and mining companies. The agency ultimately issued a ruling last year, and it worked.
The rule gained the support of faith groups, of human rights groups, of development organizations, of anticorruption advocates all around the world. The rule also earned the support of investors who collectively controlled more than $10 trillion in assets. And we should really be proud. It set an international standard with the European Union, Canada, and other countries adopting similar standards for companies in their own countries.
But it didn't go down well with everyone. A handful of powerful oil and gas companies have been after this requirement from the start, and Exxon has been leading the pack on this. In fact, Rex Tillerson, the C.E.Os. of Exxon at the time, personally lobbied against the requirement back in 2010.
His reason -- what was his objection? The foreign payments rule would undermine Exxon’s ability to do business in Russia. Listen to that again. If Exxon has to tell the world about the millions of dollars it hands over to the Russian government, Exxon wouldn't be able to do as much business in Russia.
So now the Republican Congress wants to rush out to help poor Exxon so they can keep the secret money flowing to these Russian officials. This Exxon giveaway shows just how bankrupt the Republican agenda is. They don't have any ideas for helping working families. It's just one corporate giveaway after another, making their big business donors happy and keeping the campaign contributions flowing for the next election.
But the economic lives of our working families, our moral leadership in the world, the safety of our financial system and the water we drink and the air we breathe, all of those are just afterthoughts to the corporate wish list.
If you are a corrupt foreign dictator, Republicans rolling back the rules is great for you. If you were an oil company executive, Republicans rolling back the rules is great for you. But if you are anyone else, you should be outraged that the Republican Congress is so willing to throw you under the bus to please these groups.
I urge all of my colleagues to vote against this resolution.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield.
Speech from https://www.c-span.org/video/?423408-1/us-senate-advances-hhs-secretary-nomination&start=30709.
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David Bowie’s Music Industry Future Vision
The Week:
{David} Bowie’s capacity for groundbreaking even extended into the arena of economics. In 1997, he pioneered the idea of using his future royalty payments as backing for financial securities that could be sold on the markets to investors. The so-called “Bowie bonds” themselves didn’t work out too well. But the idea of turning the streams of royalty payments from intellectual property rights into a financial security took off in film rights, comic strips, pharmaceuticals, restaurant franchises, and more. Such oddball securities now make up 21 percent of the U.S. market for asset-backed insurance.
But what’s even more interesting is why Bowie cooked up this idea. In 2002, in the heyday of Napster and the free file-sharing craze, Bowie told The New York Times he thought the entire business model of the music industry was collapsing. Fourteen years later, things did not pan out as dramatically as Bowie predicted — but he got the basic thrust right.
David Bowie in The New York Times, 2002:
”I don’t even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years, because I don’t think it’s going to work by labels and by distribution systems in the same way,” he said. ”The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it’s not going to happen. I’m fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing.”
”Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity,” he added. ”So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.”
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Crystal Ball Gazing, The State Of The Music Industry
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The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t ‘Flexibility Is Key’ In The New Creative Economy Future Of Music Coalition Responds: The Data Journalism That Wasn’t The Endurance of Hype Machine
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Home US Soccer MLS D.C. United Take Down MLS Champions Atlanta United
D.C. United Take Down MLS Champions Atlanta United
MLS Opening Weekend
MLS is back and D.C United will be a team to watch this year. Rooney is with the team and on a mission to bring the MLS Cup title back to the capital. For their first match, D.C. United had to face the 2018 MLS Cup champions. They muzzled the defending champions and their star forward Josef Martinez.
D.C. coach Olsen was very pleased about the result:
I’m pleased with the overall performance. I was happy with how we started and the timing of the goals were big. It was a mature performance from us but you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt with the schedule they have. In this league, teams need to take advantage of that and I think we did that for the most part tonight.”
Forward Wayne Rooney added:
“I think we performed really well. I think a lot gets made about the preseason… the important thing for us was the fitness work which we can improve on from last year in the start of the season.
We worked hard all preseason and fitness levels were good. Once you’re back here at Audi Field, the crowd behind you, we put performances in… the Montreal game was a good game for us as players, coaching staff… we responded really well tonight.”
Much work to be done for Atlanta United
For his first MLS game in charge of Atlanta United, the Dutch former international Frank De Boer knows everyone in the League will want to beat the defending champions. They are still trying to figuring out their identity as he commented. They also had to play in Costa Rica in the Concacaf Champions League with no much rest in between games:
“You can also listen to the players and it’s the first home game and it is only two days rest we have to see how the players are feeling. Sometimes you have to make those choices but that is why we have the roster that we do.
I saw that everyone was fighting until the last second to get good results it means we are in good health.”
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Montana Board of Regents – We Stand Behind UM President Royce Engstrom – Enrollment Not The Sole Issue
Royce Engstrom
The Montana Board of Regents wrapped up a meeting this week in Dillon, and, according to Deputy Commissioner of Higher Education, Kevin McRae, they unanimously commended University of Montana President Royce Engstrom for his efforts to bring expenses in line with enrollment.
The Board of Regents, Chairman Paul Tuss, Vice Chair Fran Albrecht, Martha Sheehy, Paul Nystuen, Casey Lozar, William Johnstone, and student regent Asa Hohman, discussed a number of items, including budget issues on all the state’s campuses.
McRae said the regents expressed their confidence in Engstrom.
“All of the regents did, to a person, at this meeting,” Mcrae said. “His leadership of the university was commended. They recognized that it is difficult to lead in choppy waters, in fact, we have a number of campus executives who are leading through choppy waters.”
In fact, McRae said, increasing enrollment in itself is not the goal.
“The Montana University System does not view enrollment as an outcome or an end goal,” McRae said. “If enrollment is the sole statistic that we worry about, we will just then be encouraging campuses to play games with enrollment, and spend a lot of state and tuition money chasing after the same Montana high school students, and the enrollment problems will then just be moving around the system from year to year.”
McRae continued;
“What is really important is aligning expenses to revenue, and in some cases that involves reducing the number of programs and employees. We hear from Missoula, that the definition of the problem is enrollment itself. But, if you are offering the right academic programs that are meeting contemporary demand, and are sustainable, enrollment will then be a byproduct that will take care of itself.”
McRae said the regents also expressed frustration that people in Missoula were not appreciating the difficult situation Engstrom is facing, and the steps he has taken to make changes that will bring positive results.
“The Board of Regents is very supportive of President Engstrom’s leadership, and, in fact, was very vocal at this last meeting. Some expressed frustration that the positive stories and the positive aspects at the university and his leadership are not coming across publicly well enough.”
McRae said Engstrom invited members of the faculty and the student senate to Dillon and meet with the regents so their views could be heard. Ultimately, McRae said, those who have already made up their minds about Engstrom don’t want to hear the positive aspects of his efforts.
“If you speak to three or four faculty members who I can name, you’ll get a different story,” he continued. “It just comes down to whether you have an open mind or if you’ve already made up your mind. Those who have an open mind are strongly supportive of President Engstrom, in terms of his chain of command and the commissioner and the board that employs him.”
It was reported here on KGVO last week, that spring enrollment is down from the previous year, especially for incoming freshmen, as well as out of state and international students.
Filed Under: Royce Engstrom, University of Montana
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Archive for the ‘last king of scotland’ Tag
Posted 12 January, 2009
Filed under: awards, channel 4, Cinema, films, german, germany, history, ireland, irish, Movies, Reflections, World War Two | Tags: 4talent, auschwitz, baftas, camera d'or, cannes, chris menges, chris waitt, colin farrell, comedy, danny boyle, dark knight, film4, garage, golden globes, happy-go-lucky, heath ledger, hunger, in bruges, kate winslet, last king of scotland, LinkedIn, mark kermode, oscar nominations, oscars, posters, radio 5, roger deakins, sally hawkins, slumdog millionaire, the reader
Q. Why did the Belgian chicken cross the road? A. Because there's fuck-all else to do in Bruges
What an incredible year my colleagues at Film4 have had since Last King of Scotland picked up an Oscar (and two BAFTAs). Last night at the Golden Globes of the 14 movie awards 6 went to Film4 productions:
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA Slumdog Millionaire
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Colin Farrell, In Bruges
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE Slumdog Millionaire
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE Slumdog Millionaire
Add to that movies like Hunger which already has picked up a shedload of silverware (20 so far including the Camera d’Or at Cannes, which I acknowledge is not technically silverware) and Garage, a landmark in Irish cinema. Irish and Waiting Around has been something of a theme this year (Garage, Hunger, In Bruges). And let’s not forget A Complete History of My Sexual Failures made by Chris Waitt, an alumnus of 4Talent.
Film4 may not be huge but they’re perfectly formed, add a great deal to the UK film industry and – like Channel 4 as a whole – punch well above their weight. “Our organization is small, but we have a lot of opportunities for aggressive expansion.”
…which brings us neatly from a great night to a Dark Knight: I have to agree with Maggie Gyllenhall’s analysis of Heath Ledger’s win in the Best Supporting Actor category: “Our movie I think is great, but I think he elevated it to a completely different place.” Without a doubt, performance of the year.
UPDATE 15.i.09 08:15
BAFTA nominations just announced. Film4 picked up 3 of the 5 nominations for Outstanding British Film (In Bruges, Slumdog Millionaire, Hunger); Slumdog got most nominations (equal with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button); and, of course, Slumdog is up there for Best Film and Best Director.
Good to see Kate Winslet pitted against herself in Best Actress category – you can see the speech already: “I’m so sorry, Anne, Meryl, Kristin, …oh god, who’s the other one? Me!”
Now THAT speech, it bears some anaylsis… “I’m so sorry [unconvincing (for such an experienced actress) self-deprecation] Anne, Meryl, Kristin, …oh god, who’s the other one? [what a bitch, eh? sub-text: I know full well who the other sexiest one is] Angelina! this is… ok… now, forgive me …gather [sub-text: I’ve been to drama school]. Is this really happening? OK, erm… I’m going to try and do this on the cuff, ok [so OFF the cuff I get the phrase wrong] – Thank you so much. Thank you so much! [sub-text: I really do need a good script-writer, I’ve nothing substantial to say myself] Oh god! {applause} Please wrap up, you have no idea how I’m not wrapping up! [sub-text: stop clapping, I need to wrestle control back, I’m not fucking finished!] Ok, gather…”
UPDATE 17.i.09
I’ve just gotten round to watching the end of The Reader. Having given Kate Winslet a hard time above, I have to confess it is an excellent performance, well worthy of awards. But the film itself has left me with nagging doubts, two in particular. Most of the UK critics praised it highly but I noticed two exceptions, strangely enough by two people I went to school with. Pete Bradshaw of The Guardian expressed strong doubts (from memory, the review I read on the way back from Ireland after the new year gave it one star). Mark Kermode subsequently spoke of his reservations on the weekly film review show he does with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 5.
The implication of the film – in the trial of Hanna Schmidz – is that she left Siemens to join the SS because she had been offered a promotion which would have exposed her illiteracy. The same happened to her at the tram company after the war – she runs away when a promotion to office work is offered. What is this saying? The film comes to (and this is no easy feat) create a degree of sympathy for Hanna, a guard at Auschwitz for the SS. Is it saying because she was illiterate, disadvantaged, perhaps a touch simple it explains her role in the war? That reminds me of an experience I had in Austria in the 80s.
I was on a scholarship studying the artist Egon Schiele (to whom my attention had first been drawn by David Bowie on the radio). I went to the small village on the outskirts of Vienna to find his studio. I knew it had been up a small lane but had difficulty finding it. I asked an old man I met on the street and first he hushed me, indicating that the name Egon Schiele was still a dirty word in the village 70 odd years after his ‘artistic’ behaviour had scandalised the place. Then he brought me into a bar, bought me a white wine and launched into an apology (in the sense of ‘explanation’) for Austria’s take up of Nazism. We were poor, hungry, illiterate…
It didn’t wash then and it doesn’t in the film either. The other thing I didn’t buy was that the daughter who had been in Auschwitz as a child with her mother would keep a memento (Hanna’s tin) of a concentration camp guard, least of all by a photo of her murdered family. There’s something being underestimated there.
Now I’m not sure what comes from the David Hare screenplay and what from Bernard Schlink’s source novel (Der Vorleser) but the tin and the flight to the SS from the Siemens promotion both give me the impression that Schlink (or Hare, but I suspect the former) was letting Germany off the hook too easily – ignorance is no excuse and forgiveness doesn’t come that easy.
For all that, it’s still a very well made and compelling movie. Ralph Fiennes’ performance is on a par with Kate Winslet. Ironically the one time I met and spoke to him, in the bar at the Almeida in Islington, he had just played the fiendish Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List. David Kross who plays Fiennes’ character, Michael Berg, when young is also excellent. The film was part-shot by my old boss Roger Deakins (who shared the gig with fellow Brit Chris Menges) and it certainly looks great too. Well worth watching but there’s something dubious to be read between the lines.
Update 22.i.09:
This lunchtime this year’s Oscar nominations have been announced and Channel 4’s Film4 has received 12 (yes, 12!) nominations:
Slumdog Millionaire
· Cinematography
· Directing
· Film editing
· Original score
· Original song – “Jai Ho”
· Original song – “O Saya”
· Best picture
· Sound editing
· Sound mixing
· Adapted screenplay
In Bruges
· Original screenplay
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« “The dictionary was written by White people”
Ben Carson »
Wed Apr 6th 2016 by abagond
The Panama Papers (2016) are the 11.5 million files of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm based in Panama that hides money for the rich and powerful. It names names. It cover the years 1977 to 2015.
It is the biggest data leak to date: it is Edward Snowden times ten, WikiLeaks times a thousand.
Among Mossack Fonseca’s customers:
past and present leaders (or those close to them) of 25 countries: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Britain, China, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Iceland, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Syria, UAE, Ukraine.
128 public officials throughout the world and
29 billionaires.
The prime minister of Iceland has already resigned.
The US: So far no US president, presidential candidate or even public official has been named (at least in the US press).
China has blocked news of the Panama Papers. The Economist, at least in its early reporting, failed to point out that Ian Cameron, father of the British prime minister, is among the named.
ICIJ: The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), made up of reporters from 78 countries, got the files about a year ago. Since then they have been going through them, their first reports appearing in the press on April 3rd 2016. There is still more to come. It is only day four!
Offshore banking: It has long been known that dictators, drug lords and the rich hide much of their money offshore in places like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands – to avoid taxes or the law. But the Panama Papers names names and amounts – and makes it clear that the Western press more readily reports the corruption of non-Western leaders than their own.
Mossack Fonseca: If you, say, rob Heathrow Airport of 3.5 tons of gold, as one of their customers did in 1983, or take a huge bribe, the lawyers at Mossack Fonseca can help. They can set it up so that you can spend your fortune without the authorities (or ex-wives or voters) being able to know much if anything about it. Mossack Fonseca has offices all over the world. It is one of the four largest such companies.
Shell companies: Mossack Fonseca hides money mainly by creating shell companies. It has created hundreds of thousands of them, mainly in the
British Virgin Islands and Panama. Shell companies hide where their
money comes from and who it benefits. Well, it hides it till there is
a data leak!
Brought to you by Mossack Fonseca:
Higher taxes/poor public services: The US loses some $100 billion in taxes from offshore banking. Poor countries, though, are harder hit since they can ill afford to lose any taxes.
War, refugees: Mossack Fonseca maintains its innocence, but it is clear from emails that it knew it was helping Syria avoid international sanctions so that it could keep its planes and helicopters in the air in the civil war, a war that has killed hundreds of thousands and driven millions from their homes.
Syrian refugees at the Iraqi border, 2015 (Image: UNHCR).
Update (October 16th 2017): Daphne Caruana Galizia, one of the journalists who worked on the Panama Papers, was murdered this afternoon in Malta. When she started her car it blew up. More at The Guardian.
The ICIJ: The Panama Papers – the ICIJ’s website on the Panama Papers.
Top mass murders of 2015
Broken Africa stereotype
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 17:47:24 lkeke35
Oh, I think this is going to be much, much bigger, and yes! the US will be named.
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 17:52:10 Martin Delaney
Your point about a closed associate of Putin is wrong. Nowhere in that 11.5 million files implicates Putin or his family.
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 17:57:06 abagond
@ Martin Delaney
Three of Putin’s friends have been named. One of them, Sergei Roldugin, is the godfather of one of his daughters.
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 18:47:02 taotesan
(https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html)
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 19:01:32 munubantu
My first thoughts after watching the news about The Panama Papers was, uhau… after all, the corrupts are not only African politicians and people, as many try to claim. Many other social, political and entrepreneurial actors in other latitudes are corrupt too! The difference is mainly that they are more able to hide their sins.
By the way, I’m not trying to defend corrupt African politicians: their malpractices are one of the main obstacles against the economic grow and political consolidation of African societies, and as soon as Africa get rid of them, better.
Still reading and trying to get to grips with the magnitude of something this huge.
A bit of irony that Gonzalo Delaveu, head of global corruption watchdog Transparency International’s Chile branch was one of Mossack Fonseca’s clients.
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 20:15:29 Kartoffel
A good day for democracy!
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 20:36:53 nomad
“It is interesting but not at all mysterious that there are no Americans named in the Mossack Fonseca documents. The reason is simple. U.S. law so clearly favors the rich that they have no need to go offshore to form shell corporations.
They can do so legally in Wyoming, Delaware or Nevada. Rich people everywhere know it too.
No need to go to Panama or Switzerland.
The U.S. is now the best tax haven on the planet. Hopefully the corporate media will decide to cover that story too.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/06/the-panama-papers-problem/
on Wed Apr 6th 2016 at 22:50:10 Afrofem
I hate national corporate television news. I noticed yesterday that that they avoided the Panama Papers story like the plague. Instead they intensified their “kittens were rescued by firefighters” type stories as a diversion.
So very lame.
on Thu Apr 7th 2016 at 02:03:53 v8driver
bbc news and the guardian scooped this that i could tell. it was later it made it to cnn, and then it wasn’t really spun the same way
@abagond i guess you don’t support the assad regime, then.
@ v8driver
LOL. Nope.
on Thu Apr 7th 2016 at 04:23:21 michaeljonbarker
V8driver said,
“i guess you don’t support the assad regime, then”
In L.A. where I live their are a number of Syrian Christians that support Assad. He allowed religious plurality and didn’t oppress them. Some Syrian American youth here went back to fight for Assad.
I think it’s odd that Americans aren’t on the list. Their is more to this story that’s being hidden. Their are a lot of American expats their and a friend of mine just moved their.
Maybe the hack came from the U.S. Government looking for terrorist money ect. They cleaned the list of Americans because of their prominence within the political hierarchy. Probably players from both parties. The I.R.S. approaches them quietly. The list though gets released because it’s a good propaganda ploy. It works against Putin and others and takes the attention off of the Americans.
on Thu Apr 7th 2016 at 08:39:35 taotesan
@michaeljonbarkerdark
You sure have your finger on the pulse. Do you think that if the American public got wind of the ( the not yet established) Democrats and Republican’s money in the Fonseca debacle , that it might swing voters to Bernie Sanders?
@ michaeljonbarker
Forgive the typographical error: My cursor jumps all over the show.
“public got wind of the dark money”
American politics is very scary. And Viilagewriter is also very astute:
“The Panama papers are just the tip of the Ice Berg. I have always suspected that the world economy has been rigged by a few filthy rich people in the USA and Europe. I have been proven right countless times. John Pilger has opened my eyes on why we have wars and who those wars benefit.”
“Washington is behind the recently released offshore revelations known as the Panama Papers, WikiLeaks has claimed, saying that the attack was “produced” to target Russia and President Putin.”
“The American government is pursuing a policy of destabilization all over the world, and this [leak] also serves this purpose of destabilization. They are causing a lot of people all over the world and also a lot of money to find its way into the [new] tax havens in America. The US is preparing for a super big financial crisis, and they want all that money in their own vaults and not in the vaults of other countries,” German journalist and author Ernst Wolff told RT.
“On Wednesday, the international whistleblowing organization said on Twitter that the Panama Papers data leak was produced by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), “which targets Russia and [the] former USSR.” The “Putin attack” was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and American hedge fund billionaire George Soros, WikiLeaks added, saying that the US government’s funding of such an attack is a serious blow to its integrity.”
Reading from the list of leaked Fonseca clients- businessmen and political top dogs, etc from the USA , European Union and World Bank or any members of the Bilderberg group are conspicuously absent.
Sarcasm- unless they hide their (dark) money in US tax havens like Wyoming, Delaware or Nevada or in Switzerland. Coincidentally.
(https://www.rt.com/news/338683-wikileaks-usaid-putin-attack/)
Another clue. The story first came out in Germany. Besides the Americans, Germans are also missing from the list lol
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/panama-papers-germany-1.3524705
The Panama Papers was initially obtained by one of the Germany’s leading newspapers ‘ Sueddeutsche Zeitungand’ . Mossack Fonseca was co-founded by Germany-born Juergen Mossack. Yet the German public do not know any of the ‘brothel owners and nobility’ in the leaks.
So far, Australia and Japan’s public official’s are also squeaky clean.
Correction: Australia’s and officials
America is the world’s 3rd largest tax haven. Here you can start a “foundation” like the Clinton’s which is a tax shelter. I imagine that most politicians have tax shelters set up here so they don’t need to move their money off shore. Same with big business and corporations.
What I would like to see here is income only becoming taxable if you make over 250,000 a year. That would stimulate the economy for the working class and actually allow for the possibility of upward mobility.
The system is set up to suck income from the bottom of the economic hierarchy to the top. The top can easily fund the U.S. but it isn’t set up that way.
on Thu Apr 7th 2016 at 19:49:08 Kartoffel
Actually, today one of the government-owned banks in Germany has been implicated.
Also David Cameron seems to have had money in one of the shell companies.
on Thu Apr 7th 2016 at 21:08:12 Martin Delaney
These papers doesn’t implicate Putin nor his family, so you saying that in your article is wrong. So what if his friends are implicated I’m not referring to them.
Because they have become unaccountably rich. That money almost certainly comes from Putin.
on Thu Apr 7th 2016 at 22:25:10 Afrofem
@michaeljonbarker
The system is set up to suck income from the bottom of the economic hierarchy to the top.
Yes, another name for it is “free loading”. Working people pay the freight and the people at the top ride for free…while they hoard piles of cash.
on Fri Apr 8th 2016 at 15:26:18 resw
@Kartoffel
Right, there’s huge backlash against Cameron because it took him so long to admit it and it makes him seem hypocritical since he’s going after offshore tax evaders. He claims he sold shares in 2010 for £30,000, and it was 100% legal, he paid dividends taxes to Britain and no capital gains taxes were due. But my question is why would it need to be done in the Bahamas if not to avoid taxes?
This seems like the first real threat to Cameron’s premiership, only a few weeks after Iain Duncan Smith resigned. It’ll be interesting to see how Corbyn takes advantage of this.
“What I would like to see here is income only becoming taxable if you make over 250,000 a year.”
I would support that, although I don’t see it as fair. And you would expect the Democrats to support such a scheme, but they won’t. Instead they’ve supported tax hikes on the middle class.
on Fri Apr 8th 2016 at 15:49:49 michaeljonbarker
@ resw
For me equality of justice should be the emphasis of a society. If people are able to pursue their economic interests free from third party intervention then economic justice should naturally follow.
It’s like the 15.00 dollar an hour minimum wage debate. It’s likely to benefit more whites then Blacks and favor corporate franchises over small businesses and family run operations. It could slow economic growth in some sectors. So I think it has unintended consequences that cancel out whatever gains in economic justice that are percieved.
on Fri Apr 8th 2016 at 15:53:23 Kartoffel
Now I read that Cameron probably didn’t do anything wrong and that the fund was set up by his father to allow dollar investments for Britons, which was a lot more difficult at the time. If that is all that is to it, I don’t see how this will turn into a scandal. But I bet there are a couple of surprises more in the pipeline.
This is how the Clinton foundation avoids taxes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-foundation-reveals-up-to-26million-in-additional-payments/2015/05/21/e49da740-0009-11e5-833c-a2de05b6b2a4_story.html
I don’t see how you can get donations from Wall Street, Fossil fuels and foreign governments and not think their isn’t any political favor here.
WikiLeaks points to the U.S. Government and George Sonos as the players behind the leak.
Not sure what to think.
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/WikiLeaks-US-Govt-Behind-Panama-Leaks-to-Attack-Putin-20160406-0026.html
^^ *George Soros
What I’m getting at it hard to discern what the “truth” is an a story like this since it involves world leaders, billionaires ect who largely influence the media.
“…the fund was set up by his father to allow dollar investments for Britons, which was a lot more difficult at the time.”
I don’t buy that it was easier to invest in US dollar terms in the Bahamas than in London. And that doesn’t even explain why the company had to be set up offshore.
The Guardian reported that Blairmore never paid any taxes on profits to Britain in 30 years because they made sure that a majority of the Board was based outside Britain. So it was definitely set up offshore to avoid taxes.
Yes, it was set up in a lawful way, but I think it’s hypocritical for Cameron to make such a big fuss about tax evasion, when he himself participated in a tax evasion scheme for so long.
It is equally hypocritical for the British government to be leading the charge on offshore tax evasion when such is being done primarily in British dependencies such as Cayman Islands, Guernsey, etc.
“So I think it has unintended consequences that cancel out whatever gains in economic justice that are percieved.”
Agree, although I don’t see what economic justice has to do with minimum wage.
Not surprising. I follow someone who sort of predicted this a long time ago. I think more is to come.
“I don’t see how you can get donations from Wall Street, Fossil fuels and foreign governments and not think their isn’t any political favor here”
I agree, and Trump pretty much exposed this when he said, “Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding, and she came to my wedding. She had no choice because I gave to a foundation.”
on Fri Apr 8th 2016 at 20:40:11 Afrofem
“the 15.00 dollar an hour minimum wage… It could slow economic growth in some sectors.”
I live in an area with $15.00 an hour minimum wage. The sky has not fallen in and businesses are not folding.
What has happened is that low wage workers are more mobile. They are shopping for work with companies that pay more. People have more money to spend.
There are more “help wanted” signs now than before the increase. Well managed businesses have raised their rates to cover the increase. Businesses of all sizes are expanding and hiring.
The small business owners I know all say the same thing: ” I could expand faster/take on more business, etc. if I could hire more workers!”
The biggest problem in this area is not a high minimum wage, it is a sky high cost of living, especially housing. Many low wage and moderate wage workers have been forced to move to cheaper suburbs, increasing commutes and road congestion. Some hardy souls even trek over mountain passes two or more hours per day for affordable housing.
on Sat Apr 9th 2016 at 06:07:18 Kiwi
Imagine the kind of place the world would be if people cared about white-collar crime the way they cared about street crime.
on Sat Apr 9th 2016 at 14:49:45 michaeljonbarker
Kiwi said
China. They imprison and kill more people then any other country on Earth because they go after all crime equally. It’s not a Utopia.
on Mon Apr 11th 2016 at 09:57:43 satanforce
In other words some extremely important information that is sure to affect the interplay between politics and economics by giving the common people………oooh is that Tyga with that shemale porn star again, no better Yeezus is still no.1OMG #KanyeKardassian4EVA
on Mon Apr 11th 2016 at 14:19:02 Afrofem
That sounds just like the national evening news script delivered by male and female models, er, newscasters. LOL!
Nope. It’s reality. Just what did the last two big leaks change? On the torrent sites, I see hundreds of seeds for the latest ‘Blacked’, “but single digits for the wiki leaks files. People are too atomised nowadays to do anything against the System.
on Mon Apr 11th 2016 at 21:56:45 resw
UK’s Cameron is facing increasing protests, and he’s gone from saying his taxes are personal matters to admitting that he benefited from an offshore fund to releasing tax filings to announcing he would tighten the law.
Corbyn took him to task today, calling out his donations from companies cited in the Panama papers and calling for him to publish all his tax returns and undergo investigation. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2QyqlnhT4o)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMlptrkXOZc)
“People are too atomised nowadays to do anything against the System.”
It is easy to get that impression if the corporate news is your main source of information (that’s probably not true for you). Their primary functions are to distract, deceive and depress their viewers/readers/listeners. When people are depressed and feeling hopeless they will submit to anything. As you well know, submission of the general population is near the top of the agenda for the Global Masters.
However, if you do a bit of digging and reading with heavy propaganda filters on, globally, you will find millions of people engaged in resistence and fightback against the System.
➽There are people in India who have shutdown attempts by mining corps to destroy their forests and watersheds.
➽There are people all over the continent of Africa who are resisting land grabs.
➽There are anti-government demonstrations all over China (yes China!) on a weekly basis against corruption and theft.
➽There are numerous rallies and direct actions in Brazil against state violence and racism.
➽There are a multitude of small and medium sized community organizations in America that struggle against gentifrication, homelessness, poor schools and the death penalty.
That’s just scratching the surface of issues people are mobilized to work on or resist. They don’t get much media coverage. Many focus their efforts locally. It can take years to get results and sometimes they “win” and sometimes they don’t. Yet, groups of engaged people are out there and they are fighting for a better tomorrow.
on Wed Apr 13th 2016 at 00:42:02 Kiwi
Emphasis: bold.
China. They imprison and kill more people then any other country on Earth because they go after all crime equally.
No, they do not. I do not recall anybody responsible for carrying out the Tiananmen Square massacre ever being prosecuted.
The Panama papers embarrass China’s leaders
Revelations from Mossack Fonseca are unwelcome to Xi Jinping and his colleagues
http://www.economist.com/news/china/21696504-panama-papers-embarrass-chinas-leaders
on Mon Oct 16th 2017 at 21:58:15 abagond
Update (October 16th 2017): Daphne Caruana Galizia, one of the journalists who worked on the Panama Papers, was murdered this afternoon in Malta. When she started her car it blew up.
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/16/malta-car-bomb-kills-panama-papers-journalist)
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Tag Archives: Le Bonheur
by b2tw | July 27, 2010 · 9:57 AM
Le Bonheur (Happiness) – (1965) written & directed by Agnès Varda
By Margaux Williamson (mostly spoilers)
( I went to Suspect Video, the best video store in Toronto, to look for Agnès Varda’s 2004 “Ydessa and the Bears” but they didn’t have it. Though it is one of my favourite movies, I haven’t seen “Ydessa and the Bears” anywhere other than at a 2004 film festival. I think maybe it was never distributed. Instead, I rented Agnès Varda’s “Le Bonheur (Happiness)” because I had never seen it before and because it was in colour. I popped it in when I got home just to see the what the first 5 minutes was like. It was so weird and gorgeous that I didn’t turn it off.)
“Happiness” starts with a young family. Their joy with each other is obvious and they have a simple, pleasurable life. The husband then falls in love with a different woman whom he sees often in his work. The husband and the other woman begin an affair that is easy, happy and not so sordid. The husband reasons that what he has is simply a double happiness. When his wife points out, during a picnic in the country, that he seems doubly happy, the man looks suddenly troubled and confesses to his wife that he loves both her and another woman. The wife is initially hurt but then seems to quickly follow his reasoning and recover. What is best for the family is best for her. The husband and wife then have reconciliatory sex, there on the picnic blanket in the country. She wakes up before he does, leaves him and their two small children who are taking a nap close by, walks down to the lake, and drowns herself.
This is followed by alarm, an appropriate mourning period and then a gentle reconciliation of the two remaining lovers. At this reconciliation, they decide to be together. In the following scene, the woman walks to work the next day. Foreboding music only comes once in this movie, and it comes here. To me, the foreboding music sounds like a warning of moral judgment approaching. I peer around the woman in the movie’s frame as I watch her walk through the town, looking for reproach. It is a small town after all, and we are inside a fable.
But no stones are thrown. And there are no real bad intentions from anyone’s side. The foreboding music is for something more sinister: life moving on easily, happiness returning. We watch one human effortlessly replace another: in a marriage, at a family picnic, in the children’s bedrooms, with not a whimper of protest from the universe.
Behind the camera, Varda is a happy and curious God – as interested and amazing by a vase with flowers as she is in a family at dinner or in the strangeness of elbows as they move about during sex. I think when things comes naturally to one, one is often suspicious of those things. And here, it seems as though Varda the director is like the husband – each scene of the movie filled effortlessly with spaces and objects and people of incomparable value and importance but all taken in with equal attention and wonder. Varda would have been a very good painter.
The only review I could find for “Happiness” was a 1966 New York Times review from A.H.Weiler. Though Weiler praised Varda’s movie in some ways, he also says “Miss Varda’s dissection of amour, as French as any of Collette’s works, is strikingly adult and unembarrassed in its depiction of the variety of love, but it is as illogical as a child’s dream”.
I wonder if people said that about Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” (where a family’s main breadwinner, Gregor, wakes up one morning to discover that he is a monstrous verminous bug) which “Happiness” made me think of – particularly at its most sinister and truthful moment. This comes at the end, after the nightmarish alienation and slow death of the now repulsive and useless Gregor. After he dies, Gregor’s family leaves the house together in a state of tremendous relief and take a tram towards the country – towards fresh air. They are suddenly giddy with the future and with possibility. This is when the parents notice how their remaining child has become so beautiful, voluptuous and strong. We catch a tiny glimpse of the parents imagining a potentially prosperous new future through her. We see her in the instant before (we imagine), before she is ushered into the rotting shoes of the family bread winner.
Both fables make you feel sorry for humans – and also quite wary of them and their human natures. We all know what it’s like to feel like a cog in the system, but it is easy to forget that our homes and families are systems too. That even there, where our beauty and usefulness are often most greatly appreciated, we are so easily replaced.
Filed under margaux williamson, movies
Tagged as Agnès Varda, animals, breadwinner, Happiness, humans, Kafka, Le Bonheur, replacement
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Patrick Eddie Boateng
Reverend Patrick “Yaw” Eddie Boateng was born on June 15, 1950 in Kumasi, Ghana to the late Kwadwo Anin Mensah and Hannah Akua Bonsu. He attended State Boys Metropolitan Authority from 1963-1966 and obtained his middle school certificate, passing with distinction. From a very early age, Patrick was a man of faith and was drawn to the ministry. He would follow that calling into theological studies in Saltpond, Ghana at the Southern Ghana Bible Institute of the Assemblies of Ghana in 1970. While there, he often found his viewpoints conflicted with the missionaries who led the school, and he prayed for a church family that better understood the hardships that he and his family and friends faced. He also began praying that he would raise his children in America, as he witnessed the opportunities provided to the missionaries. In his third and final year of his studies, he decided to travel back to his hometown to pray for the sick against the missionaries’ wishes, ultimately leading to him being expelled. After moving to Accra, Ghana for some time, his prayers were answered in 1975 when he was invited to serve alongside a former missionary in Lubbock, Texas as a Baptist youth minister.
Coming from Ghana with what he referred to as an “eighth grade education,” Patrick championed the importance of education, frequently calling it the “great equalizer.” He studied hard to take and pass his General Education Development test, and then attended Texas Tech University from 1975-1979 and graduated with a degree in Sociology.
While in Lubbock, Texas, he had a son, King Patrick Green, with the late Willie Jean Green. He then moved to Houston in 1979 where he served as a minister at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor William “Bill” Lawson. He met Violet Boateng (Wilkinson) in the Singles’ Ministry at the church, and they married on February 16, 1980. He and Violet started Beech Grove Missionary Baptist Church in their home in 1980 and filled it with the youth from the neighborhood, combining religious service and school tutoring. They moved the church to its final location on Hiram Clarke Rd in 1987, where he served as Senior Pastor until 1999.
Over their 13-year marriage, Patrick and Violet had two children – Dr. Abena Boateng Knight and Patrick Augustus Kwaku Boateng. In addition to the church, Patrick had a long career in the real estate industry, working in many areas of the US and serving in every role associated with mortgage loans. He relocated to Seattle, Washington in 2015 for health reasons where he remained until his passing on October 17, 2018.
He is preceded in death by his parents and 4 siblings. He is survived by his 3 children: King, Abena (Derrick Knight), and Patrick; his 6 grandchildren: Tyler Knight Estrada (Fernando Estrada), Terrain Ray, D’Angelo Green, Natasia Green, Shaniyah Green, Adrianna Green; 3 brothers: John Abankwa, Kwadwo Anin Mensah, Atta Mensah; 3 sisters: Grace Akyeamaa, Grace Mensah, Felicia Bonsu; and a host of other nieces, nephews, cousins, close family and friends.
5 Responses to “Patrick Eddie Boateng”
Gloria Shuler says:
A friend for over 40 years. A true man of God. A man that had Faith as Abraham. Truly you will be missed. But I know that without doubt I will see you in Heaven. Yes Rev,so I have learned from my mistakes, it’not failure but a lesson Will miss you until we meet again. Love You forever
Sherlicia Donaldson says:
Mr.Patrick was more than a friend of the family he was and always will be family.
Mr.Patrick was more than a friend of the family he was and always will be family. You will be missed greatly and i know you will be watching over me and my new born (princess as you called her) smiling! Love you always!
-China
Albert Buxton says:
He was a kind and caring man.
Contributed financially towards the education of many family members and non family members in Ghana since Education was dear to his heart.
My wife Abena and i and her entire family will sorely miss you.
Continue to pray for us.
Wofa Patrick,RIP.
Eugenia Simpson says:
I recently learned of Patrick’s passing and I know he fought a good fight. I met Patrick in Washington, DC in the early 2000. We worked on many mortgage projects together and were also roommates. You couldn’t ask for a more trusting, humble, kind and overly generous man of God. We lost touch a few times, but always managed to hey back on tract. We looked out for one another and became family. He was even more special to me because he shared the same birthday as my Mom. We would often laugh about eating good food (especially collard greens & cornbread).
I was fortunate to see him in 2013 in Houston, however, I was hoping to see him in 2018. I will miss him dearly. My sincere condolences to all that have been touched by his loss. May his peace be with you til we meet again. RIP Patrick.
Much Love my friend,
Genia
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Japan’s Enron Reckoning; Newfangled tech uncovered old-fashioned fraud; Initial searches found Tanaka’s email trail to be puzzlingly short for a man with a reputation for banging out message after message; Single call led to unraveling of Toshiba accounting fraud; Toshiba fraud a deafening wake-up call for better corp governance in Japan
July 31, 2015 July 31, 2015 bambooinnovator Leave a comment
http://asia.nikkei.com/Features/Accounting-scandal/Newfangled-tech-uncovered-old-fashioned-fraud
July 30, 2015 5:00 pm JST
Newfangled tech uncovered old-fashioned fraud
TOKYO — High-tech sleuthing helped experts recover deleted, old or otherwise buried emails that implicate former Toshiba presidents in years of systematic accounting fraud at the venerable electronics maker.A third-party panel has issued a report on its investigation into Toshiba’s accounting scandal involving former company presidents.
On May 15, a third-party panel of experts was formed to investigate the company. Called the Independent Investigation Committee, it employed digital forensics technology to sift through an enormous volume of emails and extract only those deemed relevant to the probe.
Even if someone deletes an email in an attempt to destroy evidence, it does not just disappear; a digital forensics expert can usually find it stored on a computer server somewhere.
Mustering its forces
The committee created a task force of 76 accountants and digital forensics experts, who analyzed a total of 322,000 emails. Their primary focus was on messages from former top executives, including then-President Hisao Tanaka and his predecessor, Norio Sasaki, who is also a former vice chairman. Both resigned last week to take responsibility for the misdeeds.
Initial searches found Tanaka’s email trail to be puzzlingly short for a man with a reputation for banging out message after message. But the experts dug deeper and unlocked a huge volume of emails from the boss. From there, they sifted through the messages for any evidence of wrongdoing, taking down names and making connections.
In doing so, they discovered exchanges between Tanaka and one of his subordinates discussing a loss at Toshiba’s infrastructure unit. “We should report [the loss] in the third quarter,” the subordinate said in one email to Tanaka. In his response, Tanaka asked him if it would be possible to “push it back to the 4th quarter.”
This exchange was used as strong evidence implicating Tanaka in Toshiba’s systematic accounting fraud.
Testimony time
In the days that followed the discovery of that exchange, one Toshiba executive after another was called into the Marunouchi Sogo Law Office, in the heart of Tokyo, to meet with lawyers there who serve on the investigation committee.
The lawyers presented the executives with emails and minutes from Toshiba’s monthly meetings in which Tanaka and former presidents demand quick earnings improvements. Hoping to paint a clearer picture of the reality inside the company, the lawyers grilled the executives over their words and actions, asking them why they did not push back against such unreasonable demands.
Through such sessions, the committee accumulated testimonies from 210 Toshiba officials and others, and used a combination of digital and oral evidence to implicate top management in the fraud.
July 8 marked something of a climax in the investigation. Shortly before 1 p.m., former Vice Chairman Sasaki emerged from a large black car in the parking lot under the building that houses the Marunouchi Sogo Law Office. It was on that day that a panel of four committee members, including its chairman, Koichi Ueda, carried out the final questioning of Sasaki and Tanaka.
The committee members trotted out a large amount of evidence pointing to the pair’s involvement in Toshiba’s systematic accounting irregularities. The men denied the allegations, saying they did not recall ever issuing direct instructions to keep losses off the books.
But the evidence against them was too strong.
When the committee members talked about creating a new leadership structure for Toshiba, Sasaki reportedly said, “I don’t think I will be part of it.”
By sifting through mountains of digital information and gathering oral testimony to find incriminating evidence, the committee has helped rid Toshiba of bad apples and pave the way for a management overhaul.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Single-call-led-to-unraveling-of-Toshiba-accounting-fraud
July 29, 2015 1:00 pm JSTMurky earnings picture
Single call led to unraveling of Toshiba accounting fraud
TOKYO — When Toshiba received a phone call from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, Japan’s securities watchdog, in late January about an accounting issue, neither party knew where it would lead.
That call marked the beginning of a scandal that has seriously damaged Toshiba’s reputation and cast a pall over the manufacturer’s future
The accounting scandal cost Toshiba President and CEO Hisao Tanaka his job and forced the company to promise sweeping management reforms. Tanaka’s immediate predecessor as president, Vice Chairman Norio Sasaki, also stepped down, along with Atsutoshi Nishida, an adviser who was president prior to Sasaki.
At 5:00 p.m. on July 21, Tanaka faced a media phalanx. “Our brand image has suffered the most serious damage in our 140-year history,” Tanaka said as he announced his resignation.
Initial suspicions
It all started with the January call from an official at the SESC’s disclosure statements inspection division. “We have some questions about your accounting practices concerning the infrastructure business,” said the official. “Prepare the relevant materials.”
The watchdog’s probe into Toshiba’s books was launched in response to whistleblowing, although details remain unknown.
Two weeks later, on Feb. 12, SESC inspectors visited Toshiba’s headquarters in Hamamatsucho, Tokyo. During the meeting in a reception room, the inspectors spent several hours asking questions about the way Toshiba applied the “percentage-of-completion” method in its accounting of long-term infrastructure contracts. The method involves booking the revenues and expenses of long-term contracts for every year as a percentage of the work completed during that year.
After officials pointed to possible irregularities in the company’s bookkeeping practices, the Toshiba executive in charge promised an immediate in-house investigation. The SESC already suspected that there might be similar problems at other in-house Toshiba companies as well.
But it was unclear whether or not these were errors or deliberate misstatements; nor was the scope of the problem known.
The securities regulators were not aware that they were uncovering one of the biggest accounting scandals in Japanese corporate history. Some officials believed a company as large and reputable as Toshiba should be able to deal with the problems on its own.
Widening scope
As the probe brought multiple questionable accounting practices to light in the weeks that followed, Toshiba set up a special investigation committee on April 3. The panel was led by Chairman Masashi Muromachi and composed of outside accountants and lawyers.
Even then, the prevailing thought was that the problems were merely errors in accounting for infrastructure operations. The document announcing the establishment of the special committee showed no signs of serious concern about the problems at Toshiba. It described the matter as “an accounting issue about the reasonableness of estimates concerning certain company projects (on an unconsolidated basis), based on the percentage-of-completion method.”
Around that time, Toshiba executives visited creditor banks and others to reassure them, claiming that the irregularities were simply mistakes, and that the issue would be resolved quickly.
Some board members took the situation more seriously, however, and proposed setting up a crisis management committee and hiring of outside experts to deal with the affair. But their advice fell on deaf ears. One outside director now says that, in retrospect, the company’s response to the problems was too slow from the start.
Spiraling into scandal
Things got uglier in May, delivering a severe shock to Toshiba, which initially tried to downplay the issue.
Muromachi was caught off guard when he received a report from members of the investigation committee that a slew of unseemly emails had been discovered. Those emails contained messages suggesting the use of deceptive accounting practices to postpone booking losses and expenses. That made it difficult for the company to claim the irregularities were simple errors. Now they looked more like intentional manipulations.
If other business units had similar problems, Muromachi thought, the committee would have a tough time uncovering the facts.
Muromachi decided to shift the probe to a new and better-equipped independent committee comprising outside lawyers and accountants. On May 8, Toshiba announced it was setting up the independent committee and pulling its earnings forecasts for the year to March 2015. It also said it would delay its announcement of the financial results for the year.
Senior executives at Ernst & Young ShinNihon, Toshiba’s auditor, were stunned when they were informed of these steps immediately before the announcement.
Toshiba has more than 300,000 shareholders, including foreign investors who account for some 30% of the total. On May 11, the first trading day after the announcement, Toshiba’s stock went limit-down due to growing uncertainty about the company’s future.
At 11:45 p.m. on May 13, Toshiba dropped another bombshell, saying it might cut its operating profit from fiscal 2011 through fiscal 2013 by over 50 billion yen ($400 million) because of improper accounting practices related to its infrastructure business. Up to that point, Toshiba had been disclosing information based on the findings of its own probe. Later, however, the independent panel found the company had padded profits by a total of 156.2 billion yen from fiscal 2008 through December 2014.
On May 14, Tanaka was summoned to the Tokyo Stock Exchange and told to “respond appropriately to the media circus that will now come.” Exchange officials acknowledged that Toshiba had no choice but to delay the announcement of its earnings and the submission of financial statements to the Financial Services Agency. At the same time, the officials urged the company to undertake an exhaustive investigation into the matter.
The ensuing probe by the independent committee revealed the involvement of top executives in the accounting fraud, embroiling Toshiba in a scandal of massive proportions.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-29/japan-has-an-enron-moment-after-accounting-scandals
Japan’s Enron Reckoning
4 JUL 29, 2015 9:00 AM EDT
By Noah Smith
More than a dozen years ago, the U.S. experienced a rash of high-profile accounting scandals. Now it’s Japan’s turn. Toshiba, one of the country’s largest technology firms and an internationally respected brand, revealed that it had systematically overstated its operating profits to the tune of about $1.2 billion during a seven-year stretch. The company’s chief executive officer, a number of other high-ranking executives and half of the company’s board has resigned.
The Toshiba scandal isn’t the first big case of Japanese corporate fraud to come to light in recent years. In October 2011, CEO Michael Woodford (no relation to the economist of the same name) blew the whistle on accounting fraud at his own company, optical equipment manufacturer Olympus. The fallout from that debacle is stillunfolding.
The first takeaway from these scandals is that there will probably be more of them. The consensus is that they happened because of problems with Japanese corporate culture. In both cases, observers have blamed secretive and autocratic management styles by top executives, as well as the generally hierarchical, closed nature of Japanese business. But the real problem is corporate governance itself.
In Japanese companies, boards are almost always made up of people who work for the company. This provides a strong incentive for empire building in which managers try to expand market share — and their own perks and privileges — instead of profitability or shareholder value. Basically, Japanese managers can run companies like their own private fiefdoms, splurging on trips, bar girls and other entertainment expenses. More ominously, they tend to let their companies stagnate, since stagnation is cozy and comfortable. Since they are their own boards, there is no one to stop them.
That style of management looked OK when market share was rocketing upward in the 1970s and 1980s. But since the Japanese economy slowed and international competition intensified, its flaws have taken a heavier toll. Japanese white-collar productivity ishorribly low relative to other advanced nations, and its companies have traditionally been far less profitable than those in the West.
If your profitability goes south for long enough, eventually there will be consequences. Bank loans may dry up. Workers may be afraid to work for you, knowing that you might not be around in a decade. Eventually, even a company that is governed by its own management will be forced to take action to preserve some remnant of its coddled, hidebound lifestyle. That action could be to raise profitability, but maximum coziness might be achieved by simple fraud. If you fake profits, you can keep bank loans rolling and live as a zombie company without actually having to restructure and make sacrifices.
That’s why it’s so worrying to see accounting fraud at a company such as Toshiba. Toshiba is one of Japan’s star performers, an internationalized company that has been disciplined by global competition. Many of Japan’s companies — traditionally the number is quoted as 80 percent — focus on the domestic market, where they face much less competition, and are usually less productive. If a flagship company like Toshiba was moved to engage in fraud, the impact of Japan’s long economic struggles on the laggards must be even more severe.
But in crisis there is opportunity. In the U.S., the accounting scandals of the early 2000s in companies such as Enron and WorldCom resulted in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a harsh crackdown that many cite as a reason for the reluctance of companies to list themselves on public exchanges. But in Japan, there is the hope that the response will be a different kind of reform — improvement of corporate governance in general.
The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently introduced a new corporate governance code that requires outside directors on boards and encourages a focus on shareholder value. That is an important step, and its full ramifications have yet to be felt. But the Toshiba scandal — almost surely not the last of its kind — should be an impetus to do even more. “More” would mean stronger enforcement of the governance code, which as things now stand is voluntary. It might also mean increasing the number of outside directors — the current required number is only two — and more disclosure in general.
In parallel to this effort, the government should continue trying to cut ties between Japanese companies and the Japanese mafia. Another thing it should do — which hasn’t, to my knowledge, been proposed — is to stop making entertainment expenses tax-deductible. Encouraging companies to splurge on perks is bad for profitability, and creates a long-term incentive for managers to fight tooth and nail to maintain control of their companies.
Unfortunately, the Abe administration has gone in exactly the wrong direction on this issue, increasing the amount that companies can deduct from their taxes for nights of drunken carousing. An about-face on this issue would be welcome.
In general, though, there is the hope that the accounting scandals are a bad sign for the short term but a good sign for the long term. If all goes right, problems that are exposed today will be rooted out tomorrow.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/29/us-toshiba-accounting-auditor-idUSKCN0Q32OY20150729
Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:03pm EDT
Toshiba scandal puts focus on Japan’s cut-price company audits
HONG KONG | BY MICHELLE PRICE
Toshiba Corp’s years-long practice of inflating its profits has raised questions among accounting experts about whether low fees paid by Japan-listed companies to their auditors mean they do not spend enough time scrutinizing company accounts.
Toshiba chief executive Hisao Tanaka and a string of other senior officials resigned last week after an independent inquiry found the company had padded its profits by $1.2 billion over several years, in one of Japan’s biggest corporate scandals in years.
The committee of external lawyers and accountants probing the computers-to-nuclear conglomerate found “most of the accounting treatment issues that were the scope of this investigation were not noted” by the auditor Ernst & Young (EY) ShinNihon.
It added though that the involvement of top management in the accounting irregularities may have made it harder for auditors to detect problems, noting that the quality of the audit could only be determined by a separate investigation.
EY ShinNihon declined to comment for this article. Tanaka has said he never had any intention of encouraging accounting irregularities but did not dispute the report’s findings.
Some accounting experts say the scandal highlights the low audit fees paid by Japanese companies, which they believe are caused by historical caps, stiff competition and a corporate culture that does not value the audit function or shareholder transparency.
“One of the ongoing problems in Japan is that the fees paid by listed companies to auditors are very low compared to the international average,” said Robert Medd, a partner at GMT Research in Hong Kong.
Because accountants typically charge by the hour in Japan and elsewhere, fees can provide a rough proxy for the time spent on an audit, and can offer a comparable benchmark when measured as a proportion of a company’s overall revenues.
An analysis by GMT of more than 2330 listed companies with $500 million or more in sales found Japanese firms pay their auditors on average 3.2 basis points of turnover, compared with 5.3 in the United Kingdom and 11.8 in the United States, the lowest among the major developed markets. The overall international average was 5.6 basis points.
Toshiba paid EY ShinNihon and other EY entities 1.5 basis points of turnover, or 982 million yen ($8 million), to audit its books for financial year ended March 2014, according to its financial statements.
The six-year average at Toshiba was 1.8, a Reuters analysis of the company’s financial statements shows.
In a statement, Toshiba said EY’s remuneration was “appropriate” and noted that audit fees vary each year due to one-off events. “As a listed company, we recognize that it is not whether the fees are large or small, but that it is important to receive the necessary and sufficient audit.”
A London-based spokeswoman for EY and the two audit oversight divisions of Japan’s main regulator the Financial Services Agency all declined to comment.
A spokesman for the Japan Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the self-regulatory body for accountants, said it will investigate EY ShinNihon’s involvement in the case.
TALENT CRUNCH
To be sure, fees are not a water-tight gauge of audit rigor or competence given some companies can receive discounts, some sectors are less complicated to audit than others, labor costs vary across markets, and accounting rules in some countries can be less onerous.
Audit fees in Japan were low due to historical regulatory caps and although these limits were removed more than a decade ago, fees have struggled to reach developed-market norms, which accountants say can impinge on quality.
“In these highly competitive fee environments, it is always a battle to keep up the consistency of detailed service,” said Chris Devonshire-Ellis, chairman of accountancy firm Dezan Shira & Associates.
Japan’s government has tightened audit regulation, but low fees and overwork make it tough for firms to attract and retain quality staff, said Yoshinori Kawamura, professor in the Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University, specializing in accounting.
“The number of experienced certified public accountants is limited. Each senior auditor signs the auditor’s reports for a good number of companies,” he said.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Unhappy-140th-birthday-for-Japanese-tech-pioneer
Toshiba scandal: Unhappy 140th birthday for Japanese tech pioneer
TOKYO — Toshiba‘s debilitating accounting scandal could not have come at a more awkward time for the Japanese industrial conglomerate.
This year marks the 140th anniversary of Toshiba’s foundation. But the time-honored company is in anything but a festive mood now that its social credibility is in tatters.
Toshiba has been found to have overstated its operating profits by more than 150 billion yen ($1.2 billion). Toshiba President Hisao Tanaka and his two predecessors were forced to resign to take responsibility.
The company did not seem destined for such a mess. It won customer confidence through its technological prowess and no-nonsense approach to business, and its group sales have grown to 6 trillion yen a year.
There had, in fact, been signs of trouble before. The possibility of inappropriate accounting practices emerged in September 2013, when Toshiba won a contract to supply a smart meter communication system to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
News of the deal drew significant attention within the industry, not because of the technology involved but because of the unexpectedly low price. Toshiba acknowledged that it “had been aware of a possible loss” when it received the order.
One former senior official at a Toshiba subsidiary blamed the group’s current woes on a monthly meeting headed by the Toshiba president.
“During the Sasaki era, [the meetings] became a place for the top management to give orders to achieve budget targets. I did not want to attend such gatherings,” he said. By “top management,” he meant Norio Sasaki, who served as president between 2009 and 2013.
While it is natural for top executives to pursue profits and encourage their subordinates to work harder, Toshiba went too far, resulting in the manipulation of accounts.
As it turns out, the uneasiness that the former official at the Toshiba unit felt about the monthly meetings was not unfounded.
The system was created around 2001, when Tadashi Okamura was president. He is now an adviser to the board. The monthly meetings have been an important regular event for the company, as they are where monthly results and other key information is reported by the various business units and major subsidiaries.
Initially, the gatherings were used for setting budget targets for individual subsidiaries through discussions based on figures proposed by the parent. The arrangement was designed to encourage constructive dialogue between the parent and its subsidiaries — a place where the units could have their voices heard.
The meetings began to attract vice presidents, and transform into a place where the parent would present subsidiaries with unrealistic profit-improvement targets, referred to within the group as “challenges.”
Pressure tactics
This new style emerged under Atsutoshi Nishida, who served as president between 2005 and 2009, and was taken to new levels under Nishida’s successor, Sasaki. It was Sasaki and the man who took the reins from him, Tanaka, who put excessive pressure on their subordinates to achieve profit targets, resulting in accounting irregularities across the company.
In one episode exemplifying how strong the pressure was, Sasaki demanded at a meeting on Sept. 27, 2012, that the PC business “improve operating profit by 12 billion yen within three days.” His order came only three days before the company closed its books for the first half of fiscal 2012.
Toshiba’s image was long that of a company in touch with the average person and with an easygoing corporate culture. “In the past, there was no excessive competition to get ahead within the company,” said a former Toshiba official. But changes in the company’s business structure and leadership in recent years have drastically altered the atmosphere there.
Toshiba once focused on generating steady profits through its heavy electric machinery business. But it later began emphasizing the PC and semiconductor businesses, which destabilized earnings. In addition to that, fierce competition among the various business units to post the best results created a culture of placing profits above all else.
Things were not helped by Toshiba’s 2006 acquisition of U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse, which ended up backfiring. The Japanese company hoped the takeover would make it the leading player in the global market for nuclear facilities. But those ambitions were all but snuffed out by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Toshiba’s capital ratio tumbled to less than 9% at one point amid the global financial crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in autumn 2008. It was around that time that the company plunged into a vicious cycle of low bid prices and profit padding.
During the same period, Toshiba also saw its product competitiveness erode, said one senior company official.
Tough road ahead
Toshiba is known for pioneering many products, not least of all the notebook PC and NAND-type flash memory. But the company’s knack for technological innovation has faded in recent years. It increased its capital through public share offerings as a quick-fix solution to its weakened financial base, while pushing forward with window-dressing activities.
At a July 21 conference to formally announce his resignation as Toshiba’s president, Tanaka acknowledged his responsibility and said the scandal has dealt the Toshiba brand its worst blow in the company’s 140-year history.
Toshiba won over consumers with its trailblazing technologies and products, and a no-nonsense corporate culture. But its social credibility has crumbled. Rebuilding its battered image is going to be a tough job.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b4647c44-3122-11e5-91ac-a5e17d9b4cff.html#axzz3hADcpfeK
The universal dangers shown by Toshiba’s failings
The causes and consequences of the long-running inflation of profits by Toshiba reflect some uniquely Japanese cultural norms. So, inevitably, did the 2011 scandal at Olympus , where successive leaders covered up accounting manipulation.
But the genetic traces of those debacles are visible in plenty of other countries and companies. Self-satisfied boards of non-Japanese companies should examine the flaws that are common to all corporate cultures — almost certainly including their own.
After all, there are only so many ways of cooking the books, however varied the details of each case. In the introduction to his indispensable anthology of creative accounting, Michael Jones, a professor of financial reporting, identifies just four main strategies — increasing income, decreasing expenses, increasing assets and decreasing liabilities. Toshiba was doing the first, according to an independent report — but so, for example, was WorldCom, one of the most notorious US cases of accounting fraud, back in the early 2000s.
Control failings are one common theme. The audit committee at Toshiba includes executive directors — a red flag to UK governance purists. But directors, auditors and risk managers can succumb to capture or groupthink anywhere. It took the financial crisis to enshrine the idea that UK banks’ chief risk officers should be more independent, for instance.
As for lack of objective supervision, the UK principle that chief executives should be overseen by an independent chairman is widely ignored in the US. When boards do split the roles, it is often to give the former chief executive a stepping stone to retirement, an echo of the way former Toshiba and Olympus executives clung on to influence over their companies after they left. Even in the UK, companies are only one emergency decision or succession crisis away from appointing an executive chairman.
Unwillingness to challenge authority, a trait attributed to employees at Toshiba and Olympus — and often given an “only in Japan” spin — is a recurring problem everywhere, from Royal Bank of Scotland under Fred Goodwin to Fifa under Sepp Blatter.
The assumption that non-Japanese companies benefit from the protection of more advanced governance codes is broadly true. But such armour can be paper-thin if not reinforced in practice. Enron was technically in line with US boardroom practice. Toshiba was itself held up as a model of governance. It started appointing outside directors to its board long before the Olympus fiasco prompted wider corporate reform in Japan.
The most important lesson is about the malign impact of top-down pressure
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The most important lesson from Toshiba is about the malign impact of top-down pressure to meet unrealistic targets. Toshiba’s ex-chief executive denies having given direct instructions to staff to inflate profits. But the investigating panel said he told executives to “use every possible measure to achieve profitability” and added that Toshiba’s corporate culture did “not allow employees to go against the will of their superiors”.
Staff at target-chasing western banks before the credit crunch or at WorldCom ahead of its collapse in 2002 may recognise that picture. Bernie Ebbers, the telecoms group’s chief executive, “created, and the [then] board permitted, a corporate environment in which the pressure to meet the numbers was high, the departments that served as controls were weak, and the word of senior management was final and not to be challenged”, a WorldCom board investigation found in 2003.
If the Toshiba report were just a snapshot of how some Japanese companies are fossilised relics of what corporate governance used to look like elsewhere, the rest of the world could rest easy. But the rest of the world should not be so smug. A new survey suggests that internationally, 37 per cent of management accountants, who help companies seek out investments and control risks, have felt under pressure from managers or peers to compromise corporate ethics. The percentage has risen over the past three years in most places polled, including the UK and the US.
When aggressive targets, irresistible management pressure and weak controls coincide, misconduct can spread quickly. Rival companies see the inflated numbers and strain to match them. To suggest such weaknesses are confined to one corporate or national culture is a first step into dangerous complacency.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/toshiba-fraud-a-deafening-wake-up-call-for-better-corp-governance-in-japan
EDITORIAL; Toshiba fraud a deafening wake–up call for better corp governance in Japan
Business Times Singapore
THE sense of deja vu as findings about Japan’s latest corporate scandal came to light in recent weeks was all the more dismal for the fact that the company involved is one of the country’s biggest conglomerates, a respected multinational that’s a household name in many parts of the world and, to boot, a corporate governance pioneer of sorts back home.
Coming more than a dozen years after a rash of high-profile cases of corporate malfeasance in America led to sweeping regulatory reforms, the discovery that Toshiba had “systematically” overstated operating profits by US$1.2 billion over a stretch of several years is remarkable in many respects, beyond the sheer audacity of a no-holds-barred management mindset, sans scruples, driven to meet targets. And the Toshiba fraud – the biggest since the Olympus fiasco in 2011 – will almost certainly not be the last, observers say.
In one sense, the findings unearthed by a panel of external lawyers and accountants – whose initial probe into Toshiba’s construction projects was later widened to cover the entire group – were not entirely surprising: browbeaten division heads pressured by top management to misstate numbers and inflate profits is symptomatic of a corporate culture marked by unquestioning loyalty and reluctance to question authority on the part of lifelong career executives. Toshiba’s auditing – both internal and external – was also found wanting, with its audit committee including two former diplomats who weren’t particularly financially savvy, with apparently no background in financial reporting. The episode has also put the focus on the audit industry in Japan, with questions about whether the low audit fees paid by Japanese companies affected the quality of the audits.
Yet the diversified consumer and industrial electronics company (whose origins date back to 1845) had been for years a poster child of Japanese corporate governance, one of the country’s top- ranked for good governance practices in 2013, and was even featured as a case study in a recent book that detailed its multiple layers of compliance checks. Toshiba’s financial irregularities have also come to light just over a month after a new corporate governance code – aimed at making companies more open to investors, and part of Prime MinisterShinzo Abe’s reforms to boost Japan’s competitiveness – took effect in June. Yet Toshiba was by all accounts a seemingly enlightened early adopter of corporate governance best practices – it brought in external directors back in 2001 when Japanese boardrooms were still dominated by long-time company insiders.
The silver lining, if it can be seen as such, is that some remedial actions came fast and furious soon after the scandal broke. Eight top Toshiba executives, including the president and two predecessors, resigned, while the interim chief executive will have his pay slashed by 90 per cent for the next two months. Eight other senior executives will take a 40 per cent pay cut for three months. The company – which has lost about US$4 billion in market capitalisation since May – has promised measures to stem the irregularities, including the hiring of more independent directors. Change (especially in long-entrenched cultural practices) may not come quickly or dramatically – but real internal changes within Japanese boardrooms are needed to spur governance reforms in the country.
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Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME)’s $2.6-billlion accounting fiasco; KDB, management, Deloitte share blame →
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Attorney Group / Lawsuits / Bad Drugs / Genital Infections Linked to Invokana
Genital Infections Linked to Invokana
If you or a loved one developed a rare but serious genital infection or an infection of the area around the genitals after taking Invokana, Jardiance or Farxiga, contact Attorney Group for more information about your options.
We can answer your questions in a free and confidential consultation. If you wish to pursue a claim, we can connect you with an affiliated attorney who can file a lawsuit on your behalf.
In August 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety announcement warning patients and health care professionals that cases of a rare but serious infection of the genitals and area around the genitals have been reported with sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, a class of type 2 diabetes medicines.
Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) Inhibitors
Fournier’s Gangrene Linked to SGLT2 Inhibitors
Other SGLT2 Side Effects
Has There Been a Recall Due to Genital Infections Linked to Invokana?
Has a Class Action Lawsuit Been Filed Due to Genital Infections Linked to Invokana?
Have There Been Any Settlements Related to Genital Infections Linked to Invokana?
Genital Infection Lawsuit News
How a Genital Infection Lawsuit Attorney Can Help
Genital Infection Lawsuit
A genital infection lawsuit may be an option for people who have developed a genital infection or the area surrounding the genitals. Following a warning issued by the FDA, lawyers are looking into possible connections between genital infections and the use of several drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes, including Invokana, Jardiance and Farxiga.
The infection, known as Fournier’s gangrene, is an extremely rare but life-threatening bacterial infection that quickly spreads and destroys the infected tissue under the skin that surrounds muscles, nerves, fat, and blood vessels of the perineum. Affected patients and their families may be able to pursue a claim and recover compensation with the help of a dangerous drug attorney.
If you or a loved one have been adversely affected by a potentially dangerous drug, contact Attorney Group to learn about your options. We offer free, no obligation consultations. We can help answer your questions, and if you choose to pursue a claim we can connect you with an affiliated attorney who can assist you throughout the legal process.
The time you have to pursue a claim is limited.
Contact UsCall for a Free Case Review
On August 29, 2018, the FDA issued a safety announcement warning patients and health care professionals that 12 cases of rare but serious genital infections linked to Invokana and other sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors were reported between March 2013 and May 2018. The rare infection is known as necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum or Fournier’s gangrene.
According to the FDA’s announcement, Fournier’s gangrene developed within several months of the patients starting an SGLT2 inhibitor and the drug was stopped in most cases. All 12 patients were hospitalized and required surgery, and some patients required multiple disfiguring surgeries, some developed complications and one patient died.
In their announcement, the FDA advised patients to seek medical attention if they begin to experience:
tenderness, redness or swelling of the genitals or area around the genitals;
a fever above 100.4 degrees; or
Symptoms of the infection may worsen quickly, and it is important that patients seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Type 2 diabetes is a disease that occurs when a person’s blood glucose (also called blood sugar) is too high. Blood glucose is your main source of energy and comes mainly from the food you eat, and those who have type 2 diabetes aren’t able to make enough insulin to help glucose get to your cells. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, and millions of Americans are diagnosed with diabetes each year.
What are SGLT2 Inhibitors?
Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 SGLT2 inhibitors are a class of FDA-approved prescription medicines that are used to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes in addition to diet and exercise. Medicines in the SGLT2 inhibitor class include th active ingredients canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, and empagliflozin.
How Do They Work?
SGLT2 inhibitors are available as single-ingredient products and also in combination with other diabetes medicines such as metformin. They lower blood sugar by causing the kidneys to remove sugar from the body through the urine. The safety and efficacy of SGLT2 inhibitors have not been established in patients with type 1 diabetes, and FDA has not approved them for use in these patients.
FDA-Approved SGLT2 Inhibitors
FDA-approved SGLT2 inhibitors include medications manufactured by Johnson & Johnson’s, Eli Lilly & Co, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca Plc, Merck & Co, and Pfizer Inc.
Invokana (canagliflozin)
Invokamet & Invokamet XR (canagliflozin and metformin)
Farxiga (dapagliflozin)
Jardiance (empagliflozin)
Xigduo XR (dapagliflozin and metformin)
Qtern (dapagliflozin and saxagliptin)
Glyxambi (empagliflozin and linagliptin)
Synjardy & Synjardy XR (empagliflozin and metformin)
Steglatro (ertugliflozin)
Segluromet (ertugliflozin and metformin)
Steglujan (ertugliflozin and sitagliptin)
Necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum, also known as Fournier’s gangrene, is an extremely rare but life-threatening bacterial infection of the tissue under the skin that surrounds muscles, nerves, fat, and blood vessels of the perineum. According to the FDA, the bacteria usually get into the body through a cut or break in the skin, where they quickly spread and destroy the tissue they infect.
In addition to early signs associated with Fournier’s gangrene, including tenderness, redness or swelling of the genitals or area around the genitals; severe pain; and fever, later symptoms of the infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may include:
Ulcers, blisters or black spots on the skin
Changes in the color of the skin
Pus or oozing from the infected area
Fatigue or tiredness
Diarrhea or nausea
Although the infection most commonly affects men, it can develop in women and children as well. Out of the 12 cases identified from March 2013 and May 2018, seven were men and five were women. Having diabetes is a risk factor for developing Fournier’s gangrene; however, this condition is still rare among diabetic patients. According to information gathered by the FDA, “an estimated 1.7 million patients received a dispensed prescription for an SGLT2 inhibitor” from retail pharmacies in the United States.
Common side effects of SGLT2 inhibitors include yeast infections, urinary tract infections, and low blood sugar when combined with other prescription diabetes medicines.
According to the FDA, SGLT2 inhibitors can also cause local genital fungal infections, also known as yeast infections. Yeast infections are different from necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum (Fournier’s gangrene) because they cause limited local symptoms like vaginal or penile discharge, itching, or redness.
Patients with yeast infections do not experience fever or a general feeling of being unwell.
Since the drug’s approval in December 1994, the FDA has not notified the public of any drug recall issued because of the risk of genital infections linked to Invokana or similar drugs, such as Jardiance or Farxiga.
Drug recalls are usually conducted by the drug manufacturer, by FDA request, or by FDA order.
Potential litigation could possibly claim that the drug makers failed to disclose known side effects of the drug and that patients suffered damages as a result. Failure to warn of side effects of a drug can be a basis of drug company liability, regardless of whether the drug has been recalled.
At the time of this article’s publication, a class action lawsuit has not been filed on behalf of patients who suffered serious complications due to genital infections linked to Invokana or similar drugs in its class. Affiliated attorneys are unsure if a class action will be certified for patients who are adversely affected by the drug or other SGLT2 inhibitors.
Instead, if multiple lawsuits are filed against the manufacturers, alleging injuries and other damages caused by Invokana, Jardiance, or Faxiga and similar diabetes drugs, it is anticipated that these potential lawsuits will be consolidated for discovery and other pretrial proceedings.
When cases are consolidated in this way in federal court it is called multidistrict litigation (MDL), and on a state level it is known as a state court consolidated proceeding.
MDLs are distinct from class actions, and it is generally agreed that consolidating cases instead of proceeding in a class action is a more efficient and effective way of handling claims arising from injuries caused by dangerous drugs.
In most cases that proceed in an MDL or state court consolidated proceedings, after a certain period of time initial trials, also known as bellwether trials, take place. The purpose of these trials is for the parties to get an idea of the types of evidence and arguments that will made, as well as to see how juries will respond to the evidence and arguments.
After a certain number of cases have been tried, the parties are in a better position to determine whether a case can be settled.
Some dangerous drug lawsuits may settle early in the claims process. However, it is not expected that there will be any settlements associated with genital infections linked to Invokana or similar drugs at this time.
Instead, it is expected that any lawsuits filed due to genital infections linked to Invokana will be consolidated in federal court through an MDL. Attorneys note that the outcome of any case is never guaranteed, and past results are not necessarily predictive of future outcomes.
FDA issues a safety announcement warning patients and health care professionals of a rare but serious infection of the genitals and area around the genitals reportedly linked to a class of type 2 diabetes medicines known as sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors.
Drug makers have a duty to provide safe products. If there are risks of harm associated with their products, they also must provide adequate warnings. If a drug maker fails to fulfill this duty, it could be held liable in lawsuits for injuries that may result.
People injured by Invokana, Jardiance, Faxiga or other SGLT2 inhibitor, may be eligible to recover money for:
The families of those who have died may be eligible to recover money for funeral expenses and the pain that comes with losing a loved one.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Acting Fast Is Key with Necrotizing Fasciitis.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 9 Jul. 2018, www.cdc.gov/Features/NecrotizingFasciitis/. Accessed 30 Aug. 2018.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “FDA warns about rare occurrences of a serious infection of the genital area with SGLT2 inhibitors for diabetes.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 29 Aug. 2018, www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm617360.htm. Accessed 30 Aug. 2018.
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<a href="http://archive.today/Dz8UC"> <img style="width:300px;height:200px;background-color:white" src="https://archive.fo/Dz8UC/98406e8330c7cc4d9114d28a9855651024379329/scr.png"><br> Union for the Mediterranean - Wikipedia<br> archived 18 May 2019 09:35:23 UTC </a>
{{cite web | title = Union for the Mediterranean - Wikipedia | url = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_for_the_Mediterranean | date = 2019-05-18 | archiveurl = http://archive.today/Dz8UC | archivedate = 2019-05-18 }}
Union for the Mediterranean
Union for the Mediterranean member states
Member states of the European Union
Suspended members
Region served
Syria (Self-suspended)
1 observer
Arabic, English, French
Nasser Kamel
ufmsecretariat.org
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; French: Union pour la Méditerranée, Arabic: الاتحاد من أجل المتوسط) is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 28 EU member states and 15 Mediterranean partner countries from North Africa, Western Asia and Southern Europe. It was founded on 13 July 2008 at the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, with an aim of reinforcing the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Euromed) that was set up in 1995 as the Barcelona Process. Its general secretariat is located in Barcelona, Spain.
The organization aims to promote stability and integration across the Mediterranean region. The UfM is a forum for discussing regional strategic issues and building on the principles of co-ownership, co-decision making and shared co-responsibility between the two shores of the Mediterranean. Its main objective is to increase North-South and South-South integration in the Mediterranean region in order to support the socio-economic development of the countries and to ensure stability in the region. Through its actions, UfM focuses on two fundamental pillars: fostering human development and promoting sustainable development. The UfM identifies projects of regional interest and participates in them based on the consensus decision of all 43 member states. These projects and initiatives focus on six business sectors mandated by the UfM member state: Business Development and Employment, Higher Education and Research, Civil and Social Affairs, Energy and Climate Action, Transport and Urban Development and Water, Environment and Blue Economy.
3.1 Context
3.1.1 Antecedents: Barcelona Process
3.1.2 Euromediterranean Summit 2005
3.1.3 Regional aspects
3.1.4 The Euromed Heritage Programme
3.1.5 Response
3.1.6 Mediterranean Union
3.2 Launch
3.2.1 2008–2010: First years
3.2.2 Since 2011
4 Aims and concrete projects
4.1 Policy Framework
4.2 Regional projects
4.2.1 Human Development
4.2.1.1 Business Development and Employment
4.2.1.2 Higher Education & Research
4.2.1.3 Social & Civil Affairs
4.2.2 Sustainable development
4.2.2.1 Transport & Urban Development
4.2.2.2 Energy & Climate Action
4.2.2.3 Water, Environment & Blue Economy
5 Institutions
5.1 North and South Co-presidency system
5.2 Meeting of UfM Senior Officials
5.3 Secretariat
6 Other organizations and euro-Mediterranean institutions
6.1 Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly
6.2 Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly
6.3 Anna Lindh Foundation
6.4 Partnerships with other organizations and Euro-Mediterranean institutions
7 Funding
8 List of Sectorial Ministerial meetings
The Union has the aim of promoting stability and integration throughout the Mediterranean region. It is a forum for discussing regional strategic issues, based on the principles of shared ownership, shared decision-making and shared responsibility between the two shores of the Mediterranean. Its main goal is to increase both North-South and South-South integration in the Mediterranean region, in order to support the countries' socioeconomic development and ensure stability in the region. The institution, through its course of actions, focuses on two main pillars: fostering human development and promoting sustainable development. To this end, it identifies and supports regional projects and initiatives of different sizes, to which it gives its label, following a consensual decision among the forty-three countries.
These projects and initiatives focus on 6 sectors of activity, as mandated by the UfM Member States:
Business Development & Employment
Social & Civil Affairs
Energy & Climate Action
Transport & Urban Development
Water, Environment & Blue Economy
Members[edit]
Flags of UfM members, located at the Royal Palace of Pedralbes, in Barcelona (UfM headquarters)
The members of the Union of the Mediterranean are the following:
From the European Union side:
The 28 European Union member states (those on the Mediterranean in bold): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The European Commission.
From the side of the Mediterranean Partner countries:
15 member states: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, State of Palestine (Palestinian Authority until 4 January 2013[1]), Syria (suspended 2011),[2][3][4] Tunisia and Turkey.
Additionally, Libya is an observer state.[5] The UfM has expressed a desire to grant Libya full membership,[6] and Mohamed Abdelaziz, Libya's Foreign Minister, has stated that his country is "open" to joining.[7] The Arab League also participates in UfM meetings.[8][9]
Context[edit]
Antecedents: Barcelona Process[edit]
Former French President Jacques Chirac, one of the founders of the Barcelona Process.
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, also known as the Barcelona Process, was created in 1995 as a result of the Conference of Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Barcelona on 27 and 28 November under the Spanish presidency of the EU. The founding act of the Partnership in 1995 and Final Declaration of the Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference is called the Barcelona Declaration,[10] which is often used to refer to the Process itself.
The Partnership culminated in a series of attempts by European countries to articulate their relations with their North African and Middle Eastern neighbours: the global Mediterranean policy (1972–1992) and the renovated Mediterranean policy (1992–1995).[11]
Javier Solana opened the conference by saying that they were brought together to straighten out the "clash of civilizations" and misunderstandings that there had been between them, and that it "was auspicious" that they had convened on the 900th anniversary of the First Crusade. He described the conference as a process to foster cultural and economic unity in the Mediterranean region. The Barcelona Treaty was drawn up by the 27 countries in attendance, and Solana, who represented Spain as its foreign minister during the country's turn at the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, was credited with the diplomatic accomplishment.
According to the 1995 Barcelona Declaration, the aim of the initiative was summed up as: "turning the Mediterranean basin into an area of dialogue, exchange and cooperation guaranteeing peace, stability and prosperity."[12] The Declaration established the three main objectives of the Partnership, called "baskets" (i.e., strands or facets):[13]
Definition of a common area of peace and stability through the reinforcement of political and security dialogue (Political and Security Basket).
Construction of a zone of shared prosperity through an economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area (Economic and Financial Basket).
Rapprochement between peoples through a social, cultural and human partnership aimed at encouraging understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies (Social, Cultural and Human Basket).
The European Union stated the intention of the partnership was "to strengthen its relations with the countries in the Mashreq and Maghreb regions". Both Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat had high praises for Solana's coordination of the Barcelona Process. The Barcelona Process, developed after the Conference in successive annual meetings, is a set of goals designed to lead to a free trade area in the Mediterranean Basin by 2010.
The agenda of the Barcelona Process is:
Security and stability in the Mediterranean;
Agreeing on shared values and initializing a long-term process for cooperation in the Mediterranean;
Promoting democracy, good governance and human rights;
Achieving mutually satisfactory trading terms for the region's partners, the "region" consisting of the countries that participated;
Establishing a complementary policy to the United States' presence in the Mediterranean.
The Barcelona Process comprises three "baskets", in EU jargon, or strands:
economic – to work for shared prosperity in the Mediterranean Region, including the Association Agreements on the bilateral level
political – promotion of political values, good governance and democracy
cultural – cultural exchange and strengthening civil society
The Euro-Mediterranean free trade area (EU-MEFTA) is based on the Barcelona Process and European Neighbourhood Policy. The Agadir Agreement of 2004 is seen as its first building block.
At the time of its creation, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership comprised 27 member countries: 15 from the European Union and 12 Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey). As a result of the European Union's enlargements of 2004 and 2007 the number of EU member states grew up to 27, and two of the Mediterranean partner countries—Cyprus and Malta—became part of the European Union. The EU enlargement changed the configuration of the Barcelona Process from "15+12" to "27+10."[14] Albania and Mauritania joined the Barcelona Process in 2007, raising the number of participants to 39.[15]
Euromediterranean Summit 2005[edit]
The 10th anniversary Euromediterranean summit was held in Barcelona on 27–28 November 2005. Full members of the Barcelona Process were:
27 Member States of the European Union.
10 countries from the southern Mediterranean shore: Algeria, Palestine, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey (already part of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the latter began EU accession talks on 3 October).
Croatia, a candidate to join the EU, which began accession talks on 3 October.
The European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Secretary General of the Council of the EU
Moreover, the Barcelona Process included 6 countries and institutions participating as permanent observers (Libya, Mauritania, the Secretary-General of the Arab League) and invited observers, such as the European Investment Bank, the Arab Maghreb Union, the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, the Economical and Social Committee or the Euromed Economical and Social Councils.
According to the ISN, "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were the only leaders from the Mediterranean countries to attend, while those of Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt were not present."[1]
From the official web site, "The new realities and challenges of the 21st century make it necessary to update the Barcelona Declaration and create a new Action Plan (based on the good results of the Valencia Action Plan), encompassing four fundamental areas":[16]
Peace, Security, Stability, Good Government, and Democracy.
Sustainable Economic Development and Reform.
Education and Cultural Exchange
Justice, Security, Migration, and Social Integration (of Immigrants).
Regional aspects[edit]
Regional dialogue represents one of the most innovative aspects of the Partnership, covering at the same time the political, economic and cultural fields (regional co-operation). Regional co-operation has a considerable strategic impact as it deals with problems that are common to many Mediterranean Partners while it emphasises the national complementarities.
The multilateral dimension supports and complements the bilateral actions and dialogue taking place under the Association Agreements.
Since 2004 the Mediterranean Partners are also included in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and since 2007 are funded via the ENPI.
The Euromed Heritage Programme[edit]
As a result of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the Euromed Heritage program was formed. This program has been active since 1998, and has been involved in programs to identify the cultural heritages of Mediterranean states, promote their preservation, and educate the peoples of partner countries about their cultural heritages.[17]
Response[edit]
By some analysts, the process has been declared ineffective. The stalling of the Middle East Peace Process is having an impact on the Barcelona Process and is hindering progress especially in the first basket. The economic basket can be considered a success, and there have been more projects for the exchange on a cultural level and between the peoples in the riparian states. Other criticism is mainly based on the predominant role the European Union is playing. Normally it is the EU that is assessing the state of affairs, which leads to the impression that the North is dictating the South what to do. The question of an enhanced co-ownership of the process has repeatedly been brought up over the last years.
Being a long-term process and much more complex than any other similar project, it may be many years before a final judgment can be made.
Bishara Khader argues that this ambitious European project towards its Mediterranean neighbours has to be understood in a context of optimism. On the one hand, the European Community was undergoing important changes due to the reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the beginning of the adhesion negotiations of Eastern and Central European countries. On the other, the Arab–Israeli conflict appeared to be getting closer to achieving peace after the Madrid Conference (1991) and the Oslo Accords (1992). As well, Khader states that the Gulf War of 1991, the Algerian crisis (from 1992 onwards) and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Arab world are also important factors in Europe's new relations with the Mediterranean countries based on security concerns.[18]
Criticism of the Barcelona Process escalated after the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean Summit in Barcelona in 2005, which was broadly considered a failure.[19] First, the absence of Heads of State and Government from the Southern Mediterranean countries (with the exception of the Palestinian and Turkish ones) heavily contrasted with the attendance of the 27 European Union's Heads of State and Government.[20] Second, the lack of consensus to define the term "terrorism" prevented the endorsement of a final declaration. The Palestinian Authority, Syria and Algeria argued that resistance movements against foreign occupation should not be included in this definition.[21] Nevertheless, a code of conduct on countering terrorism and a five-year work program were approved at Barcelona summit of 2005.[22] both of which are still valid under the Union for the Mediterranean.[23]
For many, the political context surrounding the 2005 summit — the stagnation of the Middle East Peace Process, the US-led war on Iraq, the lack of democratisation in Arab countries, and the war on terror's negative effects on freedoms and human rights, among others—proved for many the inefficiency of the Barcelona Process for fulfilling its objectives of peace, stability and prosperity.[24] Given these circumstances, even politicians that had been engaged with the Barcelona Process since its very beginnings, like the Spanish politician Josep Borrell, expressed their disappointment about the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and its incapacity to deliver results.[25] Critiques from Southern Mediterranean countries blamed the Partnership's failure on Europe's lack of interest towards the Mediterranean in favour of its Eastern neighbourhood;[26] whereas experts from the North accused Southern countries of only being interested on "their own bi-lateral relationship with the EU" while downplaying multilateral policies.[25]
However, many European Union diplomats have defended the validity of the Barcelona Process' framework by arguing that the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was the only forum that gathered Israelis and Arabs on equal footing[27]), and identifying as successes the Association Agreements, the Code of Conduct on Countering Terrorism and the establishment of the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures.[5]
In 2006 the first proposals for improving the Partnership's efficiency, visibility and co-ownership arouse, such as establishing a co-presidency system and a permanent secretariat or nominating a "Mr./Ms. Med."[28]
Mediterranean Union[edit]
As of 2007[update], on the initiative of France, States embark on a round negotiations to revive the process.
A proposal to establish a "Mediterranean Union", which would consist principally of Mediterranean states, was part of the election campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy during the French presidential election campaign in 2007. During the campaign Mr. Sarkozy said that the Mediterranean Union would be modelled on the European Union with a shared judicial area and common institutions.[29] Sarkozy saw Turkish membership of the Mediterranean Union as an alternative to membership of the European Union, which he opposes,[29] and as a forum for dialogue between Israel and its Arab Neighbours.[30]
Once elected, President Sarkozy invited all heads of state and government of the Mediterranean region to a meeting in June 2008 in Paris, with a view to laying the basis of a Mediterranean Union.[31]
The Mediterranean Union was enthusiastically supported by Egypt and Israel.[32] Turkey strongly opposed the idea and originally refused to attend the Paris conference until it was assured that membership of the Mediterranean Union was not being proposed as an alternative to membership of the EU.[33]
Among EU member states, the proposal was supported by Italy, Spain,[34] and Greece.[35]
However the European Commission and Germany were more cautious about the project. The European Commission saying that while initiatives promoting regional co-operation were good, it would be better to build them upon existing structures, notable among them being the Barcelona process. German chancellor Angela Merkel said the UfM risked splitting and threatening the core of the EU. In particular she objected to the potential use of EU funds to fund a project which was only to include a small number of EU member states.[36] When Slovenia took the EU presidency at the beginning of 2008, the then Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša added to the criticism by saying: "We do not need a duplication of institutions, or institutions that would compete with EU, institutions that would cover part of the EU and part of the neighbourhood."[37]
Other criticisms of the proposal included concern about the relationship between the proposed UfM and the existing Euromediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process), which might reduce the effectiveness of EU policies in the region and allow the southern countries to play on the rivalries to escape unpopular EU policies. There were similar economic concerns in the loss of civil society and similar human rights based policies. Duplication of policies from the EU's police and judicial area was a further worry.[38]
At the start of 2008 Sarkozy began to modify his plans for the Mediterranean Union due to widespread opposition from other EU member states and the European Commission. At the end of February of that year, France's minister for European affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, stated that "there is no Mediterranean Union" but rather a "Union for the Mediterranean" that would only be "completing and enriching" to existing EU structures and policy in the region.[39] Following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel it was agreed that the project would include all EU member states, not just those bordering the Mediterranean, and would be built upon the existing Barcelona process. Turkey also agreed to take part in the project following a guarantee from France that it was no longer intended as an alternative to EU membership.[33]
The proposed creation of common institutions,[40] and a Mediterranean Investment, which was to have been modelled on the European Investment Bank, was also dropped.[41]
In consequence the new Union for the Mediterranean would consist of regular meeting of the entire EU with the non-member partner states, and would be backed by two co-presidents and a secretariat.
Launch[edit]
At the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean (13 July 2008), the 43 Heads of State and Government from the Euro-Mediterranean region decided to launch the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean. It was presented as a new phase Euro-Mediterranean Partnership with new members and an improved institutional architecture which aimed to "enhance multilateral relations, increase co-ownership of the process, set governance on the basis of equal footing and translate it into concrete projects, more visible to citizens. Now is the time to inject a new and continuing momentum into the Barcelona Process. More engagement and new catalysts are now needed to translate the objectives of the Barcelona Declaration into tangible results."[23]
The Paris summit was considered a diplomatic success for Nicolas Sarzoky.[42] The French president had managed to gather in Paris all the Heads of State and Government from the 43 Euro-Mediterranean countries, with the exception of the kings of Morocco and Jordan.[43]
At the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Foreign Affairs held in Marseilles in November 2008, the Ministers decided to shorten the initiative's name to simply the "Union for the Mediterranean".[9]
This meeting concluded with a new joint declaration,[44] which completed the Paris Declaration by defining the organisational structure and the principles on which the UfM would be run. A rotating co-presidency was set up, held jointly by one EUmember country and one Mediterranean partner. France and Egypt were the first countries to hold this co-presidency. The presence of the Arab League at all meetings is written into the rules. A secretariat with a separate legal status and its own statutes was created. Its headquarters were established in Barcelona.
The fact that the Union for the Mediterranean is launched as a new phase of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership means that the Union accepts and commits to maintain the acquis of Barcelona, the purpose of which is to promote "peace, stability and prosperity" throughout the region (Barcelona, 2). Therefore, the four chapters of cooperation developed in the framework of the Barcelona Process during thirteen years remain valid:[23]
Politics and Security
Economics and Trade
Socio-cultural
Justice and Interior Affairs. This fourth chapter was included at the 10th Anniversary Euro-Mediterranean Summit held in Barcelona in 2005.
The objective to establish a Free Trade Area in the Euro-Mediterranean region by 2010 (and beyond), first proposed at the 1995 Barcelona Conference, was also endorsed by the Paris Summit of 2008.[23]
In addition to these four chapters of cooperation, the 43 Ministers of Foreign Affairs gathered in Marseilles in November 2008 identified six concrete projects that target specific needs of the Euro-Mediterranean regions and that will enhance the visibility of the Partnership:[45]
De-pollution of the Mediterranean. This broad project encompasses many initiatives that target good environmental governance, access to drinkable water, water management, pollution reduction and protection of the Mediterranean biodiversity.[5]
Maritime and land highways. The purpose of this project is to increase and improve the circulation of commodities and people throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region by improving its ports, and building highways and railways. Specifically, the Paris and Marseilles Declarations refer to the construction of both a Trans-Maghrebi railway and highway systems, connecting Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.[5]
Civil protection. The civil protection project aims at improving the prevention, preparedness and response to both natural and man-made disasters. The ultimate goal is to "bring the Mediterranean Partner Countries progressively closer to the European Civil Protection Mechanism."[46]
Alternative energies: Mediterranean solar plan. The goal of this project is to promote the production and use of renewable energies. More specifically, it aims at turning the Mediterranean partner countries into producers of solar energy and then circulating the resulting electricity through the Euro-Mediterranean region.[5] In this connection the union and the industrial initiative Dii signed a Memorandum of Understanding for future collaboration in May 2012 which included developing their long-term strategies "Mediterranean Solar Plan" and "Desert Power 2050". At the signing in Marrakesh the union's Secretary General called the new partnership "a key step for the implementation of the Mediterranean Solar Plan."[47]
Higher education and research: Euro-Mediterranean University. In June 2008 the Euro-Mediterranean University of Slovenia was inaugurated in Piran (Slovenia), which offers graduate studies programs. The Foreign Ministers gathered at Marseilles in 2008 also called for the creation of another Euro-Mediterranean University in Fes, Morocco, Euro-Mediterranean University of Morocco (Euromed-UM).[48] The decision to go ahead with the Fes university was announced in June 2012.[49] At the 2008 Paris summit, the 43 Heads of State and Government agreed that the goal of this project is to promote higher education and scientific research in the Mediterranean, as well as to establish in the future a "Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education, Science and Research Area."[23]
The Mediterranean business development initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to promote small and medium-sized enterprises from the Mediterranean partner countries by "assessing the needs of these enterprises, defining policy solutions and providing these entities with resources in the form of technical assistance and financial instruments." [23]
2008–2010: First years[edit]
A summit of heads of state and government is intended to be held every two years to foster political dialogue at the highest level. According to the Paris Declaration:
these summits should produce a joint declaration addressing the situation and challenges of the Euro-Mediterranean region, assessing the works of the Partnership and approving a two-year work program;[50]
Ministers of Foreign Affairs should meet annually to monitor the implementation of the summit declaration and to prepare the agenda of subsequent summits;[50] and
the host country of the summits would be chosen upon consensus and should alternate between EU and Mediterranean countries.[50]
The first summit was held in Paris in July 2008. The second summit should have taken place in a non-EU country in July 2010 but the Euro-Mediterranean countries agreed to hold the summit in Barcelona on 7 June 2010, under the Spanish presidency of the EU, instead.[51] However, on 20 May the Egyptian and French co-presidency along with Spain decided to postpone the summit, in a move which they described as being intended to give more time to the indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had started that month. In contrast, the Spanish media blamed the postponement on the Arab threat to boycott the summit if Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the Foreign Affairs conference prior to the summit.[52]
At the time of the Paris summit, France—which was in charge of the EU presidency—and Egypt held the co-presidency. Since then, France had been signing agreements with the different rotator presidencies of the EU (the Czech Republic, Sweden and Spain) in order to maintain the co-presidency for alongside Egypt.[5] The renewal of the co-presidency was supposed to happen on the second Union for the Mediterranean Summit. However, due to the two postponements of the summit, there has been no chance to decide which countries will take over the co-presidency.
The conflict between Turkey and Cyprus has been responsible for the delay in the endorsement of the statutes of the Secretariat,[53] which were only approved in March 2010 even though the Marseille declaration set May 2009 as the deadline for the Secretariat to start functioning.[54] At the Paris summit, the Heads of State and Government agreed to establish five Deputy Secretaries General from Greece, Israel, Italy, Malta and the Palestinian Authority. Turkey's desire to have a Deputy Secretary General and Cyprus' rejection of it, resulted in months of negotiation until Cyprus finally approved the creation of a sixth Deputy Secreaty General post assigned to a Turkish citizen.[53]
Due to its seriousness, the Arab-Israeli conflict is the one that most deeply affects the Union for the Mediterranean.[55] As a result of an armed conflict between Israel and Gaza from December 2008 to January 2009, the Arab Group refused to meet at high level, thus blocking all the ministerial meetings scheduled for the first half of 2009.[56] As well, the refusal of the Arab Ministers of Foreign Affairs to meet with their Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, resulted in the cancellation of two ministerial meetings on Foreign Affairs in November 2009 and June 2010.[57] Sectorial meetings of the Union for the Mediterranean have also been affected by Israel's actions against the Palestinian civilian population under its occupation. At the Euro-Mediterranean ministerial meeting on Water, held in Barcelona in April 2010, the Water Strategy was not approved due to a terminological disagreement of whether to refer to territories claimed by Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese as "occupied territories" or "territories under occupation."[58] Two other ministerial meetings, on higher education and agriculture, had to be cancelled because of the same discrepancy.[59]
After the initial postponement, both France and Spain announced their intentions to hold peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as part of the postponed summit under the auspices of the US. In September, U.S. President Barack Obama was invited to the summit for this purpose. The summit which was then scheduled to take place in Barcelona on 21 November 2010,[60] was according to Nicolas Sarkozy, the summit was "an occasion to support the negotiations."[61]
Nevertheless, at the beginning of November 2010 the peace talks stalled, and the Egyptian co-presidents conditioned the occurrence of the summit on a gesture from Israel that would allow the negotiations to resume. According to some experts Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement of the construction of 300 new housing units in East Jerusalem ended all the possibilities of celebrating the summit on 21 November.[62] The two co-presidencies and Spain decided on 15 November to postpone the summit sine die, alleging that the stagnation of the Middle East Peace Process would hinder a "satisfactory participation."[63]
Having been slowed down by the financial and political situation in 2009, the UfM was given a decisive push in March 2010 with the conclusion of the negotiations on the set-up of its General Secretariat and the official inauguration of the same on 4 March 2010 in Barcelona, in the specially refurbished Palau de Pedralbes.
The European Union Ambassador to Morocco, Eneko Landaburu, stated in September 2010 that he does "not believe" in the Union for the Mediterranean. According to him, the division among the Arabs "does not allow to implement a strong inter-regional policy", and calls to leave this ambitious project of 43 countries behind and focus on bilateral relations.[64]
Since 2011[edit]
On 22 June 2011, the UfM labelled its first project, the creation of a seawater desalination plant in Gaza.[65] In 2012, the UfM had a total of 13 projects labelled by the 43 countries in the sectorial areas of transport, education, water and development companies.
In January 2012, the Secretary General, Youssef Amrani was appointed Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in the Benkirane government.[66] He is replaced by the Moroccan diplomat Fathallah Sijilmassi.
In 2013, the Union for the Mediterranean launches its first projects:[67]
30 April: Young women as job creators[68]
28 May: Governance & Financing Water in the Mediterranean area[69]
17 June: LogismedTA[70] (Training Activities under the Programme on the Development of a Network of Euro-Mediterranean Logistics Platforms)
Between 2013 and 2018, thirteen sectorial ministerial meetings took place, in presence of the ministers of the UfM Member States:
UfM Ministerial on Strengthening the role of women in society – September 2013[71]
UfM Ministerial on Transport – November 2013[72]
UfM Ministerial on Energy – December 2013[73]
UfM Ministerial on Industrial cooperation – February 2014[74]
UfM Ministerial on Environment and climate change – May 2014[75]
UfM Ministerial on Digital Economy – September 2014[76]
UfM Ministerial on Blue Economy – November 2015[77]
UfM Ministerial on Regional Cooperation and Planning – June 2016[78]
UfM Ministerial on Employment and Labour – September 2016[79]
UfM Ministerial on Water – April 2017[81]
UfM Ministerial on Urban Development – May 2017[82]
UfM Ministerial on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society – November 2017[83]
UfM Ministerial Conference on Trade – 19 March 2018[84]
In 2015, the UfM had a total of 37 labelled projects[85] 19 of which were in the implementation phase.[AP2] On 18 November 2015, the review of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), published by the European External Action Service and the Commission and confirmed by the European Council ON 14 December, positions the UfM as a driving force for integration and regional cooperation.[86]
On 26 November 2015, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration, at the initiative of the co-presidents of the UfM, Ms. Federica Mogherini, Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Mr. Nasser Judeh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Jordan, held an informal meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries of the UfM in Barcelona to renew their political commitment to the development of regional cooperation in the framework of the UfM.[87]
On 14 December 2015 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A / 70/124 granting observer status to the Union for the Mediterranean.[88]
In February 2016, the UfM-labelled project "Skills for Success" successfully ended its training activities in Jordan and Morocco with high percentages of job placements. The job placement percentage among the total number of job seekers in Jordan and Morocco (115 graduates) is estimated at 49% and 6% of the participants were placed in internships.[89]
On 12 March 2016, the UfM was awarded the prestigious Badge of Honor from Agrupación Española de Fomento Europeo (AEFE) in recognition of the value of its work for the Universal Values and Human Rights in the Mediterranean region.
On 2 June 2016, the UfM held its first Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting for Regional Cooperation and Planning, at the invitation of EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn and Imad N. Fakhoury, Jordanian Minister of Cooperation and Planning.
Ministers recognised the need to boost economic integration among the countries in the region as one of the means to create opportunities for the necessary inclusive growth and job creation. They highlighted the crucial role of the Union for the Mediterranean to that effect, welcoming the work of the UfM Secretariat to help facilitate progress in regional cooperation and integration, including by promoting region-wide projects.[90]
On 18–19 July 2016, the UfM actively participated to the MedCOP Climate 2016, as institutional partner of the Tangier region. MedCOP Climate 2016 provided a forum to present various initiatives and projects supported by the UfM that are helping to formulate a Mediterranean climate agenda, such as the creation of a Mediterranean network of young people working on climate issues; the Regional Committee for Cooperation on Climate Finance, to make funding for climate projects in the region more efficient; and the launch of the UfM Energy University by Schneider Electric.[91]
On 10–11 October 2016, the UfM Secretariat organized in Barcelona the Third High-Level Conference on Women Empowerment, which followed the 2014 and 2015 editions and in preparation of the Fourth UfM Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, due to take place late 2017. The Conference provided a regional dialogue forum where the 250 participants from more than 30 countries stressed the need to invest in the essential contribution of women as a response to the current Mediterranean challenges.[92] A report was prepared following the request formulated by the UfM Paris Ministerial Declaration on Strengthening the role of women in society. The request was "to establish an effective follow-up mechanism as a Euro-Mediterranean forum and to ensure an effective dialogue on women-related policies, legislation and implementation."[93]
On 1 November 2016, the UfM officially launched the "Integrated Programme for the Protection of Lake Bizerte against Pollution" in Bizerte. Tunisia. The event was held in the presence of Youssef Chahed, Head of Government of Tunisia, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, and Fathallah Sijilmassi, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean. With a total budget of more than €90 million over a 5-year period, the programme will contribute towards cleaning up Lake Bizerte in northern Tunisia, improving the living conditions of the surrounding populations and reducing the main sources of pollution impacting the entire Mediterranean Sea. The project is supported by International financing institutions, such as the European Investment Bank and the European Commission, as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[94]
In November 2016, the UfM Secretariat officially became observer to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) during the COP22,[95] while actively participating through the launch of specific regional initiatives and projects aimed at helping achieve the Paris Agreement targets in the Euro-Mediterranean region.[96]
On 23 January 2017, the Union for the Mediterranean's Member States gave a strong political commitment to strengthen regional cooperation in the Mediterranean by endorsing the UfM roadmap for action at the second Regional Forum of the UfM, which took place in Barcelona on 23–24 January 2017 under the theme of "Mediterranean in Action: Youth for Stability and Development".[97]
This Roadmap focuses on the following four areas of action:
Enhancing political dialogue amongst the UfM members;
Ensuring the contribution of UfM activities to regional stability and human development;
Strengthening regional integration;
Consolidating UfM capacity for action.
On 22 February 2017, the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) signed a €6.5 million multi annual financial agreement to support UfM activities in favour of a more sustainable and inclusive development in the region.[98]
On 10 April 2017, the Heads of State or Government of Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain convened in Madrid at the 3rd Summit of Southern European Union Countries, where they reaffirmed their support to the Union for the Mediterranean and stressed its "central role in the consolidation of Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation, as an expression of co-ownership in the management of our common regional agenda in order to effectively and collectively address our current challenges".[99]
In 2017, 51 regional cooperation projects, worth over €5.3 billion, have been accorded the UfM label, through the unanimous support of the 43 Member States. Implementation of the projects is accelerating and is producing positive results on the ground.[100]
27 November 2017 Ministers from the 43 Member countries of UfM gathered in Cairo at the 4th UfM Ministerial Conference on “Strengthening the Role of Women in Society”[101] to agree on a common agenda to strengthen the role of women in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
On 29 November 2017, the UfM Regional Stakeholder Conference on the Blue Economy,[102] brought together over 400 key stakeholders dealing with marine and maritime issues from the entire region, including government representatives, regional and local authorities, international organisations, academia, the private sector and civil society.
On 20 March 2018, the European Commission and the Government of Palestine, in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean, hosted an international donor Pledging Conference to consolidate financial support to the construction of a large-scale desalination plant and its associated water supply infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.[103]
On 13 July 2018, the UfM will celebrate its 10th anniversary, with 51 regional cooperation projects labelled, 12 regional policy platforms created and over 300 expert fora organised.[2]
Aims and concrete projects[edit]
The UfM's goal is to enhance regional cooperation, dialogue and the implementation of concrete projects and initiatives with tangible impact on our citizens. The UfM has consolidated an action-driven methodology, with a common ambition of creating effective links between the policy dimension and its operational translation into concrete projects and initiatives on the ground to adequately address the challenges of the region and its key interrelated priorities. This methodology is composed of three components: Policy framework, dialogue Platforms and regional Projects – namely the “Three Ps”.
Policy Framework[edit]
The UfM complements the bilateral work of the European Neighbourhood Policy[104] set up in 2004 and the development policies of UfM member states, driving the emergence of a shared Mediterranean agenda to achieve an impact, not just on the situation of one country, but on regional integration as a whole.
With 43 members, the UfM acts as a central platform for setting regional priorities and sharing experiences of the principal challenges that the region faces.[105]
The UfM Secretariat implements decisions taken at political level through regional and sub-regional sectorial dialogues fora and follow-up activities thereby following through on Ministerial commitments and promoting initiatives to foster regional cooperation.
The work to achieve this goal is carried out in conjunction with other organisations and regional cooperation forums (The Arab League, the Arab Maghreb Union) and alongside sub-regional cooperation fora such as the 5+5 Dialogue with which the UfM is actively associated.[106]
Structured regional dialogues fora have involved over 20,000 stakeholders from around the Mediterranean, including parliamentarians and representatives of international organisations, NGOs, civil society organisations, international financial institutions, development agencies, industry and the private sector, universities as well as think tanks.[100]
In March 2015, the Inter-parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, in its final conclusions,[107] described the UfM as "the most efficient and multifaceted cooperation forum in the region".
In May 2016, the Parliamentary Assembly of the UfM recognized, in the final declaration of its 12th Plenary Session, the "importance of the pivotal role played by the UfM in promoting cooperation and regional integration in the Mediterranean […]".[108]
In January 2017, at the occasion of the second UfM Regional Forum gathering the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 43 Member States, Ms. Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, declared: "we have committed together to break this circle of lack of integration and tensions and conflictuality and invest in a coherent manner on more political dialogue and more regional integrational cooperation on very concrete fields of actions through our Union for the Mediterranean."[109]
The third Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) Regional Forum was held in Barcelona on october 8 2018 under the title ‘10 years: Building together the future of regional cooperation’[110]. Consolidated as the annual gathering of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of UfM Member States, the Forum provided the occasion to draw up a state-of-play of regional cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean area and its prospects, as well as to spotlight where the UfM needs to redouble its efforts to meet current and future challenges. Ministers took stock of the implementation of the UfM Roadmap endorsed a year ago and committed to amplifying the impetus given to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. This third edition of the Regional Forum was chaired by the UfM Co-Presidency, assumed by Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, and Ayman Safadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan, and hosted by Josep Borrell, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain and Nasser Kamel, the UfM Secretary General.
Regional projects[edit]
Via the process of labelisation, the UFM supports projects that address common regional challenges that are likely to have a direct impact on the lives of citizens. The UfM label guarantees regional recognition and visibility for the selected projects. It also gives them access to funding opportunities through the network of financial partners of the UfM.
The main added value of the UfM lies in the interrelation created between the policy dimension and its operational translation into concrete projects on the ground, which in return nourishes the definition of relevant policies through a multi-stakeholder approach. The adoption of projects on the ground follows the principle of “variable geometry”, providing a degree of flexibility by which a smaller number of countries may decide, with the approval of all, to cooperate and participate in projects of common interest.
In December 2015, 37 projects were labeled by the UfM.[111] As of June 2018, more than 50 projects were labeled by the UfM:[112]
Human Development[edit]
After a consultation process with stakeholders, the UfM launched in 2013 a regional initiative (Med4Jobs) that defines the priorities of intervention in terms of employability, intermediary services and job creation in the region, under which specific projects are developed.[113]
By 2015, the secretariat of the UfM had labeled 13 projects addressing the challenges of youth employability and inclusive growth. Framed by the political mandate and the priorities expressed in regional dialogues, these projects target 200,000 beneficiaries, mostly young people, and involve over 1,000 small and medium private enterprises.[114]
On Women empowerment, it had also labeled 10 projects benefiting over 50,000 women in the Euro-Mediterranean region, this with the participation of over 1000 shareholders and with a budget of over 127 million euros.[115]
The specific focus on Youth employability and Women empowerment is in line with the UfM's aim at reinforcing human capital in the region, which is the key issue for stability and security in the region.
As of June 2018, the UfM has 28 labelled projects addressing the regional Human Development pillar.
Business Development and Employment[edit]
Developing Youth Employability & Entrepreneurial Skills – Maharat MED
Mediterranean Entrepreneurship Network
Promoting Financial Inclusion via Mobile Financial Services in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries
Establishment of a Regional Platform for the Development of Cultural and Creative Industries and Clusters in the Southern Mediterranean
Generation Entrepreneur
EDILE – Economic Development through Inclusive and Local Empowerment[116]
EMIPO – EUROMED Invest Promotion & Observatory[117]
EMDC – Euro-Mediterranean Development Center for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Agadir SME Programme – Fostering SME competitiveness and trade in the Agadir Agreement member countries
YouMatch – “Toolbox Project”: Elaboration and implementation of a demand-driven toolbox for youth-orientated, innovative labour market services in the MENA region
Organization and Coordination of the SIEMed Network: Support for Entrepreneurship Initiatives in the Mediterranean[118]
INCORPORA, A Labour Integration Program[119]
Higher Education & Research[edit]
MedNC – New Chance Mediterranean Network
HOMERe – High Opportunity for Mediterranean Executive Recruitment
Higher Education on Food Security and Rural Development
EMUNI Master Programmes
Three areas of EMUNI PhD Research Programmes
Master Study Programme in Risk Science
The Euro-Mediterranean University of Fes[120]
Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS)
Social & Civil Affairs[edit]
WOMED: the "next generation of leaders"
CEED GROW: Growing and Scaling Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
Forming Responsible Citizens – Promoting citizenship education to prevent school violence, particularly against girls and women
Developing Women Empowerment
Skills for Success – Employability Skills for Women
Young Women as Job Creators
Promoting women empowerment for inclusive and sustainable industrial development in the MENA region[121]
Women's Right to Health – The WoRTH Project[122]
Sustainable development[edit]
By 2015, 14 projects were labelled by the 43 countries of the UfM, included the cleanup of Lake Bizerte in Tunisia, the construction of the desalination plant in Gaza, and the integrated urban development of the city of Imbaba.[123]
As of June 2018, the UfM has 23 labelled projects addressing the regional Sustainable Development pillar. These projects are expected to have an important socio-economic impact across the region, including on climate action, renewable energy, transport, urban development, water, the blue economy and environment.[100]
Transport & Urban Development[edit]
UPFI Sfax Taparura Project
Bouregreg Valley Development
Imbaba Urban Upgrading Project
Jordanian Railway Network
Completion of the Central Section of the Trans-Maghreb Motorway Axis
LOGISMED Training Activities
Motorway of the Sea (MoS) Turkey-Italy-Tunisia Project[124]
MoS OPTIMED IMPLEMENTATION – Towards a new Mediterranean Corridor: from South-Eastern to North-Western ports
UPFI Multi-Site Urban Regeneration Project in Jericho
Izmir Urban Integrated Waste Management Project
TranslogMED, capacity building activities in logistics chain
Energy & Climate Action[edit]
Tafila Wind Farm
UfM Energy University by Schneider Electric[125]
SEMed Private Renewable Energy Framework - SPREF
Water, Environment & Blue Economy[edit]
Capacity Building Programme on Water Integrity in the Middle East and North Africa
BlueGreen Med-CS
MED RESCP – POST RIO +20: Supporting the adoption of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and Resource Efficiencu (RE) models in the Mediterranean region
Towards a Mediterranean Water Knowledge Platform
Integrated Programme for Protection of the Lake Bizerte against Pollution
Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector
The "Desalination Facility for the Gaza Strip" Project
PLASTIC-BUSTERS for a Mediterranean free from litter[126]
MedCoast4BG – Med Coasts for Blue Growth[127]
Institutions[edit]
In contrast with the Barcelona Process, one of the biggest innovations of the Union for the Mediterranean is its institutional architecture. It was decided at the Paris Summit to provide the Union with a whole set of institutions in order to up-grade the political level of its relations, promote a further co-ownership of the initiative among the EU and Mediterranean partner countries and improve the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership's visibility.[23]
North and South Co-presidency system[edit]
Co-presidents of the UfM, Federica Mogherini,High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Nasser Judeh, Jordan's minister of foreign affairs, next to former Secretary General of the UfM, M. Fathallah Sijilmassi.
With the purpose of guaranteeing the co-ownership of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Heads of State and Government decided in Paris that two countries, one from the EU and one from the Mediterranean partner countries, will jointly preside the Union for the Mediterranean. The 27 agreed that the EU co-presidency had to "be compatible with the external representation of the European Union in accordance with the Treaty provisions in force."[23] "The Mediterranean partner countries decided to choose by consensus and among themselves a country to hold the co-presidency for a non-renewable period of two years."[23]
From 2008 to 2012, France & Egypt ensured the UfM's first co-presidency.
In 2012 the secretariat announced that the co-presidency of Egypt would be succeeded by Jordan, and that of France by the European Union. The change which, took place in September 2012 was decided at a meeting of the high representatives in Barcelona on 28 June.[49]
Northern Presidency
Southern Presidency
France (July 2008 – March 2012) Egypt (July 2008 – June 2012)
European Union (March 2012 –) Jordan (June 2012 –)
Meeting of UfM Senior Officials[edit]
The meeting of UfM Senior Officials, composed of ambassadors and senior Foreign Affairs officials appointed individually by the 43 countries of the UfM, is held several times a year, at regular intervals, at the seat of the Secretariat of UfM in Barcelona or in one of the UfM countries.[128] Its role is to discuss regional issues, guide policies and actions of the organization and to label the projects submitted to it. Each country has an equal vote and all decisions are made by consensus. Alongside these meetings, other UfM meetings take place, especially ministerial meetings that define the Mediterranean agenda on specific issues, such as environment and climate change, the digital economy, the role of women in society, transportation or industry.
Secretariat[edit]
Headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean
The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean was inaugurated on 4 March 2010 in an official ceremony in Barcelona.[129]
The task of the permanent Secretariat is to provide operational follow-up of the sectorial ministerial meeting, identifying and monitoring the implementation of concrete projects for the Euro-Mediterranean region, and searching for partners to finance these projects and coordinating various platforms for dialogue.[130]
The Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs decided at the Marseilles conference of November 2008 that the headquarters of the Secretariat would be at the Royal Palace of Pedralbes in Barcelona.[131] They also agreed on the structure of this new key institution and the countries of origin of its first members:
The Secretary General is elected by consensus from a non-EU country. His term is for three years, which may be extended for another three.[130] The first Secretary General was the Jordanian Ahmad Khalaf Masa'deh, the former Ambassador of Jordan to the EU, Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg, and Minister of Public Sector Reform from 2004–2005.[132] He resigned after one year in office.[133] In July 2011, the Moroccan diplomat Youssef Amrani takes office. When he is named deputy foreign minister by the Benkirane government, he was replaced as Secretary General by fellow Moroccan Ambassador Fathallah Sijilmassi until February 2018. In June 2018, Egyptian Ambassador Nasser Kamel took office as Secretary General of the UfM, bringing more than three decades of experience in Euro-Mediterranean relations to the role.
Nasser Kamel is the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean.
In order to enhance the co-ownership of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, six posts of Deputy Secretaries General were assigned to three countries from the EU and three from the Mediterranean partner countries. For the first term of three years (extendible to another three) the Deputy Secretaries General were:[134]
Mr. Panagiotis Roumeliotis (Greece) – Energy Division;
Prof. Ilan Chet (Israel) – Higher Education and Research Division;
Mr. Lino Cardarelli (Italy) – Business Development Division;
Amb. Celia Attard Pirotta (Malta) – Social and Civil Affairs Division;
Dr. Rafiq Husseini (Palestine) – Water and Environment Division;
Amb. Yigit Alpogan (Turkey) – Transport and Urban Development Division.
In 2017, the secretariat of the UfM has a staff of 60 persons from more than 20 nationalities, including the permanent presence of senior officials seconded from the European Commission, the EIB, and CDC.[135]
Other organizations and euro-Mediterranean institutions[edit]
Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly[edit]
The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) is not a new institution inside the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership framework. It was established in Naples on 3 December 2003 by the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Foreign Affairs and had its first plenary session in Athens on 22–23 March 2004. The EMPA gathers parliamentarians from the Euro-Mediterranean countries and has four permanent committees on the following issues:[136]
Political Affairs, Security and Human Rights
Economic, Financial and Social Affairs and Education
Promotion of the Quality of Life, Human Exchanges and Culture
Women's Rights in the Euro-Mediterranean Countries
The EMPA also has an ad hoc committee on Energy and Environment. Since the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean, the EMPA's role has been strengthened for it is considered the "legitimate parliamentary expression of the Union".[23]
Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly[edit]
At the Euro-Mediterranean Foreign Affairs Conference held in Marseilles in November 2008, the Ministers welcomed the EU Committee of the Regions proposal to establish a Euro-Mediterranean Assembly of Local and Regional Authorities (ARLEM in French). Its aim is to bridge between the local and regional representatives of the 43 countries with the Union for the Mediterranean and EU institutions.[137]
The EU participants are the members of the EU Committee of the Regions, as well as representatives from other EU institutions engaged with the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. From the Mediterranean partner countries, the participants are representatives of regional and local authorities appointed by their national governments. The ARLEM was formally established and held its first plenary session in Barcelona on 31 January 2010. The ARLEM's co-presidency is held by the President of the EU Committee of the Regions, Luc Van den Brande, and the Moroccan mayor of Al Hoceima, Mohammed Boudra.[138]
Anna Lindh Foundation[edit]
The Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures, with headquarters are in Alexandria, Egypt, was established in April 2005. It is a network for the civil society organisations of the Euro-Mediterranean countries, aiming at the promotion of intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.[139]
At the Paris Summit it was agreed that the Anna Lindh Foundation, along with the UN Alliance of Civilizations will be in charge of the cultural dimension of the Union for the Mediterranean.[23]
In September 2010 the Anna Lindh Foundation published a report called "EuroMed Intercultural Trends 2010".[140] This evaluation about mutual perceptions and the visibility of the Union of the Mediterranean across the region is based on a Gallup Public Opinion Survey in which 13,000 people from the Union of the Mediterranean countries participated.
Partnerships with other organizations and Euro-Mediterranean institutions[edit]
As a platform for dialogue and cooperation, the Union for the Mediterranean engages in strategic partnerships with global, regional and sub-regional organizations.
During the past few years, the UfM strengthened its ties with relevant stakeholders through the signature of various Memoranda of Understanding:
CIHEAM (International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies) – 8 January 2015
EESC (European Economic and Social Committee) – 13 January 2015
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness – 26 January 2015
AFAEMME (Association of Organisations of Mediterranean Businesswomen) – 11 February 2015
Agency for International Cooperation and Local Development in the Mediterranean – 16 February 2015
British University in Egypt – 14 March 2015
EMUNI University (Euro-Mediterranean University) – 8 April 2015
IRU (International Road Transport Union) – 10 April 2015
IPEMED (Institut de Prospective économique du monde Méditerranéen) – 4 May 2015
UNIDO – 22 May 2015
BUSINESSMED – 9 June 2015
BSEC (Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation) – 18 June 2015
UNESCO – 14 October 2015
CETMO (Center for Transportation Studies for the Western Mediterranean) – 26 November 2015
Energy Charter Secretariat – 26 November 2015
EMUNI University – 1 February 2016
International Energy Agency – 17 February 2016
Service de la Coopération Marocaine – 8 March 2016
UN Habitat – 5 April 2016
Conseil de la Région Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima – 22 June 2016
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain – 29 July 2016
ANIMA Investment Network – 7 September 2016
Groupe interacadémique pour le développement – 29 September 2016
IEMed (European Institute of the Mediterranean) – 20 January 2017
SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) – 23 January 2017
UN Office for South-South Cooperation – 24 January 2017
Fundación Mujeres por Africa – 24 January 2017
AGADIR Technical Unit – 24 January 2017
MENBO Permanent Secretariat – 10 March 2017
EMUNI University – 14 March 2017
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung – 10 April 2017
World Alliance for Efficient Solutions – 24 May 2017
SDSN Mediterranean – 1 June 2017
Institut Méditerranéen de l’Eau – 8 June 2017
Euro-Mediterranean University of Fes – 20 June 2017
IEMed – 20 July 2017
UNFCCC Secretariat, Organization of the 2017 Forum of the Standing Committee on Finance, 3 August 2017
ACUP, International Conference on Sustainable Development Goals, 15 September 2017
World Tourism Organization, Institutional cooperation – IO, 1 October 2017
Federal Ministry of Economy – Germany, Institutional cooperation, 5 October 2017
Eastern Mediterranean International School, YOCOPAS Conference, 11 October 2017
Arab League, Institutional cooperation – IO, 17 October 2017
Union Internationale Des Transports Publics, Institutional cooperation, 9 November 2017
AViTeM – Villa Méditerranée, Institutional cooperation, 21 November 2017
General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean of the FAO, Institutional cooperation – IO, 30 November 2017
Fédération de l'Energie du Maroc, Institutional cooperation, 19 December 2017
Le Plan Bleu, Joint Editing and publication of a report regarding the environmental changes in the Mediterranean, 22 December 2017
Funding[edit]
The Paris Declaration states that contributions for the Union for the Mediterranean will have to develop the capacity to attract funding from "the private sector participation; contributions from the EU budget and all partners; contributions from other countries, international financial institutions and regional entities; the Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership Facility (FEMIP); the ENPI", among other possible instruments,[23]
The European Commission contributes to the Union for the Mediterranean through the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI). In July 2009 the ENPI allocated €72 million for the following Union for the Mediterranean projects during 2009–2010:[141]
De-pollution of the Mediterranean (€22 million).
Maritime and land highways (€7.5 million).
Alternative energies: Mediterranean Solar Plan (€5 million).
Euro-Mediterranean University of Slovenia (€1 million)
The European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) came into force in 2014. It is the financial arm of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU's foreign policy towards its neighbours to the East and to the South. It has a budget of €15.4 billion and will provide the bulk of funding through a number of programmes. The ENI, effective from 2014 to 2020, replaces the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument – known as the ENPI.
The European Investment Bank contributes to the Union for the Mediterranean through its Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP). Specifically, the FEMIP was mandated by the Euro-Mediterranean Ministers of Finance in 2008 to support three of the six concrete projects: the de-pollution of the Mediterranean; alternative energies; and maritime and land highways.[142] Following the June 2012 meeting the EIB announced it would give 500 million euros to support projects for the UfM.[49]
The InfraMed Infrastructure Fund was established in June 2010 by five financial entities: the French Caisse des Dépôts, the Moroccan Caisse de Dépôts et de Gestion, the Egyptian EFG Hermes, the Italian Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the European Investment Bank. On an initial phase, the Fund will contribute €385 million to the Secretariat's projects on infrastructure.[143]
The World Bank has allocated $750 million for the renewable energy project through the Clean Technology Fund.[5]
List of Sectorial Ministerial meetings[edit]
Economic-Financial Meeting, 7 October 2008, Luxembourg City (Luxembourg).[144]
Industry, 5–6 November 2008, Nice (France).[145]
Employment and Labor, 9–10 November 2008, Marrakech (Morocco).[146]
Health, 11 November 2008, Cairo (Egypt).[147]
Water, 22 December 2008, Amman (Jordan).[148]
Sustainable Development, 25 June 2009, Paris (France).[149]
Economic-Financial Meeting, 7 July 2009, Brussels (Belgium).[150]
Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, 11–12 November, Marrakech (Morocco).[151]
Trade, 9 December 2009, Brussels (Belgium).[152]
Water, 21–22 April 2010, Barcelona (Spain).
Tourism, 20 May 2010, Barcelona (Spain).
Employment and Labour, 21–22 November 2010, Brussels (Belgium).[153]
Sustainable Urban Development, 9–10 November 2011, Strasbourg (France).[154]
Strengthening the role of women in society – September 2013, Paris (France).[155][156]
Transport – November 2013, Brussels (Belgium).[72][157]
Energy – December 2013, Brussels (Belgium).[158]
Industrial cooperation – February 2014, Brussels (Belgium).[74]
Environment and climate change – May 2014, Athens (Greece).[75]
Digital Economy – September 2014, Brussels (Belgium).[76]
Blue Economy – November 2015, Brussels (Belgium).[77][159]
Employment and Labour - September 2016, Dead Sea (Jordan).[160][161]
Energy - December 2016, Rome (Italy).[162]
Water - April 2017, Valletta (Malta).[163][164]
Sustainable Urban Development - May 2017, Cairo (Egypt).[165]
Strengthening the Role of Women in Society – November 2017, Cairo (Egypt).[166]
Trade - March 2018, Brussels (Belgium).[84][167]
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
European Neighbourhood Policy
Future enlargement of the European Union
Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
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^ "UfM to launch training project to promote competitiveness and job creation in the Mediterranean logistics industry". enpi-info.eu. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
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^ "UfM actively involved in MedCOP Climate Conference 2016 in Tangier".
^ "in Society, due to take place late 2017. The Conference provided a regional dialogue forum where the 250 participants from more than 30 countries stressed the need to invest in the essential contribution of women as a response to the current Mediterranean challenges".
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^ "Integrated Programme for Protection of the Lake Bizerte against Pollution".
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^ "La réunion ministérielle du Dialogue 5+5 souligne le rôle clé de l'UpM dans la promotion de la coopération régionale en Méditerranée – Union pour la Méditerranée – UpM" (in French). Union pour la Méditerranée – UpM. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
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^ "Final Declaration of the 12Th Plenary Sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean".
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Home » Online Exhibits » Penn People » Penn People A-Z » Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose, c. 1890
M.D. 1849
Professor of obstetrics and the diseases of women and children 1863-1888
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on March 24, 1827, the second son of Charles and Valeria Fullerton Biddle Penrose. He attended Dickinson College, graduating in 1846, and later, in 1872, received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the same institution. He immediately entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his M.D. in 1849.
After graduation, Penrose served as a resident physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital for three years. In 1854, he successfully opened the wards of the Philadelphia Hospital (later Philadelphia General Hospital) to medical instruction, and became a consulting surgeon at that institution. In 1856, he was one the founders of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
In 1863, Penrose replaced Dr. Hugh L. Hodge as professor of obstetrics and the diseases of women and children at the University of Pennsylvania, a chair which he held until his retirement from teaching and practice in 1888. He also continued to teach this specialty privately as well as in the University’s medical school. During the Civil War, Penrose was an acting assistant surgeon in the Union Army, serving as a doctor at Satterlee Army Hospital in West Philadelphia.
During his career, Penrose was member of the American Philosophical Society and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. He married Sarah Hannah Boies of Wilmington, Delaware, in 1858; they had seven sons. Penrose died in Philadelphia on December 26, 1908.
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Home » Online Exhibits » Penn People » Penn People A-Z » Thomas McKean Pettit
Thomas McKean Pettit
President's House, Penn's campus from 1801-1829, at Ninth and Market Streets
A.B. 1815, A.M. 1818
Founding member of Philomathean Society
Thomas McKean Pettit was born in Philadelphia on December 26, 1797, to Andrew Pettit, merchant, and Elizabeth McKean. Andrew Pettit was the son of Charles Pettit, merchant, quartermaster-general of the Continental Army, delegate to the Continental Congress, and president of the Insurance Company of North America. Elizabeth McKean Pettit was the daughter of Thomas McKean, signer of the Declaration of Independence, chief justice and then governor of Pennsylvania. Both Charles Pettit and Thomas McKean were trustees of the University of Pennsylvania; McKean still held that position while his grandson was a student there.
In 1812 young Thomas McKean Pettit entered the College of the University of Pennsylvania. On October 2, 1813, he was one of thirteen founding members of the Philomathean Society, Penn’s first student organization.
After graduation Pettit became a lawyer, and by 1820, he had become City Solicitor of Philadelphia. From there, Pettit moved on to become the deputy attorney general to the Supreme and Oyer and Terminer Courts of Philadelphia from 1824 to 1826. He was elected to the Philadelphia Legislature in 1830 and was also a member of the Select Council of Philadelphia in 1831. From 1832 until 1835, Pettit was Associate Judge for the District Court of Philadelphia; he was then appointed as Presiding Judge over the whole district, an office he held until 1845 when he was appointed United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
President Martin Van Buren later named him as one of the Board of Visitors to West Point. Pettit also served as vice president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He died in on May 30, 1853, the same year he was appointed director of the United States Mint.
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Home > Journals > Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club > Volume 139 > Issue 2 > Article
17 June 2019 A new subspecies of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis (Meliphagidae)
Andrew Black1
1South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia, e-mail: abblack@bigpond.com
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 139(2):164-172 (2019). https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v139i2.2019.a9
Nesoptilotis leucotis schoddei subsp. nov.
Conspectus of subspecies in Nesoptilotis leucotis
White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis ranges broadly across southern Australia, where it is a constituent of eucalypt forest and woodland communities. A recent phylogeographic study recovered deep divergence between western and eastern populations. Within the western phylogroup are two allopatric populations that are differentiated by morphometrics, plumage coloration and voice. The eastern of the two, which occupies mallee woodland on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, is described here as a new subspecies.
White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis (Latham, 1801) occupies temperate humid eucalypt forest and semi-arid eucalypt woodland across southern Australia and, until recently, was treated as comprising three subspecies (Schodde & Mason 1999). The subspecies were: an eastern forest form N. l. leucotis (Latham, 1801), N. l. novaenorciae (Milligan, 1904), from western to inland eastern Australia, chiefly in low woodlands of multi-stemmed eucalypts known as mallee (Johnstone & Storr 2004), and N. l. thomasi (Mathews, 1912), on Kangaroo Island, where it occurs in both forest and mallee (Baxter 2015).
In a phylogeographic study of 12 southern Australian bird species, Dolman & Joseph (2015) identified two phylogroups within the White-eared Honeyeater, separated by 21 base pair differences in the mitochondrial gene ND2. The break is at the Eyrean Barrier (Ford 1974, 1987, Schodde & Mason 1999: 787), a periodic arid intrusion during Pleistocene times and perhaps earlier, at the longitude of the present-day Spencer Gulf and Lake Torrens. Dolman & Joseph's (2015) findings placed populations previously assigned to subspecies novaenorciae within both phylogroups, and, to reflect phylogeographic history, led them to restrict novaenorciae, type locality Wongan Hills, south-west Australia (30°49′S, 116°38′E), to the western group. Black (2018) demonstrated that these genetically divergent western and eastern mallee populations are allopatric as well as distinct phenotypically. He argued that the eastern mallee population consequently required distinction from forest-based nominate leucotis there, a view supported by Lamb et al. (2018), who identified two subclades within the eastern phylogroup. Black (2018) noted that the name depauperata Mathews, 1912, type locality Coonalpyn, South Australia (35°42′S, 139°51′E), was available for the eastern mallee population. He also showed that the western phylogroup comprised two allopatric populations, one in Western Australia, the other on the Eyre Peninsula north to the Gawler Ranges and the Yellabinna region of South Australia, the two separated by the treeless Nullarbor Plain (see Fig. 1). Consequently, he questioned whether they might also be taxonomically distinct.
The present study addresses that question by examining the phenotypes of the two populations within the western phylogroup of White-eared Honeyeater.
Specimens of White-eared Honeyeaters were examined from the two populations west of the Eyrean Barrier: 14 adult males of the Western Australian population east to the Great Australian Bight, held at the Western Australian Museum, Perth (WAM), and 12 adult males of the Eyre Peninsula population, at the South Australian Museum, Adelaide (SAMA). Only male specimens were compared because of the small female sample sizes of this sexually dimorphic species (Schodde & Mason 1999, Higgins et al. 2001, Black 2018).
Map showing the distribution of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis, derived from Johnstone & Storr (2004; for Western Australia), Schodde & Mason (1999; eastern Australia) and Black (2018; South Australia). Two phylogroups range either side of the Eyrean Barrier, represented by the saline Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens (dotted outlines) and the larger Spencer Gulf, with the Eyre Peninsula (EP) to the west and Flinders Ranges (F) to the east. Other than the small Flinders Ranges and Kangaroo Island (KI) isolates, the eastern phylogroup is distributed continuously, with an intergradient zone between inland N. l. depauperata and coastal N. l. leucotis represented by the dashed line. The western phylogroup contains two allopatric populations, one in southern Western Australia extending across a small discontinuity, south of the Nullarbor Plain (NP) into western South Australia, and another, separated across the NP near the head of the Great Australian Bight (GAB), in the Yellabinna (Y), Gawler Ranges (GR) and EP.
Standard measurements were taken: wing, flattened from the ‘shoulder’ to the tip of the longest primary; tail, from the base to the tip of the longest rectrix when closed; length of the culmen, from the cranio-frontal hinge to the tip; and depth of the bill, at the feather line on the base of the maxilla. All measurements were taken to 0.1 mm, except wing, which was measured to the nearest 1 mm (Table 1).
Plumage coloration of the olive upperparts and yellow underparts was compared using the Naturalist's color guide (Smithe 1975).
Morphometrics.—The measurements of males for each population are presented in Table 1. A plot of the significantly differing variables is presented graphically in Fig. 2. It shows that separation between the two populations is substantial, albeit with some overlap. Overall the two populations are of similar size. Tail lengths are not significantly different, but wings are on average shorter in the Western Australian population (p = 0.005) with a consequently greater tail / wing ratio. Bills are of similar length, but shallower in Western Australian birds (p = 0.003).
Mensural data for male White-eared Honeyeaters Nesoptilotis leucotis of the two populations, Western Australia and Eyre Peninsula, presenting means, standard deviation and sample sizes for each variable, and the statistical significance of differences in compared values.
Plot of the variables wing length and bill depth of Eyre Peninsula (orange) and Western Australian (blue) samples of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis, indicating differentiation between them in morphometrics.
Plumage.—The Eyre Peninsula population is brighter overall than the Western Australian population (Figs. 3–4). The colour of the underparts in the former approaches highly saturated Spectrum Yellow (55; numbers follow Smithe 1975), that of the latter being a paler, creamy yellow, between Sulphur Yellow (57 or 157) and Cream Color (54). Variation occurs in both populations, with the dullest four of the Eyre Peninsula population overlapping the brightest two from Western Australia, and can be little attributed to plumage wear or specimen age. The dorsum of the Eyre Peninsula population is also brighter and yellower, Yellowish Olive-Green (50) that consistently distinguishes all specimens from the Olive Green (Basic) (46) of the Western Australian population.
Ventral view of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis specimens (from left to right) SAMA B28176 (paratype of N. l. schoddei), east of Kimba, South Australia, 17 July 1963, SAMA B51326 (holotype of N. l. schoddei), Port Kenny, South Australia, 17 February 2004 (both from the Eyre Peninsula population), and WAM A11429, Tarin Rock, Western Australia, 23 May 1971 and WAM A19788, Toolina Rockhole, Western Australia, 11 May 1985 (from the Western Australian population), showing the brighter yellow underparts of the Eyre Peninsula population (P. Horton)
Schodde & Mason (1999) found that western, including Eyre Peninsula, populations of White-eared Honeyeater are brighter than those in the eastern mallee. That observation anticipated distinction between the two groups, which are now known to be genetically divergent (Dolman & Joseph 2015) and were subsequently recognised subspecifically, as N. l. novaenorciae and N. l. depauperata respectively (Black 2018). Black (2018) also found that the Eyre Peninsula population is brighter above and below than all populations of the eastern phylogroup, including the nominate subspecies (Figs. 5–6). The present study now finds that the Eyre Peninsula population has brighter and more yellowish upper- and underparts than the Western Australian population as well. Thus, Eyre Peninsula White-eared Honeyeaters are probably the brightest of all, except potentially the as yet unexamined inland Queensland birds reported by Schodde & Mason (1999) to be ‘small yet bright citrine'. The nature of interactions among mallee and forest populations of the eastern phylogroup needs further, more detailed evaluation, as Schodde and Mason (1999) already observed.
Dorsal view of the same specimens in the same order as in Fig. 3, showing the brighter and yellower olive tone in the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, specimens (P. Horton)
In morphometrics, Eyre Peninsula and Western Australian populations differ slightly but significantly in wing length and bill depth.
In distribution, the same two populations are evidently allopatric, being separated by the Great Victoria Desert and the treeless Nullarbor Plain. Many southern Australian landbirds with Western Australian and Eyre Peninsula representatives, while absent from the Nullarbor Plain, are nonetheless continuously distributed through the mallee corridor of the Great Victoria Desert to the north (Ford 1971, Black & Badman 1986). Others, such as Yellow-plumed Honeyeater Ptilotula ornata, Brown-headed Honeyeater Melithreptus brevirostris, Shy Heathwren Hylacola cauta and the present species, extend through the Yellabinna region into the southern Great Victoria Desert, but are not known to contact Western Australian populations therein. In the south, the Nullarbor Plain extends to the coast at the head of the Great Australian Bight, producing a discontinuity in the mallee vegetation for more than 150 km and forming a narrow barrier to mallee-dependent birds. White-eared Honeyeater occurs in mallee either side of that barrier but is not reliably reported from within it (Black 2018, Atlas of Living Australia www.ala.org.au; see Fig. 1).
Ventral view of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis specimens (from left to right) SAMA B28176 (paratype of N. l. schoddei), east of Kimba, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, 17 July 1963, SAMA B55328, N. l. depauperata, south of Pinnaroo, South Australia, 13 June 2006, SAMA B25251, N. l. leucotis, south of Naracoorte, South Australia, 25 October 1958, and SAMA B3041, N. l. thomasi, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 20 May 1921; showing the brightest underparts of the Eyre Peninsula specimen (P. Horton)
Black & Stewart (submitted) reviewed many recordings of voice, chiefly song, of the four mainland populations of White-eared Honeyeater and found distinct regional differences. This was particularly pronounced between the western and eastern phylogroups, conforming to the understanding that song divergence in songbirds may reflect or even drive genetic divergence (Päckert 2018). Differences between Western Australian and Eyre Peninsula populations within the western phylogroup were also evident, the former being more complex and more variable. Further standardised comparative sonographic analyses are recommended.
Thus, isolation of Eyre Peninsula and Western Australian populations, albeit only narrowly, has evidently been sufficient to limit gene flow and generate differentiation in plumage pigmentation, proportions and voice. Accordingly, the so-far un-named Eyre Peninsula population is described as a new subspecies.
Dorsal view of the same specimens in the same order as in Fig. 5, showing the Eyre Peninsula specimen to be the brightest and yellowest (P. Horton)
Holotype.—Adult male, SAMA B51326, collected by D. Armstrong 1 km north-west of Port Kenny, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia (33°09′45″S, 134°40′03″E) on 17 February 2004. Wing (max. flattened chord) 91 mm, tail (central rectrix from emergence to tip) 90.7 mm, bill length (from skull to tip) 18.7 mm, bill depth (at level of frontal feathering) 4.9 mm (Figs. 3–4).
Paratypes.—Adult male, SAMA B28176, collected by W. Head, 15 km east of Kimba, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia (33°08′S, 136°25′E) on 17 July 1963. Wing 92 mm, tail 88.7 mm, bill length 16.8 mm, bill depth 5.0 mm (Figs. 3–6). Adult male, SAMA B55914, collected by L. Pedler, on Coombra Track c.67 km west-northwest of Yalata, western South Australia (31°23′19″S, 131°20′27″E) on 2 April 2008. Wing 93 mm, tail 85.8 mm, bill length 17.3 mm, bill depth 4.8 mm.
Diagnosis.—Distinguished from the most similar and genetically closest subspecies N. l. novaenorciae by brighter plumage overall, especially the brighter, yellower olive upperparts and purer (more saturated) yellow breast and belly, slightly longer wing and deeper bill (Table 1), and less complex voice. It is also substantially brighter than subspecies within the eastern phylogroup, N. l. leucotis. N. l. depauperata and N. l. thomasi, and is further distinguished from them in mtDNA sequence (Dolman & Joseph 2015).
Etymology.—Named to honour the foundational work in Australian ornithology of Richard (Dick) Schodde OAM. Particularly, it recognises his identification of distinguishing traits among populations of this and other Australian bird groups that anticipated more recent genetic findings or has facilitated their interpretation. Dr Schodde was foundation Director of CSIRO's Australian National Wildlife Collection 1970–2000, and in 2009 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the natural sciences, particularly ornithology.
Distribution.—The new subspecies is centred on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, where it is confined to mallee woodland. It extends west to the limit of mallee near the head of the Great Australian Bight at 31°22′S, 131°20′E and north-west through the Gawler Ranges and Yellabinna at least to Maralinga (30°10′S, 131°34′E). N. l. schoddei also ranges east through the Gawler Ranges to the north-east limit of mallee vegetation in the Baxter Range at 32°20′S, 137°17′E.
N. l. leucotis (Latham, 1801).—The nominate subspecies of eastern Australian forests, chiefly east of the Great Dividing Range, north to slightly beyond Brisbane, south-east Queensland and through southern Victoria into south-eastern South Australia. A brightly plumaged form, it is larger than other subspecies (Schodde & Mason 1999).
N. l. depauperata (Mathews, 1912).—Smaller than nominate leucotis, and distributed in south-eastern mallee woodlands, inland of the Great Dividing Range. Its zone of interaction with the nominate subspecies remains incompletely evaluated (Schodde & Mason 1999). Likewise, Lamb et al.'s (2018) detection of two subclades within the two eastern subspecies, this and N. l. leucotis, warrants further study. This is the palest subspecies and the dullest mainland form.
N. l. thomasi (Mathews, 1912).—Restricted to Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Differs from all others in its greyer, more melanised plumage. It occupies both forest and mallee (Baxter 2015). This and the previous two subspecies form an eastern clade.
N. l. schoddei Black, 2019.—The subspecies of mallee on the Eyre Peninsula, the Gawler Ranges and Yellabinna region, South Australia. A very brightly plumaged subspecies.
N. l. novaenorciae (Milligan, 1904).—The subspecies of Western Australia's mallee and taller semi-arid eucalypt woodlands and scrub (Johnstone & Storr 2004). With N. l. schoddei it forms a western clade in N. leucotis, but is less brightly plumaged, shorter winged and more slender billed than the Eyre Peninsula form. Its song also contains unique elements.
I thank Philippa Horton for her support for my work in the South Australian Museum and for the photographs; Ron Johnstone and Rebecca Bray of the Western Australian Museum for the loan of specimens; Graham Carpenter for the statistical analysis and Belinda Cale for preparing the map. Two reviewers provided very helpful advice and improved the submitted draft. Nomenclature in this paper was reviewed by the Working Group on Avian Nomenclature of the International Ornithologists' Union.
Baxter, C. 2015. Birds of Kangaroo Island.ATF Press, Hindmarsh.
Black, A. 2018. Notes on the distribution and taxonomy of White-eared Honeyeaters in South Australia.South Austr. Orn.43: 17–26.
Black, A. & Stewart, D. submitted. Variation in songs of the White-eared Honeyeater among four mainland populations.South Austr. Orn.
Black, A. B. & Badman, F. J. 1986. Birds of the eastern Great Victoria Desert. Pp. 66–94in Greenslade, P. , Joseph, L. & Barley, R. (eds.) The Great Victoria Desert.Nature Conservation Society of South Australia Inc., Adelaide.
Dolman, G. & Joseph, L. 2015. Evolutionary history of birds across southern Australia: structure, history and taxonomic implications of mitochondrial DNA diversity in an ecologically diverse suite of species. Emu 115: 35–48.
Ford, J. 1971. Distribution and taxonomy of southern birds in the Great Victoria Desert. Emu 71: 27–36.
Ford, J. 1974. Speciation in Australian birds adapted to arid habitats. Emu 74: 161–168.
Ford, J. 1987. Hybrid zones in Australian birds. Emu 87: 158–178.
Higgins, P. J., Peter, J. M. & Steele, W. K. 2001. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds, vol. 5.Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne.
Johnstone, R. E. & Storr, G. M. 2004. Handbook of Western Australian birds, vol. 2.Western Australian Museum, Perth.
Lamb, A. M., Gan, H. M., Greening, C., Joseph, L., Lee, Y. P., Morán-Ordóñez, A., Sunnucks, P. & Pavlova, A. 2018. Climate-driven mitochondrial selection: a test in Australian songbirds.Mol. Ecol.27: 898–918.
Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum indicis ornithologici.London.
Mathews, G. M. 1912. A reference-list to the birds of Australia.Novit. Zool.18: 171–446.
Milligan, A. W. 1904. Notes on a trip to Wongan Hills, W.A., with a description of a new Ptilotis. Emu3: 217–226.
Päckert, M.2018. Song: the learned language of three major bird clades. Pp. 75–94in Tietze, D. T. (ed.) Bird species: how they arise, modify and vanish.Springer Open, Switzerland ( http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91689-7).
Schodde, R. & Mason, I. J. 1999. The directory of Australian birds: passerines. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood. Smithe, F. B. 1975.Naturalist's color guide. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York.
© 2019 The Authors; This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Andrew Black "A new subspecies of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis (Meliphagidae)," Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 139(2), 164-172, (17 June 2019). https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v139i2.2019.a9
Received: 12 February 2019; Published: 17 June 2019
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Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club
Vol. 139 • No. 2
Andrew Black "A new subspecies of White-eared Honeyeater Nesoptilotis leucotis (Meliphagidae)," Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 139(2), 164-172, (17 June 2019)
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Tag Archive for: motion
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Diet, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Play, Sports, Technology
12 Vintage Health Tips: What's Old Is New
Get plenty of sleep, eat right, drink lots of water, don't…
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Why it's Easy to Fool Your Activity Tracker and What You Can Do About It
What quirky activities have you done that your activity tracker…
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Dress for Success: Key Features Smart Clothes Need to Succeed
You've probably heard of dressing smart, smart dressing, and…
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The Future of Activity Tracking
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Dialogika Resources
Lutheran Council in the USA
Some Observations and Guidelines for Conversations between Lutherans and Jews
[Issued by the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., a cooperative agency of three Lutheran church bodies (American Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church in America, and Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod), New York, April 1971.]
Improved relationships among separated Christian churches in recent decades have also led to growing conversation between Jewish and Christian groups. We commend all endeavors which seek greater understanding, mutual confidence, elimination of tensions, and cooperation in the quest for justice and peace, and note statements issued by Lutheran groups which are helpful in these areas.
Amid the pluralism of American society today and in the face of many practical problems facing Christians, Jews, and all men of goodwill, it is especially necessary to foster and expand such conversations on more local levels, as a contribution to community understanding and cooperation, to heal wounds of the past, and to understand better our common heritage and common humanity. Today the mission of the church surely includes such conversations, and indeed must often begin with them. We urge Lutheran pastors, people, and institutions to seek greater involvements in such endeavors.
The Christian cannot fully understand what it means to be Jewish but our common ground in humanity and in the Hebrew Scriptures makes a base for beginning. In order to have authentic relationships there must be honesty, openness, frankness, and mutual respect along with a recognition of the real differences that exist and a willingness to risk confronting these differences.
To these ends we offer some practical suggestions and make some observations as to methods so that conversations may be both honest and fruitful:
In localities where Lutherans are comparatively few in number, they are encouraged to cooperate with other Christian groups in initiating and sustaining conversation with Jews.
Where Lutherans comprise a substantial group within a locality, they are encouraged to take the initiative in fostering conversation and community understanding.
Meetings should be jointly planned so as to avoid any suspicion of proselytizing and to lessen the danger of offense through lack of sensitivity or accurate information about the other group.
Because of the long history of alienation between the two groups, Christians and Jews should remember that one meeting does little more than set the stage for serious conversations. False hopes and superficial optimism by either group can lead to despair and further alienation.
On both sides, living communities of faith and worship are involved. Because of fervent commitments, emotions may run deep. It should be underscored that neither polemics nor conversions are the aim of such conversations, nor is false irenicism or mere surface agreement. There may remain honest differences, even as broad areas of agreement are discovered.
If we have been open and have shared our assumptions, prejudices, traditions and convictions, we may be able to share in realistic goal setting, especially in regard to further understanding and common cause in spiritual and social concerns such as fostering human rights.
Different methods of procedure may be followed as mutually determined locally, such as:
Educational visits to advance mutual understanding of artistic, liturgical tradition.
Exchange visits at regular worship services, "open houses," and special celebrations, followed by explanation and discussion.
Informal small group discussions in homes in the manner of the "living room dialogues." Participants may involve one synagogue and one congregation or neighborhood groups without regard to membership.
Weekend retreats with equal participation of members from both groups and equality of expertise.
Popular lectures, discussions, and demonstrations by well-informed resource persons. Lutherans might invite representatives of the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Chautauqua Society, Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, National Conference of Christians and Jews, and Jewish theological schools.
Scholarly lectures and discussions by experts in biblical, historical and theological studies.
Possible topics include: Our common heritage; the people of God and Covenant; Christian and Jewish views of man; the significance of Hebrew Scriptures today; law, righteousness and justice; State of Israel; the Christian Church in Israel; survey of the attitudes and teachings of the Church concerning Judaism; the image of the Jew in Christian literature; Luther and the Jews; the meaning of suffering; can a Hebrew Christian be a Jew? an Israeli?; eschatology in Christian and Jewish theology; the significance of the Septuagint; the universal God in an age of pluralism; the state and the religious community in Jewish and Lutheran traditions; what can we do together?
Christians should make it clear that there is no biblical or theological basis for antisemitism. Supposed theological or biblical bases for antisemitism are to be examined and repudiated. Conscious or unconscious manifestations of discrimination are to be opposed.
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Matthias Drobinski
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI on Supersessionism and Covenant
An Audacious Thesis
[Unofficial Translation from Süddeutsche Zeitung.]
Actually, he had wanted to retire to silent prayer. The former Pope Benedict, 91, is bothered by his remarks about Jews.
By Matthias Drobinski
What is Benedict XVI, who retired almost six years ago from the Papacy, and promised to retire in silence and prayer for the rest of his life, to do? Well, the man is now 91 years old and physically frail. His mind, however, is alert, and it does not always observe the promise of silence – especially when it comes to correcting his public image. Now it's time again. In the latest edition of the journal Herder-Korrespondenz this Monday there is a text from him. Here's what it shows: The emeritus pope has been greatly annoyed by the Catholic theology professor Michael Böhnke from Wuppertal. He had accused Benedict of a problematic understanding of Judaism. And now the ex-pope does not want to let that stand.
The dispute goes back to an essay that Benedict wrote in July for the theological journal Communio – but ultimately to the year 2007. At that time Pope Benedict XVI allowed traditionalist groups to celebrate the Mass in the Tridentine rite once more, as it had been before the Second Vatican Council. But there was a problem: before the Council, until the liturgy was reformed, worshipers prayed every Good Friday for the conversion of the "perfidious Jews." Should this again be prayed for now? Latin-speaking as Benedict is, he wrote his own Good Friday prayer for the Jews, "that Our Lord God may enlighten their hearts so that they may recognize Jesus Christ."
The Jews should convert to Christ? A storm of indignation rose. The vast majority of Catholic bishops and theologians consider a mission to Jews after the Holocaust to be unacceptable. Did Benedict want to call that into question? With some difficulty the Pope explained at the time that this was not the case; but the controversy added some dents to his reputation. With his Communio contribution last July, he has alarmed many once again. Benedict took the position that the Catholic Church had never taught that the Old Covenant of God with the Jews had been replaced by Christ. Considering the long tradition of Christian denigration of Judaism, that is an audacious thesis. The Berlin rabbi Walter Homolka accused Benedict of having "formulated Christian identity at the expense of the Jewish one." And Professor Böhnke wrote in the Herder-Korrespondenz that Benedict concealed "the suffering that Christians inflicted on Jews."
This in turn must have annoyed Benedict so much that he once again broke his silence – to wash out the mouth of the professor from Wuppertal. "What Michael Böhnke wrote is absurd nonsense and has nothing to do with what I said.” He rejects "this article as a very false allegation." More important than the polemic, however, is that Benedict clarifies his attitude to the mission to the Jews in the text: "For Israel, there was and is, therefore, not a mission, but the dialogue."
This is a signal to all advocates of a mission to the Jews who believed that the former pope was on their side.
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Russian ex-cop known as the ‘Angarsk Maniac’ convicted of 56 murders, bringing his victim count to at least 78
Russian ex-cop known as the ‘Angarsk Maniac’ convicted of 56 murders, bringing his victim count to at least 78:
MOSCOW — A court in Russia’s eastern Siberia on Monday convicted a former policeman of murdering 56 women, bringing the number he is believed to have killed to at least 78.
The court found Mikhail Popkov, from the eastern Siberian city of Angarsk, guilty of the murders between 1994 and 2000 and sentenced him to life in prison. Popkov, who was arrested in 2012, is already serving life for 22 other killings.
While in uniform, Popov patrolled the streets at night, luring women into his car with the promise of a ride home. He then raped and killed them. The verdict makes him Russia’s most prolific serial killer in at least the past century.
Mikhail Popkov looks through bars during a court session in Irkutsk, Russia, Monday, Dec. 10, 2018.
Julia Pykhalova, Komsomolskaya Pravda via AP
Local police have for years been investigating murders in the Irkutsk region, where dozens of women were raped and killed in secluded spots. In order to help the probe, authorities ended up taking DNA samples from 230,000 residents of Angarsk. Sperm found on one of the victims led the investigators to the killer.
Psychiatric tests run on the police lieutenant who retired in 1998 have concluded that he is sane. In footage from the Siberian Times, Popov could be seen behind bars in court, his head bowed but showing little emotion.
U.K. outlet the Telegraph reports Popov was known locally as the “Angarsk Maniac,” and went after “women who lead loose lifestyles.”
At crime scenes, tire tracks from a Lada Niva would often show up. This is the same car used by Russian police. The discovery that his wife had been unfaithful is said to have sent Popov into a fury that launched his murder spree.
“He willingly described all of this with pathos and even with gusto,” the Telegraph quoted investigator Yevgeny Karchevsky as saying. “These were skills of psychological manipulation.”
Popkov’s lawyer told Russian news agencies that his 54-year-old client would appeal the verdict as well as the motion to strip him of his police pension, which he has been receiving despite the 2015 guilty verdict.
Elderly prisoner claims he’s America’s deadliest serial killer with 90 victims. Police believe him
Serial killer commits suicide on death row after he was sentenced to execution
Alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur waives right to preliminary hearing, goes to trial on eight counts of first-degree murder
In 2004 we published a tongue-in-cheek article arguing that the song should be immediately banned from the airwaves. In 2018, that's real life
Icelanders believe in fairies, Spaniards set charging bulls loose in their streets and North Americans tip
It has a charismatic leader, a compelling origin story and a populist vision. But can the People's Party of Canada attract any actual people?
'We hope that people would be embarrassed to be charged for impaired driving, that they wouldn’t want their employer, their friends, their family knowing about it'
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Stan E Smith 2010 Entertainment News
by seebreeze · March 7, 2010
Cliff Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction
RETURNS WITH MOST EXTENSIVE U.S. TOUR IN 20 YEARS
“It will be given to me but it is for all Jamaica, Caribbean and African people all of us. I am prepared for it and I am preparing for it the way I get ready to play my part in any performance” says Jimmy Cliff, singer/songwriter/ actor as he prepares for his induction tonight’s into the Elite Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York. Other inductees are musical giants ABBA, The Stooges, The Hollies and Genesis. Joel Peresman, president and chief executive officer of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said the inductees “have contributed tremendously to the music industry”. At tonight’s awards ceremony, all inductees will be performing music specially requested by the organization. Cliff told The Gleaner that he would be singing The Harder They Come, Many Rivers To Cross and You Can Get It If You Really Want. Wyclef Jean, Haitian singer/songwriter and social activist, will perform Cliff’s induction The ceremony will air live on Fuse TV.
Grammy-winning musician/actor/singer/songwriter/producer Jimmy Cliff returns to the world stage in 2010 with his fullest slate of activity in decades. On March 15, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York City. Jimmy Cliff is the only living musician to receive Jamaica’s Order of Merit, the country’s highest honor for achievement in the arts & sciences. In 2007, he was also honored with a doctorate from The University of the West Indies. Cliff will embark on his most extensive North American tour in over twenty years beginning June 11 at the Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA.The tour will include stops at Bonnaroo’s main stage, Toronto’s Massey Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl. Jimmy Cliff is also putting the finishing touches on his first album of new material in six years, to be released later in 2010. He has collaborated with countless other legends including The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer and Annie Lennox. Bob Dylan has called Cliff’s “Vietnam” the best protest song he ever heard, and a short list of artists who have covered Cliff’s compositions ranges from Willie Nelson and Cher, to New Order and Fiona Apple
THE AMERICAN CINEMIQUE HONORS JAMAICA’S MOST INFLUENTIAL FILMKAKER
Perry Henzell has been called “the most important filmmaker to emerge from the Caribbean.” His landmark film “The Harder They Come” was responsible for introducing Reggae music to the world. With unique insight, visual sense and original thinking, he forever changed the way we look at things. Through his films, stage plays, and novels, the worldwide impact of his work continues to grow. The American Cinematheque salutes the memory of Perry Henzell with an evening dedicated to his feature films On Friday March 19th at the Egyptian Theater.
Following the success of THE HARDER THEY COME, Perry Henzell directed part two of his Jamaican trilogy, titled NO PLACE LIKE HOME. The trilogy’s the footage had been lost, it was found 30 years later and Henzell’s follow-up to his breakthrough classic can be seen on the big screen! The trilogy’s which follows New York producer Susan as she ventures into the Jamaican countryside in search of a runaway actress. After working on the film throughout the 1970s, Henzell’s follow-up to his breakthrough classic can be seen on the big screen! With music by Bob Marley & the Wailers, Toots & the Maytals and Peter Tosh and introducing Grace Jones and P.J. Soles.
Discussion in between films with Justine Henzell (Perry’s daughter), producer David Garonzik, P.J. Soles (actress), Arthur Gorson (director’s friend and producer), Roger Steffens (reggae historian) and special surprise guests.
Barbados shuts out dancehall-
A Barbados minister of education and human resource development, government, Ronald Jones has moved to shut out toxic Jamaican dancehall music from his country. He said the heavy diet of dancehall artistes performing in Barbados is overkill and doing more harm than good. “Barbados Vybz Kartel and Mavado can stay in Jamaica.” Barbados police commissioner denied the notorious Jamaican artistes permission to perform in the Caribbean nation. “As a country, we must say enough is enough,” the Barbados Nation quoted the minister as having said.
“This is Barbados. It must not go down the path of some other Caribbean societies. If reaching First-World status means we have to embrace all and sundry, then let us keep the status that we have,” Jones added, according to the Nation. The education minister argues the following without offering any definitive proof: that there was a linkage between dancehall music and some of the increasingly aggressive behaviour exhibited by young in Barbados, the music have made Barbadians loud, uncaring and uncharitable and also blames dancehall for Caribbean that refuse to welcome Barbadians anymore and for planes in the Caribbean that won’t transport Barbadians.
Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of youth, sports and culture, responding to this latest saga in dancehall, said: “I am concerned and I have expressed concern about the content in some dancehall songs. I believe strongly in freedom of expression, but that comes with great responsibility. We can do without some of the lyrics, not only in dancehall recordings, but soca and hip hop too, and that is why we took steps to clean up the airwaves. This is an ongoing process.”
Rihanna Wants Agent Sasco to Be Her Rude Boy
Assassin a.k.a. Agent Sasco has had a great start for 2010, he and his Boardhouse crew have completed a remix of Rihanna’s “Rude Boy.” The remix has Rihanna singing on a reggae beat while Assassin brings the “Rude Boy” element to it.
THERE’S HOPE FOR REGGAE MUSIC, SAYS DUANE STEPHENSON
Duane Stephenson & Stan E Smith @ Club Crossroads Wash DC
Singer, Duane Stephenson, successful maiden three-week European tour with Tarrus Riley and I-Octane has him bursting with confidence about the future of Reggae music.
To emphasize his point he noted “Three people who had never toured before managed to fill venues night after night, despite freezing temperatures. We played to predominantly white audiences and they sang the songs word for word. In some places there were literally one or two Africans and then in France there were a few Jamaicans, but it was mainly white people who came out to support us. And we made sure to leave a positive and lasting impression on them.”
Duane’s debut cd album August Town did well both locally and overseas was surprised that fans knew his repertoire so well. He says his set comprised songs from the album, as well as two singles from his upcoming album, Black Gold and Sufferers Heights.
“We lived up to our word and delivered professional sets, we were on time and had no problems with promoters,” he explained, adding, “People deal with you according to how you deal with them.” The tour close was on Valentine’s Day with a sold-out concert. at the Brixton Academy in London featuring Lukey D, Bitty McLean, John Holt and Freddy Jackson. Adapted from Dancehallreggaeweseh.com
Mr. Vegas and Fay Ann Lyons sing ‘Bring It’
Dancehall maestro, Mr. Vegas, and soca queen, Fay Ann Lyons, have combined two of the Caribbean’s musical genres soca and dancehall on the ragga-soca track “Bring It; for the ICC World Twenty20 2010 Tournament. ICC WT20 WI 2010 Regional Marketing Manager, Ms. Michelle Gibson says,” This song makes you want to move, to dance. The lyrics, the melody – they are reflective of the essence of our lifestyle and cricketing passion in the West Indies. Partying and playing cricket go hand in hand. Music has always been an essential part of cricket matches in the Caribbean, whether it’s deejays or tuk bands or the unmistakable sound of the conch shell.”
GRAMPS TO COLLABORATE WITH MUSIQ SOULCHILD & ZIGGY MARLEY ON COUNTRY/R&B ALBUM
Reggae singer Gramps Morgan Reggae singer Gramps Morgan is very busy man after a whirlwind year in 2009. He launched a solo CD “Two Sides Of My Heart Vol 1.” for which he won the “Album of the Year” at the 2010 EME Awards in Jamaica. He’s currently in studios recording his next big project – a Country and R&B album tentatively titled “2 Sides Of My Heart Vol. 2”; a studio album with his brothers and sister from Morgan Heritage, h He’s also working with J Boog from Hawaii on his new album, is helping his dad Denroy Morgan (I’ll Do Anything For You) on a soon to be released autobiography and on a special project for Disney and looking forward to doing some stuff on the big screen which will be coming soon.
The Country and R&B CD “2 Sides Vol. 2” promises to be an eclectic blend of R&B and Country songs. It will feature collaborations with R&B singer Musiq Soulchild and reggae superstar Ziggy Marley. Among the featured tracks that are already completed are “Delicate Balance,” “Jamaica” and “Better Man.” Tracks will be produced by Willie Lat from LA, Shannon Sanders and Blu Miller from Nashville. The disc will hit stores later this year. The project Gramps’ label Dada Son Entertainment will assume responsibility for he is open to a distribution deal with a major label.”
Saxophonist Cedric Brooks recovering but critical-
Saxophonist 67-year-old Cedric ‘Im’ Brooks, remains in critical condition but is recovering a “severe case of pneumonia which led to other complications” in Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York City hospital after being in a coma for three weeks ago.
According to Brooks’ son Wayne his father was transferred on March 1 from its intensive care unit. “He was transferred to a different floor to better monitor his respiratory needs. Although he is now opening his eyes, his condition is still considered critical.” At the time of his illness, Brooks was scheduled to tour Asia and Australia with legendary ska band, The Skatalites. He has been a member of the band since 1998.
Wayne Brooks said his father was also heading a reunion of his Light of Saba band which recorded critically acclaimed albums during the 1970s.One of his first major assignments came in 1969 with a new act named Burning Spear on the song Door Peep. One year later, Brooks and trumpeter David Madden, another Alpha graduate, had a hit with the instrumental Money Maker.
Top acts to perform in Florida at To Haiti with Love
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Vice Mayor Lauderhill, Florida Dale Holness, businesses and community organizations has joined forces with international and local recording artistes to create To Haiti with A Concert for Life, Love Benefit Concert, a concert for life. This event will be held on March 28 at the Central Broward Regional Park. It will feature several musical genres including, kompa, reggae, R&B, hip-hop, soca, gospel and Latin. Scheduled to perform are Nadine Sutherland, Glen Washington, Singing Melody, Bar-bee, Abijah, Junior Tucker, Causion, King Banton, Tabou Combo, Nu Look, Jahnesta, Sweet Mickey, Sister Sledge, Donna Allen, Whodini, Special Ed, Twiggy, Maurice, Hope for Tomorrow, Sherell Rosegreen, DJ Griot and many more to be announced later. Proceeds from this concert will benefit Haitians affected by the devastating January 12 earthquake that destroyed Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and will be distributed by Food for the Poor, Minority Development & Empowerment, Inc and the Broward County Haiti Relief Task Force.
Gyptian’s career resurrected by Hold Yuh-
Gyptian is back on the musical radar with the Hold Yuh, which is currently heating up crossover radio stations US. Gyptian past chart-topping hit include Serious Times, minor hits like Mama Don’t Cry, I Can Feel Your Pain and Beautiful Lady. VP Records doing full promotion Hold Yuh is already in the top five on influential urban radio station NYC Hot 97 FM’s playlist. According to Cristy Barber, vice president for Marketing and Promotions at VP Records, the radio story for Hold Yuh has just begun. “The digital single is number two on I-tunes.
Award Winning Season for Dancehall’s Best-
Recording artistes Sean Paul took home the “International Artiste of the Year” & Favorite Local International Act award respectively. While Toots Hibbert and Denroy Morgan copped the Role Models of the Year. New dancehall’ sensation Ding Dong copped Song of the Year” &Collaboration of the Year w/singer Chevaughn for hit Holiday) Favorite Music Video and Favorite Male Dancer. Tifa, walked away with the Most Improved Artiste Award, “Favorite Female Artiste & DJ Young, also the Hot and Hype Female of the Year” award at the recently concluded Excellence in Music and Entertainment (EME) and the Youth View Awards ceremony. .
KY-MANI MARLEY’S RAW BOOK TAPES TO BE RELEASED BY FARRAH GRAY PUBLISHING
Family pressure to suppress the tell-all book Dear Dad: Where’s The Family In Our Family, Today? has been enormous and Ky-Mani Marley’s outright denial of his authored memoir has angered the publisher Farrah Gray Publishing Company. The publishing company was caught off-guard by the intensely negative reaction that the book must be halted, changed or not be published at all. Gray is releasing interview tapes to the media, which will reveal sharply expressive and intimate details of his life and Marley family members. “Dear Dad is currently ranked # 1 Reggae bestseller in the world and ranks in the top 10 celebrity memoirs, according to Amazon. Dr. Farrah Gray the publisher said “Ky-Mani’s interview with Jamaica’s The Gleaner newspaper and numerous other media outlets, including his public statements on his Facebook and MySpace pages, I feel his denials have thrown me and the publishing company under the bus. I didn’t write his book, I published it. This is his story; these are his words and now I have to prove it.”
MIGHTY DIAMONDS RECEIVE RAGGA MUFFINS FESTIVAL AWARD RECOGNITION
In honor of more than 40 years together as a vocal trio, the Mighty Diamonds received the Ragga Muffins Festival Award of Recognition on Feb. 21.2010.
In November, 2009, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke recognized the Mighty Diamonds with a Congressional Proclamation for their 40 years of hits and contributions to the music industry. In 2006 the Diamonds received a prestigious national award from then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for their artistic contribution to Jamaican culture.
The Mighty Diamonds was formed in Trench Town Jamaica in 1969.
They dominated the reggae landscape with hits such as “Pass the Kutchie,” “Right Time,” ” Back Whey” Tamarind Farm,” “Have Mercy” “Natural Natty,” “Them Never Love Poor Marcus” “Reggae Street” Africa and “Sweet Lady.”
Their breakthrough album “Right Time,” which generated hits such as “Africa,” “Have Mercy” “Natural Natty,” “Them Never Love Poor Marcus” elevated the group to star status in 1975. “Right Time” brought together the Jamaican musical elite such as Sly and Robby (drum and bass) and Ansell Collins (Keyboards). The reggae party album, “Pass the Kutchie,” has been sampled by everyone from Lauryn Hill to Michael Franti to Wyclef Jean.
The Mighty Diamonds have also released their latest single, “Special Lady,” a remake of Ray, Goodman and Brown’s 1980’s ballad, on their independent label, Street Corner Music. Critics Rave Over the Mikie Bennett-produced My Brother’s Keeper Producer Mikie Bennett has produced a song, an emotional tour de force called My Brother’s Keeper with an ensemble cast that includes Mr. Vegas, Natel, Bunny Rugs, Cherine Anderson, Ghost, Roslyn Williams, Chevelle Franklin, Nicky B and Singing Melody. “Although inspired by the tragedy in Haiti this song is a response to the reaction of a few who reacted negatively to us opening our hearts and our doors to those in need. This is an affirmation that we all are one,” producer Mikie Bennett said.
The song was written in one day and it took two weeks to be recorded at Grafton Studios because of the hectic schedules of all the artistes involved. “We were hoping to get Jimmy Cliff at one time because the song was partially inspired by one of his songs, We Are All One, but the major reason for doing the song was our reaction to the Haitians coming here, that was what really inspired it, that scared reaction that kinda surprised me, so this is a reaffirmation that they are our brothers and sisters. Bennett said Sean Paul benefits from collaboration Deejay Sean Paul has a 19 track mix tape, The Odyssey, and he is charting on the Hot 100 Billboard charts with Do You Remember featuring/ Lil Jon & British R&B singer Jay Sean. The song peaked at 10 on Hot 100 Billboard charts. The single is getting underground plays. It is featured on The Odyssey. Paul’s mix tape features released and unreleased tracks with artistes including Jigzag, Chi Chinching, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown.
Cherine Rocks Madison Square Garden
Cherine Anderson rocked back to back, sold out nights at the famed Madison Square Garden, her signature voice chanting “Come Down, Selector!” was heard in a surprising place; blasting from an intro on CNN’s morning show. As the hit song “Say Hey (I Love You)” rang out to start the day for countless viewers, it capped off an amazing weekend for Cherine in the Big Apple! There are very few things that could stop the determined Dancehall-Soul-stress from giving a memorable and energetic performance. Braving freezing temperatures and a snowstorm that dumped over 20 inches of snow in New York’s Central Park, Cherine came out blazing, bringing Jamaican sunshine and her Dancehall-Soul energy to two sold out performances at the famed Madison Square Garden. On the first night, Cherine took the stage like a storm and really got the crowd up and moving. Dressed in a classic custom made blazer of royal blue with neon orange accents, Cherine represented more than just Jamaica; she also represented New York by wearing the team colors of the New York Knicks. Backstage she was again rewarded with positive feedback for her performance including a compliment of “great performance” from Warner Music Group’s Vice Chairman, Lyor Cohen. On the second night, Anderson delighted the audience as she rushed onto the stage excitedly and started the show asking, “New York, yuh ready? Cause dis is a Dancehall-Soul ting”! Her entrance ignited many to stand up for what an impressive one hour set was filled with Dancehall-Soul-Rebel-Rocking goodness. The back to back Madison Square Garden performances were a first for both Cherine and Michael Franti & Spearhead. Cherine continues to make a statement with her powerful voice as well as her unbelievable onstage presence. As we spoke with her, it was clear that her first appearance inside Madison Square Garden really meant a lot to the up and coming starlet. “I really am in awe of this venue. There have been so many legends that have performed on this stage. I just get goose bumps being in this building.” Performing alongside Michael Franti & Spearhead, the onstage chemistry was a real delight for the fans in the arena. On this New York tour stop Cherine continued her movement of appreciating new fans and charming current fans as she took time to meet them and sign autographs. According to Cherine, “As the tour continues I am learning a lot of positive things which are only making me a better performer. I am enjoying meeting the many music fans throughout the tour and having a chance to thank them for their support.” Sizzla Kalonji Performs for Zimbabwe’s President Sizzla Kalonji was in Zimbabwe as an official guest to perform at The President’s Birthday Celebration and continued to Ghana to perform two shows on March 5th and 6th for The Independence Day Celebrations, while launching new album Crucial Times produced by Homer Harris which is number 5 on the Billboard Reggae Charts.
Sizzla as the official guest of the Zimbabwe government perform at an all night birthday gala organized for President Robert Mugabe, who will be 86, at the Bulawayo’ Trade Fair Grounds. It was hosted by the Director of Communications in the Information and Publicity Ministry, Retired Major Mutambudzi.
During his performance Sizzla was greeted by wild scenes as he appeared on stage under heavy police security. The Zimbabwe Times newspaper reports that wild scenes greeted his appearance on stage at 2:15 am. Ecstatic fans broke a human barricade that was formed by the police to have a closer look at the reggae star on stage. Suddenly, the police started beating the fans to control them. The commotion caused a brief stoppage of Sizzla’s performance. Kalonji came to the rescue of his Zimbabwe fans after they were beaten by riot police and soldiers.
He later pleaded with the police to stop the beatings. “Please, security, take it easy,” said the musician. “Please stop beating up my fans. All the security please, climb up on the stage.” Agitated fans responded by throwing missiles at the police and were only restrained after the reggae artiste appealed for calm. This reminiscence of Marley’s concert 30 years which was also broadcast live on national television1980, that country, then called Rhodesia, gained its independence from Britain and Bob Marley was invited to entertain. Marley’s Zimbabwe was penned for this occasion.
Sizzla like Marley who was the specially invited guest of the Mugabe government. Marley had to still a crowd in Zimbabwe. Marley presence reportedly caused such a stir that a riot broke out and only he could calm the crowds by staging a second concert.
Sizzla then continued on to Ghana to help celebrate 53-years of Independence by performing at two shows in Accra on March 5th at the Ohene Gyan Sport Stadium and March 6th the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.
He launched his new album Crucial Times produced by Homer Harris on March 6 which happens to be Ghana’s Independence Day. Groomed by Mr. Homer Harris at a young age, he began to learn the skills and techniques necessary to be an excellent artist. Sizzla called himself Little One in the beginning of his career but because of his burning appetite for hot soup, Harris named him Sizzla because of the way he drank his sizzling soup like cold water. It also reflected his lyrical style and delivery.
Sizzla Kalonji has 21 albums that have made it onto the Billboards Top Reggae Albums music charts. He has also placed on numerous top ten and top 100 album of the year charts. He has received awards from IRAWMA, EME, MOBO, Vibe Magazine, Rolling Stone, Irie Fm, People Choice Awards, Digital Music Award Winner, Reggae Academy Awards, and has been nominated for the Grammys several times. Sizzla Kalonji continues to release music through his career showcasing the level of talent that exudes through his creativity.
Entertainment News Views
Stan E Smith 2010 Entertainment News & Reggae Report – Written & Complied
Next story I’m a Spoiled Brat, I Suppose. But It’s Not Easy to Keep the Faith
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PLOS Blogs Network
Talking Drug Prices, Pt 4 Drug pricing is out of control, what should be done? By James Love
Posted October 19, 2015 by PLOS BLOGS in Uncategorized
Welcome to part four in a PLOS BLOGS six-part series, Talking about Drug Prices & Access to Medicines. To borrow a phrase from one of our bloggers, “Rage and public outcries are not a rational way to manage high drug prices.” We agree, while also acknowledging that the recent public and media uproar over the 5000% price hike and subsequent “roll back” of a 40 year old medicine by Turing Pharmaceuticals may have opened a useful window on larger issues, including misaligned incentives around drug R&D efforts and the related unavailability of necessary medicines to people around the world.
Featured bloggers include two global health experts working on access to medicines, an international intellectual property analyst, a Canadian public health epidemiologist, a health economist, a malaria researcher and a science & medical journalist. For this series, PLOS BLOGS Network benefited from the involvement of PLOS Medicine Chief Editor, Larry Peiperl. We acknowledge at the outset that there are several important voices not yet adequately represented in this series; for example, the perspectives of researchers who are directly involved in drug development in industry settings. If you would like to contribute a guest post on this or any related topic, please contact us at: blogs@plos.org — Victoria Costello, PLOS BLOGS Network
Pt 4. Drug pricing is out of control, what should be done?
By James Love, International intellectual property rights analyst, Knowledge Ecology International
Today we are confronted with three related set of issues dealing with the pricing of new drugs, vaccines and medical devices. There are cases where older drugs, out of patent protection, are subject to price gouging, due to a lack of competition in the local market. Prices for new drugs, or new uses of drugs, are exploding, with no obvious ceiling or limit. And, trade negotiators, pushed by the United States and the European Union, are advocating a series of binding international norms that collectively make drug, vaccine and medical devices monopolies stronger, and products more expensive. What to do?
The problem of price gouging for unpatented drugs is largely a consequence of regulatory barriers to trade. Turing’s aggressive increase in the price of Daraprim to $750 per pill in the United States occurred when several generic versions available outside the United States are available for less than $1 per pill, including from markets subject to regulatory safeguards comparable to those of the United States.[1] The situation is reminiscent of a shortage of treatment for Fabry disease, a rare genetic disorder of lipid metabolism, when the drug Fabrazyme was available from a single company, Genzyme/Sanofi, in the United States market. As there was a second supplier with an acceptable substitute, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration indicated to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that it was possible to permit the import and sale of the unregistered foreign product into the United States, by exercising enforcement discretion.[2] Whether or not this measure is legally possible under current U.S. statutes[3], it should be, to address the issue of domestic shortages like those involving Fabrazyme or the cancer drug Doxil, [4] or cases like Daraprim, which involve price gouging from a sole source supplier of a generic product.
More generally, the global patchwork of drug regulation can be improved by reducing barriers to marketing products that are available from suppliers in countries that have sufficiently rigorous regulatory standards to protect consumers. One example of this is in the area of HIV drugs, where systems of “pre-qualification” of generic drugs by the World Health Organization or the U.S. FDA have been quite important in driving prices down to remarkably affordable levels.
The largest immediate challenge on drug pricing is to respond to the dramatic price increases in medicines for cancer and other severe illnesses. The most common comment is to ask governments to negotiate drug price, including for Medicare, or to order rebates on prices. When price negotiations are based upon threats to withhold reimbursements, narrow permitted uses on formularies or increase patient co-payments for expensive drugs, the patients are effectively hostages in the negotiation, and often suffer. In the UK, several very important breast cancer drugs will not be reimbursed beginning in November, because prices are too high.[5]
The monopoly should be at risk, rather than the patients, when prices are too high. Intellectual property rights should be seen as a privilege, not a right, and the legal monopoly should be ended if prices are excessive.[6]
What type of pricing systems make sense for new drugs?
Certainly one would want as much transparency and evidence as possible of R&D costs and risks, as well as the benefits that products provide. An ideal pricing system would consider not only benefits, and not only R&D costs, but some combination of both, and also realistic budget constraints. For the U.S. Veterans Health Administration, Senator Sanders has proposed a system that allows patents to be overridden when prices are excessive, and compensation to patent holders to be constrained by the Department of Veterans Affairs budget for drug purchases.[7] This approach could be scaled for Medicare.
R&D costs and health benefits from products are both important parameters that are at least implicit in most pricing models. Making their joint role more explicit will be helpful. The point of a good drug pricing model is to direct the premiums (price over manufacturing costs) in the best way to stimulate the R&D that is desired, within realistic budgets, without distorting decisions by physicians to prescribe medicines in the best interests of the patient.
That was the point in Senator Sander’s medical innovation prize fund legislation, first proposed in 2005, but it can also be implemented as a set of prices that meet budget constraints.
Pharmaceutical Drug Prices, Intellectual Property Rights and TPP
Trade policy often is described as a tool to promote “free trade,” but in the area of pharmaceutical drugs and other medical technologies, the result is often the opposite. The United States and the European Union are among the most aggressive in pushing for provisions in trade agreements that expand and extend intellectual property rights and legal monopolies for new medical products. In the recent Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiation, the United States acted as an advocate for the large drug companies represented by the trade associations PhRMA and BIO on a wide range of issues, pushing for new global standards on the granting of patents, extensions of patent terms, controversial exclusive rights on the data that establishes a drug is safe and effective, aggressive standards for damages for patent infringement, giving drug companies the right to challenge government decisions on drug reimbursements, and other measures, all designed to expand and extend drug monopolies and raise drug prices.
While PhRMA companies did not get everything they asked for, the overall result will be higher drug prices everywhere, and particularly in lower income countries where the new standards will have the largest and most harmful impact. These policies are partly justified by the argument that high drug prices are good for U.S. and EU exporters of medicines, but more generally on the grounds that higher and higher drug prices stimulate more and more R&D.
While it is true that high drug prices stimulate R&D, the modest percentage of sale reinvested into R&D makes this a costly endeavor. PhRMA’s 2015 survey of its members reported $51.223 billion in global R&D outlays[8], a significant number, but lower than the previous year, and just 4.83 percent of the $1.0571 trillion IMS estimated for the total global pharmaceutical market.[9] In a previous industry study, PhRMA member R&D represented 70 to 78 percent of all private sector biomedical R&D outlays.[10] In recent years, the combined private sector outlays on R&D have been less than 8 percent of global sales and trending downwards as sales have increased faster than R&D outlays.[11]
High prices for drugs are an expensive burden on everyone, and most of all in the United States, where prices and marketing costs are higher than anywhere else. The companies located in the United States share the burden of paying for the high prices on drugs, and this makes the goods and services from the United States less competitive in world markets.
Many want a different trade policy that promotes R&D investments, but delinks the funding of R&D from high drug prices. In this approach, trade agreements place obligations on governments to support R&D funding, but allow for flexible approaches, including by expanding public sector R&D funding (think NIH grants), R&D subsidies (think Orphan Drug tax credits), or funding robust innovation inducement prizes.[12] By implementing delinkage at the global level, national governments will have more freedom and new incentives to reform the way R&D is funded and avoid pitting consumer protection and fairness against innovation objectives.
If the United States and other countries want to control high drug prices, they can, by implementing policies that eliminate monopolies when prices are excessive, by increasing more efficient global markets for quality assured generic medicines, and by changing and transforming trade policy, so the emphasis is on funding R&D rather than raising drug prices.
To implement both the short term incremental reforms or the more transformative delinkage approaches, policymakers need to talk openly about budget constraints, and find realistic and practical ways to make access more universal, rationale and optimal for patients. Ultimately, society needs to transition to a system that funds medical R&D as a public good. The movement to delink R&D costs from product prices embraces the most transformative and rationale approaches for reform.
The flaws in the current system should be obvious enough, and the potential benefits of the reform also, to induce policy makers to begin the responsible and forward-looking tasks of proposing, evaluating and then implementing the policies that eliminate high prices as the primary mechanism to fund medical R&D.
[1] A single .25 mg tablet of pyrimethamine is currently retailed in the Netherlands for .41 Euros (Medicijnkosten), in Australia for .49 AUD (PBS) and in New Zealand for .739 NZD (PHARMAC). The BBC reports a price of .433 GBP in the UK.
[2] See Email from Kathy Hudson (NIH/OD) to Francis Collins (NIH/OD), August 5, 2011, subject: Subject: Fabry’s – it is time to act. Reported, FDA enforcement discretion to allow unregistered generic Daraprim to be imported and sold at lower prices, October 8, 2015, http://www.keionline.org/node/2332. The FDA instead encouraged and authorized Shire to import Replagal for use in “single-patient INDs,” and gave Shire a Fast Track designation for a BLA. “In response to the shortage of Fabrazyme, FDA has been in discussion with Shire regarding possible options that would allow Fabry patients in the U.S. access to Replagal. At this time, individual Fabry patients may access treatment with Replagal under emergency or single-patient INDs based on clinical need as assessed by their treating physician.” http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/UCM187056.pdf. After the shortage abated, and days after Shire negotiated a license to certain Fabry’s disease patents in Europe, Shire withdrew its US BLA. See: KEI asks FTC to investigate Shire decision to abandon efforts to compete in US market for Fabry’s disease treatments, July 15, 2014. http://keionline.org/node/2055, and the attached Timeline for Fabrazyme, Replagal.
[3] See also, Alexander Gaffney, FDA Loses Major Case Testing its Enforcement Discretion Authority, RAPS, July 23, 2013, http://www.raps.org/focus-online/news/news-article-view/article/3828/
[4] Executive Order 13588 — Reducing Prescription Drug Shortages, October 31, 2011; FDA News Release. FDA acts to bolster supply of critically needed cancer drugs. Announcements build on President Obama’s Executive Order, February 21, 2012. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm292658.htm; FDA News Release: FDA acts to bolster supply of critically needed cancer drugs Announcements build on President Obama’s Executive Order, February 21, 2012. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm292658.htm
[5] Andrew Ward, Cancer drugs cut as UK budget clampdown bites, September 4, 2015, Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/01ac9236-5327-11e5-b029-b9d50a74fd14.html; James Gallagher, Cancer drugs fund cuts 23 treatments, BBC, 4 September 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34153136.
[6] Sarah Boseley. “Health secretary urged to tear up patent on breast cancer drug,” October 1, 2015, The Guardian; Ben Hirschler. “Call for Britain to over-ride patents on Roche cancer drug,” October 1, 2015. Reuters; Coalition for Affordable T-DM1 Crown Use Request (for patents on cancer drug Kadcyla), October 9, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sggwS9IIQN0
[7] Senator Bernie Sanders proposal to expand Veterans access to patented medical inventions, September 19, 2015. http://keionline.org/node/2324.
[8]2015 biopharmaceutical research industry profile.Washington, DC: PhRMA; April 2015. Table 1.
[9] Total Unaudited and Audited Global Pharmaceutical Market by Region 2014 – 2019, IMS Health Market Prognosis, May 2015.
[10] See Figure 3 in the 2013 PhRMA Annual Industry Survey, which cites a Burrill & Co. analysis for PhRMA.
[11] For data and cites, see: https://goo.gl/Yi48OM
[12] Senator Sanders introduces two medical innovation prize bills in U.S. Senate to de-link R&D costs from drug prices, May 27, 2011. http://keionline.org/node/1147; Press Release. March 10 2014; German company wins EU’s €2 million inducement prize for innovative vaccine technology, European Commission. March 10 2014. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-229_en.htm; The NHS INnovation Challenge Prizes. http://www.england.nhs.uk/challengeprizes/; PROPOSAL by Bolivia, Suriname and Bangladesh. Prizes as a Reward Mechanism for New Cancer Treatments and Vaccines in Developing Countries, April 15, 2009. http://www.who.int/phi/Bangladesh_Bolivia_Suriname_CancerPrize.pdf; Charles Clift, Kevin Outterson, John-Arne Røttingen, Towards a New Global Business Model for Antibiotics: Delinking Revenues from Sales October 9, 2015 Centre on Global Health Security, Antimicrobial Resistance. https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/towards-new-global-business-model-antibiotics-delinking-revenues-sales; James Love, Alternatives to the Patent System that are used to Support R&D Efforts, Including both Push and Pull Mechanisms, with a Special Focus on Innovation-Inducement Prizes and Open Source Development Models, World Intellectual Property Organization, CDIP/14/INF/12, September 19, 2014.
James Love is the Director of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI). Mr. Love is also the U.S. co-chair of the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) Intellectual Property Policy Committee. He advises UN agencies, national governments, international and regional intergovernmental organizations and public health NGOs, and is the author of a number of articles and monographs on innovation and intellectual property rights. In 2006, Knowledge Ecology International received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. In 2013, Love received the EFF Pioneer Award, to recognize leaders who extend freedom and innovation in the realm of information technology. Knowledge Ecology International was created in 2006 as a separate entity to carry out work earlier done through the Center for Study of Responsive Law and Essential Information. Mr. Love was employed by the Center for Study of Responsive Law from 1990 to 2006. Mr. Love was previously Senior Economist for the Frank Russell Company, a lecturer at Rutgers University, and a researcher on international finance at Princeton University. He holds a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. On Twitter: @jamie_love
The opinions expressed in this post reflect solely the views of its authors and are not necessarily shared by PLOS.
Pt. 1. Only a radical overhaul can reclaim medicines for the public interest By Els Torreele
Pt. 2. This post is going to cost you By Jessica Wapner
Pt 3. If you play with scorpions, don’t be surprised when you get stung By Atif Kukaswadia
The post Talking Drug Prices, Pt 4 Drug pricing is out of control, what should be done? By James Love appeared first on Your Say.
Source: Talking Drug Prices, Pt 4 Drug pricing is out of control, what should be done? By James Love
Victoria Costello
As PLOS Senior Social Media & Community Editor, Victoria Costello oversees the organization's social media efforts and manages the PLOS BLOGS Network. Prior to joining PLOS in 2012, Costello worked as an science journalist and author in the areas of psychology and neuroscience. orcid.org/0000-0002-8715-2896
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HANSARD 1803–2005 → 1970s → 1971 → December 1971 → 21 December 1971 → Commons Sitting
HC Deb 21 December 1971 vol 828 cc1306-15 1306
§ Mr. Harold Wilson
May I ask the Leader of the House to state the business for the week after the Christmas Recess?
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. William Whitelaw)
The business for the first week after the Christmas Adjournment will be as follows:
MONDAY, 17TH JANUARY—Second Reading of the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill [Lords].
Remaining stages of the Airports Authority Bill.
Motions on the Rate Rebates (Limits of Income) Orders.
TUESDAY, 18TH JANUARY—Remaining stages of the Ministerial and Other Salaries Bill and of the Mineral Exploration and Investment and Building Grants Amendment Bill.
WEDNESDAY, 19TH JANUARY—Remaining stages of the Civil List Bill and of the Transport Holding Company Bill.
THURSDAY, 20TH JANUARY—Supply (7th allotted day): Debate on a topic to be announced.
FRIDAY, 21ST JANUARY—Private Members' Bills.
The right hon. Gentleman will recall that 10 days ago we pressed him to find time, before the House rose for the Christmas Recess, to debate the fisheries agreement announced by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster before the signature of the Treaty of Accession, which at that time was due to take place before the House returned.
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that we now understand from the Government and from public announcements that there will be no signature before the House returns and, therefore, that our debate on this matter in the first week, as announced by the right hon. Gentleman, will therefore anticipate or precede any signature of the Treaty? But does not the right hon. Gentleman feel that it is quite wrong that the Opposition should have to find a Supply Day for debating a matter which was left deliberately as unfinished business when it was debated during the six-day debate on the Common Market, particularly in so far as there had been a clear pledge by the Chancellor of the Duchy, to his party conference and in the House, that there would be no signature if there was not a satisfactory agreement?
1308 Is the right hon. Gentleman aware, therefore, that we are stretching many points by providing parliamentary time for so important a debate? On the same question, will the right hon. Gentleman say whether, before there is any question of a signature, the context of what is to be signed will be made available to the House?
§ Mr. Whitelaw
I confirm to the right hon. Gentleman that the present plans are that the Treaty of Accession will be signed on 22nd January. Those are the present plans. [Interruption.] I said that those are the present plans.
§ Mr. Skinner
They keep changing.
Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would not always treat me as perhaps as much of a fool as he may think that I am. I am using words specifically designed to make it clear that the present plans are that the Treaty will be signed on 22nd January. Those are my words. I note what the right hon. Gentleman has said about the debate. I note his arguments. I think that the present arrangements are reasonable and I hope that they will be satisfactory to the House.
As for the last point, I shall certainly look into the question of the text in the context in which the right hon. Gentleman raised it.
I accept the right hon. Gentleman at his valuation and the House's valuation of him, and I think that they are probably about the same. Would the right hon. Gentleman confirm that while we are to understand that it was the present plans which may change, there will be no change in the sense anticipated; in other words, that the signature will be brought forward before the debate he has announced this afternoon?
I can give that confirmation.
§ Dame Irene Ward
Has my right hon. Friend noticed the Motion in my name regarding C. A. Parsons? In order to protect the interests of professional engineers who are being pushed into a trade union which is not of their choice, will my right hon. Friend say when that will be illegal? In other words, when will the provisions of the Industrial Relations 1309 Act dealing with the setting up of various portions of it be put into operation? I want to protect the professional engineers against being engineered into the unions or sacked—which would be disagraceful.
[That this House notes with regret the action recently taken by C. A. Parsons, of Wallsend-on-Tyne, a distinguished company with an outstanding contribution to industry in war and peace, to issue dismissal notices to professional engineers, trade union members of the United Kingdom Association of Professional Engineers, unless these employees became union members of the Draughtsmen's and Technicians' Association: and notes that this action would be illegal under the Industrial Relations Act when its provisions become operative in 1972, and makes a mockery of establishing good industrial relations on Tyneside in this firm and can lead to the unemployment of men whose only objective is to remain members of a union of their choice, and who will not submit to dictatorships when they have freedom under the law.]
I cannot give the specific answer to my hon. Friend this afternoon. What I will do is call the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment to what she has said, and investigate the matter further with him.
§ Mr. Dalyell
Has the Leader of the House had any weekend thoughts on when and whether we should debate the Rothschild Report on the future of research stations?
I am afraid that I was not thinking about that at the weekend. But, joking apart, I certainly recognise that this is an important matter, and I stand by what I said to the hon. Gentleman last week.
Mr. Edward Taylor
As the reports into two of the four Upper Clyde yards, Scotstoun and Clydebank, which have been commissioned by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, are to be received during the Christmas Recess, will the Leader of the House give an undertaking that the Secretary of State will make a statement on the Government's view of these reports when we return?
Yes, I am sure that my right hon. Friend will be most anxious to make a statement as soon as he can make a report to the House. I asked him specifically, in answer to a request made by an hon. Gentleman during an Adjournment debate last week, if he could make an announcement about the chairman before the House rises. I understand that this will not be possible, but that he will make it as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Robert Hughes
Will the Leader of the House give an assurance that he will not regard the debate on the Consolidated Fund Bill in relation to the E.E.C. and fisheries as a substitute for a proper debate and vote in the House? Second, will he undertake to raise the point with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster that his repeated evasions on central points during the debate were unwelcome on this side of the House and that he has refused to answer specific questions laid by hon. Members? Under these circumstances, will the Leader of the House say specifically that we shall have a debate in Government time before the Treaty of Accession is signed?
I do not accept what the hon. Gentleman says about my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy. A four-hour debate was important. I understand from what the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition has said that he is seeking to pursue this matter on his Supply Day before the Treaty of Accession is signed, and that is the way that I understand the House will proceed.
§ Mr. Kilfedder
When will the next debate on Northern Ireland take place? Will my right hon. Friend treat it as a matter of urgent priority in view of the mounting campaign of terror which is being waged against the law-abiding people of Ulster?
I cannot say when such a debate will be possible. The whole House appreciates the seriousness of the matter, and there have been various discussions about it. I do not think that there is anything I can add this afternoon.
§ Mr. Thorpe
The right hon. Gentleman will recollect the undertaking he gave my hon. Friend the Member for Roxburgh, 1311 Selkirk and Peebles (Mr. David Steel) during the debate on the Christmas Adjournment that the names of the additional members of the Pearce Commission would be reported before we rose. We are grateful that the names of the additional Europeans who will join the Commission have been announced in a Written Answer, but may we take it that before we rise there will be a statement, so that the House, which is acutely concerned with the guidelines and various other matters relating to the Pearce Commission, will have an opportunity to ask questions?
The names were announced, as promised, and they were the names of two people very prominent in African affairs. I cannot now give the right hon. Gentleman an undertaking about the statement for which he asks.
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the House has been treated pretty badly on these matters? The first three names were announced in another place, when there was no announcement in this House. The last two were announced by Written Answer, and there has been no oral statement. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that many people in more than one part of the House, and all over the country, hoped that the final list would include an African, and that in default of that it would include such a person as Bishop Skelton, the very distinguished former bishop, respected by all the African races in Rhodesia, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, and my noble Friend Lord Caradon, or anyone else that would have carried confidence with the Africans there? The Press conference given yesterday by the five did nothing to add to public confidence in the team that has been appointed. If the right hon. Gentleman cannot answer now, will he make inquiries and let the House know at the earliest opportunity whether any such names, including an African or those I have mentioned, and many others who could have been approached, were approached and turned it down or were not approached, or were considered by Her Majesty's Government and were vetoed by Mr. Smith's régime?
I am sure that there is nothing in the last part of the right 1312 hon. Gentleman's question. As for the rest, the best I can do is to report what the right hon. Gentleman and others have said to my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, who will be prepared to answer all those questions when they are put down to him.
Cannot the right hon. Gentleman take this matter further? The Pearce Commission gave a Press conference yesterday in which specific questions were addressed to members of the Commission which the House will not be able to address to the Minister responsible. We are dealing with 5 million of Her Majesty's subjects for whom the House is responsible. Will the right hon. Gentleman, who I know tries to help the House whenever he can, use his best endeavours to see that we have a statement tomorrow from his right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary on these matters, which are very disquieting and which are the responsibility of the House?
The Pearce Commission made perfectly clear at its Press conference the way in which it was conducting its business, which I thought was entirely in line with what my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary had said. I will look into the matter, but I cannot be committed to a statement, particularly as my right hon. Friend will still be in Bermuda tomorrow.
§ Mr. Grylls
When might my right hon. Friend be able to find time for a debate on the reorganisation of the employment services following the recent statement?
I cannot say when such a debate will be possible.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewis
During the first week after we return from the recess, can the right hon. Gentleman carry out a suggestion that I am sure will have the unanimous support of back-benchers, which is to appoint a review committee to go into all matters concerning the adequacy or otherwise of old-age pensions? Since we know that Lord Boyle is so good at it, will the right hon. Gentleman ask Lord Boyle and his Committee to investigate the subject and report to the House? Such a move would be overwhelmingly welcomed in the House and in the country.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services made a very important statement about pensions last week, and I think that it was widely accepted throughout the House.
Is it the Government's intention to afford the House an opportunity to debate their White Paper on local government reform in Scotland at any time before the Summer Recess?
I should like to see the subject debated. As I have said before, I understand that it could have been debated in the Scottish Grand Committee. I appreciate why that cannot happen at present. I am prepared to keep the matter under review.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg
Has my right hon. Friend had a further opportunity to think when he could provide time for a debate on the Annual Report of the Post Office?
I cannot provide time in the immediate future, but I note the point.
§ Mr. Russell Kerr
In view of the Government's continuing policy of appointing part-time chairmen of nationalised industries at fancy salaries and even fancier expense allowances, may we have an assurance that we shall have an early opportunity after returning from the recess to debate this important aspect of Government policy?
I in no way accept the hon. Gentleman's premises. These are subjects on which there are constant opportunities for questions and debates when various matters come before the House.
§ Mr. McCrindle
In view of the continuing dangerous situation in Pakistan, will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the possibility of asking my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary to make a statement on the situation as it may then have developed very shortly after the recess?
Yes, Sir, most certainly.
§ Mr. Spearing
As the right hon. Gentleman has said that the Supply Day on 20th January may well be concerned with some aspects of the E.E.C., will he tell us when the Government intend to 1314 publish the full and official translation of all the regulations that they intend to bind us to two days later, without the mandate of the British people?
It was the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition who indicated the likely subject for the Supply Day on 20th January. As for the hon. Gentleman's second point, I note the question about the text of the Treaty, and will look into these matters.
The regulations, not the Treaty.
The regulations will of course be put before the House—
I cannot say. Before the hon. Gentleman gets too excited I should say that all the matters to do with the Treaty of Accession are entirely subject to the House and legislation in the House. That is surely a proper safeguard for the House.
Mr. Bob Brown
Since the Secretary of State for Social Services has steadfastly set his face against appearing here as Father Christmas to the old-age pensioners, is there any hope that he may appear as Mother New Year after the recess, awarding pensioners a fuel supplement, bearing in mind that the hardest weather is in February and March? Will he at least provide some fuel for them to get through these hard periods?
I note the hon. Gentleman's point. But I am entitled to put it in the, proper context, that this Government made the largest ever increase in old-age pensions in September, that the pension will have a higher value this Christmas than at any Christmas recently—and I believe ever—and that last week the annual review of pensions was announced.
Will the Leader of the House invite his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services to clear up the answer he gave in which he said that those now receiving family income supplement will have the rate increased from £4 to £5 on 1st April, 1972, when in fact two-thirds of those people will be receiving rent rebates and therefore cannot qualify for any increase in family income supplement? The right 1315 hon. Gentleman deliberately misled the House, and the matter needs to be cleared up.
Without accepting any of the hon. Gentleman's premises, and without having been into the matter or knowing exactly what happened, I will call what the hon. Gentleman says to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services, who will no doubt look into the question.
Back to PRIME MINISTER (CORRESPONDENCE)
Forward to RHODESIA (PEARCE COMMISSION)
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Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ, "Albinoni's Adagio"
Lanzamiento: Sep 2013
Disquera: X5 Music Group
Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K. 525, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik": I. Allegro
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, "Fate": Allegro con brio
Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne
Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 23: I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito
Nocturnes, Op. 9: No. 2 in E-Flat Major
Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op. 8 - Concerto No. 1 in E Major, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring): I. Allegro
Boléro, M. 81
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Turandot, Act 3: "Nessun dorma"
Lamento d'Arianna: I. Lasciate mi morire
Syrinx for Solo Flute, L 129
Symphony No. 1 in D Major, "Titan": II. Kräftig bewegt
Die Walkürie (The Valkyrie), Act 3: Ride of the Valkyries
Carmina Burana: O Fortuna
Samson et Dalila, Op. 47, Act 3: Bacchanale
Ballet Suite No. 2, Op. 84b: IV. Sentimental Romance
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30: Introduction
Ave Maria (after J.S. Bach)
String Quartet No. 2 in D Major: III. Notturno: Andante
Pomp and Circumstance, Op. 39: Land of Hope and Glory
Messiah, HWV 56: Hallelujah Chorus
Fantasy for Orchestra, "A Night on the Bare Mountain"
Kinderszenen, Op. 15: Träumerei (Orchestra version)
Cantabile in D Major, Op. 17
Gymnopédie No. 1
Concerto No. 3 in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 30: I. Allegro ma non tanto
An der schönen blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), Op. 314
Carmen Suite No. 2: Habanera
Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, "Italian": IV. Saltarello: Presto
The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Op. 57: Flight of the Bumblebee
Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor
The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33: March
Canon in D Major
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, "From the New World": IV. Allegro con fuoco
Symphony No. 4 in E-Flat Major, "The Romantic": II. Andante
Concerto a cinque No. 2 in D Minor for Oboe and Strings, Op. 9: II. Adagio
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz 106: III. Adagio
String Quintet in E Major, Op. 13: Minuet
Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann): Barcarolle
String Quartet No. 62 in C Major, Op. 76:3, "Emperor": II. Poco adagio: Cantabile
Ellen's Chants, D. 839: Ave Maria
Thaïs: Méditation
Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), Part 2: Le sacrifice (The Sacrifice)
Fratres for Strings and Percussion (1977/1991)
Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major for Piano and Orchestra, S. 124: IV. Allegro marziale animato
Panis Angelicus, Op. 12
Gayane: Sabre Dance
Concerto Grosso No. 8 in G Minor, Op. 6, "Christmas Concerto": III. Vivace - Allegro - Pastorale ad libitum: Largo
Messa da Requiem: Dies irae - Tuba mirum
Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14, "Episode de la vie d'un artiste": V. Songe d'une Nuit du Sabbat (The Witches' Sabbath)
Concerto in D Minor for Oboe and Strings, Op. 1: II. Adagio
Concerto in G Major for Viola and Orchestra, TWV 51:G9: I. Largo
Má Vlast (My Fatherland): Vltava (The Moldau River)
Symphony No. 4, "Le Poème de l'extase" (The Poem of Ecstasy), Op. 54
Concerto No. 1 in F Minor for Clarinet and Orchestra, Op. 73: II. Adagio ma non troppo
Cassation in G Major for Toys, Two Oboes, Two Horns and Orchestra, "Toy Symphony": II. Minuet
Passacaglia for Orchestra, Op. 1 (1908)
Romantic Suite, Op. 125: I. Notturno
Concerto in A Minor for Flute and Strings: Allegro
Nocturnal for Guitar, Op. 70 (after John Dowland)
Fantasia on Greensleeves
Concerto in C Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 48: II. Andantino cantabile
Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4. Transcription for Piano Trio by Eduard Steuermann: Sehr ruhig (bar 370)
Symphony No. 3 for Soprano and Orchestra, "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" (1976): II. Lento e Largo - Tranquillissimo
Adagio for Strings, Op. 11a
Organ² / ASLSP (1987)
Three Miniatures for Violin and Piano (1959)
Radetzky March, Op. 228
Stabat Mater in F Minor: Introduction
Höstvisa (Autumn Song)
La Jolla - Sinfonietta in A Major for Piano and Chamber Orchestra, H. 328: III. Allegro
Sonata No. 12 in G Major for Flute and Organ, Op. 1
In nomine a 7 in D Minor, Z 746
Atmosphères for Large Orchestra (1961, Original Recording)
Epigram No. 5: Allegretto
Orpheus and Eurydice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits
Concerto in G Major for Flute and Orchestra, QV 5:174: I. Allegro
Herbst (Autumn) for Solo Guitar: I. Mässig
Symphony No. 2 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 16, "In Memory of Liszt": II. Andante
L'Arte del Violino, Op. 3 - Concerto No. 5 in C Major: I. Largo - Andante
Eight Pieces for Solo Flute (1927)
Chôro no. 1, "Chôro típico"
Metamorphosis No. 2
Leichte Kavallerie (Light Cavalry): Overture to Act 1
Le Prophéte (The Prophet): Coronation March
Pavane, Op. 50
Ruslan and Ludmilla: Ouverture
Marche Joyeuse
Processional 'Let there be light' (1901)
Trumpet Voluntary in D Major (The Prince of Denmark's March)
Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra: II. Adagio
Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville): Overture
The Planets, Op. 32: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
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Here’s What Kanye West Needs In Order To Finish His “SWISH” Album
Susie O.
Kanye West would like to finish his album in peace – so don’t ask him for shit until he’s done.
Our favorite rapper and inspirational speaker was on Twitter last night in the wee hours of the morning talking about his upcoming project, SWISH. He also mentioned his next collection.
Keeping it super brief, Yeezy tweeted:
I’m finishing my album and my next collection…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) December 13, 2015
no offense to anyone… I’m asking everyone DON’T ASK ME FOR ANYTHING TILL AFTER I’M FINISHED WITH MY ALBUM
In addition to Kanye’s many business ventures, he’s got a newborn son at home. Needless to say, his life is probably very hectic at the moment.
We can’t wait for the album ‘Ye, and we’ll wait as long as we must.
40 Bizarre Kanye West Facts That Will Make Your Day
1. Kanye met No I.D. through Donda West, who worked with No I.D.'s mother as a teacher in Chicago.
2. Donda convinced the 19-year-old No I.D. to meet 14-year-old Kanye and "teach him how to do music."
3. He lived in China for a year in the fifth grade.
4. Of his time in a Chinese school, Kanye has said "I got A's and B's. And I'm not even frontin'."
5. Before he was signed, he would jump on tables during label meetings and scream, "I'm the next Michael Jackson!"
6. He was arrested in 2000 for stealing printers from Office Max in a case of mistaken identity.
7. At age 13 he wrote a song called "Green Eggs and Ham."
8. And he begged his mother to pay $25 per hour for studio time.
9. He sold his first beat to Chicago rapper Gravity for $8,800.
10. Then he used the $8,800 to buy Polo clothes and a Jesus Piece.
11. Kanye claims he has synesthesia, meaning he can see sounds.
12. Kanye studied English at Chicago State University before dropping out to focus on music.
13. He once said, “I think I’m gonna move to London. Get a fake-ass British accent like Madonna.”
14. Kanye personally asked Seth Rogen and James Franco to perform their spoof of "Bound 2" at his wedding to Kim.
15. But it didn't happen because they all agreed it was a silly idea.
16. He once worked as a telemarketer to pay his mother $200 per month in rent, which she demanded.
17. Kanye opened two Fatburger restaurants in Chicago through his company KW Foods LLC. Both locations have closed.
18. He has claimed to "TiVo rap videos so I can study them. To learn what steps to take to crush them all.”
19. He narrowly avoided another infamous rant when Common's “They Say” was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collab at the Grammy's over “Heard 'Em Say” and “Gold Digger.”
20. But he apologized to Common when "Late Registration" beat "Be" for Best Rap Album that year.
21. After the Taylor Swift incident, Mos Def visited Kanye's home and told him to flee the U.S.
22. Kanye took Mos Def's advice, escaping to Japan, then Rome, before settling in Hawaii for six months to record "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."
23. While recording MBDTF, he asked food delivery men for their opinions on the album when they stopped by his studio.
Source:Splash News 23 of 40
24. He made Pusha T re-write his verse on "Runaway" four times. Each time, pushing Pusha T to get more angry.
25. He used his own money to finance the "Glow in the Dark Tour" when Best Buy backed out of sponsoring it.
26. He kept a tracklisting of Common’s "Be" in the studio to make sure his album was just as good.
27. He made his first beat in the seventh grade.
28. We know he's from the Chi, but he was actually born in Atlanta.
29. Thanks to hip-hop, we know that Blue Ivy was conceived in Paris, while North West was conceived in Florence. TMI?
30. Initially, Chaka Khan refused to clear the sample for "Through The Wire."
31. Kanye brought Chaka's son to a BBQ and played him the "Through The Wire" music video. Two weeks later, Chaka cleared the sample.
32. Michael Jackson called Kanye to compliment the jacket he wore in the "Stronger" music video.
33. He's thought of becoming a male porn star "once or twice."
34. He invested two million dollars and over a year of work into creating his sophomore album.
35. Kanye and Jay Z performed "N*ggas In Paris" 12 times in a row on one night in Paris.
36. He refuses to work with Royce Da 5'9''.
37. Kanye recorded "The College Dropout" in Los Angeles while recovering from his car accident in 2002.
38. After the success of "College Dropout," Kanye bought himself an 18th century aquarium with 30 koi fish.
39. In 2008, he posted a nude picture of Kim to his blog as he dubbed her his "girl of the week."
40. Before Bey's digital album, Kanye planned a theatrical release for all of the music videos from "Late Registration."
Continue reading 40 Bizarre Kanye West Facts That Will Make Your Day
Kanye West is a special kind of guy. You can love him or hate him, but either way, you're always interested in what he has to say. But despite all the Twitter rants and outbursts, surprisingly there are still some things that we don't know about Yeezy. Check out these random, wacky fact about pre-Saint Pablo Kanye.
Here’s What Kanye West Needs In Order To Finish His “SWISH” Album was originally published on globalgrind.com
album , Kanye West , so help me god , Swish , Twitter
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Why Olympic Champions to part with expensive gifts
Not all athletes sit behind the wheel of new cars, presented to them for high achievements at the Games, and spend impressive size cash prizes for themselves. Some winners prefer to sell the car, and then decide where to spend the proceeds. “StarHit” remembered a number of examples where athletes were forced to do so.
Russia has a tradition of providing incentives to athletes who won prizes at the Olympic games. This year players were given a BMW different series, a cash prize (the amount of which reached 4 million rubles) and a medal (for first place was also awarded the order). Most regions also further congratulated the Champions, giving them apartments, cars and even life of the grant.
Many participants (according to the journalists, their third of all Olympians) really proud of gifts from the state and are happy to go on donated cars. However, do not all. “StarHit” learned of athletes who have decided not to use expensive gifts and why.
Olympics 2016: why we will never forget
The scandal around the white BMW
A couple of days ago on the website auto.ru there was an announcement about the sale of BMW X6 white color. It was alleged that the car — a gift for the Olympic gold medal obtained in Olympic games in Rio. Among the other advantages of cars called its options and characteristics.
“The machine issued by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin! For achievements at the Olympic games in Rio in 2016, to be exact, for the Olympic gold! The car is new! xDrive 3.5 diesel, 306 l/s, completing luxury. The car is insured, bargaining is strictly in the bonnet to help the sale of cars don’t need, the price — 4,670 million rubles,” — an announcement appeared on the website dedicated to selling cars.
Reporters contacted the seller and asked him why the car is for sale. It turned out that the cars were quick to get rid of the girl-a synchronized swimmer, recently received law. According to the author of the ad, the champion really liked the BMW, but sitting behind the wheel, she realized that she would not be able to manage it. The athlete even could not go donated her car from the Kremlin. Her friend Catherine volunteered to help her to realize the junk car.
The “athlete rights only a few months ago and got with this machine simply will not cope. Even from the Kremlin the car overtook the driver. Also this car is not needed. Family simple — family used to travel by buses and trolleybuses. Need more apartments, not cars,” — said the author of the ad to reporters.
Few days later the announcement appeared to mark the fact that the BMW buyer is found.
The news that an athlete sells luxury gift from the state, stirred up the public. The Network began to actively discuss the act of synchronised swimmers is unknown.
On the “AVTOVAZ” suggested to give the Olympians a new Lada instead of a BMW
— Alex Korneyev (@Starina_Kryger) 26 Aug 2016
All heard about the sale of BMW, who presented for a medal in RIO. What do you think?
— Eugene (@Yvgeny79) 26 Aug 2016
In turn, two-time Olympic champion Maxim Trankov stood up for his colleague and noted that not everyone can afford to maintain an expensive foreign car. The athlete also said that he, too, sold a gift from the state.
“The contents can not afford everything! Sell and then take the car more modest. That’s all. By the way, is also sold, if that,” wrote figure skater Maxim Trankov in his microblog.
In defense of synchronized swimmers, who decided to put BMW on sale, and expressed high jumper, Olympic champion in London Anna Chicherova. “I wouldn’t have anyone to blame because it’s a private matter. Of course, this personalized gift is a reminder of the Olympics. Our stay what’s going on here, I would not someone to upbraid. I, personally, also its a big car for the Olympics in London had to sell it because I with such dimensions ruled… Although the machine from Beijing so far I have,” said Chicherova media representatives.
“Mercedes GL” Alexey Volkov
In 2014, biathlete Alexey Volkov received the gold medal at the Olympics in Sochi “Mercedes GL”, which is worth several million rubles. However, the wolves sold presented to Dmitry Medvedev a Mercedes. Half the proceeds from the sale of car amount the champion has gained supported by “Porsche-Panamera” is an unusual color. New car Volkov color blue chrome cost him two times cheaper than the cost of a Mercedes. In his interview Alex admitted that even was not thinking about selling an expensive gift. According to Volkov, he just decided to buy another brand of car.
“Mercedes GL” Ekaterina Bobrova
Ekaterina Bobrova, Olympic champion in the team competition skaters that competed at the Games in Sochi in a duet with Dmitry Solovyov, sold his Mercedes to help sick children. The athlete put the car premium to the auction, and the proceeds from the sale money transferred to charity Fund. When Catherine refused to comment on the act that the public didn’t regard it as a PR stunt. Later in an interview, Catherine told the journalists about the reasons that prompted her to realize the car.
“Donated for gold in the team tournament “Mercedes GL” I sold. Too big for my car. Three rows of seats, seven seats, a huge trunk… And in the maintenance of this SUV is pretty costly. I am very grateful for this gift – we didn’t even believe when I found out that we are going to present for the victory in Sochi! But I for such a large car was not ready”, — explained his action by Ekaterina Bobrova.
“Mercedes GL” Alexey Nepodailo
In 2015 on one of their portals dedicated to selling cars in Irkutsk, there was an announcement, which the author claimed that part with the Olympic “Mercedes”. Local journalists immediately saw through the identity of the owner of a foreign car, because this car was in town only one. It turned out that the government presented “Mercedes” wants bobsledder Alexey Nepodailo. In 2014 he became the Olympic champion.
The local media was surprised, why would it suddenly Nepodailo to sell the car. They remembered that once an athlete even began studies at the driving school to skate on the new car. But to review Nepodailo not turned bobsledder refused to explain the reason for his action. Apparently, the champion managed to find a buyer. On the website ad says that the Olympic Mercedes sold.
Audi A8 Alexei Obmochaev
The champion of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London I bought a car to triumph at sporting events. Therefore, the presented state machine has decided to give his brother Alexander living in Yekaterinburg. However, he decided to implement it for 3,95 million. Local journalists Alexander said that he is very expensive to maintain foreign car. Alex offered him help, but the man refused, as Audi and so luxurious gift, and he was ashamed to take money from the athlete. The very selling a car he had previously discussed with his famous brother.
Audi A6 Yulia Efimova
Two-time silver medalist at the Games in Rio Yuliya Efimova lives in America. In 2012, she was given a “Audi A6” for the bronze medal, received by results of the Olympic games in London. The swimmer decided to sell the car, is motivat it with that it makes her uncomfortable to carry a foreign car in the US. Instead, Efimova decided to buy a car abroad, spending vehicle money raised from the sale of an expensive gift. Then, by the way, one of the players of our national team, also put up for auction “Audi A8”, received “gold”.
Yuliya Efimova can return to live in Russia
BMW X5 Alexey Tishchenko
Two-time Olympic champion, completed his career in 2011, also published the announcement of the sale donated to the government of the BMW. Car Tishchenko received in 2008, after the triumph at the Games in Beijing. Alex even made her a unique aerographic image of the fight and the Olympic rings. Implement car boxer wanted for 2.5 million rubles, and, according to experts, it was quite adequate for a collectors price. The money Tishchenko was planning to spend on the construction of the house and the election campaign on a post of the Deputy of Legislative Assembly of Omsk region. However, after some time, Alex decided to go into politics and left the car yourself.
Award Of Anton Shipulin
Olympic champion 2014 and was previously involved in charity work, so the news that a portion of his monetary prize will go to the Fund to support sports in the Sverdlovsk region, did not surprise anyone. By the way, the initiator of the organization made himself Shipulin, so she called his name.
The other part of the sum donated by the state athlete, went to buy a new car for his parents. Shipulin bought them new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. Equipment and model cars Anton chose himself, wanting to surprise loved ones. At first they refused the gift of the son, but the champion managed to persuade them to take the car.
By the way, himself the veteran in April this year I bought a minivan of Volkswagen, which was shared with subscribers of your “Instagram”. The purchase of large cars is due to the completion of the family — at the end of last year, wife Shipulina gave him an heir.
The House Of Viktor Ahn
A Korean athlete, won in 2011 the Russian citizenship, is a six-time absolute world champion and the champion of the Olympic games the number of gold medals in short track. Last year in the press appeared information about the fact that Viktor Ahn was put up for sale his luxury home in Novogorsk, given to him by the Ministry of physical culture, sport and youth Affairs of the Moscow region. It was reported that the athlete is planning to get him two million dollars. The news stirred the public, they say for some reason, the most decorated short-track racer in the world decided to leave home.
After some time, the journalists managed to contact Viktor Ahn and ask him about real estate. Surprised, the athlete told them that it is not planning to leave the mansion and house in Novogorsk it completely satisfied.
As it turned out later, the information about the alleged sale of the house Ana was a marketing ploy of one real estate Agency. The fact is that when it’s time to give Victor’s mansion, it still was not finished repair. To still hold the event to the press, in the Union of concubines devised such a course — the media took a picture of a champion in someone else’s house, rented for a single day. Later the owner decided to part with the housing, which received wide publicity in the press thanks to the resourcefulness of PR.
Based on the materials NN.ru, Rsport.ru, Gazeta.ru, Bfm.ru, Life.ru, Sovsport.ru, Championat.com, Business-gazeta.ru, Sports.ru
Anna Sedokova showed appetizing forms in a swimsuit
Died producer Oleg Nepomnyashchy, who worked with Pugacheva and Kirkorov
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Top Osteopathic Medical School Is Searching For New Leadership At The Associate Dean Level
For more than a century, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine has provided high-quality, hands-on training in osteopathic medicine. As the field of medicine has changed, we have changed with it; adapting our program offerings to better meet the needs of healthcare providers and communities they serve. At PCOM’s branch campus in Suwanee, Georgia, students learn to approach problem-solving in a more professional, more team-oriented manner, which prepares them to work successfully in integrated healthcare settings with other health professionals. Campus features modern facilities and state-of-the-art technologies, all part of a growing and innovative learning environment designed for collaboration and interaction. We now seek two new key leaders to join our faculty.
Associate Dean of Clinical Integration
The primary focus is to develop, outline, supervise, and confirm that the “didactic” education given during the first two and three years of the program are directed to making sure that the education delivered at GA-PCOM is building a solid platform to prepare the students to participate fully in the clerkship program and be prepared for application to residency.
Associate Dean, Clerkship and Core Site Development
This is also a senior leadership position reporting to the Dean of the Osteopathic Program PCOM Georgia. The primary focus is to develop, outline, supervise, and confirm that the clerkship program and education given during the last two years of the osteopathic program delivered at PCOM Georgia is building a solid platform and has prepared the students to be competitive for and participate fully in their future chosen residency program.
Applicants for this position must be board certified preferably in a primary care specialty, have a minimum of 3-5 years of post-residency experience in clinical education, preferably within an academic medical center, with a strong track record of scholarly activity, and be eligible for medical licensure in the state of Georgia.
Suwanee Georgia is located 30 miles from downtown Atlanta and has the #1 ranked public education in the state. Live in one of the nicest suburban settings in the Southeast and have easy access to everything that Atlanta has to offer.
For immediate consideration please inquire with an updated copy of your CV so we can discuss the position by phone. Also, inform me of your best available times to speak. I look forward to your reply and thank you for your review. Please do not delay as we anticipate a significant response.
Please contact David King at medcareers@merritthawkins.com or at (866) 826-1217 and reference AD-101279
Internal Number: AD-101279
About Merritt Hawkins
Merritt Hawkins, an AMN Healthcare company, is a permanent physician placement service that fills more physician jobs than any other firm. In addition to being the nation’s leader in physician employment search and consulting services, Merritt Hawkins also recruits and places select allied health professionals. AMN Healthcare is an EEO/AA/Disability/Protected Veteran Employer. We encourage minority and female applicants to apply.
ASQ Career Center is Just One of the Benefits.
Discover what else ASQ has to offer!
The job you are trying to reach from was originally posted at ASQ Career Center.
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Program Director, Amherst Careers in Science & Technology
Amherst College invites applications for the Program Director, Amherst Careers in Science & Technology position. The Program Director, Amherst Careers in Science & Technology is a full time, year round position, job group and level PT-5. This is a three-year term appointment, with possibility of renewal.Amherst College has profoundly transformed its student body in terms of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and nationality, among other areas. Today, nearly one-quarter of Amherst's students are Pell Grant recipients; 45 percent of our studentsidentify as domestic students of color. Our expectation is that the successful candidate will excel at working in a community that is broadly diverse with regard to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion.
The Program Director will launch and manage the new Amherst Careers in Science and Technology program, working with alumni and employers to increase internship, job and experiential learning opportunities available to students. The incumbent will provide career education and job search coaching to liberal arts students interested in pursuing careers in non-health-related positions in the science industry, such as research, technology, and related fields.
Takes appropriate actions to support a diverse workforce and participates in the College's efforts to create a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming work environment.
Summary of Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
Program Management - In conjunction with faculty, administrators, students, alumni, and employers, develop comprehensive programming, resources, and partnerships for students interested in pursuing careers in science and technology, build networking opportunities, develop and deliver career programs and special events, particularly experiential learning opportunities such as career treks and interterm programs, provide leadership and long-range vision for the program , conduct research on industry and hiring trends, and forecast shifting opportunities or areas of focus for program based on the external environment, manage program budget, build program awareness particularly among first- and second-year students and faculty, create program materials, maintain web pages, and promote program to incoming students and parents, hire, supervise, train, and evaluate a student intern
Student Preparation - Provide targeted advising sessions and programs to help students explore, prepare for, and begin careers in science and technology fields, conduct practice interviews, create relevant web and print resources, and review application materials, facilitate student involvement in professional organizations to enable exploration, networking, skill-development, and interview preparation, assist students in building relevant interpersonal, organizational and technical skills, assist students in preparing to apply to graduate schools
External and Employer Relations - Build relationships with graduate programs, contribute to College efforts to build strong relationships with its network of alumni, faculty and other partners connected to the science and technology sectors, partner with alumni and local and national employers to develop shadowing opportunities, internships, and full-time opportunities for students, regularly host evening employer/graduate school information sessions
Bachelor's degree and 3 years of experience in a science or technology industry; or advanced degree in a science, math, or technology related field.
3 years of career services, recruitment, project management, event management, or other relevant experience.
Demonstrated capacity and motivation to work effectively with a diverse student body.
Understanding of science and technology employment trends.
Strong organizational, customer service, and problem solving skills.
Demonstrated written and verbal communication, and presentation skills.
Ability to travel periodically to engage with employer partners, alumni, and parents.
Able work occasional evenings and weekends.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite and Google apps.
5 years of related experience is preferred
Interestedcandidates are asked to submit a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information (email and/or telephone numbers) for three professional references. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled.
ABOUT AMHERST COLLEGE
Amherst College, one of the premier liberal arts colleges in the nation, is located in Amherst, Massachusetts, a town of approximately 35,000 residents in the western part of the state. The college's community is composed of about1,800 students from 48 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and 54 countries around the world, and about 1,000 staff and faculty. The college's scenic 1,000-acre campus includes a 500-acre wildlife sanctuary and the Book & Plow Farm ; three museums: Emily Dickinson Museum , Beneski Museum of Natural History and Mead Art Museum ; and multiple educational and cultural venues and resources through the Five College Consortium. The town of Amherst offers an amazing variety of coffee shops, restaurants and entertainment, and a very active outdoor life. Our vibrant campus, diverse community and beautiful surrounding, makes Amherst College and the Town of Amherst the perfect place to work, learn and live!
Internal Number: 111486917
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,800 students in the fall of 2013.
Employer Relations Coordinator Minneapolis, Minnesota
University of Minnesota Twin Cities Yesterday
Administrative Assistant (Assistant to the Dean and Director of Finance and Administration) - University College - 44748 St. Louis, Missouri
Washington University in St. Louis Today
Production Engineer Rochester, New York
Rochester Institute of Technology 1 Week Ago
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Archive for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Not Another Dodo: The Success of Saving the World’s Most Endangered Parrot
Posted in Birds with tags animal blog, animal blogs, Animal Rights, Animals, animals blog, Biodiversity., black rat, Black River Gorge, Black River Gorge National Park, captive breeding program, Carl Jones, Community, Conservation, Current Events, deforestation, dodo bird, Doomsday Virus, Dr. Steve Boyes, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Echo Parakeet, Education, Endangered Species, endemic, Environment, Extinction, feeding station, habitat destruction, habitat loss, habitat rehabilitation, habitat restoration, Heather Richards, illegal, illegal logging, Indian Ocean, introduced species, loss of suitable nesting habitat, Mauritian Parakeet, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, Mauritius, Mauritius Kestrel, Mauritius National Parks and Conservation Service, Mike Reynolds, Nature, nest box, nest predation, New Zealand, News, PBFD, Pink Pigeon, poaching, Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease, Psittacula eques, Psittacula krameri, reintroduction, repopulate, Research, researchers, Rodrigues Fody, Rodrigues Warbler, Rose-Ringed Parakeet, species saved from extinction, Vikash Tatayah, wildlife, wildlife blog, wildlife blogs, wildlife conservation, wildlife conservation blog, World Parrot Trust, world's most endangered parrot on January 14, 2011 by drsteveboyes
In the late 1980s, the Mauritian Parakeet (Psittacula eques), also called the Echo Parakeet, was considered the most endangered parrot on earth. By that time, researchers, who had become really good at finding them, could only account for four or five pairs in the wild. These emerald green parakeets are only found on the island of Mauritius in the Western Indian Ocean, and 30 years ago you would have been extremely lucky to see one or two pairs fly over the Black River Gorge. It was clear then that this species was teetering on the brink of extinction, along with several other Mauritian endemics.
Photo credit: Gregory Guida
Many mainstream conservation funds and authorities didn’t want to invest in what they saw as a certain failure, effectively writing off the Echo Parakeet as a nonviable species, even though they were still holding on. Then stepped in the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF), Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and World Parrot Trust. To ensure there would be no more species lost from this island, made famous by the extinction of the Dodo in 1690, a team of dedicated people banded together with the National Parks and Conservation Service. It was a unified effort that included people like Carl Jones, Vikash Tatayah, Mike Reynolds, Heather Richards, and many other researchers, collaborators, volunteers, and conservationists.
Illustration via anyonefortree.dotc.om
The last remaining Mauritian parakeets were challenged a chronic lack of suitable nesting trees, unprecedented nest predation by a booming population of introduced black rats, ceaseless human disturbances, feral pigs and deer, and staunch competition with the more plentiful and aggressive Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) introduced by the island’s immigrants. By the late 1970s, the two to four Echo Parakeet pairs remaining in the wild were gravely threatened by heightened vulnerability to disease outbreaks and tropical cyclones, which made every year a nerve-wracking experience for those concerned with the future of this species.
Echo Parakeet nesting box (photo credit: Dennis Hansen)
After successful captive breeding efforts, the MWF and its partners made a bold decision in the 1990s to launch intensive population management measures. Captive-bred Echo Parakeets were released and provided with artificial nest boxes and supplementary feeding stations. Captive-bred chicks were also introduced to nest boxes, and so began the process of rebuilding a viable population. By 2010, they had achieved a population of 500 Echo Parakeets (a total of 550 Echo Parakeets expected in February 2011)! A huge conservation milestone and a wonderful story!
Captive-bred chicks (photo credit: Heather Richards)
Vikash Tatayah from the MWF says that, since 1984, the Mauritius Kestrel, Pink Pigeon, Rodrigues Warbler, Rodrigues Fody and Echo Parakeet have been saved from extinction. This means that Mauritius has saved more species than any other country in the world. Even more than New Zealand and the United States (including Hawaii), which have each saved four species from the point of no return. The MWF and its partners have also prevented the loss of numerous plant species and have worked hard to restore native forest habitats, establishing Mauritius as a leader in endangered species conservation. Yet, Vikash points out: “There is still a lot more to do!”.
Mauritius Kestrels (photo via World Parrot Trust)
Today, the Echo Parakeet is restricted to a remnant of native forest that comprises less than 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) of the Black River Gorge National Park. Like most endangered parrots, they saw their limited forest habitat degraded and broken down until they were forced to seek new food resources and nesting sites in habitat that simply couldn’t support them. Now, only 1% of their natural habitat remains.
Photo via World Parrot Trust
We must continue to support the species until the forest habitat they depend on has been rehabilitated. Threats posed by nest predation, competition with honeybees, and further habitat destruction have been controlled. However, we now face the ominous arrival of Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), which has already begun to reduce body weights in healthy Echo Parakeets and has seen featherless birds unable to survive in the wild. Many have died from the disease and the international community in parrot research and conservation is working feverishly to combat this debilitating “Doomsday Virus” for endangered parrots around the world.
Echo Parakeet infected with PBFD (photo credit: Elaine Fraiser)
The World Parrot Trust will continue supporting what is widely recognized as the most successful parrot conservation program ever undertaken. To read more about these magnificent birds, please click here.
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